SALT & VINEGAR - Chapter 5
This is a continuation of the 4-part Salt & Vinegar series I wrote over ten years ago as Jett_73. My old account details are long since forgotten so, alas, new publication is under an alt (which is also pretty old)!
Here are a few more chapters to bring the girls' lives from the 2010s into the 2020s.
As with previous chapters, this is a stand-alone piece. However, you may wish to read the previous works to get up to speed with the story so far.
Enjoy.
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JUSTINE
The wave surged to meet me.
The morning sun behind shone bright and hot catching the crest and the glistening foam just starting to form as it set.
Beauty, power, inevitability rising.
My distraction cost me. I knew I was too slow as I turned to catch it, the looming mass curling and breaking above me. A yelp from beside me and I knew that Lena had also misjudged it. Then I was lost in a maelstrom of water and sand, caught like a rag doll in the liquid churn of the Pacific Ocean.
Up was down, then around. Salt in my eyes, the beach scraping my knees. Hair tangling around my face.
After a moment which also seemed an eternity, I was cast onto the sand amongst the foaming remains of the breaker; sprawled on all fours, exhausted yet exhilarated. What a rush!
"Justine, a little help?"
I turned and saw Lena a few feet away. I was sure I looked a mess after my dumping, yet the disgusting girl still managed to look phenomenally hot with her raven dark hair flying wild as jewels of water beaded, glistening on her body and sea foam dripped from her curves. Not to mention that her bikini top was hanging from her neck and otherwise covering absolutely nothing of her impressive rack.
"Geez, Lena, you just have to get them out don't you!"
She grinned at me as I waded through the surf toward her, feeling the pull of the undertow as the water receded from the beach and the next wave came rolling in.
"Thought you might have been able to fix yourself?"
"Yeah, but where's the fun in that when I can get you to do it for me?"
As I reached for the strings to retie her top, she grabbed my wrists and cupped my hands around her breasts.
"See?"
"You know you're going to have every dick-brained, muscle head on this beaching hitting on us?", I said as I retied the strings and she adjusted herself. Not that it made much difference: her skimpy swimwear left nothing to the imagination and the cold water had her nipples pressing hard against the already strained lycra.
"Again, fail to see the problem", she said.
"Attention whore."
"Prude."
We turned and grinned at each other.
"Bitch!" we said together. And burst out laughing.
We swam for a bit longer until, my prediction having come true, we got sick of being hit on. Lena's moods changes like the tides and when banter with interested guys - and the occasional girl - turned to invective, I knew it was time to head back in. The morning was also slipping away and we still had a long drive ahead of us.
"Dry off for 10 minutes on the beach first?" I suggested.
"Yeah, sure."
The last guy was slow to take a hint and followed us as we splashed out of the shallows.
"Seriously. Fuck off, sunshine!" said Lena.
"Whatever, bitch. Fucking tease." And he turned away.
"He's not wrong you know", I said.
"Huh. Getting worked up are we?"
I poked my tongue at her. Lena wasn't wrong either. I was horny as hell after her display in the surf but I knew I would have to wait. Nothing to be done in the middle of a packed Pacific Beach in the middle of a bright June morning.
We found our stuff and spread out our towels.
"Need some sunscreen, Jus?"
"Yes please, babe."
Lena bronzes like a goddess but my fair skin turns lobster without protection. I rolled onto my front and enjoyed the smooth sweeps of Lena's firm touch as she rubbed in the lotion. Long strokes up my legs. Then straps were moved. Lingering contact in certain areas. A soft caress. Then up to the back and arms. And under to my chest, unnecessarily.
"That's not helping, bitch", I muttered.
A soft snigger was the only answer I got.
I was drying off, except between my legs. Fucking tease, alright.
She stopped the more intimate attention and finished with some relaxing strokes on my back. A quick finger trace around the words on my ink and then a quick massage to my shoulders.
"Mmmm".
"Better?"
"Yes, but no."
"You'll just have to wait until later for the rest."
"Mmhhmm."
The susurration of the surf, warm breeze and the lazy heat of the sand lulled me into torpidity.
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LENA
I watched her as the rhythm of her breathing slowed.
My Justine.
Red hair splayed across the towel and the drying ends wisped in the breeze. Ivory skin with freckles on her forearms now dusted with sand where it stuck to the sunscreen. The sky blue of her swimwear echoing the eyes I couldn't see. My girl was grace and strength, coupled with a generous selflessness and a love for me which I still couldn't really fathom. Her beautiful full back tattoo featured the words "Lena Eternum" written large and hiding the scars you had to look closely to see. I still wasn't sure I deserved her.
Yet here we were about to embark on a new challenge together. She had recovered well from the trauma of her injuries (she Chapter 4) and had decided to take up the offer of a bigger role with the company that had been her client for the previous job. So, we were moving upstate to be closer to the heart of the tech world in Silicon Valley. It worked for me, too, because I'd been getting more and more requests for photographic projects with larger firms. I'd also had an invitation to show some work at Fraenkel. There was no turning that one down!
So, it was goodbye San Diego and, by the end of today, hello San Francisco. I wasn't sure how I felt about the change. I'd lived my whole life around the border. We'd be forsaking familiarity for uncertainty. We'd be leaving friends. Jus and I had work contacts in San Francisco, of course, but no one we really knew. But then I had no family here either I reminded myself. Mental correction: Jus was my family.
Crystal Pier stretching its finger out into the Pacific. Waving palms on the foreshore yielding to broad swathes of bright sand. Brass sun and azure sea. Whirling club scenes and bars along the waterfront in the warm nights. I was going to miss this place but, if it was a choice between San Diego and Justine, it was no choice at all. Justine every time.
My Justine.
I smacked her ass.
"Come on, lazy bones. Move that gorgeous ass of yours or we're not going to make 'Frisco before dark."
"Ow! Fuck you. Lemme have another ten minutes."
I tickled her and she squirmed delightfully.
"Nope. Come on, I want a coffee then we need to hit the blacktop."
She rolled onto her side and peered at me, squinting against the sunlight.
"You're a harsh mistress", she pouted.
"I'm not your mistress at all and you damn well know it."
She reached over and tickled me back and soon we were rolling over each other giggling like a couple of school girls.
