Chapter 27

SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 1991

I leaned forward with my head in my hands, rubbing my temples.

Shelby pulled some of the blanket around her shivering form. It was a warm day, but a body soaked in sweat would get chilly in the breeze. Her horses, Destiny and Doc, munched grass lazily, paying us little heed.

“Why not?” I asked the prairie scene in front of me, not wanting to look her in the eye.

Shelby sighed and put her hand on my shoulder.

“I might have done a bad thing today,” she sighed. “I did something just for myself. I lured you out here so we could do this.”

“What’s wrong with what we did?” I asked in horror, looking at her once again.

“Nothing! We didn’t do anything wrong,” Shelby tried to soothe me.

I calmed myself down and took her small hands in mine. “Why can’t we be together?”

“Jacob, I want to be with you. You have no idea how much I want to be with you, but not right now.”

“Why not?”

She took a moment to gather her thoughts before offering me a reason.

“I don’t want to be the next girl you date. I want to be the last girl you date. Does that make sense?”

“No, not at all. You can be both.”

Shelby simply couldn’t help herself. She snorted and giggled at me, doing nothing to improve my mood.

I stood up in disgust, searching for my discarded clothes.

“Jacob, where are you going? Sit down.”

I glared at her in anger. “I’m not going to sit here naked with you and be laughed at.”

“Jacob, come sit down and give me five minutes.”

I stood there, shaking in anger and biting my lip.

“Five minutes,” I said, and sat back down, looking directly at her.

“I’m sorry I laughed at you,” Shelby said in a soft tone, then took a moment.

“Clock is ticking,” I said in irritation.

“This was for me,” Shelby blurted out, not sure where to start with her thoughts. “I did this just for me.”

I gave her a look that suggested I didn’t quite understand.

“Everything was perfect. The timing. Today is a beautiful day. This is the most special place to me in the entire world,” she said, holding her arms up around her to indicate the scene. “You suddenly didn’t have a girlfriend and I just had to have you today. I wanted it to happen with you today.”

“I already told you. You could have had me before. Any time you wanted me, you could have asked,” I said bitterly.

“OK, I know that now,” she admitted. “But scooping you up from a cheerleader would have been a disaster for me.”

“How so?”

“They can make your life hell,” she nodded.

“Fully aware,” I said, jabbing myself in the chest with a finger.

“I know, I know,” she said sadly.

“Just tell me where we go from here,” I said in exasperation. “What now?”

“We’re still best friends, right?” she looked at me with meaning.

“At least,” I replied. “But why not more?”

Her light blue eyes fell again, not looking into mine.

“Jacob, let me ask you this. When you woke up this morning, who did you think you were going to marry?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I had no idea,” I said, shaking my head. I haven’t thought about that kind of thing since Christmas.

She took a quiet moment and looked me in the eyes again.

“I know, every morning, who I want to marry. But it’s like a dream for me. I know where it’s going to happen. I just don’t know when,” she said with a faraway look.

She stood up, paying no heed to her nudity, looking around the hilltop. “It will be right here. We’ll set up right here in front of the tree.”

She turned around once again, walking away from the tree. “We can get like 40 people in chairs here, probably not a lot more.”

I watched her in confusion.

“I’ll walk down the aisle right here with my dad.”

I gave her a bemused smile as she walked around in the buff. “What’s the point of all this?”

She ended her walking reverie and plopped down in front of me.

“You aren’t ready for any of this. And I’m not either, yet. But this, all of this is nowhere in your thoughts.”

“OK?”

“Don’t you see? If I could stick you in a time machine and make both of us 20, I’d do it right now, and we would be together.”

“Why 20?”

“Maybe 24?” she hedged. “Because you aren’t ready for any of this, and I don’t expect you to be.”

She looked at me as if to say “Duh!”

“Jacob, I want you. There’s nothing I want more, but it’s WAY too soon.”

“We can’t date?”

“No!” she giggled, shaking her head. “We’d never make it.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because of the question I just asked you. Were you in love with me this morning, before we rode out here?”

“Of course I loved you before we rode out here,” I countered in irritation.

“IN-love, Jacob. I know you love me. I mean IN-love with me.”

She had me. I sighed and looked down again.

“It’s OK, I don’t expect you to know exactly how to feel about me. I maybe shouldn’t have done this to you.”

“You didn’t DO anything to me that I didn’t want to do,” I said bitterly.

She rolled her eyes at me and put her arms around my neck and practically whispered.

“Stop getting upset. This was perfect for me. You were perfect. I’m just saying if we start dating right now, we’ll never be back here for me to walk down the aisle.”

“Why do you have so little faith?” I had to ask her. “Why wouldn’t you want to hold hands with me in the hallways of the school and let everyone there know you’re with me?”

“Don’t tempt me like that,” she said softly, pressing her lips lightly against mine for a brief kiss.

“You’re the most important person in my life, outside of my family. Why can’t we be together?”

“We can. We will. I want you, Jacob, I just don’t want to be your girlfriend right now.”

I did understand her, and the logical part of my brain agreed with her. My heart had other ideas.

“Besides,” she said teasingly. “Who would you go to when there’s drama between us? Huh? That’s what I’m there for.”

That actually got a laugh from me, even with the little bit of pain it caused.

“I get it,” I said in defeat. “You’ve done so much for me over the years. This was the least I could do for you.”

“Was it such a chore?” she teased, bumping her forehead into mine.

“No, not at all,” I admitted. “But I can’t believe we won’t get to keep doing this.”

“Oh, I didn’t say that,” she said with a predatory tone. “I didn’t say that at all.”

I put my hands on her forehead and gave her a slight push back.

“Now what are you saying?”

“What I’m saying is, so long as you don’t have a girlfriend, we can maybe do this sometimes,” she said shyly.

“Well, that sounds a little better,” I grinned.

“So you feel better?” Shelby asked with eyes as much as her words. “I really didn’t think this would hurt you.”

“Well it does a little,” I sighed. “Two girls rejecting me within a couple of days is harsh.”

“Awwww, you poor baby,” Shelby teased, ruffling my messy hair. “I’m not rejecting you. I’m going to be right here for you, like always, and I just told you I want to be with you when we grow up.”

“I Know,” I said in defeat. “Can we find that time machine? Do you have a Delorean?”

“A what?”

“A Delorean. From ‘Back to the Future?’

“No idea,” Shelby said flatly.

“OK, even if we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend, I am going to start taking you to the movies.”

“Deal,” she said, holding out her hand.

I shook her hand and grinned at her, then pinned both of her wrists with my right hand and started tickling her abs with my left.

She shrieked in a peal of giggles, struggling against my stronger form. “STOPPP!” she laughed, while trying to wriggle away from me.

I let her go, playfully swatting at her lucious backside once for good measure. She shrieked one more time and collapsed on the blanket, breathing hard again.

“So what else did you have planned for me today, other than a picnic with no food?

She laughed and threatened me with a slap, then counted off on her fingers.

“Horse ride, picnic lunch, fuck like bunnies, break your heart, skinnydip,” her eyes sparkled on the last two points.

“Skinnydip, huh?”

“Yep, you’re all sweaty and you’re starting to stink,” she wrinkled her pert little nose at me.

“Alright then,” I shrugged.

And just like that, she was up and walking down the hill toward the pond.

I started to get up to follow, then paused at the view of her from behind as she walked. How did I never notice that? Good lord she knew how to walk.

And she knew it. I could see her glance back at me to make sure I was watching. Guilty as charged, I grinned and got up to follow her naked form.

She walked right down to the edge of the creek where it met the pond. The pond had been excavated many years ago, taking advantage of a natural spring at that spot. The creek wound its way through, but even if the creek were dry, the pond had fresh water flowing into it.

Shelby set her bare toes into the cool water, and gave it a kick, spraying drops over the calm surface.

“It’s cold,” she nodded.

I caught up with her, stepping carefully into the shallow water.

The muddy bottom was not what I wanted to step in, but the water was inviting. I took another step in before Shelby made her move. She slammed her body into me, trying to knock me the rest of the way into the water. The problem is, she didn’t move me an inch and nearly fell in her attempt.

She snorted in laughter, and I dipped down and picked her up with one arm under her knees and one behind her back.

“Put me down!”

“Oh I will,” I promised as I walked deeper into the pond, my feet gaining purchase on the slick mud of the bottom. The water was surprisingly clear, as I could see a few feet down. Shelby wrapped her arms around my neck, knowing I was going to toss her in.

When I reached the depth of my upper thighs, I pretended to try to toss her, then simply dipped both of us into the chilly water.

Her short shriek was cut short when we both went under water. I gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then brought us both back to the surface.

“It’s SO cold!” she shivered.

“Just hold onto me,” I soothed her. “At least I shouldn’t smell so bad anymore.”

We slipped a little deeper into the pond, but stayed where both of us could reach the mucky bottom. We splashed and played, stopping occasionally to kiss and hold each other. My mind wouldn’t let me believe that I couldn’t have her yet. We were as close as two people could be without being married, yet we were miles apart. Maybe more accurately, years apart. I tried to put it out of my mind and enjoy the moment. You don’t think about exiting the roller coaster while you ride it. You just enjoy the ride.

When Shelby’s shivering couldn’t be stopped by holding our bodies together, we headed for the edge, both knowing one wasn’t going to try to shove the other back in. She nestled against me as we walked naked up the hill. The light breeze giving both of us goosebumps as we moved as quickly as we could toward the blankets.

We both slid into them, covering our bodies and trying to dry off.

Shelby’s hair was drying in ringlets around her shoulders and down her back. She still shivered as she wrapped a blanket around herself and me.

We were flesh to flesh again, and started making out lightly as our bodies formed a little teepee with the blanket, both of our heads peeking out the top.

I moved my hands around her body, drying her skin and warming her. She paused our kissing, and held her forehead against mine, opening her pretty blue eyes in delight.

“I wish we had another condom,” I said in a husky tone.

“Oh, we do,” she shrugged with a mischievous grin. “I brought two. But it’s in my pants pocket.”

“Do you want to?”

“Yes,” she smiled, giving me a tender kiss.

Once we had dried and warmed sufficiently, I was able to stretch over to her pants and find the condom. I pressed it into her hand as we kissed and ground our bodies together.

I wished for just a moment to know what it felt like inside my closest friend without the condom, but logic and reason won out, and I slipped it on before gently gliding inside her warm depths once again.

We stared into each other’s eyes as we slowly drove our bodies together. It was achingly passionate and intimate. Our mouths were hungry for each other, as we kissed and kept a slow pace.

Shelby’s quiet moans and gasps increased in volume as she careened toward a big orgasm. I kept the pace relatively slow, but drove into her harder, grinding my pelvis on her in a way that created some delightful friction for her.

Gasps became little yelps, and when she dug her nails into my lower back, I stopped holding back my own orgasm, and joined hers.

I felt like her clutching pussy would never let me leave it. We lay there together, panting and regaining our breath as the sun moved lower in the sky. We were nearly out of the shade now that a few hours had passed.

“That was so good,” Shelby spoke into my ear, then nibbled it playfully.

“Are you sure you can resist me?” I teased. “I think I could have you even if you think the timing isn’t right.”

“You could,” she said a little sadly. “But you won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you won’t,” she said without hesitation. “Besides, two of my closest friends are dying for their chance at you, and they’d go to war with each other if the both knew it. And they’d go to war with me if they knew about this.”

“So this has to be secret?”

“Oh yeah, top secret.”

I sighed once again. My head and my heart in disagreement.

“It’s so tough isn’t it?” she teased. “Girls ready to throw themselves at you?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumped at her with a slight grin. “So who do I need to watch out for?”

“I should let you guess, but Mandy is going to come at you very hard and very soon. Autumn will be more subtle, but she wants you bad. Mandy believes she has dibs. The cheerleaders have marked you.”

“Marked me?”

“Oh yes, non-cheerleaders who go after you will face their wrath.”

“What have I gotten myself into?”

“You POOR baby,” Shelby teased with a giggle.

The idea of Mandy or Autumn wasn’t unpleasant. They both had their charms, while I believed Autumn would bring less drama, her personality was less likely to mesh with mine. Mandy was a lot of fun, but I hadn’t considered her much before.

“Are you thinking about those two?”

“Uh, yeah,” I had to admit with a little blush.

“Would you mind pulling out of me before doing that?” she admonished me with a accusatory smile.

“Uh, sorry.” I had clearly started to harden inside of her once again.

She slapped my arm and laughed at me. “I think you’re going to be just fine.”

We cleaned up as best we could, ourselves, at least. Shelby treated the hill as sacred to her, and made sure all traces of our being there were picked up to be discarded, including the condoms.

We rode back to the ranch yard at about four p.m., having spent hours together. I hopped off Doc and handed her his lead. She smiled and leaned down for one last kiss. Destiny stomped impatiently while I passionately tongue-kissed her rider with both hands cradling her cheek. I wanted to make it one she’d remember.