How the Story Ends

Author's note:

This story is fiction; all characters and situations are fictional and any relationship they may bear to any living or dead person is purely coincidental.

This story was inspired by the song 'Please don't tell me how the story ends' sung by Kris Kristofferson.

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Water dripped gently off the icicles hanging from the aspen branches as the late spring sunshine slowly warmed the air. It was a beautiful location; a lake nestled in the forest, behind me the buildings of the Sunshine Outdoor Summer Camp were being opened and aired for the coming summer season. The camp was one of several which catered for youth at risk, taking underprivileged kids into the outdoors to teach them about nature and, more especially, about themselves. This was my first camp; to say I was excited would have been a gross understatement; I was totally ecstatic, barely believing that I was actually here.

I had completed my counselling degree a few days earlier, but had applied for this job several months ago. For the longest time I heard nothing so had assumed I should look for other work for the summer, and maybe for the rest of my life. While my training was in counselling, my passion was the outdoors. I was a competent hiker and rock climber so I had hoped that I may be able to find work teaching and leading in those areas as well as undertaking counselling as required. Then there was the email, my whoop for joy, and now here I was, admiring the beautiful view and zoning out as the chief instructor, Matt, briefed us on the summer camps. I refocused.

"We take groups of 12 for ten days at a time on hikes, and also work with those groups in other activities such as canoeing, sailing and rock climbing. Each group has two instructors, usually one who is experienced and another who has little or no experience with this operation. That doesn't mean that the less experienced instructor lacks skills; everyone here has amazing skills and knowledge, so each instructor will be expected to be able to lead the group and fully participate in all group experiences."

Canoeing? Sailing? I had done both but certainly I knew I was not an expert in these. Rock climbing was a different matter; I knew I was competent in that, as well as hiking, and I had learnt a reasonable amount about counselling, especially for youth at risk. I guessed I could quickly learn what was necessary in canoeing and sailing. I focused back in to what Matt was saying.

"So, here are the pairs that I've sorted out. These are probably 90 percent certain and will remain for the whole summer camp program. You will work together as a pair with your group on the ten-day course, then have four days off between courses before starting it all again. It might seem that this is a long time off between groups, but believe me, some of these kids can be very hard work. It also allows time for you to develop your skills in areas of your choice, so you'll be able to attend courses of your choice to improve those. I'll call your names in pairs and you can meet each other and spend the next while talking together, briefing each other on your abilities and areas in which you feel less competent. As far as has been possible, you are carefully matched for gender, areas of expertise and experience."

I could see the wisdom of this since we would be leading mixed gender groups and the outdoor expertise was only part of the whole program, the other being the interpersonal aspects, which to some extent were the most important. The aim of the courses was to expose the youths to challenging and often very scary situations and then debrief them to enable them to grow in every way. In theory, this will allow them to live their lives with higher self esteem and confidence. I tuned in to the names again as I heard mine called.

"Evie?"

I stood up.

"Hi Evie. You're with Alex. Alex is a very experienced leader and I'm sure you'll learn a great deal from him. Your counselling knowledge will be very valuable as Alex's skills are mainly in the outdoor skills, he tends to gloss over the counselling aspects, eh, Alex?"

I saw Alex grin at Matt, then stride to the outside of the group and around to me. He was tall, lithe, with a contagious grin. As we met, there was no tentative handshake; instead he wrapped me in his arms and gave me a bone-cracking hug, which I returned, though not with the same strength.

"Let's head over to the little inlet and have a chat," he suggested.

I had only been on site for a few hours, enough time to find my room and the kitchen for a coffee, so I tagged along as he chatted on about the camps and the fun we'd have this summer.

"It's great that we get to do what we most like in a beautiful location and get paid for it," he commented.

I thought about this for the first time; getting paid for doing what you love; couldn't get much better than that. We arrived at a secluded area with the water of a small inlet lapping at our feet. Alex spread the rug he carried on the damp grass and we sat and talked, sharing our lives so far. We had very complementary skills, he being short on the counselling theory while being expert on the outdoor skills.

"Canoeing and sailing can easily be taught and learnt," he told me, "While counselling skills, hmmm, those are a lot more difficult to take on board. It involves attitudes, which cannot easily be taught or learned but very often they are simply innate. However, I'll be very interested in seeing how you work with these kids and hope to learn lots. It'll be a great summer, I just feel it."

He grinned his huge smile at me, and I smiled back; it was difficult not to respond to his sunny grin. I found I was slowly coming under his spell and could easily see why he was employed as a leader in this camp. He also enjoyed snow, being a competent ski instructor as well as a mountaineer.

"If we're still talking to each other by the end of summer, we could do some mountaineering and skiing next winter if you like."

I replied non-committedly; we had summer to get through first. However, right now I thought what was not to like about this guy? I even began having thoughts of what it would be like to fall in love with him. I'd had a couple of boyfriends during the past few years, but nothing serious or long-lasting. I enjoyed my freedom; the guys I'd dated quickly thought they owned me, especially after we'd made love. They had seemed to be so dependent and, conversely, so domineering. Men!! So far, Alex seemed different; he had more confidence in himself, as though he didn't need to be the boss as he treated me as his equal, despite our difference in experience levels. I asked him about this.

"In my mind, everyone has something to teach and everyone has something to learn from everyone they meet. Why else would they meet but because it was necessary?"

It was a rhetorical question, but still was thought provoking; what had I to learn from Alex? What did he have to learn from me? Time would tell, I guessed.

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The rope tightened in my grip as a small piece of rock fell beside me, leaving Alex swinging gently close to the cliff. His anchor had held, so he was safe; he just had to get a grip of the face and continue climbing.

"You Ok?" I called.

"Yeah. Damn rotten rock. It's the problem climbing so early in the season, the rock's been weakened by the freezing winter conditions and there hasn't been anyone up here yet to break off the weak bits."

He grunted as he reached for a handhold, finding footholds and taking his weight, lowering me slightly so I was once again fully supported by the ground. He quickly climbed back to his previous level, then continued, fitting jam nuts into cracks and clipping his belay rope through the carabiners. Another few minutes and he was at the top. Once he called he was safe and tied on, I unwrapped the belay rope from around me and tied onto the end. It was now my job to second up the cliff, removing the pieces of protection he had placed as I passed them.

It was a relatively easy climb and I arrived alongside Alex after about five minutes without any misadventures. He gave me a hug as I arrived.

"Thanks for holding me," he said with a grin, "Hope I wasn't too heavy."

"Well, you did almost lift me off the ground, but there was plenty of friction so no probs. Pleased you had lots of pro in; if you'd fallen far we both might have been dangling."

"Yeah, always put in plenty of pro, that's my motto," he replied, "Thanks again, though, it's great to know I'm climbing with an expert."

Alex wrapped his arms around me again and gave me a more intimate hug, followed by a peck on my cheek. I also felt a distinct pressure against my hip which felt like a hardening cock. Hmmm, maybe this would be an interesting summer, I thought.

I watched as Alex set up the abseil, using a fixed anchor with attached carabiner, then he hooked onto the double rope and zipped down to the base of the cliff. I followed as soon as he was off the rope and we pulled the rope down.

"Time for lunch, I think," he commented as we coiled ropes and shouldered packs, "Lakeside lunch Ok for you?"

"Sounds good to me," I agreed and we set off along the trail to the picturesque lake mirroring snow-capped peaks across the valley.

Once we arrived we unpacked lunches and relaxed side by side in the warm sun, chewing contentedly.

"Pity the water's so cold," I commented, "I really feel like a swim after our exertion doing those five climbs this morning."

"It's not that cold," Alex replied, "After all, you were swimming in it yesterday when we practised canoe capsizes. And it's had an extra day's sun by now."

"Yeah, but we were prepared for it yesterday with swim gear and wet suits. Today we only have what we stand up in and I don't really want to spend the afternoon in wet gear if I can help it."

"Well, we could always remove it first," he replied with a grin, "Doesn't worry me; does it worry you?"

I thought of the many times I'd skinny-dipped in the past with hiking groups. It hadn't concerned me then, why should it now? After all, Alex and I were going to be together most of the summer, probably sleeping alongside each other in a tent for most nights. There was nothing he had that I hadn't seen before, and I was certain that he'd seen many naked women in his life as well. And I was hot and sweaty and I knew the cold water would feel wonderful, for a few moments anyway, then drying off in the sun was always pleasantly relaxing.

"Nope, beat you in," I replied with a grin.

We both stripped quickly, ironically facing away from each other, then I heard him sprint towards the lake as I hopped on one foot trying to remove my tight climbing boot. It came off and I turned and ran towards the lake as Alex lay back in the water and watched my jiggly bits jiggling. The water was cold, probably less than 50, I guessed, but I plunged in and emerged with teeth chattering alongside Alex. I crouched down, water up to my shoulders, protecting my body from his gaze at the expense of losing body heat at a huge rate. Alex stood up, the water coming up to his waist. I admired his tensed six-pack and watched the vague outline of his cock semi-floating under the water. My teeth began chattering harder as I shivered with cold, losing heat faster due to my greater immersion and also due to my lower body mass. Alex looked at me with concern.

"Come on, you need to get out now or you'll become hypothermic."

I realized that I could no longer feel my feet and could move only slowly. I'd lost heat far faster than I'd expected. I slowly stood up, feeling his eyes on my pointy, contracted nipples, then tried to take a step. I could barely move. Alex held out his hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me slowly towards the shore. I noticed the look of concern on his face and knew from experience and my wilderness first aid training that I would soon be in real trouble unless I warmed up. Yesterday was totally different, I realized, because we'd expected to get wet and wore thick wetsuits; today it was just birthday suits.

"H-h-help m-m-me p-p-please," I shivered.

Alex took a step towards me and scooped me up in his arms as though I was a featherweight, then strode towards shore, holding me clear of the water. When he arrived at our lunch spot, he sat me on the grass the removed a jacket from his pack and lifted me onto it, then sat behind me, pressing his warmer body against mine and wrapping his arms around me, holding his jacket against my wet skin. I felt the warmth from his body and after a few minutes I stopped my uncontrollable shivering and took stock of our situation. Here we were, having met two days ago, naked, alone, him cuddling against my back while he wrapped his arms and some of his jacket around my front - and despite the cold, he was obviously aroused because I could feel his hard cock pressing against my ass!

I relaxed more, as I slowly warmed up, and leant back against his warmish body, aware that I must have taken a considerable amount of his warmth for myself. He felt me relax against him.

"Feeling better now?" he asked.

"Yes. Thank you. I'm amazed how quickly I lost so much heat. Very different from yesterday with the wet suits. I guess, though, that because I cooled down quickly, I didn't cool to any great depth so I'm warming up again quickly as well."

I turned my head and looked up at him, seeing him grinning down at me.

"You quite like holding me like that, don't you?" I chuckled.

"Well, little lady, I must admit that it's quite nice and I sure don't hear you complaining about it. I can let you go if you like."

"No, I think I need a bit more warmth. My breasts still feel cold." I grinned up at him as he cupped my breasts with his hands, just holding them, not massaging or anything, not at first touch. A real gentleman, I thought, feeling his cock harden between my ass cheeks. I relaxed in his arms, wondering how the summer would pan out since we'd come this far on day three.

Alex eventually broke the mood, pushing me forward a little with his chest, unwrapping his arms from around my body, then standing up behind me. I quickly spun around as he turned away, only catching a glimpse of his large, swaying manhood.

"Thanks very much, Alex," I said to his back, hoping he'd turn around. Instead he looked over his shoulder. Did I want to take this any further now, or leave the inevitable until later, I wondered. My impetuosity took control and the words were out before I'd even consciously thought them. "Hey, honey, turn around and let me see that thing you have there."

Omigod, I thought as I heard the words come out, what would he think? I watched for his response with mixed feelings; fear, doubt, anticipation, dread. Had I, by that simple request, wrecked a possible wonderful summer relationship? Would he think I was too forward, too precocious? I only had a second to wait as he made up his mind. Seemed he wanted us to be us as much as I wanted us to be us for the summer.

Alex slowly turned around and placed his hands on his hips, grinning down at me, his hard cock waving in front of him, his balls tightly held below, his foreskin partly retracted so his pink cock head was visible with a drop of precum poised on the end. We stayed like that for what seemed forever; time stood still as I looked at him and he watched me watching him.

"You like what you see?" he asked at length.

"Yes, very much. Now it's my turn."

I stood up and also placed my hands on my hips, then spread my legs apart a little, then a little more, feeling my labia separating slightly. My nipples stood out from my breasts, but this time it was from lust, not from cold. Neither of us moved; neither of us wanted to break this tender, erotic moment by making some move that could be misinterpreted and may end a whole summer of fun before it had even started. We must have remained like that, each inspecting the other, for at least two minutes before he finally spoke.

"Would you like to touch?"

Would I ever, not just touch, but lick, suck, deep throat, massage, and be fucked again and again and again, but my thoughts were running away; tiny steps, Evie, tiny steps.

"Yes, please, may I?"

"Yes, and may I touch you?"

"Oh, yes, darling, yes please do."

We each stepped towards the other and we simply pressed our bodies together, hugging, each other, massaging the other's back and ass cheeks. I could feel his cock between my legs, between my separated labia, throbbing against my wet pussy. I felt my breasts pressing into his chest, warming further against his warm body. Then I looked up at him and caught him looking down at me, our lips so close, we moved them slightly and we kissed, a long, languorous, loving, luscious, lovers' kiss which sent sparks or electricity racing through my body. Oh, how I wanted to consummate our relationship right then, on the soft grass, his huge, hard cock forced fully into my welcoming cunt; but no, if it had been a one day thing, if I'd been his client and he my guide and if we'd never see each other again, yes, most definitely. But it wasn't like that; for our relationship to last the summer and be all it could be, it needed carefully built foundations.

We broke the kiss at last and I snuggled my cheek against his shoulder while he snuggled his cheek against my still wet hair. We held each other for more long minutes, then slowly, silently we parted and turned to dress, once again facing away from each other.

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"We need to decide on our camping arrangements before we select out gear," Alex explained as I looked around the gear shed. We were packing for a three-day hike and, although it hadn't been mentioned directly, we needed to decide whether to take a single-person tent each and sleep apart or take a two-person tent and sleep together.

"It seems a waste of effort to take a tent each," I commented, looking for a way to tell him I really, really wanted to sleep with him, but without saying as much. Tiny steps, I reminded myself.

"Yes, I totally agree. We'll be in separate sleeping bags anyway so it's not like anything will happen," he reassured me.

Unless we want it to, I thought hopefully. We selected our tent and sleeping bags, which I noticed could be fastened together by adjusting the zippers, and collected cooking and other equipment required.

"My cabin's bigger than your room so we'll take everything there and pack," suggested Alex.

His cabin was huge compared with my own room, a single large bedroom with a welcoming queen sized bed, a lounge and kitchen room and the usual ablutions. We spread things out on the floor, then I returned to my room to collect my personal clothing and gear needed for the hike, took that to Alex's cabin and we packed for our trip. There were two goals for this hike, firstly, to enable the newbie instructors, including me, to get a feel for the lie of the land to improve our navigation skills, and secondly, as a further group bonding exercise between the pairs of instructors. I certainly hoped to extend the scope of the group bonding between Alex and myself. We would be walking each day, the experienced instructors pointing out features along the way, and we were camping at specific campsites which we would later use with our groups. These campsites offered the rough living of wilderness camping but in an environmentally friendly manner with long-drop toilets and designated fire pits to minimize pollution and environmental damage.

By 10am we were packed, had loaded out food and were assembled with the other instructors ready to head out. Matt, the chief instructor, briefed us on the whole trip then focused on today's hike.

"I know that you all have experience in wilderness hiking; you wouldn't be here if you hadn't. So, the more senior instructors and their partners will take turns at leading in pairs with debriefing after each stage to enable less experienced leaders to learn from peer review. It's designed to be supportive and non-threatening, so please bear this in mind when you give and receive this feedback. Remember, there is no criticism, only feedback. Any questions?"