Small Town, Big Dreams

"SAM!" Alexis and I both said at once.

"I did," she said.

"Gross! Sam, you are so crass!" Alexis said as she was blushing.

What?!

"Sorry, I'm just getting ready to have an uncomfortable conversation with Grandma. Lexi is coming to be my backup. Grandpa will love her, and who knows, she will probably even get him 'up'. God knows she turns me on!"

Alexis groaned, but laughed. Then I turned serious, "You know, if you need a place to go, or anything..."

"I know. My car is fine, I just wanted your support. And even though Alexis turns me on, I think she only has eyes for you, Steve-o."

"Sam, I am right HERE!" Alexis said. She was beet red. But she kept making eye contact with me in the rearview mirror.

***********************

When Fall semester was over, Alexis headed home to Florida for about 10 days then came back for practice and competition. We were friendly, but I knew in my heart she wouldn't have time for me this semester. But when she saw me a couple of days before her first home meet, she shyly asked, "So, uh, what are you, I mean, do plans on, I mean, do you..."

YES! YES I WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU! YES I WILL GO TO YOUR GYMNASTICS MEET TO WATCH YOU! But I knew I needed to let her ask.

"If you come to the meet, and I know where to look, I will throw my Herky up to you," she said.

When their name is announced the ladies go out, wave to the crowd and throw a Herky the Hawk mascot stuffed animal to the crowd. THIS was a big step forward for us.

"Well, since you ask," I casually said, kicking the ground with my foot, the looking her in the eyes, I said ,"Yes, I'd love to come watch you!"

I didn't catch Herky, some little girl two rows in front of me did, but Alexis competed in all four events and set a new school record in the All Around category. She was on fire. Her picture was in the student newspaper and she was the hottest sensation on campus. But the pic that made the team's Twitter feed was the moment she planted a kiss on my cheek!

I was her New Number 1 fan, and I went to the rest of the meets. For some of the road meets Sam would come along and help me with the driving. Alexis had a fantastic season and became the Big 10 All-Around champion and qualified for Nationals the last weekend in April. It was in Georgia and the combination of Nationals being late and finals being early, I just was not able to swing it.

"It's okay," she said. "It will be on ESPN and the Big 10 Network."

"But I want to see it. And you. And then you won't be back right away." She meant everything to me, way more than some dumb tests for sure, but right after she competed in Nationals she was going home to Tampa, Florida for a surgical procedure on her elbow. I wouldn't see her until she came back for summer school 4 or 5 weeks later. (To be exact it was 31 days, 7 hours and 19 minutes...) A lifetime in our young relationship.

Alexis competed well; National Champ in the Floor Exercise and 3rd in All Around. A new hero on campus, and 26 days before she would return...

But, "where there's a will, there's a way", and the local airport between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids offered one way direct flights on a cheap airline for little of nothing sometimes. 10 days after finals and her elbow surgery I was able to catch a direct flight to Clearwater/ Tampa for $49. It had been $129 the week before. I didn't realize it would be an extra $29 for my carry on bag, but it was still dirt cheap. Our plan was to spend a couple days in the Clearwater Beach area, then I would fly home from Orlando/ Sanford after 2 days at an overpriced Orlando attraction. $59 flight back, and presumably an extra $29 for my bag.

A cheap vacation, but I would have given everything I owned plus both kidneys and half my liver if that's what it took to see her.

I had never been to Florida and hadn't flown since I was 5 years old. It was quite the experience for Small Town Boy to fly on his own to a Big Strange City. And when I landed and walked out to the car rental area where we were to meet, and I saw her in her short shorts and flowy white top, sun hat and holding big sunglasses, I almost broke down and cried. We went to each other and hugged tightly. Taking in her scents, oh how I loved the smell of her hair (it smelled like strawberries). And her deodorant and body spray were a mixture of some kinds of flowers. And a new smell- coconut sun screen.

"I missed you," I said. "I am so proud of you and wish I could have been there for you."

Still embracing and crying, she said, "It's okay. I wish you could have been there, but there was no time. I didn't even see my parents until the flight home. Mom said she kept texting you?"

"Yes she did. I can't wait to meet her. Maybe? Hopefully she will like me," I said, suddenly nervous. What if her parents didn't like me?

"They are all excited to meet you. Even my uncle. Sorry, but you, dad and my uncle Randy are going deep sea fishing tomorrow. I wanted to keep you all to myself, but The Guys said they needed to 'check you out' and see if you pass muster. Be warned, my uncle can be intimidating, but I have him wrapped around my finger," she said as she pointed her pinky out and winked.

She didn't have a cast or splint on her arm anymore, and in the way home we took a detour. "I want to show you this place before we go home. I love this place, and someday I'd love to get married here." My heart skipped at the word "married"...

Because of nature of the airline flight schedule it was oly 10:30 in the morning, and we drove out to a park called Honeymoon Island and took a boat to another island and walked around. Or maybe we drove to the one island and then took the boat to- whatever, the point is, we were the only two on this part of the island. I cannot say the beach was all that neat, it was busted seashells that were sharp, but Alexis glowed in the sun and the smell of the ocean.

She stopped, stripped off her clothes revealing a tiny red bikini and said, "Let's go for a swim," and she ran into the ocean. I stood there, dumbfounded for a moment. Alexis in her leotard had been the sexiest thing I had ever seen, but the red bikini changed that. I couldn't imagine anything she wore being any sexier.

But another reason I was stuck there was my swimsuit was still in her SUV, and I explained that to her.

"Well," she said, and she did something underneath the water, then threw what were obviously her red bottoms towards the beach. Then she stood up- the water was still above her waist but could see her fantastic chest as her top came off.

New level of our relationship! Okay, THAT was better than the bikini!

My clothes came off and got tossed anywhere and everywhere, and I ran to her. The water felt different than pool water and lake or river water. The salt felt nice until I stood up, then it felt like glue sticking to me. I started to worry what the affect would be on our naked bodies and what I had hoped but never dreamed might happen next.

We made some smalltalk and kissed, and eventually she took my hand and walked towards the shore. "It's time," she said.

She had stashed a large blanket behind a bush, and we spread it out. We laid down together, and she said again, "It's time, Steve. Make love to me before we go home. I want this to be OUR place, and someday, maybe, if I'm lucky, you will propose to me or maybe even marry me here in this exact spot."

Holy holy holy crap! This was moving fast, but it couldn't have made me happier.

"Steve, I'm a virgin. I've never been with a man before," she said.

That surprised me, yet we both seemed so innocent. And I also remembered my other time- times, plural, with Sam at my parents' cabin. It was awkward and she had not enjoyed it, and my performance was not great. But if Alexis was a virgin, she may not notice.

But she would notice my first plunge in...

"Steve, don't worry," she seemed to be reading my kind. "My teammates all tell me that high level athletes like gymnasts put their bodies through so much torque that my...barrier... is most likely not there. And I checked."

This was weird, but who was I to judge?

"And it's safe. I am protected," she said.

No blowjob, no pussy eating, just some kissing and she rolled onto her back and opened up. Our midsections touched, and before I knew it she had taken me in. I thrust and her hips had pushed back to meet me, and before I knew it she had a seizure-like reaction like Sam had, and I knew that was a good thing. I felt her clamp down around me, and I came inside her and could feel her body trying to milk me dry. Like trying to squeeze the last drop of toothpaste out.

When we both recovered, she looked at me and smiled. She said, "I love you Steven Cooper."

"And I love you, now and always, Alexis Gray."

We got dressed and went to meet her parents. Her dad Rick was at work, her teenage brothers were home, and so was her mom Katherine. Mother Katherine recognized the "glow" of her freshly fucked daughter and after intros and pleasantries told us to go get cleaned up.

We went to a place called St. John's Pass and looked at shops and walked along a nicer beach, and when her dad got home we all took a sunset cruise on a pirate ship in Clearwater.

As promised the next day I said goodbye to my lover (we slept at opposite ends of their large house) and went with Rick and her uncle Randy, the navy guy. She forgot to mention he had been a SEAL in the navy, and was an intimidating guy until I spent about 10 minutes with him, and he liked me.

"Lexi says you are a wingnut?"

"Sorry, a what?" I asked.

"Air Force ROTC," he explained.

"Well, not really. My best high school friend went into the navy and I took a couple of Army and Air Force ROTC classes to see what it was all about."

"You gonna pick a lane? One or the other?"

"Probably the off ramp. I don't know if I want to be gone from Alexis too long," I said.

"Puh-lease," Randy said. "I have a different chic in every harbor." Then he looked at me and said, "But if you do that to Lexi, if The Old Man don't kill ya, I'll thrown your ass to the sharks."

"Yes sir," I said, seeing how the use of the word "sir" would play.

"SIR! I ain't no damned 'SIR'! I was a 'Chief' who worked for a living," as he slapped me on the back.

"Yes, chief," and we all laughed. I passed one test anyway.

We smoked cigars and caught fish. They asked me about fishing in Iowa and pointed out the fish I catch back home was smaller than the bait we used here.

Best yet, The Chief asked me back for the 4th of July to catch sharks.

On the way home, just her dad and me, he probed and prodded. I wanted to ask him if he would someday allow me to marry Alexis, but I waited. It was early in our relationship and my vacation.

**********************

If the old axiom is true that "if you want to know what a woman will look like in 25 years, look at her mother", Alexis will be blessed. Her mom was a knockout who excelled in the cutthroat real estate business. And had been an Olympic volleyball player from the U of I.

"I was so disappointed when Lexi had no desire in volleyball," she told me, "but when my alma mater wanted her to compete for them, well, at least she was going to be a Hawkeye."

She also spilled the beans on an important part of our story. "Steve, you are the only guy she has ever been excited about. She was always about competing, but after this surgery while still doped up she told me about how you two first 'bumped' into each other."

"That day, in class. I don't know how I missed her. I was paying attention and 'BOOM!' we collided," I said.

"Between you and me," she leaned in all conspiratorial like, "she admitted she engineered that whole deal."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "SHE set that up?" I was feeling pretty good, now.

"Yes, and she won't probably admit it, and I won't ask either one of you, but I would assume she took you by Honeymoon Island on the way here yesterday, and all I will say is 'Be Careful'. I had just made my second Olympic Team when I found out I was carrying Alexis. She is my greatest treasure- don't tell her brothers- and I see how you two look at each other...Just finish school first. Being married with kids while taking college classes and trying to graduate is difficult."

"If, or when, I ask her...someday, can I ask how you-" I started to ask.

"I would be fine, and I think her dad would be too, but make sure you ask him. From what Rick said, you also impressed Randy, and Rick looks up to his younger brother Randy. So far, you are sitting pretty good. Don't mess it up. Randy said to fear him, but what Randy would do to you is NOTHING compared to what I will do..." she said, and then she winked at me.

Alexis and I left early the next day for our Orlando adventure. "You have to go to The Magic Kingdom if you only go to one place," she said. Just inside the gate, with a huge castle in the background we tried to take a selfie of ourselves. One of the young working photographers took our picture ($25) but a grandma with her family offered to use my phone to take one of us. "Honeymoon?" she asked.

"Nope, just a date," Alexis said.

"Honey, if he takes you here for a date, he's a keeper," she told Alexis. As she handed back my phone to me, she said more quietly to me, "My husband and I have had each other for 50 years, but we have never looked at each other like you two do. My advice, buy a ring. She's a keeper."

We spent all day at one of the most magical places on Earth, and we were tired and stinky when we got back to our hotel room. It was some New Orleans mansion looking place, and I opened the door and let her in first. She kind of stood there and I put my bag down on one of the two beds, claiming it I guess, and she put hers down on the same bed. "Let's shower and go to bed," she said.

Not trying to presume, but being hopeful, I said, "You can go first."

"The shower looks big enough for both." Then she said, "Steve, it's okay. I WANT to do these things with you. I have taken the risks and pushed you and I hope I am not scaring you off. You can let yourself be you. It's okay."

We ran through the shower, lathering each other but resisting the urge to have sex in the shower. "Maybe tomorrow, or later tonight. First, I want to explore you like never before," I told her. Then I gave her the play-by-play and color commentary as to how that would go down.

"Uh, god, if you touch me now, I will cum," she said.

So I rubbed her clit, and she came.

After that, we toweled off and went to our bed. "How do you want me? Like THIS?" and she lay down on her back, and spread her legs and bent her knees slightly up as I stood beside the bed and looked at her.

She had a perfectly shaved pussy. Her breasts were rather large for a high level gymnast, probably C cups. She had a bronze tan, but her left arm wasn't quite as tanned as her right arm, thanks to the brace she wore for almost two weeks. She has two small scars on her left elbow and a slightly longer scar on her left knee. She had imperfections, scars- things that made her not perfect to her. To me, it made her human, and still perfect.

I got down beside her and touched her body. I traced her breasts and nipples. She gasped when I did and her nipples became rock hard. I ran down her body, tracing her defined stomach muscles. She had 6 pack abs, but not in a grotesque sort of way. They were still femine and very sexy.

After that I ended up at her outer lips. She gasped and opened up more. She said that since she hit puberty she had to shave because of the leotards. She was smooth and I instinctively knew the way to her innermost places.

I had poked Tina's and played with Sam's all those months ago, but this was as much about exploration as it was pleasure. Her pussy lips gave way, opening to a pink slide and tight hole. I would fit, I did a couple of days before. But I wanted to taste her, breathe her in and consume her in the most base and raw manner. I gently pushed her knees open, and she responded by picking her legs up. I got down between her legs and put my hands on the bottom of her ass, on the cleft plateau of her underside. She had a powerful ass and legs and a pussy that tasted like heaven. I went in and licked, poked and probed with my tongue. After only a couple of minutes, she said, "Oh god, Steve, I am gonna...gonna..." as her breathing became very irregular and she exploded in a verbal and vaginal release. She leaked cloudy pussy juice out and I drank as much of her in as I could until she begged me to fill her up. I started out slow because I wanted to last. Her orgasm caused me to almost cum. The pressure of my cock pressing and grinding on the edge of the bed while I ate her out felt good, but her pure orgasmic bliss was almost enough also to make me cum.

So I went slow at first.

"Oh, Steve, deeper...harder...faster. Don't pull out, I want you feel you cum inside me."

I did, and after she squeezed me and my softening cock, I fell out of her. I laid down beside and felt her pussy and surrounding playground. She had cum down her butt and legs. My white cum was dripping out, and out of curiosity as much as anything, I played around with it and fingered her insides. She started breathing hard again, and had another small orgasm, and I was becoming hard and she said, "Enough!" as she rolled on top of me and rode me to another orgasm.

The next morning I discovered I could give her another type of a deeper orgasm. If I placed my palm by where her pubes would be, and I made a "come here" motion like I was trying to rub my resting palm, we found a small, puffy spot that responded, swelled and caused her to have a more powerful- and wetter- orgasm.

She also explored my body and when she sucked my cock, I knew more of what to expect before I came in her mouth, so I warned her. But she liked it when I came in her mouth. Neither of us liked that as much as when I came in her pussy, but so far, so frickin' excellent!

We ventured into one of the other parks for lunch, but we were both tired, sore, and yet wanting more. We went back to our room and made love until it was time to take me to the airport. Making love with Alexis was by far more enjoyable than some amusement park!

We cried and hugged and I almost missed my flight, but I didn't miss it and I made it back to Iowa where I had two long weeks waiting for her to come back to school. We talked and texted. She would send me pics that would excite me, mostly because I had to use my imagination. A picture of her upper leg and knee. A quarter of a headshot. A pick in her red bikini while in front of a mirror, but her phone covered most of the bikini. All pretty PG rated stuff.

And one of her in a white sundress with a beautiful Florida sunset and the silhouette of the pirate ship in the background. It was a candid, and it came from her mom's phone...

*********************

"We should use condoms or at least another layer of protection," she told me between furious kisses.

"Next time, or now?" I asked.

"Next time," she said.

We made love. I don't want to say "we fucked" very often because "fucking" implies beast like carnal desires with no emotion, and usually it was about the emotional almost as it was the physical.

But I'm not saying we never "fucked". We did our share of that as well.

We also learned too much of a real good thing leads to urinary tract infections.

We went to Tampa again for the 4th of July, and Uncle Randy, her father Rick, Alexis and I got to go shark fishing. Alexis had never done that before because Randy only took guys.

More importantly I had some alone time with Rick while I was there. He gave me his blessing if and when I asked Alexis to marry me. He cautioned waiting a little while and gave me a similar story that Kathy had.