Mirrortalk

[arsenicwaltz]

In her rooms above the Ballroom, our girl sits in front of her vanity, draped in a black dressing gown. Her hands and feet peep ivory at the cuffs and from under the hem, and a shallow V at the neck reveals that she has wrapped it close and belted it snugly around her. She stares in her mirror dazedly, watching the rise and fall of a pair of tanned shoulders that protrude like an alien landscape from under the soft curves of the comforters on a large bed. There is an unfamiliar head upon her pillow, an unfamiliar scent on her skin, and waking to a warm tangle of limbs both alarmed and comforted her.

Her gaze focuses inward, then slowly she raises eyes to her own reflection in the mirror. The girl in the mirror grins impishly, raising eyebrows and glancing backwards at the man in the bed. Slowly, the somber girl in front of the mirror raises a hand to her reflection and brushes fingers against the glass that now ripples like water.

"To thee, Nameless, I give permission to speak. What have you to tell me?"

The mirror girl clears her throat, and the voice that comes from the other side of the glass is the same and yet different, as if heard through a tunnel partly filled with water.

"I like him. I think we should keep him."
The girl sighs, looks away from the mirror girl's gaze. "I know, I like him too."
"I sense a 'but' coming here..."
"...But, I think he's lying to us."
"Lying? What about?"
"About... about all of those things. About how he feels." The girl glares at the other in the mirror, who sticks out her tongue. "You KNOW how men are. You can't blame me for being cautious."
The mirror girl rolls her eyes. "I know what you were taught to believe about men."
"And learned. Life experience counts for something you know."
"Yes, but that was a long time ago. They were young and stupid, and so were you."
"That didn't make it any less painful."
The girl in the mirror grimaces. "Why do you have to take everything so goddamned seriously all the time?"
"You make it sound like it's safe out here. I'd remind you that it's your body too that I'm looking out for."
"Yeah, but it's not like you've got someone watching you and keeping score."
The girl looks down at her hands. "I'm keeping score."
"So? What is it?"
"Fifteen. Fifteen points against me. He'll be sixteen."
The mirror girl guffaws. "You make it sound like a death sentence."
"It could be. There are a lot of things to worry about out here. Diseases and-"
"But did you enjoy yourself?"
Silence from the girl, who is staring at her hands. Seconds tick by.
"Well?"
The answer is whisper soft, spoken through clenched teeth and with eyes shut. "Yes. I did."
"So what's the big deal?"
The girl looks up, eyes furious now. "I can't be so irresponsible with my body! If I let this become a habit..."
"Ooooh, if you let this become a habit, you might actually be in danger of enjoying yourself! Maybe if you spent as much energy on making yourself happy as you do feeling guilty about it, you wouldn't HAVE this problem!"
The girl's mouth drops open for a second, and she gapes like a fish removed from water.
"Admit it! As much as you like torturing yourself with your fall from grace, as it were, you did enjoy it! It was good for you even! So stop looking at me like I hit you with a fish, and cope!"

The girl laughs suddenly, and the mirror girl joins in after a moment. The laughs blend and then merge, and the girl wipes a hand across the lips of the figure in the glass. Suddenly, there is nobody but her, and she turns to watch the twitching of tanned shoulders among the comforters. A head of touseled brown hair emerges from the nest of blankets, and the face below it blinks groggy green eyes in her direction. Focusing on her, they light with a smile that makes her breath quicken.

With a last glance back at the mirror, the girl stands and goes to join the joyous faced man beneath her covers.