“Ugh. You left your stubble in the sink!”
I was making her coffee and Rene was about to shower. I’d stayed over for the first time. Her roommate was away for the weekend.
“Sorry,” I said, though I doubt she heard. It wasn’t sincere.
I sat in one of the dark wooden chairs they used as dining furniture and flipped through a catalog. I forget which one or what it sold. It may have been clothing. I do remember thinking at some point in the interval that she’d look good wearing striped socks, but given my propensity for that thought I wouldn’t pin it on the catalog.
Some time later, I was just sitting on the couch. Morning silence reminds me of moments.
“Vic!” she yelped. I stood and walked to her roommate’s bedroom (lectures on respect for others’ private space are not necessary). She was standing beside the bed, wrapped in a canary towel and matted in all senses of the word. As I stood and gawked, she gestured to the white sheets. “Look.”
I glanced over, expecting some stain or another, and saw that she was pointing at a light smattering of dark hairs, undoubtedly from me as she had barely a shadow in all areas below her neck. I looked back at her.
“What.”
“Look at this hair. We need to clean this up.”
“Now? We’ve got all weekend.”
“Yea, but we just can’t leave it like this. This is gross.” She looked exasperated.
I was borderline offended, but instead approached her and put my arms on her shoulders.
“Does it really bother you?”
“Just, we can’t leave it like this.”
So, naturally, I removed my shirt and laid down in the bed despite her protests.
“Come on.”
“I’m wet.”
I smiled and resisted. “So wrap a towel around your head and come here.”
I waited, and she did. We laid there for a while, that first morning. I was making a point that I certainly wasn’t aware of.
“Being with me’s like being with an animal, you know?”
“Will I have to look after you all the time?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. It was an unfamilar question.
“Maybe,” I said. “But I don’t need much. And I scare off prowlers.”
I did help her get her roommate’s room in order later that weekend, but by that point I’d been all over the apartment. My presence was undeniable.