Big Yellow Taxi

Come on lover boy

Daniel remembered the hard bark of the tree against his back.  The warm feeling of Rowan wrapped up in his arms.  He remembered watching the people dancing and tapping his finger along with the beat of the drums.  But the rest of the festival celebration was to remain a blur to him for the rest of his life.  At some point one of Rowan's friends coaxed her out of the shadows and his arms.  Daniel watched her dance until he couldn't pick her out of the spinning crowd anymore.  He remembered Rowan bringing him more water and he remembered staring at the fire for what felt like a hundred years.  In the flames he saw things. Wolves howling at the moon.  Two huge dogs chasing each other through the woods while he followed behind.  That cop Daryl had met earlier in the day embracing him like they were brothers.  The strangest thing he saw was a vision of himself holding a small child in his arms.  A child that had his blue eyes and Rowan’s freckles.  Later Daniel convinced himself that he must have fallen asleep and dreamt it all.  

Aside from kissing Rowan, the next thing Daniel remembered was coming into hard and sudden contact with the ground.  There was gravel under him and some of it got in his mouth.  

"Eron!," Rowan cried out, rushing to Daniel's side and stroking his hair back to see if he was hurt, "I can't believe you dropped him!"  

"Oh no!," Eron cried out, kneeling on the other side of the man with a look of grave concern on his face, "I didn't mean to."  Jeff was far less apologetic.  He laughed and collapsed on the path himself, rolling around in the gravel like he was one of Rowan's dogs.  

"I couldn't help it Roe," he insisted between fits of laughter, "your new boyfriend weighs a damn ton."  He knew he had suddenly dropped like a log and left Eron unable to support the larger man's heavy body alone, but in his opinion this was all Rowan and Eron's fault for letting the poor guy have so much absinthe in the first place.  That was one drug you had to start slowly with until you were used to the effects.  

"Daniel," Rowan cooed, "are you alright?"  The sight of Rowan petting a grown man like he was a child or one of her dogs sent Jeff off into another fit of laughter.  Eron left Daniel's side and crawled over to Jeff where he began tickling the other man mercilessly.  Rowan darted over, trying to separate them and make the two rascals stop fooling around.  Of course the only thing for them to do at that point was wrestle Rowan to the ground and tickle her until she screamed and squealed with laughter.  

The sound of Rowan crying out to be left alone brought Daniel out of his drunken stupor.  He awoke to the sight of what appeared to be two men pinning Rowan to the ground and trying to rip her clothes off.  She was kicking and hollering at them to stop.  They were groping her all over her body.  Daniel struggled to his feet and took aim.  

"Let'er go," he hollered.   Luckily his fist missed Eron's face by a good six inches before he fell back down into the gravel on his rump.  Eron and Jeff stopped harassing Rowan, both of them staring at Daniel for a few moments in shock before they exploded in laughter.  "Gonna stomp both yer asses into tha ground!," Daniel informed them.  That only served to make the men laugh harder as Rowan struggled to her feet and brushed off the dirt and gravel, trying to regain some sort of composure.  

"It's okay Daniel," she told him, stroking her hand over his hair again, "We were only playing."  His extreme concern for her safety made her feel like her heart was melting inside her chest.  Rowan reached down to grab a hold of his hand with the two of hers in an attempt to get Daniel back on his feet.  The facepaint that had been so carefully applied earlier in the day was now a smeared rainbow mess on her face.  There were leaves in her hair and her arms were streaked with fire soot and dirt.  But to Daniel she still looked beautiful, like some sort of wild angel.  Forgetting how angry he had been only a few moments before, he decided he was much more interested in pulling her down into his lap to kiss her than he was in being helped to his feet.  Rowan squeaked as she was pulled off balance.  But even in his current state of fogginess, Daniel didn't let her fall.  He caught her and lowered her down into his lap where he began pawing at her and pressing sloppy kisses onto her face and neck.  Rowan was not as affected as Daniel was by the mixture they drank.  But she was still high enough that she started kissing him back, forgetting Eron and Jeff were even there until they started whistling and cawing at her like a couple crazy birds.  

Rowan wriggled away from Daniel, which wasn't easy since he had a firm grip on her and was rather determined to keep her in his lap.  A long piece of the fringe from her scarf tangled between his fingers and ripped off.  

"He's been fringed!," Jeff announced.  Rowan laughed and shook her head at him, thinking to herself that Daniel wasn't the only one that had too much to drink.  

"Come on lover boy," Eron announced, "let's get you to your feet."  He grasped the heavy man under his shoulders and lifted up.  Rowan grabbed Daniel's hand again and pulled with all the strength she could muster up.  Between the two of them they managed to get Daniel on his feet.  Before he could fall down again, Eron and Rowan maneuvered him between them, each wrapping one of his strong arms over their shoulders to keep him vertical.  It wasn't that much further to the vistor's lodge but Rowan was glad that Daniel was conscious enough now to at least hold some of his own weight up.  Jeff had not been kidding, the man was heavier than he looked.  

The small trio got inside the lodge by turning sideways through the doorway.  Rowan had written her name on the door of one of the rooms earlier to reserve it and luckily the large bed inside had remained empty.  Once they got close, Rowan let Eron hold Daniel up for a moment by himself while she pulled back the covers for him.  Daniel was tired enough not to put up a fight about being tucked into bed like a child.  Rowan took his boots off for him.  It wasn't until she tried to loosen his belt for him that he grabbed her arms and tried dragging her into bed with him.  

"You can see her in the morning," Eron promised the man as he pulled Rowan back off the bed and untangled her hair from Daniel's hands to keep it from being pulled out.  Eron shooed her towards the doorway and yanked the covers up over the man himself, smiling to himself over what Daniel's redneck brother would think about him being tucked into bed by another man.  

"Goodnight Daniel," Rowan whispered from the doorway, not trusting herself to give him a kiss goodnight.  The only response she got were the soft snores that were already emanating from the man.  She giggled softly and let Eron take her by the hand to lead her outside.  

Even though she knew the way well, Jeff and Eron walked Rowan back to her house.  One of her arms was wrapped around Jeff's waist and Eron held her other hand in his, swinging it as they walked.  She still wished just a little that she had climbed into bed with Daniel and fallen asleep in his arms but walking along sandwiched in between her friends she still felt happy and loved.  Eron stopped at the end of the small path that led up to her door but Jeff kept his arm around her and walked along the garden lined path all the way to her door.  He took his arm from around her shoulders and wrapped it around her waist instead, pulling her against him.  Casual affection was not uncommon between friends as close as they were so Rowan wasn't surprised when he kissed her.  What surprised her was how long his lips lingered, turning the kiss from friendly to something else.  

"You know you're welcome to come home with us if you don't want to be alone," Jeff told her, his voice husky and barely above a whisper.  Even in the dark Rowan knew his face was turning as red as his hair.  It was not the first time Jeff had made such an offer, though usually he disguised his advances with more jest.  The fact that he was attracted to her despite his s****l orientation had not escaped Rowan's attention.  If it wasn't for the man sleeping a few buildings away, she might have been even more tempted than she was to go with him.  Her nerve endings were still tingling from what she drank and the thought of going home alone to an empty bed was not an appealing one.  

Rowan kissed Jeff one more time before pulling back and pressing her forehead against his.  "Another night," she finally answered.  Jeff pulled her against him but this time his hug felt friendly again, unlike the last embrace.  He kissed her cheek before he pulled away, holding onto her hand as long as he could before distance separated them.  Rowan watched him walk back to Eron.  The two men kissed and waved goodnight to her before they disappeared from sight.  

Rowan smiled to herself as she headed inside.  She stopped to tell her mother that she was home safe but the woman's door was locked.  This was unusual and could only mean one thing, that her mother had company.  Company of the s****l variety.  Rowan giggled, covering her hand with her mouth to muffle the noise.  She was willing to bet anything that her parents were inside her mother's room together, which always filled Rowan with happiness.  Her mother would knock her silly for even thinking it but Rowan always hoped when they were together that her mother might get pregnant again.  She would like a little brother or a sister.  It would be like having a baby without having to actually have one.

With thoughts of babies and love on her mind, Rowan pushed her big dog off her side of the bed and laid down.  She was too tired to change her clothes and even if she hadn't been she wanted to fall asleep to the smell of Daniel that was lingering in the fabric.  Tank grunted one of his low tone dog grunts and scooted back across the bed so he was closer to her.  Rowan knew she would wake up with his scratchy dog paws in her face but she didn't have the heart to shove him away again.  The sound of his slow even breathing had almost lulled her all the way to sleep when Ayla appeared in her doorway.

"Roe?," the other girl called out quietly, "are you awake in there."  Rowan might have teased the other girl and said she was awake now, but the shaky tone in Ayla's voice alarmed her.  

"I'm awake," Rowan whispered back.

"Can I sleep with you?," Ayla asked.  Rowan was sure of what she had only suspected before.  Ayla's voice was hoarse and shaky.  She had been crying.  

"Of course," Rowan told the other girl.  She elbowed Tank back toward the other side of the bed and scooted along behind him, holding up the covers so her friend could climb in next to her.  Ayla's weight barely even shifted the bed as she crawled in and wrapped her arms around Rowan.  The moment her friend was holding her a fresh spout of tears spilled out of the girl.  

"What happened?," Rowan asked, feeling concern and fear well up inside her.  Rowan was a sympathetic crier and soon she felt her own tears starting to fall and mix in with Ayla's.  Ayla was crying too hard to answer her question so Rowan asked another one that she knew the girl could answer with a nod or shake of her head.

"Did he hurt you?," she asked.  Rowan didn't like to think the worst of people, but something about Daniel's brother had rubbed her the wrong way right from the moment she met him.  The aura around the man was brown with arrogance.  Ayla should have been able to see that.  He had no respect for other people's feelings.  Rowan knew that, but she still didn't think the man was mean enough to really hurt her friend or she wouldn't have left them alone together.

Ayla shook her head.  Rowan held her closer and breathed a sigh of relief.  "Calm down and breathe," Rowan coaxed, "Picture a circle of white light around you.  Nothing can hurt you.  You're perfect in every way."  Rowan stroked Ayla's hair and her back as she repeated the phrases softly again and again until Ayla's tears subsided.

"Now tell me what happened," Rowan instructed.  Ayla rolled over and Rowan cuddled in behind her like they were two spoons lying on edge.  She held her young friend close and waited for her to speak, which she did.

"We...  We...," Ayla started, her voice still shaky.  "We made love," she said, finally spitting out the words.  Making love didn't seem like the right words to describe what she and Marv had done but she supposed it got her point across well enough.

"Daniel's brother?," Rowan asked, not wanting to assume.  Ayla nodded her head.  She felt like if she said Marv's name it might make her start crying all over again.

"You didn't want to?," Rowan asked.  Rowan lived in a sheltered community but that didn't mean she didn't know was r**e was.  Her grandmother had been r***d.  That's how the woman got pregnant with Rowan's mother.  Her parents tried to force her to marry the man that had assaulted her.  That was why she ran away from home.  The people that founded Rowan's community found her grandmother starving and pregnant, begging for change at a train station.  She came to sleep the night with them at what was then just a small farmhouse surrounded by woods.  She never left.  Rowan's grandmother had told her the story many times.  It was meant to be a warning about not trusting people, especially men, from outside the community.  

"No," Ayla said, struggling for the words to explain how she felt, "I liked that part.  It was after that he was mean to me."

"Mean how?," Rowan asked.  She felt some relief that at least her friend hadn't been violated but she still wanted to know what happened.  Next time she saw that cocky jerk, Rowan was going to give him a piece of her mind for making her friend cry.

"He didn't hold me at all after and all he said to me was that he had fun," Ayla said, new tears welling up in her eyes, "then he left me there alone."  Rowan sighed.  Not that what the man had done wasn't rude, but the way Ayla was carrying on she had been expecting to hear a lot worse.  "I thought he really liked me," Ayla added before she turned and tried to muffle her sobs into Rowan's pillow.  

Rowan stroked Ayla's hair, pulling little pieces of hay out that had become tangled up in her long locks and flicking them away onto the floor of her room.  She rubbed Ayla's back and let the girl cry herself out.  While Rowan did agree that taking off immediately after s*x was rather rude and sounded more like the behavior of a wild animal than something a grown man would do, she thought Ayla's expectations of the man had been more than a little unrealistic.  Marv was from outside their community.  He didn't know their customs.  Maybe acting like that was commonplace in the outside world, Rowan really had no idea.  

Aside from Daniel, the only men Rowan had dated from outside the community were men from her father's indian reservation and they had all made it very clear from the moment they met her that they were looking for marriage.  Rowan's father was the chief of his tribe, like his father before him and before him, dating back as many generations as they could remember.  She was her father's only child.  He had no sons.  This made her prime marriage material despite the fact that her mother was white.  To her father's great annoyance, Rowan treated the whole situation like one big silly joke.  She had no intention of allowing herself to be courted or married off to someone who only wanted to gain some sort of strange native american social standing.  She was not a prize to be won.  

"Maybe he really did just have fun," Rowan suggested kindly once Ayla finished her second round of tears.  She didn't say what she really thought for fear of upsetting her friend more.  That Ayla was lovely and amazing.  And that if Marv couldn't see that then he didn't deserve her.  "I'm sure he didn't mean to upset you," Rowan added, "why don't you sleep on it and talk to him tomorrow."  

"Do you think he likes me?," Ayla asked, reaching for one of the hankies that Rowan kept near her bed to wipe up her nose.  Rowan pulled Ayla by the shoulder, rolling the girl onto her back so she could look her in the face in the dim light of the room.  Rowan kissed each of Ayla's soft round cheeks one after the other.

"I think any man would be crazy not to like you," Rowan told her.  And that was the honest truth.