The World is Tiny

[rhiannon_lee]

With a wadded up hand towel, Rhiannon wiped fog from the mirror in Cian’s bathroom and looked at herself. Her hair was wet from the shower, and there were raccoon circles under her eyes, remnants of yesterday’s makeup. She spun some toilet paper from the roll and used it to wipe away the mascara. As she tipped her face left and right, she saw the mark that Cian’s mouth left on her neck; it was somewhere between a bite and a bruise, but it was faint and wouldn’t last the day. There was a comb near the sink. She parted her hair and brushed the tangles out of the lengths.

It was after noon. Early in the morning, Cian had left the cabin to take a boat of passengers on a day cruise. Rhiannon just rolled over and went back to sleep, tucked safely in covers that smelled like the two of them and their lovemaking. When she woke up again, she was surprised to have been out so long, and she sat on the edge of the bed feeling disoriented by heavy slumber and a bad dream she couldn’t quite remember.

Rhiannon pulled on her sweater, jeans, and boots and rummaged through Cian’s cabinets until she found what she needed to brew a pot of coffee. She took a mug of it onto the front steps and sat down, blowing across the steaming surface.

Rent's Due

[maddy_ricks]

When she finished a shift waiting tables at Cool Beans but it was too early to go home, Maddy sometimes curled up on a couch and read a used book. Those days generally corresponded to that time of the month when her landlord was hanging around looking for rent money, and she didn’t quite have it. Today, she was curled up with a copy of Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary. She had slipped her shoes off and tucked her feet under herself. Her toes flexed in a pair of socks with black cats on them, and her fingers sifted through the ends of her hair.

“Hey Malcolm, bring me another coffee,” she called.

“Get it yourself,” grumbled her coworker, who was drying a load of dishes and stacking them on a shelf.

“I’m not working.” She flipped to the end of a chapter and skimmed a page.

“Are you paying?”

“No.”

“Then get it yourself.”

Maddy sighed and dragged herself off the couch. The novel, which she set upside down on the fat, upholstered arm, slipped to the floor and lost her page. She crammed her feet half in her shoes and stumbled to the counter, where she dangled her empty cup by the handle. “Meet me halfway.”

He scowled and took the mug.