The lake was just cool enough to provide a nice contrast with the sultry weather outside. Mae gave a contented sigh and stepped back to the sandy shore. She unbuttoned her shirt, took it off and folded it neatly, putting it down next to her towel and shoes. Taking a deep breath of clean forest air, she started to unbutton her jeans.
This was her lake: in three summers of coming here regularly, she never saw anybody else here. It was a long drive and a short hike away from the city, and it was one place Mae felt relaxed and safe. Still, she did not undress completely, although the two-piece bathing suit she wore under her clothes was something she'd never wear on a public beach. Not that she went to public beaches.
Mae was a very shy girl and she was not comfortable letting people see her in a bathing suit. Her thighs were large, dimpled and wobbly, and so was her belly. Every now and then she decided to diet, but the weight kept coming back.
She took off her jeans and remained in her dark blue bikini. It was getting too small for her: the pale plump flesh of her hips bulged a little around the edges of the bottom piece. Mae folded her jeans and left them on the shore. Her soft white belly jiggled a little as she walked into the water and started wading deeper and deeper, the water taking her into a cool gentle embrace, making her feel light.
She was never an athletic girl, so she swam slowly and lazily to the opposite shore, about fifty yards away. The bank was very different there: no sandy beach - just trees and bushes all the way to the water. The beach was really the only way one could get into the lake.
Mae relaxed and laid down, letting the water hold her, floating on top of the lake, her arms spread, her eyes closed, water blocking her ears. Serenity and bliss.
The young woman floated there, her thoughts also lazily drifting. She thought about Josh, the sweet boy from work, who had been very nice to her lately. Three years younger than Mae's twenty eight, he seemed quite interested in having coffee with her. Maybe she should tell him yes. It's been a long, long time since she was on a date. Years, actually. Not that many dates before that time went anywhere far: she had always been very shy and men tended to lose interest when realizing that she was not ready. But maybe Josh will be different.
Mae twisted her body, losing her balance momentarily and splashed around, finding the bottom with her tiptoes. The lake was shallow enough to stand almost anywhere.
The plump girl's eyes caught some movement on the sandy part of the shore. A deer? She squinted, trying to see better.
It was not a deer. It was a man, standing on the little beach. Her little beach. A tall, big man, wearing a plaid patterned shirt and jeans. A backpack on his shoulders. A hiker. What was he doing here?
Silly question. He probably walked all morning and was now admiring the beautiful secluded forest lake, like any other person would.
Another figure appeared out of the trees. A much shorter man, also with a big backpack with something long and thin sticking out of it, perhaps a fishing pole. Black shirt and jeans. He stood alongside his fellow hiker and stared at the lake.
Mae didn't know what to do. She decided to wait for the men to leave. But what if they decided to take a swim? In her lake? That would be very awkward... but she couldn't just wade out, could she now, with all her jiggling pale near-nakedness exposed.
The men have taken their backpacks off and were talking between themselves, quietly. Mae couldn't hear them, but she saw the short one jerk his head in her direction. Then they both laughed.
"Hey Miss," the short one called, "how's the water?"
Mae paused. If she said the water was fine, they might see it as an invitation to join her. If she said the water was too cold, they would invite her to come out... Well, maybe if they went into the lake she could just swim past them and get out, and back to her car.
"The water is fine!" she replied, "Have you been hiking long?"
"A couple days," said the tall man, "and it's been longer than that since I saw a pretty girl's face."
Mae didn't say anything. She hung back, watching the short man undress. He had a wiry, dry body of a runner or a martial artist. After stripping down to his briefs, he walked into the water.
"The water is nice," he said to the tall man, "come and take a dip."
"Maybe after," said the tall man and bent down to pick up Mae's clothes.
Mae gasped.
"Sir!" she cried, agitated. "Sir! Excuse me! What are you doing?"
The tall man straightened, holding Mae's jeans, shirt and sandals in his hands.
"Your things are getting dusty here, Miss," he said, "I will hang them here and you'll just get them when you come out." He reached up and flung the girl's clothes over a horizontal branch, hooking the sandals on a protruding snag.
Mae glanced around. The cold feeling in the pit of her stomach had nothing to do with the water temperature. She was trapped in the lake, and judging by the ease with which the short man was swimming towards her, she couldn't very well wait them out.
"Oh, hi," said the short man - not too short, really, about an inch taller than Mae, - as he swam close.
"Hi," said the young woman, a little bashfully, - can you please tell your friend to take my clothes off..." she paused, seeing the guy grin, "...I mean off that tree..." she stumbled, embarrassed. The last thing she needed was to be seen as joking with a strange man about taking her clothes off. Not when she was half-naked around two strange men. "I don't appreciate strangers touching my... things." she finished awkwardly.
"Of course," the man said, touching her shoulder reassuringly. His fingers were rough on Mae's smooth skin. "Let's go and talk to him together."
Mae hesitated. She did not, did not want to be seen by two strangers in her bathing suit. But she couldn't really sit in the water and refuse to come out, could she? And the man sounded reasonable. Maybe this won't be so bad.
"Okay," she said meekly, and started half-swimming, half-wading towards the shore, the shorter guy following her closely.
She got to the place where the water became shallow enough to show the tops of her breasts and paused there. The tall man stood on the beach, thumbs hooked into his belt, watching her, smiling as he waited to see her boobs. She thought she should probably swim until she could swim no longer and then stand up, but then she realized that if she did that, the shorter man would be enjoying a good view of her legs and ass in the water. So Mae crouched and continued walking like that, with water up to her shoulders.
"Stand up," said the short guy. "Walk straight. You are not a toad. Come on."
He took Mae by the elbow and gently made her stand up. She could not very well refuse, not when he was being so encouraging. He was thinking of her dignity. This would all work out fine.
