Waterways (40 page)

“I got it!” he crowed the moment Samaki picked up the phone.

He could picture the fox’s grin without having to see it. “Yeah!” Samaki yelled back. “When do you want to take our car for a spin?”

Kory beamed. “How about tonight?”

Eight hours later, when Mr. Roden had come home and given Samaki the car, the fox dropped the keys into Kory’s paw. “Don’t crash it.”

Kory grinned, to hide the nervousness he found himself feeling. “We can just go down to the river, if you want.”

Samaki’s teeth flashed in the light of the streetlamp. “What do you want to do down by the river?”

“Just drive there.” Kory sat in the driver’s seat and put his paws on the steering wheel as Samaki slid in beside him.

“Aww.” Samaki closed his door.

Kory checked and adjusted his mirrors, looked for the location of all the signals, and adjusted the seat so his shorter legs could reach the pedals. “You want to do something out there when we have a nice warm bed to come back to?”

“Point,” Samaki said. “I like brushing in bed better anyway.”

“Me too.” Kory turned the key in the ignition. He’d driven before, but this was his first time without an adult, and it was Samaki’s car. He turned the key, gave the car a little gas, and promptly stalled the engine. Face warm, he tried again, and got it rolling on the second try.

Once out of the main downtown area, he managed to relax, unclenching his paws from the steering wheel and feeling tension he hadn’t realized was there drain out of his arms. Samaki directed him down to the small park by the river, remaining otherwise quiet. Kory supposed he remembered what it was like to drive for the first time, though on their first drive down to the river, the fox hadn’t seemed nervous at all.

But Samaki was like that, more confident in unknown situations, at least on the outside. Kory had only seen him really nervous on the night he’d confessed his attraction to Kory, the first night they’d slept together.

In the darkness of the parking lot by the river, Kory stopped the car and exhaled, turning the key and letting his head lean back. “Very nice,” Samaki said, and leaned across the seats to kiss Kory’s cheek.

Kory turned his head and met the kiss with his muzzle, his tongue brushing the fox’s and then curling around it warmly. Their paws met, fingers interlocking, holding each other tightly. He felt again the safety and security of the fox’s embrace, the warmth surrounding them like water when they were together like this. When Samaki tried to pull back from the kiss, Kory pressed forward, not wanting it to end.

But eventually, it did. Samaki’s eyes sparkled in the dim light of the car. “Sure you don’t want to get out?”

Kory grinned. He could feel the pressure in his groin urging him to do just that, but, “we’ve got a bed to go home to,” he reminded Samaki and himself.

“True enough.” Samaki dangled his paw behind the driver’s seat, brushing it along Kory’s tail.

Kory rested his own paw on the fox’s thigh, looking out at the shadows around the parking lot without seeing them. “So what’s the prom going to be like?”

“You know what proms are like. Some lame theme, some lame music, a bunch of kids dancing. Drinking in the parking lot afterwards. The beginning of a new generation of public school students conceived that night.”

“You guys don’t get sex ed?”

Samaki laughed. “If you want to call it that. The ‘state-approved’ sex ed is basically ‘don’t let your filthy bodies touch each other until they’ve been washed clean by the purity of marriage.’ We call it ‘sex propaganda’ in the journalism club.”

“Oh,” Kory said. “They pass out condoms in my school. It’s like, we know you’re going to do it anyway, so you might as well be safe.”

Samaki nodded. “My mom says that’s how schools should do it.” His paw slid up and down Kory’s tail, making the otter shiver. “Course, they don’t even mention anything about couples like us.”

“Yeah, not in my school either.” Kory sighed. “So do I have to get you a flower or something?”

“A corsage?” Samaki grinned. “Sure, I’d like one. Don’t get anything smelly.”

“I’ll get a rose and dip it in perfume.” Kory giggled and squirmed as the fox’s paw tickled his tail. “Okay, okay. What about a tux?”

“We can rent those. I’ll find a place. We’ll go get fitted in April.”

Kory looked out at the night again. “It’s getting a little chilly. Want to get back?”

The fox withdrew his paw and brushed Kory’s groin. Kory felt the pressure on his hardness through his pants, pressed up into it. Samaki chuckled. “Very much so.”

They barely said hi to Malaya upon getting back to the apartment, tumbling through the living room into the bedroom. Kory heard her mutter, “Boys,” as he closed the bedroom door, Samaki’s paws around his waist undoing his pants already.

They fell to the bed together, the last remnants of their clothes shed moments later. Samaki stroked Kory’s hardness warmly up and down, fingerpads sliding along the hot flesh with gentle passion. Kory took the fox’s erection in his own paw, savoring the heat as they kissed again and again, bare fur to bare fur, pressed as tightly together as if they’d been away for months.

Feeling the warmth of the fox’s tongue, Kory came to a decision and broke the kiss, pushing the fox onto his back and grinning. “Tell me if I’m doing this wrong,” he said, sliding down the trim body, nuzzling the white chest ruff, the tight black stomach, and then the white patch of fur between the sleek, muscled legs, which parted as easily as Samaki’s muzzle had, allowing him to crouch between them.

“You’re doing fine,” Samaki murmured. His tail twitched against the bed, paws working into the sheets.

Kory brushed his muzzle against the dark shape of the fox’s shaft, lying hot and ready against the white fur surrounding it. He touched it tentatively with his tongue and then licked more confidently, remembering how Samaki had always started with him and trying to imitate that.

In moments, the fox moaned encouragement, his shaft bouncing up under Kory’s licks, and Kory hesitated only a moment before plunging his muzzle down over the whole thing.

It was cooler than he would have thought, but then, the inside of his muzzle was warm. He tried, again, to remember how Samaki had pleasured him with his muzzle, but the best he could remember was to keep his teeth well away from the delicate skin. Samaki didn’t seem to be complaining at all about the way he was doing it, so he kept on, and only grazed the fox with his teeth once.

The problem was, Samaki didn’t seem any closer to finishing. After a few minutes of the warm shaft sliding up and down past his lips and tongue, Kory’s jaw was starting to ache. He let the fox slide out of his muzzle and licked his damp lips.

Samaki lifted his head and smiled. “That’s great,” he said.

“Can you finish that way?”

“It might take a while,” Samaki admitted. “Try using your paw.”

“I know I can do that,” Kory said, wrapping his fingers around the slick warmth. He was pleased by how well lubricated it was, the ease with which his paw slid up and down.

“Rrrrurf,” Samaki said, panting. “I mean, with your muzzle on the end. If you want to.”

“Oh.” Kory bent back down, letting just his lips cover the fox’s tip while his paw stroked.

That was easier on his jaw, and more fun. Samaki made some whining noises he’d never heard before, and in what seemed like no time, the fox’s well-muscled legs were tensing, his back arching, his tail bristled out. Kory suddenly felt apprehensive, and lifted his muzzle away just in time, as his paw drew the fox’s climax from him, getting coated in the sticky mess as he pumped away.

“Sorry,” he said as Samaki lay back, panting, on the bed. He lifted his paw and reached for a towel to wipe it off.

The fox grinned. “For what?”

Kory licked his lips, which were still very wet. “I wanted to, I just…”

Samaki patted his paw. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It still felt good.”

That didn’t completely drive out the guilty feelings, but it did let Kory relax. He smiled as he finished cleaning Samaki’s fur, dragging his claws across the fox’s damp stomach. Samaki rested only for a couple minutes before pushing Kory down to the bed and straddling him, taking Kory in his paw and stroking gently. Kory had been half-afraid that Samaki would take him in the muzzle, as if to show what a better boyfriend he was, but the fox simply slid his warm paw up and down with that nice familiar motion until Kory cried out and bucked against Samaki’s weight, feeling his body shudder and spark, the warm rush that had built in him exploding free.

Guilt and worry were gone, nothing left but the fading warmth inside him, replaced by the warm black fur at his side. The fox’s slender muzzle nuzzled his, their paws twining as they sank together to the bed and fell asleep.

On his way to the bus stop Monday morning, he was lost in reminiscing about Saturday night, resolving to try to let Samaki finish in his muzzle next time, when he vaguely registered a car pacing him along the street. He looked over and saw Flora’s black-and-white muzzle grinning at him. When he waved, she gestured at him to get in.

“I was honking, like, forever,” she said. “You musta been really lost in daydreams. I get like that sometimes, but it can be dangerous walking around the streets here. What were you thinking of?”

“Uh, school,” Kory said, willing his sheath to fall in line with his story. “What’s up?”

“I passed! I mean, obviously. So Mom let me take the car in this morning. Want a ride to school?”

He hesitated, more because it was a change to his routine than for any other reason. Flora said, “I know it’s cold, but we can keep the windows open if you want.”

“Oh, no, I don’t mind,” Kory said. “Sure.” He got in next to her. Really, the smell of skunk wasn’t that much worse than the odor of fox in Samaki’s car.

“This is so much fun.” Flora checked her mirrors twice before pulling away from the curb. “My mom let me drive with her in the car, but this is the first time I’ve been on my own.”

Kory checked the car clock. “We’re gonna be really early.”

“Maybe not,” Flora said. “I wanted to give myself a lot of extra time to be careful. My mom wanted to come with me, but she had to work early, so I’m going to drive to her office over lunch and she’s going to drive me back to school.” She came to a full stop at the stop sign and waited as someone else came to a stop and then continued through on the cross street, rolling slowly forward and checking both ways until she was completely clear of the intersection.

“You could’ve gone before him,” Kory said.

“I know. I have time, though. I don’t want to get in an accident.” She answered without any irritation, speeding up slowly. “I’m mostly worried about merging onto the freeway. I did it a couple times with my mom, but never at this time of the morning. Have you driven on the freeway?”

Kory nodded. “But only late at night. And only once.”

“Did you go driving with your mom at all? My dad wouldn’t take me. He doesn’t want me driving. He thinks it’s dangerous.” She snorted.

“No,” Kory said, craning his head back to check the traffic they were merging into.

“I noticed she wasn’t at the DMV, or maybe she was just in the bathroom, but my mom asked why you were there by yourself. I thought I heard you weren’t living with your mom any more but I didn’t know why.”

Kory turned forward and fidgeted with his book bag. “Uh, well, it was just… she’s going through some stuff…”

“I don’t want to pry,” Flora said. “I was just wondering if, you know, you moved in with your boyfriend or what.”

Kory’s fur prickled all over, as though he’d walked out into the winter air directly from soaking in the pool. He felt his breathing quicken. “We take the Second Street exit to get to school, right?”

Flora looked ahead and nodded. “That’s how I usually go. I’m sorry, if you don’t want to talk about it or if you just broke up or something, that’s cool. I don’t want to be a pain, just talking. I know when I broke up with Kel I just wanted to talk to anyone about it. Did you break up?”

“No,” Kory said, “it’s…” He felt trapped, and wished he hadn’t gotten into the car.

“It’s cool,” Flora said. “I saw you guys together downtown in the fall. He’s pretty cute. But he doesn’t live downtown?”

“No,” Kory said. “You saw us?”

“Sure,” Flora said. “I was running an errand for my mom, and you brushed muzzles with him and then got on the bus. You had to stand almost on tiptoe. It was cute.”

Kory wasn’t sure he could recognize Flora half a block away, let alone however far away she’d been from him at the time. He tried to recall all the times he’d gotten onto the bus after volunteering at the Rainbow Center, and whether there’d been a skunk nearby for any of them. “He’s just a friend.”

“That’s what I thought,” Flora nodded. “I mean, maybe he was European, right? They brush muzzles all the time. But then when Vera said Geoff Hill was making jokes about Sal being your boyfriend, I said, oh, I bet that was his boyfriend.”

Kory knew Vera a little better than Flora, a plump weasel who liked to talk almost as much as Flora did. She’d been one of the ones he hadn’t talked to since his outing at school. Through the almost-nauseating feeling of his private life lying out in the open, something nagged at him. “Wait a minute. You didn’t hear it from Sal?”

Flora shook her head. “He hangs out with those tech school kids.” She slowed on the off-ramp, taking the wide right turn onto Second Street.

“Oh, geez.” Kory put a paw to his muzzle.

“What?” she said, stomping on the brake and turning in alarm to face him. The car slewed to the left, snapping her attention back to the road. She grabbed the wheel and over-corrected, sliding right on the slick road and coming to a stop fifteen feet short of the bottom of the ramp. “Don’t do that!”

“Sorry!” Kory’s heart was pounding, though it had been only a minor slide and they hadn’t been in any danger.

Flora inched toward the light. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” he said. He couldn’t figure out how to ask her whether she’d been the one to out him at school or not, if it was her innocent word that had turned Geoff Hill’s rumors from speculation into fact. “I just, uh, remembered that we had another bunch of homework problems to do.”