Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:48:24 -0400
From: Barry Mattison <stories@barrymattison.com>
Subject: Hiking Buddies-Chapter 2

Hiking Buddies-Chapter 2
20 July 2010
AUTHOR: Barry Mattison

WEBSITE/EMAIL:	http://storiesbybm.webs.com     stories@barrymattison.com

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INTRODUCTION:

College student Josh just finished his undergrad program in Geology at
Williamstown College in Mass. and has been planning to hike the Vermont
portions on the Appalachian Trail, a hiking trail that extends from Georgia
to Maine, called the Long Trail. On the first night on the trail he meets
Rick, another student from the same college. They decide to stay together
as hiking buddies, a common practice for many reason including safety and
companionship. But as they hike along they find out that they have more in
common than the fact that they are both gay. There is no instant
attraction, no sudden love story. No, this is another story.

The characters in "Hiking Buddies" are all fictional and any semblance to
real persons--living or deceased--is purely coincidental.

DISCLAIMER (VERY IMPORTANT-PLEASE READ):

This fictional story and others written and published by this author are
written for the gay reader in particular and describe scenes of male nudity
and sexual acts between two or more guys that some readers may find
inappropriate and/or unsuitable for their reading. Please do not read any
further if you find such reading offensive or if it may become property of
anyone under the age of 21. "Friends or What?" is copyrighted by Barry
Mattison under the Registered Trademark Foxstories® and published as
StoriesByBm© with exclusive permission to publish given to the Nifty
Alliance Archive only. Anyone wishing to use any stories published under
either copyright may go to the web site listed above and read the
information posted there for legal limitations. Copying, distribution or
re-publication of this writing in any other web site, private or otherwise,
without written permission of the author is a violation of local, national
and international copyright laws and will be pursued to the fullest extent
allowable by applicable laws governing that country.

-----------------------------------------

HIKING BUDDIES
Chapter 2

If you read the last chapter, you should have no problem picking up
right...about...

My heart was beating rapidly, my breath's were shallow and my brain was
light-headed when he put each thumb into the top of his loose jeans and
with a gyrating yank, pulled them off in one quick move, revealing a pure
white jock strap filled in the front with a huge bulge. As he continued his
dance he slowly turned, revealing perfect cheeks held together by two white
straps. Continuing around in a circular dance he slowly opened his muscular
cheeks, revealing his tight, pink hole. My mind was reeling with the insane
thought of jumping him right there, but he continued his dance, moving back
around to the front where the top half of his large dick was pulsing above
the top of his jock strap, leaking juices down the front, leaving a trail
of glistening wetness that begged me to crawl forward and lick it up.

I couldn't hold on much longer, but I felt paralyzed. My mouth opened from
instinct and my hands went to my crotch, but Rick wasn't through teasing me
yet with that jock strap as he readjusted his package so his junk was all
inside again, revealing the most tantalizing bulge in a jock strap I'd ever
seen. He certainly knew what he was doing as he slowly inched his way
towards me.

I tried once again to move closer to meet him, but it was as if I was glued
to the ground. Only three things seemed to operate: my eyes worked
perfectly, following every motion of his seductive body centered around
that bulging jock strap with the dripping juices; my mouth as it
unconsciously tried to reach the three or four feet to that jock strap and
lick up those juices; and, my own jock wrapped cock that was now floating
in a puddle of pre-cum in Rick's borrowed blue jock strap. Other than those
three things, I might as well have been a statue. But Rick wasn't tied to
the ground by any means; in fact, he was slowly inching his way towards me
as if floating above the ground. I strained, he floated. Nothing made sense
except that my brain and sex drive were on severe overload with the sight
of that jock strap, still outlined by the reflection of the fading sunlight
off the waters of the lake.

After what seemed like hours the object of my greatest desire was within
inches of my mouth and still gyrating back and forth. My mouth was moving
back and forth, up and down, but I still couldn't reach it. Damn this
guy. What was this power he possessed over my body that glued me to the
earth. Slowly, millimeter by millimeter, The object of my desire moved to
within my tongue's reach.

This was it! At long last all the painful waiting would be worth it. The
puddle of pre-cum my own cock was sliding around in,further stimulating my
brain's sex drive would soon be satiated--if the blue thread held, and that
image, oh God that image of his beautiful cock, outlined inside his white
jock strap and the thought that it would soon be mine was finally within
tasting by my flapping tongue.

He was partially standing now, bent at the knees with legs spread wide
enough to make his heavily laden, pre-cum dripping pouch protrude while I
saw his knees slowly pass by in my peripheral vision. My tongue was
stretched out forward as long as it could go and I was on strained knees,
still stuck to the ground as the long awaited prize approached. In seconds
my tongue tasted the juices of his cum soaked jock as he very slowly moved
within the reach of the tip of my tongue. I made every effort to taste more
cum as I tried to just lunge into that wonderful basket in front of me, but
now his hands were around my head, physically holding me from moving any
closer than he allowed.

"Slowly Josh, slowly."

I was able to lick from the bottom to the tip of his wet cock through the
flimsy cloth one time as he slowly moved his hips around my extended
tongue. Suddenly the combination of the sweet-honey taste of his cum in
combination with the smell of his man-scent so close, topped off by what
was only millimeters away, shifted my sex drive into overload and...my cock
started spurting load after load of spunk into through and out of my jock,
at times so hard it was landing between his legs on the
ground. Spontaneously he exploded directly into my face with spurt after
spurt of delicious cum that landed in and around my mouth. As if suddenly
released from by bonds I fell forward face first into his pouch, his hands
guiding me straight to the mark as he pushed down his jock enough for me to
swallow his beautiful, slimy cock head and suck out the remaining jizz,
then lick up as much as I could around his wet jock.

Exhausted, I fell to the ground, ending up on my back looking up at his
beautiful body and that jock strap. I reached up and slowly ran my hand
around his balls and dick to push out the last drops of cum still hiding in
that long tube hanging over my head and chest. In a few minutes he came
again and spurted ropes of cum all over my chest and my jock. I was
powerless to move again other than to unconsciously move my hand to my flat
stomach and slowly rub his cum around and over my jock, mixing our sticky
stuff together until I could hardly move I was so glued together as it
dried.

"How do you like my night job?"

"You're hired...every night. Price is no object. I do dishes, laundry,
windows, floors, but I'm best at keeping my man sexually fulfilled."

"Well, we will have to see about that. I usually get about a thousand
dollars for a show like that one."

"And damn well worth it too. Where did you learn to perform like that?"

"Some of the guys say I'm a natural, the rest I picked up by practice and
other ways. When you grow up on the streets you learn to survive any way
you can."

"I don't mean to push you into talking about any more than you want to, but
I really like you, and beyond the sex, which seems to be a big part of your
life, I would like to get to know you better. Seems like we have the time
and the place anyway. Of course you could always hike away and continue on
with your life, but I hope you would stay on as my hiking buddy."

"Of course I'm staying. I like you too and I'm interested in seeing where
this ends up. But for now, how about we jump in the lake and get cleaned up
before it get's too dark to get dinner ready."

He helped me up off the ground. My knees were sore as I stretched before he
held out his hand to me and we went running and jumped into the cold water.

Later that night after getting a small fire lit and treating ourselves to
some Spam, cooked on sticks over the fire and slapped between a couple
slices of wheat bread with chips, we decided that we would combine our
ground rolls together side by side, then zip our sleeping bags into one so
we could sleep together. We had such small frames that it was like sleeping
in a Queen sized bed, but we didn't get far away from each other to find
out exactly how big that was in sleeping bag terms. There was no sex, but
it felt good to have each other to cuddle up to and keep warm. Of course,
we had picked out some individual jocks to sleep in that were
comfortable. Holding Rick in front of me with my arms over his chest in a
spoon position, we finally fell asleep without any more conversation that
night, content with things having worked out the way they did.

The next morning we awoke to the sound of birds chirping and a loon calling
on the nearby lake. I loved the sounds of the Loons calling back and forth,
their haunting voices echoing off the opposite shores. They reminded me of
Walt Whitman, simple things, and the woods. I guess that's why I loved
being in them so much. Living off the land, the simple life, enjoying what
so many people miss driving back and forth in a frenzy every day doing the
same thing over and over, but wishing they were somewhere else. I hoped
that I never became one of them. The It looked like another nice day
brewing...especially with my arms still wrapped around Rick's warm
body. But...all good things come to and end sooner or later so I withdrew
my arm from around the rock hard bulge in his jock and tickled him on the
side of his taut chest to get him going.

"Time to get up and going Rick. It's a beautiful day out there. We can make
a few extra miles today and be at the next shelter early on top of
it. There's another lake there to take a good bath and get cleaned up ...if
you want to."

"What I want to do first is kiss you...get over here."

So I got my first, and hottest, kiss from a guy in all of my hiking life
the second day out on the trail. The first of....well...I'll leave that for
later, but it was damn good.

"I'm surprised...but happy that's your first choice this morning. Mine was
to take a good piss."

"Butthead. I don't normally kiss on the second date. First it's a strip
show, then the cold shoulder, then it's 'Do I know you?', a date or two,
then maybe a kiss on the cheek. You're just so lucky that cute face, sexy
bod in a jock, and so kissable lips are driving me crazy and I'm by-passing
the normal routine. Now I'll take that piss."

As Rick headed straight to the bushes, pole pointed north, I had to
laugh. I loved his sense of humor, his cheeky way of keeping people at bay,
his body, his...

"Hey, we going to get something to eat before we start out?"

"Sorry, I was day dreaming. What have we got for some breakfast. I can make
some flapjacks real quick if you start a fire."

"Sounds great with a little coffee. What are we wearing today? I haven't
even seen your undie collection yet. Anything good?"

"Not compared to yours, but I brought a few sexie things I like. Have a
look after you start the fire."

I started whipping up some batter for the flapjacks and ground a little
coffee while Rick got the fire re-started. While I was cooking he pulled my
backpack out of the three-sided shelter and opened it up, scrounging around
for my undie section.

"They're in the bottom towards the back in their own pack. That's just in
case my pack get's wet, they stay dry. I hate walking in wet underwear and
getting a rash."

As I was finishing up the cooking and getting ready to stand up and hand
Rick his breakfast he coughed to get my attention. I looked up and my cock
reacted before I could. Rick was standing there in a pair of my absolute
favorite underwear with the draw strings at the top and a nice, ball
hugging pouch to hold everything up and out. They were so sexy that I often
wore them around school just to keep a hardon going.

"What do you think," he said. "I love these. They're so sexy and fit so
comfortably. I see you have several pair so they must be your favorite."

"You are making my juices flow again. I hope you're not going to start that
dancing again because wearing those I could blow a load before you even
start. They look fantastic on you...eeeooowwww!"

"Put the other pair on. Let's see how they look on you."

"Okay, can you manage to eat this while I do?"

"Sure."

It only took me a minute to pull the second pair out, pull off the pair I'd
worn overnight, and pull on the clean pair. I was in the process of tying
them when Rick turned around, took in a long breath and let out a wolf
whistle that scared the loons into flight.

"Oh man, we have to hike like this today."

"If we hike in just these Jockey's we won't even get past the end of this
lake before having sex. I don't think either of us have the will power to
prevent that from happening. I think we should wear shorts and a light
shirt and just let the thought of tonight build up through the day. Every
time I reach down to pull you up and over a rock I'll be looking down those
shorts and you'll be looking up my legs. Just getting through the day with
hiking clothes on will take a lot of will power as it is."

"Oh God," Rick said, "and I thought I was always in control. I think I've
finally met my match. Let's finish breakfast, get dressed, clean up the
camp and get going. I can't wait to start looking up those shorts of
yours."

So we did. Ummm, as Rick suggested that is, in spite of two rigid poles
that were rubbing together one last time before we set out on the trail.

In spite of all the attention we had NOT paid to the hike itself, I knew
the entire trail quite well, so I wasn't too afraid of getting
lost. However, it's never smart to waltz off into any large wilderness area
such as this one, prepared as we were, without taking breaks from time to
time to check bearings, topo maps, and GPS settings to make sure that the
club that maintains the trail hadn't made any serious changes in the route
to compensate for mud or rick slides and things like that. I took it upon
myself to be in charge of the breaks and checks while Rick would sit beside
me and rest his head on my shoulder. Sometimes we would talk about our
dreams and goals, other times we would just sit there holding hands, gazing
out at the valley's below.

"Where did you grow up," I asked Rick at one of our morning stops.

"I was born and raised in northern Cali. Spent most of my time hiking and
camping in the redwoods where everything is big. Even the bugs are big."

He held up his hand to show me the size of the Banana Slugs that grew to
the length of his hand.

"Do your parents still live there?"

"They're divorced. That happened when I was fifteen and chasing boys. I had
already come out to them and been beaten by my father more than once. But
we never had gotten along anyway. But my mother seemed to accept everything
at face value. In fact when I told them, She said she already knew. But my
father just couldn't accept that not only was I a miserable failure in his
eyes, but he was a failure as well. After their divorce was final he
started drinking a lot. Then one day he came over to our house for
something, tools or something I guess, and shot himself in the head with a
pistol he had left in the garage."

Except for the sounds of the woods, there was silence between us. Rick had
been sitting up as he told me all this, but now his head slowly fell on my
shoulder as he started to quietly sob. I turned and wrapped both hands
around him, pulling him tightly to my chest as he sobbed away. I couldn't
say anything...didn't even know what to say other than to just hold him and
cry with him. I could feel his pain as I thought of the blame he must have
placed upon his young, fragile mind at that age. How do you deal with the
thought that telling your parents you are gay and your father appears to
commit suicide over it not have an impact on the rest of your life. Here I
had been hiking and fooling around as if there wasn't a care in the world
while Rick was struggling with a monster so big I couldn't even conceive of
the magnitude of it in his life. Now his night life made sense anyway, his
need for attention from men. Even that made the night before seem less
sexual in my mind and more of a cry from him for help. My soul was weeping.

"Is this why you planned on cutting out halfway to meet your mom?"

"Yeah," he said between sobs. I thought I was going to be alone like
always. I never planned on meeting someone like you. I know I put on this
appearance like I've got it all together, but I don't as you can
see. You're the first person I've ever told this to except for mom of
course. You have every right to walk away from me now you know the truth, I
would understand."

"Rick, please look at me a moment. Please. I'm not leaving you now or
ever. You stole my heart sometime the first day we were together, which
means I accept you just as you are. I very much mean this when I say that I
love you. I've been a little afraid to say so because I was afraid you
would not be interested in me other than as a friend. I believe that
sometimes things happen for a reason. We didn't happen upon each other by
chance. Call it fate, luck, whatever you want, but I'm in love. I can't
stop looking at you, thinking about you, wanting to touch you, be with you,
do everything with you. I have no idea how you feel about me. Maybe you
don't feel the same way, but at least you know how I feel now."

At first he sat there thinking, staring out into space. Then he looked at
me, right into my eyes as if looking into my soul.

"How can you love me knowing what I just told you and what I had to do to
survive?"

"You did what you had to do to live. You didn't give in like your father
did and take the easy way out. That spirit inside of you is strong,
beautiful and just the way it's meant to be. You've survived adversity that
would have driven most people into the ground, you're in college studying
something you like, and now you're sitting here in my arms telling me your
innermost secrets...things you've never told anyone. I trust you,
appreciate the trust you have placed in me, and even more than that, I
believe more than ever that we are meant to be together. Not just for a
short hike to meet mom, or to go to the end of the trail, but to go all the
way to the end of the LONG TRAIL of life. I want you with me every day. I
want your handsome face to be the first thing I see every morning when I
wake up and the last thing I see when I fall asleep with my arms tightly
wrapped around you. I don't know how much more I can say or what I can do
to let you know this, but you and I are meant to be together."

He thought for a few more seconds, then a slight smile crept across his
face as he turned to me, the tears still streaming down his cheeks. Leaning
his head into my chest he held onto me as tight as he could as I wrapped
him up in my arms again.

"I never thought I was worth anything. My parents told me that all my life
before that day, and my mother has told me that since. She blames me for
his death and never lets me forget it. So I left home, lived on the streets
hustling to make money, got my GED and finally got into college. You have
no idea how many times I've thought of ending my life, but backed out
because I just couldn't take the same way out my lousy, chicken father
did. This hike was possibly the last time I would be seen alive. I had
every intention of falling off a ledge or something like that just to
disappear because I felt like nobody cared about me. Now you come along and
change things. You tell me you love me which is hard for me to accept
because the only ones that ever say that throw money at me when they say
that. Yet you throw only promises of acceptance, security and love
forever. You've taken the wind out of my sail and the plan out of my
life...you changed my direction and have reached out and touched me freely
without asking for anything in return."

"You know how I feel no matter what your past is or how you had to survive
to make it to this day, this place, this moment with me. All I can say is
that I accept all of that unconditionally and you just as you are. Every
action we take is a choice. I have made my choice well known. I love you
for who you are, not because of what happened to you, not out of pity, nor
for any other reason than that my heart has opened totally up for you, as
you are right now. I want you forever as my lover and best friend. The only
decision is whether you can see through all that fog you've had to live
through and see if your heart and soul feels the same way. Only you can
answer that. I'm even willing to wait for your answer. You don't have to
say anything now if you don't want to."

"Let's get back to hiking for a while if that's okay with you," Rick said.

"Sure thing. At least you know how I feel anyway. Here, give me your
hand...I'll help you up."

"Thanks. Which way?"

I pointed out the right direction and let him lead. As we made our way up
and down the trail all was quiet, so I knew he was most likely thinking
about all that we had talked about. I decided not to push him at all,
knowing he would talk when he waned to.

"When did you know you were gay," he asked about an hour into the hike.

"I guess I was about the same age you were. My parents and family took it
much differently though. They thought at first it was a phase and I would
grow out of it, so my parents never mentioned it. Besides, to even mention
it living in a small, rural red-neck town could get your ass hurt pretty
bad, or worse. It was later on when I had my first and only relationship
that they had to face the reality that I was really gay. That's when the
excrement hit the oscillating unit."

"Huh?"

"The shit hit the fan. My brothers and sisters wouldn't let me around their
kids because gay people are all pedophiles, as everyone knows. Sooner or
later my boyfriend left me for greener pastures and then a few years after
that my father passed away. That's when my whole family turned against me
and pretty much told me that I was not welcome, not a part of the family,
several of them no longer speak to me...they even used their kids to say
things against me. So I still lived and struggled at home, alone, with all
this stress, then went off to school and haven't been back. So as of now I
really have no family , but I can deal with it because I really feel as if
it's their problem, not mine. I am who I am and nobody is going to change
me. I've love to hike and live in the outdoors and have spent many weeks
living on my own out here learning how to survive on my own. It's a
different way than you learned, but it's survival."

"I guess we have quite a lot in common then."

"Yeah, you could say so. Hey, watch those rocks in front of you, there's a
deep ravine below there."

"There is huh?"

"Oh no you don't babe. Those days, those thoughts are behind you now. I'm
not going to stand by and let you do anything to yourself unless both of us
are going together."

"Together? Why would you do that?"

"I'm going to keep telling you this until you believe me. I LOVE YOU. That
means, to me at least, that we are one and whatever you choose to do,
especially something as final as that, as final as leaving me here, alone
without you and with a broken heart, then I'm coming too. One more time,
just as you are, with all your faults and mine too, I accept you for who
you are. You are a handsome, smart, gay young man who has a long bright
future ahead of him and I want to be a part of that future."

"Thank you Josh. It's just hard for me to accept that someone is willing to
accept me like you have after being told most of my life that I'm worthless
and that I'm the cause of my father's death. It's hard to turn that around
so quickly."

"I understand because like I said, in many ways, I can understand, up to a
point, how you feel. But I know what my heart is telling me now and I have
to take the chance that you're the one for me. Let's get around this and
get on and not make the whole day doom and gloom. Okay. We're in the most
beautiful place on the trail, we've run into no hikers in days to speak of,
and there's everything to live for. How about just enjoying what we set out
when we first met to do?"

"Okay. That sounds better than being down in the dumps. Here, throw that
rope over and I'll pull the packs across then help you across. Tie off to
that tree first with a slip knot."

"Got it, here comes the first pack...got it?"

"Yup."

"Here's the second...okay?"

"Okay...now wrap the rope around yourself and I'll just hang on so you
don't fall. That second big rock is real slippery so be careful."

"Thanks. Here I come."

I had no trouble on the first part of crossing the small ravine by hanging
onto bushes and small trees. Just as I was taking my next to last step up
onto the rock where Rick was standing he extended his hand to mine and my
right foot slipped. I started to slide down the face of the twenty foot
high granite rock with nothing to stop me but the rope wrapped around
rick's waist. Rick quickly turned and ran around a tree right behind him
and braced his feet against the trunk, stopping my fall.

"Are you alright," I could hear him call over the edge.

"I'm okay, just a little scraped up from the rock. Have you got a solid
hold on the rope?" I yelled back.

"Hold on a second," he yelled back.

I couldn't see him, but he was using the remainder of the rope to secure
the rope to the tree he was braced against, balancing dropping me while
tying off the rope. In a few minutes I saw this face appear over the edge
and call down to me.

"Okay Josh, I've tied off the rope on a good tree so you can't fall any
farther. I'm going to start pulling you up by hand if you can manage to get
your feet on the rock and walk it up at the same time," he yelled down.

Those were the best words I'd heard all trip so far. I wasn't afraid, but I
wasn't excited either about hanging on the face of this rock a few hundred
feet above the trees below.

I felt myself start to be lifted up slowly. We weighed the same within a
few pounds, but at that point I was dead weight until I could get my feet
on the rock and help my own rescue. That came about in a few more pulls
when my feet touched the rock. I grabbed the rope with both hands and
between Rick's pulling and my walking up the face I made it to the top
within a couple of minutes.

I walked away from the edge as Rick pulled me toward him with the rope,
only dropping it when I was standing almost nose to nose with him.

"Promise me you won't ever leave me."

"I promise you I will never leave your side for anything or anybody"

Rick was shaking so bad that I thought was going to fall down. His face was
white and his hands were ice cold. I reached out and pulled him close to
me. Slowly he put his arms around me and laid his head on my shoulder. In a
few minutes he had stopped shaking.

He lifted his head and looking me in the eyes he said,"When I saw you go
over the edge I thought you were gone and all those feelings came right
back again. But I was never so glad as when I saw your face come up over
the top of that rock. That's when it hit me that you really meant what you
said. For some reason, seeing you come up out of that empty hole out of
nowhere for me made me realize that you really do love me."

"Yes I do babe. I do love you," I told him once again as I kissed him on
the lips.

"I love you Josh." he kissed me tenderly over and over. Then he laid his
head back on my shoulder and began swaying sideways slightly in a
comforting way. We stood there for over five minutes collecting our
thoughts before he lifted his head once again, kissed me once more, then
with more determination started picking up the equipment and packing it
away neatly.

I joined him as we helped each other with our packs.

"You ready to get going babe?" he said.

"I sure am. Anywhere you wish to go, I'm right with you." We both smiled
before starting up the trail again having successfully crossed the biggest
ravine on the whole mountain range.

From that point on everything became what a hike should be. Fun, exciting,
a trip of discovery...not only of the area but of each other. We started
chattering like a couple of squirrels about our lives, dreams and
goals. Only now something was different. We started talking about a future
together; the more Rick talked about it the more excited he became. I was
so happy to see him happy that we almost missed the turnoff where he meant
to split off to meet his mother.

We stopped at the shelter just beyond that junction for the night and
decided to spend the night there and talk about what he should do about his
mother. There were a few other people at this shelter as this was a popular
one that was more like a camp than a shelter, but they didn't bother
us. There was another couple of guys hiking together in the opposite
direction we were and a few girls hiking just a short distance
overnight. We picked a secluded corner, had something to eat, chatted a few
minutes with our company and then retired as usual. We didn't even care if
anybody cared about seeing us in our hot looking underwear, but they all
looked as we were undressing, even the guys. I imagine we were quite a
sight with flat muscular chests built on lean frames with narrow waists
accented by our white, ti-down jock straps. We looked at each other,
feeling a sense of prickly enjoyment knowing that all eyes were on us as we
crawled into our sleeping bag and curled up together for the night.

"Hey Rick," I whispered, "be quiet and see if we can hear them say
anything."

Sure enough the whispering started immediately as the girls giggled faintly
something about our 'hot bods' and 'those jocks' and the guys were saying
something about we 'must be twins or something'. One guy said the word
'hot' as well. I snickered into Rick's ear quietly. He squeezed my hand in
return. Before I fell asleep I remember thinking that these were the kinds
of moments that I always wanted to remember with Rick...the little things
we would talk about when we grew older. It had been a big day for both of
us and we needed sleep. I whispered into Rick's ear, "I love you babe, good
night."

"Love you too. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not putting any pressure on me, and for just being you."

I kissed him on the cheek and squeezed him a little tighter towards me as
we lay comfortably in our sleeping bag, warmed by each others body heat,
knowing that change was taking place in both of us as our hearts and
thoughts melded into one. In less than a minute Rick's heartbeat had slowed
down along with his breathing, mine slowly synced up with his and we ...

The next morning we were woken by the rustling of the other hikers getting
ready for the trail. They had a small campfire going for coffee, but were
just going to put it out when I peeked out and asked them if they would
leave it going so we could make our breakfast. Having settled that I waved
goodbye to the four of them as they set off down the trail in the direction
we had come from. We were alone now. Rick was just sliding out of the
sleeping bag to go out and take a piss when we met at the door. We melded
into each others arms and kissed, but morning breath can be a real
'stinker'.

"Ewww...have to get used to that I guess because I don't want to start any
day without a kiss from you," Rick said.

I laughed. "I think that's because we're being so Eco-friendly with the
toothpaste that it doesn't cover morning buffalo breath. I could go out and
find some herbs to fix that if you want.?"

"That would be cute. Your gorgeous butt, in that sexy jock, wandering
around the bush looking for herbs. Every animal in the woods would be
dropping over from a woodie, and I'd be waiting her thinking jealous
thoughts of that soft, criss-crossed string pouch wandering the woods
putting more animals on the endangered species list. I think that after I
take a piss I better help you change your underwear. They say you should
always have on clean underwear when meeting your mother-in-law."

"Huh?"

"I would like to take the trail down to the town where I am supposed to
meet my mother and introduce you to her. I don't care what she says, I've
decided that I'm going to live my life for me...and you...and nobody else
including my ignorant family. If she accepts me today for who I am and can
accept us, then great, but if not, then great. Either way I win. Will you
come with me?"

"I'd follow you to the ends of the earth , if it had any, and back
again. You're stuck with me. Let me ask you something before we commit to
this move though. I hear your words and a change in your voice and
thinking. Are you sure this, and I, are what you want for the rest of your
life?"

"I knew yesterday when I saw your head come up and over the top of that
rock as I held your life in my hands that I wanted you, needed you in my
life forever. That's when something in my heart opened up and my mind
erased the problems of the past. All I could see was you slowly coming up
that rock, little by little, to change my future. By the time you were in
my arms I knew what I wanted more than anything I've ever known before. I
want that unconditional love you so freely offer; I need and crave the deep
emotional attachment to your beating heart that has opened up so wide for
me and asked for nothing in return, and I desire to have you by my side as
much as possible so that everyone know that we are one and the same, yet
individuals in our own right. Yes, I've made up my mind and you are what I
want for the rest of my life, if you'll have me."

My eyes were misting up as I kissed him again, and again, and again. My
hands were all over his body like the tentacles of an octopus. I was
floating off the ground as we drifted towards the bedroll where I gently
laid him down on his back and lay on top of him, still uncontrollably
running my hands all over his body, as he was mine. This time the sex was
not for show, nor for display, but out of the love we had for each
other. Before we knew it the jocks were off and the ensuing sex was a
mind-blowing experience between us that still remains something we share
with no one.

Suffice it to say that it took a while to get the place, and ourselves,
cleaned up and get started down the trail towards town and a new life. We
decided we would end our hike at that point no matter what his mother had
to say and catch a ride back to our hometown of Williamstown. We had a lot
of things to catch up on: living arrangements, school arrangements,
jobs...and go out and buy a brand new, queen sized bed!

X o x o x o x o x o x o x o x o x o x o x o x o x o x o x o x o

I hope everyone enjoyed this short story. I have received so many letters
on this one that I'll be writing some others shortly centered around the
same genre.  Thanks for your support and don't forget to go to the web site
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