3.

Sometimes, when I’ve been naked for a long while, it actually feels good to get dressed. My clothes make me feel snug and safe and virtuous again. Saanvi didn’t say anything, but I felt that way when we put on our biking outfits after eating breakfast nude. The feeling didn’t last, though. By the time we got to the nature center, the padding in the crotch of my shorts was starting to bother me. I wouldn’t have minded getting out of them, and, naturally, I didn’t need much encouragement.

The nature center is a big place about eight miles from my house, part of the city park system, I think. It’s mostly woods and meadows, with crisscrossing trails that double back on themselves, a little educational building where they have displays and classes, and an ugly maintenance garage. The main entrance, where cars can come in, is on the city side, but recently, they opened another one next to the river trail, with racks for your bike, because you’re not allowed to bring them inside. Saanvi doesn’t ride much — she actually used the bike my mom left behind, and wore my mom’s helmet — and I had to wait for her catch up a couple times. She wasn’t really dressed for riding, either. All she had on was pair of khaki shorts and a white knit top. She looks terrific in white, by the way: it brings out her dark skin. Whenever I try to wear white, I vanish. Blue is more my color, which is what I was wearing — a royal blue top, black shorts with blue stripes down the side, and sky-blue laces on my shoes. The shorts were skin-tight. I never dress sexy (it’s true — I’m either fully dressed, or I’m not dressed at all), but liked the way they hugged my butt.

Biking the trail was easy, since it’s flat along the river. What nearly killed us was climbing the big hill into the woods. We were sweaty and winded when we reached the top. It was cool up there, though. The air chilled me through my damp shirt, and I sneezed.

“It’s beautiful up here,” Saanvi said.

“I told you it was worth the ride.” I sneezed again.

“What’s down there?” Saanvi said.

The trail we were on curved away and dropped down another hill. This one was even steeper than the one we had come up. It was broken up with roots and stones, and sometimes we had to turn sideways or grab a branch to keep from falling. I wondered how hard it was going to be to climb back out, but we kept going, with the route getting narrower and the saplings closing in, until we found ourselves at the bottom of a ravine, with a little creek in front of us. A few steps ahead, a low stone wall shored up the bank. Below the wall was a metal grate — you could hardly call it a bridge — that covered the mouth of a tiny side-creek, no wider than a gutter. Beyond that, the trail continued upstream. It disappeared just ahead in the undergrowth, but farther on, you could see where it looped up the hill again.

The sun didn’t reach down here. Across the creek was sheer wall of black rock, and the trees blotted out the sky. The light everywhere around us was green. It was like standing under a stained glass dome. Time stopped again as we listened the water. I don’t know which one of us thought of it first, but we caught each other’s eye at the same instant and grinned. I knew what Saanvi was thinking. My time had come.

“Dare ya,” she said.

“From where to where?”

She pointed down the path. “Down to that big tree and back.”

It wasn’t much of a dare. I love taking my clothes off in the woods, and there was nobody around. In a half a second my top and jock bra were folded up in my bike helmet, which lay on the grate like an overturned turtle, and I was pushing my shorts and panties down my legs. They wouldn’t come off over my shoes, so I sat down on the wall — so cold on my ass! — and took those off, too.

“And your socks,” Saanvi said.

“I was gonna put my shoes back on.”

“Uh uh.”

“It’s rocky,” I said.

“It’s a nature center. You have to be Nature Girl,” she said. “And that way you can’t run.”

So I lined my shoes up neatly side by side, peeled my socks off, and tucked them inside. The shorts and panties, which were already around my ankles, came off together and went into the helmet.

“Da da!” I said, hopping off the wall, nude from head to toe.

“On your way. Slow. No running.”

I turned my back on her and began my journey. It was the most awesome feeling — the air on my body, the cool, packed dirt against my feet. My nipples stood up, and that delicious trembling began down low. I should have thanked her for making me do this.

Striped-maple saplings closed in around me, stroking me as I passed, like a row of shy but horny little kids. I looked back and couldn’t see Saanvi though the leaves. My goal — a beech tree beside the bank — was farther away than it had looked when she pointed it out. I didn’t mind. It just meant I got to be naked longer. I was even tempted to continue along the path, up the far hill, but it wasn’t part of the dare, and you never know if someone would be coming the other way.

When I made it to the tree, I plucked a twig as a trophy, to prove to her I’d done it. Then I started back, as slowly as I’d come. For a second, I never wanted to get dressed again, and for another second, it looked like I might not.

Really, I’m not stupid. I had a good idea what Saanvi was up to. Even so, I began to taste the fear in my mouth when I pushed through the saplings again and the view opened up. There was the little wall, and there was the little grate. But Saanvi was gone, and so were my clothes.

“You got your revenge,” I said.

She was probably picturing me panicking, the way she had behind my house. To be honest, I almost did. Suddenly I felt very alone and very exposed. I mean, what if she took my clothes and biked back home? I’d have to ride home naked. But I was faster than she was. If I hurried, I could catch up and cut her off and make her give me my clothes back. But still, I’d be out nude on the trail, where everyone would see.

Then I thought, no, she wouldn’t be that mean. She and my clothes were probably waiting for me at the top of the ravine. If made it and nobody saw me, then all that happened was I’d had a nice nude adventure on a beautiful afternoon.

I started up.

The only really mean thing Saanvi had done was make me go barefoot. The trail was so steep and rocky that I had to keep my eyes on the ground so I wouldn’t slip or cut myself. I wasn’t aware of the birdwatchers till they were almost on top of me.

I heard them before I saw them.

Somebody let out a whistle that for a split-second I prayed came from a bird. But no. Bird whistles don’t last so long, and they’re not followed by a voice saying, “I think she is!“ I looked up and saw a soft canvas hat bobbing through the leaves. The tremor in my tummy exploded into a swarm of butterflies. Then a hand grabbed the branch and pushed it down, and a face appeared below the hat. It was an old guy with a white beard. That was kind of a relief — old guys are the best when it comes to appreciating naked girls. But then another face, under the same kind of hat, popped up under his. It was a woman, about his age, and she didn’t look so friendly.

I wondered how much they could see through the leaves. Certainly my shoulders, probably my titties, maybe more. I almost turned and ran back down the hill, but that would have taken me farther away from my clothes, and they’d see ass all the way down, anyway. No, I’d been caught, and I had no choice but go through with it.

I came up a few steps, till I was standing just below them. They were opposites. The man was tall and skinny, and the woman was short and kind of round, but they were dressed exactly the same — like Boy Scouts. Besides the hats, they had on green shirts with epaulettes and more pockets than anyone ever needs, and matching shorts that showed off two sets of wrinkly, sunken knees. They both had binoculars around their necks. The woman’s lips were pressed tight, but the guy’s eyes were wide and glittery.

In this situation, my only protection was nerve — that, and my fully naked body. If I looked scared, or if I tried to cover up, it would break the spell. So I put my hands behind my back and threw back my shoulders, presenting my brand-new titties for inspection, and said, as innocently as I could, like I was asking them what time it was —

“Excuse me. Did you see a girl come up this way with my clothes?”

“Long, black hair, wearing in a white top?” the man asked.

“Yes, that’s her,” I said.

“And she has your clothes?”

“I certainly hope so.”

He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

“Thank you,” I said. “Have a nice day.”

I gave them a naked curtsy and went on. The woman said something I didn’t catch, but the guy said, very clearly, “I’m sorry. I can’t be offended by that.”

Offended? The poor guy had practically devoured me with his eyes. I could still feel them on my bare ass as I leaned into my climb.

I didn’t get much farther before I fell to my hands and knees. I thought I was being a brazen exhibitionist, but it was still a shock to get caught. After a few steps, the shakes started coming on. The hill suddenly seemed a lot steeper. I had to push hard to walk, and even with that, I was hardly moving. Then my legs went on strike — they just refused to take orders — and I went down. I hoped that old couple wasn’t watching. The last thing I needed was them running up and asking me if I was all right. Yes, I’d say, I’m fine. Really. But I wasn’t, really. I tried crawling, but my arms gave out, too, and I found myself tits-down on the cool dirt, panting hard just to stay conscious.

I’d landed on top of my hand, and for a second, I thought the thing to do would be to lie still and rub my pussy. Showing off doesn’t just make me dizzy. It makes me horny, and it looked like I wasn’t going anywhere for a while. But there are limits to crazy, even for me. Later, I told myself. At home. In the bushes. I took a wheezy breath — as deep as I could manage with the elephant sitting on my back — and wobbled to my feet. The rest of the way was a struggle. I felt weak as a kitten, but I gradually got my breath back as I made myself to go on. I was a woman on a quest: Princess Danielle makes her way through the enchanted forest. She must reclaim her precious garments from the evil Queen Saanvi, or forever wander the earth naked.