The afternoon spent swimming with their new friends was actually quite entertaining, but failed to distract Violet from her close encounter with Klaus. She could not forget the way his hands had roamed her body, or the way she'd so easily laid herself bare before him, nor could she shake the general feeling of a task left undone. At any rate, Sam and Joss were fun and easy to talk to. They had just graduated as Klaus had, and had driven much farther than the Baudelaires to come camping with their friends to celebrate. The three recent graduates talked at length about classes and compared old professors, waxed eloquent on the differences and similarities of their campuses, of their plans for their careers and their futures. Violet did not necessarily feel left out of this conversation, for her new companions were very friendly and engaging, and she liked them a lot. It was nice to do something new, to meet new people.
Klaus seemed to like them, too. Turning on the charm, he was funny, interesting to talk to, and willing to put himself out there. Violet could see why he had attracted so many girls at college, but she wasn't jealous of the attention that he paid Sam and Joss because he hadn't left her side in several hours. His hand was constantly in her vicinity, touching her lightly on the arm, or the middle of her back, sometimes playing with the ends of her hair. And it was easy to see that the way he looked at these girls, in his friendly and disarming way, was way different than the serious, hungry gaze he set on her.
Klaus was not the only one that kept his eyes trained on her. The tall, dark, quieter girl, Joss, watched her closely. She particularly took an interest in Violet, steering the conversation back to her if she hadn't spoken in a while. When Sam and Klaus drifted into a heavier conversation about some philosopher they'd each studied, Joss talked easily of music and movies, of her younger siblings and her large extended family. Violet found herself wanting to confide in this girl she'd just met, but Violet knew too many things about herself that would sound crazy if revealed to a new friend, so kept her side of the conversation light.
Long after the skin of Violet's fingertips and toes had pruned the young people played in the water, then later, they all climbed out and sat on the sun-warmed rocks to chat and to dry. When the sun disappeared over the far side of the mountain Klaus announced they better find a place to set up camp.
"You should come hang out with us this evening!" said Sam enthusiastically. "We've brought in dry firewood, and we've got hotdogs and s'mores!" Sam looked at her friend for encouragement, but the quieter girl only nodded her approval. "There's a group of us and you'll love them."
"Okay," Violet agreed to the idea, fairly eager to experience what it was like to be a young adult without any responsibility. "We'll see how we feel after we get set up."
"Great!" said Sam. "We're just down the trail that way" —and she pointed back the direction the girls had come from earlier, the same direction Klaus and Violet were headed— "for about half a mile. You can't miss us. We'll be the noisy ones, okay?" They waved goodbye and Violet surveyed her pile of stuff. Her sleeping bag was still damp, but her clothes were dry, though still smelled mildly of mildew. She wrinkled her nose, wishing she had a washing machine.
It didn't take too long to reorganize her pack with Klaus to help her. He filled the filter once more and they set off down the trail, only fifteen minutes behind Sam and Joss. They chose a sheltered area near a large outcropping of rock, dense with fir trees that filled the air with the unseasonal scents of Christmas. It took Klaus little time to set the tent up and for them to lay their sleeping things inside.
"Hungry?" he asked.
"Yes. What's for supper?"
"Looks like dehydrated pasta?"
"Isn't most pasta dehydrated?" she asked. Klaus only laughed.
"Or," Violet began, feeling her stomach begin to growl at the mention of food. "We could have hot dogs and s'mores."
"Is that what you want to do?" His question was simple enough.
"Sure," she shrugged. They'd spent the whole afternoon with Sam and Joss, what was a couple more hours?
A look of disappointment flashed across his face, then was gone. "Yeah. Why not? Real food might be nice." Maybe she imagined it.
They found the camp easily. It was fairly noisy compared to the relative silence they'd experienced on the trail so far. Sam must've been on the look out for them because she ran over to greet them exuberantly, taking Klaus by the hand to drag him around to meet everyone. Violet counted approximately ten to twelve people there, all young adults who smiled at them in welcome, offering camp chairs and long forked sticks to roast their hotdogs and marshmallows over the gloriously large and warm campfire.
This is the kind of camping that Violet remembered from her youth, before her parents had died or even before Sunny had been born. These people had driven to their campsite instead of hiking miles, and had been able to bring all sorts of luxuries with them. Compared to the Baudelaire's teeny tent and damp sleeping bags these people were staying in neoprene castles. Klaus took a seat on a log close to the fire, but Joss took her turn to take Violet by the hand, taking her around to talk with some of her friends. It was nice to converse with people her own age, even if they had very little in common. She found that if she was very vague about her life, other people mostly filled the silence. It wasn't that she was embarrassed by Sunny and Beatrice, but the situation…the circumstance was so unusual, she hated talking about it with strangers. And she understood that these people, who thought Klaus was her boyfriend, could not know he was her brother.
After supper and s'mores, an energetically enthusiastic guy brought out cases of beer from the trunk of his car, and everyone sat around the fire, talking and laughing, telling stories. One girl played her ukulele, and Klaus and Violet shared a secret smile over it. Someone passed around some sort of homemade cigarette, and both Baudelaires passed on taking a drag. Violet was not a big drinker, so by the time she'd finished her second bottle and started her third, it was getting late. By then, most people had dispersed into more intimate groups. Klaus and Violet, who had spent the evening being extroverted and friendly with their hosts, finally found themselves alone, seated close together on the log in front of the fire. Both straddled the log, facing the same direction, because just a moment before, Sam had sat there talking to them, and they had given her their full attention, but she'd excused herself so Violet leaned tiredly back into Klaus's chest, resting her head on his shoulder. Tenderly, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his nose into the crook of her neck.
A flicker of heat ignited in her chest. It was like blowing air onto the bank of glowing embers that were leftover from the fire Klaus had lit between them earlier that afternoon, before their little tryst had been interrupted. She'd thought a lot about it since then, about what might've happened if they'd been left to their own devices. Was it just last night that she'd confessed her feelings to Klaus? It hadn't taken him long to pursue her romantically, which surprised and pleased her. It's what she'd wanted, of course, but not what she'd expected.
Her two and a half beers had muddied most of her coherent thought processes by now, though, and she relaxed easily into the feel of Klaus at her back, sturdy and comfortable, her inhibitions at an all time low. Violet felt the pull of the alcohol. It always went straight to her lower abdomen in a weirdly sexual way that had her mostly aroused all evening. Now, she thought about how it might feel to go back to their little tent, what it might mean to be totally alone, what pleasures might be gotten from two bodies pressed so closely together in one sleeping bag.
Before she could suggest that they head back to their own camp, Klaus's lips began a soft trail of kisses up her neck, his hands finding the hem of her flannel to reach inside, his palms flat on her stomach. She shivered, goosebumps erupting up and down her arms and legs. Her nipples puckered uncomfortably hard, and she pressed his hands further in, holding them tight to her breasts. With her eyes closed, she momentarily forgot where they were until she heard some muffled laughter from one of the tents.
"Someone might see," she exclaimed quietly, stiffening in Klaus's embrace.
There was a low chuckle in her ear, then his whispered words, "Look around."
Glancing around, there were couples, and even one group of three, kissing and touching. Across the campfire, a couple that Violet had learned earlier was all the way from Alaska, were sitting so close together that the woman might have been sitting in the man's lap. His shirt was all the way unbuttoned, and though the woman's back was to Violet, she could tell that her's was, too, by the way the man was kissing her chest. Over by the tents, two boys were lip locked, kissing so hard they couldn't seem to part long enough to find the zipper of their tent flap. The low moans of a woman who was undoubtedly having sex emanated from the tent behind them.
"Oh my God," said Violet quietly, stifling a laugh by placing a palm over her mouth. She looked back at Klaus and he was grinning at her. "What is this?" she asked, her eyes wide and round.
He only shrugged. "Drunk, maybe? Or high."
He squeezed her breast again and she remembered what they had been doing only seconds before. She could still feel where he had kissed her skin, the wet left from his tongue and lips now cooling in the night air. Maybe she was a little drunk, too, she thought groggily.
She closed her eyes again, concentrating on the feel of his warmth and the slide of his hands over her torso. After awhile, Violet felt the press of gentle lips to hers, and she'd been wanting to be kissed, so opened her mouth readily when she felt the press of a tongue to hers. It took her a long moment to realize that it was Joss who was kissing her. Klaus straightened behind Violet, all the comfortable relaxation gone. His hands had fallen from her shirt, but he kept them protectively around her waist. This tall, beautiful girl, who had been by her side all day, reserved in a way that Violet appreciated, friendly in a way that included strangers as if they had been friends for life, slid her hands from Violet's knees to land on Klaus's arms.
"Don't stop," Joss murmured to Klaus, urging him to keep touching Violet. Joss began to unbutton Violet's shirt, all the while kissing her. It was strange, Violet thought, to be held by two lovers, to be desired like this. By the time that Joss's mouth traced the swell of Violet's breast, Violet was very turned on indeed. Joss's long braids were soft as cornsilk when Violet ran shaking fingers over her hair, and Joss's skin was smooth and as warm as it was golden when Violet traced her fingers over her arms and hands were trailing up Klaus's thighs.
"Violet," Klaus said from behind her, still close, still holding her up as Joss leaned into her. She was so wrapped up in this new sensation that at first she did not catch the warning in his voice. Then, in a swift movement, he was gone from behind her, standing up and stepping away. It startled Violet out of her tight little bubble of romance. "I'm heading back now," he announced tersely.
Violet looked at him, taking in his drawn expression and clenched jaw, then looked back at Joss, who watched the pair with wide eyes. Joss was the one to grab Klaus by the hand. "You don't have to go. Stay here tonight…with me and Sam." Joss tilted her head in invitation toward a tent off in the trees.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Klaus said, trying to keep his tone even. "Thank you for your hospitality, but I think it's time to call it a night." He looked meaningfully at Violet. "Violet?" he asked, but did not wait for her response. He turned and began a quick march into the night-black woods. Violet knew she had better get a move on before she lost him to the darkness, so hopped up, a little unsteady on her feet, waved a quick, inadequate goodbye to Joss, and ran after Klaus.
"Klaus!" she called, once away from the circle of camp. "Wait!" She stumbled a little on a root, but didn't fall. "Klaus!" His direction was indiscernible to Violet, and she felt her ire rise when he didn't slow or wait for her. "Hey! What is the matter with you? Are you trying to lose me?" Her sudden run through the woods had cleared her mind a little, and now that she was away from the large campfire, the air felt chilly and damp. She realized the sides of her shirt still hung open on her shoulders and she clutched them together with one hand.
He stopped almost as suddenly as he'd begun walking away. "You didn't have to come with me," he said unexpectedly, his tone cold.
"Why would you leave me?" she asked, feeling angry and a little scared at the way he stood so still, looking anywhere but at her.
"Why do you let everyone love you," he asked, turning his face away from her as she tried to stand in front of him, to make him see her, "but me?"
"You're mad about Joss? Were you…are you jealous?" she asked softly.
"I have wanted to share a life with you, Violet," he said somewhat incredulously, looking down at her finally. "For years, I've wanted it to be you and me. But it never is, is it? It's always going to be you and Quigley, or you and Joss. Anyone…everyone, but me."
"Klaus," she whispered, feeling extremely guilty now over her drunken kiss with Joss. She hadn't thought, only felt, and Klaus had been there with her— a part of it, too. "I'm sorry. Back there, that was…it was…I don't know. She wanted you, too. They both did. It seemed okay because you were there. I thought you were okay, that you might want that, too. I just want you to be happy…"
"Except, I never am," he said loudly into the night, gesturing wildly with his arms. Violet felt a prickle of tears at this unforeseen outburst. She was messing it up again and she didn't know what to do to make it right. He struggled to control his voice, but even soft, she could hear the anger. "Last night you said you loved me and today you kiss a total stranger, although I feel pretty certain you would have let it go on to be more than that if I hadn't interrupted. I'm not sure how you thought that would make me happy! Can't you see that I don't want anyone else, that I am so tired of trying to fall in love with strangers?"
"What do you want, Klaus?" she asked, and it was a sincere, not sarcastic, question. "What would make you happy?" He closed his lips into a thin, tight line, looking away again, as if the answer wanted to jump out of his mouth and he was fighting to keep it in. "Just say it," she demanded. She expected him to say he never wanted to see her again, or something equally as devastating. "Let's just be totally honest with one another."
"That's rich coming from you. When was the last time you were totally honest? You can't even admit when you're tired on a hike. How are you going to have a real conversation about heart's desires."
"You think I don't have heart's desires?" Violet said, pointing to her chest, hurt by the insinuation.
"No," he countered. "I just don't think you admit to them. You're so used to keeping everything you want buried so deep under all your excuses and your responsibilities and your insane instinct to keep everyone else happy."
She didn't know what to say, so said nothing. She wanted to be known, to be understood, and it seems like he knew everything about her already, had read her like a book. Finally, she nodded, knowing he was completely right, but still. "I'm willing to try…for you."
"In order to make me happy?" he asked with an eye roll. It was ironic, she knew that, but she did want to make Klaus happy. "Okay. Go ahead." When she raised her eyebrows in question, he explained, "You said you're willing to be honest. Tell me what you want for a change."
"I want you to kiss me," she said without hesitation. It was the absolute truth. She'd wanted him to kiss her mouth since first thing that morning, since last night, when she'd scarcely had a chance to press her lips to his.
He looked from her eyes to her mouth. A wave of yearning and anticipation rose within her. He took a step closer to her, looked at her mouth again and shook his head. "No."
A scoff of disbelief escaped her mouth and she took a step back from him. "And that's why I never say what I want. When was the last time I got what I wanted? Saying it out loud only makes it hurt that much more when I don't get it." A few tears rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them away angrily.
"I'm sorry," he said with an edge of sarcasm, still looking at her mouth. "You just got plenty of kissing in with Joss, so I don't know why you're complaining. What else do you want?"
"Why? So you can make fun of me later? This is so embarrassing."
"You said you wanted to try. Tell me."
Violet took a deep breath. Rejection was not fun, but she had promised to try, and maybe if she got it all off her chest, she could move on from here. "I want you to tell me you love me."
Shaking his head, Klaus let out a breath like he'd been punched in the stomach. "Last time I said that to you things did not go well for me." He took another step closer to her, close enough to reach out for her, to pull her hands away from her shirt so that it hung open and loose, and his whole countenance, body and expression, seemed to soften. Violet understood that there was an answer in his silence, that he did love her but was scared to say it, just as frightened of rejection as Violet was. God, were they a sorry pair.
Reaching into her shirt he drew her closer, curling his long fingers around her waist to rub restless hands up and down her sides, and it felt like a balm to her turbulent thoughts, and a little bit like forgiveness. She found herself backed up into a large tree, which she was grateful for, because dizziness impeded her balance for a moment, alcohol still stirring her blood to arousal. Keeping a steadying hand against the small of her back, Klaus turned his attention to her breast, running his fingers along the outline of her bra, before sliding his hand up over her shoulder to cup her cheek. "What else do you want?" Klaus whispered, his tall frame too close for clear thought, his mouth too far out of reach for the kiss she so desperately desired. His hand drifted lower again, pulling her shirt down off one shoulder along with the strap of her bra. He didn't linger there on her breast, but let his hand fall even lower, pressing into the waistband of her soft pants, into her panties to tease his fingers over her slit.
Violet thought she might suffer from whiplash at the hand of Klaus's mercurial mood. She liked what he was doing to her body, but if she were honest with herself and honest with him, she really wanted more. Aroused and left hanging for most of the day, she wanted the fullness of him filling her. She wanted to wrap her legs around him right now and let him pound into her, hot and fast, until she came, and then she would sleep off this infuriatingly dizzy, semi-drunken state for an eternity, and wake up back on Klaus's couch in his old apartment.
Klaus pressed his fingers deep into her, pumping them too slowly in her opinion, pulling them out to rub tight circles over her clitoris. "God, Klaus," she breathed, leaning her head against the tree behind her so she could look up into his face entreatingly. She could easily see by his open expression of want that she was not alone in her desire.
"Is this what you want?" Klaus asked again. She shook her head, unsure if he was waiting for a right answer, certain she had all the wrong answers, and partly in denial, because he'd been right. She wasn't sure she could say it out loud, to put into words the urgency she was feeling. "Violet," he said, his tone not as soft as before, daring her not to answer him after all.
"I want," she started, but had to catch her breath when he plunged his fingers deep again. Clutching at his shirt, closing her eyes, she tried again. "I want you to fuck me."
Klaus laughed low and dark, not ceasing with his fingers between her legs. "And you wanted to kiss me with that mouth?" She felt his breath on her cheek. She could easily turn her face and claim his mouth now, but she didn't, not if he didn't want it. "No," he said, still darkly amused. "I will not fuck you, Violet."
"Jesus!" exclaimed Violet in frustration. "Are you saying no just to spite me? Are you trying to punish me?"
She didn't expect an answer from him, but he said, "No…I don't know. No." He shook his head, leaning into her. "You feel so good. It would be so easy to fuck you right now, but that's all it would be. I don't want you to wake up in the morning and chalk it all up to some drunken fuck."
"I'm not drunk," Violet protested, feeling her legs wobble even as she spoke. She'd been so ready all day that she knew this wouldn't take long. She found the hem of his shirt, pushing it up to lay her palms on his stomach, sliding up his sternum to his chest, then back down to tug at the button of his shorts, giving her just enough room to reciprocate his actions.
He gasped at the feel of her hand over his erection. She stroked him several times with the flat of her palm, slowly, over his boxers all the way down to gently cup his scrotum. She didn't have much experience with a lot of male genitals, but Klaus was well endowed and her breath hitched as a pre-orgasmic pulse shot through her, causing her vagina to clutch at Klaus's fingers. With something to distract him, he inadvertently increased his speed, circling her a little harder, a little faster.
When she pushed his boxers out of the way to take him firmly in her hand, skin to skin, he thrust his hips once, and a small groan escaped his throat. His cock was hot to the touch, the velvety smooth skin slick with semen already coating the tip. She even enjoyed the feel of his pubic hair, tangling her fingertips through the soft curls. In all of her fantasies of Klaus, she'd only ever imagined her own pleasure, but she realized that his pleasure was a glorious thing. How would it be to bring him to ecstasy, to hear his male groans and gasps, to hear him say her name as he came? Well, now that it crossed her mind, she had to have it, she had to know.
With one hand down his pants, she threaded her fingers over his scalp, tugging his face close to hers to whisper mischievously in his ear. "So. You don't want to fuck me?" Klaus's erection pulsed hard in her hand in opposition to these words. "You don't want to exchange pretty endearments or kiss me? I wonder if I can't find something else useful to do with this mouth if it's too dirty for you?" And with that she pushed his hands away from her and dropped to her knees on the damp forest floor in front of him. He watched her in surprise as she pulled down his shorts and boxers with one sharp tug. Klaus's thigh muscles were tense as she wrapped her fingers around to the backs of them and briefly over his buttocks, squeezing. She kissed the skin of his lower abdomen, tracing that enticing line of hair, but Klaus had obviously run out of patience and protests. He cradled the back of her head and took himself in hand, urging Violet to take him into her mouth. He was incredibly gentle as he relinquished control, leaving only his fingertips on her scalp as an extra point of connection.
He gave in easily to the pleasure, needing as much from her as she had been wanting from him. Kneeling in the pine needles, she was surrounded by her sense of him, the smell of the small lake they had swam in earlier and campfire smoke, along with something that was innately Klaus. His musky taste was on her tongue along with the salty-sweet mixture of that transparent fluid that constantly leaked from the head of his penis. A sly glance upward showed her that his head was thrown back, face to the treetops and the night sky that peeked through the limbs, and she loved the way his breaths stuttered out of his chest, changing to short, barely audible grunts of appreciation when she took him as deep as she could in long strokes of lips and tongue.
It only took a few minutes before Klaus's fingers on her head belied his eagerness, urging her faster, which she obliged, rubbing her palms over the back of his thighs, feeling the tremble in his legs as he neared his completion. She kept going, even when his fingers tightened uncomfortably in her hair and he forgot to care how loud he sounded in the dark night. She didn't stop even when he tried to pull away at the end. Instead, she held him close by his hips and let him spill in her mouth. Contrary to her imagination, he was silent at the end, the only sound his heavy breathing.
When he could take no more sensation she released him and sat back on her heels, wiping a shaky hand over her mouth, which felt well-used and messy. She'd been through a lot of weird things with her brother, but this was, by far, the weirdest, and it left her feeling unmoored and etherial. She took huge breaths that matched Klaus's and vaguely wondered what would happen next. She was undeniably tired…and more than a little proud, and by the time Klaus had put himself back together, dropping onto the ground in front of her, she couldn't have wiped the smile from her face even if she wanted to.
Then, after all the waiting and fussing and arguing and just plain out asking, Klaus took her face in his hands and kissed her at last.