Chapter 11
A film had formed on the bathwater, their fingers and toes beginning to prune before Vera felt confident enough to put her hands on Joan's thighs and turn her head to nestle into Joan's breast. A quiet sigh was the only noise that broke their calming silence. There was no need to fill the air with useless words, when they both knew that there was no longer a urgency to dance the steps of seduction. Their breathing synched and Joan's heartbeat was all that filled Vera's ears. Before she realized it, Vera closed her eyes and quietly dozed off. This was what home was supposed to feel like.
She awoke with a startle and for a moment was deeply confused at where she was. The water, now barely lukewarm, rippled around her. Joan had softly began to stroke Vera's head and hushed her.
"I didn't want to move you. I figured you needed it." Joan shifted her body and slipped out from behind Vera in one fell swoop. She made her way to the linen cabinet and removed two large eggplant towels, quickly hiding her body beneath one.
"You're shivering." Joan held a towel out towards Vera while trying not to stare at her bird-like body, slightly trembling in the white concave of porcelain. She leaned in and with a plunging hand, pulled the plug and watched as the water made its emptying tornado by Vera's delicate toes.
When Joan sat up, Vera was kneeling in the tub, the water draining around her, the towel draped on her shoulders, her damp hair in waves portraiting her face. "How can you be two different people, Joan?" Vera looked earnest, but her eyes questioning and timid.
"I'm unsure what you mean." Joan stood and put her hand down to assist Vera up and out.
"I mean, how can you be so stone-faced and yet so soft. I feel like I'm seeing another side of you that I didn't know existed." Vera approached inches away from Joan and looked straight up at her. "You're so well hidden. You're so intensely well hidden. Why?"
Joan fixed her eyes on Vera's mouth, unsure of what to say. She herself was unable to understand why she kept her vulnerability locked away in the depths of an uncrackable safe.
Vera had walked forward and put her arms around Joan, pressing her face forward into Joan's chest. "Why? I need to know what I've done to see this side of you."
Joan stood in shock; still without the power to put her thoughts into words. How could Vera not know? Very gently, Joan brought her arms forward and pulled Vera into her in an embrace.
"There's a part of me that's somehow broken. I need to be how I am. I can't help but be who I am. You though, Vera." Joan paused, "you're the complete antithesis of what I've grown up to become." She brought her hands to hold either side of Vera's cherubic face, "you've made me want to be someone who could make you happy." Joan leaned down and kissed Vera ever so gently and a tingly pleasure washed through her as she felt Vera sigh.
Their lips parted and Vera pressed her face back into Joan's warm body. "Joan?" her voice came out small.
"Hmm?"
"Would you make love to me?"
Joan gathered Vera up into her arms and squeezed. She did not want to let go.