Her

28

PHOENIX

"Do you want some hot chocolate?"

I blink at Aza, sniff.

"Or tea, or coffee, or - I don't know."

"No, hot chocolate is fine. It's perfect."

"All right. Whatever you want, princess."

She smiles back at me before walking to the cupboards, taking out some stuff. I watch her movements and feel myself turning hot when I realise what she's wearing: black panties and a loose-fitting, cropped shirt. I try not to stare.

"So, uh," I say. "I don't really want to go. I mean, would you mind if I..."

"You can crash here if you want to. I don't mind."

"Okay. Thanks," I say, looking out of the window.

I hear her stepping towards me, so I look up. She holds out a roughly folded, black T-shirt to me.

"You can change into that," she says.

"Okay." I get up, take the shirt. "Thanks."

"I, uh..." She scratches her ear. "I'll go to the bathroom."

"Actually..." I bite my thumbnail. "Can you help me? The dress is kind of..."

"You want me to..." She clears her throat. "Yeah, sure."

"There's a..." I turn my back to her. "...zipper somewhere in the back, I think."

"I see it."

I feel Aza stepping closer. Then, I feel her very cautiously placing her hand between the back of my neck and my shoulder. Her fingers feel warm, gentle, nice. With her other hand, she pulls down the zipper. I feel her breathing, her breaths even warmer than her hands, hot, tingling my skin.

"Okay," she says. "Done."

"Thanks."

I take off the dress, step out of it, turn around. Our eyes touch. There was no need to wear a bra underneath the dress; I'm half naked. Aza is staring at me, not at my body, but into my eyes. The switch labeled electricity has turned on. My heart has started running marathons.

I grab the shirt on Aza's bed and slip into it. It smells good; it smells like her.

"So, what about that hot chocolate?"

"Right. Sorry, princess."

She goes back to the kitchen area, and I sit down on her bed. Two seconds pass. I get up. I don't want to stare at her butt - even if, I have to admit, it's not a bad view -, so I mumble something about the bathroom and rush into it. I wash my face. I look at myself: puffy eyes, messy hair, skin paler than pale. I try to fix my appearance; I fail. I shake my head, step out of the room and back to Aza.

She's sitting on her bed, a mug in her hands and another one nearby. I take the other one and join her. She's turned on some fairy lights and some music. We sit there, sipping our drinks. It's comfortable. I look over to her a few times, and she looks back to me a few times.

"You want to see something cool?" she says.

"A photo of yourself?"

"Well, actually..." A grin. "Yeah."

She gets up and comes back with an envelope. She hands it to me.

"The photos we took on our d-" She clears her throat. "At the zoo," she says.

I look through them. There are a lot ones showing animals - obviously -, but there are also some that show me, her, or us. I'm half surprised and half not surprised that I'm smiling or even laughing on them. All of the photos are very well shot, with interesting perspectives, colours, and scenes.