Roses and Sonatas [Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns]

Chapter 39

I felt the blood drain from my face as I stared at Mikhail's sleeping form, and with a gasp and a tiny shriek, I scrambled backwards and fell off the side of the bed, entangled in the sheets. The commotion startled him awake, and he sat up, leaned over, and peered sleepily down at me as I lay on the floor, flustered and panicked.

"Alice? What in the...?" he asked, looking bewildered

"Wh-what are you doing here? Why are you in bed with me? Where are my clothes?" I squeaked, wrapping the sheets more tightly around me.

He got out of bed and came around, knelt next to me, and stroked my cheek. "Calm down, Alice. It's okay."

"No, it's not okay! Why am I naked? What... what happened? What did we do?" My voice rose higher and I began to tremble as I teetered on the verge of hysteria.

He put his arms around me, saying, "Shhh. Listen, it's fine. You just had too much to drink last night, that's all."

"Then why were we in my bed? Together? Naked?!"

"I'm wearing boxers. Didn't you notice?" he said drily. I glanced down at his light blue striped shorts, then back up at him, confused. "Don't you remember anything from last night? You passed out, so I brought you back up here and put you to bed. Then I sat up with you to make sure you'd be okay, but I must have fallen asleep."

"But... but... naked!" I stammered. I put my hands on my head, trying to think through the fog that seemed to envelop my aching brain. "I... I remember we had dinner, and I drank a lot of champagne and wine. And those coffees. Then... then the strawberries. And the cream. And kissing—lots of kissing. And we went for a walk on the beach...." I stopped, my head pounding too painfully to think.

"Yes, that's right so far...." Mikhail prompted me encouragingly, sitting down on the floor next to me and putting his arm around my shoulders as he watched me.

I bit my lip and tried to focus again. "I... I remember it was so hot even after the sun went down, and the water felt so nice and cool.... Wait, we... we went skinny-dipping, didn't we?" He nodded his head as I turned red with embarrassment and buried my face in my hands.

"Do you remember anything else?" he asked after a moment.

I shook my head, then suddenly I did recall... I looked up, almost dizzy with the shock of the memory. "Oh goddess, I-I came on to you, didn't I? I was begging for it! Then you... then we...? Oh, my goddess, we did, didn't we?" And I started to cry.

"Shhh, calm down, Alice, it's okay. We didn't do anything. Keep thinking, try to remember what happened next."

"R-r-really?" I sniffled. "But how... I was all over you! So...."

"Think."

I concentrated for a moment, fighting through the waves of panic and confusion and pain. "Wait. I-it's coming back to me now. You're right—you turned me down, didn't you?" I breathed a quavering sigh of relief as I looked at him in wonder. I hadn't entirely broken my promise after all, in spite of myself, though it had been an awfully close call. I recognized that it was only due to Mikhail's actions that it remained unbroken, not mine. If he'd been less honorable, I would certainly not have made it through the night intact. "Then I... I remember trying again to talk you into... into having sex with me. That's all. The next thing I remember, I was waking up naked in bed, with this goddess-awful headache. But we... we really didn't do anything? You're positive?"

"Positive," he said with a half-smile. "Though I confess that it wasn't easy to restrain myself."

I leaned over and rested my cheek on his shoulder. "Thank you," I whispered. He just squeezed my shoulders in reply as we sat on the floor.