Chapter 3

Craig 3

Craig reclined back in his chair. His bare toes levered under his desk to keep him from falling. He had been holed up in his room for nearly forty-five hours now. He had been distracted since getting to second base with Emily. He hadn't even sought the courage to talk to her since. He scrolled down further. Blonde-haired, green-eyed, young porn stars were a dime a dozen; but the one he found who looked about right, sounded like someone was stepping on a dog's chew toy and it had brought him full out of his fantasy. He almost dropped backwards in his chair at the knock on his door.

"Just a second!" he shouted, sounding drier and hoarser than he cared to. Grimacing, he grabbed a pair of jeans from under his bed. He was shoving his leg into the pants when he thought, "No one knocks on my door."

His erection dwindled by the time he buttoned his jeans. He had forgotten the zipper when he opened the door to find Emily inside his apartment.

She saw the open fly and immediately looked up, a little embarrassed. "Keira's not around?"

"No?" Craig observed.

"Do you know where she is? I was hoping to head out to the lake today."

"If we text her we're heading out that way, she'll meet us." Craig suggested with a shrug.

"Uh, yeah I suppose." Emily responded with a mite of uncertainty. "Dad left the car again so when you're ready we can go."

"Cool. I'll grab my shorts." Craig announced. He turned back into his room. Emily followed him in. His soccer shorts from last time were folded in a laundry basket next to the closet.

"Your room is really bland. You should have some pictures, or posters, or anything." She looked around from the unmade twin bed to the computer desk that had several empty Pepsi bottles stacked wherever they would fit. Yesterday's clothes rested in a puddle near the bed.

"Uh, I guess." Craig was suffering from the urge to collect the garbage and toss the laundry into hamper. That was second to getting Emily out of the room, before somehow the mouse got moved and Emily saw that he had been masturbating to her pornographic doppelganger. "You want to head out?"

"You gonna change?" Emily stepped back to the door.

"I can do it at the cabin." Craig followed.

"Do you mind carrying my bag while I text Keira?" Emily asked as they headed out of the apartment.

"Sure," Craig picked up the bag of towels and sundries. "Don't worry about Keira. She's probably already at the lake."

Keira never replied to the text nor was she waiting for them. Craig witnessed the wind droop out of Emily's sails.

"She's on her way." Craig said over his shoulder. He was heading to the cabin and Emily hurried after him. Her longer legs closed the distance quickly.

"So did you bring a bikini this time?" Craig asked. He had needed to take a deep breath in advance and after to cement any sort of confidence.

"Look, Craig," Emily couldn't bring her eyes to his, "I want to play and have fun, but I don't want to ... you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Craig muttered.

"There's someone else. I wouldn't want to be a girl like that."

"OK," Craig managed to sound clear. He could feel a shudder crouched in his lungs, threatening to pounce on every word. "I like you. We can be friends."

His word choice contained the adolescent finality of the term. It was the suggestion that if they didn't have the chance to fuck what value could she have? His smile curtailed the blow. He wasn't so callous. "Besides, you are going to wear that other bikini today."

"Craig..."

"You chickening o-out?" His variegated stammer made her lip curl halfway towards a smile.

"Maybe I just didn't bring another suit to wear?" Emily raised an eyebrow pointing out the truth. She finally met his gaze. "If you try to go in the water wearing that t-shirt I'll be putting on extra layers too."

"Uh..." Craig said as Emily carried her bag into the little washroom. He had his shorts in his hand. A few seconds passed, he was waiting for his turn. She'll be longer in there than it'd take to switch out of these pants.

Still, he rushed. He kicked hard out of the legs of his jeans. His boxers were removed in tandem with his pants. Worried, he scrambled into his trunks. He was scared she might see his dick. Every outcome he imagined was bad. All the fantasies he conjured always occurred in neglect of the idea that he would be naked too.

The door opened and Emily stepped out. She stunned Craig. Two days ago she had been pretty, the red bikini and her untanned skin had been nice. The white top clearly covered less of her breasts. Thin strips of untanned flesh ran along the triangles of fabric. The cups also clearly defined the shape of each breast. She wore the light tan well. Her previous fair skin and freckles turning slightly golden but not darkening beyond the blonde of her hair. The bottoms were also just a bit skimpier. A couple centimeters of untanned flesh showed how much higher it sat on each thigh.

"If you keep staring that hard, I'll think I actually came out naked." Emily spoke and Craig looked up to see the blush run down from her cheeks to the front of her chest.

"I should've picked white the first time." Craig mumbled. Emily smiled and then wiped it off her face.

"Take your shirt off, big guy." Emily tried to project a boldness she didn't quite feel. She quite liked the attention he gave her. She wanted to share a bit of it.

"Uh, we should probably get you sunscreen. You don't want to burn." he stammered. A delaying tactic. He prayed Keira wouldn't interrupt this time.

"Yeah," Emily grimaced for a moment. She really shouldn't feel guilty. They were just keeping each other from getting hurt. She took the bag over to a ratty green armchair. She perched her butt on the arm. "Get my back and I'll get yours."

She poured a dollop of creme into her left palm and passed the bottle to Craig. She took a deep breath before beginning with her arms. Craig watched her, hesitating to begin.

"Craig," she looked over to him as her hands started on her collar. "I know you feel I'm pretty."

"Hot." Craig's eyes widened as he interrupted her. She blushed and smiled broadly.

"You feel I'm hot," her voice squeaked and she cleared her throat, "Which is OK, even if we are just friends. Can you stop making me nervous and help me? I'll tell you if you take things too far."

Craig ran his hand up her back. She turned, worry on her face melting away to poorly contained glee. Craig didn't know how to react. He added some sunscreen. Her skin was so soft and he did several circuits. He caressed her muscles and felt tension slipping out of her. The bikini top was tied at her neck and mid back. It was so tempting to pull it loose. He ran a finger underneath the tie.

"Craig?"

"I-I'm supposed to be..." For a moment words failed him.

"Yes," Emily matched his uncertainty. "I think it's time we switched."

She stood up and out of his reach. Craig stuttered towards the chair. "Actually. I think I'm good."

"No you don't," Emily admonished. "You're not just using me for some little fantasy."

Craig plopped down on the edge of the seat. He took a deep breath and waited.

"I'm not going to let you get burned," she declared. She tugged, and he relented, pulling his shirt off. God. This is not what he wanted. His big torso. His chest covered in hair. The pimples on his shoulders. Everything about him was revolting. Emily said nothing, too polite to insult him.

Her hands landed just below the cut of his hair. She stroked down the back of his neck. Long slender fingers laid a layer of sunblock over his pale skin.

"You'll have to get your arms and chest." Emily pointed out as she swiftly covered his back. She lingered her fingers on his shoulders for a moment. She hid the look of confusion on her face. She grabbed her bag. "I'm going to go set up at the lounge chairs."

Craig sighed. He was feeling a little less like a deer in headlights. He finished up and followed Emily. She had spread his and her towels on adjacent chairs. She was looking with a scowl at her phone.

"Still nothing?" Craig asked with mixed emotions. He would much rather have the day without Keira.

"Yeah," Emily sounded a little heartbroken.

"Keira can be a bit scatterbrained. She'll get ahold of you soon." He looked towards the water.

The lake was like glass. Ripples, like slow heartbeats, propagated against the shore. The air was cool and stagnant. The early afternoon sun reflected mildly from near the buoy line.

"C'mon. We'll go swimming," Craig asserted. He offered Emily his hand and she grinned as she was helped to her feet.

"I think I love it here," Emily said from the shore. Craig was already cutting through the slow incline of the water.

"It is beautiful," Craig turned to wait for her. The water was cool. He had stopped, with cowardice, to adjust to the water. He saw her bright smile and it was worth it. She was running. The water scythed upward from her long legs. She dived, kicking deeper, and Craig gave chase.

Getting dunked took the edge off the cool waters. Craig rose up just after Emily. She was a vision with her hair slicked back and her skin pebbled with lakewater. The bikini seemed to have tightened. The shape of her nipples began to push against the fabric. The darkness of her pubic hair began to show against the white. His admiration was interrupted when she tossed a waved across his eyes.

Be bold.

Craig grinned. He listened for once. Emily shrieked and kicked as he wrapped his arms around her stomach and dunked her after a few steps into deeper water. Sputtering, her eyes were wide and her lips open like a landed fish. Her eyes were ghost green and yet not as excited as seemed the rest of her. She rushed up and they battled. Pushing, laughing, and swimming deeper.

"Shit!" Craig laughed. He had lifted Emily by the foot and tossed her in a back flip. Her other long leg nearly kicked his ear off. She spiraled and twisted under the surface as she swam slightly shallower. Craig hopped in so that he could stand on the flat of his feet with his shoulders still out of the water.

Emily breached the surface, her hair whipping back and spraying water droplets through the sunshine like sparkling diamonds. She landed back on her feet. The water lifting the flesh of her breasts. His eyes traced out the sharp push of her nipples.

Imagine her without that top.

He grinned, feeling frustration as his cock tented his trunks. He caught her eyes again. Emily seemed like she was excited, smirking at some imagined joke, yet her eyes seemed almost zombified. Her tongue skated along the pink of her lips. He traced his way visually down her body again. She was reaching behind her. Holy shit! "Emily? I thought you said--"

She whipped off her top. Holding it on her left index finger while Craig dropped his eyes to her breasts. As soon as he was properly mesmerized, Emily flung the garment in his face.

"Holy shit... ," murmured Craig. He dropped the top into the water and chased her. She gave a paltry attempt at evasion. She could have easily outrun him with any effort. He scooped her up again around the waist. They tumbled, wrestling in the shallows.

Her body opened and responded to every whim that fluttered through his mind. He slid his hand along the inside of her thigh. His hardened erection, seemingly on the brink climax, was pressed through their clothes against her sex.

He pulled her up from drowning. Her hips seemed to be fighting their way through her bikini bottom. She grabbed him, stroking his dripping hair from his face. Her own blonde locks stuck wetly in waves over her face. She kissed him.

She wants me.

The thought settled amid the few half concepts he could manage. Her lips were so soft, the kiss was sweet, slow. He pressed his tongue forward and her throat rattled as she opened her mouth to greet him. Her back was arched and he slipped his hand to her lower back, keeping him flush against her body. He amazed himself by not cumming. Her cunt was rolling against his cock. He whimpered against her lips. She had started the kiss, but now he piloted it. She sank backwards, her hair rising to float in a halo around her head. Craig's eyes were closed. He nibbled on the plump flesh of her lower lip. She licked across his upper lip calling for him to deepen everything. He opened his mouth to meet hers as they descended underwater.

"Sorry, sorry," Craig babbled as he retreated and he pulled her to their feet. She wasn't coughing, she just dribbled a mouthful of lake over her chin until it spattered over her breasts. Her nipples were dark against the untanned skin but pale compared to the bronze of her darkening tan. Craig let go of her hands and collected the white flesh in his grip.

She sighed happily. It occurred to Craig that the only things he had heard from her since they hit the water were breaths and shrieks. He almost dwelled on it, but she pulled him by the ears until he was nibbling his way around the swell of her left breast.

Her feet slowly slid apart in the sand below the water. He dragged his tongue across to her nipple and swirled around the raised pink circle to the long nub. He bit, not hard but aggressively. She was firm and heavy in his hands. Her own fingers snaked through his matted nest of water darkened hair. He let go and she hummed. Her lips turned inward and were pressed between her teeth. He wanted to go to the other breast but he stopped to meet her eyes.

It was strange. Her actions and body language were compelling. She accepted a kiss with vigor and urge. Her thigh was brushing up against the outside of his leg. Her ankle glided down the back of his calf until hooked, Achilles tendon to tendon. Her eyes looked sleepy and watery.

His erection still lay against the relief of her pussy. He let go of her left breast and squeezed the muscle of her ass. He sank, those empty ghostly eyes following him. He bit her unclasped breast harder than he had bitten the right. A gasp, full of pleasure. He squeezed and twisted her right breast, not wanting to hurt her but daring her to admonish him. Her jaw fell open and her tongue waggled as she whimpered a wordless plea.

She is ready for me.

Craig stopped. She had asked him clearly not to take things nearly this far.

Be bold.

Was it boldness to push further? Or was it boldness to stop and think? It was certainly easier to continue headlong. Craig didn't.

This is your only chance.

That didn't seem true. Emily stroked through his hair with care. Craig delayed his decision, he kissed the reddened flesh again. He squeezed lightly with his teeth. Just because something can happen, doesn't mean he should make it happen.

Who else would let me do this?

No one. Was Craig's answer. He certainly wouldn't let himself. It took him a few moments to take his face away from her nipple. His hands still held the flesh of her breasts. He wouldn't let go. He brought his eyes to Emily's.

"Kiss me." She leaned in on command. Her chest pressing his hands into his chest. She laid her lips onto his. He pulled away, a giggle tightened his lungs but held back below his throat.

"Emily." Nothing. "Emily?" He wanted her to answer him. She blinked her lopsided smile wavered and fell into a frown. She looked down.

"Ah! Craig?" She jumped backwards, splashing in the shallows. Her hands whirlwinded, wrapping up to conceal her breasts. "What's--Where's my top?"

"You threw it at me," he garbled. He was frightened by her response. He looked over his right shoulder. She followed his gaze to see the garment floating lazily a few feet to the left.

"Oh God. I did. I didn't--" she shut up when she met Craig's eyes. She immediately ran out to her bikini top with her back to Craig. "Don't tell your sister."

"I wouldn't," Craig declared. He had no idea why Keira would care, but if she did it would be hell for him.

"I think I'm going to drive us home now." She kept her back to Craig. NALA was across the lake, but she saw nobody. Blue mirrored glass flashed the sun inhumanly back towards her. Emily pulled tight the bikini ties after she adjusted the cups to cover her breasts.

"Alright." Craig felt strangely relieved. He turned around and marched out of the water towards his towel. He dried off quickly, tying the towel over his soaked soccer shorts instead of changing. Emily did much the same to his left. They said not another word until the little Volkswagen was pulling on to the dirt cul de sac that led back to the main road.

"We're not going to stop hanging out are we?" the question slowly boiled out of Craig.

Emily looked at him with trepidation. She hurriedly turned back to the road. It took her several calming deep breaths.

"Yes? No. Look I have to talk with ... I have to gather my thoughts. But," Emily considered gripping the steering wheel tightly to prevent from shaking, "I like you too."

"Perhaps we should try somewhere besides the lake next time," he offered.

"Or maybe I just need to find a different girl for you?""

"Yeah ... The girls of Carter are a bit more difficult."

"I'm not easy!" Emily huffed.

"No, but you do give me the time of day. Much better starting place." Craig ignored her outrage. He hadn't been suggesting that but he had been thinking it.

"I bet you I can find someone for you to get on with," Emily decided.

"Good luck with that." Craig didn't mean to sound that self-deprecating. However, some of the cardboard rigidity in their posture crumbled away. They were feeling like friends again. Although Craig didn't stop remembering the taste and feel of her breasts. Emily wouldn't stop worrying about what Keira would say.

Keira 5

Keira looked at her phone. Emily again. She was starting to feel afraid of the new blonde. The sex was, well, it was fun. Emily really let loose. She wanted to kiss and lick and finger and grope and spank and Keira could feel her panties getting wet. Her jogging only exacerbated the contact. She started walking a little slower. She had hoped a run would clear her head. It hadn't. She knew she would have to see Emily again later. Keira stopped with her hunger. She looked around, Sub-Way, Pizza King, Little Emma's Diner, and Shangri-La made up what was known as junk corner. She entered Sub-Way.

"Fuck." Keira spat to herself while she was waiting in line. There were several people she hated. Maya Hannelly, Liz Falk, and Sandy Hunter would always have a certain place in Keira's morbid violent fantasies, but Dougal Shaw could go straight to hell. The first thing she always thought whenever she saw him was how it felt to hear, "I love you."

Diane entered Sub-Way, winged by Owen Winters and Dougal Shaw. The boys were laughing and roughhousing while they followed along her short leashes. Diane's eyes shone brightly when she saw Keira. Keira's shoulders slumped and she turned towards the sneeze guard.

She ordered her sandwich and cookies doing her best to ignore the three behind her. Diane was uncharacteristically quiet. Owen and Garrett were talking about baseball, so it was very easy for Keira not to care. She reasserted her grip on her bottle of water when she turned around at the cash and found a mischievous looking Diane hovering expectantly. "Hi."

"Yeah, hey," Keira grumped.

"Look, I have something weird to talk to you about," Diane nodded towards a corner booth.

"Sure," Keira was going to sit there anyway. She tended to pick tables where she could see who came and left as she ate. "But, I really don't want--"