An Unfortunate Love Ch. 01

She rolled out of his sleeping arms, and hated the way her body was reluctant to leave him, even now. She gathered her clothes, and left his room, closing the door quietly behind her. Now alone, naked and holding her clothes against her, in this cold quiet hallway, she felt even worse.

She slowly felt the pain completely engulf her, and couldn't stop herself from breaking down. Even though she was the one who left Garret, she felt deserted and betrayed. How could he have done this to her? There was nothing for them but a sordid, painful affair that would no doubt end in tragedy. He was her brother, and no matter how much she wished that it were different, the facts would never change.

She realized that silent tears were falling down her face, and she lay huddled in the hallway. She crawled over to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door, and as soon as she did, she broke down into sobs, unable to think or move, just feeling her body shaking, and her tears flowing down her cheeks.

Garret woke up instinctively reaching for Dorothy, even before his mind was awake enough to remember what had happened last night, only to find that she wasn't there. He sat up in bed and looked about the room, there was no sign of her, nothing to indicate that what had happened last night had been anything more than a dream.

Then he heard something so soft he wondered if he had imagined it. He opened his door, and heard it a bit louder coming from the bathroom. It was Dorothy. He couldn't mistake her heart-wrenching sobs for anything other than what they were, and he could feel his own heart break in his chest. He walked over to the door, but made no attempt to enter it, instead just kneeling down outside it, wanting to be that much closer to her.

Listening to her weeping, he knew that she couldn't feel anything but regret for what happened last night. She had left his room to get away from him, and was now spilling her bitterness alone in the bathroom. He felt a grief like no other picturing her curled on the cold bathroom floor, knowing that he was the one who drove her there, and wanting nothing more than to have her in his arms right now.

He wanted to hold her, absorb her tears, calm her pain, but he knew that that was the last thing she wanted. So he just sat in his own personal hell outside the door, listening to her pitiful sobs, until she finally quieted. He heard her turn on the shower, and strangely missed her cries that so tore at his heart, because at least then he felt connected to her, and without that connection, he was just alone in the hallway, abandoned.

He sat there for a long time, until he heard the shower go off and knew he had to leave so she wouldn't discover him there. He went back to his room, and sat on the bed, the bed where they had made love, and he didn't leave, and she didn't come to him.