Impressions No. 2...

I wondered if it would be awkward in the morning, and it was. You slept, and I slipped out from under the covers without disturbing the sheets, the mattress. You sighed and rolled over, reaching for my side of the bed, and I stepped back, though you couldn’t touch me, and thought “How did I come to be naked in my best friends bed?” The details of the previous evening ran through my head like a grainy film, images skipping in no particular order across my vision.

I showered, my head buried under the stream of hot water, hoping not only to wash away the burden of too much red wine but also that some semblance of clarity would appear, that I would know what to do next. Through the shower curtain, I saw you stirring, sitting up, stretching…a blurry image, a different version of yourself. Someone I didn’t know yet.

I walked back into the bedroom and looked at you, lying on your back with one arm thrown over your face to protect your eyes from the morning light – you moved ever so slightly, exposed your eyes and smiled. I wanted to say “Please, never, ever go away” but what came out was “Well, THAT was interesting” in a voice strangled and not my own. You looked at me quizzically, your hair standing on end from sleep. The effect was comical, but I did not laugh. It was your move since I couldn’t seem to do anything but stand there, rooted to the cold floor, with water dripping slowly down my back from my wet hair. I worried for a fraction of a second that I would ruin the finish on your hardwood floor and that would be the end of everything.

You looked at me in silence, and before I could muster up the courage to ask you what you were thinking, you pulled me down next to you. In a moment, we were back where we were the night before, but this time, as I moved this way and you moved that, it was with purpose, and the familiarity of years of friendship made it easy and like home. And when we were done, both shocked at the ease with which our bodies met, you looked at me, and simply said “Finally.”