Strange Tomato (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strangetomato) wrote2009-05-12 07:57 pm
strangetomato) wrote2009-05-12 07:57 pm
Strangetown, Here We Come: Chapter Thirty-One - part two
Warnings: language, sexual situations, partial sim nudity, an excess of BV features, a very embarrassing/awkward tent scene
Chapter Thirty-One
Part Two
They arrived in good spirits, all three of them very excited for this chance to relax and get away from the outside world.
"Ahh, it's nice to finally unwind a little," Johnny said.
They checked into the campground.
"Tents?" Ripp whined.
"Oh, poor baby," Johnny mocked concern. "Stop being a wiener."
"What are you talking about? I love this. I'm really tough, okay? I'm supertough. Tough is my middle name! Ripp Tough Guy Grunt!"
"Then catch this, tough guy." Johnny tossed Ripp's luggage at him, and he fumbled and dropped it, unprepared for the weight of it. Johnny was amused.
"Thanks, John - you dick! Fuck! What'd you do that for?!" Ripp struggled to pick the bag back up and several boxes of condoms fell out onto the ground.
Johnny stopped laughing.
"TWO whole boxes?!"
"Umm... I have no idea how those got in there."
"Yeah, I'll bet." Johnny waited as Ripp tossed his things into the tent. "We're only here for a week, you know. To actually need that many condoms, you'd have to... well, you'd be doing it more than once a day, for sure."
"What can I say? I'm an optimist."
"You're delusional."
"I'm a fucking master, okay!"
"Oh yeah, right. Of course you are. Good enough to break basic laws of nature and everything."
"Well, I'm glad we're clear on that."
Ripp zipped up the tent, they stepped out towards to the lake together. The weather was nice, but the air was crisp. It was hardly what anyone would consider warm. For people who were accustomed to living in the desert, it was a lot to adjust to.
"We must be the only fools who went somewhere cold for spring break," Ripp whined, "I'm freezing my balls off here."
"Well, to hear you tell it, you could spare to lose one or two."
"I have BIG balls, not EXTRA balls. Get it right."
"Oh, SORRY. My mistake."
Ripp started to sing.
'And my balls are always bouncing.
My ballroom always full.
And everybody comes and COMES again."
"Because I didn't see that coming," Johnny said, and then started to laugh at his choice of words. "God, I'm almost just as bad as you are."
"Best song ever written."
Behind them, Ophelia ignored their babbling nonsense, mostly because she was so used to it she barely registered it anymore. Elsewhere, however, some of the other campers moved further down the lake to set up their tents.
Johnny noticed that she was already busy fishing. "You're going to want the sparkle spinner," he informed her.
"We'll see about that."
She quickly proved him wrong.
"Well, anytime you're ready, my darlings!" Ripp announced from the hammock behind them. He swung himself off and onto the ground in a graceless heap. "I don't know about anyone else, but I'm changing into something warmer first."
"Good idea," said Ophelia. "We can try out our new scarves."
"Scarves!" Johnny exclaimed. "How wild is that?"
They started with the touristy things first.
Viewing attractions.
Learning local customs.
Log rolling.
"WooHOO! This vacation was worth every penny."
Eating local foods.
Buying souvenirs.
Slap dancing.
Axe throwing.
And viewing heritage sites.
Ophelia studied the rings on the tree. It was so fascinating to think of all the people that had been there before her. That time kept moving, enduring, and life went on. She felt like she could go on too, most days. Not always, but the fear that had haunted her in her late childhood and teen years seemed to be receding. Most days now, she felt good. She was happy.
She was happy.
She glanced over at Johnny and Ripp, throwing axes. The competition was getting sort of fierce, and she was afraid that Ripp was going to kill someone. He didn't exactly have the same axe-throwing skills that Johnny had. He knew that, and it was driving him crazy, but he couldn't let it go. She headed over to join them.
"Okay, Ripp," she said, "I think you've had enough."
"What? No way! I can totally beat him."
"Yeah, right," Johnny scoffed.
"I'll settle this," she said, reaching for an axe. "Let me try it."
"What?" Johnny's mouth was agape. "Are you sure? They're pretty heavy."
"God, Johnny. Give her a break. Phi's not made of tissue paper, you know. She's pretty... solidly built." Ripp felt his hand involuntarily drifting towards her hips and backside, but resisted the urge to go in for a feel.
"No, but... well I guess if you can throw them, anyone can."
Ripp shoved his middle finger up in Johnny's face, about an inch from his nose. "Throw THIS, dickface."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"Guys," Phi said, "can I do this, or what?"
"Sorry, Phi," they said, nearly in unison.
After a full day, they headed to the hot springs.
"Here, John. I've bought you a little something." Ripp handed him a massage ticket.
"A massage?"
"Yeah, you could use one. A real one. Not just one of my half-assed attempts. Just unwind and take it easy, okay?"
Johnny smiled, deeply. "Okay. Thanks, Ripp."
"No sweat, pal."
Ripp left Johnny to his session, with a satisfied smile on his face. He also had somewhat ulterior motives for this gift. He went next door to where Ophelia was relaxing in the sauna.
Where she was hot, sweaty, glistening, gorgeous, salty, sweet, perfection.
"Hey, Ripp," she said, as he sat down next to her.
"Hey, Phi."
Johnny lowered himself onto the massage table, and let his face fall into the padded hole.
"Now just you relax and don't worry about a thing," said the masseur. He ran his fingers over Johnny's back as he assessed it. "Hmmm, there are a lot of knots here."
Johnny took a deep breath and let it out. He pushed all thoughts from his mind, and he felt himself relax a little.
"Do not worry. A deep-tissue massage with make you feel good as new," He added, as he went to work.
He was right. It was blissful.
Johnny left the massage room feeling light and renewed. He listened for the sounds of familiar voices, and then followed then across the spa grounds.
He found his friends in the hot springs.
"Well, John, what are you waiting for? Get your clothes off!"
"What?"
"That's how it works around here."
"It's true, Johnny. It's a local custom."
"Are you telling me you're both naked in there?"
"Yes," Ophelia said, "we are."
"Yeah, you can't really see anything," Ripp added. "We'll close our eyes as you get in if you're going to be shy about it."
"Yeah, sure. Of course." Johnny knew Ripp would peak. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Maybe Ophelia would too, not that it really mattered. Would he do the same in their position?
Once all eyes were acceptably covered, Johnny took off his clothes. He wasn't too worried about them seeing him, he had decided, but he covered himself with his hand anyway. Who knew who might be sneaking a peak through the branches. Johnny Smith didn't get naked for just anyone.
When they got back to the campground, they settled down around the campfire.
They told stories, recalled memories, and joked and carried on. It was a good time.
Maybe it was the primal power of the open flame, or the recent excess of naked skin, but Ripp found his thoughts frequently drifting into indecent territory. Ophelia caught the ocassional looks from him and parried them back at him.
Soon the flames became ashes, and they each retired to their tents for sleep, with every inch of their bodies smelling of wood smoke.
For a short while, all was quiet.
Then Ophelia heard the the tent door unzip and someone entered it. There was some removal of clothing, and then he slipped into the sleeping bag with her and curled into her. She had a feeling it was Ripp, but she wasn't completely sure until he spoke.
"I'm freezing to death. Can I sleep with you, please?" He nuzzled into her neck.
"Gee, I don't know about that...," she joked.
"I won't try anything funny. I promise," he said, as his hands began to wander up into her shirt.
"Well, then the answer is no."
She turned around and rolled onto him. "You can only stay if you sleep with me."
"What?" For a second he thought he must have heard her wrong.
"I want you," she mummered, "All of you. Be with me, please..."
As if she needed to say please.
She worked her way out her shirt as she said it, and the sleeping bag quickly became a tangle of limbs as they struggled to get each other's clothes off. Once they were completely naked and entwined, with their hands roaming each other's bodies, she leaned into his ear, and whispered, "I want you to fuck me."
She said with just enough conviction to carry it off, and his brain nearly exploded. Something in there exploded, anyway. How could she know that hearing her say something so uncharacteristically nasty would put him over the deep end?
Of course she knew. She knew exactly how his mind worked. He wanted to be told, implored, commanded. By her.
"Tell me what you want me to do," he purred. She did, and he wasted no time in complying.
And it was over before he even caught his bearings.
"Oh shit..."
"It's okay."
"Fuck, I'm sorry..."
"Really... it's fine."
"I don't know what happened. Oh god, I'm so embarrassed."
"Ripp, relax. It's okay."
"I... I'm usually better than this." How could he live with the fact that Johnny, right out of the gate, had done better than he had? Ripp knew he had. He had heard them, afterall.
"You were just fine."
"Fine?! It was supposed to be perfect."
She could have told him that she loved him precisely because he wasn't perfect, and that his imperfections only endeared him to her more. She didn't want some perfect lover. She wanted a man that felt safe enough to let something like this happen to him in her presence and think nothing of it. She wanted to see him as he was, with no walls up, and that's what he'd given her. He'd let himself go. Again, she reassured him, "It's okay."
"But I had it all planned out in my head. It was perfect."
"Oh, Ripp. It was perfect. It was us. Our first time. It doesn't matter if things went a little, umm, quickly." She tried not to laugh, but a tiny giggle betrayed her. "Well, it seemed pretty good for you, at any rate." Ripp started to twist and work his way headfirst down into the sleeping bag. "Uhhh... What are you doing?"
"Redeeming myself."
"What? Ohhh... Wait, no! Ripp, you'll smother down there!"
"Sounds like the perfect way to die."
He went about the task of finishing what he started with the sheer joy of a child opening their transition presents, and she soon joined him. His failings were quickly forgotten, and, much to both of their delights, the same force which had brought his first attempt to an early close soon set him up for a second try.
It wasn't perfect either, but it was easily the best he'd ever had. It was better because it was with her, and he loved her. That's what he'd been missing all those other times. It felt good, yes, but it wasn't the same. In the moment, he had always been able to convince himself that he was loved, that the pleasure was the same either way, but it didn't even begin to compare to the real thing.
She turned over to go to sleep, and he spooned into her back and ran his fingers over her shoulders. "Mmm... you smell nice, and you're so warm and so soft... I wish I could live here in this sleeping bag with you, and never have to get out and do anything else. We could just be like this... all the time..." The last word disolved into a long and lazy yawn.
She laughed. "Good night, Ripp."
"Sweet dreams... lover."
She drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.
Not too long after, the door unzipped again and another body entered the tent.
Johnny slid deftly into place, his eyes still adjusting to the darkness, and ran his hand across the chest of the person he assumed to be Ophelia, then doubled back, searching for something that wasn't there.
Not there, and much hairier.
"What the-"
"Hi, John."
"Ripp?! What are you doing in here?"
"What do you think I'm doing in here? The same thing you're doing in here, I guess."
"And what might that be?
"I don't know. Going to the hive, looking for some honey from the queen bee?"
There was a long pause.
"Well, you're going to have to move it."
"Johnny..." Ophelia said.
"What?"
"Be nice."
"Nice?! I think I am being pretty nice. I mean, you're MY girlfriend, aren't you?"
"He was cold," she said.
Ripp turned to Johnny, with a smirk. "So, ummm... are you happy to see me?"
"What?!" Ripp's meaning fully dawned on him. "Oh. Well, err... that wasn't exactly intended for you, you know."
"Then why is it still sticking into my thigh?"
Johnny choked on a cough, and shifted himself away from Ripp. As he leaned back, and felt something small and pointy dig into his back. It crinkled. It was a wrapper.
It was a condom wrapper.
He reached behind his back and picked it up, turning it over in his hands. Eventually, he placed it in Ripp's hand. They both stared at it, like an object of wonder and mystery, mostly because it provided them with something to look at besides each other. Seconds seemed like minutes seemed like hours.
"So, was it special?" Johnny finally offered.
He could see Ripp smiling from the corner of his eye. He could actually hear the smile. "Yeah... you know, it really was."
There was another long silence, until Ophelia spoke. "Well, if you're both staying, we'll probably need another sleeping bag."
"Are we both staying?" Ripp asked, not fully sure who he should be asking.
"It's cold," Ophelia said. "We're all cold, so it makes sense to share body heat, don't you think?" After a moment, she added, "Johnny?"
"Huh? Yeah, well it's your tent. You make the rules, right?"
"I'll go get the sleeping bag." Ripp bounded up and out of the tent.
Johnny rested his cheek against Ophelia's forehead, and threaded their fingers together, as they waited in silence for Ripp to return. He wondered how many other people had ever cuddled into their girlfriend, still slightly sweaty and smelling of a different man.
She smelled like Ripp.
He had let this happen.
He took a deep breath, allowing himself to fully examine the intermingling scents. The newness from familiarity. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
"Johnny," she said, "are you-"
He cut her short with his mouth over hers. He explored it, filled it. She reacted and pressed back against his kiss. The world began to recede from their consciousness. It was just them.
"Okay, my dearies," Ripp said as he poked his head back inside the tent, "are you ready to sleep?"
"Oops - am I interrupting? I could give you five more minutes... ten, fifteen... stop me any time here."
"No, it's okay," Johnny said, snapping back to reality, "come on in."
They helped Ripp to attach the sleeping bag and then all three fell back down onto it and settled into place.
They lay there, the three of them, each silently contemplating the situation.
"This is fucked up, right?" Johnny asked.
"I'm not really sure anymore..." Ophelia said.
"Just relax, kids. If you're okay, and you're okay, and I'm okay, then that's all that matters." Ripp said.
"Are we all okay?" she asked.
"I'm not sure... but I think maybe we are." Johnny said. "Maybe..."
"I feel great." Ripp said. "I have everything and everyone I need, right here. Now let's go to sleep already."
Huddled close for warmth, they did just that.
It was a surprisingly sound sleep.
The next morning, Johnny found himself at the desk of the cabin rental place, seeking other accomodations.
They'd had a laugh about balls freezing off and all that, but that was before he realized that it almost wasn't a joke at all. He genuinely feared for them. A cabin with a fireplace would certainly be nice.
"I'm looking to rent a cabin," Johnny said. "Something private." After a moment, he added, "Maybe with a hot tub."
"Honeymooners?"
Johnny paused, considering, then said, "Yeah. That's right." Close enough, he figured. The concierge didn't need all the gory details.
"I have just the place."
It was beautiful, like something out of fairytale, if only the woodsman had installed solar panels for Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother. It was privately owned, but the owners rented it out when they weren't visiting it themselves.
"It's like our own little home in the woods," Ophelia said, after a gasp of amazement at the view. It would be like they had built a home here, deep in the forest, and they could live happily forever after there. Her comment brought the response of a tender, protective hand on her shoulder.
Not one hand, but two.
For several more days, it would be their home. They'd play at being a household, a family, of three. The cabin would be a sort of liminal space, and when they left they might go back, but they might also go forward.
But which would it be?
As always, the answer rested solely on Johnny's shoulders. His companions had made up their mind ages ago, it seemed. They'd chosen to come together, but they didn't want to leave him behind either. They wanted it both ways, which was something Johnny had been taught all his life that nobody could have.
He still believed that, but maybe the three of them would prove the saying wrong.
Notes:
Ripp's song is Big Balls by ACDC, a true modern classic (Now I'm imagining Beau trying to convince Frances of that - it would be pretty funny).
When I first typed up this line it read:
Johnny shifted himself away from Ripp and felt something small and pointy dig into his bag. It crinkled. It was a wrapper. A condom wrapper.
Yes, it dug into his BAG! I literally LOLed for a whole minute when I read that back to myself. Then I started thinking about him finding the actual used condom (you know it has to be in there somewhere), which would have been disgusting and hilarious, but completely wrong for the tone of the scene, so I resisted. He also remained blissfully unaware of the existence of the second condom. I can only imagine how he'd react to that.
Nixy's condoms! WoooHOOO!
Sorry about the extended delay on this one. I'm hoping to get back on my two-week schedule. I want to finish this before too many years have passed, afterall. :P *is only half joking* I recently charted out the plot up to about chapter 50, and I'm sure some of those will have multiple parts. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
Thanks for reading! ^_^
(Continue to Chapter 31 - part 3)
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