BEACH BABY
Steve was at his computer when he heard a knock on his bedroom door. It was open, but a giant stuffed rabbit peeked inside, just above the door knob. "Oh, hi, Sherry. Come on in."
The rabbit shook to indicate motion. "I'm not Sherry," it said in a childish voice. "I'm her stuffed rabbit."
"That two-timer!" Steve said with mock indignation. "She told me *I* was her stuffed rabbit."
Sherry came in from behind the door, closed it, and kissed Steve on the top of his head. "You are," she said. "What are you doing?"
She started unbuttoning her uniform blouse. She finished in the time it took him to answer, "Working on a term paper. What's up?"
"One of my co-workers was talking about the pictures she sent her boyfriend. It's a long-distance thing; he lives in Tulsa. Anyway, I realized you never showed me most of my pictures, especially the ones from the shower."
"Okay, but don't talk too loud. Mom and Dad are still awake." Steve saved his work and got his camera case out of the closet. He took out the camera and connected it to the computer. While he did that, Sherry took off her skirt.
Sherry ignored a row and a half of pictures from Christmas. She pointed to the pictures Steve had taken of her in, or nearly out of, the dress, and said, "You already gave me the CD of these." They were followed by a man on a horse near their grocery store, a distant shot of a bird she didn't recognize on the tree in their front yard, and the shower door pictures Steve had captured. "I love these!" she cried.
Steve put his hand in front of his mouth and pushed down, motioning her to keep her voice down. "Mom and Dad are still awake," he pointed out.
Sherry pointed to various pictures from the shower. "Here I can see your shoulder blades against the door and my hands on your thighs while I sucked you. This one, all I can make out is our shadows while we were in the middle, just kissing, but I could feel your dick getting hard again. Here you see my handprints while you slid inside my pussy. Then, in this next one, you were all the way in, and my tits were mashed up against the door." She pointed to the first picture that didn't feature the door. "You
did
get one after I left the shower. Too bad all it shows is my butt."
Steve was still sitting. Sherry stood to his right. He put his hand on her butt and said, "Yeah, but it's a really sexy butt." He rubbed it through her nondescript, light pink underwear for emphasis. "Plus, the high-speed lens captured the moment where you were turning the corner. A cell phone picture would have been blurry. It would've captured the speed but not the feeling."
"You're just saying that 'cause you can't wait to see it again," she said.
"I'm saying it 'cause it's true," Steve insisted. "But you're right, I can't wait for the next time the coast is clear."
"Anyway, registration for summer school starts next week, and they've got a picture of someone who's carrying a blow-up ring shaped like a duck. It looks stupid, but it reminded me. You said you wished I'd worn my bikini for the pictures. Let's do it. I want you to have the pictures to look at when you go away in the fall."
"It's too cold. Maybe when it--" He looked across the room at a movie poster on the wall and realized he could fake the outdoor setting. "That's a great idea. I just have to find some backgrounds to use." He got up and kissed his sister. She reached around and squeezed his butt.
The next day, Steve texted Sherry. "When U off next?"
"Thurs."
"Meet me on campus at 5." It was accompanied by directions to a building at his college, including the bus schedule for the stop nearby.
"Bikini?" she asked.
"Bring 2 or 3 in case they clash with the background."
Steve went out with friends that night, and Sherry was asleep by the time he came home.
On Thursday, Sherry found the building. It was in the art complex. Steve explained, "They have drawing and painting classes in here, but they make it available for people in photography classes."
"I didn't know you were taking photography."
"I'm not, but any student can reserve it for up to two hours. I've got it from six till eight."
"Then why'd you tell me to be here at five?"
"'Cause I want to take the prettiest girl in town to dinner."
Sherry practically melted when he said that. "How can I turn that down?" she asked. "Where are you taking me, Rabbit?"
"I figure you won't want to even smell pizza for two months after you stop working at the mall, but there's a sandwich shop across the street."
"You got that right," she mused. "I guess I should wait before I change clothes, then. Or were you planning on letting me wear your coat like a gentleman?"
Steve opened a tall bag that already held his camera and some rolled-up objects that looked like long posters. Sherry put her brown paper bag inside it. Steve carried it with him across the street. "How'd you get here?" he asked.
"I took the bus," she answered.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
"Wow, I knew you were nice, but I never thought you were devoted enough to public transportation that you'd ask your date to use it."
"No, but I forgot to look at how late this bus route is open, and I figured if we both took my car, it wouldn't matter."
Sherry smiled. "You mean this was an elaborate plan to get me into your car so we could go somewhere and park?"
"No!" Steve insisted.
"I'm kidding," she said, and she took his hand.
They went across the street, ordered their sandwiches and sat in a booth. When the food arrived, Sherry looked at their orders and observed, "I guess you're planning to kiss me, then."
"I was hoping to, yeah. Why do you ask?"
"You had the turkey club, with nothing spicier than yellow mustard. Now I feel bad 'cause I got sriracha sauce on mine."
"That's okay," Steve assured her.
Sherry looked at his face. "I know that look," she said. "Your face says, 'I finally got a date with the girl I've been jacking off to for months.'" She looked at him again. "No, that's not it. It's, 'I finally got a date with my crush.'" Steve didn't answer, but she knew she was right. She wasn't sure whether she felt better or worse about it being the crush face. Usually if she thought it was the jack-off expression, she'd order the most expensive item on the menu, but every dollar this suitor spent on her was a dollar that her future nieces or nephews wouldn't have in their college fund.
When they got back to the building, Steve went to the building manager and got the key to the room. They went to the door, and he unlocked it. He set his bag on a table and opened it up. "I'll give you a few minutes to change before I come in," he told her, and he left.
Sherry looked around at the walls. They were made of stone, so there was no good place to poke a hole for a wire, let alone hide a camera. She took one of Steve's things out of the bag and unrolled it. It was a photo-quality picture of a beach. She found an easel and draped the picture over it. She moved the whole thing toward the back of the room and stood behind it. She stripped to the waist and put on a blue bikini top with triangle bands. She took the rest of her clothes off and put the matching bottom on. She waited a minute, thinking he surely had been watching from some place so he'd know when to come in. When he didn't, she opened the door and saw him on his phone. "Ready," she said.
Steve closed an app on his phone and followed her back in. "I see you found the backgrounds," he said. "Gimme a hand with this." He rolled out a large partition with hooks on the back, and together they put the picture on it.
Steve set up his tripod, while Sherry found a spot that was a comfortable distance in front of the background and tossed her hair behind her shoulders. "Do you like it?"
"Yeah, but I was thinking there should be a progression. See that blanket over there? Put it over your shoulders."
"You're the first guy who's ever told me to cover more of my body at the beach," Sherry said. She pouted and added, "I think you hurt my feelings."
This time the irony was so obvious that even Steve's infatuation-addled mind couldn't miss it. "Get as close as you can to the background without touching it. Okay, now act like you're drying your hair after coming out of the water. That's it! Now you see me, your friend, standing here, and you say hi. Yes! The way the towel fell out of your hand is perfect. Close up ..." He got a still shot of her face.
"Shouldn't I look at least a little wet?" Sherry asked.
"When it's warmer out, we'll take some outside pictures with wet hair and insert 'em where we need 'em," Steve answered. "But that's good. You're learning what goes on behind the scenes. Okay, hold your arms out so I have a full view of your body. Good. Now bring 'em together in front of you, like it's cold or you're hugging someone. Raise 'em." Sherry's boobs were now pressed together. "Now, let your left arm drop and pull the left strap onto your shoulder. Yes, very nice. Now do the other strap. That's it." He stepped out from behind the camera and explained, "That shows some cleavage that I couldn't see before. Now take the top off." As soon as it was off, Sherry faced the camera, and Steve pressed a button on a controller. "Beautiful! Now turn around slowly." He snapped several pictures from various angles. "That was great. Lemme see the other suits."
Steve put the controller down and went to the table where Sherry had put the paper bag. She had a yellow string bikini and a red bikini that covered about the same area as the blue one, but it had metal rings on the hips and at the front of the top. Sherry held up the string bikini. "I like this one 'cause it doesn't cover much."
"As you wish," Steve said, and he walked out of the room.
Several minutes later, Sherry opened the door and told him, "I'm ready." She made no effort to cover herself beyond what the swimsuit did. "What do you think?"
