Long Journey Home

"That’s it; I’m beat." Tammy switched off the tape player and reached for a towel. Her practice had taken far longer than she’d anticipated, thanks to one stubborn stance that wouldn’t turn out right, no matter how hard she tried. Deciding that it would be better to rest and tackle it again the next day, rested and with a fresh mind, she dabbed at the sweat on her arms and neck -- both Jase and she had discarded their gi jackets quite some time ago. Tugging at the soaked-through bustier top she wore, she looked enviously at the smoothly-muscled back of the Gold Ranger. Sometimes it was so unfair; the guys had no problem changing or even shedding their shirts when it got hot; a girl had to be much more circumspect about these things. Tammy didn’t even want to think about wearing a bra; the things were just too uncomfortable, and she’d taken to wearing pre-molded racer-back tops for practice and under her gi. During competition, she couldn’t get away with that, but at all other times ... Suddenly the silence around her registered. Slinging her towel around her neck, shnderndered over to where Jase was practising his spin kicks. As soon as he executed the last set, Tammy cleared her throat.
 
"Hm? Oh ...Tammy. I didn’t hear you finish." Jason reached for his own towel and wiped his heaving chest. He’d worked up quite a sweat in his efforts to keep his mind off Tammy and the way she moved on the mats, and hadn’t even heard the tape stop.
 
She smiled at him, keeping her eyes at shoulder level with an effort. She wanted so much to run her hands over his sculpted chest ..... "'s okay; I was just wondering where everybody disappeared to."
 
Jason laughed and pointed at the clock on the wall.
 
"Have you any idea how long we’ve been at this?" It was almost nine pm; no wonder everybody was gone. Ernie usually closed around seven!
 
"Oh my God ... my mom’ll kill me!"
 
"Don’t worry; I called your folks and mine when Ernie left. We’ve closed for him often enough, right? If we hurry with our showers, we won’t be too late."
 
"Ohh, you’re a lifesaver!" Tammy sent him a beaming smile and quickly collected her stuff. "I’ll hurry, I promise!"
 
"You won’t need to; I’ll grab a shower, too." Jason quickly calculated the time he needed, then added another five minutes for good measure. *She’ll need it, for her hair!*
 
"Meet you here in fifteen?"
 
"Perfect!" Hurrying towards the locker rooms, Tammy vainly tried to chase away the image of Jase under the shower next door, water and suds coursing down his muscled chest and abdomen, towards his ... blushing furiously, Tammy almost slammed the door to the showers shut behind her.
 
Jason shook his head, puzzled, and turned off the lights in the Juice Bar. He made his way to the lockers and stripped off, stepping under the hot spray. Letting the warmth seep into his tired muscles, he relaxed and closed his eyes, when suddenly a sound reached him through the wall. After a moment, the meaning registered. Someone had turned on the shower on the other side. His eyes flew open as he realized that it could only be Tammy. Normally the hustle and bustle of the busy teen hangout obscured the fact that the walls weren’t overly thick, and that, if it was really quiet like now, you could hear people talk in the other locker room. However, no one was talking in the girls’ shower; nobody was here but him and Tammy, both simultaneously taking a shower. Unbidden, an image of her lithe form, clad only in running droplets of water, beading on her tanned, soft skin and gliding over her naked breasts, rose in his mind. Biting back a groan, Jason realized something else was rising as well. Although he’d yet to see her in anything more revealing than a bathing suit, it was all too easy to picture her in the nude. His hormones rose another notch, and his manhood began to stretch and fill with blood.
 
Moaning softly, Jason reached for his engorged cock as he mentally called up pictures of Tammy laughing, of catching her as the gang had played frisbee in the park the other day, of taking her hand to help her climbing over a fallen tree on their hike last weekend ... he stroked himself, closing his eyes. As his hand worked his organ, images of Tammy mixed with those of Tommy, until they became indistinguishable in his mind. Steadying himself against the tiled wall, his hand pumped up and down, the other straying towards his balls. Jason was lost in his erotic fantasy; he recalled every instance where he’d be bent over Tommy/Tammy, after throwing him/her during a workout, sunning on the beach, or talking in the park. He could clearly see the play of muscles under smooth skin, the gentle sway of her hips when she walked, smell the unique scent that belonged to both of them, and the urge to reach out and touch was almost overpowering. His hips began to thrust in time with his strokes. All too soon, his balls contracted, and gave up their load in several spurts of semen. Jason barely manato sto swallow his cry of release and almost collapsed against the wall. Breathing heavily, he straightened, letting the warm water sluice away the signs of his climax. He wasn’t proud of himself; he had no business involving either Tommy or Tammy in his sexual fantasies, but couldn’t help it. His feelings for either/both were becoming so mixed up with each other that he had a very hard time remembering what was real and what was better left alone, relegated to another reality.
 
Sighing, he turned off the water and towelled off. Dressing quickly, he could hear the drone of the hair dryer in the next room. Turning off the lights, he went back out into the gym, checking windows and doors. Just as he was finished, Tammy rejoined him, her gym bag slung over her shoulder.
 
"Ready?"
 
"Yeah."
 
Both were silent as they stepped out into the warm spring evening. The sun had already set, and the street lights cast areas of light and darkness on their path. Walking companionably through the park, both enjoyed the slight breeze blowing in from the lake. Tammy cast sideways glances at Jase. He seemed preoccupied with his thoughts, but she didn’t feel the need to break the silence. Just as they turned away from the shore, a stronger gust of wind caught her long locks, blowing them about her face.
 
"Mmphff!" She spit out a strand that had gotten caught in her mouth.
 
"One of these days I’m going to go and cut this mess off!" she threatened.
 
Jason just laughed. "You know you won’t."
 
"Yeah, well ...." She turned to glower at him playfully. Suly, ly, she winced painfully. "Oh damn!"
 
Jason stopped immediately.
 
"What is it?"
 
"I’m never wearing this jacket again!" Tammy tried to move her head, but couldn’t. "My hair’s caught in one of the zippers!" She winced again as she tried to loosen the snagged strand.
 
Jason looked around. There was a bench a few yards off, with a lantern casting a circle of yellow light against the darkness. He gently tugged the girl over and dropped his bag onto the seat, relieving Tammy of hers as well.
 
"Here, let me have a look." He turned her slightly around until he could see where one of the long curls had tangled itself in a zipper. "I’ve got it." Carefully, he began to extricate the silky strand from the metal teetammyammy stood very still; their bodies were almost touching, and she enjoyed the way Jase’s hands felt on her shoulders and in her hair.
 
"There you go." Jason had untangled the chestnut-colored strand and now brushed it back into place. Tammy turned and looked up into his eyes, smiling her thanks. They were standing very close, and instead of releasing her and stepping back, Jason stood mesmerized, drowning in the golden-brown eyes. Unconsciously, he ran his fingers through the soft fall of hair once more. His fingertips brushed her cheek with a whispery touch, and Tammy’s breath caught. Time seemed to freeze around them as two pairs of brown eyes lost themselves in each other. Her lips parted slightly on an indrawn breath, and Jason was lost. He lowered his head just as she raised hers, and their mouths touched.
 
Eyes drifted closed as the gentle pressure increased. The feel of the satiny softness trembling against his lips made Jason lightheaded, but he was unable to hold back. Somewhere at the back of his mind a voice cried out to him that he should stop, that this was wrong, but he paid it no mind. Relinquishing himself to the sensation and taste of Tammy, he pulled her gently close, until she rested fully against him. He slid his lips in a soft caress from her mouth over her cheek up to her temple, then kissed her lightly on her closed eyelids. They fluttered open. What he read in the brown orbs chased away any misgivings he might have had. Smiling, he held her with one arm around her waist; his other hand moved back into her hair, to the back of her head, and he bent towards the sweet mouth once more. His tongue-tip snaked out and licked oh-so-softly at her lips, until they parted enough for him to slip inside. A warm tingle of pleasure spread through him as he tasted Tammy for the first time. He delved deeper, until her tongue met his, and the two gave themselves up to this first kiss, exploring and touching, until the need to breathe again reasserted itself. Gently, Jason withdrew, parting from her with a last, lingering caress, and held her close once more, burying his face in the mass of curls and breathing in her scent. Tammy was just the perfect height for him; his lips grazed her temple as he held her, trying to soothe her trembling. He couldn’t believe how right she felt in his arms! With a sigh, he leaned back slightly to look iner eer eyes. What he read there made words unnecessary. His arms tightened around her once more, her hands crept up around his neck, and their lips opened to each other again. They lost themselves in their kiss.
 
When the need to breathe became too insistent, they parted reluctantly, lingering against each other’s lips with butterfly kisses. Sanity was slow in returning. Jason finally pulled back, resting his forehead against Tammy’s.
 
"I’m sorry."
 
She flinched as if he’d hit her. Immediately contrite, he pressed his lips against her temple.
 
"I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I’m not sorry I kissed you. It’s just that I think I shouldn’t have done it, is all."
 
She turned around in his arms, away from him.
 
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Jason could have kicked himself as he heard the tears in her voice.
 
"Tammy ...." he drew her back to him and cupped her cheek, gently forcing her to meet his eyes. "I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since I ended up here. Believe me, I do. It’s just ... you know I don’t belong here; not really. You should wait for your own Jason."
 
Tammy blinked away a few tears. They shimmered in the lantern’s glow, and Jason tenderly brushed them away with his thumb. Swallowing hard, she met his dark eyes, almost afraid of what she would find there. Seeing only tenderness and affection, she offered a wobbly smile, and was rewarded with a gentle brush of lips against her own. Burying her face in the broad, black-clad shoulder, she took a few moments to compose herself. When she felt she had enough control over her voice, she looked up again.
 
"I’ve waited for ‘my’ Jason a long time. I’m not sure he knows I’m even alive yet, apart from being a Ranger. Sometimes I think he might feel like I do, but then again ..." her voice trailed off.
 
"Tammy, I know what it’s like to be lonely, to love someone from a distance. If it hadn’t been for all of you guys, I don’t know how I would have coped with this whole mess. Only ..." he swallowed painfully. He’d never aded ted this to anyone else, but he owed her this much truth.
 
"I ... I guess you know by now that ... that Tommy means a lot to me, don’t you?"
 
"Of course. It’s obvious in the way you talk about him." A thought suddenly occured to her. "A-are you saying you’re g-gay?" She stiffened slightly in his embrace.
 
"No. No, I’m not, and neither is he. It’s just ... over the last few months, I’ve become .... attracted to him." Jason blushed as he confessed this.
 
Tammy stared at him.
 
"Attracted .... as in .... physically?"
 
"Yeah. I don’t know how it happened, but it did. That’s partly why I had such a hard time relating to you in the beginning. Suddenly, half the things which made anything more than friendship between Tommy and me nearly impossible were gone, just like that." He snapped his fingers.
 
"You’re such a wonderful girl, and so much like him .... I don’t know if what I’m feeling for you is a carry-over from back home, or if it’s just for you. You’re gorgeous, smart, funny ... if I really belonged here, if I were Jason instead of just Jase, I’d have kissed you a long time ago, and never let up. But I don’t, and I could be gone tomorrow, or next week, or whenever. I can’t use you like this. And the last thing I want to do is hurt you; what if we start something, I get switched back, and Jason doesn’t feel like I do?"
 
Tammy pondered what he’d said. Jase's kisses had spoken most eloquently of what he felt for her. They had not been a lie. Funnily enough, despite that she had no problem with Jase admitting to being attracted to another guy; her parents had brought her up to be open-minded about all things, and she’d always felt that the choice of one’s lifestyle was personal. More important were things like commitment and honesty in a relationship, and Jase certainly was giving her that. Could she do any less? No.
 
"Shouldn’t that be my choice?"
 
"I don’t follow you."
 
"Jason, you won’t be using me; if you are, I’m just as guilty of that, as well. The whole team knows that I’ve been in love with you almost from the moment I met you." Tammy deliberately made no distinction between ‘her’ and ‘this’ Jason; they were almost interchangeable to her, anyway.
 
"As I said, I’ve waited a long time for this. Maybe this is my only chance to find out if whatever’s between me and you is for real. Why won’t you let me take it?"
 
Jason hugged her close. His voice muffled in her hair, he felt something very close to hope rise within him. Almost giddy, he forced himself to make a last effort.
 
"I just don’t want you to get hurt."
 
Tammy pressed a kiss against his neck, feeling the shudder that caused race through him. It firmed her resolve.
 
"The only way you can hurt me is if you won’t be honest with me. I don’t see that happening."
 
He raised his head and looked deeply into the warm brown eyes.
 
"I’ll never lie to you. I can promise you that, at least."
 
"Then do what your heart tells you -- just like I will. I trust you, Jase, I always have. And I want you. I want this." It was she who initiated the kiss this time, tracing his lips with the tip of her tongue, flicking it inside until he captured it with his own, stroking the velvety wetness until their mouths were locked together in an exchange of gentle heat.
 
Drawing back slightly, he held her face between his palms, staring into the depths of her eyes.
 
"You’re sure about this?"
 
She smiled a bit tremulously, but met his eyes squarely.
 
"Yes, Jase. I’m sure."
 
With a sudden whoop of joy, Jason grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up. She was too tall to swing around, but he hugged her so hard, she squealed with sudden laughter. Lowering her down and gathering her as close as he could, he bent over her and kissed her soundly.
 
"You’re something else, you know that?" His heart was pounding madly, and she could feel it.
 
"How nice of you to notice," she teased, giddy and breathless.
 
They burrowed into each others’ arms, sharing soft laughter.
 
"Oh, I noticed, I noticed!" Jason lowered his mouth to hers once more. Their kiss this time was more playful, but still marked by a passionate tenderness neither had ever felt. They took their time exploring the texture and taste of each other’s mouths, learning how to tease, soothe and excite. Finally, they separated, out of breath and exhilarated, silly smiles on their faces. As Jason and Tammy stood there under the lantern, they swayed gently to a song only they could hear. They broke apart at last as they heard an ambulance siren speed past the park some distance away. Tammy looked at her watch and groaned.
 
"Mom’s gonna ground me into the next century!"
 
if if we hurry." With that, Jason grabbed both their gym bags and slung them over his shoulder. Taking her hand in his, he tugged her along.
 
"Come on, I’ll walk you home."
 
"Make that ‘jog’ me home, and you’re on!" Laughing, the new couple broke into a trot towards the Oliver house, holding hands all the way.