I Hate the Kitchen

It was closing time. I hurried to lock all the windows and doors and closed all the cupboards, mixers, and machines. Rhea was waiting in the cellar for me.
"Hi. How was work?" She whispered.
"Why does it matter? All I want to talk about is me and you." I smirked.
I stepped closer to her wrapped my arms around her waist and mashed my lips against hers. She slowly slipped her tongue over mine and explored my mouth. We stayed like this for a while, standing in the cold cellar.
"I love you, so much," She whispered between kisses. Rhea took my hand in hers and pushed our tied-together form against the wall. I pushed her off me.
"No. Not here. Not now. I told you, I want to wait for this until I'm older." I growled. She backed up and avoided my gaze.
"Sorry. I forgot where we were." Rhea whispered. It sounded like she was about to cry.
I stalked off to my car and jumped in, turned the radio on low, and listened to the sounds of the city. I thought about her and- No.
"You're fine. Stop fantasizing. It'll never happen." I said to no one, not even myself.
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Two weeks later, we met up at the restaurant. She complained it was too cheap. I told her to shut up and eat. The food was really good.
"So Rhea. Who's Josh?" I snarled through clenched teeth.
"M-My b-brother. You've met him. I swear! That's all it ever was, Jakob. " She shuddered. Lies.
"Your bother died 3 years ago. Josh's your man. You lied to me," I said. I stood up and left the restaurant. I got into the car and drove off. I ran a red light trying to speed home to escape her memory. Crash. My head was pounding. I tried to lift my hand to touch my head, but my body was unwilling to move.
I woke up hearing the ambulance sirens rushing me to the hospital. I don't remember what happened very much, but I do remember dinner. I frowned thinking about how I left her in shock.
"We're here. Pull out the stretcher." Someone said. I felt movement as they rolled me into the emergency room. I got put into a room and an hour later she walked in.
"How do you feel?" Rhea asked. I gave her a thumbs-down. I didn't want to speak to her, but I couldn't just send her away.
"My head hurts. They said both my legs are broken." I whispered.
"Why'd you lie to me?" I asked.
"I don't know. I just thought you wouldn't like me because of who I am."
I didn't know how to respond.
"You see when I was three, I was diagnosed with Acoustic Neuroma. It's the disease of rare, benign tumours that grow on the nerve for hearing and balance. I've never even told Josh about this. It only affects one in one thousand people. I never told you about Josh or my A.N. because I thought you'd think it was weird and you'd break up with me. I'm so sorry." She burst into tears and started sobbing. I felt so bad, so I said,
"Come here. I wouldn't- won't think you're weird. And the truth is, I never stopped loving you." Rhea slowly walked across the room and crawled onto my lap. I held her and softly kissed her head while she cried into my chest.
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Two weeks later, I got out, and she broke up with Josh, but they're still friends. I don't believe Josh wanted to stay friends, but he had no choice. I know he's mad at her, but he agreed. I and Rhea went everywhere together, to the movies, the park, restaurants, and even the car for drives together! I love her, even though she lied to me.
"Did I ever tell you about how I and Josh met?" She asked at dinner one night.
"No. How'd you guys meet?" I retorted. I didn't like Josh, let alone want to hear about him. He was so mean to Rhea. He abused her all the time, verbally and physically.
"The ninth grade we went to the spring dance together. I thought nothing of it, but then he asked me out in tenth grade. I said yes. We were together for six years before you insisted we broke up. Around the third year, things started to go south. He started getting angrier when I would talk to him. He would hit me and scream really bad things while he did. I'm so glad he's gone, but I loved him, or at least, I thought I loved him." She barely said the last sentence before her voice broke. It must hurt saying those things out loud and realising how bad the situation was.
I slid over in the booth and kissed her head while cuddling her in my arms. I felt so bad hearing everything he would do to her. I planned to contact Josh and ask for his side of the story later this month, but first, I and Rhea are moving into a new house together.
We found a house on Co Road 606 in Avoca, Texas. It's an older house; light blue with a white roof. They told us it was about $68,000 for the house. The moving truck got there on Friday, our moving crew got on Saturday, and We finished the house Tuesday. Perfect.
I called Josh to ask him his side of the story. To sum it up, he said she would yell and scream too, but he would hit her when he got mad after drinking. Makes sense, I mean, he does look and sound like a drinker and a smoker. He has that gruff, scratchy voice and coughs a lot. Rhea said he was a couple of years older than her, and I believe it. He looks, sounds, and acts the part.
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We went on holiday for a few weeks in Costa Rica. I rented a private villa on a hillside. The third day we were there she handed me a piece of paper titled ' My Vacation Bucket List'.
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MY VACATION BUCKET LIST
Go somewhere new
Do something dangerous
Try something new
Do things with my partner
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I stared at her, confused, and then I realised what she meant. Oh no. She wanted to- No. We've only been dating for a year!
"What do you mean?" I said, wishing it wasn't what I thought.
"You know, go on vacation with them, go shopping, eat food. The normal stuff." Rhea said smirking, knowing what I was thinking.
"Oh, okay. I just didn't understand since it was so vague. I understand now." Lies. I walked over and kissed her. Hard. More forcefully than I usually do. I know she left something off the list on purpose, knowing how stressed she saw me.
I love her and she loves me.