by Allison, J
“I was starting to think you had left without me.” I teased.
“I’ll never leave without you,” he smiled back, but his voice had a serious edge.
“You know I meant what I said Ava, last night, I’ll be here as long as you want me to be.”
“I like the sound of that,” I whispered pressing my toes into the rocky river bed so I could get level with him. Robert leaned in to kiss me before I could do it, his lips like velvet gently teasing mine, answering every unspoken question I asked. His arms held me close to him, low around my waist, and despite our lack of clothing I felt completely comfortable. Robert never moved his arms, never pressed for more, and we completely gave in to the moment, enjoying each other. My heart was beating so hard I was finding it difficult to breathe, I was overwhelmed with happiness and Robert was making me feel incredible. I pulled back for a moment, his lips never left me as he kissed along my jaw, his head moving a little lower as he kissed my neck. I closed my eyes, curling my toes in delight, the breeze was cool on my wet legs making them tingle with goose bumps.
Goosebumps, there was something about goose bumps that I should remember…
My thoughts deserted me again as his lips moved back to mine.
Goosebumps!
It took a few seconds for my mind to register that this was wrong, breeze on my legs? My legs were in the water. I opened my eyes again and looked over his shoulder directly into the beady eyes of a crow that sat smugly on a branch halfway up one of the willow trees. Leaning further forward I peeked over his shoulder down towards the river that now swirled about five feet below us.
My scream gave Robert such a shock he let me go, I landed on an awkward angle swallowing a huge mouthful of water. Before I could even maneuver myself toward to the surface Robert was pulling me out, he had me on the beach before I could blink, worry burning in his eyes.
“Are you hurt?”
My head spun, and my throat was scratchy from the water but I felt alright.
“Okay…” I asked, sounding truly annoyed with him for the first time, “So what was that?”
“I have no idea,” Robert shook his head slowly, he looked completely confused, “That has never happened before.”
I leant back on my hands, narrowing my eyes, “I thought you said you can’t fly.”
“I can’t!”
“Well what was that then superman!”
I finally realized how I sounded and paused, trying to contain the frustration in my voice.
I sighed, “Do you have a drink of water?” I asked rubbing my throat, it hurt from the giant gulp of river water I had so unceremoniously swallowed.
“Did you not just drink enough of the river?” Robert laughed, although it sounded a bit strained.
“Apparently not.” I mumbled dryly.
It was only then that I noticed Robert was, as I had guessed, only in his underwear, the muscles of his thighs tight as he crouched next to me. I dipped my eyes quickly, thanking whatever greater being that was out there that I had managed not to blush.
Instantly aware in that same moment of my own state of undress, I snatched at my shirt and shorts, pulling them on over my wet bikini.
“Let’s go home and get dried off.” I couldn’t meet his eyes, I was in a hurry for both of us to be in more clothing, Robert nodded, moving towards his pile of clothes.
“And then you can tell me what just happened.”
16.
I snorted, sucking the lemonade down my throat which in turn made me start to choke as tears ran down my cheeks from laughter.
We were back in the lounge room at Nan and Pops, the sun had almost set and we hadn’t yet turned on any lights, too busy talking to spare a moment to do it.
My coughing began to recede and I wiped my damp cheeks with the back of my hand.
“Are you okay?” Robert asked still chuckling,
“Yeah, but seriously, you said that to Pop.”
“Well yeah, how else was I going to explain it?”
I started to giggle again, my stomach muscles hurt from how many times I had laughed today.
“Good point.”
Robert was telling me about the time Pop had asked him to stack the recently harvested bales of hay into one of the sheds in a paddock on the outskirts of the Ranch. On his own and finding it easier and quicker to lift the one hundred pound bales by hand Robert had proceeded to fill the barn the quickest way he knew how.
Pop, however, had forgotten to mention the tractor Robert was supposed to use was out of fuel and after remembering had headed down to the paddock with a few gallons of diesel just twenty minutes after Robert had left on his errand.
Arriving at the Paddock he found only two bales left to stack. A job that should have taken half a day with a tractor was almost finished in just twenty minutes.
When Pop had questioned it Robert just shook his head and said he couldn’t figure it out either, they had been put away when he arrived, perhaps the neighbors were being helpful?
Pop had bought the story and that was the part I couldn’t believe.
It turned out there had been a few times in the past where he had almost been caught out.
“Anyway,” the light bulb flashed on, blinding me, but he was already back on the couch next to me.
“What about you? Funny stories, first animal, boyfriends…” his eyes hardened a little on the last word, but he quickly disguised it and was back to his pleasant happy looking self.
‘Okay, funny stories, probably too many to count, I can’t think of one straight off, first animals, I’m sure you’ve meet him his names Beaut and as for…”
“What, you’ve never had a pet, a cat or anything?” he looked scandalized at the thought that everyone didn’t have numerous large farm animals roaming around.
“Nope.”
“That explains it I guess,” he smiled looking thoughtful, happy with himself for having figured something else out about me.
“Explains what?” I leaned closer, he took my hand in his and his thumb absently began stroking the back of it.
“The reason you look petrified whenever you go near anything larger than a rabbit.”
“I do not.” I retorted, aiming a playful punch his way, he grabbed my hand before I could connect in a movement so fluid his own arm seemed to blur around the edges with the speed of it.
“You do, you should have seen your face the day Fred first put you on Beaut, funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.”
“You weren’t there.”
“I was watching,”
“Spying more like, where were you hiding?”
“Oh I wasn’t hiding,” he ducked his head a little, “I was working a couple of paddocks away.”
“Oh right…” I said, pretending that this was totally normal, “The whole crazy eyesight thing, you could see me from there.”
“Ah huh, almost fell off my horse I was laughing so hard.”
“I’m glad you find me so amusing.” I said dryly.
“Oh far more than amusing,” he smirked, leaning forward to kiss me gently on the neck.
“I find you irresistible.”
I shivered under the light touch of his lips,
“Cold?” he murmured pulling away,
“Not at all.”
Chuckling at my answer, he sat back, “So what’s for dinner?”
Dinner, it was decided, was far too hard to make and so we jumped into the old pickup and headed into town. I was silent and thoughtful on the drive in, my mind running slowly over the happenings of the day.
Was it only last night that the stable had burnt to the ground? It seemed like an age ago. I stole a sideways glance at Robert, he caught me and smiled.
He hadn’t said anything more about the fire today, except that I didn’t need to worry.
That in itself threw one hundred more questions into my mind, why did I not need to worry, clearly someone had wanted me dead and yet he was so at ease. When I had asked him he had smiled
and simply said,
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
I had asked again, pressing him for a reason, he silenced me with a quick kiss and then promised that I didn’t need to worry about it anymore, that he would never let anything happen to me.
And so I was trying not to, there couldn’t possibly be any other human being on earth that would make me feel as safe as Robert did and I trusted him completely when he told me I would be okay.
It seemed Robert had learnt something about himself today also, he hadn’t been able to explain the small ‘flight’ we had above the river and this had caused him to be quiet for a long while after we had returned from our swim. He claimed it had never happened before and going by his reaction I had no reason to believe that this wasn’t true.
I wondered once more at my calm acceptance of this all, if someone had told me six months ago I would meet someone with Roberts abilities I would have laughed out loud claiming such a person didn’t exist. I had obviously asked a lot of questions, but I wasn’t scared of what I had learnt. Perhaps I should be more confused or afraid, but I wasn’t, I was… happy, really happy, more so then I had been in weeks. This felt… right.
“I can hear you thinking from here,” Roberts voice broke through my thoughts.
“That wouldn’t surprise me at all.”
“You know what I mean,”
“I was just thinking… about this,” my gesture took us both in.
“Ah huh,” his answer was non-committal, he wanted to see where this was leading,
“And how, well, weird it all is.”
His eyes tightened a little at my words although he kept his silence.
“And also how, for some strange unexplainable reason, I must be slightly brain damaged after falling from Beaut, but I’m really happy.”
His posture relaxed again and he turned one of his heart stopping smiles my way, the kind that made all conscious thought disappear. Reaching out to me he gently ran his fingers down my cheek, his touch leaving a burning trail across my skin.
“I’m glad to hear it.” he said softly.
We pulled up next to the diner and went in, it was a little busier than the last time I was here. The cowgirl behind the counter raised her eyebrows in surprise when she saw us, whether at Robert or at me or the fact we were here together I wasn’t sure, but I suddenly realized there would be no escaping this info getting back to my Grandparents upon their return.
The Huntington gossip mill was about to go into overdrive.
We ordered and I excused myself to the bathroom while Robert went to find us a table. I returned quickly, scanning the diner to see where he sat, he was hard to miss, he had a presence, lighting the area wherever he was, drawing me to him in a way I couldn’t explain. As I started towards him the bell on the door sounded and Sally came with an older woman who could only be her mother, she was very attractive with the same eyes and button nose as Sally.
I watched, a little detached and even still slightly jealous as Sallys eyes lightened on Robert, she was gorgeous, surely he must see that. She said something to her mother who carried on towards the counter before weaving her way over to where Robert sat against the wall.
I let my breath out slowly and made my way towards our table.
“Hi Robert, how are you?” her voice was light and flirtatious.
“Ah, I’m fine, How are you?” Robert looked instantly uncomfortable, withdrawing into himself the way he used to when he spoke to me. His eyes flicked briefly to me as I came up behind her, a smile flashing across his face. Sally saw this and turned to follow his gaze, her eyes landing on me just moments after his.
“Hey Ava, What are you…” her smile stopped, frozen on her face as she realized,
“Oh… right,” her tone lost all friendliness, verging on cold, “you two are here together?”
I looked past her for a moment, back towards Robert, who shrugged and gave me an apologetic look before I turned quickly back to her.
“Ah yeah…” I answered, forcing a large smile onto my face and sounding as friendly as I could.
“Do you want to join us there’s plenty of room, we only just ordered.”
“No.” her eyes burned into mine, I could see the betrayal she felt simmering just below the surface.
“Holding out aye?” Her eyes narrowed, “I’ll leave you to your date.” she almost spat the last word at me before turning sharply on her heel, back towards the table her mother was sitting at. I watched her go, feeling awful, I knew how she felt about Robert, Geez I had encouraged her in the beginning, even telling her to ask him to the ball and then she finds me here with him, little wonder she felt betrayed. I had betrayed her. What sort of person was I!
I sat heavily, Robert watched, his eyes troubled.
“I’m a terrible friend.” I groaned, sinking my face into my hands.
“You’re not.” he spoke gently, his hand reached towards mine, then his eyes flicked to the table across the diner and he thought better of it, reluctantly pulling back.
“Oh yes I am, you know as well as I do how much she liked, likes you and now it looks like I’ve swooped in and stolen you.”
He laughed softly at this.
“I wasn’t anyone’s to steal Ava.”
“Oh you know what I mean,” I groaned, “I’m sorry,” I added quickly, “It’s just, I don’t want her to be angry with me, Sally’s the only girlfriend I have here.”
“She’ll come round, just give her a few days and then go and see her or give her a call,” he paused looking thoughtful, “She doesn’t even know me, how can she like me?”
I snorted back a laugh at his apparent naivety,
“It’s not your personality that draws people in, trust me.”
He looked a little embarrassed at this but didn’t ask any more questions, instead, ever the gentleman, Robert went to the counter and asked for our order to be changed to take out. Luckily our food arrived quickly and we left as soon as we could, neither of us comfortable with Sally’s scowling expression from across the room.
“Ava stop worrying,” Roberts smooth voice broke through my internal monologue as we drove back towards the ranch, I had been in the self-satisfying process of thoroughly beating myself up over Sally.
“I’m sorry, I just… dammit Robert, why didn’t I tell Sal about us.”
“Because there’s no need to,” he put in logically, “Sally and I were never anything, if she had a crush on me then I’m sorry if she’s upset but you don’t owe her anything, she’ll get over it.”
“I know but I did try and talk her into asking you to the ball, I must look like a total two faced Bitch.”
Robert chuckled, “You’re not a bitch.”
“You’re biased.”
“I suppose I am, but it still stands, I don’t think you’re a bitch.”
We arrived back at the house, Robert was out of the truck and opening the door for me before I had even reached to unfasten my seatbelt.
“You are so fast,” I marveled once more, taking the hand he offered and climbing out.
“You’re only just realizing now?” he laughed playfully, letting go of my hand and circling the entire yard area twice before coming to an abrupt stop in front of me, it had taken less than four seconds.
“Hmmm, interesting…” I murmured, trying to look blasé,
“What’s interesting?” he led me up the steps and into the house flicking the lights on as we walked down the hallway towards the kitchen.
“I was just wondering what the Olympic officials would make of you if you ever trialed for any athletics events.”
“Ha ha.” he laughed sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
Grabbing some cutlery we headed into the lounge to eat.
A while later I put my fork down and stretched back against the sofa, thoroughly bloated.
“Since it’s our last night of freedom, what would you like to do?”
He considered for a moment, “Maybe we coul
d watch a movie?”
“That’s seems pretty normal.”
“Well I’m a normal guy.”
“That’s stretching the truth just a little isn’t it.” I smiled, stretching myself full length along the couch.
He smiled back,
“It doesn’t mean I don’t like doing normal things with my girlfriend.” I thrilled at the word and turned away from him quickly so he couldn’t read it on my face, I didn’t want to make a complete fool of myself.
“What do you want to watch then?” I asked, picking up the television guide and flicking to the new release movie channels.
“On second thoughts,” his voice was right next to my ear, his breath warm on my neck, I smiled and leaned into him as his arms come around me. He lifted me gently and before I could register what was happening we were out of the house and sprinting across the paddocks in the dark.
My stomach swirled with a strange sense of vertigo and motion sickness even though it was too dark to see the world flying by. I could barely tell which way was up and which was down, burying my head against his chest I closed my eyes.
“Where are we going?” I murmured into his sweater, knowing he would hear.
“You’ll see.” he laughed and began to move even faster. Within a few minutes or so we stopped and Robert put me down, it took another minute before my head stopped spinning and I could get up from where I had flopped to the ground, a nauseous mess. Tonight was a full moon, its glow lit the dark in an array of silver beauty, Roberts golden hair took on a silver glow and he smiled at me broadly.
“Where are we?”
“This,” he gestured behind me, “Is somewhere I like to come on my own sometimes.”
I turned and looked back the way he pointed, in the distance was an enormous waterfall, the spray reflecting a pale glowing mist in the moonlight as it tumbled hundreds of feet down a rocky face into the dark pool below. Trees lined either side of the falls, like tall dark guardians against the night sky.
Guardians. I glanced at Robert, who was watching me.
We were in a small clearing completely surrounded by thick forest, so alone, so private, and so completely isolated from anything human. We could have been the last two people on earth and not known it.