Pages

#FridayFlash: 4:45

4:45

by Tony Noland

Faith had decided to tell her mother that her clarinet lesson had run late. She would have to do penance for the lie, but it was only a small sin, and worth the price. One last glance around confirmed that she was alone; all the other students had left. She opened the door to slip inside. Will was waiting for her, some homework notes and the Calculus II textbook open on the desk to give him a ready excuse in case he'd been discovered. He stood as she entered and opened his arms to her.

She hugged him, the feel and smell of his flannel shirt giving her a warm, hungry sensation that spread outward through her whole body. She loved this moment, the lovely strength of him. Her fingers spread across his back, she moved her hands and felt the smooth muscles along his spine, pulled him close, and closer. She shifted her posture, and he matched her movement, making it a full body hug, their hips together, his thighs pressed against hers.

The temptation, the desire welled up inside her, to kiss him, to feel his kiss on her. She suppressed it. It would be wrong, a major sin. Kissing leads to touching and touching leads to Hell - it was the core of what Mama had taught her. Never kiss a boy, never let a boy touch you under your clothes. She loved Will all the more for his understanding. He never tried to kiss her, never put his hands where they shouldn't go. Mama had never said anything about hugging, so technically, this wasn't a sin.

They'd been holding each other tightly, swaying to a silent, shared music for almost fifteen minutes before he broke away and eased himself down into the chair. She let him sit, then followed him. It was an armless old library chair, a big oak relic rescued from the dumpster when the school library had been renovated. It was solid and sturdy and more than strong enough for two people.

She straddled his right thigh in what was still technically a kind of hug, her jeans rubbing against his with a soft whicking sound when she moved. It was the change in position as much as her own weight that brought the seam of her jeans more directly, almost painfully up against her flesh. Standing, she'd been pressing herself to him as they held each other. When she'd started to stand on her toes to adjust the contact, started to pull against him in the beginnings of a rhythm, trying to make their embrace feel even better, he pulled away and sat.

On her toes, her blue sneakers on the floor supported her. Her hand on his chest balanced her. She rocked forward and back, again and again. It felt so good, like a hard, hard scratching of a deep itch that went on and on. She slid herself around on his leg, letting the wonderful soothing feeling reach deep within her. Her legs, her thighs, the core of her body all itched terribly and she could not get enough of him. If only she could ask him to touch her everywhere, even underneath her clothes.

Her clothes, her darned clothes - she was so hot and uncomfortable in them. It would be so nice to be rid of them, to be like she was in the shower. The hot itching of her chest inside her blouse and confining bra was threatening to drown out the itching of her body. Her bras had felt strange enough when Mama had bought them for her last fall, and wearing them was a bright, flushing embarrassment. They must have shrunk in the wash since then, for they were always too tight, too binding. Now, though... now they felt like a prison, like a heavy, wet blanket thrown onto a fire.

She imagined what it would feel like to open herself up to him, to let herself be free, to have his warm hands on her chest, all over her chest. She tried to picture his hands on her, directly on her, and her breath came in a gasp, the image jolting her entire body like a shock. She leaned into him, lifting her feet and pressing her thighs together, letting her entire weight rest on his leg as she rocked faster back and forth. She clutched at his chest, trying to push herself down harder, pull herself forward farther.

His arm came up before her and she grabbed hold, pushing against his strong arm, grinding herself down against his leg. His thigh came alive underneath her, his muscles bunching and flexing as she levered against his arm, over and over. She felt driven, she felt a terrible, wonderful need, she felt his body against hers and then, then, then like the light, weightless moment at the top of a rollercoaster, she felt nothing. A cold, tingling numbness spread outward from her center and she felt nothing at all from her knees all the way up to her ribs.

And then everything, everything in her entire body came together in one crashing, sun-bright burning heat that filled in the tingling and washed over it like a rolling, endless wall of flame. She let her body move, pulled herself back and forth to fan the flames and let them rise high, higher within her. She slid and pulled and rocked, and she was filled with the most wonderful, incredible happiness. Every part of her felt caressed, felt his body beneath hers, bathed entirely in serenity and throbbing warmth.

After a time, her motions slowed and she leaned forward to rest against his chest, her breathing deep and heavy. She could stay like this for years, the easy feeling of sleepy, relaxed pleasure filling her body. As her breathing eased, she became aware of the hardness between his legs, pressing against her thigh. A detached, remote sense of guilt came to her. He was always so good to her, but wasn't there anything she could do for him? Mama had told her not to let anyone touch her; Mama hadn't said anything about her touching someone else. Technically, then...

Her thoughts and the feeling of Will's strong body pulsing beneath her were interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

"W.I.L.L., your telemetry signal is really... W.I.L.L., what are you doing?! Deactivate! Command override 'Archimedes' - deactivate! I'm terribly sorry, miss, let me help you up. Did it hurt you? Are you OK?"

==========
Other #FridayFlash pieces can be found here

28 comments:

  1. oh, i so long for her to be put out of her agony and be vanquished! never saw it coming. meanie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was NOT expecting that. Not in a million years! A very 21st century take on teenage fumblings!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Touche! You got me on this one. And I'm thinking - just let me put her out of her misery. Peace, Linda

    ReplyDelete
  4. POW! Well I was amazed by the ending, too...

    The nuns at school told us girls that we would get pregnant if we let a boy touch our breasts!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Never saw that ending coming! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is soooo good, on so many levels. You are a brave man, and #fridayflash favours the brave. Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Marisa: the Jesuits told us we could make a girl pregnant with deep kissing.

    Emma: "You are a brave man"
    Just an aspiring writer, doing what I can to make people laugh and cry. Failing that, I'm not above working for recoiling and cringing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a build up!!!

    great twist at the end!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Is W.I.L.L. an MFA allusion? Knowing you, I must assume so. Willpower. Will won't because Will wouldn't until Archimedes (inventor of the screw) shut him down. See? I can't even read your stuff without thinking there's something lurking there I can't see. Is that good? I think that's good.

    What I'd like to know from female readers is how well you portrayed the female sexual response here. I'm just a guy. I can only assume. Seemed reasonable to me, if maybe it went on a little long. But, then, I'm not a robot.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Add me to the list of happily surprised readers. Great job.
    ~chris

    ReplyDelete
  11. anasazistories See? I can't even read your stuff without thinking there's something lurking there I can't see. Is that good? I think that's good.

    I think that's good, too. ;-)

    What I'd like to know from female readers is how well you portrayed the female sexual response here.

    Every woman is different, of course, so it's dangerous to generalize, but any women who'd care to comment on this aspect of writing from a female POV, please feel free.

    if maybe it went on a little long.

    Rule #1: Don't be in such a hurry.

    ReplyDelete
  12. W.I.L.L -deactivate. Nice ending! Actually, it's quite horrible, you know what I mean. I agree with the above, a brave piece to put up. What is a writer who doesn't take risks? Kudos.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great ending! She must be Catholic -- she's good at finding the loopholes. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a way to build suspense. Kudos for writing a sex scene and taking it where I've never seen it taken before!

    ReplyDelete
  15. So my question is... did she know or was she just as surpised as the rest of us???

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks to everyone for your great comments! I'm glad you liked the buildup and the ending.

    For anyone who may have found this overly long, drawn out or offensive due to the age, gender, religious affiliation or cellular/compositional makeup of the participants, I have two comments:

    1) you should have seen the first ending I had for this piece!

    2) just wait until next week - it's already finished, locked and loaded. I'm taking some chances with that one, too.

    Anthony: Did she know, or didn't she? A close reading of the piece gives some clues. How does she think of W? How does she refer to him? What characteristics does she ascribe to him?

    Cecilia: Teenagers looking for loopholes is a pretty universal phenomenon, no? I'd hate to pin this solely on one denomination or another.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I was as surprised as everyone at the ending. It made me smile. I enjoyed this story a lot.

    But then it started niggling at me. It almost seems Will is just as unaware that he is not human as everyone else. I mean, why would an android need to study Calculus? That just doesn't seem to fit.
    ~jon

    ReplyDelete
  18. I loved the phrase "soft whicking sound" - that's beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Jon: Great! I'm glad the story and the surprise worked for you. Your question is an interesting take on it. Does he know his own nature? If not, why not? If so, why is he doing what he's doing?

    Does she know who and what he is? If so, why is she so accepting of it? If not, is is because he was so good at hiding it, or is she being willfully blind to a major drawback to a guy she's attracted to? It wouldn't be the first time a girl fell for a guy with issues.

    I'm feeling reluctant to plop down an authorial "this is what the piece means, this is what they knew, these are the motivations", since there may be (and apparently are) more interpretations than the one I intended. Every piece needs to leave the nest and be supported by the strength of its own wings (or fall and die, as the case may be - see last week's FridayFlash).

    So, I'll go back to the Great Books approach... what does the text say? Are there indications in how the characters interact, the setting, etc., that would answer this question?

    ReplyDelete
  20. The hugging got me. I remember when I was still a virgin, how very much I liked the feel of a boy's body against mine. I see they did too.

    Could swear you were female inside somewhere Tony.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Well, now. That was unexpected, the end of the piece, I mean. Nicely done.

    Some things will never change.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Holy Crap! What an awesome ending... out of nowhere!

    ~2

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'd say the risk was worth it. Great job of building tension through detail. The sc-fi reference blindside was awesome. A little Literatus interruptus

    ReplyDelete
  24. Great building of tension and *ahem* climax. Fantastic ending.

    ReplyDelete
  25. A week late, but I am so glad I didn't miss it! Wonderful twist at the end, and a great exposition of her thoughts and feelings, and the search for a loophole!

    I saw a question about why was he studying Calculus, and also I seem to recall that he was wearing jeans, too. So I am assuming he is a fairly humanoid robot...

    ReplyDelete
  26. The Writer said: Could swear you were female inside somewhere Tony.

    That's a serious vote in favor of the authenticity of the writing - thanks!

    For the record, I'm 100% male. I'm as Y-chromosome as a guy can be - so completely secure in my masculinity, in fact, that I'm comfortable recognizing the feminine aspects of my personality. How's that for a contradiction?

    ReplyDelete
  27. I think you got the mind set of a brought up religously and still trying to be good but has a high sex drive teenage girl down pat.

    It made me sad, unutterably sad this piece - I liked it - thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  28. What an amazing piece of writing. I could have sworn a woman had written it if I wasn't actually on your website looking for flash to read!

    That ending was so out of the blue it knocked me sideways.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. The staff at Landless will treat it with the same care that we would bestow on a newly hatched chick. By the way, no pressure or anything, but have you ever considered subscribing to Landless via RSS?