The Mystery Friend
Karen lay in the bed that had been provided for her, by one of her closed friends. She just couldn't sleep. She had been hypnotised by the shadows that danced on the ceiling, trying to make out pictures from the siluettes that appeared, as a light breeze travelled through the open window and blew the curtain back and forth. She shivered. Pulling the cream silk sheet around her body, she turned on her side and closed her eyes, trying to forget about the day's unfortunate events.
Startled, her eyes flew open. The wind outside had grown stronger and had blown the window open. As it collided with the side of the building, there was a loud thud. She searched the room for the clock. Reaching over to the bedside table, she found her glasses and placed them delicately on her face. The digital clock read 2:45.
She sat up in bed and stretched. A yawn escaped her lips as she rose and walked over to the window, the wooden floor boards creaking with every step.
In the room next door, he could hear her walking about, knowing that she was trying to be as quiet as possible, as not to wake him. She was always so considerate of only his feelings. That was one thing he loved about her.
Knowing of the conflicting emotions that were eating away at her and the inner torment she felt, he rose from his bed and stepped out into the landing. They had discussed the situation at length before finally retiring to their bedrooms.
He knocked quietly on her bedroom door. She didn't answer. Worried, he slowly turned the handle and eased the door open. Peering around the corner of the door he saw her standing, her arms crossed in front of her as she leaned against one of the slightly ajar windows, staring out onto the lake at the back of his house, her hair blowing ever so slightly in the breeze.
She was wearing a blue shirt that belonged to him. Her tiny body was lost in his shirt. He gazed at her moonlight shiny hair, his eyes travelling down the side of her body noticing that she had not fully buttoned up the shirt, the milky white flesh of her long neck down to cleavage, exposed. Still mesmerised, his eyes continued descending until they reached the bottom of his shirt, where her thigh was unclothed. He continued his descent and suddenly an irrepressible giggle escaped his lips.
Karen was ripped from her dream like state, she blinked and a gasp uncontrollably escaped her mouth. She whipped her head around quickly and exhaled in relief as she saw her friend standing over by the bedroom door. With one hand on her chest, trying to control her breathing, she pointed at him with the other.
"You'll be the death of me one of these days, sneaking up on me like that!"
They stared at each other and finally Karen's initial scowl had softened and a smile appeared on her face, showing her perfectly aligned white teeth. He smiled back and apologised for startling her.
He walked across the room and joined his friend by the window seat. He stood slightly behind her and placed his right arm around her waist. She moved closer to him and rested her head on his bare chest. A shiver was sent down the right side of his torso where Karen's hair had slightly brushed the inside of his upper arm.
As he stared out onto the lake, captivated by the moon reflecting off of the small ripples in the water, Karen studied him.
Glancing upwards, she watched as he ran his left hand through his light brown hair, leaving it slightly dishevelled, a single strand falling but coming to a halt when reaching his eyebrow. She had to resist the temptation of removing the strand from his face as she didn't want to disturb this comfortable silence that existed between them. Watching, as he removed his hand from his hair, Karen's eyes mirrored his arm movement and she gazed as his muscular arm fell limp at his side. She felt her eyes wander across his stomach, noticing a small line of hair that ran from the top of his boxers, up to meet his belly button. She smiled. She continued her ascent, her eyes widening as she noticed his well formed abdominal muscles. She lifted her head up towards his, leaving his best feature for last, the feature that always makes her heart skip a beat every time they were exposed to her.
His eyes were closed.
Confused, she broke the silence by letting out a loud sigh. His eyes flew open.
"What were you thinking about?" she asked
He lowered his head and stared at the floor. Lifting his head with her right hand, Karen pleaded with her eyes to tell her.
"I just wish that I could help you with all your marital problems…even if he did have an affair, are you sure that you want to give up everything that you had together?"
She lowered her head and shrugged, biting her bottom lip, thinking. Her heart was cracked, however there was one person that had stood by her, supported her, comforted her in her hour of need. This person had rescued her heart and stopped it from breaking in two. This person had her in his embrace now.
Not wanting to admit this, as she knew that he was her closest friend and she knew that he could only have plutonic feelings for her, she quickly changed the subject.
Once again she built up the brick wall around her heart, swallowed her feelings, lifted her head slowly and smiled at him with tear stained eyes.
"What were you laughing at when you came into my room?" she asked with a giggle.
He held his breath for a moment, feeling slightly embarrassed about what he was about to say. Why do I feel so embarrassed and vulnerable he thought. I've known this woman for years now. He cleared his throat, placed his hands on either side of Karen's waist and turned her to face him.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a sudden gust of wind howled through the window, causing them both to shiver, goose bumps appearing on their skin. Karen turned her head towards where she had been lying and with that reached down, removed his right hand from her waist and led him to the bed.
With the sheet pulled up to their waists, they lay next to each other, both facing the ceiling, Karen resting her right arm above her head on the feather pillow. Silence. Karen saw him slowly turning on to his side to face her, propping his head up with this right hand. She moved her head slightly to the left and gazed at him, studying his face in the moonlight.
"The reason why I was laughing…" he trailed off.
Quick and painless, he thought to himself. Like a band-aid. Just tell her how I feel, have her reject me and make a joke of it in the morning. That was his plan.
With lighting speed, he blurted out,
"I was watching you when you were leaning against the window, looking all sexy, wearing my blue shirt and looking so pensive. And…and…you looked really gorgeous. I love the way you looked….. I love you…. You took my breath away…I mean I couldn't breath…you were mesmerizing. Then when I saw your fluffy pink bed socks… I… I… just laughed. They just looked so cute on you"
He exhaled.
Thinking that this story's only means was to cheer her up, she started laughing, clapping her hands and bouncing up and down on the bed.
Her laughter was cut short when she felt him grabbing her hands, forcing her to turn on her side and face him, his serious eyes piercing into hers.
She lay there dumb stuck. He's serious, she thought, the tornado in her head twirling around so fast. She felt dizzy. She felt confused. Did she hear him correctly? In amongst all the words that had been uttered, did she hear an "I love you"?
Still holding her hands, he slowly brought them to his lips and softly kissed her finger tips, making sure never to break eye contact.
"I am serious Karen. You are such a wonderful person and I love everything about you. It killed me when you announced that you were getting married again…"
One by one, these words where knocking down the metaphorical barrier around her heart, this barrier that she had kept up for such a long time, that she jumped behind whenever she found her true emotions and feelings surfacing.
"But" he continued,
"I knew that you just saw me as a friend, as you do now…."
Karen opened her mouth, about to say something. She was stopped by a soft finger on her lips.
"Please let me finish first before you say anything" he pleaded.
As she nodded in silence, he continued,
"I know you just see me as a friend but I can't hold it in any longer, I have to stop lying to myself and I know that my timing is pretty screwed up with everything that's happened to you."
He hesitated for a moment.
"I am in love with you Karen"
The tornado inside her head was subsiding into a light wave in her mind. Her voice screamed in her head, he's in love with me and with this thought, butterflies appeared in her stomach. Why does he look so sad? She thought.
Not knowing how to express her feelings in words, she maintained eye contact with him and slowly edged her way towards his face, her heart beating faster with every inch. She lifted herself up slightly from the pillow, tilted her head, wet her lips a little and placed a soft kiss on his bottom lip, making sure to place the tip of her tongue every so tenderly on his lip so that he would know that this was not a normal kiss between friends.
She broke their connection. He blinked, his eyebrows raised and a large smile appeared on his face.
He could feel her hot breath on his lips, he couldn't resist her inviting eyes and with that he placed his right hand delicately on her neck, pulled her lips to his, rolled her over onto her back and passionately kissed her, his full weight on top of her. Their eyes closed.
Karen responded in kind, exploring the inside of his mouth with her tongue and running her finger nails slowly up and down his bare back.
As they continued the kiss, Karen felt his hand travel up the outside of her thigh, forcing the shirt aside and then glide over the skin of her now exposed stomach and chest, letting out a satisfied moan when he grazed her right nipple with the tip of his finger.
He pulled back from the kiss, smiled at her and slowly buttoned up her shirt, trying desperately to memorise her wonderful curves. He then took her in his arms and sighed happily.
She gazed into his blue eyes and smiled. Her lips then travelled to his left ear, where she whispered,
"I am in love with you too Jack."