Life over Modesty

With a deep red blush, Kristen steeled herself for the upcoming embarrassment. “Alright. People go skinny dipping all the time. Not unusual, even on a public beach. Besides, everybody’s too panicked to notice me, right?” She explained to herself, walking in towards the shore. Kristen was careful to keep only her bare shoulders exposed, so as to preserve her modesty as long as possible.

The true downpour had already begun by the time Kristen reached the most shallow portion of the water she could reasonably remain covered in. She had hoped she might be able to ask her mom for a towel, but the umbrella, nor beach chairs belonging to her family were nowhere to be seen. With the last remnants of the beachgoers funneling into the exit path, Kristen finally broke her nerve, and took a deep breath. “Here goes...” she said, placing an arm over her breasts, and a hand between her legs.

Initially, she didn’t garner much attention at all. There were only enough people left on the beachfront to fill a dining room, but the majority of the crowd had clogged up at the wooden path over the sand dunes. But the brief secrecy soon ended, when a college aged girl stared blankly through the torrential rain towards her from further down the beach. She smiled, tugged at her boyfriend’s shirt, and pointed towards Kristen. He began to grin as well, but the smiles from both began to fade as they became soaked.

Then came the others among the beach crowd, which mostly consisted of a small family of four, who promptly shielded their children’s’ eyes from the bare figure before them. Kristen tried to smile awkwardly, hoping the family could forgive her. Her heart had now begun racing, filling with adrenaline as the embarrassment and desire to escape it began overwhelming her.

Now she was already halfway to up the beach, kicking up sand as she tried to run over the soft terrain. But with each step she took, it seemed another person up ahead had taken notice of her. She tried to avoid eye contact as she drew closer, causing some to smile or stare at the unexpected streaker, and others to either look away, or shake their head in disapproval.

Once she finally reached the wooden flooring, she had to awkwardly squeeze past strangers who were blocking the way, but was glad they seemed to have picked up on the message, and made a makeshift path to get to the front. Kristen was so caught up in just trying to leave, she didn’t even notice the stranger that offered her a towel, nor the others that asked if she was alright. Despite the large line of people near the exit, Kristen was able to get on the path in record time as the downpour continued to worsen.

Finally after a couple of minutes, Kristen found herself facing a half-emptied parking lot, with many beachgoers packing umbrellas and chairs hurriedly into their trunks. She sighed in relief at the sight of her family’s car in its former position, with the lights on and the window wipers working furiously to bat the rain off the windshield. Without a second thought, she sprinted over to the side door, and jiggled the locked handle furiously. Kristen needed no more than the relaxing sound of a click from the door, to swing the door open, throw herself into the car, and shut the door with frightening speed. She smiled and sighed with relief, as she listened to the gentle sound of the raindrops hammering effortlessly against the car.

The brief silence was abruptly shattered by her father’s stern voice. “You mind telling us where you were?” He questioned, his brow furrowing in a way all too similar to the faces he made when he wasn’t pleased, to say the least. Her mother looked a bit more concerned, but oddly relieved. “Where are your clothes? What happened to you?” She asked hastily, her eyes widening in anticipation.