Life, Death, and Strange Encounters

Opening the bathroom door slowly, I shyly made my way to the wardrobe. I had finally taken my clothes out from the suitcase, because they would have gotten wrinkly from being in a small compressed space for three weeks. I reached the wardrobe and quickly grabbed the clothes I needed, then turning around and going to the comforter to grab some new undergarments. Sneaking a glance towards Isaac, I noticed that he was completely frozen in place, his eyes roaming over my body. I suddenly wished that the towel would cover more, since it just reached my thighs. Hoping that he wasn’t thinking I was a slut and had done this on purpose, I decided to explain myself.

“I’m sorry, I forgot to take any clothes with me…” My face was as red as a tomato.

He woke up from his daydreaming state and gave me a playful half-smile. “Don’t apologize, darling, I enjoy the view.”

I started laughing and made my way back to the bathroom, shouting “I’ll hit you later for that remark!” through the door. Yet, I can’t deny that my heart fluttered when he said that.

When I had managed to get dressed and do my make-up, I once again entered the bedroom, to find it… empty?

Suddenly, someone jumped on me from behind and arms sneaked around my waist. I screamed from surprise. I heard laughing from behind me. Turning around with a grin on my face, I smacked Isaac’s shoulder.

“You! What do you think you’re going!?”

His expression turned into a sheepish one. “Preventing myself from getting hit by you…? I figured if I’d hide you couldn’t fulfill your punishment.”

I laughed. “Too late, I already hit you!”

He grinned. “I know, but it didn’t hurt.”

“It’s not my fault you’re immune to pain,” I stated with a shrug.

A sly grin made it to his lips and I knew instantly that he had thought of a clever response. “Maybe you are just weak?”

I pretended to be offended and moved away from him. In an instant, he pulled me into a hug. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it… Well, I did, but…”

I laughed and smacked him again. “I’m not offended, I was just joking. But you ARE immune to pain, it seems. Usually, when I hit someone, they’re writhing in pain. Okay, I’m kind of exaggerating, but still…”

He sighed playfully and shot me a scolding look, feigning disinterest in continuing the topic. “Let’s just go eat breakfast.” When he grabbed my hand and we started towards the dining room, I understood that I was starving. Obviously, only eating cookies the day before hadn’t been a good idea.

Lucy was there, too, and smirked when she saw us coming in. I owed her an explanation…

After breakfast, Lucy and I wanted to watch a movie. Isaac led us to his cinema room. We discovered a huge shelf full of different DVDs, half of which Isaac hadn’t even watched yet, as he told us. We picked an anime film, “Howl’s Moving Castle“, one of my favourites. Isaac agreed to watch it with us, although he seemed suspicious at first. Later he loved it. Figures.

When the movie was over, we all yawned and stretched our sore muscles. I then looked at Lucy. “What do you want to do now?”

She grinned. “I want chocolate!”

I rolled my eyes. “Are you sure sweets are a good idea? You don’t handle sugar well… Oh well, I guess we could go chocolate-hunting. Let’s ask the cook if she has some!”

“You know the cook?” Isaac asked.

I nodded. “I met her the day I woke up really early. She made me breakfast.”

He seemed nervous for some reason. “What did you talk about?”

“Nothing much… Just stuff…” I said, shrugging.

He seemed to relax more when he heard that we didn’t talk about anything important. “Oh, okay. Shall we go then?”

We went to the kitchen, where the cook was already making lunch. She smiled when she saw us coming in.

Her eyes first landed me, probably recognising my face. “Ah, it’s nice to see you again, my dear. But I fear I didn’t get your name last time you were here. I’m Natalie.”

I smiled. “I’m Johanna, this is Lucy and I suppose you know Isaac.”

She greeted Lucy and then chuckled. “Of course I know Mr. Isaac, I do work for him, you know.”

Isaac laughed and bowed for her. “I’m glad you remember me, Natalie.”

I looked around in the kitchen. “Do you have any chocolate? My friend here is starving for some.”

Natalie’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I have lots of chocolate. But maybe you’d like to help me make some chocolate CAKE?”

Lucy squealed. “YES! I WANT TO HELP!”

We looked at her and laughed. Natalie started collecting the things we would need. Soon, we were very into baking… Or more like throwing flour at each other. But Natalie didn’t mind, she was only laughing at us.

The war was reaching its limits when we suddenly heard a very familiar “Hello!” from the door. We froze in place and stared at the person who had suddenly appeared in front of us. It was at that moment, when I understood the position I was in. Isaac was sort of hugging me from behind, holding my wrist that was trying to throw some flour at him, the other hand pulling me against his chest. I quickly pulled myself away from him.

Lucy had already jumped on the person who had greeted us. “Damien! You came!”

He was spinning her around and they honestly looked like two people madly in love. I sighed. They were perfect. Finally, Damien put Lucy down, but his hands remained around her. He smiled at us. “Greetings, you two. Having fun baking, I see?”

Isaac chuckled and threw a fistful of flour at him. “You bet.”

Natalie turned to us. “Well, at the same time you kids were having fun, I made the cake we wouldn’t have ever seen if it was up to you.”

Lucy squealed in delight and lunged at her. She held the cake high, saying “Wait and eat lunch first, then you can have it.”

Everybody groaned in protest but decided to do as she said because it was lunchtime anyway and we were hungry. The lunch was of course delicious, but the cake was more than amazing. It was funny to watch other people’s faces when we ate it. Not that there was a lot of people around, there was about ten people like usual, but the others were very jealous of our cake. I offered to share, but Lucy almost glared me to death at my proposition.

After lunch, we just decided to hang around in the library. It was Damien’s idea. Since the fire seemed to be burning 24/7, it was very warm and comfortable to sit in front of the fireplace and talk. I was impressed Lucy and Damien had managed to keep their hands off each other for so long. They were doing it for Isaac and I, I’m sure.

In the evening, a few bottles of wine were opened and the topics we discussed were getting funnier. I, of course, didn’t drink, because there weren’t a lot of people who I felt comfortable drinking with. Isaac and Lucy were one of them, but I didn’t know Damien that well yet. He was a nice guy, but still. For me to open up like that required a lot of trust.

When my three friends had consumed three bottles of wine and were getting quite drunk, because Damien had decided to add a vodka bottle to the wine bottles, things got interesting. Lucy was funny to watch when she was drunk. She started giggling uncontrollably and her cheeks became really flushed. Of course, when she tried to stand up, it got a hundred times funnier. She just decided to sit down again, still giggling like an idiot.

“I know! Let’s play truth or dare!” Lucy squealed. Damn, she always suggests that when she’s drunk.

Damien and Isaac both agreed quite enthusiastically and I had no other choice but to join them. I hoped that I would escape from embarrassment, although you can never guess what a drunken mind can come up with.

At first, things were pretty decent. We had established by then that neither me nor Lucy were virgins, Damien had kissed a girl for the first time when he was 7 years old and Isaac liked dark haired girls best. No weird questions had been asked yet, fortunately. And to be honest, only Lucy would know if I lied… But she would probably tell the right answer when I did. She’s a “good” friend like that. Well, she is, but she likes to embarrass me. It’s a form of entertainment for her. I WILL get her back someday! Lucy also had a dare – she had to walk to the other end of the room and back with her eyes closed. It was HILARIOUS.

Then came the moment I had feared. The empty wine bottle landed on me. Lucy asked me “Truth or dare?”

Nothing would happen if I said dare, right? They were obviously too drunk to think of something too horrible.

I took a deep breath. “Dare.” When I saw the look on Lucy’s face, I knew I should have said truth.

“I dare you to… kiss Isaac.”

The butterflies in my stomach went wild. I felt like a little schoolgirl again. But I wasn’t a little schoolgirl anymore and this was serious. Who would’ve thought that the first kiss we were going to share was because of a stupid game?

I looked at him. His eyes were dark, I couldn’t read them. He stood up and advanced towards me, sitting down in front of me. Gently, he cupped my face with his hands and leaned in. I wanted to know what he was thinking. Was it just a dare for him? Or did it mean the world to him like it did to me?

When his lips reached mine, I let out a sigh and closed my eyes. This was heaven, I never wanted to part. At first, his lips were soft and gentle, but soon the kiss got more demanding and rough, his tongue licked my bottom lip, asking for entrance. Entrance was granted and soon our tongues were dancing, battling for dominance. My hands sneaked around his neck. He gently pushed me forward and soon I was lying on my back, him on top of me. I was extremely hot, but shivering under his touch. I could feel only him, nothing else.

Soon we heard a cough. My eyes shot open and we quickly rearranged our position. Damien and Lucy were looking at us with the biggest grins I have ever seen. My cheeks burned up and I think I was redder than ever before.

I quickly looked down. “Um… I’m tired, I think I’m going to bed. Good night, everyone!”

I stood up with ease, because I was still in control of my body, and started walking towards the door. Suddenly, I felt a hand on mine. I looked back and saw Isaac, who had a smile on his face. “I’ll accompany you, do you mind?”

I shook my head. “Of course I don’t mind, go ahead. But I are you sure you want to leave?” He nodded and guided me out the door. We walked in silence, but it was not uncomfortable. His hand felt warm in mine.

Soon, we reached my door. This was the moment I had been dreading. What was I going to say? But it seemed that I didn’t have to think about it for long.

Isaac stepped in front of me and without a word pressed his lips onto mine. The kiss was short, but yet one of the best I’d ever received. It held longing and passion. Or at least that’s what it seemed like.

He then put a finger under my chin and lifted my face to look into his eyes. They were dark again, unreachable and mysterious.

The beautiful eyes bore into mine and then he said something I was going to remember forever. That moment was just perfect.

“You are so fucking beautiful.”

He gave me a small kiss again and without saying anything else, started walking to his door. When he opened it, he looked back for a second, smiled, and then disappeared.

I opened my door and sighed. Was he even going to remember that perfect night the next day? No matter the results, I would cherish the memory of that kiss forever.