The Meeting

Chapter 21 - Unexpected visits

“I’m going to love you forever,” Damien mutters whilst pushing my hair out of my face.

“What about Miranda?”

“I’ll deal with her,” he responds simply as he slides from the sheets. I watch his naked body walk away and desperately try and stick with the conversation at hand rather than think about sex with this god-like man before me.

“And what does that mean?”

He slips his sweatpants back on and runs his fingers through his unruly hair. His forehead creases and I can tell he’s choosing his words carefully. He walks back over and sits down on the mattress beside me.

“I’ll think of something. I just don’t want you to worry, okay?”

“Nothing’s changed has it?” I turn my face away from him and the post-coital glow leaves my body in an instant. “You’re still not going to open up to me and as soon as I leave, things will go back to normal. We’ll be separated and pretending to hate each other and this will be a forgotten memory. Until when? How long do I have to wait?”

“Babe, my feelings for you won’t change and today won’t be a forgotten memory. I plan on remembering this day for the rest of my life. Today is the day that you told me you loved me, which is the happiest moment of my life so far.” He reaches for my hand, but I snatch it away from his reach. “And about opening up, I just don’t know if I’m ready to tell you and I need you to respect that.”

I turn to look at him and I see his sad face turned down to the bed. His face looks so child-like and he pokes at the sheets with a single finger. I try to comprehend how he’s feeling. How would I feel if he wanted to know about my past before I was ready to share? I would probably be pissed and walk away. Wow, I’m a jerk.

“I’m sorry,” I speak softly, now reaching for his hand. “You’re right. I’m here…whenever you need to talk about it.”

“Thanks hun.” He beams at me and bounces from the bed, full of excitement and energy. “Now, what do you want for dinner?”

I whip my head over to the clock, not believing that it’s already the evening. “Umm, I don’t know. I’m not really hungry yet,” I respond truthfully.

“You will be. How about you try out my new shower? It’s seriously awesome! I’ll make something for us.” His face is ecstatic like a teenager as he dashes over to give me a quick peck on the cheek and then out of the room. I pull myself out of the warm bed and I can hear him already downstairs making noise as he pulls pots and pans out of the cupboard. I roll my eyes and pad over to the bathroom.

Jesus Christ! The bathroom is bigger than my whole apartment, but I honestly don’t know why that surprises me. There’s an enormous bath tub which could easily seat four people, two sinks in front of a large mirror, and a large shower encased in glass.

I slide open the door and step inside and I’m confronted with 6 different shower heads and a panel of buttons with small symbols beside them. I squint my eyes to try and make out one of the symbols and it looks like soap bubbles. Another looks like a picture of a man and the one beside that seems to be a lady. I stab at the lady button and I’m instantly pummeled with warm soapy water, causing me to cry out in shock.

After the initial blast of it, I settle down a little and it actually starts to feel really nice. The warm water massages at my aching limbs, taking all the stress away and making me melt into a large pile of jello. It washes away all my anxieties, if only for the moment, but as soon as I find the off button, they all come crashing back down.

I find a large fluffy towel hanging on the back of the door and wrap it around my pink body to fend away the cold air. Finding a comb on the counter, I proceed to pull it through my long, wet, knotted hair. It hangs limp around my face and I finally look at myself in the mirror. My collar bones protrude a little more than they usually do and I have dark circles under my eyes, making me look tired. When I open my towel, I can even see my hip bones sticking out, which I couldn’t see before through my womanly curves. I’ve probably lost twenty pounds since all of this started, which makes me happy at first, but I know it isn’t healthy.