The Blue Mountain Affair

Unsure

Unsure

Lane’s limbs felt stiff as she crawled slowly out of her little shelter and into the light of day. Seeing the bright, morning sun shining down upon freshly washed rocks, shrubs and trees of the forest put everything into perspective, especially when she spied Joe’s hand held out toward her, ready to help her off the ground.

She kissed Joe last night, and for it, she knew she would never be the same. And also, she was terribly aware, more now than ever, that after being swept away by a flash flood, and spending the night curled up, wet, and cold, she probably looked awful. She felt awful, and her side was aching something awful. As she simply stared at Joe’s hand, Lane realized she could not actually bring herself to take it, because of the pain shooting through her side, preventing her from wanting to stand. Before she had a chance to think on it more, Joe was there beside her, helping her gently to her feet.

"You are still sore." He stated. As much as Lane tried to tell him she was alright, last night, in broad daylight, her face could not hide the piercing pain she felt, emanating from her ribs, and she groaned, confirming to Joe that he was right.

Joe did not let go of her until he was sure she was steady on her feet, and then, he pulled a few twigs from her hair, which made Lane feel even more self conscious about her appearance. She looked up into his dark, brown eyes, and sighed at the open affection she saw there. Joe tentatively smiled back, and then took a step away from her, running his hand over the back of his neck. It didn't occur to Lane that he might be feeling out of sorts too. It was actually comforting to see the normally collected Joe, act unsure of himself.

“I think that perhaps we should clean up a bit” He suggested. Lane nodded, not knowing what else to say because he was right of course. She ran her hands down the front of her mud stained skirt, as far as she could reach without it hurting, then adjusted her blouse the best she could manage. She knew it would be in vain, but she began to finger comb her hair, as well. Hearing the tearing of fabric she looked over to Joe, thinking that he might have fallen. But to her surprise he was holding a piece of his shirt out to her, a piece that he had torn from the bottom of it. “I’m sorry you lost your hair tie.” Lane blinked, not being able to believe he ripped his shirt for such a thing. She reached out and took the piece of fabric from Joe, smiling at him.

“Thank you Joe, in this breeze it is bound to become extremely knotty” She placed the torn fabric between her teeth, and began to braid her hair. She was completely aware that Joe was watching her all the while, and she occasionally looked up to him.

“Maybe you can teach me how to do that.” Lane giggled a little at the thought of Joe braiding her hair, and shook her head. Once she freed her mouth from his torn shirt she spoke.

“It is not really something someone like you would need to know, Joe.” Lane startled at Joe’s sudden movement, and all at once his hands were covering hers where they were trying to tie the scrap material around the end of her braid. She did not quite know what he was up to, so she stood still and focussed on the top button of his shirt, well the place where his button should have been, but like her hair tie was it was missing.

“Well then, if you do not think I should know how to braid, the least I can to is secure them when you are done, I am quite good with knots and things.” Lane felt her cheeks heat and turned her head to look away. Once she felt her freshly braided hair fall down the length of her back, Joe cupped her face with his hands, forcing her to look at him. “Do we have a deal?” Lane studied the face of the man in front of her. He took her breath away with the intensity of his gaze. She nodded, and then he surprised her by leaning down and kissing her, right there in the open! It made her feel funny inside as though, she wanted to giggle and melt at the same time. Once he pulled away Lane was certain she felt she could die from happiness. “Come on, we will walk only as fast as you can go, I am very anxious to get to Black Town now.” He smiled and then winked at her.