Paper Dolls [Book Five]

by Blythe Stone

“What?”

  “You’re not even moving and you’re holding us up.”

  “Oh,” she laughed, noticing. “I dunno, I guess I’m just used to it.”

  How strange…

  “Anyway, the water’s calm here, there aren’t even waves. You’ve no reason to be scared.”

  “I know,” I said. The water was so dark though. No one knew where we were. If we went missing they wouldn’t find us.

  “Okay,” she laughed. “We’re going back in. You’re freaking me out.”

  “No,” I said, falling off of her and treading water. It was much harder for me but she was right, there was no strong current, nothing to be scared of.

  The water next to us moved though and I looked.

  A seal’s head popped up out of the water and I screamed, swimming over to Avery and hugging her hard.

  “It’s fine!” She laughed, holding me.

  “Okay, yeah,” I said. “You can stay, I’m- I’m going back in.”

  Some things were better studied from afar.

  As I moved to swim into shore Avery took a few strokes and surpassed me with ease. I felt her pull me on top of her and float me towards the shore.

  “I hate you,” I said.

  “You’re ridiculous,” she returned.

  When we got back to the shore and I could feel the sand I felt relief.

  I pulled a towel out of my bag and laid it out, following it fast with my body.

  The sun beat down on us. I felt myself almost immediately begin to dry.

  “I never knew you were so scared of that,” Avery said.

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “I don’t usually swim in the ocean like that.” Most beaches you can walk a long way before the bottom drops out and you’re helpless. We’d only ever gone to places I was used to and stayed within touching distance of the floor.

  Often I’d stopped to think how far I would get in that lake Avery swam in. Lakes weren’t as scary as oceans but I still didn’t like it, being out in a large body of water like that where anything could come and drag you down. It took a lot of bravery and trust to wade into that. But I’d swam across lakes before. I’d gotten used to lakes. The ocean was different.

  Avery laid her towel down next to mine and laid out.

  “Where even are we right now?” She asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” I scoffed lightly.

  We let the sun dry us.

  I turned around after a few minutes and moved my head to stare over at her. Her skin was so lovely. I rolled over until I was touching her.

  My lips touched down on her warm shoulder and I laid a kiss just there.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” I teased.

  “Shhh. I’ll drag you back in the water to punish you.”

  “You better not, I’ll kick you.”

  “What?!” She gasped, moving to face me. “You would kick me?”

  “It wouldn’t be my fault. It’d be out of instinct. You know, self-defense.”

  That was funny in my head. As soon as it came out though I thought of Mrs. Daniels and what she said about Avery in her bad dreams.

  Before I had a second to correct, my face darkened.

  “Hey,” Avery said, noticing. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” I sighed, turning back onto my stomach and moving my face to look away.

  “So… I managed to scare you and make you sad.”

  “What?” I moved to face her. “Avery, no.”

  “Okay,” she sighed. “What happened just then?”

  “Nothing happened. I just had a dark thought and it passed.”

  “Anything I should know?”

  “Nothing you couldn’t guess. But no. It’s not important. This place is amazing.”

  “It is nice,” she said. “But everything’s nice when you’re there.”

  “Right,” I said, teasing her. “Hey, how long would you and Skylar stay in the water if she were here?”

  “A long time,” she laughed. “Why?”

  “Just curious,” I said. I know Avery loved me but she would do a lot of things differently if we weren’t together and I wondered how long this sort of thing would last. How long would it feel like this, like she chose me and kept choosing me?

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Just things,” I answered.

  “K,” she said, rolling over onto her back.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” she said.

  “What are you thinking?” I teased. I moved over to her and laid a bit on top of her looking down. She was all sandy and pretty. When the sun kissed her a lot her cheeks got a little red and I saw freckles pop up that were never there before.

  Her pink lips parted. I stared.

  “Just that you’re not telling me things,” she stared solemnly.

  “I already said too much about water babies,” I smiled, kissing her fingers one-by-one.

  “Nice dodge.”

  “I’m not dodging,” I lied.

  “Yes, you are,” she said.

  “Can’t a girl just be quiet for a little while without it meaning it might be time to have her committed?”

  “That’s a good question,” Avery joked.

  “Hey!” I laughed, hitting her playfully.

  I took her finger into my mouth and lightly sucked. It was salty and soft. Right away just tasting her turned me on.

  “I really want to see this place, baby,” she said.

  “We didn’t have to detour,” I expressed, watching her eyes flare and then calm once my tongue had stopped touching her.

  “I know,” she said. “And you’re right, this is amazing. I’m just excited.”

  “Okay,” I said, looking back at the sea. I’d seen this place. This was enough.

  I pushed up off of her and pulled my towel up.

  “We can stay a little while,” she said surprised.

  “Nope,” I decided. “You’ll just be thinking of getting there. I’d rather not know that.”

  I’d rather it not be true. It was very nice here. I wanted to stay. I couldn’t though. Not with her thoughts where they were.

  She got up and followed my lead, shaking her towel out and finding her clothes.

  I threw my dress on and slipped my sandy feet into my shoes. I’d regret both of these things later but right now I just wanted to go.

  “Olivia,” she laughed, annoyed and embarrassed once I had started to walk without her.

  I turned back.

  “Hey, I didn’t mean I didn’t like this.”

  “I know,” I said. That wasn’t the point. She wanted to be somewhere. I could get her there. We could go.

  It took us a long time to get to the top. After only a few sets of stairs I let Avery pass me since she was faster.

  When I got up to the car she was in the driver's seat and she’d had the A/C running for some time, it was almost too cold when I got in.

  We’d conquered most of the drive. We were nearly there already and I was excited for her to see the spot. I could feel the anticipation seeping back into me. Restless now and a bit sun-kissed, mostly I was mad at time. There just never seemed to be enough of it for us. I moved into the seat next to hers and felt the need to be touching her pretty much instantly. That’s all I wanted sometimes and I was bad at communicating. Sometimes it took everything in me just to reach out my hand and be the one to have to ask. Down on the sand I just wanted to be with her and feel her. To me that was everything.

  So often I’d get upset because I felt like she didn’t want the same things. It was irrational though. I knew she did want to be close. She just wanted other things more sometimes and I let that bother me. It was like I was jealous of these other things. Jealous of the wedding house for stealing Avery’s attention for so long. Nevertheless I tried to calm myself and act like a normal person. I threw my sunglasses on to prepare for the drive.

  The road was clear. No more nets and men fighting them. We passed the spot where
we’d been parked before and it was odd because we knew that time had suspended there for a moment, just for us. I was grateful. I hoped she was too.

  I subtly sent my hand down Avery’s inner thigh just to feel her. That’d be enough contact for me. I could feel her cheer up with it though. I think she often thought I was mad when I was just working through my own crap like being second to a venue for a day. I laid back in my chair and enjoyed the sight of her all serious as she drove.

  The winding cliff was as breathtaking as I remembered it. My favorite part was when the trees hung over the road in one big bunch. We drove and drove until we came to the familiar gate. As soon as I told her to turn Avery immediately perked up.

  “Okay, mysterious,” she said, leaning over and punching in the number from the slip of paper my mother had given us. “I feel like we’re going on a reality show or something.”

  “You’re crazy,” I laughed, pulling her back in.

  “Vi… I can already tell it’s perfect.” The gate hand just opened and she hadn’t even driven in.

  “Yeah well, we came all this way. We may as well make sure. Get going,” I pushed her arm.

  “Of course I want to see more,” she said. “I was just giving it a second.”

  “Hurry up, I’m bored,” I joked.

  “You are not.”

  “You’re right, I’m not. I just want to be outside of the car again.” I’d had enough of driving in the past two days. All I wanted was to be standing on that grass with her, standing right where I knew it would happen.

  “What are you thinking?” She asked, as she pulled the car up close to the door and parked it.

  “I’m glad we came today,” I said. “I hadn’t planned on coming again before the wedding. At least not until we did a rehearsal or something. I’m not sure if we’ll need that.”

  “We won’t,” Avery said. “Your mom’s right, we can take pictures and do a runthrough that morning. Neither of us is too particular about what we want. We just want to do it. How hard can it be?”

  “Okay, don’t jinx us please,” I laughed darkly. That was the sort of thing you just shouldn’t say.

  “Are you going to show me this place or what?” She asked, annoyed with me for still sitting in the car instead of getting out.

  “I’ll show you,” I said, thinking of other things I could do. Her mood was too upbeat. I wanted to smack her around and get her to fight with me.

  We got out and went to the door.

  Once inside, Avery sort of took off, running here and there. She liked the walkway that led all around the house. She noticed it right away from inside and wanted to be out there. It was funny, that was probably the one feature I didn’t care much about. I knew just from that, when we went outside she’d be taken.

  I took her through the kitchen and told her about how I wanted to have a few separate chefs. My mom and I loved this one caterer we often used. He specialized in sushi. I was most looking forward to that but I knew Avery wouldn’t care.

  When she dawdled near the stone fireplace I stole her hand and pulled her up toward the stairs. We spent a short while on the landing before I urged us toward the back of the house and the room where we’d stay.

  “My mom said we could stay here after,” I said. “At least for the weekend. She also made a point in showing me the bathroom which makes me think she’s a lot more in tune with our activities than I’d like her to be.”

  I walked to the bathroom and let Avery look in.

  “Holy shit,” she said, noticing how grand it was. She looked up and stared at the large sunroof and spun 360. “Okay this place is officially a fantasy.”

  “That’s the point right? I want to give you what you want.”

  “I want that for you too,” she said, coming close and pulling my body into hers with her arms linked around my back.

  “I want what you want,” I reminded. “If you wanted a Flintstone themed trailer-park wedding- in the heart of the sweltering Joshua Tree National Forest- in the middle of July- at the height of that heat- I would be there with bells on, dressed like BamBam- with a club- in a loincloth. What about that do you not understand?”

  “Stop!” She laughed. “I can’t take you, you’re too crazy.”

  “Crazy is right,” I said. But it didn’t much matter. I was telling the truth.

  She moved her hand to my face and pulled me in for a kiss.

  My head swam as those crazy visions of Flintstones and visible blankets of heat drifted off from my recollection.

  When she pulled back I saw her hungry eyes and wanted to live in them.

  “Show me the rest,” she said, chest heaving as her smile grew.

  I pulled her down the stairs and down the next stairs and down the next. When we got to the doors and finally got outside I felt the wind and relief drenched me. I’d spent all day waiting for just this.

  “Whoa,” she said. We were still in the stone circle but the view was to die for, it was impossible to miss. “Shit, Vi, this is…”

  “I know,” I said, pulling her past the fire pit and down the very expensive custom stone stairs.

  When we got to the grass I kicked my flats off and felt the softness on my skin. It wasn’t the kind of grass that stung. Somehow that made it all mean even more.

  Avery jogged out ahead of me straight out to the very edge.

  “Careful,” I said, nervous. The drop-off was sudden and it wasn’t well lined. They wanted that effect, it was obvious. They must not have any kids…

  I hurried up behind her and slowed when I neared her. She had her hands up behind her head, fingers locked as she stretched her head back and looked out at the view and then up at the sky.

  When she turned back to me she was crying.

  “Babe?” I reached out and took her wrist with my fingers and pulled her back from the edge, she was making me too nervous just there. “You okay?” I asked, pulling her to sit with me down on the grass.

  “Yeah,” she laughed, as she joined me, tears falling. “You’re just right. I can feel it.”

  I pulled her body back to lay onto mine and I supported us with my hands, making a V with my legs to help keep her safe and comfortable inside.

  “This is what I wanted yesterday,” I said, carefully wiping the tears from her face with my freehand as we sat. “I just wanted to be here with you.”

  She turned and crawled forward to push me onto my back. I felt her kissing me then on the grass, her hands searching to feel me as she gasped in my mouth.

  “It’s so perfect,” she choked before attacking me again with an intense fire that burned and burned.

  I accepted her. Knowing, for once, exactly how she felt. As she touched me, I weakened. I felt small on the cliff with her. It really was like we were the only humans left in the world. And isn’t that just how we felt most the time?

  She made me cum and I whimpered into the lost air. No one could touch us or find us and I liked it better that way.

  Afterward, leaving was difficult. I just wanted to stay there all night, see the sunset, and not move from that spot. But Avery had plans…

  Things with Skylar were apparently patched up. In some ways I was happy about that, in other’s not so much. Mostly I knew it would be weird for me to hang-out with them. It wasn’t super easy to watch them flirt all the time. Not even if I knew they were both aware of the situation now. Avery had gone years without noticing her effect on her friend. That was sad. And it hurt me to know and watch.

  With that in mind, tonight would be another test.

  Chapter 15

  Avery

  I could tell that Olivia wasn’t too jazzed about the mini-golf trip but I knew it would be better if Skylar and I had a chaperone so I texted her to make sure that it was okay and then I asked Olivia if she would go.

  She agreed but I knew that look in her eyes. After so many months of being with her daily, her expressions were a language I was mostly fluent in. The trip back was normal. I drove and we
talked about all of the things we would do at our wedding. The place Liz found was absolutely perfect and Olivia had known it right away.

  Just like I had, the second I stepped out of the car. It was another piece of our fateful puzzle falling into place. Now, we had the radio on and she was humming and singing every once in awhile but otherwise we were pretty quiet. Until her phone buzzed and she smiled.