All Together Now

by Madelynne Ellis, Fleur T. Reid, Nan Comargue, Shannon Peters, Morticia Knight, Jordyn Mckenzie

  Jarrod had opted not to come on this camping trip. He got along okay with my friends, but had never made a real attempt to get to know them. His attitude towards them, and me, had worsened lately, so I was more than fine with his decision not to come. I could relax and have fun with my friends without having to worry about whether or not Jarrod was having a good time, something I seemed to spend more and more of my time doing these days.

  “Hey, are you gonna eat those or are you just giving an offering to the campfire gods?”

  Damien’s voice brought me back to the present just in time to see my swollen, burnt marshmallows burst into flames. I pulled the roasting stick out of the fire and blew them out, then gingerly peeled the charred layer off one and popped it into my mouth. “Mmm.” It was just right.

  “That’s disgusting. How can you eat charcoal like that?”

  “Because it is sticky, delicious charcoal, and that’s how I like it,” I replied as I slid the blackened skin off the other marshmallow. I shoved it in my mouth and then put the roasting stick back in the fire to burn the gooey lumps again.

  Damien shook his head as he reached into his knapsack beside his feet and hauled out a bottle. “Want some?” He held the bottle out to me.

  “Mmm, marshmallow and JD, my favourite camping treats. Give me a second, I wanna eat these first.”

  He nodded, unscrewed the cap, and took a swig straight from the bottle while I carefully slid each of my re-roasted marshmallows off the stake and put them in my mouth.

  “Mmm, so good,” I moaned with my mouth full, and then began licking the sticky goo from my fingers. I noticed it had suddenly become quiet and I looked up to see Damien staring at me with an odd look on his face. “What?” I asked self-consciously, my thumb still resting against my lower lip.

  He shook his head once. “Nothin’. You still want some?” He held out the bottle again.

  “Mm-hmm,” I said and took the bottle. I knocked back a hearty swig of my own, fighting the ‘whisky grimace’. “Wow, that’ll warm me up,” I rasped as I handed back the bottle. “Hell, I’m still feeling pretty good from Natalie’s Buttershots.”

  “I don’t know how you girls drink that shit; Pucker, Buttershots, it’s like drinking goddamn syrup,” Damien muttered, taking another swig from his bottle.

  My phone suddenly buzzed. I pulled it out of my sweatshirt pocket to see it was a text from Jarrod. Try not to be hungover when you come home tomorrow. Dinner with my family.

  Ugh. I was even less of a fan of Jarrod’s family than he was of my friends. I knew in my heart that I couldn’t marry into that brood of pretentious assholes; it was only one more reason I’d decided it was time to end things with him. No matter what I said or did, I was never going to be good enough for their precious Jarrod, though he was far from being as perfect as they seemed to think he was. It looked as though we were going to have that talk sooner rather than later, because I certainly had no intention of sitting through one more meal with any of them.

  “How do you even have a signal out here anyway?” Damien asked.

  I shrugged. “I’m gonna pretend I don’t have one, though.”

  “Is it Jarrod?”

  I nodded.

  “And you’re ignoring him because…?”

  “Because I am probably breaking up with him when we get back,” I finished. “Now that college is over, he wants to take that ‘next step’—move in together. He’s mentioned marriage, and…” I trailed off, not sure how to word it.

  “And you don’t want that with him,” he finished for me.

  “Pretty much.” I sighed and reached for the bottle. Damien handed it back and I took a sizeable swallow.

  “Easy, girl! I don’t want you puking all over my tent tonight.” Damien chuckled. Since Corey was now occupying my tent with Tasha, who had been courteous enough to deposit my duffle bag outside its door before the two of them had got busy, I was going to take Corey’s place in Damien and Parker’s tent.

  Parker had decided at the last minute to come along for this trip. He hadn’t come to college with us, instead opting for vocational school and getting hired by a construction business to do drywall. Ruggedly handsome in a stoner surfer kind of way, he was actually a pretty cool guy to hang out with, though he was a bit of a shameless flirt at times with his ability to turn just about anything into a sexual innuendo. He also had been zonked out in the tent since eight o’clock after he’d polished off nearly half a tray of the ‘special’ brownies Damien had made for the trip.

  “I can’t say I’m surprised. About you and Jarrod,” he clarified. “You haven’t been happy with him for a while. I wondered how much longer you were going to put up with his bullshit. He’s kind of a dick.” Damien certainly was not Jarrod’s biggest fan, but he tolerated him for me.

  “Kind of?” I asked sarcastically, taking another, smaller sip from Damien’s bottle before I continued. “He didn’t use to be. I don’t know what his fucking deal has been lately; I just know I’m over it. You’re right, though, I’ve let it go on too long.”

  We sat quietly for a couple more minutes before Damien spoke again. “A lot of stuff is changing now that we’re done with school, huh?” Something about the tone of his voice made me look at him, though he was watching the glowing, dwindling embers of the campfire.

  “Yeah, I guess it is.” The night was cooling and my body shivered despite the booze and our proximity to the fire. It didn’t escape Damien’s attention.

  “Want me to put some more wood on the fire?”

  “No, unless you plan on staying up longer; I think I’m gonna turn in.” I stood and stretched, then shivered again.

  I walked over to Tasha’s tent, picked up my duffle bag and then went to Damien’s tent, unzipped the door, and poked my head inside. Parker was snoring softly in a lump off to one side. I crept in and, taking a closer look at Parker to make sure he was asleep, I peeled off my jeans and pulled on my sweatpants. Then I shimmied out of my bra from under my shirt, tucked it in my bag, and went to crawl into Corey’s sleeping bag. The zipper was stuck. Fuck.

  I was still fighting with it when Damien entered the tent. “Problem?”

  “Yes! The goddamn zipper’s stuck.”

  He took the bag from me and tried for a couple of minutes to get the zipper to budge, but no dice. I sighed. “Whatever, I’ll make it work somehow.” I began to wriggle my way down into the bag through the snug opening.

  Damien shrugged. “Up to you. You’re welcome to snuggle in with me if you want,” he offered with a grin as he peeled off his shirt. Then he unbuttoned his jeans and slid them down, revealing his boxer-briefs. Backlit by the dimming glow from the fire outside the tent, he cast an impressive figure, and a rather sexy one at that.

  Realising I’d stared a second too long, I whipped my face to the side. “Jesus, Damien! Warn a girl first!” I exclaimed in a lame attempt to cover my staring.

  He snorted. “It’s not like I’m naked. You’ve seen me in shorts a hundred times, how is this different?”

  How indeed. “I don’t know. It’s…your underwear. You’ve seen me in my swimsuit, but I’m not going to strip down to my panties in front of you.”

  “And that’s a damn shame,” he replied, plopping down next to me on his sleeping bag. The light was dim, but I could see the smirk on his face. In the close quarters of the tent, the atmosphere between us was changing rapidly.

  “Can you two assholes keep it down?” Parker groused from the corner.

  Damien reached across me and slapped the lap of Parker’s sleeping bag, a quick rap of his knuckles with the back of his hand. “Ow! What the fuck, dickhead?” Parker sat up, clutching his jewels as I snuggled down into Corey’s bag, giggling.

  “Watch who you’re calling an ‘asshole’,” Damien grumbled.

  “Fuck you, you are an asshole, smacking me on the dick like that.”

  Damien ignored Parker, stretching out on his sleeping bag to face me. “Now, before we were so rud
ely interrupted, I believe you were talking about stripping down to your underwear.”

  “Aaaand I’m up,” Parker said as he rolled onto his side and propped his head on one hand, suddenly taking more interest in our conversation.

  “Uh, no, I most certainly was not!” Like I was going to strip down in front of these two horny jokers. Right.

  “Chicken?” Damien goaded, raising an eyebrow at me in challenge.

  “Seriously, Damien. What are we, sixteen years old and playing Truth or Dare, or something? Come on.”

  “Sure. Let’s play Truth or Dare.”

  I stared at him, and though his grin became wider, it was not in jest. “You’re serious.” He nodded, raising an eyebrow in challenge. “Whatever,” I said, flopping onto my back.

  “C’mon, Alexis. It’s too early to go to sleep yet. Humour me. You can even go first.”

  I turned back on to my side, propping my head on my hand. “Really?”

  “Oh, this I gotta see.” Parker sat up and scooted even closer to us.

  “You can play too, Parker. Okay, go Lexi.”

  “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this,” I said, thinking about where to start. “Okay. Truth or dare?”

  “Truth,” Damien chose.

  “How old were you when you lost your virginity?” I was pretty sure that his virginity had been long gone by the time we’d met in high school; it was just one of those things that had never come up.

  “Fourteen.”

  Wow. “Fourteen? Really?”

  “Yeah, really.”

  My curiosity was piqued. “With?”

  He chuckled. “Save that for your next turn; you can use it for a Truth challenge. Now it’s your turn. Truth or dare?”

  “Truth,” I replied. I hoped he wouldn’t ask anything too outrageous.

  “Who was your first?”

  I rolled my eyes, knowing I’d totally set myself up for that one and then hesitated, not really wanting to divulge the secret I’d held for so many years, considering our current friendship. But hell, we were all adults now, well beyond the confines and scrutiny of high school. “Mark.” I cringed, awaiting the reaction. Until now, only Mark and I were privy to this information.

  “What!” both guys exclaimed in shock. I shushed them, not wanting to wake or disturb the others in the tents around us. “Didn’t you guys date in junior high?” Damien continued. “And you’re giving me flack for losing it at fourteen!”

  “It wasn’t while we dated in eighth grade!” I protested indignantly. “It was during the summer before junior year. We hung out with Tasha and Corey most of the time during the weekdays; our folks worked all day and left us up to our own devices. Most of the time we just watched TV or played video games, like friends do, and then one day…Tasha was away at her grandmother’s and Corey went with his family on a vacation, so it was just me and Mark. Watching a movie turned into wrestling somehow, and that turned into fooling around, which turned into…well, you know. It was just one of those things that just sort of happened, and after it did we agreed that, while we had no regrets, we weren’t ever going to talk about it and it never happened again.”

  “That bad, huh?” Parker asked with a snort.

  “Well, not that anyone has phenomenal sex at fifteen, but it wasn’t horrible either. And since it was with one of my best friends, who I love very much, I could’ve done worse for a first experience. Like I said, it was just one of those things. And it stays in this tent, do you two understand me?” If Natalie was a bitch to me now, God help me if she were to find out about that.

  They nodded. “Okay,” I continued, letting out a breath I was unaware I’d been holding. “Parker, truth or dare?”

  “Dare.” Parker grinned.

  “Hmm. I dare you to…suck on my toes.” I’d been wearing flip-flops in the woods for the last two days, my toes weren’t pretty.

  “Gimme a foot,” he said without missing a beat.

  I slid my foot out of the sleeping bag and held it out to Parker. Feeling some apprehension, I felt sorry for him and began to warn him, “I visited the camp shower, but I can’t promise they—”

  “Shh.” Parker took my foot into his hand. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” He pulled my foot closer to his mouth and then traced across the pads of my toes with the tip of his tongue. The light outside the tent was dimming as the fire waned, but had it been brighter, I was sure I would’ve been able to see a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he took my second toe into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it before sucking it. I gasped in shock at the unexpectedly intense erotic sensation. He smirked at me around my toe, released it, and then swirled his tongue around my middle one before enveloping it in his mouth and sucking it too.

  The sensation brought about a tingling in my core that I hadn’t anticipated. “Wow. Okay, you made good on that dare. Um, thanks Parker.” The words fled my mouth in a nervous rush and Parker chuckled as he released my foot. “Okay, so whose turn is it?”

  “I believe it’s mine,” Damien replied. His voice sounded huskier than before.

  Parker spoke up before I had the chance. “Truth or dare, dickhead.”

  “From you? Truth,” Damien snorted.

  “Oh, you silly douche bag, you really think that’s the safe option? Now tell the truth. Have you ever jerked it while thinking about Alexis?”

  “Whoa! Wait, wait, wait, whoa. What the fuck kind of question is that?” I screeched, and then turned to Damien. “Don’t answer that!”

  “Did you really think I was going to say yes?” Damien asked, sounding more than a little amused. I was immediately embarrassed.

  “Um, well, no, not necessarily. I just…uh, don’t need to know who you think about when you…if you…you know.”

  “Well, what if the answer was yes?” There was no teasing in his voice now. His voice was gentle and seemed to have dropped an octave.

  My face was on fire, and I was extremely grateful that it was too dark for the guys to see it. “Oh! Um. Well, I…don’t know. I’d say thanks?” My tone ended as though I were asking him a question.

  He chuckled. “You’re hot, ‘Sexy Lexi’,” he said, borrowing Mark’s nickname for me. “As you know, I dig brunettes. You’ve got gorgeous eyes and a head of hair that’s just the perfect length to be wrapped around a guy’s hand. And your ass…”

  “Okay, okay!” I interrupted. This was going down a dangerous road. “I get the picture!” But I wasn’t sure if this was meant as a confirmation that he did or not. Not sure why I felt I needed to know, I mentally kicked myself as I asked for clarification. “So does that mean you have?” I asked in a small voice, and then kicked Parker, who was snickering at my obvious discomfort.

  “Yeah. I have.” I couldn’t see him well, but I could feel his stare. I swallowed, gulping hard as my heart started to pound. With this revelation, the toe-sucking, and all the alcohol from earlier, I was becoming more sprung by the minute, and I was sure that was not a good thing.

  “Uh, okay then. Um, thanks, I think. Okay, Parker, your turn. Truth or dare?” I’d stolen Damien’s turn, but I was afraid of what was going to come out of these boys’ mouths next. I prayed Parker would choose ‘dare’.

  “Dare. What would you like me to suck on next, sweet thing?” What are these guys trying to do to me?

  I laughed nervously. “Um, ha, yeah, not this time, Parker, but thanks. I dare you to go out of the tent, drop your pants, and do a lap around our campsite.” It wasn’t much, but it was all I could think of at the last moment.

  “Piece of cake,” Parker replied. He stood and unbuttoned his pants.

  “No! Out there!” I squealed.

  “Whatever you say.” He unzipped the tent door and finished pulling down his pants. I gasped. Holy shit, he goes commando! I covered my eyes, still peeking through my fingers to see him and his bare, muscular ass strolling through the campsite, past the other tents, and then casually stopping by the cooler to grab a beer. I hea
rd him crack it open and then flinched when I suddenly felt hot lips next to my ear.

  “I thought he’d never leave.” I felt the feather-soft graze of teeth on my earlobe. Fuck. Me.

  I turned around to ask Damien what the hell he thought he was doing, but his mouth was on mine before the words could come out. He cupped my face and kissed me forcefully, then backed off, his tongue tracing my lips, which opened as though of their own accord. A soft moan escaped me while his tongue explored my mouth, stroking the sides of my tongue sensually, before drawing it into his own and sucking gently.

  He drew back to allow a breath between us, and I couldn’t hold back the question. “What are we doing, Damien?”

  “Shh,” he whispered against my mouth. “Don’t over-think it, darlin’. Just feel.”

  Oddly, it was all the persuasion that I needed. Turning off the logic function in my brain, I proceeded to do just that. He kissed me again with more fervour and I relaxed into his kiss. Slowly I reclined until my head was on my pillow, giving as much as receiving in his kiss. I was startled again to suddenly feel a warm set of lips gently caressing my toes. “Mmph!” I cried in surprise. I hadn’t even heard Parker return. “Wha—?” I started to protest but was shushed again by Damien’s kiss. “Don’t think. Just feel,” he repeated in a whisper.

  I relented as his lips began to leave a searing trail down my jaw to my neck. Parker continued his sensual attack on my toes and I moaned again. Trying not to acknowledge what was about to happen, I allowed myself to give in to the moment, relinquishing all self-control with a sigh.

  Parker took this as his cue to gently tug my sweats down while Damien’s hand slipped under my shirt. I gasped at the sensation of his warm, strong hands palming my breast, his callused fingers gently rolling my nipples. He sat up suddenly and, with a quick tug at my hem, my shirt was up and over my head. He bent his head over me and took one of my hard, straining peaks into his mouth.

  I clutched his head, threading my fingers though his wavy, dirty-blond locks and as I arched my back in ecstasy, Parker’s lips and hands made their ascent up my body. He bypassed the most sensitive area of my body, only pausing to leave a brief kiss on my hip before his mouth was on my neck, gently nipping and sucking at the soft flesh.