Chapter 4

The next day, after saying goodbye’s to Ali, she thought about the idea that had stuck with her from last night. If she wanted love, she needed to take action. Even in the bright light of day, they seemed to hold more wisdom than the vine soaked musings had the night before.

She ducked into the bathroom and locked the door. This teasing dance they were doing was killing her, but now she had a way to take command. With her heart thumping, she slipped out of her shirt, and fixed her ponytail. The lighting wasn’t great, but it was good enough for her purposes. She put on a little make-up just to even things out a bit. She held the camera high and took a duckface selfie. No, that was too cliche. She chucked that one and went for a tilted picture with a sly smile. Perfect. From that angle she could give him the illusion of more cleavage. ‘Let’s see how he reacts to this,’ she thought. Now for the caption, she thought.

“Thinking of you”

“Perf,” she whispered. Her finger hovered over send. How would he take this? He’d always been cagey about things. Would this be too far? Would he say something? Would he not? No, there was no way he could not react. Was she being too forward? Would he think she was a slut? There were a million reasons not to send it, but most of them meant nothing to her. She hit send to take the choice away from herself. “Done.”

She bit her lip all the way down to breakfast, floating in a dizzy cloud checking her phone for his response. She waited an agonizing minute. With a sigh, she gave up and started heading to the yard to mow the lawn. Not having brothers meant that she had to do chores like this. She got no sympathy from her mother, since she was an athlete. After she finished the back, a bit of a sweaty mess, she checked her phone again.

A reply from A.

Overly excited, she pulled up the app, “Okay, this is ... well, here goes nothing.” She opened it up and read.

A - Wow A - That’s wow.

She grinned.

P - u like?

A - You shouldn’t be sending that out.

P - I trust u ;) P - got NEthing else 2 say?

A - Nothing I can say out loud.

P - ur so bad ;-x A - Speak for yourself.

She beamed, beyond overjoyed that that little admission from him. He probably wouldn’t like her now, a hot mess of grass and pollen stuck to her legs, arms, and in her hair. Getting a spark of creativity, she took off her shoes and put them on the mower. The engine was hato to the touch, but her shoe protected her bottom as she sat down, facing the sun. She took a picture with hot-dog legs positioned just so it looked like she was on a lawn chair or lounge chair. She sent it back with the caption, “getn sum rays wish u were here!!! <winky kiss>”

Over the next couple of days she sent him snaps from time to time, keeping him on the hook. He sent her back a couple, but never with his face, always scenery or rocks or something. She supposed he didn’t trust the system, but it didn’t matter, she had his undivided attention. Plus, just the flirty words in his replies set her imagination aflame. One morning, she got back from a run and was laying in bed waiting for his response to her sweaty abs bathroom selfie. She’d regretted sending it almost immediately because she didn’t think it looked that good.

A - Damn, you look amazing.

Her eyes bugged out. He was never that forward, always holding back, but those 4 words were a whole different level. Cute, she was used to, but amazing was new.

P - You think?

A - Wow, yes. I can’t even think straight.

She felt the pull of love and destiny, and she rushed into the bathroom.

P - brb shower She’d already showered and changed, but if he couldn’t think straight, she wanted to do anything to tip him past the edge. He was starting to really see her, the way she saw him. There was something undeniable between them, something that broke all reason. She stripped down to bare skin and bones, naked and vulnerable. For a moment, she thought about sending him a nude, but that didn’t sit right. It wasn’t them. They weren’t raunchy, they were sexy, sensual. She caressed her own body thinking about him and the things he might do to her. Guide her down into a yoga pose, then caress her legs, then her breasts. He could take her up into his strong arms and lay her down and make love to her and she could bring him so much pleasure and he could bring her such joy. Her fingers traced downward to tease herself and the only sound was the bathroom echo of her breathing, slowly becoming for ragged. She felt this growing urgency, and more than anything she wanted to see him feeling the same.

Patricia wrapped herself in a large towel and tucked it closed over her. She slipped her right hand between the folds and back down where it’d been just a few moments before. This was it, she thought. It covered up much more of her body than many of the other pics she sent him, but the implication was so sensual. She snapped a pic and added the caption: P - cant stop thinking bout u He started responding immediately.

A - I’m going to have trouble concentrating on my run.

P - want sum company?

A - Would I be sent to hell if I said yes?

P - lol prolly <angel emoji> P - but its more fun <demon emoji> A - Yes.

P - <heart eyes><heart eyes><heart eyes> P - @the trail?

A - Yes.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” She whispered harsh afraid a full utterance would resonate in the bathroom walls and shatter the entire illusion. She dressed again and ran out to the car. She was practically hyperventilating as she took to the state road and headed towards the woods. She forced herself to slow down mostly on the fear that getting pulled over might mean not getting there. She’d be fine for a trail run in shorts. Maybe she didn’t have athletic shoes, but that wasn’t all that important. Was this even real? Was this really happening? She checked the exchange one more time with glee. At the point he’d marked in the map not to long ago. Finding his van, she pulled up behind it. There was no parking lot, just a stretch of road where you could park on the shoulder. She looked around and saw him part was down the slope in towards the valley.

“Hey stranger!” she called down to him.

He waved.

She followed after him. She quickly caught up to him and puffed, “Hey, weren’t you planning on waiting for me?”

“That was waiting, you ready to start running?”

“Born ready.”

They huffed and puffed together through the woods, ducking under branches, over exposed roots, and up slopes. The air was moist enough her to actually grow moss on some of the stones so they were surrounded by the multiple shades of greens and earthy browns with streams of yellow sun shining through the canopy. She breathed clean and pumped her legs following his practiced steady efficient gait. The pair went deeper in the woods and up the hillside, shaded by a canopy of life, he took a turn off between some brush and a downed tree trunk, “Come on, I want to show you something.”

They made it to a clearing that ended right by a drop off that slope sharply down to a water’s edge. Off in the distance there were hills and greenery lit by trees in the clear sky, nature’s glory. “It’s beautiful.”

He smiled at her, “Look down.”

She looked down at the water, and her jaw dropped open, “Woah, what is that?”

“I know, right?”

The waters were this unnatural swirl of teal mixed with patches of blue so dark it bordered on purple. The patterns swirled together in a kind of playful modern art aesthetic, like something you might see at a museum in New York.

“It’s really pretty.”

“Makes for a nice picture, doesn’t it.”

She looked at him with a smile, “Are we going to swim in that?”

He chuckled, “I wouldn’t if I were you. It’s chemical runoff, probably from the chem plant.”

“There’s no chemical plant near here.”

“Not nearby, no, but they do happen to own a lot of this land, so put two and two together.”

“Wow, we should do something about this.”

He smiled and shook his head, “Maybe. You might.” He smiled at her, not yet ready to discourage her naivety.

Seeing his smile, she reach out and touched his fingers with hers. He took her hand in his and she let him. Emboldened, she faced him and took his other hand as well. “You know, Coach, you never did tell me that word you were thinking of.”

“Oh, I’m coach again?”

“Andrew,” she corrected herself, “Andrew, you never told me the word you were thinking of.”

“What word,” he asked but she knew he was teasing her. It’s all she’d been able to think about for weeks after.

“You know, the ‘S’ word you think of when you look at me?”

“Oh right, that one,” he looked up, trying to break eye contact with her. When he looked back his smiling face was gone. “Tricia, you know this thing between us, it isn’t going to be anything more than...”

“Oh? There’s a thing? I was just asking a question,” she smiled innocently.

He looked at her even more serious, “You know damn well that’s not true. And there are a million reasons for me to not be here. I shouldn’t have asked you here.”

She looked down, “I didn’t mean...”

He ran his hand up her arm in a loving manner, conflicting with his stern tone, “You, you know what you’re doing. There are things I could say things right now and if I did I could ruin everything.” He took her cheek up in his hand and tilted it up.

She saw the conflict and desire in his eyes and felt dizzy. She felt the pull of love and destiny and with his eyes she knew he felt it too. “It’s okay,” she whispered. They were almost the same height, equals, though he was slightly taller and more powerful. She could easily tip his lips up and he could take them into her first real kiss with a real man. His thumb traced along her lips in silent desire.

His next words came out a whisper, a secret that slipped into the world, “I want to kiss these lips so bad you’ll never understand.”