Bare-Back Mountain

Chapter Seven:

The air had a mystifying sense of dark misery. The night, although clear and seemingly happy, hid a looming beast that swirled and spun, tainting the world with its darkness. People flocked towards the beach in the arms of their beloved, be it father to daughter, husband to wife, or simple yet complex lovers. Either way, the tension of the world was distilled in the calm before the oncoming storm.

Yet silly me, I walked gaily (if you'll pardon the pun) onto the beach, casting longing gazes for my own beloved (cough JOE cough cough) but eyes finally falling on Maria, who smiled and waved excitedly.

"Hey Ray! Thanks for asking me to come." But what the hell was that? A book lay on her lap. She brought a book on a date with me? I've sunk way too low. I sighed and feigned a smile.

"Hey. Where's Joe and Katie? Isn't this a double date?" She stared blankly at me. Whoa I totally forgot to tell her, didn't I? Crap. No, mega crap. Mega crap in buckets. I smiled nervously and waved my hand to dismiss the idea. "Never mind." I plopped down next to her. Ahh, awkward silence. "So... what are you reading?"

"Fertility Goddesses of the Ancient Indian Practices." Eve and Dan? I couldn't help but blush and laugh out of nerves.

"Err... any good?" She nodded, eyes pulled into the tight scripts crammed onto each page. I sighed.

"Hey! Ray! Maria!" I turned to see a four-legged creature walking towards us, frantically waving. As the monster pulled into view I smiled and waved back as my heart ripped out its heart which ripped out its heart...

"Hi Joe!" I smiled. "Katie." (Nodded to Katie. Score one for me.) They held each other closely to create the illusion that they were joined at the hips. To my dismay, Katie seemed genuinely glad to see me.

"Hey Ray!" (Smile) "Maria." (Nod) ...What the hell?

"So anyway, they're about to start... mind if we sit?" Joe gestured at the empty spot next to me. Yay.

"It is a double date after all." I smiled and patted where he had just gestured. C'mon Joe, plop it. Take a load off. Meaning your pants. I coughed and blushed my way into a 1 billion-watt grin (if there was such a thing).

My billion-watt grin burned out and cracked in half as Katie playfully sat down next to me, pulling Joe down along side her. It's on bitch. I wasn't going to do anything to you, but now I'm not so sure. As I mentally cursed Katie, whose hand went unnoticed to my ass, the first firework shot into the sky.

The giant massive erec- firework (ahem) arched into the sky and burst into a golden glory. That's when I noticed Katie's hand.

"WHAT THE HELL?" I stood up, onlookers murmuring and pointing.

"Hm? What's wrong Ray?" Joe peered around Katie, whose face was red and grimace wide. Nothing my darling, except that your treacherous bitch just cheated on you! She had slyly pulled away her hand, unnoticed by the utterly clueless Joe.

"I- I have to go." I frowned. Katie shifted her eyes away from mine, her face blushing crimson. That was a point for you. But next time...I mentally shook a fist as I stalked off the beach. I turned briefly to see Maria's reaction but her head was still buried in the book.

"My life is over. Totally and utterly over. O-V-E-R over." I slumped against a tree, still able to view the perfect fireworks of this deeply depressing night. They screamed and rose in the sky like angry phantoms against the onyx nighttime, illuminating the onlookers in various ghostly colors. I had never seen it that way until that bitch planned my downfall by grabbing my ass. Or maybe she cared for me? What was I? Food? Wait- you probably wouldn't grab a hamburger's ass. So what was I? I drew up a mental list.

Joe + Me equals HAPPY
Maria + Me equals Maria not even noticing we got married.
Katie + Me equals Katie dead in half a week after our marriage due to 'unknown causes' followed by an 'evil smirk'.
Me myself and I equaled a lot of masturbation but pretty much not going anywhere.

I sighed, feeling misery gathering in every pore on my body. That is, until-

"Ray-!" He gasped as he caught his breath. "M-Maria told-" He held up a hand as if to pause the conversation, leaning over and breathing as deeply as his tired lungs would allow. "Sprinted- here..." He groaned and took more sharp breaths. "Ok- ok better!" He stood and took a deeper breath, slowly letting the air out. "Maria told me about Katie." He paused. "She's kind of weird... I mean she gave me a letter while she was still reading. How'd she even see that when I didn't-?" Seeing my highly unamused face, he continued. "Right right! Sorry! Man... Katie's kind of a..." Bitch. Slut. Man-whore? It'd be totally cool if you said man-whore. "...well she's flirtatious." He smiled and blushed. "I told her we needed a break and she kind of... of... ran off... crying..." He trailed off, staring down at his feet.

"It's cool. I mean, she's yours." (curses) "You know what fireworks, I mean to say, things that happen and the girls but no- wait. I mean guys can sometimes be like when the sky's all dark and you're sitting..." Whoa that made no sense at all. His face stared at mine, confusion clouding his eyes.

"What the-?" He smiled and waved the jumbled words away. "Never mind. Dude," He sat down next to me. "You can be really strange sometimes." Is strange good? Strange better be good. Wait- if I called someone strange, would that be good? Uh... we're going to say yes for now because I have a headache and this is totally making it worse.

"Sorry." I murmured, although not entirely sorry. I just wanted to leave. I wanted to turn my back away from Joe and just stand up and leave.

"No. It's cool. I just can't believe she would act like that. So now I'm dateless." He shrugged like it was a bad thing. "How about you? How's Maria?" I grimaced and he chuckled. "That bad?"

"Seven words. Fertility Goddesses of the Ancient Indian Practices." He stared back at me, once again confused. "Everything she does revolves around books! I can't be happy with that..." Whoa... was that me being honest with myself? Ding ding ding, what do we have for him, Johnny! My stomach pulled a loop as I mentally scratched Maria off the list. That left me with Katie, the ass-mooching little girl that would be accidentally killed half a week after my marriage with her, and Joe. Yay. Sooo many options. Not.

"Well... yeah you've got a point. So... that's it then? You're not dating her?"

"To be honest," I'm on a frickin' role! "I don't think we even were dating. I mean... I asked her to go but she still wasn't all that excited or anything. She just kind of... I don't know... accepted it as a date and that was it."

"You're rambling." I nodded. "But you're right." He lay onto the grass, his own self a few feet away from me. I scooted over so the tree wasn't directly behind my back and lay down next to him, staring up at the once foreboding sky. The fireworks (once again flaming erections instead of angry specters) soared above us.

"They're really pret- cool."

"Hm? Oh... yeah." He smiled as his face was illuminated in purple.

"Actually, I mean..." Whoa whoa, code red code red! Back up! Warning! SHUT YOUR MOUTH RAY! Hello? RAAAY? "I think that..." I turned my head towards his face, who looked questioningly back.

"What?"

"I think you're..." STOP! WHAT THE HELL AM I SAYING? I gulped. "I think you're really cool." I blinked, surprised I hadn't thrown up or blurted out 'I love you' or something really weird like that. 'I think you're really cool.' That's not that bad. Not bad at all.

He smiled. A mental picture of me dancing around happily in a small cheerleading uniform swirled above my head shouting 'Gooooo Ray!' and at every 'Ray!' the tiny skirt flipped up. I was cute as a cheerleader.

"Thanks! You're cool too." That was that look of his, the one that said, 'what the-?' But I was smiling and so was he and dammit, that's all that mattered.

Awkward! Really awkward! It had grown silent between us as we stared at each other, face to face. I blushed and he blinked at me. "You're blushing." Thank you Captain States the Fucking Obvious!

"Errr... I'm a little hot." I did not just say that. "From running! I ran up here! That's why my face is red." I smiled and turned my head back up to the sky. I felt jittery all of a sudden, as though each nerve cell had drank eight cups of caffeinated coffee.

"Ray?"

"Hm?"

Uh oh. My head turned back to him to notice his own face was looking at me, had been looking at me. I blushed again, maddeningly red. "Uhh... what is it?"

His eyes searched mine and he took a breath

Ahahaa! Cliffhangers! My first one I think. I'm sorry! I just have to be evil.

-Miss Miasma