Rape (unfinished)

Elle was nothing extraordinary; she was just your typical 20-year-old college student wishing to get something out of life. But nothing was happening for her, it was all happening for her cousin Gracie.
They’d been the best of friends all of their lives, sharing all their deepest darkest secrets and fears. But now their lives had taken separate routes, with Gracie finding the love of her life, and Elle with only one boyfriend in her past. But Elle still found it difficult to behave; she had slept with six guys, not including the one time boyfriend, so a total of seven men.
Now Elle wasn’t what she considered beautiful, she was 180 pounds on her five foot two and three quarters stature. She always felt fat, and her hair color was always changing as well, the colors never made her happy.
She always wore eye shadow and eyeliner to hide her ugly bags under her eyes and distract people from her ugly face. She was always doing things to attract attention to her eyes or boobs. Her double ado’s were always looked at, probably because of the low cut shirts she chose to wear. Yet no guys ever wanted to get close to her seriously. Sex was all they ever wanted.
On Gracie’s 21st birthday, Elle had drank while her mother was there and Elle had brought some friends from her new job at a summer camp. It was at 3 a.m. when they were told they had to be quiet, they being Elle, one of her one night stands named Doug, and another guy named Campbell. Elle had been avoiding Doug all night, but he always seemed to be following her and her friends. Elle knew he was only after sex, because he thought she would put out. And there had never been a connection.
Doug had sat down next to her on the gray van seat and started rocking it.
“Doug, stop, you’re going to make me sick.” But he didn’t, so she sat on the ground while he giggled. But she soon realized the ground was wet, so she stood up, almost running over Campbell.
“Holy shit, you scared the shit out of me.” She said laughing.
“I’m sorry, I just came over to apologize.”
She had started to walk away, but now turned around, “Apologize for what?”
“Oh, for being an asshole earlier about the puppy thing.”
She knew now what he was talking about. “Yeah, I’m sorry too, because Gracie made it sound like your job was a breeder.”
He laughed, “No, I only did it twice.”
“Oh, that was a miscommunication then.”
“Yeah…hey…do you want to walk with me to my car, I need more cigarettes.”
So she nodded, but that night was not like any other night. There was no sex between her and Campbell, though she probably could’ve had it if she wanted.
They stayed up until five thirty a.m. talking and then slept in his truck, on opposite sides. She smiled in the morning as she climbed out of the truck and crept into the house to wake her friends up so they could head home.
Later that day Gracie called her. “So where did you sleep last night?”
“In Campbell’s truck.”
“And…?” she questioned.
“And what?”
“Did you guys have sex?”
“No.” Elle was partially disgusted.
“Are you sure?” Gracie was just joking.
“Um…I’m positive. I know what I did. We just stayed up talking.”
She could hear Gracie’s boyfriend John in the background taunting her.
“Do you swear on grandma’s grave?” Gracie asked.
Elle smiled, “I swear on Grandma’s grave that all we did was talk.”
So Gracie believer her, but John added another notch to the ‘belt’ he had branded with the number of his friends that Elle had slept with. Campbell had made the total two, and then he added one for Bo, whom Elle had ridden with the previous night because he was going to pick up a friend and Elle didn’t think he should drive alone.
The next weekend Elle was back for the fourth of July party, a little early. Her drinking heightened and another notch was added. His name was Rocky, he wasn’t too much older then her, but he also wasn’t boyfriend material.
The day after Gracie had asked why Elle had done it. But she couldn’t answer because she had no clue. It wasn’t necessarily because she was horny, but probably more because for those few minutes when the strangers hands were all over her, she feels beautiful and accepted.
So the notches were at four on John’s ‘belt’, and Elle had now officially slept with eight guys. She was working long hours at her job, so she didn’t have much time for a social life, but she had never really had one to begin with. She was too shy around new people.
But work was good for her, it kept her mind busy, and she was sure this time that she was going to be good and really wait for a relationship for her next sexual encounter.
The first weekend of August Gracie called up Elle to see if she could come stay at her house because she was going out of town and someone needed to watch the puppies. John was going out of town to go fishing.
Elle was more than happy to do it, she loved the puppies and she loved Peanut. So that Friday she headed over to Gracie’s house and spent the night with Peanut and her quickly growing puppies. Then she watched a few movies before heading into Gracie’s room and fell asleep.
Hands that were going over her shirt on top of her breasts awakened her. She jumped and opened her eyes. “John what are you doing?”
“Shut up, I’m getting what I think I’m entitled to,” he grabbed at her shirt and ripped it open.
“John stop.”
He slapped her, and she left her head tilted to one side. She started using her hands to try to push him off of her, but it wouldn’t work, he weighed too much and was much stronger.
He shoved into her and she screamed in pain. And when he finally collapsed on top of her, he held his weight on her, and said. “You tell anyone or Gracie, I’ll kill her as she sleeps…and then I’ll come after you.”
Then he held her while she held back the tears. He held onto her all night. And when she woke up, he was gone.
“It was all a horrible dream,” she told herself as she climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom. She peed and only then did she look into the mirror. She saw the mark on her face from his slap, and her jaw dropped.
Her lip quivered and she turned her head away. She started the shower and then turned it into a bath. She quickly added some soap to make some bubbles.
She didn’t lounge in the bathtub long though, because whenever she closed her eyes she could feel him on top of her. She scrubbed her skin raw, all of it, from her face and neck that his breath had touched. To the breasts he had sucked on, to her inner thighs and stomach where his sweating skin had slammed against hers.
When she was done, she didn’t feel cleaner, but in fact she was. She got dressed in the bathroom with the door locked and when she had finished, she opened the door only a crack and listened. Nothing made a sound except for the puppies.
She opened the door and let out a breath of relief that she had been holding in. She looked through the bedroom window and was relieved when she saw that John’s truck was not in the driveway.
She spent much of the day sitting next to Peanut’s pool. A few minutes crying here and there until Peanut licked her hand and then things would seem better for a moment.
Around three she decided maybe it was time for the puppies to venture outdoors. So she found an empty beer so and loaded them inside. Peanut followed closely at her side as she went down stairs and outside. She set the box on the cement and took three puppies out.
Elle watched as they cautiously looked around and then started playing around. Peanut ran frantically around trying to keep them in line. After ten minutes she picked up the three and took out three different ones. Another ten minutes and she let out the final two. Peanut was getting worn out, and so were the puppies.
Elle brought them back in the house and carried the pool out into the living room before she put the puppies back in.
Then she went into the kitchen to make some food. She opened the fridge and saw food, but there were also about 30 bottles of Smirnoff Twisted in various flavors. She pulled out a bottle of Smirnoff and a piece of cheese.
At first she was nibbling on the cheese and sipping the Smirnoff, but it quickly turned into chugging the drink. Within an hour she had devoured 4 bottles and very little food. She soon sat in the chair watching a boring movie on the TV.
The phone rang making Elle scream and then laugh. She got up from the chair and picked up the phone.
“Hello?” Elle said.
“Elle, it’s John. I just called to see how things were.”
Elle took a deep breath, the smile wiped away from her face. “Um…fine.”
“That’s good. Now don’t forget,” and he hung up.
She held the phone a minute; it really hadn’t been a dream. She carried the phone over to the chair with her. Picking up the bottle from the side table, and while standing there, chugged it.
She walked over and picked up another bottle from the fridge. The phone range again, and Elle dropped it startled.
She picked it off the floor and answered it. “Hello/”
“Hi Elle, It’s Gracie, how are things going?”
She breathed loudly. “Um…good.”
“Elle, what’s wrong? You sound like you’ve been crying.”
“No, no, no, I’m fine, my allergies are just kicking in today.”
“Oh, well there are pills in the bathroom on John’s side, feel free to use them.”
“Okay.”
“Well, I guess I shouldn’t take you away from your movies and the puppies tonight. I’ll have to talk to you later.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you then,” she wanted off the phone now.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Take the pills, I’ll see ya tomorrow.”
“Okay bye.” Elle hung up the phone.
She sat in the chair and slowly drank her bottle. She stared at a dot on the wall. The bottle was sipped away quickly.
A knock came at the door, awaking her from her daze. She couldn’t see outside because it was too dark, so she got up and opened the door. It was pouring rain outside, and the figure quickly jumped in past her.
“Oh my god, that rain came out of no where,” the figure spoke, and removed it’s hood. She saw his blonde hair and knew it was Campbell. She breathed a sigh of relief.
He turned around, “Hi, sorry about barging in here.” He took off his sweatshirt.
“Oh, that’s okay…you’re soaked…um…you should go put one of John’s on.”
“Oh, okay…is it okay if I just go into the room and do that?” Campbell asked.
“Yeah…not a problem.” Elle said as Campbell headed down the hallway. After a minute Peanut ran into the bedroom, Elle chased after her.
“Peanut,” she said as she opened the door. Campbell stood there without a shirt on, holding a dry one in his hands. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.” And she quickly turned around.
“It’s fine.” Campbell said quickly putting on the shirt.
“So, I meant to ask you what you came over for.”
“Oh…it’s okay now… I’m dressed.”
Elle turned around.
“I came over to look at Peanut’s puppies. John said he thought I should come check on them since I’m the professional.”
Elle blushed. “Okay, that’s fine.”
Campbell walked past her and into the living room, going around the black leather chairs and knelt next the to pool.
He ran his hands through his blonde short hair and looked. “They’re getting big, don’t you think?” he turned his head towards her.
She gazed into his green eyes only briefly. “Yeah, they’re huge compared to right after they were born.”
He turned his head back and wiggled his finger. Elle moved closer to see what he was doing. He must have sensed her confusion.
“If you can get a four week old puppy to watch your finger for even a minute, that makes for a good obedient dog.”
Elle nodded, Campbell knew a lot more than her about dogs. She was just good with health facts on certain breeds.
He stopped waving his fingers and stood up, sitting at the wooden table across from Elle. “So, do you get one of them?”
She laughed, “One I have no where to keep it, and two my mother would kill me.”
He smiled, she liked his smile. “Why’s that?”
She stood up and grabbed her drink, “Because my mom doesn’t want another dog, or any other critter in the house, especially when she’d have to take care of it while I’m at college for the fall semester.”
“You’re in college?”
Elle laughed, “Yep, have been for…well, this will be my third year coming up.”
“Do you like it?”
“Not really, but I think I only hated my last semester so much because I had too much stress in my life. I guess I don’t like it sometimes because I can’t pay attention for some reason. I don’t take notes. I usually doodle or write.”
He nodded, “What do you write?”
“Stories and poetry.”
“What kind of stories?”
“Dark ones about abductions, beatings, pregnancy, and rape.” After she had said that the word seem to hit her like a bolt of lightening, she was frozen.
“Elle, are you okay?” Campbell touched her arm.
She shook her head and ran into the bathroom just in time to kneel in front of the toilet. She stayed there five minutes after she had finished puking. She was just hugging the porcelain.
A quiet knock came at the door, “Elle are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right out,” she flushed the toilet, washer her hands and rinsed out her mouth, and finally splashed a little bit of water in her face.
She opened the bathroom door, Campbell was standing right there. “You know,” she laughed, “You need to quit doing that, you’re going to give me a heart attack sometime.”
He smiled, “I’m sorry, I just was worried about you.”
She looked at him quizzically. “Don’t bother worrying, I just drank too much.”
“Why not?” Campbell asked.
She shook her head and walked past him. She sat back down at the table.
“Elle,” he said almost in a whisper. “Why shouldn’t I worry?”
She looked at him, and placed her elbow on the table. “Because no one other than family ever does.”
“Well, let me break the chain.”
Elle was so confused, Campbell almost seemed too nice. “Why?”
“Because I like you. I think you’re really a great girl, I like to talk and be around you.”
Elle blushed.
“Is that wrong of me?”
“No, but after 20 years of being ignored by the opposite sex, it’s just strange. And I’ve never met a guy who wasn’t interested in my ass.”
“Oh, don’t worry, your ass is very interesting to me…I mean, god, the shape is magnificent…” he joked.
Elle chuckled. “You know what I meant.”
“I know, but I’m not one of those men. I’d rather get to know you girl.”
Elle was silent, perhaps in a state of shock. “Oh, would you like something to drink, how rude of me.”
“Sure, what do you have?”
“Um…a million bottles of Smirnoff twisted,” she opened the fridge and looked at it. “Some beer, what’s your poison?”
“Um…give me what ever you’re drinking.”
She handed him a Smirnoff twisted.
The hours passed with lots of chatter about every topic from politics to movies, family to religion.
“Oh my god, it’s five in the morning. We’ve been talking for 7 hours.” Elle said.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, I hadn’t even realized it,” he lounged back in the leather chair, they had moved from the table hours ago. “Are you tired?”
Elle smiled, “Nope,” then yawned.
Campbell laughed, “We should probably get some sleep.”
“Okay,” Elle said laying on her side facing him, gazing into his glittering green eyes.
“Oh, I meant to ask you something.”
She smiled, “Ask away.”
“What happened to your cheek? Why is it red and bruised?”
She thought quickly. “I fell out of the bed last night, and hit the heat register.” The first lie she had told to a good male friend.
“Oh, okay…good night.”
Elle closed her eyes, and slept for a while, then she dreamt about the night before, and she started to scream and fight back.
“Get off of me. Stop! No!”
Campbell shook Elle’s shoulders woke up, “Elle.”
She jumped up, pushing Campbell away.
“Elle, it’s me Campbell.”
She looked at him a moment and just fell to her knees crying. He knelt next to her and took her in his warm gentle arms.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She continued crying, trying to calm herself.
Eventually the crying slowed and stopped.
“Elle, what’s going on here?”
“Nothing,” she managed to say, “It was just a bad dream.”
“Yes, I caught onto that, what was it about?”
She picked up her head and looked at her, “You don’t want to know.”
He reached up and touched her chin, “Oh but I really do.”
“I…I…I was being chased through the woods,” she was making up the story, “by my only ex boyfriend.”
“What does the word only mean in that sentence?”
“Well…oh never mind.”
“No, please tell me.”
“Well, I’ve only ever dated one guy officially…I’ve been on dates, but never reached the dating stage, but I’ve had sex with other people.”
“Like how many?”
Elle couldn’t lie about that, “Um…like eight, but …”
He just sat there looking at her, “…But?”
“You know I’ve been going over it in my head ever since I started, and I honestly can’t tell you why I slept with them.”
“Were you horny?”
“Not to begin with…but once they pushed my buttons that was it. I think it was just a psychological thing, that on those nights it seemed to me that those men like me and accepted me for who I am. They weren’t judging me, so I felt sexy.”
He touched her cheek, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Admittance is the first step.”
“But I should feel ashamed…I’ve slept with more men in just over a year than say Gracie’s had in the 7 years she’s been active. You do the math, that makes me a slut.”
He hugged her again, she was thinking about how much she didn’t deserve him, and she deserved to be locked up for her own sanity. When he let her go, she felt like a weight had been lifted from her. Something about his touch, something about him had calmed her.
“You should get back to bed.”
She nodded, “Maybe I’ll sleep sans nightmares this time.”
“Okay…goodnight.” He helped her back into the chair, “are you sure you don’t want to go sleep in the bed?”
She quickly said, “No, I’m fine.” She was thinking about her defilement. “No, that wouldn’t be polite of me.”
Again they lay down in the chairs. She tried to close her eyes, but she was afraid of that darkness that was behind them.
She stared at Campbell for a while, saw how still he lay as he slept. She saw how his arms lay by his head, how large they looked, but how gentle they really were.”
“stop thinking it right now.” Her brain told her. “you’re just going to get your hopes up to have them crushed again, don’t even set yourself up for that.”
Peanut stirred in her pool. Elle slowly rose from her chair and motioned for Peanut to follow. She climbed out and both went outside. The sun had only partially risen, and the ground was still wet. Elle stood on the walkway while Peanut did her business. Finally Peanut came over and sat next to Elle. Elle smiled and patted the chocolate lab’s head.
“Maybe things will go better for me now,” she thought. “Maybe Friday night was the rock bottom, and now I’m climbing quickly to the peak.” She turned around and they both went inside. Elle lay back in the chair and got Peanut to climb up in the chair with her. Elle petted her and reluctantly closed her eyes.
She was relieved when she found that sleep was back there. She awoke to the smell of bacon and hash browns, something she hadn’t smelled in almost a year, since her parents had split up.
She opened her eyes to find Peanut back in the pool and Elle was covered with a small blanket.
“Good morning,” a voice had chimed in from the kitchen. “How did you sleep?”
She turned and saw Campbell slaving away at the stove. “Great, Peanut cuddled with me. She’s a good cuddler.”
“Do you know who else is a good snuggler?” Campbell asked.
“Um…snuggles…duh.”
“Who’s that?” he was confused.
“The fabric detergent softener bear, something like that.”
“Oh…well…I’m sure he was too, but that’s not who I meant…I meant me.”
Elle blushed, “I know.”
“Smart ass…” he smiled, “How do you like your eggs done?”
“I don’t eat eggs.” Elle smiled.
His eyebrow rose, “Are you sure?”
She scratched her chin a moment, “Pretty sure they make me sick.”
He laughed, “Well then, I guess we don’t need any.”
Elle smiled, she felt comfortable laughing normally around him. She was forgetting the night before. They ate their breakfast over small talk and they were just about finished when Gracie came through the door. Her jaw dropped momentarily, and then she smiled.
“Hello Campbell.”
“Hello Gracie. How are you?”
“I’m good, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I stopped over last night to see how the puppies were doing, and it was pouring rain outside, so I came in to dry off and here I am.”
“You look more than dry to me,” she winked.
“Well, then I was talking to your ravishing cousin, and I just couldn’t leave.”
Elle blushed and finished her bite. She grabbed all the plates off the table and brought them to the sink.
“What did you guys talk about?” Gracie was interrogating him.
“Oh,” Campbell looked at Elle. “You know, the usual: religion, politics, family, movies, music, school, and all of life’s problems.”
“Oh no, sounds like she had a breakdown,” Gracie went to the fridge, and opened it to find only 12 Smirnoff bottles left. “How much did you have to drink last night?”
Elle turned, “I don’t know, I was drinking from 5 pm last night till 5 am today.”
“Oh, so that makes it okay to drink 24 bottles?” Gracie had her mother tone on.
“Yes, but I didn’t drink of all 24, Campbell had a few.”
“Oh, okay.” She was being sarcastic.
“No,” Campbell chimed in, “I did, and I probably had at least 12 if not more. Because that stuff goes right through me.”
“Yeah, that’s why they are girly drinks.” Gracie joked.
Elle was just standing there, staring at the floor.
“And how was Friday night?”
Elle said nothing, she had zoned out.
“Elle?” she raised her voice this time. “How was Friday night?”
She shook her head, “Um…yeah, it was fine.”
Gracie walked over to the puppy pool. “It’s about time we moved them, it was just too warm outside and just about the same temperature in the back office.”
Elle nodded, “I just wanted to be able to watch them a little better.”
“So Gracie,” Campbell started. “Where’s John?”
“I don’t know, he hasn’t called me. He might come home tonight and he might come home in the morning.”
Elle silently prayed she wouldn’t ever have to see him again.”
“How was your weekend?” Campbell asked.
“Good, I chased kids around and drank lots of beer. It was good quality fun.”
Campbell nodded, as Gracie walked past them both and into the bedroom.
“I’ll be out in a few minutes, I’m going to unpack and throw a load of laundry in the washer.”
Campbell stood up when Gracie had left the room. “Elle, what’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on,” she went back to washing the dishes.
“You’re lying, I can read you like a book.”
“Not a very interesting book.”
“Elle, come with me,” he took her and led her into the screened porch. “Now what’s really going on?”
She thought a moment. “What do you do when there are only two options, you either do nothing and everyone but you is happy or you do what is right and then somebody other than you gets hurt?”
Campbell was clearly confused. “Is this a trick question?”
“No, it’s the dilemma I’m facing, and it’s driving me nuts.”
Campbell sat her on the chair, “Why can’t you tell me?”
She looked up, “It would put people in danger.”
He realized then the severity of her pain and confusion, and decided the subject was too touchy, and dropped it.
Gracie opened the sliding door, “You guys up for a card game?”
Elle stood up, “No, I really should get home and get ready for work tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Gracie said, “Well thanks for staying over, I’m sure Peanut really appreciated it.”
Elle kissed Peanut goodbye and got her small bag together.
“I’ll walk you out,” Campbell insisted putting on his shoes.
They walked outside together, Campbell picked up her bag and pulled out her cell phone.
“I’m going to put my phone number into your phone, so you can call me day or night?” He fiddled with her phone for a minute and then she heard a phone ringing.
“That’s mine,” he said pulling out his phone. “Now I have your cell phone number,” he smiled and touched her face. “Now I can call you whenever I want.”
Elle closed her eyes and smiled, “You do that, and I’ll be ready.”
Campbell smiled, “Maybe we could go out sometime on a date or something.”
“I would like that,” Elle opened her eyes.
Campbell reached out his arms, “Can I have a hug before you go?”
Elle hesitantly stepped forward and let his arm’s fall around her and held her close. When she breathed out and relaxed, she felt so safe. Finally he let her go, and she climbed into her car. She started her engine and drove away.
Within a minute her phone rang.
She looked down to see the name ‘Hot guy’ on the screen, she picked it up and said, and “You think so don’t you?”
“What? What did I do?”
“You might be a little too full of yourself.”
She could hear Campbell laughing, “I thought you’d like that. I was just calling to see if this really was your number.”
“Nope, it’s my fake number.” Elle joked.
“Okay, well, I guess I should let you go, you need to focus on driving, not me. Because you know I’ll be going through your mind tonight when you sleep.”
“Okay, sure.”
“I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye,” Elle said through laughs.
The drive home was long, but Elle smiled the way, because Campbell was running through her head already. When she fell asleep that night, she smiled at the night she had spent with him.
The next morning she went to work with a smile on her face, people were wondering what she had done. All day she was like that, and it was only when she went to her car at the end of the day that her happiness was clouded and turned into a thunderstorm.
Her phone had gone off, the red light flashed to show her that. She quickly picked it up thinking it was Campbell, but there was a text from an unknown number.
“Don’t tell anyone, not even the new guy Campbell, I’ll find anyone and everyone.” Is what the text read.
She also saw she had missed a phone call from Gracie, and she had left a voicemail. “Hey Elle, just wondering how you’re doing, you seemed a little strange. And I was going to ask you about the mark on your face, but I figured it was from you and Campbell getting a little too rough…just kidding. Well I’m sure you’ll be working late, so give me a call.”
Elle deleted the message and drove home. She started a bath and then started taking off her clothes. As she sat in the bath, she just tried to clear her mind, and avoided looking at her body. She realized how much her body now disgusted her. When she finished, she quickly covered herself up and went to her bedroom.
No one had called her, and there were no more texts from the unknown numbers. She sat on her bed just thinking. She found some lotion by the bed and started putting it on. She still had the towel wrapped around her tight. She started rubbing the lotion on, and then couldn’t’ get her hands to go above her knee. She had touched her knee, and the memories had splashed back.
She put some lotion on her arms and face, and then lay on her bed. Her eyes stayed open, no matter how much she wanted to sleep. Eventually sleep closed her eyes and she was only awoken by her alarm clock. She quickly got dressed and headed out.
After work that day, her phone had gone off again, but this time it was Campbell who had called.
She called him back right away.
“Hello?”
“Hi Campbell, it’s me Elle.”
“Oh really?” his voice lightened, “It said ‘Hot chick’ on my phone.”
Elle laughed, “So you called me today?”
“Yes, I was thinking that you and I need a night out.”
She smiled, “Oh, we do?”
“Yes, and I think you should come out with me tonight for a night away.”
“Okay, and what will we do?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Okay, and when will this be happening?”
“Well…I’m ready, how about you?”
“Where are you?” she asked pulling into her driveway.
“I’m right behind you.”
She looked into her rearview mirror, and sure enough Campbell’s car was following her. “And how long have you been stalking me?”
He laughed, “About three days.”
Elle laughed and got out of her car hanging up the phone. Campbell climbed out of his car. “So?”
She shrugged her shoulders, “So what?”
“Are you ready for a surprise night?”
She laughed, “Do I look ready?”
He blushed, “You always look ready.”
She blushed too, “Well, I’d rather shower quickly and put on something nicer so I can match you.”
He nodded, “Okay, but hurry, we have a busy schezule.”
“Okay, come inside while I get ready.”
He followed her into the house and sat in her living room while she showered and changed. It took her ten minutes to do that and leave her room.”
Campbell had heard the door open and stood up. “Wow, you sure know how to clean up nice, don’t you?”
She gave a sarcastic grin, “Maybe I’ll just go back into my room again and hide.” She turned, but he grabbed her hand and turned her back around.
John’s hands held her wrists tightly.
She jumped and pulled her hand away.
“Whoa, what’d I do?”
She shook her head, “Nothing, it’s nothing.”
He reached out and held his hand there for hers. There was no danger in his hand. He led her to his truck and opened the passenger door.
What was happening to her was crazy, on one side was Campbell, the seemingly most perfect guy for her. And on the other were the nightmares of the other night.
When he had gotten into the truck, he pulled out a white blindfold. “Okay, would it be okay for me to blindfold you? Just to make sure you don’t peek?”
She winked, “Okay, but just this once.”
He carefully put the blindfold on and tied it. “C’mon, I’ll fight ya.” He joked.
She laughed, but couldn’t see him moving his hands like a boxer.
“Okay, let’s go.”
They drove for half an hour Elle assumed, since she couldn’t look at her watch. And then they stopped.
“Okay, just wait here a minute.”
She heard his car door open and close and then a few voices speaking. Suddenly her door was opened and a hand reached over and unbuttoned her seatbelt. That same hand took hers and led her carefully out of the truck. No one was speaking, but she could hear water. Lots of it, and then the sound of a motor.
She was stopped and then she heard Campbell’s voice say. “There are three stairs ahead of you. Climb them.”
She smiled and did standing on the top step, but then the land beneath her shook and she fell forward. But fortunately she was caught by gentle hands.
“Whoa! You need a new center of balance I guess.” Campbell joked.
She smiled as he sat her down, “Do you think I can get that from Wal-Mart? Can I take this silly blindfold off now?”
“Almost, just give me a minute.”
Elle wasn’t sure what was going on, but she knew she was excited for this night.
“Okay, you can open them now.”
Elle saw Campbell and then realized where she was. She was on Lake Mihena, in a small speedboat, but the view behind him was to die for. The sun had only begun setting, but already the sky had hues of yellows, purples, blues, pinks, and reds.
“Do you like it?” Campbell smiled.
She stood up and walked over to him, tears welled up in her eyes.
“Oh no, pleasze don’t cry. You’re supposed to be happy,” he sat down next to her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “They’re happy tears.”
“Can we go to the next part?” Campbell asked.
She nodded and released her grip, giving Campbell room to stand up and move to the motor. He put the boat in reverse and Elle stood there, and saw there were two people on the dock.
“Who were those people?” Elle asked standing up next to Campbell.
“Oh, they own the boat, I called in a favor or three for tonight.”
Elle laughed.
“You know,” he said, “ I really like your laugh, it’s so genuine and original.”
Elle blushed, something a man hadn’t made her do in awhile. Campbell laughed and turned his head back in the water in front of them.
Elle sat in the seat next to him, “So where are we going?”
“You don’t get to know, but you can know that I pulled a lot a strings and called in a lot of favors to get this night together.”
“And to think, I’ve only known you for four days, does that mean I owe you big time?” she winked.
“I think a hug and a kiss will be payment enough.”
Elle laughed as the boat started to slow down as they neared an island. Elle could see the large oak trees were covering a small brown cottage.
“Let me guess,” she said, “That’s where you keep the ogre.”
Campbell laughed, “No, but close.”
They docked the boat and got onto the dock.
“So what kind of monster is in there?”
Again he laughed, “I’m not sure, let’s go find out.” He reached his hand out as he stood on the dock, Elle took it, and he held it while they reached the cabin.
Elle could smell fresh cooked meat as Campbell opened the cherry red door. Inside there was a table set for two. Elle’s jaw dropped, but she continued on in.
Campbell sat her down on one edge of the table, and himself on the other.
“Campbell, this…this is too much…”
He smiled, “Nope…you needed a night off remember?”
She smiled, “You know, I’m just waiting for my personal masseuse to show up.”
He lifted his left arm and pointed at himself. “You’re looking at him.”
Elle laughed and picked up the cupo ff the table, taking a sip. “What’s this?”
She watched as his cheeks blushed, “Well, I thought we should just stick with your favorite drink…”
She raised an eyebrow, “And what would that be?”
“Tequila sunrises.”
“And how do you know those are my favorites?”
“Didn’t I tell you I have ESPN?”
Elle laughed, not telling him that she used that joke all the time. Finally she began eating the food on her plate. First she ate the corn, nnext the buttered mashed potatoes, and finally the steak, which surprisingly was cooked just the way she liked it. Elle was starting to think that he had asked Gracie for some advice.
“How is your food?” Campbell asked.
“God, It’s better than fantastic, if that’s possible.”
“Well, when you’re done, we’re going to go back outside.”
So five minutes later Campbell once again took Elle’s hand, touching it gently with his other and leading them both outside.
“Okay, so now you have to do a little work. You have to teach me how to build a fire. Pretend I’m a kid or something.”
“Okay, kid…first you need to go gather lots of little twigs, some medium ones and some large logs.”
Campbell pointed over to a pile of wood of all sizes, “Check.”
“Okay, not we need some bark or something to get the fire going.”
Campbell smiled, “Okay, be right back, you get the logs ready.”
“Okay, where should we build this fire?”
“On the sand somewhere…” he said running into the woods.
“Okay,” so she went to the piles of wood and found the appropriate supplies. Then walked twenty feet and dug a small hole in which to build her fire. She took the large logs and set them parallel to each other and with the smaller twigs made a tent.
Campbell came back shortly with some really good birch bark. It peeled like paper, so Elle peeled some off and put some into the tent and some on top of it.
“Okay, and the final ingredient, matches.”
He pulled some from his pocket and handed them to her, holding her hand momentarily. She squatted down and lit the match. The small bark lit on fire quickly, as did the small twigs. Elle quickly added more bark and twigs and then built up a log cabin with the large logs.
The fire built quickly and soon Elle jumped up cheering for herself.
“What’s up?” Campbell asked.
“I just made a one match fire, I’ve never done that before.”
“Well then,” he opened his arms up. “Congratulations.”
She jumped into his arms and they wrapped around her. For a moment it was all fine and safe.
“I’m proud of you,” he whispered in her ear.
His breath on her ear. John’s breath on her ears. She opened her eyes and found herself back in the bed, with John on top of her.
She pushed out of his arms and fell into the sand.
“Elle are you alright?”
she opened her eyes again and saw Campbell looking dumb founded.
“Elle, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” he knelt beside her.
“Um…I’m not sure…”
“Elle, you can trust me.”
She knew that already, but the chances of Gracie’s life being cut short were just too great. “I…I…can we just not talk about it?”
“Um…I guess, but if you ever do want to talk about it, I’m your man.” He sat down next to her, and just left his hand near hers. Not touching his though.
The sun was finally almost set and the sky had turned a deep red, and was steadily growing darker. She looked at him, he looked hurt, so she carefully lifted her own hand and set it down on his.
“I’m sorry,” she lightly rubbed his hand.
He held her hand, “I understand…I’m still kind of a stranger to you.”
She wanted to s ay something back, but nothing sounded right in her head. For a moment there was silence, and neither of them moved. Elle was gazing into the fire, wishing she could spill her guts out. She wondered what he was thinking about. Maybe he knew her dirty little secret.
“What time do you have to work tomorrow?”
“Um…I think 7:45.”
“Do you need a lot of sleep? I mead do you have anything really strenuous to do tomorrow?”
“Trust me, I can live on very little sleep.”
“Okay then, we can finish the night. First the massage, and second the surprise.”
Elle smiled and looked at him, his blonde hair was starting to sparkle under the moonlight. She was dumbfounded by him, he was a huge mystery to her.
Campbell moved himself so he was behind her. His hands touched her shoulders and began to untie and unravel the many knots that had been encased in her back.
After a few seconds she decided she wanted him to rub her entire body down.
“You are a professional,” Elle whispered.
“Yeah, and your back is a mess.”
“Yeah, I told you that I needed a back massage.”
“Have you ever had one before?”
“Not really.”
“Well, if I hurt you or you want me to stop, just tell me.”
“Oh, you don’t ever have to stop,” Elle immediately blushed. “Oops, was that out loud?”
Campbell rested his head on her shoulder, but continued to rub her lower back. “Are you ready for a midnight swim?”
“Sure, but I didn’t bring a suit, because I didn’t know.”
“Well, you’re in luck because neither do I.”
“Okay smarty pants, then what will we swim in.”
“I was thinking of swimming in our skives.”
Elle sat there quiet a moment, “What if I’m not wearing any? I didn’t know it was required.”
Campbell laughed, “Well I’ll turn around until you get into the water, and then you’ll turn around while I get undressed.”
“Okay, that sounds good enough.” Elle stood up, “ You turn around.”
Campbell did and she quickly took her of her shirt and skirt, running into the water in her underwear and bra. “Your turn.”
“Make sure you turn around now and no peaking.”
Elle turned around but carefully peaked over her shoulder as Campbell was taking off his shirt. His back and shoulder muscles were toned, but she could see his love handles peering out. It made her a little less self conscious that he wasn’t a ripped muscle body.
She turned her head back around and took a few steps forward in the water. The sand on the bottom was murky and almost felt like a swamp. She heard Campbell splashing in behind her and she went under the water, swimming farther out. She took a u-turn and headed back to shore, and popped her head out of water.
“Fee-fi-fo-fum…” Campbell said walking towards her.
Elle made a fake scream and ducked back under water. She had only swam ten feet when something grabbed her foot and yanked her back. It caused water to fly up her nose. She quickly surfaced gagging and snorting out the cold, cold water.
“Are you okay?” Campbell asked, gently tapping her back.
“Yeah…you just sent water flying up my nose.”
“I’m sorry.” He was feeling remorse.
Elle smiled, “Not as sorry as you’re going to be,” she splashed up some water into his face and quickly swam away. Campbell quickly chased after her and caught her as she was resurfacing. She stood up and he grabbed her by the hips and pulled her into his chest.
Their skin was equally soft together, he turned her around and looked into her sapphire blue eyes.
“Now, that wsan’t very nice of you. You should apologize.”
Elle shook her head in protest.
“Do it or I’ll leave you stranded on this island,” he had his hands resting on her hips.
Elle pouted her lips.
“Well young lady? What do you have to say?”
“You suck…”
Campbell smiled, “Um…no…”
“You smell?”
He laughed, “C’mon now, behave.”
She tried to wiggle out of his hands, but couldn’t for two reasons. One being she really didn’t want to get out and two because he was stronger than she thought.
“I’m sorry?”
He pulled her in tighter, “I’ll accept it even though it was in the form of a question.”
“So what do I get?” she asked wrapping her arms around him.
“The better question is what do you want?”
Elle smiled, “More nights like this.”
“What?” he asked, “You don’t want me?”
“Nope,” she joked, “You’re replaceable.”
Campbell pushed away from her, he too was joking, “Oh, so I’ll just leave you here to find some other guy to rescue you.”
Elle jumped on top of Campbell’s shoulders, knocking him and herself under water. They stood back up, Campbell in front of Elle.
“You know,” Campbell started. ‘I really think that pink, especially dark pink is a hot color on you.”
Elle laughed realizing that he was talking about her bra and underwear, “So you don’t think the underwear makes my butt look big?”
Campbell giggled, “Um…” his hands glided down her skin, and touched her butt. “Nope.”
She giggled because it tickled, as Campbell pulled her in and rested his chin on her head.
“You know, you are the prefect height for me? We must be a match made in heaven.”
“If you believe in heaven,” Elle pointed out her lack of belief.
He stuck his hand under her chin and lifted it up. She gazed into his eyes and he lowered his lips to hers. His lips were like a pear to her, soft, yet firm, and were surprisingly sweet. She kissed him back, her lips feeling like peaches, soft and fuzzy. They easily gave way when he pushed his tongue in.
As they kissed Elle felt something strange in her stomach, and she attributed it to being nervous and little cold. He must have felt her shivering because he said. “Let’s get you in before you get into an ice cube.”
They walked out of the rwater, Campbell sat Elle next to the fire, and quickly ran inside and grabbed a blanket.
“I could only find one,” he claimed.
Elle smiled and said, “Then I guess you’re going to be cold.”
Campbell laughed, “I think not,” he sat next to hre and wrapped the blanket around both of them. He helped her get the blanket situated and then put his hand around her shoulder.
“So Miss Elle, how has your night been?”
“Just fine, Mr. Campbell how has your night been?”
“Well, I’ve been with an amazing girl, got to rub her down and even stole a kiss, so I guess it was pretty horrible.”
Elle slapped Campbell’s thigh, he shrieked in pain, “Good, you deserve it.”
“You know, this is a great night, look at the stars and the campfire, the gorgeous girl and a hot guy.”
“Hot guy? Where?” Elle joked. She secretly wished she could fall asleep in his arms. But she also knew she had to work in the morning.
As if he were reading her mind, Campbell said, “You have two choices, one…we sleep here tonight and wake up really early so you can go to work in the morning, or two, we go home in fifteen minutes ending a really good date.”
“How about option three, where you drive me home in let’s say an hour, and then on Friday we do this again.”
Campbell laughed and resituated himself so he was behind her. For a few minutes neither of them spoke, they just listened to the campfire crackling, and the wood steadily breaking.
“Okay…we’ll do option three, but that’s only beucase you’re so damn cute,” he carefully kissed her neck.
Elle felt a shiver go down her spine and she wanted so much to let him kiss her all over, but at the same time she felt a notch being added to the ‘belt’ and though she really shouldn’t have cared anymore…she deep down did.
“Elle?” he spoke, her name sounded so sexy coming out of his mouth.
“Yeah?” she smiled.
“Um…” he tightened his grip on her, “Do you think we’ll ever get to the point where you’ll be able to tell me your secret?”
Her smile faded, “I can’t say yes and I can’t say no, because neither of us can say how far this will go.”
Campbell laughed, “A little poet at heart.”
Again a smile was placed on her face. “There’s a secret.”
“Here’s another question, are you ticklish?”
“Um…” she blushed, “Only when I want to be.”
He started tickling her, and though she tried to fight it, it really was tickling her. She started laughing and moving around. He managed to get her on the ground and get on top of her. Then he stopped tickling her and just dazed into her blue eyes.
She managed to stop laughing and said, “Was this your plan all along?”
He blushed against the campfire light, “Maybe.” He leaned down and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around her neck and pulled him closer. He lowered some of his weight onto her.
John finally collapsed and put all of his weight on her.
Elle’s eyes popped open and she pushed Campbell off of her. “Stop!”
He got off her and just sat there.
Elle pulled her knees up to her chest. “I’m sorry, it’s not you…it’s me.”
Campbell stood there, “what about you? You’re fine.”
Elle covered her face, “No I’m not.”
Campbell came up and wrapped the blanket around her. “Why can’t you tell me?”
“Because he’ll kill her.” Elle whispered.
“What? Who will kill who? Elle please tell me.”
She pulled her hands away from her face, “Okay…okay…last Friday, I went over to Gracie’s and after I fell asleep I was awoken by someone…” she choked up.
“By someone what?”
“By someone rubbing my breasts through my shirt. I opened my eyes and saw…” it was so hard to tell the truth.
“Who did you see? Elle, come on.”
“John…he raped me,” she whispered.
Campbell repeated, “John raped you?”
Elle looked up and nodded, then started to cry again.
“Oh my god Elle. Do you mean the Friday as in the day before the Saturday we talked forever?”
She nodded, though didn’t lift her head. Campbell sat next to her and started rubbing her back.
“We have to tell the police.”
Elle looked up, “Oh no, no, no…it’s too late, and he’ll kill Gracie.”
Campbell took Elle’s hand, “I promise you, no one is going to hurt her.”

to be continued...