They lay together in the pumpkin patch hiding from a group of people who had just walked past them and trying not to laugh. The sounds of a raucous party complete with Halloween music could be heard from a residence in the distance so that's probably where the people were going.

Given that you had two witches, a devil and a GI Joe in the mix. Yes, definitely hitting the hottest Halloween party in town.

Charlie sat up, after they had walked past, leaning against a large sized pumpkin which remained on the twisty vine along with the others that hadn't made the cut to be turned into jack o lanterns that year. Still, there was plenty of time for them to be turned into pumpkin soup on many a Thanksgiving dinner table. But for now they made good props for hiding while Charlie hid out with one of her best friends, Colton. They had grown up together on neighboring ranches together but alas, both of them had been ditched or dumped by their dates for that big party in the distance.

Hence the hiding out in the pumpkin patch instead of partying it up on the dance floor listening to over a dozen different renditions of either Thriller or Monster Mash. Colton's ex girlfriend Trina was holding the bash while her parents were out of the country, leaving her the five bedrooms, four and a half baths to fill with over 100 guests from high school. One of them was her brand new boyfriend, David who had just bought a Porsche and was captain of the tennis team.

Charlie had been going out with Jake who had dumped her for a reunion with his old girlfriend Lorie who headed the cheerleading squad. They were both attending the Halloween bash as Adam and Eve.

She sighed as she lay back in the patch looking up at the stars which filled the black velvety sky. The earth and the foliage from the patch felt damp against her shirt but pleasantly cool, after the unseasonal hot day. Colton lay beside her, neither of them in costume but both thinking the pumpkin patch to be just the right place to hide out from the rest of the world. He had spread a blanket taken from the attic at his house and they had even brought some fast food to eat while spending the holiday together.

"Wish you had gone," she asked, lying next to him on the blanket.

He remained silent for a moment.

"Nah…I knew it was over between us…she just had other ideas of what she wanted."

"She's a fool Colton," Charlie said, "She doesn't know what she wants…she'll realize she screwed up and she'll be back."

Colton shrugged.

"I won't be waiting."

"Oh that's right…you'll have moved on already…that's great…I wish I could do that."

He turned to look at her detecting sadness in her voice beneath her carefree attitude. She must have cared more for that loser than she let on, but then what the hell had a young woman with her beauty been doing hanging out with a guy who'd dump her so easily? She might be his childhood friend but that didn't mean he still wasn't a guy, who didn't look at her curly dark brown hair and hazel eyes and not notice her beauty. She had been thin as a child, but her angles had grown into curves, toned by a lifetime spent riding horseback.

Sometimes when she wasn't looking, he enjoyed the view like right now, the way her jeans sculpted her lower body, her toned legs and yeah, her ass too. He knew that such thoughts about his friend probably might lead to her teasing him but if he kept them to himself…

"Hey I really do envy you your ability to just love them and leave them," she said with a sigh, "I wish I knew how to be better at doing that."

He looked over at her, her finely cut profile, and he felt her wistfulness almost physically. But she needed to know some serious truth here.

"Charlie…Don't change what you've got, for anyone," he said, "So this latest guy wasn't worth what you had to give him, maybe the next guy…"

She smiled, but she shook his head.

"No I'm done with this love stuff…I just want to like a guy enough to have a good time, not put anything more into it."

He frowned when she put it that way. Damn when had that happened, when he hadn't been looking? He just never remembered her sounding so jaded. They were both in their final year of high school.

"Don't say that," he started, "You're too young to be thinking that way."

She snorted from where she lay in the darkness.

"Why…I'm not much younger than you and you're already acting that way."

She had nailed him straight with that one and he couldn't deny it, so he just looked at her.

"You don't want to be me."

Oh now that intrigued her, so she rolled on her side to face him.

"Why…is it bad or something," she asked softly.

He looked at her for a long moment, not forgetting that inquisitive nature of her, the quality that along with some serious studying habits not to mention smarts had led her to the top of her class.

"No…because you're a woman, and men are different."

She lifted her head and arched a brow.

"Don't give met that crap Colton…I know men and women are different since I walked in on you and Gary when you were nine and skinny dipping."

He cleared his throat.

"Yeah…well I'm even more different than now from you than I was back then."

God, she knew that, Colton had never been gangly, just leanly muscled but when he hit his sophomore years, he had started growing into his frame. Helped him greatly as a running back on the football team when he got tackled, not that it happened often, with his agility and turn of foot. The girls told stories about him, in breathless fashion in the locker room before PE.

She played along like she knew what the hell they were talking about because they assumed that she did, because she grew up with him. They hadn't asked her if she'd slept with him, because they assumed that to be the case cause guys and girls couldn't be friends, not when they could be frolicking in between the sheets or in the back seat of a car instead. But she and Colton, they had never crossed over that line.

Not that she hadn't thought about it, she had especially lately, now that they were both seniors in high school, about two months into their last year and both unattached…not that he did…he looked at her as a buddy, his partner in crime and all around close friend. He just didn't look at her as some woman he wanted to have sex with, not when there were other beautiful outgoing women out there to sample.

And she knew that he had indeed sampled. Not tonight of course but other nights and more of those to come.

"So how long before you, you know hook up with someone new?"

She asked him that right as she thought it, as she often did when she spoke with him, favoring always the direct approach.

He just looked at her.

"What…well…not tonight if that's what you're thinking."

"No…well you can wait until tomorrow I guess."

He narrowed his eyes.

"What about you?"

She looked all innocent but inside she felt warmness fill her at his question.

"Well, I told you…only if he's interested in having some fun."

He just sighed thinking that was all wrong for her. Okay, what was good for the gander…he wasn't one of those double standard guys but this was his friend he was talking about. He reached over and stroked her hair and she just looked at him. Not that he had never done that before but not this way…

"Colton…what is it?"

He just looked in her eyes, and suddenly some images appeared inside his head faster than he could chase them away if he'd even wanted to do that. He thought about the other night when they had hung out in the basement recreational room at his house. They'd been sitting on the sofa listening to the sound system, some early rock and roll and not doing much talking. She'd worn her hair down like now and she had worn this lovely top with flowers of different colors on it, and the top had been lower cut to accentuate her breasts. He had definitely been aware of when that part of her had changed, and nicely. He thought then about kissing her on that couch, he had glanced sideways at her wondering what she had been thinking about him.

But she just looked in front of her, in her own world. Maybe she'd been thinking about Jake. Maybe missing him when all Colton could think about was how it might feel to dip his hand inside of that shirt and stroke those breasts, to feel the nipples harden at his touch. Was she even wearing a bra, he couldn't tell.

Now he thought about that time and he just looked at her, the question still on her face even if her lips had stilled. They just lay there in the patch in the comfortable way of old friends but his mind had been wrapped around what it'd be like…

"Nothing…I was just thinking."

"About what…about her," she asked.

He remained silent for a while which was his answer. But not the one he wanted to give her. The way she digested his nonresponsiveness that prompted him to find some words.

"No…no I wasn't…She's with another guy now and I'm free."

She looked at him as he said those words, and he seemed to savor them. Not that it surprised her because she didn't see him as the type who remained serious about one woman. Maybe one woman at a time but not one woman for all time…not that she expected that of him at all. They were both still very young with their lives spread ahead of them.

"I guess that's the way to look at it," she said, "I'm free too and I'm glad I'm not with him. Jake…he was kind of jealous of every guy around me…especially you."

That surprised him because there had been no reason because he and Charlie had never…well he had thought about it but actually, no so her boyfriends had no reason to worry about him. Suddenly, that realization nagged at him, like an itch that he couldn't reach.

The woman lying next to him, had parts of her he knew as well as himself, like how she liked to go riding on her horse, how she liked to explore corners of the mountains to find what nature had hidden there. She loved to skinny dip in the pond, oops maybe he wasn't supposed to know that but she loved to laugh at old movies they watched together in that basement.

But he didn't know everything about his friend, including how she liked to be kissed, and where it would tickle first before it aroused her. What would he do if he kissed her in between her breasts suckling on the ripened nipples he knew would be waiting, if he removed her shirt…maybe a lacy bra or an undershirt?

It didn't take much to arouse him…and sure enough his pants tightened at the thoughts that filled his mind. No way to relieve it, at least until he got back home, as he just lay there apparently oblivious to her effect on him.

She glanced over at him as the quietness between them grew, matching the night, the sounds of the party fading.

"So if we're both free…."

Her voice drifted off and she closed her mouth having said too much. She never had a problem saying exactly what she wanted to say, speaking her mind and all that, but right now, she had just stopped, and she had looked away, out across the patch at an eye level with rows of pumpkins, all awaiting the next round of picking. The fragrance of some overly ripened ones that had split open wafted in the air with the distant smell of something burning in the night.

Probably barbecue from the party, the one the two of them had ditched.

He shot her a look, and she knew he had gotten her meaning but what did he think about it?

"You really thinking what I'm thinking," he asked.

She bit her lip, and just shot him a look.

"What if we just…only until one of us got together with someone else?"

His eyebrows shot up and she knew what she said shocked him. Damn, not her intent at all, maybe she should just forget about it. Yes, dumb idea to spring on a guy who might be her best friend but after all had never touched her as he might a girlfriend since they were interested in doing stuff like that.

"Forget it…"

He shook his head, all serious now.

"I can't…once you say something like that…it's hard to do that."

She pondered that and thought he might be right about that because she didn't really want to take back her words. What she wanted was to know what it felt like to kiss his mouth, whether his stubble on his jaw tickled when it brushed against a woman's skin.

And not just on her mouth.

Damn, she was getting way ahead of herself. Slowing down her breathing might help bring sense back into the conversation because what she had hinted at but couldn't say, just crazy talk. But he didn't seem to think so, not if the sudden light in his eyes was any indication. His own breathing had quickened too.

Then without more words between them, Colton moved closer to her and damn, if he didn't kiss her mouth…tentatively at first as if aware that he was probing new ground between them. She hadn't really been all that startled, but she reached out to welcome his kiss, as it grew into something, more than a greeting between two friends. She tasted the spearmint gum that he favored, the hint of his aftershave reached her and his lips, and she moved her tongue around to taste more of him.

Gingerly because after all, they didn't usually do this but he definitely didn't seem to mind. He reached out to place his hand behind her head, pulling her closer, as they lay hidden in the patch. Kissing him was much, much different than Jake or any of her other boyfriends, it sent jolts of pleasure throughout her body, far away from her mouth. Suddenly, she knew she wanted him to do more than kiss her, she wanted to feel his naked skin underneath her fingertips, and…she swallowed dryly, his own hands on hers.

Oh god, what was she thinking here…don't think, she told herself then, just feel the moment …because it might not last longer than that. A kiss stolen between two friends, on Halloween night because neither of them could get a date to the party…

But Colton didn't think about the party, or any of his ex girlfriends not even what's her name….he just thought about stroking Charlie's mouth with his own before deftly sliding his tongue into it, not forcefully but coaxing her gently, until she supplicated. Pleasure jolted him when he tasted her, the cinnamon from the apple pie they had just eaten, and some of that wine they had scored from his daddy's cellar. She moved closer to him without realizing it, and his hands began to explore her as fervently as his tongue moved inside her mouth. Her tongue met his boldly and they stroked each other, and damn if that didn't feel wonderful, she thought.

So did he, he knew that when he felt his pants grow even more tight, his erection pushing against them. He didn't question the way he felt because that kiss just continued to grow, but his hands started wandering, stroking her back, and then slipping underneath her shirt.

"Colton…"

She felt his warm hands against her bare skin, which prickled beneath his touching…and below his hands, her panties started to get damp. She felt her breath leave her as she realized that she hadn't felt that way about him.

Not that she had allowed herself that pleasure, to want something that could never be hers. But why they kissed, she imagined what it'd be like if his hands moved towards her waiting breasts and worshipped them as he did her mouth. Guys didn't seem to know what to do with her breasts, which had developed by the time she hit 14. They tended to squeeze them like they were milking a cow when she preferred having them rubbed, and god, if she could find a guy who would mouth her nipples like cherries, she would probably climax just from that. Especially if Colton…no she couldn't say it, he was just her friend and they were just getting a little carried away and soon enough, one would rein them in, safely back into their friendship.

But what she really liked is when another hand besides her own stroked her pussy, that juncture between her thighs, rubbing her clitoris, gently, not too rough and when she became wet down there, if he would slide a finger inside of her, and stroke through her tightness. She imagined what it'd be like if Colton fingered her, watching her reaction with those intense eyes of his, wondering what it would be like to be the woman in his bed.

She'd undress for him, or he'd do it for her, baring his own skin and then as she opened herself up to him, he'd lie between her thighs and she'd wait for that slice of heaven when he thrust inside her for the first time. Or maybe she'd mix things up and lower herself onto his erection and ride him, while he stroked her breasts with that tongue…her breath quickened and she tried to stop it lest he notice that he had affected her that way.

Colton watched her and knew she imagined something that made her smile, and he thought about what she looked like beneath her clothing, he imagined what it'd be like to kiss the softness of her breasts until he reached her nipples, and took them inside his mouth, carefully. Playing with them with his tongue and hearing her cry out because she begged for it, then imagining what she wore beneath her pants. Did she favor cotton or lace panties, and were they white or a soft blue…or something more off the path like red or black? Did she wear delicate silk between her legs, underneath her clothing and relish in that secret?

God she looked sexy enough just to kiss and the hardening of his penis told him that he wanted to do much more than that. But it was messed up to feel that way about a close friend wasn't it? To imagine unwrapping her like a birthday present and inhaling her scent, that hint of perfume and something darker…something uniquely her. Spreading those toned thighs of hers and slipping those panties off of her legs to look at her pussy, what would that be like?

He sucked in his breath and felt the sweat prickle on the back of his neck just at the thought, at gazing down at those soft rosy petals, nestled in curls, darker than the hair which framed her face or did she shave, he'd never thought to ask. Questions like that just didn't come up in the scope of their friendship though now he wondered idly, but more so about what it'd be like to bury his face in between her thighs, licking her pussy lips, and thrusting his tongue inside of her for a taste. He knew it'd be heaven, he was a lover of pussies after all, not able to ever get enough of worshipping them properly with his mouth.

Maybe not all guys were like that but Colton loved to go down on his women. Not that he didn't love it when women wrapped their lips around his cock but the way a woman looked after she climaxed in his mouth…her face all rosy, her lips agape…and her eyes…wanton.

He felt a jolt of pleasure in his cock when he imagined that face belonging to Charlie. Then the act of pressing her against her, resting between her knees which grasped his ass snugly, holding him against her. The joy of the first thrust inside her pussy which he knew would be snug and hot, her moisture helping him slide inside of her, the walls of her hugging him, rubbing to build him up right until the point he shot his wad.

Colton sighed as his thoughts wandered into the forbidden recess of his mind that he harbored fantasies of fucking his friend, who lay next to him right now after that kiss, still apparently unaware of what she did to him. Her cries haunted him, the ones she would make as she gripped his ass as he pushed deeper inside of her, her whispers begging him not to hold back, to ride her harder and faster, the slap of their bodies colliding over and over. How it'd feel to arch his back against her, during that moment he reached his own precipice. One look from her…definitely enough to push him over the edge…he thought as he shifted his body to find a comfortable position because his cock just wanted out of his jeans, and inside the woman next to him in the worst way.

"Colton…"

His head turned towards her and she just looked at him.

"What?"

She licked her lips, shifting her own position so she could really look into his eyes. He sensed that she felt his turmoil on some level.

"I have a confession to make and I don't know if you're going to like it."

His body jolted, was she going to call him on his attraction to her…which would be much more obvious to her if she moved a few inches closer to him, where their bodies would touch.

"How do you know unless you tell me Charlie?"

She tilted her head.

"Because it's not something I know if I can tell my friend…."

Now he felt more intrigued than worried.

"Why don't you try me and see what happens?"

She smiled then, a little coyly or maybe it was out of shyness. He couldn't tell, it wasn't a smile he recognized.

"I don't want to be your friend anymore Colton…"

Now that hit him like a ton of bricks…because they had been friends forever, or so it seemed, at least longer than both of them hadn't known each other. What had he done to piss her off that had led her to say such a thing?

"What the hell, Charlie…why would you say that? What have I done?"

She inched a little closer, which was kind of a funny reaction for someone who didn't want to be friends with him, from the woman who had just kissed him, had stuck her tongue in his mouth and allowed him to do that to her. Sometimes he didn't understand women…even the one he thought he did above the rest.

"Nothing…that's the problem…I know we're supposed to be childhood friends and all that but when I look at you…I don't think that way…I want to know what it's like…"

Colton thought he might know the rest but he didn't want to get his own hopes up.

"To know what's like?"

She smiled even more widely, her eyes lit up in a way that only coaxed a certain part of him to get even harder.

"To get it on with you…to feel you against me…to fuck you and for you to do that to me…"

His jaw dropped then and his body tingled in a way it hadn't really done.

"Really…?"

She shot him an amused look.

"Yeah really…you know Colton I never took you for the shy virginal type."

He chuckled at her, his voice low in his chest, the way she liked.

"Funny…me neither about you…though I often wondered."

"You did?"

He reached out to stroke her face then, placing his thumb over the lips he had just so thoroughly kissed but not nearly enough.

"Though in my fantasies you were wearing less clothes, and we were outdoors but not in a pumpkin patch, and you were straddling on me, while I…well the way you looked naked, with your hair…oh god…and your tits close enough…"

She breathed more loudly.

"Enough for you to take inside your mouth, while I…rode your cock," she finished for him.

"Oh yeah…while I held onto those hips, and you…you had this rhythm and it was so hot."

"It's hotter in reality, I can promise you that…but do you have the…balls to try me?"

He continued stroking her face, moving down to her neck.

"I think so…what about you, how would you like it if we…were in my bed and I licked that pussy of yours…until you grabbed the bed sheets just before you screamed?"

Her brow furrowed.

"I don't know…I'm not really all that noisy."

He smiled somewhat cockily.

"That's because you haven't been with me."

Her mouth twitched.

"Okay…maybe if you um, rode me and we rocked the bedposts, I might think about it…"

He processed that thought, of her lying in his bed after he'd stripped her bare, maybe later down the line with some restraints on her wrists which would be tied to the bedposts as he sunk his cock deep inside of her. He didn't know how she felt about a little rope play but he'd love to find out.

"It's a deal…so why don't we take our little party elsewhere?"

She didn't move, but he knew she thought about it.

"I'm on the pill so that'd work…"

He sighed, god, it turned him on that they were talking about it, not as good as getting down and dirty but now that they were heading in that direction…but…

"Look, we don't have to jump into bed right away...we could do a little exploring first."

She nodded.

"That'll work for me…but not…here…"

Yeah, the last thing he'd like is if a cop came upon them out on party patrol and saw them with their hands in each other's pants. So he got up and helped her on her feet and as they heard thread of the Monster Mash music reach them, he placed his arm around her waist and they left to take their own party indoors.

Bringing all those fantasies they had kept hidden from each other, finally to life.