I was on a bed that wasn't mine, reading a book I had brought with me out of habit. He stepped out of the washroom, wet on his hair and only a white towel on. "Hey," his smile seemed to say.
I returned the smile and went back to my book. The words were marching through my mind, but nothing was really registering. The book was merely a convenient thing to be holding, going through the motions of letting time pass until he was beside me.
Just about the moment when the meaning of the words were starting to sink in, I felt the bed shift on his weight. The blending of soap and his scent filled my senses, and all other things save his name evaporated from my mind. I looked at him and he smiled again. This was what I wanted, I felt myself smiling back. This, when words were not needed anymore. When everything can be communicated through a slight convergence in the air, a minimal shift of muscle.
His face hovered near mine. We kissed, and then he held me to him. He saw the book I was still holding and asked what it was about. "I'm not really sure," I told him. He chuckled -- an odd and merry sound bouncing playfully off the four walls of the room. Another change in the air. Still pleasant.
I set the book down on the bedside table and snuggled under his neck. His skin was still cold from the shower, but I can feel the warmth of his flesh -- how bare, how vulnerable, how human he seems. How real. There was a glimmer of doubt for one second, if everything that was happening was merely a delusion of mine uncanilly molded from a powerful dream, but when I felt his hand stroke my hair, I finally accepted its absolute, inexorable reality.
He lifted my face and kissed me again. We disrobed, and made love in silence. "How much do you love me?" I found myself asking. "This much," he said. "This much... and this... and this..." and on, and on, until we both came. It seemed like lifetimes, and then suddenly it was over. Still, silently over. We laid down again and slept.
I felt the bed shift again. He was getting up, getting dressed. He kissed my forehead, my consciousness eventually converging within the four walls of the room that was not mine. I rubbed the dust of sleep from my eyes, and got my wallet. I handed him two P500 bills. "Thanks," he said. "I'll see you again soon. Txt me."
Shivering from the air conditioning, I pulled on my jacket. "Sure. Thanks." He smiled one last smile, different from the ones he gave me an hour or two ago. I smiled back, also different from the ones I'd given him. He let himself out. I checked my mobile phone for the time. I still have an hour before I had to check out. I went back to sleep.
