Marie, Hannes, short for Johannes, and I, Matti, short for Matthäus, German for Matthew, first met at a Lutheran youth conference in Augsburg. When we met again in Berlin, all studying theology, we were delighted to be together again, just close friends, theology students without the sexual under- or overtones that other students probably had. This was long ago, decades ago, but students back then also did more than their parents probably thought.
I did too, and probably Marie and Hannes also did, but as students to become Lutheran ministers we didn't talk about such things, not like some male students of other subjects, who bragged about sex life. "Gentlemen don't tell," and "those who talk the most aren't doing that much."
Oh, Hannes and I hugged Marie when we met, and she hugged us, but that was all. I would have kissed her if she hadn't turned her head for a cheek-to-cheek, like she also did with Hannes. After four semesters together, we started discussing the idea of a trip to the Near East, Central Asia, talking about wanting to experience other religions; Islam and Judaism, of course, and religions of smaller groups. We read what we could about them and planned further with the encouragement of our professor for comparative religions.
Our plans took more form, the long break after our sixth semester, but how would we travel? We had calculated to we could travel to Afghanistan and back. Back then, there were no political problems; we just had to have visas and the recommended inoculations. When we all suggested to our parents that we get a camping van, they all chipped in.
I know that Hannes and I didn't tell our parents that Marie was going to be with us. She had to tell hers that she would be traveling both of us,of course, but as she explained, they just thought it was good that she would have two trustworthy friends to watch out for her. Hannes and I like that, feeling responsible for her. We didn't talk further about their agreement.
I did wonder about it, but that was back when the "sixty-eight generation" had become an expression in Germany, referring to mixed student communes, "free love," even kids growing up in them without being sure who their parents were. Had Marie's parents assumed we theological students were "above" that, or had they tacitly accepted that we weren't, politely ignoring the implications of their daughter traveling for months with two young men?
We order a camping model of the VW van. We had thought that little bit ahead: the model with a tilt-up top: space to sleep up there and space over the motor, when the seat bank was turned up, space for the three of us. I remember that I was so enthused that our plan was going to be realized, that I didn't think about any details about how it would be with the three of us. Marie and Hannes felt the same way, apparently, just three long-time friends traveling together for what would be an adventurous trip to foreign places.
When we picked up the van, testing out the equipment, buying bottled gas for the stove, I am sure that the others must have also then wondered about the sleeping arrangement. I figured that Hannes and I could sleep head to foot below and let Marie sleep on the narrower mattress under the tilt-up top. Hannes looked at Marie and said: "You can sleep upstairs."
I nodded, and she did. Of course, none of us thought or said anything about Hannes' and my sharing the not much broader mattress. Oh, I did say: "Head to foot," and they both nodded again.
That was settled. The great adventure could start. We packed the van full, agreeing on things we had forgotten to plan and adding them. Marie was only slightly apologetic, when she stowed away tampons for five months. By then, we did all knew that we had or had had intimate friends in Berlin. My girlfriend thought I was traveling with just Hannes. When I had mentioned that, he had nodded with smirk and said that his girlfriend thought the same. We didn't, of course, ask Marie if she was still with the boyfriend we knew she had been with in the during the winter.
We set off, the three of us on the bench seat in the front of the van, sharing the driving. The first night, we took turns getting undressed and ready for bed in the van. Marie climbed up and told us we could go to bed. Hannes and I lay down. Okay, enough space head-to-foot. In the morning, the same thing, taking turns, although Hannes and I didn't have a problem with seeing each other naked.
The same way the next evening, then south of Munich. In the morning, Hannes and I still waited for Marie to change and then each changed in the van. The next morning, he and I grabbed our clothes and changed outside, while Marie changed. We had stopped for the night at a roadside rest area, he and I changing behind the van, where no one could see us. Marie slid back the door of the van, smiling with a nod.
Had she forgotten to put on her bra, I wondered, then admonishing myself that I could have noticed if she had or hadn't. I tried to forget about that during the day's drive. That evening, we parked off the road at a secluded area on the Dalmatian coast and had supper. When it was time for bed, and Hannes and I were outside waiting for her to change, I did glance - I couldn't help but glance - through the window of the door and saw her taking off her shirt. No bra on her back in the dim light. I felt very wicked for having wanted to look. Had Hannes also looked?
In the morning, I heard the waves gently splashing on the coast. It was a while before we got up. When Hannes and I got up and left the van for Marie to change, closing the sliding door, she clambered down - I was looking again - seeing her in her shorty nightgown. She saw me looking. I blushed. She opened the door with a grin and said:
"Let's go swimming."
"No trunks," Hannes immediately replied.
I didn't have any either, shaking my head; we had just planned for a trip through Turkey and east. Marie scowled but then shrugged. Then she wrinkled her nose and said:
"Then skinny dipping. Why not? Nothing wrong with that, and ... well, then we don't have to be so fussy about changing."
While I was trying to come to grips with what she was suggesting, she stepped out of the van in her shorty top and said:
"If we're going to be together for so long, somewhere we can't all just take turns, or you two, outside. Why not?"
Hannes and I were standing in our boxer shorts, what we wore at night, which she had seen. I glanced at him, and he at me. Marie said:
"Oh, come on, won't be the first girl you've seen, or boy for me; no big deal."
She was already reaching down to pull up her top. At least, she was wearing the matching, loosely fitting bottom. Had I imagined that she wasn't?
"We'd better," Hannes murmured and began to slide down his shorts. If he could, I had to, and Marie had her top up over her head, her breasts moving as she took it off her arms. "Our" Marie half naked, who had written a paper about chastity in the Bible. There was a lot about non-chastity in the Bible, also about chastity, but I could only remember Joseph's escaping from Potiphar 's wife. Both Hannes and Marie almost had their shorts off.
Shit! Almost grinning at each other as they slowly revealed their pubic hair. That wasn't just stripping to go skinny dipping. If they were going to; I quickly pulled my shorts down, sure that my cock wasn't entirely relaxed, but Hannes' also wasn't, and Marie's nipples weren't. That was sort of a relief, not that my cock thought so. I was relieved when Marie rushed in the water and Hannes I could follow her. Nice cool water; good for our cocks, an excuse for her tight nipples.
We all splashed each other like kids,obviously trying to downplay our being naked. Marie didn't seem to mind that that we could see her breasts, mind that Hannes I were looking at them. Well, I assumed that he must be too, since they were too nice to avoid noticing. Did her mentioning not being so fussy about changing suggest that we were going to be seeing each other all naked after this?
A few minutes later, we did, of course, she seeing us, but that was all right - the cold water on my cock - except that she said we would have to stop at the next stream to wash off the salt water. Hannes and I pulled on our shorts again, and she, the bottom to her shorty nightgown and a t-shirt. We drove on and stopped at the stream in the next valley down to the Adriatic. She whipped off her t-shirt, and then we were all naked again, just carrying our towels.
