The Beaches in Spain
~
Friday
Ryan was already at the table, sitting next to Lori when Tina and Irene arrived at breakfast. His eyes questioned her as she walked up, the subtle 'did I go too far?" look deciphered only by her. She had the choice of where to sit, and without hesitation, took the seat next to him. When his leg bumped hers, non-verbally asking, invisible to anyone else, she slipped her foot inside of his, wrapping her leg around his. "There was a note at the desk for us," Sherry said once they'd all arrived. "We're supposed to check out and bring our bags with us, and the van will be here after lunch."
Lori was the one to find the second biggest computer glitch, late in the morning. When transitioning from one module to another, she failed to do something and sent the program into a never-ending loop, locking up everyone's station as it hogged more and more memory. A reboot got them up and running, and Irene managed to do the same thing a few moments later. The program was 'supposed' to be foolproof, but obviously wasn't. They released everyone to an early lunch, thinking they'd have the problem found and corrected by the time they got back. Instead, when they got back an hour and a half later they found that the problem still hadn't been deciphered, and they were told they'd work on it over the weekend, and they'd pick it up again Monday, in Barcelona.
"Let's walk, we can find a restaurant on the boardwalk," Irene suggested that evening in Alicante when they gathered again in the hotel lobby. Irene was in the room with Sherry, Lori having paired with Tina. "If I remember correctly, there is one down that way that has outstanding Paella, and you can't come to Spain and not have Paella!" Not that she'd spent that much time in Alicante, but unlike the others she had actually been there before.
The secretary that had booked their hotels had been apologetic, although they'd asked for Benidorm, if possible, on Sherry's suggestion, the only hotel where she could get them all in was on the waterfront in Alicante.
There couldn't be a better place to start,
Irene thought as they pulled up in front. The hotel was literally right on the beach, the outdoor pool abutted a wall that separated it from the sand below.
The daytime crowds were virtually gone, just a few people walking along the waterline. A few hundred meters down the shoreline a single couple were still on the beach, totally oblivious to anyone except themselves. As they walked by, the couple stood and walked hand in hand to the water, going for an evening swim. "German?" Irene asked of Sherry, who happened to be walking beside her at that moment.
"I think so. They certainly looked like it."
"It that because she was topless?" Lori asked. Irene glanced back, noticing that indeed as Lori had observed, the woman and the man were both shirtless. It hadn't even registered with her at first.
"No," Sherry answered, "nobody wears a top on the beaches in Spain, but I'm sure they are German. They just
look
like it. It's hard to say, but when you live among Germans you can pick them out of a crowd, when you live around the English, you can pick them out of a crowd. There isn't a person on the boardwalk that won't know you're an American as we walk by."
"From my accent?"
"No, it's all the little things," Irene answered. "Things you can't control unless you're aware of them. Like the way you walk."
"Not just the way you walk, but what you're wearing, the way you do your hair -- everything about you says you're American." Sherry chimed in.
"Everyone goes topless on the beaches?" Lori asked after another hundred meters, the beach now totally deserted except for a few walking on the waters edge.
"You don't
have
to," Sherry responded, "but most everyone does. I do, I didn't even bring a bikini top."
"Oh."
"Is there a problem?" Irene asked, sensing a hesitance from Lori.
"No... I mean," she glanced around, finding Ryan and Tina a few steps behind. "I wouldn't mind if it was just us girls, I guess... except that Ryan's with us. I mean, I occasionally have to go to Palo Alto and work with him..." She turned to Irene, "are you going topless?"
"At Benidorm?" she asked, although she knew that was the plan for the next day, "Probably, I sometimes do, but not always."
Sherry turned, "Ryan!" she called back and motioned for him and Tina to catch up. The two of them hurried, catching the other three in just moments.
"What's up?"
"See?" Sherry said, turning to Lori, "that was purely an American answer, the way he said, 'What's up?' About tomorrow," she continued, turning back to Ryan, "at the beach, will it bother you if we go topless?"
Ryan was obviously caught off guard at the question. "Uh... I guess not. I mean, I hadn't thought about it." He glanced at the beach, now virtually void of people, and then back at them. That his eyes landed on Irene and hesitated momentarily wasn't missed by Sherry, as she suspected
something
was going on between them.
"The question is more about you Americans and Lori. If she joins us topless on the beach are you going to go back home and make a big deal about it with all her co-workers?"
"Oh that. Of course not. I wasn't even understanding what the question was about. What happens in Spain, stays in Spain, obviously."
"Uh, people..." Irene interrupted, pointing across the street at the sidewalk restaurant, "that's where we're going."
"You really didn't bring a swimsuit top?" Irene asked Sherry when they were back in the hotel room getting ready for bed. They'd already shared family information, Irene and her two adult girls, Sherry with a boy and a girl, both legally adults.
"No, I never do. We come to the Costa del Sol every other year or so, and I've just fallen in love with going topless. The sun and air on my breasts, and my husband loves it when I go topless, too. I just don't even pack a top most of the time. How about you?"
"I don't mind going topless, I love the sun and air just like you, but I normally bring a top along for when I'm not on the beach. How do you go back and forth to the beach?"
"We've got a hotel we always stay at right on the beach, so it's easy. Now that my daughter is an adult, we can bring her with us, and she loves going topless too. We just drape towels over our shoulders going to or from the beach or pool to cover our breasts when we're walking through the hotel, but once we're on the beach, it doesn't matter." Irene nodded to herself, she had witnessed several women doing this at times. It seemed to be a German thing.
"So, is something happening between you and Ryan?" Sherry asked when they'd turned the light out and were lying in bed.
Irene hesitated, just that Sherry asked said she'd observed something. "Why do you ask?"
"Just that he seems to be a bit, shall we say enamored with you? And maybe a bit of you with him? It seems like there has definitely been some electricity between the two of you."
A pointed question she couldn't ignore, so she played it as lightly as possible. "Yeah, he seems to be a nice guy. I like him." Sherry didn't ask any more questions, her breathing soon indicating she had fallen asleep. Apparently, her answer had been sufficient for Sherry's curiosity.
Saturday
Getting dressed in the morning, Irene noticed that Sherry put on her bikini bottoms with some shorts over them, and then just pulled her multi-colored T-shirt over the top without a bra or swim top. She herself had been debating whether to wear her bikini top under her cover-up, but when she saw Sherry, she followed suit, admitting to herself if she was going topless on the beach, there was really no need for a bra or bikini top now. When she turned, she felt the sway of her normally bra encased breasts within her shirt, wondering momentarily if she should put on a bra, but then decided there was no point in it. When they got to breakfast, it was obvious that Lori definitely had her full bikini on however, not unexpectedly, Tina did not. Ryan was the last to arrive, also in shorts and t-shirt.
Nobody had brought a beach towel, and they weren't going back to the same hotel, so they made a stop for sun lotion, large beach towels, drinks and snacks before heading for the beaches. Arriving in Benidorm, all were shocked at how crowded the beach already was, even though it was before noon. Sherry was the most apologetic, feeling they had come here solely on her recommendation, but Irene suggested that there were other beaches just a few kilometers away that probably weren't as crowded, they all climbed back into the car. They had already passed several really nice beaches that weren't crowded on their way into town, and Irene assured them there were more to come. A few minutes later they arrived at Playa de Altea, finding room to park and a much less crowded beach, more palatable to all of their tastes.
Irene stopped momentarily next to the road to look over the beach, just observing the beach and the people. Lori and Sherry were in the lead walking side by side away from the car, Ryan and Tina just behind. The beach itself had lots of small rocks, but also some nice sandy spots, and they were all headed for one of those.