There were four of us. There was me, Megan, usually known as Megs, and then there were Tilly, Lucy and Zara. We were the entire workforce of a cladding company's office and on this particular morning we had turned up to work only to find we couldn't get in because of an overnight fire in a neighbouring building. Our office had been deemed unsafe until the entire block had been inspected, and so there we all were milling about on the street outside wondering what to do. Eventually our boss, Mr Lowe, bowed to the inevitable and gave us the day off. 'Go home and turn in tomorrow' we were told. Go home? In the middle of a summer hot spell? Don't be silly. I don't think any of us wanted to waste an unexpected day off at home.
'Well.' Tilly said, looking from one to another of us. 'I'm going to the beach for a spot of sunbathing if anyone wants to join me?'
That sounded good to me.
Tilly is the oldest of us at the grand old age of twenty-nine, and is the unofficial office senior. She also has coal black hair, smouldering brown eyes, a firm curvy body, and skin with the sort of lovely golden tan donated by genes. I envied her.
'Good idea.' Zara brightened, and then frowned. 'Except that I'm not equipped for sunbathing, and I don't suppose anyone else is.'
'No problem.' Tilly told her. 'It won't be busy if we keep away from town, and you can always sunbathe in your undies if you're shy.'
The various attractions are all clustered around the town's main beach, and so that's where families almost invariably congregated. Further out in either direction is often almost empty.
'That's not what I meant.' Zara told her. 'I'm not shy so I'm not bothered about what to wear, it's just that I burn easily and I haven't got any sun cream.'
Zara is Tilly's opposite to look at. She the youngest at just twenty, very beautiful, very blonde, very slim and very giggly -- but actually very smart.
'And then there's nowhere to eat.' Lucy objected. We all tend to use the takeaway just down the street from the office.
Lucy and I stand just about in the middle between the two, in age and especially in colouring, except that Lucy's figure looks just a bit too top heavy to be natural, although she's never said anything about it one way or the other.
I quite liked the idea of a day lounging around on the beach, despite the objections. I wasn't about to let a bad attack of negativity stop us.
'Look.' I said. 'If we take my car we can go right past the headland, there's never anybody there, and we can pick up sun block, food, water, and anything else we might need, at the mall on the way out of town.'
To get to the beach I was talking about entailed heading a few miles south and then turning off the main road down a very rough seldom used dirt track, but I've got a Toyota that's more than capable of negotiating that. Actually, I say seldom used but it can get a bit busy at night, if you know what I mean.
'That sounds a good idea.' Tilly smiled. 'If we go right out there it's bound to be empty and we won't have to worry about what to wear.'
We all knew exactly what she meant, but as nobody objected it seemed that, by default, we had all agreed to go nude sunbathing. It's a good job that I'm not the shy type either. We grabbed a blanket that Tilly kept in her car for unspecified reasons and set off, calling in for our other supplies en route.
Tilly was right, the beach was absolutely empty, the sky was blue, the sun was glorious and we found a spot in the sun but out of the wind just where the sand began to slope up the side of a dune and we spread Tilly's sunbathing blanket out there.
'Nobody's feeling bashful, are they?' Tilly asked, reaching behind herself for the zip on her dress.
Nobody was, or if they were they didn't let it show, and to my surprise everyone slipped out of their clothes without anything more than a moment's hesitation. My next surprise was to find that Lucy had shaved her pubes. I mean, I trim mine regularly and so does Tilly by the look of things, but Lucy was as smooth as the proverbial baby's bum. I must admit that it did look nice, although I wasn't sure what my boyfriend would say if I did that.
We covered ourselves in sun cream, helping each other by doing one another's backs. I know we'd probably done that countless times, although with different people and in different circumstances, but it seemed very strange this time because we were all nude. I mean to have a girl's hands on your skin, even on your back when you're stripped naked, feels just a little bit naughty. Anyway, we got the job done amidst plenty of giggling and then settled down, all four of us sharing the blanket. We were packed a bit close together, but then we had little option because sand and sun cream don't mix well. I was at one end; Tilly was next to me, then Lucy and finally Zara at the far end, just managing to keep herself off the beach. Somehow the physical closeness made it nicer and so we all relaxed, leaning against the slope of the dune to soak up the sun and have a good gossip
Of course the first subject was the fire at work. None of us knew what had happened exactly, although the company involved was rumoured to be having a tough time of it financially, and so we put two and two together and got five. We just thought ourselves lucky that our own humble premises hadn't been destroyed. It wasn't the best job in the world, but it paid the bills.
After that we went through all the usual subjects, from pop music to boyfriends, especially ex-boyfriends, and then we shared a sandwich, drank some water, rubbed sun block into each other again, with Lucy making Zara squeal in counterfeit terror by pretending she was going to do her front as well as her back, and then settled back into a comfortable silence. Until, that is, Zara suddenly pointed at Lucy.
'You've had a boob job!' She exclaimed excitedly. 'I can see the scars.'
'Yes.' Lucy replied simply, not at all fazed. 'I had them done about two years ago. Do you like them?'
I must admit I was surprised that Zara hadn't realised that Lucy's figure had been "enhanced" as they say. I'd thought that for ages, although I'd never been sure. But then I'd figured it was none of my business anyway.
'Yes, they look really good.' Zara replied, cupping her own pert little ones with her hands. 'Maybe I should get mine done?'
'No. They wouldn't suit someone your size.' Tilly told her. 'Yours are just right as they are.'
There was a chorus of curious questions for Lucy after that, everything from "did it hurt?" to "does it make you feel top heavy?", but it was Zara again who asked the question that sent us all off on an entirely new tangent. 'Do they feel different?'
'Do you mean to me or other people?'
'To other people.'
'Have a feel, see what you think.'
