Bathroom

"Okay, I'll just stop by the ladies room first." - Beth explains, standing up and hugging Rick tightly. She then walks out of his cell but before she heads to the bathroom she gives him one final piece of advice. - "Sleep tight. And don't let the bed bugs bite!"

"Thanks, Beth. I don't think they would anyway." - Says Rick, almost laughing, thinking about his stench. He then takes his shirt off and lies down, surprised to see Beth still standing by his cell door. - "Go on, Beth, go have fun with the others, you've done more than enough tonight. I'm so relaxed, I feel like I'm gonna pass out any second".

Smiling, Beth nods and finally walks away towards the bathroom. Midway there, she can already hear Rick snoring loudly.

"Man, he really wasn't joking!" - She thinks, smiling at herself for having played a role in it. - "I bet that even if I sucked his toes he wouldn't wake up now." - She giggles, then making a face at the thought of it. She gets to the bathroom and shuts the door behind her. It's all dark inside, but there should be a flashlight somewhere in there. Without thinking properly after the weird encounter, Beth tries to feel around with her hands to look for it, instead of just opening the door again to let some daylight in. First, her hands explore the sink by the toilet seat, but they find nothing. Then, she decides to kneel down and look for it on the floor, first by the door and then by the toilet seat.

"Darn it, where did Rick put the damn thing?" - She thinks, annoyed. - "Maybe he also couldn't find it..." - She contemporizes. Luckily, the prison bathroom is not big at all and, a few seconds later, Beth's hand finally bumps into something. - "There you are! How did you end up all the way here?" - She says out loud. Somehow the flashlight ended up behind the toilet seat, knocked down sideways. Turning it on, Beth is glad to see it working. She points it to where the paper roll should be and smiles as she can finally pee without worries. She'd been meaning to ever since she got in Rick's cell, but one thing led to another and she had to hold it until that moment. "Hmmmm, finally!" - She mumbles, relieving herself for a good 30 seconds before ripping some toilet paper off to clean herself up. Once she's dried, she stands up but feels something on her left thigh. - "What in the world?" - Instinctively, she feels it up with her hand and realizes she's got a wet spot. Closing her eyes, Beth tries to calm down, but her mouth still jolts out a few words.

"Argh, what is wrong with boys? Why can't they ever clean up after themselves?!" - She complains, annoyed at Rick for missing the 20-inch hole in front of him. As she gathers more toilet paper, she remembers how even her father used to do the same thing back home. - "Men are just incorrigible!" - She folds the paper in half and wipes her thigh to make sure she's rid of Rick's pee but, after a first wipe, she feels she's still wet down there, almost as if she'd just spread the pee instead of wiping it off. Dumbfounded and without realizing, Beth slowly brings the paper to her nose and smells it. One sniff at it and she immediately remembers Rick's hand's smell after he came from the bathroom. - "So it WAS Rick after all... but this isn't pee..." - She asserts. Unable to make out what it is, Beth lets her curiousness get the best of her and she touches the paper with her forefinger carefully. "Ew, ew, why am I doing this?!" - She wonders, but does it anyway. It's not much, but it's enough for Beth's finger to feel the gooey texture. The smell, however, is the most dominating aspect of it, so strong and fishy. Confused, Beth mutters : "Why the hell would Rick spit on the toilet when the sink is right there? And why was it in his hand?! He probably wiped it off, it's so gooey." - She pondered, only then realizing she herself hadn't spit, despite her initial intent after the toe-sucking session with Rick.

"I might as well do it now... although it's not really tasting much anymore." - Leaning over the sink, she gathers as much saliva as she can. Once she's done, she spits it out into it, doing this same routine twice more until her tongue does not taste dirt anymore. - "See? That wasn't so bad, was it, Beth?" - She asks, in an attempt to convince herself the taste was no big deal. As she points her flashlight to the sink, however, something strikes her. - "Wait a minute, why is Rick's saliva so different from mine?" - Beth had been touching her own spit for the past half hour, she knew exactly how it felt, the consistency and even the smell. And it was nothing like Rick's. At that moment she also remembered having spit-fights with Maggie when they were younger, and how their saliva was very similar. "Is this... a boy thing? I never knew theirs was this different from ours..." - She innocently ponders, trying hard to remember if Maggie ever said anything about that. Maggie had had some experiences with boys when she was younger, and now she had Glenn. - "They have even had sex! But Maggie never said anything... maybe it's not a boy thing... maybe it's just a macho thing, when they don't brush their teeth in like... weeks!" - She began laughing but, as she finished saying 'macho', she recalled her father's farm when he bred horses and how much he talked about the "incredibly strong smell of their..."

And as Beth finally realizes what she just touched and smelled, she doesn't know what to do with herself. "Oh my god, oh my god, is this really? Oh god... did I just? First spit and no this? Oh lord... oh lord..." - After a few seconds of panic, she pulls herself together and walks over to the sink, breathing deeply. - "Okay... I'll just wash it off and it'll be like nothing ever happened." - She turns the tap on to be reminded they are out of water for the day. - "This is my luck... my god damn luck..." - Beth whimpers, before pausing to figure out what to do. She sits back down on the toilet, forgetting it wasn't clean. - "Okay, Beth, it's just... semen. That's all. It's not poison, it's not acid, it's just... semen... it's just... gross... like saliva. No biggie" - She argues. - "It'll be alright... just... wipe it off... and you'll be okay. No biggie, no biggie." - She repeats, wiping her finger off several times, before storming out of the bathroom and walking towards the cafeteria.

On her way over, she passes Rick's cell again and she decides to take a look at the "culprit". Popping her head inside, Beth sees Rick snoring loudly, lying calmly in his underwear. He had managed to take off his pants before falling asleep. It's dark inside now that he blew the candle out, and it takes Beth a few seconds to notice Rick's right hand inside his underwear. He seems to be rubbing himself continuously to Beth's awe. Horrified, she pulls her head out of his cell and realizes something even more shocking. She had unintentionally brought her hand up to her nose and had been smelling it while watching Rick. Beth's face turns red and, embarrassed, she decides to head upstairs to her own cell. She's feeling incredibly ashamed, perhaps even disgusted by her actions.

"What the hell are you doing?!" - She asks herself in vain as she enters her cell and drops down in bed. Some tears begin to form, but she wipes them out before they can fall by themselves. - "What's wrong with you, Beth?!" - She asks out loud, for more effect. As she undoes her ponytail, she starts cursing once again. - "Well done, Beth, now it's gonna be all over your hair! And smells ne-ver leave you hair..." - Annoyed, she starts shaking her head in disapproval and, when she least expects, her hand is once again by her nose. It's like she can't help but be enthralled by that unusual smell... But she is beside herself now, she just doesn't know what to do, so she lifts her hips and lies on top of said hand, to keep her from smelling it yet again. She needs an action plan, now.