The Mystery of Lakeview Mall

Realizing she was in the clear, and yet also realizing that this cautious period of silence wouldn't last forever, Nami tried feeling around to see if there was any way she could touch her clit without making a squishing sound.

Every touch of hers sent her own body reeling. Obviously Nami masturbated, although weirdly little for her hormone levels, but this time it felt about a hundred times better than it normally did. She wasn't sure if anything could make her stop, even with her two best friends standing only meters away from her.

Despite her new method being quiet, Nami was acutely aware that her fingers were now slippery with her juices and that she wouldn't be able to last much longer. She lasted an embarrassingly short time and thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't a squirter, given the explosive orgasm that was about to rock her entire body (and given the fact that she was still wearing pants).

Soon, Nami felt an almost alien force of pleasure wreck through her, through wave after wave. She had to clench her jaw and mash her lips together to hold back on making any sounds, but as she felt a tidal wave of naughty bliss blast through her from her cunt outwards, she couldn't help but emit a sharp, "Aah!"

At once, she quickly removed her hand and moved down to her knee. She felt a flashlight's beam envelop her, seeing the beam hitting the floor around her. "Are you okay?" came the panicked whisper of Tyler.

"I'm fine, I just stubbed my toe," she responded, trying (and failing) to make her voice not quiver. She was still feeling mild waves of orgasmic bliss flowing through her, even at that point. "I'm sorry if I worried you."

"I shouldn't have kept the lights off for so long, I'm the one who should be sorry," Tyler replied. He evidently mistook her quivering voice for pain, and his own voice was quivering too, reflecting some kind of worry for her. Nami smiled to herself at how sweet that was, before feeling guilty for what she had done.

She turned around to look at the two. Zoe was now beside him, clearly indicating that they should all go on. "What about the sound?" Nami asked breathlessly.

"It went quiet a bit ago, I was just being cautious," Tyler replied. "Stay on your toes though, they could have been footsteps. If I say lights out again, lights out."

"Should we maybe get out of here?" Zoe asked, her voice also reflecting unease.

"Nah, c'mon. We said we were going to check out the north end! Unless you two wanted to make three trips out here." Tyler grinned at the two girls and pressed on, leaving Zoe and Nami to shrug at each other and follow him.

Once Nami's orgasm calmed down fully (which frankly took around two whole minutes), she felt deep shame at what she had done. Not only did she ignore danger and risk her friends' well-being by assuming there was no harm and playing with herself until she audibly came, but she also... masturbated in front of her friends. Sure, they didn't know, but that was still really weird, and kind of uncalled for. Should she apologize?

Of course not. That would have required her explaining what she was apologizing for, and knowing Tyler, she'd never live it down. She appreciated that she could trust Tyler, and knew that he would never be a creep about it -- in years of friendship he never made a pass at either of them that wasn't a clear joke, so he knew how to have female friends without being a dick -- but that didn't mean he couldn't be crude in other ways, and she wasn't ready to get teased for years about this.

Not to mention, Nami was sure that in most circumstances, she wouldn't have done what she did. She seriously had to keep herself in check from this point forward.

***

Nami and Zoe rarely hung out together without Tyler, so Zoe's request came across to Nami as a bit surprising. Nothing too crazy, but usually, it was during those times when Zoe was actually pissed at Tyler but still wanted to charge her social batteries or something.

As soon as Tyler ran off to catch his bus, Nami couldn't help but ask Zoe. "Are you mad at him?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

Zoe stared at her. "No more than usual, why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering," replied Nami. "Normally if you're excluding Tyler, it's because he did something to cheese you off or something."

"Nah," Zoe waved her off. "I just thought, you know, it's been way too long since it's been you and me! Plus, I got some fucking amazing mozza sticks I wanna try."

Nami smiled. Both Zoe and Nami loved baked mozzarella sticks, but the lactose-intolerant Tyler complained loudly whenever they ate them while hanging out. Without much more convincing, the two set off for Zoe's house, and before long, they were in her room, listening to IU and chowing down on mozzarella sticks.

"You're right," Nami said between bites. "These are so good!"

Zoe gently tore one apart with her two hands in front of them. "Ooh, look at the steam coming off of that one!" she remarked, before stuffing it in her mouth. The two smiled and ate, enjoying the food and each other's company.

It was nice to have this time away from her thoughts. Nami was masturbating way too much lately, which she quickly attributed to being alone too often during a very hormonal time. It was clear the inciting incident was smelling Jeremy's stupid cologne in the mall, which set off a whole new wave of lust for him. Even now, as she was having fun with her friend, she was squeezing her thighs together, thinking of him every so often. Having so many hormones wasn't fun, especially when you were a boy-crazy quiet girl.

She envied Zoe, who was able to be cool and calculated, both in a crisis and when faced with her desires. She had one boyfriend throughout high school that Nami could remember, and she had to let them know he was her boyfriend since there was no PDA or kissing or anything that happened outside of closed doors. They didn't last long, and according to Zoe, it was because she discovered he was "too boring" for her.

"I wish I was like you," Nami remarked out loud, out of nowhere.

Zoe looked at her curiously. "In what way?"

"Just, like... every way," Nami admitted. "Okay, so you know Jeremy?"

"Roberts?"

"No, the other one."

Zoe thought for a bit. "I don't know his last name, but... popular guy? Shaggy hair? Dumbass grin?"

"Yeah, that's him," Nami quietly admitted.

"You had a thing for him, right?" Zoe asked.

"Have. Still have it," Nami half-laughed. "I just can't get him out of my head."

Zoe laughed. "Nami, you need to let him go. You can't go out with a guy if he doesn't even know you exist. Or did you fall for a guy that knows your name this time?"

Nami blushed. "That's what I'm saying! You're so calm and... able to be your own person. I feel like I'm always obsessing over some boy that wouldn't even notice if I died or something. I just wish I didn't... feel like this all the time. And the feelings are getting stronger."

Zoe raised an eyebrow at that last point, but said nothing.

Nevertheless, Nami went on. "You're just so cool and collected, and I admire you so much, and... I'm grateful you're my friend. I know who to look up to now. I'm really glad you and Tyler are my friends, so I can learn to follow your example and have friends without feeling, like, weird and like I need something more or something."

Zoe was looking away at this point. "Wow," she simply said with a bit of a dry voice.

Instantly, Nami recoiled. "I'm sorry, was I being rude?"

"No, no, you're fine, you just... I'm... I'm amazed how difficult you just made this," Zoe said plainly.

Nami looked at her friend, confused. "What do you mean?"

Zoe chuckled. "Yeah, what do I mean?" she repeated, as if she was sharing a joke with herself. "Of course you don't get it. So, uh, Nami, don't get me wrong, I also wanted to hang out with you, but there's, uh, something you should probably know, and I'm letting you know this because I'm your friend and friends are honest with each other and I want to make sure I communicate everything with you."

"Okay..." Nami replied slowly and quietly.

"So, uh... oh my God, this is hard..." Zoe stumbled over her words, starting to blush. "D-do you remember, last time we were in the mall, and we turned off the flashlights?"

Nami blushed, remembering what she was doing when the lights were off. "Yeah," she replied uneasily.

"There was a long pause there, right?" Zoe continued.

"Mhm," Nami replied, feeling her pussy twitch, thinking of her masturabting right there in front of them. 'Not now,' she scolded herself. As much as her horniness was trying to distract her even now, she was deathly afraid of Zoe admitting she knew what Nami did or something.

Zoe breathed deeply a couple times, and shut her eyes slowly. "Tyler and I were making out," she blurted out.

"What?!" Nami asked in disbelief.

"Tyler and I were making out," she repeated, with the same urgency and tone as the first time she said it. Her eyes were still closed.

"Are you two..." Nami trailed off.

Zoe's eyes shot open. "No, that's the crazy thing! All this week we've been trying to figure out what we are. And Tyler's a fucking nightmare if you want to communicate openly with someone. He 'mms,' and he 'hums,' and he doesn't give clear direct answers to anything. I think for now we just agreed that this was a one time thing."

"So you don't want to do it again?" Nami asked.

Zoe blushed and looked away, not answering for a while. "I hate not knowing the answer to that," she mumbled, mostly to herself. "But... maybe? I think I do? Gahh, it's really confusing."

"But you did it once, clearly something led up to that, right?" Nami pressed on.

Zoe chuckled in discomfort. "I feel..." She squeezed her legs together. Nami noticed. "...I feel slutty saying this, but I'm gonna level with you -- it took me embarrassingly little time to decide I wanted it. So, in the mall, remember when I yelped? I tripped over some debris or something."

"Right..." Nami nodded along.

"Wrong. I didn't trip. Tyler accidentally hit my ass with his hand when turning around or something, and I lost my footing. Thank fuck I did, because I don't think I would have been able to make up a story for any other... y'know. So then, I... it just felt good, and I kept thinking about it, so I... texted him telling him I wanted to make out with him, and that we would either do it in the mall before we left, or we wouldn't do it at all. I told him that the word for 'yes' was 'crazy' and the word for 'no' was 'unbelievable,' and that we could talk about it after if he needed to."

Nami laughed in disbelief. "Wow, even when you're... um, when you're horny... you're always such a planner."

Zoe blushed and gave a small sheepish smile. "Yeah, well, y'know. Anyway, he thought to turn off the lights -- I thought we were just going to stay in the mall long enough that you'd go home or something -- and we... yeah. In front of you. I'm really sorry." She breathed a couple of times. "I just figured you should know in case we become a couple or something."

"You think it'll go that far?" Nami asked.

"Nami, I have no fucking idea. It's weird. It was just so... sudden. Two days ago, I wouldn't have done it for a million bucks. Then suddenly I wanted to so badly. I don't know if I suddenly felt something for him, or if I... yeah, I shouldn't be talking about this with you." Zoe laughed out of sheer nervousness.

"Please, go on," Nami said, her voice just above a whisper. "I want you to. It's nice not being the only one with this feeling."

Zoe's laughter turned into a smile of nervousness. "Or... if I just wanted it," she finished quietly. "If I just wanted to feel that release." She cleared her throat. "Plus, I wanted to tell you because you're my friend, and we should communicate these things. And I feel bad doing that when it was basically in front of you."

"Don't feel bad. I was... I wasn't an angel myself," Nami confessed.

Zoe laughed. "Yeah, I know, but it's not like you did anything with those boys, let alone in front of me, so this one's my bad."

"No, that's not what I meant," Nami replied honestly. The two had evolved into a tense couple of girls, sitting across from each other on the floor, tense and serious. The mozzarella sticks were growing cold.

"...And what's that supposed to mean?" Zoe inquired.

"I, uh... did stuff too. While the lights were out," Nami quietly confessed.

Zoe gave Nami a puzzled look. "With who, the homeless orgasm lady?"

Nami quietly laughed. "No, I, um... played with myself."

A silence passed between them, and Nami felt the need to correct a possible misconception. "I didn't hear you two. It was just... I was thinking about Jeremy. My mind wandered, and I lost myself, and... yeah."

"We both lost ourselves, huh?" Zoe asked with a dry quiver to her voice. "And I made out with Tyler while you masturbated. And neither of us knew the other was doing it."

"Yeah."

"That's... yeah, that's hot."

"I think so," Nami quietly admitted.

Zoe was nearly visibly shaking with teenage tension, and her eyes went everywhere, until she spotted the plate of mozza sticks on the floor. "C'mon," she finally said. "Eat." She laughed. "We need to stop talking about this, or I'm going to need the washroom soon."

Nami laughed delicately and agreed, reaching for a stick. Still, she knew that as soon as she got home, she'd definitely be masturbating. This whole situation was crazy. She hoped that Tyler wouldn't make it too weird.

Though, wasn't masturbating in the dark with your two platonic friends making out next to you weird enough?

***

Credit to Tyler, and to Zoe; if Zoe hadn't told her what was going on, Nami wouldn't have noticed. The two had pegged Tyler as the type of guy that wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut about anything, but sure enough, there he was, not only not bragging to Nami, but acting as if nothing had changed.

It was comforting to know that the makeout session hadn't led to some sort of awkward conversation or even a tension in the group; it was pretty clear no one wanted the group to split up after all of their little adventures.

At lunchtime, the trio met and went about their usual joking around, albeit with the occasional glance between Nami and Zoe. If anything, they were being less subtle about what they knew than Tyler was. More than once, Nami wondered about the possibility of Tyler straight-up forgetting what happened -- she didn't think he was that dumb, but... she hadn't ruled it out.

That said, Tyler was being strange and out-of-character about something else. "I want to go to the mall again," he said out of nowhere with no pretense. "Who's in?"

"I am," Zoe replied immediately, then blushed when Nami raised her eyebrows at her. Even Tyler's poker face broke a bit when he saw her.

Thankfully, he recovered quickly, and grinned. "I thought you liked it," he replied, and turned to Nami. "What do you say? We have no clue how long we have until someone discovers that door. What do you say?"

Something compelled Nami to say yes. She had no idea what. The mall was just... so exciting to her. She wanted to go back there, as soon as possible. "I'll do it," she agreed.

Tyler grinned again. "Can't wait!"

***

Zoe, Tyler, and Nami all breathed deeply once they arrived in the food court. They were all flooded with that sense of excitement, adventure, and... any other feelings they may or may not have had at that moment.

"So which way are we heading this time?" Zoe inquired. "We've already been down both of the other ends of the mall."

Tyler thought to himself for a second, shining his flashlight around. "There's still a bunch of stores we missed down both ends," he commented.

"But the homeless person was at the, um, south end," Nami replied. "Maybe it would be polite to not go into her territory."

"We don't even know if they did live here," Tyler countered. "For all we know, someone came in here like us, looking for a cool place to explore. Then she masturbated for whatever reason and left." He chuckled at the absurdity.

Nami blushed deeply, and felt bad at that moment. Zoe must have understood why, because she quickly cleared her throat and added, "Okay, let's go down south again. If we hear anything, anything, we leave and go to the north end instead. To be respectful."

The other two agreed and began their trek down to the south, stopping by any stores they missed the first time along the way.

"This place is like a maze," Nami commented.

"It's probably because it's so dark," Zoe replied. "I bet it would be easier to navigate if it was lit."

"Well, duh," Tyler replied dryly. Nami looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Zoe blush and smile at Tyler, thinking Nami wasn't looking at them. Tyler smiled back.

Nami was so jealous. Her two best friends, no less. They were secretly lusting for each other and trying to keep it secret from her. It was... hot. Sexy. So sexy. Nami wished so badly that she could have what they had, and get opportunities to make out with her secret boyfriend while her friend was there or something. Especially if it was Jeremy, smug confident Jeremy, laughing along with her friends but secretly grabbing her ass when they couldn't see or something. She would melt for him. She could melt for him right now.

"Nami, you coming?" Zoe's voice rang from down the mall.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Nami mumbled with a flushed face as she ran to catch up to the pair. They were looking over some shoe store, with Tyler fixated on the desk.

"This also gives us a cool challenge," he remarked out loud. "If there is someone living here, maybe things will be arranged differently or something. They're probably using the stores for stuff."

"We last went down the south end like two weeks ago, and you can't even remember what you had for breakfast this morning," Zoe countered, rolling her eyes.

"Hey! I actually remember these visits really well. If it's memorable, I actually have a good memory." Tyler's smile got wide. "I remember last time we came here particularly well."

While that comment was clearly made for Zoe, Nami could barely stop herself from giving a subconscious sex moan at that comment. Their situation was so taboo, and she was loving it. She was so horny that she wouldn't have minded if the two just made out in front of her, but she was already seen as a hormonal freak to them as it was, so she really didn't want to make that situation worse by giving them permission or something. Plus, the repercussions... nope. It shouldn't even have been a possibility in her mind.

Zoe wasn't letting up either. "Well, I guess we should make this time memorable too, shouldn't we?" she asked in a playful way. A week ago, Nami would have thought she was toying with him, but she was totally hitting on him. She wanted him again. This was going to happen again, and fuck it all, she wasn't going to get to see it.

Unless...

The trio searched for a bit longer in the store and decided to press on, when Nami hatched a plan. Over the course of about a minute, she started artificially breathing heavier and heavier, in a pained manner, until Tyler piped up.

"You okay, Nami? You're breathing pretty hard there."

"I don- I don't know," Nami replied, acting as convincingly as she could. "I think the stale air is getting to me. Can I just run out for a few minutes? You guys can stay here, I can find my own way back."

"Are you sure, Nami? I don't mind coming with you if he doesn't," Zoe immediately replied. Internally, Nami cringed.

"Now hang on, Zoe," Tyler asserted, his eyes gleaming. "I don't want Nami to feel like she can't do things on her own. If she wants to catch her breath on her own, without us breathing down her neck, I don't mind if you don't."