Chapter 7: Tempestuous Crossroads, Unreserved Decisions

We made it in the nick of time off the highway exit from the relentless rain. We sought refuge in the desolate parking lot of an abandoned service station just off the freeway. Wait it out before getting on the highway for the less than an hour’s drive to the campus. We got off the highway and discussed how to tell my parents everything without being shunned.

When Zoe suggested that I just call her on video, prompting an internal debate about whether to heed Zoe’s advice and call my mother while waiting for the storm to subside. That left me in a state of panic over an entirely different matter that she would see that I was naked. Admittedly, my conversations with my mother since the tour of the sorority facilities have been with half-truths.

Do I tell her about what happened during the tour and after the tour of the sorority area and everything that followed through this morning at Zoe’s home in Texas? Contemplating whether to make a call or adhere to Zoe’s recommendation of a video chat, I realized that such a choice would unveil my current state—naked in the passenger seat. It added to my existing anxiety about disclosing every detail since my arrival on campus.

Attempting to justify apparent public nudity, I considered the mild temperate climate around campus later in the semester. I planned to explain that we left the campus naked on Friday with nothing but our toiletries, willingly riding in the nude to Zoe’s home in Texas and back at the end of the first week of the fall semester.

Despite the absence of anything in the back seat to cover up with, I nervously glanced around, searching for some semblance of concealment. The prospect of baring my soul and sharing the peculiar and vulnerable situation with my family intensified my hesitation, making the impending call seem even more daunting.

Just as a glimmer of hope arose, we could get back on the road and safely back into our room to get dressed. I was considering calling her and allowing her to see me in all of my naked glory after the sky darkened and visibility plummeted again. Zoe encouraged me to disclose everything, from the events since joining the sorority pool to every detail of what happened. The haunting memories of those moments weighed heavily on my mind.

Despite the discomfort, I recognized the imperative of honesty. With a deep breath, I dialed my mom’s number, mentally preparing for what promised to be one of my life’s most challenging and revealing conversations. The rain drummed on the roof, setting a surreal backdrop for the impending discussion. Hoping that transparency would pave the way for understanding and resolution, I connected the call.

Zoe’s insistence on full transparency added another layer of complexity. She urged me to reveal the reasons behind my departure from the sorority, explain the pool lounge chairs, and my desire to experience them firsthand, strapped inside them. Everything working in the pool area demonstrates how to use those chairs.

However, the most daunting revelation awaited—the details of the weekend at Zoe’s and our choice to travel to her house in the nude. Zoe’s words echoed in my mind, suggesting that my mom might surprise me. It was a moment of contemplation, weighing potential fallout against the prospect of understanding and acceptance from those closest to me.

As the phone rang, each ring intensified my heart pounding, with the rain providing a rhythmic backdrop to the impending conversation. Finally, my mom answered, her voice a blend of warmth and concern.

“Sweetie, how’s everything going? I haven’t heard from you in some days, are you ok,” she said.

Taking a deep breath, I replied, “Mom, something I need to talk to you about. It’s been crazy since I arrived on campus, and I think it’s time for me to be completely honest with you.” Lowering the camera, I revealed our naked state, followed by a loud gasp of shock.

Her tone shifted to curiosity and worry. “Who is that naked lady? Where are you, and where are your clothes? Is everything okay?”

Glancing at Zoe, who offered an encouraging nod, I hesitated before explaining, “Well, Mom, this is my roommate Zoe after leaving the sorority last week. To explain how we met long after the sorority pool closed the night before withdrawing from the sorority? Since I moved into her room, we’ve become great friends. We’re returning from her home in Texas. Yes, Mom, neither has worn a stitch of clothing since we left the rooms on Friday after my last class.”

I pleaded with my mom to understand as I detailed entering the dressing room to the sorority inside the female pool and learning it was a nude pool only. I explained my uneasiness as I passed the lounge chairs along the pool and saw faces protruding between the seat cousins near the crotch area of the person on the chair.

I then told her that my sorority sponsor, Jennifer, and I had been communicating since the spring. As we passed the first two chairs, the two ladies were on chair three, which contained Zoe, and the fourth chair got up to the pool. Mom, I was trying to make sense of the living faces inside those chairs. Panic ensued after she slammed her body down on the face inside that first open chair.

I recounted every detail of my initial concern about the safety of that face as I was worried about her safety. Worried that Jennifer was going to smother her with her body. When I sat down on the face in chair four, I inadvertently shifted my expression of that face and how it felt. While I was still concerned about her safety, I was working my body down on the face, which made me tingle.

When Mom inquired, “Did you enjoy riding that face? Was it a guy or a lady?” At that moment of shock, I dropped the phone, and it disconnected, convinced my mother not only knew how comly she said that and looked over at Zoe with her huge smile. I pulled the phone off the floor, and it began ringing now, unable to gather my thoughts that were all over.