Love In The Forest

Jack Lotus Chapter 5

I woke up on the hard ground all alone I got out of the tent in the early morning hours. I brushed my teeth, put my hair in a pony/scarf and then pulled the tent down. No sign of Lotus. I began to get worried. Though he promised, his horse was gone. An hour passed and soon it was nine. Kind of late to get going. I sat by our campfire and listened to the creepy woods sounds and the sound of the water below the cliffs.

There came Lotus all cavalier and carefree with a raft being hauled by his horse and Ash walking behind.

I yelled out, "Rafting? Hello Ash?"

Lotus explained, "Yeah you have to raft through the narrow valley to get to Mt. Rose."

Ash was a bastard when he commented, "You are going to have so much fun sinking like a freaking rock." I rolled my eyes. The jackass had lied about knowing Lotus so well. They were good friends. Figures.

They gave the horses to an unknown old man and took the raft/supplies to the water below with the raft.

My eyes must have looked troubled because Lotus assured me, "It's going to be alright, I brought Ash." He obviously qualified that as safe, I saw Ash as a boulder ready to sink.

I geared up with a helmet and life jacket. Lotus told me to climb to the middle and him in the front with Ash in the back. I was terrified and sweating bullets.

We went over rocks and splashed greatly and I screamed like a sissy girl that I was. Ash had strength that calmed me a little.

During a calm area Lotus just yelled out, "Am I a good raft guide or what? This is a rather higher level and you are doing good 'City Girl'. Not much further and by the way good job staying in the raft."

Ash yelled, "I thought a city girl like you would sink by now." I turned around and flipped him off explaining, "Yeah whitewater rafting is a recreational activity that is fun for some people but this is well above my level obviously."

Up, down and through soaking wet conditions. I felt useless to watch. If I lost Lotus and/or Ash, I was dead. Hell I lost them anywhere around here I was dead. I just closed my eyes for a second and I was soaking wet and cold as hell. I was underwater. I felt something pull me back in the back in the boat. It was Ash.

I screamed.

Lotus yelled, "Live Calantha! Try for me!"

I left my body. Watching others from outside my body from that moment on.

They call it Acute Stress Reaction. Shock. I nearly drowned.

I stared off in space, holding on so hard my knuckles were white. They resumed going down the river. I shook with cold.

Ash pulled us all ashore and I was shaking in the sunny heat. It was a hot day and I was white as bone and colder than ice.

Lotus looked at me in the raft and began to ask, "Calantha did you enjoy- Wait Calantha? Calantha Delphinium? Ca-lan-tha? Calantha!" I felt like he was so far away that I just looked past him. It was about eighty seven degrees, but I was shaking with shock.

Ash carried me to a rock by the campsite fire pit. Then they pulled everything into the camp spot. Lotus immediately started a fire with wood stacked around the spot. Lotus and Oleander had come here to escape he told me before we started out, so it was stocked with firewood. The fire was warm but I still sat staring off in space, dazed. Ash watched as Lotus pulled my shirt off then he pulled my shoes, socks and jeans off which were soggy. I sat in my fancy lingerie from a boutique in the big city, shivering. I didn't care, nor did I move. Lotus pulled out a dry sleeping bag from the gear on the boat. Lotus laid it down on the ground near the fire and then carried my body to the sleeping bag and placed me inside. He got undressed down to his boxer briefs and climbed in with me. Shivering, I felt the warmth of his skin. I looked into his eyes as he was looking into mine. His blue serious eye and green mischievous eye were deeply worried, accented with a furrowed brow.

Lotus softly whispered, "Calantha." He had been so far away for some reason and now here he was. I reached out for him and held onto him tightly.

I yelled, "Lotus?!"

Lotus sighed in relief, "I thought you were going off the deep end city girl."

"What happened? All I can remember is falling in the water."

"No more water, from here on out its hiking."

"Thank god." I realized how close to his face I was and I pulled back in embarrassment.
I complained, "I am so tired and icky feeling but it doesn't matter because, wait up. Wait up... Am I in my underwear?"

"Yes I undressed you to get you warm because your lips were the color of your eyes. Purple."

"How did you get my clothes off Lotus?"

"I yanked them off, softly. They are drying out."

"I would have loved to have seen you do that feat." I loved his smile. I smiled big at him and he stopped smiling.

Lotus blurted, "I saw your tats. They are nice. But seriously Calantha, I best be getting out of the sleeping bag and back to setting up camp for tonight with Ash."

"Did Ash see me in my underwear?"

Lotus looked me in the eye and I trembled as he sympathized, "Sorry Calantha." Lotus smirked as he unzipped and was out.

His body was thin with muscles. His chest that I slept on every night was defined. He had a six pack and a great body overall. 10 out of 10 could have been an underwear model as far as I was concerned.

Lotus turned back to see me ogling his body and smiled saying, "You getting your fill?"

"Sorry I just never realized how good of shape you are in."

Lotus was overly bold and gloated, "City, model-chick approved."

I laughed.

I then noticed Ash was there and he agreed, "Model is right. And awesome flower tattoos under your boobs." Perv looking at me in my underwear. I shook my head at Ash.

Lotus advised me, "You should get in clothes before dark when the bugs that sting come out."

I looked wide eyed at him and Lotus insisted, "Unless you want me to dress you?"

Soon I was dressed and so was he. (damn him) We three sat around the fire eating our food.

I asked the most obvious question in my mind, "How do we get back up the river home?"

Lotus simply speculated, "We don't have an easy answer for you until we get there. Its a secret that most people can't know about. We'll tell you if we get to that place." Ash was staring at me as though my clothes were missing again.

I warned Ash, "So help me god, Ash I will kill you if you don't stop looking at my body. I will...."

Ash asked, "Do you always wear such fancy, lacy, satiny, delicate underwear on expeditions?"

"No Ash, I didn't know I was going on one until I got here. So lacy thong and bra are what I got. What do you wear Ash?"

Lotus looked back and forth at us waiting for a fight and warned us, "Cut it out."
"I am getting tired anyhow Lotus."

I went to the tent that Ash set up for us and I put on heavier clothes and brushed my teeth and took my hair out of its pony. I came out and grabbed my sleeping bag off the rocks that now had bugs on it. I shook it. Then I went to the tent.

Before I could enter Lotus whispered, "I can't let you sleep on my chest tonight. Cause of Ash."

"What are we being so cautious about Lotus?"

"I need his help, he said you were the frosty bitch from hell and I can't start a fight. I wish I could help you."

I looked him in the eye and asked, "My brother and I mean nothing to you?"

"I sleep in the tent tonight because the bugs here are bad." If he said they were bad they must be downright icky.

I pulled my hair back into a bun and he watched and continued, "You must maintain the distance please Calantha."

"You want me to not touch you, fine. I never even cared."
"Let's be real here Calantha it's the only thing that puts you to sleep."
"Why do you act like you know me Lotus?"

"Because of Olly."
I looked down at my feet in thought, "Olly talked of me that much?"

"Yeah he always was talking about you. How brave and beautiful you are, to how manipulative you can be." Lotus stifled a laugh.
"What else?" I asked curiously.

"Olly loves you. He always is thinking of you and he knows that you will make it but is afraid of your situation."

"My situation?"
"Not dating men at all, forcing yourself to be single." I looked mad because Lotus backed off.

I retorted, "I don't need your chest to sleep on."

We went to sleep and then I woke up three times during the night. Each time I woke them up they would yell, "Bird."