by Angela Blake
“Well, I spent the whole tour talking to him, I don’t want him to get bored of me, or think I’m clingy or anything.”
“I’m sure he won’t think that. Besides, he’s been staring at you pretty much since you came over to start talking to me.”
They both turned to look, and sure enough he was staring at the both of them. He gave Christina a little wave, and she waved back. He smiled and made his way a smattering of rocks to get to them.
“Hi,” he said as he gave Christina a bright smile.
“Hi,” Christina responded with an equally bright smile.
Esmeralda coughed as they both continued to make googly eyes at each other. “Oh, this is my friend, Esmeralda.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Jack held out his hand, and Esmeralda gripped it firmly in his. “Likewise.”
“So how are you liking Egypt, Jack?”
“It’s very interesting, I like it a lot so far.” He was looking at Christina as he said this, and she actually ducked her head and blushed. Esmeralda was sure she had never seen Christina blush before in her life. She was definitely going to tease her about it later.
“Really? What do you like about it so far?” she pressed, deciding to tease him about it.
“Oh, the sights definitely. They’re very beautiful.”
Esmeralda grinned. “I happen to think so too.”
They might as well have been in their own bubble as far as Esmeralda was concerned. They seemed to be having a silent conversation with their eyes as Christina giggled and continued to blush.
“So, Esmeralda,” Jack turned to face her. “Christina told me that you’re also into women.”
Esmeralda nearly choked. “She what?”
Esmeralda turned to face her friend whose eyes were wide. Christina was looking anywhere but at Esmeralda which was good because Esmeralda was glaring daggers at her.
“Oh, I’m sorry, is that not the right term for it? It’s called Bisexual, right? I didn’t want to offend you or anything.”
Esmeralda turned to him with a Cheshire smile. “Oh, I’m not offended at all. We don’t really have a term for it, do we, Chris?” Her voice dripped with saccharine sweetness as she pinched Christina.
Christina muttered. “Oh, no, no there isn’t.”
“Christina doesn’t believe in stereotyping you see, so she doesn’t think we should name it.”
Jack’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, you’re bi too?”
“Um, I -” Christina began to stammer as she sent Esmeralda a pleading look.
“Yeah, but don’t worry, she mostly likes men not women. She’s like ten percent bi, and the rest is heterosexual.”
“I don’t mind that at all. I think sexuality can be fluid. It doesn’t have to be set in stone. I was with a woman who was bi once.”
Christina gave him a weak smile. “Is that so?”
“Oh, yes. It was a difference experience, two women at once, I mean.” Jack seemed very at ease talking about threesomes.
“That sounds, er -” Esmeralda paused. “interesting.”
Esmeralda was making weird noises next to Christina as she attempted to choke back the laughter.
“I don’t suppose you ladies would be interested in something like that with me?”
Esmeralda burst out laughing as she clutched her side. Christina excused the both of them and dragged Esmeralda off to the side as she continued to laugh as the tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Now look what you’ve done,” Christina complained as she looked at Jack over her shoulder. “Why did you go and tell him that I’m bi? You know I’m not.”
Esmeralda coughed as her laughter subsided, and she straightened up. “Why did you tell him I’m bi when I’m not?”
“I panicked okay. When I first walked up to him and started a conversation, he wasn’t very receptive, and then he said I should probably be getting back to you ‘my girlfriend’.” She used air quotes for this. “I told him that you were just my best friend, and that you are bi, and that’s why we seemed flirty.”
Esmeralda shook her head. “So in order to save your hide, you throw me under the bus.”
Christina held her hand up. “I didn’t know what else to say. Besides, it’s not like I thought he was going to ask you about it point black.”
“Or proposition the both of us,” Esmeralda pointed out with a rueful grin.
“That’s only because you let him think that I’m bi too.”
“Well, I figured I’d have a little fun with it. I had no idea he’d go and ask us to be part of a threesome.”
“Neither did I,” Christina commented as she placed her hands on her hips and sighed. “What am I supposed to do now? I don’t like threesomes, and I definitely don’t want to have one with you.”
“No offense,” Christina added.
“None taken.” Amusement colored Esmeralda’s tone.
“So what am I supposed to do? I think he’s waiting for an answer.”
Esmeralda sighed as she placed her hands on either of Christina’s shoulders. “Chris, just tell him the truth. Tell him you were just joking, that neither of us are bi, and if he still wants to do a threesome then tell him no, and see what he says. If he only likes you because of that then he isn’t worth it, okay?”
Christina nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Well, here goes nothing.”
Christina straightened up, squared her shoulders and made her way back to Jack with a determined gleam in her eye.
She saw Daniel walk up to her, and she gave him a small wave.
“What’s got you all giddy?”
“Not giddy, per say, more like not sure if I’m flattered or bemused.”
Daniel stood next to her as he dusted off his shorts. “Oh, why is that?”
“I just got propositioned by the guy that Christina likes.”
Daniel’s head swiveled to hers. “He what?”
“Not like that,” Esmeralda hurried to add. Daniel visibly relaxed. “He thought that I’m bi because Christina told him that I was to explain away our earlier moments when we were mock flirting to get his attention, so to get back at Christina, I told him that she’s also bi, so he wanted to have a threesome with the two of us.”
Daniel snorted. “That’s one heck of a proposition. I see I’m not the only one who’s been exploring their sexuality.”
“Aha, so you admit that you’ve been exploring other aspects, eh?” Esmeralda waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively.
“I’ll admit to that if you’ll admit that you want to be in a threesome.”
“I can’t admit that because it isn’t true.”
“Then I can’t admit that either.” Daniel winked at her.
Esmeralda plopped down onto the ground, and reached for her water. She gulped the contents and used the remaining water to pour down her neck.
“Deserts are very strange. They’re dusty, there’s too much sand, and it’s hot during the day, and cold during the night.”
“How very observant, Sherlock.”
“No, I’m serious. How can one place be so paradoxical?”
Daniel stretched his legs and craned his neck to catch some sun. “I suppose that’s the beauty of our Earth. There’s beauty to be found in contradictions, you know. If everything was consistent, it wouldn’t be as beautiful as something that’s ever changing.”
“Well, that’s arguable, I think.”
Daniel tilted his head to look at her. “How so?”
“Well, take the sun for example. Sunsets and sunrises are contradictory, but also complimentary. They aren’t paradoxical however because they both serve different purposes at different times, and yet they are just as beautiful as something that is erratic.”
“Like the ocean or the sea.” Daniel stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Yeah, I mean think about. What could be more volatile than the water? One minute it’s beautiful and steady, and you could see yourself floating along its surface, happy to be surrounded b
y its endlessness, and the way it transports you to this state of complete oblivion. The next minute, it’s suffocating you, threatening to drench you in its cosmic infinity, trying to drag you down into its depths.”
“The water can be both a source of solace and a harsh and unforgiving perpetrator of punishment,” Daniel commented as he studied Esmeralda carefully, a small smile playing on the corner of his lips.
“I think humans are a lot like water.”
“Really?” Daniel swiveled to face her and gestured for her to continue. “Do tell.”
“Well, humans can be unpredictable too. A lot of people think we don’t change, or can’t change, but that isn’t entirely true, is it? I mean, sure some things remain the same. Some core inherent characteristics, but people change whether they want to or not. It is one of the few inevitabilities in life, and just like change is inescapable, so is changeability. Humans are a mass of contradictions. They just don’t realize it. There are layers to each and every person. Some people go years without realizing it, some people know it, and you can see it reflected in the way they deal with different people. Here’s the thing though, our beauty lies in our irregularity as much as in our regularity. They are both sides of the same beautifully flawed coin.”
Daniel paused. “Like the yin and yang theory. There is no absolute darkness, nor is there absolute light. One cannot exist without the other, so based on that, we can say that not everyone who is evil is completely evil, and not everyone who is good, is completely good.”
“Exactly.”
They lapsed into silence as they both pondered what they had just said. Daniel was one of the few people in the world that Esmeralda was able to have conversations like that with. If she tried with anyone else, they’d either get too complex for her, or they’d think she was trying to be pretentious, and she wasn’t. She just wondered a lot about the world, and the nature of humans, and their relationships with each other, and the outside world.
The sound of their tour guide calling out to them made them stand up. “Okay, I’m glad I have your attention. You’re all going to pair up, and each pair is going to take a beach buggy, and you’re going to follow me into the mountains where we will watch the sunset, ok?”
Esmeralda looked around for Christina who was standing next to Jack. She pointed at him and gave her a thumbs up to let her know it was all good.
She felt Daniel come stand next to her. “I guess you’re stuck with me again.”
“Your company isn’t that bad, you know,” she teased.
“How nice of you,” he commented, very dryly as he made his way towards a beach buggy. “I think I’d better drive because we both know how clumsy you are.”
Esmeralda opened her mouth to protest before she shut it again. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
Daniel swung his legs over the beach buggy and sat down. He patted the space behind him, and Esmeralda swallowed as she realized that she would have to hold onto his waist to keep from falling off. It was exactly the kind of intimacy they had both been avoiding for fear of consequences, but it was just a beach buggy ride. They could handle this.
She gave him a reassuring smile and climbed up behind him. She nestled behind him and made sure her legs were adjusted on each side of him. She pressed her face to his back when a gust of wind blew their way.
“Cold?” he asked.
She nodded against his shirt. She was a little cold, so she slipped her sweater on, but that wasn’t the only reason, she had buried her face in his back. It was also because she wanted to smell him. That heady intoxicating smell she loved so much.
The tour guide made sure they were all settled and began to move. The beach buggy revved to life beneath them, and Esmeralda wrapped her arms around Daniel’s waist as they began to slowly trudge forward. She felt her hair flying behind her back, and with the feeling of her body pressed up against his back, for a moment, it was like they were here together, just like they always said they would be.
Chapter 8
They stopped an hour later at the foot of the mountains, and the tour guide was explaining that they would have to hike a small distance to get to the top of the mountain, so they could see the sunset.
Esmeralda began to swing her legs over her shoulder, and she huffed as she nearly tripped on her way down.
Daniel laughed as he watched her.
Esmeralda straightened her spine as she dusted off her shorts. “What’s so funny?”
“You manage to trip even on flat surfaces, I wonder if that’s an innate talent of yours.”
Esmeralda began to clap her hands together to dust them off. “Okay, first, how do you know that it’s not a special sort of skill that only few are blessed with?”
Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. “How on Earth is being clumsy a special gift? It seems more like a curse.”
“That’s because your puny muggle mind fails to grasp how important it is.”
“Muggle?” One eyebrow shot up. “Did you just insult me in Harry potter speak?”
“I’m impressed you know that, and yes, it is. How do you expect me to blend in with the other muggles?”
“Well,” Daniel pretended to think about it. “I guess when you put it that way, can’t have wizardry exposed to the muggles after all.”
“Exactly, so who is going to expect clumsy little me of being a witch?”
Daniel smiled. “Well, no one. Unless I tell them, and how do you know I won’t?”
Esmeralda took a step closer and placed a finger on his chest. She leaned in to whisper. “Because I know where you live.”
Daniel laughed. “How do you know I haven’t moved?”
“Well, I’m not only a witch, but I’m also a Jedi, so I can use the force to figure out where you are.”
“Did you just make a Star Wars reference?” Daniel’s eyes widened in surprise. “I thought you were just saying that you liked it to impress me.”
Esmeralda made a face. “I wouldn’t lie about something I like just to impress a guy. If it’s something I don’t like, I’ll try to like it for the guys sake, if not, at least I tried, and if it’s something I don’t know, I’ll give it a shot.”
Daniel scratched the back of his neck. “Guess you really were my dream woman.”
Esmeralda coughed awkwardly as she gave him a weak smile. “Well, anyway-” she trailed off as she avoided his gaze and began to look anywhere else.
They paused as they noticed that the sky was bathed in a kaleidoscope of purple and pink. The colors stretched as far as the eye could see bathing the world in a soft halo. They watched as the sun began its slow descent before it finally dipped into the horizon enveloping the world in darkness.
“You didn’t tell me the second thing,” Daniel’s voice said from somewhere next to her.
“What?” she whispered as she groped around for him in the darkness. Her hand connected with something solid. She felt a solid heartbeat and warmth beneath her fingertips, and she blushed as she made to yank her hand away.
Before she could pull it away, a hand came up and wrapped itself around hers. “You said first, usually when you say that, it means you have other reasons.”
Esmeralda smiled and nodded before she remembered that he couldn’t see her. “Well, the second reason is how do you know I’m not doing it to hug the floor?”
Daniel chuckled, and Esmeralda wanted to smack herself on the head for sounding so lame. In her defense, it sounded much funnier in her head.
They heard the tour guide’s voice from somewhere far away, so Daniel took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow.
“Wouldn’t want you hugging the floor again. This floor doesn’t strike me as the sentimental type.”
Esmeralda snorted. “I’m inclined to agree with that.”
A few sharp rocks later, they finally found their way to the flash light the tour guide was shining.
“Alright, we are about to see a show put on by the Bedouins while they serve you aut
hentic Bedouin tea. Now, if you’re not a fan of tea, I wouldn’t recommend you try the stuff, it is a bit strong.”
The tour guide made eye contact with the guests as he smiled. He paused when he met Esmeralda’s gaze, and he winked at her.
Esmeralda turned around to see who he was winking at. When she discovered that it was her, she gave him a confused smile.
“What was that about?” Daniel asked, his voice coming out sounding clipped.
“What? You mean the tour guide winking at me? I have no idea.”
“Really? Because you smiled at him after.” Daniel bit out as they moved forward. Esmeralda opened her mouth to reply, but they were separated by a throng of people. Once they got to the Bedouin area, they plopped down onto the pillows laid out across the floor around little fireplaces, and a small round table to serve the tea.
“I didn’t know what else to do. I was trying to be polite.” Esmeralda responded as she told herself to calm down and not bite his head off. He was just being concerned, and protective.
Sort of like a boyfriend? Her mind whispered.
Sort of like a jealous ex-boyfriend. Another voice in her head whispered furiously.
“Anyway, I thought we talked about this, it’s not like it’s any of your business what I do, just like it’s none of my business what you do.”
Daniel clenched his fists. “No, I suppose not.” He said coolly.
“Don’t do that.”
“What?” he asked, evenly.
“That.” Esmeralda gestured between them. “Treat me like I’m some sort of stranger or colleague.”
Daniel kept his eyes trained on the fire in front of them, the muscle ticking in his jaw the only sign of how tightly coiled he was. “How else am I supposed to treat you? We’re not good friends, we’re not even friends technically, and we sure as hell aren’t together.”
“And whose fault is that?” she asked quietly.
At first she thought that Daniel hadn’t heard her, but when he turned his head slowly to look at her, and she saw the hurt reflected in his eyes, she knew that he had.