Author's Note: This story first appeared in slightly different form back in 1996. I've always wanted to take another crack at it and since it wasn't included in my original postings to Literotica, here goes.
*****
A sudden flash of lightning filled the small cabin, causing the transistor radio on the table to momentarily crackle with static. A few seconds later, the early summer night was filled with a resounding crash as the sound of the thunderclap caught up with the light. The storm had been raging for a little over two hours, alternating between violent crashes in the sky and the steady patter of rain against the windows.
"That was a good one!" Robyn Grayson exclaimed as she clapped in appreciation of the sudden illumination.
"You wouldn't think that if we were out there on the lake," Valerie Carter replied as she pointed out the large bay windows to the large body of water beyond.
"But we're not, are we?" Robyn retorted with an exaggerated pout. "Sometimes you can be such a worrier."
"One of us has to be," Valerie said, "or at least have common sense. Otherwise you'd probably have us out there on the lake because you'd get a better view."
"Hey, now that's an idea," Robyn said in mock seriousness. "We could take one of the boats down by the dock and ..."
"Don't even think it," Valerie said, cutting her off in mid-sentence.
Both girls then broke out into laughter.
All in all, watching the storm and snacking on munchies and a bottle of wine that they'd liberated from the liquor cabinet wasn't the worst way the two of them could spend the night. Of course, it wasn't what they had in mind when they'd come up to the lake two days ago, but nature had a way of interrupting the best laid plans.
Robyn Grayson and Valerie Carter had been best friends for fourteen of their nineteen years, ever since they'd met on the first day of kindergarten. Back then, they'd both been pudgy little girls more interested in games and dolls than anything else. With slight variations, that had continued right up until they'd begun to hit puberty.
In Robyn's case, early womanhood had sprung upon her with a vengeance. She lost all her baby fat, and over the course of a long summer, went through a growth spurt that saw her fill up and out at the same time. She'd returned to school that fall no longer as the semi-plump tomboy that people remembered, but as an attractive young lady with a figure that began to draw boys' attention like moths to a candle. It was also over that summer that she finally gave in to her mother's insistence and let her dark hair grow out, replacing the almost boyish cut she'd previously preferred.
Valerie had also begun to fill out that summer, but unlike Robyn she lost little of her childhood fat. In fact, with the addition of a few inches to her height also came more than a few unwanted pounds. When she'd weighed herself a few days previously, the scale put Valerie at a hundred and fifty-one pounds. Her only saving grace was that her body weight was spread pretty evenly, giving her a mature, full-figured look, including a quite substantial bust.
Regardless of those physical changes, both girls had continued to remain steadfast friends. They'd seen too many friendships fall apart when one friend became part of the popular crowd and no longer had time for the other who hadn't been similarly accepted. Robyn did indeed become part of the in crowd, a cheerleader and the girlfriend of the quarterback. But she made it clear to anyone who even suggested that it would look better if she 'dropped' Val, that the crowd, the cheerleaders and even the quarterback would fall by the wayside before her friendship with Valerie did.
In actuality, it hadn't been Robyn's rise in prominence that required the biggest adjustment in their friendship, but Valerie's. Between the two of them, Valerie had always been the smarter of the two, at least as far as books were concerned. A constant presence on the honor roll, the short haired blonde had qualified for a full scholarship at Northern State, where she had been enrolled since last fall. Robyn, who'd graduated high school with less than full honors, had declined higher education in favor of joining the local work force.
Valerie had been home only a few days when her mother announced that they were going up to Morning Rock Lake to spend the week at their grandfather's cabin, while he and Valerie's father replaced the heating and air conditioning system in the house. Wouldn't it be nice, Mae Carter had further said, if Valerie invited Robyn to come with them? It would give the two of them a chance to catch up on the six months since they'd last seen each other.
The first days of the trip had been pretty routine, just some swimming in the lake, a little boating and a barbecue with the neighbors. Then, this afternoon, Val's fourteen-year-old brother, Bobby, had taken a fall and twisted his ankle while climbing a tree. It had swollen up pretty good and Mae thought it a good idea to take him into town to have it x-rayed, just to be sure it wasn't more serious. There was no need, she said, for the girls to interrupt their vacation. After all, she and Bobby would be back in a few hours - they'd hardly notice they were even gone.
The wait in the small hospital turned out to be longer than Mae had expected, and by the time they were finished, the thunderstorm had made driving on the old country roads an iffy proposition. The safe bet, she decided, was to stay in town overnight. So, she'd called the girls and told them that all Bobby had was indeed a sprain and that they'd be back in the morning. The girls said not to worry, the two of them would be fine on their own.
-=-=-=-
"I bet you wished you'd stayed home this weekend," Valerie said as, sitting on one end of the couch, she drained the last of the wine from her glass.
"I don't know, this is kind of fun." Robyn, sitting on the other end, replied as she quickly refilled Val's glass before topping off her own.
"More fun than Sally Kellerman's Summer Bash?" Valerie countered as she looked at the now empty wine bottle. It seemed like they'd just opened it. "That was tonight, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, I think so," Robyn said in an unconvincing tone, "but I really wasn't planning to go anyway."
"The biggest social event of 1978, filled with the most popular people in school, and you were just going to stay home and do your nails," Val laughed. "If my mom hadn't waited until we were already up here before mentioning it, I'd never have invited you to come along. It wasn't fair to put you on the spot, having to make you choose between coming up here with us and going to Sally's party. It's not like I'd have been angry if you wanted to go to the party instead."
"I really mean it; I wasn't planning to go," Robyn insisted.
"You know, I almost believe you," Valerie said.
"I've grown up a lot in the nine months you've been gone," Robyn said. "Enough to realize what stupid assholes some of those people really are."
"Well, what do you know?" Valerie laughed, "There is a brain in that pretty head of yours after all. I wondered if you'd ever open your mouth and speak up."
"Go to hell!" Robyn shot back in mock anger. "There are a lot of times I open my mouth."
"True," Valerie smiled, "but most of those times it's usually liplocked onto some dumb jock."
"Oh, how sharp the tongue of a friend," Robyn retorted, now laughing as well.
"Speaking of heads and sharp tongues, maybe we should go a little easy on this stuff," Valerie suggested as she indicated the glasses they both held. "Wouldn't do to have mom come back and find us sloshed."
"You worry too much." Robyn said. "By the time she gets back tomorrow, we'll have had a good night's sleep and be fine."
"Today, you mean," Valerie corrected as she looked at the large clock on the fireplace mantle and noted that it was one in the morning.
"Whatever ..." Robyn said, taking another drink from her glass.
Deciding that perhaps her friend did have a point, Valerie took another sip from her own glass as well.
