Please enjoy! I'm trying out dialogues as storytellers this time. Feel free to comment or vote - it's great to get feedback.
"My nipples are killing me!"
"Well, take it off then! I don't know why you put it on in the first place."
"I was trying to set a good example!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't think anyone else noticed. And they're not here now anyway. What do you mean, set a good example?"
"You're here at the beach to mind your young cousins. I'm here just as your friend and to help out. So I thought, if I wore this, I'd be helping out with the sun-smart message. Cover up, sunscreen, that stuff."
"But since they've gone to the movies with the other cousins - without us - why are you still wearing it?"
The centre of the discussion was a black rash vest, a lycra/nylon long sleeved swimming top, worn to keep the sun off. Raf had been wearing it on their trips to the beach, where it had abraded his nipples, which were now stinging painfully. It was true, the young cousins were not there for the entire afternoon, so it made no sense for him to wear it. He peeled it off.
"Wow, they are pink. Let me feel them." Meg reached out her hand.
"Only if I can feel yours!" Raf said with a cheeky smile.
Meg brushed his chest and nipples. "Hmm, hard as well as pink. You poor thing!" Meg stood very close to him.
There was a pause. Meg smiled at him. "Well, go on then."
Raf was astonished. He stared into her face. His cheeky comment was only a joke, but she was... inviting him? He looked down at her chest. Her small breasts were in a simple bikini, nipples peeping through the fabric. He stole a hand up to her midriff, then slowly moved up her chest. He worked his fingertips gently under the bikini top and over the cool soft curve of her breast. The harder skin of the areole, then the nipple itself was there. As he reached the promised land, tingles raced down his arm and made him shiver, despite the hot sun. He gulped.
"Feels... wonderful..."
"Mmmm, yes. Come on! Down the beach!" Meg suddenly raced away, glancing over her shoulder.
Taken by surprise, Raf just stared, then took off after her. He was fit and strong, and even holding a towel and the rash vest he started catching up. She dropped her towel to try and slow him, but he just scooped it up on the run, barely losing speed. Then he saw the the strip of cloth on the wet sand.
It was a bikini top.
He was astonished again. He stopped to pick it up. It was Meg's. when he looked up she was again far away. He charged after her.
As he reached her she suddenly stopped and sat on the wet sand. The waves just reached around the curve of her thighs before soaking into the sand. She sat, panting, with her knees up and arms across her bare chest. She was grinning broadly. "I win!" she beamed.
"You left me to pick up the mess! You can't call that fair!" Raf flopped down close beside her, hoping for a peek but also happy just to rest beside her. She turned to look at him, then slowly lowered her arms. Two firm breasts were revealed, patterned by the tan lines of her bikini top, rising and falling with her breathing. Raf's eyes dropped momentarily, then went back to her face. He felt slightly dizzy. Her eyes drilled into his. Those hazel eyes, bright even in the harsh sunlight, were drawing him in, inviting him again. He leant forward and kissed her soft lips, then leant back.
Meg just kept looking at him, not flinching, not reacting - except perhaps for an extra twinkle in her eyes. She looked out to sea, her thoughts wavering, then stood up suddenly.
"Come on, swim with me!" She looked down at Raf then headed toward the water. She paused with her back to him, then pushed her bikini bottoms down and stepped out of them.
Raf was transfixed. The image of her slim, naked body with its bands of tan lines across her back and buttocks, the swish of her chestnut hair across her shoulders, the fluid grace of her arms as she stepped over the first waves, he knew he would recall this for the rest of his life.
He shook himself and stood up, hesitated the briefest of moments then stripped off his own boardshorts. Strangely, he had the presence of mind to toss their clothing up the beach and away from the waves. He started at the realisation they were now naked on a public beach and glanced around. They were some distance from the main part: the herd of colourful pop-up shelters was far away. They were alone.
Meg had already reached the breaking waves when he joined her. It was a gentle shore break with small waves that were easy to catch. He got his next eternal vision as Meg twisted towards him so that the wave hit her back.
Her arms were up as she faced him. Eyes bright, mouth wide open as the wave broke around her. She had jumped, so her hair was flying up in time with the spray, droplets and chestnut strands almost in slow-motion. Again he noticed the strong tan lines across her whole body. Her bright red lips matched her red nipples against the pale skin. Between her legs was a chestnut fuzz, almost lost in the bubbling water. She arched her back and slid down into the water. A memory to savour.
They played like children, rather than the old friends (now at uni together) which they were. They played "over and under", jumping over or diving under, depending on a last-second call. They floated on the water in front of the breaking waves. They did handstands. Raf swam underwater with one hand up like a shark fin, grabbing Meg's ankle or leg.
They seemed to know when it was time to come in and rest. On the beach, Raf stretched out his towel so they could both sit on it, then wrapped hers around the two of them. They were sitting on the beach again, looking out to sea just as before. Raf felt the salt on his skin, the sand shifting slightly under him, the towel, the touch of her cool skin. He felt bold and a little crazy.
He stroked her thigh. He gave it the lightest of touches, down to her knee, then her ankle, then back, slowing at the top of her thighs. He felt a tiny shudder inside her. She turned to look at him, a crooked smile on her face.
"And what do you think you're doing?"
"Enjoying myself. This all feels so, so weird and wonderful, I'm just doing what feels good!" Raf surprised himself with his response.
