Watching

I didn’t want to watch—I shouldn’t—but I couldn’t help myself. I was frozen in the shadows, fascinated by her body, the way it moved, the way she moaned. That part I couldn’t actually hear, but the way her face was contorted in pleasure, my mind filled in that particular detail to the tantalizing scene in front of me. I rubbed myself through my jeans softly, afraid that any more movement would give me away.

Oh god, her body!

How had I not seen this before? Well, not this, not Daphne stretched out on her bed, her hands exploring her own soft skin while a vibrator pulsated inside of her wet center. How had I not seen that she was capable of being so…so erotic…without even trying?

We’d been friends since our first finger-painting in preschool, and even through the years when boys and girls split away into social segregation, we’d stayed close. You couldn’t call her a tomboy any more than I’d’ve been thought of as a male equivalent. (What would that even be? A sissy, maybe? Certainly no one ever called me that to my face.) We’d just always been together, going as far as me following her across a stage while we picked up our diplomas the week before.

Daphne was my shadow, or I was hers, depending on what we were doing or who else we were with. We were Daff and Jeff, Jeff and Daff; she was a part of me. And yet, I’d never seen her like this. I’d never once even thought of her like this—not even when I went through puberty and practically came in my pants any time another girl talked to me. Not even when we went into detail about having sex with whoever we happened to be dating. And that had fortunately happened a lot over the last couple of years.

Had she thought of me this way? The idea made me harder than I already was, and I would never have believed that was possible; my dick had already been on the verge of ripping out of my pants like the Hulk. I held my breath as I slowly unbuttoned my jeans. Logically, I knew that there was no way I’d be heard; her window was closed despite the fact her blinds were not. Her parents were out for the night, which was why I was on my way over, why I’d hopped the fence that separated our backyards. I didn’t have any specific plans for us—we rarely did when we’d hop the fence—but it wasn’t this.

When one of us had parents out, the other hopped over the fence. No exceptions. She knew I knew her parents were out…didn’t she? Had I told her I had a date? That I was working? I didn’t think so…which meant she should have known I’d be coming across her yard. Did she mean for me to see her?

My hand worked its way slowly up and down my shaft, coating it with the precum that was leaking from me like a faucet. Daphne’s free hand, the one not moving the vibrator in and out of her glistening pussy, moved from her nipple to her clit, making furious circles. My own hand quickened to meet her tempo.

Then, suddenly, her back arched and her emerald eyes, which had been hooded from the moment I’d come across her naked, writhing body, clenched tight. Her full lips were moving in silent declarations; she bit her lip, and I imagined she was saying, “Jeff”. That was all I needed to come—and come hard—slouching into the tree that was partially shielding me from her view.

Panting, I leaned there with my dick in my hand as I watched Daphne leisurely stretch and pull the toy from between her legs. It was shiny with her juices, and the idea of licking it clean made me hard again immediately. I mindlessly stroked myself as she stood, stretching again, her arms reaching towards the high ceiling.

My eyes started at her bobbed brown hair, mussed from writhing on the bed; I increased my tempo as I thought of wrapping my fist in it to kiss her. Or guide her mouth on my dick. Her eyes were closed again, the look of relaxation and contentment giving her familiar features entirely new meaning. Her long, dark lashes rested on cheeks that were flushed with exertion. Her pink lips were parted slightly, filling me with a need to slide my tongue between them; my cock jerked at the thought of them sucking on it.

Her breasts were on full display, riding high as she raised her arms and staying high as she lowered her hands to her hips. Fuck, they were perky! And how long had they been that big? I was salivating at the thought of her hard nipples in my mouth; I wanted to nip at them, to tease her until she begged me to touch her, to taste her, to fuck her.

I was so distracted by her amazing rack that I only got a quick glimpse of the neat triangle of dark hair at the apex of her toned legs before she walked out of her room. I assumed she was going to wash off her sex toy. My hand was working with a mind of its own, my own brain completely overrun with pictures of Daphne as I’d just seen her. It did a pretty good job of putting me in those pictures with her, too. Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew I should stop, that I should take the opportunity to pull my pants back up and hurry into my own yard before I got caught. But I was as powerless to stop masturbating now as I had been to stop watching her in the first place.

Daphne strode back into her room, still gloriously naked. If I stepped forward just a little, she’d see me. Did I want that? As much as the idea initially thrilled me, the chance that a look of revulsion might cross her face kept me under the cover of leaves and shadow.

As I watched her, stroking my cock as she moved unhurriedly to her bed, I tried to memorize every curve. I was having trouble staying as silent as I had before; my breath was ragged, and there was so much come and precum on my cock and fist at this point that anyone in my yard or the yards on either side of Daphne’s house could hear me and know exactly what I was doing.

Luckily, she bent over to put her vibrator into her night stand, and the sight of her glistening pink pussy pushed me over the edge immediately. Watching her, I could almost believe that I was holding on to her curvaceous ass and plowing my straining cock into her wet slit over and over. My eyes were laser-focused on her naked body moving around the room as I slumped against the tree again, all too aware of the mess(es) I’d made.

I looked at myself to assess the damage; most of my jizz had landed on the lawn, with a little on my pants and a lot on my hand. I stooped as gracefully as I could with my jeans slouched around my thighs to wipe what I could on the grass, and watched helplessly as my phone tumbled out of my pocket. I grabbed it as fast as I could, but the screen lit up and for the few seconds it was out of my reach, it seemed as bright as a searchlight.

SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!!

I fumbled it into my back pocket and inelegantly slithered further behind the tree, terrified that it had caught Daphne’s attention. My fingers fumbled with the buttons on my jeans, slimy and uncoordinated, as I smacked my head against the tree trunk and silently cursed my stupidity.

What the actual FUCK were you thinking, you moron?

I’d been thinking about Daphne’s naked body climaxing while I watched. Even through the self-chastisement, I felt myself getting hard again. Was I just going to have to live the rest of my life with a perpetual erection?

“Jeff, is that you?”

Jesus Christ!

I almost jumped out of my skin! At least my erection had been scared away. I debated on whether or not I should answer. Could I make it back to my yard without being seen? Not unless she went back inside and didn’t look out the window; if she came outside even a few more steps, I’d be caught. I had to act fast.

“Uh…”

My voice was unnaturally high. I cleared my throat.

“Yeah, Daff, it’s me! I just had to…”

I looked around in a panic.

“Tie my shoe!”

I dropped to one knee and ripped my laces open to retie them. I heard her padding softly across the grass and horror rose in the back of my mind.

Oh, God…don’t let her step in it!

Thankfully she came around the other side of the tree; her head popped around the trunk. She’d brushed her hair and it swung in front of her face as she bent down over me. I desperately wanted to tuck it behind her ear and pull her in for a kiss, but wouldn’t allow myself to dwell on the thought as I felt my dick reacting to the idea.

“I couldn’t remember if I’d told you ma and pa were out for the night or not.”

I nodded and focused on my shoe again so I didn’t have to look at the dimples framing her white smile. She disappeared and I took a deep, shuddering breath before I stood and followed her. My breath caught in my throat as I came around the tree and caught sight of her heart-shaped ass swaying in a pair of shortie pajama bottoms. A sliver of tan skin peeked out at me from underneath her tank top. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen her in that exact outfit a hundred times; I’d seen her in much less every summer that I could remember. It was, however, the first time I’d wondered what that sliver of skin would taste like, or how she’d react if I slid my hands up the meager hem of her shorts and pulled her into my body.

Jesus, was I ever going to be able to spend time with my best friend again without wanting to fuck her? I couldn’t go a day without seeing her, we shared a fence. It wasn’t like graduating from high school would offer me any reprieve, either; we were going to start at the same college in just a few weeks and we’d be sharing an apartment. We shared a life. Even if I could have avoided her, though, I wouldn’t want to; cutting Daff out of my life would be like cutting off my right arm.

She paused in the doorframe and smiled at me over her shoulder. My erection went from sorta to complete immediately, overcome with the fantasy of her doing the exact same thing as I fucked her against the wall. I’m sure my face was flushed; I felt feverish. I was considering telling her I wasn’t feeling great to leave without just running away when I realized her full lips were moving.

“Did you even hear me?”

The color in my cheeks must have intensified, I felt like I was on fire.

“What? No, sorry. Hey, Daff, I don’t think I’m feeling so hot, I should go…”

I jerked a thumb towards the fence as if she didn’t know where I lived. Her large breasts bounced as she turned, jutting out her hip and pouting. She really had no clue what she was doing to me, did she?

“Dude! No way! The parental units are gone, you can’t leave me alone! I’ll eat the entire snack stash before they get back, and I’d really like to avoid the Freshman Fifteen until I’m at least an actual freshman! You know I have no self-control!”

I wasn’t sure how great mine was at the moment, either, but the fact I hadn’t shoved my tongue down her throat meant it was stronger than it could have been. I stammered, trying to kick out an excuse, but all I could see were her green, green eyes framed by those long, dark lashes, and my mind was a blank. I relented.

“Okay, fine…I,”

She bounded the few steps between us and kissed my cheek. I could smell her woody perfume and what I could only guess was her. I may not have smelled it off of Daphne before, but I was sure as hell familiar with it from other girls. I pushed past her quickly.

“I need to use your bathroom!”

I charged down the hall past her bathroom to the one generally reserved for guests. I rarely used this one; I wasn’t a guest, I was family. I tried to remind myself of that to will my libido in check. I couldn’t possibly have used Daff’s; knowing she’d washed down her vibrator in there, I couldn’t trust myself not to lick the sink. I washed my hands—much needed—and stared at my face in the mirror.

What the hell happened?

I was so confused. And still so, so horny. I didn’t dare look down; I knew what was there.

Daphne knocked on the door.

“Hey, you okay? You know I was kidding, right? You don’t have to stay.”

Her mouth was right against the doorjamb; it was something we’d done since kindergarten. By the time we’d realized it didn’t make our conversations any less ‘secret’, it had become an ingrained habit. I pressed my lips on my side, for the first time imagining the door wasn’t there. As much torture as it was going to be to sit with her and think about everything, it would be worse to go home and think about it knowing she was here. Alone. With her window open.

“I’ll be…I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute, yeah?”

Daff gave two quick knocks—O! K!—and I was left with the decision of how to deal with the lump in my pants. I took a deep breath and gave it a thwack with a heavy fist. I was able to catch the edge of the counter before I hit the ground and there was no more boner. Win/win.

When I could stand up without supporting myself on the wall, I made my way to the living room to find Daff sprawled on the couch in the near dark with only the flickering light of the TV illuminating the room. I was vaguely grateful she wasn’t in her bedroom, for obvious reasons, but this wasn’t much better. I’d have to slide under her legs or her head, and the proximity was going to kill me. There were other places to sit, but it would be totally out of character, and it was hard enough to pretend everything was normal.

A mental toss of the coin said tails, so I went for her legs. Safe, right?

Wrong.

I pressed myself as deep into the corner of the couch as I could, but of course her smooth, lean legs still stretched across my lap. Even through the thick denim on my legs, the warmth of her body pressed against mine was enough to revive my aching cock, and despite how vividly I imagined piles of dead kittens and oozing surgical wounds, it would not abate. I tried to shift Daphne’s legs towards my knees—as far away from my crotch as possible without knocking her off of my lap altogether—but she mistook my touch as an offer of massage.

“Ooh, yes, a little reflexology, please!”

I just sat there, frozen, not knowing what the fuck to do. Massages turned into sex, if I was lucky, but not with Daff. Massages with Daff were mindless. They were background noise to whatever we were doing, they weren’t sexy. So why did I want to run my hands up the curve of her calves and beyond her thighs to the warm, pink flower I knew was underneath her shorts?

She snapped my attention back by drubbing her legs against mine, bringing them precariously close to my ever-growing erection. I looked down at her tan limbs and was mortified to realize that I’d misbuttoned my jeans in the yard, leaving an ample window to my boxer-clad boner. There was a considerable risk that boner wouldn’t stay contained behind the flap in those straining drawers, and then I’d be exposed in every sense of the word.

“Well doofus, do I get a rub down or not?”

I had to act fast to prevent her from looking at me too closely; thank god it was pretty dark. I grabbed a leg and started massaging, kneading and stroking the lean muscles of her calf. Her skin felt like silk. Had it always been so soft? So smooth? I asked myself for the millionth time that night how I hadn’t noticed these things before.

“There you go, well done old chap.”

She sighed contentedly and scooted further down the couch to allow me access to more skin; her tank top caught against the cushion underneath her and pulled up, exposing her flat stomach all the way to just under where there should be a bra. Was there a bra? I couldn’t tell without staring even more desperately than I had already. Swallowing hard, I forced my gaze away from the tempting skin and cotton-covered mounds beyond. Instead of moving upwards, like I desperately wanted to, I shifted my hands and attention to Daphne’s feet.

Her feet always looked nice; that I could say I’d noticed before now. Even through track season, she was unfailingly pedicured. Right now, each toenail was a pale blue, and a silver toe ring I’d given her for her fourteenth birthday adorned her middle toe. I don’t think I’d ever seen her without it since that party. I wanted to run my tongue around it.

Gah! I had to get my mind on something else!

“Hey,”

Ugh, my voice cracked like I was going through puberty again. I cleared my throat and focused hard on speaking with a normal tone.

“Um, hey. Grab that remote, will ya? Let’s watch,”

Watch what? Watch what? What was the least sexy thing we could possibly watch?

“South Park. Or Rick and Morty.”

Daphne’s feet kneaded my legs, her toes dangerously close to the gaping hole in my jeans.

“Cartoons? That’s what you’re in the mood for?”

I thought I was going to pass out. I closed my eyes and leaned back.

“Anything mindless.”

“Mm-hm. Whatever you want, just keep up with the magic fingers.”

All I heard was, ‘keep touching and do whatever you want to me’. Good god, how was I going to get through much more of this? I resumed rubbing her foot, moving my way up her ankle.

It’s just Daff. It’s just Daff. It. Is. Just. Daff.

“Mmm…that’s really nice, Jeff. Go higher.”

Jesus Tapdancing Christ. Just Daff was NOT making this any easier. I switched feet, trying to keep my hands as far in the safe-zone as possible, but I couldn’t stop my hands from moving back up her calves. The large flat-screen in front of us was flickering; Daphne had found us something to watch, but despite staring right at it, I couldn’t have told you what was on the screen. Cartman? Morty? The State of the Union address?

I was surprised when I realized my hands were working the backs of her knees. Daff was ferociously ticklish, yet she hadn’t said a word. My eyes roved over her long legs, across the plateau of flat stomach, and stopped at the hills of her full breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra; I could clearly see her nipples distending the thin cotton of her tank. I forced my gaze further, unwilling to be caught ogling her.

Daphne’s face was thoroughly unreadable. Though on her back, her face was turned to watch whatever it was she’d turned on (besides me). Apparently, she found it amusing; a small smile played across her lips.

She obviously didn’t mind how I was touching her. That alone was a good enough reason to continue, because as much as I knew I should stop, I sure as hell didn’t want to. My hands slowly moved to the zone just above her knee; I worked slowly, circling one at a time; her slim legs seemed dwarfed in my grip. Her legs were shapely, but pure muscle; all of our years in cross country had done that. I traced every muscle, pressing my thumb along them slowly.

Daphne may not have minded, or even noticed, what I was doing, but it was becoming pure torture for me. My eyes were riveted to the shadows and light playing across her lower body. I hoped she’d think I was just focused on what I was doing. Or spaced out. Or anything besides trying to decipher whether or not the shadow at the summit of her long legs was actually shadow or a possible wet spot.

On that note…if it was a wet spot (insert massive dick twitch here), was it because of what she’d been doing when I hopped the fence, or because of what I was doing now? I instantly wished I hadn’t allowed myself to think of that, because now it was all I could think of—not whether or not she was aroused, but whether or not it was because of me. I needed to adjust my throbbing cock like I never had before, but I didn’t want to let go of her legs. The fear that she’d decide she’d had enough if I stopped touching her, even for a second, kept me connected, rubbing and stroking the silk beneath my fingers.

When I reached midthigh, her long legs spread slightly for me, allowing me to see enough that I could almost be convinced that the darker spot on her grey shorts wasn’t shadow. Almost. With any other girl, I’d already be face deep in her cunt whether I knew if it was a shadow or not, but this wasn’t any other girl. This was Daphne. This was Daff.

Regardless of that very important fact, I couldn’t restrain myself from slowly climbing her legs. Had I ever touched her here before? I honestly couldn’t remember; touching her had never seemed important before. Now it was all that mattered.

As desperately as I’d tried to pretend I was fine and everything was normal, at this point my breath was ragged and there was nothing I could do to disguise it. But that ragged breath choked back into my throat when my palm finally reached the locus where her firm thighs parted into a gap. Heat was pouring out of the fabric that was grazing my knuckles.

My eyes shot up to meet hers, which were no longer watching the TV, but were trained on me, as if she’d been waiting for me to look. But goddamn that girl! The small, unreadable smile was still the same! What the fuck was she thinking, and why the fuck couldn’t I figure it out? We stared at each other while I tried to control myself. I could only ask one question that was going to give me the answer I needed, whether I liked it or not.

“When did you say your parents were getting back?”

I made up my mind to go for it if she said anything other than later that night. Not because I’d have time—because I don’t know that I’d ever have enough time to do all of the depraved things that had been running through my mind—but because on top of our hard and fast rule about popping over when parents were out, if they were out overnight, we planned for other people to be there, too. No exceptions. If we were alone on an overnighter, it was because Daphne wanted me to herself.

I think.

She made me wait for eons, holding my breath until that infuriatingly enigmatic smile widened ever so slightly, revealing just one dimple in her left cheek.

“Saturday.”

It was Monday.

From the somewhat crouching position I’d assumed to reach Daphne’s luscious thighs, I launched myself on top of her and crushed her lips to mine. Our tongues met as I tangled one hand in the back of her hair and supporting my weight on the other so I didn’t actually crush the rest of her. I wasn’t a fat guy by any means, but I had five inches and at least fifty pounds on her. Literally, now, as well as more than a few inches I wanted to get into her. I pulled my mouth away from hers to take a breath and Daphne gasped.

“It’s about goddamn time!”

Her hands went to my abysmally buttoned jeans and blessedly released my poor, throbbing cock. With how painfully hard I was, you would have thought I hadn’t come in years, let alone twice within however much time had elapsed since Daphne had poked her head outside and called to me. How long had that been? Thirty minutes? A year and a half? I didn’t care at all at this point.

I kissed her again, hard, and dropped my weight to my elbow so I could get my hands on her breasts. She gasped again as I shuffled down sufficiently to tear her top up and close my mouth around a rigid nipple. My hand thrust into her meager shorts to solve the other pressing question of the night once and for all. It wasn’t shadow.

Daphne was soaked, wetter even than she’d been while I watched her play with herself earlier. She had to be; her shorts were saturated—but only her shorts, because she wasn’t wearing panties. I couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled my hand out and wrenched the bottoms aside, aiming my aching cock towards the dripping nirvana in front of me. I forced my eyes away from her beautiful center to search her beautiful face.

Daphne was beautiful!

I knew I was rushing things, and as much as I wanted to take her, I couldn’t if she wasn’t ready. Her intense gaze held a mixture of the smirk she’d had all night and the desire I’d seen on her face while I watched her through the window.

“Jeff. If you don’t fuck me right now, I will never forgive you.”

Without a word, I plunged into her. My eyes screwed shut as soon as her tight pussy had engulfed me, and I couldn’t tell her groans apart from my own. Good god, Daff felt amazing. So fucking amazing that I couldn’t move, completely paralyzed with pleasure. I hovered over her, propped up on my elbows, my cock buried in her pussy, my face buried in her hair.

I could vaguely hear voices from the TV over the sound of our shuttering breath, but it had no more meaning than anything else in the world that wasn’t currently underneath me. And that was Daphne. Daphne was underneath me, surrounding me. Daphne was sliding her soft hands beneath my shirt and wrapping her legs around my waist, pulling me even closer.

That broke my paralysis. Regardless of how weird this should have been, and maybe still kind of was, Daff wanted me as much as I wanted her. My mouth found her neck and ear as I began to pivot in and out of her slowly, relishing just how tight and wet she was.

She moaned my name and I picked up my pace. She swore under her breath and I slid a hand into her shorts to rub her clit the way I’d watched her do it earlier. She came, whimpering and shuddering, and I watched the ecstasy pass through the delicate features of her face. I continued stroking her gently as she rode out her climax and only stopped when she gripped my wrist with her hand.

Smiling, Daff pressed her hands against my chest until I reluctantly pulled out of her and sat back on my knees. She slid off of the couch and pulled her top over her head before tugging at mine, spurring me to finish the job while she shucked her shorts off completely. I reached for her but she stopped my hand and pointed at the denim puddled around my knees.

“Off.”

I grinned and obeyed, then rose to stand next to Daphne where she stopped my hands again. Placing her palms on the sides of my torso, she stared at my chest and caressed my ribs.

“Let me look at you.”

The sultry request made my cock jerk, and she smiled appreciatively. Her hands moved across my abs, her fingers tracing the ridges of muscle definition. I sighed happily and was content, for the moment, to watch her watch me. Her hands slid over my chest, circling, but not touching, my nipples, gliding along my collar bones and shoulders.

As she studied me, my hands gently explored the curves of her hips and ass, spellbound by the secrets that were unfolding under my fingers. Daphne covered one of my nipples with her warm mouth and I hissed, feeling her smile against my skin. One hand remained on my shoulder while the other trailed back down my chest, my abs, tracing the shadows of obliques that I’d been working towards and settled on my cock, still wet with her juices.

“Oh, god, Daff,” I moaned.

She pressed my neck down to kiss me deeply on the mouth while she slowly stroked my steel. The hand I had on her ass pulled her closer to me, pressing one of her breasts against my side and allowing me access to the other. She sighed into my mouth as I tweaked her nipple; I grasped her ass tightly and worked my hand into the cleft, pulsing my touch to the same rhythm as her stroke. Her grip intensified, and I was arrogantly prideful to see that her fingers couldn’t quite meet around my thick shaft.

“Daphne,” I uttered breathlessly.

I tasted her smile before she broke from our kiss and brushed her full lips down my neck and chest, detouring on first one nipple, then the other. I felt confident I knew where she was headed, and I let her mouth trail down to my belly button before I gently grasped her forearms and pulled her upright.

“Another time,”

She gave me an almost wounded look that made me chuckle. After all, what guy in his right mind turns down a blowjob? I took her hand and sat back on the couch.

“I need to be inside of you again.”

That garnered me her widest smile yet, and I very much looked forward to seeing those dimples framing my cock sometime in the near future. She slid into my lap, her smooth thighs against mine taking my breath away. She placed a hand on my chest and used the other to hold my cock as she impaled herself on it; I cupped both of her large breasts and was in heaven.

Despite wanting to drink in Daphne’s exquisite body, I couldn’t pull my gaze away from her eyes. The emeralds were hooded with desire—for me!—and laser-focused, staring past they grey-blue of my own eyes and into my soul. I was laid bare as she scrutinized me, feeling a lot more naked than I had just a few moments ago. What was she seeing? Could she make anymore sense of my jumbled emotions than I had?

My hands couldn’t stay still any longer, and my thumbs drew circles against Daphne’s taut nipples. It startled her out of her trance, causing her to moan and roll her hips; I think I had an out of body experience. When I recovered, I began to thrust my hips to match the tempo Daphne had set with hers, gradually increasing the intensity of my penetration as my need grew.

Daphne’s fingernails dug into my shoulders as she rode out another orgasm, her hair a curtain in front of her face until she arched her spine and threw it back, calling my name. I lost it then, bringing both of my hands to her ass to pull her into me as I pounded harder and harder until I let her collapse into my arms, leaving the evidence of my orgasm a froth across our thighs.

I’d never come so often in such a short amount of time. It felt like I was playing catch up for the years that Daff and I could have been getting off together but didn’t. What had we been thinking?

She was trembling against me; I smoothed my hands across her back, tracing her vertebrae from her neck to her tailbone and caressing her flanks. Her head was buried in my shoulder, so I couldn’t see her face, but I relished feeling her breath against my neck slow. I ventured a timid query.

“You okay?”

That smile again. I know it’s impossible, but I swear I could feel her dimples.

“Very okay.”

I squeezed her closer as she began to pepper my collarbone with soft kisses, and we sat quietly as I softened. She craned her neck to kiss my lips—just a swift peck—and slung her arms around my neck.

“Let’s try to save the couch, yeah? I’d like to spend our time doing other things besides cleaning.”

We laughed as we clambered off of the couch and our combined fluids ran down our legs; I was struck with how normal that was. Not the fluids—that was as far from normal as things could have been—but our reaction. We might as well have been laughing about a melted ice cream cone or some other innocent mess.

After we’d cleaned ourselves, Daphne disappeared to the kitchen and reappeared with a wet cloth. She scrubbed the one spot on the couch that had escaped us and bent down to sniff the cushion; I blushed and smiled self-consciously when she realized I was checking out her ass. All of this was uncharted territory, and I didn’t exactly know how to act.

Dismissing my embarrassment, Daff waved me over.

“Here, I think I got it all, but can you smell anything?”

Almost as soon I bent over, she slapped me savagely on the backside and cackled as she ran down the hall. I caught up with her easily just outside of her bedroom and threw onto the bed while we laughed. It dawned on me that I’d caught her, but I shouldn’t have. I was fast, but Daff was faster.

“That’s not the first time you’ve let me catch you tonight, is it?”

The smile she gave me was so sultry, yet so Daphne, that I was thrown. Maybe someday I’d be able to fully reconcile my friend and my lover being the same person, but that hadn’t happened just yet. She propped herself up on her elbow and patted the bed next to her. I slid in, scooping her into my arms, glad that it was warm enough to not need a blanket. I wanted to see all of her.

“Why?”

She doodled her finger across my chest and looked at me demurely.

“Do you remember the night after James’ party?”

I traced my finger around her belly button.

“When I got blasted and spent the night here?”

Not a terribly common occurrence, but not exactly unheard of, either. One of us would get too wasted to function, and the other would babysit until the sober fairy arrived. I don’t think I could count the number of times I’d woken up in Daphne’s bed or hers in mine. I smiled knowing it would never be the same, but was surprised to hear her sigh.

“Yeah…well…when I woke up, you were spooning me.”

Again, not totally unusual. I dipped the tip of my finger into the shallow divot in her belly, reveling in the gooseflesh that popped up across her skin.

“So?”

She sighed again.

“So…your hand was pawing my tit and your cock was grinding into my ass.”

I chuckled, embarrassed, then paused.

“But Daff, that was over two months ago. Why didn’t you say anything?”

She wouldn’t meet my eyes, instead focusing on my stilled hand on her flat stomach.

“Because when I was awake enough to realize what was going on, I realized that I liked it. A lot. I liked that it was you. I liked that you wanted me.”

I cupped her chin in my hand, angling her face towards mine, but she still wouldn’t look at me.

“I still don’t under…”

“You were hard. And you were moaning. And you were kissing and licking my neck. And after I got over my initial shock, I was really getting into it, pushing back into you, putting your hand under my shirt. And then you called me Kira.”

My stomach twisted in knots. I had no memory of any of it, but I still felt awful. Kira was the anti-Daff—short, blonde, and dumb as a bag of rocks. Still, a cheerleading uniform does something to the male brain. Like turning it off for periods of time. I’d actually hooked up with Kira around that time, but only once. She gave great head, but considering having her mouth stuffed full of my cock was the only way I enjoyed being around her, my interest didn’t last very long. I doubt there was another name I could have said that would have made Daphne feel any worse.

“Daff, I’m so…”

She shook her head and finally looked me in the eye.

“Don’t. I know you didn’t do it on purpose. I know you would never try to hurt me, especially not like that.”

Damn right I wouldn’t.

“Never.” I whispered.

She smiled softly at me, and I was happy to watch it spread into a grin.

“But what you did do was open Pandora’s Box, jackass.”

I was relieved she was teasing me again. As much as I’d enjoyed everything that had happened, I still didn’t want to lose my Daff. She brought a hand to my face and traced it along my jaw.

“I couldn’t stop looking at you. I saw you like a guy, like a man, instead of just Jeff. And Jeff, I couldn’t stop wanting you.”

She ran her finger over my bottom lip, and I shivered. My voice was low, and I’m sure she could feel me getting harder against her thigh.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Daff?”

The exasperated look she gave me was an immediate signal that I’d said something stupid. That was something I was all too familiar with from her.

“How? How could I possibly tell you how much I wanted you when I knew you didn’t think of me as anything but a sister? And don’t deny it, because I hadn’t ever thought of you as anything but a brother until all of the sudden I didn’t, and it was a lot to process. And…there was a lot to lose.”

She stroked my neck, sending chills down my spine.

“I needed you to see me. I needed you to want me the way I wanted you. And I needed it to be your idea, if for no other reason than I needed to know that you really wanted me. I couldn’t stand it if I thought that you were just going along with things to not hurt my feelings.”

“So you decided to put on a sexy little show?”

Her mischievous grin was so familiar, yet so new and exotic at the same time. I couldn’t help but kiss her.

“It worked, didn’t it? And if it didn’t, I figured you’d either warn me to close my blinds or pretend you hadn’t seen anything.”

My brows knit together.

“But I did pretend I hadn’t seen anything.”

She threw her head back in laughter, and I kissed the hollow of her throat.

“Yeah, but I was pretty sure I smelled come when you were ‘tying your shoes’, and your dick was all but hanging out of your jeans.”

She giggled at the flush that spread across my face and down my neck before she murmured in my ear.

“It made me so wet to know you touched yourself while you watched me.”

Chuckling, I curved my hand around the inside of her thigh, feeling her warmth against the side of my fingers.

“Twice.”

I felt a gush of nectar. I whispered in her ear, kissing it softly.

“Why did you wait so long?”

It was her turn to blush.

“I had to wait until I could find another place to live when we started school,”

The very idea jolted me physically and mentally. Being wit Daphne was unthinkable, especially now.

“If you didn’t want me the way I wanted you…I couldn’t live with that all day every day.”

She sighed, then gave me an evil grin.

“Thank god you’re a total perv.”

I rolled on top of her and tickled her mercilessly as she flailed and laughed until she was breathless. Still on top of her, I met her eyes and kissed her deeply before pulling away far enough to see her whole face. I felt like I finally understood those viral videos of colorblind people wearing glasses that allowed them to see the entire color spectrum. I had every contour, every freckle on her face memorized, yet it was so…new. So much more.

“I love you, Daff.”

She wrinkled her nose. We’d told each other that at least a million times over the years. Probably ten million. I ground my erection against her hip.

“And I wanna fuck you until you can’t walk without a cane.”

We certainly hadn’t said that before, but it was definitely what she wanted to hear. I met her smile with the sternest scowl I could muster in the circumstances.

“But you have to promise not to let me win.”

She had a really bad habit of dampening her natural talents to let the guy she was dating shine. I’d never liked it, and I absolutely couldn’t stand to be the cause of it—especially if this went on as long as I hoped it would. She screwed her mouth to one side while she considered my demand.

“Deal. But you have promise to tell me how you’re really feeling and not pretend that everything’s okay all of the time.”

That was my cardinal relationship sin; Daphne knew better than anyone, since I’d turn to her to share what I didn’t feel like I could with a girlfriend. I pretended to mull it over, as if there were any stipulations that would keep me from being with her this way.

“Deal. But you have to stay my best friend.”

No hesitation from her this time, just a bigger smile.

“Like you could get rid of me that easy, Jeff. Oh my god!”

Startled, I rolled off of her and sat up, convinced Daff’s parents had come home and I was about to die.

“WHAT?”

Daphne crawled over me and refocused my excitement from a potential heart attack to somewhere further south.

“I just realized it’s about that time.”

I mirrored her naughty grin.

“Another time? Pretty sure it is.”

I kissed her again, excited for the rest of the night, the week ahead, and the future we were going to have together in a way I never would have imagined if I hadn’t watched.