The Story of You and Me (25 page)

He looked me square in my eyes. “Skip the Quest. Stay here with me. I’d be more than happy to tease you all night.”
 

I reminded myself to breathe and shook my head. “I have to go.”

“But you don’t. I don’t want you to go to this Vision Quest tonight, Sophie. It doesn’t feel safe. It doesn’t feel right.”
 

“Alejandro. I would prefer to stay here with you. I’d like to lie on a carpet of grass next to you while we eat magical guacamole and chips, as planes take off over our heads. But I can’t do that right now.”

“Why not?”

“Because my grandmother’s in the hospital with something that might make her heart explode. So you don’t get a vote on this one. I’m doing the Quest.” My own heart was pounding, but I forced myself to gaze back at the pile of survival gear. “Sturdy athletic shoes,” I said.

“Check.” Alex sighed and reached to put them in the backpack. I intercepted them as we tugged the sneakers in opposite directions. “No. I’ll wear them.”
 

He let go of the shoes, but grabbed my hand. “I’m driving you and staying with you through your entire Questy experience.”

“No.” I shook my head. “You can’t be there. You can drive me to their lodge. It’s on the way. After that, I have to do this with other people on the Quest. No outsiders allowed. Besides, Dr. Kelsey personally offered to drive me.”
 

“Dr. McKreepy? You think that I’m going to let you get in a car with bad Santa’s doppelganger who’s imbibed too many feel-good drugs and most likely lost a significant amount of his brain cells forever? No freaking way.”

“Hello? I’m nineteen. Not twelve. If I don’t do this one thing that could help my Nana? I’m not only a shitty granddaughter, I’m a shitty person.”
 

He sighed and scratched Napoleon’s belly. “Did you charge your cell phone? The reception can be hit or miss in the mountains.”

I yanked my cell out of my purse and plugged it into the wall socket.

He nodded. “Did you pack warm socks?”

“Yes, Nana.”

“I’m driving you to their lodge. Where is it?”

“Halfway up the mountain.”

“We have a ton of mountains in L.A. An address would be helpful, Sophie.”

“Oh, you know me. I’ll find it somehow.” I picked up the list and waved it at him. “Check out where it says, ‘Location.’”

He snatched the paper from me, looked at the “Location,” and inhaled sharply.

“What?” I swear his face paled. “You, okay?”
 

“Yeah. I know exactly where this place is.”

“Great. Where?”

“Right down the road from where I drove three people over a cliff and killed a girl.”
 

Oh crap, no. “You don’t have to drive me,” I said.

“Actually? I do.”

* * *

After all the packing and the discussions and the arguments we started kissing again and somehow found our way into my bedroom. I tugged his shirt off and we made out on my bed. We ran our hands over each other’s bodies. His mouth explored the curve of my neck.
 

I ran my hands over the muscles in his shoulder.
 

He traced my breastbone —from the top below my throat, to the bottom beneath my breasts—with the flat of his hand. My breath hitched in my chest.
 

I ran my hands over his chest and stomach, and somehow ended up at the waistline of his jeans.

He slid a hand underneath my ass and cupped it, pulling me toward him as he rolled us over so I was on top of him. He gazed into my face, his eyes glazed, his mouth moist and open, his breath ragged. “Sophie.”

We kissed and caressed each other when Napoleon skidded across us, back and forth, like we were speed bumps on his way to life.
 

“Aah!” I hollered as Napoleon attacked my hair. Alejandro swooped him up gently and deposited him on the floor. “Go play with your other cat toys, dude. I want to bury my lips in the skin on your stomach, Bonita.” He slid his hand up my shirt exposing the skin on my waist.

Kill me now.

When I caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall. It was time. “I hate to say this.” I swatted his hand away and pushed my shirt back down. “I’ve got to be wide awake in an hour so I can tackle climbing a mountain and talking to nature Gods. Which, by the way, scares the shit out of me.”

“So, cancel. Stay here with me.” He wrapped his arms around me and tugged me close to him.

It felt exquisite to be cradled in Alejandro’s arms. There was no place else I’d rather be. It was time to confess my secrets. Expose my real self to him. Be honest.
 

There’s an old saying that there are no accidents in life. As much as I thought Alejandro and I had begun because of an accident that night at the Grill, here we were a couple of months later, lying in each others’ arms. Here we were falling for each other. Okay, truth be told, I was totally falling for him. “Alejandro, I need to tell you something.”

“Tell me anything,” he said.
 

I sighed. “I’m not just here at USCLA for summer school.”

“I know, Bonita. You’re here to research alternative healers.”

“I’m not writing a book on alternative healing with my grandmother.”

“I kind of figured that out a while back. You’re here to find healing for your Nana.”

“Yes. I twisted away him and rolled over on my bed, so I wouldn’t have to look him in the eyes when I told him the truth. “But, there’s something else.”

What if once he heard I had MS, it sickened him as much as it sickened me and he left? What would I do without him?
 

My stupid hand started quivering, and I grabbed it with my other hand and pulled it close to my side, so, hopefully, he wouldn’t see. “My Nana’s not the only one with health issues. Turns out—”

When his cell phone blasted “Gimme Shelter.”
 

“No,” Alejandro said. “No. I am not doing this tonight. Whoever it is can call another Driver, or call a cab or sleep it off next to a sack of potatoes…” He peered at his phone. “Dammit!” He jumped out of my bed and punched the screen on his phone. “Nick? What the?” Alex strode out of my bedroom, yanking his shirt back on.
 

I extricated Napoleon from my hair, again, and pushed myself to sitting. I looked at the clock—it was time. I had to rock and roll or I’d be late.

“What do you mean,
you can’t
?” Alejandro paced through my living room. “We already talked about this. Yes, I know he’s been for-the-most-part clean for a while. Yes, he used to be my best friend. How come, tonight of all nights, you can’t?”

“It’s fine,” I whispered. “I can get a ride.” I pulled out my phone from the plug on the wall, fired it up and dialed.

“Hang on.” Alejandro waved his finger at me.

“Hey, Beth,” I said into my phone. “It’s Sophie Priebe. I met you at the Kelsey Vision Quest gathering at the hotel yesterday.” I nodded and listened. “Yes, I’m taking my first Quest tonight. I’m sorry, this is totally last minute. But Dr. Kelsey told me that you live close to me and that I could call you should my ride fall through. That seems to be happening.” I listened. “Cool! Do you know where the Grill is? Awesome! I’ll meet you outside in like fifteen minutes. Thanks. You rock.”

“He used to be troubled. Now he’s just an asshole,” Alejandro said into the phone. “Yeah, got it. Yes, we’ll talk. The timing sucks, you know.” He looked at me.

“Stop worrying before I punch you,” I said. “Trust me, I’m tempted.”

“This is the last time, Nick.” Alejandro said into the phone. “I’ll text you if it all goes to hell. And, thanks for the heads up.” He hung up and shoved the phone into his jeans pocket.

“You can’t drive me, can you?” I asked.

“No. Not tonight,” he said. “Duties. Loyalties. Damn it, Sophie. I’m just trying to be myself with you. Break free of my past. And yet, here it is. Obligation city.”

“Got it.” My heart sank. “Your first priorities are your friends and driving. That’s fine. That’s normal. I guess I rank third or fourth or fifth on your scale of important things. That’s cool. That’s reality. I’d rather deal in reality than fantasy.”

“After tonight, I plan on redefining my reality. And Bonita? Trust me, you and I have never been fantasy.”

* * *

Alejandro drove me to the Grill. He parked in the No-Parking zone, threw the car in neutral and the engine idled. He leaned over, put his hands on top of my shoulders and kissed me hungrily on my lips.

I pushed him away. Gently. “I’ve got to go.”
 

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m getting this thing done with Jackson, then I’ll drive up to the lodge.”

“Sounds good.” I stepped out the passenger door and adjusted my backpack so it was positioned more evenly across my shoulder blades. I looked at him. He stared at me while regret, fear and even hunger played across his beautiful face.
 

“Sophie?” a woman yelled, interrupting my thoughts, our gaze.
 

I turned and saw Beth waving at me from the open window of her sturdy, older Toyota hatchback that was double-parked, about a quarter block away.

“Beth!”
 

“Hurry up. We’ve got to get to the lodge on time.” She popped back in her car.

I gazed at Alejandro. “I’ve got to go.”

“I do too,” he said.

But neither of us moved.

“Sophie!” Beth yelled from her driver’s window as she edged out into traffic and headed toward me.
 

“Coming!” I rounded the front of Alex’s Jeep, and got stuck behind a couple of drunken tourists who staggered in front of me. One tripped and lurched toward me. I ducked and dodged out of his way.
 

Alex hit his horn, hard.
 

“Chill!” I hollered and made it to his window that was rolled all the way down.
 

“I should be there for you.” His brows were knit and he slammed the dashboard with his fist.

“You’re helping your friend. Tonight is no big deal. I’ll see you after.”

“Just one more thing,” he said.

I watched as Beth’s car crawled toward me through traffic. “What?”

“I love you, Sophie,” Alejandro said. “I think I’ve loved you since the holy guacamole under the airplanes that were taking off. I knew I loved you in Mexico. But I need to make it official. So, right now, I’d like to call this official. Okay?”
 

“Okay.” I wiped the back of my hand across my stupid crying eyes. “It’s official.”
 

“Kiss me.”

I leaned through the open driver’s window and I kissed him on his beautiful lips.
 

Beth blared her horn.

We separated and I stumbled backward.
 

“I’ll see you in a little bit. Be careful.” He pulled away from the curb out into Westwood traffic. Gazed at me for a second from his driver’s window. “Promise me you won’t do anything you’re not completely comfortable doing.”
 

“Promise,” I said and watched him leave.

* * *

Beth drove us out of local traffic onto a few highways and turned off an exit. She drove up into the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains.
 

The roads were curvy, narrow and dark. In the distance I could see the lights from the houses in the Valley below. The other side featured a layer of fog and below it the twinkles of city lights in West L.A. and Santa Monica. It was like we were on top of L.A.’s world, looking down.

Beth chatted on about how this was her third Quest. She’d plopped down six hundred bucks because she had a crush on one of Dr. Kelsey’s guides who’d be accompanying the Questers tonight. “If I’m lucky, he’ll chaperone me tonight,” she said.

I think what she actually meant to say was,
“If I’m lucky, he’ll bone me tonight.”
But I didn’t verbalize that because I didn’t want to be too much of a smartass considering she was being so nice, driving me and all.

We pulled into the lodge’s parking lot filled with a variety of cars and SUVS. A three-story, non-descript, concrete-block structure housed the headquarters for Kelsey Vision Quest. I ascertained this because “KELSEY VISION QUEST” was painted in block letters on its exterior walls. Meathead #1 stood by the front door. Meathead #2 was in the driver’s seat of Dr. Kelsey’s SUV and drove off, a cloud of dust in his wake.

We were late. Folks were already piling into vans, SUVs and trucks. Beth threw her car in park, yanked her keys out of the ignition and yelled, “Hurry up!” She grabbed her backpack from the backseat and I grabbed mine.
 

The next thing I knew, a greeter guy in the back of an open truck offered me a hand and hoisted me up. “You are?” he asked.

“Sophie Marie Priebe. Thanks for the help.”

“Sophie Priebe? Dr. Kelsey’s been looking for you.” He grabbed a pager and keyed in a message. Then handed me a form. “You need to read and sign the paperwork. Print your name next to your signature and the date.”
 

I grabbed the pen, signed on the line and dated. Always with the paperwork.

* * *

A group of about twenty of us sat in a circle on the dirt ground in the high desert in the Santa Monica Mountains. It was chilly, remote, no buildings in sight, the trucks parked far in the background on a patch of dried grass next to the narrow road. A couple of lanterns were positioned around our gathering and barely lit the place.
 

Dr. Kelsey stood in the middle of the circle and held court. “Everyone will have a human guide who stays with them during their Kelsey Vision Quest,” he said.

A middle-aged man seated across from me pulled out his matches and lit a small stick of bundled leaves. He blew on the leaves, fanned the flames and waved the smoke into our circle.
 

Dr. Kelsey practically tackled the guy and grabbed the lit stick. “What are you doing?” He jammed the lit end into the ground, twisting it until the embers disappeared.

“It’s sage. Typical Native American way to cleanse the energy. I’ve been on Quests before you know,” the man said.

“I know very well what sage is. And we don’t use it on my Quest,” Dr. Kelsey said. “This is my program. You follow my rules and everything will be fine. Even better than fine.” He stepped back into the center of the circle. “You’ll see things you’ve never seen before. Experience profound openings. Maybe even meet your spiritual guardians. Your human guide will keep you safe in the rare case that you have anxiety or concerns.” He pointed to two twenty-something guys and two women wearing Kelsey Vision Quest logos on their long-sleeved T-shirts. “Feel free to ask them questions.”