Chapter 3

Judy caught Amy and Mike, sneaking off after another campfire. Thankfully, she caught them before they were naked, and fucking like crazy. She threatened to send them home if it happened again. Amy sulked, and, for some reason, took it out on Gloria. But that only lasted a couple of days, and then she was herself again. Gloria wondered if she'd found some other way to risk getting pregnant.

There were two dances, during camp. One was the second Wednesday night, and the other was the last Friday night. The first one was the most fun, based on Gloria's experience. By the time the last one happened, everybody had found a camp boyfriend or girlfriend, and they were all so sad that camp was about to end that, half the time, they were crying. The other half, well, they were going outside to cling to each other in the dark, until some counselor came along and broke it up.

Earlier that day, when they were getting ready to go out on the lake, Arden had bumped things up a notch. He had stood in front of her, rubbing Nivea on her stomach, and his hands just rose and smoothed it over the insides of her breasts. He'd never put any there before, which wasn't odd, since the life jacket covered her there. It covered her sides too, which he stroked regularly, but she was used to that by now.

Then, when he was behind her, doing her sides, his hands slid around to her belly and rose, right onto her breasts, cupping them.

She had stood, stock still, as he gently squeezed both soft mounds, before letting his fingertips slide back, along the sides, to drift down her sides to the top of her swimsuit bottom. He had done it boldly, and it had had nothing to do with either her sun screen, or her life jacket, which was still hanging on the wall.

Her mind had screamed, inside, half of it telling her to stop him instantly. The other half bemoaned loudly that he did stop. She couldn't believe he'd done that. She also couldn't believe how she almost peed herself again when he did. When he put her life jacket on her, and did nothing else, she wanted to scream again, but held it in. Her confusion, and the tingling in her nipples, made her wobbly as they started off, with her in the stern.

Another couple wanted to race. The girl was in the bow of that canoe, and Gloria had a feeling the boy thought that a girl steering would be easy to beat. Arden's powerful, easy strokes, though, and Gloria's now well-tuned J stroke, put them three canoe lengths ahead in no time. Gloria could hear the boy complaining that the girl wasn't stroking hard enough.

It was the first time she felt like she'd ever gotten the best of a boy, and it elated her. When they finally stopped, she was flushed and panting. Arden looked over his shoulder.

"We're good together, Nivea" he commented.

An almost overwhelming feeling lashed through Gloria. She felt powerful ... invincible.

"Are you going to skinny dip today?" she asked.

"Of course," he said.

"Maybe I will too," she said, the blood singing in her veins.

"Cool," was all he responded with.

Doing it, though, was entirely different than deciding to do it. She chickened out, in the end. They'd paddled over to the tree, which was as far away from the boat house as you could get. He was in the water, naked, already, and waiting for her.

"I don't think I can," she said, looking around.

"Just get in the water," he said. "Nobody will think a thing. We swim over here all the time. They know that. The counselor doesn't even watch us any more. He knows we're being careful."

It was the most she'd heard him say, all at the same time, since she'd met him.

She did get in the water, but then felt chicken again.

"I'll help you," he said.

She froze as he floated over to her and his fingers went to the clip of the life jacket. She felt it come off, and sank down in the water, until her shoes hit mud. She knew she was staring at him, but still couldn't make her arms work.

"Turn around," he said.

He helped her, and she felt his fingers at the clip of her bikini bra. She felt it go slack, and he pushed it forward. She looked down to see her arms move forward, her bra now suspended in front of her. She could see her nipples through the murky water. They were hard. She felt his chest against her back, and was terrified that he might touch her naked breasts. Then, as he leaned forward to remove the bra from her arms, she was terrified that he WOUDN'T touch her breasts. She felt a moan seep from her throat, and bubble through her lips.

"It's all right," said his soft voice in her ear. "I won't hurt you."

He took her top and dropped it in the bottom of the canoe. She felt his fingers at the waistband of her bottoms and thought she'd just curl up and die as he pushed, sliding them down over her hips. He did it in a way that used his fingertips, his palms sliding against her hips, and she wanted to bend over, because her stomach felt so fluttery. He must have gone under water to get them off her feet, because she felt him lift, first one foot, and then the other. He came back up, behind her. She still hadn't moved, voluntarily. Only the water, holding part of her weight, kept her from crumpling.

"It's OK," he said from behind her. She felt his chest against her back, and his hands on her stomach as he pulled her against him gently. She felt something mash into her buttocks, and knew it was his penis.

"Feel the water on your skin," he said softly. One of his hands left her stomach and he did something to make water swirl against where that hand had been. To stave off hysteria, she concentrated on the feel of the water, swirling against her. It felt wonderful. She couldn't believe it! She'd felt water against her skin every time she'd ever gone swimming, but somehow, it wasn't like this.

She took a hesitant step with her right foot, sideways, and felt water caress her between her legs, in a way she'd never felt before.

"Feel how unencumbered you are," he went on. "Like a fish, with nothing to disturb the flow of water across your body."

"It's ... different..." she blurted.

"It's very different," he agreed. "Now ... swim."

"But, you..." she started, and then snapped her mouth shut. She'd been about to say "But you haven't touched my breasts yet!"

Feeling sudden energy, and wanting very much to get away from the thing that was pressed against her buttocks, she lunged forward. She swam awkwardly, at first, because it felt so completely different. She settled into a breast stroke, which felt marvelous, and didn't splash water in her face. Only her feet felt dead and heavy, in their water-soaked shoes. She looked over to see him side stroking, keeping up with her easily. He was grinning.

"I can't believe this," she panted.

"I told you," he said.

"We're naked!" she sighed.

"Totally," he said, still grinning. "Well, you still have on your shoes, but they don't count."

"I've never done this in my life," said a very changed Gloria.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

"Definitely," she agreed. She DID feel free, like she was slipping through the water easily. She felt light, somehow, as if a mere bikini could weigh her down.

"Now you know why I hate clothes," he said.

Somehow, when he said "clothes" all she could think about was that they were both naked, and that there were ten or fifteen other people within shouting distance. What if the counselor saw the canoe was empty, and came to investigate. What if he found them like this ... naked ... swimming naked? She turned, to swim back to the canoe. Her feet felt clunky and weighted down. If she ever did this again, there would be no shoes.

They stood, behind the canoe, and she reached in for her bra.

THAT's when his hands slid around her sides, and cupped her bare breasts.

She was completely unprepared for it, and the effect was devastating. His hands squeezed as she fell back from the canoe, her top held limply in one un-responding hand. His fingers traced over her nipples, and squeezed them gently. She saw stars. It was everything she could do just to drag in a breath of air. That air came out in a long groan.

"I knew they'd feel wonderful," he said softly in her ear. "I knew you'd have long, stiff nipples." He squeezed them again, rolling them between his fingers and thumbs.

"Aaaaarrrdeeen," she moaned, her hands fluttering in the water. She lost her grip on her top, and her arm darted for it, as if it had its own mind.

"Shhhhhh," he said into her ear. "I won't hurt you."

Suddenly his hands were gone from her breasts. She almost cried out at the feeling of loss, but his hands went to her waist and gripped her, to turn her around. She felt her wet skin slid through his hands, and then they were firmly on her waist again, lifting, until her breasts came clear of the water, where he could see them.

"Beautiful," he sighed.

She felt weightless as he manhandled her, and limp, except for the muscles in her neck, which kept her head where she could see his face, and her breasts. She watched in complete shock as his mouth opened, and moved toward her left breast, to seal around the nipple there.

He sucked, and Gloria thought the world must surely be ending in an explosion of orange and yellow that, somehow, she could see with her eyes tightly closed.

For five minutes Arden switched, from one breast to the other, his hands welded to her waist. She knew what was happening, because she could feel it, but her eyesight had somehow dimmed. She realized her neck hurt, and, with a start, realized her eyes were still closed, and her head was hanging back, limply as his lips did the most astonishing things to her nipples. She suddenly felt a tension in her body that replaced the limp, helpless feeling, and her hands, one of them still holding her top, flashed to his head, to hold him there. She knew something was about to happen. She could feel it, deep inside her. It was a new thing, and the closest thing she could think of that was like this feeling was when she had seen her neighbor's three year old toddle out into the street, when a car was coming right at him. She felt like she was going to explode with the energy that was building up inside her. She heard her throat making noises she had never heard before. Then, just before her world broke apart, she recognized the noises.

She'd heard them before after all.

They had been coming from Amy's throat, while Mike was lying on top of her, on that picnic table, in the dark.

She paddled listlessly as the canoe drifted toward the dock. She couldn't remember getting her bikini back on, and knew that Arden had to have dressed her. She did remember being lifted, and flopping into the bottom of the canoe. She had a better memory of him putting her life jacket back on her, and putting her in the bow of the canoe.

She knew that, if she turned around, she could see him. He was back there, making the canoe move. She wondered if she had hurt something. Her whole body felt fuzzy, somehow, and, in some ways, hard to feel. At the same time, she felt wonderful. She thought about what had happened. It had been amazing, and scary, and wonderful all at the same time. She must have had an orgasm. Before now, that had been a word with no meaning. She knew orgasms existed, like she knew electrons existed, but she'd never seen, or touched, or understood what either was really all about. It had to have been an orgasm, even though she didn't know what an orgasm felt like. Unless it felt like that. If it felt like that, she might be able to live through another one some day. If it was stronger than that, she'd be in real trouble.

She looked down at her breasts. She couldn't see her breasts, because the life jacket was covering them. She wondered if her nipples were poking through the suit. Who would have thought her breasts could bring THAT much pleasure? She still couldn't believe it had happened. She looked around. The lake looked the same. The boathouse looked the same. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Everything looked completely normal, but she didn't see how that could be. She didn't feel normal. She'd never felt like this in her life!

She couldn't look at Arden, when they got out of the canoe. Habit took over, as she let him secure the canoe, and she took the paddles into the boat house. She couldn't believe she was standing there, waiting for him to come touch her breasts again, but that's exactly what she did.

He came. He took her vest off and hung it up, like always. She turned away from him, almost like she was saving him the trouble of having to move behind her. She felt his warm chest on her back as his hands went around, to lie on her stomach again. She felt his hot breath on her neck, and leaned her head to one side. His soft lips brushed her neck, and she leaned back. Now his hands slid up, to cup, and squeeze and tweak. There was a difference now. It felt good, but not as good as when they were naked. She wondered, her mind floating, if he'd go under her bra, and felt mildly disappointed when he didn't. He made up for it by letting his hands drift downwards, to the waistband of her bottoms, where his fingers traced over her bare belly. He sucked gently at the skin of her neck, and then, maddeningly, moved back.

"Supper is soon," he said.

They walked, side by side, along the trail. Again, they said nothing. She wanted him to take her hand, but he didn't.

"See you at the dance?" he asked, in parting.

All she could muster up was a nod.

"Are you sure you're feeling all right?" asked Judy, looking worriedly at Gloria, at supper.

"I'm fine," insisted Gloria. "I'm just tired, that's all."

The worried counselor leaned close, to talk into Gloria's ear. "Are you cramping or something?" she asked. "We have a full time nurse, you know."

"I'm not cramping," insisted Gloria, a little more loudly than she had intended. Only one other person at the table heard her, and that was a girl, thank goodness.

"OK," said Judy, leaning back. "But you'll tell me if you need anything ... right?"

Gloria thought about how the only thing she needed right now was Arden's hands ... or his lips ... on her naked breasts, and blushed.