Picnic in the Park

A Chapter by Jeff

The days and weeks passed in a blur. My teachers were progressively becoming fonder of me as I finally began applying myself to my studies, reflecting in a sharp rise in my gpa from a 2.9 to a 3.8. I hadn’t skipped a single class since I had met Lauren, not that I had been skipping a lot, but sometimes you just gotta you know? My mood had dramatically changed as well as I had never been happier in my entire life and it was all due to my angel, Lauren. Lauren and I still hadn’t had our first ‘real’ kiss yet, which some of our friends thought odd, but that was soon about to change…

Spring finally came around and Lauren was almost as excited about our date as I was. I say almost, because I had a surprise for her. I’ve never kept a secret from Lauren and this surprise had been the singularly most difficult thing to keep all week.

I had attended church with her that Sunday so we could go straight to the park afterwards, I didn’t normally attend church as I was still trying to figure out what it was I actually believed and was harboring some ill-will towards my perception of the hypocrisy of organized religion in general. Lauren and her mother were both fairly religious, and while Lauren’s mother was not pleased with my reluctance, Lauren sort of found it an endearing quality of mine and jokingly vowed to “save me yet.”

We arrived at the park shortly after twelve-thirty and the sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing and the creek was burbling merrily. Everything was perfect. Lauren was stunning in one of my plain white t-shirts, a pair of light sweat pants and her lovely locks pulled into pig-tail braids. I was glad that she was finally acclimating to the weather as she was now more comfortable in less clothing, showing off more of her five-foot, ten-inch frame, perfectly-proportioned breasts and the alluring curvature of her hips.

I had everything we needed for the day packed in a hiking backpack and slipped it on in one easy movement from the trunk of my car. Lauren stepped close, her intoxicating scent filling up my senses and kissed me on the cheek. Hand-in-hand, we started on the trail. I had scoped out the trail and my spot the day before while Lauren was out with friends, making sure that the area was clean and clear and that the trail wasn’t suffering too much from either disuse or overuse. Everything was as I remembered it and that made me happy. Remembering the show that we watched with Kayla, I had cut a circle out of construction paper and glued pictures of three of the things that I had brought and drew a question mark on the fourth quadrant of the circle for the ‘Mystery Mouse-ke-tool’ and folded it into an envelope after setting everything else up yesterday, which I handed to Lauren as we set off. Lauren’s already wide smile lit up even more and her emerald eyes sparkled when she opened the envelope.

About half-way up the trail, we came across a small tree that had 'fallen' across the path. Actually, I had planted it there. We could have easily walked around or stepped over it, but where would be the fun in that?

“I think we’re going to need a mouse-ke-tool to get around this fallen tree.” I laughed to the vision of beauty by my side.

Lauren pulled the inventory from her envelope and examined the options:

1. Two (2) pairs of work gloves

2. A blanket

3. A picnic basket

4. Mystery Mouse-ke-tool

As I slipped the bag off of my shoulders, preparing to pull out a tool, Lauren said with a sly grin, “I think we need to use the Mystery tool!”

I just smiled at her.

“Okay fine!” She said, exasperated. “The gloves.”

I took the gloves from the bag and handed her a pair as I put mine on. Together we easily moved the fallen tree off of the path and I returned the gloves to the bag.

“Was that so terrible?” I asked, taking her hand in mine again.

Lauren sighed dramatically, but laughed as we continued on. Finally we came to the part of the path that we were to leave to get to the spot. We walked a few yards through the brush and finally arrived at a clearing. Lauren was speechless. I smiled, pleased, as she took in the sight. She turned back to me with a tear in her eye, “It’s so beautiful!”

“I’m glad you like it!”

“I LOVE it!”

“I think we’re going to need another tool…” I prompted.

Lauren quickly regained her composure and consulted the inventory:

1. ~~Two (2) pairs of work gloves~~

2. A blanket

3. A picnic basket

4. Mystery Mouse-ke-tool

“The blanket.” She said, checking that off of the list before helping me to spread it out.

We spent the next several minutes enjoying the view and the feel of each other’s bodies wrapped together. I was leaning against a large rock, Lauren’s back on my stomach and head on my shoulder; my arms wrapped around her so comfortably that it felt to both of us that we belonged like this. Lauren’s features suddenly went somber and her voice was troubled, “Brandon, can I ask you something?”

Concerned, I replied “Of course, what’s on your mind?”

Lauren began to fidget the way she normally did when she was nervous about something. “We’ve been together for eight months now, and I was just wondering… what is wrong with me?”

I was dumbstruck, “I don’t understand…”

“Well… you’ve never kissed me. You’ve never even tried to. So, what’s wrong with me?”

I hugged her tightly against me, “Lauren, you are so perfect to me I can’t even begin to tell you.” I let her go slightly so I could look into her eyes, “I’ve been in relationships before that have been all about the physical, and they’ve all been meaningless. You know that I’m not a virgin, what you don’t know is that not a day goes by that I don't wish I would have waited. You want to know why? Because when I did, it meant nothing to me. It didn’t strengthen the connection between her and me or any of the other great things that are supposed to come about because of it. In fact, I felt no change at all in the way I felt for her and I finally had to break it off. With you, everything is so new! All of the little things mean so much, I’m overcome with sensations I’ve never felt before. Every single peck on the cheek, every caress, every hug sets me on fire! It feels like electricity is coursing through my body and nothing has ever made me feel that way before. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you! You are so perfect it’s physically painful for me to be away from you. I just didn’t want my lust for you to get in the way of how much I love you…”

I didn’t even know where I was going to go from there, but thankfully I didn’t have to worry about that because Lauren wrapped her surprisingly strong arms around my neck and kissed me deeply. If all of the small things I had experienced with her up until this point were beautiful, this was nothing short of magical! I returned her kiss with more passion than I had previously thought I was capable of. Our bodies were pressed close together and there was no doubt that Lauren was sure how much I lusted for her. Our breathing became ragged and small moans were escaping both of our lips.

Lauren abruptly stopped and pulled away, panting heavily. “We should stop. I believe you now. Future reference? A little lust now and then never killed anyone. Please don’t make me wait that long for the next one, promise?”

I smiled daftly at her. I couldn’t think it was possible, but she was even more beautiful and even more desirable to me than ever. “I promise.” I breathed.

Lauren consulted the inventory again:

1. ~~Two (2) pairs of work gloves~~

2. ~~A blanket~~

3. A picnic basket

4. Mystery Mouse-ke-tool

“I think it’s time for another mouse-ke-tool, I’m REALLY hungry!”

As I was pulling our lunch from the backpack, I responded, “Yeah, me too.”

“Behave.”

“Sorry…”

We sat in relative silence enjoying our lunch and the view, watching a group of children playing tag by the creek.

“It really is a wonderful world…” I mused quietly.

“Alright Satchmo,” Lauren chided, “Is there a style of music that you don’t listen to?”

“Disco and 70's pop, but you’re the one who catches all my references you know, is there a style of music that you don’t listen to?”

Lauren blushed, “Disco and 70’s pop…”

We finished eating and as I was putting the trash in the backpack, a small box fell onto the blanket next to Lauren’s elbow.

“What’s this?”

“Um... Well, that would be the Mystery Tool.”

“Can I open it?”

“Can I ask you something first?”

“Can I open the box after?”

“Focus.”

“Focusing!”

I got down on my knees in front of my angel. “Lauren, will go to prom with me?”

A huge smile lit up her face, “Of course!”

“Well then, these…” I opened the box for her, “are for you.”

It was a pair of pearl earrings. My mother had given them to me to give to Lauren for the prom. My grandmother had given them to her when she went to her senior prom.

Lauren touched the earrings; a tear trickled down her porcelain cheek. She managed to whisper, “They’re beautiful.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the overlook, kissing, performing finger-ballet, cuddling, and talking softly they way young lovers do. We stayed to watch the sunset, the perfect end to the perfect day.

“Now that’s what I love about Sunday.”

“Okay Craig Morgan.” Lauren rolled her eyes and then cuddled closer to me and whispered, “Me too…”

Back in the car, we rode around town. With no particular agenda and no desire to put an end to this night, we meandered around, talking about our lives like we had known each other forever. Lauren’s mother called her cell, at which point we realized that it was already after ten.

As we rounded the corner to her house, Lauren turned to me and said, “You know, I’ll be going through serious withdrawal of you from the day we spent.”

I wanted to return the sentiment but couldn't, because doing so would mean goodnight and I still wasn't ready to concede.

"Why does tonight have to end?" I suddenly said, surprising even myself. "Why don't we hit restart and pause it at our favorite parts? We could skip the goodbyes..."

"If we never said goodbye, then we could never say hello." She pulled my hand to her lips and kissed the inside of my wrist.

"I might be able to live with never saying hello to you if I never had to say goodbye."

At the red light before her house, I caressed her cheek with my hand, "If I had it my way, I'd turn the car around and run away, just you and I."

The car behind us offered a none-too-friendly reminder that the light had turned green.

When I parked in front of Lauren's house, her mother was outside waiting for us. When I opened Lauren's door for her, her mother grumped, "I give you curfews for a reason, young lady."

"I'm sorry!" I hurriedly apologized as Lauren slipped under my arm and wrapped hers around my waist, "It's my fault for keeping her out so late. I had completely lost track of time!"

Lauren's mother had been warming up to me as of late and so was more lenient than I had any right to expect. Lauren kissed me one last time, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mayday Parade.”

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