stay.
She puts her bra on first, just as pretense returns,
because her chest contains her heart, which beats under naked skin.
Her briefs are next, and she stands quickly to pull them on.
She hugs herself. She has been exposed and exposure can bring pain.
He is not the evil sort, just a man returning from the light of the bathroom.
She is not herself in his mirror and cannot tell what is real.
“Here, drink this,” he says, handing her a glass of water.
She drinks deeply as he breathes into her hair.
“Stay tonight.”
His cold hands warm quickly on her skin.
And she will stay, because she is tired
and wants to wake up on the other side of this night, this feeling.
-gj