Love and Skate (16 page)

             
A
fter a
few minutes she came up and I walked past her to take a shower of my own. 
When I came back up she stood close to the edge of the roof with her arms crossed and there was a breeze blowing her hair this way and that.
  And w
hen
she shivered the tiniest bit,
I realized she must be cold.  I could take care of that. 

             
I wrapped my arms around hers and she leaned back into my chest and put her chin up to look at me.

             
“Hey.” She smiled and I could see that there had been tears in her eyes while I was gone.

             
“You’re crying.  I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.  I got ahead of myself.  I got carried away.”  I never knew I was such a babbler.

             
She turned
around to face me
and inched her arms around my back. 

             
“You have nothing to apologize for.  Nothing.  But here’s what I want to know.  Did you mean it, or was it just something you said?”

             
“I meant it.  I can’t even imagine a life without you in it.”

             
“That’s good.  ‘Cause I’m not planning on going anywhere.” She was dead serious and the kiss that followed proved it. 

             
“I’m tired. Are you?” She asked me.

             
“Yeah, I’m pretty beat.  When we were kids we always slept
up here on tons of blankets so I thought you might like that.”

             
“Keep it up Black and I’m never going to leave here.”  She climbed onto the pile of blankets and splayed her arms and legs out like she was making a snow angel.

             
Didn’
t she know that’s what I was counting on?  Making her as happy as possible was my only goal this weekend.

             
I laid down next t
o her and  took off of my shirt to get comfortable.  But then I realized that all of this time I had been sleeping next to her with my shirt on.  And when we were swimming, most of my chest was in the water.  I was actually nervous to see her reaction to my piercings. 
I turned to face her and she was already turned towards me with her face propped up on her palm. 
She reached out her hand and traced every piece of ink that was visible to her.  She crooked her fin
ger and ran it over the barbells in my nipples
one by
and I loved her boldness.
  They were sensitive enough normally but when she touched them and I could feel h
er
breaths quicken as she
did
,
it
drove me mad, in the best way imaginable. 

             
My lips away from hers was
no longer an option. 
We crashed together body against body and her fingers dug into my back.  I broke free from the warmth of her lips to explore the rest of her.  I started at her shoulders and kissed my way along the top of her chest.  She shivered beneath me and I chuckled and pulled one more blanket on top of her.

             
“I didn’t shiver because I was cold Owen.”  She was as breathless as I was
and the fact
that I could cause this beauty
to shiver in pleasure was another dream come true.
  I hovered above her and gaze
d at the girl who in mere weeks’
time had completely changed my life.  If I didn’t stop now, I wasn’t going to be able to stop.

             
I kissed her once more and lay
down on my side facing her. 
She curled up against my chest and arms and legs tangled together as if they had years of experience in the dance.  She sighed and I felt her breath against my neck. 

             
“Thank you for bringing me here Owen. “ She said as she wiggled in closer.

             
“You’re welcome.  Anytime.  I love you Nellie.”

             
“
Me too.”  She barely got the words out before her soft almost whimper of a snore started up beside me. 

             
Sometime in the night, or early morning I felt him break away from me.  And it wasn’t a natural pulling away from rolling over or getting comfortable.  He purposefully and gently moved my arms and disentangled his legs from mine.  The cold night air hit me where his body had laid next to mine and I scrambled to pull the covers up to fill the void. 

             
I opened my eyes sometime later and saw him sitting on the edge of the roof with his legs hanging off of the edge. 
At first I thought it was a dream so I closed my eyes and reopened them to find the same scenario. 
I crawled the small space between us and slid my arms and legs around his back.  His body shook with laughter and he pulled one of my hands to his lips. 

             
I laid my left cheek against his back and also face to face with a phoenix in ink. 

             
“Can’t sleep?” I asked. 
Duh, Nellie.  Nice question.

             
“Nah, snoring kept me up.”  I slapped his chest and felt the rumble of his laughter next to me.

             
“What’s the matter?  Talk to me.” I said.

             
“Skeletons.”
He said and I nodded against him letting him know that I understood.

             
“Nothing you can say to me will ever change my mind.” I whispered.

             
“In the morning, ok?  I know it will make me feel bet
ter to get it off of my chest and just
tell you.  I feel like I’m
hiding things.  Right now
I just want to curl up with you
and get some more sleep. Is that okay?”

             
“I don’t know.  Will there be kissing?”  I put my chin on his spine and the rest of my head bobbed up and down as I spoke.

             
“Definitely.” He laughed and I made my way back to our sleeping place on the roof and he crawled in next to me and kissed me until dawn broke.

             
I smelled coffee and breakfast.  What kind of breakfast co
u
ld be cooked on a houseboat, I didn’t know.  But it smelled fantastic.  I stretched and
rolled over onto
Owen’s
side and put my face into his pillow trying to meld his smell into my nose. 

             
“Are you trying to smother yourself?” He laughed while still climbing up to the roof.

             
“Yes, trying to smother myself in your smell.” I laughed back. 

             
“Well, I can think of a better way to do that.”   He stood
right next to my head still laughing.
             

             
“Ugh…how are you so feisty this early in the morning?  I need coffee and breakfast before you start with the morning dirty talk.”  I got up as slowly as possible. 

             
He laughed and showed me to the cutest little table on the front of the boat.  I knew it was called bow or
aft
some crap.  I guess I w
ould have to learn boat lingo
eventually. 
I tried to help with breakfast but I was shooed away.

             
“Owen, I need coffee. I can get it myself.” I whined.

             
“Nope.  I’ve got it grouch head.” 

             
I waited not so patiently and then he placed a cup on the table and a kiss on my forehead.  I took a sip and it was just the way I liked it.  Then he put a plate before me that had eggs and sausage and toast. 

             
“How do you cook on a boat?” I asked, feeling like an idiot.

             
“On the stovetop.” He answered me like the smartass that he was.

             
“I know
that
part.”

             
“Propane, Nellie.” He might as well have said ‘Duh’.

             
“
Ahhh
.  This is good by the way.  Your mom taught you well.”

             
“Yeah, they both did.”  He got that far away look again.

             
I ate and waited.  I could tell that the wheels in his head were turning.  I got up and washed the dishes and cleaned up.  I walked back over and sat at the table. 

             
“I don’t know where to start.” He said and looked back at me.

             
“You can start by moving your chair over here.  I feel like you’re on another continent.”

             
He smiled a little and got up, moving his chair over by me.

             
“It started with Amy.  She and I had been together for a little over a year when I started noticing things.  The main thing being that she didn’t want to have sex anymore.  She was relentless in the beginning and then it just stopped.” 
Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten breakfast.

             
He continued, “Then she started cancelling dates and hanging out with a new friend.  I think I was so deep in lust with her or infatuation that I blew it all off.  I can
see it all in hindsight now.  I had two best friends then, Dylan and Lucas.  Dylan hated Lucas but couldn’t pinpoint exactly why.  He would just say he was trouble.  But he was right.  Lucas and Amy were going at it behind my back and it ruined me for a while.
She came up pregnant a few months later and claimed it was mine.  But then she got an abortion without me knowing, so I’ll never know. 
I
drank, I smoked, I got
tattoos and
I partied hard.  I would get in late and miss
school.  And the days when I went to school I would skip out halfway through.  My grades went to hell and the worst part was that my parents were at their wits end trying to stop me.  They would make rules and threaten me but I always found a way around it.
Dad found out that Amy had been
pregnant and I thought he was going to lose it.
He ran me to the hospital to get tested for every STD possible and more. Mom and Dad
fought and fought until one day Dad said he was hurting my mom too much so he packed his bags and left.  That was my fault.  I drove them apart with my stu
pidity.  That weekend I went
to a party.  I drank some beer but not a lot.  I was driving my truck home and trying to light a cigarette and I ran off of the road and into a tree. 
I spent a day or two in the hospital with minor injuries.  I had ruined everythi
ng just because of a stupid relationship
.  I ruined my parents’ marriage.  I almost didn’t graduate high school and I had to go to one year of community college before any college would accept me.  And the only reason they did was because my dad is friends with one of the board members.  And every time my parents smile at me or do things like my dad did this weekend for me to take you here?  Makes me feel like shit for breaking them up.”

             
He let out a long drawn out breath and clunked his head down on the table.  I didn’t say anything.  Honestly, I didn’t know what to say yet.  I was happy that he admitted those truths to me, but I could never imagine that our stories were so similar.  We both got hurt by significant others and best friends and we both rebelled after it was over. 

             
He turned his head and there were tears in his eyes waiting to be released.  He sat up and pushed his hair out of his face and gave me one of those straight lipped smiles. 

             
I was on him in a heartbeat.  I straddled his lap and held onto him as if the
events had happened just minutes ago.

             
“I love you.  And your parents love you.  And they love each other, anyone can see that. 
But it’s not your fault.  Sometimes people just need some space to get a handle on themselves.  And I could strangle that Amy wench.”

             
“I’m so glad I don’t have to carry that around anymore.  It felt like I was betraying you.”

             
“You can trust me completely Owen.  I will never ever hurt you.” 

             
“I know.”

             
After sitting there for a while, I broke my hold and proclaimed that I needed some sun.  He asked if that involved being topless and I just rolled my eyes at him.  Amber had talked me into buying the suit that I intended to wear.  And I couldn’t wait to see his face when I came out in it.