Bath Time Confessions

  I never in my whole life thought shopping could be so tiring. Gloria was like a machine. I’ve never seen nothing like it. No matter how much Gloria drove me nuts in the past, finding this apartment with such a large bathtub has more than made up for it. And I would like to thank who ever put a dimmer light switch in this bathroom, what a wonderful idea. There’s nothing like a hot bath, low lighting and the sound of bubbles popping.

  I can’t believe the turn of events. A month ago the very thought of Gloria and I cuddling was not on my list of high probabilities. What did Gloria say to me this morning?

    ’I don’t think you’ve just discovered that in the last twelve hours. I think you’ve been in love with me since we first met. But now the fear of me hurting you is out of the way, you’re letting yourself experience the feelings you’ve already had.’

  I have never been one for the whole love at first sight. But was there some wisdom to what Gloria had said to me? Have I had strong feelings towards her from the beginning? Did I love her? Did I fall in love with her back on that dark rainy day in January? I don’t know, who knows these things? The only fear I have of Gloria now is to my heart. I’ve been busted up by women in the past. Two ex-wives, both left a hefty scar on my heart and I’ve been alone sense the last ex-wife. She left right after the deployment started. So it’s been about three and a half years I think.

  Gloria you’ve rocked my world, do you know that? I felt I could sleep right here in the tub. Gloria was putting my new clothes away, and no doubt throwing some of the old stuff out. Gloria had turn on some classical music out in the living room. One of my Beethoven piano mixes, she knew how much I love the piano. The piano has always been a instrument I’ve always wished I could played, but I had two left hands. I took a deep breath and let it out hard.

   ‘What was that big old sigh for?’

  Gloria had come into the bathroom without me hearing her.

   ‘Gloria I know we’re a little more intimate now, but can you do something for me please?’

   ’Sure.’

   ’When I’m in here could you knock please? I know you haven’t been human in a long time, be we humans like our privacy when were in the bathroom.’

  I couldn’t see if I hurt her feelings, I hope not. I had the shower curtain pulled closed.

   ’Do you want me to leave then?’ Gloria sounded upset.

   ’No you don’t have to leave; you just startled me that’s all. I have no problem with you being in here, but what if I was going to the bathroom and you just came in?’

  Gloria laughed; I think she understood my point.

   ‘I think I understand what you’re getting at. But you don’t have a problem with me coming in and visiting you?’

   ‘No, of course not.’

  I reach up and pull the shower curtain back a bit so I could see Gloria. I left my arm up on the side of the tub. Gloria was sitting on the toilet, the toilet was sitting at the foot of the tub, and she had her legs crossed with her hands in her lap. She had changed out of her clothes; she was in a little pink tank top and a pair of boxer.

She had her hair up with a rubber band. She had her contacts out and her eyes were shining.

  She smiled and said almost melancholy, ‘You look very comfortable.’

  I smiled, ‘I am, what’s wrong Gloria?

  Gloria sighed and looked away. Right when I though she wasn’t going to answer she said, ‘Oh nothing.’

   ‘Gloria what is it honey?’

   ‘It’s nothing, really.’

   ‘Do you want to join me?’

  I asked raising one eyebrow, could that be it I wondered? Gloria looked at me shocked; her eyes seem to get a little bit brighter after I asked that. Was that how

a vampire blushed, their eyes got brighter? I was going to have to ask Gloria about that later.

   ‘Conner! That wasn’t what I was thinking.’

 I laughed, ‘Sure.’

   ‘Well,’ Gloria paused, ’you don’t mind if I joined you do you?’

  I wasn’t used to seeing Gloria this shy. The vampire I was used too was always so straight forward. Seeing her this way just gave me a new appreciation for her. It gave me a bit of a taste of the girl that once was, but was lost at the end of that summer in nineteen sixty seven.

   ‘No I don’t mind. In fact I’m going to have to insist that you do.’ I said a little smug.

   ‘Oh do you now.’ Gloria said with a smile, ‘Close your eye.’

   ‘Not on your life.’

  Gloria stood up and put her hands on her hips.

   ‘You know I could just use my vampire speed to keep you from seeing me.’

   ‘Yes you could, but you shouldn’t. If you used your vampire speed to get into the tub, you would probably hurt me.’

   ‘Yeah, I’m sure your right.’

  Gloria pouted for a second then took a deep breath. Then pulled the curtain closed. I laughed at her shyness.

   ‘Gloria you are absolutely perfect, don’t tell me that you’re getting self-conscious on me.’

  Gloria grabbed the curtain and pull it open, and about yanked it from the curtain rod in the process. Gloria was still clothed and was smiling, then frowned.

   ’Why are you frowning?’ I asked.

   ’You’re not even a little shy about me seeing you naked?’

   ’Why would I be shy of you seeing me naked. This morning, you told me that you loved me. Why should I worry about you seeing me naked?’

   ’Hmmmmmm. I don’t know, I never thought of it that way.’

  Gloria shrugged and pulled her tank top off over her head. She kind of smiled at

me and took her boxers and undies off. Gloria was by far the most beautiful women I have even seen. She stood there for a moment very still. She was absolutely breath taking. I sat up in the tub and offered her my hand. Out in the

living room the music changed. And almost like she planned her movement to be on cue with the music, she reached out and took my hand. Gloria very gracefully, placed her shimmering white satin leg into the hot water. She placed her foot in between my legs, and then brought her other leg into the tub. She turned to face the wall at the foot of the tub. She moved very slowly.

  I could see in the gentle light the shape of body. I could not believe a body could look so perfect. Gloria had the most amazing back I had ever seen. The curve in her lower back, the shape of her buttocks, her legs. Gloria sat down in front of me and leaned against my chest. She reached up and grabbed the back of my neck with her left hand. She turned her face up towards mine, her eyes were closed.

Her body was so cold. I could feel the water cooling quickly.

  I put one of my arms up on the side of the tub and rested my other hand on Gloria stomach. Gloria rested her right hand on mine, the other hand on my thigh. Her hand was so cold compared to my leg. I thought to myself that if I wasn’t careful I would truly am at Gloria’s mercy. I think that I was more afraid

of that then her physically hurting me.

   ’What are you thinking about?’ she asked.

   ’I was thinking, that if we stay in here more than a few more minutes, we’re going to half to drain a bunch of the water out and refill it with more hot water.

I’m already starting to get cold.’

   ’Hmmmmmm. I know, I can feel the water getting cooler.’

  Gloria leaned forward and pulled the plug. While she remained leaning forward,

I grabbed the luffa that I had floating in the tub with me. I grabbed the bottle of

body wash off the side of the tub and squirted some into the luffa and started washing Gloria’s back.

  Gloria kind of looked over her shoulder, ‘What are you doing?’

   ‘Washing the most beautiful back I’ve ever seen.’

  Gloria chuckled and put the plug back into the drain.

   ‘How hot do you want the water?’

   ‘Just run it wide open, if it gets too hot I’ll tell you.’

  I could feel the new hot water around my feet. Laughing, Gloria grabbed the body wash and dumped the whole bottle into the tub.

   ‘What are you doing you goose?’

   ‘Making bubbles.’ She said laughing. I just smiled and shook my head.

   ‘I think you can turn the water off now. I think we’re going to flood the bathroom here in a second.’

  Gloria turned the water off and lay back against my chest. There were so many bubbles now in the tub they were over flowing onto the floor. Gloria’s body had warmed up, she felt so warm against me. I reached out and grabbed a handful of bubbles and put them on Gloria’s face. I snickered.

Gloria made a fist and squeezed it just under the surface of the water. A stream of water shot over her shoulder and hit my in the eye.

   ‘Damn Gloria, you got me in the eye.’

  Gloria wiped the bubbles from her face and chuckled. I reached up and grabbed

a towel from the towel rack and I wiped my eye. I tossed the towel onto the floor by the far wall.

   ’So you think your funny do you?’ I asked.

  I reached down into the water and grabbed Gloria by the hips and slid her into the water. She slid just about under before she caught herself. A wave hit the far side of the tub and came back and about half drowned her. A bunch of water and bubbles splashed onto the floor. I knew she could have stopped herself, but she was playing along.

   ’You got my hair all wet Conner.’

   ’I know. I’m sorry.’

  Gloria scooted herself back up where she was, then she took the rubber band out of her hair. Running her fingers threw her hair she laid back against my chest, her skin felt so soft. But it was strange; it was rock hard under its surface. I marveled at the contrast of it, soft but hard. I think it fit Gloria very well. She was like that, hard as lightning, but could be as soft as candle light. I ran one of my fingers up and down one of her arms.

   ’That feels good. What are you thinking about?’ She asked me.

   ‘You.’

   ‘What about me?’

   ‘Just how different you are now.’

   ‘How so?’

  I thought about that for a second before I responded, ‘Well, in the past you’ve been, how do I say it.’ I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, ‘You’ve been so difficult, with not respecting my boundaries. Now, you seem so gentle. Like none of the past crazy stuff had happened. Why weren’t you like this when we first met? If you would have acted like this then, it would have saved me so many headaches.’

  Gloria very gently turned so she was laying on me on her side. She looked up at me and said, ‘That’s because you were being so difficult.’

   ‘How do you figure that?’ I asked.

   ‘Do you remember when we first met?’

   ‘Yes.’ Not that I could see where she was going with this.

   ‘Conner I knew when we first met you loved me, but you didn’t want to feel the things that you were feeling. If I had let you walk away from me that day, and if I had never said anything to you again. You would have been more than happy to forget the feelings you had for me.

   ‘I loved you Conner from the first moment I saw you. How could I let you walk away from a love that I could see you so desperately wanted, I just couldn’t. You fought so hard to hide your feelings, it about made me crazy. I thought, no one could be this difficult. I’m sorry I had to push you so hard Conner. But you’re worth the headache.’

   ‘You couldn’t have just given me your number and said call me?’ I asked.

   ‘I could have, but you wouldn’t have called.’

   ‘You don’t know that.’

   ‘Conner, I had to scare the hell out of you physically just to get you to talk to me, how could I trust you to call?’

   ‘Gloria that isn’t healthy though. So what if we stop seeing each other and we’re not in love. I have to worry about that.’

   ‘Conner you don’t have to worry about that. Would you like to know why?’

   ‘Sure.’

   ‘Because we are in love. Why would we want to stop seeing each other?’

   ‘I don’t know. Things happen. They always do.’

   ‘You’re not worried that I’ll get weird on you Conner, you’re worried that I’ll leave you. That I’ll break your heart, that’s why you fought so hard against me.

Conner, you’ve been alone sense your divorce, but remember I’ve been alone since I became a vampire. I’ve waited forty years for love, now that I’ve found it, do you think I could, or would walk away?

   ‘You’re thirty two years old, if you live out your full life, what do we have? Forty, fifty more years?’ Gloria sighed deeply then continued, ‘You’re all I have, and then in a blink of a eye you’ll be gone. Then I’ll be all alone again. I don’t want to miss a single moment with you.’

   ‘You want to make me a vampire don’t you?’ I didn’t mean to make it sound like an accusation.

   ’Conner how could I do that to you? You’re my life, my love now. I could never make that decision for you, make you be like me. I could never let myself be the influencing factor in something like that.’

   ’Well do you want me to be like you?’

   ’The answer to that, I will never tell Conner, never.’

   ’Well how could I know what to do if I don’t know how you feel?’

   ’That’s for you to figure out.’

  Gloria was still laying on me on her side. She brought her hand up and laid it over my heart. I rapped my arms around her. I could feel the water getting cold again. Water was not the best way to keep Gloria warm.

  I didn’t want to get out of the tub. Gloria’s morbid thinking had brought my mortality to the forefront of my mind. Gloria was forever trapped at eighteen.

Though she’s almost thirty years older than me, in time I will look considerately older then her. In ten years or so, Gloria will look like my daughter. And in thirty she’ll look like my granddaughter. Then she’ll be alone, widowed forever. I could just see the depth of her love for me, dying would destroy her. Gloria would die from a broken heart.

   ’Gloria?’

   ’Yes?’

   ’As much as I would like to stay in the tub forever, I’m starting to get pruned.

Plus the water’s getting cold again. Shall we pull the plug and take a shower to wash all the soap off?’

  Gloria giggled again, ’You want to take a shower with me? I’ve never showered with someone before.’

   ’It’s nice. Pull the plug, will you?

   ’Sure.’ Gloria pulled the plug and leaned back against me. After the water drained out we both stood and I pull the shower curtain into the tub. Gloria turned on the shower. The cold water hit Gloria and she didn’t even flinch.

   ’You’re going to have to tell me how warm you’ll want it.’ She was facing the shower head; she stepped under the stream of water and looked up into it with her eyes closed. I reached around her and turned the water up. I could feel how hot I wanted it from the water bouncing off of Gloria. She was still under the shower head. I reach around her to the rack on the wall and grabbed the shampoo. Gloria’s hair was flowing down her back. I poured some shampoo into my hand and place the bottle back on the rack. I gathered up Gloria’s hair and started to lather it.

  Gloria felt what I was doing and edged out of the water stream and asked, ‘What are you doing?’

   ‘What’s the joy of bathing with someone if you can’t help wash them?’

  Gloria tilted her head back and reached back to touched one of my thighs. I gently kneaded her long hair in my hands. I moved up and started massaging her scalp. I worked my fingers behind her ears; I massaged her scalp at the base of her skull.

   Gloria turned to face me and tilted her head back to keep the soapy water out of her eyes, I wondered if soap bothered vampire eyes. She leaned her head to one side and ran her fingers through her hair making sure she got all the soap out of it. I never realized how long it took to wash hair as long as hers her. It made me think of the old rain check line, ‘I’m washing my hair.’

  Once she was satisfied that she had all the soap out of her hair, Gloria ran her hands over the top of her head, getting the excess water off of her head. Her eyes were bright like fire and our gazes locked. Then in a moment like we were one, we reached for each other. I picked Gloria up and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I was surprised how light she felt in my arms this small wrecking ball of a girl. We kissed passionately. I turned to my right and placed Gloria’s back against the wall of the shower. The passion burned between us I could feel myself lost in our love.

  Finally Gloria broke off the kiss, ’Conner stop please.’

  She put her forehead on my shoulder, and held me tight.

   ’What’s wrong?’ I couldn’t fathom that I had hurt her.

   ’I’ll hurt you if we don’t stop. Please, put me down before I catch fire. Please.’

  With a heavy sigh, I let her down.

   ’Conner you have got to understand something, if we lose control like that I could scratch you, or worse bite you.’

   ’I don’t mind a little pain.’ I joked.

   ’Conner it wouldn’t be a little pain, I can scratch through concrete. And I don’t think you would like it if I bit a base ball size chunk out of your shoulder.’

  I just frowned.

   ‘Don’t look like that Conner; you’ll make me feel bad.’

   ‘I’m sorry, you just got me a little carried away, that’s all.

  Gloria turned off the water and took the other towel off the rack and started to dry off.

   ‘What, you threw your towel over there on there on the floor.’ She smile and kept drying herself.

  I stepped out of the tub and retrieved the other towel. At least it wasn’t wet.

Gloria was working on her long wet hair. I told her I would get her another dry towel. I used the mine to dry myself, then the wet floor from our splashing.

  She handed me her towel so I could dry the rest of the floor.

   ‘I’ll be right back.’ I went to the closet and grabbed two more towels. I came back into the bathroom and handed one to Gloria who was still standing in the tub. I hung the other one on the rack. I reached down and grabbed all my stuff off the floor and headed out of the bathroom. I stopped by the door to give Gloria a little smile and went to my bedroom.

  Gloria called out from the bathroom, ‘I’m going to dry my hair, then I’ll be out.’

  A few seconds later I could hear a hair dryer going in the bathroom. I smiled thinking about that hair dryer; I hadn’t noticed one in the bathroom before. But it didn’t surprise me that she had one here.

  I grabbed a pair of boxers and went into the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal. As I sat at the table eating and listening to the hair dryer, I thought about the shower I had just taken. Gloria has always been so sure of her ability to not hurt me. But there in the heat of passion, her confidence wavered. I was going to have to remember that Gloria was of the vampire kind, and I was human. Damn it. I heard the hair dryer turn off, but I was a million miles away.

  Gloria came into the kitchen wearing nothing but black lace boy shorts underwear and a black tank top.

  She sat at the table and asked, ‘Penny for your thoughts? That a serious looking scowl on your face.’

  I smiled at her and drank the rest of my milk. I got up and put the my bowl and spoon in the dishwasher.

   ‘Shall we go to bed I asked?’

   ‘Sure.’

  On the way to the bedroom I made a quick stop in the bathroom to brush my teeth. Gloria was already in bed, the lights were out but she had turned on the blue Christmas lights over the bed on. Her eyes were bright, and her skin was pale blue under the lights. I climbed into bed; Gloria had turned the electric blanket on.

She still had her tank top on. I could see she did not want to repeat what had happened in the shower. We faced each other like we had done last night.

   ‘Are you going to tell me what’s going through that head of yours?’

  I was still thinking on what I was at the kitchen table, ‘Gloria, I was thinking about our shower. This isn’t one of those let’s wait till we’re married things. I know you won’t hurt me and I believe that with all of my heart. But I believe that in a moment of passion, you could be a little rough. So where does that leave us? It’s hard on a guy to get that worked up and then just stop.’

   ‘Oh, and it’s easy for a girl? Remember, I just had my first kiss this morning.’

  Well she had me there, ‘Gloria, so how do we keep me safe?’

  Gloria faked cried for a moment and said, ‘Why can’t you just be a vampire for a few hours tonight. I want to make love to you right now I can hardly stand it.’

   ‘You know we could just try.’

   ‘You’re such the martyr Conner.’ Gloria said sarcastically.

   ’Here’s the thing Conner, even if and I mean if, I could keep from ripping chunks off of you. How do I put this to not hurt your delicate male ego? Your, man parts?’ she said and kind of look down with her eyes, ’they’re not strong enough to penetrate me. My skin and my body are to hard for your, delicacy. Do you understand what I mean?’ After she had said that she buried her face into the pillow.

  I laughed. That was hard for her to say. Gloria just rolled over. She was embarrassed. I tried to roller her back, but she had gone as hard as stone.

   ‘Gloria my love, please roll back over, I’m sorry. I understand how hard that was for you to say and I should not have laughed. Sometimes I forget you’re still just a small town girl from the south.’

  Gloria rolled back over and said, ‘Am I really your love?’

  I thought for a second if I had really said that. It came just too easy to call her my love.

   ’Of course you’re my love.’

  Gloria smiled, ’Conner?’

   ’Yes?’

   ’I love you.’

  Gloria had just put one of my greatest fears right here in front of me. She as women, beautiful and dangerous had broken down all of the defenses that I had put up to protect myself from the dangers of heart break. Never in my life had I face such danger from a woman. Not that I was worried about the physical, but I can’t remember falling so completely and totally in love with someone. And with her three little words, she had committed me to a life with her. Because to answer her truthfully I could not say anything but,

   ‘I love you too.’

  So be it.

  Gloria and I laid there looking into each other’s eyes. My dark blue and her bright red, I couldn’t get enough of her eyes. The way the light disappeared and reappeared when she blinked. I was fascinated on how the light would shift as the direction of her gaze would shift. I loved her eyes.

   ’Gloria, will you go somewhere with me tomorrow?’

   ’Sure. Where would you like to go?’

   ’It’s a lake up in the Cascade Mountains.’

   ’That sounds like fun.’

   ’It’s about a four mile hike or so. The lake is surrounded by mountains. I can’t think of a more beautiful place in the whole world. I used to hike there as a kid with my brothers and my dad. I think you would appreciate the beauty of the lake and its surroundings.’

   ’Well it sounds like it would be fun. I have a little hiking outfit I’ve never worn that I’ve been dying to wear.’

  I reached up and touched Gloria’s face with my finger. Gloria closed her eyes and smiled at my touch.
   ’I love your touch. Every time you touch me, it reminds me why I love you.’

I pull my hand back away from her face. Gloria opened her eyes.

   ’Can you wake me about six?’

   ’Sure.’

   ’I’m going to try to sleep.’

  Gloria put her back to me and let me snuggle up to her. As I lay there, I thought about the last few days. The change between Gloria and I. Losing myself in Gloria’s scent, I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness.

  From far away I heard Gloria say, ’Dream of me my Darling, dream of me.’