[Continues path.] Get ready for bed. Nothing else needs to be done.

You poke your head inside the bathroom. The shower hasn’t been running long, so there’s no mist build-up yet. You half-suspected Scarlet to remake with a playful comment or at least say something when you step inside.

She doesn’t.

Hovering over the sink, you grab your toothbrush and toothpaste and prepare for bed. When rinse spit your final rinse, Scarlet chimes in. “Going to join me?”

There’s no flirtatious aftertone in her voice—no sing-song happiness in the invitation. You look at the mirror and spot her leaning her head out from the glass panel that makes the door. Her fake red locks are dark and dripping with water. Her eyes spotlight you in almost colorless hues. When you turn around to face her, you find her looking much more youthful again, like the night you saw her playing her guitar— there’s no lust, no form of sexual intent. There’s only the remnants of your tattered relationship that leaves the curiosity of conversation.

You dart your gaze to the vague outline of her nude body through the glass and clear your throat. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Join me,” she says.

“Why?”

Her eyes leave briefly but return. “To chat.”

In all your flings, you’d never spoken to someone this intimately before— stark naked in a shower without the intent for intimacy.

…

…

The space in the shower was remarkably tight. In (much) different circumstances, seeing Scarlet in the nude would have triggered some kind of primal desire to breed, and perhaps a lesser man would have forgone the events of the last 36 hours to do so. You did not, however.

“What’s eating you, Scarlet?”

She stared up at you as she glistened dimly. “This is a predicament I’ve had the pleasure of avoiding in all my adult life. I’ve got feelings for you. It’s gotten lethal. I don’t enjoy it much.”

She closes her eyes and leans her head back, drenching herself in the not-so-warm water pouring out from the shower head. “I’ve always had little girl crushes on boys, but I can’t phantom the thought of you getting hurt. Being with another girl…”

Scarlet opens her eyes as the water cascades down her shoulders. Her features are all human, heated despite the shower. “Say something.”