sunkissed, worldless

06

Being young had its perks, relative to the obvious stuff.

It's that if Adele resets her memory, she doesn't lose much. What's seventeen years compared to thirty? What's a childhood that never really got its way? She stopped reaching for the switch by the side of the door, or turning the tap when she goes to check her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

She learns that they hold grudges, not any more than her generation does but it's noteworthy somehow just because it's not coming from her. Like when she asks Olivia's father, Hanbin, about the bathhouse. He does have an English name like Olivia, but he's not very fond of it.

There's a difference between a Korean bathhouse and a Japanese one. He might not know the exact differences, but he insists they're absolutely not the same.

It's the kind with history attached beyond her birth and she supposes she too has reasons to keep people unforgivable.

She runs her fingers through the kinks in her hair. "Does it smell good?"

"I don't know, oil and flowers?" Olivia gives a look that probably meant, "What else is it supposed to smell like?"

Adele holds out her hand, a silent beckon for Olivia to sit on the bed next to her. She takes the bottle, carefully dabs some on her palm then rubs it on Olivia's back. They've long shed their sweaty t-shirts and tossed them on the floor next to the drawer, along with their jeans and leggings. Their sneakers against the foot of the bed, Olivia's socks folded into a ball and Adele's in each respective shoe.

Olivia sits sideways, it's admittedly not the most efficient position but here she can watch her work. Adele leans in to reach the furthest parts and she swears there's a magnetic wave in the air between them because Olivia feels closer than she should be.

It's her hands running over her shoulder blades, underneath the straps of her bra and all the way to her shoulders. Kneading on the skin with her thumb, repeats on the other side. Wanders upwards to her neck, the base of her skull and it startles her a little bit when Olivia throws her head back.

It takes one more dose until she's done and Olivia rolls her bones back.

"Here, I'll do it for you."

Olivia's better at it than she is. And forces her to face away so she could properly massage the slow ache of slouching on handlebars.

"That was nice of you," Olivia starts abruptly, adds a drop more of oil. "With Tia."

"Of course," she sings, a grinning arrogance, "I'm a saint."

"Shut up, I'm trying to compliment you."

"And I'm taking it graciously!- ah, ack-" She cringes, curls her spine as Olivia presses her thumbs into all the wrong spots, the slab underneath her shoulders, the ticklish space at her sides. "Okay, okay!"

She could feel Olivia rolling her eyes behind her, switching over to her palms now. Feels less of a threat but Adele is still on edge, just in case.

"This place has more," She searches for the word, "Community, than Lake Jade."

"Should we do that?" Adele tries glancing back at her but only gets a fraction of her expression. "Back home?"

There's a pause, Olivia's frowning. "Yeah, I can't imagine some of them trying to like the rest of us."

Adele laughs. This town is terribly lucky in that regard, that people liked each other enough to stay and eat dinners with laughs but manners. She remembers coming from a world where people didn't like her, nor Olivia for that matter. Must've been lucky they found each other.