Re: The Cost of Curiosity (Chapter 5: Skinny Dipping)
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2026 10:49 pm
The Summer was almost over. School had started up again, but there were still a couple of weeks of hot, sunny weather before the autumn set in. Nick was still in the process of getting to know some of his new classmates, but there was really just one that was on his mind. He’d never met Natalie before this year, now he couldn’t seem to get her out of his head. He wasn’t sure if it was her dirty blonde hair or something about the way her glasses framed her eyes, but Nick was smitten.
Natalie had been friendly enough toward Nick so far, but he was sure she hadn’t really noticed him or how much he liked her. It came as a complete surprise when a conversation about the hot weather and wishing he could go for a swim had led to Natalie inviting Nick over to her house because her family have a swimming pool. Callie had some thoughts as well. Her idea sounded crazy. “Ask her if she wants to try skinny dipping.” As if it were that simple. Then again, Molly had said he should have been more direct and fair, and skinny dipping certainly sounded like both.
That Saturday, Nick was dropped off at Natalie’s house wearing his green swim trunks and a white T shirt. He rang the doorbell and stood there fidgeting nervously. Was this just a friendly hangout, or was it possible she liked him too? Nick never felt like he had been that lucky before. He had to play this carefully.
Natalie answered the door. She was wearing a pair of loose black shorts over a purple one piece swimsuit. She greeted Nick with a smile. “Hi Nick! Come on in!” She held the door open and Nick entered.
“Thanks again for inviting me, Natalie!” Nick followed her through the house, looking around a bit as he did so. He didn’t see anyone else around.
“Do you wanna hang out for a bit, or go straight to the pool?” Natalie asked her guest.
“Let’s go for a swim!” Nick said enthusiastically. Even if he hadn’t had a crush on Natalie, he would still have been excited to swim. She led him out the back door to the pool area, and over to the table.
“We’ve got a couple of towels over here for when we need them. You can leave stuff over here if you need too.” Nick took off his shirt while Natalie was taking off her glasses. He jumped into the pool with a splash, surfacing just in time to see Natalie taking off her shorts. For a few seconds Nick was in heaven. She was facing the table, away from him, and had bent over to pull her shorts down. She was fully covered by the swimsuit, but the view was still a godsend for Nick. He quickly looked away when she stood up, and hoped to god she hadn’t noticed him looking.
Natalie jumped into the pool, staying underwater for a few seconds before popping up to splash water at Nick by surprise. Nick splashed water back at her, and so began a splash war that would last for the next twenty minutes. After that they alternated between playing Marco Polo, lounging on floats, and just sitting in the shallower end of the pool enjoying the cool water. They’d been having a lot of fun together, and Nick decided he was going to ask. Worst case scenario he’d play it off as a joke. “Hey, Natalie, you know what ‘skinny dipping’ is, right?”
“What? You mean… like… swimming naked?” She was practically whispering by the end of that sentence.
“Yeah, have you ever tried it?” Nick asked, lowering his voice to match hers.
“No, can’t say I have, why?” Natalie was genuinely intrigued to find out where he was going with this. Was he really suggesting what she thought he was?
“Do you… maybe… want to?” Nick asked, trying to put on a playful voice in the hope it would help sell the idea he was joking. In the end he just came across as that much more awkward and nervous. Natalie found it kind of endearing. If circumstances were different, she might have considered it.
“What? Now? With you? I-don’t be ridiculous, we can’t! What if Heather comes out and sees us?” Natalie quietly said to a confused Nick.
“Who?” Who’s Heather?” She hadn’t mentioned anyone else being around before.
“My sister.” Natalie answered. “She just started high school, you wouldn’t know her. I should have mentioned that she was here.” Natalie looked a bit embarrassed.
“Oh! Don’t worry about it! I was just messing around anyway.” Nick backtracked. Natalie laughed it off. Nick wasn’t sure she believed him, but she seemed to be playing along.
About fifteen minutes later, while they were lying on floats, the back door of the house opened. Nick looked up to see a teenage girl in a bikini. “Heather? I thought you had homework to do” Natalie said, surprised that her sister had joined them.
“It’s almost done. Thought I’d take a break, come check on you two.” Heather responded. “You’re Nick, right?”
“Y-yeah, hi. You’re Natalie’s sister?” Nick was quite distracted by Heather’s revealing choice of swimsuit. She knew he would be, that’s why she put it on. It was working better than she had hoped. Boys were so easy.
“Yep. Just ignore me, I’ll try to stay out of your way.” Heather said as she stepped into the shallow end of the pool. She knew what she had to do as soon as she overheard this twerp trying to get her little sister naked. She just had to wait for the right moment. If he wanted to swim naked, she could make that happen for him. This was going to be fun.
She watched their floats drifting around for a while. She could make this work if she timed it just right. She waited until Nick’s float drifted far enough to the deep end of the pool and then leapt into motion. She went underwater while Nick and Natalie were making small talk and swam as fast as she could toward Nick’s float. Nick was caught completely by surprise when she sprang up from the water and flipped his float over. She stayed above the surface long enough to take a breath and hear Natalie yelling “Heather! Leave him alone!” Then she dove back under. She couldn’t leave the job half done.
Nick was dazed, one second he had been lazily lying on a float, and the next he was tumbling underwater, trying to figure out which way was up. He thought he heard Natalie’s voice, but couldn’t make out what she said. He started swimming toward the surface. Once again, he didn’t see Heather coming. When she grabbed his trunks, he practically swam right out of them. He didn’t even notice at first. She took a good look before swimming away. Nick noticed he was naked shortly after he reached the surface. He saw Natalie staring at him in shock, and spotted Heather walking up the stairs out of the pool, green swim trunks in hand. She sat down at the table and said “Why so shy now? You sounded so eager to swim naked earlier! Well now you can swim naked all you want! We won’t mind, will we Natalie?”
Natalie rushed to climb out of the pool, yelling “Heather! Give him back his shorts!” She ran to the table where her sister was waiting.
“Sure! If he’s all done skinny dipping he can just come over here and get his shorts back, with his hands behind his back!” Heather said with a cruel laugh.
Natalie knew she should object, but she couldn’t help a part of her mind getting distracted by the idea of Nick doing exactly what Heather had just said. As guilty as it made her feel, she didn’t hate the idea. Finally she found her voice and said “That’s too far, Heather!”
Unfortunately, Heather had noticed her hesitation. “You want to see it too! Don’t lie, I can tell! You want to see him walk up here with all his junk hanging out!” Natalie turned bright red being called out like that. “Just say it and he’ll have to do it. Unless he wants to go home naked, I guess.”
Natalie couldn’t do anything. Heather was too much bigger than her. She hoped Nick wouldn’t hate her for this. “I’m really sorry Nick, I think you’ll just have to get it over with.” She felt terrible that she couldn’t help him, but she also felt a thrill at what that meant. She couldn’t get him out of it.
Nick knew Natalie couldn’t just get his trunks back for him, but knowing that didn’t make it any easier to walk out of the pool naked in front of his crush and her older sister. As he stepped up onto the deck around the pool with both hands clamped over his groin, Heather stopped him. “Ah ah ah, I said hands behind your back. You don’t take another step toward your shorts until we can see your dick!” She said.
Nick looked at the two girls. Heather was openly staring at him, laughing at his obvious discomfort. Natalie, meanwhile, was pretending to look away. Every now and then she would try to steal a glance at Nick without being noticed. She wasn’t succeeding. Her face was turning almost as red as Nick’s. Nick let out a resigned sigh, then put his hands behind his back and started walking again. Heather started laughing more while still openly staring, now right at his private parts. He saw Natalie try to sneak another peek. He was pretty sure she saw that he saw her too. She looked right at his eyes for just a second, then lowered her gaze back down to his penis before looking away again. Nick finally reached the table, and Heather said “You’re welcome for the free show sis! Hope you enjoyed it!” Then she tossed Nick his shorts and got up to go inside. As she left, she said “It was lovely meeting you Nick!”
Nick got his shorts on as quickly as he could. Natalie tried to apologize for everything that had happened, but Nick was sure she would think less of him now. He dried off and called his parents to pick him up.
Natalie watched him leave, furious at her sister. She was convinced Heather had ruined her chances of getting him to like her.
—————
The whole time Nick had been telling the story, he had been watching Natalie react to it. She still wasn’t laughing at him, or making fun of him. She was just sitting there smiling. Not a wicked, cruel smile like a few of the other girls here, but a happy smile. Maybe her finding out about his crush wasn’t the worst. He still would have preferred for her to find out in pretty much any other way, but maybe the results wouldn’t be all bad.
“Wait a minute!” Callie said. “You said it was only ‘one girl at a time’ didn’t you?”
“When you were asking about doing it myself, on purpose. That story doesn’t count.” Nick replied. It was a technicality, but a valid one. There was a murmur as a few girls discussed it among themselves.
“Was that the most girls you’ve ever been naked in front of at once?” Callie asked. She knew it wasn’t. Nick could hear his younger sister and her friends start to giggle. They knew too.
“No, it wasn’t.” Nick answered, knowing full well that Callie would make him tell the story.
Callie gave an exaggerated gasp and “It wasn’t? Then what was Nick? Tell us about the most girls to see you naked at one time! Before tonight, that is! I have a feeling we’ll be breaking that record!”
“It was Sherry’s slumber party…”
Natalie had been friendly enough toward Nick so far, but he was sure she hadn’t really noticed him or how much he liked her. It came as a complete surprise when a conversation about the hot weather and wishing he could go for a swim had led to Natalie inviting Nick over to her house because her family have a swimming pool. Callie had some thoughts as well. Her idea sounded crazy. “Ask her if she wants to try skinny dipping.” As if it were that simple. Then again, Molly had said he should have been more direct and fair, and skinny dipping certainly sounded like both.
That Saturday, Nick was dropped off at Natalie’s house wearing his green swim trunks and a white T shirt. He rang the doorbell and stood there fidgeting nervously. Was this just a friendly hangout, or was it possible she liked him too? Nick never felt like he had been that lucky before. He had to play this carefully.
Natalie answered the door. She was wearing a pair of loose black shorts over a purple one piece swimsuit. She greeted Nick with a smile. “Hi Nick! Come on in!” She held the door open and Nick entered.
“Thanks again for inviting me, Natalie!” Nick followed her through the house, looking around a bit as he did so. He didn’t see anyone else around.
“Do you wanna hang out for a bit, or go straight to the pool?” Natalie asked her guest.
“Let’s go for a swim!” Nick said enthusiastically. Even if he hadn’t had a crush on Natalie, he would still have been excited to swim. She led him out the back door to the pool area, and over to the table.
“We’ve got a couple of towels over here for when we need them. You can leave stuff over here if you need too.” Nick took off his shirt while Natalie was taking off her glasses. He jumped into the pool with a splash, surfacing just in time to see Natalie taking off her shorts. For a few seconds Nick was in heaven. She was facing the table, away from him, and had bent over to pull her shorts down. She was fully covered by the swimsuit, but the view was still a godsend for Nick. He quickly looked away when she stood up, and hoped to god she hadn’t noticed him looking.
Natalie jumped into the pool, staying underwater for a few seconds before popping up to splash water at Nick by surprise. Nick splashed water back at her, and so began a splash war that would last for the next twenty minutes. After that they alternated between playing Marco Polo, lounging on floats, and just sitting in the shallower end of the pool enjoying the cool water. They’d been having a lot of fun together, and Nick decided he was going to ask. Worst case scenario he’d play it off as a joke. “Hey, Natalie, you know what ‘skinny dipping’ is, right?”
“What? You mean… like… swimming naked?” She was practically whispering by the end of that sentence.
“Yeah, have you ever tried it?” Nick asked, lowering his voice to match hers.
“No, can’t say I have, why?” Natalie was genuinely intrigued to find out where he was going with this. Was he really suggesting what she thought he was?
“Do you… maybe… want to?” Nick asked, trying to put on a playful voice in the hope it would help sell the idea he was joking. In the end he just came across as that much more awkward and nervous. Natalie found it kind of endearing. If circumstances were different, she might have considered it.
“What? Now? With you? I-don’t be ridiculous, we can’t! What if Heather comes out and sees us?” Natalie quietly said to a confused Nick.
“Who?” Who’s Heather?” She hadn’t mentioned anyone else being around before.
“My sister.” Natalie answered. “She just started high school, you wouldn’t know her. I should have mentioned that she was here.” Natalie looked a bit embarrassed.
“Oh! Don’t worry about it! I was just messing around anyway.” Nick backtracked. Natalie laughed it off. Nick wasn’t sure she believed him, but she seemed to be playing along.
About fifteen minutes later, while they were lying on floats, the back door of the house opened. Nick looked up to see a teenage girl in a bikini. “Heather? I thought you had homework to do” Natalie said, surprised that her sister had joined them.
“It’s almost done. Thought I’d take a break, come check on you two.” Heather responded. “You’re Nick, right?”
“Y-yeah, hi. You’re Natalie’s sister?” Nick was quite distracted by Heather’s revealing choice of swimsuit. She knew he would be, that’s why she put it on. It was working better than she had hoped. Boys were so easy.
“Yep. Just ignore me, I’ll try to stay out of your way.” Heather said as she stepped into the shallow end of the pool. She knew what she had to do as soon as she overheard this twerp trying to get her little sister naked. She just had to wait for the right moment. If he wanted to swim naked, she could make that happen for him. This was going to be fun.
She watched their floats drifting around for a while. She could make this work if she timed it just right. She waited until Nick’s float drifted far enough to the deep end of the pool and then leapt into motion. She went underwater while Nick and Natalie were making small talk and swam as fast as she could toward Nick’s float. Nick was caught completely by surprise when she sprang up from the water and flipped his float over. She stayed above the surface long enough to take a breath and hear Natalie yelling “Heather! Leave him alone!” Then she dove back under. She couldn’t leave the job half done.
Nick was dazed, one second he had been lazily lying on a float, and the next he was tumbling underwater, trying to figure out which way was up. He thought he heard Natalie’s voice, but couldn’t make out what she said. He started swimming toward the surface. Once again, he didn’t see Heather coming. When she grabbed his trunks, he practically swam right out of them. He didn’t even notice at first. She took a good look before swimming away. Nick noticed he was naked shortly after he reached the surface. He saw Natalie staring at him in shock, and spotted Heather walking up the stairs out of the pool, green swim trunks in hand. She sat down at the table and said “Why so shy now? You sounded so eager to swim naked earlier! Well now you can swim naked all you want! We won’t mind, will we Natalie?”
Natalie rushed to climb out of the pool, yelling “Heather! Give him back his shorts!” She ran to the table where her sister was waiting.
“Sure! If he’s all done skinny dipping he can just come over here and get his shorts back, with his hands behind his back!” Heather said with a cruel laugh.
Natalie knew she should object, but she couldn’t help a part of her mind getting distracted by the idea of Nick doing exactly what Heather had just said. As guilty as it made her feel, she didn’t hate the idea. Finally she found her voice and said “That’s too far, Heather!”
Unfortunately, Heather had noticed her hesitation. “You want to see it too! Don’t lie, I can tell! You want to see him walk up here with all his junk hanging out!” Natalie turned bright red being called out like that. “Just say it and he’ll have to do it. Unless he wants to go home naked, I guess.”
Natalie couldn’t do anything. Heather was too much bigger than her. She hoped Nick wouldn’t hate her for this. “I’m really sorry Nick, I think you’ll just have to get it over with.” She felt terrible that she couldn’t help him, but she also felt a thrill at what that meant. She couldn’t get him out of it.
Nick knew Natalie couldn’t just get his trunks back for him, but knowing that didn’t make it any easier to walk out of the pool naked in front of his crush and her older sister. As he stepped up onto the deck around the pool with both hands clamped over his groin, Heather stopped him. “Ah ah ah, I said hands behind your back. You don’t take another step toward your shorts until we can see your dick!” She said.
Nick looked at the two girls. Heather was openly staring at him, laughing at his obvious discomfort. Natalie, meanwhile, was pretending to look away. Every now and then she would try to steal a glance at Nick without being noticed. She wasn’t succeeding. Her face was turning almost as red as Nick’s. Nick let out a resigned sigh, then put his hands behind his back and started walking again. Heather started laughing more while still openly staring, now right at his private parts. He saw Natalie try to sneak another peek. He was pretty sure she saw that he saw her too. She looked right at his eyes for just a second, then lowered her gaze back down to his penis before looking away again. Nick finally reached the table, and Heather said “You’re welcome for the free show sis! Hope you enjoyed it!” Then she tossed Nick his shorts and got up to go inside. As she left, she said “It was lovely meeting you Nick!”
Nick got his shorts on as quickly as he could. Natalie tried to apologize for everything that had happened, but Nick was sure she would think less of him now. He dried off and called his parents to pick him up.
Natalie watched him leave, furious at her sister. She was convinced Heather had ruined her chances of getting him to like her.
—————
The whole time Nick had been telling the story, he had been watching Natalie react to it. She still wasn’t laughing at him, or making fun of him. She was just sitting there smiling. Not a wicked, cruel smile like a few of the other girls here, but a happy smile. Maybe her finding out about his crush wasn’t the worst. He still would have preferred for her to find out in pretty much any other way, but maybe the results wouldn’t be all bad.
“Wait a minute!” Callie said. “You said it was only ‘one girl at a time’ didn’t you?”
“When you were asking about doing it myself, on purpose. That story doesn’t count.” Nick replied. It was a technicality, but a valid one. There was a murmur as a few girls discussed it among themselves.
“Was that the most girls you’ve ever been naked in front of at once?” Callie asked. She knew it wasn’t. Nick could hear his younger sister and her friends start to giggle. They knew too.
“No, it wasn’t.” Nick answered, knowing full well that Callie would make him tell the story.
Callie gave an exaggerated gasp and “It wasn’t? Then what was Nick? Tell us about the most girls to see you naked at one time! Before tonight, that is! I have a feeling we’ll be breaking that record!”
“It was Sherry’s slumber party…”