Secret Messages

"Look at that! That sooo looks like a butterfly," Twila said from her place on the ground beside me.

"That one looks like a goat."

"WHERE?!"

I took her hand and pointed it to the cloud I'd seen. She smiled when she saw it, letting her hand gently fall back down between us. It really amazes me how sweet she is. She looks so...tough, I guess, with all her piercings covering her body. Sometimes, even before today, I wondered what she would look like if she took them all out. But the question that weighed heaviest on my mind was how many piercings she had.

"Hey love?" I said, out of no where to her.

"Hm?"

"How many piercings do you have?"

"I have sixty-four bars going through my skin, but I don't count each bar as one piercing."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I have snake bites, right? Two bars but they're snake bites, a collective piercing as Daddy calls them."

"So...what all do you have? I know snake bites, septum, and twice on your eyebrow, and that you have your ears totally filled, but what else?"

"Monroe, smiley, frowny, web, bridge, belly button, both collar bones, both hips, and I have a corset, but I use bars."

"Do you want more?" I couldn't believe she fit that many on her body.

"Don't sound so put off. I don't know if I want more piercings. I know I want some tattoos though."

"Would you take them out later? Just so I can see you without them? I like them, honest, I just...I've just always wondered what you'd look like with just your skin."

"I'll think about it. I haven't not had piercings in two years," she sounded apprehensive so I tilted her chin up and kissed her.

"If you don't want to you don't have to if you don't want to."

"Thanks...That one looks like a bunny."

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We stayed in the field for a couple of hours, until the clouds grew dark and thick. We were only have way to the car when the rain came. And it came in floods. We dashed to the car, are hair and clothes soaking clear through. I helped Twila in first before running to my door. When we were both finally in we looked at each other and laughed. We looked like drowned rats and it was funny, really it was.

I smiled as I reached in the back and grabbed a jacket for Twila. She slipped it on then turned on the heater. She finger combed her hair as the car helped dry it out. I looked over at her when she sneezed...twice.

"Uhoh. I better get you home," I said as she kept sneezing.

"I know. But I don't wanna go home."

"Why not?"

"I was having fun."

"Me too, but you don't wanna get sick do you?"

"No..."

We drove in another comfortable silence, interrupted every now and again by a sneeze from Twila. Our hands were intertwined on the center console once again. Just listening to music and enjoying each others company until we arrived at her house. When we got there her dad's car was out front and I pulled in beside it. We ran to the door, our hands intertwined the whole way.

We stood under her porch for a minute, before Mr. Rivera opened the door and stared at us. He had his arms crossed and was waiting for an explanation. I didn't know what to say. I mean I'd had a nice chat this morning but now he looked scary.

"Hi Daddy, you remember Blake, my boyfriend, right?" Twila said with her cute little smile.

"Yes, Princess, I remember him. But I don't remember saying you two could play in the rain."

"I'm sorry, sir. We thought we could make it out of it before it started and it's raining really hard now."

"I'm just playing Blake," he said with a smile.

"Thank God! Well...I better get going." I looked at Mr. Rivera then at Twila. I leaned down and kissed her cheek before offering her dad my hand.

"You won't be going anywhere in this Blake. You're mom called Greg, who told her you were with Twila, she then called me and asked if you could stay here. This is supposed to be a bad storm. There's talk about school be cancelled too."

"Are you sure it's okay?" I was a bit confused.

"Yeah. You can sleep in the guest room and you can borrow some of my old clothes tomorrow. Try the vintage look," he said with a laugh as we walked in the house, Twila sneezing the whole time.