When Petals finally arrived, they had been at her spring for several minutes. Stacie had been staring at the water as it flowed by. Sometimes reaching out to dip her fingers in the it, letting them move along the water with the current.
Charlie suspected she really wanted to go swimming, but couldn't with how narrow the stream was. Looking at it, Charlie certainly call it two fee wide. Maye Charlie could fit in it, from shoulder to shoulder, but she doubted it. Although, she had to admit, swimming in this ambiance certainly would be a different experience.
–What do you need?– Petals asked as she arrived.
–We wanted to introduce you to someone.– Charlie replied.
–This is my sister, Stacie.– Beth introduced her sister to Petals.
–It's nice to meet you Stacie.– Petals told they young girl.
"How does she know my name?" Stacie asked.
"Because Beth told her your name," Charlie answered.
"How?"
"Because I have magic, myself," Beth replied.
"How'd you get it?" Stacie asked.
"Umm," Beth hesitated, sharing a glance with Charlie before giving a political non-answer. "I got it when I learned how to draw out my magic to where I can use it."
Charlie gave Beth a smirk. Not giving any hint as to how she learned to use her magic or anything.
"Really?" Stacie asked, looking disheartened.
"Sorry, that's all I can say about it," Beth replied.
Suddenly Charlie had an idea. "Stacie, why don't you talk to Petals about making that stream into a swimming pool?" she suggested.
Stacie brightened up. "Um, Petals?" She said.
–What is it, Stacie?– Petals asked.
"I was wondering if your stream becomes bigger?" Stacie asked.
Petals looked at the stream as she replied. –What do you mean? The stream is as big as it needs to be.–
"I mean big enough so you could jump in it," Stacie said.
Petals moved her gaze to Stacie. –What do you mean? You could jump in it now.– Petals said, sounding rather confused. To Charlie it was clear that Petals didn't understand what Stacie was getting at.
"She means, why not make it big enough so you could fully immerse yourself in it," Charlie explained.
Petals seemed to consider this information for a minute. –Why would you want to do that?– Petals asked, her confusion still evident.
"Because it's fun!" Stacie replied. "You get to splash around, you an just swim, you get to move in the water, you can just float like you don't weigh a thing, you can play games in it-" Stacie started saying.
"I think that's enough ideas," Beth replied, chuckling. "We should leave some as a surprise for Petals if she decides to make the change."
–I still don't understand why you'd want to immerse yourself in the stream. – Petals reiterated.
"How about this?" Amelia suggested. "I'll think about a time I was swimming and how I felt and you look at that and decide if you want to try it or not."
"How about we all do that," Hannah suggested.
"Why?" Wes asked. I'm sure she can decide with just Amelia's experience swimming."
"Because if we all share with her how we felt swimming, then it'll give her a better understanding of why we like it," Hannah returned.
"If you don't want to, then don't do it," Charlie chimed in, getting tired of the argument already, even though it was in the early stages of it.
"Sounds good to me," Beth added.
Charlie thought of the best time she could remember of when she was swimming. The feel of the water on her skin as it parted to allow her body to pass as she moved through the water. The temperature of the water and how it affected her. The sensation of getting out of the water into the warmth of the sun, letting it warm her up from the sudden chill of being out of the water.
–Those are interesting experiences.– Petals mused after a minute after Charlie finished thinking about her memory. –I'll think about it, but I don't understand why you'd want to swim here. In almost all of your experiences, you remember the warm sun when you got out of the water, but there's no sun to do that here.–
"It's because this place would be a completely different experience," Charlie said. "It would be like swimming in a dream here. The crystals in here would make this a lot different. Then there's the mist that wraps itself around you. Even though there's no warm sun here, there's still everything else that would make it more relaxing than I could think of anywhere else."
Petals regarded Charlie for a few minutes before starting to walk away. –I'll let you know what I decide.– Petals informed them as she left.
"Was she mad?" Stacie asked as Petals disappeared into the mists.
"No, she gets like that sometimes," Wes assured Stacie.
"Well, that's all we probably have time for today," Beth commented.
"If we start heading home now, we might make it back before our parents start getting home," Amelia said.
"Why would that be important?" Stacie asked.
"It's something we decided on because we don't want knowledge of Petals to get out there," Amelia answered. "If our parents learn of Petals, then how long before the government show up and decide to try and run tests on her and try to figure out how her forest works. I mean, you've seen ET, right?"
Stacie nodded. "Yeah, it was a good movie, but scary too."
"Well, while it might not go to that level, we can't be sure that the government wouldn't do something like that," Hannah said.
Stacie nodded. "Got it. I'll keep it a secret."
"If you have any time you feel the need that you have to talk about it, you can talk to any of us at any time, okay?" Beth said.
Charlie wanted to say not exactly 'any time,' but at the same time, she couldn't think of how to say that without sounding callous about it. So, she let it go, hoping that Stacie wouldn't think to call her if she ever felt that way.
_
Charlie sighed as she lay on her bed after dinner. She wished she didn't have any homework at the moment. She would have liked to just begin to get ready for bed at that time.
Stacie had seemed to enjoy seeing Petals' forest, though Charlie wasn't sure if she noticed Petals was a unicorn or not. Her reaction seemed a little underwhelming if that was the case. Although, Charlie wondered if she noticed or if maybe Petals hid her horn from Stacie's sight. Charlie doubted that Beth would like Charlie to specifically direct Stacie to the fact of Petals being a unicorn.
Right now her biggest problem with her homework as that she really didn't want to get up from where she was laying on her bed. Regardless of what had happened in the day, she really didn't want to move at the moment.
Which of course is why my phone is suddenly ringing, Charlie mentally told herself as she heard her phone start to ring from by her desk.
Groaning, Charlie sat up and quickly made her way over to her phone. She didn't even bother to see who it was before answering. After all, she hadn't even programmed all of her friends in her phone yet anyway, so she wouldn't know if a number she didn't really recognize would actually be someone she knew.
"Hello?" Charlie said as she answered her phone.
"Hey, Charlie, would you be free for a little bit right now?" Alex asked her.
"I guess," Charlie said, looking through the window to see how dark it had gotten, especially with the cloud cover that had come in. Not to mention the weather report that had indicated some rain through the night.
"I'm outside your home right now," Alex said. "I promise I won't keep you long."
"I'm not worried about that," Charlie replied, suddenly feeling a lot more energetic at the moment. "My parents might be, but I'm not."
"Cool. I'm in the bushes over by your house."
Charlie chuckled. She wondered what Alex would think if she accidentally entered Petals' forest. "I'll be there in a minute," Charlie said as she started looking for her shoes.
"I'll see you then," Alex said, giving Charlie a kissing sound before hanging up.
Charlie shook her head as she chuckled, trying to ignore the blush she could feel heating her face up. She quickly put her shoes on before heading downstairs as quietly as she could. While her parents might not object, she doubted they'd give their approval. So, she figured it would be best to avoid their notice as she snuck out the front door. As that was the closest exit she knew she had.
Fortunately she didn't even encounter Cherie, so she was able to make it to where Alex was without problem. Aside from having to let her eyes adjust to the dark. Although, when she entered the bushes, she couldn't see anything at all.
Charlie had to stifle a scream when Alex suddenly latched on to her. If she hadn't known Alex was going to be there, she was certain she would have screamed. As it is, she still had to take a minute to catch her breath after the fright.
"What took you so long?" Alex asked quietly while Charlie tried to catch her breath.
"Don't do that!" Charlie told Alex when she was able to talk again.
Charlie felt Alex's arms wrap around her. "Don't be like that, Charlie," Alex whispered. "I just couldn't help myself. It was too good of an opportunity."
Charlie slid her arms around Alex, enjoying the contact. "Maybe, but that doesn't mean I have to like it," Charlie replied, leaning towards where she thought Alex's face was.
She got it mostly right, but only ended up kissing her cheek.
"Trying to go for these?" Alex asked mischievously as she kissed Charlie's lips.
Charlie smiled into the kiss as she returned it. She couldn't think of anything to respond with.
As the kiss broke, Charlie expected another, but was a little surprised when Alex spoke instead. "I told you we'd have to continue this after school," Alex said.
"You sure took your sweet time then," Charlie replied, leaning her head forward to where she was reasonable sure Alex's lips were now.
As Charlie kissed Alex, she felt Alex pull her to the ground, and she carefully sat down with Alex, neither of them breaking the kiss. Charlie felt Alex's tongue on her lips and kept them closed for a minute before opening them to let Alex deepen the kiss.
Charlie found herself losing herself in the moment, to the point she was vaguely award of Alex's hand caressing her bottom before sliding down her thigh until it reached the bottom of her skirt and began ascending again.
Charlie slid her hand over Alex's bottom herself, a little surprised to find Alex had changed out of the jeans she'd worn earlier and into leggings. It didn't bother Charlie, but she couldn't help but notice the difference.
However, Charlie had to break the kiss as she felt Alex's hand slide up to her underwear under her skirt and even under that to feel her butt directly. Although, Alex then began kissing Charlie's neck.
"Um…" Charlie started to say, but had trouble getting the words out as she felt a little out of breath from kissing Alex. "A-Alex, could you please st-stop?"
"What's wrong, Charlie?" Alex asked, squeezing her butt gently.
"Your hand is under my clothes," Charlie said, suddenly aware of her other hand playing with the hem of her shirt.
"Soon both can be if you let me," Alex commented as she continued necking Charlie.
Charlie was starting to find it hard to think as her body was telling her to just give in. To see where this led to. Even though she was uncomfortable with what was happening, a large part of her wanted this as well.
Charlie felt Alex's hand slide up her back, pulling the back of her shirt with it, causing the front to lift a little as well. Then she felt Alex's other hand leave her butt and slide over to her hip, her skin tingling where Alex's hand moved.
Charlie couldn't help but moan softly as Alex found an especially sensitive spot at the base of her neck. Charlie was about to shove all of her reservations out the window and let her body decide what to do when she felt Alex's hand reach her bra and then start to slide around to her front where her hand started to push her bra up, her fingers sending electricity through Charlie where they touched the bottom of her breast.
Charlie couldn't help but push Alex away in a momentary burst of panic. Even though she wanted it to continue and her body still tingled where Alex's hands had been, and the fact that her bra had been adjusted so it wasn't on properly, which she knew she'd need to fix soon, but at the moment she had other things on her mind. When her mind was able to calm down a little and she could tell Alex wasn't going to try again immediately, she couldn't help but breathe out a sigh of relief. Although, as her mind calmed down, she realized her shirt was still lifted up quite a bit.
"Did I do something wrong?" Alex asked with a tone Charlie couldn't identify right then.
"It's not you," Charlie said, reaching out to Alex, pulling her into and embrace. "When your hands were touching me, I kinda panicked."
"What was it that made you panic?" Alex asked, returning the embrace.
Charlie shook her head. "It wasn't anything you did specifically, I think," Charlie replied. "Maybe you were just moving a little too fast for me."
"Sorry if I pushed you into that," Alex said, kissing Charlie's cheek.
"It's okay," Charlie said. "I wanted it too, but I guess I'm just not ready for it."
Alex's hand slid up Charlie's slide, to help pull her shirt back down, Alex's touch still sending electricity through Charlie.
"Sorry about freaking you out," Alex apologized. "I told myself that I wouldn't do what I just did."
"Don't worry about it," Charlie said, kissing Alex briefly before starting to pull away. "I'm not mad."
"Um, would it be alight if I touched your girls?" Alex asked. Then after a quick moment, she added, "I mean over your clothing. I won't try to touch them directly until you tell me it's okay."
Charlie wanted to say she could, but right now she didn't think she could handle it at the moment. "As long as it's not under my shirt, I think I can handle that. Your touch is electrifying after all," Charlie replied and immediately began kicking herself for saying so much. She felt herself blushing furiously, wanting to unsay what she'd just said.
"Well, that's alright," Alex said, though Charlie could hear the disappointment in her voice. "But, electrifying, huh?" Alex paused for a moment before quickly adding, almost shyly, "If you touched my girls, maybe you'd be electrifying to me too."
Charlie couldn't help but let out a little giggle at Alex's statement. "I-I guess that'll be fine," Charlie allowed, partly wondering if Alex was wanting to have Charlie touch her right then.
"Can I touch them right now?"
Charlie sighed. What was it with everyone and her chest? First it was her friends telling her about bras and her bra size and how big her breasts were. Now it was Alex wanting to touch them, even if it was through clothing. She just couldn't understand what the deal was.
"Okay, sure," Charlie said after a minute of confusion.
Alex let out a squeal as her hand went to her breast, which even through her clothing, she could still feel the electricity..
Maybe it was because of her panic earlier and her body having calmed down, but she couldn't understand what the deal with touching her breast was about. Alex's hand gently caressed and squeezed her chest for a few minutes while Charlie endured it. She did find her body reacting to it, but not that much. Even though Alex's touch seemed to create electricity in her, part of her wondered if that sensation was because she knew it was Alex.
"Oh, by the way, I heard about the movie you selected for your friends to watch," Alex commented after feeling Charlie up for a minute. "My Little Pony."
"Yeah, I had gotten through the series enough that the movie was next," Charlie admitted. Although, the topic seemed out of place for Charlie with what they were currently doing, but her mind wasn't able to make any connection as it felt like it was slowly shutting down for whatever reason.
Alex then pulled Charlie into her lap before her other hand slid up to begin to fondle her other breast. "Have you ever heard of the movie 'Beaches?'"
Charlie shook her head. "I can't say I have."
"Well, if you get to pick the movie another time, that's a good one to watch," Alex said.
Charlie could feel something in her shift, as her breathing began to quicken. She leaned back into Alex, finding enjoyment in the feel of Alex's breasts pressing against her back while Alex's continued to grope her chest.
Charlie turned her head to the side where she could feel Alex's head was and soon found herself making out with Alex again. Soon, she found herself lost in the moment again, barely aware of Alex's hand sliding down her body to her skirt, where she suddenly felt Alex being to rub her most private area through her clothing.
Charlie couldn't help but moan into Alex's mouth, partly hungry for more and partly telling herself they needed to stop. However, Charlie's mind was starting to slow down and wouldn't work properly as a fog seemed to be developing in her brain.
Though, as she felt her skirt being to rise under Alex's caresses, she felt that she needed to stop this before it got out of hand. She could see herself easily falling into… whatever it was they were doing right then.
So, mustering all of her failing willpower, she pulled away from Alex, and lifted Alex's hand from between her legs.
"I think maybe we should call it a night," Charlie said raggedly, trying to calm her body down.
"Really?" Alex protested. "But you feel so good."
Charlie couldn't help but smile. "Glad to hear that, but if we continue, I don't think I'll be able to stop and I don't think we'll finish in just a few minutes. Besides, I'm sure your grandma will notice you gone sooner or later."
"Don't worry about that," Alex said, continuing to massage Charlie's breast. "I used a trick I learned when I was a cheerleader. How to make her think I'm at home when I sneak out."
Charlie nodded for a moment before something Alex said caught her attention.
"Wait. 'When you were a cheerleader?'"
"Did I say something wrong?" Alex asked.
Charlie shook her head to clear it. "I thought you were a cheerleader still," Charlie said.
"Oh, well, I was last year because Allison needed me to be one. If they hadn't needed a warm body on the team, I'd have been fine to not have joined."
"What do you mean 'a warm body?'" Charlie asked as felt like Alex was talking in code or something.
"It's simple. They needed at least one more member on the team, because they didn't have enough people show up for the try outs, so Allison asked me to join and I did. If they hadn't needed another warm body on the team, I know I wouldn't have made it through the try outs."
Charlie nodded, not really understanding, but not arguing with what she was told either.
"I guess they had enough people wanting to try out this year, huh?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, but I still get a few benefits from having been on the team last year," Alex said.
"What kind of benefits?" Charlie asked, not really understanding what Alex was talking about.
"Well, there's the fact that I'm still part of the cheerleader's circle, so I'm sure you understand what benefits can come from that, since you sat at our table most of last year."
Charlie couldn't argue that. It did keep some of the pranks and potential bullies away from her.
"Then there's how I can seek help from the cheer team if I have a problem or something. Just like when they agreed to help me learn more about you last year."
Charlie groaned. "All of them were in on it?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah, but Allison was able to do more than the others," Alex replied.
Charlie sighed and pulled Alex's hand off of her chest. "Well, I think it might be time for us to call it a night," Charlie said, not really wanting to, but she was worried that her parents might lock the front door. If that happened, she wasn't sure if she wouldn't get in trouble.
Although, if she used her magic, she might be able to escape any serious trouble, but she still would run the risk of getting caught.
"Anything wrong?" Alex asked.
"I just don't want my parents to lock me out," Charlie said. "I'm not sure what time it is, but since they don't know I'm out here, they might do that without knowing I'm not in my room."
Alex chuckled while sighing. "I understand. See you tomorrow?"
"Of course," Charlie replied, giving Alex a quick peck before moving off of Alex's comfortable lap and carefully making her way back into her house.