Safety First

It would be more poetic to say that it started to rain, when she arrived at the office building. It didn’t though. It wasn’t even cold, so poetic rain was quite out of the question. She was in the city for only a day, but to travel so far and not be somehow in his presence seemed wrong.

While she was standing across the street, wondering if she should leave a note, play the mysterious leading lady, the outer door turned and there he was. Oops. Too late to play it cool. I wonder if my face looks that shocked, she thought, staring into the wide eyes. They were clearly green, even from this distance. While she stood, feigning casual, he went ahead and put one foot in front of the other until he was close enough to touch.
“Um, you’re standing on the road” was all she could manage.
“Hello, love” he said.

Images of things that had never happened flashed across her thoughts. The voice was familiar, and so was the longing. It traced white heat up her spine and must have conducted enough energy to get her legs to move, because when he took the last step to the pavement, she shuffled enough to give him room. From there it was a small thing to start walking beside him. After all, she was headed in this direction anyway. So it was no problem. Not at all.

He spoke a little, here and there, but the words got caught up in her hearing. Like when she sank low in the bath, and the warm water filled her ears. Uncomfortable, but not exactly unpleasant. The one thing that came through loud and clear was,
”...been a long day and I’m headed home. Will you join me?”

She said nothing, but her path followed his, past shops, around corners, down stairs, until they were nestled in the cloying wilderness of the Underground, waiting for the train beside corporate soldiers and tourists. Polyester and Italian wool, uneasy comrades in the fluorescent light. The overcrowding made it necessary to stand close, and from here she could see the calmness of his face, but also feel the sharp, heavy breathing, which made it a lie. He looked at her and smiled, showing teeth. The lines which etched a welcome stopped short of those eyes. The green stayed cool, and brittle. Funny, she thought, how you had to be this close, to notice that.

Slowly her legs began to move her away from him. He turned, all calmness gone, and grabbed her arm with inviting pressure.
“No. I need this. I want to be inside you.”
His face became a little blurred as she leaned forward to brush the last of the white heat from her lips, to his.
“You were” she said softly, “but I’m better now”

She went ahead and put one foot in front of the other, until the distance between them was so great, even if he reached as far as he could, he would never be close enough to touch.

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