The Pretend Girlfriend

Chapter Ten~ The Dream

Gwen found herself walking down the polished concrete floor of a posh condo. It was both familiar and alien. She'd been there many times, she felt. But she didn't have any recollection of any such visits. Pieces of modern art hung from the walls, which were cream-colored. They caught and held the light pouring in through the bank of windows along the wall in the room she could see to her right.

The park appeared in that window, all the buildings pressing in closely along its rectangular border. She touched the wall, felt the texture of the paint beneath her fingertips. She became aware of how cold that concrete floor left her feet, and she looked down. Her feet were bare. As were her calves, her thighs. And everything above that. Suddenly self-conscious of her nakedness, she searched for some sort of cover.

A robe, a towel. Even a tablecloth would do. She reached out for the polished latch of the door that appeared in front of her. But before she could open it, it swung inward. Not of its own accord, however. Steam spilled out of the room in great roiling clouds that swirled back in on themselves as they touched the colder air outside the bathroom and recoiled from it. And standing there, using a beige towel to dry himself, was Aiden. He, too, was naked. She looked down, unable to help herself. Her eyes widened. Very naked.

"Hey, babe," he said, grinning at her.

That's weird, she thought. I've never seen him grin like that before. She also thought he should do it more; he had nice teeth. They set off his eyes. Despite his toweling, little rivulets of hot water dripped from him onto the tile floor of the bathroom. The droplets of water ran down his chest between the little clefts in his abdominal muscles, all the way down... Oh, I'm looking again, she thought, her whole body flushing as she dragged her eyes back up to his face. It wasn't easy. He looked pretty fine, naked. And his hair looked just perfect in its chaos, too. Like he'd run the towel through it just to achieve that specific effect.

"Hey, yourself," she said.

Then his eyes slid down her body. In her shock at seeing him, she'd forgotten her own clothing situation. Or lack thereof. "Turn around !" she said. More like shrieked in embarrassment, actually.

Her hands went to the areas that most needed it, doing their best to cover things up but not quite managing. Why is he looking at me like that? I thought I wasn't his type? she thought. Rather than averting his gaze like she'd so politely asked, he continued looking. That grin of his grew wider, almost wolfish in the way it showed his teeth.

"Why so bashful all of a sudden?" he said.

"Why am I naked?" she replied, "Where are my clothes? Did you take them?"

Aiden folded his damp towel once lengthwise and hung it on the stainless steel bar beside the steamed-up mirror. He put his hands on his hips and cocked his head slightly to the side. She regretted her choice of words in describing him. Gwen swallowed heavily, looking up at the ceiling. Did he have no shame or something?

"Your clothes? They're in the closet in the bedroom , I bet. You know... right where you left them?" He chuckled at her. Then he prodded her with his index finger, just above her navel. It tickled.

"Hey! Cut it out," she said, contorting herself to move away from another attempted jab. She could slap his hand away, she knew. But that meant taking one of her own hands off censorship duty. And that wasn't about to happen.

"You know what? The bedroom actually sounds pretty nice... How about we go there? I know a great way to spend the rest of the morning."

"Excuse me?" Gwen said, becoming painfully conscious of her no-clothing situation.

"I love it when you play hard to get... There's just one thing you always forget..."

"And what's that ?" Gwen asked, taking a tentative step backwards. She could turn around and run, but that would just leave other parts exposed.