Surprise Reprise

He always went to the same spot, having discovered it not long after moving into town – going there especially on those sunny days, drawn to its ever changing buzz, something set off nicely against the underlying tranquility brought into the town by the river's full-flow, just before it swung out into the bay.

It was nothing more than a paved riverside esplanade, having a companionable strip of grass for the discerning tourists to sit along, or stroll beside whilst sharing the view – but for him, the place was where it was at. A scene of meeting, complete with mostly tranquil gulls soaring high above, there for any and all to appreciate.

He liked the spot also because you never quite knew what might happen – and the strangest things had. He thought back wistfully to a quiet and peaceful day last year, almost eleven o'clock and at least an hour or so before most of the town would surface from its Saturday night revelries.

That particular moment in his life was a clear memory, the almost deserted esplanade except for a few walkers and the pretty young lass, definitely a tourist, lain out for a while to sun herself three metres before him, and how she had surreptitiously slipped her hand inside her clothing – between her legs, maybe having forgotten his presence behind her for a moment, and stroked herself briefly before getting up and leaving, without even a backward glance.

He smiled again at that particular memory, remembering how surprised he'd been at the time, reacting only after it was too late to make a move, to say a word and find out if she'd truly forgotten that he'd been there – or if it had all been a ploy to get his attention. That thought alone had kept his fantasies fuelled for much of the ensuing year.

If that episode had been a surprise, then what greeted him upon opening his eyes from those reminiscences, was totally unexpected – what looked like the same post-teenage tourist, was walking across the sun-busy promenade to within a degree of him.

She had the same rich-dark hair, slightly wavy and past shoulder length, tied loose and looking like he remembered it. Figure just as slim, dressed in looser harem pants this time, as opposed to the elasticated ones of the time before – and what might possibly be the same small top, showing perfectly the moulding of her small breasts, in the carefree way of the young.

She sat herself during that dream-sequence, practically before him, just a little closer than she had that time before. He couldn't take his eyes off her, still not convinced that this wasn't the same girl.

In settling, she looked across and gave him a smile. He managed a nod in return, one that seemed upon quick-replay reflection, natural enough – it being a friendly kind of place. But that pause left him not knowing quite what to say next – which was okay, because she took up the slack and beat him to it.

'How are you - still sitting here after all this time?'

So she wasn't Spanish or Italian, but French.

'Absolutely – why give up such a spot with a great view.' He kept the answer open-ended, still uncertain.

'Ah, so you remember last year too then?'

He smiled to allow himself a pause of calculation: 'Mhm-um. Late last summer – a Sunday in August, but early in the day...a truly special one and well worth getting up early for, if I recall.'

Her smile spread unselfconsciously, and it warmed him – yet her eyes held a tint of uncertainty of their own, as if she were not sure that he was saying what she thought he was. His smile became a little more open to ease the moment with, and of course gain more time. 'Ah yes, I enjoyed that morning very much – but you did not stay for long, you left very quickly.'

'Mmm...' She glanced at him, eyes still gauging under her smile. 'Well, I had to go and do something, you know?'

He nodded himself, wondering if she had picked up on his inference, because hers were coming back at him just nicely – and the guessing game was proving to be fun, so he began plotting out responses.

'And you – did you stay long afterwards, doing your writing corrections?'

'Ah, no... I had something to do also. I did come back later though, but just then I was...inspired, and I needed to be alone so that I could work it all out.'

'Ah good.' Her look changed, becoming impish, 'so tell me what it was that you were inspired about?'

Caught out, he took a deep breath and held it lightly while looking down at the river's calm flow. Damn, he definitely needed some inspiration now...

He then saw that the impish glimmer had taken stronger command, and was now playing about her lips, moving them beautifully – at which point inspiration really did hit.

Blowing his breath back out he grinned off-handedly – It is now, or never! 'Well, the day seemed to be too good for wasting on just corrections – and what with me being up so early on a beautiful day an' all, I felt like writing a completely new piece – an erotic short story.'

There, it was said. He shrugged lightly, not wanting to lose the momentum. 'The sun does that to me.'

'Ah yes, I know this feeling.' She nodded, putting a sage look on for a few seconds. 'It sounds interesting, this erotic story – what was it about, what inspired you? I am interested in how such a thing occurs.'

She had him once more, and even though an easy way out occurred to him, he felt himself cushioned by a building excitement that egged him on into the difficult direction instead – a recklessness that was all too familiar.

'Um, well – as I said, the warmth and sunshine started this, and as I was becoming excited myself, I began thinking that it would be good to describe how a woman feels during the same build up of feelings, how her sexual excitement would develop – including her actually touching herself, exploring her thoughts and actions as she does the same with her body –describing what she would feel as she does this.'

'Difficult for a man, no?' Her eyes still twinkled light and playfully with amusement.

'Difficult to keep the concentration, yes – but I was lucky enough to see it all happen, umm, once. The rest was down to my imagination.'

'Only once you have seen a woman touch herself intimately?' The way she said it excited him incredibly.

'Yes – it was very beautiful.'

'And did you show this woman how you touch yourself, in return. Did she like it?'

He gave a small lop-sided smile: 'Well, no - she didn't know that I was there.' Her expression made him realise what this must be sounding like. 'I don't think she knew that anyone was nearby.' He added quickly.

'Or maybe she did know – and enjoyed your spying on her – was she in her garden, or the living room maybe, possibly out in the forest, or in her car? Tell me, I must know.' Her keenness was plain.

'Well, it did happen in public, and the spot wasn't busy, all the same it was surprising to see her touching herself, ehm...intimately.'

'Where then, on a bus, a plane – in the park?' She moved position to sit attentively before him, posture cross-legged and eyes keenly wide in her eagerness to hear all. 'Describe it all for me – I want to hear it all.'

'Well...' he lowered his voice, wanting to keep the others nearby from hearing what he was about to describe, feeling his excitement build further at this illicit conversation, with all its promises hovering in waiting.

He focused on the telling, adding a tone of conspiracy to draw her closer inwards. 'The place was actually, here. It was a quiet and sunny morning – too early for it to be busy yet, when a beautiful young woman came to pass a short while away in the sun nearby. In fact, she sat to read just there,' he pointed to a spot three metres away, 'I'm not sure how long she had been sat there, as I was working away – I often come her to do my corrections.

'Anyway, a bit later on when I chanced to look up again, she was lain out to get some of the early sun. No one else was sat nearby, only a few other early risers down by the grass there, and the occasional walking couple on the promenade. She had some small headphones on and was moving her drawn up legs in time to the music.

'I was drawn to look at her, as she already had her top rolled up quite some way, to expose her smooth young belly to the sun – besides, the way she was lain at the top of those stairs there, she could not see me looking down along her body, especially as she was looking away from me with her head propped up on a thick book. It looked like Ulysses to me, but everyone seems to read that when visiting here.

'The whole was a pleasant distraction, and I thought nothing more of it – occasionally looking up to admire her fine young body between bouts of correction. In any case, with my attention partly on her, I saw her roll the waistband of her stretch trousers down to just below the hip bones, and it was about then that I started imagining where her thoughts might be going.'

He looked up and saw her nod encouragingly.

'The crazy thing about it, was that as I watched her do this, imagining the thoughts and hoping that they were going along the lines led by my own hopes, she seemed to do just that.'

'How so?' She looked if possible, even more attentive.

'Her hands began stroking lightly at her belly – just the fingertips. Now, I know that this means nothing really – but it did get my full attention, especially as I had been thinking how good it would be if she would get turned on by what she was doing. She probably wasn't, but her actions just then at that particular moment, gave me a strange hope that something definitely sexual was about to happen – other than in my mind, I mean.'

'Yes you are right that this does not really mean anything in itself – I stroke my stomach too, it is very comforting – but it does not mean that I intend to masturbate.' She spoke in that matter of fact way that people from sexually enlightened countries have. 'At least, not every time.' She gave an off-hand shrug and another smile.

He nodded, swallowing quickly at her casualness and shifting position so that he could disguise the first twitches of his awakening erection. It was insane, he had spent plenty of time abroad himself, where such conversation was as common and calmly delivered as any comment about the weather might be – yet after coming back home, his shyness had snapped right back into place. So now I had just better snap right back out of it!

'Well – this time she did not just stroke her belly.'

'Yes...?'

'First she rolled her top up further still – for a moment, it looked like she might take it all the way up – the sensitive underside of her breasts must have already been exposed to the breeze though, as her nipples began to harden, becoming visible under the fabric.' He gestured vaguely, seeing her own start to show through the tight smoothness of her own top, and he wondered again if it was the same one. 'As you know yourself, they are sensitive to things like that.' He added, concentrating upon looking at her eyes.

'Mm – I know. They can be very sensitive there, and they love a little bit of wind. I like this, please carry on.'

'Well, as I said, it was not just her belly that was the focus of her attention. Both hands were still lightly smoothing over her skin in small swimming motions, and my ability to know what would happen next seemed to come back to me.

'She cast a quick look around, but not back at where I was sat quietly. This was when I realised she must have forgotten my presence, for she brought one hand up over her right breast, in a nice, long, slow brush-past, but one that only someone from nearby might have seen in enough detail, to know that it wasn't just a casual motion of moving a hand to brush some hair from her face – I saw the fingers move over and tease that nipple, as they passed in exquisite slow-motion.'

'Were you also hard when seeing this?'

He shifted position again to hide his current hardness: 'Very, yes. It was all happening so unexpectedly, even if I was doing my best to predict the track of this young lady's thoughts, with some success too.'

She smiled, flickering a quick glance at where his erection was hidden behind his drawn up legs, then mercifully back up to look calmly into his eyes.

'I do not think you have seen a woman pleasure herself for you before this.' It was definitely not a question.

'On film and video, yes – but people here are still very shy about admitting that sort of activity goes on – so getting someone to touch themselves while another watches, does not happen very often.'

'Ahh – I always show my boyfriends how I please myself – it excites me, and them of course. It also shows how I prefer to be pleasured.' Her look shifted as she leant forward to place a cool, small hand lightly on his knee.

'I hope that I am not embarrassing you with such intimacies?'

'No.' He hid the gasp behind a grin, feeling a little flustered despite himself. 'I think that they were very lucky to see you like that.'

'Well – it is normal, so why not – although I do not think that I would have done that in such an open place as this...unless the reason was right, maybe wanting to attract a certain boy's attention.' Her glance held him, and he definitely had the feeling that another kind of toying with had begun to happen here.

'So tell me what this girl did next. You tell it very well and I am feeing myself drawn into the picture – that is how you say it, no? Also I am becoming quite excited to know how this ends.'

He leant back against the wall, partly to regain a sense of composure, but also to relieve some of the pressure from his erection trapped hard and constricted down his trouser legs – the creases in his combats were crippling him.

It filled out with freedom in blessed relief, a feeling that always made him feel good – on top of the world. Deftly he flipped his baggy t-shirt out over it and leant forward again, now sitting cross-legged in true story-teller's style, knowing at the same time that she would definitely be able to see more than a hint of his own excitement.

'After that little bit of breast stroking, my attention and expectations were a hot pressure in my chest. All I wanted was for her to be bold enough, and slide her hand just that short distance further, from where it was rested on her belly and bury itself inside her trousers. At the same time, I didn't really expect that to happen – not really.

'It really surprised me when she moved both hands down to hook her thumbs under the waistband, lifting her bottom slightly Then with petite motions, she rolled the top of her tight trousers further away, exposing the top of her little red panties.

My eyes stayed on that curved sliver of fabric, on how it spanned the hollows between her pubic muscles and hip bones, revealing just enough hint of dark hair seen further back in the shadows.' He saw that he had her full attention now, almost childlike with eyes large and round, lips slightly parted, and moist. He swallowed and continued.

'Those thumbs swung under the slip then, and with little wriggling motions, she worked its hem down level with the rolled waistband, lifting it slightly clear of her belly.' He cleared his throat quickly again. 'I could see her hairs clearly for a few long seconds there, before she removed her hands and resumed the little stroking motions across her lower belly.

'It was just as well that she stopped just then, because I had forgotten to breathe, and my ears were telling me to do just that, or pass out.'

'While obeying my ears, she began squirming and rolling her hips, the beat played on her Walkman really getting to her now – I wondered what she was listening to.

'Then I saw her pause to glance around that half-circle in front of her again, this time parting her raised legs slightly to see between them. Maybe she was just being sure that no one had noticed – because without any further hesitation, she moved her hand right into her slip, and started stroking herself there instead.'

'You were sure?' Her eyes were very wide now, but he was more interested in what his peripheral vision was showing him – how noticeably hard her nipples had become.

'Oh yes – I could clearly see how her hand was lifting and sliding with not so subtle up and down motions. Other than the fact that her legs were slightly apart, I don't think anyone else would have noticed this though – but I could definitely see her hand lift and arch, confined tight and plainly visible inside those trousers, guiding her middle finger up and down over the clitoris with circular motions, going deeper a few times to lift some moisture up from between her lips. Hell, I thought I could even hear her wetness.'

'Oh, mmhm. So tell me what happened then?'

'She stopped – as if suddenly conscious of where she was, withdrawing her hand, re-adjusting her clothes – then simply getting up and going.

'She left without looking back – maybe I'd made a noise, a too heavy breath or something like that, and she remembered me being there. Or maybe she just preferred some privacy to be naked perhaps and finish herself off in. I could not believe even then that I had been so lucky as to witness what she had shown me.'

'And you did not call out, or go after her?'

He gave a small laugh: 'Ah – no. She was gone so quickly, and I still didn't know if it was the reminder of my presence that had spooked her. I also had a very, very noticeable erection – which might have been taken in the wrong way if my interpretation of the situation had been wrong.'

She cocked her head and smiled for him again: 'So what did you do then – after she had gone?'

He gave another little laugh, leant back and looked slightly bashful - but in so doing, allowed his t-shirt to slide fully back, revealing the full state of this more current erection. Her glance no matter how brief, told him that she hadn't missed it.

'Ah good – I see that you are cured at least, of a similar shyness now. So tell me the rest...'

Nodding, lowering his tone further still: 'Yes – I went home and fantasised about her. I imagined her coming home, taking off her clothes and playing with herself on the sofa afterwards.'

'M-mm, yes I did – well, on my bed in the hostel. So maybe you followed me to watch through the window after all...?' Her smile toyed with him.

'No – unfortunately not. But why did you stop – did you remember that I was there?'

She leaned in closer, laying a stroking hand down his cheek: 'How could I forget that you were there, when it was your cock that I was imagining when I started – even before I began to touch myself.'

He looked into her still playful eyes, seeing something else building behind that lightness.

'So – why did you stop? You did not look like you wanted to.'

She laughed lightly: 'You must have been very transfixed by what I was doing with myself. You did not see the two Nuns approaching along the promenade, no? I did - and they saw what I was doing with my hand, as clearly as you, I am sure.' She giggled upon seeing his expression. 'Okay, you try and continue playing yourself after seeing two Nuns looking at you, framed between your open legs...and they were definitely open by then, with my trousers down almost to my crotch.'

He joined in her laughter and nodded a few times. 'So that's who you were thinking of.'

'Yes and I would have gone further too, if they hadn't spoiled it. I saw you writing so peacefully, and I wanted you – did you not see me looking at you earlier?' His shaking head didn't stop her. 'I did it all to get your attention. I was about to uncover my breasts fully, and even hold open my trousers all the way, so you would see without any doubt, my fingers working myself.

'I did not think at that point that you had seen me. It is why I left without saying anything – I wanted it all to be so sexy, and if you hadn't seen me and what my hand was doing, then I did not know what to do. Anyway, I did not want to stay with then Nuns were looking at me like that.'