erik menendez // if you love me..don't let go

chapter thirteen

Erik's POV

I sat down against the bathroom door with my legs sprawled out in front of me.

Scarlett had some type of hold on me, and I couldn't figure out why. All I knew was that there was a magnetic force which always brought me closer to her.

Like now. Why was I sitting outside the bathroom while she was showering? Some would say I'm a creep. I mean, I felt like a creep, but I also felt the need to hold her and protect her.

She for sure had a chokehold on me. The way her eyes always managed to have a happy glint in them, or when she would flash her pretty teeth while teasing me.

I don't think she even realized that she was once the young girl who brought me back to reality when I tried to run away.

Scarlett's POV

The steaming hot water ran down my body as I ran my hands through my hair. The heat felt so good after shivering all night long, but it didn't manage to heal the goosebumps on my arms and legs.

Every thought about Erik, from his voice to his touch, ran through my head like blood running through veins. They wouldn't stop. When I went to sleep, he was in my dreams. When I squeezed my eyes as hard as possible, he always appeared in the midst of the darkness. He was everywhere.

Why I had these thoughts? I couldn't say exactly, but I was definitely attracted to him in some sort of way. And all the tension between us the past few days have been driving me nuts. I was confused and disoriented, and I didn't know what to do with myself.

Needing to be distracted, I took a look around at the things he had in the bathroom. Expecting only the stuff the hotel supplied, I was surprised when I saw he had filled the shower-shelf with all of his own things. There were two different types of fancy looking body soaps, and his own shampoo and conditioner. So he does use conditioner...

Deciding to use everything, I used my hands to rub both soaps on my body. He had brought a loofa, but I wasn't intending on using it. That was way too intimate. The two scents of the soaps clashed together, making a beautiful, fresh, clean smell that reminded me of dryer sheets. That was probably why he always smelled so delicious.

The one thing he didn't have with him was a brush for my hair, so I used my fingers to my best ability to untangle it. Whatever was in this conditioner, it felt absolutely heaven in my hair. And smelled like it.

I was in my own world when I heard a faint tap against the door.

"Scarlett?"

My bones jumped and I almost slipped onto my ass. Thankfully, I didn't.

I rushed to turn off the water. "Yes?" I winced. I probably was in the shower for like an hour and he was getting mad at me.

"Are you alright?" His tone was so soft, I melted right there and then. Except I was already melting from all the steam flooding the room.

"I'm alright!" I said, way to happily, but my voice cracked. Ew.

"I was just wondering if you could pass me the hand cream?" He tripped over his words. "It's uh...on the sink."

I quickly wrapped a big, fluffy towel over my body before going over to the sink. My eyes scanned over the many products displayed. How adorable.

"The white one?" I questioned.

"Yeah, thats the one."

I picked it up and walked over to the door where I then stopped.

"Uh..." I tried to say something, but I couldn't find my words. What was I supposed to do?

Erik probably didn't know either, because he didn't say anything. Great, just leave me to my own decision. Well, I guess I wouldn't want him bursting through the door,

Erik's POV

After standing awkwardly, the door finally opened to reveal Scarlett. She had a towel wrapped around her, yet I felt like I could see everything. Her bare legs were so exposed and so gorgeous. And I've never seen so much of a women's upper chest area. I could see her whole collarbone and the top of her cleavage. Shit. I did not mean to look there. I tried to peel my eyes off of her, but it was so difficult. Here she was, in all of her glory. Her hair was fully sopping, allowing me to see glossy waves. I spotted a few loose ringlets that I so badly wanted to wrap my finger around.

Remembering the task at hand, I looked down at her arm where she was holding my hand cream. Right.

"Thanks." I said, but it came out more as a gasp for air. Her finger tips brushed mine as I took the cream from her hand.

"Yeah." She looked up at me through her long, dark eyelashes. Her beady eyes stared right through me, clutching at my heart.

"I'm, um," She then looked anywhere else but me. "I'm going to change now."

Before I could have time to respond, she closed herself back into the bathroom, leaving me as whipped as frosting on a cake.

Scarlett's POV

As soon as I closed the door, I wanted to bang my head against it. I was so close to just grabbing his face and kissing him. Where did all of this ambition come from? I haven't even admitted to myself that I may have liked him a bit, and now all of sudden I felt all of these intimate notions? Or have I always felt them?

I looked to the floor of the bathroom where Erik left a heaping pile of his clothes for me to choose from. Carefully, I went through them, folding them back up if I decided they would be way too big.

I didn't even try to have any hope with the pants, considering he is inches taller than me, but I at least tried to find the least baggy shirt. There wasn't any luck with that. I ended up with big black sweatpants where I had to roll down the waistband three times, otherwise they would slip down my ass, and a big white t-shirt with some sort of band on it. As soon as the shirt slipped over my head, my nose was immediately filled with Erik's scent, and I practically sighed in contentment.

I looked myself over in the foggy mirror. I felt like a completely different person, aside from the very obvious "rapper" look I had. Two months ago, I would've never felt or looked like this. Standing in the hotel room of a boy, wearing his clothes, feeling such a deep connection with him. I couldn't tell if my old self would be disappointed or proud with me. But that didn't matter, because in this moment, I felt safe and comfortable.