Chapter six

Like he had promised, Sully picked her up at ten o'clock on the next morning. Under whistles and embarrassing catcalls mainly from Rob and Rory, Michaela climbed into the passenger's seat of Sully's battered Ford.

At breakfast, the news of their actual first meeting at this very beach three years ago had travelled fast at both of their houses, now that the respective secret keepers did not feel obliged to keep mum over it any more. The girls had sighed dreamily at such a romantic encounter. The boys had paid tribute to Sully's heroic behavior.

Waving at their friends, they drove out of the yard before heading south on the highway.

As he had told her, Puerto Aventuras was not that much to look at except the old harbor among a row of new hotels. But if one knew where to find it, one could visit that old stonewall church in the old part of the city. Spanish settlers had built it as a sacrament to their catholic faith and in reverence to the Virgin Mary. As Michaela entered the thick wooden door, she was very surprised at the brightness and airy spaces of the interior. Looking up, she could could detect the broad glass windows, lean beams and a rosette she had not seen before entering, as the reason for the wonderful atmosphere.

"It's beautiful, ain't it?"

"It's amazing," she confirmed.

"That's the way I want to build sometime. Unpretentious, yet elegant. Airy, bright, yet sturdy, built for eternity. Combining the old and the new..."

He stopped himself self-consciously. "I'm rambling. Sorry... I don't know if I'll be any good."

"I'm sure you will be and I'm really looking forward to seeing one of your designs one day."

Encouragingly, she squeezed his hand.

After their visit of the church, Sully invited Michaela for lunch. He knew just the right place for their first date which was an open-air restaurant on the beach. During dining on the catch of the day, they talked a lot more about their families, their friends, their likes and dislikes, their hopes and dreams. They were amazed that they both were on the same page on so many things.

Pushing his empty dessert cup to the side, Sully once again took Michaela's hand in his. "What about your first kiss?"

"What about it?" she stalled.

"I wanna know the facts," he grinned. "Who? Where? When?"

Michaela blushed but looked him straight in the eyes. "I'll tell you, if you tell me first."

"Okay," he conceded. "Her name was Catherine. Like my Mom but with a C... I don't even remember her last name. I was twelve. It was at Hank's thirteenth birthday party and someone had come up with the idea of spin-the-bottle. It was her turn and in the end the bottle pointed at me... that is, I suspected her to have manipulated it so that it pointed towards me instead of HB... But I didn't want to look like a total fool, denying her and embarrassing HB. So I gave her a little peck on the mouth. Nothing spectacular, if ya ask me... And I didn't particularly like her. She was far too clingy. After that, it was a long dry phase for me..."

"Really!?" she asked dryly. "And for how long was that?" She expected for him to say that there had not been someone for a few months after that.

"What is today's date again?"

She almost sputtered on her fruit salad.

"It's true!" he claimed. "I've never been particularly interested in any of the girls I met... And then I met you three years ago. From then on, it's always been you I thought about."

He turned red at such a revelation. Michaela blushed too and let her gaze drop to the checkered tablecloth.

In a small voice, she revealed. "It was the same for me, you know."

"It was?" He caressed the back of her hand. She nodded her head yes. Encouraged, he brought their entwined hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles reverently. A jolt ran through her system.

Relieving the heady tension, they both chuckled.

Laying both of their hands on the table, he coaxed her. "Now, it's your turn."

"What?" she was confused.

"I told you about mine, now you tell me yours."

Catching on, she remembered. "It was nothing special either. His name was Jonathan Benton and he was in the class above me. I was nine. I was in recess and he came up to me, straight out asking for a kiss."

"And you just granted it?"

"That was before my mother became so strict on our moral behavior and way before I realized that there was such a big deal made about it. I mean... I kissed my Dad and my cousins all the time... Well, so I gave Jonathan a little kiss so that he could brag about it to his friends. Sadly for him, the happiness was short lived because Will and Rob had watched the whole scene and roughed him up after that. So, our business together was concluded very quickly."

"For which I'm glad. I don't know if I was up to fightin' Jonathan."

"You might have a chance. I hear that he's into computer games these days," she joked.

After a pause, he said. "So this makes you the more experienced of us, huh?"

"Why's that?" she wanted to know.

"Cause you got a head start by being nine, compared to my twelve."

She just rolled her eyes at him.

In the afternoon they drove inland, away from the coast. Sully was very elusive when Michaela questioned him about their destination, giving only away that it was a surprise.

Michaela leaned back in her car seat, closed her eyes and let the breeze streaming through the open window caress her face. She loved that she could relax for once. Leave control to another person for a while. As she has skipped classes and was going to attend College after the holidays she was far advanced in her education and her mind had always had to keep up with that development. She was very mature and responsible for her age. The downside of that was that she had always been the one who had to be very determined, know exactly where she was going and how she would get there. Always the one with the masterplan for everything. Giving this up to Sully, letting him be the tour guide, following him for the day, was a wonderful experience for her.

After a few miles, Sully left the main road and turned left into a gravel road. No street signs gave any clue as to where they were headed. Looking at her out of the corner of his eye, he saw that she wanted to protest.

"Trust me," he appealed to her.

Smiling at him, she kept her mouth shut.

The nature around them changed drastically. With the coastal shoreline and its knee-high bushes and occasional pine trees behind them, the flora beside the small road began to get higher and denser. Michaela bit back her question if he was really sure as to their whereabouts when the bumpy road ended in a clearing that seemed to lead to nowhere. Cautiously, Sully parked the car and turned to her.

„From here on it's a short walk. Ya got your swimming gear under your clothes?"

Flustered, she nodded her head yes. Looking deep into his blue eyes she never got the idea that she would never be doing this with any other boy that was not him. Going to god-knows-where in the middle of nowhere with no connection to the civilized world. But she trusted him entirely and the thought to object never really entered her mind.

Sully took his rucksack from the car, packing two extra bottles of water, some granola bars and some fruit they had bought at the local market just in case. Then he lead the way. Michaela was stunned when he surely walked in front of her, finding a pathway leading from the clearing into the thick undergrowth. First, she was busy keeping her eyes glued to Sully's backside, not wanting to fall behind in the relative darkness. But after a while, her eyes had adjusted to the shady atmosphere and she could begin to take in her surroundings. What was more, with half of her visual input gone, she could hear nature's sounds around them all the more. Birds chirping, the whoosh of the wind in the trees, insects humming and whirring, the cries of a monkey far away in the distance. Michaela marvelled at the atmosphere. Wild, lush shrubbery, ferns, palms and other kinds of ancient trees around her. And the smell! Sweet and heady but also fresh and spicy. 'Where are we?' she asked herself.

Sully had a blast. If he was truthful to himself, he enjoyed leading her into unknown territory and he took great pride in the fact that she unquestioningly followed and trusted him. Without even looking back, he made sure that she was behind him all the time. He did not need to turn around because every time another smell, a view, a sound touched her senses, she gasped with surprise or sighed with glee. When he saw the density of the forest thin out, he knew that they had almost reached their destination. He stopped and turned around to her, making sure that she did not bump into him. He took her hand and gave her the answer she had been waiting for since they had left the main road. "This place is called el Jardín del Eden, which means..."

"Garden of Eden," she breathed.

"Yeah, right. I forgot that your Spanish is way better than mine."

"It's beautiful," she was amazed. "It really feels like we're the only ones here."

"I hope we are," Sully returned, tugging her along with him to the end of the lonesome pathway.

When they walked into the light, Michaela gasped. They beauty of this indescribable place took her breath away.

Seeing that she was in awe just the same as he had been when he had come here for the first time with his Dad, he let her explore the view in front of them.

They were standing on a rocky platform, overseeing nature's wonder below them. Tucked within a lush green forest and colorful flowers was a pool of blue and green pristine clear water. The sun and shadows from the trees made the water sparkle in a multitude of colors.

"It's called a cenote," Sully answered Michaela's obvious question. "Basically, it's a sinkhole resultin' from the collapse of limestone bedrock. Before that, the pool's been a groundwater pit that's lain in a cave for millions of years. It's a fresh water pool actually. Cenote means Holy Well. It's been a holy place for the Mayas who made their peace offerings down by the water... But that doesn't mean that ya can't go in. They Mayas enjoyed this spot for fun and recreation, too. There are a few other cenotes here in the area. Many of them are quite touristy. But this one's a bit smaller and I don't think that many foreigners know of its existence."

"Sully, I don't know what to say. It's beautiful."

"Ya wanna go in? The water is amazing."

"I... sure... How can we get in?" She looked for a way to get down to the water's edge.

"I suggest we jump in."

Horrified, she looked up at him.

"Don't worry. I've done it a thousand times. The pool's quite deep and there are no rocks whatsoever we could crash on."

"It's only a few feet... .. See?" He took her hand in his and squeezed it encouragingly. "We can jump in right here. Then swim to that little waterfall on the other side where it's shallow. There we can get out and walk back here... .. Easy."

Michaela shook her head. The things he made her do! But, again, she trusted his assessment implicitly. Taking a step back from him, her hands fell to the hem of her white t-shirt. Deciding that there was no turning back for her, she pulled the top over her head revealing her light blue bathing suit. Sully grinned and shed his rucksack next to her discarded t-shirt. Next, they took off their pants and shoes. Sully pulled his black t-shirt over his head, glad that he had thought of putting on his swimming trunks this morning.

When he was done, he walked up to Michaela and again took her hand in his, maneuvering them to the edge of the platform.

"Ya ready?"

"No," she smiled nervously.

"Ya just gotta take a leap of faith... .. With me... ..."

She stared into his eyes, looking for and finding confirmation.

"On the count of three... .. One... .. two... ..." He tugged at her hand and she jumped with him.

What she experienced when she took the short fall, she could not describe later on. From the moment her feet left the rocky platform, everything happened in slow motion. She saw herself and Sully like from afar jump down into the blue and green pool of water. Both falling, screaming. Then this picture changed but at the same time it did not and what she saw was a cliff much higher than the one they had been jumping off. Two people were falling down from that cliff. Both clad in strange kind of underwear. The woman in a white chemise and old-fashioned knee-long pants. The long-haired man in some kind of brown garment which native Americans had worn a century ago. The second before the pair splashed into the pool of water, Michaela had one eery realization... 'This is us!'

When her legs made the first contact with the cold water, Michaela was jerked back into reality. The height of their fall dunked her whole body under the pristine water. Sputtering, she reached the surface looking for Sully who had the same dumbfounded look on his face that she was sure she had.

"Have ya seen that?!" confirming the suspicion that he had seen the same thing she had.

"... I think so... Those two people jumping from that cliff..."

"... In some really weird gettup..." he cried excitedly. "What was that?"

"Really, I don't know!" She swam to his side. "It was like in a movie or something... Maybe some kind of déja-vu?"

"For both of us?!" Sully was agitated.

"Well," she tried some humour. "It is a holy place after all."

Jumping at the chance to take their experience with some levity, Sully willingly let himself be distracted. "Maybe the heat got to us."

"That might be... You know what to do when your body's overheating..."

"Splash some water!" Sully cried, propelling a huge gush of water into her direction.

They had much fun together fooling around in the pool. Soon, the vision they believed to have seen was forgotten. Sully showed Michaela a small waterfall that sprayed into the water and they dived, seeing some beautifully colored fish. When they were refreshed enough, they climbed the platform at the more shallow water's edge and dried off on the sunny overgrown rocks. When they walked back to retrieve their things Michaela was pleased at how Sully made sure that she was safe at all times, taking her hand in his, ensuring that she did not stumble or step on any sharp rocks.

With a little flourish, Sully took a small blanket from his rucksack and spread out the bottles of water, some cookies, grapes and some pineapple slices, making it a little picnic in their own private garden of Eden. The rather sparse meal was delicious after their energy-sapping dip in the pool.

Sighing contently, Michaela leaned back on her elbows and tilted her face towards the sun. Out of the corner of her eye, she gazed at Sully who had reclined beside her on the blanket with his head propped up on one hand. Her breath hitched. He was handsome! The sun had tanned his body and the exercise of running, surfing and being captain of the soccer team had steeled it. Michaela admired his firm abs and muscular chest. Fine hairs grew on his torso and lower stomach, hinting at the growth of more hair in the future. She closed her eyes in order to store the image into her memory for safekeeping.

When Michaela closed her eyes, Sully let his gaze surreptitiously roam her womanly curves. He could not get over how magnificent she was and that she was here with him. Her pale blue bathing suit was decent yet did not leave too much to his imagination of what was concealed under it. Her smooth, shapely legs had a nice tan and seemed quite long in proportion to her height. Her hands were small and delicate. They were made for performing surgery as well as caressing children. Her waistlong hair, the shade of sweet caramel, luscious and shiny. His eyes travelled over her flat stomach to even more enticing terrain. The rounded swells of her breasts were firm and full. He saw that she was still a bit cold from their swim. He forced himself to look away.

He would have loved to gaze into her two-toned eyes but they were closed, so he settled on her cute freckled nose and that curvy mouth. Oh, how he...!

Suddenly, she languidly stretched her limbs and slowly opened her eyes.

"It's so peaceful and beautiful out here. I've never seen anything like it," she purred as she sat up.

He could not hold it in. "You.. .. are... .. beautiful," he unabashedly claimed.

As he had predicted, she blushed around her nose and looked to the ground.

"Hey," he lead her face up to gaze into his. "Don't be embarassed. I just wanted to tell ya how I see it."

"I'm... .. I'm not.. .. I'm just not used to people telling me. At least people I care about."

"I find that hard to believe."

Flustered, she looked into the distance of the forest.

"Watcha thinking?" He tried to coax her into admitting her feelings.

'That I want to be closer to you,' she tought. "Nothing," she lied.

Scraping together all of her bravado, she looked him straight in the eyes. "What are you thinking?"

His response was instant. "How much I want to kiss you."

Her mouth shaped that crooked grin of hers and for the first time, she initiated their physical contact by taking his hand in her own. "Then do it," she happily encouraged.

He did not need any further persuasion. Slowly, gently he leaned in, caressing her cheekbone with his fingertips. His longing gaze was fixed upon her inviting lips. Only a few milimeters away he paused, wishing to feel that she was invested in it as much as he was. She closed the distance. The first contact of their lips felt amazing. It sent tingles and butterflies and shocks through both of their bodies. Michaela felt dizzy. It was really happening! She was kissing Sully and it was beautiful. His lips were firm, yet gentle on hers. It did not feel pressuring or demanding just wanting to feel close to one another. Michaela put all her heart into the kiss. To Sully, Michaela's lips felt soft and smooth and they tasted of the grapes they had consumed and some sweet, fresh mixture that was uniquely hers. He closed his mouth over her bottom lip. It felt wonderful.

Not really wanting to but feeling the need to breathe somewhere along the way, they slowly disenganged but still held hands for some steadying contact.

They both chuckled and gazed deep into each others eyes.

"I hope, this one was better than Jonathan's kiss... It was certainly better than Catherine's!" Sully joked.

"Sully! Way to go, spoiling the mood!"

Jumping up exuberantly, she ran to the other side of the cenote again, letting him catch her only when they were so close to the water that she could push him in.

Please R & R.