by M Dauphin
I glance back at the door, but the last thing I need is phsycho-bot to walk in on me screwing Charlie again. I grab her hip and tug her against me. "We can sign that again tonight," I tell her before kissing her.
"Can't wait. I've missed you," she whispers on my lips. "But you should really get out of here before Frankie finds you. I'll need a few cartons of ice cream and wine to break the news that we're back together. You're pretty persistent, you know that?"
"Yeah." I rest my forehead on hers. "She don't scare me, Blue." I kiss her again. "But I gotta go pay the stand fees, so I'm gone." I touch her bottom lip before kissing it softly. "I'm sorry about last Sunday." I stare into her eyes feeling the guilt that's heavy enough to push me away, but I can't lose this girl.
"I'm not angry about it anymore, Travis. Life's too short to stay angry over something so small for long."
"You're fucking incredible." I smile and kiss her. "I'll call you later. For a date. I'm taking you to the orchard." I turn for the doorway. "And don't ignore my texts, Charlie. I'm not trying to blow your phone up, but a simple 'fuck you' response will do." When I look back, she's smiling, her attentions off to the side, but I could stand here and stare at that smile for hours. "Bye, Blue."
She waves her fingers at me but I don't walk away and when she thinks I left, I watch while she takes a deep breath and grins so wide I almost laugh at how happy she looks. Then she does this cute wiggle dance and lets out a tiny squeak before flopping back down in her chair. She sighs again and spins in her chair, getting back to work and I take a few minutes to watch, like a creep, until I hear someone coming. It's only that Kevin guy and when he sees me he smiles and gives me thumbs up in question, which I return with a smirk and walk away as he calls her name.
Bev knows something's changed in the past few hours, but she hasn't said anything yet. I'm waiting for it though. When I look at my phone at quarter to five, she crosses her arms and stares at me.
"Did we find a new blue-eyed princess to distract us now?"
I glance at her and roll my eyes. "No. Definitely not. There's only one blue-eyed princess for me," I mutter walking away while I text Charlie.
'Part of that contract is you can't say no to this date. So I'll pick you up as soon as I'm finished here. If you're working, make it wait.'
"Travis," Violet calls my name. "Hey, thanks for letting me crash at your place. My brother won't be home tonight though. If Bev says it's okay, can I take off? I have plans."
"What kind of plans?" I quiz, and only because I want the girl to stay out of trouble.
"Uh, the kinds I made," she snickers.
"Normal, kid plans?"
"I'm going to Brooklyn’s, Trav, stop trying to act like my dad."
"I'm not your dad, but I'm a friend that's not going to let you screw up your youth. But yeah, I'm cool. I don't need anything else. Just go tell Bev."
I look at my phone and smirk at my response from Charlie, 'I have a feeling you'd track me down if I said no. See you soon.'
"Later," Violet says on her way out the gate and I walk over to Bev.
"BB, you think it'd be cool if I went and picked up Charlie? I want to take her to the orchard."
"So the blue-eyed princess is back." She smiles. "I don't mind. With Violet's help, you two have been bringing in double compared to last year's pickings. Thank you, Trav." She hugs me and I smirk, kissing the top of her head. "Oo! I know, I'll get you two a little picnic basket together. Go do a romantic dinner in the orchard."
I grin, liking that idea, and thankful she's around to come up with them.
"I'll be back." As I head for my car, I warn Charlie I'm on the way.
"It's nice to see you again, Blue." Bev smiles at Charlie and touches her shoulder.
"I wish I could say the same," Charlie says before she starts to laugh. "Because…ya know…can't see you! Sorry. Have to laugh sometimes."
"God, the girl's cute and a comedian." I nudge her and earn a nervous giggle
"Thanks for letting me come back, Bev. Last time I sure caused a commotion."
"No you didn't," I mutter.
"She'll do just fine here. So you're wanting to smell the orchard today then? Travis told me cherries are your absolute favorite. So I baked you a few pies and I knitted you a sweater with cherries on it."
"Oh… Well, I ate the last pie all in one night so I'm sure these two won't last long. It's pretty warm though, you didn't need to do the sweater." Her attention’s directed toward the ground, eyes wide and fingers fidgeting.
When Bev starts to laugh, I can't hold back and I wrap my arm around Charlie's shoulders. "Bev doesn't knit. And I told her you hate her cherries. She only cried herself to sleep one night. She's over it now."
"I don't hate them," she quickly blurts.
"Nonsense." Bev takes her hand and pulls her away from me, heading out the back door. "I've eaten so many damn cherries in my life, I wouldn't be angry if I never saw another. But Travis would be devastated."
"Yeah, I would," I snip and take Charlie's other hand to get my date back. "Don't talk like that, BB, and please leave me and Chuck alone. This is supposed to be romantic."
"Travis, don't be rude!" Charlie snaps at me. "I'm enjoying my time here with Bev." She pulls her hand from mine and takes hold of Bev's with both hands then grins. "Tell me everything about him."
"Well, he wet the bed until thirteen. And he still sucks his thumb. Sometimes he naps in the orchard, but he has to have a blankey, and—"
"Alright, get the hell out of here." I grab Charlie's waist and spin her to the other side of me. "I don't nap in the orchard, I work. But right now, I'm going to ride Charlie around and act like I'm cool because I can ride a four-wheeler with no hands, so Bev…if you don't mind."
"What if I mind?" she quips and I grit my teeth with a chuckle. She's enjoying this way too much, and by the look on Charlie's face, she is too.
"You should go bake some pies." I wave my hands at her with eyes wide.
"Yeah, yeah, pies," she mutters. "Oh! Trav, don't forget your EpiPen!" She tosses it to me and I jerk my head to look at Charlie, effectively feeling humiliated she knows my deep, dark, nerdy secret.
"What's out here that could kill you?" she asks, following me to the four-wheeler.
"B…ears."
"The tiny yellow and black ones with wings?" She bites her lip through her grin and gives my hand a squeeze. "Unless they actually make EpiPens for bear mauling."
"Yeah, no." I chuckle, helping her on the four-wheeler. "Just tiny little fuckers that can kill me in minutes. Kinda lame, I know." My chuckle of embarrassment is stupid. This isn't something I can help, but usually people see a guy like me and think nothing can take him down, and that's usually the case… except a fucking bee.
"It's not lame, it's scary," she says, wrapping her arms around me. "Have you ever been stung? I mean…what happens? Shit, now I have to worry about you being out here?" She jabs my side and laughs.
"No." I laugh. "You don't have to worry. Bev protects me." Grinning, I start the four-wheeler and direct her arms to wrap around my waist. "Hold on."
She lets out a squeal as we take off and her arms tighten around me, pushing her body even closer to mine and I feel like an ass for missing this for over a week. I'll never do that shit again. This girl is what I want and need. Nothing should feel as good as I do when I'm with her, but I'm addicted.
"Answer me, Travis. What happens if you get stung?"
"So, what happens is…my throat closes. That's pretty much it. Usually there's swelling and hives, but not me, straight to the killing. I've been stung a few times, but I always have my pen, aaaaand, I learned real quick to look out for the deadly bastards. So, enough about my weakness, this is the orchard." I slow down and look around, wishing she could see this.
"Tell me what it looks like. Don't leave anything out. I've never been to a cherry orchard before." She smiles and takes my hand as I help her off the four-wheeler. "It smells amazing."
/> "She's got over sixty trees," I say as I begin to appreciate the orchard in a different way than I have before. I can see it, my vision tells me what I'm curious about, but having to actually describe it is so different. "They don't grow flowers, just cherries, and right now they're in full bloom with deep green leaves and bright red bunches. The trees are in rows of eight and they're spaced just enough, but their branches are reaching for its neighbors." I smirk. "Right now the grass is tall. I need to cut it tomorrow. But it's deep green." I stare at the ground a minute. Never would I have thought I'd have to explain what this grass looked like. And it doesn't bother me, it fucking kills me for Charlie's sake. "It's beautiful out here, Chuck. My favorite place to be." I touch her hair, wanting to tell her she's my other favorite place to be, but I'll show her soon.
"Can I feel them? The trees? Or will that mess with Bev's ju-ju?" She grins up at me.
"You can touch them." I walk her toward the tree and guide her hand upward, but let her finish her reach to find what she's looking for. "Just watch out for the man-eating thorns."
Her fingers pause before she glances behind her towards where I'm standing. "Cherry trees don't have thorns, you dork." She grins and her fingers continue their dance up the trunk of the tree as she follows the branches out and grins when her hands wrap around a bunch of cherries. "It feels beautiful." The setting sun is beaming through the branches, lighting up that smile on her face.
"Yeah," I mutter, not able to look away from how happy she looks right now. "I know you hate them and all, but they're even better fresh." I yank a cherry off and put it in her hand. "Save it for later, when I'm not looking, if you want."
She smiles and holds it in her hand for a moment like she's staring at it, then brings it to her lips and takes a small nibble before popping the entire thing into her mouth and smiles. One chew and she cringes a bit. "Ver's a pit," she mumbles with a mouthful of cherry, spitting the pit out and laughing. "That was incredible!"
"I knew you loved cherries!" I softly pin her to the tree and kiss her before the taste leaves her mouth. "My two favorite flavors." I moan and kiss her again, this time harder, feeling more needy. "I'm at one of my favorite places," I say kissing her. "I need to be inside my second favorite place, Blue. Let me feel you," I'm panting with anticipation and I feel like a fucking teenager as my hands cup her tits over her shirt.
"What if Bev comes out here?" She gasps, then pushes her lips to my neck and grinds against me.
"Bev's not coming out here," I promise and in a swift yank, pull her shirt off, dropping to my knees to kiss over her stomach while I unbutton her shorts. Her hands are in my hair and she's panting as hard as I am right now. I yank her thong down with her shorts and reach my tongue for her clit.
"Oh God," she groans, her hand in my hair pushing me into her. She starts to grind against my face, her back leaning against the tree for leverage. "Fuck, Travis," she pants. "Fuck me."
As much as I want to finish this, I haven't been inside her for two weeks, and I've only been inside her once. I can't wait anymore to feel that again. I stand and kiss her while she yanks at the button on my jeans, fumbling as her hands shake eagerly. After a little help, I drop my pants, not bothering to remove my shirt then lift her; her legs wrap around my waist as she lowers down over my cock with a gasp. Slowly taking us to the grass, I hold her tight while she bounces over me as she sits in my lap. She's like a slow rolling wave that crashes onto me and makes me feel like I've reached the euphoric state of drowning.
She hums and brings her hand up to her tit. I can feel her tightening around me and soon she's rocking harder. "Oh fuck, Travis!" she moans as I thrust up to meet her, each pump harder than the first. "Oh God, don't stop! Fuck, I'm so close." Her panting is as heavy as mine and her nails dig into my chest as she falls forward, slamming her lips to mine to muffle her screams.
I can't hold back and twist my fingers in her hair as I thrust one last time and kiss her harder, unable to withhold a grunt while I come inside her. When I let her go she leans back with a chuckle, but doesn't move to get off me. We're both breathing heavy like we ran a race and won. Watching her giggle and trying to catch her breath makes me start to laugh.
"Fuck, Blue," I huff, leaning my hands back to hold me up. "Fuck… Blue." The sting on my palm makes my heart drop. "Fuck!" I grab her waist and stand, carefully setting her on her feet before stumbling my way toward the four-wheeler with my jeans around my ankles.
As my airway closes, I start to panic, more for her sake. I know what to do, but the fact she's going to witness it has me tripping over myself and I fall before I make it to my pen. I gasp in the last solid breath I'll get and look back at her as she stands in one spot confused.
"Travis?" she screeches. I try to say something, make any noise for her, but it barely comes out and my eyes start to water. "Shit!" I hear her huff. "This isn't funny, Trav!" She mumbles something about her clothes and I see her blurry figure reach to the ground to find them.
I can't worry about her right this second. I have to get to my pen before I fucking die and leave her out here until Bev thinks it's safe to come looking for us. My movements are getting slower but I'm not just going to fucking die on her! I grip the seat of the four-wheeler and yank myself up, frantically reaching for my pen I left in the bucket by the seat. Stabbing it into my thigh, I gasp in a breath as soon as I can and my watery eyes watch as Charlie perks up, finally realizing I wasn't hiding on her.
"Oh my God, Travis, are you okay? What happened?" she screams in panic.
I gasp in another breath, not wanting to talk yet but she's just standing there with fear on her face. "Charlie," I rasp out and start moving to pull up my pants. "Charlie," I say again, a little clearer and slowly move toward her, a little disoriented at the moment.
She's talking but my head's throbbing from that taking too long.
"Are you ok? Should I call Bev? What happened? Did you get stung? Why the hell wouldn't you have your pen right on you at all times?"
I reach her and pull her to me, still out of breath and dizzy with a pounding headache, but she needs to shut up for a minute.
"You scared me," she mumbles into my chest, wrapping her arms around me.
"Shit, Chuck." I inhale deeply. "Your pussy is killer." I quietly chuckle, still needing another minute to collect myself.
"I don't see anything funny about this." She hits my chest. "We need to get you back to the house. I can call Bev to come get us." Her arms wrap around me again and it feels like she'll never let go.
"No. Just wait." I walk her to the back of the four-wheeler and shine my phone light on the ground as the setting sun is almost hidden. After making sure there are no bees, I guide her to sit. I intended on coming out here and doing what we did, but I had other plans of a romantic dinner in the fucking orchard, and almost dying isn't going to change them. "Let me just catch my breath."
"We need to get you back, Travis. You need to rest." She moves to stand but I pull her back down gently.
"Sit down a minute, Charlie. We're resting right fucking here." I reach behind us and grab the basket Bev put together for me. "I brought you out here to spend time alone without the world being loud around us. The sun's setting." I shift her closer to me and clear my throat as the tightness starts to relax.
"What color's the sky right now," she whispers.
"Uh." I look up and smile, letting my thumb make circles on her side under her shirt. "It's three colors right now. The blue is being swallowed by pink and orange while the sun drops to the horizon. That blue looks like my favorite thing in the world." I turn my head and let my nose brush against hers.
"Why?" she whispers, gently bringing her hand to my face. "You're always talking about my eyes and how much you love the color of them. But why? They're just…blue."
I laugh. "Your eyes aren't just blue, Chuck." Turning her face so I can study them, I gently run my fingertips around the soft skin surrounding them. "They're all my favorite blues." I kiss he
r cheek. "And they're big." I kiss her other cheek. "And bright. There's so much life in them. You see more than anyone else in this world." I kiss over her right eye. "And you're the only person that sees me." I kiss over her left eye.
She laughs and pulls back. "You're insane, they don't even work." She blinks away a tear.
"Your eyes work, Blue." I hold a pineapple chunk up to her lips and notice the way her nose wiggles when she smells it. She takes the bite, making sure to wrap her lips around my fingers.
"Mmm, pineapple," she hums. "That's my favorite fruit."
The only reason I know that is because the one time I was in her house I saw a cupboard full of canned pineapple and there were two empty cans in her trash. "I've got a whole basket full of pineapple for you." I kiss her lips, licking the juice away.
"What color are your eyes?"
"My eyes are…uh, brown. Just brown."
"I always wanted brown eyes growing up." I want to kiss that grin, but I let her go on. "I always thought it was so cool how dark they were. I felt like light eyes were just…weak."
I frown over at her before feeding her another bite of pineapple. "There's nothing weak about your eyes. And my eyes aren't dark, they're light brown. Almost a weird gold color and they look…alien-like." I laugh and before she can respond, I place a piece of pineapple between my teeth then move toward her mouth and press against her lips. She grins and opens, our lips connecting as she sucks the pineapple then pulls back.
"That was the best piece yet." She giggles, wiping the juice from her chin.
"Let me feed you like a baby bird," I say and she cringes, pushing me away. "Come on, Chuck," I laugh as she tries to fight me while I'm pinning her down to the grass. "Come on, baby bird, open." I laugh as she tries to block her mouth. Taking her wrists, I pin her hands above her head then suck her bottom lip between mine. "I love being with you." I kiss her softly as I release her wrists. I need air right now, but I'd die a happy man if it were from her kiss.
