Life After Dinosaurs

14 - Mansion

When we got to theMartins mansion, Alicia wasn't in any mood to party. She barely hadthe strength to introduce me to her parents who seemed larger andmore imposing then was humanly possible. It was a brief affair, thatwas over almost as soon as it began, and all I had to remember theexperience by was a crushed hand and a well leered face. After that Iwalked Alicia to her bedroom and gave her a slow lingering kiss bythe threshold of her bedroom door.

She walked inside and looked back at me through a crack in the doorlarge enough for her head.

"I wish youcould stay with me," Alicia said sadly. "I mean we have someguest rooms, but... I really liked sleepingon your shoulder."

I smiled wide andblushed. "I liked that too, but I don't want torush things."

"You don't trustyourself."

I looked down andswallowed. "No."

Alicia reachedover and picked my chin up. Our faces were right next to each other.Her eyes were the center of my attention, her face was my world. "You have nothing to be ashamed of."

That brought asmile to my face. When she saw it she leaned in and gave me anotherkiss. It was slow and slight at first, but then her arm wrappedaround to my back and pulled me closer to her. She parted her lipsand my tongue smoothed in to taste the passion and the love within her.It's taste was sweet and warm and I didn't want to stop kissing her.I wanted to feel all of her and know every bit of her, but I didn'tmove forward. The warmth in my heart spread and spread through mybody until it filled me with an undeniable sense of satisfaction. Igave her a final squeeze and moved my lips slowly off hers.

She rested herhead against mine.

"Wow," shecooed. "I never thought kissing would be so amazing."

"Neither did I,"I whispered back pecking her cheek.

"You meanbefore...?" she asked nervously.

"No, I mean..."I said hesitantly before looking into her eyes. "Your kisses arethe best I've ever had."

Alicia smiled atme. I could see nothing but love and affection coming from her. Itwas nothing but pure love.

"Oh, Ian," Shesaid with tearing eyes. "I love you so much."

"I love youtoo."

I kissed her oncemore and left her to sleep alone in her bed. I waited for the door toclose and slowly started to make my way down the hall of sculpturesand art pieces. At the end, the sounds of the party echoed down thecorridor. I stopped in front of a tall portrait of their family inthe hall. Alicia was a young girl of six or seven, Jenny eight, bothof them were dressed in fancy clothes and they looked so happy to bethere with their parents and Mary. Mary was maybe sixteen. She waswearing a beautiful dress with a low cut top and a seductive make-upstyle that reminded me of those first leaked videos that I had seen.She had been just a girl then, just as she was in this picture. Marylooked like she hated being there, but behind the disdain and disgustin her eyes I could see the glimmer of hope and happiness inside ofher.

"Ian?" I heardAlicia's tired voice.

I looked over andshe was standing in the same clothes that I had said good night toher in. Her hair looked a little disheveled from resting her head onthe pillow.

"What is it?"I asked.

Alicia pulled outher phone and smiled. "We forgot to exchange numbers."

I chuckled and shelaughed and it turned into a long deep laughter that followed me allthe way home.

--

I'm struck by the lack of passion in the kisses here and I think I was more influenced by insecurity than anything else. I might've been rushing out of a desire to finish, but I know the next and final section takes its time getting through the heart of the story. Insecurity feels a lot more likely. I've had a complicated history with writing lust and romance. At times I can be indulgent and elsewhere I'm timid. I do think that the prose could've benefitted with more detail, so why not go back and add it in? What's the point of going through this again, if not to improve what was written before? I don't know, maybe it's just a mistake.

Next we'll get to the conclusion.