The summer that Harper was fourteen, she came to stay for her first six weeks of summer with me. This would be followed every year after, until she was eighteen and leaving for college. It started with an invitation for her to come to camp with me, where I taught basketball for the summer, and she, as a newbie to the court, loved the challenge and accepted it appreciatively. Harper came to that same camp with me the next two years until she was seventeen, that was when she assisted me to teach instead. Teaching becoming her professional interest, and what she would go to college to become. She was my little personal assistant of sorts, and that was the year I noticed, and perhaps realised, that Harper didn't just come for summers with me. She had quite the crush that I hadn't noticed. I mean I noticed how they were together, they had a wonderful bond and were playful, but never more. I'm not sure if the object of her crush ever saw it, the way she looked at her, but I clocked it that summer she was seventeen. I never did tell anyone, that was Harpers business, and nothing had happened, it was a crush, but it was obviously the moment I learnt she was bi, another thing for her to announce herself. Harper did tell me, that year, and I swore to keep it to myself. I was beyond touched that she felt she could confide in me about big things in her life. Harper never did tell me about the crush though, and I knew the reason why, she was older, and she was not someone I would have happily had her crushing on. It was not because I disliked them, but because I loved them both, and it wouldn't have ended well, not then. Not that it would ever have happened, that relationship, like I say Harper was only seventeen that summer, but I was glad it didn't happen after that either. Harper was so innocent and naive to dating and adult relationships. I didn't want her caught up in casual relationships she longed to go further, because with her crush, I didn't see her settling down, not in the immediate future. No, Harper was destined for college and adult life, without the dramas of young love. I was relieved. The only positive of her being brought up in the church, was that Ben and Allie both kept her to the same dating rules we all had, the appropriate ones for teens, no dating, just friendship groups and getting to know the opposite sex on a friendship level. I bet Ben let her have girlfriends over though, not knowing she was bi, isn't that how we all sneaked a girlfriend past the parents?!
The queer right of passage.
***
"I think we took a wrong turn at some point Wills...this hike suddenly feels ankle deep in horror movie territory. Are those trees moving?" Teddy whispers, looking around a little worriedly above us.
Harper grabs her arm and they fall sideways a little off the path, falling onto their full backpacks. I stand over them and roll my eyes as they laugh, deep, guttural belly laughs that are almost contagious. I find myself joining in and reach out a hand to both of them.
"I don't know why I do this to myself... hours of hiking with you two nervous nellys"
The national park we were walking in was pretty huge, the part we had entered was darker than the rest of the route. The tree canopy was thick, and it did feel a little creepy, but I couldn't let a fourteen and seventeen year old know that.
"Come on, it's an hour this way" I say, pointing to the path to the left.
Teddy stands, hand on hip, at the bit of path that parts into three separate routes. "I don't know Wills...this kind of feels like the part in the movie where our fate is sealed by the way we go from here. Have you seen wrong turn?I'm literally stood at the crossroads"
She looks dramatically down each path, as I turn back and keep moving.
"Harper ignore her and keep moving. If we don't give her the attention her dramatics so desire... her batteries wind down" I tease.
Harper races to catch up with me, wrapping her arm in mine. I gaze at her sideways, with a wicked grin.
Teddy can be heard racing towards us "wait wait" she calls out panicked "do not separate me from the group...for gods sake" she calls.
Harper and I smile at each other, it had become quite fun with these two this summer, lots of adventures and laughs, it was therapeutic. I just missed Allie, if she were here this would be absolute heaven sent. It was funny though how Harpers red hair caught me off guard, more times than I would care to admit... from the corner of my eye. I had a sharp intake of breath every damn time, before realising the red hair was not Allie, all 50,000 times it happened over a six week period.
***
After that first summer, I would return home to Allie at my door. Her red hair was the first thing I spotted as I drove up my road, sat on my porch, her face lit up to see me as I rushed from the car and scooped her up into my arms. This was the moment she confessed she was "free" of her marriage, her life stuck in the church and the home. Allie and I were finally unshackled, our paths had synchronised, finally taking each others hands and walking onward on this path together.
"I'm yours Willa... we can be together.." she had confessed, a little breathlessly, and it was the moment we collided...
The weekend before we picked Harper up at the end of camp was spent in acts of discovery, love making and many, many, more delights that I never would have imagined.
"Willa..." Allie says softly, pressing her lips to my shoulder as I poured a glass of water in the kitchen.
It was the middle of the night and I had come down thirsty. Her hands snaked around my waist, her breasts pressed into my back. I was only wearing a t shirt, but she is completely naked, I note, as I turn. "Allie" I say teasingly, placing down the glass and lifting her hands from my waist to my breasts. She allows me to place them there, watching as I do, before she gazes back up to me.
I run my hands down her curves to her hips and pull her against me, my lips dipping and bringing hers into mine. The warm flood of love that follows each rhythmic meeting of our lips is overwhelming, even after days of showing her how I loved her. It never felt like I would get enough of her scent, her touch, her flesh on my flesh, every inch that met mine sending butterflies and shudders across my skin. Her palms cup my breasts on the outside of my t shirt, my nipples hardening and pressing against her palm. The sensation seemingly too much for her to take, as her hands hurriedly wonder under the hem of my t shirt to touch my skin, lifting the t shirt so that my breasts and my stomach are now exposed and pressing into hers.
"Mmm" I moan into her mouth, her kisses become hungrier for it, she releases my nipples from her pinched grip and breaks the kiss, before reaching down and lifting the t shirt over my head. I lift my arms as it comes away and drops to my feet, our bodies press together once more.
My entire body falls into hers, it's as if when we are intimate that we become one entity. I push her back against the breakfast bar, her hands reaching back to stop herself from hitting it as our embrace intensifies. I reach out and lift her, her legs wrapping around my waist, my hands at her back, slipping down and squeezing her hips. I squeeze the round curves of her rear which turns me on further, to feel the curves of her. She moans against my lips as my fingers curl around her, bringing her against me. Her thighs wrapped around my small waist, her warm centre against my belly, she reaches around, as her lips suck mine seductively back into hers and takes my right hand bringing it back and pushing it between her thighs. I pull away from her lips, leaving her breathless, and run my tongue across her neck as my fingers discover the wetness between her legs. Every stroke sends her a little wilder, her hips bucking a little, pushing me further inside of her until I committed to the act, sending two digits inside of her with intent to cause a wave of desire which it of course did. Her cheeks pinked and the blood rushed to her lips, her mouth opening, the arousal on her face making me feel as if I could have an orgasm just from watching her. My fingers filled her, thrusting inside of her, and in turn her hips thrust against my abdomen, her head rocked back a little, her erect breasts flung forward, her red hair trickling down her torso and I felt like I left my body, as I took hers. I pushed inside of her, curling my fingers up into her g spot, sourcing her pleasure, enticing it out, leading it and letting it overcome her. I push her back a little over the counter, she lays back and allows me to bathe her torso in kisses, my mouth sucking her nipples hungrily, flicking and licking them as her orgasm took hold. She sat up and laced her hands around my neck and through my hair as her thighs contracted and squeezed my waist. The rush of pleasure met its natural end, her cries releasing it as I kissed her bare shoulder.
"I love you Allie" I say breathlessly against her shoulder.
She releases my neck and cups my cheeks, kissing me softly, her lips are plumped and warm from arousal "Oh...Willa..." she lets out a little cry of pleasure as my fingers leave her, the sounds like heaven to my ears "I have never" she begins kissing my neck "loved" she adds as her kisses pepper my chin, my cheeks, and then my lips "anyone... like I love you" she confesses.
Physical acts of love and intimacy were new to us, only ever having her hand to hold before now, and quick kisses, kisses that were brief and full of so much pent up longing you couldn't fully take them in, because they left you dizzy. To say discovering Allie's adult body, and her, mine, was out of this world, it would be an understatement, it was intense, and overwhelming at times. It was full to bursting with love, with lust, and dear god that woman left me without a breath, without a voice sometimes, as cries of passion and euphoria took it with them. There was never any doubt that Allie, that Alberta, was made for me, and I for her, and once it was known, once it was felt, it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Once others knew of it, of us, some would soon realise it too, how obvious it was. Others would never forgive us, but that wasn't for us to concern ourselves with.
***
The summer that Harper was seventeen, Allie came to spend the summer too, her second summer with us both. Allie was only one year from living here permanently and moving to the east coast at this point. She made the house more of her own, and I would love her additions that she made as she stayed with me, leaving more and more of herself here with every visit. Soon she would bring herself, and she wouldn't ever have to leave again.
Harper helped assist with the basketball camp, she took the second team just as Teddy used to do. Teddy was now twenty and finishing up her last year of college, next year she had already been scouted, by the actual woman's basketball league. Our Ted was about to be huge, a household name even. She really did surpass anyones ideas of how well she would do with basketball as a career, and she never did have to rely on her college degree for a job. Teddy would soon play ball professionally, and it would be all she needed. Teddy did visit that summer though, and that's where I should end that story, for another time, for Harper herself to tell.
Allie, Harper, and I, we would have the best time over the summers, before Harper left for college. So many long nights laughing until our belly's hurt. The dream was all about to become a reality.
***
We stop at a waterfall, mama holds my shoulders from behind me "look at that Harps isn't it beautiful" she says, observing the loud, roar of this majestic beauty found by chance in the middle of the national park.
As Theodora once feared, we had taken a wrong turn, but what we found was worth the extra miles back. "Beautiful" I say softly, almost hesitantly as my eyes wonder from the water cascading down rocks to Theodora Nomikos.
She strips her sweaty white vest from her toned shoulders, revealing a small black bikini top, a toned back and muscle definition for days from her life playing sport. She turns with the most breathtaking smile that I have ever seen, her long curly black hair flinging over one shoulder. Her dimples deepen as she waves us on to come and get in with her, amused.
Mama passes me hurriedly and drops her bag to take a photo. I gulp at the vision before me, Theodora, hands on her small waist, abs obvious as she lifts up her hands and ties her hair up. "Oh god" I whisper, at the realisation that my eyes trail over her like I'm starved, like I've never seen the female form before now.
I knew I had a crush, but this was starting to get out of control. I look away from her, noting Willa looking at me, curiously, and I smile to throw her off. She hesitantly smiles back, and I gather myself, throwing off my t shirt and bag, removing my boots and throwing myself into the water in a cannonball formation.
Teddy observes me delightedly "nice one Harps" she says swimming up beside me.
I push my wet hair back and start to wonder...If I was a year older, would she look at me a little differently... would she ever?! I didn't know, but I couldn't switch off the way I crushed on her. This close, this wet, this happy, her smile contagious... damn it if I didn't fall a little too hard for her.
Theodora Nomikos and all of that dark hair, all of that confidence, a body to die for, a smile that lit up a room, and the cheek of the devil. She was naughty, a little cocky too, but she was kind and sweet if you knew her as long as I did. It was four years this year, and it would be four more before before she realised that maybe I didn't look at her like a friend.
That damned kiss.
Nothing would come of it. I was like family to her by now. Well, nothing would come of it, yet.... But life was about to turn on its head for a million reasons that year, the year I turned twenty one.