Eden (22 page)

“Thank you, I will,” Eden smiled.

“Yeah, thanks Mom,” I muttered sarcastically, “maybe you should hire a babysitter to attend the game with me.”

“Don’t give me any ideas, smart guy,” my mother joked.

Eden giggled at my mother’s retort, luckily, I was already sitting and out of her line of sight; but even so, I could feel my legs turn to jelly at just the glimpse of Eden’s smile.

“Wow,” Eden exclaimed suddenly, withdrawing the fork from between her lips, “these potatoes are fantastic.”

The garlic potatoes were really good; fantastic might be pushing the limit, though.

“Why thank you,” my mother returned accepting the praise.

We finished dinner in polite conversation; my parents inquiring about school, Eden inquiring about my parents’ jobs.  Soon Eden and I gathered up our dishes and excused ourselves.

“We’ll be watching TV up in my room,” I informed my parents.

“Okay, you kids have fun,” my mother smiled.  “Oh, by the way, Eden, do you have practice tomorrow?”

“Not tomorrow,” Eden answered.

“Well if you want, next time you have practice let me know and I’ll make dinner for you again,” my mother offered.

“Thank you, that would be great,” Eden smiled.

I took her hand and ushered her upstairs.  Entering my bedroom, I proceeded to light the bamboo-scented candle that Eden loved so much and patted my bed.

“Sorry I don’t have any chairs for you,” I confessed.

“Sure you are,” Eden chuckled sarcastically, “you just want to get me into your bed.”

I could feel myself blush, partly because of the truth behind her casual statement.  To cover my shame as I sat down beside her on the bed, I grabbed the remote and flicked on the television across the room.  We had been dating for a few weeks now, but the subject of sex had barely been touched upon; I didn’t want to push my luck.  When I really thought about it, it was a miracle that Eden was even my girlfriend.  I was satisfied with just that fact for now; there was no reason for me to risk our relationship.

“What do you feel like watching?” I asked flicking on the TV with my remote.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” she smiled, “I’d much rather spend time talking with you than watching some stupid light box.”

I laughed, turning the TV back off.  It still took me by surprise how old-fashioned she could be.  I had to keep reminding myself that she wasn’t really the same age as me; to her something like TV was probably a brand new novelty instead of the necessity it was to me.

“So what do you want to talk about?” I asked sitting down beside her on the bed.

“Just this,” she said softly, leaning over and kissing me on the lips.

To this day, I am still not sure just how long we remained on my bed with our lips locked, but it seemed like only seconds before there was a knock on my door.  We, quickly, jumped a few feet apart.  I got up and answered the door; it was my mother with a small tray.

“I thought maybe you would like some milk and cookies,” she offered innocently.

“Thanks,” I replied numbly, taking the tray inside and closing the door.

After a few seconds, it dawned on the both of us what had just happened and we started laughing together hysterically.

“Honestly,” Eden gasped between laughter, “milk and cookies?”

“Yeah,” I agreed with tears in my eyes, “what are we, like, ten?”

After a few cookies, we both calmed down.

“Maybe we should just watch some TV.” Eden stated, “Now doesn’t seem like a good time for...,” she paused and gave me a sly wink, “…conversation.”

So, we sat back and watched some mindless shows while munching on cookies.  Honestly, I can’t remember anything that we watched that night, all I could think about was how much I wanted to have another “conversation” with her.

24

The next day was a blur to me, while it isn’t obvious at this point of my narrative why that would be so; just be patient, and all will be made clear soon.   Eden didn’t have cheerleading practice on Wednesday, so we planned to make dinner together at her house that night.

“What do you feel like?” Eden asked me after school as we made our way to Shop & Stop.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” I admitted, “everything you cook is delicious.”

I know it sounded like shameless flattery, but I was dead serious; I had never tasted cooking like Eden’s before.  We left the supermarket with all the ingredients for another five-star dinner.  We were halfway to her house when something dawned on me, “We picked up nothing for dessert,” I told her.

“Dessert?” she laughed, “is that all you think about?”

It was true.  I was a dessert-a-holic, most of the time I just rushed through dinner with dessert on my mind the whole time.

“Don’t worry,” Eden confided with a wink, seeing my anxiety, “I’ve already got dessert covered.”

“This is delicious,” I beamed like a kid at Christmas after Eden had finished preparing a glorious stir-fry dinner.

“Thanks,” Eden blushed, “it’s really not that big a deal.”

“Are you kidding?” I pressed, “I could eat this every night for the rest of my life and be happy.”

“Please, that is only about seventy years or so, hardly long enough to…”she stopped herself in horror and what she had just said.

“Calm down,” I assured her, getting up to clear my dishes and put them into the sink, “I know you didn’t mean anything bad.”

“I know, but I shouldn’t have been so thoughtless,” she began.

I could tell by her face, that Eden was really distraught; my only thought was to change the topic.

“So where’s this dessert you promised me?” I asked returning to the counter.  In a movement so fluid that I almost missed it, Eden was up from her chair and into my arms.

“Its right here,” she whispered into my ear before pressing her lips against mine.

This time Eden didn’t stop to talk, while our lips were locked, her hands were lifting my shirt.  When the shirt cleared my head, I opened my eyes to see that we had practically teleported over to the couch in the living room.  Gently straddling my hips, she pushed me down on the soft, plush cushions as she reaches down, pulling her own shirt up and over her head.

“S-should we be doing this?” I stuttered in my nervousness, “Aren’t we kind of young?”

She laughed, “Maybe you are, but don’t forget I am over two hundred years old.”

“Oh, yeah,” I replied nervously.

“I’ve been dreaming for the better part of a century of someone like you,” she confessed looking into my eyes, “for someone to share this with.”

I couldn’t ignore the pleading in her eyes, the need.

“Please be my first, I’ve been waiting for you since long before you were even born,” she whispered, looking down at me, “Please don’t make me wait any longer, Thomas.”

“I won’t,” I promised softly, “but I don’t have any…”

She laughed again, cutting my response short, “You’re a human and I’m a Deva.  It’s not like you could possibly get me pregnant.”

“Way to cut to the chase, but what I meant was,” I stumbled, “I’ve never…”

My heart almost stopped in my chest when she reached behind her and unclasped her bra.

25

The next hour was one of the most memorable times of my life.  Needless to say, as great as the dinner was, it was like fast food when compared to the dessert.  Exhausted, I rolled off the couch and onto the floor.  I laid, breathlessly, on my back staring up at the ceiling.

“Are you ok?” Eden asked.

It took me a few minutes to catch my breath enough to answer, but I did manage to nod my head in the meantime.

“I’m ok,” I finally said with a grin, looking up at her, “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Thomas,” she said rolling off the couch and on top of me.  Molding her body into mine, her lips pressed tenderly against mine.

“What do you want to do now?” she whispered into my ear.

“I just want to lay here with you,” I answered truthfully.

“On the floor?” she laughed against my mouth.

“Anywhere,” I whispered, kissing her gently.

We both lay on the hard floor, watching the sun set behind the living room curtains, wrapped in each others arms.  Eden resting her head on my bare chest.  I finally broke the silence when the room was thrown in shadow.

“How am I still in one piece?” I asked, still staring out the window, “I didn’t think about it as it was happening because…well, I had other things on my mind at the time, but with your strength shouldn’t I have a few broken bones at the least?”

She giggled and buried her face in my chest before looking up.

“I had to be very gentle,” she assured me; smiling mischievously, “I just had to let you do most of the work.”

I felt myself blush grateful for the darkness in the room.

“Thank you, Eden,” I whispered still unable to look into her eyes.

“For what?” she asked, shifting her weight.

“For sharing everything that you are with me,” I continued, finally looking into her eyes.

“It was my pleasure,” she whispered back, “Literally.”

I had to laugh at that.  “The pleasure was all mine,” I assured her, holding her close against me.

“Don’t you have to be home by nine,” she finally whispered, breaking the mood.

I jumped to my feet, looking around for a clock, “I totally forgot.  What time is it?”

Eden came back into the room; I hadn’t even noticed that she had left.

“Its 8:50, you better get dressed,” she reported unhappily.

I cursed under my breath; I wanted to spend more time with her.  I wanted to spend forever with her.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to seem like a ‘wham, bam, thank you, ma’am’,” was all that I could say as I grabbed my clothes and started to get dressed.

“It’s not your fault,” she laughed, instantly appearing in my arms.

I finished getting dressed reluctantly, as Eden stepped back.  Glancing over at her, my heart still fluttered at the sight of her bare porcelain skin displayed before me.  There were no words I could come up with to describe how beautiful, how perfect Eden looked standing, totally exposed, before me.  I wanted to jump into her arms again and spend the whole night with her; but my curfew was almost up.

“It’s so unfair,” I muttered to myself.

“What is?” Eden wanted to know.

“You are so beautiful,” I gasped, my eyes passing over her naked body, “I don’t want to go.”

She giggled, sounding like music to my ears, “Silly, there will be plenty of other times.”

“Maybe for you,” I argued, “You’re immortal and I have only got maybe another seventy years left.”

“That’s not enough time for you?” she asked, her eyes pleading.

“It is nowhere near enough time for me to show how you much I love you,” I choked.  She was suddenly in my arms, pressing her body to mine and her lips were against my ear.

“Then show me,” she whispered warmly into my ear, “Show me how much you love me each and every night.  Show me so that I will never forget, even if I live to be a thousand.  Promise me that you will never let me forget you.”

I held her tight.  It still amazed me how a girl that was so strong could still feel so soft, so fragile in my arms.

“I promise,” I whispered back to her, tasting the tears on her cheeks as my lips brushed them away, “I will stay with you as long as I possibly can.”

“I love you so much, Thomas,” she sighed, burying her face against my chest, “I don’t know how I survived all these decades without you.  I never realized how lonely I have been until I met you.”

Kissing her one final time on the lips I slipped out the door.

“See you tomorrow in school,” I whispered before I left.

She nodded in agreement and added with a tiny grin, “And I’ll see you tomorrow after school.”  She accentuated the word ‘after’ and I knew exactly what she meant.

Returning her leer, I quickly ran home hoping that it wasn’t yet nine o’clock.

I rushed through the front door, immediately looking up at the clock in the hallway; it was 9:02.  Crap, I was late.

“I’m home,” I called into the kitchen.

My mother was doing the dishes and my father was reading the paper at the table.

“Welcome home, son,” my father replied not looking up from his paper.

“How was your night?” my mother asked finishing up.

“It was great,” I told her, happy that neither of them had noticed I was two minutes late.

“That’s good,” she commented, “Did you finish all of your homework?”

“Of course,” I told her, “I’m going to my room.”

“Good night,” my mother answered, ignorant of the life-changing events that had just taken place in my life mere hours before.  Heading upstairs I was surprised that she hadn’t noticed the change in me.  All those times in the past she had accused me of doing it and now that I had finally done it, she hadn’t even taken notice.

Reaching the top of the stairs, I immediately headed into the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror surprised – I still looked the same!  How was that possible?  I felt like a totally different person, how could the evidence not be visible on my face?  Entering my room, I flipped my television on and got ready for bed, even though there was no way I would be going to sleep anytime soon.  Tonight had been like Christmas Eve and my birthday all rolled into one; I was too wired to even think about anything other than spending tomorrow with Eden.  I was so sure that I would be up for hours that I propped up my pillows and got into bed to watch TV.  About five minutes later that activities of the evening caught up to me and I was sound asleep.

I woke up in the morning with the television still on and a kink in my neck from sleeping with my chin on my chest.  Groggily I got up and out of bed and trudged into the bathroom across the hall to take a shower.  The warm water woke me up as well as the images of last night that ran through my mind.

Entering the kitchen downstairs, I was greeted by my mother who already prepared breakfast for me.  Nudging the chair back with my foot, I flopped down into the seat facing the bowl of cereal.

“Rough night?” my mother asked looking at my expression.

“I fell asleep watching TV,” I admitted, “and my neck is killing me.”

My mother laughed, and I was disappointed to find that she still had no clue about last night.  I was beginning to think that my mother wasn’t the all-knowing, omniscient being that I had always thought she was.  Less than a half hour later, I arrived at my bus stop.  Kyle, Drake and Matt were already in a group chatting like old ladies.  Matt looked up just as I arrived on the scene.

“Yo, Tommy,” he called waving me over, “You missed and awesome night.”

“Hell, yeah,” Kyle agreed, “We did some serious online sniping.”

“Sorry I missed it,” I said with a smile.

“Listen to you,” Drake interjected, “What did you do last night, watch Steel Magnolias with your girlfriend?”

“Something like that,” I told him.

Part of me wanted to brag to my friends about what had happened between Eden and me last night; but I felt that telling my friends would cheapen the experience in my eyes.  I know they would whoop and cheer for me and make a big production about it; but I felt that what Eden and I shared last night was more precious than the most private secret that I had been sworn to keep.  Let my friends think what they wanted; for once in my life, I didn’t care.  Could that be maturity talking?  I wasn’t sure.

“Having a girlfriend sucks,” Drake said to the others, “You have to miss out on running down hookers in police cars and for what; watching some chick flick for the millionth time?  Not worth it to me.”

“But Drake, Eden’s hot as hell,” Matt argued, “I think even I could sit through Steel Magnolias as long as we got to make out afterwards.”

Matt spread his arms like he was holding an invisible girl and closed his eyes and began making kissing noises.

“Dude could you stop that?” Kyle pleaded, wrinkling his nose in disgust, “…it’s freaking disturbing.”

We all voiced our agreement with Kyle.  Matt snapped back into reality just as the bus pulled up.  Howie greeted us as we took our seats.  The atmosphere on the bus was more jubilant than usual, or maybe it just seemed that way after the events of last night.  Eden didn’t have practice tonight and tomorrow would be her first game; maybe I could get my parents to lift my curfew this weekend.  I was looking out the window and daydreaming about spending the whole evening with Eden when Kyle nudged me.

“What’s the matter with you?” he asked, “You were just stone-cold zoning on me.”

Snapping back to reality, I was surprised to find that we were already at school and most of the students had gotten off the bus.  Howie was staring back at us.

“Are you ok, Thomas?” Howie asked from the driver’s seat.

“Yeah,” I assured him as I shook my head to clear the soreness that had settled back into my neck.

“He’s just thinking about his girlfriend, Eden,” Kyle jeered.

“Eden?” Howie asked.

“Strange name for an Asian girl, isn’t it?” Kyle threw in as he got off the bus.

“Yes, it is,” Howie agreed staring back at me.  I swear I saw his eyes narrow as they met mine.

When I saw Eden in the classroom, I wanted nothing more than to take her into my arms, but I managed to keep myself under control.  I was pleased to see by the look on her face, that she was thinking the same thing.  How could two people so different…heck, two people from different species…be so much a like?

School seemed extra long today, because I spent the whole day wanting to be alone with Eden again.  I couldn’t wait until we were at her house again that night, and we could… I’d better stop that train of thought right there, the teacher just might call me to the board.

When the three o’clock bell finally rang, I just about sprinted out of my seat and bolted for the hall.  Of course, no matter how fast I was, Eden would always be faster; she was already at her locker, packing her books inside.

“So, what did you want to do tonight?” she asked me seductively.

“Whatever you want, but I’m partial to continuing our ‘conversation’ from last night,” I laughed.

She laughed in return, not a mean laugh but a sincere laugh.