Kiss the Flame

The morning of Sept 12th began like any other for Beth. She and Mike woke up around the same time everyday; as if they were in tune to each other’s bodies and had synced them up. This morning though Mike was the first one up and wasn’t in the bed when Beth came too. She frowned as she swept her hand over his side of the bed to find it cool which meant he had been up for a while. Just as she got ready to throw back the covers to go find him to bitch him out he appeared at the door way with a breakfast tray in his hands and a smile on his face.

“Morning Birthday Girl,” he said as he walked into the room and toward her side of the bed. “I thought you deserved breakfast in bed this morning.” He placed the tray on the side table as he replaced the covers over her legs. Once done the tray was moved to her lap where he had a small teapot, her favorite mug, a glass of orange juice and the piece de resistance was a familiar looking sticky roll.

“Is that what I think it is?” Beth said as she gestured to the breakfast treat with an eyebrow raised.

The man smiled and kissed her gently on the lips before sitting down next to her in the bed. “Why yes it is,” he replied. “I had to call in some favors to get this shipped here for you.”

“You didn’t have to,” she frowned not used to a fuss being made over her for her birthday.

“Its fine Beth, I wanted to do this for you. It’s all about you today. It’s not everyday you turn 32.”

The woman made a face but kept quiet. She didn’t enjoy any fuss being made over her, though she did secretly enjoy the fact that he remembered her birthday at all. She turned her gaze back to the tray in front of her, noticing the little things he had done. Her favorite mug, along with her favorite brand of tea sat on the tray and somehow the woman knew that the tea would already be sweetened and creamed according to her taste. If anything Mike was astute and made sure that he every whim was taken care of.

The man is question had grabbed the remote and was flipping channels on the TV to find something to watch as they enjoyed their morning respite. Beth frowned again as he tried to reach over and snag a piece of her unattended sticky bun. “Oh no you don’t,” she smiled as she lightly rapped his knuckles with her mug. “Those are MY sticky buns.”

A deep rumble of laughter bubbled up from the lean man’s chest. “You mean I can’t even have a taste for all the hard work it took to get them delivered out here?”

“Maybe,” she conceded. “Only if you behave yourself.”

A smile threatened to break out on Mike’s face. “Behave myself? Now what fun is there in doing something like that?” he teased.

“You want some of this?” she asked with a coy look on her face. Mike just nodded with a big shit eating grin on his face before Beth tore off a piece of bun and without warning shoved the sweet treat into his face. The expression was priceless and Beth had only seconds to enjoy it before Mike reared back and lunged capturing Beth’s body underneath of his own and claiming her with a kiss while knocking to the tray to the floor with a clatter of noise which went unrecognized by the two lovers.

Later on that day as the pair relaxed nothing more was said about Beth’s birthday. Out of nowhere Mike’s cell rang and after a brief conversation he hung up and looked over to the woman who was lounging on the other end of the sofa watching her soap operas. “Beth that was Bill; he wants me to come over for a few minutes. He got some song or something he needs us to work on.”

Beth looked at Mike, “On Jake’s birthday? He’s gonna work on Jake’s birthday?”

Mike tried to not roll his eyes are her tone, instead taking a less confrontational route. “Well you know about song writing, you never now when it’s gonna hit you and when it does you have to seize the moment.”

Turning her gaze back to the TV she grimaced, “Whatever,” she mumbled.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can Beth,” he said as he walked from the room. A few moments later Beth heard the door slam but almost right after that the door bell rang. Looking confused Beth didn’t move until the bell rang again.

“Dumbass; he must have locked himself out,” she muttered as she got up and went downstairs to let him back in. She pulled open the door to find no one was around but hanging from a string attached to the upper door jam was a Polaroid picture hanging just about eye level. The woman plucked the picture from its string and gave it a once over. Under a picture of the microwave was written in black sharpie; “Hide and seek.”

Turning the picture over and not finding anything else on it make Beth wonder what was going on. With a small sigh she decided to start on whatever hunt someone wanted her to go on. She turned on her heel and went to the beginning of her adventure.

She walked into the kitchen and saw nothing amiss. She went to the microwave and saw that there was nothing different about it. Frowning, she was about to give up after several minutes upon pondering what the picture meant when she got the thought to look inside. When she opened up the microwave she found yet another picture. This one was of the downstairs bathroom sink. With a smile she set off on her picture treasure hunt.

As she walked over to the TV she spied the Polaroid taped upon its screen. She plucked the picture freeing it from its tape and brought it up to look at it. She recognized Mike’s bass and turned on her heel and walked towards the home studio. When she entered the room, there tied to the bass was a balloon. Smiling she walked over and grabbed the latex and turned it around to view will was written upon it. Written in black sharpie upon the balloon was the message; ‘dinner at 6:00 semi formal be ready’. She smiled again as she left the room to get ready for her date.

She was in the bathroom putting the finishing touches of her makeup on when the doorbell rang downstairs. Glancing at her watch she realized the time; applied a little bit more lipstick before closing the cap and walking out of the bathroom. As she walked down the stairs toward the front door she glanced and saw Mike standing there with mouth agape at what she was wearing. She felt warmth spreading throughout her body from his smoldering look.

Mike stood at the bottom of the stairs and waited her to come down. As he stood there passing time he studied his fingernails. Suddenly he heard the sounds of a person coming down the stairs and glanced up to see the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen in his life gliding down the stairs like Scarlet O’Hara, a southern belle in the flesh. Mike thanked his lucky stars that he’d had been blessed with such a beautiful creature and held is his arm for her to take so that they could begin their journey of her birthday.

The limo arrived at The Cliff House and the driver quickly moved to open the door to the couple. Mike stepped out first and turned and held out his hand to Beth. Smiling at his attentiveness she allowed him this little concession. Tucking her arm within his, he led the way into the restaurant.

They were seated at a table in the corner which had 2 huge floor to ceiling windows which overlooked the Californian coast line. The view took Beth’s breath away as she could see waves crashing against the land as it offered a view like no other. She felt Mike’s hand grasping her own as he laced his fingers amongst hers. Frowning slightly she caught herself before letting out an exasperated sigh and plastered on a smile for the man beside her. Mentally shaking herself she decided to be nice to him if he acted all lovey dovey since this was her birthday and he trying to please her.

"I can just picture a tsunami hitting this shoreline, wiping us out..." she said trailing off trying to lighten the now quickly souring mood.

Mike bit back a comment when he saw the frown and the sudden stopping of her big intake of breath. Gritting his teeth at her own inane comment, he turned away to look out at the bay and tried to get lost in the gentle repetitive motion of the waves lapping the shore. A little part of him kept getting hurt as she seemingly rebuffed his effects at any sort of outward affection. Luckily he was able to ignore her comment as the waiter came over to begin the process of getting their wine and food order.

The dinner limped along as Mike tried to stop himself from making any romantic gestures to Beth and putting on a happy face at her actions at what little he did do. When the waiter brought the wine to the table Beth sniped at his selection and Mike had the waiter take it back and asked Beth which one she wanted to have instead. He narrowly was unable to keep the hurt look off his face when Beth placed a different wine order with the waiter.

Mike had just again held her hand and she stiffened involuntarily. A rejected look came over the lean man’s face before he placed his happy mask over it. The waiter placed their dessert in front of them and walked before Beth had had enough of Mike’s rather bad attempt at acting. “What the fuck is your problem?”

Mike blinked a few times at her statement that just hung in the air between the two. Feeling fury beginning to mount Mike took a couple of deep breaths before answering. “What are you talking about?” he said trying to keep a civil tone.

“That,” she said with a wave of her hand. “This mincing about. If you have a problem then just say it.”

Mike just stared at the woman in disbelief. It was like she was purposely picking a fight on her birthday day of all days. Determined to salvage what was left of the meal he fought to keep his rising temper in check. “Beth please, not here.”

“What the fuck not? It’s a good of place as any.” She turned away from him and muttered loud enough from him to hear, “Limp dick.”

“Enough!” he shouted slamming his hands onto the table. Noticing that people had turned to stare at him and his outburst he leaned closer to Beth, “I have had it with your attitude. I am sick and tired of you acting as though I had cooties for Christ’s sake. What are you like 5?”

A smile settled on Beth’s features as she primed herself for the fight that she knew was about to happen. “Well I guess I am 5 if that means I’m true to myself and don’t let anyone walk over me! I want to go now.” She stood up and pushed her chair away and turned away from the man and began walk to the front of the restaurant. Before she got too far she felt him behind her and started when he roughly grabbed her arm and propelled her to the front door.

Mike all but pushed her out the door and across the parking lot to where their limo waited. Opening the door he shoved her into the limo and slammed the door. He took a deep breath before walking back to the restaurant to take care of the tab and tip.

Beth caught herself before tumbling across the limo seat. As she righted herself she smiled. This was the Mike she wanted to see; the one who was a man and in control of things. She almost rubbed her hands with glee since she pulled his strings till she got what she wanted; the real Mike Dirnt. Before she got to celebrate too long the door opened up and the man in question threw himself into the limo. Without a glance to her he pressed a button and ordered the driver to drive anywhere but to make a long drive.

“You are a fucking bitch,” he said with no fanfare.

“What the fuck does that mean? Getting pissy cause you’re not getting what you want Mr. Rock Star?” She leaned back feeling secure that she had the upper hand and continued her little tirade. "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to but in this case, sweetheart, it's my birthday and I'll bitch if I want to. It's the one day a year I should be able to do that without you getting all huffy, but...if you are, then stop being a bitch and show me how you really feel, mmkay.”

The man’s eyes narrowed at her use of the ‘nickname’ he so despised. “I’ll show you how I really feel. I show you fucking rock star,” he said as he grabbed her hair and roughly pulled her to him. Looking into her eyes he saw no fear but a whole lot of lust before he crashed his lips to hers.

Her moan was swallowed by his mouth as he attacked her mouth and took no prisoners. ‘The real Mike Dirnt,’ was her last coherent thought she had before her body took over. He pulled back her head using her hair as a level and dropped wet kisses down her exposed neck. He nipped at the pulse spot at the base of her neck and felt her moan reverberate in her throat. Smiling he knew he had her in the palm of his hand and relished the control of him being the man.

He pushed her down to seat and covered her body with his. His arousal was hard against her as he pushed apart her legs to gain access to her. She responded to his intrusion of her personal space by sinking her teeth into his neck until the coppery taste flooded her senses. The smell of blood filled the space of the back of the limo and it seemed to enrage the man more than he was already. He roared his displeasure and forced himself further into the vee of her legs pushing up against her most intimate spot and feeling the heat she was generating from her own arousal.

Their coming together was not making love or even sex. It was something more base than even that. It was animalistic and primeval. It was something that came from the time of cavemen when it was survival of the fittest and the nicety of sex wasn’t even thought of yet. When the limo was filled with the scent of sex did the two finally reach their peaks in a series of screams, grunts, and sounds that only animals make.

The pair lay together for a brief moment; a tangle of sweaty limbs and clothes before separating to opposite ends of the back seat. Ignoring each other they attempted to re-dress in what clothes that were not ruined in the height of passion when buttons and zippers proved too complicated. They didn’t talk to each other but rather stared out their respected window until the limo pulled up to Mike’s house.

They got out and went inside only to once again go their different directions. Mike walked towards his studio where there was a comfy couch while Beth went to the bedroom. Neither one spoke as they ended up spending the night apart.