Running Out of Time

Chapter Seventeen

Back in the AirBNB, a silence fell over us as Lia prepared a quick dinner with what she'd bought at the grocery store before I'd come.

"Your parents taught you how to cook?" I asked.

"My mom did." She replied bitterly. "She wants me to be a good housewife."

I smiled softly. "If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't want you to be a housewife." I told her. She looked at me with a grateful smile as she served up a small meal. Dinner passed in a clatter of cutlery, and I watched Lia in my peripheral vision. Without looking up fully, I could see the heavy, caked texture of the foundation she was wearing, the glimmering powder of her blush, the mascara that clung to her lashes, the lip gloss that had almost all worn away, the shimmering eyeshadow on her eyelids.

"You never used to wear so much makeup." I said abruptly. "Why start now? You're still young."

Her gaze flickered up to me then back down to her bowl. She chewed slowly. "My mother's wishes. I think she thinks that just because I like girls, I'm going to be a butch lesbian."

"But your mother isn't here now." I pointed out.

"Habit." She told me absentmindedly, but as I studied her further, I didn't think that was it.

"You're hiding from me."

She looked up at me, her eyes narrowed as she took me in. Then, she smiled blandly, a concession to the fact that she'd been caught, and that it was true, she was hiding.

I laughed bitterly and finished my last bite of the meal. I placed the bowl in the sink and went to the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower. Join me if you want."

When I closed the door, her face was bright red and mortified. I laughed to myself privately as I showered. I came out in a towel to retrieve some clean clothes I'd packed in my backpack earlier. When I entered our shared bedroom, her eyes flickered up to me, then widened in alarm.

"Oh, uh, sorry." She apologized and turned her back to me. "I won't look."

I snorted with mirth. "Seriously? I've seen you naked, and you've seen me naked, and now you're afraid of me in a towel?"

I noticed her ears turn red, and she said nothing. Then, my heart sank. Perhaps she truly wasn't the Lia I'd fallen in love with at all. Without a word, I swiped my clothes from my backpack and returned to the bathroom to change.

"Are you going to take a shower?" I asked Lia. She shook her head wordlessly, lying on top of the sheets. I watched her for a little longer, looking at the hair spilled out on the sheets and the soft skin and the stubborn set of her jaw, and wondered how she could've possibly not been the same person. But then when she glanced at me and then looked away, I felt another stab to my heart. Perhaps we needed to take this one step at a time.

"Can I sit next to you?" I stood, waiting for her answer. She nodded wordlessly to the ceiling, and I slid underneath the covers next to her. The bed smelled a little musty, but it was alright. I leaned my head back against the headboard.

"Put your head on my lap." I told her, and she obliged. I leaned over and dug through my backpack before extracting a makeup wipe.

"Do you want to use this?" I asked, handing it to her. She squinted up at it, then took it. When she began to wipe away her makeup, I softly ran my hands through her hair, untangling all the knots that had formed. It was just as soft as I'd remembered.

"Have you still been dancing?" I asked. She stiffened, but still answered.

"No. Well, not competitively, and not as much as I used to. I can sometimes manage to fit in a class or two around my schedule of studying and classes and homework."