Chapter 22: Camping
The girls took to their task with relish.
Each applying the roasting technique they believed to be most effective.
Emily moaned when her first marshmallow caught fire from being too close to the flame.
"No kisses for Graham," Ashley teased.
As I sat back and watched, I tried to figure out what the point of this was. This was carefully orchestrated, but I wondered why.
Ashley and Ruby were virtually tied showing Anna their first marshmallows. She inspected them carefully and nodded.
Ruby raced to Jared and presented him the marshmellow.
Then, Ashley approached us, a mischievous smile on her lips.
She turned to Emily, "Mind if I steal a moment with your guy?" she asked with a playful glint in her eyes.
Emily chuckled and gave her consent.
As Ashley handed me the marshmallow, I grinned and accepted, savoring the sweet treat.
Maybe savoring it a bit too slowly, as a second later Emily had another one for me.
Ashley and Ruby already reloaded their sticks and turned back to the fire.
After the second round, Ashley and Emily were tied. The third round is where it got interesting. Ashley got to me just in front of Emily. This time she popped the marshmallow right into my mouth.
"Nope, it was still stiff in the center. Try again." I said.
Ashley stuck out her tongue, but then winked and headed back to the fire.
Emily's marshmallow, on the other hand, was perfect.
In that moment, Ruby was still roasting her third marshmellow and so the outcome was clear.
Anna grinned across the blanket at me. "It looks like Emily wins, ladies," she said.
Emily promptly sat on my lap and kissed me thoroughly.
"Well, that was boring..." Ashley chimed in.
Emily giggled as she lifted her cherry lips from mine and teased, "Admit it, Ashley, you just wanted an excuse to steal a kiss from Gray..."
Anna grabbed two cans of beer and passed them out to Ashley and Ruby.
The kissing was done as we all sat on one side of the fire, around two blankets. Emily was on my left, Ruby and Jared on my right, Ashley and Anna were across from me.
We refilled our plastic cups with lemonade.
"What's the next game?" Ashley asked.
"Spin the bottle," Anna said, not adding anything else. She proceeded to hop up and go over to the truck. She came back with an empty Jack Daniel's bottle.
'What kind of spin the bottle are we talking about?' I thought.
"Guys, the rules are that the girl sets the pace. You have to sit on your hands if you are being kissed. Clear?"
I looked around and everyone nodded. Was I the only one playing it for the first time?
She kneeled on the blanket, leaned into the middle and gave the bottle a spin. It stopped, pointing almost straight at Jared. She looked at Ruby to his right and shrugged before turning to Jared and giving him a slow, passionate kiss that definitely got everyone's attention.
What I got was one thing. It was not going to be a quick "peck on the cheek" game.
When she backed off Jared, she grinned. "Your turn," she said.
Jared spun the bottle and it ended up pointing at Ashley. She quickly crawled across the blanket and planted a shallow kiss on him before taking her turn.
I was surprised when the bottle pointed at me. Before I could really prepare, Ashley had my face between her hands and pressed her lips to mine. I focused on the softness of her lips and felt her tongue brush my lips.
She was going way deeper than the reluctant kiss she gave Jared and with the corner of my eye, I could see him looking at us with envy.
I let my jaw drop a little and let my tongue join her in the dance. I focused on our lips and forgot about everything else. I was just in the present. She tried to put her tongue in my mouth and pulled my head closer to hers. I let myself enjoy it. It was hot.
"That's enough, Ashley," I heard Emily say.
Ashley broke our kiss and sat back panting. "Wow," she mouthed silently.
"Your turn, Gray," Emily said.
I rocked forward on my knees, glad the kiss had not produced an obvious erection in my shorts, and spun the empty bottle. It came to rest, pointing between Ruby and Jared.
I turned and smiled at Ruby. I wondered how she would play this.
Ruby stood up and then made sure I held my hands on my thighs before leaning in to press her lips against mine. It was another enchanting moment. I lightly traced my tongue along her lips and sucked on it as I focused just on her. Even she was gasping for air as we separated.
As the game continued, Ruby spun the bottle, landing it on Anna. Anna appeared ready to plant a kiss on Ruby's lips, but Ruby opted for a peck on the cheek instead.
Anna seemed to be the only one open to this kind of stuff.
Ashley kept her kisses short, but they seemed to linger with me. Anna was as aggressive with me as she had been with Jared. Emily was passionate with me while giving Jared only a kiss on the cheek, while Ruby was only soft and shy right until her lips touched mine.
We played for about half an hour before the girls finished their drinks.
"Alright, I think we should take a little break and then think what to do next," Emily said.
We all stood up and headed to the cooler.
As we gathered around the cooler, Anna rummaged through its contents. "Anyone want another beer?" she asked, her eyes scanning each of us.
Emily refused, saying that she doesn't like drinking and she only drank that one beer cause of obligation.
Anna's gaze fell on me, "Come on, just one won't hurt," she insisted.
"No, thanks."
"What's wrong Graham, too much of a pussy to drink a beer?" Jared asked.
"Well Jared.... Obviously I don't need it to win the women."
Jared looked strong, but I was quite confident that I would win over him.
Jared put away the can of beer and narrowed his eyes at me. He looked like he was going to lunge at me.
I turned toward him and came to the balls of my feet, but before he could move, Ruby stepped in, placing a hand on his chest. "Trust me, Jared, you don't want to fight with him," she said softly.
Jared hesitated, then glanced at me with a look of disdain. "You look like a little wimp to me, but I'll give it up," he grumbled. "No need to fight for stupid reasons." he said and walked back to the fire.
"I'm sorry for him." Ruby looked at me appologetically.
"It's nothing." I reassured her.
We returned to the blankets in no time, but the mood appeared to have faded away. Ashley turned on some music.
Without missing a beat, she smiled, "Let us get this party back on track."
"Anna chose such a great game for the second round that I think she should also get to decide the rules for the third round. Anna?"
We all looked at Anna.
"Truth or dare, of course," she said. "If you say no, you're out."
She looked at Jared and smiled. "Jared, truth or dare?"
"Dare," he stated, sipping on his beer.
Anna grinned. "I dare you to take a dip in the lake and cool off a bit."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone