An Elf's Rose

CHAPTER SIX

Rose got home about three minutes to midnight – just under the wire. She had told her parents that her class from the dojo were going to the coffee shop across the street after class to get to know each other better. Close enough to the truth that they believed her story. She felt a stab of guilt. Rose didn’t like deceiving her folks. They trusted her and she didn’t want to break that trust.

Her mother was waiting up for her, sitting in the living room reading a book. She smiled up at Rose, “Did you have a good time? You look like you did.”

“Oh, yeah. They’re a great bunch of kids. You and dad should come down and meet them all sometime.”

“We will. You’re going to be starting school soon though and you won’t be able to stay up so late on a weeknight.”

“I know. I want to take advantage of that while I can.”

“All right. Well, goodnight sweetheart.” She kissed Rose on the forehead.

“G’night, Mom.”

~~~

Rose lay sleepless, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what Orlando was doing. Was he thinking of her at all or was he asleep already?

She touched her lips with a finger tip. That gentle kiss still burned on her mouth. His lips had been warm, soft and smooth and it had lasted for only a second. But that second had awakened her body to a hunger that she had no real idea how to satisfy. She turned to lay on her side, knees up around the strange sensation in her belly. She was going to have to ask Carly about this. Her friend would know what to do.

~~~

Orli, for his part, knew exactly what he could do to defuse the lust that swept his body – he just wasn’t going to allow himself to do it. Rose had fallen against him when he kissed her and it had taken every ounce of his strength to put her in the car and not violate her against it. His hands had white-knuckled the steering wheel all the way home, while his mind tried to shut out the memory of her small warm breasts pressing against him.

Orli jumped in the shower when he got home and turned on the cold water full force. He gasped and spluttered, phinghing himself for wanting so desperately to despoil that innocence like a rutting goat. Her dark eyes had been fearless and full of trust, and all he’d wanted to do was bend he over the hood of her car.

“God, I am such a pig,” he moaned, his sobbing breaths echoing in the bathroom.

~~~

Rose felt like she floated on a cloud all the next day at work. Carly finally cornered her in the early afternoon when the store was empty.

“Ok, spill the beans. What’s up? As if I didn’t know…”

Rose giggled. She told Carly about the coffee shop and that he wanted to see her again.

“But wait, there’s more!” Carly said, sarcastically.

“He kissed me.”

“Aha! How did he kiss you?”

“With his mouth, what else?”

Carly rolled her eyes in exasperation. “I didn’t ask ‘with what,’ I asked ‘how.’ ”

“I don’t know what you mean…”

“Was it wet? Was it open-mouth? Did he stick his tongue in?”

Rose was mortified. “No!”

Carly ged. ed. “So it was rather – chaste, eh?”

Rose glared at her friend. “He’s a gentleman, not a pig!”

Carly laughed. “Oh yeah, sure. Where’ve you been? Don’t you know all men are pigs? Except our daddies of course. You sure he’s not gay then?”

Rose glowered even more. “I won’t even respond hat.hat.”

“Ok, ok. Maybe it wasn’t a little brotherly peck. Did it get you all hot and bothered? That’s always a good indication of the testosterone involved.”

Rose blushed and turned away, knowing it had come to it. How could she ask Carly about it without feeling like a complete idiot?

“That pretty much sums it up – ‘hot and bothered,’ ” Rose said. She looked up at her friend, pleadingly. “What do I do about it? I mean, I didn’t sleep very well. Tossed and turned all night and my – my belly was – it felt weird.”

“Jesus wept, Rosie. Are you telling me you’ve never masturbated?”

“Of course not! I’m not a – a trollop!” Rose whispered hoarsely, looking around.

Carly put a hand over her eyes. “I guess that’s what twelve years of Catholic school will do to some people.” She grinned at Rose. “It either turns you into a nun or a Juliet Sanders.”

“What about you?”

“My parents aren’t devout like yours. They sent me to St. s fos for the education, not the brainwashing. If you’re asking if I’ve masturbated, the answer is a resounding YES. My mother says it’s good for the skin tone.”

Rosie choked and Carly pounded her helpfully on the back. “I got a book you need to read.”

~~~

Wednesday, Carly brought her a little paperback book.

“It’s like a primer for teenage girls. My mother gave it to me when I was fourteen.”

Rose was amazed that a mother would give this to her daughter. Rose’s mother would be beyond scandalized and probably mutilate her if she caught her with it.

Sex was not a subject that was ever brought up in her house, let alone masturbation. She hid the book in her purse.

~~~

Aikido class was no easier than the first day. Only this time, Rose had something to look forward to. She smiled at Orlando, and he smiled back and winked.

Their talk centered around herself that night. Rose told him her family history, how after the WWII, both set of grandparents, unknown to each other, left Spain to escape the tyranny of Francisco Franco and took ship to America, land of gold-paved streets. How they hated the griminessNew New York and moved to Arizona where there was a small enclave of Spaniards from the north of Spain, and they worked hard and prospered. How the Aragon and Cervantes families were well known now in the political and real estate arenas of the high desert areas of Prescott and Flagstaff. She told him her her parents had fallen in love and married, despite disapproval from both sides of the family, and that they’d come out to Los Angeles to escape the constant intrigue.

Orlando listened raptly, barely touching his tea, his hands folded on the table in front of him. “That’s a wonderful story, Rosie. It’s so – medieval. And romantic. You should write it all down,” he told her after she’d finished.

Rose’s cheeks flamed. “I kinda want to do that. I’m going to major in English and I want to write books. Books that will affect people’s lives, like Tolkien’s did to me.”

He flashed her a brilliant smile. “I think that’s a worthy endeavor.”

Rose glowed in the radiance of his approval. They looked at each other in silence for a bit.

Orlando smiled wickedly. “Are you game for a little adventure?”

Rose felt a thrill of excitement. “Sure.”

“C’mon, then.” He threw a ten down on the table and grabbed her hand.

They ran across the street and they stopped at a small, smoke-colored BMW. He took keys out of his pants’ pocket and the alarm chirped.

“This is your car?” Rose asked, a bit surprised. She’d imagined he had a Honda or Toyota. Not a $40,000 import. Orlando shrugged as he opened the trunk.

“It’s my dad’s, really. But I’m the one who drives it.” He motioned to her to come closer. “Voila!”

In the trunk was a long bow and a leather quiver with arrows. Rose squealed in surprise. She looked up at Orlando’s grinning face. “You are an Elf!”

He laughed. “Well, I sure wanted to be one at one time.” He picked up the bow, held it in position, stretched back the string to his cheek and let it go, making it twang. “You told me to bring my bow and arrows, remember?”

“Do you really know how to use them?”

“Oh yes. I competed while in college, during the height of my Lord of the Rings obsession. I haven’t done it in a while, so I’m pretty rusty. Do you want to come with me to the park and shoot some?”

“I’d love to!”

~~~

Orli drove up to Mulholland in the Hollywood Hills. There was a park that he had frequented when he’d regularly practiced archery. It was secluded and easy to get into even after dark, they just had to jump the gate.

He could tell Rose was excited; her eyes shone in the moonlight and her breath came short. She held the bow and watched him silently as he buckled the quiver to his back. “C’mon,” he told her, with a smile and a jerk of the head as he took back the bow. He sprinted off toward the trees and she followed closely.

“See the big oak?” It stood about ten yards away, trunk easily seen in the moonlight. An easy shot.

“Yes,” she answered breathlessly. Orli reached back and grabbed an arrow, nocking it and letting it go in one fluid motion. There was a soft pffft and a thwak and the arrow was centered in the tree trunk.

Rose jumped up and down in glee, clapping. “Wonderful!” Orli grinned. His Hobbit was easily impressed, considering there was no bull’s-eye.

“Well, let’s rathe the bar a bit. Count ten seconds and let’s see how many arrows I can get as close as possible to that first one.”

He stretched his right shoulder out and loosened his neck. “Start.”

“One one thousand, two one thousand, three…” she kept counting, her eyes not leaving him. Arrow after arrow flew, with amazing speed. Pffft and thwack.

At the count of ten, Orli groaned and massaged his shoulder. “I am out of practice for sure.”

They walked to the tree. There were eleven arrows, but only six were close to the original. He frowned. “Out of practice for sure,” he repeated. He pulled them out and gave them to Rose. “Put them back for me?”

As she did, she told him, “I don’t know anything about archery, but that was amazing. You are so fast, Orlando.”

He turned to face her, smiling, and she placed a hand gently on his forearm. Her touch lit a fuse, he felt it rush up his arm and bolt through his whole body like a lightning strike. He didn’t even notice that he’d dropped the bow in the grass. He took a step towards her and she was in his arms and his mouth was on hers. Her lips were oh so sweet and pliant, and he crushed her body to his. She reached around and clutched his shirt underneath the quiver, holding on, her legs giving way.

Orli growled softly in his throat andpasspassed the tip of his tongue down the length of her top lip. She stiffened suddenly and he pulled away from the kiss. He looked down at her, searching her face, but he saw only trust and desire. He lowered his mouth to hers again and she closed her eyes in anticipation. He sucked her bottom lip between his own, lightly bit it and ran his tongue along it. Again she stiffened.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, puzzled by her reactions.

“What…?” she whispered.

“Don’t you – like it?”

She laughed breathlessly. “Too much.” She shifted and her hip came in contact with his erection. He sucked his breath in through his teeth and her reaction was instantaneous. She pulled away and walked backward a few steps, hugging herself.

“Um – ah – maybe I should be heading home now.” She looked around at the dark trees. “It’s probably getting late.”

He reached out to her. “Rosie, what did I do wrong?”

“Nothing! You’ve done nothing wrong. I just – it’s getting late, is all.”

He didn’t understand, but he wasn’t about to argue. He drove her down to her car in silence. As she was getting out of his, he held her back by putting his hand on her arm. “Rose, whatever I did, I’m sorry.”

“I told you, you didn’t do anything wrong.” She smiled crookedly at him. “I’m just – it’s going a bit too fast for me, that’s all.”

“Very well. I am yours to command, my lady. I await your bidding.” He placed his haver ver his heart and bowed his head to her. He winked at her and she giggled nervously. She moved to go and again he stopped her.

“I just remembered. I’ll see you in class on Friday, but I’m afraid coffee shop must be canceled. Sensei Akamura needs me to assist with the new third levels. Sempai Jimmy is going out of town.”

“Oh.” Her disappointment was palpable. “See you Friday then.” And she was gone.

~~~

Orli normally did fifty laps, but that Saturday morning he tried to exhaust himself by doing a hundred. He made it only to eighty-two before he quit. He pulled himself out of the pool and collapsed, heaving and gasping, on the warm concrete.

“What are you trying to do? Kill yourself?” a sultry female voice asked. “Your daddy wouldn’t like to come home to find your corpse at the bottom of the pool, I don’t think.”

“Hullo, Victoria,” Orli gasped. “How are you this fine morning?”

He got up and grabbed his towel, looking at his father’s latest mistress with a jaundiced eye.

“Oh, just dandy. How are you?” she asked, smiling from behind designer sunglasses. She squirted suntan lotion on her palm and rubbed it along her leg in a very provocative manner. Orli, not immune to the sight of a beautiful woman in a tiny bikini greasing herself up, froze and stared distractedly at her long shapely legs. His body, having been tortured by constant provocation in the last few days, rebelled against his better judgment.

Victoria, knowing an aroused man when she saw one, offered the lotion to him. “Wanna do my back for me?”

It was so utterly cliché that Orli would have laughed, if it hadn’t been for the horrible pressure in his groin. “Is my father still at tennis?” he asked hoarsely.

“Mmm hmm.” She waved the lotion at him. He stepped closer and, ignoring the bottle, sat down next to her on the chaise. He leaned over and kissed her thoroughly, his hands caressing her bare flanks. His mouth continued down her jaw and throat, nipping and sucking, hands working at the bikini bottom.

“Jesus,” she gasped. ‘You don’t waste time, do you?”

Her only answer was a snarl and the bikini bottoms pulled from her legs.

What have I gotten myself into she thought, her hands pressing on the rock hard chest of her lover’s only son as he positioned himself between her legs.