That smell. That rancid smell. Why was it always that disgusting smell first thing in the morning? How could he stand it? Julia buried her face into her pillow and groaned, clenching the bed sheets. The smell was too overpowering. She could only hold her breath for so long. She lifted her face, careful to breathe the rotten smell shallowly, and glared at the closed bedroom door the smell was wafting from. Nothing changed.
Begrudgingly, she stood up and opened the door only to be hit with that horrid smell tenfold. She pinched her nose and made her way downstairs. Standing innocently in the kitchen, pouring the horrid dark liquid into a mug, was Robert. He held the steaming cup to his nose and took a deep inhale, smiling softly. Julia scoffed. Robert turned to look at her and gave her a sparkling smile, then raised the mug to his lips, blew lightly on it, and took a large gulp of the offending liquid. He lowered the cup and made an exaggerated sound of enjoyment. Julia rolled her eyes.
“I will never understand you,” she muttered as she attempted to make her way past him.
He caught her arm to hold her back, leaning down for a kiss that Julia prevented with a hand over his lips.
“You know the rules,” she told him, “That garbage touches your lips; mine are off the market until I can’t smell it on you.”
Robert gave her a mock pout but released her arm, allowing her to move past him. She opened a cabinet and pulled out a bucket filled to the brim with a variety of tea flavors. Julia grabbed one at random and lifted it to her nose, the smell soothing away most of the rancid coffee smell.
“You really make too big of a deal out of it,” Robert told Julia as she put the bin back into the cabinet and pulled out a mug for her teabag.
“And you are disgusting,” Julia replied.
Robert shook his head with a mad grin, lifting his coffee to his lips once more.
“This wouldn’t be an issue if you drank tea to get your caffeine fix rather than that awful garbage,” Julia pointed out, pouring the hot water on the counter into her mug and steeping the teabag.
“That’s because tea tastes terrible and coffee is delicious,” Robert snarked back.
Julia gagged on air and threw him a disgusted look. He grinned back. She glared at him, not wanting to fall for the bait but unable to resist defending her precious drink of choice.
“Your taste is terrible. You just haven’t found the flavor you like yet.”
“Agree to disagree,” Robert told her with a twinkle in his eye and took another sip of his coffee.
“No,” Julia replied, lifting her own mug to her nose to cleanse her senses of the coffee smell. “Not this time. We’re settling this.”
“You say that every morning,” Robert pointed out. “Plus, we don’t have time, if we’re both going to get to work on time.”
Julia groaned and walked past Robert as she said, “This isn’t over.”
“It never is,” Robert called after her with a chuckle and finished his coffee, setting the mug on the counter.
He left the mug there as he followed her out of the kitchen.