Opposites Attract

by Michelle M. Pillow

  He stood up, not looking pleased. He started towards his car. When they’d gone away from the campsite, she said softly, ‘Ethan, I don’t understand. Where is this coming from?’ Alexis reached for him, touching the side of his face. ‘You’re more to me than a sex toy, you know that. You’re my friend.’

  ‘You’re ashamed of me,’ Ethan said, jerking away. He walked faster in his irritation.

  ‘Ah, wait, slow down. I don’t have shoes on,’ Alexis said. The highway was rough under her feet and a little cool. The evening was nice. The sweat pants she had borrowed from Ethan kept her legs warm, but the T-shirt left her arms a little chilly.

  He didn’t stop walking, but he did slow down. ‘Admit it. That’s what your little temper tantrum was about earlier, wasn’t it? These people, these strangers, looked at us like we could be together and you didn’t like it. You were ashamed that strangers might think you were my girlfriend.’

  ‘But I’m not your girlfriend,’ she said softly. Was she?

  At that he laughed. Licking his lips, he studied the sky. He looked like he wanted to say so many things to her, but in the end he only mumbled, ‘Right.’

  ‘Are you saying you want more?’ Alexis asked. Her breath caught. She prayed he’d say yes.

  ‘What would it take, Alexis? What would it take for me to be acceptable to you? What changes would I have to make? Remove the tattoos? Dye my hair a normal colour? Wear khakis like Ted? Get a cell phone and a regular job with a briefcase?’ Ethan didn’t give her time to answer. He tried to walk away from her. She followed him.

  ‘That’s not fair and you know it. I never asked you to change.’ Alexis tried to grab his arm. He shrugged her off. ‘Hey, what about you? Like you haven’t wanted to change me from the beginning?’

  ‘I was never ashamed to be seen with you,’ he said. ‘I never judged you.’

  ‘What?’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘You judged me that first day. One look at me and you pegged me as a spoiled rich girl.’

  ‘You were a spoiled rich girl,’ Ethan said.

  Alexis took a deep breath. Tears came to her eyes. She stopped walking.

  Ethan took several more steps, cursed and then turned around to face her. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.’

  ‘Yes, you did.’ A tear trailed down her cheek. She hugged her arms around her waist. ‘And you’re right. I have had it easier than most. I’ve had everything money could buy. Growing up all I wanted was someone to tell me they cared for me, even a little. So I’m sorry if I’m shallow. I’m sorry if I don’t get whatever it is everyone else seems to get. But I’m trying to change. And if I seem ashamed of you, well, then maybe on some level I am.’

  Ethan looked away. Alexis wished she could say the words were a lie, but they weren’t. On some level, a level bred into her since birth, she did wish he was different. But if he was different, would she care for him?

  ‘I don’t want to be ashamed of you. I like you. I like being with you. And I am trying, Ethan. If you even saw a glimpse of what it was like to grow up in my world then you would know. You would know how hard it is. You would understand that the only time my mother praised me was when I lived up to her expectations of what I should be. She didn’t want an education for me. She didn’t want me to excel. She wanted me to grow up to be a fashion plate, a vacuous shell who smiled and did what she was told and married well.’

  He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand to stop him.

  ‘You want to know why I don’t write my mother? Her last words to me were to marry a rich husband because I was now on my own. Not I love you. Not I’m sorry I messed up and your personal life is all over the papers. Just to get married to someone who could take me over for her.’ Alexis swiped at her tears. ‘I’d say, out of the two of us, you were the truly privileged one growing up. My home wasn’t like yours. My mother’s love is not unconditional. There are many strings attached and one of those strings is to never date beneath my social status, to never embarrass the Grant family name with disgrace. That is what I’ve been told since I could understand the concept of dating. That is what I’m trying to change.’

  ‘Alexis.’ He reached for her, crossing the distance to get to her. He hugged her to his chest. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so touchy.’

  Alexis soaked in his warmth, clinging to him. It felt so good to just be held.

  ‘What about your father?’ he asked, stroking her hair.

  ‘He was a rich man’s son. My grandparents are just like my mother in mentality. But I like to think he was like me in some small way. I honestly think he married her because he was supposed to. I don’t remember there being a lot of love between my parents. He died when I was five so I never really knew him, but he had a camera he gave me. He loved taking pictures. He told me that as long as I could look at the world like a photograph, hold it still and try to see it for what it is, I would be OK. I didn’t understand, but I think he was trying to tell me to think for myself, judge for myself.’ Alexis pulled back. ‘Until now, I really thought those words to me were just the medicine talking. He wasn’t exactly lucid those last days and then the years after whenever my mother talked about him . . . It just became all distorted.’

  ‘Alexis.’ Ethan cupped her cheek. His mouth opened and he looked at her like he wanted to say many things. She shook her head. There had been enough sharing for one night. This was new emotional ground for her. She needed time.

  ‘Can you understand now? I need your patience. I don’t know how to act in a normal relationship. I don’t know how to show I care. The last serious relationship I remember my mother having ended with her buying the bed and breakfast they stayed at and burning it down after he broke up with her.’ Alexis took a deep breath. ‘And before you, none of my boyfriends had more than ten words to say to me at a time. We were together because it was socially acceptable for us to be together. There was nothing else between any of us. Before now, I didn’t want to slow down and examine my life like a photograph because then I would’ve had to admit it was empty.’

  ‘Are calling me your boyfriend?’ he asked, pulling back enough to study her face. He swiped her tears with his thumb, trying to get her to smile with his look.

  ‘I feel like I’m in seventh grade,’ she said, rolling her eyes. Then, in a slightly self-deprecating tone she asked, ‘Ethan James, will you be my boyfriend?’

  ‘Yes,’ he whispered.

  Alexis gasped, instantly smiling through her self-pity. ‘Really? You’re not just trying to get me to shut up? I feel like I’m unloading all this personal junk on you.’

  ‘If I wanted to get you to shut up, I’d just do this,’ he said, right before he kissed her. Alexis moaned, pulling his body closer to hers. Slowly, he walked backwards, taking her with him as he neared his car. ‘I know this isn’t the most romantic spot, but are you still interested in . . . ah . . . relieving my tension?’

  ‘What do you mean not romantic?’ Alexis laughed lightly, feeling so much better. She looked up at the sky, so filled with stars. It was something she’d never see in New York City. The moon shone lightly on the snow caps of distant peaks. Then, she looked at Ethan’s face. ‘There is no place I’d rather be right now than here. With you.’

  ‘I care for you, Alexis. If you need to take it slow, we’ll take it slow. Take all the time you need.’ Ethan kissed her. They reached the car. He pulled back, looking around.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I don’t have the keys.’ He patted his sweats. ‘They’re in my jeans.’

  ‘Hum, well, you know, nobody can see us from the campsite.’ Alexis pulled away from him and walked around to the trunk of his car. Slowly, she pulled on her waistband, pushing the sweats down over her legs to reveal her black thong panties. As she bent directly over, Ethan touched her hip. He groaned lightly, pushing his arousal against her body. Standing back up, she let her butt caress his erection.

  Alexis walked away from him and tossed the sweats on the t
runk. She pulled off her thong and dangled it in the air. Leaning against his car, she wiggled the finger holding the panties at him.

  ‘Someone might drive by.’ Ethan glanced down the empty highway.

  ‘I’m willing to take that chance.’ Alexis dropped the panties on the trunk and slipped a spaghetti strap off her shoulder. Looking him in the eyes, she pulled it down, freeing a breast. ‘Come here.’

  Alexis wrapped her arms around him. Sitting on his car, she pulled him close, kissing him passionately. The moonlight made their skin glow with a blue light. Insects hummed in the nearby woods. She was caressed by cool air, only to be warmed by his hands. The sensation brought back the memory of his delectable ice-cube torture.

  She moaned softly, letting him hear what he did to her. Her legs wrapped around his waist. His hands ran over her hip, her waist, her exposed breasts. When he pulled back, a provocative smile lined his lips.

  ‘You’re so beautiful,’ he said.

  Alexis moaned again, pulling his lips back to hers. A great urgency welled inside her. She wanted him, needed to feel him inside her now. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t pull her lips away from him. His kisses were like a drug she couldn’t get enough of. She wanted to drink of him, inject him into her veins until the euphoria she felt when he was near never left her. Her body was wet, hot, needy, and he stroked the fire between her thighs, dipping his fingers to find the buried pearl within the slick folds of her sex. Frantically, Alexis pulled at his clothes, not really succeeding in stripping him so much as relaying the urgency she felt to be with him.

  The cool, hard metal of the car pressed against her butt, almost making her shiver as it contrasted with the heat of his flesh. Her legs were opened to him, her body ready. She couldn’t stop now, not until he filled her.

  Alexis angled her body, as she freed his arousal from his sweats. She wrapped her fingers around his heavy length, stroking along his shaft several times. Ethan gasped, pulling his lips from hers.

  ‘Ah, stop,’ he said, his words close to a groan.

  Alexis’s body jerked in protest. He couldn’t stop now. She needed him too badly.

  ‘The condoms are locked in the trunk. I need my keys,’ he said, his voice hoarse. ‘I’ll have to sneak back to the camp and get them.’

  ‘I need you.’ She kissed him, light sprinkling presses to his lips and cheeks. She had her shots and they’d already had unprotected sex. Her fingers gripped his shoulders. ‘I can’t wait. I want you inside of me.’

  Ethan’s expression was torn between his desire and his logic. He glanced over her shoulder then down her wiggling body. He started to pull away. His hands gripped her hips, kneading her. His arousal was still out of his sweats where she’d left it.

  Alexis knew she was being foolish, but didn’t care. Nothing seemed to matter out here in this world. The passion inside her overwhelmed all reason. Staring at his shaft, she licked her lips with slow meaning. The potency of her look was not lost. She braced her feet on the bumper and spread her legs wide. Leaning back, she arched her back over his trunk. She massaged her breasts, jerking at her camisole to free the second breast. Pinching her nipples, she thrust her hips up and down as he watched. She slid her hand between her thighs. Her voice nearing a small, playful pout, she said, ‘I’m so wet for you, Ethan, so hot. I want you to take me, right here, right now, just like this. I want to feel your flesh inside me with nothing between us. I want how it felt that time in Kansas. Your hard shaft, so hot, so stiff, so alive, taking me.’

  ‘Alexis –’

  ‘Don’t you want to feel how wet I am for you? How hot?’ She shot him her most coy look. Her thighs moved back and forth. The cool mountain air did nothing to dry the cream dampening her body for him. If anything, seducing him like this turned her on more. She sat up, bracing herself back with one arm and holding his shoulder with the other. Taking him in hand, she knew he was close to losing his sanity. His shaft was filled to the point of explosion. ‘Don’t you like the way my body feels when there’s nothing between us?’ She squeezed him firmly in her hand. ‘Don’t your nerves scream to feel every inch of my wet body clamping around you?’

  Ethan groaned and she knew by the look on his face he couldn’t refuse her offer. Hastily, as if coming to a great decision, he said, ‘I’ll pull out.’

  Alexis nodded in agreement. Ethan stood before her. He had to pull her hips off the end of the trunk. The position wasn’t the most comfortable, but the urgent need raging inside her was more important than comfort. Repositioning her legs, they managed to come together.

  Ethan thrust, filling her up. The feel of flesh to flesh was definitely different than the condom. It was more intimate, more real.

  ‘Ah, damn,’ he whispered, holding himself deep. His body shuddered and he took a concentrated breath. ‘You are hot.’

  Alexis giggled at the awe in his voice. ‘Take me, Ethan. You feel so good.’

  Ethan moved, doing most of the work as he took her in heated thrusts. His body trapped her to the car. With each push of his hips, her fingers were jolted against her clit, building the pleasure within. She felt like she was falling off, but his strength kept her on.

  ‘Damn,’ he said, his whispers drawn out as he moved inside her. ‘I just want to stay like this for ever.’

  Alexis felt great pleasure at his words. At the awkward angle it was hard to reach up and kiss him, so she reached briefly to cup his cheek with her palm before bracing her weight once more. She let her head fall back on her shoulders. The starry night surrounded them with its breathtaking splendour. Ethan’s hard breathing mingled with hers. She felt so free, as if telling Ethan about her problems had lifted a weight off her chest.

  ‘Ah,’ he said, ‘I can’t hold back much longer.’

  He thrust a few more times before she climaxed. Her body tensed and her toes curled. Ethan bit his lip, thrusting a few more times, giving her a full release before he pulled himself out and spilled his seed on the ground.

  Alexis closed her eyes, nearly slipping off the trunk of the car. Ethan caught her as her feet landed on the ground. She laughed softly. Then, seeing a bright light in the distance, growing bigger each passing second, she gasped, ‘Car.’

  Ethan glanced over his shoulder before looking around. They were dishevelled in the middle of the road. There was no place to hide. The trees were too far to run to and even if they chanced it, they’d most likely hurt themselves in the dark woods.

  ‘Hide,’ Ethan said, pushing her to the side of the car. He was still dressed, so all he had to do was pull up his sweats. She ducked along the side, pulling her clothes off the trunk with him. Alexis adjusted her shirt. ‘I think they’ll pass.’

  Alexis peeked up, holding really still. The headlights grew bigger. Whoever it was, they weren’t driving very fast.

  ‘Shit,’ Ethan cursed. ‘They’re slowing down. Don’t move.’

  He stood, smiling. Alexis tried to hide herself along the car, struggling in the dark to pull the sweatpants on her legs.

  ‘You a’right?’ some guy called from the car.

  ‘Yeah, just a flat. No big deal,’ Ethan said. Alexis got the pants on and stood, pushing back her hair. A woman propped her arm on the pickup’s window and the man driving leaned over her to study them. The truck was new and she saw the faint impression of a rifle in the window.

  ‘Not much around these here parts,’ the man said. ‘I give you a hand?’

  ‘No jack,’ Ethan said, motioning helplessly.

  ‘We got a jack, don’t we, Slim?’ the woman said. ‘Get on out there and help this nice couple out.’

  Slim audibly sighed, but nodded his head. Alexis looked at Ethan in horror as the truck pulled up alongside the road.

  ‘Ethan?’ she said, frantic. ‘They have a gun.’

  He nodded. ‘Hunting rifle. People hunt this area quite a bit.’

  ‘It’s still a gun,’ Alexis insisted.

  ‘Shh, don’t worry. The campsite is nearby.
I want you to run and get my car keys out of my jeans. Wake up Ted.’

  ‘Ethan, no, I –’

  ‘Shh.’ He cupped her face. Then, holding up her panties, he said, ‘Take these with you.’

  Alexis gave a short laugh despite her fear and grabbed her panties from him. She balled them in her fist. ‘I’ll hurry.’

  Alexis took off running, nodding only slightly to the woman as she got out of the car. She glanced at the truck. The gun was still on the rack. Her heart beat faster. Suddenly the beautiful mountain night seemed the thing of horror movies. By the time she got to the campsite, she was frantic with fear.

  She shook Ted awake gently, motioning him to follow. He yawned, sleepily rubbing his eyes. Alexis dug Ethan’s car keys out of his pocket. They left Susan asleep by the campfire. As they made their way the quarter-mile back up the road, Alexis said, ‘Ethan and I were talking by the car. Some people stopped and they’re going to help fix the flat.’

  ‘Now?’ Ted asked, yawning. ‘It’s the middle of the night.’

  ‘They, ah, didn’t really give us a choice,’ Alexis said, wringing her hands as she walked faster to get back to Ethan. She heard a laugh. The sound cackled strangely and she knew it wasn’t Ethan. Softly, she added, ‘They have a rifle in their truck.’

  At that news Ted seemed to wake up. He pushed Alexis behind him. ‘Get back to the camp.’

  ‘No,’ Alexis protested. They were close to the car.

  Before Ted could insist, Ethan said, ‘There you are. Got the keys?’

  Alexis relaxed to hear his voice. Ted assessed the situation and then turned to frown slightly at her. She bit her lip. Perhaps she had judged too quickly. The woman stood on the side of the road holding lug nuts in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Ethan and Slim loosened the flat. Alexis shot Ted an apologetic look as she gave Ethan the keys. He popped the trunk and pulled out their bags with Ted’s help and got out the flat tyre.

  ‘Which way ya’ll headin’?’ Slim asked.

  ‘New Mexico next,’ Ethan said. ‘But ultimately California.’