She wasn’t English. She was Scottish, but she drank her tea like she was English. Daily, at tea time. Today they woke up just before tea time. He watched her shower and wash her hair.
“Could you get the tea started please?” she asked with her back towards him. Her curves were still perfectly visible through the steamed-up glass of the shower door.
As he walked out of the bathroom into the hotel room he started hearing the music again:
“You should know by now, really
That this could end, really
You should know I could never make it work
Wake up, it’s pretend, really
Really”
Like gunfire, the emotions came all at once. Normally they come in waves, but right now it was a giant tsunami of feelings triggered by the lyrics of the song. Too close to the bone.
He put on the kettle and sat down at the edge of the bed. He felt nauseous. Putting the tea in the cups the teabags felt like they weighed a ton. His whole body was hot in an uncomfortable way and he felt like he was going to break into a sweat.
He heard movement from the bathroom. She came walking into the hotel room, still wet. She had a towel that was being used to wrap around her hair. The white towel was a strong contrast with her black hair. Again, he got lost in the sight of her naked body. Momentarily forgetting about the angst he was experiencing. His heart was racing but not because of panic. Because of how stunning she was. Her skin was without a single imperfection. No scars, no marks or tattoos anywhere on her body. Her shoulders, breasts and hips are all in perfect proportion with her 5’1 stature. The landing strip only accentuated how well-manicured she was.
“You should know babe,” she said as she was putting on her bra “at least pretend you did know why.”
“I’ve known all along. For the last two weeks in Edinburgh, I’ve known.” he was just trying not to think about it.
“Do you remember the first thing you said to me?” she asked.
He knew word for word what he said, but pretended that he didn’t: “Asked you where we could go have a drink?”
“I’m in Edinburgh for two weeks, and I was wondering if you could show me a few places to have a drink tonight. No expectations and no pressure. When I go back to London you’ll likely never see me again.” the words from her mouth were almost a verbatim quote of his words.
One of the things about falling in love is that you never expect it to happen as fast as it does and you never expect it to hurt as much as it does when you leave it behind. He knew, because this wasn’t his first rodeo.
She sat down on the bed with her cup of tea in hand. The dark bra and panty complimented her pale skin and dark hair. An image that would forever be seared into his mind.
“When are you leaving?” even though she was asking a completely normal question, it hurt.
“Tonight at 21:00.”
He sat down next to her. Her thigh touched his. Her body is still cool from the shower. She put down her cup on the bedside table and turned towards him, putting both her legs around his body. He could feel her cool skin on his back and his chest. A cool embrace.
He wrapped his arms around her leg that was pressed against his chest and he kissed her. She kissed back, softly, sensually.
“Do you like the way the water tastes” the lyrics of the music floated around them as she pulled his hand to her chest.
He could feel her heartbeat pulsing into the palm of his hand. Their foreheads were still touching and he couldn’t smell anything other than her.
“Even a fleeting moment can be immortalized in your heart. I’ll always have you in here. I knew from day one this would end, but I still wanted the last two weeks. I will never forget you or the time we had.” she was talking softly as he leaned into her, trying to get even closer to her than he already was.
“I love you,” she whispered.