The White Stone [MsBloom x DegenerateArt]

[MsBloom]

Julie, or as she sometimes liked to be called, Julian stepped out of her aunt's SUV, grabbed her bags and hauled them into the cottage on the edge of the small town of Greensboro, New Hampshire. She was sixteen and due to issues with her parents, her aunt had decided to take her away from Boston for the summer. It had been an almost four hours long drive with only a single stop for a bathroom break and to stock up on snacks. She felt sweaty and a bit tired but despite this she decided to take a walk in the surroundings while her 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," she told her aunt and with her hands deep in her back pockets she strolled down a gravelled path that followed a small stream that seemed to cut through the town.
It was late afternoon and she had no intention of making it a long walk. She just needed to get out of her aunt's sight so she 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 she found a spot behind a large rock and some bushes where she could have some privacy and not been easily seen from the path.

She was wearing black denim shorts, a green and black plaid shirt over a white tank top and ankle high black Converse. Before lighting a cigarette she first picked up some water and splashed it on her face and then ran her hands through her thick red hair. When she did this she found a perfectly white stone polished perfectly smooth. It was flat and about the size of the palm of her hand. She picked it up and weighed it in her hand before softly pressing it against her cheek. It was cool and wet against her skin. She sat down and fished out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the large shoulder bag she carried with her everywhere she went. It was where she kept her mp3 player, whatever book she was 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 her lips she weighed the stone in her hand again and then caressed her face and neck with it. It was still cool and wet and as she sat there running the stone over her skin and smoking she ran the stone over her lips and the sensation was entirely different from the way it felt against her face and neck. She took one last deep drag on the cigarette and tossed the butt into the stream, closed her eyes and brought the stone close to her lips, puckered them and kissed the stone.

 

[DegenerateArt]

After delivering her final package of the morning, Cora pedaled down the hill back to her grandfather’s store at full speed, unencumbered and feeling as free as a bird. A low trail of dry dust hovered for a moment in her wake before lazily filtering back down to the sun-baked strip of dirt over which she rode. The empty steel basket rattled and jumped with each bump and her forearms strained to navigate the squeaky contraption clear of the white rocks and tree roots that jutted at odd angles, half submerged in the dirt and as perilous as icebergs at sea to a girl on her bike.

Gliding to a lone tree at the foot of the hill she brought the bike to a stop, panting from exertion and dripping with sweat. The dappled shade cast by the still green leaves offered a sweet relief from midday sun and she sat, breathing heavily, with her back against the trunk looking out to the small stream that ran opposite this section of the path.

Scrolling through her phone as she gulped down water Cora turned the camera on herself, her fingers working to wipe away the rivulets of perspiration that streamed down her forehead and pooled unflatteringly at the apex of her upturned nose. She matted back the few wisps of chestnut hair, recently blonde tipped and sun reddened, that had come free of her ponytail, and smoothed her thick dark brows. Satisfied, she stood and walked towards the stream, its water sparkling like a diamond within its muddy banks.

She stopped suddenly, startled by a movement behind the low brush that lined the creek, before collecting herself and inching forward cautiously. The dead air was still and quiet, its emptiness punctuated only by sounds of passing birds and the low hum of insects. As quietly as she could she stepped closer, relieved to make out the form and see it was just a boy sitting alone. ‘Why here?’ she wondered to herself before picking up the gentle scent of cigarette smoke that immediately answered her question. ‘Bad boy,’ she said under her breath.

Cora continued forward until he came fully in to view then raised her phone and began filming. She watched with curiosity and then with disbelief as this long haired boy brought his lips to a stone and began kissing it. She turned the camera on herself and mouthed an exaggerated, “Oh my gawwd,” before training it back on her subject, thrilled she was witnessing this and eager to send it to Ali and Jen. “Like, what a fucking weirdo,” she whispered into the camera which marked the conclusion of her field report.

She stood for a moment, unsure whether she should continue on home or wait and watch to see what he may do next. Impulsively, she tucked the phone into her shorts and ran towards the stranger, violently yanking the stone from his hand. Standing over him, winded from the sprint, she saw his legs for the first time and realized that he was a she.

“Hey Romeo, or whatever you are,” Cora taunted, “Is this where you bring all of your rocks to make-out or are you going steady with this one?”

 

[MsBloom]

Startled by the sudden movement and and having the stone yanked from her hand Julie opened her eyes and looked up at the girl standing in front of her holding up the white stone as if it was some kind of trophy.
"I ... uhh ..." she stuttered embarrassed at the question.
She then looked away for a moment before standing up and looking back at the girl. She was really pretty with her long sun-bleached hair and feminine body making Julie feel like a cygnet among ducklings, like in that age old fairytale about the ugly duckling that her aunt had used to read to her back when she was younger.
"Nah. We're not exclusive or anything," she said trying to follow the girl's teasing joke with some amount of confidence and self assertion.
"But I would like it back though."

Julie took a step towards the girl and bit her lip trying hard not to look too obviously at her body, her defined hips, her long legs and most importantly try hard not to stare at her breasts. The girl had really pretty eyes too but Julie definitely avoided looking at them because of the curious and teasing look in them.
"Please," she added and held out her hand.
She even attempted a smile but it came out as awkward and nervous as she felt. She knew this kind of girls only too well from school, the kind who thought they were queens of the halls and usually roamed in packs of three, the kind of girls who took pleasure in making fun of girls like herself for not being ... girly enough, or for basically anything else they could think of.

Julie took a few deep breaths to calm herself down a bit more and like she almost always did when her emotions ran high and she felt weird and nervous she took out another cigarette and placed it between her thin lips but waited a few moments before lighting it.
"Please," she repeated when the girl didn't seem to make any effort at all to return the smooth stone and took a deep drag on the cigarette letting the smoke out in one hard rapid exhale.
"I would like my stone back."

 

[DegenerateArt]

Cora held the stone aloft, reflexively stroking its smooth surface with the pad of her thumb while remaining focused on the girl. Each time the stranger made a tentative advance towards her Cora stepped away, preserving the space between them in a careful dance as though she were a magnet being repelled by a like charge.

The threatening and sarcastic expression on her face didn’t waiver as she smiled inwardly at the girl’s reply. “Yeah,” she played along, “I can see why you’d be so into this one. It’s pretty hot. It’s good that you’re not exclusive or anything ‘cuz then I might just have to steal your boyfriend. I think he probably likes me more anyway.”

There was a peculiarity to the encounter that Cora could neither pinpoint nor express to herself but which she felt intuitively. Although clearly having the upper hand as the girl pleaded for the stone, the intensity and scrutiny of the stranger’s gaze was unsettling in a way that left her feeling nakedly self-conscious, a look that turned the tables and made her feel as though she were the one being tested and assessed.

The longer she stood in front of her the more she felt she needed to elevate her performance in order to hold her victim’s interest, fearing that the worldly eccentric may simply shrug her shoulders and give up on the stone, walking away to resume her interesting life in a way that would undermine Cora entirely and underscore her insignificance.

“Tell you what. I’ll give you back your boyfriend if you can make it to the other side of the river and back. I dare you to. Do it and the rock is yours.” She knew that one could stay dry by balancing their way across atop the fallen tree trunks or they could simply wade knee deep through the muddy riverbed. She waited, silently hoping that her challenge would be accepted and wondering how this curious creature would choose to cross.

 

[MsBloom]

Julian looked around as the girl in front of her issued a challenge in exchange for the stone's return. The river, as the girl called the stream, wasn't very wide, and from the looks of it not very deep either, at least not at this point. It might be possible to simply wade across it but Julian had no interest in getting wet and muddy. A fallen tree stretched almost half the way across the stream some ten, maybe fifteen feet upstream ad from where it stopped it was a large step across to a large, relatively flat rock sticking out of the water. From there Julian figured she might be able to jump safely to the other side. It didn't seem to be that difficult a challenge but at the same time she was reluctant to jump through hoops for some neighbourhood bully.

She took another drag on the cigarette and considered her options while looking at the girl stroking the stone with her thumb, almost as if caressing it. She could of course simply shrug and walk away. It was after all just a stone but Julian knew she wouldn't do that. She couldn't have said why but she really wanted the stone back, needed to have it back, if for no other reason than to not let this beautiful but teasing creature in front of her win. Another few drags of the cigarette without a word spoken between them, just looks exchanged, she nodded and tossed the butt of the cigarette into the water.

She walked over to the fallen tree and stepped onto it. It hadn't been in the water long but it wasn't very wide and i was wet on the surface from where the water washed over it every once in a while. Julian wasn't the best at sports but walking across a fallen tree couldn't be that hard, could it? She held her arms out from her sides a bit, for balance, and took a few steps. The trunk gave way and sank a bit into the water under the added weight but it stayed mostly still and even though it wasn't wide enough for her to walk normally across it there was enough room for her feet to not make it like a tight rope walk. She still had to put her feet more or less directly in front of the other as she balanced across the tree trunk but she was making quick progress of it.

Then came the first real challenge, the long step from the trunk to the rock. It was more than twice her normal stride, at least and she did hesitate, looking back at the girl still standing on the other shore stroking the white stone with her thumb with a daring smile and somewhat excited smile on her face, as if she couldn't decide whether or not she wanted Julian to make it all the way across the stream. Julian tried to smile confidently at her but t probably came out all nervous and awkward, as usual.
"Halfway there," she said and then taking two deep breaths swung her left leg out and shifted her weight from her right to her left foot as soon as the left foot touched the rock and quickly let the right foot follow. Before she was in control of her balance there was a short moment when she thought she'd fall but she didn't. It wasn't until now she saw the smaller tree trunk on the other side of the rock that would take her to the other shore. Carefully Julian stepped onto it and a few quick steps later she had solid ground under her feet again and she was still dry.
"There," she said and turned to face the girl on the other side, whom she half expected to have disappeared with the stone.
"I made it across. Now can I please have my stone back?"

 

[DegenerateArt]

Excited that the girl had accepted the dare, and surprised by a determination and athleticism she hadn’t expected, Cora looked across the stream at the figure standing on the opposite bank with a grudging admiration she silently acknowledged. In fact, it was a feeling much stronger than that, a feeling of affinity mixed with a tingling sensation of attraction that Cora was reluctant to admit, as if her body were summoning her to make this girl her friend while her head forbade it.

“The dare was that you cross and come back,” she called out in response to this latest of the girl’s many appeals for the stone, “But whatever, you can have it. It’s not like I need a fake boyfriend or anything.” And with that Cora slung her arm back and, with a poisonous impulse, took aim of the girl’s face and launched the rock as hard as she could, an action she immediately regretted as soon as she felt the smooth white mass sail free of her fingertips.

Her body coiled with fear and concern, she could barely watch as the stone flew through the air and whistled past the stranger’s head, mercifully landing with a harmless thud in brush behind her. Unable to look at the girl Cora nervously curled her fingers under the hem of her shorts, mashing her knuckles into the flesh of her thighs and inflicting a pain she hoped would subdue the surge of remorse and tears that she felt welling up inside her.

“What’s your name, anyway?” she blurted out in an attempt to further distract herself, “And where are you staying so I know how to avoid you?” She wanted to look at her, to ask her about the artwork, and book, and the contents of her bag. She wanted to tell her that she was sorry. Instead she waited silently for the girl’s reply then turned her back and walked towards her bike, scrunching her eyes tight and wiping away any nascent tears.

 

[MsBloom]

Julia looked across the stream at the girl standing there, seemingly at least partially, impressed by her feat. Their eyes met and Julia did feel rather peculiar as they did. There was excitement and arousal but there was more. A sense of kinship, a feeling that there was more to the girl across the stream than met the eye, much more. She was using her bossy attitude almost as a shield, a mask, to hide behind. Then as she was reminded that the dare had been to return as well she began looking around. Going back the same way would be far more difficult and there was no other obvious way to make it back without getting wet so just before the other girl said she could have the stone back even if she had not actually completed the dare Julia had decided that there was only one thing for it, to wade across. The water didn't look like it was more than maybe knee deep at the very most and just as the stone began to fly across the stream she looked up from the water only to see it heading straight for her. At first she thought about trying to catch it but in the end she ducked to the side and felt the stone fly by no more than a few inches from her ear.
"Hey' what the fuck?" she cried out and then turned to see if she could find the stone. Luckily there was a lot less vegetation on her side of the river than on the other and the stone was easy to spot.

When she had picked it up she looked back across the stream and saw the other girl looking a bit worried and clenching her fists against her thighs as if fighting to not show her emotions.
"Julian," she replied without thinking when the other girl asked what her name was.
She then slipped the stone into her shorts and squatted down to remove her sneakers and wade back across the stream to collect her bag.
"And I'm staying at the b&b with my aunt," she added and bit her lip.
There had been a slight hesitation in the other girl's voice when she gave the reason for wanting to know where Julia lived. It was almost as if she once again tried to hide behind her attitude and this intrigued Julia.
"And what's yours then?" she asked in return but by then the girl had already turned and started to walk away.

Julia then made it back across the stream, picked up her bag and walked back to the b&b barefoot. All the way back she was clutching the stone in her pocket and wondered why the stone had suddenly been so important to her but more so why the random meeting had affected her so. She felt her face blush and she was quite obviously aroused by the incident, to the point that the first thing she did when she got back to Mrs Woodrow's b&b was to go into the bathroom, throw off all her clothes and turning on the shower she sat down on the toilet. She closed her eyes and pee'd while the water got warm. Then she stepped into the shower and as the water washed away the dust and sweat of the long journey she masturbated, just a quick rub out while thinking about the girl whose name she still didn't even know.

 

[DegenerateArt]

In the two days that had passed since she turned her back on Julian and parted ways, Cora had deliberately avoided both the bed and breakfast where the girl was staying and the spot by the stream where they’d met. Gliding her bike through carefully crafted detours, her path looped and cut in and around the small town in any direction that took her away from the two locus points that burned like beacons at the forefront of her mind. It required all of her will to keep away and, secretly, as she peddled, her eyes scanned every sidewalk and path hoping to come across Julian in what would appear to the visiting girl as a purely chance encounter and would in no way betray Cora’s longing to see her again.

Without knowing why exactly, she hadn’t stopped thinking about the girl since she’d released the stone from her hands and watched in terror as it sailed away. In that moment, and in the hours since, shame, attraction, curiosity, self-questioning and a host of unknown and unnamed emotions had clumped together in a gnarled and tangled ball that quivered deep in her stomach and formed a lump in her throat, keeping her awake at night and distracted throughout much of the day.

Regretting having sent the video of Julian kissing the stone to her friends, she typed her replies halfheartedly, mocking the girl while feeling bad for doing so and disinterested in the cruelty of the exercise and her friend's texts in general. Texts from her boyfriend, usually a bright moment in her day, had become bothersome and felt flat when compared to the fresh and constant nervous energy that now coursed though her.

Her only respite came when she was on her bike delivering packages for the store, speeding through greenery shady and cool, or past clapboard houses, hair aloft in the summer air. It was then that she was totally free be alone in her thoughts, ruminating on the girl and aching to spot her. And it was then, on one of these errands late in the afternoon, when she finally did. “Hey! Romeo!” she called out at she pulled the squealing bike to a stop in front of Julian. “What’s up?” she asked as her heart pounded like a drum inside her chest.

 

[MsBloom]

Over the next two days Julian made a routine of going for a walk along the stream to the place where she had met the girl, whose name she still didn't know, with the stone almost burning a hole in her pocket. She then sat there for the length of four cigarettes, trying to read but all she could think of was the girl and she often wondered what might have happened had she actually completed the dare and returned across the stream rather than declaring it completed when she had crossed to the other side. This was another daily routine of hers during those two days, to actually complete the challenge. Both these things happened three times each day, morning, afternoon and evening, and by the second evening she actually managed to make it across and back with her feet still relatively dry.

Another thing that also happened three times a day, usually after she had completed the dare was that she hid behind the large rock where she had been sitting when the girl first saw her and with her hand just pushed inside her shorts and underwear masturbated with her left hand while caressing the smooth white stone with her right hand or ran it along her face and lips. Once she even opened her plaid shirt and ran i over her breasts and nipples and every time she had made herself cum she kissed the stone with her eyes closed hoping that history would repeat itself and the girl would appear out of nowhere and snatch it from her hand.

The rest of her days she spent in the shade of a large chestnut tree in the back yard or the B&B reading, or trying to. Her mind kept wandering to the girl and she had a hard time focusing on her book. In the evenings she sat with her sketch book drawing the girl's face and also trying to imagine her body without clothes before finishing her day with a shower and masturbating a fourth time.

It wasn't until she was making her way back from the eighth walk down to the stream with the afternoon sun beating down like an oppressive force from a clear blue sky that she heard the sound of a bicycle breaking to a halt behind her and that voice she had had in her head for two days calling out. She turned around and instinctively her hand went onto her pocket to grab the stone.
"I dunno," Julia said and shrugged as casually as she could but inside her heart was beating in double time at the sight of the girl.
She bit her lip and tried hard not to look directly at the girl, much the same way you don't look directly at the sun.
"I never caught your name," she said and dragged the tip of her left shoe against the sidewalk.
She tried to make the comment sound as if it wasn't really all that important but more a matter of etiquette since she had told the girl her name.

 

[DegenerateArt]

“Cora,” she offered matter of factly, before adding, “Campbell,” and gesturing to the placard tied to the front of her basket as if to make Julian aware of her association to the store and in turn her prominence within the town. “I’m going your way, so I’ll walk with you,” she announced without giving the red haired girl much choice in the matter.

The two walked side by side in silence, the bicycle taking up enough of the sidewalk that their bare arms almost touched as they made their way. The slow ticking of the turning axel gently sounded as they moved, melding with the calls of birds and cicadas, and the soft stirring of leaves in the trees. Soon the heat would subside and the mosquitos would be out and biting, followed by the fireflies performing their evening show. As they walked, the pit in Cora’s stomach intensified and spread until she radiated with an anxiety that turned her mouth dry and left her struggling to find words, any words, to say. Side by side, they continued on without speaking.

“You still have that stupid stone?” she finally blurted out. “You know, I shouldn’t have given it to you. You didn’t even do the full dare. I was just being nice.” Looking over at Julian for the first time, she watched as the smaller girl retrieved the rock from her pocket, taking stock of her physically as she did so, much more carefully than when they had met, seeing her as if for the first time. “Really, it should still belong to me,” she said as she pushed Julian playfully but forcefully off of the sidewalk. “So, I guess you should return it. Or I’ll always think of you as a thief.” As Julian recovered her balance and retook her position on the path, Cora brazenly hooked her arm around the girl’s shoulders in an embrace that was both jocular and sisterly, something between a headlock and a hug. They continued on awkwardly, the skin of Julian's bare shoulder warm and soft against the palm of Cora’s hand, the sensation of which consumed her thoughts and left her at a loss over what to do or say next.

As they approached the bed and breakfast, Cora came to a stop and straddled her bike. “I gotta get going,” she said, but stood for a moment, planted, wanting more time with the girl. “Are you gonna give me back the stone that you owe me or not?”

 

[MsBloom]

Julian felt awkward and almost walled in as she walked along the sidewalk back towards the B&B with Cora, as she now knew her name to be, between herself and the street. There was just barely enough room for their arms not to constantly brush against each other even if they occasionally did and each time she felt Cora's soft but sweaty skin against her own it sent an electric shock through her body and made her blush as she thought about how almost obsessively she had masturbated thinking of this girl over the last few days since they first met.

When asked if she still had the stone she nodded and as if to confirm it she took it out of her pocket. Then as Cora started making claims on it rightfully being her stone since Julia hadn't actually completed the dare she sort of had to agree even if she wasn't sure Cora had been trying to be nice the way she had hurled the stone at her, or one could argue that Cora had in fact stolen it from Julia and had no rightful claim to it. She blushed even more as Cora wrapped her arm around her shoulders rather roughly and half expected the bossy girl to put her in a head lock and make her give up the stone with force but then nothing further happened, other than Julia's heart beating harder and harder the closer they came to the B&B where Cora announced she had to continue on with her errands.

"Well," Julian said and caressed the stone in her left hand.
She looked at the placard on the bike.
"You work at the general store right?" she asked rhetorically.
"I'm running low on cigarettes. If you can get me a carton, Lucky Strike if you can get it, I'll let you have the stone. We can meet up where we first met after dinner, say around eight?"
It felt wrong to offer up the stone for something as simple as a carton of cigarettes and she almost changed her mind but then she added that Cora could not buy the cigarettes or add them to any of her remaining deliveries.

 

[DegenerateArt]

Not wanting to show even the slightest hint of uncertainty, Cora accepted the challenge without hesitation in a moment of bravado. It was only after starting back towards the store, pedaling quickly in her eagerness to return to Julian, that she was struck with the realization that she had never stolen anything in her life and, unthinkingly, had just agreed to steal from the man who raised her, the man she loved and cherished above all else.

She had painted herself in to a corner and, with the full understanding of the predicament she found herself in, her body became inert, sapped of the glee and vigor she had set off with. Coasting on her bike as if stalling for time, she quietly came to a stop beneath the pink and orange evening sky, almost at the very midpoint between the bed and breakfast and the general store. She stood for moment, lost in concentration, unsure whether to continue forward or return defeated, her mind churning as it worked to find a solution. Fishing her phone from her pocket she typed the words, “I need you,” and waited for what felt like an eternity, a symphony of crickets singing in the grass the only sound as she stared at the glowing screen as if willing a response.

“I need you too! Going crazy not seeing you for this long!” She breathed an excited sigh of relief upon seeing her boyfriend's response.

“No, like I really need you now. It’s sort of like an emergency.”

“You ok?? What’s going on?”

“Yeah I’m fine. I lost a carton of cigarettes on a delivery and I don’t want to upset my grandpa. Can you pleeeeaaassee help me?? Can you get me a carton at the drugstore? I can meet you in the parking area behind.”

“Great. I though that you actually missed me too.”

“I doo!! I’m going crazy too. It’s just that we’ve been so busy with the summer season. It was like this last year. You remember. If you come now I promise to make it up to you ”

“You need this done now??”

“Yeah. Like right away. Before I go back to the store to do my cash-out.”

“Ugh. You're too much. ok. I’ll try to meet you there in 10 or 15 min.”

“You’re the best!! I love you so much! Oh, they need to be Lucky Strike.”

Giddy with excitement she raced to the drugstore and wheeled around the block to the laneway behind. Reviewing the conditions of the dare as she waited, proud of herself for having met the challenge and impressed with her ingenuity in doing so, Cora decided that as she wasn’t buying the cigarettes, and they weren’t procured through an order at the family store, then she’d performed the task exactly as Julian had stipulated. Satisfied, she tapped, “You close?” on her phone and looked on anxiously towards the headlights of every car that neared the back laneway, eventually setting her bike down on the ground to pace back and forth as she scanned the small lot.

'Like, what is he doing?' Cora asked herself rhetorically as she stood impatiently in the low light of the back alley, staring down at her phone hoping for an update. "Hey," she began typing, shoulders hunched and hands tightly gripping the phone, "You think you'll be here soon? I really need to get this delivery out and get back-" "UHHHH!" she cried out, her body frozen in fear as she felt a hand from behind her clamp around her inner thigh. Before she could utter a word the carton of cigarettes was thrust aloft in front of her.

"Your wish is my command," Greg said in a mockingly villainous voice before erupting in to laughter.

"What the fuck?? You scared the shit out me!! Jesus, Greg! Why didn't you just drive here?"

"I did," the boy responded laughing, "I just parked on the street. When I came back here and saw you staring at your phone, like so oblivious to the world, I couldn't resist."

"Whatever. Fuck," Cora said dismissively, her heart still pounding. "Thanks for getting these." She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss and made to pick up her bike.

"Wait, what?? That's it? C'mon, babe, I thought we were gonna hangout for at least a little while."

"I can't. I want to, I really do. But I need to deliver these. They're already late. And then my grandpa will be wondering where I am and I'll be late doing the money. I'm sorry baby." She leaned in to kiss him again and the boy grabbed her tightly, pressing himself to her, his arousal unmistakable against the softness of her belly. "Haha, well someone is happy to see me I guess," she whispered. It was reassuring to Cora to be wanted like this, a feeling she thrived on, and Greg always delivered. His body felt good. But neither the pleasure of the moment nor the guilt she was feeling for treating him this way were enough to counter the pull that was Julian. "I promise. I owe you for these and I'll make it up to you soon. Big time" She smiled a mischievous smile and kissed him again then quickly gathered her bike. She rode of quickly, not to the bogus delivery, but home to the general store in order to do her cash-out, get changed, and make it back to the stream for eight.

 

[MsBloom]

Quite pleased with the last second additions to the dare which would likely force Cora to steal the cigarettes Julia made her way back to the bed and breakfast where she had dinner with her aunt in the kitchen, nothing fancy, just a simple meal of reheated spaghettios with meatballs spiced with a bit of grated cheese and a slice of toast. After dinner she helped her aunt clean up and then went up stairs to shower. She took care washing herself, using her aunt's lavender scented soap. She even washed her hair and before stepping out of the shower she masturbated thinking of Cora and how eager she had seemed to carry out the dare. She could already imagine her showing up at the agreed upon place waving the carton already at a distance. They would exchange it for the stone and hopefully Cora would then give her a new task to complete for the return of the stone.

After the shower she put on a fresh pair of black boxer briefs, dark grey jeans and a button down pale blue shirt. She combed her hair back across her head with some styling wax, all of which made her look even less like a girl than usual.
"Going on a date?" her aunt suddenly asked as she came up after having made the short trip to the general store to pick up a few things before it closed.
Julia jerked as she turned around and flashed her aunt a nervously embarrassed smile. It was a more than valid question due to how she had styled her hair and put on clothes that suggested she wasn't going to hang about at the bed and breakfast, reading with her head filled with music, or sit around and draw, her odd little charcoal drawings of physically twisted people and faces. She was quite good but her aunt found the subject matter of her art a bit disturbing, and that was without having seen the nude self-portraits Julia had done with added male parts, sometimes even a moustache. Those drawings she kept in a secret sketch book that she had shown no one except her arts and craft teacher at school.

"I ... Uh ..." Julia started and blushed.
She bit her bottom lip and looked at her feet not really sure what to say. It wasn't a date, was it? Was It? No. No it wasn't she convinced herself. It was just a simple delivery of a carton of cigarettes for a white stone of no actual value, even if it seemed they were both somehow attached enough to it to propose trades for it. Maybe it was just a silly game but it felt like a bit more than that. Why then was her heart beating double time, if that was all it was. Why then was her mouth dry and her belly full of fluttering butterflies?
"I ... Uh ... just thought I'd go out for a while and ..."
She shrugged and tried to sound as casual as she possibly could.
"... Y'know, maybe do some drawings of something that looks less like horror cartoons."
That was how her aunt usually described her drawings and even if her aunt didn't look quite convinced she nodded and told her to be back before it got too dark.
"And if I'm sleeping don't wake me," she added.

Julian gave her aunt a thumbs up and a smile before she walked downstairs and out of the house at a relatively casual pace but as soon as she was out of sight from the bed and breakfast she picked up the pace. The closer she got to the large rock where she had met Cora the harder her heart was beating and the drier her mouth got. Her hands felt itchy and sweaty. She got there maybe ten minutes to eight and figuring it would be safe to drink from the stream she filled her hands and wet her mouth before sitting down with her back against the rock and lit the second to last of her cigarettes. What if she didn't come. What if she had changed her mind about wanting the stone back. Julian took it out of her pocket and looked at it.