Explorers Club

Explorers Club Ch. 9: Dinner Table

I laid back in my chair, pleasantly full from an excessive amount of fried rice and barbecue pork. We were all eating at a large round wooden table outside under the stars, on the edge of the beach. The Maluhia did performances on the beach every Saturday for hotel guests, so Professor Hale decided we should all take advantage and eat under the stars.

The performances were nothing particularly adventurous, but they were fun and very classic Hawaii: drums, tiki torches, scantily clad performers in swishing grass skirts- both men and women. As the night got later and the stars came out, we all settled into a cheery, drunken buzz. The rhythmic music of the performances and the chatter of the other guests became the backdrop for our drunken conversations.

The fabric of Jenny's skirt brushed against my calf under the table, and her leg once again began brushing over mine. We had all abandoned our swimsuits for more comfortable clothes, and Jenny once again had on her long pleated skirt. I shook my head at her, half warning and half grinning. When she caught my look, she grinned sheepishly. Jenny kept finding reasons to touch me: gripping my arm when she laughed or sliding her calf over mine under the table. I was worried the others would catch on, but so far no one had said anything. As nice as her touches felt, they always came with a little anxiety while we were all together.

"You're ogling again!" Hannah growled, and slapped Frank's arm.

"I'm just watching the show!" Frank protested.

"You're watching the ladies with their tits half out," Hannah scoffed.

"Well that's part of the show!" Frank said.

"Ugh," Hannah said, rolling her eyes dramatically.

Gracie and Hale dissolved into fits of drunken giggles. Hannah and Frank's constant antics had become their de-facto entertainment for the evening, and more so as the wine kicked in. Gracie's hand rested on Professor Hale's arm as they laughed. It certainly looked like they had made up since their argument earlier, though I hadn't had an opportunity to ask either of them about it.

I felt something prod my hand and looked down to see Jenny's fork poking me. She pointed the fork at my plate of food.

"You didn't finish," she said.

"Yeah but that was my third serving," I said, pushing the plate forward. I leaned back in my chair and stretched. Jenny's eyes ran up and down my body as I stretched. I patted my stomach. "I ate all I can, and I even ate healthy food, too. A full meal."

"Gorging yourself on fried rice and pork is healthy?" Jenny asked.

"I also had two broccolis," I added.

"Ah," Jenny said, nodding. "Of course."

"Well if it isn't my favorite group of guests!" a voice came from behind us.

"Tessa!" Hale said, waving her over.

"Oh, I bet you say that about all your guests," Frank contributed from across the table as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "It's no surprise why you like our group, we're by far the most attractive."

"Good evening, Franklin," Tessa to him, smirking, before returning her attention to Professor Hale. "Hey you," she said and gave Hale a hug from behind, over the back of the chair.

"Hey yourself!" Professor Hale replied, chuckling.

But Hannah was watching Frank and Tessa with a mixture of suspicion and disgust. "Why does she call you 'Franklin'?!"

But Frank ignored her. He was too busy ogling Tessa. And I could hardly blame him. Without her suit jacket, Tessa still looked professional, but her beauty was more on full display. The top two buttons of her blouse were unbuttoned, and it took some effort to not stare into her cleavage, especially as she was bending over Hale.

"Did you change blouses?" Frank asked Tessa. "I think it's a different one than what you had on earlier, is it not?"

Jenny leaned closer to me and whispered. "I think he has a little crush on Miss Business."

"Oh a big one," I agreed.

Jenny smirked and leaned her shoulder into me as we watched the others.

Tessa turned to Hale. "You know that Franklin here could tell that the suit I was wearing this afternoon was from Ann Taylor?"

"I KNEW it was Ann Taylor!" Frank said proudly as he pointed at Tessa.

"Are you serious?!" Hale said. She turned to Frank with a curious look on her face. "How would you notice something like that? I certainly wouldn't!"

"Well, I have a very discerning eye," Frank said confidently.

"Especially when your eyes are discerning a pair of titties," Hannah added, crossing her arms.

Frank stammered and Gracie snorted, spitting some of her wine onto the table. Jenny snickered and covered her mouth as she leaned harder into my side. Tessa only smirked and rubbed Professor Hale's shoulders again. "So I hear you're all going on this little adventure soon, right? Excited to see the island?"

"I am!" Hale said, reaching over to squeeze Gracie's arm. "It was all Gracie's idea!"

"It was?" Tessa said, surprised. She pointed to Frank and me. "I thought it was the boys' idea? I was talking with them about it earlier."

"Well, it was a group effort," Frank explained.

I glanced to Jenny who blushed a little and didn't meet my eye.

"A group effort?!" Tessa said, eyes twinkling with glee. "Usually this is the kind of trip couples book."

"Well Gracie wanted to do a trip that Professor Hale would like," I explained. "And so Gracie sort of had us figure out the details. So Franklin and I looked at some options... with your help, of course."

I glanced sideways at Jenny. Her financial contribution was going to be the only reason any of it happened, but she didn't meet my sideways glance.

"Well it's a beautiful island," Tessa said with a mischievous glint in her eye. Her fingers massaged Hale's shoulders from behind. "I really do hope you enjoy getting... 'group efforted' by your generous students."

Jenny turned to me and buried her face in my shoulder to stifle her laughter.

"Tessa!" Hale said, eyes wide. She twisted in her chair to smack Tessa's arm.

Tessa laughed and waved goodbye as she left the table. "Well, enjoy the entertainment everyone. You're all welcome to stay out here as long as you'd like, and there's one last show in about an hour. Can I get you all anything?"

"More wine would be nice," Gracie said, holding up an empty bottle.

"I'll grab a server," Tessa said, and waved to us. "Enjoy your time in the hotel, and on the island!"

Professor Hale turned around and shook her head, lost in thought.

"Well I don't see a server coming," Gracie grumbled. "And now she's chatting with another table."

"And the bar is SO far away," Hannah moaned.

"Why don't you make your birthday minion go to the bar?" Jenny suggested to Gracie.

"That's a GREAT idea!" Gracie said, eyes wide. She smiled wide at me. "Minion, more wine! Pleeeeease?!"

"Thanks for that," I said to Jenny.

Jenny giggled and sipped her water. "Well you're still on duty for the birthday girl, right? What good is a minion if you can't even get drinks?"

"You are SUCH a little cutie patootie, you know that?" Gracie said to Jenny.

Jenny replied to Gracie with a gesture that involved bringing her clasped hands beside her head and smiling: the gesture made me think of Japanese girls who made cutie poses for pictures. I shook my head at Jenny. She had been sucking up to Gracie all night, while at the same time her hands and legs kept finding me under the table. I wondered if getting on Gracie's good side was a calculated ploy to lower the birthday girl's defenses, or if Jenny was just opening up as the evening went on. It was hard to tell with her.

Gracie turned to me, expectantly.

"Sure, I don't mind, I can stretch my legs," I said, standing up. "I'll just get drinks for everyone. What does everyone want?"

"Such a gentleman," Jenny teased.

I spared her a sharp glance before turning back to the table, and getting everyone's orders. But I soon realized that I was a little over-enthusiastic. I was already a few drinks deep and I had a hard time remembering what everyone said.

"Uh... you and Gracie got a bottle of sav... what?" I asked Professor Hale.

"It's called a Sauvignon Blanc," Hale explained.

"Okay... and you?" I turned to Hannah.

"Vodka. Soda." Hannah said, holding up her empty glass. "Was it really that hard to remember vodka soda?"

"I'll go!" Frank offered, standing up too. "I can remember vodka soda!"

Hannah looked at him suspiciously. "Since when are you such a gentleman?"

"When have I ever been anything but?" Frank said, putting his hands on his hips. He looked genuinely offended.

Gracie and Professor Hale both immediately collapsed in laughter.

"What are you going to drink?" I asked.

"I think I'll have... a sex on the beach!" Frank announced.

"Seriously Frank?" I said.

"What? I've always wanted to try one ever since I heard about them!"

Gracie put her head on Hale's shoulder as they laughed harder.

"Such a gentleman..." Professor Hale muttered.

"I'll go too," Jenny said, standing. "If only Perkins and Frank go, who knows what they'll come with?"

"Well I know one thing," Hannah said, crossing her arms. She gave Frank a suspicious, narrow-eyed glance. "If you let Frank go off flirting with more of those old beach sluts, he'll probably be coming back with Chlamydia."

"I'll just help get drinks! That's all!" Frank said, hands up in surrender.

* * *

I walked slowly, as I still had a lot of food digesting in my stomach and was in no mood to rush.

"Gross," Jenny said as she eyed a traditional pig-on-a-spit roasting over an open fire in the distance. It had an apple in its mouth. Somehow it was both expected and strange at the same time. Like if I had seen this image on a hotel brochure I would have thought nothing of it, but in person it was actually rather strange to see a giant dead pig spinning in a circle, burning.

"Delicious," Frank said, rubbing his stomach.

"Yeah I never understood the appeal of showing the pigs off like that," I agreed. "But the pork was very good..."

"I have a question for you two," Jenny said.

I turned to her. "Is this a boy question?"

"Yes!" she said, bouncing on her toes. Her skirt swished around her hips as she looked at me. "It's about... clothing sexiness."

"Go ahead," Frank said. He waved his hand in a sophisticated, professorial sort of gesture. "This sounds like a matter on which I'm probably an expert."

"Well I agreed to answer any and all boy questions," I said.

"Okay, boys. Do you think bikinis are the sexiest kind of clothes for girls?" Jenny asked.

"That's an interesting question," Frank said. He nodded, continuing to adopt his professorial mannerisms. "You know, I should create a hierarchy of lady clothing sexiness."

"That sounds like a great use of your time, Frank," I said. "But I suppose the question for now is... would you put anything over bikinis?"

"Hrm," Frank tapped his chin. "I dunno, bikinis probably go at the top of the hierarchy. I mean sexy lingerie would probably be in the same tier, though..."

"Even if the lingerie is fancy and a bikini is simple?" Jenny said. "What about like, lace lingerie and just a simple bikini?"

"Well, both can be equally revealing," Frank said. He gestured with his hands, imitating the curves of a woman's body. "And the sexiness level of the clothing is basically directly proportional to how close the girl is to full nudity. So I think lingerie and bikinis are, as a class, the same. Both at the top of the hierarchy."

"Interesting," Jenny said, nodding. "But I guess that's all really just a fancy way of saying pretty much what I already expected. What about you, Perky?"

"Hrm..." I thought for a minute and nodded. "Pajamas."

"Pajamas?!" Jenny said.

"Pajamas?" Frank echoed.

"In the right circumstance, I would put them at the top," I said.

"Not a bad choice, not bad," Frank said, thinking deeply. "But I'd put pajamas a tier below lingerie, personally. High, but not as high."

"So why pajamas?" Jenny asked.

"Well-" I began to explain, but was quickly cut off as Frank noticed something up ahead.

"Bye guys!" Frank said, waving. He began to run up ahead.

"Frank?" I asked.

"I'll uh, meet you all at the bar!" Frank said, running off.

"What the hell was that?" Jenny said.

Frank began talking to some people at the bar in the distance, though it was hard to make out who they were.

"Found some friends, it looks like," I said. "I guess he's done explaining his hierarchy."

"Eh, his answer was a little boring," Jenny said, waving her hand and looking up to me. "I'm much more interested to hear your answer. Why pajamas? Did you mean like, sexy skimpy pajamas?"

"Not necessarily," I said, shaking my head. "There's something about a girl in cute pajamas that's just... I dunno, it just works for me."

"By 'working for you,' you mean..." she got up on her tiptoes. Her eyes glinted, reflecting the tiki torches in the distance. "Girls in pajamas make you horny?"

"Well... I suppose so," I met her curious, intense stare. "Especially if they feel soft and comfy. Andespeciallyif there's nothing underneath. Yeah... on the right girl, I think that's even sexier than a bikini or even lingerie."

"Really?" Jenny said, nodding. "And uh... what is the 'right girl' for that look?"

"A cute one. Someone I'd want to cuddle up with. It wouldn't really work on like... I dunno, movie-star kind of hot women? The cuteness and comfiness doesn't translate, I guess."

"So like, the girl-next-door type?" Jenny clarified.

I nodded.

"Interesting," Jenny said, nodding and thinking as she tapped her bottom lip. "Veeeery interesting."

"It is?" I said. "I didn't think it was that weird."

"I didn't say weird, I said interesting," she said, and looked up to me with a wide, mischievous expression. "I know what kind of man you are now, Perkins."

"Oh?" I said, chuckling. "And what kind of man is that, exactly?"

"Probably the kind of boy who fantasizes about fucking his sister on Christmas morning," Jenny teased, grinning wide.

"Oh my GOD, Jenny!" I said, shocked. I pushed her shoulder and she stumbled sideways, cackling.

"I don't even HAVE a sister!" I stammered.

Jenny tilted her head, grinning like a maniac. "Hot cousin, then?"

"Jenny you're crazy!" I said and shoved her... with more force than I intended.

Jenny stumbled sideways, falling onto her butt into the sand. I went over to pick her up. We were getting stares and annoyed grumbles from diners nearby.

"Shit, sorry about that," I said, reaching out to pull her up. "I didn't mean to actually push you over."

Jenny frowned at me as she sat on the sand, evaluating me from below. I continued to hold my hands out to her.

"Don't know your own strength, huh?" she asked. I could only grimace in embarrassment. Finally, she raised her small hands, rested them in mine, and I pulled her to her feet.

"Really sorry about that," I repeated.

She brushed sand off her skirt and her butt as she examined me. The other diners around us seemed to ignore the situation now, as it didn't turn into anything serious. Jenny stood on her tiptoes and spoke softly.

"What's next, Perkins? Going to pull my hair and strangle me?"

"Well... I wasn't planning on it," I said.

"Well, what if I kept teasing you?" she said, grinning wickedly.

"You know, the more I get to know you, the more I think you're a real troublemaker."

Jenny snickered and turned, scampering off ahead of me towards the bar.

There was only one bartender: a muscular and shirtless Hawaiian man sporting a shark tooth necklace. He was also intent on ignoring my existence, instead preferring to chat with a tall blonde on the opposite end of the bar. The blonde turned to talk to her two friends and giggle: and I realized that in the middle of them sat Frank, of all people. Then I recognized them: they were these 'cougar' women he met earlier. The redhead's Irish accent and loud laughter was carrying across the bar.

"Is the bartender ever coming over here?" Jenny asked, pushing herself up in the barstool.

"I think he's a bit distracted by Frank's cougar friends," I grumbled. "I guess we should go over there or we'll never get drinks."

"God, I really don't want to meet Frank's weird old friends..." Jenny sighed. "Can you just go, and make it quick?"

I nodded and made my way to the other side of the bar, where Frank was saying something to make the lady in the hat titter with laughter.

"Oh hey!" Frank said, waving me over. "Everyone, you remember Perkins right?"

"Hey everyone," I said.

The woman in the hat turned to me. She was attractive in a very predictable, almost boring way, and I remembered Frank did say something about her starring in a TV show of some sort back in the day. She was old enough to be Frank's mom, but then again... so was Professor Hale.

"Diane," the woman in the hat said, holding out her hand. "I'm not sure we were properly introduced."

"Nice to meet you, Diane," I said, shaking her hand awkwardly. "I'm Perkins."

"And these are mybestfriends Lena, and Fiona," Diane said, gesturing. The blonde, Lena, gave me the briefest of nods and turned back to the bartender. Fiona, on the other hand, was giving me her full attention. Fiona looked about as Irish as she sounded: bright red hair, a big, dimpled smile, and freckles everywhere, in particular into her impressive and very prominently displayed cleavage.

"Well you're a tall drink of water, aren't you, mister Frankie's friend?" Fiona said, in her thick accent.

"Uh..."

I didn't know what the proper response was to being called a 'tall drink of water' so I settled on 'nice to meet you.'

"So what brings you over to our side of the bar?" Diane asked. "Are you and Frankie joining us tonight?"

"Maybe," Frank said. He turned to me and raised an eyebrow.

Was he? I wondered.

I gave him a curious look before turning to Diane and shaking my head. "I uh, actually was just getting drinks for our table. We've been waiting a bit, and our table's been waiting for us, so we should get back to them if we can ever get the bartender's attention..."

"Oh my gosh, sorry!" Diane said, and slapped Lena's back.

"What the hell?" Lena said, turning around.

"Other people need drinks too!" Diane said, gesturing to me. She clasped my hand in both of her hands in a gesture of apology. "We'll cover this round."

"You really don't have to do that-"

"A friend of Frankie is a friend of mine," Diane said and snapped to get the bartender's attention. "Put his order on our room: 3102. Whatever he wants. And get it immediately."

"Yes ma'am," The bartender nodded.

"That's so nice of you," I said.

"Nonsense," Diane said, giving me a subtle wink.

"See? I told you they were some cool ladies," Frank said, giving me a rather un-subtle eyebrow wiggle.

"You're too much, Frankie!" Diane said, caressing Frank's arm. "You're not leaving to go back home tonight, are you?"

"No, we'll be here tomorrow," Frank said. "And then we have the trip, right Perkins?"

"That's the plan," I agreed. I hoped that was the plan, at least. As long as Jenny came through on her end.

Fiona leaned forward and pointed to Jenny, who sat at the opposite of the bar. "Is that your girlfriend, Perkins?"

I turned to look, but stammered. I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"She's cute as a button!" Fiona said, smiling.

"You can bring all your friends over if you want, Frankie," Diane said, putting a hand on Frank's arm. "We can share." Frank smiled.

"I KNEW YOU WERE COMING OVER HERE TO CHAT UP THESE LEATHERY OLD HANDBAGS," Hannah roared.

Everyone turned to the scene, staring in shock and awe. Frank's face went white.

"I'm going to the bar- inside the hotel!" Hannah announced, adjusting her purse over one shoulder, then the other. Finally she ripped it off her shoulder, annoyed, and stomped away towards the hotel.