Stirred Up

by Isabel Morin

  “You are a camping god,” she declared.

  They sat side by side in front of the fire, eating in near silence as the sun rose fully into the sky, warming them until they shed their outer layers. Before long they both groaned and sat back in their seats.

  “Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to have before climbing,” he said. “I don’t know how I’m going to haul myself up a cliff.”

  “I don’t regret it,” Cheryl declared, licking her spoon yet again. There was no way even a drop of syrup remained anywhere in her vicinity, but she couldn’t seem to stop trying.

  He looked away, the sight of her licking her lips nearly killing him. How did she not know she was making him crazy? Then again, everything about her drove him crazy.

  Eventually they motivated and hiked out to another route he thought she’d like, putting on their gear and touching each other as if it meant nothing. It took all Jason’s willpower to act indifferent, and he could only hope it would get easier with time.

  “Now those I’m not scared of,” Cheryl laughed, pulling out her camera to get a shot of a pair of burros chomping on the sparse desert scrub.

  They got back to camp a little after noon and packed up the campsite. Jason threw the last of the equipment into the back of the jeep and they both looked around one last time before heading out of the park.

  “You all right?” he asked her, a little while later.

  They’d been driving for about fifteen minutes and she seemed to have gotten more introspective, her hands clasped in her lap as she looked out the window.

  “I’m fine,” she said, but her expression belied her words. “I just…I don’t know. Part of me doesn’t want to go back to my life just yet. I kind of like just eating, sleeping, and hanging around outside. It’s so much simpler.”

  “I know what you mean. It’s like you’re presented with an alternate view of what life could be. There are times when I’m camping and I think about leaving all my worldly possessions behind and living off the land in some cabin in the middle of nowhere.” He laughed. “Obviously I’ve never done it, but I get a taste of it whenever I go camping or hiking. It’s not all or nothing. That kind of peace is always there for you.”

  “That’s really nice,” she said, glancing at him. “Maybe we could do this again,” she said, hesitant.

  As if he’d ever refuse her.

  “You’d better believe it,” he replied, and was rewarded with a smile that stole his breath.

  He pulled up to her apartment soon after, but neither one of them moved from the car. He knew without a doubt she was thinking about last night in his tent. That porcelein skin of hers didn’t lie, and she was blushing right in front of his eyes. She looked like she might say something, but then she just sighed and got out. He followed suit, grabbing her bag from the back seat.

  “See you on Tuesday,” he said, the bland statement conveying nothing of what he felt.

  “I’ll see you,” she said.

  Then she stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek, hurrying away before he managed a coherent thought.

  ***

  Cheryl stood under the hot spray of the shower for long enough that her conscience spoke up and reminded her she lived in the desert and really shouldn’t be taking twenty-minute showers. But it felt so good, and even though it had only been one full day of camping, she felt like she’d been away from civilization for much longer. Plus she was filthy.

  As the water ran down her body, she let her mind drift to last night in Jason’s tent. She’d wanted it, right up until the second she didn’t. If only they didn’t have such insane chemistry. He was turning out to be a good friend, one she wanted to keep, but keeping their hands off each other wasn’t going to be easy. Then again, remembering their argument had been a pretty effective mood killer.

  She needed to tell someone what happened before she went crazy, so she hopped out of the shower and dried off. She and Beth had been playing phone tag all week, but hopefully this time she’d get through. Flopping down on the couch she dialed her friend’s number.

  “Thank God,” Beth answered. “You’ll notice I refused to leave another message last time I called. I was beginning to think you’d found someone else.”

  “You’re so dramatic,” Cheryl said, already smiling.

  “Maybe, but that’s just because my life is so predictable and un-dramatic. I’m over-compensating.”

  “You’ll appreciate my latest drama then. Though I didn’t intend for there to be drama. I just wanted to get out of town.”

  “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, but I’ve made things with Jason even more complicated than they were.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, for starters I accidentally crawled into his lap in the middle of the night, and before I knew it we were both almost naked and about a second away from what I’m sure would have been mind-bending sex.”

  “Start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out.”

  So Cheryl told her. Beth interrupted a time or two for clarification, like when she wanted to know what all the howling was about, but by the time Cheryl got to Jason climbing on top of her, all she could say was “hot damn” and “lord have mercy.”

  “And then he put on his sneakers and took off running and I went back to my tent,” Cheryl finished.

  Silence.

  “Beth? Are you still there?”

  “I’m here. I’m just astonished. And kind of turned on, if you must know. Your fifteen minutes in a tent was hotter than all the sex Jeff and I’ve had put together.”

  “Have you tried that book I mentio–”

  “Never mind about that. We’ll worry about my boring sex life another time. What happened after he took off?”

  “It was all pretty civilized, actually. He came back from his run and apologized, and I told him I was sorry for climbing on top of him in the middle of the night.”

  She sighed. She’d been relieved at how great he’d been at the time, but she could admit now that she’d also felt oddly let down. Which made no sense when she was the one who’d put the brakes on. “I think we’re on the same page about just being friends.”

  “Are you sure about that? I mean, the guy is obviously hot for you.”

  “We’re both hot for each other, we’re just not going to do anything about it. He seemed fine with it.”

  “I see,” Beth replied, her doubt obvious. “Are you going to keep hanging outside of work?”

  “Well, yeah. I mean, if he still wants to.” Her stomach clenched at the thought that maybe he’d change his mind and decide it wasn’t worth the trouble. “Except for last night, it hasn’t been a problem. He’s been a good friend to me, and I don’t want to lose that.”

  “Well, I’m impressed with how he handled himself. There are plenty of guys who would be huge dicks in the same situation.”

  “I know. He’s a good guy. Most of the time,” she amended, since the one time she’d really needed him to be a good guy, he’d let her down. “But enough about me. How are things with Jeff? Will he be coming to Thanksgiving?”

  “That’s partly why I’ve been trying to get a hold of you,” Beth said, hesitating. “I’m spending Thanksgiving with Jeff’s family in Indiana this year.”

  “Wow, that’s great,” Cheryl forced out, trying not to let on how thrown she was.

  She’d been spending Thanksgiving with Beth’s family since she’d moved in with them ten years ago, and she’d always assumed the holiday would always be like that. But she and Beth had their own lives now, and it would be selfish to wish otherwise.

  “You don’t mind?” Beth asked. “I was so nervous about telling you. My parents aren’t too pleased, but they told me to tell you they’re depending on you to come and quote, ‘brighten things up.’”

  Harvey and Sandy Levine had taken her in when she’d been desperate and scared and they’d never let her down. Still, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to make the trip t
o Ohio if Beth wasn’t going to be there. It just wouldn’t be the same.

  “You and Jeff must be getting pretty serious.”

  “Maybe, I don’t know,” Beth said, sounding flustered. “But his parents invited me and it would mean a lot to him if I went.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be great. You’ll learn a lot meeting his family.”

  “Maybe, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.”

  “Are you still coming here for Christmas?” Cheryl asked.

  “Of course I am! I told Jeff months ago that I was visiting you for the holiday. Obviously my parents won’t care. They’ll be off on a cruise with all the other middle-class Jews of the nation.”

  “I’ve already booked our spa day for the twenty-fourth. We’re set for massages, mani-pedis, the works. Let’s just hope I pass the Praxis exam, or I’m not going to be very good company.”

  “When are you taking it?”

  “December sixteenth.”

  “Plenty of time to study between now and then. You’ll do fine.”

  They talked for a few minutes more before Cheryl told her she needed to get cracking on her work for the coming week’s classes.

  “Promise you’ll call if anything out of the ordinary happens?” Beth asked.

  “Nothing’s going to happen.”

  “Fine. But swear it anyway.”

  “Yes, I swear,” Cheryl said, laughing. “Now go get that sex book I told you about.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Sara seems to be doing better,” Jason said.

  Friday’s third period class had just let out, and Sara had smiled at them and left the room with a friend.

  “I know. I’m really impressed her parents did such a good job. Having Tim move in with his older cousin was a great solution.”

  “You must be relieved,” he said.

  Cheryl nodded, suddenly unable to speak. She was thrilled with how things had worked out for Sara, she just wished the girl’s situation wasn’t such a painful reminder of how lousy her own mother had been.

  “You okay?” Jason asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

  She tried to ignore how good it felt to be touched by him, how comforting and yet ultra-aware it made her.

  “I’m fine,” she said, smiling at him. “It’s exactly what I was hoping for.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure,” he said, still sounding a bit doubtful. “On a totally unrelated note, are you up for climbing again tomorrow? We could either go to the gym, or do something outside again.”

  “That would be great,” she said, ignoring the warning voice in her head. “I’d love to get outside.”

  “Great. We can head back to Red Rock, but I was thinking this time we could go bouldering.”

  “I have no idea what that means.”

  Jason laughed, his eyes warming on hers until she felt her skin flush. She swallowed and commanded herself not to feel anything.

  “It just means we’d climb around on rocks without having to be hooked into a line,” Jason explained. “I think you’ll like it. But I’ll bring equipment for belaying too, so we can do whatever we feel like.”

  “Sounds great,” she said, trying to scale back the huge smile that was threatening to take over her face.

  She made sure to be ready when Jason picked her up the next morning. It was a typical mid-November day, cloudless and in the mid-sixties, just right for playing outside. They drove the now-familiar route to Red Rock Park, but this time Jason took them to a new area.

  “We lucked out last week, having the place mostly to ourselves,” he said, nodding at the handful of cars parked nearby. “But this place is big enough that it won’t matter.”

  They made their way to an unoccupied area and climbed around at the base of one of the cliffs. The wind had eroded the various areas of the park in totally different ways, leaving some of the rock faces with horizontal striations, others smooth and rounded. Between the differences wrought by the wind and the variations in color from dun to deep red, each route they tried required a different approach and technique.

  Heading towards a different section of rock they passed a group of several climbers mid-way up the face of a sheer cliff wall. Cheryl stopped and watched, wondering what it must feel like to be able to do something like that. Jason came up beside her and followed her gaze.

  “There’s nothing like it,” he said, sounding wistful.

  “You mean you’ve done that sort of thing before?” she asked.

  “Sure. I climbed this last fall with Evan. It’s tough, but it looks worse from here. There are actually more technically challenging routes in the park.”

  “If you say so,” she said, but she wasn’t looking up at the climbers anymore. Her gaze had strayed to Jason’s body, taking in those long, rugged muscles, which she knew firsthand were as hard as they looked.

  Beneath his mellow exterior lay a man with a serious will and determination, not to mention discipline and confidence. And no wonder. If you could handle whatever came your way, there was no need to be anxious or worried. Maybe if she kept on climbing, she’d achieve his Zen-like demeanor.

  Then again, he wasn’t so Zen-like last Saturday night. Not until he’d gone for a twenty-minute run.

  She put that thought out of her mind.

  “If you keep climbing, you’ll be able to do it, too,” Jason said.

  She laughed, but Jason didn’t join in.

  “You just have to believe in yourself, Cheryl. The rest is just practice and guts. You have no problem with either of those.”

  Cheryl’s mouth fell open and she stared at him, amazed that anyone would think that about her. But he was already moving on, his gaze trained on their next challenge.

  ***

  Jason sat across the table from Cheryl, trying not to think about how incredible she looked, windblown and glowing from their climb, or how her shirt clung to her breasts. They were both hot from exertion, but she was radiant, lit up from a sense of accomplishment.

  “That was amazing,” she said between gulps of water. “I always thought of myself as really wimpy, but it turns out I’m totally not.”

  “Cheryl, you’re about the least wimpy person I know. Everything you do, you do head-on.”

  “Huh.” She frowned down at her Cobb salad. “I suppose that might be true. I guess I’ve just always hated how scared I feel being on my own and everything. I probably overcompensate for it by acting like nothing gets to me.”

  “Whatever works, right?” he said.

  She just looked at him then, her skin flushing like she was thinking something she shouldn’t be. He’d give a kidney to know what was going through her mind right now, but maybe he was better off not knowing. It was hard enough keeping his cool without reading her thoughts.

  “So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?” he asked.

  Real smooth segue there.

  “I’m not sure,” Cheryl said, grimacing. “Most years I go back to Ohio and celebrate with my friend Beth, but this year she’s spending Thanksgiving with her boyfriend’s family in Indiana. Her parents still want me to come, but I think I’m going to skip it.”

  He’d asked the question because it seemed like a safe topic of conversation, but when someone didn’t have much in the way of family, that was probably a dumb assumption.

  “So you don’t have any other plans?” he asked, determined to get to the bottom of it. As much as the holidays might drive him crazy, the idea of Cheryl not having a place to go was unacceptable.

  “We’ll see,” she said, shrugging a shoulder like it was no big deal. “Some of the girls from the club are getting together for a meal, so maybe I’ll do that.”

  His expression must have changed at this, since she smirked at him.

  “Whatever you’re thinking, just wipe it right out of your brain.”

  “I wasn’t,” he protested, but it was halfhearted at best. “What about Emily and Cutter? You seem close with them.”

  “Cutter and Emily
are going to Boston. Cutter’s never met any of her family, and they want to get that over with before the wedding. Lisa doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Apparently some Native Americans don’t feel real festive about the beginning of the end.”

  “When you put it like that, it sort of seems like none of us should be celebrating. Maybe we should just boycott it.”

  “Hmm. What do you think your mom would say to that?” she asked, one eyebrow shooting up in amusement.

  He lost track of what she was saying for a second. A raised eyebrow shouldn’t make him hard. No woman should have that kind of power over him.

  He shifted in his seat and found his way back to their conversation.

  “Probably that we could discuss it over turkey.”

  They chomped away at their meal for another minute or two.

  “You should come with me,” he said.

  “Come with you where?”

  “To my parents’ house for Thanksgiving. It’s close by, the food is good, the company is mostly bearable, and I would have a much better time with you there.”

  “I don’t know. Won’t they think we’re, you know…”

  He laughed as she started to blush again.

  “How is it that a woman who strips for a living can blush as much as you do? Don’t answer that, it was a rhetorical question.” He sat back and crossed his arms. “I’ll tell them I’m bringing a colleague. As long as you keep your hands off me, they won’t think anything.”

  “Really?” she asked, looking doubtful.

  “Well, no,” he admitted. “I can’t bring someone like you home without them wondering, but they’ll just assume I want to date you and that you’re not interested.” Too bad for him that was actually the truth. He cleared his throat. “Just think about it.” He looked at her, eyes narrowed. “But don’t over-think it.”

  “Okay, I’ll think about it a little bit,” she said, a teasing glint in her eye as she reached over to grab one of his corn chips.

  ***

  Cheryl stood in front of her closet, staring at her clothes and wishing she hadn’t agreed to spend Thanksgiving with Jason’s family. She wasn’t good with families, especially boyfriends’ families.