Birthday Girl

Hey guys,

I've used even more creative license for this one than the previous one so, try not to burn me at the stake or anything.

I apologize if the chapters are getting longer and longer but once I start the story kinda gets away from me. These characters can be really stubborn like that.

I would like to thank Nick for his help with the 'speech', the story wouldn't have been the same without it. I didn't know the first thing about writing a proposal speech.

Disclaimer: No animals were hurt during the imagining or writing of this story. There was a small scare but everything worked out fine in the end.

Vote, Comment and Enjoy!

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As I drifted towards wakefulness, the first thing I noticed is that I was hard. Painfully so. This wasn't normal morning wood, this was the mother of all morning woods, I could probably drill an oil well with this thing. The second thing that I noticed as my senses became sharper was that there was something soft gliding over it, up and down in a slow languid motion, caressing and at the same time exploring. I ran an internal diagnostic and found neither of my hands were occupied with anything stiff, so it begged the question, just who the hell was having their way with me?

Further in-depth diagnostics revealed there was a warm body plastered to my left side and it had my left leg locked between its own, and its soft hand was the one in places where only my hand had had the privilege of visiting in the past. The events of last night came back to me and I twitched as I remembered exactly who I was in bed with.

"Took you long enough," Melissa whispered from where her face was buried in my neck, gently suckling the curve where my neck met my shoulder.

Her grip became a little firmer now, though her pace remained the same, relaxed and unhurried. The speech centre in my brain had not booted up yet so I only managed to groan quietly, once again completely at her mercy.

I opened my eyes to see it was still dark but there was a faint glow outside the window signaling that dawn was approaching. If we were in the city it would have been hard to tell whether it was the light of morn or a streetlight outside the window, but here it was obvious that dawn was about to break. It was chilly in the loft as we had forgotten to close the balcony door completely the previous night, but we were warm and toasty wrapped up under the duvet.

Melissa ran her thumb over the tip of my erection on the upstroke and I jerked my hips up involuntarily,

"Liss..."

"Oh look, he speaks," she said, and I could feel her smiling into my neck.

Regaining use of my limbs, I lifted them to try and put them around her but she bit hard into my shoulder and shook her head. I retreated. This was so unfair, she was taking revenge for last night. She released her bite as my hands fell back to the bed and started licking and blowing softly over the spot where she had bit, soothing it. I guess she was taking a page from what I had written yesterday.

I was oozing pre-cum by now and she collected it on every stroke with a swirl of her thumb over the tip. Her grip was just firm enough to heighten the sensation but light enough that I didn't shoot immediately. It was exquisite torture, being shown the finish line but not being allowed to get to it.

Twice more I tried to move and each time she stopped me until I gave up and lay helplessly under her control. She picked up the pace and her grip became increasingly tighter as did her sucking on my neck. That was going to leave a mark, I was sure of it, she was branding me.

The sensations in my groin were going crazy now and the tingling had begun, signaling the approaching climax. Try as hard as I might, I couldn't stop myself from thrusting my hips up with every down stroke of hers, and with each repetition the pleasure kept mounting and mounting. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to cum or whether I wanted this torture to continue. I was torn between what was going on between my legs and the half pain half pleasure sensation she was giving me on my neck.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists, trying to stop the freight train that was approaching at full speed. She let go of my neck and trailed light kisses up to my ear,

"Let it go," she whispered sexily, "cum for me... baby," and licked the outer curve of my ear with the tip of her tongue.

That did it. It was the first time she had used a term of endearment with me and I couldn't hold back, I erupted into my boxer shorts, and she never broke the pace of her strokes. The movement of my hips became erratic and I threw my arms around her, holding her tightly to me and burying my face in her hair.

She slowed her hand as I finished and started becoming soft. I had never been an endearment kinda guy, and that baby, honey, sweetie crap always sickened me. I didn't understand how people threw around such words so non-chalantly when they didn't mean them, but when I heard it from Lissy's lips, it seemed so earnest and heart-felt that I couldn't wait for her to utter it again and again.

"That was for last night," she said as I relaxed my hold on her and eased back on my pillow.

"Mel, if that was your idea of getting back, I think you've got this revenge concept all wrong."

"How so?"

"First of all, it's not supposed to feel that good," I reached for her again, and maneuvered her on top until she was lying flat on me.

"I started out wanting to tease you and leave you hanging, but I got carried away." She said as she brought her lips closer to mine.

"I know. I have that effect on girls, can't help it." I kissed her, worried that maybe I had dragon breath, but she didn't seem to mind.

She snorted into my lips. "Oh, and by the way, I almost forgot," she smacked me on my chest.

"What was that for?" I asked, perplexed.

"For calling me Elsa."

"Crap. You heard that? I thought you were asleep."

"I didn't peg you as the type to watch Frozen."

"I didn't watch it of my own free will, Jenna made us watch it on movie night."

"Movie night?" she questioned.

"Yeah, we have this tradition where we watch a movie every Sunday afternoon at Nick's place, and we all get a turn to pick a movie every week."

She looked at me curiously, "How come I've never been invited?"

I had no answer for that; I had been caught completely offside. For some reason I'd never thought of calling her over.

"I... uhmm...ahh...didn't think you'd want to..."

Wrong answer.

"Didn't think I'd want to what?" she asked indignantly.

I sighed and took a moment to collect myself, "Melissa, would you like to come over for a movie and popcorn one of these fine days?"

"I'll think about it," she huffed and turned her face away, blowing up her cheeks.

"Hey," I turned her back to me, poking her cheek with my finger, "don't be like that. Tell you what, I'll give you three of my turns to pick the movie, how about that?"

"Five," she negotiated.

"You greedy little minx," I slapped her butt, "Four is my last offer, take it or leave it."

"Done," she smiled, lighting her face up again.

We went back to kissing and my hands roamed her back until they settled under her pajama bottoms, on her bare ass. I kneaded those firm smooth globes and she started grinding her pelvis on mine, her tongue trying to find my tonsils again. I wonder what she'll do with them once she finds them.

Even though I was fully engrossed in Melissa, I couldn't help but feel my spider-senses starting to tingle. Something wasn't right, I could feel a disturbance in the force. Reluctantly I withdrew my focus from what Melissa was doing to my lips to mentally scan the room. Something just didn't feel right.

Then I heard it. It was faint but unmistakable. There was a light rustle at the base of the stairs followed by the faintest whispering. Instantly I knew what was going on. I broke our kiss to find Melissa with her eyes closed, still searching for my lips.

"Liss," I whispered.

"Huh?" she asked, opening her eyes, still dazed.

I reluctantly withdrew my hands from her pants and put one finger on my lips, telling her to be quiet. Rolling her off me to her previous position by my side, I tucked the blanket up to our chins.

"Pretend to be asleep," I whispered to her again and she gave me a confused look.

I couldn't blame her. Here we were having a steamy moment to ourselves and now I was suddenly telling her to go to sleep. I was pushing the limits of weirdness here but I had my reasons which she would undoubtedly discover very soon.

"Trust me," I mouthed and dragged my palm down over her eyes, closing them.

Similarly I closed my eyes and pretended to be fast asleep, though my ears were straining to pick up anything else. I didn't have to wait long. There it was. The unmistakable swish of cloth moving against cloth, getting closer and closer. About halfway up there was a creak of the stairs, which in the silence of the morning, was like a gunshot. The swishing ceased immediately, followed by quiet hushing and shushing. I risked opening one eye and saw a tiny smile playing on Melissa's lips though her eyes remained closed. She had caught on to what was going on.

After about a minute of silence, the approach began again and soon muffled giggling could be heard within the loft. I had to struggle to keep a straight face and remain still. Under the blanket Melissa had taken hold of my hand and she was squeezing it, indicating she was having a hard time keeping still as well.

There was a loud cry of "Wake Up Brian!" and something jumped on the bed with full force, launching me and Melissa almost a foot into the air before landing back on to the bed. Loud giggling followed and Jenna started shouting,

"I got you! I got you! I sooooooo got you!!"

We both pretended to rub our eyes in confusion and looked around as if we'd just woken up. Jen was jumping up and down on the bed gleefully, clapping her hands and laughing at the ceiling. Nick was standing at the foot of the bed trying to smile, looking like something that the cat had dragged in. One look at him and I knew he hadn't slept a wink the entire night.

"What is this about Jenna?" Melissa asked groggily, playing her part to the hilt.

I wanted to grab her and kiss the living crap out of her right then. How many women do you know who would humor your friends at five in the morning when they barged into your room and jumped into your bed?

Jenna had the decency to look sheepish. I think it finally hit her that there was collateral damage involved. She flopped down on the bed next to Melissa with a guilty look on her face, chewing her lower lip.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry Melissa, I didn't want to disturb you. I just wanted to get back at Brian. I didn't think this through, I didn't stop and think that maybe you'd mind it."

She was twisting the blanket in her hands now, going over what she'd done. She looked like the puppy you left at home and came back to find had torn up all the pillows and peed on the couch and had left muddy paw prints all over the carpet.

"I tried to stop her," Nick said, lifting his arms, "but she just wouldn't listen, said she would never get a better chance at getting back at you."

Well, what a saint we have here. Nick is just the best, isn't he? Always looking out for my well-being. Yeah right, I knew better. This must have been his master-plan and he must have been the one to plant the seed in Jenna's mind last night, but since then, he'd been too wrapped up about what would happen later today, and he must have lost the enthusiasm for it. Otherwise, he'd have been jumping on the bed as well.

"Screw you Nick!" Jenna said angrily, all guilt thrown out the window. "You're the one who came up with this idea when we went to bed last night. You even set the alarm!"

What'd I tell ya?

"Ok, Ok, its fine," Melissa said, covering a yawn. "What I want to know is what you're getting back at Brian for."

"It's nothing Mel-"

"This asshole," Jenna cut me off, pointing a finger at me, and I flopped back down on the bed and covered my face with the blanket. Here we go.

"This asshole used to do this to us all the time in college. You have no idea how many times I've woken up with almost a panic attack because he would jump on our bed at two in the morning wearing a Freddy Krueger mask. I've almost peed in fright because of him."

"Brian...?" I heard Melissa's questioning tone.

"I have never done anything of the sort," I said from under the blanket.

"Why you-," Jenna leaped on me and tried to get the covers off me, unsuccessfully.

She gave up and turned back to Melissa, "Once, he silently picked me up when I was asleep and dropped me in a tub full of ice cold water."

"Lies!" I shouted in protest, still under the blanket.

"No way," Melissa said incredulously, "You didn't wake up when he picked you up?"

"I'm a deep sleeper. And besides, I was on the couch and I thought it was Nick picking me up to take me to our bedroom. Melissa I'm so sorry, I really shouldn't have bothered you, think you can forgive me?"

"Don't worry about it," Melissa calmed her, "I would have done the same thing in your place."

There were more footsteps coming up the steps then, "Is everything alright?" I heard Sally asking from the direction of the stairs, "we heard shouting."

"Everything is alright, we were just playing a prank on them," Nick said.

"Why is Brian under the covers?" Bill asked.

"You don't wanna see me without my make-up dude," I said, sticking one hand out to wave at them.

"Is he drunk?" I heard him silently asking Nick, as the others giggled.

"No I'm not drunk," I said, finally getting the blanket off me.

Bill and Nick pretended to cringe, taking a step backwards and Bill said, "You were right man, you look terrible without make-up," much to the mirth of every else present.

"Ha-freaking-ha," I told him sarcastically, "By the way, what time is it?"

"Five fifteen," Sally replied.

"Shit. The van is going to arrive to pick us up at six, we need to get ready or we'll be late." I announced.

I saw Nick's face going pale again as the others agreed, scurrying downstairs to perform their morning rituals, leaving me and Melissa alone again. I turned to her,

"Hey, I hope you didn't mind, Jenna didn't mean anything bad by it. It's just always been like this between us, we always play pranks on each other, only there's never been a significant other on my side to consider before."

"Of course not, I think it's sweet."

"Really? You're the best," I said, kissing her on her cheek.

"But tell me, did you really do all those things to Jenna?" she asked, "I can't believe you could be so mean to her."

"Don't let her innocent visage fool you," I defended myself. "The night I threw her in cold water we had a party at our house and she'd pulled down my pants down in front of everyone. It was just lucky I was wearing boxers. Don't let that little thing deceive you, she's as evil as they get."

She just smiled to herself and shook her head.

"What?" I asked.

"I've never seen a bunch of friends like you guys. You're so close to each other but you treat each other like utter crap."

I thought about it and nodded my head in affirmation, "Best description I've ever heard. But I cannot overstate the fact that ninety percent of the time, I'm the victim."

"Of course you are, you poor little thing," she said as she pushed me back on the bed and climbed on top of me, giving me a long hard kiss. Before we could go much further she broke it off, getting off me and going to her suitcase.

"We're going to pick this up where we left off tonight," she said as she got her things from her bag, then headed downstairs to the shower.

If the mess in my shorts was any indication, I needed one as well. Like badly.

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The park van was already waiting for fifteen minutes before we all assembled outside, ready to depart. Clothing was comfortable and light since the sun was already posed to make an appearance and the temperature was pleasant. Shorts and khaki's dominated, with hiking shoes and light T-shirts or tops. Big straw hats and sunglasses were all around although I refrained from the sunglasses because of my regular glasses. No point being half blind and seeing dark the whole day.

The van was the Toyota Land Cruisers used in safaris. It was open all round and even on top, with only canvas draped on a metal frame bolted to the body of the car. All the canvas panels were pulled up, though the top was still covered, and the seats were high to give a good view. It was painted green with black stripes, no doubt as camouflage. The odd thing was, even though I could tell the engine was running, it wasn't making as much sound as you would expect from such a big four by four.

My curiosity was piqued, and I had to get to the bottom of this mystery. I put my Inspector Gadget hat on and pulled out my magnifying glass. Ambling over to the driver, I struck up a conversation with him since I saw Nick kept rushing in and out of the house in a frenzy. I'd get to him in a while. I found out that the engine bay had a special acoustic padding all around it to dampen the noise. Even the exhaust pipe was clad in similar material to reduce the amount of noise it made. It was designed that way to be less disturbing to the animals in the park, and it also let the vehicle get a lot closer to the game than if it made a racket, which would scare the creatures away. At the back of the van, in black letters was written, 'Silent Devil'.

I quietly asked him if he was aware of our arrangement later in the day and he confirmed he was informed and ready. I found out he was our driver as well as our guide for the day. He certainly looked the part with khaki shorts, a completely shaven head and a handlebar mustache. Jack was the name he introduced himself with. The girls and Bill had climbed onboard when I felt myself getting pulled from behind and being led towards the cabin.

"What the...?" I turned around to see Nick looking like his dog had just died.

"Shut up and keep walking," he said under his breath as we walked towards the cabin.

Jenna shouted from the van, "Where the hell are you two going?"

"Just a minute..." Nick called back, holding up a finger.

"What's wrong?" I asked when we got to the door.

He put one hand on his hip and started rubbing his temple, "I lost the ring man," he said desolately, once we were inside.

"What? That's not possible-"

"I'm telling you man, it was in my backpack when we left home. Today morning I searched high and low for it, but I can't find it, it's just gone. I emptied my bag three times until I had to stop because Jenna started getting suspicious."

He was pacing the living room floor now, looking like the whole world had crashed down upon him.

"Uhmm... yeah, if you'd just let me finish-"

He snapped to attention, "What did you do?"

"I took it from your bag when we handed over our luggage to the park attendants for transportation. You'd gone to talk to the in-charge, remember? I know it's been in your family for a while now, I couldn't risk leaving it unattended."

His eyes were bulging now and he ran his hand over his face, grinding his teeth as he looked up at the ceiling, "and you were planning to tell me this when?"

This always happened. My intentions were always good but I'd always find some way to mess things up, putting people in awkward situations where they didn't know if they should be grateful or angry.

I backed away subtly, "I was gonna to tell you yesterday man, but I forgot after Jenna chased me around the car and stuff."