Six Feet Under the Stars

It wasn't long before I noticed a flashing light against the dark backdrop.

Breaking from Alex's lips, I squinted my eyes in the night and glanced over his bare shoulder. "What's that?"

Sloshing around in the water, he looked to the shore and answered. "I think it's my phone."

When Alex didn't make a move, I asked. "Are you going to answer it?"

"I was thinking about just letting it go. Whoever it is can get my voicemail." His lips pressed against my neck as I watched the cellphone continue to flare on and off like a beacon of light.

After a moment, I pulled back from his kiss again becoming too distracted by the constant flashing. "You should really answer that. It might be important."

He sighed deeply and stalled for a minute before paddling out of the lake and stepping onto solid ground again. Part of me had forgotten he was naked so it semi-shocked me when I saw his body unearthed again. Sifting through the discarded articles of clothes on the ground, Alex quickly shrugged on his underwear to make himself decent before checking the phone's screen.

By that time, I had exited along with him and was preoccupied with reclothing myself as he dialed a number back. "Hey, it's Alex." A muffled voice replied over the phone. "No, I'm not dead. Melanie and I are out in the woods braving the wild unlike you assholes."

I laughed quietly, "Is that Jack?"

Alex nodded in response, then spoke into the phone, "I'm not sure what we're going to do. Haven't really planned out the night." Soon after some more witty back-and-forth dialogue, he hung up the phone. "Man, I swear Jack is trying to act like my mom or something. He tried to give us a curfew."

"Are you serious?"

"Unfortunately. Apparently Jack, Rian, and Zack are going to make s'mores later on and they're trying to gather all of the ingredients. He wanted to know if I had any marshmallows."

"Jack's a weird guy." I grinned. "I like people like that."

"If you're not at least a little crazy then you're not alive." Alex agreed then blew out a long sigh. "So, what's next?"

"I thought you were running things."

"Too much responsibility." He told me while pulling his black Levi's up so they could ride low on his hips. Threading his thumbs through his beltloops, Alex stood shirtless in the night and distractedly stared off across the water line concentrating on something far away.

Dripping there with wet hair, I rung some of the strands out onto the earth allowing a few water droplets to patter on Alex's barefeet. The plopping of lake water brought him out of his daze and he turned to regard me with a smile hidden deep in his dark eyes.

"Let's head back up." I suggested while swinging my arms back and forth several times to hit his arm lightly. "Maybe there's some marshmallows for Jack at that convenient store in the parking lot."

"Good idea. He probably didn't even think of that because he's so obsessed with the idea of me hiding them away from him."

With hearts lighter than they'd been in quite some time, the two of us hiked up the steep embankment using the leaning trees for natural supports. Gentlemanly, Alex stayed behind me to make sure I didn't slip down the hill and injure myself on the jagged-tooth rocks below us. Heaving a leg over the side, I straddled the cool metal guardrail before dragging myself completely onto to asphalt once more. I stayed near the barrier to lend Alex a hand getting over easier.

Jack's voice floated from behind me, "That's sketch."

Alex laughed loudly, "Leave us alone."

"I was about to send a search and rescue team after you guys. You two have been gone for almost two hours. Now I'm not going to say you've been down there making the sweet, blissful love of young couples, but..."

"Give us a break." I said with a secret grin meant for Alex.

"You both are all wet too." Jack observed sharply. "Actually, you have wet bodies but dry clothes. Like I said, very sketchy."

Ignoring his comments, Alex said, "Wanna go on a hunt for some food at the convenient store over there? We were just about to try and find you some marshmallows over there."

"S'mores might not go down for dinner tonight. I'm thinking more along the lines of that hangover cure I told you about, Melanie. The alcohol from yesterday is still giving me some problems. By the way, how's your head doing?" Jack wondered.

"Better than earlier. I think it's almost back to normal." I told him, brushing a delicate hand up to my temple. "Are you coming along to the store with us?"

"Sure. It beats hearing Rian rehash his old paintball stories. We might need some more beer before we sit and listen to that." Jack replied laughing a little. "I must have heard about all those 'gripping' adventures a hundred thousand times."

"A hundred thousand?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Close to it. You've probably heard all of them too."

He nodded. "I feel your pain."

The three of us strolled leisurely across the cement cutting in front of a group of eighteen-wheelers parked for the night. The only delay occured when Jack stepped right on a piece of gum and spent a good five minutes trying to pry it off the bottom of his sneakers. When we finally entered the store, we squeeked across the glossy floor tiles and into the first aisle browsing through chain products.

There was a massive display of Slim Jims obstructing the middle of the pathway and Jack studied the prices of the beef sticks before returning them back to their home on the lonely shelf. "What are we looking for anyway?"

"I dunno. What do you already have to make your famous recipe?" I asked while fingering through a cart of gossip magazines and creased Reader's Digest books.

"I just need the cheese I think." He said with an unsure look on his face.

"Well, we can always come back if you run out of something." Alex pointed out and knocked over a broom that had been propped up on the end of the aisle.

I silently snickered at him and then said to Jack, "Does this place even have cheese?"

"Maybe on the other side." He replied optimistically. "I'll be right back."

With that, Jack hussled around the corner and disappeared from view. After a few minutes he returned with a package of no-name brand American cheese and a York peppermint patty just for the hell of it.

The front clerk was a man in his young twenties with the evidence of years of bad acne pock-marked on his face. The marks didn't detract from his good looks and friendly personality, as he smiled and joked about the truckers he often saw passing through the rest stop. Once out into the night air again, Alex shot me a knowing look and said, "That was mean."

"What was?"

"The cashier was flirting with you so bad and you didn't even do anything. The least you could have done was give him a wink. Harmless enough."

"He was just being friendly. Don't look into everything so deeply." I told Alex waving away his words.

Jack cleared his throat. "To be fair, Alex is right. The clerk was trying to get your number with that survey offer bullshit. Can't blame a guy for trying though. Hopefully the next girl that comes in is a little nicer to him."

I rolled my eyes skyward. "Whatever, you guys."

Looking at his best friend, Alex laughed, "See, she doesn't even care. Must be pretty cold hearted to blatantly deny a guy like that."

"Probably knocked down his confidence a few levels." Jack commented sounding diplomatic to the whole matter. We reached the tour bus and he started inside, "I'll get these started."

With a crafty look on his face, Alex hung back with me and kicked at gravel at the ground. "You don't realize it, do you?"

"What?" I questioned meeting his gaze.

Alex's reply made my heart pound against the inside of my rib cage. "How desirable you are."