Chapter 7

Soon one day a nova flared

Our lives no longer were only shared

But alloyed in a total melt

Beyond mere love was what we felt

Monday morning we loaded the kayaks and our other equipment onto the top of his parents' van and headed out. It was a two hour drive to the outfitter's and we arrived about ten thirty. We had already made arrangements so it didn't take too long to transfer our equipment to his vehicle and start off. The trip would start nearly thirty miles up river but we made it to the put in point before noon and quickly unloaded everything. We ate lunch before we started off but in forty minutes we had all our gear stashed in the watertight compartments of the two boats and pushed out into the water.

This trip was not white water or anything like that. Some Class 2 stretches but mostly just easy paddling. Most of the shore line was public land and camping was allowed on a first come first served basis. About five we saw a likely spot and pulled ashore. We dragged the boats up out of the water and set the small tent up in a clearing some five feet above the river level.

We both liked camping and were quite familiar with everything involved so it didn't take very long to erect the tent, put out the pads and open the sleeping bags to let them regain some loft. The weather had been quite nice with temperatures in the low eighties. We were both dressed in cutoffs and I was wearing a bikini top. When we had things around the camp set, I turned towards Erik, crooked a finger at him, and pointed towards the tent. He smiled and followed me inside, untying my top on the way.

It was seven-thirty when we got dressed again and emerged to prepare some supper. Not that it took much. You just boil some water on the little backpacking stove, pour it into the package of freeze dried food and wait ten minutes.

We had a small campfire and sat before it, talking (and necking) until nearly midnight. When we finally moved to the tent and slipped into the joined sleeping bags, the thought filled my head that this seemed so natural, so right, to lie next to Erik, our bare bodies touching as it felt were our minds. And when we made love that seemed so natural and so right also.

Tuesday was a long day on the water but not really strenuous. There was a nice current and only occasionally did we need to work to keep the little boats from floundering in some small rapids. We stopped on a sandbank for lunch and later again found a nice campsite beside the river.

Wednesday was large a repeat of Tuesday until about four when we sighted the landing by the outfitter's and pulled ashore. We loaded the boats back onto the van roof and packed our other gear away. We stopped for supper on the way back but by eight thirty we pulled up to my house.

For the last two days I had had a good chance to think and consider just what our relationship had become. True, we both loved the sex. Most of the time it was slow and loving, a comfortable and exciting experience although sometimes it was the hot, pounding, passionate animal mating that went far beyond just emotional into pure physical response. We both loved the whole range of experiences. But I was now certain it was more than even that.

We had decided that Erik would stay with me until our parents got back so we made a quick trip around to his place to drop off his kayak and for him to pick up some clothes and other stuff. Then we returned to my house.

That night after we had made love - the first time - I finally said what I had been mulling over the last several days. "Erik?" He stopped and turned towards me. "Erik, I love you. I mean really love you. And I'm sure I always will."

I could see the reaction in his eyes and it was a good one. "Oh, Karen, I feel the same. I've just been a little afraid to say it but I've known for some time now. I love you."

With these declarations our world changed and yet it didn't. Our day to day actions, even our love making didn't really alter. However, our minds seemed to merge even more than they had in the past. We were still friends, we were still lovers, but we had become something more beyond that.

Over the next two weeks we mostly stayed indoors although we did go out to the tree house a couple of times. Each night we would settle onto my bed, almost always after a long play period first. I think during those two and a half weeks we probably made love - or just plain fucked - at least fifty times. Two or three times we even spent the entire day naked, playing or just being together, but content with each other beyond anything we could have imagined.