A Portrait of A Tortured You and I

Chapter 5

His tongue was tangled with mine, dancing around my mouth. He tasted sweet and the way he smelled was utterly divine. I didn't want to break away for anything let alone air, but it had to happen. I was both exhilarated and drunk on his entire being. The dichotomy not lost on me. My head was spinning. In that moment I would have given anything to have him rip off my clothes and take me right there. I didn't realize how much I missed the touch of a man, but I was made fully aware by one kiss.

He completely pulled away from me and I felt a surge of panic moving it's way up through my chest. He regretted it. The kiss changed his mind. Fuck! This is what I knew would happen. He turned around and saw me.

"No, no, no kitty cat. It was perfect. I just needed some distance because I could have fucked you right on this rock in front of everyone." Jared squashed the doubt in my head running rampant.

"That would have been nice." I said coyly.

"You're gonna be trouble, aren't you? I'm an old man you know!" He joked.  "Maybe you're not as shy as you seem, hmm?" He walked back over to me and ran his fingers through my hair. "I look forward to finding out your true self.  But that will have to wait.  For now, I'm going to walk you back to your cabin and make an appearance around the island."

He descended the rocks and helped me down the last section onto the beach.  Taking my hand in his and lacing his fingers through mine, he said a simple thank you, then took my hand to his mouth for a chaste kiss.

We walked about a hundred feet and then he let go of my hand.  I knew what this meant.  We would be getting closer to the activity of the others, crew and Echelon.  I understood.  We were meant to be just fan and celebrity for the duration of camp.  I had to from this minute going forward, slide right back into who I was three hours ago.  It shouldn't be too hard, but I was a typical girl that wanted to immediately jump head first into all things Jared.  I had to resist that urge regardless of where we were.  It had been the demise of all my relationships, I'm sure.  I got too needy, too quickly. 

As we walked further and further towards the tents, cabins, and facilities, he started walking faster and faster to where I was lagging behind.  By the time we saw the first few people meandering around I was at least ten yards from him.  People immediately started bombarding him.  I guess most of these people were either new to Mars or never had been to any camps/ vip's.  You didn't see that happen much in Malibu.  People would stop and wave, say a quick hello, maybe he'd talk to a few people here and there, but there wasn't any bombarding.

He didn't seem to mind and once it happened it alerted a few of the counselors.  About five minutes later Kennon was by his side to escort him around unscathed.  It was the first time I had seen her, surprisingly.  I took the chance to explore this part of camp and took in all the sights, sounds, and smells.

Everyone and everything was so colorful and the atmosphere was light and cheery.  I was now more than ever so overjoyed to be here.  I finally spotted people I knew.  Not only knew, but these were MY people. My friends. Dana, Jen, Trish, Joey, Rachel and Mike were all over by the pool. I waved at them and then made a mad dash to be by their sides.

I had met each of them through the years at various events, and together we had all become the most eclectic group. We mostly only had Mars in common, with the exception of Rachel also being a writer. She was more successful than I, as she just completed her first novel and had sent it out into the publishing world. I was only slightly envious of her tenacity, but she cheered me on and gave me words of encouragement to keep powering through my block. It was her I needed to see and thank the most.

"Oh. My. God. You guys." I drew out the z sound on guys... I grabbed Rachel and hugged her. "I'm writing. Well sort of. I wrote two chapters earlier. They're not any good, but I'm writing. Thanks for encouraging me!"