an evening at the fly

There’s a place down here in New Orleans we call “the fly,” a strip of public park along the Mississippi River. Any local will tell you it’s the best place to be during sunset; you can see the sun fall inch by inch into the West Bank. I met her there on a lazy Sunday, right as summer was turning into fall.

I pulled up just as she was climbing out of the car, picnic basket and blankets in hand. Only girl I knew with a damn picnic basket. She sauntered when she walked, and I watched the silhouette of her hips swing as she made her way down to the river. She’s got short cropped hair and these silver sunglasses that make her look fierce, but one look in her eyes gives it all away.

I followed her down, where she’d stopped almost at the edge of the grass, and curled my arms around her waist.

“Hey!”

“It’s good to see you.” I nuzzled into her neck, right under her ear. “It’s been too long.”

“I know.”

“How’s it feel to be back in NOLA?”

“Good. Damn good. Hot. But I missed this city like mad.”

“I missed you like mad.”

“Feeling randy, hm? You could say hello first.”

“I did. And I’m not hitting on you, just being honest…”

She turned to stare me down. “Ok. So I’m hitting on you a little bit. But you look good.”

“Thanks.” She gave me a peck on the cheek. “Now sit down and tell me what you’ve been doing for two years. Surely you haven’t gone through every girl in NOLA.”

“Quite the contrary. Well, the Saints won the Superbowl… and there was an oil spill… and yeah. That’s about all I remember from the last year. What girls?”

She laughed, and I pushed her sunglasses up from her eyes. Blue. Clear, clear blue.

We ate and talked, made fun of the raw food vegans in Portland and relived bad memories of running into ex’s in the bars. The usual. We cleaned out the six pack of Abita I brought and the loose beers she had hidden from her roommate. I found myself melting into the hillside next to a woman who would always be more than a friend but never as much as a lover, someone who I could laugh with. The sun fell, and we were still talking. I sat up to take another drink of my beer and noticed that she was shivering in her thin t-shirt. I shifted my legs out and pulled her over toward me, into my lap where I could wrap my arms around her. She grabbed the extra blanket she’d brought, and wrapped it over herself.

“So tell me, did you miss me?” I was fishing. Slowly.

“Sure. Of course.” She pulled me in tighter.

“How much did you miss me?”

“Enough,” she said playfully.

The sun had fallen behind the shadows of the West Bank, and twilight was closing in quickly. I could feel the darkness creeping up from behind us, hedged by soft purple clouds. I slid my hand under the blanket and down her thigh. I kissed her neck, softly, then again, this time biting down just enough to feel her tense up.

“May I?”

“May you what?” she taunted.

“May I?” This time I punctuated my question by sliding my hand at the edge of her shorts, right across her hipbone, and biting gingerly on her neck.

She let out the quietest gasp. “Yes.”

I rubbed my hands down her sides and across her thighs, digging my nails through her loose t-shirt and cargo shorts. She leaned her head back, and I caught onto her earlobe with my teeth. Under the blanket I could feel the heat radiating from her body. I bit into her neck, sucking her soft skin, and she curled her back into me, deeper, arching her chest up. I slid my hand up her shirt, under her bra, and pinched her pierced nipple. Her nipple hardened under the steel ring. If I could have thrown her down in the grass, I would have. Instead I bit deeper into her neck, grazing my teeth and sucking the edge of her collarbone.  I pressed the tips of my fingers across her hips, pulling her shorts down, sliding my fingers right down the edge of her hip bones. I reached for the edge of her panties, and she moaned right into my ear. I unzipped her shorts; I could feel her soaking wet through her panties. I dipped my finger into her cunt, teasing her with a light touch.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Please, what?”

I pulled my finger up to my mouth and licked the tips, reached back down, and rubbed her clit between my index finger and thumb. Her whole body shook uncontrollably.

“Please?”

“Tell me what you want.”

“You know…” She gasped as I flicked her clit mid-sentence. “You know what I want.”

“Show me.”

“How?” I found her hand under the blanket and guided her fingers toward her own cunt. She touched herself and moaned, and I let a giggle escape.

“Just like that.”

I pulled her thighs further apart, slipping my hands inside her shorts and drawing my fingernails up the sensitive insides of her thighs. Her hamstring muscles were tense, and I could feel the muscular cut defining her inner thigh. I wanted to run my tongue up along that definition, all the way to her cunt. But instead I pulled her closer into me. She had sunk her fingers deeper inside, letting out quiet moans as she began to slowly grind her hips in rhythm to her fingers. I moved my hands across her body, cupping her breasts under her bra, right where the curve began. She closed her eyes and fucked deeper, harder. It was intensely hot to feel her grinding against me. Her moans became deeper, and she began to breathe harder, almost gasping for air.

“Show me how you like it, baby. Don’t stop.” I bit into her neck once again, deep enough that she yelped, but it quickly turned into a moan. “Don’t. Stop.”

Her moan became almost guttural, and her whole body froze, except her fingers, still rubbing up against her g-spot, vibrating her cunt as her body tensed. I felt the orgasm when it hit her, felt her back tighten as she arched up and out. She grabbed my hand and squeezed until I couldn’t feel the blood in my fingertips. As suddenly as she came, her body relaxed, melting into a heap.

I leaned back into the grass, and she rested her head on my thigh. I was almost too turned on to handle her there, but I tried to force my body to relax, under the pretext that I could finish what I’d started later. The grass felt good against my bare shoulders. She was still breathing hard, and I watched her chest rise and fall.

“Is that what you wanted?” I asked when she had caught her breath. The sky had turned indigo blue, and I could see a few stars beginning to peek through.

She laughed. “Is that what you wanted?”

“I just wanted this.” I spread my hands out to embrace the night sky. She pulled her body up on the grass next to mine, and we lie on our backs under the stars. I could hear the whistle of a tugboat plowing down the river in the distance.