I wanna take the breath that's true

 

Justin quit the hospital.

Carmen talked him into being a part-timer at the group home. He was scared shitless, but Carmen put him at ease. 

She was so caring. He watched carefully. She helped two practically middle-aged women waddle to the computer lab and got them online. 

Of course, there were the nonspeakers. One fellow made little whiney noises that always made Justin jump.

"Relax," Carmen patted Justin's head as if he might get lost in the half dozen they were keeping an eye on at the library.

She went back to a table and worked on a manicure for some teenage girl who was in the group. She looked normal enough, but he knew she only liked anything that was Garfield comic or the Babysitter's club. While Justin sat with an overgrown teen named Randy who always found a way to cause some kind of trouble. He would have looked perfectly normal if it wasn't for that impish grin.

Actually, Carmen kept everyone's nails clean. After she was done buffing the girl's nails and putting orange nail polish on her short nails, Justin finally got up the nerve to ask Carmen why she hadn't done his nails.

"Do you want me to?" She said she'd taken some courses at the college. "I still need to practice."

"Well, practice on me." He'd never had a manicure. Even Randy got a manicure on these excursions.

"Let's wait until we get home," her smile was quick as if she knew how to handle him too.

He thought of the sound of ..until we get home. Well, he could dream, couldn't he? She had her room. He had his. 

Damn, if something crude didn't cross his mind. He could see her saying he was crude or rude. Of course, he could hear Vada saying those very words. Justin didn't want to miss her. And he really didn't, until he was alone at night in bed.

He guessed he would just have to be happy with a manicure.

And it happened later that night, after dinner when the dishes were cleaning in the dishwasher. She got out all her clippers and whatnot from her cosmetic case. 

At first, he tensed when she started in on his cuticles. "Relax. You won't feel a thing." She was serious about fingernails.

Oh, he felt something all right. He squinted. Sure it was so painless, but it didn't matter. They would only be roommates. He wondered if she was going to be a nun.