Bear Naked

Chapter Three

"Over here! Over here!"

Amanda looked up and saw Jay and Courtney both waving at her from across the lunch room. They had found a table by themselves in the far corner of the rapidly filling room. She took her tray and headed toward them.

"Are you sure you don't want some of our food?" Courtney asked as she sat. "There's plenty."

The two had taken to preparing increasingly elaborate meals to share at lunch. Today they had a piece of smoked fish, some cheese, crusty baguette bread, and a small pile of cut veggies.

"No thanks," Amanda said. "Believe it or not, I have been craving plain old processed food for half the summer." Courtney chuckled and Jay shrugged as if to say your loss.

"May we join you?" Connor's voice said.

Amanda had only a second to wonder who "we" were as the blond sat her tray down opposite of Amanda and slid gracefully into the chair. Connor sat on her left, flanked by the sandy-blond boy from the other day.

"Connor," Jay said by way of greeting, "this is my friend-"

"It must be Courtney today," the sandy-hair boy said pleasantly, "judging from your outfit."

"See?" Courtney said in exasperation. "It's not that hard." Her tendency to switch back and forth from the boy Corey and the girl Courtney was messing with a lot of the kids' heads. Gay was a hard sell in Dubuque and transgender was something you saw on TV or the Internet, but genderqueer was completely beyond reckoning.

"Brianna," Connor said gesturing at the girl on his right. "Brianna Sage. And Tanner Oleson."

Even her name was beautiful, Amanda thought. Brianna's hand reached out for Amanda's and she took it. "Pleased to meet you," Brianna said. She gave Amanda a stiff, formal smile. Then she took a speculative sniff. "What is that perfume? I don't think I've smelled anything like it."

"Ylang ylang," Amanda said as she pulled her hand back. "It's an essential oil."

"Why ylang ylang?" Brianna asked.

Amanda shrugged and muttered, "It's not patchouli." Tanner gave a snorted laugh.

"I like it," Jay said defensively.

Tanner all but stood in order to lean over and sniff at Amanda as well. "It's very floral," he said.

"It's a tropical flower actually," Courtney told him.

"Exactly," Jay said. "Now if I want to imagine I am in a tropical paradise instead of Iowa, I can just smell Amanda." He leaned over toward her and inhaled deeply. "Ah, paradise." Tanner and Connor both chuckled.

"I get the feeling you are one of a kind," Tanner said, pointing at Jay.

"Could we please not all smell Amanda?" Amanda groused.

"I am sorry," Brianna said primly. "I was just curious."

"Speaking of smells," Tanner said pointing at the smoked fish, "that smells divine. What is it?"

"Sturgeon, smoked according to an old Kalliokoski family recipe," Courtney said. She held out a bite on the end of her finger. Tanner leaned forward and bit it off her finger.

"Tanner!" Brianna scolded.

Tanner leaned back with a smug smile on his face and chewed the fish appreciatively. Amanda hadn't paid much attention to him before. He was a little shorter than Connor. He had broad shoulders and muscular arms that stretched the sleeves of his short-sleeved polo shirt to their limits.