My Kind of Woman

26. Between And Below,

The door to the bathroom on that side opened abruptly, and I scrambled to yank down my shirt. I lay there awkwardly with my arms crossed over my chest and a flushed face. She wasn't coming into the room, but the sound of the door opening suddenly so close had made my heart leap. I wanted her to come in and straddle my waist, and kiss me again and again, until I was breathless and she was guiding my hands down her body. I took a shuddering breath in and shook my head against the mattress.

"Norah?"

I heard my name come from behind the bathroom door. I sat up quickly, clearing my throat.

"Yes?"

"Could you pass me the hairbrush please?" She asked.

I glanced behind me at the bedside table, the metal-ended hairbrush that Jackie used every morning sitting on it. I was sure there was a pink one in the bathroom, between the taps, but I wasn't going to point it out to her. Instead, I picked the hairbrush up off the bedside table and walked around the bed to the bathroom door. I wanted to shush my heart. Its beating was still overly loud and fast, only pulsing faster when she called my name.

In the bathroom, she was leaning on the edge of the bathtub, hair looking perfectly brushed. It was silky and smoothed down over her shoulders. I held the brush out by my hip and in response, she kissed me.

It was chaste; closed mouths, no tongue, just the lingering press of her lips to mine. I felt everything I had tensed relax and relief oozed through me.

I was hot and flushed and dazed and happy; I was too many things at once. She pulled back for a moment to look at me, for reassurance I think. I was sure I looked ridiculous, like a puppy, or something needy. But for the first time, she leaned back down against me and kissed me again. We kissed twice and afterwards there wasn't a glimmer of regret in her eyes. She was smiling; she looked amused. With me, with my face.

"Are you okay?" She asked, rubbing her hand on the back of my arm.

I nodded slowly, and forgot I'd even been worried about anything ever.

-

I slept like a log, like a baby, like I'd been away from my bed for nights upon nights. At some point, my heart did slow and my eyelids drooped. I dreamt of nothing and woke refreshed, to Jackie tugging on my sheets.

I yawned and said, "what are you doing?"

"God, you're a light sleeper, I only just started doing that," she grinned, "I was gonna wake you up."

"I'm awake."

I rolled over, wiping my sleepy eyes against the linen and stretching. Instinctively, I looked over at the bathroom door, in some slight hope that it would be open and she'd be brushing her hair in the mirror, or smiling through at me. But, it was closed.

"What do you wanna do?" She asked, shuffling up onto the bed to squash my leg with her weight.

"We're going out?"

"My parents are out, they're doing a walk day thing with dad's friends. I said we wouldn't wanna go," Jackie said.

"Right, well, I'm hungry."

"Let's go out to eat?"

Her dad had left her a wad of cash on the kitchen counter top, and a spare key for if we left. I took a shower and got changed lazily into black shorts and a white shirt. Jackie, on the other hand, was dressed up like she was going out for a posh lunch in a light skirt and fancy shirt. I looked like a scruffy, casual bodyguard of someone important. Even our feet differed; she was in a pair of strappy sandals with a gold buckle, whilst I'd kicked on a pair of black flip flops. With Mio away, I had no one to really impress. Not that I was impressing her regularly. And I was hungry, and I'd just woken up. Those were my excuses.