Kris stroked her fingers down Liz’ neck and across her collar bone. She let her fingers trace along the edge of her bikini straps while she slowly followed Liz’ body further down. She rested her hand just above her breasts, gently probing the tip of her finger underneath the rim of her bikini top while she heard Liz struggling for breath. She let her finger continue its adventure down the center of her chest and between her breasts. It went passed her bikini top while her palm embraced Liz’ stomach. Her hand continued its motion slowly and sensually down toward her bikini bottom. Liz writhed her body underneath of her and her lips were aching to be kissed. But Kris was determined not to comply just yet, and let her fingers stay in control, tracing their way barely underneath the waistband of her panty. Liz whimpered beneath her and heaved for breath while Kris’ finger slowly maneuvered its way deeper down under her panties toward the heat she knew was developing in the center. Just as her finger was about to enter the moist depth and Liz thought she would die of lust, Kris retracted her finger and stared down at Liz with a playful look in her eyes.
“Oh no, you don’t get me that fired up and then just stop” Liz scolded her teasingly while she brought her hand behind Kris’ neck and pulled her down over here, feeling the length of their whole bodies meet. Liz playfully stroked her tongue across Kris’ lips while she teased her and made out circles in the back of her neck with her fingertips. Now it was Kris’ turn to get hazy eyes, her body losing focus while she succumbed to her ever increasing hunger. Kris had had enough of this, she had never been this turned on before. She grabbed Liz’ face with both hands and slowly moved their lips together, her mouth hungry for Liz’ body. Kris’ tongue dipped easily in between her lips and feasted on Liz; enjoying a slow tango while it found Liz’ equally eager tongue. Kris moved her thigh up Liz’ body while she continued to kiss her deeply on the grass field. Her knee maneuvered its way in between Liz’ legs, and Kris could feel the damp fabric of Liz’ bikini when her knee settled in between, rubbing up against Liz. Liz responded immediately, inching her body up toward Kris and writhing her center toward Kris’ knee. She whimpered with lust when her tongue travelled over Kris’ tongue. Suddenly the girls heard a cough behind them and Kris got up abruptly to follow the sound and see who it was.
Jeff stood behind them, with an amused expression on his face. He eyed them both and winked at Kris, an attempt to congratulate her on her catch. But behind his amusement a shadow was visible. He looked as if he was trying to figure out the whole picture and understand exactly what was going on. Liz looked down, she knew what he was thinking about. Hunter was one of Jeff’s best friends, so Jeff must have known how she felt about Liz. Liz felt ashamed for jumping on Kris so quickly, and for not being clearer with Hunter. She thought she knew and she regretfully remembered how those feelings had been displayed repeatedly over the past weeks when Hunter had continued to make a pass at Liz. Liz had to admire her stamina and her positive willpower, and at the same time she was angry for her own lack of clarity and consistency in her communication toward Hunter. Now Jeff was standing before her, with no room for misunderstanding what activity Liz and Kris was about to embark on seconds before. Liz continued to avoid his intent stare and let Kris handle the situation. Kris stood calmly up while she composed herself and straightened her bikini. She walked up to Jeff to greet him. “Hey man, gorgeous day huh?”
“Yup, perfect day for catching a few rays of sun. I see you two are busy sun bathing yourselves, perfect spot this one – quite secluded huh?” he winked at Kris as he playfully pushed his elbow into the side of her body. “How about we let what happened here today stay between us huh?” Kris asked him quietly before leaning toward him and looking him straight in the eyes, with a carefully inquisitive look in her eyes. “Don’t want the rest of the group to know about you two yet?” Jeff winked again before he burst into a loud laugh. “What’s the harm? It’s just two girls having some fun is all.” Jeff smirked at Kris, until he saw Kris’ icy glare back at him. “Don’t worry, I’m just kidding. Sure I can try to keep a lid on it. I can’t promise what my brain will blurt out after ten beers, but it won’t be a conscious act at least.” Jeff laughed before slapping Kris on the shoulder to try and loosening up the mood a bit. Liz let out a breath and relaxed a little bit, noticing how tense her shoulders had been. She lowered them and rested backward on her palms, thankful for his gracefulness for a change.
Jeff pointed to his laundry bag, “Gotta go and get this stuff cleaned. But I’ll catch you two ladies later then. Enjoy your day further!” he shouted before walking onwards. Kris sighed and let her hand sift through her hair before sitting down on the grass and leaning backward. “That was unexpected, and quite bad timing I have to admit.” Kris smirked toward Liz. “I guess it was bound to happen though.” She shrugged her shoulders. Liz nodded briefly in agreement. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not quite ready for everyone to know about what we are or aren’t doing. For now, I suggest we just keep it to ourselves. Do you agree?” she asked Liz while looking expectantly at her. Liz swallowed heavily, trying to hide her disappointment. It’s probably for the best. She’s flirting so much around, you don’t know if you’re just another conquest to her.
Her thoughts were interrupted when her stomach growled loudly, and Liz peered down at her watch. 1:15pm already, it was lunch time. “How about we grab some lunch, I can hear you’re hungry too?” Kris asked before standing up. Liz couldn’t help but feel that the moment was lost, and she could only hope that they would be able to find their way back to it some time. “Sure, let me just gather up my things and then we can walk toward the cantina.” Liz responded as cheerfully as she could muster at this point, hurting inside at how easily Kris had dismissed what had just happened. She was still hot and aching for Kris’ touch, but apparently Kris was passed it already.
Kris started walking toward the cantina, slowly while she waited for Liz to finish wrapping up her stuff. Kris could still feel herself twitch from lust, and she felt annoyed at Jeff’s interruption. It had taken every ounce of willpower she had in her to put on the brakes in time. She scolded herself for going at it like love struck teenagers, and not save it for their rooms where they would at least have some privacy. Next time, she thought to herself, before she noticed Liz’ slightly slumped shoulders. I guess she also was not ready to stop so abruptly.
As they walked into the cantina, they saw the rest of the group sitting over at the tables in the shade. Erik, Bryan, Katie and Felicia were all sitting in shorts and t-shirts, eating hamburgers and laughing joyfully. Kris cursed herself for not thinking to bring shorts or a t-shirt before entering the cantina, but well, it was too late for that now. Best just pretend like it was on purpose and take it with a smile. She noticed Liz also shared the same embarrassing thought, and she looked like she was struggling a bit more with it. One person which did not seem to struggle at all with this was the cantina lady Reese. She stood by the cashier and raised her eyebrow appreciatively at the sight of Liz ahead of her.
Reese whistled, “Hey gorgeous! Wow, you look absolutely stunning today…”. Liz turned abruptly and immediately her face reddened at the sight of Reese grinning widely while giving her the thumbs up. Kris felt an annoyance growing inside of her, but decided to try and let it pass this time. It was just some harmless flirting, this lady stood no chance anyways, she hoped…
Liz tried to hide herself behind her tray while she walked up to the food counter to grab today’s meal. Kris decided to shield her a bit, and positioned herself right behind Liz effectively blocking the view of Reese. She peered back over her shoulder and saw to her surprise the frustration and mild anger in Reese’s look when she stared fiercely back at her. Reese was clearly not happy with her. But when Kris turned back forward she saw Liz tilting her head slightly backward and heard her whisper “Thank you”. Kris smiled at herself, very contempt.
Kris grabbed both trays and walked up to the counter to register their food, while she told Liz to take the
ir water out to the table to join the others. Reese’s gaze followed after Liz out the door, but quickly returned when Kris approached her. “Bikini weather huh? Always brings out the pretty ladies, or whadda ya say?” Reese asked with a competitive edge to her tone. Kris decided to be the bigger person this time and ignore the picking of a fight. “Very nice weather indeed, a shame you’re stuck working inside on such a day. You better grab your opportunity to come out into the sun later if you can manage.” Reese seemed to fume when she stood in front of her and grasped the counter with both hands, politely keeping her mouth shut and her lips firmly closed. Kris turned away and smiled to herself. So much for being the bigger person.
Liz walked over to the table and asked Katie if there were room for two more people to join them. “Sure, just sit yourselves down here” Katie padded the bench next to her. “You guys went sunbathing together?” Katie meant for the question to be harmless, but something had failed as Liz turned bright red before shifting her head downwards and staring at her plate. “We both had picked the same secluded park to lie in yes. I just needed some quiet time, was all.” Liz almost whispered to Katie while she kept staring down. Katie gently placed her arm on Liz’ shoulder and uttered quietly; “It’s okay”. Liz looked up at Katie and was surprised to see a warm, embracing look in her eyes, accepting of anything that may be.
Outside Kris joined the rest at the empty seat next to Liz, catching a glance exchanged between Liz and Katie, curious to what that was about. Liz looked happy though, so Kris let it be and smiled at them both. “So, everyone in for skydiving soon?” she grabbed some bread and took a large bite. “Yeah, really looking forward!” Bryan toasted her with his coke. “Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help, okay?” Erik looked over at the two of them, his eyes stealing a glance down at the breasts of Liz. Kris felt a sting and realized that the girl who had stolen her heart was somewhat appreciated by a greater crowd and she might have to fight off some of them at some point. Apparently, she’s not out yet to them. I wonder why though.
“Is it dangerous?” Felicia asked Kris nervously while playing with one of her curls with her fingers. “No, don’t worry. We’ll be jumping each of us with an instructor in a dual jump setup, and this is something they do multiple times a day, every day of the year. So it’s just routine, nothing to be afraid of.” Kris calmed her down while she patted Felicia on the shoulder and took another bite of her burger. Liz looked appreciatively over at Kris, quietly thanking her for her graceful handling of all the worries and questions of the group.
After lunch they all took their trays over to the clean-up area and wandered off to enjoy the rest of their Sunday afternoon of freedom. Katie felt someone tug very carefully at her hand and she turned around while slowing down to be at the back of the group. Bryan looked gently into her eyes and nodded over to the corner of the cantina building, out of eye sight from the rest. Katie decided to follow him into the secluded shadow.
Liz turned around to ask Katie if she wanted to go for a run this afternoon, but Katie was nowhere to be found. Hmm, I wonder where she went so suddenly?
Katie was about to ask Bryan what he wanted to talk about, but he quieted her by placing his index finger on her lips. “I didn’t mean to steal you away from your plans, but I just couldn’t help myself any longer. You look so incredibly cute today. And I’ve been holding back far too long now.” He pinned her toward the wall and placed himself just in front of her, leaning in toward her with his arms placed on the wall on either side of her head. Katie was about to start to speak when he suddenly leaned all the way in and placed his lips on hers, stopping her words in her throat by kissing her deeply. Katie tensed up. I should stop him. This isn’t right by Roger. He doesn’t deserve this. She was about to pull away when she felt Bryan’s hand gently cup her chin and his thumb trace his way down across her cheek, in such a loving way that she couldn’t remember Roger ever doing. And her thoughts melted away and her body softened in his embrace. She finally kissed him back, her heart pulling in every direction, knowing there was no going back now. She was falling in love.
Chapter 10
The rest of the Sunday passed uneventful and relaxing. Most of the students had taken the bus arranged to bring them to the local shopping mall where they had grabbed the opportunity to stock up on beer, snacks and toiletries for the upcoming week. For half the students, just having the opportunity to experience a typical American mall was an outing in itself. The American shopping malls were gigantic compared to what they had in Europe. The malls were widespread, just like peanut butter on a piece of bread – chunks here and there but nicely distributed over the entire scenery. One could get lost in their massiveness inside, whole isles only for cooking oils or shampoos. In Europe they built them much more compact and shopping malls usually extended in height rather than width. It could have something to do with the enormous geographic land areas available in the US compared to Europe though, Liz thought to herself as she sipped her Monday morning coffee while admiring the sun rise slowly above the buildings scattered across the federal camp site.
She enjoyed watching life pass by, admiring the government officials striding to work in the morning, wondering what important jobs they were about to conduct inside these buildings. You never knew with a site like this, it could be space or defense or something secret altogether. They were separated by a fence, the offices where most people entered wearing security badges and the cafeteria where Liz was situated. It was clear it required a whole new level of security clearance to enter those office buildings. Liz dreamed of one day having the chance to be such an important person, with access to restricted government sites and to perform a duty where the world could be a changed place because of her actions. She wanted her life and her actions to matter.
For the moment she would have to settle with her lectures here on campus as a start, the first one beginning in only five minutes she noted as she quickly glanced at her watch. Liz tossed the coffee cup in the nearby trash can and paced off toward the lecture hall with her books in one hand and her pen in the other. She was excited. Today they would learn all about rocketry and in the afternoon there would be a construction exercise. She knew all of this from her degree courses in the Netherlands, but it never took the excitement away. Building rockets was amazing. The potential danger in the construction process made her heart jump and her gut wrench in nervous delight while the adrenalin rushed through her veins. She wasn’t sure they would let them build anything so advanced this afternoon, but she allowed herself the tiny hope for the time being.
She greeted some of the other students as she walked toward the building entrance. The Indian students were just ahead of her. It impressed her how many they were, and how close-knit their group was. They always hung together, smiling broadly and faces wagging slightly from side to side. Liz had seen the same when she had been in India for her best friend’s wedding a couple of years back. At first she had wondered what the face wagging thing was all about, but then her friend Aalok had explained to her that this just meant they were happy and smiling at her. Ever since then she felt a joy inside of her when she met Indian people, a joy for their inherent happiness, so true and clear of inhibitions that it affected their whole body.
Once inside Liz tried to look around to see if she could see Kris, but apparently she had not showed up yet. Liz couldn’t help shake the feeling that something was not right. Kris usually showed up early to class.
Liz found a spot next to Felicia and Katie. “Did you sleep well last night?” Katie asked while sipping her coffee. Katie was not a morning person, and preferred to go straight from the shower into the lecture hall, only requiring a coffee cup to manage. Liz had never met her at the breakfast serving. Felicia, on the other hand, was too much of a morning person. She seemed to thrive on the early wake-up calls. She looked positively brimming with energy sitting next to Liz. Liz wondered where all that energy came from. Liz found herself somewhere in the middle of the two of the
m. She did manage to wake up sufficiently to make it to the breakfast area, but without her coffee and some peace and quiet in the morning she was no good to anyone. She had noticed that Kris seemed to be of a similar personality, as she often caught her sitting by herself on a bench outside the cafeteria, coffee cup in one hand and the newspaper on her iPad in the other.
Liz imagined what it would be like to enjoy a slow morning with Kris after waking up together. I would roll over and gently kiss her cheeks while caressing slowly over her belly. I would lean in from behind her and cuddle her as I enjoyed the feeling of being close to someone. Then I would sneak out of bed and prepare the coffee pot for the two of us, while I looked out the kitchen window to the large park with the sun shining on the tree tops. Our cat would snuggle up against my calves, purring softly while he begged for some food. At the same time I would feel arms gently stroking my sides and merging in a loving grip on the front of my belly as I felt Kris kiss my neck and hug me tightly.
“Let’s get started” a voice hushed everyone from up front and Liz was dragged back to reality. “Rocketry is an ancient art, leading back to the Chinese military over a thousand years back in time. It started as a means of improving odds at wars, but has evolved to something peaceful and international cooperation has found its way among the stars.” The lecturer flipped through historic pictures on his laptop while going through the history of the gun powder, the grenades, the rocket-propelled military weapons of ancient times, the Werner von Braun and Sergei Korolev race for space, up till today’s space shuttle technology and multi-stage cryogenic engines. He explained all about the different fuel types, solid-state, liquid and hybrid engines and the important difference that solid-state engines could not be shut off once they had been ignited. Then you just had to let the fuel burn out, whereas a liquid-fueled engine could be started and stopped by closing and opening the valves directing the flow of the liquid to the pumps and further out to the combustion chamber. But liquid propellant was more explosive and was more dangerous to handle. Liquid engines required a fuel and an oxidizer, which is the element leading to a chemical reaction and to the ignition providing the gases shooting through the nozzle and giving the rocket its ultimate thrust.
Courage to follow your heart Page 9