A note from Wikipedia:
"A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting is boating in a punt. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the shallow riverbed with a pole. A punt should not be confused with a gondola, which is structurally different, and is propelled by an oar rather than a pole. The tradition in Cambridge is to punt from the till (locally known as the "deck") at the back of the punt. There are some advantages to this: punters are less likely to drip on their passengers and can steer more easily by swinging the pole behind them. A traditional punt is about 24 feet (7.3 m) long and 3 feet (0.91 m) wide. The sides are about 18 inches (0.46 m) deep"
This story follows on from "The Hangout".
*****
Laura always stands out from the crowd; you can't help but notice her. First of all, she is tall - nearly as tall as me when she wears heals, and I'm 6ft 4" -- and literally stands head and shoulders above the women around her. Then there is her hair: she has the most beautiful bright red, copper-coloured hair I have ever seen. It shines on even cloudy days, glows, giving her an aura or an angelic halo. On this particular day, beneath a cloudless blue sky and in the post-lockdown emptiness by the river it was a fiery beacon which drew your eye to her immediately. Even if her hair had been covered, her dress - pure white, calf length and sleeveless, a dark blue pattern of flowers and vines twining across it, fitted across the bust and flaring at the hem -- glowed in the sun. Even from two hundred metres away, I had spotted her.
I slowed and watched her from a distance. She was perched on the brick wall that separated the path from the weir, one leg crossed over the other. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of largest sunglasses I'd seen, and this made it impossible to see where she was looking, but she exuded serenity and stillness as she waited. The nearer I got the more detail I could see how much her hair had grown since I last saw her in person; the bright red lipstick she wore and the matching nail varnish, the freckles that covered her shoulders and the veins in her pale legs, the golden straps of her sandals.
I barely registered the fact that there were other people there: Laura's boyfriend, Andy; and a couple of other work colleagues, Rose and Tess. It was three weeks since I had seen them all on an eventful zoom meeting. How eventful? Well, Rose had merely exposed her magnificent DD breasts to us, Andy had cum on Laura's face, Tess had shoved a butt plug up her arse and wanked herself until she squirted, and I had jerked my cock until I'd cum all over myself. There had been other meetings since, but we had somehow avoided being on screen alone together. I'm not sure how much was coincidence and how much was embarrassment and how much was just not knowing what the fuck we would say to each other, but it seemed to suit us all.
So, I had been surprised, almost as soon as the end of some lockdown restrictions were announced, to get a message from Laura:
Punting tomorrow @11.00? Meet at the Mill Pond, bring booze and food. Rule of Six Rules!
I'd had my doubts about meeting, but my initial reservations had been seriously weighed by my utter love of punting. I love the feel of the water on the punt pole, I love the way the punt itself glides through the water, I love the calmness and the serenity and... well, I think you get the idea.
The sudden ring of a bicycle bell brought me back to my sense, and I set off towards my waiting friends. When I was 10 metres away, Laura's head turned towards me, and a smile broke over her face.
"Hi Kurt", she drawled, hoisting a large bag onto her shoulder. "Ready everyone?" she grinned and strode off towards the punt hire hut on the quieter, upstream stretch of the river, towards Grantchester. The rest of us all greeted each other somewhat awkwardly with a few embarrassed smiles and averted eyes. Rose seemed the most nervous since she had logged off the zoom call after getting her tits out and missed the more hardcore action that had kicked off -- and I'm nobody had bothered to fill her in either. She wasn't exactly demurely dressed today -- a pair of tight denim shorts and a pink clingy vest top which clung to her curves and showed an ample amount of cleavage. She was quite athletic for a big girl; she'd been training for a marathon before lockdown, and she reminded me of a Scandinavian javelin thrower -- tall, tanned, blonde hair in a pony tail, and powerful. Next to her, Tess looked small and dumpy in her black knee length dress and black calf length leggings.
When we got to the punt, it quickly became clear that I was the one to be doing all the heavy work (not that I minded -- have I mentioned I love punting?) so I was given the large wooden pole and went to stand on the deck at the end. Rose and Tess got on next and sat facing the front, their backs to me, and finally Laura and Andy sat facing me, their backs towards the direction of travel. Bags were stowed, a picnic blanket produced, drinks and food laid out. We were given a cheery "Bye!" from the punt hire man and off we jolly well went.
*****
I watched Laura sipping her gin and tonic, gazing out at the fields as we glided serenely past them. I lifted the pole in my hands before letting it slip back through them and then pushing down as it hit the bottom of the river, continuing to push until my hands reached the end of the pole and the whole process started again.
"Laura?"
"Hmmmmm?" she murmured, not even looking in my direction, watching the riverbank float past.
"What are we doing?" Plunge, push, pull; propel the punt through the water.
"Punting.," she drawled, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"No... I mean...
why
are we here?"
This time she did look around, lowering her head so that she could coquettishly look me in the eye over the top of her sunglasses.
"We-lll..." -- another sip of gin -- "We all had such a good time when we last got together, I thought it would be nice to... you know... do it again!" Next to her, Andy -- tall, good-looking Andy, if you remember -- smiled and put his arm around his girlfriend
"I didn't have a good time," Rose said, half joking and half serious. "You bitches tricked me into flashing my tits at everyone" I smiled as I remembered her fantastic boobs, pale with large pink areola, jiggling in front of the camera.
"You've got great tits," Laura told her. "Kurt liked them, didn't you Kurt?" That was a no-win question -- agree and I was a perv, disagree and I was a bastard. I punted on silently. "And besides, you left before the fun really got started. Kurt got his cock out."
Rose almost choked on her drink and spent thirty seconds coughing before turning and looking at me wide eyed.
"
Kuuurrtt
!!" she screamed. "That's gross!!!"
"I didn't...!" I started, watching as the other three tried hard not to laugh. "I just.... I... I... wasn't the only one!" was all I could manage.
Rose turned towards Andy. "You too?" she shrieked, putting her hand over her mouth.