Skinny Dip

Other hands grabbed my arms, and I found myself swept away by the four girls up the hill and around the side of house to the pool. They got me to the edge and nearly threw me in before I managed to pull myself free.

“Wait! Stop! Hold on,” I yelled.

“Come on. You said you’d go swimming with us,” Ashley pouted, still stinging from the way her parents had treated her.

“I never said that,” I corrected. “Besides, I can’t go swimming. I didn’t bring a suit.”

“That’s okay. You can borrow one of my dad’s,” she offered helpfully and turned to leave, but I shook my head and stopped her.

“No, wait. I think your parents are, you know ... probably in the bedroom right now,” I said without elaborating.

“So, I’ll just ask...” Ashley began, before the horrific realization dawned on her. “Oh. Oh! Oh, god, gross.”

“Look, don’t worry about it. I’ll just hang out. You guys go do your thing.”

“No! You have to come in too,” Ashley insisted. The whiny tone of her voice irritated me.

“Why?”

“Because...,” she began, grasping for a valid reason. Then her face brightened, and she said, “Because it’s my birthday and I want you to.”

I shook my head and smiled. “Jesus, you’re fucking persistent.”

I removed a cigarette from the pack in my pocket and lit it. Courtney stared at the bright cherry as I took a long drag. The ember glowed in her eyes.

“Hey, mind if I bum one of those?”

I tucked the lighter into the half-empty box and flipped it to her, then took a seat on a nearby lounger. She fished one out and lit it before handing the box back to me, but I waived her away.

“Keep it.”

“You sure?”

“It’s almost empty anyway.”

“Thanks. It really sucks, you know? Old enough to drive, but can’t even buy a pack of fucking smokes,” she groused.

She took a seat on the lounger next to me, and we quietly smoked while the other girls stood by and watched.

“Let me get one of those, Court,” Ashley said after a while.

“You don’t even smoke.”

“Just give me one.”

“Here,” Courtney said, handing over her lit cigarette. “We can share this one.”

Ashley took it from her and held it with uncertain fingers. She took a tiny puff and blew it out without inhaling. Courtney chuckled and held out her hand to take it back.

“See, you don’t even know how to do it right.” She took a deep drag and blew the smoke out through her nostrils. “Probably better you don’t start anyway,” she added under her breath.

Ashley looked annoyed by the patronizing comment, but I could tell she hadn’t enjoyed it and probably agreed with her friend that tonight wasn’t the right time to start.

“So, are we going swimming or what?” Kayla asked. She straightened her leg and flexed her quads, then dragged her toe through a small puddle of water to draw a dark line across the smooth concrete.

“Hold on, I’ll be right back,” Brittney said.

We watched her trot down the hill to the alcohol table to collect the half-empty case of White Claws I’d left there, returning huffing for breath and grinning triumphantly.

“Brit, you’re a goddammed fucking genius,” Courtney said as Brittney handed out the cans.

We sat at the side of the pool and quickly finished our drinks and then each of us had another. When those were done, we smoked the last of Courtney’s weed. I collapsed back onto the lounger, my head spinning, and listened to the rhythmic chirping of bull frogs, adding their syncopated accompaniment to the music still blaring into the woods.

Courtney’s round face appeared in my field of view. “Come on, guy,” she said, jerking her head. “Let’s go swimming. Birthday girl’s orders.”

I sat up and shook my head to clear it. “I can’t. I didn’t bring a suit.”

“Yeah, you said that,” Courtney said. “So just swim in your underwear.”

I wiped my face and shook my head. “That’s not going to work.”

“Why not?” Ashley asked, annoyed by my continued resistance.

“Because I’m not wearing any.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You’re not? How come?”

“Because I’m not,” I said, hoping to leave it at that.

The girls fell silent, and Ashley couldn’t conceal her disappointment. I tipped back the White Claw case to grab another, but found it empty. Shit. I stood and glanced down the hill, contemplating another drink run.

“Fuck it, then. Just go skinny dipping,” Courtney offered.

I whipped my head around. “Are you joking?”

“Yeah!” Ashley said. “Skinny dip!”

I held out my hands and shooshed them both. “Are you guys fucking crazy? I can’t skinny dip here.”

“Why not?” Courtney asked. “No one’s looking. Just take it off and jump in.”

I looked around. The few remaining guests milled about way down the hill and deep into the yard, playing bag toss and drinking beers. No one stood within a hundred yards.

“What about when your parents come back and find me naked in the pool with you four? Don’t you think they’re going to be fucking pissed?”

Ashley shrugged. “If they come back. Sometimes they go for hours,” she said, and shuddered in revulsion. “Besides, the light in the pool hasn’t worked for years and they’re so messed up anyways, they wouldn’t even notice.”

Seeing how drunk Clay had been, she was probably right about that too, but it was way too risky.

“Easy for you to say. You wouldn’t be the one swimming naked.”

They grew silent and the four of them exchanged glances. Kayla finally spoke up.

“He’s right,” she said.

“Thanks, Kayla.”

“Maybe we should all do it.”

“Wait, what?”

Courtney nodded her head. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“No, she’s not,” I objected. “That’s an even worse idea.”

Courtney addressed her two other friends. “Ash? Brit? What do you think?”

They looked at each other and Ashley shrugged, but Brittney waffled.

“Ash, I don’t know...”

I let out a breath. Thank god.

“Come on, Brit,” Ashley said, taking off her glasses and setting them on the edge of the pool. “If we all do it, you have to do it too.”

Courtney began to chant, “Do it. Do it,” and the others quickly joined in.

Brittney looked at her three friends and then at me, wrestling with what to do.

“Screw this. I’m going in,” Kayla said and hopped into the pool. After a quick glance to check for anyone looking our way, and before she lost her nerve, she untied her top and tossed it onto one of the loungers. Her bottoms quickly followed.

She swam naked under the water.

“Hurry up!” she hissed.

Ashley and Courtney barely hesitated. They held hands and jumped in together with a tiny scream, then quickly peeled off their bathing suits. A small pile of wet, multi-colored Lycra formed on the edge of the pool. The three girls then began to goad Brittney into the pool.

“Move it, Brit,” Courtney commanded. “Get your ass in here!”

Brittney hunched her broad shoulders and wrung her hands, then looked at me and shook her head. “I ... I can’t.”

Ashley lost her shit.

“Goddammit, Brit! You’re always pulling this shit and I’m sick of it! It’s my birthday and this is what I want, and I swear to god, if you chicken out and don’t get your ass in this pool right this second, I’m going to tell everyone what really happened at Tournament of the Bands.”

Brittney’s face grew pale, and she looked like she might be sick. “Ash, no! You promised!”

“Then you better get in the pool, bitch.”

Brittney took one last look at me, then stutter stepped forward and leaped into the pool, landing with an awkward splash. When she came to the surface, the girls began to chant.

“Take it off! Take it off!”

Brittney took a deep breath and dove under the surface of the dark water, staying down for several long seconds. When she finally resurfaced, she held her dark one-piece swimsuit triumphantly in her hand. The other girls clapped and cheered as she tossed it onto the pile.

All eyes then turned to me.

“Your turn, guy,” said Courtney.

“We all did it. You have to come in now,” Ashley piled on.

“Hurry up!”

“It’s your turn!”

Fuck.

Every instinct screamed to turn and leave. That this was one of the worst ideas in the history of bad ideas. But even as I contemplated the potential consequences of getting caught, I found myself pulling off my shirt and tossing it onto the nearby lounger. The girls quieted as my hands approached the fly of my jeans.

I scanned the yard again, but there was no one around. The few folks who’d been playing bag toss just a few minutes ago had wandered off to do something else, or possibly even left. We were as alone as we could possibly be, given the circumstances.

“Hurry up!” Ashley hissed. “Take them off and get in!”

Fuck it.

I unbuttoned my jeans and slid them off. Four pairs of eyes immediately fell to my groin as I quickly lowered myself into the cool water to a smattering of applause and cheers. When the clapping subsided, the five of us silently treaded water in a large circle, looking at one another, no one daring to say a word.