Look to the Stars [closed]

When Rachel suggested he remove his own shirt to make things even, Michael chuckled. This was one odd chick. Still, she had a point. It was cooler in the cabin, but still fairly warm. He considered it as she talked and then she took her own top off again to hand up outside. Shaking his head, eyes on those firm young breasts in the bandeau bra, he figured, 'what the hell?' Reaching up, he pulled his shirt off, standing there in shorts and hiking books, looking at this lovely young amnesiac.

He shook his head again. "I'll grab you a beer. And what the hell, you went to so much work putting that salad together, maybe I'll just be healthy tonight. Nothing canned or packaged." He walked over the small fridge, pulling out a couple beers, and opened them. He offered one to Rachel. "Maybe we should eat outside. Something so natural and healthy seems to call for a pretty backdrop, with a lovely dinner companion, huh?" Smiling, he opened the door onto the porch, escorting Rachel and the bowls of salad out onto that porch.

Rachel had thought nothing of her offer that he remove his shirt as well, had assumed he had ignored her words when he didn't nothing or said nothing about it until he did, some few minutes later. It suddenly dawned on her the effect that it might have had on him when she removed her shirt. True while she still had a band of fabric across her chest there wasn't much to hide the show of skin on the other parts of her body. Looking back at Michael she could understand his surprise. Thse sight of his bare body was captivating, his skin looked warn and the sparse hair on his chest invited her to touch him. As did the muscles she could see ripple with every breath. "Amazing..." She whispered and she did nothing to hide the fact that she was taking every liberty with her eyes upon his naked chest.

He spoke words but there were lost to her as she compared his body to her's. There was a mass difference between them, a similar structure but the way they were formed and build differed in a way that complemented each other's form and hinted at a greater connection that was beyond her at the moment. There was a large part of the human life that she didn't seen to know about and it showed in certain moments, this being one of them as she once again scoped out Michael's body.

Time was slowed but as if a puzzle his words started to form sentences and a question of sorts. Rachel would have like to claim all rights, even as slow as she was, at stringing the words together but it was in part thanks to Michael and the cold bottle that he handed to her. Smiling in embarrassment Rachel followed her dinner companion outside. It did sound like a wonderful idea, having dinner outside.

Trusting that Michael wouldn't give her something horrid she took her first sip of beer and gasped at the flavor. It was bitter with bubbles and some kind of heady fragrance that smell sweet despite the way that the liquid tasted on her tongue. It wasn't bad just different and a surprise that she hadn't expected. With the smell she had expected something more like a combination of fruit juices. Delighted at the way that the full flavor coated her tongue Rachel took another deep drink, watching bubble form between the air pockets of her gulps.

"I like this." She reported to Michael grinning up at him with a bright smile. "This," She thought about what she had been going to say weighting the truth of it against what little she knew about herself. "Yes, I do believe that this is my first beer." Off to the side where the view was best Rachel picked out nice grassy spot in the middle of the yard and sat down taking another drink from her beer, the remainder of the beer dipping below the halfway mark.

Michael looked at her in surprise. "Your first beer? Really?" He chuckled, looking over her again. Gorgeous young woman, half dressed. He tried to get past his libido to judge her age. She seemed like she should be over 21, but these days, as fast as girls matured, he couldn't be sure. He might have just violated several laws, giving her beer if she was under age. And if she was under age, the other things dancing around the back of his mind were also just as verboten. Leaning forward, he got another good look at those breasts in that narrow top. "Say, I don't suppose you remember your age, do you? I mean, you're over 21, right? And if not, you'd better tell me now before I offer you another beer. I sure as hell don't want to get into trouble with the law, even up here." Michael gestured around the hilltop surrounding the cabin. There was no law anywhere nearby, but he'd heard horror stories about giving alcohol to the underaged.

While he waited for her response, he dug into the salad, to distract himself, if nothing else. Michael wasn't much for salads...they were a necessary evil when dining out, but this...wasn't bad. Even without any sort of salad dressing, the combination of things she'd picked up seemed pretty tasty. He was surprised...all this stuff he'd just walked by without even noticing, and this young amnesiac had known not only what would be edible, but what would compliment the other wild greens. She seemed pretty amazing. Even if she couldn't remember her own name.

Rachel followed his gesture with her eyes as she nursed her beer. "Hmm." She considered his question and gave him the first answer that came to mind, a truth so far as she knew it to be. "I'm over 21." For some reason her mind counted the moons, sorted it in seasons and numbered the years. The number she came up with was impossible so she stayed silent and tried to calm her host's worries. "Is it so odd that this is my first beer? How old are you and what number beer is this for you?" Maybe her age wasn't as impossible as it seemed and would be made normal when he stated his age.

Seeing that he started eating Rachel picked up her bowl and placed it in her lap and joined him picking out an assortment of greens and rolling them up before taking delicate little bites. "Tell me about yourself." She asked between bites. "Your life and who you are." When she had taken her last bite she picked out more greens this time eating them one at a time, popping them into her mouth as she rearranged herself on the grass. Tuning to lay on her side so she could face him, her bowl of salad pulled to her chest as she continued to munch one leaf at a time. "Who do you belong to and do you belong to another?" The last question felt like the most important though Rachel couldn't put her finger on the why of it.

Again the bottle of beer met her lips and she tipped her lips back and sipped on the crisp liquid. This beer drink was quickly becoming her favorite thing since being found and she drank deep emptying the bottle. With a frown she eyed Michael's beer bottle and felt a pang of jealousy, he still had beer. Rachel sighed and felt content with her fate before remembering that he had said something about another beer. "May I," Rachel bit her lip pondering her half formed question. Was it necessary that she have another? She didn't feel particularly thirsty but that didn't stop her from wanting another. "Have another?" She made up her mind and help up her empty beer bottle.

Michael chuckled. "I guess it's not odd, really, that you're just having your first beer. From a strict household? As for me...I'm 35 and this is probably my...I don't know...thousandth beer? Two thousandth? I don't really count. It's my first today, though and that's what's important, right?" He watched her as she reclined, doing nice things to her chest.

"My life? That's quite a lot. I really wouldn't know where to start. I could start at the beginning, but then we'd be here forever. Easier to address your other question. No, I don't have a girlfriend...and no girlfriend has me." He grinned, having answered her question in her own fashion.

He looked at her, pondering, while she finished the beer and considered it. When she asked for another, Michael nodded and stood. "Sure thing." He started for the cabin, snatching up the empty bottle on the way. Going into the cabin, he got her a new beer, opening it. Coming back to the doorway, he looked at her from behind, reclining there on the grass. What the hell was a half naked amnesiac doing laying outside his cabin? This was bizarre. Stepping out softly, he crept over to her, placing the cold bottle against the back of her bare thigh.

Rachel didn't know if her household was strict or not but something in her gut told her that by his standard they might be. Not that she knew anything about his life, so maybe it wasn't him but more as a general sense. Like as humans as a whole. Thousandth or second. Wow. The number to her just seemed so large compared to her one. "Yes, we are having the first one of the day together." She smiled nodding her head.

When he didn't answer about his life she frowned, at least at first. It wasn't as if he didn't answer all her questions just the story of his life. He did answer the question about belonging and the way in which he had answered it furrowed her brows. Had that been what she was asking? Yes and no. The yes she understood, she wanted to know what his standing was and if there would be problems for him because she was there. The other part, the no part baffled her. That hadn't been the question she had expected but she lacked the words or even know how to even ask that proper questions. It was like knowing something and not all at the same time, like there was something just on the tip of her tongue. It was a feeling she was coming quite familiar with.

"Thank you Michael." She turned her head watching as he got up, walked to the cabin and closed the door. Once he was gone from sight Rachel turned back to her bowl and let her mind wander. There was so much she knew and didn't know. So many important things, like did she belong to someone or did someone belong to her? For a question that had felt so important for Michael to answer she really wasn't concerned with her side of the answer. Did that mean she was free? No, it didn't feel like she was free but she also didn't feel tied down to another. Was there a way to be with someone, to belong but not be of that person? Was it even a person that she belonged to?

Over and over her mind asked questions, focused on answer she could get at the moment. It was strange how Rachel felt it necessary that she had these questions on had for when she might remember. Every second her mental list of questions grew, so absorbed was Rachel in her questions that she didn't hear Michael return. Missed the sound the the door closing or his soft and quiet footsteps.

"Qua'latcht!" The young woman cursed as a cold object zapped the back of thigh. For a moment Rachel was lost, she didn't know what was happening or who she was, all she did was react and it was the most shocking thing of all.

Rachel's body folded over it's self bring her feet up and around, sweeping under Michael's with a force that knocked his legs out from under him. As his body fell to the ground Rachel rolled her upper body as the rest of her body continues in the sweeping motion until she was facing Michael. But she didn't stop there, time slowed and she counted each breath, every beat of her heart as she pushed up with one side of her body, kicking out at the perfect time so that when Michael hit the ground she was there on top of him pinning him down. Her knees braced on either side on his hips with her legs flexed over his legs so that they were pinned under her's. Her thighs squeezed his hips and her chest leaned forward to better hold his arm that she had pulled out from his body and up while her other arm braced of his chest keeping him from being able to pull his arm back.

Seconds. That's all it took yet for Rachel it had felt like minutes. "What was that?" Her voice was accusatory as she asked the question, her eye never leaving his as her body continued to hold his in the position that she locked it in. Her leg wasn't cold anymore but there was a tingling warmth where it had been, similar in the warm of one's cheeks when they blush or have a fervor. This wasn't a normal reaction so that meant that he must have done something. "What did you do?" She asked again when he didn't instantly answer her question, her hips settling lower over his to better hold him with her thighs and knees.

Michael had been initially amused by Rachel's reaction to the cold on the back of her leg, but in a blink of an eye, that had changed. In a second she had twisted and kicked his legs out from under him. Hitting the ground hard, his breath was knocked away, the beer bottle in either hand bouncing in the grass and rolling away. As he started to realize what happened, she moved over him, lightning quick and pinned his arm down, pressing hard to his chest. He was shocked by her reaction and the speed of her reaction, but quickly another sensation took over.

Michael could feel her straddling his waist, legs locked tight against him as she bent over him. His eyes were drawn to her breasts, just a foot from his face in that tight bandeau. As distracting as that was, more distraction appeared when she wriggled lower over her hips, rubbing her body against his. Without intending it, Michael felt himself reacting to her in a most primal way. As she seemed a bit put out with him, he could only hope Rachel didn't feel what was happening underneath her.

Her questions finally registered. "What did I...? I just touched you with the beer bottle." He gestured to the fallen bottles with his head. "If I'd known you were going to react like that, I sure as hell wouldn't have done that. Jesus! You practice martial arts or something? That was a slick move." He figured if he kept talking, she might not notice him hardening underneath her.

"The beer bottle?" It had felt like so much more and she wanted to argue but when her eyes followed his nodded head to the fallen bottles she blushed and relaxed her grip on him. "I'm sorry." Color tinted her cheeks and she released his arm and sat back, unwinding her legs from around him but not moving. "I don't know." Rachel answered to his question about practicing martial arts. "But it would see that I have some kind of training." She shrugged. "I didn't hurt you did I?" As she asked the question her eyes racked over his body and lingered on his bare skin.

Hmm. It was a sound that would have come out sounding like a purr had she made a noise. Since it was never made her feelings about the view before her was her own, if only for the moment. She had only meant to scan his body for injuries but her eyes were taking their sweet ol' time, checking every square inch of him a few times over before she was convinced he was sound and in one piece.

It was time to move away from him, Rachel knew on some level that sitting on him like this wasn't right, wasn't proper and went against some set of rules that she couldn't quite remember but instead of moving away she moved closer. Her hand reaching out to touch his chest with the lightest of touches. Rachel smiled when she felt his skin under her fingertips and she trailed them across the expanse of his chest, sweeping down and to the bottom of his rib cage where she pressed a hair harder so she could feel the hard bone under her finger.

Despite knowing the parts of the human body, knowing the names of the bones and muscles that made the body as she explored his body she couldn't recall a time when she had done this before. Like the beer this felt new and her brows drew together trying to pin down why there was a shadow of a memory to every part of Michael she touched.

The beers!

Remembering that they had rolled away forgotten for the moment in the grass snapped Rachel from her momentary exploration and at last she moved from Michael. "Thank you for getting me another beer." She tried to smile sweetly but her eyes were drawn to the spots on his upper body that she had touched. "I'll try not to attack you in such a way when you get the next one." Hoping to lighten the mood that suddenly felt heavy to the unknown woman she handed Michael his beer and hid her face as she took a sip from the now not so cold beer bottle.