Honestly, I wasn't super thrilled of the idea because I knew they would cook up something excruciatingly embarrassing for me, but I was also kinda tired of them making fun of me for not being adventurous. I didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't have sex. I didn't cheat on my homework and I didn't use my generous figure to my advantage and they both reminded me of these things constantly. Courtney more so than Jasmine, but still.
"Fine, I'll go first," I said, folding my arms confidently.
"
You?
You're gonna take the first dare?" Courtney asked.
I nodded. Both Courtney and Jasmine looked at each other. I kept my arms folded and looked them both in the eye, letting them know I was serious. They leaned in close, whispering for a while. One would suggest and idea, then the other would shake their head and suggest something else. They went back and forth a few times before Jasmine stood up and walked over to my window. She pulled the curtain back and looked outside. She squinted into the darkness then turned and gave Courtney a thumbs up. What exactly were they planning for me?
"We dare you to skinny dip in your neighbor's pool," Courtney said with a smug grin.
I swallowed hard and felt my heart flutter. Butterflies flapped in my stomach. I was anxious, but I didn't want to back down and give them one more reason to make fun of me. "Is he home?" I asked.
"No, we just checked. We knew you'd chicken out if he was home," Jasmine said. I stood up and looked out the window anyway. His driveway was empty. The lights were off. It certainly looked like he was gone, which wasn't unusual. I didn't know him very well, but I gathered that he was a young entrepreneur of some kind because he was gone for days at a time.
"Well?" Courtney asked.
As far as dares went this one wasn't so bad. It wasn't like I'd have to text nudes to someone or do anything else that would leave evidence. I just had to put on my birthday suit and take a dip. It was dark, he was gone, I live in a quiet neighborhood. What could go wrong?
"Fine, I'll do it," I said, "Get naked, jump in, jump out?"
"Get naked, jump in, do a lap, then jump out," Jasmine said.
"Fine," I agreed, standing up and grabbing a towel from out of my closet. It was white with pink and red hearts, a Valentine's day beach towel. Why they sold Valentine themed beach towels was a mystery, but I had one and I planned to use it. I shut my closet door, got out of my PJ's and wrapped myself in the towel before going back out into my room. Courtney and Jasmine looked giddy in anticipation and disbelief. Their goody two-shoes prude of a friend was about to go skinny dipping on a dare. "Are you two coming too?" I asked as I made my way to the door.
"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world," Courtney said as she stood up.
"Yeah, I kinda think you're gonna chicken out still," Jasmine said.
"You guys better fricken' do whatever dares I come up with," I said, leading the way downstairs and outside. They quickly followed behind me, voicing their disbelief. Luckily my parents weren't home, so I didn't have to worry about any uncomfortable questions. We plodded our way through the kitchen and out onto the back patio. My dog Rufus wagged his tail at us as we walked by, then went back to sleeping on the couch. There was a tall wooden fence along the perimeter of our property, separating it from the neighbors, but one board was loose because Rufus enjoyed sneaking into the neighbor's pool much like I was about to do. We pushed the board to the side and ducked our way through, entering my neighbor's yard amongst some of his tall bushes.
He had a great house. It was basically brand new, heavily remodeled after he bought it from the previous owner. It was large and had lots of windows with a very boxy, geometric feel to it. It was the type of house you see on every modern home catalog. His pool was completely redone too, with an attached hot tub that poured into the actual pool like a waterfall. It was well lit and well tended to. We crept along the fence, using his tall bushes to hide until we were closer to the pool. I turned around and looked at Jasmine and Courtney. They both looked more nervous than I was.
"You ready?" Courtney asked. In response, I unraveled my towel and handed it to her. The air was cool on my naked body, exhilaratingly so. Both of my friends covered their mouths in surprise and did their best to stay quiet. They were shocked I was about to go through with it.
"If you two don't do my dares, I'll kill you both," I said with a stern finger. Then they watched in awe as I stepped out from the cover of the bushes and made my way over to the pool. I jogged to move faster and was reminded of my exceptional bust as my breasts bounced, unsupported by any bra. I reached up and grabbed them, one in each hand, to steady the bouncing. A motion sensing light switched on as I crossed the yard and put my feet at the edge of the pool. I looked over, startled that the light came on, but realized I wasn't in any danger of being caught. I looked down the length of the pool and thought the fastest, most discrete way to swim the length of it and get back was to dive and spend as much time underwater as I could. I let go of my breasts, put my hands together and did the best dive I could to minimize splash.
Just as I was about to hit the water I thought I heard my name but it was too late. My dive was clean, and I felt like it made barely any noise, which I was proud of. Thankfully, the water was warm, heavenly in fact. I held my breath and kicked with my legs, using my arms to help propel myself to the other side of the pool while staying under water so I could stay as hidden as possible for as long as possible. It was surprising how good it felt. Obviously I'd swam in pools before, but never naked. Feeling the water flow passed my body with no fabric felt different somehow, in a way I can't describe. Maybe it was just the satisfaction of going through with the dare or the excitement of doing something naughty for once in my life.
My hands touched the opposite side of the pool. I was almost out of air but I turned around underwater anyway and pushed myself off the wall with my legs. I got a few more strokes in before I came up to the surface. Smiling big, triumphant, I surfaced and took in some air. My hair clumped over my face so I used both hands to collect it and push it behind my ears before clearing the water from my eyes. I looked over at the bushes, expecting to see Courtney and Jasmine shaking their heads in disbelief at me.
They were gone.
I looked around and noticed a light was on in the house. Through the big windows I saw my neighbor putting down his keys on the kitchen table as he unbuttoned his shirt. "Oh, shit!" I whispered, quickly swimming to the edge of the pool closest to the house so I could hopefully hide behind the raised hot tub area. As I reached the edge of the hot tub, I saw my neighbor glance out toward me. I ducked my head under the little waterfall created by the hot tub and lowered myself so that just the top of my head and to my nose was sticking out of the water. A moment later I heard one of his massive sliding glass doors open.
"Hello?" he said. I looked around, trying to think of an escape plan. "Is anybody out here?"
A series of ripples displacing the water from when I dove no doubt looked suspicious. I glanced over to where I had dove into the pool and saw that though my dive was pretty good, I splashed water onto the pool deck that he easily could have seen.
"Rufus, did you sneak in again?" he asked in good humor. I heard his dress shoes clicking on the concrete toward me. If he walked over and looked in the pool he would no doubt see me naked and I'd have a bunch of questions to answer. I had to think fast.
"It's just me Mr. Chapman," I said, poking my head above the edge of the pool and sticking my arms out so that my elbows rested on the pool deck. I pressed the rest of my body against the wall of the pool, keeping it hidden from view even if he were to come closer. My plan was to try and convince him to leave so I could sneak out before he knew I was naked and then never speak of this again. He stopped maybe fifteen feet away. His eyes bulged in surprise as he saw me. "You're that girl next door. Hailey, right?" he asked.
"That's me!" I said, trying to act as normal as possible. I looked him up and down. He was tall, over six feet, and very dark-skinned. He had a tight fade, and a well-kept goatee. His dress shirt was unbuttoned and showed the white tee shirt underneath, the fabric of which was strained around his torso. That was because of his brawny chest and shoulders from lifting weights regularly, a habit I knew he had because I watched him do it from my window occasionally. Like many black men, he had features chiseled from marble. High cheek bones, a strong jaw and piercing blue eyes that made him look like a darker-skinned version of the guy on
Almost Human
.
"Uhh, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Just taking a dip," I said, still trying to sound normal.
"Are you aware that's trespassing?" he said. He didn't sound upset, but rather confused.
"I, uh... wanted to see what Rufus was so crazy about. Your pool is lovely," I said.
"Thanks, but I kinda want to go to bed. I had a long day. Let me help you out so you can go home," he said, taking a few steps toward me.
"No!" I said, pushing my hands out to make him stop, "I, uh... I can let myself out, why don't you go to bed?" I said.
He continued forward. "It's no trouble, I'm just tired." He held out his hand to help me out of the pool and stepped up to the edge, looking down at me. "Oh my," he said as he stared down at my pale, naked body in the water. All he could see was my back and probably my booty, but he certainly could tell I had no suit on. "Ah shit," he laughed, covering his face in embarrassment and turning away from me.
"Sorry," I said, turning bright red. I didn't know what else to say.
