The Race is Long, and in the End, It's Only With Yourself

“No peeking.”

Panties already pulled up snug over her freshly pounded pussy, Madison fumbled with the clasp of her bra from behind the relative privacy of the sheet. Following the collapse of the tent and her discovery at the hands of Trent and Gavin, the boys had helped her retrieve her discarded clothes that Kurt shoved into the bottom of the sleeping bag. Rather than allow her to dress completely out in the open, Brandon insisted on constructing the makeshift room divider from the tent’s tarp. Flanked by Brandon on one side, redressed in his boxers, and by Gavin on the other, the boys stood vigil, facing away, holding the sheet between them like a magic trick.

“How come you trust Gavin to hold the sheet without looking?” Trent grumbled.

The black teen sat on a log, laid lengthways on the other side of the unlit campfire, opposite the boys and their tarp. Even as he asked the question, the answer was obvious. He was straining his eyes to see even the silhouette of the naked girl redressing. The sun was neither in the right position nor casting enough light through the dense foliage of the trees to allow him to see anything though. Instead, he simply had to wait.

“Man, you’re my best friend. I know you too well to trust you with my sister’s naked body right beside you,” Brandon said, easily holding the sheet aloft with one hand as he gestured to the man on Madison’s other side. “Gavin is good and respectable. When he says he won’t look, he won’t look.”

“I shall be as Orpheus in Hades,” Gavin assured them.

“Wait, didn’t Orpheus…”

Madison glanced over her shoulder and smiled as she noticed Gavin watching her out of the corner of his eye. He was craftier than Brandon gave him credit for. Finally managing to get her bra hooked, she turned her back on Gavin as she bent down to grab her jeans, teasing Gavin with the swell of her perfect ass. She worked them up her legs, taking her time when it came to the curve of her behind, making sure the teen caught sight of every wiggle, jiggle and sway.

“Can’t we at least go get the rest of the sticks we gathered-”

“We?” Gavin interjected.

“-that Gavin and Chloe gathered,” Trent corrected. “while Madison finishes getting dressed?”

“No!” Madison insisted loudly from nowhere, like the Wizard of Oz. “You two were the second intruders that caught us today. I’m not risking a third.”

“Well, in that case don’t screw your brother in a tent at a public park,” Trent suggested, laughing at himself for even having to say it.

“You’re okay with us?” Brandon asked having never quite broached the subject with his best friend. “I wasn’t even aware that you knew.”

“I’ve known ever since you stormed out of the cabin that afternoon. Brothers don’t walk out when they find their sister has been sleeping with guys, boyfriends do,” Trent revealed, his deduction catching the others off-guard. “It’s not hurting me, so do whatever you want.”

“Thanks,” Brandon said, accepting his best friend’s blessing as Madison tapped his shoulder.

Together Brandon and Gavin dropped the sheet, the trick complete. The naked girl was now fully dressed, to the fanfare of one. Trent clapped his hands sarcastically as he rose from the log, joyful to finally get on with the job they’d came to the forest to do. Brandon still had to get dressed as well, but no one afforded him any privacy, and he quickly threw his clothes back on in half the time that it took Madison.

With the four of them at the job they made quick work of their tasks. To avoid any further temptation, it was decided that Gavin would assist Madison in packing away the sleeping bag and tent, while Brandon and Trent put their peak physical fitness to good use in carrying the bundles of sticks and logs from the trail to the campfire, stacking them nearby to be thrown in as and when they were needed. Eventually, without any further distractions, their chores were completed. It hadn’t taken very much time at all in the end, and the four were soon on their way back to the cabin.

Madison led the way, accompanied by Gavin, while Brandon and Trent took up the rear, with the sleeping bag and tent slung over a shoulder each.

“How come I have to carry the tent?” Trent asked, noting that Brandon got away with carrying the much lighter sleeping bag.

“Because I’m the team captain.” Brandon taunted him.

“Guys,” Gavin interrupted the macho grandstanding before the pair could begin squaring up. “What about Chloe and Amber? They should have been back from Zaffre Falls by now.”

“Gavin’s right,” Madison agreed, adding credibility to his concern. “Maybe we should go look for them.”

“I guess we could take a detour to the waterfall,” Trent said, thinking that it was probably a bad idea to go wandering through the woods again, since chasing Amber off the trail might be why the pair hadn’t returned.

“No need,” Brandon replied, pointing ahead of the group. “Here they come now.”

Sure enough, the redhead and the blonde were approaching. While it was clear that Chloe had only washed her face in the waterfall, her hair dark and heavy as it continued to dry in the heat of the warm spring day, Amber had gone for a full body plunge. Her entire body was slick and shimmering as she stood before them in her black two-piece bikini, tied at her neck, back and hips. She held her previous attire in her hands, allowing her body to drip dry and giving the boys a great view of her fit teen body, toned and slim from cheerleading practice.

“Hey. We were just talking about you two,” Trent said.

“Only good things I hope,” Amber replied with a wink.

Gavin almost expected her to exclude him with her usual ‘not you’ reply but she surprised him by not even mentioning it. True to her word, having lost the bet to Chloe, Amber restrained herself from saying anything mean about him, even if it took all of her will power to do so. And in return, Chloe did her a solid, and kept her secret about using Gavin’s cum as sunblock.

“How was Zaffre Falls?” Madison asked.

“Uneventful,” Chloe said hastily on Amber’s behalf.

“What took you so long then?” Gavin frowned. Even a quick deduction in his mind showed that the timings didn’t match up. “We were worried.” With a glance to Amber, he added, “for both of you.”

“Oh well, we did get a little lost,” Chloe confessed, but she didn’t tell them everything. “I’m a bit embarrassed because I thought I knew the way. We met a couple of Rangers though who showed us the way, that was that.”

That was definitely not that. Gavin being Chloe’s best friend for years could tell when she was lying. However, also being her best friend meant that he knew better than to push the subject in public, and resolved instead to ask her about it later in private, when it was just the two of them.

“Rangers?” Madison noted. “That must be the same ones who came to the campsite.”

“Speaking of the campsite, where’s Kurt?” Chloe asked, looking around the group.

“He returned to the cabin with one of the Rangers,” Brandon informed her.

“Jennifer?” Chloe guessed.

Madison nodded. “We were kind of out of sight at the time, so I didn’t see them exactly, but that would be my guess too.”

“We’re all finished back there, so we’re heading back now too.” Trent said.

“We’re finished all the dirty work?” Amber bounced in the spot. “Yay!”

“Yes, that’s right, Amber, you successfully managed to avoid doing any work at all,” Madison replied accusingly. She looked to Brandon and added, “do you think she still qualifies for her reward?”

“What? Hey, no, I came didn’t I? I helped…” she knew that was a lie, so she corrected herself. “…okay, I tried. We can still play a game, can’t we?”

Her eyes shone big and bright at Brandon as she brought her hands together and clasped them in prayer to the quarterback. Her worship didn’t sway him though, it was her boobs, pressed unwittingly together by her arms as she held her palms tight. A bead of water trickled down her chest, over the hill of her breast and down into the valley between, and Brandon suddenly found himself thirsty in more ways than one. Under duress of such cleavage, he couldn’t possibly deny her.

“Of course, we can still play.” Brandon buckled.

“You’re too soft.” Madison grumbled.

Jubilant, Amber skipped off down the trail, leaving the others to follow. Madison and Chloe were just behind her, making sure she didn’t take a wrong turn. Brandon and Trent still held the rear, but Trent put an extra foot in his step to catch up to Gavin, drawing alongside the bespectacled teen as they came upon the junction that led to Zaffre Falls. The redhead and the brunette directed Amber, and she took off gleefully again, her bikini clad butt bouncing with every step.

“Hey, Gavin, since we’re out here, what do you say we try some more fitness exercise?” Trent proposed.

“Uh, sure, I guess, if you think it’s a good idea,” Gavin agreed, remembering how their exercise that morning had culminated in the two boys kissing against a tree. “What did you have in mind?”

“Just some more jogging.” Trent assured him. “When we get to that weird rock, we’ll run from there back to the cabin, just like we did this morning.”

That’s precisely what Gavin was afraid of, but Brandon, having overheard the pair, butted in. “What’s this about exercising?”

“Gavin asked me to help him get fitter,” Trent explained.

With a hand over his chest, Brandon feinted mock distress. In truth, he was a little peeved, but nowhere near what his overacting implied. “You went to Trent and not me? I know we aren’t best friends, but I thought I’d be your first pick between me and him. What gives?”

“Well, you’re right that we aren’t best friends but have gotten friendlier ever since you and Zack started hanging out. Or did. I guess that’s probably not going to happen much anymore. But I don’t know Trent that well, so I thought that this would be the best way for us to get to know each other better,” Gavin scrambled for an answer, while delicately avoiding why he wanted to learn more about Trent.

“Besides, I’m the fastest member on the team.”

“What? Not even close,” Brandon balked. “Elijah is the fastest.”

“Okay, you’ve got me there, but then it’s me.”

Brandon rolled his eyes. “No, then it’s Max. Then Xavier, then me, then you.”

“Fuck you. Max, Elijah and Xavier, I’ll give you, but then it’s me.” Trent argued loudly.

“The last time we did a 40-dash, Elijah beat Max by two seconds, Xavier was two seconds again, and I was twenty seconds behind him.” Brandon’s voice rose to match Trent’s.” You were five seconds behind me.”

“You know I was ill that time,” Trent growled as the friends grew more competitive. “The time before that I beat you by ten seconds.”

“I don’t know what either of you are arguing about,” Chloe interjected. “Any soccer player worth his salt could blow you out of the water.”

Trent and Brandon rounded on the common enemy.

“You can’t be serious?” Trent demanded.

“Of course, she isn’t serious,” Brandon agreed. “That’s absurd.”

“Soccer players don’t stop every five minutes to reach up another man’s ass,” Chloe pointed out with a smile, enjoying just how insecure the boy got about their sport. “They’re always running, always moving.”

“Okay, maybe if we were talking about a marathon, you’d have a point,” Trent conceded, before firing back. “But in terms of short distance, explosive speed, any running back or wide receiver would leave your best players in the dust.”

“Well, how about a little race then?” Chloe suggested.

“We can’t race you,” Brandon said, the words slipping from his tongue before he could even think. “You’re a girl.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Madison swiveled around with her hands already on her hips to glare at her brother.

“Oh, come on.” Brandon sighed. “Don’t tell me you think you’re as fast as us too?”

“Of course not. Cheerleaders aren’t built for speed.” The brunette flexed her bicep. “We’re built for strength.”

“And grace,” Amber called from the front. “And beauty.”

“But Chloe does speed drills all the time in practice, isn’t that right?” Madison looked to Chloe and received a confident nod. “She’s smaller and lighter than both of you.”

“Sure, if it’s man verses man,” Trent noted resolutely.

“Fuck. We’re actually have to race her, aren’t we?” Brandon concluded, seeing no other way to prove their point.

“Sorry,” Trent said to Gavin. “Looks like we’re gonna have to postpone your practice.”

Gavin waved his hands to soothe Trent’s worries. “I don’t mind. Maybe it’s best I don’t over do it on the first day anyway.”

“Tomorrow morning though, for sure,” Trent promised as they approached the stone obelisk.

“Alright, we’re here,” Brandon said, coming to a stop and drawing a line in the dirt. “We run from here to the cabin. It’s mostly a straight line, so the first one there wins. Madison will count us down, and we run on ‘go’.” He looked to Chloe. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

“Scared?” She asked as she knelt at the line, like a sprinter, with one leg extended behind her body.

“She wants to play with the men, then let’s show her what a man can do,” Trent urged his captain with a slap on the quarterback’s broad shoulder, before dropping down into position.

Brandon nodded and shook himself out before taking his spot between the pair. A ritual began of bowing his head, closing his eyes and breathing slow and deep, calming body and mind. The sound of Madison calling out the numbers pricked his ears and with each digit he unlocked himself. Three, he took a long, deep breath, filling up his lungs. Two, he lifted his head and felt the air on his cheeks. One, his eyelids opened and he drank in sight of the prize at the end of the trail.

With a shout, Madison called ‘GO’ and off they went, like a shot. So fast it barely seemed real. Legs pumped their bodies forward with mechanical repetition, fueled by short, measured breathing. A trained, rehearsed response practiced over and over until it was simply a matter of telling themselves to run and they ran, purely on instinct and within a tens of seconds it was all over. Two figures stood, triumphant at the finish.

As soon as Madison had given the signal, Chloe straightened up, laughing rather than running. The four began their trek to catch up to the football players, taking considerably longer to walk the distance than Brandon and Trent had managed. But when Chloe approached the pair, she was still grinning, amused rather than defeated.

“What’s was that about?” Brandon asked with his arms spread wide.

“Of course, I wasn’t going to race you, dumb asses.” Chloe shook her head incredulously, her flaming red hair shaking along.

“So, you were scared after all,” Trent smirked back at her. “You knew you’d lose so you didn’t even try.”

“No, I just have nothing to prove. I know I’m fast, and I’m a damn good soccer player.” She motioned towards Gavin, and added, “You’ll notice I didn’t get upset about my best friend asking someone else to help him train.”

“Did you two at least figure out who was faster?” Madison inquired.

“Yes,” Trent said, pumping his fist in the air.

Brandon folded his arms tight across his broad chest and sucked on his teeth. “Narrowly.” He quantified.

Winning had made Trent confident. “You want to race again?” he offered.

“Oh no, that’s enough of this pissing contest,” Madison interjected. Being quite used to hanging around her twin and his football buddies, she knew if she didn’t put a stop to it now, it’d go on forever. “You two can measure your dicks later.”

“Right, later. When I haven’t recently exerted myself,” Brandon said, referring to his time in the end with his sister. “You know what Coach always says.”

“No sex before the game,” Amber repeated from memory, having heard the excuse from the football team too many times to count. Neurons fired in her brain, making a connection, and her face scrunched up in thought. “Wait, who had sex?”

“Hey, isn’t that Heather’s car?” Gavin quickly distracted the group. “That means Ashley’s back.”