Future Writer Chapter 17 (11 pages)

Chapter 17

The following morning I awoke to the phone ringing at 5:30 am. It was Alexia.

"Hello Sam?"

"Alexia?" I said in a groggy voice.

"Did I wake you?"

"No," I lied.

"Good. I was a just thinking that we might get together for lunch or something?"

"Yea... Yea... sure," I said, "...that would be nice."

"What time would be good for you?" she asked.

"Oh," I said in a daze, "I don't know... anytime... what time would be good for you?"

"Anytime."

"Well, anytime is good for me," I told her.

"How about now, and we'll have breakfast instead.... and then maybe lunch would be good?"

"Now?" I perked up.

"Oh.... I'm sorry, I didn't realize the time. I'll come over if you want."

"Yea... Yea... Sure," I stumbled for words while not really knowing what I was saying.

"How do you get there?"

"What?"

"How do I get there.... to your apartment?"

"Here?"

"Yes.. you said for me to come over."

I was still unaware of what was going on. At first I thought that I slept in late and it was later than I thought.

"You want to come over now?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes. I do want to and we could.... I don't know... maybe have breakfast, maybe wait a while.... have lunch or something.... We could spend day together and just hang out, or something?"

"You want to come over now?.... Here?"

"Yes. You tell me how I do get there and I will come over."

"What has gotten into her," I thought to myself while saying, "Yea, sure then come over and... ah... we'll have breakfast.. that would be fine."

I gave her directions, because she'd never been to my apartment before, we'd always met at some public place like a restaurant or a beach. Many times I've tried to get her to come over but she always shied away from that idea.

"So I'll be over soon," she said, "...and we'll have breakfast or maybe... hang out... be together?"

"How many times is she going to say that?" I thought.

The phone conversation finally ended. The luminescence from the morning sun was just making it's way over the horizon and into the window.

I laid back onto the bed and mumbled to myself, "Why would she want to come over here? She's never wanted to come here before."

I couldn't figure it out, and why so early in the morning? I rolled over and stretched. I slowly sat up in the bed and look round the room. The place was a mess. Maybe it wasn't to some people's standard, but not mine. For somebody to see it for the first time, it was a mess. I quickly bolted out

of bed and put some clothes on while wiping the crust from my eyes. Before I had a chance to clean anything up, the doorbell rang.

"What the heck?"

I scrambled to get some more clothes on then rushed to the door while hitting  my little toe on the corner of the wall, "OOOOUUUUCCCCHHHHH!"

I finally made it to the door and cautiously opened it while still trying to focus. It was Alexia. She must have called from outside or down the street.

There was no way that she could have gotten here this quickly from her place.

"You here already?"

"I told you that I was coming over. Are you okay?"

"I hit my toe on the wall. I'll be fine."

"Is it okay that we do this?"

"Yes...Yes... won't you come in?"

I opened the door wider so she could enter. Fortunately the living room not in too bad of shape. She walked in while looking around. She walked to the window and looked out.

"Nice view," she said while looking to Padre Island.

I walked back into the bedroom and continued picking up loose things that were thrown about the room.

"Where would you like to go?" I asked.

"I don't know... maybe some restaurant close by here, No?"

"What do you like for breakfast?"

"Whatever is good with you is good with me."

Just as the item where picked up in the bedroom she peeked in the door.

"Are you ready?" she asked impatiently.

"I am now," I told her.

As I walked passed her she said, "Oh wait."

"What?"

She reached around my neck in a way that would suggest intimacy.

"Your collar is twisted," she told me as she put it back in place.

Just after the collar was adjusted, she placed her hands on my chest then smiled an almost embarrass smile.

We walked to a nearby restaurant. Along the way we talked.

"It didn't take you long to get here," I told her.

"I... ah... couldn't sleep... so ah.. I was down the street... not far away."

"Look at that," I said as seagulls fought over a scrap of food.

"You have a nice apartment," she told me.

"Thank you," I said while almost telling her the same thing back, but I caught myself because she does not know that I have been to her apartment. The morning sun rose higher over Padre Island as the smell of the ocean reached our senses.

By the way the sun radiated it's morning essence, we could tell that it was going to be a hot day.

She walked close to me then wrapped her hand around the inside of my bicep as if I were escorting her along the walkway. I felt as though she were testing me. I didn't shun her holding my upper arm. I did, however, wonder why she had this sudden display of affection.

"This is nice," she said, "Why haven't we done this before?"

"I don't know," I answered cautiously.

"Do you like this?" she asked.

"What?... Walking? .... the morning?.... What?"

"Us being together," she clarified.

"Yes."

A big smile stretched across her face. We continued walking along the sidewalk when a woman with a low cut bikini top rode by on a bicycle. I couldn't help but glance in that direction. When I turned back to Alexia, her face glowed with anger and jealousy. She looked behind us to the departing woman on the bike with squinting eyes and a clenched jaw. She looked back to me them masked her expression to hide her inner feelings.

"What was that all about?" I thought to myself while smiling to her.

We continued walking when a another woman came by wearing a very streamline one piece bathing suit and skating on roller blades. Before I could consider a glance in her direction, I could feel her hand tense up on my bicep.

"What has gotten into her?"

I thought to distract her attention by saying, "Look, that truck is stuck in the sand."

She looked to the beach to see a two men digging sand out from under the tires.

"Why did they go out there when there is a road right there?" she asked.

"It's the challenge," I told her, "They want to go out there because not everybody can."

"That seems dumb to me."

"They see it as nothing ventured, nothing gained."

"What is there to gain?"

"The sense of accomplishment."

"I could think of many more..... how do you say.... advantageous accomplishments."

"You right, but to them, there is an element of fun involved."

"What is so fun about getting stuck in the sand?"

"The fun is the challenge of not getting stuck, in fact, later, after we eat, I'll show you what I mean."

"What are we going to do?"

"It's a surprise."

"For me? Really?"

"It's not only for you, it's for me too."

We stopped our conversation when we came to the restaurant. I ordered a breakfast enchilada with chorizo and she ordered eggs and toast.

I finally came forward and asked her, "So... Why this sudden urge for breakfast?"

"I just thought it would be nice?"

"That's nice," I said while thinking, "Why the urgency?"

"Is something wrong?" I said frankly.

"No! Why would you think something is wrong?"

"Forgive me for being so forward with you, but, you seem to have been in a hurry for us to get together."

"I guess you're right. It's just that.... well after the phone call...I don't know... something happened....it's like something popped into my head that.... well...it's strange. I thought of our times together and how nice those times were and... I thought it would be... nice, you know.... to get together."

"Well I'm glad," I told her while thinking, "What happened during that phone call?"

The waitress came by with our order. Before leaving she asked if she could bring us anything else. I smiled at her while placing my hand above her wrist and said, "No thank you."

I then turned to Alexia. If looks could kill both that waitress and I would be dead. I could swear that fire was shooting out of her eyes. She quickly changed her facial expression when I turned my attention to her.

"What is with her today?" I thought, "I've never seen this side of her."

"Alexia?"

"What?"

"You looked angry?"

"Oh... well.... I didn't mean to be... I mean look the way you say."

"Let's eat," I said to change the subject.

As we ate, I couldn't help but feel her possessiveness over me. She really didn't outwardly show it, but the little things like her facial expression, her shifting in her seat when the waitress came by, her quick rebound to a happy state after I acknowledged her angry expression. What happened to her to become that way she is? When we were done eating we started walking towards the marina.

"Why are we going this way?" she asked.

"I have a surprise for you."

"For me?!!" she asked, "What is it?"

"If I tell you it won't be a surprise."

"Can't you give me a hint?"

"Can you swim?"

"WHAT?"

"That is your hint..... Can you swim?"

"Not very well."

"That's okay. You'll have a life vest on."

"I don't feel very comfortable around water."

"That's okay. You may not even get wet."

"Where are we going?" she persisted.

"Do you trust me?"

"I don't know anymore."

We walked out onto one of the piers. At the end of the pier was a floating dock that had 'Waverunners' type of Jet Skies moored to it.

"Have you ever rode on one of those?" I asked.

"No...ho..ho... You're not getting me on one of these things. No.. ho.. way!"

"Stand behind me," I told her. "Wrap your arms around my waist and squeeze tightly."

I could tell that she was enjoying the position of having her arms around my waist. I was enjoying it as well.

"I guess.. I could... I don't know. Maybe we can.... well.... Okay, I'll do it."

I went into the rental office while she put on a life vest.

"Do people fall off?" she asked.

"Never!" I lied. "Besides you have a lifejacket on."

"Won't we get wet?"

"A little." I lied again.

I rented a locker and we put our valuables, including our shoes, inside so they wouldn't get wet.

I climbed on and held the vessel close to the dock. She nervously sat behind me and held on so tight that I couldn't breath.

"Not so tight," I told her.

I pushed away from the dock then started the engine. Water splashed over the edge on to our feet. I could feel her reaction to her feet getting wet even though she didn't say anything. We slowly pulled into the boating traffic while keeping the speed down so we wouldn't create a wake.

"Why is everybody going so slow through here?"

I pointed to the boats that were moored to the docks on both sides of the harbor.

"If we go too fast through here we'll create a wake that will cause those boats to bounce around in the dock.... and besides,... Do you see the white boat with the orange stripe painted across its bow? That is the Coast Guard. They are the police and customs agents for the waterways. They'll get us and find every little thing they can to fine us for or maybe even arrest us if we don't follow the rules."

We followed the boat traffic until we came to a bridge. We could see the boats ahead of us accelerating beyond the bridge. As we passed under the bridge, we could see the car passing overhead through the steel grate.

"Hold on!" I yelled back.

I slowly applied, and continued increasing, the throttle until we were at full speed. The nose of the Jet Ski rose into the air as we skimmed across the wakes of the other boats.

"Slam!" the vessel hit into the swell of boats wake.

Around the buoy we raced sending a spray of mist into the air.

"What do you think?" I asked her.

"I don't think I ever been this fast in me life."

"We're not going as fast as it looks."

"How fast are we going?"

"About thirty,... thirty five miles per hour."

"I think were going faster than that."

I turned the vessel around so we could see the shore. We were far enough out that the people on the beach were hard to see.

"I wonder how deep it is here?" I said to her.

Although I was wearing my clothes, I knew that nothing on my body would get damaged if it were to get wet. So I jumped in.

"No!" shouted Alexia. "Don't leave me up here."

As I jumped into the water, the safety switch attached to my life vest killed the engine on the Jet Ski, leaving her on nothing more than an expensive floatation device.

With the life vest on I bobbed up and down like a cork. Alexia continued yelling at me to not leave her like that.

I swam back to her and said, "Here take this," as I removed my life vest.

"No!... What are you doing? ...######" She began yelling at me in another language.

"I can't tell how deep it is with this on," I told her as I threw her the life vest.

I dove down. The water started getting darker and darker. This diving reminded me of the fond memories of life on the rig. It dawned on me that I had never told Alexia that I was experienced diver. I reached the bottom and felt the slimy sand below. I looked up to see that the water seemed to be only thirty feet deep. I knew that the oceanic shelf was a very shallow drop off so I

wasn't too worried about not finding the bottom. As I made my ascent I could hear Alexia yelling for me. There was a slight panic in her voice. I slowly rose up on the opposite side of the Jet Ski. I watched as she continued yelling for me.

At the top of my lungs I yelled, "RRRRRRROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!"

"She screamed as I startled her. I couldn't stop laughing. As I pulled myself back aboard she slapped me hard on the back. She was furious. She started to cry she was so angry. I turned backwards in the seat so we were facing each other. It took all the willpower I could muster to stop laughing.

"I'm sorry," I told her, "I didn't know you would be this upset."

She was so overwhelmed that she couldn't talk. We sat there and held each other until she felt better.

"Don't ever do that again," she commanded.

"I won't," I responded, "I promise".

"You promise you won't ever leave me?"

Her last statement was far too serious to pass over lightly.

"I never intended on leaving you," I said while thinking, "she is really becoming possessive."

The whole way back we hardly spoke at all. I wished that I could read her thoughts so I would know what she was up to. It was near one o'clock when we got back to the dock. We walked back along the shore just as we did earlier.

The hot dry sun was baking down on us. The white sand was so hot that you couldn't walk on it without burning your feet.

"I'm sorry for losing control out there," she said.

"Oh no, I'm the one who should be sorry," I told her.

"I accept your apology," she told me.

She place her hand on the inside of my bicep as before only this time she slid her hand down my arm and into the palm of my hand. I inhaled deeply as she locked her fingers with mine. I didn't know what gave her this sudden motivation to be with me but it sure was nice until....

A woman walked by in the opposite direction. She glanced at me, I glanced at her, Alexia saw our glances, and my God, you'd have thought we'd started World War Nine. Alexia jumped at her swearing in a language that neither us understood.

"Don't think I didn't see you looking at him in that way you witch."

It was like pulling two cats apart. After a lot of effort, I was able to pull Alexia away. I apologized to the other woman and as I did Alexia lunged at her again. I grabbed her before she could do anymore damage.

"What is going on with you Alexia?!!" I barked at her.

"I don't know... I just don't know..."

We arranged to meet at a restaurant near her apartment for lunch. I went to my apartment to change while she went to hers. When I got to my apartment the first thing I did was get my last mind reading cigarette from my drawer and puffed it down. I focused or her and she felt the urge to completely possess me, but why? I remembered that she told me everything happened around last night's phone call.

What was that phone call about? Then I remembered. I injected her with the thought of being infatuated with me. So that explains it. I ran back to the spot where I got the leaves but there were no more. The tree had fallen all of its leaves for the season. Those leaves that were on the ground were crumbled and mulched with all of the other leaves, and I had just smoked my last mind reading cigarette. What was I to do.