Reflection
I stand in front of the mirror and sigh. We've just said our good nights, offered polite smiles as we paused outside our respective rooms. As always, we retire at the same time, almost as if it is planned. Could you hear the wistfulness I couldn't quite mask?
I look into the mirror and know that you are just meters away on the other side of the wall. Do you realize how close we are? Do you think about it?
It is all I can think about every night since I joined the Order at the beginning of the summer. It was no accident that I claimed the empty room next to yours.
I strain to hear any sound from your room, but it is silent. Are your movements quiet, or are you straining to hear me?
The thought seems to awaken me, and my hands reach for the hem of my blouse. I pull it over my head and shake the curls from my face. My hair is a mess, as usual, but—coupled with the look in my eye and the pale nakedness of my shoulders—it almost looks ... tousled. Like the hands of a lover have run through it over and over.
My own hands reach up to slide the straps of my bra across my shoulders and off. A twist of my wrist, and the cups fall away. I can't help but look at the turgid peaks and wonder what you would think if you could see me like this. My eyes close as my fingers gently glide from my waist upward to graze the tips of my breasts.
What would your hands feel like? Rough and calloused from your work in the lab? Would you be gentle?
There is a faint tremor in my hands as I fumble with the buttons on my skirt. It drops to the floor, and I step out of it, moving to the bed. I brace one shoe on the foot board and reach for the fastenings, watching my reflection out of the corner of my eye.
What would you think of the gentle arch of my foot? The taut muscle in my calf? I can picture my legs wrapped around your waist, toes flexing.
Soon I am bare, save for one final scrap of cloth. I hook my thumbs under the material and begin to inch it downward.
The reflection in the mirror is flushed and breathing hard. I wish you could see me now.
Would you want to?
I stand before the mirror, silently offering myself to you again. Just as I do every night.
Someday, I pray I'll see your reflection too.