The bus full of free spirits never had a particular destination in mind. They drove, stopped where they pleased, and continued on down the long road that would take them to the tip of Chile if they so desired. There was never a plan, no itinerary, and no thought of meals or a place to rest until those things became necessary.
I did not adapt well.
We bounced down the highway as the morning cold began to make way for the afternoon heat, passing town after town, the coastline now out of sight and replaced by small mountains and wide, placid lakes.
I was staring at my phone. The last text I'd sent Sarah was when I'd arrived in Ensenada two days prior. She hadn't bothered to respond.
Before I left home, I told her I'd call her every night--my cell plan afforded me service in Mexico--but she wasn't interested.
Just text me when you get there and I'll see you when you get back. She was so dismissive, like she couldn't wait for me to be gone.
What was I going to say to her, anyway? Hey, honey. Just wanted to let you know that I found a gorgeous twenty-three-year-old Latina that I've probably fallen in love with. Not sure if I'll be coming home in two weeks. How are you?
I turned off the phone and slipped it into my backpack--mochila, Valeria had taught me--turning my attention to the angel sitting across from me. She had her bare feet up on her seat with her back against the bus window and a book pinned against her knees. *Lolita,* the book's forest-green cover read.
How relevant.
We toiled on in mostly silence, aside from one of Junior's friends blessing us with the relaxing strumming of an acoustic guitar they kept on the bus. I hadn't been able to even look at a bottle of beer the day prior, and I had finally shaken the hangover I'd earned on my first day in Mexico. Shortly before midday, Alejandro pulled us down a side highway that spat us out on the banks of one of those expansive lakes, parking the bus and collapsing onto the open couch.
"Bedtime," he said, throwing on a pair of shades and shutting down for the day. Alejandro was a night owl, preferring to drive the bus while most of us slept, going to sleep himself around noon, and then waking up as the sun was setting. His coffee was weed. His sleeping pill was weed. His breath was practically weed.
Sometimes another veteran of the bus would hop in the driver's seat and take over, and other times we would just stay where Alejandro had parked us. Though, we rarely drove anywhere between ten at night and three or four in the morning. Too dangerous, Alejandro had told me.
On that day, we stayed put.
The sun was high above us, but I was content with not taking a dip in the murky lake. Valeria stepped off the bus after me and stretched her sleepy body. She hadn't bothered to put shoes on, digging her toes into the cool dirt.
"What are we doing here?" I asked, eager to have any type of direction.
Valeria smiled as Junior and some of the others began bringing tents, coolers, and chairs out of the bus. "Camping!"
My nerves were immediately set on end. There was so much planning you had to do before you went camping! We needed a first-aid kit, ice, firewood, food, water... Hell, I didn't even have my sleeping pad! But as I assisted with setting up the camp, I saw that the free spirits had just about everything that I would have come up with in a day's worth of proper preparation.
I suppose they weren't so aimless after all.
Once we got the five tents set up, a little fire going for cooking, and the first round of beers opened, I relaxed, taking a seat next to Junior on a rock near the lake's edge.
He was watching a little two-man fishing boat way out near the center of the lake.
"Is it safe to eat the fish?" I asked, staring at the muck that was slapping against the shore. "The water looks a little... silty."
"You meant nasty," Junior laughed, taking a swig from the glass beer bottle. "It should be fine so long as they cook the hell out of it. Though, I don't know if our hosts have fishing equipment."
Just then, one of the men from the bus climbed up on an even taller rock and began whistling and yelling in Spanish across the water towards the little fishing vessel. He waved his arms excitedly for about a minute before jumping down and smiling at Junior and me.
"Fish," he proclaimed. We raised our bottles in salute.
"Do you think they heard him?"
"Let's hope so, I'm starving." Junior laid back against the rock with a heavy sigh, his face wearing the relaxed smirk that had found him during puberty and that he had never been keen on shaking.
I glanced back at the camp. Valeria was stretching out on a blue yoga mat near the campfire. She'd opted to do this in a pair of pink panties that her ass devoured, with only a baggy black t-shirt to cover her always unsecured breasts. She was as wild and untamable to me as a forest fire, and I felt like a sloth trapped in the flames.
"What the hell am I going to do, Junior?"
"About dinner?" He joked. "Trust me, the fish will be fine! Once, when I was in India, I ate some kebabs off a street vendor that I'm pretty sure were undercooked dog. Had me puking for nearly two days!"
"That's not what I meant..."
Junior sat upright, patting me on the shoulder. "I know, Rich."
"When I get home, my marriage is over," I said, taking a heavy drink from my beer and gasping. "I'll have to tell Sarah what I've done, and she'll fucking divorce me."
"You could explain why you did what you did--"
"Why I did it?" I interrupted, scoffing at myself. "Right, I could tell her that I was bored with our marriage. I could explain that we hadn't had sex in I don't know how long and I jumped at the first hot young thing that, for reasons I may never understand, offered herself to me?" Everything was pouring out of me like tears, uncontrolled and unfiltered. "I could tell her that ever since we found out that she couldn't have children, things haven't been the same between us!"
I fell silent, watching the little fishing boat point itself toward the shore. I could feel Junior's eyes on me, but I didn't dare face him.
"Every little thing Sarah does these days infuriates me," I said. "Things that shouldn't bother me at all. If she leaves a light on or doesn't hang her towel up immediately after a shower, it's enough to just set me off. But it's not those things. I know it's not. I'm angry at her for something she can't control. When I look at her body, all I can see is infertility..."
"That's not your fault, Rich."
"And it's not hers, either." I finally faced him. "I'm a bad guy, Junior. I've been slowly punishing Sarah for having a dysfunctional body, all while convincing myself that I didn't know what the problem in our relationship is. It's me, man. I'm the fucking problem."
The two-man dinghy had reached the shore off to our right. Valeria and some of the girls were haggling the fishermen for their catch, and we watched as money was exchanged for fish.
"I thought you were considering adoption," Junior finally said.
"We were. We were close." I finished my beer, trying to drown my self-hatred. "I'm sure you can guess which one of us had seconds thoughts... I just don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I could love a child that didn't come from us."
It hurt to hear myself admit that. Ten years ago, I would have judged the person who uttered those words. So, I don't blame you if you judge me.
"It's only natural to want to see yourself in your child, Rich. And there are other options." Junior tried to comfort me, but I wasn't really listening. I had turned to watch Valeria by the fire. She was observing her friend descale the fish, her eyes curious and bright. When she caught my gaze, she smiled and waved.
I waved back pathetically. "I think we're well-passed considering other options, Junior."
They cooked the fish over an open fire and it ended up being quite delicious; I prayed that the dinner stayed in my stomach.
As the sun left us for the night, the bonfire grew larger and became the focal point of our camp. Everyone sat around laughing and telling stories in a lovely mix of English and Spanish. I mainly sat alone, keeping my distance from Valeria but stealing glances in her direction every chance I got. When she spoke to me, I kept my answers short. Eventually, she turned her attention towards her friends.
I don't know why I was ignoring her. Maybe I was punishing myself.
When the darkness of night had completely settled over the land, blending the tops of the trees with the night's sky, Valeria and one of her friends, Lula, popped up and put on their shoes.
"Want to go for walk?" Valeria asked, holding her hand down to me. She had on a black sweater and a pair of red shorts that hugged her thighs. Every instinct told me to follow her into the trees and make love to her, but I resisted--I was intent on wallowing in my grief.
"You go ahead," I said, disappointed in myself.
Her smile didn't fade. She simply shrugged and walked off with Lula into the darkness.
Junior was staring me down from the other side of the fire, and he shook his head before shooting up and approaching me. He knelt beside me, putting a hand on my knee.
"Rich, you're probably right," he whispered. "You've probably fucked your marriage up beyond repair. But you've got about eleven days before you have to head back to reality and face the consequences. You want my advice?"
I did. I wanted to know how to be like Junior--how to flow like water.
"Make the most of those eleven days, and don't waste a single opportunity to have that beautiful girl in your arms."
With that, Junior slapped me on the shoulder and headed for the bus. Alejandro was just coming out, and he greeted Junior with a friendly good morning as the two passed.
I looked in the direction Valeria and Lula had gone, cursing myself for ever letting her out of my sight. Junior was right. Why waste the time I had here? If my fall from grace was less than two weeks away, I should enjoy heaven while I'm there. Jumping up from my chair, I finished my beer and jogged into the darkness.
The firelight helped illuminate the path until there were too many trees obscuring the flames. I kept along the lakeshore, letting the moonlight reflecting off its surface act as my torch. I could hear giggling just ahead.
The trail emptied into a clearing at the shore, and I stopped short behind a wide tree. Giggling had morphed into something else entirely, and my eyes were drawn to two bodies tangled together near the water.
Valeria and Lula... They were kissing each other up and down. Lula knelt and ran her hands underneath Valeria's red shorts, licking her legs and whipping her jet-black hair out of the way. My angel moaned and laughed as her friend tugged her shorts down to her ankles and began teasing around her pink panties.
I don't know why it came as a surprise to me that Valeria would be attracted to women. She was far more evolved than me; it only made sense that her sexuality wouldn't discriminate between sexes.
Lula's skin was much lighter than Valeria's caramel complexion, and the moonlight seemed to glow in her flesh. Valeria's hips rocked against her friend's mouth, letting Lula's tongue taste her flower as her panties were pulled to the side. Lula's hands were all over Valeri's hips, whose own hands ran under her sweater to squeeze her tits.
I felt more perverted than ever watching those young women please each other, breathing heavily from behind my tree. But I couldn't stop watching, and soon my hands had taken my erection from my pants.
Valeria grabbed her friend by the hair and yanked her up into a fierce kiss before smacking her hard on the ass. Lula's jeans were now in the way and Valeria didn't stop clawing at them until the denim was tossed into the dirt.
Their bare feet squished in the damp soil near the shore, the mud finding its way between their perfect toes.
Valeria pulled Lula's shirt over her head, exposing her smaller but perky breasts for kissing and licking.
They fell against a boulder, grinding their thighs into each other's sex until they were both gasping and crying out into the other's flesh.
I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop stroking myself and watching and imagining my body between theirs.
They moaned sweet sounds in their native tongue to each other, kissing and licking and grinding until--
I groaned uncontrollably as ropey cum shot out of me and onto the trail. The two shrieked and stopped, laughing hysterically when they finally noticed me behind the tree.
"Richard?" Valeria called out. "Richard, you can come out from there. You old pervert!"
Shame flushed my cheeks, but I did as I was told. My member was still flying proudly, and I struggled to get it in my pants.
The two were gently running their fingers along each other's curves, and they watched me stumble over to them.
"I... I am so sorry," I said, throwing my hands up. "I wanted to apologize for blowing you off. And I saw you two... Uh, playing together... I--"
Lula giggled and spoke in Spanish into Valeria's ear.
"Did you cum?" Valeria translated, smiling and running her tongue between her teeth as she stared at my crotch.
Just be honest, you idiot.
"I may have had an orgasm," I admitted. "I'm a creep, I know. There's no excuse--"
Lula crept over to me. Hell, she looked like living moonlight slinking over on her thick, milky legs--delicate vines with menacing thorns ran up her right leg in black ink--and I had the urge to reach out and pinch her rock-hard nipples. When she reached me, she stared up at me for a moment, her dark eyes full of mystery. Then, she got up on her toes and said something in my ear that I couldn't understand, gifting my earlobe a gentle nibble before leaving me there quivering as she grabbed her pants and pranced off towards camp.
Valeria was getting her own clothes back on, but I felt frozen. "What... Uh... What did she say?"
My honey-skinned muse put her arms around my neck, brushing her nose against mine before locking lips with me. Our kiss was deep and passionate, like the one she'd just been giving Lula. When she took her tongue and lips back, she whispered in my ear. "Next time, join us..."
And then she left me there feeling stupid and drained in the moonlight.
The two didn't say anything to the others back at camp, and I felt forever indebted to them for sparing me the embarrassment. When it came time to sleep, Valeria grabbed my hand and led me into the tent she was sharing with some of the other girls. Junior also joined us, snuggling in with Rosa on the other side of the tent.
It was chilly, but not so bad that we all needed to be encased in sleeping bags. Valeria and I shared a thick blanket set over a long sleeping pad, and I hugged her body close to mine as the lamp was doused and every settled into sleep. My back was against the tent, and Valeria's round rear had formed to my crotch.
When a few of the others started to snore, Valeria began gently grinding her butt into me. I was hard before I could even register her movements my erection sliding down against her butt. Her hands slid her shorts down, and then my boxers. Hell, she was already so wet, and I wondered credit should be given to me or Lula for warming her up.
I squeezed her supple breasts under her shirt as she guided my cock into her, both of us breathing a little deeper but stifling our moans. We were making love, right there in the tent, while our friends slept. I'd never done anything so risky--so on display--and it made my heart race.
Valeria turned her head to kiss me as worked slowly into each other. "Fuck me," she whispered.
Somebody stirred in their sleep.
We both froze. I could feel Valeria tighten around me, still trying to fuck even though someone may have been awake.
I glanced over her head. Lula had turned over right next to Valeria, and she was watching us intently--her pale skin slightly visible in the darkness. She pulled her blanket off, revealing the hand between her legs.
Valeria watched her friend and urged my cock deeper into her. And I obliged. Soon, our own blanket was off, affording Lula a limited view of our bodies rolling together in the darkness. She was mouthing something at us, but I wouldn't have been able to understand it even if I could hear her siren song.
With Valeria's back to me, I slid in and out of her until I could hold out no longer. Lula locked eyes with me as I filled her friend, smiling and rubbing her clit until her body tightened and she threw a hand over her mouth to muffle her gasps for air.
Valeria's flower twitched as I throbbed inside of her, and I didn't even bother pulling out of her perfect body before falling into a deep sleep.
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