Chapter 5

We laughed, we sang, we played

Then suddenly we were man and maid

The smoldering fires within did ignite

To become a love now burning bright

September and back to school once again. This year we were juniors and college loomed ahead. We both took SATs and we both spent time talking about different schools. Over the weeks we found that both of us were considering the state university located some hundred miles away. Erik was headed into engineering and I planned on a computer science major.

School meant football games and bonfire pep rallies and after game dances. I was asked to several by different guys and I know Erik took several different girls. We still continued to discuss our dates and we both found out that each of us loved making out but didn't go beyond that. I'm not sure what it was that let me share my intimate feeling with him to a much greater extent than I would ever consider doing so with any of my girl friends, but he must have felt the same and freely told me of his experiences.

Our relationship allowed him to ask about what kind of things turned a girl on and he enlightened me on similar aspects of male arousal. Still we never went beyond discussion. We were friends.

One day in late September while we were at school Erik said something and I found that he played the guitar. I had known that we both liked folk music but had no idea he played. That Saturday I got him to bring his instrument out to the tree house and made him play. We even sang a few together and I discovered he had a nice singing voice - deep and resonant. From then on I urged him to bring the guitar several more times and we spent time singing some well known verses.

The previous summer we had gone together to a renaissance faire and attended a couple of performances. The songs presented there were often a little, shall I say, risque. Anyway, we added them to our selections and now our tree house occasionally rang with "Roll me over, in the clover," and similar verses. I suppose it's fortunate we were far enough back in the woods that neither of our parents could hear our presentations.

By early October the weather was cooling once again. We were talking one day about how we probably wouldn't be able to use the tree house much longer this year when Erik suddenly stopped and stared thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "You know," he commented, "I'll bet that if we put some insulation in we could use this quite a bit longer."

With the windows and door we had the place pretty well sealed against any wind infiltration. "You think so? How hard would it be?"

"Probably not too bad. I'll ask Dad tonight about getting some materials."

We spent the next weekend insulating not only the ceiling, but also the walls and the floor. When we finished we found that our little enclosure had become much more comfortable. In fact, unless it was quite cold out or a strong wind blowing, our body heat raised the temperature to a comfortable level in a surprisingly short time. We could now use our hide away both later in the year and later in the day.

We often took homework out there. With our laptops we could work for several hours with no electricity. However, as we went deeper into autumn the sun set earlier and earlier. I mentioned this to my dad and the next day he handed me a box and said, "Here. Try these."

I looked inside and found he had put together some LEDs along with a rechargeable battery. The battery was about four by eight by six high and he said it would power the lights for somewhere between twenty and forty hours. We could then bring it back and recharge it or - he suddenly got and idea and disappeared for a couple of minutes. When he returned he handed me a small solar panel and said, "Put this on the roof and point it south. Since you're not there most of the time it'll probably keep the battery pretty well charged." Sometimes it's quite nice that my dad is an electrical engineer.

We installed the lights and other stuff and found that they would give us plenty of light to keep working when the sun went down. We already kept a couple of small LED head lamps in the tree house in case we got caught out there after dark so we could see our way back home. Now the new lights would let work later.

After a couple of weeks Erik also found some colored LEDs which we added. We set things up so we could have dim lighting of either white or mixed colors or bright white lighting for working. That way when we finished our work we could dim the lighting and just listen to the evening sounds while seeing enough to do any necessary things inside.

Winter once more found us limited to our houses. This wasn't really a problem except we were a little hesitant to talk about some of the more personal secrets we shared. I had told Erik that I planned to remain a virgin until at least college and he had confided he was thinking along the same lines. We both really liked necking and petting and would freely describe our activities and response with each other although there was never did anything along those lines between ourselves.

Sometimes I wondered just what our parents thought about our relationship. We had been good friends for over two years, we spent a lot of time together, went places and did things like the kayaking, but we had never approached anything resembling any kind of romantic relationship. Maybe they just looked at us as sort of brother and sister also. Whatever the reason they never appeared to have a problem with the relationship we did have.

By spring we were able to move back out to our sanctuary once more. One evening in April when we had finished our homework we were just sitting and talking. I had just told Erik about a date I had had the previous week. We had gone to a movie and then stopped at a park on the way home for a little necking. I had been out with this boy, Ben, once before but we hadn't even kissed good night. Now when he kissed me I felt his tongue try to force its way in past my lips and teeth. I asked Erik, "I know French kissing can be fun, although I've never thought it was as great as I've heard. The guys who have tried it just feel like they as trying to force their tongues down my throat. Do guys get something else out of this?"

Erik looked at me and smiled. "If it was done right you wouldn't need to ask. I'll bet you've never had a guy do it the right way."

I smiled back at him and replied, "Oh, so you know the right way, huh?"

"Maybe not the absolutely best way, but I have learned to make it interesting. I don't think my dates have ever complained."

I teased right back. "Maybe they have just been too polite to tell you they didn't like having their tonsils licked."

He laughed again. "No, I can tell." Then he teasingly said, "Maybe I should show you how."

For just a second I felt something strange in my stomach but I came right back at him, "OK, Mr. Expert Kisser, show me."

He started to say something, stopped, started again and stopped again. We were sitting side by side on the cushions and for what must have felt like at least three full hours we just stared at each other without breathing. Then he slowly reached out and took my shoulder, pulling me towards him. I didn't resist. My mind was swirling wildly and I felt myself move closer and closer until our lips were almost touching. He hesitated there, our lips no more than a centimeter apart for several seconds and then we moved gently together.

His lips felt warm against mine and the slight pressure brought a response all out of proportion. But if I thought that was out of proportion the response when the tip of his tongue just barely brushed against the inside of my lower lip was beyond imagination. He made no attempt to force my mouth open but instead let the damp tip slide back and forth against the moist lining of my lips. First lower and then upper. And then again. And again.

My lips parted slightly of their own accord and the tip of his tongue moved slightly deeper, again lathing my lips from the inside. I responded and opened even wider - my dentist would never have had any trouble if he had been able to use this technique. As Erik's tongue began to lightly stroke upwards, touching the inside of the roof of my mouth, my own tongue decided to get into the act. I'm sure it decided on its own for I don't think I had any conscious control over it. In any case it moved to duplicate Erik's explorations on its own, touching, exploring, teasing his lips and mouth.

The temperature in the little tree house must have climbed twenty degrees and both of our tongues began to press harder and harder, twisting and sliding together as our arms tightened around each other. It must have been at least five or ten minutes before we pulled back enough for our lips to separate.

We were both breathing quite rapidly, our breath coming in fast, shallow gulps. Erik finally managed to quietly get out, "Was that better than Ben managed?"

I clung tightly to him. "Oh, Erik, yes! I've never felt anything like that." My arms pulled him hard against me and clung tightly.

He quietly breathed, "I've wanted to do that for a long time, Karen. I was just so afraid it might hurt the wonderful friendship we have now."

My eyes were wet and I felt overwhelmed by emotions I had never experienced before. "I don't regret any of it. It won't hurt what we have. And it's so much more beside." I buried my face against his shoulder and made muffled words into his shirt. "I don't know what to say. It was wonderful."

He held me, gently stroking my back and shoulders, for several minutes while the world once more reassembled itself - at least partly - around me. The he moved me slightly back and, still holding my shoulders, said, "Karen, I've wanted to ask you for several weeks now. Will you go to prom with me?"

I almost choked on something between a sob and a joyous laugh. "Yes! Yes, Erik, I would love to."

We spent the next half hour repeating Erik's lessons in French kissing, although he later told me he thought I was teaching him quite a bit also.

I made it home that night and up to my room without encountering my parents which was probably a pretty good thing. I'm sure I would not have appeared coherent at all and would have been hard pressed to explain just what had been happening. As it was when I told them the next day that Erik had asked me to prom I saw them exchange a quick glance. I think it might have said something like, "Well, it's about time." Whatever their thoughts they seemed to approve. Mom helped me find a nice formal and when Erik came to pick me up even helped him pin on the wonderful corsage he brought.

Dinner and the dance were magic. When Erik brought me back home it was after eight in the morning. I know a lot of our classmates were out much later than that even. I also know a lot of them did a great deal more than kiss, but we didn't. We did park and spent a long time in activities we had described to each other but had never shared. Somehow these activities all felt different and more wonderful that they ever had before.

With school out for the year we both again had part time jobs. Still we found a lot of time to be together, mostly out in our tree house. Our parents didn't seem to mind. I don't know if they trusted us to refrain from more intimate activities or if they just thought we would anyway, but they never questioned when we spent long hours together alone. No matter what they thought we both remained virgins.

We did now go on more typical dates, to movies and once or twice to a dance but in general we were happier to just be quietly alone. The activities when we were alone did increase. We still played board games and read and sang together. But we also spent a lot of time exploring each other and our feelings. And our bodies. There was never any actual sex but there was some manual manipulation and even some kisses to intimate areas.

In one long, hot stretch in early August I said something about going swimming in the lake the next day. We hadn't been there yet this summer but the next day was supposed to be in the mid nineties and sunny. Erik stopped and looked at me for a couple of seconds. "OK, Karen, but I think you'd better bring a bathing suit." I looked surprised. After all, we had gone skinny dipping several times last summer. He went on, "If you don't I'm not sure I could behave myself."

"You're serious, aren't you?" He nodded and the thought came into my head that if we were nude I probably couldn't stop myself either. "All right, for now. You wear one, too. Same reason."

He nodded and the next day we swam both clad in more conventional attire. I had on a small two piece. Not quite a string bikini but it did show quite a bit. Erik's was not the long, baggy type either. It wasn't a French cut but it did fit closely and covered only from the waist to the tops of his thighs. Several times I caught myself staring at him and I noticed him quite often studying my own body.

Nothing untold happened in the lake. Oh, three was some touching and a bit of kissing, but that was all. When we left the water we moved to some smooth rocks out in the sunshine to dry off. A slight breeze had come up and between that and the hot sun it wasn't too long before we were nearly dry and beginning to feel a little warm once more. We decided to move back to the shade of our tree house.

We remained in our suits, not wanting to put on anything that would be warmer. We played one game of chess but our minds weren't on it. We were a little restless, fidgeting around, unable to settle down. We stretched out side by side on the vinyl mats and picked up a couple of books to read. I was still having trouble concentrating on my story when Erik's hand began to slide up and down my bare back, occasionally making a short side trip over my close fitting suit bottom.

A minute or two of this and my book lost any small grasp on my attention it might have had. I turned on my side and reached to pull Erik against me, our lips meeting in a long kiss. I was now a firm fan of long, deep French kissing and quickly opened my lips at the suggestion of Erik's tongue. If I had thought the day wouldn't get any hotter, I was completely mistaken but I don't think the air temperature had any thing to do with it.

Locked in a tight kiss, I felt his hand slide over my bottom, up by bare flanks and around to cup my left breast through the thin material of the bathing suit top. His fingers caught my nipple which immediately hardened enough to almost be painful. I moaned into his mouth and pressed myself harder against him. He continued to squeeze and maul my firm flesh. Then he suddenly pulled his mouth back but immediately bent to clamp his lips over my hard nipple, squeezing it with his lips and then lightly biting it through the suit.

I moaned even louder and arched my back to press harder against his mouth. His left hand rose to begin toying with my right breast and I twisted and squirmed in increased arousal. Then I felt his right hand move up my back and begin to attack the fastening of my suit top. My response was to breathlessly whisper, "Yes! Take it off, Erik," and then to dig my fingers hard into his back. He followed my instructions - if he even heard them - and in seconds I felt those firm, hot lips on my bare nipple, sucking hard, the tip of his tongue rasping the end of the hard nub.