Bubblegum pink bubbles stick to the white porcelain sides of the tub,

but I don’t move an inch. I haven’t told him yet

that it’s him I am interested in.

I sometimes wonder what it would’ve changed if I had?

“Ryker?” There is a voice through the door.

I take a minute to make sure my voice

is strong enough to speak. “Yeah?”

He clears his throat, “I was just wondering, um.”

I am sitting naked in the bathtub, tanned summer skin

contrasting with the soapy white all around me. “How was your day?”

I lean my head back against the tile of the shower wall,

closing my eyes. “It was better than yesterday,” I tell him.

He is quiet for a long moment, and I am just starting to

become cold again in the lavender light of the bathroom.

Silence lapses between us again, and I think maybe

he has walked away, until: “Do you know that my mother

told me how much she loved you the other day?”

I smile now. I start getting out of the tub,

and feel a repressed shiver build up.

“Well, I might hope she at least likes me a little bit.” I chuckle as I dry off.

“It has been three years, after all.”

“Yeah,” I hear.

I recognize the drifting sound he is hiding in his voice.

A spike of concern jumps through me, and I open

the door to face him, only realizing what I have done a second too late.