Threading the Needle Ch. 11

"Okay, I'm glad to hear it. Talk to you later," Gabby said and turned to head back to her friends. After a couple of steps, she turned around. She still walked backwards toward them. "You know, someone like you is probably what he deserves. He's too successful with women for his own good." They both laughed and Gabby turned around again and finished rejoining her group.

Looking over at where Lena and Rikki were still in deep conversation, Winnie took a big swig of her beer. "Do I really feel that way?" she wondered, but no matter how she looked at it, she didn't muster up much passion about whether or not Logan was in her life. She gazed at Rikki. The tall brunette was laughing easily at something Lena said. As she tossed her hair, she happened to catch a glimpse of Winnie. Focusing for a second, Rikki gave her a big smile.

Winnie felt her heart jump. She couldn't help her reaction. It was like that every time she saw Rikki; every time she looked at her. "Now if it was Rikki saying she didn't ever want to see me..." Even imagining that made her heart clench up, and a feeling as if she would cry passed through her. Clenching her fist, she dug her fingers into her palm, reminded herself that Rikki was in her life, and would stay in it.

Rikki jerked her head a little. The message was clear. "Come join us." Winnie took a big breath and walked over to her friends. She joined the conversation and tried to forget her anxieties.

Despite the huge group, it didn't degenerate into a party. There was a fair amount of drinking, and more singing than Rikki appreciated given the general skill at it, but things began to calm down shortly before midnight. The guides all rafted that day and had to be up early in the morning. The few who stayed up late regretted that decision the next day.

The three women lasted longer than some, but by midnight, they all were ready to get in their sleeping bags. Earlier when she laid them out, Winnie put Lena in the middle. While it wasn't out of the question that Lena would try fooling around, she still felt safer beside her than being next to Rikki. Today seemed to be designed to increase her awareness of her attraction to her friend. Already she had visited Winnie a few times in her dreams back at home.

"How much worse would it be right next to her?" she thought. "Lena is just curiosity; Rikki is...." She didn't allow herself to finish the thought.

Rikki got into her sleep bag after having pulled on her long underwear. It still got pretty cold late at night. Winnie and Lena had on their tops but not their bottoms. They trusted the insulation of their bags.

"Night, Lena. Night Winnie," Rikki said as she snuggled down inside and waited for her body heat to warm it.

"Sleep tight, you two," Winnie said, zipping her bag up all the way.

Lena chuckled and rolled over onto her side. She surprised Rikki with a kiss on the cheek. "Good night, sweetness," she purred into her ear, before rolling over to the other side.

The smack of lips forewarned Winnie to expect a kiss of her own. Lena still caught her unaware as she rolled partially on top of her. Her eyes were wide and the myriad of stars in the night sky reflected in them as she looked up at Lena. Lowering her lips onto Winnie's mouth, the kiss was soft and gentle, but when Lena's tongue touched Winnie, she accepted it into her mouth. Their tongue danced for a few moments, and then Lena withdrew. Still looking down at her, she whispered, "Goodnight, sexy."

"Night, Lena," Winnie answered. She lifted her head up and brushed her lips against Lena's. For a second, she thought that Lena would take that as an invitation. "Did I mean it that way?" she asked herself. The moment passed, however, and Lena rolled onto her back.

The renewed physical contact between them made it hard for all of them to fall asleep. Rikki heard the kiss and could tell it was much more than the almost innocent kiss to the cheek she received. She envied Lena's freedom to express her affection for Winnie. Even more, she was jealous of how Winnie returned it. "I wish I was her," she thought. Picturing leaning over Winnie, she imagined just how it might feel. That image stayed with her, and she played it over repeatedly in her mind. Sleep was very hard to find.

The conflicts within Winnie continued to plague her, only now there were more of them. Beyond the normal fears, she could sense Lena beside her, almost close enough to touch but not without moving. Part of her wanted to. Her desire was smoldering, ready to catch fire if she just unleashed it. At the same time, she couldn't reveal that side of herself to Rikki, especially when the biggest conflict was the wish it was Rikki next to her. The frustration of it all kept her mind racing. Despite staying still and trying to steady her breathing, she too stayed awake longer than she wanted.

For Lena, it was different. She was horny, very horny. "I should have put up my tent," she thought. "I really need to cum." Now she was stuck in the middle of her gorgeous and sexy friends and unable to do anything about it. Her thighs pressed together as she tried to find a way to relieve her tension, but that seemed just to make it worse. She wanted to turn over so that she could press her hips down against the bed pad, but then she knew she would never be able to stop. With a big sigh, she tried to lie still. "I'll just wait until they are both asleep, and then I'll be quiet."

Time passed very slowly as she waited. Eventually, Rikki began to breathe steadily and after a little while, Lena was sure that she was no longer awake. Winnie's fidgeting told her that the other woman was still awake. Finally, she felt Winnie roll a little bit onto her side and then she didn't seem to move anymore. Still, she kept waiting. Without a watch or her phone handy, she couldn't tell exactly how long. When she finally decided she waited long enough, far less time than she guessed had actually passed.

She carefully wiggled until she was as much in the middle as possible, and then she reached down and slipped her fingers under her panties. They traced over her pussy in a feathery touch. As if she didn't already know, the wetness that gathered on her fingertips betrayed her. She made an almost silent gasp as she dipped one finger at the bottom of her pussy lips and drew it up. Her body shuddered involuntarily.

Winnie held her breath. Sleep still hadn't come, and now there was no chance. The rhythmic sound of movement removed any question about what Lena was doing. Opening up her eyes, she could see her face in the dim light. Her head was tilted back and her eyes were closed. Her breathing was getting faster, rasping slightly in the back of her throat. The scratchy sound of her arm against the sleeping bag fabric grew more urgent. The starlight was enough to see her bite her lip.

As hard as it was, Winnie held herself back. Her own pussy was as wet as she imagined Lena's must be. She wanted to unzip her bag, do the same for Lena, and then her hand could take over there. Even through the sleeping bag, she heard the faint squishy sound as Lena's fingers slid in and out of her pussy. "How tight is she," Winnie wondered. "Would her pussy grasp my fingers like mine does? And how would she taste?" She always tasted herself when she masturbated, and wondered about other women.

Lena was completely oblivious to Winnie's watching eyes. Her other hand was pulling on her hard nipples, moving from one to the other. Her hips lifted up against her fingers, allowing her to go deeper. Her heavy breathing graduated to panting as her fingers increased in speed. She felt a moan trying to burst forth and bit down harder on her lip. A low inarticulate noise still managed to escape. Her body arched and she spread one leg a little wider to give herself better access. It stretched her sleeping bag tight.

As the bag stretched, her knee brushed against Rikki. It was so slight that she didn't realize it, but it was enough to disturb Rikki's fitful sleep. Her eyes opened with a start, not certain what woke her. Before she could move, she heard another of Lena's stifled cries. It was readily apparent what she was up to and what intruded on her sleep. Lying motionless, she felt the knee touch her again. This time there was pressure on it, but Lena was too far gone to be aware of it. With each thrust of her finger, her knee pressed against Rikki. Her excitement rippled out, infecting both of the other women.

Lena added another finger and pressed the center of her palm against her mound. It was covered with her slick juices and slide easily back and forth over her clit. The tension in her built and she felt the breaking point approaching. "God, don't let me cry out," she thought frantically.

As she listened, Winnie's fingers stroked a breast. Her areole tightened and the nipple grew hard. She grasped it and rolled it between her fingers. It wasn't enough, but it was all she could do. Lena proved how easy it was to give herself away. No matter how excited she was getting listening to her friend's rapidly approaching orgasm, Winnie couldn't give in to her own desires. Her pussy ached for attention of its own, but moving to expose it too would also betray her. With no other choice, she continued to listen without hope of relief.

Rikki was both more fortunate and less. Lying on her back, she woke with a hand on her belly. It was simple to slide it lower and let it brush back and forth over her own mound. Almost as soon as she started, she regretted it. While it felt good, she didn't want to give herself away any more than Winnie did. The light touch wasn't enough. She desperately wanted more. "I want to do what Lena is doing," she thought to herself. "But two of us, God, we'll wake the camp!" Through sheer force of will, she stopped herself from slipping her hand under her long johns and really starting to fondle herself. She had that much willpower, but not to stop completely. Even though it wasn't satisfying, it was enough pleasure that she couldn't do without it. Her fingers swished back and forth, far slower than the throbbing from Lena's knee.

When the tremors started, Lena couldn't bear to bite down any long on her lip. She sensed she would draw blood. Twisting, she grabbed a bite of sleeping bag between her teeth and clamped down as she felt the pleasure explode between her legs. Muffled noises squeezed out from between her tightly clenched teeth. Her hips rose and fell on their own in time with the spasms that ran through her body. "God, oh God," she screamed out in her mind. It was all the more intense because of how wicked she felt to be doing this while her friends slept. Her back arched and her eyes rolled back as she felt the peak come. After that, it faded quickly as worry about waking them returned. She relaxed and shifted so that her knee stopped touching Rikki, never aware of their contact.

As soon as her orgasm passed, the two other women immediately stopped what they were doing. They both lay there, trying to calm their racing hearts and to breathe slowly and steadily. The frustration was intense but their fear of being caught was stronger. When Lena was able to be still herself, she couldn't sense any sign that they were awake. She sighed with relief. "I needed that, but I would be so embarrassed if they knew," she thought.

With her tension relieved, it was easy for her to fall asleep. Between the quiet of the night air, and her muscles relaxing, she slipped from wakefulness to sleep with no awareness of the boundary.

For Rikki and Winnie, their frustration was compounded by their fear of moving and giving themselves away. Even as she felt a small bump through her bedroll, Rikki resisted moving. Lena was so close. "I could brush against her, and she'd know," she thought. Lena was making little muttering noises, and Rikki thought she was actually still awake. When she finally shifted slightly so that the bump wasn't poking, it didn't take too long for her to go to sleep. It wasn't very restful, however, since her dreams troubled her all night long.

Winnie wasn't uncomfortable, except from her frustration. Listening to her friend cum lit a fire that didn't want to go out. The sounds kept replaying in her head, and she repeatedly thought she smelled a faint scent of pussy. "God, is that her or me?" she asked herself. A couple of times she started to reach down between her legs, before pulling her hand away. "Are you crazy?" she told herself. "She'll wake up, and I can't do that while she's listening to me. I'm not her!" It was close to two when she finally succumbed to exhaustion. At least she didn't dream. She was far too tired for that.