Drenched You

The rain outside beat against the windows, wild and angry.
Inside, it was just me and her.
Me and Misty.

I watch her sitting on the bed, soaked and trembling, her hair sticking to her cheeks.

Sayan says: "You're freezing."

She doesn't answer.
Just stares at the wall like it might save her from me.

I take a slow step closer, my boots heavy on the cheap hotel carpet.

Sayan says: "You should get under the covers before you turn into ice."

Still nothing.

But when I reach out - when my fingers brush her wrist - she flinches.

Not away.

Toward.

Misty says: (soft, almost a whisper) "I don't want to be alone."

God help me.
That breaks something inside me clean in half.

I pull her gently toward me, feel her shiver against my chest, feel my own heart hammering like it's trying to break out.

Sayan says: "You're not."

She looks up then, her lips parted, her eyes dark and wild and asking for things neither of us are ready to say.

Misty says: "Then stay. Please."

I tilt her chin up with two fingers, slow, giving her every chance to run.

She doesn't.

She leans in.

Sayan says: (voice rough) "Tell me to stop."

Misty says: (whispers) "I won't."

And then I kiss her.
Hard.
Desperate.
Like she's the only thing keeping me from falling apart.