As I walked slowly through the house looking for Sheana, I realised most rooms were locked, something I thought at first rather peculiar, before the advantages in defending against a burglar became apparent. Even if he accessed the hall, he'd have to force his way into each room in turn where there might be nothing valuable at all. Clever. Soon enough I arrived back at the bedroom with the waterbed.
There, as I had guessed, was a small bundle of female distress hidden under the covers with only the ends of her long dark mane exposed. I walked around the bed and sank into the edge, placing a hand gently on what I assumed was her shoulder to give a rub of reassurance. I was glad when her familiar eyes and nose poked out from beneath the sheet.
"I'm really really sorry, Sheana," I began softly. "We all are. We... they just went a bit too far, that's all, and I know I really should have stuck up for you a lot better. Please forgive me. I'm so sorry."
She didn't reply but continued to lie still, accepting my gentle stroking of her arm and back until she sat up slightly, holding the sheets tight against her with only her face exposed.
"I'm sorry too," she said quietly. "I don't mind talking about... those sorts of things together, but it was too much to ask all of a sudden for me to... I just couldn't..."
She began to sink beneath the covers again, her tears ready to re-flow. To calm her, I quickly lay down as well and put an arm around her on the outside of the sheets. I tried to change the subject.
"Don't worry, we've stopped playing it now. What do you think of the waterbed anyway? I've never been on one before, have you?"
And finally I knew my comforting was taking effect as the wide smile which so often lit up her face reappeared and she wiggled away under the sheet, making room for me.
I slipped off my wrap and slid in quickly, giggling with my friend as the water readjusted, bobbing us around slightly with each movement. The giggles turned to louder laughs as it became obvious that each time one of us moved, the other received an unwelcome wave to ride. I wondered aloud how the Kitchings could possibly manage to sleep here together.
Sheana gave a mischievous grin. "Maybe they sleep somewhere else and just use this one for... you know... rumpy pumpy!" The phrase made us both giggle, the alcohol again taking hold. Lying on her front, she suddenly began to make exaggerated pelvic thrusts, accompanying them with heaving grunts to mimic the actors in the videos we had seen earlier. I immediately copied her so that we were both rumping and pumping away, side by side, causing the bed to suffer dangerous twin tidal waves. We added more moans and cries of "Yes! Yes! Do it harder! Deeper! Ohhh God! Yes! Oh yes!" until we collapsed finally in helpless mirth.
Our gyrations had pushed the eiderdown and covering sheet off and as we rolled onto our backs, breathing deeply from our exertions, our reflections in the mirrored ceiling startled me again. My eyes were caught by Sheana's pubic patch, exposed by the riding-up of her tiny white nightie. She quickly pulled down her hem in a reflex motion as I recalled she had abandoned her white cotton knickers on the floor downstairs.
I rolled to face her. We were lying very close together in the middle of the bed, almost touching. I had a peculiar sensation of a shift in the atmosphere towards intimacy but tried to maintain a casual, conversational tone.
"So Sheana, I'm not saying I don't like it or anything, but do all Sri Lankan women have hair as long as yours? Is it a cultural thing to let it grow?"
She looked up at me with a shy smile. This close, her eyes were so big and brown. "Many women grow it very long, but of course there are those who prefer it short, the same as everywhere else. The women don't shave their body hair very much. Most of the men don't seem to mind it. I was really surprised when I came here and saw Australians think you're a, you know, lesbian, if you don't shave your arm-pits and legs. I'm shaving now, but I say any man who doesn't like it later on can find someone else!"
This was one of the first times I had heard Sheana speak of relations with men, and I was very interested in what she had to say.
"What age do girls get married over there?" I prompted.
"Well, it depends on whether the girl's parents accept the terms offered by the man, you know, the husband-to-be. You and I would probably both be married by now to a wealthy man. If he were a Muslim, we might even both be his wives!"
The image of us both sharing a bed with the same man struck me as odd without being totally off-putting. "Imagine someone rich like Kimberly's dad coming along and buying us to be his wives," I said.
Sheana turned her eyes upward again and smiled. "Mmm, yes, Mr Kitching. He's nice, isn't he? I don't think I would mind being married to someone as rich and handsome as him, even if he was so much older. Maybe it was Mr Kitching's idea to get a bed like this. Maybe he likes to make love on water."
Her eyes closed and she licked her lips as her hands seemed to slide up her body automatically to rest on her breasts, cupping them firmly. I watched in fascination as her hidden nipples rose, defining themselves clearly through the thin material. Her thumbs and first fingers gave each emerging point a subtle tweak, an intimate self-touch which made my simmering arousal do a big double-take. She seemed to have forgotten for a moment I was close beside her, watching intently, until her hands froze suddenly, and she gave me a quick sideways glance and an enticing, unembarrassed smile. I realised with excitement her caresses had been quite deliberate - she wanted to play some Truth or Dare with me on her own terms, to show me she was interested in sexy things too. It was time for us to do something reckless. I was curious to see how far she wanted to go, but sensed she would need my encouragement.
"God, it's so hot in here," I said. "I'm boiling."
I pulled back the sheet and sat up to peel off my chemise, throwing it onto the floor, and followed it with my knickers before reclining with my hands behind my head and legs bent at the knees to observe her reaction in the mirror. I felt a special thrill in the way her eyes seemed to linger on my exposed breasts for a long moment, and then another when she glanced lower to take in my small pubic patch, newly waxed. It seemed so natural to remove my clothes just then. I felt totally free - free from school, free from adults, free from boys - and though I didn't think my body was perfection itself, perhaps even underdeveloped in comparison to hers, I felt a strong need to let her know I felt comfortable like this, to assure her the time was right for any kind of adventure she wished to initiate.
"You know, I think you're right, Sheana - I feel like this room has seen all kinds of sex happen. Can you feel it too?" I edged closer to her and confessed unashamedly the things I had done earlier, the way I had stripped and rolled around on the bed, even my fantasy about letting Kim's dad seduce me here so I could watch us doing it in the mirror overhead.
"Imagine lying right here," I whispered to her, "looking up and seeing his naked bum going up and down while you felt his long juicy cock sliding slowly in and out of you. Or what if you were up on your knees with him behind you, like this..."
I rolled over and knelt with my weight resting on my forearms, my bare bottom high in the air. "Then you could both look into the wall mirror over here - see, just like being in your own movie."