Excerpt:

That Night

We had shared countless moments, yet we always took from each other selfishly, nothing more. When it ended, I always found a reason to leave. I would slip out your door with half-hearted excuses you pretended to believe.

We never fell asleep together, and that was fine. I preferred it fleeting, hollow of feeling, and you seemed to feel the same; you never once asked me to stay.
But that night was different.

“Please, stay,” you begged, voice soft as I pulled my clothes back on.

I didn’t know what to say. One part of me wanted to leave, as always. Another, though, ached to linger beside you. Then, out of nowhere, you pressed a tender kiss to my cheek from behind, and that small gesture tipped the balance. I stayed.

One hour passed, then two—perhaps even three—but sleep refused me. I couldn’t understand why I felt so nervous. We had shared a bed countless times before… yet never like this. Never simply to be close, never with the sole intention of savoring each other’s presence instead of our bodies.

The room was utterly silent; the only sound was your calm breathing, gentle sighs that both ensnared and soothed me for reasons I couldn’t name.

I stared at the ceiling, but after a while I turned my head to look at you. You were so beautiful asleep—curled on your side, peaceful, facing me. For a fleeting second I thought I saw your eyelids flutter, and I quickly looked away again...

..."

SILVIA EZQUERRA
Instagram: los_relatos_de_silvia

--Continue reading in its original Castilian language at fictograma.com , an open source Spanish community of writers--