Swapping, or Cheating?

Erica looked like she wanted to disappear into the Earth. I couldn't really blame her. I understood and even partially related with what Tammy was saying, but the awkwardness and tension in the air was palpable.

"I think that moonshine might be a little strong for you Tam," I chided, trying to make light of the situation.

Tammy eyed her cup. "Can't disagree with you. Might be the nastiest stuff I've ever tasted but damn if it doesn't hit the spot."

"Any idea how strong it is?" I asked Jackson.

"No clue," he answered. "My guy says it's about the same as Everclear, so I think like 120 or 140 proof."

"Jesus," my wife muttered. She wasn't a particularly heavy drinker. Her miniature 5' stature didn't take a lot of alcohol to get drunk anyway.

"Yeah probably best to leave it at just the one cup," I said.

"Good thinking. Means we can ration it more for the whole trip," Jackson reasoned.

I cracked a smile. Maybe one of the next few nights we could manage a boys' night. Would've preferred some beers instead of the moonshine but still, nothing like woods and alcohol for good old-fashioned bro-bonding.

"We should maybe start to head to bed," my wife pointed out. We'd been talking for a while; the sky was a deep indigo above us, studded with thousands of gorgeous white specks. I'd never seen the stars so clear before.

"Probably a good idea," I supported her. "We want to be getting early starts to all the days."

My watch told me it was only 9, but if we wanted to get up with the sunset at 6 the next day, a good night's sleep was essential.

We packed up dinner, put out the fire, and prepped ourselves for bed. Each couple retreated back to our tents, and settled in for the night.

Erica lay right next to me in her sleeping bag. We'd just turned the lantern off, and I could tell by her breathing that she was still awake.

What Tammy had said at dinner still ran through my mind. About expanding boundaries. Being more adventurous. Breaking away from a rhythm.

Or a rut. I wasn't afraid to admit to myself now that in the bedroom, we were in a rut.

And I didn't want to just stand by and let that happen. Jackson was right. It was hard to break out of once it happened. So I would have to get Erica to let me help us stop that from happening.

I rolled over in my sleeping bag and shifted closer to Erica so I was almost spooning her. Her orange hair cascaded over one shoulder, catching the moonlight and shimmering perfectly.

I craned my neck out and kissed the nape of Erica's neck. The little hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention; that usually meant she was cold or nervous.

"Love you sweetie," she murmured, shifting slightly in her bag.

"Love you too," I responded. I kissed again, slightly higher on the neck.

Erica's skin got goosebumps, but she didn't respond. I kissed again, closer to her ear.

"What are you doing?" she asked, not turning over.

My lips fell again, right beneath her ear lobe.

"They're literally like 10 feet away from us, Aaron, we can't do this."

I leaned back with a sigh. "Didn't you listen to what Jackson and Tam were talking about?"

Erica rolled over now so she could face me. Our noses were just a few inches away from each other.

"Yeah. So?"

"Well don't you think they have a point?"

"About what? The benefits of swinging?"

Tammy had mentioned it so briefly I'd almost forgotten. Weird that Erica plucked that out of all the things that had been said though.

"No, about a rhythm. A rut."

"So?"

"Well.... Don't you ever want to change things up a little bit?"

"Like what?"

"Like, just with this kinda stuff," my hand reached out, caressing my wife's exposed shoulder. She usually slept in a sports bra and panties; tonight was no exception.

"I mean, I don't really feel like we need to," Erica responded, resting a hand on my forearm. "We've found what works well for us. What we like. And we stick with that."

"Yeah, I know. And I'm not complaining or anything. I'm just saying that maybe expanding beyond the boundaries of what you've tried can sometimes be a good thing. Like experimenting and finding something new."

"Do you think we need to do that?" Erica asked. I couldn't tell if the question was pointed or if she expected a serious response.

"No. I mean... no. Like, as I said, I've never had any complaints. I think, or assume at least, that we've always been pretty content with our sex life."

"I'd agree."

"But, I'm afraid that we'll sit back on what's comfortable too much." I didn't want to outright say that it had already happened, even if that's how I felt. Ease in gently. "And I just don't want things to get stale. To turn a rhythm into a rut. And I think that trying new things can be important for couples who've been together as long as we have, to keep that same energy up."

"Are you saying the energy's gone now?" Erica got to how I was feeling.

"No no, of course not. But I don't want it to get to that point later on. Because once you're in a rut, I think it's maybe already too late."

Erica took a deep breath and stared back at me for a few seconds, with a deeply contemplative look in her eyes.

"So, what are you suggesting? 50 Shades of Grey it up and see what we like?" she chuckled.

"No, no," I smiled. Humor always worked to keep even our heaviest conversations light enough not to escalate. "But maybe just broaden our horizons a little bit. Stuff that we've wanted to do but have either been too nervous to attempt or too timid to admit."

Erica looked back at me.

"What do you suggest?" It seemed like her question was genuine. One of my favorite things about her was how upfront and open she was. I wanted that in all the people close to me.

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."

"I mean I think that answers it pretty well. We haven't needed to expand our horizons because we're already at the point where we're satisfied."

"See, I just don't think that's entirely true. I know for sure that there's a fantasy you have. Something you want to do that we've never done before. There has to be."

Erica paused for a second. A bit of a sheepish look seemed to come across her face.

"Talk to me baby. This is what I'm trying to do, to help us keep growing."

"Well, I have always wanted to try it in public. Around other people. Just for the rush. But that's literally a crime, so not gonna happen."

"Okay I get that. Not trying to get us arrested," I smiled. "So why not start small? Why not here? We're in our own tent, but they're next door. Just a baby step.!It's not illegal, and there's no one else around."

"There literally is. Tammy and Jackson are right there."

"You know what I mean. That's what you want isn't it?"

"No, we know them, they're not just random people. What if they heard us? Can you imagine how awkward that would be? Jesus."

I sighed, sensing the way this was going.

"Look baby, I get what you're saying. And I'll definitely try to keep it in mind, and maybe it's something we can work on. I just... I just don't want to risk messing up how good a thing we have now. Not just about sex. About us."

I nodded. We both smiled.

"Okay. I get that. Just wanted to see."

"I know. And it's really sweet that you're concerned about our future and thinking about how to make it better," Erica said. "I love you."

"Love you too, sweetie."

Erica craned her neck out and I matched her, dotting a quick peck on her lips.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight honey."

Erica rolled over again so I was looking at her back. We both adjusted in our sleeping bags and settled in.

A few minutes passed by. I wasn't close to sleeping. My mind was still thinking about everything.

"What would your thing be?" Erica asked, catching me by surprise. I'd thought she was asleep. Her breathing had sounded like her normal sleeping breath.

"What?" I responded.

"Your thing, your fantasy. You asked what mine would be. So be honest. What would yours be?"

I paused. I knew what the answer was, but I didn't want to say it and sound too eager. And would it be bad to confess it?

Erica had confessed hers, so I did feel it only right to be truthful.

"Finishing inside," I finally eked out.

"Oh," Erica responded. "Okay."

My heart beat a little faster. I didn't know how to take that.

We hadn't started trying for a family yet. Erica was on the pill, but we still avoided any risks. I wore a condom most of the time; going raw very occasionally was probably the most risque thing we ever did. And a creampie was completely off the table for her. But something about it was just so incredibly alluring. I couldn't describe it.

And now I wondered if I just wasted my shot at maybe opening my wife up a bit more by being too truthful.

"Night babe," she said, providing me no answer to my quandary.

"Night."

***

I woke up the next morning, not to my alarm, but to a loud cry.

My head shot up off the ground and I sprang out of my sleeping bag as fast as I could. Someone could be in danger.

Then my mood shifted very dramatically.

It wasn't a cry for help, or of agony. It was of pleasure. Tammy's. Next door.

They were clearly trying to stay muffled, but Tam had let a squeal sneak through. I rolled my eyes. Erica was so afraid of having a little fun last night for fear of what they'd say, and I get woken up to them doing the same thing.

She appeared to have slept through it. Strange. She was usually a much lighter sleeper than me.

I checked my phone. 5:27. Still another 33 minutes before my alarm would go off and our day was supposed to start. I got back into my sleeping bag and tossed my head on the pillow.

As soon as I had, a hand prodded my shoulder. I jolted awake, shooting up again.

"What?" I asked blindly, not knowing who was there. My eyesight adjusted and my wife's beautiful face came into view. Small touches of sunrise were streaming in through the translucent material of our tent, casting gorgeous shadows around Erica's body and letting her orange hair and dazzling green eyes really pop. She was perfect.

"Hey sleepyhead, rise and shine," she told me.

I looked back at my phone. 5:58. My alarm would go off in 2 minutes. It hadn't felt like I'd slept at all.

"Hey, morning," I said groggily through a yawn, and started to get up.

"Before we go out, can I tell you something real quick?" she asked me.

"Yeah, what's up?" I propped myself up on my elbow.

"I thought a lot about what we talked about last night and slept on it. I think I better understand where you're coming from. And I think making a better effort to be a little more spontaneous or exciting could go a long way. For both of us."

"Okay," I said, excitement building inside me, although I tried not to show it. Erica's shell was opening up slowly. I was just happy I'd helped open it.

"That's all," she said. I wondered if she had heard Tammy and Jackson, and if that had changed something. There's no way I had been woken up and she hadn't. I wasn't going to pry, but I figured having an actual example of another couple so close by was maybe providing a titch of inspiration.

"Okay. Well I'm glad we talked about it," I said. "Now let's get some breakfast, long day ahead of us."

"Alright sweetie," Erica said, and gave me a peck on the lips.

The day started smoothly. The sunrise view on the overlook was indescribably gorgeous. The vibrant purples and oranges and reds created a picture-perfect view of the horizon, shining down on the dense, untouched forest below. Not a single artificial structure in sight. Not a disturbance or anything else around us. Just nature. Pure beauty.

We ate breakfast and set off, working along the path towards the mountain that had been on our left. The second day contained far more incline than the first, and we were all working ourselves into quite a sweat by midday.

A stop for a quick lunch broke it up, and we were off again, working our way back inland away from the cliff slowly.

The sun was beating down hard, extricating sweat from my pores all over my body. I was drenched. My watch said it was 2:30. With little shadow and mid-day heat, our pace was slowing considerably.

And then, the sound of relief appeared ahead. Faintly, at first. Only Tammy heard it.

"Wait, do you guys hear that?"

Jackson and I had been engrossed in a conversation over the Eagles' WR corps, too distracted to listen for any muted sounds.

"Hear what?" I inquired.

"Not sure," Tammy replied.

Conversation stopped, and all of us listened. I could pick it up faintly. Something moving. Something babbling.

"Water," Erica concluded, as all of us realized what it was.

"That doesn't make any sense," Jackson said, perplexed. He pulled out a topographic map from his pack and looked at it, then checked the satellite image on his phone. "It doesn't say anything about a river here. There's one aways ahead but we shouldn't be anywhere near that."

"Well that's water," Tammy pointed out. "And we all hear it, so fuck the map."

"Let's try to find it," I suggested.

Our merry troupe wandered far off the path for the first time. We trudged through thick wood, roots intertwining underfoot, before it started to clear up ahead.

The sound got louder. As we came to the edge of the treeline, it got deafening. And we all could see what the running water actually was.

"Well goddamn," Jackson muttered.

Standing in front of us was a 25-foot waterfall. It cascaded down off a short cliff into a small basin, not too much bigger than a standard swimming pool. A little creek trailed off the opposite direction.

The midday sun caught the water on the fall and created a rainbow shimmer around it, giving the entire landscape an almost-holy aura. Like this was some tucked-away oasis of nature that humans weren't supposed to touch, protected by God's light.

Which sounded stupid, and I wasn't one to really believe heavily in a higher power. But if ever an area on Earth was created by a deity, this would be it.

In the middle of nowhere West Virginia. Weird place for God to show his ways, but hey, who was I to judge?

We all took in the scene for a minute and snapped a few photos. This was definitely going on Erica's Instagram, and Jackson's travel Insta account would love it as well.

"Quick cool down?" Tammy asked, saying what all of us were thinking.

"We didn't pace that well through the morning," Jackson replied.

"Yeah but cooling down will help us move faster later," I reasoned. "And besides, when are we gonna get another chance?"

"True," Jackson replied. "Guess it's good a time as any for a shower."

We refilled our water filters, and all of us dug our bathing suits out of our packs. The girls dipped away behind a few bushes to change, while Jackson and I just stripped in front of each other.

His back was to me as he put his trunks on, but his muscular frame was still very much on display. I didn't want to feel jealous or anything. I wasn't in bad shape at all, I had to remind myself.

"Their win is not my loss," I repeated my wife's favorite Olivia Rodrigo song in my head. Who knew that a 19 year old could be so profound?

We finished changing, and Jackson and I slid into the water. It was deeper than I thought, up to my armpits. I dunked my head underwater to cool off.

When I popped back up, I saw Tammy and Erica appear on the edge of the water.

If I thought the view was heavenly before, this was something else entirely.

Tammy had on a skimpy navy blue bikini, with far too many straps and bows around her stomach to seem practical, even if it looked great. It barely contained her breasts, which seemed aching to spill out the sides. Now I wasn't one to check out my friends, or ogle for big hooters. But when they're on display right in front of me....

Erica had on a considerably more tame black one-piece. I remembered when she got it a few months earlier. The neckline still plunged fairly deep and the high-waisted look was alluring as the bottom dipped sharply between her legs. Her orange hair was pulled back in a ponytail and with her massive aviator glasses on, tinted-orange, she looked like a 50s movie star. A stark contrast to the blonde Pamela-Anderson-esque bombshell next to her.

Both ladies dipped their toes in the water.

"Come on in," Jackson yelled to them. I read his eyes and could tell he went through the same routine I had, taking in every inch and crevice of the ladies that as he could.

It made me feel strange knowing that he was staring at my wife. Partially proud, that I was married to someone so perfect that she could draw stares from any man. Partially angry, that someone else was checking out my wife. And partially guilty, since I had just done the same thing to his girlfriend. So I didn't really have any leg to stand on for being upset. Besides, could I blame him?

All of us were now submerged in the water. It was almost crystal clear, so you could see straight through to the bottom. The cold water was unbelievably refreshing, and I don't think any of us wanted to leave.

We sat around for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company and the gorgeous scene around us.

Eventually we migrated towards the actual waterfall to shower. Tammy had brought the big bottle of shampoo/body-wash (the girls had eschewed beauty routines for the trip and deigned so low as to use the vile men's Dove 3-in-1).

The waterfall acted pretty well as a shower. Erica got in and out in about 2 minutes, and Jackson finished up right after her. The two of them waded out of the basin to change back into their clothes and dry everything off.

Which just left me and Tammy.

Tammy was being very deliberate, carefully sudsing up each part of her body. Running her hands slowly over her legs, her arms. Her chest. We were a few feet apart, and I wasn't really looking. Or trying not to. But her hands running over her big, glorious boobs definitely was drawing some of my attention.

I'd never really looked at Tammy sexually before. Or with any sort of serious thought. We were just friends. And we worked really well together that way. I always knew she was really attractive, I just never thought about it. Maybe because I always knew, or always thought, I never had a shot with her. So I just tried not to bother to look at her in that light.

Tammy turned straight to me.

"What's up Aaron?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Uhh nothing Tam," I responded, turning to her. I had just finished washing off my hair and was about to leave the falls. "What's up with you?" I knew there was a reason she was asking me.

"Erica talked to me today. Earlier. While you guys were talking about football."

"Okay...." My eyes scanned around. Jackson and Erica were nowhere to be seen. Our packs were a little further away in the woods, probably just out of eyesight.

"She said you guys had a conversation last night. About what we'd talked about at dinner."

My heart beat a little faster. "Yeah, we did."

"She said you were encouraging her to be more... open, more experimental."

"Yeah, I mean a little." I didn't know whether or not I should be defensive. "Why did she talk to you about it?"

"I don't know, stupid, maybe because I'm a valuable friend and good confidant?" she joked, shoving me lightly in the shoulder. "She wanted my advice."

I knew what Tammy's position was on this. We'd heard it at dinner. I hoped Erica going to her was a good sign, that Tammy had echoed my sentiments.

"What did you tell her?"

"Well I said that you were coming from a good place. That you wanted what was best for both of you guys. That it was important that both of you guys were both equally committed and okay with anything like that, any experimenting. And that I thought it could be very helpful, that I supported it."