Threading the Needle Ch. 05

Rikki wondered if it was because Weston was there or the clients. "Maybe a bit of both," she decided. Although Weston would be focused on guiding his boat, everyone wanted to impress Weston with his or her skill and professionalism. She started to head over to Lena's raft when she heard Liz call her name. Turning around, she went over to her friend.

"I want you with Indigo today. I appreciate the help you gave Lena last week. It was good advice, but I want to see if she can do it without you," Liz said. "And I'm putting Winnie in with me. Both of your pets need to go without you today." She smiled as she saw Rikki's mother hen look start to come out. "Rikki, this is the halfway point. I need to start evaluating them. Actually, I need to do the same with you. Just focus on either guiding or paddling today, won't you? I know you want to help, but once the season starts, everyone is alone in their boats."

For a moment, Rikki felt like arguing. Not about Winnie and Lena, but it would be hard to be in anyone's raft and not help if they were screwing up. She took a deep breath and put on her management hat. It helped her to see Liz's point of view. "Okay, I understand. I'll be quiet," she said. She gave Liz a hard look. "Let Bear handle Lena. If she has trouble, just let him talk to her. You come down on her harder than anyone else, Elizabeth."

"I know. I said thanks for last week, didn't I?" Liz told her. "Bear can have her. I've got my own boat and Indigo has hers." She didn't mention that it was her trust in Bear that made it easier to keep from interfering. After giving Rikki a little hug, she turned and looked at the boats. "Don, switch over to Indigo's boat. Jasper, I want you with Bear. No, Lena stay there too. Winnie, come get in my boat," Liz said in a no nonsense tone.

Once Rikki was over with Indigo, Liz looked over the crews. They were reasonably balanced. That was more important this time than either of the other two weeks. Between the rains and the slowly warming temperatures, the river volume was up from two weeks ago. It wasn't close to high water but it would be a more challenging trip. She looked across the river and saw Alex in her kayak waiting. She gave her a smile and a nod. Alex raised her paddle in acknowledgement, but didn't crack a smile.

Liz sighed. Over time, things had become tenser with Alex. Even if Indigo didn't seem to care, Liz hated the complication. "Maybe I need to back off there," she thought to herself as she moved back to her raft.

The trainees had already started giving their safety lectures. By now, they policed themselves. If one of them made a mistake, another would point it out. She smiled as she listened. There were very few mistakes to point out. Looking back at the other rafts, she saw Weston pushing off and starting down the river. Logan gave him 30 seconds and then pushed his own raft into the current. Alex peeled off and floated down alongside Logan's raft. Liz could tell she was talking with his customers. Even though she didn't like guiding, Alex had a good rapport with customers. It was why Weston liked using her.

"Okay, we will give them five minutes and then start," Liz told everyone. Winnie just finished the last lecture and they had a few minutes to relax. Liz looked at her. As soon as she finished, Winnie glanced downstream. It was obvious that she was watching Logan's raft. When he disappeared around a bend, Winnie turned back to her raft and saw Liz's eyes on her. Even with her helmet on and her wet weather gear around her, her blush was easy to see.

Liz chuckled. "I see that Logan was working his magic on you. I didn't realize all it took was a little flirting from a guy," she said.

Despite being embarrassed at being caught, Winnie decided that the best defense was a good offense. "Well, you never tried your magic on me. So how would you know if it only works with the guys?" Bohdi laughed and gave Liz one of his goofy grins. A few locks of Winnie's blonde hair hung out from her helmet and framed her face. Her blue eyes were an interesting blend of innocence and mischievousness. Not for the first time, Liz admitted just how cute Winnie was.

"True," Liz said with a grin. "I don't know. I guess I will have to see if I can win you over to our side."

"Please don't, Liz," Reed said from the front of the boat. He had a big grin. "You already have Lena and Indigo to pick from. Don't take Winnie too. That only leaves our beautiful married woman, plus Julie." Although he wasn't trying to put down Julie, the implication was that she wasn't in the same class as the others.

Sawyer frowned and looked over at Julie to see if she could hear Reed. From the stiffness in her back, he could tell the answer was yes even though she was two boats away. "Hey, Julie is pretty too," he said. He enjoyed being the only guy getting anywhere with one of the trainees. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to seriously date Julie, but for now it was nice.

At least Reed had the good form to look chagrined for being rude. "I didn't mean she wasn't. But like Rikki, she isn't really available, is she?" he replied.

Sawyer forced himself not to look over at Julie again. Feeling on the spot, he dodged the question. "Maybe. I guess that's her decision, but maybe," he said. Julie wouldn't necessarily say anything now, but at least he should not lose any points with her.

"So you see," Reed said looking back at Liz. "It would hardly be fair for you to work your magic on Winnie." His attention was on Liz when Winnie whacked him on the shoulder.

"Hey there. Don't go getting in the way of me getting some attention from our most successful lover! I have some choice in this," Winnie said with a grin. She enjoyed how off guard she caught Reed. "Maybe I am interested in trying a little of Liz's sugar."

"What do you mean our most successful lover?" Bear jumped into the exchange. "I think everyone knows who that really is," he said as he puffed out his chest. "You'd like my sugar, Winnie!"

Rikki laughed along with everyone else. Even though Winnie was a little embarrassed from all the teasing attention, she didn't back down and gave as good as she got. "It's nice to see her come into her own," Rikki thought. As everyone began to sound off, the hubbub from the group rose. Rikki noticed that Lena was one of the few who were silent. "I wonder what she's thinking," she thought just before Liz interrupted everyone with a loud whistle.

"Okay, time to go. Everyone focus on rafting now! Bear, when you're ready," Liz said.

During the playful arguing, people gathered together into a big group and were no longer ready to go. It took a moment but then the rafts started to push off and float down the river. The good mood lasted. Even though people paid attention to what their guide said, there was continued banter within each raft.

Jasper was the first to guide in Liz's raft. Liz sat right behind Winnie. Although most of Liz's attention was on the river and what Jasper was doing, Winnie successfully distracted her a little. She kept up the light flirting with Liz who responded playfully back. Even though it was not serious, Winnie enjoyed it and felt the pull of Liz's personality.

"I can see why she does so well," Winnie thought to herself as they all floated though a slow calm stretch. "She is so confident in who she is and how good she is." As they all bent forward to paddle, Liz's body brushed against hers. A slight prickle of arousal caught Winnie by surprise. At Jasper's command, they put down their paddles again and rested. Her mind drifted back to last weekend and watching Indigo and Liz. It wasn't the first time she thought about it. In fact, Winnie found herself thinking about watching Indigo with each her of lovers every night in bed. She couldn't help it. Both of those encounters excited her, in different ways. Some nights she got caught up in the raw passion of Alex taking Indigo. Other nights it was Liz's slow sensual seduction. Whichever one it was, it always resulted in Winnie playing with herself until she came.

Doing it every night was unusual for Winnie. It was even more unusual to masturbate while thinking about lesbians. It worried Winnie just a little. Other than those bar kisses with a couple of her girlfriends, she had always shied away from experimenting that way. "Do I want to?" she thought. She didn't really want to examine the question too hard. She felt the tug of curiosity and perhaps more, but it was unsettling.

Instead, Winnie thought about Logan. He was very good looking. "I like flirting with him. I wonder if he is single." He seemed interested but from what she could tell from the guides she knew, being available seemed like a relative concept. Images of Indigo flashed through her mind again; pressed against the bathroom wall with Alex's fingers sliding in and out of her pussy, and then Liz holding her while slowly bringing her to a massive orgasm. "Is Logan like that? Is he like Bear?" Winnie asked. "I'm not innocent. I've had a couple of one-night stands, but I didn't like them. It doesn't feel right to me."

Further contemplation was interrupted by Jasper calling commands to set up for a rapid. Winnie was hit in the face with a wave that crashed over the bow of the raft. Already wet from the rain, Winnie just laughed as the cold water brought her fully back to the moment. "The river's no place for deep thinking," she told herself. "I need to just enjoy the trip."

Shortly after that, Liz looked at her. "Okay, time to switch. Our sexy Winnie will guide down to the Drop," Liz said with a smile. She laughed when Winnie blushed and then gave Jasper a high five as he moved to the front to take Winnie's place. "Good job, Jasper."

When Winnie began to move to the back of the raft, she caught her foot and started to fall forward. Liz moved quickly and caught her around the waist so that Winnie fell against her. She felt Liz's strength in how easily she held her. Between the life jacket and the drysuit, Liz's body was cloaked. For a brief moment, Winnie wondered what it would feel like if they both just had on clothes. "Or were naked," she thought. Remembering exactly what she was doing, Winnie pushed her way back to standing.

"Thanks," Winnie said as she jumped past Liz to the back of the raft. Taking the guide paddle, she turned to look downstream. She quickly used her paddle to turn the boat and start setting up for the next set of rapids. Thoughts about anything except for guiding instantly disappeared. It was her raft until Boulder Drop, and Winnie wanted to show Liz how well she could handle it.

By the time they got down to the biggest rapid on the river, Liz was appropriately impressed. Winnie didn't let being the most petite trainee get in the way. Rather than relying on muscle, she used her paddlers and her quickly developing eye for reading the river. She wasn't perfect, but that was just inexperience.

"You'll get better as you see more rivers and just get more trips," Liz told her as they pulled the raft up and out of the water alongside the other rafts. Their boat was the final one to get to the Drop. All the other crews were up on rocks looking at the rapid, including the paying customers. Bear was with Logan and Weston on one of the rocks closest to the rapid.

"Great job, though," Liz said to Winnie. "You have the basics down and you're learning the subtleties." They were alone as the guys ran as quickly as they could to get over to see the huge rapid. The two women were going at a slower pace, not wanting to take a spill on the wet river rocks.

"Thanks, Liz," Winnie said. "I love it. I'm so glad I am doing this!"

"Me too. I love getting more women guides," Liz replied. When she heard Winnie chuckle, Liz grinned. "I didn't mean it like that. I just like that we aren't just a bunch of macho guys."

"Right," Winnie said in a tone that made it clear she didn't completely believe Liz.

"Mind you, I'm not saying that I don't appreciate the fact that it is a bunch of hot and sexy women," Liz said. "That's just the icing on the cake." She licked her lips.

"Mmmm, and you like to lick the frosting," Winnie said, slipping back into the teasing from earlier. It was just so easy to do with Liz.

"Yum yum!" Liz teased back as they came up to the group. The noise from the water was loud enough that almost no one heard them. Everyone's attention was on the river too, everyone except for Lena. She watched them the entire way from Liz's raft. Now she turned her attention to the river too.

Going over to where Indigo was, Liz looked at the river. It was noticeably higher and faster. She could hear some of the trainees talking in hushed tones. She chuckled to herself. "They should see it at high water," she thought. She moved close to Indigo so they could hear each other.

"Weston said for everyone to run Airplane," Indigo said. "He doesn't want any issues with customers around."

"I expected as much," Liz said. She could see Bear heading back towards them while Weston and Logan went over to talk to their paddlers. Part of the entertainment was showing them where they would go. As they watched, a piece of driftwood came down the river. It was flipped and spun around by the water, giving everyone a good demonstration of the power of the river.

Indigo shifted a little, causing Liz to look at her. She could tell Indigo had something else on her mind. "What?" Liz asked.

"Your bestie wants to know if she can guide the drop," Indigo said. She had on a smile, but it was more of a nervous one than anything else.

Liz laughed. "She does, does she?" she said. Over Indigo's shoulder, she could see Rikki watching them. She was holding on to the guide paddle as she stood on a rock 20 feet away. Liz heard Bear come up behind her. She turned to look at him. "If I say it's okay for Rikki to guide, someone from every raft is going to want to."

Bear pursed his lips and nodded. "Most of them are at the point of being good enough to be cocky and overconfident. None of them have done anything as tough as Boulder." He looked over at Rikki. She had moved from the raft to find a rock where she could watch Weston and Logan run the rapid. He dipped his head towards her. "Well, not Rikki. She is good. I wouldn't think twice about having her guide me through it. I don't know about anyone else yet."

"If Weston doesn't want us to run anything but Airplane, I know he wouldn't be happy if I let any of them guide today," Liz said. She shook her head. "Tell Rikki no. This is her fifth day of guiding. As soon as you get though Airplane, you can turn it over to her and if she does well for her section then maybe tomorrow. There are no commercial boats tomorrow. But it isn't a promise. It is just a maybe."

Indigo nodded and headed back to her boat with Rikki heading there as well. Bear looked over at Weston and could see that he was almost ready to go. "I guess I need to be ready to go if there is an issue." As he began to walk away, he looked over his shoulder with a big grin. "Dibs on Rikki tomorrow!"

Once again, his infectious smile worked. Liz couldn't help smiling back. "You break it to Indigo!" she called to him. He looked ahead and continued on his way. "I don't care which one of you she goes with," she thought to herself. It was a given that she didn't want Rikki in her boat. Of all the trainees, Rikki was the only one that Liz knew she couldn't come down on if she screwed up. She didn't care if she was an asshole to any of the others, but that was one thing she could never be with Rikki. "Thank god she is the best one," she said quietly as she started to head back too.

Once Liz was back, her group lifted the raft and pushed it almost all the way into the water. Only Reed was left on the shore, holding the raft so that the current didn't grab it. With the back of the boat out in the water, Liz climbed her way over the thwarts to get to the guide position.

"Bohdi, get back by me on the other side. As soon as we are through Airplane, you can switch and take over. We are going last so I expect we will just keep going," Liz said. Since Logan's boat was pushing off, she knew Weston was already making his run. She could see Bear starting to get ready with Lena back by him. It was clearly her turn to guide too. Liz spared a thought for her.

"Do well, Lena," Liz said silently. "You've got the toughest section to guide and I will love it if you nail it." She might have to be tough, but she still really wanted Lena to be one of the guides. "Halfway to go," she thought. "Then my stupid rule doesn't matter anymore."

"Hey Liz," Reed said, interrupting Liz's thoughts.

"Yes?" Liz replied as she looked over at him standing at the bow.

Reed had on a big smile. "I overheard Indigo telling Rikki she could guide the Drop tomorrow. Is there a chance I can guide it too?" he asked.

"I want to too!" Jasper said quickly. Without looking, she could feel Bohdi nodding in agreement.

Liz sighed. She knew it would be like this. "First of all, I'm pretty sure Indigo said maybe. So right now, no one is guiding the drop except for us guides. Depending upon how things go, it is possible. Remember, even if we do, there are only three spots to guide it. We will be watching."

By now Bear was in the river, turning his boat into position. She watched as he guided it over to House Rock and then slipped down around it. Don was the one holding Indigo's boat while standing up so that he could see if Bear came out all right. That must have been the case because he pushed off and jumped into the raft. Indigo gave Liz a little nod before calling her first command. She too set up without problem and smoothly made the turn down into Airplane.

Reed kept his eye on the other raft until it disappeared. He watched to see if they made it through the rapid. For a few seconds, he couldn't see them. Then, they popped into view. Indigo held her paddle straight up in the air, giving the all clear sign for them to run the Drop. "They look good," Reed told Liz.

"Okay, push us off and jump in. Get in your seat as quick as you can. Everyone, be ready for an all back," Liz said. She felt the current begin to grab the raft as soon as Reed pushed it out. Stretching out, she drew a big stroke with her paddle to prevent the current from spinning it around. As soon as Reed was seated with his paddle, she yelled, "All back!" Continuing to draw with her big guide paddle, the raft moved across the river.

"All stop," Liz yelled. She continued to paddle and turned the raft to face downstream. As they approached the bubble cauldron of boils and powerful eddy fences, she told them to paddle all head, gaining a little more momentum. She carefully adjusted the angle. For a moment, it looked like they had too much momentum and they would get caught by the current heading towards the jagged rocks of Pickets Fence. Then Liz reached almost straight behind the raft and drew a deep stroke that checked the velocity of the raft. The water flowing towards Airplane Turn caught them and they changed direction.

It seemed like the raft was going to be pulled sideways down the rapid. Bohdi and Winnie almost instinctually leaned away from the approaching drop when Liz screamed.

"Left back!"

Neither Bohdi nor Winnie hesitated. They placed their paddles against their hips and gave strong backwards strokes in time with the forward ones by Reed and Jasper.

"All stop!" Liz yelled as the boat turned left and dropped down into the Turn. As one, the entire crew stopped paddling but screamed in defiance as they rode the rapid down. As they got to the bottom, Liz stuck her paddle in the water and pulled back hard. The nose swung to the right.

"All ahead, hard!" Liz yelled. The boat jumped forward. Liz smiled. "I'm going to miss having a crew like this," she thought. The boat came shooting out of the turn. Liz straightened the boat while looking over at Bohdi. "Ready?" she asked.