Allie and Friends at the Beach

"Allie, could you please put some clothes on for this at least?" Paige snapped.

"No," Allie said. "Not after what you said last night. Feeling sorry for me and repulsed by my body? Thinking I'm clueless about my appearance? And was it you or Mike who was desperate for another look? Or both?"

"Mike," Paige admitted. "He said it was like a circus freak show, he just had to have another look."

"Is that why you shave yours, Paige? Because Mike says so?"

"No! I like the way it looks and feels. It's not to please men. You know me better than that!"

"I thought I did," Allie said. "But I also thought you looked up to me for being openminded and believing in myself."

"I did! I still do!"

"Then do you have any idea how much of both of those it takes for me to wear a bathing suit without shaving?"

"Hadn't thought of that," Paige said. "I just...I'm sorry, Allie! It's just that, I mean, everyone noticed what was showing, you know, and we were all wondering, does she know? But you must have, of course, and then I thought, does she just not care? And --"

"Of course I care," Allie said. "I love my body, and I love how unique it is, and I love the way a big bush looks and feels. I don't expect everyone else to agree -- although Scott loves it, if you're wondering, and in fact that's how we got together in the first place -- but if they don't like it, they don't have to look. I don't see where pity comes into the picture at all. Did it look like I was feeling sorry for myself yesterday?"

"No," Paige admitted. "It's just that I kept thinking, what if I were that hairy? Shaving would be such an awful chore then."

"It's not as bad as it sounds," Allie said. "I shaved for years, you know, and I never even knew how full my bush was until I decided to grow it out. But look, all I'm saying is I enjoy being a hairy woman, I don't need anyone's sympathy, and honestly, I'm just really disappointed in you for reacting the way you did."

"I'm sorry, Allie." Paige looked near tears. "I never meant to hurt you."

"Thank you." Allie leaned over onto the bed and hugged Paige. "I'm sure you didn't. Just please try to be a little more respectful of unorthodox beauty the next time you see it, okay?"

Paige nodded. "Of course." Then, with her tears drying, she grinned. "So Scott likes it, does he?"

"He loves it. A lot of guys do, you know. Some of them even have a fetish for it."

"Dare I ask how you learned that?"

"I'd rather not discuss it in this house," Allie said. "Some things could get back to my mother that way." Mom did not ever need to know about the nudist camp or the Halloween party, thank you very much! "But I can show you some examples if you want." She turned to Paige's computer. "Do your parents monitor the sites you visit?"

"I don't think so," Paige said. "Besides, if you're going to a porn site, the ones my dad looks at are probably worse."

"I don't even want to know how you know that," Allie said. "But it's pretty mild porn anyway. Ever hear of Literotica.com?"

"Sure," Paige said. "I even tried reading a few stories there once, but they mostly weren't very good."

"Most of them aren't," Allie agreed. "But there's this one guy who writes beautiful stories about women like me..." With a few clicks she had his story list pulled up.

Paige looked at the screen name. "YDB95? What does that stand for? Does it mean anything?"

"I have no idea what it means," Allie admitted. "But he really knows how to portray a hairy pussy as the sexiest thing on earth. If you can't understand how I could embrace my natural beauty, I think this will help."

"Thanks, Allie," Paige said, giving her another hug. "I'll think about Mike's attitude, too, I promise."

Of course the planned swim did not happen, and as soon as Allie was dressed they were off for home. There was little talk of the altercation on the drive, except when Allie confessed, "I'm really disappointed in Paige. I sure hope I got through to her."

"How could you possibly not have with that beautiful body?" Scott asked with a grin.

Allie was mollified, but still irritated with her beloved cousin.

Darlene had always known Neill's family was quite well-to-do. But Neill's own laid-back, unpretentious demeanor had never given any hint of just how well-to-do, and the controversial matter of Darlene being three years older had always precluded any chance of Neill bringing her home. Now, though, with her law degree and his undergrad both done and a job waiting for her out West and him tagging along to look for work out there, an introduction before their departure had been deemed absolutely necessary.

Now, sitting across from Neill's mother on the patio at their country club as they all sipped gin and tonics, Darlene was getting the full effect of just how well-off her beloved really was.

At least his mother, who had graciously invited Darlene to call her Mrs. Pennington, had taken to her reasonably well. "Such a pity Arthur couldn't be here to join us," she said. "I do think he'd have adored you, Darlene, but that conference in Brussels was not going to run itself."

"Come on, Mom," Neil piped up. "You know what Dad thinks of lawyers."

Darlene laughed before the older woman could object. "You can just imagine all the lawyer jokes I already have to put up with, and here I've only been one for a few weeks!"

Mrs. Pennington gave her son a stern look. "I do hope Neill hasn't made you think his father would hold that against you. A man like him needs plenty of help from the likes of you, if it comes to that."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Pennington," Darlene reassured her, once again wishing she had chosen a more modest outfit than the sundress she had worn to the club; she felt positively naked among all the well-coiffed ladies flitting about the café. Looking at Neill for moral support, she added, "I don't think he ever gave me any reason to think Mr. Pennington would have any problem with me."

"Indeed, my dear, I have little doubt Arthur has nothing but admiration for Neill being so bold as to ask an older woman out." She gave the comment just enough time to make Darlene visibly uncomfortable before she smiled and went on. "Oh, I assure you, Darlene, any concerns I had have passed. I will tell you very frankly, it's not the way we did it in my day, and that did give me some pause. But Neill has had only the kindest things to say about you from the very first time he mentioned your name. And now I see he was quite right in that."

"Thank you!" Darlene felt uncharacteristically shy, but forced herself not to look down.

"Honestly, Darlene, it was most unlike Neill to take a chance like he did with you. I don't know just how you drew the dear out of his shell. I wish I could have been at the coffee shop to witness it myself!"

"Coffee shop?" Darlene gave Neill a quizzical look; they'd been out for coffee together dozens of times, but she couldn't recall any major milestone of their relationship taking place there.

"Where we met, silly!" Neill said, a meaningful look in his eyes.

"Oh, right!" Darlene said. "Of course! Sorry, Mrs. Pennington, I guess I'm still a little nervous." It went without saying that Neill would never have told his parents how he and Darlene really had met, in the shower after her strip show at his fraternity house.

"There's no need to be, my darling," Mrs. Pennington said. "Quite frankly, I'm relieved that he ended up with a lovely girl like you, given some of the creatures I've seen on that campus. Shaved heads, unshaven legs, army boots with a skirt, even a topless girl or two -- Arthur and I always were concerned he would bring some disgusting feminazi freak home!"

"Mother, there's no need to use that word!" Neill said as politely as he could, knowing what Darlene thought of such things and hoping she knew he agreed with her.

"Perhaps not," Mrs. Pennington concurred. "But tell me, Darlene, you have seen the type, haven't you?"

"It's a very diverse community," Darlene said, smiling through her irritation. "You can find one of almost everything there."

"Diverse is one word for it," Mrs. Pennington said. "Perverse is another, I think. Surely Neill told you about that freak show they had in his house at Halloween a couple of years ago?"

Darlene's heart leapt in her throat, but she managed to keep a straight face. "I think he mentioned it, yes," she said. Turning to Neill, she asked, "It was a striptease, wasn't it?"

"Yes-" Neill began, his eyes reflecting the uncomfortable bemusement Darlene was sure he could see in her own.

"Not just a striptease," Mrs. Pennington interrupted. "A striptease with three bearded ladies, or some such!"

"They didn't have beards," Neill corrected. "They just didn't shave...anywhere."

"Same thing, if you ask me," Mrs. Pennington said. "I'm all for a woman's right to do as she likes in this day and age, but show some pride in your appearance at least. I'd love to know what those girls were thinking." Her drink now being empty, she set her glass down. "But enough of all that. Shall we go for a swim?"

"Darlene, what do you think?" Neill asked.

"We did bring our suits, didn't we?" Darlene said a lot more defiantly than she felt.

"Indeed," said Mrs. Pennington, standing up. "I'm off to settle the bill; Neill can show you where the locker rooms are. I'll see you in the pool."

"You told her about the Halloween party?!" Darlene said incredulously as soon as the older woman was out of earshot.

"No!" Neill reassured her. "I'm not stupid! You know Hal O'Rourke? She knows his mother and she told her all about it. I just admitted it was all true when she asked me about it, and of course I didn't tell her anything about you being involved."

"Oh, okay," Darlene said, and she stood up to follow Neill's lead to the locker rooms. She did indeed remember Hal, having showered with him several times at the frat house. He had always seemed to share Neill's fondness for her big bush, hence his frequent visit to the showers at just the right time (which Darlene had been fine with as long as no one tried to touch her, and Hal never had), and so she was surprised he had spilled the beans. But it didn't matter now.

But Darlene had something more pressing on her mind. "Thank God she won't be changing at the same time I will," she told Neill. "But I wonder what she'll think of me in my swimsuit."

"You brought a dark one, didn't you? So it won't show?"

"That's right, no Felicia look for me today," Darlene said with a note of embarrassed amusement, knowing that absence would disappoint Neill a bit.

"It's not like she's going to go looking for that," Neill said. "Besides, the men's locker room has private changing areas and showers, so I'm sure the women's does as well."

He was right, to Darlene's relief. Though she was just as unabashed about her natural beauty as Allie and Rayma -- indeed, she was the only one of the three who had never been a shaver to begin with -- Mrs. Pennington's comments had not gone down well with Darlene's already-present nervousness about meeting her. And so it was with some uncharacteristic shyness that she stepped into a vacant cubicle and set about changing into the black and gold patterned one-piece suit she had bought just for the occasion when Neill had mentioned a pool at the club.

It was, Darlene chose to believe afterward, only because of that weakened frame of mind about her body that she let the comment bother her as much as it did. Maybe it was even the one and only reason why she overheard the squealing dialogue between the two girls just beyond the door to her cubicle as she was undressing. In any event, hear it she did, loud and clear.

"Ohmigod, your dad's gonna kill you when he sees you in that!"

"Duh, that's why I packed my one piece! He doesn't even know I got any bikini, never mind this one!"

"He doesn't really think you wear that frumpy old one-piece, does he? What, does he think you're still twelve years old or something?"

"Oh, I know!"

Behind the door, Darlene clenched her fists angrily around the not-at-all-frumpy suit she had been just about to put on. She took a deep breath and looked at her beautiful nude body in the mirror, and reminded herself that the two unseen young women had been talking a lot like twelve year olds whether they looked like it or not. She then reminded herself that she didn't even know what they looked like, nor had they seen her in the elegant suit she had so been looking forward to wearing, and in which no one would ever mistake her for a little girl.

It was no use: the comment had stung. For one thing, age twelve was, she mused, probably the last time she had been able to wear a bikini without shaving. She couldn't recall ever letting the loss of that option bother her, and since getting to know Allie and Rayma she had outright embraced it; but still, it was an option so many women had without any extra grooming effort whatsoever but she did not. All those years of simply choosing to stick with more modest swimsuits...was it really what she wanted, or was it because she had no choice?

You do have a choice, she reminded herself. Anyone can shave. Allie and Rayma both did, and they're both hairier than you. But it felt like a hollow, unconvincing excuse, even as she pulled on the black and gold suit and found it as perfect a fit as ever, with no betrayal of her big bush that she could detect. Darlene set her face in a smile and feigned utter confidence as she strode outside to meet Neill and his mother. Slowly her real confidence returned as it proved to be an enjoyable afternoon in and around the pool, with no further snobby comments from Mrs. Pennington and no inappropriate observations about Darlene's appearance.

But Darlene was still feeling a bit frustrated hours later when she was getting ready for bed. Neill didn't pick up on the frustration right away when he came back from brushing his teeth and was greeted with the sight of Darlene standing before the full length mirror in her underwear, examining herself critically. "Well, hello there!" Neill purred. "What a lovely sight!"

Darlene's stern face melted into a grin and she turned to him. "Thanks, Neill. I needed that."

"Why? You know how beautiful I think -- know! -- you are."

"A couple of girls in the locker room made me feel like a real frump this afternoon. And I'm sorry, but your mother had a hand in it too."

"Look, she has no idea it was you and your friends at that Halloween party!"

"It's not just that. It's the comments about grooming, too."

Neill laughed. "You have no idea how conservative my mother is. Whatever she was referring to about grooming, it wasn't that." On "that" Neill gestured to Darlene's floral print panties, which as usual were bursting with wisps of hair on all three sides, which as usual had him hard as a rock.

That was gratifying to Darlene as always, and she smiled. But it wasn't quite enough. "It wasn't just her either. Tell me, Neill, before you met me did you think one-piece swimsuits made women look childish?"

"No! A well-designed suit is so beautiful and sexy -- I always thought that! Just what did these brats in the locker room say, anyway?"

"Just what I just asked you about," Darlene said, turning back to the mirror. "I guess they were all wound up about wearing a bikini in public for the first time, and it got me thinking that's something I've never done. So I'm trying to envision how I'd look in one." After another once-over of her own body, her eyes lingering on the telltale hints of her big bush, she asked, "Do you think I could pull it off?"

"Of course," Neill said without hesitation.

"Even with this?" She patted her bush.

"Well, that's the best part for guys like us, isn't it?"

"Yeah, of course you and Sam and Scott would love it," Darlene said. "But in general?"

"In general, who cares what guys think as long as you're happy with it?" Neill said. "Besides, you think Scott and Sam and I are the only three in the world who like it?"

"I guess this would be a good way to smoke out others who do like it," Darlene mused, a wicked grin growing on her face.

"Yeah, any time you decide to trade me in for a younger model," Neill quipped, taking her in his arms.

Darlene laughed, relieved that they had come to the point where their three-year age difference was safe to joke about, and returned the hug. Feeling her bra come undone, she returned the favor and unbuttoned his shorts, hesitating teasingly as she drew the zipper over his taut bulge. "Hmm, something must be done about this, I suppose," she cooed.

"And I know just the one to do it," Neill said. After pulling her bra away, he took a breast in each hand and kissed her waiting lips as he rubbed her nipples. As Darlene was already giving in to her usual husky moans, he added, "Just try not to be too loud."

"He said, teasing my boobs into a frenzy," Darlene replied. They shared a laugh, and Darlene did do her best to keep her responses as quiet as possible as she pulled his shorts and boxers off and wrapped her hand around his hard cock. He nudged her gently back onto the bed, probably expecting Darlene to let go. When she didn't, he toppled over on top of her and they laughed a bit louder. "Shhh!" Darlene teased between giggles.

"You're not going to make this easy either!" he said.

"Why would I?" She squeezed harder.

"Two can play at that game!" Neill slipped his hand into Darlene's panties and set about teasing her clit and lips with all five fingers. After one delighted squawk, Darlene managed to keep the volume turned down, but her hushed responses were as intense as ever. "Please," he whispered as he ran his fingers playfully through her lush bush, "Don't ever shave this!"

"Never!" Darlene agreed, the second syllable turning into a happy grunt as she felt his middle finger slip gently into her wet pussy. "Oh...don't stop!"

He did stop, just long enough to pull her panties off, and then resumed his playful fingering. Darlene grabbed a pillow and held it against her face to muffle the noises she had no chance of holding back. Neill was glad she couldn't see him smirking at her makeshift solution. He took further advantage of the element of surprise to dip his hard cock playfully inside just up to the tip, before pulling back out to tease her wet, hairy lips, drawing equal parts frustration and pleasure. "God, Neill!" She pulled the pillow away to look up at him.

"Beautiful," he grinned back at her.

"Yeah, it was. Now put it back in!"

"Don't ever let anyone make you feel bad about this, okay?"

"Okay! Now put it back in!"

Slowly, reverently, he did, thrilled as always at the sight of his cock vanishing into her furry treasure. As Darlene rolled her head back in pleasure at his rhythmic pushing, Neill kissed her neck and ear. "There's nothing frumpy about you, you know that?"

"Right now I do!"

"Whatever you wear at the pool!"

"Yes!"

"Whatever shows!"

"Right! Right. Neill?"

"Yeah?"

"How hot would it be if I did show off my bush in a swimsuit?"

"Super hot!" Neill replied. On that note he sped up his humping, and Darlene was too wrapped up in her pleasure to go on talking. She had the answer she wanted anyway, and she was already envisioning her natural self on shameless display at the beach as she came, clutching a hand over her mouth to mute her joyful scream.

By the time she and Neill returned to the city a few days later, Darlene had her mind made up to try to talk Allie and Rayma into joining her on the beach. It seemed the perfect last hurrah for the three of them before she and Neill moved out west, after all, but just how to float the idea?

It would prove easier than she had expected.

Allie had her doubts about whether Paige would bother reading any of those stories she recommended -- some of them were awfully long, after all. But she was pleasantly surprised to receive an e-mail from Paige a few days later. "Allie, I was up half the night binge-reading that YDB95 guy's stories. Thank you so much! They're great, and I think I understand a lot better now! Just one question -- those Elizabeth stories? She sounds stunningly beautiful, but just where and when did she live? It doesn't sound like any real time or place in this world."