...The lighter path"

“I’ll pick the path on the left. It looks brighter, and fresher… and I really wanna see the view from the top.”

“Good choice, c’mon.”

True charm informed his smile as his fingers intertwined with mine, pulling me along the path with him. The warm sensation of his big, strong fingers, interlinked with the smaller, daintier fingers I wore as Alicia made my heart melt. A giddy euphoria mingled with a feeling of affected happiness as we climbed higher through the trees, the rich rush of serotonin Alicia always seemed to feel around her man acting like poison in my brain, eroding more and more my will to leave her skin.

We’d been climbing already for a good while before we came to the cross roads, and it didn’t take all that long in the grand scheme of things before the forest broke. Ahead, the trees separated out, the peak of the mountain left bare ahead of us. The one we’d chosen to climb hadn’t been anything crazy giant; the top wasn’t snowy in September, and we hadn’t really needed any specialist gear to get up here. Even still though… the views already seemed stunning.

I found myself breaking away from Frank’s hands as I skipped over to the peak, so excited just to take it all in. Exposed up here, free of the trees, my eyes needed a moment to adjust to the light, my hand splayed over as it blocked the sun-rays at first. A cool breeze blew from the forested valley below, a refreshing gift on such a hot day, it’s air sweet and natural and rich with the oxygen of a forest. My blonde hair blew with the wind, the feeling of it flowing down my back and moving in the wind making me feel majestic, while I could see some of it in the side of my vision, sun-rays lighting each strand up a rich golden color that almost seemed to glow.

A small gasp left my lips as I really took the time to enjoy the scenery. Mountains studded around the horizon, like the tips of a jagged crown around the softer hills of forest that tumbled into their center. Those trees themselves lent their own colorful pattern to proceedings, streaks of ever green sliced through, as though mother nature had laid them upon the earth with elegant flicks of a rapier, whilst what seemed to be more organic splodges of deciduous trees filled in most of the space, their riot of autumn shades providing a breathtaking rush of color.

“It’s amazing up here… these Autumn leaves, stretching into the distance all red and yellow and orange. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

It was true. I could feel the amazement from Alicia’s personality just as strongly as my own, even in her many hikes compared to my none, neither of us had enjoyed a view quite this perfect. The sound of a camera’s shutter shook me just a little from my complacent wonder, as I turned to be met by the sound of another photo being taken.

Frank stood, DSLR in hand, a wistful smile on his own face as he snapped some pictures of me.

“Hey! Shouldn’t you be taking some pictures of this view?”

I laughed as he snapped more of me, before he replied;

“Alicia, I am taking pictures of the view. This scenery is just a bonus.”

Oh my Goooddd…

I shouldn’t have felt as good as I did, his cheesy joke, so unpretentious, taking root in Alicia’s girly heart in my chest.

“Stooopppp…”

Embarrassed blushing mingled with the deeper feelings of love on my expression, as he snapped some more pictures, before I walked over and playfully tried to get the camera off him. He easily kept me at arm’s length, so much bigger, taller and stronger than me, my little arms failing to reach the camera as he held it up in the air.

Suddenly, he opened the arm that he’d been keeping me away with, causing me to stumble into his personal space, before he took advantage of my momentum and pulled me into a kiss.

“Mmhmm!”

A sudden, surprised moan came from me, pushed out and lost in the bliss of the moment as his rougher lips slid across my softer ones, and our tongues traded saliva. His mouth was so hot, his free hand so powerful as it squeezed my lower back into him, Alicia’s body seeming to be in hyper-focus as I felt everything pressed up against him. Her b-cup breasts on my chest, nipples growing hard from arousal, pressed against his strong chest, and my smaller, softer everything against his muscled form.

It felt so excited, such a rush, to be handled like this, to be pulled in and used so suddenly, to be the submissive girl whose strong boyfriend wanted her. But at the same time, I felt so safe in his arms, feeling his power and knowing all of it was dedicated to me; I was the one who could make his heart race and melt in equal measure. Pure dopamine tumbled through my whole body as my knees went a little weak, loving everything about today, everything about this weekend, everything about Alicia’s life; her skin, her man, her identity.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to give this up…

My feelings were a mush of powerful affections and daydream fueled romance during the long drive home. Frank's small touches, the way his hand would sometimes rest of my smooth, bare legs, seemed to shiver through me in waves of excitement. Everything I’d felt ever since that party, ever since my drunken self had made the decision I was too scared to and gotten inside Alicia’s skin, I’d been experiencing pleasures both wholesome and debased far beyond what I’d ever enjoyed in my own life. I turned out the window, trying not to pay attention to Frank and Alicia’s feelings for him, as I stared out at the rushing trees outside.

The sun had begun getting low as we left the campsite, and was just dipping under the horizon now, dying the houses we’d started seeing in rich shades of ruby and citrus. We’d be back home at the dorms soon, back to the flat I’d moved into at the start of the year. Where I’d first met Alicia, how bright and happy she’d been as she helped me move my stuff into my room, unassuming and generous without expectation of return, lending a hand for no reason other than goodness.

A small pique of guilt tricked around inside me as I carried her own stuff up to her room now, unloading the car with Frank, an easy familiar silence between the two of them as I waged my own internal war in my mind.

Alicia is such a kind girl… She might be the sweetest girl I know…

The guilt intensified a little as I compared her to everyone else, finding her elevated the more I did. Alicia was way friendlier than anyone else I lived with, Grace being so shy I felt like no-one really knew her, while Jessica was a constant bitch every chance she got. Lisa, the girl I’d had such an intense crush on at the start of the year, was kind and sweet too… but after feeling the real, true love Alicia and Frank shared from the inside, my feelings for her seemed so immature now, a crush being nothing compared to something real.

Lisa, or her beautiful friends, Emmy and Ashley… Thinking logically, I didn’t know them well at all. Not in the grand scheme of things. Not compared to Alicia. Maybe I’d been jealous of Frank all along, getting to date her, getting to spend time with her and love her, a jealously I just hadn’t realized because their love was so obvious and pure; knowing I’d never have a chance with her being so clear that I didn’t even consider it as a possibility; I didn’t even give myself the chance to feel that way.

As I packed away Alicia’s clothes, a different realization came to me. I gulped a little as I held her panties, their soft material feeling so smooth in my hands. There was some residue along the inside, a little indication of her female arousal leaving its mark, memories of how it felt to get wet and leak a little of my hot love juices onto them.

Maybe it wasn’t Frank I’d been jealous of all along… it was Alicia.

Frank’s life was great. I’d known that, any guy could see it, I’d even experienced it from the inside. He was muscular and attractive, capable and dating a beautiful girl with the best personality. The kind of girl any guy would dream of making his wife.

But Alicia… what was dating her, when you could be her?

Being the gorgeous blonde girl, feeling her happy energy from the inside, smiling her pretty smile from a body that was pure natural beauty. Perfect genetics with no need for enhancement, with an outgoing and bright outlook that seemed to ooze positivity. Being inside her skin, it was like my baseline happiness matched hers, so much higher than my regular feelings. I felt like a boring and bland day as Alicia would still somehow be better than a good day as Alex.

That wasn’t even getting into the sex… making love to Frank from inside Alicia’s skin was easily the best sexual experience I’d ever had, several times better than anything I’d done as Alex. The exotic, overpowering rush of sex from inside a girl’s skin would be unbelievable enough for a guy, but having ever single touch boosted by love, every kiss enhanced by knowing there was no-one you’d rather be with, every moan feeling like a perfect victory?

I… I can’t give this up… I don’t want to give this up… I want to stay as Alicia… make her my regular skin… maybe even just be her permanently… ughhh…

These thoughts swirled around my head faster and faster, building like a hurricane, cravings of love twisted by the dark knowledge that it would mean taking it all from the sweetest girl…