The sounds of nature filled the night air by the shore of Spring Lake. A hundred feet from the water's edge sat a mixed quintet of women around a roaring fire. The clear water reflected the light of a full moon, a light that added to the illumination from the fire. Fifty feet further from the waterline stood a large wooden cabin, their home for the weekend.

"I can't remember the last time I've had this much fun," Julia Marshall said with a wide smile. "I'm so glad you asked me to come along."

"Well we're all glad that you did," Sabrina Wilson replied with an equally warm smile as she ran her hand through her short-cropped blond hair. "After all, you're one of us now."

More than anything else that had been said to her that weekend, or for that matter in the seven months she been working at Dawson Pharmaceuticals, that simple statement filled Julia with a great sense of satisfaction. She'd wanted so much to be accepted by the other women in the office and had been surprised when Sabrina had asked her along on this trip.

"That's right," Carol Peters, a tall, slim black girl of twenty-four agreed. "We should've asked you long ago."

The two remaining members of the group, Maria Ramirez and Brandy O'Conner added their agreement as well.

Two or three weekends a summer, Sabrina would borrow her parent's cabin up by Spring Lake and invite a few select friends for a get away from it all weekend. The trip was always girls only and in the world of office politics, the only thing worse than never having been asked, was having been asked once and never again.

This was the last trip of the year, and being with the company such a short time, the twenty-two-year-old redhead had never expected to be included. Not when there were so many other girls who'd been there longer and were still waiting a turn.

The weekend had truly been fun and she could see why an invitation was so prized. It was like the sleepovers she had enjoyed back in high school, with the main difference being that, now, the girls were all in their early twenties rather than their teens. One result of which that the chats around the fire were a lot more interesting than back then. Interesting defined as to how intimate the subject matter quickly became.

Julia still couldn't believe that only the previous night, encouraged by the others and much more than her normal intake of alcohol, she had shared the most confidential details of how she'd lost her virginity. The other girls had all also shared their tales as well, but since they'd been on these trips before, the telling was new only to Julia.

Julia had blushed a bright red as she recounted how she had given it up at seventeen to her eighteen-year-old boyfriend. An event that in hindsight, she was sure, was now more memorable to her than him. It was a rather uninteresting story, as compared to some of the other's, having taken place on the couch in his parent's basement.

After listening to the other girls, Julia learned that Carol had gone to her marriage bed a little over four and a half years before, technically a virgin. Her husband had been her best friend since junior high school and they'd done just about everything else prior to that night. Saving the best for last, she liked to say.

Maria, on the other hand, had given her cherry to a married man twice her age back in her native Mexico when she was just sixteen. Her reasoning being that if she was going to give someone her prize, it might as well be someone who was actually going to teach her something as well as remember it later. A funny aspect to the story was that both their deflowerings had taken place the same weekend, a coincidence that had all five of them laughing.

Brandy and Sabrina were the two oldest around the campfire, with both being twenty-five. Brandy recounted how she had lost it under the bleachers after the big Homecoming game to the Captain of the Football team. She of course had been Head Cheerleader. An American tradition if there ever was one.

Sabrina shared the knowledge that her historic event had taken place at this very cabin some seven years before. The boy in question had been a year younger and the son of her parent's best friends. They had come up for a weekend and left the two teens to entertain themselves while they went into town for dinner and a movie. She was sure, Sabrina concluded with a wicked grin, that they had more in mind something like the board games that occupied many a summer night, and not a round of show me yours and I'll show you mine.

As unusual as the discussion the night before had been, it now seemed to Julia to be rather tame compared to where tonight's was going. What had started as a conversation about the men in their lives, soon become a discussion of how good they were in bed. That and what turned on each girl. To her surprise, Julia discovered that she was having no problem participating in the chat this time, even without a few drinks in her.

"So is he good in bed or not?" Maria repeated the question she had asked Julia in response to what she considered an evasive answer.

"Well, like I said, I'm really don't have a lot of criteria to give a definite answer," Julia tried to explain.

"You do have sex, don't you?" Brandy inquired.

"Of course we do," Julia replied. "It's just that most times Mark would rather I just go down on him rather than we go all the way. He doesn't want to take the chance of us having an accident."

"Typical man," Carol laughed. "God forbid he should take some responsibility in that area and wear something."

"Well I hope he at least he's doing the same for you," Maria offered.

The silence of Julia's answer said that he wasn't. An admission that brought a quick response from the other women.

"Girl, you have to set that boy straight," Carol said in a strong tone. "My husband was like that back when we first started playing around. Giving me that "a brother doesn't do that" crap. I set him straight soon enough. Told him that if he didn't get down there and take care of business, then the only way he was going to get off was with his hand. He came around quick enough, and now he loves it."

"That's right," Brandy agreed, "If he ain't gonna lick it, then he ain't gonna stick it ... in any hole!"

The crude credo brought a laugh from the entire group, Julia included. She was worried for a moment that they were laughing at her, then realized with relief that it was with her.

The round robin discussion went on, each of the girls getting to pick a topic. When it got to Maria, her question dealt with male anatomy and size. Carol won that round when she held her hands about eight inches apart as she described her husband.

"I'm not sure I believe that," Maria grinned. "Maybe I should measure that personally. Of course I might have to help get it to its full length first, just to be totally accurate."

"In your dreams girl," Carol laughed. "As if I'd let you within twenty feet of my man when you're horny."

"When is she ever not horny?" Sabrina jumped in.

"Which is why I never leave the two of them alone when Maria comes over for dinner," Carol added with a smile.

"Really that big?" Maria asked as she copied Carol's hand measurements.

"Hey, I'm not saying that all black men are like that, despite the stereotype that you hear," she concluded. "I just know that he never leaves me wanting."

"I hate you," Maria shot back, sticking out her tongue.

More laughter filled the night as the next and last subject went to Julia.

All eyes were on her as she took a long moment and tried to think of a subject that would be interesting enough to impress the rest. At first she drew a blank, then it hit her.

"Has anyone ever had a secret lover?" she asked. "Someone that you never, ever told anyone else about. I'm not saying you have to tell who it was, just if you ever had one. Someone that you really shouldn't have been with, but that you wanted them so much that you didn't care?"

"Well since TJ had been my one and only, I guess my answer is easy enough," Carol answered first. "And that's no."

"Mine too," Maria joined in. "I can never keep a secret. When I sleep with a guy, I have to tell someone."

"We don't have to say who, right?" Sabrina asked.

"That's right," Julia replied.

"Then my answer is yes." Sabrina said.

"Who?" Maria quickly asked.

"As if I'd tell you of all people," Sabrina quipped. "I'd have a better chance keeping it a secret if I posted it on the Internet."

"You don't have to tell," Julia repeated.

"Well in that case, then I'd have to say it's yes in my case as well." Brandy said.

"How bout you, Julia?" Sabrina asked.

"No, I'd have to say no," she said in a slightly disappointed voice. "Not that I haven't thought about it at times."

"Well it was a good question," Sabrina said, drawing the game to a close. "If for nothing else, it shows that each of us still have some need for privacy in our lives and I think it's more interesting if there are still things about each other that we don't know."

Quiet reigned after that for a very long minute as everyone wondered what Sabrina was talking about.

Well I don't know about the rest of you," Maria said, changing the subject. "but I'm in the mood for one last swim to cool off."

"That sounds like a great idea," Brandy agreed as she looked past the little group to the water's edge a few dozen feet away. "but I'm afraid I already packed away my suit.

"Me too," Carol added.

"So who needs a suit," Maria asked as she stood up and pulled off her T-shirt, revealing a bare set of large tanned breasts. "It's not like there's anyone else here but us girls."

Her shorts followed as Carol and Brandy decided that it wasn't a bad idea after all and followed her lead. It took them a bit longer as unlike Maria, they never went without undergarments.

Figuring when in Rome, Julia shed her own clothes as well, finishing just as the first three splashed their way into the lake. Sabrina was the last of them to strip, seeming to wait until Julia made up her mind to join in. The ponytailed redhead thought that was a very nice thing for her to do. If Julia hadn't wanted to go skinny-dipping, then at least she wouldn't have been the only one.

All five of them splashed around for a short time, just enough to cool down. One by one, they exited the water, picking up one of the large oversized beach towels that were still piled near the landing. No one seemed to be in a hurry to get dressed, preferring to dry off by the fire first.

It seemed funny to Julia, all of them sitting around naked like this. Funny, but not the least bit uncomfortable. In fact, after a while, it seemed perfectly natural. Sitting there, her mind wandering as she looked into the fire, she found herself wondering if any of the other girls had been checking her out.

Julia had always believed that girls were almost as interested in each other's bodies as any guy might be. If only for the purpose of comparison, to see how each of them stacked up against each other so to speak. They just weren't as obvious about it as men.

It was Sabrina, Julia had decided, that had the nicest body. Brandy had much larger breasts, at least a 36D, but Sabrina's were more rounded and perfectly proportional to the rest of her body.

Carol had the smallest and firmest ass in the bunch, for which Julia wanted to immediately hate her. Carol also had skin as dark as the night which Julia thought highly erotic. She was the first black girl the redhead had ever seen naked.

Maria, the final member of the group was on the chunky side and had been since she was a teenager. Yet surprisingly enough, she was also the one most comfortable with her body and the least reluctant to show it off.

"Well you girls can stay up and chat if you like," Carol said as she stood up from their little circle, "but this old married lady needs her eight hours. Time for me to turn in."

"I think I'm right behind you," Sabrina joined in. "It's been a really long day."

One by one over the next half-hour, the rest said their goodnights. Brandy was the last to go, putting out the fire before she went.

As much fun as the two-day outing had been, it finally come to an end late the next afternoon. Carol and Maria left around four-thirty since they had the longest trip home. Both of them lived in the same section of Willowdale.

Sabrina was planning to share a ride home with Brandy since her house was along the way to Brandy's in Middletown. This left Julia to drive herself home alone, which really wasn't a problem since she lived the closest.

By five o'clock, they had both cars packed and were ready to go when Sabrina announced that she couldn't find her cell phone. The three of them looked for it but after a quarter hour had no success.

"Look," Sabrina finally said to Julia, "it's silly for all of us to get home late just because I lost my phone. Brandy and I will keep looking for it a little longer and you can take off. If we can't find it soon, we'll just go without it."

"But wouldn't we have a better chance of finding it if all three of us looked?" Julia had asked.

"Yeah, that's true," Sabrina conceded, but the longer you wait, the more traffic you're going to hit heading back into town. Brandy and I are going in the opposite direction, away from all the traffic. I'd feel bad knowing you sat in that mess on Route 4 because of me."

"I guess you're right," Julia finally agreed, even though she thought that leaving Sabrina in a lurch was a lousy way to show the short haired blond her appreciation for a really great weekend.

"Don't worry, Julia," Brandy chimed in. "The two of us will manage just fine."

"All right," Julia finally agreed, "if you're sure."

"I appreciate the thought, I really do," Sabrina smiled, "but I would feel better if I knew you got home without a lot of trouble."

"Me too," Brandy added.

"It's a pity you didn't realize that the phone was missing before Maria and Carol left," Julia said. "We could've used Maria's phone to call yours and just follow the ringing."

"I never even thought of that," Sabrina said, a funny look on her face. "It's too bad they were the first ones to go."

"Yes, that's a shame all right," Brandy said as she brushed aside the strands of her long black hair that had fallen in front of her face.

"Well if I'm going to go, I'd better get going," Julia said as she picked up the only bag she hadn't already packed in the car and started for the door.

"Julia," Sabrina said as the redhead reached the door.

Julia stopped at the sound of her name and looked back. Sabrina looked like she was going to say something but then changed her mind. After a moment's pause she said, "I'm really glad you came. You really helped make the weekend as fun as it was."

"It was great," Julia agreed with a smile. "I can't even think of the last time I've laughed that much. I hope we can do it again another time."

"You can count on it." Sabrina said as she returned the smile.

Sabrina and Brandy waved goodbye from the porch as Julia pulled away.

Julia got as far as the cutoff for the road that would take her to Route 4 when the old '88 Honda Civic that she shared with her younger brother began to sputter and then abruptly die. It didn't take a mechanical engineer to realize that it was out of gas.

The Civic had originally belonged to her father. When he bought a new car, he decided that rather than take the pittance the dealer was offering for a trade in, he would give the car to his kids. Since there were two of them and only one car, they would have to share it.

For a twelve-year-old car, the Honda was in pretty good mechanical shape. One thing, however, that didn't quite work at the moment was the gas gauge. Therefore, it was important to fill it up at every opportunity. It was a chore that they alternated, depending on whom had used the car last. Since Harry had used the car for school during the week, it was his turn to fill it up. Julia had made a point to ask him if he had before leaving on her trip.

"Of course I did," Harry had said, "what do you think I am, some kind of idiot."

"Not some kind of idiot," Julia said to herself out loud, "a dead idiot."

The long walk back up the dirt and gravel road to the Wilson's cabin took considerably longer than the five minutes it had taken to drive. Before setting off on her way back, Julia had briefly considered the idea of continuing onward to Route 4 instead, in the hope of finding a phone along the road, or someone to give her a lift to a garage. That consideration lasted no longer than it took the prospect of being a filler item on the evening news about a body found alongside the road to come to mind.

Sabrina and Brandy had to use the same road she had come down in order to get to the interchange. If she were lucky, she would run into them before she had to walk too far. In a worse case scenario, a two mile walk wasn't that difficult for someone who spent as much time along the jogging path in the park as she did.

After an hour's walk, two new things filled Julia's thoughts, temporarily replacing the varied forms of violent death she had been picturing Harry being the recipient of. The first was the fact that there was a big difference between running on a nice smooth level track and hiking on an uneven, rock covered country road. The second, and of more immediate concern, was the fact that she hadn't encountered Brandy's car along the way.

"They can't still be looking for that phone after two hours," the redhead said as she forced herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other. "It wouldn't be too funny if they had car trouble too."

By the time Julia finally reached the ridge overlooking the lakeside cabin, the sun was beginning to drop below the horizon. She was relieved to see that Brandy's car was still parked where she had left it. For the last ten minutes, Julia had begun to worry that there might've been some other road out of here that she didn't know about. A road that Brandy and Sabrina might've taken a long time ago.

Pushing aside any fatigue she felt, the T-shirt and shorts clad young woman doubled her stride down the path.

Checking Brandy's Escort parked alongside the cabin, Julia noted that the luggage she had helped load into the car was gone. This made her think that the possibility that Brandy had car trouble as well might not have been so far off after all.

Stepping up to the porch, she found the cabin door locked. Julia knocked on the door a few times but got no response. She called out a hello, but no one seemed to hear that either.

Julia then went over to the end of the porch and picked up the red painted milk can that sat there. Sabrina had shown all of them where a spare key was hidden in case anyone found herself locked out.

Once inside, the first thing she noticed was Sabrina's cell phone sitting on the coffee table. At least they'd be able to call the auto club if they were all having car trouble, she thought. A noise from one of the back rooms told her where the other two girls were. She was about to call out once more and announce herself when a better idea presented itself.

As the new girl in the group, Julia had been subjected to a few practical jokes over the weekend. One of these involved all of the girls disappearing on the first night and them making enough noise to wake Julia. Then, after she had searched the dark cabin and found everyone gone, they had all jumped out of a closet and given her a good scare. This might be her chance to return the joke on Brandy and Sabrina.

Tiptoeing to the back room, Julia had to suppress the urge to giggle. She had been trying all weekend to come up with a joke of her own. This might not be much, but at least it was something.

Remembering that the old door in the large bedroom that Carol, Maria and her had shared creaked, Julia opened this one as slow as she could. The surprise would be ruined if they heard her too soon.

Opening it just enough to be able to look in, Julia peeked through the crack to make sure they weren't looking her way before she burst in. What she saw on the other side of the door made her forget all about her little prank.

Both girls were sitting on a large bed on the far side of the room. They were more or less facing the door but Julia thought there was little chance they would notice her. They were paying too much attention to each other.

The clothes they'd been wearing when Julia had left a few hours before were scattered across the floor, leaving them naked. Sabrina had both hands on Brandy's large breasts, rubbing her nipples. Brandy's hands in turn were divided between Sabrina's legs and the small of her back. The two of them were locked in a kiss that seemed endless as Julia could clearly see their tongues reaching out for each other.

"Oh God!" Julia silently gasped as she understood why the two girls had been so anxious for her to leave. They had no intention of going home tonight.

A small part of her told Julia that the smart thing to do would be to back out quietly. Then make enough of a racket coming back in as to make it impossible for the girls not to know they had company. It would only take them a minute to make themselves presentable before coming out.

At least that was the way she had handled it when she had almost walked in on her brother and his girlfriend a few months back when she'd come home early. Harry had been stretched out on the couch with his pants down around his ankles. The big breasted brunette that he had been seeing over the summer was on her knees with the back of her head to Julia. The way that head had been bobbing up and down left little doubt as to what she was doing.