Dilettante (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 16. The Tub

Fern walks over to the small bath tub and turns the tap on, waiting as it filled up with warm water, but if it was peace she was looking for then she had another thing coming.

Tari had swung open the bathroom door and stepped inside, interrupting Fern's little peace of mind and Tari wanted a gigantic vortex to open up on the floor and swallow her whole when she realized that Fern was naked. Her blushes were spared, thankfully, by the amount of bubbles that were in the bath, but she was still deeply embarrassed. Tari apologized and quickly looked away.

"Do you make a habit of walking into occupied bathrooms?" Fern snapped. She was embarrassed too, and the red tints on Tari's cheeks made Fern feel more uncomfortable.

Tari turned to walk away, but stopped before she got to the door and spun back around to look at her. "Can I dress you when you are done?" She asked.

"Get out!" Fern barked.

"Fine, asshole." Tari said, and storms out.

Fern was beginning to relax in the tub when a shrill scream from Tari had her jumping up, grabbing a towel and rushing to the source of the noise. What she found when she opened the door to Tari's bedroom made her laugh so much that she almost dropped her towel.

Tari was standing on a chair looking as pale as a sheet at a centipede. The sight of it scurrying across the waxed floor made Fern shake her head, the things girly girls feared always amused her. "Please get rid of it," she pleaded.

"Sorry, but this asshole is going back to the bath." Fern said, walking away.

"Wait! Please? I will knock next time."

"Do not patronize me, Tari. I know you're not capable of doing that." Fern told her.

Fern goes to the kitchen to fill a mug with boiling hot water and returns to Tari's bedroom to dump it on the centipede. She then proceeds to wrap up the dead insect with a tissue and flushes it down the toilet. Tari had been watching the entire time with amazement and without a warning, Fern takes Tari's hand and drags her to the bathroom.

"Do you want me to bathe with you?" Tari asked excitedly.

"No! You have dirt in your hair and I am not washing your bed sheets again."

Tari allowed Fern to peel the clothes away from her body and willingly steps into the hot water as Fern stands there, practically naked. Fern kneels down beside the tub and starts to lather and scrub Tari's back. It was covered in faint little scars. She found a new one just above the shoulder and traces her thumb over it. Tari's breath hitched at the contact and attempted to swat her hand away. She hadn't noticed this one before because Tari's hair hid it so well.

"How did you get this scar?" Fern asked.

"Surgery."

"No shit. What about the one on your back and stomach?"

Fern had wanted to ask these questions for ages. There were more scars on her arms and legs that she just discovered tonight. Some of them were barely visible at all.

"Surgery," Tari said once more.

Tari was a mystery and Fern wasn't going to stop searching until she found the truth. She observed the scar on her neck again as she scoops water onto her hands to pour it over her skin. It was insane.

It looked like only that part of her flesh was dipped in scalding water and singed with a Bunsen burner. The skin was all bumpy and molded into an abnormally shaped triangle. It didn't look like the results of a surgery.

"Talk to me," Fern said softly, as she scrubs Tari's hair with shampoo.

"What about?" Tari asked.