I glanced at the nametag on his shirt: Jesse. "Sure, Jesse. I'll take a beer," I said.
"Did you want to try our own. It’s our Serene Pale Ale."
"Sure, why not."
While Jesse poured me a beer and took my order, I quickly sent off a message to Addie letting her know I had arrived and was just grabbing a bite to eat before heading to the cabin. While I sat there drinking down the cold beverage, I watched as a group of women came walking in and sat down at a table in the corner. They were loud and giggling and I smiled to myself when their drinks were delivered. They broke out in a toast to one of the girls.
"You staying at the lake, sir?" Jesse asked as he set another full glass down on the bar in front of me, taking away my already empty glass. The first one went down way too fast, I thought to myself.
"Yeah, up here for the weekend. A little R&R."
"Well, you picked the right place. Where are you staying? Main hotel?"
"No, my sister and I own a time-share not too far down the road, right on the lake."
"Those are beautiful cabins. Is your wife or girlfriend already there?"
"Nope, it's just me," I bit out, not really wanting to carry on that part of the conversation. "My sister couldn't make it with her boyfriend this weekend, so she offered it to me."
"That was nice. Well, it's a fair walk, but the hiking trail starts at the end of the road and goes right around the lake. I highly suggest taking a walk through the trail. Snow is a little deep right now, but you can rent snowshoes at the hotel or at the ski hills."
"Sounds good."
"There are some hot girls here this week staying in some of the cabins," he said, nodding to the group of women in the corner.
I nodded, glanced over at the women, and raised my glass to the bartender to order one more beer. Jesse flipped the TV on behind the bar for me, brought me my food and another beer, and set the bill on the counter in front of me. I had just finished my last bite and threw some cash down when another group of about twenty or so walked in.
The tiny pub got louder, and my quiet little haven was soon blaring music so loud I could barely think. I drank down the last little bit of the beer I'd been nursing and waved a thanks to Jesse and headed out to my truck.
It was snowing much harder now as I made my way up the road to the cottage. I had to slow down to find the end of the driveway. I pulled my car in only to notice another vehicle was already parked there. I frowned. Perhaps I had the wrong cottage. I checked again, feeling rather irritated that somehow the cottage had already been rented out to someone else. Perhaps Addie had the wrong weekend, I thought. I was just about to pick up my cell phone when I caught sight of the Tweety Bird decal on the back windshield of the car that was parked in front of me. That was Kristy's car. I'd know it anywhere because I had been the one who put the decal on. It had been a gift from Addie for Kristy's twenty-third birthday, and as soon as she opened it and saw it, she had pleaded with me to put it on.
"What the hell is Kristy doing here?" I mumbled to myself as I opened the truck, grabbing my duffel bag, cooler, and box of food. There was no way that she would come up here without Addie's permission. Which made me wonder what my sister was up to.
I made my way up to the front door of the cabin. I could see a light on inside, and I cautiously opened the door. I was immediately hit with a wave of heat. It had to be almost ninety degrees in the room. I pushed the door open and stepped inside, letting the cool air into the cabin.
I set my things on the floor just inside the door and stepped into the front room, removing my coat and placing my keys on the table. I glanced into the living room, and there, sprawled out on a blanket in the middle of the floor, was Kristy. No wonder she hadn't asked who was here. Two empty bottles of wine lay over on their sides on the carpet, half of a glass of wine sat on the table. She rolled over and the blanket fell away, exposing her. She lay there in a short T-shirt, her tiny ass framed by purple cotton panties. I chuckled to myself at the sight.
I took my shoes off, wiped the sweat from my brow, and shut the fireplace off before walking over to where she slept on the floor. She couldn't stay on the floor all night.
I went into the bedroom that was just off the living room and pulled down the covers on the king-sized bed. Then I went back and scooped her up off the floor and into my arms. Her head fell against my chest, and she murmured something in her sleep that I couldn't understand. I looked down at her, her cheek resting against my chest as I carried her into the bedroom. I lay her down gently and pulled the covers over her. She softly mumbled something else that was completely incoherent and fell back into a deep sleep.
I shut the bedroom door and then cracked open a window and removed my shirt before unpacking the cooler that Addie had sent with me. Then I picked up the blankets off the floor and looked around. I had forgotten that the cabin only had one bedroom. If I was going to stay here, I would need a place to sleep. I checked the couch and realized that it was a futon and laid it out flat. I flicked the button open on my jeans and let them drop to the floor. Now I stood in my boxers trying to figure out how the hell I was going to fit on this futon.
First, I lay down on my back, hanging my legs over the railings, thinking it might not be that bad. After a few minutes, I could feel the circulation in my legs dulling. Several more minutes later, I had shifted and tried lying diagonally across it, only to be annoyed that half my legs lay off the mattress. Finally, in a huff, I threw the blanket off me and got up.
Fuck it, I thought and headed for the bedroom. "We are friends and two grown adults," I whispered to myself. "Surely, she won't mind sharing the bed with me for one night." I grabbed my duffel bag and pulled my grey sweatpants out for the morning.
I opened the door slowly and approached the bed, laying my sweatpants on the chair that sat in the corner on my way past. I pulled the covers down and eased myself onto the mattress, careful not to disturb her. My body instantly sank into the soft mattress. I lay there staring up at the ceiling, Kristy sound asleep beside me, and started laughing to myself. This was so not the way I'd ever imagined myself sharing a bed with her. Of course, out of all the years I had known her, I never ever should have thought about sharing a bed with Kristy to begin with. Not only was she Addie's best friend, but I should have thought of her more as a sister than anything else, but my body and surging hormones had other ideas.
I closed my eyes, my mind wandering to the purple panties she was wearing, and I looked over to the side of her bed. The moonlight coming through the window was enough to outline the soft curve of her hip. I felt my cock start to stir, and I covered it with my palm to try to stop the raging hard-on that was forming. It had been years, and I was sure I was over thinking of her this way. My body, however, let me know that I was not.
5
Kristy
I opened my eyes, blinking more than once, trying to clear my blurry vision. My mouth was dry and my head was pounding. That’s what I get for drinking two bottles of wine, I thought to myself. I didn't recognize the wall I was looking at, and I had to think hard about where I was. I rubbed my arm. I was freezing, and I reached for the blankets to cover myself up. I had just closed my eyes when I remembered I was up at the cottage. The last thing I remembered was lying on the floor, watching TV while drinking wine. Why couldn't I remember crawling into bed?