My mother and her sister were always pretty close which meant that our two families ended spending a decent amount of time together. We didn't live close enough that we could just pop over whenever, but we got together on most of the major holidays and usually for a week or two during the summer as well. There was a particular cabin on the edge of the woods that our parents liked to rent out that we had been going to for as long as I could remember. The summer after I turned eighteen was no exception.
I tended to enjoy myself most of the time even if the location wouldn't have been my first choice. I liked spending time with my cousins Erin and Laura, and even my sister Megan since we didn't always hang out all that much when we were at home. The four of us had long since grown out of the 'boys against girls' mentality that had left me rather outnumbered when we were younger, and neither had it escaped my attention that the girls had been getting increasingly attractive over the years.
The fact that they were all older than me and therefore had developed physically faster than I had probably contributed somewhat. I was aware that I probably wasn't supposed to pay any attention, but it never seemed particularly wrong to me on a moral level to acknowledge beauty. I was always more worried that I would get caught somehow, that one of the girls would catch me staring at them. I did my best to be discreet but I wasn't perfect.
The "kids", as we still got called by our parents, were mostly in charge of keeping ourselves occupied during those summer vacations. We got quite a bit of leeway as to what we did, even getting the use of a car if we wanted. One common activity for us was to spend a night or two out in the woods by a nearby lake camping, with tents and a fire and everything. The thrill of playing unsupervised with the fire had worn off a while ago, but it was still a good time.
As we headed off into the woods for our traditional camp out, I once again got stuck with the heaviest bag much to no one's surprise. Taking a little longer to get it settled comfortably I ended up lagging behind the girls a little, although I caught up fairly quickly since we weren't moving all that fast.
I ended up walking just behind Laura, who was the closest to me in terms of age being only a few months older. Probably purely because of our similar ages I felt as though I could relate to her better than to either Megan or Erin. I unashamedly let my gaze settle on her butt more than once as we traveled, though I had to be careful because she glanced over her shoulder every now and then to ask me something.
Finally we arrived at the site we had been using for years. The old logs we used to sit on were still there beside the faint outline where we built our campfire. If anybody else had visited the spot since last time it wasn't obvious.
"Alright," said Erin after setting her pack down and stretching, "I'm going to get some firewood. Someone needs to start getting tents set up."
"Aw, we just got here. There's still plenty of daylight," Laura pouted.
"But if we wait it won't get done until we're all too tired to do it properly. We've tried that before remember?" pointed out Erin.
"She's right," added Megan. "And I call firewood duty too."
That left Laura and me to set up the tents. I purposefully remained silent during the exchange because I knew it wouldn't help the outcome either way.
"Argh fine, let's just get this done. I want to go swimming," Laura said as the other two headed off.
"It won't take that long," I assured her.
We had enough practice setting up tents that it really wasn't a big deal, which is not to say I was any more interested in doing it than she was. I simply recognized that it was faster just to get it done than to complain about it, and probably Laura understood that as well even if she didn't show it. We actually finished before Erin and Megan got back which cheered her up somewhat.
"Okay let's go swimming now," she urged.
"We could wait for the other two, they won't be long," I suggested.
"Oh whatever," she scoffed. "They stick us with this job they deserve getting left behind. Besides, it'll give you a chance to perv on me a little more," she added with a smirk.
"Ah, you noticed that," I said, blushing and looking away.
"Yeah, but whatever. I don't care that much," she said, trying to dismiss my concern quickly once she realized her teasing might actually slow the process down.
"I'm sorry," I apologized, not sure of what else to say.
"Come on, don't be such a baby about it." Laura grabbed my hand and tugged me in the direction of the lake. "You aren't exactly the first guy to check out my ass, it's not a big deal."
Since it seemed like she truly didn't mind that much, I decided to give up trying to apologize and just go along with her. It was, admittedly, kind of a relief to know she wasn't angry about it.
I remained quiet during the short walk to the lake, still trying to process the new information. Once we got to the water I knew there was potential for the situation to become awkward once again since rather than bathing suits we usually just stripped down to our underwear. Actually, even having bathing suits might not help all that much.
Laura didn't make things awkward though, she simply started pulling off clothes when we reached the shoreline. She looked back at me as she finished removing her shorts and smiled to see I had only managed to deal with my sneakers and socks. She stood there for a few more seconds, long enough for me to pull my shirt over my head, then walked casually into the water.
"Slowpoke," she called over her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah," I muttered.
Erin and Megan showed up not too long after I got onto the water as well, helping to distract me from my thoughts. I tried to act casual while they stripped out of their clothes too but I think that just amused Laura even more. She at least didn't say anything, which I appreciated.
With the four of us together things devolved pretty quickly into splash fights and games of how long we could stay underwater without taking a breath. I gradually began to relax and enjoy myself as time went on, almost able to forget I had any problems at all. Until it came time to get out of the water and dry off anyway.
We didn't have towels with us so it was basically just a matter of letting the sun dry us off. I flopped down on the grass beside the shoreline and was joined shortly by Laura. I immediately noticed that her bra had gone semi-transparent from being wet and her nipples were poking rather prominently against the material. From the smile playing on her lips I could tell that she knew it too.
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" I sighed.
"A little. I never realized it was this easy to get a reaction out of you or I might have tried it before." She paused to pull her hair back out of her face. "Besides, I kinda like getting some attention now and then."
"From me? You must be desperate," I joked.
"Says the guy who likes staring at his cousin's ass," she retorted immediately.
I shut up after that, knowing it was not a fight I would win. I just hoped she wasn't planning on bringing it up whenever she wanted to win an argument with me.
****
Later on, after it got dark, the four of us were sitting around our fire when Erin started passing out wine coolers. Being the oldest she had always been the instigator among us, and so naturally had been the one to start smuggling out booze on our camping trips. Not that was such a big deal this year since even Laura and me were almost legal, and I suspected our parents knew about it as well.
I wasn't much of a drinker but I accepted the offered cooler anyway. They actually tasted alright and I wasn't in the mood for being teased about not taking one. I ended up downing two more before feigning being more tired than I was and crawling into my sleeping bag in one of the tents. I hoped maybe I would feel better after getting some sleep, I didn't want to spend the whole time feeling weird.
I listened to the girls talking and giggling for a while before drifting off into a light sleep. I woke up again instantly it seemed when Laura entered and claimed the sleeping bag next to mine, although it must have been longer than that.
"Were you asleep?" she whispered.
"Yeah."
"Sorry," she giggled. "Erin and Megan took the other tent, so you get me tonight."
I stayed silent and wished she had phrased her statement a little bit differently. Laura seemed to be just tipsy enough not to think about what she was saying, but not to the point of being truly drunk.
"You should have stayed out there a little longer," she continued after winning her fight with the zipper on the sleeping bag. "Our sisters totally made out."
