Seven Nights A'Dippin'

"As if," Becky said. "Chuck and I went a cool seven for seven. At worst, that's a tie."

I'd quietly held out hope that the other couple had missed a day, perhaps today, but apparently that was not to be. I could live with a tie, I suppose. Eve would be disappointed, yet we both knew we'd really won where it mattered.

"The contest isn't over yet," Max said. "I can't make a ruling until midnight."

I was watching Becky when the referee made his announcement. She first raised an eyebrow and then turned a curious eye toward Eve. After spending a week "protecting" her pool from our nighttime incursions, I think she was suspicious. If so, though, she said nothing else.

Having seen little of our friends over the last week, we caught up and generally just had a good time swimming, eating, and drinking. I checked my watch frequently as the minutes ticked away toward midnight. When it got to five minutes before midnight, I gave Eve a nod that she returned.

We met down in the deeper end of Becky's pool, taking each other in a loose embrace and sharing a lingering kiss. Her eyes sparkled with mischief, so I didn't have to ask if she was still ready to go through with our plan. Was I ready to take this step? If not for this wonderful girl at my side, no; with her, though, I felt I could do anything.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Becky called out. Sure enough, she'd been watching us like a hawk.

"Nothing much," I said, innocently.

In reality, I was reaching under water for my swimsuit and working it down and off. Eve, meeting my eyes and smiling like a fool, was doing the same with her bikini. Of all our nights skinny dipping, this was easily the most nerve-wracking save for that very first night. We were doing it knowingly in front of others (granted, friends), but also with the knowledge that Becky's parents and brother were home.

Despite my nerves, it still felt wonderful getting my suit off. There's just nothing quite like that feeling of freedom in the water. Eve handed me her bottoms, then began removing her top. There could be no doubt among the others as to what we were doing now, even with Eve's chest just below the water line.

"I figured as much," Becky said, slowly working her way toward us. "Thought you could sneak your last picture in just under the wire?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Eve said with saccharine sweetness. She handed me her top, at which point I tossed both of our suits out onto the side of the pool.

Becky gave us a smug look. "Max, how much time is left?"

Max swam over to the side and picked up his phone. "Uh, about a minute and a half."

Becky climbed out of the pool and interposed herself between us and where we'd dropped our clothes and phones. She crossed her arms under her ample tits.

"Well," she said, "that doesn't leave much time to get your phones to take a picture and send it to Max, does it? And don't go asking him to take the picture. You gotta get it yourselves."

Eve and I shared a look, then smiled back at Becky. "Guess you got us, huh?" Eve said. She then melted into my arms, wrapped her legs around my waist, and kissed me.

I could no longer see Becky, but I could full well imagine the look of confusion on her face as we blew her off. Chuck, who I could just see out of the corner of my eye, looked more amused than anything.

Thankfully, Eve eased off before I got too aroused, not that it'd be that easy for any of the others to see my state underwater. She unwrapped herself from me, our hands remaining entwined as we turned to face the others. Becky, indeed, was frowning as she turned from us to Max.

"Time," Max said. He set his phone down and hopped up on the side of the pool.

Indeed. It was time for Max to announce we'd tied. And, as far as Eve and I were concerned, that would be a victory in that it'd drive Becky nuts.

Becky hopped back in the pool and idly paddled over to Chuck. I caught my best friend's eyes lingering Eve's direction, no doubt hoping to catch a glimpse of her bare breasts.

"Well," Becky said to Max. "Which is it? Did we win or tie?"

Max knew how to draw this out for drama, smiling like a game show host about to announce the grand prize winner. "We do, indeed, have a winning team."

What? That didn't seem right. We knew both teams had gotten all seven days. Eve squeeze my hand, though, mirroring my spark of hope.

Becky looked excited until she saw us, then it changed to uncertainty.

"First," Max said, "I'd like to congratulate both teams on their resolve, courage, and ingenuity. You all faced substantial challenges and did an impressive job of delivering photos day after day. That said, one team delivered seven qualifying pictures while the other only had six."

By the confused looks, neither team seemed to know who had screwed up. Had I emailed Max late one night? I didn't think so, but I suddenly couldn't be sure.

After the dramatic pause, Max continues. "It's my great pleasure to present your new Queen of Bear Creek, Eve! And consort, Rand."

I couldn't believe it, an outright win! Eve squealed and jumped into my arms, kissing me again. I could already hear Becky protesting but really didn't care.

"Relax," Max said, trying to mollify the ultra-competitive Becky. Eve and I stopped kissing long enough to listen. "Yes, you guys provided seven pictures of yourselves with strangers, all in your underwear. That was no small task. But I had to throw one out on a technicality. See, I'd explicitly said all seven had to be taken at different houses...not just with different people. Two of your pictures, on consecutive days, were taken with different people in the same house. Sorry, but that's the way it goes."

Ouch. I hadn't even recalled that bit of the rules, but it wasn't something that had applied in our case. We knew from the get-go that we had to take pictures in each of the seven neighborhood pools.

"But what about them?" Becky said, pointing at us. "When did they get a picture in my pool?"

We left it to Max to answer this question. "They took it at ten o'clock this morning. Sent in their copy just a few minutes later."

Becky looked dumbfounded while Chuck, at her side, took it in good humor. Probably for the best that his girlfriend couldn't see his expression.

"In broad daylight? While the neighbors could see? Hell, my brother was home then."

"Yup," Eve said, letting a little self-satisfied smugness go through. She deserved it, too, as her plan to hit Becky's pool in the middle of the day had been bold in the extreme. Getting naked with just minutes before the end of the contest? That was just a ploy to give Becky false hope that a win was within her grasp.

"Son of a bitch," Becky said, finally beginning to accept she'd been bested.

Chuck chimed in, "So, uh, why did you two get naked just now, then?"

I smiled at my friend. "Because after seven nights of skinny dipping, we found we rather like it. Prefer it, even."

Eve wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Amen. And, now, as my first decree as your sovereign ruler, I'm ordering everyone to get naked. This is now a skinny dipping party!"

Becky's eyes widened and even Chuck looked uncertain. Max, meanwhile, just smiled and seemed to take it in stride. Eve hadn't mentioned this to me, but we'd only been hoping for a tie. Maybe she just came up with it on the fly.

"Uh, hello," Becky said. "My parents are home."

Eve rolled her eyes. "So? And they're probably long since asleep, like usual."

"But they could look out at any time."

Eve sighed and gave Becky a disappointed look. "I think it's pretty clear why I won this contest, then, huh? Chicken?"

Becky's eyes narrowed, but then she laughed. "That's low."

"That's low, 'your highness," Eve corrected.

"Your highness," Becky said. "Fine."

Becky was a good sport in the end, shedding her bikini and making it clear that Chuck had better be losing his suit as well. Max slipped back into the water and soon was tossing his shorts over the side with the rest of them. Granted, we were all "hiding" underwater, probably as a silent nod toward the parents being home, but everyone knew what we were doing. I doubt more than five minutes passed before everyone had started getting used to it. Within fifteen minutes, we were getting out of the pool to fetch drinks and snacks with hardly a care in the world that our friends could see us naked. Everything had changed while the most important things were the same as ever.

"So, Eve and I need to say one more thing, before this party wraps up," I said, hoisting my soda as if in a toast. Eve, sitting on my lap as we were all hanging out in the shallow end where there were underwater benches, turned to give me a curious look.

Once I had everyone's attention, I turned to look at Max, the contest's official. "Max, I don't know if this was why you'd paired me with Eve for this contest, but we owe you our thanks for the nudge that finally got us together."

"Hear hear!" Chuck said, smiling.

"About damn time," Becky said, nudging her best friend in the arm.

"You're most welcome," Max said. "I didn't exactly plan it that way, but I was hopeful."

Eve said, "If there's anything we can do to repay you, just let us know."

Max looked deep in thought for a moment. "Actually, there is something you could do."

"What?" Eve and I said in unison.

"Tell me what happened after you got caught," he said with a grin.

Becky and Chuck both looked surprised and very interested as well. I could feel Eve wilt a little with the forthcoming embarrassment.

"You got this one?" she asked me.

I sighed. "Which time? We got caught twice."

"Oh, right," Eve said, remembering the first couple who'd been sitting out in their yard and then hung out with us for a while. Mike and Annette. And that reminded me they were on vacation now...

"Last night," Max said by way of clarification, snapping me out of making plans for some alone time tomorrow night with my girlfriend.

"Ah, that," I said. "Well, we were just taking our picture when the owner, some old geezer, came out and was screaming at us. So we grabbed my phone and ran -- right onto the golf course. And then the police were looking for us and...uh...our clothes were gone when we got back."

"So you didn't get caught?" Max said.

"No," Eve said. "Thankfully. That'd have been...embarrassing, to say the least."

"Oh, come on," Becky said. "That's the weakest story ever. We need details."

"Yeah," Chuck said. "I mean, come on. You're naked on a golf course. Did you at least get in nine holes?"

Before I could come up with some witty response, Eve answered. "Let's just say Rand got a hole in one and leave it at that."

I felt myself blush at the innuendo, but our friends loved it. They loved us and might have been just as happy we'd finally hooked up as Eve and I were. I was so going to miss these days as we all spread out for college. For now, though, I was determined to enjoy every moment of it.

"Hmmm...naked golf," Chuck said. "That does sound like fun."

"Mixed doubles?" I said.

Max's eyes shifted back to magnanimous official mode. "Do I sense another challenge coming on?"

#

So that's it, my tale of how one decision dramatically altered the landscape of my life, thankfully for the better. One of my best friends became my girlfriend and the rest of my friends became even better ones as the last barriers fell between us. Yeah, there were many more nights of skinny dipping (among other naked adventures) shared that summer and in the years to follow, but it was and always will be that week I remember as the best of them.