Noelle (Babysitter’s Club 4)

We pulled into a little secluded alcove where the brush had been cut back, like he’d planned it. There wildflowers as far as the eye could see and a huge magnolia tree in full bloom.

Again that feeling of Déjà vu assailed me as he helped me out of the boat after first grabbing the baby. He helped me spread the picnic blanket on the grass beneath the shade of the tree before going back to get the toys I’d packed for the baby and the picnic basket we’d brought along.

I felt unsure of myself once again when he took his place on the blanket after making sure the baby was comfortable asleep in her carrier. “Why are you just standing there?”

He held out his hand and I took it. My heart sped up when he pulled me down beside him with that same look from the night before in his eyes.

I suddenly felt gauche and out of my element but the feeling didn’t last long, because as soon as I was next to him, he rolled, putting me beneath him.

As if the hours between hadn’t passed, his lips were once again covering my own. “I waited so long!” His words were barely above a whisper but they warmed my heart.

I didn’t think they meant anything more than that he’d missed me since last night. Though the heartfelt emotion behind them said much more.

I got lost in him again as we laid there under the shade of the tree with the sun peeping through the branches, kissing, touching, whispering. Like old lovers.

I was caught by that same sense of knowing again as I felt his arms around me. Maybe it meant that this was right. Maybe that’s what this persistent feeling was. Maybe this is the way it’s supposed to feel, nothing more.

Somehow I wasn’t so sure. When he folded me into his chest and covered my lips, my heart knew the sensation. When he teased my mouth with his tongue, I already knew how it would feel.

His fingers tracing the softness of my cheek, I’d felt a thousand times before. My body came alive in a way that I never knew before, almost as if I was no longer in control. And yet I wasn’t afraid. Not when he was touching me like this.

When I heard the call of the mockingbird up above, somehow I knew what it was without being told. Though I’d never heard it before. Not in this life!

The feel of him, of his hard chest pressed to my soft firm breasts, made my heart beat faster in a now familiar way. With my eyes closed as we fed on each other’s lips, my imagination ran wild.

And when we both needed air and he looked down at me, I knew the look in his eyes. That look of hungry need that warmed me to the bone.

“Why do I feel like crying?” I asked even as the tears gathered and began to fall. His answer was to kiss my nose gently and draw me in even closer as he rolled to his side.

He didn’t say a word, but just that small gesture made me feel safe. In fact, being in his arms made all the old hurts disappear. It was as if the world I’d left behind had no place or bearing here.

As if he could read my thoughts, he decided in that moment to ask me something that he hadn’t before. “What were you running away from?” I tensed up at his question, wondering how he could possibly know that.

I tried easing out of his arms but he held on, his arms tightening around me. “Relax, it’s obvious that you chose to come here to get away from something. I’m not prying, I just want to know.”

He kissed my hair and for some unearthly reason that was all it took to remove my angst and make me want to open up and share with him. Something I hadn’t done with anyone else. Not entirely anyway!

“I had a boyfriend for two years. He was someone everyone liked. Everyone thought we were the perfect couple. But there was always something missing for me.”

It’s true. Now that I think about it, I was never really comfortable with Jack. Even though on paper and to the outside world he seemed like the perfect catch, handsome, from a well to do family, and smart.

I just couldn’t ever bring myself to feel for him what everyone else thought I should. The intent was there but the reality never materialized. I told him all this and he listened quietly without interrupting.

“I guess after two years he got tired of waiting. So he slept with one of my friends. Not only that, the whole school knew before I did.” That was one of the most embarrassing things about the whole mess.