Somebody That I Used to Know

"Well, you are the fuck of the century, Tana. Jesus, girl, I've never been with anyone like you. Do you know what makes it even better? Knowing you, knowing how sweet you are, how smart, how funny, that you're so in love with life. And you're the hottest woman I've ever seen."

She giggled. "Thanks, Julian. You destroyed me. Hey, remember that waterfall?"

"Yes."

"Let's slip on our flip-flops, walk back down there naked and take a bath. I've got soap."

I laughed. "Deal. I don't think we wanna sleep in the wet spot, anyway."

The moon was bright enough to see easily, and watching her ass jiggle, the sway of her hips tilting as she walked in front of me, was one of the most beautiful and natural things I'd ever experienced. Walking along a trail in the moonlight, a naked sylph moving in front of me through the towering forest, it was like we were in a fantasy realm.

In a true fantasy realm, the water wouldn't have been icy cold, but we shivered and laughed, she squealed, enjoying the moment. Soaping up that gorgeous body, that gorgeous girl, was enough to get me hard again, and she sat me on a rock and gave me the most erotic blowjob I'd ever had. She loved giving head. She told me, and showed me.

I returned the favor, diving into that little pussy until she begged me to stop. She was tapping out, but I made her come one more time, anyway.

We walked back up the trail, pulled our stuff back inside the tent, and I went to sleep with a naked brown goddess in my arms.

It was late morning when we woke up, and I never wanted to move again. Having Tana in my arms was heaven, but I needed to pee. I got up, did my business, and started breakfast. We had eggs and bacon, and fried toast in the bacon grease. There was strawberry jam, and I kissed some off her lips.

We cleaned the area, packed up what we were taking, chained and locked all the stuff we were leaving and went hiking off up the trails. I'd always hated camping while I was doing it. I'd done it, and had fond memories about it later, but nothing like this. I decided that it was the company that made it special.

When we got back that evening, she asked me to set up a hotspot on my phone so she could use my laptop. We walked back and got it, and she got online.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"A job," she said.

"Really? What kind of job?"

"I'll have to see," she said. "This is how I can afford to stay in the US. I get a job."

"I get that," I said.

I watched her, a cute little frown creasing her brows as she worked.

"I kind of like the sound of this one," she finally said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Picking almonds," she said. "It's in the Central Valley. I like almonds."

"Yeah, me too," I said. "Do you know anything about it?"

"No, not really. I've picked apples, citrus and peaches, though. It's hard work, but outside and they give you a place to stay. Like a little cabin."

She looked over at me. "Come with me, Julian."

I laughed. "Hey, I don't need a job."

She looked sad. "I was hoping..." Her voice trailed off and stopped.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, did last night mean anything to you?" she asked. "Are we just friends, or is there something else, Julian?"

"It meant sooo much to me," I told her. "Don't think for a minute it didn't. I have no idea what, right now, but something, I know that. I don't want you out of my sight; I also know that."

She smiled a happy smile, closed the laptop and came and sat between my legs on the pad, leaning back against me. "It meant something to me," she said. "I couldn't make love with someone I don't love, Julian."

"I figured," I said. "I love you, too, Tana, I'm just figuring it out, you know?"

"Same," she said. "If I get a job and you don't come with me, though..."

"I never said I wouldn't come with you. I said I don't need a job."

"But you have to be working there to stay there," she said.

"Let me think for a minute," I said.

"Okay, I'll be as quiet as a mouse," she said. "How long will you be thinking, do you think?"

I had to laugh. "You said you were going to be quiet!"

She giggled and made a zipping motion across those luscious lips.

I plunged into my imagination, wondered what I wanted, settled some things in my mind, did some quick planning and I was interrupted from my reverie by her hand sliding up the leg of my shorts and gripping my cock. I jumped, and she giggled, turned around and looked up at me mischievously as she wiggled to her belly between my legs."

"I want that dick," she said, pulling down my shorts and engulfing me in the volcanic heat of her mouth. I had no power of coherent thought or speech, and I surrendered to her will.

I made her stop for a second as I pulled her shirt over her head, giving me access to those glorious tits, and she worked on me, her eyes never leaving mine until I emptied myself into her hot juicy mouth.

She rested with her head on my thigh, idly playing with my deflating cock. "You might as well get used to that, because I'm going to want it a lot," she said. "I love your cum, Julian."

My God! This was definitely a dream girl. "Now, tell me what you were thinking about."

"I have no memory," I told her, "You destroyed my brain and I now have the dumb," She laughed hysterically.

"Sorry, I just had an overpowering urge," she said.

"Ah, it's coming back," I said. "Here's what I was thinking. I need to know some things from you."

She crawled back to me, leaning back against me again, and I wrapped my arms around her, both hands on those amazing tits, and she sighed with contentment. "What did you want to know?"

"How long were you planning to stay in the US?"

"Well, I don't really have, like, a plan, Julian. I just do shit, you know?"

I chuckled. "Yes, I do know. I mean, years, months, what?"

"Months, for sure," she said. "Maybe years. Why?"

"Do you have family back in... wherever you said you're from?"

"Yeah, I have my mom and my brother."

"So you will be going back, for sure?"

"Yeah, I love them, Julian. That's my home. When I'm ready, and I don't know when that will be, I'll want to see them."

"Okay, let's say you're going to stay a year. Is that possible?"

"Yes, I'd say probable. Are you going to be with me?"

"If this works, yes."

"I can't wait to hear 'this' then."

"Okay, we'll go to the valley and pick almonds. I'll work with you, but you have to agree to something, too."

"What?"

"When we get done picking the almonds, you go back to Florida with me," I said.

She leaned her head back so she could look into my eyes, and she was so beautiful it took my breath. "Okay, but why, and what would we do?"

"We live together."

She giggled. "We've kind of been doing that for a while."

I smiled down at her. "Yeah, but making love is a new part of that. I love being with you, Tana, but I'm still kind of raw about the way... it all ended with Argent. You understand?"

"Yes."

"I do love you, very much, and I'd like to see where that goes, would you?"

She nodded. "Yes, but explain how that would work."

"What's your major in college?" I asked.

"I'm working on becoming a nurse practitioner," she said.

"So, I have an idea," I said. "We live together. You enroll at the University of Florida, and we see what happens."

"I need money, though," she objected.

I sighed. "Yeah. I understand. Here's the deal: if you live with me, you don't have to worry about rent, food, that kind of shit. It's just tuition, books, fees and pocket money, right?"

She nodded. "You know there are jobs in Florida, too, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, but picking citrus or bartending doesn't exactly pay tuition," she said. "I'd need a better job. I can live pretty cheap just backpacking around, but I'd need a good job to go back to school."

"Would you work for me?" I asked.

"Noo, that might get... complicated," she objected. "Besides, what would I do?"

"I don't know," I said. "Could you manage an office?"

"Yes, I think so. I've never done that, but I'm smart and I work hard."

I squeezed her, giving her some physical reassurance. "I know you are, and you do. I would hire you to be a regional office manager."

"But when would I go to school?"

I sighed. "Yeah. How far are you along?"

"I have my bachelor's degree in nursing. It would take me four semesters to get my master's, then I could work while I got a doctoral degree," she said.

"Why are we picking almonds if you have a bachelor's degree in nursing?" I asked.

"I don't have the certifications for the US," she said.

"Ah, I see. Would you let me loan you money?" I asked.

"Noo, I don't want a bunch of debt," she said.

I laughed. "I get that, for sure, but I'd be a very kind creditor, I promise."

She put her hands over mine and squeezed them. "Yes, I know you would. Can we just go pick almonds and see what happens?"

"We can. When do we need to go?"

"Two weeks," she said.

We spent a week and a half camping, and I have to admit, I never thought I'd enjoy it as much as I did. It was Tana. She was an enchanting little sorceress, and just watching her was an experience, in itself. She was completely uninhibited, and she nearly fucked me to death. I'd never had sex so often in my life. She wanted to make love two and three times a day, and I had also never had such satisfying sex. Every time was a total immersion with her, and it just got better every time. She was easily aroused, and she came so easily and so often, she was so gorgeous and loving that she almost never failed to take me with her.

I found it difficult to comprehend that she was with me, that she wanted me and was giving herself to me like that, but I definitely wasn't complaining. She was a wild ride, and I was going to hold on and enjoy every second.

*****

We packed up, drove back to San Francisco, turned in the Jeep and got the Viper back, donated our camping gear to charity, and headed for the valley.

Picking almonds was an experience. It was hard work, for one thing, and the rest of the pickers were quite an experience, as well. The owner of the orchard was a genial guy, and in spite of our lack of experience, he was glad to have us.

He set us up in a little two-room cabin with a kitchen and bedroom. The bathrooms and showers were communal, and there was a common kitchen, as well. It was primitive, but clean, and Tana seemed to think it was perfect.

I, of course, was far less sanguine, but it wasn't bad. Jim, the owner, trained me on a shaker machine. I drove it down the rows of trees, and it had a device that reached out and shook each tree, the almonds falling like rain. It was tedious after the initial experience wore off, and shaking 2500 trees a day became something I could do mindlessly.

The almonds lay on the ground, drying, for a while, then sweeper machines made them into a windrow between the rows of trees. Tana drove a tractor, pulling a machine that picked up the windrows and loaded them into trucks.

There were a dozen different jobs, and we learned them all. It was exhausting, long days, and at night there was usually a party going on around the common kitchen. We sometimes joined the party, and sometimes fell into bed, barely having the energy to make love before we fell asleep.

The other workers were a mix of white and Hispanic itinerate laborers who followed the harvest, moving up and down the coast, harvesting whatever was in season. We enjoyed hearing their stories, and they looked out for each other. We were outsiders, at first, but they adopted us quickly, especially Tana. Everyone loved her, and she was soon everyone's little sister.

The only discordant note was the second week after we arrived. A van pulled up with the words "Yahweh Is King" on the side in foot high letters. A tall, gaunt man with a large bushy beard and wearing a yarmulke got out. Jim introduced us to him as Claude Moore. He shook my hand, ignoring Tana, and said, "I'm Claude Moore. Yahweh is my king, and Yeshua is my savior."

"Cool, dude. I'm Julian and this is Tana," I said.

He didn't even look at her. A very subdued looking tall redheaded woman got out of the van, and four small children. "That your family?" I asked.

"It is," he said. "You'd be welcome to join us in prayer this evening."

"Thanks," I said.

I took Tana's hand and we went to our cabin. "Well, then, that was an... eccentric dude," I said.

She laughed. "He's creepy as fuck," she said. "He wouldn't look at me, but he was checking me out on the sly. He looked at my tits like ten times in two minutes."

"Really? I didn't see that."

"Trust me, I know," she said. "Women always know when men are looking at their boobs."

"Did I look at them, like before we..."

She laughed. "Yes, but you tried not to. It wasn't creepy like that dude."

"I want to look at them now," I said.

She giggled, and her t-shirt and bra were on the floor almost before I got the words out of my mouth.

Mr. Moore was quite... aggressive with his faith. We never "joined" him in prayer, and he thought we should be obliged. After a week, I tried to avoid him. He caught us coming out of the common kitchen and started in on us.

"Are you aware that sexual immorality is a sin?" he said.

"Mind your business," Tana said.

"Rebuking sin is my business," he said. He still wouldn't look directly at Tana, but I realized she was right, and he was shooting brief glances at her.

"Look, Mr. Moore," I said. "We don't want any trouble. Just leave us alone. We don't approach you. We just do our jobs and don't bother anyone."

"Harlots will be cast into the lake of fire," he said.

Now he was pissing me off. "You want me to punch you in the mouth?" I asked. "Speak about Tana like that again, and you'll be spitting out teeth."

"Men of God don't fear the godless," he said.

"I'm pretty sure men of God don't leer at women's boobs, either," Tana pointed out.

"Immodest dress tempts even the righteous," he said.

I'd had enough. "Come on, Tana." We started to walk away, and he made the mistake of following us.

"The works of the flesh are manifest, fornication and adultery."

I turned back and grabbed him by the throat, shoving him back against the building. "Shut your fucking mouth," I said. "Or do you want me to shut it for you."

"Julian, he isn't worth it." She tugged on my arm.

"You have no power to harm me," he said. "I am one of the two witnesses prophesied in Revelations 11 who will be slain in the streets of Jerusalem, and be raised up after three and a half days. God will protect the two witnesses and destroy their adversaries with the fire of their testimony."

"The fuck? You're bat-shit crazy, Moore. Stay the fuck away from us or you won't make it to Jerusalem."

I let Tana drag me away, and I was fuming.

"Don't let him get to you, Julian. I've seen his type before," she said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, religion is a big thing at home," she said. "There are always self-righteous assholes like him around, telling everyone else they're going to be 'cast into the lake of fire.'"

"I've known religious people," I said. "I respect them, even if I don't agree. I've never met anyone like that bastard."

Three days later, Raul caught him beating one of his kids out behind the storage bins, and he and Dave stomped the shit out of him. Jim fired him and he was gone within the hour. I was glad I hadn't been involved.

"I just feel sorry for that woman and the kids," Tana said, with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, there are a lot of unfortunate situations in the world. You are a doll, you know that, Tana? I love how big your heart is."

She sniffed around for a minute, but it wasn't her nature to stay upset.

*****

Almond harvesting season was drawing to a close, but Jim offered us a job pruning the trees. We worked for another month, and I liked that job. I got to work close to Tana, and we made it a party. If trees could blush, those would have been, because we made love all over that orchard.

It was an interesting life, and I could see the attraction. The money was shit, but you didn't spend much, either. It was the freedom: no big things to worry about, just the satisfaction of a job well done, and being with someone as fun and exciting as Tana made it something I wouldn't forget.

At the end of the month, we said regretful goodbyes to Jim, and started for Florida. We continued our footloose ways, and it took us a month to drive coast to coast. I was looking forward to introducing Tana to Marcie, and they bonded within hours. They both loved me, and took great delight in demolishing my character.

Marcie told her embarrassing stories about us growing up, and Tana told her stories about our time together.

Marcie and I were alone in the kitchen, and she said in a low voice, "Damn, Bruh. How lucky can you get?"

"I know, right?" She had echoed a thought I had ten times a day.

"You landed on your feet. God, she's the total package, Julian. She's gorgeous, as sweet as honey and smart, too. You're going to have to stay on your game. That girl could be a star."

"She could," I agreed. "I don't think she has that kind of thought in her, though."

She agreed. "No, but she could. Do you love her?"

"I do. I wasn't sure, at first. I mean, she's obviously so damn loveable, but we were just friends, first, then sort of fuck-buddies, but the more time I spend with her, it's like she's cast a spell on me. Every time she touches me this euphoric feeling sweeps over me. It's hard to explain."

"I think you said it perfectly," she said. "You're in love, Julian, and she worships you. It's written all over her."

"I hope," I said, "because I don't ever want to be without her."

We rented a place in Ocala, and Tana enrolled in the graduate nursing program at UF. I went up there and paid her tuition, and she never asked me any questions. I took her in and introduced her to Olivia, who also fell in love with her. I think Olivia invented a position for her, but she worked online and handled scheduling, contracts and purchasing orders.

She filed for an extension on her work visa, and applied for citizenship. The company sponsored her. She wasn't getting rich, but she was earning a nice little salary, working after she got home from classes. I had a little fully restored Triumph Spitfire, and she fell in love with it. That was her daily driver, and seeing her pull up in the afternoon at our place in it always gave me a thrill. I drove my truck, and started working again.

If Tana missed her family and island paradise, she never showed it. We were cuddled up on the sofa one night, watching something inane on TV. My feet were up on the ottoman and her legs were resting on top of mine.

"Tana, are you happy?" I asked her.

"Ecstatic," she said. "Why?"

Well, you've got one more semester to get your master's. Are you going on, or going to work?"

"I'm going to get my doctorate," she said.

"Do you intend to go back to Micronesia?"

"Yes, I wanna go back when I get done with my master's," she said.

"For good?" I asked.

"Good God, Julian, why would you even ask me that?" She looked hurt.

"Tana, we never talk about this. I know how you are. You just like to live a day at a time. I get that, and I love how spontaneous you are, but I need you to understand me, too. I need to know things."

"No, I'm not 'staying' there. I'm with you. Do you not know that?"

"I don't want to make assumptions," I told her. "God, Tana, I love you so much. I'm hopelessly, desperately in love with you."

She snuggled up against me. "I love you, for always," she said.

I squeezed her. "That makes me so happy, gorgeous."

She looked up at me. "Julian, why are you still married?" she asked. "Why haven't you filed for divorce?"

That shocked me a little. I hadn't really thought about it. "Just inertia, I guess. I should file. Why do you ask that?"