The Breakdown Club - Day 02

See Day 01 for story disclaimers.

=====================

Jason had been fortunate enough in his life that waking up with a naked girl snuggled up to him wasn't completely new, so that wasn't what threw him off. In fact, he pulled the girl a little tighter to him, enjoying the extra warmth.

The thought "warmth" set off a chain of memory recall in his head and his eyes snapped open. He kept himself from jumping up in shock, but only barely. He was very tense, though, because his erect member was under Vanessa's hand. He wracked his brain to figure out how to shift her or himself to fix the situation.

"Morning."

It was a whisper without tone, but he felt Vanessa's mouth move against him and the sound obviously came from where her head was.

"Um..."

"I know where my hand is," Vanessa said, "I didn't do it on purpose, but I don't mind it."

"I... it's becau--"

"Don't," she said, "Don't make excuses for why you're hard. I promise I won't tease you."

"You're still bare-ass naked pressed up against us," came a low, quiet mumble from Marcus, "That ain't teasing?"

"Well I won't tease you more," she said, "It's not like I can give you wake-up blowjobs anyway. I don't know how."

There was a pregnant pause after Vanessa's declaration until Marcus said, "Dude, that's when you're supposed to offer to fucking teach her."

"This isn't a porno, asshole," Jason said.

"Ugh, those storylines are stupid. I have no respect for those characters," Vanessa said.

"You got a fucking problem with sex workers?" Marcus asked.

"I said the characters. The actual women are fine. But come on; if you're an eighteen-year-old and you're shocked that a guy's penis ejaculates when he orgasms then you're too dumb to survive in society."

"Clearly you don't fucking know any of the girls at my ma's church," Marcus said, "They probably thought they were fucking dying when their fucking periods showed up."

"What time is it?" Vanessa asked, then paused and said, "Oh, right."

"Don't tell me," Marcus said, "You're going to take the fucking pile of shit that is your broken phone and put together a fucking Rolex?"

"No..." Vanesa said speculatively.

"I was fucking joking," Marcus whined, "Or are you just interested in Jason's dick?"

"I am. I've never felt an actual erection before. But I said I wouldn't tease, and I do have an idea," Vanessa said.

She pushed herself up a little so she wasn't lying on Jason anymore, but then stopped. She stayed propped up on her elbow for a moment and then let out a little sigh.

"Like Brooke said yesterday, just don't stare."

Vanessa slid out from under the blanket. Jason, on his back, couldn't help seeing her whole naked form and mentally cursed to himself as that visual and the feeling of her hand resting on his member were probably going to stick in his head for most of the day.

Vanessa found and pulled on her panties quickly, then Jason's boxers came flying at him from the stove.

"You girls up?" Vanessa asked in a normal voice.

"Yeah," Brooke said, her voice sounding scratchy, "Did I hear something about morning blowjobs? Because I don't do that."

"I can't, and nobody offered to teach me," Vanessa said.

"I can," Brooke said, "I think the bathroom rumor mill has me as a top ten cocksucker, right guys?"

"Brooke!" Mari exclaimed, a scolding tone in her voice.

"Sorry," she said, "Marcus is rubbing off on me."

Brooke immediately looked over at where Marcus was still under the blanket as everyone else winced. There was another anticipatory pause.

"It's too fucking early," Marucs finally said, his voice muffled by his face in his arm, "And that was way too fucking easy. Mari could have finished that one."

"Hey!" Mari said, "I can be funny."

"You can be funny in advanced placement classes," Vanessa said.

"You said my valedictorian speech draft was good," Mari protested.

"I said it was good, I didn't say it was funny," Vanessa reminded her.

"Good speeches are funny," Mari said.

"Well... then it was mostly good."

Marcus let out a laugh at that while Mari looked slightly hurt. Vanessa shrugged apologetically at her as she brought the girls' underwear over to them.

"How're the clothes?" Brooke asked.

"Our shirts are mostly dry," Vanessa said, "Jason's button-down is dry but the long-sleeve and the T-shirt still feel damp. None of Marcus's stuff dried out all the way, but his t-shirt is damp now instead of wet. And none of the pants are dry."

"And it's still raining. Of course," Brooke said.

"It's just a shower, but yeah," Vanessa agreed.

"Speaking of, should we stand out there one at a time and wash or something?" Jason suggested.

"We don't have any soap," Mari pointed out, "And we don't have any towels. We should probably avoid getting wet, if we can."

"Then tell Jason to put his fucking shirt on, that'll fucking do it for the ladies," Marcus said, his voice still muffled by arms.

"I thought it was too early," Brooke said.

"Too early for that other one," Marcus clarified, "That one? Worth it."

"We all have to go, though," Vanessa pointed out, "We aren't getting to the outhouse without getting wet."

Mari sighed. "I guess we can all do what we did last night and just sort of... aim off of the porch?"

Marcus suddenly got up and made for the door. Most of them flinched, expecting him to be doing the walk naked, but at some point he'd put his boxers back on beneath the blanket. Without a word, he walked out the door and shortly afterward everyone could hear an exaggerated sigh and some extra splashing.

Mari looked around at everyone, embarrassed. "Maybe we should call out if we're--using the porch so nobody walks--out?--on us?"

Everyone sort of nodded. Jason went over to the stove and opened it to look inside. He took one of the sticks and shuffled the coals around a bit.

"There's some smoke and I can feel some heat," he said, "I might be able to get something going again."

Marcus came back in shortly after and immediately wrapped himself in the blanket again. "You fuckers all get up way too early. I don't get up 'till eleven if I can help it."

"How do you know it isn't eleven?" Brooke asked, "I didn't see a watch on your wrist."

"The sun ain't above the fucking trees," he said, "I'm not like fucking Paul Bunyan over there but I remember how the fucking sun works, and if it was that fucking late the sun should be higher."

Nobody had a response to that.

Jason pulled out some more papers and fed them and wood into the stove. With some blowing on his part, flames soon returned.

"Well... we'd better figure out breakfast I guess," Mari said.

*-*-*-*-*

Breakfast ended up being bland and unsatisfying on many levels.

There was one serving spoon in the chest, and no plates. The skillet they'd found was the next best option for serving the oatmeal, but Mari argued that with the saucepan occupied, they should use it to boil drinking water, even though it was shallow and couldn't hold much.

Then they got to experience the joys of boiling water with a pot on top of a cast iron stove, a process that took a lot longer and was a lot more perilous than even the ones among them who'd cooked with anything other than a microwave expected.

First, it seemed to take forever for the stove to get hot enough. Then it seemed to immediately get too hot, so standing near the stove long enough to work with the pot was uncomfortable. The instructions on the oatmeal said "medium heat" but that wasn't really an option. And of course it was anyone's guess how long five minutes took. Everyone except Marcus tried to count to three hundred, but Jason got there first and Mari was only at 270 when he did, so they had no idea how close they came.

Unflavored oatmeal was no one's first choice for a meal. Everyone got two spoonfuls of peanut butter along with it, but without more than one spoon and no bowls or plates everyone had to go one at a time, and no one wanted to try mixing the peanut butter into the oatmeal for fear of ruining the food for everyone. Marcus flat out refused to eat it until everyone reminded him they wouldn't give him extra food at lunch, and lunch was going to include more oatmeal.

"Well, I found my fucking reason I want someone to get us," Marcus said after they'd finished, "Fucking McDonalds."

*-*-*-*-*

Some time later, Mari found Vanessa sitting out on the porch. The rain had finally stopped, though the sun had yet to make an appearance. Jason had been elated when he discovered an axe tucked into the wood bin that he hadn't been able to see in the darkness. Some of the wood in the bin hadn't been split, and he said he wanted to try splitting some of the existing wood into smaller pieces for more small stuff. He'd put his still wet shoes on to do that.

Mari had thought about pointing out he'd burn a whole bunch of calories they couldn't really replenish, but she also recognized everyone else probably needed something to do.

"Hey," Mari said as she sat next to her fellow student council rep.

"Hey," Vanessa said, "What do you think about a sun dial?"

Mari looked out from the porch. "There's some flat ground that might work but... we don't have anything to measure the intervals. And the trees are gonna block the sun a lot of the time."

Vanessa sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought too."

They sat in silence for a bit, then Vanessa asked, "Were you okay, with Brooke under the blanket?"

"I was the one who started that whole mess, I can't really complain about it," Mari said.

"Do you want to complain about it?" Vanessa said.

Mari didn't answer immediately, because she wasn't sure how to.

When she'd first settled into the blanket, she'd been reluctant to touch the other girl, but she reminded herself of the need to preserve heat and forced herself to do it until exhaustion meant she wasn't thinking anymore.

When she'd woken up, her thinking brain hadn't come awake as fast. She'd just been aware of softness and warmth like she'd never felt before, and she'd wanted more. She'd felt an arm draped around her and pulled it tighter, and she'd slid her legs around until more of the warm softness covered them.

It was only when she came more fully awake that she realized the warm softness she'd been grabbing for and seeking while half-conscious was Brooke's body. She'd ended up entwining their legs, turning Brooke's draped arm into a hug, and pressing herself back so they were unarguably spooning, with her as the little spoon.

She'd expected herself to flinch away immediately, but she hadn't wanted to, and not just because it was colder away from the other girl.

Mari had spent most of her high school years convincing herself that relationships, love, and dating were for people not focused on succeeding. She'd even thought for a while that she was asexual, but when she picked Their Eyes Were Watching God for a summer reading book, it had stirred some unexpected feelings when she read some passages she hadn't been prepared for.

But she'd never explored beyond that. She'd been to every dance since sophomore year, but she'd spent all of her time coordinating, organizing, and making sure things ran at the events. She hadn't even bothered to bring a date after the first couple.

Now she was trying to figure out what it meant that she'd woken up in the arms of another woman and she hadn't wanted to move.

That she'd had to stop herself from pulling Brooke back against her when the other girl had sat up.

That she wanted to move over and press herself against Vanessa while they sat there. Just to see if the sensations were similar.

"So last night was a lot for you too?" Vanessa asked, and Mari suddenly realized she'd been sitting and not saying anything for a long time.

"I--I mean not as much as you," she said, "Are you okay? Do you need to talk about it? Should we get Brooke?"

"I wouldn't mind talking with Brooke too," Vanessa said, "But... it was nice."

Mari stopped herself as she was in the middle of getting up to find the other girl, thinking they were about to bear witness to a sexual harassment story. Instead Vanessa looked... almost wistful.

"Nice?" Mari asked quietly.

"Yeah. It was what I wanted," Vanessa said.

"Weren't they... all over you?" Mari asked.

"They weren't groping me or anything," Vanessa said, "I mean, we were naked and pressed up against each other. My breasts were up against Jason's chest. My vagina was on his thigh. Marcus was behind me, so his penis was up against me. Apparently we're all at least attracted to each other enough that natural reactions happened. Well... based on last night I think the guys were both attracted to me, or at least a naked woman pressed up against them."

"And... you wanted that?" Mari asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I really did," Vanessa said, looking at Mari, "And when is this gonna happen again?"

"Hopefully never," Mari said.

"Well, yeah, I don't want to be in a sinking car and lost in the mountains," Vanessa agreed, "But... how long do you think it would have taken for me to find even one guy that would be okay spending a night in bed with me, naked, not expect any sort of sexual favor for that, and still be attracted to me?"

"I... I don't know," Mari said slowly, genuinely having trouble figuring out how to react to the vulnerable honesty the other girl seemed to be sharing.

"Did you have something? With Brooke? Is that why you got all quiet?" Vanessa asked.

Mari felt her face heat up. She felt herself panicking a little.

"Whoa, hey, hey, you don't have to tell me. If you did, I think that's great," Vanessa said.

As she spoke, she slid over and put her arm around Mari, pulling the girl into a tight side hug in support.

Mari shifted closer.

"I'm... kind of hoping we get the opportunity for more moments," Vanessa said.

Mari only half heard her. She was leaning against her friend with her eyes closed, enjoying the feelings and sensations and hoping they would last for a while.

*-*-*-*-*

Marcus had fallen back to sleep beneath the blanket, so Brooke had stepped outside. She saw Mari and Vanessa talking but it looked kind of intense and she didn't want to intrude, so she wandered toward the back of the cabin.

She stopped at a scene right off the cover of a romance novel. Or maybe softcore porn.

Jason had found a tree stump not far from the cabin, near the tree line. He had the axe and was doing his best to split what seemed to be a stubborn log. Each of his swings buried the axe head in the wood but it refused to split apart, forcing him to plant his foot on it and work the axe around until the head popped free and he could try again.

Brooke stopped next to the well, about ten yards behind where Jason was chopping, and just watched. She made herself forget who he was, who she was, their shared history, and what century they were in. He had many, many visible muscles thanks to wearing only his boxer briefs and his shoes, and he was doing physical work to provide for them.

As far as her body was concerned, right then, that was the only evidence it needed.

Her hands slid between her thighs and up under her shirt, adding physical stimulation to the visual as Jason kept working the axe. Brooke briefly wondered if the fact she couldn't see his face was helping her preserve the fantasy, but soon she didn't care. The smell of her own arousal soon overwhelmed the smell of the forest and anything else. Her fingers were slick from their motions between her lower lips.

Jason's whole body arched back and he snapped the axe forward with a tremendous full body swing. The log finally split apart, the two halves tumbling off in opposite directions.

Brooke had cum when the log split.

Jason walked over to pick up one of the pieces that had tumbled away from the stump and he saw her. Leaning against the well, panting, one hand under her shirt, the other between her legs, her eyes fixed on him.

He walked over to her without really thinking about it, following some instinct that almost subconsciously told him "go to her."

He briefly thought he should say something when he got closer, but then Brooke interrupted almost all of his thoughts by whipping off her shirt.

The breasts most of their school wondered, fantasized, or dreamed about swung free on her chest. They were perfect, heavy teardrops with poker chip sized aureolae around thick, hard nipples.

Before he realized it, they were kissing. Her bare chest was pressed against his, the soft mounds of her breasts squishing against his pecs. A small part of him chided him for being an asshole, but while Vanessa's body had the softness any woman's did, Brooke's had the bit of extra build and appropriate padding that made all the difference.

Her thighs came up around his hips and he caught her with his hands on her ass. Her panties weren't a thong, but they didn't cover her whole ass, and her own squirming and his groping of the cheeks soon pushed the fabric into her crack and let each of his hands fully fondle her. Meanwhile their mouths only separated when either of them needed to breathe, and their tongues were practically fighting over whose mouth would get plundered deeper or longer.

Only the thin fabric of their underwear separated her leaking, hot core from the rigid shaft she felt with her hips against him, and she desperately wanted to fix that. She put her feet back down on the ground and let her hand reach for him. She found the shape of his erection over his boxers and squeezed it.

Jason broke the kiss and looked at her with an expression she could only describe as primal lust, and she swore she felt her ovaries quiver under his gaze.

But then it died.

He stepped back and turned his head away, and put his hand up when she tried to follow him.

Brooke reigned in her first instinct, which was to scream at him and ask what his problem was. Instead she just stood in front of him, topless, and waited.

"Brooke... what are you doing?" he fainally asked.

"What am I doing?" she came back, "I think you mean what were we doing, don't you?"

"Yeah, fine, you're right," Jason said.

"And if the rumor mill is as reliable as it usually is I really shouldn't have to explain this to you, since you've apparently already figured it out at least three times," Brooke said.

"Brooke, you don't even like me!" Jason said.

Brooke scoffed and bent down to grab her shirt. It had landed on the ground but didn't look like it had dropped in a puddle, fortunately. She pulled it on and turned back to the cabin.

"Brooke--"

"What?" she snapped.

"I'm sorry," he said.

The fact that he sounded sincere only made her angrier.

"I didn't want an apology you fucking idiot," she said, "God you really are a dumb jock sometimes."

She would have stomped off, but in bare feet that would hurt more than it was worth.

*-*-*-*-*

When Marcus woke up, he braved being the first one to use the outhouse for a download, so to speak. He got out of the experience without any horror stories, but it only reinforced his desire to get the fuck back to civilization.

He was already planning out a rant about the toilet trip to remind everyone about the need for rescue but he had also noticed just on his short walk that the vibe was off with his peers.

Jason was out the back of the cabin with an axe, doing more pacing and glaring at the wood than actual chopping. The two student government representatives were together on the front porch and looked like they were either comforting each other about something or cuddling, which definitely wasn't the dynamic between them before.

Brooke, at least, had given him a bit of a death glare when he'd complimented her on her "outfit" but even then she seemed less annoyed at him than he'd expected.

He blamed it on them being stuck in the cabin in the woods. Take suburban kids out of their comfort zone and they fall apart. And Marcus admitted he was falling apart too. Part of the reason he hadn't bothered to get up until he did was he was hoping he might be able to sleep his way through everything until somebody found them.

Marcus did a lap around the cabin at the edge of the trees. He found the little shelf of rocks he'd faceplanted in front of the day before, and the land past the back of the cabin definitely had an upward slant to it, though it wasn't like they had a mountain reaching above the trees.

He didn't want to interrupt whatever the brain trust had going on and Brooke's attitude still made him think about her threat to rip his balls off, so he went to Jason.

"Hey man, you remember we fucking talked about looking for a fucking way out of here last night?"

"Yeah," Jason acknowledged.

"Well, those fucking rocks we climbed up? If I kind of squint I can convince myself it's the side of a fucking path you could drive a truck up. Might be worth following a bit to see if it fucking leads anywhere? Or there's that idea about heading fucking uphill some more to find a view down to a fucking road or something."

"Right," Jason said kind of absently, then he seemed to focus and added, "Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Let's tell everyone."

"About that," Marcus said, "What the fuck did I miss?"

"What do you mean?" Jason asked in a way that confirmed for Marcus that he'd definitely missed something.

"Vibe's off," Marcus said.

"We're in the middle of the woods after our car got wrecked. Nobody's been able to text or call or even email anybody. My parents are probably just starting to have a meltdown about me missing out on my opportunities for college. What kind of vibe are you expecting?"

"What the fuck ever, man," Marcus replied.

The girls on the porch didn't seem annoyed or guilty about being interrupted, but Brooke was still testy as Marcus explained what he'd seen and reminded them of the idea that they should look for a way to an actual road.

"Didn't you say we could be ten or twenty miles from an actual road?" Brooke asked Mari.

"That... was Jason actually," Mari corrected her, "And I think Marcus has a point. It's worth a look, and a paved road will be wider and have less overgrowth, so if we find one we can put a marker or some sort of signal there and it's more likely someone will see it."

"So, who all should go?" Vanessa asked after a bit of an awkward pause.

"Shouldn't we all stick together so we can help if someone gets hurt?" Brooke suggested.

"Except if more of us go, it's more likely someone will get hurt," Vanessa countered.

"I think Brooke, Marcus, and Jason should go," Mari said.

The three nominees looked at each other, though Brooke and Jason barely glanced at the other, and Marcus asked, "Why us?"

"You're in the best physical condition," Mari said, "And you're taller. You can naturally cover more ground without extra effort."

"And Vanessa should still be taking it easy," Brooke added.

"I feel fine," Vanessa protested.

"Still..." Brooke said but didn't go into more detail.

"I'm down," Marcus said, "I'm still hoping this is just a fucking day cabin and there's some sort of base camp chateau thing a little ways down the mountain with a fucking phone and a Starbucks."

"Keep hoping, man," Jason said, "But how far do we go? We don't have any way to know when to turn back if we don't find something."

"Wait until the sun is below the trees, I guess?" Mari suggested.

"Chica, have you seen these fucking trees? That'll be in a few fucking minutes."

"Oh for God's sake we can figure out we need to start back before dark. We'll keep an eye on the sun and we won't go off the path," Brooke said exasperatedly.

"Okay then, fine," Jason said.

"We should have lunch before you all go," Mari suggested.

"I'll cook," Vanessa volunteered, "At least we found that can opener, or we'd have to find out how good Jason is with that axe."

"He looked fine with it earlier," Brooke said.

Everyone except Jason gave her a weird look. The words were a compliment, but her tone said she was accusing him of something.

Marcus chewed on his lip a second and then went over to Mari.

"Hey, chica, can I talk to you out on the porch for a sec?"

"Um... sure," Mari said.

They got quick, curious glances as they stepped outside but no one moved to stop them. Marcus wasted no time as soon as they were out the door.

"Look, I'm fucking terrified of bears. Or probably the fucking idea of bears. Like, I don't get a complex with fucking bear stuffies or anything but--whatever, just... I mean are there bears around here? Do we need to bring the fucking axe with us? Is this a stupid fucking idea?" Marcus said.

Mari couldn't stop the little smirk that popped onto her face at seeing the taller, ordinarily self-assured, aggressive guy all but curl up in a ball at the idea of bears in the woods. But she didn't want to be mean.

"Marcus, relax," she assured him, "Around here all we have are black bears, and they're probably the least aggressive kind. You might see one, actually, but they won't bother you as long as you're making noise. Just don't go anywhere near their cubs if you see any."

"Right. Make noise, no cubs," Marcus said, "That's fucking all? Really?"

"Really," she said, turning back to go in. Then she remembered his crack about her sense of humor and had to add, "But if you see a white bear, you're definitely going to die."

"What!? Aww come on chica, don't fucking tell me that!"

*-*-*-*-*

Chicken noodle soup, oatmeal, and peanut butter consumed, the group split so the "scout group" could explore what they hoped was the car path while Vanessa and Mari stayed to keep the fire going and keep boiling water they could use for drinking. They'd added the empty chicken noodle can to their containers; fortunately the can opener that had been left was one of the kind that popped the edge of the can and didn't leave edges that were as sharp. Jason had also bent the top in such a way that it almost worked as a spoon.

After the group had left, Mari had gone to the outhouse. They'd all adopted the "download" euphemism for defecating. Mari wasn't sure why the clinical term bothered people so much, but she wasn't really comfortable with "taking a crap" or "shitting"; her parents had been oddly strict about swearing, and still were. Her mother claimed it made people sound crude and less intelligent.

As she was coming back to the cabin idly wondering if she still had a piece of leaf stuck between her cheeks, she caught a flash of something in the window. At first she checked around her, thinking it might have been a reflection from outside, but there was nothing. Curious, she stepped up to the window.

She'd apparently seen Vanessa's foot, because it was right below the window on the cot they'd put right next to it. Mari guessed the girl might be trying to get some sleep not on the floor and turned away, walking quietly so she didn't disturb the other girl.

Then she heard a moan.

Mari wasn't experienced at all, but she knew the difference between a moan of pain and the other kind. The president and vice president of the student council her junior year had treated the student council office like their own private retreat, and she'd heard the vice president making those kinds of moans a couple of times when she'd arrived early to a meeting and found a closed, locked door.

Mari's mind raced and she wondered how much Vanessa had "enjoyed" sleeping with the boys. Did one of them sneak back from the scouting trip? She quietly made her way onto the porch. The window there gave a better view of the cot.

Mari definitely got a view.

Vanessa lay back on the cot, one foot on the floor and the other up on the cot, spreading her legs wide. She'd pulled her panties to the side, exposing rather plump vaginal lips dusted with blonde curls that did little to hide their shape. Vanessa's hand pumped aggressively into her vagina. Mari thought the girl had at least two fingers going in and out.

She also had her shirt pulled up to her neck, exposing her stomach and chest. Her stomach was flat and her ribs stood out against the skin. Despite her claims of not having any, she had breasts enough that they didn't let her ribs show on top. Her nipples were the size of fingertips and light pink sticking up from her chest. The hand that wasn't busy between her thighs tugged on one of her nipples, making a small tent of her barely-there breast. Her eyes were closed; she seemed to be lost to the sensation.

To her surprise, Mari wasn't shocked at the sight. She was more surprised Vanessa would risk it with Mari around. Though Mari had mentioned her outhouse trip might take a while. Maybe Vanessa thought she would be faster.

Or did Mari misread the hug that morning? Was Vanessa expecting her to come back? Did she want to get caught? Had her fellow student council member suddenly become a bisexual seductress after one night of naked sleep with some boys?

Mari looked back. If Vanessa's hand was any indication, she certainly wasn't taking her time. The girl's fingers were a blur, and Mari wondered how she wasn't scratching herself. Her moans sounded frantic, desperate, as if she was desperately trying to finish something.

Then she did.

Vanessa's body arched and her stomach and butt came up off the cot. She held the pose for a second, then crashed back onto the cot with a shudder. Her hand was still stuck between her legs, but she curled up on it and rolled over. She stayed that way and shuddered a few more times. Then, taking deep breaths, she pulled her hand up.

Mari found herself holding her breath, not only wondering, but anticipating what might happen next.

Even from where she was, and through the window, she could tell Vanessa's fingers glistened. Mari's mouth opened slowly in awe as she saw the other girl slowly suck on her own fingers as if they were candy treats Vanessa was savoring.

Mari felt a twinge of something deep inside her and she turned away, suddenly embarrassed and ashamed. Vanessa hadn't meant for her to see that. She'd just thought Mari would be away longer. She hadn't become a seductress or an exhibitionist, just apparently a girl who thought she could take care of some personal needs.

But had Mari become a peeping Tom? Or, Thomasina?

Was there a term for a woman who spied on people to get aroused?

Her mind didn't let her distract herself with the vocabulary question. Rather than sit and think about it, Mari moved toward the door, making sure to step a bit hard on the wood and jiggle the door handle a little before opening it.

She might have been looking for it, but she noticed the smell. That little hint of something else mixed in with the fire and the lingering smell of the soup they'd cooked earlier.

Mari looked over at Vanessa sitting on the cot. The girl had a small smile on her face.

Well, she would be smiling, wouldn't she? Mari thought.

"How bad was it?" Vanessa asked.

She didn't sound embarrassed or nervous at all. Either she didn't see Mari, or she didn't care. And apparently it didn't occur to the other girl to be embarrassed about the fact that she'd just masturbated in the cabin where they all slept, with Mari close by.

"We could definitely use a bidet," Mari said.

Vanessa cocked her head. "You know... if we could find a pipe and another bucket I might be able to make that work."

"Why don't we stick with making sure we have clean water and don't starve?" Mari suggested.

"All right, my turn to brave the outhouse," Vanessa said as she went out the door.

Mari found herself clamping down on a sudden urge to move over to the cot to see if the smell was stronger. She forced herself to look back at the fire.

What was wrong with her? One night of sleeping naked with another girl and she was suddenly a nymphomaniac? What was next, asking Vanessa to demonstrate her technique for her up close? Give pointers? Maybe she'd strip down and present herself for the boys when they got back?

Mari took a deep breath that was a little shaky. She didn't actually want to do any of those things. But she'd never been interested in this kind of thing before, and she didn't know what to do.

Marcus was right; someone needed to find them. Before Mari lost her mind.

*-*-*-*-*

"Can I have that fucking water again?" Marcus asked.

"Dude, that's three and Brooke and I have only had one," Jason complained, "We've got to ration."

"I'm fucking thirsty," Marcus complained.

"Your mouth wouldn't be so dry if you weren't rapping or singing constantly," Brooke said.

"I'm keeping the fucking bears away," Marcus said.

There was a pause in the conversation, then Jason said, "What?"

"That's what Mari said; black bears will stay away if we're making noise."

"If we see one, man," Jason said, "If we see one, and we make a bunch of noise it'll go away. You don't have to keep doing it."

"Oh," Marcus said, embarrassed, "Well now I fucking know that. Shit, I ain't an outdoorsy person. I grew up in the fucking city. I can tell you how to spot a fucking gangbanger guarding territory from a guy just hanging, but I don't think any of them are fucking out here."

"Kind of wish they were," Brooke said, "One of them might have a burner phone we could use."

"Facts," Marcus agreed.

With Marcus abandoning his online playlist impersonation, the walk got quiet. They were moving fairly slow, since Mari had impressed on them several times that they should do everything they could to avoid injury, and that included walking too fast and stepping on a hidden root or a loose rock.

Marcus was glad that Brooke and Jason had at least agreed with him that the open spot of ground he'd seen looked like a path for driving, and they were able to follow it without needing wilderness survival skills. But after turning sharply down the hill for a few yards, it was a straight path through the trees that seemed to go on for a long way. Jason guessed it was at least 500 yards, and Marcus gave him the benefit of the doubt for eyeballing yardage. After a long time walking they were finally nearing where it seemed to turn.

"Naw, man, I can't fucking handle this quiet," Marcus said after a while, "Where're all the birds and shit? Isn't nature supposed to provide its own fucking ASMR track?"

"We're probably scaring them off," Jason said, "Actually your singing was probably scaring them off. No knock on you man, but the birds around here aren't used to our kind of noise."

"Figures," Marcus said, "My last girlfriend was in a fucking band and she told me it was a good thing I was fucking good with my hands, cause no fucking way I was going to make it tryin'a sing."

Because he was looking for it, he saw the look Brooke gave him after that.

"Sculpting, chica," he said, "You do know that art piece going to the fucking old folks' home was a sculpture of mine, right? Though I never had fucking complaints the other way, either, if you're curious."

"I'm not," Brooke replied.

There was a scoff from Jason, who said, "Are you sure?"

"Fuck off, Jason."

Marcus looked back at the cheerleader, surprised. That was way more than the annoyed snapping she'd been throwing at the quarterback on the ride up.

"Okay, hold the fuck up," Marcus said, "What's happening?"

"Marcus, just keep walking, man," Jason said.

"Nah, you two are way off. You were fucking joking about giving us blowjobs this morning and now he makes a crack about me feeling you up and you want to tear his fucking throat out?"

"The joke was about not giving you blowjobs, to be clear," Brooke said.

"Whatever. You want me to wait up and you two can fucking hash this out?"

"How is it any of your fucking business, man?" Jason asked.

"Hey, normally I could give two shits but we're not gonna walk back and go to different fucking classes or don't have the same lunch. We're all fucking stuck together out here and I don't want to play 'mommy and daddy are fighting' while we wait for a fucking helicopter. And since you think you need to fucking protect those other girls from the big scary guys who've actually fucked before, I'd rather you not be overreacting and looking for reasons to take it out on my fucking cock," he finished, speaking to Brooke.

"I'm not pissed at you," Brooke said.

"How long is that gonna fucking last?" Marcus challenged her.

"Well if you watch your mouth more," Jason suggested.

"I am watching my fucking mouth. And yeah, I know how bad that sounds. Believe me, I have 'watch your mouth' in my abuela's voice running through my head fucking 24/7. I been keeping myself to positive shit."

"Calling out that Vanessa didn't have a shirt on after you made Mari cry was being positive?" Brooke challenged.

"Hey, Mari lost her shit, I just happened to be the guy standing there. That shit ain't on me. But the girl was complaining that she's fucking flat as a board. And sure, she's not gonna fill out a fucking sweater and grab attention. I figure nobody ever fucking complimented her on her tits before," Marcus finished with a shrug.

"In a really fucked up way that kind of makes sense," Brooke said, "So you gonna compliment my tits now?"

"You fucking need me to? I figure you got 'nice tits' running through your head 24/7, in fucking five hundred guys' voices."

"Yeah, well they aren't enough for some people," Brooke said.

Marcus saw Jason flinch. He looked back and forth between them a few times and then shook his head.

"My man, you are the dumbest fucker I ever met," Marcus said as he turned and kept walking.

"What?" Jason asked.

"You know what!" Marcus called back, "I don't fucking care what your reason is, I'm with the chica here; you dumb."

"So if we're angry with each other that messes up the group but if we're fucking everyone would be fine with it?" Jason snapped.

"Man, everyone fucking expecting that shit," Marcus said, "I figured when we found two fucking blankets you two were gonna claim one, and tell the rest of us to figure shit out, and our alarm clock would be the two of you fucking each other for a wake up call."

"Okay, now I'm calling bullshit," Brooke said, "Everyone knows we don't get along. Vanessa and Mari know that; Mari flat out asked me if I'd be okay with Jason coming on the trip. They were not expecting us to start fucking."

"Whatever, maybe not, but they certainly wouldn't be fucking surprised. We're fucking teenagers. We're lost in the fucking woods. We have fuck all to do. You two ain't virgins, and we been walking around basically naked all day," Marcus said.

"So why didn't you do anything then?" Jason challenged him, "Everything you just said about us two is true about you and her too."

"No bullshit, I figured you had first dibs. I don't run with your fucking crowd, we all know it. But we're still fucking here tomorrow and you two aren't playing house? I'd have asked. Tested the fucking waters, sure."

"Just like that," Brooke said.

"What I got to fucking lose? I wouldn't be a dick about it, and I don't think you're the type that would take my fucking head off just for asking," Marcus said to her, "You know some people are gonna hear 'lost in the woods for days' and assume we spent the whole time fucking anyways. And nobody can fucking judge because of the trauma card."

"There are still consequences to what we do out here," Jason said.

"Yeah, I fucking seen Yellowjackets too," Marcus said, "But one hookup is not gonna fucking ruin anyone's life, 'less she gets pregnant, and I assume she's fucking smart enough to know what's up with that. Like I said, you're dumb. And now I'm annoyed. Let's just fucking go while we still got daylight."

They kept walking, mostly in silence. By the time they got to the curve in the road and saw many more hundreds of yards of dirt road with a large tree down across it, Marcus didn't care about the quiet anymore.

He'd rather have dealt with a fucking bear.

*-*-*-*-*

It was a sober, quiet group of kids that met back at the cabin some hours later.

"We went past the tree to the next turn, but it was just more dirt road. There might have been a turn off, but it was hard to tell, and we were probably risking the sun going down before we could get back," Brooke told everyone.

"Distance is fucking whacked out there. You think a road is maybe a ten minute walk or something and then it just keeps fucking going," Marcus griped to no one in particular.

"If it is a turnoff it might lead to another cabin," Mari said, "If food becomes an issue, it might be worth trying to follow it."

"I thought you said we were good for a week?" Vanessa asked.

"More like five days, maybe six," Mari said, "And... people have been lost for longer."

"Don't fucking tell me that either, prez. Fuck, you got any good news?"

Mari tried to think of something, then decided Marcus was probably being rhetorical.

Jason had gone out to the back of the cabin again and people could hear him going at the wood with a vengeance. He kept it up until Mari called him in for dinner. They ate the oatmeal, beans, and peanut butter scoops in silence. Vanessa seemed to be the only one of the group in anything like good spirits. After dinner she pulled Marcus aside.

"What happened?" she asked.

Marcus looked over at Brooke and Jason quickly, then shook his head. "Bullshit. It's just bullshit."

Vanessa sensed she probably wouldn't get any better answer out of him, and it sort of dampened her mood. She'd been feeling good about their situation, but it seemed like nobody else shared her feelings.

"I can't believe they didn't even leave a deck of cards up here or something," Jason said as it got dark and they all just sat around the cabin, lost in their thoughts.

"Strip poker would be kind of fucking pointless now," Marcus said, "And I got no cash on me."

"We could have grabbed rocks or something," Jason said, but a yawn broke up his words mid way through.

That set off a chain reaction, of course. Finally Brooke said, "Look, we're all tired, or at least the three of us that walked are. Maybe we should just call it a day?"

"Okay," Vanessa said, "Um...

"I was thinking," Jason said, "If I pull one of the cots over closer to the stove I can probably be fine with that."

"Oh," Vanessa said, and then winced because she obviously sounded disappointed. She hadn't wanted to be that obvious.

"Chica," Marcus said to her, "We're good."

She nodded to him and felt some relief.

"I still think it's cold, so I'll share with Mari again," Brooke said.

After a while they were all settled in their spots for sleeping. Jason, who was the closest to the stove, asked everyone if they were good and, after getting yeses from the group, pushed the door shut with a stick and plunged the cabin into darkness again.

Marcus was startled when he felt Vanessa slide out of the blanket. He heard some quick rustling, then she was back, snuggled up to his side like she'd done the other night.

She had also removed her shirt, and he felt a lot of warm, soft flesh where he hadn't before.

"I usually sleep naked," she whispered so close he could feel her breath on his ear.

It felt like his cock went from nothing to rock hard instantly. He tried to calm himself down because he knew the girl was not teasing. From her perspective he was just telling him facts.

His body didn't care though, and he was glad he'd tired himself out because otherwise it would have been a very difficult night.

Less than ten feet away, the other pair had one very tense member. She waited long enough that she hoped everyone else was asleep, and she actually heard Jason snore. Then she quietly whispered, "Brooke?"

There was no response for a minute and Mari started to relax, but then the girl behind her tiredly whispered, "Yeah?" almost into her neck.

Mari swallowed and then asked, "Would you be okay... if I took my top off?"

Mari felt the other girl shift a little. Her whisper sounded less tired when she said, "If you want to."

Mari heard a bit of a question in Brooke's tone but she ignored it and just shimmied out of her shirt and bra. She swore she could feel the dopamine and endorphins spreading out from where Brooke's arm touched her, even though she knew that made no sense.

They laid like that for a little bit and then Brooke nearly made Mari panic.

"Do you want me to take my top off too?"

Mari felt like she was frozen and her jaw wouldn't work. She made a small sound that came out like a whimper.

"Sorry--"

"Yes."

Mari almost bit her tongue after she said the word. Then the warmth of the other girl moved away.

Then it came back so much more than it was. Mari couldn't help letting out a sigh. She felt like her body was settling back against the best surface ever. Memory foam had nothing on Brooke.

Mari was sure she could have slept wonderfully like that, but apparently Brooke wasn't done testing her heart rhythm.

"Do you want to try something?" Brooke whispered.

Mari couldn't help her mind flashing back to the scene she'd spied through the window earlier today, except it was one of the variations her mind had conjured where Vanessa's fingers hadn't been frantically pumping between her own thighs, but someone else's.

"What?" she asked hesitantly.

"Turn over," Brooke encouraged her.

Mari spun slowly, not quite sure what she was meant to do, but Brooke helped position her. When they were done, Mari didn't want to move, or even breathe, in case she was dreaming and that would ruin it.

Her head rested between Brooke's chin and chest. Her own chin literally rested on Brooke's breast. Their arms held each other tight, and their legs entwined to pull their bodies together more.

Mari couldn't remember ever feeling so comfortable, safe, and relaxed.

She thought she heard Brooke ask her if she was okay, but she fell asleep before she could answer.