Free Falling Read online

  “And how much is that?” I asked.

  “Around $600 dollars,” he said. “Once you pay me the $5000, I’ll get everything straightened out legally.” At the front door, he turned back to me. “If I don’t get it by the time I come back from vacation next week, I’ll assume you aren’t interested and we’ll take it to court. But just so you know, that’ll cost you another 5 grand in consultation.”

  He was a piece of shit. “Bye, Trey,” I said.

  After he left, I went to my bedroom and fell on top of the mattress. I was on the verge of a breakdown. I would have to ask my parents to help me. Or max out one of my credit cards.

  I rolled over and stared at my wall. The piano was staring back at me. As I lay there, I remembered the way Wally had completely lost himself to the music, played from his heart and soul. And then ran away from me, as if I was on fire.

  I was being stupid. Wally probably wasn’t any good for me. I needed to move on and forget about him. I could do it, I decided. It wouldn’t be so hard. Really, if I thought about it, I was kind of over him already.

  It’d been at least two weeks since I’d seen him. I didn’t think about him all day or wish to hear from him anymore. In fact, if I did see him, I’d probably act completely normal. It wouldn’t bother me much. And I didn’t think I even wanted to see him.

  With a better outlook on the future, I took a shower, and then put on my pajamas and snuggled into bed. Yes, I thought, you’re over it. You’ll be fine. Who cares if you ever hear from him again?

  Sometime after I’d fallen asleep, my phone chimed with a new message. Drowsy, I reached for it.

  Hey, it said.

  Hey, I said back, my heart racing and my mouth smiling.

  Meet me at the park tomorrow. The same tree I brought you to last time.

  Without having to think about it I said, See you there.

  Chapter 15

  I was there before he was. A large rock lined the trail and I leaned against it, staring at his initials on the tree across the way. W.H.N. It was hard to imagine Wally as a little boy. I bet he’d been cute, into all sorts of mischief, long, shaggy hair falling in his eyes.

  For at least fifteen minutes I waited for him to arrive and was starting to feel anxious. What if he never showed? I’d feel like an idiot. What did he want to talk about anyway? Why couldn’t he just tell me on the phone?

  I bet he was just going to say that he was sorry, and be done with it. Or I swear to God if he said that he just wanted to be friends…

  I’d lose my shit on him.

  Just before I’d decided to leave, I looked down the trail and spotted him. Long, slender limbs. His arms were swaying with his easy strut and he was looking down, stopping occasionally to inspect a tree or bush.

  He was taking his sweet time in reaching me. By the time he did, my arms were folded over my chest and I was looking away from him, trying to let him know how annoyed I was. He leaned against the rock beside me but didn’t say anything.

  After I became thoroughly irritated, I looked at him. Cool and calm, he was inspecting his fingers. Sensing my stare, he looked over at me. I wasn’t going to be the first to say something, and raised my eyebrows.

  The tiniest hint of a smile lifted his lips before he said, “I miss you, Punks.” I felt myself blush and turned away. “Have you missed me?” he asked.

  I scoffed, trying to be angry.

  “Yeah, you have,” he said, and I could tell that he was grinning triumphantly.

  “Maybe,” I shrugged, only willing to give a little.

  He chuckled, and then completely surprised me with, “Come camping with me. We’ll sleep in a tent, go canoeing, sit by a fire. You’ll like it. I want you to.” I didn’t say anything, thinking it over. “Please,” he added.

  It was the “please” that got me. He actually sounded a little desperate to spend time with me. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll go.”

  He smiled from ear to ear. “I’ll pick you up in an hour,” he said then started back down the trail.

  “An hour?” I called after him. “That’s hardly enough time for me to get ready!”

  “Then what are you doing wasting it just sitting there? Go! Get your shit together. See you soon.”

  “Ass,” I whispered, but started walking back to my car.

  He forgot to mention that seven of us were going. Marlowe, Lucas, and Nicole I’d already met. Ian and Lacey were strangers, nice enough, but I felt weird.

  When the two cars pulled into my driveway, I felt a knot twist in my stomach. While he was helping me with my bag, I whispered, “Maybe I shouldn’t go,” to him.

  “Why? They won’t bite,” he said at full volume, loud enough for Marlowe and Lucas to hear.

  “Never mind,” I said, embarrassed.

  The campgrounds were about an hour away at a state park. Wally and I rode in the backseat of Marlowe’s Jeep. I was thankful that I didn’t have to ride with Nicole or the two people I didn’t know.

  All I’d brought with me were clothes and the basic necessities. Wally insisted that he had everything else—the tent, sleeping bags, food. I offered to help pay my share, but he refused.

  The ride was nice. He had his arm around the back of my seat and his knee pressed into mine. He kept the conversation in the car going, including me as much as possible. Marlowe seemed very interested in my animal shelter.

  “Come on Lucas,” she said. “Let’s get a puppy.”

  “No,” he said.

  She huffed and whined. “Why not?”

  “You don’t really want a puppy, Marlowe,” he said. “After about two weeks you’ll be over it. All the cleaning and walking.”

  “You don’t know that,” she said.

  He reached over and squeezed her leg, leaving his hand there. “You’re right, baby. Let’s think about it for a little while though. Maybe in a few months,” he said.

  He looked back at Wally and winked, as if to say, Yeah, right. Wally leaned into me and whispered. “They’ll have a puppy by the end of next week.”

  At the campgrounds, we started unloading all of the gear. We had three tents in all. Each of the couples brought one. Nicole was going to be bunking with one of us. She never outright said anything to me, but from the way she kept giving frustrated whispers to Marlowe, I had the feeling that she had planned to be in Wally’s tent tonight. Without me in it of course.

  She and Wally seemed to be close. Every time they happened to be standing together, some inside joke or soft, little laugh would echo back to me. I tried not to watch them, but she was enjoying this—smiling longer whenever she and I made eye contact. How awkward and uncomfortable would it be if she ended up in our tent? For a moment, I wondered how Wally would handle that. Hopefully, he’d shoot it down.

  He was helping Ian and Lacey get their tent together and left me alone with ours. That was fine with me, I’d done this loads of times on family outings and didn’t mind. Besides, our tent was much smaller than theirs was.

  When it was up all the way, I called him over. “Great job, Punks,” he said. “But I don’t want it to be here.”

  I looked around. All of the tents were centrally located around the fire. “Where do you want it?”

  He walked a few yards away and started clearing the ground of debris. It was more isolated where he was. We’d have more privacy. My body heated at the prospect. Together, we dragged the tent over.

  “Did you bring a sleeping bag for me?” I asked.

  “Yep,” he said, throwing one into the tent.

  “Where is it?”

  “You’re a little slow on the jump, Punks. You’re sharing mine.”

  I blushed again. This man. I hadn’t blushed this much since high school. “That’s fine,” I said. “I’d like that.”

  We went back to the rest of the group, and I began helping Marlowe and Lacey get the food ready. Nicole grabbed Wally and pulled him off to the side. She thought that they were out of earshot, and maybe they were, but I was tr
ying very hard to listen.

  I drowned out everything else around me and heard her say, “Come on, let her sleep in one of the other tents.”

  “Why would I do that?” he asked her, laughing a little.

  “Because,” she said, dropping her voice down lower, attempting to sound sexy, “you remember the last time we were out here, don’t you…”

  I glanced up from my food prepping and saw him with his hands behind his head. He was smiling at her, shaking his head from side to side. “Come on now,” he said. “You think I’m gonna bring her all the way out here and then ask her to sleep in a stranger’s tent?”

  “Whatever,” she said and started back towards us. “Shouldn’t have asked her to begin with,” she whispered, but loud enough that I could hear.

  Marlowe and Lacey did, too.

  “Ignore her,” Lacey said. “She’s just mad that she isn’t getting her way.”

  “She’ll be over it before we even eat dinner,” Marlowe said.

  She wasn’t.

  Chapter 16

  We were lucky that the weather was nice. No rain. Not too hot. Not too cold. The mosquitos were minding their own business. It would have been perfect. It nearly was. But Nicole was getting on my nerves.

  As we ate, she made a point to sit by Wally, stealing the only spot next to him. To his credit, he looked surprised when he saw her sit down instead of me, but he didn’t make her move. I was beginning to wonder what I was doing here. Did he even want me there? He had to, at least a little.

  While I ate my overcooked hotdog and chomped on my greasy chips, I barely made eye contact with him. This felt stupid, and I was over it. Since Nicole seemed hell bent on occupying all of Wally’s time, and Wally seemed complacent enough to let her, I turned my back on him and hung out with Marlowe and Lacey.

  Lucas had pulled out his guitar and was playing songs at the campfire. Ian joined him. While I watched Lucas, I couldn’t help but think how lucky Marlowe was. He kept giving her shy smiles, his eyes softening when he looked at her. It was sweet. Ian and Lacey weren’t much different. He was quiet, hardly speaking, but the two of them moved and communicated with a familiarity that I envied.

  I’d been watching them mess around for half an hour when Wally sat down next to me and pulled out a harmonica. Of course he played the harmonica.

  They picked up the pace as Wally joined in, and I couldn’t help it, I was smiling and giddy watching him work the instrument. He was out of breath when they finished and gave me an exhausted grin.

  “What’s up with you?” he asked. “Why are you being so cold and weird?” He was hoping to catch me off guard.

  “Why do you think?” I asked, not letting him rattle me.

  “Hmmm…” He rubbed the back of his head and looked away from me. “I don’t do this, Punks. You tell me what’s bothering you so I can fix it or stop being mad.”

  I had the overwhelming urge to slap him across the top of the head. Was he joking?

  No, he wasn’t. He really meant that. I didn’t take a breath to calm myself. Maybe I should have. Instead, I leaned into him and said, “You ask me to come here with you and ignore me while you hang out with some girl you obviously have a history with. Then you have the audacity to ask what’s bothering me? Give me a break, Wally. You don’t do this? Well, I don’t waste my time with idiots. So realize you’re being a jerk or accept that I don’t have to tell you shit.”

  Before he could say anything else, I stood from my chair and stomped off towards our tent. Nicole was hanging around the cars messing with her cell phone. I had just enough steam remaining to let her have it, too.

  “I don’t know you,” I said. “And from what I’ve seen, I don’t want to, but lay off. I didn’t come out here to ruin your weekend or steal someone from you. He asked me to come, so I came.”

  She looked shocked that I’d had the courage to say anything at all, but then her eyes went hard and I braced myself. All of my nerve had dissipated. If she started yelling at me I’d turn into a blubbering mess and apologize.

  Her shoulders squared, but then she smiled, shrugged, said, “Whatever,” and walked off.

  I watched her move back towards the fire and saw everyone pretending not to look at me. When she sat down as far away from Wally as she could get, I sighed and made my way to our tent. It was already dark, maybe 8 or 9. I wasn’t tired, but I didn’t want to be out there anymore. I felt like an outsider.

  Even though they were mostly nice, I knew that to them I was the stranger, not the other way around. In the tent, I unfolded our sleeping bag and saw that it was big enough for two people. It still had the tag on it, so I knew that Wally had most likely purchased it for this trip. With a tug, I pulled it off and stripped down to a t-shirt and panties.

  The bag was cold at first, but warmed to my skin. Inside the tent, it was even darker, and I drowned out the muffled voices and low guitar strumming. Not yet sleepy, I grabbed my phone and started reading a book. I fell asleep four chapters later.

  I startled when I heard the tent’s zipper open. “Is that you?” I asked the darkness.

  “Who?” Wally said.

  “Shut up,” I said, rolling back over.

  Still drowsy, I heard him undressing, taking off his shoes and pants. A few minutes later, he crawled into the bag, but didn’t touch me.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “For what?”

  “I was being a dick. I’ve been a dick,” he said. Even though I couldn’t see him, I rolled over to face him. “You’re right,” he continued. “I’m not good at this stuff, Punks. Nicole is my friend, but I knew she was making you uncomfortable. I should have told her to back off.”

  As far as apologies went, this was subpar, but I’d take it. “Alright,” I sighed. “I forgive you.”

  He let out a breath of relief. “Thank you.” He rolled over then and cradled my face. Blindly, our mouths found each other.

  Slowly, he kissed me, taking his time. I hated and loved this ability he had, to take all of my frustration and make it melt away. His lips consumed me and made me feel nothing but desire. It was an unfair advantage and I wondered if he knew it. When I felt the back of his fingers gently graze my cheek, I didn’t care. Whatever his motives, they didn’t matter. I wanted to be right where I was, with his mouth on mine and his hands caressing me.

  I followed his lead, touching him gradually, giving him more only when I knew he wanted it. Outside, I could hear people around the fire, the guitars lightly strumming, but they might as well have been miles away.

  His hand went lower down my body, stopping to squeeze my breast, but moving on to my waist, my hip. My pulse increased when his fingers began playing with line of my panties. I fisted his shirt and deepened our kiss, but had to break free, when his fingers slid inside me.

  As quiet as I could be, I softly moaned. He knew I wanted him.

  “Roll over,” he whispered into my ear. I went to my back, and Wally positioned himself between my legs. My breath quickened as he pulled my panties to the side and I felt him nudge me. “Relax,” he said, giving my neck kisses. “I’m gonna take it slow.”

  “Okay,” I said, taking a calming breath.

  And slow he did. Gradually, so that I could feel every long inch of him, he pushed inside. When he pulled out, and pushed back in at the same speed, I couldn’t take it. “Wally,” I whined, needing more.

  “Shhh…” he said. “I know, I know.”

  As quiet as possible, he moved faster. Wrapped in the sleeping bag, our bodies had little space to maneuver. My legs hugged him, keeping him close. My hands journeyed up and down his back, feeling his muscles flex and his hips roll.

  One of his hands was glued to my ass, squeezing and grabbing as he moved in and out of me. Our faces were close, his hot breath bathing my neck and ear. His grunts were soft. Quiet, gentle sounds of desperation echoed in my ear. I could only imagine what he heard from me.

  My orgasm was coming. Heat and tension pool
ed in my low belly. He knew. “You about to come?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  “Me, too,” he said with a grunt.

  When I started to moan, he put a hand over my mouth, and buried his in my neck. Muffled and struggling to hold back, we came together, moving as one, fluid and perfectly in sync.

  With a few last jerks, he settled on top of me. We took a moment to compose ourselves. The campfire was still lively, and it didn’t seem that anyone even knew what we’d been doing.

  Wally rolled off of me, and pulled me into his side. He gave me a kiss and then a tight squeeze. Within minutes we were both asleep.

  Chapter 17

  Waking up next to Wally Nikolokakis was euphoric. He’d held me close through the night, always a hand on me. At some point, he settled into me—wrapping his entire body around mine and burying his face into my chest.

  The rest of the camp woke before us. I heard their laughter and loud music coming from car speakers. When he felt me stir, he clutched me tighter.

  “Five more minutes, baby,” he mumbled into my shirt.

  Like I cared. We could stay here all day. My fingers went to his pretty, brown locks, delicately giving his head a rub. It pleased him and he turned his mouth to my chest, breathing me in. One of his hands shimmied up my shirt and gave my breast a solid squeeze.

  It woke me up immediately. “Wally…” I warned.

  “Yeah,” he chuckled. “We probably won’t be so lucky this go around. Someone would definitely hear us.”

  He went up to an elbow and smiled down at me. I loved that look. Deep down, he was satisfied, happy even, and I had made him that way.

  “What are we doing today?” I asked.

  In between little kisses to my face and neck he said, “First we gotta pack up.” A kiss to my chin. “Then we’re gonna go canoeing.” A kiss to my jaw. “Then we’ll head home.”