Cassandra

Every summer, when the pressures of city life become too much for me to bear, I take a little vacation by myself. I work with people every day in my job, and it gradually takes its toll on me. So, each August, I pack my small car, heave my battered little canoe onto its roof, and head north for a few weeks alone. I drive to a large park, check in at a ranger's station, and then paddle off to a place no phone can reach me.

So, there I was, almost a week's trek away from the base where I parked. By then, I was far off the beaten track, and I hadn't seen another human in three days. Not that I'd been lonely-- there's plenty of life up there, especially when you're far enough away that humans haven't interfered with it too much. Just the day before, I had come across a large bull moose munching his breakfast in a marshy corner of the lake I was passing through. I was headed for a small island I had camped on before, planning to stop there for a few days's rest before continuing with my journey. I planned to get there before sundown the next day. I had made good time that day, despite some headwind in the morning, and had put up camp for the night. After a hearty meal, I brushed my teeth with biodegradable toothpaste and settled into my sleeping bag. No need for a tent tonight-- the sky was perfectly clear, and the stars streched uninterrupted from horizon to horizon. It was, however, a little chilly, as nights tend to be this far north even in August, so I put on a long-sleeve shirt before lying down in my light sleeping bag.

Part of the reason I liked these trips by myself was that they gave me an opportunity to think and reflect on my life. There was nothing like a month of introspection with only your own voice for company to think a problem through. I had chosen my career path, and later a career change, on similar trips through these woods. Another had convinced me to break off a relationship of two years which, although comfortable, just hadn't been going anywhere.

This time, I had been thinking about an advance which a co-worker had made just before I came up north. I really liked Marty. We had even become pretty close friends in the half a year or so that we had worked together. We had lots in common, enjoyed each other's company, and there wasn't anyone else serious in my life at the moment. The only problem was that I didn't know what I'd think of being in a serious, romantic relationship with another woman. It hadn't happened to me yet, and I just didn't know if my brain was wired that way or not. There had been a few offers in the past, but they'd all come either at a time when I was happy with someone else, or from a woman I didn't think I could get along with. Marty had told me that she would like a sexual relationship, and although I did think she was cute, I had no idea if I could be sexual with her. What was I supposed to do, experiment and break her heart if it didn't work out? I knew that had happened to her once before, and that she still bore emotional scars from the encounter. But my previous experiences with women had been limited to occasional brief petting sessions at parties, usually after a joint or two-- hardly a basis for such an important decision. I wanted an opportunity to try to make things work between us, but I was so worried about hurting her that it was difficult to think objectively.

It was all enough to make me wish I could turn my brain off and just for a moment stop over-analyzing my life. Thus wrapped in indecision, I managed to fitfully fall asleep.

The next day dawned bright and beautiful. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and only a light breeze played with the leaves and stirred up ripples in the lake. I stood up, stretched, and took a deep breath of pure northern air as I listened to the birds gossipping in the trees. A whole day of canoeing and portaging spread out before me. Just one morning like this would make my whole trip worthwhile. I quickly ate a cold breakfast, forgoing my tea, and packed up my camp.

What little wind there was seemed determined to help me on my way, and even the two portages I had to make between lakes turned out to be relatively easy going. Late in the afternoon, I came down into a long, narrow bay which formed the base of an L-shaped body of water. There was a campsite on the small island at the top of the vertical leg, which I planned to make my home for the next few days. I dug in my paddle and made my way down the bay, a little tired and ready for a rest. I rounded the point and swung my canoe north, towards the island at the far end of the lake, and leisurely paddled to shore. I usually tried to set a good pace, but I was almost at my destination now, so I relaxed and thought about how good my dinner would taste. Finally, I arrived, and pulled my boat up into some bushes on the south side of the island. Hefting my pack, I walked up to the peak of the island, towards the camp site on the other side.

To my surprise, as I came across the hill and out from the trees into the clearing, I saw another trekker's gear. A little disappointed, I saw a tent, the ashes of a recent camp fire, and a red canoe pulled up on shore. Looking up, I saw a food pack slung out of reach of bears. Judging from the amount of stuff, I had come across another solo trekker. But where were they? Looking toward the water, I spotted a towel, a pair of shorts, and a sports bra draped over a bush. Dropping my pack and walking down towards the shore, I heard splashing. "Hello?", I called, wondering who this mystery camper spoiling my solitude could be. Then, as I came around the bushes, I saw her.

Standing naked in waist-deep water was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. Her red hair hung in damp curls a little past her shoulders, framing her green eyes, a cute nose, and a small mouth. She had freckles all over her face, and on her shoulders, betelling many hours spent in bright sunshine. She had Celtic features, and appeared to be in her early twenties. She had been washing herself, and water dripped from her hair, ran around her pert breasts, and coursed down her tight stomach to rejoin the lake. She looked like a painting of a water nymph come to life, and I half expected her to magically turn her body into water and disappear. Startled, her lips parted into an exclamation of surprise. "Oh! I didn't expect to see anyone out here!" Suddenly, I didn't mind sharing the island at all.

"Um, high. I, uh, didn't mean to scare you." Not wanting to be caught staring, I turned to the bush which served as her clothes rack. "Um, do you want your towel?"

"No. I mean, sure, but in a moment." She leaned back and squeezed the excess water out of her hair, making sure to get as much as she could. The pose reminded me of magazine glamour shots, and I gave up my attempt to keep my gaze off her. With a final shake of her head, she straightened her neck and looked back at me. Maybe it was something in my eyes, but she blushed and sort of held an arm across her chest, while reaching the other toward me. I tossed the towel, and she caught it and smiled. "Thanks!" She stepped towards the shore, and I retreated to give her room to get to land. She quickly dried off, and slipped on her shorts and sports bra. We walked the few steps to the camp site as she rubbed at her hair with the towel.

"Look, I'm sorry to disturb you. I hope you don't mind. I mean, you probably came out here to be by yourself."

The girl finished with her hair, and sat down on the log which was placed beside the fire pit. I sat beside her. "It's okay. Really, I don't mind. I haven't seen anyone in days, anyway."

"Me neither. Hey, my name's Cassandra."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Erin."

"Nice to meet you, too. Hey, have you eaten yet?"

"No, I'm starved. I've been on a day trip since this morning, and I was just rinsing off some sweat before eating. Have you?"

I shook my head. "No, I've been going since this morning too. I've just been eating trail mix all day. Do you want to start a fire and make something?"

"Hey, I've got a cous cous and curry power mix with some nuts. How does that sound?"

"Great! I'll cook some dried beans. Shall I get the water?"

"Sure, thanks."

I was pretty sweaty, and my shirt was feeling sticky. Normally, after travelling all day, I would have dipped into the lake too. But I was feeling self-concious around this girl for some reason. I decided just to rinse off my face for now. Rummaging around in my pack, I pulled out a pot and my water filter, and headed down to the lake's edge. I crouched and splashed some water on my face and under my arms. It wasn't too hot out today. I held my forearms under the water for a minute to cool down, and then began to pump water through my filter and fill up the pot. As I worked, I wondered if Erin had noticed me staring at her in the lake. If so, she hadn't been acting akwardly towards me. Well, she'd probably keep her clothes on during dinner, so hopefully I could avoid acting too rudely. It might be hard, though. Erin was a beautiful young woman.

I made it through dinner with only the occasional oblique glance at her chest, still clearly outined in her sports bra. The tight clothing made it easy to recall how her body had looked naked in the lake, shimmering with water and sunlight. I thought I was being furtive, but perhaps I gave myself away, because once or twice I thought I caught those green eyes checking out my body. Don't be silly, girl, I told myself. It's probably all just in your head.

We were too hungry to talk much over our meal, but after we cleaned up we made a small camp fire and sat to watch the sun set over the trees. Erin produced a bag of chamomile tea, and we chatted about our planned routes through the park and other trips we had made. Erin told me that she had been tree planting all summer, but now that the season was over, she was taking a holiday before returning to university in the fall. I told her about my job at a youth drop-in centre, and she seemed genuinely interested. She was going to school to become a librarian, and planned to do a master's in a year's time. Erin had been camping on this island for a few days, and was to be picked up by a friend at a car access point two long day's journey to the east. She had to leave tomorrow morning to be there on time.

When you wake up with the sun, you get tired early. I was just beginning to feel the effects of the day's work, and yawned once. This set off Erin as well, and when she opened her mouth to yawn, I saw a small glint of metal in the middle of her tongue. "Hey, nice tongue stud," I said.

"Oh, thanks," she replied, and playfully stuck out her tongue so I could see it properly.

"Why did you want one of those?"

"Oh, an old girlfriend asked me to do it."

Erin watched me to see if I would flinch or act shocked. It wasn't the answer I was expecting, but it's not like it bothered me. "She liked the way it looked?"

"Well, yeah. But it's also very useful sometimes." She grinned mischeiviously. "You've never dated a girl with a tongue piercing?"

Now I was a little taken aback. "Um, no. Why do you think I've, uh, dated girls?"

Erin must have taken in my hesitant tone and furrowed brow, because she dropped her gaze to the ground. "Oh, sorry. It's just that often you can tell. When another girl is into girls, I mean. Look, I didn't offend you."

"No, that's okay, really. I just wasn't expecting that. And no one's ever asked me if I've had a girlfriend before."

"Hey, I've been wrong before. So, I guess you haven't, eh?"

When I didn't answer right away, she looked at me to make sure she hadn't offended me. Instead, she saw my look of hesitancy. I sighed, and started to explain about the girl I knew from work. I ended up telling the whole story, including how we had stayed up late the night before I left on my trip discussing our relationship. I told her about my uncertainty, and how I had been trying to figure out what to say the whole time I had been travelling.

Erin took it all in, and sat thoughtfully for a while before speaking. "So, you don't know if you can be sexual with a girl. And you don't want to make her your guinea pig. Hey, I understand that. Someone did that to me once and then decided she didn't like it. It was pretty rough."

"Maybe," she continued, "you need a test subject." She smiled at the idea. It was pretty funny, really.

"Oh, so I'll just wait to come across a beautiful woman somewhere."

"Judging by the way you looked at me when I was bathing, there's a good chance of that happening."

Whoa. This was going somewhere I didn't expect. "Well, I suppose so, but this woman would have to be attracted to me, too."

"I'd say there's a good chance of that, too."

Something had changed in Erin's tone. Where earlier she had been playful and friendly, she was now dead serious. Still I could hardly believe my ears. Surely she wasn't trying to say...

My heart was pounded in chest. "Do you mean that?"

"Yes. I do. If you don't like it, I promise I won't be offended. But are you willing to try?" I couldn't see her face very well in the fading light, but her voice betrayed how anxious she was. It slowly sunk in that this wasn't a joke.

"Yes," I whispered. I wasn't sure if she would be able to hear me over the pounding of my heart.

We had slowly been leaning towards each other over the past few minutes until I could feel Erin's breath on my face. The tension and suspense in the air was incredible. Finally, I felt her fingertips brush lightly against my cheek. She moved her hand behind my head, and pulled our lips together in a soft, gentle kiss.

It lasted just a moment. I could sense that she was afraid of pushing me too far. She didn't know how much I was comfortable with. I didn't really know myself, but I did know that I wanted to kiss her. I reached forward to hold her face in my hands, and kissed her again. This time I pulled her head towards mine, and ran my tongue along her lips.

This was all the encouragement she needed. Grasping my head tightly, she immediately responded by probing my mouth with her tongue. I could feel the metal beads on either side of the small bar bell slide around inside my mouth. None of the people I'd kissed, boy or girl, had had a pierced tongue. I decided I liked it. Running my hands through her hair, I encouraged her to continue, to kiss me more and more deeply. Eventually, we broke apart.

"Is this good for you?", Erin asked, holding me by my shoulders. I stroked her back, touched by her concern.

"You've got to be joking. What do you think?"

In the fading camp fire's light, I could see Erin smile. Instead of responding with words, she leaned forward again to kiss me softly on the lips. She leaned forward again, but this time, she moved to kiss me on the cheek. Her lips moved down my neck, kissing their way to my breasts. I was wearing a thin, loose cotton tank top. Erin kissed my right breast through the material, moving down until her lips were directly over the nipple. She kissed here again, sucking the teat through the cloth, and nibbling ever so slightly with her teeth. I began to breath deeply as I felt the electric sensations coursing through my body. I could feel a tingle between my legs. When she released my nipple, I grabbed her head and pulled it toward my other breast. I couldn't let her stop. Her strong arms reached down to pull the shirt off me, so I took the opportunity to grab her sports bra and wrest it off her. Her breasts hardly moved even though their support was gone. Fuck, she looked good. I leaned over to kiss her breasts as she had kissed mine, her panting in my ear a sign that I was doing it well.

After a minute or so, she said, "why don't we go get comfortable and do this properly?" We stood, and quickly moved to her tent, where her sleeping bag was still spread out from the previous night. Erin unzipped it and spread it open before turning to me. Standing outside the tent, she put her arms around me and looked into my eyes, pulling me tight. "Are you really sure you want to do this?", she asked me, her breath coming a little raggedly.

In answer, I nodded. That was all the encouragement she needed. She slid my hand down her taunt abdomen until my fingers were under the waistband of her shorts. Erin moved back slightly, and spread her legs to give me room to manouver. I cupped my hand over her mound, and then ran a finger along the outline of lips through her underwear. She reciprocated by sliding one hand down my back and under my shorts to squeeze my ass. Her other ran along my stomach and under the elastic of my shorts and my underwear to rest lightly on my mons. Two of her fingers began to run back and forth along the line between my thighs and the edge of my pubic area. Finally, her middle finger traced the line of my labia. I gasped. I was getting wet.

Erin put the tip of her finger in me and again moved along the length of my slit. The feelings were so equisite. Wanting to do the same to her, I put my hand under her underwear and teased her lips. By now, we were both standing with our legs apart, leaning into each other for balance. Erin's head was resting on my shoulder, and I could clearly hear her breathing as it grew faster. When I slipped my finger into her vagina, her moan encouraged me to continue my efforts.

Erin's open palm rubbed my mons and clitoris as it moved up and down, pumping her finger into my vagina. She worked faster and faster. I copied her motions, trying to do everything I do when I masturbate myself, but the feelings she was eliciting from my aroused genitalia were far better than I had ever managed on my own.

I wasn't going to be able to remain standing much longer, and by the looks of things, neither was Erin. Sensing this, she withdrew her hand. "Let's go inside", she whispered huskily. She grabbed my shorts in both hands and pushed them down off my hips, and then did the same to hers. I stepped out of my shorts, and she pulled me inside.

We lay down on our sides, and she ran her fingertips over the entire length and width of my naked body. I felt completely open to her. No part of me was hidden from her sight or her touch. She kneeled over me and began to suck on my nipples again, and then moved lower, planting kisses in a trail down my stomach. Finally, she reached my mound, where she licked me. Her tongue continued down until it reached my clitoris. She flicked it with the tip of her tongue for what seemed like ages, pausing occasionally to suck on it. Erin moved further down and began to thrust her tongue into my vagina, keeping a thumb rubbing my clitoris. I could feel the metal beads bumping into me on every thrust. She surprised me by leaning over even further and licking the space just above my anus, and finally my anus itself. None of my lovers had ever done that. Until now I had managed to keep fairly quiet, but when I felt her talented tongue fuck me in the ass, with two fingers thrusting into my vagina, I moaned, "Oh, God, yes!"

I felt an orgasm beginning to build deep within me. My hips began to shake slightly as I tried to get more of her within me. At the last moment, she moved up and sucked on my clitoris, pushing it just slighly against her teeth. This was too much. I yelled something deep and primal as my orgasm washed over me. Erin kept lightly stimulating me with her fingers until my hips stopped quaking, and then moved up and deeply kissed me again with that amazing tongue.

"That was incredible, Erin," I said. "Thank-you so much."

"Hey, no problem, girl. So, now do you think you could enjoy sex with that girl from work?"

I laughed. "Yeah, I'd say I might just enjoy it a little bit."

"Hey, I knew you were a born pussy-licker the moment I saw you."

"You know I haven't had a chance to do that yet."

"Would you like to?"

Would I? I wanted nothing more. Erin, it seemed was an excellent judge of character-- and an excellent teacher.

The next morning, Erin and I exchanged addresses and a few more kisses before she headed off. I was sad that she couldn't stay a few more days with me, but I understood the importance of her schedule. I wouldn't want her friends to think something had happened to her in the park.

We exchanged addresses, but Erin lives nowhere near me. I don't get out of town much, other than these trips, and besides, Erin told me that she had a steady girlfriend already-- and I suspected that I might soon have one, too. I had her to thank for that.

We did make tenative plans to meet on this island next summer, however. This time, we'd make sure to have a few days together. It would be nice to see her again, and not just for the sex. I really felt like I had made a new friend.

And maybe next time I would be sporting some new jewelery.