Holiday Awakening: Hiking with my cousin (part 2)

I awoke to the sound of birds chirping and laughter outside. What time of the day it was I didn’t know. For a few seconds I didn’t even know where I was. All I knew was that I was well rested and deep down, happy. I looked around the room I was in. A medium sized room in a wooden summer house. That’s right. It all came back to me. I’ve always loved that feeling you get in the morning. That brief moment where you don’t know where you are or what is going on. That feeling was almost instantly drowned with my own knowledge. This is Shayla’s room…

Shayla, my cousin, a few years older than me. A long-time family member and very close friend of mine. We used to always hang out when we were younger. Even in the last few years we used to keep in touch. We were very open with each other about our lives. We trusted each other fully. But last night, I had slept with her. I had slept with my cousin.

I instantly snapped my head sideways. Shayla was gone. Panic set in quite quickly. Shayla was probably out now telling our family’s what had happened. I pictured her, teary eyed, explaining the whole thing, her face showing the same disgust that the rest of our families would be showing. And I would have to walk out and face them all. Sit down and listen to them shun me for this incestuous act. Fear began to grip me. There was no way out. My family would never look at me the same again. I jumped out of bed, ready to run. Where? Anywhere. I grabbed my clothes and walked briskly to the door. I stepped on something which crumpled under my foot. A note….

“Tom

We need to talk about this. You know that. Your parents along with everyone else are going on a hike so they won’t find you here. I told them that you went out for an early morning jog. I’ll be back by twelve and then I really hope that we could talk.

Shayla”

I felt both relieved and afraid. I was off the hook. But I dreaded facing Shayla after last night. One of my closest companions now felt like a stranger to me. I checked my phone. Eleven forty five.

“Shit”, I cursed and Ran back to my own cabin. My brother was nowhere to be seen. I was relieved. Facing his questions about where I was last night was the last thing I wanted. I moved into the shower. The feeling of warm water on my body helped me to calm down a little, if only for a moment. I got out and changed into fresh boxer briefs and jean shorts and threw on a T-shirt.

I left the cabin shortly afterwards. It was another hot sunny day. I walked over to the pool in between the two mountain cabins and dipped my feet. The water was cold. It felt good. I lay back, ready to have a nap under the sun.

“Tom”, I have never jumped as high as I did at that moment. I shot around and there stood Shayla, looking down at me with a look of uncertainty. She looked more beautiful than ever, dressed in a tight fitting yellow sun dress that emphasized her rack and ran down no further than mid-thigh. It was hard for me to believe that last night, she had been mine.

“Are you ready?” she asked me. Her face was serious and stern. I gulped a little.

“Y..Yes”, I replied shortly. She held out a hand which I took and helped myself up. Silently we both walked towards the forest. I didn’t know what to say. It was a horrible feeling. I couldn’t even work up the courage to look at her. We both walked in unison for the good of half an hour without speaking, heading up a windy trail in the mountain. We passed a number of people. What I would give to be any one of them right now. We passed the stream from the day before. I noted the spot where we had fallen down the ridge together. It had seemed quite harmless at the time. But it was just one of the events which had led me to this moment.

Shayla didn’t seem to know where she wanted to go, nor did I. We were just walking for the sake of walking, daring each other to speak.

Eventually, I gave in. We had reached an opening. A grassy hill looking down on the valley below. The stream from before could be seen in the distance, now a larger river. It looked glorious. Too bad I couldn’t appreciate it.

I bumped into Shayla. She had stopped walking. I looked up at her. She just stood there, staring down at the valley. I really wanted to know what was going through her mind.

She spoke

“How are you feeling?”

What kind of question was that? I thought for a moment. Was this a trick? What answer was she looking for? I decided instead to just speak my mind.

“Shayla, I feel great. Last night felt right. I know you don’t think the same. I know it’s fucked up. I know if we were found out our families would never want to talk to us again. But I love you so much. I always have as a cousin. You know that. But I know there is more love there.”

Shayla stayed silent for a moment. She turned and faced me. Her face had a very caring and yet confused expression. I was proud enough of my answer.

“Last night was good for me too Tom. I’m not going to deny it. But you know this is wrong. We have been close since we were only little kids. I’ve always looked out for you. We used to be called batman and Robin by your Dad we were that close”

I recalled this. I had loved that as a kid but for the last 10 years had hated being called Robin.

Shayla continued

“If anyone found out, it would be me who would be hated. And rightfully. I should be setting an example for you, like back in the old days. I’ve let you down Tom whether you believe it or not. I really have.”

Her eyes were beginning to tear up. I don’t know what I was thinking at this point that made me do what I did but with no explanation, I moved in suddenly and tried to kiss her. She recoiled and slapped me hard on the face. I looked at her in horror. Her expression reflected my own.

“I’m so sorry”, she said quickly. Her voice quivered. I could tell she was about to cry. I hugged her tightly.

“Shayla, this is my fault. I’ve been an asshole. You can’t blame yourself just because you are older than me. I’m a grown boy. I knew what I was doing. I knew of the consequences. It took two of us to do what we did. And I know of the dangers, the complications and the bad morals that revolve around what we did. But the last thing I want is to lose you over this. I love you so much. Not just as a cousin. As a friend too.”

Shayla smiled. This made me feel confident.

“I understand that you never want to come near me again. That you see last night as the biggest mistake of your life. But I saw it as the best night of mine. I spent it with the person I care most about in my life”

Shayla remained silent for some time. Then she spoke.

“What you just said means a lot to me. It really does. Deep down I knew you would say something like this. It’s what I needed. You really are an amazing person”

Shayla looked relaxed now. She sat down on the grass and returned to looking out at the valley. I became suddenly aware of the sound of a nearby stream. I wandered over to it and dipped my feet in. It was very shallow. Laughter could be heard further up the stream and the occasional person could be made out amongst the trees. I looked back at Shayla. She was still staring out over the valley. My eyes fell to her figure. Her sun dress barely covered her upper thighs in her position. Her rack was pointing up at the sky as Shayla leant back, deep in thought. I recalled seeing that body the night before, bouncing up and down on me, writhing against me. My cock began to stir in my pants.

I continued to stare at her for some time, fantasizing about the night before. Shayla suddenly turned her head and saw my stare, my hand on my crotch. Her expression turned to a mix of anger and anxiety.

“Tom! STOP!” she shouted, standing up and turning.

“Shayla wait”, I called after her but she marched up the trail into the trees. I sat quietly, ashamed of myself a little. I was driving my cousin away from me. Something moved out from a bush on the other side of the small stream. Two young teenage boys stared at me with grins on their faces. A girl came running out after them looking frantic.

“Caught you!” she cheered triumphantly at the boys, who didn’t seem to care. “Who’s this?” she asked her attention now turning to me.

“I don’t know. But I think his girlfriend just broke up with him”, said one of the boys.

“Yea. She looked really mad”, said the second.

“Oh”, the girl replied. “Sorry to hear. Come on guys. You have to help me catch the others now”. She turned and scurried into the forest.

“Later doofus”, the first boy called and ran off. The second turned to follow but stopped for a moment to throw a pinecone at me. I hurled abuse at him along with another pinecone but he was gone.

I sat here for some time, deep in thought. I needed to fix this. I needed to make things go back to normal. Eventually, I decided to go and look for Shayla. She couldn’t have gone that far. I ran in the same direction she had taken. After a while I came to a turn and could see a steep path going far up by the stream to another clearing.