6. More Than Friends

Simon woke up to daylight streaming down through the Jeep’s windshield onto his face. He blinked and stretched, then fully opened his eyes. He was now looking out the passenger window, seeing the desert go by. He looked over the other way to see that Tommy was wide-awake and driving the car. The girls were still asleep in the backseat.

                 “How long have you been up?” Simon asked, rubbing his eyes. He looked down to see that his tummy was flat again, the remainder of the meatball subs having been digested while he slept. In fact, he felt kind of hungry again…

                 “About half an hour,” Tommy said. “I’ve only been driving for about 20 minutes though.”

                 Simon nodded and leaned back into his seat. He looked back behind him at Jenny, so beautiful even as she slept, then turned forward again and closed his eyes.

                 When he opened them again, he realized they were no longer on the open desert road. They were driving down a peaceful avenue lined with trees and one-story shops and restaurants each side. There were other drivers on the road and people walking along the sidewalks, talking pictures like tourists. Despite all the green around them, Simon could see all the desert mountains in the distance. They were in some kind of Southern California oasis.

                 “Where are we?” he asked.

                 “Palm Springs,” Tommy announced.

                 Simon looked behind him. The girls were waking up, stretching their arms and legs. Jenny rubbed her eyes and then glanced out the window. “Wow, it’s really pretty,” she noticed.

                 “It’s a tourist spot, mostly,” Tommy said. He looked at the time. “Alright, we slept in so it’s just after noon now. We need to park someplace so I can phone local hotels and see who has a room open.”

                 “How about we go some place to eat?” Claudia said, looking down at her grumbling tummy.

                 “Yeah,” said Simon, rubbing his belly too. “I could use some grub.”

                 “Food it is, then,” Tommy said, turning the wheel.

^^^

There was a locally run diner on the Southern outskirts of town. Tommy parked there and asked Karey to reach over into the trunk to grab them some shirts, and for the girls, shorts too. Karey just grabbed shirts from her own bag and she was shorter than Claudia and Jenny, so the tops and skirts they were given to go over their thongs didn’t exactly fit.

                 Claudia wore a blue shirt that revealed some of her lower belly but not her navel, but Jenny wasn’t so lucky. The pink shirt with black lines that she wore gave Simon a great look at her belly button and little bit of the skin just above that. He felt the boner coming on in his swim trunks, but managed to hide it as they walked towards the entrance of the restaurant.

                 Still, Jenny saw him smiling at her tummy and she smiled, but she looked conflicted, biting her lip as if something was wrong. He felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach. Was she having second thoughts about him? He realized that might be a good thing, considering that he could then continue with Claudia, but that just didn’t sit well with him. He had fallen for her. Hard.

                 They went into the diner and a waitress took them to a rounded booth meant for 5 or more people. Tommy sat at one end next to Jenny while Simon sat in between her and Claudia on the other side. They ordered milkshakes and food – hamburgers and hot dogs.

                 Tommy got up. “I’ve got to phone some hotels,” he said. “Be right back.”

                 Karey and Claudia started talking about stuff so Jenny and Simon just sat in silence. It felt really awkward and they were each trying very hard to look at anywhere but at the other person. Finally the waitress brought them their milkshakes. Simon realized both he and Jenny had ordered cookies and cream shakes.

                 She picked up hers and began gulping the cold liquid through the straw. He started to sip on his too, reminiscing about the times that they had shared last evening. The first kiss in the gas-station store…

                 “I’m surprised I could even think of ordering one of these things after all I ate last night,” she said jokingly.

                 His eyes lit up. He was so happy she was talking to him that he could barely hold back the big smile on his face. “Yeah, me too,” he said.

                 She was looking at him. And he was looking at her. Right into her beautiful almond eyes.

                 He felt her hand move onto his knee. He moved his hand onto her knee. Then she moved her hand again and everything changed forever.

                 Without Claudia or Karey or anyone noticing, she touched his crotch.

                 Instantly he went erect, but she kept her hand there, massaging his privates with her fingers. She wasn’t looking at him and he wasn’t looking at her anymore, but they were very much engaged in each other.

                 His breathing came quicker and he realized he had to return the favor. Cautiously, he moved his left hand back along her leg, tracing it up her skirt until he reached the bathing suit thong. He heard her give a little gasp in anticipation. She wanted him to go in, to enter the lion’s den. Now Simon hesitated. She hadn’t touched his actual privates yet, just his pants. Going here would be going closer to home plate than he ever had before, save for that one time when he kissed Claudia while she was topless. But his girlfriend was sitting right next to him and he was about finger her best friend?

                 Her hand clenched harder on his crotch. Go, she was telling him. Make a decision.

                 Simon sucked air into his lungs. He went in, reaching around the thong and pushing his fingers beyond the safe touch threshold. He saw her lips quiver and she grabbed the milkshake, sucking on the straw to cover her pleasure. Simon saw she was biting the plastic. “Deeper,” she hissed between her teeth.

                 He went in more, feeling the smoothness and tenderness of her loins as the erotic pleasure masked the disgust with what he was actually doing. Fifth grade Simon would have thrown up with the thought of such “girl cooties”. But for Simon, this was all he could think of for the past 24 hours. He began massaging, getting in there, then calmly pulled. Jenny began breathing normally again. He wiped his hand on his napkin as she moved her hand from his crotch back to her lap.

                 They both knew they wanted more, but there was only really one more place they could go. And so few places they could do it.

                 Just then, Tommy walked in with his phone in hand. “Alright guys, the Best Western said they’ll have a room ready in about an hour. So let’s eat up.”

                 He saw Jenny was still smiling. “Is the milkshake good?” he asked.

                 “Delicious,” she said, looking down and smiling. Claudia looked over too and saw that Simon was also smiling.

                 “Is yours good?” she asked.

                 “Oh yeah,” he said, talking another sip. “It’s great.”

^^^

Kenner drummed his fingers along the steering wheel. “Where are they?” he growled.

                 Sitting next to him, the Huntress was looking at her phone. “Surveillance says they just pulled into a local Best Western.”

                 “About time,” Kenner said, taking his gun out of his holster and loading it. He pulled a silencer out of his jacket and screwed it on. The sedan was parked just outside of the town limits at the side of the road. They had driven to Palm Springs in the early hours of the morning but hadn’t been able to find the kids in Palm Springs all day. He was worried that they had already turned around and headed north, but the Huntress had used their superior’s assets to track them down. They were in fact in Palm Springs, and it was here that Kenner would see to it that they died.

                 He had waited many long months to wrap up his pathetic desk duty and his inane cover-up of crazed teenage girls eating people with the shrink ray. He just wanted to kill these adolescent punks or let the Huntress shove them up her vagina or something. He didn’t really care how the job got done, so long as it was over soon. Personally, he would’ve shot the kids up with his silenced pistol back at the motel, put their bodies in his car, and driven them way out into the middle of the desert to bury them deep. Nobody would’ve ever heard from them again. But because of this stupid, late-teens fetishist bitch he was stuck wasting a day out in Palm Springs when he could be getting back to where the real action was.

                 “We should let them get settled in,” said the Huntress. “Make them feel secure at this hotel and then wait for our time to strike.”

                 “Whatever you say,” Kenner growled. “Let’s just get this over with.”

                 He put the car into drive and pulled out onto the road, heading into town. It was a nice place for tourists, he thought, but he hated playing tourists. There was only so much of the beach and sunshine he could take. He needed to get back to the real world, not this glitzy superficial place he thought. Maybe the higher-ups would re-promote him after this. He could tell them all about how the Huntress nearly fucked it all up because she was going to let the kids go and pursue them when she was hungry again. She might be an animal, he thought, but I am the real Hunter.

                 And with that he pressed down harder on the gas and accelerated the black sedan towards those who had evaded his clutches for too long.

^^^

They checked in at the hotel and Tommy paid cash for three rooms, since Karey wanted her own. Claudia and Simon’s was on the first floor and Tommy’s and Jenny’s was on the second. Karey’s was down another corridor on the second floor.

                 Simon unloaded everything in his room with Claudia, whose stomach rumbled. “You okay?” he asked her.

                 “Yeah,” she said. “I ate some food at the diner, but I think I’ll be hungry again in a little bit.”

                 “I could order you something,” he offered.

                 She shrugged. “I was going to go hang out by the pool in a little bit anyway.”

                 “Okay,” he said. “I’ll be around the hotel. I’m going to see what they have on offer.”

                 Claudia nodded and leaned back on the bed, closing her eyes and sighing. Taking his room key, he left and walked over to the elevator to take up to the second floor. When he arrived on the next level, he walked over to Tommy and Jenny’s room.

                 As he did so, she walked out. “Oh, hey!” she said.

                 “Hey!” he said too, scratching the back of his head. He looked behind her.

                 She lowered her voice. “Tommy’s just chilling and watching movies.”

                 “Claudia wants to go to the swimming pool later,” he said.

                 They started walking back towards the elevator. Clearly they were both thinking the same thing. “I don’t know how we would…,” he began.

                 She nodded, biting her lip.

                 “I mean, Tommy’s my best friend and Claudia’s your best friend. I don’t want to betray them. They’ve done nothing wrong.”

                 “I know,” she said. “I’ve been thinking the same thing over and over, but…”

                 She grabbed his hands and looked at him with her almond eyes. “I’m in love with you.”

                 “I love you too,” he said. “But, I’ve never gotten that far with something before.”

                 She scratched the back of her head. “Me neither.”

                 They continued walking on in silence, past the elevator. Then Simon got an idea. “Just once. We do it and then we never tell them about it again. Nobody’ll ever know.”

                 “But we’ll know,” she said.

                 “It can be our little secret,” he said.

                 Her eyes lit up and she smiled, excited by the thought. “Our own little conspiracy. Covering up the truth.”

                 “Damn it,” he realized. “I left the condoms in my room downstairs.”

                 She pulled out a pack of Trojan Ecstasy from her pocket, smiling. “Tommy wanted me to use them later,” she said. “But…”

                 “We can still sleep with our boyfriends or girlfriends,” he said. “But for our first time, we should do it with someone we really care about.”

                 “But how?” she asked. “Can we maybe rent another room?”

                 Just then, a door opened nearby. Karey stuck her head out, looking like she had just woken up from a nap. “Hey, have you guys seen Claudia?”

                 “Yeah,” Simon said, suddenly getting an idea in his head. He started walking over to Karey. “She’s downstairs in room 104. Just knock and she’ll let you in.”

                 “Thanks!” Karey said and took off down the hall. Simon put his foot in the door to her room before it could close. Jenny saw and her eyes lit up, her mouth opening wide in a smile. He put a finger to his lips, waiting until Karey was gone.

                 “I think she has a thing for Claudia,” he said.

                 “Probably,” said Jenny. “But you know, love who you want to love…”

                 “Speaking of which…” he said. He pulled her inside and shut the door behind them, locking it across with the latch. It was dark in here even though it was only late afternoon because Karey had closed over the blinds, proving his nap hypothesis correct.

                 Sweat began to pour down his face in anticipation and he turned towards Jenny, watching as she pulled off the pink top with a giggle. Next, she kicked her short shorts to the ground and pressed him back against the door, kissing him as she pulled his fly down. He felt his shorts fall to the ground. Simon couldn’t believe this was happening, and most of all, that it was happening with her.

                 “Come on,” she cooed as she turned around, undoing her bikini top and let it fall to the ground to give him a view of her gorgeous bare, topless back…

^^^

Claudia was just finished taking off her clothes to reveal her bikini underneath when a knock came on the door. “Who is it?” she asked.

                 “It’s me,” came Karey’s voice.

                 Her heart sank. Ever since the little incident last night in the car, she had felt strange around that girl, but at the same time excited. She had kept it to small talk at the diner, but she had a feeling that Karey wanted to go beyond that.

                 Still, she opened up the door. Karey eyed her with a yummy look. “Mmm, you look delicious,” she said, entering the room and kissing Claudia full on the lips.

                 Claudia didn’t know what to do but stand there. It felt so wrong, yet so right as Karey rubbed her hands down the flanks of her body. It made Claudia feel so horny, like she wanted to kiss Karey naked on the bed and roll around in the sheets together –

                 “NO!” she said, pushing away. Karey looked stunned. Claudia stood their panting, looking angry.

                 “I’m sorry,” Karey said. “I thought when you let me touch you in the car it was a sign that you were okay…”

                 “I’M NOT OKAY WITH THIS!” she roared. “I’m not gay, I’m not a lesbian. I’m not any of your disgusting filth! My parents would never accept me even if I were!” She was panting more now, breathing like a dog concentrating her hate towards Karey, forcing those feeling she felt during the kiss deep back down into her mind. “You’re trying to make me this way,” she said. “It’s all you.”

                 “I’m sorry, Claudia,” Karey said. “But I’m not gay or lesbian or anything like that. I’m bisexual. I can love both attractive men and attractive women. That’s fine if you don’t, but I’m sure your parents would –”

                 “No,” Claudia said, her eyes welling up. “No, this is wrong. My parents are Republicans. They warned me about this kind of crap that you people try to pull. I wanted to lose my virginity with Simon, with a boy not some fucked up chick we met at the side of the road when someone tried to kill us.”

                 “I won’t judge you, Claudia,” Karey said. “But I went through the same thing when I realized I was bi. I started feeling things for girls while still liking guys. Then I realized: I can like them both. Now I can understand your family background and that’s fine, but haven’t you felt anything like this before?”

                 In fact, Claudia had. The last day of grade eight she had briefly, very briefly fallen in love with a girl before she swallowed that attraction down. It had lasted only about a day before she was alone with the girl privately and gave her a kiss on the cheek. The girl looked at her with horror and Claudia realized her mistake, but luckily the girl forgave and seemed to have forgotten about that since. That girl was Jenny.

                 “I’m sorry,” Claudia said. “I need to get out of here.” She walked out of the door and took her room key with her.

                 Karey was left behind. “Oh well,” she thought out loud as she sat down and turned on the TV. “It was worth a try.”

                 Then she saw something. Claudia’s suitcase. Smiling, she walked over and rummaged through it, coming out with some panties. Karey sniffed inhaling the inside of them deeply, her guilty pleasure. Then she plopped herself back down on the bed. Maybe, just maybe, Claudia would come back in and have a one-off with her. She wanted to make Claudia’s day better.

                 After all, she knew that as soon as she left her room that Simon and Jenny had gone in, and that only meant one thing. Hopefully Claudia never found out, Karey thought. She would hate to see her cry after learning that the boy she wanted to lose her virginity to and was clinging to her heterosexuality for was sleeping with her best friend.

^^^

It had only been an hour, but if felt like forever. Jenny was curled up next him, her naked skin pressing up against his. She was sleeping and he watched her stomach expand in and out with each breath she took, a smile still on her face.

                 There wasn’t one of his though, not because he hadn’t just had the best time of his life, but because the consequences of what he had just done were now dawning on him. He had betrayed Claudia, the girl who loved him dearly. He had betrayed Tommy, his best friend for the past year whom he had gone through so many life-threatening experiences with. He had betrayed Jenny, by luring her in for sex and going through with it even when he should have made the better choice for them both, at least for now. And finally, he had betrayed himself. He had let his guard down, allowed himself to be blinded by love when he already had an amazing girlfriend of his own. He was ungrateful for what he had and now as he tried to have it all he was closer than ever before to losing it all.

                 But he loved Jenny. He loved the way she made love to him, the way she arched her back when he ejaculated and the kisses her tender lips had given him. But his brain was in conflict with his hormones and he decided, for the time being, no matter what came next, to enjoy this moment, as the girl he loved slept next to him naked.

                 Simon leaned over and kissed her cheek. She began to wake up, smiling but keeping her eyes shut. He hugged her close and leaned his head up against her bare breasts, kissing her near the nipple and nuzzling her.

                 She sighed, her eyes still closed. “It’s all gonna go downhill from now, isn’t it?”

                 He savored the moment, tender as it was, hoping it would never end. “Yep,” he said, knowing it could only be true.

                 No more than two seconds later, the door swung open. Simon and Jenny bolted upright, covering their bodies with the sheets as they cuddled together. Two figures came around the corner. It was Kenner and the Huntress, who was now in her cat suit again.

                 “Aww, how cute…,” the Huntress said.

                 Then she drew her shrink ray and aimed it squarely at the two of them.

TO BE CONCLUDED