"Can you walk by yourself?" Gaege asked when we arrived back at the apartment. All I gave him was a thumbs up and a half smile before stumbling out of the car. He managed to catch me before falling on my face. Gaege followed behind me making sure I was completely stable all the way to the door. I leaned on the wall until he got the door to the apartment open. My vision was hazy and I couldn't see where he was leading me through the dark apartment. The next thing I knew, I was sitting on the bed. As I sat there, I could see his face a foot or so from mine. He was crouched down in front of me with his hands on my knees.
"Boop," I said, gently tapping my index finger on the tip of his nose. I could see his infectious smile as he shook his head.
"Wait here," he spoke as he tapped my knees and stood up.
"You got it juicy." I watched as his frame get blurry and then disappeared out of the room. He came back moments later with a bottle of water and the package of makeup wipes.
"Drink this." He unscrewed the cap and handed it to me.
"Aye aye captain." The transfer of the bottle from hand to hand went smoother than we both thought it would. I tilted my head back and let the water run into my mouth with only a bit of spillage running down my face. Gaege wiped the water off with his thumb. When my mouth was at capacity, I stopped pouring and handed the bottle back. I swished the water around before swallowing and looking back at him.
"How are you feeling," he asked as he pulled a makeup wiped from the package.
"Could be worse," I responded.
"How are you not throwing up or passed out?"
"I'm in college and I come from a family of alcoholics. I've had a decent tolerance since birth and then I got my experience when I started at Boulder." He gently started to wipe my face. "You gotta scrub. Make that shit hurt or it's not coming off," I instructed. He pressed harder but not hard enough.
"How the fuck?"
"I told you it's professional. It's not coming off unless you really want it to come off. Don't worry about hurting me. I'm pretty used to it. I've had my cosmetology license since 18." He hesitated but did it anyway. Gaege went through four makeup wipes trying to get a majority off. The dirty wipes laid on the ground in a pile on one side of him and the water bottle sat on the other side. He paused and gazed at my face. It was like I had sobered up for a quick second. I could see everything around him so clearly. His eyes appeared almost grey in the lighting. We both knew what the other was thinking but didn't know who would act first.
In the moment, I leaned forward and my lips met his. They were just ask I had imagined: soft and gentle. He did not reject the kiss, in fact, he leaned in to kiss back for a minute until he had a realization. He quickly pulled away leaving my lips alone once more. "We shouldn't. You're drunk," he spoke looking at the ground slightly ashamed.
"Are you sure?" I responded.
"Yes, you're drunk."
"You're right about that." I leaned back and flopped on the bed, leaving only my legs to hang off. We didn't say anything next. He just unlaced my boots and I laid their in silence. I didn't know what to say. Did I just make a mistake? Did I ruin this?
He slipped the boots off of my feet and stood. Gaege didn't feel like going through my bag so he headed to his closet and pulled a shirt down. "Can you?" He asked waving his finger pointed at me.
"Dress myself? Most likely."
"Cool." He handed me the shirt and walked out of the room. As I took my shirt off, I could hear the water run from him washing his face. Luckily, it was only eyeliner so it came off easily.
I attempted to reach around my back but fell just short from being able to reach my bra hooks.
"Hey, Gaege?" I called out.
"Yeah, whats up?"
"Can you help me please?"
"Yeah, what do you need?" He asked as he walked in drying his face off with a towel. When he looked up, he lost his words.
"Can you unhook my bra for me? I can't reach it."
"Uh... yeah." He stood there for a second before finally moving closer. Gaege stopped when he could reach me and stood there. I could tell that he was taking the sight of me in. I instructed him through how to unhook my bra through drunken slurs. Through the silence, I could hear him swallow. I felt his fingers slowly grab a hold of the waist band as if he was afraid to make a wrong move.
In an instant, it was undone and his fingers slid under the straps, slowly pushing them off of my shoulders, feeling the texture of my skin. As much as I wanted him to keep going, to keep touching me, I remembered what he had said and spoke, "Thank you. I got it now." He stopped instantly and took his fingers away but he did not walk away. I heard him sigh and footsteps leading out the door.
I took the shirt and threw it on as quick as I could then stripped my skirt off and climbed under the covers. He came back shortly later with some tylenol. He picked the water bottle up off of the floor and handed them to me, "Take this. It will help." I took them from him and popped the pills into my mouth and took a swig of water. Gaege sat next to me on the bed and pushed the hair out of my face. As he stood, I grabbed his hand.
"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" I asked.
"Yeah. I can do that. Just let me change."
"Kay." I let go of his hand and got on my phone as I waited for him to come back. I sent the group picture to my friends and they all instantly replied telling me how lucky I was. When he came back in, he turned the climbed behind me and laid down. He shifted around and got comfortable then wrapped his arm around me. I laid my phone on the side table and closed my eyes. My senses started to become overwhelmed. The smell of his calonge filled the air over the stench of alcohol and I could hear his heartbeat that cut through the silence of the room. It didn't take long before I had lost consciousness.
