Raveled

Jessica's hand stayed behind Blake's head as he pressed in close to her. She lay there with him, arms around each other, breathing in his scent and the smell of grass. She made a satisfied, happy sound. "I like it," she said softly. "I feel... peaceful when you're around, Blake. I like just being here, with you." She inhaled deeply and let it out all in one breath, ruffling her boyfriend's hair. "Of course, you did say you brought a Frisbee."

Jessica started awake the high-pitched shrieking, almost dropping her cell phone altogether. She sat upright and then stood, yawning. "Okay, okay," she muttered. "Jeez, could've let me sleep on the couch." She yawned again, rubbing at her eyes and padding off to the bathroom. "Listen, I'll call you tomorrow. We can hit the movies or grab lunch or something. 'Kay?"

Jessica's breath caught in her throat as Blake pulled her closer, his lips on hers and her mouth opening to his. Her hand snaked behind his head and tilted it back. The pair of teenagers fell to the blanket and Jessica giggled a bit, still managing keeping her lips and arms around Blake. She was content to simply lay there a bit, her skin feeling charged and hot, her head filled with some vague scent off her boyfriend -- aftershave, maybe? Whatever it was, it combined with the whole experience to blot out any other concern. She just enjoyed the simple pleasure of the moment.

Jessica blushed brighter, but she didn't make a move to get away. "I, I don't know what I would be comfortable with," she admitted. "I mean, I've never done anything before, Blake. And I want to wait until we really do it. I mean, I want it to be perfect you know?" She looked up and scooted closer to him, until their upper bodies were pressed together. "But... I'd like to try some stuff with you. Just, not quite yet. Alright?"

Jessica took a bite out of her sandwich, staring out across the park as she considered her reply. She finally swallowed and spoke, staring mostly at her lap. "Blake... I know that I was, uh, kinda forward on our first date. And I know we could, technically, legally... Uh, you know. But I really do want to wait." She took a deep breath and risked glancing and Blake, trying to judge his mood. "It's just... well, I think it's important, you know?" She blushed brightly and added, "But if you want to do something that's, well, kinda of just short of, um, 'it'..."

Jessica sat all the way up, drawing her legs under her and resettled the basket near her. She opened it and brought out the various sandwich fixings: sliced bread, a variety of cold cuts and cheeses, a small cutting board and inlaid knife, and some lettuce and tomatoes. There were also a couple cans of soda, and a bag of kettle-baked potato chips. Jessica winked at Blake and started building a tall sandwich. "Did I bring enough?"

Jessica stayed with her head buried in the ground for a moment more, then she started shaking. It started at her shoulders, then spread down her sides and to her arms and legs. When she managed to raise herself up on her elbows, she was gasping for breath and smiling widely. She turned her body to look at Blake and laughed aloud. When she had control of herself, she pulled Blake close to her and kissed him on the lips, touching their tongues briefly. "Maybe later," she said, grinning. "Let's just get some lunch right now, 'kay?"

Jessica made a pleased sound under her breath, slightly muffled by the position of her head and hands. It felt nice to have Blake just back there, touching her and massaging her neck. It actually was rather relaxing, and she felt a feeling of peace and ease spread through her back and shoulders. "You're very good with your hands," she said. "Has anyone ever told you that?" Half a second after the words were out of her mouth, she realized what she'd just said and blushed brightly, from her ears to her hairline. "Oh God. I mean, um, it just feels really good to have our hands on me... Oh God. I, um, don't mean it like that. Not that I don't like it when you, um. Oh, God." Jessica bit her tongue, hoping that maybe her words had simply been unintelligible.

Jessica's heart rate ratcheted up in reaction to Blake's offer. She swallowed on a suddenly dry mouth and said, "Sure. That'd be great, Blake." She lay on her stomach, stretched out on the blanket, and lay with her forehead against her folded hands, face staring straight down. Her body tingled with the anticipation of feeling Blake's hands on her neck, massaging the lotion on, maybe 'accidentally' slipping lower to... God, Jessica. I thought you wanted to wait?

Jessica was sweating lightly by the time they reached a spot that they could both agree on -- not too steep, not too many rocks or divots, didn't have any obvious snake holes, wasp nests, or ant hills, et cetera -- and gratefully sank to the ground. "Yeah," she agreed. "It's supposed to get to nearly eighty degrees today. But, lucky for you, your girlfriend thinks of everything." She reached into the basket and pulled out an over sized bottle of SPF 90 sun block. She squirted some into her hands and rubbed it on the back of her neck and cheeks, then started applying it to her legs. She glanced up at Blake and smiled, rubbing her long, clean limbs with both hands. "Need some?"

Jessica followed Blake's directions precisely, and in no time at all they were pulling into the park's lot. One of the good things about living in Lantern Hill was that there were plenty of garden spots where a group could spread out a blanket and have an impromptu picnic, but there were also several area devoted to parkland, and this was one of them. Near the lot was a fairly flat area, with climbing equipment and integrated table-bench units, obviously designed for family units. Farther back the land sloped up into a gentle hill, and while there was more space the day was already hot and the sun wasn't at its zenith yet. Jessica climbed out of the truck and picked up the picnic basket, tossing the blanket over one shoulder. She squinted into the sunlight, sneezing daintily a few times before she shaded her face with a hand. "So what do you say, Blake," she asked. "Up the hill? Or try to fight out a place among the kiddies?"

Jessica sighed, grateful that Blake hadn't made a big deal out of wanting to just be a regular girl for a day, out with her boyfriend. She climbed into the driver's seat and touched the steering column with her key fob, carefully backing out of the driveway and navigating out of the subdivision, out onto the main streets. She pressed a little button on her arm rest and the power window on her side rolled down; the wind blew in and ruffled her hair. "So," she said, speaking up to be heard over the rush of the wind, "where are we headed exactly? Not that I mind just driving around with you," she clarified, "but I'm gonna want lunch eventually."

Jessica's face fell and she squirmed out of his grasp. She put her things in the rear bench seats, taking her time to arrange them carefully. She finally straightened and turned to face Blake. "I wasn't planning on bringing the suit today," she admitted. "I was just thinking it could just be you and me, you know?"

"Didn't meet him, actually," Jessica admitted. "Spent the whole night with Blake. You'd like him, Mara. He's really... nice. And cute. And..." The young woman's words dropped off into a senseless mumble as her chin dropped to her chest. Her eyes closed and didn't open this time, and within seconds Mara could hear the other woman snoring gently.

Jessica wasn't much for sports, but she didn't want to say as much to Blake so she just didn't mention it. She rolled her eyes instead. "I hope Grandpa didn't give you a hard time," she said. "He's cool, and he's around a lot more than my parents, so he tries to keep an eye on me, you know? But he's really old school. I think he probably would've wanted to meet you with a shotgun or something," she added with a laugh. "'Whut you gonna do wit dat gurl,' sorta thing, ya know?" By this time they were in the kitchen, and Jessica opened the freezer to pull out a picnic basket. There were sodas, and meat and cheese and other sandwich fixings inside already, so she just dropped in a loaf of sliced bread. "There's a blanket in my truck," she said, glancing around. "I wonder where Grandpa got to?"

Traffic on the Mona-Glenn Bridge was heavy; cars with people coming home from work, cars of people on the night shift heading out. But traffic on the pedestrian walkway was almost nonexistent. Dead Head passed some people huddled next to the structural elements, eying the revenant as he passed, but evidently none wanted to mess with the tall, thin street person with the weird light in his eyes. Maybe twenty feet before the bridge rejoined the land, he passed over the spot where Lewis had hung from the neck until he was dead. Underneath the bridge, a small village of shacks had grown up along the pilings, like barnacles at the high tide mark. They were built of cast-off sheets of plywood, warped 2x4s, layers of cardboard, and rusting sheet metal. Metal barrels, corroded and pitted by age and exposure to the elements, squatted every dozen feet or so. They were, all of them, unlit and cold to the touch. Except for the wind, there was absolutely no movement in the little shanty town.

Ironclad glanced at Dragonfly, concerned with her apparent lack of regard for law and order. Still, here and now wasn't the place to lecture to the other woman. Ironclad nodded to her, watching her disappear on her motorcycle in the opposite direction from where the cops were approaching. She took a deep breath and wondered how'd she explain to the cops that the other heroine hadn't stuck around.

Jessica made a high, excited noise as Blake kissed her, holding her close. She kept her body pressed against his even when his lips broke away from hers, and for a moment she wasn't bale to speak. She just nodded, swallowing hard. "Yeah. The news said this was going to be the last good day for a bit, then it was gonna get cold and rainy for a bit." She inhaled deeply, disentangling herself from her boyfriend's arms and taking his hand to lead him. "C'mon," she said. "I packed a basket lunch for us. You said we were going out to a park, right?"

"You need to get out more," Jessica said. "Blake's got a roommate, some guy named Rift. Maybe we can do a double date thing?" Jessica yawned hugely at the end of the invitation, her jaw cracking. Her eyes drifted closed, and her mind started wandering back to her date. "Blake's a great guy. I'm sure you'd like his roomie."

Jessica giggled, coffee and fatigue mixing and swirling to suppress her normal inhibitions. "Yeah. That would be nice. And we have a date next week, so that's good news. We're going to a park, so plenty more smoochies." She snuggled down against the couch, hugging herself with her free hand. She drifted off for a bit, but suddenly remembered some of the manners she had memorized. "So did you get a chance to get out at all this week, Mara?"

Jessica's mind went to places that, well, was probably the same place that Blake was thinking about at the moment. She bit her tongue, swallowing her first response and simply said, "No. I still want to go out, just... Wait a sec." She turned back to her wardrobe and shimmied out of her jeans, briefly imagining leaving the door open for this. Instead, she just threw on denim shorts and a bright red tee-shirt, slipping into sandals and choosing a dark colored hairband to keep her hair out of her eyes. She opened her door to see Blake facing the other way and smiled to herself. She crept up on him and slipped her arms around him, hugging from behind and placing a kiss on his cheek. "Hi."

Ironclad sighed. "No, my car's registered to me. To Jessica. And who else should it be registered to, anyway? I didn't just grab a random civilian's car for transportation!" She rubbed at the front of her helmet. "Um. Just put it back by the Sentry Statue, okay? Where we met today."

"Oh, God!" Jessica's wail was from deeper in the house, and it was enough for Blake to follow it deeper. "I am not beautiful! I'm covered in machine grease and wearing old clothes and I'm ugly as sin! I look terrible, Blake!" As the young man went deeper in the building, he finally turned a last corner and looked straight down a short hallway to Jessica's bedroom -- and through the open door, where Jessica was wearing only a bra and her jeans, searching frantically through her wardrobe. Jessica turned just as Blake did and for a moment their eyes met -- then she lunged at the door and slammed it in his face. Jessica leaned her back against the door, burying her face in her hands. "Jesus, Blake! Knock please, will you?" Her face was completely red at this point, and her anxiety and fear was making her stomach roil and heave.

Malcolm kept leaning on his cane, staring at Blake for a moment more, eyes boring into the younger man. He had the normal knee-jerk protective instincts of any male towards a female in his social pack, but it was apparent that he made Jessica happy. "A word of advice, boy. When a girl runs out of the room like that, run after her."

Ironclad blinked, not really sure how to deal with something personal like that. "Um. Sure, no problem. Listen, if you ever just need to talk or something, drop me a line. Okay?" She turned back to the road, seeing her car there and freezing abruptly. She turned to face Dragonfly again, her face under her helmet wide and panicking. "Oh god. My car's here. They can read the plates and trace it. You gotta..." Ironclad moved her hands in great circles in the air, groping for the appropriate words, "fold it! Like you did to your motorcycle! Put it away and put it back someplace that's not here!"