One Night

by Tia Wilson

  “That guy was a jerk,” Gunna said and averted her eyes from me.

  “Tell me,” I said. The taxi driver couldn't of said anything that I hadn't heard a hundred times before as a woman, or as a woman of colour.

  “He tried to make a joke,” Gunna said.

  “He’s a racist asshole,” Jonas said with anger, “he said some things about you that were out of line. I was ready to punch him for being so rude to you.”

  Gunna reached out and patted Jonas on his thick bicep. I pretended not to notice this gesture. It always start with the little things. A touch of the arm. Brushing against one another. Eye contact that lasted a beat too long. It was obvious to me that Gunna liked him.

  “I guess you get them everywhere,” I said hoping to move on from the subject.

  “It’s the older generation. They cant handle change. The young are leaving the rural areas in droves and foreigners are moving in to take the jobs no one else wants to do,” Gunna said.

  “Its no excuse. If it makes you feel any better he is an asshole to everyone,” Jonas said to me.

  “I think the only thing that would make me feel better is a stiff drink,” I said wanting to change the subject.

  “I’ll drink to that,” Gunna said.

  Jonas looked annoyed and continued. “He was being an asshole and said some inappropriate things about you, I cant stand the small mindedness of some of these country people” he said.

  I didn't need Jonas to spell it out for me, I could imagine what kind of drivel the taxi man had spouted off. Ever since I’d first landed in Iceland I’d noticed a couple of stares from some local people. Nothing too obvious but I could feel the looks and glances as I had waited in the small city airport for my connecting flight. So far I hadn't seen any other black people so maybe it was just curiosity from the locals. Or at least I hoped it was that.

  “Don’t worry about him” I said. I patted him on on his shoulder to reassure him I was okay. I could feel tight muscles even under the substantial bulk of his winter jacket. He brightened up at my touch and my stomach did a happy lurch at his reaction to my hand on his shoulder. Maybe I was wrong about his interest in Gunna I thought.

  “This is your room,”: Jonas said pointing to a door off the corridor. I watched as Jonas and Gunna took their shoes off and lined them up on a wooden stand in the corner of the hall. I copied them and added my shoes to the shelf.

  Gunna padded across the well worn wooden floor and opened the door to our room. A single bed was in each corner and between them was a wooden dresser that looked like it could be a hundred years old.

  “I’ll get you duvets and pillows, everything is packed away in storage. I’ll leave you two alone to settle in,” Jonas said and gave a small bow to both of us. As I passed him I caught him watching Gunna again with a smile curling the corners of his mouth. So be it I thought as I closed the door behind me.

  We stowed away our bags under the beds and I could hear Jonas began making some coffee in the tiny kitchen at the end of the hallway. The house was small and sparsely decorated. The walls were bare varnished wood with black and white pictures of the town hung on them. A picture of a fishing boat with five men with big bushy beards dominated one of the walls in the room.

  I sat down on the bed and Gunna lay down across from me. She crossed her arms behind her head and closed her eyes. “I love these old homes. They remind me of my grandparents. They lived in a house like this on a remote farm up north. I used to spend the summers with them helping out with the sheep and the horses. There is a smell when I walk into one of these old houses that reminds me of my grandmother and her soft wrinkled hands as she sat in the corner knitting sweaters for the winter. The winter was always coming and family members always needed new sweaters.” Gunna breathed in deeply and said, “Can you smell it? Its decades of varnish and polish lovingly applied to the wooden floors. It always takes me right back.”

  I breathed in the sweet scent of the polish and said, “It’s the smell of pipe tobacco that reminds me of my grandparents. Its a scent that is rarer and rarer everyday,” I said.

  “A lot of the guys out in the countryside still smoke pipes and I love that smell, its a habit I prefer to the alternative,” Gunna said.

  “Whats that?” I asked.

  “I don't know what the english word for it is. It would be something like ‘chew’,” Gunna said. “It’s when you get the tobacco in little paper pouches and stick it into your mouth and hold it against your gum. Then every so often you have to spit out horrible tobacco spit. Lots of the boat captains indulge in that habit.”

  “Sounds gross. I think some folks do that back home as well,” I said stretching out and lying back on my bed. The bare mattress groaned as I made my self comfortable and then closed my eyes.

  “What do you think of Jonas?” Gunna said in a whisper.

  “He seems nice,” I said.

  Gunna turned over to face me and said, “I caught him checking you out a few times.”

  I flipped over and lay on my side and faced her. I arched my eyebrow and smiled.

  “Do you want to head into town and get a few beers in awhile?” Gunna asked me.

  I didn’t get to answer as Jonas knocked on our door and said, “Can I come in?”

  Gunna gave me another one of her winks and I said, “Come on in.”

  When the door opened the aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the room. “I’ve made some coffee for you two ladies,” Jonas said. He looked like a giant standing in the doorway. His shoulders were broad and his Christmas sweater was moulded on to the thick muscles of his arms. Jonas looked down at Gunna relaxing on the bed and his smile widened. I felt the ball of tension in my stomach grow. I knew deep down that I was being silly for feeling any kind of jealousy towards Gunna. She was a tall leggy blonde with super model good looks and was I, well I was just me. I had no chance against her and I had caught Jonas looking at her and smiling when he wasn't aware I was looking.

  “What are you smiling at?” Gunna asked him.

  “I think I know you,” Jonas said.

  Great I thought, this is where I’ll be pushed off to the side. Normally I wouldn't care but ever since I had first met Jonas I couldn't keep my eyes off him. The way he moved, how he locked eyes when talking to me , like it was the most important thing ever. This is it I thought as I looked at them smiling at each other, and what a good looking couple they would make.

  “I have cousins that live here. I spent a summer here…”

  Jonas cut her off and said, “Working in the fishing factory?”

  Gunna's cheeks started to turn red and her smile began to lose some of its shine. “Did you work there?” she said in a low voice.

  “I did. I think I worked there the same summer as you. You were the girl who fell into the all the guts?” he said and his smile broadened.

  Gunna went beet red and said, “That was me alright.”

  Jonas laughed and it wasn't a sound of cruelty. “I thought I recognised you. The same thing happened to me two weeks after you left.” He burst out laughing and soon the red was fading on Gunna's cheeks and she joined in with him.

  “What happened?” I asked Gunna.

  “As a teenager it was the worst thing that could happen in front of the boys I fancied. I suppose as an adult its not so bad.”

  “Nothing to be embarrassed about,” Jonas said reassuring her.

  “I worked in a fish factory on the processing line. I was on a raised platform removing the heads and guts. All those parts fell into a massive tub beside my platform. One day I was working away and then the next second I was slipping and I fell off the platform into the fish guts. I was covered from head to toe. They had to stop the processing line and rescue me and then hose me down. Everyone was standing around and laughing. I smelt of fish guts for weeks. It was horrible. I quit that day.”

  Jonas stepped into the room and crossed over to Gunna and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “After you left I got moved
to your position and within two weeks the same thing happened to me. Turns out the anti slip mats were worn down. I left soon after, the place treated most of the staff very bad with no concern for safety.

  How can I compete with this I thought, they have a shared history. I decided not to obsess over it anymore and just have a great unexpected night with my new friends.

  “I don't remember working with you,” Gunna said.

  “I was only there a week before you left,” Jonas replied as he got up. “We can catch up later if you want.” He left the room.

  “Sure,” Gunna said as he walked out. He came back a couple of seconds later with his arms filled with big fluffy duvets and pillows and fresh towels. He dropped them on to my bed and said, “Coffee is ready when ever you want to join me.”

  “I’m going to call it an early night,” Gunna said. My heart sped up in my chest. “I didn’t realise how wrecked I was until I lay down here. You two enjoy yourself.”

  That was unexpected I thought as Jonas turned and left the room.

  “Are you sure you don't want to join us?” I asked hoping she would say no.

  Gunna gave me a cute smile and said, “I’ve seen how he was looking at you, I can assure you I’d only be getting in the way.” My heart sped up even more. “Go, enjoy yourself and if you need any help give me a shout,” she said and gave a dirty laugh.

  Chapter Three

  Jonas was standing in the kitchen with his back to me and staring out the windows at the snow slowly falling. A mug with a puffin standing on a rock was on the counter beside him and he turned and smiled when he heard me coming.

  “Tonight looks like it will be perfect conditions for a great show” he said pointing up.

  I looked out the window and I could see that white clouds were beginning to part, exposing a dazzling array of stars above. “Do you think we will see the northern lights?” I asked in an excited voice.

  Ever since I was a little girl the beautiful display was something I had dreamt of seeing. I had seen a commercial for a sugary drink that had an animated bear sitting back and looking up at the most amazing display of lights in the sky. When I asked my Mother what it was I was seeing and she replied and told me that she did not know I made it my mission to find out. The next day at the public library I sat at one of their large oak tables, my little legs swinging in the big chair as I sat on its edge and looked through picture books explaining the phenomenon.

  As I leafed through the book, beautiful images of Norway and Finland filled my imagination, daydreams of Vikings and Inuits looking to the sky and gazing at the spectacle entranced and excited me. It was something I always wanted to see and one thing or the other had stopped me from ever fulfilling that dream.

  “Would you want to see them Icelandic style?” Jonas asked me with a wicked grin on his face.

  “I’d love to see them” I said as a smile curled the corner of my mouth, “Whats Icelandic style?”

  “If you want to be like a true local you have to sit out under the stars and gaze upon the northern lights in a hot pot. I hope you have a swim suit with you” he said filling my cup with steaming coffee.

  “I do indeed. Whats a hot pot?” I asked.

  Jonas pointed pointed out the window at the corner of the house and I could see the edge of a covered jacuzzi. “In olden times we would sit out in natural pools of water heated by the natural geothermal energy. We don't have much geothermal heating in this part of the country so we use jacuzzis.”

  The hairs on the back of my neck prickled at his pronunciation of the word. The J had a softness to it and the Z’s had a soft rolling quality to them. I was prepared for this outdoors excursion as I had read about it. All the guide books I had read had recommended to bring a swim suit as outdoor pools were a big part of the Icelandic culture and something that every tourist should experience. I never would of imagined that I would be invited into a hot pot by such a good looking local.

  “Good good, I’ll go and get the hot pot ready then” he said finishing his coffee and leaving. I sipped the dark strong coffee and recalled a particularly vivid illustration from a book I had read as a young girl. It was of a large Viking man stripped to the waist with an axe in his hand. He was standing still as a granite boulder and staring up at the heavens. Above him was the most beautiful display of northern lights. Over the years I had romanticised the sparkling ribbon of light in the night sky and the man who gazed upon it. Over the years when I was alone and needing comfort I would picture the burly Viking man taking me under the northern lights, my dark skin accentuated against the snow white furs of an animal hide I lay upon as the viking had his way with me. Was this about to happen to me in real life? I could feel a warm flush between my legs at the thought of it.

  I flashed back to a few hours ago in the plane as it bucked in blowing storm, I had promised myself to take more risks and live life in the moment. Craigs words came from a distance as if carried on a faint breeze, he called me ugly in my mind for the thousandth time and I dug my nails in my palm and told myself he has no more power over you. Its time to move on with your life, maybe take Gunna's wise advice and “Fuck the pain away.” I hadn't been with anyone since Craig devastated me and maybe a no strings one night stand was what I needed. I had only had had a one stand stand once before a long time ago. Go out there have some fun I thought, don't over think it, you need this to reclaim a part of yourself and to finally banish Craigs cruel words from your mind.

  A blast of cold air whooshed into the kitchen when Jonas returned. He was wearing a lurid pink dressing gown that was extremely fluffy. He did a spin in the kitchen and said, “What do you think?”.

  “I think the colour suits you” I said smiling. My eyes trailed down his body and the dressing gown hugged his body in all the right areas. I lifted my coffee mug up to hide my smile and took another sip.

  “Everything is all ready outside, the hot pot will be at the perfect temperature when we go out. You can use your room to change.” Slung over his shoulder was another bright pink gown and he passed it to me. “I’ll wait here until you’re ready” he said.

  Gunna opened her eyes when I entered and she sat up stretching. “Someone looks happy.”

  “Jonas has invited me outside to his hot pot to see the northern lights,” I replied.

  “Exciting,” Gunna said rubbing her eyes.

  “Do you want to join us?” I asked. Please say no I thought.

  “I think I’m down for the night. You guys have fun. I’m sure you both will,” she said with a grin.

  I dug through my suitcase and found my bikini. It was small and white and the centre of the bra was held together by a faux shell. “You came prepared,” Gunna said when I threw it on the bed, she turned around in the bed and chuckled and said, “You are sure going to have fun tonight.”

  I slipped out of my clothes and stood fully naked in the room. It thrilled me to think that in the next room sat a hulking Icelandic Viking. I slipped into my bikini and ran my hands over my body enjoying my sensuous curves. I had an extremely large and curvy ass and while my breasts where not huge they where proportioned nicely and looked great in the white bikini top. My deep chocolate skin looked good and I was starting to feel very sexy. I threw a balled up t-shirt at Gunna and she turned around and gave me a thumbs up. “They don't have too many women like you in Iceland,” she said, “you look mighty fine.”

  “Thank you,” I said. Her compliment felt good. I tied my hair up so as not to get it wet and then slipped into the fluffy robe. My robe was as electric pink as his and was snug and cozy against my skin.

  “Any tips for hanging out with an Icelandic man?” I asked as I readied myself to leave.

  “They might not look it but they can be very shy. Otherwise I think you will do fine,” Gunna said.

  I was ready now for whatever the night would bring. My new found confidence and urge to put Craigs cruel words behind me pushed me on. A couple of months ago I could not have imagined that I wo
uld be able to be in a bikini in front of another man. The fear of a plane crash will put a new perspective on life and I was going to grab any chances that came my way. Being safe had hurt me in the past. The new me was ready for fun and I wouldn't let any man hurt me as much as Craig did.

  I walked out of the bedroom like I was walking on a cushion of air. Jonas smiled broadly at me when I returned to the kitchen. “Lets go” he said and we went out the back door.

  We were immediately hit by a cold blast of air and slowly falling snowflakes stuck to my fluffy robe. “Follow me” said Jonas and we turned the corner around the side of the house.

  A large steaming hot tub sat in a sheltered corner. It was situated with clear views across the fjord and the vast night sky stretched above it. Small white lights where embedded in the sheltering walls around the hot tub casting dancing shadows across the surface of the steaming water.

  “Are you ready for a very traditional night for an Icelander” Jonas asked taking off his robe and hanging it on a hook. He stood before me smiling and I liked what I saw. He was broad at the shoulders with large biceps and his chest was tight and defined. The dim light cast from the illumination beside the hot pots cast shadows across his chest and stomach and I could make out the ridges of his abs. I glanced down and I was sure that for a second I could see the outline of his cock against his baggy shorts. I looked away and hoped he hadn't noticed and I felt a flush of warmth in my cheeks and another flush of warmth between my legs.

  His pale white skin glowed in the light reflected off the water. He looked like he was a quintessential Viking, as if he was plucked from one of the many illustrations I had loved staring at as a young girl. If it was another time he would probably take me forcibly as his spoils no matter how much I protested. I swallowed as images of him sweeping me up into his arms and carrying me across a battlefield filled my mind. I felt my nipples harden at the thought of this modern day Viking being so close to me.