Family Ties

“Don’t dawdle,” Mom told us.

Dad tapped his watch and glanced at me. “Wheels up in thirty minutes.”

They waved and left without a backward glance.

“You all wanna use the same shower?” Erin said to Christy and me.

“We’ll get more hot water that way. You remember how pathetic it is when several people shower at once.”

I started to mention that Susan had upgraded the system during the previous off-season. I’d seen the plans. The old residential electric water heaters were gone, replaced by a pair of commercial gas-fueled units that could supply more than enough hot water for three of us, even if we used a

shower each on full hot. I kept it to myself, though.

“Fine with me,” I said instead.

Christy nodded mutely but then thought of something. “Uh-oh.”

Erin and I looked at her.

“I didn’t bring shampoo or conditioner or anything,” she explained. “I thought we’d be staying in a motel. You know, like, a real one.”

“Pretty hot,” Christy said with a guilty glance at me.

Erin saw, so I explained, “She usually showers in the bathroom on the second floor. She gets all the hot water, while I get nothing on the third floor.”

“Why don’t you just shower together?” Erin said. Then she took a good look at Christy and saw her pubic hair. “Ah, never mind. I get it.” To Christy she said, “You two haven’t been dating very long, have you?”

Christy shot me a confused look. “Not officially, no. Why?”

Erin turned to me. “You haven’t changed your preferences, have you?”

“So,” she continued with a smirk, “when’re you going to tell her?”

“Tell me what?” Christy asked.

“Paul has a certain—”

“You want me to change my hair?” Christy said to me, more confused than ever.

“Not up there,” Erin said and pointed. “Down there.”

Christy’s eyes went wide. She looked at me and then back at Erin. She finally looked at me again. “Is she serious?”

“Yes.” I glared at Erin. “But we’ll talk about it later.” I forestalled Christy’s objection by pointing to my watch. “Later, I swear. Now c’mon.

We don’t have much time.”

She fell silent and nodded, albeit reluctantly.

Erin smirked at me again. Then she checked out Christy’s body while she wasn’t looking. Her eyebrows rose appreciatively.

I shot her another warning look.

Christy was a lot more relaxed than I thought she’d be as we showered.

She and Erin chatted about hair care and then turned the conversation to razors as they shaved their legs. I simply enjoyed the view and kept my mouth shut, except when Erin teased me about shaving my pubes.

“I swear,” she said, “you’re more of a girl than I am.”

“Some of us aren’t naturally beautiful like you,” I said. Then I moved my penis to the side and concentrated on not cutting myself as I shaved the base.

“He has a thing about shaving,” Erin told Christy. “I think it’s a little weird, but it’s what he likes.”

“Why do you shave your legs, Erin?” I asked without looking up. “And your armpits? And your bikini line?”

“Men are supposed to have a penis and testicles,” I said as I concentrated on the underside. “That’s it. Everything else is just personal preference.” I finished and looked up to find Christy staring at me with wide eyes. I couldn’t tell if she was shocked by the conversation or because I was shaving the base of my cock.

“What’s the matter?” Erin asked her with genuine concern. “Are you okay?”

“I just…,” Christy stammered. “I mean, I never…”

“Give her a break, Erin,” I said. “She isn’t used to how nonchalant we are about our bodies and nudity. This is all new to her.”

“He only told me on Thursday,” Christy explained.

Erin’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? You didn’t know we were nudists?”

Christy shook her head.

Erin rounded on me and threw up her hands in disgust. “How could you not tell her something like that?”

“We’re taking things slow.”

“Slow? That’s glacial, you big dweeb.”

“It’s okay,” Christy said. “I still feel a little weird, but—”

“No wonder you were so nervous when we went to the bathroom last night,” Erin said to her. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea…” She glared at me for

good measure, but I didn’t let it bother me.

“I’m fine,” Christy repeated. “I mean, I was on the swim team in high school. We saw each other all the time. Well, just the girls.”

“Still,” Erin said, “it isn’t the same.”

I coated my scrotum with shaving cream and ignored the girls as I pulled it tight and carefully shaved the stubble. I checked my work by feel and touched up a couple of spots.

Erin mocked, “All done, princess?”

“Lay off,” I told her brusquely. “I’m not less of a man because I care about how I look.”

“Yeah, but you look gay. Like those guys you see in those magazines.