This is a new story based around one of my favourite ideas, that of being the only one naked in a group, and although it's relatively long I believe it's worth the read. The second chapter will be uploaded quite soon so look out for that, and feel free to follow to ensure that you don't miss it. Until then I hope you like this theme as much as I do, and as always any comments or feedback are much appreciated. Enjoy!
*****
Sasha Vernier stood sweltering in the blazing midday sun, beads of perspiration dripping down her bronzed, gleaming skin, as she peered through her shades along the white, sandy beach that stretched out endlessly in front of her. She was an aspiring lawyer in her early twenties, a women totally committed to her dream job, and at her firm she was seen as the next bright young thing, a true model professional. She'd never do anything to jeopardise her future career prospects, and in fact up until a month ago she'd been the most clean living, mild mannered, and generally unexciting workaholic you'd ever care to meet. With that said, it may now surprise you to learn that of the two thousand or so beachgoers that lined the idyllic shore, happily sunbathing or swimming in their bikinis and shorts, there was only one that was unapologetically wearing absolutely nothing at all. And yes, that person was Sasha.
How on earth had she ended up in this bizarre predicament? Sasha was wondering the same thing as she watched the eyes of those surrounding her swivel round, and then widen in disbelief at the sight of her naked body. Murmurings began to emanate from the astonished faces that stared up at her, along with a few tuts and scoffs of disapproval. Sasha ignored them and let out a deep breath, exhaling slowly to get her heartbeat under control, and then she pulled off her sunglasses and casually dropped them down onto the hot dry sand below. After blinking away the shock of the dazzling sunshine she reached behind her head to quickly tie back her hair, and then with a final nervous lick of the lips she began the long, long walk, down the packed and bustling beach.
*****
Thirty two days earlier, Sasha's life had been very different. She was slumped in a chair, drowsily nursing her pornstar martini, and rolling her eyes as she watched her friends shamelessly flirt with Jamal, an old course mate from university who she'd accidentally run into earlier that night. She was out for the evening with her flatmates Alex and Katie, to celebrate the end of the week with some Friday drinks, and at Katie's instance they'd tried out a new bar which up till now seemed to be a winner. The music was great, the cocktails were alarmingly drinkable, and maybe most importantly of all it had more than its fair share of cute looking guys.
In all honesty Sasha wasn't really in the mood for a night on the town, she'd had a miserable and exhausting week of futilely trying to make several deadlines, missing meals and working ridiculous hours, only to be screamed at by her boss anyway for mistakes in the contracts that weren't actually her fault. She couldn't really complain too much, she was only six months into her first job as a lawyer at a very reputable firm, and she knew full well that'd signed up for a lot of hard labour and not much time off. Ultimately that was a sacrifice she was willing to make in order to further her career, but recently the lack of a work-life balance had been grinding her down, and tonight she would much rather have gone straight to bed and let her worries drift away, rather than force herself into a pair of heels and go out drinking.
Her flatmates hadn't given her a choice though, they too were tired of never seeing their now obsessively hardworking friend who had become so grumpy and irritable these days, so they insisted that for once she would come out and have some fun. A few hours later and Sasha still wasn't really enjoying the evening, but it wasn't for a lack of trying, and after a lot of drinks the room was starting to spin and everyone's faces had taken on a blurry quality. Despite this she instantly recognised her old friend Jamal when she spied him across the bar, easily recognising his tall frame as he stood out above the rest of the crowd. She fought her way through the throng of partygoers and tugged at his arm eagerly, she was genuinely really excited as she hadn't seen him for about eighteen months. Jamal turned round and immediately broke into a huge smile when he recognised her, and the tipsy friends reunited with a tight hug.
'Sash? Oh my God hi, how are you?'
'I'm good Jamal, wow it's great to see you! What are you doing here, I thought you were still living by the coast?'
They'd met over four years ago at the university induction day for their law degree. They'd immediately hit it off and had been each other's rocks during the gruelling course, working on assignments together and sharing notes for the exams, that kind of thing. After three years they'd gone their separate ways to focus on different specialisations, but unbeknownst to Sasha Jamal had just moved back into the area after getting a new job. He bought a large round of drinks as they chatted and then took them back to his friends, who he briefly introduced to Sasha, before they ordered four shots for themselves and spent half an hour catching up on each other's lives.
For the first time that night Sasha was actually gad she'd agreed to come out. She'd forgotten how easy Jamal was to talk to, not to mention how equally easy on the eye he was, and it felt so good to be able to rant and vent about her hectic job and horrible deadlines to someone who knew just how she was feeling. It turned out that Jamal's first few weeks at his firm had been equally depressing, and they both enjoyed the chance to bitch and complain about their problems guilt-free. It was going well, but then Alex and Katie rocked up.
'Oh my God finally, there you are Sash, where the hell were you? We were looking everywhere, I even tried calling you.'
Sasha opened her phone and frowned. 'Oh yeah sorry Alex, my bad, I've got into this bad habit of keeping it on silent when I'm not meant to be working, otherwise I get these nonstop email notifications which just stress me out.'
Jamal laughed ruefully. 'You do that too, huh? Yeah same, when I clock off for the night I make sure no one can contact me, otherwise those bloodsuckers will never give you any peace.'
'Right? Oh yeah so guys, you know the Jamal I'd sometimes mention, from uni? This is him, we just randomly bumped into each other and we were catching up. And Jamal this is Katie, and this is Alex. We all grew up together and now we're roommates, we've got an apartment a few streets away.'
Jamal shook both women's hands. 'Lovely to meet you, Katie and Alex.'
'Oh my, so you're the famous Jamal...' Alex moved over to his left as Katie leant up against him on the right, and inside Sasha died a little as she recognised her drunk friends' not-so-subtle flirting techniques. She'd never admitted this to anyone, but ever since they'd met she'd had a pretty severe crush on Jamal, the sort of annoying lingering affection for one of your friends that is always there but you know you'll never act on, because well, they're a friend. The other two didn't know this so she couldn't really be annoyed with them, but at the same time it meant that watching them begin to tease and joke around with Jamal, as they batted their eyelashes and ran their hands across his arms, wasn't exactly fun. Sasha excused herself to go and buy another round, after a brief glance in the bathroom's mirror to make sure that her make up was still flawless, and when she returned she soon realised that the conversation had quickly moved on from just causal small talk.
'No you didn't!'
'Mate I did, anyone will tell you!'
'Absolutely no chance, you're so full of it.'
'Err, why do you think I'm lying? Why is that so hard to believe?'
'Nah, I just think there's no way that you in particular would ever do something that wild.'
'Oh really, so you're like some kind of expert on me now, are you?'
'No, but-'
'Oh wait look, here she is, she'll confirm it. Hey Sash?'
Sasha carefully sat down as she balanced four glasses precariously in her hands, then passed them around the table. Jamal was still trapped in between the two girls and it was Alex, who now had her whole arm tightly hugging his bicep, who was waving a finger round indignantly.
'Sash, Sash, listen. So your friend Jason right.'
Jamal sarcastically shook his head. 'Rude, you literally just saved my number in your phone, under Jamal.'