Taken

Oh Sarah, what was I thinking? I mused, finding her window, lowly lit on the second floor, the balcony glistening in the rain. I love you and he loves you and how in the world is this ever going to make any of us happy? I almost expected her to come out onto the balcony, a modern-day Juliet. Romeo was here, sitting next to me in his Lumina…but who was I? There was no part for me to play here.

A streak of lightning followed a powerful crack of thunder so swiftly they seemed simultaneous. I gasped, clutching at David’s sleeve. Storms always made me both exhilarated and uneasy with their sheer force, but this was so abrupt it more than startled me-I admit it, I panicked.

The rain, which had been slowing a bit, instantly became a deluge, pouring over the windshield like a waterfall. Thunder rumbled again, and another bolt of lightening hit the ground in the middle of the field next to the apartment building. I gasped and jumped again. David instinctively put his arm around me and pulled me closer.

Then the hail started. The angry, tin-roof sound was deafening, and we watched as it hit the windshield and bounced off like ping-pong balls into the parking lot and onto the grass. It was surreal. Another clap of thunder had me whimpering and hiding my face against his shirt. He stroked my wet hair, cradling my head under his chin. He intuitively understood, I think, my reaction to the power of the storm. And I was thinking of Sarah, out in this by herself. Then I realized he probably was, too.

“Shh.” He comforted me, his voice soothing and low. I hadn’t realized until he said something that I was still whimpering. “It’s letting up. It’ll be over soon.” He was right. The deeper sound of the hail was slowing, replaced by the lighter sound of rain. As the storm ebbed, I slowly became aware of his body against mine.

He’d pulled me in tight to comfort me, and we sat thigh to thigh, my cheek resting on his damp shirt. The steady sound of his heartbeat calmed me.

I became aware of a few dark curly hairs framed by the edges of his white button down shirt where he’d undone the top two after taking off his tie-obviously all before I got into the car. I hadn’t noticed before. His hand was still in my hair, and I heard and felt him inhale deeply, breathing in the scent of me. I closed my eyes for a moment and simply let myself feel him, solid and warm, his breathing a little quicker now, his hand moving to my shoulder and squeezing slightly. It felt good. More than that-it felt right.

I tilted my head to look up at him, the outline of his jaw, the curve of his mouth.

He met my eyes and the power of what I saw there made me weaker and more afraid than I’d been a few minutes ago during the storm. I flushed with anticipation and he smiled, his eyes even darker, wolfish in their sudden hunger. How had we gone from me huddling against the door, jealous and petulant and as far away from him as I could get, to this warm and intimate embrace? Ten minutes ago I thought the distance between us was immeasurable. A thunderclap later, I realized, the actual distance was just a tug and slide across the leather seat and the inner distance was really much, much less than that.

Both of us startled when Sarah knocked briefly on the window and continued on to the apartment’s main door. We both quickly and a little guiltily untangled ourselves, and I silently handed his jacket back. I saw Sarah silhouetted in the doorway, waiting for us.

“Still raining. Why don’t you wear it in?” he offered, slipping it around my shoulders. He pulled my hair out from under the collar in a sweeping motion, a sweet and intimate gesture. The feel of his hand brushing against the back of my neck made me close my eyes for a brief second in response.

“Thanks. C’mon, let’s run for it.”

It was still pouring when we opened our respective doors and bolted toward Sarah. We met at the front of the car, and he grabbed my hand mid-run and pulled me, faster, toward our end point. We were both laughing when we reached her, and I doubled over, a sharp stitch in my side, as we crowded in the entryway. Sarah smiled and looked back and forth between us, seeing David search my eyes out as we caught our breath and noting the connection there. In that instant I realized what she’d done, sending me to ride with him, and I marveled at her intuition.

We found our way to her apartment, which was as familiar to me as home now.

Sarah told David to make himself comfortable and we went to change. Her work clothes gave way to a pair of blue sweats and a U of M t-shirt. I noticed she wasn’t wearing a bra, and her nipples were still hard from her run through the rain.