An insistent nudge to his resting form had Onyx groaning and attempting to roll away from the pressure. He could readily confess to not being a morning person so he did have a tendency to wake in foul moods. The thing was, when his waking was caused by something other than himself or his obnoxious alarm clock,  his mood was considerably worsened.

“Do you have a death wish?” Onyx slurred into his pillow as yet another nudge left him emitting another groan of annoyance. “‘Cause it’s about to come true if you don’t get the hell out and leave me alone.”

“It’s noon, dumbass.”

“I don’t give a shit.” He peeked an eye open to regard his girlfriend and frowned at the expression of utter excitement written all over her face. “Who let you in?"

“Cora just as she left for,” Alyssa made quotations with both of her hands, “work.”

“Well, why are you here?”

She crawled over to straddle Onyx’s back and leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Can’t I just come to see my boyfriend? I do it practically every day now, don’t I?”

“What I meant to ask is why are you here this early?”

“It’s freaking noon—”

“Alyssa.”

“Fine.” She reached out to grab a strand of his hair and gave a pointed tug to the locks, smirking when Onyx let out a hiss. “You’re taking me on a date today.”

“For what?” Onyx inquired and hissed again as Alyssa tugged harder. 

“Because I’m your girlfriend and we haven’t gone on an actual date in nearly half a year! What do you mean, ‘for what’?” She finally removed herself from Onyx’s back and instead, trekked to the window to draw open the blinds. “Aren’t you late for work, anyway?”

“No,” Onyx answered and decided to leave it at that. He was supposed to be at work hours beforehand, but Cassandra had, out of the blue, notified him that he wouldn’t be needing to come in that day and that it would still be paid time off. Most people would be exhilarated to hear such a thing, but it only left Onyx debating what to do with himself for the day.

He didn’t enjoy just sitting around and doing nothing. Work was usually his escape from that and his art was a close second.

“Then get up, take a shower, get dressed, and take me to a nice restaurant.”

“You know, demanding for me to take you out is just bittersweet for you. Where’s the fun in this if I’m being forced?”

“You aren’t being forced,” Alyssa sighed, finally relenting and rolling off of him. “It’s just a suggestion.”

“Doesn’t sound like it.”

“Fine.” Alyssa sighed, a frown tugging at her lips. “Whatever. Forget about it.”

Onyx shoved his face into his pillow and inhaled deeply. Why had he thought this was a good idea in the first place? Why in the hell had he asked Alyssa out those few years ago? What was off with his rational decision-making skills?

He’d always known he wouldn’t be a good boyfriend. He wasn’t very romantic for one thing. He wasn’t exactly known for giving compliments as frequently as an insult. He struggled to open up to people about how he was feeling. He generally preferred work over a date. To sum it all up, he simply wasn’t good boyfriend material. He was selfish and he knew it; knew it was something he’d have to work on.

But he’d asked Alyssa out anyway and for some bizarre reason, she’d said yes. He smiled a little at the thought but hid it with his pillow. He cared about Alyssa a ton. More than he cared about most if not all the people in his life. He’d known her nearly his entire life, and he knew with every ounce of his soul that he could trust her. She knew of his living situation and understood him to a sometimes unnerving degree, and the same applied on the flip side.

What was so bad about putting extra effort into their relationship?

He rolled over to lay on his back, beckoning Alyssa in his direction with a single hand. “Come here.”

Alyssa merely stared at first but a moment later, she was climbing into bed to settle beside him. The corners of her lips twisted up into a grin when Onyx sat up to kiss her on the cheek. 

“You ready to go?” Onyx asked.

Alyssa smile widened. “As ready as I’m ever gonna get.”

She was dressed in a modest white and blue striped shirt and a pair of jet-black skinny jeans. Her head of dark box braids was pulled back in a low ponytail, hanging just above mid-back.

“You look pretty,” Onyx complimented and he meant it. She was a naturally pretty girl even with a completely bare face and casual clothes. She didn’t typically need expensive accessories or makeup to make her beautiful. Makeup only enhanced her appearance.

“Well, aren’t you sweet?” She leaned down to peck Onyx on the lips sweetly. “Thank you. Now hurry up and get ready so we can go out.”

“Mm,” he hummed before standing up to do exactly that.