Hayden glared spitefully at this lover of hers lying next to her on the messy bed.
   Stubbing out another cigarette in the ashtray she swirled her tongue over her lips and around her mouth she grimaced at the aftertaste his kisses and the cigarettes had left.
   Leaning over the side of her bed, she searched through first his pants and jacket, then hers for the cigarette's she knew had to be there. Finding an almost empty pack in a pair of shoes under her bed, she winced but still lit one anyway.
   Pulling on her stale cigarette, she blew a stream of smoke upward and tossed her head back a bit. Trying like mad to clear some way in the alcoholic fog clogging her mind.
   Her alarm clock glared back at her. Proclaiming the midnight hour was over, and creeping steadily towards a morning she didn't want.
   Couldn't she have one interrupted night where she didn't feel as if she should have to run away or be saved by someone? Some restful, peaceful night where everything was okay for at least a few hours before morning came and screwed everything all up again?
   Her blood-shot eyes focused sharply on the figure under her black sheet. Nerves and a scream clawed at her insides. What was he doing here? And why couldn't she ever say 'no'? It was supposed to be over damnit! He said so himself! Yet he always came around. And she always, always, took him back.
   Flicking the ash from the tip of her cigarette in a cup of day old coffee, she shrugged her shoulders. Damnit, it didn't matter anymore. He was a good lay. And the nights got cold sometimes. And she always knew he was there. From the sound of his car stopping outside, the new brakes still squeaking slightly, and then his voice sounding from the intercom buzzer.

   Coming out from the bathroom, Hayden twisted the water from her hair and looked towards the bed. Finding it empty, she tried not to allow that feeling to fill her.
   It was a common exit with him. Getting up and leaving while she wasn't around to say 'goodbye' to. Why should he? He knew exactly what he was there for. She did too; he knew that as well. And once he got that, what else should he stay for?
   Keeping the sigh locked in her chest; Hayden walked on past her bed and the screen that hid it from the rest of the apartment flat.
   She would have missed it. If she paid attention to the black cat running to pass through her steps and trip her up, she would have missed him sitting on her second-hand couch, eating cereal and watching some toothy blonde sell a hair removal cream. Her cell phone lying in the palm of his hand, opened and ready for dialing.

   Closing her eyes, Hayden counted to ten, and then her blessings. He stayed. For once, he stayed.
   The question resounded in her mind, 'but why?'
   Shrugging it off, she sat down beside him. Curling her legs beneath her, and attaching herself to his side.
   She nearly leaped out of her skin when he put his arm around her. More and more questions started to run recklessly in her head. But she didn't dare ask them aloud, or analyze. She knew he'd leave if he did. And she didn't want that happening.
   But once the infomercial ended he moved and stood. "It's been good, Hayden." He murmured, his kiss brushing against her temple.
   Confusion pushed the questions aside, as she moved to get up as well then gave up and watched Ike walk out. The pain burning in her once again at his leaving. Her.