Cabin In The Woods

by Kristine Robinson

  “I can’t believe my phone got swiped,” she said to Dana once I made it to my office.

  “You took the train, didn’t you?” Dana asked. “You should always keep it in your hand. I always squeeze it tight and don’t let go until I’m out.” “I will remember that for next time, Dana.” I said half chuckling, but right now I’m more concerned with having to replace it. I had no time to figure it out now as I was almost late for a meeting.

  After the presentation was over, I sat down at my desk and picked up my office phone. “I’m going to phone it,” I said dialing my own number, “I feel so naked without it.” “Maybe a gorgeous stranger picked it up? She offered. “It would be such a meet-cute, you know, like in the movies!” she squealed and a grin spread across her face. “Yeah, right. Probably some ingrate who I will have to pay fifty-dollars just to get it back.” I said.

  I waited for the phone to connect and after to rings, a sweet, pleasant voice answered.

  “Hey, did you take my phone? You better get that phone back to me. There’s a lot of information on there I can’t afford to lose and it’s wrong to take someone’s phone like that.” I accused.

  “Oh really,” the voice answered with a lilt of amusement. “So you’re just going to make me give it back?”

  “I’ll call the police,” I threatened, unsure what else to say, but the voice laughed. She found that I liked the laugh but I shook off the idea.

  “I don’t think so,” she said as if she just didn’t believe me. “Tell you what; if you can find me, you can have it. I’ll be in the square at lunch time. “The line went dead and I huffed audibly. “The audacity!” I cried out when Dana pulled her eyebrows up at her from the doorway. “She’s making me go and fetch it!” “Does she sound cute?” Dana asked with a smirk. “Well, I mean she has a pleasant voice. But no-she’s a thief. What is this game?” “She’s obviously off her rocker, I hope to just the phone back in one piece and hopefully without weird photos on the camera roll!” Dana just rolled her eyes. I picked up the phone to call the police. But my fingers hovered over the buttons, I put the receiver down again and looked at the clock. As soon as I was off for lunch, I would take a bus to the square in the middle of town. Luckily, there is a stop in front of my building so it won’t take me too long to get arrive. The hours dragged on as I kept watch on the time. I felt naked without my phone. I was thinking of all the texts I was probably getting, the fact that I promised my father I would call him and I hadn’t yet. Of course, I didn’t have his new cell phone number memorized. Finally, the clock struck twelve and I headed out on this very unwanted adventure.

  Chapter Two

  As I sat on the bus and looked at the window, I was amazed at the strange turn my day had taken-however this wasn’t even the half of it, though I didn’t know it yet. I arrived at the square but realized I had no idea who I was supposed to be looking for. As I look around feeling like an idiot, a waiter at the café next to me taps me on the shoulder. “I’m sorry ma’am, are you looking for your phone?” I nod unsurely at him, “Um, yes, but-” “This is for you.” He says, handing me a note. “Thanks.” I say as he gives me a big smile, probably thinking this is some romantic game my lover is playing with me before he proposes. If only he knew this was more of a disaster. “Sir-who gave this to you?” I asked urgently. “I’m not supposed to say. She just told me to look for you and give you that note. Sorry.” And he headed inside. I rolled my eyes in exasperation. I looked at my watch, which luckily I wore today, and saw that already twenty-five minutes had passed. I’m being sent on a wild goose chase to get something back that belonged to me to begin with! I walked over to the park since it was close. When I arrived, I walked to the nearest bench. The park was surprisingly vacant for such a lovely day. I sat down and checked the time again. Forty minutes. “Oh no” I groaned as I saw a man walking towards me with what looked like a note and small package. “Not again”. I whined aloud. “Wait-who gave this to you?” I said before anything else. “I’m not supposed to say.” He said. “She just called and ordered this for you over the phone, had me deliver it to you here.” I opened the package, it was a warm grilled cheese. The note read: Because I’m running late and ruining your lunch hour. I guess this is safe to eat I said with the roll of my eyes. A note inside the box was having me go to yet another place-though this time it was just right across the park. There, an older woman handed me a lemonade and a note. To go with your lunch. Head to the entrance of the zoo. I was going in circled and getting more frustrated by the minute. Though, I had to admit it was kind of nice to be outside on this beautiful day. At the zoo, a man selling balloons out front handed me another note on a keychain of a monkey. Hey beautiful, hope you are enjoying this leisurely stroll on this gorgeous day. Meet me under the shade by the fountain in the middle of the park to get your phone back.”

  Fairly annoyed yet also intrigued, I made it to the last and what seemed to be final stop. The fountain in the middle of the park. There she was-the girl from the train. Sitting on the park bench, looking just as she had this morning. “I thought you would never make it” she said with a chuckle. “You!” “Seriously?” I said incredulously. “What are you doing? Don’t you have a life to live?” She shrugged and stood up. “You looked like you could use some fun, besides I wanted to get your attention.” “Well, I’d say you did! Here I am”. “Here’s your phone.” She said as she handed it to me, I scanned through my personal information. Everything was there. She was staring at me the whole time. “You really should think about putting a passcode on there.” She joked. “You were looking a bit uptight this morning...” she began. I looked up and brushed past her. “Hey, it was just some fun and I got you lunch, eh?” she said, trying to win me over. “Ok, you’ve had your fun.” I said to her dryly and I left her alone in the park, trying very hard to not look back.

  Chapter Three

  The next day I was still in disbelief over the strange turn of events that was yesterday. What a way to get a girl’s attention. As the annoyance subsided I started looking at it as sweet, but I soon snapped out of it and realized it was more crazy than anything. As I went up to my office, I was relieved to have a relaxing lunch hour instead. All these fluctuating emotions were driving me crazy.

  “Good Morning, Erica” I said as I smiled at the receptionist as I walked past. “Oh, Meredith, good morning! There’s someone in to see you. “she beamed. “Do you know who?” I asked innocently, when then I shuddered. “I’m not supposed to-” “Tell me”, I’m guessing. “Yeah.” Erica said looking confused. “She looked harmless.” She stammered, feeling bad. “No worries, Erica. It’s ok.” I braced myself for the awkward encounter.

  “What are you doing here?” I interrogated her, “I did not want to see you again.” “Did not?” Well, now you do?” she said teasingly. She flashed a smirk at me. “I wanted to see you again. I felt bad about yesterday and thought if I came and asked you out on a date…” “How, do you even know I am into you?” I asked with an arched eyebrow. She looked me up and down. “You dress more like a straight girl, that’s true. But the short nails, give a small clue. That and the rainbow bracelet you have on your wrist. I looked down, slightly embarrassed. “Oh.” I said. “That makes sense.” “So, a date?” she asked. She really was beautiful. “Still, no” I tried to say defiantly. “Your wild goose chase did not go as planned; I did not find that amusing.” “Oh no” she said, “that’s too bad.” “You’ll still have to accept my- she was interrupted by a delivery man carrying a large bouquet of flowers. “For her” she said with a smile, pointing at me. He handed me a gorgeous bouquet of pink tulips. “My gifts” she finished saying. “Gifts?” I asked suspiciously. You will receive another delivery every fifteen minutes, each one getting more extravagant than the last. Unless you say yes to me” “Cancel them all, don’t waste your money.” “Sorry, dear, looks like the next one is early..” I look to see a large man in a panda costume waddling my way with a bunch of balloons in his hand. “
Oh goodness, no.” I say looking down. The panda is directed to my office and all my co-workers are looking now and sneering. “You must be Meredith!” the Panda says with a very cartoonish voice. “These are for you” the heart shaped balloons take up my office and all float to the ceiling as I let them go. He does a little dance and my face is beet red. “Fine, I will go on a date with you if you stop all the insane gifts!” “Really?” she says, “you will?” “I will go on a date with you.” I give in. She folds a bill and slips it to the Panda. “Cancel the others” she says with a nod. “The Panda shakes his head. “Others?” I say. “Oh yes, an elephant, a lion and a horse were planned to show up. Along with about five bouquets of flowers and a small orchestra.” My mouth opens and then closes again. “You’re really quite mad, aren’t you?” I shake my head but a small smile escapes my lips. “About you” she says. “Meet me here, at 7:00 tomorrow night.” As she extends her hand, her fingertips brush against mine as I reach out to take it-and there is that spark again. Today, she’s dressed in tight khakis and a denim top. Her hair is pulled back. She radiates sex appeal and charisma and I am momentarily speechless. I take her business card and on the back, is the address. Before she leaves she says, “I’m Sarah and I’m very excited to get to know you.” As she says this, she looks me up and down quite seductively. “Meredith. I wish I could say it was a pleasure making your acquaintance but that remains to be seen.” I give a slight grin. “That it does…” she trails off and heads out the door. As she leaves, the office is looking. Embarrassed and so confused, I shut my door and gaze at the truly, beautiful tulips that sit upon my desk.

  Chapter Four

  I don’t know why I’m so worried about all this. I am actually nervous. My bedroom looks like a Saks exploded. Dresses and shoes everywhere. My favorite girlie playlist is blaring and I have a glass of wine in my hand. After a little research, the address she gave me was of a quaint little French place just a few blocks from me. Good choice, I had to admit. I decided go with a classic. A little black dress with long sleeves. My hair fell over my shoulders. I kept my make-up light, save for some pink lips. I wore nude heels and gave myself a once over in the mirror one final time. “Not too bad” I thought to myself. Even though Sarah is as gorgeous as one can be, she seems a bit of a nut. Not sure what I’m getting myself into, I wondered as I made my way to the restaurant.

  Upon arriving, I noticed she wasn’t there yet. “She better not stand me up after all this.” I said under my breath. The host directed me to an intimate table by the window. A single candle was in the middle of the table and the white linen covered in its shadow. The restaurant was dimly lit and it was very romantic. Red velvet covered the walls and the scent of wine and cream filled the air. The French music was soft in the background and around me, couples were holding hands. Then, I see her. Sarah walked in moments later, looking spectacular. I forced my eyes away as she made her way towards me but couldn’t help but give her a small smile. She showed up in tight black pants and boots and a flowy white blouse with a long black tie. Over top, a fitted blazer. Feminine with a masculine twist. Her hair was pulled back, but she wore diamond earrings. Though stunning, I didn’t want to like her. The dinner began quite effortlessly and I found I was having a good time, though Sarah seemed to be quite full of herself and her ways to get what she wanted, somehow it came off a bit endearing. “I don’t enjoy, “real life”, she said, making air quotes. “I live life fully and how I want. I’m fortunate I can do that.” “How can you do that?” I ask quizzically. “I’m in IT. A bit of a hacker, you could say. My ex and I ran a company that provided IT services for companies who couldn’t provide their own. I got into the business by living in Silicon Valley for a while and attending hack-a-thons and building apps for competitions. Our business went and is going very well. I ended up buying out her half and now it kind of runs on its own. I work from home and luckily end up having quite a bit of free time.” I had to admit to myself that I was kind of surprised. I had no idea what she did for work but I wasn’t expecting that. “Impressive.” I said, trying not to give it away that I found it very sexy.

  She was an anomaly, arrogant yet pleasant, sweet yet bold, charming yet annoying. Yet, I found myself wanting to reach out and touch her. Her pouty lips, begging for me to kiss them. She poured me more wine from the bottle and our conversation flowed just as easily. I found myself opening-up to her, forgetting all about her previous antics. “I am in marketing right now, not sure if it’s my path. I enjoy it and I’m good at it but lately it seems to be the same thing day after day. I envy the spontaneous way you seem to live your life.” “It took a lot of hard work to get me here. I try to not live life the conventional way. I got stagnant once before and don’t want that to happen again.” I had an image of us, going to the airport and choosing a flight to anywhere. Hopping on the plane to the beach and kissing on the sand under the stars while the waves crashed around us. I could almost feel the warm breeze as it caressed our bodies, her pulling off my bikini bottoms and me not caring that sand may get in some unwelcome places-because that’s what life was with Sarah. I snapped out of my daydream when I felt her hand graze mine. “It has been a wonderful evening.” She said genuinely. When the bill came, she covered it, and helped me put on my coat. “You look absolutely stunning by the way”, she whispered in my ear as my arms went into my sleeves. I bit my lip. Her breath grazing my neck and her masculine perfume driving me wild. “Thanks” I said, simply, for fear of saying too much, giving away the fact that my heart was racing.

  We walked outside and she kissed my cheek. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach and I tried to brush them away. She squeezed my hand and said goodbye. “That’s it?” I thought, exasperated after she was out of sight. I was let down that she didn’t give me a real kiss but also happy because I still was so conflicted about her and the night we had. I went to my car and reached in my bag for my keys and noticed my phone was gone-again. She must have taken it when I wasn’t looking. Instead, there was a note in its place. “Holding this for ransom until you agree to go out with me again.” “The nerve!” “How am I supposed to say yes if you have my phone” I mocked. It was childish but this was very annoying. I can’t be attracted to someone I’m annoyed with, can I? I thought. Just as I was getting to my car, I heard a laugh. “Nice mocking voice, Meredith”. It was Sarah, she was in her car, pulled up behind mine. It was black and elegant, just like her. “My phone again? I began, Honestly?” She held it in her hand. “Dinner tomorrow night?” she grinned as she held my phone close and extended it out to my reach and back again while she waited for a response. “Yes, dinner tomorrow night.” The words escaped my lips before I knew what I was saying. She held my phone out, through her car window. “Come and get it.” She said. I paused for a moment, my hand on my hips, taking her in. I walked over with a smirk on my face, never dropping eye-contact with her. As I got level with her window and reached in to grab it, she pulled me in closer and leaned to kiss me. Her perfect lips touched mine and I felt electricity fly through me. I kissed her back, slowly and passionately, like we had done this a hundred times before. I went to kiss her again when she pulled away slowly. “Until tomorrow night.” She said with a smile. “I’ll text you where to meet.” And she drove off, leaving me standing there, completely dazed.

  Chapter Five

  An hour later, I receive a text message. “Lovely dinner with you tonight, Meredith. Glad you’re putting up with my antics but even happier you agreed to another date. Meet me at 84 W Park St. at 8 p.m. tomorrow night.” I smiled. Even if she would have stolen my phone again, I think I would be quite pleased to see her again anyway, I thought as I took off my dress. I tossed my shoes aside and got in the shower. My mind went over our conversation and how charming she was. We spoke of life and our favorite films, what we like to do, we had so much more in common than I would have thought. She didn’t seem so bad, actually. I lathered up my hair and rinsed under the hot water. I tried to think about anything else b
ut my mind kept wandering back to her. Her lips, her sweet breath, her dark hair and her perfect cheekbones. I licked my lips as my hand made its way between my legs. I wasn’t surprised to find that I was wet and this was not because I was in the shower. With my left hand, I caressed my breasts and my nipples were hard. I made circles with my finger and found myself imagining me taking her clothes off, her taking off mine. I could only imagine what she looked like but I had a feeling she was a sight for sore eyes. I imagined her in her boy shorts and sports bra, taking control of the situation; of me. Her mouth was on my breasts, my nipples, her tongue flicking them and her lips wrapped around them, pulling on them, playing with them. I pushed them together and grabbed at the back of her neck, pressing her into me more. She slipped her fingers into me, taking all of me in. As her finger rubbed against my clit, I felt myself warm to her touch. “I’m going to come” I say, breathlessly, realizing I’m saying it aloud to myself. I grasp onto the shower wall with one hand as I release with a cry. “Damn” I say as my body shakes, the hot water beginning to turn cold. My chest is heaving and I feel so relaxed. Maybe she isn’t a bad idea, after all, I wonder as I turn off the knobs and consider round two under my sheets.

  As I put on my sweats and tank top and crawled into bed, I had another fleeting thought of her laying next to me, on top of me-logically, Sarah makes no sense but attraction isn’t logical, is it? I wanted to text her but realized I didn’t have her number. But I wonder…I grabbed my phone and scrolled through my contacts. I was right. She added herself along with a photo of her face as her contact image. I starred at it. She was winking at me, being very playful. “Should I text her?” I wondered aloud. If she wants to have fun, I will give her fun. I typed and erased and typed and erased, unsure of the perfect line to say to her. I thought back over our conversation when the perfect idea hit me.