Flawed Creatures

Glass Houses -26-

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Seated in the living room on the couch Robyn tried focusing on the novel she held, but after fifteen minutes she remained on the same page, first paragraph. The distraction very well could have something to do with the girl she had a good view of while she stood in their bathroom combing the tangles from her hair. It wasn't a distraction that she combed her hair. What drew and kept Robyn's attention was her nakedness. Her wet nakedness.

She was certain of it. Her roommate of nearly a month was most definitely on a mission to drive her insane. Joanne was neither blatant (for the most part) or subtle about her desire for their relationship to be more than friendly. She flirted yet not too heavily. She made it a point to touch Robyn at least ten times per day, whether she played with her hair, brushed her knee, pinched her cheek or played footsie if they chose to eat dinner at the table.

Joanne made it a point to compliment her on her clothing, cooking ability, sense of humor and during a particular occasion where they did their homework together she called Robyn's penmanship beautiful. The pool house only having the one bedroom Evelyn had purchased a couple double beds yet they routinely ended up sharing since Joanne liked to snuggle while watching television at night. This often led to her falling (or pretending to) asleep. Despite grumbling over having company in her bed Robyn had grown use to her presence and deep down preferred Joanne so close.

Robyn thought, or more like hoped being exposed to so much Joanne would get on her nerves. They lived together, although both had a car usually traveled to and from school together, saw one another throughout the day and now they shared the same friends. She saw her all the time and though there were those moments she entertained throttling Joanne she hadn't grown tired of her in the least bit. She liked her. She liked her way more than she cared to admit. Robyn already knew that when Joanne's mother was released from rehab and secured employment so they could move into a place of their own it would be one of the saddest days of her life to lose her sometimes throttle worthy roommate.

And now she was naked, which made sense because she just took a shower. However, what made less sense was Joanne's decision to leave the bathroom door ajar while she stood in front of the sink minus a towel, the air drying her as she combed dark, damp locks. It appeared she wasn't aware Robyn could see her, but Robyn suspected she knew exactly what she was doing.

She liked boys. Her first crush had taken place at age seven when she fell for an 'older man' of twelve who was a friend's brother. Though Robyn was now over him, she recently had a crush on Cara's best buddy Kirk and her celebrity crush on David Cassidy remained as she deemed him gorgeous. Jo is even more gorgeous though. Robyn shook her head. No, she couldn't think about her that way. Couldn't think about those incredible curves, how smooth and soft her skin was whenever they snuggled, those full, pouty lips, which often displayed a mischievous grin, all that shiny black hair framing that beautiful face, those sparkling light blue eyes...

Robyn groaned. So much for ignoring those thoughts. At first such thoughts were fleeting. Then she thought about Joanne on a frequent yet manageable basis. Now she thought about her much more often than she wanted to confess. Much more often than someone who views another as a mere friend. It had reached the point she didn't think about her in the same manner she did Ellie, Cara, Regina or Barb. Joanne was...for some reason she was different. Not only because she was hot. Robyn thought Ellie, Cara, Regina and Barb were hot, yet she didn't feel an iota of attraction toward them. If she were to like another female in that manner wouldn't it make more sense if that person were Ellie?

She and Ellie had been the best of friends over half their lives. She was sweet, kind, funny, smart and also more than David Cassidy gorgeous. Ellie was aware of most if not all her secrets, knew just about everything about her, they shared their hopes and dreams, shared a bed during countless sleepovers...she was Robyn's favorite person in the world. Yet she viewed her as more of a sister than a potential love interest.