Edited by Gustavca
*****
The morning following of our not-quite orgy was pretty silent. Even the usual early risers lingered in bed for a long time. In the end, as usual, I found myself with Eleanor in the kitchen. Lincoln and Kate woke up early as well and shared a cup of coffee with us. Everybody was clothed normally despite everything that had happened. Soon Lincoln and Kate went out for a run. As they left, Eleanor and I shared a look. Kate was in good shape, but we hadn't even known she liked running. We laughed about it, then realized we ourselves had shared something special yesterday. Not only the very intimate moment before breakfast in the glorious morning light, not even the allowed peeping of her shower in the glorious light of dusk, and not even the quick caresses around the fire.
While the memory of Eleanor's soft body was still imprinted on my hands, the memory of the long kiss we shared was still predominant in my mind this morning. As we settled alone on the couch, with cups of some herbal infusion nearby, the silence was hard to define. Until, simply, Eleanor placed her cup on the table, smiled at me and asked, "Can I kiss you again?" And so we did, sharing a second kiss, much longer than the first. It was completely silent in the lodge, the only sound was the leather of the sofa creaking beneath us.
Eleanor ended up leaning with her back against me, in my arms, as another silence was stretching. I was trying my best not to ask the question burning in my head, "What do these soft, loving kisses mean?" I was doing my best, knowing it would break the mood. I was wrong about that last part, as it turned out.
Eleanor, as if reading my mind, said, "Oh, I don't know what it means, Will... Are love and sex the only choices we have? And while I certainly would enjoy having sex with you..." Women have ways of saying the most amazing things in strange contexts. "...what I really needed right now was these two kisses. And, actually, more than two."
With this she turned around in my arms and kissed me again. Longer. Wetter. By the time we stopped I was breathing hard, and my cock was just as hard. Eyes half-closed, Eleanor smiled at me, "You really have an easy trigger on that thing!"
Laughing I replied, "Well, that was a wonderful kiss."
She nodded, then nestled back in my arms. "Just so you know, I'm as ready for sex as you are..." Eleanor, still shy despite last night, "...but I meant what I said earlier. I don't think... I hope we're not trapped between monogamous romantic love and simple sex." After a pause, she went on: "I don't think either of us are in deep romantic love with each other, Will, and despite what our bodies might say, I know I'm not in your arms just to tease you or myself with a promise of wild passionate sex..." A pause, a deep breath, and more questions I was also trying to answer. "What's going to happen once we leave this Midsummer and go back to our usual lives? I have no idea. Will we dare, or even want to, kiss again the next time we see each other? I have no idea. What I know, without a doubt, is that I'm extraordinarily well, right here in your arms. Can we share this without asking what it means?"
We sure could. This second, absolutely delicious morning with Eleanor was even more bright than yesterday's. We just found ourselves at the right time and place, in the right mood and needs. We were completely at ease. It turned out we were the only ones who felt so completely at ease with yesterday night's fire. As we heard noises upstairs, Eleanor and I disentangled and allowed ourselves one last kiss.
Looking into her eyes, I whispered, "I love you, Eleanor. I don't know what it means exactly, but I do."
She grinned, kissed me again and whispered, "I love you too, Will... Don't you forget it, whatever happens when we leave this place and time."
When the rest of the group came down, they were dressed just slightly more than yesterday morning. Unconsciously for most of them, the need for some measure of "normalness" was stronger this morning. We chatted happily, and even made some funny, although not overtly sexual, references to last night. But even though we were all looking at each other with new eyes, there was an undercurrent of tension.
We spent the morning and part of the afternoon lazily enjoying the lodge and lake. As a group, we clearly had no idea how to end this weekend. And it looked like the magic was gone. As if we had used it all up yesterday night. Even Hope was quiet this morning despite what she had told me.
In late afternoon, we somehow all gathered in the biggest jacuzzi. It was designed for eight people but we made do after some of us moved in and out, and switched places. At one point I noticed we were arranged rather peculiarly. Each of us had people of the opposite sex next to us. And nobody was sitting next to their respective lover. Lincoln and Kate were sitting next to each other and Eleanor and I shared a look when she noticed it as well. What had happened on that morning run, we were probably never going to know.
The late afternoon jacuzzi was pleasant enough but the tension was still there. At least, until Nella spoke from across the jacuzzi. "So! When are we going to talk about last night?" Dead silence. Nervous glances followed that question, then some smiles, then Connor and Rinette, at the same time, began laughing. Most of us joined in. But soon enough even those who were most uncomfortable relaxed. It was done anyway, and we had all had a lot of fun. All of us moved a bit, stretched out our legs, less afraid of touching the others. After a while, with shots of whisky finishing the job of making us all very relaxed, we began enjoying and, even starting to regret, that this weekend was nearly over. Oh, how wrong we were.
After a while, and more shots, Rinette broke the silence and offered a new game, "I had the classic game of truth or dare in mind, but after yesterday, I'm not sure we're quite ready to risk the dare side. So I have this in mind. While we did see a lot of things last night, we didn't really learn anything remarkably new. What do you think about this game..." Rinette then explained her game, and everybody was eager to play. It was essentially, as Hope said when Rinette was done, a version of Truth or Dare without dares. "Well yes, Hope! That was the point!" Most of us laughed at her tone. "But there will be no questions, just secrets voluntarily revealed.
Since I happened to be sitting next to Hope on one side and Eleanor on the other, which had not happened by accident, I thought the game was going to be intense. In the end, strangely enough, I didn't even get to really play that game. The very first time Hope whispered in my ear, she made it very clear we were not going to be playing it. Instead she talked about my letter, not even bothering to explain how and why she had managed to identify me, nor why we were not going to play the game.
"Were you very serious when you wrote me the letter this year? Or just using hyperbolae to add to the effect?"
"I was dead serious, Hope."
"So you believe in nymphs?" she asked right back, a grin on her face.
"Ok ok... But I think you understand what I mean... And about that part, I was indeed dead serious. You're absolutely gorgeous."
"Well thank you, Will, my dear future lover..."
She then left me there, stunned as I was by this reminder of last night's promise, and turned around to play with Marcus. As I turned around to Eleanor, she greeted me with a wonderful smile, and I leaned close to her and asked, "I think don't I need to ask you about one of your little fetishes..."
Eleanor reddened quite noticeably. Pale skin was unforgiving. Yet she didn't turn away, and her smile quickly turned into a grin. "Like you don't have your own fetishes...," she replied. "You want to play that game?"
"With you? Not really. I think we went past the need for a game this morning."
"I agree. But let's make sure the others think we are..."
As I turned back to Hope, she was still smiling, but her smile had taken on a clearly different aspect. Her whispered words, while some of the others around the jacuzzi were laughing at the answers, were just as direct, "Do you know what a split crotch bikini is?"
"Yep."
"Would you believe me if I told you I was wearing one right now?"
