It happened so quickly, before her mind had an opportunity to stop itself or to interfere. Her fingers brushed his hand gently, softly. ‘You have callouses,’ she said, a slight laugh with a hint of concern. The sudden realisation of such intimacy jolted her. It was so unexpected and unfamiliar. A small speckle of colour in what has felt like a world of grey for so long. She was surprised to feel, well, anything. She had given up expecting to feel anything towards another again, believing perhaps that her heart had gone into hibernation.
Yet here it was. Uncontrolled. Directed at the one person it shouldn’t be directed at. His presence was just so overwhelming. Like he consumes her somehow. Sucks the oxygen out of the room. She feels small and insignificant, yet seen. He sees her... that piercing gaze burns into her soul and exposes everything… the things she doesn’t want to even believe herself. He knows they’re there, laying dormant. Fuck. This can only go to a place that ends badly. But somehow it feels like the wheels are already set in motion. And that touch. That one touch. Spoke a thousand lifetimes.
