BTC 2.0: Chapter 12 (Patreon)

-- CHAPTER 12: The Beach --

****

I felt something tickle my balls, and with a start, I jerked awake.

“Mmph!” somebody grunted, and as I sat up, I realized I’d just shoved my dick an inch into a girl’s throat. She took it like a trouper, gagging only slightly and keeping her head down, breathing heavily through her nose until I pulled back. And then she resumed rhythmically pumping my shaft in her hand and sucking on the mushroom head as if I’d never interrupted her.

My eyes fluttered for a brief second, giving me just enough time to see the platinum-blonde head pushing back down to full depth in my lap. My gorgeous Head Girlfriend gazed up at me, her warm, welcoming brown eyes bright and blissful in a silent ‘Good morning’ greeting.

I groaned, reached up with my right hand, and gently rested it atop her head to hold the deep-throat just a little bit longer while letting my head loll around the pillow as I soaked in the exquisitely rare and unique sensations.

Yes, I said “rare and unique”, because for all the times I’d been woken up in this manner, it honestly wasn’t very common for Sam to do so. Belle, Naimh, Mari? Sure. All the time. But not really Sam.

She was an early riser in general, attacking life at a breakneck pace with a go-go attitude as if she were perpetually in a hurry to get somewhere. Most days when we didn’t spend the night together, I would awaken and come downstairs to find her having already dressed and putting the finishing touches on ‘brekkie’ for everyone. But after the nights we did spend together, she very much tended to sleep in, feeling safe and warm and well-loved in my arms. And it was far more common for me to wake her up in that particularly special way we both enjoyed.

But not today. I didn’t know whether Sam had woken early specifically because she wanted to surprise me in this manner or if it was pure coincidence that she’d awoken before me, and upon spotting my morning wood had decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I didn’t particularly care what the reason was, only that my big, throbbing dick was in her mouth.

And I was gonna enjoy this.

Having fully regained my faculties, I opened my eyes again and reached back with both hands to fluff up my pillow for support to better stare down at the scintillating sight of my sexy Sam sucking my steel-hard schlong. She looked absolutely radiant in the morning light, not trying to deep-throat me again but rather happy to suckle my mushroom head and smile at me every now and again while pumping my shaft with her right hand.

She took her time, making love to my prick, in no hurry to make me pop. I never grabbed her head to skullfuck her, instead keeping my hands behind my pillow to let her have her way with me. She did eventually give me a few more deep-throats and then tickled my balls with her fingertips while dragging her tongue along the entire length of my rod from the underside to the tip, grinning in response to my expression of delight. And after a while, she raised her eyebrows in a silent question as if asking whether or not I wanted her to keep going until I finished in her mouth.

I told her with my eyes that I’d rather she climb aboard, and she smiled in understanding before pulling off my prick and then sitting up. My bodaciously busty girlfriend with the big 36DD boobies wore a spaghetti-strap satin nightie and panties, and she first knelt to pull off her panties before crawling forward to park herself over my prick.

Sam was copiously wet from her own arousal and slid her saturated snatch along my shaft as if she were riding a rail, mingling her own lubrication with the leftover saliva from her blowjob. I groaned and grabbed her hips, trying to get her mounted on my massive dick sooner than later, and she giggled softly before reaching behind herself to elevate my angle and then slowly slide herself back.

Her eyelids rapidly fluttered like butterfly wings as she felt each and every last inch of my weapon widen her inner walls. But after she had fully seated herself on my schlong, Sam smiled down at me, crossed her arms over her torso, and started lifting up the hem of her satin nightie just as slowly as she’d sat down onto my dick.

My lover’s creamy bare skin was revealed to me inch-by-inch, and I felt my breath quicken as the underside curvature of her pendulous breasts first came into view. With her arms still crossed, Sam paused at that point, an impish smirk on her face, and she twisted her torso to send her big jugs jiggling just out of view.

I whimpered and gave her a pouty frown worthy of a whining toddler but kept my hands on her hips. She giggled and raised her arms, revealing a little bit more of her tantalizing titflesh. But she once again stopped just before exposing her nipples to me, making me groan, upon which she immediately yanked her nightie up to her neck to fully flash me before dropping the hem back down to completely cover her boobs, and at that point I completely lost my patience and slid my hands up my girlfriend’s chest to grab great handfuls of her humongous hooters while extending my elbows out to the sides to prevent her from dropping her nightie back down. And then I sat up to bury my face in her massive mammaries while mashing her melons against both of my cheeks, holding her hooters and happily cherishing the heavenly feelings.

Sam barked a laugh, unable to help herself, and one of our other bedmates began to stir at the sound. I reluctantly retracted my face from my blonde girlfriend’s boobs and glanced to my left to see my redheaded girlfriend begin to stir.

Naimh had been facing away from us on my left side, all the better to feel me spooning her from behind, and she stretched her long, lithe legs towards the foot of the bed while extending both arms directly outward and off the side of the mattress. It took her a minute to fully awake, but eventually she rolled over to face us and gave first Sam and then me a sleepy smile.

“Dia duit, Matty,” my redheaded girlfriend mumbled drowsily.

“Maidin mhaith, Neevie,” I greeted in kind, reaching out to caress her cheek with the fingertips of my left hand. She leaned into it and then reached up with both hands to trap my palm, hugging it to her cheek as if it were her stuffed hammerhead shark, Anchor.

I chuckled and then glanced back up at Sam. She had not been actively fucking herself up and down in the meantime, just lackadaisically undulating her hips while working her milkmaid muscles to keep me hard inside her (as if I needed any additional inspiration to stay hard). And then we both looked to my right side where Belle remained asleep.

Per our regular Friday night routine, the four of us spent the evening with Lily and Eva, enjoying each other’s company with a good meal and good friends. At the end of the evening, Lily and Eva returned to Mrs. Morris’s house as Lily always chatted with her large, extended family back on Kaua’i Friday nights (Hawaii time), and Eva rather obviously didn’t want to stick around watching the rest of us have an orgy.

Last night had been the first time I’d let Belle sleep with me overnight after the whole attempted R-word thing. While I hadn’t forgotten what she’d done, I’d chosen to forgive her, and she’d been on her best behavior since then. So when Sam, Naimh, Belle, and I started doing what we usually did on Friday nights together, it didn’t even occur to me to kick her out, and she happily fell asleep snuggled in the crook of my right arm.

Post-orgy Friday nights, the exact sleeping arrangements were typically subject to ro-sham-bo or one of the girls graciously offering to sleep on the outside. Last night it had been Naimh making such an offering, given that she’d more or less spent every night with me all week. And yet somehow I’d woken up to find Naimh and Belle on the mattress immediately beside me, so if Sam had switched places sometime in the middle of the night and NOT remained snuggled up to me, it sorta made sense why she’d woken up before any of the rest of us.

“S’not fair she gets a cute foreign language to say ‘good morning’ to you,” Belle muttered without opening her eyes.

Okay apparently my little pixie didn’t remain asleep, and I chuckled while wrapping my right arm around her and drawing her light body against my side. Due to the angle, she wound up nuzzling her face into my side and I managed to slide my hand down her back and then fit her pert little booty in the curve of my palm. And I gave her perky buns a healthy rub.

Truly, it was impossible to stay mad at such a gorgeous girl when her perky buns nestled so perfectly in my hands.

“Bonjour, ma chérie,” I greeted warmly, recalling that Belle had taken French for her foreign language class in high school.

She cracked a pale-green eye open. “Nice try, but that just reminds me of doing homework. It’s hard enough keeping up with the Irish Gaelic, Aussie slang, and Hawaiian pidgin as it is.”

I laughed. “Fair enough. Good morning, Belle.”

“G’day, mate!” Sam joked.

“Top o’ the--” Naimh began before breaking down and shaking her head. “Sorry, sorry, can’t do it again.”

I smiled and reached out with both arms to draw Naimh and Belle to my sides. Naimh puckered up to meet my warm and welcoming kiss first. Then I turned my head the other way as Belle got her elbows beneath her and leaned over to sweetly kiss me. And then I finally looked up as Sam descended, mashing her marvelous melons into my chest and giving me a searingly passionate kiss as well.

And then I went back to making out with Naimh while Sam started kissing Belle, and then I went back to kissing Belle while Sam and Naimh locked lips. And then I grabbed Sam’s ass and started grinding her clit down on my pelvic bone. And as you might expect, the four of us picked right up where we’d left off last night.

Gawd I loved my life.

****

After such a lovely morning with the three great loves of my life, I was in a jubilant mood as I drove through the narrow Berkeley streets around to the north side of campus where Skylar lived, with Sam in the shotgun seat doing the navigating. As it turned out, Skylar’s place was only a couple of blocks away from campus, in one of the many apartment buildings constructed in the area back in the 1920s.

Naimh did the honors of calling Skylar when we were on the way, and the lovely English lass was waiting out on the curb when we arrived. I parallel parked my minivan in front of the apartment building’s driveway, Naimh popped the sliding door, and all six of us smiled and waved at the newcomer.

“Heyyy, Skylar!” Naimh greeted enthusiastically, hopping down onto the sidewalk and giving the statuesque blonde girl an equally enthusiastic hug that took the older girl a bit by surprise.

“Well, hullo, Neevie,” Skylar replied, making the effort to raise her level of energy while simultaneously appearing just a bit flustered. Her right hand remained on the straps of the duffle bag she held over her right shoulder, but she wrapped her left arm around Naimh’s waist.

“Everyone, this is Skylar,” Naimh proclaimed while pivoting around to face the van and then jabbing her finger forward, bouncing it as she pointed from one person to the next. “Skylar, that’s Eva, Lily, and I’m sure you recognize Belle in the backseat. Up front is Sam and… Where’d Matty go?”

“Right here,” I announced from immediately behind the girls, having gotten out and circled around to take Skylar’s bag from her. “Please, may I?”

“Oh, right, of course, thank you.” The blonde allowed me to take the duffel bag straps off her arm and I gave her a quick side-hug before taking the bag around to the trunk. The suitcase Tetris wasn’t overly difficult since we wouldn’t be staying overnight or anything, but the trunk was still pretty full. We had a lot of experience with beach trips and had packing down to a science. Each of the girls had her own bag and I’d brought my twelve-by-twelve canopy, a big nylon beach blanket, four beach chairs, and a portable barbecue to go along with the wheeled Coleman cooler and other supplies. We had a full day ahead of us despite the late-morning start.

I still recalled the look of pleasant surprise on Skylar’s face when I’d invited her to join us for today’s beach trip just before Wednesday’s class. She’d seemed genuinely confused by my asking, though, and I’d said, “Didn’t I tell you at the wedding that you’d be welcome to come along with us the next time we took a trip?”

“You did,” she’d replied. “Yet I thought that was just the sort of thing people say in the moment but never really follow through later on - like saying, ‘We should meet up for lunch sometime’ and then never actually do.”

“You’re the reason I had the idea.”

“Won’t your girlfriends get upset with you for inviting me along? Especially after what happened Saturday night.”

“Of course not. I told you they weren’t like whatever jealous bitches you may have known before. Neevie loves you already and the others are all aboard. C’mon: you said you wanted to meet them, right?”

Long story short: Skylar agreed, and she’d given me her address to come pick her up today. I’d worried that she might be nervous meeting everyone, but that worry evaporated when Skylar came into the van to sit on the middle bench seat with Naimh and glanced over her left shoulder, remarking pleasantly, “Belle, so good to meet you with clothes on this time.”

Belle immediately cracked up laughing and reached forward to nudge Naimh directly in front of her. “I like this one.”

Skylar then exchanged greetings with Lily and Eva, getting a handshake from Lily and a shrug of indifference from Eva. At least Eva didn’t try to introduce herself as “Evelynn”, perhaps figuring it would be no use if everyone else on the trip would be calling her “Eva”.

I had climbed back into the driver’s seat by the time Skylar returned her attention forward. Unlike with the others, Skylar paused before greeting Sam, and the two gorgeous blondes took a moment to size each other up. Sam was actually the first to extend her hand out, stating with a cordial smile, “Hi, I’m Sam: Matty’s Head Girlfriend.”

Skylar blinked, perhaps taking note of the way Sam introduced herself along with the title ‘Head Girlfriend’. I thought I saw the newcomer narrow her cool blue eyes just fractionally before smiling a little wider and giving Sam’s hand a firm shake as she replied, “So good to finally meet you. Matty’s talked a lot about you.”

“Has he now?” Sam asked in mild surprise. “I hope it was all good.”

“Sam snores in her sleep, she leaves dirty laundry around her room,” I began drawling while ticking off my fingertips one-by-one, “she yells at me when I leave the toilet seat up, for an Aussie she can’t grill anything on a barbie without burning it, and--”

“Matty!” Sam exclaimed, reaching out to shove my shoulder and looking scandalized.

I laughed and glanced back at Skylar. “I’m kidding about all that. Sam’s an excellent barbie griller. Well, she does yell at me if I leave the toilet seat up, though.”

Sam rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she smirked at me as I tugged on her arm to draw her close and we exchanged a quick kiss. Sam rather possessively clutched my shirt and drew me closer to deepen our liplock, but it was just for a moment before she released me and sat up straight, looking pleased.

I glanced over my right shoulder around at everyone else in the van, calling out, “Everyone ready to hit the road?”

The girls in the van cheered, “WOO!!!”

****

As I drove the minivan northwest on 580 and across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the gaggle of six girls in the van kept up a steady chatter. As the new girl, Skylar was understandably the center of attention with the others subtly fishing (and not-so-subtly fishing) for whatever information they could get out of her.

For the most part, the girls got the exact same information out of Skylar that I’d already learned during our wedding date: recent breakup, living alone in her one-bedroom apartment, not much time for a social life while focusing on being a grad student, etc. But while I’d been careful not to pressure Skylar into revealing any more about herself than she felt comfortable with and avoiding any truly probing questions, a few of the other girls held no such compunctions. I mean, I’d warned them not to come across as the kind of catty bitches Skylar feared they might be, but nothing would stop the girls from doing their version of guys holding a dick-measuring contest.

Fortunately, Skylar was well-practiced in the social dynamics of pretty girls judging each other and had a quick wit about her, deflecting when necessary, probing back when challenged, and keeping a good sense of humor about it.

It helped that Naimh wasn’t shy about scolding, “Belle, back off!” or stuff like that, which tended to temper not only Belle, but Lily as well.

Sam, meanwhile, had remained fairly quiet overall. I knew she’d been rather stressed out lately, which was one reason why I’d talked her into giving up an entire Saturday away from her books and her Pre-Law Society and instead coming out with the rest of us for this day trip. She chatted a little bit with Skylar, mostly to give the 4-1-1 on herself and ask a few casual questions. But otherwise my Head Girlfriend kept her gaze out the front window while reaching across the aisle to rest her hand on my thigh. And for the boring parts where I was just cruising down the highway, I’d drive with one hand, interlace my other hand with hers, and give it a squeeze.

Half an hour out of Berkeley, we exited the highway onto Highway 1 through Tamalpais-Homestead Valley. Sam pulled out the Thomas Guide map book from behind my seat and started directing me on where to go. Although we’d originally planned the day as a beach trip, we wound up expanding the itinerary by first stopping at the Muir Woods National Monument to go for a little hike together.

It was a warm day in the mid-70s but pleasantly cool beneath the shade of the towering old-growth California redwood trees that extended in every direction for miles and miles around - including upwards. Well, not literally miles above us, but they were so tall they might as well have been. The girls were all dressed in shorts and shirts, with Belle in a lopsided black French beret and her strawberry-blonde hair in a single long braid, and Sam in a dark brown newsboy cap. The girls mostly wore cute sneakers, although Sam and I both had North Face hiking shoes, not that anybody would really need proper hiking shoes as the trail was well-traveled and fairly flat. And I didn’t think one of the girls was gonna try dragging me off-trail and behind a tree for a quickie blowjob or anything like that.

The seven of us started on the two-mile Fern Creek and Hillside trail through the forest. Sam had brought her SLR camera with a wide-angle lens, and the girls spent the better part of the first mile looking for cool photo-ops and mugging for the camera. We got another tourist to take a group photo for us by the entrance sign. Eva snapped a shot of me with my three girlfriends tucked into a fire-burned, A-shaped hollow within one of the trunks. And Sam got some pretty pics of the others crossing a bridge with the creek running towards us in the foreground and the epic trees filling the frame in the back.

None of us had ever been to Muir Woods before, as it was a little too far out of the way for South Bay high schoolers like the OG BTC, and obviously Lily, Eva, and Skylar all grew up out of town. We all marveled at the stunning majesty of nature for a bit, geeking out over the view while giggling and laughing perhaps a little bit too much for some other people’s comfort, to the point where an older couple actually came over to shush us and scold us to be more respectful.

After that, the girls were relatively quiet for the remainder of the hike - at least as quiet as a group of six college coeds could possibly be when together. The further we walked, the more the tranquil setting of abundant flora had a calming effect, and we actually covered half a mile on the return trip up on the hillside with barely a word but not minding the serenity one bit.

We were out of the car at the National Monument for just over an hour and got back on the road again. Our next stop was the Muir Beach Overlook with its cliffside view of the Pacific coast. We took the stairway down to the lookout point, snapped a bunch of photos with the epic backdrop and the stairs that seemingly led to oblivion. The weather was nice and sunny with a few puffy white clouds on the horizon but nothing that would impede the spectacular view. Naimh got another tourist to take a photo of all seven of us hunkered down inside a World War II era bunker. And after the short stop, we finally drove down the hill to Muir Beach itself.

We found a good spot to set up camp away from other beachgoers. While very picturesque, a beach this far from urban civilization thankfully wasn’t particularly crowded on a random October Saturday. Sam asked Belle and Lily to lay out the nylon mat and beach chairs and tasked Naimh, Skylar, and Eva with setting up the twelve-by-twelve canopy. Meanwhile, Sam assigned herself to helping me get the barbecue grill started.

Skylar had some trouble following Naimh’s directions, but Eva grasped the process quickly enough - having far more familiarity with beach equipment - and she picked up any slack. Eva good-naturedly ribbed the post-grad engineering student as she helped Skylar with a canopy leg she’d been fumbling with. Skylar blushed and said that she’d left her lucky pink construction helmet at home.

All set up, Naimh immediately wanted to hit the water. Skylar naturally agreed to follow Naimh wherever, Belle and Lily were quite willing to go as well, and even dour Eva was grinning and eager, both Hawaiian girls perhaps revitalized by being so close to the Pacific Ocean.

The girls had all worn swimsuits beneath their hiking clothes, so it was an easy matter to strip down once we got to the beach. Naimh wore my favorite cobalt blue bikini and Belle was in a black and white number I remembered from high school. This afternoon would be my first opportunity to see Lily, Eva, and Skylar in swimwear though, and I couldn’t help but pay a little bit more attention to them.

Lily was in an electric yellow halter-top bikini that looked amazing on her tanned skin, offering oodles of mammary flesh for view up front and featuring cheeky cut bottoms that proved the pint-sized cutie had plenty of badonkadonk in the back.

Eva wore a sleek, dark-blue Roxy surf suit with light-blue long sleeves featuring an intricate floral pattern down both arms. The form-fitting material clung tight to her big breasts, the bikini-cut bottoms showed off her perky ass, and with the zipper pulled down I got an eyeful of tightly pressed-together cleavage.

Skylar, of course, would never wear electric yellow or even a surf suit with a floral print. Throughout all the outfits I’d seen her wear to date, including the wedding, she’d uniformly worn black, white, gray, brown, and sometimes navy blue, and today was no different.

Never attention-grabbing nor provocative despite her absolutely incredible body, she removed her button-down shirt and shorts to reveal a plain black one-piece swimsuit: the kind you might buy at a big-box superstore that also sold motor oil and laundry detergent. It wasn’t an ugly suit by any means, and Skylar’s figure could make a paper bag look sexy, but still. Regardless, the statuesque blonde didn’t seem the least bit self-conscious, and she happily followed the others down to the waterline about ten yards away from the canopy.

Sam, on the other hand, had dressed to impress in an attention-grabbing fire-engine red number with gold metal hoops for fasteners that displayed abundant cleavage and showed off her sculpted bubble butt. She’d also traded in her newsboy cap for a wide-brimmed straw hat with a red bow and a pair of stylish Ray-Bans. But rather than go join the others in scampering around in the surf while squealing about how cold the water was, my Head Girlfriend suggested that she’d stick around and help me meal prep.

But as much as I enjoyed the view, I’d rather see Sam having fun with the other girls. So after reminding her that she needed to spend more time with her friends, I took her by the hand, literally walked Sam over to Naimh by the waterline, and parked the blonde’s hand in the redhead’s. Then I gave Sam a healthy swat on the ass and told her to go have fun.

Belle promptly turned around and waggled her tushie at me, but I smirked and walked back to the grill, knowing that if I stopped to give her a spank, the other girls might very well line up as well.

As if that would be a bad thing? I could practically hear Belle say behind me.

Lily sighed wistfully about not having a surfboard, or even a boogie board. No matter, she was still the first one to wade out waist deep and then dive beneath the next oncoming wave. But she only took a few strokes before turning around and body-surfing back into the shallows. She came up hugging herself with goosebumps visible even from where I was standing, followed by a burst of pidgin and complaints that California water was way too cold.

So of course Irish Naimh promptly told the Hawaiian-native that she didn’t know what cold was, waded out, and then swam her way beyond the breakers to start treading water and wave like the temperature was no big deal. She called for Skylar to come along, and the honey-blonde babe swam out to join her.

The two British Isles compatriots then hooted for the others to come join them (don’t tell Neevie I just said that Ireland was part of the British Isles), and after a minute, Belle and Lily put their heads together and then hopped into the water to join Naimh and Skylar.

A little while later, all four of them hollered for Eva and Sam, but Sam still wore her hat and sunglasses. She made no move to remove either article and simply shrugged with a small smile. Eva moved alongside her and the two briefly spoke, although I couldn’t hear what they were saying. The four girls in the water kept teasing, but in the end, Eva simply folded her arms across her chest as if no amount of peer-pressure could ever make her give in.

So the other four swam around for a bit and started body-surfing in the shallow waves while Sam and Eva hung back ankle-deep and chatted together. Eventually, though, the other four girls started returning to shore. And as if to prove a point, only then did Eva swim out past the breakers, and then keep swimming, doing a wide loop around the bay before returning back and neatly body-surfing on the next wave to rejoin the group.

By that point the food was ready, and I called for the girls to come back to our home base. Everyone but Sam dried off (since Sam didn’t need to) and assembled either on the beach chairs or the beach mat.

When I started passing out food, Skylar declined the chicken and the burgers, opting for the roasted corn and some of the fresh-cut fruit. I belatedly remembered she’d eaten a vegetarian plate at the wedding and smacked my forehead, asking, “Are you vegetarian?”

She shook her head in the negative, replying, “Not really. At least, any true vegetarian would call me a traitor.” I caught the subtle way Skylar flinched at the end there, but she shook it off and quickly continued, “I prefer a mostly vegetarian diet just as a matter of preference to eat healthy, but I’ll eat fish and chicken if I feel like it. Love sushi. No red meat though.”

“Feck off,” Naimh teased. “Ye canna be me friend no more.”

Everybody cracked up at that.

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” I offered. “Maybe pack some veggie burgers.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Skylar put in. “If I’m really hungry the grilled chicken will be just fine.”

I nodded while fishing bottles of water and a few beers from the cooler. “Tell me you can at least drink these.”

“Oh, yes, of course. I’d be a bit of a dodgy Brit if I didn’t.” She raised her hand and neatly caught the bottle I tossed her. She glanced at the label and grinned, “Ooh, Guinness!”

“Brilliant!” Naimh interjected. “You can be me friend again.”

Everybody cracked up once more.

****

The seven of us spent the next half-hour in companionable conversation while eating. By then it was approaching low tide, so expert marine biologist Naimh called for everyone to go look for little crabs, purple sea urchins, green anemones, and all sorts of barnacles.

We put our sandals on and started walking out on the rocks, careful not to trample the barnacles or snails. Lily spotted a cluster of purple and orange starfish crawling all over each other. Eva pointed out a big green anemone to me and giggled cutely when I put a finger inside and the entire thing clamped around my digit. And Naimh geeked out over a crab that seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with her, repeatedly disappearing into a crack and then crawling back out while she gently talked to it as if it understood Irish-accented English.

“So it’s settled then,” Sam declared. “Neevie’s the crab whisperer.”

“Neevie’s got crabs?” Belle cracked. “Is that what you said?”

“Oh, grow up,” Sam sighed.

Eventually, the little crab disappeared and Naimh moved on. She kept up a running commentary on the biological science behind the creatures and the reason why they only lived in this intertidal zone, which fascinated Skylar.

“You really know your stuff,” the blonde newcomer pronounced.

“Tell me if I’m boring you,” Naimh said apologetically. “I know I can blather on a bit, and you don’t need to coddle me.”

“Not at all. Crack on,” Skylar affirmed with a smile, gesturing forward. And the two of them continued further down the beach.

Meanwhile, Lily was doing much the same with Belle. While perhaps not a budding marine biologist herself, Lily definitely knew her sea creatures. And the pair of petite cuties headed off the other way together.

I was still in a deep squat by the green anemone, with Eva squatting beside me and Sam standing on my other side. Eva gestured in the direction of Belle and Lily, commenting, “I knew those two were peas in a pod, but it looks like those two are well on their way as well.” She finished by gesturing towards Naimh and Skylar.

“I’m glad for them,” I replied warmly, momentarily glancing up at Sam before returning my attention to Eva. “I told you before that the four of us are all missing our best friends who went off to different colleges. While Belle and Lily hit it off right away, Neevie told me she was feeling a bit lonely. And I definitely sensed that Skylar was a bit of a lost soul during our wedding date.”

Eva narrowed her eyes at me. “Is that why you invited her to join us today? To help them both make friends?”

I shrugged. “I told you that Skylar wanted to meet the girls Saturday night and would have if not for the… uhhh… ‘incident’ Belle told you about. She said she didn’t have many friends and she wanted to visit the beach. Win-win all around.”

“Win-win for you if another beautiful babe with big tits comes into your inner circle of friends and starts to wonder what a ride on The BTC boyfriend’s big dick feels like,” Eva muttered.

“It’s not like that.” Sam frowned and squatted down next to us.

Eva shrugged and turned her gaze towards Belle and Lily. “Lily’s got that romantic date set up with Matty next week and she’s told me in great detail how she wants that night to end. I figure you guys thought I’d be the next conquest, but since I made clear to Matty I don’t want that kind of relationship, it only makes sense you’d start to line up a replacement.”

“Eva, seriously,” Sam stated gravely, clasping her hands together and giving the other girl a harsh look.

The hapa girl shook her head, stood up straight, and muttering “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She pursed her lips and started walking back towards our beach spot.

I exchanged a look with Sam, and we quickly stood to follow Eva. The tall, leggy brunette took long strides across the sand, forcing me and Sam to jog a bit to catch up. I came alongside Eva on her left, saying, “Eva, please.”

Sam was a little more direct in her problem-solving, taking hold of Eva’s elbow and tugging back on it. “Hey, slow down.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the hapa girl repeated with another head-shake. “You guys have been great, really. You don’t deserve me being a bitch about this. And I really think you all might be better off without me.”

“Now why would you say that?” I asked.

“Because it’s the truth.” Eva came to a stop and gestured back towards the other girls. “I’m not actually a package deal with Lily. You’re not obligated to be friends with me just because you’re friends with her.”

“We’re friends with you because we want to be friends with you,” I assured her.

“But why?” Eva thrust her hands out. “I eat your food. I tag along on your trips. You all are nothing but nice to me and I give you nothing but shit in return. By any reasonable metric, I’m a terrible friend.”

“You’re not a terrible friend,” Sam countered. “You’re cool. You’re chill. You don’t bother anybody or ask for anything, and you readily lend a helping hand without question like setting up the canopy and stuff. It’s actually rather nice to have a friend that can just be there and not ask me for anything. And you only give shit to people with a dry sense of humor that, quite frankly, I really enjoy.”

“You’re not enjoying me giving you guys shit right now,” Eva pointed out.

Sam sighed. “Well true, this is a first for me, although Matty told me about you calling us a cult the other day. But if I stopped being friends with people just because we got into an uncomfortable conversation every now and again, I wouldn’t have any friends left.”

Eva snorted at that and gave Sam a wry grin. “I’ve been sparing you all my inner voice’s caustic remarks, otherwise I’d be having a LOT more ‘uncomfortable conversations’ with everybody.”

Sam cracked, “Get outta my head. You have NO idea how much I’ve gotta bite my lip sometimes with some of the wankers I hang out with. Present company excluded, of course.”

Eva smirked and started walking again, slowly this time though so that Sam and I could easily pace her.

“I really do enjoy spending time with you,” I told Eva sincerely. “Ever since we agreed to be ‘just friends’ and remove the whole sex thing from the equation, I thought things had been going really well. You’re sharp. You do help me out in the kitchen. And you really do know how to make me laugh.”

Eva shrugged. “You’ve got plenty of other girls who are smart, funny, and happy to help out in the kitchen.”

“The others being awesome doesn’t diminish you being awesome too,” I insisted before leaning in conspiratorially. “And don’t tell Neevie, but you’re a much better gamer than she’ll ever be.”

Eva laughed and shook her head. “I’ve had more practice than she has. And Neevie plays video games with you out of love. I just wanna kick your ass.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” I replied with a grin.

Sam snapped her fingers. “Matty has missed having a video game buddy for a while. You can be his new ‘Alice’.”

“His new what?” Eva looked confused.

Sam shrugged and explained, “Alice and Matty were gamer buddies going all the way back to grade school. None of the rest of us seriously played - not like those two. I mean, Neevie’s been trying but it’s not her thing; less a video game player and more of a video game cosplayer. So stick around, keep playing video games with Matty, and you can consider your place with us assured.”

“Works for me,” Eva confirmed with a smile.

“Wait, no, no. That’s the wrong way of approaching this.” I shook my head as we got back to our home base and then picked up two of the chairs to relocate them deeper into the shade. I sat down on one while Sam took the other. Eva, on the other hand, elected to remain standing with her arms folded over her chest, waiting for me to continue. “We play video games to have fun. I don’t want you thinking you’re obligated to play video games with me as a condition for our continued friendship,” I explained, giving Eva a serious look.

“I didn’t mean to imply it was conditional,” Sam interposed. “Just that we’re a collective and that everybody has a role they naturally fit into within that collective. You HAVE been missing a gamer buddy for a while.”

“I don’t like the thought that our collective is missing roles just because some of our best friends went away to different colleges,” I argued. “Mari, Zofi, and Alice are all gone. Even Holly. None of them can simply be replaced and it feels a bit like a betrayal to try.”

“Of course, of course,” Sam conceded, raising both hands.

I turned my attention back to Eva. “You’re not Alice, and I would never expect you to be Alice. You’re Eva, a unique individual I like hanging out with and occasionally playing video games with, and it’s the whole package that makes me want to continue hanging out with you.”

“Even though I’m never letting you into my panties.”

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “Wasn’t this issue supposed to be resolved already?”

Eva winced and sighed. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“I mean, what happened to you?” I blurted, a bit exasperated, before closing my eyes and holding a hand up with a grimace, muttering, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“You apologize too much,” Sam scolded me. “It was a valid question.”

I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head.

“Well you may be too much of a nice guy to ask her, but I don’t have that problem,” Sam stated evenly as she turned the full force of her attention to Eva. “Seriously: what happened to you?”

Eva shook her head and sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got plenty of time.” Sam gestured both arms out grandly. “Look, we both know Matty’s never gonna pressure you to talk about this stuff, and your friendship with us is NOT conditional on you telling us the story. But we really DO want to better understand you and try to help if we can. That’s what real friends DO, yeah? And we can’t do that if you won’t let us in.”

Eva took a deep breath, hugged herself a little tighter, and then glanced out across the bay. There were no other beachgoers near us, Naimh and Skylar were still poking around the tidepools, and Belle and Lily had started building a sandcastle. It was an excellent opportunity to have a private conversation, but she shook her head slowly, defaulting to her usual closed-off self.

Sam sighed, got out of her chair and walked out of the canopy. She grabbed one of the other chairs that was parked out in the sun and brought it over next to ours. And then she planted it in the sand while staring at Eva expectantly, her expression clearly ordering, ‘Sit. Now.’

But rather than capitulate, Eva turned her head and peered out across the bay again. A little smile crossed her features for a moment, followed by something more… melancholy… before tearing herself away from the view to look back at Sam and then over to me. Her gaze lingered on me in particular as I tried to convey safety and openness as best I could from where I sat. Something must have worked, or perhaps she thought she owed us, because she nodded and cracked open her pursed lips.

“I really should thank you for bringing me here,” she told us in her raspy voice’s lowest timber.

We waited for her to continue, but Eva had apparently said all she was ready to share. Instead, she lifted her arm to give us one of her dismissive waves that silently said that a verbal reply wasn’t worth her time or effort, but she instead just let it drop and walked over to the waterline, letting the waves wash over her feet.

I’m still not entirely sure why I did what I did next. Some part of me just… instinctively decided what to do. I’d like to think I sensed what Eva needed in that moment, and so I gave it to her.

I stood up from my chair. I walked over to Eva, stood straight in front of her, and then gently tilted her chin up so that I could meet her eyes. She looked up at me in surprise, but I simply smiled a warm smile and then leaned in to give her a hug. She didn’t hug me back, at least not at first, holding her hands out to the sides while she stiffened up a bit. I was certain my intimate touch, even if not sexual, was coming as a complete shock to her. And yet I felt even more certain that the intimacy of a warm hug was exactly what Eva needed.

So I relaxed, closed my eyes, and imagined I could let calming energy flow out of my body into hers.

Eva’s arms eventually circled around my torso. They didn’t tighten, but merely… remained. I took deep breaths and exhaled slowly, continuing my hug. My arms were crossed with my hands holding her shoulders rather than stroking her spine. I kept my chin just past her left ear, making no attempt to bring us face-to-face. We were friends - just friends - and I didn’t want there to be any ambiguity about my intentions despite the fact that we were members of the opposite sex. And although it took a little while, eventually Eva started hugging me back.

And then she started crying.

Her chin dipped down as she buried her face into my shoulder and then tilted it ever so slightly to push into the crook of my neck. Her arms tightened their grip, to the point at which she was clutching me as if for dear life. She shuddered, at first just small tremors before they grew and grew in both frequency and magnitude.

A minute later she was having a full-blown breakdown, absolutely sobbing. She wailed, a forlorn cry of anguish muffled by her mouth and nose pressed into my suddenly wet chest. Her fingers hooked and I could feel her nails digging into my shirtless back, perhaps hard enough to draw blood. Eva sobbed and shuddered and cried her poor little heart out while I simply kept my arms around her, squeezing her tight. And when Sam stepped into my field of view, I glanced up at my girlfriend with a helpless look, unable to answer her unspoken question of, ‘What the hell is going on?’

But then all of a sudden my arms were empty as Eva tore herself out of my grasp and started running away, leaving little divots filling with water in her wake. I could see that her eyes were red just before she turned, wiping her runny nose with the sleeve on her forearm and then raising both hands to scrape away the tears in her eyes. And I felt so surprised by the whiplash nature of what had just happened that I stood stock-still in shock, my jaw hanging open and my eyes wide.

And then it was my turn to gawk at Sam with a bewildered expression.

“What just happened?”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Prologue & Chapter 1: The BTC: https://www.patreon.com/posts/99290461

Chapter 2: Hoalauna: https://www.patreon.com/posts/99357682

Chapter 3: E10: https://www.patreon.com/posts/99433482

Chapter 4: Leeloo: https://www.patreon.com/posts/99506524

Chapter 5: The Fifth Element: https://www.patreon.com/posts/99618767

Chapter 6: Lily: https://www.patreon.com/posts/100326143

Chapter 7: The Hangover: https://www.patreon.com/posts/100548952

Chapter 8: Quality Time: https://www.patreon.com/posts/100806434

Chapter 9: The Favor: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101140618

Chapter 10: Ku’uipo: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101372817

Chapter 11: The R-word: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101672192