The Boy in the Gray Hoodie

29...

29…

Lisa’s eyes were bright and kind and beautiful, but they looked different when we kissed. I loved kissing her. I loved the way that it made me feel, but I also loved what it did to her. I watched her eyes both times. She closed them when our lips touched, and then opened them again when we parted. This time, I kissed her. I was careful and gentle with her, and when it was over I saw that she was happy.

            “What was that?” she asked me in a breath, her hand on my chest to keep us apart. I reached up to brush my fingers against her soft skin, covering her hand in mine. I told her that I felt better. She smiled at me.

            “I made you happy,” I couldn’t help grinning.

            She laughed and looked up at me through her eyelashes, biting her lip.

            We both turned, startled as someone knocked on the door.

            “Is everything okay in there?” It was the tall, light-haired man named Chris on the other side of the door. I recognized his voice instantly.

            Lisa’s face was scrunched into a frown. “We’re fine.”

            “So…nobody’s sick?” Chris asked, sounding worried.

            “Nope. All good in here. You can tell your wife we’re fine.” Lisa said.

            I let out a sharp breath, staring at the door. I had never realized that Marley was a wife. I knew she had a family. She’d told me about her son. I knew James had a family too, and that Lisa was a part of it. I wondered if he had a wife.

            Sudden anxiety clawed its way up my spine. I looked over at Lisa and swallowed, hard. What if she had a family too? A different family. What if she was a wife?

            I opened my mouth to ask when Lisa got up and grabbed the pile of clothes from the bed. “Come on,” she urged, waving nonchalantly toward the bathroom. “Might as well shower since we’re gonna be here a little while longer.”

             I rose quickly and followed her into the bathroom, examining the shelf above the sink. There were white bottles without labels and square blocks wrapped in pink paper stacked on one shelf, several unwrapped toothbrushes and two boxes of toothpaste on the other. On the bottom shelf was a yellow…thing. I reached out and picked it up, running my finger over the bright orange section of what felt like rubber.

            I froze when Lisa let her head rest against my shoulder. She reached over my arm and squeezed the yellow rubber. It let out a high-pitched squeak. I flinched, and she laughed.

            “Rubber ducky, you’re the one, you make bath time lots of fun…” she sang, bobbing her head and wiggling her shoulders. I watched her, a quizzical look on my face. She stopped singing and coughed, hiding her smile behind her hand. “It’s a rubber ducky. I take it you’ve never seen one before. Or heard of Bert and Ernie.” She added, raising her eyebrows.

            I shook my head.

            “Dude, we have got to get you in front of a TV.” She sighed, turning back toward the shower.

            This bathroom didn’t look like the one at Lisa’s house. The sink and the toilet were in a different place, and this shower had a glass door in front of it that made a creaking sound when Lisa pulled it open. The place where the water came out looked the same though. It was silver, and round, with lots of tiny holes.