I slowly awoke as the fishermen climbed out of their tent and headed to the stream. Lying there, I thought about what had happened with Oliver the night before and realized that we were still facing each other and holding hands. I smiled, thinking about what would come of this. Was it a one-off kiss, or would there be more in the future?
As I lay there, the birds began to wake up and I enjoyed their serenades. I wasn’t good at identifying bird calls, but I was pretty sure I heard a couple of cardinals and a Baltimore oriole.
The morning was so peaceful I just enjoyed listening and waking slowly. Later I would look back on this time with a combination of joy and sorrow.
Finally I couldn’t wait to pee any longer. I crawled out of the tent and made my way to the restrooms, trying to cover my morning boner.
Back at the campsite, I reached into the tent to pull out my clothes.
“Good morning,” said Oliver, sleepily. “How did you sleep?”
“Very well, once I calmed down.”
He giggled.
“The guys have gone fishing and I’m about to collect some firewood. Take your time. There’s no hurry getting up.”
“Thanks,” he said, and I went off into the woods to find fuel. Since we had picked the place over for a couple of days, I had to go farther afield before I found enough wood for the morning and hopefully for the coming night as well.
Back at the campsite, I laid the fire and lit it. Sitting on the table bench, I gazed into the fire, my thoughts wandering. When the fire burned down enough so I could cook, I took out pancake mix, bacon, eggs, and milk. I put the bacon on to cook first so I could use the grease in the pan for the pancakes. While the bacon cooked, I mixed the pancake batter and dug out the syrup we’d brought.
When breakfast was nearly ready, I banged on a pan to call the fishermen and Oliver. The boys came back from the stream carrying several fish. Oliver, still looking sleepy, crawled out of the tent and went to the restrooms before returning.
After I served the bacon and the first round of pancakes we sat down to eat.
“Really good,” said Vinny. The others agreed. I returned to the fire and put on another batch of pancakes.
When we had finished, we threw our paper plates into the fire and Art took the pan to the restrooms to wash it.
Then we had to decide what to do for the day. There was another trail that looped off from the lookout spot we’d visited the day before. Since we’d really enjoyed that spot, we agreed to invite Shane and Vance and soon we had our lunches and water packed for the hike.
Once again, as we entered the woods and started up the trail, we felt a gentle, cooling breeze. We took our time, stopping to rest and sip water before going on.
Emerging onto the open rocks, we were surprised to see mist covering the valley below. It was as though we were looking at the tops of clouds as the sun in the cobalt sky shone down on us.
Removing our packs, we sat for a while watching as the mist below us slowly burned off and the valley was revealed.
As we watched, we removed our T-shirts, laid them on the rocks, and let the sun evaporate our sweat.
‘You know,” Pete observed, “we’ve been really lucky with the weather. If we’d come at the time we first planned, before Vinny broke his wrist, we’d have had rain and thunderstorms.”
“See?” said Vinny, “that’s why I broke my wrist. I knew it was gonna rain.”
“You certainly didn’t sound like you did it on purpose when we were out on the road,” laughed Oliver. “You sounded more like you were dying.”
We all laughed and even Vinny joined in before he threw a small stone at Oliver.
Oliver tossed one back. A little roughhousing began until I pointed out that if we fooled around too much, someone might fall off the rock we were on.
Calming down, we fished our lunches out of our backpacks and ate, idly talking as we did.
Vance, who was a cute, dark haired, freckly boy about 9 years old, asked us how long we’d known each other. Except for Oliver, who’d just moved to Wallaceville the summer before, we told him we had known each other as long as we’d been in school.
“That’s great,” Vance said. “There’s a lot of coming and going in the city, so there’s always kids leaving and new ones moving in. I had a really good friend last year who moved to Roanoke this summer. Sometimes I think it’s not worth it to make a friend because I could lose him so easily.”
“Well,” responded Oliver, “I’ve only known these guys for one school year but I know I couldn’t ask for better friends. And I know they’re there for me if there’s a problem.”
We all agreed and then lay back for a nap.
Awakening a while later, we packed up, found the other trail and hiked back down to the campground. Although we still had the breeze, the day had grown hot and muggy, and by the time we reached our campsite we were all sweating again.
Quickly, we stripped off our clothes and put on our bathing suits. Since there was nobody else around, we didn’t even bother to change in our tents.
“Last one in cooks the supper!” shouted Art as he headed for the water. Of course, you know who was the last in. When I arrived the others all laughed, called me Chef Jackass, and started splashing me as I stood on the shore. I had little choice but to jump in and start splashing back.
We all swam toward the rope swing, where we were joined by Vance and Shane.
When we were hungry enough we got out of the water, dried ourselves, and put our shirts back on, leaving the bathing suits to remove later. Everyone reminded me that I was Chef Jackass. I told them that wasn’t really fair because I had cooked breakfast. But then Oliver said he’d help, and the others went off to collect wood so we’d be sure to have enough to cook breakfast.
I took out the potatoes and wrapped them in foil so they’d bake in the coals. I started the fire to give the potatoes enough time to cook. Oliver made a salad while I got out the steaks. Bonnie had taught me a lot about cooking, so I felt confident with the steaks.
Art got out the fish and began cleaning them, so we’d have a sort of surf and turf supper.
When I thought the potatoes were nearly done, I took orders for how everyone wanted their steaks cooked, put them on the grill, and soon they were sizzling.
As soon as they were done, I put them on a plate and then laid the fish on to cook. They didn’t take long and soon we were all eating, our mouths too full for talking.
After supper, Vance and Shane ventured over and we all made s’mores. Some of us were very careful to tan the marshmallows lightly while others burned them to a crisp.
When it was dark and about time for bed, Vinny announced, “I think it’s time for a skinny dip!”
We all agreed and soon were naked as the day we’d been born. This time I made sure I wasn’t the last one in. We all splashed and dunked, laughing uproariously.
When we’d had enough, we got out of the water and dried ourselves with towels that weren’t quite dry yet. We agreed that we’d get up in the morning in time to have breakfast and a swim before Dad came to pick us up.
Back in our tent, Oliver and I lay on our sleeping bags. It was warm enough that we didn’t need to get into them. We lay quietly for a few minutes, just enjoying being together. Then, simultaneously, we rolled towards each other. We hugged, gently at first but as the moments passed, harder and harder. I felt Oliver’s mouth on mine and quickly responded. After kissing for a bit, we pulled our heads apart and smiled. At least, I know I smiled. It was dark in the tent so I could only guess that he was smiling, too.
We leaned into each other and kissed again, harder. This time I felt Oliver’s mouth open a bit and then his tongue was caressing my lips. I felt a little shiver run down my backbone. I knew I was growing hard.
Oliver pulled back again and said, “When you feel my tongue, open your mouth.”
We went back to it again and I felt his tongue lightly stroking my lips. I opened my mouth and his tongue moved inside it, exploring first my tongue, then my whole mouth.
The shiver in my spine grew stronger. By then I was as hard as I’d ever been.
When Oliver pulled his tongue out, I began with mine, first stroking his lips and then moving in as he opened his mouth. As my tongue explored and we embraced, Oliver began to move his hips a little. I could feel his hard boner rub against mine, and in no time we both came.
It was the hardest I’d ever cum, and I pumped several times before I stopped.
When we finally relaxed a little, Oliver asked, “Did you like that?”
“Oh, yeah,” I whispered. “Have you ever done that before?”
“No way. I’ve never felt about anybody else the way I feel about you, so I’ve never wanted to do it before.”
I thought for a minute before asking, “Do you think we’re really in love?”
He was silent before saying, “If we’re not, I don’t have any idea what love would feel like. And it’s not only about what we just did. I feel closer to you than I ever have to anyone else. I know you’re kind, and gentle, and always caring about me and how I am.”
“Well,” I replied, “I feel the same way about you, and I love the way you look.”
We continued in that vein for a bit before we hugged again and almost immediately grew hard. Soon we were grinding against each other and then came the marvelous feelings of tension rising and rising until at last we exploded.
We lay back, totally spent. I grabbed a dirty sock and cleaned myself and then Oliver.
Once again, we faced each other, holding hands. And soon I was in a deep, happy, dream-filled sleep.