Chapter 30: Steady to the Shore — Part 5

Paige pauses at the tree line, cutting some king mushrooms from a patch, putting them in with the food. Soon they find a sheltered spot between some trees, the clouds roiling off the sea looking distant, moving fast. The air is crisp, and a wind blows up their skirts, causing ChoCho to shiver, and Paige to catch her hands forward, holding the kilt down. As they step into the space between three aged oaks trunks, a space just big enough to hold the blanket and pitch the two-person tent, the clouds start to build and darken, and a mist creeps up across the land. It takes Paige a short matter of minutes to build up a fire pit, gather some wood, and set it ablaze. She hums as she works, putting pieces of mushroom on sticks so they can cook by the fire.

ChoCho sets out the food they took from the kitchen, and loses himself in his thoughts for a moment. Paige sits down so quietly that ChoCho doesn’t hear her. The blanket settles into the grass around her, and she leans forward, kissing ChoCho before he even quite realizes she’s there. ChoCho feels a rush in his heart, a rush caused by the unexpected surprise, mixed with a sudden, growing fear of what Jynx will do if — no when — she finds out. ChoCho pushes gently against Paige’s chest, his face flushed.

Paige stares quizzically for a moment.

“Jynx.” ChoCho says, almost whispering.

“Jynx gave Paige permission to hike with her lover when Jynx is with Daria.” Paige says. “Paige would not be here otherwise.”

“We are lovers?” ChoCho sounds incredulous.

“Paige very much wants us to be.” Paige says.

ChoCho is taken aback for a moment. “But uh, Kevin — ”

Paige puts a finger to ChoCho’s lips. “This is not Kevin’s hike.”

Paige leans in and kisses ChoCho again, a kiss so very different from Kevin’s that ChoCho finds it easy to believe that he is in actuality kissing another person. Where Kevin’s kisses are careful, modest, and firm, Paige kisses softly, her lips chill with the air, damp and expectent, only letting the tip of her tongue touch his. The two kiss until the mushrooms are cooked, and then they eat, drink mint tea, and kiss some more. It isn’t the hard needing passion that sits with Jynx’s lips, nor is it entirely the tentative kiss of new lovers. Despite this, each of them is exploring the likes and needs of the other. ChoCho giggles for a moment as Paige’s lips brush his neck, and Paige pauses until she feels ChoCho’s hands run down her chest, sending tingles of wanting into her. Then she hears ChoCho giggling again.

“What?” Paige asks. “What’s so funny?”

“Storm’s coming in. Looks like a bad one. We could be stuck here for hours.” ChoCho says. “Good thing we pitched a tent. Wanna pitch another?” ChoCho giggles a little more quietly.

Paige pretends not to get it, and her smile is a little tense. She is careful not to say anything that might encourage an explanation, and if she could she would even conceal her blush. Instead, she takes another sip of her tea and starts packing things away, shaking the food off the blanket so she can add it to the other blanket and the quilt. The tent is small, made of a thin, light synthetic meant to retard the elements with a minimum of weight. ChoCho crawls into the tent just as the clouds push overhead, and Paige finds herself suddenly frozen, ChoCho’s eyes are gentle, but there is a longing in them, an expression that catches the girl in her off guard.

The patter of rain starts to tap out a broken rhythm on the tent, and ChoCho pats the quilt by his side. “No getting your clothes all wet now. Please come in where it’s dry.”

Paige feels an icy drop hit her cheek and startles into action. She scurries forward and into the tent. Even as she is inside, turning around, ChoCho is zipping closed the front panel. Before she knows it, ChoCho is pulling at the laces of her boots, working them off her feet, and almost on automatic, she finds herself doing the same for him. Socks folded into boots, and boots put at the far end of the tent, ChoCho undoes his clothes, folding them properly and putting them next to the boots. He’s in his black underwear now, and nothing more, until he crawls under the blankets waiting for Paige to do the same.

Paige turns her back to ChoCho, pulling her clothes off slowly, not to be a tease, or at least not totally so. There is a bit of embarrassment in her actions, because she knows ChoCho has a visual understanding of every inch of Kevin’s body, also she is not Kevin, and this is her first time undressing for anybody but Daria. Paige crawls under the blanket, pushing her back against ChoCho. ChoCho bites into her neck gently, nibbling up to the hairline, over to the ear, playing with the taste. ChoCho’s scent, clean sweat and lust, burns in Paige’s nostrils. Her heart is suddenly pounding in her ears.