by Mia Moore
“Look at you! Did you lose weight or something on the trip?” Marcia’s eyes were like marbles staring at me.
“No. I think I put five pounds on, the food was so good!” I glanced at Jessica when she sat back in her chair and tilted her head, giving me her ‘that’s bullshit’ look.
“What the hell happened down there? If you didn’t lose weight, you must have got fucked a lot. Was it just with Keith or what? It IS kind of a swinger resort.” Now she edged closer, her eyes sparkling above her grin.
“I’ll never tell.” I sat back, smiling at the disappointed looks on their faces. “Oh, who am I kidding? You’re my best friends. Of course, I had lots of sex and well, things got pretty hot and heavy at the hot tub at night.” I wiggled my eyebrows up and down.
“Lori! You didn’t! I mean, did you and Keith have sex with other people?” Marcie thrust her chin towards me, her voice loud.
“Shh, I don’t want the whole world to know.” I looked around the restaurant, glad that it was early and not many people were there.
“Oh my God! I can’t imagine having sex with anyone other than my husband. Besides which, Rick wouldn’t want to either.” She rolled her eyes and exhaled through pursed lips.
“If he wouldn’t, then he must be some sort of Eunuch, although that wouldn’t explain your daughter… C’mon, Lori, I want details. It obviously did something for you ‘cause you look great! And that guy at the bar hit on you when you walked in. He didn’t even glance at Marcie or me.” She glanced at the bar and frowned.
“And the new clothes? I’ve never seen you wear anything nearly that sexy. Short skirt, low top. That’s not your usual style.” Marcie shook her head, puzzled.
“It’s a new me, I found down there. Sure, I’ve always known, I have a pretty face but my body…well you know what that’s like. And even though Keith has always told me how beautiful my body is, I really never believed him. But now, I know it too! I’m proud of the way I look and dammit, I’m buying clothes to show that off.” My mouth was set in a line, looking from one to the other of their surprised faces.
“So, lots of guys hit on you? And it wasn’t just wanting to get their jollies, fucking the fat chick? They were turned on by your size? Maybe I should go. It’s been a while since I’ve been laid.” Jess’s mouth pulled up at the side.
She was still single with no decent guy in sight. You sure couldn’t count the looser, Colin who called her whenever he was hard up, used her and then treated her like shit.
“It wasn’t like that. They’re normal guys with wives, who enjoy the sexual freedom. It’s just adult play, that’s all. There was a couple, Rob and Kate, and she was about my size. He was really attracted to me.” I looked to the side picturing them.
“And?” Jessica speared me with her large, blue eyes.
“I had sex with an older man, really sexy guy the first time.” Yes, John had been slow and sensual.
“But what about this Rob guy? What was THAT like? Was Keith there?” Jess slapped the table in front of her.
“That’s another story altogether.” I raised my hand signaling to the waitress that I was ready to order.
The End
Cuddly Swingers 2: Hook Up At Hedonism
Chapter 1 As If…
She is my best friend, and sitting across from her in the bar, I hated her. Not really, but I could. There she sat, even bigger than me, and she has it all. She’s got the good, no— great husband, decent job, two sweet kids and now, sitting here, finding out that she’s got the kind of sex life you read about in Cosmo? Argh!
What the hell happened to her down there? She’s holding out on the details, and I so want to hear the smut. But nooo… she just sits back with the cat and canary grin.
“C’mon, Lori—I’ve never been shy with telling you guys about my sex life!”
She looks at me, opens her mouth and holds her hands palms up. “What happens at Hedonism stays at Hedonism,” she says.
“That’s Vegas, hon,” says Marcie. I look over and nod, and we both look back to Lori.
She purses her lips. “Well…” Marcie and I lean in across the table.
Just at that moment, Suzie our waitress comes by with the damn menus! “You girls just going to drink tonight, or you want something to eat?” she says. I look over to her. I never liked Suzie. She’s got an expression on her face that says something like ‘as if you aren’t going to eat something’. The girls take a menu, but I hold up my hand. Suzie was one of those people I have gotten so used to—the ones that watch big people in restaurants, silently judging every forkful we put into our mouths.
“No food for me, just another drink.” I hand her my empty glass. “We’ll let you know when we’re ready to order, hon.” I smile brightly, and she leaves.
Lori’s busy scanning the menu. Damn—she looks hotter now than she did before she left, and it sure wasn’t any weight loss. Even her make-up is different, a little more eye-shadow and mascara than she normally wore, more my style, but subtle. Of the three of us, with her blonde hair and deep blue eyes, she’d always been the prettiest. But now she was downright beautiful.
“As you were about to say, Lori? Before we were interrupted?”
She looks up at us and closes the menu. “Well…” The three of us all lean into the table, and Lori starts chewing on her lip.
“C’mon, tell us. So no juicy details of what Hedonism was like? Did you go to the nude beach?” I glanced at Marcie for back-up. She couldn’t fool me, sitting so prim and proper. Her dark eyes were flashing from me to Lori, like a hawk that has spotted a field mouse.
Lori nodded. “Okay. It took a few days to get up the nerve but, yes, I went totally nude. I can’t tell you how exhilarating it felt— the sun and water on my skin, the freedom.”
My jaw dropped. When Lori took her kids to the lake, she usually wore a T shirt and shorts, not even a bathing suit. For her to go nude at a resort with a bunch of strangers was so totally out there, and she had liked it? I’ve got a reputation for being the ballsy one, but I wasn’t sure that I could do that, expose my ass to the world. Too big a risk of blotting out the sun.
“And Keith? What did he do?” I liked Keith but was never sure that the feeling was mutual. Sometimes he looked at me like I was some weird science project, especially when I talked about men and my love life.
“Yeah, he went nude as well.” There was a small smile on Lori’s face and she looked to the side.
Marcie edged closer, her mouth almost as wide as her eyes. “But what about this swinger thing? Did you— ”
“Fuck other men?” I had to ask.
Lori’s voice was a whisper when she answered. “It’s hard to explain. Neither of us had any intention of doing that but… It’s the atmosphere there, so sensual and erotic. And the people…there’re everyday people. Sure, there’s some that are porn star hot but most are just normal people.”
“Lori, you’re dancing around the question…” I sat back when Suzie placed the vodka tonic in front of me. She stood there with her order pad out, tapping it. I looked up at her. “I said we’ll let you know Suzie.” She rolled her eyes and flounced off.
I had heard through the grapevine months ago how she had referred to us as ‘The Three Little Pigs’ to the kitchen staff. Servers gossip, and I was told that nugget at the diner I work at during a day shift. I never told the girls about it—why dump another shot of pain that all three of us have had to deal with all our lives? Besides, Lori and Marcie think Suzie’s good at her job.
“God, she comes over right at the juicy parts!” I said with a snort and took a long swallow of my drink. I sat back in my seat and drummed my fingernails on the table. Of all the people in the world to go nude and have sex with anyone other than her husband, my self-conscious friend, Lori would be the last person I’d ever have dreamed would do that.
“Now, about the sex Lori.” I was getting a little frustrated and let it show in my tone. She really does want to tell us all about i
Lori stared into her glass. Oh shit, she’s blushing! “At first we just had sex with each other in the hot tub area. Keith was actually insecure about any other man touching me. Imagine, jealous over me. After a couple nights of that, we were relaxed and comfortable enough to try it. Let me tell you, there were lots of men who wanted to get next to me.” She looked up and her blue eyes were sparkling above her wide smile.
“And you both did this? Weren’t YOU jealous seeing him with another woman? I couldn’t handle that.” Marcie shook her head but her eyes never left Lori’s face.
I shushed Marcie with a wave of my hand. “Never mind that, they worked it out. I want to hear more about the men who wanted to be with a big beautiful woman.”
“You mean fat” said Marcie. I shot her a look.
“Curvy,” said Lori. We both looked back at her. “Or full figured. I was called voluptuous, too, and not just by Keith.” She smiled at a memory. “One afternoon, a bunch of us were sitting around and we tried to come up with as many euphemisms for being overweight as we could.” Her eyes shot open wide. “Then we moved onto dirty talk.”
“Dirty talk?”
She nodded. “Yeah. We tried to come up with words to describe…” She paused and looked at me in the eye. “To describe a girl like you.”
“Oh. You mean ‘slut’, right?”
“No!” Lori reached across the table and held my hand. “That’s exactly what we didn’t mean! We were coming up with words that were as… I don’t know… as complimentary to a woman who’s got a high sex drive as we have for men.” Her fingers clutched at my hand.
Yeah, I’ve always had a high sex drive. God knows I paid the price for it. Except with these two. They know I can have the morals of an alley cat, but they never held it against me, nor judged me in any way for it other than to worry about safe sex.
“Isn’t it unfair, that a guy who gets laid is a ‘stud’ or a ‘player’, but a girl’s a whore and slut?” she said.
Yeah, that argument. Heard it and made it myself a million times. I shrugged.
“So at the resort we were coming up with different terms that aren’t as pejorative.” She giggled. “We came up with ‘shameless’— ”
I shrugged. “Not much of an improvement.”
She nodded. “Then we came up with ‘debauched’.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Sex Kitten?”
Hmm… “I like that one.”
“But then, the two best came up.”
“Oh?”
“Wanton and wicked.” She gripped my hand even tighter. “And I thought of you. I like you being ‘wanton’. And the motto of Hedonism is ‘Be Wicked For A Week’.”
I held her hand. No wonder I love her so much.
She sat back and started to giggle. “By that time, we all had more than a few drinks and it deteriorated into a real grope fest!”
“Sounds like a wickedly wanton afternoon,” smirked Marcie. We all laughed.
“Maybe I’ll go with Colin.” I noticed the momentary dark look that passed over Lori’s face at my mention of Colin. Neither of my friends liked him very much. So what? They didn’t sleep with him, did they?
“Jess! If you went with Colin, you’d never see him all week and you know it. He only calls you when he’s hard up. If there’re women around, like in that resort, he’d probably fuck himself to death. On second thought…” Marcie laughed and exchanged a look with Lori.
“Maybe that’d be fine if the men were lined up to get with me. “ I drained my vodka and signaled for a refill.
“You’re such a slut.” Marcie laughed again.
I donned my usual smart ass mask when I looked into her laughing eyes. “Hon, variety is the spice of life you know. And you wish you were me, instead of climbing into bed with the same old, same old.”
“Whatever…” Marcie fluttered her hands at me. “Ryan may not be perfect, but he’s home every night.” She looked up at me. “When was the last time you saw Colin by the way?”
Ouch. “Just yesterday,” More like a week from yesterday. He did say he’d be along tonight. He’s due for a booty call anyway. The football season’s been over for a month, and his membership in God of War expired last week, so he’ll be a little bored. I hope. “And he’s stopping by later this evening, so I got to scoot.” I stood, threw on my coat and grabbed my purse.
“To each their own,” said Lori. “You good for next week?”
I looked around the restaurant. It was starting to fill, but I had some things to do, and it was a school night for both of them—well, their kids anyway, and I had work in the morning too. “Sure, same time, same station.” I looked to both of them. “Hey, let me get the check, you guys leave the tip, okay?”
They both looked at me with blank expressions. I’ve been wanting to start doing this for what felt like forever, but it had only been a few months. I came up with another fib. “I do a shift here every now and then, and I can get the employee discount. Don’t worry—you two aren’t worth paying full price for.”
“You sure, Jess?” asked Marcie.
“Hey, I don’t have kids at home, and it’s been a great week tip wise for me.” The fibs just get easier and easier. I’ll come clean with them when I have it figured out.
“Well, thanks! I’ll be able to take in a movie tomorrow!” Marcie enjoyed the movies almost as much as me.
“No big deal.” I waved goodbye, and stopped at the bar. I settled up and left exactly 15% for that bitch Suzie. It would be a good night for her when she added in the five bucks each Lori and Marcie will leave on the table. I had a couple too many (unlike my girlfriends) and so called a cab. Another splurge.
Yeah. As if.
Chapter 2: I Got A Secret…
The taxi pulled up to a three story house, where I rented the basement apartment. It wasn’t much but it was the place I called home for years and least for a little while longer. When I rented it, I had been on cloud nine. On my waitress pay, it had been affordable and it was my space that I could decorate any way I wanted. I’d moved in like a refugee, finally free from Dad and Billy. They’d never been invited here and that was the way I liked it.
I handed the cab driver the fare along with my now standard tip. It’s so cool watching cabbies’ faces light up when they see the extra fifty dollar bill.
“Lady, this isn’t a five,” he said, holding it up. Rather than just stick it in his pocket, he wanted to make sure I wasn’t making a costly mistake. Cab drivers have such a shitty reputation—even though every time I do this, they always point it out.
“Yeah, I know. It’s a fifty.”
“What, you hit the lottery or something?”
“Nahh, I just had a good night myself.”
“Well, thanks for sharing the wealth!”
I gave him a short wave and got out. I know how front line workers like him and me depend on tips and the kindness of strangers. It’s been great making people’s nights like his for the last couple months. No way I’d let word get out about Powerball. People would be camped on my doorstep.
****
It was the Powerball draw three months earlier. It had been tough keeping my mouth shut about it though. Hell, I didn’t even know I had won for four days after the draw. I had the ticket on my fridge, right next to the pics of my three kids, but didn’t look at it until I saw on the news that the winning ticket had been sold in Black Rapids. At the store I always bought them in.
That night the newscaster was droning on about how someone in our city was worth $22,000,000 and I went over and looked at the ticket. Yeah, right, I thought.
When I got to the fridge I glanced at the pictures of my three kids and gave a thought as to how their lives could change with a windfall like that. They had been ‘my kids’ since I turned 25. They cost me $300 a month, and I hear from them twice a year, and at Christmas.
****
For some stupid reason, turning 25 was tough. It was a lot harder than when I turned 30, go figure. Anyway, on my 25th birthday I was pretty out of sorts. No husband, no boyfriend even—just a couple of booty calls when I needed one (or those guys did). I had been stuck in a basement apartment for seven years, and I really didn’t have a lot to show for my life at that point. I didn’t have a degree, I didn’t have a ‘good’ job, and I was still single with nobody on the horizon.
Lori was pregnant with her second child, and that kind of bugged me. Marcie’s wedding was in a couple of weeks. It was my birthday an neither of them called. Sure, they felt terrible about it later, but that night of my birthday, all alone in my apartment was pretty crummy.
I was drinking vodka straight out of the bottle and channel surfing when I came across a commercial for one of those World Vision, Save the Children kind of things. Looking at those pictures and videos of the devastating poverty these kids lived in slapped me right out of my self-pity, let me tell you. Here I was, sitting on my couch, in my apartment. I had my own car parked out front, plenty to eat, and snug as a bug.
Those kids were living in shacks and didn’t even have shoes.
I did some research on the web and found an organization that had a great reputation. I sponsored Juliana that night, and added David on my next birthday, and finally Katarina the year I turned 27.
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