Katherine, more commonly known as Kate, was a long-time friend of mine. We'd gone to kindergarten together and went to the same schools, often in the same classes. Somehow or other we never dated. We were just friends.
I'd discuss my girlfriends with her when I wanted advice and she'd do the same where her boyfriends were concerned. I patted her on the back when a boyfriend dumped her, telling her if he didn't appreciate her he wasn't good enough for her. If either of us needed a partner for an emergency we were on each other's speed dial. For all that, I was well and truly parked in the friend zone and was quite happy with that.
At least, I thought I was.
It had been a hot summer's day and it looked as though it was going to be a hot summer evening. Getting home from work I changed into beach gear and was about to head off when I saw Kate on her way home. She still lived only a few doors up. I stepped out onto the street and accosted her, strolling along next to her.
"Hi, Kate. Little on the warm side, isn't it?"
"Ha, tell me about it. I'm practically melting. I can't wait to get inside and change."
"Speaking of changing, I'm heading to the beach just as soon as I'm ready, which is right now. However, being a nice bloke, I'll linger for a short while if you want to come along. We can buy dinner while we're there."
"For a man, you sometimes come up with the right idea," she laughed. "Come on in and wait while I get changed."
I followed her inside and was somewhat startled when Kate took off her blouse while still in the process of entering the house. By the time the door closed behind me she was already reaching around to undo her bra.
"Ah, hold it a second, Kate," I said quickly. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Getting changed for the beach," she said, looking surprised. "You just invited me along, remember?"
"I can see you're getting changed," I pointed out in a dry voice. "With a man standing right here?"
She looked puzzled.
"What? Who?" she asked, looking around. She must have seen the satiric look on my face because she laughed. "You? But you don't count. You're my friend."
"That's right. Now take off your bra and you'll see just how friendly I'll become."
"What?" she said, sounding incredulous. "You've seen me get changed before."
"If you stop and consider it, you will realise that I haven't seen you get changed recently. Not for several years, actually. In case you haven't noticed you're no longer a flat-chested tomboy. You've got interesting bumps and curves and a cute little patch of fur."
I lowered my eyes suggestively towards her groin and continued.
"Unless you shave," I said thoughtfully.
"You're teasing me," she said, but didn't seem one hundred percent sure of it.
"You keep telling yourself that," I said. "Go ahead and take off your bra. Then you can console yourself with the thought that I'm kidding you while you watch me find out for myself if you shave.
And after I've determined that I'll explain to you the essential differences between a man and a woman, including a practical lesson on why this is so. You are old enough now.
There again, maybe you've already found out why."
This last was added with a quizzical expression, and from the way her face flamed I'd have to say she hadn't. The same couldn't be said for me. I hadn't exactly chosen past girlfriends because of the excellence of their morals.
For a moment she looked doubtful and I grinned at her. That was probably a mistake on my part.
"Oh, you," she said dismissively, just as she had hundreds of times in the past when I've pulled some sort of prank on her. She flicked open the catch of her bra, letting it drop down her arms, completely disregarding me as a potential threat.
She may have had cause to change her mind a few seconds later. I caught her arm and helped the bra to fall off, at the same time pushing her arm behind her back. I also caught her other arm, pushing that behind her as well, finding one of my hands was big enough to hold both her wrists.
Ignoring her startled protest I bent down and kissed one full breast, right on the little pink nipple. Then, ignoring a shocked gasp, I did the same to the other nipple. Leaned back a little to admire those pale white globes and then leaned forward again.
This time I sucked on first one nipple and then the other, rubbing them with my tongue and rasping my teeth across them. Next time I leaned back both nipples were standing erect, and looking very sexy.
Kate, I realised, was actually trying to speak to me.
"Grey, what do you think you're doing? You can't do that. You know you can't."
"Kate, I can and I just did. I warned you of consequences. You're well and truly old enough to understand the facts of life. Now hush up. I find I'm really curious about fur or no fur."
Still holding her wrists behind her I used my free hand to undo the button and zip on her skirt, giving it a push to help it past a couple of generous hips.
Kate was wailing something about, "Grey, don't you dare," but I wasn't listening too hard. I was concentrating on easing her panties down. I pushed down first one side and then the other, coaxing them slowly down, while Kate got more and more voluble. They reached a tipping point and gravity helped them to slither down to her ankles.
"My, Kate," I murmured, running my hand lightly across her smooth mons. "As bare as when I last saw it, lo, these many years ago. Your chest has certainly changed, though."
To emphasise that change I ran my hand gently across her breasts, making sure to rub her nipples as I went.
That was the stage when the fun and games came to a screeching halt. A car pulled into the driveway. I saw it over Kate's shoulder. She didn't.
"Ah, Kate," I said softly, placing my hand over her mouth to stop her denunciation. "Kate," I repeated, putting a little bit of urgency into my voice.
She glared a "what?" at me.
"You parents just arrived home. Better run along and get dressed for the beach."
"Do you seriously think I'm going to the beach with you now?"
"Yes. Your parents would want to know why you aren't going. Better run if you don't want to be caught dressed the way you aren't."
She gave me a furious glare, hastily stepped out of her skirt and panties, scooped up her clothes and bolted, while I sat down.
"Grey," Kate's mother saluted me as she walked in.
I raised a hand in casual greeting.
"Just waiting for Kate to get changed," I said. "It's too hot so we're going down to the beach."
"Good idea," said her mother. "We're going out again shortly. We've decided to go to the bingo night." With that she dismissed me from her mind and headed into the kitchen.
Kate came out shortly after. She was wearing a strapless sundress with what I assumed to be a bikini under it. I could see the straps to the tie and they were the wrong type for a bra. She didn't say anything, just gave me a rather cold look but followed me out to my car.
She also didn't say anything until we were almost at the beach but I could see the tension draining out of her when I didn't tease her. By the time we reached the beach she was her normal self. But she'd remember the touch of my mouth on her breasts, I was quite sure.
We dumped our stuff on the beach and headed into the water. We clowned around as per usual, and although I found that I was very much aware that Kate was female I didn't try to take advantage of her. I'm quite sure she was also aware that I wasn't female. She still acted the same as always but I could sense the awareness was there and she was just a little confused.
The fun time came later when we came out of the water. Kate spread out her towel to lie down and catch some sun. She went to rub on some sunscreen but I took the bottle off her. I could see she wanted to protest but didn't know how. After all, I'd rubbed cream on her hundreds of times.
She lay on her tummy, apparently relaxed, while I smoothed cream over her back and on her legs. I could see her tense up when my hands were rubbing along her thighs but I was quite circumspect, not touching anything I shouldn't. She relaxed again when she found I was behaving and didn't worry when I gave her a casual slap on the bottom and told her to roll over.
Once again I was circumspect. I didn't even try to slip my fingers beneath the material of her bikini. I simply slowly and carefully rubbed in the cream anywhere she might get burned. It wasn't my fault that her bikini was that small, revealing quite a lot of her feminine attributes.
I didn't even get to finish. I'd barely finished creaming the swell of a breast where it rose out of her bikini and she snatched the bottle from me.
"I'll finish it," she said, not looking at me.
I didn't say anything. I just lay back and enjoyed the sun, leaving her wondering if she'd over-reacted.
Dinner time rolled around and we left the beach. We were lazy and just dropped it at a KFC to eat. After dinner things got a little more interesting.
All Kate was wearing was her bikini and the strapless sundress. She hadn't bothered to bring anything to change into. Why bother? The bikini would dry fast enough. When we were back in the car I pulled down the back of Kate's dress and pulled loose the bottom tie to her bikini top. While she was reacting to that I loosened the top tie and pulled the top off her, still leaving her covered by her dress.
Her face was flaming, and she was trying to express her opinion of me. Trouble was she couldn't put the top back on without lowering her dress to do it. That she wasn't going to do.
Before Kate could say the things she was bursting to say I pressed a finger to her lips.
