Aka Amy

There was already a smile on my lips as I drifted awake. Memories of last night played through my mind and I felt that now-familiar flutter deep in my stomach. Tess and I were still in her bed together, I could feel her body pressed against mine, and one of her arms was loosely wrapped around my waist, her hand nestled just below my boobs.

I could have easily believed this was heaven. I was a cute girl, Tess was a beautiful girl, and we were cuddling in bed together. And I was the little spoon, I never dreamed how nice that would feel. It was like being loved, cherished, and protected, all at the same time.

From the light coming in around the curtains I knew it wasn't too early, but I didn't dare move to look at the clock. I didn't want to disturb the beautiful redhead who was holding me. Instead I let myself relax as I lay there, happy to just experience that moment for as long as it lasted.

There was perhaps another minute or two of it, before Tess whispered softly "You're awake, aren't you?"

My eyes widened slightly and I whispered back "Yeah... How long have you been awake?"

"About ten minutes," she replied softly. "I didn't want to disturb you though."

That sent a flutter through me again and my heart melted slightly as I whispered back, "I didn't want to disturb you either."

Tess giggled softly, and the hand that had been resting under my boobs moved to cup one of them. Her thumb and forefinger found the nipple and gave it a little pinch.

"Eeep!" I squeaked, as I felt a shock of pleasure shoot outwards from her touch, before settling deep between my legs.

Her lips brushed against my neck as she whispered, "You make the most adorable little noises, you know that?"

I took a deep breath then responded, "N-not fair. And you make some cute - Eeep!"

She pinched again, and this time added a gentle tug. By now both of my nipples were standing out at full attention, and I could feel that warm needy wetness growing between my legs again. My breathing had sped up, along with my heart rate.

Tess kissed my neck and she asked softly, "Would you like me to continue? Or would you rather we got up? It's just past nine o'clock."

I gulped and licked my lips. I didn't have to think it over, not that I was thinking very clearly at that point anyways. I whispered, "M-more. Please."

"Good answer," she responded, as she shifted to pull me in closer against her.

I pretty much melted at that point, and the two of us enthusiastically picked up where we left off last night.

It wasn't till about eleven when we finally dragged ourselves out of Tess's bed. She put the coffee machine on, but neither of us bothered to dress just yet. Something about that casual nudity around each other made me happy.

I was sure part of it was from the sense of validation and acceptance, like yeah we were both girls, there was nothing to be shy or embarrassed about. And part of it was probably from the sense of familiarity and appreciation that we'd become close enough to each other that we were just comfortable not being covered up.

Once we had our morning drinks ready, the two of us returned to the living-room and settled on the sofa.

Tess had a deep sip of her coffee then sighed happily. She finally asked, "So what's the plan? Go out for breakfast, then hiking?"

I enjoyed some coffee as well before I replied, "How about we save that for tomorrow? We can go out and get brunch like we did last week?"

"Sure," she nodded. "So what do you want for breakfast?"

"We've got the rest of the pizza and a couple wings left from last night, let's just have that?" I suggested.

Tess shrugged "Ok. What do you want to do for dinner then? We could pick up Chinese after our hike?"

I smiled, "Actually I have something planned for dinner. A bit of a surprise, if that's ok?"

She raised an eyebrow but she was smiling as well as she responded, "Oh? I'm intrigued. But sure, that sounds like fun."

She had another sip of coffee, then made of point of letting her eyes sweep up and down over my naked self as she grinned, "This works out great, it means we don't have to get dressed till after breakfast. I get to enjoy the view that much longer."

My cheeks went red but I smiled back at her, "Same."

Despite our teasing, it wasn't actually all that sexy eating left-over pizza in the nude. Though I suppose it was still better than eating it while dressed.

After breakfast we had more coffee, then around noon we both finally decided to shower and get dressed.

One of my little discoveries during the week was that I didn't have to wash my hair every single day, and showering was a lot quicker when I just tied the hair up out of the way and got the rest of me cleaned up. Tess let me go first, then while I was getting dried off she got in for her shower.

Even without taking the time to wash my hair I was still slow getting dressed and brushing it. By the time both of us were ready to actually head out it was about half past one in the afternoon. I was in a pair of tight black jeans and I had a dark grey t-shirt ontop. Tess dressed about the same, in blue jeans and a green top. She had some sturdy hiking shoes on, while I was just in my sneakers at the moment. I'd swap to my hiking boots when we got out to the car.

We both grabbed our purses, and before we left the apartment Tess pulled a couple bottles of water out of the fridge and handed me one. "Better bring that along, it'll be another warm day and we'll be out in the heat."

"Thanks," I smiled as I stuffed it in my purse.

Like last time I let her handle the navigation. The spot she was taking us this week was north and slightly east of her place. She'd printed out a map with the route indicated, and on the back of the page were instructions and details about the walk, along with some notes about various sights and things to look for along the way.

The drive was nearly an hour, and Tess had us stop in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. It was like a patch of clear flat ground off the side of a lonely country road, nestled against some woods. She explained there was a fee for parking at the conservation area, and more to the point it would probably be full by now. It was mid-afternoon on a Saturday at the very end of July and the weather was nice.

So we left the car there and the two of us set out on foot. Tess continued to navigate, carrying that page she'd printed out earlier.

The first part of the walk wasn't so great unfortunately. We followed along some country roads, and it was nice enough but a little too paved. We could see the nature, but we weren't in the nature. Fortunately that changed after fifteen or twenty minutes, when we came to a trail that led off into the trees.

That's where it became slightly more challenging, as the terrain was hilly and while the trail was clear, it was also a little rough. Still, it was nice and neither of us had anything to complain about.

"Technically this is part of the conservation area," Tess mentioned. "But we're basically at the far corner from the main entrance, so very few visitors actually get this deep into it?"

"Nice," I smiled. "So we have it to ourselves for now."

It sort of reminded me of my video game, wandering around the woods trying to complete quests or just looking for random encounters. Except I was fairly confident we wouldn't stumble across any wolves or bandits here.

I had to suppress a smile though as I thought, if we did come across some monsters at least I was still more or less a cleric. I could call upon the goddess to protect Tess and I, and maybe even invoke her wrath to smite the bad guys.

"Why the smirk?" Tess asked, and I realized I wasn't hiding my grin as well as I thought.

I blushed, "Oh um... I was just thinking? Walking through the woods like this reminded me of that game I've been playing. I realized, if we're set upon by bandits or wolves or some other random monsters, I'm still basically a cleric-class character. I can call upon some divine magic to keep us safe."

She smiled, "Wolves and monsters seem pretty unlikely here. But human bandits are always a possibility."

That made me grimace, and in a more serious tone I said "Yeah. Actually let's hope that sort of thing doesn't really come up."

"Agreed," she nodded.

The further we went along the trail, the narrower it got. At the same time the terrain got more hilly, and soon we couldn't walk side-by-side anymore. Tess was in front and I realized what started out as a literal walk in the park had gradually become bona-fide hiking.

Being under the thick tree canopy helped, at least we weren't baking under the direct summer sun. And we could hear water somewhere ahead.

Tess mentioned, "There's a river that cuts through the conservation area. Somewhere up ahead we'll reach it, then the trail will follow the path of the river and lead us across towards the more populated part of the conservation area."

"Cool," I replied. "I guess we'll start seeing more people around at some point too?"

"Yeah," she agreed. She stopped to look at the map then added, "Probably not for another kilometer though. The river's about two hundred meters ahead, then we'll follow that for a ways before we reach where the map shows the trails are easier."

She stuffed it back into her purse and the two of us continued on again, but after a minute or so she asked "This isn't too rough for you is it Amy?"

"Nah," I shook my head. "It's challenging, but it's interesting. And um, yeah it still makes me feel like I'm in that game."

I grinned at that last part and Tess giggled a little as we kept moving.

Sure enough the river came into view a minute or two later. We were basically on the side of a steep ravine bank. The water was about ten meters below us and it was fast-moving, washing over and around boulders and swirling through tight bends as it twisted and wound through the forest.

It looked impressive, and it was also kind of pretty so Tess and I stopped there for a bit. We drank some water and got our phones out to take some pictures and a few selfies together before we started moving again.

The trail was even more challenging along this stretch and I could see why most of the visitors here didn't bother with it. In places the trail was barely six inches wide, with fairly steep drops leading down to the water. There were plenty of trees and places to grab hold of to keep steady, but I could imagine anyone who wasn't in pretty good shape wouldn't want to attempt this.

And more than once I was grateful for wearing the hiking boots rather than running shoes, as the ground underfoot was rough and unstable.

Our progress was quite slow as Tess took her time and kept a safe grip on trees and branches in the spots where the trail was treacherous.

We both had a couple minor scares where we lost our footing or the ground shifted, but nothing that was actually dangerous.

"This is a lot more challenging than I expected," Tess commented at one point. "I bet I'll have some sore muscles tomorrow morning."

I asked, "You're ok now though right? Do you think we should keep going, or do you want to try turning back?"

She shook her head, "We're nearly there. Probably only another couple hundred meters?"

As she made her way forward she added, "Next time I'll pay a little closer attention to the fine print. And maybe we should think about getting um, hiking sticks? Is that what they're called?"

"I think so?" I replied. I wasn't sure if it was the right term but it sounded good and I knew what she was talking about. I still had the game on my mind though, and without thinking what I was saying I mentioned "Actually I wish I had my staff with me. That'd..."

Tess and I both realized what I'd said at the same time, and she turned to look at me. Both of us had an 'oh crap!' look on our faces.

And then it happened. There was a swirl of golden light in the air, just like something out of the video game. The light faded and I was holding a tall, ornately carved wood staff in my right hand.