“Sleep like the barbatuwe in the trees,” he says softly before standing back up. He walks over to the exit of the cave and sits with his back to me, looking out into the dark night.
I pull the soft leafy blanket up to my neck and arch my body so that I can see his strong back rising and falling with every heavy breath. He’s staying up to guard the cave. To guard me.
He’s sweet. And sexy too, if I’m being honest.
I drift off to sleep dreaming of blue abs.
eight
I wake up with a sore neck but at least I’m dry and warm. The nice, soft, leafy blanket has turned stiff and flat as if I’m lying under a big piece of cardboard. I push it off of me and sit up, rubbing the back of my neck.
The fire is still going and the suns seem to be out.
My blue protector is still sitting in front of the cave where he was when I fell asleep. Has he been watching over me all night?
“Good morning,” I say, my voice thick and groggy.
He turns and smiles, his face looking tired but happy.
“Have you been up all night?” I ask, feeling terrible.
He just shrugs. “Cookie Monster wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t come back.”
“Oh,” I say, my eyes dropping to the ground between us. I forgot about him.
He turns back away from me, dropping his eyes to his working hands. He seems to be making something out of sticks.
“Are you crafting?” I ask with a grin.
“Cookie Monster is making you a gift,” he says proudly. He turns, presenting a long bow in his hands. It looks just like the one he keeps strapped to his back. It’s beautiful. Long and sleek, carved out of wood with a tight string attached to the two curved ends.
He even carved a flower into the handle.
I’m speechless. Here I was dreaming of pancakes and pillows all night while he was sitting up watching over me and making me this thoughtful present.
I take it and my heart starts thumping in my chest. I’m not sure if it’s from the nicest gift that anyone has ever given me or from the intense way that he’s looking at me.
“I love it,” I say as I lift it up and flick back the taut string with my fingertip. “I’ve never shot a bow and arrow before.”
“The noble Cookie Monster will show you how,” he says, running his hand along my forearm giving me goosebumps. “Arm straight.”
“Maybe I can catch us some breakfast,” I say with a chuckle. I just know that I’m going to be an excellent shot one day. Maybe not at first but when I want to do something, I don’t give up until I’m the best at it.
“Cookie Monster has something better than breakfast. Come.” He grabs his stuff and darts out of the cave before I can ask what it is.
I follow him out, squinting from the light of the suns. It’s a gorgeous day and all of the rain clouds have disappeared from the bright blue sky.
The big guy runs fast and I struggle to keep up. He stops on a dime in front of a waist-high plant with long yellow leaves the size of ironing boards that curve down to the ground. There are a dozen or so gray dildos sticking out from the middle of the freaky looking plant.
“Here,” he says, snapping off one of the gray dildos and handing it to me. It’s a little early for whatever he has in mind.
He takes one for himself and breaks it in half easily. He lifts one piece to the end and squeezes out the gel into his open mouth. He closes his eyes and moans as he swallows it down.
“Eat,” he says when he finally opens his eyes and sees me still holding mine.
“What the hell,” I mutter with a shrug. I try to crack it in my hands but it’s like trying to crack a rock. It’s then that I realize how strong this Cookie Monster guy must really be. He broke it easily.
I try to crack it on my knee but all it does is leave my knee aching.
He takes it from me and breaks it as easily as if he was snapping a dry spaghetti noodle. “Squeeze,” he says, handing it back to me.
I open my mouth and try to squeeze the gel in but it’s too hard. I’m embarrassed that I don’t have the grip strength to do it.
“Cookie Monster will help,” he says, taking it from me. It feels oddly sexual as I raise my chin with my mouth open, waiting for him to squeeze the gel out of this cock-looking thing onto my tongue.
All of that is forgotten when the gel hits my tongue. It feels like a flavor grenade exploded in my mouth. I close my eyes and moan even louder than he did.
We eat them all and I’m sad that they’re gone, even though my stomach is full.
“It is the after-rain plant,” he explains. “They only come up in the morning after a rainfall.”
“Oh,” I say as I lick my fingers clean.
“Cookie Monster loves them.”
“Okay,” I say. This has to stop. “What’s your real name?”
“The great and noble Saku Avery, gave Cookie Monster the proud name of Cookie Monster,” he says, raising his chin with pride as he speaks.
“I think she was fucking with you,” I say. He wrinkles his forehead like he doesn’t understand. “She was just joking around.”