(7) Sensations

The inviting warmth of the mid-October sun was the first thing to greet the Diaz family as they stepped out of the cramped minivan they had piled into an hour earlier, each of them letting out a synchronized sigh of relief as they stretched and let their joints pop as they pleased. Star looked to the shores with an excited grin as she drank in the sight of Earth's oceans for the first time, the endless unknown of blue already beckoning her forward. She felt a tap on her shoulder and spun her head around to see Angela beside her.

"A little help, Star?" she said, a cooler in her other hand. Star looked back and ran with embarrassment to help Marco, who was struggling to lift up the rack of folding chairs they had brought. Taking the far end of the rack, she and the boy managed to finagle it out of the back of the van, although not without a swear from Marco as one of the rack hooks bonked him across the top of his head. Rafael and Angela each took a chair, with Rafael easily hoisting up the plastic bin that held their beachwear and towels on one shoulder, and headed for the water, the teenagers closely in tow with their own.  No sooner than their feet had become used to the heat of the sand did Star and Marco drop off their chairs beside where Angela began laying out their towels, pop the lid of the plastic bin, grab their swimwear out of the pile inside and head back towards the beach shack they had parked near.

The changing rooms/showers hung off to the side of a small bar and grill that comprised most of the building, with other beachgoers lounging around or preparing for the water all around the two as they slipped into the stalls. Star pushed the lock in behind her and pulled her swimwear out of the plastic bag she had packed it in. Her mind trailed back to her embarrassment when Jackie had picked it out for her back in the mall only two weeks prior, and red crept into her cheeks as she quietly adjusted the straps of the garment. Stuffing her regular outfit back into the bag and pulling the drawstring taut, she unlocked the stall door and stepped out at the same time as Marco. The two teens looked at each other and blushed. Star did her best to not cover herself up as Marco took in the sight of her in a shocking scarlet bikini, her tail poking out of a specially hemmed hole at the top. Star timidly looked up at the boy, clad in navy swim trunks, and flinched as she saw the scar she'd given him. The two walked out of the shack and down to where Rafael and Angela had set up, dropping their clothes back into the bin. Star had barely looked up from the bin when she noticed Angela looking at her, holding out a bottle of sun lotion.

"You might want this, dear." she said. "I don't know if you can get a sunburn, but it won't hurt, will it?"

Star took the bottle with a smile and dabbed out a bit on her palm, rubbing the lotion into her arms.

"It's embarrassing to admit, but it is needed," Star said. "I start peeling like crazy if I let my skin dry out. Say, can you help me get my back?" Angela laughed at her own foresight and patted the girl on the shoulder.

"Ask Marco, he'll be happy to help. I'm going to join Rafael in the water." Angela got up from her chair and sauntered towards the beach, Star's eyes following as her thin black sarong flowed around her thighs as she walked. Out in the water, Rafael winked once, a smile coming across his face as his wife winked twice back in response, the both of them giggling slightly, the laughter of two troublemakers in the midst of a scheme.

'I hope I look that good at her age,' Star thought. Looking around, she saw Marco stretched out on his towel, finishing up his own protection as the last bits of lotion found their way into the skin of his shoulder. She stepped over to him, the boy looking up at her with one brow slightly raised.

"Mind getting my back?" she said, a soft smile on her face. Marco got up from his towel and motioned for her to lie down, his face down as he tried to hide his blush. Star giggled at his exaggerated movement and let herself spread out on the towel, her legs slightly parted as her tail rested between.

"So do you get sunburned?" Marco asked as he felt a bullet-sized drop of sweat rise to the surface of his forehead as he dropped to his knees between her calves, taking the bottle in his hands.

"I peel like crazy if I let my skin dry out. Not pretty," she replied as she reached behind her and pulled the string of her top loose, the thin strips of fabric falling to either side of her. "Even a little bit of clothed skin can peel if it's surrounded by dry skin." Marco covered his mouth behind her, his eyes blank and wide as slowly building hormones surged in his brain. He counted to 20 in his head, trying to calm down as he squirted out a small dollop of lotion into his right palm. Touching his palms together, he let his coated hands gently press down to touch her back. His fingers took in the sensation of incredibly smooth skin, her tens of thousands of extremely tiny scales coming together in a lattice of velvety hide, the visible look indistinguishable from human skin, yet possessing a texture more akin to velvet than anything else. He pushed in and felt her muscle and tissue underneath mold around his touch, and he massaged around her shoulder blades, heat radiating from his face. Star cooed lowly under him as his fingers dug in and unwound a knot she didn't know she had, the lotion's mild chill quickly fading in the wake of his body heat.

"Make sure to be thorough. Use a lot of lotion, I really don't want to peel," she breathed out. It was a mild deception, as she didn't really need much, but she couldn't help but want this kind of treatment to drag on. She blushed as his hands pressed in again, Marco adding his palms to the mix as he slid his finger down below her armpits, covering the flesh of her sides, skirting mere centimeters from her covered breasts. She giggled to herself.

'This shouldn't feel so naughty, but I can't help it.' She thought. Her back tensed up as she cold of fresh lotion hit her back, and she let out a low, quiet moan at the feeling of his hands sinking back in. Marco gulped as he leaned over her, engrossed in her back as his hands traveled over her, kneading and pressing in eagerly, her muscles moving beneath him in response. His trunks were painfully tight as he let out his held breath, moving down to her lower back and running his palms over the gentle curve of her spine. Star gasped to herself, trying not to squirm past her muffled mouth as she kept her voice in as Marco's fingers curled around her waist.

'Why is this driving me crazy?' she wondered, her face crimson. 'It's just touching, yet my back feels so sensitive. Is it the lotion?' Her back tingled and shivered in titillation under his fingers, her skin alight and excited even as his hands left her body, the girl breathing a sigh of reassurance.

That's when he touched her tail.

Star gripped the towel in her hands as numb fire shot through her body, rippling through mercilessly as Marco's hands made contact. The same heat she'd felt in the changing rooms a month ago surfaced in her head, and she felt her abdomen tighten up.

'Oh no.'

Star's lone thought shattered into pieces as Marco began massaging her tail thoroughly, his hands wandering across all sides of the limb, wet fingers finding purchase. She panted roughly under his ministrations, two balls of her towel clenched in her fists as she held on to her composure for dear life. Above her, Marco took brief note of her movements as he worked the lotion into her skin, his shameful erection now fully present.

'I should probably be a bit more gentle with her,' he thought. He slowed his hands, switching to only a few fingers as he approached the end of her tail. Star dared to breathe in and immediately regretted it as Marco's fingers enclosed both the tip and base of her tail, feeling his thumb graze her bottom as she bucked and stifled a moan into the towel.

"I'm s-so sorry!" Marco sputtered out, moving to stand before realizing his current wardrobe situation made that a bad idea. Star turned her head around to look at him, on her hands and knees as she finally felt reprieve from the assault on her senses. She blushed beet red as she wondered if Marco could see her arousal.

'Not the way I wanted these bottoms to get wet,'she thought, her embarrassment apparent on her face. "Just be careful with my tail, okay?"

Marco gulped and nodded as he reached back down, Star laying on hr stomach again as he took her tail lightly and finished coating it in lotion.

"Do you want your wings done too?" Marco asked, one finer pointed at her back. Star cranes her neck back to look at him and thought briefly.

"Sure, couldn't hurt," she said. "I definitely don't want to risk it."

She'd laid her head back down when his hands touched down on her wings, and she stuffed the towel in her mouth to silence a scream as the fire returned with a vengeance, her toes curling up as he massaged each small appendage for a few moments before finishing, two of his fingers pinching each base tenderly in a maneuver that made her twitch, her eyes rolling up.

"Aaand finished. Need you legs done too?" Marco asked nervously, his legs smashed together in an attempt to hide his shame.

"N-No, I can get those!" Star blurted out, not daring to look at his face. "You can go ahead and hit the water. I'll stay here for a bit and warm up." Her voice came ragged despite her attempts to collect herself, and she felt mortified as she wondered if Marco had realized her condition. Marco slowly stood, his hands tucked into his waistband in an imitation of pockets as he slowly walked away, his face fiery and shorts much tighter than before. Star saw him slowly enter the water and let herself relax at long last.

"That was close," she said to herself as she rose herself to a sitting position. Out in the water, Marco's grimace finally began to fade as he became acclimated to the water, the boy finding his pace as he easily cleaved through the water.

'That was close,' her thought, his swim trunks feeling loose and breezy once again. His breaststroke was smooth and even, a rhythm that he focused on, letting the water that surrounded him fully envelop his body as he dove under. His concentration was broken as he saw Star enter the water several meters away, timidly treading the water. He smiled to himself as he approached her legs, a devious look in his eyes as he positioned himself under her and reached up to teasingly grab her tail.

Star screamed as she felt the sudden presence of a grip on her tail and flung it out straight, wincing slightly as she felt it slam into whatever had snagged her. Marco floated up quickly as he exhaled forcibly under the water, barely managing to keep himself from taking in water as he broke the surface, coughing and gasping. He collided with Star as he surfaced, his head hitting her across the back. After a few seconds of flailing, he managed to stabilize himself and began treading.

"MARCO!"

The be looked over in confusion at Star's shriek to see her covering her topless chest, and realized what the light weight in his right hand was. He blushed darkly as he closed his eyes and stretched his arms out, hearing Star's frustrated pout as she took back her top. She slapped him lightly after tying the strings together, the two of them laughing awkwardly. Star's face shifted to a grin as she let herself coast towards him, leaning up to his ear.

"You could've just asked," she whispered in his ear. She pulled away and giggled at Marco's mortified embarrassment, smacking his leg with her tail underwater before swimming away, her tail sliding back and forth underwater as it propelled her forward.

"Not so fun being teased, huh?" she said to herself.

---

Star and Marco piled into the back of the SUV as the sun set on the beach. Rafael and Angela had packed up while they were out in the water, the two teens not realizing how much time they had spent racing and diving out on the waves. The older couple had looked disheveled, with Angela's two-piece looking like it had been put back on in a hurry, and Rafael's hair strewn about. They had all opted for regular white tees, with Star keeping her swimsuit on beneath her shirt and a pair of jean shorts that only went down halfway along her thighs. The van was silent save for the purring of the engine as the family rode back.

"Did you two have fun? I know we did," Rafael asked from the driver's seat, holding back a laugh as Angela shot him a look.

"Yeah, Earth's beaches are great," Star replied. "But I can't help but feel a bit stiff after all that time in the water. Do you mind, Marco?"

Marco's raised brow dipped forward in surprise as Star undid her seat belt and let herself lie out in the backseat, her legs and tail landing in his lap unceremoniously. The boy gulped audibly as he looked over to see a coy smile on Star's face, her half-lidded eyes looking him over casually.

"N-not at all!" Marco stuttered out, his eyes shifting down to the smooth gray skin in his lap, the slender yet shapely contour of her legs filling his vision.

'Don'tgetabonerdon'tgetabonerdon'tgetabonerdon'tgetaboner-'

His rapid mental chanting seemed more like a jinx to him than anything as Star's tail began softly writhing in his lap, the middle section right over his crotch.

"Gotta keep all the muscles limber, ya know?" she crooned lowly so that only he could hear. A solid bead of sweat formed on the boy's forehead as he mustered what mental fortitude he could in the face of Star's playful grin.

'Payback time, boy,' she thought as she relished the grimace of focus on Marco's face. The boy swallowed again.

It was going to be a long ride home.