(Ophelia)
***
Koharu pulled on my arm. "Bathe with me."
I smirked, recalling what I said before at Caelum. "You're not shy about that anymore?"
*And so quickly…?*
She rolled her eyes. "Who said I was in the first place?"
Knowing she was probably right, I snorted and devolved into laughter.
I turned the faucet on in the glossy room, accidentally dialing it up to a scalding temperature. The pressure was so high that the water moved in streams like a geyser, droplets becoming bouncy balls as they hit the tile and seared my palm.
As I did that, Koharu closed the door and locked it behind us, stripping herself.
Under the bright white lights that nearly made my eyes ache, I spun around to see the profile of her body clearly for the first time, not wanting to take my eyes off her.
I was immobilized. She was not particularly thin nor thick—coming somewhere a bit fuller than average—but the gentle curves of her body were elegant and soft. Glowing like the reflection of light off brown tourmaline, her skin was the slightest bit lighter bare beyond the obvious tan lines of her clothes. My eyes focused somewhere near her center to see her details rather than the big picture.
*Every line of you is drawing me in…*
She looked back over at me with rosy cheeks before chuckling, trying to mask her embarrassment. It was as if she also wanted to remind me that I was still fully clothed as the steam from the bath blurred her edges.
*Why the fuck does the water have to be so hot?*
My cheeks also went red, and the steam formed thin sheets on my face. I removed my clothes—placing them in a small pile on one of the counters—before I turned to see Koharu eyeing me down. She always had that same sort of look on her face when we were alone: teasing and playful.
Regardless, she didn't make any remarks about my ogling. She instead scooped a handful of water from the tub and threw it in my face.
I hissed from the burning sensation of it as if a volcano vomited on my skin. Laughing heartily, she told me to hurry as she stepped, legs lithe like the step of a cat while the water was barely disturbed.
I was so caught up in looking at her that it just snapped to me that the water was running over, sloshing out on the ground when Koharu seated herself on one side of the tub.
"Shit," I complained as I stepped over to the faucet to turn it off, careful not to slip.
Steadying myself, I waited for the water level to go down some through a tiny hole in the bottom that was cut like a honeycomb. It didn't take long for that to happen, and I sat across from her, our legs in some enigmatic tangle.
The water was a warm embrace that I welcomed. It surrounded me up to my shoulders, sometimes reaching the middle of my neck with unruly waves. It seared the most sensitive parts of my skin, but I grew accustomed to the feeling.
I hadn't ever had a warm bath like this. All mine were quick and cold and uninviting.
But, *oh*.
Enraptured in the heat, the smooth skin rubbing against mine was something new, too. Wet hair danced against my legs in one direction and fell flat in the other. Between Koharu and me, the warmth skyrocketed beyond the temperature of the water—so much so that I couldn't ignore even the slightest touch in the best way possible.
*What would it feel like if I—*
"What are you thinking about?" Koharu asked, seeming dead serious for once. Her tone dropped from its joyful cheekiness into something melancholic.
I removed my eyes from the parts of her I hadn't seen closely yet. It wasn't a good time to flirt.
"Mm… Nothing I should talk about."
"Sure." Her reply was snippy.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing I should think about."
I tilted my head. If she didn't answer the first time, there was no way she was going to give me an authentic response.
I searched the room, begrudgingly taking my eyes off her. A rack protruding from the wall caught my attention, and I seized a bottle with a blue top from it: *Blueberry Delight Shampoo*.
It didn't fit with the pink theme of the room at all.
Weird.
I remembered Roslynn said it went in the hair.
Perfect.
I turned the bottle upside-down as it nearly slid from my hands. It was made of some smooth substance I did not recognize, and it seemed as if it would be brittle when it was anything but.
The liquid that oozed from the bottle when I opened it was a deep navy with streaks of purple and the viscosity of honey. I let enough seep out to fill my palm with a coating before wiping my hands together until a white foam that looked surprisingly edible took the place of the cool colors.
*If I take a word of advice from nature, anything this colorful is probably poisonous.*
Koharu watched the movement of my hands listlessly. I brought them up past her ears and sunk them into her hair, scratching her scalp.
Her head and eyes rolled back slightly, and her breath hitched. She relaxed until her head approached the tile wall as I held it up, weaving my hands in and out of it like a skilled artisan. The tangles were frothy and strange. I dragged my fingertips along the top part of her neck as she squirmed.
"Sit still."
"It feels nice," she said with her eyes closed. Without her usual confidence, she was sincere. "How can I?"
I lifted my thumbs from her scalp before I placed them along her cheeks and pressed them towards each other. Her lips then looked like a fish.
*If only fish made a sound.*
"I'll do this if you don't." I rubbed the pads against her cheeks in circles as she attempted to chuckle.
Volume fluctuating, she replied, "I'll take the head massage then."
"Wise choice," I said with a giggle before I kissed an empty patch on her forehead lightly.
While her face softened, it was apparent her mood turned less bitter as she played along with my antics.
"You think we're lucky to be here like this, right?" she asked suddenly when she flicked some water at me while I continued to rub the shampoo in.
Smiling, I nodded. "Of course."
I counted the possibilities on my fingers. "Here, with you. Here, when we're alone. Here, when we're about to go home. I think it's great."
"I figured," she muttered, only partially appeased.
She wasn't hard to read in joy or despair. Her longing to stay behind never went unnoticed by me. I had to indulge her in that fantasy for just a moment if I wanted any cooperation from her.