Factory days

"Ever wonder what people see when they're looking at you?" Jack's voice was soft in the darkness.

"Mmm-hmm," she murmured sleepily. "Constantly."

"I'm serious."

"Sometimes I do. Usually I don't care. Nothing I can do about it. They see me how they want, right? So what's the point in worrying?"

"I guess that's true. But still....."

"You worry too much Jack."

"Maybe I do. Sometimes I think...no I know I'm not who I appear to be. Like I'm wearing a mask."

His hands ran over her bare skin and she sighed in contentment.

"Who are you then?" She whispered, bringing her mouth close to his ear. "Hm? Because you know what? Whoever you might be I like you. A lot."

He laughed and pulled her closer. "You do don't you? Sometimes I think you see right through me, right down to my soul."

Samantha thought about it and realized he was right. She'd known he was different from the very start. Gorgeous and troubling. Shy but with an air about him that made people recoil.

Something not right with him. I don't care either. Here in the darkness with him. In my bed. That's all that matters. Nevermind the rest of the world.

"You're Jack," she finally said. "That's all I need to know."

"You're beautiful you know," he said in a slightly accusatory way. "In a way that's....different. The first time I saw you something clicked in my mind. I wanted you. I don't want many people. Not many at all. You, on the other hand. You....."

His tone was both sinister and dreamy. Disconcerting. Yet she couldn't pull away. Something about those words sucked her in and for a second she had an inkling of what would happen between them. Just a little glimpse of intensity and chaos.

We're in this together, she thought and was puzzled why that popped into her head.

"It would be...hard...to lose you." His voice was going into the odd speech pattern that seemed to come and go. "Sometimes I think it would be uh excruciating."

"I'm here now." She drew herself closer to him and laid her head on his chest. His heart was beating fast.

"I'm glad you are. I'll always be glad. No matter what happens."

She raised her head, ready to ask him what he meant when he kissed her. She raised a hand to touch his smooth face, loving the feeling of his lips on hers.

She never asked him what he meant. It didn't matter.

They were alone in the darkness. That was all that mattered.