Copyright 2013 no reproductions without permission
This is a longer story in which I wanted to spend time building my characters. This is my first submission, so constructive criticism is welcome. -Free
"Oh by the Gods it is hot." I thought to myself. Why in the world had I agreed to go camping at Juniper Springs in the middle of the Ocala National Forest in September? Because of her, that's why. Because of the woman that was sitting in front of the canoe that was lost in the sights and sounds around her. It had been almost twenty years since I had last seen her in person, and I lusted after her no less then as I do today. "Chloe, you have got to let it go woman" I told myself this for the tenth time today. I just didn't foresee this happening any time soon.
Emily was what one would call androgynous. To me she was my fey woman. I teasingly called her Tink. Maybe it was the cute dark blonde pixie cut, or the lovely angular lines of her face. It could have been those stunning Azul eyes, the long lean muscular lines that she worked so hard to upkeep, or that beautiful smile that makes my heart skip a beat every time I see it. I do not believe it was just one of those things. In my mind's eye, it was a combination of all of those that made her beautiful.
We were polar opposites when it came to physical appearance. I was taller by a couple of inches at 5 foot 6 inches, and that is the end of any remote similarity. While my Dad had wonderfully dark skin from his First Nations blood, my Mom was a white as white could be. That included the green eyes and blonde hair. I was not lucky enough to get my Dad's great colouring but I did get a nice olive skin tone that sunburned! Yup, the half Native had to hide under clothes and a hat. However, my Dad was kind enough to pass on his light brown eyes and brown hair that hung half way down my back. By the way, at thirty nine it still hadn't shown a hint of turning gray any time soon. I was also built not so much pixie-ish, but more like a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Except for the boobs that always got in the way. While Em was all lean rope muscle, I was given softer curves. I digress.
Emily and I had met while I was going to college in Pittsburgh. She grew up there, while I hailed from the east coast. It was fate that brought us together one night. I remember walking in to the college dive, the cigarette smoke almost unbearable, but I had heard the drinks were cheap, and no one checked ID. Perfect. I did not have to drive anywhere, and after midterms I really needed a drink.
While looking for an empty seat, yeah right (Friday, no ID required, and after midterms), I saw this lone girl taking up an entire booth by herself. Well, now is as good a time as any to make a few new friends. I strolled up to her table, and politely asked her if I could share the booth with her. She looked up at me, smiled, and that was it. I was a goner. I fell into her beautiful blue eyes, and stayed there. If felt as if a 747 had flown into my gut. I just wanted to grab her hand, pull her up against me, and make those beautiful bow-shaped lips mine. To show her with my tongue what it was I wanted to do to the more intimate parts of her. I felt both my breath and heart rate rise rapidly. And my nipples harden just from the thought alone. Wait, what? I wasn't gay. I had always found women a little attractive, but not to the point where they became my most intimate fantasy. Then again, maybe that's what I needed to tell myself. Shaking those feelings off, explaining them off as stress and lack of a sex life, I eased myself across from her and struck up a conversation.
We each stole little touches while we talked. I justified it as emphasizing our stories by touching an arm, bumping or accidentally rubbing our legs into each other, and anything else we could get away with while we talked. Still, that niggling feeling was just there under the surface. We sat and talked until the bartender had enough of us. Apparently, our budding friendship did not trump her need to get home. So, we decided that we would exchange phone numbers, and get together again in the future.
The next two years saw us hanging out between classes, studying in the same space for different degrees, going to hockey games, spending warm spring and summer days exploring the city, and just kicking back when we needed to. When school was over, I was asked to return home to help with the family business. I never thought I could miss one person so much. Nor did I imagine at the time that I would have fallen so hard for her. I mean, we both dated men, neither one of us was gay (well, that we would admit to ourselves), and neither one of us made a move on the other. Of course we threw innuendoes around, but so did all of the other college girls at the time. Only difference was is that I meant every word I said to her. I always wanted to ask if she had felt the same way, but never had the courage to do so. Some people would say I didn't love her enough. Not true. Being attracted to the same sex, even in a larger city, at the time was daunting at best. It was 1994, and still not something that one was overly open about. Let's also not forget that there are few cities larger than Pittsburgh in which Catholicism reigns supreme in the US. Perhaps if one of us had, I would not have regrets about never telling her how I felt, and our futures would have turned out differently. However, one must move forward or become stagnated in the past.
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Emily and I kept in touch via letters and phone calls in the beginning, but as we both got busier, our contact decreased to just periodically over the decades. There was no texting, unlimited long distance, email, etc. However, in come the computer age, and over the last year we began to reignite that bond. That bond began resembled more of a lovers bond than that of friends. It started out with shy playfulness, and coy innuendoes from both of us. I caught myself hoping that every notification my phone advised me of was her texting me or leaving me a message. I knew that I was starting to fall in love with her. No matter that our paths hadn't crossed in nearly twenty years. No matter that she was not here in person. That we had completely separate lives, that I had been dating someone for three years, etc. I am not even sure why I was still dating him. Comfort and security I suppose. We had more of a friend bond than a lover bond at this point. That bring us to how we came to this torturous journey into mosquitoville, population 6 million blood suckers and the two of us! It was her power of persuasion that had me acquiesce to her request. Or, maybe it was just my hope that she had harbored the same feelings as I had.
Since we both worked for different large corporations, her in business and I in medical, we agreed that a week away from our everyday lives would not only give us a much needed break, but allow us to have a girl's week in the woods. This suggestion came from the girl who had NEVER been camping. I was both looking forward to it, and dreading it at the same time. I was also trying to figure out how we agreed that camping in Florida in September was better than camping around Pittsburgh in September. However, I gave in as she had never seen the crystal clear springs of central Florida, and it would give us some time alone to get reacquainted. All completely innocent on my part.
We arrived at Juniper Springs state park early afternoon after picking up Emily from the small Punta Gorda airport. When we arrived, we asked the ranger if he would be willing to give us some place off the beaten path so that we could truly have a vacation. The ranger was quite willing to give us the most out of the way spot as it had quieted down since summer had passed. Since our spot was a short walk to the spring entrance, we decided to canoe the Run. While paddling along, Emily remarked how beautiful the water was. So as a tidbit of Florida information I informed her that this part of Florida was dotted with crystal clear springs. They maintained a temperature that stayed a cool seventy-two degrees. Whereas Emily thought this a great stroke of luck, I told her wasn't fond of "cold water".
"Cold? Really? Maybe you should be happy we did not camp up in western Pennsylvania! You would probably not even see seventy degree water!" Emily literally snorted from her laughter.
After a leisurely paddle along the Canoe Run we decided to head back to our spot and set up our temporary home. "Hey Chloe, do you want to grab the gear from your truck, and I will set up tent? Then when we're done we'll drag the canoe up to the site?" I looked up to see Emily standing on the bank of a quiet part of the spring we had requested.
"Sure, if you really want to deal with the tent, who am I to argue?" I asked. We both chuckled, and it took us a few moments longer than necessary to get stop looking at each other. Maybe she did feel something. However, I had no time to ponder as we needed to get set up before night began to fall. The mosquitoes were bad enough during the day. Dusk was just miserable. Even with bug spray. Fantasies of what I wanted to do to her body at that moment would just have to wait.
