The water trickled over her bare skin in a slow rush as she daydreamed of
yesterday. The night had been much too long and had allowed her to feverishly
repeat the same dream over and over. And here she was, a mere 8 hour later,
daydreaming the same dream. The dream that held the kiss; their kiss; the unsaid
words they had shared on the rooftop; and finally her will for it to happen
again; the kiss.
She was rudely jolted out of her sweet dream as the water turned icy cold. "Damnit,"
she yelled at the uncertain neighbor above her that had flushed the toilet. One
of the many joys of sharing a water heater; oh how she loved her low rent
apartment; that was sarcasm by the way. Abby quickly rinsed the shampoo out of
her hair as she held her breath trying to erase the freezing cold temperatures.
She turned the water off and jumped out of the shower grabbing for a nearby
towel.
Knock, knock, knock... An instantaneous rapping at the door made her swear yet
again in this early morning. Knock, knock, knock... "Keep your pants on," she
yelled as she wrapped the towel around her body. "Not even a chance to dry
off..." she muttered as she made her way to the door stepping over things in the
process. She jerked the door open and prepared to face her landlord. "Look I..."
She stopped short when she saw Carter standing in front of her with a sheepish
smile on his face. "I can come back..." he started as he tried to keep his eyes
focused on hers instead of the wet, clingy towel that was covering her body. It
was all he could do to keep his calm as he waited for a reply. His hands
suddenly became shaky and started sweating. What was a guy to do?
"No...no...," she stammered as she motioned Carter inside. Abby was suddenly
aware, too aware, of her state of dress, or rather undress. "I'll just go get
dressed," she said rather hastily as she made off towards her bedroom, closing
the door behind her.
"Okay," Carter replied as he began to nervously walk around her living room. It
was sparsely decorated, not very many pictures, very few personal items... He
stopped at the one picture that sat by the phone and picked it up. It was one of
her and Maggie. He smiled sorrowfully as he remembered the troubles the two had.
He put it back and continued pacing the room, trying not to think of her; of her
and the towel; of her wet in the towel... "That's enough John," he muttered as
he ran a shaky hand through his hair.
"Did you say something?" Abby yelled from the other room when she thought she
heard him say something.
"No...no nothing at all," Carter yelled back wringing his hands. "I'm fine..."
"Oh okay," she yelled back as she finished getting dressed. "Just make yourself
at home..." Abby ran over to the mirror and quickly combed her hair. "Why am I
acting like this?" she muttered as she stared at herself in the mirror. "You are
acting like a schoolgirl Abby," she chided herself. "Cut it out!" She picked up
the blow dryer and turned it on. Her hair blew wildly as her mind raced with
thoughts. What was he doing here? How could she have let him see her in a towel?
She must have looked awful; hideous actually. Had he changed his mind? Did she
still have too much baggage? Too much history? She relived the kiss; she
recalled every word she had told him on the rooftop. "I want it to happen
again..." God, what if he had changed his mind. He couldn't...he
wouldn't...would he?
Carter sat on the couch wringing his hands subconsciously as he waited for her
to emerge. Had he made a mistake coming here? He knew that she was scheduled
back at work at the same time he was that morning; he had thought it would be
nice to walk to work together; so here he was. "I've got to move or do
something," he muttered as he stood and walked into the kitchen. He got a glass
of water and quickly gulped it all down. Boy, was he nervous suddenly. Susan had
never made him this nervous...
"Okay," Abby said quietly as she walked out of her bedroom. She stopped and
leaned against the doorframe leading into the kitchen and smiled as she watched
Carter. He was oblivious to her presence. She took in his handsome, boyish, good
looks slowly, trying to store everyone in her mind. She ran her eyes the length
of his body, noticing for the first time his build; not too big, but not too
small either; just right, she thought smiling. She thought about what it would
be like to taste his lips upon her own once again and drifted off into a short
daydream...yet again.
Carter sat the glass in the kitchen sink and turned around to head back into the
living room. It was then that he noticed her standing there...why hadn't she
said anything? "Abby..." he said tentatively. "Abby..."
He had just been about ready to kiss her; his face was inches from hers;
Abby...; she heard her name; why was he not kissing her? Abby... She slowly came
out of her daydream and turned slightly red when she realized what she had been
doing; when she realized that John had caught her. "Sorry," she said sheepishly
as she looked into his eyes. Even though he was on the other side of the
kitchen, what seemed like miles away from her, she felt that he was right next
to her at the same time. "So what are you doing?" she said in an attempt to
break the silence.
John smiled and cocked his head slightly to the left when he realized that Abby
had been daydreaming. "Nothing much," he said as he walked over to her and
stopped inches from her. "I thought we could walk to work together..." he said
questioningly. "Only if you want too..." He definitely didn't want to push her.
"Yeah, yes...that would be great," she answered nonchalantly.
"Okay then," John said as they stood there in the doorframe staring at one
another. It seemed like they had been standing there for an eternity when the
telephone rang.
"I should get that..." she murmured as she stood there staring up at him. She
made no effort to move though. The phone rang again...and yet again
"You should get that," John said breathlessly as he took a step towards her.
Her pulse was racing as the distance closed between them. He felt his hands grow
cold and clammy at her nearness. He could smell the faint perfume she wore. She
could see into the depths of his soul.
The answering machine cut on. "You've reached Abby. I can't get to the phone
right now so leave me a message." Beep..beep..beep..
They were oblivious to the world as he took her hands in his, softly rubbing his
thumbs across the tops of them. They tingled at the feel of skin against skin.
Words were unspoken as lips grew closer to each other; as hearts tried to pull
each other inside.
"Abby..." the voice on the answering machine began...Luka's voice. "Abby, are
you there? Abby?"
Abby froze at the sound of Luka's voice on the machine; and so did John. "I'll
be right back," she said quickly dashing to the phone. She picked it up and
cradled the receiver to her ear. "Hello."
John listened to the conversation intently, but not letting Abby see that it
bothered him. He walked impatiently around the living room trying to keep his
emotions in check. They were friends now; she had said that.
"I'm fine Luka," Abby said quietly into the phone. A few moments of
silence..."Yeah I just came home and went straight to bed. How are you doing?" A
few minutes of silence..."Well that's good. I can't believe we actually had a
lockdown; scary..."
John was inwardly going insane as she talked so casually with Luka. She was so
casual with her ex, but so jumpy with him, her best friend. What was the deal.
He couldn't take another moment of listening to the conversation. Looking at his
watch, he interrupted loudly enough for Luka to hear. "Abby, we need to
go...we're going to be late for work," he said as casually as possible. He
secretly hoped Luka had known it was him.
"Oh okay," she said looking up at John with a confused look on her face. She
wondered why he had said that; they had almost an hour before they had to be in.
"Yes...it's Carter," she said into the phone. "Okay, I'll talk to you later.
Bye..."
John smiled innocently as she hung up the phone. "Luka?" he asked.
"Yeah, he was checking to make sure I was okay...You know after the events of
last night and all. I'm lucky to have such great friends," she murmured as she
slid into her coat.
"Yes...you are," John replied as he walked over and helped her into her coat. "I
hope today goes by quietly," he said trying to lighten the mood a bit. "I think
we had enough excitement yesterday to last a year."
"No kidding," Abby replied as she grabbed her purse and opened the door.
"Ready?"
"Yeah."
They left her apartment and were soon on the El headed towards County. Neither
said a word as the train lurched and screeched several times throughout the
trip. It wasn't until the lurching became so bad that Abby started to fall and
John swept her up into his arms amidst all the onlookers that they spoke.
"Thanks," she murmured looking into his eyes yet again.
"Your welcome," he murmured as he leaned in closer towards her. "Anytime," he
murmured grinning. Their lips were grazing; skin was screaming to be touched;
bodies ached...
It was then that the train derailed causing people to scream and be thrown
across the car. Carter yelled; Abby screamed; both clutched for one another, yet
neither knew of the other....