The Scavenger Hunt

Here's Chapter 5. It's the first (of a few) that don't have one of the objectives accomplished in it. It's really the chapter where this goes from a silly (albeit sexy) fraternity stunt to a serious erotic tale with real, emotional people. The first few chapters were mainly stroke stories with some plot... this one is quite plot-heavy, with a healthy amount of stroke material at the end.

As always, thanks go to samuraisan, who makes these things read way, way better than they do when I first write them, and also provides me very valuable content critiques. Also big thanks to thatsbogus, who caught one big weakness in the story, allowing me to flesh it out so it will all make more sense at the end.

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The Scavenger Hunt: Chapter 5

Frat Folks--

Laci Daniels, Anatomy & Physiology, Objective 6. Tuesday night, at the venue you specified.

TT

I fired off the e-mail later that morning right before soccer coaching class, which Taylor, Beth and I flirted our way through once again. Now we were gathered together on the quad in the center of campus, eating the lunches we'd bought at the student center. I had a grilled chicken sandwich, Beth had two pieces of pepperoni pizza, and Taylor pecked at a Caesar salad.

"Taylor, you surprise me," I said. "I've seen plenty of women eat rabbit food because they're worried about their weight, but I didn't think you were the type."

"I'm not," she said. "But I do have to keep myself in shape, and Beth is making country-fried pork chops tonight, so I'm saving space in the calorie counter."

I groaned in anticipation for her. "Say no more," I said, holding up my arms in defeat. "I understand completely."

"Oh, that's right," Taylor said, turning to Beth. "You packed a picnic for him the other day, didn't you?" Beth blushed a little. "Let me guess: fried chicken?"

A nod and another groan. "Keep talking. I might just cum in my pants from thinking about it."

"Yeah," Taylor agreed with a sigh. "That's how she got me, too."

That got my attention, and made Beth turn from pink to red. "Come again?"

"Not until you put a little work into it," Taylor quipped. "I mean, you do have a sexy voice, Travis, but I'm not quite that easy."

Normally I would take that right-down-Broadway fastball and deposit it in some guy's beer in the right field bleachers. But this is where I wanted the conversation to go, so I didn't want to sidetrack it with an easy comeback.

"Listen, that's why we're here, right?" I asked, and they both nodded. "I mean, if you don't want to talk to me yet, that's fine. I can be patient a little while longer. But if you're ready to talk, I'm ready to listen."

Taylor looked at me pointedly for a second. "I'm all for telling you whatever you want to know," she said. "But before we do, I need to ask you something." I just nodded. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I like her," I said. I turned my attention to Beth, so I could say it to her instead. "Because I like you. I want to spend time with you, and I want to get to know you. Of course, I'm attracted to you, and I think you're attracted to me, too, and eventually, things are going to get physical."

"I'm fine with that," Taylor said. "She was okay with me having sex with you, and I'm okay with her having sex with you. You're a guy, so of course you're okay with us having sex together."

I chuckled at that. Of course, I'd already told Beth as much.

"So, why isn't that enough for you?" she asked. I was pretty sure she knew my answer, but I came out with it anyway.

"I'm not sure I want to stop with just having sex." I let that hang between the three of us for a minute. "Taylor, I don't have any experience with this. But right now, I have some feelings for Beth that have nothing to do with what's under her clothes. And yes, that's a pretty crazy thing to hear myself say about anyone, not to mention a woman who tried to rip my dick off from across a crowded bar last summer."

That broke the tension a little bit, and all three of us laughed.

"I don't want to speak for Beth," I continued, "but I'm pretty sure she's in the same boat. That being said, I know you guys have something with each other. So I need to know that pursuing Beth isn't going to ruin anything between you two, or between me and either of you."

It was quiet for a long while, and our food was long gone, so they really had no excuse for not responding.

"Or, I can just sit here and talk to myself," I said. "I mean, I do treasure my own company, but--"

"Travis, I love Taylor," Beth suddenly blurted out. That threw me for a loop, as did the sudden jealous pang in the pit of my stomach. Taylor looked almost as surprised as I was.

"Does she know that?" I asked, looking at Taylor.

"Yeah, I..." Taylor trailed off. "Uh... yeah. She's told me a hundred times before. I love her, too."

"So why do you look surprised?" I asked.

"It's the first time either of us has ever told someone besides family members that we're in love," Beth said. "At least, it's the first time I've ever told someone else."

"Yeah, me too," Taylor said, still clearly off-balance. "I mean, no, I haven't told anyone else until now."

"So, why me?" I asked. "Why make me the first?"

"Because you're the first person I care enough about to tell the truth," Beth answered. That made me feel a little better.

"I'm glad," I said.

"We can get into all the details later, but here's the nutshell version," Taylor said. "Beth and I are together. We're best friends, but she's also my girlfriend, and I'm her girlfriend. We have a real relationship, and it isn't just sexual. I care more about her than anyone else in the world."

"The same goes for me," Beth echoed. "Like I said... I love her."

"Okay," I said. "I don't mean to be rude, but why are we even having this conversation, then? It seems like this is an A-B train, and I'm stop C."

"We're not done," Beth said.

"We're both sexually attracted to women, and not just each other," Taylor said. "I'd messed around with a couple other girls before I met Beth, and even though she's never been with another woman, it's something we fantasize about a lot."

"All that being said," Beth picked up, "if I hadn't found Taylor, I wouldn't be in a relationship with some other woman." Beth reached across and held Taylor's hand. "Taylor is a special exception -- she's going to be in my life forever. But when I look at myself in 10 years, I still see a man very heavily involved in my life, too."

"To use your analogy, Travis," Taylor said, "this is more like an A-B-C train. Beth is trying to figure out if you can be her stop C."

My brain felt like an overheated computer, and I needed another minute to process all the information.

"So, you're still into guys?" I asked Beth.

"I definitely am," Beth said. "We both are. Neither of us had acted on it since we got together. Well, at least not until somebody got out of control on a bus ride the other day--" Beth grinned at Taylor, who just stuck her tongue out "--but we knew we'd get back to it someday. That's why she had my permission. And once I met you in class the next day, I understood why you were the one she chose to use it with."

"So, how is this supposed to work, then?" I asked. "Do Taylor and I share your time? Is she your main priority, and I just get whatever's left? I'm not sure that would work for me, and I'm sure she wouldn't be happy if it was the other way around."

"I don't know," Beth said. "Travis, we didn't plan any of this. This is as new for us as it is for you. I know we met last summer, and you knew Taylor from sports, but really, we just met you a couple weeks ago. I don't think there's a manual for this kind of thing."

"Look, I'm all for thinking outside the box and doing things that aren't normal," I said. "But how am I supposed to play a game that there are no rules for? That just seems like a great way to get hurt, and I'm not talking about just me."

She smiled at me. "I appreciate that you're concerned about me. And yeah, it's gonna take some work. We'll be figuring out a lot of it as we go along. But Taylor and I both knew that whenever it came time for one or both of us to have a boyfriend... sure, he was going to have to be attractive, smart, athletic, charming, and know how to take control. But he'd also have to be flexible, sensitive but not too sensitive, and strong."

I didn't consciously put it there, but I felt a smile tugging at my lips.

"So what do you think?" Beth asked, reaching to her other side and taking my hand now. "Are you up for it?"

The grin expanded to cover my whole face.

"I do love a challenge," I said. "How about I show you tomorrow night?"

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My food done, I tossed my napkin on the table and leaned back, drawing in a deep breath of salty ocean air.

"Eat too much?" Beth asked, smiling at me from across our beachfront, open-air table.

"No," I said. "I just love the air near the ocean. I grew up about two hours from the beach, but my grandparents own a house on the Outer Banks, and we'd go there as much as we could. Even in high school, I'd lie down on the beach at night, look up at the stars and just breathe, sometimes for hours. A couple of times I even woke up and watched the sun rise out there. Just brings back a lot of memories."

"Happier times?" she asked.

"Not necessarily," I said. "I'm plenty happy now. Simpler times, maybe. Reminds me of when I wasn't trying to date a girl who's already spoken for, with her girlfriend's permission."

"A lot of men wouldn't try," she offered.

"Oh, I think you'd be surprised," I laughed. "But most of them would have different goals in mind."

"And you don't have those goals?"

"To get both you and Taylor into bed at the same time?" I asked. "To see you two have sex with each other? I might have my man card revoked for this, but no, I don't."

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Look, I am a red-blooded male, ok?" I said. "I'm not saying I'd run away screaming. You're both sexy as hell. I'm sure I would enjoy watching the two of you together. Hell, being with both of you at the same time would probably be the most mind-blowing experience of my sexual life, and at the risk of sounding immodest and a little bit like a man-whore, that's not exactly a low bar to clear."

She giggled, but waited for me to continue.

"But that's not what I'm after, Beth," I said. "I'm interested in you, and like I told you yesterday, what's underneath what little clothes you're wearing tonight is only part of it."

She blushed as I took her hand and kissed her knuckles. Then she looked down at her plate, which had just one, solitary piece of food left on it. She took a deep breath, then picked it up with her free hand and popped it in her mouth. I couldn't help but chuckle as she chewed.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed," Beth said after she was finished.

"Me too," I agreed.

"Why?" she asked.

"You first," I volleyed back.

"Well, as I said before, I've only eaten sushi one other time," she said. "Back in high school, at some oriental buffet during a cheerleading trip to Columbia. And it was awful."

"That was your first mistake -- expecting high-quality cuisine from a buffet," I said. "You have to go someplace that specializes in it."

"I guess so," she said. "Because it won't be five years before I eat it again. I am a bit surprised, though, to find great sushi in Myrtle Beach."

"Don't be," I said. "You can find great anything down here. It's a nationally famous tourist trap. Tourists might be a bit naïve and easy to take advantage of, but their taste buds work just fine. If you're putting crap on the table, they'll go somewhere else and put you out of business right quick."

"Well, you've changed my mind about sushi, Mr. Temple," she said. She slid back a bit in her chair and crossed her right leg over her left, letting her sandal dangle from her toes. She knew I was looking, and I wasn't trying to hide it. "So, why are you impressed?"

For emphasis, I just stared at her perfectly tanned legs another few moments. "Are you kidding me?"

She laughed. "I didn't have them on display when you said that. C'mon. Is it because I ate enough to keep up with you?"

She had. I'd expected that I'd eat my three rolls and a majority of what she ordered, too. Instead, she'd eaten everything except a couple of pieces I'd stolen, and she'd sampled some of mine as well.

"No, though you did," I said. "I'm impressed because even though you had a bad experience with it before, when I told you we were coming here, you didn't beg off or try and convince me to take you somewhere else. You trusted me and gave it a second chance, and you were willing to let your mind be changed. If I'd have asked you about sushi this morning, you'd have told me you hated it, and that would have been true at the time. But now, you want to eat it again. That kind of open-mindedness is rare."

"Thank you," she said. I pushed my chair back and helped her up.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah," she said. "Just let me use the ladies' room first."

I watched her as she walked back into the restaurant, refusing to tear my eyes away until I was certain she'd turned a corner. A couple weeks ago after the baseball game, Jamie had thrown in a little extra shimmy to make sure I noticed her ass -- Beth didn't have to do anything but walk. She moved with confidence and grace, and I knew I wasn't the only one watching.

When I didn't have that great view to look at anymore, I turned around to take in the other spectacular vista. The sun set on the other coast, but there were still various hues of purple, blue and yellow mixing together to create a pretty interesting canvas against the sky.

I took several more deep breaths and tried to steady myself. If nothing else, Beth had me completely off-balance. She had a bubbly personality, a sharp wit, and when she laughed or smiled at me, it made my brain melt. I tried to wrap my head around how I could be so into a woman I'd just met, especially when I'd bounced from girl to girl my whole adult life without developing feelings for any of them.

Part of me reasoned that it was because we didn't actually just meet. She'd been such a different person when I'd first run into her last summer. I'd been completely turned off by her behavior and attitude then, but the primal, carnal caveman in me saw the challenge in conquering and taming a fiery, feisty woman like that. Long-term, I really wanted the person Beth was now, but just knowing there was a rough, wild and crazy side to her made her even more appealing.

"So what are we doing now that I needed to dress comfortably?" she asked. I'd been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn't heard her come up behind me, but when she wrapped her hands under my arms and across my chest, I forgot about everything else.

"It's a surprise," I said. I pointed down the beach and added, "But I can tell you it's that way."

I'd told her to dress for activity, and she had. She'd worn dark blue shorts and a pink low-cut top -- she looked great in them, but I knew it wouldn't matter if she got them dirty. That wasn't the plan, anyway, but with what I had planned, you never really knew. Either way, I'd had the damndest time keeping my hands off her legs during the cab ride from the campus to the beach. The couple of times that I'd failed, she didn't seem to mind. If there weren't so many people walking on the beach, I'd have had my hands all over them again.

She slipped her sandals off and I carried them in my free hand as we walked hand-in-hand down the beach.

"So, I think I've met all the centerfold requirements," I said. She looked confused. "You remember, from the picnic."

"Oh, yeah," she said with a laugh. "So what about you? What are the Playgirl bullet points for Travis Temple?"

"Same as you," I said. "You know, tall, dark and handsome. Walks on the beach. Except I'm a Libra."

She laughed hard now. "Well, I'm shorter than you, I burn when the heater's on, and I can't say I've ever been described as handsome. And what's that? October?"

"And some of September, but yeah," I said. "October 12. And I like women of all shapes and sizes, though right now I seem to have a thing for petite blondes."

"Lucky for me," she said. "And what would I learn if I took time to read the article?"

"There isn't a whole lot to tell, I guess," I said. I could talk to anyone about anything, except myself. "I grew up in North Carolina, like I said. Played baseball in high school, joined the Marines after. Did five years, then decided to get out and go to college."

"Why here? Why not in North Carolina, closer to home?"

"My dad went here," I said. "Even out-of-state, I got a discount for being an alumnus' kid."

"I thought you were on a baseball scholarship," she said.

"Partial," I replied. "I was coming here anyway. I thought my days of organized baseball were well behind me, but my dad sent Coach Bazewell tape from my high school days, and I got a tryout."

"You're pretty good, right?"

"I like to think so," I said. "Baseball has always come easily to me. Even in high school, there was some talk that I might get drafted. It would have been in the lower rounds, so I might have decided to go to college instead. Either way, 9/11 happened early my senior year, and I joined the Marines a couple months later."

She nodded solemnly.

"That must have been tough on your family."

"It was," I said. "I grew up pretty well off, but unlike a lot of my rich friends, my parents never tried to plan my life out for me. Of course, my dad would have been thrilled if I'd gone to law school and joined the family firm, but only if that was the path I'd chosen for myself. When it was clear I was pretty good at baseball, they became the perfect sports parents, going to as many games as possible and being supportive without devolving into those helicopter assholes that yell at the umpires and complain about the coach not playing you enough."

She chuckled.

"I'd never specifically mentioned joining the military, but I think they would have felt the same way about that, at least until 9/11 happened. After that, it was almost a given that if you enlisted, you were gonna end up in the sandbox. That's what I expected -- hell, being young and dumb, that's what I wanted. But of course, no parent wants their kid getting shipped off to a war zone. My mom cried when I told her my decision, and my dad actually tried to forbid it."

"Wow, really?" she asked. "So much for being supportive, huh?"

"No, actually," I said. "He was just scared. I mean, we had the conversation a week or so before I turned 18, and after that, he wouldn't have been able to block me anyway. A couple days after he got angry with me, he sat me down and apologized. He wanted to make sure I'd carefully thought things through, and if that was still my decision, he'd be behind me 100 percent. Once I signed the papers, he made it his personal mission to make sure I was in shape for it. I still played baseball, but when I wasn't training for that, my dad was running me through all kind of crazy workouts he'd gotten from former military clients. By the time I left for boot camp, I was faster and stronger than I'd ever been."

"That sounds amazing, Travis," she said. "It had to feel good having your parents back you up like that, on such a big decision."

"It did," I agreed. "But they were still scared shitless every time I got deployed."

"And how was that?" she asked. I liked that she'd left it open-ended -- I could answer with as many or as few details as I wanted. Some people like to brag, and others hate to talk about it altogether. I was in between, but probably closer to the second extreme. I had no problems talking about it if there was a reason, but it wasn't my favorite topic.