The White Stone [MsBloom & captain_bond]

MsBloom

MsBloom

Moonchild
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Location
Northern Europe
Julia, or as they sometimes liked to be called, Julian, Jules for short and simplicity, stepped out of their aunt's SUV, grabbed their bags and hauled them into the cottage on the edge of the small town of Greensboro, New Hampshire. They were sixteen and due to issues with their parents, their aunt had decided to take their away from Boston for the summer. It had been an almost four hour long drive with only a single stop for a bathroom break and to stock up on snacks. They felt sweaty and a bit tired but despite this they decided to take a walk in the surroundings while their aunt checked in and sorted out a few minor details with Mrs Woodrow, the owner of the bread and breakfast where they would be sharing a room with two beds and an en suite bathroom.
"I'll be back before dinner," they told their aunt and with their hands deep in their back pockets they strolled down a gravelled path that followed a small stream that seemed to cut through the town.

It was late afternoon and they had no intention of making it a long walk. They just needed to get out of their aunt's sight so they could have a smoke in private. The path followed the stream into a sparsely wooded area and the shade of the trees in combination with the slowly running water cooled down the air to a bearable temperature and soon they found a spot behind a large rock and some bushes where they could have some privacy and not been easily seen from the path. They wore black denim shorts, a green and black plaid shirt over a white tank top and ankle high black Converse. Before lighting a cigarette they first picked up some water and splashed it on their face and then ran their hands through their thick red hair. When they did this they found a perfectly white stone polished perfectly smooth. It was flat and about the size of the palm of their hand. they picked it up and weighed it in their hand before softly pressing it against their cheek. It was cool and wet against their skin. They sat down and fished out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the large shoulder bag they carried with their everywhere they went. It was where they kept whatever book they were reading at the time, currently Haruki Murakami's After Dark, a carton of biscuits, a sketch pad and some charcoals and pencils, and of course cigarettes and a lighter.

Leaning back against the rock with the cigarette between their lips they weighed the stone in their hand again and then caressed their face and neck with it. It was still cool and wet and as they sat there running the stone over their skin and smoking they ran the stone over their lips and the sensation was entirely different from the way it felt against their face and neck. they took one last deep drag on the cigarette and tossed the butt into the stream, closed their eyes and brought the stone close to their lips, puckered them and kissed the stone.
 
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Isaac had grown bored, as happened often in this small, bumfuck town. His job was just for the summer, before he went off gallivanting across the country with most of the money he'd gotten on his eighteenth birthday just last month. He wasn't exactly unhappy to be here, as his grandfather often regaled him with stories after they'd closed down the shop he helped the old man run every day. And the fact it was a sporting goods store--that sold hunting supplies, among other things--didn't hurt either. For his lunch break, he put in his earbuds, turned on some classic rock on his iPod, and went for a hike, almost missing the person who entered the trail from somewhere else. He thought he saw a girl, but upon closer inspection, he wasn't so sure about their gender anymore. Curious about them, he decided to follow.

His lanky frame wasn't athletic, and if he'd worn glasses or told anyone how much he loved Star Trek, he might have had a much rougher time of it in high school. But that was over now. As he tried to find the mystery person again, he saw a cigarette butt fly out from behind the large rock by the stream. Isaac quickly and quietly hurried up the path and around so he could see the other side of the rock, but kept his distance as he saw his quarry kiss a perfectly polished, unblemished white stone.

"Is that even sanitary?", he asked, mildly concerned. "I'd hate for you to get sick. The closest hospital is ten miles away. I'm Isaac. Like the dude from Dead Space. What's your name?"
 
Startled by the voice that came though inbetween the third and fourth track of Insect Ark's debut album Jules looked up at the guy standing over them. He was kind of cute in that geeky way.
"I ... ummm ..." they stuttered embarrassed at the question.
They then looked away for a moment, paused the music and took out the earbuds before standing up. They showed their hands and the stone into their pockets and looked shyly and awkwardly at Isaac. He wasn't very big, almost skinny in a way and the pinkish tone on his face suggested that he wasn't usually one to spend time outside. He was probably a lot more like they were, spending his time inside, either with his nose buried in a book and his head filled with whatever he was listening to in those earbuds, or maybe in front of a computer playing games, or a gaming console.
"I'm ... Jules," they said and scraped the dirt in front of them with the tip of their left shoe.
"And I ... ummm. I dunno. I just ..."
It was so embarrassing on so many levels to have been caught kissing a stone, a stupid but oh so smooth and beautiful, perfectly white stone that had felt almost like silk against their lips.
"I found it in the stream," they told him as if that would explain anything.
They blushed and shifted their weight to the other foot and now the tip of their right shoe was scraping the dirt in front of them. They attempted a smile but it came out as awkward and nervous as they felt and they ended up biting their bottom lip. They felt their heart beating faster. He was really cute and that always made them feel awkward. They took a few deep breaths to calm themselves and like they almost always did when her emotions ran high or felt weird and nervous they took out another cigarette and placed it between their thin lips but waited a few moments before lighting it.
"Nice to ... ummm ... meet you Isaac," they suddenly said as if a belated addition to introducing themselves.
 
"Nice to meet you too, Jules." Isaac seemed to think that they were pretty cute as well, and his stance and mannerisms were similar. "Mind if I see it? I've actually never seen a rock like that before." His lips curled upwards in a mischievous smile. "I could make it more interesting." Looking straight into their eyes, with a confidence he didn't know he possessed, he said, "I dare you to kiss it again. If you accept and do it, I'll let you borrow my copy of Diablo 3 for the afternoon." After all, he wasn't gonna leave her empty-handed, was he?
 
Jules held out the smooth polished white stone towards the boy in front of them.
"It is kind of unique isn't it. It must have been sitting there in the stream forever to get that smooth and its so white. Not a single stain on it anywhere."
They wanted to add that they had checked but didn't want to let him know that they had actually examined the stone that closely.
"What are you suggesting. That I let you have the stone for the afternoon and I can borrow your copy of Diablo 3. Ultimate evil edition I assume?"
They paused and closed their hand around the stone.
"Just one tiny problem with that. My Xbox and PS iv are back in Boston so the game isn't that much use to me without a console is it?"
 
"No it's not. Hey, is that a deer?" Isaac pointed in a direction behind Jules, even though he hadn't seen anything of the sort. The purpose was to distract them long enough so he could grab the stone out of their hand and back away before they could react.
 
Jules was just about to put the stone back in their jeans when the boy pointed off into the woods.
"A deer? Can't say I see anything," they said the hand with the stone in it suspended in mid air as if it had been paused.
They did notice a rustle between two trees and looked closer. Nah, there was nothing.
 
All Isaac needed was for the hand to be outstretched like that. Quick as a flash, he grabbed Jules' wrist, pressed his thumb against the pressure point that forced people to release a closed fist, grabbed the stone and jumped back, grinning mischievously at them once they inevitably turned around to express any frustration they might feel.
 
"Hey. What the ... Give it back," They said cursing themselves for being so gullible as to fall for such a simple trick.
They lunged at the boy trying to snatch the stone back.
"It's mine. I found it."
 
"Hold your horses, Jules. I'll give you a chance to get it back." Isaac's tall, lanky frame was on his side, as he held the stone up as high as he could reach, too high for Jules to get it unless they climbed him like a tree. Which he might not mind, but there would be plenty of time for that later. "If you want it back..." He thought for a moment, then pressed it against his cheek, holding it so that the side of it that faced outward was unobstructed by his fingers. "Kiss it again. I dare you."
 
Jules did try to jump up and grab the stone when he lifted it above his head but despite being tall for an afab they were still not nearly tall enough to reach it, even if they did jump.
Kiss it again ...
It was quite a challenge in itself considering he was now holding it against his cheek. They hesitated and a part of the wanted to just run away, back to the b&b. Had anyone asked why the stone was so important they wouldn't have had an answer for it. And yet they moved closer to him and leaned in close, lips puckered.
"There," they said as soon as their lips had touched the stone.
It had of course not been nearly as sensual as the kiss he had caught them in.
 
Isaac gave Jules a sidelong glance as they pulled away, and a whole host of questions flew through his head. demanding to be asked: What's the matter, afraid you'll catch cooties? Am I really so much uglier than that stone? Want me to have my father, the county judge, preside over your wedding with Mr. Stone? But he figured teasing Jules would only antagonize them, so he handed the stone over. "Here you are. I'm sorry, by the way. I was just trying to have a bit of fun." His shyness once again took the lead, as well as his well-honed fear of pissing people off without meaning to. Locks of brown hair fell over his face like a curtain as he seemed determined to make sure he memorized every stitch in his shoes.
 
Jules quickly slipped the stone into their jeans as soon as he gave it back. They accepted his apology with a shy mumble, grabbed their bag and rushed back towards the b&b.
 
Isaac let out a breath, and looked after Jules. Wow, she's--no, they're cute. Very cute. I hope they're staying a while. Might wanna ask Mrs. Woodrow, or perhaps Jack when we play Diablo this evening, how long they're staying. He pulled out his iPod, put his earbuds back in and headed back to the shop.
 
Jules got back in time to have a shower and a change of clothes before going downstairs for a simple dinner of homemade burgers and fries. Their aunt had paid for the full pension which included three meals. They found themselves sitting across the tablefrom Mrs Woodrow's slightly younger son Jack who was very quiet all through the meal and once he was finished he went to his room.

After dinner Jules snuck out the back of the house to have a cigarette and write in their diary, about the stone and about Isaac and the whole incident by the stream.
 
Isaac didn't notice Jules on the back porch as he went in the front way to say hello to Mrs. Woodrow on his way to the Woodrows' private quarters in the B&B, a PS4 in the backpack slung over his shoulder. They already had a second TV set up in another room for just this sort of thing, so as he hooked it up he chatted with Jack about various things, including asking the boy how long Jules was going to be staying.
 
"I dunno," Jack said and shrugged.
"Couple of months maybe, like 'til school starts. Why?"
Jack grabbed one of the controllers and logged on his level 70 Witchdoctor Eynaar Blutfeld.
"Y'wanna get with ... her ... I think ... dunno ... could be a boy too I guess."

Jules finished their cigarette and headed upstairs. There was only a door between the B&B and the Woodrows' private section as they passed it they could hear the tell tale noises of a videogame, possibly the one Isaac had offered to let them borrow for a day. Checking to see if the stone was still in their pocket they softly knocked on the door.
 
Just before Isaac was gonna answer, someone knocked on the door. "Speak of the devil?", the older boy asked. Jack shrugged and went to answer the door. "Oh, hey Jules, what's up? Isaac and I were just about to sit down and play Diablo. You can stay and switch out if you want," he said, looking to Isaac for confirmation, which he gave with a smile and a nod. "Sure, that's great!"
 
"Hey. Not much, just kinda wondered ... ummm ... if you have an extra controller ... and ... ummm ... if I could join if you do."
It was clear from the way they shifted from one foot to the other with their hands deep in the pockets of their jeans that they were nervous and feeling awkward but at the same time they kinda didn't want to be alone in the room with their aunt.
"Oh hi Isaac," they said as Jack opened the door all the way for them.
"Didn't know you were here too."
 
"Yep! Jack, where's that PS4 you keep around in case one of ours breaks?" Jack beamed. "Be right back! Meanwhile, you guys can grab the computer monitor and unhook it!" As the sound of the younger boy's footsteps retreated down the hall, Isaac smiled at Jules and let them in all the way before shutting the door behind them. "So, what kinda character do you play?", he asked as he busied himself with setting up the computer monitor.
 
"Back home on my I've got a level 70, 220 paragon points Necromancer," they said and sat down on the edge of the couch.
"But I can play basically whatever you guys need. Crusader, Barbarian, Hunter, Monk, Witch doctor, Wizard."
They took the controller when Jack returned and at down between them and Isaac.
"So we both have fully levelled characters. Maybe we should start over to make it fair."
Jules nodded and started setting up a Barbarian called Kruegh.
 
"I mean, you could always log onto your PSN, if you have Plus you could pull your save data from the cloud." Neither Isaac nor Jack would mind Jules doing so. "We'll just delete everything at the end of your visit," the younger boy said, surprised he didn't think of this earlier.
 
That was of course a much better plan and they nodded. First deleting the Barbarian they had made they then logged on and downloaded their Necromancer from the cloud.
"Now don't get scared boys. He's pretty badass. What difficulty are we playing?"
"Anyone want something to drink before we start," Jack asked with his phone in his hand ready to text his mum downstairs to bring them up snacks from the kitchen.
"I'll have a Pepsi," Jules said without looking up.
You want snacks and drinks for yourself nd your friend you come down and get it yourself. I'm your mum not your maid. was the response Jack got from his mum after having texted her the order.
 
Jack seemed to be resigned to his fate, but then he got an idea. He texted his mom. "But Jules is here, and aren't they our guest?" Sending the text, he waited to see what would happen, while Isaac said, "Well, badass is kinda what we need. The two of us just can't seem to kill this one boss. It's so annoying."
 
Jules perked up hearing Isaac admit that there was one boss in particular they just couldn't seem to kill. They'd been through the game quite a few times already and apart from their level 70 Necromancer they did also have a level 70 Barbarian and a level 70 Witch hunter.
"Oh yea? Which one?"
 
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