Snack Prep Time: Dancing in the Kitchen

Fresh from a shower, Hannah picked out some bright clothes she could move easily in, and set up her portable music box with a dance-along mix.

Project "Occupy: Happiness" was on its way, getting ahead of any weird dynamics with a blast of pure good vibes.

Taylor tilted her head at Hannah, who was silently mouthing the words as she chose her cooking music mix. "You think you might want to be an actual cruise director, Hanners?" she asked.

"I don't knowww," Hannah said. "Remember last summer? What a disaster."

"Oh, come on, none of that was your fault," Taylor said.

"Of course not," Hannah said, "But how do I know if the rest of the trip team is going to have actually DONE their job so that I can do mine?"

"Hook up with a fun travel group, who are on their fourth or fifth season? Enough so that they know the drill, not so much that they're tired of the routine?" Taylor said. "I can help do the homework so you won't feel it's wasted like last summer."

Hannah sighed. "You know, maybe I should have gone for a counselor spot at clown camp instead. It was a sure thing, and it sounded like they had great fun leading activities for the campers."

Heather listened in. Her dad certainly knew about trips and hospitality opportunities. Though Ravers Industries was looking at other lines of business for growth, hotel and resort holdings had been part of the family business from the beginning. And Hannah was energetic, fun-loving and practical. She had been admired for all these as cheer captain, plus her leadership and team-building. Maybe Heather could hook up Hannah with something better for this summer if Hannah was up for it. Hannah looked past Taylor and met Heather's gaze. Hannah kissed her fingertips and blew a kiss at Heather. Heather felt hot, and her heart beat fast. She'd been staring at Hannah, and Hannah had thought it was sexual. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Heather didn't have to decide one way or the other, here at the cabin. She smiled and blew a kiss back at Hannah, figuring she'd talk to Hannah later about the summer, or maybe ask her dad first about possible summer work. Wasn't Hannah a business major?

Hannah locked in her playlist and put a hand on the bedroom door. "I'm gonna go out and spread some good vibes while I play cook. Anybody coming with me?"

Taylor and Heather watched Hannah sashay out the door, swinging her hips in the loose, flared-leg shorts she wore as bottoms under a bright top. The thin, loose material draped flatteringly across her rear end when at rest, and offered tantalizing peeks under the hems when in motion.

"Hannah, wait a sec," Heather began.

Click! the door closed.

Taylor looked around to Heather.

Heather said, "Does she know she's showing off her goodies if she starts dancing in those? I could tell she wasn't wearing panties."

Taylor grinned. "Spring break energy. Or she's trying to put little sister Ashley Flashley in her place. Or it's a cruise director move. Or maybe it's just Hannah."

Or maybe Hannah dressed that way for me, Heather thought? She didn't know whether to be annoyed or flattered. She took a deep breath.

"I bet it's just Hannah," Heather said.

Taylor nodded. "Now imagine being her roommate."

"Oh," Heather said.

Taylor took a deep breath, shrugged, and relaxed her shoulders. "I love Hannah, she's my best friend. We are lovers. Absolutely. On and off, mostly on. But also? She's unstoppably Hannah, Attack Of The Fifty-Foot Party Girl. And it's Spring Break."

Heather guffawed.

"I'm kind of glad that Madison grabbed Zack," Taylor said. "Because otherwise I was pretty sure Hannah was going to pounce on my brother."

Chloe was leaning on the railing at the edge of the deck. The sultry heat of the day was giving way to a warm breeze in the late afternoon. She looked out on the blue sky, the gently waving trees, and the few, puffy clouds drifting by overhead. The serene beauty of nature, interrupted only now and then by a far-off shout or engine noise, soothed her worries about what to say, or even what her face might be saying, even without any words. She shifted uneasily, tilting her hips which felt awkward at any angle. If she knew the place better, she might go for a run, but even if the area was pretty safe, she didn't want any surprises. Her face felt warm, even looking away from the sun. If she was home, she knew she'd go to her room and masturbate.

Zack and Madison, a surprise hook-up on the first day. The unruly **** of sexual desire was throwing people together, and throwing people apart. Wild things happened when sex became real, and people couldn't hide their true feelings. Wild, dangerous things happened. People lost friends, they got angry with each other, they fought, they hurt each other, they ran away alone, they ran away together.

Chloe wondered if she could sneak into the storage area where Heather got the extra beds from, just curl up in a corner and touch herself. Maybe that would ground her, would clear her head.

And then she heard the music from inside the cabin. It sounded like a cheerful dance tune with a move-your-feet beat. She let out her worries in a long sigh and started to tap her foot. Curious, she headed back inside. Hannah was dancing back and forth from one foot to the other as she put together a big snack tray. She was wearing a pair of bright-colored lounging shorts whose short, flared legs swished around as she danced, moving her shoulders and hips to the beat.

Chloe smiled and walked toward Hannah, letting her steps follow the beat with a little swing. Before she got across the living room, the music abruptly changed to a slow, soulful blues vocalist. Chloe paused, listening to the scratchy old recording coming from Hannah's music box. A woman calling out to her man, pleading with him...oh?

Hannah looked around. "Hey Chloe!" she said. "I'm fixing up some snacks, I figure folks will be happier with some music and a bite to eat. I kind of skipped lunch myself."

"What's she singing about?" Chloe asked about the blues singer.

"Oh, yeah, that's a dirty blues song," Hannah said. "Any kind of sexual double meaning you think you're hearing? Yeah, she meant that. She wants her man to come back and do her. She wants it in the worst way. She wants it now, she wants it bad. Sorry, it's not very dance-able. Let me jump it to the next track."

"No, let me hear it," Chloe said.

Hannah and Chloe stood together, listening to Lucille Bogan swaggering her way through the lyrics of "Shave 'Em Dry."

Chloe blinked. "A church steeple?" she said.

Hannah chuckled. "She worships her man's dick," she said. "But like us part-time lesbians like to say, no man is THIS big." She held up her arm, bent upward like the make-a-muscle pose in the classic "We CAN Do It!" poster. Except Hannah didn't make a fist, she held her fingertips and thumb together in a point.

Chloe cracked up laughing. "Blues music, I had no idea."

"That's where rock-n-roll got sex from," Hannah said. "The dirty blues. The Rolling Stones are basically speeded up dirty blues, sung by white men in public instead of black women in after-hours clubs. Let me take that one off the playlist and kick it forward to a nice girl power dance tune."

Chloe and Hannah bopped along to a more recent and more uplifting hit, trading verses back and forth as they took their time with the snack tray.

Lisa was next to show up. She had some suggestions for Hannah's playlist. "We're going to need another tray," she said. "Let me move things around. Hannah, will you reach up high there?" she said. "I think that's where Heather's extra bowls are."

Hannah got on a little stepladder and stretched out for the high cabinet.

Chloe froze, staring. She could see up the leg of Hannah's flared shorts and Hannah was Not Wearing Underwear and Oh My I Can See Everything.

"Okay, that's one bowl," Lisa said. "We could use a couple more. Check the cabinet next to it."

Lisa pointed. Hannah reached over, but Chloe could still see up the leg of Hannah's shorts. Was Hannah horny? Her labia looked extra pink, puffy, swollen. The back of Chloe's tongue tingled, like it had one time before she almost fainted. She thought about running back to her room, or trying the door to the cabin's storage room. Or maybe she could just close her eyes and tune into the dance music.