Dreamlike State (The Magic of Black Forest Book 1) (5 page)

One last look in the mirror and I was off with just enough time to walk to the bar. I had messed with my long curly hair a little longer than I should have. I put it up in a bun, straightened my bangs, and then let a few curls hang down the sides and back of my neck. It looked somewhat elegant. I liked the color of my hair. It’s a brownish blonde. I’ve never colored it so I still had my natural highlights. With my hair up and my bangs framing my face right at my eyebrows, my green eyes really stood out and they were even more enhanced by my blue blouse.

When I walked into the bar, I didn't see Colleen anywhere. I did, however, see groupie like girls everywhere with their cleavages popping out the top of their shirts, lace stockings and miniskirts that barely covered their rumps. Instantly, I felt out of place. I thought about leaving but figured Colleen would probably seek me out at the cabin and drag me here anyway so I decided I might as well find a seat. There was an empty stool on the other side of the bar by the band.
Great!
I pondered the thought of waiting outside for her before I tried to slip through the groupies to get to the only open seat at the bar. “
Stop being a coward
,” I said to myself. When I finally broke through the crowd, I saw Bradley. He was helping the band set up. I had hoped he would be here.

While I walked over to where he worked I thought, “
Lady Luck is smiling my way.
” I no sooner finished the thought when I noticed all the groupies that were planted around him, dressed in skimpy outfits, and vying for his attention. I hesitated for a moment but then thought he saw me so I went over.

“Hello Bradley, how are you?” He looked at me as if we had never met. How embarrassing. The band members started laughing at me while they repeated in a teasing tone,
“Bradley.”
Confused and mortified, I spun around and put as much distance between myself and the group as I possibly could.

Was he drunk? Was it all an act? Was Bradley even his real name? I mean, I really didn’t know him. People have always commented in the past that I am naïve and gullible, but I just shrugged it off because I thought they were idiots. Trying to escape through the crowd, I heard what sounded like a slap followed by Bradley’s voice saying angrily, “Great, thanks a lot.” He didn’t bother following or attempt to stop me from leaving though, so I continued to push myself through the mass of people waiting for the music to start. He probably thought I was one of the groupies, and thought he could get lucky. I looked down at myself while checking to see that my hair bun was still intact and realized that was not the case. I didn’t look like any of those girls -- my dress didn't reveal anything.

I was almost out the door when… again… I ran right into Colleen. Literally, ran into her. Why did she have to show up this time? Seriously, I just wanted to go back to my cabin to hide and sulk in private.

“Natalia, we really need to stop meeting like this,” she laughed. The laughter stopped abruptly when she realized I was leaving, “Were you leaving?” I shook my head but she missed it. Her eyes searched through the crowd. “Did someone say something to you?” Before I could even respond to any of her questions she turned to her friend, “Jesse, someone’s messing with Natalia.”

A man I’d never met before turned to me and asked, “Who is it – Are you okay?” His eyes, like Colleen’s, began to scan the crowd looking for the culprit. He cracked his knuckles and prepared to take care of business.

“I’m fine.” I lied but not very well. They both looked at me, unconvinced. “No really, I’m fine. I was just going out to get some fresh air, to wait for you.”

“Whew. Good. I’d like to introduce you to my friend Jesse.” Twice I have seen Colleen and each of those times her smiles were warm and sincere. As she introduced Jesse, pride, respect, admiration, and a heated desire radiated from her. The way she leaned her body flirtatiously against his, from what I could see, Colleen thought of Jesse as more than a friend. She wanted him.

Jesse extended his hand. I eagerly shook it, wanting to see how he felt about her. The first thing I saw in his mind was Colleen. “Very nice to meet you, Jesse.” When I first saw him standing next to her, I couldn’t help but notice he was a pretty good looking guy. What I didn’t notice, until I saw his thoughts, was that he was madly in love with her.

Colleen apologized and explained why they were late, while all along Jesse stared down at her with eyes full of love. It was obvious now how he felt about her. She never mentioned that she had a boyfriend. Since I didn’t see everything, I needed to see more. I’m definitely going to find out why they’re not together. Just as I was about to reach out to touch Jesse again Colleen started to jump up and down while she pulled me towards the other side of the bar --- in the direction of the band and Bradley or whatever his name was.

Jesse walked ahead of us, yelled, “Yo Brad, what’s up?”

Colleen didn't let go of my arm when she chimed in, “Where the heck have you been, Brad? We didn’t see you last night.”

I practically laughed myself silly when I realized Bradley was his name but everyone called him Brad. I recalled when he introduced himself to Seager. He introduced himself as Brad. Colleen wanted to know what was so funny. “Nothing. I just had an epiphany. Ignore me.”

Embarrassed, I avoided direct eye contact with him. “Hi Brad.”

His lips were pressed firmly against themselves as he put his arms around Colleen and Jesse. “Nothing’s up. Sorry I missed you last night but I was busy reminiscing about the damsel I rescued earlier in the evening.” I gasped, thinking, was he talking about me?

“You guys going to hang tonight? I wrote a new song today. It’s a little rough but I’d like to know what you think.”

“So was it the damsel that inspired the new song?” Jesse added jokingly. Bradley didn’t answer when he saw me scowl at him. Instead, he let out a boisterous roar of laughter. Anyone who wasn't already looking at him before were now.

A confused Colleen began to introduce us when Brad said, “No introduction needed. She was the damsel, you know Colleen – the one you stood up.” He chuckled and shoved her playfully. I, on the other hand, was not happy being identified as the damsel. I crossed my arms over my chest, narrowed my eyes and once again scowled at him. He was enjoying my reactions a little too much.

He walked closer to me, bent down and whispered in my ear, “I apologize for earlier. I barely recognized you. You look gorgeous.” His eyes roamed up and down my body, which made me quiver. “Please don’t call me Brad, everyone calls me that. I like the way it sounds when
you
call me Bradley. Did you get the roses I left you?” His closeness and sweet warm breath had me longing to take a taste. I was a heartbeat away from wrapping my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his hair and pressing my lips with urgency against his.

Focus Natalia!
I screamed at myself. I looked over at Colleen. She looked a little upset while Jesse, like Bradley, enjoyed every minute of this. Did they hear what he said?

Moments later, Bradley, a little frustrated by my lack of response, whispered again, “Did you get the roses I left you?” My eyes returned to his. I smiled shyly.

“Y-y-yes, I got the roses. I thought they were a mistake – for someone else. They were from you, for
me
?”

“A mistake? Silly lady, there’s no mistake. I left four dozen beautiful roses for a beautiful woman.”

The corners of my lips curled slightly upward, “They are beautiful, thank you.”

Jesse cleared his throat and interrupted our moment, “What’s going on, Brad, are you Natalia’s ‘Knight in Shining Armor’?” He positioned himself as though he was holding up a shield and sword, while sticking his chest out. Wise guy.

I glared at him then at Bradley.

Sensing that I wasn’t having as much fun being teased as they were having teasing me, Bradley replied, “Yep.”

While Colleen continued to stare at me, we sat down at our reserved table. Before Bradley left to go back to work, he told me that he was happy that I came and hoped I would like their music. I smiled shyly and blushed in response. Inside I gushed. I was sure I would, so far I liked everything about him. He walked over to Colleen, kissed her on the cheek and thanked her for bringing me.

I turned and looked into the eyes that were burning a hole into the side of my head. “What’s up, Colleen? Are you and Bradley an item or exes? Because if you are, please tell me. I don’t want to upset anyone here.” I inadvertently sounded defensive but I couldn’t understand why she kept staring at me.

She and Jesse cracked up. “Eww! Never! Though he is hot! I’ve never seen him act this way, so carefree. I just saw him a few days ago and he was his grumpy old self. Today he’s smiling, joking and whispering… what is that? It looks good on him.” She turned to Jesse and asked, “Don’t you see the difference, Jesse?”

“Yea and it's grossing me out.” He exaggerated a few gags to give a barfing effect. Colleen slapped him playfully. He laughed. Their attraction to one another was undeniable. If it was the only thing I did while I’m here, then so be it. I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to get these two together. Jess interrupted my mind rant. “It’s been a long time since Brad wrote a new song. He must really like you. It’s been years since anyone has moved him in such a way. He actually has a glow about him. It definitely makes me want to puke. Nice work, Natalia. Do us a favor though since you’ll only be here a few weeks don’t string him along. Tell him right away.”

“Well, he already knows. I told him last night.” I had a few questions I wanted to ask but Colleen jumped in and cut me off before I got a chance to ask them. “I also told Brad about meeting her at the store, that it seemed like we’ve been friends forever and how it was going to suck when she leaves in four weeks.”

Moved by her comment I blurted, “Honestly Colleen, I thought you were just being kind, sort of hospitable. I feel the same way, it’s like we’ve known each other all our lives.” Well this one anyway. I don't see that we knew each other in our past lives. “It’s nice to know that after my vacation, I’ll be leaving with a new friend. Especially for me, it’s so hard for me to feel comfortable with people.” Tears filled my eyes. It was so embarrassing when I got emotional like this. I’m such a girl. I looked up at Colleen and she was teary eyed as well. We reached out to hug each other and started to giggle. Well I giggled, she laughed.

Jesse was shaking his head saying, “Girls.”

Before we let go of our embrace, Bradley had returned and demanded to know why I was crying. “What’s the matter, Natalia? Are you okay?” We let go, looked at Bradley, then started to cry and laugh again. “Jesse, what’s going on?” he barked.

“Settle down, Brad, they’re just having a touchy feely moment. You know a girly moment. The only thing they are missing is the kitten. It’s really gross, save yourself and everyone else -- please play some music.”

I looked at Bradley and winked. Seemingly satisfied, he walked back to the stage. Whoa, did I just wink at him. Why? My instincts told me to. But how did I know that a wink would comfort him? I felt it. I saw his face then felt as though I needed, desperately, to comfort him. The same way he felt the need to come over here and comfort me. This is so wonderful, weird, but still wonderful.

Chapter 5

I got back to the cabin a little late last night. Jesse and Colleen insisted on driving me home because Bradley had to stay behind and help the band pack up.

The evening turned out far better than I had hoped. Colleen and I danced to a few songs. Although I didn’t get to spend much time with Bradley, I did like that every time I looked at him he was gazing, no
singing
to me.

His new song was beautiful. It was hard to believe that he wrote the lyrics and music in one day. He titled it, ‘Natalia.’ It was a nice melody… love song. Afterwards, he came over to see what I thought. When he saw the tears in my eyes, he smiled, “So you liked it? I wrote it for you.” Moved by my tears, he gently wiped them from my cheeks. The tender touch of his fingers left a trail of warmth, making me tremble.

“Thank you, it’s beautiful. No one has ever written a song for me before. Can I get a copy of it?” Staring at his smile I’m thinking I just want to hear it over and over again. I was hopeful that tomorrow I’d have better luck with my cell. I couldn’t wait to tell Melissa about the song, about everything.

When we said our goodbyes, Bradley mentioned he would stop by soon. I hoped it was later tonight.
Soon
… means in a short time… could be anywhere from a few hours to a few days. It depended on what the time period was… so when he didn’t show I went to bed. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was fantasizing about Bradley, about how it would feel to have his lips pressed tenderly against mine. Just that thought alone had me feeling warm all over, longing for him.

I finally woke up mid-morning. It was pouring outside. The angry grey clouds roared making the day dark and gloomy. “Well, Seager, it looks like we’re staying in today. I guess we can take a look at all the maps to see which trail we want to ride.” I couldn’t wait to go riding and get dirty.

After we watched the Weather Channel, I decided tomorrow would be a good day to go for an ATV ride. “Let’s go riding tomorrow. The trails should still be a little wet so there won’t be too much dust. Hopefully, there’ll still be a little mud. There’s really no sense in riding if you can’t get a little muddy.”

Too excited about going riding tomorrow, I went out in the rain to load the ATV into my truck. As I removed the chain from the tree, Jesse and Colleen arrived. Smiling, I went to greet them.

“Nice quad, Nat. It looks brand new. Did you just get it?” Jesse got on it and made himself comfortable. Pretending to ride it, he made guy noises, “
whant whaant
.” Colleen and I laughed at him.

“Yes I did. Right before I left for my vacation.” This thought brought back the sadness. My dad and I had such a good time that day. He haggled with the salesperson until he knocked a thousand dollars off the original price. When we got it home, he tore up the back yard doing donuts. If my mom hadn’t yelled at him there’d be no grass left at all. After she scolded him she climbed on, held tight as they rode around in a big circle reminiscing about old times. We laughed a lot that day.

“Hellllooooo, Natalia…” Colleen waved her hands right in front of my face. I blinked and returned to reality. “Where were you?”

“My apologies, I was just remembering something.” I fought back the tears. My father wanted to buy the ATV for me but I refused and insisted that I would pay him back. I never got the chance. My new quad was his last gift to me. Feeling Colleen staring and waiting for me to finish I turned to her and asked, “Do you guys have quads? Tomorrow Seager and I are going for a ride over in Haneyville.” The decision to ride there was simple. It was the closest trail, just ten minutes away.

“Yes, but we’re not on vacation, Nat.” Jesse teased, rocking his noggin back and forth. It annoyed me to no end how much he enjoyed teasing me. I scowled, threatening him. He chuckled, “But I get home around three. I’ll go for a ride. We can meet up in the parking lot. What about you Colleen?”

“I have to work late.” Colleen’s frown told me she was just as disappointed as I was. “Oh before we leave, I want to give you my number and get yours.” I couldn’t help but smile at her. She had a knack for changing subjects. We immediately exchanged numbers.

They watched me cautiously load the ATV. Jesse was amazed that I didn’t spin the ramps right out from under my tires especially with everything being so wet from the rain. I showed him the ramps my father made. On the ends were metal brackets with two oversized bolts screwed to them. The bolts were long in length and hung out the bottom of the brackets a few inches. Next, my father drilled holes in the tailgate. Placing the bolts into the holes in the tailgate secured the ramps in place, to prevent them from flying out from under my tires. My father’s famous words came to mind, “Safety first.”

“Well isn’t that the cat's bottom?” I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that but the expression on his face said he thought it was cool. “We can’t stay. We were just stopping by. Colleen insisted that we check on you. She was worried,” he laughed. She punched him in the shoulder. “Ouch. You don’t have to hit me so hard,” he whined as he rubbed the pain away.

With a satisfying grin, Colleen turned towards me, nodded her head victoriously, and said, “I was hoping we could go to dinner later this week. Do you get reception here?” She looked at my cell, which was still in my hand.

Wow! “Yes I do. I couldn’t get it across the street at the gas station. Now I can call and see how everything is going back home.” I couldn't wait to tell Melissa about Bradley.

“Okay good. I’ll call you tomorrow night to make plans. Say about seven, after dinner?”

“That would be perfect. I’ll definitely be back by then and will have finished my dinner. But if I don’t answer don’t be upset. I haven’t gone riding in a long time. I may be sleeping.” I chuckled because I knew I was going to be sore and exhausted after a day of riding.

After they left, Seager and I watched a movie and ate popcorn. We turned in early to get plenty of rest for tomorrow. I didn’t hear from Bradley.

We woke up early and watched the sunrise again. I’ll never get used to this. Without hesitation right after breakfast, we got moving. It was nice to relax and lay around yesterday but not today… today, we ride. Once I had replenished my backpack with water, grabbed the camera and some hand towels, we left.

When we arrived, there were no other vehicles in the parking lot. I unloaded my ATV and waited an hour, but no one else showed up. “Well you want to go? We’ll just take it easy. Listen Seager, you need to stay with me. I don’t know if dogs are allowed. And don’t go after my tires or run in front of me. Oh yeah, one more thing -- don’t go near other ATV’s. It’s not safe.”

When I’m done being a worrywart he looked me straight in the eye and said,
“Can we get on with this already? The suspense is killing me.”

I jumped towards him pointing my finger directly at him -- “HAH… I knew it. I knew it.” It was obvious he didn't like my reaction. I took a quick look around and didn’t see anyone. I’ll need to be careful with my reactions or he won’t talk to me again. “Okay this is good. Now I have someone to have a conversation with.” I started putting on my helmet and gloves. Glaring at him, “It’s about time. Are you ready?” He just rolled his eyes with disgust. I giggled. He looked funny when he rolled his eyes. I’ve never seen a dog do that.

“Oops, one more thing, for real this time.” Almost forgot. “Here put this on.” I leaned over him and tied a bright orange doggy vest around his neck and torso.

“Ugh. I’m not going to get lost, Natalia. You maybe, but not me.”

“I know you won’t…” I hid my face and held back my laughter. He was utterly appalled. “It’s for your protection. I would never recover if I lost you too.” He attempted to persuade me one last time by lifting his lips up over his white shiny sharp fangs – snarling and glaring at me. “You’re funny. That may work on other people but not here buddy! I’m not afraid of you. Seager I need for you to be safe, please wear it.” Again he rolled his eyes and accepted that he was wearing the vest. We’re finally going. I’m so glad to have him here with me.

We rode for hours. Some of the trails were narrow and extremely dangerous. If you leaned too much the wrong way you could go over the edge and tumble down the mountainside.

Other trails were like mini dirt roads with little whip-de-dos. I whipped over them trying to get all four tires off the ground. The trails I liked best were the ones that were off the beaten path -- in the woods. I rode between trees that were but a whisker apart. A few times my tires hit a tree causing me to jam every part of my body, mostly my hands and shoulders, forward. I’m definitely going to be sore tomorrow.

When we got back to the parking lot for lunch, there were three other trucks with trailers there. There was also a lone motorcycle over in the corner and a helmet as well. I wondered if the owner was just a short distance away, and took another look around, but there wasn’t a soul in sight.

We were full of mud. I kept flinging the mud everywhere every time we hit a puddle. Luckily, I made the sandwiches this morning. My hands were filthy, although that didn’t seem to matter as I ate my corn chips. I gave Seager some Beggin’ Strips and water. It looked like he rolled around in the mud. I got him good a few times. I was definitely going to have to bathe him before we went inside the cabin. After about an hour, we headed back onto the trails. The motorcyclist hadn’t returned before we left.

I found a decent hill that I could safely ride up and down. When I got close to the top, I floored it, and went flying over the top. I got air several times -- all four tires off the ground. While I played, Seager would run up and down the hill, always getting there before me, as if to watch and make sure I was okay. He hadn’t left my side. With him here with me, alone in the forest, I felt safe. I knew that if there were any danger, he would protect me.

After playing on the hills, we found an overlook just off one of the trails. There were trees, greenery as far as the eye could see. “
Amazing
,” I thought, “
It would be great to live here
.” The view was exquisite and calmness filled me as we sat and enjoyed it for a while.

“Now Natalia, don’t be alarmed, but I think someone’s been following us. I hear him but can’t smell him, he must be down wind.”
Seager lifted his nose upwards, sniffed and tried to get a whiff of the stranger.
“Do you want me to chase him up for you? I could sneak up behind him, chase him towards you then you can whack him with that big stick over there. Once he’s down, I’ll wrap my jaws around his throat and you can ask him some questions. Sounds like a really good plan to me. What do you think?”
Instead of being alarmed, I just let out a booming laugh.

“I don’t think we should split up. And what’s with all the hitting and biting? You seem a little violent today. How about we just go back to the parking lot instead? Jesse should be here soon if not already. Keep an ear out for the stranger behind us. If he tries anything then we’ll move onto plan B, the hitting and biting plan, Okay?”
He smirked and agreed with a nod of his head.

Jesse was waiting when we finally got back to the truck. He was all ready to go until he saw us. He cracked up and yelled, “Whatcha do, fall in a giant mud puddle?” At first I got a little irritated but then I looked over at Seager and down at myself. We were even muddier then we were at lunch. I joined in on the laugh fest. I’m going to have to squirt my clothes down a few times before I put them in any washing machine. I couldn't even fathom how long it was going to take me to bathe Seager. The mud was caked into his fur.

Two hours after Jess and I hit the trails, I called it quits. “I’ve been riding since eight this morning. I still need to clean everything up. I had a really good time, Jess. Oh and thanks for riding with me today.” I looked over at Seager and the ATV – just looking at all the dirt -- I’m exhausted.

“Me too. Plus, I want to go see when Colleen is getting out of work.” He quickly loaded his quad on his truck. I noticed he took my father’s advice – secured the ramps to the tailgate. That choked me up a bit.

“Hey Jess – what’s up with you and Colleen?”

“What do you mean – nothing, why?” He was avoiding eye contact. Fibber. There was something going on.

“Well I just noticed how close you two are, closer than
normal
friends. Maybe it’s just my over-active imagination. Never mind…” shrugging my shoulder nonchalantly, I drifted off leaving my last few words hanging out there. My intention was to get him to talk, but instead he shrugged his shoulders and said his goodbyes. Just like that, he left. Well that completely backfired.

Before I left, I noticed the motorcycle and helmet were still there. I got an uneasy feeling that the person that owned the cycle and the one who followed us were one in the same. All I wanted to do was get out of there.

When Seager and I got back to the cabin, I squirted myself off. At least I don’t have to worry about getting wet while hosing Seager down. I tackled him next. It took me about an hour. I used up half a bottle of shampoo getting the mud out. Quickly, I attempted to dry him off with towels. Now he was a damp white fluffy pooch. I unloaded the ATV and washed that down too. I was exhausted by the time I secured it to the tree.

Just as I was about to go in and get a shower, Bradley pulled up. I looked down at my water soaked filthy self, felt the mud on my face and gasped. I couldn't believe it,
Now? He has to come now?