My wife Jan and I invited some of our closest friends over to the house for one of our regular evening dinner parties. Most weekends we would meet up at one or other of our homes for some food and drink. We hang-out as a group of three couples all of the time. Simon and Nina have been our good friends for years. Ian and Sue moved into the house two doors down at the end of last year. We have lots in common and are all of a similar age, no kids yet, all in our early 20's.
That particular Saturday evening the six of us had enjoyed a spicy chicken, sitting around the kitchen table at our house and we all drank a little more wine than we should have. By late evening we were feeling the effects of the wine and we moved from the kitchen into the den room, carrying our glasses with us. Even though the two sofas and three chairs are comfortable, they are all inhabited by Jan's collection of large stuffed toys; she has a Big-Bird, a few teddies, some fat cats and various other unknown creatures. We all chose to sit on the deep pile carpet, with our backs against the chairs.
The conversation wandered to a planned holiday in Ibiza (a small Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea) later in the year. We were all going to share a large self-contained, beach-front villa with private pool we had found via an internet villa rental site.
Nina put the cat amongst the pigeons with her comment, "All the beaches there are topless, you know! Some are even bottomless!"
My wife, Jan, was normally shy, maybe even a little reserved. She pulled over the nearest stuffed toy from the sofa and hugged it tight, shielding her chest with this large, fluffy blue cat. "Well that's fine if you guys want to, but these boobs are staying all covered up".
"Spoil sport!" I quipped. Jan pulled her tongue out at me and continued to hug Blue Cat to her chest, crossing her arms over it to reinforce the point.
Nina, who had been sitting on the floor next to Jan, moved closer saying, "You know Jan, you may feel pressure to conform if everyone else on the beach is showing a little more skin that you're used to. Anyway, you've got a great bod and you know what they say: when in Rome..."
Jan shook her head. "No way!" and squeezed Blue Cat tighter.
Nina looked over to Sue and they both began to grin, hatching a plot. Nina flicked her eyes sideways, in Jan's direction. Sue got the message. She padded slowly over, cat-like, her knees and hands sinking into the thick carpet pile as she approached, saying "Oh really!"
Sue pretended her interest was in Blue Cat and began to stroke its belly, "Hello pussy."
Nina pounced, hopping onto the sofa behind Jan. She grabbed Jan's arms away from the toy cat and pulled them above her head, holding them there. "Get her!" she shouted. Blue Cat rolled away. Sue made her own move and began tickling Jan's sides, making her laugh and wriggle while I sat back, sipping my wine, smirking.
Nina called for reinforcements. "Hold her arms while I tickle her feet." Simon and Ian set down their wine glasses and moved to take an arm each, holding Jan very firmly. Nina pulled Jan's trainers off and tossed them into the corner before attacking Jan's sock covered feet in earnest. "Stop it!" Jan half shouted, but with a little too much of a giggle to be taken seriously.
Sue took hold of the bottom of Jan's white sweatshirt and, teasing Jan, stared directly at her chest. "Do these trapped puppies want to come out and play in the sunshine?"