"Dirty computer, breaking down
Picking my face up off the ground
I'll love you in this space in time
'Cause baby all I'll ever be
Is your dirty computer
Dirty computer
Searching for someone to fix my drive
Text message, God up in the sky
Oh, if you love me, won't you please reply?
Oh, can't you see that it's only me, your dirty computer?
Dirty computer
Your dirty computer…"
Janelle Monae – "Dirty Computer"
"How much longer do we have to wait?"
Renata Gilliam sat in the back of the rental car at the Madison airport Hertz parking lot. The mini-van she was helping to pay for idled with the air conditioning on. It was eight o'clock at night and still hot as hell. They still had a three-hour drive to get to Buffalo Lake. Shawn and Bertrand sat in the front listening to music on the satellite radio trying to ignore her. It was the fourth time she had asked the question in two hours.
"His flight just landed, chill," Bertrand said answering her and turning up the music.
Renata's mood wasn't in the best place since she learned that their annual Grown Up Spring Break was being crashed by three additional people; two women coming from Chicago and a male friend of Shawn's from M.I.T. Erik.
"He's on his way," Shawn said glancing at his cell.
Renata positioned herself on the back-row seats for a good sleep. She didn't have to drive so there was no sense waiting up for this Erik guy to make his way over to them.
Her eyelids drooped shut and her mind reflected on the ten days of fun they all had planned once they reached her homegirl Soyini's family home on the lake. This was their seventh planned break as a large group, their third since they had all graduated from college. But it would be the first one they would have with three outsiders. Renata was not good at making new friends even though she tried. Her comfort level was slow at getting acclimated to new energy. Buffalo Lake was her happy place, the spot to recharge herself for the year. New people there made her feel a little anxious. Change was scary to her sometimes.
The music playing was soothing; old-school R & B, a little Luther Vandross and a little bit of Anita Baker. She found herself drifting…
"Ah, shit, look who it is!" she heard Shawn call out. She didn't bother to look up, just pulled her hoodie up over her face.
She heard a raspy voice answer Shawn and Bertrand.
"Renata is in the back, but just ignore her. She's being anti-social right now," Shawn said.
"'sup, Renata," she heard Erik say.
"Hey," she tossed out raising up her hand, but not looking up from the seat her head rested on.
She heard Erik tossing his bags in and then the mini-van was pulling out of the Hertz lot. At last. They were finally on their way after waiting two extra hours for Erik's flight to land when it was due much earlier. Damn delays.
The guy's voices rumbled about in the front and the rocking and rolling motions of the van had her dozing in and out. She caught snatches of their conversation, but when Erik started talking about computers, coding, science apps, and the new trends in biometrics with Bertrand, she lost interest and knocked out for good.
###
Dammit.
The two new women were taking the room Renata always had to herself at the house. And since they were late arriving, her, Bertrand and Erik were stuck down in the basement in the tri-level lake house.
"I'm sorry, Sis," Soyini said when she hugged her out at the van, "it was first come, first serve. But if you hurry, you can get the little room down there. Erik and Bertrand can fight over the couch and hideaway bed."
"Ugh…"
"Oh, don't make that face, Renata," Soyini said hugging her, "you can come share a room with me."
It was dark outside of Soyini's family home. Shawn had taken Erik to see the lake behind the property in the moonlight. She caught a glimpse of Erik's profile as he followed Shawn out of the van. Nice build. Tall. That was the most detail she could gather at the time.
"I'm a night owl, and I snore. So you know I have to be by myself."
"Go get that room then," Soyini said.
Renata gathered her things and hurried into the house. It was quiet for the most part, everyone else asleep after arriving earlier and resting up for the next day. Pulling her heavy bag down three flights of stairs she was happy to see that Erik and Bertrand weren't there yet so she called dibs on the small bedroom in the basement, which was really an old walk-in storage room converted into a small bedroom with a twin-sized bed and one tiny nightstand and lamp. The house wifi worked down there, so she was set. Lucky for her, the basement bathroom and shower was right across from the small room.
She peed quickly and hurried back into the tiny bedroom flopping onto the mattress. The twin bed was soft and she didn't even bother to change from her sweatpants and sweatshirt.
She heard Soyini showing Erik the basement, his voice pleasant as he chose the hideaway bed.
"Glad you could join us, Erik. We usually sleep in the first day then go into town for a big brunch. So be ready to leave at around one tomorrow."
"Okay, cool. I'll be ready."
The last thing Renata heard before she fell out for the rest of the night was Bertrand complaining that he had the couch.
###
Heat.
She was sweating in her clothes and the small compact room she was in wasn't helping.
Renata dragged herself up from the twin bed, her big thick body feeling rested but damp. It was eight in the morning. She had time to watch her aerobic dance video and get her cardio up—
Shit.
She remembered that she didn't have space to herself to work out privately. There would be time and other places where she could do her dance/cardio during the week, so she opted to go for an early brisk walk outside.
Digging in her suitcase she brought out her favorite travel t-shirt, an extra large black soft cotton number with a cute cartoon T-Rex on the front. She would wear it over her sports bra and her new work out leggings.
Snagging her toiletry bag, she slipped out and grabbed a towel and washcloth from the clean stack sitting atop a folding table perched next to the bathroom. Soyini was already ready for them. There were different color towels for each of them in the basement.
Renata didn't take long in the shower and dressed quickly when she got out. She tied her wet hair up into a high ponytail and went to find her sneakers and reusable water bottle.
Properly dressed she headed up the stairs and saw that Bertrand was still knocked out on the basement couch. There was no one on the neatly made up hideaway bed.
Up on the third floor where the kitchen was, she found the two new female additions to the group. They were out on the kitchen deck doing yoga with cute colorful leggings and halter tops. One was bronze-skinned from the sun, tall and lean with an athletic build and short sleek relaxed brown hair while the other was taller with wild curly dark hair, rich sepia skin and a thicker build than the other woman. They were in the downward dog position when Renata filled up her water bottle from the filtered water tap on the sink.
"Hi," she said going out to introduce herself, surprised that she was putting herself out there so soon. She normally would've gotten her water and left, but it was best if she got the intros out of the way while they were alone.
The curly haired woman looked at her and smiled when she transitioned into a new yoga position.
"Hi," she said.
"I'm Renata."
"I'm Celeste, that's Dawn."
Dawn stood erect and looked Renata over. Her face was neutral and not as friendly as Celeste. Maybe she didn't like being disturbed. Renata internally scolded herself for interrupting them. She should've just left them and had an intro later.
"Would you like to join us? We just got started," Celeste said. She moved her body over to make room for Renata.
"No, that's okay, I'm going to go for walk. Get my cardio up before brunch. I'll see you both later. Just wanted to say hi before it gets crazy in here," she said stepping back from their space.
"Maybe tomorrow?" Celeste suggested.
Renata glanced at Dawn who had her hand on her hip waiting for Celeste.
"We'll see. It gets pretty busy around here once we get started…"
"Well, anytime then. I have an extra mat in my car. We drove in from Chicago."
"I flew in. Dallas. Got here late last night."
Renata began backing away from them.
"I'll let you two get back to it," she said.
She walked down to the second floor and out the front door. Celeste was the nice one. Dawn not so much of anything. Stretching her legs, Renata decided to walk around the lakefront houses first, then cut down to walk the lake path back to the house. A quick one-hour brisk walk. Thirty minutes out, thirty minutes back. The bugs were already out and she found herself swatting mosquitoes and moisture flies from her face. And it was extra warm already. She would be sweaty already before she even left.
She set the timer and pedometer on her watch and headed East.
She made sure to stretch her legs more and do a few lunges as she moved, pushing herself to walk a little faster even as she had to start breathing through her mouth. Her thighs were rubbing together and she had to stop a few times to catch her breath. The crisp clean air felt wonderful in her lungs.
Her alarm went off and she automatically cut down toward the lake trail, gulping air, her lungs feeling on fire, but she pushed herself to step faster. She was sweating profusely now and pulled off her t-shirt feeling her large breasts bouncing heavily in her sports bra. Her skin was already turning a dark toasted amber color because of the sun.
The trees surrounding the path provided cooling shade and she slowed down for a moment, finally stopping to refasten her shoelaces. Bent over she heard a male voice call out, "On your left!"
She stood up quickly and moved aside, watching a sleek muscular body zoom past her in a form-fitting and expensive dark blue tracksuit.
The new guy.
Erik.
Renata watched him move down the trail and head toward the house. She started walking again, and when she found herself facing the back of the house that overlooked the lake, Erik was stretching his legs against the bottom deck. He watched her make her way over to the deck steps. She forgot she had taken off her t-shirt, and she saw his dark brown eyes travel along every inch of her bountiful body. The way he was built and the way he looked relaxed compared to her huffing and puffing; she automatically felt self-conscious. His athletic gear looked extra pricey up close. He drank water enhanced with electrolytes while watching her. Celeste or Dawn was probably more his speed. She held her t-shirt in front of her to cover the extra inches on her waist and all the sweat on her heavy breasts.
"Hey, you made it back!" Celeste called down from the upper deck.
Erik and Renata turned to look up and they saw Celeste and Dawn waving down toward them. Dawn actually had a smile on her face now. Renata thought they were talking to her, but they were staring at Erik.
"Yeah, it was a nice run. Y'all should check it out. The path is well-marked," he called up to them.
"We'll go with you in the morning," Dawn said.
Renata took that as her cue to leave them chatting. She didn't want to walk past Erik, but she had to get into the house. Moments ago, she had felt pretty good about her body, but looking at his physique and the other two women, she suddenly felt overly big. Her new athletic leggings were supposed to support everything down below, but she worried about jiggling too much in her backside, and now he was looking at her again before she could get away from him.
"I'm Erik," he said watching her closely.
"Renata," she said.
"From last night…Miss anti-social," he quipped.
"Ta-da," she said.
Were those dimples?
"Sorry about my flight being late. I know y'all were waiting a long time. I had to change planes at the last minute and it just messed up everyone's schedule."
"It's cool," she said.
He had a short curly 'fro that was meticulously cared for and lined up tight. A nice mustache, a cute little soul patch and some neat chin hair made him look nothing like she imagined when she heard him talking boring ass computer tech in the van the night before.
"Coffee?" Dawn called down holding a pot in her hand.
"Sounds good," Erik called up.
Renata took that moment to make her escape while his eyes were focused elsewhere, but he was right behind her when she moved onto the bottom deck steps. She felt him behind her as she walked up to the steps, and she just knew his eyes were on her ass. She glanced back and sure enough, his eyes were down there, and when they lifted up and met hers, he just smiled at her. It was a sly smile too.
"Nubaletics—"
"What?" she said.
"Your leggings, Nubaletics. I saw the logo. My homeboy Walter makes those."
"Really?" she said stopping.
"Yeah, he started the company two years ago."
"I love his stuff! They make gear for big girls that look so amazing!"
"He started it because his girlfriend could never find stuff that fit right or had some real style to them."
"They give a lot of support and they are so breathable. I really like the new compression ones that came out this spring."
"I'll let him know he has a fan in Wisconsin. You look good in them, Ma. Real good."
"Thank you," she said.
He pointed to his clothes.
"This is his new joint," he said.
"Wow, that is nice."
He didn't even look like he had broken out into a sweat, just a slight sheen across his forehead.
"A new airweave design, moves the sweat off the body faster and keeps the material dry for hours."
"I likes," she said.
She reached out and touched the fabric on his arm before she realized what she was doing.
"I'm sorry, that was rude," she said drawing her hand back fast but not before her fingers felt the solid muscle of his bicep.
"It's all good, touch it again if you want."
She made sure to touch the hem of his jacket keeping all tactile exploration on the fabric alone and not his body.
"You want to come up for some coffee?"
"I don't really drink coffee, more of a tea fan."
"I'm sure there's got to be some fancy tea in this big ass house. They damn near have everything else in here."
She chuckled.
"Yeah, Soyini's family have done very well. They don't even live here anymore, just use it as the family vacation home."
"I didn't know there were a lot of Black people in Wisconsin."
"Not really. Soyini was adopted. Her parents are white. We all met at Spelman and Morehouse and we started coming here for Spring Break in college. Now we keep coming back, even though it's not Spring."
"I was going to ask about that," he said, his medium reddish-brown skin being kissed by the hot August sun rising higher in the sky.
"We have to coordinate our schedules now. Sometimes we come in the summer, two years ago it was in the fall. We still call it Spring Break regardless for old times' sake."
"I'm glad Shawn asked me to come here. I guess you, me and Bertrand are going to be basement roommates."
"I apologize ahead of time, I snore."
"I didn't hear anything last night," he said.
"Good. It can get bad."
"I'll just have to wake you up then."
Dimples again.
Goodness.
"So, you and Shawn grew up together?"
"You could say that."
Cryptic. Now she was curious.
"We know each other from Oakland."
He left it at that even though she wanted to know more.
"Renata."
She turned toward the house and saw Mason her forever crush staring at her with a big smile on his face. New fresh cut. New beard. New management job with the insurance company he joined. Newly single…
"Hey!" she said walking over to him and giving him a big hug, "Sorry I'm all sweaty," she said.
Mason kissed her cheek and she felt giddy feeling his warm lips on her skin. She wondered what Erik's lips felt like—
Where did that come from?
She stood back from Mason feeling aware of Erik's eyes on them.
"Mase, this is Erik—"
"Shawn's Oakland road dog, good to meet you, man," Mason said holding out his hand.
Erik shook it, and Renata got a distinct impression that Mason was not happy to see Erik there. She knew Mason like the back of her hand. From freshman year of college until now, Mason had always been the alpha, the life of the party, the fearless ringleader that got their crew into all kinds of shenanigans over the years. He was always gregarious, welcoming, and sincere. At this moment, watching Mason shake Erik's hand, Renata sensed a false connection. Was he feeling a little competition? Mase the Ace? Interesting.
They were both extremely good-looking. Fine even. But if she had to stay honest, Erik acted a little understated with his looks whereas Mason wielded it like a sledgehammer. If he was in the room, he had to let you know he was in the room. Erik didn't seem to need to shine all that hard around people.
"Here you go…"
Dawn came flouncing in with a cup of coffee for Erik.
"I was coming up to get it—"
"No worries. Plain black coffee. You said earlier that's how you take it," Dawn said.
"Thanks."
It was as if Mason and Renata weren't even there. Dawn's eyes were only on Erik's.
"Is there more of that left?" Mason asked, flashing his most winning smile at Dawn.
"Celeste just put on another pot," Dawn said, her eyes taking in Mason's face.
"Let's go find you some tea, Renata," Erik said.
"I'm going to shower and get dressed. I'll come up in a few," she said heading for the basement stairs.
She was surprised to see Erik following behind her through the family room and to the stairs. He went over to the hideaway bed and picked up a black bag and pulled out a slim computer. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he sipped his coffee and scrolled through some tabs ignoring her.
Renata headed into her tiny bedroom and tried to figure out what she wanted to wear for brunch. It was going to be hot, so something light and cute would be best. She had a pink off the shoulder top and some cute white walking shorts. She could wear her retro yellow gladiator sandals too. She was happy she spent good money getting everything on herself waxed so she wouldn't have to worry about shaving on the trip. And since she was stuck using the small basement bathroom with two guys, there wasn't a lot of time to use a razor every day.
She grabbed what she needed for the bathroom and stepped out.
"Do you need to use the restroom before I go in?" she asked Erik.
He was distracted by whatever he was working on with his computer. She cleared her throat and a piercing sound came from Erik's computer startling her.
"Shit…my bad, sorry about that," he said tapping his computer screen. He reached into his computer bag and pulled out a set of headphones.
"What was that?" she asked walking closer to his side of the basement.
"A little project I'm working on for school," he said plugging in his headphones.
She waited for him to explain, but he ignored her, still working on his screen.
"What kind of project?" she asked.
He looked up at her. His face was deep in thought.
"Your project?" she prodded again. He seemed to snap out of his reverie and pulled back his headphones.
"I've been studying acoustic weaponry…sonic warfare tactics. I'm finishing up a paper on how sound has historically been used for ill intent in war. Basically, the militarization of sound. What you just heard were some samples I mixed. I thought I had turned this down. I'm giving a presentation at a symposium when I get back to school."
"What are you planning to do after you graduate?"
"Navy."
He focused on his computer and popped on his headphones once more.
"I won't disturb you again," he said not looking at her.
"Do you need to use the restroom before…"
He was lost in his work. She left him to it.
###
The brunch was both exhilarating and stressful for Renata.
She was excited to see all of her college friends again in one place. Soyini. Mason. Shawn. Bertrand. Niecy. Claudette. Octavian. Terrell. Vera. Evan.
Celeste and Dawn were Claudette's friends. Erik rounded out their bunch making the total group a package of 14.
Brunch was all you could eat and everyone piled on the carbs and calories like it was their last meal. Renata ate a good portion of her meal in the grilled veggie and salad sections. Mason kept raving how good the grilled squash and eggplant were, so she copied his meal plan and was pleased with the outcome.
As always, Mason dominated the conversation, in the beginning, roosting over the table by sitting at the head of it. There were plans to go horseback riding, line dancing at the country western bar, water trips on the lake in Soyini's family pontoon boat, and plenty of individual relaxation during the week. No doubt there would also be plenty of pool table games, ping pong, and several rounds of spades, dominoes, and Cards Against Humanity at the house.
Erik ate quietly and listened in to most of the conversations. Renata sat next to Mason and he was making her feel good by complimenting her outfit and the bracelet she wore. Whenever he broke up with a woman, he became a little flirty with her each time they saw each other, and she was hoping that maybe this would be her chance to win him over since it was the rare time that they were both not involved with anyone at the same time. The year before at the lake house, they had a wonderful heart to heart about what he wanted in a woman, and Renata felt like he was describing her. She was with her now ex at the time, Jackson, and something told her to call it quits with Jackson, like a dummy, and wait for Mason to step to her once she told him she had broken up.
But then two months later, Mason was with his new girlfriend, a slender beauty that had none of the traits he claimed he wanted. And she was so disappointed. But that relationship was over. And he was gassing her up with compliments. Until Dawn asked him about his new job and they both began chatting, leaving Renata to pick at her veggies. She watched Celeste talk to Erik and they seemed a bit animated with whatever they were discussing. All around the table people were talking and she started to feel like she had nothing vital to add.
"Hey, Renata, when do we need to leave the house for your interview?"
Soyini stared at her, trying to nudge her back into the flow of the group.
"We have to leave the house?" Mason asked looking at Renata.
"Renata is doing a live chat interview for this new gig she's up for. Girl, you should be bragging on it!" Soyini said.
Erik's eyes met hers. He was interested. So was everyone else at the table who were now staring at her.
"What's the gig?" Mason said tapping his fingers on her thigh.
"Stark Industries is looking for a full-time Media Manager in their L.A. offices, and I made the semi-final cut. I have a live chat on Thursday afternoon with some V.P.'s and if it goes well, they'll fly me in for a final in-person interview."
The group whooped it up and clapped for her, and she felt herself blushing a bit. She was anxious about the live chat and worried that she wouldn't do well. Not many people made it past the initial resume phase. For her to get where she was with the chat was huge. She heard Tony Stark speak at an invitation-only talk once and was able to shake his hand in her sophomore year of college. It was Octavian and his gregarious personality that pushed her to ask what Stark's company needed at that time. Tony Stark stared at her with his piercing brown eyes and seductive grin. She could see that his mind was whirling with all sorts of pat answers to give her. But then he studied her face and seemed to really consider her question.
"You know what would really be helpful, Renata?" he asked, glancing at her name scribbled on a plain white name tag.
"What, sir?" she said.
"I would really like to have someone smart, hip, and clever to be a liaison for me and my company's public image in new media. The guys I have now really suck balls."
Renata had laughed out loud and Octavian cackled.
"You have a nice laugh, Renata."
"Thank you, Mr. Stark."
She could tell his handlers wanted him to move away from her and get on with his day, but Tony Stark did whatever the hell he wanted to do.
"Renata is brilliant, hipper than hip, and way too clever to not have her working for you, Mr. Stark," Octavian said, elbowing her in her side to get her to talk. Renata was not very good at selling herself. She had confidence in her abilities, she just never had the confidence to pitch herself or convince others that she was the shit.
"Are you her publicist?" Tony asked Octavian in a teasing tone.
"Handler," Octavian fired back. Tony laughed.
"Are you still in school, Renata?"
"Yes. Spelman."
Stark reached into his suit jacket pocket and pulled out his card. He handed it to her and she thought she was going to pass out.
"You really are a chatty Cathy right now young lady," he said.
"I'm just nervous to meet you—"
"Don't be. I'm just a guy with a brain who comes up with crazy ideas. You're here because you probably have a brain too and some crazy ideas of your own. When you think you're ready to use that brilliant, hipper than hip, and way too clever mind, hit me up. Okay?"
Renata's mouth flew open and Tony Stark was whisked away from her by a tall thin-lipped blonde who spoke what looked like curt words into Stark's ear. Renata held that card in her purse, laminated three times, for many years. Until she received a tip from a friend of a friend from a media conglomerate that had inside info that Stark Industries needed a spinner. A media maverick that could wheel and deal on Tony's behalf in the online world. She took a big chance by tailoring her updated resume in cheeky bold letters with the words "Brilliant, Hipper Than Hip, And Way too Clever" at the top.
Somehow that resume wasn't tossed aside and actually made it through several rounds of phone interviews before she landed the live chat. She had to stick this landing because her savings were running out, and the freelance work she was doing now wasn't steady. It just padded her resume more. The last few months were feast or famine. She was glad she paid for her plane ticket a year before and budgeted for this trip. Her credit cards were starting to palpitate in her hands every time she pulled them out.
"Stark Industries, wow…" Erik said from across the table. "I did an internship with them a couple of years ago before I started M.I.T.," he said.
Everyone at the table stared at him. Anything affiliated with Stark Industries was a big deal.
"Did you want to work for him?" Renata asked. She would've killed to have gotten an internship. And Erik was tossing it out so nonchalant as if anyone could do it.
"Nah. Looked good on my record though. M.I.T. ate that shit up. I passed on it twice, but those people are persistent—"
"Wait, you passed on doing a Stark internship?" Mason said with an incredulous look on his face.
"Twice," Erik said taking a bite of the shrimp he had on his plate.
"Hold, on. You have to explain this to me. Who does that?" Octavian asked staring at Erik.
"What? His people came to recruit me for their Title Seven program, and I didn't want to do it at the time—"
"At the time? What were you doing then?" Bertrand asked.
"Annapolis," Shawn said.
"And traveling. I go to Brazil every year and the internship wasn't very accommodating for my schedule—"
"Okay, this negro is tripping. Tony Stark comes for you and you say, "Sorry, gotta go to Brazil." What?" Mason said looking Renata in her face.
"Y'all actin' like Tony Stark is the be all to end all. He just another privileged white dude with Daddy Warbucks money handed down to him. But I guess comfortable white dudes with money just hit different for y'all. Make you see stars and shit."
Shawn started laughing.
"No diss to you Renata—" Erik said.
"No diss taken. What made you change your mind?" she asked.
"I was curious. Someone keeps coming for you, eventually, you wanna see w'sup. So I did the internship. Focused on piracy and cyber securities. It was cool. Got to go to Brazil too."
Everyone at the table laughed.
"Anyways people, we need to be out of the house so Renata can do her live chat in peace. We'll go out on the pontoon and have a picnic so she can have some privacy that day."
Everyone agreed to the picnic and Renata got a look from Claudette to get on to the next part of brunch, which was the division of cooking. It was their tradition to have everyone fend for themselves for breakfast and lunch, but dinners were special. They pulled names from a hat and worked in teams of two or three to cook on a pre-assigned day.
Renata wrote everyone's names down on small notebook paper from her purse.
"Just a reminder, we have three vegetarians in the group and one peanut allergy. So your meals should provide something for the veggie people," she said.
There was not hat available so she grabbed an empty unused glass from the table and tossed in the folded pieces of paper.
"Soyini, you pull the names and I'll write down the teams of three. One team will just have two people," she said.
Renata's name was pulled to cook with Octavian and Erik. Octavian was only good for desserts and mixing drinks. Her best dish was a pre-made Stouffer's lasagna that she could pop in the oven. She didn't know if Erik could cook or not. She felt her heart sink. Just one more added stress outside of her live chat interview.
When brunch was over it was agreed that dinner that night would be pizza ordered in and that everyone would head out early to the grocery store the next day to purchase what they needed for themselves and the meals they were going to prepare for the group. Her group had the last assigned night for cooking, so she had until Friday to figure out what she could contribute with her less than stellar cooking skills.
Back at the house, wine bottles were popped open and brown liquor flowed heavily until the pizza arrived. Everyone ate outside on the patio furniture surrounding an open fire pit that Soyini lit despite the heat. Those who wanted to made smores while heady trance music played softly on small speakers attached to Claudette's cell phone. Shawn, Erik, Celeste, and Dawn were deep in convo and she watched Erik laugh a lot. He seemed to loosen up more around her friends both male and female. However, Mason appeared to be keeping his distance although occasionally he would walk over to interject some words with Shawn and Erik, carrying a freshly opened bottle of wine which Erik declined, but the women refilled their glasses with.
Sitting around the fire, Renata enjoyed watching her friends catch up and gossip about associates from school and their own families. Octavian sat next to her asking her if she wanted to get her eyebrows threaded with him when they went out shopping the next day.
"Just soft threading to give you that extra professional polish. How are you wearing your hair?"
"I was thinking up…," Renata said scooping up her tresses with her fingers as she watched Erik, Celeste, Dawn, and Shawn take a little walk down the lake trail away from the rest of the sizeable crew. She recognized what that stroll meant. Someone had a blunt or two. And it couldn't be Erik or Shawn because they flew in. She wanted to partake, but she had to keep her shit clean for any drug testing Stark Industries did if she got the job. No. When she got the job. She had to think positive. This was make or break time.
She spent some time discussing clothes and hair with Octavian before he began his usual topic of complaining about his latest boyfriend. Renata made a smore and ate it, wiping melted marshmallow from her lips when it spilled on her top. She was always getting food on her clothes. Just a sloppy eater. The foodie in her accepted her carelessness.
Shawn and the others hadn't come back. They had been gone for a while. No one else seemed to notice or care, so wrapped up in being together again and having fun. She wanted to talk to Erik about his internship, perhaps glean some helpful tips on how to get through her live chat. Ask him if he had the chance to meet Tony Stark in person too.
Evan was asking Soyini if her family still had their Karaoke machine, and she responded in the affirmative to much hand clapping from the others. By the time Renata had agreed with Octavian to get silver retro stiletto nails for her interview, she was standing up and moving to find Shawn and Erik out on the lake path.
The waxing moon was half full and provided plenty of light for Renata to trek through the trees. She found Shawn right away on his cell phone, his eyes blazing, and mouth running a mile a minute to whoever he was talking to.
"Where's Erik and them?" she asked.
Shawn made toking motions with his fingers, pointed behind him, and went back to his call.
Renata walked further down the path, noticing the empty lake house on her right that was for sale. Moonlight danced across the lake and the crunch of her sandals on dried leaves sounded like full-blown summer to her ears. How far did they walk to smoke-?
Oh. My.
She could smell the rich skunk smell of the weed as she watched Dawn and Celeste on their knees sucking Erik's dick.
Erik's thick lips took a drag on the blunt he held in his right hand as the women licked the sides of his erection, their tongues swirling on the skin of his length. His jeans were slack around his taut thighs. When their wet mouths competed to lick his tip, Erik reached down and with his left hand, he pulled Celeste up and pressed his lips against hers, his tongue prying her mouth open. Renata heard Celeste whimper when Erik's hand cradled the back of her neck.
Dawn bobbed her head on his dick, her mouth slurping, her tongue darting around the wide head pulling guttural sounds from Erik as he pulled his lips away from Celeste.
"Let that shit hit the back of your throat," he told her, and Dawn's mouth opened wide as she gagged on his heft trying to comply with his demand. A string of saliva fell down Dawn's neck, the silvery glint of it catching in the moonlight.
Renata let her hands drop to her thighs as she felt herself squirming where she stood. She could not stop herself from watching them, her own knees wanting to go rogue on her and drop down in front of him too.
There was an eerie erotic beauty to their private tango, Erik encouraging Dawn to take in more of his rigid length as Celeste licked his neck and nibbled on his ear cooing soft words to him that had him chuckling softly as he tilted his neck more for her.
"Don't be leaving no hickeys on my neck, girl," he told her passing the joint to her nimble fingers that were groping his balls before she took it from him. Celeste tilted her head back, snagged a couple of puffs while Erik stuffed his hand down her shorts fingering her. The trail of weed smoke hung in the air above them before floating away and dissipating above the trees. Erik dug his fingers deeper inside Celeste.
"Shit!" she squealed grabbing onto his shoulder with her free hand. Dawn was still working him down below, but Renata could see the woman reaching down into her own shorts fondling herself, her fingers moving wildly inside the material.
"Get back down there," Erik said with controlled restraint as he urged Celeste back onto her knees.
"Open your mouth," he said, and when Celeste did so, he yanked his cock from Dawn's mouth and jammed it into Celeste's.
"Erik!" Dawn whined pawing for his dick to go back into her greedy pleading mouth.
"You gotta share my shit," he responded, lightly slapping her face with the tips of his fingers making her pout more before she pressed her anxious lips into his balls.
Renata couldn't take anymore and wanted to leave, her nipples already poking through her top, her legs wobbly, and her clit pulsing between her thick thighs.
"Fuck!" Erik roared, and Renata watched him spurt a potent load of cum on both their faces.
He started laughing at them.
"Damn, y'all!" he said rubbing his tip back and forth across both their cheeks and lips.
"You said you were going to let us know when you were about to cum," Dawn said swiping some of his dripping fluid from her hair.
"I forgot—"
"You are such a liar," Celeste said giggling and licking cum that smeared her lips.
Renata took a step back to sneak away from them and her movement caught Erik's attention but not the women. His head swiveled in her direction and when she tried to duck behind a tree, she miscalculated the distance and the waxing light of the moon grazed her face and he saw her. She chewed on her bottom lip then scurried away.
She hustled past Shawn who was still on his phone oblivious to everything.
She bee-lined it toward the front of the lake house so the others wouldn't see her, using the side door of the family room to slip in unnoticed. She ran down the basement stairs and hid inside her tiny bedroom.
When her heart stopped pounding in her chest, she slipped her fingers down her own shorts and wiggled them down inside her panties. She was sopping wet between her folds, a copious amount of her own juices soaking her underwear making it hot and sticky to the touch.
She spread her thighs wide and plundered her own pussy. The swelling in her clit made her cry out when she touched it, desperate visions of him thrusting his erection between their lips guiding her craven fingers.
"Oh, shit," she panted as she felt herself working to drag out the sweet tortuous build-up of self-made passion she was feeding herself.
She fell forward onto the bed, unfastening the buttons and zipper on her shorts and pressing her cheek into her pillow. Thrusting her ass up into the air, she yelped at her own pliant pussy as she dug her fingers deeper into her hot center. She worked herself over with due diligence, repeating in her mind the words he spoke, imagining herself down in front of him, mouth wide open, so ready to taste him…tease him…offer herself up to him like she was a tribute or something.
"Oh, Gawd!" she sobbed, biting the fingers of her other hand when she felt herself surge with a powerful release, "Erik!" she screamed as her pussy claimed her own fingers with hard tight spasms.
She gulped in air as visions of Erik still danced in front of her closed eyelids. Hard gasps from her mouth yielded to more controllable breaths as she let the lower half of her sweaty body rest easy on the mattress with a soft plop on top of the checkered blue blanket.
A knock on her closed door jolted her eyes open.
"Renata."
It was Erik.