A Hill over Uriah

Her breasts heaved as his breath hit the night air thin white frozen. She flipped her thick hair over her forehead as he straightened himself up and looked her in the eyes.

"Do you love me?" her eyebrows seemed to say as they rose to meet her hairline.

He bent over and touched his knees again, "Shiiit."

"What did you want me up here for?" she was fidgeting too.

"How the hell do I know? I just said I was coming up here tonight, you didn't have to meet me."

"Sorry, I guess I'll just leave then. I don't have to keep you company you know, I have other friends."

"Yeah, I know. Just stay up here with me some more." He rubbed the skin between his eyebrows, he was tired.

"I don't know why I should stay with you like this if you're going to be rude." She stared off towards the town. He was silent.

"If you're not going to talk, then I'll just leave." She bent over to pick up her purse.

"Just shut up!" he snarled, "I am not being rude! Jeezus, can't we just enjoy the fucking silence?"

She sat down on the pink fuzzy blanket he had brought up from his home. She stretched out her legs and smoothed out the wrinkles in her pants. She plucked a yellowed, dry autumn leaf off of the blanket and straightened out a folded corner.

He looked away in disgust. He stared at the lights of the town of Uriah and blew through his fingers. What was going wrong? Why was he so mad at her? He'd have to make her feel better now. "Listen, Melody, I'm sorry for yelling. It's just that I've had a bad week," he looked at her with a particularly meaningful expression on his face, "I really do want you to stay up here with me."

She smiled and looked away, at some tuft of grass in the near distance, "Well, now that you've got me up here, what do you want?"

His heart raced as he breathed in sharply. He felt his penis stiffening as all his fantasies between Melody and him flooded back into his head. Quickly he tried to slow the pace of his body. "Well, I've missed you lately Melody, I miss being close to you." Did he really mean this? He couldn't tell. He sat down on the far corner of the blanket away from her. Cradling his knees against his chest, he craned his head back to stare at the sky above him. "Look, up there, its Orion."

She leaned back and stared up at the night sky, "No, that's the Big Dipper, not Orion."

"What, you think I don't know the Big Dipper from Orion? Look at his belt."

"That's the neck of the Big Dipper, not the belt of Orion."

"No it's not." What was he doing? He didn't want to argue about the stars with her. He looked down at his shoes. He noticed that they were caked with mud, so he moved them off of the blanket. "Yeah, you're right, I guess it is the Big Dipper."

"I just love the stars on a night like this," she sighed. He looked up excitedly and caught her glancing at him. Quickly they both looked away.

"Yeah, the stars are nice. Damn, look at that!" He leapt up and stalked off into the bushes.

"What is it?" Melody craned her neck to see.

Dan came walking out of the bushes, "Nothing I guess." He sat down next to her this time. She moved away from him a few inches. His brow wrinkled in confusion as he looked away. There was silence between them for a few seconds. Finally he stretched out his arms and lay down on the blanket. Melody stayed sitting with her back to him. He reached out, touched her shoulder and tried to pull her back. She remained stiff and looked away.

"Melody, come lie down with me."

She refused to acknowledge him.

He sat up, "Melody, what's wrong?"

She looked straight ahead, "Dan, I don't want to lie down with you," she said softly.

He cursed to himself. This wasn't part of the plan. "Melody, come lie here with me, I won't hurt you. Aren't we still friends?"

"Yeah we're still friends Dan, and I don't want to ruin that."

"Ruin that how?" Dan let the words slip out before he could catch them, "Just come lie down with me."

She lay back stiffly. He shifted closer to her and gazed up at the sky. They lay there for a few minutes until Melody began to softly sing a lullabye.

"Damn," he cursed to himself, he wasn't making progress. Slowly he moved his hand over to touch the outside of her leg. She didn't move, but she stopped singing. He stared up tensely, waiting for the right moment to move again. Finally he could stand it no more and he picked up his hand and placed it on her inner thigh. She pushed it aside. He pushed it against the side of her leg again. She scooted a few inches over on the blanket. He rolled up onto his elbow, "Damn it Melody, don't you like me?"

She stared up at the stars and was strangely quiet, "Dan, I like you, just because I won't fool around with you doesn't mean that I don't like you."

Why was this so tough? So many of his other friends seemed to be able to bed girls easily, whereas he hadn't even lost his virginity yet. "What's wrong with a little fooling around?"

"I just don't want to."

He lay back down and folded his arms across his chest. He blew the hair out of his eyes and frowned. He looked over at Melody and saw her standing, staring away at the town below. He felt the blood rushing to his face. "Please don't leave," he whispered.

She looked back over her shoulder at him, "What?"

He sat up. Shit. He cleared his throat and looked at his hands, "Please don't leave."

She giggled and ran back to sit beside him. "I'm not leaving, silly." She hugged him. He felt his stomach flip as they held each other. She broke their hug and sat back. Dan looked at her, "You touched me, I thought you didn't want to."

She sat back, cocked her head and peered at him. "This is different. Dan, what's wrong with you? You're being a real dick."

Damn. Why was he fighting her? Shit. "I'm sorry." He spread his arms for her. She leaned backwards away from him and stared away. "Melody, come on, I'm sorry. It's been a bad day for me."

"Dan, it's been a bad year for you. You've been acting like you hate me for weeks."

He sat back and looked away. "Fine." he spat.

They sat there, neither looking at each other until Dan's watch beeped.

"What time is it?" Melody asked, not looking at him.

"Midnight." he replied curtly.

"I have to go." She stood and swept off the seat of her pants. He didn't say anything, but just continued to stare off in the distance.

She bent down and picked up her purse and started down the hill. He stared after her and his expression softened. He rose, "Melody," she turned to look at him. "Let me walk you home."

She turned to look ahead of her, "Fine, hurry up."

He trotted down the trail. They began walking together. Their hands brushed each other and he reached out with his pinky to touch her hand. Melody responded by running her pinky finger along his. Dan reached out with his hand and grabbed hers. They walked on like this. He raised his bowed head slightly and shot a glance at her. Her head was bowed too and she was smiling. He raised his head and let out a giddy yell as his heart raced. Her cheeks flushed and she smiled deeper.

- J. Hall (4/2?/92)

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