When Ling woke again, the bedroom was empty. The light said it was around mid-afternoon. There was an Elisa-shaped depression in the sheets opposite her, but it was the scent lingering in the bed that drew her mind back to yesterday's events.
Ling rolled over and looked at the ceiling. She heard voices outside, chatting.
Alex and Elisa.
She stared at the ceiling for a while, emotions swirling around in her head.
Too much to process now.
She pulled on some sweatpants, and made her way to the shower. Thankfully she wouldn't need to pass them, and could let the hot water bring her back to normalcy.
Except that it didn't. She felt hyper-aware of her skin, as the water coursed and licked its way over it, serpentine.
In her room, she went to her wardrobe. She looked at the long skirt and top she would normally wear for a day like today and felt ... like she wanted more.
She took out a shorter skirt, something from her university days - nothing overly provocative, but something that combined with her figure would certainly turn heads. She matched it with another university special, a halter-top that cut low on her back and exposed her midriff. One of her lusher red lipsticks completed the look.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
Just like those summer days back on campus.
She made her way out to the living room. As expected, Elisa and Alex were there, a selection of takeaway bagels and coffee on the table. "Hey," she murmured to them as she walked in, nodding to Alex and heading over to the fridge, poured herself a grapefruit juice and leisurely walked around to the counter facing across the two. Slowly, measuredly, she brought her eyes up to focus on Elisa.
She had felt Elisa's eyes flicking to her the second she entered the room. As they finally met, Elisa looked away. She kept running the conversation with Alex, but knowing her friend as she did Ling could read the embarrassment.
A jolt went through her body at the realization. She's really embarrassed. Whatever happened this morning is still here, a living thing in the air between us.
"Anyway, I better get going" Alex finished, picking himself up off the coach and heading over to Ling. He, too, wasn't particularly meeting her gaze, and then she remembered - the bathroom incident! She had almost forgotten. Normally she would be content to let the incident pass into awkward memory.
Then, in a sudden flush, she decided to be bolder.
"Hey Alex," she said, and the unfamiliarity of her tone brought his head up. "Don't worry about last night." She gave him a conspiratorial grin as she said it.
He seemed lost for a second, but then returned the smile. And, to her slight astonishment, winked at her.
