Sometimes reality goes above and beyond one’s own inner fantasy life. I was near the end of my college years, was working a summer job that was a mix of groundskeeping and, in the afternoons and early evenings, filling the role of a makeshift lifeguard at the apartment complex community pool. I’d get hot and sweaty cutting grass and hauling garbage in the mornings and then strip down to my swim trunks in the afternoon and report for duty at the fenced-in pool area in the hot afternoons. More than anything my bosses wanted me to check IDs and make sure that non-residents weren’t sneaking in and using the pool. If there was an emergency I would do my best to assist, but I actually wasn’t certified.
Naturally, I quickly developed a dark all-over tan over the days in the sun, and indeed I did prevent all manner of non-invited “guests” from over running the smallish private pool. The unintended side effects of this were that the residents treated me with a kind of sweet-talking deference to get their friends in. Still, a number of the single gals who lived there, both with and without children would casually chat with me for reasons I can only imagine. It was a pretty ideal summer job for a well-mannered, well-read, slender-but-fit young guy to have back then.
Not too far away, and simultaneously, the business office staff of the complex had several women who managed all things related to the residents and the maintenance of the facility. One of them was a young, attractive Asian-mix lady in her early thirties who happened also to be the wife of the grounds maintenance manager, who was my immediate boss. Tara was shorter than me, nicely proportioned with a nice figure and silky-smooth skin. She was, looking back on it, the ideal milf as it were; an elegant dresser, professional, but also had a sassy or snarky side. She could be critical and “bossy” at certain moments, but also strangely nosy, asking personal questions and wanting to know more about one’s personal life. She was also known as the queen of local gossip. Since she was married to my boss I generally tried to ignore her, even though quietly I did find her sexy and interesting.
One time, toward the end of my summer tenure there Tara showed up unexpectedly at the poolside and came inside the closure, seating herself down next to me on a recliner lounge chair in the warm sunshine. This wouldn’t be too unusual in that we had a policy that around 5 pm the younger children were sent out and the pool hosted an ‘adult swim hour’, to be mostly noise and commotion-free. The office closed around that time and Tara and her family lived in one of the nearby surrounding apartments, one of the perks of working there.
What was unexpected, and a bit of a surprise to me was that she showed up in a floral bikini, wearing designer sunglasses and carrying a large towel that she spread out over the chair. That was all a secret thrill to witness, but my first thought was that she was there to check up on me, to see if I was doing my job properly or professionally. We chatted in a friendly manner, but I was extra careful not to sound too cheeky or casual. I thought it odd though when she said, out of the blue, “I’ll bet you get a lot of ladies hitting on you here at the pool. I can only imagine so-and-so trying to get you back to her place and trapping you into becoming her boyfriend. You’d better watch out. Single mothers will do that to you.”
I wasn’t sure how to take that advice. Was she baiting me to spill the beans and talk about my possible indiscreet ways here at the pool? Or was this part of something else? I just sort of laughed it off. “Oh, they’ve never done stuff like that!,” although some of the ladies, and younger women actually did flirt with me there. This conversation made me feel a bit self-conscious and I happened to notice at that moment that my bathing suit did look rather tight, and more than that if I had to be honest, my package down there was more three-dimensional and ‘defined’ than what might be appropriate for a pool attendant. This was a phase of life when 24/7, my wiener was always one hair trigger from ballooning onto something much larger.
“Come on,” she prodded me, “There’s no way you couldn’t be hit on by these people!” I almost thought I could discern her taking sneak-peeks at my crotch here and there beneath her stylish designer sunglasses. Sure enough, my smallish suit wasn’t leaving too much to the imagination. In my mind, I thought what a fool I was for not having gone to the mall to purchase a new, more proper-fitting bathing suit when I’d first been given this job.
But the conversation continued while the last of the family swimmers cleared out of the fenced-in pool area. Soon we were alone in the late afternoon sun. At one point, she took a dip in the glistening, well-skimmed water, one of my other assigned tasks, and when she emerged her bathing suit seemed noticeably thinner and more revealing, or was it just my imagination? After toweling off her skin appeared more delightful and sensual than before, showing the “goose bumps” that always turned me on, even as a small kid. She was crossing and uncrossing her legs, something I had a hard time ignoring.
She asked me questions about my girlfriend and sheepishly I admitted that recently we had broken up, although we had talked about getting married for almost two years, and that I always felt frustrated. In a moment of weakness, I admitted to Tara that the physical relationship could only advance so far because my girlfriend wanted to save herself for marriage. This drew out a good hearty laugh from Tara. “How could you be such a fool? Girls will always do that to their boyfriends, teasing the hell out them and until they finally give in and tie the knot.”
Then came the first big surprise in our increasingly intimate chat. She went into a kind of confessional: “You know, Rob and I are now separated, and he’s seeing that young bitch over in apartment 113. But it doesn’t really bother me that bad because I have a new boyfriend too that I really have a lot of fun with.” I nervously swallowed, and almost coughed.
“Oh wow, I had no idea,” I stammered. She adjusted her bathing suit top and went on.
“Yeah, we just argued too much. My new man-friend is an older guy, in his fifties and likes all kinds of things that Rob was too clueless to do or think about. And he’s just totally laid back.”
I sat, stunned in silence. “Wow,” I repeated, inanely. Now I somehow knew I was out of the rough in terms of testing and into some new, wild and unexplored, even novel territory with this ethnic Filipina co-worker of mine, who up until that afternoon seemed like an demanding taskmaster. “Gosh,” I said, “After what I went through with my former girlfriend I would love to experience a dating partner like that.” I could hardly believe those words had just rolled out of my mouth. But clearly, some kind of switch had just been tripped in my head. Hormones must have played a part.