Camp Rewind

by O'Brien, Meghan

  “You guys make an adorable couple,” Bree said, perhaps sensing that the mild tension caused by her last comment had already dissipated. “In my opinion.”

  “Well, thanks.” Rosa traded shy grins with Alice when she picked up her head to gaze fondly into Rosa’s eyes. “All credit to the adorable one.”

  “And if you guys decide that ‘next time’ needs to happen tonight, right there beside us, while I lie here pretending to sleep, I want you to know that I’m totally fine with that.” Bree rolled Enid so they both faced Rosa’s bunk and flashed a semi-maniacal grin. “’Cause I like those sexy little noises Alice makes.”

  “So do I.” Rosa kissed Alice’s hair and whispered into her ear, “A lot.”

  “She helped get me off,” Enid said, eyes glittering in the dark.

  “Wait,” Bree said with mock indignation. “You’re saying Alice and I have to share credit for that gusher?”

  “Indeed I am.”

  Bree snorted and, as Alice buried her burning face in Rosa’s neck, said, “Way to go, shy Alice. Now you’ve made two women come. Not bad for your first weekend of pussy.”

  Alice’s cheeks grew hotter at the graphic compliment, but her smile also grew wider, which made Rosa feel somehow certain, for the first time, that things might absolutely work out. Unless, of course, they didn’t.

  Either way, she was finally ready to try.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The third time Alice woke up in Rosa Salazar’s arms was the best. There was no embarrassment, no alarm, not even a rogue snake to disrupt her peaceful reentry into consciousness. Toasty warm beneath their shared blanket, and thoroughly entangled in Rosa’s heavy limbs, she felt safe and content and optimistic in a way that made it seem as though she was seeing the world through new eyes. She sighed, listening to the sounds their cabin mates made in slumber, and tried to decide whether to rouse Rosa or let her sleep longer. Though she wasn’t nearly daring enough to initiate early morning, public sex in a crowded cabin while daylight streamed in through the windows, Alice craved a return to the intimacy they’d shared the night before. Particularly because so long as Rosa slept, she had no way of knowing where her head was.

  No matter what they’d said before drifting off to their individual dreams, today was their last at Camp Rewind. In a few hours they would reach the pivotal moment when they either kept going, or didn’t. As much as Alice didn’t want to believe that Rosa would undergo a sudden change of heart—not after their intense lovemaking the night before, surely—she still found it necessary to brace for the possibility.

  She tensed her grip on Rosa subconsciously, afraid to wake her and terrified by the thought that she might soon have the miracle of their friendship torn away for a second time. Alice closed her eyes, breathing rapidly as she began to spiral into the sort of catastrophic thinking that always earned her a quick reproach from her therapist. Before she could drown in her anxious thoughts, a warm caress on her bare shoulder coaxed her back from the edge of panic, and Rosa’s whispered “You’re okay, sweetheart” brought an unthinking smile to her lips. Opening her eyes, Alice melted at the unabashed affection shining back at her from within Rosa’s tender gaze. Rosa frowned, not bothering to hide her concern. “Bad dream?”

  Alice shook her head but remained silent, afraid to admit what had really spooked her. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Like the dead.” Rosa studied Alice’s face, uneasily. “You?”

  Alice nodded, then tucked her head beneath Rosa’s chin and tightened her one-armed embrace. “We should go shower before everyone else wakes up.”

  “All right.” The low purr of Rosa’s sleep-roughened voice rumbled against Alice’s ear, widening her smile. “But first tell me what you were thinking about before.”

  Alice’s smile faded. She considered denying that anything had been wrong but sensed that, without honesty, she would never win Rosa’s trust. Here goes, then. “I was trying to decide whether to wake you.”

  “So you could make sure I wasn’t planning to pull another dick move?”

  Alice shrugged, then shook her head. “I wouldn’t put it like that.”

  “Well, I would.” Rosa tugged Alice up onto her chest and craned to capture her lips in a heartfelt kiss. “Listen, I made you a promise last night,” Rosa mumbled when she pulled away. “You’re not disposable, and I’ll never do anything to make you feel that way, ever again.”

  The tiny seed of doubt that had started to take root in the pit of Alice’s stomach shriveled and died when she heard the sincerity of Rosa’s words. Sighing, Alice rested her head on Rosa’s shoulder, too overwhelmed with relief and gratitude and fast-growing love to continue staring into those soulful brown eyes. Not unless she was prepared to burst into ugly tears. She held her hand over Rosa’s heart, relishing the steady yet mildly elevated rhythm. “And you are worthy, no matter what you’ve been through, or are going through right now, or will go through one day.” Stretching to kiss Rosa’s neck, she whispered, “Despite all of that, you deserve to be loved. Unconditionally.”

  Rosa rolled them so that she hovered above Alice, staring down with so much intensity that Alice eventually had to look away. Did I say loved?

  Rosa stroked the side of her face until Alice worked up the courage to reestablish eye contact, smiling when she did. “Alice Wu,” she murmured. “Thanks for hanging out with me this weekend. I know I didn’t always make it easy.”

  Alice looped her arms around Rosa’s neck, keeping her voice low so as not to wake their sleeping neighbors. “You too, Lila. It may not have been a hundred percent easy, but I wouldn’t trade this time with you for anything.”

  Sheepishly, Rosa kissed the corner of her mouth, then the other side. “I hope you know I wasn’t kidding about Lila being a lot more fun than the real me…”

  Alice heard the lingering insecurity in the warning and kissed Rosa back, with purpose. Afterward, she whispered, “I’m not interested in the fleeting magic of summer camp. I’m interested in you, with all the messiness that entails.”

  “You still have no idea what you’re getting into.” Rosa smiled bravely, but Alice detected stubborn fear shimmering in her gaze. “How messy…and how frightening life with me can actually be.”

  “I look forward to finding out.” Alice couldn’t deny that she had some concerns about the negative impact Rosa’s enemies could have on her life, but not nearly enough to warrant a return to a Rosa-free existence. Life would always be full of anxieties. For her, friends were a much rarer occurrence. She’d literally never had one like Rosa before. Now that she did, she’d walk through fire for her. Indeed, it was all but impossible to imagine an obstacle too great to overcome if it meant keeping Rosa Salazar in her life. “Besides, like you said…no matter what else happens, we’re friends. Right?”

  Rosa nodded, eyes watering, and dipped down for a more sensuous kiss. “Right.” She smiled against Alice’s mouth, triggering the same. “Very special friends.”

  Though they’d put on T-shirts and pajama pants before falling asleep, the slide of Rosa’s thigh against her still-sensitive labia triggered a hot jolt of lust. Alice writhed against the mild pressure without thinking, then blushed and forced herself to refocus on the symphony of snoring, mumbling women who occupied the bunks around them. My kingdom for a private room. Keeping her voice below a whisper, she asked, “Are we the type of friends who take showers together?”

  “In fact, yes. We are.” Rosa’s hungry eyes darkened, further soaking Alice’s already damp panties. “I would be happy to help you get clean.”

  Alice breathed out slowly, a measured exhalation intended to prevent her from getting carried away and doing something to embarrass both of them. “Because that’s what friends do?”

  “Because of that, and because I want to touch you,” Rosa whispered back, then kissed her throat. “And care for you.” Her lips trailed up Alice’s jaw, then nipped sharply at her earlobe, causing Alice to gasp. “And make you feel good. On
ly good, from now on.”

  Alice put her hands on Rosa’s shoulders and nudged her away in an attempt to cool down. They needed to take this conversation to a private shower stall, stat, before everyone else woke up. With effort, she wriggled out from beneath Rosa and knelt by her suitcase. After a hasty search that yielded one last change of clothing and her toiletries bag, Alice stood and pressed a saucy kiss against Rosa’s lips, amused by how dazed she looked about her sudden departure. Under her breath, Alice murmured, “I’m taking you up on that. Come on.”

  Rosa followed without hesitation, confident and seemingly unafraid.

  *

  Under the hot spray of the less-than-luxurious campground showerhead, concealed behind an opaque curtain that rippled gently in the breeze blowing in through the bathroom’s open windows, Rosa Salazar fell a little more for Alice Wu during an extended shampooing session that started with her hands tangled in Alice’s long, dark hair and ended with three of Alice’s demanding fingers lodged deep inside Rosa’s pussy. Rosa clung to the shower wall as Alice fucked her from behind, shocked by the strength and confidence with which her body was being claimed and shaken by the knowledge that she’d nearly let a truly prodigious sexual talent go.

  Alice’s slippery tits glided across her back, the nipples a hard, brilliant contrast to the softness of her supple flesh. She whispered against Rosa’s cheek, too quietly, surely, to be heard over the hiss of the shower, yet the words landed with deafening clarity in Rosa’s ears. “You’re so beautiful like this.” Alice’s lips pressed against her temple, her tongue tasting the damp skin. “Beautiful with my fingers inside you.”

  Rosa groaned and set her feet farther apart, purposefully ignoring the ridiculous shower sandals she had on—a last-minute purchase, neon green and one size too large—as she marveled over Alice’s exploding sexual confidence. Two nights ago, Alice could barely manage to say the word “pussy” without blushing. Now she was making Rosa blush, and more. Turning her head to give Alice a brutal, needy kiss, Rosa moaned, “Don’t stop.”

  “I won’t,” Alice promised in a silky murmur. “Not until you come on my hand.”

  Rosa contracted at the sheer shock value of hearing Alice talk dirty. She was close, so close, and Alice drove her determinedly forward without offering a single second of respite. “Oh…”

  Scraping her teeth across Rosa’s shoulder, Alice held the back of her neck with one hand while the other increased the force of its pounding between her legs. “See what happens when you teach a sexually repressed woman to fuck?”

  A sharp cry of pleasure cut Rosa’s laughter short. “Unchained…a…beast?”

  The hand on the back of Rosa’s neck strengthened its grip, urging her to bend at the waist so the fingers inside her could force themselves impossibly deeper, to stroke a spot that made Rosa’s knees turn to jelly and nearly sent her crashing down onto the questionably hygienic floor. She held onto the edge of the shower so desperately her knuckles went pale, determined to stay on her feet so Alice could exorcise years of mediocre sex through her pussy. Eager to help usher in the inevitable, Rosa rebalanced herself on one hand and held the other under the hot spray for a minute before lowering it between her thighs so she could touch her clit.

  “Yes,” Alice hissed, and fucked her even harder. The force of her thrusts propelled Rosa forward, sending wet strands of hair into her eyes again and again as she withstood the furious assault. “Rub it for me.”

  Rosa bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn’t scream. She loved being taken like this, hard and fast and rough, and that shy Alice was the one doing it, in a public shower no less, elevated the experience to an unbearably earth-shattering height. Her fingers hastened on her clit, mindlessly jerking the sensitive ridge of flesh as she engaged in a desperate sprint toward nirvana. Legs wobbling, she rose on her tiptoes when Alice sank all the way into her, knuckles pressed firmly against her labia, to rub the place that made Rosa’s entire body quake. Rosa’s forehead touched the shower wall as she beat herself off unashamedly, her entire focus narrowed to the singular goal of reaching a much-needed resolution for the nearly painful ecstasy created by their joint efforts. In a moment of divine inspiration, their hands achieved perfect synchrony, triggering simultaneous clitoral and vaginal orgasms that would have sent Rosa to the concrete floor if not for Alice’s sudden, strong grip around her waist.

  “I’ve got you,” Alice cooed, kissing Rosa’s shoulder blade as she rode the waves of her multiple climaxes to their bittersweet ends. “I won’t let you fall.”

  Eventually, Rosa brought her arms up and turned in one clumsy motion. More light-headed than she’d anticipated, she promptly stumbled into Alice’s waiting embrace with a muttered curse. Alice grunted at the unexpected impact but managed to keep her feet and shook with laughter as she gathered Rosa close to kiss her flushed cheeks. “Even when you try to throw us both onto the floor,” Alice joked, grinning.

  Rosa smiled at the lighthearted comment, yet couldn’t resist the desire to linger on the darker subtext she couldn’t help but see. “Told you I’d only bring you down. If not this time…”

  Alice’s body stiffened against hers. “That needs to stop.” Pulling back, she glared at Rosa with unexpected ferocity. “No more self-hatred, all right? Not around me. I don’t like it, I don’t agree with it, and I’m not going to listen to it anymore. Got it?”

  Having never seen Alice so upset, not like that, Rosa held her hands up in supplication and nodded obediently. “I apologize. It’s a bad habit.”

  “A terrible one.”

  “I’ll try to quit.” Rosa hung her head low, vowing to treat herself more kindly if only to avoid pissing Alice off this much in the future. “I know it’s not an attractive quality.”

  “More than that, it’s just not true.” Alice pulled her close again, folding her into a loving embrace. “Whatever happens, I’m going into this relationship with my eyes wide open. If my life somehow gets totally ruined by our association, it’ll be their fault, or mine, but never yours.” She tightened her arms around Rosa and shook her gently for emphasis. “Never yours.”

  We’ll see how she feels about that a year from now. The sullen inner voice she’d become well-acquainted with still remained close to the surface—and would likely be a demon she battled for some time to come—but today, Rosa chose to ignore what it was telling her. Rather than allow her self-loathing to throw cold water on her hopes, dreams, and feelings of worth yet again, she listened to Alice instead. She could only do that because she trusted Alice more than the voice, somehow, improbable as it was to feel that way about a woman she’d known for only a few days. Her gut didn’t exactly have the best track record on these matters, but as Bree had pointed out, she couldn’t let fear destroy her chance at transcendence, no matter how slim that chance might be. If she wanted to be happy one day, she had to try.

  So that’s what she would do. Try—and hope.

  “Careful, Alice,” Rosa warned in a murmur once she trusted herself to speak. “Or you’ll make me fall in love with you.”

  Alice’s breathing hitched. “I hope so,” she whispered, so earnestly Rosa nearly wept.

  She encircled Alice’s waist and hugged as fiercely as she dared, filled with something akin to dread. I don’t want to let her go. Throat dry, Rosa swallowed past her thick tongue to commit her first act of genuine courage for the day. “Alice, would…would you like to follow me home to Berkeley? We could spend the evening at my place…” She wished she could watch Alice’s face for a reaction. She probably has to work. You just spent three days together. Give the poor woman a break. “Or we could make plans to see each other next weekend,” she said lamely. “Whatever’s best for you.”

  Alice took a step back and searched Rosa’s face. Her eyes sparkled with genuine excitement, proof that she hadn’t been wrong to extend the invitation. “I’d love to go back to your apartment. I assume you have a real bed…and privacy!” Clapping her hands, Alice wiggled i
n an unself-conscious, jubilant, celebratory dance, all while gloriously naked. “Yes, let’s do that!”

  “You’re a changed woman,” Rosa remarked as she watched the astonishing show, then raised an eyebrow after Alice froze, lowered her face, and stared at the floor. “You realize that, right? It’s legitimately extraordinary.”

  “Well, you get most of the credit for my weekend transformation.” Alice’s mouth quirked into a smile as she glanced up and met Rosa’s eyes. “After me, of course.”

  “Of course.” Not for the first time, Rosa’s brain went haywire as she considered the woman Alice was fast becoming. Her timid, impressive, courageous friend had so much untapped potential, so many layers Rosa could help uncover. Distracted by the direction her thoughts were taking, Rosa reached between their chests and plucked at Alice’s erect nipple with her fingertips. “You know, I have some toys at home that I’d love to show you, if you were interested in that sort of—”

  “Yes!” Alice said. “Sold. You have no idea how many things I want to try.”

  “Well, that works out, because there are so many dirty, nasty things I want to do to you.”

  Alice groaned but quickly fell silent when the distant sound of feminine voices filtered into the building, signaling that their final moment of solitude at camp had just ended. She listened for a few seconds, then whispered into Rosa’s ear. “We should go eat breakfast, say our good-byes, and get the hell out of here so you can hurry up and thank me properly for the dirty, nasty way I just treated you.”

  Rosa snorted, tickled by Alice’s emerging sense of humor. It was so easy to talk to her, to simply be with her. Everything just flowed. If their relationship survived the transition to the real world, it would likely bring Rosa the greatest happiness she’d ever known. Or else the greatest heartbreak. Disgusted with herself, Rosa delivered a symbolic uppercut to her inner voice’s stupid face and instead thought about what toy she wanted to introduce Alice to first. She had a wide assortment to choose from, as well as endless ideas about the many games they could play and positions they could try. Resolving to initiate a serious discussion about fantasies, limits, and safe words over breakfast, for now, Rosa said only, “Don’t worry, darling, I promise you’ll get yours.” She smacked Alice sharply on the butt a couple times, counting on the noise of the showerhead and the not-terribly-animated conversations that bounced off the concrete walls to disguise the sound of her impromptu burst of discipline. “And I’ll get mine.”