The Understorey

I leaned my forehead against hers and closed my eyes.



“Stop doing what?” She exhaled with feeling.



Honeysuckle and orange swam through my head. I grabbed her face without thinking and kissed her mouth so severely it pinned her to the seat. A low hum from the bottom of her throat escaped her lips and sent me spiraling out of control. Blackness surrounded us, only our spark to help guide our movements. She sucked in a breath and kissed me back fiercely only to force ourselves to pull away when it started to get beyond our control.



“Oh Lord, Jules. I’m scared.”



“Why?”



“All I’m going to be able to think about is kissing you from this moment on.” I dragged my hand over my mouth and down my chin. “We’re in trouble.”



She giggled.



“I’m serious Jules. I’m in the worst trouble of my life right now.”



“No, you’re not. We’ll be able to restrain ourselves.”



I paused and smiled, showing every tooth.



“Not right now though, right?”



“Not right now,” she grinned.



I grabbed her face once more, desperate to get my fill of her. I had taken my first hit of Jules only a few hours before and had already swiftly become a junkie. Addicted.



Eventually, she had to remind me of our plans. I forced myself from her, shut her door, and walked over to the driver’s side. I placed one hand on the roof to steady myself and let the other lie still on the handle of the door. I took three deep breaths trying to cleanse Jules’ intoxicating high from my brain. I got into the truck, buckled myself in and stared straight ahead, placing both my hands on the steering wheel. My knuckles turned white from the self-induced deprivation of trying to fight the bubbling need to grab her.



My keys were in the pocket of my jeans but I was too afraid to remove my hand from its grip to retrieve them. I knew if I did it that I'd just end up attacking Jules.



“Jules?” I swallowed.



“Yes love?”



I tried to stabilize my breathing.



“I’ll be right back. Sit tight.”



“Okay? You alright?”



“I will be, “I said, peeling my hands from the wheel and stepping from the cab.



I closed the door and walked a few feet away and started to pace. I made sure not to look in Jules’ direction. No eye contact. Breathe. Just breathe, I told myself. I heard Jules get out and close her door. I held two fingers up to stay her at the front of the truck, purposely averting my eyes.



“Please Jules. Stay there.”



“I can’t.”



“Why?” I looked up at her and caught her gaze. She was just as hungry for me as I was for her. I inhaled a painful breath. She bit her bottom lip and I knew then that she had no idea how that tortured me, otherwise she never would have done it.



“I can’t,” she said and rushed over to me.



I grabbed her face and brought it close to mine.



“We are in trouble aren’t we?”



“Heaps.”



“We’re going to need a plan Jules.”



“I know,” she gulped.



“I’m kind of panicking here.”



“It doesn’t help that I’m touching you. I think I need to let go of you Elliott.”



I released her but our natural pull was an agonizing thing to fight. I needed to take charge before all heck broke loose.



“Okay, get in the car. Strap yourself in. Tight. And I’ll do the same. We’ll go to dinner and take it easy. I think it will help being somewhere other people are. Think we can we can survive the drive?” She nodded then crookedly bit her bottom lip.



“Gosh damn it Jules!”



She jumped.



“I’m sorry. I’m sorry but you have to stop biting your bottom lip. You have no idea what that does to me!”



“Sorry,” she said sheepishly.



She unknowingly bit her bottom lip out of habit.



“Jules!” I yelled.



“Sorry,” she burst out laughing. “It’s a habit.”



“Oh my God. Just get in the truck,” I said, deflecting my gaze.



I took my keys out and hopped in the cab, put on my seat belt like that was somehow going to keep me from attacking Jules again, started the truck and immediately put it into drive. I glanced at the clock on my dash.



“Oh no! Look at the time Jules!”



“Well, crap. No dinner then. We can’t risk possible traffic. My dad would be pissed if we were late.”



I sighed deeply when we had to stop at a red light.



“I gotta’ get you out of this truck,” I said, laughing nervously.



“I gotta’ get out of this truck.”



She looked at me and I tried my damnedest not to look her way but just could not resist.



“Shit,” I said, reaching for her, only to be restrained harshly by my seat belt.



I unbuckled my belt, threw it in park, and attacked her again, frantically brushing my lips over hers. I buried my face in her neck and breathed in her inviting perfume. I began to whisper in her ear but the car behind us honked their horn that the light had turned green and I was forced back into my seat. I struggled and fought myself to put my seat belt back on all while keeping my burrowing gaze on Jules. I put the truck in drive and didn’t break my stare until the last possible second.



“Maybe it’s because it’s so new,” I offered.



“No. That’s not it. It’s the voltage. It magnifies everything tenfold. It’s always going to feel like this Elliott.”



Jules brushed her bangs from her forehead and kept her hands there trying to get as much air as possible to her face.



“How do you know?” I asked.



“You know too. I felt that you knew.”



“You’re right.”



“What are we going to do Elliott?” Her voice slightly panicked.



“We’re going to figure out a way that this won’t dominate our entire lives. I’m seriously considering bringing Maddy with us everywhere we go.”



We both laughed hysterically.



“But for right now,” I said, “we have to change the subject or I will very soon need to pull over and neither of us wants that.”



“I kind of do,” she whispered under her breath.



“Jules! Don’t tempt me! God!”



“Sorry, but I do.......okay.......where did we leave off earlier. Oh hell,” she realized, “talking music just riles us up. How about our papers? Let’s talk about that.”



“That’s no good.”



“Why?”



“Because our first kiss was at the library where we were writing our papers,” I laughed and drug my hand over my mouth.



“I’ve got a topic for you.”



“I’m all ears love.”



“Mrs. Kitt has been informing on us.”



“What?” I asked, genuinely shocked. That did it.



“Yup. Apparently she reports to my mom how we act during class and at school. I wouldn’t put it past her if she has spies everywhere. She told my mom that she thinks we’re, and I quote, ‘inappropriate’.”



“What the hell! We are not inappropriate!”



“I know and that’s exactly what I told my mom and dad.”



“And?”



“They believe me.”



I exhaled slowly.



“Well, good,” I said.



From there, we talked for over an hour about anything that would keep us from clawing at each other, including Sawyer. I told her firmly that Sawyer could no longer be a friend of hers and she firmly told me to mind my own business. I wasn’t going to press it again until it became a problem. I resisted the urge to pull over at least fifteen times the first hour but, eventually, we both calmed down enough to distract ourselves with lots more talking and lots more laughing.



Jules got comfortable and removed her shoes, stretched her painted feet across our shared seat, and rested them on my lap. I placed my right hand on her ankles and we enjoyed the purring heat. I slid my hand over the soft skin of her foot and pinched her delicate ankle bone between my forefinger and thumb and the spark flared even more. I ran circles with my thumb across the top of her foot and when she started to get drowsy I let her fall asleep, never taking my hand from her leg.



I dragged the pad of my thumb along the arch of her foot and was rewarded with a sharp intake of a sleepy breath. That tickled me and my laugh almost woke her but she settled once more against the seat. She had her legs crossed and while massaging the foot in my hand I noticed the foot underneath it had a toe ring around the middle toe. I uncrossed them and re-crossed them with the toe ring foot on top this time.



I hadn’t seen it before because it was hidden beneath her other foot but the ring was connected to a chain. I followed the chain with my finger and had to peel back a little of the cuff of her jean to reveal the ankle bracelet it was connected to. It was extremely attractive on her. I dropped her foot to regain control of myself. It did very funny things to my chest and stomach.



To distract myself, I turned the radio on and Matt & Kim’s ‘Daylight’ came on. I focused on the road ahead of me, dragging my hand over my mouth yet again. I glimpsed her direction. You’re gonna’ be the death of me. I smiled. But who would have thought death could be this sweet?



When I felt in control of myself again I laid my hand on her knee and got the surprise of my life when I felt her dreams. They matched mine perfectly and the ones that didn’t quickly became mine.



We arrived in Bramwell with half an hour to spare and there was no way I was going to drop her off early if I didn’t have to. I woke her when we were close to home and we both decided the rock bridge was the perfect spot to waste the time. I grabbed my flashlight from my glove box and we crunched in silence through the brush to our little spot. I lifted her onto its face and we laid side by side pointing out constellations, wishing we were kissing instead.



With ten minutes to spare I gathered up the courage to grab her face and we shared three sweet, thoughtful, controlled kisses before I decided it was time to go back. We discovered a third very convenient use for our gift. It kept us very warm, despite the chill growing in the air. She protested when I held out my hand to go but I didn’t want to disrespect her father and insisted I take her back. We trudged our way through the sticky, brisk air back to my truck but felt perfectly warm as we held hands. When we got into the truck she slid in close to me and I draped my hand over her shoulder. We rode in blissful silence. I parked in front of The Perry House and jumped out to open Jules’ door. I grabbed her hand and we inched slowly to her front porch.



“What time is your curfew?” She asked.



“Two a.m. on the weekends,” I said.



“Mine too,” she said, “but it won’t be tonight because I’ve already spent nine hours with you. My dad would never go for it.”



“Oh,” I laughed, “that’s okay. I’ll see you in church tomorrow morning right?”



“Yeah, but that’s over ten hours away and I’m afraid I’ll have withdrawals,” she taunted.



“One more for the road then?”



We smiled and I drew her near to my body, but heard the creak of her front door as it began to swing open forcing me to let go of Jules’ waist. It was her dad. Darn.