Eve stood, offering Laura a hand. She took it with a smile. She guided them both gently back and forth, rocking, a soft hum filling her throat. Laura closed her eyes and leaned against Eve’s chest. The swaying slowed until Laura was nearly asleep against her.
‘It’s been a long day. I think I should get going.’ Despite her words, Eve still hung onto her.
‘Stay.’ Laura said, muffled against her shirt.
‘Okay.’ She gave in without much protest. ‘But the lounge will be fine.’
‘But there are other spare rooms …’ Laura trailed off. Eve shook her head once.
Eve got changed and proceeded to brush her teeth next to Laura in her second bathroom. They stared at each other in amusement in the long mirror. Eve gave her an overflowing foamy smile before spitting the toothpaste into the marble sink.
Laura caught Eve on the bathroom threshold and kissed her softly, whispering a low ‘Goodnight’ into her ear. She returned the kiss. Eve settled onto the long lounge. She craned her neck to look out the large panelled window that ran the length of the apartment. Her mind wandered to Laura and everything that had passed in the last few hours. In her room, warmth spread outwards from Laura. Her mind ran over every detail she now knew about Eve. When she closed her eyes, she saw the stars.
Chapter 10: Shifting nightmares
Sleep took Eve warmly into its arms, it held her tight. It spun her around and around until she was a cocoon of tangled dreams. Until her mind ripped it apart, unravelled. She was left cold and disorientated. She clutched her bare arms to her body. With a settling unease, she saw the parked car on the road, the smooth coat of black paint buried it in the darkness.
Her father’s head moved back and forth as he yelled at her from the driver’s side. She watched, mute, as her mother got out of the passenger’s door and opened the back door. Suddenly, a pull in Eve’s chest transitioned her from the street to the back seat of the car. Her arms were holding back her mother’s instinctively, she tried to kick the back of her father’s seat to move him forwards, to put the car in gear and drive. But her limbs failed her. She sat frozen. She tried to open her mouth but nothing came out. The truck collided with the car. Eve tried to wrap her fingers around her mother but she was ripped from her. Eve’s head collided with the window. She tasted blood in her mouth and fire across her skin. She caught the light of the truck’s high-beamed headlights. The crunching of glass and steel. Eve turned her head and saw her mother mid-scream, her hair lifted in the air, frozen. Eve looked out into empty space where seconds earlier there was the window and saw a figure. She gripped the door and gave it a push. Her feet found the road, her head no longer throbbed. She moved towards the figure, cast in darkness. When she drew close, arms reached out for her. Laura’s face smiled at her.
‘What are you doing here?’ Eve asked, a shard of glass fell from her hair.
‘Come back to me.’ Laura searched her face.
Her blonde hair blew wild in the wind that circled them. Laura pressed their bodies together, melting into one another. When she drew back, the scene had shifted. Within the dream, a deep cut began to slice down from her temple, long claw marks from an invisible force cut open her skull. She cried out, bones began to break. Eve watched her crumple onto the road. Eve fell with her. She tried to catch her but she slipped like water through her fingers. A piercing screaming started. The light of the headlights engulfed her as she realised the screaming was coming from her.
Eve woke covered in sweat. She clutched at the blankets around her and heaved air into her lungs. Eve scrambled from the lounge, a mess of limbs and foreign blankets. She ran to the bathroom. Eve heaved against the toilet bowl and spat a stringy line of saliva against the porcelain. She hung a limp arm across her forehead and brushed off beads of sweat. Eve dragged herself to the sink and pulled herself up. She ran wary fingers against the skin across her skull, the thick scars still prominent under the cover of her black hair. She closed the bathroom door and found herself walking towards Laura’s room. With her arms arched above her head, Laura’s pink lips parted slightly. Eve took in the serenity of her body, the comfortable carelessness of her limbs and the figure outlined under the blankets. She took a moment, to just watch her. She wanted to tell her so much more but the words fell short. She couldn’t. Not yet.
Eve set about cooking breakfast. She’d found some eggs, sausages and bacon in a fridge she was sure a small person could live comfortably in. She squeezed orange juice from a pile of fruit meticulously stacked next to the toaster. Eve guessed that Laura worked early in the morning. This was confirmed when she saw Laura appear sleepily at the hallway. She grinned at her through tired eyes.
‘Morning.’ Eve smiled at her.
Laura pulled out a stool under the kitchen island and tussled her hair. ‘Somehow … I thought last night was a dream. Like I’d come out and find you gone.’ She groaned with hunger when the smell of fried eggs and sausages wafted towards her.
Eve gave her a half-smile as the eggs began to spit. ‘I’m right where I need to be.’ Eve handed her a plate and came to sit beside her. They ate quickly.
‘So what was that about your rule?’ Laura asked, her mouth full.
Eve looked away. ‘Yeah, I only have the one.’ Laura waited for her to continue. ‘Well, it’s …’ Eve trailed off. She didn’t know why it was so hard for her to say this to Laura. ‘The only rule I have is, we don’t sleep with each other until we’ve been together for six months.’ She let the words sink in.
Laura brushed Eve’s hair back from the side of her face and smiled. ‘If that’s the way you feel, then I’m fine with that.’ Eve gave her a peck on the cheek. From the others she had told, Laura took it the best by far.
Eve leaned back. ‘What are your rules?’
‘I have a few.’ Laura bit her bottom lip. ‘You can’t show up to work again. It’s too hard to pretend we aren’t more than friends. When you come back here again, there’s a side entrance you can take up to the elevator. I can’t have the paparazzi catching on. And don’t go out on the balcony. Sometimes they get pictures of me out there.’ Laura blew out a long breath. ‘And we can’t act like a couple when we go out into the city. It’s just too risky.’
Eve clenched her jaw, ‘So, basically you want me to be invisible … to not exist.’
Laura caught Eve’s shirt. ‘I’m just protecting you.’
Eve sighed and looked around the apartment. The gravity of who she was still hadn’t sunk in. She didn’t know the type of things Laura had had to endure for her lifestyle. Even though she was less than thrilled by the idea, she agreed. ‘Okay, if that’s what you need. But you picked one hell of a city to try and be anonymous in.’
Eve changed back into her own clothes and promised Laura she would see her later tonight. Even though she agreed to her terms, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy, like the pit of a seed had grown in her stomach overnight. There were so many parts of her that wanted to walk away in that moment, but something, a part of her she wasn’t sure she had or would ever have a word for, made her agree. Made her stay.
Laura read through the edits for the day, memorising them quickly. She beamed when Kelly came in with Jonathan. He ran towards her, his small fingers grabbed at the air until they reached her. Laura heaved him onto her lap in one swift motion.
‘My, my … I heard it was someone’s birthday.’
Jonathan squeezed her arm. His eyes widened. ‘Mine!
‘I think … that’s right, I have something for you.’ Laura reached into her back pocket and handed Jonathan four VIP passes for the Central Park Zoo. Kelly mouthed her a wide ‘Thank you’ in the mirror. Jonathan stared back at Laura, still unsure of what he had been given for his birthday.
‘These,’ Laura pointed to the tickets, ‘are for you to go to the zoo, but they’re special. You go when no one