© Copyright 2011 

All work is property of Leah Crichton, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.

 Loquacious: (low-kwey-shus)

talking too much or too freely

excessive chatter

The next morning I rushed around like a lunatic, trying to decide what one should wear sailing. Since I had never been sailing, I was at a loss. I thought Orion would have found it as ridiculous as the fact that I'd never been skating, but instead he'd held his arms out and grinned widely. “The world is yours for the taking, Tiger, so what are you waiting for? Just take it.” 

I settled on black cargo pants and a red and white striped t-shirt. I thought it was nautical, and I added a black military style cap. I inspected my reflection, deciding it wouldn't get much better than this, and approved. I headed to the kitchen and found Luke making pancakes with an open book on the counter.

I grabbed the orange juice from the fridge. “What’cha reading?”

“A book about Plato.”

 The philosopher guy?”

“Yep. Exactly. Very interesting.” He flipped a pancake, again without looking up from his book.

“Interesting, ha. You need to get out more.”

He raised his eyes, spatula in hand. “Pancake?” he asked, ignoring my razzing.

“Please.”

I sat at the table, drank my orange juice, and watched Luke alternate from reading to cooking. Every now and then he would take a few of the pancakes and put them in a tray in the oven, which was set high enough to keep them warm. “Here.” He put a plate in front of me. On it were two blueberry pancakes shaped perfectly to make an ‘I’ and a ‘Q’. I laughed. My Dad always made special shaped pancakes for us when we were little. Luke was trying to keep up with tradition.

“Thanks.”

He put a pancake on his own plate and sat. “What are your plans for the day?”

I debated lying. Luke didn't like Orion, but I did; surely he could understand that. In the end, the truth won on my moral measurement scale. “Orion is taking me sailing.”

Luke looked disgusted. “Ugh. Why do you insist on hanging around that guy?”

“Maybe the same reason you insist on judging him,” I said with a mouthful of pancake and syrup. "He is a really nice guy.” I left out the fact that he was a really nice guy with a really bad temper.

“I don’t like you being around him.”

“Luke.” The way I said his name reminded me of someone scolding a child. “You’ve no legitimate reason to feel that way. He has never done anything to you.”

“Maybe not, but I’ve heard stuff about him. None of it too good.”

“I object.” I held up my hand like we were in court. “Hearsay.”

“Well, whatever, I.Q.  I guess you’ll have to find out for yourself.” He stuffed his mouth full of food to avoid saying anything else that might start a fight.

“I guess so.” I stood up and put my dishes in the dishwasher. Walking back, I stopped and kissed the top of Luke’s head, trying to lighten the tension between us. “Thanks for the pancakes and the concern, even though it’s not necessary.”

“Uh-huh. See you later.”

“Tell Mom I won’t be too late.”

“Yeah, sure.”  He buried his face back in his book.

I went to the front porch and waited for the familiar sight of Orion’s Audi. Time taunted me, stretching out my anticipation; minutes seemed like hours, and seconds seemed like minutes. I decided I would follow Luke’s lead and read a book. I retrieved one from my room. Orion still wasn’t there when I came out, so I sat on the porch swing and stared at the words, wishing they would be more than dots of ink on a page.

Snickers curled himself at my feet and took in the sun. I'd read the same paragraph at least ten times when I heard the deep drone of the engine as it made its way up our gravel driveway. My heart raced in my chest waiting for its reward, which was received as soon as Orion stepped out of the car. He was wearing cargo shorts and a white cotton button up shirt and looked downright incredible. “Hey you.” He grinned and walked up the stairs.

Snickers stood and began to snarl, baring his teeth at my guest. Orion hardly even looked at him, but I was shocked.

“Snickers,” I said firmly, “knock it off.”

The dog continued to growl, trying to make like he was ready to tear Orion from limb to limb. Orion hardly flinched.

I grabbed onto his collar and tugged as hard as I could, trying to show him I wasn't fooling around. “Snickers,” I repeated. “Smarten up.”

Snickers was almost always a good dog, but he wasn’t listening to me at all.  I dragged him to the house, forced him inside, and shut the door. “Sorry about my dog, he’s not usually like that. I don’t know what got into him.”

Orion came up the stairs and tucked a few strands of loose hair under my cap, holding the brim with his free hand. “Your dog is possessive of you. Are you ready?”

I'd never seen Snickers like that but there was no point in saying it. “Ready,” I told him instead.

The Marina was busy and once we found parking, Orion collected a few things from behind the driver's seat, including a small duffel bag. As he walked, the sun peeked through the light fabric of his shirt and I could see the muscles in his back strain and relax as he moved. I wondered what it might feel like to run my hands down them and was more than a little lost in a daydream when he turned and gestured to a gigantic boat.

“Here we are.” 

It was at least forty feet long and its owner clearly took great pride in it. On the side, emblazoned in soft blue letters, was the name Amaranthine.

I didn't try to hide my admiration. “Wow. It's impressive. Amaranthine. What does that mean?”

“I think it means unfading, undying, endlessly, something like that. Why?”

“I didn't expect you to actually know.” I chuckled. “Aren't boats typically named marine-related stuff, you know, like Sea Maiden, Ocean Gem, those kind of things?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Suppose we could look around and see if you’d like.”

I dismissed him with a wave of my hand. Time was precious and I didn't want to waste any of it reading names on boats when we could be alone together again. “I like this boat; I think it’s beautiful.”

I climbed the stairs to the main deck, but waves rocked the water and threw me off balance.  I gasped as I fell back, right into his arms. “Don’t hurt yourself.” He echoed the exact same words he had spoken to me the first time I’d ever seen him. “You wouldn’t be very good company.” He kept the duffel bag in one hand and hoisted me up with the other so I could grab the railing. “Here.”

I smirked, satisfied, thinking I should fall more often.

Aside from Orion himself, the open water was more beautiful than anything I'd seen in my life. It didn't hurt that mountains towered in the distance and the sun scorched overhead. The day couldn't have been more perfect.

Once he no longer needed to navigate the massive boat he came to the bow and sat next to me. “So what do you think?”

“It’s so pretty.”

“You're prettier.”

I knit my brows together and looked away. Orion nudged my shoulder with his own. “What?”

“Sometimes being with you makes me feel ordinary.”

“Hmph,” he said. “Ordinary, no. Extraordinary, yes.”

“I don't get it, how you can feel—” I began, but he interrupted me.

“People often don’t understand why they feel the things they do. It’s what makes human emotion so complex. I gave up a long time ago trying to understand or reason with anything. I just let how I feel lead me. You should try it sometime, Tiger.” He winked. “Just go with things, stop asking so many questions.”

“I like answers.”
“Okay, fine, so drive us both crazy asking your questions then.”

“Only one. Then I’ll try things your way.”

“Deal,” he said. “Shoot.” 

“How do you feel?” It was bold. Too bold, maybe, but I wanted to know; I wanted more than anything to know if he felt the same way I did. If I was the only one who was falling in love, I wanted to stop it before I got hurt, before I allowed anything to go further than it already had.

“I feel many things. Happy, angry, sad, content, joyful, melancholy.”

“I meant about me.” I rushed my words, hoping maybe he would sense how hard this was.

He sensed it because his features darkened and his face took on a firm expression. “I feel free for the first time in a long time.”

“Free from what?” Okay, so it was more than one question.  

“From an otherwise mind numbing existence. You make me feel like I’m living again, not just being alive.” He searched my face for my reaction. “How about you?”

It was now or never, to tell him everything or nothing at all. “I feel scared.”

He furrowed his brow. “I don’t want you to be afraid.”

“No, not of you. I’m scared that this is all too good to be true, Orion. Girls like me, we dream of guys like you. It isn’t ever supposed to happen, at least not in real life.”

“Why shouldn’t it happen?” He leaned closer. “Besides, you really give me too much credit, or you don't give yourself enough. I’m guessing both.”

“I’m not saying it shouldn’t. I’m just saying it doesn’t. I don’t know,” I sighed, fidgeting. This was harder than I thought it would be.

“What about me?” 

“What about you?”

“You seem to think that you are so lucky to have met me.  What if guys like me don’t get to meet girls like you, huh? You act as though I am something special, when truly, I am not.”

“But you are.”

“You’re from Churchill, Manitoba,” he said. “It’s not like you’ve had a lot of choices so far.” I opened my mouth to say something, but he continued. “You can’t even argue because you know I speak the truth. What was there, like, ten people at your school before? I don't even have to work very hard to be particularly impressive.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Two hundred.” 

“Oh,” he joked, making his eyes wide. “A whole two hundred people.  How did you ever manage?”

“Side tracking,” I said. 

“Yeah I am, because I don’t like this conversation, so let’s agree to disagree.  I think I’m the lucky one, you think you are, I think we should just both consider ourselves lucky, how about that? Sound good?” He turned to fumble through the bag he brought, producing all sorts of mouth-watering food.

I wanted to keep talking to him but decided against it for the time being. “It looks delicious,” I said, changing the subject.

“Mmmm.”

“Mmmm?” 

“I was just thinking the exact same thing.”

“Yes, the food looks really good.” 

The side of his lip pulled skyward and he reminded me of my Dad's velvet Elvis for a second. “I wasn’t talking about the food. I meant you.”

I laughed. “I look delicious?”

“Exactly.” He grabbed my face and pulled me close to him. “Delicious.” His lips were on mine in an instant and I melted under their heat, but it only lasted for a moment. He pulled away after only a fleeting kiss, leaving me desperately wanting more. His lips started the usual trail down my throat, across my shoulders. My body arched in response toward his and he took it as an invitation for more. His arm slid around my waist and he pulled until I was underneath him. His body was over mine but he rested himself on one arm, careful not to place his full weight on mine. With his free hand he stroked my hair, which was now loose from the cap I wore. “Let's have some fun.”

“I'm having fun.” 

“Can you swim?”

“Um... yeah, I think. I mean, I used to, but I haven’t tried since the accident.”

He grabbed my hand, pulled me up, and led me to the edge of the boat. “Let’s find out.”

I gaped at him and pointed. “There are fish in there.” The uncertainty if I could actually swim or not was the farthest thing from my mind. I could swim in a pool where the closest threat was the three year old toddler sharing the water.

“Well, yeah, the ocean is usually where you’ll find them.”

“But there are very big fish in there.” I hesitated. I didn’t want to be bait. “My skin is pale, like a freakin' beacon for Jaws.”

He laughed straight from his belly. “You’re a Tiger, right? I’ll put my money on you.” He winked.

“I’m not so sure. I don’t think the ocean is a Tiger’s natural environment. Besides, big blue there’s got one up on me. It has tiger sharks. Twice as deadly.”

“Ah, come on. I would never let anything hurt you. Ever. I promise, we’ll do it together, okay?” His hand squeezed mine. 

My stomach knotted, but I wanted to please him. “Okay.”

He didn't count to three. He pulled me off the side of the boat and plunged into the deep water below. My irrational fears dissolved as we swam, until something slimy brushed across my leg. I screamed and Orion was beside me in a heartbeat, ready to fend off my would-be attacker. “It was probably a minnow,” he teased. “But your lips are turning blue. We should get back to the boat.”

He lifted me up ahead of him and mumbled something about his view. Back on the boat he handed me a pile of dry clothes. “I brought extra, just in case.”

“In case you decided to jump in the water?”

“I always try to plan ahead. You can change in the lower cabin.” He pointed to the stairs leading down.

I followed his instructions and went to change. As I peeled the drenched clothes from my body, I noted the attire Orion provided did not have much of a wow factor. A white tee shirt which fit like a dress, and grey sweats that were at least a foot too long. Thankfully they had a drawstring waist. If not, I would have had to tie a rope around them just to keep them up. I emerged and lay my clothes out flat to catch the remaining afternoon sun, hoping they would dry. I noted that he'd changed too. He was in a white tee shirt just like the one he had brought for me, with drawstring cotton pants. He pulled off the look far better than I did.

“A little big, huh?” He looked amused when he saw me. “It’s the smallest thing I could find.”

“At least it's dry.” I lifted up the tee shirt enough to show him the bunched fabric at the waist. “I need to eat a sandwich or two.”

He smiled. “Sorry. I kind of forgot you were so tiny, I guess. I should have brought something smaller.”

“I’m not that small.”

He strutted toward me with his chest puffed like a peacock until there wasn’t so much as an inch of personal space between us. He looked down at me to prove his point. “Yes. You are small. Fragile even.”

Taking a move straight out of Luke's playbook, I curled a bicep and pretended to kiss it. “This is not fragile,” I proclaimed. “This is something else. I am sturdier than you’re giving me credit for. Orion, I am a survivor.”

He was amused, but then grew serious. “You aren’t that sturdy, Tiger. You just don't realize it.”

If there was any point to this conversation, I'd missed it. “I know you well enough to know you’re protective of people, so if it helps you sleep at night, thank you for protecting me. As small and—what was the word you used—fragile as I am.”

“Don’t need any help to sleep at night, just need to know I’m going to dream about you.” His lips found mine long enough to make my nerve endings electrify, and then for the second time that day he pulled away.

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“You pull away. Why do you always pull away? Don't you want to kiss me?”

“Of course I want to kiss you,” he whispered, “but things are different with you. It’s different.”

“So different that you won't kiss me?” 

“I’ve kissed you.”

I was one word short of stomping my foot down like an angry little girl. “I mean like really kiss me, Orion!”

“Because, Tiger.” He stepped closer and wound his fingers through my hair. “I want it to be perfect. It’s just, I don’t want things to get carried away and then have regrets about it later.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, dissatisfied with his answer. “Orion, it’s not like I’m trying to get you in bed and steal your virtue! For the love of God, I just want a real kiss.”

“I want to give you a real kiss, I do. It’s just—”

“Just what?”

“Let’s just say I have a history of letting things get carried away.”

“Again, not asking you to sleep with me,” I reminded him.

He sighed and raked a hand through his own hair. “Fine.”

“Fine?”

“I’ll kiss you.”

Ouch.

“Hang on,” I held my hand up. “Let me find my pride first.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong.”

“Seriously, don’t make me force you into something so terrible as a ki—”

He was faster than I thought he'd be, and even though I'd been asking for it moments ago, it still shocked me. His hands were on my hips, pushing me toward the outside of the cabin. Once my back was flat against the wall, he wedged his knee between mine and forced my legs apart, only to position his own body between them and lift me off the ground.  He hesitated at first, but then parted my lips with his mouth. The contact was so light, my heart fluttered in expectation. He slipped his tongue into my mouth and searched, probing gently. I linked my hands through his hair, encouraging him to force the kiss deeper. He did. This time, when he pulled away, I was sated.

“Happy?”

My head spun in a thousand different directions while my heart hammered so fiercely in my chest I heard blood rushing in my ears. I couldn't inhale quickly enough, having never thought a kiss could be so...breathtaking.

Orion looked worried. “Hey, you alright?”  

I couldn’t speak.  I just nodded and smiled.

He delivered me home after sunset, leaving me wanting more.