The four of us, two guys, two gals, rented a house together.  While we knew each other from college, we hadn’t planned on becoming roommates.  But unless you’re one of those over-paid Washington lawyers – which none of us was -- the high cost of living in the DC area meant that no one could afford our own place.  So we found a four bedroom house, across the Potomac River.  We dated, but not each other.  There was an unwritten rule that sex among us would complicate things too much.  We were careful about how we dressed, even being sure to wear robes going to and from the shower.  We kept things brotherly and sisterly.  Until that night.  And it was all my fault.

I’m Sarah.  I had been dating a guy, but we recently broke up.  My three roommates were going to a party, but I declined.  I was still nursing bruised feeling from the last boyfriend.  I just wasn’t in the mood to be cheerful at a meet and grab party.  They left, and I remained on the couch watching a movie.

It was a love story, with some steamy sex scenes.  The movie had its effect on me.  When you’re used to regular sex, not having it is worse than not having had it at all.  I was frustrated by my thwarted love life, and aroused by what could be.  The others had only left an hour ago, and wouldn’t be back til midnight or later.  With the privacy of an empty house, I allowed myself the indulgence of putting my hands inside my pants on the couch.  Normally I’d only do something like that in my own room.  One thing led to another, and I soon had my pants and panties down around my knees.  I had opened my blouse (I wasn’t wearing a bra) and had one hand massaging my nipples, the other hand rubbing the clitoris.  I was getting moist, and inserted two fingers into my vagina, in and out, finding the G spot.  I was rather enjoying myself and didn’t even notice the front door opening until it was too late.

It was the three of them.  The party had been canceled at the last minute when a water leak from an upstairs toilet caved in the ceiling of the host’s house. 

They stared at my spread legs, at my private parts.  I was fully exposed. 

“Oh my God,” was their universal cry.

I stared back at them with my mouth gaping open, and then hurriedly grasped clothes to cover myself.  I fled into my bedroom with a scream, with my breasts flapping against the open blouse and with my naked rear end exposed from the half pulled up clothes.  I curled on my bed, frozen.  I was mortified.  I knew I could never face them again. 

After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door.

“Go away.”

It was Lisa.  “Sarah, open up.”

“Please, just let me be.”

Lisa opened the bedroom door and came in anyway.  She spoke.

“Look, I know it’s awkward, but everyone does it.  You just got caught.”

“I can’t face the guys.  What must they think of me?”

“Well, I can’t say they weren’t shocked,” she said.  “We’ve all kept our sex lives pretty private.  Until now.  But it’s not the end of the world.  Come on out and let’s talk.”

I told her I absolutely could not do that.  “I can’t look any of them in the eye.”

Lisa tried logic. 

“Look, you’ve been naked in front of guys before.  You don’t have any unique body parts.  Hiding in here isn’t going to do any good.  Hold your chin up and come on out.”

I was having none of it.  

“I’ve been naked before but the guy was naked too.  This is different.  I can’t live with the daily embarrassment of Brad and Kevin looking at me, knowing.  And you too; what must you think?  I have to move out.”

Lisa tried a little longer, then gave up and left.  I stayed curled on the bed, tears of shame in my eyes.

Lisa conferred with the guys.

“She’s in there, devastated.  She says she has to move out.  I’ve never seen her like this.”

“Well, everybody masturbates,” said Brad.  “Part of the shock is that we’ve been so careful about keeping our bodies and sex under wraps in the house.  I’ve never even seen anyone in their underwear, much less undressed.  It’s like we’re running a convent.”

“I agree,” said Kevin.  “When we were in the dorm at school, girls would walk to the bathroom in their bra and panties, or with a towel wrapped around them.  No big deal.”

“You may be right,” said Lisa.  “I thought with us living in the same house, any intimacy would lead to relationships and you know how most of them end up.  Sarah is still pining over her last boyfriend.  Imagine if he lived here.”

“I think we need to do something radical,” Lisa continued.  “What do you say about…”  and they talked.  “I think it’s the only way.   Agreed?”  The guys agreed.

Lisa went to my room and knocked. 

“Come in.”

“Sarah, I’ve talked with the guys and we have a solution.  You need to come out.”

“What solution?” I asked.

“You need to come out.  You’ll see.”

“How can you fix what they saw?  How can you erase that memory?  They’ll never forget.  Nor can I,” I protested.

“Trust me.  This can be fixed.  You need to come out.”

I had my doubts, but I couldn’t stay in the room forever.  I was shaking as I followed Lisa into the family room.  The lights were dimmed. 

To my surprise, the guys were there, naked except for their underpants!  As I stared, Lisa took her blouse off and undid her skirt.  She was in bra and panties.

On the TV was playing a porno CD that I knew Brad owned, but he had never played in front of us girls.  A naked man and a woman were groping each other. 

“Sex is part of our lives, Sarah,” said Lisa.  “We’ve been keeping it under wraps in the house, but it rages in the background.  You opened the door.  We thank you for that.  And we want to admit it openly, so that no one has to be ashamed.”

“Oh my God,” I stammered, “what are you doing?”

“You’ll see.  Brad, you’re first,” said Lisa.

Brad lay down on the couch.  He removed his underpants.  His penis and testicles sprawled out.  He took some massage oil from a bottle.  With his eyes on me, he began to stroke the penis.  It slowly began to swell and rise.

“Brad,” I said, “no.  You don’t have to do this.”

“I want to,” he said, “we’ve repressed ourselves in this house, pretending that we can’t be open with each other.  I love sex.  I masturbate all the time.  I don’t want you to be ashamed for what you did.  You’re our friend.”

Lisa unhooked her bra and let it drop to the floor.  She sat in our lounge chair and began to massage her vulva through the panties.  As she moaned softly, she removed the panties, showing a mass of trimmed pubic hair.  She began to use a vibrator on the lips of her vagina. 

Kevin took off his last clothes and lay on the floor.  He began to massage his penis.  He was circumcised, unlike Brad.  He used one hand to rub his testicles as his other hand rose up and down on his penis.  It arced up toward his stomach.  I had never seen two men naked at once before, much less two raging erections.  I was transfixed. 

Soon, all three of them were in the throes of their own pleasure.  I seemed the odd person out, dressed, watching them.

I was horrified and grateful.  Horrified that I had been the cause of them feeling that they needed to do this, so that I would not be ashamed.  And grateful that they valued me enough to do it. 

I began to cry. 

“Are you okay?” asked Brad, concerned.

“Yes, yes, I am.  I love you guys.  All of you.  This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me,” I replied.

Lisa came over to hug me.  The guys did too, both still with erections.  All four of us hugged, while I cried. 

“Wait,” I said.  “There is one piece missing in this hug.  Help me off with my clothes.  I can’t be the only not naked.”

I unbuttoned my blouse.  Lisa pulled it off.  Brad unzipped my pants, and slid them down my legs.  Kevin pulled the panties down.  I stepped out of my clothes.  That body of mine that they had seen fleetingly was now on full display.  And I was not ashamed. 

We hugged and laughed.  Brad poured drinks and we sat down, still naked, to watch that porno movie.  It was hilarious how fevered the couple was about trying each and every sexual position.  Don’t they know that casual nudity with your friends is stimulation enough?

We stayed in that house for two years more.  From then on, we were open and free about our bodies and our love lives.  We’d walk around in our underwear, and in coming from the shower, we may or not have had a towel wrapped around.  I thrilled at seeing those naked and semi-naked male bodies, and of the freedom to display my own.  We were lovers in the best sense, of each other and of liberation from foolish shame.  It was a day that changed my life.  It changed all of us.  For the better.