The Pool - A Sally and Nate Story

"Oh my God!" Sally giggled, as quietly as she could.

"Good for her!" Nate whispered.

"I agree, but..." Sally dissolved into more laughter, and couldn't keep it quiet for long.

As luck would have it, Grace came with a long, happy sigh at that moment. As she came to a rest, she heard the stifled laughs from next door. "Oh geez, Sally!" Grace could feel her face flushing, though she wasn't ashamed.

"Well, you heard us, too, didn't you?" Sally called back.

"Guilty!"

"And congratulations, Grace."

"Thanks."

Though she knew there was nothing to be ashamed of, Grace was embarrassed and exhilarated, and oddly proud of herself. As a result she did not fall asleep for quite some time, and she slept late in the morning. By the time she did appear in the kitchen in her nightie, Nate was already off to work and Sally had her nose buried in an academic journal at the kitchen table.

As soon as their eyes met, Grace burst into embarrassed laughter, and buried her face in her hands. "Oh my God!" she squealed.

"Grace, it's okay!" Sally jumped up and hugged her. "Really, I love that we can share this, and Nate did too."

"He sure didn't know what he was getting into with us, did he?" Grace said.

"Nate is more daring than you think," Sally said. "Did I tell you about our adventure the first Christmas we had together?

"I remember you said it was a really bizarre trip, to stay with some crazy lady who taught art," Grace said. "And you said Nate saved the day."

"I must not have told you how he did it," Sally said. "Believe me, you'd have remembered if I had told you."

"Are you going to tell me now?"

"I have a few errands to run in town," Sally said. "Let's go get dressed and get some breakfast at my favorite café. And I'll tell you everything."

And so Grace got an impromptu tour of the university's little downtown, and the heaviest breakfast she'd had in ages, and a tale in often-furtive tones of Sally and Nate's Christmas adventure. "We made love and then made our escape, and Mom says she's become a lot friendlier since then. But we never heard just what happened after we got out of there."

"That sounds...kind of scary, really." Grace shifted in her seat and recrossed her legs, and realized she was quite wet. She chanced a glance down at her lap to make sure it didn't show.

It didn't, but Sally noticed. "Are you okay, Grace?"

Feeling very emboldened by the hot turn in the conversation, Grace threw all caution to the wind. "More than okay, I'm..." she grinned, after a quick look around the café to make sure no one would see, she patted between her legs. "All this talk about, you know..."

"Turned on, are we?" Sally teased.

"Desperately!" Grace felt more relieved than embarrassed. "Sorry if that's oversharing, it's just so nice to be able to share all this stuff again!"

"Don't be sorry!" Sally reassured her. "Honestly, Grace, last night was beautiful for us too. We're both really happy for you that you're able to do that now." With a shy smile that was every inch the Sally Grace used to know, she added, "I've been dying for some more fun all morning too, if you want to know the truth of it." Recalling a beat too late the reputation she'd always had among her roommates, she quickly added, "And yes, I know you expect that of me anyway!"

"Oh, Sally, no!" Grace said. "I mean, I guess I do, yes, but...I figured, now that you and Nate are living together?"

"That's just it, Grace. We do, all the time. And I'm still feeling a touch of the afterglow, you know? Sometimes it only makes you want more! And yes, talking to you about it hearing you last night and remembering what we did together that night in Florida -- it's got me pretty worked up, too."

Grace felt her face flushing. "What we did together in Florida...do you want to..."

Sally nodded and grinned. "But only if you want to, Grace."

Grace looked playfully at her watch. "How quickly can we get home?"

"I was going to change the sheets this afternoon anyway," Sally said as she guided Grace to the master bedroom. She peeled the quilt back and smoothed out the sheets, and retrieved a throw-pillow from the floor. "Do you want one?" she asked Grace, holding it up.

"No thanks. Sometimes I use my hands now," Grace said from under her top, which she was pulling over her head. She promptly burst into laughter again, and was relieved to see Sally was also amused when she got her top off. Sally had her own top off and was now pushing her skirt down around her hips. "I did do it only the way you showed me at first," Grace explained as she undid her bra, "Then I branched out, you know? But I did do it that way last night"

"It sounded that way," Sally said with a mischievous grin as she set her skirt and top on a chair by the bed. "I've tried it with my hands too, but this is what I grew up with." She placed the pillow halfway down her side of the bed and slipped her panties off, and climbed onto the bed, only removing her bra once she was settled there.

"I was afraid I wasn't going to get a look at them," Grace quipped as she kicked off her pants and panties and joined Sally on the bed.

"I usually leave my bra on for this," Sally explained as she hovered over the pillow and set it just right between her thighs. "But I thought you might want a look at them." She rubbed her left breast playfully and allowed herself a lingering look at Grace's much smaller, pert breasts and blonde pubic hair, which was sparse but present. "You don't wax anymore?" she asked.

"No need to lately," Grace said as she sat back and fluffed out the scant hair with one hand. "You're the first one to see it in a while."

"You should try leaving it like that for a while," Sally said. "It's very elegant."

"Thanks, but I can't wear a full bush like you can, Sally."

Sally rolled over on her side to look down at her big triangle. "You think I wear it well, do you?"

"It's beautiful, Sally. I hope Nate thinks so, too!" Grace had already been teasing her clit with her fingers, and now the full view of her friend's body had her feeling even more aroused. She spread her legs wider to give Sally a good look at her pink vulva.

"Thanks, and he does!" Sally let her eyes linger on Grace's busy fingers for a moment, and then it was back to her own business. She settled herself on the pillow again, and gave it a leisurely thrust. "Ohhhh," she murmured. "So good!"

"I used to get so jealous hearing you go at it like that in our room," Grace said huskily between her own gasps of pleasure.

"And to think I thought you three all did it too!" Sally grunted, her hips grinding rhythmically at the pillow, thrilling to the knowledge that she had an audience.

"Our loss." Grace barely got the words out, as she was utterly wrapped up in the pleasure by then. She imagined Nude Day with Sally and Nate and perhaps some of their other friends, utterly free and comfortable in her own body out there by the pool. Sally was also lost in her own sensation by then, and her delightfully primal moans inspired Grace to more uninhibited responses of her own.

Sally came first, and her satisfied yelp at the big moment gave Grace just the inspiration she needed to follow suit. She climaxed with a joyful shudder, and was delighted to see Sally admiring her when the room came back into focus. With a deeply satisfied sigh, she turned and met Sally's smile with one of her own.

Neither of them said anything as they met in the middle of the bed and embraced. With the late morning sun streaming in through the open window, they lay entwined together and rejoiced in the mellow comfort of old friends.

Sally proposed a swim later in the afternoon as a reward for cleaning up the house, and they both got dressed and got to work. After lunch and a couple of hours of studying for Sally (Grace found a novel from Marla's library to occupy herself), at last they were free to take a dip. Grace arrived first on the sun-drenched deck in her black bikini, and wasn't surprised when Sally blossomed forth in an elegant one-piece suit -- a brightly colored splash-patterned one -- a moment later. As with a lot of things about Sally, Grace saw now that she and her friends had been wrong to give Sally a hard time about her modest taste in swimsuits. A one-piece suit flattered her full figure much better.

She was beauty itself as she stepped down into the water to join Grace. "Oh, doesn't that feel great!" she exclaimed.

"Totally," Grace agreed, though she couldn't help but imagine how much better it would feel to be nude. Curse nosy neighbors!

They swam and chatted and splashed about without taking any note of the time, but more than once they were aware of a rustling in the grass behind the fence. Though Grace couldn't see anything clearly through the narrow slats, she guessed out loud that it must be the fearsome Mrs. Dobson. "Is that...?" she whispered at one point.

"Probably," Sally whispered back. "How pathetic, huh? Nothing better to do than spy on us and see if there's anything to be offended about! But hey, the jokes on her this time." Then she splashed back into the water, and Grace followed her lead.

Grace was the first out of the water; having gotten hooked on Marla's book, she was eager to get back to it and let the sun dry her out. Sally had followed suit and was lounging beside her when they heard a young man's voice calling out from somewhere in the house. "Sally?"

It wasn't Nate, and Grace was spooked until she noticed that Sally wasn't. "Out here, Brendan!" She propped herself up on her elbows and waited for him. "Marla's son," she explained to Grace. "He lives downtown, but he comes by once in a while."

"To check up on you?"

"To take more of his stuff from the basement," Sally corrected with a laugh, which she only just had time to stifle when a spry, bearded young man stepped out into the sunshine in tight jeans and a designer shirt. He was gorgeous.

"Ah, company, huh?" Brendan asked. "Sorry to interrupt you."

"Don't be silly, Brendan!" Sally jumped up and hugged Brendan, reminding Grace yet again of how much her friend had changed. "This is my friend from college, Grace. She's come to spend a few days here."

"Enchanted, my friend," he said, shaking Grace's hand.

Her thrill as their hands touched was tempered as she noticed he didn't struggle in the least to look her only in the eye despite her near-nudity. She knew exactly what that meant. But Grace smiled through her disappointment. "Pleased to meet you, Brendan," she said. "I hope you don't mind me staying here."

"Not in the least," Brendan said. "It's not really my home anymore anyway. I'm just here to collect some of my books from the cellar, and it wouldn't do to go poking around down there without Sally knowing it's just little ol' me."

"Thank you, Brendan," Sally said. "That would have been a little frightening all right. But you know, you're welcome to join us out here for a bit if you'd like."

"That's sweet, thanks," Brendan said. "I'll have to see if I have any trunks in there, though. I'm guessing you'd rather not have me skinnydipping, huh?"

Sally and Grace exchanged looks, and laughed. "To tell you the truth, Brendan, we'd be just fine with that," Grace said. "But your mom's next door neighbor has been hassling Sally and Nate about that already."

"Oh, you didn't fall for Mrs. Dobson's nonsense, did you?" Brendan asked, and across the fence all three heard a screen door slamming abruptly. "Listen, it's none of my business if you ladies don't want to look at my pasty white ass or worse, but don't worry about that old bag, okay? Mom and Dad have been swimming nude out here since they had the pool put in, and they know all about what she thinks about it. Honestly, they'd probably be surprised if they didn't get at least one outraged e-mail from her this summer."

"No kidding!" Sally was delighted. "God, that's great, Brendan! Thanks. To tell you the truth, Nate and I did do it a few times when I first moved in, but..."

"I understand," Brendan said. "Listen, she will raise hell with my parents, and they'll tell her to get a life, end of story. Do what you like."

"In that case," Grace piped up, "Sally, what do you think of, you know, the day?"

"July Fourteenth," Sally said. "National Nude Day. If you and someone special would like to join us?"

"I'll be there without bells on!" Brendan declared. "Just send me the details. But I'd best not stick around today. Hot date tonight, not the type who likes to be kept waiting."

"Good for you." Sally hugged Brendan again. "And thank you!"

Grace sat back down and watched him retreat inside. "Gay as a Christmas tree, I take it?" she asked as soon as the coast was clear.

"Of course," Sally said. "Sorry, Grace."

"Worth it for what he just told us, I think," Grace said. Casting an eye back at the pool, she went on. "Shall we?"

"I have a better idea," Sally said. "Let's surprise Nate when he gets home!"

Grace could scarcely wait through the next couple of hours, during which they retired to the kitchen to avoid getting sunburned but didn't bother changing out of their swimsuits. Sally with her textbook and Grace with her novel contented themselves with a pitcher of iced tea at the kitchen table while the promise of the pool beckoned out in the bright afternoon. The stirring in Grace's belly never once left her alone, but she welcomed the anticipation.

Finally, at around four-thirty, Sally stood up. Grace looked hopeful, but Sally only chuckled. "No, I'm just going to the bathroom," she said. "All that tea, you know?"

"I really have to go too, now that you mention it," Grace said. "I'll use the bathroom upstairs, and then shall we?"

"Definitely," Sally agreed with a saucy grin.

When Grace had finished peeing, she got a brilliant idea. Rather than pull her bikini bottoms back up, she kicked them all the way off. As she stood up and flushed, she also removed her top, and after washing her hands she put both parts of her suit in the sink to soak. Swallowing her nerves as best she could, Grace stepped out into the hallway wearing nothing but a grin, and strolled downstairs as casually as she could.

Any and all embarrassment she felt was gone in favor of a delicious thrill when she saw Sally waiting at the bottom of the stairs, also nude. "Great minds think alike!" Sally said to her.

"Always a step ahead of me, Sally," Grace said. "But thank God you are."

Just inside the sliding door, Sally picked up the bottle of sunblock she'd left there earlier. "Do my back, please?" she asked Grace.

"Is that all I get to do?" Grace asked, looking shamelessly at Sally's breasts and remembering how she'd always sort of wanted to play with them a bit.

"Oh, go ahead if you want to do them too." Sally had been half expecting as much. "But I want to return the favor."

"Please do!" Grace agreed as she eagerly began rubbing the lotion into Sally's breasts, which were just as supple and pleasant to caress as she'd always imagined they were.

"Ooohoo, that tickles!" Sally said before she could even get started on Grace's pert little breasts, but she let Grace continue. "It tickles, but it's nice," she said, and at last she did begin rubbing the lotion on Grace, nipples first.

"Ohhhh!" Grace exclaimed. "That feels good! They haven't been touched in too long." By now she'd given up any pretense of spreading the sunblock and was shamelessly playing with Sally's breasts. Since Sally showed no signs of objecting and was also clearly enjoying herself on Grace, she felt welcome to continue.

"You're so lucky to be light up top," Sally said with a final caress on each of Grace's hard nipples.

"You envy me?" Grace asked. "Wow."

"I've told you before, imagine carrying them around all day," Sally said. "Especially now that you know how heavy they are."

"I understand," Grace said. "But still..." Then she burst out laughing. "Imagine if Cindy and Keisha could see us now!"

"I suppose they'd have liked to feel me up too, huh?" Sally asked.

"Neither of them ever said that to me." But even as Grace said that, it occurred to her that she had never said as much to them either. A final gentle caress on each of Sally's breasts, and then she put her arms around her friend. "Thanks for letting me do that," she said.

"Anytime," Sally said.

For an awkward moment, Grace wondered if Sally expected her to rub the sunblock all down her front as well. Before that could get uncomfortable, Sally picked up the bottle and did it herself. Grace followed suit, relieved, and then did volunteer to rub it on Sally's back and happily allowed her own turn. Then it was the moment of truth at last.

"Ready?" Grace said, standing on the threshold of the sliding door and acutely aware that she was probably visible from some of the neighbors' upstairs windows.

"Totally!" Sally said, and hand in hand they strode out onto the pool deck.

There was no sign of Mrs. Dobson that they could tell. But Grace lost no time in diving into the safety of the pool, and then they likely wouldn't have heard over their own splashing and laughter if anything happened next door. And so they didn't take any note when Mrs. Dobson's daughter, Catherine, stole up to the fence and took a long gander at them, nor could they have ever guessed at how desperately she envied their freedom and camaraderie.

Envy them, though, she did.

Catherine had graduated from high school the month before, and at long last she would be out of her mother's stifling grips and off to college that fall. She could hardly wait, but the closer it came, the more frustrating the wait was -- especially with the wonderfully free goings-on once again happening next door! How she longed to join them, as she'd been longing to live more like the Shaungessys for years.

As long as she could recall, Catherine had loved catching a furtive glimpse at any or all of them, utterly comfortable with their bodies, nothing like her parents had raised her to feel. Especially Brendan, though she'd figured ages ago that he was gay. That didn't matter to Catherine. What did matter to her was that he was only a few years older than she, yet seemingly devoid of the angst and guilt she'd been raised with. How she had envied the comfort he enjoyed with his mother, even to the point where they could skinnydip together! Catherine had, more than once, thoroughly enjoyed replaying the view in her imagination later on in her room.

Her mother had once caught her in the mist of that enjoyment. But the screaming had only strengthened Catherine's resolve to be ashamed of nothing, and the week of no television had only meant more time alone in her room, feel free to play with herself even more. And she had.

Catherine wasn't aware of her mother's frequent references to her as a reason for her nosy outrage ("I have an eighteen-year-old daughter!"), but had she been, she'd have found it all laughable. She'd lost her virginity months before, in the back of her then-boyfriend's mother's station wagon. The sex hadn't been especially good, but the intimacy and the thrill of undressing together had been enough to make her want more just the same. Now, eyeing the two dear friends so enjoying themselves next door had her aching for some fun.

Sally and Grace weren't aware of Catherine's presence at all, much less of the longing their frolicking was inspiring, until her mother alerted them with a screech loud enough to be heard throughout the block. "CATHERINE!" Both of them stopped their splashing around in the water and stood stock still, turning their eyes to the fence.

They couldn't see Catherine, and she didn't see their gazes either as her head whipped around to see her mother had caught her red-handed. "You had better not be looking at what I think you are!" the older woman fumed.