Graveyard, 3:00 AM
He stood, still as a night shadow, feet planted firmly in place like some great evergreen, staring t the gray stone as rain soaked him from the outside in. He kept his hands in his pockets, but nothing about his posture suggested that he was at ease.
When he finally hung his head, she crept out from behind the tree and walked to him slowly. One hand sliding up his back to press gently at his should, and the other curling around his bicep, she nudged him to turn toward her.
"Hey, Maxie," he said in a near mumble. "How long were you gonna hug that tree?"
"Until the bulldozers left," she answered. "Come on, let's get you dry."
He kept his hands in his pockets and she linked an arm through his as they walked wordlessly to her apartment.
At the door, they silently removed their shoes and carried them inside before Max turned to close the door gently behind them. She looked to Original Cindy's makeshift door and noted that her sassy friend seemed to be fast asleep. She raised a vertical finger to her lips and took his hand, leading him to her bedroom. Thankfully, it had a closeable door.
He looked around the room, surprised somehow at how neat it was. Her bed was made; her clothes all put away, two sets of shoes neatly arranged at her bedside – one pair of boots, one pair of sneakers. Both hers. He followed her lead, setting his shoes next to hers by her door.
She busied herself lighting two candles, then shrugging off her coat and throwing it on her side chair.
He wasn't sure what to do. Sit? Continue standing? He didn't want to mess up her nice, dry bed. But suddenly, she was staring at him, the glow of the flickering candles playing shadows across her face.
She spoke lowly, so as not to wake her roommate. "As nice as you look in that suit," she started, moving closer to him, "you're soaked." She watched the calm of his stormy eyes as she pushed the dark gray suit jacket over his shoulders.
"Just trying to pay her the respect she deserves," he said, closing his eyes at her memory. The woman in front of him mimicked his memory, her brown hair swinging at his arms.
"I know," she said, laying his jacket on top of hers. She returned to him and pulled his tie loose until each end hung at either side of the lapels. She picked at his buttons one by one, until a sliver of his skin peeked out.
She swept her hands inside the shirt and over his shoulders – just as she had done with his jacket – but for some reason, this time her hands were warm. Her eyes darted to his chest as she pulled the garment down his arms, but the sleeves got caught at his wrists.
She laughed, and for the first time in six hours, he smiled. Wriggling his wrists free, his smile died down to a tiny grin. He shivered under her gaze.
"Cold?" she interpreted.
Before he could respond, she tossed his shirt aside, peeled back her blanket and slid her top sheet off the bed. She gathered the ends in one hand, circled her other hand behind him at the neck, and grabbed the end, wrapping it around his shoulders.
He grabbed the ends from inside the sheet and pulled it tighter around him.
"Might be easier to get dry without your pants," she offered.
She watched the suggestion of his muscles under the sheet as he removed his slacks and stepped out of them. She picked them up and hung them over an exposed pipe before disappearing into her closet for a moment. When she came back out, she was wearing sweats and a tee-shirt.
"You miss her," she said, sitting on the edge of her bed and motioning for him to follow.
He sat down and stared at the shoddy carpeting. "Sometimes."
She raised her arm to his shoulder and rested it there as her fingers moved some of his wet hair off of his forehead. The pad of her thumb swept along his cheek and he turned to face her. She looked hurt. And he thought he knew why.
"I'm sorry, I know I look like him."
"That's not-" she started. "I wasn't thinking of him." She'd been thinking how painful this was for the man before her.
"Maxie," he started. He let go of one of the ends of the sheet and reached a bare arm out to touch her face. The sheet fell from his shoulder and she watched it slide down.
For two minutes, they stared into one another's eyes, sharing their losses.
And then she tilted her chin up to him and kissed him.