The Loft Game: Hula Girl

"Uh-uh," I said, grabbing it before he could. "I'm keeping this as a souvenir. You got to see my tits; I get your shirt. Here." I gave him the ticket that had been handed to me by a staff member. "You can have my free drink. Go Seminoles!"

Of course, that set him and his buddies off, and to the raucous, inebriated chant that erupted, I turned to Julia. "Let's go."

She was still chuckling an hour later as we sat on Anthony's balcony. We'd sent him out for Chinese and were keeping our light buzz going.

"I want to make sure of the sitch first," she answered my question about her sleeping plans.

I nodded understanding.

"Besides, maybe there's some other little business to take care of first." The arch expression and the even archer tone of voice told me exactly what she was referring to.

"Fuck you. 'Hi, Anthony. Thanks for letting us stay. Can I give you something to pay you back? Like on my knees?' That's too ho for me."

She burst out laughing. "I doubt he'd object."

Grudgingly, I admitted, "Prolly not." I took another sip of my White Claw. "I'm still feeling a little freaky that, like, I came down here planning to pay off an IOU, and I didn't know you were thinking ..." I left it hanging.

"Yeah. I didn't know you made that promise. Look, it's not gonna bother me, and he was just an idea I had. I mean, if you're bothered, I'll forget it if—"

"No! It's just ... I don't know ... you're my best friend and everything, and this feels a little sharing a guy with you, and that's, like, 'eww.'"

I expected her to laugh and repeat "eww," but she didn't. I remembered she hadn't the last time something in the vicinity of the topic got mentioned. What's going on? I was suddenly unsure of what was up. The silence lasted long enough to be awkward. She looked over at me, looked away. Her cheeks were suddenly hot with color. I didn't dare say a word.

"It's not what you're thinking."

Since I wasn't sure what to think, that didn't help.

"I— Well, remember when I took the shot instead of answering the question in the game?"

I did remember. The question had been, What is the kinkiest thing you've done this last semester? "Yeah. You got upset when I brought it up again in Vermont."

I'd backed off immediately when I saw her reaction. My mind had spun all kinds of theories about what she wouldn't tell me, ranging from "banged my professor" to "starred in Girls Gone Wild." The trouble was none of the theories sounded like Julia. But we were friends, and we were up there to try snowboarding, not have drama, so I'd backed off.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I, umm ..." The color got deeper, then a rush of words without breaths erupted. "I had a threesome, a guy and another woman, and you and I were sharing a bed at the hotel, and I didn't want you to get weirded out that maybe I would, whatever, and it had just happened, and I didn't know exactly how I was feeling about it, and I didn't know how to even talk about it."

That explains the finger dance at the tiki bar.

Despite my astonishment, I grinned. "Well, I told my stuff, so I want deets in return."

She rallied a little at my friendly expression. Her response was reluctant, but fair's fair and she didn't cop out.

"I was out with a group. We were having a good time. But this one guy who was kinda eyeing me, I thought he was a little skeevy. I was trying to ditch him on the walk back to the dorms, so I started walking with this girl who lives down the hall. That way I didn't have to pay attention to him, ya know?"

I understood about trying to shed a guy who couldn't take a hint.

"So, she and her boyfriend asked me if I wanted to come in when we got back to the dorm. We had a Mike's and were just talking and joking around. And then he brought out a joint and asked me if I got high. I don't very much but, well, it seemed fun right then and ... and things went on from there."

"So you were drunk or high? That's not—"

"No!" Her denial was emphatic. "It wasn't like that. I mean, yes, when it happened, I was feeling the weed, but—" She was silent for a long moment.

"The talk ... the joking, you know ... had been kind of teasing right from the beginning, and then things got a little suggestive. And I was sober at that point. We weren't drinking when we were out with the others, and a couple swallows of hard lemonade don't ... I wasn't impaired, Chips." She glanced over at me.

"I had an inkling from the vibe. I could have left, but I didn't. I thought about it and decided I didn't want to. It ... I don't know ... all I felt was, like, a mix of nerves and excitement.

"And then, long before he brought out the weed, she ... we were sitting on her bed, and she put her hand on my leg and asked me if I needed to get back to my room or could hang a while. I was wearing a skirt; it was on my bare leg. I, umm, I'm not stupid."

"No, you're not."

Everything about her screamed uncertainty about my reaction to telling me she'd had sex with two people at the same time, not something that had occurred in our lives to date, and that she'd had sex with a girl, also not something that had occurred in our lives to date.

"So, deets, babe!" It was the right thing to say, keeping it light and raunchy. It didn't lessen her blush, but the uncertain smile warmed.

"You know you're not getting blow by blow."

I did. We might talk about our sex lives in general, or in less-general-but-anonymous terms, but we didn't spill super-intimate details about others. Not too much, anyway.

"Okay, so you blow-by-blow-ed him," I joked. That earned me the first real smile.

"I may have done something of the kind."

"While she ...?"

"Now who's not letting the other person tell the story?"

I mimed zipping my mouth.

"It started with me in the middle. She was ... what you can imagine."

I so am right now, Jules.

"It was very nice. Kinda not too different from a guy who knows what he's doing except, I dunno, maybe it was just that I knew it wasn't a guy." She got a faraway look in her eye. "I don't know if him being part of it made it easier or harder. It was super distracting to have to pay attention to what I was doing with him, but maybe that was good 'cause it kept me from feeling too weird, ya know?"

I nodded.

"Then, after she got me off"—she said that totally matter-of-factly but even in the dim light I could see her flush deepen—"he got in the middle."

"Which end were you at?"

"He wanted me to bang him. He was on his back, and she was kneeling over him, facing me, and kissing me and touching. We did that for a while and that was good" —I read that as "I came again"—"and then she told him it was her turn. I thought that meant she wanted to switch with me and have a little D but ..."

I grinned. "She wanted you."

She nodded. "So, I did." Now she met my eyes directly. "Are you freaked out at me?"

"Not even a little bit. Keep going. This is exciting." Picturing it was.

"He kinda moved around behind me like he was going to do doggie, but she stopped him. 'You can't come in her,' she said, like she'd already told him that and was reminding him 'cause she didn't know how much longer he could last.

"I mean, he was wearing a condom, but it was like she was a little jealous watching him with me. I almost got this sense that she liked both boys and girls, and his being there was the price she paid to have that and a boyfriend too, but she wasn't one hundred percent cool with him showing too much interest in another woman."

"I guess I sorta get that. Well, it seems a bit unfair. I don't know. Whatever."

"Yeah. So he kinda watched the two of us. And when we were done, she pulled me up beside her, and they fucked while I kinda made out with her and stroked her breasts and stuff."

Holy shit! The thought ripped through my mind when she said, "they fucked."

"And then we nodded off 'cause the weed and everything, and I woke up in the middle of the night and went back to my room without waking them. And then Christmas break."

"When you go back, will you ...?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. I mean, it was exciting, and I don't regret it, but I don't think it's me, ya know? And I don't think she'd be cool with me and him repeating."

We sat in silence, me digesting the story and fucking loving the hot images my imagination painted. I wasn't sure what she was thinking until she spoke.

"I did it, and I can't lie and say I didn't enjoy it. And I've been afraid to tell you because I didn't know what you'd think and—" She rushed out the ending. "And I didn't want you to be worried about me, especially sharing a room, and things to get weird. I swear it's not on my mind and that you—"

I burst into laughter. "Oh fuck, Jules. If you ever get that idea about me in your head, you can tell me. And then—" I held up my hand to stop her startled interruption. "Then, I'll say no. Even if I wanted to do it with a girl, I wouldn't risk messing up our friendship."

I continued to ignore her interruptions that that was exactly what she was afraid of.

"And I won't hold it against you because there's nothing wrong with asking, just if you don't respect the answer. And Jules, babe ... you're never the kind of person who would do that."

I leaned in and kissed her on the lips, shocking her rigid. "I'm never gonna have sex with you. Ever. But you'll always be my best friend until I get married, and then you'll be my best girl-friend."

We'd spent the morning the way we'd spent the one before: sleeping until eleven because we didn't get to bed until two or three. Then we'd wandered to the breakfast place a block down for a breakfast sandwich that was nowhere near as good as the Taylor ham, egg, and cheese that we Jerseyians craved. Then the beaches for prime tanning hours. I had to be careful; the Maguire side of my ancestry gave me my skin. Sometimes I hated Jules and her Condurso complexion. We'd stayed until I felt I was in danger, and then gone back to the house where Julia stretched out in the sun on the balcony, while I tucked myself in the shade.

With drinks, of course, because even though neither of us were party animals, somehow spring break was passing in a pleasant glow of just-buzzed-enough. Sunday, Anthony had been slaving away on his project and today he was in class until five. It was good to have some catch-up time, just us girls. I'd missed her.

"Think he'll notice?" she asked.

"Yup."

As we'd changed out of sandy suits into fresher ones, I'd said, "Why don't you put your stuff in his room so he sees it when he gets back?" I grinned.

"Oh my God. You think I should?"

"Well, it'll certainly give him a hint of your intentions. I mean, he's not seeing anyone, and he did check you out in the bikini, and he definitely liked what he saw."

"He checked out both of us."

"Maybe. But you're the one who's planning to have her wicked way with him."

It had taken me twenty-four hours to establish, without giving the game away, that Anthony didn't have a girlfriend, wasn't currently fuckbuddies with anyone, and hadn't gotten laid during his break. We'd teased him good-naturedly and he'd laughed. That was Anthony. But Sunday night had passed, and Julia hadn't made a move.

So, I grabbed her suitcase, shoved the underwear and tees hanging out of it more inside so it would zip, and toted it to the foot of his bed. After a second, she snatched up her sleeping shorts and oversized tee and dropped them near the head of the bed. Not that she'd be using those if all went well.

We heard him come in. "Let me dump my shit and I'll join you," he called. We giggled. We tried to stifle them as we heard returning footsteps. I tried not to be obvious I was watching when his eyes met Julia's in a silent question.

Hers answered with a silent, Yeah, that's what it means. You good with it?

"You know," I said, "it's not like I wasn't the one who carried her suitcase or can't see you two making eyes at each other."

Both of them colored. He flopped in a chair. "Umm, so how's spring break?"

"Good." —"Buzzed."—"Good and buzzed." — "Crazy!"

"Crazy?"

Julia and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. I started shaking my head: No. No! NO! but she didn't listen.

"Chips was in a wet T-shirt contest."

"Holy fuck! And you didn't invite me?"

"It was Saturday and you had a project. She totally whipped off her shirt at the end." Julia was practically cackling.

"I can't believe I missed that."

"She dared me!" I protested.

"Maybe she'll enter another one," Julia said.

I gave her the finger, but that just made both of them laugh harder.

There was a charge in the atmosphere now. Anthony knew he wasn't sleeping alone this week. Julia was looking forward to a week with someone whom she'd always confided, "totally knows what to do." Me? I was plotting. The sun and the drinks and the good times had made me lazy, but I hadn't forgotten I owed my good friend a little payback.

"Another?" Anthony asked, waving a can.

"Let's not get too buzzed." Even I felt the little frisson at the why of Julia's statement.

"Are we going out?"

"Dinner, but maybe we chill tonight since we were out late the last two," I answered. "I saw a sign that there's a cover band down at the corner. Maybe I'll check that out for a little if you two are tired." I may have been plotting revenge, but I knew how to be a good wingperson to a friend.

I saw their eyes flick to each other and smiled inside. The late-afternoon sun was pushing farther back onto the balcony. I pushed a strap aside to check my color. Not too bad.

"Be careful, babe," Julia said. She made the same move, contemplating the slight difference already apparent with satisfaction. She wasn't flaunting anything; we'd long ago gotten past she tanned without effort, while I could wear anything, especially greens that were her favorite color but made her look sick.

My plans crystallized.

"I dare you," I said.

Two faces snapped toward me.

"I dare you to lose your tan lines this vacation."

Anthony didn't breathe a word, though he was certainly breathing. Julia's eyes were alarmed. My eyebrows were up in exactly the same question hers had been on Saturday.

Chicken?

It was a silent battle, and I didn't blink.

"Are we doing this this week?" she asked. I knew what she meant by "this."

"You started it."

"Half the lines. That's fair."

I'd only gotten topless in the contest. "That seems fair here."

Her eyes went toward the sliding door. One of Anthony's roommates was home, though not in the living room at the moment. She took a breath. Then she craned up and looked at the neighboring house. Their balcony was about the same level and two guys were out there, but our rails were board-on-board and opaque as long as she was low on the chaise.

While Anthony watched with bated breath and I with a smile, she leaned forward and unhooked the strap behind her. I held out my hand the way she had in the tiki bar.

"I'll keep it until we go to the beach again. Nobody needs to get arrested."

You could cut the atmosphere with a knife, and part of me wanted to go inside and let them have their moment while I cooled off. Most of me had different ideas.

You're gonna sit right here until his roommate comes out. And then you're gonna sit here until she has to stand up to go inside.

It was nice to sleep stretched out in a double bed by myself. I chuckled as I remembered the clearly audible "Fuck!" as his roommate had come into the living room and looked out onto the balcony; the blush as she decided it was time to go inside but was too proud to duck-waddle inside below railing level—I don't know if the neighbors noticed and played it cool or missed it; the disappointed "No fuckin' way!" of the other roommate when he got home after sunset.

I pictured across the hall. I wasn't a cold-hearted bitch, so I'd said, "See you guys later," after dinner and gone to check out the cover band. I'd come back and noticed the firmly closed door, resisted the temptation to put my ear to it. Instead, I contented myself with imagining.

"Let's go to the beach." I poked Julia from semi-awake to conscious.

"What's the hurry?"

"There's a beach that's supposed to be good but it's, like, twenty or so miles away."

She grumbled and groaned and asked what the hell was wrong with Daytona Beach, but I pushed. Finally, with a Starbucks cup in her hand, a muffin in the other, and me driving, we were on the road. As we passed the sign for Canaveral National Seashore, I said, "Lot 5. We're looking for Lot 5."

"What the hell, Chips? Just park. Half the lots are empty."

"Nope."

Finally, I spotted where I wanted to go, and we parked and gathered our bags. She froze when she saw the sign at the entrance : WARNING – You May Encounter Nude Sunbathing Within Boardwalk 5.

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes!"

"You said—"

I cut her off. "I said half the tan lines were okay at the house. And since everywhere says you get in trouble if you do anything on the beaches, not even that there.BUT—" I practically shouted to drown her renewed protests. "But you've done nothing but take your top off for a guy who sees you naked every night."

She started to argue about the roommate who'd seen her topless through the sliding door, but I wasn't having it. "Oh big deal! I bounced my tits all over a stage, plus took my shirt off, never mind almost got felt up, for a ton of horny men I've never met. So shut up and march!"

"You're doing it too."

"Nope. Remember what you said when I asked you to join me on stage?" She did.

I took the "I so hate you" in the same spirit I'd delivered it to Em. She stared at me mulishly, then trudged after.

She was slightly mollified to find that there were others who went for clothing-optional on the beach, but it didn't stop the entire-body blush when it came time for the bathing suit bottom to come off and two thirty-somethings fifty feet away watched.

Disappointed only one of us stripped? I thought at the two.

My phone dinged. I checked and then texted back.

"Who's that?"

"The boys. They just finished classes and they're on their way." For a moment, I thought I'd have rebellion on my hands at best, lose a friend at worst. "You remember what you said to me before the wet T-shirt contest? You said, 'If you do, then you can say you did it.'" I saw the Jules-logic get through to her.

If the blush that had come when she slid the bikini bottoms down before was body-wide, it was epic when we heard, "Hey, Julia." She was on her stomach, only her ass and sideboob visible.

It took fifteen minutes for her to work up the nerve to roll over under the watchful eyes of three guys ... only one of whom had seen her naked before. I don't know if the soft "Fuck!" from one of the roommates as a nice pair and a trimmed dark triangle came into view pleased or mortified. Probably both. It took another half an hour before she gave a laugh and said, "Why the fuck not," to a suggestion of a Frisbee game.

It wasn't the same for me as with Logan or Brey or the Game, but it was fun to watch her accept the dare and then go all-in. I felt like I was sharing a little of my new life with her.

Maybe someday there'll be a way to share more.

We went out that night, the five of us. "One and done," I said firmly as we walked in. At the puzzled expressions, I pointed to the banner announcing a contest later.

"Of course. Been there, done that," Julia agreed.

Far too easily.