IN THE TIME WE HAVE, Chapter 5
Elsie flicked on her tiny heart-shaped tea light, bathing the tent's interior in a faint glow.
Brown and grey eyes connected.
"I don't think I ever told you how much this meant to me," said Elsie. "Lara, you turned one of the saddest Christmases ever into the happiest…"
The archaeologist smiled. "I'm just sorry it took me so long to call."
"I know phone chats aren't your thing," stated the blonde. "But that only makes me appreciate them more."
Since the previous Christmas the archaeologist had made a conscious effort to call on at least a semi-regular basis; Elsie had been profoundly moved by the Englishwoman's determination to maintain contact with her friend from "across the pond" - she suspected it was not in the brunette's nature to maintain long distance friendships.
"I probably use up most of my minutes between you and Sam," mused Lara. "And she and I share a flat."
Elsie slowly traced the line of Lara's collarbone with the tip of her finger, moving from shoulder to throat. "God I envy her," she said softly.
"Don't," cautioned the brunette. "She's had a really rough go of it these last two years, Elsie..."
The American bit her lip. "Still, though, she has you," she said. "That's gotta make up for all that and more."
"Again with the pedestal," lamented the archaeologist.
"In my books the Burj Khalifa wouldn't be tall enough."
"Bugger, Elsie," said the brunette, blushing. "If you're not careful I'm liable to start thinking you like me…"
"Dunno where you get that idea," said the blonde, arching an eyebrow with mock dubiousness, all while slowly trailing her finger along the u-shaped hollow at the base of Lara's throat.
"Call it intuition," explained the Englishwoman. "That, along with the groping."
Elsie smiled impishly at the brunette. It was true; she'd hardly kept her hands off her companion all afternoon.
"Okay fine," sighed the American, leaning forward and planting a kiss on Lara's nose. "I like you. There, I admit it, happy n- "
Her words were cut off by Lara's lips pressing against hers. This time there was a hunger to the brunette's caress: the softness of the Englishwoman's lips was almost overshadowed by her probing tongue as it entwined itself with Elsie's in a loving embrace.
The American lost herself to bliss. Lara pressed in and deepened the kiss – any more and the brunette would be tickling her uvula. The archaeologist might appear demure to the unsuspecting eye, but she could kiss like a Greek goddess.
Elsie was swimming in Nirvana; she'd never experienced a kiss so completely dripping with passion. Such was its intensity that she could not so much as draw a breath, but the American determined to maintain the heavenly embrace as long as humanly possible, such trivialities as oxygen be damned.
Nonetheless, considerable tongue writhing later and Elsie's lungs were screaming. Lara for her part showed no inclination of coming up for air, in fact she slowly wrapped an arm around the American's neck as though just getting comfortable. Elsie desperately wanted to keep going, but it was no use – loathe as she was to end it, she didn't want to pass out again.
Elsie drew back, only to have Lara press forward and maintain the embrace, if anything with an even greater determination to massage the blonde's vocal chords as her hand cupped the back of her head. The American felt the telltale signs of dizziness begin to envelop her.
She knew she had only moments. Placing her hands against the brunette's shoulders she pushed hard, finally managing to break the embrace, Lara's tongue disentangling from hers only reluctantly. "Lara – sweets – " she gasped.
Lara blinked. "Elsie? What's wrong?"
The blonde was breathing heavily. "Nothing," she finally said, smiling reassuringly at her friend. "Really...but holy shit, you must have a soprano's lungs…and where'd you learn to kiss like that, anyway?"
"I wasn't aware I kissed in a particular way," said the brunette, looking slightly embarrassed. "I suppose I'm a little unrefined..."
Elsie's pale eyebrows raised. "Are you kidding?" she voiced, pressing a finger into the soft flesh of the brunette's plush lower lip. "Damn, girl, you never told me you had a superpower."
"Oh, come on – "
"Oh, these are so going on the list," blurted the blonde, smiling. "Angelina Jolie eat your heart out, Superlips is in the building."
"You're daft," said Lara, shaking her head.
Elsie grinned. "Gonna need a page two soon!"
"You and that list, it's just - oh, fine, then," said the brunette resignedly, rolling her eyes with a subtle hint of a smile.
"Atta girl," said the blonde, rubbing her nose affectionately against the archaeologist's. "That's more like it."
Lara's eyes flashed. "Another go?" she asked, leaning close.
"Geez Louise, lemme catch my breath!" laughed Elsie.
"Skiver," said the brunette with a pout.
"Am not," said the blonde, feigning shock and making a mental note to discreetly look the word up once they got back to civilization. "Anyway…Lara, can I ask you something?"
"You just did."
"Aside from that, smartie pants."
"I love beans on toast."
"I'm serious!" exclaimed the blonde. "God, you're impossible when you're frisky!"
"Sorry," offered Lara. "Elsie, you can always ask me anything, you know that…"
The American mulled her question carefully. "What is it you're looking for, exactly?" she finally posed. "Out there, I mean…you've never really said."
Lara gazed at her quietly for several long moments, to the point where the blonde thought the archaeologist wouldn't answer.
"Truth," said the brunette finally.
"Oh, is that all."
Lara smiled. "Sorry," she said. "It's just that, sometimes I don't really know myself, Elsie."
The American felt a pang of guilt. She was supposed to be taking her friend's mind off her troubles, not grilling her in order to satisfy her own curiosity.
"I'm sorry," said Elsie. "I shouldn't have asked."
"It's not a topic I'm generally keen to discuss," said the archaeologist. "At least with most. But I don't mind you asking, really."
"Lara, it's okay, you don't have to," insisted the blonde.
Lara smiled. "I suppose you could say I'm trying to reconcile with my father's memory, in a manner," she said. " I loved him as a child, truly, but when he…when he left me…I twisted that love into anger. I blamed him for leaving me for one of his fool's errands, and as I grew older...well…I came to genuinely resent him, Elsie…even though part of me so wanted to love him still."
She sighed. "Then, Yamatai. That opened my eyes, for better or worse. I saw things that couldn't possibly be explained rationally…and it made me realize my father wasn't the foolish dreamer I'd come to think of him. That turned my world on its head…"
Lara's face suddenly took on a grim aspect. "I was gutted, Elsie…almost ten years of my life harbouring bitterness for my father…in the end I was the fool, not him. No child should grow up resenting its parent…"
"Unless the bastard totally deserves it," interjected the blonde.
Lara's eyes met hers, a knowing look exchanged between the two.
"Yes," agreed the brunette solemnly. "That."
Elsie entwined her fingers with the brunette's. "Go on," she whispered.
"I know I'll never find him, Elsie," continued Lara wistfully. "Of course I know that. But I hope…if I can find and document some of what he was looking for...maybe I can at least redeem him in the eyes of academia...and maybe in the process redeem myself a little to his memory, as well. But it still won't make up for all those years I…I...bloody hell…"
The brunette clamped her mouth shut and swallowed.
"Hey," said Elsie soothingly, squeezing Lara's hand. "Don't start hating yourself again, 'kay?"
"If I'd just - "
"'Cause if you do I'll have to love you even more to make up for it," continued the blonde.
A pained smile. "I don't think that's possible," said Lara.
"I can try, can't I?" asked Elsie mischievously. "But I think I understand now, Lara...I really do hope you find what you're looking for. And sooner rather than later."
"I hope so too, Elsie," echoed the brunette.
A thought popped into the American's head. "By the way, is your dad a Lord or something? Didn't you say you used to live on an estate?"
The brunette's eyes gleamed with appreciation. "Thank you for that," she said softly.
"For what?"
"'Is', instead of 'was'…it's nice to think of him in the present, for a change."
Elsie smiled and kissed the back of the archaeologist's hand.
"But to answer your question," continued Lara. "Yes, he is."
"Seriously?" said Elsie. "So…you would be nobility, then?"
Lara rolled her eyes.
"I take it that's a yes?" prodded the blonde.
"Just…on a purely technical level," said the brunette with obvious reluctance.
"Wow…to think I'm sleeping with royalty…"
"Hardly!"
"Okay, nobility, then."
"You'll be sleeping outside if you don't – "
"So what's your title?"
"Oh, for – "
"You're not ashamed of it, I hope?" asked Elsie.
"Of course not," said Lara. "I just…don't want to be defined by something I never earned for myself."
"Fair enough," acknowledged the blonde. "So what is your title? Purely technically speaking, of course."
A sigh. "TECHnically, I would be Countess of Abbington," stated the brunette. "But rest assured I never refer to myself as such."
"I see," said the blonde thoughtfully. "So…what would be the proper way to address you?"
A dark stare. "Lara."
"Oh come on," countered Elsie. "Just pretend you're in a formal event, full regalia, a ball, say, with the Queen in attendance – "
"I wouldn't be there, I can promise you."
"Just humour me," insisted the blonde. "Say you were there and me, a little peasant girl, came up to you and – "
"Guards!"
" – and asked to speak, what would be the proper, Downton Abbey-esque way of addressing you?"
Lara chewed her lip. "Fine, if it's that important to you," she said slowly, "In a purely formal setting such as you described…I could be addressed as 'Lady Croft'."
"How very interesting."
"Happy now?"
The two young women eyed each other, the blonde with a distinct impishness while her companion's gaze exhibited a contrasting wariness.
Elsie couldn't resist.
"So, my La – "
"Don't even think it!" blurted the brunette, punching the blonde in the shoulder for emphasis.
"Ow!" exclaimed the blonde, rubbing her shoulder painfully. "Now we see the violence inherent in the system!"
"Oh, belt up!"
"Help, help! I'm being repressed!"
"Bloody peasant!"
Elsie burst into laughter, Lara following an instant later. The blonde had never heard the Englishwoman laugh out loud so freely before - she immediately noted it was a lovely sound that she sincerely hoped to hear more often.
"Okay, fine," said Elsie once her laughter subsided sufficiently. "You know I was just teasing...you'll always be plain old Lara to me."
"Thank you," replied the brunette with relief.
Elsie thought for a moment. "Well I guess not 'old'," she amended, "And definitely not 'plain', but...yeah."
The blonde slipped from the sleeping bag and scrambled over and behind her companion.
"Going somewhere?"
"Just getting comfortable," said Elsie as she slid back into the sleeping bag and cuddled up from behind until she was unabashedly spooning the brunette. She wrapped an arm around the archaeologist's midsection for good measure.
Lara sighed contentedly.
"I'm going to miss this," said the blonde wistfully, resting her chin in the nook of Lara's neck.
"I'll second that," sighed the Englishwoman.
"Still," said Elsie, gently tucking Lara's brown mane behind her ear, "We have a few days yet…let's focus on that…"
"Hmm," purred the archaeologist.
The American gently traced the outline of Lara's ear before shifting her finger's path to its inner shell, slowly retracing the delicate contours over and over, her digit moving with the purposefulness of a tiny shark slowly circling its prey.
She felt Lara's body move slightly as the archaeologist suppressed a chuckle.
"Shilling for your thoughts?" asked Elsie, curious as to what her companion found amusing.
"Methinks you have an ear fetish," accused the brunette, smiling dreamily.
"Nah," said Elsie, grinning. "Well…okay, maybe just with yours…they're so beautiful, Lara…"
"A couple of days ago they were 'pretty'," recited Lara. "Today they're 'beautiful'."
"Oh, who am I kidding," said the blonde, snaking a leg over and entwining it between the brunettes'. "They were always beautiful…like every freaking inch of you…"
She leaned closer and lightly blew into the Englishwoman's ear: her friend's body shuddered in response.
"Gods…" gasped the archaeologist.
Elsie tightened her hold around Lara's firm midsection, marvelling at the deliciously soft mass of the archaeologist's breasts squeezing against her arm.
She kissed the nape of Lara's neck, the brunette's ponytail tickling her nose.
"Mmm," cooed the Englishwoman.
Elsie shifted her attention back to Lara's exposed ear, licking her lips in anticipation of exploring the exquisite tunnel.
"We are going to have so much fun…"
