I remember the first time we met. It’s a dream that will be forever etched vividly in my mind like the imprint of a memory. That night I sat at my computer, watching the words blurring together and running chasers across my screen. I promised you that we would talk again.
Start menu…shutdown.
The computer whirred to a stop, leaving only a peaceful nighttime silence in its wake. I got up and walked down the hall to my room, undressed, and slipped underneath the blanket on my bed. I stretched out and enjoyed the feeling of my limbs unfurling after two hours of sitting in front of the computer. I thought about you as I drifted off to sleep.
I awoke some time later to the sound of running water. I glanced over at the clock. Three a.m. it read. I lay there for a few minutes hoping to drift back to sleep but the sound of the running water nagged me into consciousness, tempting me awake with the question of who could possibly be running a bath at three o’clock in the morning. I knew everyone else that lived in the house would be fast asleep by now. I breathed deeply, willing myself back to sleep. Sleep didn’t come. Finally I could stand it no longer.
I padded barefoot down the hall. The door to the bathroom was open slightly and a strange orangish yellow glow flashed through the open crack. I pushed lightly on the door with the flat of my hand and poked my head around the corner to see what the strange light was.
The bathroom lights were out but inside the bathroom was lit up by a myriad of candles, their golden light reflecting off of the shiny surfaces of the bathroom fixtures, their numbers multiplied by their reflection in the large bathroom mirror over the sink. The room was filled with wisps of steam that puffed from behind the closed shower curtain and danced in the flickering candlelight. The air in the bathroom was warm and damp, heavy with the slight perfume of jasmine or something similar. The atmosphere was almost tropical. But none of that explained who was taking a bath at this time of morning.
“Is somebody here?” I asked quietly. I heard a laugh escape from behind the curtain; a woman’s laugh that tapered off into a giggle as if the outburst had been unintentional. I frowned. The voice sounded, somehow, faintly familiar. But I could not place it as being anyone I knew.
“Who’s there?” I asked and my questioned was answered with another laugh. This one was less like a giggle, softer and more seductive. The steam in the room seemed to be seeping into my brain, confusing me. Okay, I thought to myself, two can play this game. I reached out and pulled the curtain back. My eyes widened in surprise.
It was you. You were there. Naked and stretched out in the bathtub surrounded by hundreds of bubbles whose opalescent surfaces glittered in the golden yellow light. Your red hair was piled loosely on top of your head. You smiled up at me invitingly.
Surprise and delight could not begin to describe my feelings at that moment. Although surprise was an accurate word intoxicated may have been a better description of how I was feeling. I shook my head slightly, trying to mentally clear out the confusion; to separate the fog in my mind from the swirling puffs of steam that permeated the bathroom air. I though for an instant that this must be a dream, but then I realized it was much too real.
“Whatcha doing here?” I asked coyly.
“Well…” you said simply, “You wanted me here didn’t you?”
I wanted her here; now that was an understatement! I had thought of nothing but for weeks now. Every email exchanged, every phone call made had only made me realize just how much I wanted her here. But I was still confused.
“Well of course I did,” I said casually, “but how did you get here so fast?” It was only the first question on my list, right up there with, am I dreaming.
“I have my ways,” you purred as your smile turned from playful to coy. You looked up at me with wide eyes. Moisture from the steaming bath glistened off of your skin making it shimmer silkily in the candlelight.
“Since I came all this way, are we just going to talk, or are we going to share this bath?” you asked.