I do not own I Think We're alone Now.
It is just absolute perfection and I love it.
Home Becomes You
Grace is a Mermaid, Del is a Lighthouse
"Will you . . . come home with me?"
Her words come to his ears, breathless murmurs.
"I don't . . . I don't want to be alone right now."
And it was like a surge in his body, already awash with emotions and desires long pushed aside.
She had kissed him in the dark cab of the truck and he had kissed her back.
She had drawn back then and he had felt instant resentment.
Oh that's right, didn't mean to kiss the freak.
Just lonely.
Easy mistake.
But that hadn't . . .
"I'm sorry. I just . . . I . . . I just miss that. And you're nice. When you want to be."
"It's okay."
. . . been it at all.
"It is?"
He could have laughed if the situation hadn't been so awkward.
"Yes."
"So . . . can I again?"
Another laugh bubbling up inside.
A pretty young girl asking permission to kiss a reclusive, mishappened dwarf decades her senior.
Absurd.
"Yes."
And so she had kissed him again and he had kissed her.
Lightheaded and giddy, hesitant and needful.
Him, anyway.
And they had stayed that way for a while, kissing, hands caressing faces, stroking hair.
And then she-
"Please."
- had pulled back a little, made her breathless request.
"Umm, uhhh . . ."
And his brain . . .
She's too young for me.
I'm too old for her.
. . . had glitched.
It's the end of the world.
And it's just the two of us.
In muted panic.
Why does it matter?
If that's what she wants.
And he had opened his mouth.
I don't think I'm ready.
For all of this.
Parts of him were.
Definitely were.
And that was okay, he could ignore that.
Because the rest of him wasn't.
And he didn't want that experience to be, well, that experience.
He didn't want to . . . plunder her in his frenetic, inexperienced need.
Grace had dismissively shaken her head, seemed to read his mind.
"No, I don't mean in that way. I mean, yes, but not yet."
Her own flustered demeanor easing his.
"I just . . . I just don't want to be alone."
A little.
"Please."
And he had nodded.
"Okay."
And she sat back against the seat, body sagging in seeming relief.
"Thank you, Del."
And he hadn't been able to think . . .
"You're welcome."
. . . of a thing to say.
So he had driven her home.
They had sat at the kitchen table of the house he had brought her to when she had crashed her car into his solitary existence.
Eaten a light meal of canned beans and slightly stale crackers and bottled water.
And then . . .
"I'm tired. I want to lay down. Will you come upstairs with me?"
"Yes."
. . . they had gone upstairs.
He still didn't know what she had been about to say.
She was still too young and he was still too old.
And when she had gone and laid down on her bed and patted the mattress next to her, . . .
"Please. I just want to be close to you. No hanky panky. I promise."
Hanky panky.
. . . he had gone.
Climbed up on the bed.
Laid down on his back next to her, nerves vibrating in every pore of his being.
Not really sure what he was prepared or not prepared to do or not do next.
He had never been in bed with a girl before.
Knew, through extensive reading, and yes, some secret video viewing, and of course, primal instinct, what to do.
He just didn't know if he was ready . . .
"Thank you for being here, Del."
"You're welcome, Grace."
. . . to do any of it.
And then she turned on her side toward him, put her head on his shoulder.
His arm automatically going out and around her.
And she snugged into him.
Laying still for a moment.
And then sighing.
"You're warm."
In contentment, so far as he could tell.
"I can hear your heartbeat. That's nice."
And fell . . .
"Goodnight, Del."
. . . asleep.
"Goodnight, Grace."
He laid there a long time and listened to her sleep.
His mind, still in a state of shock of these sudden new developments, clung to no one particular thought process.
But simply wandered, more with pictures and sounds and other sensory stimulation.
As Grace slept deeply and soundly against him.
And he . . .
Goodnight, Grace.
. . . let her.
I realize the lighthouse might seem to be a phallic reference.
But I don't intend for it to.
That'll be an upcoming chapter.
Ahem.