Munch Time 1

by Amanda Fleming

  "Just try it," Gianna said, smirking.

  Amber held the shot glass to her nose and inhaled. A wild, untamed odor of sweat, unripe bananas, a rancid nuttiness, and earthy funk flooded her nostrils and overwhelmed her senses. Amber's eyes shot open in astonishment but she still ventured a sip. It was funky, yes, but full of molasses and spice, fruity and strong, somehow containing all the sights and smells of the island, crashing together all at once. It went down like fire and continued to blossom in her throat, awakening her whole body.

  "Wow!" Amber exclaimed. "You're not joking... But that's actually really good!"

  "See?" replied Gianna, satisfied. "If it doesn't reek, if it's not juuust on the verge of being undrinkable, it lacks the spirit of the spirit. Of the people that made it and the terrain it came from. Until you can taste the dedication of the producers, the toil, the history and pride of Jamaica, you haven't found what you came to the islands for."

  As the potent drink worked its way into Amber's system she found herself beginning to become absorbed in this strange girl's presence. Deeper and deeper she went, lost in her eyes, in the insightful things she had to say about Jamaica and its people, hearing her stories and observing her passion for life and all of its adventures. Amber learned of Gianna's first visit to the island from a small Italian-American working-class community outside of Philly. She learned how quickly she fell in love with the place, later moved there, and settled right into the beauty and relaxed way of life.

  Sitting there, eating a deliciously spicy dish, listening to Gianna and sharing her own stories in return, Amber began to feel a strange sensation; a captivation, a bond forming, perhaps even a need. She felt drawn to Gianna, instantaneously. The fierce beat of her heart signaled something powerful. So powerful she was afraid to even consider what was happening...

  "So have you had a chance to explore much yet?" Gianna asked. "It's such a beautiful place, there's so much to see!"

  "Not yet! Where should I go? I'd love your recommendations," Amber replied.

  "I can do better than that. How would you like a little tour?"

  "Great!"

  Amber finished her meal, quickly paid, and then hurriedly joined Gianna for an opportunity to spend more time together and learn more about the splendors of Jamaica.

  ***

  Gianna led Amber by the hand down a small trail behind the restaurant, peeling back wide blades of tropical vegetation that seemed to tap them on the shoulders and demand attention as they passed by. It wasn't long before the forest opened up before them. The tropical climate of the island produced an impressive array of flora, much of it colorful and bursting with species of fruit that Amber had never seen before. She kept pace with her mysterious new friend whose excited gait reflected the same giddiness Amber felt upon witnessing such an explosion of lush vegetation.

  For some time, Amber remained absorbed in Gianna's narration about the exotic wonderland that flourished around them, pointing out species of birds, indicating which plants were edible, and describing the long walks she often took to enjoy an abundance of natural beauty. The forest canopy filtered a sparkling green light down upon the shadows, casting everything in a magical sheen. It was a private tour that Amber would have welcomed from anyone but seeing the world through Gianna's eyes, full of such enthusiasm and awe, made it that much more appealing.

  Amber had no idea where they were going but she savored a pure moment of not caring. One thing was for sure, civilization was never too far away, as was evidenced by the sudden ringing of church bells from a chapel out there somewhere amidst the fiery poinciana and swaths of white bougainvillea.

  Gianna stopped short and perked up. She listened to the bells for a moment, then turned and faced Amber with a twinkle in her eye. She seemed to recognize the musical tones of the distant chimes— as if they meant something more to her than the crystalline beauty of their sound.

  "Wanna see a neat trick?" she asked, excitedly.

  "Sure," Amber replied.

  "Okay, we have to hurry though."

  Gianna grabbed Amber's hand again and rushed her through the dense forest, clearly on a mission to reach some specific destination. It turned out to be a small clearing at the center of which grew a large tree with round green fruit, much too high to reach. She deposited Amber there and then rushed to stand beneath its leaves. Amber looked at her with a perplexed expression.

  With a finger to her lips, Gianna gestured to Amber to remain there in silence and wait for something. Moments later, an explosion of yellow-billed parrots invaded the sunlit circle, pouring in from all over and flocking to Gianna's tree. They gathered there with their green bodies and bright, banana-colored beaks, chattering excitedly and flashing their wings en masse. They were a comically noisy bunch, apparently with much to say to one another as they paused there for a moment immersed in a cacophonic dialogue.

  Before long, a small faction of birds launched from the tree as if growing weary of the repetitive conversation. They streamed back into the sky, prompting a hurricane of feathers as the rest of the group raced after them. Within seconds, the tree was shed of every last one of its brief companions.

  Gianna seemed to prepare herself for something, ducking low into a defensive position and lifting her wrap to stretch it out flat in front of her. All at once, the strange green fruit began to rain from the tree, knocked loose by the departing birds. Gianna began to laugh and dart left and right, capturing one after the other as they tumbled into her net.

  Amber was captivated. It began to sink in just how perfectly in tune this beautiful girl was with her environment. It was as if the world had been personally cultivated by and for her, everything being just so. Nothing was ever out of place.

  Standing there watching Gianna, feeling swept up in the magic of her presence and never wanting to leave, Amber began to see Gianna like some version of a Caribbean goddess. Perhaps she was Calypso herself, after which her lunch had been cutely named. Amber felt like Odysseus, trapped on Ogygia, being the sole recipient of Calypso's feminine charms. Only, in this case, Amber didn't feel trapped at all. She'd have been happy to stay there in Gianna's presence for all eternity, developing a shared love that secured for them a blissful immortality together, alone in that island paradise.

  "Neat, huh?" Gianna laughed as she raced over to Amber, bearing a multitude of gifts. "That's a guinep tree. The fruit is a bit like a tangy lychee."

  They found a spot in the sun and sat down with the pile of fruit trapped in Gianna's colorful wrap, hiked up for use as a makeshift basket of sorts. Amber mimicked Gianna's actions as she split open the green skin and peeled it back, revealing the creamy orange pulp inside. With an air of innocent eroticism, they sucked on the juicy flesh inside, tasking a little sour and sweet. Soon they found themselves drenched in citrus juice and sweat, surrounded by the scattered remnants of fruit peels that lay like strips of confetti littering the streets on the morning after a parade.

  A sweltering heat was on the rise and both Gianna and Amber were beginning to feel its effects.

  "I have an idea..." Gianna said.

  "What?!" Amber asked excitedly, revealing her growing ambition to spend the entire day with her new friend.

  "There's a place I like. It's a little remote and sometimes empty. Right by the beach."

  "Let's go! This was fun. I'm ready to see more of the island through your eyes," Amber said, standing up and offering Gianna her hand.

  Gianna grinned and hopped to her feet. Soon they were off, launching into their next adventure together.

  ***

  The two girls arrived at a secluded spot where the beach began to curve and swiftly vanish around an arc of dense forest. Amber stopped when Gianna stopped, having the immediate sense that this was a spot quite familiar to her new friend. Amber took a moment to observe her surroundings, absorbing the sight of dark green leaves swaying in the breeze, a peaceful grove of palm trees, the flat blue plain of water, and an occasional empty crab shell shatter
ed by a hungry seabird. In the distance, at the forest's edge, a thin Jamaican man quietly hacked away at a small coconut, whistling happily to himself to the tune of an old Bob Marley song pouring from a small radio set on a nearby rock.

  Gianna turned and cupped Amber's face all of a sudden.

  "If I ask you to do something with me, will you?" she asked.

  "Huh?" Amber said, snapping out of her peaceful enchantment.

  "Do you trust me?"

  "... Sure. I guess."

  Excited, Gianna took a step back. A wicked smile began to curl on her lips. "Great. Then we're going skinny dipping," she said matter-of-factly.

  "Wait, what?" Amber gasped.

  "Let's swim in the nude together. Right here!"

  "But... this isn't a nude beach! ... Is it?"

  "Nope."

  "And there's a guy right over there!" Amber laughed, pointing to the man in the coconut grove.

  Gianna chuckled. "Who? ... Jean-Baptiste?"

  "You know him?"

  Gianna shrugged. "Sure. He's harmless. I've been friends with him for three years. I asked him to open some coconuts for us."

  "Huh? When?"

  "It doesn't matter. Anyway, he'll keep watch. Besides, I don't expect anyone to come through here for another hour at least."

  Amber laughed nervously. "How would you know that?"

  "I have my ways..." Gianna said, mysteriously. She reached down and undid the wrap at her waist. The long splashes of color collapsed into a heap at the base of her feet.

  Amber's heart started racing as she realized that Gianna was serious. She froze, captivated by the sight of Gianna's lithe body standing there in a brilliant orange bikini, knowing that in a matter of moments it too would be lying there in a pile of clothing beside a row of freshly painted toes.

  Gianna locked eyes with Amber in a fit of magnetic sexual tension. Amber was barely aware of the movement of Gianna's hands as she reached backward to pop the hook of her top. Gianna's breasts came free and settled into place as she tossed their former covering to the sand. She smiled softly and swung her head about, letting the soft curls of her hair dance across her rubied nipples. Her coral pink nubs were smooth and glossy, shining in the sunlight with their impish presence.

  Amber gawked at Gianna with a mixture of quiet jealousy and delirious arousal, haunted by the soft, smooth curve of her gently sloping breasts and the excited nipples that stood out at the tips, tickled by the warm tradewinds. Gianna seemed to relish Amber's devout attention, moving with a teasing slowness to advance toward the next step in her act of disrobing. Amber followed Gianna's hands down toward her hips, past two gold hoops that connected the skimpy front and back pieces of fabric, then sliding across the tight orange bikini bottoms that stretched snuggly between her thighs. The thin material puffed out slightly at the soft mound of her still-hidden sex.

  Amber shivered with anticipation as she watched those same hands begin to slip under the stretchy fabric and lift it away from the secrets it guarded. She shivered with anticipation at the fact that she, too, would be expected to remove her clothing until she was standing there naked and exposed before this sea-goddess of a woman, not knowing what her companion would think or how her own body would be judged.

  Gianna's fingers traveled down over her thighs, carrying with it the flimsy last piece of clothing that remained on her body. Within an instant, a smooth, dark patch of fur emerged behind the colorful swimsuit, followed by a lovely, feminine cleft that blossomed between her legs; its inner rosiness just barely visible in the most seductive of ways. Gianna's legs rose and fell as she stepped free from the last constraints of her clothing and stood there like the Aphrodite Anadyomene, having been born from the sea and carried to shore in a scallop shell.

  Amber's childhood flashed through her mind. She was only a young girl when she traveled with her family to Paris, her first time abroad, and laid eyes upon the Birth of Venus at the Musée d'Orsay. She remembered the wonder she felt witnessing that perfect spectacle of feminine beauty, the goddesses' calm demeanor somehow depicting an awareness of, but perfect comfort with, the frank display of her own nudity. She remembered that, upon absorbing herself in the curve of that classic body, the blossoming of her young breasts, and the graceful intimacy of her vulva, something inside her was beginning to awaken, even if it was just a whisper carried across oceans on that same wave that delivered the goddess to womankind and heralded her arrival.

  Gianna began to laugh. "You look like you've just seen a ghost," she remarked, somehow savoring the strangeness of that word.

  "Oh... sorry... I've just never skinny-dipped before!" Amber said, snapping out of her trance and crashing into her own embarrassment.

  "That's okay. Take your time." Gianna relaxed comfortably to one leg, cocking her head to the reverse side of her tilted hips and examining Amber's profoundly enticing insecurities. She seemed as though she was a titillated observer awaiting the start of a burlesque show.

  It had been a while since Amber subjected herself to the interest of another woman. As deeply aroused as she was, driven to butterflies and waves of dizzy excitement by the sight of Gianna's unclothed body, she was just as nervous to be bearing her own breasts to her companion. Even more so about the exposure of her intimate sex, just like every time she undressed in front of a lover for the first time and watched with anxiety as they laid eyes upon her mons.

  In no hurry to undress, Amber remained glued to Gianna's curious and wandering eyes. With slow, deliberate movements she undid the buttons on her shorts and practiced the removal of her shirt in her mind. Upon generating a sufficient amount of courage, and confirming that Jean-Baptiste was still absorbed in his routine at a safe distance, Amber slid the soft cotton t-shirt up and over her head and allowed it to drop onto the pile of clothes that Gianna had started.

  Although the beach was otherwise empty, Amber already felt naked standing there in her bra. As soon as she slid off her shorts, a dizzy feeling sent a tremor through her body. Somehow, Gianna's soft gaze seemed to calm her, however. Although Amber's lack of self-confidence often challenged her observations, Gianna's expression nevertheless had the appearance of awe. The same awe that Amber directed at Gianna herself.

  Sucking in a deep breath through her teeth, Amber wondered one last time how she could possibly have ended up in this situation, so strangely and so suddenly, before she began to attend to the removal of her bra and panties. As she reluctantly embraced her own nudity, the breeze quickly assaulted her body, slipping into nooks and crannies where she had longed to be touched. Amber looked down at her own body, at the spirited protrusion of her perky breasts, toward the dark well of her bellybutton, and down to the soft brown fuzz of her sex where the first tingle of excitement began to defy an overwhelming sense of anxiety.

  Gianna seemed unfazed. In fact, she seemed more relieved than ever, as if she had been under water the whole time and only now was able to breathe. A dreamy look washed over her face as she became briefly absorbed in the sight of Amber's body. For the first time ever, Amber felt all her guards float away. It was as if she was being looked upon by a lover that had already traveled to the depths of ecstasy with her and back again. It was a look of comfort like one feels when returning home after a long voyage away in a strange and distant land.

  Satisfied with their mutual nakedness, Gianna turned and headed toward the water, revealing the long, winding curve of her back, accentuating its length and sensuality. As she skipped happily into the water, Amber watched her soft buttocks, perfectly rounded and peachy, with a cheerful wobble. Her cheeks were smooth and polished like pearls, no doubt having been in and out of the sea like that many times and made lustrous by the endlessly moving waves.

  Amber ran after her, suddenly delighted by her own nudity like she were a small child all over again. She shrieked at the sensation of the loose bits of her body, now unconfined, free to bounce and jostle about in a manner that felt mildly scandalous. Gianna turned and glanced back
at her, laughing at the sight of Amber's body awkwardly leaping over an expiring wave, entertained by the mercurial dance of her free breasts and the joyful sway of her excited nipples.

  Amber felt herself crash into a wave that instantly clothed her body in a cooling balm of spray and foam. She abandoned herself to it, launching into the ocean with a breezy serenity that she never would have imagined for herself during such a precarious activity. Together they swam toward the horizon for a bit until each was satisfied that their distance from shore delivered an aura of privacy to safely contain their merriment.

  The wide blue sea suddenly swallowed Gianna's musical laughter as she swept herself under the gentle waves, becoming nothing but a faint glimmer beneath the surface. After a moment, she reemerged with her eyes screwed shut and her long hair suddenly darker, smooth, and slicked down the length of her back. Small pools of water had collected beneath her eyes before they streaked down over her cheeks. For a moment, it looked as if Gianna briefly wore a mask of sadness that lingered there before the warmth of the sun restored the feverish amusement to her face and shattered that strange façade. Another laugh bubbled up through her throat as she opened her eyes and returned to Amber's eager gaze.

  "Are you going under?!" Gianna blurted out.

  Amber grinned and dove beneath the surface of the water. Suddenly she found herself in a cool, endless realm of echoes where reflections of light expanded and contracted like webbing on the sun-bleached floor. She opened her eyes and saw the crystal clear image of Gianna's nude body hovering there like an angel suspended from the sky. Now and then her legs flicked back and forth, hoisting her briefly higher before she bobbed back down again. The soft mounds of her breasts wavered back and forth as if caressed by the ocean currents. Her body shone in the fierce Caribbean sunlight, save for the dark patch between her legs and the tendrils of hair that floated about her chin like a sea anemone.