No Midnight Mercy ☾ (gxg)

18-gasoline

Eden awoke to the feeling of movement atop her.

Opening her eyelids which felt glued together, she saw a dark body moving over her. Blinking her eyes once more, her vision cleared. Cecilia, who had woken up, was gently trying to get off the girl without stirring her from her slumber. Her attempts proved futile when the girl suddenly sat up, nearly bumping heads with the woman.

"Oh," the woman mumbled, sitting all the way up and finally getting herself off the couch. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you." Her morning voice was rasp from sleep.

Eden's entire body ached and cracked as she rubbed her sleepy face, breathing in deeply. She felt as if she had slept on a pile of bricks with a pile of cinderblocks on top of her, like she had fallen asleep in the middle of a construction sight. She looked down at her silky aqua dress which was wrinkled, and her heels which were kicked onto the floor.

"I'm sorry about last night," Cecilia blurted, clearing her voice and looking down at her own messy clothes which were slightly damp. She smelled sharply of alcohol, and she couldn't quite remember what happened once she somehow got them home safe. "I shouldn't have drove intoxicated, first of all, and I should have called Mrs. Larkson to come manage me and get a taxi to take you home." She kicked off her dress shoes and picked them up in her hands. "Let me just go take a shower and clean up, then I'll take you home." She momentarily looked at Eden whose puffy eyes halfway processed what she had said and then made her way up the stairs to go shower.

The girl scratched her tangled blonde hair as memories from the night flooded her mind. She remembered the dinner and the argument they had gotten into, and she suddenly felt quite stupid for getting as angry as she did. She remembered Cecilia swerving on the road, the bottle of vodka in the car, and the feeling of the woman collapsing on her and leaving her stuck between her and the couch all night. She remembered what Cecilia said as she had fallen asleep with her tears dripping on Eden's chest.

Taking her shoes off and leaving them on the floor, she stood up and stretched her body. The sun was filling in through the windows in the room, but she didn't feel bright at all. She felt guilty and shaken up, and all she wanted was run to Cecilia and make up and have everything be okay again.

Stepping over her shoes, she walked around the couch and slowly began ascending the staircase. The higher she got, the more she could hear the faint sound of water running. It led her to Cecilia's bedroom where the door was cracked open.

Though it was morning and sunny, the windows were covered with thick curtains which left the bedroom dim. Looking around the room, she locked eyes on the door of the ensuite bathroom which was also cracked open, steam flowing from it and light illuminating through it. She could hear the shower loud and clear now, and she reached behind her back to unzip her dress.

Cecilia heard the shower curtain slide open, but she did not turn from the steaming hot water which she was letting stream onto her face. She felt Eden enter the shower behind her and close the curtain again. Before the girl had joined her, she had been on the verge of melting down. Guilt and anxiety were mixing inside her—guilt over the way she had been treating Eden and anxiety about losing her. Everything the girl had said the previous night was true. Cecilia was selfish, arrogant, and incapable of basic human empathy. She had never felt towards anyone the feelings she felt towards Eden.

Many people had touched Cecilia—more than she could count. Her body had been with other bodies and her mouth had seen many people's skin. Yet never before had touch been such an electric feeling until she had felt Eden touch her the first time. And when she felt Eden's soft hands glide over her shoulders, that electric feeling came rushing back to her.