Rekindled Spirits

Adam was lying on his bed. His eyes were closed, the house was quiet, and he was locked deeply onto his usual fantasy subject ... Cynthia Morales.

Every encounter with Cynthia over the years had been carefully cataloged in his sense memory ... every touch, every smell, every sight. Adam may have been working on his doctorate in biochemistry, but his real expertise centered on two things: Cynthia and masturbating. Adam was a champion pole polisher. He masturbated so much that he once had a nightmare about looking into the mirror and seeing in his reflection that his body had morphed into the physique of Reggie from that movie, "Lady in the Water," with one bodybuilder arm and one puny arm. He awoke in a sweat, checked to make sure that nothing like that had actually happened, and engaged in one man tug-a-war until he drifted back to sleep.

The center of it all was always Cynthia. Adam could describe every molecule of his treasure. Their families had lived next door to one another since second grade. In fact, Adam could still remember meeting her for the first time as a 7-year-old and feeling a strange acceleration in his heartbeat. The Morales family was moving in, and Cynthia had climbed the big maple tree in their front yard. She was sitting on a branch watching the movers with one leg hanging down, swinging. Adam ran out of his house on that bright, warm summer morning on his way to Danny Grange's house down the street.

Cynthia turned at the sound of the door slapping shut, saw Adam, and called out to him. "Where are you running to?"

Adam looked up and saw the raven-haired, coffee-skinned, tomboy sitting in the tree. His mouth fell open slightly. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared up at her.

"You can speak English, can't you?" she inquired, since he'd become a statue.

"Yeah, I can speak," he answered.

"So?"

"Nowhere ... just ..."

"You're running at top speed to nowhere?" she asked, chuckling.

Adam felt his face grow warm, but he was completely enchanted. He walked toward the tree, his eyes never leaving Cynthia.

"Don't you ever run for no reason at all?" he asked.

Still laughing at his discomfort, she answered, "No ... I never run unless I know where I'm going." She was making fun of him, but he didn't care. Cynthia asked if he'd like to share a branch, and Adam climbed the tree to sit on a branch next to her. The two of them sat in the tree and talked for most of the afternoon, getting to know each other. Meanwhile, Danny sat on his front stoop getting madder and madder at M.I.A. Adam until he finally had to leave for Little League practice on his own.

Even at the tender age of seven, Adam could see the elements of the beauty Cynthia was to become. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her back and glinted in the sun. Her smart chocolate eyes never missed anything. Her high cheekbones sat majestically above full lips. And, her smile ... it was so dazzling it made the Sun hang its head in shame.

The two became inseparable. They played together, had dinner at each other's houses, laid in their back yards on warm nights, staring up at the stars, and telling each other their thoughts and dreams. They shared their first kiss together. The first time Adam held a girl's hand, it was Cynthia's. He watched her grow from a skinny tomboy into a stunning teenager. He often sat in the dark corner of his room with all the lights off and stared out his window across the lawn into Cynthia's bedroom. He always felt ashamed at spying on his best friend, but he was too consumed with her to resist. A few times he'd caught glimpses of her changing. Once, when she thought he'd gone to his grandmother's house for the weekend with his parents, she'd left the curtains open when she walked in from the shower.

Adam watched as Cynthia removed the towel from her body and sat naked in front of her dresser, drying her hair. He stealthily grabbed his camping binoculars and studied her body. Her breasts were beyond perfect. Her natural skin tone was so dark that she had only a faint tan line. The cones of her breasts rose regally above her slender waist. Her mahogany nipples jutted stiffly from her puffy areolas. Even though Adam had amassed a small library of Playboy magazines, none of those women could hold a candle to the vision occupying his viewfinder.

When Cynthia finished drying her hair, she stood and walked to the window to let the cool night air wash over her. Adam, whose heart was hammering in his chest, thought it might just stop completely when he panned down her body to the dark patch of hair covering her sex. Cynthia put one foot on the window sill and went through a stretching routine. She loved the feel of the wind tickling her naked skin. It felt so erotic to be naked near the window, she thought. As she pushed forward, Adam zoomed the binoculars in on the outline of her pussy lips, flush and full, blossoming out from her dark curls.

He was harder than he'd ever been in his life. He slipped on hand into his shorts to rub himself, but his eyes stayed glued to Cynthia. Sweat was running down his cheeks even though the fall air was crisp. He knew the images from this night would be stamped onto his brain in exquisite detail for as long as he lived.

Cynthia moved from the window, turned off the overhead light, checked to make sure her bedroom door was locked, and moved to her bed. Only the soft night light on her nightstand illuminated her room. She propped up her pillows and lay on her back. She closed her eyes, and her hands moved to her sex, already slick with her juices. She used both hands to rub her pussy and to lightly tickle her inner thighs. The sight was too much for Adam, and he came in his underwear watching her. He momentarily lost his balance but righted himself quickly so he could continue spying.

As Cynthia's body began to undulate, she reached up and began twisting one of her nipples. It was her right nipple, which Adam assumed was the more sensitive of the two. He made a mental note of that fact simply because knowing something intimate and secretive about Cynthia made him feel closer to her. He watched as her fingers probed her inner chamber. He watched until her body rose off the bed and stiffened and her lips parted in a sigh. He watched as her eyes clamped shut. He watched until her body became limp sank loosely into her covers. After a few moments, she reached up to turn off the night light, snuggled with her pillow, covered herself under two blankets and drifted peacefully to sleep.

For a moment, Adam sat back motionless. He then moved to his bed, reached into the back of the top drawer of his nightstand, pulled out the gel that he often used when he masturbated, got a full box of Kleenex, and spent the next couple of hours replaying the scenes over and over in his mind. He came five times before his spent balls finally got a break. That night, he dreamed of sneaking Cynthia into his room, of dancing closely with her as they were both naked, of carrying her to his bed, and of making love to her. He kept his Playboy collection for awhile, but he never again fantasized about any woman other than Cynthia.

Now, Adam was back in his childhood home, visiting his parents. Every time he was alone in his old room, he looked over at the house that Cynthia used to occupy and relived that magical night. Though he'd dated several women over the years and had many sexual encounters, no experience in his life had ever been as erotic as that night watching his dream girl in her bedroom.

In the tenth grade, Cynthia's father had gotten transferred, and the family moved to another state. Adam and Cynthia missed each other terribly and called or wrote almost every day in high school. Over the years, however, their contacts grew less and less. Adam had just finished bringing himself off for the second time when the front doorbell rang. He quickly pulled up his jeans, washed his hands, and checked his hair briefly in his bathroom mirror before bounding downstairs to answer the bell.

When he opened the door, the dark-haired woman whipped off her sunglasses and said, "Hi, Mrs ... Adam?"

"Cynthia?"

"What are you ..." they said simultaneously. Cynthia smiled and Adam melted just as he always did.

"Shock, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, but a pleasant one! What brings you back to the old neighborhood?" he asked.

"Well, believe it or not, I live near here again. I'm teaching literature and English at Valley Center."

"You're kidding! That's so cool!"

"Are you living back at home?"

"No. Just visiting. I'm in grad school at Tech and just decided to use fall break to visit Mom and Dad. Wow ... I can't believe you're here!" She smiled again at his obvious delight in seeing her.

"My Mom found a bunch of old photos of the two of us when we were kids, put them in an album, and made me promise to drop them off. She thought your Mom would get a kick out of them."

"The photo queen ... are you kidding? She'll be in heaven."

"Is she here?"

"No. They've gone to my Aunt Maggie's for the weekend. Do you want to come in? I mean, do you have to be somewhere?"

"No, it's just a lazy Saturday afternoon for me."

Adam escorted her to the screened-in back porch and went to grab a pitcher of iced tea and some glasses. They started talking about the horror of moving away from each other and didn't stop talking until the Sun was low in the sky and they had reached the present day. Adam learned about her brief marriage to Will, who turned out to be a spouse abuser. Adam felt the veins in his neck bulge when he listened to her stories of Will screaming at her. When she related the incident that led to him hitting her, Adam's fists clinched, and he rose from his chair in anger.

"I'm okay, Adam. I probably took more than I should have, but that one blow to the face woke me up. I left that night and never saw him again. Our lawyers settled the divorce for us."

"Son of a bitch! I'd still like to kick his cowardly ass, Cyn!"

She was surprised at the depth of his anger and walked over to him, taking his hand. "It's okay, Adam. Really. I was young and naïve enough to believe our love would make him want to change." She kissed his fingers and smirked as she asked, "Since when did you become such a tough guy, anyway?"

His face softened as he turned to her. He looked directly into her eyes and replied, "When I heard about someone mistreating you. That's when."

She was momentarily speechless as she surveyed the loving, caring look in his eyes. It had been a long time since anyone made her feel so safe and protected. She grabbed his upper arm and laid her head against his shoulder. "Next time, I'll send out the Bat signal."

He turned and held her against his chest and replied, "Woe be unto anyone else that ever tries to hurt you, Cyn. I mean that." They remained in each other's arms for awhile before Adam broke the embrace to keep Cynthia from having a sudden encounter with his thickening penis.

"I just realized that we've been together all day and haven't put anything in our stomachs except iced tea. Will you have dinner with me?"

"How could I say no to my protector?" she teased.

He grinned. "How about Nandino's? They still make the best pasta in town."

"Only, it was spaghetti, not pasta, when we were kids."

"True, but you can charge a lot more for pasta!"

She laughed. "Then, off to the Batmobile!"

Over dinner, Adam got into more detail about his relationship with Kate. "I don't really know to this day what it was. She's beautiful. She's smart. I had a great time with her. I ... I just got closer to the wedding day and felt like I was choking. I just couldn't go through with it. Yet, a part of me still loves her."

"Which part?" Cynthia asked wryly.

Adam laughed. "Okay, yes, she was terrific in bed ..." She arched her dark eyebrows. "... but, that's not what I meant. I loved her, but I realized I wasn't really in love with her, you know?"

"Yeah, I do," she said getting serious. "I've had relationships like that. Who hasn't?" She took a sip of her wine and asked, "So, have you ever been in love?"

Adam looked up slowly at her. He was dead certain about the answer, but he was terrified to say it. "I don't know. Maybe ... once."

She wrinkled her brow and looked at him with her penetrating gaze. "Okay ... so who was it? Spill it."

As Adam postulated his answer, the waiter reappeared. "How about dessert? The tiramisu here is legendary."

Cynthia's dark eyes never left Adam's face. She answered, "Just a cappuccino, please."

"Two," Adam added, looking at the waiter. He felt her eyes boring into him as he turned to meet her stare.

"You never answered my question. Who'd you fall in love with?"

Adam chortled nervously and rested his mouth against his hand. "I guess ... I ... you know ... well, I think I was in love with ... you." He glanced up nervously at watch her reaction.

She hardly moved but did ask, "Was?"

"Was ... is ... whatever."

She stared at him for what seemed to Adam like an eternity. Then, she said, "We lived next door to each other for eight years, saw each other practically every day, and never in all that time did you say anything about how you felt. Why?"

"'Cause you were ... you," he answered. Then, he figured since he'd opened the door, he might as well step all the way through it. "Cyn, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life ... Ever! I've memorized every minute detail of your face ... every wisp of hair, every trace of skin, every smile ... I can hear every sigh, every laugh. I know just how your lips press together ever so faintly when you think someone's full of shit. I've watched that twinkle appear in your eyes when you're plotting some sort of mischief. I've watched your eyes get misty when your Dad did something that made your Mom smile, and I've seen you light up like a Christmas tree at the sight of a puppy. Cyn, I ..." He suddenly stopped because he realized he was probably making a fool of himself.

As she listened to Adam's outburst, felt his emotions wash over her, listened to his endless stream of feelings and memories come pouring out about her; she felt her throat tighten and her eyes grow moist. None of her other boyfriends or her husband had ever lavished her with so much passion ... so many loving thoughts ... about her. She'd never been the center of anyone's universe the way she felt she was right now for Adam. She was still finding it difficult to speak, so she reached out to hold his hand. Finally, when she'd regained a little of her composure, she asked, "Didn't you ever wonder how I felt?"

"I wished ... I hoped ... I dreamed. I'm not sure if I ever let myself really wonder. It would have hurt too much if you didn't feel the same. So, I forced myself be content just being your best friend."

She exhaled sharply and smiled a bit sadly. "I wish I'd known."

It was now Adam's turn to stare. He felt his heart race as he asked, "So, did you feel anything ... you know ... for me?"

She looked up at him and answered softly, "Yeah."

Her answer hit Adam like a lightning bolt. He swallowed and asked, "What about ... now?"

She slid over to him along the semi-circular booth, put a hand to his cheek, and kissed him gently. The waiter arrived about that time and set the cappuccinos down as quietly as possible before retreating with a smile.

Adam felt his whole body tingle. He felt the hair on his arms and legs stand on end. He took Cynthia into his arms and kissed her softly and deeply. The restaurant ... the world ... it all melted away.

When they finally broke their kiss, Adam looked at her with a straight face and asked, "Does that mean yes?"

Cynthia burst out laughing so hard she had to pick up her napkin to wipe her eyes. The waiter took that opportunity to ask them if there was anything else.

"Do you need anything else?" Adam asked her.

"Hmmm ... let me see," she answered, moving her hand underneath the table to Adam's inner thigh and to his turgid dick. Adam sucked in his breath, and the waiter tried to hide his grin.

"I'll be right back with your check," the waiter said.

They walked out of the restaurant arm in arm. Neither said a word. In the car, Adam asked for directions to her house.

"You did say your parents are gone for the whole weekend?"

"Yes. Why?"

She bit her lower lip. "I hope this doesn't sound weird or creepy, but the first time I make love to you, I'd like it to be in your old bedroom in the bed you had when we were kids. Is that demented?"

Adam's grin threatened to split open his face. "That would be my greatest fantasy come to life, so no, there's nothing weird about that to me."

When they arrived at his house, Adam held open the car door for her and did the same for the doors in his house. That simple act made her feel special and feminine. They walked up the stairs to his bedroom. Once inside, they hugged tightly and kissed more feverishly. Adam pulled his Polo shirt over his head and kicked off his dock shoes. Cynthia started to unbutton her shirt but was stopped by his hands. Trembling, he unbuttoned her shirt and laid it gently on a chair. Cynthia reached behind her to unclasp her bra. Adam was breathing hard when he pulled the pale yellow garment off her chest.

Adam briefly closed his eyes, swallowed and took a deep breath. "You are so beautiful!" He tenderly took her right breast in his hand and felt her rigid nipple press against the tips of his fingers for the first time. They both closed their eyes and sighed.

Cynthia's hands moved to Adam's jeans. She unbuttoned them and pushed them down his long legs. Then, she grabbed the top of his boxers and tugged them down to his ankles. She smiled and looked up at him in a combination of approval and lust as his meaty cock reached out to her. She used both hands to reach under his ball sack and scrape her fingers under them as she moved her hands up the entire length of his cock. She closed her eyes so she could concentrate on the veins, the ridges, and the heat. Adam closed his eyes and savored the touch of her soft hands upon him.

Adam's began unsnapping her chino's and slid the zipper down. The pants fell past her slim hips and pooled on the floor. Adam swallowed again even though his mouth was desert dry and slid the pale yellow satin panties down her thighs. He saw that her once thick bush had now been closely cropped, and he ached to be inside her.

They each stepped out of their garments, and Cynthia started to move to his bed. Adam grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. First, he wanted to feel all of their skin touch each other for the first time. He reached over and turned on some music and held her close and pressed his pulsing cock against her taut abdomen. She laid her cheek against his chest and pulled him in to her as they danced slowly.

Adam then picked her up and carried her to his bed. He lay her so gently onto it, that it almost brought Cynthia to tears. She had always imagined that this was the way two people that really loved each other were supposed to act, but she'd never been with anyone who'd treated her with such kindness.

He lay beside her and took her chin in his hand. "I love you, Cynthia. I love you with all my heart." A tear slid from the corner of her eye. She swallowed hard and nodded her agreement. He smiled as he brushed the dark hair from her face. He put his arms around her back and pressed their bodies together so he could again feel her touch all the way to his toes. Cynthia managed to squeeze her hand between their bodies just enough so she could wrap her fingers around his purple shaft.

Adam kissed her deeply, hotly, longingly. He probed her sweet mouth, and she his. Their tongues danced and twisted around each other. Adam kissed her with such urgency that it was as if he was trying to consume her. As the heat between them grew, he began kissing her neck and her ear lobes. His hands roamed and pressed against her dark nipples. He bent down and took one of her them into his warm, wet mouth and nipped it. Cynthia leaned her head back, wondering how much more she would be able to take before she'd be forced to impale herself on the hard flesh she held in her hands.