Joy knocked on the door to her girlfriend's apartment and waited patiently for her to open the door. The sign on the front door normally said "Clothing optional beyond this point" but the word "optional" had masking tape over it and written in felt pen instead was the word "forbidden." This was actually the rule of the house, anyone who was invited over was informed in advance that all clothing was to be removed upon entry, most assumed it was because of wild sex orgies or that the occupants were addicted to seeing naked bodies to fantasize and masturbate about. The real truth was that Devon and her roommate were naturalists and enjoyed being naked more than being clothed and since their home was their sanctum they chose for it to be a private nudist colony.
Devon opened the door in a robe and Joy slid inside promptly removing her top and shorts so that her better half could hang the robe up next to the door where it hung so that passer-by would not see naked bodies and possibly be offended whenever they opened the door. Devon's roommate was nowhere to be seen so Joy inquired why before sitting down on the couch.
"He got called into work today." Devon sat next to her and lit a cigarette, breathing in the smoke and letting it out in one long breath. "So what's up, you sounded freaked over the phone?"
"I met this guy last night." Joy stopped, unsure about how to continue, she looked at the floor feeling ashamed all of a sudden.
"So?" Devon looked confused. "You're free to fuck all the cock you want you know that. Just knock it off when we get married is all."
"I know, it's not that..." Joy couldn't bring herself to explain.
"Joy, what's wrong? You are seriously freaked out I can tell."
"I had a dream that this guy I raced against was a vampire and he followed me home to rape me and kill me." She blurted it out so fast Devon obviously didn't catch it all so Joy explained in detail the race and what happened after she got home.
"That's the weird part, I don't remember much of it but I don't remember ever lying down to sleep either, it's like my dream erased part of my memory and replaced it."
"Sounds pretty vivid too, definitely one freaky fucking dream. No wonder you're so bent out of shape." Devon took a drag on her smoke before continuing. "What do you remember about it?"
"I felt myself dying." Joy finally looked back at her partner. "It felt so real I woke up screaming. I thought I was dead."
"Dying? Wow, it's said that if you ever died in your dream you would die in real life too. What did that feel like?"
"It was like, slipping away. I could myself shutting down, I got cold, by limbs went numb and my eyesight and hearing gradually faded until I was almost deaf and blind. It was at the moment that I thought I had died when I woke up."
Devon and Joy just sat on the couch for a long time without saying anything to each other. They shifted uncomfortably and occasionally stared at each other. Devon finished her cigarette and mashed it out in a nearby ashtray.
"Thankfully it was just a dream." Devon broke the silence finally.
"Yeah, you hungry?" Joy finally asked.
"Nah I just ate."
"I'm going to grab some grub before going to work. Need a ride?" Joy stood and went to gather her clothes.
"Sure, wait up." They went to Joy's house first so she could gather her outfits for the club that night and put on her underwear. After that they went to a fast food place to get some food. They didn't talk much and Devon noticed that something was wrong with Joy's skin.
"You're getting red." She pointed out after they sat down. Joy looked at her arm and saw that a minor sunburn had formed.
"Well it's hotter than hell out there, guess I need to start wearing sunscreen again."
"Its not that hot Joy, its only the mid seventies."
"Come on you know how my skin is, I always burn easily its all that time I spend indoors."
"Yeah but its never been this bad, you should have it checked out."
"Ok I will, as soon as my vacation starts." Joy was worried about her skin though she hadn't been in the sun that long and she had never burned this easily before, maybe the stress from work? She couldn't see how.
"You're taking a vacation? I didn't know about that, when?" Joy cursed herself for letting her surprise slip out.
"Yeah, next week, I arranged for you and me to have one week all to ourselves to have fun, frolic and be crazy in Puerto Rico."
Devon yelped in delight and hugged Joy so tight Joy thought she was going to suffocate. Devon had always wanted to visit the Caribbean and now she was going to get her chance. For the rest of the hour and a half they had until they had to work at the club Devon didn't talk about anything else. She must have brought up five times about how she wanted to go snorkeling nude and see the famous Barracuda that sometimes swam up to tourists. On the way to Grinder's, Joy stopped and grabbed some sunscreen, it helped her skin heal up some and she didn't feel as hot as she had before.