Thanks again to TheRuffian for being the beta on this chapter and telling me it's good even when I am fully convinced it's not. (:
I have been in the shower for a long time now. Mainly because I know Holly absolutely needs to shower and she will be late to class if she doesn't get to use the restroom to get ready in a timely fashion. Also, because the hot water feels delightful on my sore muscles. Holly made sure I was up again at the ridiculous hour of 4:45 as she prepared to go out on her jog. I figured I'd just go out on this jog with her because there was nothing else to do at this ludicrous hour. I stupidly figured 'Oh, what could it hurt? This type of stuff is good for you' the answer was everything. It could hurt everything. My legs and butt felt as if I had put them through a grinder. I had desperately and hopelessly tried to out run Holly—as if I could outrun someone who goes out on jogs every morning for fun. I am quite certain my incredibly high level of competitiveness is going to get me killed someday. I was rocking out to Baba O'Riley in the shower and singing along at top volume and I could still hear that crazy girl banging on the door. She was shouting things at me through the door but, thankfully, I couldn't decipher the actual words.
I don't need to fight!
To prove I'm right!
I don't need to be forgiven.
Don't cry.
Don't raise your eye.
It's only teenage wasteland.
This is what I am belting out when the shower curtain is ripped back quickly and a burst of cold air falls over my skin. I jerk my head around to the left to see Holly standing in the doorway of the shower.
"Holly, are you fucking kidding me?"
"I need to shower. So what's going to happen here is you're going to get the hell out and move on considering you've already been in here for thirty minutes. Or I'm going to come in and shower with you because I have to get the hell out of here. Your choice."
I feel a wave of stubbornness wash over me. Why should I have to give up my shower so easily? Perhaps it would make her ridiculously uncomfortable to be forced to shower with me.
"I'm not going anywhere, nerd."
Her eyes darken for a second. It's almost not even long enough for me to notice it—but I do—before she manages to compose herself.
"Could we please turn this music down? It's like a goddamn rock concert in here."
"Since you're invading my shower, I am going to go with hell no."
I see her unwrap the towel she has wrapped around her body and put it on the counter next to the shower stall. She steps into the shower and I have to continuously remind myself to keep my eyes on her face, a task I am finding far more difficult than I would have imagined.
"Back up, water hog. You're already soaking wet and you're stealing all of the water," she says as she tugs my arm to pull me away from the hot stream of water.
I stumble backwards a bit and manage to barely catch myself against the back wall of the stall.
"Thanks, jackass, you almost made me fall on my ass."
"See, this shower is too small for one person and Gail's shower products much less two people."
"Let me guess, you're talking about the fucking shower caddy again. What is it with you? Do you want to have a torrid love affair with that thing? You sure do talk about it enough."
She is scrubbing her hair with her back turned towards me. My mind keeps warning me that I should keep my eyes up, unfortunately my eyes will have no part in this and they slowly slide down her body, studiously appraising it. What I've learned after my evaluation is that I am pretty confident she isn't real, her body must have been carved by Michelangelo or something. This type of perfection doesn't exist in a real person. I poke her arm and she quickly turns her head around to look at me.
"Can I help you?"
"Nope, I was just checking to make sure you were real and not made out of marble or something."
"You are some kind of strange," she says and turns her head back towards the front of the stall to add conditioner to her hair.
"You know, Holly, you're taking up too much room in this shower. How am I supposed to shave?"
"You've been in here for thirty five minutes and you're telling me you haven't bothered to shave, Big Foot?"
"Well, I was going to try to be less of a hairy beast just for you, but now screw you."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
My jaw drops at this statement and I can't seem to formulate any coherent response, witty or otherwise.
"Unfortunately for you, I wouldn't allow a hairy orangutan into my bed. So sad."
"You're missing out, Holly. You're missing out."
She turns her head towards me and flashes her trademark lopsided grin then steps back under the water to rinse the conditioner out. She then lathers up her loofa and begins quickly scrubbing her body.
"Could you get my back?"
"Gross, Holly. But I guess I will since who knows when the last time your back got a proper cleaning. No wonder you smell so foul."
She hands me the loofa but my hand is shaking too much to receive it and I drop it. We both lean down to grab it at the same time and crack our heads together.
"Damn your clumsiness, Gail."
"Whatever, your ridiculously hard head probably just gave me a concussion. I think I see stars. It's like a galaxy in here."
She shoves the loofa back into my hand and makes sure I have a firm grip on it before she lets go of it. As she does so her long fingers brush over mine and I stand there frozen.
"Are you going to get my back, or what? I have to get out of here I'm going to be late."
"Oh, yeah, sure."
I manage to say, though my mouth is very dry. I quickly scrub her back and rinse out the loofa. She snatches it out of my hand.
"Thanks, that was fun. Shower buddies, forever."
Holly says to me, sarcasm lacing her voice as she steps out of the shower. She wraps herself in her towel and reaches back in the shower to grab her caddy out.
"See how easy a shower caddy is to use? So simple…"
"Fucking shower caddy," I mumble.
"Okay, angora rabbit, you can remove all your fur now. Enjoy. I'll see you later."
She winked at me and left the bathroom closing the door behind her.
Goddamn that girl. Why did she have to wink at me and suggest further shower appearances together? She truly is a magnificent bastard. Even if it was said sarcastically it has my mind spinning uncontrollably. I've never had any sort of feelings for anyone of the female sex before, plus she drove me absolutely crazy. So why were these feelings for her creeping up on me? She hadn't really done anything to indicate she had any feelings for me whatsoever.
I didn't know much. What I did know was that I had feelings for Holly and I am totally, unabashedly, flummoxed by her.