Still Around

We walked to a black mustang I opened the passenger door and slid in. The car was very well looked after. Nate got in and started the engine, he slid a CD into the player and the sounds of Aerosmith played around the car.

“There was a time, when I was so broken hearted
Love wasn’t much of a friend of mine” I sang along to ‘Crying’

“You like Aerosmith?”
Nate asked

“Like! try Love” I scoffed

Nate smiled and stretched his arm around the back of the seats

“You and me are gonna get along fine girl”
He laughed and sang the chorus.

We cruised on the outskirts of town, passing dark houses, lonesome drunks and shivering pedestrians braving the cold in search of their cars.
We were headed, I noticed, to a distant clearing.
Nate pulled up and the music abruptly stopped with the engine. He climbed out of the car and onto the bonnet.

“You coming?”
He turned around smiling.

I got out of the car, taking in my surroundings.
We were surrounded by pine trees, the smell was amazing, and the air was crisp and pure.
There wasn’t another light as far as the eye could see as the trees were too dense. I saw a jutted metallic thing on the ground 15 metres or so away from were we were parked.

“What’s that” I asked as I climbed onto the hood.

“The train line”

Nate said
“And here I was thinking you wanted peace and quite?”
I laughed a bit paranoid that he would turn around and call me rude or something.
He just giggled in a manly sort of way.

“No the trains don’t pass through here for at least every 4 hours, but the rush of wind when they pass is what I come for”

Nate stated leaning back against the hood to stare straight up at the cloudless night sky.
I leant back to, shivering slightly.
Our arms were grazing one another, goose bumps struck my arms and not just because of the bighting cold.

“You’re cold” he noticed the goose bumps

“I’ll get you a blanket” He jumped of the hood and went round to the boot.
He was back with a red tartan blanket, it smelt slightly musty but it would do the job.

Nate spread the blanket over both of us, it seemed strangely intimate. I liked the feeling.
We jabbered on about mindless things for a bit, finding we had more than Aerosmith in common.

“I can’t believe you like dirt biking” He laughed at my breakable figure,
“You’re like a doll, I would be afraid you would break” He scoffed at me

“Ohh and you’re so manly” I faked hurt
“I bet I can make you giggle like a little girl” I was surprising myself by how easy I was getting along with him.

I reached over and tickled his stomach, he tried to fight me off but I put my strength into it
Tickling harder when he started to giggle, He grabbed my wrist and started tickling back, we were both laughing and jabbing each other.
I pinned one arm up and tickled his neck,
Nate wrenched free his wrist and flipped us over,
I was trapped and couldn’t move.

We were both panting, I looked into his eyes, they were kind of bluey black with specks of lighter blue around the pupil.
His perfect mouth curved from a smile down to normal pout.
I had the strangest urge to lean up and kiss him. The night was still around us, as he leaned down obviously thinking the same thing.

“BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPP BEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPP” The deafening sound scaring me shitless as Nate jumped off me. The train hurtled past.
We both lay panting from fright and the unknown as a gush of wind blew my hair around my face, picking up the smell of the pine sending it into our faces.

“And that’s the rush I’m talking about” Nate grinned his hand rubbing the back of his neck.
Awkwardly we sat back down with the blanket wrapped around up his arm casually around my shoulders as I leaned into his side for warmth he assured me.

“Have you ever been in love?” Nate asked me

“Truthfully no” I stated, feeling ashamed as though I lacked a certain in gene in my genetic make up.

Nate just nodded taking it in, he was so down to earth and caring it was rare.
The way he wouldn’t shame me or laugh at the stupid things I said. I think I was getting a tiny crush but It wouldn’t happen back, It never happened to me. I wasn’t Keesha or Dawn I didn’t have the experience of relationships or love. I would only disappoint Nate and he would be sorry to have known me.

“What about you? Have you ever been in love?” I almost whispered fiddling with the tattered edge of the blanket.

“I thought I was in Love once, she didn’t love me, she was my high school sweetheart but she left for collage and we couldn’t be together because being a musician wasn’t serious enough for her.”

He sighed heartbreak in his voice.
His armed tightened noticeably around my shoulders.
I laid my head on his neck only thinking of what love could feel like.

Was it like this fluttering in my stomach now?

My eyes drifted shut and I felt an arm wrap around my waist pulling me closer into his body.