"What do you mean, 'Make the water pressure higher'?" I ask my young assistant. I'm a lawyer! Do I look like I can fix that?!
"It's your house, Nick. Don't you know how to change the water pressure in the shower?" Maya puffs her cheeks out and glares up at me.
"Okay, okay." I enter the bathroom and look around. The counters are pretty clean as usual, the towels'll be fine for a few more days, and the floor is…soaking wet?! "Maya! Why do I feel like I need to build an ark?"
"Oh." She smiles nervously up at me and splashes her feet a bit. "Well, I was hoping you wouldn't notice that."
Should I be offended that she thinks my powers of observation are that weak? Or just pray that this doesn't drip through the floor and into the apartment below me?
"I don't like to have the shower curtain closed, it interrupts the flow of the water and makes me feel and weird and closed in."
Now I'm starting to feel weird and closed in. And damp. Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to be the one to clean this up?
"Just- please close the shower curtain next time, okay?" I slosh my way over the shower and climb awkwardly inside, trying not to get my suit completely drenched. I stare up at the showerhead. Then down at the drain. And then everywhere in between.
"What's wrong, Nick?"
I rub the back of my neck and grin. "Well, I was kind of hoping there would be a little switch labeled 'Water Pressure' or something."
"C'mon, Nick! If it was that easy, I would have done it!" Says the girl who can't figure out the difference between a ladder and a stepladder.
I tug randomly at a few protruding pieces of metal until I find some dials behind the showerhead. Bracing myself against the wall, I squint upwards and clumsily manage to turn some of them.
"Well, considering that was pretty much random, I hope I didn't break anything," I try to say. Try being the key word, as at "pretty" I hear a terrible creaking sound, "hope" something cracks down on my head, and by "didn't" the showerhead is clanging around inside the tub.
I wince away the stars circling my head. "THAT HURT!" Maya's hands flutter anxiously around my face.
"Omigod, Nick, are you okay? Are you dead, Nick?!"
"Do I look dead?" I sit down on the edge of the tub and the pain recedes.
"No, but- wow, Nick! Great job!"
"Uh, what?"
"There's tons of water pressure now!!" She exclaims, with the kind of happiness people usually reserve for gold pouring down out of the sky. I look upward.
There is pressure now, I have to admit. Definitely. A lot of pressure. "Maya," I say unhappily, "I don't think I increased the water pressure."
"What are you talking about?" She opens one eye from where she's already settled into her meditative position. "It's perfect!"
"Well, yeah, for you, but…I think I broke it."
"So? It works better now?" Showers improve when the head is broken off. Right, I'll make a mental note of that aaaaand…call the repairman. Yeah. Oww, I think my head is broken off.
"I'm going to go someone to fix this," I tell her, eyeing the small water feature I've just added to my apartment. "The authorities will want to know we've discovered the next Niagra Falls." But as I head for the door, she shouts behind me.
"Stay with me!"
I stop. "What?"
Maya is half-standing in the tub. "I- I mean… sitting under the shower will probably be good for you too, Nick! It'll hone your, um…deductive reasoning! And heal your head!"
A cold shower- it's better than college and a doctor all in one, apparently!
But standing there in her soaking acolyte's robes, her dark eyes shining with determination, trying not shiver…
Reluctantly I wade back over to the shower, hesitating at the edge.
"A little water won't hurt your suit, it'll only make it cleaner!" She encourages me.
Gee, thanks, Maya.
"Right, how cold can a shower be?" I laugh at myself, boldly stepping into the shower next to her. "UwaaaaAAggh, it's FREEZING!" I'm about to leap back out, but Maya latches onto my suit jacket.
"Don't be a sissy! It's just a little water!"
"I-i-i-i-i-t's not the w-water, it's the i-i-i-i-ice," I chatter, reflexively clutching at her hand that's still attached to my lapel. "W-why would anyone even m-m-make a shower that can b-be this c-c-c-cold?!"
She snickers at me. "S-seriously, Maya, you're not an icicle?"
She sits back into lotus position and folds her hands together like a good acolyte. "It's a necessary part of being forged anew."
I grumble and mimic her lotus position, clenching my jaw to keep from chattering like tic-tacs in a pillbox. "I'm a defense attorney, I don't need to be forged anew. I need to find a client so I can pay the bills and get my shower fixed."
After a few numbing minutes, I peek sideways at Maya. Man, she looks cute with water dripping off of her nose- hey, watch it, brain! But she also looks pretty warm, for a girl sitting under a pressurized stream of water that must be channeled straight from the Arctic Circle. Actually, she looks really warm. Like maybe she even has enough warmth for two people.
My mind hesitates, but my body is quickly approaching snowman-state and doesn't even do a double take. I reach over and press Maya against me. "Wow, you are warm," I mumble contentedly.
"N-Nick?!" She stiffens suddenly and I can picture her wide eyes, just like when she found out that there would be a Pink Princess movie- er, only maybe less happy and more just surprised.
"What, is this cheating or something?"
"N-no, I don't think so," she cautiously puts her hands on my back. I can feel the two spots of warmth start to seep through the ice that my suit has become. She's looking up at me cautiously through the pelting rain of the shower, and suddenly I can't believe how beautiful she-
Beautiful?! No, Wright, bad! She's your partner and your friend, not your crush! Right...? Right. But then why are her eyes so dark and endless and gorgeo-
S-shut up, inner voice!! Now is not the time!
I hug Maya closer to break eye contact and heat up all over; the numbness from the shower is finally starting to wear off. She doesn't say anything, only buries her face in my shoulder. What if she really is beautiful, and I've been missing it all this time? Or what if I haven't been missing it? I think back to my feelings at the train station seven months ago, when she left my office for her psychic training. Did I have to run after her? I knew how important her training was. Wouldn't a phone call, a letter have been fine? Is it just my dedication to do my very best and push for the truth in everything?
Or was it because…I really…needed her to stay?
Maya shifts in my arms and her voice echoes under the steady gush of water. "Hey, Nick? You're really quiet. Whatcha thinking about?"
You. But what will change between us if I say that? Will she still be able to grin cheerfully at me and demand a Samurai Burger? Will she still be able to meet my eyes and touch me carelessly like this? I have so many questions, but no one to cross-examine, no evidence to present, and- I look down at Maya- nothing to object to. There's only one way to find the answers.
"Nick?"
I take a deep breath of the frigid, humid air around us and prepare my answer. "I'm thinking about… y-"
The phone rings. Its loud shrilling startles me and I automatically let go of her to start for the phone. Of course, my mind has taken a complete vacation and I trip over the tub to sprawl gracefully in the puddle that my bathroom floor has become.
"Nick! Are you okay?" Maya jumps up.
I pick myself up, muster an embarrassed grin for her, and stagger out into the main area to answer, ignoring the ringing in my ears.
"Hello, I'm calling about a complaint."
"A-a complaint? About us- I mean me?" I correct myself, trying to shake Maya out of my head.
"Yes, the apartment below yours reported a serious leak in their living room…would you know anything about that, Mr. Wright?"