Are You Sure? (Marina)

Twenty.

Carina

Air felt like it was thinning around me and I gasped to pull air in. I immediately sat up to catch my breath. Maya shot up with me since I had been sleeping beside her. "Hey! Are you okay!?"

I was still pulling air into my lungs while I looked around her apartment. It was smoke free and cool, I relaxed a bit after seeing I wasn't stuck in a burning building. "Sorry" I pushed my sweaty hair back and scooted out of bed to go get a glass of water. I was filling up the glass when Maya came into the kitchen. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I'll go back to bed in a minute."

"Rina, you had a dream. Do you want to tell me about it?" She leaned against the counter and I couldn't help but eye the shirt she had thrown on to cover herself.

"Nothing new- I just felt I couldn't breath because I was stuck in a fire." I shrugged and sipped the water, "I promise you can go to bed I just need to freshen up a bit." I looked at my bag and then back at Maya.

"In the kitchen?" I looked around and realized how weird that looked. "Come on" she grabbed my hand and pulled me back to the room. I looked back at my bag and took a breath. I didn't need them to sleep. I didn't need them. So why is my skin crawling.

In the room Maya let go of my hand so I could use the restroom and I nodded before going in and splashed cold water on my face. I walked back into the room to slide back into the bed facing Maya. She moved closer and pulled me into her. The light from the window let the her eyes shine. They were so damn blue, I saw them shift as they looked back at me. There was this safe space they always invited me to and allowed me to easily getting lost in. Looking at them, there wasn't a darkness that could scare me. "Hai l'occhi piu bella che ho visto."

"Umm thank you?" She laughed as she smiled. I couldn't help but lean over and kiss her.

"Your eyes... I said they are beautiful." I ran my nose over hers then looked at them closer.

"Ditto but I like yours more" her sleepiness fell out of her mouth before she planted a chaste kiss on my lips. When I opened my eyes again hers were closed. Giving into the darkness of the night. Her hand laid hard on the small of my back. I shifted and she pulled me in closer. "Stay." I looked back up at her face, eyes still closed.

"I'm not going anywhere." I hugged myself to her and let her scent soothe me back to sleep. I knew it was wrong but Maya felt like an anchor, something I could lean on to not think so much. The sweet scent of her skin was better than any drug. The sleep I had every time I was in her arms was proof of that.

As I made my way back to consciousness I stretched out over Maya's bed looking for the warmth that was now absent from my body. I picked up my head when I didn't find it. The bed was empty, "Maya?"

I lifted off the bed and grabbed my shirt from the floor. The apartment was empty. She had probably went for a run so I took the moment to clean up from the night before. Maya tended to keep her apartment very tidy and I wanted her to find it that way when she got back.

I had just finished drying the plates when she walked in and immediately went to the room. Seeing I wasn't there she came into the kitchen and the smile she let stretch her face joined the many a smiles I had been collecting in my memories. "Hi, you were gone when I woke up. Please tell me you didn't run an extra mile."

"I umm— I did. I thought I would make it back before you got up." She came up to me and I stood off to the side. "Right sweaty. Wanna shower with me?"

"Si. I'm just going to finish drying the dishes." I put one down and picked up another. She was standing there tapping her hand on the counter, again thinking about something. "Cosa pensi? Something on your mind?"