As the school bus rambled down the road, Annie Harrison tried to ignore Becky Terwilliger whispering in her ear. “I hope, maybe, we’ll get a chance to go out in the woods together, you know, alone.” Becky was talking about Mitch Lang, handsome, ambitious, way out of her league. Becky had a figure like sticks strung together and a face covered with freckles that looked like measles. Mitch had deep, intelligent eyes and gleaming teeth.
Not that any of it mattered to Annie. Becky would keep whispering about the woody rendezvous she imagined having with Mitch for miles to come, starting to pant as she imagined their clothes coming off and getting to see IT in all its imagined glory. The whole subject made Annie feel alone. She had a secret, a secret so buried that she didn’t like to admit it even to herself. She was a lesbian. While she could objectively delineate Mitch’s attractive features, none of them had any effect on her. She would be more inclined to romp off in the woods with Becky if Becky weren’t so Becky.
Annie knew that she was, in her own way, as sad a case as her seatmate was. Becky had zero chances of losing her virginity to Mitch’s IT while they were counselors at the 4-H summer camp, but at least Becky knew what she wanted and would try to get it. Hell, she was aiming high; isn’t that what the young are supposed to do?
The bus stopped at the parking lot of another high school to pick up more counselors from the area. Bored, Annie looked up at the new recruits. The first few who climbed on made Annie sigh. A shorter version of Mitch, a more attractive Becky with only a few freckles on her cheeks.
But the next newcomer made Annie’s eyes pop wide open. Shoulder-length brown hair that recklessly wandered over her dancing hazel eyes. Lush lips colored with a subtle shade. Lips that smiled. Wait, the hazel eyes were looking right at Annie. And she was smiling . . . at Annie.
Feeling awkward and exposed, Annie turned her head as blood rushed to her cheeks. What is happening?!? Annie was short of breath. Her heart was throbbing. Am I having a heart attack? She closed her eyes and the symptoms subsided. When the bus started, she relaxed and looked forward to see a cascade of brown hair right in front of her. She sat in front of me!
The brown-tressed head turned. A hazel eye winked, and lips offered a sly smile. “Hey,” they said.
“H--,” Annie tried to respond but her mouth was dry. “Hey,” she finally said.
“First time?”
“Huh!?!”
“At camp. Is this your first time at camp?”
“Uh, yeah, as a counselor anyway. And you, are you experienced, or, uh, I mean—”
She giggled. “I did it last year. Had lots of fun. You got a name?”
“Yes.” There was a pause. “Oh, Annie. My name is Annie.”
“Cassie. I bet we’ll have a lot of fun this summer.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
Cassie turned her head away, leaving Annie to her racing pulse and her chaotic emotions. She was completely confused about what was happening. Am I sick? She felt flushed and jittery, and her stomach was doing cartwheels.
Before Cassie, Annie knew she was attracted to girls but had rarely felt a strong pull toward any specific girl. There were momentary flutters of her heart when she noticed how one girl’s hair rippled as she moved, the curve of another girl’s hip in tight shorts. More than anything she was confused about what exactly made one girl sexually attractive to another. The “hot girls” in school that the boys drooled over did nothing for her. The things guys liked about girls—balloon tits and big but tight butts—were more a turn-off than a turn-on.
In a minute, Cassie changed all that. Annie still couldn’t say if it was her eyes, her lips, her breasts or any other specific part of her anatomy that made Annie’s pulse race, but race it did. She would later realize that it was the sum of the parts that attracted her. There was some special alchemy in how everything that composed Cassie—her body, her personality, her soul—combined that made her glow in Annie’s eyes.
When the bus stopped at the camp, everyone jumped up and pushed into the aisle. Annie lost track of Cassie in the confusion. Her emotions were playing tug-of-war: she wanted to talk to Cassie, but she was also afraid. What if Cassie didn’t like her? What if Cassie didn’t like girls in that way? What if Annie revealed herself, and Cassie called her a dyke and laughed at her. What if everyone laughed and shunned her?
Annie’s fears were winning as she stepped off the bus into an idyllic space of log cabins, trees and hills. She would hold back from Cassie. If there was something between them, let Cassie make the first move. Annie was looking for Cassie as she walked toward the offices and dining hall when Cassie abruptly appeared beside her.
“Hey,” Cassie said simply.
“Hey.” Say something else. Say anything. You’re really pretty. No, not that.
“Let me show you around.”
“Um, isn’t there an orientation or something.”
“Heard it last year. You won’t miss anything.”
“OK.”
Cassie led Annie around the grounds, showed her the archery range, the hiking trails, the cabins. The tour ended at the lake. There were canoes there for the campers and a long pier that jutted out into the placid water.
Annie thought it was the most tranquil spot she’d ever seen. “It’s beautiful here.”
“Yeah. I love to come here, especially at night. The moonlight on the water. Do you know about Saturday night?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Well, this week it’s just us counselors. The kids come on Sunday. So, Saturday night, we all go skinny-dipping.”
Annie thought at first that she was kidding. There were chaperones, after all. But Cassie was serious. “So, everybody comes down here and . . . I mean . . . naked.”
“Yep. It’s really cool.” Cassie noticed that Annie was turning pale. “Don’t sweat it. Everybody else will be naked, too. The guys are going to be worried about how cold the water is, if you know what I mean.” Cassie demonstrated shrinkage with her thumb and index finger, but, no, Annie did not know what she meant.
Annie and Cassie ended up bunking together. The first night Annie laid on the bottom bunk staring up at the mattress above her, wondering if Cassie was awake, wondering if Cassie was thinking of her, worrying about Saturday. Skinny dipping. Naked in front of everyone.
On the one hand, just thinking of Cassie taking off her clothes and standing there with the moonlit lake behind her, completely nude, stirred a wonderful warm feeling in the middle of her body that radiated outwards all the way to her fingers and toes.
On the other, taking off her own clothes . . . in front of everyone. In general, Annie was neither ashamed nor proud of her body. She was just another skinny girl with fried egg tits and a flat butt. Among the girl counselors there were at least five more with the same build, and next to freckle-butted Becky, they all looked alright. But there was something else. Most of the girls her age had adopted the practice of shaving their pubes, but most of the girls her age were either showing their pussies to guys or hoping to. Annie didn’t have anyone she wanted to share his pussy with before Cassie got on the bus, so she’d just let her pubic hair grow wild.
Maybe she could borrow someone’s razor. Say she wanted to shave her legs. But her legs were smooth; she’s shaved them the day before. And what if the skin got irritated. She could end up with a bumpy red mess. Lord, Cassie might think she had herpes or something.
Annie didn’t get much sleep.
The week ahead was training and maintenance work. They had to learn everything about handling the kids and learn all the wilderness skills they would be teaching the tots. They role-played dealing with fights, homesickness, and injuries. They learned mouth-to-mouth and CPR. (When Cassie was blowing into the dummy’s mouth, Annie was riveted.) At the archery range, Annie’s bolt went wild and nearly hit Shorter Mitch, whose name turned out to be Jason. (Annie was banned from the range.)
Through it all, Cassie was always next to Annie. Cassie role-played a girl who’d just gotten her first period, and Annie comforted her. Then they switched roles and did it again. Cassie signed them both up to paint the canoes. Annie liked sitting down by the lake with Cassie, smearing paint on canoes, and talking about music, books, celebrities, everything but “By the way, I’m totally a lesbian, how about you?”
One of the guys wandered by, a football goon named Brad, and hit on Cassie. Cassie’s response was cold. “We’re kinda busy here, Brad. Do you want to grab a brush and help out?” Brad didn’t. Annie’s hopes were buoyed. Brad was what a lot of the straight girls wanted. Becky would forsake Mitch, her one and only true love, for Brad. After Brad left, Cassie turned to Annie and rolled her eyes. “Guys, am I right?”
Annie bluffed. “Yeah. I hate that.” Annie had never been hit on. Maybe guys could just tell she wasn’t interested in them.
Saturday came, and there was a general excitement about the big skinny dip. The guys were sneaking some beer in, and the straight girls had a betting pool going on what the guys were packing in their shorts. Annie wondered if a dispute over the results would lead to a measuring.
Still joined at the hip, Annie and Cassie debated who would hook up with whom, but neither stated her own preference nor asked the other hers.
As the sun dipped into the horizon, all the counselors sprinted down to the lake, shedding clothes as they got closer. Annie trailed behind, and Cassie trailed Annie. Cassie jogged beside Annie as the lake came into view, but Annie slowed as she noticed Cassie peeling off her t-shirt. As the shirt was tossed into the air, Annie saw Cassie’s dangling breasts with oblong areolas and stopped in her tracks. Cassie’s shorts and panties vanished next. Cassie turned coquettishly to show her pert bottom, but the fact that her pubes were bald left Annie more nervous about stripping.
“C’mon, girl, you see me; let me see you.” When Annie remained standing like a deer in headlights, Cassie said, “OK, I’ll turn my back.” She started walking slowly toward the lake. Inspired by the way Cassie’s smooth back flowed and flared out into her tear-drop-shaped butt cheeks, Annie followed, taking off her shirt and bra. Cassie didn’t look back; she just kept walking. Annie trippingly stepped out of her shorts but kept her panties.
Cassie turned just short of the lake. “You’re cute, but shy.” Cassie’s face was only a couple inches from Annie’s. Annie wanted Cassie’s lips, but, instead of kissing Annie, Cassie yanked down her panties. Looking down then up, Cassie smiled, “The natural look. I like it.” She ran into the lake, and Annie followed.
Annie felt better when she was immersed in the water. All the others were laughing and splashing, but Cassie kept her eyes fixed on Annie. As Cassie slowly paddled out into the lake, Annie followed. They were floating, out further than the rest.
“Not so bad, huh?” Cassie askws.
“Not so bad.”
They drifted to looking at the other counselors and commenting on their colleagues’ nakedness rather than their own. Still, their bare bodies seem to brush against each other more often than could be explained by accident. As the night wore on, the rest of the crowd wandered off, mostly in pairs. Mitch and Jason walked into the woods together, but Becky had found a freckly boy to give her cherry to. Soon Cassie and Annie were alone in the lake.
“Last one to the other side has to kiss a girl!” Cassie said and started swimming for the far side of the lake. Dumbstruck, Annie followed as quickly as she could. At times, Cassie stopped and let Annie almost catch up before darting ahead. When they arrived, Annie was winded but Cassie was fresh as morning dew.
She smiled and said, “Swim team, three years.”
Amid gasps, Annie replied, “I lost.”
“Yeah. You have to kiss a girl.” She looked around as if to check for other available girls. Shrugging, she concluded, “I guess it will have to be me.”
Annie felt her heart pound in every atom of her body. She puckered and pressed her lips to Cassie’s.
Cassie suppressed a laugh. “Annie, I’m not your grandma. I want a real kiss.”
Cassie took the initiative and brought her open mouth to Annie’s. Annie was a quick study and was soon exploring Cassie’s tongue with her own. Their bodies melted together as they embraced each other.
Cassie whispered in Annie’s ear, “Yeah, that’s how you kiss a girl.”
Annie said, “I hoped . . . I mean, I didn’t know if . . . but since I saw you on the bus . . .”
“Honey, I’ve been throwing myself at you all week. I’ve been wondering what you’d taste like.”
“Do I taste good?”
“I wasn’t talking about your lips. At least not the ones on your face.”
Annie started to stammer again. “I’ve . . . I mean, I’ve never . . .”
“Well, this is your last chance to stay a virgin. Speak now, or . . . you know.”
In reply, Annie kissed Cassie passionately, desperately. Cassie led her up the shore into a little bower. They laid down on a grassy spot amid tall trees. Annie was trembling as she lay on her back on the cool dirt and grass. She wasn’t sure what to do. Cassie leaned over her and started kissing her again.
Cassie moved down to Annie’s taut nipples. Starting on the left, she kissed the swollen bud lightly, then took it in her mouth and sucked it softly. Gradually she increased the pressure and brushed the nipple with the edges of her teeth. Annie gasped with pleasure. Cassie showed the right nipple the same love, then alternated between them. Her fingers wandered down to Annie’s pussy, which lay in a bed of soft hair.
In her introversion and self-isolation, Annie had more or less assumed that it would be many years, if ever, that she would feel someone’ lips and hands on her body. Feeling Cassie’s fingers on her clit made her moan, not just with pleasure but with revelation. As Cassie discovered her, Annie discovered herself, what she had always wanted, what she had always needed.
As Cassie’s lips kissed their way down her stomach, Annie quivered with anticipation of what was coming. As Cassie’s tongue slid inside her, Annie began to cry. Annie wrapped her fingers in Cassie’s hair as Cassie lapped and licked her pussy. “You taste so good,” Cassie paused to say.
Feeling Annie’s body tensing with the hoofbeats of an approaching orgasm, Cassie turned to sucking her clit. Annie screamed as an orgasm tore through her, radiating to every inch of her body.
Cassie moved up and pressed her open mouth against Annie’s. Annie felt like she was floating. She looked into Cassie’s eyes and said, “Thank you.” They both laughed. “You’re welcome,” Cassie said with a grin.
They switched positions with Cassie lying down in the cool grass and Annie leaning awkwardly over her. Annie felt like a first-time actress on opening night. Cassie touched Annie’s face tenderly. “It’s okay. Just do what you feel.”
Do what you feel. Annie searched her feelings for what she wanted to do. She felt a strong desire to kiss the valley between Cassie’s breasts. Annie placed her open mouth on the spot and licked. Cassie’s skin tasted of lake water and sweat. Annie rubbed Cassie’s breasts softly. She loved how hard the nipples were. She circled one with her tongue and looked up at Cassie. “Tease,” Cassie said, smiling.
“I want to kiss every inch of you,” Annie said to her own surprise. Where was that voice coming from? She took Cassie’s left nipple into her mouth and sucked as hard as could. Cassie moaned.
As she moved to the right nipple, Annie let her fingers prowl down to Cassie’s pussy, but she paused as her fingertips touched the labia.
“Come on in, beautiful,” Cassie said amid heavy breathing.
Even after the exquisite pleasure of having Cassie’s tongue inside her, Annie felt that she was about to experience a momentous event in her life. She was going to touch someone else’s vagina for the first time in her life. Annie moved so that she was looking into Cassie’s hazel eyes. Annie trembled as her fingers pulled the labia apart and probed inside. Annie watched as pleasure spread across Cassie’s face. As her fingers moved inside Cassie’s warm, wet pussy, Annie studied the changing expression on Cassie’s face. The way her eyes rolled back and forth. The way she bit her lip, then stuck out the tip of her tongue. The way she would gasp and moan. Annie felt their bodies—their souls, even—were bound together.
She was nervous about trying oral. While her fingers seemed to be doing well for her first time, would her tongue be able to find the right spots? Cassie seemed to read her mind. “It’s okay if you don’t want to.”
“I want to taste you.” Annie took her fingers out of Cassie and sucked them. She was surprised at the mix of flavors, a bit sour, a bit like copper, a bit sweet. She smiled.
Annie descended to Cassie’s crotch and plunged in with her tongue. Cassie began to quiver all over. Tasting another woman’s juices, so rich and complex in flavor, was a profound experience for Annie. Like most girls, she’d never known how to feel about her own vagina and its smells and secretions. Now she understood how beautiful a vagina was. Men would probably never understand one, but she saw how a vagina was the essence of a woman: soft but strong, tight but flexible, yielding but powerful.
Annie found Cassie’s clit and sucked hard. Cassie began to thrash as she came.
Annie and Cassie continued to explore each other for over an hour before they lay together, exhausted. Annie noticed how filthy they were after rolling around. Their bodies were smeared with dirt and mud and textured with grass and leaves. There was something primal about it. “What are you thinking,” Annie asked.
“How glad I am to like girls. Those poor hetero chicks across the lake.”
“Why?”
“I’ve never been with one, but I hear guys don’t last very long. I have a friend who says her boyfriend lasts, no kidding, thirty seconds.”
“That can’t be true. Thirty seconds?”
“Yeah. Then she lies there wishing she could rub one out, but she’s afraid of waking him and hurting his feelings.”
“Thirty seconds and then he falls asleep? Wow.” Annie realized she was also glad that she liked girls. Before, being a lesbian had always made her feel awkward and alienated, but, lying there with Cassie, she was filled with joy and pride.
They fell asleep together under stars peeping through the umbrella of leaves overhead. When they woke as light was just beginning to appear on the horizon, their bodies were entangled. Annie hoped that, when camp was over, she’d find a way to be with Cassie. There was a need for Cassie inside Annie that Annie felt must be love.
They arose like two Eves in a private Eden and slipped into the water. They swam toward morning.
