I dumped Jake in April. I had just turned 22. He was my third boyfriend and a resounding confirmation that I was only attracted to men that eventually turn out to be assholes.
In late June, the weekend of a camping trip we'd planned arrived. My two girlfriends Caroline and Tara were still in happy relationships, so I knew that I was going to be a fifth wheel.
Whatever, I liked camping and I had a bunch of reading to do.
One good thing about Jake was that he'd been really enthusiastic about camping. He had much better equipment than I did, but we'd never actually been camping together, so I'd be back in the leaky old tent my younger brother and I had shared for family trips when I was in high school. The weather forecast was great, so I'd be fine.
The reason that I dumped him was that he started to get really pervy. He wanted me to wear increasingly revealing clothes. He'd tell me to not wear underwear when I came out to meet him for a date. I like to think that I'm adventurous, but I guess I'm not adventurous in that way. I want the guy I'm dating to make me feel safe. I want him to make me feel sexy too, but first, I have to feel safe.
When I balked at some of his suggestions and he got more insistent, I dumped his ass.
Both Caroline and Tara liked Jake. They said that I'm too much of a prude and that I should have given him more of a chance. They made fun of me because I got uncomfortable when they referred to "tits", "ass" and "pussy" where I stuck to "boobs", "bum" and "junk".
Anyway, I didn't give Jake another chance. So now I was going on a 3-couples camping weekend as the only single.
We arrived on Friday night and we had the spot until Sunday at noon. The site Tara's boyfriend Paul had booked was fantastic. It had been an hour and a half hike with packs from the parking lot, but it had a nice private bit of beach next to a lake.
We'd grabbed a bite during the 3-hour drive and it was already starting to get dark when we got to our site. When we arrived we put on our headlamps and set up the tents. We'd left after work, so we were all pretty tired. We just crawled into our respective sleeping bags.
Saturday was beautiful. We swam, we had surprisingly good meals, we girls lounged in bikinis and soaked up the sun, Paul and Trent found us plenty of firewood.
After dinner, Trent rolled a joint and we passed around a mickey of Fireball. We had a nice fire going and, despite the fact that my companions were two couples, I still felt included. It was only my second time trying weed, so I coughed a bit.
It got dark and, after we finished laughing at one of Tara's crazy office stories, there was a lull in the conversation. I sat on my towel on a well worn section of log and enjoyed how the snap and pop of the fire punctuated the silence. The air smelled sweet, the sky was clear and there was a full moon.
"I'm going for a swim!" Caroline announced. She stood up and started walking toward the lake.
"I'm with you babe," Trent said launched himself after her.
Caroline was wearing her bikini, but she was discarding it as she walked. Trent was hopping to remove his shoes and his pants soon followed.
Tara looked at Paul, raising her eyebrows. Paul looked at me, shrugged and the two of them got up. They turned toward the lake and started shedding their clothes too. "You coming?" Tara asked, but they didn't wait for an answer.
Being out of the firelight's glow, their four bare bums were blue-grey as they finished stripping and charged into the lake.
Pretty soon they were all laughing and splashing about. "Come on in Wilson," Caroline called, "the water's amazing!" Everyone calls me Meg except for Caroline, who insists on using my last name.
I'd been swimming all day, so I couldn't imagine that it would feel even more amazing at night. I'd never skinny dipped before, though. Could I strip naked in front of my friends? If it had been just Caroline and Tara, sure, but with the two guys there?
"Yeah Meg, come swim with us!" Tara called. "We won't judge if you keep your swimsuit on."
I had a nice buzz going and getting in the water was very appealing. I got up and walked down to the water. I still had my bikini on.
I thought about taking my bikini off and swimming naked. I was intrigued but I felt my familiar shyness. Away from the fire, my eyes adjusted and there was no problem seeing four heads bobbing in the water. And they'd have no problem seeing me if I stripped.
I admit it, I was embarrassingly prudish about taking my clothes off in front of people!
I know they were all disappointed when I just walked into the water still wearing my bikini.
"Tara may not judge you," Caroline said, "but I'm going to. Seriously, swimming naked is so much better!"
Trent and Paul were smart enough to not say anything.
I swam about a bit. I felt stupid for not being brave enough to take my swimsuit off. It was night and these were my friends. None of them had a camera with them.
"Okay," I said.
"What?" Caroline swam towards me, grinning. "My prudish friend is going to get naked?"
I was close enough to shore that I had to crouch down a bit for the water to go up to my shoulders. I removed my bikini top and... "Oh wow!" I gasped. The sensation was so much better than I was expecting. The water was so soft and cool against my bare boobs. It felt wonderful!
Laughing, I threw my bikini top up on the beach.
I was grinning madly. My friends were all watching me. I stared right into Caroline's eyes. Nothing could have wiped the smile off my face at that moment. She stared back.
"Bottomless is even better," she said.
I reached down under the water and pulled my bikini bottoms off. The cool water swished between my legs in my most intimate places. My jaw went slack. Caroline was right. This was such a simple thing and yet it was so incredibly great.
I tossed my bikini bottoms up onto the beach.
Caroline laughed at the look of pure delight on my face. I was genuinely shocked that removing so little clothing could make such a profound difference. It felt better than anything.
"This is amazing!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. My friends all laughed and we splashed about for a while.
I don't know how long I swam and floated out there feeling completely joyous and blissed. I was aware that my companions eventually got out of the water. They're all going to go and have sex, I thought. That's what I'd be doing if Jake were there.
But they didn't all go and have sex. They went back to the fire, dried off and put their clothes back on. Trent put another couple of logs on the fire and they all started chatting and passing the booze around again.
Eventually I decided to go and join them, so I floated to shore and looked around for my bikini. Neither part of it was where I'd tossed it.
