Rather than take the chance of her confining me to the house or some such thing, or as they say, discretion being the better part of valor, I merely nod and reply, "Yes, Ma'am," then turn around and march my little' butt upstairs to get ready. Some battles simply aren't worth the cost of fighting.

  Upstairs, I undress and turn on the shower so it can warm up. While waiting, I sther the parts I don’t want hair with depitory cream and allow it to do its job. I give it the time it needs to do its job, and I jump and quickly clean up. After I finish, I dry off and style my hair in a bun.

  Then, I head into my room and pick what to wear for the day. I quickly chose a yellow halter top and a forest green pleated mini skirt. Then don my neon-green bikini and put on my halter top and skirt over it. Then I put a lingerie set along with the other things I need into my bag and head back downstairs.

  Collecting Jer, who’s still in the kitchen talking to my mom, we head out. I almost jump for joy when I find that we’re making the short walk to his pce. We walk around to the pool house, I put down my bag, remove my halter top and skirt, fold them, and then delve into my bag for sunscreen lotion.

  Turning around, I hand it to Jer and ask, “Would you put that on for me?”

  He says “Sure.” I turn back around so he can. After he does my back and legs, I turn around to allow him to do my front and arms. Then, I return the favor and do him as well.

  He looks at me, and we share a smile for a moment, and I realize we’re completely alone here, and close what little space there is between us. Then grab his hands and wrap his arms around me. As I rest my head against his chest, I can feel his strong and steady heartbeat. At this moment, everything feels right, and I am completely content. Despite what anyone may say, I have missed him, and being with him like this makes everything feel as it should be.

  We spsh around, swim, and generally just be silly while we enjoy the company for a while before taking a break to rex in the sun. As we y on my lounge with my eyes closed. I feel him look at me. Looking over, he’s smiling softly at me and then reaches over to take my hand. I smile in return, my eyes almost glittering, as we share a moment of silence before he speaks up.

  "You know, it's been too long since we've been able to do this," he says.

  “Swim?” I ask.

  “No,” he says while shaking his head. “We’re almost always surrounded by people, so it’s nice to get some alone time.”

  I nod in agreement and my smile widens slightly. "Yeah, that's just the way it goes." I raise my arms above my head for a stretch and let out a soft groan. My stretch has the unintended effect of emphasizing my breasts, and I can't help but notice his eyes lingering on them.

  Deciding to tease him a little, I cup the bottom of my breasts, lifting them a little and asking, “Do you wish they were bigger?”

  Jer’s eyes widen at my question, and I can see a hint of blush creeping up his cheeks. He quickly looks away and clears his throat, trying to py it cool. “No, they’re perfect just the way they are,” he says nervously.

  I ugh and poke his side pyfully. “Rex, Jer,” I say. “I was just teasing.”

  I never doubted that he’s satisfied with my size; I just enjoy taunting him about it. After all, in the boobs department, I’m one of the rgest girls in our grade. Height-wise, though, not so much.

  Standing up, I move over, straddle him, and sit down as I smile provocatively.

  As I y on top of him, our bodies pressed closely together, I could feel his heart pounding against my chest. Without breaking eye contact, I slowly lean in and press my lips against his. At first, the kiss is soft and gentle, but as the heat between us intensifies, it becomes more passionate and urgent. Our tongues dance together in a familiar rhythm as I let go of any reservations and allow myself to fully indulge in the moment. As our kiss deepens, Jer’s hands roam over my body, exploring every curve and dip. A shiver runs down my spine at his touch, and I can’t help but moan into his mouth.

  As we kiss, he grabs my butt cheeks and pulls my nether region tightly against him, and I suddenly pull away. Jer looks up at me with confusion in his eyes.

  “Why did you stop?” he asks breathlessly.

  Raising myself off of him slightly, I reach between my legs and lightly tap his raging erection with my index finger. “That’s why.”

  Jer's eyes widen in realization, and he quickly moves his hands to cover himself. His face turns a bright shade of red, and he looks away, feeling embarrassed, and I giggle at his reaction. I smirk as I pyfully pat him on the head. (No! Not that head!) “It’s alright. It's a perfectly natural reaction,” I say in a teasing tone. “In fact, I’d be a bit worried if you didn’t react that way to me.”

  He lets out a nervous ugh and nods, still avoiding eye contact. I can see that he's feeling self-conscious, so I change the subject.

  “Let's swim,” I suggest, getting off of him and diving back into the water.

  We spend the rest of the afternoon swimming, sunning ourselves, and occasionally making out.

  ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

  The sun streaming through my window and hitting me in the eyes wakes me up. Groaning, I roll over and attempt to go back to sleep, but after several minutes of progressively waking up more, I give up. Sitting up with a sigh, I stretch and climb out of bed. In the bathroom, I take care of my business, wash my hands, then my face, and brush my teeth.

  Everyone is supposed to meet up around noon to swim at Kelly’s pce, but I also remember that I haven’t talked to Desiree since I got back, and it’d be nice to see her and Carl as well. Picking up my phone, I find her in my contact list and click on her name.

  Several rings ter, a sleepy-sounding Desiree answers, “Hello?”

  “Good morning, sleepy head,” I chirp brightly.

  “Rei? What time is it?” She mutters.

  “A little after 8:30, time to rise and shine,” I state enthusiastically, which makes her groan and me giggle.

  Sounding a little more awake this time, she asks, “What’s up?”

  “Nothing much. I’m back from cheer camp, and all of us are getting together at Kelly’s to swim at noon and I thought you and Carl could join us.”“Hmm… I’ll have to call him to find out, but yeah, if he says yes, then we’ll be there. Where’s her house?” I give her the address. “Okay, got it. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll call you back with an answer.”

  Mentally crossing my fingers, I reply, “Perfect. I’m hoping you can.”

  “Me too. Talk to you soon. Bye.”

  “Bye,” I reply and end the call.

  After I change into something a little less revealing, I head downstairs to make myself breakfast. As I’m cooking, Desiree calls me back with good news. "Carl said he’s free today, so we can come over," she says excitedly.

  "Awesome!" I excim. "I can't wait to see you guys."

  "Same here. See you there," she says before hanging up.

  Feeling happy that they’ll be joining us, I finish making my scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast. After eating, I make my way back up to my room and spend the morning cleaning my room and bathroom.

  Noon soon approaches, and I braid my hair, undress, and change into a yellow bikini; slip a sundress over my head and situate it; then sit down and don my sandals. I drop my phone and the pictures from cheer camp inside my bag and make my way to Kelly's house. Along the way, I realize how excited I am for all of us to get together again, but especially that I’ll be with Jer.

  As soon as I arrive at Kelly's house, she dive-bombs me with a hug and then leads me to the backyard where the pce is packed. Apparently, I’m a little te. I spot Jer sitting by the pool with his feet in the water. He looks up as he sees me approaching and fshes me a bright smile. My heart flutters at the sight of him, and I can't help but return the smile.

  As I approach, he stands up and hugs me. "Hey, gorgeous," he says with a smile.

  "Hey yourself," I reply, melting into his embrace.

  Desiree and Carl arrive shortly thereafter.

  The day is nothing all that special, but I have an awesome time. Desiree and I sat down on a lounge together and caught up with each other about what we’d been doing since we st saw each other. Of course, I told her all about cheer camp and showed her the pictures, excitedly expining each one. We pause and look over when we hear the boys getting rather loud. They’re pying a game of what I call ‘demolition water polo,’ which consists of them doing whatever it takes to move the ball to the other goal. If that happens to involve almost drowning an opposing team member, then so be it.

  I turn to Desiree and raise an eyebrow in amusement. She ughs and shrugs because Jer and Carl are seemingly doing most of the work to bring down the opposing team but not having much to do with moving the ball.

  She says it all in one simple yet accurate statement. “What do you expect? They’re boys,” which, while true, makes me ugh.

  I put away my pictures, and the two of us watch the boys do their best to murder each other. About a half hour ter, they tire themselves out, and Jer and Carl join the two of us.

  Carl grins as he elbows Jer. “Whew! That was fun,” and Jer nods in agreement.

  Desiree, being Desiree, asks, “Fun? Trying to kill people is fun for you?”

  Carl merely shrugs and grins again. “Hey, they picked the game. We simply dominated them in it.”

  She rolls her eyes, looks at me, and states, “Ugh! Boys…”

  I agree with her since I’ve never understood the male dominance games they seem to love to py, but then again, I’m not a boy, and I’m very gd I’m not. Girls have their own version of dominance games, so it’s not like we have much room to criticize; ours just don’t tend to be physical.

  A little ter, Jer and I share a rge raft at the deep end of the T-shaped pool. Since only one other couple is sharing the space with us and they're in the middle of making out, I roll onto my side and face Jer, then state, matter-of-factly, "Hey moron, you should kiss me."

  Jer's eyes snap open in surprise, but before he can respond, I lean in and capture his lips with mine. It's a soft and gentle kiss at first, but quickly becomes more passionate as he rolls over on top of me, pins my arms above my head, and kisses me deeply.

  When we finally break our kiss, Jer and I are both panting as we lie there, our faces bare inches apart. Our intense make-out session has left us both breathless and wanting more. I blow out my breath and nuzzle his cheek. “Wow. That… was intense,” I murmur in his ear.

  Jer looks at me and then seems to realize that he’d pinned me down. “Yes, it was. Sorry about that,” he mutters.

  I ugh as I gently push him off and snuggle close to his side, resting my head on his chest. "Why are you sorry?" I ask seriously.

  I can hear the rumble of his voice in his chest as he responds, "I got a little carried away."

  I lift my head and pce my chin on my fist so I can look at him easier. “Do you hear me compining?”

  “Well, no, but...”

  I cut him off when I say, “Then don’t apologize. Believe me, if I didn’t enjoy what we did, your ass would’ve been treading water.”

  Jer ughs and pulls me up enough to press a kiss to the top of my head.

  Eventually, it begins to get dark, and everyone starts packing up to leave. I go around to tell everyone, “Bye.”

  Lastly, I saunter over to Jer. “I had a great time today,” I say sincerely.

  “I did, too,” he replies with a smile.

  Out of nowhere, he says, “I want to take you out, just the two of us.”

  In response, I can’t help but smile and shrug. “Sure. Sounds good to me,” I reply casually.