The next couple of weeks flew by for me. I had been inundated with work, especially since a couple of the other nurses had to go on emergency leave.
There had been no time between shifts to relax. It had been a rinse and repeat of 14 hours of work, 1 hour to eat and shower, 8 hours of sleep, and commute time. But relief was on the horizon. After I ended this shift, I would have 5 days to relax and enjoy myself.
Over the course of the last few months of work, I had developed a close relationship with two of my co-workers, Madeleine (everyone called her Maddy), and Yasmine.
Maddy was a year older than me and had lived in Georgia most of her life. She had worked at this particular hospital for the past 4 years. She was the girl with the southern charm (with the accent to match), long thick blonde locks of hair, green eyes, and around 5' 2".
She was dynamic and outgoing. My complete opposite. Which is probably why I had grown close to her. I wanted to emulate that behavior. If we went out after work or on the weekends, I usually went with Maddy. Otherwise, I would have likely stayed at home.
Yasmine, only a year out of nursing school and 2 years younger than me, was a 6'2" ebony queen. Stunning in almost every way, she turned everyone's head when she walked into the room.
She was usually the nurse that was called when patients needed to be moved from beds and around the hospital. Yasmine loved to workout, and it was readily apparent, but she was the kindest and most introspective friend I had ever had. I began to rely on Yasmine's opinion and point of view for many decisions.
I felt like I could speak to Yasmine about anything. I occasionally confided with Yasmine on several occasions about events that had occurred in my personal and professional career and opinions that Iheld about various matters. Yasmine was reliable and consistent with her feedback. I trusted her completely.
This was going to be a special five days off. I was going to spend it with my two closest friends. We had planned this vacation for the last couple months. We would be starting the drive to Pensacola after our shift was over. Everything was already packed and waiting in the car, all we had to do was change and get on the road.
We were on the road by 2 pm and switched drivers every couple hours until we arrived at our destination around 10 pm. The drive had been full of loud music and singing and several caffeinated drinks to keep us awake after our long shift at work. We were still wired upon arrival at the hotel.
"Let's go swim in the ocean!" Maddy squealed in excitement as soon as we dropped the bags in the room.
We had splurged and gone in together on a top floor, two bedroom, 2 bathroom hotel room with 3 king sized beds, an ocean view, and a hot tub on the back porch. We were not going to be stingy after the last month of work that we had experienced.
We quickly changed into swimsuits and ran together through the white sandy beaches out into the surf.
I was wearing an orange string bikini that accentuated my naturally tan skin, Maddy was wearing a fun print bikini with a bandeau top, and Yasmine wore a white, high cut, cross bandage monokini, revealing her toned belly and pierced belly button.
There was only a tiny bit of light left in the night sky and there were a few other lighted pavilions of other resorts or restaurants that lit the beach in our vicinity. There were only a handful of people walking the beach. Newlywed couples to golden year couples were out strolling the beach or sitting on the surf together. A couple beach runners and the occasional lone walker traversed along the beach. It was early October and there was still a warm ocean breeze wafting off the gulf waters.
We were like an exclamation mark on this otherwise serene evening. Hyped up on caffeine and excited to be away from work. We ran and jumped into the water, splashed each other, challenged each other to distance swimming, attempted body surfing, and other energy expelling activities.
After we came out of the water, Yasmine grabbed her phone and, with the lights of the hotel strip behind them, captured our ocean wet bodies, crazy hair, and silly faces as we started our trip together.
As our energy waned, we sat on the sand that was still warm from the sun of the day. We started throwing around ideas of what we were going to do over the next few days. The extent of our planning had only been to get us to this location.
"I definitely want to go snorkeling," I offered. "The white sand and clear waters here are known for their beauty, it is something I would love to do."
"Paddleboarding is definitely on my list," announced Yasmine.
"I don't know about ya'll, but I'm here for the food!" Maddy exclaimed.
"All valid ideas," I agreed, "but after these last two weeks, I definitely want to have a day of doing nothing but sitting on the beach and soaking up the sun."
"Amen!" exclaimed the other two.
"Speaking of relaxing, how about we wash off this sand and salt and go relax in our hot tub?" Maddy proposed.
We quickly arose and washed off in the exterior shower on the boardwalk going back to the hotel. We tiptoed with wet feet back up into the room and each of us melted into the hot tub after turning on the jets.
"Fuuuck...this is good," Yasmine sighed.
"Promise each other now...no talking about work the next 5 days," I announced.
"You don't have to twist my ear," Maddy agreed,
"What's work?" Yasmine said sarcastically.
We sat with our heads back for a few minutes in silence, enjoying the mixed hum of the spa jets and the steady drumming of the surf.
I was to the left of Yasmine in the hot tub and Maddy was opposite and facing horizontally from us on a full body shelf in the hot tub. I adjusted myself to get a jet spraying into my back just right, which brought me closer to Yasmine. I bumped Yasmine's hand and emitted a quiet 'sorry'.
"No problem" Yasmine said as she opened one eye toward me.
Yasmine placed her hand on my right shoulder and began to pet her fingers across the smooth curve of my shoulder and down my arm. A tingle went down my spine as Yasmine continued tracing along my arm.
My thoughts started to race...the crash from the caffeine, mixed with the exhaustion of the long day, blurred my ability to define what signals, if any, that Yasmine was sending.
My heart was pounding and I scooted closer to Yasmine and laid into the crook of her shoulder. Yasmine accepted the change in posture and she lifted her left arm to drape around my left shoulder.
Yasmine's fingers were now tracing along my left arm then slid over to the left side, starting at my waist and slowly tracing up along my side. Yasmine's fingers brushed along my left breast, then back down to my waist, back up, back down, each time her fingers brushing more of my breast.
I could feel my nipple getting more sensitive with the repetitive stimulation to my breast. My tits, bouncing with movement of the water in the hot tub, were just below the surface of the water and I could see my nipples start to protrude through the thin fabric of the bikini top.
