Author's Note:
This second chapter can be read as a stand-alone work, but it will make more sense, and you will enjoy it more if you start with the first chapter to gain context. All characters involved in sexual activities are 18 or older. Although inspired by real experiences and circumstances, any relation to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
__________________
The day after Sadie, Joy, and I visited Plato's Retreat sex club, we were somehow both energized and exhausted. After spending several hours nude together amid the hedonistic wonderland, we felt more open and natural around each other. What had always been a comfortable, close friendship now had an undercurrent of unacknowledged sexual tension.
Tara, the youngest of our roommates at 18, had chosen not to join us but sent us off with encouragement and our promise to tell her the details of the visit. After we returned, she asked us a barrage of questions about our experience. Although sexually inexperienced and modest about her eye-catching figure, her quest for information and sexual details of ours and others seemed insatiable. She was captivated by the descriptions of the bodies, atmosphere, and sexual activities we witnessed.
Our respective memories of the evening were enhanced as we relived the events we witnessed from our own perspectives. The nudity, the sex, the writhing mass of human bodies in various degrees of fornication. We shared our personal reactions and whether we were aroused by the situation with Tara and each other. But, of course, we omitted some details. I did, anyway. And, well, so did Sadie. Maybe Joy as wellâI didn't know for sure because I can't say if she did.
But we did more than just discuss our adventure. What I thought of as the "Plato's Effect" began to alter our attitudes and behaviorâas if our experience at Plato's caused our inhibitions to vanish and our libidos to blossom. It started after our return from the club when my ordinarily discreet and modest girlfriend Joy stripped naked and fucked me with lights on and blinds open. And unbeknownst to Joy, we were joined by an audience of one when Sadie watched us from just feet away, openly self-pleasuring herself. I didn't know what to make of these developments, but absolutely wasn't complaining... ours is not to reason why.
The four of us were close friends, and our New York City one-bedroom apartment seemed cozier and more relaxed than beforeâa friendly, comfortable place. A place where we connected and shared personal and intimate thoughts and feelings without judgment or critique. But also with a fair dose of naughtiness and mischief.
That next night we cooked a light meal together for dinner, accompanied by cold sparkling wineâa Cavaâwhich was refreshing in the oppressive summer heat. Refreshing, tasty, and easy to imbibe more than we realized. After dinner, we were all feeling pretty loose. We lounged, chatted, laughed, and enjoyed a relaxing evening without particular plans or obligations. Which, of course, left a void to be filled by our indecorous imaginations.
At one point, Tara got up and went to the kitchen to get some snacks and more wine. As Joy, Sadie, and I watched her, we quietly speculated how she would have reacted to the previous night's visit to Plato's Retreat.
"I think she would have freaked out," Joy mused. "She hasn't had a serious boyfriend, hasn't had sex or anything close to it, and probably hasn't seen an adult man naked in real lifeâmaybe not even a pic, for all we know."
I was skeptical about her never even seeing a photo but remained silent.
Sadie concurred. "Yeah, she needs to live a little before she can handle a visit to Plato's, even if she just watched like we did." She flashed a meaningful glance at me, a micro-moment of shared secrets. "Otherwise, I think she would be scarred for life."
We all chuckled at the thought of our innocent and inexperienced Tara having her first exposure to actual sex at a full-blown orgy.
"Though I think it would do her some good to live a little, Sadie said. "Personally, I think she needs to get laid." We all laughed and nodded to that sentiment.
I listened to this exchange with interest, enjoying the general direction of the discussion.
Tara returned and set down a wine bottle, chips, and chocolate. She looks at us with suspicion. "What are you three talking about so quietlyâplotting another sex-venture?"
We shook our heads and probably looked guilty. "Just reminiscing about last night a bit, no secret plots," Joy replied.
Tara looked skeptical. "Whatever. Anyway, I need to visit the little girl's room, but I was wondering if we wanted to play a game or something, maybe cardsâsomething fun. So let me know what you think. I'll be right back."
Sadie, Joy, and I all nodded and said it sounded like a good idea. Then, as Tara walked away, we all looked at each otherâmischievous grins spontaneously appeared as we all thought along the same lines.
Joy ruminated. "A card game. Hmm, a
fun
card game." She lifted her eyebrows up and down in an exaggerated way.
Sadie said, "Like poker, maybe." Looking at the two of us, she continued. "Like..."
We all said in unison, "Strip poker!" We laughed, then glanced at each other, took a breath, and then all blurted out exactly together, "Jinx!" We cracked up again at our own wit. We were definitely a bit buzzed.
I shook my head, "I can't see Tara going for that. Or... what do you guys think?" I looked back and forth between Sadie and Joy.
"Well, she did go with us to buy Plato's t-shirts, Sadie said. "Maybe she's more adventurous than we think."
I shrugged, and we silently pondered that for a moment.
Joy said, "And it would be funâand a challenge." She chuckled, "Well, we've all seen each other nude, so nothing left to the imagination there. Seems only fair that Tara isn't left out."
I nodded approvingly and smiled as I noted that Sadie also nodded in agreement. "So, how should we bring up the idea, what's the approach?" I asked, and glanced at the others, seeking their counsel. "We weren't hatching a secret plot before, but we never said we wouldn't ever do so." We all smirked at the observation.