Little Conversations

by Matilde, Sibylla

  “You’re pretty good at that,” Devin dazedly breathed in a rush.

  Ronin’s smile widened. With a flush, Devin realized she’d just said that aloud. CRAP! Flustered, she attempted to blink the moment away, attempted to head back to the bar. Ronin pulled her tightly to him again, and began to move to the next song. Sensing her discomfort with their intimate moment on the crowded floor, he leaned down to her so she could hear his voice above the rising beat of the next song.

  “Honey, don’t overthink this. Just have fun. Let yourself go.”

  Devin drew away a bit to look at him skeptically. “What, friends?”

  “It doesn’t have to mean anything at all. Listen to Gaga, baby. Just dance.”

  So, lured by the liberty in his eyes, she did. For hours, right up until the club closed. For the first time in weeks, she didn’t want to pour alcohol down her throat and forget about the lingering dysphoria of the whole Jake/Melanie thing. For a little while, she didn’t care. Instead of turning to more tequila, she and Ronin drank ice-water to stay hydrated as they twisted and whirled to the palpable beat. They became drunk on the sensation of their movements as they danced throughout the night. The flashing lights, the pulsating music. It all gave everything a surreal feel. And the longer they danced, the closer they became. The more they flirted with the other side. The more the lines blurred.

  Joanie and her date, Boring Greg the Accountant, were giggling like a couple of little girls.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you two?” Devin asked Joanie.

  “You mean, aside from the entire stockroom of booze they’ve drank?” Ronin mused.

  “We were just thinking,” Joanie slurred, “you two are miiiiiiighty cute together, ya know!”

  “Joanie, we’re not together. You know that,” Devin groaned.

  “I mean, seriously,” she looked back to Greg, “you should totally meet her ex. That guy is a D-I-C-K! And he keeps pulling—”

  “Joanie,” Devin interrupted.

  She ignored her warning tone and continued. “—some of the shittiest shit on her, and she always goes back to him. Over and over. I mean, really, Devin? What the fuck?”

  “Joanie,” Devin said more firmly, “that’s enough.”

  “But Ronin here, he’s a boss, ya know? And she really kinda digs him.” Joanie looked over at Devin and Ronin. “Outwardly you keep pushing away from each other. Like you don’t want each other. But,” she pointed at Devin for emphasis, “you’ve got to admit there’s a little somethin’-somethin’ going on, right?”

  Devin threw a pleading look at Ronin. “God,” she whispered desperately, “make her stop.”

  “Okay, Joanie, I think it may be time to cut you off,” Ronin cut in. “Give me your keys, Greg. I’m going to go get your car, and I’m driving.”

  “Thank the lord,” Greg muttered. “I’m not so sure I could.”

  Chapter 9 – Orion the Hunter

  “Right there, see? It’s those three stars that kinda make a ‘W,’ but sideways,” Devin spoke softly, even though the two winos were out cold in the back of Greg’s sensible beige four-door sedan.

  “Yeah, right over that sharp peak?”

  “Yep. That’s Cassiopeia. She’s not so famous in her own right, but she’s part of a very famous story. Ever heard of Perseus and Andromeda? You know… Clash of the Titans?”

  Ronin nodded, and Devin continued on.

  “Well, Cassiopeia was a stunningly gorgeous queen. She was Andromeda’s mom. Problem was, she knew she was gorgeous. She was all vain and self-absorbed, and she would brag about how hot she was all the time. She even said she was more beautiful than this bunch of hot, young sea nymphs. They were enchanting and radiant, the hottest thing since sliced pita bread. Well,” she looked sideways at Ronin for a second before staring back out into the night “they were not impressed. One of the nymphs was married to Poseidon, so they all bitched at him until he sent a big old sea serpent to ravage the coast of Cassiopeia’s kingdom. Cassiopeia’s husband went to an oracle for help, and the oracle said that they had to appease Poseidon by giving Andromeda, their own daughter, to the sea monster. So, they did it!” She looked over at him with wide, incredulous eyes. “They just chained her up to some rocks and left her for the serpent.”

  “Nice folks,” Ronin said with a chuckle.

  “Anyway, the sea monster came to get her, and Perseus came flying by on Pegasus. Using the head of Medusa to turn the it to stone, he rescued Andromeda from the monster. Cassiopeia was watching, and she looked at Medusa’s head, too, so she was also turned to stone. Poseidon was kinda pissed at her still. He put her up in the sky sitting on her throne and combing her beautiful hair. But, he made sure she was in a place where she’d circle the North Star, so, half the time she’s up there, she’s upside down, which is apparently some kind of massive, mythical insult.” Devin paused again to look at the stars. “Of course, that means Perseus, Andromeda, and even poor ol’ Pegasus also ended up going in circles and being upside down since they’re right by her. She’s a little closer to the North Star, though, so she gets the worst of it.”

  “That’s quite a story, honey.”

  Devin smiled over at him. “I’ve got a million of them. When I was a kid, my mom, my brother, and I used to camp out in the backyard sometimes and watch the stars. We lived way out in the country, so there weren’t any city lights. The stars seemed to just come alive. She’d point out the constellations and tell us the stories.” She inhaled wistfully. “I miss that sometimes. I miss them.”

  “Do you hear from them much?” Ronin asked.

  “Not really lately, but that’s probably more my fault than theirs. I’ve kind of checked out the last couple months. All the stress with Jake kind of has me distancing myself.” Devin looked sadly back at the sky. “I don’t want to burden my family with my stupid shit. I don’t know how to explain all that to them. My dad has met Jake, and he liked him. Jake’s the model boyfriend in his opinion.” Devin laid her head back on the seat and turned back to the window, silently signaling an end to the path their conversation was taking.

  They were just hitting the outskirts of town. Ronin drove to Joanie’s place, and Devin was able to rouse her drunk and sleepy friend enough to get her inside.

  “So, where does this guy live?” Ronin asked as Devin got back in the car.

  “Greg,” Devin nudged the passed out form in the backseat. “Greg. GREG!”

  Greg muttered a few incoherent mumbles, but not much of a response. Devin chewed on her lip for a minute before she dug through his glove box and pulled out his vehicle registration papers. “Well, this was where he lived when he licensed the car. Hopefully he still lives there.” She shrugged and read the address to Ronin.

  It was about three o’clock in the morning, at this point, and the roads in their little town were desolate. Pulling into what they hoped actually was Greg’s driveway, both Ronin and Devin tried again to awaken Joanie’s sleeping beauty, but to no avail. He was out. At one point, he batted one of Devin’s hands away, but, aside from that, there really wasn’t much response. Ronin took the keys out of the ignition and set them on the dash. He and Devin got out and locked the doors behind them, figuring they’d just let him sleep it off in his car.

  “We’re not far from my place,” Ronin noted. “Just through those trees over there. I can give you a ride home if you want.”

  “Shit, I should have worn different shoes. These are fine for dancing,” Devin said as she held one foot out in front of the other, “but not sure how they’ll be for hiking.”

  Ronin turned around and crouched down. “Hop on,” he said.

  “Ronin, I can walk. I probably can’t walk very fast, but I can walk.”

  Ronin stood and turned around, taking another step over to her so that, even in her four-inch strappy heels, she had to look up at him. “Honey, don’t argue with me. Just get on my fuckin’ back.” He gave her a pointed end-of-conversation look, and Devin nodded with an open
mouth. Ronin turned around and crouched on the ground again. Devin slipped off her heels and held them in one hand as she climbed up onto his back. His large arms secured her legs around his waist as she clutched his shoulders with one hand and her shoes in the other, doing her best to hold on. The late-night mountain air was cool, even with Devin’s light jacket, so she melted against his warmth as he began the trek home.

  “So,” Ronin asked, “do you know any stories about Taurus? He’s up there someplace. I remember my gramma pointing him out to me when I was really little because that’s my sign. She was into that shit, too. But I don’t remember much more about it than that.”

  “Oh, yeah! Taurus is cool, and a neat story, too. He’s pretty easy to pick out. You can’t see him in the summer, though. He’s a winter kind of guy. He’s a big ‘V’ shape. The tips of the ‘V’ are his horns, and the bottom is the end of his nose. There are a couple different stories about him, but I like the one where he was actually Zeus in disguise. Zeus was kind of a sneaky bastard and was always morphing into other creatures to get it on with the ladies. In the story I like, he was all hot for this pretty little princess named Europa, and so he turned himself into a big white bull to get her attention. When Europa and her maidens, her Seven Sisters, saw him out in a field of flowers, he acted all gentle and shit. So, being a bunch of girls, they picked the flowers and decorated him with garlands. At one point, Europa thought it would be fun to climb up on his back. When she did that, he took off with her, taking her to Crete where he ravished her. The maidens are a little cluster of stars on his shoulder.”

  “Damn! That was pretty fuckin’ creative. How did Europa feel about that?” Ronin asked. “Did she hate his guts, or did they live happily ever after?”

  “As happily as a woman could live with Zeus, I suppose. He had a lot of women. But she did give him three sons, so he must have had her pretty high on his totem pole. Taurus is actually the sign of virility.”

  Ronin stopped dead in his tracks and craned his head to eye her over his shoulder. “Huh,” he muttered, and started walking again.

  Shit! Devin thought. I really need to work on my filter.

  The night sky began to spatter rain as Ronin’s house came into view.

  “Dev, put my hat on so your hair doesn’t get wet,” Ronin suggested as the rain began to pick up intensity.

  “Ronin, it’s like fifty yards away. I don’t think I’ll melt.”

  The large, chilling drops began to soak through her light jacket, clear through to her skin, immediately as the storm picked up intensity. By the time they reached his door, her hair was plastered to her face and she was shivering. Devin regretted not putting Ronin’s hat on. He went into the bathroom and grabbed a big towel, then gently wrapped it around her shoulders. Without even thinking, he undid his buttons and slipped his dressy shirt off. Devin’s head snapped the opposite direction as she tried her best not to gawk at him… again. The man was mouthwatering.

  Friends. Just friends. Baseball… baseball…

  Ronin looked out his kitchen window at the intense little storm. “So, just how bad do you want to go home right now?” he asked.

  “Holy hell,” Devin breathed, teeth chattering, “not bad enough to go out there. I do have to work tomorrow at ten o’clock, though.”

  “Looks like you’re sleeping over. I’ll give you a ride home in the morning so you can change and get ready for work,” Ronin smiled. He stepped into his bedroom and ruffled through his dresser drawers, returning with a large, long-sleeved thermal shirt and a pair of boxer briefs. “Here, put these on. You’re turning blue. I’m going to heat up some water for cocoa.”

  “Cocoa?” Devin smiled.

  Ronin flashed her a boyishly charming grin. “With little marshmallows and everything.”

  Devin took the clothes and walked back to the bathroom. She stripped off her wet little dress, bra, and panties and slipped the thermal over her head. The sleeves were horrendously long, so she rolled them up. Fortunately, the shirt itself was long, too, going down past the middle of her thighs. She had skirts shorter than that, although she generally only wore them when Joanie was picking out her clothes for the night. She slipped the boxer briefs on under the thermal and looked in the full-length mirror to make sure she was decently covered. While doing so, she realized how badly her hair looked, not to mention her makeup. Her smoky eye look had given way to more of a raccoon appearance. Wetting her finger in the sink, she washed away what she could of the dark smudges. Combing through her hair with her fingers, she decided it was going to look bad no matter what. When the rain hit it, the curl she fought so hard sprang back to life. Nothing would bring it back aside from a flatiron, and she sorta doubted Ronin had one of those lying around. Glancing in the mirror with one last grimace, she hung her clothes over the shower curtain rod (very carefully to make sure her panties and bra were well-covered by the dress) and walked out to the kitchen.

  A kettle on the stove was just on the verge of boiling. Ronin, with his back to her, was measuring cocoa into a couple big, heavy mugs. He had slipped on some flannel sleep pants, but hadn’t donned a shirt. Devin watched appreciatively for a second as he spooned the mix into the cups, breathlessly admiring the play of thick muscles under his skin when he moved. Needing something to focus on, besides Ronin’s strong, toned back, Devin picked up the kettle and walked over beside him to pour water over the mix.

  Being with him so much lately, she had developed such a quiet comfort in his presence, like all the hurt of the world couldn’t touch her. Yet, every once in a while, that comfort would switch to an ache for something more. Right now, that ache was intense and pounding. The fresh rainy smell on his skin made her want to taste him, to graze her tongue along his broad shoulders. To work her way up to the cords of his neck. She battled the profound yearning back as Ronin handed her a spoon, using another to stir one of the cups. Devin followed suit and stirred the other, pretending that she wasn’t totally melting inside.

  Ronin leaned up against the counter as he drank his cocoa. They were both quiet, comfortably so. Only the soft sound of sipping and the occasionally a light blowing of the hot drinks could be heard. As the warmth of the cocoa began to fill Devin’s chilled body, her eyes began to droop and she unsuccessfully fought off a large yawn. She was suddenly exhausted. With his cocoa in his left hand, Ronin’s right arm slipped around her waist and snuggled her up against him as they intermittently took drinks. A few more sips of cocoa, and she was done. Ronin continued to hold her as he finished his own, her head resting against his bare chest, listening to the beat of his heart. Ronin reached for her mug, setting both their cups in the sink, and then guided her sleepy body towards his room.

  He lifted the covers, and Devin climbed into the warm flannel sheets, lying on her stomach and looking out into the dazzling night sky. He stretched out next to her on his side and tugged the blankets up to cover them. The shadows danced across the room as a gust of wind picked up outside, blowing the large trees around in Ronin’s yard. A light rumble of thunder echoed in the distance.

  “Your bed smells nice. Different. All, um… like Downey or something.”

  Ronin smiled. “Yeah, did some laundry. The sheets were due.”

  “So, clean sheets. No other skanky ho has rolled around naked getting her funk all over. Nice to know.”

  “I don’t ever have skanky house bunnies in here. For that matter, I don’t really let anyone in here. My room is off limits for company.”

  “Ummm, Ronin?” Devin raised an eyebrow in the darkened room. “I’m here right now, ya know. And not for the first time.”

  “First of all, you’re not a skanky ho. If fact, your kind of the opposite. I’d do damn near anything to get in your pants, and you kinda keep brushing me off.” Devin shifted uncomfortably as he quickly continued, tucking a piece if hair behind her ear. “You’re different… not company. It’s kinda like you should be here. I sure as fuck miss you when you’re not.”

  �
�Even if I don’t spread my legs for you? Even if I lay around pining for an ass that drove my ego into the dirt?” Devin asked quietly.

  “I’m not sure why you’re different. You’re like a friend, but not. Something unique, special. You’re better than a girlfriend. You don’t pick and annoy and whine. You don’t use sex as a weapon or a bargaining tool.”

  “Considering you and I have never actually ‘done it,’ I think it’s fair to say I don’t use sex at all,” Devin sleepily interjected.

  Ronin ignored her as if she hasn’t even spoken. “You are faithful to a fault,” he said softly, “as is evidenced by your continued misguided dedication to that asshat Jake. You offered him everything, and he was fuckin’ dumb enough to go looking up another tree.”

  “Ronin, I’m so far from what you’re describing.” Devin turned to her side and raised her head slightly, leaning on her elbow. “I’m not that perfect girl. I’m not even really a good one. I’m weak and bitchy and kind of, I dunno… I’m all kinds of fucked up.”

  “Honey, you are far from weak.” Ronin traced her eyebrow with the tip of his finger, following the curve of her cheek, grazing her neck, across her collarbone to the edge of the thermal. Softly, it trailed over the shirt, across her shoulder, and down her arm. “You have no idea just how much strength you have, how much power you can wield with just this one little finger.” He lifted her hand and lightly kissed her pinky.

  Devin shivered, looking at him for a second before rolling to her other side, snuggling up to spoon against him. Her eyes gazed outside the window above Ronin’s bed and scanned the stars on the horizon. As mountain storms tend to do, the thunderstorm had poured rain, rumbled with thunder, and then passed quickly. The fresh scent of raindrops wetting the pines breezed in through the cracked-open window and permeated the air around them. The stars appeared especially bright in the storm’s wake, glittering in the black velvet of the sky.