"Fata Morgana," by E Region

I woke to the sun setting at port,/
The good ship Jenny miles off course./
Oh, my Emma, great with child in Cork,/
Must be desp'rate for news!

Our mad, drunkard helmsman sobbed a plea,/
"Shoulda gone home. Don't let them take me!"/
'Cross the horizon sailed a dark galley./
O'er its stern no flag flew.

The pirates, they chased us into the ice./
Straight through our hull the shards did slice./
But no one came for our silk and our spice./
The fae lights shone no clue.

My fault! All my fault! My orders to stray!/
My fault for rimed nights, mine each bloody day!/
My Emma, I'll miss you that happy day/
Our child first sees you./
Their father still loves you.

Goosebumps prickled Chloe's arms, but after the chill, the delicious warmth of arms around her. She kissed him as eagerly now as she had back then, but he clearly wanted to make up for lost time. His lips crossed her collarbone and up the peak of one pale, puffy nipple. He hummed the tune around her, and that was enough to make her body sing with him. Tonight, though, he was full of surprises, moving further down to play a different instrument.

In a bedroom too tiny for her to sit anywhere else, one floor above the raging summer send-off, Chloe curled up on the bed. The boy plugged away at his laptop, looking for the right song. Looking at her when he thought she didn't notice.

“I don't know your name.” She didn't know anything about this boy except he wore a hoodie for her favorite band, and that made him the most interesting person at the party, and that was how she introduced herself, and he said they just posted a new song online, and now she was up here with him.

Alone.

His little lopsided grin sent butterflies wheeling around her stomach.

“Sorry. It's Corey.”

“Hi. Chloe.”

The song played.

Corey's voice filled that tiny room, singing softly, but with certainty. This was his song. They were his regrets for the opportunities he had missed. His words resonated, and she couldn't tear her gaze from his pained face.

“Are you ok?” He'd snuck a glance and caught her staring. “You look... uh, you look cold.”

“No, I'm... actually yeah I am pretty cold.”

Corey did something with his arm in her direction, but whatever. She had a plan. Unzip his hoodie. Pull his arms out of the sleeves. Get him sitting there in his gray t-shirt.

And wait.

And wait.

Chloe had kind of figured the rest would work itself out from here.

It was a real drag when things did not work themselves out from—

“This isn't a fair trade.”

"No?" She smiled down the butterflies and wore the hoodie over her shoulders.

“Uh uh.”

His little lopsided grin was soft against her mouth. The way he half-darted forward, then back, then all the way made her think he'd been with as many girls before as she had guys. The kiss felt special, and his husky voice came in fits and starts when they pulled apart, giggling together over the mad rush that possessed them. Then they were kissing again, and one ran into two into who cares this is awesome! She egged him on, leaning into him with an open mouth, and his tongue wrapped around hers, each trying to put the other on the defensive.

He suddenly shuddered and pulled away, and again butterflies filled the empty space in her lungs.

“What's wro—?”

His hand clenched around one of her boobs. They burned inside her bra, at some point they'd been lined with gravel. Only his hand, squeezing this one, rolling it around, offered any relief, but there was more relief to be found under her long button-down. But he needed, she realized, an invitation for that.

“Hang on.”

She popped open her shirt's last button, and his face, seeing her freckled chest strain against the pink bra, turned her on to no end. She'd been an early grower, and from the day she'd walked into middle school other kids, boys and girls, had laughed at her. She'd never let a boy see her in this state before. It was all moving so fast.

But she'd survived it all. And that little lopsided grin told her it was time to show off.

He kneaded her boobs with both hands as they made out, and she whined as he squeezed them together and kissed up her cleavage to her neck. An electric shock shot through her pussy, and stars shone above as he pinched her nipples through the bra. She slid a hand between them, making him gasp as she rubbed his chest. He dropped his arms, ready to pull the shirt off.

The song ended. Someone downstairs was shouting.

Several someones downstairs were shouting.

It sounded like everyone downstairs was shouting.

Chloe was intimately aware of a vibrating in her pants. She'd missed two messages from her ride:

Meagan 12:14 Cops coming. Go thru backyard & meet at car.

Meagan 12:15 THEIR HERE WTF ARE YOU

“Shit!” The stairs were a no-go, too narrow to avoid someone coming up. They were trapped on this floor. More red and blue lights were flashing on through the window every...

That's it!

The bedroom window overlooked the backyard, and she moved fast before the decorative trellis could collapse under her. From there she had one last **** sprint across the open lawn and a scramble over the picket fence, where Meagan's car was pulling away.

Chloe expected Meagan to chew her out as they tore off, but all she offered was, "Nice outfit. Where's the rest of it?"

Speaking of chewing out, Corey had pulled her red swimsuit to her knees and spread her labia. She marveled that anyone's tongue could be so dextrous, each flick of her clit an ache for the years that could have been.

“You owe me big time for that hoodie.”

She shuddered as his juicy fingers claimed her mouth. She sucked him, ravenous for his flesh, not least because she couldn't tell his taste from hers. She hummed their song into him, and he shuddered when she finished cleaning him with one last lick.

"Mmm, what do you want for it?"

They giggled together as he kissed up her thighs, her stomach, her breasts, her neck.