Perfect Strangers

“It’s ten twenty. How are you feeling?”

“Is that a trick question? I feel like shit,” she mumbled. Resting her back against the head board she closed her eyes.

“I thought you would, so I’ve made you breakfast,” he said, taking her hand in his.

“I can’t face food,” she whispered, moving her hand away from his and placing it on her forehead.

“Trust me, this right here, is an essential hangover cure. A pint of water, paracetamol, fresh orange juice and bacon and eggs. You’ll be right as rain after a nice long soak in the bath,” he said sympathetically.

Her stomach rolled at the sound of the concoction waiting to enter her mouth, it suddenly began to tingle as a watery feeling flooded over her tongue and the inside of her cheeks. Sick, I’m going to be sick. Jumping from the bed, she raced to the en-suite, just making the bowl of the toilet in time, and she heaved up her guts, noisily. The vile burn and acidy aftertaste was left raging in the back of her throat. She felt his fingers trace over her back, skin to skin contact, and she froze. Skin to skin? Her eyes grew wide as she flushed the toilet and glanced down at her body. I’m naked?

Grabbing the tiny towel from the floor, she jumped up and held it in front of her body, it was more like a wash cloth than a towel and barely covered anything. “I’m naked?” She gasped then turned to look at Kai.

“I’ve already seen everything, Myla. You don’t need to cover yourself up,” he said raggedly, snatching the towel from between her clinging fingers.

“I’m naked?” She repeated, using her hands to cover herself up instead.

Smiling, he watched her scurry away back into the bedroom and throw on his shirt from the chair, the shirt she had so frantically tried to remove from him last night. Standing in the doorway, he leant his body against the door jamb. “What’s wrong, Myla? Why are you acting so embarrassed?”

Climbing back in into the bed, she pulled the covers up to her neck to shield herself from his prying eyes. “What happened last night, Kai?”

He sighed. “Well, let’s see. You got drunk, threw yourself at me, we kissed and then you made every attempt possible to rid me of my clothes as you begged me to, and in your words, I may add, shag you into to oblivion,” he replied casually as he reached up and grabbed the door frame above. His shirt rose to reveal his toned stomach and Myla inwardly groaned, closing her eyes.

I was worse than I thought. “I’m so sorry, what an embarrassment,” she croaked.

She heard him walk across the flooring and stop at the side of the bed. “Take these, Juliet,” he ordered. Opening her eyes, she took the water and paracetamol from him and chugged them back. It was like swallowing razor blades, she winced as he removed the glass from her hand and placed it back down.

“You were not an embarrassment. In fact, it was the biggest turn on in history, it killed me to fight off your advances, Juliet,” he said quietly sitting down on the bed.

“Well, I’m highly embarrassed, Kai. I don’t remember much about last night, did we …did we …Uhm…” She stuttered, embarrassment flowed over her.

“Did we what? Did we sleep together?” He asked sharply taking in the horrified look sat prominently on her face. Silently, she slowly nodded her head, dropping her gaze to the bed.

He snorted and ran his hands over his face. “I told you, you would regret this in the morning, and I was right,” he said shaking his head in disbelief.

“Just answer the question, Kai. Did we sleep together?”

“No Myla, no we didn’t. I was a gentleman, I kept my hands to myself. When you stripped yourself naked, and tried to do the same to me, I put you in bed and held you until you passed out into unconsciousness. Then I slept on the fucking floor,” he replied harshly. He stood to his feet and paced about.

“Why are you getting mad?” She asked quietly watching him raking his hand through his hair.

“I can see it all over your face. You’re mortified by the thought that we could have slept together.”

“Kai,” she whispered, but his name was ignored as he launched into a verbal attack.

“You know, four days ago, I loathed you, everything about you pissed me off. I’d have dreams at night of you getting mowed down by a truck, or of me pushing you from the top floor of a high-rise building. Oh, and my favorite one? That was of you getting eaten alive by a pack of wolves as you screamed for dear life, and I enjoyed every fucking scenario, but now, but now…” He trailed off unable to find the words, a heavy weight sat firm acro

ss his chest. I need some air. I need to get away from her.

“But now, what?” She asked more firmly, wincing through the pounding of her headache.

Ignoring her he stripped himself of his clothes and replaced them with his running gear. Grabbing his iPod from the side, he draped the cable around the back of his neck and shoved the pod in his shorts pocket.

“But now, what?” She hissed.

“Nothing. Just forget it,” he grumbled. He shoved his feet in his sneakers, forcefully.

“Are we having our first fight?” She asked as a little chuckle escaped her lips.