Perspectives

Chapter 15

Waves of steam rose up around Piper as she cautiously lowered herself into the massive sink basin. She gave an audible sigh of pleasure as her sore and grimy body was submerged in the warm and bubbly water. Standing on flat feet, Piper found that he water came up to the top of her chest. "More like a pool than a bath." She mumbled to herself. 

 Despite her distaste for using a sink as a bathtub, Piper had to admit, being able to wash up in the warm soapy water felt incredible. She couldn't remember the last time she had taken a bath. Bathing had begun to be seen as childish among her peers once she reached middle school, and eleven year old Piper was very keen on not being seen as a child anymore. She had definitely forgotten how pleasant of an experience it was.

Rather than hurrying herself, Piper allowed herself to just soak in the warm sudsy water, all of her countless worries drifting out of mind if not for just a brief time. 

She tipped her head back, letting her thick mass of hair dip down into the water. Piper worked her fingers through the wet strands, scrubbing the shampoo infused water into her scalp. When she lifted her head back up again, her hair came out significantly cleaner and less grease ridden.

Piper gave a satisfied ah of approval as she slid her hand down the wet slicked back hair. Just then, a peace-shattering pounding came from the bathroom door. Piper's alarmed jolt disturbed the previously still water around her. Once she recovered from the initial surprise, Piper turned to the door and shot it an icy glare, intended for the disruptive giant on the other side rather than the door itself. 

"Are you finished yet?" Came Kalen's headache inducing shout from outside the door.

Piper rolled her eyes. "For Christ's sake, leave me in peace for ten minutes!" She called back, the irritation evident in her voice. 

"It's been twenty minutes already. It does not take that long to bathe." Kalen shot back impatiently. 

Though surprised she had already spent twenty minutes in the bath, the information didn't make her anymore likely to hurry up. In fact, it was probably more likely that she was now going to intentionally take longer, seeing as it seemed to get on Kalen's nerves so much. Piper smirked to herself at the thought. "I'll be done when I'm done" was her only response, eliciting a groan of annoyance from Kalen, followed by the distinct sound of his retreating footsteps. 

Sure to move as slowly as possible, Piper spent another ten minutes scrubbing off her body before she finally climbed out of the sink basin, having to use a considerable amount of upper body strength in order to pull herself up onto the counter top. 

Piper instantly felt the effect leaving the warm pool of water had, her pruned skin raising up into goosebumps as the cool air and the ice-like stone counter top touched her. Seeing the crimson towel sitting out for her, Piper hurried her dripping body over to it, eagerly grabbing it up and wrapping it around herself. 

"This is the biggest towel I've ever--oh." Piper broke off as she realized that the duvet sized 'towel' was actually a wash cloth. She scowled at the idea of a damn wash cloth even being too big for her. 

"Stupid big ass giants with their big ass wash cloths." She grumbled under her breath as she dried herself. It was only after she had finished drying off that she realized since Kalen had taken her clothes to get washed, she now had nothing to wear.

"Fucking great." Piper hissed, pulling the ill-fitting wash cloth more tightly around herself. With a long sigh of mourning for what she now had to do, Piper raised her voice and called out as loudly as her vocal cords would allow. "KALEN!" She screamed, knowing full well that even the loudest shout she could muster might not even be able to grab the giant's attention.