Dear Citlali [Completed]

Chapter 14. Dovi

I stayed with Lali all night. We talked. We ordered Thai food. We watched a movie. And at some point, we fell asleep.

When I woke up on the sofa of her hotel room, a ray of sunshine hit my face through the space between the heavy curtains. I lifted my head to look at Lali. She was still asleep, her long dark hair hiding her face.

My phone informed me it was 9.30. I didn't realize last night how exhausted I was, so focused I had been on my companion. But on this morning I felt rested, and calmer than I had ever been since I received Ameyal's letter.

I moved cautiously to the bathroom not to wake up Lali and freshened up. Then I went to the breakfast room of the hotel to pick some things for both of us. Black coffee for Lali, tea for me, and a giant plate of pancakes with maple syrup, nuts, and fresh fruits. The employees of the hotel insisted on bringing the tray to the room for me, but I thanked them and said it was not necessary.

When I opened the door, Lali was sitting up on the bed with a worried look. But as soon as she saw me, she smiled. "For a minute, I thought you were gone," she said.

"I brought us some breakfast."

Her eyes widened at the sight of the food. "It looks wonderful. Thank you. That's so nice of you. Have you been up for long?"

"No. Did you sleep well?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Far better than the nights before."

Her answer made me grin. She seemed as comfortable with me as I was with her. She pushed back a lock of her hair behind her ear and walked towards the coffee table, where I had placed the tray. Her effortless beauty made me skip a breath.

I sat beside her, and my hand wanted to reach for her and stroke the softness of her hair and, maybe, caress the skin of her neck with the back of my fingers.

But I didn't know if she wanted that. And I wanted to protect the almost carelessness she had on this morning. The last thing I wished for was for her to be upset again. So I occupied my hands with my cup of tea and I smiled at her.

"These are absolutely delicious," she said, after her first spoonful of pancakes.

And when our fingers brushed against one another when we reached for the bottle of water, I almost shivered. I could not say with certainty if her body had reacted to mine as had my body to hers, but I thought I had caught this infinitesimal reflex move of her hand. And when she looked at me and smiled, in the darkness of her eyes, I saw the sadness and the loneliness as if they were my own, and the will to not let yourself hope for happiness for fear of being irrevocably hurt once more.