Retreat and Surrender

They ate their food and put their dishes on the counter before walking back into the woods. Connie walked up ahead of them a bit because Amber kept Elise back.

"Swimming, I thought you hated swimming."

"No, I love swimming, I just hated the way that I felt around other girls when we swam in high school."

"But we are surrounded by other girls."

"Other women, they don't care about how we look or are going to make fun of us because of the way we look in our suits. These are fine Christian women. If anything we'll be applauded for our bravery."

Amber saw Elise's point of view, but was still going to throw a t-shirt over her suit.

They got to their tent. Elise unzipped it and walked inside, "Me first." she said as she put her last foot past the threshold of the tent and zipped it back up.

After a few minutes Elise stepped out wearing a bathing suit, flip-flops, and a t-shirt covering her torso.

"What about all that talk about bravery?" Amber asked.

"I'm too self cautious, sorry." She said looking ashamed for misleading her friend.

"It's ok, we'll look like twins." Amber joked as she went into the tent to change.

The girls were changed and ready for a good swim. Some of the other ladies around there site were dressed in one and two piece bathing suits and holding their change of clothes wrapped up in a towel.

"Should we just let Connie know and go with them?" Amber asked.

"No, we'll wait for Connie, I don't want her and Rachel to be stragglers."

"What about the rest of the kitchen crew?"

"Well, I'd like to meet them all and thank them for the food."

Amber decided that her friend wanted to wait for Connie and Rachel. Connie was nice and helped them build the tent and it seemed like she wanted to help and as young women new to the retreat they would allow her to feel helpful.

The camp was vacant, the girls sat down at a table. It seemed that they were alone, but Connie wasn't too far away, Amber really wanted to talk to Elise about last night, but so far it seemed that the timing would never be right.

The girls watched as Rachel walked from the mess with a group of other kitchen workers. They began to scatter around until Rachel was the only one still walking toward the camp.

"Morning ladies." She said as she walked past there table, "Is Connie in the tent?"

They both nodded and watched as Rachel unzipped the tent and went inside. They both looked at one another as Rachel zipped the door back up.

"They must really be comfortable with each other." Amber said.

"How long do you think they've been tent mates?" Elise asked.

"Connie said she doesn't go every year, and Rachel might because she cooks."

"Do you ever think we'll reach that level of comfort?" Elise asked.

Amber thought back to last night. "I think we'll reach a level of comfort, but probably you before me."

Connie and Rachel stepped out of the tent, both wearing two piece suits and carrying large beach towels.

"Well, let's go." Connie said and they walked towards the lake to join everyone else.

The kitchen staff joined in along the way. Elise was nice enough to introduce herself and Amber to everyone and to thank them for the awesome food. They all smiled at the young lady who was so polite.

They get to the lake, and find some women splashing around in the water, some of them doing back floats. Other's on the shore working on their tan or working their way through a paper back mystery or religious book. Amber and Elise thought it all looked fun, but being the only ladies still in t-shirts they felt that they were calling attention to themselves.

Amber didn't care, nothing was going to make her remove her shirt, she walked towards the lake and Elise followed her. They got to where the lake water touched the dirt and walked in together slowly. The girls wanted to make sure that the bottom of their t-shirt would get wet enough that it would sink along with them and not just cause an air pocket.

The water was warm, and it was a great day to be out in the lake with friends. Amber and Elise swam around in the lake happy to be in the water and not worry about being laughed at or have jokes made at their expense.

Elise started swimming to the shore. Amber just stayed treading water as her friend got out of the lake.

"Connie you should come out in the water, it's so warm." Elise said.

Connie raised her head off of the towel she was on and squinted as she looked at the lake. "I bet it is warm, but I just like to lay here in the sun and get a good tan." She made eye contact with Elise. "I hope you don't mind my asking, but what's up with the shirts?"

"I don't like my body, other girls would make this suit look good, but not me."

"You've got to be kidding me. I think you're a fine looking young woman, and if you don't like your body, who do you think will?"

Elise thought about it. "I don't know, I never really thought about it."

"God made us all different Sweetie, you shouldn't be afraid to hide his craftsmanship, especially among sisters."

Elise looked around and noticed that all the women had different body types, some skinny, some chubby, some short, some tall. She was just another girl in that group, she quickly pulled off her t-shirt and threw it at her feet. She smiled at Connie before turning around and running into the lake.

Elise swam out to Amber as fast as she could. Amber looked hurt as she was now the last girl wearing a shirt at the lake.

"What did Connie say to you?"

"She told me I should love my body, or no one else will. It is a work of art by God and I was working hard to make sure that the other ladies couldn't see it. Look around Amber, you're not the only big girl here."

Amber looked around, Elise was right. "Yeah, well I'm the only big girl here that doesn't have kids."

"Well, you choose to see it that way." She swam past Amber, and amber went back up to the shore.

Amber looked out at the water, seeing Elise's dark skin and red suit as just a small dot on the water as she walked up to Connie.

"You did wonders for Elise, I wish you could do the same for me." She said as she sat down next to Connie.

"I heard you two girls talking about Rachel and me earlier."

Amber turned her head to look at the older woman.

"The reason she and I can get dressed in the same tent comes from the fact that we've known each other for years. At first it was odd thinking about another woman being naked that close to me, but naked is the way that we were created, we are works of art my dear. No woman here cares about how we look to others, just how we feel. God created us the best he could, and he is perfect. Look at this lake, it looks brown and dirty, but look at those women swimming in it. They look happy, they are enjoying a lake that one would see as ugly and dirty."

"It's not." Said Amber, "It's beautiful, the water feels so good and warm, if someone said it's dirty water, they should see it on my skin, it's clear. Thank you Connie, you're so wise." Amber had tears in her eyes as she now knew what Elise was trying to tell her when it came to Connie's wisdom.

Amber stood up and threw her wet t-shirt on the ground next to her friend's. Amber ran out in the pool, not caring about her breasts, belly, and ass jiggling as she did. As she started swimming she heard a round of applause from the beach, and she felt empowered by her sisters.

She joined up with Elise, and looked her in the eye. "I think I fully love swimming now Elise." She said as she treaded water.

"Me too, I might think about getting a two piece before I go again. It might just be for retreats, but I want to share my figure, maybe another girl with the same body type will feel better about herself if she sees me full with pride."

The two girls floated on their backs the rest of the morning, feeling the water on their shoulders, it was almost like they just discovered water, they felt free to be themselves, it was liberating.

"When you swam out here, how'd it feel to feel nothing but the cool water hitting the top of your breasts, no shirt." Elise asked Amber.

"Different, more different than swimming at school. I felt like this was the life we were meant to live, just be who we are, forget what society says about what's beautiful and just know that God doesn't make things ugly, just perfect."

"I agree." Elise said as she reached out to hold her friend's hand.

The women started to leave and get ready for lunch. Amber and Elise walked up to the shore and picked up their dirty wet t-shirts and started to dry off a bit with their towels. The ladies walked in almost a single file to the showers. The kitchen staff probably left before everyone else, but Amber and Elise didn't notice.

The line for the shower was pretty long, but Elise was hoping that she'd be able to catch up with Connie for talking to her like an adult and not speaking down to her like a teenager.

The girls watched as naked women came from the shower holding their wet swim suit to get dressed into their dry change of clothes. Women would go into the vacant shower and leave their suit up on a nearby hook.

"Well, I'm glad that we're not ashamed of our bodies anymore." Elise sighed.

"Yeah, glad." Amber stated in a monotone voice.

"I don't know if I'm ready for you to see me naked Amber." Elise said.

"I don't think I want anyone to see me naked." Amber laughed.

"When I get into my shower, and you into yours, just don't open your curtain and come out until I state that I'm dressed, ok?"

"Sounds like a deal to me."

A shower opened and Elise got into it and closed the curtain behind her. Another shower opened and Amber was able to do the same.

The tile floor was warm to them as every shower had warm water which kind of caused a fog in the room. Amber removed her suit and put it on the hook and used some of the soap from the pump that was on the wall to get a good lather to wash off the past couple of days of camping.

Amber heard as Elise's shower was turned off, out of the corner of her eye she saw Elise standing there naked. Her curly black hair looked like it went down to the center of her back. Her skin was a dark brown, and her little nipples were darker still. Her hips jetted out a bit from her torso, and her thighs looked nice and round. Her pubic hair was nicely trimmed, it looked thicker at the top and lighter at the bottom to accent her slit between her legs. Amber found herself thinking of last night and now had a better image of Elise to go with it.

Elise walked over to dry off. Amber lost sight of her, but she thought about her friend's nude body standing there with her right hand tweaking her left breast, and her left hand plunging fingers in between her thighs. She imagined Elise coming closer to climax with her mouth open to bring in more air and to let her moans pass, while her eyes closed and thinking about what ever she thought about last night. This image excited Amber even more and she had to do that herself.

She used both hands and picked up her left breast and noticed the pink nipple begin to rise in excitement of what she was about to do. She inspected the nipple of her right breast as well, the image of her nude tits excited her. She ran her hands over them feeling her hands flick over her nipples, her breathing deepened.

She reached down and placed her right hand between her thighs, feeling the wetness build between her pink lips. She closed her eyes and imagined the love of her life rubbing her and kissing her neck. The water cascading around them as he continued to tease her. Amber loved the way the water felt on her aroused skin as she touched herself. The water pour all over her body, feeling as the water dripped off of her hair and down her back and ass. The water rolled off her tits and onto her round belly and down her legs.

She placed her left hand on her right breast and used the water to lubricate the twisting of her thumb and forefinger. Her left hand reached between her thighs, feeling the tuft of red pubic hair against her wrist as she thought about her love teasing her before going to the bedroom

She closed her eyes as she rubbed her pussy lips faster, imagining his hand on her arm as he sucked her nipple. But soon his hand was replaced by a smaller softer hand. She didn't slow down her own exploration. In her mind's eye she looked down to find Elise sucking on her nipple, and flicking it with her pink tongue. She could imagine Elise's fingers stroking her slit quickly wanting to feel the release of her friend. Elise's thumb ground against the redhead's clit. She trusted Elise so much in real life, she would trust her here in the shower to get her off and have an incredible orgasm.

Random thoughts entered her mind as she pleasured herself, thinking of Elise standing up and looking her in the eye, her dark nipple pressing into the light flesh on her breast as she continued to caress her plump pussy. Amber imagined that she returned the favor and rubbed her fingers against her friend's pussy Thinking of her friend closing her eyes and just enjoying her best friend bring her to an orgasm.

Amber imagined the two girls working their fingers between the puffy lips guarding the entrance to their wombs as they brought them selves closer to orgasm. Amber felt her climax coming upon her, her knees weaken and her muscles pulse inside her. Aloud gasp escaped her and her eyes shot up as she came. The images of Elise cumming with her still flashed with every blink of her eyes. She slowly moved her hands away from her quivering body and went back to her shower, unable to shake the fantasy that just brought her to climax.

"You can come out now." She heard Elise say. I'll see you outside.

Amber felt so embarrassed, she hoped that her friend didn't hear her, or know what images were in her mind as she came.

Amber and Elise were finally alone, but right now didn't seem like the time to talk about last night. She knew it was just her mind, but Amber still felt guilt over her fantasy. But was it last night that started it, she really wanted to talk about it, but thought that was a conversation left to another time.

The mess hall wasn't too crowded, as it was just sandwiches for lunch, they imagined that women just ate quickly and then left to go whatever they wanted to until dinner. Elise and Amber found Connie and sat down with her at a table.

"It felt so good to drop those t-shirts, I'm starting to see how these retreats are needed, just women no judgment." Amber said.

"Well usually young women like yourselves have these cover ups and it starts making us feel that we all might have something to hide. You two have nothing to hide, you have beautiful bodies."

"Thank you Connie." Elise said, Amber nodded in agreement.

"You're both welcome. I just hope that the feeling of sisterhood is something you take away from this week. I know I do every time I come."

They finished their lunch and walked back to the camp site. All three of them took up chairs around a table and were able to talk about the importance of friendship and God's role in their lives and how it lead to their happiness. As the women talked Amber and Elise would share glances, as in knowing that their friendship was really something.

Amber and Elise loved each other and even though in the outside world they didn't see each other much they knew that if for some reason one were to leave, they would be missed. They would never tell the other one of these feelings as they thought it would only distance their friendship by using that word. The two girls just let their friendship be what it is, and if the other person felt loved, then that's what they felt.

They all went to the mess hall and had burgers for dinner. Elise, Amber and Connie all sat together and enjoyed talking about life outside the church. Connie was married and had two kids. Her husband and she attended their separate retreats in the same years, the years they didn't go they would stay at home and discuss their own relationship and how God was working bringing them closer together.

They walked to the campfire after dinner. Hearing how some women went on a nature walk and prayed under a huge pine tree and thanked God for such a beautiful planet. Other's just took awe of the day itself as God created it. Then Elise stood up to talk about her lesson learned.

"Today I learned to respect my body and no longer see it as imperfect, as God created it perfectly and with love. My best friend Amber is the most beautiful woman I know and I hope that after today's lesson we received that she will finally agree with me."

Amber stood up, a slight blush on her pale white cheeks, she waved to the other women and then sat back down. She couldn't believe it, Elise thought she was beautiful, she never heard anyone outside of a family member say that about her. She kept her head down to smile at the thought about being beautiful to someone that she never expected to find her beautiful.

They all walked to their tents. The girls decided to walk to their tent on their own instead of following behind Connie and Rachel.

"Do you really find me beautiful?" Amber asked.

"Yeah, don't you?"

"Well, not before today, and now I find that someone else thinks I'm beautiful too."

"Well, don't you think I'm beautiful too?"

"Of course, who wouldn't you're not bone thin or fat, you're right in the middle."

Elise stopped walking, which made Amber turn back for her. Amber looked Elise in the eyes.

"I hate it when you say fat."

"Why?"

"Because you're beautiful." She reached out and touched Amber's soft warm cheek. Amber closed her eyes and moved her cheek more into Elise's delicate hand.

Amber opened her green eyes and looked at Elise's caring brown eyes. "Just because I'm beautiful doesn't mean I'm not-"

"Full-figured." Elise interrupted.

"Fine, full-figured."

"Amber, you have curves in all the right places, you got boobies, and a nice butt. Me I'm almost a board."

"I guess together we could make a beautiful girl, no belly but boobs and butt." Amber laughed and Elise joined her.

They got to their tent and Elise unzipped the door and they both went inside. Amber zipped the door shut.

The girls sat down to kick off their flip-flops. And then laid down to take off their shorts. Amber looked at Elise and Elise back at her as they undressed to get ready for bed. The girls shared a smile as their shorts traveled down their legs to their ankles.

The redhead took notice of her friend's dark skinned legs, her mind was elsewhere at the showers earlier, they were long and thinner than her own. Part of her wanted to reach over and touch them to see how they felt in contrast to her own, but she didn't know how Elise would feel about that touch and she wasn't a lesbian.

Elise got up and undid her bra under her shirt, and then removed it from her and tossed it with her shorts. She laid back down and looked at Amber who was still looking her way.

"What's your book about?"

"It's a story about a young woman who is to be married to a farmer who has land that the woman's father wants. The woman doesn't love him but she meets a thief when he breaks into her father's home. His eyes catch her and she chases after him. She tells him of her plight and begs that he take her with him. He does and she becomes a criminal with him."

"What did you read last night?" Amber said in a voice that seemed to taunt Elise.

"Why do you ask?"

"I saw you last night."

"I thought you were asleep." Elise said, sounding shocked, "Why didn't you say anything."

"I didn't want to interrupt."

"Well, last night was the love scene that they've been building up to in the whole book. It was arousing."

"So that's what you thought about?"

"Oh, yes."

"What else do you think about?"