Desire

I laid on Nate's couch, still wearing a t-shirt and pajamas, holding a pint of ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other. I shoved mint chocolate chip into my mouth as an empty box of cookies laid next to me. Crumbs were scattered on my shirt and in between the couch while I wallowed in my own sorrows. The front door opened behind me, and I assumed Nate had returned home, but I didn't have the energy to turn around.

"You hacked my computer, didn't you?" Nate asked as he closed the door.

I simply nodded as he appeared from behind me looking as good as he did when he left that morning. He assessed my situation with his eyes and then reached to grab the ice cream from my hands.

"No, no, I need that," I said, holding my hands out trying to retrieve my new lifeline, anything chocolate.

He placed the container on the coffee table and plunked down next to me.

"Do you really think this will help your problems disappear?" he asked, like he was counseling one of his students.

"Yes, I do. Now, can I have that back, please?" I said emphatically, looking straight into his eyes.

He thought for a second, and then stood up.

"Get dressed! I'm going to take you out after dinner," he declared.

"I can't be seen anywhere. Remember?" I said confused.

"Just get dressed and let me handle it."

I struggled to get up from my pity party session, but I managed to walk upstairs and throw on a pair of jeans and a tank-top. To finish off the outfit, I tied a sweatshirt around my waist and placed my good-old, tattered baseball hat on my head, just in case we saw anyone.

After Nate cooked some ziti with sauce, which I barely touched, we ventured out in his car. We drove through his new neighborhood, and it dawned on me, this was actually a familiar place. The night before, it was too dark to really get a look at the houses. In daylight, Nate was just a few streets over from his mom and my old house.

The car ride was mostly silent as I remained in a dessert coma trying to digest the gross amount of sugar I had ingested and knowing, sadly, I had room for more if Nate hadn't interrupted. Pasta was just not going to cut it for me. As he continued to drive, he glanced over at me a few times, almost like he was checking up on me as I laid my head back on the seat, staring out the window.

"We're almost there," he said in a slightly upbeat tone, as I flashed a quick smile his way acknowledging I was at least listening.

When we arrived at our old high school, he didn't drive through the main entrance, instead he took a left onto a side street that led to the football field. No cars, students, or faculty were in sight. The sun was starting to go down as he parked the car next to the concession stand near the entrance to the field.

He pointed to the middle of the field and said he would catch up with me, because he had to retrieve something out of the trunk. I slowly walked onto the field and noticed the grass was freshly cut from the leftover clippings that stuck to my white sneakers. I glanced around at the football field and realized I rarely explored that area as a teenager.

As I stood in the center of the field, Nate caught up with me and laid out a plaid blanket on the grass. As we both started to bend down and sit on the blanket together, I felt slightly paranoid, like someone was lurking behind me taking a photo or watching us. I started to shiver a little at just the thought as I looked behind us.

Nate saw my uneasiness as he slowly wrapped his arms around me.

"You're safe here. No one knows you're here," he whispered in my ear.

I simply nodded as I found comfort once again in his arms as he pointed up to the beautiful crimson sky. We watched the sunset, which seemed so peaceful and tranquil. As the sun disappeared, Nate turned his focus on me.

"Wait here," he said with a smile as he quickly stood up.

He disappeared into the darkness for a few seconds then bright lights shined all over the field. Nate reappeared from the shadows with a football in his hand.

"Think fast," he said to me before softly throwing the football towards me.

I don't know how I caught the ball, but I did. This surprised both of us.

"Wow, who knew you were a receiver," he joked, flashing his famous dimple my way which made me warm allover.

"Maybe I can to play in the NFL. I may need another career option," I said as I stood up with the football in my hands.

I threw the ball back to him, but the throw was not as good as my catch. The ball barely made it back to Nate as it bounced off the grass and into his hands.

"You may have to work on that," he said with a childish grin.

He waved me over, taking position center field, a few feet from the blanket. He asked me if I'd ever hiked a football before. I raised my eyebrows at him, like he had to have been kidding, and he just started to laugh. For a few minutes, he showed me how to stand and bend my knees just so as I placed the football on the grass in between my feet. He stood behind me and told me how to hike the ball on his cue.

After absorbing some of his football knowledge, he went over an actual play with me. First, I would be the center, hiking the ball, then I would move on to become a receiver by running straight ahead for five yards, cutting to the right four steps, and then turning around to catch the ball.

I thought I understood all his directions as we lined up for the play, but I missed my cue as the spiral sailed passed me, less than an inch away from my ear causing me to quickly flinch my head in the other direction.

"That was a bad throw," I said as Nate and I shared a laugh at my awful excuse, blaming anyone but myself.

We set up for a second time, then a third time, all with similar results with me either dropping the ball or missing the ball completely.

On the fourth try, before we lined up to rerun the play, Nate whispered in my ear.

"If you can catch this ball, I have a surprise for you," he said in a suspenseful tone.

After that comment, the only thought in my head was I needed to catch the ball no matter what. Nate knew surprises were always a motivator for me, and he knew my curiosity would be peaked. As we went on with the play, I cut over to the right and turned around. Instead of a long ball coming towards me, Nate stood literally two feet away from me, lightly tossing the ball my way. I caught the ball without any problems, and I celebrated by jumping up and down with the ball in hand. I didn't care that he made it easy for me to catch the ball, a win was a win.

I sat anxiously in the car anticipating my surprise that was supposedly back at his house. I tried asking for a hint, but his lips were sealed. As we pulled up to his driveway, I saw a couple paper bags on his doorstep. After Nate collected the two bags, he unlocked the door as I followed behind.

"Are you getting grocery deliveries now?" I asked.

"Maybe," he smiled without any hint to what he was up to.

He told me to just sit tight and he'd be back in a minute as he walked into the kitchen with the bags. I sat down on the couch as I untied the sweatshirt from my waist. I waited a couple of minutes, then Nate appeared asking me to follow him into the kitchen.

As I walked in, I noticed on the small kitchen table there were four different pints of ice cream, along with chocolate sauce and whip cream.

"How did I do?" he said beaming as he pointed towards the sundae extravaganza.

I glanced at the chocolate, Oreo's and cream, peanut butter cup, and fudge swirl, and thought I was in a fantasy world.

"It's perfect," I said, grabbing a spoon and a bowl off the table.

I made my way down the line of ice cream, sampling all four with a dollop of whip cream on top. Nate made his way down the line, choosing two out of the four, chocolate and fudge swirl, with some chocolate sauce. As I took my spoon and tasted my bowlful of pure joy, Nate just stared at me.

"What?" I said self-consciously as I finished eating the first spoonful.

"You just look happier now. That makes me happy," he softly said as he looked down at his bowl and took his first spoonful of ice cream.

After a few seconds, he looked up and caught me staring at him. The sexual tension was on overdrive, even the ice cream seemed to be melting at a record pace from the heat in the room. I gathered another spoonful of ice cream from my bowl making sure to include some whip cream.

"Do you want a bite?" I asked, holding the spoon up to his face.

He hesitated for a second and then nodded. I moved the spoon closer, and just as he was about to open his mouth, I lifted the utensil up, making sure to get whip cream on his nose and ice cream on his face. I retreated, stepping back as I started to giggle. Nate naturally backed away from me to wipe the mess off his nose and face as he regrouped from the sneak attack.

Then, he quickly placed his bowl down and grabbed the whip cream off the table.

"You're going to get it," he said determined with a huge smile on his face, dimple in full sight.

I knew I had just poked the bear, and I would be on the losing side of the fight. I basically tossed my bowl down on the table and tried to run. He caught me in mid-stride as I tried to escape. He started spraying the whip cream anywhere and everywhere on me, backing us up into the corner of the room. Nate and I died laughing which didn't help me with defending myself.

"Ok, truce, truce!" I said, trying to wipe some of the whip cream off my eyes while still trapped in his bear hug.

Nate released me from his grip and placed the whip cream down on the counter.

As my sight returned to normal, Nate grabbed a kitchen towel and began cleaning off my hair as laughter turned into complete silence. All of a sudden, Nate dropped the kitchen towel onto the messy floor. We stared at one another as my heart began to beat faster as he edged closer and closer, eventually backing me up against the wall. He softly held my arms up against the wall as he passionately kissed me, wiping away the mess off my lips. Then, he moved his way to the top of my tank top and licked the sticky whip cream off my chest.

He let go of my arms and quickly reached for the bottom of my tank top. He pulled it off over my head, revealing just my lace bra. He started to kiss me again as both of our bodies were covered in whip cream. I wrapped my arms around his neck and jumped into his arms as I straddled his waist with my legs. He carried me to the kitchen table and used his arm to forcibly push away the sundae ingredients. Without a second thought, ice cream and chocolate sauce fell to the ground causing chaos on the floor as I laid back on the sticky table.

We both couldn't get our pants off fast enough, an electrical force that would not be denied.