“Then we get cold,” Vera stated simply. I smiled at her, ready to run in. When I looked over at Vera, she was removing her bra and panties.
“What are you doing?” My eyes went wide. She didn’t answer but simply ran into the water, her naked body bronze against the night.
“Come on!” The water covered her up to her waist and then a wave crashed against her back. She laughed as she fell into the ocean. I looked at Vera and then to her strewn garments.
She hooted and hollered as I removed the last of my clothes. I stood there a moment, feeling wrong and right simultaneously. The moon was watching. The ocean was watching. But no one was judging, and even if they were, in that moment I didn’t care. I shook my hair and ran to join Vera, naked in the sea.
The water was frigid. I felt the shock in my spine. Any dulled senses were immediately wakened.
“It’s so cold!” I said over the crashing waves. Vera splashed me in response. I splashed her back. The waves crashed against our back as we laughed and splashed each other, having frivolous fun for the first time since coming to Santa Barbara. I could hear her laughter, a clattering thing that nearly matched the cracking of the waves.
“Hey!” An authoritative voice called out in the night. Vera and I stopped splashing. As if caught red handed, we froze our movements. “Hey!” The voice called out again. “What are you girls doing out here? This is private property!”
Vera and I glanced at one another. Private property? We seemed to ask one another. Didn’t we rent this beach with the house?
We adjusted our eyes to see a man on the beach, dressed in some kind of security uniform and shining a light on us. I remembered with stark clarity that I was naked. I no longer felt fun or frivolous, just naked and exposed. It was Vera who spoke first.
“We live in that building, sir!” Vera pointed to our apartment, directly in front of us and only a few feet away. The security man followed her hand.
“You s
hould know better,” he said, his voice chastising. “Beach time ends at ten o’clock for students.”
“We’re not students,” I whispered to Vera. Vera barely looked at me when she shrugged.
“Let’s just listen to him,” she whispered back. “I don’t feel like dealing with security tonight. Do you?” I shook my head vehemently. The last thing I wanted to do was get arrested.
“We’re naked!” Vera called back. I punched her in the arm. She gave me a look as if to say “what?” The guard rolled his eyes but continued down the beach. I guessed he was done with us.
Vera and I awkwardly made our way back to the shore. The waves kept crashing against our backs and shins, trying to knock us over and pull us back to sea. Eventually, though, we got there. My underwear had been dampened by the wet sand, but I put it on anyway. The guard made me mindful of the fact that even though we felt alone, anyone could be watching.
With towels on our heads and wrapped around our body, we sat under Vera’s sheets, trying to get warm after our swim in the ocean.
“Don’t put your feet on me!” Vera screeched.
“I’m just trying to get warm!” I laughed, removing my feet from her calves.
“So am I! Keep your popsi-toes to yourself.”
Vera had a poster above her bed with kittens cuddling that kept my mind peaceful and occupied while I warmed up. I wondered if it did the same for her. After minutes of comfortable, warming silence I said her name, wondering if she had fallen asleep.
“Hmm?” Vera responded.
“Remember that thing you said I could ask you about?”
“Gonna have to refresh my mind,” Vera said in between yawns. “There’s lots of things that I am oh-so-knowledgeable about.”
I laughed, but it was short lived. The question I had was hard for me to ask. “I’ve been thinking about it for awhile.”
“Mmm…” Vera murmured.
All right, here goes nothing. “How do you touch yourself?” A beat longer than a minute passed, so I spoke again. “Vera?”
“I’m thinkin’.” Vera turned on her side, arm on her head, and looked at me intensely. She reminded me of when Mama tried to teach me numbers. I had a hard time with numbers. “Okay,” Vera said. “There’s a couple of ways you can do this, but I’m assuming you don’t want to use any toys.”
“Toys?” I squeaked. “Like dolls?”
Vera shook her head seriously. “No, like things to help you feel good. Some vibrate, some you just stick—”