Mello, Matt, Charlotte

[toxinaddiction.livejournal.com]

[The shades are drawn and the lights are off in Matt's room, which makes for a dusky sort of feeling, although it's only late-afternoon. That's fine with him. Most things like this are better in the dark yellow light of 4pm. He read somewhere that this was the time for affairs. Not the silver light of a morning shared with a partner, and not the darkness of the intimate night - those were times for people who had a life together. Afternoons, however, were the times for clandestine meetings and noncommittal flings.]

[Not that this was especially clandestine. But it was definitely noncommittal.]

[Charlotte lies beside him, semi-sleeping and silent, with her head on his shoulder. The air above them is hazy with his cigarette smoke. She isn't a smoker, but she never complains that he tastes like tobacco and ash. Actually, she doesn't complain about very much; he's rarely known anyone as genuinely agreeable as her, or as gentle. Even Saffron had a spark somewhere inside her, but Charlotte, she is gentle and soft and pliant and... boring. In a soothing sort of way. And when he is with her, he can drown his tumult in her skin, and her burnished gold hair, and her breathing. ]

[At least it works... mostly.]

[Well, that's better than nothing.]

[Of course, these things never last forever. And now that he's thinking about it, he's restless again, with this tightening in his stomach that won't release. It's the most frustrating thing he's ever felt, this whole situation - it drives him a little insane, and he wants... something. And he could shake her, just a little, wake her up and drown again, but...]

[He tosses his cigarette into the ashtray by his bedside. It seems this hotel, or his time in it anyway, is not long for this world. He'll miss it, a little.]

Hey.

[He looks down at Charlotte, who opens one eye and yawns.]

I'm going to go... [gestures to the bathroom] ...take a shower. Yeah. You stay here.

[She moves away from him slightly, head falling on the pillow, while he slides out of bed and grabs his pants from the floor.]

Order room service or something, if you want.

[With that, he heads into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.]