The story so far: everything is out in the open, Lisa has confessed to her exhibitionist friend Becky that she is in love with her -- and to her astonishment, Becky has admitted she feels the same about Lisa, and nature has taken its course, with the two best friends now lovers and in a relationship...
Chapter 36 -- Pride (Epilogue)
Six months had passed, and Lisa and Becky's love had endured and grown.
Living apart, attending separate universities, had been a challenge, but they saw one another as often as they could. They would take it in turns when one or the other had a free weekend, Lisa travelling to stay with Becky or vise-versa. It was easier the other way -- Becky still had her roommate after all, and so when they were at Becky's the two had to limit their lovemaking to times when she was out. Fortunately, much to Lisa's surprise, the roommate turned out to be a good-natured sort who was happy to grant them a bit of privacy (Becky still maintained to Lisa that her roommate was the enemy, however, mostly due to the other girl still requiring her to wear clothes in her company).
The rest of the time they had to make do with online video-chat, often falling asleep together, miles apart, heads resting next to laptop screens.
The holidays were the best time. Three weeks at Easter where they had come home together, and barely been apart.
They'd laid the groundwork for that, coming out as a couple to family and friends, not wanting to waste precious time sneaking about when they could be out in the open.
Lisa's family had been surprised at her revelation of her sexuality, and doubly so when she revealed that her new girlfriend was in fact a young woman whom they had known most of her life and, indeed, considered a de facto member of their own family. But in many ways, that made it easier for them to accept -- they knew Becky already, and loved her and had already welcomed her into their home. It required only minimal adjustment for them to start thinking of her not as their daughter's closest friend but as her partner, although Lisa's mother had discretely enquired if, now, when Becky stayed over at Lisa's house she would still be staying in Lisa's room and had taken some time to get used to the answer!
Her brothers were more difficult, still getting over the idea that their big sister was in a loving relationship with another woman when (Lisa suspected) their only previous understanding of lesbianism was from their typical teenage "secret" browsing of online porn. The idea that their sibling, and her incredibly pretty friend, were admitting to doing the sort of things they had seen girls in these videos do created an awkwardness whenever Carl or Ben would encounter both girls together, and while Lisa sensed that this would dissipate as they grew up, it wasn't always easy at the time.
Becky's mum responded unexpectedly to her own daughter's coming out. Not with disapproval -- she was more than happy to learn the two girls were together -- but with revelations. Not long after Becky's father had passed, when her daughter was still a little girl, Becky's mum told them, she'd herself had a relationship with another woman, and then later a second affair. Indeed, Becky's mum admitted, she considered herself "mostly gay" now, but had kept her sexuality secret out of worry that Becky would be upset by it. Happily, the end result was that her mother, single for many years, began dating women again, with her daughter coaching her on the intricacies of dating apps and the like.
Following the ugly scenes at the pub at Christmas, both girls were unsurprised to discover that they had fewer of their friends that they had used to have; but those who remained were nothing but supportive upon learning that Becky and Lisa were a couple. Indeed, the girls were rather surprised by the number of people who had commented to the effect of "finally" -- apparently, their existing closeness and "thick-as-thieves" relationship had caused several who knew them to speculate when, rather than if, the two would pair off.
Lisa's housemates were completely underwhelmed by the revelation. Not having known her longer than a few months, most simply assumed that Lisa had been gay or bisexual all along and had simply chosen not to mention it until she needed to -- only when learning that Becky was her first girlfriend and that the relationship was the end result of a long friendship and star-crossed unrequited love did they coo and gush happily.
Only Jacqui had known the full story already, and when she saw Lisa and Becky together for the first time, the older girl simply raised an eyebrow and, to Lisa, said, "told you so."
Free, then, to pursue their relationship openly, Lisa and Becky began to ingratiate into each other's lives, to function socially and domestically as a real couple, very much in love.
--
From early on, both girls had agreed that Becky's exhibitionism and love of nudity was to be a welcome, and encouraged, aspect to their relationship. It thrilled them both for their own reasons -- Becky loved to be nude and to be seen, while Lisa loved the sight, and the spirit, of Becky's nakedness.
Dares and other exhibitionist adventures became a normal part of their sex life -- too many to list here, some delightful, some disastrous, but all memorable. Lisa, for her part, remained committed to keeping her own clothes on -- at least in public.
In private, however, she found that Becky's constant desire for nakedness was infectious, and often when it was just the two of them, she would remain nude after they had made love, sitting watching television or listening to music with Becky in her small dorm room, skin against skin, blissfully happy.
Still, she often reminded herself of the summer, when she'd had to run through the campsite in the nude, or when Jerry the hiker had stumbled upon her and Becky in the woods, and grimaced. There was no chance she was going to wind up naked in public like her girlfriend, not ever again.
Or so she thought.
--
It was June, and warm. Lisa was preparing for her upcoming trip, in a few days' time, to see Becky at her university. Soon term would be over and they would be home for a long, leisurely summer, to spend together as much as they desired. They were already looking at holidays together -- in particular, a longer return trip to camping in the woods.
But there was time yet for one final visit to see Becky before packing up and heading for home, one last weekend reunion. Friday, for Lisa, couldn't come quickly enough, but it was only Thursday when Becky, excitedly, called her up.
"They want people in the Pride parade!" she explained. "I think we should!"
Becky had, finally, found some acceptance at her university. Although she had never really bonded with her housemates, her relationship with Lisa had led to her becoming involved in the university's LGBTQ society, wherein she had at last found new friends who weren't particularly perturbed by the notion that she might be a nudist. The university LGBTQ society was a big part of her city's Pride event, and many students from the society marched in the parade and appeared on floats.
The event was this coming weekend, and Lisa readily agreed they should take part -- until Becky explained the exact reason she was so excited to do so.
"They want people to be body-painted!" she gushed happily.
Lisa groaned.
--
The idea was to get a handful of students to ride on one of the floats, wearing nothing save for brightly-coloured paint on their skin, to make some sort of statement about body-positivity, identity and such that Lisa didn't fully understand. Privately she suspected someone had just decided it would look cool, and had come up with a reason to justify it after the fact.
It was, Becky felt strongly, something they should both do, and there was no persuading her otherwise.
"It'll be fine," she assured her worried girlfriend. "It won't be like you'll actually be naked. The paint will cover you up."
Lisa wasn't sure how much coverage a layer of coloured paint would provide -- certainly not enough to disguise that she was, in fact, not wearing any clothes. She looked down at herself. While she'd progressed in recent months towards the realization that her body, with her round hips and narrow chest, was far from terrible in its unclothed appearance, she was also acutely aware that no matter how much paint hid the tone of her skin, it would be her visible shapeliness that was more of a concern.
Nonetheless, she couldn't say no to Becky.
So it was that she found herself, together with her girlfriend, arriving at a student shared house on the Saturday morning.
There would be nowhere to get ready with paint at the start of the parade, Becky had explained, so the students who would be on the float, and the ones doing the painting, had agreed to rendezvous first at one of their houses, get ready, then the painted participants would be driven to the event to take their place on the float as it started the parade.
It was a warm, sunny day, and when the two girls told the young man who answered the door that they were there for the painting, he motioned them through to the back garden. There, a tall, long haired man was putting the finishing touches to a vibrant pattern painted onto a full-figured, entirely naked girl with cropped pink hair and studs in her nose and lips. A well-muscled young man sporting a very minimal design which left much of his skin bare (only covering his right thigh, hip and genitals) stood smoking a cigarette and talking to a similarly good looking lad in shorts who was waiting to get painted. A few others of varying body types and genders stood around dressed, half-dressed or in robes, and there was apparently another painter who had nipped out for a break.
Becky, typically, divested herself of all of her clothing as soon as they realized they were in the right place, even though it looked like it would be a little while for them to wait their turn to be painted. She intended to make the most of a chance to be naked outside, in the company of people who weren't at all perturbed by her lack of clothing.
Lisa, though, kept her clothes firmly on until it was at last her turn. By now, most of the people in the garden were naked and painted up, so she didn't feel completely awful when she shyly undressed and stood, awkwardly, in front of the long-haired guy.
"Got any preference for design?" he asked, rooting through sponges and paintbrushes.
Lisa blushed. "Something that covers a lot?" she suggested.
The young painted paused, and took a look at her. "Hmm," he pondered after a moment. "No problem. Better lose the pubes though, hun. The paint tends to matt them together. It doesn't look great."
