Drink Me

66. NORMAL, EVERYDAY STUFF

"You guess?" Alice scoffed, her attention now on a bottle of aftershave.

Riley tittered in response as he squirted some body gel in his hands.

"Well, you know, I'd enjoy it more if the world around us wasn't falling apart."

"We'll be fine," Alice reassured him with a little shrug. Nothing ever seemed to bother her too much. Then she squeezed some aftershave on her hands and rubbed the product on her face with a final cheek clap, Kevin McAllister-style. Riley chuckled inwardly as he tilted his head back to rinse the shampoo off his hair. When he looked back at her, Alice was staring in the mirror. Her eyes were dark and void, so vacantly lost in her reflection that Riley wondered if she could see anything at all in the glass. Then she leaned closer, her head tilted to the side and back to centre and suddenly she smiled a joker grin that didn't reach her eyes. Her features relaxed briefly before she tried another smirk, this time natural and warm then, with a blink, she was back to reality. That's when she noticed Riley looking at her through the mirror. Focusing on him, her lips rose slightly to the side, and she winked at him before moving away from the sink and sitting on the closed toilet seat, her knees to her chest.

"You're cute when you're wet, you're like a duckling," she said, looking at him through the curtain gap.

"Is it supposed to be a compliment?" he asked, but Alice shrugged a little.

"If you want," she replied.

"I like compliments." Riley winked.

Alice kept her eyes on him. The smile disappeared from her lips as she bit them softly.

"You have an amazing body," she said, her voice velvety.

"Thanks," Riley replied, feeling suddenly shy under the woman's persistent glare.

"I love your brain too," she admitted. "It's just so... stimulating," she added, saying the last word with a half-smirk.

Riley studied her face with admiration as he ordered, "Come here."

Alice silently stood and slowly took her clothes off. Her arms rose to her head as she put her hair up in a bun, allowing Riley to take in her naked body; then she stepped into the shower and he pulled her close in a tight hug, his lips in her hair as he gently stroked her back.

The feeling of her skin against his was almost liberating, and he felt the last of his tension dissipate through their touch.

"Are you cold?" he asked after a moment of silence, feeling the goosebumps forming on her skin.

"No. I'm just...calm," Alice replied, her lips tickling his chest.

Riley smiled in her hair, but still moved so that Alice was now under the running hot water.

He closed his eyes and took in the moment: the relaxing sound of the shower, Alice's steady breathing against his chest and the feel of her hair around his fingers; it was perfect.

And terrifying.

It scared him to know he would have taken a moment like this over any wild sex Alice was willing to offer. He didn't even want to begin to think what having feelings for her could mean. After the emotionally demanding day he'd had, holding Alice was like finding a perturbing oasis of peace. Alice had been constant in his unravelling thoughts, the blood on her hands the only stain of colour in his grey emotions. Nevertheless, he couldn't think of anyone else capable of giving him the same type of comfort. Alice was the poison and the antidote.

"Are you OK?" Alice asked suddenly, her voice sleepy.

"I'm perfect, why?"

"Your heart is beating faster," she replied, moving her head so that she could better hear his heartbeat.