Caught in the Storm Pt. 03

Robby got to the final part of the song, when a girl took my hand and led me beside him. Robby grinned like a monkey and finished the last lyrics...

"And I'll always need you

And if you ever change your mind

I'll still, I will...

I'll still, I will...

love you..."

Then he finally looks at me and shrugs. I couldn't help myself. I gave him a big hug. He responded by embracing my tightly and burying his nose in my hair.

All the people erupted in a wild spectacle of cheering and applause, then chanted "BO-BOY! BO-BOY! BO-BOY! BO-BOY! BO-BOY!"

Robby and I ignored them and held each other close.

-oOo-

After a hearty breakfast with his parents, Robby took me out to the beach. I hadn't packed any swimsuit, so I just wore a tank top and very short denim cut-offs. Robby was wearing a basketball jersey and hiking shorts.

There was nothing fancy about the beach. The sand was a dark brown color, strewn with many stones. Robby had me get inside a small wooden boat with bamboo poontoons at the side. Then we headed out towards the waters, my guide paddling all the way.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"There's a secluded lagoon by the mangroves that I wanted you to see. I hope you brought your camera," he says, smiling.

"It's that pretty, huh?"

"You're prettier," he answers, with a wink.

I laugh and dip my hand in the sea, splashing water at him. He mock threatens me to hit me with the paddle.

We continued on, chattering, while I admired the view of the mangrove. Birds were twittering everywhere, and with the sun hidden in thick overcast clouds, the weather was perfect. Not too hot, and not too cold.

Eventually we got to the lagoon that Robby mentioned. We were lucky that no one else was around. The place was indeed beautiful. We were surrounded by mangrove trees, rocky sand, and clear turquoise waters. A lone nipa hut stood at the mound of the shore.

Robby moored the boat by the beach, and we made our way out. I spread my towel on the sand and placed my knapsack on it. Robby took out a Tupperware pack with cooked rice. He took out another pail with raw fish and a plastic bag of charcoal briquettes.

"We'll cook these later," he says.

I got my mobile phone out and took pictures of the place.

"No selfies?" Robby asked.

"Not my style," I told him, grinning. "...but!"

"But?", he inquires.

I draped my arm around his shoulder and held the phone over our faces. "I'd love to have a selfie with you." Robby grinned. We glanced at the phone while I made a duck face. Snap! Then I kissed him on the cheek and he looked genuinely surprised. I caught that on camera as well.

I swam in the cool water, with its gentle waves lapping the shore. At the beach, Robby cooked the fish. It didn't take long and we ate lunch shortly after. His mom also included a pack of seaweed with tomatoes, and a bottle of cola to pair with our meal.

After a brief rest and idle chit-chat about our lives, Robby took off his shirt and followed me into the water. We swum a bit then started a splashing war, laughing like kids and enjoying the moment.

We hadn't noticed that the winds had picked up and then the clouds gave way to pouring rain. Robby and I ran to get our stuff at the beach and made way to the nipa hut.

"Damn, I'm sorry Penny," he says, while we sat across each other on some benches placed near the hut's windows. "I didn't think it would rain." There was a dim light pouring from the windows, and the sound of rain and surf blended melodically.

"It's alright Robby," I told him. I was sitting on a bench with my feet on, my arms embracing my knees. "As long as there's no thunder, I actually like it when it rains."

He didn't have to say it, as he stared off into the shore. We were both thinking of that stormy night at the office. Just as then, Robby's torso was bare. There were water droplets from both sea and rain on his torso. I shivered. He was Eros, reborn.

My shirt was drenched, clinging to my body, and outlining my bra-covered breasts. I could tell Robby was covertly trying to glance at it.

There was a brief flash of light and I flinched, anticipating the thunder which followed. He noticed. "You really hate thunder, don't you?" he asks.

"I don't know why I do," I said. A few minutes of silence passed, both of us deep in thought. Thunder boomed again and I held my knees closer to my chest.

"Robby?"

"Yes Penny?"

"Would it... Would it be okay if you hugged me?"

Robby took a few seconds to think about it, then sat behind me, and held me in his arms. I could feel his heartbeat against my back, his breath on my neck.

"Robby?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry. Really I am. You know, for everything."

"You already apologized, okay? I forgive you. We can move past that now."

"No, listen..." I turned around, and held his wrist. "I want to show you something."

I took a small leatherbound notebook from out of my knapsack and opened its pages to show a flower pressed on it, with my note from "secret admirer"

"What's that?," he asks, smiling.

"Oh don't shit with me, I know you sent it."

Robby laughs out loud. "How did you know???"

"You're really bad at covering your tracks," I say, giggling. "But listen, the point is, this is my journal. This is where I keep notes and memories of special moments in my life. And I kept this flower here after our night together at the office."

Robby keeps quiet, looking at me thoughtfully.

"Even before the night of the storm, I had always known that you cared for me, more than a friend. And well, I took advantage of that. You were right... I did treat you like a dildo..."

I looked at him, his thoughts inscrutable from his face.

"...and Robby, I feel so horrible about what I did. And the truth was that I had a hard time dealing with it because, well..."

I took his hands, clasping it tightly in mine and holding it against my heart.

"...the truth is Robby, I'm falling in love with you."

Robby was thunderstruck. "You're... in love with me?" he asks, suspiciously.

"I am Robby," kissing each knuckle of his hand. "And it scares the shit out of me, because, well... you know our social situation."

He nods, gravely.

"How do you feel about me Robby?" I ask.

He answers, simply. "I'm in love with you too. I always have been, ever since you joined the firm."

I nodded and thought about it. "Well... I hope you don't get intimidated by this but I don't think you'd ever ask me... and I really want to know... do you..."

"Do I...?"

"Do you think we'd ever have a chance as a couple?"

Silence. Then a low whisper, "You... want to be my girlfriend?"

"I... I don't know... I... " I kept quiet, choking on my emotions. Robby waited patiently. "I feel so strongly for you Robby... love, affection, and attraction. But this gap between us, it scares me. I have my whole life planned, a checklist of the man I want to marry..."

"...and I am nothing like that man..." he finishes plaintively.

"Well, superficially, no," I answer, looking at him with earnest eyes. He listens. "No, you don't have the amazing job or the successful business. You're not from some landed family. And you're not even tall.."

Robby chuckles at that and shakes his head, with a smile. "I hope there's a but..."

"There is," I continued, "...but. But you're kind-hearted. You're devoted to your family and to your friends. You're honest. You say what you mean and you mean what you say. You're hardworking. And you'd walk through a storm for me..."

Robb's eyes reflected the light from the nearby grayness.

"...and you have a beautiful smile. And when I'm near you, I just want to stand close to you and feel your warmth. And..."

"And?" Robby asks, eyebrow raised.

"...and you have a really nice ass," I answer, grinning. Robby laughs out loud.

"So what are you saying Penny?"

"I'm saying I'm not sure if you're the man I will be spending my whole life with. But if you'd let me, I'd like to find out."

Robby keeps his silence, leaning against the wall of the hut, eyeing me thoughtfully.

"I'd like to know what you're thinking, Robby," I say.

He replied immediately "Penny, if you weren't rich, and the smartest, most beautiful girl I know, I'd ask you to marry me now." No exaggeration written on his face, just the facts as he saw them.

"But I am rich Robby. And I guess, I'm what you say I am. Where does that leave us?"

Robby holds my hand this time, covers it with his other hand and holds it on his chest.

"I think I am fucking scared, but if you really do love me, and this is a mistake, then it's a mistake I want to make," he says. "...with you."

I slide into his arms and we hold each other tight.

"So it's us?," he asks.

"It's us. No promises about the rest of our lives, but for now, for here, and for as long as we can make it work, it's us. It's you and me."

He embraces me ever tightly. "Oh God, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how I feel. Happy, scared, overwhelmed..."

"It's scary, I know."

And we both keep quiet. We listened to each other's breath as it contrasted in cadence with the tides and the rain, just holding the other, frightened by the enormity of what we were getting into.

"I love you Robby" I finally admit. "I love you so much."

He breaks into a restrained sob and pulls away, rubbing his eyes. "Shit shit shit shit shit," he says, standing up, turning around.

"Robby, are you okay?" I ask. "What's wrong?"

He laughs nervously. "I'm crying. You must think it's stupid."

I laugh as well, embracing him from behind, my arms holding his soft tummy. I rock his body, and we both sway to a tune that only we could hear.

He asks, "So... we're a couple?"

I exhale slowly and say, "Yeah..."

"Uhm... can I... can I kiss you?"

"You talk too much," I answer. He grins and pulls me tight and our first kiss as a couple was everything the romance novels said it would be. Fireworks, tremors and wedding bells ringing at a far distance.

We disengage, and though the sky outside crackled with lightning and pealed with thunder, I was no longer scared.

"Funny isn't it Robby?"

"What is?"

"Our story starts and ends with a storm."

"Well technically, this is just a moonsoon rain and not a storm," he answers good-humoredly. "And our story hasn't ended..."

I laugh and tell him to shut up. We spent the rest of the afternoon embraced in each other's arms, looking out at the lagoon.

The sky eventually cleared in time to catch a shaft of light falling unto the sea, almost pointing the clearing at our horizon.

We got back on the boat and Robby paddled us back home.

-oOo-

EPILOGUE

I opened the door, leading Penny inside the hotel room, holding our bags in one hand, and Penny's hand in the other. It has been 5 months now, since we've become a couple. We hid it from the office at first while we worked out how we could be together and not jeopardize both our careers.

The solution was elegant. Penny pulled favors in my behalf as her "friend", and her family landed me a job in a government agency. With my experience in the accounting firm, I had qualified to become a Paralegal in the agency. It was less work for far bigger pay and benefits. And more importantly, Penny and I could be together.

Eventually, the firm found out about us when I quit. Penny surprised everyone in my going-away party by kissing me fully on the lips. Some had suspected, but were still pleasantly shocked by the revelation. Everyone broke out into applause.

Fortunately, our relationship didn't jeopardize Penny's junior partnership, which was formally approved, to take effect next year. This was why we were here in the hotel now. We were taking part in the firm's annual summer outing, and for the first time ever, as a couple. There was still the issue of breaking the news to her family. But that's a fight for another day.

Penny settled her things into the room's closet while I hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign outside our door jamb, closing it locked. Her eyebrow rose.

I leered and gave her a wink, while unbuttoning my shirt.

"Nuh-uh! You didn't! You don't!" she exclaims, laughing.

"Yes baby, I do," I reply, sashaying to her direction and holding both her hands. Then I hold her close and grind my crotch against hers, whispering in her ear, "Look how hard you made me."

"Everyone's outside..."

"And they will go on with their business, while we go on with ours," I whisper, planting kisses on the side of her head as our bodies lay on the bed. I trap her legs between mine and caress her shoulder with my palm.

"Boboy, do you seriously want to..."

"...make love to my woman while everyone outside is swimming and wondering what we're doing. Or rather, guessing. And they will be right," I say, slowly sliding her blouse up over her breasts, taking them off her arms and throwing them away. Penny didn't resist. I slowly hold her breasts and squeeze them gently.

My girlfriend is so beautiful. With her long auburn brown hair, and her fair skin. With her dainty nose, and kissable pink lips. With her hazel colored eyes, wavering between expressions of annoyance and lust.

Whatever she saw in a fat, dark schmuck like me, I'll never know, but love was love. And so too was lust.

I was glad that my erection rubbing against her crotch was having its desired effect. Her pupils dilated and her nostril flared, smelling my lust-fueled pheromones.

I kissed her cleavage, earning her low moan, my fingers rubbing her smooth tummy and lightly caressing her crotch through the white fabric of her capri pants. I cup her firm breast and squeeze it lovingly, while we french-kissed in lust and adoration. My hands slide further down her back to her curvy hips, and unto her pert bum, squeezing her buttocks tight.

She wore lacy, purple brassiere, and I take them off Penny, gazing at how beautiful my girlfriend's breasts were: pale, teardrop shaped, with rosy-red areola, pebbling in arousal. Her nipples erect and excited. I kissed one, flicking the nipple with the tip of my tongue, kissing it again and suckling on her marvelous flesh.

Penny moans, grasping both my ass cheeks and press my hardon against her mound.

I lay on my side and she unzipped my fly. Then I slide my denim shorts down to my feet, and throw them away. Penny rubbed my erection through my briefs with her palm. Fuck.

"Go for it babe," I say.

She nods and slips my briefs down, taking my erection out. Then she leans in and swallows my cock's entire length. I groan and spasm at how talented she was. Penny loved my cock and often went down on me unasked.

"That's enough baby," I moaned. "I wanna fuck you."

We both took off her pants, tossing them to the side, as I slid her lacy, purple panties down her creamy thighs. The brown thatch of her pubic hair framed the slit of her vagina. I kissed them and traced its groove with my tongue, then slid my finger in and opened her slit wide to expose her shy pussy lips, moist with excitement. I stick my nose in and inhaled the pungent warmth of her arousal. Sweet manna from heaven.

With the broad of my tongue, I lapped up all her juices and Penny shudders. "Fuuuuck," my girlfriend whispers with her eyes closed.

"Shit baby, you're so wet," I say, giving her another good lick. "Let's make this quick. I want to be inside you."

"Stop talking and start fucking," Penny complains, lying on her back and spreading her legs. I brace my hand above her shoulders and guide my cock inside her slick gash. There was no tenderness. I slid it all the way in to the hilt and my girlfriend arched her back in pleasure.

Leaning down, I kiss her lips and suck on her tongue as I see-sawed my cock in and out of Penny, who met my efforts thrust for thrust.

We didn't last long. It was a flurry of deep and quick fucking. I tried to hold on for as long as I could and fortunately, Penny had an orgasm. I let go shortly after and shot volley after volley of cum into her womb.

I collapsed in her arms, and we held each other tight, trying to catch our breaths.

A series of loud knocks were suddenly rapped on our door.

"Hey, what are you guys doing there? We're headed out to the seaside bar for cocktails," says Miss Molina, the senior partner's secretary.

"CUMMIIIING!", we respond in unison, laughing hilariously while holding each other tight.

----------

"And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about."

― Haruki Murakami