The Last Normal Day

— The Last Normal Day —

“I’m here, just a minute!” Emi shouted back, sitting up suddenly. Her head was spinning; she was still half asleep. She absent-mindedly tugged her swimsuit so that it fit correctly over her breasts and pulled the rest out of her ass while she tried to get her bearings.

The banging became louder and faster. “Lemme in Emi. Oh no!” Sam gasped. “I’m surrounded by wolves!”

It was at times like this when Emi didn’t care much for Sam’s humor. She decided to take her time as she walked over to the large dresser mirror, looking at herself as the knocking continued. Suddenly, her mind filled with the prior day’s events making her feel so deeply relieved. She was here, instead of in prison. You never really appreciate freedom until your own is almost lost. Then she remembered her unusual sentence, community service. That sobered her up a little.

The loud knocking became thump-scrape sounds mixed with a guttural wolf growl. Emi heard a gasp, followed by a weak pathetic girl scream with a scraping sound that slid all the way down to the floor. Finally, some fingers showed below the door. “Help meeee…”

Emi opened the door and looked down at the cyberpunk girl pooled on the ground. A shaking hand reached up for Emi pathetically. Emi ignored Sam’s antics, “Wait here, I’m going to the washroom,” she said, stepping over her.

The large public washroom was empty, so she immediately called Su-Ning on her watch and grabbed a cloth from a neatly stacked pile and proceeded to wet it. Su-Ning answered while Emi quickly looked around, making sure all the stalls were empty. They quickly got their stories synced as Emi wiped the cloth all over her exposed skin. Emi was determined to keep this whole fiasco under wraps.

After the call, Emi quickly pulled the designer suit completely off and washed it under running water. She didn’t particularly like being naked in a public washroom, but she was in a hurry. She felt sticky and so she rubbed the wet cloth between her legs and then dried herself off with another cloth. She tried to hurry as she didn’t want to be discovered using the washroom for an impromptu spit-bath, not to mention, she didn’t like the idea of being discovered naked.

She picked up the top half of her black swimsuit. It was designed to look like a one-piece but was actually two pieces. The tube-top component was quite tight but fit well although it was kind of hard to slid into place. It was still wet, but she didn’t care as she pulled it down over her breasts. The bottoms were easier, but she had to thread the attached suspender loop under her tube top and over her head. She would do that part after using the washroom.

While relieving herself on the toilet, she once again found herself feeling thankful for her freedom and grateful for everything that Su-Ning had done on her behalf. She vowed to do her best and take her many responsibilities seriously.

However, she had to be smart. Tonight, she needed to remove all traces of herself online just in case someone tried to mess with her. She decided to also make a small change to her name while on this island. She was sure Becca and Su-Ning would allow her to do that in order to protect herself by disguising her identity. She was going to be a professional with this resort ambassador side gig and she was not going to become a helpless victim as so often happened in the nude-girl stories she had read. If anything those stories could be a helpful guide. She would have to be on her guard with the marketing dev team. This Resort Ambassador position combined with mentoring a bunch of people in the nude was likely going to be the biggest challenge of her life in many ways. Emotionally, psychologically, professionally and also physically.

Emi hurried back to her room where she found Sam laying her bed, her arms folded behind her head and her legs dangling off the side. She turned her head to look at Emi through a pair of small cyberpunk sunglass goggles.

“I love those glasses,” Emi said, smiling at her.

“Meh, these are my cheap ones,” Sam said taking them off and tossing them to Emi.

Surprised, Emi almost didn’t react fast enough to catch them.

“You would be shocked by how cheap they are online.”

“Oh, no… I didn’t…”

“Keep em, I have two more. Pay for breakfast and we’ll call it even,” she said with a dismissive gesture, pulling out an even cooler pair of classes out of her belt pouch.

Emi didn’t know what to say. “Uh… thanks, Sam.”

Sam smiled and then turned her head away to look at the wallpaper as Emi started pulling off her swimsuit.

Emi noticed Sam’s discomfort. “Sorry, I don’t want to go to lunch in just the swimsuit,” she explained.

“Next time give me some warning,” Sam complained, shaking her head in annoyance.

Five minutes later, Emi was pulling Sam along the road at a good clip. It was a bright day with scattered clouds, and the air felt so good. Emi started to sweat.

They didn’t speak for a few minutes, and Emi was deep in thought. She was thinking about the day before. It was terrifying to have been that close to almost be in prison, and she didn’t even want to think about all the people who had seen her naked. She felt lucky that Wang’s bodyguard protected her somewhat from Wang’s children and Wang herself as he tried to cool down the situation. She felt lucky that she had Su-Ning as a friend. Her emotions were all over the place, but mostly she was glad to be free and once again feeling the wind on her body.

“So where were you yesterday?” Sam finally broke the silence.

Emi was ready for that question. She shared the story that she and Su-Ning agreed upon and also managed to answer a couple of questions about what food they ate before Sam changed the subject.

“Becca and Hannah have been pissing me off,” Sam said, somewhat seriously. “They are completely brainwashed with this place. I couldn’t take it anymore and left them alone yesterday. It really sucked not having you here. We normal people need to stick together!”

Emi felt bad about that. Not just because Sam missed her, but also because tonight she would be joining the ‘skins’. That was likely not going to go over well with Sam. Emi didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing as she ran pulling Sam along the road. The silence was broken only by the constant sound of her feet hitting the ground. She wondered if Sam was looking at her, but it was hard to look back and see with these goggle sunglasses.

As she trotted along she could really only see what was in front of her. The glasses removed her peripheral vision. She was like a horse with blinders on. The thought was mildly amusing to her as she swung her head left and right as they passed an intersection.

Emi’s mind shifted to the logistics of how she was going to manage both teams. The resort really needed all the help it could get. She hoped that she could make a difference. Not only with the software but also in her new role as Resort Ambassador. Two influential positions if one was smart about them.

It was too bad that Sam was destined to be a problem on her long list of new challenges. Emi started to pick up speed as she thought about how her new role might affect her job and the people around her. A multitude of circumstances was about to challenge her like never before. This was going to be hard, she thought, wondering again how she got into this fine mess.

After lunch, back at the compound, Emi quickly changed back into her swimsuit. The thought of mentoring Liz and Ben in just a skimpy swimsuit was somewhat daunting. She tried to put the image out of her mind as she picked up her laptop and carried it to the work area were she expected them to be waiting. As her bare feet walked along the shiny marble floor she realized that this might be a good first tow dip in the water towards her new role as an RA.

She looked down at her breasts. Fortunately, her nipples were not overactive like they were on some women. That helped. This would be more embarrassing otherwise. The warm air was also helping.

Ben and Liz were not wearing swimsuits. They were wearing t-shirts and shorts, looking at Emi with warm smiles. Ben was maintaining eye contact, but Liz was looking her up and down, delight evident on her face.

“Oh, wow Emi, you sure look, umm.. confident these days,” she praised.

Emi just smiled back, hoping it was true. “Thanks. It feels kind of silly to be overdressed in a place like this,” she explained.

Liz and Ben suddenly shifted uncomfortably, looking down at their clothes.

“No, you guys are fine,” Emi added quickly. “You are just visiting; I live here.”

An hour later, they were settled in and Emi had them working on their usual programming tasks, correcting issues and giving advice about various alternative approaches to their challenges. They were making good progress. She tried to forget she was wearing a sexy swimsuit and that Ben could see so much of her body. But this was nothing. Soon she would be dramatically more exposed. She felt her adrenaline jump at the thought of how much he would see, all day tomorrow and for days and weeks probably months after that. That was almost unthinkable, but she steeled herself to her fate. She needed to make sure everyone could still take the work seriously and she wouldn’t distract people too much. She had to be more like Becca.

After another hour of work, she started to forget about her state of dress and was pleased that things were progressing well. She took turns pair programming with the two of them. Still, the plan to disrobe at the end of the day was heavy on her mind.

Liz looked up at Emi after she had learned some good techniques to keep her code more comprehensible. “Is keeping code this simple really that important? You make it seem as if it’s as important as designing the architecture.”

“Yes, it’s definitely just as important, if not more,” Emi explained. “As your code base becomes more complex, your productivity slows you down dramatically. Most of the time a developer is trying to comprehend chunks of code quickly to determine if it’s easy to change or needs to be replaced or fixed. It’s what we do ninety percent of the time so every step towards keeping your code comprehensible with well-named functions, classes, and encapsulation dramatically improves how fast you can work and reduces risk and makes it easier for other developers to help or take over.”

Ben leaned over and looked at the examples along with Liz. They didn’t seem to really be getting the message as they looked at each other.

Emi showed them her computer screen. “Okay, look at these three functions. What do they do? What are they for. How can we improve them?”

They spent almost half an hour trying to answer those questions. Both of them eventually came up with the correct answers.

Emi then showed them three more functions and asked them the same questions. They again got the answers in less than a minute. Realizing that both sets of functions do the same thing, they started laughing.

Emi leaned over and asked them, “Now imagine you have 500 functions in a typical application. Which codebase do you want to work in?”

They finally seemed to be getting it. Liz even broke out laughing and shoved Ben’s shoulder playfully as he began to show comprehension.

Emi continued emphasizing the point. “It’s a common coder’s mistake to not take comprehensibility seriously. Complexity is a developer’s number one enemy. Even slightly messy code can hurt the company, your co-workers and the product itself. It’s unprofessional, to say the least, and the worst thing you can do to yourself. Never think a task is complete if you haven’t done everything possible to make it comprehensible enough that even a non-technical person can get the gist of what’s going on,” Emi added, doing her best to make sure the message was sinking in.

Liz nodded. “Thanks Emi, although it seems a bit extreme. I’ll do my best in this area from now on.”

Ben also nodded in agreement.

“At the end of the day, the person a developer wants to work with the most is the person who goes the extra mile with comprehensibility. That last function is quite brittle and is a workaround fix for a complex issue. Note how the comprehensible version makes that clear and obvious.”

Emi reached down into her bag to get some notes and heard Ben grunt in pain. Looking over at the two she saw them smiling at her. Ben was holding his side, trying to hide the pain. Emi quickly deduced from the way Ben appeared embarrassed that Liz must have caught him looking at her rear end as she reached into her bag. Liz must have elbowed him in the side.

“Look, guys, I’m sorry about the swimsuit,” Emi said, looking down at her bare feet. “I just wanted to be more supportive of my teammates.”

“No need to apologize Emi,” Ben said, looking uncomfortable. “I should be more professional. I am grateful for the mentoring.”

“Supportive?” Liz asked, looking confused but smiling regardless.

Emi looked at her. “I’m trying to follow Becca’s lead. She is really embracing this place like a champion.”

“How is Becca? We haven’t even said hello today,” Ben said, suppressing a grin as Liz scowled at him with astonishment.

“I’ll bet you want to SEE her,” Liz said, shaking her head with a snort.

Emi enjoyed watching their antics as she again began to think about how things were going to change quite drastically soon.

“Hey, I’m just being polite,” he said.

Emi considered his words. Maybe visiting Becca wasn’t a bad idea. And that might help as it would allow her to see exactly how Becca handles such situations. “Alright, everyone up. Let’s go see Becca.”

“I was mostly kidding,” admitted Ben, suddenly looking panicked.

Emi stood by the door waiting for them.

A few minutes later they entered one of the smaller office spaces and saw Hannah working on her large screen laptop. She was working on a logo and quite topless. Sam and Becca were up at the whiteboard working on a diagram. Becca was completely naked and stretching up to write on the top of the board.

Hannah gasped and covered her breasts. “Yikes, give a girl some warning!”

Sam and Becca turned around. Sam laughed.

Becca must have been caught off guard too, briefly covering herself and turning red as she tried to stand in a normal way. She didn’t seem to know what to do with her hands. She looked awkward until her mind eventually came to the rescue and she relaxed, a smile gradually coming to her face.

Slightly disappointed with Becca’s reaction, Emi wondered if she was giving Becca too much credit. That was hardly the picture of confidence.

Becca looked at Ben. “What’s with the clothes? Last I saw, you were hanging out here… quite literally.”

“I ahh…” he tried to say before Emi cut him off.

“I just wanted to give you guys a heads-up that I have begun the training for the marketing team. Today and tomorrow it’s Ben and Liz. Then after that, it will be the whole team.”

“The whole marketing team?” Sam laughed.

“Yes, that’s right,” said Emi. “We are two weeks from launch and we have to have both teams firing on all cylinders.”

“Looks like a lot of devs will be in the compound soon,” Sam mused, smiling. “They will get to see ‘us’ firing on all cylinders as well, I mean… as long as Becca’s excited cylinders don’t get in the way!” Sam gestured to Becca’s breasts where her nipples were quickly tightening up.

Becca rolled her eyes. “Nice to meet you two again,” she said, picking up her cup and leaving the room.

Emi noticed that her walk was a little less relaxed than normal. Was she going to need a new role model for this nudity stuff? She was beginning to wonder. Becca didn’t seem quite as confident as usual. How was she going to react to the full dev team?

31

Back in the training room, Liz, Ben, and Emi continued with more of the same for another hour before Emi suggested breaking for lunch.

“You seem distracted today Emi,” Liz said while unpacking her lunch.

“I suppose I am,” Emi admitted. “I have a lot on my mind today.”

“I sense a non-work thing distracting you,” Liz said, inquisitively. “Are you fighting with the girls or is it a romance issue? Whatever it is, it must be big.”

“That’s an understatement,” Emi laughed, regretting it almost instantly as both Ben and Liz suddenly looked more serious and moved in closer.

“You can talk to us,” Liz encouraged. “I mean, you really helped me the day I felt really depressed”

Emi started to speak, but then hesitated and awkwardly stopped. “It’s kind of private… well, it won’t be for long.”

Sensing progress, Liz continued. “Plus we were all naked together recently. If that doesn’t make us close, then I don’t know what does! You can trust us Emi, right Ben?”

Ben nodded. “Yeah, Emi… I can’t endorse the rest of the team, but Liz and I are good people. We will keep your secret. You can talk to us.”

Emi was glad to hear those words. She supposed there was no harm in letting them know. It might take some of the awkwardness of suddenly being naked in front of them. “I have been thinking about the Resort Ambassador program.”

Ben looked confused. “The Resort…”

Liz cut him off abruptly. “Oh, my God, that’s awesome!”

Emi smiled. It felt so good to share that for some reason.

“Oh… right,” Ben said, smiling as the implications started to sink in.

“Just like Becca, right?” Liz asked.

“Kind of,” Emi answered. “Becca is a volunteer; however, I was thinking of fully joining the program. It’s a big responsibility.”

“You sound like you have already decided,” Liz said, bouncing up and down like a kid on her chair.

“I have, I was planning to start after work with a big announcement to the mobile team in the Jacuzzi. It will probably shock some of them,” Emi said, thinking mainly of Sam. That wasn’t something she was looking forward to.

“Oh, my God, that is so cool! Can I be there too? Please!” Liz begged, pressing her hands together as if in prayer.

Emi was taken aback. She hadn’t expected anyone other than the mobile team to be present.  She didn’t know what to say. There wasn’t really a reason Liz couldn’t be there. “Uh… um, alright I guess?”

Liz jumped up and down in victory.

“Can I come too?” Ben said, looking at the two girls who suddenly turned to look at him in surprise.

There was no way Emi was going to invite Ben. She had to think of a way to say no politely.

“I don’t see why not,” Liz said, answering for her. “She’s going to be naked from now on. You should totally come!”

Emi was stunned. But the logic seemed to make sense. This was going to be hard enough with just the girls there. She didn’t want to have to endure a man looking at her earlier than she had planned. Still, if he was there then maybe that would calm Sam down a little. But, Emi didn’t want to be naked in front of Ben. Again, the logic didn’t make sense. Emi was stuck in a loop.

“Emi?” Ben asked, looking for proper confirmation of his invitation.

“Shh… she’s thinking about it,” Liz said, smiling in anticipation. “I’m sure she can’t think of a real reason not to invite you, Ben.”

Emi looked at her with squinty eyes. This was hard enough, she didn’t need all this pushing. But then Emi noticed Liz looking a bit flushed as she peeked at Ben’s face. Maybe this was more about Liz wanting to strip down with her co-worker.

They continued looking at her in anticipation.

“Whatever,” Emi said, trying to hide her embarrassment about being seen by Ben again. “Let’s just go get lunch and talk about something else. If I keep thinking about it I might chicken out,” she lied.

 

— The last hour —

Before Jacuzzi time, Emi decided to take Ben and Liz to the gym. They had done enough learning for today. They were restless with anticipation about Emi’s pending reveal, and they all felt as if they could use letting out a little steam. For Emi any distraction was a good distraction and her go-to friend in times of stress was running.

“I’m going for a little run. When I get back, I’ll join you two and together we can squeeze in a half-hour in the gym. Then it’s jacuzzi time.”

“Jacuzzi time,” Liz repeated, ominously with a laugh. “Oh wait, can I run too?”

“Uh… alright,” Emi said, not entirely happy about the prospect of sharing her run.

“I don’t need a run,” Ben said, sitting down on a bench and preparing to lift some weight. “You girls have fun.”

The wind along the beach was just what Emi needed as she looked out at the horizon. The half blue-sky was littered with little clouds and the waves seemed slightly bigger than usual as the two girls pounded along the semi-wet sand towards the marketing building.

Emi was lost in thought. Could she really go through with this? She didn’t really have a choice. Besides, it would be nice to be more open about her body. She had been reading the nudism stuff recently and some of the philosophies seemed somewhat healthy.

“I love this place,” Liz said, suddenly breaking the silence.

Emi was pulled out of her thoughts. “We agree on that. I love to run along this breach every day.”

“Does that mean that tomorrow you will run naked?”

Emi scowled. This was why she liked to run alone.

“Sorry, it just popped into my head. I mean… you are not going to be wearing clothes when on resort grounds, right?”

“I don’t really have it all figured out yet,” Emi admitted. “Thanks for bringing that up.” She said, with a sarcastic tone.

“Oh, is that thought annoying? I thought you were all gung-ho about this RA position?” 

“Not really. Between you and me, it’s more of a feeling of duty.”

“Duty?”

“I mean… if we are going to be making specialized smartwatch software for RA’s, other staff, and guests then I should make sure I understand all the roles fully. Becca taught me that. Besides, when in Rome…,” Emi added, hoping to change the subject.

“That’s just what I was thinking, Commander,” Liz said, saluting Emi. “When in Rome!”

When they reached the massive fence that separated the nudist beach from the public beach. Emi noticed how far into the water the fence went, but still, anyone could swim around it if they really wanted to. She stopped and tried to look through the fence. It was a double layer chain link fence with a plastic cardboard like sheet in the middle. Emi poked at it, likely someone could poke a hole through this plastic easily enough. Or burn a hole through.

“Checking to make sure no peepers, eh?”

Emi smiled and then suddenly started running back. “Race you to the other fence!”

“No, please!  Can’t we just jog the same way, normally!”

Emi relented, and they continued at their prior pace, running along the same stretch of beach. A bit later they were passing the resort, still running along the beach, headed towards the other great fence on the path towards Lookout Point.

“It might be difficult to suddenly do everything naked all the time,” Liz started. “I think you should dip your toe in the water first.”

“I tried that. It didn’t go so well,” Emi said, regretting immediately having said that. The last thing she wanted was curious little Liz asking questions about the day before.

“You did?” Liz asked as they approached the other large fence.

Emi noticed that the construction workers had finally finished the gate-less gate. It was now just a gate. It also had a big lock on it so it was clearly out of bounds. “Yes,” Emi said, thinking quickly. “Sometimes I would run naked out here far away from the resort, for just a short stretch. When I was alone.”  Emi hoped that would explain things well enough that Liz would drop the subject.

“That’s awesome, let’s do it!” Liz said excitedly, pulling off her shirt.

“What are you doing?” Emi asked, alarm in her voice.

“What are you talking about? We are on a nude beach. In a nude resort. You just said that you like running naked around here. Oh God, I’m so excited. I’ve never been outside naked before!” She was topless.

Emi was stunned as she watched Liz. The young girl was trying to not fall down as she pulled off her bottoms and underwear. Emi was about to say how she wasn’t ready but that didn’t really make sense.

Liz saw her hesitating. “You’re worried about Ben?  Don’t be. We can dress before we go back in. You should do this. This is probably the last time running naked will feel this exciting!”

Emi just looked at her. Liz looked excited. She rocked the petite look.

“Oh come on. I don’t want to do this alone,” Liz whined, bouncing up and down which made her little breasts bounce as well.

Emi noticed that she didn’t trim her pubes, but she probably didn’t need to. Liz’s nipples were quite hard. Emi wondered if they were always like that.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Liz couldn’t contain her excitement. She jumped up on a beach log and ran along it completely naked. She still had her shoes on.

Emi sighed and sat down on the end of the log facing the sea. “Just halfway back, then we get dressed, okay?” she said, as she pulled off her running shoes.

“Yes,  Commander!” Liz stood to attention on the log next to Emi and saluted. Then she jumped off the log as if she were trying to jump as far as she could. It wasn’t that far. Next, she started picking up clothes.

Emi took off her top and put it beside herself on the log. Without touching her foot on the sand she pulled her bottoms down and one by one took her legs out of her bikini bottoms. She then put the bottoms next to her top and began putting back on her mini socks that were still inside her shoes. She looked down at her body and noticed that her nipples were under control, as usual. She was thankful for that. Her runway wasn’t trimmed as well as she would have liked. How could she have forgotten such a thing? Especially today of all days?!

As she put her shoes on, she started to like this idea. It felt fresh and invigorating. Maybe this would be her last run outside? She wasn’t sure. She couldn’t imagine doing this around other people. It was hard enough doing it even with Liz. The sea breeze felt wonderful on her skin and for a moment she remembered the sheer joy that she felt on some of her days frolicking at Lookout Point. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed those days. This was turning out to be a great idea, she thought. Looking around with a smile, she saw Liz sprinting away towards the resort with a bundle of clothes. She must have been running flat out for a full minute. Emi thought that her excitement was cute, and started to run after her. Wait, she almost forgot her swimsuit!

The smile on Emi’s face faded away when she saw that her suit wasn’t on the end of the log where she had placed it. Emi looked all around the end of the log and the suit wasn’t there.

“That little rodent!”

Furious, Emi started running after her like a bat out of hell. Anger gradually shifted to panic as Emi realized that she wasn’t going to catch her in time. Liz had too great of a lead. Then she started to feel embarrassment as she realized Ben was surely going to see her soon.

Emi started to breathe a sigh of relief as she saw Liz stop near the resort and put the clothes down on a log. Liz then pulled on her shorts and then picked up the pile and ran into the building. Emi gasped.

Emi slowed down as she reached the building. She looked up at the many thick storm windows and wondered if anyone was looking outside. Suddenly she felt so utterly naked. She wanted to cover up so badly with her arms, but resisted. That would obviously bring suspicion, she couldn’t act as if she was overly modest just moments before telling everyone she was becoming a Resort Ambassador. She just hoped nobody was looking, as irrational as that thought was.

She stopped just outside of the large gate-like-doors to the gym, just in case Ben was there. She didn’t know what to do. This was a dilemma. It would be silly to act modest now. But this was deeply troubling. Damn Liz for doing this to her! She needed to be gathering her strength before her big jacuzzi moment, and not be losing her nerve.

Ben came outside, but he was walking backward with one hand over his eyes. In his other hand, he had her suit!  Relief washed over Emi as she realized what a gentleman Ben was. She couldn’t help but smile.

“My apologies for the little brat. She isn’t usually this troublesome,” he said, making his way carefully toward her, blind and walking backward.

“Thank you Ben,” Emi said, noticing her voice was more emotional than she had intended. “I don’t know why I’m feeling modest right now. I just am.”

Ben stopped upon hearing her voice and offered her suit to her by extending it back blindly. “No worries. Please don’t be too angry with her. I fed her too much sugar earlier. You know how kids can be.”

Emi took the suit and quickly put it on. It was a great relief to be covered again. “You can look now, I’m dress… ed,” she said, with a slight stutter.

He turned around and looked into her eyes curiously.

Emi realized that she must have had a haunted look on her face. She turned that into a warmer expression and then a smile. He must know that it was a forced smile.

His curiosity seemed to deepen as he regarded Emi, but then Liz suddenly appeared.

Liz had her head bowed down. “I’m so sorry Emi,” she apologized, looking down at her feet. “I shouldn’t have been so insensitive. I thought you were going to be naked soon, so I thought that it would be fun to surprise Ben with our hot naked bods. Tease him a little, you know.”

Ben looked surprised upon hearing that. “I already told you Liz, I’m still recovering from a recent breakup. I’m not looking for a relationship at the moment.”

“Just because your heart is wounded, doesn’t mean the male in you can’t appreciate a couple of naked girls as just pure eye candy, right?” she said. She was still topless but clutching her clothes to her chest.

“True that,” Ben laughed, breaking the tension between the three of them. He started back towards the gym. “Your such a little tease, Liz!” he said, over his shoulder without looking back.

Liz looked excitedly at Emi, wanting to share a moment of silent glee.

Emi just stared at her blankly.

“Again sorry… my deepest apologies. I forgot how big this is for you, I just wanted us to excite Ben for fun and profit.  You know, get a rise out of him. Get it? Rise…” she froze, looking into Emi’s eyes.

Emi still wasn’t smiling, but finally she relented. She was unable to stay angry at Liz, realizing that the poor girl must have a hopeless crush on Ben. He was a decent, smart and exceedingly good looking young man with a masculine body. “Alright, let’s go workout.”

“Great!  Ummm… can we do it topless… please?  It would be a great warmup for your new job, and I’m planning to be topless, and it would be too embarrassing for me to do alone,” Liz blurted out quickly.

Emi looked at her with irritation.

She sprouted begging puppy-dog eyes.

“Absolutely not,” Emi replied, without looking at her, but regretting that she said that so harshly. It probably seemed odd considering what she was about to do soon. “I just want to savor my last moments with clothing,” she said, hoping that would sound plausible.

Liz sighed and pulled on her shirt.

32

A few minutes later Emi was working her arms on a chest-supported row machine, her elbows high. Ben was across from them, but easily within hearing distance in the free-weights section. Liz picked a lex-extension machine beside Emi and started pumping her legs. Emi found it odd that she would do leg work after a run.

“I think that you are hiding something,” Liz blurted out. “Why would you be so prudish just moments before being naked for who knows how long. How long is it?”

“Eleven months.”

“Eleven months?! Wow… that’s crazy. If I were thinking of such a dramatic thing, I would certainly want to try it out for a few moments to at least see if I was making a good decision. Right Ben?”

“Leave me out of this,” Ben answered. “Maybe she has her reasons.”

“Seriously?  Ben! She could be making a huge mistake. I think she should take a toe-dip in the water. If you are her friend you should be right here with me, helping her to avoid the embarrassment of signing up and then not being able to go through with it.”

Emi looked at the clock. There were 20 minutes left. Would she ever be left in peace so she could have her damn workout, perhaps her last workout on this cursed island?

Emi finished her reps and turned to find a machine far away from Liz, so she could have a little peace.

“Wait Emi”  Liz stopped her by placing her hand on Emi’s shoulder. “I’m serious now. This isn’t about teasing Ben anymore. I’m concerned about you.”

Emi didn’t know what to say. She just stood there. Liz did seem serious.

Ben put down his weights. “What are you doing Liz?” he said, with an irritated tone.

“It doesn’t make sense for her to be she’s so resistant. She should want to test the water!”

“Maybe she wants to dive in cold turkey.”

“Something isn’t right here. I sense it. I feel the need to check something. Make sure this is for real.”

“What are you going to do Liz,” Ben said, laughing. “Strip her?”

Emi stiffened at the thought.

“Oh my, god, she’s utterly terrified of stripping right now. This makes no sense at all,” Liz looked deep into Emi’s eyes, her hand still on Emi’s shoulder.

“I am not. I just want to enjoy clothes while I can.”

“If that’s true then you won’t care if I expose you right now, for a moment. Then let you get back to your workout fully clothed.”

Emi didn’t know how to respond to that as Liz slowly moved her hand to her tube top and started to pull it down in slow motion. She gave Emi every chance to stop her. Emi actually wanted to stop her so badly, but Liz and Ben were already suspicious and she wasn’t ready for this… oh god her breasts were now out. Liz then pulled it down her body, over her hips, and let it fall to the floor.

Emi was facing Ben who was barely fifteen feet away. He swallowed awkwardly as he and Emi briefly made eye contact. Emi looked away, flushing. 

Emi felt Liz pull the part around her neck up and over her head. Her suit had suspender like bottoms that pulled the front of them up, it gradually narrowed to a string as it crossed over her bellybutton. Now that the front suspender had no support, Liz dropped it and it fell almost to the ground.

Suddenly the top half of Emi’s pussy, her landing strip, was visible and Ben and Emi both gasped involuntarily. Emi started to cover herself, but she resisted. She knew she was going to be naked soon enough. She knew they, both had already seen her naked. She didn’t know why she was feeling like this was such a big deal, but it was. It was taking every ounce of her willpower to convey the opposite. She doubted she was selling that very well as she shuddered and looked down at her semi-erect nipples and exposed pussy.

Emi couldn’t look Ben in the eye but she could see via her peripheral vision as she stared at his feet that he was still looking at her. Probably ALL of her since she was giving him licence to look by avoiding eye contact.

Nobody moved a muscle. Emi slowly moved her eyes up along Ben’s legs. She noticed the bulge in his shorts. She peeked up at his face and he smiled politely. He was obviously embarrassed too. Why? Because of his erection? Why wasn’t he trying to hide it? Was this his way of sharing her embarrassment? She searched in his eyes for the answer.

Ben was absorbing her nudity with a glaze in his eyes. He glanced up from her body and their eyes met once again.

Emi could sense warmth in his eyes, but also a growing lust that he was trying to suppress.

Liz walked around Emi and looked into her eyes, trying to read her. Liz turned her head and looked at Ben and also looked down at his bulge. Liz kept her gaze there for a moment and then her shoulders slumped a bit.

Emi found Liz’s behavior odd. She wondered if it bothered Liz that Ben was reacting to her nudity. Why would it? She wanted to tease him. She’d gotten what she wanted right? Did it really matter which naked body was affecting him? Perhaps if she has a crush on him, then…  oh right. That must be it. Suddenly Liz grabbed ahold of Emi’s bottoms and yanked them to the floor.

“Lift your leg, Emi,” she prompted, a little coldness in her voice.

Emi lifted her leg as Liz took her suit and placed it on a nearby machine.

“One more set,” Liz said, slowly pushing a now completely naked Emi into a triceps pressdown machine. “You will be doing this regularly for the next eleven months. How does it feel?” Liz said, looking back at Ben again to see his reaction.

Emi felt the seat of the machine on her bottom. This wasn’t sanitary, she thought as Liz guided her hands to the overhead grips. Her legs were spread a little and she was facing Ben. Fortunately, there was a structural piece of the machine between them, blocking his view of her pussy.

“Begin,” Liz ordered.

Emi not knowing how she had gotten into such an awkward position, didn’t know what to do. She pushed the bars down, forcing her chest out enhancing Ben’s own little porno show. To her horror she noticed that with each rep, the piece between her legs shifted down. She was effectively giving Ben a double flash. It wasn’t moving completely down so her most important bits were still, hopefully, out of sight. But most of her runway was there for his viewing pleasure. Jesus, she thought, as she pumped another rep; Ben was getting the show of a lifetime.

Ben sat down, riveted to his bench. He looked like he wouldn’t be able to tear his eyes away even if a stampede of elephants headed his way.

As Emi continued to slowly pump, she peeked down at her body. Covered in a layer of glistening sweat, her nipples were rock hard. Emi was surprised to see them that way.

“That’s right,” Liz said, “Your body is reacting. Are you sure you want to do this? I’m not sure if that’s a normal nudist reaction,” she said, gesturing at Emi’s hard nipples. “Thankfully it’s not too late to cancel.”

Emi was flushing profusely. She hoped it wouldn’t be obvious as people normally flush when they workout, especially after a run. She looked down at her hard nipples. “This is normal for me after a run,” she lied.

Liz snorted, “uh huh…”

Emi was growing annoyed. Did Liz think this was actually turning her on? Any girl would react like this while working out in a gym with a boy watching her while she pumped a machine in the nude. It was basic biology.

Liz was touching Emi’s foot and nodded towards Ben. “Ben here, is just one guy. Imagine the entire dev marketing team seeing you here like this, ‘working out’. Is that really what you want Emi?”

To Emi, that made her sound like some kind of deviant sex freak. She didn’t know what to say. Liz was beginning to upset her. She didn’t have a freaking choice! Oh god, this was really happening. This whole thing was spinning out of control. She fought off the urge to cry.

“Alright, tough girl. Try this machine. If you can do this then I will believe you and we can be done.”

Emi was glaring at her and walked over to the machine Liz was pointing at. She turned around and put her back against the fly machine. It was designed for chest muscles.

“This will give your boobs a real workout.”

Emi squatted with her back pressed against the pad and her arms extended straight out to her sides. It was hard to keep her balance and do the reps with her legs closed.

“That’s right, you need to open your legs a bit to keep balance,” she kicked Emi’s feet to signal for her to open her legs while looking back at Ben. “Right Ben?”

Emi looked at Ben. He looked stunned. This was so embarrassing for both of them. There was no way she was going to open her legs like that in front of Ben.

“How will you work out when you can’t even assume the proper posture on a machine? You’re going to injure yourself Emi. Open your legs,” Liz commanded, kicking her feet once again. “You want to be a nudist? This is nothing for a nudist!”

Emi was near her limit. She couldn’t take this anymore.

Liz bent down and tried to pull one of Emi’s legs out. “If you can do this, I’ll fully support your decision. If not, then I’m not going to believe you Emi.”

Emi clamped her strong legs shut with all her might.

“That’s enough Liz,” leave her alone, Ben ordered.

Liz had started to make progress with getting Emi’s legs open, but suddenly the machine slammed together with a clank. Emi slipped out and fell to the ground.

She curled up into a ball and started to cry.

“Goddamn you Liz. What did you do! Did you injure her?” said Ben as he reached down to Emi.

“I didn’t do anything! She’s not injured!”

“Like hell she isn’t! Never touch someone when they are on a machine! It’s unsafe!”

Ben started checking Emi’s arms for injuries, running his hands along her arms and checking her fingers. “Check her legs for bumps and bruises,” he ordered Liz, brushing down her back with his hands.

Emi was sobbing uncontrollably now. She was vaguely aware that there were hands all over her body, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t think about that right now. Liz was right. This was a huge mistake. She shouldn’t have agreed to this form of community service. What had she been thinking? This was horrific! She was beginning to panic and felt dizzy. She could see stars.

Liz and Ben’s voices were getting further away. It was getting dark. Someone caught her head as she fell back.

Emi fought to stay conscious. She really didn’t want to pass out. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but it sounded like shouting and panic with muffled voices.

Struggling mentally, she finally made it back. Her head was on something soft. Ben and Liz were looking down at her. He was shirtless and gently wiping her forehead with a wet cloth. Liz was holding her hand, rubbing it vigorously. It was shaking her whole body.

“Oh God, Emi, you scared the crap out of us! Are you alright?”

Emi looked at her blankly. She deserved to worry. She’d done this to her.

“You were delirious,” said Ben. “I thought that you were going to pass out,” he added.

Emi looked down at her body. She was completely naked and covered in a shiny sheen of sweat. Her breasts were wobbling because Liz was still vigorously rubbing her hand. Emi looked at her. “You can stop that now.”

“Help me up,” she extended her other hand to Ben. He quickly got into position and started to lift her up.

As she rose, she noticed that her legs were open but that Ben wasn’t looking there. Of course that didn’t mean that he didn’t look while she was out of it. “How long was I like that?” she asked.

“Less than a minute,” he answered.

Plenty enough time for them to see every detail of her body, she realized; however, she was too drained to be angry right then.

“I’m sorry, Emi. I carried things too far,” Liz said.

Emi looked at her. She felt emotionally numb.

Liz burst into tears and hugged her, pressing her shirt into Emi’s body. “I’m so sorry, Emi!”

Emi barely hugged her back. It was a long hug. It felt good, but also odd. It seemed strange to be hugging someone while naked.

“I’m also sorry for not stopping her, Emi,” said Ben, holding out his arms for a hug as well. Emi glanced at his bare chest. It was muscular and attractive.

Emi almost let him hug her but then remembered her nudity. She smiled briefly at his lame joke, before she turned and walked away from the two of them. She was headed towards the stairs leading up to the main floor of the compound.

“Emi, you forgot your swimsuit!” Liz yelled.

Emi ignored her.

Liz ran up to her. “Emi you’re naked.” She tried to hand her the suit.

Emi continued to ignore her and kept walking. “Keep it. I don’t need it anymore.”

“Emi…” Liz said, sadly.

The stairs looked like too much work right then, so she pressed the button for the newly installed elevator. Hopefully, it was working. The light was working, and it was making a sound.

Bing. The doors opened, and Emi stepped in and turned around.

Liz and Ben were looking at her in wonderment.

The doors began to close. “Tomorrow, 9am, training. Don’t be late,” Emi announced, lifting her hand as if to wave goodbye as the elevator door closed.

She pressed the button to the main floor. The machine roared to life and Emi began to rise.

 

— Showtime —

Emi wiped her eyes and tried to regain her bearings as the elevator rose. She felt light-headed and a bit fuzzy, but despite all that, she couldn’t forget what had just happened.

Her impression of Liz had changed. Before, the young girl had seemed somewhat innocent, but she turned out to be more complex than that. Like Sam, she was a prankster, but she was intuitive and pushy as well. She seemed to have feelings for Ben. A slightly darker side to her had appeared when she had noticed Ben looking at Emi’s body. Emi filed away these thoughts as the elevator slowed.

Taking a deep breath, Emi sighed. The gravity of what she was about to do was finally sinking in. A moment ago she was blanketed in a fuzzy mind, but now, unfortunately, that fog was lifting. She looked down at her body. She wasn’t ready for this.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened, but she just stood there. She couldn’t bring herself to exit. The doors closed again. The elevator stayed on that floor.

Logistics, she had to think about logistics. She had to get to the jacuzzi room. She had to pass through two, fairly large open areas before she could reach the jacuzzi room’s big double doors.

The elevator doors opened again. Emi was suddenly facing a woman in a white robe. The woman had not yet noticed Emi; she was looking down at her phone as she stepped into the elevator. Emi quickly slipped past her, hearing an ‘Oh…’ behind her as the doors closed.

Thankfully, the hallway towards the first big open area was clear, at least for the moment. Emi started walking. As much as she didn’t want to be caught like this, she knew that she needed to toughen up. This was how it was going to be from now on. She needed to embrace her destiny. She needed to be more like Becca. This was a nudist compound, she was fine. This was completely normal. Next week this place would be full of naked people and nudity would be the norm. Everything was going to be okay; she just needed to breathe.

Carefully walking forward, Emi felt her breasts bouncing slightly with each step. She tried not to imagine what that might look like to someone else. At least her nipples were under control. That was something she was thankful for. It wasn’t cold and she wasn’t aroused by the thought of being caught. That would just be awkward and embarrassing.

Up ahead a couple of people were cleaning tabletops in a large office space area. A middle-aged man in a loincloth was spraying something and a topless woman’s small breasts shook as she quickly cleaned the large table. The man seemed to be completely ignoring the woman. Maybe he was used to topless co-workers. Emi hoped that he wouldn’t notice her either.

Amazingly, they didn’t even look up as she quickly crossed the room. A lucky break, Emi concluded, realizing at the same time she that needed to hurry up and come to terms with this nudity thing head-on before it made her a nervous wreck.

Looking down the hall was a sight that made Emi stop. Unfortunately, the very large room up ahead had people in it. At least four staff in the lounge area chatting at a picnic-like table near several big-screen TVs. Worse than that, Su-Ning was on the other side of the room with a stack of papers that she was rifling through. Emi was about to walk right between them; likely both Su-Ning and the group would notice her. The Jacuzzi room was just down the hall, on the other side. This was the only way there unless she wanted to really go zig-zagging all through the compound. That would be a lot further. In her mind, it was out of the question.

Deciding to just bite the bullet and get it over with, Emi entered the room. She walked quickly, but as casually as she could, hoping no one would notice her. She held her head up and tried to walk normally, but it was surprisingly difficult. Walking casually was much harder than she had expected.

She was one-third of the way through the room, and still, no one noticed her. “Emi?” A voice called out, causing Emi to jump so that she nearly stubbed her toe as she stopped. Looking around with a tight-lipped smile plastered to her face, Emi saw Su-Ning smiling warmly at her. However, it hadn’t been Su-Ning’s voice that she had heard.

The group of four was looking at her as well. A young hapa woman in a white robe with pink-ribbon tied pigtails with matching pink platform running shoes trotted up to her. Emi recognized her as Lucy, the girl who had scanned her a few days ago when she was entering the compound. She remembered Sam teasing her about going topless.

Lucy stopped in front of Emi, within earshot of Su-Ning. She hesitated before speaking. “Wow… you look… great,” she finally said.

Emi didn’t want to talk about how she was currently looking but smiled regardless. “Thank you,” she politely replied.

“Your team is so bold and fearless,” she said, looking down shyly. “Most of us can’t even go topless.”

The comment surprised Emi. She was hardly bold and fearless, she was probably more afraid than they were. “It’s not easy for me as well,” she said quietly, surprising herself with the admission.

Lucy seemed happy that Emi could relate and quickly motioned for her co-workers to join them. A tall skinny woman with short brown hair started to move but stopped. Likewise, a nearly bald short round Asian boy was looking reluctant as well. It wasn’t until the young man with a baseball cap on backward strutted forward, that the other two started to follow. He had impressive abs.

Wanting not to get involved, Emi started to say she had someplace to be but before she could, she was surrounded by people that she didn’t know.

“This is Janet, Bo, and Roland,” Lucy said, proudly. They just stood there, uncertain what to do, with the exception of Bo who reached out to shake Emi’s hand.

Unable to meet their collective gazes, Emi looked the other way. She saw Su-Ning looking up and smiling at her supportively.

Emi was trapped. She knew this was a moment of truth and that she had to play the part and show Su-Ning that she was not wrong to trust her. She had to be convincing. She had to be strong.

It was showtime.

“Hi Bo, nice to meet you,” Emi said, with a charming smile.

“Nice to meet you too,” he said, enthusiastically. His smile was infectious.

Emi couldn’t help but mirror his smile as she shook his hand.

“Checking out what it’s like to be a guest?” he asked, taking his hat off revealing a stylish blonde streak in his black hair. He started to say more but stopped and took a step back, looking past Emi.

“Emi’s our new head of the Resort Ambassador program,” Su-Ning proudly proclaimed, joining the others, completing the circle around Emi. “I’ll be announcing it this evening at the monthly staff beach party.”

“We have a monthly staff beach party?” Lucy asked, looking around at everyone.

“We do now,” Su-Ning replied. “Only us six know of it so far. Please spread the word. It’s for all staff as I will have an important announcement. There will also be BIG prizes and special gifts to all who attend.”

Emi fought to hide her panic as she considered what Su-Ning was saying. Perhaps she did not have to attend, she hoped.

Bo smiled, “Will the devs be joining us?” He asked.

“Hopefully,” Su-Ning stated, looking at Emi with a warm smile. “At least Emi will be there, as I want to introduce her as I announce her new position.”

The words hit Emi like a hammer, but she tried to hide it. “Right, okay…” Emi, answered, trying to sound confident. Her head was reeling. Su-Ning was throwing her in the deep end right away. Logically, Emi knew that it made sense to rip the bandaid off quickly, but it felt overwhelming. She tried to avoid dwelling on it, while looking down the hall towards the Jacuzzi room. She wished that she could be in the water now, relaxing with her co-workers.

Su-Ning patted her on the back. “Your co-workers are in the gym right now, they probably won’t be in the Jacuzzi room for another half hour. Before you go meet them there could you quickly get things started on preparing the beach party?”

Emi just stood there, dumbfounded. “You want me to set up a beach party in just 30 minutes?  I ahh… ”

“As a senior staff member, you can ask anyone around you to do all the heavy lifting. You can even put people in charge of certain aspects. Just create a vision for the party and then get the ball rolling,” Su-Ning instructed, as she answered her ringing-phone and wandered back to her pile of papers.

Emi was still flabbergasted. Su-Ning sat down, talking loudly into her phone, and looked at Emi and gave her a friendly gesture to hurry up and get moving.

So much for laying low, Emi thought as she tried to calm her heart. Four people looked at her expectantly, waiting for orders.

Emi looked down in thought and immediately regretted it as her peripheral vision filled with nipples and a runway. The sight completely wiped out her train of thought, making her legs feel weak.

Looking up instead, Emi prayed. Oh God please let me concentrate. She took a deep breath and tried to think. It was hard to focus on the task at hand. Maybe she could just put these four in charge and be done with this task.

Unable to think while they were looking at her like this, she decided to ask for some help. Maybe they may have done this before. “Umm… how do you guys usually prepare for a beach party?”

The group seemed emboldened by Emi’s reluctance and gathered around sharing what they had done in the past. Emi took it all in. It was hard to not cover up as they went on about this and that, more details than were needed but she let them continue explaining and explaining until she finally realized that she needed to stop them.

Emi cut in. “Right… okay, thanks guys, you saved my ass,” she said, immediately regretting her choice of words. The comment caused the boys to look down briefly at her hips. At least she now knew what to do.

Lucy smiled, “Yeah, it’s not that much work. It will probably be fun,” she said, seemingly glad to help. Likewise, the other three nodded with encouragement.

Nervously nodding in agreement, Emi at least now had a plan. She looked to Lucy, “Can you inform the kitchen staff that we need lots of beach party food for around 4:30 PM, enough for all the staff? You are in charge of food and drinks. Maybe get some tickets and give everyone two alcohol tickets, but also enough non-alcohol punch bowl drinks as well. Work with Bo on where to put the food tables. Make sure they have some shade cover,” Emi said, thinking quickly.

“Janet, you are in charge of the look and feel of the party. Music, layout, and location. Don’t be too far from the compound so that it’s not too much work to bring things. I also would like a couple of fire pits in case the party lasts into the night,” Emi said, hoping suddenly that the party wouldn’t last that long.

“Bo, you are in charge of making sure there are beach blankets for people to sit on. Work with Janet on where to put them. Like in rows or in a circle or something,” said Emi, realizing that she was going to be the center of attention. The thought made her legs wobbly. She turned and sat down on a nearby bench.

“No problem, he said, putting his hat back on like a man with a mission.

Next Emi looked up to Rolland. He was looking down between her legs, briefly. Without thinking, Emi covered her runway with her hands but then forced herself to remove them after she realized what she was doing. Su-Ning could be watching her. This was maddening! She didn’t know what to do with her hands and made it worse by awkwardly pretending to stretch out her arms. This caused Rolland to blush and Lucy to chuckle as Emi realized in horror the erotic show she was putting on.

Bo just smiled confidently, enjoying the show.

Emi sat on her hands. “Rolland, you can recruit more staff members to assist these three. Make sure all three of them have all the people and supplies that they need.”

“Will do!” He said, looking a bit apprehensive but determined.

Okay, I think that’s it. If anyone has any questions I will be in the Jacuzzi room.

They nodded, but everyone continued to stand around, looking at her.

Emi smiled and nodded, again. Politely, trying to indicate they can go now. She wanted them to leave first, rather than she leaves and they all watch her go.

Finally, they got the picture, nodded some more, and everyone gradually left – except for Janet.

“Um… Emi, what is the larger theme of the party? Su-Ning said that you had to define the larger vision,” Janet said, looking straight into Emi’s eyes. She seemed to be trying to not looking at Emi’s body, now that they were just the two of them. Emi wondered if things were always going to be this awkward when talking to people.

Thinking about the question, Emi hoped that Janet could have taken care of that, but sighed and motioned for her to come and sit with her.

“What do you think Su-Ning would like, what is the goal of the party?” Janet said, looking briefly at Su-Ning, who was too far away to hear them now.

Emi thought for a moment. No doubt, Su-Ning wanted to parade her naked body around in front of everyone, hoping to get the white-robed staff members to loosen up about the nudity. She probably also wanted to help Emi get used to being naked in front of everyone. Two birds, one stone… she thought bitterly. But then she found that the idea did make sense, she didn’t need to blame Su-Ning for being smart. Maybe ripping the bandaid off quickly was a wise plan. But the thought of the entire compound seeing her at once was enough to make her knees weak and stomach to flutter. She took another deep breath and finally attempted to address Janet’s question.

“Su-Ning just wants to make a good memory… and have the staff bond a bit before the resort opens next week,” she said, thinking that she has to be the sacrificial lamb. The thought of being naked around 50-60 people caused her heart to accelerate. She knew that people would naturally all be looking at her, even while Su-Ning was talking. “Whatever you do don’t use raunchy music. Make it more like a summer teahouse atmosphere. A classy elegant feeling, but casual, okay?”

“Okay,” Janet nodded. “And uhh… good luck to you too. I’m sure this can’t be easy for you,” she said, indicating Emi’s state of dress.

Emi appreciated the empathy. “Thanks,” she said, and got up and started heading back to the Jacuzzi. She had a lot to think about.

The Jacuzzi room was empty. Lost in thought, Emi sat down on a little stool and started spraying all over her body with a loose showerhead on the end of a hose.

She had successfully met multiple people and had managed to not freak out. More than that, she’d managed to get the party preparations rolling. She’d been indeed faking it initially, but gradually she’d been able to think and set things in motion. Maybe this whole nudity thing was going to work out, she thought as she finished rubbing her body with a soapy facecloth. Picking up the showerhead, she began rinsing off.

Recalling the meeting, she decided that she needed to be careful with sitting. She needed to keep her legs closed at all times. The memory brought an embarrassed smile to her face as she mounted the showerhead back on to the wall, letting it rain down over her head. Suddenly she couldn’t believe the gall she had, wandering into the main compound completely nude wasn’t her plan on how to start the ball rolling. She had planned to undress in THIS room and then leave with Becca. That would have been a much easier start, rather than being the only one starkers and parading through the compound like a nudist. Her bundled nerves finally couldn’t take it any longer as her shoulders shook quietly in laughter. Or was she crying? She couldn’t tell as the water poured over her head.

 

— The Big Splash —

The jacuzzi felt great and Emi was beginning to relax. She felt a thrust of water pushing her feet up. Gripping the edge behind her head, she allowed her body to float up and break the bubbly surface. The soft water pressure against her back and legs was just enough to keep her afloat. Her breasts, feet, and pussy broke the surface at random intervals. She imagined a man walking in and seeing her like she was. Maybe she could just pretend that she didn’t notice him.

Hearing some chatter, Emi saw that her co-workers must have come in while she was fantasizing on the cloud of bubbles. They were washing and chatting. They didn’t seem to notice her as she submerged back down into her seat. She couldn’t make out what was being said.

A minute later the three girls approached the jacuzzi. Becca was bottomless, her towel around her neck partially covering her breasts. Hannah bounced along with her towel covering only her bottom half. Sam was completely covered by her towel, her arms folded protectively across her stomach.

Hannah and Becca were still excitedly chatting about something as they dropped their towels and got into the Jacuzzi. Sam made sure nobody was looking at her before she did the same.

“That police scene was so intense!” Hannah said while acknowledging Emi with a smile.

Panicking, Emi wondered if they all had found out!

“Yes,” Becca chuckled. “Nate is in real trouble I think.”

“Who i..is Nate?” Emi stuttered. Hoping it wasn’t one of the officers that had arrested her.

Sam rolled her eyes and looked at Emi.

Hannah snorted. “You should read the story Emi. It’s from your friend after all.”

Thank God, it was just a story. Emi sighed with great relief. She liked that the girls were distracted, as she had to break the big news to everyone and was unsure how to start. They continued talking about the story, going into more detail. Sam looked at Emi with pleading eyes.

“See what I have to put up with?” Sam said, annoyed. “Why do they need to read about what they are already doing?”

Emi didn’t know how to respond.

Su-Ning entered the room and went over to the washing station and disrobed. Sam didn’t seem to notice, as she was facing the other way, but Becca and Hannah stopped talking and were peeking at Su-Ning occasionally, with curious expressions.

Sam finally smiled and changed the subject. “The project is ahead of schedule. I was even able to knock off a few tickets in the backlog,” she reported, smiling smugly.

Emi was glad to hear that.

“Incoming!” Su-Ning yelled as she did a cannonball into the deep center of the super-sized Jacuzzi. A great splash drenched everyone, especially Sam, who had her entire head drenched.

“What the fu#k!”, Sam said angrily after she spitting out water. Although as soon as she saw who it was, she looked away quickly, trying to hide her bitter face from Su-Ning.

“Sorry Sam!  I didn’t intend to make such a big splash,” Su-Ning said, apologizing to everyone else as well.

“Never thought we would see you in here,” Becca stated, merrily. “Welcome to our daily get-together.”

“Yes, welcome!” Hannah added, “We were just chatting…”

“About sex stories,” Sam interrupted. Her eyes daring Hannah to deny it.

Su-Ning smiled. “I thought you would all be talking about Emi.”

Emi’s co-workers looked confused, looking back and forth between Emi and Su-Ning.

Su-Ning smiled, looking at Emi. “You didn’t tell them yet?”

Everyone looked at Emi, waiting.

Caught off guard, Emi sank a little into the water. She was not ready for this. “I ahh… I joined the Resort Ambassador program today.”

“Yeah right,” Sam laughed. “That’s a good one!”

Emi looked at Sam. “It’s true, I’m not kidding.”

“You volunteered?” Sam asked. Her face no longer smiling.

“She didn’t just volunteer. She actually joined the program fully. In fact, she’s leading the program now,” Su-Ning said, pride evident in her voice.

Hannah squealed with delight, side hugging Emi briefly.

Becca smiled as well, but then tilted her head. “Leading the program?” she asked, looking at Su-Ning.

“Yes,” Su-Ning said excitedly. “At first I couldn’t believe it myself. She signed up for an 11-month commitment!”

“I don’t fu#king believe this!” Sam bellowed, disgust all over her face.

“Sam…” Becca gave her a warning look.

Ignoring Becca, Sam got right in Emi’s face. “What’s going on Emi?” she asked. Her tone was deadly serious.

“I… ahh… want to…” she fumbled for the words that she had carefully prepared. “Embrace this place and… give 100% to this project, and get over my insecurities… and be a team player,” she muttered unconvincingly. Sam’s intense stare of disbelief was distracting Emi’s thought process.

“Bullshit!” She turned suddenly to Su-Ning, “Thanks for taking away the one person who I could relate with and go eat with,” she said bitterly. “I think I have had it with this island,” she mumbled, seemingly lost in a feeling of disgust that was growing out of control.

“Sam, let’s take this outside,” Becca said, standing up suddenly with water pouring down her body. It wasn’t a request. “We always finish our contracts.”

Sam started to stand up but then noticed her own nudity and sat back down, irritated. “When is the next plane off this f-ing island?” She blurted, to Su-Ning.

“Sam…” Becca said, more gently, concern in her voice.

“Becca, what’s more important. Your team, or this one brief contract with this manipulator!” She yelled angrily, splashing Su-Ning heavily in the face.

Emi was completely shocked to see Sam do this to Su-Ning. Looking around she saw that everyone was shocked.

Su-Ning wiped some water out of her eyes. “I didn’t force Emi into this Sam. I actually tried very hard to talk her out of it,” she said, showing no signs of offense.

“She’s telling the truth,” Emi said, feeling horrified. She was surprised at how much Sam was upset. The whole team was surprised. “It was my idea,” Emi added.

“Time to find a new backend programmer,” Sam said, looking directly at Becca. “Take care… I…” she started to say, but seemed to lose her voice as she picked up her towel and covered herself completely under the water. She stood up, and started to get out of the jacuzzi but paused. She was shaking.

Becca looked upset, glancing back and forth between Sam and Su-Ning. Emi hated what she was putting the team through. Becca was in a tough spot. Hannah’s eyes filled with tears, she covered her mouth with her hands.

“Wait, Sam… I’m sorry,” Becca said. “I didn’t know this was bothering you so much,” she said, gently.

Sam hesitated, she stopped climbing out of the jacuzzi but was still facing away from everyone. Nobody could see the front of her face, but Emi could see that her jaw was clenched. “I’m sorry too,” she said. “I wish I could have joined you guys, but it’s just not for me.”  Her shoulders slumped. “Take care of yourselves… Emi should be able to cover the backend until you find a replacement.”

“Sam…“ Hannah whimpered. She started quietly crying.

“You are not leaving Sam. This is all my fault and I’m fixing this right now,” Becca said. “I will quit being a Resort Ambassador,” she said, turning to face Emi. “We ALL are, no more nudity for this team and that’s final. I didn’t realize that this was tearing our team apart. We are going to go back to just developing software and eating together as we have always done. We are going to finish this job, fully dressed.”

Su-Ning opened her mouth but then shut it. Emi was horrified by this turn of events.

“You don’t have to do that Becca,” Sam said, her shoulders slumping. “You are helping the resort. I’m just sorry that I wasn’t able to fit in. I wouldn’t feel right imposing my own insecurities on you guys.”

Emi sensed that Sam didn’t really want to leave the team. She was still facing away from the group, agonizing with indecision.

“No, it’s done. Emi, you have to cancel your Resort Ambassador commitment,” Becca said. It wasn’t a request.

Su-Ning started to speak but Emi cut her off. She was afraid Su-Ning would spill the beans. “I… I’m not going to cancel,” Emi said, quietly. But she might as well have shouted it given how everyone reacted. They all stared at her in surprise.

“No, this isn’t a request. I’m serious Emi,” Becca insisted.

“I made a commitment and I’m keeping it. And I’m sorry… Sam, but it’s not fair that only Becca and Hannah have gotten to experience this place. And now that I finally have the courage… I think that as director and also a free person that I have the right to choose what they have already enjoyed for these last few weeks,” Emi said, surprised at her own audacity. But she had no choice. She was terrified that her next words might cause Sam to leave or get herself fired. “I’m NOT going to quit the Ambassador program.”

Su-Ning quietly watched the drama unfold. Hannah looked horrified, now that it looked like Emi was in trouble.

“I’m sorry Emi, but you need to put the team first. You are quitting the program, along with me, right goddam now,” Becca said forcefully.

Emi felt defiant, her emotion rising. “It will be a cold day in hell before l go back on a commitment,” she said, going all in. There was no turning back now in this showdown. She gave Becca a cold hard stare.

“And your commitment to our team? Low priority?”

The words hurt, but Emi stuck to her guns. “I’ve been doing an exceptional job with the team, and not just OUR team. Do you have any idea how much work I have done since we have been here?” Emi knew there was no way Becca could afford to lose her, especially with opening day just over a week away.

Sam finally turned around. “Leave her alone Becca.”

Everyone looked at Sam, except Emi and Becca who were having a staring contest. Each unwilling to blink.

“She deserves the same right you had,” Sam continued. “We voted as a team that it was okay to dress as we wish, nude or not.”

Neither Emi nor Becca broke eye contact with each other. It was a contest of wills.

“For Christ sakes, I’ll f-ing stay Becca, just leave Emi alone. Don’t be a hypocrite!”

Becca broke eye contact with Emi and looked at Sam incredulously. Her WTF expression along with her palms facing upwards and shaking-head, said it all.

Sam slumped her shoulders. “I’m sorry I lost it. Whatever… I can eat alone. I don’t care anymore. You guys should be free to express your inner mailgirls. Just don’t try to pull me into any of that, you weirdos,” she said, sitting back down. Her soaked towel was clenched tightly to her body. She looked embarrassed, as she was now trying to downplay the situation that she had started.

Angry with Becca, Emi sat down with her jaw clenched.

Now it was Becca’s turn to be outraged. She looked like she was just getting started. “WTF Sam. You goaded me into getting naked and then you threaten to leave because of it? Now you are defending Emi’s right to go nude?!”

“Haaaaannngg!!!” Hannah, unable to take anymore, started bawling and screeching. Emi moved over gave her a side hug, which gradually calmed her down to whimpers and sniffling.

Becca arms on her hips, was still looking at Sam accusingly.

“Whatever, Becca. I don’t care anymore. We used to be the three amigos. Now you are the three mailgirls. I’m going to go start prepping for tomorrow’s work. I’ll just leave now before you guys start shaving your twats.”

Sam got out of the jacuzzi and headed towards where she had left her clothes.

“Shit disturber!” bellowed Becca.

“Kiss my ass!” Sam said, intentionally mooning the girls as she walked to her clothes.

Becca shook her head in amazement as she watched her. Hannah was finally smiling. Things seemed to be calming down and so Emi quietly got out of the Jacuzzi and left the room while everyone was watching Sam. She was dripping wet, but she didn’t care.

Fortunately, nobody in the hallway saw Emi as she finally made it to her room and quickly dried off. That certainly didn’t go as planned, she thought as she slumped down on her bed. Her lovely bed and its wonderful blanket. She wrapped herself up like a mummy and enjoyed the texture for a while before someone knocked on her door.

She sat up suddenly. “Oh crap… the beach party!”