Dance, Lust And Them

 It was the legendary Aphrodite, the most beautiful Greek goddess on Mount Olympus. Her hair had been carved out in stringy waves and her eyes were soft and kind. She was naked, aside from the conch shell, which she held in front of her bre*sts. When Janelle peeked inside, she found someone had placed several leaves of ivy in the conch. So people had been here before—it wasn’t just a strange dream she was having.

 “This is insane,” Vance commented, as if he could read her mind. “Who knew there was a place like this hidden in the maze? It’s like a whole other world in here.”

 “Only better,” Curtis said. “It doesn’t seem like anyone knows this place exist. Listen.”

 They stopped talking for a few seconds to listen to the sound of people walking or running past. Since Vance covered up the doorframe, no one knew this was even a room. Janelle wondered why it had been built. Perhaps it was created to host children’s pool parties, or something unique like that. Whatever the reasoning behind building it, she sure was happy to have the opportunity to escape Monique and the others.

 “Are we going swimming or what?” Vance asked after a while.

 “Yes, hell yes,” Curtis said, taking his clothes off and tossing them in the corner.

 Janelle and Vance followed suit, stripping down to their underwear before jumping in the pool. Though Janelle thought she would feel embarrassed, it felt surprisingly good to be almost naked with two of her friends. When she first dipped her legs into the water, she noticed it was warm to the touch. It must have been heated by Garden City, which was fairly expensive. Janelle didn’t care; she was having the time of her life.

 When she was younger, her father would take her swimming at the local pool whenever he could. They couldn’t afford to become full time residents, so they had to pay a fee every time they wanted to go for a swim. Janelle didn’t mind at first, as she thought it was a lot of fun to swim with the other kids. Little by little, she realized they thought she was trashy for not paying for an annual pass. She always wore a pair of goggles that were broken so she had to tie them around her head to keep the water from getting in.

 Even though she was being teased, that didn’t stop Janelle from loving swimming. She thought it was amazing, and learned how to hold her breath under water for over ten seconds. She’d wanted to try out for the swim team, but had chosen cheerleading instead. It was always her mother’s dream for Janelle to grow older and pursue the arts. Competitive swimming just wasn’t for her, no matter how much she wanted to be in the water. If her parents had been rich like Curtis’s, then she’d maybe be able to get a swimming pool for her back yard. But her father always taught her not to be envious of other people’s good fortune.

 He always told Janelle that if she worked hard enough then she would be able to achieve whatever it was that she wanted. If only he knew that part of her job now involved sleeping around with her boss. She wondered if he’d be furious with her. It didn’t matter, though, for she would never tell him. It was hard enough explaining to Mads what was going on. Though she hadn’t judged Janelle, it still felt a bit awkward to talk about the situation.

 Dating two men at the same time? Could such a thing ever work? Janelle hoped so, for she really liked Vance and Curtis. She watched them splashing each other on the opposite end of the pool, their hair matted from the water. Both were wearing chain necklaces, which Janelle thought was entertaining. She let her body float deeper beneath the surface of the water until she was completely submerged. Reaching her arms outward to propel her forward, Janelle pushed off from the wall and glided towards the bottom of the pool. She could see Vance and Curtis’s legs dancing around in circles in the deep end.

 Suddenly she felt lightheaded and headed towards the surface for a breath of fresh air.

 “You doing okay?” Vance asked as she swam towards them. “Yeah I’m perfect,” she said. “I was just feeling a little lightheaded. I think it’s probably from all the beer I drank, or the lack of oxygen. Who knows,” she said, trailing off. She was suddenly aware that the three of them were almost naked and covered in warm water.

 It was such an intimate moment that Janelle couldn’t have recounted it to Mads if she tried. Vance swam over to her first; massaging her shoulders and making sure she was okay. Curtis came over next, the tips of his toes barely touching the bottom of the pool. He surprised Janelle by kissing her; softly at first then harder as his animalistic instincts took over.

After they were done getting dressed, Vance told them to be quiet because he was going to open the door and scope out the scene.