Page 20 of Scorched Hearts

Louisa’s apartment welcomed Elle with the familiar to the core of her bones ambience of a person living alone. There was nothing she could pinpoint exactly; perhaps the set up of the dining table, so clearly out of use, or the lingerie thrown on random furniture inside of her bedroom. She knew this atmosphere intimately because it was like being in her own house.

“Could I have a glass of water?” She asked, realizing how dry the wine had gotten her mouth.

Louisa disappeared into the kitchen. The apartment was small, colorful prints decorated the walls, and each room had a carpet spread on the floor. Cozy was the only word that came to Elle’s mind. Louisa reemerged with two glasses of water. They hadn’t turned on the light, and everything seemed taken out of a fever dream. Moonlight shone through the water.

“How do you like it?”

“The room? It’s cute,” Elle looked around. “You collect vinyls? That’s cool.”

She liked it when people collected things, no matter what type. It seemed slightly foreign to her, in a good way. Maya had always been too frugal to collect anything besides her own money, and Elle preferred to spend hers on different indulgences. Jeff Buckley certainly denominated Louisa’s collection.

They began kissing, the night enveloping them in a dreamlike unreality, their gestures remained foreign and full of moony sensuality. Without turning the lights on, Elle continued with what she knew was expected. She gave to Louisa, but she kept her own underwear on- she didn’t want Louisa touching her. She knew that at the moment there was only one person she wanted touching her.

And however hard she tried, she just couldn’t get Maya Monroe out of her head.

Elle woke up in a foreign bed, wondering what had led her to it. She shuffled through the memories of the night, looking around for Louisa. She wasn’t to be found in the bed. This annoyed Elle; she never liked being the second to wake up. She got up, collecting her scattered clothes off the floor, stretching out her back and rubbing her sleep-sticky eyes.

Louisa suddenly entered the room. She was fully dressed and ready to go, bag in her hand and shoes on her feet. Elle looked at her with disbelief.

“You could’ve woken me up, you do know that?” She grunted, putting on her pants.

“I hoped you’d wake up on your own, so I just took care of my own stuff while waiting,” she smiled hurriedly, “I don’t want to be rude, but I really need to leave for work soon.”

“Sure,” Elle nodded, made utterly uncomfortable. “Next time, tell me when you need to wake up before we fall asleep, alright?”

But Louisa was already in the bathroom, finishing putting on her makeup. The sun was peeking through the see-through curtains, and Elle remembered only then that her car was still parked in front of the restaurant. She pondered asking Louisa for a lift, but seeing how their morning was going, she decided against it.

On her way from the restaurant, Elle decided to stop by a bistro and buy herself breakfast – her rumbling stomach demanded that much. A chef and she didn’t even offer me breakfast, Elle scoffed, pulling up to a breakfast and lunch spot full of businessmen and women having their first meal of the day.

Her phone vibrated: Had a lot of fun last night tho, the message read.

Tho? Elle shook her head, bashing herself for wasting her time this way. What was she trying to prove anyway? She hadn’t moved on. She knew exactly who she wanted to see and it wasn’t Louisa.

“What will it be, ma’am?” The barista looked at her bemused. She’d been standing in front of the wall menu for a couple of minutes.

“Uhm… A salmon bagel and black coffee, thanks.”

She sat down with her order, eyeing the other customers. People watching had always been a nasty habit of hers, one indulgence she couldn’t let go of, no matter how hard she tried. People in suits and dressed business casual lined up to get their everyday coffee, all dressed the same, all doing boring corporate jobs. She noticed one interruption to the queue’s pattern; Kiera O’Malley’s fiery red hair stood out from the sea of black and grey.

In need of some distraction from her problems, Elle waved her over.

“How’s it going, what were you up to in this area?” Kiera asked, sitting down opposite to Elle.

“Pff, long story,” Elle ran her hand through the tangle of her hair, still unbrushed. “What have you been up to?”

Kiera dug her fork into the rich caesar salad. “Oh, my grandmother lives nearby, I help her out sometimes on my free days.”

Elle took the last bite of her bagel into her mouth and chewed, nodding. “Very good,” she hummed.

“You look like a mess,” Kiera smiled, “like a morning after mess.”

Elle spread her arms out in surrender. “Solved the mystery, congrats.”

“How was she?”

“Don’t ask,” Elle raised her eyes in a gloomy look, “it was a disaster. Not the sex, it was fine,” she smirked, “just… I think I was looking for something else this time.”

“What, did she try to trap you within a-” Kiera gasped theatrically, “monogamous relationship? Did she want you to propose?”

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