Touched Ch. 05

Our sweat mingled with our moans as we rose higher and higher. The end upon us, I grabbed his face in both hands, smothering my cries against his open mouth. His lips crushing mine, Grant's chest rumbled as he erupted, the weight of his shuddering body trapping me suspended above the floor.

"You're late," Oliver snapped when at last we emerged from the chamber, clean and dressed. "It wasn't very considerate leaving me with so much work to do less than an hour before the other guests arrive."

Grant smiled, a wide smile of affection and contentment. "Well, I guess I'll just have to owe you two big favors."

"Two?" The older man snorted. "Yeah, right."

The next morning I showed up for work early for the first time.

"Thank you so much, sir, for last night. It was an honor to meet your colleagues. Thank you so much for inviting me."

"You're welcome. If I knew all I had to do to get you to show up at work on time was invite you to a meeting of the Historical Society, I would have done it months ago."

I blushed, embarrassed to be called out on my chronic tardiness, until I realized Oliver was teasing me.

"'Discretion is the better part of valor', Astrid," he said gruffly, looking at me with a tenderness I never thought possible of him. "Don't ever forget that."

My relationship with my superior improved by leaps and bounds from that day forward. I stopped being late, and he griped at me far less. Although of course we never spoke about personal matters at work, there was a quiet ease between us which never existed before the night of the dinner party. Once a month I attended Historical Society gatherings hosted in his home, and to my continued delight and unending gratitude he arranged for Grant and me to arrive early and stay late so we might have some time together alone.

Grant had been right; Oliver proved to be one of the most thoughtful, generous individuals I'd ever known.

The six-month anniversary of our meeting approached along with the upcoming arrival of the winter solstice. Grant and I were giddy with anticipation, for amidst all the preparations for year-end celebrations Oliver had arranged a most special solstice gift—an overnight stay in his home.

For the past month and a half the seasonal rains forced us to forgo our weekly walks in the arboretum. It wasn't that we minded getting wet. It was everyone else's attitude about it which demanded we alter our routine.

We still had our weekly get-togethers with Xen and Errol. Our monthly rendezvous at Oliver's on the evening of the Historical Society meeting. An hour-long visit at one of our flats once a month. Several brief, remote communications a week, but never more than three or four.

It wasn't enough contact, not by a long shot. Nevertheless, we'd adapted and found some semblance of normality, found some way to cherish what little time we did have together. But the loss of our weekly walks had been a difficult adjustment, making the upcoming opportunity to spend a precious twenty-four hours together a treasure akin to those which lay inside the secret box.

Through bits and pieces over the past few months we learned a great deal about people like us. We were rare—estimated at less than one percent of the population—but we tended to cluster in certain fields, academia and science being two of the largest. At the Historical Society meetings Grant and I would observe the attendees and speculate afterward about who we thought might be one of us. In time some of those speculations proved accurate as Oliver slowly folded us into his social circle.

We also learned there was another name for us, not defective or deviant, labels thrust upon us by a frightened, bigoted populace, but a name chosen more than a generation ago by people like us. We were sensualists, individuals who embraced what had once been natural to all humans—the need to touch and be touched. Some sensualists even believed that we were the true normals; it was the rest of the population who behaved unnaturally.

Finally, we learned that not every normal viewed us in the same way. Some favored us living openly among the general population, provided we didn't try to impose our beliefs on others. Others preferred we kept our beliefs and practices under wraps; we could be tolerated as long as we didn't "flaunt our lifestyle" in everyone's faces.

The vast majority, of course, were people like Xen and Errol, people who genuinely feared us and believed we were sick, people who would be horrified to learn they'd befriended and broken bread with deviants.

On a rare sunny day a week and a half before the solstice, at the last minute Grant and I arranged to meet at the arboretum.

I was so happy my feet bounced with every step as we walked, the cool air fresh and crisp from the recent rainfall.

"Oh, Grant, I'm so excited about the solstice celebration."

His beaming face reflected my joy. "Me too. I can hardly stand the wait."

Giving him a mischievous smile, I ran, leaving the path for a cluster of weeping willows. Hiding behind the trunk of the largest, I peeked out my face and beckoned. After glancing around to make sure all was clear, Grant joined me. While the lack of summer leaves lessened the canopy's camouflaging effect, the drooping branches still offered some cover.

We had not seen a single soul since entering the park's borders, and in a rare moment of unrestraint I threw caution to the wind. Taking his face into my hands, I drew Grant close and kissed him. After a few seconds' hesitation, he responded in kind and wrapped his arms around me.

"I love you, Astrid," he whispered into my ear, using the word we'd read about on the data chip but hadn't, until recently, realized we understood its full meaning.

"I love you, too," I breathed, rubbing my lips against his stubbly neck.

A twig snapped, and at once we jumped apart. Turning our heads toward the source of the disturbance, my heart rose, choking my throat when I saw a face, eyes and mouth wide with shock, staring back at us.

Thank you for taking the time to read the latest chapter of my story; I hope you will enjoy the rest. Votes and feedback are always welcome, and very much appreciated. Thanks again for reading!