One Swinging Summer

by Hellsmith, Patience

  As we inched up to the window I asked him what it was with him and drive thrus. Considering last time I was in one with him, I was throwing clothes back on, I was beginning to think we should only eat at his house.

  We were laughing when we got to the window, and I could tell the young worker was flustered by us, but she was game. "OK, I've gotta know. Why don't blind men skydive?" She asked him.

  "Cause it scares the shit out of the dog."

  That was it for me, I couldn't breath, I was bent over laughing so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants. The imagery in my drunk mind of the blind guy skydiving with his poor seeing-eye dog was too much, and then, to top it off, the drive thru lady got this really confused look on her face and said, "I don't get it."

  Caleb tried to explain it to her, but I could barely hear him, my stomach was starting to cramp from the laughter, and I couldn't stop. Caleb gave up explaining, and the lady asked for money. Caleb paid her, she shut the window, and Caleb drove off.

  That just made it worse. I was about to pee myself, I had tears running down my face, and I couldn't get the words out. Caleb could tell I was trying, and failing, to tell him something, and he asked, "What?"

  I wondered if one could actually die from laughing as I spit it out between breaths. "You forgot our food. You paid the lady, and drove off without our food."

  "Oh, shit."

  Caleb turned around and went back. This time he parked and went inside. I stayed in the car, trying in vain to recover. He came out, with our food, and with a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that," he said.

  "Are you kidding? That was the funniest thing I have ever seen."

  We took the food back to Caleb's and ate it on his back porch. The food and the coffee helped immensely, as did a hot shower. I came out of his bathroom dressed, and uncertain. "Now what?" I wondered. Our plan had only covered this far. We had broken up two weeks ago, kind of made up last weekend, with plans to try out the bar for my birthday yesterday and to spend last night here, for obvious reasons, but that was as far as we had gotten.

  Should I go home now and work? I hadn't been invited to stay today, but knowing Caleb he would invite me. Where are we now? We've never had a boyfriend/girlfriend discussion, although we both said we weren't seeing anyone else. I knew this probably wasn't going to lead to any true-love forever relationship, but I really was having fun with him. I decided again to just keep up what we were doing, and see what happened. I didn't want to walk away from him yet, but I knew to protect my heart. Now that last night was done and over with, I guess we will just play it by ear.

  Caleb's thoughts must have gone down a similar path, cause he was looking at me warily when I came out. After a beat, he said, "Stay with me tonight. We can relax, hang out, go to the marina for dinner."

  "Alright."

  CHAPTER 20

  WARPED

  We headed to the marina around five, and killed some time by driving around the lake. We had only been to the marina itself, and the little boat launch park that we found before the park ranger found us, and those had all been mainly after dark. This time we took our time and explored a bit, with his windows down, enjoying the breeze. We found this little inset that was right off the road, it only had enough space to park three or four cars, and looked like a small trail head.

  We were the only car at the moment, so Caleb parked in the tiny lot and we set off on foot. It was a small, woody trail that led down to a small, rocky beach. From the beach there were two worn paths that looked like they led around the lake, one went left and one went right from the small beach. We went left. I love hiking and exploring, and I had never been down here before. You could see a few boats on the water, ski boats farther away in the middle of the lake, and a couple of little fishing boats closer to the shore.

  The path seemed to be more of a deer or hog path than a hiking path, and was only wide enough for one person at a time. I led. We slowly picked our way through, laughing and talking easily. It was nice to be hanging out with Caleb again, I realized that I had missed his quirky personality.

  Some parts of the path were right against the waterline, so I slid my shoes off and walked part of the way in the water. The water was cold, but it felt good in the heat of the day. Caleb, walking not far behind me, said "I dare you to take your shorts off."

  I was facing away from him when I heard that, so he couldn't see my smile. Only Caleb would say something like that, let alone even think of it to begin with. I looked at him over my shoulder. "You haven't had enough adventure for one weekend?"

  He laughed at that and said, "I was without you for two, I have some making up to do."

  I kept walking on the dirt path in front of him, but unbuckled my jean shorts as I walked. I knew the panties I was wearing were a bright neon pink. They were bikini cut and made from some kind of thick, shimmery material, with little glittery beads making a design on the front. I knew that from a distance, like, say from a fishing boat, they would look like bathing suit bottoms. People in bathing suits walking around a lake in June wasn't exactly a rare sight. Even when the man hanging around with the bathing suit was wearing shorts. We would both just look like we were in our suits, with t-shirts on. This dare was an easy one, I didn't even think twice.

  I kept walking, and allowed my unbuckled shorts to slide right down to the ground, I stepped out of and over them without missing a beat, and just kept walking. I knew we'd pass back this way to get to the car, I'd pick them up then. I heard surprised laughter from behind me.

  "Now that's a nice view."

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him, smiling. 'Oh, please,' I thought. 'After last night, this was easy.'

  We made our way like that about another quarter mile along the shoreline. It was really nice out here, it felt like a day at the beach, which I guess it was. We hit a rocky point on the path and decided to turn back for the truck and dinner. I walked most of the way back in the water, enjoying my pants-less-ness by kicking up water as I walked, and jumping and splashing.

  I picked my shorts back up as we passed back that way, but just carried them with my shoes. Other than the boats on the water, we hadn't seen a soul out here. We followed the same path back up to the truck, and I paused beside the now open passenger door to put my clothes back on.

  "Hang on a sec," Caleb said in my ear as he slid close behind me. I turned my face toward him and he met my mouth with his. His kiss was hot and demanding. I returned it just as rough and passionately as he had initiated it. He stayed behind me, kissing me, as his hands started roaming over my body. Both hands slid under my t-shirt and up to my bra. He squeezed my breasts and pinched my nipples through the fabric of my bra. His hands cupped under my breasts, and his fingers slid under the band of my bra, pulling up to release my breasts. The bra was still fastened in the back, but was now under my armpits, with my naked breasts in his hands.

  He played with and tweaked one hard nipple under my t-shirt while his right hand slid down my stomach and under the fabric of my panties. I was already wet, and his fingers slid immediately inside me. "Oh, fuck yeah," he moaned against my mouth, while one hand kept pressing and pulling and squeezing my naked breast and his other was rubbing and sliding in and out of me. He used the hand that was exploring my slick, wet lips to also press my ass against his hardness. In animal instinct I pressed my ass against him, tilting it toward him in invitation, and wiggling my panty clad bottom against the hard rock of his cock.

  His left hand left my breast and unzipped his shorts, leaving his waistband fastened. I felt him pull himself out of the hole his undone zipper had opened, and his hand left his own cock to pull my panties aside. He bent his knees to get under me, and the head of his hard, throbbing cock pressed against me, demanding entry. I spread my legs apart to welcome him. As he straightened his legs again, he slid inside me, filling me with his warmth and hardness.

  "Oh, shit, that feels so good." It came out of me guttural, like a groan. The fingers of his right hand were s
till sliding in and out of the wetness of my lips, hand shoved down deep into my panties, grazing my clit with each pass. He returned his left hand to my breasts. My hips arched back toward him, allowing easier entry to his cock. I rocked against him, my ass pressing backward into him and rocking forward again for my clit to rub against his fingers. I came against his fingers, wet and loud. He bent me over onto the passenger seat, spread my feet apart even more with his foot, grabbed my hips with both hands and rode me hard. His right hand left my hip every now and then to smack my ass. I could feel my ass sting and vibrate with each loud smack, and I could imagine a fiery red hand print starting to show.

  "Oh yeah, baby, fuck me. Fuck me on the side of the road. Spank me again, oh yeah, again. Spank that ass."

  "Oh fuck, oh fuck," he said over and over, driving harder and harder into me. I could hear him smacking into me with every stroke.

  "Shit, someone is coming." I heard him say.

  "Yeah, you baby."

  "No, seriously, a car," he said. "But I can't stop, oh fuck, I can't stop now."

  I lifted my head up, watching over the seat and out the driver's side window as a car passed slowly. Caleb kept pounding into me as the car passed. I giggled, "That was close, baby. Come on, come for me."

  I heard his release, loud and primal, and felt his fingers digging into my hips as I saw the car that had passed back up.

  "Oh, shit, oh shit, he's backing up." I yelled to Caleb.

  He quickly pulled out of me as I watched in shock as the car stopped, parked, and a man started to get out. I was done watching, and I ducked back down, not wanting to see the man's face, and certainly not wanting him to see mine.

  I jumped into the truck the second Caleb let go, and stayed ducked down. I heard the man say, "Can I join you?"

  Caleb yelled back, "No, stay there."

  The man answered, "Can I just watch then? I would love to watch."

  "No, no, we are done here. We are leaving, stay there." Caleb quickly shut my door, protecting me huddled on his seat, and he zipped his shorts and went around, getting into the driver's seat. The man got back into his car, disappointed, and we drove away quickly.

  "Holy shit, that was close." I said.

  "Who does that?" I asked Caleb as we drove away. "If I drove by and saw what he saw, I would laugh my ass off. But I would never back up and ask if I could join. That's crazy."

  "Says the woman who was just getting pounded on the side of the road." Laughed Caleb.

  "OK, point taken, but still."

  We made it to the marina for dinner, and talked about everything that had happened in the last 24 hours over wine. "What is it about hanging out with you? Even the very first night on the golf cart." Caleb laughed as he sipped his wine.

  "Oh, no. I'm blaming you. Some kind of freaky cop aura. Nothing ever happened to me before you."

  We traded stories over dinner, talking about friends and exes, and somehow we got to talking about relationships. Caleb said something in passing that caught my attention.

  "Wait, hang on. What do you mean you would still first-date in a relationship? What does that even mean?"

  "It means that even if I had a girlfriend, I don't see anything wrong with going on a first date with another woman."

  "How does that even work? You have a girlfriend, you have agreed not to sleep with other people, but you will still ask someone else on a date? Isn't that cheating on your girlfriend?"

  "No," Caleb said. "Because I wouldn't sleep with her on a first date. If we had a first date, and I wanted another date, or if I wanted to sleep with her, I would break it off with my girlfriend at that point, to pursue the other woman."

  "But you already pursued her, asked for her number assumingly, called her, asked her out, and then gone out. That is dating. How can you date with a girlfriend but not call it cheating? That doesn't make sense."

  "Cause there is no sex. It's only cheating when there is sex with someone else."

  "Bullshit. Taking a new woman out on a date, when you have a girlfriend is cheating. Especially when you add in the lying. I'm assuming your girlfriend does not know that you are out on a date."

  "No, but there wouldn't be a reason to tell her, unless I wanted a second date. Up until a second date, it is just called keeping your options open."

  "Are you being serious? You can't be serious."

  "I am totally serious. You never know if the one you are dating is the right one. Is that one over there your soul mate, but you don't meet her because you are seeing someone else? So, you ask her out. Go on a date, and if she isn't better than your girlfriend, you keep your girlfriend."

  "Wait," I said, trying to understand. "I can see dating more than one person. There is nothing wrong with dating a few people, as long as everyone knows that no one is exclusive. But once you say, 'I'd like to see you, and only you, can I call you my girlfriend?' that means no more dating others. It's just understood."

  "I don't think so. I think as long as you aren't sleeping with both, you are free to keeping looking around."

  "What about the reverse? You really like her, she is sleeping with you, calling you her boyfriend, but she is keeping her options open and first-dating other men. Is that OK?"

  "Well, I wouldn't like it. I wouldn't want to know about it, but yes, I would understand. As long as she isn't sleeping with anyone else, and breaks it off with me before a second date."

  "Wow, I don't know what to say. So you are always, always, always looking around for something better? When do you stop looking?"

  "Marriage." He said simply.

  "Do you want to marry, eventually?"

  "No, not really."

  "OK, I've got to ask. Are you only seeing me?"

  "Yes, if I am sleeping with someone, it is only that someone. Sex draws a line, I don't sleep with multiple people. I am only seeing you, and I would actually consider you my girlfriend. I have called you such actually."

  "OK, have you first-dated anyone since our first date?"

  "No, I haven't. I haven't been interested in anyone else."

  "But if you met or saw someone you were interested in, you would ask her out? Get her number, talk to her, ask her on a first date, and see if you wanted a second date?"

  "Yes, most first dates just tell you that you aren't interested anymore. Then it's over, question answered, I'd know she wasn't for me and would still only want you."

  "And you would have no problem with me going out on a 'let's see if I like you better than my boyfriend' first date. That would be OK with you? If someone called me, pursued me, and took me out, as long as it was only once?"

  "I would hate it. If I knew it was happening, I would be torn up, but I would want you to check it out. If you were curious about him and intrigued enough to think about him, I'd rather you try it, and see, and know. And come back to me knowing I was the one you wanted, no more wondering."

  "Wow. I'd never heard that point of view before."

  "I'm just being honest."

  "I appreciate that. It is better to be warned ahead of time, I guess. But now, I'd wonder anytime we weren't together, if you were on a first date with someone else."

  "Odds are, I wouldn't be. I haven't been interested in anyone else since I met you."

  "But you could be, at anytime."

  "Well, yeah. I guess. But isn't that the same with anyone?"

  "True."

  "But this way, you know for sure, that I wouldn't sleep with anyone but you. And if I was interested in anyone else, I mean, really, seriously interested, I would break it off with you before anything major happened."

  "Anything major, except for the flirting, thinking, talking, and first date part, you mean. Except for that?"

  "Yes, except for that. But that is rare. It is rare to become interested in anyone else if you are truly happy where you are. And I am. Happy. With you."

  I wasn't sure if I should be refreshed by his honesty, or appalled at his thinking. What kind of security is that? I'll
keep you around until someone better comes along. I guess that is kind of how it works anyway, but unspoken, and without a first date. You date happily, if you find someone else you would rather date, you break up. There really isn't any kind of guaranteed security in any relationship. Ask any woman who has been cheated on, or found herself happily married to a man that comes out of the closet on their 35th anniversary, and leaves her and the kids for his new boyfriend. Nothing is for sure, and nothing is forever. It just hasn't ever been stated this honestly and up front.

  So, what am I supposed to do with this information? Well, when it comes down to brass tacks, I guess nothing changes. I'm still protecting my heart, now more than ever. But he is still so much fun. I don't want to end it. I'm not looking for marriage material right now anyway, although I do plan on getting married one day. So, I guess it business as usual.

  We went back to his place, and I spent the night sleeping beside him. Sunday carried on, a casual day on his couch, but our conversation continued to nag at me. Always in the back of my head. I put it away until I could mull it over alone, during the week.

  CHAPTER 21

  AND AGAIN

  Driving and thinking, thinking and driving. There are many perks to my job, two of which are the ability to work my own schedule, including Saturdays, and the ability to work completely by myself, in my car. No cubicles, no ringing phones, no dress code, and the ability to devote many hours to my own uninterrupted thoughts.

  I thought a lot this week, as I drove. About the weekend I just had, about Caleb, and about what I wanted right now in a relationship. Caleb made two admissions during the dinner at the marina that bothered me. His whole take on dating while in a relationship, and that he really had no interest in getting married.

  Both reinforced my resolve to guard my heart, but knowing he could be on a first date at any time and not think anything of it made me rethink dating him for fun altogether. I had my peek inside the after hours world, I knew this relationship wasn't going anywhere, so maybe it was time to let Caleb go. He had fulfilled his purpose, I was no longer recovering from the harshness of the boyfriend before him. I've had weeks of purely erotic, no-strings fun. I knew that someday I did want to marry, and I wouldn't find Mr. Right hanging out naked with Mr. So Very Wrong.