Senior Week Ch. 03: Helping Hands

She watched as Kevin began to approach the girls with a warm but tight smile. His eyes flicked momentarily to Rebecca and Rachel felt her stomach flutter as she caught the shared exchange. Without knowing why, she reflexively tightened her grip on her friend's shoulder and held her breath as she waited for Kevin to speak.

"Hey, guys. Um, hey, Bec."

Rachel stiffened again at his almost imperceptible stumble over her friend's name. She turned quickly to glance at Rebecca's face from the side, but Rebecca only smiled subtly and nodded, offering no unusual reaction. She turned back towards Kevin as he continued.

"Rach, um, can we chat for a second? Just real quick. I don't wanna interrupt whatever you guys are, like-. You know, whatever you're doing."

Rachel widened her eyes and studied Kevin's face. He looked a little uncomfortable, but he still had the same changed sense of calm that she'd picked up on from the night before. A strange stir percolated in her belly as the close proximity of her two friends continued to push exciting images through her mind. She was solidly drunk and already feeling a little weird about everything and she had no idea what Kevin wanted to say to her. But she swallowed and composed herself.

"Yeah, of course." She paused and looked around briefly. "Like, here? Or...?"

Kevin swallowed and again flicked his eyes quickly to Rebecca and then back. Shaking his head gently, he pointed back over his shoulder.

"You wanna just come to my place real quick? I mean, it will just be a minute."

Rachel felt her head swim with the warmth of her buzz and she flexed her jaw to quell her weird feelings. Smiling warmly, she nodded and removed her hand from Rebecca's shoulder.

"Sure. That's fine."

She handed Rebecca her beach bag and towel and made quick, purposeful eye-contact with her best friend. Rebecca only smirked slyly as she accepted Rachel's belongings. Shooting one final playful smile in Kevin's direction, she turned towards the house and left the pair standing alone.

The short walk across the lot to Kevin's unit felt like a mile-long hike to Rachel. Her stomach swirled with nervousness and strange, confusing emotions. Seeing Kevin and Rebecca together for the first time since she'd walked in on them was making her head spin. And she'd been feeling some strange urges toward Rebecca all morning since their thing with Derrick. She was just completely on edge and she took deep, steadying breaths as she tried to stay in control.

They finally made it inside Kevin's place (which was almost identical to the girls') and Rachel followed in silence as they turned down a hallway towards his room. The cold blast of the air conditioner forced a shiver across Rachel's body and she suddenly felt even more naked in her still-damp and decidedly-skimpy bathing suit.

Kevin led her into the room and turned to face her as she followed behind. Rachel watched his eyes dip quickly to the painfully alluring display of her barely-covered and freshly-tanned breasts. She swallowed in response but made no move to cover herself or adjust her top for fear of embarrassing her friend. She'd always tried very hard not to dress provocatively in Kevin's presence or parade herself in front of him. She knew he had feelings and she'd never wanted to cruelly lead him on.

Her stomach still twisted every time she thought about what he'd been witness to that morning after prom. Not only had Jeff pulled up her shirt and profanely exposed her boobs in front of him, he'd apparently also seen her out in the backyard with his other friend Rob, kneeling softly in the dew-sprinkled grass, ever so casually sucking his dick.

Rachel had a weird thing about exposure. She felt like once a boy had seen her naked, she'd given him something that she couldn't take back. It was sometimes a regretful or shameful feeling, but overall it filled her with twisting excitement. Kevin had obviously now been added to the list of people who had seen her naked as well as witnessed her performing a sexual act. And as she watched his gaze avert from the softness of her full cleavage, it almost made her wonder if the thin material of her bathing suit serving as the only gateway between an enticing image and full on exposure really made that much of a difference anymore.

She was shaken from her confusing thoughts as Kevin finally cleared his throat and spoke in a low tone.

"So, look, um, I need to tell you something and I'm not sure if I should be the one or if, um-, if-."

He paused and scratched nervously at the back of his hair as he tried to regroup.

"Well, it doesn't matter who-. Look, the point is that I, uh-. I hooked up with Rebecca last night."

He sucked in a breath as he rushed out the final sentence and he stared cautiously into Rachel's eyes. Right after they'd concluded their hookup, he'd asked Rebecca if she was going to tell her friend or if he should say something or whatever. She'd shrugged nonchalantly and told him she didn't care and that he could handle it however he wanted. But even with the green light, he'd been back and forth on it all day.

He knew the girls had had some issues (the details of which had now been quite explicitly explained) and he was a little nervous about how Rachel might react. He studied her face for any sort of a clue and shifted his weight uncomfortably as he waited for her response.

Rachel felt her scalp tingle as she listened to Kevin drop his labored confession. She could see the tension in his face and her mind raced as she tried to decide how to play her reaction. Obviously, she already knew (and knew very very well), but could she tell him that? Should she play dumb and act surprised?

She decided that she didn't want to lie to him so she took a deep breath and chose her words. Unable to keep her face from twisting into a sly grin, she cocked her head and offered the plainest response she could.

"I know."

Kevin's shifted his head back and raised his eyebrows in sudden surprise.

"You know? How did-? Rebecca told you?"

Rachel bit her lips and nodded.

"Yeah, she told me. But I also-."

Rachel spoke the words without even thinking and cut off in sharp panic. Shit. She hadn't meant to let the last part of her response slip out. Maybe he hadn't noticed. She cleared her throat to try to redirect, but she was too late.

"You also what"?

Rachel's eyes widened at Kevin's words and she felt her lungs tighten up. She watched his eyebrows narrow inquisitively and she felt goosebumps rise up on her arms as a sudden tingling slivered between her legs. For whatever reason, all she could think about was how Kevin had seen her with Rob that morning after prom. Seen her on her knees, bobbing her head gracefully, casually servicing one of his friends like it was the most natural thing in the world. It flooded her system with shame, but also intoxicating, wrongful excitement.

She thought about how she'd now seen him in almost a mirror-image fashion. She could only imagine the debilitating shock he must have felt when he'd stumbled onto her illicit act with Rob. The same kind of shock she'd felt when she'd walked into her room to see Rebecca with her head buried deep into his lap.

She couldn't tell him, could she? That wouldn't be-. The alcohol buzz snaked itself around her confusing excitement and she felt her head get light. The choice made from somewhere beyond her rational control, her lips moved and the words came out.

"I, um-. I saw you. I was...there."

Kevin's expression of mild confusion morphed into a blur of outright shock as Rachel hit him with the bombshell. She was there?!?

His throat tightened and he felt his pulse thump in his temples. Even as Rachel stood in front of him, painfully attractive and barely clothed, he'd honestly not had a single, genuine romantic thought towards her to that point. What Rebecca had done for him had truly caused some sort of chemical change in his brain. If anything, the past twenty hours had left his imagination more occupied with thoughts of her than of his longtime crush. And even those thoughts hadn't been full of the desperate angst that had defined his feelings towards Rachel. He'd felt calm and collected and confidently at ease.

But hearing Rachel reveal that she'd been a witness to the act forced a nagging tremor to slip through his senses. He felt himself stir and he became suddenly aware of how the easily the physical effect of such an uptick in arousal might tangibly present itself while concealed only behind the flimsy cloth of his bathing suit. With a steadying breath, he subtly adjusted the front of his shorts and tried to respond as evenly as he could.

"You were there? Like, in the room?"

Rachel swallowed hard as the buzzing in her senses reached a fever pitch. She had no idea why she'd revealed that to Kevin or why she was even discussing such a thing with him. She knew it wasn't fair to bring conversations to a sexual place around him, and truthfully, she'd never been tempted to do so because it made her feel uncomfortable and guilty. But something had changed since she'd seen him with Rebecca, and despite her better (if perhaps clouded) judgment, she trudged forward.

"Yeah, I, um-." She paused and sighed as she gathered her thoughts.

"I was looking for Becca and I went up to our room and it was locked. I knew what that probably meant and I know I shouldn't have gone in, but I just, um-. I don't know why I did it. I just kinda did..."

She trailed off with a timid shrug and widened her eyes up at her friend. She was tingling all over as the wild thoughts and images continued to swirl in her brain.

Kevin swallowed as he processed the continuation of her confession. Coughing dryly, he spoke with a hint of a tremble in his voice.

"So you just snuck in and, like, watched the whole thing?"

Rachel felt guilt seep into her system and she acted quickly on her fears that her revelation might have upset him. Maybe she'd gone too far. She should never have said anything!

"Look, Kev, I am so so sorry! I should never have gone in and then I should've just turned around as soon as I-. As soon as-."

She paused and widened her eyes further as she blurted out.

"I didn't know it would be you!"

Kevin sucked in a breath as he sensed a bit of panic in Rachel's voice. His reflexive need to protect her feelings and never make her feel bad about anything rose up and he spoke on instinct.

"No, no, it's not-. I mean, it's okay. I'm not mad or anything. Just, like, you know, kinda surprised I guess."

He paused and let his breath out as a painful, yet arousing image popped into his head.

"And, like, don't be sorry. I guess I've sort of walked in on you kinda like that before."

Rachel's stomach tightened and she let out an almost inaudible gasp. She knew exactly what he was talking about. They'd never discussed it since that day.

Unable to look him in the eyes, she dropped her head and averted her gaze as she spoke in a soft tone.

"Rob."

Kevin trembled again as he watched his friend twist with guilt. He hadn't meant to upset her. He'd only intended to let her off the hook for spying on him since he'd done the same himself. But his stomach clenched as he realized that she'd only ever known the half of that particular story. Steadying himself for something he wasn't sure he should reveal, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Well, and Jeff."

Rachel's head had been bowed as she'd avoided his eyes but she snapped it up suddenly in reaction to the words. Her face burned red hot and she felt the air rush painfully from her lungs. Her expression twisted into one of mortified confusion as she tried to form the word between her tingly lips.

"J-Jeff?"

Kevin jumped in quickly as he picked up on her complete change in tone. She looked like a scared, trapped animal and he hadn't seen that face since the first and only time they'd ever discussed this particular topic. He let out a full breath and ran his hand through his hair.

"Well, look. Since we're making confessions, I guess I kind of, um-. I knew what you guys were doing but I guess I just didn't want to believe it. So I sorta came down into the basement for a minute to check it out and, well. Well, you know. I saw."

Rachel felt her head spin and she thought for a second she might lose her balance. It obviously hadn't been a secret why she'd gone into the basement with Jeff but she'd never known that Kevin had literally witnessed it. Her stomach flipped and swirled with sudden panic as she wondered desperately just exactly what he'd seen. She'd done things to Jeff that she didn't care to repeat.

The panic began to rise up through her chest and she felt a choky feeling start to take hold. She was scared to death of the answer but she had to know what Kevin had seen. Her voice trembling, she asked.

"What did you see?"

Kevin tensed and tried to avoid flinching as the memory rushed over him. It wasn't exactly something he liked to think about a lot. His relationship with both Rob and Jeff had definitely taken a new path since that day, but Rob at least had pulled him aside the following week and genuinely apologized. It didn't make it all better, but his friend's heartfelt contrition had at least been a welcome gesture.

Jeff, on the other hand, had done no such thing. He apparently hadn't seen what the big deal was. He'd even jokingly thanked Kevin in school the next Monday for "bringing back around the greatest cocksucker Taylor Reed had ever seen." He didn't seem to understand what a shitty thing he'd done to his friend and he'd reminded him repeatedly in the coming weeks of how talented Rachel was with her mouth and how he should stop being a pussy and get some for himself.

Swallowing away the thoughts, Kevin scratched nervously at his bare chest and tried to give the most delicate answer he could muster.

"Well, you know, like,-. I was only on the stairs so I just saw, um, you know, you were, like, naked and, um, kneeling in front of the couch, like-. Like, giving him a blowjob it looked like."

Jeff clenched his jaw as he concluded the memory with another nervous scratching of his chin. He hoped he had given enough detail. He wasn't exactly keen on diving in much deeper. He wasn't even exactly sure why she'd asked.

Rachel felt simultaneous mortification and relief. She was still reeling over the revelation that Kevin had witnessed her not only blowing his one friend, but his other as well just minutes later. She felt the same stifling shame that had gripped her as they'd argued about it in Jeff's living room that morning.

But she was at least indescribably grateful that apparently what Kevin had seen had been relatively benign. Her stomach twisted into a knot over the terrifying possibility that he'd been witness to the more gruesome parts of that particular event. What if Kevin had seen her eagerly sucking his friend's balls or with her tongue buried in his ass, licking away lavishly in such a depraved frenzy? Or had been witness when Jeff had came violently all over her face and body turning her into some sort of porn site cliché? Rachel almost dry-heaved at the thought. She'd never be able to look Kevin in the eyes again.

Gathering her wits, she did her best to shake away the deafening buzzing in her ears. She looked up at Kevin and tried to make sense of everything they'd just exchanged. Licking her lips, she spoke just above a whisper.

"Kevin, I'm so sorry again for how I acted that day. There's no excuse and you didn't deserve-. Well, we don't need to go over it again. I'm just-. I'm sorry. That's all I can say."

Kevin shook his head and looked at her with reassuring warmth.

"No, I know, Rach. You don't have to keep-. All I was trying to say is that, you know, definitely don't feel bad about the other night because I'm just as guilty. For real."

Rachel took a deep breath and studied her friend's face. Kevin had always been so forgiving, but this time it didn't feel forced. It didn't feel like an artificial absolution offered only to spare her feelings at the expense of his own. He seemed like he was really telling her the truth.

She felt relief come back into her system and she smiled warmly in return. But still desperate to move the conversation far, far away from the ugly depths it had sunk to, she couldn't resist trying to add some playful levity to the air.

"You're right I guess we're kinda even." She paused and grinned deviously.

"Except that you saw me naked, apparently."

Kevin widened his eyes and coughed out a laugh as Rachel winked at him playfully. Shaking his head, he grinned as he tried to keep his footing.

"Well, you know, it was just of you, like, kneeling from behind. So, it wasn't that crazy."

Rachel scoffed and rolled her eyes. " 'Wasn't that crazy', huh?" She shook her head as she continued with playful sarcasm.

"Sorry to disappoint. Still a lot more than I saw of you."

Kevin grinned sheepishly and raised an eyebrow as he cocked his head in response.

"Oh? Well what exactly did you see?"

Rachel's silly smirk disappeared as she felt the levity of the moment sink back into playful intensity. They'd just successfully navigated out of those waters and she wasn't sure if it was wise to turn the boat back around. But the tingly excitement she'd been feeling had never really left. Her stomach fluttering, she let her mind replay the exciting images.

"I, um-. Just, like, Becca was on her knees at the edge of the bed and you were, like, all laying back and, I don't know, sort of twisting around and groaning and stuff."

She stopped and giggled at her description as she watched Kevin's face redden. She didn't want to embarrass him.

"I don't know, Kevin! It just looked like you were enjoying yourself!"

Kevin grinned but felt himself stiffen. Hearing Rachel describe the incident pushed the fresh sensations of being with Rebecca back into his brain. He could still vividly feel the warmth of her mouth and the softness of her lips as she'd smoothly sucked away, delivering wave after wave of pure pleasure to his being. He'd never felt anything quite like it, and as he pictured it all while also standing two feet from Rachel and her barely-covered, hypnotically perfect tits, he began to lose the ability to keep his arousal in check.

Trying hard to ignore the rapidly growing issue in his shorts, Kevin smiled disarmingly and shook his head.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I definitely was."

Rachel's eyebrows rose and a wide grin stretched across her lips. It felt kind of freeing to be able to joke with Kevin in this way. Rachel loved talking suggestively whether as foreplay for a hookup or just in silly, casual conversation. She was a sexual creature with a dirty mind and it had always felt a little unnatural to have to censor herself in front of one of her closest friends for fear of giving him a wrong impression.

But as liberating as it all was, Rachel's brain still shivered under the strange intensity of the moment. She was drunk, turned on, practically naked, and having one of the most sexually suggestive discussions she'd ever had with Kevin. But it wasn't just him that was dominating her thoughts. It was the other person that they were indirectly discussing that was truly beginning to get her blood pumping fast. Dangerous images intersected in her mind and she spoke automatically.

"Yeah? How was she?"

Rachel couldn't believe the words came out of her mouth but she hadn't been able to resist asking. She stared intensely into Kevin's eyes and chewed on her lower lip.

Kevin was proud of how well he'd been handling the entire conversation, but Rachel's question pierced his defenses and threw him for a loop. He raised his eyebrows high. How was she? Was she asking about Rebecca? About how she'd-?