Professor Malfoy

39 | day ten

Chapter 39
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Zion didn't stop by today. Theo did.

And surprisingly, I let him in. I'm not sure why.

"Jesus, Lou..." he mumbles as he sees me laying in my bed, my blanket pulled over my shoulders up to my chin.

"Nice to see you, too,"

He doesn't do anything. He just keeps standing right in front of my bed while his eyes staring at me and then at the mess around - dirty clothes, empty cups, but no plates, books and papers laying on the ground. I didn't have the energy to clean and now I'm left feeling a bit embarrassed.

Still no word, he takes a walk around the room and starts taking the dirty cups from the ground, creating towers from them in his arms before he puts them elsewhere. I don't say anything, but I watch his every move.

"I won't ask you anything, I won't make you do anything you don't want to, okay? I'm just here to take care of you, since you don't let anyone else in," he tells me while cleaning up my room, "which I'm not sure why, but...thank you."

"I don't know why, either," I mumble, my voice cracky from the lack of talking out loud.

He lets out a scoff. "Kind as always."

When he finishes, he reaches his arm toward me. "You need a shower, come on."

I raise my brows, "are you implying I stink?"

"No, but a nice, hot shower always helps." He tells me with kind smile.

It's nine in the morning, he could be anywhere, yet he's here with me, although we didn't end things exactly on nice terms. He's trying. He's seriously trying.

Although I'm in no mood to stand up from my warm bed, I don't want to disappoint him, so I offer his hand and let him help me. He puts his hand on my back and walks me into the bathroom right next to my main room.

I forget to tell him to not turn on the lights. It immediately makes my eyes go blind, I'm forced to close them and grunt uncomfortably.

"You didn't..." he pauses in middle. I know what he wanted to ask me, if I really didn't have the lights on. The answer is no, I didn't, I didn't need them. But he already figured that one out.

He turns it off and the bathroom falls into dark once again, but not too dark to not see each other. There's enough light coming from the other room and the window.

"Alright, come on-"

He tells me to undress to underwear, so I start with my socks first, then my pajama bottoms. My movements are slow like I just woke up, but I can't bring myself to be any faster. My muscles are sore from laying, I don't have a single speck of energy left in me.

Thousands of goosebumps appear on my skin as my bare feet meet the freezing cold bathroom tiled floor. I hiss in discomfort and that's when Theo takes action. He tells me to move my arms up, but I'm not wearing any bra underneath.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before...you don't have to be shy in front of me. I'm seriously just here to help you."

The light coming from the other room meets with his eyes and make them sparkle a bit. He's grown his hair. And it suits him. Theo's always been the handsome one. Always will be. And I will always be the stupid one for treating him like shit.

I obey and put my arms up to make it easier for him to pull my pajama top through. When his cold fingers meet my skin, I tremble. Touch. Physical touch.

He throws the top away and then takes a minute to examine my almost-naked body. For a moment, I don't understand what's happening. Then I realize.

"You've lost weight," he says like I didn't know.

"I'm not hungry these days," I shrugs my shoulders.

"Please, don't do this to yourself. I beg you."

He offers me a hand and helps me get into the freezing cold bathtub. I sit down and hug my knees while he turns on the water and waits a few minutes for it to warm up.

My body is trembling from cold, my nipples are sticking out hard. Just in my panties, I'm sitting there with Theo's one hand stroking my spine.

When the water finally gets warm, I close my eyes and let my head rest on my knees. I've been showering myself with cold water, because I was too impatient to wait for hot one. So it comes to me as a pleasure to be able to feel that kind of nice comfort.

"Can I use this shampoo?" Theo asks me with a
bottle of hair shampoo in his hand.

I quickly glance at it and nod my head in approval. He tells me to tilt my head and puts the cold liquid shampoo on my scalp. Then, with slow massaging motions, he washes my hair.

And I let my tears flow freely down my cheeks. I'm all wet anyway, Theo won't even notice.

But he does, it the moment I let out a quiet sob. He doesn't stop the water, he doesn't ask me anything, which I'm very thankful for. He gently tilts my head back again to get rid of the shampoo in my hair.

"You are loved, Lou. I want you to know that." Theo tells me after a while of showering my naked back. His hand is still gently stroking my skin.

I allow my eyes to open and find him kneeled by the bathtub. Still sobbing, I reach my wet hand toward his face and stroke him a few times with my thumb. His dreamy eyes are staring into mine and I see he wants to tell me something, it's on the tip of his tongue. I interrupt him.

"Can you come to me?" I ask him and try to wipe my tears away, but my whole face is wet from the water, so it doesn't really matter.

"You sure?"

"Yes, please."

He takes off his T-shirt and sweatpants and hops into the bathtub with me. It's not big enough to fit two people, but we manage to squeeze a bit so that our knees are pressed against each other.

With the warm pleasant water splashing on us from the showerhead, we remain in the bathtub for a long time. He doesn't ask me anything. We don't feel the need to talk. At least I don't. I only needed this - physical touch. Connection with someone, even if it's Theo. There's mutual understanding.

And I'm glad it's him. I really am. I feel like this just empowered whatever was left of our long friendship. I though I lost him after our breakup, but turns out he still cares.

He always did.