34 Seconds
Authors: Stella Samuel
Fifteen Years Ago Deltaville, Virginia
June 2014 3:34 pm Deltaville, Virginia
Deltaville, Virginia June 2014
34 Seconds
Stella Samuel
Kindle Edition
Copyright © 2015 by Stella Samuel
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Line and Copy Editing: Melanie Glenn
Editing: Dark Star Publishing
Formatting completed by Rik Hall
Cover design by John C. Harman
Fifteen Years Ago
Deltaville, Virginia
My heart was beating so fast and so loud, I was certain it would soon leave my chest and bounce itself right out the window, down the street, and into the Piankatank River. Will not only asked me if I wanted to come over and listen to his new song, but he also invited me into his bedroom and then closed the door. He was sitting knee to knee with me, only his guitar separating my heartbeat from his body, his soul, his voice. His entire being.
We met three days earlier, late at night in a neighborhood pool. I knew I wasn’t naïve enough to think I was in love, and I also knew
I was absolutely in love
. I knew it wasn’t lust, because I thought I could live forever with him without ever touching him. Well, maybe I would touch him. But before I do, I would melt in his voice. I’d be like little written notes on a musical staff melting across the lines with each strum of his guitar. I was sure it was love. I was absolutely in love with Will. William or just Will? Shit, I didn’t even know his full name yet, but I could draw the coffee-like stain birth mark on his left leg by heart. I could die in his eyes. I could give a name to each ringlet of hair that fell around his face. Those spiral curls were what started my heart beating to begin with. Will didn’t have surfer hair like so many of the boys who swoop into town, but instead medium length blonde hair with spiral curls any girl would kill for. And those curls weren’t something unnoticed. I noticed his hair, his sense of humor, his confidence, and his voice; oh I could see all of it exuding from him the night he took off all of his clothes and jumped into the pool.
Two days later, after the evening Will and his best friend, Brian, spent a few hours swimming naked with me and my friend, Liza, in the dim hours of an early summer evening, Brian asked me to join the two of them at Will’s house to hang out. I can still feel girlish embarrassment because I misunderstood something Brian had asked me. Or maybe my embarrassment was because I was naked when we all first met. I stayed in the deep dark waters; it was night time. I’m fairly confident I was able to be modest, as modest as a naked person could be.
“Wanna do something later?” Brian asked.
“NO!” I said with confidence and the vigor of someone proving a point. There wasn’t much to do in Deltaville, Virginia. I didn’t even know anyone with a trampoline or anything else exciting near my house. There was the pool, but it was really only fun if we were sneaking in at night. I hadn’t been back since the night Brian and Will jumped in and scared Liza and me while we were having our late night swim.
“Whoa, there’s no need to get mean about it, we just wanted to know if you wanted to do something later. We were thinking maybe you can get the girl who was with you in the pool the other night to come over and hang out with us, maybe take the boat out for a spin around the creek after the sun goes down. It’s not the best time to sail, and we probably won’t get far, but we could grab our guitars, a couple of cute girls, and see if the jelly fish are swimming,” Will said.
“Oh,” I said, averting my eyes. “I thought you asked
if
I was doing anything later, and I was just thinking there’s just nothing to do around here. You don’t know this area like I do. There really is nothing to do around here; especially after sundown.” I said. “So I said, ‘No’, as in no, I’m not doing anything later.”
I’d screwed it up; I just knew it. “Sorry,” I said, feeling my face growing hot. “I would love to do something with you, and I’m sure if Liza’s not working, she’ll join us.” I could feel my stomach tighten into one huge knot, but I almost felt saddened by my own embarrassment. Finally, two cute boys with personality and great hair come into town, and I blew it. In Deltaville, boys came each summer to visit, sail in regattas, and make the local girls feel out of place in our own town. The population in Deltaville tripled in the summertime, but most of us knew it was just summertime visitors, all just staying for a short time. No one made friends with those summer folk beyond the summer, but our local marinas, restaurants, and little bed and breakfast joints lived out the year on the business summer brought. Those boys felt different to me. They seemed to really like me and Liza. They sailed, but they didn’t care about sailing. They weren’t at the Yacht Club at 6AM in their Docker shorts and button down shirts with their boat shoes, pouring coffee and talking about the wake in and out of the creek. They had guitars, liked to have fun, and didn’t seem to care what other people thought. As an artist myself, a painter in fact, I gravitated to other artists and stayed far away from the Yacht Club sailors. Yep, I knew I was in love.
We did go sailing. Well, we floated. There wasn’t a breeze felt all evening; the night was still and humid. And I’m sure Will wasn’t supposed to be in any boat without his grandfather knowing and possibly even helping. Will wasn’t an established sailor, and the boat wasn’t even his. I’m not even sure the boat was a sailboat. It wasn’t the catamaran I’d seen at the dock at his grandfather’s house earlier. It was not much bigger than a wooden dinghy with a bright sail that didn’t move. There was no wind. Brian and Will were able to row it out away from the houses, so we wouldn’t bother anyone around in the early evening hours. In the small, quiet town, everyone seemed to know everyone else’s business and make it their own, so being away from the houses was a great idea. It was probably the best night of my life. We floated in the middle of the creek after the boys rowed us out a bit, and then we sat still and quiet for a while. The moon was waning into a perfect crescent. The small sounds the water made were soft and romantic. Every now and then we’d hear a big fish jump, but other than the sounds of nature surrounding us, it felt as if we were the only four people in the entire world. There was a moment sitting in the boat when I knew I would fall in love with Will. We were sitting side by side with his guitar next to us, and he started humming. After a few seconds of humming, Brian started humming, and after Brian started, Will broke out into full singing. It was a comical moment. My heart melted further.
“I can’t feel the air, I can’t see the sky, but I have you near, so I think I might fly.” It was a silly little ditty, but he sang it with the seriousness of someone singing the national anthem at a Super Bowl. I melted in the sound of his voice so much in the moment, I wasn’t even sure what he said. I just didn’t want him to stop singing.
“Did you just say you’d fly because we are near?” Liza asked. I came back to reality. Liza had the ability to see through guys and their tricks to get attention from girls. Usually, I was never interested enough to care what a guy said to try to get our attention. My heart sank. What was Will saying? Did he mean he didn’t want to be near me? Oh, how could I fall so quickly for someone I didn’t even know?
“What?” Will asked. “No, I could fly, as in I feel so high to be out here with you two, and my good buddy, I feel so high I could fly,” Brian started humming, and Will finished off the tune by singing “I can’t feel the air. I can’t see the sky, having you near; I’m so high I could fly.”
“Yeah, man, did you bring your notebook. We need to write that down. This is good. We could make it a song.” Brian said. He picked up Will’s guitar, and started lightly strumming a few chords while humming the tune Will just sang. I didn’t want the night to end. But there I sat knee to knee with Will, alone in the room. And I knew I never wanted our second night together to end either. I was certain it was the way I would always feel.
Being alone with Will for the first time, I could feel the heat from his knees touching mine. I could feel the earth move as he sang the song he started to write on the boat just two nights earlier.
Will chuckled his own unique chuckle. “Huh hehe, I need a break from this,” he said as he put his guitar down. He took my hands and held them up in the air between us. Then he let go. I dropped my hands back into my lap. He picked them up again, but when he let go this time, he held his in front of mine, very close to mine, but not touching. We sat still for a few moments. I could still hear my heart beating and was sure if he looked at my chest, he would see it thumping. Keeping one hand up near mine, he moved the other hand to my cheek, and with the back of his finger, slowly followed my cheek bone down to my chin, and then put his hand back in front of my two hands still hanging midair.
“Do you feel it?” he asked me.
“I’m feeling a lot of things right now, Will. Which
it
might you be speaking of?” I asked trying to portray a calm my body was far from feeling.
“The heat. Can you feel the heat from my hands flowing into your hands?” he asked.
“I’m not sure if it’s heat from your hands, Will. It might be emanating from me. I gotta be honest with you. I’m a little heated right now. I’m not sure what to do about it, but I’m a ball of tight nerves, energy, and hmmm, I think there’s a bit of desire somewhere in there.” I didn’t plan on being so blunt with him, but all of those things were entirely true. I guess my body needed him to know even if my heart and mind didn’t know if it was a good idea.
I could barely breathe.
“Then it’s both of us. We’re both emanating this heat. Can you feel it?”
“Yes,” I whispered. More of my heart slid down the inside of my chest, fully melted.
“I felt it on your face as well. You are hot,” Will whispered back to me.
“I hope I don’t start sweating. The humidity is uncomfortable enough,” I said before pausing. “And this moment isn’t easy either. Will, I’m starting to feel uncomfortable. And nervous. I’m still very, very nervous,” I said the last in barely a whisper.
“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, my dear, Nikki. What’s uncomfortable?” Will asked.
I paused for a moment, shook my arms out, leaned back, and put one hand in my lap. Will quickly took my hand, kissed my palm, put it back next to his lingering hand, and tilted his head in a questioning look. I stared for a moment at the hand Will just kissed. He had kissed me! Sure, just my hand. But a kiss was a kiss, and I had received one. I didn’t know how I was supposed to speak.
After a long pause, I just let my thoughts run out of my mouth. “I’m eighteen years old. I’ve never been in love before. But I’ve also never felt this way before. I’m usually in control of my feelings. I can usually tell what a guy is thinking. And I can usually set him straight before things get out of hand with anything I might feel.” I looked down at his knees which were touching mine. When had I missed that? “I don’t know what this is for me, but I’m nervous to be near you, and being nervous makes me very uncomfortable. I like control. I like having control of me, myself, my emotions, and my actions. I don’t feel like I have a good grip on myself at this moment.”
Will backed up, leaving my knees cold and my palms suddenly yearning for the heat between us.
“Why did you do that?” I asked, almost too quickly.
Will just looked at me for a minute, then scooted back towards me, so we were knee to knee again, and placed both of my hands inside his. “You said you were nervous to be near me. I don’t want to make you nervous. And if you’d like control, baby, you can do whatever you’d like to do to me,” he said in a near-whisper.
