Milkweed and Gossamer

"Hey, Ethan!" Carlos said. "Did you get a picture of that? We have to send that one to Scott!"

"Don't you fuckin' dare, you assholes!" Jaime yelled. Lowering her voice, she said, "Holy shit. You are a good kisser."

Josh tried to adjust his erection before the guys got close enough to the butterfly house mesh to see and make fun. "Yeah. You too," he mumbled.

Josh exited the double-doors, and cursed at the guys. "Assholes. Both of you."

He stormed back in the direction of the log cabin, and locked himself in a bathroom stall.

~~~~~

Fortunately, the assholes didn't deliver on their promise, but they did share the photo with Alex. For about a week, all three of them did their best to interfere with any attempt Josh and Jaime made to talk to each other. Josh went near the Butterfly House, so Carlos handed him a flat of white coneflowers to take to the log cabin. Jaime went into the gardens in the back, so Alex called her up to the Butterfly House to have her answer a question. Ethan popped up every time they looked at each other from across the property.

Josh figured that Scott had deputized the three of them to keep tabs on Jaime. Either that or they were just fucking with him. He assumed that they were working together, but he couldn't be sure.

Jaime had just finished a tour, when her phone buzzed.

What is up with these three? I can't get near you!!

She replied, looking over her shoulder, expecting one of the goons to know he was texting her.

I know. It's stupid.

She thought for a moment.

Meet me in the Fairy Garden at 8:30.

The store closed at eight, so everyone would be gone by then.

~~~~~

Josh was nervous when he parked his truck on the back side of the log cabin. He had seen Jaime's red Prius parked there, but he hoped that once it was dark, both cars would be hidden. He trotted to the Fairy Garden, trying to avoid being seen by anyone who might be along the road.

"Oh, wow," he said when he arrived at the wrought iron gate at the entrance to the garden.

"Hey, over here," Jaime said from the far corner of the garden.

Josh walked straight to her and kissed her. Hard and for a long time. When they finally came up for air, Jaime said, "I brought some sandwiches. There's a table over here."

While she set up the food and sodas, Josh looked around.

"Have you been in here before?" she asked.

"No. I knew there was a Fairy Garden, but I had no idea what that was."

There were plants and little solar-powered decorative lights everywhere. Some were staked into the ground or into flower pots. Others were hanging from the pergola that covered the garden.

The air was thick with the smell of flowers. Even after working in the garden for weeks, he still couldn't identify the flowers by sight, never mind smell.

"What are the flowers growing up there?" He pointed to the lush vines hanging from the pergola, draping into the garden from above.

"Roses and Boston ivy. It's the roses you smell though."

She led him to the corner at the back of the garden, using the flashlight on her phone to help them see. "This is why we call it the Fairy Garden," she said as she pulled back plants to reveal a miniature world hiding under the foliage. There were tiny houses with horse-drawn carriages, sheets hanging on itty-bitty clotheslines, and bird feeders smaller than thimbles.

In another section there was a Norman-Rockwell-style town common. There was a church with a steeple that reached into the greenery above it, tiny shops, and a gazebo.

"Is that a school bus?" he asked, pointing to a vehicle smaller than a Matchbox car.

"Yeah. Can you see the little flag pole?"

"Yes. This is spectacular. What else is there?"

She led him to a small castle, complete with water running in the moat, and a mist-breathing dragon. An army of trolls stood in formation along the drawbridge.

"So where are the fairies?" he asked.

"Look around. See the little, green flashes of light?"

"You mean the fireflies?"

"C'mon," she said, smacking him on the arm. "Use your imagination! They're fairies!"

"You're awfully cute when you get all indignant," he said. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He leaned in and kissed her on the neck.

"Mmm," she moaned. "That feels nice."

She turned around in his arms, and melted into his body. Her hands moved to his ass, and he moaned when she slid them into his back pockets.

They kissed again. This time Josh's hands wandered to the front of Jaime's maroon shirt. He squeezed her tits gently, noting how they fit so neatly in his hands. Her tongue probed his mouth as the kiss lingered, and she moaned when his fingertips ran over her nipples.

Josh finally broke the kiss when his stomach growled. He kissed her on the nose and said, "Did you say you brought sandwiches?"

~~~~~

When the food was gone, Jaime showed him the fish pond at the other end of the garden. They sat on a wooden bench, watching the enormous red and white Koi swim through the water. The incandescent lights at the bottom of the man-made pond cast a soft glow on the corner of the garden.

"This is my favorite spot in the world," Jaime said. "I come in here at night all the time."

"It's very romantic," Josh said with a soft smile on his lips.

"Romantic? That's the first time I've heard a guy use that word!"

"What? It is!" he said. "The lights, the sound of the water, the smell of the roses, the girl next to me..."

They kissed again. This time Josh slid his hands under the hem of her shirt. She giggled when his fingertips trailed over her belly.

"I'm sorry," he said, pulling his hands out. "I'll stop."

"No!" she said with a force that let Josh know that she wanted him to touch her. "You're just tickling my tummy."

"Oh," he said. "So you'd rather I move my hands up a little higher? Is that what you're telling me?" He wagged his fingers again, bringing another fit of giggles.

She grabbed his wrists and pushed his hands right up to the lace cups of her bra.

"No," she said, holding her hands over his, as if she was cupping her own breasts. "I'm telling you that I'm terribly ticklish, so don't touch me there."

"But here's OK?" he said, rubbing her nipples with his thumbs.

"Yes. Very good." She relaxed and let her hands fall to Josh's thighs. Her hand trailed closer to his fly, and he shuddered.

"You're making me hard, Milkweed," he said in a raspy voice. "I'm just warning you."

"Right here? Is this where you're hard?" She placed her hand over his bulge and gave it a squeeze through the denim.

"Oh, yeah...Right there."

Josh's brain relinquished control and let his cock do the thinking. He moved his hands up higher on her chest, lifting her shirt and revealing the red lace on the cups of Jaime's bra. He tipped his head to get a better look at her tits, and then he slid his hands back down, inside the bra this time.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the moan in her exhale giving him permission to proceed.

"Can I take your shirt off?" he whispered.

"Uh-huh." She nodded and moved her arms to make it easier to remove. Her braid got caught on the butterfly-shaped button on the pocket of the shirt, causing her to yelp at the tug.

"Shh!" Josh warned, smiling at her while he fought to untangle her hair.

"Ow," she said, quieter this time. "It's a good thing our house is so far down the road. All we'd need is for Scott to hear me hollering in pain."

While Josh wrestled with the shirt, Jaime reached behind her back and unhooked her bra.

He finally got the shirt free, and he caught the first glimpse of her bare breasts. His mouth dropped open, stunned to see her perfect, little tits, and her nipples standing straight out of their centers. In the dim light of the fish pond, he couldn't determine their color, but he dropped his mouth and took them in his mouth, first the left then the right.

"Oh my god, Josh. That feels so good," she said in a shaky voice.

He sucked her nipples and wondered if she had ever sucked a cock. He knew she was a virgin—Scott had been quite clear on that point—but lots of high school girls gave blowjobs. Blowjobs weren't sex, after all. Josh had gotten a few at high school and college parties from girls that were desperate for attention, but it had been a long time since he had a pair of lips wrapped around his cock.

"Oh, please," he thought to himself. "Please let me get lucky."

He was lucky.

Jaime whispered, "Pull your pants down so I can see you."

Josh wasn't expecting her to be quite so bold, but he stood up and pulled his jeans and his tighty-whiteys down to his knees.

Jaime looked up at him from the bench and licked her lips. Josh smiled at the hungry look in her eyes.

She wrapped her hand around his shaft and her eyes widened. "You're so big and hard," she said. She rubbed her hand back and forth, getting his pre-cum all over her palm. She stuck her thumb onto the head and milked some of the slippery fluid into her hand.

She licked her lips again as she leaned closer to Josh's groin. When her mouth reached the tip of his dick, she stuck out her tongue for a taste.

"Mmm..." she moaned as his pre-cum coated her lips and tongue. She opened her mouth and smiled as his cock slid across her rough taste buds toward the back of her mouth.

"Ahh..." The heat from her mouth engulfed Josh's cock, and he felt a surge of pleasure through his midsection. "Oh, Milkweed. This isn't gonna take long."

She pulled her mouth off his cock and looked up at him, as serious look on her face. "Don't come in my mouth, OK? I'm not ready for that."

"I'll let you know when I'm close, OK?"

She nodded and took him back into her mouth, her hazel eyes still locked on his.

He was right. About two minutes later he said, "I'm gonna come. Watch out."

He grabbed his cock in his hand and stepped back to pull it out of her mouth as it started to spasm. He turned away from her to avoid coming on her clothes and jerked his cock as it started to shoot. He grunted like a caveman as he came.

The first spurts flew into the fish pond. The rest landed on the gravel and rocks surrounding the pond.

"Oh, my!" Jaime said. "That was wild."

"You've got some skill with that tongue, that's for sure." He was panting while he spoke.

Jaime stood up and wrapped her arms around his waist. She squeezed his naked buttocks in her hands and tilted her head up to kiss his lips.

Still fairly erect, his cock poked into her stomach.

"Still excited, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah. I guess you're having that effect on me. Holy shit, was that an incredible blowjob," he said.

She paused for a moment, biting her lip nervously. "Do you have a condom?" she asked.

Josh started to cough and laugh at the same time, completely caught off guard. When he recovered, he said, "No. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking that we'd need one."

Jaime shook her head. "It's not that I don't trust you or anything," she said. "I just can't get pregnant. I'm going to school—"

He held his hands up defensively. "No, no, no. That's not what I meant. I just meant that I didn't think we'd be doing...it...tonight."

Josh could read the lust in her eyes as she mulled it over.

"Well," she said, "maybe we can—"

"No. We can't," he said, pulling up his pants as he spoke. "This is a big deal and a big risk. I'm sorry. God damn."

Jaime's phone beeped a text alert. She walked to the table to check the message.

"Shit," she said. "It's Scott. My dad's looking for me."

"What time is it?" Josh asked.

"Almost ten." She placed her phone in her bag. "I gotta go."

"OK," Josh said. "I think I'm gonna go home and take a cold shower."

She smiled. "Do you think that will help?"

Jaime walked back to the bench to grab her clothes. When she turned around, she tripped over a rock on the edge of the fish pond.

Josh was looking at his phone, so he was surprised when he heard the loud splash.

He looked up to see Jaime sitting in the shallow pond, still topless and now dripping wet. He laughed when he saw a bright red fish swim across the skin on her belly.

"Yeah. Funny," she said wryly. "How am I going to explain this one to my parents?"

Josh reached down to help her out of the pond. "Just tell them you took a cold shower," he said with a grin. "Did it help?"

~~~~~

Josh and Jaime sat at a picnic table in the party pavilion. It was the last week in August, and the sun was already making its descent behind the mountain on the other side of the brook. The crickets and katydids chirped their evening cadence, and it was starting to get cooler.

"I can't believe your parents are letting you go away," he said. "I mean, it's still pretty busy here. Won't they need you to work?"

"My aunt and uncle are taking me and my cousin for our graduation presents. You only graduate from high school once, right? My parents couldn't exactly say no to that."

"A week in the Bahamas, huh? That's some graduation present. I didn't even get anything that good when I graduated from college," he said.

"Josh Gossamer, are you jealous?"

"Yeah, I guess maybe I am. I mean, we're just starting to get close, and now you're going away for a week. You can't blame me for being jealous of your cousin," he said.

Jaime tipped her head and raised her eyebrows. "You're jealous of Rachel? That's so sweet! I thought you were jealous that I got to go to the Bahamas."

"Not at all," he said. "I wouldn't begrudge you the trip. I'm just disappointed that you're leaving. I'll miss you." He reached across the table and took her hand.

"I'll miss you too," she said.

"C'mon. Let's go sit in the Fairy Garden for a bit."

They held hands on the way, figuring that the falling darkness would provide privacy from prying eyes.

Scott's footsteps crunching in the gravel startled both of them too late.

"What the fuck, Gossamer!"

"Scott, it's not what it looks like," Josh said, dropping her hand, and holding his hands up in front of him.

"It looks like you're holding hands with my sister, you asshole! Were you the one that gave her the fucking hickey on her neck?"

Josh looked at Jaime and saw the red smear disappearing blow the crew neck of her T-shirt.

"Scott..." Jaime said.

"No. Jaime, go home. Now," Scott snarled.

"No, Scott. I'm eighteen years old. You can't—"

"I can't? Mom and dad told me to keep you out of trouble. My god. Control yourself, would you?"

"Control myself? We're holding hands! It's not like I'm giving him a blowjob!" she said.

"Scott..." Josh said.

"Get the fuck out of here, Gossamer. Stay away from her. Christ, I figured it was Carlos! I thought you were a nicer guy than him."

"Jeez, Scott. I am. I'm a nice guy. I like Jaime. I'm just trying to get to know her," Josh said, his voice rising in pitch.

"She's too young for you, asshole. What are you gonna do? Fuck around with her for a little while, then run off to grad school? What if you get her pregnant?" Scott stepped within inches of Josh.

Josh held his hands up in defense. "Scott, I'm not—"

"Save it, Gossamer. Jaime, let's go. Now."

Scott grabbed Jaime by the elbow and turned to escort her away.

Josh was usually mild-mannered, almost to the point of passivity, but Scott's words and the way he handled Jaime so roughly made something inside of him snap. He lunged for Scott, grabbed his arm, and turned him around.

Scott responded by dropping Jaime's arm and giving Josh a quick jab to the nose. As the blood from his nose stained his shirt red, Josh's head got cloudy and his vision doubled in rage. He charged at Scott, landing two ineffective punches to his upper body.

Scott jumped back and laughed at Josh's weak attempt to fight for Jaime. "You always were a weakling," Scott sneered.

Josh heard voices approaching, and he hoped someone would put a stop to this nonsense. Alex and Carlos came around the butterfly house just in time to hear Scott turn his anger on Jaime.

"And you, little slut. You can't keep your fuckin' clothes on!"

Josh saw red again. This time he managed to connect one hard blow to Scott's eye before Carlos and Alex caught Josh and held him by the arms.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Carlos yelled.

"This little fucker has been trying to get into my sister's pants all summer. I'm stopping him."

Carlos took charge of the situation.

"Josh, you get the hell out of here. Scott, take Jaime home. Now!" he shouted when nobody moved.

Carlos walked Scott and Jaime down the path in the direction of their house and tried to find out what had started the fight.

After about four steps, Jaime stopped and turned toward Josh. Just before Scott grabbed her arm again to haul her home, she said, "I'm sorry. This is stupid. I'll call you when I get back."

She turned and started to walk, pulling as far away from Scott as possible.

"I'M NOT HAVING SEX WITH YOUR SISTER!" Josh yelled after them. He couldn't tell whether or not Scott could hear him over the angry sound of the gravel beneath their stomping feet.

"C'mon, man," Alex said. "Let's get out of here."

~~~~~

The day after Jaime left, Josh was setting out the first of the end-of-summer mums when Mr. Yaple called to him from the log cabin. He felt a sick feeling in his stomach. With his head hanging, Josh trudged through the gravel to the cabin.

Jaime's mother was working the cash register. She gave him a tight-lipped glare as she pointed to the office in the rear of the store. He straightened up, trying to pull himself together, right into the cluster of hanging glass planters. This time he knocked the damned hummingbird feeder to the ground. It smashed to the concrete floor, right in front of his feet, scattering shards of dark-red glass in all directions.

His white socks and shoelaces were flecked with red glass, and he panicked. Mrs. Yaple ran over with a broom. Josh tried to take it from her to clean up his mess, but she pushed him out of the way.

"Go talk to my husband, and then get the hell out of here," she said, her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth contorted into an ugly snarl. "You've done enough damage here. We treated you like family, and this is how you thank us?"

With his head spinning and his stomach churning, Josh walked the rest of the way to Mr. Yaple's office.

"Don't bother sitting down, Gossamer. You're fired, plain and simple. Nobody starts a fight at my store and gets away with it. We gave you a good opportunity for the summer and asked only one thing of you—that you stay away from our daughter. She finally got herself on track, and we didn't need you fucking around with her."

"But, sir. I didn't—"

"I don't want to hear it. Jaime had trouble with boys in high school. We got her to graduation, now she's going to community college. The last thing she needs is some horny guy her brother's age—"

"But, we didn't—"

"Look. You're leaving soon. What if you got her pregnant? Then what would you do?" He paused, waiting for Josh to answer.

"We didn't do any—"

"I'll tell you what you'd do. You'd leave her here and take off for the rest of your life.

"All I wanted as a father was for my little girl to stay a virgin until her wedding night. I just don't want to see her forced into marriage because she got knocked up like her mother did. And now... Now... She's having...sex..." Mr. Yaple broke down, crying into a tissue.

"But I didn't... I DIDN'T FUCK YOUR DAUGHTER!" Josh had his own breakdown. "Sure, I kissed her a few times, and maybe I touched her a little bit, but THAT'S IT!

Mr. Yaple became calm all of a sudden. Josh's eyes widened in fear.

When Mr. Yaple finally spoke, his voice was an angry whisper. "If that's it, why the hell do I have security video of my daughter, my little girl, topless and sucking your goddam cock?"