Chapter 18: In the Evening

“How am I supposed to develop this roll, now?” I asked.

“Darkroom,” Heather suggested.

“Oh, right, I forgot. I have one in my basement,” I said sarcastically.

“Maybe this will give you incentive to build one.”

I turned toward her. Her tone had been mischievous, but she was a little flushed herself. “I don’t even have a basement. And I thought you couldn’t develop color film in a darkroom. That’s what you said, anyway.”

“You’re right. But it doesn’t matter, because I slipped a black-and-white roll in there, when you were asking your parents about coming out. Back at the house.”

I was flabbergasted. “You what? Why?”

“So I could see your face when you took the picture,” she said deliberately.

“You planned to flash me?”

Heather said nothing with her mouth, but her eyes...

I stared down at the camera. Inside that black metal body was a picture of Heather on the beach, the sunset on her smiling face, her top pulled aside. The film knew Heather more intimately than I did, for now. No, that’s not true, I corrected myself. All the film had was an imprint of her flashing the camera with her left breast. I had everything else.

“Where to now?” she asked.

“Me? I thought you were taking me out.”

“Well, I told you, I just wanted to take you to the concert. But we still have the car for a little longer.”

“What time do you need to have it back?”

“About half an hour from now would be okay, I think. That’s when the concert would be over, and I promised to come straight home. They weren’t willing to let me drive too much at night.”

“A half hour isn’t much time to go anywhere,” I mused. It was quickly getting dark.

“We could make out,” she suggested.

I looked at her. “Really?”

“Well, why not? Unless you don’t want to.”

I bolted toward the car. “Last one there loses a fishing point!”

I heard Heather laugh richly behind me at my victorious arms. When I reached the car, I stood by the passenger door grinning stupidly, pulling on the locked handle impatiently as I hummed a random melody. Heather took her time with the keys, a small smile splashed across her lips. The light was fading, but I could tell she was making me wait on purpose, teasing on my eagerness. Finally, she opened her door and hopped in. Then she fired up the engine and the headlights and started backing out of the spot.

“Hey!” I yelled, banging desperately on the window and trying the door handle again.

She started moving slowly forward through the lot, acting as if I wasn’t there. On impulse I took some quick steps and jumped up onto the hood. It was a stupid move. My camera swung about wildly as I stretched out limbs to avoid falling back to the sandy concrete. I had envisioned it being a smooth leap up onto solid footing, stopping her in her tracks with my commanding stance. Instead I looked like a drunkard learning to hacky-sack.

Through the windshield, I could see and hear Heather laughing so hard that she had to stop the car. The abrupt jerk as she pressed the brakes was enough to send me stumbling off the front of the hood. By pure luck I managed to land on the run and keep from falling.

“What the hell was that?” Heather managed to say, as she hopped out of the driver’s side laughing uncontrollably.

“I don’t know. More dangerous than I thought, that’s for sure,” I said, trying to keep my heart inside my body.

“You’re crazy!”

I pointed. “Um, your car is rolling away.”

Heather turned. “Oh, shit!”

The Escort was starting to roll back down the gently sloped lot. She ran around the open door and jumped in, stopping it before it got near any of the other cars. I went over to the passenger side after Heather unlocked it. As I sat in the shotgun seat, Heather took a deep breath and eyed me with a mixture of mirth and relief in her eyes.

“Let’s pretend that never happened,” she said.

“Okay.”

Heather shifted into gear and drove in silence for a few minutes, before pulling into an empty beach lot further out of town. The sunlight was almost fully gone now. She eased the car into the furthest spot. As soon as she turned the engine off, she opened her door.

“Don’t move,” she said seriously.

My hand let go of the handle and fell back to my lap. Heather walked around the front of the car. She opened my door and climbed onto me, straddling me on the seat. Without warning she pressed her lips hard against mine, almost painfully.

I wound my hands around her waist as she writhed on top of me. My neck was craning awkwardly and I heard her head bump the roof several times, so I reached down and fumbled with the recline lever. With a yelp from Heather, we fell backward along with the seat, Heather still clinging to me. She laughed into my mouth and then murmured hungrily as the added room allowed her to press against me better.

I liked her aggressiveness, I had to admit. When we kissed casually throughout the day, it was sweet and carefree. But the previous night in the park, and now, Heather was different. She was in control. I was happy to let her be so. Her lips pulled on mine, trying to taste them from every angle. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the connection we had.

She sat up smoothly, pulling her arm close to her side. In one fluid motion, she slipped the strap of her top down around her elbow, and then pulled her arm out of the loop. In the dusky light, I could still make out her eyes glinting at me.

“Do you want me to flash you again?” she asked softly.

I nodded and mumbled a vague affirmative, watching the silhouette of her curvy waist move sinuously in front of the dark navy of the sea night behind her. She pressed against me as she reached around into the rear seat. Then she straightened up again, and I heard the ascending electronic whine of a flash unit warming up. The pitch reached its peak after a few seconds.

Heather held her arm out over my head, and immediately light burst from her hand. There was no shutter noise, just the quiet ‘tack’ of the flashtube igniting. I realized that she was discharging just the flash unit, by itself.

The bright light sped into the cargo area of the car, bounced off the wheel wells and striped rear glass. Then it gathered itself and focused back onto Heather’s body. I watched as the lightning revealed her other hand, clutching her strap. The black top was pulled down only slightly, her other arm still stretched above me holding the flash. Her eyes were fixed on mine, and her face was set in a sultry smile.

An instant later, it was pitch black. Like a hyper-slow strobe, she discharged the light every few seconds, each time pulling on her strap slightly to reveal more of herself to me. I watched, utterly transfixed. Between each burst of light, the image of her glowing white skin was burned into my eyes like a negative.

Slowly the curve of her breast was exposed, and then the darker nipple, and then it was completely free. The flashes came slower as the batteries tired. The electronic whine dipped a little lower each time, and the anticipation of the next image became more drawn out as the recharge took longer and longer.

I reached a hand up and cupped her breast just as she lit up the night again. Heather was absolutely still as I gently caressed her. I pulled myself up and took her nipple into my mouth. Heather let out a slight gasp as she discharged the flash once more. The electronic whine whizzed by my ear like a tiny bug and then I heard the flash bounce onto the driver’s seat. Heather’s hands wrapped around my head, pulling me into her chest. I took a deep breath as I gently licked her hardened nipple. There was a slight peach scent on her skin that made me shiver in pleasure.

I left off with a kiss on the upper part of her breast, right where it started curving away from her chest. As I lay back onto the seat, Heather followed me down and kissed me again. Our tongues explored and battled. Ardor grew and receded like the waves of the nearby ocean. At some length, the passion subsided into something less aggressive.

“Oh, Matt! I wish I didn’t have to take the car home,” Heather said into my cheek.

“I know. But don’t get in trouble. We should go, if it’s time.”

Heather buried her face in my neck, regaining her senses after the passionate kisses we’d just shared. I sat in awe, wondering what it was going to be like to make love to my friend. If kissing her is this good... I knew one thing; I wasn’t going to stress out about it like I had with Julie the previous year.

Heather finally sat up, and slid her top back into place. “We’ll save the other one for another time,” she said, patting her right breast.

I laughed. “All right.”

The dome light was most unwelcome when Heather opened the door and climbed off of me.

“Do you have to stay home, or just drop the car off?” I asked as she pulled out of the lot.

“I just need to have the car back.”

“Do you want to hang out at your house?”

“We could. We have a porch out back, with a comfy couch. But the view isn’t as nice as at your aunt’s. And my folks will be around. We could go to the pier, if we want to be alone,” Heather suggested.

“Mm. I’m a little tired, though. Let’s just crash at your place. That couch sounds good. I just want to be with you.”

Heather gently ran her hand along my cheek, between gear shifts. I smiled at her, even though I knew she probably couldn’t see it. I knew she felt it.

Heather’s parents were playing cards at the dinner table when we arrived. When she saw us, Heather’s mom smiled brightly and folded her cards to the table. A moment later she was giving me a hug. I grinned at Heather over her mother’s shoulder.

“Matt, so good to meet you,” she said. “I’m Mairead. I hear you will be joining us for dinner tomorrow. That’s wonderful!”

I gave Heather a look. She covered her mouth with her hand apologetically.

“Yes, thank you for the invitation.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Come, what would you like to drink?”

Her accent was slightly less thick than her husband’s. Or maybe it was just that her melodic feminine voice masked it.

“Whatever you have,” I replied. I stepped over to Aongus and shook his hand.

“Most opportune, young man, thank you!” He gestured to the cards. “Mairead had me by the, well, you know.” He dropped his voice and pretended to reach for her cards. “Now I’ll have a chance to make some changes to her hand.”

“Aongus,” she chided. She just shook her head and walked down the long hallway and into the kitchen. “How was the concert?”

“Excellent,” I said.

“We both really enjoyed it,” Heather agreed.

“Do you listen to much classical music, Matt?” Mairead asked.

“No, not really. But I did like this.”

“Good, good.”

Mairead offered a half-dozen beverage choices and I settled on lemonade. She poured four glasses, handed me one, and gave Heather the second.

“Would you like to play some cards?” Mairead asked us, gripping the other two glasses.

“Nah, we’re going to hang out on the porch,” Heather said.

“Well, another time, then. If you need anything, make yourself at home, Matt.”

“Thanks.”