ext_18485 ([identity profile] rubyrosered.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] ds_flashfiction2003-05-14 06:19 pm

No more stalling...

Okay, it looks like I can't put this off much longer. Many thanks to Halimede for her suggestions and her patience. This is the first thing I've posted for myself, so I'm just hoping I've got these cut tag things set up right.


**********

Stella had a weakness for scented soaps. Pretty, girly, flowery soaps. The kind a guy could buy as a gift for his girl, but never use for fear of being laughed out of the city. So early on they’d come to an agreement; he’d buy her whatever pretty soap she wanted and he’d stick with his Ivory, thank you very much.

Tonight, though, his bar was just a sliver and he was way too tired to go searching for more so he just grabbed hers and got on with it. Wouldn’t hurt just this once.

Except... rubbing it between his hands, he found himself getting lost in the scent of it; in the scent of her, gently drifting up to him. It made him think of her.

It made him hard for her.

Eyes closed, he slowly ran his soapy hands over his chest, coating his skin with her. Ran them over his neck, down his sides, over his hips. Reached for his cock, feeling the blood surge as he stroked. He imagined her there with him, holding him. Felt her hands on his body, guiding him into her. Heard his labored gasps and hers mixed in with his. Felt the sensations rising as he thrust and thrust and the wild burst of pleasure as he came.

And then, knees trembling he rinsed and dried and slid between the sheets, the scent of her still surrounding him.

****
After that, on the worst of the long, lonely nights when she hadn’t come home yet, he found himself more and more often reaching for her soap.

And when she threw him out (asked him to leave) he packed up in some sort of a daze. If a bar of her soap got mixed in with his things, it was just by accident.

And if, every so often, he was walking through a store and picked up another bar of her flowery soap, it was just force of habit. Like buying her favorite cereal, or the brand of toilet paper she liked the best.

Although sometimes, when he realized what he was doing, he forced himself to stop. To put the soap back and pick up a different brand instead. Something that didn’t remind him of her at all.

****
Then, late one night, after a long day spent living someone else’s life, he reached for a new bar of soap without looking, and it wasn’t until he’d started lathering that he realized it wasn’t Ivory. And it wasn’t flowery, either. It smelled... sharp and woodsy. Like Fraser. It made him think of Fraser.

He stopped and stared at the soap for a long moment.

Then, slowly, he lathered his hands and closed his eyes.

**********


451 words
ext_12460: acquired from fanpop.com (Default)

[identity profile] akite.livejournal.com 2003-05-14 03:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Dang, Ruby! I'm so glad you decided to share this with us. Good stuff for sure. So good I'm kind of incoherant. ::g::
reginagiraffe: Stick figure of me with long wavy hair and giraffe on shirt. (Default)

[personal profile] reginagiraffe 2003-05-14 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Ohhhh, this was superb.

Smell is the sense that's most intimately connected to memories and emotions. And this did a lovely job of showing that.

[identity profile] midwinterthaw.livejournal.com 2003-05-14 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Very nice. I laughed out loud at the second-to-last sentence -- I think it was out of nervous relief. Ah, sexy angsty Ray.
ext_12411: (Default)

Ah!

[identity profile] theodosia.livejournal.com 2003-05-14 04:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, very good on the sensual non-visual imagery. Do I smell flowers around here or what?

(Anonymous) 2003-05-14 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
What a nice piece! Perfect cutoff point.

Karen
ext_3548: (silhouette)

[identity profile] shayheyred.livejournal.com 2003-05-14 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
That is one nice piece of writing!
Great premise, great ending, too. And see, you got the cut tags right to boot!

[identity profile] laurakaye.livejournal.com 2003-05-14 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
oh! I love this a lot. The smells, and the wistfulness, and Ray! and Fraser! Great job.

[identity profile] ardent-muses.livejournal.com 2003-05-14 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Then, slowly, he lathered his hands and closed his eyes.

Killer last sentence! And a lovely story as well. Ray's such a romantic, I can see him washing and, um, other things, with the soap of his beloved :)

[identity profile] thermidor.livejournal.com 2003-05-15 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, yeah. I love the use of scents here. Also the transition from Stella to Fraser.
Great job!

[identity profile] rowanfairchild.livejournal.com 2003-05-15 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, baby! This rocked! Smooth, visceral imagery, transition, all of it. This is one beautifully crafted little piece of writing.
-R

[identity profile] kist.livejournal.com 2003-05-15 07:39 am (UTC)(link)
Lovely literal and metaphoric use of soap and scent. I love the entire last section, and especially that picking up Fraser's soap was unintentional.

[identity profile] midwinterthaw.livejournal.com 2003-05-15 01:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, definitely a good sign!

[identity profile] gnomad.livejournal.com 2008-01-01 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Awww...the power of scent. Very nicely done!