The Brookhaven Book Club - Pt. 01

This is the first installment of a four-part series revolving around The Brookhaven Book Club, a group of six ladies who meet monthly to discuss books, drink wine, and talk, i.e., gossip. One of the members decides the ladies might enjoy some daring adventures, getting naked or partially so, and completing a challenge that could allow them to be seen. They all agree to do this and each member fills out four cards describing challenges. The cards are put together and shuffled. Each member then draws a card and has four weeks to complete the challenge, documenting what they've done along the way. At the next meeting, each will share their challenge and how it went.

This installment covers the two meetings where it's decided to perform the challenges and where the cards are drawn, along with Annette performing her challenge.

I hope you enjoy this and the future installments. Rating and commenting are appreciated.

It was the second Wednesday of the month, the day of the regular meeting of the Brookhaven Book Club, and the other five members would soon be arriving. Poppy Ritter was ready for them, plenty of wine, chocolate, and the latest gossip prepared for consumption. The six would spend a while talking about their current book, and several of them would have kept up their reading, but the wine and the gossip were always their focus. Poppy liked it that way, and she wondered how things might go today. Sometimes they surprised each other, and the conversation took off in a totally unexpected direction which often led to unforeseen reactions as the ladies learned more about each other.

Poppy carefully washed and polished the six white wine glasses, stepping back to enjoy their sparkle. She carefully arranged the chocolates on two plates, then smiled. She was ready.

Gloria Birchall, a tall blond who was always surrounded by an air of sophistication, was the first to arrive, her Mercedes parked on the small driveway extension beside the garage. She usually arrived first and stayed after the other four had gone home, sharing with Poppy a little more wine and maybe another chocolate or two, but mostly reviewing the juiciest gossip and speculating what might be coming next.

"I forgot my book," Gloria groaned as she came through the door. "Am I going to be punished?"

"Did you read it?"

"I did do that."

Poppy laughed. "You should be fine if we ever get to the book."

Gloria joined in the laughter as the door swung open once more, and they were joined by Lisbet Pierson and Alina Novy. Lisbet was the youngest of the six at twenty-nine, had been an athlete in both high school and college, soccer and track, and still worked out when she could find the time. She was clearly in better shape than the other five and the only single lady among them. Her sleek olive skin gave her a fascinating look, and being an independent real estate agent allowed her the freedom to be a part of the group.

Alina was definitely not an athlete at five-foot-two and one-hundred-forty-two pounds which gave her a hint of pudginess with a bit of a belly that she controlled with a girdle. At least that's what her Nana and mother called it. Alina preferred to call it "shapewear." She enjoyed sewing; she had been taught and encouraged by her Nana. She made many of her clothes and had become an expert in minimizing what she felt were her unattractive features. These included her very ample bosoms, which she constantly worked to minimize with minimum success. Her bubbly personality made her very likable.

"Did you workout today?" Poppy asked Lisbet.

"Do I look that bad?"

"I wish I looked "that bad," Poppy laughed. "You always look...shit, you know what I mean."

"Good genes. My mom was the same way."

"I wish your mom was my mom. At least so I'd have her genes and a body more like yours," Alina said with a giggle.

"I wish I had genes that would give me some boobs," Lisbet said, glancing at Alina's chest.

"I'd share if I could." Another giggle from Alina.

"They always told me that when I stopped competitive sports, my body fat would increase, and I'd grow boobs. Hasn't worked," she added with a laugh.

"If I had a body like yours, I wouldn't complain," Gloria said. She was the oldest at forty, but she didn't look it. Tall and slender with blond hair and the accompanying blue eyes made her highly attractive, if not verging on beautiful. She was the consummate trophy wife, her sixty-three-year-old husband more than happy to lavish money on her in order to keep her at least moderately content. They were childless, not by plan but simply because she had never conceived.

"Um, you look pretty good," Lisbet replied.

"For an old woman?"

Before Lisbet could respond, the door opened again, and the final two members of the Brookhaven Book Club made their entrance, wondering what all the laughter was about.

"Cecily," Poppy called to the first one through the door. "We were just talking about tits and can't wait for your opinion."

As she heard the word "tits," Cecily Kennedy's face turned a bright crimson, her eyes wide.

"Poppy, you're cruel," Lisbet said. "Just ignore her, Cec."

"What about tits?" Annette Perrot asked, peeking around Cecily.

"Random conversation from the haves and have nots," Lisbet said.

"Count me in with the "have nots," Annette said, chuckling. She was certainly not a "have not" trailing only Poppy and Alina in volume--and possibly Cecily, who always wore non-revealing clothes. Her dark complexion, passed forward from middle-eastern grandparents, coupled with long dark hair and flashing black eyes gave her a fascinating look that always drew admiring looks from the men around her, which generated lots of teasing comments from her husband, Claus.

Cecily was a partial puzzle. Friendly, kind, and soft-spoken, she was very shy, blushing at any comment, even Borderline off-color, her fair complexion highlighting the blushing. Obviously very bright with an honors degree in English, she was nevertheless reluctant to express an opinion or begin a conversation, even though when she did speak, it was always precise, clearly stated, and accurate. Her choice of clothing could best be described as bland. She clearly was not slender nor plump, but what was hidden beneath whatever she was wearing was unknown. The ladies often joked among themselves, when Cecily was absent, that they hoped her husband, Mitch, got to look at her, at least occasionally. If you checked Cecily carefully and objectively, she was very adorable.

Poppy, as was often the case, did her best to keep Cecily's cheeks pink, not addressing her directly.

"Lis was lamenting her lack of tits, Annette. She'd hoped they'd grow when she stopped competing."

"They didn't," Lis interjected.

Surprising everyone, Cecily spoke, cheeks still red.

"You're still exercising, aren't you?"

A nod of the head from a surprised Lisbet.

"And you weigh the same as you did then?"

"Maybe a pound," Lis said, now embarrassed herself.

"Gain fifteen pounds and...well...you'll have them."

"Fifteen pounds. I'd look like a blimp," Lis said, laughing.

"I don't know, Lis. Fifteen pounds, and you might be a big titty babe." Poppy was chuckling.

"Time for wine and the meeting," Gloria said, shaking her head decisively and heading toward the wine bottles. Her suggestion was unanimously approved, the wine being the deciding factor. Glasses were filled...to the brim as the ladies liked to have a heady buzz for their meeting.

"Poppy, this is good. What's different?" Gloria was looking from the glass to Poppy.

"I found this wine marked down, and it's ten years old. Is it good?"

Five heads nodded in unison, joined quickly by Poppy's.

"Um, that IS good," Poppy agreed, and soon all glasses were being refilled.

Each lady selected some chocolates and found a place to sit in the family room.

"Have Megan and Steve finally separated?" Alina asked, looking from face to face.

"I've been by the house three or four times, and his car hasn't been there."

"Adrienne," Gloria said, curling her lip.

"Really?" Cecily asked. "I know her very slightly, but she seemed sweet and dedicated to her husband.

"I think she's changed then. A friend confided she'd seen her in a bar with Steve."

"Could be a coincidence."

"Hanging onto him, and, an occasional kiss."

"Oh," Cecily said softly.

"Maybe Megan could hook up with Bryan since Alison decided she didn't want to be married any longer after one whole year. He might be a little young for her, though," Lis said, chuckling.

"He is kind of a stud, though," Cecily said, surprising everyone.

"He is," Alina agreed, "and how much wine have you had?"

"Not enough yet," Cecily said with a loud giggle.

Poppy laughed as she quickly topped off all the glasses.

Gloria eyed her as she pressed the stopper into the neck of the half-filled bottle.

"What's going on, Poppy? You're usually in the middle of these conversations, and you haven't said a word."

Poppy smiled. "Been thinking and figuring out how to say what I want to say."

"Whoa, sounds serious."

All eyes were on Poppy, waiting for the grand reveal.

"Cecily, you want to tell us any more about that stud, Bryan?"

Cecily laughed, a loud and deep laugh.

"I love Mitch, but Bryan is a handsome hunk," Cecily said, raising her eyebrows and looking at the others.

Good thing Bryan isn't here," Alina said. "From the look on your face, you might jump his bones."

"Maybe," Cecily said, giggling again. "Might take another glass of wine to do that, though."

"I'm not picking on you, Cec, but see what happens when you get a little wine."

Finishing off her third glass, she said, her words a touch slurred, "I change a little, don't I?"

"We all do, right?"

Five nods.

"We get a little wilder, a little raunchy sometimes, and do stupid things."

"That's when the delicious gossip gets started," Alina said, now giggling herself. The third glass had all of them grinning continually.

"So, what's your point, Poppy? You're headed somewhere." Gloria had a way of keeping things grounded.

Now all eyes were on Poppy. She took a deep breath.

"Once a month, we gather at one of our homes, and we enjoy our wine and chocolates, spend a few minutes talking about the book that most of us forgot to read, and then plunge into the gossip and stories that are the real reason we're there. Sometimes I can tell that we're vicariously experiencing some of the things we're talking about."

Poppy noted a few sheepish looks.

"I've been thinking and wondering if there might be something we could do to make the meetings and the time between them more interesting."

"Gonna bring Bryan to the meeting?" Cecily giggled.

That brought a round of laughter from everyone.

"We need to be sure that Cecily always has at least three glasses of wine so she'll keep us entertained," Lis said.

"See, Cec is talking about Brian, even though she's totally happy with Mitch."

"Oh, lord," Cecily blurted out. "I'd never do anything like that with Bryan."

"Like what?" Poppy asked.

The red crept down her neck as Cecily looked from face to face.

"We all know you wouldn't, but it was fun imagining and teasing about it, wasn't it?"

"So, you think we should live out our fantasies at these meetings?"

"Depends on the fantasies, Gloria."

"Shit!" Lis exclaimed. "We've done some of that already."

"And admitted some of the things we did when we were younger, too," Annette added.

"What was the last thing you said?"

"Um...you mean 'when we were younger?'"

"Yep," Poppy said, looking around. "What happened?"

"We got married...except for Lis," Annette admitted, "and things changed."

"Some things had to change, of course," Poppy chuckled, "but not everything. Right?"

"Never thought about that, but I suppose it's true." Gloria was nodding as she spoke.

"So, instead of talking about other people, it would be more fun to talk about what we've done and share pictures and videos."

"I'm not sure what you mean." Cecily looked puzzled.

"Let's do some fun and daring things."

"Daring?"

"Daring?"

"What kind of daring are we talking about?"

"That's up to us to decide." Poppy had a big grin on her face.

Annette looked at her, one eye closed. "Are we talking about skydiving, bungy jumping, things like that?"

"Could be, but wasn't the kind of thing I've been thinking of."

"I'm getting nervous," Lis ventured.

"We don't have to do any of it," Poppy assured them. But we did years ago, so why not now?"

"We're married now, for one thing."

"That eliminates some of the things we did, but not all of them."

"Wait just a second," Alina said. "I'm getting a vibe here."

"And?" Poppy was still smiling.

"Would these daring things involve nudity?"

"What!" Cecily squealed, holding her fourth glass of wine.

"Aren't we a little old to be flashing our tits?" Alina questioned.

"If you walked down the street topless, do you think the men would ignore you?"

She chucked. "I hope not."

"So, what are you proposing, poppy?" Gloria was getting to the point once again.

"I guess a kind of truth or dare take-off, without the truth part.

"Go on," Annette encouraged. "Can't imagine where this is going."

"Okay, I'll quit beating around the bush and just tell you what I'd like to do. I'd like for us all to get back to our 'days of youth' when we were daring and willing to take some chances, even though there might be a chance of embarrassing ourselves or...exposing ourselves. I guess I'd like to ensure that we are going to expose ourselves and see how we['re able to handle it."

"Expose, as in naked," Cecily slurred, halfway through her fourth glass of the wine.

"Exactly."

"Holy shit," Gloria said. "I think even old Bern would like to see that. You know, I asked about doing something unusual the other day, and Bern said I should go ahead and do whatever I wanted. Teasing him, I asked if it'd be okay if I spent the night with some young guy. He chuckled and said I should do whatever I wanted. At first, I thought he was teasing me back, but I think he was being serious."

"Sounds like you're clear then, Gloria. And for all of us, It's up to you if you want your husband involved. I think most of us wouldn't want it." Poppy chuckled when she said that.

Alina chimed in. "So, we're supposed to get naked and let people, or more likely men, see us that way and take pictures or video to share with each other, so we know we've done it?"

"Mitch has seen me naked," Cecily said, "but no one else."

"We need to change that, Cec."

"I don't know. That might take more than wine." Another loud giggle.

"So," Gloria said. "Now that we know where you're headed, how do you plan to have all of that happen?"

"My idea is to give us a week to think about it, and each of us will come up with four ideas. Plan out each idea carefully, with as much detail as you can, and next Wednesday, we'll get together again, put our ideas in a bucket, and each of us will draw one. We'll have a month to do whatever your challenge may involve." Poppy looked from face to face. "Think for a minute, and we'll decide if all of us are in."

"So, these challenges will all involve nudity? And being seen that way?" Gloria asked.

" Bungy jumping would be exciting and challenging, but imagine being at least partially naked and trying to perform some task without being seen. Or, maybe being seen and handling it."

"You mean purposely being seen with your hooters bare and just laughing and chatting with whoever?" Alina was frowning at Poppy, but her mind was working, replaying some of her fantasies...and wondering.

Yep. So, is everyone in?

"It's idiotic, but I'm in, and I hope it doesn't bite me in the ass," Gloria said " I'm trembling but kind of excited. I may purchase a mask." She finished with a laugh.

"It's easiest for me, being single," Lis said, "and since I've sort of done it before, it should bring back memories...and maybe finish off some old fantasies." Unlike the others, she had a somewhat expectant smile on her face.

Annette and Alina nodded their acceptance, both wondering what might be in store for them. At thirty-three and thirty-eight, they weren't 'over the hill' but were a little beyond the behavior usually reserved for much younger ladies.

Of course, Poppy was in, and that left only Cecily. Ten eyes looked in her direction.

"Listen, Cec, if you want to wait a day to decide, that would be fine."

Another giggle. "Nope, it's about time I did something like this. If it takes...how many?"

"Four."

"Glasses of wine, then so be it. I'll just have to face it tomorrow. Maybe you should call me in the afternoon to remind me."

"Are you sure, Cecily?" It was so unlike her that Poppy wasn't taking any chances.

"Once I'm committed, I won't back out, no matter what."

"Well, I guess that's everyone. Write each of your challenges on a five-by-eight card, and we'll draw next Wednesday. I'm excited. And don't forget, you might draw one of your own cards, so don't get too wild. Also, if you need a good resource, there's an excellent erotic story site, Literotica, with good stories by some good writers that you might be able to adapt for your own use. Keep it in mind.

More wine, a few more stories, a quick look at the book, and everyone headed home...except Cecily, who, by this time, was sound asleep on the couch. When she awoke two hours later and remembered what had happened, she went home trembling, not sure at all how she'd be able to generate the courage she'd need to do whatever her challenge might be. Plus, she had to think up four challenges as well. She cringed as she knew she'd have to use an outside source for her ideas...the internet and the porn literature site Poppy had spoken of.

***

One week later, they met again, the excitement and nervousness evident. There was lots of chatter about creating the scenarios, with each one tingling in anticipation of what might be in store. Cecily was particularly pale, clutching her four cards. She finally admitted to the others that she had gotten strangely excited reading the stories and filling out the cards. Chewing on her lower lip, she told of picturing herself carrying out each of her challenges, heart pounding with each one. But she admitted to being terrified by what could lay ahead.

"I kept reading stories at that site after I'd filled out my cards." She chuckled as her cheeks and neck reddened. I hope I don't draw any of my own cards."

"That doesn't make me feel any better, Cec," Alina said.

A half-giggle from Cecily. "They aren't that bad...except for me."

"So when do we draw the cards?" Lis asked, looking anxious to find what her challenge might be.

"I have more of that wine. Let's drink, talk, and relax a little," Poppy suggested.

"Relax? Are you high already?" Gloria said.

"Sure," Poppy said. "The anticipation about what you draw, and then the anticipation about actually doing it. That's what makes all of this fun."

The six of them sipped wine, talked about the challenge of coming up with four situations, and kept glancing at Poppy.

"Okay, I guess we better put our cards together and draw before we're too drunk to read them."

"Are you kidding? I'm so nervous my body is oxidizing the alcohol as fast as I drink it," Annette said, laughing.

They all handed their cards to Poppy, who took a tension-packed minute to shuffle them carefully.

"Let's draw in alphabetical order of first names. And no talking to anyone about what's on your card. Alina, you're first." She fanned the cards, blank side up, and held them out to Alina, who hesitated a moment, then quickly picked a card.

"Let's all read them at the same time," she said, to unanimous agreement from the others.