Selcouth
Five

I looked at the bathroom door. “Janet says you’re very honest.” I wanted to hear from his mouth as to what she meant.

“I am,” Roman said from the other side of the door. “Is that a problem?”

“I don’t really know what she means by it. Shouldn’t everyone be honest?” I furrowed my eyebrows.

Roman came out of the bathroom and held the white towel around his waist. “I’m a different kind of honest.”

Water dripped from the curls in his black hair, falling onto the hardwood floor. His skin looked so perfect with the wet droplets sitting upon his tan. I knew it was wrong for me to see him this way. I didn’t know how but it had to be wrong.

“Honest?” It was the only word I could manage from my mouth. I never understand much about this world so it came as no surprise when I was confused as to why I wanted to lick his half-naked body. Wasn’t that weird and gross?

“Honest. I’m too honest according to this world.” He folded the end of the towel in the area wrapped around him. He came over, grabbing a shirt from the pile.

I wanted to reach out and rip the towel off him. I knew that was wrong for sure.

“Too honest?”

He pulled the shirt over his head and looked at me. “That’s what they say. I tell people the cold hard truth. Offensive or not, it comes out of my mouth.” He walked to another room and came out with shorts instead of a towel. He used the white towel to dry his hair before throwing it into the pile of clothes.

“I don’t understand.” I shook my head.

He sat down on the couch and looked at me. “Let me explain it. You see the world as a wonderful but new place. I’ve been in this world for twenty-two years and I definitely have had my fair share.”

“How so?”

“Well, for one, people suck. I know you know that already. They can be annoying and cruel. They don’t know how to make smart decisions which is why hospitals exist. You have people who do stupid stunts and end up with broken bones because they wanted to impress their friends. You also have people who just don’t care about their health and they let it go downhill until they’re about to die. Two, the traffic sucks. There is so much traffic because everyone wants to drive in the same place. It is horrendous. I loathe driving because of traffic at this point.

“Three, politics suck. This world is so divided over politics and we are completely screwed because of it. Of course, people have always disagreed in politics. That’s why America started. We wanted freedom from Britain’s rule. We didn’t agree with their politics. However, it’s gotten extreme at this point. People don’t know the meaning of agree to disagree or civility. Four, the cost of living. The cost of living is sky-high. It is a pain to live this way. Even my career doesn’t pay enough for me to live comfortably. I’m still struggling between bills and adult emergencies.”

I nodded, taking in all this information. “What are adult emergencies?”

He leaned back and stretched his arms out. “Things such as sudden car fixes, new prescriptions, and just adult things that slap you in the face.”

“Oh. Why’s that?”

“Because they cost money I don’t have. It’s more stress on top of stress.”

I frowned and nodded at him. “I’m sorry. What relieves that?”

“Working out. I go to the gym to relieve my stress and it helps me.”

I stood up. “Let’s go to the gym.”

“You want to go? You can’t even do anything. You’re still healing from the incident.” He gestured to my body.

I shrugged. “I was told I need to build muscle and I can’t do that if I’m not working out. I’ll take it very easy. I want to go with you. Please.”

He chuckled and got off the couch. “Alright, let’s go.”

We left the apartment and he drove us to the gym. I’d never been to one but I was excited to explore more about this place. Roman was going to show me more than I could’ve dreamed of.

We parked the car and went into the large building.

Looking around the gym, I noticed all the equipment. It seemed to be in mostly a uniform color scheme with heavy objects and lots of machinery.

“This is a gym?” I asked.

Roman nodded and checked in with his membership ID and took me to a large machine. “This is what we call a treadmill.” He pressed some buttons and it made noise. “I’ve set the speed on low so that you can just walk. You walk with the belt that moves around the bottom. Take it easy first.” He got on a treadmill next to me and pressed buttons. He began to job on the machine, looking at me. “It’s okay.”

I got on mine and grabbed onto two handles that stuck out of the thing in front of me. I walked with the moving floor, getting the hang of this. This was easy.

“When do we stop?” I looked at Roman.

He didn’t look my way as he responded with, “After thirty minutes. You should be good to do this for thirty minutes.”

I nodded, looking around the place before focusing on my walking.

When thirty minutes were up, Roman led us to some other objects. “These are dumbbells.” He grabbed some. “You lift them like this.” He bent his arm up and brought it to his shoulder before going back down. “You may want to use really small weights. I’d say start with the one pound.” He grabbed some purple ones and gave them to me. They seemed light enough.

We both started bringing them to our shoulders and back down. We repeated this over and over.

We put them back and Roman looked around the gym. “Let’s go do some ab workouts. Those should be good.” He took me to another machine. He sat down and moved a little metal stick thing in one of the holes at the top. “This is the lightest. Try it. You grab and pull this while keeping your feet here.”

I did as he said and winced. “This hurts.”

He grabbed the handles and brought them back up. “If it hurts already, maybe we shouldn’t do this just yet. Come on. I have something that could be fun.” He took me to the hall in the back. “Go in this room here and change into a swimsuit. I put one in your bag. Come out when you’re done.”

He left into the door next to the one he told me to go into. I was confused as to why I needed to go in this door specifically.

Walking inside, I saw a few other women. They all looked at me and tried to look away. I went to another area that was empty. I looked into the bag he provided and pulled out a swimsuit. It was one piece with floral designs on it. It looked really pretty.

I took off my shirt and pants, realizing I had underwear and a bra on. Did I also take these off? I assumed I did, right?

I took them off, pulling the swimsuit on. I fixed the fabric and looked at myself, feeling accomplished. It was a tiny bit big but I didn’t expect much. I was a skinny girl.

I walked out of the big room and saw Roman waiting. He was wearing new shorts without a shirt. “Ready to learn how to swim?” he asked me.

I looked at him and shook my head. We walked into the pool area and I noticed some women who were wearing swimsuits. I was jealous of what they had that I couldn’t have. They had breasts and you could see a bit of theirs. I had nothing to show.

I subconsciously grabbed my chest, trying to hide my nonexistent breasts. Roman led me to the stairs and looked back at me. “What’s wrong?”

I looked at my arms and shook my head. “I don’t have breasts. It’s embarrassing.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You look amazing either way. Boobs are not what make or break a woman. Come on. Let’s enjoy swimming.” He put his hand out for me to grab.

I took my arms from my chest, glancing at the other women. I looked down, letting Roman lead us into the water. I shivered and stopped, shaking my head. “It’s cold.”

“You get used to it.” He waved me in.

I shivered as I stepped into it, finally stopping at the end of the stairs. The water was up to my waist by now.

One girl was whispering and pointing to me. My head turned towards Roman, watching him move into the water. He saw me and formed a frown. “What’s wrong now?”

“I think a girl is talking about me...” I pointed to her.

He looked over and noticed her looking away from us a little too fast. “Screw them. They don’t matter. There are going to be people who are assholes in this world. You have to tune them out. Don’t let them get to you.”

I nodded, chewing on my lip. He knew so much about the world. I admired him for his wisdom.

He grabbed my hand, pulling me into the water a bit more. “I’m going to lay you on your back and hold you in the water. Is that okay?”

“Wait, why?”

“This will help you learn to float on your back. It’s not scary. You can trust me, Rapunzel. I won’t let you drown.” He nodded his head.

I took a deep breath and laid back, his hands laying flat against the small of my back. My breathing quickened as I laid flat on the water, fear rushing into my veins.

Roman appeared above me, still holding me up underneath. “Take deep breaths. I have you.”

I did as he told me to, closing my eyes.

Mother Gothel laid me back in the tub, running her hand over my hair like the pet I was. “My sweet girl, just relax.”

Listening to her, I closed my eyes and let my muscles go as I felt the warm water keep me alive. My eyes shot open when my head was pushed under.

I flailed my arms, trying to breathe when all I choked on was water. I tried to scream but they were cut off by the liquid that rushed to fill my lungs.

Mother was smiling above the water and she kept me under the surface.

Bringing me back up, I coughed and grabbed the side of the tub. I leaned over, gasping for air, making sure I didn’t let go of the tub so she could kill me again.

Screams left my lips as I threw my arms around. Someone brought me upright and grabbed onto me. “Rapunzel, it’s okay! I’m here and nothing is happening to you,” Roman said.

I coughed a bit before my breaths became heavy. I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding on for dear life.

He took a moment before wrapping his arms around my frail body. “What happened?”

I was afraid to let go. I didn’t loosen my grip because I wasn’t sure if he was capable of drowning me as Mother did. “Mother drowned me in the tub... It was the worst feeling.”

He looked at me and gave a quiet sigh. “She’s a bad person. She’s not here anymore. It’s okay. Nobody else is going to hurt you.”

I nodded, keeping my arms tight around his neck. I looked up at the glass walls that surrounded the pool. I noticed a figure on the other side, observing me.

This figure was a tall man, a man with dark eyes and a permanent look of hatred on his face. His gaze dug into my soul, breaking away at my security. I quickly looked away, keeping a good hold on Roman. If I let go, my life could be over before it even began.

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