Testing the Water
By eloquent delinquent
Following the other girls through the Greenberg’s huge airy house, Nicole eventually reaches the back, a series of French doors lining one wall that open onto a broad tiled patio and the coolest pool Nicole’s ever seen. It’s like a regular sized swimming pool with a hot tub attached to one end, and where they meet there’s this enormous stack of rocks that’s taller than her, with an actual waterfall splashing down it into the water! Cassidy looks as amazed as she is, this must be her first time seeing it, too. The other girls look pleased but not surprised.
Tender Katie is sitting in a cushioned patio chair by the pool, with a polka dot hair band and bangs and sunglasses. She’s wearing a big loose khaki scouting shirt and shorts that show off how strong her tanned legs are. She’s set a bunch of cushions on the ground in front of her, and turns in her chair to greet the approaching girls.
“Hello, Scouts. Wonderful day for the water, isn’t it?” she says with an impish smile. Nicole’s struck again by how fit and pretty Katie is. With her honey blonde hair done like that and that little smile on her face, she thinks Katie and her daughter Jenny look a lot alike.
The girls agree about the day with varying degrees of enthusiasm, but most of them are casting yearning looks at the limpid blue water in the pool. For her part, Nicole is too busy being blown away by the view. Although three huge pine trees screen the pool area, the rest of the property looks down from the hilltop on the whole north side of town, and some of the outlying farms and woods too. And off in the distance is the hazy blue gray line of the Pacific. She feels like she’s really in California now, maybe for the first time.
“Come on over and have a seat everybody.”
They all plop down on the cushions in front of Katie. Nicole sits next to Lena in front with one empty cushion to her left; Cassidy and Fawn are behind them. Katie takes some printouts from under her chair and starts handing them out. Lena looks disappointed; Cassidy actually groans.
“I didn’t know there’d be homework,” Cassidy grumps.
“There’s no homework, and there’s no quiz,” Katie says, “this is just information to keep with you so you can study for the badge exam. It’s kind of a cheat sheet. All the answers are In here.”
Cassidy brightens and takes a little interest, now that there might be cheating involved.
Lena asks, “Aren’t we going in the water?”
“This session is about water safety, the things you need to know before you go swimming, so you can be safe and know what you’re doing. Besides, how many of you can swim?”
She waits for hands. Only Fawn’s timidly rises. Katie nods toward her.
“I can doggie paddle, a little.”
“Girls,” Katie says, leaning her elbows onto her knees to get closer, draw them in. “by the time I’m through with you, you’ll all be swimming like little mermaids. But we have to do it the right way, so nothing happens to you. And the first step, is to learn how to be careful in the water, okay?”
They all nod, seeing the point.
Nicole glances down at the printout and its pictures when she hears the patio doors open. Hanna and her mother are both coming out, and everyone stops to look.
Hanna is wearing a little aqua colored bikini, and although she’s just barely started filling out in her boobies and her butt, it makes her tan and her spiky, layered straw-blonde bob really stand out. She’s wearing these sharp sunglasses that most of the girls fawn over when she sits down.
But Nicole is focused on Hanna’s mom.
Mrs Greenberg has also changed into a bikini, pink and flowery, that rides high on her trim hips and shows a lot of her large, pear-shaped breasts. Over it, she’s wearing what seems like a short white robe, only it’s so lightweight that it’s transparent.
Nicole feels like she suddenly has X-ray vision for Mrs Greenberg, and that she can see right through her clothes at her underwear and her bare body. The thought sends this electrifying thrill through her, that settles into a warm happy hum somewhere around her tummy as she watches the pretty mother scrape another patio chair over and sit next to Katie. Nicole’s never felt like this before, but it’s as yummy as it is disconcerting.
Hanna’s sunglasses start making the rounds, and each girl tries them on and poses glamorously, to ahhs and giggles from the others. When Nicole first saw Hanna in them, she thought they made her look stuck up. But now that everybody is trying them on, and she is too, she realizes that they’re actually pretty cool. They’re like grownup fashion sunglasses, only girl-size. Hanna mentions the designer to Lena, but Nicole isn’t really listening. She notices Mrs Greenberg’s grin when she’s posing in them.
She hands the sunglasses back to Hanna, and thinks maybe she had that mean thought because she’s a little jealous of her.
Tender Katie waits patiently for them to settle back down, then begins the lesson. The girls follow along in the handout. Most of it is stuff like don’t jump in if you know how deep it is, be careful of tides and currents, warm up before you swim, never go further out than half of your endurance. There are pictures of the right way to help someone having trouble in the water, how to float on your back to save your strength, or how to use a life preserver, but Katie tells them they’ll practice that stuff later.
It’s all pretty common sense, but good to know. They ask about a couple things, and when they do they raise their hands; it’s very class-like. The only kinda weird moment is when Tender Katie instructs them that they should never, ever swim without a buddy. For some reason that makes Cassidy snort and say, “That too, huh?” and nudge Fawn knowingly.
Over a sudden burst of giggles from all the other girls except Nicole, Katie says, “Cassidy, behave.”
“Sorry,” she replies with a chortle that makes it seem like maybe she’s not too sorry.
Nicole doesn’t get it at all. It’s another thing they share that she doesn’t. She looks from one young face to another, trying to steal a clue, but they’re already glancing at their printouts as Katie shows them how to push on a swimmer’s back to get the water out of their lungs.
The girls soak it in, and answer the occasional pop quiz question from Katie or Mrs Greenberg, but they can’t help feeling the heat of the summer on their shoulders and faces and squirming, wishing they were in the refreshing water just a few feet away. Katie senses that she’s losing them, so she asks a few more questions to wrap it up, and the scouts respond half-heartedly. Hanna actually lays down, putting on her sunglasses as if she’s ready to work on her tan.
“Okay, I think we’re done here,” Katie announces, standing up. “Good work girls, now that we have that out of the way, next time we can actually start practicing swimming for real.”
The girls cheer, even Hanna on her back, and Nicole’s pretty sure she already knows how to swim.
Mrs Greenberg gently touches Katie’s arm. The two exchange a look, and then Katie says, “Mrs Greenberg is going to make us all some strawberry limeade, but she wants a helper.”
This gets all the Scouts’ attention. They stop what they’re doing and turn toward Katie like they heard a dog whistle. This happens at every Scout meeting. One girl gets picked out for one on one time with Katie or one of the moms, for being involved or behaved or most accomplished. All the girls are so eager to get picked, but why? Normally they’re not competitive. Again, Nicole is in the dark.
“So Tammy, who do you think should help? Who was the best participant?”
Mrs Greenberg looks the girls over. For a moment she meets Nicole’s eye, and just kind of lingers in this funny way that makes Nicole’s tummy do a flip. But then Mrs Greenberg gets this kind of disappointed look and moves on, and ultimately says, “Lena.”
With a toss of her dark hair, Lena practically skips to her feet. She steps over to Mrs Greenberg and the pretty mother takes her hand. As they start to stroll to the house, Mrs Greenberg tells them, “Go ahead and dip your feet or use the umbrellas or hammocks or whatever. We’ll be back.”
As they go through the shining French doors, Nicole feels a jab of raw jealousy.
Tender Katie moves her chair into the shade of the pines and fans herself with the handout. Hanna goes over to a tote, gets some suntan lotion out of it, re-positions her cushion. She sits back down and starts to slather it on, making her skin glisten. With her sunglasses on, she looks detached from everyone else, but maybe she just feels at home. Fawn and Cassidy have taken a seat at the pool’s edge with their feet dangling into the water, kind of stirring it with lazy kicks.
Nicole’s just standing there stewing in her own hurt feelings, and feels stupid. She decides what Fawn and Cassidy are doing looks the most fun, so she goes over to join them.
“How is it?” she asks as she kneels down to take off her sneakers and socks.
Fawn grins. “It feels sooo good,” she says shyly, almost like she’s embarrassed to admit it.
“Yeah, on our feet,” Cassidy snarks.
Nicole kicks her shoes into a little pile next to theirs and scoots in next to them. She slips her feet into the cool water, swirling them around. It feels amazing, but so frustrating at the same time. Her body longs to join her feet in there.
Glancing back over her shoulder, she asks quietly, “Is Hanna kinda stuck-up or something?”
Fawn cocks her head and says, “Oh no, she’s nice.”
“She’s twelve now, even though she doesn’t look it,” Cassidy tells her. “Her best friend Lori bumped up into Saplings this year, and now I think she’s just waiting to join her this winter.”
“She likes us well enough though,” Fawn says, “especially Jenny.”
Cassidy snorts with amusement, “Especially Jenny.”
Fawn blushes brightly for some reason and even though she’s smiling she whispers sharply, “Cut it out. Katie said.”
“Katie says a lot of things,” Cassidy quips, dips down and splashes a handful of water at Fawn, causing her to squirm and squeal.
“Hey,” Nicole protests, “you got some on me!”
She splashes back, with poor Fawn caught in the middle. The coltish girl shuts her eyes, draws up her knees, and begins kicking her feet rapidly, causing water to fountain up and drench all three of them as they shriek, giggling.
That gets the attention of both Katie and Hanna. The three girls stop their splashing and wait to see who will speak first.
Turns out it’s Hanna, sitting up on her elbows and facing them, her pubescent body gleaming in the sun. Behind her sunglasses, her expression is kind of inscrutable. Is she amused? Annoyed? Then she says, “Why don’t you get in?”
Fawn immediately ducks her head and shrugs up her shoulders, like a big-eyed turtle. “We don’t know how to swim.”
Hanna tucks her heels under her, stands up. “I’ve been going in since I was three.” She starts toward them, reaching down and hooking her thumbs under the backside of her bikini bottoms, smoothing them. “Katie and I can both watch out for you, it’s okay.”
Fawn asks, “Are you sure?” But she’s looking to Katie.
Their Tender nods. “Just stay in the shallow end, just like at the river.”
Nicole shrinks a little. “But I didn’t bring a suit,” she squeaks.
Hanna, who’s just about to step onto the stairs leading into the pool, pauses with one toe poised above the water and tells her, “You can borrow one of mine, if you want.”
Cassidy stands up and says, “Nah,” and starts to unbutton her vintage scouting dress in a hurry. “It’s just like at the river!”
Fawn squeals, “Cassie!” Katie looks like she’s going to say something, then doesn’t. Hanna just laughs as Cassie finishes with the last button at the hem and shrugs off the dress. It flops right to the tiles and suddenly Nicole’s gawking at Cassidy’s body, which is now clad only in a thin white t-shirt. She barely has time to register the curve of her naked butt and the smooth little mound of her girly parts before the t-shirt is gone too and Cassidy is totally naked.
With a happy whoop Cassidy leaps off the edge and plunges feet-first into the water, splashing the other two girls even worse than before, but they can’t help but laugh. By the time Nicole’s shaken the water off her arms, she glances over at Fawn only to see that she’s untucked her khaki blouse and is eagerly fumbling with the buttons as Cassidy bobs near her feet.
Nicole just stares dumbstruck as Fawn bares her long dancer’s body, the blouse shrugged off, the t-shirt whisked over head, and then she pops to her feet, wiggling out of her explorer shorts and then she’s completely undressed too, no panties just like Cassidy. Nicole’s face feels hot, she can feel her pulse in her neck, this is so crazy, so crazy. She hasn’t ever seen another girl naked, unless you counted her sister Abbey, and even that was years ago when they were both little and took baths together. And now here’s two of her friends totally undressed and she’s actually trembling with… something.
Fawn turns and looks down at poor paralyzed Nicole, her doe-like eyelashes batting her pink cheeks as she blinks her giant blue eyes quickly, excited or nervous or both. She has this gamin grin on her face but doesn’t say anything until these giggles suddenly burst out from her. She touches her bare tummy, her little brown nipples are erect, Nicole sees the crease of her little puss right at her eye level, not even two feet away. The nude girl seems surprised at her herself.
Then she holds her nose, squeezes her eyes shut, and hops into the pool, dunking completely under. When she pops up both she and Cassidy laugh with pure joy.
Slipping over to Nicole’s feet, Fawn wipes the water off her face and says, “It’s so nice, Nicole. Come on.”
The ten year old is totally stymied.
She looks to Katie, still calm in the dappled shade of the pines. Her Tender says, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
Nicole nods, but she also remembers Katie taking her aside after her first Scout meeting, and telling her that this troop was special. That some of the things they did would seem strange or even scary at first, that sooner or later something unusual would happen, but that if she just trusted them it might turn out that she really enjoyed them. “We all want something good for you, Nicole, so sometimes you’ll just have to believe that, to be with us.”
She wonders if this is one of those moments. Is this the test Katie was talking about? Although Katie sounded really mild and understanding, it still sounded like if she couldn’t be brave, couldn’t trust the troop, she wouldn’t really belong. She’ll go on being left out.
She looks over at Hanna. The blonde in the bikini just shrugs one shoulder and says, “You can still borrow a suit.”
In the water, Cassidy goes “Pfft.”
Grinning, Nicole focuses on the svelte nude girl with the wild hair gliding just below her, who tilts her chin in a kind of carefree way as she gazes back, and then Nicole stands up and starts unbuttoning her explorer top.
Hanna cocks her hip at the pool’s edge. Fawn slides up and hooks her elbows over the edge to watch, this very happy open mouthed smile on her glistening face. Cassidy continues goofing off in the water, but her eyes never leave Nicole for long. Tender Katie just sits back and touches her lip thoughtfully.
Nicole untucks the blouse and wrestles her way out of the rolled-up sleeves, then peels off the t-shirt. As soon as the warm summer sun hits the skin of her half naked torso, what she’s doing seems very real, and very naughty. Her body is at blood-thumping levels of nervousness that she’s never experienced before, knowing they’re all watching, waiting. She fumbles with the skirt’s fastener, but finally gets it and the green pleated skirt flutters to her feet.
They all look strangely at her powder blue panties. She guesses they might seem weird, considering none of the other girls seem to even know what panties are. Hanna actually clucks her throat. Does she not approve? Whatever. With a little ducking motion, Nicole skims them down to her ankles. Standing up straight again in front of all of them is one of the hardest things she’s ever done, but she does it, and wiggles her panties off her ankle.
She looks at all of them, her face brightly flushed, her heart pounding hard enough to shake her whole body. But the grin forming on her lips as she anxiously chews them reveals a powerful truth to her; she likes what’s happening. The big smile Fawn’s looking up at her with, the way Hanna’s gone still and her mouth hangs open a little, Cassidy’s smirking approval as she floats on her back, Katie’s mild stare. She’s the center of all their attention.
She’s brave. She’s pretty. She’s naked. And for the first time, she’s undeniably one of them.
Nicole jumps into the water between Fawn and Cassidy. The cooling shock is wonderful and forces all her happiness to bubble up as spluttering laughter that she can’t control. The other two girls swirl around her, laughing and going, “Yay,” and, “You did it!”
Hanna gracefully descends the steps into the water nearby. Setting her sunglasses on the edge, she shrugs again and says, “Hmm, guess you don’t want one,” and then she dives underwater and the other three watch her as she swims past, staying under all the way until she reaches the edge at the deep end of the pool.
Feeling thoroughly accomplished, Nicole enjoys just pushing through the water for a bit. It doesn’t reek of chlorine like the indoor pools back home; it just smells clean. And it feels so good flowing past her bare body; swimsuits are either too tight or are always going up her crack. Even the way the water swooshes between her legs feels special, and kind of naughty. And now that they’re up to their chests in the pool, bouncing on their toes off the bottom, she doesn’t really feel exposed at all.
It’s fine. And besides, seeing the other girls’ bare chests or hips or butts surface as they move through the water gives her a little thrill. They’re all being a little bad, but as long as they’re all doing it, who cares?
Certainly not Katie, who watches them with a grin, but seems totally okay with what she’s seeing. Nicole only gets a pang when she thinks about how Lena and Mrs Greenberg will react, when they see the girls out here with no clothes on. How long has it been, anyway? Where are they?
But then Hanna swims back and Nicole forgets all about it. The four of them frolic in the water for a while. At first, Fawn shows Hanna how she can doggie-paddle, then the rest of them try and Nicole and Cassidy fail hilariously. Then they all see who can hold their breath the longest, with Tender Katie timing it, and they’re all surprised when Fawn comes up for air a full twenty seconds after Hanna. Fawn blushes when she wins.
Cassidy takes Nicole aside and convinces her to untie Hanna’s bikini top as she swims by. Giggling uncontrollably, Nicole gingerly plucks the bow across her tan back loose as the girl kicks by with her face down in the water. Hanna jerks to the surface and turns, sputtering, but the top’s already washed across her chest and tucked under her armpit, exposing the triangular tan lines around her very pink nipples. Hanna lunges at Nicole, but Cassidy’s slipped under the water, and the blonde twelve year old’s face freezes in a comical look of surprise as her bottoms are deftly untied and snatched away. Cassidy surfaces, pushing away and laughing maniacally, and Hanna gives chase until Cassidy reaches the edge and throws her aqua bottoms halfway across the patio. Hanna pins Cassidy against the side, stares menacingly into the girl’s amused face for a moment, then smiles herself, slips off her soggy bikini top and throws it where it lands with a splat next to the bottoms.
The two playfully dunk each other, Fawn and Nicole cruise over and join in, and soon they’re all splashing and gurgling and laughing and gasping for air.
Nicole draws away from the roughhousing, begging shortness of breath. Hanna takes this seriously, and offers to show her how to float on her back. The other girls help as Nicole tries to relax and balance on her back and just breathe deeply and let the water hold her up. But in the meantime the girls help by holding her up, too. Nicole closes her eyes and can barely hear with her ears underwater, but oh, can she feel. The warmth of the sun shining on her nude chest, tummy and pelvis, the cool water lapping at her flanks, and the gentle touch of the girls’ hands on her freckled shoulder blades, and her bottom, and the backs of her legs. She can feel them gathered around, looking down at her naked body. And the sensation is just blissful.
It’s Cassidy’s turn next, and as Nicole stands next to her head and cups her shoulder blades, she sees the hippie girl’s eyes closed and her mouth open in a silent, endless sigh that must be how she looked herself when they were helping her float. She glances at Hanna and Fawn, and they all exchange slow, naughty smiles.
That’s when Mrs Greenberg and Lena come out of the house, the mother carrying a tray with a big jug of limeade with cut up strawberries floating in it and a bunch of cups. Lena has another tray with a pile of little sandwich slices. Mrs Greenberg’s eyes open big and she pauses with a little ‘O’ of surprise at all the naked girls in her pool.
Lena’s changed into a navy blue one piece swimsuit. Her ponytail’s a little ragged and she has a lot of pink in her cheeks, but she seems so happy and relaxed. The suit looks really cute on her, showing off all her budding girlish curves. But after she sets down her tray, she approaches the pool, goes, “Oh, yeah!” and starts peeling it off. Nicole, Fawn, Cassidy, and Hanna all gather at the edge of the pool and watch her strip, delighting in the way she wriggles her creamy body out of the clinging suit, finally pushing it down her legs and shaking it off. Once she’s naked, she smiles at all her friends as they admire her pretty body, then she charges at them, leaps over their heads, and cannonballs into the pool with a huge splash.
When she comes up, gasping and laughing, they all gather around and playfully wrestle and dunk one another. The water’s shining, the sunlight is turning golden, and it’s all so much breathless fun.
Nicole waits until the other girls are helping Lena float on her back, then she wades over, slips her arm around the girl’s waist and when Lena’s surprised eyes spring open Nicole leans in, murmurs “Hold your breath,” and pushes down on her friend’s tummy.
Pressed together, they both sink into the cool embrace of the water. Lena wriggles, sportingly trying to struggle away, which for some reason makes Nicole hang on tighter. Their bodies slide deliciously together, Nicole feeling the warm soft smoothness of Lena’s flesh as she squirms and wiggles against her. The excitement kind of overwhelms Nicole and she lets go, tingles shimmering though her body and mind. It’s stunning how good it feels to rub against her friend. Lena kicks away.
A few minutes later, fatigue starts to slow the girls down. Lena and Hanna are holding onto the pool’s edge, talking about the diving boards at the public pool in town. Hanna knows how to dive, but they both talk about the high dive in hushed tones, as if it were a boogeyman. Cassidy and Fawn have drifted over to the stairs in the corner together, and are now giving each other the lovey-dovey look. Even though they’re in the shallowest part of the pool, they’re both low in the water, only the tops of their shoulders showing, intense and intimate. Little ripples radiate away from them like they’re moving around a bit, but their heads are completely still, foreheads touching, mouths open slightly, looking into each others’ eyes. She’s curious, but doesn’t want to disturb them; it looks so private.
This leaves Nicole the odd Scout out, again. She’s not even a Scout. She kind of dithers for a minute, not knowing what to do and feeling a little sorry for herself. She decides to look closer at the waterfall that impressed her so much when she first saw it. As Nicole wades over to it, she feels the rush of water swirling all over her skin as it plunges and eddies under the surface. She gets closer, letting it splash and flow against her and kind of enjoying that, too. It’s like being tickled or rubbed by a wild tangle of silky ribbons. Some of the splashing spatters her face and hair like rain, but she doesn’t mind. It’s so good to be naked, she can feel everything.
While she’s savoring the sensations from the waterfall, Lena glides up and gives her a warm, affectionate squeeze from behind. “You’re so much fun,” she gushes quietly, her lips inches from Nicole’s ear.
Nicole grins hugely, her eyes bashfully close. “So are you.”
“I liked that, when you pushed me under and kinda wrestled with me.” Lena’s holding onto her, her body drifting into Nicole’s, conforming to the shape of her backside, sweetly spooning her from behind.
“Yeah, it was fun,” Nicole muses.
“Hmm, we should try it sometime when we’re not in the water,” Lena murmurs, then chuckles and pushes away. Nicole’s left stewing in confusion, but the ripply feeling of the waterfall against her skin soothes her cares away pretty quickly.
A few minutes later, Hanna declares that she’s thirsty and hauls herself out of the pool, puts on her sunglasses, and crosses the patio naked and dripping wet to get a glass of her mom’s limeade. She plunks in a patio chair and drinks deeply, slick and shining with her legs wide open, and Mrs Greenberg doesn’t seem to notice.
Katie gets up, walks past the side of the pool, saying, “I’ll go get you girls some towels,” and then heads into the house. A minute later, Hanna gets up, gathers her swimsuit up off the ground and, with a glance back over her shoulder, she wanders inside, too.
So one by one they all climb out of the water. Cassidy goes a few steps then flops down on a cushion, stretching out on her back and throwing one arm over her eyes.
A minute later Fawn heads over to Mrs Greenberg and asks for a cup of limeade while she adorably tries to cover her private parts. Hanna’s mom only smiles and shakes her head, laughingly telling the girl there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Fawn gets two glasses, then draws a cushion close to Cassidy, sits down cross-legged, and puts one glass next to Cassidy. She watches her friend’s gleaming body breathe as if she were a beloved pet, happily sipping her drink.
Finally, Nicole and Lena come out of the pool together, holding hands. Mrs Greenberg gets pink in the cheeks while she pours them both a limeade. Nicole gets a couple little sandwiches, they have lettuce and cucumber and turkey in them, with a little cream cheese too, then they go and sit on cushions together, nibbling and giggling quietly and just kind of looking at each other.
Nicole’s eyes keep wandering to the places on Lena she can’t normally see, her brownish puffy nipples, the bare curve of her rump, the plump mound between her legs. She gets the feeling Lena’s doing the same to her, and she kind of lets her knee fall open so that Lena can look. It’s so naughty, but right now it’s okay so she does it.
After they finish their sandwiches, they both lay on their backs and just rest, happily enjoying the sun’s heat on their cool, wet skin. They both sigh and chuckle with how good it feels.
Nicole’s luxuriating is suddenly stirred a few minutes later by a shadow falling over her. She blinks her eyes open and there’s Mrs Greenberg, her ginger hair draping down near Nicole’s head and a gentle smile on her lips. Nicole finds herself sleepily grinning up at her.
Mrs Greenberg cups Nicole’s face, softly stroking, and suddenly Nicole’s very aware of how naked she is. Her heart starts thumping, her hips twitch.
“Hi,” Nicole murmurs.
“Hi sweetie.”
“Um,” is all she can dreamily manage.
“Hmm-hm,” Mrs Greenberg laughs softly. “I just thought I should tell you something.”
“What?”
Her pretty face leans even closer, and she whispers, “I wish you were a Scout today. Then I could’ve picked you.”
Mrs Greenberg leans all the way down then, and kisses Nicole on the lips, lingering. Nicole’s eyes drift shut but her senses are electrified, she experiences each second Ð one, two, three, and then with a gentle smack her mouth draws away.
Nicole sighs. She hears a shifting sound to her right and glances over to see Lena on her side, up on one elbow with her head propped on her hand, looking fondly at them both. Mrs Greenberg blushes, smiles, and gets up.
“Tammy’s so rad,” Lena confides.
“Yeah,” Nicole agrees slowly, unaware that her fingertips are running up and down her torso. “You think she’d let me call her Tammy, too?”
“For sure, silly,” Lena giggles, “she likes you. A lot.”
Nicole touches her lips, feels that kiss again. She shakes her head and grins helplessly, wondering what that means or why she’s so excited to hear it.
Katie comes out cradling a stack of towels with Hanna right behind. Hanna’s dry now, and her sunglasses and wet bikini got left behind somewhere, but she’s just as naked and her body’s practically glowing. The two of them hand the towels out to the girls, and they dutifully start rubbing themselves down. They still lounge around with the towels kind of half-heartedly draped over them, chatting and snacking and drinking a surprising amount of the limeade. It’s really good!
Eventually, the sun gets a bit lower and Katie walks into the midst of their visits, saying, “You girls did great today, and I can see you’re all going to be eager little swimmers. I think Hanna might even be able to assist with your lessons. Just remember what you learned today, so that you can always be safe when you swim, okay?”
The girls all murmur their assent.
“Terrific! We all had fun today. And it was Scouting fun, which means it’s just for the girls. Your teammates in the troop, your sisters, and your moms. Scout rules.”
“Scout rules,” they all repeat in chorus. Nicole chimes in a little late.
“Okay, I’ll see you Scouts on Friday.” She looks at Nicole when she says, “And then I’ll see all of you on Sunday. And everyone remember to thank the Greenbergs for letting us use their pool.”
Katie has a word with Mrs Greenberg and then leaves, which signals to the girls that the get-together is coming to an end. The girls wander back over to their respective piles of discarded clothes and get dressed. For Nicole, the scouting uniform that seemed so cool earlier now feels hot and confining. She thinks maybe being naked is the best way to be with the Scouts. She already misses it, her body buzzes a little with frustration.
She’s kneeling, about to put on her socks when Hanna, still gloriously bare with all her little tan lines, looks down on her and says, “You’re wearing it wrong, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“The uniform.”
Cassidy glances over from tying her shoes nearby. “She’s right.”
“How?”
“The uniform,” Hanna repeats, “There aren’t any panties.”
“You don’t wear panties with the uniform,” Cassidy affirms.
“But -”
“Listen,” Hanna interrupts, “The uniform comes with socks, right?”
“Yeah.”
“It even comes with a t-shirt, and a slip.”
“Yeah.”
“So you’ve got all your underwear. But there’s no panties. There’s not supposed to be panties. You shouldn’t be wearing them when you’re in the uniform.”
“Really?”
“That’s how the whole troop goes,” Cassidy tells her. “Katie pointed it out when she took over, and it’s been like that ever since.”
Nicole looks from one girl to the other, wondering for a second if they’re pulling her leg. They aren’t, and then she gets a little nervous. Then she thinks about before, and how she trusted the troop to be naked in the pool and it turned out so wonderful. So she stands up, rummages under the green pleated skirt until she’s able to hook her thumbs in the waistband and slide them down.
Both girls grin when they see her panties around her ankles.
Hanna says, “I’ll take them. So you won’t be tempted to sneak them back on,” and dips down to take them.
“I wouldn’t!”
“Just in case,” Hanna tucks them behind her back. “I’ll give them back later, if you want.”
“Well… okay.”
Hanna smiles and Nicole goes back to putting on her socks and shoes. Hanna just stands there watching her for a minute, then tells her, “You should come back when you start learning to swim for real. I could help you. Lena, too.”
“Yeah? You think so?”
“Sure,” Hanna replies, then runs a hand through her spiky blonde hair, and kind of twists her nude body shyly. “You could just come back and goof around in the pool, if you wanted.”
“Cool, thanks.”
They say thanks and goodbye to Mrs Greenberg in the kitchen on their way through the house, and she waves and smiles just as winningly as when they arrived, and invites them all to come back anytime. Hanna sidles up to her mom as the rest of the girls head out, and Mrs Greenberg wraps an arm around her naked daughter and gives her a cuddle. They pass back through that hallway, and Nicole’s drawn again to the pictures on the wall, the intricately fantastic scenes with little bits cut out, the ones she doesn’t understand.
“We should come back,” Cassidy says on the driveway, heaving her big bike upright. “That was fun!”
“Yeah,” Nicole agrees heartily.
“We don’t want to take advantage,” Fawn cautions.
“We’ll wait til we get our first swim lesson next week,” Lena declares. “That way, we’ll have a real reason to come over, so we can practice.”
They all say okay and start riding back home. Now that she’s back on the bike, Nicole realizes how tired she’s gotten, playing in the water. But it’s mostly downhill now, and she’s pleasantly distracted by the feel of her puss rubbing the seat with no panties on, and the breeze wafting up her skirt and over her bare backside. That little hum she felt all afternoon at the pool is still there, and when she pictures the naked, frolicking Scouts, and the inexplicable, exciting kiss she got from Mrs Greenberg, it only purrs stronger and more pointedly. It seems to be centered between her legs, which makes her bike ride more plush and sensitive and kind of exciting. But that sensation, and what’s causing it, is yet another mystery to her. She feels as confused as she is happy. Is that normal here?
She seems to be coming up with new puzzles as fast as she solves others. She’s reminded again of the Star Wars scenes with the jagged, blacked-out spaces.
And she thinks, with a kind of leaping realization, the missing piece is me.
Continue on to Chapter 4
