I wish to retain all rights to this story. However, I am delighted to grant permission to any person to publish this story as long as there is no charge to the reader and as long as no changes are made to the story.

Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.

SEA CHANGE

CHAPTER 40b — The Ball, cont.

And then, when every eye in the room had turned her way, she stepped into the room with a slow, feminine grace; her gently swaying hips leading the way.

Dan and I let the doors close behind us as we followed Linda into the light of the ballroom.

The room had a western look with wagon wheel chandeliers and cattle horns on the wall. Someone had hung a few ghosts and witches in various places to give the place a totally incongruous Halloween touch. At the far end was a stage and along the walls on either side were tables with food and punch. The lights were low, but not as low as they would be for dancing.

At one end of the stage, a DJ had set up. And in the middle of the stage, a busty but attractive Cleopatra stood with a microphone in one hand and written notes in the other. Between her and us, stood a hundred people in a wide variety of colorful costumes.

Jaws dropped across the room. I felt close to naked; and it felt good.

“Holy shit, Linda!” a short girl dressed as a vampire exclaimed softly from our right.

A tall girl, dressed as a Gilligan’s Island Ginger, looked Linda over, and then her eyes traveled to Dan and me. “My gawd, girl,” she said. “Which one is your date?”

“Both,” said Linda, stepping back to loop an arm through each of ours.

A rush of feminine voices rolled across the room. Janet came forward, dragging a tall guy in a football uniform, without the pads. She was dressed as a cheerleader, of course. “Linda… oh wow!” she cried delightedly as she came toward us. “Oh, wow! You look fantastic. And these two guys… Sean,” she gushed, turning my way. “You’re… you’re…” she looked me up and down, “… you’re magnificent!” She hugged me and leaned up for a kiss, which I gave her. And when I did, she patted my butt. Then she stepped back, studying Dan. “Is this… is this…”

“Daniel,” I said.

“Perfect,” she said, approvingly, and stepped around Linda to give Daniel a hug. “I’m Janet,” she said. “Linda’s best friend.”

Then she held Linda’s shoulders and gave her a cheek brush. “I love it!” she exclaimed. “Somebody’s finally outdone Becky Nutting. That Cleopatra outfit of hers is cheesy. And, she’s only got one date!” Janet gave Linda an enthusiastic hug. “Linda, you’re beautiful, honey.” Then she lowered her voice, but not so low that I couldn’t hear her. “You are going to have so much fun later!”

“We already have,” Linda said with a modest smile.

Janet’s jaw dropped, amused and surprised, and the babble of voices around us grew slightly.

“OK, OK,” Cleopatra called from the front. “I have a couple more announcements. First, Brenda, Trish, and Spider will be the judges this year for the best and worst costume awards.”

“Linda wins!” a girl’s voice called out.

There was laughter around the room.

“And,” Cleopatra continued, ignoring the interruption. “This year, Janet has something special planned… a Beau of the Ball competition… and all the guys have to participate, so when the time comes, you’ll have to step away from the refreshment tables, fellas. We’ll start the music in just a second. First though, we’ll give Spider a little more time to take pictures with the lights up.”

A guy, who was dressed as the devil, lifted a camera high over his head and pumped it. I decided that he had to be Spider. His arms and legs were long and thin, but his trunk was short. The combination made him medium-height. And because he had a cute face, I found myself wondering for just a moment, what it would be like to have sex with those arms and legs… then I wondered what kind of package he might have tucked away.

I felt Daniel’s eyes on me and turned to find him raising an eyebrow. With an abashed grin, I shook my head. Daniel could read me too well.

“That spider guy has a camera like yours, Linda,” I observed.

“It is my camera,” she said. “I loaned it to him for tonight.”

“So have fun,” Cleopatra called out from the stage. “But behave… at least until Spider runs out of film.”

More laughter.

Girls, with their attendant boyfriends, quickly surrounded us. The girls raved over Linda’s costume and the flowers in her hair and around her waist. But they also raved about Dan and I, and every one of them looked us up and down. Even most of the guys stole glances. It was surprising how many eyes went right to our low riding loincloths.

“Alright, guys,” a high-pitched guy’s voice called out. “Let me finish getting pictures. I haven’t gotten Linda yet.”

People parted and Spider moved toward us, smiling. “So are both these guys really your dates?” he asked Linda with a grin.

“Yes they are,” Linda said with a pleased smile. “This is Sean,” she said, putting an arm behind my waist. “And this is Daniel,” she said, putting her arm behind his waist.

With the formal introduction, everyone’s eyes returned to our bodies. Spider shook his head with a wry smile. “Linda, baby, I always knew you had it in you…. OK, guys, smile.”

Dan and I wrapped arms behind Linda and we all leaned close, smiling. Spider took two quick shots and ended with a wink.

A hand slid up under the back of my loincloth and rested on my butt. I turned to find Janet smiling up at me. “I get a dance or two,” she said and gave my butt a squeeze and pouted. “I was hoping you had nothing on under that thing.” She turned away as her boyfriend approached with drinks.

“You want anything to drink?” I asked Linda. “Any refreshments.”

“After champagne and cheese in the room?” she asked, loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to be obvious in her bragging.

“Champagne?” exclaimed a girl dressed in flesh colored leotards and long hair, obviously Eve… or maybe Lady Godiva. She glanced at her boyfriend with a frown as he arrived holding drinks. Since he wore only white gym shorts with a large sycamore leaf over the front, I decided she was definitely Eve, and he was Adam. Not a bad looking Adam, a little soft and paunchy maybe.

Cleopatra arrived, with a Nubian; a splendid Nubian – a black guy an inch or two taller than me, with broad shoulders, a flat torso, narrow hips, and not an ounce of body fat. He had a long, handsome face with large eyes, bright teeth, and smooth features. His white, Egyptian skirt was bound at the waist by a gold colored leather belt and fell to just above his muscled knees. An Egyptian headdress of red cloth was bound across the middle of his forehead with a band of the same gold leather as his belt. Bands of gold leather encircled each bicep, and he wore a thick gold neck chain. However cheesy Janet might have thought the Cleopatra costume, the Nubian was incredibly hot.

Like everyone else, his eyes traveled up and down Dan’s and my bodies, only this time, our eyes returned the favor. He smiled, and my gaydar flickered.

“Linda, what a charming costume,” she said. “Greek matron, right? Oh, and look, a couple of slave boys.” Her eyes flashed in our direction.

“Eat your heart out, Becky,” Janet said. “She’s a goddess and you’re only a queen. She has two studs to your one, and, she’s already broken them in.”

“Oh, geez,” I mumbled, and Linda flushed.

“How… typical,” Becky said with a hollow smile.

When Becky turned quickly and walked away, I was tempted to give her rump a swift kick. Her Nubian left us with an apologetic smile.

“What a bitch,” I said to Linda.

Daniel leaned behind Linda, his mouth to my ear. “Do you think she knows her boyfriend is gay?”

Linda overheard and twisted back to give us a surprised, and highly amused grin.

“Him?” I whispered back where only he and Linda could hear. “Why there’s probably only one gay bone in his whole body.”

Daniel laughed and elbowed my side. Linda smiled and turned back to her friends.

A busty blond in her mid-forties slinked in, cup in hand, smiling warmly. Though she used more makeup than I thought attractive, she wasn’t a bad looking woman. I had no trouble recognizing that she had to be Brenda.

When Linda introduced us, Brenda simpered, greeting us with a limp hand and a wet kiss on the cheek.

The lights dimmed, and the DJ began playing The Monster Mash. Leaving Brenda behind, Daniel, Linda, and I moved to the middle of the room, along with almost everyone else. Dan and I kept Linda between us, as we started to dance, but his eyes met mine to let me know that he was dancing with me as well. I was proud of him; proud he belonged to me -- the way he moved his hips, the way his muscles flexed. People stared at us, but we relaxed and the three of us focused on each other.

Brenda, a chunky brunette I assumed was Trisha, and Spider came past, making notes as they looked over the various costumes, making their judgments. Brenda had a drink in hand, and so it surprised me when she was able to grab a feel of my butt as she passed behind.

The DJ led into some Earth, Wind, and Fire, and then mellowed with some Abba. Daniel and I moved closer and closer to Linda until our bare torsos pressed her, front and back; the three of us bopping and bumping to the beat. When the DJ put on an old Carpenter’s song and the beat slowed, Daniel wrapped his arms around Linda’s waist from the front, and I wrapped my arms under her breasts from behind. We put our heads together and swayed to the music.

Linda’s hair smelled warm, and lightly aromatic. I could smell Daniel’s hair as well, and I took a breath of his richer aroma. I felt myself thicken against Linda’s butt and wondered if Daniel was growing hard against her front. I kissed her neck and had the sense that Daniel was doing the same on the other side. Linda moaned softly.

When the music finally faded, I was semi-erect and afraid to step back from her. She leaned back against me, her arms looped over Dan’s shoulders. He smiled dreamily at her, and them glanced at me with a wink. “Hiding anything?” he asked.

“Are you?” I asked, grinning back.

“You both are,” Linda said with a light laugh.

. . . . .

We were just discovering that the punch was spiked when the music stopped and Janet stepped up onto the stage with a microphone. “Alright, everybody! The judges have picked the costume winners,” she announced.

When the noise died to only a few voices, Janet held up a sheet of paper. “Starting with the poorest excuse for a costume, Demit, who used an old sheet that’s seen a gazillion toga parties.”

Laughter spread across the room, and Demit came dutifully forward to claim his prize.

“Now quiet everybody,” Janet called out. “Let me tell you – our judges tonight have exercised the wisdom of Solomon. As you all know, there were some damn good costumes here tonight.”

People nodded.

“And then there’s Linda and her dates,” Janet continued with a smile.

Several smiling faces turned our way.

“They are such obvious winners that we’re going to do this in reverse order. I’ll announce best male costume and best female costume in a second. Tonight, we’re skipping right to the best couples costume since we all know who wins… only tonight, it’s not a couple, but a triple.”

People clapped. “Come on up, Linda, Sean, and Daniel. Collect your prize.” Janet lifted a small plastic trophy in the air.

After that, it was anticlimactic for a girl dressed as Princess Leah to get best female costume, and for the black Nubian, Reggie by name, to get the best male costume. Everyone clapped noisily for him. Evidently, Reggie was well liked; proving, I decided, that opposites really do attract.

“OK,” Janet said as Reggie returned to the crowd. “Now we begin the Beau of the Ball competition. And this is a serious contest because we’re not only going on good looks, girls. We want these guys to know we love them for their intelligence and personalities as well.” She winked dramatically and several girls laughed.

“The judges have already started things for us,” she continued. “They’ve selected the first twelve finalists based on their costumes. I’m going to call out your names and I want each of you to come up here… Reg, you first.”

Reggie climbed back onto the stage.

Janet called out nine more names, and each guy went forward. When each arrived on stage, Janet pinned a large number, beginning with “1,” on their costume and made them stay beside her.

Each time she prepared to call the next name, heads expectantly turned toward Dan and me. I was flattered, and frankly disappointed that at least Dan didn’t get called.

“Alright, ya’ll,” Janet said, when only two names were left. “You knew I was going to call their names, right? Sean, Daniel… come on up.”

When I came up beside her, Janet held up the number “11” and a pin, but then made me turn around, my back to the audience. Then, before pinning the number to my butt, she lifted the back of my loincloth and flapped it to the applause of several in the audience. She did the same to Daniel.

“OK, guys,” she said. “The next step of the competition is the talent phase. Talent for dancing that is. You guys stay on stage. The DJ is going to play a little music for you, and while you dance, we’re going to collect ballots from all the sorority sisters. Every girl gets three votes, and when we’re finished counting them, we’ll be down to six semi-finalists. Oh, and girls, give Sean a break. He’s getting over knee surgery, so if he moves anything well, give him credit.”

I smiled, unsure how grateful I was for her remark. As we waited for the music, Reg and Dan seemed confident enough; the rest off us shuffled feet uncomfortably. The DJ chose Stayin’ Alive to play. The hooting and clapping began as soon as people recognized the opening bars.

Since I was close to Dan, I just imagined I was dancing for him, while trying not to look like I was dancing for him. He glanced at me from time to time, and I guessed his strategy was the same as mine.

Both he and Reg moved well. Daniel shook his wreath-crowned, blond hair from side to side. And as almost naked as we were, I could see all their muscles flex as they moved. I figured that my abs were as good as theirs and decided that dancing to make the most of the muscle flexing was the way to go. I even put my hands behind my head, separated my feet a little as I made little gyrations with my hips. I undulated my gut muscles as I worked, a little like a belly dancer, without the hip jiggling. It wasn’t hard on my knee at all, since I barely moved my feet; just everything in the middle.

The girls seemed to like what we were doing because the volume of noise in the room rose, and there were several whistles.

I didn’t notice Spider below us until the flash of the camera, and then while I was momentarily blinded something soft hit my chest. I looked down to see a pair of pink panties at my feet.

There were several loud cheers from the audience and Dan laughed beside me.

The music ended, and Janet let us leave the stage to return to our partners while the judges gathered the last votes and began their count.

Linda put an arm through each of ours and led us toward the punch bowl. “This is so great,” she said happily. “Every girl here is jealous as hell, and you know what? I don’t care. I don’t give a damn. I’m just having a blast being with you guys!” She hugged our arms.

“I’m having a great time, too,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s not every day girls throw panties at you,” Daniel said with a snicker.

“Later,” I threatened, “you could just find some underwear flying at your face.”

“Boys! Boys!” Linda said. “Now calm down. Daniel, I’ll be glad to throw my panties at you later. And Sean, those were Brenda’s panties that hit you.”

We reached the side tables. “I’ve got to powder my nose,” Linda said. “I’ll be back.”

“I’ve got to powder my nose, too,” Dan said with a grin.

But before I could volunteer to go with him, I felt a hand on my butt. It was Janet.

“I want my dance,” she said with a smile. “Just do like you were doing up on stage.”

So I followed Janet back out to the middle of the floor, wondering where her boyfriend had gone. I saw Brenda go out to the foyer, just after Daniel, and wondered if he needed protection. But then a slow song began and Janet wrapped her arms over my shoulders. The top of her head barely came to my chin and she had to lean back in my arms to talk, which she did with a wide smile.

“Are you having fun?” she asked.

“Oh yeah.”

“And Daniel?”

“Yep,”

“Well, I know Linda is. She’s downright brilliant tonight,” Janet said.

“I’m feeling a bit of a glow myself,” I said with a grin.

Janet laughed. “Well you and Daniel have all the girls glowing, that’s for sure. If you were here with anyone other than Linda,” she said, pressing her lower body to mine, “I’d come after you.”

“You better not let your boyfriend hear that.”

“Chuck?” she asked with a laugh, and pulled my head down to whisper in my ear. “He’s just auditioning to be my boyfriend, but he’s doing OK so far.”

I smiled and Janet laid her head on my shoulder. Her cheerleader outfit left her middle bare, and I was conscious of her skin against mine, low over my loincloth. I was glad she was loyal to Linda. She couldn’t with me, but she probably could move in on any other guy she wanted to.

She leaned back in my arms again. “By the way, how’s Colin?”

I shook my head. “He has a girlfriend he’s real serious about.”

Janet frowned. “Tell that boy, he needs to check with me first.”

A new song began, and Spider waved for Janet to return to the stage. Linda had come back and was with Daniel near the punch bowl.

“Where were you when I needed you?” Dan asked with a frown.

“Why? Did Brenda come after you?”

Dan frowned. “Yeah – ugh! That lady’s dangerous, and somewhere, she’s hiding an extra hand or two.”

“We have the names of our six semi-finalists,” Janet called out from the stage.

Dan and I made it to the semi-finals, as did Reg.

“Alright, gentlemen,” she said, when she had us once more on the stage. “The next phase of the competition is where we see how long you are… on brain power.” There were several chuckles. “I’ll ask each of you a different question and you have sixty seconds to answer.”

“Thomas, you’re first,” she said, walking up to a tall, thickset jock-type. “If you and your date Stephanie were to be stranded on a desert island, and you could have just one other person there with you, who would it be?”

Thomas grinned unsteadily, which I suspected was partly the affect of the spiked punch. “Brooke Shield,” he said. “She’s…”

“Ehhh!” Janet called out over the boos of several girls. “Wrong answer.”

A glance at his date, Stephanie, told Thomas he was in trouble… big time. “Steph, I just meant… really it was just…”

“Moving on,” Janet said, stepping up to Reggie. “Reg, what is it that attracted you to Becky?” She handed him the microphone.

Reg began a surprisingly thoughtful answer, discussing Becky’s redeeming features. The list was short however, until he came to her looks. Becky was good looking, and Reg discussed just how, point, by point. “She’s absolutely the classiest, the sexiest girl I know,” he finished, with a smile for her.

Janet turned her back to the audience and rolled her eyes as she moved on to me. “Sean,” Janet said, stepping up to me. “What makes Linda the perfect girl?”

I took the microphone and cast my eyes up to the ceiling, composing my thoughts. I wanted to make this good, not to win the contest, but because Linda deserved it. She deserved to be honored in front of her friends.

“When Reg talked about Becky being sexy,” I began, looking out over the crowd. “I thought about what makes a girl sexy… to me. It’s not just looks; not just looks at all.” And then I looked down at Linda who was right in front, at my feet. “It’s obvious tonight that no girl looks finer than Linda,” I said, stepping closer to the edge of the stage, and to her. Our eyes met. I struggled to kneel in front of her without hurting my knee while at the same time, not flashing the audience a crotch shot. They got a crotch shot.

I held out my hand and Linda took it. “What makes you so incredibly sexy, Linda,” I said, “is how you make me feel when I’m with you.”

She smiled, pleased, meeting my gaze.

“You’re witty,” I continued, “and intelligent – so intelligent that you keep me on my toes. You like some of the same things that I like, and know even more about them than I do. And as for my other interests -- you’ve always wanted to hear about them. You’re talented. You’re kind. I’m instantly comfortable around you. Why from that first night, I felt like I could pour my whole heart out to you. And I did.”

Girls around Linda were watching her. Her eyes were sparkling. I squeezed her hand. “The longer I know you, the more I respect you, and I feel… honored… honored to be with you; honored that you like me.”

I smiled. “And when we’re close -- when I catch the scent of your hair or sense your nearness -- you stir me, here,” I said, rapping my knuckles (and the microphone) over my heart. “No girl has ever done that to me the way you do. And no girl has made me feel the way you do when you’re in my arms. You make me feel… happy.”

“Linda,” I said quietly into the microphone, “you are the sexiest girl I know.” I lifted her hand and kissed it.

There was a collective, feminine sigh in the room.

Linda rose on her toes, and I kissed her.

Again careful of my knee, I stood to my feet.

Janet gave my cheek a kiss as I stepped back into line and whispered. “Bless you!” Then she moved on to Daniel.

She took a deep breath, and glanced up at him, almost apologetically. “So that Linda doesn’t get a swelled head, let’s not ask another question about her. Instead, why don’t you tell us what a guy looks for in the girl he’ll finally settle down with?”

I had no idea how Daniel would handle that question, and only hoped that he hadn’t consumed so much of the spiked punch that he would carelessly ‘out’ us and embarrass Linda. A quick glance from him told me the tack that he would take. With a lover, you can do that; know a lot in one glance. And that’s when I really hoped that he hadn’t drunk too much punch.

“Well,” Daniel said, crossing his arms, holding the microphone loosely, and looking thoughtful. “I assume that by ‘settle down with’ you mean marry?” He asked in Janet’s direction.

She smiled and nodded.

“When I marry,” Daniel said, looking out over the audience. “It’s going to be for life. A ‘till death do us part’ thing. Because the person I marry will be someone I want to spend my whole life with. Every day of my life.” He took a deep breath and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, then looked quickly away. “Because when I get married,” he continued slowly, “it will be to someone I love with all my heart. Someone who is my best friend… my closest, dearest companion. Someone who knows all my secrets… and keeps them. Someone who is so comfortable to be with, that it is like rest for my soul.”

He looked thoughtfully off toward the back of the room. “And yet,” he said, “it will be someone exciting… more exciting in their quiet way than all the other lovers this world could offer. Someone whose spirit and body are as familiar as my own, but someone who makes my heart race whenever I’m near them. Someone who, when I let my eyes linger over their face… their eyes… their lips… their soft skin, their slender form… fills me with wonder because… they belong to me.”

“It will be someone,” he said, “whose simple presence makes me feel alive!”

He was careful not to look my way, but he was watching me from the corner of his eye, and I listened, raptly.

“We’ll complete each other,” he said. “We’ll make each other whole. Together, we’ll be something wonderful, something entirely different than what we are when we’re apart. Everyone will envy us, because of who and what we are, together. And they will envy me.”

“It will be the very best,” he said, his voice warm, “when we are alone, just us. And it will be just us, even when we’re in a room full of people.” He paused, and I caught the nuance.

“I will marry that person,” he said, his voice growing stronger, “because I want them beside me every night… when I fall asleep, and in the morning… there will always be a little thrill to find them on the pillow beside me. They will be my most precious treasure; a treasure I will trade my whole world for. They will be my whole world,” he said, pulling himself upright. “I’ll promise them that.”

He looked up toward the back of the room and his voice grew thoughtful once more. “When I marry, I will marry with all my heart. I will love with all I have and still wish I had more to give. I will give all of me, day… by day… by day. I will give until I have given every last day I have to give.” His voice grew very quiet. “And when I’ve given my lover my very last day, it will be the day most full of my love.”

There was a hush in the room. Other than Daniel and I, Janet and Linda were the only ones who knew that he might be talking about me. I quickly wiped a tear from my eye before anyone could notice.

I glimpsed Linda’s upturned face, and I thought I saw a hint of sadness – the being left out kind of sadness. I decided that we needed to give her a hug as soon as possible.

“Where do you find these guys?” a girl, close to Linda asked.

“Do either of them have brothers at home?” another asked.

“I heard that,” Janet said from the stage. “Sean has a brother at home – Colin – and he already belongs to me!”

There were a few hoots and the mood lightened once more. The final two contestants answered well, but my mind was still on Daniel’s words.

As we left the stage, I grabbed Dan by his elbow and spoke to his ear. “I’m so ready to get you alone.”

“You liked what I said?”

I squeezed his arm. “You had me fighting a hard on the whole time.” Anyone else might not have understood how his words would have done that to me, but Daniel did. Love stirred me. He stirred me.

Dan nodded, grinning. “Believe it or not, I was fighting one myself.”

“Come back Sean, Daniel. Come on up Linda,” Janet said. “Everybody! Linda and her dates are going to sing Endless Love for our dates while you have a special dance and we count votes.

“I’m not singing,” Daniel insisted in a harsh whisper.

“Just hug Linda from behind,” I suggested. “She’s going to do most of the singing anyway.”

The DJ was already cueing up the music as Linda joined us on the stage. “You do the Lionel Richie part?” I asked Linda.

“No. The Diana Ross part,” she said, punching my arm.

It’s hard to be sung to. It isn’t exactly easy to sing to someone either. But we did well. Daniel hugged Linda from behind, his arms wrapped around her, just under her cloth-covered breasts. I had a hand on the side of her waist, and we faced each other and the audience.

I let Linda do most of the singing, filling in as best as I could. It must have been good enough because there was solid round of applause afterward.

Janet took Linda’s microphone when we were finished. “Ladies,” she said. “We have our three finalists.” She held up a paper, but didn’t need to look at it. “Sean and Daniel, stay up here. Reggie, come on up.”

Once she had the three of us lined up, Janet had fun, turning us around, getting us to flex muscles, getting her sorority sisters to “take a good look, girls because we’re about to have the final voting. When we’re done, I’ll announce the second runner up, the first runner up, and the Beau of the Balls… ahem, Ball… Beau of the Ball.”

People laughed and I decided that the spiked punch had affected the whole crowd.

“The final competition,” Janet said, pausing for effect, “is… Reggie, do you have anything on under your Egyptian skirt thing?”

Reggie nodded.

“OK, then, for the final competition,” Janet said, “you three will dance again, but this time, everything below the waist comes off except for your briefs, or whatever you’ve got on under there.

The room burst out in Texan female hoots and hollers.

Daniel, and I exchanged glances. Reggie smiled. It wasn’t so bad, I told myself. Not a whole lot different than with the loincloths.

“Hey,” Daniel leaned close with a grin and whispered. “What do you think they’d say if they realized their three finalists were all gay?”

“This crowd?” I asked. “Wouldn’t faze them.”

There were loud cheers and catcalls as we waited for the music. Reggie already looked hot as hell. If he was packing anything, I worried that Daniel might actually not win.

Janet, who had been talking to Spider, held up her hands for silence. The room quieted a little.

“Ladies,” she announced, “for this final competition, voting will be by panties. Whoever has the most panties thrown at him at the end, is king.”

The room erupted in loud chatter. Janet nodded at the DJ who began something with a bump and grind beat.

So to a tumult of whistles and hoots, we started out dancing like we had earlier. The three of us stepped from our sandals pretty quickly. Then Dan and I danced out of the leggings. Reggie was the first to pull of his wrap.

That he was hung was pretty obvious. His briefs were packed.

Dan and I followed, pulling off our loincloths and the sound level in the room doubled.

“Lose the underwear!” a tall, chunky girl shouted.

“Take it off, baby!” came another cry.

Then there were more and more cries of the same, and not a single pair of panties had flown our way.

“You hear your fans, guys,” Janet said over the microphone. “They don’t like the briefs.”

I glanced at Linda in panic. What would they all think if they saw we were shaved?

Linda only shrugged, hands out from her sides in apology, and smiled.

I gave Dan my best “another fine mess you’ve gotten us into” glare, and then mouthed the words, “no one will see… ha!”

Dan grinned and stuck both hands into the elastic waist of his briefs. Reg, who was watching to see what we would do, went ahead and pulled his off. The place erupted in cheers. As his long cock flopped with his dancing, Reggie twirled his briefs on his finger and then flung them high into the air over the crowd.

With a shrug, I joined Dan in dancing out of our briefs. We tossed them to Linda.

The crowd hushed.

Reggie froze, his eyes, like everyone else’s in the room, locked on our shaved crotches.

“Linda!” Janet said. “Goodness, girl! What have you three been up to? Are you shaved, too?”

Linda grinned and held a thumb up.

There were a few hoots. And through it all, Dan and I kept dancing.

All of us, the whole room except for Reggie, noticed something else. Reggie had sprung a semi-erection as fast as I’d ever seen one sprung. When he finally realized it, he tried to cover it with his hands.

Janet laughed over the microphone. “Hey Becky, it looks like your Nubian likes the Greek boys.”

There was another series of hoots and Reggie turned his back to the crowd.

I couldn’t keep looking at him, or I’d spring a boner of my own. As it was, I was hanging pretty thick. For grins, I twisted my hips a few times, slapping my cock back and forth.

Spider came through among us, kicking our costumes toward the back of the stage. “You better not be getting ready to take a picture!” I warned him.

He simply grinned.

Since the music was still going, we kept dancing. Reggie danced, too, keeping his back to the audience. I glanced once, but his wiggling butt was too hot to watch without creating problems of my own. And then panties began to fly, hitting us, landing on the stage around us.

Janet had been moving behind us and I assumed she was gathering them up.

Finally, the song ended.

“OK, boys,” Janet said, stepping forward. “While we count the votes, we have one last thing for you to do. While you were dancing, we gathered your costumes and Spider and Trish took them out to the flagpole on the other side of the swimming pool. Ya’ll go get them now, and we’ll have these… um, votes, counted by the time you get back.”

I groaned. “My whole life these days,” I complained to Dan, “is running around naked in front of the world.”

Reg and Dan took off running. I did my best to follow, mainly hopping.

Spider was waiting with the camera just outside the dancehall doors. The flash froze me for a second, before I continued on.

Reg and Dan were already at the flagpole as I came up to the pool. The thirteen or fourteen year-old kid we had seen earlier in the day, came bounding from the pool, through the gate, and peered in the direction that Dan and Reggie had taken. He heard me as I came up behind him, turned, and froze. His jaw dropped and his eyes dropped to my crotch.

“They took our costumes,” I offered lamely.

He studied me uncomprehendingly and nodded slowly.

Daniel and Reg came running back, laughing, and with all three costumes in their arms. They stopped when they reached me and dropped the costumes on the ground. While the two of them dropped to their knees and started sorting out the costumes, I noticed the younger brother join the teen who was still watching us from just off the sidewalk. They were cute young guys, standing there in their swim trunks, the oldest with eyeglasses.

“Man, I don’t want to go back inside,” Reggie said, shaking out his Egyptian cloth.

“I can’t believe you sprung a boner,” Dan said to Reggie while handing me my loincloth. “Wait, on second thought, I can. Watching you, I almost sprung one too.”

Reggie glanced at Dan. “You guys into guys, too.”

“We’re gay,” Dan said, rising to pull on his briefs. “Well, except when it comes to Linda, though Sean here gets into girls sometimes.”

It dawned on me that neither Dan nor Reggie realized that the two boys were close by.

“How late does the pool stay open?” I asked the older one as I wrapped my loincloth around me.

Reggie and Dan glanced at me, and then followed my gaze to the boys.

The older boy swallowed hard. “It supposed to be closed already.”

“We’re supposed to be in our room,” the younger boy said.

“Then you better head back there,” Reggie said.

The brothers looked like they’d been slapped, and quickly turned back toward the pool. “Gotta get our towels,” the younger brother called back.

“I’m not gay,” Reggie said with a frown when they were out of earshot. “I’m bi.”

“That’s cool,” Dan said, adjusting his arm strap and giving me a wink that Reggie didn’t see.

“Yeah, well you guys would think so. I’m not sure about all the folks back at the dance,” Reggie said gloomily.

“Hell,” I said. “Guys spring boners all the time. I’m trying not to spring another right now; the way everything is hanging loose under this loincloth.” I pushed the waist band lower, attempting to cover everything.

“Some guys get hard, just being naked in front of people,” Dan added. “I bet no one even thinks twice about it.”

“Yeah? How much are you willing to bet?” Reggie asked with a frown.

We had finished dressing. Dan put an arm across Reggie’s shoulders, turning him toward the dance hall. “Come on guy. No one’s not gonna like a guy with a butt like yours.”

“Cool it, Dan,” I said, with a swat to his ass as I came up on his other side. “You’ll give us all boners before we go back in and how would that go over?”

“Here they are!” Janet announced over the microphone as we re-entered the room. “Guys, the voting was unanimous. We declared the contest a three-way tie because there were panties all over the stage. We have a bag of panties for each of you, and they’ll be waiting when you leave. Thanks for being good sports. Everyone, let’s applaud the Beaux of the Ball.”

. . . . .

Linda gave us back our briefs, but not before Janet goosed me and Brenda reached under Daniel’s loincloth. Even after we put our briefs back on, several girls playfully “lifted the curtain.”

We were almost the last to leave the ballroom that night. Linda had been the uncontested Belle of the Ball, and we let her stay as long as she wanted to so that she could revel in it. When Linda slipped into the restroom before leaving, Dan and I did as well.

We stepped up to the side-by-side urinals and we were alone. Dan rested his hand on my butt. “How’s the knee?” he asked.

“Good… well, maybe a little tired, but otherwise, fine.”

“So we don’t have to tuck you into bed as soon as we get back?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

“Tuck me in bed?” I asked. “No.”

I shook off and tucked myself in, and then as Daniel did the same, I stepped behind him, wrapping my arm around his chest. I pressed my bare torso and loincloth to the back of his, and whispered behind his ear. “No matter what happens tonight,” I said, “before I take you back to your dorm tomorrow night; I have to have time alone with you.”

He nodded and leaned back against me. “I like her, Sean. And I’ve had fun. This was really, really good, but you know what?” he asked, turning to face me and holding me close with a hand on my butt.

“What?” I asked, rubbing my tummy on his.

“I understand why you want the two of us to go on a date.” He gave me a peck on the lips. “We’ll do it, OK?”

“After what you said tonight,” I said, moving my lips close to his, “I want to make that a date, every night for the rest of our lives.”

His lips touched mine. “Every night,” he whispered.

The evening had turned cool when we stepped outside. I took a deep breath of the cedar laden, hill country air. Linda came up beside me and looped her arm through mine. She was holding her camera, and I took it from her to carry along with my bag of panties. Daniel came up on her other side, offering his arm. She took it, and we headed toward the room.

We walked quietly. Linda shivered.

“Here,” I said, throwing my arm around her shoulders. Dan did the same.

“Did you have a good time?” I asked.

She laid her head back on our arms. “You have to ask?”

“No, I guess not.”

“I had a great time,” Dan said.

“I liked your answer,” Linda said, rolling her head toward Dan. “Your answer to the contest question.”

Daniel glanced behind her at me and smiled.

“I wondered,” she said, “if you guys would rather be alone tonight.”

“Why?” Dan asked surprised.

“Yeah, why?” I echoed.

“You two,” Linda said quietly, “are obviously in love. It was obvious the first time Sean told me about you, Daniel, and it was obvious tonight when you gave your answer.”

Daniel glanced at me again, this time with a troubled frown.

“Did you listen to my answer?” I asked her.

Her head turned my way. She was smiling. “Yeah. It was sweet, Sean.”

“I meant it,” I said.

“I’ve only known you a day,” Dan said. “And I understood exactly what Sean was saying. You’re special, Linda.” He moved closer to her as we walked. So did I.

“Can’t we still slumber party, Big Sis?” I asked.

She smiled and nodded, and reached behind our waists to pull our sides to hers. “Little brothers,” she said, affectionately.

Inside, she stepped close to me, bare belly gently brushing bare belly, and fingered the wreath in my hair. “You really meant what you said tonight?” She asked quietly.

“Yes,” I told her. “I really did.

She smiled and leaned forward, closing her eyes. We kissed.

Dan took the flowers from Linda’s hair and from around her waist, and we put them, along with the laurel wreaths, into the fridge.

Dan and I pulled her into a loose, three-way embrace, and our hands met in the middle of her bare back. The three of us rested our foreheads together. “You were beautiful tonight,” I told her.

“You were the hottest girl there,” Dan said quietly.

“I liked my costume,” she said. “Thank you for fixing it like you guys did.”

Linda drew the tip of a fingertip across the flat of each of our bellies, just above our loincloths. “I’ve never had a night like this,” she said quietly.

“I haven’t either,” Dan said, running his hand up the back of her neck. “Honestly.” He gave the back of her neck a friendly rub, and added softy. “Thank you for inviting us… thank you for inviting me.”

They kissed. And then Linda kissed me. And then I felt a tug, and my loincloth dropped to the floor; next I felt Dan’s land at our feet.

Dan and I unpinned the top of her costume; pulling the long ends of her wrap forward from her shoulders and laying them down off her breasts. We paused to brush our bare skin, her to me, then to Dan, Dan to me. I pressed my mouth to the side of her neck and laid my hand over her firm breast. She kissed Dan, and slid her hand into the front of my briefs at the same time Dan slid his into the rear.

“That feels so… strange,” she said, rubbing my shaved pubes.

Dan’s hand quickly joined hers.

I leaned my head onto her neck, and then as they fondled me, I loosened Linda’s skirt and it fell to the floor. I ran my hands over the smooth skin of her curved hips and slid my fingers into the front of her panties. Shaved, she felt strange herself; strangely smooth and soft, yet warm and moist on my fingertips.

We kissed, and Dan knelt behind her, pulling down her panties. His fingertips met mine as he slid them up between her legs. We rubbed her together, and when she rose on her toes, I knew that Dan had slid his finger in to see what she felt like on the inside.

She clutched me hard in her arms, and I wrapped mine around her waist as we kissed. Dan came behind me and pulled down my briefs. And then it was between my legs that he was sliding his hand, rubbing, pressing up against the root of my cock.

I backed Linda to the bed and laid her onto it, moving over her. She opened herself to me, and I entered her.

As I moved inside her, Dan caressed my back and butt, the way we had done for each other earlier in the day, and when his turn came, I did the same for him.

And just as in the afternoon, rubbing my hand over Daniel’s body as he moved, excited me all over again.

The dim light glimmered off the muscles of his tight butt as it pumped between Linda's legs, and I grew hard. I retrieved a bottle of lube and crawled up behind him, planting my knees on either side of Dan’s. After lubing my cock, I set the bottle aside and fell forward onto one hand, using my other hand to guide myself between the smooth white mounds of Dan’s moving ass.

He froze when he felt me there and let me press in. I lowered myself onto him, molding my body to the back of his. I kissed behind his ear and mouthed his neck, grinding into his firm butt. It was cool, somehow, to be in him, in Linda; a type of triple mating that felt different than it did with three guys.

I lifted myself up onto my hands and knees, keeping only my naked pubes pressed to Dan’s butt. “Go, I said softly.”

Daniel lifted his butt and thrust, and I followed him down with my hips. Linda moaned and her fingers clutched his back as I drove in. Then I relaxed and let Daniel lift our hips again.

. . . . .

Dan stayed inside Linda, and in her arms until I finished and then I rolled off to the side. But Daniel remained in Linda’s arms. I watched for a moment while they stroked each other’s faces, and kissed.

And then I rolled away from them and closed my eyes. They were talking when I fell asleep.

. . . . .

I woke in the night, on my stomach with my face nuzzled into Dan’s neck. He had a leg and arm draped over my back like a warm, human blanket. His weight was a little more than normal and I realized that Linda was draped over his back in turn and I could see the top of her hair behind his neck.

Snuggling into him, I thought back to the words he had said that night; his answer to Janet’s question for the Beau contest. I kissed his neck and took a deep breath of his scent. I was sure that I would remember each word, each sentence of what he said, for the rest of my life.

. . . . .

I was on my stomach, when their low voices woke me the next morning. The room was bright with light from around the curtains. I was vaguely aware that they had been talking for some time. I pulled the pillow over my head. The bed bounced and they climbed over me, pressing their bodies to my backside. Dan was erect.

“Oh, Seany,” he sang, slipping his hand between the backs of my legs. “Time to wake up Seany.”

I groaned and pulled the pillow tighter over my head.

“If you ever want to get Sean going,” I heard Daniel tell Linda, “just rub him like I’m doing… right here behind his balls, or even better, if he’s on his back, rub his balls. You’ll get him going every time.”

Linda laughed, and I felt her hand join his. I spread my legs. Then lips kissed the back of my shoulders.

“We wanna play horsy, Seany,” Linda said. “Like yesterday afternoon; two bareback riders, riding double on a stud horse.”

“Only this time,” Dan said, “you’re the horse and I’m the driver; and I’m going to make you feel good, like you made us feel.”

With a sleepy grin, I rolled to my back and they pressed their bodies to mine.

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