Chapter 86: [3] Close Encounters of the Bus Kind 3 [From Beyond Arc]

Close Encounters of the Bus Kind

[3]

“You were the first boy I liked”, Coach Erin Reeves whispered nervously to Paul Morris as she gently rubbed her shoulders. To that, Paul chuckled and reciprocated, “You were the first girl I really crushed on.”

Erin snickered to herself. “Wow, if only I didn’t waste so much freaking time. Why me?”

Paul reflected on that. “Nothing too deep. Your hair was this reddish chestnut bloom all year. You had a very gorgeous, smart look. Silver glasses and all those medical classes. At the same time, you would wear this combo of a lavender velvet top with snug pants. It just absolutely left me uhh…sweating and desperately wanting to talk to you.”

How Erin looked now was like a restoration of those olden days, even though her hair was more of the short, flat brown she kept as a coach. Erin shifted in place as she looked down at her restored, teenage appearance. Each shared with the other that they thought they were either too cool or too unapproachable to do more than just smile.

Coach also admitted, “Around that age, my stepdad was a total shithead. He hated everything about me. Mom always thought I was being hyperbolic, but it was torture. They would stay out so late and so many of my friends treated me like garbage too. You were so nice but also so reserved. I figured it was nothing. I had way too many messed up years.”

Paul gave her comfort and rubbed her shoulder too. A spell of quiet passed, which Erin soon shrugged off and shifted the topic, “Velvet lavender, huh? Amazingly, I may still have that one. Let me go check.”

Old feelings traced through the leftover pathways of Paul’s body. After some digging in the closet, Erin emerged wearing exactly the outfit Paul remembered all those years ago. She took a deep breath and marveled. It was like going back in time.

Erin strutted and turned in place. Her sitting down beside her brought flares of warmth through Paul’s strange new body. Paul tried to defuse her sweaty emotions by recounting an emotionally tinged story.

“So, we had that one English class together. With your friend from the Philippines and my gay friend. You remember when we had to do CPR training because it was a hybrid class with English and medical even though I wasn’t in your medical stuff?”

Erin rocked her head and took a long breath. She reflected but ultimately had to admit, “I’m afraid I really don’t.” Paul nodded and accepted that. “It’s wild because it’s one of the most vividly painful memories for me. I did the CPR too realistically because I wanted to do it right and the positioning… well, it was like wrapping my arms around you from behind. So, it was very uhh…emotionally charged.”

Digging into her memory, Erin struggled to excavate this portion of her past. She trusted that Paul’s account was accurate, but it felt so nebulous. Absolutely, she remembered CPR training as a general course subject. She had it several times, leading into college and then updates at the Red Cross for work. She also wanted to remember because this seemed so stuck in Paul’s memory and it felt embarrassing that she didn’t remember a lick of it.

Of course, then he absolutely didn’t remember the one moment that shot her crush on him to absurd heights. She wasn’t gonna volunteer that particular memory, the nicest but most terrifying one from high school. At least not until he was done sharing and if she managed to wrestle up enough courage to get through the really crazy parts.

She deeply apologized that she didn’t remember any of this but encouraged him to continue with the details. Paul fumbled with her delicate hands in her lap as though they held an invisible puzzle box she was making the effort to unscramble. “I made you sick. I feel like I hurt you. You had so many heart problems in school, and you worried about your weight. And you were scared about macular degeneration. And absolutely terrified about alcoholism in your family. You needed this particular surgery before age twenty-five. You were scared that it would lead to a heart attack before then.”

It didn’t surprise her that he knew all about her heart condition, even the specific name for it. She recognized him on the first trip that he took their team, but he truly surprised her by asking with concern if she ever got the specific surgery she needed for that disease. It touched her and truly made her pay attention to him as more than just some guy who drove the bus and whom she liked back in high school.

She shook her head and urged, “You didn’t make me sick. You just did the lesson wrong, but we were learning it. It was a little awkward, but you know high school. Everything is just drenched in hormones.”

Paul pulled in a thick breath. “I was over the moon at the possibility of putting my arms around you, even though it was just a pantomime. I somehow resisted…. losing my mind from it.”

Before Paul could say anything else, Erin hopped up from the couch and bade Paul to stand as well. She stood in front and turned around. It was exactly the same thing from all those years ago, except for some vital differences. Paul was now actually shorter than her, so she had to adjust her arms from that distant muscle memory. Rather than the fear of an erection, Paul had to be cognizant of the way her chest projected towards Erin’s back.

The heart-racing mystery of Erin’s girlish shape still remained even though she bore a similar form. Furthermore, a lava-hot aching torrent churned in the depths of her snug pants. Still feeling the fear of harm and rejection, Paul’s arms hesitated and hovered over Erin’s soft shape, trembling but restrained by an intangible force field. Erin took a deep breath and gripped Paul’s arms like securing a human seat belt. Her arms dipped enough to suggest the edge beyond. Paul fretted she might melt like candle wax.

“My story now. It's a little long. It was shortly after the first week of class and the teacher locked the door in your face if you were even one second past the bell. I hated it because it reminded me so much of my father. One little thing and I have to sit on the porch at night and wait and ache. I was having a rotten day. I wanted to put my head down and sleep. You were doing some art project which definitely wasn’t related to English, but it looked cool. It was a paper, white flower with delicate little curls and a golden center. I watched you make it, putting so much effort into it. When it was finally perfect, I wanted to check it out but, before I could say anything, you gave it to me and said, ‘That’s for you.’ Your friend made some silly quips and used an overzealous French accent. I responded to that and like I didn’t say much to you because I didn’t know what to say. But that flower lasted for a whole week, I had it in my hair by my ear for the rest of the day, but I worried about damaging it, so I delicately put it under glass and made sure no one touched it, especially my dad. I made up that it was for a school project so he wouldn’t do anything to it. But that was one of the coolest gifts I can remember getting. I must’ve screwed up the whole thing because you didn’t really say anything about it after and I was too scared to say anything, and I didn’t really see you make anything like it ever again.”

Paul confirmed that he was terrified and worried that Erin didn’t like it at all and had thrown away the flower. She adamantly shook her head. “Oh my gosh, that week, I don’t know if I can say this.” She gingerly turned around in Paul’s arms and asked her to do the same. Now, Paul was the pretty girl dwarfed by the presence behind her and arms wrapped around her abdomen. Erin pulled close, so close that her prominent breasts felt like a delicate version of pin art softly etched against her back.

Paul’s senses were activated but so bewildered by the new, intimate sensations that this alluring touch wafted above, seeking interpretation and clarity. Erin took a breath and confessed, “I wanted to hold your hand and I wanted to sit in your lap. I wanted to feel happy and protected. It was a crazy and dizzy thought, I eventually pulled myself away from it, but I wanted you to do something. I wanted to feel good with you.”

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Twisting around in Erin‘s grasp, Paul kissed her like they had kissed on the couch in a reason-drunk moment. She held her in a way that tossed aside all the fear and uncertainty. They had shared so much and for all this time, they had just receded, as though accepting an ocean between them and their feelings. There wasn’t really a clear hint or indication right away when they plopped in each other’s lap. Just a private firestorm. They stopped at fumbling with clothes, dragging and pulling at snug fabric.

It was like waking from a pleasant trance. But they didn’t part from one another. Rather, a set of spoons softly snuggling each other, they spread out on the long L couch as Erin let the fire dwindle.

“How would you feel… If you wore my clothes right now? This silly little outfit that got you in such a bother?” Now that was a melter. Paul swarmed with sweaty heat as the prospect burned through her brain cells. She could only admit quietly, “That would be something.”

Casually, Erin leaned over and lifted that lavender velvet top up and around her head. Paul gulped and glanced away, especially when she wiggled out of the pants. They traded. The pants were definitely too tight for Erin compared to Paul, but she just managed to get them on. For Paul, the pants laden with so much history for him didn’t quite fit, especially the legs dangling so far down. But the top, that very special top. She had a shape to challenge the one that existed as a ghost in Paul’s memories and an apparition at her side.

Standing in front of the nearest mirror absolutely dazzled her. It was a reflection so enticing that it threatened to lure her in and trap her forever. Erin swapped out the tight pants for some stretchy ones. Paul considered the same but liked these well enough.

Back on the couch, Erin kept in the vicinity of Paul’s lap but their parity in sizes didn’t allow her to sit for very long or very comfortably. “Aliens…” Her comment wafted like a sigh of smoke in the air. Paul nodded and remarked, “I guess so. I don’t really remember anything between the lights and waking up. But clearly, something happened.”

Erin took a deep breath and noted, “My heart and the heart surgery I had. It didn’t leave a huge scar, my thanks to the expert surgeon, but that scar is completely gone. Every scar I can look for is gone now. And I feel great aside from a few things… Mostly how late it is. You?”

Paul admitted that, despite the disconcerting nature of all this, he felt great. All the sitting from his driving jobs did cause a certain degree of digestive discomfort. His energy level had also been declining for many years. But all that felt boosted again. No matter how late it felt, and he did feel this time of night, he was excited to be next to Erin and share all this. It wasn’t long before they had their hands on each other again.

Paul wanted to be more adventurous, but she just explored Erin’s back and soft sides. Erin went right for Paul’s pants. Paul felt a shiver go through her despite the warmth surging through her body. A phantom sensation licked through her as she expected those marvelous hands to trace the contours of what she felt every other day of her life. When they found somewhere new with a muscular, delicate give, it drove home how much had changed by the light, by those aliens. Paul reciprocated her touch.

When Paul ventured outside her safe zone with her hands crossing Erin’s, her swooning nervousness felt like an emotional top that didn’t have enough spin. When her touch plunged as deep as possible, it was like finding a secret. What struck her most was that Erin had even more of that electricity pass through her. Her partner was turned on, which supplanted her every expectation.

Paul had a girlfriend in college and hung out with some people. But it just felt listless. It was always redheads or girls with a reddish tint to their hair though. He had a type, and they were inescapable. Now it was back to the beginning, to where it all started. She had never been this close to any of her partners and nowhere near as comfortable.

Any lingering fear of harm and overstepping a boundary dropped away. She made her girlish hands the instrument of Erin’s pleasure. Meanwhile, her partner did her best to match. It felt good, but it felt even better to see Erin‘s eyes roll up in her head as her pants subtly darkened. Erin felt lost for words, whimpering and squeaking. She had decent partners in her past but no one as ruthlessly loving as this, as vehement in hunting down her joy.

When it was finally reached, Erin couldn’t hold back a scream as the most soul and brain-roiling waves crashed into her and mixed her up like she was a liquid spun in a kettle. A crash sounded over on the table at the juncture of the L couch. Neither noticed that the room got a little darker despite there still being enough light from the other rooms.

The shockwaves twisted, pulled, and dunked Erin several more times before she finally settled into a spinning delirium. ”Wow wow wow wow… fuck. I’ve been missing out all these years.” She kissed Paul firmly on the lips and crested over her internal waves. Her pants already needed to be changed but she barely wanted enough of a respite for that.

Paul wasn’t sure what to do with her hands as Erin worked her way to her feet. With a few long breaths, Erin casually checked around the edge of the couch. To her surprise, the lamp had tumbled backwards, as if tugged by its cord. It didn’t suffer any damage, so she just set it back in place and plugged it back in. It absolutely puzzled her that Bubsy was nowhere near it when it fell and nothing in the vicinity could’ve shifted it so far off the base. She suspected it was what they had been doing but the couch hadn’t moved, and the cord was too far away to be affected. Granted, her mind was nowhere near the lamp at the time.

So far as Bubsy, the kitty had returned to the front room and one of the nicest empty boxes. Checking one of the side windows, Erin wondered if there was still fog at this hour. A faint haze touched the farthest amber lights but otherwise, things appeared normal. At least Erin thought at first.

A dog stood stock still on the sidewalk staring right at her. It seemed to have been staring in her direction even before she pulled back the drape, as though it just knew she was there. Her initial reaction was to give a quick smile and wave. It didn’t react. The creature was about the size of a husky but black with small patches of gray along its feet. It was too dark to see its eyes or any other features. The dog didn’t do anything threatening, but it deeply unsettled her how much attention it focused on her. She replaced the drape and did her best to forget about it.

 

[I have a question at the end of the chapter again to help with suggestions for where the story should go. I'm actually not that far ahead this time and I am wide open for possibilities for this particular story. Feel free to add an idea which doesn't show up in the options. Also, if you see any random typos or uncapitalized starts of sentences, please pass them along. I have to cut down on my editing due to release speed and my programs don't seem to be catching lowercase sentences. Thank you for reading!]

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