"Oh, that water's cold!" Christina exclaimed, as she wrapped her towel around her tightly.

"Wasn't it though?" Jessica said.

"I didn't think it would be that cold around this time of year, but I guess I was wrong!" Christina said, ringing out her hair. They were just climbing out of the lake after their little skinny dipping session. It had been nearly black out, and most of the girls had opted to go over on the other side of the small bridge, where they were partly out of sight. A few of the members had even stripped down and jumped in.

Christina glanced around until she spotted Taylor, who had been out for a little while, and was currently talking to another guy. He looked up, sensing that he was being watched. Their eyes met, and he smiled and gave a little wave.

Their 'relationship' had been going fairly well. She had come to the conclusion that he was too shy for Public Displays of Affection, but that was fine with her. They had gone out after class twice that week for drinks. It had been a lot less of a burden on them since there wasn't any pressure to act like they were on a 'date'.

He winked at her, and she giggled. He was actually quite the talker and joker when he was comfortable. His head suddenly flew to the right, towards the lake.

Christina's smile faded and turned into a look of shock when she saw what he was staring at. There was Michelle, walking up to the rest of the girls, butt naked. Christina gasped, the older girls and boys clapped, and the others just gawked. She picked up her towel, wrapped it around her then turned around to the now silent crowd.

"What?" She said.

They all erupted into loud hollering and clapping. She smiled, then walked over to Christina.

"Hi." She said nonchalantly.

Christina just looked at her, her mouth open.

"What are you looking at?" She said.

"How did you…I mean why…oh, never mind." Christina said.

"Okay…" Michelle said slowly. They all started to head up to the campground, where they had already set up their tents.

"Hey, that was quite the show you put on there…" David said, coming up behind us, his towel still wrapped around his waist. Taylor was beside him, and walked over to walk beside Christina as they walked up the hill to the tents. He looked over at them, and they were still talking about Michelle's performance.

"That was uh, quite the show, don't you think?"

"Yeah." Christina said shortly.

"What's wrong?" He asked, trying to get a look at her face.

"I don't want to talk about it here…but, you're the only person I know that I can talk to this about."

"That's fine." He said, tightening his towel around his waist.

"Well, I'll talk about it later." She said, looking at the ground.

"Okay. No problem." He said, not wanting to push the issue any further.

Christina looked over at his bare top half, silently summing him up. His stomach looked muscled, as were his arms, which were still tan from summer. His wet hair was hanging in strings just at his shoulders, and his eyes, were looking straight ahead. He looked at her in a concerned manner, then gave her a tight smile. She smiled back, then looked back at the ground.

They walked a few feet behind David and Michelle up to the campground then went their separate ways. Taylor was sharing a tent with five other guys, including David, across the campground. They had a bonfire going in the middle of the campground and five or six other tents surrounding it.

"I'll meet you out here in…fifteen minutes." She said.

"That's fine." He said. She turned and went into her tent, then he turned to leave, when he almost stepped into someone else. It was Dan, one of the older fraternity members.

"Oh, excuse me." He said.

"That's okay." He said, walking on by. Taylor noticed a tally red head clinging to him, and he didn't know her name. Only when he looked back did he see that they had their hands in each other's back pockets. He shuddered to himself, wondering why some people insisted on doing that around other people.

He entered his tent, still wondering what was bothering Christina. He changed into some loose jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt before running a brush through his hair and pulling back. He slipped on his boots and unzipped the tent. He wandered out of the tent and out near the bonfire, where a few people and five or six couples were sitting. A radio played softly nearby, and they were talking, all of them dressed in their pajamas. It looked strange to him, but he shrugged it out, considering the situation.

He looked up and saw Christina coming out of her tent. She walked over to him in an oversized long-sleeved T-shirt, some ankle warmers, and a pair of shorts, her hair tied in a knot at the base of her neck. He noticed the way that the shorts were nearly hidden under the shirt, and he could see her creamy legs…he shook the thoughts out of his head, not wanting to look like a dog gawking at her legs. She padded over to him in her bare feet, then stopped in front of him.

"Let's go over there." She said, pointing over to a dark clearing, around twenty feet from the campsite.

"Alright, but isn't it a little dark?" He asked.

She held up her flashlight.

"Okay, let's go." He said. She walked up to him, linked her arm with his, and started to walk. He was surprised, but just walked into the darkness with her. After awhile, she stopped, and sat down. They were sitting on some large, nearly flat rocks near the river, just side by side. She was silent for a moment, then she began.

"Taylor, have you noticed that Michelle is different?" She asked him, looking over at him.

"Well…I don't live with her, but I suppose she might be a little different…why?"

"Well, she just isn't the same. College has changed her. I mean, I've never been able to talk to her about some things, but lately all she talks about is guys and sex and just meaningless stuff."

"David talks about that stuff too. Well, girls, not guys, but yeah, I have noticed a difference." He said, nodding his head.

"Hmm." She said, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them.

"You don't have to worry about all that stuff." He said, patting her gently on the back.

She was still silent.

"Do you think I'm attractive?" She suddenly asked.

Taylor, taken back by this question, answered "I think you're very…attractive." He said. Truthfully, he had never really thought of her as really attractive like sense she was talking about, but he had thought of her more as just originally beautiful. Of course, he wasn't ready to share this information, so he kept his mouth shut.

She put her head back down.

"Why do you ask?" He asked her.

"I was just wondering. I mean, you're like, the first person that has talked to me after we've had our first date, I just wondered why you still act interested. I figured that it had to be something." She said, looking at him.

"Why wouldn't I be interested?" He asked.

She paused, then spoke. "It's just that…sometimes, next to Michelle, I don't feel very attractive. I mean, why do you hang out with me?"

"First of all, do NOT compare yourself to Michelle. She's a completely different person than you, and I hang out with you because you're not like all the others. I like you. I don't have a problem admitting it, even though David said I shouldn't." He said, shrugging."

"You do?" She said, smiling shyly.

"Yeah." He said. "Why else would I have kissed you if I didn't like you?" He asked, turning to her.

"Well…" She paused. "I just thought that it's what guys do on dates and stuff…you know, to have something to tell."

He raised his eyebrows. "Well…I haven't told anyone, and it's not just what guys do." He said with a laugh.

She smiled, then turned to him.

"Why did David tell you not to admit it?" She asked.

Taylor shrugged. "I have no idea." He said, looking at her. They sat in silence for a few minutes, the two of them trying to figure out just where they were in this.

Taylor looked over at her. "Those look comfy." He said, pointing to her knee warmers.

"These?" She asked, pulling at the fabric. "Oh, my grandma gave them to me last Christmas. I have tons of them. She's made me a pair of them ever since I was a little girl." She said, looking at them lovingly.

"That's cool." He said. They were crimson striped with a deep turquoise, and were long and thick, going from the bottom of her foot to just over her knees. They were a little big, so they sagged around her ankles, but one could see they had been used many times.

"They are something I absolutely cannot live without in the winter time, so I had to bring like, ten pairs." She said, smiling sheepishly.

He laughed. "Well, if you like them, why not?" He said.

"Yeah, that's what I say. Besides, no one else has seen them beside Michelle, and she just laughs at them."

"Why?" He asked.

"Because she thinks they're ugly and I should just go buy a pair of sweatpants instead."

"Nah, they're cool." He said, reaching over to touch the fuzzy, warm, wool they had been knitted from. "So, are you getting another pair for Christmas this year?"

"Yup." She said. "Every year."

"That's cool." He said.

"I can knit too, you know." She said.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah. In the winter time, I had to have warm socks, because of how cold it got, so I asked my grandma how to teach me how to knit." She said, pulling them up a few inches.

"That's really neat. Not every girl I've met can knit." He said.

"Nope." She said, looking down at them.

They sat in silence a few more minutes, then she stretched. "So, I've told you something weird about me, so it's your turn." She said, looking at him with a smile.

He paused. "Something weird…um, how's this; I can play the piano." He looked at her expectantly, eyebrows raised.

"Nope. Not weird enough."

"Well how weird do you want me to get?"

"Weird. Definitely weird." She said.

He laughed. "Okay…lemme think." He looked up at the sky a few moments before looking at her again. "Okay, how's this; My brother had a collection of Playboy's underneath his bed, and I always hated them." He said.

"Why? Isn't that like, every guy's dream?"

"Well, no, I mean, I never wanted to look at them. They were always right there, and I never did it."

"You mean to tell me that you never looked in them? Not once?" She said, her mouth gaping open.

"Well, when he brought the first few home, I did."

"Oh, well, I knew you weren't completely clean, Taylor Hanson." She said, giving him a light shove.

"Hey, you can't blame me that much. I was a normal thirteen- year old boy. I had raging hormones, for the love of Pete. I was just curious!" He said.

"Oh, okay, I guess I can forgive you for that."

"Well, I never liked looking at them after the first few times."

"Why?" She asked, not completely drawn in.

"Because, my mom caught us looking at them one day, and she had a talk with me and my brothers about them."

"And?" She prodded, sensing there way more.

"And she told us that those women were very troubled to be doing that, and that that there were very few women that really looked like that, and the chances of them getting anywhere near us were slim to nil, so I gave it up right there."

"Wow." She said. "That must have been pretty weird."

"It was, but I realize now that she was right. To this day, when David looks at porn on the net, I have no desire to look at it. It's trash."

Christina was amazed. This was a real guy talking. She let out a sigh, then looked over at him.

"It's good that you realize that, because it makes you sound so much older than you are, and I know a lot of girls like that." She said.

"I don't like any other girls." He said softly, scooting closer.

She looked at him, and grinned shyly. He hadn't kissed her since last Saturday night in front of her door, and she knew kiss #3 was on it's way.

"You should." She said, leaning away, a playful grin on her face.

"Why?" He asked, pulling away to look at her.

"Because. They like you. Don't you think I didn't see that older girl looking at you earlier."

"Nah." He said, leaning in again. "She was trashy."

"Oh, I see." She said, grinning devilishly again.

He snickered, looked down at her. "Why do you keep doing this?" He asked her.

"Doing what?" She asked, knowing perfectly well what he was talking about.

"Picking yourself apart." He said.

"Well…" She trailed off.

"Christina, what's not to like?" He asked, just before he leaned in to lay a soft kiss on her lips. He used on arm to prop himself up on the rock, and the other to softly touch her hair. They pulled apart, and she smiled.

"See?" He asked. She didn't answer, she just kissed him again, her ankle warmer-clad leg rubbing against one of the legs of his jeans.

Email: morisstories@hotmail.com