Chivalry

I was camping in Yosemite one time in college, when I couldn't get to sleep one night and decided to take a walk through the woods. It was the middle of summer, so it was warm enough to walk outside in just pajama bottoms and a T-shirt (and sandals). We had camped way out in the middle of nowhere, so nobody was around for miles, or so we thought. So while my friends were sleeping, I slipped out of the tent and strolled out through the forest.

Yosemite is gorgeous at night, the woods were quiet and the moon was full.

After about ten minutes of walking, I had paused to watch a nice little stream that was winding its way through the roots and rocks, when suddenly I heard a noise. I tensed. It was large, and it was close by - behind me. I froze; if it was some kind of predator, running would be the worst possible move. Maybe I could scare whatever it was away, I thought, if I stretched out my arms and made loud noises. I was just getting ready to put this plan into action, when the thing broke through the trees and stumbled into the clearing.

It was a naked girl.

She was tall, almost my height; a couple years younger than me, maybe 19 or 20, light-haired, pale, and beautiful in a thin delicate way, kind of like an elf from Lord of the Rings. She was stark naked except for a pair of flip-flops, and she looked scared and confused. I was so surprised that I couldn't move, and I just sat there gaping. She had a gorgeous body (if a bit on the thin side), beautiful small breasts, long slender legs with perfect calves...but for some reason, what I remember most is her ears, which stuck out just a little from her straight blonde hair and made her look even more like an elf.

Then saw me. I was still standing with a stupid open-mouthed expression on my face, frozen in place. As soon as she saw me, she let out a small squeak and dropped to a crouch, hugging her arms across her chest.

"Um...hi?" I ventured, taking a step forward. That scared her, and she let out a choked half-yell.

"Hey hey!" I stopped her, holding up my hands. "I'm not going to hurt you at all! I was just out taking a walk! Are you OK?" To show her I meant no harm, I took a step backward.

"I'm Jason," I said, "I'm from Berkeley."

"Hi, Jason," she said. "Do you think you'd mind looking away?"

"No problem," I said, and turned around.

"Thanks."

"So..." I asked, "Is there...um...anything I can help you with?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a compass on you, would you?" she answered drily.

"Nope, 'fraid not. Are you lost?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Um..."I hesitated awkwardly. "I guess I'm gonna have to ask this eventually, so..."

She got the hint. "My friends and I were playing a stupid game, and I had to take a dare, which was to take off my clothes and walk fifteen minutes into the forest. I guess I got turned around."

"Wow," I said, "You're brave."

"Stupid is more like it," she snorted.

"Well hey," I said, "I don't really need my shirt...want it?"

"Oh my gosh, that would be great." I could hear the relief and gratitude in her voice. Without hesitation, I stripped off my shirt and tossed it behind me. I heard the sound of her picking it up and putting it on, and stifled the manic urge to turn around and get one last look at her amazing body.

"How does it fit?" I asked.

"Um...it's...not quite long enough, but it's much better than nothing." She sounded distinctly disappointed. I couldn't decide if I was disappointed or pleased. I settled on disappointed; I'm a nice guy.

"Well?" I asked. "Is there anything else I can do to help?"

"To be honest, I'm kind of scared walking around out here like this," she confessed, and I could tell it was a bit difficult for her to admit it; she really seemed like a girl who was used to getting by all on her own. She had stripped and walked fifteen minutes into a pitch-black empty forest, after all.

"Do you think yo could come with me and help me find my friends?" she asked, a little shyly.

"Sure," I answered immediately. "I have good direction sense. But...are you sure you'll be OK? I mean..."

"Well," she said, "you already saw everything, right?"

"Um...it was dark, and..." I hedged.

"It's OK, you can admit it. Come on, you can walk in front." She almost sounded like it was her saving me from embarrassment.

I turned around. The girl was even more gorgeous wearing my T-shirt than she had been completely nude. She stood with her hips cocked, one hand pressed demurely between her long long legs, smiling wryly at me.

"Well," I asked, blushing in the dimness and turning around before she could see my eyes get wide, "Shall we?"

"Lead the way, sir," she said, and I noticed how comfortable she sounded all of a sudden.

We crept through the dark woods, and my Boy Scout training took over. I moved us in a "concentric wedge" search pattern, in the general direction she thought her friends were. They couldn't be more than half an hour's walk away, I figured. However, given the girl's less-than-dressed state, I thought it might not be a good idea to start calling out.

"So where do you live?" she inquired from behind me as we crept along. "Are you a student?"

"Yeah," I said. "Berkeley. You?"

"I go to UC Davis," she told me. "I'm a poli sci major, how about you?"

"Electrical engineering."

"Ooh, smart boy."

"Hopefully smart enough to find your friends!" I blushed again. I was glad that I had been working out and playing soccer over the past year, and was in about the best shape of my life. I hoped she noticed my back muscles as we pushed branches out of our way.

We chatted a little more, abut our universities, life, the outdoors. She turned out to be, as I had first suspected, a really interesting and confident girl. I wished I knew her name, but given her predicament I thought it would be impolite to ask.

"Do you think we're getting close?" she asked after a pause in the conversation. We had been walking about fifteen minutes.

"Maybe," I said, "but probably it'll be a little -"

"Owwww!" she suddenly cried out, and I whirled to see her grabbing her leg.

"Are you OK?" I asked, running over to her.

"I cut myself on something," she said. I was worried and aroused all at the same time - she was leaning over, and the hanging edge of my shirt was all that (barely) obscured her nether regions from full view. I tried to be just worried.

I looked over an saw what it was - the jagged broken piece of a fallen log.

"How deep is the cut?" I asked anxiously.

"I don't know," she said, fear creeping into her voice. "Can you take a look at it?"

"Uh...are you sure?" I hesitated.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry about it," she answered curtly.

I dropped to one knee and looked at the leg. She took her hands off the spot, moving one back up to cover her privates, but not before I caught a quick glimpse of neatly trimmed, light-colored pubic hair and pale pink lips. Come on, I thought, focus.

The cut was shallow, mostly just an abrasion, and I was able to clean it off with some wet leaves. I pressed some more leaves onto it until it stopped bleeding. I almost got goosebumps as my hands ran over her smooth bare thigh, and I tried to keep it as professional as possible.

"It'll be fine," I said. "It'll sting a little. Try to be careful where you step."

"Shit," she said. "I'm so retarded. I mean, thanks."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," I backpedaled quickly.

"I know, I know. It's my fault. You were great."

I looked into her eyes, and something about the way she looked back at me through wisps of pale hair, standing there, naked from the waist down, with only a slender hand to cover herself, was the most erotic thing I'd seen in my life. I smiled and turned away so that she wouldn't see the front of my pajamas push outward.

"Um...hey," I said, "Would you like to use my pants too? I mean, so you won't accidentally get cut."

She laughed. "I don't want to embarrass you," she said.

"Well, I mean, I already must have embarrassed you," I pointed out. "If you don't want to, that's cool, it was just an idea."

"Well..." she considered. "You did get to see me in my birthday suit, so I guess I should get to see you in yours, right?"

Something about that was incredibly arousing.

"OK," I said, "say the word, and the pants are yours."

"Hand em over," she ordered in a faux-harsh voice.

I dutifully stripped off and turned around, covering my naughty bits with one hand (no easy task, in the state they were in), and handing her the pajama pants with the other. She took them with her free hand, and, without waiting for me to turn around again, turned her back to me and slipped them on. I took in the brief view of her perfect round ass with only a minor pang of guilt, since it was my turn to walk around naked.

She turned back and grinned. The pajama bottoms were almost a perfect fit. "Nice PJs," she said. "Well, are we gonna go?"

I grinned back. "Only if you promise not to look at my bum," I shot back, feigning a British accent.

"You shouldn't be ashamed of your body," she retorted. "Besides, you look like you've been working out a little bit."

She couldn't have said anything to make me more happy (well, not much anyway). I flexed my pecs and did a little Governor Arnold pout. She laughed.

"Come on," I said in my best fake Austrian accent. "We have to save John Connor."

She laughed again, and I turned around and made a Mr. Universe pose, clenching my gluteals. She laughed harder.

We walked for another few minutes. The thought of her eyes following my naked ass was a little bit arousing. I felt a little chilly, and realized that it must have been a little scary for her to have been wandering around, naked and lost, before she met me. I suddenly felt really protective of her.

Then, abruptly, I walked past a stand of trees and into a clearing. And there, on the ground in front of me, was a naked couple rolling around on the ground.

I averted my eyes instantly, but they looked up and saw me.

"Hey!" the woman said cheerfully. "Looks like we weren't the only ones to have this idea!"

"Welcome to our little love nest!" the man declared. "Hope we didn't startle you too much!"

The girl from UC Davis came up beside me and just stared. Belatedly, I covered myself with both hands, realizing I was exposing myself not just to the couple but to the girl I was with as well.

"Hey, don't be shy," the woman said, "Isn't it a beautiful night?"

Californians, I thought to myself. What a bunch. I turned back, figuring if they weren't embarrassed, I wasn't. They were in their thirties, kind of athletic and wholesome-looking, and both totally unembarrassed about being naked in front of strangers, although the woman was kneeling demurely.

"Um, sorry to bother you," the girl I was with asked, "But did you see a camp full of girls about my age anywhere around here?"

"Oh yeah," the man said, "We saw them, but we didn't want to bother them."

"Could you tell us how to find them?" I inquired politely.

"I think they're about ten minutes that way," the woman volunteered.

"Thanks!" I said, and started to walk off. The girl followed, and as we exchanged a look I saw that she was suppressing a giggle too.

"You sure you don't wanna come join us?" the man called out as we left.

"Thanks, we're OK!" the girl called back, and we hastily disappeared into the forest. A couple minutes later we burst into laughter, trying to keep it quiet.

"Think we should have joined them?" the girl asked. As she said it, I felt a thrill run up my spine, and suddenly it got a little harder to cover myself with one hand. I just chuckled and didn't answer. We were walking side by side now, more comfortable than before.

It wasn't long before we heard female voices, and we knew we had found the girl's camp. I suddenly felt a deep pang of regret that this weird, improbable adventure was coming to an end. It ha only been forty minutes or less, but I knew I'd remember the naked girl in the forest for the rest of my life.

"Well," I said, "Here we are."

"Yeah," she said, hesitating.

"You...want me to turn around?" I asked, wondering if I should have just let her keep the clothes, and give my friends a little surprise when I came back.

"That's OK," she said, and to my amazement started stripping off the borrowed clothes right in front of me.

In a moment she was naked, and no longer covering herself. My breath caught in my throat. She walked toward me over the forest floor, treading lightly on her tiptoes, holding my clothes out to me. I reached out to take them, in the process exposing myself to her as well - it seemed the right thing to do, although I was a little embarrassed that my penis was pointing directly up at her head.

My gorgeous naked elf queen of the forest stopped three feet away and looked straight into my eyes, and my knees nearly gave out. My breath was short and quick.

"My name's Megan," she said in a soft voice. "Sorry I didn't tell you before."

"That's OK, Megan," I said, wishing I could say something more intelligent.

"I just wanted to say, I was really impressed by what you did for me," she continued, looking up at me through stray strands of flax-colored hair. "You could have really taken advantage of me, but you were just totally chivalrous."

"There's no way I would have done anything else," I said, trying to keep my eyes locked onto hers, and failing every few seconds as I glanced down the length of her beautiful willowy body, then back up to see those cute ears just barely poking out of the waterfall of hair.

Then she stepped forward, and to my chagrin my penis poked her right in the abdomen, but she reached down with one hand and folded it up between our bodies, and with the other hand she reached up and pulled my head into hers and kissed me. Her naked skin was warm on mine, and I could feel the little tickle of her pubic hair on mine, and her perfect breasts were pressed against my chest. Her tongue darted into my mouth, and I put my arms around her and held the back of her head and the small of her silky back.

After the most erotic fifteen seconds of my life, she released me and stepped back. We were both breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No," I breathed, "do you have a boyfriend?"

"No," she answered, "But there's a guy I'm considering for the job, if he's interested."

"I don't see how he couldn't be," I said, and meant it.

"Hey," Megan said, turning to walk back into her friends' camp. It's no too long a drive from Berkeley to Davis, right?"

And then, before she left, she told me her email address.

I watched her go, smooth back, long legs, and all, holding my clothes in my hand. Not until she was gone from sight, and I was dressed and twenty minutes back into the forest did I let myself jump up and let out a whoop that echoed down the mountainsides of Yellowstone.

It was a clear beautiful night in the forest of northern California, I was twenty-one years old and in love, and I had all night to find my way back to camp.

The End