Green Piece

I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Danielle. Call her whatever you like -- Dani, Dana, Elle, names don't matter much to her. I call her Dani, sometimes Terra. She's a beautiful girl, my Dani, though every guy says that about his girl when he can get away with it. Truth is, there are a lot of beautiful women, some heart-meltingly cute, others smoking hot, many simply attractive in an earthy way. The last is my Dani, not the girl next door, but the girl outdoors. Long brown hair of caramel hue that is always tied back in a ponytail or secured, because brushing it out after a day out can be a real bitch, she tells me.

Hazel eyes to match and complexion that is almost always tanned a darker than normal shade. She comes by her tans honestly, not by the artificially-inflicted light cast in gaudy salons, or that sickly orange shade that comes out of a spray bottle, but the darkening that is gifted to people with skin that doesn't burn easily. That is a gift because she looks even better with the exotic coloring.

Not an ounce of fat on her, though nobody will ever mistake her for a bodybuilder. Slight of frame, and angular in her appearance, she has a modest bust and a height to match the average man. Those comparatively smaller breasts are a feature nobody will ever complain about, because she's got legs, and does she know how to use them? You betcha she does.

A friend once told me, "When you've made the long climb up that stairway to heaven, anything more than a handful is a waste." Hank was kind of an asshole, and I'm pretty sure he cobbled both lines together from old movies, but hey, there's truth to it. She's got more than enough up top and looks great with what she's got.

***

Terra is my nickname for her, and as weird as it sounds, there really is good inspiration for it. As a kid, mythology was one of my favorite hobbies, and the idea that there might be this pantheon of gods and goddesses that ruled over every aspect of life had a weird sort of appeal. Not cool anymore, because there are enough losers running the show and telling us how we should live our lives without adding divinities into the mix, but as a kid? Yeah, ate it right up, nom nom nom.

The Greek and Roman pantheons are almost like mirror images of each other, each with deities of the same spheres, but Gaia and Terra always seemed to be the most appropriate. Not Artemis or Diana -- their divine resumes also include nature, but they're all about the hunt and virginity. The only hunting Dani does is with a camera and virginity was a fond memory long before I came into the picture.

Who is Terra? She's the Roman goddess of earthquakes, of pregnant animals and motherhood. Anyone who knows her can draw the first parallel easily enough. Terra... Danielle, I mean... believes in things passionately. She's always got a cause, be it an endangered bird or beast, an environment in need of protecting, a faceless corporation to earn her savage contempt.

A greenie is what most people would call her, but she's not that brand of asshole that better classifies as an eco-extremist. In her eyes, people are animals too, and as her own species, deserving of the first and foremost consideration. To her, it's about the balance, and she believes that laziness and greed are the only reasons not to seek that balance.

It probably goes without saying that she works part time as in veterinarian's clinic while working on her degree in Biology. Don't ask me what she studies, stuff like that is way over my head, something to do with systematic research. I don't bother to try and understand since she usually laughs at me when I make the effort. The veterinary work is where animals come in.

As for motherhood? It's no secret that she wants to have kids someday, but like most girls, she's looking for Mr. Right, and it's up in the air as to whether that's me or not.

***

That's my Danielle, my Terra. In fact, if you knew me, you might wonder what exactly attracts her to me. Confession time: techno-geek here. Sure, it's a field with potential for big money, but I do spend an awful lot of free time indulging my internet interests, talking on the phone, and in general, substituting electronics for their real world counterparts. I'm the guy who sets up a folder filled with pictures of beautiful scenery or exotic locations to enjoy and obsess over later. I suppose it is nature porn of a kind, except without women in it. Don't ask what fetish that is; I don't jerk off over it! Just gaze longingly and drool.

That was how we met. Though we weren't in similar programs, we did share a couple of entry-level courses, and knew each other by name, if nothing else.

So there I was, between classes at the computer lab, sorting through a ridiculous variety of photographs working out an organized format, and the first thing I heard was a breathy voice saying, "Carlsbad Caverns? Yellowstone? I don't even recognize that one... have you actually been to all these places?"

Startled out of my point-and-click reverie, I turned to find myself nose to nose with the brunette, her hazel eyes intent on the computer screen. "Uh, n-no. Just a collection of photos I've picked up at sites all over the internet. Personal collection, you know?"

She turned her attention to me, and startled at the proximity of my face, drew back. Laughing uneasily, she said, "What, you mean you haven't been to _any_ of them? That's so boring."

Yeah, it kind of stings, being told by a pretty girl you barely know that your personal hobbies are boring. Stung, I replied defensively. "Really, who has the time? There's so much other stuff to do."

"Like what?" Danielle asked skeptically. "In the hours it takes you to look up and organize all those pictures, you could probably have spent an afternoon biking and enjoying a lot of the same kind of scenery."

There's a point at which the attention of a pretty girl is not what you hoped it would be and she starts to piss you off. Danielle was quickly reaching that point. "Go out and get dirty, hot and tired? Why, when you can get a better and way more varied experience with a single Google search? What's the point?"

At the time, it seemed as if such a pointed dig at her own hobbies might make her a little more appreciative of how she was treating mine, but she simply smiled.

"You're engaging one sense only."

"Sight? What does that even mean?"

"Engage your brain, college-man" she said, rolling her eyes. "You like steak?"

"Well, yeah, doesn't everyone? What's your point?"

"Engage your senses. Sound -- don't you love the way it sizzles on the grill? Taste - whether you like it rare or browned, it appeals first on flavor alone. Smell -- that savor gives the taste even more context. Sight -- you just know it's going to be even better, the way the way the juice drips right off the meat." Fascinated, I watched as she unconsciously licked her lips. Later, I'd mentally add in heavy sexual overtones to the memory, but for now, Danielle was in her zone, preaching Her Word. "Touch -- You're your fork into the tender meat, ready to cut a slice."

Grinning widely, the hazel of her eyes flickering in the light, she said, "Are you still sure that a photo of a steak is as satisfying as the real thing?"

First impression: Danielle was clearly not a vegetarian, whatever greenie tendencies she possessed. Second impression: she'd just thoroughly owned me in this argument. I had nothing.

"I don't have a white flag to wave, but I concede! Truce! Truce!" I acknowledged with a laugh, trying to show a little class in defeat.

That triumphant grin softened somewhat. "Okay, I'll be nice. To be fair, you're more honest about your response than some people are. Computers are useful in their place, but people spend way too much time on them. Wouldn't you rather experience some things for yourself?"

"Never thought about it," I admitted. "Easier to just log on, do your thing, move on to something else."

"Bo-ring" Danielle repeated emphatically. "You have a bike, don't you?"

"Of course, who can afford gas these days?"

"Well then, why don't you come along this Saturday when we go riding on the Waverland Backtrails?"

I could think of a few things I'd rather be doing, but she clearly wasn't going to let me off the hook until she'd had a chance to prove her theories in the field. "Sure, I suppose. Who's 'we'?"

"You might know Josh from Comp, but they're mostly just people I've met here at the U. Five of us, all told. We have lots of fun and we're not all in the same majors, so you don't have to feel like the extra wheel."

Yeah, she wasn't giving me any outs, so I agreed to it.

***

Danielle was as good as her word, and when they came to pick me up in Rod's van that weekend, there was no sense of being the odd man out. All that talk of bicycling through back trails, enjoying all that nature had to offer, gazing upon god's green earth gave me the distinct impression that I was going to be hooking up with a bunch of unwashed hippie kids straight out of those Fifties documentaries, but it wasn't like that at all. They were just ordinary people, could have been anyone passing in the hallways back at the university. Lisa was a Psych major, her boyfriend Rod was in the same program. Josh had something to do with Biology, but I never quite figured out what Sam did, just that she was supremely dissatisfied with it and never wanted to talk about school.

Despite their almost dull projection of being ordinary folks like anyone else, they seemed more focused, and I quickly found out that was because cell phones were to be turned off at all times and other techie devices except for ordinary cameras were banned from the trip. Not that they didn't own such things, Danielle told me pointedly, just that devices were an unnecessary distraction.

I thank whatever forces guide them that they took it easy on me that first time. Turns out that the Waverland Backtrails are one of the easier terrains to cross, and biking can fast become a serious workout, challenging the endurance. As it was, they had to stop for me several times, huffing and puffing to keep up. I'd enjoyed thinking of myself as lean and healthy before that day, benefiting from subsistence on a college diet without any unsightly love handles or flesh, but the illusion was shattered. It seems that not being fat doesn't necessarily mean you are physically fit.

They all played nice, though, thank god for that. Good company, and more importantly, that was the day Danielle first seduced me. 'First', because she didn't do it with her body, but her mind; the other would come later. When we stopped at destination points she'd already arranged ahead of time with the group, she'd point things out that I'd have missed otherwise, naming flora and fauna... those were her words, not mine... with the ease of someone who has spent years observing them. Always doing it with that evocative game she'd first played with me at the computer lab.

"Open your mouth, just enough to breathe and inhale. Combine that with what you smell of the maples. Notice that even without putting anything on your tongue, you can practically taste the bitterness? If there are conflicting odors, you could judge by the lightness or texture of the bark, but that is how you tell the difference between reds and sugars."

Dani loved explaining this stuff, not so much showing off her knowledge as endowing an attentive student with a lasting education. She had the knack, alright. That was the first glimpse I had of her as something more than mortal, someone completely at home in her chosen element. Fascinating, and a little like love.

I was hooked, and that Saturday signaled an end to weekends spent cruising aimlessly around the internet, playing mindless games, programming shit that would never see practical application, or engaging in vapid conversations with people a world away that I would never see or have any deeper interaction with. All of that scattered to the far corners of my life, and even during long absences from those hobbies, I never missed them.

The trip was not all fun and games. Hawk-keen eyes caught everything, and there was a minor flare of temper from Danielle each time we came across another biker or hiker's trash, cast-off fast food wrappers, beer cans, just about anything. She hated litter with a passion, considering it an insult of the highest degree to an environment that everyone came to enjoy. Before going out, she'd inspected my belongings, reminding me that anything I took in needed to be taken out.

"People can be such fucking lazy pricks," Dani had fumed, gesturing angrily at a pile of trash that had been obscured at trail side. "Everything is so beautiful this time of year; nobody wants to look at greasy cellophane and empty soda cans." It went without saying that we would pick it up, tucking it into tidy little bags that were brought just for crap like this.

Later, she'd try and convince me to spend an upcoming Earth Day picking up roadside litter with her, but fuck that, really. By that time, Dani had introduced me to all sorts of interesting causes on the companion Sundays that went with our biking Saturdays, and who wanted to pick up trash when you could go to an Awareness rally, meet and match the enthusiasm of others in promoting something meaningful? Dani disagreed, as she felt that action was more meaningful than chatter about what should be done, but it was one thing I wasn't going to budge on.

In the meantime, our day had come to an end, spring twilight coming down in spectacular oranges and blues, she pushed me for my thoughts on the day. Confession was the only reasonable response and I told her how much I'd enjoyed the trip. The triumphant nature of her grin dominated, and she enthusiastically suggested I join them again in the future, eyes wide with pleasure. An aura of almost-but-not-quite natural spirit still suffused her, and gave her ordinarily attractive features an otherworldly beauty.

Her proximity was arousing, and I reacted just as she'd been training me to all day. Inhale and combine that smell with taste: Dani didn't wear perfumes or makeup, but there was a distinct light odor, perhaps a shampoo she'd used that morning. Listening, I can just barely hear her exhalations, breaths only the mildest exertion from a long day biking, audible over my own only for my attention to them.

My eyes registered the puzzled expression on Dani's face, but Samantha stood silently behind her, with a wicked grin on her round face. The red-head knew exactly what I was doing.

Lifting a hand to my hair, I touched the sweat-dampened locks meaningfully, and those hazel eyes began to narrow in irritation. "What-"

"Strawberry," I said with satisfaction.

The color of her face almost matched the fruit I'd named as the flavor of her chosen shampoo when she finally picked up on what I was getting at, and her friend burst into wild laughter at Dani's expression. "Smooth!" Sam cackled at me, nearly doubling over.

***

Like Dani's other friends, I'm just ordinary folks, average height, average looks, average grades, just about average everything. Yet it seemed that the smooth delivery of what was only intended as teasing payback was enough to capture her interest in me as something more than a friend. It would be weeks before I realized that we were a couple, though later she told me that I'd hooked her with those words. Not because I'd been paying attention, but paying attention to her, and she'd found something extraordinarily sexy in it.

Flirtation and overtures weren't completely foreign, but it had been awhile, since the clumsy romances of high school, actually, and I certainly didn't see it coming when she finally came on to me. It wasn't like _that_ mind you, some goofy Rom-Com where we stumbled awkwardly through a series of comedic engagements before realizing that we were together.

We were a couple, that went without saying when she'd gone for a kiss the second time I pulled the five-senses stunt on her and noticed the scent of a different shampoo. While I was working it out, she planted a solid kiss on my lips, permanently derailing my thoughts from whichever hair-washing gels she kept in the cabinet. I'm slow sometimes, but neither numb nor dumb, and responded with equal enthusiasm, enjoying the embrace, even with the catcalls and wolf whistles of the others. The brunette already had her hooks in my brain, but with that kiss, she officially had me body as well as soul.

You might think that we were paired off into couples, but it really wasn't like that. Rod and Lisa were already together well before meeting Dani, while Josh and Sam were simply friends who came along for the ride. Our trips were not some sort of chaste outing, though: there was a pervasive and raunchy atmosphere, mostly stemming from Sam, with Rod and Lisa as an endless source of material for the red-head's sly asides or outright taunts.

I should explain. While Dani and I had our moments, Rod and Lisa were simply infatuated with each other, and it was common on our stops for pictures and breaks to see a feathery mane of dishwater blonde semi-permanently attached to dark nest of hair that was her boyfriend by a lip-lock that was concealed within. Assuming we saw them rather than heard them, of course; as often as not, they'd disappear into a copse of trees or dense brush, and the only thing we would hear for a while were giggles, moans, and grunts. They weren't vocal, but they sure were enthusiastic about it.

"Mustn't leave him with blue-balls, Miss Lisa," Samantha had chanted in sing-song after the departing pair, the last time we'd been out.

The girl didn't care though, and simply flipped a parting bird at the red-head's teasing jabs, prompting a fit of giggles from Dani. "Looks like you're losing your touch, Sammie," she laughed into her hands. "Gotta get some new material!"

Deciding to be a bit daring, I gave my girlfriend a playful swat on the rump that caused her to straighten in surprise and look at me with wide eyes. Giving her my best mischievous grin, I said, "We could give her some new material to work with."

There was a bit of risk in this, as we hadn't done anything more than kissing together yet, but the presence of others had never really hindered her. Maybe it was general shamelessness or an exhibitionist streak or the high of an outing in her element.

Whatever passed for an attempt to charm her out of her pants seemed to have mixed results. "Well, well, well," she said, considering me intently. "You're awfully daring today. A little cocky, even."

"If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended," I tried, going for a little Shakespeare.

"That's nowhere near as smooth as that Strawberry line, and sounds like a cheesy cop-out," Dani objected. "I'd almost think you weren't really committed to it in the first place..."

Lack of commitment to the cause, eh? "Well, fuck pick-up lines then," I told her, and moved forward, slipping my hands into the back pockets of her jeans, drawing her hips close to mine, and grinding what had to be a noticeable erection against her. Adding in a kiss with a little tongue for good measure, I inwardly counted seconds, expecting her to push me away with some kind of protest.

No, the commitment to the path was all that was needed, and she responded enthusiastically for a few minutes before disengaging, much to the delight of Sam, who got Josh to join in applauding us.

"Remember that little waterfall you showed me? Might make a fine place..." I suggested with a grin.

"Confidence gets you everywhere," she returned with a smile of her own, grabbing hold of my wrist and pulling me in the direction I'd suggested.

It was a fantastic location, actually -- Denly Hills wasn't large enough to be a state park, but had great natural landscapes that included a number of natural waterfalls that contributed to lush growth and spectacular color in various flowers that sprung up around it. A pleasant place to eat, rest and relax to the pleasant drone of cascading water, and I was surprised that Rod and Lisa had chosen to go to the nearby lake it emptied into instead. Their loss was most definitely my gain.