[interesting]

Barry looked at me with a strange glare on his face, and I could tell he was having the same reflection as me. Meanwhile, Sarah and Bonnie were staring at us, the top halves of their bodies out the water, their luscious breasts exposed to our gaze. It felt somewhat surreal, in all honesty, but I wasn't about to complain.

"So," Barry said, "how and what do we play?"
"Well," Bonnie replied, "we were thinking water... so... Marco Polo?"
"That can work."
"Isn't it a little dark for that?" I asked.

Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy. Sarah answered.

"You play with your eyes closed... so... what does darkness have to do with?"
"uh... I guess nothing."

Sarah laughed, leaning over to kiss my nose.

"Silly goose."

Sarah suddenly remembered a detail about me.

"It's about the water, right?"
"Yeah... maybe."
"Okay. Simple rule, everyone, this is important."

Everyone paid attention. She looked at me while she talked.

"Jim's not always comfortable in the water so... no pushing, no tumbles, and make sure your feet always touch the floor. Understood?"

They all agreed. I felt relieved. Since last year, I had made great progress in the water, but I still had a few demons to contend with. Sarah's intervention was a blessing, and I smiled at her with a silent thanks.

"Fine," Barry continued. "So who seeks?"
"Well, Jim's always the one we volunteer," Sarah replied, "so, why not you? You want to seek first?"
"Sure. And what are the rules?"

There was a moment of silence before Bonnie spoke.

"I have a better idea. Both Barry and Jim seek, in turn."
"Ok, that works," Sarah replied.
"Barry starts, and their goal is to find us. When they do, they get to ask a favor..."
"Don't you want to seek us out?" Barry asked.
"No, honey... besides, it's only fair that men be the hunters."
"It's very cliché!" I jokingly replied.

My comment drew smiles from everyone. We all agreed to the rules.

"So... if we find one of you, we ask for a favor?"
"Yep... and one more rule!" Sarah answered.
"Yes?"
"If you two bump into each other, you have to kiss, or do something along those lines."
"I'm game," Barry said. "Jim?"
"Sure."

The women smiled and started moving away from us. I reached towards the deck and retrieve the girls' tops. Bonnie called me out.

"Hey! What are you doing with those?"
"Blindfolds."
"Oh! Neat."

I handed Bonnie's to Brian, and I put Sarah's on my face. Before I was done, Barry got closer to me, waving to the girls to wait a moment.

"Yes?"
"Listen, Jim... remember last Christmas, the pole dancing episode?"
"Sort of."
"Sarah danced around me - I was the pole."
"I remember."
"It got you all riled up to see us that close, and we weren't even kissing."
"We addressed that."
"I know, but I really want to make sure there's no issue here. I mean, I love you man, and I don't want to cause any stress or duress or..."

I waved for him to be silent and he complied. It was difficult for me to keep bringing up the same arguments, but he was right to be concerned. After all, I did have the same reservations earlier this morning.

"Listen, Barry..."
"What are you talking about over there?" Sarah asked, before I could continue.

I turned to her.

"Just a minute, please."

Sarah nodded her understanding and swam to Bonnie. I focused solely on Brian.

"Listen, you're my friend. If there's anything that happens that I'm not comfortable with, I'll tell you and we can deal with it."
"Sounds good. Sorry to be..."
"Cautious? Hey, preaching to the choir."

Barry smiled.

"It's funny, Jim... I used to be completely loose about all of this but, spending time with you, I've become more attentive to these details."
"And is that a bad thing?"
"Oh no! To be honest, if you hadn't popped up into our lives last year, Bonnie and I might not have gone the way we did, which is awesome, to be fair. So thanks for... making us think about what we were doing, and why we were doing it."

He extended his hand. I shook it. Bonnie called out to us.

"Either make out or look for us!" she ordered.

We were both tempted to pretend to make out, but I felt a little shy so I didn't act on it. Instead, we finished putting on the blindfolds. It was Brian's turn to start. I could not see a thing, so I only heard him speak up before moving away.

"Marco."
"Polo," the girls answered in unison.

The echo on the water was very strange, and since I couldn't see a thing, keeping my eyes closed under the blindfold, I knew it was going to be an issue. Since Brian obviously found no one, I called out in turn.

"Marco."
"Polo!"

The girls' voices reached my ear, so I waded to my left, where I thought I had heard Bonnie : she seemed closer than Sarah. There was no one, so I stayed there. Water was to my belly button. I took in a deep breath and calmed myself. I was safe. Sarah was a certified lifeguard, I reminded myself. She wouldn't let anything happen to me.

"Marco!" Brian's voice resonated.
"Polo!"

More movement to my right. It was obviously a fluke of perception, but I could almost feel the ripples of the water around me as my game partners moved around. This was definitely a new sensation, and playing in even more darkness due to the night only added to the thrill. I tried again for a find.

"Marco."
"Polo," and I heard Bonnie so near, I darted left, almost tripping on the dirt.

My hand grazed her skin.

"Caught me," she said.

I smiled as I took off the blindfold. She was a few inches away from me, smiling. She popped out of the water, the line reaching just under her breasts.

"What's your favor?" she asked.
"I want to kiss you. Really kiss you."
"Okay."
"This, I gotta see!" Barry called out, lifting his own blindfold.

I leaned in to Bonnie's face without thinking about it. Our lips met, and I felt sparks. I had already done so much to Bonnie, not the least which had been using her breasts as a masturbation piece, and coming all over them on the first night we had met. Our tongues reached out to one another, and my entire body reacted. Since her hands were under the water, she wrapped one against my sex, and its reaction was instantaneous. She pulled away far too soon for my taste. As I opened my eyes from the kiss, I caught a glimpse of Sarah, and I froze. She didn't seem upset, however, and it almost surprised me.

"Let's keep playing," she said.

Maybe she was downplaying it. She couldn't have not witnessed my instant reaction, the arousal. Or perhaps it didn't truly bother her. Regardless, the blindfolds came back on and it was again Brian's turn.

"Marco."
"Polo."

He found no one again. It took me a moment to call out my turn. As luck would have it, I found Sarah. I heard Barry complain that I was cheating, but he meant it as a joke. When she looked at me in silence, I simply stated the obvious.

"Kiss me."

She did, with the same passion as Bonnie had just shown, except that she also wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling herself up and out of the water, and the embrace was much longer. Perhaps I had been wrong to jump to conclusions.

"I love you," she whispered, as she pulled back.
"Me too."

Despite the intimacy of the moment, Brian was eager to keep playing, so we parted and resumed play. His next call brought him next to no one, and neither did mine. The girls moved about and then he called in again, coming up empty. When it came my turn, I bumped into him.

"Ah! man" he said. "You get to kiss everyone and I only get to kiss you."

Without asking for my consent, he leaned in and planted a quick peck on my lips. It completely stunned me. I heard the girls laughing. Although Brian's tone was goofy, I could tell his comment was at least half-serious. I made a quiet motion pointing towards him to the girls, who could see me doing it, hoping they would catch my drift. Brian called out to them again.

Perhaps because it would have been too obvious, Brian found neither of them on this turn. Neither did I, for that matter. But when Brian's turn came up again, he launched a victorious cry as he caught up to Bonnie.

"Yes!"
"You got me lover, now what do you want?"
"Just hug me tight and tell me you love me..."

She complied, and it was a very sweet moment. As she let go, he continued.

"Now, give me a blowjob."
"Sorry, honey, one request per catch."

Both of them laughed, and my turn came back, but I found no one. It went on like that for a few more turns, splashing in the water, until Brian finally managed to get his hands on Sarah. I pulled up my blindfold as Brian called out to her.

"Can you... blow me underwater?"
"Sure," Sarah said playfully.
"Just a bit, you know, not all the way," he added.

She smiled, and I saw her go under. In the surrounding darkness, I could see nothing from what Sarah was doing, but I could see Brian's reaction. Bonnie moved closer to me.

"You know these two have never actually been together."
"I do."
"And it's my fault."
"Why is that?"
"Because I'm the one who was scared she would steal him from me."
"And now?"

She didn't answer, and I understood why. It was the same reason why I was dreading having Sarah be intimate with another man. Yet, I wasn't threatened about another woman, even if Jennifer had been closer to it than anyone else. I felt silly. Bonnie's hand caressed my back.

"I get you, you know... At first, it was me that didn't want Barry to be with other women. Then, it was him wanting to keep me all to himself. It changes, and it evolves, and it's frustrating. It would be easier if it was a simple..."
"Goddamn!" Barry called out, and it made us smile.

We saw Sarah coming out of the water, a smile on her lips. Barry let out a deep sigh.

"Wowzer... Geez."
"It's okay to swear," Sarah said, retreating back into the water. "More game?"
"And how!"

Since it was my turn, the blindfold came back on and we resumed. Perhaps it was because Bonnie had been so close a moment ago, but I found her again. In a sense, I was happy we had just had this small bit of conversation. As Bonnie turned to me, waiting to see what I wanted to do, I saw her cast a quizzical look at me, wondering at my thoughts. I turned to the group.

"Let's take it up a notch."
"Okay..." Sarah said. "Where?"
"Back on the deck."

We all exited the water and proceeded to dry ourselves off in order to avoid catching a cold from the cool air. We moved about to the chairs, and the others waited patiently for me to explain my idea.

"So... we did something like this at the spring break party... Barry and Bonnie, you missed that one..."
"We had our own," Barry replied."
"Anyway, the game is called... mirror image."
"Sounds fun," Bonnie replied. "How do you play?"

Sarah looked at me, and I knew she was wondering exactly how I would present the game. I felt confident she trusted me to play along my limits but, to be honest, I also wanted to challenge myself. Bonnie and Barry were two of the people with which I was the most comfortable. If anything were to happen, now was the best time, without Kim and Brian in the way.

"Essentially, in teams. Bonnie with me, and Sarah with Brian."

I could tell that Sarah was proud of me, and it encouraged me to proceed.

"So, each team is going to do a stunt, and the other team has to emulate the stunt."
"By stunt, you mean..."
"Anything you want, Barry. Anything both partners agree on. We'll implement a safe word, in case we need it."
"All right," Sarah said. "Safeword is Red."
"Done. Thanks. So anyone can call out 'Red' and the action stops, whatever it is."

Everyone agreed.

"So... who goes first?"
"Barry and Sarah, do us the honors."

I was anxious about the outcome of the game, but I had been able to overcome so many of my hesitations over the past eight months, I was ready to try taking it one step further. Talking about it had helped figure out the issues, but they could only be dealt with if they became apparent. This was my way of testing out my resolve, and seeing if, indeed, I had reached my limits or if they could still go further.

Either way, it was going to be quite a show, I realized.