We hang-out as a group of three like-minded couples as often as we can. Simon and Nina have been our good friends for years. Ian and Sue moved into another house on our street at the end of last year. We have lots in common and are all of a similar age, no kids yet, all in our mid to late twenties. In early July, we all set off on a vacation to Ibiza (a small Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea, off the east coast of Spain). We rented a large, self-contained, beach-front villa with private pool that we found via an internet villa rental site.
Two taxies and a plane ride later, we arrived at our villa quite late at night. We could hear the lapping of the sea waves at the rear pool-side of the house and the clicking chirps of cicadas in the trees around the property, but we couldn't see much through the darkness and, as we had a long and tiring journey, we all went off to pick our rooms and get some sleep. The management company had left a box of food and half a dozen bottles of wine in the fridge but we were all too tired to eat.
I was awoken by a stream of sunshine as my wife, Jan, pulled the curtains back a little to peep out of the glass sliding doors at the side of our bed, leading out to the pool area. She was standing gloriously naked in the morning light. "Wow! This place is great!", she said. "Check-out this massive pool and look how close we are to the beach". Jan pulled the sliding door open and was just about to brush between the curtains and step out into the sunshine. "Hey, Jan?" I quipped. She paused, turned and gave me a quizzical stare. "Clothes, Jan. Maybe you should put something on first?" She put her hand to her mouth in surprise and sprang back into the room, giggling. "You stand by and let those mean girls strip me completely naked in front of everyone last week and now you are protecting my modesty?", she reminded me as she wagged a finger in my face with the warning, "Remember, I will have my revenge!"
A quick rummage through our suitcase at the foot of the bed had Jan holding a white, string two piece bikini, the sort that ties with bows at the back, neck and each hip. Within a minute she had all the bow ties fixed in place and was outside by the pool. I quickly pulled on a pair of shorts and followed Jan out of the sliders and onto the pool deck.
We had hit the jackpot with this place. The pool was huge and had a large hot tub section cascading into the shallow end, certainly large enough for all of us. There were eight large wooden sun loungers around the pool, with some shade umbrellas, and white plastic side tables. A six foot stone wall with bright red bougainvillea flowers streaming over its top edges enclosed our private pool area. A stone archway with wooden gates led beyond the wall and a few steps down directly onto a white sandy beach, approximately a hundred yards from the sparkling blue waves of the Mediterranean. It had a volleyball net area and some sort of entertainment stage 50 yards further down the beach. It was still quite early, but there were already a few dozen people moving about the beach and music had started up from the stage area.
We must have woken the others, as two other sets of sliding glass doors opened from the other two bedrooms. They were all pool-ready. The boys had on their swim shorts and the girls had squeezed into string bikinis with loop ties at the hips, neck and back, similar to Jan's. From all of the smiling faces, I could tell everyone was pleased with our choice of rental. Jan was still standing on the edge of the pool deep end, taking it all in. She didn't notice Simon moving quickly towards her. With a screech, she was scooped up into his bear hug and the two of them splashed noisily into the pool.
By mid-afternoon, we had emptied a few bottles of wine and the mid-day sun was baking us all on our loungers next to the pool. Jan spread her beach towel out over the sun lounger and lay face-down to snooze. Before nodding off, she grabbed a bottle of sun oil from the side table, shaking it at me, "Hubby, do my back please so I don't burn". Nina spied an opportunity for devilment and silently hopped up from her lounger followed quietly by her partner-in-crime Sue, saying "We can oil your back for you!"
"Oh, no! I don't trust you two", Jan replied, "only my hubby, John".