F: She sleeps in my single bed. There is a cot set up for her, but she sleeps in my bed. She says she gets cold in the night. I offer to swap but she insists we share. She comments on the little bloodstains on my sheet that are in strange places. I don't tell her how they got there, even though she'd understand. We got to sleep shoulder to shoulder. I wake every time I turn, to make sure I'm not touching her, not really. Every time I wake up we are touching anyway.
J: She sits next to me in an auditorium. Her feet are up on the seat in front of her. She wears a jacket year round. We sits next to each other at the computers. Our shoulders and knees knocking together. I make sure not to touch her arms. I don't tell her I know about it. I don't tell her I understand. We ditch our classes. We ride the subway to the end and back to **** time. Our limbs press together, joints bounce off each other.
N: I sleep in his bed. There is room enough for two, and so we go to sleep only almost touching. Through the night he shifts in his sleep further into the middle of the bed. I wake every time I turn, to make sure I'm not touching him, not really. I wake and he is on my side of the bed. I wake again and his arm is rested on my side. I turn slowly, carefully, so it is still on me after I turn. I wake in the morning. I turned in my sleep. His arm is still there.
D: They are in town for the holidays. We talk across the kitchen bar. They agree to tattoo me next time they're here.We all share smokes the whole night, but I *** drags from them the most. Their brand is harsher than I like, but we pass them back and forth anyway. There is an opening to play Mario Kart. I sit off-centre on the three person couch. They join a minute later, right in the middle. They lean their leg to the side so it touches mine. We leave at the same time. They walk me to the bus stop and we hug goodbye.