Note: This is a sequel to my earlier
Theory and Practise
and
Shocking the Family
. It should stand alone, though.
*
"Hey," said Nina, "what's your opinion on nudity?"
I looked at her over the top of the book I was reading. "Is that an offer?" I asked.
"No it bloody isn't!" Nina snapped. Then she caught herself. "Sorry," she muttered. "I didn't mean to bit your head off. It was a straight question, though."
I put my book aside. We were hanging out in my room, supposedly both catching up on some reading, but Nina had been distracted and fidgety ever since she'd arrived. If she wanted to talk, I wanted to give her the chance. "Do you mean in movies?" I asked. We shared a lot of interest in that subject; it was what had brought us together. "Or paintings or something?
Artistic
nudity, like they call it?"
"No," she said, shaking her head, "I mean in real life. Public nudity, I suppose you'd say. Not just two people together in private."
I shrugged. "Can't say I worry about it much," I said. "I mean, I suppose I'd have to say ... it's just bodies, right? Everyone's got one. We shouldn't have hang-ups about it, blah blah blah. But on the other hand..." I pulled a face. "I guess, well, I don't think that the world needs to see my dangly bits."
"No, said Nina, sounding as though I'd given the right answer. "And there's the sunburn problem, too."
"Uh, pardon?"
Nina pulled a face. "I burn easily," she muttered.
"Oh, right. And you don't want to lose your death pallor, after all."
Nina stuck her tongue out at me, but I reckoned that I might not have been entirely wrong there. Nina took her Goth status quite seriously, when she wasn't trying to wind up other Goths.
"Anyway, why do you ask?" I said.
She sighed. "It's about next week," she answered.
"Uh, pardon?" I said again and blinked.
Next week
was when I was going to be meeting her family for the first time. She'd already met mine, twice, and got along with them pretty well, considering, but she'd seemed uncertain about inviting me to her home for the next vacation. She'd been quite cagey about the whole subject, up until now.
Nina sighed. "I've told you about my mother, haven't I?" she said.
"Well, you've said she's a bit of an old hippy," I said, and then I began putting things together. "Oh... Do you mean..."
"Don't worry," Nina said quickly. "She doesn't wander around the house naked or anything. Well, not when we have visitors. You're probably safe there. But she did spend years telling me -- well, what you just said, really. Nothing to be ashamed of, wonderfully natural, all that crap."
I shrugged. "So she's a bit drippy-hippy, but not totally crazy. What's the problem?"
Nina sighed. "Grace," she muttered.
I frowned. "Your sister?" I asked, and Nina nodded. She'd said even less about her older sister than she had about her mother, except that the pair of them still lived at home together. I gathered that her father wasn't around; apparently, there'd been a fairly amicable divorce, and he now lived over in France somewhere. "What about her?"
"She's a pain in the arse," Nina said. "And since I got into university, well, she's just got worse. She didn't put the work in herself -- she's happy sponging off Mum, helping with the pottery business, supposedly -- and I reckon that me getting away annoys her somehow. She can be a bit of a bitch sometimes."
"Sorry to hear that," I said, "but you'll have me around now. I'll try and help."
"Thanks," Nina said. "but this isn't one of those things you can handle with a quick technological fix, geek-boy. I'll just have to deal with Grace head on."
"I'll try and provide moral support. But anyway, what's that got to do with nudity?"
"Nothing, I hope," Nina said, drawing a deep breath. "Though I guess that Mum's funny ideas about
freedom
and
honesty
and being
natural
are something else I'll just have to deal with somehow, one day. Anyhow -- you know how you asked if what I said was an invitation?"
"Yes?"
"Well, if you like..."
"Yes?"
"Feel free to get nude. If that's what you want." And with that, Nina sat down, picked up her own book, and gave me a casual look and a shrug before she started reading again.
I sighed, stood up, and began hauling my shirt off over my head. This sounded like a challenge, and one thing I'd decided was best was not to turn down any of Nina's little challenges. It was probably going to get me into trouble, sooner or later, but the truth was, I was scared that Nina might decide that I was just a wimpy geek if I backed down too easily. I'd rather take a few chances than have her decide that I was no fun.
When I was completely naked, I just stood there for a moment, until Nina looked up from her book. "Turn round," she said. "Right round."
I obeyed, and she nodded and sat forward, on the edge of her chair as if to take a better look. "Actually," she said, "your dangly bits aren't
that
bad."
"Thanks," I said.
She reached forward, took my still-limp cock in one hand, and began caressing it gently. Then she looked me in the face. "Do you really fancy me?" she asked.
"Wrong time to ask," I said, as calmly as I could manage. "Answer's got to be
yes