Josh Knows Best Ch. 09

"Oh, did you now," Ms. Porter exclaimed.

I decided to ignore her smirk and went back to my book. Books were, and remain, a place where I can stop thinking about life. I was aware mom, Ms. Lang and Maggie had returned but it was not until I needed to put my book aside to go take a leak, that I noticed Maggie had taken the plunge.

She was sitting on Ms. Porter's blanket. Nude.

The four women were chatting about something. They were all beautiful, even Ms. Porter in a way even the youngster I was at the time could appreciate, at least intellectually.

It is one thing to understand that nude is not lewd. It is another, especially at eighteen to tell your body that.

"Uh, hey, mom?"

Mom turned from the conversation. "Yeah, Josh?"

"Um, what's the etiquette for taking a leak? Go behind the bushes? Get dressed and go back to the toilets by the parking lot?"

"Toilets, Joshua," Ms. Porter answered for her. "While we ladies understand you have no need for toilet paper after urinating, we do. We would be put out, immensely so, should you not share in the trek we are forced to make simply because your biology has provided you with a penis."

As was often the case with Ms. Porter, I was not sure if she was being serious. It wasn't until Maggie began to giggle and Mom and Ms. Lang began to laugh that Ms. Porter allowed herself to smile.

"Very funny," I grumbled, irritated I had been taken in yet again.

Maggie hopped up and reached for her bikini bottom. "Actually, would you mind walking me back to the toilets? I have to go, too. Besides, I could use a hand bringing the cooler from my car."

"Sure thing," I said with a nod. "Shit, I didn't bring a swimsuit," I grumbled as I reached for my jeans. I considered wearing the boxer briefs I liked to show off to mom in but stuck with the jeans.

"Mind if I join you?" Ms. Lang asked, though she started dressing before either of us had answered.

"No prob, Ms. Lang," Maggie answered. I tried not to stare as she reached behind her back to tie the top of her bikini.

"You and Joshua are no longer my students. Thank God," she muttered. "Please call me Nora. 'Ms. Lang' makes me feel old."

"Well, I am old," Ms. Porter interjected. "Please continue to call me 'Ms. Porter' or 'Aunt Edna'. I do detest the modern presumption of familiarity."

Maggie and I saw Nora roll her eyes and we struggled not to laugh.

"Mom? You want to join us?"

"No, Josh. I peed in the lake."

I gaped at her. It was Ms. Porter's turn to roll her eyes.

"Joshua, it's a lake not a swimming pool. I would advise you not to go behind the bushes, assuming of course you would prefer not to wade through masses of poison ivy."

"Josh, you really are a Boy Scout at heart, aren't you?" Nora asked, slipping her arms through the straps of her suit.

I did not really hear the question. I was wishing she had worn a bikini as well. She had the body for it.

Nora was not tall, but taller than Mom or Maggie. She was thinner than Maggie. Like mom, they were both brunettes with darker complexions than mine. Maggie has hazel eyes. Nora's are a dark brown. Because she was thinner than Maggie, Nora's boobs looked bigger. They are not but her areolas are larger, as are her nipples.

Their beauty was different than mom's, different from each other. But they were all beautiful women. Inside and out.

I was, I am, blessed.

"I would appreciate it if neither of you mentioned seeing me here," Nora requested as we trudged in the heat back to the parking lot. "My contract, like all teachers' contracts, has a moral turpitude clause. All it would take is one parent complaining and I could be fired."

"No way," I objected. "For doing something that's legal and on your own time?"

"Oh, please Josh," Maggie scoffed looking over her shoulder at me. "Are you really that naïve? For one, public nudity is not legal and we live in rural Illinois." She dropped a hand on Nora's forearm. "No worries, Ms. Lang. We got your back."

"Nora, please. And thank you."

"Josh, I've always thought your mom was way cool but I can't imagine going to a clothing optional beach with my mom, even if she weren't wrapped around Jesus like He's a stripper pole," Maggie said, turning her attention to me.

I had been rehearsing an answer to the question I knew had to come up at some point.

"Did you just compare Jesus to a stripper's pole?" Nora interrupted, giving me extra time to gather my thoughts.

"To mom, and my father, yes. Or oxycotnin? Or booze? He's their drug. They don't find peace or comfort in their beliefs. They don't see the beauty of some of His teachings. He's their escape from reality, from the responsibility of making decisions. Life's easy when some lying buffoon in pulpit tells you what to do." Maggie shook her head. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize," Nora assured her. I hoped Maggie would forget her question but no such luck.

"So, how did you end up skinny dipping with your mom?" she asked.

"Well, you've seen my house. Small. One bathroom. It's not like mom or I flaunted our bodies but there was no way not to see each other occasionally. Besides, I think mom made a conscious effort not to make the human body anything to be horrified or frightened of. There are family naturist resorts you know. Still, I admit I was shocked when she brought me here. I got over it pretty fast."

"Janice is a smart woman," Nora said. "She runs that school. Thank God. Stewart is a nice guy but how the hell he got to be a principal is beyond me."

"Oh, dish up some dirt, Nora," Maggie begged.

"Just because I said you can call me by my given name doesn't mean I'm going to start telling you school gossip, Maggie."

"Why not? You've seen my boobs and I've seen yours?"

I skidded to a stop. Nora looked taken aback but not angry. Then she laughed.

"True enough, Maggie but I'm still not telling you school gossip."

Maggie shot me a look over her shoulder and laughed. "I tried," she laughed.

We ended up spending most of the day at the lake. Mid-afternoon another couple showed up. They spread a blanket nearby. She was a computer programmer. He was a sculptor. We spent hours talking about art, the threat or promise of AI, would AI ever match Shakespeare, and over Ms. Porter's objection, religion. The gamut.

All of us nude. Not one of us carrying.

†

"You should ask Maggie out, Josh. She's a sweetheart," mom offered. The ride home had been silent until that point.

"She's great," I agreed.

"Then ask her out." Mom glanced over at where I was slumped in the passenger seat. "You promised me if you met someone you were interested in you would not let what we're going stop you."

"I don't think I promised. Besides, I can think Maggie is great and not want to date her. I think Suze is great but I don't want to date her."

"Honey, I'm not old old but I'm older than you. I am surrounded at work by hormonal adolescents. You interact with Suze the way you do with Jeff. The way you act around Maggie could not be more different. You like her. And let's not get into like versus like like and all that middle school nonsense. You like her and you are clearly interested in her as more than a friend. Think about it. Okay?"

She let the matter drop after I nodded.

If I could have reached my book, I would have buried myself in it. I have always had a tendency to hide in a book. Mom was right. I was interested in Maggie.

I had nearly settled my mind when mom spoke again.

"That Nora is another sweetheart. She spent most of the day trying not to look at you and not monopolize the conversation with you. She's only a few years older you know."

"Jeez, mom. Enough."

The rest of the ride was quiet.

We made love that night. Slow and sweet with lots of kissing and whispers. I dozed on top her after. When my cock softened enough to slip from her body, I rolled to her side and threw my arm and leg over her.

My wet cock was slippery against her leg. She stroked my shoulder and nuzzled the top of my head as I fell asleep.