Hey there, thank you very much for all your reviews, I'm happy to know I didn't mess last chap.
Enjoy,
So ;)
ps: scuby, thank you so much for talking me into this one.
Act 7: Sara
Go apologize to her.
No.
Don't be a jerk and go apologize!
No.
I swear Sidle…
But she…
That was uncalled for! You hurt her, just to hurt her, she's your friend damn it!
It's only right, she hurt me in the first place.
Stop being an infant and go apologize!
I'm still debating with myself whether or not I should go, taking three steps toward the door only to turn around and taking three steps toward the corridor. I'm about to leave her house for good when I hear a loud crash followed by Catherine's curses.
I rush to her bedroom and open the door wide without knocking, which turns out to be a mistake because she isn't decent. She's kneeling down topless, picking up pieces of what used to be her full length mirror…topless.
Holy…
I never doubted that Cath had a great body, but I never bargained for seeing that much of her, especially under these circumstances.
As soon as she sees me she covers herself with her hands. I turn my head away, feeling heat coloring my cheeks.
"Sorry," I mumble with embarrassment.
"Fuck! Ouch…" I hear her curse in pain and look at her again I see her grabbing her shirt and putting it on quickly before staring at her bloody hands. She looks at me with a mix of anger and surprise. "I thought…" she walks to her bathroom. "I thought you had left."
"I was about to when I heard the glass broke."
"Would you, uh, go in Lindsey's bathroom and find some band aids please?"
"Sure," I reply before doing what I'm told. I come back two minutes later with two boxes. "Alright, I have a big dilemma," I state.
"Oh? What is that?" she asks looking at me from her bathroom.
"SpongeBob or Power Puff Girls?" I put on my best serious face.
She frowns and pouts a bit. "Aww… no Scooby-Doo?" she looks at me with a cute puppy expression.
I sigh in a dramatic way. "I'm afraid not…unless you want me to go check again."
"Nah, that's fine…SpongeBob it is," she chuckles.
I come in the bathroom and silently check her hands to see if any piece of mirror is in her wounds. She only has superficial cuts, after cleaning them I put a band aid on each one of them.
I'm about to go put the band aids where I found them when a blood stain attracts my attention. I look away quickly. "You…uh…cut yourself," I stutter.
"Yeah I know you just stitched me up," she frowns not understanding my embarrassment.
"No, I meant…" I point out her shirt.
She looks down and sees blood sipping through it at the level of her breasts. "Damn it!"
"We should clean this," I state. She looks at me uncertainly. "I'll be gentle."
She chuckles nervously, clearly not being at ease. "Sar…"
"You prefer that I leave you alone to do it?" I ask her gently.
"You know it's kind of ironic, because I've been trying to get you in my bed and fail, and now you want to see me topless?"
"Well…I kind of did, a few minutes ago," I deadpan, making her blush furiously. "You can hold a towel while I take care of the wounds."
She takes a deep breath "Okay," she clears her throat looking at her feet. "Alright, hum…all the first aid stuff is in Lindsey's bathroom though, since she's usually the one requiring first aid."
"Okay, I'll be right back."
I take everything I might need to take care of Catherine's wound and go back to her with my hands full.
"Jesus Sara, do you think you're performing surgery?"
"I just like to be thorough," I simply answer.
"You got gloves?"
"Always when blood's involved," I wink at her.
I close the distance between us, standing in front of her. She's looking everywhere but at me.
She clears her throat. "So…shall I call you nurse or doctor?" she jokes nervously.
"Well…" I smirk.
She smiles and shakes her head lightly. "Let's get on with it then…"
"Ok," I put my gloves on and flex my hands twice until I feel at ease with my gloves. "Could you…" I trail off but she understands me. She lowers the towel revealing the birth of her breasts, where three cuts are showing. I move my hands to her chest.
She flinches. "I haven't touched you yet."
"But it's going to hurt," she says.
"I'll be gentle," I swear and she nods. I touch her skin delicately and then reach to take a cotton ball which I damp it with alcohol. "It's going to sting," I warn her before starting to clean her wound, and she hisses. "Sorry."
"That doesn't sting, it burns," she grits her teeth. "No wonder Lindsey cries like a baby when I fix her up."
I chuckle but stay focus. "Cath, those look deep," I state softly.
"No scars please," she pleads.
"You'll have most likely faint lines," I reply staring at her wound.
"Great," she sighs and frowns. "Now I'll never be able to take my shirt off."
"Oh come on," I roll my eyes.
"Seriously, Sara, look at me," she asks. I look at her in the eyes and then look away. "See? You can't even look at me except in a clinical way."
I decide to ignore her comment and focus again on her wound, I band it and then turn my attention to the other. "It's going to sting again."
"Okay."
I apply the cotton ball on her flesh and she jumps in pain. "Fuck!" she curses, the towel fell when she jerked away, her first instinct is to cover her breasts with her hands.
"Sorry," I mumble, looking away again.
She's looking at her feet and takes deep breaths. "Just hurry up, maybe it'll hurt less."
I nod and come closer to her again. Looking closer at the wound I understand why it hurt her, I can see tiny pieces of mirror stuck in her flesh. I look at the wound and then at her.
She frowns when she doesn't feel me taking care of her after a few seconds. "What?"
I focus on her wound again, feeling myself blushing furiously. "Youneedtotakeyourhandsoff…" I mumble.
"What did you say?"
I clear my throat and look at her again. "You need to...uh…take your hands off."
"What?!!" she exclaims.
"There's glass in the cut…and I need to…"
"But…if I move my hands…" she looks vulnerable and fragile.
"I'm a woman, I've seen breasts before," I attempt to joke.
She looks away, I can see her body slightly shaking. She moves both her hands away in an uncertain movement. She lets her hands dangling at her side and balls her fists.
"So…hum…you've seen any good movies lately?" she asks still looking away.
"Not really," I answer absentmindedly. I reach for my tweezers and try to think of the best way to extract the shards of glass.
I can feel her gaze on me, it's disturbing. It's like she was burning holes through me, like she could see me naked…like an odd caress from her eyes.
"So, you still won't tell me?" I ask her.
"Tell you what?" her voice is strained as I take out a piece of glass and put it away on a tissue I had placed on the edge of the sink.
"Tell me why you broke the mirror."
She shrugs and averts her eyes. "I was looking at it…" she tightens her jaw not to curse.
"I'm not sure to understand," I confess, scanning her wound with my eyes making sure I didn't leave any glass shards behind. "Sting alert," I motion the cotton ball I'm holding.
"I didn't like what I saw," she adds.
I turn my head toward her room and then shrug. "Yeah, the walls are a bit ugly," I joke. "You might think about changing the color someday."
She doesn't smile. "I meant my reflection," she elaborates.
I put butterflies on her wound and look at her. "Why?"
"Don't…" she shakes her head and looks at her chest. "You're done?"
"Yes."
"Thank you," she says hastily and looks for a shirt.
"Why?"
"It's not important," she put a shirt on but doesn't close it. My eyes slowly travel along her curves.
I never thought Catherine would be so insecure. I have to say the overconfidence she always displays kept me from ever thinking that she might have doubts about herself or actually not like herself. Her vulnerability is touching, and I feel like I was looking at her for the first time.
"You're beautiful," the words pass the barriers of my lips before I can even censure myself.
"No, I'm not," she replies firmly. She puts her hand to her stomach. "This used to be flat…and now…it's a little flabby," she moves her hands to her sides. "I have love handles! Love handles, Sara!" she says with a hint of desperation. "And these," she moves her hands back to her breasts. "Look at these…" she lifts them up a bit before letting them go. "They're saggy…they used to be so…so…pert," she looks away, not before I see tears ready to fall in her eyes.
"You are beautiful," I repeat honestly.
"Please, stop ok," this time she's a bit angry. She's fumbling with her buttons for her hands are shaking a little.
"I don't think beauty comes from perfection…the flaws…that's what makes beauty real and exceptional," I hook one finger under her chin and force her to look at me. "You are beautiful."
Our eyes lock and I feel like a bolt of lightening travelling through my whole body. I feel myself leaning in slowly, with a shaky breath. My heart starts to race in my chest and my lips are trembling. I can hear both our shallow breathing coming and going in unison. She doesn't move, but I can see her shivering. Our breaths mingle and become faster. Our lips barely brush one another, I can feel my flesh burning with anticipation, it's like her lips were already on mine.
My clarity returns before I decide to seal the kiss. I sigh and close my eyes, freezing myself in motion, and then step back. I look at her a see a flash of hurt crossing her eyes.
"I should go," I say taking my gloves off and starting to clean everything.
I take everything back where I found it and put the used cotton balls and everything that I used to clean her wounds in the trash.
I'm over the kitchen sink cleaning my hands, scrubbing them with soap and energy. Once I'm done I dry them with clean kitchen roll. I'm startled when I turn around and find Catherine leaning silently against her counter.
"You never asked me why," she states, looking at me dead in the eyes.
I stare back and try to connect the dots but my mind doesn't come back with anything. "Asked you why what?"
"Why I did what I did at the bar."
I nod. "Why?"
"You wanted her…and you didn't want me," she chuckles bitterly. "It drove me nuts that a stranger could have that effect on you…while I don't even draw so much as a simple response from you," she snorts. "I've had my fair share of bad decisions, and this idea was probably the top…to have you rejecting me like you did, not once but several times…it hurt," she looks away.
"I used to be like that girl, I used to be the one to have the attention, to be the one people would want to connect with. Now I'm invisible, but you know what? It hurt tenfold to be invisible to you."
I smirk and shake my head, gritting my teeth not to let my anger pour. "You're unbelievable you know that?" I laugh harshly.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't laugh at me right now," she replies upset.
"You want to talk about being hurt?" I ask rhetorically. "I've been there for quite some time…and yet you never saw me…Do you have any idea of how much it hurts to have you looking at me only for some bet?....To have you coming to my face with that bet basically ranked me even lower than all the lousy sleazebag you had the misfortune to date…" I walk closer to her a lean in a bit. "Do you know how much it hurts to know that it's all I'm worth to you?"
We stand there staring at each other, time seems to have stopped. She breaks the eye contact probably not able to stand my anger and hurt anymore so I pass her by without another word.
I'm done with this. I hate that I let myself be vulnerable and admit that she had more effect on me than she can imagine.
Fuck you Willows for being so oblivious.
Fuck you.
Thanks for reading
