Bring It On Home To Me

“I’ve been thinking about baby oil.”

I glanced in the rearview mirror, looking at the young boy who was strapped into a car seat in the back of my little Camry. A week had passed since my birthday, and a few out-of-town guests still remained. Among them were Alessandria and Dacian, the latter of which currently accompanying me for ice cream in the late morning of the thirtieth. “What do you mean, you’ve been thinking about baby oil?”

“Well,” he said in that slow way of his that made him sound so intelligent, “Is it made of real babies?”

I shook my head with a laugh, “No, honey, of course not.”

“Then why is it called baby oil?” His blue eyes were wide with wonder; he always wanted to know about everything, in extreme detail. And when I didn’t have an answer for him, he couldn’t understand why.

“People use it to get rid of babies’ diaper rashes,” I told him, flipping my blinker and turning into the Bottles parking lot. “It’s also called mineral oil, and that’s the literal term; it’s made from minerals.”

He made a thoughtful noise, then asked, “What are minerals?” Then, as I cut the engine, he asked politely, “Can I unbuckle myself?”

“Minerals are things that come from nature, but aren’t animals or plants. Like diamonds, or the lumps of coal Santa Claus brings naughty kids. And yes,” I added, opening my door, “You can unbuckle yourself.” He did so, opening his own door and shutting it behind him before slipping his hand through mine and walking with me to the double doors of the ice cream parlor. “Okay, kid,” I picked him up once we were inside, letting him peer down at the glass-enclosed ice cream tubs, “What kind do you want?”

He touched his fingers to the glass, “Do I get one scoop or two? Sometimes, Mommy lets me get two if it’s a special day. I don’t think today is a special day though, so just one scoop?”

I had to laugh at this, “Nah, little man, today is a special day. Know why?” He shook his head. “It’s a special day because you’re leaving later and I’m going to miss you, so we are both going to have two scoops of ice cream. So why don’t you tell that nice guy what kind you want.”

“Fudge and raspberry!” He cheered immediately, throwing his arms into the air and giggling. “Fudge and raspberry are my favorites ever since my Aunt Larry let me try some of hers and I didn’t think I’d like it but then I really, really did!” He squeaked when the man behind the counter handed him a cup with the scoops in it, pink on top of brown, a blue plastic spoon stuck in the side. I ordered rocky road and pumpkin pie and paid, then led the boy to a small table by the window to eat our frozen treats.

“So,” I said, watching as he carefully guided the spoon to his mouth, careful not to get anything on his face or clothes, “Are you going to miss me?”

He nodded, “Mhm, bunches; your house is really cool and I like it when you sing to me before bed. Mommy used to try but she’s not very good.” He covered his mouth with his hand quickly, “That wasn’t nice; I’m sorry!”

I snorted, “I’ve heard your mommy sing; it’s okay.” I chewed up an almond and smiled at him, “You know, I told her that you guys could stay a little longer, and she said that it was up to you. What do you think? Would you like to stay longer?” Alessandria and I had had the conversation the night before, as we listened to music in my room after the boy went to bed. Besides Jack and Alex, who were leaving in three days, she and Dacian were the only ones left, but we’d been enjoying their company immensely. Yes, it was hindering the event Alex and I were both now very keen on participating in, but that was the only downside to their presence, and I wasn’t quite ready to let them go yet.

Dacian thought about this for a long moment as he ate a few more bites of ice cream, then finally decided, “Well, I really like you guys and your house and you have a cool dog.” He licked his lips to get off a spot of raspberry. “But I miss Larry and Harold and I want to go home and see them.” Larry was Alessandria’s sister, Ilaria, and Harold was Dacian’s little blue beta fish. “I’m sorry, Nettie,” he said quietly, eyes on his dessert, expression sad.

“Honey,” I nudged his chin up so he’d look at me, and then I smiled, “You aren’t hurting my feelings; I would miss my family too. I think you should go see them and give them big hugs for me!”

He giggled then, eyes twinkling, “You can’t hug a fish, silly!”

-- -- --

After a quick lunch and some last minute time together, we finally started getting Alessandria and Dacian ready to head to the airport. When four o’clock rolled around and everyone started to load into Dad’s Range Rover, I had to retreat to my bedroom to get my emotions in check, and Alex followed after me. As I sniffled and shook, he held me tightly, running his hands over my hair and making quiet, calming noises in my ear. “Baby,” he said gently, “You’re going to see Alessandria next week for the ‘Curtis’ shoot.”

“But Dacian won’t be there,” I pouted against his shirt.

Alex nodded knowingly. In one week, we’d all grown rather attached to the little boy and his unending curiosity. “I know, but you’ll see him soon.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Pretend I do.”

“Okay,” I readily agreed, tilting my head up to give him my best smile, but I’m sure it wasn’t fooling him. On the inside, I was still sad to see the Stollsons go.

He led me back downstairs once I got myself together and we joined Alessandria, Dacian, Deveraux and Nietzsche in the car, stopping a few blocks away to pick up my mother and brother before starting for Beloit.

Two hours later, Alessandria and Dacian were gone through the gates, and Mom was shaking my shoulders, demanding grandchildren. Under normal circumstances, it would have been hilarious, but with Alex standing so close, it just turned me a deep crimson and made me look away.

“Hey,” my boyfriend said quietly a while later, as we leaned on each other in the back of the Range Rover and Mom drove us home, “How about we do a date night tonight? Dinner and a movie or something?”

I gave him a tiny smile, knowing he was trying to make me feel better, and nodded, “Sure, that sounds nice.”

“I’ll pick you up at eight,” he chuckled quietly, then allowed me to fall asleep in his shoulder for the rest of the ride home, talking to Tomas while I slept away my sadness.

Later than night, after I’d been dropped off at the house and Deveraux, Tomas, and Alex went out for a little bit of “boy bonding,” I sat in front of my vanity mirror, fluffing my hair and glossing my lips lightly. I didn’t know where Alex and I were going for dinner, so I’d opted for a look that sat comfortably between formal and casual, with a ruffled tank top, blue skinnies, and black motor boots. My hair was curled, the way Alex liked it, and I kept the make-up simple. I was ready by exactly eight o’clock, when I heard a light knock on my bedroom door and Deveraux popped it open without waiting for my answer.

“Nettie,” he grinned, “That nice Gaskarth boy is here to pick you up for your date.”

I rolled my eyes, but played along. “Mo-o-om, tell him I’m not quite ready yet!”

“But you are ready, dear.”

“A lady always makes a man wait,” I said with a firm nod, and heard Jocelyn laugh somewhere out in the hallway. “Tell him I’ll be down in a minute, okay?” He nodded and closed the door again, and I heard two pairs of feet on the staircase, followed by muffled voices. I put the final touched on myself, slipping on a cord cardicoat and grabbing my purse before heading down the stairs, where Alex was patiently waiting just inside the door, dressed in a pair of jeans and a soft brown sweater. His hair was swept down into his eyes, which twinkled happily as soon as they saw me, and he had a smile on his face and a paper cone of white lilies in his hand.

He advanced forward when I reached the last step, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “It’s not fair that you’re always so gorgeous,” he whispered, pressing the flowers into my hand.

I held them to my nose, inhaling the fragrance; my favorite. “I know,” I said back, running my finger over a petal, “I’ve had many complaints before.” He laughed as I went to the kitchen to put the flowers in a vase, then returned to take his hand.

“Now, kids,” Deveraux said, maintaining his stern parental voice, “I want you home no later than midnight.”

I raised my eyebrow at him, “You and Jocelyn are staying with her parents tonight; you won’t even know the difference.”

“Midnight, young lady!” He shouted, pointing a finger at me. I rolled my eyes and gave him a little salute before Alex and I slipped out the front door and out to Tomas’s Taurus, which I assumed my boyfriend had borrowed for the night, since they’d returned the Range Rover to Dad once we got back from Beloit.

My boyfriend opened my door for me and helped me in before closing it and slipping into the driver’s seat, starting up the engine and taking my hand as he pulled out of the driveway. “So, where are we going?” I asked as he navigated like a local through the mostly-empty streets.

“McDonalds,” he told me seriously.

I laughed, “Okay, I get it; another surprise.”

As it turns out, it wasn’t.

He really took me to the McDonalds drive-thru, ordering my usual (everything possible on the Dollar Menu), and began driving toward a destination I couldn’t predict; he was taking streets I never took, passing buildings I didn’t even know existed in my small town. Soon, we were parked on a tiny backstreet next to a huge, empty meadow on the outskirts of town, and Alex was grabbing a duffel bag from the trunk and leading me out to the middle of the field.

“You’re not going to kill me, are you?” I asked tentatively, looking around; we were isolated, far from any houses or businesses. I didn’t even have cell phone service.

He rolled his eyes good-naturedly, “Yes, Annette, and I chose McDonalds for your last meal and made sure all your friends knew I was the last person you were going to be with.”

“No one ever said you were a genius.”

He laughed and gave me a tiny shove before putting his bag down and unzipping it, pulling out a plush blue blanket and draping it over the grass. Then he retrieved his laptop and a big black thermos before sitting down on the blanket, patting the spot next me. More confused than ever, but having no choice but to trust him, I sighed and sat down, putting the McDonalds bags between us. “Are you ready?” He asked in a suspenseful voice, and I nodded slowly, not sure that I really was. He opened his laptop and put it on the blanket so we both could see, pushing a few buttons and pulling up a movie screen. A moment later, It Happened One Night started playing.

“Aaw,” I smiled instantly, “You remembered my favorite movie!”

“I had to ask Alessandria,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, “But still, it’s the thought that counts.” He twisted the lid off of the thermos and poured out a little bit of whatever what was inside, handing a cup to me. I took a small sip and grinned when the hot chocolate hit my tongue, reaching into one of the McDonalds bags to pull out a few fries. This was going to be interesting.

-- -- --

It’s amazing how distinctly the sound of breathing can cut through the silence when it feels like you’re the only two people in the world. It’s funny how you can feel blistering hot even in the chill of the early autumn air when your body is pressed tightly against another, striving for dominance in a dance of the ages.

The movie had been abandoned about an hour in, after Alex’s sixth demand to know why people in old movies talked so damn fast, and I’d shut him up with an irritated kiss. It was meant to be rough and brief, to make a point, but--upon his immediate reaction--quickly escalated to tongues and touching and eventually leaning back on the soft blanket to lose ourselves in each other. And there we’d stayed, movie forgotten somewhere in the background and food tossed to the side, his hands moving further up my leg and my hands tracing endless patterns over his biceps through the soft fabric of his sweater.

“Alex,” I breathed against his neck as he kissed down my jaw, sending shockwaves through me. “I hate to ruin the mood, because something always seems to come up, but I thought I’d point out that, um…” My mind went fuzzy as his lips found the tender spot just below my ear, making my eyes flutter shut and my heart to race.

“Point out what?” His voice was so low and muffled that it sounded like a growl.

I forced myself to focus. “That we’re in the middle of a field, right by a road that anyone could drive by on. And,” I bit my lip, “Under the stars is romantic and all, but I’d sort of rather do this in my own bed.” He pulled his head away so he could look into my eyes, and after a beat he gave me on of those patented Alex Gaskarth smiles and sat up, pulling me along with him. Before I could open my mouth to inquire, he quickly started packing things and was soon tugging me along to the car and forcibly fastening me into the passenger seat.

Even with Alex speeding, it took almost fifteen minutes to get back to my house, and by the time my shaky hands unlocked the front door--around ten o’clock--we were both a mess of anticipation and excitement. “Deveraux and Jocelyn are at her parents’ house,” Alex double-checked as we made our way to the staircase, already holding onto each other.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Kal and Jack?” He inquired, tracing a finger just above where the neckline of my low-cut tank-top started.

I inhaled shakily, clearing my throat before answering, “Staying with my parents tonight; took Nietzsche with them too.”

He pulled back just as we reached the bottom step, touching a hand to his heart in mock-incredulousness. “You mean we’re all alone in this great big house?”

“Doesn’t seem possible, does it?” I tried to joke, but my voice cracked and gave me away; I couldn’t be light right now. Couldn’t be funny. And Alex heard this, and his eyes grew impossibly dark as he reached for me, pulling me by the hips to him and pressing his lips against mine again. We started taking the steps and, by some grace of god, made it to the top alive and stumbled through my bedroom door, closing it tightly behind us.

Alex pressed me tightly against the far wall of my bedroom, kissing my lips, my jaw, my neck, anything he could reach as I tried to unbuckle my boots and slip them off as gracefully as possible. With that done, I pushed him back so he landed on the bed and quickly moved to straddle him, holding my hair back with one hand as I leaned over to capture his lips, moaning when his tongue entered my mouth at the exact moment as he raised his hips to grind against mine. I couldn’t breathe, and I didn’t care; I was too caught up in this existential sensation to dwell on minor details like breathing.

His hands slid slowly upward, bunching the fabric of my shirt as he went until the top was over my head and discarded somewhere on the floor. I copied this gesture, leaving a trail of kisses starting at his abdomen and up to his chest as each inch of skin was exposed, before finally resting at a place in the crook of his neck. I relished the way he groaned quietly beneath me, and how his fingers subtly played with one strap of my bra, as if testing his boundaries. It was adorable.

“Alex,” I breathed against him, kissing his lips softly, “This is our first time together, not our first time in general.” I nudged his nose with mine, giving him a playful grin, “You don’t have to be so careful with me.”

He bit his lip, face serious and set. “I do, though,” he insisted. Then he looped one arm around my waist and flipped us so that I was beneath him, head resting on my pillows and legs tangled with his as he stared down at me. “Annette, this moment has been two years in the making. We’ve had this insane sexual energy between us for two years.” He pressed a few random kisses to my neck and chest, “When you finally get the chance to act on something that’s been that long coming, you don’t treat it like any other time. I have to be careful, and make this perfect.”

Whether it was the effect he was going for or not, his words made something swell inside of me and the overwhelming emotion only made me want him more. I hooked one leg around his hip and pulled him down for a long, hard kiss, nibbling on his bottom lip and eliciting a delicious chorus of noises from him. Taking the hint and keeping pace, his hands found the button of my jeans and unfastened it, slipping the denim down my hips and over my feet, leaving them in a little pile over the edge of the bed, soon followed by his own.

And there we lay, him on top of me, stripped down to our underwear, so completely exposed, with hands and lips and tongues and bodies touching anywhere and everywhere possible. “Alex,” I half-breathed, half-moaned as his arousal grinded against mine through the fabric of what little we had left covering us, lit afire from the very sensation of it and becoming more desperate for full physical contact. The noise he made in response reciprocated this desire, and I took it as an invitation to reach between our bodies and slowly push down the cotton boxers, pleased when he assisted me in getting them off completely.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” He asked, tucking my hair behind my ear lovingly and running a hand along the side of my face; it reminded me of a dream I had once, except more defined and in-focus.

“I’m positive,” I affirmed with a smile, biting my lip and closing my eyes as he positioned himself over me, readying himself at my entrance. There was a brief pause, and everything in the world stood still. For a single instance, there was no war, no poverty, no sickness. There was no hate, no spite, no conflict. There were no lies or acts of jealousy, and no one to make anyone else feel inferior. For a single instance, there was peace in the world, and everything stood completely still in silence to revel in the wonder of it all.

Then, there was the swiftest of movements, and color coruscated.

-- -- --

Knock, knock.

Whose there?

Knock, knock.

Knock, knock who?

Knock, knock, knock, kn--

Okay, I really don’t get this punch line.

“Hello?” A voice called, and I opened one bleary eye to look at the digital clock that sat on my nightstand. I was almost noon and I was still cuddled up under my giant comforter, warm and cozy and…very, very naked.

“Whose at the door?” A groggy voice asked, and the events of the night before came flooding back. I rolled over in the bed and came face to face with the gorgeous--albeit very moppy-headed--man with whom I’d spent the better part of the night writhing around in the throws of passion with.

Okay, “writing around in the throws of passion” sounds perversely Shakespearean, I realize, but there’s really no other way to describe it.

“Good morning, baby,” he said quietly, his smile matching my own.

“Good morning,” I answered, giving him a quick peck on the lips before the bedroom door swung open to reveal Kal, fully dressed and impatient.

“Hey, why’re you sleeping so la--oh my god, you’re naked.” She quickly covered her eyes, even though everything but my arms and legs were covered by my blanket. “Shit, I knew you and Alex were probably going to sleep together last night, but I didn’t think you’d still be naked in bed at lunchtime.”

Alex gave me a little wink and said, “Well, we haven’t exactly stopped yet.”

I nodded seriously, playing along. “It’s sort of pointless to put on clothes when we’ve been going at it almost nonstop since ten o’clock last night.”

“Gross,” she whined, like a little girl being forced to watch her parents kiss. “Well, I hope you at least used protection.”

“Ah, damn,” Alex snapped his fingers and shook his head, “I knew we were forgetting something.”

Kal made a face at him before turning back to me. “If you lovebirds can stand to tear yourselves away from bedsheet-bingo, we’re all thinking of hitting up the lake after lunch.”

“I dunno,” I feigned a torn shrug, “We might be at this all day; long time coming, you know.”

“EW! I don’t need to know details.” She covered her ears with her hands and started “la la la”ing at the top of her lungs, walking out of the room and slamming the door behind her, leaving Alex and I to collapse into laughter on the mattress before finding our way into each others’ arms and settling down quickly.

After a few minutes of the most pure comfort I’ve ever experienced, I finally sighed and resided, “We should probably get up and go join them.”

Alex was quiet for a moment before offering, “Or.” He rolled on top of me, nipping at the tender flesh of my ear with a devilish little smirk, “We could make good on what you told Kal we would be doing all day.”

And something about the way he said it made it impossible to resist.