Chapter 2

Edited by Cody

I'd never been as embarrassed as I was at the pool edge. Following Aunt Julie up to my room where she had laid out some clothes for me, I tried to forget. A swimsuit was on the bed waiting, though I was no longer in the mood to swim. "Julie, can I get something else to wear? I'm not really much up to swimming anymore."

"Aw, come on Alan don't be a spoil sport. All the girls were hoping that you'd swim some with them." Julie said looking a bit disappointed.

"Please, Aunt Julie." Pleading in my most pitiful voice. Not looking up from the carpet.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you." Julie said gripping my chin and looking me in the eyes, so very sincere.

"It's okay." I smiled. "I'd just rather read or watch TV or something."

"I understand." Smiling back she pulled a set of keys from the side of her bathing suit and unlocked the closet. Grabbing out a pair of shorts and a tee shirt she tossed them to me and locked the closet back. "Your mom told me you like to change a lot, so I'll get your clothes when you need them." Looking away I tried to act normal but it still embarrassed me. The fact was, I did like to change a lot, and always had a stack of clothes to wash at the end of the week. Mom sometimes asked if she wasn't raising a girl: that always hurt. "So try not to get these too dirty."

"Yes Ma'am"

"Good." She said patting me on the shoulder. "I'm going back out to the pool. Just find something to do. We'll probably only stay out there a little while." With that, she left me alone to do just that. I knew Julie kept all her computer stuff out in the old barn out back so surfing was out. Closing the door I put my clothes on, and let me tell you, I've never been happier to be dressed. Wandering down stairs I found the TV and flipped it on, but quickly found that there was nothing on. So books were my next choice. Taking a look at the books Aunt Julie kept on her shelves I found the classics: Shakespeare, Poe, Chaucer, etc... And, the not so classic: Ann Rice, Marquis De Sade, and Pauline Réage. Not your average reading selection. I pulled out 'The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty' by A.N. Roquelaure (a.k.a. Ann Rice) and started reading. It was a very erotic book, which I quickly got lost in. Before I knew it Julie and the rest of them where on their way in, laughing and making noise. This was not a book I wanted to be caught reading. What would they think? I'd never live it down, and the rest of the weekend would be hell. Tossing it under the couch, I acted like I was just relaxing there. Julie gave me this 'what have you been up to look'. Yawning and stretching seemed the best ploy.

"So, what have you been up to young man?" She just came out and said it.

"Just resting a bit." I smiled. But I'm sure she could tell something was up. I must have looked guilty or something, but she let it slide.

"Well I have to go do a little work for a while, so you and the girls will have to find something to keep you entertained." Giving me that 'no funny business' look, she continued. "Why not play cards or something? That should be fun."

"I'm sure we'll think of something Mom." Amy assured her. "I think we'll all just run up stairs and take showers, then we'll find something to do."

"All right. Well I'm leave Alan in charge." She gave Amy a motherly look, and then stared me straight in the eyes. "Take care of my girls, got it?" Nodding seemed the best response. With it she ran up stairs to change followed by the gaggle of girls.

Sitting there doing nothing made the time click away second by second in my head. Aunt Julie came and left, but the girls were still up stairs leaving me bored and alone, as they washed up. And let me tell you, girls can take forever washing up; nothing like guys. Like ten or fifteen minutes you're done, but not them. After a while I finally pulled the book out from under the couch and started reading again. It was over two hours before they all came pouring down the stairs. By that time I was totally immersed in the novel. As soon as I noticed them I tried to hide the book, but they saw it before I could get it out of sight. I will have to give them one thing - they were looking mighty fine.

"So, what you reading Alan?" Amy smirked. She must have already seen what I had, or noticed what was missing from the shelf.

"Nothing much." Trying to play nonchalant worked like a thrown rock.

"Really?" Amy leapt at me, grabbing the book from my hand. "The claiming of sleeping beauty... isn't this a sex novel?"

"Ahm, well I guess you might call it that." My face had to be violet I was so embarrassed, but if I didn't try to play it off some they'd be on me like sharks in a feeding frenzy. "I just pulled it off the shelf and was skimming it. Not really reading it, per se."

"Well you sure looked like you were skimming intensely." Smiling Amy tried to mimic my intense reading style.

"So, tell us what you read." Samantha popped down beside me on the couch and wrapping her arms around my left arm.

"Oh yes, do tell!" Cindy said as she did the same thing on my right. Suddenly, I was feeling really uncomfortable and not all of it had to do with the book. Here I was trapped between two beautiful girls, begging me to retell the erotica I'd just been reading. Somehow, I'm not sure how, I'd gotten myself into this one, and I couldn't see any real way out.

"Well, umm... you see... I didn't really read that much." All their eyes were on me. They could see right through my lie. They weren't going to buy it. So I needed a different tactic. "Cards!" That confused them. "We should all play cards. That's what Aunt Julie suggested."

"I thought that you were going to tell us a story." Wendy said flashing me a gorgeous little smirk. "But, I think cards might be fun too.

"Amy, why don't you get us a deck?" I smiled.

"Okay. Alan, you're still going to have to tell us what you read sometime." Flipping her hair she set off in search of a deck of cards.

"So, how do you like the farm so far Alan?" Erica said draping herself in one of the nearby loungers.

"I don't know. Not too bad. It's very pretty out here."

"Are you only staying for the weekend?" Her eyes burned into mine, with her intense stare.

"Yeah." Looking away I tried to act natural, but her predatory looks worried me. "I have to get back to school, though I've already aced everything. And, I have graduation of course."

"So you're pretty much done, just attendance left?"

"Yep, that's about it." Knowingly I sounded a bit cocky, but it was true. With a month still left of school I could have skipped all the rest of my classes and still escaped with mostly A(s).

"That's good," with that gleam in her eyes again, "very good."

"I got the cards!" Amy yelled from the kitchen. At that, all of sudden Cindy and Samantha were pulling me up and dragging me off towards the kitchen. All I could do was follow or be dragged behind them. I could hear Erica snickering behind me. Guess she could tell I was being led like a child. Cindy and Samantha plopped me down in the head chair and took up seats on either side of me. Amy was wearing an amused look, as I sat there a bit incredulous. The others came in and took up their seats all around the table.

"So what should we play?" Amy asked.

"Poker?" I suggested. Mostly because it's the only card game I know.

"Nah, poker's no fun unless you bet." Frowning Cindy tapped the table nervously.

"Well let's bet then. Penny poker?" Amy said.

"Sorry guys, I got no money on me," being that I left it all at home. There was no way I could foresee such a need out here in the middle of nowhere.

"Well I guess we'll have to bet something else." Looking thoughtful for a second, Erica came up with a suggestion. "I know we can play strip poker."

"What!?!?" I couldn't believe my ears. There was no way some girl I hardly know just suggested strip poker. "You're kidding right?"

"Why? don't feel up to the challenge?" Cindy quipped.

"Well I'm not sure if we should." Trying to throw in a little reason seemed a valid defense, "Aunt Julie will be home anytime now."

"Nah, Mom'll still be hours. She always loses herself in her work." Amy said helpfully. Though, it was the opposite of the response I wanted. This was a dream come true, or a nightmare about to happen.

"Come on Alan. You're not chicken are you?" Wendy's smile all but made me cave. If I had a chance to see her naked I had to take it.

"Well I guess." This was my chance. Well, maybe not my chance to get laid, but at least a chance to see some real girls naked. It was a little weird with my cousin Amy there, but otherwise it was almost as good as the lake. Trying not to look too eager, "So what are the rules?"

"Five card draw?" Wendy said.

"Sounds good. But, what about the clothes?"

"Hmm, the worst loser of each hand has to take something off. That way it should last a bit." Erica piped in. "Shoes and socks count as only one item and jewelry doesn't count at all."

"Sounds fair except you all have on more than me." It wasn't hard to figure that I might lose this, and quick, if I didn't even the odds some.

"Yea, but there are five of us and only one of you." Samantha put in. "You're more likely to see us, then we are to see you."

"So have you guys done this before?" Curious as to my chances.

"Once or twice." Cindy smiled. "We'll just use the standard rules and off we go."

"Alright, standard rules sound good." Figuring out my odds, I was in pretty good shape, so the game started.

Every thing was going so well in the beginning. Samantha and Erica had lost their shoes and socks. Wendy lost her shirt, though she had another shirt on under it, but it was thin and she didn't seem to have a bra on. Amy took off her pants revealing a pair of shorts underneath; a bit of a jip, but she was my cousin so I wasn't looking too hard anyway. But, then everything started going wrong.

I hit a bad streak. First I lost my shoes then my shirt. The cards had turned on me. Finally, someone else lost. Cindy lost her shirt leaving her in a nice pink bra that barely held all of her in. If you looked hard, and believe me I tried when no one was looking, you could just see her pink nipples. But still I was starting to get nervous with nothing left but my shorts. And then it happened - another losing hand. All my luck was gone, leaving me stranded and about to be stark naked in front of five girls. Nothing was going right for me this entire weekend.

"Well Alan, it looks like your time is up," Erica smiled evilly.

"Aw, come on! You don't really expect me to take everything off do you?" My heart was pounding in my ears.

"Oh yes we do." Wendy laughed. "I'm sure that if it was one of us you'd expect us too." The truth hit hard. There was no way out this for me. "And if you don't, we can always take the rest from you."

"Amy, please..." But my plea fell on deaf ears.

"I don't think so." Amy had this shit eating smirk on. It was at that moment I knew it was over. "Though, I do like Wendy's idea of taking them off you ourselves."

"If I take them off can we be done with this?" All I could hope was to get my clothes back quick before Julie came home.

"Yea, I guess so." Amy nodded. Standing up I took a deep breath. Nothing I'd ever done before seemed so difficult. Slowly I unsnapped the button and pulled the zipper down, then in a flash I yanked them down and threw them on the table covering myself as fast as I could.

"Aw! Come on, I didn't even get to see anything." Erica pouted.

"I took them off. Now can I have my clothes back?"

"Of course not." Amy smirked, seemingly a constant on her face.

"What?" I was in shock. "But the game's over."