A Taste of Spice

Part 1: NOW…

The rain came down steadily that night. It had been coming down in heavy sheets almost two hours before. That’s when it had caused the most damage. It had turned the cottage roads into obstacle courses with pools of water and large branches and debris strewn across the gravel and asphalt. Wise travellers would have avoided trying to push through such a torrent. But there would always be a few who had “no choice” or a “good reason” to challenge the elements. Some make it through just fine.

Some don’t.

The old blue cube van had been pushed back just barely across the road’s shoulder. It was only a few feet away from a water-filled sink hole that had formed during the storm, cutting off the secluded stretch of old country road for the evening. The grill of the van had branches and leaves sticking out of it, evidence of a challenge fought and lost to the aforementioned pool it was now looking at.

Inside the van, two people sat across from each other in the rear cargo area, staring at one another. Her name was Lena Kim, 22-year old college senior trying to get home after aborting a trip to a cottage with a friend. His name was Marko Alves, 28-year old contractor also heading in the same direction coming from the same cottage. The van belonged to someone he sometimes considered a friend, a lot of the time he just considered him to be an obnoxious prick.

Lena and Marko had met at the cottage just earlier that afternoon but hadn’t really spoken to one another that much while they were there. Somehow they ended up in the van driving for about an hour and a half before the storm had killed it. They’d been sitting in the unusually decorated interior of the van’s cargo area, a couple of battery operated lights illuminating the compartment, for about an hour, the smell of alcohol lightly pervading the air.

But the silence between them was thick now. Marko had a tight lipped smile on his rugged deep olive-skinned face. He focused his green eyes on Lena sitting on the floor across from him. She returned his gaze, but she didn’t have a smile. Her long, smooth face was stoic. Her small, but full-shaped lips were just slightly pursed. It was only her dark hazel-brown eyes, angled with a smooth lid often associated with the “Oriental” look, that might have revealed what she was thinking as they watched the man seated across from her.

Marko cocked his head slightly, raised an eyebrow to her and broke the silence. “So?” he simply said.

Her lips seemed to tighten as she drew a deep breath. She said nothing.

Marko took that as a signal to start moving slowly towards her. His eyes never left hers as he leaned forward and reached his hand out and touched the toes of her outstretched foot. Lena’s eyes moved to his hand. She watched quietly as he proceeded to run his hand from her toes, across the top of her foot and then slowly up her smooth-shaved shin. He stopped at her knee. Her eyes were still on his hand but she didn’t move, didn’t protest. His smile deepened.

He slid his hand under her knee gently caressing the soft skin beneath it. He thought he felt her tremble ever so slightly. Then his warm hand slid up and out along her outer thigh. He shifted on his knees moving closer to her as he did.

Lena watched the man’s hand as it rolled over her leg and then touched the tender flesh of her inner thigh. His hand was rough. It moved very slowly, deliberately upward towards her crotch. Her breathing intensified. She stole a quick glance up at Marko, saw that his eyes and his pleased smile was fixed on her, before returning her gaze to the hand, ever moving upward. It stopped at the bottom lip of her shorts.

Still there was no response from her. Marko moved in closer now, his body, his face almost next to hers. His fingers slid underneath the leg of her shorts, pushing the material higher up her tanned, sensitive thigh. Her mouth slipped open now. He heard her breathing, watched her chest rise. She started to twist her hips ever so slightly.

But still no protest.

His fingers touched the outline of the crotch of her panties, flicked at it, lifting it up but going no further. The material was so soft, so fine.

Now she looked at him, realized his face was an inch from hers. She gulped softly. Blood rushed to her cheeks.

“You can tell me to stop if you want.” His voice was dry and husky as he said, “Go through or go back. Your choice.”

Her brows angled down sharply. How had she gotten herself into this position with this guy?

Part 2: 8 HOURS BEFORE NOW…

Lena stepped out from the passenger side of the VW Beetle, pulling out her school bag. The look of concern on her face was noticeable only to her apparently as the driver, her friend Donna, stood on the other side of the vehicle with a very pleased look of her own.

“Thank God! Fresh air!” Donna declared running her hands through her short bobbed red hair. Then she stretched her arms out, soaking in the atmosphere of the cottage.

Lena was less enthused. “Why are there so many cars here?” she asked. Her voice was grim.

“Look at the trees! They’re huge!” Donna went on, “The lake! Oh my god! The lake is sooo nice!”

“Why are there so many cars here?” Lena repeated. There were about 10 cars crammed into the clearing around the cottage.

“Well,” Donna said, “I guess they belong to them.”

Lena had already figured that all the people scattered on the dock by the lake and on the cottage porch and in the hot tub had something to do with the cars. That wasn’t what she was asking.

“I thought it would just be 5 or 6 people from school…and girls only,” Lena remarked.

Donna didn’t hear her. The short, freckle-faced young woman was scampering off towards the cottage. She met and hugged a blonde haired woman who had cans of beer in both of her hands. Arms crossed, Lena walked slowly towards them.

“Hey! Lena! You made it,” the blonde said, “Welcome to Club Maureen!”

“Hey Maureen,” Lena waved half-heartedly.

The blonde looked her over, “You’ve got to change your clothes, girl! It’s so warm and perfect here!”

Donna had picked up Lena from a morning class. She wore full-length black slacks and a button down blouse. It was a little warm and she felt a bit conspicuous. She intended to change at the cottage albeit what she brought was a bit more conservative than the bubble-gum pink bikini that the full-figured Maureen was sporting.

“Um, Maureen,” Lena said, “What are all these people doing here?”

The blonde smirked and shrugged, “I guess word got out!”

Word got out about what? This was supposed to be a quiet girls’ weekend Lena had thought. Actually, she wasn’t even supposed to be there. She didn’t really know Maureen, she was Donna’s friend. The only reason she came was at the request of Donna and she was already sceptical about how the weekend would turn out. Donna had broken up with her boyfriend, Tobin, a week ago and was still a bit of a mess. She had called Thursday night all blubbering and begging Lena to come with her to Maureen’s cottage this weekend.

Lena went through her reasons for not coming. Donna countered. Lena had school work. Donna said she could do it at the cottage. Lena didn’t like camping or rustic cottages. Donna insisted that the cottage was new with all amenities provided. Lena said she needed some peace and quiet, no distractions. Donna promised it’d just be a few people from school, all girls. Then Donna “please, please, pleased” her to death.

Inwardly, she should have known better. At best, this weekend would have been one long “Oprah” counselling session for Donna. On the 3 hour drive to the cottage, all Donna could do was bemoan her failures with Tobin. But Lena fell for the idea of relaxing by the lake or taking nature walks. She had to admit, she had been stressed for months now with school and other things. Her social life was shot. Once or twice while she holed up in her small apartment studying over the weekend, the dreaded “R” word came to mind: “Reclusive.”

People were noticing it too, and they all seemed bent on reminding her that she was “too everything” to be a shut in. She was too young. She was too pretty. She was too smart and personable. It was a waste for a person like her to be isolated. So before she started looking for a cat, she should do something about it.

Going to a quiet cottage and relaxing for the weekend, while still sneaking in a few study sessions, was a good way of “doing something about it”.

So she was a little perturbed by “Club Maureen”.

“Are all these people staying here?” Lena asked anxiously.

Maureen and Donna were downing their beers. The blonde swallowed and again shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe. Hey, its all good! The more the merrier! You want a drink?”

“Can we all fit?” Lena was incredulous. She looked at the cottage. It was big, but not that big,

Maureen was unfazed, “We have lots of room! People can share the bedrooms and we can spread out in the living room and game room…”

Lena’s head spun from the porch to the dock. She was unconvinced and said, “There’s like 30 people here.” And guys, too.

Maureen was counting in her head, clicking off with her fingers. She smiled and said, “Actually 35.”

Lena was about to say something else but a loud engine roared as a big, battered, blue van pulled up to the cottage “car park” and blared its horn.

The driver climbed out, a guy with brown spiked hair, and bellowed, “WOOOOOOOO! It’s time to RUMMMMM-BLE!”

Another guy, dark tanned and short black wavy hair, came out of the passenger side looking a bit more subdued.

Make that 27 people.

Maureen and Donna squealed and charged at the driver. “Kirk!” they shouted in unison.

Lena sighed, fuming on the inside, and glared silently at the bouncing trio by the cars. She crossed her arms even more tightly.

Marko grabbed his bag from the back of the van and slung it over his shoulder. He didn’t bother to join in on the revelry between Maureen, Donna and Kirk but he seemed to wince each time one of them shouted or screamed like a lunatic. He walked around the cars and then dropped his bag on the ground and pulled out a cigarette. He lit it and took a long, much needed drag. Blowing out the smoke, he squinted. 20 feet away, he saw a young woman just standing in the middle of the cottage grounds. She looked maybe Chinese or Korean. He would have easily described her as attractive but she had a stern face, her arms were crossed and she was dressed like a teacher. At first he thought she was staring at him but quickly realized her hard gaze went past him and was planted on the threesome by the van.

She was pissed. He knew how she felt. 3 hours in a van with Kirk had exhausted him and possibly wore out any interest in actually socializing with all these party-oriented strangers at the cottage. He picked up his bag.

Lena was going through the options in her head. Hitchhike 3 hours back to the city? Maybe someone had a tent. She was so focused in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the guy in the grey hooded-sweatshirt and blue jeans walking towards her until he dropped his bag next to her.

She blinked and leaned to the side away from the bag on the ground. She looked at the bag and at the man.

“Excuse me,” he said to her.

Lena twitched a smile and shook her head. “It’s alright,” she said. She returned to gazing straight ahead.

Marko did the same, turning to face the cars, hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt.

They stood there quietly for a minute watching the frantic conversation going on between Maureen, Donna and Kirk. “Freaks,” Marko muttered. Lena turned her head and looked at him. She squinted a bit as she watched him rock slowly on his feet.

Marko glanced over to her, his cigarette hanging out his mouth. After a moment, he pulled it out. “Oh sorry,” he said apologizing for the cigarette.

The young woman smiled again a bit more warmly. She shook her head. “Free country,” she said.

He nodded. Cool girl, he thought. He decided to hold out his hand, “Marko Alves.”

Lena hesitantly looked at his hand but then took it. As they shook, she noticed how large his hand was. It was also very rough but very warm and he had a firm grip on hers.

“Lena Kim,” she said and added, “Friend of the short freak with red hair.”

He chuckled and smiled. “Kim”. Korean. Nice. And as her smile grew larger and more genuine, she now definitely fell in the category of attractive. Her hair was long and wavy, black with the faintest auburn highlights. She had the exotic, cut-angled Oriental eyes. Light golden-beige skin. She wasn’t much shorter than his 5’10” height but her frame was much more slender. She had a nice shape to her waist and legs. Her slacks, though a bit formal, were riding low on her waist, exposing her hip bone.

“I’m with the guy with a bottle of gin surgically stuck up his butt,” Marko said.

She had to snigger. Then she inhaled and sighed, her body easing a bit. She also dropped her arms and held them at her waist as she looked down at the ground and shook her head. “What am I DOING here?” she wondered aloud.

Marko paused for thought then pointed at Donna and said, “You came because of her, right?”

She looked at him, surprised. She remarked, “Are you a mind reader?”

He grinned and laughed a bit. Then he said, “So you ARE lesbians?”

Lena blinked and gasped. She was about to object but when she saw his big, coy grin she started to laugh. “No. Not lesbians,” she snapped playfully, calling his bluff, “No. I’m playing babysitter.”

“Would have been more fun if you were lesbians,” he joked, a matter-of-fact look on his face.

In spite of her situation, she laughed again. This was good. Going from despair to something resembling enjoyment was hopeful. This guy didn’t seem like he was going to add to the hell bent party atmosphere pervading the secluded cottage. Maybe it would be infectious.

She pivoted to face him and opened her mouth to say something.

“Chicka! Chicka! Chicka! Bao-bao!” the loud one called Kirk yelled out as he strolled over, his arms draped around Donna and Maureen, “Hey, bro’! You picked out your playmate for the weekend already?”

Lena cringed. Marko’s demeanour also darkened noticeably as he frowned at Kirk.

“Woo! You’re going for Chinese take out, eh?” Kirk added leering at Lena.

Marko could have snapped but he didn’t. “Shut the fuck up already,” he said with a low grumble. He didn’t shout but no one thought he wasn’t serious. Both Kirk and the two girls shifted uneasily.

Marko glanced at Lena. He could tell her mood had dropped again.

Kirk held up his hands and smirked, pretending to back off. Donna and Maureen slipped out from underneath his arms.

Maureen was still smiling but was a bit more calm. She waved to Donna and Lena. “Come on! Grab your bags. Lena? I can show where you can change in the cottage.”

Kirk pulled at Marko’s sweater and thumbed over to the docks where the coolers were. Marko dragged his feet following him. He glanced back at the girls who were walking towards their car. Lena trailed the other two and she looked up and back at him. She smiled gently. He nodded and waved.

*********

Lena sat on the bed in the room Maureen had led her to, dejected. She didn’t ask if that was the room she’d be staying in but the fact that there were 5 other overnight bags already scattered on the floor led her to doubt that she’d have much personal space this weekend. She could hear the loud conversations and the laughter taking place all around the cottage. She sighed again.

She repeated the mantra “relax, relax” over and over again. One of her mental exercises in doing so was trying recall the best moment of the day so far. That was easy. Marko had got her to laugh. That was something on a day like this. He had a nice smile and really cool looking green eyes, too. Never hurts to have the spirits lifted by a cute guy.

But she knew she couldn’t pin her weekend hopes for relaxation on some “cute guy”. For all she knew, he was pounding away the beers and belly flopping into the lake at this minute. Besides, she had little time or interest in that sort of thing, guys, right now.

So what to do? Relax. Okay. First things first, change out of the classroom garments she was wearing into something more…”cottage”.

Lena stood up and opened her bag, pulling out some beige hiking shorts and a small black, light cotton sweater. Then she started to unbutton her blouse.

On the deck that ran around the entire cottage, Kirk was on the other side of the bedroom window peeking through a crack in the shutters. He took a sip of his beer and chuckled quietly to himself. As Lena wriggled her pants down her slender legs to the floor, he suddenly had to shift on his feet, adjusting to the stiffening pressure at his crotch.

Marko came around the corner and stopped. He shook his head and called to him, “Yo Kirk, what the hell…”

Kirk immediately turned to him, a finger over his grinning lips. He waved Marko over eagerly.

Marko sighed and rolled his head then walked over. A few steps away, Kirk moved from the window and leaned up against the wall resting his hand on Marko’s shoulder. He snickered then said, “You can thank me later, man, but if you’d like a nice little preview of your Chinese Delight, take a look.”

Marko frowned. Then all patience drained from him in an instant. He grabbed the smaller man’s collar and yanked him close. He snarled, “What are you? 15? Act like a fucking grown up!”

“Hey! Hey! Hey!” Kirk said, again his hands up, “Watch it!”

“First of all she’s Korean,” Marko said, “Second of all, you’re a dick!”

Then he spun around, dragging then shoving Kirk away from the window. Kirk dropped his beer. He looked down at the can spilling forth it’s liquid happiness onto the deck.

“Aw man. That’s just sad,” he moaned. He was more dejected about the loss of his beer than the obvious anger of his friend.

“Get the fuck out of here,” Marko pushed him away.

Kirk skulked away thinking of where to refresh his drinking hand.

Marko, standing in the middle of the deck, in front of the window, watched him disappear around the corner. Satisfied his idiot friend wasn’t going to come back he eased off a bit. He turned his head and looked at the window. He could see the crack where Kirk had been peering through. He could see motion in the room. He turned his attention to the deck floor and thought for a long moment.

Lena slipped on the sweater. She pulled her long hair out from under the collar then stretched it over her shoulders, revealing her bare smooth skin. She was brushing her hair out with her fingers when she thought she saw movement from behind the shutters of the window. She walked around the bed and drew the shutters open. She had a clear view of a small tree just a few feet from the deck, rustling in the wind. Lena pursed her lips tightly then turned and exited the bedroom.

When he heard her close the door, Marko stepped away from the window side.

Part 3: 5 HOURS BEFORE NOW….

Lena couldn’t believe it but the day quickly became worse. It had started to rain. Hard. While two or three of the revellers thought it would be a good time to go for a swim everyone else was packed into the cottage. Their answer to staving off boredom: alcohol and pot. The air was filled with the heady aromas of a mix of liquors and burning grass. When everyone had been outside the cottage, at least the noise and shouting got swept up into the trees and out across the expanse of the lake. Now it was all contained within the cottage and the boisterous chatter and laughter shook the walls.

Lena had holed herself up in the small den. She sat in the easy chair, a pillow wrapped behind her head over her ears as she stared with a knitted-brow at her open text-book. It made absolutely no sense to her. She couldn’t think straight, the shrill shrieks of girls and the bellowing proclamations of guys piercing her pillow ear-muffs. Then someone cranked up the stereo twisting the volume and bass to a “Spinal Tap 11”, loud enough to shake the floor and send ripples through the water in her glass on the desk.

“This is ridiculous!” she exclaimed to know one.

Just to prove that was an understatement, the door burst open, hip hop music spilling into her little sanctuary. Lena looked up surprised. A raven haired girl wearing only pants and a bra which she barely fit into backed into the room. She led two men in with her, a stubby bald black guy and a really pale and skinny white guy suffering from a bad case of ‘farmer’s tan’.

“Um, occupied!” she called to them.

The half-naked woman continued to back up, her partners taking turns to kiss and handle her all over.

“People? Uh, can you maybe go somewhere else?” she asked.

They continued to back up, totally oblivious to the young woman sitting in the easy chair.

“Hello?!” she shouted. They didn’t stop moving toward her.

Lena spun out of the chair just as the threesome spilled into it. The big recliner nearly rocked and fell backwards but with a yelp and a laugh, the mass of fondling flesh balanced themselves and resumed their heated session.

Lena stood watching them for a moment at first startled and then stupefied by the mini-orgy taking place right in front of her. They were groaning and moaning and cooing as the kissed and sucked loudly. The two men massaged the woman’s breasts like dough and her hands cupped each of their crotches, groping and squeezing. Their delirious looks on their faces was kind of disturbing as well.

She looked away, grimacing and waved her hands, washing them of the whole sordid picture. Then she strode out of the room, closing the door as she left.

She stood outside the door. Eyes closed, she sighed deeply.

“Thanks, girlfriend!” she heard the woman shout from behind the door. With a mischievous laugh she added, “Just let me know when you’ll be needing it!”

That about did it for her. Lena clutched her book and marched down the hallway. She turned the corner to the living room. The party was full on at that point. The place was a mess with cans and food wrappings all over the floor. Several people had paired up, locked in open displays of over-heated affection. There was a scrum of guys in front of the fireplace burning god knows what and chanting as if they were at a football game. There was Kirk jumping on the coffee table, eyes wide, wild and red to match his face. She spotted Donna and Maureen across the room with some other women dancing in a corner by the stereo. She made a beeline for them.

Marko was sitting on a small utility cabinet looking out the window at the rain. Girls had tried to get him to dance with them, guys had tried to get him to drink with them but he had brushed them off. He was on the verge of a headache. It had a name.

“All the ladies in the house, shout out your love for Captain Kirk!” his soused friend spat at nobody in particular.

Marko glared at him. As he did, he saw a pretty Korean woman, looking a bit frazzled, enter the room from the hallway. He had been wondering where Lena had gone. He almost thought that she decided to make a break for it on her own. Judging by the look on her face she still seemed determined to do so as she marched across the floor. Marko slid off of the cabinet, moving to intercept her. That’s when Kirk decided to stage-dive into the scrum of guys. They hadn’t been expecting him to do that.

Marko rolled his eyes and then moved quickly to prevent a gang beating.

“Donna, hey. I’m really, really sorry about this,” Lena had a pleading look on her face as she begged to her friend, “I’m, uh, not feeling so good and I also forgot some important books at home. I really, really need them.” She doubled up her excuses.

“You want to go home?” Donna said looking totally disappointed, “But it’ll take hours!”

“It’s also raining like crazy out there,” added Maureen, not helping.

Lena arched her eyebrows up and drooped her mouth. She amped up the apologetic puppy look, “I don’t want to, but I HAVE to! I’m sorry. I’ve got cramps and I need those books for an assignment on Monday! I completely forgot about them!”

“Uh…,” Donna struggled with the idea. She really didn’t want to go.

But Lena wasn’t going to let go, “I’m soooo sorry!”

She watched with relief as her friend’s expression shifted. She was cracking. Donna looked frustrated but finally she said, “Okay.”

As Maureen expressed her disbelief to Donna, Lena’s inner fist pumped up and down, “Yes!”

That was quickly ended when for some reason, she saw a look of surprise appear on both women. They looked past her.

Lena turned around to the front door of the cottage. A new face had joined the party.

“Tobin,” said Maureen.

“Tobin?” said Donna.

“Shit,” Lena said to herself.

**********

Lena spent the next 20 minutes standing between Donna and Tobin playing peace-maker. She shouted to be heard and her head whipped back and forth between them so much that she was getting dizzy. Now she really did have cramps.

The only good think about this occurrence is that it seemed to strengthen her friend’s resolve to leave the cottage.

“20 minutes,” Tobin, a bright-eyed, long brunette haired fellow, begged, “Come on Donna. 20 minutes to talk.”

“Lena needs to go now,” Donna said defiantly.

Tobin turned anxiously to her, “Lena. Please. 20 minutes. We can work this out in 20 minutes then you can go. I’ll drive you myself!”

Great, now the onus was on her. Lena turned to Donna. She could see that look on her freckle-faced friend. It was the look that she also really wanted to talk alone with her ex-boyfriend.

Shit.

She left them in the corner by themselves. But now she didn’t know where to go. The party in the living room was sinking further into a carnival. She made her way to the hallway but stopped. She figured all the bedrooms, like the den, were probably ‘occupied’.

“Just let me know when you’ll be needing it!” was what the girl in the threesome had said to her. Lena scanned the partiers hopelessly. She couldn’t believe that these guys were seniors and grads in university

Yeah, right. She thought to herself, there was probably only one guy here she’d even think of considering hooking up with-….

Woah. Where did THAT thought come from? Lena shook her head.

She went to the front door. She needed fresh air.

Besides, she hadn’t seen ‘him’ since this afternoon.

***********

“You’re going to cool off?” Marko demanded.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going to cool off,” Kirk replied. It wasn’t even 7 o’clock and the guy was bleary eyed and plastered.

The two had been standing in the rain on the deck at the side of the cottage. Marko figured it was the quickest way for his friend to sober up…or maybe catch pneumonia and die. Either way, he’d be quiet for a second.

Marko had rescued him from being pummelled by the guys he had tackled when he jumped off the coffee table. Other than that momentary boost of adrenalin, he was spent. He had been working hard all week, hell, for the last month from dawn to dusk building houses. He had been hoping to get in some water-skiing or outdoor recreation to burn off some pent up frustrations from work. Now it was just exacerbated. Kirk WAS work.

He patted his wasted friend on the shoulder. Kirk’s word didn’t mean much but it was all he had. Time to get out of the rain. They rounded the corner to the front deck. Marko saw a lone figure sitting in the dark under the patio table umbrella. She was curled up on a chair, drawing her bare legs up to her chest, head on her knees.

“Hey,” he said as he approached Lena.

The young woman lifted her head. Her eyes look tired and her round, small lips were pouting. She seemed to brighten up a bit when she saw him, though.

“Oh, hey,” she answered.

Kirk gave her a weak wave, still grinning sheepishly, stupidly. She nodded at him.

“Okay,” Marko sighed, patting Kirk on the back. He opened the door and gave him a gentle push. He said, “Go in and sit on a couch or something.”

He closed the door and shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to Lena.

“You’re all wet,” Lena remarked softly.

“Tell me about it,” he muttered.

“You want to join me under here?” she offered.

He held his breath. Yeah, he wanted to join her under there. Then what? Offer her a couple of drinks, the two of them get sloshed, make out, do the nasty in the rain?

For some reason, he decided he wanted to be the sensible one this weekend. The behaviour of the apes in the cottage had strengthened that resolve.

Besides, she seemed too nice and, like him, too weary.

“Nah,” he shook his head, “Just trying to cool off.”

Lena smiled and nodded knowingly. “Babysitting?” she asked.

He chuckled and rolled his eyes, “Yeah. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that do you?”

“Tell me about it,” she mimicked him. Now she laughed. That was twice in one day.

She looked at him thoughtfully as he stood in the rain, shifting in his feet. His curly black hair had flattened out, bangs hanging just above his thick black eyebrows. Every so often, the light from the cottage caught his olive-skinned face, wet from the rain, a nice mix of sharp lines and round features. She smiled to herself admiring him.

Marko coughed softly.

Lena rolled her eyes and slipped out of her crouch. Stretching out her long bare leg, she hooked the leg of a chair across from her with her foot and pulled it to her so it was completely out of the rain. “Sit down already will you?” she said, “You’re making me feel bad.”

Marko paused then finally relented. It was probably the sight of her slender leg stretched out like that which did it for him. He sat down on the chair beside her.

For the two of them, the next 20 minutes of conversation proved to be a refreshing break from the crazy day. Mostly they discussed the headaches that come with friends. But the more they talked about how tired each of them supposedly were, it seemed to each of them that it actually sounded like they had too much pent up energy which they needed to let out.

“I mean I spend my entire time studying these days. It sucks. It really does. I feel like a mole person,” Lena grumbled then she chuckled, “Hey, I got the eyes for it!”

She joked about her small Asian features.

“Ooh! That’s really bad! That ain’t P.C.!” he snickered with her. Then he sighed, “Yeah, same thing here. 11 hour a day shifts. Inspectors on your back all the time. It’s always the same thing.”

“Mmm-hmm,” she nodded. She had such a contemplative face. It was as if she personified serenity and calmness in her eyes. It settled him.

They sat quietly listening to the rain. She stared at her feet. He stared at her.

Lena was liking this. She found that each time she looked up at him, the more she found him to be kind of attractive. He had a soft smile, nothing lurid about it. And he was listening to her, having a decent conversation with her. She really enjoyed it.

“Figured out where you‘ll be sleeping tonight?” he quipped. She wasn’t expecting that question. A brief, surprising thought flashed in her head for just a millisecond. She couldn’t quite make it out but it made her both uneasy…and aroused. Then her head cleared and she looked at her watch.

“I’m…uh, I’m actually going home,” she said as she stood up, “Donna and I are headed back to the city tonight.”

“Oh,” he said. He looked away and shrugged, adding, “Probably for the best.”

She twisted her mouth upward to the side watching him as he looked out across the lake. She said, “How about you?”

He turned to look up at her, a grin on his face, ” Babysitting.”

She nodded and smiled, brushing her hair back and around her ear. Lord, he liked it when women did that little whimsical motion.

Lena mouthed a silent “bye-bye” and, with a low, curt wave of her hand, went into the cottage.

He raised his hand in response then lowered it, turning his gaze back towards the lake as the rain fell around him.

**********

Lena negotiated her way through the crowd of people and the garbage on the floor of the living room. She scanned the room looking for Donna. Instead she found Maureen sitting on the floor macking on some guy by the fireplace. She walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

The blonde woman looked up at her, grinning like a caught schoolgirl. Her partner continued to nibble on her neck eliciting little giggles from her.

“Maureen, sorry to interrupt but where’s Donna?” Lena asked. She waved her hand around, “And where’s Tobin? Where are they?”

“Um, I think the third bedroom?” said Maureen, “They went there to talk.”

“Uh-huh, and which is the third bedroom?”

The blonde’s hand waved lazily this way and that, “Hallway, second room, to the right.”

With that, Maureen resumed tending to her guest.

Lena walked past Kirk who was sucking on a toke on the sofa his eyes glazed over. She was solicited no less than 3 times by several groups to “join in on the fun” but managed to make her way to the bedroom which turned out the one she had changed in earlier. She knocked and said, “Donna? Everything okay? It’s been over 30 minutes.”

No answer. Lena’s gut twisted, and though she really didn’t want to, she opened the door a crack and peeked in. She stared hard and long, her small eyes widening and her mouth dropping. She wanted to shout something but instead she closed the door. She stood outside unmoving, a blank, pale look on her face. She felt a hand slap onto her shoulder. It was hot and wet and uncomfortable on her bare skin. She turned around. Kirk’s shifting, bloodshot eyes scanned her luridly from head to toe.

“Hey my little egg roll,” he slurred, “You wanna make some chop suey?”

Lena put a hand over her gaping mouth then she made a break for the powder room. She had barely leaned over the toilet when she threw up.

**********

“Okay give them over to me,” Marko said to Kirk. He should have taken the keys to the van when they arrived at the cottage.

“I’m just going to show them, man!” Kirk slurred waving to a small group of onlookers standing behind him. He went on, “We’re going to check out the Starship: Love Machine!”

“Yeah and then I’m sure you’re going to take it to warp speed or whatever,” Marko snapped, “Give me the fucking keys.”

Kirk slumped onto him, wrapping his arm around Marko’s shoulders. “Tell you what,” he said with a dreamy wink, “I’ll let you use it with your new friend. Your geisha, okay?”

Marko’s jaw hardened.

Then Kirk added, trying to whisper but speaking loud and clear, “Hey, hey. How much do you think she charges to love both of us ‘long time’?”

There was a noticeably loud crack over the noise of the stereo and conversation in the room as Marko smashed his fist across Kirk’s jaw. The smaller man didn’t really feel it right now, though he probably would later, as he fell across the floor and crumpled onto the sofa, knocked out. Everybody else went back to whatever it was they were doing before the man-drama.

Marko reached into Kirk’s pockets and found the keys to the van. He stared at the unconscious man with some disgust but mostly disappointment. This was a waste.

He turned around and saw Lena slink slowly from the hallway, looking totally lost. He moved quickly towards her.

“You okay?” he asked.

Lena nodded, her lips pursed. Her eyes were a little watery. She looked a bit pale but colour was returning to her face.

He continued, “Aren’t you supposed to be going?”

The young woman turned her head, looking back at the bedrooms. Then she shook her head, “Guess not.”

“Where’s your friend? Is she okay?” Marko asked.

“Yeah, she’s fine,” she grimaced. The question put a bit of fire back into her, “Yeah, she’s fucking fine!”

It put a LOT of fire back into her.

Marko arched his eyebrows up in mild shock. He looked back at Kirk slumped like road kill on the sofa. It looked like both he and Lena failed in their babysitting assignments. The poor woman looked completely spent. This was an unhealthy atmosphere for her, for both of them.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. She watched it dangle in front of her face. “You want a ride?” he asked.

Within a minute they met back at the front door.

“Didn’t you bring any clothes with you?” Marko asked noticing she only had her schoolbag.

Her weekend bag was in the room with Donna and Tobin. She didn’t want to go in there. “It’s alright,” she said shaking her head, then she nodded towards Kirk and asked, “What about him?”

Marko felt nothing for Kirk at the moment. “He’ll be fine. He won’t have anything to drive anyway.”

They opened the door. It had gone beyond cats and dogs. It was coming down cows and horses now. They stared at the torrent of rain for a long time before they turned and looked at one another.

Marko shrugged, “Go through or go back. Your choice.”

There was a crash from behind them in the cottage, a couple of shrieks then a loud cheer.

“Go start the van,” Lena said.

****************

Part 4: 2 HOURS BEFORE NOW….

“Yosemite Sam,” Lena said, looking through the van’s windshield.

“Hmmm…’M’ right? Uh, Mickey Mouse,” Marko answered, leaning forward close to the wheel. A layer of water replaced the sheet that the wiper blades had just swiped off almost instantly.

“Eeeee…oh, Eeyore!” she snapped.

“Wasn’t he from a book?”

“Then they turned it into a cartoon for Disney,” she replied, “It counts.”

“Whatever,” he muttered.

” ‘E’. Come on, ‘E’,” she prompted him.

“Hey, you know, trying to drive here!” he said, “Hard enough to concentrate on this road at 10 kms an hour while trying to play ‘Cartoon Name Game’ at the same time.”

“Sorry!” Lena said with a playful smirk. It was good that she could actually feel this way after the night she’d had and with the monsoon around them. But she strangely felt comfortable. She leaned back in the chair. Kicking off her sandals she lifted her bare legs, crossing them as she rested them on the dashboard.

Okay that didn’t help Marko’s concentration either but he wasn’t going to say anything. Besides he didn’t have time to ogle her legs at the moment. They had been driving for over an hour but made less headway than driving for 20 minutes during a clear night. They both were looking for ways to break the tension of the slow drive. For the first hour, they just talked about themselves.

As it turned out, there was a reason why Marko put up with Kirk.

“Remedial Behavioural Training?” Lena asked.

Marko nodded. “We were both attending the same program when we were teens,” he said, “Kirk suffered from what you can say was a severe case of a need for attention.”

“I think that might still be a problem,” Lena remarked before she could think. She turned to Marko and apologized, “Sorry. That’s insensitive.”

He was quiet for a long time but then said, “Nope. It’s true. He’s an ass. But honestly, it’s not as bad as it was. You don’t want to know.”

Lena nodded in agreement. There was another pregnant pause. She wanted to ask something else. He knew it. He also knew the question.

“As for me,” he breathed, “I was in there for overly aggressive behaviour.”

Lena looked puzzled. She wasn’t sure what he meant. “Anger management?” she asked.

“No. Not really,” he answered quickly, “Sort of like not really being able to find healthy outlets for releasing pent up energy.”

“You broke your toys?” Lena said hoping that she was bringing some levity to the conversation.

He chuckled, “Yeah. I guess you can say that.”

“You don’t seem that way at all now,” she said.

“Hope so,” he replied, “You know. I think I actually did learn a few things in the program. Not just how to control myself but how to read other people. To study them.”

Lena smiled thoughtfully. She said, “You seem like a person who can focus.”

He looked at her briefly. When he turned back to the road, he still had her face in his mind. He replied, “I can be very focused. It‘s the best way to get what you want.”

They talked about Lena’s schoolwork. She decided that it was too boring a conversation and that’s what led them to the ‘Name Game’. Now Marko was focused intently on the road. They were going slower and slower but then finally he pressed down on the brakes. The van came to a complete stop.

“Uh oh,” he said peering out through the wet mess of the windshield.

Lena sat up and also squinted through the glass. “What is it?”

His hands on the wheel, he lifted a finger and pointed outside. “How deep do you think that is?” he said pointing to a pool of water that covered about 5 metres of road ahead of them.

“I don’t know,” Lena thought aloud, “The road has been pretty level for a while. Maybe it’s just a dip.”

They stared at the pool for about a minute. Marko rubbed his teeth against each other then leaned back and said, “Go through or go back? Your choice.”

That was the second time tonight he had said that. Her first decision ended with them driving in this storm when they probably shouldn’t have. But she couldn’t bring herself to drive all the way back to that cottage.

She shook her leg rapidly as she thought then said, “I think we can go through.”

Marko revved the engine.

*********

Part 5: AN HOUR BEFORE NOW…

“Get in! Get in!” Lena called to Marko as she pushed open the van door.

He was soaked. She was wet too. For the last ½ hour the two of them struggled to push the van back from the sink hole which had stalled the engine. When the van still wouldn’t start, Marko had gone out to check the engine.

“Well?” Lena asked.

“I don’t know,” Marko answered turning the ignition key, “I cleared some of the twigs and branches but I’m not sure what else to do.”

He cranked the key. Nothing. Crap.

“Sorry,” Lena spoke, dejected. It had been her choice.

“Ah don’t worry about it,” Marko answered. He turned to her and smiled, “I think we’ll survive the night.”

The fact that he was able to smile did wonders for her. Her mood lightened. They had managed to clear the van from the road, though they doubted anyone would be coming by anytime soon. They checked their cell-phones but couldn’t get a connection. There wasn’t much else to do.

Lena shivered.

Marko knew he would be joining her soon with the shakes. They had to get dry.

“I think,” he said, “I have a towel in my bag in the back.”

He slipped between the chairs to the back of the van and dug out a beach towel from his bag. He crouched behind the chairs and handed it to Lena.

“Don’t you need it?” she asked.

“I’ve got a change of clothes…unlike somebody I know,” he quipped.

“Yes, yes, thanks for reminding me,” Lena replied. She patted down her face. She inhaled. The towel smelled of him.

“We can burn your books for warmth,” he joked.

She snapped back, “Don’t you dare!” She coughed.

“Hey, you might want to take off your sweater,” he said.

She turned and looked at him peeking from between the chairs. She cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m not being a pervert!” he said, “Just so you won’t catch cold. You don’t have to take off your underwear. Wrap the towel around you. I won’t look. I’m going to be busy changing my clothes back here.”

With that, he moved away from the chairs and went to his bag. Lena listened to him fumble with his clothes. She put the towel on her lap. Then she reached for the bottom of her sweater. She lifted it slightly, stopping at her belly. She listened to him still moving around in the back. She lifted the sweater over her stomach and chest, past her neck and over her head. She kept her yellow, strapless bra on but patted it down with the towel a bit before wrapping it around herself. She lowered her sunblind and found a mirror. As she fixed her hair she caught the reflection of Marko removing his shirt in the rear area. He had a lean body with well-toned muscles, probably from construction work. His skin was tanned from spending his days in the sun. She couldn’t help but look but when she heard him snap open his fly, she pulled herself away from the show.

After a minute, he settled down and called from the back, “You want to join me back here? I think there’s more room.”

She hesitated but then stood up and slipped between the chairs. She sat across from him in the corner behind the passenger chair. It was dark. For some reason the floor was unexpectedly soft. She squinted when a small light appeared in front of her, behind Marko’s head.

Marko had pressed one of the battery operated dome lights Kirk had attached to the van’s walls. He turned and faced Lena sitting in the corner. She had raised her hand to rub her eyes, the towel dropping from her shoulder, revealing her right breast covered by the smooth yellow cup of her bra. The soft outline of her nipple showed through. He had been right. She was a small cup size but they had a nice shape.

Lena pulled the towel back over her shoulder unaware of Marko’s stolen glance.

“Um, there might be another light behind your head,” he remarked.

Lena looked behind and pressed a round dome. The light flicked on. They found two more lights in the cargo area and switched them both on. Even with all for lights, it was still kind of dim but Lena could now see Marko clearly. He had switched into a basketball shirt and some track pants. Then she scanned the van.

“Oh, wow,” she whistled to herself., “I think I’ve heard about these things but never thought I’d see one.”

Kirk’s van had wall-to-wall red shaggy carpeting. There must have been some thick padding underneath because it was like she was sitting on a cushion. He also had a few jelly bean cushions and pillows tossed around. There was some Christmas lights strewn around the interior and posters of things like sunsets and beaches on the walls. The final touch was the full length body mirror he had somehow managed to hang from the ceiling.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she chuckled staring at her reflection in the ceiling.

Marko smirked and shook his head knowingly, “Well, like I said, Kirk also needed to find new ways to express himself.”

“Does this stuff actually work for him?”

He shrugged, “I guess you’d be surprised.”

“Please,” Lena closed her eyes and held up her hand, “Please don’t tell me!”

They laughed. Then Marko got on his knees and turned towards the corner rear of the van. He lifted up the carpet and the padding. Lena craned her neck to see what he was doing.

“Ah, good old Kirk,” he said. Then he turned around holding 2 cans of beer and half a bottle of whiskey.

Lena’s eyes widened.

“So who says they get to have all the fun?” Marko said, “Name your poison.”

She grinned but shook her head slowly.

“Come on, Lena,” he urged her, “It’ll warm you up a bit.”

She paused then sighed, “Alright, alright…but just the beer.”

He popped it open then handed it to her. Lena clutched the towel closely to her body as she reached for it. Marko popped a can for himself and then raised it to her.

“To good decisions,” he toasted,

Lena winced. “Okay already! I’m sorry that we’re stuck out here!”

Marko looked confused and said, “I’m talking about the beer.”

“Ah.” She understood.

He took a long sip as Lena watched and then breathed out satisfied, “Ahhhh!”

She raised her cans to her lips, paused, then raised it. She took a few sips.

“Besides,” Marko said, “I don’t think your decisions were so bad. Not many nights I get stuck in a van with a beautiful woman.”

Lena swallowed hard on her last sip. She restrained a cough and looked up at Marko. “Uh, what?” she eked.

“Just saying I’m having a nice time being with you Lena,” he pointed out.

She looked away uncertain if it made her feel good or uneasy to hear him say that. She realized every time she had been with him that day, he had made her feel good, not just “warm fuzzies”, but deep down good. Maybe it was the beer but her heart was beating a little faster now.

Suddenly she realized how quiet she was. She should probably say something to his remarks. She thought quickly, “Well, it’s nice being stuck in a van with you to.”

Again he raised his can in a toast. He raised it up and polished it off in three big gulps. Then he looked at Lena.

She gazed at him and then the can of beer in her hands. After she exhaled, she raised it to her lips and then knocked it back. Marko watched her swallow. It took her more than three gulps and soon it overflowed in her mouth. It spilled out from the corner of her lips, down her chin and neck. But she didn’t lower the can until it was completely empty.

“Ack!” she gasped with a smile as she looked at the beer that had dribbled down her body. She didn’t know why she had felt compelled to do that.

The towel was wide open now. Marko enjoyed a clear view of the tops of her bosom peeking out from her bra and her lovely smooth and flat belly.

Lena quickly realized that she was exposed as well and immediately pulled the towel tight around herself, dropping the can. Her face flushed red.

“Impressive,” Marko said.

Lena slowly looked up at him, an uncertain expression on her face.

“I’m still talking about the beer,” he added.

She couldn’t think of anything to say. She was concentrating on controlling her impulses because they seemed to be constantly getting her into deeper trouble.

Marko unscrewed the cap of the whiskey and took a swig. He grimaced as the liquid surged down his throat. He held the bottle out to her. This time she shook her head with a certain decisiveness.

They settled down in the van. He tossed a couple of cushions to her and they each made a little nest on opposite sides of the van. Marko continued to sip the bottle as they sat in what seemed to Lena was an uncomfortable silence. They listened to the rain thump heavily outside.

She looked up immediately when he spoke, “So…why didn’t you get your bag?”

Lena dropped her head and remarked, “I don’t want to say.”

“Okay,” he said. Then he just sat back. He wasn’t going to ask anything else.

The silence bothered her, so did the sound of the unrelenting rain. Finally she sighed and, looking at the floor, said, “Donna and her ex-boyfriend were in the room where my bag was. I didn’t want to go get it.”

Marko sniffed and asked, “What were they doing?”

Lena looked at him, frowning, and said, “What do you think they were doing?”

He spoke matter-of-factly, “I think they were having sex. What I want to know is what exactly they were doing to set you off.”

She looked bothered. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” he continued, “Yeah, seeing them screwing may have been a surprise but were they doing anything in particular that made you so upset?”

She glared at him. She had no idea what he was getting at. Thinking about it for a long time, she shook her head then snapped, “The whole reason I came up here was to console her because Tobin, supposedly the biggest bastard in the world according to her, dumped her a week ago. So I go to that hell hole of a cottage to be with her. He comes up, I have to mediate between the two of them and she still goes to talk with him alone anyway. And then what do I find when I go to get her? I find Donna in the bedroom on her knees giving him a blow job!”

“Ah!” Marko said.

Lena shrugged, “What ‘ah’? What does that mean?”

“So she was sucking on his dick. That’s what you saw,” he replied.

Hearing the stark description, she leaned back and held her breath. Her face was red, she knew it. Then she lowered her voice and spoke, “What difference does it make what they were doing?”

“It seems to make a difference to you,” Marko insisted, “You seem really bothered by it.”

The image was vivid in her mind: Donna topless, her head bobbing frantically back and forth, looking up eagerly at Tobin as he stroked her hair like a pet. The bastard had a huge satisfied grin on his face as well.

Lena spoke softly, trying to make Marko understand, “She was on her KNEES. Topless. And all he did was stand over her, zip open his pants and shove his…shove his cock in her face. This guy dumped her a week ago. Now he was grinning like a master over a slave.”

Marko nodded in silence.

Lena sank down into her cushions. She felt miserable. She whimpered when she spoke, “What is it with guys? Is that really what they want? Do they really get off on that? A girl kneeling down in front of them, sucking them off?”

Marko had a long contemplative pause. “Well yeah,” he finally said.

She looked at him. She felt disappointment fill her heart.

“Most guys I know would say that they like that,” he said, measuring his words, “I’d say it feels good.”

In her eyes, this man whose company she had been enjoying so much was just tumbling down levels of respectability. She was surprised how much a kick to the gut it felt like, how much it hurt for HIM to say that. She squinted her eyes and sneered, “So you want a girl on her knees in front of you?”

Marko shook his head, “They don’t have to be on their knees.”

Lena clicked her tongue. She looked away fuming.

“Lena,” he said, “What I mean is that it’s just another type of sex. It doesn’t have to mean one person dominating another. A woman doesn’t have to be on her knees. It’s just a position.”

Her eyes shifted. She listened carefully.

“Yeah it feels good for the guy. It feels great,” he continued, “But that’s what sex is supposed to do isn’t it? Oral or otherwise.”

Lena began to calm down somewhat. There was no bravado in his voice. He seemed to be speaking honestly.

“Besides,” Marko went on, “I know women who like doing it.”

Lena couldn’t imagine it. Actually wanting to suck on a guy. What would a woman have to be thinking?

“Also, it goes both ways.”

Now she looked at him again, puzzled.

“It doesn’t just have to be the girl sucking off the guy,” he said. “I know many women who enjoy it too. A lot of them. Sometimes it’s the best part of sex for them, I think.”

Lena had a blank expression, her mind working. He spoke so freaking frankly. She knew what he was presuming. He thought she’d never had oral sex performed on her before. Damn him. He probably thought she was a prude.

“I don’t think you’re a prude,” Marko said.

Lena blinked, startled.

“You’ve probably had sex many times,” he added. There wasn’t a trace of sarcasm or smugness in his voice.

The rain continued to fall outside. Once in a while, there was a sharp “clunk” on the outside of the van, like a small branch had dropped on it. Sometimes it sounded like the storm was petering out, only to intensify again. Sort of like what was going on with the conversation in the van.

“I’ve had sex twice,” Lena said. Before she had opened her mouth, she was telling herself to stop, not to go there. But it came out loud and clear like she had nothing to hide, nothing to lie about. She looked at him closely, seeing if she had caught him off guard.

Marko looked away, his head bobbing as he thought about it. Obviously she was looking for a response. He had several. So he cut to the chase. “Well,” he spoke slowly and deliberately, “Firstly, by saying you’ve had sex before at least tells me that you’re not a person who believes in abstinence. You’re okay with sex before marriage.”

She listened quietly.

He continued, “But you’ve only done it twice and you’re what, 21? 22?”

“22.”

“You’re 22 and you’ve only had sex twice. That might tell me that the sex wasn‘t…well, it probably wasn’t that great.”

Lena sniggered, “So what does that mean? I need to have sex every night to say that I like it?”

He was about to respond to that but hesitated. Instead he asked, “Did you cum?”

Lena frowned.

Marko elaborated, “I mean did you climax? Did you have an orgasm?”

She clicked her tongue and said, “I know what it means to…I know what ‘cum’ means.”

He stared at her, reading her eyes, then leaned back and crossed his arms, nodding his head, “You know what I think?”

Lena grinned and said sarcastically, “Oh please, tell me what you think.”

“You were a teen when you had your first time. Some guy you were dating in high school. One night , mom and dad are out of the house and you decide you want to do something grown up. You do the whole ‘romantic’ thing: dress up, dinner table all laid out, he brings flowers and wine. Then you two fumble around in bed under the covers for 10 minutes before you relax enough and he finally figures out where to put it in and after 2 minutes of awkward pushing he groans, collapses on you, says ‘that was great’ and falls asleep.” Marko took a long pause. He wasn’t smiling. Lena wished he was smiling. At least if he were acting smug she’d feel more inclined to tune him out. But it was more like he was reading a book to her — her book.

“There’s usually more options during the second time, so don’t let me go on if I’m completely wrong,” he continued, “I’m thinking maybe you were a few years older. You’re dating again, I don’t imagine you would have done it with someone you weren’t dating. This time you want to take it slow but the guy puts pressure on you to make the relationship more ‘serious’. So you do it with him but it’s all about his pleasure. He thinks he’s a stallion, you’re thinking about your student loan. He goes at you in one position, him on top, you on the bottom, never having any idea of what would make you happy. Then that’s it. The relationship ends and when you think about it, you don’t think of the time you had sex with him but that day you and he had a really good cup of coffee.”

He hadn’t hit the bull’s-eye but he certainly scattered his shots on the board. Again he shot from the hip and only said what he felt he needed to day. So he leaned back and took another sip from the bottle. He watched her as he did so. She was resting her lower lip on her curved index finger, thinking hard. Again it was all in her eyes, her beautiful, small dark eyes. Sometimes they would shift left and right, sometimes she closed them as if she were falling asleep. He also noticed she wasn’t clutching the towel so tightly around herself anymore. He heard her clear her throat.

Since she really had nothing to say he spoke, “And that’s unfortunate.”

Lena looked up at him.

His voice seemed to smooth out as his words drifted past his lips, “You deserve to be appreciated Lena.”

She smirked.

“I’m not kidding,” Mark said. He sat up a bit, leaning forward, “Do you know what I thought when I first saw you today?”

“Uh-huh,” she snickered, “You thought what a beauty! What a goddess! She’s the most beautiful woman in the world! Yeah?”

He brushed aside her sarcasm and said, “I was wondering what you looked like when you smiled. Because you seemed so upset. And then you finally did smile.”

The snarkiness she felt inside of her faded away.

“That’s when I thought you were beautiful,” he continued, “And sweet. And attractive. And I thought about how good it felt to make you laugh and to make you feel good.”

She thought about how he was the best part of her day, the best part of a long period of time now. She wasn’t sure why. They had just talked. But he got her to honestly laugh and, amazingly, forget how miserable she was.

His voice dropped even lower, even more silky, “And all I could think about from that point on was how much I wanted to make you feel good.” Lena knew where this was going. She looked deep into his green eyes, into his thoughts, and she saw herself. His jaw was fixed, his voice assured and resolved. He had read the signals she had sent to him throughout the day and now he was gong to see how far he could take them.

But she was still in control. It was still her choice.

“I-I’m not going to sleep with you,” she spoke softly but clearly.

“I wasn‘t thinking of either of us sleeping tonight,” he replied quickly.

That was the boldest thing he had said during their entire conversation. It quickened her pulse and widened her eyes. The fact that she didn’t immediately dismiss it as a jerky pick up line, that she actually took it to heart, told her so much. And that unnerved her. It shook her to her core. She tried to recall what she was thinking when she had first noticed him. She found she couldn’t think of anything except the here and now. She was here with a man she had been quickly developing an attraction for and he knew it. Now the man was going to test how strong that attraction actually was.

They sat across from each other for an apparent eternity. The patter of water drops rained down on the van.

“I wish it would stop raining,” she whispered.

No she didn’t.

A few more long moments. Marko decided to make a move. He cocked his head and said, “So?”

The rain intensified.

Part 6: BACK TO NOW…

“Can-can we turn off the lights?” Lena asked breathless.

Marko shook his head slowly. His face was so close to hers.

“Uh…then-then what about the radio?”

Again he shook his head. So close.

Her head had pushed up against the back of the seat she was leaning against. She couldn’t move any further.

“Wh-what if somebody drives by?” she said, not even convincing herself of that happening.

Marko smiled. She may have been attempting to delay things but she was saying everything except “no”.

He had caressed his hand up along the length of her leg until he had slipped it under the leg of shorts. Now his fingers were just on the verge of slipping underneath her panties.

“Go through or go back? Your choice,” he had said.

Now he was just waiting for her to decide.

Lena could hear her heart, feel it pounding in her throat and she had to swallow a couple of times. His eyes matched the movement of hers. She couldn’t escape his gaze. Her lips parted slightly. As they continued to gaze in silence at one another, Marko felt her hand wrap around his wrist. She held onto it for a long moment. Then he felt her pull his hand slowly out from under her shorts and raise it off of her leg.

Marko squinted at her. Her eyes still unmoving, she continued to hold onto his hand. With her free hand she reached down and undid the button of her shorts and pull down her fly. A fine-line smile appeared on his face when she felt him coolly and deliberately place his palm against her belly and then, her hand on top of his, push it down and under the waistband of her panties.

His fingers felt a small, trimmed, curly tuft of pubic hair. In the muted hush of the van, his fingers pushed gently through her hairs until it found the line of her slit. He rubbed it gently with his finger tips.

At his first touch, Lena’s eyes rolled upward and her head tilted backward for a quick second. She bit on her upper lip slightly then swallowed. When she lowered her eyes again, Marko moved forward and kissed her. He just pressed his lips against hers for a few seconds before moving back.

Her soft red lips were trembling but still slightly parted. His fingers continued to stroke her outer skin down below. She twitched inside.

They kissed again, still just pressing lips together. Lena thought that his lips might be the only soft part of Marko.

He pushed his fingers just a little more stiffly, gently parting the lips of her snatch. He thumbed tenderly at her sensitive clit.

Lena moaned softly into his mouth. She leaned forward and held her hand to his head as they continued to kiss, her fingers running through his wet short hair. He continued to finger her lightly and she moaned again, a little louder. As her mouth opened wider, her tongue slipped out. Feeling her tongue on his lips, Marko stretched his out towards hers. Their kisses grew more passionate, more noisy, more hungry.

He continued to run the length of his middle finger along her slit, pressing further, pushing her moist petals apart. Lena’s belly trembled, her breaths quick and shuddering. One of her hands pulled away from his head and went downward. It joined his under the waistband of her panties, stretching out the fine material, and she matched his movements as he continued to stroke her, make love to her with his hand.

Pulling back from his kiss she gazed at him, her eyes shifting, nervous. Her mouth was wet and slick from their saliva. It trembled as she swallowed then said to him with a deep sigh, “Go through.”

She pressed down on his hand.

As they continued to kiss, mouths groping at one another, tongues delving into one another, Marko angled his finger and slowly pushed it into her.

“Ah-ahn,” Lena’s voice cracked as she groaned. She felt his finger slip in just past her petals. Electricity surged through her spine.

His finger was buried just an inch into her tight snatch. He ran it down and then up to her clit, giving her sensitive hood of flesh a pinch. Again she trembled. Lena breathed hard into his mouth before pulling away from his face. She lowered her head onto his shoulders, nibbling softly on his skin in between moans.

Marko’s freehand slid around to