14 comments/ 9601 views/ 14 favorites A Midautumn Night's Dream By: AwkwardMD Gill sighed as he walked around his car. He hadn't meant to slam the door that hard, and he didn't like to think of himself as the kind of man who took his frustrations out on others. His car was certainly not one of the sources of that frustration, but, admittedly, he was only human. Mentally, he apologized. The indifferent millennial behind the counter neither looked up from his phone nor removed his earbuds as Gill entered the convenience store. At first he thought they were alone but, as Gill ambled his way to the altar of carbonated offerings, he did a double-take. A pretty, pink-haired girl in an extremely short skirt crouched thoughtfully with her fingers poised over several sugary sweets in the candy aisle. She peered back at him as he walked by. Her shoulder length hair, straight and parted in the middle, was tucked behind her ear on one side. He walked along the doors, passing the prominent Coke and Pepsi displays. Gill was a Dr. Pepper man, always had been. He grabbed a 20 oz, and sighed as he walked back to the register. He hadn't meant to slam the glass door either. "Excuse me," Gill said, but the boy behind the counter didn't look up from his phone. "Excuse me." "What are you doing?" the girl asked, leaning to see around the end of the aisle. She had a rough voice, gritty. It seemed wrong for her thin frame, but it suited her eyes in a way Gill couldn't quite put his finger on. "...I just want to pay for my pop and go." The girl grinned incredulously. "Why?" "Why... do I want to pay for my pop?" "Yeah." She bounced to her feet and joined him. "He doesn't care, and it's his ass on the line." She casually unwrapped the chocolate bar in her hand and took a bite. Her lips parted with every chew, and the baby blue nub of her tongue piercing kept catching Gill's eye. "Why should you care?" Gill smiled ruefully as he pulled out his wallet. "Five bucks?!" "What?" The girl shook her head, snatching the bill off the counter with inhuman quickness. Gill's eyes followed the money until she shoved it inside her bra, glancing away with a blush. She was young. Much younger than him, even if she did at least look 18. "I'm keeping this," she said with a meaningful look, "to teach you a lesson." "Oh?" Gill turned toward her and folded his arms across his chest, fully aware of how much broader he was. "And what lesson is that?" "Well obviously I can't tell you what it is," she said with exaggerated patience, smiling sweetly. "You wouldn't learn anything, aaaaaaand you'd be less inclined to give me a ride?" Gill chuckled as he watched her turn the charm on full blast. Eyelashes batted. Face turned slightly down and away for that Facebook selfie angle. A picture of absolute innocence that barely came up to his shoulder. Her eyes seemed to twinkle. "That is the strangest way anyone has ever asked me for a lift." "Did it work?" She winced slightly, biting her lip and turning the charm to 11. "Oh my god, stop! You're gonna blow a fuse!" The girl laughed musically. "It worked!" "I didn't say yes," he corrected. "Yeah, but yer gunna," she sang confidently, as she walked around him toward the door. Gill arched an eyebrow and looked back at the attendant, who he was shocked to find staring at him. "Dude," the kid said, "what are you waiting for?" Gill's mouth hung open. He slowly reached for his soda, his arm moving in fits and bursts while he gauged the teen's reaction. "Go!" "Thanks?" Gill said, as he turned. The girl was waiting outside, facing away as she stood on the edge of the curb. She wore white sneakers with bright pink coloring on the inside and laces. The pink matched her socks and one of the supporting colors in her plaid, pleated skirt that just managed to reach mid-thigh. She was wearing a black hoodie above that, but he thought he'd seen a white button-down shirt underneath it earlier. The pink-dyed color of her hair was almost the same color too, muted by what he guessed was a week's worth of showers. Not that he really knew anything about how long hair dye lasted. He tilted his head as he walked through the door, categorizing his attraction to her. She wasn't his normal type. Gill had always pined for the cheerleaders. The bombastic blonde with the nice rack. The smile that could put the sun to shame. The low cut shirt and the come hither eyes. Pink girl, which is what he was calling her in his head, had nice legs. Pale, yes, but smooth. Like milk. Underneath her skirt, Pink girl seemed to have a nice ass. Gill had never thought of himself as an ass man. And yet, as she turned and smirked at him over her shoulder, there was something indescribable about her. She had... presence. "Let me guess. You drive the Prius over there cus it's sensible." Very pretty face, with strong hints of cute. Her nose was pixie-ish, her smile was wide, and her eyes were very large. He knew that, sometimes, large eyes was an optical illusion girls could do with makeup, but he suspected Pink girl's eyes were a feature everyone noticed, makeup or not. "It is sensible," Gill said, as he stepped up next to her. "Great gas milage. But no." He tilted his head to the right, and Pink girl leaned forward to look around him. "That's a Barracuda," she stated, as if he wasn't keenly aware of what he drove. "You do not drive a Barracuda." She slowly wandered past him, eyefucking his recently-waxed muscle car. "How do you drive a Barracuda?" "I built it," he shrugged, as he walked around to the driver side. "That explains the arms," Pink girl murmured just loud enough for him to hear. Gill laughed as he slid into the driver's seat. "I've seen you around town, you know. Here and there. You've always looked so nice, and I've..." She paused to giggle flirtatiously. "...I've always wanted to say hello." Gill frowned and leaned across the center panel. "I, um-" "Oh, this old thing?" she replied, putting her hands on the hems of her skirt and blushing. "You're too kind." "Oh," he mumbled. "You'll have to excuse me," she crooned, stepping up next to the car. "I can't seem to keep my hands off you. Just let me know if any of this is... uncomfortable. Or unwanted." The last, barely whisper. "Is this really necessary?" "I'm gonna come inside you now." Her voice, breathy and dramatic, as she gently pulled on the handle. "No no, shhhhhh. Just let it happen." "Will you just get in the car?" "Don't listen to him, sugar." She stroked her hand along the dash as she settled into the deep bucket seat. "He's just jealous." She squirmed lewdly in the chair, legs writhing, and sucked her lower lip between her teeth as he turned the key with extreme prejudice. "It's rude to stare." He hadn't even realized he was staring at her legs, and he fumbled an apology that she giggled mercilessly through. "Where am I going?" he sighed. "You know where Babylon and Kingsland is?" Gill nodded and threw it into reverse. The massive V8 rumbled as they pulled out into the street. "Isn't that in an industrial park?" "Yeah," she purred just loud enough to be heard, as she ran her hands over the leather seat beneath her. "This is the sexiest thing I have ever seen." "You sure know how to make a guy feel special," Gill snarked. "Ooooh, don't be like that," Pink girl pouted. "If it makes you feel any better, it's giving me an inferiority complex too." "A little." Gill leaned back as they pulled up to a red light, and his spine tingled as he realized she was staring at him. She pulled her left foot up so that the heel of her sneaker was planted on the edge of the seat. He opened his mouth to ask her to move it, but lost his train of thought while he stared at her leg again. His eyes shot forward as his mental 'I'm being creepy'-meter pinged wildly, and he swallowed hard. "Have you ever gotten a blowjob in this thing?" "What?" Gill sputtered. "Uhh, no? I mean... no? What?" Panic steadily rising. "Eyes on the road, mister," she lectured, as he looked sideways at her. "Just drive." She popped off her seatbelt and curled her knees up onto the chair. "Ahhhm," he managed, as she ducked her head underneath his right arm. "Should I..." His jeans, unbuttoned. Unzipped. "Don't pull over, and don't stop." She parted the seam in his boxers, and his cock sprung outwards to meet her. "Just act natural. You don't want to be caught with an underage girl in your car, do you?" "What?!" he squealed, but she was already laughing. "Relax! I'm 19. I'll show you my license when I'm done." "Can I see it now?" She turned slowly and looked up at him, her eyes hungry. "Do you really want me to stop?" Gill shook his head and mumbled, "I'm going to hell," under his breath, which elicited another giggle from Pink girl just before she laid her tongue across his head for the first time. "Y-y-you don't have to do that," he stammered. Her lips against the tip, suckling gently. "I'd have just g-given you the ride." "I never do things just because I have to," she said in between long licks up the side. He shivered as he felt the hard end of her tongue piercing pressing into his pulsing length. "Only because I want to." Gill's entire body stiffened as his cock slid between her lips. His senses screamed for his attention to be on her, watching and soaking this in, but his mind refused to let him look away from the road. Instead, the back of her pink head rose and fell at the bottom of his field of vision as she bobbed up and down. "I... Jesus... fuck..." "I don't think Jesus appreciates you stringing those words together," she gasped, as she popped up for air, "but I do." He groaned loudly as she took his sensitive organ back inside the warm, wet confines of her mouth. His ears burned as he listened to the soft, contented gurgles. Through several blocks and two left turns, he barely kept his cool. It had been a very long time, but he was proud of himself that he hadn't immediately lost it. Not only was this far and away the best blowjob he'd ever had on technique alone, but the whole whirlwind of it was setting him on fire; in his car, while driving, with a girl he'd just met, whose name he still didn't know, and- A flash of color to his left and Gill twitched. Nestled ten yards back down a side road, a cop car lay in wait. Gill grabbed the back of Pink girl's head and pushed down hard out of panic, lest her very noticeable hair appear suspiciously in his lap, but Pink girl immediately moaned. Deeply. The war being waged by discomfort, nervousness, panic, and his raging libido reached new heights as he held her there. Fuck, her lips against his groin. His guilt kicked in once they passed out of danger, and he yanked her off. "Oh Daddy," she murmured in between gasps. "What? No!" "No?" she asked, peering up at him with an innocent look that was somewhat undermined by her tongue running in circles around his swollen mushroom. "No." "Your call." She shrugged and smiled sweetly before going right back at it. Gill felt his throat tighten, watching her head bob faster and faster. The tiny sounds she made. The sensation of her saliva dribbling down his shaft. That fucking piercing! "I-um... listen.... I-" "Mmmmhmmmm," she mumbled around a mouthful of cock. Pink girl pulled back and gasped, her hand stroking rapidly. "Don't worry. I had a feeling you were a little backed up. I'm prepared," she added with a devilish grin. Gill's face and neck flushed as she worked him in and out of her mouth, pushing deeper and deeper again. He bit hard on his lip as he grabbed her hair and pushed down again, her appreciative groans pushing him right up to the brink. His jaw fell slack as she reached up and tucked her pink locks behind her ear so he could see; her eyes pinched tight, the tiny bubbles in the saliva at the edges of her lips. She wanted to be seen. By him. Ahead, the light turned yellow, and the strain of pressing on the brakes proved one muscle contraction too many, and he loosed a guttural grunt as he stood on the pedal. He came hard. Inertia, cruel mistress that it is, thrust both of them forward against the steering wheel, and the 'Cuda came to a hard, honking, tire-squealing, graceless stop 30 feet before the light. "Are you ok?" Gill asked, panting. His knuckles, white on the wheel. "Let's see," she said cheerily, as she popped back into her chair and lowered the visor. "Lipstick is smeared, mascara ran a bit." His eyes bulged when he saw a ring of her lipstick around his cock, and he squirmed in his seat while he tucked himself back in. For a moment, his mind spun it's wheels as he wondered what Jennifer would think of this. "Good news! I think I'll survive!" Only for a moment. "That's good to hear," he croaked, his voice failing him briefly. "And now, as promised." Gill had to stare at her license for several seconds before he knew what he was looking at, or remembered why he was looking at it. "How are you smiling in your license photo? I thought that was against the rules." Pink girl laughed lightly. "You mean, how did I convince all those curmudgeons at the DMV to let me get away with it?" "Yes." "How did I get here in your car?" she asked. Gill blinked, still unsure himself of how that had happened. "Everett, huh? That's a very pretty name for a girl." "I just go by Eve," Pink girl said, non-chalantly. Eve said, he corrected mentally. Gill handed her back her license, satisfied that she was, in fact, 19. He watched her surreptitiously as she ran her tongue over her teeth in the mirror, and could think of only one thing she'd be checking for. It had almost completely gone over his head that Eve had swallowed. "It's green." "What?" "The light?" Gill accidentally chirped the tires as they passed through the intersection. "There is a lucrative career in subterfuge and espionage if this whole building cars business doesn't work out for ya," she chuckled. "I'm a mechanic." He smiled mirthlessly as they pulled into the vast, empty parking lot at the southwest corner of Kingsland and Babylon. "I only built this one. Where am I headed from here?" "Actually, you can just park. We'll walk from here." "We?" he asked, as he slowed to a stop. "You can't go yet," she whined. "You haven't learned your lesson!" "What lesson?" "Exactly!" She smiled brightly as she popped out onto the cracked asphalt, and then leaned back in the window. She bit her lip and cupped one hand inside the other. Her hoodie hung loose off her shoulders, and Gill could make out her black bra underneath the white shirt. Eyes up. "Where were you going tonight? I mean," she added after a brief pause, "am I keeping you from anything?" "I... wasn't going anywhere," he said honestly. "You wanna know why I really approached you?" Gill nodded, and she gave a surprisingly serious smile. "You seemed like you were in kind of a bad place." "That obvious?" She smiled sardonically. "I mean, you weren't wearing a sign or anything, but... yeah." Gill blew out a long breath and tossed his head back into the headrest. "I had a bad day at work is all." "Something to do with your dad?" "Jesus," he shouted. He pulled his hands back with the intention of slamming the palms into the steering wheel, and instead just tightened and flexed his fingers. "What was that about a sign?" Eve shrugged dismissively. "I figured I had a fifty/fifty shot with the way you reacted earlier." Gill took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I don't usually like going to parties." "Doooon't worry! I'll make sure you have a good time." Gill turned and stared at her, and she bounced away with a wink. "Come on!" she shouted. He watched her walk, sure in his mind that she was exaggerating her hip sway for his benefit, and he thought about Jennifer again. "I knew you'd come," she said, as he jogged up next to her. Gill shook his head, annoyed at being pegged so easily by this girl. He didn't think of himself as a complicated man, but it was still humbling to have her read him like a book. She seemed to be walking straight toward an Acme grocery store that had been closed longer than he could remember, but he was content to let her lead the way. "I work at my father's garage," he offered. "The family business," she said mock-solemnly. "Exactly." In the back of his mind he began to question himself. To question why he was telling this stranger anything at all. "I been... I been saving up money for a while now. Wanted to get out of doing that, finish up my GED, and start taking some classes for graphic design." "Holy shit, Billy, that's awesome!" Her plainly-evident awe was bolstering. "Congratulations!" "It's not Billy, it's Gill." "I'm pretty sure it's Billy." They turned as they reached the walkway along the front of the store, and strode along beside the boarded-over facade. "Anyway, go on." Gill swallowed. "My dad tells me today that we're getting a dyno at the shop." Eve blinked and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "It's like two big rollers in the floor, and you park your car on it with the car wheels in between. Then you put it in drive, and gun it, and the dyno tells you how fast you went." "Um... ok?" She walked over to one of the boarded over doors and inspected the wood covering it. "I'm listening." "He told me we-whoa!" Gill took a step back as she popped the door open. Dust blew out in it's wake, swirling out into the night. Eve gave him another sly grin and disappeared into the darkness. "Keep going," she called. "What are you doing?" Gill walked up to the doorway and stared. Behind him, a quiet clear night in a small town. A night much like the night before, sans the side trip across town. He could cut bait and be back home in plenty of time to catch Saturday Night Live. Before him, yawning pitch black, and the enchanting memory of the girl who went in first. Gill took a deep breath and stepped into the unknown. He could hear Eve ahead of him, sneakers scuffing across dusty tile. He kept his steps short, fearing the unseen board with a nail in it that his imagination told him must be everywhere. The floor would be littered with them once the lights turned on. That's what you get for reachin' too far. His father's voice. Know your place. "Almost there," she called. A brief surge of panic that she was farther ahead than he'd thought, but he fought it down. The dark had never held monsters for him. "Aaaaaaaaand..." Gill flinched when the spotty fluorescents kicked in above. "Huh," she said, as she turned back toward him. "Less than last time. Not a good sign." His eyes adjusted slowly. The interior of the store was mostly empty except for a few decrepit shelves and a refrigerated cooler that looked to be built into the ground. "Isn't this awesome?" "It's something alright." "Come oooon," she urged. "Look around!" "At what? There's like... nothing here." "Nothing? Or the lack of something!" Gill frowned and turned. There was a whole lot of the lack of something. Eve's voice echoed loudly. "I used to come here and think a lot. It's a decent metaphor for life, yanno? Open for like 50 years. Time went on, less and less people came. Reached a certain point, and got retired. Now, hardly anyone comes to see it at all. It's just... perpetuating. Or maybe stagnant? Probably one of those two," she added thoughtfully. "Uh huh," Gill said, mostly following what she was saying as he wandered. There was a can of carrots on one of the shelves. At least, it was probably carrots. Label was pretty well faded. "Or, uh... yanno... if you want to try and tie this into your own narrative, think of how many people worked here? How many people bled for a place like this?" A Midautumn Night's Dream "Uh huh." "Decades of busting your ass for a business, and twenty years down the road, do you think this dump made a difference in the world?" "It proooobably provided a lot of food for people." "Sure," she allowed. "I mean, it's not a perfect metaphor, but I'm improvising here. Work with me." "Uh huh." "Even, yanno, what were you talking about before? Graphic design? Art, sure. Art can... I dunno... influence people? It has that capacity. But if you think for a moment about the sheer magnitude of art that gets made every year, yanno, the volume of it all. How much of that matters in the grand scheme?" "It is sad commentary on my parents that this is the best pep talk I've ever had." "Well I haven't gotten to the point yet, Billy." "It's Gill," he said, testily. Eve rolled her eyes and grinned. "What I was sayin' before? That's all big picture stuff. Think small now. Think about the lady that worked the register there on October 2, 1979. Do you think she was overcome with the futility of a dead end job? Having the best day of her life? Or do you think she probably had a day like any other, went home, and baked a meatloaf?" "This just slipped below the speech my Peewee football coach gave before a third place game when I was 10." "Ha ha." She smirked as she started walking again, and Gill fell right in step with her. "I'm not saying you've gotta try to live every moment with the dial set to YOLO, but... like..." She frowned for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "My point is that everyone is going to spend decades doing something. 99.99999% of us are gonna live our entire lives without doing anything that truly matters. The only thing that's left, then, is to make sure that what you do is something you wanted to do in the first place." They made their way across the waste. "Dust to dust and all that." "Saved it with the solo," he nodded, and was rewarded with a booming laugh from the tiny girl. They pushed through two big swinging doors into the back area of the store. More of the same empty decay. He didn't see nothing, though. In flashes, he saw the way things could have been. The way they probably were. Pallets of food. People going about their jobs. Good days and bad. "Hey," barked a voice. Gill whirled, his senses sharpened in the instant. "Keep it down over there." "Hey Gary," Eve said. A man, a bit shabby but none the worse for wear, leaned out around a pile of empty bags. "Oh, hey Eve. Been a while." She continued on away from Gary, smiling fondly, and Gill reluctantly followed. "You headed up on the roof?" "Yup." "New boyfriend?" "Just a friend," she called, as they turned a corner. Gary laughed disbelievingly behind them. "I feel like we might be going through the relationship stages in the wrong order," Gill said, very proud of himself. Wit was not his strong suit. "Didn't hear you complaining," she said with a mild shrug. Gill had no response to that, so he merely followed behind her as she hopped up a long flight of steps. The door at the top opened, to his surprise, on the roof. He took another look up, awed as always by the night sky, as she kicked a rock under the door to wedge it open. She was moving differently now, he saw. With purpose. Her strides more confident. Heel planted and legs extended instead of that hip sway from before. A ground-chewing cadence. Not that this was any less sexy. Gill was surprised at how much he was staring at her legs. How focused he was on them. He'd never considered himself much of a leg man either. She stepped over a slight rise 30 yards beyond the stairs. In his mind, Gill tried to picture distances and walls, and where he knew the grocery store to end. The waterproof sealant on the other side looked different too. He did little more than raise his eyebrow as he followed her over the warehouse adjacent, and then over another one after that. "This is it," she said grimly, as she walked up to a hatch. Eve wiggled the toe of her shoe under a corner and lifted with her foot. "I used to work here," she explained, as she tucked her hands into the sleeves of her hoodie and proceeded down the ladder. She paused halfway down and waved her hand at him. "You might want to cover your hands too, if you can." "There's no party, is there?" "What are you taaaaalking about?" she said, incredulously. "Can't you hear that thumping bass?" She gave him another wink and lowered herself down to the floor. Gill sighed. His jacket fit too tightly to slip his hands inside the wrists, but he did have a pair of driving gloves. The ladder dropped down into a well-stocked maintenance room. Hundreds of hand tools he recognized littered the expansive counter space. A forklift truck was backed in, with the propane-powered motor half disassembled. The forklift, he thought, was probably a good deal older than himself, and the intervening years had not been kind to it. "Keep up," Eve called, and he hurried after her. The warehouse beyond was rows and rows of... stuff. Barrels. Drums. Pallets stacked chest-high with bags. Eve was using her smartphone as a flashlight, so he could see a little, but not enough to know what was in the containers. Some of it was stacked twenty feet high, but every row was full, front to back. "See that?" she said over her shoulder, pointing her phone up in the air. Gill squinted and looked, and cursed when he saw the camera pointed right at them. "Don't worry. It doesn't work. It's just there to scare you. Cus they're assholes." "There are other ways you could have handled that," he wheezed, clutching his chest. "The only cameras are inside. They're not interested in scaring away thieves, just scaring the shit out of their employees." "This is breaking and entering, isn't it?" "It's about to be a lot worse than that, but don't worry. The alarm system works just as well as the cameras. Cheap ass bastards." "Are we just gonna, like... vandalize this place?" "Sure," she said with a nod. "Lets go with that." There was an edge in her expression that hadn't been there before. Something in her eyes. She moved on, and he trailed in her wake. "I worked hard," she explained. "I wasn't a perfect employee, but I worked hard." Gill's eyes roamed, taking in what he could see. Some kind of processing stations ran along one wall, but he couldn't tell what any of the machinery did. He saw some hoses, and guessed that most of it ran pneumatically but, functionally, that told him nothing. A big information board hung near a lone incandescent bulb. He recognized a binder full of MSDS's, but a brief flip through it told him nothing. Eastern Polymer Incorporated. The name was at the top of the board, but he hadn't seen it in the low light at first. As his eyes adjusted, he spotted a Wall of Honor... and his blood ran cold as he stared at the pictures for Employee of the Month for last February and March. Big eyes, pixie nose, and a wide smile. Everett Ginsman, looking very much male. Gill turned slowly as Eve stormed through a door, and then right back out a few seconds later with an empty jug in her hand. His hand. Fuck. Fuckin' Faggot. His father's voice came so quickly to mind that it started him. How's a thing like that natural? Gill grit his teeth as he watched Eve fill the plastic jug from a pump at the other end of the warehouse. Parading around like that. Outta be fuckin' illegal, like it says in the Bible. Gill had never known his father to be a religious man except when it suited him. Eve was cursing under her breath as she walked back. Gill followed her as she went back into the room she'd gone in earlier. "Mother fuckers," she snarled. There was more, but it was too quiet to make out. She knelt down in front of an open cabinet, muttering incoherently, and set the jug back in a spot that seemed prepared for it. Tubing hung down for it from a machine that sat on the countertop. Gill fumed as he watched her... him... "All that shit I was saying before?" "Yeah?" he said, icily. "It was all bullshit." She twisted the cap on partway, and fiddled with a loose wire hanging down. "I don't have anything figured out. I like to sound like I do, but it's all an act." Her voice was... choked. "Everything is an act, and it's all lies." She slumped a little, pink hair falling around her face. Gill looked back out at the door. Back in the direction of that Wall of Honor. Employee of the Month. Twice. And now, she was here about to burn the place down. Crying, and trying hard not to show it. "This one's for you, Dad." "W-what?" Her voice, muddled with tears as she looked up at him. If her mascara had run a bit before, it was ruined now. "Nothing," he said, smiling as he crouched down. He could smell the alcohol in the jug she'd filled. There was an exhaust fan in the small space, and the covering over it was jagged and hanging crookedly. The power cord was frayed, worn thin from slipping through the covering and rubbing against the fan blades. Eve reached in and gave the jug a hard shove, splashing the walls in the small space with the flammable liquid. She jammed the wire inside the fan covering, and closed the cabinet. "Come on," she said, as she stood and walked to the door. Gill walked through and waited, turning to look at the Wall of Honor again. The smile was the same, just like in the license photo. Eve flicked the light switch on just inside the door, and then off again. Brief light flooded the warehouse through the open door, along with a loud woooosh. She was so full of determination as she walked away, and Gill couldn't help but relate. Back through the warehouse. Back up the ladder. Back across the rooftops. The city was quiet. Nothing coming or going. She kicked the rock loose, and they went back down the long staircase into the abandoned grocery store. "Get the lights on your way out," Gary grumbled. "I will," Eve replied, still moving at a brisk pace, "but it might get a little noisy tonight." Gary said something else in reply, but they had already moved out of earshot. Gill jogged over to the door and backed it open while Eve flipped off the lights. Once out into the parking lot, they fast walked back to his car and drove off. After leaving the grocery store, Eve only said one word. A place Gill knew, and had no trouble getting them to. *** "Thank you," Eve said quietly, as they sat on the hood of his Barracuda. The fire was visible now, although it only looked like a struck match from the distant hilltop they were parked on. "I didn't really... I didn't plan for that." "It looked like you knew what you were doing." Eve rolled her eyes and smiled. "I'd thought about it, sure... but it was one of those things where you see all these piece and you knew how you could fit them together. I just never thought I'd have cause, or... the... just..." "Rage?" "YES! Fuck! I'm not an angry person, but some people!" Gill nodded and looked down at the ground. At least, he intended to look down at the ground, but as had happened so often that night, he found himself staring at her legs again. They were tucked in tight, her chin resting on her knees. Her arms wrapped across her shins, each hand gripping the forearm of the opposite. In the back of his mind his father raged, and that brought a little smile to his face. Gill thought about his father's garage, and had a brief moment of clarity. Years and years of calendars hanging on doors, and always with blondes. Blondes with killer racks. The disdain for Ford. The Dr. Pepper machine in the corner. He had to shake himself out of it as he started to really comprehend all of the things he did and thought and liked simply because that had been the path laid out for him, because it was staggering. That was an entire night's worth of processed emotions, and if he did that here, now... he'd miss out. He'd miss the lesson. Eve was sitting... not closely to him. There was definite space. Gill slid closer. "Billy, listen-" "It's Gill, not Billy." "Whatever. Look, what I was saying earlier? About everything being an act?" "I know," he said, as he sat up and faced her. "No, you don't. I-" "I know," he repeated patiently. Calmly. Eve blinked and stared back. For the first time all night, she looked more afraid than he did. More afraid by the second as he leaned in slowly and pressed his lips to hers. She whimpered, air escaping through her nose as he kissed her gently. Sweetly. Her eyes, wide and shimmering. For a moment, he jumped back to earlier in the day. Jennifer came by to pick up her sedan. He'd gotten cleaned up as best he could. His face, more than presentable. His hands were still blacked with oil, but he'd done his best to keep her interior clean. Gloves, shoe covers, steering wheel covers, seat covers. The whole nine yards. She never once got off her phone, never once looked him in the eye. Never stopped the conversation she'd been having while she paid and left. She never did. For years, he'd hoped she would look up just once, and she never did. Eve trembled as he cupped her cheek and pulled her toward him. Her lip, quivering. "Is this ok?" he whispered. Her mouth opened and closed, lips forming the word 'yes', but there was no sound. Eve had no voice. Her throat, closed shut completely. Gill leaned in and kissed her again, just as softly as the first. Again. Again, more emphatically. Eve's eyes closed, and their lips stayed connected. He leaned further, twisting and moving in front of her. The more he came at her, the more Eve retreated onto the hood. Her arms, unwound from around her legs and planted behind her. Her knees parted slowly, feet sliding out to either side of his broad torso. Pursue and retreat. His hands flat on the hood. Pursue and retreat. Their lips, magnetized. Held together with a ferocity that carried their mutual frustrations. He could feel her attraction. He could feel her nervous need. Her fullness. His hips thrust by instinct, grinding against her. "My back pocket," he whispered. Eve lurched around him, fishing out his wallet. She twisted her head to the side and pulled out the condom neatly tucked in the middle, while he suckled on her collarbone. The wrapper, ripped open and discarded. His belt loosened, jeans dropped. Her skirt flipped up, panties pulled aside. And through it all, his lips and tongue were on her. Gill grunted as he pushed inside her that first time, but the sound it birthed out of Eve was otherworldly. Long, and low, and continuous. She reached down and grabbed her knees, pulling them up. Her white and pink sneakers, hovering in the air. Bobbing, as he started driving deep into her. Over and over. "Oooooooh god," Eve cried. Her eyes shut tight, and her teeth clenched. "Ooh goooooooooooooood." Gill cursed under his breath. She moaned as he grabbed her hips and pulled her closer to the edge. Faster. He was on fire. His cock pistoned in and out of her ass. The squelching sound was loud in his ears, but it played second fiddle to Eve's song. Gone was the rasp; in it's place was a symphony of squeals and moans. Faster. After several minutes, Eve's cries reached a peak. Her feet jerked around in the air, toes pointed straight out, and her back arched up high. He looked down briefly to see that she'd cum all over her skirt. A little had gotten on his shirt too, but he didn't mind. He leaned in and planted a row of kisses along her neck while she rode the glorious wave of her orgasm all the way to shore. He even found a spot, right on the corner between her neck and her shoulder, that made her twitch and hum. He focused there, suckling patiently. She nodded, giving him the all clear, and Gill began again. Slowly at first, but faster and faster as he went. Her tiny whimpers, so close to his ear, skirting the fine line between pain and ecstasy. Driving him wild. Harder and harder. Animalistic. Primal. She clung to him. Hands clawed at his back through his shirt, and her feet intertwined behind him. "Fuck me," she whispered. Her lips danced against the edge of his ears. "Please! I need it." Gill slowed down, breaking the seal on the purple mark he'd left on her neck, and kissed her again. Each push now, going long and slow from tip to groin. Her tongue was so delicate. So small. Gill didn't last much longer. He pushed up and away for a few last, vicious thrusts, and screamed into the night. Release had been a long time coming. Eve looked so beautiful beneath him. The thick, white stain on her skirt. The way her feet rose and fell in time with her ragged breathing. The sheen of sweat across her brow. Fireflies alighted across the hilltop around them, giving the small clearing a magical glow. Gill smiled. *** It was dark and quiet when he got home, long after 3 AM. Gill tiredly hung his coat on the hook just inside the garage door and dropped his keys in the little glass bowl on the edge of the counter. When he sat down at the kitchen table, however, and began unlacing his boots, he stared thoughtfully. Along the mudroom wall in front of him was a line of sneakers and work shoes. He always took them off and put them in the same spot, not because they needed to go there, but because that's where he'd always put them. He smiled as he went upstairs, looking forward to the morning for the first time in a while. He had some thinking to do.