I woke when a thin strip of sunlight, filtered through hastily closed curtains, touched the side of my face.

For a moment or two, I had no idea where I was. Then I felt them, and it all came back to me.

The party was loud. I wasn't opposed to that idea, but after a few beers I really needed to get away from the noise for a little while. Alcohol enables you to find the strangest things. In this case it was a little old sofa in a small room. It didn't seem to be there for any specific reason, but I didn't care. I dropped in the middle of it, and watched the wall in the dim light. Busy old wallpaper patterns seemed to move with the combination of the music and the booze.

I must have dozed off, the bottle still in my hand, and then woke suddenly as two people sat either side of me on the sofa. Beer makes for quick friends, and besides they were both very pretty. I turned to my left and clicked my bottle against hers, and the dark girl grinned and took a swig, raising her eyebrows in confirmation without saying anything.

Turning to my right I discovered another smile. This one from a redhead, with a strip of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She'd tried to tie her wild hair back, but it was escaping, and the ginger mess was haloed in the light from the doorway. Bottle-clinking was repeated again, and just before I spoke, the voice on my left started.

"I'm Belinda."

"Hi."

"Or Billie. You can call me Billie if you like."

"I do like. Billie it is. Is your skin really that colour, or is it the light in here?"

"What light? You've been sitting here too long. It's fuckin' near black in here."

"I fell asleep, I think."

"Yeah." She smiled again. "I guess we shouldn't have woken you."

"Oh, I don't mind."

"No? That's Jude."

I swung my head back to my right. Jude sat, staring at the wall. "Hey Jude."

The response came from Billie. "She's heard that before. Anyway she's a little drunk."

"Yeah, looks a bit that way."

"When Jude drinks, she gets quiet."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Billie looked me in the eyes, and continued. "Horny."

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows. "Beg your pardon?"

"Horny. She gets quiet. And horny."

"Oh." I looked at Jude again. "She seems to be more one than the other."

"Yeah, I guess. You got a name?"

"Oh, sorry. Vic." I stuck my hand out.

Billy extracted her own hand from her lap, and shook mine. "Vic?"

"Yeah. Short for Victor."

"'Kay. Listen, so how do you fit in here, Victor? Friend of the birthday boy?"

"Sort of. His sister is friends with mine. Someone said 'free beer' so I showed up."

She nodded. "Similar thing." She laughed a little before continuing, and waved her beer bottle towards the light. "I live next door. They invited me so I wouldn't call the cops about the noise."

"Self preservation. Danny's nothing if not thorough." I glanced back at the other girl for a moment, realised she was taking no notice of us; just staring at the wall, sipping her beer. "And Jude?"

"She was staying at my place. It's my parents' place really, but they are away, trying to relive their early years. In Europe, somewhere."

"Okay. You two are friends, then?"

"Girlfriends."

"Yeah."

"No, you know. I mean girlfriends."

I'd obviously had too many beers. "Huh?"

"She's my girlfriend."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Disappointed?"

I looked at her. All olive skin and grin. She was wearing a thin dark blue dress, and it didn't extend too far down her legs. Her eyes sparkled in the light from the door. Of course I was. "Um ... yeah, actually."

She leaned over, lifted herself, and kissed me on the cheek. "We'll just have to be friends then, won't we."

"Sure."

"And you know what the first thing friends do is, right?"

"Ah, no?"

"Swim."

Jude jumped, and I looked over. She was smiling at me. "Who said swim?"

"Billie did."

Jude peered around me. "Oh, hey. Who is this?"

Billie smiled at the redhead. "Vic. Short for Vicky."

"Hey!"

"He's my new friend."

Jude looked up a little at me then. "Friend, huh?"

I shrugged my shoulders, and smiled.

Jude looked back at Billie. She was smiling too. "Tramp."

"Am not!"

Jude waved her finger at me. "You can swim, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I can swim."

She pushed against me to lift her drunken body from the sofa, and started pulling at Billie's hands. "Come on, then." She stood there in a short denim skirt and a black t-shirt, shaky on her feet.

Billie laughed again and allowed Jude to haul her to her feet. "Get up and come with us, Vic. Don't tell anyone though. Last thing I want is a pool party."

I stood between the two of them, realising they were both about the same height, just a little shorter than me. Just about the right height. They each put an arm around my waist. It looked like friendship. It felt more like a purchase.

Just as we were leaving the room, Billie stopped us one more time. "That wall. It's moving. It is, isn't it?"

We had to walk through Billie's house to get to the pool. She and Jude knew exactly what they were doing, and obviously saw no need to turn the lights on. I walked between them again, and they steered me around any obstacles, both giggling as I tried to walk into walls and windows.

A sliding door led to a wooden deck that surrounded the pool. I still couldn't really see a whole lot until Billie left us for moment, and turned on some blue lights under the water.

I could see clearly now, but the colours were all wrong. It didn't matter though. I was mesmerised. As soon as the lights were on, Jude had let go of my hand, stepped out of her shoes, and was lifting her shirt over her head. She didn't hesitate to unclip her bra either, and released two sizeable breasts. They couldn't possibly be as pale as they looked in this weird light.

This sure was a change from the quiet girl that had been sitting on the sofa with me. She grinned, knowing I was staring, and unzipped her skirt, allowing it to fall to the wooden floor. Two thumbs wriggled her white panties down off her hips. She bent over, pulled them off her legs, crumpled them in her hand, pulled my arm towards her, and placed them in my palm, laughing all the while.

Totally unconcerned, she turned and ran for the edge of the pool, dived expertly, and swam underwater to the other side.

I was distracted finally by Billie. She was standing across the pool, laughing. "You really should see the look on your face, Vic."

"What the hell just happened?"

"Jude happened. She's got a thing for water."

"My God!"

"Yeah. You might get used to it if you hang about long enough. So ... coming for a swim?"

"Uh huh."

"Good." She kicked her shoes off in the direction of the fence, and gracefully lifted her blue dress up and over her head. What can I say? The colour of her skin wasn't due to sunbathing, unless she never wore anything. Speaking of that, she had nothing at all on under that dress. Her breasts were small, and though it was hard to tell in this light, it looked as though the thatch of hair between her legs matched the dark hair on her head. Billie turned towards me, as shameless as Jude. "Well?"

I finally moved. Sitting on a nearby seat for a moment, I pushed my shoes off with my feet while unbuttoning my shirt as fast as possible. Jeans fell to the deck, and I pushed my boxers down to meet them, then looked up to find both girls staring at me.

Jude had surfaced and looked a little different with her hair wet. Billie was still standing on the edge of the pool.

Billie spoke first. "Hmmm ... not bad."

"For a party pick-up, anyway."

"Seems to have a hint of ... what, Jude?"

"Mediterranean, somehow."

"Italian?"

"What the hell is this?" I answered. "I didn't realise it was an audition."

"We're just being appreciative."

"Yeah. Friends should do that."

That was enough for me. I jumped into the water, and swam over to where Jude was. That seemed to trigger Billie, and she dove in beside Jude. We proceeded to behave just like little kids for a while, splashing and ducking each other.

I noticed though that neither of them hesitated to touch me anywhere, so I did the same. If I was grabbing hold of Jude, and her breasts were in the wrong spot, well I grabbed them anyway.

At some point it seemed we crossed a line, and these accidental caresses became intentional. I slid my hands down Billie's back and across her buttocks. She shivered. Jude discovered that I had something of an erection. Who wouldn't? But instead of ignoring it she slid her hand along the length of it, and then reported in to Billie, who decided she needed to have a stroke as well. I squeezed her nipples in return.

I'm not sure if what they say about sex in cold water is true or not. The situation was a little strange. It was late. We'd all had a few beers. Billie and Jude, if I hadn't misunderstood, were lovers. I was confused. In any case, it never went further than a little random groping. Very nice groping, you understand.

Eventually the ladies claimed that they were getting a little chilly in the water. I suggested that the state of their nipples had nothing to do with the temperature, and Billie pressed hers against my chest for a while to check. In the end she agreed that I might be right, but nonetheless they wanted to get out.

Jude offered to get towels so we didn't all have to run around and get cold, and Billie and I both whistled as she climbed the ladder to get out of the pool and we got more than a glimpse of her ass. She wiggled her buttocks and ran off, laughing.

Billie turned to me.

"Listen, Vic, is this all too weird for you?"

"Me? Hell, no. I'm always going for drunk swims with gorgeous women."

She kissed me then, and not on the cheek. Her mouth was still against mine when Jude reappeared, still naked, but with an armload of fluffy towels. She dropped the stack on a chair before speaking.

"See, Vic? I told you she was a tramp."

"It was my fault."

Billie grinned. "Was not! Jude, he called us gorgeous."

"Did he? Right." She picked up one of the towels. "You first then, Vic. Hurry up. The towel is hot."

Billie objected as I climbed out. "Typical. Doesn't our relationship mean anything to you, Jude?"

"Not now, dear. I have a man here, in a towel."

"Yeah, yeah. Ready?"

Jude grabbed the next towel. "Come on then. Move that ass, instead of just shaking it at the boy."

"It was my tits I was shaking."

"Whatever."

Eventually we were all on the deck, each wrapped in a large white fluffy towel. The evening sure wasn't going the way I had expected. We started to walk back to the house. I stopped. "Hey, what about our clothes?"

"Later, boy." Billie slapped my ass through the towel.

Inside it felt a lot warmer. Both of the girls had their towels wrapped over their breasts and under their arms. I've always felt that required some sort of magic, but it looked very attractive. My towel was wound around my waist.

Jude was still playing the part of the hostess. "Beer?"

Billie held up two fingers.

"Don't be greedy. I'll get you another one later."