Diaz Plan Chapter 7

The next week passed quickly for Marco. School was picking up and keeping him and Star busy. And after her little outburst at the beach, Janna seemed almost to be avoiding him. Which, honestly, Marco appreciated. He wasn't sure how to feel about their encounter in the locker room, and he felt like things could have easily gone a lot further. Every once in a while, his mind danced with images of what could have happened there if he had been a bit more forward. What would Janna have done if he had slid his hands into her bikini? How far would things have gone? Would he have been able to control himself? What would he have done if JANNA was a bit more forward? What if she had slid her hands into his pants? It was difficult not to daydream about this, but luckily school kept his mind off it for the most part.

Star, despite the application of sunscreen, had become pretty badly sunburned. She was absolutely miserable, too. She winced every step she took, and Marco took to carrying her backpack so it didn't dig into her burned shoulders. She was only comfortable wearing baggy clothes that didn't grate as much on her skin.

Friday night, Marco was in Star's room. They were working together on a history project, but Star's sunburn was really irritating her. It had been a hot week, and Marco had a suspicion it was only getting worse with more exposure to the sun. Every time she moved her arm to write something she winced. Finally she got up and said "AHHH, I can't TAKE IT anymore!" and flung off her shirt. She was only wearing a sports bra beneath.

"Star?! What?!" Marco hid his face behind his book.

"Marco, it's fine. I mean, come on, you saw way more at the beach." Star smiled as he uneasily lowered the book. "But now you should put it back up again, because I'm getting naked."

Marco yelped and hid his face behind the book again, but not before he saw Star yanking down the shorts she was wearing. True, he had seen more at the beach, but something about that act was still way sexier than seeing her in a bikini. "Star, why are you getting naked?!" he asked.

"These stupid - OW! - clothes keep rubbing on my sunburn. OW! Even my HAIR hurts it. Ahhhh. Okay, you can look."

Marco dropped the book. Star was completely wrapped up in one of the silk sheets from her bed, her face poking out. "This feels much better! Okay, now let's do this project."

Marco sighed and dropped the book he was holding. "Star, this is ridiculous. You can't go everywhere naked."

Star narrowed her eyes. "Or...CAN I...?"

"NO. I'm going to go see if my parents have something for you to treat sunburn with."

Marco walked downstairs, where his mother was preparing something in the kitchen. His father was off in his study. He had been spending a lot of time in his study lately, actually. "Hey mom, do we have any like, aloe vera lotion or something? Star's sunburn is getting really bad."

Mrs. Diaz nodded idly, absent-mindedly cutting up a cucumber into slices. "Yes, in the bathroom, you can-" then, she stopped short, and gave a tiny smile. "Actually! I have a little home remedy for sunburn. Hold on and I'll whip some up."

Marco waited patiently as his mom mashed up an avocado, water, baking soda and some mint leaves in a small bowl. Then she went to his dad's study for a "secret ingredient," and mixed a few drops of it into the paste. The result was a very smooth looking green gel. "Here," she said. "This will have her feeling better much quicker than anything from a store. Oh, and by the way, your father and I will be going shopping, and we won't be back for a few hours."

As Marco made his way upstairs, he heard his parents peeling out of the driveway. Knocking on Star's door, she answered, clutching the sheet in front of her. "Here!" he said, presenting the bowl to her.

Star stared at it for a few moments. "So, uh. What do I do with this? Do I eat it?"

"No, no. You rub it into your sunburn." As he said it, Marco realized what would have to happen next, and began sweating immediately.

"Oh! Can you help me then? My sunburn is in all these places I can't reach."

"S-sure..."

"Okay, hold on. Close your eyes." Marco closed them and heard a flumph sound, knew that Star had dropped the sheet at her feet. He tried not to think about her moving around naked mere feet from him. "Okay, open them!"

Star was lying facedown on the bed, naked except for a towel draped over her bum. Marco gulped, but then noticed that her sunburn was actually really, really bad. She turned her head over and smiled at him. Okay, he told himself, she just needs your help. He didn't feel as nervous as he did at the beach, despite the fact that now she was naked.

He began rubbing the lotion into her back. She jumped a little when he first applied it. "Oh! That's really cool. And tingly!"

"Yeah, my mom made it. I'm not sure what she put in it, actually." As he looked at it, it almost seemed like the paste was glowing. It WAS tingly, too, he could feel it on his hands. Then, on some wild impulse, he rubbed some onto one of Star's wings.

She gasped, and her head shot up, almost revealing her breasts. She shivered, and then she laughed. "That actually feels realllllly good."

"Well, I'm done with your back. You can probably reach the rest yourself," said Marco. But somehow, he knew what her response would be, and was happy that it was what it was.

"Nooooo! You can do the rest, too," she said, wiggling her badly burnt shoulders. As he began rubbing the paste into her shoulders, she sighed contentedly, and then idly remarked, "You know, I think Janna likes you."

"Oh yeah, I think she likes me too." Marco laughed. It would actually be nice to talk about this with someone. "You know, she flashed me last week."

"Flashed you?"

"Oh, uh - you know. Lifted up her shirt and showed me her. Um. Chest." Marco stumbled.

"Really?"

"Yeah. And then at the beach, she actually cornered me when we were leaving and kissed me." Why did he tell her that? It was nice to talk about it with someone, but it wasn't really something he had wanted to tell Star. It felt like his inhibitions were crumbling.

Star stiffened beneath him as she heard this. "She kissed you? At the beach?" Her voice was low, quiet. "Wow, how...forward...of her."

Marco laughed nervously, and then Star flipped over beneath him, revealing small breasts with light pink nipples. Strawberry milk, Marco thought absurdly. The towel around her waist had come askew, barely covering the area between her legs. Marco could see one naked hip. "Star!" he said, sounding strangled.

"My chest is sunburnt!" she said, innocently. "You have to rub it there too." It was true. Her chest was pretty burnt. Marco began rubbing, trying to avoid staring at her breasts. "Are they nicer than Janna's?" Star said, suddenly.

"What?"

"My boobs." She laughed. "Marco, I know you're looking, it's fine. I like looking at you too."

"They're...very nice," Marco stammered. Then he dropped his hands to his sides. "Star, you're my friend. I don't want things to be weird between us."  Things were going too far. His head was getting cloudy. He was filled with all sorts of urges that he felt desperately that he needed to control.

Star got up on her knees, so she was face to face with Marco. She took his head in her hands and squeezed his cheeks. "Marco! No matter what happens, I'll always be your friend. Don't worry so much! I will always, always be on your side."

With her bright blue eyes shining directly at him, Marco felt all his worried melt away. They would always be friends, after all. So what if they did a bit more than most friends did? They were already closer than any other friends Marco could think of. "I'll always be on your side too, Star," he said, running his hands around her shoulders. He tried to guide her back to laying down, but Star just grabbed his shirt and pulled him so close their faces were touching.

"Was Janna your first kiss?" She whispered. He could feel her breath on his lips.

"Yes."

And then Star was kissing him and he couldn't think of anything but how sweet her lips seemed to taste, and wasn't that stupid? Lips don't taste sweet, and he could feel her naked breasts pressed against him and could feel her heart hammering behind them as she clung to him, and he was clinging to her as well, and she was kissing him almost frantically and he lost all sense of time and space.

When she finally pulled back, she smiled and said "Well, lucky Janna! You're a natural kisser. I bet-"

Marco silenced her with a kiss this time. A quick, short one, but still a kiss. "Yep, natural kisser," she whispered when he was done. Her face was flushed. "I...should get dressed." Marco let her go and she bounded out of the bed, not bothering to cover up. He saw a flash of her bum before her hair fell into place to cover it up. With her back to him, she began sliding on her underwear and shorts. She was shaking badly, and suddenly he realized she must have been very, very nervous. He got up silently and walked towards her door. He had fucked up. Things were weird. He had fucked things up with his best friend in the whole world because he couldn't control himself.

"Marco, where are you going?" Star said, before he could leave her room. Marco turned around to see a fully dressed Star smiling at him like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "We still have to do this history project, remember?" She must have seen the lingering hurt in his eyes, because she ran across the room and hugged him tightly. "I told you, I'm always on your side."

Marco smiled, his worries dissolving as she led him by the hand back into her room.