One Swinging Summer (25 page)

"Oh, wow." That started a whole ten minutes of hearing about their first time. I tried to listen, but I was so thrown off at having been recognized, that I could only smile and nod. Up until now, those worlds had remained separate for me. This was the first time that the two worlds collided, and I wasn't enjoying it. Kate and Michael knowing were one thing, but these strangers recognizing us was jarring. Especially when I didn't remember them at all. Caleb obviously did, but I had no clue. 'Seems to be a reoccurring theme,' I thought, distractedly.

If they hadn't said anything I would have spent all night partying beside them, never knowing that they recognized me from there. It was unsettling. I was extremely grateful that they hadn't been there last weekend. As soon as there was a decent sized lull in their conversation, I grabbed Caleb and asked him to dance.

"Small world, huh?" Caleb asked as we danced.

"Something like that."

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking down at me. My tone had caught his attention.

"Yeah, I guess, it's just unnerving. That's the first time our interactive porn recognized us outside of there. It was kind of creepy."

He laughed at my description of them as our interactive porn, but he said, "At least they seem nice. Normal."

"Whatever, all I could think was 'Oh, shit, is that the lady I ate out?' It is hard having no memory of that night."

"Oh no, the lady you ate was younger, and a brunette, and thinner. She wasn't married either."

"So not helping, you knowing these things that I don't."

"Sorry, babe. Do you want to skip it tonight? We hadn't really talked about it, I just assumed we would go there tonight, as usual. But if you don't want to. We could always tell Kate that we were driving down to the river early, so we didn't want to stay up that late. Have you talked to Kate?"

"No, but that was my plan for after this dance. I saw her earlier."

"Is that what you want? To skip That Other Club?"

"I don't know yet. I'll think about it, OK?"

"OK, just let me know, I am fine either way."

After we danced, I went in search of Kate, nervous as hell.

I found her at her table, with Michael standing beside her. I hugged her, and she said, "Boy, you just jumped right into the deep end last week, didn't you? No taking it slow for you."

"Hello to you, too." I said, with a nervous laugh.

"I bet you guys had a lot to talk about this week." Michael added his two cents.

"More than you even know." I answered.

"Did you have fun?" That was Kate.

"I don't know. That's the whole problem."

"How so?" That was Micheal. They seemed to be working in tandem tonight.

"I don't remember any of it. Nothing. Caleb filled me in, but I have no memory after walking into that room and sitting on that couch."

"Oh shit, are you serious? How much did you drink?"

"Enough, I guess. I have a small flash of people above me, then of being in the bathroom right before we left, Caleb said I thought his hamper in the closet was his toilet in the bathroom. Thankfully I didn't actually throw up, just scared the shit out of him that I would. That's it. That's all I've got."

"Wow, you totally blacked out? You seemed fine. I never would have guessed you were that drunk or I would have kept a better eye on you, I'm so sorry." That's why I loved Kate. She really would have. She wouldn't have let anyone near me if she had known.

"Blacked out or blocked it out, I'm not sure. Either way it's the same result."

"Blocked it out? Was it that bad? What all did Caleb say happened?"

"A lot. What all did you guys see?"

"Not much. We peeked in on you once or twice, but we didn't watch. We knew you had Caleb with you, so we really didn't worry about you. The one time we peeked though, you were all in one big pile. Couldn't really tell who was who."

"I don't remember that. A flash of people above me is all I have of that part. Caleb said before all that, I was going down on some lady in there. Said I threw myself in there like I knew what I was doing. I don't remember that either. That just doesn't sound like me."

"Wow, honey. Are you OK?"

"Yeah, not having a memory of it makes it seem more like a story I heard. Not even a show I watched, since I have no visual memory. Just like a story that happened to someone else. Doesn't seem real."

"Are you going tonight?"

"Caleb just asked me that. He said either way is fine. I told him I wasn't sure, but I think I will go. I'm curious to see if being back there brings back any memories."

It didn't. I walked around the club, nervously waiting for the memories to come flooding back, but nothing happened. I sipped on my drink, holding it in front of me like a shield. I didn't know who in here had been a part of last week. I asked Caleb to tell me if he saw either of the couples in here tonight, he promised he would. When we first arrived, I went into the back room, and sat on the couch, hoping to remember something. Nothing came, I was as blank as I had been all week.

I danced a few dances with Caleb, and a few fast ones with Kate, but for the most part I stayed at our table, sitting down, not getting drunk. I didn't even get in the shadow box this time. I watched people a lot, wondering if any of them knew what I had done. No one really paid me any attention, and I was glad for that. We did get some ribbing from the people that were always at Kate's table, but it seemed like everyone knew generally what happened, but hadn't watched. Like Kate had said, they peeked in there like everyone does, but they hadn't blatantly watched either. I guess there is a little bit of privacy given to those who go into the back room.

At one point, Caleb had struck up a conversation with a couple up at the snack bar. He introduced me to them, and I tried to be social. Mainly I stood by, nodding as Caleb spoke with the woman. Her boyfriend hung back as well, watching. She said something like, "We should get together, that could be fun." I nodded vaguely and said, "Yeah, fun."

Soon we were back at our table, listening to Michael tell a story. As I listened, my attention was pulled to the table behind him. A group of people were talking at that table too, all three women were topless, but had on little skirts. As they all spoke with each other, I could see one couple having a bit more fun. His topless lady was sitting on his lap, facing away from him and toward the group. During their conversation, his hand was wandering under her skirt. He was fingering her as they all sat and talked. Her legs kept opening wider and wider as she got more into it, her skirt rising high up her thighs. She started to lean back against his chest as his free hand started playing with her breast. I elbowed Caleb to show him. We watched them as we listened to the end of Michael's story. The couple soon excused themselves, and he led her by the hand into the back room, and the others laughed, shouting harassments at them as they walked away.

One lady got up on the stripper pole, but she really shouldn't have. She was a bit on the larger size, not fat, but too big to try to hold onto the pole with her legs and spin. She promptly fell on her ass, and fell over laughing.

We left the club earlier than we usually did, using tomorrow's drive as an excuse. It was fine by me, I wasn't in the mood tonight anyway.

The drive down to the river was pleasant. The scenery was beautiful and the company was comfortable. We slowly worked our way down, in no particular hurry. We stopped and ate in a bustling little tourist town, and walked along the square window shopping. We checked into our hotel, freshened up and went to dinner.

The following day was a portrait of relaxation. It was already hot at 10 am, when we parked in one of the many rafting business parking lots. We rented three tubes, two to ride in and one to float our cooler on. We brought bungees and were able to bungee the three tubes together so we could just float without worrying about staying together in the rapids and the crowds. We put the tubes into the water and climbed in, knowing that we could float all day, and could get out at marked places along the river to catch a bus back to our car.

Most holiday weekends were crowded, and this one was no exception. The river was thick with tubes, some big groups made large, floating islands out of their tubes with their bungees. Along the way there were places where you could climb the bank, grab a rope, and swing back out over the river, dropping back down into the water.

We didn't swing, no pun intended. We were content to float. The sun beat down on us, making warm taffy out of our muscles, and the river water was ice-cold underneath us. Every now and then we would pull a drink or a snack out of the cooler. Alcohol was allowed, just no glass containers. They were serious about that part. Stationed occasionally in increments down the river were police officers, standing in the river wearing their hip-waders, checking coolers for glass bottles. Most people put their liquor into empty water bottles or made jello shots in little plastic, lidded containers. You could get drunker than a skunk if you wanted, but with all the almost naked bodies and bare feet, no glass was allowed in the river.

We let the river control us, sometimes sitting almost still for many minutes, and sometimes rushing over little rapids in the river. We talked a lot, laughed even more, visited with passing tubes, and got out and swam to cool off. It was a heavenly day.

They offered night runs as well, for a larger fee, but there was no way I would try that. The crowds and the sun kept the snakes at bay. You couldn't pay me enough to tube the river at night. That is how horror movies and Steven King novels begin.

When we reached the last pull-out point, we stood up and dragged our tubes up the river bank to the waiting buses. We tossed our tubes into the tube bus and boarded the people bus for a ride back upriver through the winding roads to our car.

We drove back to the hotel, showered, and got ready for a night out dancing in the state's oldest dance hall nearby. We danced into the wee hours, and got back to the hotel early Monday morning and slept 'til noon.

Monday was spent driving home, happy, spent and content. I enjoyed outings like this. Normal couple stuff. I still liked going out, partying at both clubs. But stuff like this where it was just the two of us was a nice change.

CHAPTER 31
ANOTHER OTHER CLUB

When I spoke with Caleb on the phone during the week, we talked about taking a cruise. We had been talking about how relaxing our tubing trip had been and how nice it would be to get away for a week. I had been on a cruise before and threw that into our vacation wishes, describing for him how much fun I had, and how nice it is to go to multiple destinations but to have your hotel come with you.

I sighed when he inevitably brought the conversation back around to sex clubs by asking if they have swinger's cruises. It seemed to me that we couldn't have a conversation anymore that didn't involve the club in some fashion. Every talk seemed to circle back to either the last time we went, or to the next time we were planning to go.

But I must admit, the thought of a ship full of naked partiers cruising the open waters and taking over Caribbean ports did make me wonder enough to look it up. According to the websites, it seemed like the ships had the same general rules as the club. For the most part nudity was allowed in the pool and hot tub areas, but you had to have your bottoms and nipples covered in the common areas such as the hallways, buffets and dining rooms. They proclaimed to be lenient, mentioning that panties and pasties kept you legal.

Each night had a dinner theme. Formal nights still actually meant formal, suits and tuxes for the guys, gowns for the ladies, but afterward in the bars and playrooms, clothing was optional and costumes were preferred. Sex was only allowed in your personal cabins and in a few playrooms set aside for that purpose. They took over large rooms on the ship that were normally reserved for exercise or dining, cleared everything out and put mattresses on the floor. Single ladies and couples were allowed in the playrooms, but no single men. Men had to go into the playrooms accompanied by at least one lady.

I was tempted. The thought of dancing all night in various costumes and letting it all hang out, literally, for a week of sun, snorkeling and wild abandon did seem like something you would see on TV during spring break. I wondered if they had any shadow boxes.

But my next thought was did I want to be in a very large tropical version of That Other Club for a full week? Trying to have breakfast in the morning, barely awake, seeing boobs everywhere. The afore mentioned panties and pasties while trying to maneuver the buffet line. Going to the pool to get some sun, wondering if the person who sat there before you had used a towel. Bare butts glistening all in a row poolside instead of the normal rows of bathing suit covered bodies. I've been to water parks, there are many people I would pay to keep their clothes on.

Wild, costumed, late night parties drunk and naked was one thing, but daylight was something else. Most people should not be naked sober in the daylight, hungover and trying to eat a pizza and play cards. I told Caleb I'd think about it.

Friday night brought us to a sports bar for dinner. It was supposed to be the six of us again, Brenda was joining us for the second week in a row without her daughter, but Robert and Maria canceled at the last minute. The very last minute, actually. The four of us were already at a table when Maria called Jean and apologized. She said it was a minor family issue, but said it was nothing we needed to worry about.

So instead it was Caleb and I, his ex-whatever Jean and her friend Brenda. It could have been awkward, with Caleb being the only guy, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. The sports bar had a band and they were really bad. We ate, drank and made fun of how awful the band was. They got worse the more we drank.

I'm not sure how, but we got on the subject of things we have never done, and Brenda mentioned that she had always wanted to go to a gay bar, but no one would go with her. There was one downtown in particular that she had heard about, her friend from work also works there on weekends as a bartender. She said she didn't want to go by herself since the friend would be working and unable to hang out with her, and she didn't want to just plant herself by her friend on a barstool.