Six Feet Under the Stars

I was ninety percent sure that a piece of bark was lodged somewhere in the crook of my skinny jeans.

Alex and I were contently silent in the aftermath of our love making. It was more like feral, passionate sex to be honest. The kind of sex best suited for sleazy nightclubs and of the variety that grandmothers frowned upon. Lingering touches, helped us leisure back into our clothes layer by layer. The brushes of skin were innocent yet still teasing enough for a prelude to round two.

However, we held off from any other sexual activity and studied each other's equally disheveled appearances. The secrecy our smiles took on under the pale moonlight shone out of the darkness tree branches overhead created. Spider-webbed shadows across our skin became natural tattoos. It made my heart squeeze.

Alex's fingers detangled a scraggly object from my hair. "A leaf." He explained.

It was the first words spoken since I had urged Alex to start. That is, except for the unintelligible moans and sighs that had issued from our vocal chords during the more passionate moments before the peak. My throat was hoarse from too much groaning which I hoped hadn't traveled up to the campsite. Being caught in the act would be extremely embarassing. I could almost hear the taunts now.

Leaning to press my raw lips wearily to Alex's cheek, I could taste a salty bite from his skin. "I'm not really sure what to say."

"Me neither." Alex admitted on the edge of a smile. He ran the pad of his thumb across my lips, "Part of me can't believe that just happened."

"I feel the same." My brain still wasn't comprehending that I had just been with another man that wasn't Dorian.

It was strange having a different lover. Things with my roadie ex-boyfriend had gotten boring quickly; Dorian was more concerned about pleasing himself in the gruff way a man often does, than with the girl he was pumping into. Often I just felt like a puppet there only played with when he wanted something exciting to do. Whether wrong or right, I started withholding sex from him to maintain my sanity.

Shaking those thoughts away, Alex helped me to my feet and asked, "Should we be worried about what happened earlier?"

"Which thing?" There were so many events that had taken place in a little span of time that my head was overloading. I guessed Alex might be referencing the strange sex position we both wanted to test out but thought it was better left unsaid. Just the remembrance of it made me flush bright pink.

"You know, the no condom thing."

"Oh." I had almost forgotten about that little detail.

"Are you on birth control or something?" He questioned uncomfortingly while we scoped out the best method to climb back up to civilization. When it came to 'lady troubles' all guys were the same; reluctant and bashful.

My birth control pills laid untouched on my nightstand way back in Dorian's apartment probably hidden under an inch of dust by now. "I was."

"Was?" His voice got a little worked up. "Shit, that's not good. I thought you were telling me to just go on because you had things on your end covered."

"No, I was just ready to go." I laughed a little awkwardly. "I'm sure we'll be fine. I mean, you pulled out and everything anyway so there should be no worries."

Alex covered his face. "Shit, Melanie. That's not fool-proof. You should have stopped me before things got heated like that."

I bit my lip. "Are you mad?"

"A little pissed. This is serious stuff. You basically led me to think you had some sort of birth control. Now I'm going to have a baby out of wedlock."

"Out of wedlock?" I raised an eyebrow. "This isn't the fifteenth century."

"If it was both of us would get stoned to death in the middle of the town square." He told me with a brief smile that quickly turned serious again. "But really. That wasn't right."

Guilt flooded my system. "I'm sorry."

He sighed. "It's okay. Just tell me that sort of shit ahead of time so I at least have a condom on me. You sort of did a sneak attack in the woods."

I laughed, "Sorry again."

"I'm not too broken up about that turn of the events." Alex joked and helped me over the guardrail for what seemed like the tenth time that day.

Strolling into the parking lot, we walked around the entire perimeter to blow off some more time before returning to the group. As we wound around through a tangle of cars, the convenient store came back into view and the cashier that had taken our orders earlier was outside smoking a Marlboro with tired eyes. He perked up with interest as the two of us passed, "Evening. Did you see any of those rough truckers I was telling you about?"

"Not yet." I replied. "I still don't believe your story about the one that tried to rob you using a Halloween mask he bought from you five minutes before. That's just so dumb."

The clerk shrugged, "That's people for you. I'm sure you've run into your fair share of crazies out there."

I thought about the mob of All Time Low fans trying to tackle Alex. "Yep, I'd say so."

Using a boot, he stamped out the glowing butt of the cigarette and smeared the black ash across the sidewalk in a diagonal line. "What are you folks up to?"

"Not much. Just heading back to our bus." Alex replied, laying an arm around my waist to mark me as his territory in front of the other male.

Amused, the cashier's eyes momentarily widened. "Well, you two be safe. Wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

We stiffly said a goodbye and hastily sped up our pace after that. I shivered down my spine, "I never realized how creepy that guy was before."

"He sounded like some stalker from a Hitchcock film." Alex agreed shooting a paranoid glance to the walkway behind us. "I didn't like the way he was watching you either. It creeped me out. His eyes wouldn't stop visually assaulting you."

That made me worried. "When are we leaving here?"

"Hopefully in the morning. I don't trust that guy."

"He's probably fine. Maybe we're just overreacting." I reasoned though I couldn't quite convince myself of that so I wasn't sure I had swayed Alex at all.

"Whatever. I'm keeping an eye out."

"So stubborn." I mumbled teasingly.

When Alex and I made it back to our own circle of friends it seemed as if nothing had changed at all. Jack still lay on the ground looking bored out of his skull and the rest of the crew were still swapping life stories. It seemed as if only Alex and I were the ones that had changed. I already felt closer to him, trusting him not only with my mind but with my body now also.

The haze over Jack's eyes cleared as we approached and his pupils turned sharp, scrutinizing. He seemed to be the only one to have an inkling that something had shifted subtly within my and Alex's relationship. A puzzle clicked into place in his mind. Maybe it was the slightly guilty looks on our faces or the tattered appearance of our clothing that gave it away.

But Jack knew that Alex and I had sex while we were gone. He appeared a little confused, probably wondering how we managed it in the middle of nowhere. Instead of a snarky or sarcastic comment, he didn't say a word. It could have been the moon's lighting, but Jack didn't look happy about it either.