"Dare you to take off your top too."
"What?? No way!"
Sitting on the beach that day, it just seemed my way of pushing her buttons a little. Lots of women go topless on South Beach, and we had seen scores of topless women here before in our many previous visits. But this was the first time I had ever said anything to her about it.
"Sure, why not? There are dozens of other women on this beach without their tops, and most of them don't come anywhere close to comparing with what you have underneath yours," I said with a mischievous grin. "Plus, there's no one here we know."
Meredith playfully smacked my arm and replied, "Like that matters. I am perfectly happy with my bikini top on, thank you very much. Why on earth would I possibly want to take it off?"
"Maybe you are tired of tan lines?" I rhetorically asked. "Or maybe you want to fight the prejudice that allows men to go shirtless in public and not women? Or maybe, just maybe, you'd like to be a little on the naughty side and show them off a bit to everyone."
"Oh and if I did, that wouldn't bother you all?" she retorted. "Everyone on the beach ogling your girlfriend's breasts?"
"It's not like I'm pimping you out for a cheap thrill or anything. If you want to do it, I'll be proud to be the guy sitting next to you, and better yet, leaving the beach with you," I answered, with the most charming smile I could muster. "But...if you aren't as brave as these other women, I'll understand."
Well that got her going. Meredith was as competitive as she was beautiful, and she wasn't going to let some cheap bimbo, or pasty-white German tourist outdo her. It's just what I counted on.
"Bravery has nothing to do with it – like these other women are so brave," she answered sarcastically. "And since it is legal here, there is no punitive reason why I can't do it." She continued to reason aloud to herself, "And none of your bonehead fraternity brothers are here to get a look, so there'd be no awkward encounters in the future." Looking around, she paused several seconds longer as if contemplating one more detail, and then turned to me with a very sly smile and said, "Alright Mr. Instigator, I'll do it."
Success!!!
"If..."
'Uh oh,' I thought to myself, what does she have in mind? I should have known she wouldn't cave to my request so easily. What were her terms going to include? "OK, what's the if?"
"Well, this is such an easy, one-sided argument for you," she replied. "I can't come back at you and say 'I'll do it if you'll do it' because you are already shirtless. There are no consequences for you. However, I can say to you, 'I'll go topless, if you go bottomless'," she finished with a grin. And now I understood why it was so sly.
"Bottomless?!? I can't go bottomless. This isn't a nude beach!" I frantically replied. "I'd be arrested."
"True," she affirmed. "You would be arrested if you went nude here at South Beach...but not up at Haulover Beach," the sly smile still firmly affixed to her gorgeous face.
Ah ha, THAT was her plan. She was referring to the popular nude beach a bit further north of here. Neither of us had ever been to it before, nor to any other nude beaches. And now she was suggesting I go there and parade around in all my glory. I had been testing her sense of adventure with the topless dare, and now she had not only turned around and called me on it, but had raised the stakes as well.
"Well we are here at South Beach today, so how on earth am I supposed to go nude at Haulover, while you are topless here?"