Budapest » [Clintasha]

Chapter Forty-Seven: Borrowed Time

The rivulets of steaming hot water running over my skin were like the trained hands of a masseuse, and the knots in my muscle departed with the grubbiness. Welcoming the commodity that was scented soaps and shampoos, I squirted a splodge into my palm and massaged it into my scalp. The perfume wasn't as bad as I had judged, and anything was better than what I was stunk of before.

I grabbed her sponge and put a liberal dollop of shower cream on that before scrubbing myself raw. When I turned off the tap at long last, I was greeted by a wafting wave of steam that dissipated into the air as I wafted it away. The smell of raspberries and strawberries was pungent in the air, and now I was clean, traces of the old musty smell were clear and it made me gag.

"Katie, I'm clean!" I called, snatching a violet towel from the hook and doing it up around my waist.

She peeped around the door, fanning away the steam. "Good, there's a stool with your name on it in the kitchen," she told me, flinging the door wide and beckoning me.

Still dripping, I took a wander across her apartment where she stood in the open plan space by the island in the kitchen. On the worktop was an inventory of supplies worthy of a barbers shop. Scissors, a comb, a razor, shaving foam, a selection of other hairbrushes. There were a few bottles of other inconspicuous hair products lined up like toy soldiers; and Kate armed herself with a can of deodorant.

"What the hell is all this?" I asked, dragging my fingers through my shaggy hair.

"This is me trying to make you like a respectable human being," Kate retorted, always brutally honest.

I pulled a face. "Should I be offended, little missy?" I cautiously sat down on the stool.

"You should be grateful! At least you're starting to smell like a decent human being," she quipped.

It was then that she squeezed my hip, causing me to throw my arm up in the air at the ticklish sensation. She sprayed deodorant onto one underarm, then repeated the action on the other side. "You could've just given me the can, you know?" I grumbled.

"You refused to take a shower ten minutes ago, you really think I trust you to put deodorant on?" And to be fair she had a point.

Kate slicked my cheeks up with shaving foam until I looked like a caricature of Santa Claus and then began carving away the fluff on my chin, paying extra attention to my hectic sideburns.

"Why does a girl have shaving foam anyway?" I asked, foam seeping into my mouth as I spoke.

"Don't move!" She hissed, slapping me on the hand. Her tongue was poking out of one corner of her mouth with concentration as she shaved me. "Girls do shave their legs you know? We don't just wake up hairless and silky smooth!" Kate tutted me.

"Girls are hardcore if they shave their legs without getting a single cut," I remarked. Looking down at my hairy legs and knobbly knees, I had to admire the artistry.

"Don't get me started on underarms!" Kate giggled, grinning properly for the first time since I'd seen her.

Her smile was infectious and I tried not to grin to broadly back, knowing I'd earn another playful scolding. "Talking of hardcore women, how are you? How's your family?"

Kate intook a sharp breath. "The best I've been in two years now you're here," she chirped merrily and then her happiness dulled.

I probed deeper, trying to provoke a smile back onto her sunkissed face. "And your family? The sister I met for the first time today? Hell, your nanny – Maria, was it? – how is she?"

"My sister is getting married next month, so she's chipper." Kate carved away another dense mound of foam, revealing clean-shaven smoothness beneath. "I haven't seen Maria for the best part of those two years..." Her tone was sombre, but I pressed on.