Linda's Mistake

[Author's note: Asterisks signify where I would have liked to put italics. As a warning, this story contains cheating, reluctance, and bad behavior, and isn't really a feel-good story, though not as heavy as others on here. While age differences are emphasized, all characters are 18 or older. This is my first story on here, so please be gentle.]

I'm Linda, and I live in an intentional community, or commune. The housing development, or campus as we call it, is set off several miles from a main road and we're surrounded by woods. There are a few hundred people living here, making it essentially a small town.

The idea behind the community is building a sustainable lifestyle. We grow and make a lot of our own food. Picture stockrooms full of pickled vegetables and other preservable foods as well community gardens. Our goal is a self-sufficient community. We just kind of live off the land and pay taxes and bills through the community leader, but he isn't really in charge, just is another member of the community. The point is, we don't leave the community much, so it can be rather boring, which is, I think, at the root of what happened.

I'm in my late thirties, I have long, curly light brown hair. I am very tan from working in the community garden all the time and I find I keep it, at least somewhat, all year round. I'm 5'6 and I am in decent shape but I kind of have a large butt and thick legs. My breast cup size is E. I am married with kids.

Me and my husband came to the community when we were very young, looking for a sense of community and for a way of life more in line with our ideals. We are very happy here and love the lifestyle...however the past few years, as I mentioned, I find it can be rather boring. After a while it feels like everyone talks about the same thing, and the DVDs in the little library we have starts to get stale.

So, one day me and my friend Melissa went for a hike. We wore khaki shorts and tank tops and sneakers and were on the trail. About fifteen minutes in, we reached a part of the path where a smaller path sort of veers off in another direction.

"Remember that hill?" Melissa asks with a grin.

I grin back. "Yeah, sounds like a bad idea." That was the lake where me, her, and a couple of our friends went skinny dipping in a few times when we had first moved into the community. Just a few friends lounging around, swimming, having beers and a good time. Days when we used to actually do things.

"Want to go?"

I rolled my eyes. "We're too old for that kind of thing, Mel."

She rolled her eyes right back. "Are we? Come on, it will be fun to do something wild for once, GOD, Linda, I'm so bored."

"What if someone walked by?"

"What if they did?! What're they gonna do, kick us out of the community? Come on! Everyone is at school or watching Law and Order right now, no one is going to go out hiking in this particular spot, sheesh!"

She had a point. Hiking was a thing but the community was small and I felt fairly certain of where everyone was at right now. And this lake is a few miles away from camp...as crazy as it seems it did feel unlikely anyone would come see us...and it probably would let off a bit of steam to do.

"Okay, let's do it." I say.

It was a good hike to the lake. We climbed through the dirt path that wasn't really a path at a lot of points and worked up a sweat.

"I feel like I am starting to feel my age, Mel." I said, wiping some sweat from my brow.

She smirked. "You're a granny."

I rolled my eyes at her, since she is a year older than me. "Not for a bit yet, god willing."

Mel is a bit taller than me, a redhead, boobs a little smaller at C cups. She has a more athletic look than I do, blonde hair, and a few tattoos. I appreciated her tone legs as we walked. She is in better shape than me, I thought, with chagrin.

We finally reached the lake and I was feeling gross and sweaty. That's when a bit of anxiety kicked in. I had a big lump in my throat and I looked at Melissa. "Um...are we seriously going to do this?" I asked. I could tell in her eyes that she was a bit nervous too but she put in a brave face and nodded. "Yep!"

She began to strip down awkwardly, kicking off her shoes and socks first, then pulling off her tank top in a rough manner, then pushing down her brown shorts until she was in her underwear and then I saw her take a deep breath, her chest rising and falling, as she undid her bra, her breasts falling out. She then quickly pushed her panties down and there she was in her naked glory. She did a quick "viola!" gesture, spreading her arms with her palms facing the sky and a sardonic smile before running and jumping into the lake.

"Ahhhhhhh!" she screamed. "Are you okay!" I asked, going into mom-mode.

"I'm fine!" she said in a somewhat shrill voice. "It's just a bit c-c-cold!"

I looked at her hesitantly, clearly shivering. "It's fine....h-hey, I jumped in, you better!"

I took a deep breath. "I'm not in quite as good shape as you." I felt my face getting red.

"OH GOD, Linda, who cares? We're just too friends relaxing, nothing to feel self-conscious about, there aren't any guys here to impress! I'm sure I have a ton of wrinkles on display right now."

I didn't see any but I appreciated that she was trying to make me feel better in her tense, I'm-also-nervous-about-this way.

I started to undress as well, and she looked away as I did, which I also appreciated. When I was stark naked, I took another deep breath.

"JUST DO IT!" She yelled, still looking away. So I did.

And then I screamed too. "FFFFFUCK that's cold!" I cried out.

She laughed still shivering. "We'll get used to it!"

After shivering and squeaking for a few minutes, we DID get used to it and started swimming around. And it was actually really...exhilarating. I had not had a good swim in a while and it felt good to use those muscles again...but also it felt so intense in the wilderness, feeling like we were alone here.

After a few minutes we got out of the lake and laid on rock that was in the shade off to the side to dry off. "That was kinda fun. Probably should be a one-time thing." I said. Mel smiled. "Of course."

But next week, we did it again. then the following week. And the next one. We would undress, swim for ten or 15 minutes then sit on the rock and chat. We started to bring towels each time when went on our hikes. Me and Melissa started hanging out more. We'd often sit near each other during community dinner, which happened twice a week, and our husbands would chat about sports while we talked about books we were reading or other things, and then we would steal away and gossip, which is...technically against the community rules (gotta keep up a good rapport with everyone in the community!), but we were having fun. One day, we were talking shit about Jessica, one of the women we gardened with and something came up.

"Hey...do you feel like some of the younger guys have been different lately?" Mel asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, kinda knowing what she meant wanted to hear her out first.

"I feel like they *look* more." Okay, I definitely knew what she was talking about.

"I know what you mean. A bunch of them have turned 18 recently. I hope they aren't looking for dates." We both laughed at that.

"It's crazy to think I used to watch them when they were kids. Remember when Jason was like, 5, and obsessed with tickling everyone?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was cute then, would be weird now, haha."

"Seriously though, I think his mom has to keep an eye on him, he's making eyes on all the girls in the community like a little puppy dog."

"Lock up your daughters! Mine thinks he's cute."

"Really? Hard to think of him that way, he's like a nephew to me." I said, though I guess the way I said it was clear I wasn't being completely truthful. Mel shot me a devious look and I snorted and we both laughed.

"Okay, he's kind of cute." I admitted. And we changed the subject awkwardly.

We kept up our ritual, skipping some weeks but more or less every week or two we were at the lake. "Should I be worried?" My husband would ask, seeing me and Mel spending more time together.

"Absolutely!" I would respond brightly and we would both laugh. Me and my husband kept a good and cordial relationship throughout our marriage. He was always a good, dependable guy and I never had any reason to complain. Lately, of course, as we got older, our sex life has decreased somewhat, but that's okay, that's what masturbation is for, right? I was happy with that.

One day, as I was doing garden work, I saw Jay staring at me. He was really burning holes in me. I was bent over digging out a rock that was in my way and he was staring to the point of making me uncomfortable. No one else was quite in earshot so I stopped what I was doing and walked to him quietly and said. "What's going on Jay?" Trying to come off both somewhat serious but also not too harsh, like maybe I was just asking him casually.

"Nothing much." he said, grinning. I couldn't tell if he was mocking me with the grin or genuinely innocently didn't know what he was doing was wrong. I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"Can you do me a favor, sweetie?" I asked lightly. He seemed to genuinely get exited at that and said, "Yeah, for sure!"

"Can you just focus on your work and not on mine? It's a little bit distracting."

"Oh, okay," he said, obviously disappointed and embarrassed, blushing a little. I couldn't help but feel a little bad though, so that when he stole more looks and glances as the day went on, I just ignored them and was happy he wasn't being too obvious about it anymore.

About a month later, as me and Melissa were drying ourselves on a couple of towels, we were chatting and having a smoke (she had gone to town to score some weed for us) we suddenly realized we weren't alone.

"Who's there?!" I yelled shrilly as we both frantically covered ourselves with our towels. Our minds racing, not sure whether to assume the worse, some psycho had stumbled upon us to murder us or something or...

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" I screamed, seeing a familiar shape dart out of the bushes, and stumbling to the ground in a rush to escape. "JAY?!?" I yelled ferociously. He stopped in his tracks.

I bit my lip, and took a deep breath. "Come...here." I said, loudly and firmly. I didn't want to have to scream at him. I poured all my authority as a mom and his former babysitter into those two words. Thankfully, he walked back, his eyes face down, burning a hole into the ground as he walked.

I looked at Mel. She looked back. Our anger and fury mirrored back at each other. I looked at him.

"Just what do you think you're doing, young man?" I said in an accusatory tone. "What on Earth did you think you were doing?!"I said in a shrill tone.

"I, I dunno." he said, staring at the ground, stupidly.

"I think you *do* know" I insisted.

"I, I'm really sorry." He said.

I almost felt a little bad now. He looked kind of pathetic, face down, skin brown from working out in the yard with us for year, nice strong looking young man. His dark brown hair a mess, a few scrapes from when he was scampering out of the bushes...and a bulge in his pants he could not hide. Seeing it made me a little uncomfortable but I could not let him know that.

"Listen to me very carefully Jay. I want to the truth. Was this the first time?"

He nodded. I looked at Melissa again. His face was still staring at the ground, or possibly his own bulge, I wasn't sure. She looked incredulous.

"Jay...I said the truth. Or I will tell your parents. He looked up moment and said, "No, please don't..."

"Then the truth."

"I...I did come out here a few times before to watch you guys," he said, his eyes sinking again.

So yes, he didn't accidentally just walk by and it was *at least* a few times.

On the one hand, I felt very vulnerable. I was completely naked with just a towel between my body and the open air and Jay to see. But seeing him looking down and embarrassed...and clearly extremely aroused...I felt kind of powerful.

"Jay...look up at me." I said softly. He did, slowly. "I don't want you spying us again...do you understand?"

He nodded furiously.

"And you're not going to tell anyone about this....especially NOT your friends, right?"

He shook his had furiously. "Oh, you BETTER not." Melissa chimed in, seething.

"Now, go home and don't tell anyone about this ok?"

He looked at me, nodding, standing there, clearly somewhat relieved.

"Well? Get going!" Melissa snapped. And I don't think I seen anyone run so fast in my life.

Melissa and I were both freaking out a little, mostly hoping no other boys had seen. Jay was always a pretty sweet kid and he was probably just curious and whatever, but the community was a small place and the last thing we wanted was a Reputation. All the boys talking about us. Yikes.

We got dressed and got back and talked about what to do and decided to just play it cool for a bit and just see what happens.

And for quite a bit everything was more or less normal...well more or less except any time I encountered Jay I usually tried to find an excuse to leave or felt very awkward. He didn't seem to feel awkward though, rather he seemed to think it was a settled issue. I hoped that was a good sign. He still checked me out during garden work but I did get the sense he was letting me have my space which was good. Me and Mel stopped going to the lake, of course, and kept avoiding the topic of what happened when we spoke.

One day I was taking a walk around the compound and I saw Jay approaching me. I wanted to shift direction and move away but he homed in on me as I turned left down the path and before I knew it he was next to me.

"Hey, Linda," he said someone quietly. I sighed. "What's going on, Jay?"

"Nothing much...I...I just wanted to say I was sorry. Really sorry."

"It's ok." I said flatly.

"No...I mean...you two were enjoying the lake and I kinda ruined that right?"

Yes, he kind of did. I was conflicted. I kind of wanted to ask him what he was thinking but I also didn't want to traumatize the kid by screaming at him about this in public. "Look, it's okay to be curious Jay, but I'm a grown woman, married. You can't just spy on me."

"I know, I'm sorry." He said, still walking with me. He was a cute kid. "Hey, weren't you and my daughter hanging out? What happened to that?"

"Oh, well...I....I just felt weird because...."

"Because what?"

"I...I was starting to have a crush on you more than I did on Kayleigh."

I was taken a back on this...was he just saying this to excuse his behavior, or...no, that didn't feel right. "You have a crush on me?" I asked, seriously. He looked into my eyes and nodded.

I knew Jay for years and I had a sense of when he was shooting the bull...and I felt this wasn't it. I tried to let him off easy.

"Awwww, honey, you're very sweet, but you know it can't work, right?" I said.

"Yes." He said, nodding glumly.

"We're friends, okay?

"Yes." He said.

"Good." I said, hoping he understood.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Hoping it wasn't going to be something inappropriate, I braced myself and said, "Of course."

"Is it because I'm not attractive?"

Oh gosh, I thought. I went into mom-mode, not wanting to hurt his self-esteem.

"NO! Not at all, you're very handsome Jay. Don't tell the other boys I said this...but you're one of the cutest kids in the community." I gave him a little smile and said, "I'm *married*. I'm sure you know what that means, sweetie."

He nodded again.

"Good. Listen, I need to run, okay?" He nodded and I gave him a quick hug and walked nervously away.

That night I laid awake in bed at night, thinking about that interaction, wondering if I could have handled things better, hearing my husband snore beside me. I knew what Jay did was wrong, but also he really was like family. I didn't want him to feel bad about his feelings and I also didn't want our relationship to get awkward. I decided to talk to him when I got a chance. It's not always easy to have privacy in the community though. So I had decided to go on a hike. Around the time me and Melissa would typically go.

I went on the hike and undressed. He had already seen me naked tons of times. The seal was broken so to speak. So I went to the lake. I did it again. And again. And again. Until finally I noticed he was returning to his hideout to spy. And this time I just pretended not to notice.

It got me out of the house. It allowed Jay to let off some steam. And honestly made things a little less boring. He still looked. I thought this was fine. I interacted during the day and was able to let that awkwardness slip away.

Until one day, as I was laying on the rock, he broke the unwritten rule...and walked out from behind the bush.

"What are you doing?" I asked, less angry that I wanted to sound, hurriedly covering up with the blanket I brought.

"I'm sorry for spying, just wanted to tell you...there is a spider on your shoulder."

I froze. Blinked a few times. And looked. Then screamed, ripping the blanket off and swatting at it. the thing was huge! With every swing of my towel the creatures simply blew farther and farther away from me from the wind I was producing, rather than succumb to my strikes. Completely revealing my nudity in the process.

Realizing this, I look at him, my eyes widening. He looks at me, anxiety in his eyes. Suddenly, we both burst out laughing.

"You're not mad?" He asked after catching his breath. I shook my head. "I just don't want you to feel weird about this Jay. It's normal to be curious. We talked about this. But I sensed the awkwardness."

He nodded. It was about then that I noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Why are you shirtless?"

"Oh...uh...sometimes after you leave I got ahead and take a dip myself."

"Oh..." That made sense, I guess. I shrugged my shoulders at him and ran to the lake and took a dive. I swam under the water, thinking I should tell him to take a woke, but then I heard a splash from underneath. I surfaced and there he was swimming with me. Shivering. "Fuck, it's cold!"

I splashed him. "LANGUAGE!" He splashed me back. Splash. Splash back. Laughing and more swimming back and forth. When we were done we got to the shore to dry off and I realized...he was naked!

"Whoa," I said in surprise, covering my eyes. Glimpsing stuff i should not be seeing. "What are you doing."

He shrugged, giving me a sheepish look. "I figured it was only fair. You don't have to look."

I didn't. But I found myself peeking. Jay had grown up. And I was liking what I was seeing.

"Okay, now that we have gotten over the awkwardness, let's agree not to do this again."

"Okay, if that's what you want."

"It is. No more peeking, okay?"

He nodded. "Thanks, Linda."

I nodded to him.

A few weeks go by and everything felt pretty much back to normal. Me and Jay would walk by each other on the campus and would smile or wave and or have a little chit chat. Melissa noticed and said,

"So you and Jay are getting along."

I shrugged. "Yeah."

"You aren't still mad at that creep?"

"He's not a creep, he is just a curious guy."

She laughed, "I know, I guess it's better than walking on eggshells. I feel like things have gotten back to normal between me and him too. I was just surprised, you seemed so mad that day."

"I WAS mad. But..."

"Yeah, he's still Jay, and we're all family here."

I nodded.

"You aren't getting a crush on him, are you?"

I blushed. "What?!"

"Hey, you blushed!" she said laughing.

"Don't be silly, he's practically a baby."

She raised a knowing eyebrow at me. "He's a very good looking 18."

I sighed. "Maybe, but my husband is a very good looking 40-year-old."

"Ain't that the truth!" she said and I slapped at her playfully.