Guardian Angel
10 I Need a Hero
I’D LIKE TO SAY that everything was great between Betts and me from that point on, but—dammit!—she’s a bitch. She was honest about not seeing Eric again, though. He called the next day and asked her to go to the beach with him on Labor Day and she just hung up on him. Well, after screaming “Not in a million years!” Then she levied a fine of three days mucking out stalls for not cleaning up my breakfast dishes. I guess nothing really changes.
Labor Day, though. That was… interesting. The Barnes family had already reserved the pavilion after the success of last year’s party, but they really didn’t want to host it and answer people’s questions about their missing son. Mom and Dad took over the hosting responsibility and I suggested they call Brenda’s parents for help. Mom and Dad were reluctant until I explained that we’d invited all twenty of our friends.
Brenda’s dad said they’d love to help and they contacted a couple other parents who chipped in. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes decided not to go at all and when I went over to offer Jessica a ride—she’d just got home from modeling school—she said thank you but she’d already accepted a ride with Bill and Carl. I was a little hurt, but she said she’d see me there and we’d have fun. I hadn’t seen her at all this summer, she just got back, and she wasn’t going to ride with us to the beach? It just proved to me we lived in different worlds. I was just the runt kid next door. What did I matter?
Mom let Betts drive to the lake and sat in the back seat with me. When we got to the lake, Betts took off as soon as the car was in park. I got stuck carting load after load of stuff from the back of the station wagon to the pavilion. Two ice chests and two big bags of groceries and paper plates. Everybody else was already in the water by the time I finished.
I’d gotten used to scanning around the area before I left one area of safety and headed for another. I wasn’t quite sure why I attracted bullies, but at least I also seemed to attract some good friends. That’s why I was surprised when hands grabbed me around the waist and lifted me about six feet off the ground.
“And he dunks it!” a strange voice called. I came down on my feet a little hard and stumbled but turned around to look at my attacker.
“Geez, Lionel! Did you grow more this summer?”
“Yeah. Coach says I’m six-eight now.” And his voice had dropped about two octaves. That’s why I didn’t recognize him.
“You scared the bejezus out of me.”
“Brian! Are you all right?” Dad yelled as he came running up. I guess he’d never met some of my friends.
“Yeah, Dad. Everything is cool. This is my friend, Lionel. Lionel, this is my dad.”
“Hey man. Nice to meet you, Mr. Trust.” Dad is six-two and he was looking up at Lionel.
“Frost,” I whispered.
“Nice to meet you, too, Lionel,” Dad said. He watched as Lionel turned back to me.
“Hey bro, we gotta get in the water. There are some hot swimsuits out there.” He took off toward the beach and I waved at Dad and followed about as fast as I could move.
He was sure right about the hot swim suits. Almost all the girls were in two-piece suits this year. And those pieces barely covered the essentials. I got in waist deep as quick as I could. Chicken fights started and Samantha jumped on my back. She crawled up to my shoulders.
“Hey Sam! Where’s Simon?”
“We broke up. Am I too much for you?” She had grown over the summer and it was in all the right places. Too much?
“Hell no! Hang on and let’s go get us some chickens!” I wrapped my arms around her legs and had a sudden realization of how incredibly smooth they were. There was no hair at all. I’d never really noticed Sam’s legs before. Now they were all I could notice. We quickly discovered that Lionel’s height was as big a disadvantage as my lack of it. Whitney had jumped up on his shoulders and as tall as she was, her feet didn’t touch the water unless Lionel went out deep enough that everybody else had to swim. Instead they came charging straight at Sam and me. Whitney had to lean over so far that she was off-balance and Sam pulled until she’d fallen in the water. “Woohoo! We’re a team!” I yelled. That was a mistake. Carl and Brenda, Doug and Rhiannon, Jackson and Sugar all closed in on us at once and not only was Sam pulled into the water, but I went with her. I sort of forgot to let go of her legs.
“Naughty boy,” Sam said as we came up for air. “You just couldn’t let go of my legs, could you?” I shook my head. To clear the water out of my ears. “I got that stuff you smear on your legs and it dissolves all the hair. There’s no stubble. Do you like it?”
“God, Samantha. Your legs are like silk. Don’t think I’m a pervert or anything, but you want to get up on my shoulders again so I can hold them.”
“Let’s hear it for the boy!” she sang and climbed onto my back.
I was aware of more than her legs. The water of the lake cooled. The part that was pressed against the back of my neck, though, was downright hot. Every once in a while, she’d put both hands on my head and wiggle herself up higher on my shoulders and then slide down. It made my neck really… hot. In a good way. We went for revenge and Sam caught Brenda from behind and hauled her by her shoulders off Carl’s back. I was worried for a second that Brenda wasn’t coming up. Then she started crawling up my front.
“Woohoo!” Sam screamed, sliding off my shoulders. “I win Carl.” She kissed me on the ear and I got chills all down my spine. Then she was off and climbing up on Carl’s back. I was glad Sam broke up with Simon. She hadn’t been this much fun since fifth grade. Brenda continued her climb until she wrapped her legs around my waist and pressed her bare tummy into mine.
“Well, look who I got,” Brenda cooed. She wasn’t moving around to my back. She started to slide down. “I’m slipping. Hold me up!” she demanded. I reached around and grabbed her butt with both hands. Oh wow! The way her suit was cut, her ass was mostly bare. I hung on tight. “That’s better,” she whispered. “I feel so safe now.” She kissed me. It wasn’t a fantastic sexy kiss—just a little peck on the lips—but I’d never kissed Brenda before. “I need a hero,” she sang. Crap! I leaned back and kicked a little and we floated a few feet before my feet dropped back to the bottom. With her changing my center of balance, my head hardly got wet. I kept kicking and floating across the shallow part of the lake. She kept her legs wrapped around my waist, looking at me like I was dinner.
“You’re playful today,” I said. “Are you and Carl back together?”
“Sort of. We’re just having fun. He’s pretty happy to have Samantha’s legs wrapped around his face right now.” I glanced over at them and Sam had one foot crossed over her other knee which sort of put the back of her knee against Carl’s mouth. Yeah, I bet he was happy. Brenda leaned forward and kissed me for real—right there in the lake with everyone around. Our tongues just barely touched and then she jerked back. “Oh no. I’m not going to give you my virginity either,” she whispered. “But it’s tempting.”
“Oh God, Brenda. Don’t say things like that. It’s hard enough as it is.”
“I can feel that,” she laughed. “Bri, you know we all like you a lot, don’t you?” I nodded. “I hope you’re okay with us teasing a little. Just don’t let us get carried away, okay? We don’t always know where our boundaries are.” I felt her loosen her legs to push away from me. “I hope you didn’t leave fingerprints,” she giggled. Then she was gone.
We didn’t get out of the water for hours. I’d been there for a while before I saw Rose headed from the bathhouse to the beach. Holy Mother of God! She saw me about the same time I saw her and headed straight for me. I waded toward the beach until I was just waist deep. I couldn’t come any farther. She seemed to understand because her grin was a mile wide. She walked into the water and straight up to me. I just happened to see my mother following Rose with her eyes as she approached me. I turned and motioned Rose to swim with me. She dove in and surfaced next to me as we swam out to the far side of the raft. Then she looked at me with a question.
“My mom was watching us,” I explained.
“Somebody’s eyes are watching you,” she sang. What was this? Footloose week?
“I didn’t want her to see this.” With that I wrapped an arm around Rose as I used the other to hold us afloat by hanging onto the raft. I pulled her to me and kissed her. She grinned at me as we caught our breath. She was stunning.
“Gosh Rose. Is this a smaller suit or did you grow this summer?” I asked. There was barely enough fabric in her top to contain her bountiful assets.
“Hmm. I don’t know, Bri.” She turned in my arm and pulled my hand up to her breast. I squeezed softly and she moaned. “What do you think? You’re the only boy who’d know if they grew. At least by this measurement.”
“I think they’re just right,” I said. “I can tell I’m going to have another dream about you tonight.”
“Another? When did you have the first?”
“The night after Brenda’s party.”
“Yeah. I had a pretty good dream that night, too. We don’t have seven minutes right now though. Everybody’s headed in for lunch.” I looked around and people were diving off the raft and everybody was splashing toward shore as Mom rang an old cowbell at the pavilion. We swam away and headed toward shore. I’d seen her front as she came from the bathhouse to the beach, but now I was a couple steps behind Rose when she bent to pick up her beach towel from where she’d dropped it. Wow! What a view. I noticed there wasn’t a stray hair between Rose’s legs.
I got in line and Jessica hip-checked me right into Rose.
“Having fun?” she asked. Crap! What was I supposed to say? Jessica whispered in my ear. “She’s nice. Treat her well, okay? Let her set the pace.” I nodded.
“It’s… We’re just friends.”
“I know. So are you and me. Remember? And Brian… always be ready for something new. It’s going to be an interesting year.”
I was in sensory overload. Unaware that Jessica was whispering in my ear, Rose had backed up against me. If this lasted a second longer, I was going to pass out. Rose turned to look at me just as Jessica pulled away and went to her table. I couldn’t even see what kind of suit she had on because she was wrapped in a beach towel.
“Would you save me like you saved her?” Rose asked softly.
“I didn’t…”
“Everybody knows, Brian. You’re a hero. We won’t tell anyone outside our group, but we all wonder if you’d do the same for one of us or if it’s just because you love her.”
“Love her?” Is that why I did what I did? What would I do if Rose had been attacked by the Kowalskis? I looked at her and smiled. I knew. “If I did something, know that I’d do exactly the same something for you. Or for Brenda or Whitney or Liz or Samantha or Sugar or even Cassie. If I did something, it was because I’ll always do whatever is necessary to protect the people I love.”
“I knew you were a real hero,” Rose said. The smile she gave me about broke my heart.
While Rose and I did slip out of sight long enough to get one more kiss in—without the fondling—I couldn’t spend the rest of the afternoon with just Rose. I literally couldn’t. Games started again and we played Marco Polo. Sugar came up with the idea to play as couples. The girl wrapped her legs around the guy and they moved together in the water. Some people went face-to-face and some went face to back with the girl on the guy’s back. I turned to grab Rose and Liz was right there. She wrapped her long legs around my waist and faced me with a big grin.
“It’s my turn now.” She and I hadn’t been as close as some of the other members of the posse. She never tried to take my fairy loop and didn’t associate with any of the other guys at all. She had had a boyfriend from her church for a few months, but they’d broken up last winter. I always liked her. She was long and thin, like Whitney, but not quite that tall. She had wild red hair and freckles. I’d heard about redhead tempers but had only seen Liz get really mad once. Whatever Phil Bishop said to her in third grade, I don’t think he’ll ever walk straight again.
“Well, Miz Liz. Are you ready to play the game?” She grinned at me and I could almost see the devil looking out her eyes.
“I’m ready to play,” she said. She squirmed around a little to make sure she’d locked on tight. “You’d better hang onto me so we can move fast,” she said. She reached behind and moved my hands down off her back and onto her almost bare butt. I caught my breath. “Heaven helps the man who fights his fear,” she sang and then whispered in my ear, “But don’t leave marks.” Then she licked my ear. She wiggled a little more to make sure she was firmly in contact with my stretching erection. “Just remember, you can’t put that in me until we’ve decided to have babies, understand?” I about drowned. When did Liz think I’d ever put my penis in her. Criminy. Still, my butt flexed involuntarily and she whispered, “Yeah!”
“What’s with everybody singing songs from Footloose?” I asked, trying to think of anything other than my erection pressing against her.
“We had a sleepover last night and watched the video,” she said.
We faded away toward the deep edge of our game area. I stopped just holding Liz’s butt and started sort of petting it. Her green eyes were on fire when she looked at me.
“How long can you hold your breath?” she asked.
“Pretty long, I guess.” I could swim the length of a pool underwater.
“Like to the raft underwater?” I looked over and nodded. We edged to the far boundary rope. We hadn’t been over this far because it was too deep for me to maneuver quickly. We waited until we heard “Marco.” Liz answered “Polo” and we dove beneath the rope and just kept swimming until we reached the far side of the raft. We came up out of sight of the rest of the players. They ignored our disappearance.
“Wow! Nice escape partner,” I said. “I liked holding you, but I was getting tired of the game.”
“You like holding me?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why aren’t you?” I wrapped my arms around her and she kept a hand on the raft to keep us afloat. I had one hand on her butt and the other stroking her back.
“I’ve never done it before. Teach me how,” she whispered, as if there was anyone close enough to hear.
“Done it?”
“Kissed. I know you kissed Cassie and Rose. Kiss me, too. Please?”
“With pleasure, Miz Liz,” I grinned. I heard what she was saying, so I shifted a little, letting her be responsible for keeping hold of the raft. I put one hand behind her head to guide her and held her back with the other hand. I gave her a slow leisurely kiss—just lips. She quickly got the idea of nice soft lips. When I felt I’d kissed her long enough, I slowly pulled away, putting little kisses all around her mouth. She sighed.
“Mmm. That was nice. Thank you. It’s not something I’d lose my virginity for, but it was nice.” I could hear the challenge in her voice and I rose to meet it.
“Oh, it wasn’t that kind of kiss,” I laughed. “That was a ‘you’re really a great friend’ kiss.” She looked at me with wide eyes and I stroked her wet red hair. I pulled her to me and she closed her eyes. I still took my time, but the minute my tongue touched her lips, Liz started to come alive. At first, she just squeezed me tighter but when her lips parted and our tongues met, I could feel her rubbing against my stomach and down onto my prick. We kept up the tongue tag and were both breathing hard but not letting go when she released the raft and put her other hand around me. We sank. We still didn’t stop kissing until my feet touched bottom, about eight feet down and I shoved off to get us back to the surface. I let go of her head and grabbed the raft as we gasped for breath. As soon as she caught her breath, she slammed her lips back against mine and started kissing fervently. She’d trapped my cock between us and with the kiss and her squirming against my cock, I exploded.
Oh crap! Could sperm swim in a lake long enough to reach the crotch that was just an inch away from the tip where it spewed out and get through our swimsuits to make her pregnant? I panicked. Just then Liz whined in my mouth and jerked her whole body against me. Then she pushed away and treaded water a couple feet away.
“Oh God! Oh my God!” she gasped. “Okay. Okay. Maybe it’s not so important to stay a virgin. Oh fuck! I think I masturbated against you. Brian, I… I’m so embarrassed.”
“Liz,” I said reaching out to her. She flinched away, but then moved forward enough that I could touch her face. “It’s okay, Liz. Um… I did too. I didn’t mean to, but you were just so… wow! I couldn’t help it. I’m sure you couldn’t either. It’s okay. You’re still a virgin—and so am I. It was an accident.”
“Yeah.” She squeezed her eyes shut and I thought she was going to cry for a minute. I just stroked her cheek. “Just an accident. We’d better swim around toward the diving board just to make sure there isn’t another one. Next time it’s an on-purpose.” She took off. I took a minute to hold the waist of my swim suit open and flush anything there out into the lake. I hoped no girls dove in right on top of my sperm. I swam after Liz.
Next time? Oh, shit!
“Almost Paradise,” a voice sang in my ear. It took me a second to realize that Rhiannon had attached herself to my back as I was swimming back into the group.
“Okay, I can believe you all watched the movie. I can even believe you all wanted to sing a line to me, even though I can’t imagine why. But I can’t believe none of you sang the same song,” I laughed. “This smells like a plot!”
“Maybe. You’re a hero, Brian. We used to think we all had to protect you because you were smaller than we were. Now we know you’re our prince and protector. We all wanted to tell you.” I choked a little. We got tagged and it took Rhiannon and me several minutes with our eyes closed to find the next ‘Polo.’ She put a kiss on my cheek and slid off my back.
I felt someone swim through my legs and Whitney came up in front of me. She carried me on her back and grabbed my legs around her waist. We moved away from the action as she answered ‘Marco’ with ‘Polo.’ I didn’t know what song she was going to come up with, but I decided to get my own in. I wrapped my arms around her and did my best imitation of a person who could sing.
“I’ve been waiting for a girl like you.” Whitney ducked us both.
Comments
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
