Free Birds
Day one of our trip to Breeze Falls Forest with Josh began magically. My mom bought a hotel anchored on the side of a mountain for us. Her reason was for us to have a romantic getaway. It was less than half the size of a mobile home. We had a kitchen, one bathroom, a small dining room, and a cute little bedroom with a glass window that overlooked the cliff. I took the side of the bed closest to the window because of his slight fear of acrophobia. I wasn’t bothered by it. The vastness of witnessing our giant world always awed me. Unfortunately, the windows were fogged up, and a thick layer of fog blanketed the forest. Even though I couldn’t see jack shit, the natural canvas it created looked wonderful.
Josh was asleep when I woke up. My bladder felt like it was about to burst. We were in our travel clothes when we arrived at the hotel at night. I had to carefully crawl slowly to the foot of the bed without shaking it too much and reduce the noise of my nylon pants. The bathroom was less than ten feet away. I could have filled a milk jug almost halfway with the amount of piss I had to let out.
“Never will I ever drink two tea cans before bed,” I said. After cleaning up, I went back to bed without my pants. I kept quiet while I looked around my phone for things to do during the day. It was 6:30 am. The forecast said it would rain in two hours, yet some drizzle was hitting our window. “Thank goodness we brought our rain boots,” I said, whispering out loud.
I set my alarm for 8:30 am just in case Josh didn’t wake up. I was half asleep when I felt the weight of the bed shifting. He sat up with his eyes closed. I poked the meaty part of his side between his lower rib cage and hip to let him know I was awake.
“Good morning, Joshy,” I said.
“Morning,” he said with a sexy groan. “What time is it? Did I oversleep?”
“No. It’s 7:02,” He grunted, rubbed his eyes, and then slowly started to lean back into the bed. “No, you don’t!” I put myself between the bed and his back. He lay on top of me and tried to push me away playfully with his body. “No! You gotta get up!”
“But, I don’t wanna.” His weight pinned me to the bed for a moment after I got tired. He picked me up and tickled me with kisses on my neck. I was under his succulent mercy for ten seconds. I had to tell a lie to stop the fun for a brief moment.
“I’m about to piss myself,” I said. His wet lips moved away yet stayed close enough that I could feel his warm breath grazing my neck.
“Go pee,” he said, and let me go. I turned around and looked him in the eyes. “Uh,” he said, glancing at the door. “Are you going to go?”
“I already did.”
“What?” He looked at my crotch.
“No!” I said, covering my crotch with my right hand while pointing to the door with my index finger. “I already did, dude! I was lying!”
“Oh? Why?”
“You were overwhelming me!” I said, nearly laughing. He smiled, but stopped when he looked past me.
“It looks pretty crazy out there.” I turned around to look out the window. The clouds were darker than they had been an hour ago. The whole sky was covered. Everything looked gloomy yet mesmerizing at the same time.
“The forecast said it would rain for less than an hour.”
“Looks like it’s about to pour now,” he said, easing my body into his lap. He positioned himself directly behind me. All I had to do was sit in his lap and lean back. His soft, hairy arms went up my shirt and gradually slipped past my waist as they crossed against my stomach. One of his fingers poked my bra. We were so in a rush to sleep that I didn’t get a moment to get out of my clothing.
“Let me take this off.” I took off my bra without taking my shirt completely off. I didn’t want him to see the red impressions. His arms came back. I pressed them in, but I tried to push his hands closer to my tits.
“What are we going to do today?” He said and gently squeezed me for a brief moment.
“Hopefully, we can go out and eat some breakfast.”
“We'd better hurry up and beat the storm.”
Josh went into the bathroom to take his shower first. I went through my suitcase to take out some clothes for the day while I waited, and took out my camera. Two weeks before we took the trip, my mother bought me an expensive camera, along with a thick photo book. She wanted to ensure that I captured every moment I could with him, since our relationship was special. I thought she was acting weird. Josh and I created tons of wonderful memories within the few months of our relationship. I almost decided against my mother’s wish until I went through the photos of Josh and me on my phone. Most of the images I had were from when we were best friends. The quality of the pictures was okay, but I wouldn’t put some in a photo book. They were too impromptu.
I sat in a chair right across the bathroom to get a picture of Josh coming out. When I heard the water stop, she aimed my camera where I thought his stomach would be. He didn’t see me when he stepped out. I got three pictures. One picture had him looking down. In the second picture, he was looking directly at me. And the third picture, he laughed.
“What are you doing?” Josh said, chuckling.
“Making more memories,” I said, and handed him the camera. “Take a few of me.” I made some goofy poses in front of the bathroom doorway. By the time we were done messing around, the storm came.
“Damn. Looks like you’ll have to wait until it passes.”
“I don’t really have to shower,” I said and checked myself to see if I stunk. “I’m good. How’s my face and hair?” He brushed the sides of my head and combed his fingers through my hair to his standards.
“Perfect.”
“Does that include this?” I said, pointing at my face. “You didn’t touch it.”
“My bad.” The tip of his finger and thumb gently gripped my chin. He tilted my head back, looked around my face, and smiled. “It’s good.” I couldn’t resist my impulse not to kiss him. He didn’t get the chance to close his eyes when I did. I felt bad for not giving him the time to react, so I approached him slowly to make it right. He pulled me in to make out. We got touchy. He squeezed my ass. I wanted to jump on him and wrap my legs around him. The first attempt accidentally ripped the towel off his waist. “Oh shit,” he said, laughing with his hands covering his crotch. I pulled them away and held them out to his side. “Yosefin...”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“You know!” I got an extreme surge of giggles. It mixed with a shot of raging sexual thirst. “Josh, you need to go put clothes on quickly.”
“Why?”
“Because if you don’t, we’ll be hungry for a while.”
Josh put on his clothes while I stayed in the kitchen to cool off from being horny. My heart rate was high and I was nearly sweating. Once everything began to settle, he came out dressed.
“You okay?” He said. I gave him a thumbs-up. “Cool. But, you might wanna change your underwear.” I didn’t need to look down to know. He didn’t look bothered by it, and I wasn’t embarrassed or keen to hide it.
“You’re amazing.”
“Where did that come from?” He said, blushing.
“From the heart,” I said, walking past to get into the bedroom. “Duh!”
I put on all the necessary clothing to protect myself from the storm. My rain jacket was neon purple. The boots I brought were black with medium-thick slip-resistant soles. It made me a couple of inches taller. The soles were squishy and soft.
I walked into the kitchen feeling excited to start the day. Josh flipped my hood over my head before we left. I forgot to bring my camera, so I had to rush back to our hotel to get it. We had to walk through an inclined stone path to reach the parking lot and his car. Lucky for us, he spotted a breakfast dinner on the way to our cute hotel when I was on the verge of sleeping. It was a local family-owned dinner in the middle of an old one-lane town. The streets weren’t zooming with cars, and not a lot of people were around. It was the perfect opportunity to snap a picture.
“Dude, cover me with the umbrella,” I said. Josh walked with me over to the road. I took a picture both ways down the road, one of the diner, and two of us together. “Thanks,” I said and kissed his warm cheek. “Let’s see if this place is any good.”
“I hope so,” he said as he carefully kept me under his umbrella. “I don’t know any other place we could go to.”
“Thank god for navigation.”
“Oh, yeah! I’m dumb.”
“No, you’re just not thinking of quick solutions.” I opened the door for him. The door hit a small bell above it. A waiter greeted him before I could take in all the sounds and smells of the place.
“Right this way, you two love birds,” a mature-looking woman said in a deep southern accent.
“Wow,” he chuckled. “How did you know?”
“I saw y’all cuddling and taking pictures outside.” She handed us menus that were half the length of the table. It had two pages of things to choose from. I was overwhelmed by the numerous choices available. Josh ordered our drinks while I was reading everything on the list. It took the sound of the glass hitting the table for me to look away.
“Found something you like?” He said.
“Uh, no,” I said, skimming the menu. “I’m still looking.”
“Take your time, sweetie. I’ll come back in a few minutes,” she said and then left to talk with customers behind me.
“Sweetie?” I said, mimicking her accent. “Did you hear that, Joshy? I’m her sweetie.”
“I heard,” he said, holding in his laugh. “She called me darling, but I don’t think you heard that.”
“Darling?” I said in her Southern accent. “I sure didn’t, Joshy. I was too busy reading this here menu.”
“How do you do these voices so well? German, British, Southern.”
“I don’t know. I’m just special like that.” His smile grew when I said that. He didn’t say anything and kept gazing at me like I was mesmerizing. “You okay, dude?”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“Oh,” I said, whispering behind the back of my hand. “You look like you heard something surprising.”
“No. I’m happy to hear you say that.”
“I think I’ve said it before.”
“Probably,” he said and grinned for a quick moment. Our waitress suddenly caught him off guard. The adorable smile he had on his face shriveled to a soft one when our waitress came back.
“So, what are y’all having?” She said. He looked at me to answer first, followed by her.
“I didn’t get to look,” I said and quickly searched for something that looked good. “Ham cheese.”
“And for you, hon?”
“Ham omelet with three small pancakes,” he said.
“Alrighty! It’ll be out in a few.” She took our menus and walked off towards the kitchen with them.
We left nothing on our plates. My stomach wasn’t full, but I was satisfied with what I ate. I left a tip for our waiter after having a little friendly argument with Josh on who should add the tip. He wanted to pay for the whole meal. I didn’t want him to think he should pay for me. My mother was the one who funded our trip. I had her money to do with as I pleased. It should be my burden, but I couldn’t overrule his pride. The meal and tip went over seventy dollars. I was a bit mad that I didn’t act more assertively. Good thing the day was young, and there were more things I could do to lead us into a fantastic vacation.
Josh drove us back to our hotel to wait out the immense storm. The rain began to create flash floods on the main roads. I took some pictures of the flowing water coming down the cliff before heading inside our room. Josh went into our bedroom to turn on the mounted wall TV to get an hourly picture of what lay ahead.
“It’ll be raining for ours,” Josh said. “This sucks.”
“What shall we do?” I said in a playful tease.
“Movie?”
“Can we watch a romance?”
“Sure,” he said and sighed, smiling.
While he browsed the free catalog of hundreds of romantic movies pre-loaded on the TV, I began to set the mood, taking advantage of his distraction. I dressed the same way when I came back after taking a piss. My pants and bra were off. I hid my legs under the covers before he could see me.
“How’s this one?” He said. The movie on the screen was a period piece with vampires. “You into this?”
“I love a good blood-sucking,” I said in a British accent.
There was indeed a fair amount of blood-sucking action. But the romance between the two main characters left me in tears. The female vampire was shunned by her people for being half-human and for loving a human boy she grew up with in a poor town. Her parents tried to separate the two. They succeeded, but her boyfriend managed to persuade her to keep their love together. Her parents put a hit on her boyfriend in the form of an unjust witch hunt. His parents found out their secret love after they found them dead under a tree, holding hands. She drove a stake through her heart.
I never felt so much sympathy and empathy in a movie that overly fictionalized the mess I went through. I was an absolute mess. Josh had to cradle his arms around me so he could calm me down. He cried, too, but not at the level I was.
“Josh,” I said, crying and laughing. “What the fuck was that, man?”
“A tragic yet good movie,” he said as he wiped the tears away from my eyes with the blanket. “Gosh, why are you crying so much?”
“Because,” I said on the verge of crying some more. “I saw myself in her.” My tears poured out of my eyes. I couldn’t for the life of me stop. “Josh!”
“Yeah?”
“I love you,” I said, wailing. “I’m so glad you’re mine!”
“Me too,” he said and shut down my crying with a long kiss. His hand accidentally grazed my tits when I fell back. “You’re not wearing...”
“I’m not wearing any pants either.” For the entire movie, I stayed under the covers. I lifted them to show my thigh. He took the covers and pulled them down past my knees.
“Why?” The corner of his lips quivered. His smile got bigger the longer he stared at my legs. “Did you plan on sleeping afterward?”
“No,” I said, stretching the word. “To be honest, I wanted you to do something with me. I just don’t know what I want.”
“Well... The rain is beginning to let up.” I looked out the window to see if it was true. It was raining but not pouring. “Do you wanna explore the forest?” That idea sounded wonderful until I felt his warm hand slowly rub over my thigh near my hip. His fingers stopped inches from my crotch. One of his fingernails went under my underwear. He was so close to touching me there for the first time. I kind of wanted to turn over so his fingers could graze it and let him truly know I wanted to be touched. But I worried he would pull away. I didn’t want him to do something without his consent. It took him several attempts to have sex with me despite wanting to. If he wasn’t going to touch me, I was better off not letting my want steer him into doing something he didn’t want to do.
“Hey,” I said.
“Yes?” He whispered, caressing his hand.
“I think that would be fun. But...”
“But?”
“You’ll have to hold the umbrella a lot while I get some pictures.”
We walked the scenic trails under a bright yet cloudy, drizzling morning. Some people had the same idea we had. They were gazing and taking pictures on their phones. Too bad they didn’t have the camera I had. Any photos I took would turn out spectacular. I let Josh have the camera to take whatever he pleased. He took some pictures. Most of them were of me goofing around. I didn’t mind it. I loved seeing him be more active. His extroverted personality was blooming like a beautiful flower. He never gave me back the camera until we were a few feet from our room.
“You took a lot,” I said. “Do you wanna take more before we head in?”
“No. I don’t want to fill up the storage.”
“It’s okay. My mother made sure to get extra storage.”
“Oh?” He said with a nervous chuckle. I cracked the door open when I heard him chuckle. “I thought I overdid it.”
“Overdid it?” I said and giggled at the idea of seeing him have fun, as it seemed like overdoing it. “I want more of this type of Josh.”
“I said I would be more outgoing.”
“You never said you would be more fun,” I said and held his hand to walk him inside. “It must be a bonus from your New Year’s promise.”
“I think it’s my inner boyfriend finally kicking in,” he said, interlocking his fingers through my hands.
“Wherever it is coming from, keep it coming. I like seeing you act like this.”
“You do, eh?” He said, leaning in for a kiss. I was sucked into his lips like a moth attracted to a bright light. The moment he stopped, he took a step back. I went after him and continued to make out with him. It was tough to control the love I had for pouring out. When he turned his head to get away, I tried to chase him. “Yosefin!” He said as he giggled and evaded my advances. “Calm down.”
“Come here, dude!” I chased him all over the small kitchen. The only way he could run from me was to go outside. I couldn’t run for shit. He was far faster than I, yet he stayed and goofed around in the hotel. Eventually, I cornered him in the bedroom. “Where are you gonna go now?”
“I could go through you.”
“You wouldn’t want to hurt your girlfriend.”
“I don’t,” he said and sat on the bed. “Looks like I have to submit.”
“Or,” I said, sitting in his lap. “We could talk.”
“Talk?” His left eyebrow went up. “Just talk?” There was some partial truth to what I wanted. Yes, I did want to talk. It was more of a love dump than a two-sided conversation. I thanked him for dealing with a weirdo like me. He tried to defend my past problems, so I told him to shut up and listen to the weirdo express their love. “You don’t have to. I know how much I mean to you,” he said before I could fucking speak.
“Dude,” I said, giggling. “Cut me off again and you’ll regret it.”
“Yosefin...”
“Let me speak my heart.”
Josh eventually complied. I thanked him for not ghosting me when I told him the truth about my mutations. I thanked him for giving me a try and apologized when he hated it. My rambling went on to thanking and apologizing for every memorable event leading up to the moment he stopped me from making the worst decision of my life.
“I don’t think I’ll ever stop thanking and apologizing,” I said.
“Yosefin.”
“Yes?”
“I think you missed something you could be thankful for.”
“What’s that?”
“Our first time... Y’know,” he said, averting his eyes when he blushed. “Would that be something to be happy about?” The tears in my eyes filled when I smiled.
“Of course, you pervert. And I’m sorry for complaining about you not wanting to do it at first.”
“I’m glad we tried and liked it.”
“Me too.”
“I think that moment finally made me accept who you are.”
“Yeah? I think so too.”
“I’m sorry it took so long.”
“It’s okay,” I said, nearly weeping. “I understand the hesitation.” He kissed my cheek and hugged me close to his warm body. There wasn’t a gap between us. My body pressed against every inch of his body. I held him too and gave him the same amount of force he put on me. When I felt his body relax before his arms came off my back, I touched his thighs near his hip in the hope he would stay close. It worked beautifully. He put his arms at his side and remained close. I stared at his handsome gaze. The more I lost myself in his eyes, the greater my love for him exceeded. Every pleasant thought and pleasant feeling exploded within me like a volcanic eruption. My heart began to race. I gripped his pants so he wouldn’t see my hands shaking.
“Hey,” I said after I felt a slight itch of arousal surge through my body. “Could we... Would you...”
“S...sure.”
I chickened out. A couple of questions popped up when he unexpectedly agreed to have sex. Would he be okay if we did it the same way as before? Or would he be up to try something new? I didn’t ask if he wanted to. Making love wasn’t that important to show how much he loved me. We spent the week exploring more places, capturing unforgettable moments, and strengthening our unlikely bond to new heights. The night before the long drive home, he made it clear that he wanted to end the vacation on a high note, just as I was about to do. We got naked and stared at what aroused us before we did anything. I wanted to skip the foreplay and go straight into it. He couldn’t resist teasing me. I was dumb to think I could go without letting him rile us up. That was one thing we enjoyed, and since it was us in our hotel, I let him know what joy sounded like. No moan or grunt was muffled through gnawing teeth and thick pillows. He touched and pounded all the sensitive spots. Sometimes he did it simultaneously without warming. I couldn’t keep anything inside. Once he couldn’t go on, he didn’t stop until I was drained of everything.
I slept like I was in a coma that night. I dreamed about all the things we did through the week and the crazy sex we had the night before. When I woke up, I found myself cradled in his body. He was awake. Half of his legs were under the covers. My side of the covers was pushed away.
“Morning, babe,” he said with a gentle voice, lightly kissed me on the forehead, and rubbed my ass a few times. “Ready to go home?” I couldn’t say no, even though our luggage was packed. All we had to do was get dressed and leave. “Wanna stay a while before leaving?” I nodded and inched closer into his body.
“This was an amazing trip.”
“It was.”
“Any complaints, comments, or concerns?”
“It’s all good here.”
I was glad to hear that he enjoyed all the things we did, but there was one issue I wanted to address before it could escalate. Ever since we watched the romantic movie, I couldn’t help but worry about how his family would react if they knew what I was. The man’s family never spoke their opinions on the relationship their son had, yet their faces said all that needed to be said. Both families disapproved. I worried about the truth getting out and how it could affect my relationship with Josh.
“I need to know something before we leave,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“What,” I said, stuttering for a second. “What would your parents do if they found out what I am?”
“I,” he said, and looked down to his right. “I don’t know.” I could see it in his face; it wouldn’t be a happy answer.
“What would you do if they found out?” He locked his eyes on me and tightened his lips. When I told him to be honest, his lips relaxed, and he took a quick breath through his nose.
“Panic,” he said, and let out a nervous chuckle.
“I understand. If it ever happens, I won’t be mad.”
“What do you mean by that?” He said, leaning over me.
“If you want to break up,” I said without looking at him because I was scared to see his immediate reaction. “I’ll understand. I don’t want them to be disappointed in you.”
“Yosefin...”
“I’ll deny everything we did romantically.”
“Yosefin.” I kept spouting off, as if I were trying to prove my innocence in front of the detectives. Every contingency I created for the worst-case scenario between us came out of my worried mouth. I intended to be seen as a trickster so he wouldn’t feel the wraith of being judged if they weren’t accepting. “You would do that?”
“Yes.”
“Are you nuts? Why would you do that to yourself?”
“I care about your image more than my own.” A wall of silence fell between us. The bed leveled out on his side when he leaned away. I was too scared to see what he was doing or tell him to say something, so I lay motionless. Out of nowhere, he rolled me on my back by pulling my shoulder. He smiled and hugged me tight.
“If the truth about how you were made comes to my parents, whether we say it or someone else does, or something does, you’ll still be my girlfriend,” he said. “I knew what I signed up for.”
“No, you didn’t,” I said, sighing with giggling relief. “It took some time for you to be comfortable with what I am.”
“True,” he said with a smile after he nodded twice. “Yosefin... don’t push me away. I did that to you way too much.”
“Yeah, you did.”
“I don’t know what I would do if you left me.”
“You could go to Kat,” I mumbled out the side of my teeth.
“Hell no!” He said and then laughed before speaking to me gently. “We’re just getting started. I’m committed to what we created. Will you stick with me if it happens?”
“I will,” I said, nodding.
“Do you have any more concerns you want to talk about?”
“I’m worry-free until some other shit comes along. I’ll let you know what comes next.”
