Three Ids in a Tub

If you want to know about the handcuffs and the fashion design project, this story follows "Waiting for the locksmith" and "Trying to date a seamstress."

*****

My phone rang. It was Mindy.

"So guess what I got."

"Mononucleosis."

"No," she laughed. "A gift certificate for the hot tubs. I won it in the Spring Fling raffle."

"Jeeminee. What are you going to do with it?"

"Go hot tubbing, of course. Want to come?"

"Well, . . . I . . ."

"It's a place downtown. One of the girls went down and checked it out. It's legit. Kind of a young professionals crowd. Stained glass windows and everything."

"Who all is going?"

"Oh, I don't know. The third floor. The swim team. How many people do you think will fit?"

"Seriously?"

"Come on. You and me. Do you really want to invite anybody else?"

"Well, the two of us would probably fit at least, I suppose."

"That's what I'm thinking. Have you ever been?"

"I mean, I've been in the jacuzzi at the pool."

"This is more like a spa, I guess. Private rooms, a sauna, massages, everything."

"Massages?"

"Well, we'd have to pay extra for that."

"So when would it be?"

"We'll have to make a reservation. How about Friday?"

"And what do we need to bring? I mean, I don't really have a swimsuit. Here at school, I mean."

"I know. Me either. The rooms are kind of private, though. I was thinking maybe we could just go, you know, . . . au naturel?"

I let that thought sink in.

"I mean, people do go that way, don't they? And it's not like we haven't already . . ."

I'd seen Mindy without any clothes on when she'd been working on her fashion design project. But . . . "When did you ever see me 'au naturel'?"

"That time in the shower. When you and Carly were in the handcuffs."

"But I was on the other side of the curtain."

"I peeked."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Why, Mindy Bennet! You're a peeping tomasina! What would Sister Sylvester have to say about that?"

Mindy was laughing too. "She's for sure not invited."

-----

By Friday evening I was about as horny as . . . , well, about as horny as an undergraduate on a Friday night. I hoped it didn't show. Mindy's dorm lobby was doing a bang-up business. Guys were waiting for girls to come down, girls were coming down and greeting them, other girls were waiting in the wings, hoping there might eventually be a few guys left over.

Mindy and Carly came down together. Carly was all excited. "Hi, Hector," she beamed.

Mindy was more subdued. "You don't mind if Carly comes along too, do you?" she asked, with a resigned expression might almost have passed for a smile.

"No, of course not," I lied. "The more the merrier."

On the way to the bus stop, Carly explained how her uncle's hot tub, which she went in all the time over the summer, was actually sort of attached to the pool, so that you could go back and forth from the one to the other practically without even getting out of the water.

On the way downtown, she explained that the hot water made your blood vessels dilate---or contract, she couldn't exactly remember which, but one of them---and that that was why you should only stay in for fifteen minutes at a time. Twenty minutes tops.

As we got off the bus, she explained that of course you didn't necessarily have to go into cold water to cool off, you could just get out of the tub for a while, although some people just sat on the edge with their feet still in, and she wasn't sure whether that really counted or not.

The hot tub place was really nice. It had a Japanesey motif---bamboo panels, zen calligraphy. The stained glass mandala was backlit so that it glowed warmly even at night. An attractive, yoga-instructress-type woman showed us to our room. The floor was all tile, with a blue and white seascape design. The tub was redwood, built partway into the floor. Next to it was a much smaller 'cold plunge.' "For cooling off," Carly explained. Further back, behind glass doors, were the shower and the sauna. To the right when you came in was a bench for undressing and hooks for your clothes. To the left was a tiled niche with a pitcher of water and a short padded table.

Carly started to unbutton her blouse. I glanced at Mindy. She raised her eyebrow. Carly untucked the tails. She was wearing a navy blue bra. No, it wasn't a bra, it was the top of a swimsuit. "Come on, you guys," she said.

Mindy's eyebrow hadn't come down. She slowly pulled off her own shirt. Underneath . . . a plain white bra. She hung her shirt on the hook. "I guess I'll have to go in my underwear," she said. She looked over at me, a bit embarrassed. It looked like the plan had changed. I began to unbutton too.

Carly was already stepping out of her trousers. Her swimsuit was stylish but modest, the kind you'd see at any swimming pool. She was almost exactly the same height as Mindy, but stockier. More barrel shaped. Her face was friendly enough, but it was stockier too. More ethnic. You got the sense that there was a whole district of aunts and cousins out there somewhere who all looked exactly like her.

Mindy's pants came down, revealing a pair of panties as plain and simple as her bra. She was still embarrassed. I took a deep breath and dropped my pants too. I was wearing regular plain white boy's underpants. At least they were clean. The girls pretended not to be checking them out. They weren't speedos, but they weren't swim trunks, either.

The lady had asked us to shower first. We had to squeeze a bit to get into the stall together. It was innocent and risque all at the same time. We were kind of pretending that we were all wearing swimsuits, but we knew that we weren't. Mindy's bra didn't turn fully transparent, but the cups began to blush around their peaks. Would we have showered together au naturel? The girls kept pretending not to check my underpants. They must have been getting speedier by the minute.

The water in the tub was surprisingly hot, but it felt good once we were immersed, once we slouched down to alligator level.

"Pretty nice raffle prize," I sighed.

"One of the girls donated it," said Mindy, her head back, her eyes closed.

"Her parents had given it to her for her birthday," said Carly.

"Her boyfriend, I thought," said Mindy.

"Why would she donate it if it was from her boyfriend?"

"Why would she donate it anyway?" I asked.

"Help the poor children," said Mindy, not really that concerned.

The control for the jets was over on the wall. I climbed out and turned them on,

"I never won anything," I said, settling back in.

"You don't know how many tickets she bought," said Carly.

Mindy stretched herself out and let her legs and body drift up into the froth.

-----

When the jets turned off, Carly asked me how long I'd set them for. She wanted to make sure we didn't overheat. She got out and fetched her towel. "Come on you guys," she said.

"Really," she said, when we just sat there.

The cold plunge was right next to the hot tub and went right down into the tile. It had a ladder, but I just sat down on the edge and slipped right in. Jeez-o-Pete Almighty! It was deep as my chest and cold as ice! Mindy slid in too before I could give her any warning.

"Oooh!" she gasped, springing reflexively right up against me. I grabbed her, one hand around her back, one hand reflexively under her bottom. It put us into a pretty intimate embrace. You might have thought we were on the verge of a passionate kiss. Or had just broken one off.

"Instant un-dilation," I observed, leaning back to bring her surprised expression into better focus.

"I'll say," she concurred, leaning back herself.

I boosted her up toward the rim, but she was heavier than I thought. I twisted her part way around and she grabbed the ladder. She climbed out, her dripping panties nicely shrink wrapped to her flexing bottom.

"How was it?" asked Carly.

"Freezing," Mindy shivered. "Let's try the sauna."

She went in and I followed. You could feel the heat in the floorboards and in your lungs. A wooden bench ran along the wall. Mindy sat down first, and I sat down beside her. Close enough that our shoulders and knees were touching. Carly gave us a little wave through the perspiring glass. There was a pile of hot rocks in the corner and a bucket with a ladle.

"What are we supposed to do?" Mindy asked.

"Dip out some water on the rocks, I think."

She got up and did it. The room filled with steam. She came back and sat down even closer. This was another place where the young professionals probably went au naturel.

We soaked up the heat. I could feel the sweat running down my face and stomach. Or was it condensed steam? Either way, my underpants were staying pretty wet.

"Instant re-dilation," Mindy wheezed. "Our blood vessels must be getting quite a workout."

I hadn't kissed her in the cold plunge. I put my sweaty arm around her sweaty back. She turned her sweaty face to mine. i touched my sweaty lips to hers.

Just as Carly came in. "Jeez, you two. Get a room."

-----

We crowded into the shower once again to rinse off all the sweat from the sauna. Mindy stood with her eyes closed, her golden curls flattened against her head, water beading her face, running in rivulets down her chest. An angel under a waterfall.

"Who wants a massage?" she asked as we emerged.

"I thought you had to pay extra," I said.

"Not it we do it ourselves. Come on, Carly. Hector and I will give you a massage."

"No," laughed Carly.

"Come on," Mindy said. "Just a little back rub."

"No thanks," Carly insisted.

"How 'bout we do you?" I offered.

Mindy lay down on the padded table, getting the sheet all wet. I didn't know the first thing about massages, but I figured I could give a little back rub. Her underwear looked a lot more like underwear than swimwear. This was another thing that the young professionals probably just did au naturel. Carly faded away toward the changing bench.

I kneaded Mindy's shoulders. I tried to rub her back, but the straps really got in the way. The small of her back was bare. I put my hands on either side of her waist, right down against her hips, right against the soggy hem of her panties, and ran them firmly up her sides, putting pressure with my fingers and thumbs, extruding rather than kneading.

I massaged her butt, through the soggy thin material of her panties. It was a muscle after all, and it wasn't like I was actually touching her skin. Although I guess I would have been if we'd kept to the original plan. I ran my hands up and down her naked thigh. Why had I never realized that the back of a girl's leg is so brawny, so beefy? I ran them up and down her shapely calf, thinking of nylon stockings and girls running barefoot in the grass.

I lifted up one of her feet and ran my thumbs over the sole. It wasn't hard and calloused at all, but pink and pretty and smooth and soft, just like all the rest of her. I'd never paid any attention to the bottom of a girl's foot before. There were fleshy parts and bony parts and parts between the bones. It was a lovely, intimate patch of Mindiness. The trusty heel, the graceful arch, the dainty pads, the little piggy toes. The spidery creases that told her life, if only I could read them.

From somewhere I knew that the different regions of the sole are linked to the different regions of the body. But what went where? I looked to see if I could figure it out, but it wasn't obvious. So I made sure to massage every single inch, gently, lovingly, trying to envision the nourishing chi flowing up her sturdy legs, coursing up her spine, percolating out into every muscle and organ and gland. And then I gave her a little kiss, right at the prettiest, softest, pinkest spot. Connected to her pancreas, probably. But pancreases need caressing too.

Carly had been waiting rather impatiently. She wanted to make sure we got our money's worth. Mindy got up. She gave me a soft, wistful look. I didn't even try to hide my boner. We headed back over to the hot tub.

-----

Our warning knock sounded. I opened my eyes.

"That means our time is almost up," Carly explained.

We straggled up out of the tub. We dripped a while on the tile. Carly adjusted the leg holes of her swimsuit.

So what were we going to do now? We had to change out of our wet things. Would we just turn our backs?

Mindy took the lead. She reached behind herself and unfastened her bra, then just took it off, as if her two lovely breasts, her two ruddy nipples, had just as much right to be there in the room with us as we did. Then she stepped out of her wet panties too, letting her honey-colored triangle into the room with us as well. She squatted down to get something from her purse. The gentle curve of her spine was continued by the fuller, deeper cleft of her bottom. No Japanese print was ever lovelier.

She pulled out a nylon bag. "Might as well put all the wet stuff in here," she said. Carly was speechless. I took a deep breath and pulled down my underpants too. I put them in with Mindy's, trying to act like a seasoned hot tubber. You can't go home in wet underwear, can you?

My dick was glad for the chance to stretch his legs. And to finally meet the girls face to face. They'd been sneaking glances in his direction all evening, and now he was tickled to be able to do a little showing off. I didn't dare look at Carly. I was pretty sure she'd never seen a dick before in real life. I wasn't even sure about Mindy, to tell you the truth. Even despite what she'd said.

But if you're going to go showing off your dick, this seemed like as good a time as any. We were grownups, after all. It was Friday night. Everybody knows that college kids are sophisticated enough to change in front of each other. To go hot tubbing together au naturel. Besides, both girls knew me well enough to know that anything I might be laying out couldn't really be anywhere near as formidable and serious as they might have been led to believe.

Mindy was toweling her back, keeping her own intimacies on happy, if self conscious, display. You could just see the gentle part in the fuzziness between her legs. You could see that the ruddiness in her nipples extended around them as well.

There was a heady sense in the air, a heady thrill of going about your business in the altogether. Not just in front of the other guys in your gym class, but in front of girls, girls you knew, girls who knew you, girls who were going about her own business without any clothes on either.

My dick was pretty much perpendicular by now. I just dried it along with everything else. This time I did sneak a peek at Carly. She was sitting on the end of the bench, mesmerized, unable to turn her eyes away. But she just wasn't sure if she was sophisticated enough to handle all this sophistication.

Mindy took her shirt from the hook. She put it on without any bra. You could still see the lovely contours of her breasts through the tight material. You could still see the plump peaks of her nipples. She walked over to get a drink of water, a beautiful, innocent, bottomless peasant girl. It wasn't hard to see that she was feeling it too. The heady thrill of being nude in front of others. Something you're so not supposed to do that when you find yourself actually doing it you can't imagine ever going back to wearing clothes again.

But they would be kicking us out soon. Nudity wasn't really a practical option on the J line. I put on my shirt and pokily began to button it up. My dick was still poking out eagerly through the opening.

Mindy came back from her drink. I moved out of her way just almost enough to keep it from inadvertently brushing against her thigh. She turned toward the hook, making sure that her other thigh almost avoided getting brushed as well. She took her pants. She handed me mine.

I stepped into them and reluctantly pulled them up into place. It looked like we'd all be going home commando. I had to angle my dick up and corral it in to fasten the button. Both girls were paying rapt attention to my technique. I zipped, careful not to catch anything up.

Carly was still in her bathing suit. Mindy held out her bag. "You can't go home like that."

"But . . ," said Carly, helplessly, afraid to look in my direction.

I had my socks on by now. I picked up my shoes. "I'll just wait for you guys outside," I said.

-----

The pretty hot-tub lady was coming down the hallway with a stack of clean white towels. She gave me the sweetest of smiles as she knocked on the door across the hall. If she even noticed the bulge in my pants she just took it in stride. She was the picture of wholesomeness. They could have put her on the cover of their brochure.

That's why Carly had come, I realized. Not out of any burning desire to go hot tubbing herself, but only out of concern for her roommate. Private rooms! Young professionals! She'd come to protect her friend. Not from me so much, as from what might have happened. She'd come to protect us both in a way. She'd known she was being a third wheel, but she'd come anyway. She hadn't lectured, she hadn't badgered, she'd just quietly tagged along to make sure that everything stayed as innocent and wholesome behind the stained glass as it always did on her uncle's patio.

The two of them came out in their street clothes. Mindy's smile was still wistful, but amused.

"Well, that was fun," said Carly.

I couldn't help but laugh. Mindy couldn't help it either.

"What's so funny?" asked Carly, laughing herself, but wanting to be sure she knew what she was laughing about.

"Nothing," I said. I put my arm around her and gave her a little squeeze. "Actually, everything. You're right. It was fun. And the night is still young. Come on! What shall we do now?"

-----

We walked down the sidewalk three abreast, arms around each other's waists.

"The three musketeers," said Mindy.

"The three stooges," I said.

"The three . . . you know . . . Snap, Crackle, Pop," said Carly.

"The three little kittens," said Mindy.

"The three little pigs," I said.

"The three caballeros," said Carly.

"The three caballeros," agreed Mindy.

I couldn't have put it better myself. "The three caballeros."