Naked Portraits Pt. 15

I heard the crackling of a fire as my eyes focused on a painting of burning tiki torches illuminating a fierce Hawaiian Ku carving. The smell of damp earth and the sound of peeping frogs came from the painted rainforest behind the Ku. A female voice calling from the rainforest.

The rainforest gave way to bright blue sky. An ocean breeze stirred my hair; I smelled salt air. I walked down to a landing dominated by a mural of a blonde haired woman floating in the sky above a blue-green ocean, her pose reminded me of Botticelli's Venus, her long hair floating everywhere. Amazingly, the face and figure of the floating Venus had a drop-dead likeness to Aly. An ornament around the painted figure's neck caught my eye.

"What's that around her neck?" I asked dreamily.

"Some kind of locket?" a male voice said behind me.

I panicked thinking that the Ku carving had followed me down. The panic melted away when I saw that it was just Paul. Together, we stepped in close to investigate the object on the figure's neck. I was surprised to see that it was a golden spider.

Paul reached out to touch the painted locket. The spider shifted minutely. "Shit!" he barked and pulled his hand back.

I reached up to touch it next.

"You crazy? Don't touch that thing," Paul said.

All I felt was rough concrete wall. Miraculously, the spider had reverted back to a painted image. "This is freaky," I said as I traced the legs of the golden arachnid with an index finger willing it to come to life again. I noticed that a faint golden hexagon shape surrounded the spider. I pulled out the locket that hung around my neck.

"Aly found this," I said to Paul, showing him the locket. My locket and the painted locket were one and the same.

"I saw it move, you did too ... right?" Paul said with a hint of fear in his voice. I nodded. He said in a whisper, "Odd things have been happening to me since I helped you make that offering."

"To me too," I said simply. Then I asked, "Where's Oleander?"

"In the sculpture yard?" Paul said but it sounded like a guess.

We continued down the stairs with no more shared hallucinations, but I was sure that I heard a soft deep female laughter coming from the landing above us. I was tempted to ask Paul if he heard it too, but my stoned mind was too lazy to form such a complex question. The sculpture yard was deserted and quiet. All the action was up stairs were the beer and pot were. The yard looked shadowy and a little creepy.

"Oleander?" I called out.

"Here," came a female voice seemingly from everywhere.

Paul and I look at each other. "Metal shop," he said.

It sounded like the voice came from the open-air courtyard to me. But I took his hand and let him lead me into the shop determined not to make that fatal mistake that everyone in horror movies make ... they split up. We walked into the metal shop, no people, nothing but deep shadows.

"The voice came from this way," I said tugging at Paul's hand because I really didn't want to venture any deeper into the menacing metal shop. We stepped out into the open courtyard. The moon was full and overhead. We saw Oleander standing in the middle of the yard bathed in moonlight.

"Hey girl," Paul said.

Oleander didn't respond, she just stood there.

"You okay?" Paul asked.

She still didn't response.

"You're freaking us out." Paul said.

He pulled free of my hand and walked back into the metal shop.

Please don't leave me I wanted to say but at the moment I was having trouble organizing my thoughts. A loud clacking sound echoed through the courtyard and I jumped out of my skin. Bright, dazzling, yellow floodlights filled the world around me. The part of my brain that clung to tiny threads of reality knew that it was the sound of breaker switches on the light panel. I squinted and turned away from the sudden glare. A random memory drifted into my head of how light reacted to the powerful pull of black holes in space proving to some that light was made of particles ... or something like that. In response to my random thoughts particles of light shaped like little tumbling golden spiders danced before my eyes.

The particle spiders vanished when Paul yelled, "Holy fuck!"

I gasped for Oleander had been turned to wood! Or more accurately, she had become Wahine Lani the forest goddess of Iao Valley. A clot of people stepped into the work lights of the sculpture yard via the wood shop led by Oleander and Ed Marshal the metal sculpture instructor. I quickly revised my original assumption that Oleander had turned to wood, but that didn't change the fact that Wahine Lani was standing in the middle of the fucking courtyard before me. Right then and there I swore off leaving pagan offerings to random forest gods and bad ass weed.

"Everybody okay?" Ed Marshal asked. Paul and I nodded. I stepped up to the carved figure and hesitantly touched her gray-grained face to reassure myself that she was really there.

"You like Clara?" a woman in the crowd asked me.

"Her name's Clara?" I asked thinking that it was an absurd name for a Goddess. I turned to look at the woman. She was a small Hawaiian woman in her sixties; I thought that she was very beautiful. She looked familiar. Did I know her? Irritated at my stoned state, I willed myself some focus.

"This is the lady you were looking for," Oleander said.

Unlike me, Oleander seemed to have no trouble functioning while high.

Ed Marshal said, "This is Momi Alama Kanai,"

The women nodded and smiled at me.

Marshal continued with introductions, "This is Gwen Yoshimura and Paul Gleason both graduate art students."

"Why is ... Clara here?" I asked.

"I'm gong to build a plaster mold around her," Ed said. "Ms. Kanai has agreed to let us make a bronze copy of the statue for the new Hawaiian studies wing then we'll take her back to her Valley."

"Clara's been around," Momi said.

"I can't get over the name, Clara," I said.

Momi smiled and said, "That's what my mother told me her name is. Mom died almost a year ago. So strange that she and my grandmother both died on the winter solstice exactly fifty years apart."

"She died last December?" I asked. That seemed a relevant thing to ask. I wish I wasn't so stoned so I could ascertain WHY it was relevant. My mind reeled back to my first offering to Wahine Lani ... Clara ... on Maui in December. My skin crawled remembering the feeling of someone watching Hawk and I from the shadows.

More people entered the courtyard; the party seemed to have followed Ed Marshal and Oleander down stairs. I needed to sit down so I drifted away without a word and sat in a well-lit area on a concrete bench in front of the art auditorium. I put my back against the wall, closed my eyes and breathed deeply.

"You see a ghost?" came a woman's voice. With a yelp, I open my eyes. Momi Alama Kanai stood in front of me.

I forced a laugh and said, "Kind of." Before I knew it, I told her in detail of my first meeting with Clara.

Momi's eyes narrowed as she said, " When I encounter an offering the protocol is to bury it some place secret. But the two offerings I found on the day after my mother's passing, I felt compelled to open. Yours was in the spirit wood chopstick box?"

I nodded and cringed waiting for a lecture of the evils of appropriating another culture's religion.

Momi said, "That was your hair and blood?"

"My hair, my boyfriend's blood." With a lump of fear I added, "and his semen."

Momi looked stern for a second then said, "I owe you a big apology Japanee girl I shouldn't have exposed your offering like I did."

"It's okay, I don't know why I did it. I don't really believe in goddesses."

Momi burst into laughter that echoed super loud off the surrounding concrete walls. "Looks like the goddess believes in you though huh?" In a more serious voice she added, "You're on the path now eh? May as well see where it goes." She gave me a warm parting smile and turned to go.

"Wait," I said. "You said that there was another offering you opened?"

"Yes, it was a little metal statue of a woman with big boobs and and round okole." she pulled out her cell phone and brought up a photo of the object.

It was one of Sally Higgins' little fetish bronzes.

Chapter 66 Out to Hawk

"Shit," I whispered as my befuddled mind tried to make heads or tail of what just happened. Then I remembered that Hawk and Aly were waiting for me in my studio. I got up and worked my way up stairs to the forth floor. I opened the door of my studio and I was greeted by the sight of Hawk and Aly, barely dressed wrapped around each other on my ratty loveseat sofa kissing.

"Was I gone that long?" I asked as I closed the door behind me.

The pair untangled themselves. Aly stood up and pointed an accusing finger at Hawk and said, "It's him the horn dog. He confessed that Meka filming a prono of you got him all hot and bothered."

Hawk looked indignant then said, "You were the one going on about how hot Meka looked. In fact, you said that if you were a lesbian, you'd be all over Meka like white on a sailor."

Aly smiled. "I'm guilty until proven innocent."

I took a couple of seconds to gather my thoughts. On my peripheral, the shapes of my current painting resting on my easel started to shift. I turned my head and took the time to mentally force the shapes back in place.

I faintly heard Aly say, "Good God girl are you stoned?"

Suddenly, I was falling forward. Part of me was vaguely aware that Hawk had pulled me onto his lap. Some focus returned as he nibbled at my neck. I giggled and tried to push him away. Aly threw herself into the fray tickling my ribs causing me to scream. Hawk covered my mouth with a kiss and the giggles and laughter were replaced by moans and sweet sighs of lust.

As we kissed, I heard music but when I opened my eyes the music faded away. I closed my eyes again and the music returned. It was Mozart ... or The Bare Naked Ladies ... either way it was a pleasant audio sensation. My legs were draped over Aly's lap and I felt her fingers delicately trace my right calf.

I broke the kiss with Hawk and stood up. A stoned, horny bright idea filled my head and I said to Aly, "Undress me."

Aly raised an eyebrow and gave me a questioning look. "You're stoned girl. Better think this through."

"Why would I be against girls undressing each other?" Hawk asked, clearly loving the idea.

Aly shrugged and stood up. It seemed like she took minutes to stand to her full height.

"You are so impossibly tall," I said. "Asian chicks shouldn't be this tall." I reached up high and touched her silky blond hair that surrounded her beautiful Korean face.

"You are WAY stoned Japanee girl," Aly said borrowing a little local pidgin. She put her hands at my waist, I raised my arms and she pulled my shirt over my head. She unsnapped my jeans, and slid them down to my ankles. I stepped out of them and stood facing Hawk in a light blue bra and black panties.

"Your turn," I said to Aly. With a great deal of help from her, I stripped her down to sexy white panties and bra. "Your underwear always matches," I said with a pout.

Aly stood behind me and made a show of undoing my bra by first sliding the straps off my slim shoulders. She undid the claps and the bra dropped to the floor exposing my pert breasts for Hawk's always-hungry blue eyes. The feel of cool air on my exposed breasts sent a vibration through me causing my nipples to stretch away in opposite directions. It was a weird but not unpleasant sensation. Maybe I should make out stoned more often I mused and imagined what it would be like to feel a cool night sea breeze or better yet, the warm sun, on my naked skin.

With a great force of will, I put aside my digressions and removed Aly's bra. I marveled at her full breasts and pink perfect nipples, the lovely pair would have been hypnotic even if I weren't so stoned. Aly dropped to her knees and delicately slid my panties to the floor. Her face was near enough to my crotch that I could feel her breath. A thrill rushed through me. I wanted to kiss her sweet mouth.

Fuck it, what the hell.

I dropped to the floor and kissed Aly's warm delicious mouth.

"Holy fucking Buddha," Hawk said in a whisper.

"The gig is up," Aly said when the kiss broke. I kissed her again and my hands slid over her panty-covered ass.

"Holy fucking Yahweh," I heard Hawk say. The kiss was cut short because I needed to laugh at Hawk's one-track reaction.

"If this is so disturbing to you we could stop RIGHT now," Aly said.

Hawk said, "Whatever you're smoking, Gwen, we gonna buy more of it. Shit, Ill grow the stuff myself if I have to."

Aly laughed.

In a more serious tone, Hawk asked, " How long has this been going on?"

"Three months," Aly said.

"Matt was right," Hawk said. "There WAS something up with Aly."

Apparently, Matt had had the 'Aly cheating on us' discussion with Hawk too.

I opened my mouth to speak just as Aly's hand found my clitoris. I nearly bucked in two at the flood of sensations. "Stop!" "I'm trying to talk." Her hand drifted away from between my legs and fondled my left breast. That was no less distracting, but I was determined to fill Hawk in on the secret lesbian affair. "We first did it on the day of the Vegas game at Oshi and Brian's."

"I knew it!" Hawk yelled pointing an accusing finger at me and then Aly. "I felt a vibe coming from you two that night, but I just didn't imagine..." He emphatically gestured at Aly touching me, "THIS!"

Aly kissed the side of my neck.

"Stoooop!" I said fighting off the dreaded giggles. "You're making this very hard."

"No," Aly said, "I'm making HAWK very hard."

Thinking of Hawk's erection made me lose my train of thought ... yet again.

I smiled and floated my naked body over to the loveseat and dropped to my knees. I fumbled at Hawk's shorts and lazily freed his big stiff erection. With Mr. Happy in both my hands, I slowly stroked him getting lost in the simple action. Aly snuggled behind me. I liked the feel of her breasts brushing against my back. She moved my long hair to one side and kissed my exposed neck. Her hands slipped around to my front and cupped my breasts.

She whispered into my ear, "I envy your small tits, you don't have to worry about sagging. She slid one hand down over my stomach and worked her fingers between my thighs seeking out my soaked clitoris. I purred like a cat.

"Nice kitty," Hawk said in a lecherous whisper.

I kept stroking his rock hard penis. Again, the giggles threatened, but my building orgasm overrode them.

"Watch me pop her," Aly said.

"Don't use the word pop. It's—" A quickened breath cut off my words. I stopped stroking Hawk and placed my hands over Aly's hand between my legs to keep it there. I closed my eyes and electric guitar surged and fireworks of white light exploded across my inner eyelids.

"Awesome," Hawk said with full Californian inflection.

"Yes it was," I said dreamily. I looked at Hawk's erection twitching on his belly. With my right hand, I stilled it, bent to kiss it and then I turned and kissed Aly. With our mouths engaged, Aly stood and pulled me to my feet. Hawk stood too, he pulled his shirt over his head and kicked his shorts away from his feet.

"I've been wanting to do this for a while now," Aly said. She lowered herself onto the loveseat and pulled Hawk to his knees between her spread legs. With no coaxing, Hawk guided his hardon into Aly's wet opening. "Kiss me my Japanese princess," Aly said. "Feel my tits as Hawk fucks me."

I hungrily covered her mouth with mine as my hands explored her ample chest. Her hands roamed over my shoulders and forearms as Hawk slid in and out of her. I kissed her and thrust my tongue deep into her eager mouth. She came with a muffled squeal.

I broke the kiss, smiled down at her and said, "Ouch," There were red marks on my forearms where Aly's fingers had dug into the flesh.

"Sorry," she said grimacing guiltily.

I looked at Hawk and said, "Let me blow you. I've never done that stoned before."

"I LOVE you stoned," Hawk said as he pulled out of Aly and settled next to her on the loveseat.

I dropped between his spread legs, took his glistening erection in my hands, pushed it flat against his stomach and breathed in the intoxicating smell of both my lovers. If I could somehow bottle that scent I would make a trillion dollars. Starting at the spot between his balls, I traced a line to the head of his penis with the tip of my tongue. Without using my hands, I took the head into my mouth and aggressively swallowed as much of him as I could down my throat.

"Holy fuck," Hawk gasped. A laugh threatened to escape me so I released him before I choked myself then I squealed in surprise as several ropes of white erupted from the end of Hawk's steely erection soaking my hand, wrist and part of my upper arm.

"Look who's popping now?" Aly said.

"Not fair...I fucked you first...plus the lesbian thing." He covered his face and said, "This is so fucking awesome!"

Chapter 67 Meet My Goddess

Several wet wipes, three cold beers from my little fridge and a whole lot of affectionate touching and kissing later, we were dressed. My high had faded but hadn't totally gone away. That was some potent shit!

Aly asked, "What happened with you and Meka?"

"Noting much. Probably won't do it." To change the subject I said, "Wahine Lani is down stairs,"

"The forest goddess? No way. You're hallucinating. Must be the pakalolo," Hawk said.

"That may be true but she's still down stairs," I said.

To prove that I wasn't hallucinating, I led my lovers down stairs to the sculpture yard via the painted stairwell. On the way, I stopped to see If I had imagined the Aly look alike.

Hawk set the record straight by exclaiming. "Holy shit Aly! It's you!"

"Oh my God!" Gwen? Did you paint this?" Aly asked.

"Not me," I said. "I think this was painted in the early seventies. Look at what's around her neck.."

Aly's eyes grew big. My skin crawled at her reaction.

Hawk said, "It looks like that golden spider locket Aly found."

"You're fucking with me. You painted this, you had to," Aly insisted.

I shook my head.

"This is freaky," Aly whispered.

"Yeah, you're telling me." I said, "Try running into THIS high on bad ass weed."

"How are you gonna tell Matt about your hot affair with ... you know, each other?" Hawk asked.

"We hadn't planned on telling YOU so I don't know," I said.

"He'll love it, you guys dig the girl-girl thing," Aly said.

Hawk laughed. "Awesome I agree, but Matt's not like us this could throw him for a loop."

Aly frowned. "Matt's not homophobic. His best friend Randell what's his name is gay."

"Randell Borges," Hawk said, "The guy died two years ago due to a congenital heart problem exasperated by drug use."

Aly and I looked at him slacked jawed.

"I assumed he had told you," he said looking at me.

"He never told me that Randell was dead." I said, "He talks like the guy is alive." I was shocked, then angry, and then hurt all in that order.

Aly asked Hawk, "What do you mean that Matt's not like us?"

"He's not one of the beautiful people," Hawk said.

I almost burst into laughter because for I was sure he was joking.

Hawk continued, "The three of us, we've been riding this wave without a thought of Matt's point of view, the outsider.

"That's bullshit," Aly said.

Hawk said, "Oh really, Ms. ex-beauty queen slash brilliant geneticist graduating at the top of her class? Tall, blonde, beautiful, exotic, the kind of woman that is unattainable, far beyond the likes of Matt."

"But Matt has obtained me," Aly said, "He's got me maybe forever for all I know and—"

Hawk cut her off. "By chance. That's how he sees it."