Ben stretched out his hand to her, “Sure!” She said with determination, she took his hand and he helped her over the log that was in between them. It was not much of an actual obstacle but Sara, who had begun to take more notice of Ben and his peculiarities. surmised that after walking up a mountain all morning, she had proven her competence on the trail. He probably offered her his hand out of courtesy because he was polite. It was not because he was looking for a reason to pull her closer to him. CERTAINLY it was not because he knew that when their hands touched she would feel a warm, tingling numbness as he gently led her over. The feeling caused her hand to linger and slowly pull it away awkwardly. She was glad she had her sunglasses on.
“Alright then, you two take care of each other! try and be back by nightfall!” Ian said as he took Bill under the shoulder and began to carry him.
They began to walk up the mountain, Sara took one look back down at the old couple as they disappeared back down the trail hobbling. She started to wonder if she made the right call. She knew she could make Maggie jealous by taking a selfie at the top. Ben seemed like her type too, all the way up to the top with a handsome older guy, she’d get a kick out of it.
200 feet and less than 2 minutes up the trail she realized a problem she hadn’t considered, the silence. In small groups of strangers silence beyond pleasantries was expected, in a group of 6 or so no one was familiar enough with each other to make small talk, and no one wanted to break the unspoken social contract of implied silence. She was alone with one other person, the silence was not only conspicuous but deafening.
“….SOOOOO do you know Ian, like personally?” Sara asked. The path narrowed and they could no longer walk side by side, Ben offered to let her go first.
“Yes. He’s actually my cousin.” Ben said with an unfamiliar chipperness in his tone. “We were practically raised together though so closer to siblings I suppose.”
“Oh that’s exciting! it’s good you guys are so close as adults!” Sara said, just happy to not have to walk in silence.
“Yeah, he’s a good dude, a little tightly wound though.”
“Really? he seemed pretty easy going.”
“Well in my family I’m the funny one.” Sara chewed on that sentence in a little bit of disbelief. How could this guy, who walked for four hours in almost complete silence, be the funny one in his family? “I also noticed you went to Queenston University, or is that shirt a thrift store find?”
“No! I actually studied there! Econ with a literature minor.” She said with a grin. It had been a year of relative seclusion so she forgot how good it felt to say she graduated. She was also on the dean’s list but that was one detail that would push her past the threshold of humility.
“Check this out.” He said she turned around to see him undoing his flannel shirt. She was shocked for a second and then realised he was wearing a shirt, emblazoned with an older version of the QU emblem, clearly a garment that had been bought with pride and then turned into a disposable shirt for work and recreation when the clout associated with it declined in value.
“Civil engineering and public policy.” He said with a grin, “Class of 2007.”
“Oh fancy! so do you come to the middle of nowhere often or do you have an important job somewhere.” Sara asked, side stepping around a few exposed rocks jutting out of the ground. “Watch out for the rocks.”
“Thank you.” Ben said. “Well… I used to.”
“Oh I’m sorry I asked.” Sara said.
“Oh it’s nothing… It’s the downside of working in a very specific field, lots of downtime between jobs.” For a topic most people would prefer to avoid, he was pretty relaxed about it. “It means I have more time to myself.”
Sara ducked under a low hanging pine branch, “Must be lonely and a little boring.”
“Eh lonely? no, Solitary yes. You can be lonely in a crowded room. You can be lonely even when you live with a person for six years, married four.”
“Oh I’m sorry.” Sara said again.
She was chewing over this information again when they came to the ledge, A little too tall for her to turn around and boost herself up.
“Listen, I’m sorry…” Ben began to say as she reached up, swung her elbow up and tried to climb it. With her free hand she grabbed at a root that was growing out of the ledge and she gained her footing on an indent. The hardened clay that was supporting her collapsed as she shifted weight and she felt herself fall backwards, but she didn’t. she felt a pair of strong hands on her hips supporting her, pushing her forward. She didn’t remember Ben standing so close to her. Sarah found her footing again and threw herself over the ledge panting heavily.
“You okay?” He asked.
Sara panted. “Yes! I think so!”
“Good! Can you help me up?” he asked. Sara quieted her heavy breathing and sat up. She crawled over to the ledge to see Ben standing there with his hand out. She offered it to him.
“You sure you’re ready?” he asked.
“I’m stronger than I look!” Sara responded.
“Yeah but I’m clumsier than I look.”
With her support, he began to lift himself up and walk up the ledge. Again, the dried clay gave way causing him to stumble , the shift in force caused her to lose her footing and fall backwards but the added shift in weight was enough to pull Ben up so he could get an arm and leg over the edge. He quickly rolled away from the edge, bumping into Sara’s feet.
“Jesus actual Christ, I knew there was a reason I liked you, Sara.” He let out a chuckle as he panted in relief.
“Always happy to save your ass, Benjamin.” She laughed.
“Hey watch it now, no one calls me Benjamin unless I’m in trouble.”
“Well I’d say almost falling off a cliff and having a demure, dainty girl save you counts as trouble, Benjamin”
“Hey, ain’t nothing wrong with a strong woman. ” Benjamin said, “I got nothing to prove and nothing to lose.” The two sat up, not quite ready to move, their heart rates, already high from the exertion of the hike, needed to mellow. “Not like professor dipshit and Diet Rambo.”
Sara chortled. “You think they wouldn’t appreciate being saved by a girl”
“Oh God no.” Ben said brushing the dust on his hands off. “The only type of guy that brings his girlfriend on a hike he woefully underprepared for to the point he didn’t consider or even know she was allergic to nuts is a guy that feels like he has something to prove.”
Sara looked at him wide-eyed. “I thought the same thing!”
Ben got up and offered her his hand again which she enthusiastically took. “Right? and I don’t blame his little girlfriend for being angry, but trying to make Macho man jealous by talking and flirting with me? Come on now, give him the silent treatment or blow up in his face which I’m sure she’s doing now.”
Sara stood up. “Ah so you did notice it.”
“It’s hard not to. I mean, well, when you know the signs.” He said, “Angry girl starts being friendly to the more handsome guy to show up her deadweight mule of a boyfriend? It’s a classic.”
“Well you have a high opinion of yourself. What if she was just being friendly?” Sara teased.
“Well when you keep trying to sustain physical contact it gets obvious, she kept putting her hand on my back, she would recoil closer to me. I notice these things.”
“Oh you do, do you?” Sara said; she liked chipper Ben.
“Yeah like how you’re still holding my hand.” Sara looked down and pulled her hand away in shock; Ben smiled. She did an abrupt about face turn to hide her blushing face. “Don’t worry we’ll chalk that one up to an accident.
“Sounds good.” Sara said with very tight lips.
They walked a little bit more, “You were apologizing,” She said.
“What?”
“Before we got onto the ledge, you were saying sorry for something,”
“OH! Yeah, sorry I was going to apologize if I was making you uncomfortable talking about the divorce. I can be a little honest sometimes, even when it’s not entirely appropriate. Those two things might be related .” Ben said beginning to walk as he talked.
“Yeah, that’s alright, usually when someone says something awkward like that it’s not that they don’t know it’s just they have to tell SOMEONE.” Sara said keeping his pace..
Ben pulled off his glasses. “That’s pretty astute, I just live by the mantra, ‘if you can’t trust strangers, you won’t make friends.’ ”
Sara stopped and turned to face him. “Well then I’m glad we’re friends, BENJAMIN.” He rolled his eyes.
“If a legal document can’t guarantee a relationship.” He raised a finger at her with a coy grin. “So don’t think your position is permanent.”
“Oh I think my position is secure, you were going to hike up here alone…. well with your cousin.”
“Well he was just just going to get me to the falls and leave me. I was supposed to set up camp for the night.
“Ah! I pegged you a little wrong. I thought you were some nice city boy out for a weekend getaway, turns out you have a little mountain man in you waiting to come out. What are you going to do out here alone anyways, howl at the moon? set traps for woodland critters? send bombs through the mail to spite the world that scorned you?”
Ben didn’t respond. He picked up his pace brushing past her swiping at pine branches that filled the air with their sweet scent. A few steps later, Sara heard it too: running water. She broke out into a light jog to catch up with him and she broke the tree line a few seconds after him and stopped: they made it.The view was astounding, they were not up the mountain but on a level plateau, a rocky stream flowed through the clearing and off the side of a cliff. In front of them was a wide valley which made the peaks in the distance look massive. The unobstructed view rolled for miles, the only thing that got in the way of the rolling hills was the rainbow caused by the mist from the falls. “Wow.” Sara said.
“Jesus. Now that’s a view.” Ben said. They stood beside each other for a long period of time that under any other circumstance would have felt uncomfortable but they were both too at ease.
It was Ben that moved first, walking confidently to the edge of the cliff, from his bag he produced a plaid blanket and laid it out on the ground on a bed of dead pine needles. Curious, she followed him. He started fishing in his backpack and pulled out a long wooden box. “Sorry I didn’t bring a bigger blanket.” he said “I was expecting to be alone, you can sit if you like.”
She dropped to her knees and watched him struggle to open the box. “Sorry, can you get this latch? I dont have nails,” he offered it to her and she began to fiddle with the fastener holding it closed. When it came open it revealed a bottle of wine with a label in Spanish. She looked up and Ben had produced a baggie of grapes and a container with cheese in it as well as a small knife.
“It’s from Argentina.” He said.
“I can read Spanish, you know.” She snapped back.
” I don’t doubt that it’s just not a very big winery. Doesn’t have the name recognition. Didn’t know if you were a wine snob.” He took out a swiss army knife and selected the corkscrew, he twisted it until it released with a loud POP
“Oh do I look like I could be a wine snob Benjamin?”
“Well I don’t know you seem like a smart, well educated young woman, and I’ve been trying to find a flaw in there somewhere.”
“No, the price tag matters more than the name tag when it comes to wine, do you have something to teach me about Argentine wines?” She said sarcastically,
“Spoken like a true Queenston U alumnus. Definitely not, I know nothing about Argentine wines. My parents just gave us this as a wedding present when they surprised us with a honeymoon trip to South America. They gave us two bottles, one for the wedding, one for our 20th anniversary, or 10th or our first kid or something.”
Sara looked out at the rolling view. “Well if your marriage didn’t work out I guess a view like this is a special enough occasion.”
“Yes, yes it is.” He said looking straight at her though she hadn’t noticed. He went to take a swig and stopped himself. “Sorry I don’t have any glasses, didn’t think I’d need to share.” He offered her the first sip. “So you don’t get my germs.”
She smiled and took the bottle and had a sip. “Damn, this isn’t bad!” She passed the bottle back, “Shame you might catch something from me.”
“Well, if you can’t trust strangers.” He knocked back a large sip that implied that he was not interested in the complexity of the flavour. They sat in almost silence, only taking the time to ask for more cheese or grapes. Everytime they passed the bottle back and forth they sat a little bit closer to lessen the distance they had to stretch. Little by little they closed up the small gap of real estate on the blanket between them. They were feeling the buzz of the wine but with only a bottle between the two of them, it would be wrong to assume that their closeness was not due to the lubricating effects of the drink.
“You seem like a good guy, why’d you get divorced? ” Sara asked, maybe her judgement was a little clouded.
Ben distracted himself by untying his boots, removing them and his socks to let his feet breathe.
“Well… my wife,… my ex-wife. That trip to south america was the only adventurous thing she ever did was that honey moon. I mean, we took trips together, but you can only see the resort in the Bahamas, the resort in Cuba, Cancun, Acapulco so many times. I offered to just make her a custom deckchair and lay sand out in the backyard by the pool to save money but she insisted she wanted to go. ”
“You didn’t mention you had a pool.”
“I have a pool. But those two weeks we spent in Rio, Montevideo and Buenos Aires were great, we walked we talked to people…err well I talked to people, I made her a third and fifth wheel a lot. I could tell she wasn’t having the greatest time but I appreciated her letting me do my thing. I guess I thought she’d come around and she just didn’t.”
“Well that fucking sucks.” Sara said, “This is a beautiful view, and if she’s too crusty to recognize that forget her!” She removed her shoes and socks as well.
“That was the plan.” he said. The sun had gotten a little lower in the sky as they had spoken and he sat with his legs outstretched, one hand on the bottle one, one for support. He offered her the last swig and she pressed her lips to the bottle and her poured it into her mouth. When she swallowed it she leaned into him, rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. His chest was broad and had more definition than he expected. His shirt was still damp from sweat and it clung to him. Ben was a little taken aback by how close he felt to her, He’d noticed she had given him the once over a few times, and the hand holding, but he wasn’t quite prepared to be sitting on this blanket with her wrapped around him. Nor did he expect it to feel so good. He placed his arm around her, not sure how she would react, she pulled away.
The blood ran to Ben’s face, Oh no he thought. Sara got up and said, “Your ex-wife, whoever she is, doesn’t know the first thing about having funtime. She started walking away towards the stream.
“And what’s the first thing about having a good time? Ben asked.
She walked into the stream, which at its deepest was up to her hips. “SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA GET YOUR FEET WET!” she laughed as she kicked at the water. Ben couldn’t help but chuckle, the water looked inviting and it would feel great on his aching feet. so he got up with the last of his grapes and walked towards her.
“Are you having fun Benjamin?” She asked,
“Yes Sara, I’m having a good time,” he said popping a grape into his mouth,
She opened hers indicating she wanted one as well. He placed it in between her lips which she held it with then sucked it in. “Thank you Benjamin.” she said, hugging him tightly. When she pulled herself close, she shook her head against his chest, readjusting to be more comfortable against him.
Ben felt his sticky shirt rub up against his chest and realised it might not be that comfortable for her either. He pulled away to her visible disappointment. “Sorry,” he said. He pulled his arms through his flannel shirt and then peeled off his t-shirt dunking it in the water so when he laid it out to dry the sweat might be gone. He threw both of his shirts on the large, dry rocks the water couldn’t touch. Sara, watching and liking the idea, did the same. Ben was surprised as she peeled off her shirt revealing the adidas sports bra. *It might not mean anything, it’s just a sports bra, it’s nothing she wouldn’t wear to the gym where she feels comfortable and she feels comfortable with you.* Ben thought, chasing away a new crop of intrusive fantasies which had been intermittently popping up throughout the course of the day.
To his astonishment, she also removed her jogging shorts, “These are sweaty too.” She said lifting her feet out of the water one by one to get them off, throwing them on the rocks. Ben stood there wide eyed. “Oh get over it Benjamin she said, kicking water on him. The water covered the front of his cargo pants, the cuffs he rolled to keep dry were now soaked as water ran down his leg. “Fine.” He said, undoing his belt buckle and dropping his pants.
Sara had just been teasing but she watched as he bent over to take his pants off. *There’s nothing wrong with this, I mean, if we had packed bathing suits we’d be wearing them, we just aren’t!* Sara thought. Though she could no longer pretend it was innocent fun when she realised how her eyes were loitering on Ben’s hips, his waist, his well defined thighs and calves. He wore black boxer briefs, they sat very tightly on his body and he filled every available inch of them perfectly. She looked away quickly when she realised her eyes were feasting on this friendly stranger but she couldn’t help but look back to try and make out the outline of his bulge. Out of curiosity of course, mere scientific inquiry. Though a good, objective scientist would not be disappointed by their inability to make out the outline against black cotton.
Ben was feeling a little self conscious but if her eyes were lingering, it wasn’t because she didn’t like what she was seeing. He splashed her back and she cried out. “GEEZE STOP IT BENJAMIN”
“Oh no, it’s too late Sara, you’ve used it too much I’m immune to it.” He gave her one big splash and she cowered away. She looked at the water and was struck with a good idea. She sat down, submerged herself under the shallow stream and sat back up, the water level just under her breasts. It was cold but if she got used to it, Ben wouldn’t have any power. He took the hint and realised how good it would feel to have the water wipe away the grime. He bent down, picked up the water in his cupped hands and began to wash himself. Sara watched intently as the drops ran down his body and dripped back into the stream. He rubbed his wet hands on his shoulders, on his arms and stomach. She was sitting in a cool steam but she felt a different kind of wetness taking over. He turned around to do his back.
*Does he know what he’s doing to me?* She thought, now there was a bit of a tingle, an itch that needed to be scratched, one that had to be resisted at all costs. He squatted down in the water, cupping his hands again, letting it flow down his back. Under the water, she reached down towards her panties, but stopped at her thigh, she figured he’d turn around and notice her hungry stares. But as with before, she couldn’t bring herself to pull her hand away. Maybe… maybe a quick graze, despite her best attempts to stop herself, she slipped her fingers into her panties.
He was watching the sky, some bird flying high over the trees and after a few circular patterns her eyes started to flutter. “Sara?” He asked. *SHIT* she thought, she didn’t see him turn around. “I got a mosquito bite on my thigh. you know how bad they are when you sweat!” She panicked, her heart beating like an entire drum line. Sara didn’t even look at his face to see if he believed it, she immediately sent a wave of water splashing him. soaking what was not already wet, including his little boxer briefs.
Ben looked down, If there was any doubt as to what Sara was doing it was gone now
He walked a large circle around her as she glared at him. He sat down at the other side of the stream under the water, he pulled his boxers off. “Well these gotta dry too I guess. Sara moved a foot closer to be in deeper water. Sitting down on the smoothed stones, she pulled her panties off throwing them on the rocks and then she wiggled out of her sports bra. “Those gotta dry too.” Ben looked from her eyes down to the blurry form of her body, obscured by the rushing water. Sara raised an eyebrow, “You’ve got adventurous eyes.” she said.
“And you’ve got adventurous hands, Sara.” He said, not breaking eye contact. She blushed again.
“Maybe you shouldn’t look too into it Benjamin” She gulped, was she really flirting naked with a stranger in a river ? This was Maggie’s territory not hers.
Ben broke his eye contact to again look at her under the water, to which she coyly turned away. “I can’t help it,” he said. “Though you wouldn’t be the first woman to dislike my adventurous inclinations.”
“Oh I don’t think that’s the problem.” She said, “I’m just kind of waiting for you to ask.” she said flatly, but every muscle in her face was holding back a devilish grin.
Ben kept coming closer and closer, “Ask?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, yeah! you’ve been an absolute gentleman all day, inviting me to join you in your little adventure, always letting me go first.” She started moving back but as she did she ran into shallower and shallower water revealing more of her body. Eventually she was almost laying down with her feet towards Ben, her body twisting around to face him. The water was too shallow to obscure her breasts so she did it with her arm. She was teasing as he came closer with intense eyes. She wasn’t afraid though, he was not threatening, just focused, his blue eyes were focused intently right on hers.
He was closer now, he had stayed low under the water but as he got closer he too had less water obscuring him. He walked, hunched over on the stones, he was so low and close less than a foot separated their two bodies. She felt something that could only be the head of his erect penis rub against her thigh as he wandered up her body. He put his arm on the ground by her head for support, leaving his face four inches above hers.
“You want me to ask what exactly?” He said, breaking eye contact for the first time to look at her soft lips. “But there’s so many questions running through my mind that I could ask you like, do you like it when I touch you like this?” He said, lifting his free hand and running the back of his index finger down her cheek to her lips; she let out a low whimper. “Or maybe that’s a little presumptuous. Maybe I should ask if you are feeling comfortable?” He nudged the shoulder that was sticking out of the water backwards, Sara’s body responded by shifting , laying completely flat leaving her breasts exposed under the water. “I guess… the most efficient question is.” He drew in closer, she felt his hot breath on her lips. “Are you feeling adventurous.?” he whispered.
Source: reddit.com/r/Erotica/comments/ygyxwh/my_last_hurrah_in_the_adirondacks_pt_2_fm