by Annette Mori
I imagined that a hundred flies would make the inside of my mouth their permanent residence as it hung open in shock.
Sydney gently took her index finger and placed it under my chin to close my mouth. The corners of her lips turned up and formed the sexiest smile I’d ever seen.
“Wha…what?” I stuttered.
Sydney didn’t even bother to respond she just took a step closer to me and brushed her fingers against my cheek as she leaned in. I was about to be kissed by Sydney O’Donnell and I swear at that moment fireworks were going off in my head and she hadn’t even pressed her lips to mine yet. I was glad I’d brushed earlier because I couldn’t imagine kissing Sydney with morning breath and I was really dying to kiss her.
Am I a slut for wanting this to happen? Maybe I’m a home wrecker too, because everyone was going to blame me for breaking up Cle Elum’s golden couple. What about Celeste? Was I cheating on her? I didn’t get a chance to fixate on my thoughts because Sydney’s lips pressed against mine and a party exploded in my nether regions.
I opened my mouth a little and her tongue explored my lips and darted inside. Our tongues danced the tango—sensuous and exciting—as she deepened the kiss. I was lost in a world of ecstasy as we continued to explore one another for what seemed like forever, but was probably less than a minute.
I was panting as she broke away from me. She looked into my eyes and I was sure I saw desire and maybe even something deeper.
“Amazing. I knew it would feel like that. I just had to do it, Mabs. I never thought I’d ever get the chance. It was worth the risk of you slapping me silly.”
I sighed. Could I confess to her how I was desperately in love with her and always had been? She’d only told me she had a crush. That was about ten levels below love. “I would never slap you, Syd. I…I…”
“You called me Syd.” She raised her eyebrow. “Is that all I had to do was kiss you to get you to finally call me Syd?”
I was still stunned from the kiss. “I called you Syd?”
“You sure did.” She looked directly into my eyes. “Just tell me I have a chance and I’ll be the happiest woman on this planet. I know you care for Celeste and I’m happy to wait until you work that out, but I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time.”
I gulped. Celeste. God, suddenly everything was confusing and complicated, but I wanted Sydney like I’d never wanted anyone. Maybe I was just a rebound girl for Sydney. I’d seen with my own two eyes how upset Sydney got over her break-up with Hollie. Even though they were on-again off-again, they still had a lot of history between the two of them and Sydney always went back to Hollie. No one spends ten years with someone they don’t love. I didn’t want to be the rebound relationship, and then there was Celeste to think about. I started to answer her. “Uh, Sydney…”
She placed her finger over my lips. “I don’t need an answer right now. You take whatever time you need to work things out in your head. I’ll be waiting. I promise.”
She turned and pulled a knife from the drawer and began making our sandwiches. When she pointed to the mustard, I shook my head. The light switch suddenly flipped off and the conversation was over.
“Is mayonnaise and tomato okay?” she asked.
I nodded.
“That’s the way I like it, too. That’s at least one thing we have in common.” She grinned.
Two beautiful women wanted to be intimate with me. I had a lot to think about, and at least I wouldn’t die a virgin.
I figured I better start a different conversation—a safer one—like what in the heck we were going to do about Greg. We would have to ask Celeste if her mind manipulation was permanent or only lasted while connected to him. He still seemed in a trancelike state, but maybe this was another alien trick that would allow her to recharge and get some much-needed rest. I wanted to get Sydney’s opinion on this.
“So, what do you think we ought to do about Greg?”
Sydney gave the question some thought. “Hmmm, good question. Do you think that if we dumped him in his car and Celeste put the whammy on him again, he would start driving to Alaska to track her down?”
“Maybe. We better ask Celeste how long her mind trick works. At least we’re safe for now.”
Sydney looked pensive. She grabbed a plate from one of her cabinets, placed the newly made sandwich on top, yanked a paper towel from the dispenser, and handed me my lunch.
I nodded in thanks, took a big bite, and grunted my pleasure.
“I’m kind of worried. Hollie was really pissed when I stalked off after learning about her deception. I know she had to go back to work, so she wasn’t about to follow me to my Jeep, but if Greg told her where the cabin is located, I’d bet my last dollar she’ll show up after work tonight.”
“That leaves us about five more hours to figure this mess out,” I remarked through a mouth full of food from my second bite. It tasted really good and I was hungry.
Sydney seemed to ignore my bad manners. “Uh, Mabs, Celeste hasn’t been looking so good lately. I think we have to get her somewhere that will allow her to fully charge her energy without having to use it for any reason. Don’t get me wrong, I will be eternally grateful to her for saving your life, but it certainly took its toll on her.”
“I know, I know. Were you serious about taking us somewhere remote to camp?” I asked.
“Hell yeah. First, I love camping, and second, I know where to go where no one would ever find us. At least it will give us a little breathing room to figure out what to do next. I’ve got enough supplies to last at least two weeks if necessary. You know, they’ve come a long way with freeze dried meals.”
I was not looking forward to this camping adventure, but I didn’t think we had a choice. “I can’t wait,” I deadpanned.
Sydney chuckled. “Hey, your boss gave you two weeks off, right?”
“Yeah.” I hesitantly answered. I wasn’t sure I could make it in the woods for two whole weeks.
“I’ll just get someone to cover my shifts and we’ll have two weeks to figure things out.” She sounded way too excited about this.
“Um, I’m not going anywhere I can’t take a shower. One night without a shower is one thing, but two weeks…” I knew I was being a princess and yet I couldn’t help myself.
Sydney finished making the other two sandwiches and turned around to grab a bag of chips from her pantry. She ripped open the bag and laid them on the counter equidistance from both of us. “Mabs, there are guys with guns chasing down Celeste. I don’t think we are going to solve this in one day. I’ll bring my solar shower. You’ll be fine. I’ve got the perfect baseball cap for you. You’ll look adorable in it.”
The guys with guns comment sobered me enough to realize she was right.
“Okay, but you better have a warm sleeping bag and a heavily padded air mattress for me to sleep on. Oh, and if I’m going to have to eat freeze dried slop out of a foil bag, I want to grill that salmon over an open fire that you’re gonna build for our first night. So, you better have a huge ice chest for that and any other food I can manage to scrounge up. Besides, you don’t want to leave that fish in your frig for two weeks. You’ll never get the smell out.” I grabbed a few chips and stuffed them into my mouth.
Sydney saluted me. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I want fresh water to brush my teeth with too.”
“Speaking of water, I forgot to offer you something to drink. As you can tell, I’m a pretty casual host. You don’t have to worry. I’ll bring plenty of fresh water for coffee, tea, and our instafood. I even have a French press specially designed for camping. I’ve got everything you need for our glamping trip.”
“Glamping?” I inquired.
“Yep, glamorous camping is called glamping. Prisses like you don’t camp, they glamp.” She opened the fridge and pointed to the water, juice, and diet Dr. Pepper she had stored inside.
I stuck my tongue out at her. “If there was such a thing as a solar powered hair dryer, I�
��d make you bring that. I’ll take some water, please.” I grinned at her.
She handed me a bottle of water. “Sorry, I don’t have that, a solar hair dryer, but I do have solar powered chargers for cell phones, iPads, and Kindle readers.”
I jumped up and down with enthusiasm. “Oh please bring those. I can download some books for Celeste to read and she can learn more about Earth while we camp.” I opened the water and gulped down nearly one quarter of the bottle.
“Done. Your wish is my command.” Sydney took a bite of her sandwich and smiled at me.
I couldn’t believe I was getting excited about camping. My first camping trip ever. Maybe it would be more fun than I thought. Then I thought about sleeping arrangements and I became nervous. Would Sydney arrange for us all to sleep in the same tent? Would we each have our own tent? I didn’t really want to go there, but I had to know.
“Um, Sydney…do you have more than one tent and enough sleeping bags and pads for all of us?” There, I’d bravely blurted out the question, but was afraid of the answer. All the options would have a certain level of discomfort for me. I wasn’t even sure which option I hoped for.
Sydney narrowed her gaze at me and I suspected she was trying to read my expression.
“I have a tent large enough for all three of us and plenty of sleeping bags and pads to ensure we sleep comfortably. Is it okay for us all to share the same tent?” she softly asked.
I wondered who would sleep next to whom. Would I be in the middle like a love sandwich? I chuckled to myself as a vivid picture of both women cuddled close to me while I basked in their attention. Stop that. Stop that right now, I mentally chastised myself. I could not even fathom what a ménage a trois would be like and, if I was really honest with myself, I wouldn’t want one anyway.
“One tent is fine.”
“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you had a little mini fantasy going on in your head,” she teased.
I blushed and promptly changed the subject. “Should we see if Celeste is ready to eat something?”
Sydney graciously let me off the hook. “Sure, let’s see if her color has improved any. If it hasn’t, we should just wrap this up and put it in the fridge for her to eat later.”
†
I shoved the last bite of the sandwich in my mouth and grabbed a handful of chips as I followed her to the back yard. We’d both been devouring our food while we discussed our upcoming adventure. Sydney had the sandwich for Celeste wrapped in a paper towel.
I was happy to see Gizmo curled up again in Celeste’s arms as she rested on the hammock. My little pumpkin was such a good girl. She always knew who needed her.
Greg was calmly sitting on the ground with an eerily vacant look and I worried that whatever Celeste did to him may have caused permanent damage. I hoped it didn’t, but it was too late now to change anything. Besides, he didn’t really leave us many options. I spied the pile of puke next to him and gagged. I have a particularly sensitive gag reflex, so I quickly looked away.
Thankfully, some color had returned to Celeste’s cheeks and I thought we would be able to wake her up enough for her to have something to eat. I was craving salt again so I was glad to see that Sydney had also grabbed the bag of chips.
Celeste must have heard us approach because before we got to her she stirred and sat up to greet us. “I am much improved. Thank you for allowing me to recharge in the Earth’s sun.” She caught my eyes and then looked at Sydney. “Bella, your energy signature is changed.”
When she made this observation, it seemed like a cloud of sadness enveloped her. She didn’t exactly frown, but the joy that almost always surrounded Celeste had suddenly disappeared. It reminded me of when she told me about her energy mate.
I didn’t want her to be sad so I went to her side and touched her arm. “Is something wrong, Celeste? Are you still not recovered? We can let you rest longer if you need to.”
Sydney appeared to have a contemplative look on her face as she watched me go to Celeste and comfort her.
Celeste smiled at me, but it was kind of a sad smile. “No, sweet Bella, I am rested enough. Sydney, I see you have brought me another Earth delicacy.”
“Well I wouldn’t exactly call it a delicacy, but it’ll do in a pinch. Sorry, I didn’t know what you might like on your sandwich, so I just made it with tomatoes and mayonnaise. Most people like it like that,”
Sydney handed her the sandwich and Celeste took a huge bite. As usual, the humming began.
“Earth’s food is something I will miss. The food on my planet is mainly for sustenance and survival, not pleasure. Perhaps I will bring a new perspective back to alter our view of food.” She spoke around a bite of the sandwich.
It was good to know that all three of us exercised poor manners when we were hungry.
Sydney held out the bag of chips and Celeste selected a few.
Celeste popped one of the chips in her mouth and asked, “What do you call these? They are very tasty. I like them even better than this other food item.”
“Yeah, junk food is quite popular on Earth,” I responded. “I’m not so sure that is something that would be valuable to take back to your planet.”
“Junk?” Celeste asked.
“Just a figure of speech. It’s not really garbage. Well, I guess some people might call it garbage food, but…oh hell, do you know how hard it is to explain slang? You probably don’t even understand the term figure of speech. We have funny ways of referring to things here. I wonder if I can download a slang dictionary or something that compiles all the strange figures of speech. There must be something out there to help you understand.”
Celeste smiled. “I would like to read this on the communication device you call the Kindle.” She looked at Sydney. “You have questions.”
Sydney glanced at the trance-induced Greg. “Um, yeah, we were wondering if the mind trick you placed on Greg is permanent or just temporary.”
“I do not quite understand.”
“Well, if we were to place him in his car right now, would he speed off to Alaska in an attempt to track you down and find the fake license plate you suggested?” Sydney asked.
“Yes, he would do that after I activated that thought again and removed the block on his current energy state.”
“So then he’s okay to remain like he is for now until we’re ready to take off, and then we can send him on his merry little snipe hunt?” I asked.
“If you are wondering if I have damaged him, then no, his current energy depleted state is only temporary. I do not know what a snipe hunt is, but I suspect it may mean that his travels will be as a result of the false thoughts I injected into his mind. Yes, whenever you are ready I can release the block and it will immediately send him on this snipe hunt.”
“How will you be able to activate him without him seeing you?” Sydney asked.
Celeste furrowed her brow. “I will have to send the energy through the Earth’s air molecules from a distance of no greater than one hundred paces. Perhaps we can use his car to drive to the nearest well-traveled road that has a bit of forest to hide in as I activate the new thoughts from afar. I am afraid this is more difficult and will expend much of my re-charged energy again.”
“Does it matter how you capture the sun’s energy? I mean could you get it while we’re driving if I pop the top of my jeep off?” Sydney asked.
“Direct sun is best. As long as there are no barriers, I am able to re-charge.”
“Okay, then let’s get this show on the road. Mabs, I can drive the POS to the road while you and Celeste follow behind. Make sure you park far enough away from us so that he won’t see you. Come get me when you’re ready and we can find a place to hide while Celeste does her thing. First, let me take off the top to the jeep so Celeste can continue to catch those precious rays.”
“Show on the road?” Celeste tilted her head. “Will you be performing for us, Bella?”
I doubled over in laughter. The thought
of me doing some kind of performance was beyond absurd. In fact, I’d talked more with Celeste and Sydney in the past couple of days than I’d done in practically my whole lifetime. If there was a corner in a room, I would find it.
“Uh, no. More slang. You know, another figure of speech,” I managed to say over my laughter.
Celeste nodded and Sydney jogged over to her Jeep and began removing the top. She climbed inside and appeared to be messing with her visor. I wondered what that had to do with removing the soft top. I couldn’t quite tell what she was doing when she started rummaging around in her glove box. Whatever she did must have been necessary because then she hopped out, stuck something in her pocket, and grabbed the top pulling it up and folding it back. After it was folded back, she pulled out two pieces of Velcro and secured the top that she’d just folded back. She proceeded to unsnap and remove all the soft plastic windows, tossing them inside. She pushed a button that was holding the soft top frame and repeated this on the other side. Whew, I was getting dizzy with all she had to do to remove the blasted roof. Finally, she was finished and the roof was completely removed.
No wonder people rarely bothered with removing their soft tops. Note to self, next car I buy, I want a sunroof that opens with a push of a button.
Sydney walked back to us and grinned. “We can load all the camping gear after we send this poser on his way. Mabs, you want to take his head again?”
I walked over to Greg careful not to look at the vomit still puddled next to his body lest I puke right on top of it. While Sydney grabbed his feet, I held his head and we awkwardly crab walked to his car. Thankfully, he was as calm as a sleeping baby.
“Celeste, would you mind opening the door so we can toss him in the back seat?” Sydney directed.
Celeste opened the door and we callously threw him in the back like a sack of potatoes.