I got home at 10:30 and found him outside the garage, smoking a cigarette. I can't help it- I always feel a little giddy around him... he's no good for me, not even they type of guy I *should* want like this, but there it is. Although I had every intention of going to bed, I found myself going into the garage to chat with him. Next thing I knew I was being offered the ride I've been begging for since August- a dark of night ride, with him, on the snowmobile.
Giddy, I ran into the house and threw on all my snow gear, Michelin Man'd to the max. When I came out he was ready to go, bundled up as well, with a helmet ready for me. Within moments I had Bud Lites (barf! but he insisted)in my pocket and was mounted up behind him.
He started out across the iced over pond in the backyard, slow and steady, testing me out to see if I knew how to ride. Being a passenger on one of those things is a lot like being a motorcycle passanger; something you have to know how to do to stay safe and have a good time. I gripped his hips with my knees, wrapped my arms around his waist and let my body follow his.
The trails were amazing, and extensive. We passed over the tracks and maybe one or two roads, but for the most part the trails went for miles through woods, next to fenced in industrial lots, and everywhere in between. He went gingerly at first, slowing down to check with me now and then, putting a hand on my knee reassuringly every once in a while.
Then we got onto the lake. A huge lake bordering Worcester and Rt.20. As it was one long sheet of solid ice, smooth as silk, we flew across it... it was incredible. We stopped in the middle of the lake, where he turned the machine off so we could relax for a little while. He said we had been going 100 mph on the lake... I believe it.
He cracked open a beer,and bade me to do the same. When I went to wrinkle my nose he said, "Oh no you don't. You want the experience, you get the whole thing." So I fished the beer from my pocket and sucked it down. It made me laugh- beer flavored soda, as I call it. He made fun of the beer I made him try this past summer; Fin Du Monde, Trois Pistoles, dark lovely bread beer. Mmmm...
Then he said, "It's your turn to drive." I went to protest but he wouldn't have it. "Here, on the lake! There's nothing to hit, nothing to worry about. Gas, brake. Don't turn to fast, lean like you're on a motorcycle. Nothing to it. I'll sit right behind you and take the handles if it gets too crazy for you." We mounted up, our roles reversed. At first I went gingerly about the lake, then experimented with more speed. It was so much fun. Then he reached around me and gripped the gas, and we were flying along the lake- this time with the wind coursing along my face... amazing. I laughed the whole time.
We switched seats again, and made our way off the lake and along more trails. He was taking more chances now, feeling more secure about my ability to stay on and stay with him. Before I knew it we were stopped again, this time at a Wildlife Refuge, next to a burned down mansion. All that remained was the chimney. It was amazing. Here we stayed to chat a while and have another 'beer'. I jumped up and down to get feeling in my toes, and had to go through the ridiculousness that is winter peeing as a girl. (Double your fun with snow pant suspenders under your jacket... good times.) We sat comfortably on the machine just chatting, and I realized we could talk more than I had expected; he is not as dumb as he comes off, it turns out. The butterflies had settled somewhat but the charge was in the air, on his part as well as mine; he's too shy and too polite to act on what I could taste in the air. I let it be, not wanting to spoil the friendship and the fun.
I will admit here and now I have daydreamed of the adventure for some time, and did occasionally add in some naughty bits. But we were good.
We mounted again to go. As we turned about in the mansion's old abandoned fields, suddenly the machine died and refused to be resurrected. The engine had seized, suddenly, with a *pop!*. It was suddenly quiet in the field, in the woods... nothing. He tried to get it going- nothing. Miles from home.
"My cell phone's almost dead, do you have yours?" He asked.
No. Of course not. That would be too much like smart.
"I've got one call left... one call." He did just that- called the one person he knew would bail us out, his best friend and my neighbor, the whole reason I know this man I found myself standing next to in the frigid air, in a field in the dark behind a burned out manse. That's life for you.
He agreed to come get us... but we had a mile or so walk back to the road.
It was all apologies after that. I was nonplussed, however, smiling as ever; this is all part of the adventure, I said. He didn't know how to respond to that. Most girls he knows would have been ranting and raving, all pissed off. I smiled serenely and said I felt bad that his machine was dead. I've got strong legs, I'm young, I'm bundled up and only a mile away from the nearest home; I've got nothing to be sad about.
Besides- we agreed- it gives us a chance to talk.
So off into the night we walked, my arm through his, listening to our snow pants chafe. We followed some hefty buck tracks up the trail towards the road, and talked of all sorts of things. At the road, our friend was not there. We began to feel perhaps our friend rolled over and gone back to sleep. Suddenly the possibility that we could crash at his apartment dawned in his mind- of the two, his place was closer (4 miles?). I laughed, still serene. This is when my grandmother's spirit dawns in me; take things as they come, no need to stress how life is going. If it happens, it happens; things go as they should.
We began to walk on the road, but were not far when headlights overtook us and our friend arrived. The hope of a good snuggle with me did not die in his eyes... he asked if I might stay and I laughed, telling him school beckoned and with it, normal life.
I did not sleep that night, however; giddy as a schoolgirl and too full of thoughts. I have not had such an irrational crush in many many years. It's refreshing, really. I did not think I could still go there in my heart. Countless times since summer I have scolded my heart and my groin- how could you betray me like this, falling for a man like that? How? I have no choice in the matter in terms of feeling and attraction, it seems. I will not give in, that is where choice lies; but I can savor the crush, and the way it makes me feel alive. I will wait for the knock on my door when he comes to tell me how he rescued the machine, and I will laugh at the butterflies with wonder.