Camping Buddies Become More

It's Friday afternoon and the last of the teen and young adult campers are departing. They roll into camp on Sunday afternoon and spend the week camping and learning outdoor skills with us. I've been helping out as a member of the staff at our regional camp ground for several summers while I finish college.

I used to be one of the campers. My parents thought that it would be a good idea for me to get into something where I could learn to do things on my own and become more self confident and independent, and I took to it like a fish to water. I loved being able to do things on my own and depending only on myself, even though it was largely an illusion.

Over time I got to know the camp master really well and ended up eventually coming on board as a staffer during my latter high school summers. Plus it helped that my parents knew the camp master and his wife.

Being on staff at summer camp was a whole lot better than bagging groceries at the neighborhood Safeway, or pumping gas at the Unocal at the corner. I was outdoors most of the time, doing fun stuff, and getting paid to boot! So I was the envy of my friends all through high school.

So here I am at summer camp again. This will probably be my last year at camp as I'll be graduating from college next summer. Then it'll probably be straight to work; assuming I can find a job which will probably be my top priority at that point in time.

This year the camp master has me filling a teaching position and an administrative position. So I'm in charge of hiking and the PX, and help with the paper work. Not too bad a deal as I get room and board for two months along with a reasonable salary. At least enough to keep me in beer for the first semester back at school as I start my senior year!

The camp master's daughter is also working as his assistant. Joanie has also been coming to camp from as long as I can remember. A real daddy's girl! There was very little that her dad could do that Joanie couldn't do. Also my classmate from elementary school days all the way through high school. We've always been friends however that's all that it's been.

Well, we've flirted with each other from time to time but its never grown beyond that. I haven't pushed it, although I wouldn't have minded taking our friendship beyond. But I'm afraid of what might happen between us if I tried to make something more out of our friendship and it didn't work out. You can never go back to the way things were. I don't think I can handle that.

I've thought about this long and hard and think that this is the best course for now. Not what I want but perhaps the safer alternative. At least Joanie and I would be friends and I'd still be able to talk with her and be with her from time to time. I just don't want to mess it up.

I mean, we'd see each other each day in school. We've shared many classes together. Been in the same school service clubs and worked on projects together. But it's always been on a basis that we had built upon from when we were little kids.

She's one of my best friends. Better than Ralphie or Jimmy with whom I used to get in trouble with, with great frequency when we were small kids. Joanie and I are friends who can share secrets and not have the entire world hear about it the next day. Our families often picnicked together and we were always playing in each other's backyard. We've always been there for each other when the other has had a bad time or experience.

Like when Joanie had her first set of braces! She felt like her world had caved in. I remember her getting mad at her parents for forcing her to wear them, then crying later after her first day of school with them on and a lot of the kids ended up teasing her. I just thought she needed a hug and a friendly shoulder to cry on. So I hugged her and was her emotional support for a week or so until the novelty wore off.

Or like the time I tried out for the tennis team as a high school freshman and didn't even make the cut for the second team. That was a major blow to my self esteem and confidence however Joanie made it a point to goad me into practicing more and working harder on my game. I credit her persistence in making me live up to the team's standards as I not only made the first team my sophomore year, but ended up playing in the first and second singles slot for the next three years.

When we graduated from high school we ended up going to different colleges. But we saw each other during the breaks and generally hung out together. And it became our routine for one of us to call the other each day to "keep in touch." We would usually talk about how our classes were, the quality (or lack of) of the cafeteria food, what was happening with our other classmates who were at school with us, and other stuff. Usually light and cheerful in content with a fair measure of harassment thrown in for good measure.

That's the Joanie I've always known; at least until this summer! All of a sudden she's become a woman and I can't believe that she's the same Joanie that I used to play with and go to school with! I can't believe my eyes! Joanie's got curves now! And her smile lights up the room! My heart starts racing when I see her! What happened?

She's also become the touchy-feely type and gets my pulse rate running a 50 yard sprint each time she touches my hand or shoulder, which seems to be each time she's around me! I just want to grab her and kiss her so bad!

This summer camp's been an absolute torture for me. How can I function when Joanie's around? And she and her dad know it too! I caught him laughing at me last week, right after he caught us with Joanie sticking her tongue out at me.

"So what's so funny?" I asked him?

"Boy, have you got a lot to learn about women!" he laughed as he and I walked over to PX. He just shook his head, chuckled, and left me wondering what that was all about.

Anyway, Joanie and I are in the process of checking the last remaining campers out of their cabin. I'm at the last cabin with the campers, doing the final bed check to make sure that the place is picked up, floors are swept and mopped, and everyone's got their bags packed and haven't left anything behind. As I'm doing the final walk through, Joanie comes in to see how I'm coming along.

"Hey Mark, everything cool here?" she queried as she did a quick sweep with her eyes.

"Yep, everything looks very fine," I say as I gaze at her and smile.

Joanie responded with a quick, "cool" then saw my stare and smile, looked away then looked back at me, then blushed a bright pink before she smiled and walked out the door! I hope I didn't embarrass her. But then again, I hope I did!

We shepherded the campers up to the main lodge where their parents were waiting. It took us more than an hour to help the parents sort through the mess of kids and their things, but finally they're gone and the silence is deafening. But we still have work to do, reports to complete and send off, and a final group meeting with staff before we let them off until Sunday afternoon rolls around again.

Joanie's dad, our camp master, took this past week and half of next week off to celebrate his and her mom's 30th wedding anniversary. Joanie jumped at the opportunity to run the camp herself and volunteered me to help. Not sure why except perhaps I've been there for so long. It also helped that her dad and I always got along well and maybe it gave him comfort knowing that she would have someone he could depend upon to help her out. In any event, her dad was happy to take her mom on a much deserved and delayed 2nd honeymoon.

We deferred completing the reports in order to do our staff meeting so the others on staff can leave early. We know that they all want to get home and relax before having to return to camp. Not much to cover in any event. By this time, the 7th week of summer camp, everyone knows their job so it's a fairly short meeting. Plus there's only one more week to go before we wrap things up for this summer.

As the rest of the staff begin to depart in their cars, Joanie and I return to the main camp admin building to do our paperwork. We're usually the last ones to leave. It normally takes a couple of hours to complete and file the various reports so it's almost 7 pm before we're done.

"This is always such a pain," Joanie groaned as she stretched and flexed her shoulders, trying to loosen and unkink her shoulder muscles.

I walked over and stood behind her chair and massaged her shoulders. "You are tight, young lady" I said as I kneaded the knots in her muscles. "Lean forward a bit so I can get your neck as well," I instructed her.

Joanie leaned forward and placed her head on her arms on her desk. "Oh, this feels so good. Thanks Mark, I needed this...." As I kneaded the muscles up and down her neck as well, then gave her a scalp massage.

I can't help but to notice her slim build, the sensuality of her beautiful neck, the fragrance she wears, the outline of her bra under her shirt. I'm getting hard just thinking of her. Touching her sends electrical charges through my body!

After about 10 minutes my fingers started to give out so I called a break to the amateur massage session. Joanie stood up, turned to face me, stretched, then gave me a quick peck on the lips, "thanks, that was really relaxing. You can give me a massage anytime." as she grinned from ear to ear.

Did she just kiss me?

"Anytime Joanie, I just need to give my fingers a break now and then." I responded. "Want some dinner?"

"Yeah, I'm famished," she replied. We ambled over to the cafeteria to see what the cooks might have left behind.

"So how's school going?" Joanie asked.

"Pretty good. One more year than I get to see if I can make it out in the real world." I replied. "How about you?"

"I'm pretty much like you. One more year left, but I don't know if I want to find a job or go on to do graduate work." Joanie sighed. "Choices that I don't know if I'm prepared to make. There's so much of my life that I don't know what to do with."

"I know what you mean. But I don't have much of a choice. I need to start work because the 'Send Mark to College' scholarship fund runs out pretty soon!" I laughed.

"You'll make it, I'm sure." Joanie replied and swatted me on my butt.

"Hey you!" I yelped as I unsuccessfully tried to swat her butt in return. She danced out of reach with a broad smile on her face.

Joanie beat me into the kitchen and was turning on the lights as I walked in. We checked out the refrigerator and discovered that the cooks had left a couple of heat and serve meals for us with a little note telling us how to reheat the items. I guess they know that we usually stay late to do the paperwork.

The one we chose was lasagna which turned out to be very tasty. As Joanie stuck the lasagna into the microwave, I set out the plates and stuff on the counter top. As we ate, I asked Joanie, "So what's really important for you to know right now that's going to help you decide about what to do over the next year or so?"

"Well, there's a question of how well I do in school this year. If I do the same or better I think I can get into the graduate programs that I'm interested in."

"Yeah, know what you mean. But with your smarts, that shouldn't be a problem." I responded.

"But it takes a lot of work on my part." Joanie said. "I'm not naturally intelligent. I need to work at it."

"Well you can do it. You've done it all these years. So if it's just grades then your decision should be fairly easy to make." I countered.

"Well it's not just grades. I think I have that one under control like you said. There's another really important issue that, to me, ranks higher than my grades."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, there's this special guy that I'm very fond of and I need to know what he's going to do before I make any decisions." Joanie said as she looked me straight in the eyes. "He's very special to me...."

"Oh," That was all I could say. My heart was sinking fast. My body suddenly felt cold. While Joanie and I never did take our relationship further, I did still think of her as someone very special to me. More than special. Much more. Her revelation took the wind out of me. It looked like she had her sights set on someone.

"So why don't you ask this guy what he intends to do?" I continued, not wanting to betray my breaking heart and sadness.

"I did but he doesn't have firm plans yet. Maybe it's just too early." she mentioned as she continued to look into my eyes with an intensity that I've never known before.

"You don't know who I'm referring to, do you?" she asked hesitantly.

My ship was sinking fast and she asked me if I knew who her special guy was? Could I feel any worse? Not only had my balloon burst but the remnant pieces were being scattered in the wind....

"No, and I'm not sure if I want to know. Joanie, ..." I started off.

"Mark,.." she butted in.

"Wait, let me finish because this is hard for me to get out." I blurted out and paused while I collected myself. This was so hard to say. I could feel my face turning red with the effort to control my emotions.

"You mean a lot to me and so does your happiness. You and I have a special friendship and I don't want to mess it up. So what I'm telling you is that you need to follow your heart, where ever that leads you, and do what you think is right for you......and your special guy." My throat was dry and my voice cracking.

I could feel the walls of my world crumbling. I couldn't handle it anymore. "I gotta go...." I turned to leave but Joanie grabbed my shirt and forced me to turn around.

"Look at me," Joanie said with a trembling voice. "Look at me!"

I could see tears falling from her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" I asked, thinking that it should really be me crying.

"Because, the guy I'm talking about is you!" she cried as she took my hands with hers. "Don't you ever think that it's someone else!"

I don't know when or how, but Joanie and I ended up hugging each other as tightly as we possibly could without crushing the other.

"Mark, you're my special guy. I saw your face crumble after I told you about needing to know what my special guy was planning to do. And I knew that you thought it was someone else. Mark, you are the only one that I've ever wanted! You're the only one I really cared about! You are my special guy. I love you, ..... yes, you..." Joanie cried, her voice trembling and faltering as she spoke. Her tears freely flowing now.

"Joanie, Joanie, ......" I moaned as she kissed me. I felt her kiss throughout my entire body.

"Joanie, I've loved you for so many years but was afraid of what would happen if I told you and you didn't feel the same way I did."

No words were spoken as we continued to kiss. Soft kisses. Her lips so soft and tender. Her tongue searching for mine. Stroking my lips and my tongue as I did the same to her.

"Oh Mark,...." Joanie whispered as I slowly rubbed her back and she cradled my head in her hands. "No more worries. Know that I love you so very much!"

The prior tension and our high pitched emotions were coming back under control as Joanie wrapped her arms around me and melted into my body. She sighed her relief and kissed my neck before snuggling into me.

I held her tightly to me, not wanting to let her go; ever! Not ever!

"Joanie, I love you...." I whispered to her and kissed her again and again.

We pulled back from our kiss and I looked into Joanie's eyes and saw her love for me. I felt so light headed at that moment! Life was good once again!

As we cleaned up the dinner dishes and kitchen, Joanie asked; "Do you have to head back home tonight?"

"Not really. I don't really have any plans. Mom and dad let me more or less come and go as I want. I guess they figure that I'm old enough to make my own decisions. Want to stay up here over the weekend?" I asked?

"Yes. Please.....stay with me here. Just the two of us."

That's all she needed to say to me. There were a lot of unspoken words in her eyes and her smile. Man, this started out so wrong and ended up so right!

I called home and let mom know that Joanie's parents were away so I decided to keep Joanie company. Mom laughed and just admonished me, "ok Mark, just make sure you treat her right....."

Wait a second! Ok, I must be really dense. What did mom just say?

After I hung up the phone, I turned to Joanie, "You want to know what my mom just told me? She said to make sure that I treat you right!"

Joanie laughed, gave me a "come here big boy" look, and gave me another kiss that got me hard in a flash! There must be a conspiracy going on! Go figure!

So we finished cleaning up the kitchen, turned off the lights and headed back to the admin building to close that one up too. As we left that building Joanie asked if I could take her on a night hike.

We have a couple of easy trails at the camp that are great at night. So we grabbed our sleeping bags, some water, and a couple of flashlights and headed off.

We hiked up through a meadow that was located immediately above our campground. Nothing spectacular about that except that the moon was out and lit up the entire area. Very surreal. As we reached the top of the meadow where it met the forest, I turned Joanie around so she could see the panorama before us. The meadow opened directly above the campground, which itself was above a small lake. The moonlight shimmered across the surface of the water and illuminated the scene before us.

Talk about taking your breath away! All Joanie could say was, "Wow!"

We must have stood there for at least 10-minutes watching clouds slowly drift by in the moonlight, before I took Joanie's hand and restarted our hike.

"Thanks Mark. That was special." Joanie said softly as we walked side by side.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like it. I come up here from time to time to admire the view. Always thought that I'd like to have a home someday that had a view like this."

"That would be so cool...." Joanie echoed. "I think I could handle that."

As we walked into the forest, the trees began to block out the light from the moon requiring us to rely upon our flashlights as we tried to stay on trail. It must have been another 20-minutes before we broke out of this stand of trees into another clearing. This time the clearing opened to a small stream.

We must have been hiking for the better part of an hour so I broke out one of our sleeping bags so we could sit down and rest without getting dirty. As we sat and talked and sipped our water, we listened to the stream and enjoyed each other's company. Eventually the conversation got around to us with Joanie taking the lead.

Her eyes focused at the ground in front of us as she spoke; "Mark, your hugs and kisses this afternoon meant so much to me." She turned to me and I could see that tears had begun to fill her eyes once more.

"I know it may sound like a woman type of thing, and I know I get all emotional all the time, but I could feel your love for me so strongly."

"I felt it from you too," I replied as I took her into my arms once more. "Joanie, you have always been the one for me."

I eased her down to the sleeping bag as we continued to kiss and pull our bodies closer together. Our legs intertwined with my thigh in her crotch and her thigh lodged against my hardening cock.

"Mark, do you want me?...." Joanie asked tentatively, unsure of what she was asking.

"I want you very much, but only when it's right for both you and me. I don't want to risk loosing you just because I'm hornier than hell."

"I love you." She searched my eyes for a response. "I know what I want tonight. Please make me your lover tonight.....make me yours forever tonight......"

"I really want to Joanie but I don't have any protection."