One for All...

Stepping into the building vestibule, Stephanie Morgan shook the water from her umbrella. It had only been a little over two block walk from the bus stop, but she had gotten soaked nevertheless. Opening her raincoat, the 24 year old blonde made an attempt to shake that dry as well.

It had been bad luck that her brother Jerry's car had picked tonight of all nights not to start up. He had promised to drop her off at her friend Rachel's new apartment. No matter, she reluctantly concluded, at least she was here now.

"Lets see," she mused as she ran her finger across the row of intercom buttons. "Alexander ... Markham ... Ford ... here it is, Lieberman, 5B"

It took a few moments to get a response, then a semi-distorted voice filtered through the speaker.

"Hello?" the female voice asked.

"Rachel, it's me Stef." she replied.

"Come on up," Rachel said as the buzzer sounded and the inner door unlocked. "I'm in the shower."

"She's in the shower?" Stephanie laughed as she glanced back out into the rain covered street.

As she walked up the stairs to the fifth floor apartment, Stephanie couldn't help but envy her girlfriends new accommodations. To someone still living at home, the small apartment complex might has well been a palace. There was no way the salesgirl could afford a place like this on her salary.

Of course Rachel really couldn't afford a place like this on her salary either. The building was owned by Martin Lieberman, who when asked by his widowed sister-in-law to help her daughter find an apartment was more than happy to find her this one. It was a small thing to make a woman he'd admired for years happy. Besides, having his niece living here assured him a honest pair of eyes to watch over his investment.

Reaching the fifth floor of the small apartment building, Stephanie found that there were some limits to Mr. Lieberman's generosity after all. Apartment 5B was a small studio apartment, one of three on the top floor. Trying the door, she found it unlocked and stepped inside.

"Rachel," the blue eyed blonde called out as she closed the door behind her.

"I'm in here, Stef," came a reply from the bathroom, a voice much more recognizable than the one that had come over the intercom. "Make yourself comfortable and I'll be out in a few minutes."

Hanging her coat, on the rack by the door, Stephanie checked the short red dress she was wearing. It was a little damp but otherwise okay. She had gotten home late and didn't have time to change clothes.

As she waited, Stephanie took in her surroundings. The apartment might be small, but it had a certain charm. The first feature she noticed were large twin skylights in the ceiling. The soft patter of rain could be heard against them. On a clear day or night, they would give a nice natural light to the room.

On the far left, a large bay window also added to the natural light. The view beyond it was nothing special, but it was a nice feature. A kitchenette over by the bathroom entrance consisted of a small refrigerator, a stovetop and microwave. And of course a kitchen sink.

There really wasn't much in the way of decoration on the walls, but then Rachel had only been living there a few weeks. The center of the room was dominated by a large green oversized U-shaped sofa. In addition to the deep cushions, it was covered with equally push and oversized pillows. Rachel had mentioned to her that she used the sofa in place of a bed.

At the open end of the couch was one of those small self assembly entertainment centers, the bottom of which was filled with her friend's old stereo system . What was new was the large 35-inch color television, a housewarming gift from Rachel's grandmother. The couch had been one from her mother.

On both sides of the television were some framed photographs. One brought a smile to Stephanie's face. The 5 x 7 picture was very familiar to the 24 year old. A smaller version was stuck in the mirror frame in her own bedroom. The picture had been taken last summer at the Oakdale Mall Talent Show.

Centered in the picture was Rachel of course. She always had to be the center of attention. To her right was Stephanie herself. That was when her hair had been down to her shoulders, rather than the short curly look she now wore.

To Rachel's left was a much smaller girl, whose mixed Philippine, Chinese and Spanish heritage had given her a soft brown complexion. Her very short black hair and unisex features gave her an androgynous look. In fact, if it wasn't for the small mounds protruding from her chest, she might've been mistaken for a teenage boy. Her name was Annie Liu, but everyone called her Penny. Despite her teenage looks, she was 20 years old.

The last member of the quartet was a tall black woman standing just behind and to the left of Rachel. Five foot ten, she stood half a head taller than any of the others, more than that in the case of Penny's five two. Her skin was ebony black, a sharp contrast to both Rachel and Stephanie. Most men first noticed her somewhat ample bust. In the case of women it was her jet black hair which she usually wore in an elaborate design. At 26, Pamela Wilson was the oldest member of their little band.

All four women worked at the Oakdale Mall. Rachel was a medical assistant. Stephanie was a sales representative at one of the large department stores. Penny worked at her Uncle's restaurant. She was also a college student. Pamela was the associate manager of an office supply store.

Despite their differences in ages and backgrounds, they had all become friends over countless shared lunches. Soon their friendships had extended beyond work. The picture had captured one of the highlights of that friendship. Billing themselves as the Four Musketeers, so named because those were the only costumes they could find, they had entered the talent show as a singing group. It was more fun than hard work and the money went to charity. To their surprise, they finished in second place. Since then they still jokingly referred to themselves as the Four Musketeers.

"We'd have gotten first," Stephanie thought as she replaced the picture on the entertainment center. "If we paraded around half naked like Judy Peterman. The judges were more impressed by her big nipples sticking through her blouse than her singing."

"Any sign of the rain letting up?" Rachel asked as she walked out of the bathroom.

"No, it looks like tonight's a total washout." Stephanie replied as she turned around at the sound of her voice.

"A pity." Rachel commented as she walked over to Stephanie and kissed her on the cheek as a friendly hello.

Covered only by a large bath towel that she had wrapped around herself, Rachel walked over to a large dresser that lined the far wall, still drying her hair as she walked.

"It really sucks that it had to rain tonight" Rachel said , pulling a pair of panties and an oversized T-shirt from the top drawer. "I was looking forward to that concert."

The original plan for the evening was for a girls night out. One of their favorite local bands was holding an open air concert in Marshall Park. They'd planned to take dinner a couple of blankets and a few bottles of wine out to enjoy the music. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other ideas. So rather than let the night go to waste, they had decided to have a girl's night in instead.

"Penny and Pamela are picking up the food." Rachel said as she unwrapped the towel from around her and let it fall to the floor. "I'm not sure what they're getting, but knowing Pamela it's sure to be something interesting." she added as she stood there nude as the day she was born.

"I guess so." Stephanie replied in an strained tone.

Silly as she knew it was, Stephanie felt it a little strange for her friend to be standing nude in front of her as they continued their conversation. It wasn't of course the first time she'd seen Rachel naked. They'd gone to the beach many times, as well as clothes shopping both together and as part of the group. They'd shared dressing rooms many times, but somehow it now seemed different - somewhat out of context maybe, standing naked in the living room. Then she reminded herself that this was also Rachel's bedroom, a place where it was perfectly natural for her to be nude.

Stephanie also considered that she felt uncomfortable because when they'd first met, Rachel and she had almost the same physical build, the main difference being Rachel's darker brown hair and slightly larger breasts. That difference had grown to more than a few pounds of extra weight on Stephanie. Despite assurances from many of her friends that she looked better with the extra weight, which was still within the norm for her size, she always felt self-conscious about it. It was an outgrowth of her teen years when she had actually been overweight.

It didn't take Rachel long to put on the pair of panties and the T-shirt she had taken out. Since she was home and not planning to go out, she didn't see the need for anything more. With her breasts still a little damp, Rachel's much darker nipples clearly showed through the thin cotton.

"Judy Peterman would've been proud." Stephanie thought with a laugh as her discomfort passed.

Fifteen minutes passed as the two of them sat on the couch and chatted. They had seen each other that morning so it was more a matter of killing time until the others showed up than anything else.

"Oh by the way," Rachel said, "Remind me to give you keys to get in here before you leave. That way you can let yourself in the next time you come over. I've got one for Penny too and I've already given one to Pamela."

"Okay," Stephanie answered.

"But be sure to check and make sure that my name shows in the peephole plate on the door." Rachel grinned mischievously. "Cause if its blank, it means that I've got company and you should definitely knock first."

Stephanie had to laugh at the warning. Although living at home didn't afford her the privacy to use such a system, she'd heard about it from her cousin who used something like it at college.

The laughter was cut short by the sound of the intercom buzzer. Rachel got up and pressed the speaker button.

"Food delivery." came the voice from the speaker which both women recognized as Penny's.

In reply, Rachel reached up and hit the button that unlocked the front door.

"Come on up." she said.

She then went and opened up the apartment door, waiting for their friends to come up.

"I wonder why Pamela didn't use her key?" she said. "I hope she didn't lose it already.

The reason turned out to be even simpler. When Penny got to the top floor, Pamela wasn't with her.

"I hope someone is going to give me a hand with this," the smaller girl called out as she indicated the three shopping bags she was burdened down with. "These aren't exactly light."

Rachel grabbed the largest bag, surprised by its weight. It was obvious that it contained more than take out food.

"Where's Pamela?" Rachel asked as she led the shorter girl into the apartment.

"There was some sort of problem at the store," Penny said as she laid the two bags of food on the kitchen counter. "She said for me to go along without her. Said she should be along later, but looking at the way everyone was running around the Office Bin, I doubt it."

"So I guess its just the three of us then." Rachel noted as she helped Penny empty the bags. "And as usual you've brought enough food to feed a half dozen."

"Well I just like to give everyone a good variety," Penny laughed. "Besides, my Uncle was just going to have to toss it all if I didn't take it."

"And some of us can eat like a horse and still look like a sparrow." Stephanie said from the couch with a bit of envy in her voice.

"Oh hi, Stef," Penny said as she peeled off her brown leather bomber jacket. "I didn't see you at first."

"Story of my life." Stephanie laughed as they exchanged a brief hug.

True to her sometimes tomboy image, Penny was wearing jeans, sneakers and a short sleeved corduroy shirt. Stephanie wished she could dress for work like that. Penny's hair looked like it was cut even shorter than the last time she'd seen her. Most woman couldn't get away with hair like that, but on the short girl it certainly worked.

"So what's on the agenda for tonight?" asked Penny.

"Well I guess some good food, a little wine and whatever's on the TV." Rachel replied. "With weather like this I think club hoppings out for tonight. So its just us girls."

"Unless you have a guy or two in those bags." Stephanie quipped.

Penny made a show of checking the two empty shopping bags, then looked at her friends with a disappointing look.

"I knew I forgot something," she laughed. "And Willoughby's was running a special on cute young guys tonight, too."

All three of them laughed at the joke as they made up plates from the food Penny had brought. Rachel took a cold bottle from the refrigerator and poured them each a glass of wine to go with the dinner.

Conversation over dinner made the meal that much more enjoyable. They had just about finished when Stephanie noticed the last of Penny's packages still on the floor.

"So what's with the other bag?" Stephanie asked as she ate.

"Oh I almost forgot," Penny replied with excitement. "Let me get it."

Dropping the bag on the center of the countertop, Penny peeled it away to reveal a small statuette. It was a semi-nude woman riding a horse. She was clad in battle armor and held a sword and shield. Engraved on the base was the title of the piece - Valkyrie.

"It's just a little apartment warming gift." Penny explained. "When I saw it in the Sci Fi and Fantasy shop I just fell in love with it."

"It's beautiful," Rachel exclaimed. "I know just the place for it."

With that, she picked it up and carried it over to the entertainment center. A moment later it occupied a place of honor on it.

"Guess we should see what's on the tube." Stephanie said, feeling a little bad that she hadn't brought a gift too.

"Might as well." Rachel said as she picked up the cable remote. "Bring the wine in with you."

As the girls settled in, each on their own section of the couch, Rachel tossed the remote to Penny who had sat to her right.

"Since you brought such a lovely gift, you get to pick what we watch." she said.

"All right!" Penny yelled. "The ultimate power - control of the remote."

It quickly became apparent that even with over 80 channels, there wasn't a great deal to watch - at least not tonight. Penny started with all the prime movie channels, HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, all showing films they had seen before. Next she tried some of the oldies channels, some of those classics were pretty good. But they struck out there as well.

"It helps if you stop at a channel for more than 30 seconds." Stephanie suggested with a smile.

"Okay rocket scientist, lets see you do better." Penny grinned back as she tossed the remote across the couch.

"The secret," Stephanie said as she clicked on the channel up button. "Is not to randomly jump around the dial but to start at the bottom and work your way up."

Channel by channel flashed by - a kaleidoscope of entertainment ranging from movies to game shows, how to shows to cooking help.

"This is entertaining," Penny said. "Maybe we should try a board game instead or maybe..."

The short black haired girl stopped in mid-sentence, her attention grabbed by the image that had just appeared on the large screen.

"Now that's what I call entertainment!!" Penny cried out, pointing to the screen.

"Omigod, Rachel!" Stephanie gasped as she turned from the screen to her friend. "What are you doing with the porno channel?"

"Who cares?" Penny interrupted. "I like this."

"Its not what you think," Rachel said. "I only ordered basic cable. Who has the money to pay for all those premium channels?"

"And they all just appeared one day on your TV," Stephanie laughed. "Like magic."

"Actually,..." Stephanie hesitated for a moment. "When the cable guy hooked this all up, he asked if I wanted all the stations."

"Yeah, right, you just smiled at him and he gave you all this." Stephanie mocked with a smile.

"All right, he also asked me to dinner." she admitted.

"I bet I know what you had." Penny laughed as she opened her mouth and slid her hand back and forth in front of it, as if she were performing oral sex.

"You know better than that, Penny." Rachel said in a sharp rebuke.

"Oh that's right, I forgot." the 20 year old lied. "You don't do things like that."

Truth was, Rachel actually didn't. In her entire sex life, she'd performed oral sex on a guy a total of only two times. The second had only been to confirm the conclusion she'd come to after the first: namely that it wasn't something she ever wanted to do again.

It didn't make her a prude by any means, she was far from it. When Rachel finally warmed up to a man enough to want him in her bed, she was every guys dream: a woman who was warm and supportive in public - and a wanton whore in the bedroom. The only problem was that most guys didn't make it to that level with her. Most usually lost interest when they learned she didn't suck cock. The cute cable guy had been one of them.

"Maybe Rachel doesn't," Stephanie noted, her eyes glued to the television. "But that girl certainly does."

The wide 35 inch screen was now filled with the image of a large breasted blonde who was giving quite a demonstration in the art of fellatio. The young man's cock she had swallowed practically whole was also quite impressive.

"She is good at it," Penny laughed. "Maybe you should take notes, Rachel

Rachel made a disapproving face.

"Yeah, like that guy's really that big! I'll bet that's as fake as that bimbo's tits."

"Looks pretty real to me." Penny said.

"Special effects," Rachel suggested. "You can't tell me you've ever seen a guy that big for real."

"I have ... " Stephanie started to say without thinking, then caught herself."

It was a momentary slip of the tongue, but each of the other girls caught it immediately.

"Tell, tell." they both called out. "Truth or Dare. You know the rules."

It was a game they had played among themselves, a game of sexual secrets. If any of them admitted to a sexual secret, they had to tell or take a dare. The dares had sometimes been far worse than the truth.

"Come on Stef," Penny encouraged. "Truth or Dare?" she added with wicked emphasis on the second choice."

Stephanie considered the possible consequences of a dare for a brief moment, then decided on the truth.

"Robby McPherson." she answered in a low voice.

"What was that?" Rachel asked, cupping her hand around her ear as if she was hard of hearing.

"Robby McPherson!" Stephanie repeated in a louder voice.

"Robby McPherson!" Penny also repeated in an even louder voice.

"That computer geek who worked at the mall last summer," Rachel chimed in. "That Robby McPherson?"

"Yes." Stephanie responded simply.

"What the hell where you thinking?" Rachel asked.

"I can't believe you dated that loser." Penny added when Stephanie didn't reply.

"He was not a loser!" Stephanie snapped back. "And I didn't date him ... I fucked him! There I said it, are you happy." she added, taking a large drink from her wine glass.

"Shit, Stef, that's even worse." Rachel said. "Why would you do a thing like that?"

In reply, Stephanie held up both hands and brought them together until they stopped about nine inches apart. Her meaning was obvious to her friends. It was a gesture they'd use in reference to guys many times. The only difference was that this time it wasn't a diminutive allusion.

"You're shitting me." Rachel said, eyeing the gap between her hands.

"Honest truth." Stephanie said, a term none of them would ever lie about.