Sweet Child 'O Mine Ch. 03

"Because my spider sense is never wrong," she said simply.

My mind started doing its thing where it loses all control and starts running in all directions, unsupervised, like a child with a sugar rush. How could she possibly know this? Had I led her on in some way? Or was her intuition really this good?

"Ta-da," she said, stopping in front of a yellow coloured Vespa, indicating her pride with a twinkle in her eyes.

"You have a Vespa?" I asked, still not believing the sight in of me.

"Being a classic rock fan, what did you think my choice of vehicle was going to be?" She asked me, narrowing her eyes in my direction.

"I don't know. But definitely not a Vespa." I said, silently admiring the colour-tone of the scooter.

Giggling, she said with a deep sigh: "Boys and bikes. What is up with that. I mean, your gender is either fascinated with them or with boobs. Does your gender have a thing for things that start with the letter B.

"Babes and bae. It is like a kindergartener with a fixation with the letter B"

"I... I... I... I don't know how to answer that. Please tell me that was a rhetorical question," I stuttered, my ears reddening with embarrassment hearing the word boobs come out her mouth.

"Aww. Have I got you all flustered because I said boobs?"

"Err... Yes Ma'am." I said, doing my best to imagine myself shrinking to get away from the situation.

"You know, you look awfully cute when you blush like that," she said, letting out a throaty laugh.

"Can we please go now. Or do you still want to play 'Pick on Sam Day'?," I ask, hiding my face in the darkness that was afforded to me by the streetlight that had just come on, on the opposite side of the road.

"Right. Fine. I almost forgot how fidgety you become when things don't go your way," she said as she alighted the scooter.

"Wait, where is your helmet? Or rather, where are our helmets?" I asked her, a panic suddenly taking over me.

"I prefer to ride without the hemet. I love the feeling of wind blowing through my hair."

"Well then you can feel the air rushing through your hair on your own. I am not getting on that thing without a hemet," I said. One fall and head injury was enough to scare the living bejeezus out of me.

"Stop being a wuss. Would you please get on the scooter so we can leave," she said, pleadingly.

"Now you are in a hurry?," I ask, "Ma'am, I am not getting on that thing without a helmet." I said, my voice finding its firmness.

"Fine, be like that. Bye," she said, as she started the scooter by pushing the electronic start button.

Taking this as my cue to leave, I turned on my heels and started striding towards the bus-stop, hoping to make it in time before the next bus came in.

"Would you just stop," I heard her saying, as she pulled up the scooter on my right, slowing it enough to match my speed.

"What do you want now?" I asked her, losing my patience as I stopped in my tracks.

"Whoa," she said, as her scooter sped away in front of me, not anticipating my sudden movements.

As she manoeuvred her scooter to stop in front of me, I took a few steps back, sub-consciously trying to distance myself from the situation that had now befallen me.

"I'll take out the helmets on one condition. You have to answer one question." She said, as the twinkle returned to her eyes.

"What is it with you and all these questions and conditions? Can't a guy breathe around you without a condition being propped up to him," I said, my anger rising again.

"Ohhh! Feisty. I like," she said, raising her eyebrows in appreciation.

"Listen Anna, it is getting late. I am tired. So, if you are done with these games, I would really like to get back home now," I said, my eyes trained at the bus stop on the opposite side of the road, hoping, praying, that the bus would wait for me.

"This would end a whole lot sooner if you just answered my question," she said, crossing her hand in front of her bosom.

"Fine. Ask away. Then promise me that you will leave me alone," I said with resignation in my voice.

"Scout's honour," she said, raising her hand to show her solemn promise.

"What do you want to know?"

"Why do you think I keep re-reading Alice in Wonderland?" she asks me, her eyes now boring into mine.

"Have you lost your mind? How would I know that? Did you stop me to fuck around with me?" I say as I begin my walk around her to my bus-stop. I am pretty sure smoke was emanating from my ears as my eyes flooded with anger.

"Answer me and then we can both go home," she said, getting off from her scooter and jumping in front of me, her hands stretched out as if to stop me from going any further.

"Look I am sorry I just cursed in front of you, but I am getting really tired of your games. I am a simple, dumb guy who really wants to get home," I say, looking into her eyes, pleadingly.

"Nice try with the puppy dog eyes buster. Now answer the question or else the both us will be locked in this dance for the rest of the evening," she said.

"You evil, cruel woman. What do you want from me," I say, the anger in my eyes finally simmering in my words.

"It is evil, cruel bitch, mind you." She said to me, laughing mirthfully. "I want you to answer my question."

"Why me? Don't you have someone else to bother at this time of the day?" I ask her, hearing the wheels of my brain whirring as it tries its best to search for an answer to her baffling question.

"No, I don't. Now, please answer my question. Fast. I am getting hungry."

"Listen, how about I take you out for a nice dinner and then we can get you to a doctor who can diagnose whatever condition you have," I say, reaching into the far end of my mind in search for an answer for her question.

"And I thought you would never ask me out," she said, batting her eyebrows at me.

But she remained in the same position she was, with her arms outstretched. This was going to be a long night.

"But why do you want me to answer that question? I mean, I am clearly not smart enough. You said so yourself," I said, hoping playing dumb will help me ease out of the situation.

"I never said that. You did. I know for a fact that you are are quite intelligent. Now quit stalling and weasel yourself out of here and answer the god-damned question," she said exasperated.

"Really, after knowing me for this long, you can tell that I am intelligent," I said, rolling my eyes. "Listen Anna, I am not buying whatever it is that you are trying to sell here. So, if you please wouldn't mind, I would like to catch that bus to home."

I pointed at the bus that was rapidly approaching the stop. As its gates opened and closed in slow motion, I felt my wits draining slowly from my body. This was indeed going to be a long night.

"I would mind. It is simple. Answer my question so ..."

"Because you identify with Alice. You think you have fallen so deep into this rabbit hole you think life is that you don't know how to get out. So now, you are trying to emulate the mad-hatter in an attempt to live as another character from the book. You are doing everything in your power to be anyone but Alice," I blurted out.

"How did you... How can you..." she said, visibly stumped by my answer to that question.

But my rambling did not end there. I continued with seething rage: "The reason you are wearing a black cardigan in this obvious heat can be attributed to one of two reasons: Either you have marks on your body you do not want anyone to see or you want to hide your skin so that you avert lust-filled gazes from people. My guess would be that you have had bad sexual experiences with a number of men and now you hate the feeling of your own skin.

"Then, let's come to your shoes. You are wearing size eight hiking boots. Judging by the way in which you groom yourself, your choice in shoes is more out of safety than habit. You are wearing these shoes in a hope that if you have to kick someone who tries to make untoward advances towards you, your kick lands with considerable force.

"Then, comes your make-up and hair. You are wearing little to no make-up, which clearly indicates that you have no intention to be singled out in a crowd, rather you choose for it to make you look as ordinary as possible, something that you are obviously failing at. Hard. You constantly fiddle with your hair because either you are nervous or you want to use it to seduce people. But, the feeling of seduction does not last long for you. You immediately retreat to your shell once you become aware of your actions." I said, in one big speech, not stopping to catch my breath.

"Does this answer your question or do I need to explain more?" I say, looking at her standing dumbfounded with her arms still stretched out.

Slowly, she brought her arms to her sides and turned towards her scooter. I could hear her sniffling and I realised that I may have over-stepped some kind of boundary in my earlier rambling.

Feeling awful about myself and my behaviour, I struggled to figure out what to do next. But Anna caught me unawares by her next action. She slowly turned towards me and handed me a helmet she had retrieved from the storage compartment below the scooter's seat.

Wordlessly, she mounted the scooter and waited for me to sit behind her. Looking at me with tear filled, pale brown eyes, she gesticulated with her eyebrows for me to sit behind her.

Quickly, I put the helmet over my head and latched it to safety below my chin. Then I eased myself into the seat of the scooter beind her, keeping a distance between the both of us, not wanting her to get any wrong ideas about me.

Suddenly, I felt her arms snaking behind her and pulling on my shirt that indicated that she wanted me to slide closer to her. Like she wanted to feel my presence while I was seated behind her. Completely lost for words and actions, I did what she wanted me to do, with a hope that I would not antagonise her any further.

Still no conversation had transpired between us since my rant and I was worried that the only reason she was now dropping me home was because she was being nice to me and wanted to get rid of me.

Starting her scooter, she pulled out of the parking, waiting at the exit gate, looking at either side of the road for incoming traffic. But the scooter idled there for longer than it would have taken for her to check for traffic.

"Everything okay, Anna?" I asked her meekly, my voice refusing to come out at a volume higher than a whisper.

"You have to navigate for me. I don't know where you live," she said, her smile apparent in her voice.

Breathing in with relief, I realised I was holding my breath ever since I had slid closer to her in the seat of the scooter.

"Right, sorry. Please take a right here," I said, after a brief pause, recalibrating directions to my house in my head as I realised that I had someone escorting me to my house tonight.

As she followed my directions to a T, I found myself lost in thought, staring at a scar at the back of her neck that seemed to have caught my attention.

There was something odd about the scar. I felt like I had seen it before. Somewhere. But not on her neck. The skin around the scar was discoloured but the scar was burning bright red. Was it a scar or was it something else? And where had I seen it before? Not being able to place it, my mind tried its best to figure out where I had seen the scar before.

I was rudely awakened from my thoughts when Anna pumped the brakes of her scooter really hard and I found myself squishing into her because of inertia. When our bodies came in contact, though momentarily frazzled by the encounter, my body awoke from its slumber. Her back, though covered by the cardigan, when pressed against me, sent shivers down my spine. But, I felt something else as well. A shiver down Anna's spine.

Wordlessly and unintentionally, my hand reached out for Anna's neck and I rubbed it gently so as to affirm to her that I was fine and still behind her. When my skin touched hers, I felt her muscles tighten and her spine shivering. I was still squished against her but our closeness in the situation reeked of comfort. I could smell the remnants of shampoo in her hair and could see the small hair at the back of her neck standing as my warm breath came in contact with them.

My other free hand, reflexively, reached out to her waist in an attempt to balance my weight on the scooter. I found out that it snuggled perfectly in the contours of her waist. The brush of wind in the gap between my fingers that enveloped around her waist gave me goosebumps. Her scent, though faint, was intoxicating. It was like that moment in time had frozen and the universe was just going to let us be in stuck there, forever.

I was met with a soft moan as my hands remained frozen in their position. I could feel every fibre of Anna's being wanting everything my body wanted in that moment. To be stuck here, forever.

But I then heard her voice between what seemed like gritted teeth: "Where to now?"

Her voice broke me from my trance momentarily. Lost in thought, words failed me in that moment as I continued to stare at the small hair on the back of her neck that refused to sit down.

"Sam, we need to get home. We cannot stay like this forever," she said as I felt her waist wiggle and push back towards me.

Letting out a gentle moan as a response, my mind snapped back to reality and I realised that we were stranded at the side of the road with cars honking beside us.

"Right, sorry. Straight ahead and then please take a left," I said absentmindedly, not even looking at the crossroads we were at. It was like my mind was on auto-pilot, directing her home.

She let out a small giggle and accelerated the vehicle. The sudden movement helped me glide back to my previous position, maintaining a soft distance between us.

And then a thought struck me. Gliding back to her to place my chin on her shoulder, I gently whispered into her ear: "Why did you apply the brakes? You could just have asked me the directions without stopping."

"Now, where is the fun in that?," she replied, coquettishly, her voice no louder than my whisper.

In a response to her playfulness, I decided to trace letters along the small of her back. This behaviour, though alien to me, was the best response I could come up with at the spur of the moment.

I had a word in mind when I started tracing on her back. But, my hand movements were met with involuntary convulsions by her body. In a way, they were begging for me to finish it off but I chose to linger, dragging my fingernails along the flimsy cardigan, to irritate her.

"Oh. Please stop. Oh. Or we will crash," she said, between moans.

"I will. As soon as you tell me what word it is," I said, still tracing the letter with my fingernails, slowing down to let her understand the word and linger on her back for some more time.

"Oh. Oh. Oh," she let out gasps every time my fingers broke contact with her back to indicate pauses between different letters. She was taking shorter breaths now.

"Tease," she whispered in my ears, as I placed my chin on her shoulders again. She had to arch her neck slightly to get to my ear. Keeping an eye on the road while arching her neck towards me, her whisper sent a shiver down my spine as her warm breath lingered on my ear, when she refused to turn her head back towards the road.

"True and true," I said to her, rubbing her back in appreciation as she correctly guessed the word I was tracing along her back. She then turned to concentrate on the road.

"Now take a right at the turn and stop when I ask you to," I said to her, raising my voice a bit to be heard over the constant honking that now accompanied us.

"Yes Sir," she said in a low voice.

An odd choice of words. Sir? Why the change of tone all of a sudden? Before I could figure out the answer, I saw my neighbours lawn in the periphery of my vision.

"Stop anywhere. We're home," I said to her. Home? Why did I sound like this was 'our' home and not just mine. Something had come over me.

She yanked at the brakes hard again and this time, my body crashed into hers. My nose went straight for her hair where I could smell her shampoo again. But this time, I could taste her as well. Raspberries. She tasted like raspberries.

Both my hands went around her waist as I tried my best to stall my rapid dislocation. My crotch melded with her backside and chest lay on her back. It would have been quite comical to look at had the both of us not been lost at the illicit contact we had in that moment.

Before I could bring my arms behind her to help me get off of the scooter, I felt her arms tugging my hands to remain around her for a few more seconds. Though I desperately wanted nothing else in the moment, I knew that this was neither the time nor the place for such emotions to flounder.

"Excuse me," I said, rather loudly, extricating myself from the situation despite every inch of my being asking me to do otherwise.

I got off the scooter and reached for the safety hatch of the helmet that was dangling below my chin. Before I could get the hemet off, I felt a touch on my chin. I raised my eyes to lock them with Anna's who was now touching my cheek with her nimble fingers.

Our eyes were locked in a warm embrace, refusing for the moment to end. It was like the world around us ceased to exist and the both us just were. Raising my hand to gently rub her fingers as I proceeded to take off the helmet, I felt words escaping my mouth: "You want to come up?"

Gently smiling at me and shaking her head as if to say no, I could see it in her eyes that she wanted nothing more at that moment than to accompany me wherever I chose to take her.

I repeated again, reading the answer in her eyes before I asked her: "You want to come up?"