Summer Surprise Pt. 01

"Can we go back to her dressing room and congratulate her?" Dianne asked.

"No time. If we don't hurry, she'll beat us home because she doesn't have a ton of makeup to remove or clothes to change out of. If it had been a regular performance, we probably could have, because there's all this other stuff going on backstage which drags things out."

"I'd like to get her some flowers or something in appreciation of her performance."

"Flower shops are closed, but I know a gas station that sells single roses for guys who forget anniversaries or birthdays or Valentine's Day."

"Are you one of those people?"

"Not so far. Time will tell if I mess up in the future."

Dianne smiled at him.

On the way home, they made a pit stop and bought one white and one pink rose. It was five dollars for each one, but they were relatively fresh and not wilted.

They barely had time to put the two roses in a bud vase before Chloe got home.

"That was terrific, Chloe," Dianne said. "I loved it. You really put a lot of your life in it."

Chloe did a low sweeping bow where her hand almost touched the floor. "Write what you know. Thank you, fans. You've made me what I am today; a penniless scholar struggling to make ends meet." She straightened with a grin.

"These are for you," Matt said. "These penniless scholars didn't have enough for a whole bouquet. It really was terrific."

Chloe sniffed the roses. "I shall treasure this above all other awards I intend to win in the future. No Tony or Oscar will ever mean as much to me as these two blooms do."

The others laughed and hugged her.

Dianne let her body linger against Matt's for a moment as she kissed him on the cheek and hugged him goodnight.

"What do you think?" Chloe said when Matt was gone.

"He's nice. I like him. Still not quite ready to move on, but he's got a shot."

******

The following evening Matt and Chloe got together for another movie night. Matt brought food and Dianne provided the popcorn and movie. It was just the two of them this time because Chloe was busy performing her solo play.

"What are we watching?" Matt asked as he put the hot dish in the microwave to reheat.

"Tropic Thunder."

"I'm not sure I've seen it. Why that one?"

"It's a funny action movie. The way they have Robert Downey, Jr. playing a black guy and Tom Cruise being bald and fat is kind of ridiculously hilarious."

"Do you like action movies?"

"I used to really like watching war movies with Robert. He would point out the good stuff that made it real for him. I don't like them as much anymore. After he was killed they got too real. This one has humor so it's not as bad. I figured it was a pretty good switch from Love Story. What did you make?"

"It's a casserole with grilled hamburger mixed up with sliced potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions. It's good, you'll like it."

Dianne did like it and teased, "You'll make someone a good wife one day."

"It's one of a few things I do well. I can grill just about anything, but it's rather limited other than that. Breakfast and sandwiches mostly."

"We'll have to check out your grilling skills some time," Dianne said.

They both enjoyed the movie, laughing together at all the right places, and finding similar things funny. During the first half of the movie Matt rubbed Dianne's shoulders and neck as he had the week before. They switched positions for the second half of the movie. Dianne found herself enjoying the rippling of Matt's well defined muscles as she massaged him. She could tell he worked out quite a bit with weights, and was glad he was well put together but wasn't muscle bound.

Before he left, Matt said, "Chloe's going to be busy next weekend with the show and all. I was wondering if you'd like to do something different?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"A buddy of mine has a car and is going camping and canoeing with his girlfriend at Castle Rock Lake about sixty miles from here. We would have to split the gas there and back. I thought it might be a good opportunity to get away together and enjoy some sun and exercise. Besides, it would give me the perfect opportunity to show off my grilling skills. As far as sleeping accommodations go, both my friend and I have two man tents we can bring. If you aren't hot about sharing a tent with me, he said you could share his tent with his girlfriend, though he's really hoping you won't."

"So just you and me crammed into a two person tent, hey Sanders?"

"That would be the plan, yeah."

"Would you be a gentlemen, or would I have to kick you in the family jewels?"

"Given the alternative, definitely a gentleman," he laughed.

"Separate sleeping bags, no zipping them together?"

"Totally separate. I promise not to molest you but I will ask you to help paddle our canoe. You're not getting out of the work."

"I can handle the work just fine. No problem there. It sounds like fun. What time do we leave?"

"We want an early start. Can you be ready to go at 6:00 on Saturday?"

"I'll be ready. What time will we get back?"

"Sunday at supper time."

"You've got yourself a date, mister, but I'll sic Chloe on you if you don't behave."

Matt laughed. "I'd never hear the end of it."

"Since we're going to be gone all weekend, I want to skip our Wednesday and Friday dates to get some extra reading and homework done before the weekend."

"If that's what it takes."

"I'll see you bright and early Saturday."

Dianne gave Matt a light kiss on the lips before he walked out the door. Dianne smiled as she watched Matt saunter out her door whistling. She was stoked that the real Matt appeared to be a fairly nice guy. At least she certainly hoped he was, because going camping with him was riskier than anything she'd done thus far.

******

Matt texted Dianne on Friday night. Weather forecast predicting 60% chance of rain tomorrow night. Bring extra clothes in a dry bag in case we get wet. I bought steaks so bring your appetite. It will be warm paddling and we may tip the canoe, so bring a swimsuit. The water may be chilly compared to Georgia temperatures, but we might want to swim.

She texted back, I'll pay for half of the food and gas expenses.

Suit yourself, but I'm willing to foot the bill.

I'll pay for half. I don't want expectations because it's your treat.

Dianne didn't have a dry bag, so she tossed a swimsuit, towel, and two changes of clothes into a plastic garbage bag. One change of clothes was for Sunday and the other was an extra in case she got wet. She also filled a paper grocery bag with snacks like trail mix and fruit. At 6:00 she was waiting outside her apartment with her two bags, when a Jeep with two canoes, strapped to a roof rack, pulled up in front of her. Matt jumped out of the front passenger side seat.

"Let me give you a hand," he said.

"The plastic bag containing my clothes can go in the back but the paper sack should go up front with the passengers because it's got snacks for the drive."

"Gotcha."

Matt let Dianne carry the clothes and he got the heavier bag with the food.

The tailgate popped up when they got close. Dianne tossed her clothes into the back, pushed the tailgate down to close it, walked around the side of the Jeep, and hopped into the back seat next to a young black woman whom was already seated back there. Matt handed the grocery sack to her, closed her door, and then climbed back into the front passenger seat.

The driver said, "Wow! I was hoping to get on the road by seven, which is why I said six. You don't mess around, do you?"

"Military wife," Dianne replied. "6:00 is 6:00."

"Good to know."

Matt twisted in his seat. "Everyone, this is Dianne Rogers. Dianne, the beauty in the back with you is Yolanda Fulbright. Our driver today is Martin Hanson. If you don't call him Marty, he gets cranky."

"Like 'Back to the Future'."

"Truth be told, it's probably where Mom got the name. I filled the Jeep with gas. We fill it up again when we get back, each couple paying half."

"That's fair," Dianne said. "Do you go camping often?"

"In the summer. This is the first time this year. Yolanda doesn't like the cold. If it get's down to fifty, she's like, 'It's too cold.' She wasn't raised up here. Doesn't have deicer for blood."

"Where are you from?" Dianne asked. "I'm originally from Georgia, near Fort Benning."

"Twelve hundred miles south as the Mississippi flows, New Orleans."

Dianne hugged Yolanda and in her syrupy best Southern accent, said, "Another southern belle, bless my lucky stars."

Yolanda hugged her back.

Marty said, "My dad always said, 'Son, if you want to know if a woman is good to have at your side, take her camping. If that don't break her, nothing will. She'll do to ride the river with for life.' He was right. Eventually, I took all the women I dated camping. Let me know if she was worth keeping."

"So you're testing your relationship with Yolanda?"

"She's already been tested. She's a keeper. I don't know what Matt's doing, other than crawling out of the hole he's been buried in for the last six months. You got him to crawl out, so you're already a keeper in my book."

"Amen," Yolanda said. "Matt's usually great company. Lately I'd say he's bad company, except he hasn't been company at all."

"So, Matthew, is this some kind of test for me? Did your daddy say the same thing as Marty's did?"

"I don't care much what my daddy said. Not sure I'd take any advice from a child molester. Everyone is right, though. I haven't been pleasant to be around. I'm working on building bridges again."

They had a great conversation on the drive, mostly chatting about college and what they were studying. Marty grew up in La Crosse and had stayed for his general credits. Eventually he wanted to be an architect and would have to transfer out of La Crosse for the architecture degree, thinking of going to one of the nearby major schools, like Minnesota or Madison. Yolanda wanted to be an Elementary Ed teacher and didn't care where she lived.

"I'll look for a job wherever Marty goes to school," Yolanda said.

"You're engaged?"

"More promised than engaged," Yolanda said. "Marty doesn't want to give me an engagement ring until he can afford a nice one. He said he wants a rock big enough to blind you in the sunlight. I do have his class ring which I wear on a chain around my neck."

"How did you and Marty meet?"

"Freshman mixer," Yolanda replied.

"I saw her standing across the room and couldn't take my eyes off her," Marty said. "My goose was cooked as soon as I heard her soft southern drawl."

"I'm starting to lose it."

"Doesn't make any difference now that I'm hooked."

Yolanda smiled at him. She reached up and squeezed his shoulder. He patted her hand.

"Marty, how did you meet Matt?"

"Marty is the tight end on the football team," Matt said. "Met the first day of practice. Been friends pretty much ever since."

"Have you been camping before?" Marty asked Dianne.

"A few times with Robert, mostly in the Great Smoky Mountains; although, we went a few times to this state park in Virginia called Fairy Stone. Robert bought me this the first time we stayed there."

Dianne pulled a chain from around her neck. A cross shaped stone was on the chain. "This is called a fairy stone. You can find them around the park, which is where it got its name from."

She handed the necklace to Yolanda, who passed it up to Matt after she'd admired it.

"We heard about your husband from Matt. Sorry to hear about it. Sounds like he was a good man."

"He was."

"Matt said you still miss him a lot."

"I do. I still think of him every day."

Matt offered Marty a quick glance at the stone and then handed it back to Dianne. He squeezed her hand gently as he did so after noticing a tear in her eye

They arrived at Castle Rock Lake. "Where's the campground?" Dianne asked.

"Campground? We don't need no stinkin' campground," they all said, almost like it was rehearsed.

"There's an island on the lake we've used a few times," Matt said. "We canoe out there and pitch tents on the island. It has no facilities. We bring our drinking water and dig a hole in the ground for a toilet. You don't have to use leaves to wipe though. We also bring toilet paper."

"Thank you."

While Yolanda and Dianne started hauling supplies to the shore, the two men took down the canoes and carried them to the waters edge. Once both canoes were half in the water, everyone loaded belongings into the canoes: tents, sleeping bags, ruck sacks of clothes, eating utensils and coolers full of food.

"It's time to load you in, Dianne. You might want to take your shoes off if you don't want them wet," Matt said. "I'll steady the canoe until you sit down."

Dianne noted that it was a warm day, mid seventies, as she removed her shoes and tossed them into the canoe. She was glad she had chosen to wear a swimsuit underneath her shorts and tee. She walked out into the water as Matt pushed the canoe until only a little was still in the sand. As he steadied the craft she sat on the edge and swung her feet over.

"Have you ever gone canoeing before?" Matt asked.

"Now's a fine time to ask. No, kayaks and white water rafts, but no canoes."

"A canoe is tippier than a kayak because you're sitting up higher. Paddling is different too. I'll do most of the steering from the back. You can paddle on either side of the canoe as your arms get tired. It won't make that much difference to our direction. I'm going to climb in from the left side. You need to lean to your right when I say to to counter balance my weight."

"How much do you think I weigh?"

Matt laughed. "I don't need a full counterbalance, not the way I'll get in, just a little. Watch Marty and Yolanda, they'll show you how to do it."

When Marty said go, Yolanda leaned to the right and Marty pushed off, leaned over the back, putting most of his weight in the middle, then pulling his legs in. As they started paddling away from shore, Dianne watched how Yolanda was paddling.

"Okay, I get it. Whenever you're ready."

When Matt said go, she leaned right and he gave a huge push, almost pulled himself over from the opposite side keeping all but a little of his weight to the left to counterbalance her lean. He climbed in and settled on his seat. He picked up his paddle, paddling after the other two. Dianne concentrated on mastering the proper technique for paddling the canoe by watching Yolanda and trying to mimic her. Marty was doing something different, a combination of paddling and steering.

"How far are we going?"

"About four miles or so from here. Castle Stone Lake connects to Petenwell Lake by a narrow channel. The island is right before we get to the channel. The island, nameless as far as I know, is fairly big. Maybe a half mile long and a quarter mile wide. We'll probably set up camp first thing when we get there: unload the supplies, pitch the tents, and secure the firewood. We'll need to look for some dead wood for fires, but just in case we can't find enough, we do have a cache of wood we hauled in last year that's covered in a tarp. Then, if you aren't too bushed, we can paddle up the channel to Petenwell, and do a little swimming on a fairly nice, sandy beach located there."

The trip to the island ended up taking over one and a half hours; partly because Yolanda and Marty had to slow down a couple times to let Matt and Dianne catch up, and partly because of a couple of breaks to share food and water between the canoes. It was hot out, so Yolanda removed her shirt soon after they started paddling, showing off the gold bikini top she had on underneath, which looked particularly good on her. Twenty minutes later, Dianne removed her tee revealing a red bikini top.

"Are you getting an eyeful back there, Sanders?" Dianne asked.

"Not really, need to see the front for that," Matt responded. "A back is just a back."

"Looks pretty good from up here," Marty teased, about thirty feet in front. "How brief is the bottom?"

"Brief enough, you perverts."

"It can never be too brief for perverts," Yolanda said, laughing.

"I suppose not," Dianne responded. "Nothing other than naked would satisfy a pervert."

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed," Marty said. "We must have two of the hottest girls in Wisconsin with us."

"Don't cross them too long or you'll end up with a cramp," Yolanda said, "You've already seen my goods, but I'm not flashing our friends."

"I'm a firm believer in the look, but do not touch philosophy when it comes to gorgeous women," Marty said.

"As long as you only touch one, I can live with that," Yolanda said, "but I'm in the 'only the one who may touch may see,' camp, so unless you're throwing it open to touching, only you will be seeing."

"What do you say, buddy," Matt said. "How bad do you want Yolanda to take off her top? You going to throw it open to touching by all?"

"Fuck no. Although I wouldn't mind if Yolanda and Dianne did a little touching."

"Hey!" Dianne protested. "If I don't mess around with Chloe, I'm certainly not messing around with any other women. You really are perverts."

"Guilty as charged," Marty said. "Girl-on-girl is my favorite porn. When I'm not busy fucking, it's what I want to watch when I jerk off."

"I gotta admit, it's right up there," Matt said.

Dianne got a wicked idea, one she'd float by Yolanda later.

Once they arrived at the island, both couples unloaded the supplies from the kayaks and ate a quick lunch of trail mix and beef jerky, washed down with bottled water. After lunch, the couples began setting up their tents. Dianne and Matt where almost as quick as Marty and Yolanda, despite the fact Matt kept taking time to appreciate Dianne in her bikini top. They worked well together, almost as if they'd done this before, which made Dianne smile in satisfaction. Once the tents were pitched, they split the remainder of the tasks amongst themselves. Yolanda and Dianne set up the campsite and organized all of their gear. Marty collected dead wood to add to the firewood they'd left from before, but held off on starting the fire. Matt dug a hole away from the campsite right next to a fallen log, and placed a two gallon ziplock bag with with toilet paper next to it.

"Latrine right here. The hole is pretty deep. If you have to defecate, cover it up with a layer of dirt so we don't draw flies."

"Talk about roughing it," Dianne said. "Can't believe we don't even have an outhouse. Why do you like to camp on the island?"

"No lions, tigers and bears, oh my," Marty said. "Well, I haven't seen sign of bears anyway. Not to say there might not be ones who'd take a swim if they smelled food, so we keep the meat in the cooler until we cook it and bury any scraps."

"What do you say to heading up the channel and spending some time at the beach?" Matt said.

"You just want to see my bikini bottoms, don't you?"

Matt nodded, "Can't slip anything past you, huh?

"Nope. I'm game, I'm not exhausted yet," Dianne said. "If that's what everyone wants to do, I'm in."

"Great," responded Matt.

They glided their canoes smoothly and effortlessly through the channel, making swift passage without the extra weight of their supplies. It took approximately half an hour of easy paddling to get to the beach. Unused to canoeing, Dianne was pleasantly tired and unpleasantly sweaty when they reached the beach. She enthusiastically kicked off her shorts and waded into the water, with Yolanda right behind her. After splashing around for a few minutes, Dianne pulled Yolanda aside, deciding it was time to bring up her wicked idea from earlier.

"Yolanda, I'd like to play a trick on the guys. Their comments about girl-on-girl porn gave me the idea. Would you like to make their night unbearable?"