Bath Water:
Standing outside of the door, he leaned in closely, listening to her light wimpers as they softly echoed inside the walls of the bathroom. "What's wrong?" he asked, face pushed up against the wood, listening intently for any response from the other side. "If you don't stop crying, I'm going to come in there. I mean it, you'd better stop..." he warned, her sobs haulting abruptly but only for a moment until they escaped her once more, this time more intense than before. With his eyes directed at the floor, he turned the knob and slowly eased the door open, lifting his eyes cautiously to peer inside. Everything was dark with the exception of a few strategically placed candles, their flickering flames causing shadows to dance on the dim walls. He entered, and she went on crying, seeming not to notice him, as he closed the door behind him and carefully approached the tub where she laid. Keeping his eyes on her, he gently kneeled on the floor beside the tub. "Hey..." he said softly, hoping she wouldn't suddenly be startled by his presence. She opened her eyes and slowly turned her head to look at him. "Have you ever felt like you were dying inside?" she said, her eyes fighting to stay focused until finally they gave in, and she shut them tight, leaning her head back on the tub as the tears fell down the sides of her face. He felt a sharp sensation inside his chest and didn't know what to say. He only watched, following the tear as it streamed down her cheek, then a little down her neck, and his eyes traced over her soft shoulders to where her chest disappeared underneath the water, and a little further down to where the peaks of her knees emerged from the suds. Her skin was moist and shiny, illuminated further by the candlelight, but as beautiful as she looked, he was not aroused, nor was he thinking anything sexual as his eyes grazed her. Instead, his face held a sincere look of concern, confusion, sadness and compassion, as the question she had just asked him replayed in his head and made him aware of her pain. Instead, he looked on at her, almost in the same way as a helpless father would while watching his only child suffer. Her long arm rested on the ledge of the tub, and he noticed a spot near her shoulder where the slick, dark peach coloring of her skin changed to purple and blue. He reached out and took her hand, squeezing it lightly, and she opened her eyes again. She looked at him, her eyes welling with pain and tears and questions that he had no answers to- no one did. She squeezed his hand back, and in a barely audible whisper, as she closed her eyes again, she managed to half cry, "I need someone to hold me." She hadn't expected him to do what he did next, but she didn't fight him, either. Before she knew it, he was standing over her, his socked feet and jeans knee deep in the bath water. He gently submerged himself into the water, slowly saturating the rest of his pants and the light tee-shirt he had on. For a minute he laid over her, and she breathed heavily, her chest rising and falling in short, uninhibited pants, yet never exposing herself from the bubbles, until he situated himself beside her, comfortably and fully clothed. She was half shocked and half in love with the fact that he had, without hesitation, climbed into the tub, so thoughtfully, without presumptuously removing any of his clothes or making her feel uneasy. She shifted her body so that she was laying on her side, and she buried her head into the chest of his wet, warm shirt. He slipped his hand over her slick stomache and held her around her waist, smelling her hair and holding her tightly, washing the warm water over the curves of her body that protruded from the water everytime she shivered a little and moved closer to him. She felt so... good. So safe, and content, and for once, cared for, and her tear drops fell into the soapy water and disappeared. They laid there, him holding her and her being held, until her yearning and passion for him was hotter than the scalding bath water that surrounded them.
She tilted her face up to his, and he took her in, the flames of the nearby candles reflected and burned somewhere deep inside her dark pupils, streaks of fallen tears left evidence of the pain that plagued her, and as her soft lips parted, she whispered to him, "Do you know how to love someone?..."
-G.L.P.
