Page 81 of The Key Holder

Dylan, true to form, made a delightful mess of the s'mores. Chocolate smeared across his cheek, and melted marshmallow clung to the corner of his lips. I watched him, laughing in the firelight and sucking on his fingers, attempting to clean up the remains. Without a word, I leaned in, gently licking the chocolate from Dylan's cheek, then kissed the corner of his mouth, savoring the sticky sweetness. The kiss deepened, the s'mores forgotten as our mouths moved together, mingling the flavors of chocolate and toasted sugar. My sticky hands found their way to his waist, pulling him flush against me. His arms instinctively wrapped around my neck, holding me just as tight. The ground, surprisingly soft beneath us, welcomed our descent as we tumbled beside the fire, a tangle of limbs and hungry mouths.

Laughing and breathless from the kiss and impromptu wrestling match, we ended up covered in pine needles and the sweet, gooey remnants of our snacks. Dylan’s eyes, bright in the firelight, met mine. "Well," he said, pushing himself up onto an elbow. "This is certainly rustic."

I wondered how he got chocolate on his forehead as I pulled a stray pine needle from his hair. "Maybe a little more rustic than I intended. We're a mess." I ran a hand over my own arm, feeling the gritty mix of dirt and marshmallow.

Dylan grinned – that playful look I was getting used to, the one I never wanted to disappear. “Well, I'm sticky, I want a quickie, and I'm pretty sure I have a pinecone stuck to my butt."

I looked towards the shimmer of the lake, the thought of its cool, clear water a sudden, irresistible pull. After all, Dylan had wanted a bath. Why not now?

"The lake isn't just for looking at, you know. It's been calling our names all day." I pushed myself up, extending a hand to him. "Care for a night swim?"

His eyes widened, then a slow smile spread across his face. "You mean a naked swim, right?”

"Of course," I affirmed, my voice a low rumble. "No one else is around. Just us and the stars.”

Dylan didn't need any more convincing. He sprang up and started taking clothes off. In seconds, he was completely naked. In the light of the moon, he looked like Adonis.

“My pinecone and I are ready,” he announced, hands on his hips.

“Let’s see,” I said, lunging forward to grab him, but he was too fast.

“You’ll have to catch me first.” Dylan darted towards the water, a high-pitched shriek of laughter trailing behind him as I gave chase, shedding the last of my clothes as I ran to catch up.

The first touch of the lake was surprisingly warm, compared to the cool air. I tackled Dylan with a loud splash, and we crashed underwater. Surfacing, I shook my head to get my hair out of my face, only for Dylan to dunk me, his laughter reaching my ears even beneath the water.

When I came up, sputtering, he was already swimming away from me.

"Oh, no you don’t!" I yelled, churning after him, pulling him back by the ankle. He shrieked, half-playful, half-surprised, as I hauled him close, spinning him around in the water. We wrestled for a moment, splashing and laughing, vying for supremacy, then he slipped from my grasp and twisted away. Breathing hard, he turned to face me, smiling, the whites of his teeth obvious in the moonlight. It seemed our playful chaos was over.

Dylan swam back towards me, reaching out as he neared. When our hands met, our fingers laced together, and he pulled himself against my body. Instinctively, I wrapped my other arm around him, holding him close. We kissed, the water lapping gently around us, an intoxicating freedom in the moment, completely uninhibited.

It felt like we were the only two people in the world.

The next morning, we woke with the sunrise, snuggled tightly in the same sleeping bag. I didn’t need to go outside of the tent to confirm the chill in the air.

“Mmmm…morning,” Dylan said, rubbing his face against my chest, burrowing into my side. “Can we sleep a little longer? You’re nice and warm.” He didn’t want to leave our little cocoon yet either.

“Of course,” I agreed, pulling him closer, content to drift back to sleep with his body draped over mine.

A little longer turned into a few hours, and by the time we got up, the sun had chased the morning dewdrops—and chill—away. While Dylan raced into the woods to answer the call of the wild, I started preparing a simple breakfast of coffee, oatmeal, and bananas.

Over our meal, we decided to explore more of the area around our campsite. There was a small, less-traveled path on the other side of our clearing that looked inviting and Dylan seemed eager for the adventure.

After we cleaned up, I set up the water filter and purifier and worked on refilling our bottles. Halfway through the process, Dylan grabbed me from behind, forcing me to turn around. Before I could ask him what he wanted, he leapt into my arms, wrapped his legs around my waist, and kissed me deeply. It was the kind of kiss that took my breath away, the kind that made me want to wrestle him to the ground and unwind every strand of tension with my hands…and cock. But then he whispered, "Just checking if you're still real," he whispered.

"Very real," I confirmed, setting him back on his feet.

As we started down the somewhat overgrown path, his hand grabbed mine and we walked together. The forest here was denser, the sunlight dappling through the canopy in shifting patterns. We walked in silence for a while, the quiet broken only by the crunch of our steps and the intermittent calls of birds. Every so often, our shoulders would brush and our hands would reflexively tighten around each other. It was like even our bodies could feel the connection between us.

As we walked, the trees began to thin, and the lake was once again visible. And there, at the edge of the water was–

“What’s the big mound of stones?” Dylan asked, stepping ahead of me to inspect it.

I had no idea, so I pulled out my phone, typed "rock mound pathfinders lake" into the search bar, and hit enter. A few seconds later, I found a Reddit thread.

"Hold on," I said, scrolling. "I think I found it." I scanned the comments for an explanation. It wasn’t a happy story. “Basically, people have been putting rocks on this mound for decades due to an old legend about a forbidden relationship between a Cheyenne pathfinder and a preacher’s daughter. Kind of a Romeo and Juliet type thing.”

“They died?” Dylan asked, moving back next to me.