COVID Birthday Swap Pt. 01

Thanks so much to LAHomedog for help editing, writing and ideas to restructure.

This is the first in a series as two women in long distance relationships trade places for an evening to celebrate their boyfriends' birthdays during the pandemic travel restrictions.

Orange-pink clouds swirled amid the deepening blue sky as the sun sunk close to the horizon, but Kelly was missing the sweeping view of this Texas sunset as she navigated a path through the parking lot in her black stilettos, carrying bags of food. The food delivery was just part of the birthday gift - she was the other part.

Her heart raced from more than the steep incline from the parking lot. Kelly was heading to knock on the door and deliver a birthday fantasy to a guy she had never met.

Well, okay, technically she met Tara's boyfriend Michael on a Zoom call a few weeks ago when they worked out this arrangement to swap places for his birthday celebration. Tara couldn't be here since her flight was canceled due to the pandemic travel restrictions. So Kelly was delivering the birthday gift, or rather she was the birthday gift.

She was looking forward to the night more than regretting this swap, but that didn't mean she wasn't nervous as her mind raced through the weeks of discussions that now led her to be standing here on the sidewalk of Michael's condo complex in northwest Austin.

The idea, or proposition, to swap boyfriends arrived in Kelly's inbox about six weeks ago. Tara had read her blog post, "Coping with COVID: How to Stay Close When You're Apart."

Kelly had written about how she and her boyfriend in Washington DC kept their long-distance relationship going during the quarantine and COVID travel restrictions - using plenty of creative video chats, among other things. Yes, it was a struggle, but they were in love and she thought maybe he could be the one. So they put in the effort to make the unusual circumstance of the pandemic as romantic as possible.

As a counselor writing a relationship column, Kelly was used to getting odd questions from readers. Sure she'd get angry responses, a crude comment here and there, and the occasional obscene request from some guy, but that was the price of being a young woman with a photo online.

The similarity of their relationships and that geography was an interesting coincidence, but even so, Kelly initially planned to just ignore the proposal. However, it didn't stop her from using it as fodder for her Zoom call with her boyfriend that night, teasing him with the prospect of a pandemic buddy.

She had slipped her phone onto the tripod, flipped on the ring light and knelt in front of the camera as she adjusted settings and navigated to the link Mark sent.

"Perfect! On your knees just the way I like you!" Mark said as the camera joined his screen. "Did you bring the present I sent you?"

"I'm fine, and how was your day?" Kelly said, ignoring his question and looking at his delicious chest with just enough hair to be manly, tapering to his waist where the camera shot ended.

"Oh right, pretty good," Mark said. "Yours? You look gorgeous - as always."

"Well I got the oddest email," Kelly said looking up through her long lashes into the camera. She had spent the time to make her eyes up the way she knew Mark liked, setting off the pale blue irises amid the smoky grey shadow.

"Do tell," Mark said.

"Some reader, who is in your city, and believe it or not, her boyfriend is here in Austin, wrote to say her travel restriction wouldn't allow her to fly to him to give him his special birthday present. So her solution is for me to go do her boyfriend for his birthday,"

"Well what do I get out of the deal? Can I watch? Can I do her? What does she look like? Is she hot? Does she have big tits?" Mark asked. "Wait - even more important than hot, are you actually considering this?"

"I don't know," Kelly said, wanting to roll her eyes at how this is all about him and he had not questioned sharing her - just if he got laid. Really?

"What don't you know?"

"Any of it."

"Find out more."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you? Some new babe to torment."

"Of course! It's been a long time. Don't you miss it too?"

Kelly had to admit that she did.

"But first you," he said. "Speaking of torment where is that toy I sent? How does it feel?"

"Don't know yet."

"Show me."

Kelly turned to the bed, let her white satin robe slide off to pool on the white Sherpa rug at the end of the bed. She bent over the bed to grab the lube and plug leaving the other toys she had laid out on top of the white comforter until Mark gave further instructions.

She liked giving up control, after spending much of her days listening to problems and stopping herself from offering solutions. It satisfied a need in her that sometimes Mark took a bit too far.

She held the butt plug towards the phone. It was stainless steel about two inches in insertable length, tapered at the top, and about an inch in diameter at it widest part. The large bulb at the bottom of it led to a thin stem with the best part. A glistening brilliant red, Swarovski crystal attached to the round flange kept it from slipping in and causing a trip to the emergency room. The emergency room is the last place she wanted to visit during a pandemic, and the last thing doctors needed now was people adding to their workload.

"Nice - let me see it in," Mark said.

"Ohh," Kelly gasped as the cool lube pressed against her ass. She tilted it in the air, playing to the camera and pulled her cheek aside more to slide in the tip.

"Go on," Mark said, his hand slipping below the range of his camera.

Kelly inhaled and pushed. She had read that - as counter-intuitive it might seem - that pushing down helped. Sure enough, it popped right in pressing the Swarovski crystal jewel tightly against her.

"Spread you cheeks and show it to me. I want to see the jewel."

She did as commanded.

"Good - I wish I could spank that pert, taut ass for not having that in when you called."

"Me too," Kelly groaned, her face buried against her white comforter. She missed the sensation. Even more, she missed being with him, not knowing what was coming next, submitting to it anyway, trusting him.

She missed looking into his eyes, the closeness and snuggling afterwards even more. He was always fun to go out with, knew the best restaurants, what to order and where to go for live music and dancing.

"Move your ass higher so I can see your tits through your knees."

Kelly adjusted, hearing a bottle open and then a liquid sound as she looked back, watching his hand slide over his cock.

"Now stroke your nipples like I would do."

Kelly pulled and tweaked the rosy nubs until their hardness hung framed by her thighs as Mark continued to stroke himself.

"Yes - now turn on that bullet vibrator and hold it to your clit."

"Ohhhh - yes, thank you," Kelly sighed as her body melted into the vibration bringing her instantly close to the edge. She stroked two fingers down, dipping into her wetness.

"Imagine I'm there," Mark said, breathless as his own climax neared.

"Just remember, feel me there like last time, thrusting into you from behind. That's it. That's it."

Kelly's breathing came faster as she remembered their last time together - her fingers digging into the sheets, grasping at anything as her world spun and she lost control, surrendered to wave after wave of her orgasm.

"Uhhh - oh yessss, cum with me babe. Please... cum with me," Kelly said as her remembrance of her last orgasm with Mark turned to reality, and her hips jerked against her hand before she collapsed onto her bed as Mark shot stream after stream of pent up sperm all the way up his chest.

The next morning, Kelly took her small pot of green tea to her desk and pulled up her email as she waited for it to steep. At Mark' urging the previous night, she had agreed to at least gather more info before figuring out some sort of polite way to tell Tara thanks, but no thanks.

However during the photo exchanges, Mark saw the attractive redhead Tara's long legs, and no doubt imagined her sensitive skin pinkening under his touch, his cock sliding between wisps of ginger hair. Then he basically insisted Kelly make it happen.

Sure - why not? These weren't "The best of times," as Dickens wrote. It was the "worst of times" as he described in his classic opening lines. Everyone had spent the past several months dealing with survival and work-arounds. This was another.

And potentially it would be a much more pleasurable one.

Kelly wrote back to Tara, and said she had talked with Mark. If they could work it out to everyone's satisfaction, they would do it. A couple of phone calls and a Zoom meeting with both couples, and they had a plan.

Tara and Kelly would swap places twice to celebrate their own birthdays and those of their boyfriends, so long as there were pandemic travel restrictions and safe sex.

It wasn't that odd of an arrangement for Kelly. She had spent her early 20s saying yes to most ideas, men, a few women and even a three-way with a couple one summer.

This swap thrilled Mark, and Kelly was ready for this too after months of nothing but video chat.

* * *

Michael uncorked an oaky Chardonnay, put it back in the fridge to chill and then took a citronella candle and lighter to the table on the deck. Tara's friend Kelly would be there any moment, and he hoped this was a good idea. Really when Tara's flight was canceled he was disappointed, but never could have imagined her solution would be to send him some 26 year-old surrogate, counselor/blogger named Kelly to celebrate with him instead.

When Tara was set on an idea, she let nothing stop her. That's one of the things he appreciated was her tenacity along with her general cheerfulness and kindness. He discovered those things later, weeks after meeting Tara at a mutual friend's baby shower over two years ago.

Initially, however, he was mesmerized by Tara's wavy auburn hair and killer swimmer's body with legs that were longer than his even though at 6"3' he was almost six inches taller than her. Best of all though, she was usually up for anything from kayaking to indulging his kinks. Last visit, before the pandemic, she trusted him to let him try anal sex for the first time. It seemed like something she'd do again, though the next day she did say she'd get him back for that.

Still, Michael, had no idea how Tara convinced Kelly to do this swap. He knew Tara was good at persuasion - both with him and in her medical sales career. But this was a feat even for her to pull off.

During the Zoom call Kelly seemed playful and fun. He could all too easily picture her roleplaying with her boyfriend Mark. And he really liked the way Kelly's nipples pushed against the white halter she wore for most of the video chat. She lost her top toward the end of the call as part of a game they played so the two couples could get to know each other better. Her breasts were rounder than Tara's and her rosy pink nipples were darker and puffy. His secret porn passion was puffy nipples.

Kelly was hot, but Michael really hoped this wasn't going to mess things up with Tara later. He had already been engagement ring shopping, and no evening, no matter how fun, would be worth their relationship.

* * *

Once at the top of the sidewalk, Kelly looked beyond the condo building to the valley below and the lights from other homes glowing in the twilight and reflecting on the far away lake. Kelly lived in the city and didn't often get out to the hills west of Austin. She took a deep breath, bit her lower lip to stifle a giggle as she thought about the contents of her shoulder bag, and rang the buzzer to Michael's condo.

"Birthday delivery!" Kelly said as the door opened, lifting the two paper bags she was carrying. Michael stepped aside to let her in. He was almost a foot taller than her with wavy dark hair and a V-shaped chest that tapered to the belt of seersucker shorts. Tara had mentioned something about rugby when they spoke to plan the evening in more detail.

The globe light above the door highlighted Kelly's high cheekbones and the sheerness of her ivory blouse. She licked her bottom lip and looked up at Michael trying to gage his reaction to seeing her in person as opposed to the Zoom call a few weeks ago.

* * *

Wow - Kelly looked better in real life than the video chat. He remembered her straight brown hair that brushed her shoulders. In person, her blue eyes sparkled and her breasts defied her otherwise petite body, and strained against her thin silky blouse.

"Hey - thanks. Wait - let me get those," he said, taking the bags, but leaving the large shoulder bag that seemed to unbalance her - or maybe it was the over the top high heels. He was not complaining about those, though, or even better, the seam running up the back of the black stockings.

"Come in, come in," Michael said leading her through the living room, putting the bags down as they walked through the kitchen. "I thought we could eat on the deck."

Kelly's shoes clicked on the wood floor, and she left her heavy shoulder bag with her change of clothes and other equipment for later against the shallow wall separating the dining room from the kitchen.

"What can I take?" she asked seeing plates and silverware already on the counter.

"Nothing. I've got this. Please come with me and enjoy the view. I think you will find it is wonderful. It's why I took the place." Michael said.

Michael grabbed the bottle of wine from the fridge he had just opened, picked up the food bags and then followed her out the sliding glass door before turning back to fetch the dishes and utensils.

* * *

Kelly sat at the table and lit the candle before Mark returned with the plates. They dished up the Thai curry and noodles Tara ordered, and she had picked up.

Mark poured the wine and handed her a glass.

"To new experiences," Kelly said.

"Thanks for helping me celebrate another year on the planet," Michael said.

The view from his condo built at a high point in the small cliffs above Lake Travis was amazing. Green splotches of various trees and bushes mixed with the yellow grass, red clay soil and porch lights of the homes closer down to the lake. The sky had darkened to a grey blue with streaks of orange from the recent sunset adjoining the clouds.

Kelly took her eyes off the view to taste the food. The sauce was beyond anything Kelly could ever make herself, and manageably spicy.

"This is delicious," Kelly said.

"Uh-Hmmm, my favorite. Tara found this place last time she visited," Michael said.

"She tells me you're a blogger or was it a counselor?"

"Yes - both actually. Tara and I found each other through my 'Love in the time of COVID" post, and the rest is, well, here we are," she shrugged and took a sip of wine.

"So you're a relationship expert?" he asked.

"Not so much - really a counselor trying to navigate the new normal. It requires an open mind, and a lot of patience," thinking of her boyfriend Mark, as she stared down into the darkening valley punctuated by porch lights.

Both were quiet as Kelly finished her plate of curry.

Kelly asked about his work at a tech company, and then they discussed the challenges of family gatherings during the pandemic.

Now what? Suddenly Kelly was feeling all the awkwardness of the situation since dinner was over, but then she had an idea. Years of improv acting classes told her to always say yes, to go with it. For this to work she needed to really switch places with Tara - to be Tara. She took another long sip of wine and a deep breath.

"Hey, instead of treating me like we're on a first date, let's skip that. That's not going to work being on a first date - not with the rest of what Tara has planned for our night," she smiled with eyebrows raised.

"How about if you talk to me and treat me like I am Tara," Kelly said. "Think of it like role playing. I'm Tara and I guess you are just you - only the you that you are with Tara. So that should be easy."

Michael looked out at the stars starting to pop above the lake, thought of Tara. What he liked about her was her ability to surprise him after all these years. She wasn't fearless, but she had an amazing ability to step into a situation without letting fear ground her. Sometimes she got in over her head, was too trusting, and he hoped this wasn't one of those times.

Michael nodded and stood, pushing back his chair.

"Well in that case, would you like to dance?" Michael asked, though it wasn't so much a question as he was already pulling back her chair, and taking her hand as she rose, flipping her shoes to the floor.

He pulled her into his arms with a sense of urgency to sway to the Kenny Chesney song playing from a speaker inside the screen door.

Kelly shivered as the silk of her blouse rippled against his arms as she folded in like she had been there before.

She rested her head against his broad chest and reached up to stroke his well-formed tricep, and then run her nails lightly down his back, reaching under his untucked shirt. She was on a mission from Tara to make sure he really celebrated his birthday, and this would be far from unpleasant.

Michael's back felt deliciously muscular, but with enough softness to cuddle. Her stomach clenched as she snuggled in closer. Kelly smiled against his chest as she breathed in a scent of leather mixed with something else and a shudder ran down her spine.

Michael responded pulling her even tighter against him and she could feel him hardening against her stomach. She lifted her leg dragging her black stocking foot along his leg and hooked her leg around his hips, squeezing him closer. Fortunately he was holding her tightly, almost off the ground, so she no longer had to balance on her own.

Michael sighed and kissed the top of her head, and Kelly tilted her head up to kiss his neck and then capture his mouth. She could feel her face flush as his mouth opened slightly and his hand rose to her cheek as his tongue parted her lips and delved into her mouth. Kelly closed her eyes to the darkening valley below, and surrendered to the sensation. The colors swirled in her head as his tongue encircled hers.

When the kiss became too much, too intimate, she shifted, pulling away to kiss the side of his throat. Kelly was starting to feel the real challenge here. It wasn't just role playing, she needed to figure out in the next minute how to be appropriately inappropriate with Michael.

With little time to strategize Kelly's only thought was to avoid kissing. She needed to focus on helping him celebrate, not fall in love or lust herself.

Michael's hands ran over the silk of her blouse, heightening her awareness of the warmth of him against the cool slickness against her skin. Kelly looked up at Michael for a sign of what he wanted next.

Michael's eyes darkened as he easily lifted her. Kelly wrapped both legs around his waist as he carried her back indoors, through the kitchen, stopping at a wall to the open living room. He positioned her back against the wall and she gently dropped her legs to the floor. Kelly then unclasped her skirt, letting it fall to the ground.

With the cool wall providing some support for her back and weight, Kelly's chest tingled as Michael started on the row of buttons down the front of her blouse. Her heart beat with sudden impatience. She raised her arms so he could pull off the camisole and see the delicate gold chain that ran from her belly chain up between her breasts and fastened around her neck.

"Mmmm," he murmured as he followed the trail of chains with flicks of his tongue and then knelt with a finger through the strap on each hip and carefully pulled her thong over her thigh high stockings and to the floor.