Unrequited Pt. 03

After twenty minutes or so Tim stopped and pointed off into the trees. Kayleigh and I caught up to see the deer he was pointing at, and when we set out again I made sure my girlfriend and I were in the lead.

I was walking way too fast, and Kayleigh finally slipped her hand into mine. "Sweetheart? It's not a race."

"Sorry." I glanced over my shoulder at Sally and Tim, who were maybe ten yards behind us. If they had any idea how uncomfortable I was it certainly wasn't showing.

Kayleigh knew, though, judging by the look of concern in her eyes. I took a deep breath, trying to center myself. I was here with Kayleigh, and that should be the most important thing, and I tried to focus on it.

Eventually we made the turn onto the section of the trail that ran along the river, which held multiple stunning views of the valley below. We stopped and sat on a nearby rock outcropping in one spot, Kayleigh linking her arm in mind as we marveled at the splendor of Mother Nature.

"Wow, this is something!" Sally's voice cut through my reverie, and I let go of my girlfriend's hand. A look of hurt flashed across her face as I stood up. Tim stepped past us, right up to the edge. "Careful, sweetheart!"

He looked back at his partner and stepped away from the edge. "I'm okay. I won't fall."

"You better not, Timothy Harding!" Her face slid into a wide smile as he stepped towards her. "Cause I have big plans for you, and they don't involve you falling off a cliff."

"You won't get rid of me that easily, lady." He put his forehead against hers, and Sally's smile went from happy to dazzling.

"Promise?" Her arms wrapped around his neck as his and circled her waist.

"Yes." I turned away as they kissed, feeling the familiar knife turn in my heart. I stared out over the panoramic view of the river valley, drawing in a shaky breath. Somehow I knew Kayleigh was watching me, and I felt a spike of shame at my inability to banish my emotions.

Sally's voice cut through my brooding. "Would you guys take our picture?"

I heard Kayleigh answer that she'd be happy to. I turned and watched her take Sally's phone. She positioned the happy couple to maximum effect, without being too close to the edge, and snapped a few photos with them in different poses.

"How about some for you two?" I tried to decline Tim's suggestion, but no luck. He was insistent, and I could tell Kayleigh wanted them, so I dutifully stood and let her have her way. I forced a smile on my face and Sally beamed at us. She was so happy for me. All I felt was sick inside.

But then Kayleigh slipped her arm around my waist, and I turned to look into her warm green eyes. I stood there, admiring the adorable patterns made by her freckles, and the bright smile shining up at me. I rested my forehead against hers, just like Sally and Tim had been doing a few moments ago.

I took a few deep breaths while Kayleigh held my hand before putting on a smile and letting Tim take a few pictures of us. I did feel better; Kayleigh's touch was so soothing.

We started back down the trail, me almost never letting go of Kayleigh's hand. Sally's face was just glowing when she saw it, and I knew it was because she was happy for me, but I still felt shame, like I was betraying her. Or my devotion to her, at least.

It was a little after one before we made it back to the car. I helped Tim unload the cooler while Sally and Kayleigh put one of those plastic, red and white check tablecloths with the white clips on the picnic table we'd managed to snag.

We spent the time telling stories about past camping trips, with Tim regaling us with the time he got a little too up close and personal with a bear in the Great Smoky Mountains.

"It stood up on its hind legs and I just froze. It was like, ten feet away from me. Apparently I wasn't that interesting, as it looked at me for a moment and decided I wasn't worth it. It just dropped back on all fours and ambled away."

Sally covered her mouth. "What did you do?"

"I turned around, walked back to camp, and changed my shorts."

We all laughed. Kayleigh's eyes were dreamy. "I've always wanted to see a bear in the wild."

"They're beautiful. Scary as hell though." Tim shook his head. "It was just a black bear. Grizzlies out west are a lot bigger and meaner."

"Have you seen those, too?"

"Yeah, but from a lot farther away. We took a family vacation to Yellowstone when I was thirteen. They were over two hundred yards away, but still, I wouldn't want to be any closer."

Sally frowned. "Do we have any bears in Missouri?"

Tim nodded. "There are plenty further south. I doubt you'd see any this close to the city, so we're probably safe." Tim put a very unsure emphasis on the word probably, which didn't alleviate Sally's worry much. It definitely put her off wanting to try another trail after lunch, though, but Kayleigh was still keen to go, so we left them to go check out the northern part of the park.

As we headed out onto what seemed to be a less popular path I felt Kayleigh's hand brush against mine, and I took it firmly.

Kayleigh leaned against me. "You doing okay?"

"I'm fine." In truth, I felt like I could breathe for the first time all day. I glanced down at my girlfriend, who was smiling up at me. Her eyes, on the other hand, told me I wasn't going to get away with a simple 'I'm fine'. "I'm glad to be with you, I mean, with just you."

She moved closer, playfully bumping into me. "Aww, shucks." Her voice dropped after that, becoming serious. "You just seem so miserable."

I was angry with myself. "I guess that wound's still fresher than I'd like."

"You wanna tell me about it? "

"Trying to get me up on your couch?" There was more spite in my voice than I wanted, and hurt was evident in both her voice and expression.

"Bethany!"

I closed my eyes as a spike of shame went through my chest. "I'm sorry. That wasn't fair."

Kayleigh squeezed my head. "You're forgiven."

She didn't ask again, and as we went down the trail I warred with myself for the next five minutes before I started to talk. "I met her when I was nine. It was summer and I was coming home from the park for dinner. I lived on the front corner of a cul-de-sac, and there was a house in the back that was a short cut. It'd been for sale all summer.

"I was riding through the backyard on my bike, and when I came around the side there was a huge moving truck in the driveway, and men in overalls were carrying in furniture. In their front yard there was a huge yellow and white picnic blanket, and on it was a girl and her dog. She was wearing a pink dress with a blue sash. She had golden blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life.

"She looked up at me with this dazzling smile that made it impossible to think, and said 'Hi! I'm Sally. We're moving in!' We talked for, like, an hour before I heard my mother calling for me out the back door.

"And she came over the next day and we rode our bikes around the neighborhood, and I introduced her to my friends. We ended up in the same class at school that fall. And we've been best friends ever since."

"When did you realize how you felt?"

"Not then. I hadn't even realized I was gay. I wasn't exactly sure what being gay meant." I took a deep breath. "It was sophomore year. Sally got asked to winter formal by a junior. She was just fifteen. After the dance he took her to a park and tried to fool around with her. She told him no, but he kept going. Sally jumped out of the car and he left her there, stranded.

"I was at home; I hadn't gone to the dance. Sally called me, and I went to get her. I took my mom's car; I'd gotten my license maybe two weeks beforehand. I brought her back to my place and she told me what happened, and I just held her as she cried. And I knew. I wanted to keep her safe. Love her like she deserved."

"Did she know yet? That you were gay?"

"No. I was scared to tell her. I didn't wanna lose her as a friend. I didn't have many friends to start with, and Sally, well, she made up about seventy-five percent of my social circle."

"But you did eventually."

I nodded. "Yeah. It was a few months later. She could tell something was bothering me, so I came out to her. First person ever. Obviously I didn't tell her about my feelings towards her, but she was great. She didn't shy away from our friendship, we still spent the night with each other, she'd still sleep in the same bed with me like we'd always done."

"But you never told her how you felt?"

I gave a painful chuckle. "I had so many fantasies about it, me telling her I loved her, and her realizing I was everything she ever wanted. Or her breaking up with whatever douche bag she was seeing and me comforting her and showing her what real love was supposed to be like. But I knew it wouldn't actually be like that. So I had to settle for hating anyone she dated."

"Were they all bad, or did you just want them to be?"

"Most of them, I think?" I sighed. "Sally, well, she has this annoying ability to only see the good in people. I mean, she's not stupid and she has standards, but so often it was obvious, to me, anyway, that whoever was pursuing her was bad news right from the start. So many players, and Sally was so beautiful and innocent, she drew them like moths to a flame."

We came up to the bench, and Kayleigh asked me if I wanted to sit. I said yes, so we did, and she waited a few moments before speaking.

"I don't think Timothy fits that description. Do you?"

Tears stung my eyes and I tried to keep the quaver out of my voice. "No." I told her about how they met and recapped the time Tim had shown up with flowers to take Sally to that dinner.

"I've never seen her so happy, and Tim is the most stable, most decent guy she's ever been with."

"It sounds like it. And how about your own relationship? How's it going?"

I looked at Kayleigh, watching the emotion burning in her green eyes, and answered after taking her hand in both of mine. "It's the best I've had in a long time. Maybe, no, definitely the best ever. I don't want it to end."

"See? She's happy, and you're happy." My eye stung and a tear slipped free. Kayleigh reached up and brushed it away. "No need for tears."

I nodded with a sniffle. We stood together, sharing a gentle kiss before heading down the trail, hand-in-hand.

*****

When we made it back to Tim's house we declined an invitation to stay for supper, instead opting to grab some takeout Thai food on our way back to Kayleigh's condo. Patches was whining at the front door when we came in, and her mommy went to feed her while I got out some plates and silverware.

I did my best to transfer our dinners from the takeout containers to the plates with some semblance of elegance. I took in a long sniff of my Massaman curry shrimp and scallops. Kayleigh had tried to get me to order the whole red snapper, but I'd politely declined. It had made us both laugh, though, which I think has been her object.

"Mmm, is that mine?"

"Yup." I handed Kayleigh her plate of Beef Pad Phad, adding two skewers of the chicken satay we'd ordered as a side.

"What do you want to drink?" I doled out my half of our appetizer.

"There should be a nice Riesling in the wine fridge. Second row."

I pulled out the bottle from the good-sized appliance on her counter. "I can't believe you have one of these. All the wine I buy comes in a box."

Kayleigh giggled as I grabbed glasses. "It was a gift from my sister. She's a snob."

"You mean a wine snob?"

"That too." I sat down with my plate, two glasses, and the bottle before realizing I had no way to open the silly thing. My face fell, which earned another laugh from Kayleigh, who hopped up and grabbed a corkscrew from a drawer.

She mocked me as she twisted it into the cork. "I know, you were confused about the lack of a spout."

I pouted out my lower lip. "Don't laugh at me."

"Aww, I'm sorry." She kissed my cheek and poured me a glass of wine, before going back to her seat and doing the same for herself. Kayleigh lifted her glass. "To the beauty of nature."

I raised my own. "To a beautiful girlfriend I don't deserve."

Kayleigh blushed and smiled, and we drank before tucking into our aromatic dinners. Patches jumped into the seat next to me, and I surreptitiously slipped her a tiny piece of shrimp. I am pretty sure Kayleigh noticed, but she didn't say anything.

When we finished I stood up from the table, groaning a bit as I straightened my aching legs.

"Sore?"

I grimaced. "Yeah, a little. I guess I'm not in as good shape as I thought."

"We hiked, like, seven miles today. It's understandable. A hot shower would probably make you feel better

I stretched my shoulders and arms. "Actually, that sounds great."

"Good. Come on." Kayleigh took me by the hand and led me back to the bathroom. She turned on the water before stripping off her top and bra. Moments later she was nude, and I was standing staring gape-mouthed at her lovely, trim body.

Her mouth quirked into a wicked smile as she stepped inside the shower. "Well, come on." She let the water from the ceiling mounted rain head wet her long, dark hair. She tilted her head back, pushing out her modest bust, and I began to fumble at my clothes so I could join her.

Kayleigh let out an appreciative 'mmm' as I took off my panties and stepped into the warmth of the shower. Her eyes were locked on my breasts, immediately caressing them and latching her mouth to one.

It was my turn to let my head fall back as the lovely sensations echoed through my body. I slipped one hand behind Kayleigh's head, holding her gently to me. The other slid under her wet hair and caressed the feminine contours of her back, from her shoulder blades down to the swell of her backside, which I cupped and squeezed, earning a little moan.

She released my nipple and turned her face up for a proper kiss, which I gladly provided. When we separated she ran a finger down my sternum. "Are you still sore?"

I kissed her forehead, "Just a little,"

"Aww, Poor baby." She pressed her lips to the skin over the crook in my clavicle, then once on my neck, before whispering in my ear. "Kayleigh's going to make it feel better."

"Oh, god, Kayleigh," I moaned into the gentle spray as she sucked my earlobe into her mouth. When she let it pop free she turned toward the little tile shelf, loading a shower poof with body wash. She rubbed it in her hands, creating a rich lather before touching it gently to the skin of my chest, drawing it slowly from left to right.

Sudsy water floated down over and in between my large breasts as Kayleigh stared with unabashed lust. She ran the poof over each one several times before she managed to pull it away.

"OK, turn around."

I obeyed, facing the far wall and leaning on the safety bar. Kayleigh drew the rough material of the poof over my back as the smell of lavender filled the wet air, my forehead resting against the cool stone tile.

Kayleigh washed me back to front, Her firm nipples pressing against my skin as her arms wrapped around my waist. She drew the poof back around my hip and over my cheeks, squeezing and massaging the sore muscles underneath.

I heard her pull the wall mounted shower wand away from its fixture, and she went to her knees behind me as warm water began to cascade over my legs.

She started with my left calf, washing, rinsing, and massaging away the day's aches. Kayleigh worked her way up to the top of my leg before switching sides, and as the wonderful feelings relaxed me, I was struck by how much I didn't deserve this. I'd been horrible all day, mooning after someone else. I deserved to be home, alone and miserable, not having my body worshiped by someone as incredible as Kayleigh.

"Turn around, sweetheart." I obeyed immediately, Kayleigh spreading my legs slightly so she could wash between them. I jerked as the roughed shower sponge drew back-and-forth over my pussy, and I let go of a sigh as my lover rinsed me with the firm spray from the hand held shower wand.

"Do you like that, huh?"

I did. It felt so good, and I moaned out my agreement.

"How about this?" I heard two metal clicks and the spray became a more forceful stream. I groaned in ecstasy, grabbing onto the safety bar in order to stay vertical as the water pulsed against my clit. After a moment my body began to shake as I approached my breaking point. Moments later Kayleigh lifted my right leg over her shoulder, and Kayleigh's soft, incredibly talented lips and tongue replaced the strong pulses from the shower. I didn't last any longer as my massively undeserved orgasm blasted through me.

When it subsided Kayleigh just kept going, and several more intense climaxes followed in rapid succession. Finally I couldn't stand anymore, and I let myself slide slowly down to my knees. Kayleigh pulled me into an embrace, and I broke down on her shoulder, sobbing bitterly as she stroked my back and hair.

"Hey, hey, it's OK. What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"I'm so sorry about today."

"What? It was fine." I pulled away and looked her in the eye, my expression telling her I knew she was fibbing.

She gave me a guilty smile and continued. "Okay, I hated watching you in pain like that. And yeah, I get a little jealous, wishing you wanted to be with me that much."

"I do! I love being with you" I looked down, drawing in a shaky breath. "I'm so used to my life hurting, every minute of every day. But when I'm with you, just us, it doesn't hurt. And I'm happy. It's been so long since I've been happy." I broke down again, and Kayleigh held me close until I quieted.

Eventually she stood and pulled me to my feet. "Hey, how about we get out of here, dry off and cuddle on the couch. Maybe watch a movie?"

I sniffled, nodding to her. "No romance."

Kayleigh laughed. "Deal."

Twenty minutes later we were sitting on Kayleigh's sofa, her situated between my legs, her back to my front, wearing a knee length nightshirt. I had a pair of soft cotton shorts and a tank top on, and we'd pulled one of Kayleigh's big fuzzy blankets over us. Patches jumped up, kneading on the edge of it while I scratched her neck.

"So what are we gonna watch?"

Kayleigh turned on her Roku and pulled up Disney+. "We're going to watch my favorite Disney princess movie. With no romance, as ordered."

"Do they make those?"

"They do, sometimes." She scrolled through the animated features before she stopped on Moana. She looked up over her shoulder at me. "Have you seen it?"

"No, but I heard it's good."

"You never watched it with Emma?"

I shook my head. "Natalie tries to steer her away from Disney Princesses."

"Well, I think she'd be okay with this one. It's about a young woman of strength, honor, and heart. And she even meets a man she doesn't fall in love with."

"Wow, amazing." My voice dripped with sarcasm, which made Kayleigh giggle.

"Well, the music is great and the visuals are stunning."

I tightened my arms around my girlfriend's middle. "Okay, I trust you." I kissed her on the temple as she started up the show.

Kayleigh had been right. The visuals were stunning, and it was nice watching a Disney princess have an amazing adventure that did not involve romance, and that she was able to develop a healthy, friendly relationship with a non-related man that didn't involve her melting into a puddle of bride-to-be bliss by the end of the show.

But what was really wonderful was just holding Kayleigh, her leaning back against me, looking up at me with that bright grin on her face when I made some silly comment. Every moment in her presence was like a balm, soothing my tender heart from the pummeling it had taken today.

When the movie ended we just let the credits roll. Kayleigh closed her pretty eyes and leaned against me as I held her close. She was a picture of maidenly innocence; absolutely content resting in the warmth of her lover. I'd failed her today, and she still was willing to put her faith and trust into me.