Perfect Strangers

"Look, about the other night," she began, "I don't know what I was thinking. I think that when you asked me to come to the water tower with you I was just in a weird place and you were so ... mysterious. And I think I knew, in some part of me, what was going to happen, but I just wanted to see what it would be like to not be living my normal life. To see what it was like on the other side of that fence."

Jason didn't say anything, so Veronica went on.

"But, I think that what happened between us will have to stay with that night. I'm a married woman, Jason. I can't afford to risk everything that I have, everything that I've built for so long and worked so hard to achieve. I just can't afford to let that all of that go just because I spent one night with a guy I think is interesting."

She finally stopped talking and Jason took a deep breath.

"All right," he said. "If that's what you want, then that's what we'll do."

"Oh," Veronica said. "Okay. Good."

The two kept walking, neither one speaking for a few minutes. Finally Jason spoke up again.

"What do you want, Veronica?" he asked. "What do you want in your life?"

Veronica paused at the question. She'd spent the past two nights sleeping alone, and yesterday she'd finally broken out of that mould she had found herself in and spent a day doing what she wanted. But at the same time, she'd been married for 13 years, and that wasn't the kind of thing you threw away in one night. Because of one night.

"I want what I have with Greg," she finally said.

"Why?"

"Why?" she repeated. "Because I'm happy. Or I — I could be happy."

"I remember you telling me about how much work you do around the house and how your husband does none of it. And how you wanted that to change."

"He's started doing some things," she countered. "We had a fight … that night after the water tower, and I told him how I felt and he's promised to make things better."

"Has he?"

"Yes."

"And you told him how you felt?" Jason repeated.

"Yes, I told him about how I did all of the work around the house and how he did none and how I've been feeling so repressed and controlled. And then we fought and I ended up going to bed alone, while he slept on the couch. He slept there last night, too."

Veronica turned to look at Jason and saw him already looking at her, his eyes slightly narrowed, a definite smile on his face.

"That's good," he said. "I'm glad to hear that things are starting to change."

The two stopped walking and turned to look at each other.

"Thank you," Veronica said.

"I think you deserve more than what you've been given," Jason said, and he took a step forward, placing his hands on her sides. She didn't quite step back, their eyes locked together. "I think there's something in you that needs to break out. Something that's been trapped a long, long time."

Veronica saw his head starting to tilt and she knew what was going to happen, but still she didn't move. He slowly moved towards her, his breath warm as she felt it caressing her lips. And just before her eyelids closed she felt Jason's lips softly press against hers, a moan escaping her.

She felt herself rising, as though her feet were lifting off from the ground. Jason's arms moved around to her back and she lifted her own to him, draping them around his neck. Their lips pressed closer together, parting and allowing their tongues to meet. They danced together inside of their mouths, moving as one, while Veronica's breathing became heavier.

She squeezed her fingers and felt Jason's jacket, the hard material that covered his body. A heat was forming inside of her belly and she moved her hands down, sliding them underneath and over his t-shirt instead. There she felt his back, the muscles hard, writhing as his hands moved over her own body.

Just then, a voice not far off called their names.

"Veronica! Jason!"

The tw

o opened their eyes and quickly pulled away from one another, Veronica almost panting while Jason shook his head and regained composure. She saw him adjust his jeans out of the corner of her eye just as Nancy come out from behind a bend. She stopped when she saw them and Veronica hoped her face wasn't too flushed.