Day 3

“Cannonball!” Suong yelled, running down the pier and jumping in the lake. She hit the surface of the water with a splash, spraying water everywhere.

“Augh! Careful!” Jonah cried, throwing himself in front of his camera and tripod. His equipment was saved from being drenched, but his clothes were not so lucky.

“Sorry!” Suong said, bobbing up to the surface. Her wet black hair clung to her body before fanning out where it hit the water, like a river of volcanic glass frozen mid-flow.

“If you knew how expensive all this equipment is, you’d be on your hands and knees begging for forgiveness right now,” Jonah grumbled, peeling off his wet shirt and throwing it aside. His chest was flat, with two symmetrical scars on either side of his ribcage. Caleb ducked behind his book, pretending not to look interested in his friend’s naked torso.

“Well, you do know how expensive it is, and you chose to bring it to the lake regardless!” Suong teased.

After lunch that day, the group of friends had set out for the lake. The water was lovely and clear, and surprisingly warm for early summer. Zach, swim team champ, was doing laps, while Caleb read a book and smoked on the shore. Jonah was taking pictures of the lake and mountains.

Avery waded in waist-deep water, arms raised slightly, still trying to adjust to the temperature. She hiked up the strap of her swimsuit top, lost in thought. She’d originally packed a one-piece bathing suit, a frumpy water-aerobics singlet which Suong had taken one look at before dragging her back into their room and forcing her into one of Suong’s spare bikinis. Avery decided not to fight her. For some reason, showing a bit of skin didn’t seem as bad as it usually did to her. Still, she wasn’t used to showing off her body like this. She was sure she’d caught all three boys staring at her chest, which had never happened before. But instead of being embarrassed, Avery felt a weird sense of pride in catching their attention. The only problem with the bikini was the fit–Suong had a decently sized chest, but Avery was slightly bigger, so she kept having to pull the straps to keep the top from slipping. That wasn’t really a problem, though, because adjusting her top caused her boobs to bounce and jiggle, which drew her friend’s eyes even more.

Out of the corner of her eye, Avery noticed Suong, who was trying and failing to be subtle as she, too, checked out her best friend. Avery grinned, and splashed her with water. Seems she was attracting attention from the boys and the girls. Though Avery considered herself straight, she couldn’t help but feel a little pulse of warmth at the thought.

“Hey!” Suong spluttered, throwing water back at Avery. Avery squealed and the girls began play-fighting, splashing water and giggling. “No fair, you’ve got bigger flotation devices than me!” Suong squealed, tackling Avery from behind and squeezing her boobs. Avery stumbled, just barely catching herself from falling over.

“Suong, stop, stop it!” Avery laughed, trying and failing to swat the girl away. But Suong refused to let go, kneading and squeezing and pushing her tits, threatening to spill them out of her too-tight top.

Zach stopped swimming laps and stood, gawking at the display. Caleb stared, open-mouthed, his book forgotten in his lap. Jonah trained the camera lens on them. “Nooooooo!” Avery giggled, thrashing as Suong played with her chest. It was starting to feel a bit good, in ways she didn’t want to admit. “Hah! S-stop, hah….”

“Ok, meanie,” Suong giggled, releasing Avery and giving her a kiss on the forehead before swimming over to Zach. He said something Avery couldn’t quite hear, and the pair started making out, Suong wrapped herself around him underwater.

Avery laughed and waded back to shore. She felt lightheaded. This is normal for female friends to do, right? she thought, adjusting her top again, breathing heavily. Help each other pick out swimsuits, grabbing each other’s titties. It’s just girl stuff.

Jonah watched the scene play out through his camera’s viewfinder. Was he the only one to find that whole display extremely erotic? He must have been, since no one else was saying anything. He didn’t want to be the pervert with the dirty mind misinterpreting perfectly innocent actions, so he said nothing and tried to suppress the growing heat he felt as he finished setting up his equipment. “Aves, you still down to model?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah,” the flustered girl said. “How do you want me?”

For the next half hour or so, Caleb watched with muted interest as Jonah took shot after shot of Avery. Lying on a lounge chair, staring pensively into the distance, close-ups of her face, action shots of her stretching or falling into the water…between each set of shots Jonah would guide her with his hands, showing her how he wanted her. Through it all, that lightheaded feeling that began when Suong grabbed her just wouldn’t go away.

“Hm…” Jonah said, looking through his camera reel. He sounded dissatisfied.

“What’s wrong?” Avery asked, worried she had messed up.

“Nothing, it’s just… look at how beautiful the light from the water is on your skin… the dark line from the bikini totally interrupts the composition, here.” Jonah suddenly realized he had slipped into artist mode, seeing his subject as an abstraction of colors and shapes, rather than as his female friend, who had explicitly told him she would not do nudes. “Sorry, that was stupid of me to say. This will do just fine.”

“No, it’s fine! I can… I can take it off.” Avery found herself saying, as if observing her mouth moving from afar. Wait, what did I just agree to?

“Seriously?” Jonah said. “That would be amazing.”

“S-sure,” Avery said, shyly tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Besides, I’ve done life drawing before. It’s… it’s not like, a sexual thing. It’s just art.” She reached behind her and fumbled with the bikini clasp.

“Yeah,” Jonah’s mouth felt dry and his entire bottom half felt alive with arousal. “Yeah, just art.”

Avery’s bikini top dropped, revealing her round, beautiful breasts to Jonah and Caleb, who stared, open mouthed and transfixed. Even Suong and Zach stopped making out for a moment to appreciate the sight. “Damn, Aves,” Zach said, his eyes glued to his friend’s chest. “Damn.”

“Uh, let’s just get going then?” Avery said, surprised by how quickly her embarrassment was fading.

“Oh, uhuh, yup,” Jonah said, returning to his camera. They took more shots, poses similar to those from the first shoot, this time topless. Then Jonah started to push it.

“Squeeze your boobs together and up, like that? And look up at the camera, mouth open. Yeah, just like that. Ok, now pinching the nipples, legs spread. Mmhm, yeah, perfect.”

Somewhere deep in the back of her mind Avery was starting to feel alarmed. But this was all just art, right? Besides, Jonah looked so happy when she did what he told her to do. Nothing that made her friends happy could be wrong, right?

“Hey, I want a turn!” Suong said, pushing Zach away and peeling her bikini top off, splashing over to Avery and throwing her arms around her friend. Avery was relieved, because if Suong was with her, no one could mistake this as anything lewd or unsavory. Plus, Suong’s breasts felt nice pressing against Avery’s back.

Jonah’s eyes sparkled. “Yeah, we could do some cool compositions with two! Alright, Suong, if you could pose like this…”

Caleb and Zach were now singularly watching the shoot progress, eyes hungrily dragging across Suong and Avery’s topless forms as Jonah posed his friends like dolls, the two girls fully compliant to his vision. “Ok, Suong, I want you on your back on the shore, feet in the water. Aves, climb on top of her so that your boobs press together. Try and mirror her expression so it looks like a reflection of a different face. Nice, perfect. Now Aves, press against Suong and put your hand on her face. Yes, just like that. Suong, wrap one leg around Avery and one hand on her breast. Ok, perfect. M’kay, Avery, lie on your back on the lounge chair. Suong, kneel by her feet. Hm, could you take the bottoms off for this one?” Jonah asked, distracted by focusing his camera lens.

“Yeah, no problem,” Suong said dreamily, peeling her bikini bottom off without hesitation, revealing her shaved pussy. The boys’ eyes grew as big as dinner plates.

Well, Suong already did it. I’ll look silly if I don’t, Avery thought, cheeks flushing. Remember, it’s all for art. Totally normal and fine. Not making eye contact with anyone, Avery wiggled out of her borrowed bikini bottoms and displayed her cute unshaven slit.

“Woohoo! You did it!” Zach cheered, pumping his fists in the air. Caleb said nothing, but the intensity of his stare made it clear he was trying to burn this moment into his memory forever. Avery and Suong basked in the attention, glowing with pride.

“Great. Alright, Suong, I want your head in between Avery’s legs. Aves, lower your eyelids a bit, mouth open, head back. Yes, good,” Jonah continued, his tone remaining completely flat and professional. The girls dutifully took their positions. Click. Jonah took the shot. “Awesome. Now, Suong, kiss Avery. Aves, put your hands on Suong’s tits.” Click. “Ok, now hold each other close and stare into each other’s eyes. Closer. Hips touching. There you go.” Click.

The shoot concluded with some more tasteful artistic compositions: the girls making out, massaging each other’s breasts, kissing all over each other’s bodies, etc. As Jonah put away his equipment, Avery buzzed with happy excitement. What was I so worried about that for? Posing with Suong was so fun. She threw an affectionate glance at her friend, who Zach was currently dragging back to the house. Time for more boning. For some reason the thought made her giggle.

“I’m gonna take a shower,” Avery announced, shaking lakewater out of her hair and wrapping herself in a towel.

“Uh, Aves, you….” Caleb trailed off as Avery skipped back up to the cabin, towel only around her waist, tits bouncing freely. “Nevermind.”

Later that evening, Jonah lay on the couch, flipping through the shots he took the other day on his laptop. He wasn’t sure the nude shots were his best work, but they were definitely his favorite. Maybe Caleb would agree to pose for a shoot? And then after, Jonah could climb him like a tree and ride his nice, hard cock straight into-

Jonah shook his head, trying to dispel the thought.

“Oh, I like that one,” Zach said, leaning over the back of the couch and pointing at the screen. It was a picture of Avery lying on top of Suong at the very edge of the water, their naked bodies intertwined, faces inches apart. While posing for the shot, Avery’s thigh had accidentally rubbed against Suong’s pussy, causing her to make a surprised little moan. They’d all gotten a good laugh out of that.

“Me too. Shame I probably can’t use it for my portfolio, because…” Jonah paused, wrinkling his nose. Why was that, again? There is nothing strange about these photos, obviously. And yet, at the same time, Jonah was instinctively sure of the fact that these photos were not to be shared. “Um…” Jonah fumbled, trying to work through the cognitive dissonance.

“These photos are for us,” Zach finished, firmly. If Jonah had turned to look his friend in the eye, he’d have noticed a curiously dazed expression on his face. “We shouldn’t show them to others.”

“Yeah. These are for us,” Jonah echoed. “Other people wouldn’t understand the artistic vision.”

Zach laughed. “Exactly. They might even think they were porn or something.”

Jonah joined Zach in laughing. “What? Now that’s crazy.”

“Right?” Zach guffawed. “Send me that one, though,” he said, pointing to the photo on the screen. “I wanna jerk off to it later.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Jonah said, exporting the file. It was nice to think of Zach appreciating his work like that.

“Thanks, buddy,” Zach said, clapping him on the back. “By the way…are you and Caleb, like, an item?”

Jonah spluttered. “E-excuse me?”

“Bro, he’s totally into you. He’s been staring at your ass the entire time we’ve been here,” Zach said, smirking. “The man is thirsty.”

“I’m not– he wouldn’t–” Jonah’s face was turning red faster than a traffic light. “He’s straight, isn’t he?”

Zach shrugged. “Dunno. But I’ll tell you this much–I’m as straight as they come, and, no offense dude, but I would never ogle you like he has been.”

“You’re just imagining things,” Jonah said, waving him off. He couldn’t allow himself to get his hopes up.

“You want me to do some recon? Find out if he’s into you?”

“Uh…” Jonah hid his face in his hands. “Yes please,” he said, voice muffled.

Zach grinned. “Awesome. Intel collection is a go. Secret agent Zach, signing out.”

“You’re such a fucking dork,” Jonah sighed.

From the top of the stairwell, Avery listened, a cold fist around her heart. If Jonah and Caleb get together, I’ll be the odd one out. The fifth wheel.

Doing her best to hold back tears, she returned to her room and slammed the door shut.

Jonah was lying in bed, trying and failing to fall asleep. He kept thinking about what Zach had said about Caleb. He’s totally into you. Surely Zach was wrong, right? People didn’t want guys like him. If you were into men, you wanted dick, and if you were into women, you wanted boobs. Jonah never saw trans guys in porn. Whenever he posted selfies of himself on Instagram (which he basically had to have set to public, as an aspiring photographer) he’d inevitably get weird people in his comments saying he’d look so much prettier with tits. And the worst part was, he kinda believed them. What wasn’t there to love about cock and titties? In taking steps to feel more comfortable in his own skin, he had desexed himself in the eyes of the public. And while the improvements in his mental health made it undeniably worth it, it became frustrating when he was horny and wanted someone to treat him like a piece of meat. Like a sex object.

Jonah was pulled out of his thought spiral by a rustling sound coming from the other side of the bed. Caleb, who Jonah had assumed was asleep, was moving slightly under the sheets. His breathing was quiet but heavy, and his body was rocking back and forth in a slow, deliberate sway. An unmistakable way.

“Caleb?” Jonah ventured. “Are you…?”

“Jonah! You’re awake?” Caleb jumped, flush. “I, uh, I wasn’t–”

“N-no! It’s ok,” Jonah reassured him, face red as a beet. “I, uh, don’t really mind if you do that in front of me.”

“…Really?” Caleb asked, eyebrows raised.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, everyone does it, right? Why be a prude about it?”

“…Wow. Thanks, man. I really appreciate that.” Caleb sat up straight, sheets falling away to reveal his cock, furiously hard and red. “So you’re really ok if I…” Caleb began to run his hand up and down his shaft, still looking at Jonah like a deer in headlights.

“Only if I can, too,” Jonah said. That was only fair, right?

“Oh, yeah! Yeah, bro, no problem. Ah…” All consternation on Caleb’s face fell away as he continued to stroke, eyes fluttering in bliss. Jonah found himself facing Caleb with his hands down his pants, attending to his very needy cunt.

“Mmmm….” Jonah moaned, rubbing himself to the sight of Caleb’s gorgeous, stiff manhood slide between his friends’ fingers. Up and down, up and down. God, I love cock, Jonah thought, fingers circling his clit in time with Caleb’s hands. He was soaked, dizzy with need. It felt so fucking good, touching himself in front of Caleb. Touching himself for Caleb. He needed it. Needed to keep stroking, stroking for Caleb and his perfect, beautiful cock.

It’s fun to fuck your friends, sang a voice bubbling up from his subconscious, a voice that was not his. It’s fun to fuck your friends. The refrain was stuck in his head, looping over and over, and yet he forgot it after each repetition. It’s fun to fuck your friends. You need to fuck your friends.

“Oh fuck, Jonah, Jonah, I’m gonna cum,” Caleb gasped, bucking into his hand as he neared climax.

“Mmf! Oh, oh, Caleb…” Jonah moaned, approaching his own climax. They came together, Jonah collapsing on a trembling heap as Caleb sprayed ropes of cum across his body. They both recovered in silence for a moment, panting heavily.

“Hah… that was really good,” Caleb said, leaning back against the headboard, head damp with perspiration.

“Yeah…” Jonah echoed, rolling into his back to face the ceiling. “Uh, this is normal, right? Like, guy friends jerk off together all the time.”

“What? Oh, yeah, sure,” Caleb answered distractedly, pulling Jonah to his chest and spooning him. Jonah sighed and snuggled into his friend, enjoying the feeling of Caleb’s softening member against his thigh. Still, Jonah couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. He clearly just sees me as a friend.