Sun, Sex, and a Summer of Love

This is my entry for the 2019 Summer Lovin' contest. It is based on a collection of real-life incidents that have happened over the years either to me or things I've witnessed at both nude and non-nude events. It's also a little nod to this year's 50th anniversary of the first Woodstock festival in 1969. Enjoy!

***

Kyle rushed through a maze of restless office workers feverishly clutching their lattes. It was the same horde of nameless faces, thundering legs, honking cars, and blinking lights that usually presented an obstacle course on his morning journey to work. He reminded himself that it was Friday and the weekend would soon bring much-needed relief.

He made his way into the tall glass and steel building where he worked, feeling a relative calm wash over him as he crossed the quiet lobby and made his way to the bank of elevators. The faces suddenly became familiar. There were smiles and nods. His paper coffee cup felt warm and soothing in his hand, countering the dull ache in his shoulder from a heavy laptop bag.

The elevator gave its final beep as it reached the nineteenth floor and the doors slid open. Kyle took his usual amble across the office, giving a brief hello to coworkers eating hasty oatmeal cup breakfasts at their desks. He had the usual thought as the bag slumped off his shoulder and he took a seat at his desk: that the job was mundane and not what he really wanted to do after graduating college, but that it was temporary and afforded him the chance to have an apartment on the Lower East Side, even if it was with two other guys.

As the morning wore on, Kyle found himself dwelling more and more on the end of the day, as it usually went with Fridays. He took frequent trips to the snack machines and just wandered about to stretch his legs. On one of these brief strolls, however, he spotted Jordyn standing by the bright blue water cooler. She was filling a small paper cup. The tank belched and a large, wobbling bubble soared upward to the surface.

"Oh, hey Kyle!" she said enthusiastically, spotting him as he passed.

Kyle felt a sudden buzz throughout his body as he watched her eyes light up. He stopped short and stood there in awe of her long, dark brown hair, her big brown eyes, the shiny stud in her nose, and the strange tattoo peeking out from beneath her sleeve that he could never see the rest of. A slight nervousness arose as he became conscious of the way her breasts warped the text on the front of her tight-fitting t-shirt. It read, "Coder Grrrl."

Jordyn often wore shirts like that and he wondered if it was because of the way it advertised her body. She was the type of girl that was not shy about broadcasting her sexual allure. She always managed to keep it just within reason so as not to run up against the office dress code. Kyle found girls like that intimidating but also exciting.

"Hi Jordyn," he said with a smile.

"Killing time on a Friday, eh?" she said with a smirk. He laughed and nodded. "I've probably had a gallon of water already. The water cooler makes a good excuse to get up, but no one is ever actually here to have a conversation with. Like, are there seriously no other Game of Thrones fans in this office?!"

Kyle grinned. He felt his leg nervously tapping against the floor but for some reason, he couldn't stop it. "Well, I watch it. But I'm afraid if we started on that, we'd never get back to work."

Jordyn was the free-spirited girl of the office and Kyle certainly crushed on her, even if he wasn't sure whether she was even straight or not. She'd given indications on both sides. "Perhaps she's bisexual," he wondered, then decided it didn't matter because she probably wouldn't be interested in him, anyway.

"Got any plans for the long weekend?" Jordyn asked.

Kyle had almost forgotten it was a three-day weekend and felt embarrassed that he still had no plans. "Not really. What are you doing?" he replied.

"Oh, I'm going to the Far Out Festival!" she said excitedly. "Have you heard of it?"

"Um, sorta," he said, even though he hadn't.

"It's so much fun! I went there last year and had an amazing time. Everyone just camps way out in the Catskills. There's a big stage with music -- but nothing electronic is allowed. It's all, like, retro sixties back-to-the-Earth stuff. You even have to leave your phone in your tent and just chill out with everyone."

Kyle nodded dumbly at her, focusing on her deep pink lips and dark hair. He heard her rapid description begin to slow, then panicked when she seemed to notice the way he was gazing at her.

"Anyway--" she continued with a smile, "People cook and share everything. It's like a return to the original Summer of Love vibe but, like, a small slice of it or something."

"Cool," was all he could manage to say. He had heard lots of things about the sixties. It was all hippies and free love and cool music as far as he could tell, but he still wasn't quite sure what it would have been like to actually be at Woodstock.

An awkward silence passed between them. She studied his face as if still curious about the way he was looking at her. Kyle's eyes darted away nervously and then back again.

"Well, if you don't make any plans, you're welcome to come along if you like. I have a four-person tent that's plenty big enough so you wouldn't have to bring much." Kyle was taken aback. He felt terrified and excited at the same time, unsure how to react to the fact that Jordyn had just invited him to spend a weekend camping in a tent with her.

"Oh, cool. Okay..." he said quickly as his heart starting thumping in his chest. He couldn't believe he just quickly agreed like that.

"Awesome!" she said, suddenly grasping his wrist excitedly. She seemed almost surprised that he said yes. "You're gonna have so much fun, then!" He smiled nervously at her. She let go of his wrist and started speaking rapidly again, explaining what he needed to pack and where they should meet for the drive up in the morning. "I'll just email you the logistics," she said finally, realizing that she was probably giving him too much information.

"Okay, great!" he said, trying to hide his nervousness.

"Oh, and also, some people return Monday night but a lot of people get up super early on Tuesday and drive home. Last year I came back here and went straight into work. Is that okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's fine," he said, wondering if he'd smell weird coming straight from the festival.

"Nice! Let's do it," she exclaimed before finally drinking the cup of cool water she'd been holding the whole time.

"Okay! Well, see you later then. I'm gonna run to the bathroom," Kyle added, feeling the need to sit down and breathe.

"Okay, later!" Jordyn said, waving.

Kyle rushed to the bathroom and locked himself in a stall. He could have Googled the event, learned more about it, and avoided the surprises that followed. It might have prepared him more. It also might have made him chicken out.

Instead, he sat there picturing Jordyn in his head. Her impish smile. Her soft hair... and the close quarters of an empty tent with a mess of blankets laid out just for them.

***

Jordyn and Kyle had merged onto the highway in her rental car for mere moments before he felt her gun the engine and trill with excitement. She began talking a mile a minute, describing the strange booths that people set up, all the activities that one could take part of, the drugs, the wild costumes people bring, and the music which she went on and on about, demonstrating a deep love for the artists of the sixties, only a handful of which he recognized.

She enthusiastically explained that it didn't break the rules to use her iPod in the car on the way up there. "I made you a sixties mixtape!" Jordyn announced, cueing up the first song, "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane.

Kyle watched with growing admiration as Jordyn put her arm out the window and began to sing along, belting out the lyrics which she knew by heart. Her hand caught the wind and drew it into the car where it rushed against her body and kicked up the dark hair which spun about her face in wild tendrils.

As he observed her delight, Kyle felt his heart pulsing in his chest. He couldn't take his eyes off Jordyn's face, lost in her easy smile and the sparkle of her eyes. "If you listen to the lyrics, it's sorta ironic that we're listening to this on our way to celebrate free love and all that stuff, but it's still such a badass song," she said during a break pause in the vocals.

"Free love?" Kyle thought, wondering just how closely the festival they were about to attend embraced that particular theme.

They drove for a couple of hours like that, side by side and flanked by two large coffees, with the stereo system cranked and the windows rolled all the way down. After finally making a pit stop for a snack and a bathroom break, they headed back out onto the road for the final, brief leg of the journey.

"Oh! Shit! I almost forgot to mention!" Jordyn exclaimed with a sudden outburst. "Is it okay if my best friend Tessa joins us? She's coming down from Rochester. I told her she can share our tent. We'll be okay fitting three of us in there."

Kyle's mouth snapped shut and he was taken aback. "Another girl?" he thought. He began to wonder again about Jordyn's sexuality, then felt sad that maybe her intent of inviting him to share a tent wasn't quite what he had hoped for. Certainly not with her BFF joining them. On the other hand, the idea of sharing the tent with two girls instead of one had an obvious appeal.

"Sure! I don't care. The more the merrier!" he said. She laughed and cast a smile at him. Kyle realized maybe that didn't sound the way he intended.

"Anyway, I have this sort of foam mattress thingie that rolls up. That's why I suggested that you don't bring a sleeping bag. I had one last time and it was way, way too hot. It cools down overnight, but I was like, baking in there. The tent got all steamy."

"Was that with... um..."

"Tessa, yeah."

"Wow, okay. And now there will be three of us heating it up."

"Yeah. Yikes. We'll be okay with three bodies in there, though," she reaffirmed.

Kyle wasn't altogether put off by the idea of three bodies in a steamy tent, especially when the other two bodies were girls. He just hoped that Tessa was as cool as Jordyn and that things wouldn't get awkward.

***

When they arrived, they parked the car in a large meadow full of numerous other vehicles and started down a path lugging large bags containing all of their supplies. Kyle wanted to laugh as Jordyn crunched over piles of snapping twigs. The military-style olive canvas bag perched on her back was as big as she was.

The setting was pristine and beautiful, exactly as Jordyn had described. All the riches of the summertime were flourishing through the countryside. Kyle wasn't sure where the big lake she had mentioned was but the grassy pasture they crossed seemed to be the perfect setting for an outdoor festival. Crowds had already started gathering. There were sudden shrieks of delight, following by dropping bags and eager hugs. They passed through a maze of half-erected tents beyond which a large, empty stage had been constructed.

Jordyn chose a quiet area near the woods as a location for their tent. "This is where we were last year, so Tessa shouldn't have any problem finding us." The tent didn't take long to construct and it wasn't long before their neighbors emerged from their own to see what was going on.

"Hey! I'm Jeff and this is Preeti," said a lanky bearded guy as he approached. A quiet Indian girl followed behind him. She had a dreamy look on her face and extended her hand happily to the group.

Jordyn and Kyle introduced themselves and gladly accepted a cold beer offered by their new friends, which they pulled out of a large blue cooler.

After socializing for a bit, they got back to work and Kyle helped Jordyn execute her plan for the inside of the tent. She decked it out with all sorts of psychedelic tapestries to serve as sheets, as well as tiny paper lanterns. Soon it looked to Kyle like some private harem for an Arabian sheik where sharp-eyed girls might be staring back at him through a web of colorful veils. He was impressed.

"Ding-dong!" someone shouted from outside.

Jordyn gasped and peeked outside. "Oh-my-god!" she shrieked as she scrambled out into the sunlight.

Kyle crawled out of the tent and found a young woman standing there with a bag at her feet. Jordyn raced up to her and gave her a bear hug, then leaned back, gazed into her eyes, and gave her a happy kiss on the lips. It was obvious to Kyle how close they were, right off the bat. They were over the moon to see each other.

Tessa was cute and just as bubbly as Jordyn was. Her dirty blonde hair was tied hastily back into a messy ponytail. The remnant of an unraveling braid was tucked inside, its red dye starting to fade into a tinge of magenta. Tessa cast a look over at Kyle with her big brown eyes and smiled, forming two small dimples.

"Hey! Are you Kyle?" she asked.

"That's me," he said with a grin. Jordyn released her friend from her bear hug and stepped aside, anxious for them to meet. Tessa and Kyle took a step toward one another.

Kyle felt himself going in for a hug. He wasn't entirely sure why, perhaps because Jordyn just had and the scene was still fresh in his head. However, Tessa had extended her hand for a handshake, catching him off guard.

"Oh, sorry!" Tessa laughed, adjusting her stance for an unexpected hug as Kyle shifted to a handshake. They laughed awkwardly.

Kyle persisted until Tessa recovered and gave him a handshake. He felt embarrassed.

Tessa seemed enthusiastic to meet Kyle but he felt like the first impression he gave made him look like a nervous idiot. She went back to chatting with Jordyn and he began telling himself to calm down and stop being so anxious around them. He was there to have a good time, to spend time with a girl he crushed on, and who knew what else.

The festival was only just beginning and the whole weekend held the promise for an exciting adventure.

***

It wasn't long before the three of them raced off to the main festival area, where crowds were already gathering in excitement on the long expanse of grass in front of the stage. The scene certainly looked like something out of the old Woodstock footage that Kyle had seen on TV; throngs of merry, carefree youths, blissed out in the warmth of the sun, wearing skimpy clothes and flirting with their sexual laxity.

Within the span of thirty minutes, it felt like the party of the century had formed, a sea of constantly shifting bodies, a roar of voices, constant peals of laughter, growing louder and louder as the kickoff event came nearer.

The festival organizers came on stage and introduced themselves as Arwen and Mitchell. She looked like a tall hippie goddess with long golden dreadlocks and psychedelic clothing, albeit with a modern, edgier vibe than what Kyle had seen from the sixties. Mitchell peered at the audience with an amused look through the small circular frames of his rose-tinted glasses. He was dressed more simply, with worn-out hiking shorts and a faded t-shirt featuring a cartoon dancing mushroom. Something about him reminded Kyle vaguely of an old camp counselor he once had.

They were festival promoters, yes, but they also looked equally like participants, having thrown together exactly the kind of wild get together in the forest that they would want to attend themselves.

The opening announcements were a mix of practical information and celebratory fanfare that prompted all manners of hoots and hollers from the crowd. It didn't last too long, as Arwen and Mitchell were soon replaced by a trio of mustachioed guys from Brooklyn who performed a modern twist on traditional folk songs.

As a lively twang filled the air, Kyle, Jordyn, and Tessa made their way through the sea of blankets to observe the festival as it commenced, partaking in various things to eat and drink and stopping to check out a mishmash of ironic arts and crafts. Time seemed to fly by and when the sun finally began to set, bonfires sprung up and the smell of charred marshmallow began to fill the air as they joined in making s'mores with a nearby group of festival-goers.

As the activity began to die down late into the evening, Kyle noticed Jordyn beginning to yawn.

"Wanna get some sleep, babe?" Tessa asked her. Jordyn nodded sleepily. "Okay, let's go," said Tessa, rising to her feet and helping Jordyn up. "She's like, about to pass out," Tessa laughed, indicating to Kyle that it was time for them to go. He rose and joined them, following behind the two girls who were arm in arm.

They passed by a series of small, dying bonfires; not-quite-legal features of the festival, but a rule no one seemed to care about. Soft faces crowded around them, flickering with a strange orange glow. Fatigue seemed to be setting in across the board as evidenced by the wet, glassy eyes that stared blankly into the flashing tongues of fire.

With a loud zipping sound, Tessa opened the small portal to their tent and ushered Jordyn and Kyle inside. Kyle quickly crawled over to his side of the tent, beside Jordyn's spot who had chosen to sleep in the middle. He laid down and propped himself up on his elbow as he watched the girls getting ready for bed.

Jordyn and Tessa crowded around their backpacks in the opposite corner of the tent, with their backs to Kyle. They rummaged around inside for a few moments. Jordyn pulled out a small bottle, squirted something into her palm, and then massaged it into her face. Kyle felt butterflies in his stomach as he watched Tessa casually hike up her shirt partway, then reach for her bra strap underneath. He heard it unsnap and watched her tug it down, yanking it out from beneath her shirt, which she let drop back down to her waist.

Though he hadn't seen much, it was titillating nonetheless.

Jordyn returned the bottle to her backpack and then reached for a stick of deodorant. She quickly ran it under her arms, as if sheepish about performing this action, and then tossed it back into the bag. Then she reached for her own bra in the same manner as Tessa had. Kyle watched with great interest as she stealthily removed it and placed it in the corner with the rest of her things. Tessa abruptly leaned back, undoing the buttons on her denim shorts, and slipped them right off. She sat there in her underwear as she folded them and put them aside. Jordyn followed suit, tugging off her own shorts.

Kyle continued to gaze at both girls, sitting there in their panties, with the soft, outwardly expanding cushion of their bottoms resting on the tie-dyed sheets beneath their bodies. He watched as they turned left and right, finishing their tasks, observing the loose swing of their freed breasts beneath the thin fabric of their t-shirts. He was so used to seeing Jordyn's shirts accentuating the size and shape of her breasts but they were always so tightly contained and mostly motionless on account of her bra. It was exciting to see them wobble about, indicating their weight, their softness, their youthful animation. He imagined being able to touch them, to place his hands against her bare chest and give them a soft squeeze, feeling her stiffening nipples pressing back against his palms.

Jordyn suddenly turned and caught him watching. He looked down casually and picked at the sheets nervously as she crawled over and laid down next to him. The moment she collapsed beside him, Kyle caught a whiff of an enchanting fragrance, rose and lavender, and something else that was exotic and mysterious. He knew it was just whatever lotion she had applied but it seemed to express everything that was lovely and feminine about her.

He inhaled deeply, trying to hide the fact that he wanted to breathe in the scent of her body as it reclined beside his. He wondered if she was feeling insecure about her smell after a day in the hot sun, given that she'd be sleeping next to him. He didn't mind. As lovely as the floral scent was, he also yearned to know the true scent of her skin and her hair. He imagined what the rest of her body smelled like. He imagined someday becoming intimate with her, the phantom scent of her private, feminine musk floated through his mind.