Shards of Kairos

XIV - The Ghost Beyond the Mirror

Evie woke to sunlight and more warmth and overall heat than she was comfortable with. It was going to be a hot day, already muggy and uncomfortably warm. Especially in a city as large as Detroit. Even if the city was almost creepily underpopulated in this section of it, the steel buildings were already enough to make the heat worse - reflecting off the metal and glass, asphalt and concrete. When Evie opened her eyes, the warmth wasn't the first surprise. But she suddenly realized why she might have been warmer than usual. And that was a surprise.

She and Julian had gotten closer during the night. Close enough that they were loosely tangled together now in an almost careful placement of limbs. Julian was half laying on his left side, facing away from the window with his back to the sun (and the light) and Evie had a leg draped over his. Julian's other leg was covering that one, no more than their ankles, but her knee was close enough to certain parts of Julian's anatomy that Evie almost blushed. That was a lie. She did. Immediately.

Evie was curled up against his chest and Julian wasn't exactly holding her, he only had a large hand on her hip. He was just... there. Atypically Julian - he was there but still distant. A solid presence, almost a quietly overpowering one at that. Evie realized she'd been sleeping in his shadow all night. Julian was all lean muscle, his hips almost narrow and waist just as but with their differences in height - the shelter of his shadow was enough for her to disappear in.

"Julian..." Evie didn't want to wake him but it was hot in the room and Julian was wearing all his clothes. They both were. She wanted to wake him enough to at least get his shirt off. At this point they were probably, at least, dehydrated. And Julian smelled less like he'd been around a burning fire than Evie, but Evie desperately needed a shower. As brutal as driving in the rain had been for Julian, he'd add least had some form of one.

Julian barely stirred, darker than dark sunglasses still situated perfectly on his face. Evie wondered if he actually slept with them on at night too. Judging by the indents in his temples, she was guessing not.

"Julian, hey." Evie murmured, leaning close and reaching down for Julian's shirt. "You're too warm. We both are."

He was wearing all black, actually felt feverish, and Evie was going to down a liter of coconut water just to be on the safe side and shove a liter or two of water at Julian as well. Breakfast didn't sound half bad either. But more sleep sounded a lot better and a shower was at the top of her list. Shower, a change of clothes. Too bad she couldn't just ditch her shirt. She could escape the more torturous underwire bigger chested women had to deal with and most of her bras were pretty damn comfortable in comparison but even sleeping overnight in hers - for the last two nights actually - felt a bit uncomfortable. And she needed a change of clothes. And a new application of makeup. Actually, Evie just needed a shower and to start all over again with all of it.

And suddenly Evie was just awake. And Julian wasn't budging.

"Julian." Evie said more firmly, giving his leather clad shoulders a bit of a push and a very gentle one.

Julian did exactly what she didn't want and came awake immediately, pushing himself to a half sitting position on the bed and somehow managing to look both completely awake and still completely asleep. "What?" he asked in a breathless rush.

Evie sighed. "We were both too hot. I was trying to get your shirt off to save you from some of it-"

"Why?" Julian asked irritability and Evie felt her face heat up in embarrassment.

"You're on fire." she said defensively. "Accident or no, sleeping in our clothes last night was a bad idea. It's too hot in here."

Julian relaxed but Evie supposed that was a bad word to describe it. He was always tense. Instead, he extricated himself from the bed - Evie had lowered her knee from parts unmentionable eons ago - Julian only seeming slightly irritated that they'd ended up sleeping so close together. No, not irritated. Flustered, Evie realized with a small start. And Evie also realized that most of the openness she'd felt from him last night was gone. Replaced with a sort of .... fog. Like Julian wasn't blocking her out but instead he was draping himself in shadows to obscure how he was feeling.