Ellison glanced behind her to look at the mutts. “Don’t let them fool you. They’ve made this trip with me several times already. Plus, there are plenty of places to take a break and cool down, so it won’t be a problem for them. They’re tougher than they look.” She smiled at me before returning her attention to the trail.
We walked in silence for a short while until I couldn’t hold my curiosity any longer. “So, are you going to tell me what happened last night?” I couldn’t help the fact that while I asked that question, I was also hungrily staring at the perfection of her ass in the hiking shorts she was wearing.
She stopped and bent over to place her hands on her knees when she laughed loudly at my question. I was instantly hard from the sight of it, not even caring that she was in the middle of laughing at my pain. When she straightened and turned suddenly, I shifted the position of my body to try to hide my excitement.
She walked towards me seductively which contrasted sharply with the innocent smile she had on her face. “Well, first you told me repeatedly about how beautiful I am. I mean, really, the whole drive home, all you did was praise me. It was very flattering to say the least.”
My entire body froze.
“And then after we finally arrived back, you begged me to sleep in your bed because — and I quote — you wouldn’t be able to sleep without the scent of me wrapped around your body.”
That was it. My internal organs were all shutting down and I was dying from embarrassment. Never, and I repeat NEVER had I ever acted like such a douche because of a female. She had to have slipped something into my drink. Although, come to think of it, the scent of her wrapped around my body was actually a really good idea on the part of my drunken alter ego. I gave him a mental high five for that.
“I didn’t actually say that, did I?”
She smiled. “Oh, yes … yes, you did. Apparently, my shampoo smells as good as a tropical island, which, by the way, was actually the sun lotion I’d put on earlier that day. But thanks anyway.” Again, she winked. This girl was trying to destroy me where I stood and she was doing a damn good job of it.
When she reached me, she ran her finger down my chest and stomach. Every muscle she touched flinched as the pad of her finger brushed over it. Her eyes sparkled when she looked up at me.
“But my favorite part was when you started taking off your clothes. Since I wouldn’t go in your house with you, you decided that we should sleep outside and that is when you decided to strip down. You laid down on the ground and refused to get up, so I sat there and let you fall asleep. I thought about waking you before I went in but then I remembered I had to get even with you one more time. I knew daddy would wake up and leave early so you would only be out there for an hour or so.” She chuckled softly while holding my stare.
“You do realize your father almost killed me when he found me, right? And what if I’d been allergic to mosquitos? I could have gone into anaphylactic shock right there. I would have died and you would have felt really bad.” I wanted so badly to be mad at her, but she was adorable when she was gloating. I was shocked at how awesome it was to hang out with a girl who could best me — and to a certain extent, it was a breath of fresh air.
“Well, of course you’re allergic to mosquitos, that’s why you itch where they bite you. The real problem is if you get West Nile Virus or some other nasty disease that they carry. Let’s hope that didn’t happen. In fact … ” Placing her hand on my forehead she grinned, “How are you feeling right now?”
The laughter rolled out of me and I pushed her hand away. “You’re a bitch, you know that”
“I prefer that you call me ‘Evil Princess Bitch,’ thank you very much. Show some respect.” It was at that moment that I realized her smile was absolutely perfect. As the sun rose higher in the sky, the light it cast was magic. Every detail of her face was perfectly outlined in light and Ellison’s smile beamed up at me with full lips and white teeth, and I was going crazy controlling myself from touching her.
We stared at each other and it felt like electrical currents were shooting between our bodies. My mouth ached to explore hers and I couldn’t help myself when I leaned down to try to kiss her. She took a step back and I groaned at the distance she put between us while my cheeks burned from embarrassment of having been refused.
“We should get going if we’re going to make it home at a decent time.” Spinning on her heel, she turned back to the trail and we continued our path. After a few minutes, my curiosity got to me again.
“So, how is it I got so drunk and you were sober when we left the bar? We were drinking those pitchers together.”
Her shoulders shook with laughter. “Well, I drank two beers, but you were slamming them back. After a while, when I was ‘going to the bathroom’, I was actually going to the water fountain when I got thirsty. You kept drinking without noticing you were taking the pitchers out by yourself. After a while, I had a soda in my hand and you were oblivious to the fact I wasn’t drinking. It was kind of funny, actually.”
“But why did you want me to get drunk?”
She stopped and turned to me. Shrugging her shoulders, she said, “No reason.”
Oh shit.
~ ~ ~
I’d never been happier to sit down than I was at that moment. We reached a small clearing by a spring and while the dogs were happily lapping up the cool water, I took a seat at a small picnic table that the state park had graciously placed here for weary hikers. The Florida sun beat down heavily on my skin and it felt like a fucking sauna. Rain clouds gathered lazily in the sky and I prayed that they’d let loose just to cool down my body. The muscles in my legs were burning and I immediately unstrapped the bags from my back and placed them down so that I could lay flat across the top of the table. Ellison looked over at me from the edge of the spring and chuckled.
“Not used to walking? Come on now, you’ve been doing it since you were a baby, I presume. You should have more in you than that.” Pulling her GPS from her bag, she looked at me and said, “We’ve only gone seven miles at this point.”
Seven miles. Seven fucking miles. Which meant there were 13 more fucking miles to go. I saw my life flash before my eyes and I knew there was no way I was going to make it out of here alive. And, once again, she was laughing at me.
“I’m really happy you can take so much pleasure in my pain. It makes me feel good to know you’ll be entertained thoroughly while I’m down here for the summer. That is, if I live through the rest of it.” My words were coming out in choppy huffs as I attempted to regulate my breathing. The headache from my hangover had subsided around mile four, but now the rest of my body was in absolute revolt against the continued activity.
“Stop being so dramatic. With a physique like yours, I would have sworn you were in better shape than that.”
Wait a second. I think she just admitted she liked my body. Suddenly, my energy levels elevated back up to an almost normal level, but not quite. Laying there for another few minutes with my eyes closed, I finally decided to move again when I pushed myself up into a sitting position and heard a splash. Looking over towards the spring, El was nowhere to be seen and the dogs stood back from the water whining as they looked around for her.
“El?!” Fuck! I knew Florida was the land of crazy reptiles and I jumped down from the table and ran to the spring’s edge. El’s shirt and shorts lay in a pile with her bags on a rock off to the side. Was she wearing a bathing suit under her clothes? My eyes flicked back over the glassy surface of the water and I noticed bubbles moving out deeper into the water. “Ellison!” I was nervous but eventually she popped up and I openly gawked when her hands came up to smooth her wet hair back. She opened her eyes and the sunlight bounced off of them, making it appear as if they generated light all on their own. It was mesmerizing to say the least.
“What in the hell are you doing? I thought you fell in or got dragged in my some large animal that I had no intention of saving you from!”
She smiled.
“You should come in. The water feels great.”
“I don’t have a suit.”
“So?” She shrugged her shoulders and laid flat along the surface of the water, happily floating with her face turned up into the heat of the sun. “You don’t need a suit. Nobody will come around here. Just strip down and jump in.”
“Are you naked under there?” My eyes squinted in a desperate attempt to see under the water. I shouldn’t have been trying so hard, but, dammit, I was a guy and there was a smoking hot body under there without anything to cover it.
Laughing, she righted herself and was treading water. “I’m not naked, Hunter. So stop trying to sneak a peek. You are such a perv.”
“Am not!” Okay, I’ll admit that was an elementary school response, but the thought of Ellison in nothing more than her underwear was enough to cause short circuits in the old gray matter. “Why is it every time I’m near you, you’re trying to get me naked?” It was a valid question.
“Get over yourself, Hunter. I won’t look if that’s what you’re afraid of. Isn’t it possible for two people to go swimming without you trying to turn it into something sexual?”
No. No, it was not possible — and the sudden tight fit of my pants was proof of that fact.
The sun was beating down on my head and back and the water looked oh so enticing. I kicked off my sneakers and socks and waded ankle deep into the water. “Holy shit! That’s cold!”
“Well, yeah. It’s a spring.” She pointed over to a darker area where more bubbles were breaking up at the surface. “This water is fed from underground, so the temperature remains cool, even during the hot summer months. Just jump in and you’ll adjust to it in no time. Stop being such a sissy.”
Walking back to shore, I pulled off my shirt and turned to notice that Ellison was watching intently as I stripped down. Her cheeks reddened when I caught her looking. “It’s okay. You can look if you want to. I’m not shy.” I winked at her. Two could play this game.
She shook her head and dove back under the water. When she resurfaced, she said, “It’s not like I haven’t seen a naked man before, Hunter. Don’t get all big headed about it.”
“Yeah, but you haven’t seen ME naked. I promise you it’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.” I couldn’t tell, but I swore she rolled her eyes at that comment. My ego was taking hits left and right with this girl.
Swimming farther out, she called back, “We can’t stay here all day, so either shut up and get in, or just shut up.”
Stripping down to my boxers, I attempted to walk into the water slowly. The water was so cold, it felt like ice against my heated skin. My balls instantly retreated into my body and my manhood, well, let’s just say, I’m sure it wasn’t looking all that impressive at the moment. I hesitated and instinctively wrapped my arms around my chest as if that would somehow warm the chill now shooting through my body.
“Just jump in, Hunter! You’ll torture yourself if you walk in slowly. Trust me, once you get past the initial sting, you’ll thank me for suggesting it.” She was even farther out and all I could see was her head floating above the surface of the water.
“This sucks!” I screamed out before quickly lowering my body into the water. A cry escaped my lips almost instantly, but within seconds, my skin adapted to the frigid temperature and my muscles relaxed as a heavenly feeling crept through me.
Ellison swam in my direction and took my hands before pulling me out deeper. Just below the surface, I could make out the fact that she was in her bra and panties and I prayed that little Hunter wouldn’t make an appearance outside of the thin material covering him. Okay — not little Hunter, it was far larger than that, but you know what I mean.
“Come on out to where it’s deeper. I want to show you something.” I hoped she meant something that involved more of her skin but when she swam me out to where the bottom appeared to drop out and when I looked down in the crystal clear water, I saw schools of fish swimming below us. “You can swim down there with them if you had a mask and snorkel. It’s magical when you get in the middle of them and watch the sun reflecting off their bodies; kind of like mini rainbows springing out in all directions around you.”
We stayed there for a few minutes watching as the school of fish swirled beneath us, swimming in one direction before being disturbed by some unseen force only to swirl over themselves and head like a wave in the opposite direction. It was disturbingly silent and the only thing I could hear was the light swish of water from where we were swimming and the occasional bird song from the trees. Other than that, there was — nothing. No honking cars, no distant radios, no mumbled conversations, nothing. It was disturbing to say the least. I had to break up the silence.
“So, how long before we have to get going again”
She looked up from the fish and smiled. “Can’t take it, can you?” She started to swim farther away from me, but kept her sparkling blue eyes trained to mine. “For some reason, I thought you’d be different. What a shame.” Then she went under.
I had no idea what the hell she was talking about and the two minutes it took her to resurface drove me mad. When she finally popped up, my words flew. “What do you mean, I can’t take it? I’m in the water, I’m hiking this crazy death march with you, what can I not take?”
Her smile was nothing more than a small curl to her lips. I knew that smile. It was a judging smile — and she was really good at it. “You can’t take the silence. It gives you too much time to think. It’s like I said, people are comfortable when they are surrounded by outside stimulation. It’s safe, they don’t have to pay attention to their thoughts or feelings.” Swimming closer, she reached out and took my hands, our feet kicking in unison as we worked to keep our heads above the water. My eyes kept flicking down to sneak looks at her body and she watched me intently until I gave up. Stupid water was distorting the view.
“That’s my favorite part of being out here. The silence. It allows me to think through things. To take a moment of introspection and figure out what’s important in my life — and what has no meaning. I don’t want to be one of those people who, at the end of their lives, look back and realize they missed it.” She pulled me closer to her and our feet brushed across each other from their movement. I knew she was trying to help me understand what she was saying, but the proximity of her body was distracting me.
“I know what’s important to me already, El. I don’t need silence to think about it.”
“So, what’s important?”
Well, damn, after being put on the spot, I had no idea how to answer that, so I turned the question around on her. “You’re the one who’s had all the time to think. What’s important to you?”
A small laugh floated across her lips. “Nice deflection. But we were talking about you.”
The silence returned and I stared into the eyes of a girl that was nothing like I’d ever met before.
“Okay. Having fun. That’s important to me. And, well, having fun.” Damn. Actually having to articulate my feelings, I determined quickly I’d never really put a lot of thought into the subject. It was unnerving.
“So, what’s fun for you?” Her hands slid along mine while she toyed with my fingers and the touch was almost intimate, even in its innocence.
“Going out, hanging with my friends.” It was lame. I know. But, dammit if she wasn’t right; I’d never really thought about it. I was too busy with … with the mundane, the normal activities of a19-year-old man.
I pulled her to me, forcing the water to swirl over our skin and the heat from our bodies to mingle in the water. Her mouth opened slightly and her eyes widened. She was extraordinary. A beautiful girl who thought strange deep shit, and at least to me, did strange things. But there was something about her and I wanted to know more.
“What about you, Ellison? What’s important to you?”
“Are you trying to deflect again?” Her voice was breathy and brushed over my senses awakening every nerve ending in my skin. br />
“No.” I smiled. “Just trying to get to know you.” I may have forced the dimples out again and I desperately hoped my blue eyes were as impressive to her as hers were to me. I would have never guessed it, but out here, surrounded by nothing but plants and animals, water and dirt, I suddenly felt connected to Ellison, completely absorbed in a shared moment that belonged to nobody but ourselves.
She forced herself away from me again and it felt like we were dancing — like some inherent mating dance where she teased and I chased. If it had been any other girl, I would’ve thought she was playing hard to get even though she had every intention to get in my pants. However, I didn’t know with El. She seemed honest in her behavior. I didn’t think she was simply playing games.
“A lot of things are important.” Her words snapped me back to the conversation. “Family, friends, my future, my sense of self.” She kicked out farther away from shore — and from me. So I chased. I eventually caught her and, in the spirit of the game, I pulled her against me. Her chest and thighs pressed up against mine and our skin slid against each other. It was incredibly hot despite the cool temperature of the water. I knew little Hunter was about to emerge, but I didn’t care. I would never have believed I would be thinking this — but nature was a fucking godsend at that exact moment. There was nobody to interrupt us, nothing to distract us from the moment. I had to kiss her, to taste her. Every sense in my body wanted to explore her: sight, taste, smell, touch and sound. All five were brought to life around her and I wanted more.
Lowering my head, I kept my eyes locked to hers. There was no expression on her face and the golden tan of her skin was lightly brushed pink over her cheeks. My heart pounded in my chest as I leaned in. I’d expected her to move, but when she didn’t pull away my lips brushed against hers and she closed her eyes. I moved in to deepen the kiss and just as my tongue flicked out to seek entrance to her mouth, she raised a hand out of the water and placed a single finger between our mouths.