When Sylvia parked in Ned´s driveway, she dug in the trunk and pulled out a shopping bag before she went to the door and pushed the bell. In a moment or two, Toni opened the door and stood there, naked.
“Come on in,” Toni said. “You said you like skin, you´ll get plenty here.”
Sylvia laughed, went in and, when the door was closed, handed the bag to Toni. “I brought some stuff. See if it´s what you like. Okay if I strip?”
“Thanks,” Toni replied. “Go ahead. Ned´s out on the porch. That´s where we spend the sunny days.”
In response, Sylvia reached behind her and simply pulled her shift up and over her head. She wore nothing under it. “That´s better,” she said, following Toni to the sun deck. Ned rose, bowed nakedly.
“Good afternoon, Sylvia,” he declared formally, and extended his hand. Sylvia shook it, mock-curtsied, and replied, “Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for inviting me.”
Toni was rummaging in the shopping bag. “Blue corn chips. Two avocados.” She looked at Ned. “Sit down and talk, you two, I feel a dip coming on.” She went off toward the kitchen; Sylvia caught her before she disappeared and dug into the bottom of the bag.
Ned gestured toward a chair in the sunshine. “We´ve got water, bubble water, pop and beer. You bring any sunscreen? We´ve got that, too.”
Sylvia raised her hand. “That´s what I grabbed before Toni left.” She began anointing her body with oil while Ned watched, relaxed in his chair. He watched as she covered her breasts and belly, her legs and crotch and buttocks. She handed Ned the tube.
“Do my back?” she asked. Ned applied the oil to her back, covering her thoroughly.
“Okay?” he asked.
“Yes. And I wasn´t testing you. I already knew you wouldn´t mess with me.”
“I wouldn´t be so sure the next time,” Ned said. “You´re great looking and I´ll bet you´re good in bed. If I get to like you, I´ll probably make a pass at you.”
“Won´t Toni mind?”
“Depends. I don´t think so. She´s my best girl, but we aren´t exclusive.”
“She live here?”
“No, not right now.”
“It´s taking some doing to figure out what´s going on here.”
“Don´t sweat it. You´ll work it out. Probably about the same time we do.” Ned settled back in his chair, and Sylvia followed suit in the chair next to him. Toni´s chair, marked with a book and her glass, was on his other side. Sylvia poured herself a glass of water and lay back, her legs spread, breasts high.
“You know,” Ned said, “I´m glad you started coming to Wednesday. Everyone seems to like you and you look great. I love the way you´re always showing off.”
“Only on my own time, Ned. Can´t – won´t – do it at the office. But I guess because I´m so small, or something, I like to remind people I´m all woman. I kind of get off on it, too, when the guys look down my front.”
“Not many girls are willing to admit that, Sylvia,” Ned said. Sylvia just shrugged, making her breasts bounce.
Sylvia glanced at Ned. “Isn´t there a problem sometimes, with jealousy?”
“You mean at Wednesday? What makes you ask?”
“Come on, Ned. Dana and Jenny crawl all over each other and Ed. Melanie feels up Dana any time she´s close enough.”
“Well, I noticed you rubbing up against Melanie there, after you got talking about it all. And if that wasn´t your thigh rubbing mine, I´m Santa Claus.”
“It seems to be okay, and no one takes it seriously, I think. I found out it´s fun – Melanie´s got great tits. Anyway, there´s a lot of action going on there, even though I don´t know for sure who´s doing what. Usually that means war.”
“I guess you´re right, in most cases. With this group it doesn´t seem to happen. I think Dana, Melanie and Jenny are bi – but I´m not sure with whom. The guys don´t seem to mind – I know I don´t.”
“So, none of you guys is screwing anyone but his sweetie?”
“As far as I know, but I don´t think that´s the issue.”
“Bullshit, Ned, I know better.”
“What´s bullshit?” Toni asked, returning with the chips, a bowl of fresh guacamole and a pitcher of sangria.
Ned explained. “Sylvia thinks we should all be jealous as hell about the way everybody feels each other up at Wednesday.”
“Well, mostly, I´m surprised you aren´t,” Sylvia explained. “And he says nobody minds if you screw around with each other.”
Toni thought about it briefly. “Well, I think it is a little unusual. I can´t speak for the others, but speaking for myself, I thought about jealousy long ago and decided against it.”
“That´s so weird, I almost believe it. What do you mean?”
Ned reached for his glass. “Yeah, it´s news to me, too.”
“I noticed in high school that sometimes a guy I liked would go off with someone else, or go out with someone without telling me. I got jealous until I realized that I was angry because of something they did. It wasn´t my fault. So, I made sure my guys knew my rules. If they broke them, it was over.”
“Uh, maybe I better know what those rules are,” Ned ventured.
“Oh, you do. We settled that, that Sunday morning. Be honest with me. Don´t lie to me. If you want to screw someone, tell me and see how I feel about it. Then make your own decision.
“See, what I realized then, Sylvia, was that jealousy happens when I think that what someone does is because I´m not good enough, or important enough. When I think there´s something wrong with me. If I don´t fall for that – then if someone cheats on me, it´s not my fault, it´s they who've done wrong. You can deal with that, but if I start with the idea that I´m at fault, I´m really in trouble.”
“I never thought of it like that,” Sylvia said.
Ned nodded agreement. “If I accept that, Toni, then the reason we don´t have jealousy at Wednesday is that most everyone feels secure with themselves and with their partner. I guess I should say ‘Congratulations´ and then, ‘Thank you´.”
Toni waved off the compliment.
Sylvia turned to Ned. “How do you deal with jealousy? Not that there´s anything to be jealous about, I guess, if none of you guys is jumping each other´s girlfriends, as you say.”
“I agree with the way Toni put it, but my own view is a little different. Jealousy implies that you own someone, and you just can´t do that. I can´t be jealous of someone who´s honest with me about her relationships, the way Toni is. I don´t own her, I can´t tell her what to do. All I can do is make sure she knows what I like and what I don´t like and go from there. The only way people get along together is by agreement. If you don´t negotiate, communicate, you can´t get along. And vice versa.”
“I guess I´d better think about that,” Sylvia said, sadly. “I just blew away a guy I liked because I found out he screwed someone else.”
Toni glanced at Ned and changed the subject. “Where´d you get into nudity, Sylvia?”
“Back east,” Sylvia replied. “I got into going out on the Cape weekends. There are lots of nude beaches there, and I really got to like it. Trouble is, there´s a lot of harassment goes on there, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if you go with some guy, you get to watch all the exhibitionists. If you go alone, you get harassed by the guys and the girls. And don´t even mention the voyeurs. Not always a very comfortable thing. You´re lucky to have this place.”
“What made you come west?” Toni asked, pouring sangria. “It sure wasn´t the condition of the beaches.”
“Well, in a way it was. See, I worked for this big architectural firm in Boston – they call it ‘The Thundering Herd´, there are so many architects in it.” She reached for chips and gobbled some dip. “...Oh, I like that... Well, the gal who first took me to the beach – turns out she goes to show herself off. You have to keep telling her how great she looks. And then, one of my other co-workers saw me out at the beach and took some pictures and showed them around the office. I raised hell, but no one cared. After all, it was sort of an office thing to go to the Cape and get naked. But then one of the partners made a pass at me. So I got out of there as fast as I could. Besides, I was lost in that madhouse.”
Toni thought that over. “I suppose, since you were out in public, you couldn´t prevent people taking pictures. But I can´t see a company letting someone show them around.”
Ned shook his head. “I wouldn´t expect anything else. It´s probably illegal, but try and stop it. Mostly, though, it isn´t fair. What we do on our own time is our own business.”
“Speaking of minding my own business, who´s this guy you met and blew away?” Toni asked, with a grin.
“It was a guy I met before I started coming to Wednesday. I liked him and I discovered he´s really hung.”
Toni grinned, “Was that, um, a problem?”
Sylvia chuckled, “We worked on it for a while and I finally got it all in. Really wonderful. But I really shouldn´t go on about it; I don´t tell tales, and anyway it´s over. And, I have another prospect. Name´s Phil. He´s a water lawyer. Never knew that all the water out here belongs to someone.”
“Going to bring him to Wednesday?”
“I´ll give it some thought. I think I might try some more of the body contact you all do in that booth – I know how to say ‘No´, same as I know how to say ‘Yes´. And, I need to do some thinking about what you said about jealousy. See, I´ve always been pretty exclusive, mostly habit, I guess. I sure haven´t thought much about it.”
“Phil into nudity?” Toni asked.
“So far, hasn´t been an issue. Have to think about that, too. He´s about your size – over six feet.”
“Just be sure you let the rest of us know what your rules are.”
“Deal,” Sylvia said, “When I get ‘em figured out.”
.oOo.
When Sylvia had left it was dark and Ned and Toni picked up the porch.
“I like her,” Toni said.
“Me too.”
“Sexy, that girl. Makes me think – I haven´t been laid all afternoon.”
“Well, she´s got a great body. I´ll bet it would be a kick screwing someone that tiny. But I tell you what.”
“What?”
“Unless she wants you, you don´t stand a chance.”
“And if she does?”
“I still don´t think you´d stand a chance.”
“She´s a determined woman. So am I.”
“What´s that mean?”
“It means you´ve got to fuck me. I´ve been dripping for hours.”