For the second time in two days, the doorbell rang just as Sandy was stepping out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around her body and went to the intercom.

The video from the front door wasn't all that clear but Sandy was able to tell it was Bob. She pressed the 'talk' button, “Just a minute.”

Sandy ran a comb through her wet hair as she looked at herself in the mirror. The towel she was wearing was big enough to cover from the tops of her breasts to about mid-thigh. It was also, just big enough to go around her one time, without a lot of overlap. She positioned it best as she could and tucked it together under her left arm.

Sandy had dresses that were more daring, but there was something about a towel that was so hot. Sandy hoped Bob would think so too. Until about a year ago, they had been stepsister and stepbrother. But then their parents had split and Bob and his father had moved to the other side of town. Since then, they’d hardly seen each other.

Had it been anyone else, Sandy likely would not have answered the door without putting something more on. But the relationship with Bob was special; he was almost like family. Opening the door she exclaimed, “Bob, what are you doing here?”

Family maybe, but he’d still never seen her in a towel. Bob was shocked by Sandy's appearance. No doubt a towel could make almost any woman look sexy, but nicely proportioned, seventeen year old Sandy looked especially so. “I just wanted to talk. With us not living together, well we don't get to see much of each other any more.” Bob hoped Sandy would buy the explanation.

“Yeah, right,” Sandy replied, “But you were here yesterday. Not that I’m complaining, but uh, two days in a row?”

“Yeah, well...” Bob was focused more on Sandy's body than what she was saying. “But the guys were with me yesterday and uh, you doing anything? I mean uh, would it be okay to come in?”

Sandy was exposed. Wearing nothing but a towel, she was in full view of the street and Bob was staring at her as if she wasn't even wearing that. She pressed her arm against her left side, making sure the towel was still in place, and held the bottom together with her hand. “Yeah, right. I guess you better come in.” She opened the door wider and stepped aside.

As Bob stepped past her, he gave Sandy another once over and said, “If you need to finish dressing, I can wait.”

“From the way you been staring, I kinda thought you'd rather I stayed like this.”

“Well yeah, of course,” said Bob as he walked toward the den. “I know you used to like me looking but I wasn't sure how you felt about it now.”

“Well I could fix my hair, but that would keep you waiting. And other than that, well it isn’t like we’re strangers, so I shouldn't really need to finish dressing.” Sandy said as she followed Bob. “Unless you think I should.”

Bob plopped down in an overstuffed chair. He started to answer, “No, uh...” but hesitated as Sandy sat across from him on the couch. The towel she was wearing stayed together at the top, but split at the thigh as she sat down, exposing her hip and left side. Recovering from the distraction, Bob continued, “... no need, You’re just fine the way you are.” And oh, is that an understatement.

Sandy saw where Bob's eyes were looking. She held the corner of the towel firmly between her legs and tried to make small talk. “I had fun yesterday... with you and Charlie and Paul, kind of like it used to be,” she said. “Thanks for asking me to swim with you.”

Bob forced himself to look up, toward Sandy's face. “Uh yeah, well uh, I think we probably should be thanking you though.”

“For letting you use the pool?” Sandy suggested.

“Well that too, but uh...”

“Oh! You mean taking my top off.”

“Yeah, right. The guys really liked that.”

“Well after last summer, it wasn’t like it was all that extreme, but I still shouldn't have done it.” Sandy said coyly. Then she developed a more serious expression and tone of voice. “That top though, was just causing so much trouble, slipping and all -”

“Hey, don't apologize, they loved it.” Bob took his phone out of his pocket and looked at it.

“The guys yeah, but what about you?” A little smile came across Sandy's lips. “I mean... I know I shouldn't have done it... but you, Charlie too, did used to like me showing my tits. Did you like me doing it yesterday?”

“Sorry, I thought my phone was vibrating.” Bob put the phone back in his pocket. “You mean you couldn't tell?” he said in answer to Sandy's question.

“Oh...” Sandy turned to her right, putting her feet up on the couch. “You mean your uh... thing... poking me in the butt every time you grabbed me from behind?”

“Yeah, but I couldn't help it,” Bob said as he looked at the expanse of bare skin. Sandy bent her legs at the knee, exposing her left side, all the way to her rib cage. “There it goes again,” Bob said, taking the cell phone from his pocket. He held it up and looked at the screen. “Nope,” he said, “I guess I'm imagining things. Nobody calling,” he said, returning the phone to his pocket.

Bob had forgotten where the conversation was. Sandy had to remind him, “Oh I didn't really mind. I figured the water was causing it. But I was worried you might think Charlie and Paul were paying me too much attention.”

“So what ever did happen to you and Charlie? I remember you being kinda sweet on him. What happened?”

“You do remember us, you and me, quote, practicing, do you not?” she said, wiggling her fingers in the air.

“And how could I possibly have forgotten that?” Bob acknowledged with a smile crossing his lips.

“Well, by the time Charlie came back from that trip he was on, you and your dad had already moved out, and well, I wasn’t all that interested in him anymore. He came over a couple of times, but I’m sure he could tell things had changed.”

“Yeah, well it did look like you were enjoying his attention yesterday, at least your hard nipples said you were.”

“You wouldn't have known they were hard,” Sandy countered, “If you hadn't been touching them.”

“Now wait just a minute... I was careful about where I put my hands. You were the one that kept squirming until I couldn't help but touch them.”

“You're imagining things. I was just trying to get away,” Sandy protested.

“I guess that's why you quite struggling when I finally did touch them. You did the same thing with Charlie and Paul.” Bob was grinning from ear to ear, he knew Sandy knew that he knew. “Admit it. You like showing off your bare tits. And you wanted us to touch 'em.”

Sandy slowly drew her knees up to her chest. Bob couldn't really see anything, but she wasn't being terribly modest either. “I was playing,” Sandy said, just above a whisper. Then somewhat louder, she added, “I told you I had fun yesterday.”

“Yeah, I think we all did. I like the way you play. What I mean is, I'm sure the guys like the way you play. That touching stuff though, you were okay with that?”

“Yeah, well I guess. It was just playing... right?”

“Uh huh, just playing,” Bob answered. “So you were just playing then, when you grabbed between my legs.”

“That was an accident,” Sandy said.

“Didn't feel like one.”

“Well it was.”

“Accident when you did it to Charlie and Paul too?”

“They told you?” Sandy snapped.

“Uh, no. I just guessed.”

“Oh shit,” Sandy said, “You must really think I’m some kinda slut, huh.”

“No way. We were playing, remember?” Bob reminded. “You know, I always thought you were good looking, but jesus, you're so hot too. I can't believe how sexy you are.”

“You still think I'm sexy?” Sandy asked. Bob slouched down in his seat a bit and put both of his feet on the floor. Sandy looked at the tent in his shorts. “I think that's a 'yes',” Sandy said, answering her own question. “You at least like the towel.”

“Correction, I like the way you look in the towel.”

“How 'bout if Charlie and Paul were here too. Would you still like it?”

“Charlie and Paul? Hell yes! They'd love it.”

“Yeah, right, I imagine they would... but you didn't listen to the question. What if I was dressed like this the next time you brought them over?”

“And...”

“Oh Christ, Bob, you are so hopeless. I'm trying to find out if it bothers you that I like teasing and playing around with your friends.”

Bob had a puzzled look on his face, like a deer caught in the headlights.

Sandy continued, “Like yesterday... I took my top off... they were looking right at my bare tits... they even touched them! Are you okay with that?”

“I guess so. We were all just having fun, right?”

“Sure, Charlie and Paul were having fun, and I was having fun too, but what about you? Were you having fun, Bob?”

“If you were having fun, then so was I,” he replied.

“Didn't bother you that they were playing with my tits?”

“You liked it didn't you?”

“Well uh... maybe a little.” Sandy cracked a smile. “You know, Paul rubbed himself against my butt.”

“You had your bottoms on though, and he was wearing trunks, right?”

“Yeah, right.” Sandy got real quiet. Her voice was little more than a whisper. “Charlie put his hand between my legs.”

“Really? What did you think about that?”

“I'm not real sure,” Sandy answered.

“Well, you must have liked it okay. I don't remember hearing you complain.”

“Well, I still don’t want Charlie to be my boyfriend, but it was just playing around.”

“You liked it then,” Bob asked.

Sandy stretched her legs out some and lay back on the arm of the couch. She put her hands behind her head, causing the towel to come undone, but then acted as if she didn't realize she was practically naked. “Yeah, I suppose I did. It was kinda exciting... But what I was trying to find out is, now that you know what I was letting the guys do, what do you think of me? You still like me?”

Bob stared at Sandy. Even with her butt sunk into the couch a little, with the back part of the towel having fallen away, he could pretty much see most of one butt cheek. And even with the front of the towel still in place, with it bunched up around her waist, her thighs were completely bare.

Bob was pretty sure the only thing blocking his view of Sandy's pussy was her raised left leg. “Damn, my phone is going off again. But to answer your question, I think,” he said, dragging out each word as he studied the display on his phone, “You are the hottest girl I know.”

Sandy’s face lit up. “Even more than those college girls?” She was about to be a senior in high school, but Bob had already finished his first year in college.

“Uh huh,” Bob said, laying the phone in his lap. “I just hope you never change.”

“What if I was your wife,” Sandy asked excitedly. “Would it still be okay to fool around some with your friends?”

“You mean, would I feel differently about my wife... with my friends, I mean?”

“Yeah, would you want your wife to tease and play around a little, like you do me?”

“I'm not sure,” Bob answered. “Well maybe. It'd have to be up to her though, but I guess I'd like it if all she was doing was playing.”

“A little playful. Like how? I mean, like I did yesterday? You'd want your wife to fool around some like that, take off her clothes - or at least some of them - get her tits played with? Like that?”

“Yeah, I liked that. You were having fun -”

“Uh, yeah, I was, but we were talking about your wife, not me,” Sandy reminded. “Uh, just how playful could your wife get?”

“Like I said, it's pretty much up to her.”

“Could she take the bottoms off too?” Sandy asked.

“If she wanted. I guess it'd be okay.”

“Yeah, but would you want her to take 'em off?”

“Uh yeah, I guess that'd be pretty hot,” Bob admitted.

“And what if there was some...” Sandy again made quotation marks with her fingers. “...accidental touching.”

“Yeah, that'd be cool too,” Bob said. “I just wouldn't want you uh, you know, fuckin em.”

“Uhhhh, we were talking about your wife.”

“Oh yeah, well uh...” Bob was really flustered. His face turned several shades of red. “...I'd want her to be just like you... I mean... you know... sexy and uh...” Bob stopped in mid-sentence at the sound of the garage door.

“Oh shit!” said Sandy, as she hugged the towel around her and jumped up from the couch. “It's Mother! Quick, out the back door. She can't know you've been here.”

By the time Sandy's mother came in from the garage, Bob was long gone, over the fence at the back of the house, and Sandy was in her bathroom getting dressed.

“Sandy, I'm home,” Judy Grafton hollered.

“In here Mom. I'll be out as soon as I dry my hair,” Sandy replied.

Mrs. Grafton had carried in a bag of groceries and busied herself putting them away. As she did, she heard a phone ringing in the den and went to answer it, thinking Sandy must have left her phone in there.

She heard it ringing, but didn't immediately spot it. Mrs. Grafton eventually found it, hidden in the cushions of the overstuffed chair. As she picked it up though, the ringing stopped.

Mrs. Grafton saw on the display that the call had come from someone named ‘Charlie’.

The phone didn't look like her daughter's though. Somewhat puzzled, Mrs. Grafton, scrolled through the list of missed calls, seeing 'Charlie' several times among a list of mostly male names. She thought, Sandy could have gotten a new cell phone... and she might have even taken up with Charlie again... but...

Just then the phone rang again. Mrs. Grafton looked at the display. It was ‘Charlie’ once again. She touched a green icon, hoping it was for 'talk', and said, “Hello?”

The display said she was connected, but she was met by silence. After several seconds the caller stammered out, “Mrs. G?”

That’s what Sandy's friends usually called her. “Yes?” she replied.

“This is Charlie Barret.” Charlie lived over back. He was one of Bob’s friends, one of Sandy’s too, although a couple years older, more like Bob, and in college now. “I was just leaving work and trying to hook up with Bob. Is he over there?”

“I don't think so,” said Mrs. Grafton. “I guess this is his phone though. I just found it in the den.”

“Uhm, can’t imagine why it would be at your house. Anyway, if you do see him, would you tell him I called.”

“Sure, Charlie,” Judy Grafton said cheerfully before ending the call. Okay, she thought. So Bob was in the house just before I got home. Not sure I have a problem with that. After all, he did used to live here and he and Sandy were awful close.

Judy Grafton was still puzzled though. But, why did he leave so suddenly that he forgot his phone... and just before I got home too. Does he think he's not welcome here anymore?

Mrs. Grafton looked at the phone in her hand. In addition to the missed calls, the list showed other recent activity. She saw three pictures had been taken just before she got home. She looked at them.

They were pictures of Sandy, likely taken by Bob, and they weren't the type he should have been taking. On the other hand, Mrs. Grafton thought, Sandy wasn't dressed like she should have been either, even if she and Bob had been like sister and brother. She put the phone in her pocket and returned to the kitchen.

Sandy joined her a few minutes later. “How come you're home so early?” she asked.

“I had a meeting on this side of town that got over a little early, so I decided to come home instead of going back to the office.” Mrs. Grafton opened the refrigerator door. “I'm going to have a coke. You want something?”

“Yeah, a sprite would be good,” Sandy replied as she pulled back a chair at the table.

Mrs. Grafton closed the refrigerator and put the drinks on the table. As she sat down she asked, “Well, what interesting things did you do today?”

“Nothing much. Clarissa came over this morning, but she only stayed for an hour. I just read and stuff after she left.”

“No swimming?” her mother asked.

“Yesterday yeah, but not today.”

Mrs. Grafton dropped the bomb, “When was Bob here?”

“Bob? ... You mean Bob Johnson? ... Uh, I don’t hardly see him at all, least not since he and his dad moved out.”

Judy Grafton took Bob's phone out of her pocket and laid it on the table.

Sandy looked at it and knew it wasn't the one her mother usually carried. “Did you uh... get a new phone?”

“No,” her mother replied. “I found it in the den. I think it's Bob's.”

“Uh well uh...” Sandy tried to think of something to head her mother off. “Clarissa must have dropped it... Uh, she and Bob have been seeing each other... Yeah thats it, must have slipped out of her shorts.”

“So she took the pictures of you then?”

Sandy, not wanting to believe this was happening, dragged her words out. “There's pictures of me... on that phone?”

“Uh huh.” her mother replied.

“Oh shit!” Sandy said, taking a large swig of her sprite to delay the inevitable. “I guess we better talk, huh.”

“Yes, I think we better,” her mother said. “It would help if you told me what was going on. I might even be able to help. You know, I was seventeen once.”

“You're not mad then?”

“Not yet. I haven't heard the story. Maybe a little though... for you trying to lie to me.”

“About the pictures I mean... You're not mad about them?” Sandy asked.

“Well, I guess I could be, but you've probably got a good explanation for those. I think I'll wait till I've heard the story.”

“Mother, you are the best,” Sandy beamed.

“I didn't say they were okay. I just said I wanted to wait until I'd heard your explanation. So tell me, what's going on?”

“Well...” Sandy began slowly, “Yesterday... Bob and two of his friends from the neighborhood... Charlie and Paul... came over... They wanted to use the pool.”

“So three good looking guys wanted to swim in your pool. Of course, that was okay with you.” Mrs. Grafton guessed, “And I suppose you went swimming with them.”

“Uh huh,” Sandy confirmed. “And...”

“No, let me guess. You wore that white bikini I said you shouldn't wear around any boys.”

“No, I couldn't. The catch is broken on it.”

“Then, what did you wear?”

Sandy tried to answer but was afraid of what her mother's reaction would be. She just opened her mouth and stared.

“You didn't,” Mrs. Grafton said in disbelief. “Please tell me you didn't wear that green nothing in front of three guys.”

“Green nothing? What are you talking about?” Sandy asked.

“For God's sake Sandy, I wasn't born yesterday.” Her mother was shouting now. “You didn't get those gorgeous buns tanned wearing anything I bought for you. I found the thong in your drawer, and the itty-bitty green top you wear with it.”

“Mother, please,” Sandy pleaded. “Yes, I do have a thong, but I only wear it when I'm sun-tanning alone. No, I wasn't wearing that.”

“Then what were you wearing?” her mother asked, in a more understanding tone of voice.

Sandy hesitated, then said, “You remember that other suit you bought for me a coupla years back?”

A real puzzled look came over her mother's face. “The one I bought you for your fifteenth birthday? The black and red one?”

“Yeah, that one,” Sandy confirmed. “Thats what I put on.”

“Oh my God!” Mrs. Grafton exclaimed. “I bought that when you were just starting to fill out a little. You weren't even a 'B' cup yet. Now you're certainly a 'C'. How in God's name did you ever keep it on?”

“Yeah, well I put it on because it had lots of cloth. But you're right. It was too small. Even the top of my butt crack was showing.”

“I would guess so.”

“But the real problem was the top. When we were playing keep-away, it kept slipping up, over my breasts.”

“You were playing keep-away? You, the only girl with three guys? Whose idea was that? Charlie? Paul? Bob? Who?”

“Uh...” Sandy stammered. “It was my idea. I suggested it.”

“Your idea? You... three teenage boys... and a top that wouldn't stay put? My God, Sandy, what were you thinking?” Then quickly, “No, don't answer that. I'm afraid I know what you were thinking.”

“Thats why I took it off -”

Judy Grafton's mouth dropped open. She was too stunned for words.

“Oh no, not for that reason,” Sandy spit out. “I mean... I took it off because it wouldn't stay put.”

“With three boys here?”

“Well, it isn't like they're total strangers. I mean, have known Paul most of my life, Bob for several years, and even Charlie, since last year.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it okay,” Sandy's mother countered.

“Well, it isn’t like they hadn’t already seen them. even before I took the top off. In fact they all got a good look, every time my top slipped loose. Thats why I took it off. It didn't really make any difference. They had already seen them.” Sandy was not about to tell her mother about being with those same guys, topless, last year, when she was just sixteen.

“Yeah, well, whatever,” Mrs. Grafton said resignedly. “So you let 'em look. Did they act as if they liked your uh... tits, I guess we can call them?”

“I guess so. I mean, Charlie and Paul for sure did.” Sandy got more animated. Her face lit up when she said, “They kept trying to touch them... every time I had the ball.”

“You were still playing keep-away? Bob and his two friends? And you topless?”

“Uh, yeah...” Sandy bit down on her lip. “Uh... that's why I took it off... so we could keep playing.”

“Yeah, I guess you were playing,” her mother observed with some amount of understanding. “Did you like being touched?”

“I uh... guess so. I am supposed to, aren't I?” Sandy asked.

“Yeah, but... at your age... well I guess you could be liking it,” her mother answered. “I don't think I got to really liking it until I was... oh, I imagine, probably nineteen. But yes, its okay. You're just maturing a little faster than I did.”

“I mean, it isn't like they were really playing with my tits... they just sort of, accidentally, touched them a little.”

“Accidentally?” asked her mother. “Uh, who caused the accidents, you or them?”

“Well, maybe a little of both. I mean the water made my nipples so hard, it was sorta nice when they rubbed against them.”

“Sandy,” her mother lectured, “it wasn't the water that was making them hard. It was because you were uh, excited, aroused... uh, turned on.”

“Yeah, I guess I was some. Is that bad?”

“No, not really, just means you like sex is all, not unusual, no, not bad. I just wish you were older... but then you are seventeen, and I'd certainly rather have you liking it, than being afraid of it. You didn't take the bottoms off though did you?”

“Charlie was trying to get them off me, but, no Mother, I made sure they stayed on. We just played a little is all,” Sandy said. “I still can't figure out, though, when Bob took the pictures of me. I mean, he was always right there, just like the others.”

“Oh yeah, and I’ll bet he was wishing you two were alone,” her mother said. “Speaking of which, you and he were alone a lot last summer. Oh shit, don’t tell me...”

“No Mother, nothing happened… well at least not like you’re thinking.” Sandy knew she was stretching it a little but she wasn’t about to tell her mother about the ‘practice’ sessions she and Bob had been having just before he and his father moved out.

“I guess I can believe that, after all you have seemed pretty straight up about what happened yesterday.” Mrs. Grafton hesitated, then added, “But as far as I know, there weren't any pictures of yesterday.”

“No pictures? Then how did you know about it? Who told you?”

“You did, just now,” Sandy's mother answered.

Sandy adopted a chastening tone. “You tricked me. That's not fair, mother...” Then realizing what this might mean, “Wait just a minute... uh, what pictures are on that phone then?”

Mrs. Grafton pushed the phone toward her daughter. At first Sandy just looked at it, afraid of what she might find. Eventually though, she picked it up, touched a succession of icons and found the pictures of herself.

The look on Sandy's face was one of utter horror. “Oh my god!” she said. “So that's what he was doing with his phone... and me almost naked...”

Mrs. Grafton waited quietly while Sandy studied the pictures. “You know how to delete them?”

“I think so.” But then Sandy surprised her mother, maybe herself too, “Do I have to though?”

“No, but I thought you'd want to. You don't know what he's planning to do with them, maybe show them around his school...”

“Bob wouldn't do that.” Sandy protested. “Maybe some close friends, but not all over school. He wouldn't do that.”

“You don't know that,” her mother countered. “Boys like to brag, you know. He might even put them on the Internet.”

“No way he'd ever do anything like that,” Sandy argued. “He likes me too much to do something that would hurt me that way”

“Really? He let his friends uh... play with you though.”

“We talked about that. He let that happen only because I was having fun. He would never let anything really happen. He loves me too much.”

“Love? Is that what this is all about?” Sandy's mother asked. “Really? The pictures are beginning to make some sense now.”

“Mother, maybe he did move but I’m sure he still loves me... and I love him.”

“So that’s your excuse for being practically naked with him taking pictures of you.”

“But mother, I didn't know he was taking pictures.” Sandy, knowing her mother was about to start screaming, covered both ears with her hands.

“Maybe not,” Sandy's mother said quietly. Then, continuing calmly, “But I'm guessing from seeing those pictures, that in another two or three minutes, if I hadn't come home when I did, the towel would have been on the floor. It certainly wouldn’t have been anywhere near your body.”

Sandy felt that in spite of her mother's justifiable anger, she was actually being quite understanding. “I don't think anything would have happened. After all, he respects me and we do know better.”

“And you think you would have stopped, even if I hadn't come home when I did?” Mrs. Grafton asked, her voice showing considerable concern and restraint.

“Well, I think so. Bob has always been real understanding.”

“But you don't seem too concerned about him seeing you practically naked and even taking pictures.”

“That's not true, I didn’t know he was taking pictures.”

“You didn't have to. The pictures themselves make it pretty obvious what you were thinking.”

“But mother...”

“Sandy, look at me. Can't you tell I'm not mad? I just want what's best for you.”

“But...”

“No, don't say anything. Just listen to me. What if I told it was okay? What then?”

“Well,” Sandy said, her eyes lighting up, “I might have to think about it, but not for long.”

“So, do you know? Are you really in love with him, or just got hot pants?”

“Uh... Would it be okay if it’s both?”