Cathy and Jenn 6

Stripped For Florida: Cathy and Jenn 6

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This work is intended for ADULTS ONLY. It may contain depictions of sexual activity involving minors. If you are not of a legal age in your locality to view such material or if such material does not appeal to you, do not read further, and do not save this story.
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Cathy and Jenn

by Willie B Florida, all rights reserved
comments welcome to williebflorida@gmail.com

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Part 6

Jenn woke, wondering for a moment where she was. Cathy's body was warm next to hers, but the breeze coming in from the ocean was nippy, and weathered decking proved to be only slightly more comfortable than the beach. She giggled.

"What's up?" Cathy mumbled, slowly coming out of post-orgasmic slumber.

"I was just laughing at us. Always having sex in places that seem so romantic. A bed would be so much more comfy!"

"I'm starving," Cathy replied, extricating her leg from under Jenn and stretching.

"There's food downstairs, right?"

"Let's check it out."

The disorganized chatter of the common room fell into a moment of silence as the assembled inhabitants of the hostel drank in the post-sexual aphrodisiac that glistened off the two nubile young bodies.

"What?" Jenn asked, her hands stabbing the air like two question marks.

The silence exploded into voices, but this time very focused. It felt as if every person in the room was speaking to the two girls at once, welcoming, explaining, introducing, shoving plates of food into their hands, rearranging furniture, offering them places to sit, jostling to find a place at the same table.

"I'm Anthony." The young man's voice pierced through the clamor and his blue eyes looked directly into Cathy's. "I'm a friend of Sam-Iza. You must be the two that just arrived from Ohio."

"Oh, yes! It's so great to be here." Cathy gestured broadly around the room. "I had no idea it would be so complicated--the Florida thing--I mean . . . "

"You mean the stripping deal, right?"

"Yes, yes. Yes, exactly. See, Jenn--my girlfriend--she really needs to stay the way she is, stripped I guess you call it."

"Naked." Anthony nodded his head up and down, his great mane of dirty blond hair bounding up and down, his eyes probing directly into hers.

"This is Anthony," Cathy tried reaching across the table to introduce him to Jenn. Her lover looked across the table, unable to hear a word, nodded and smiled. Cathy briefly noted that Jenn was overwhelmed by several aggressively eager males, but Anthony drew her attention back to his blue eyes.

"I could get you a job," he was saying. "It's just down the road at the Estuary Environmental Education Center. I've helped so many people get the chips. We can totally set her up with all the legal shit. You could start working tomorrow. You don't mind wearing clothes, just to start with, right? It's kind of required to go to work -- until you get the chip, if you know what I mean. But it won't take long. I've got lots of contacts . . . "

The old lady was the only one in the room not clustered around the two new arrivals. "Like flies to honey." She shook her head. "Lordy! Like flies to honey."

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Dawn exploded into their room like a blast of light, more effective than any alarm clock.

"Do you really have to go?" Jenn asked, a continuation of the conversation they'd been having when they fell asleep the night before.

"We don't have any money," Cathy explained again. "And I don't want to lose this opportunity."

"I understand," Jenn said, wrapping her leg around Cathy's, trying to keep her in bed for just a few more minutes. "I do, but I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too."

"This is the first time we'll have been apart in, what? Since I moved in with you and your mom?"

Cathy hesitated. It was true! It was as if they had been physically attached since Jenn's family had disowned her. Still, wasn't it healthier for them to have a little space from one another?

"I'll be back before you know it. Anthony says he can get you a strip chip, too! Before you know it you'll be able to be naked and go anywhere you like!

Jenn smiled with her mouth and frowned with her brow. Anthony. Well, he said he was a friend of Sam-Iza, so he must be okay, but why did she get such a weird vibe off of him?

Cathy got out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweat pants and top.

"Where'd you get those?" Jenn asked. She felt like she'd never been able to catch her breath after the confusion of dinner last night, Cathy's explanation that she'd maybe gotten a job, that Anthony might be able to get her a counterfeit strip chip, and their first night in the new room. It hadn't occurred to her until this second that Cathy would somehow have to conjure up a set of clothes if she were to leave the Zen center and go out into the outside world again.

"Anthony left them for me," Cathy asserted. "Look, do you want to have a quick breakfast with me before I have to go. Anthony's picking me up at 8."

Pushing aside her annoyance Jenn rolled out of bed, calmed herself with a deep breath and the endless vista of water and sky just beyond the balcony of their room, and padded in bare feet just behind Cathy.

For the rest of the week they woke early, ate a quick breakfast and Jenn said a brief good-bye while Anthony loomed over them with his abundance of hair, piercing blue eyes and bright, toothy grin. Cathy came home at dinner time every evening smelling faintly of algae and mud, and a subdued radiance masked by genuine physical fatigue. Jenn spent her days padding around the hostel trying to find ways to be helpful, and hours alone in their room looking out at the sky, drifting off to sleep in the bed, and trying not to fall into depression. She knew she was being unfair. Cathy was working her butt off to earn them money. Anthony was helping get the chip that she so desperately wanted. She was the one doing nothing, she was the one that stubbornly insisted she couldn't wear clothes ever again. She didn't even understand why it was such an absolute requirement, but she couldn't bring herself to even wrap a sarong around her hips. No, she had to stay naked, that was for certain. She pulled herself off the floor. The riot of orange and purple caught her off guard, the absolute beauty of light streaming across Florida, scattering off wisps of clouds, reflected in the shallow water of the intracoastal. A flock of birds spiraled into the air, as if the light itself had taken wing and Jenn wanted to throw herself off the wooden balcony and join them in their freedom. What a fool she was. Everything was just fine! She was in Florida, in her own skin, with her lover and best friend, in this place where everyone was so helpful. She bounded down the stairs and burst into the common room. She was about to explode in happy laughter and embrace everyone in the room when she was caught up short.

Sam-Iza was at the largest of the big round tables, her head in her hands, while two women Jenn didn't recognize were trying to comfort the distraught Sam-Iza. It was obvious that she was trying not to cry.

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it, but I just wish I would have done things differently."

"They guy's an ass, Sam-Iza. You didn't do anything wrong."

"He's the one who should be apologizing, not you!"

"He'll run to one of his other girlfriends until things get sour there. I just wish you could see that he isn't getting better."

"I don't even care if he goes to stay with one of his other women friends," Sam-Iza sobbed, "It's just the way he says I'm the cause of all his problems. I'm a control freak, I care more about animals than people, I set an impossible standard, I like to sleep, I have too much energy, my lifestyle is too healthy, I'm too friendly!" Sam-Iza broke into tears and the two women encased her in their arms.

Jenn looked around. The room was oddly empty, a very unusual occurrence in her one-week experience staying at the Hostel. Not even the old woman with the white hair was sitting in her usual corner, making her observations in a low voice that Jenna couldn't usually hear. Feeling that she was intruding on Sam-Iza's private travails, she turned away, hoping to leave unobtrusively.

Jenn wasn't sure whether it was her intention to leave, or that Sam-Iza just needed a distraction from her misery. "Jenn! It's so nice to see you. I'm sorry I haven't stopped by. What's it been since the night we all slept on the beach? A week?"

"Um, yeah, a week. It feels like longer than that!"

"I know what you mean. The ocean is so healing. Maybe we should all go over to the beach for a bit?" She looked around brightly. "Where's your friend? Cathy, right?"

"Actually, I was expecting her back anytime now. Maybe she's working late."

"We could wait for her and all go together?" Sam-Iza suggested.

"But," Jenn hesitated, "I can't really go anywhere, you know. The chip and all. I'm not really stripped--officially, that is."

Sam-Iza laughed. "You look so comfy in your skin that I forget you still need one of those silly chips! Oh, I'm sorry, these are my friends Lisa and Trish. Jenn . . . "

"Nice to meet you, Jenn."

"You, too."

"Sam-Iza told us all about meeting you and your friend on the beach. So, how's the hostel?"

"It's fine. More than fine, really. I'm just getting cabin fever stuck inside all day. I guess I should be willing to put on some clothes and go out, but I just can't bring myself to do it."

Lisa laughed. "A true nudist! You'll do well as a stripped Floridian."

"Look," Trish turned to Sam-Iza, "forget about meeting him here. If he needs to get away for a bit let him do his thing. He can see his girlfriends in Tennessee, New Orleans or wherever else . . . or he can stay here at the Zen. You don't need to be begging him to come back and give you more shit. When he tries to move back in with you again, you can establish new boundaries."

"You're right, Trish," Sam-Iza responded. "You're always right. I get so caught up in his healing process I just can't think clearly. Jenn, do you mind if we head over to the beach? I really need to clear my head with the salt, the sand, the wind. I've had so much going on I haven't taken care of getting you a chip -- but I promise I'll work on it this week, and then you can go wherever you want!"

"Sure, absolutely, don't stick around here on my account. And thanks! Even if you don't find me a chip I'm already eternally grateful for all the help you've given me."

"Okay, Trish, Lisa, shall we go to Velano?"

"It's your call Sam-Iza, that's fine with me."

"Good-night."

"Bye."

"See you soon!"

The women left and without the distraction Jenn began to worry. Where was Cathy, anyway? She paced up and down the room, trying to calm her nerves, but at the slightest sound would rush to the entrance. Finally she just sat down at the big round table and put her head on her arms. She meant to breathe deep, calm down and then go back upstairs. Instead she fell fast asleep. She woke to the sound of Cathy's voice and, Anthony? The two of them were standing at the bottom of the stairs, laughing and their voices too loud.

Jenn's emotions were torn. She was relieved, but here she had been worrying and Cathy was whooping it up as though everything was perfectly fine. She felt like hugging her, or berating her, or doing both at the same time, but not in front of Anthony. What was he doing here? Maybe he gave her a ride home. Or, maybe he had good news for her!

"Cathy! I'm so glad you're back."

"Jenn, what are you doing down here? It's late."

"I know! You had me worried."

"Guess what? Anthony's going to be staying here at the hostel!"

Jenn wasn't sure what was so exciting about that, but plunged on with her question, "So, Anthony, did you find me a chip?"

"Any day now!" Anthony grinned at her.

Jenn tried to grin back. "Great," she murmured, "that's great." She looked up, trying to meet Anthony's eyes. "I really appreciate what you're doing."

"Listen Jenn," Cathy injected, "I'm just going to say good night to Anthony and I'll be right up."

"I can wait," Jenn insisted. What else had she done all week, but wait!

"Go on up, I'll be right there." Cathy sounded distant and elated. The words sounded sweet, but it was an order and Jenn turned and walked up the winding dark stairway to her lonely room in the tower."

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(The End)