An electric current surges between a man and a woman when they meet. In that moment, their respective charges are equally powerful. Their potential knows no dominance.
How quickly does it dissolve, she wonders, hearing the facet running in the bathroom. An interruption in the water hitting the sink as he dips his head under the faucet to drink. He splashes water onto the back of his neck, clears his throat. Wipes the drops from his mustache. She knows this without seeing, of course. She knows it from her side of the bed, where she sits with her leg crossed. Does he ever picture her in this way?
Impossible to maintain a balance of power between them. Between a woman and a man. What was the first time that her power began to fade? Was it the first time he put his cock inside her? The first time she’d pursed her lips in disagreement? The first time she’d menstruated around him, maybe? An ephemeral moment of indecision, or the first capitulation? Impossible to love someone who holds such careless power over you. Isn’t it?
His footsteps on hardwood floor, then the soft creak of the stair. He’s light on his feet; she likes that about him. He opens the door to the bedroom so gently.
“I thought you’d be at work already,” he says.
“I’ll go in a few minutes. I wanted — I just needed a second.”
He leans down to kiss her mouth, bracing his palm against the headboard. They are briefly illuminated in the same warm band of sunlight. The smell of him so intense, it triggers a tightness in between her ribs. So vulnerable, like a child clinging to a blanket.
“What are you doing this afternoon, after you finish with the car?” she asks. He’s across the room now, pulling a sweatshirt from the back of a wooden chair.
“Not sure yet. I’ll text you, though. I’ll let you know.”
She stands up, picks her bag off the floor. She wants to say “I’d do anything for your approval. Tell me I’m good enough. Tell me I’m pretty. Tell me you love me. Tell me I’m worth something to you.”
But she knows better than that. She smiles back at him before she closes the door.
