Tuesday Never Happened

A "My First _____," Take Two: Skinny-Dipping

Josh and I were seated on opposing benches on my back patio, an iron gate between us and my father's pride and joy. It was summer, my parents had left me in charge of the house for two weeks and I had declared a pool party. The others were late and Josh didn't want to be the only one in the pool. As the host, I was always the last to enter the water.

"Can I throw them in?" He asked.

"If you can manage. Make sure it's over the deep end." Josh thinks highly of himself, but the others were larger and stronger than my half-Japanese, half-Puerto Rican ex-boyfriend.

"Can I strip them first?" My bisexual ex-boyfriend.

Dorian arrived first and, as expected, Josh lacked the courage to either strip and toss him in. They did eventually end up in the water and after a bit, I joined them, knowing Dana wouldn't get off work for a few more hours. Josh's second idea remained in the air, an "I'll do it if you do it" type thing. As the only girl, I wasn't going to be the first one.

Dana was, though. The rest of us were true to our words.

At first we acted like gaseous atoms, spreading to our own parts of the pool, an uncomfortable silence falling over the backyard. Orange, yellow, green and blue inner tubes were our armor, shielding our naughty bits from others' sight. Dana was the only one brave enough to venture out of the water (yellow and green tubes strategically placed). The sun was beginning to get low, its rays falling behind houses and fences.

After a half hour or so, the atmosphere shifted. Josh's phone rang and he got out to answer it. Instead of shyly returning to the water afterward, he said "fuck it" and took a running start into a cannonball right in the middle of the rest of us. Then we just didn't care. We probably had another half hour of awesome pool fun before deciding it was time for dinner.

Which we made. Without bothering to re-don our clothes.

I never would looked into my future and seen myself openly nude with four of my best guy friends (Preston showed up for dinner). It's really amazing how far a bit of trust goes between people, what freedom allows a trusting group to do. Having friends like that means the world to me. I wouldn't trade the Tuesday that never happened for anything.

Cheers,
~Katie