Across the Tracks Ch. 13

(Bet you all thought I had died. I'm still alive, I swear! The scene that involves the fire crackers is from real life. A lot of our troops come home messed up and they don't get the help they need. They deserve our respect and our admiration.)

Otis looked to the side at the beautiful woman driving him home. She looked absolutely stunning, and he wanted to say so, but was too shy to do it. She always looked lovely, but tonight it was like she had set her looks from stun gun to the heart to downed electrical wire to the brain. Otis stopped and had a very stern discussion with himself about his similes, or was that a metaphor? Which in turn lead to a rather stern conversation that this was not an English lesson, they were talking about a beautiful woman here. Otis shook his head to dispel the thoughts and looked back at Ariel.

She bit her lip in concentration as she navigated the River District back to his house. He was over whelmed by a sudden urge to kiss her, but used his stalwart Russian will he had inherited to crush that urge. He wasn't going to kiss her until she asked him to; he didn't think it was right to do after all she had been through. But oh how he wanted to. In the dark corner of his mind where he stifled thoughts, there was a rebellious one, the thought of what else he would like to do with her. The rebellious thought wanted to be made know, not stifled. His other thoughts told it that she may not even like him that way, but the rebellious thought brought others to its cause. If she didn't like him like that, why had she offered to drive him home? Why would she be looking at him like she wisdom shit! She was looking at him and he was starting at her with his mouth open! Abort mission Pony Boy. ABORT MISSION AND ACT NORMAL!

Ariel looked at Otis, who looked like he was about to explode. She was slightly worried. "Are you okay?"

He nodded and smiled, and to his credit, it only had a slight strained feel to it. "Yea, I'm fine. I was just thinking about everything that has happened in the couple of weeks. It's been a lot."

Ariel nodded in agreement. It had been. She had been taken to a dark place she never wanted to visit again, but she had accepted what had happened to her. Danny was evil, and he wanted what he wanted. And she had refused him, so he had tried to take it. There was only one person she wanted to give that too now, and he was sitting next to her. But what if he didn't like her like that? What if he just wanted to have sex with her and then leave her? What if he left her after he found out about her and his dad? There were so many things that could go wrong. She was too scared to advance anything on her own, and if he didn't show her something was there, she didn't think she would. As she pulled up in front of his apartment, she realized the flaw in her plan. She would have to call someone to come get her. Otis opened the door and turned to step out of the truck and looked over at her.

"Would you like to come up?"

Ariel bit her lip and nodded. They walked up the steps together, and she was ready to at least pretend like she could catch him if he fell down the stairs or slipped. He had to still be hurting a lot, and she still felt like it was partially her fault. If she hadn't called him that day, he would never have been shot. His family would have never had to have gone through what they did, but at the same time she had a selfish feeling because she had got to get closer to him because of everything that had happened. She really liked him.

As they entered the apartment, he dropped his cane in the umbrella stand and stretched. His back made some of the weirdest and grossest popping noises she had ever heard, and when he jerked his head to pop his neck, she thought he had broken it. He lowered his arms and turned to her, all of the sudden looking like he was shy. She thought there was a point when shyness flew out the window, and it was definitely when the person you were looking at had put pressure on your bullet holes so you didn't die.

Otis cleared his throat. "I'm going to change into some more comfortable clothes, do you want some sweat pants or something?"

Ariel nodded, and as he walked back into his room, she began to explore. She had seen his room on that one day, but she hadn't really paid any attention to the rest of his home. Now, she walked through and looked at some of the things he had on the wall. She laughed when she saw the picture that could only be JB, Deke, and Otis as kids, in a frame that said Goonies Never Say Die. Through the pictures that he had hanging and on shelves, she could almost watch the changes he had made to himself. The bright pink Mohawk was a shock, but it was also very funny. She came to a photo of him and a man that could only be his father. His father was a lot like his son, and he looked very handsome in his uniform from what she assumed was the local fire department. Otis stood proudly next to his father, wearing a t-shirt that said "My Daddy is a Fireman". He couldn't be more than six or seven years old in the picture. A soft cough made her turn around, to see Otis holding a pair of sweat pants and a hoodie.

"They'll be huge on you, but it you loop the string and tie it enough; they might attempt to stay on you."

Ariel smiled and thanked him, and went into the bathroom to change. The sweat pants were HUGE on her, but she tied them tight and then rolled them a few times. The hoodie was also huge on her, but she was fine with that. She still wore the hoodie she had gotten from him every night when she went to bed or when she was just walking around the house. It was a big, warm, slightly fuzzy, security blanket. She shuffled out of the bathroom, holding up the pants. Otis started laughing as soon as he seen her, and she stuck her tongue out at him, only for him to laugh at her some more. He was sitting on the couch, and she thought he looked good enough to bite. He was wearing some shorts that had obviously started out as sweat pants, and a black wife beater that she thought showed off his muscled arms and a lot of his tattoos very well.

He smiled. She might be swamped by it, but she looked really good in his hoodies. It was just a thing. She shuffled over to him and sat down on the couch next to him. She pulled her phone out and checked the time; it was 12:30 in the morning! Her parents would kill her! Then again, she was an adult. They'd be fine for a while longer. She looked at Otis.

"Sooooooooooooo?"

"Want to watch a movie? Your choice."

Ariel smiled and jumped up, making a bee line for the movie rack. She forgot about the damn sweat pants, and they fell, baring her ass for the world to see. She quickly grabbed them and yanked them up, her face going supernova in seconds. She looked over her shoulder, expecting Otis to be laughing at her. The look in his eyes was for sure not a laughing one. It was desire, pure and simple. She blushed even more, and then bent down to look at what movies he had.

Otis tried to control himself. Now that, that was a nice ass. A really, really, really, nice ass. As evidenced by what was trying to make an appearance in his pants, he really liked that ass. Moving both to get comfortable and readjust, he finally found a position that wasn't too showing of what was going on and began to pray for a lowering. It wasn't the best conversation piece. Just in the nick of time, as Ariel made some weird squealing noise and put a DVD in. She sat on the couch next to him, and the look of excitement on her face had him racing through his movie collection in his head, trying to figure out what it could be. He was concentrating so hard that he missed the opening credits and the movie was already playing, and now he really had to wait. But not for long, he knew what it was as soon as the beautiful painting that made up the old Disney animation came up. Beauty and the Beast was, without a doubt, his favorite movie of all time.

As the movie went on, Ariel began to move, inch by inch, closer to Otis. When she was almost sitting on top of him, she went to lay her head on his shoulder, only to have him lift his arm up and put it around her, and it put her head on his chest instead. She looked up at him, but he was pretending to be focused on the movie so she happily snuggled her head onto his chest while he held her with his arm. She really liked it.

Otis smiled as she laid her head on his chest. It felt good. It was like being a puzzle, and one piece had always been missing, but someone found it under the couch and put it in the puzzle and now it was complete. Wow, he thought, I really need to learn how to do that better. I'm not sure she would like being called a puzzle piece that someone found under the couch. He focused on the movie, and the fact that he had the most beautiful girl in the world under his arm. When the movie ended, neither of them moved, and Ariel relaxed into him, molding her to the contours of his body she was laying against. He didn't have a problem with that at all, and pretty soon they were both starting to drift in and out, falling asleep.

Otis opened his eyes and looked at the clock, which was reading 3 A.M. Very late or very early, depending on your standards. He gently shook Ariels arm, and when she groggily demanded what he wanted, he told her.

"It's 3 in the morning. Want me to call you a ride?"

Ariel shook her head and burrowed herself even deeper into his side, mumbling something about wanting to stay. Otis smiled; he would like that very much. He finally cajoled her awake enough to call her parents and leave them a voicemail, and then they walked to his room together and laid down in his bed. Otis threw the covers over them, and Ariel was the little spoon, and she fell asleep almost instantly in his arms. Otis took a little longer, being able to touch her and to smell her perfume that close to him was causing a reaction that could be embarrassing if she noticed. But he was just too tired to care, and he fell asleep soon enough.

When Ariel woke up the next morning, she smiled because she was happy. She was still in his arms. When she moved a little to adjust a kink in her back, she felt something poking into her. Maybe he has a TV remote in the bed... she thought, her mind still pretty sleepy. When she reached behind her, she quickly discovered the only thing this remote would turn on is her. She felt up and down through his sweats with her hand, and almost jumped out of her skin when he spoke.

"As good as that feels, don't write any checks you don't want to cash."

Ariel shivered. She loved his voice when he just woke up. She continued to move her hand up and down his length, and looked over her shoulder at him.

"Honey, I never write a check I can't cash."

Otis looked at her hungrily. He wanted this. Badly. He had rules though, rules that he knew he would obey without question, no matter what. He grabbed her hand to stop the motion that was driving him up and down the walls of his mind.

"Ariel, I'm sorry but I can't. I've got this rule that I don't have sex unless I'm in a relationship with that person for a bit. Even though I really, really, really, want too, I can't."

Ariel bit her lip and let go, rolling her body over so she could look at him. She looked up into his eyes and almost lost her train of thought. His eyes were so beautiful. Two months ago she would have never said it, but he was so handsome. His personality shone through, and his face reflected that he lived, actually lived his life. In her eyes, he was amazing.

"And do you think you could ever be in a relationship with me?"

Otis looked down at her. She looked so scared that he was going to say no. How was he supposed to say that he had been thinking about it last night when they were watching the movie? He had just been waiting on a time to ask. Otis ran this thumb down her jaw line and tilted her head up and kissed her softly.

"So, is that a yes?"

He started laughing. "It is a most definite yes, darlin'."

"Good."

And they kissed again. They decided to spend their day lying in bed, kissing each other.

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"Ariel. That's our final word on the subject."

"But mom..."

"Do not but mom me. The boy is coming over for dinner, or we are going there, and that is that."

Ariel stuck her tongue out at her mom and turned around, and her mom snapped her on the ass with the dish towel she was holding. Ariel jumped in the air and stuck her tongue out at her mother again. It was going to be a long day, Trish thought as she sighed. She and Cole approved of this boyfriend though. He was strong, polite, a gentleman, and very protective of their daughter. They had faked being angry the night after the Rat Ball, but in the ensuing weeks, they had warmed up even more to the boy, and he and Cole had became great friends. They were out riding motorcycles now. Trish smiled to herself. Cole always wanted one thing after riding his bike, and she was ready. Their sex life had really picked up lately.

Ariel texted Otis, knowing he wouldn't get the message unless they stopped, but it helped. She knew her Dad was probably working on him to. She didn't understand why her parents were so adamant on this. They had hung out and they knew Otis, what was the deal with wanting him over for dinner tonight? Granted, he hadn't eaten dinner with them yet, but why was it such a big deal? She grabbed a random hoodie out of what was quickly becoming a collection of his hoodies in her house, and jammed her head phones in. They had been together two months now. The late summer had turned into fall, and pretty soon it would start getting cold. She had never been happier.

She wanted to move into his apartment with him, but she didn't know how he would respond, and she knew her parents wouldn't like it. She hated being away from him, and he hated being away from her. Trying to move her thoughts away from Otis, she decided to think about their friends. Something was wrong with JB. He had started acting really weird. He had done the counseling thing for maybe two weeks, and then stopped. He didn't want to be around them, he had quit work, and his Parole Officer had asked Otis if he knew why JB wasn't checking in. She was worried about him. If he got into a lot of trouble, he wouldn't be able to see his son. She made a mental note to tell Otis they needed to find out what was going on before something bad happened.

Deacon and Nikki were a completely different story. They hadn't started dating yet, and Nikki had confided in Ariel that she thought Deacon didn't want to be with her because he hadn't asked her out yet. Ariel knew from Otis that Deke really did want to be with her, but he was dealing with some of his own personal shit that he didn't want to bring her into. Ariel was laying back thinking when she had an idea hit her. If her mom was so stoked on having some big dinner, why didn't they invite a couple more people? Perfect! She scrambled out of bed and tore off down the stairs to talk to her mom.

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Otis groaned as he checked his phone. Cole and he had been riding for a good couple of hour's roundtrip, and had stopped at a gas station a few miles outside of town to fuel up and stretch their legs. They had also wanted some planning time to not have to go through whatever dinner thing Trish had planned, and they had been counting on Ariel and her stubborn streak to help them. Cole noticed the look on his face when he brought over their drinks.

"What now?"

"She got Ariel on board. Not only did she get her on board, Ariel now wants to invite my granpa, Deacon, Nikki, JB, and we have to get the truck and go get supplies for what is apparently going to be a cookout for all of us."

The two men both looked at each other and nodded. "Beer."

They got back on the bikes and rode to the apartment, locking them up in the storage shed Otis kept and taking his truck. The text messages with lists of things kept hammering both of their phones, until Otis was ready to throw his and Cole thought he was getting cross eyed. They had to stop at the lumber store and get wood for a bonfire. Stop at the meat store and get all the different meats the Terrible Twosome wanted them to barbeque. Stop at the actual store to get everything else. As a gift to themselves, they bought a shit ton of fireworks that were on sale because it was fall, and all of the holidays were done until Thanksgiving. They figured they would just set them off after dinner.

Ariel let him know that everyone had answered and said they would come except for JB. Otis shook his head and thought about his best friend. He was acting funny. Otis wanted to trust his friend, but he really thought that JB was using again. He resolved to find him and speak with him soon. He had to help his friend out, no matter what was going on. The boys arrived back at the house and Otis unloaded while Cole ran around back to prepare the grill and area for all the shit they had to buy. Otis looked up and saw Ariel coming down the steps. After a quick kiss, he looked at her.

"Thought you said you didn't have my Slayer hoodie?"

Ariel blushed and stuck her tongue out. "I didn't say I didn't have it, I just said I didn't know where it was. I found it under my bed."

Otis stared at her. Then he started laughing. "You're such a smartass baby girl. I swear."

After that, the two didn't have much time to be with each other, with them both getting foods ready. When Deke arrived with Nikki on the back of his bike, he declined the men's invitation to drink a beer and went inside to help cook, because it was something he truly enjoyed and liked doing. Nikki on the other hand, hung out with the guys, where she showed off a talent for bullshitting that surpassed Coles and rivaled Otis. She declined the offer of a beer too, and kept looking over her shoulder at the kitchen window. Ariel caught the girl looking and decided to work on Deke a little, see what she could find out.

"So Deke, how are you and Nikki doing?"

Deke looked up from chopping some lettuce. "I don't know. Me and her aren't really a 'we', ya know?"

Trish decided to jump into this conversation. "Why not? She seems like a really sweet girl."

Deacon looked back down and returned to cutting. "I've got some issues I need to deal with first." His tone of voice pretty clearly told them that he didn't want to talk about it anymore, so they actually left it alone.

When the food was done, they all set up the outside table and ate in front of the bonfire that Otis had built. They started laughing and joking after the table was cleared, and Cole brought out a pair of guitars. Otis couldn't sing, but he could play. He winked at Ariel and started playing some old country songs. Pappaw glared at him but he started singing the Hank Williams Senior songs anyways. Otis joined in on the chorus, and even Cole knew a few of the words. As the night wore on, Otis started to get worried. It wasn't like JB to not even say he wasn't coming.

Cole and Otis winked at each other and disappeared. Grabbing the giant string firecrackers, the lit them and threw them towards the table. As they went off, Deacon dove under the table and started screaming. Otis and Cole ran to see what was wrong, and all they could see was Nikki trying to reach under the table to get someone.

"What the fuck happened?"

Ariel shrugged. "I have no idea."

Nikki climbed through the spaces of the picnic table to look at Deacon. He stared at her with his eyes open wide and manic, his breathing harsh.

"Please. Stop it. Make it stop. I can hear them screaming. Make it stop."

Nikki slowly crawled over to his side.

"It's okay baby. I'm here. No one is going to hurt you."