My Swiss Friend Oliver

By Emi Tsuruta

Oliver is maybe a bit of an odd guy. Or maybe not. He arrived in Oceanview around the same time as I did, one of my classmates in my English classes. He's a tall guy, blonde, Swiss German. He has an innocent looking face, easygoing, relaxed. He was quite friendly to me, but for some reason, he didn't seem to have any other friends. I guess he was the only Swiss student in our classes that year. There was a German or two, but according to Oliver, that's not the same thing.

He is kind of funny, the way he speaks and stuff, but sometimes got defensive in class. He was fiercely proud of Switzerland. His English was good. When we walked around campus, he was always peering up at the buildings, admiring the architecture, kind of distracted, off in his own world a bit.

On breaks, I'd sit in the cafeteria, sipping tea. He'd come over, and join me, and we'd talk.

"Have you been to Griffith Observatory?" he asked.

"Um, no. I have not."

"It's supposed to be really cool, Art Deco, near the Hollywood sign..."

I kept wondering if he was going to ask me to go, ask me out. He didn't really talk about women or love though. We were pretty close for a while there, but then I started dating Ryosuke, so I didn't see Oliver as much.

I think after that first year, Oliver went back home to Switzerland for a while. He invited me to come visit him which I thought was nice. Then when I was in my senior year, he popped up again on campus.

"Hey, Oliver. You're back."

"Yeah, I signed up to take a photography course at night school."

"Oh, wow! Photography, huh? Cool."

"Yeah, the prof is great. Tom. He's a real artiste, a bit of a renaissance man."

"Recently, I... uh..." I was about to tell him about modeling for Russell Crane, my dad's friend, but wasn't sure how he'd feel about the nudity part of it, so I held back.

"What? What did you do?"

"No, nothing. I met a photographer recently, and was thinking of learning more about it myself."

"You should sign up. Starts next week, Monday at 7 in the Samuels building..."

"Where's that?"

"South of the Fitness Center? On the circle?

"Oh yeah, I know it."

I was honestly interested, and it would be kind of fun to take a class with someone I know. I ended up signing up for the course.

The teacher Tom it turned out was from Eastern Europe. He took the 'art' part of the course very seriously. He taught us about composition, lighting, creating an atmosphere. He asked us what we wanted to 'say' with each photograph. You couldn't just dash off a few quick snaps, but had to spend time thinking about the angle, the weather, the time of day. He also talked about how to bring out the best in the people you photograph.

I found it hard at first to take photographs that Tom liked. He gave us a lot of feedback though, and slowly, I began to get better. For our end of term assignment, we had to take a series of photographs on a common theme for our portfolio. At first, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I read up on famous photographers to see what they did.

One photographer I like was Miru Kim. She was a bright Korean woman with sparkly eyes, a bit shy maybe, who lives in the States. She became involved in 'urban exploration,' and wandered around in old abandoned tunnels, theaters or train stations taking pictures of herself... in the nude. She says that she started to do that partly as a way of overcoming her shyness and fears. She talked about the rush she got when she managed to get away with wandering around naked in these places without getting caught. In one of her videos, she tells a story about a homeless man who stumbled on her while she was naked in this tunnel. She just explained to him that it was for an art project, and he stood there watching her scurry back and forth, in the nude, and then offered his shirt for her to wipe off her feet. I thought it was so cool that she could do things like that.

Anyway, for my portfolio project, I started thinking about doing something along the same lines. Tom likes nudes. He made that pretty clear in class. He even hired nude models sometimes for us to photograph. I guess I didn't really mind if he saw me naked in photographs. He seems like a responsible guy.

The problem though was more how to get good pictures. I didn't really know of any abandoned buildings nearby. I remember seeing an abandoned house in this gorge Ryosuke and I went hiking in once, and once we came upon an abandoned hot spring cabin out in the desert, but those were kind of far away. I ended up taking a few shots in Loretta's garage, selfies really, but that wasn't quite the same.

A couple of the garage shots had turned out okay, but I needed quite a few more. I did have a couple of ideas. When I went through the ravine on the way to that new supermarket, right at the end, there's a wooded area with trails running through it with no one there most of the time. The main path heads up the hill, and you can see the bright shiny facade of the supermarket through the tree branches. Maybe if I went there early some Sunday morning, I could take some shots.

I was worried though about going out there alone. Sometimes there were people in the park, teenagers drinking, neighbors walking their dogs and such. Maybe I should bring someone along to act as my bodyguard. My boyfriend Ryosuke was working, and I didn't think my friends Satomi or Asuna would be that keen on coming out, and keeping watch while I dash around naked.

There was Oliver. He was very serious about the course, and seemed to know a lot about cameras. We had gone out on photo walks together, exploring the town.

"Have you done your shots for the assignment?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm taking pictures of artistic buildings, galleries, concert halls on campus, or up L. A. way. Have you?"

"Um, yeah, I started..."

It would be easy to invite him to come take pictures with me, but the harder part was figuring out how he would feel about my getting naked. I used to think he liked me, but he never did get around to asking me out. I hadn't really figured out if that was because he wasn't interested in women, or maybe just hid it well. I know him fairly well, but it was hard to be sure. Some of our classmates I'm sure thought that the two of us were an item. That wasn't really the case.

Then, one of my Japanese friends, a stewardess who'd been to Switzerland, mentioned to me that when you go to a sauna there, everyone gets naked. That's a lot like Japanese hot springs.

"Do you know Yuka?"

"No."

"Anyway, she's been to Switzerland. She says you have saunas there, and everyone gets naked."

"Oh, yeah, we do."

"Isn't that like embarrassing?"

"No. It's no big deal. No one cares."

I looked at him carefully, studied his face. He's always so earnest, such a straight arrow. I wondered if he was having me on, but eventually, just decided to go for it.

"I've been thinking about doing nudes for my assignment."

"What? Who's your model?"

"Um, me, I guess."

He turned, and looked at me. I wasn't dressed so special that day. I'd let my black hair down, quite long by then, just a hint of lip-gloss, not much make-up. I batted my eyelashes shyly under his gaze. I was wearing a black and white stripe crop top and fairly tight fitting blue jeans. He eyed my belly button and my hips.

"Yeah, that could work. You have this healthy glow...," he smiled.

That was a bit of a back-handed compliment, but now perhaps for the first time, he was starting to look at me as a woman, rather than just a friend. Glad he finally noticed.

"I kind of need a bodyguard, someone to keep a lookout," I confided.

He raised his eyebrows amused, and then finally offered.

"I can do that. What do you need?"

"Could you come over to my house early Sunday morning? There's a park just behind we could use."

"Um, OK. How... how would this work?" he stammered, nervous all of a sudden.

"Um, I don't know. We just go out, look for nice locations, same as usual."

"Oh OK." He was acting a bit strange, but in the end, he did agree to give me a call when he was on his way.

That Sunday, I got up crazy early, and got ready. I got a text from Oliver, that he was up and getting ready too. Brandon and them were still in bed, so I quietly had a shower, and then checked myself in the mirror. Any tan I might have had from the summer had faded, so my skin was whitish pink again, smooth, supple. My nipples were a slightly darker shade of pink, sticking up from anticipation. I'd trimmed the black pubic hair of my bush not long before, so it was more of a landing strip than a jungle. I turned to look at my behind. It was round, soft and sexy as ever. Wow! I can't believe I'm actually going to go through with this. I was so excited.

I pulled on plain white stretch cotton undies and a bra, khaki cargo pants, a safari jacket and baseball cap, trying to look as unsexy as possible, so I wouldn't attract attention. I was going to strike like a ninja, in and out before anyone noticed. Oliver showed up at my house a bit after 6, and laughed when he saw my outfit.

"What?" I asked.

"No, nothing. You look cute... like an explorer," he joked. At least someone thought it was funny.

The sun had just started to peek over the horizon, but it was still pretty dark. It probably would be better to take pictures around noon, but there would be too many people around by then. I led Oliver out our back gate into the ravine. The whole time, he had this amused look on his face. I guess he was looking forward to seeing me naked. I was trying to act all gruff and professional, but I have to admit the thought of stripping in front of him was getting me all keyed up. He is kind of a handsome man, big and strong, and a good friend. This was new territory for us though. Surely he must be wondering why I chose to invite him of all people.

Past the bridge that ran over the creek, we branched off into one of the side trails, and then headed right into the woods to get as far away from the main path as possible. The forest was dark, but there were a few lamps over by the main trail which made it easier to see. There was also a fairly full moon in the sky. It was so dark though that I could barely see Oliver's face.

Right near the end, there was a small clearing, where someone had set up some logs to sit on. I set down my camera, and then followed the last bit of the trail back to the main path. The sun was coming up, and I could see the shiny supermarket show window, just as I pictured it. Unfortunately though, on the street at the top of the hill, there was a truck parked there and a construction crew milling around. What on earth are these guys doing out here so early in the morning on a Sunday? Wasn't Sunday supposed to be a holiday? The truck was clearly in the way, and I could hardly get naked with all these people around. I looked back at Oliver, and he looked doubtful too.

"Shoot! I can't believe it. Of all the luck," I sighed. "We can't just go back. We've come all this way."

"Maybe you could wait until they finish their work," he offered.

"By that time, there'll probably be other people around." I didn't want to just give up though. I headed back the way we came in, checking to see if there was some other place I could take a photo from, unshaded by trees with some variety in the background. The early morning sun was casting deep shadows, meaning I had to find a more open space if I wanted to get any light.

Oliver was hanging nearby, waiting to see what I would do. I headed back to the logs, still a bit torn, but wanting to do something.

"Let's just do it," I finally said. Oliver looked a bit surprised, wondering I guess what I planned to do about all those workmen up there. Actually, I wasn't really sure how to handle that, but I was vaguely hoping that we could somehow sneak up the path there without them noticing.

I got out my sandals, and set them out on the ground, prying off my sneakers and socks. The sandals would be easier to get into and out of quickly. I moved to take off my shorts, but Oliver stared right at me, eyes wide, all up in arms at the prospect of seeing me strip.

"Here, can you just turn away or something?" I asked him, a little embarrassed.

"Emi, if you take off your clothes, I'm going to see you naked," he laughed. I scrunched up my nose. This was all pretty silly though. I was the one who invited him.

Eventually, I got up my nerve, and pulled down my shorts. He seemed quite interested by my underwear, but they were just plain, nothing special.

I glanced around one more time to make sure no one else was coming, and then daintily pulled my panties down. Oliver widened his eyes even more, evidently excited by my landing strip. My hello kitty started tingling like crazy, partly from the sensation but also from the way he was looking at me. I felt mighty embarrassed, but actually, it was quite a rush getting naked in front of him. I could feel my pussy heating up, getting wet. I don't know why I was getting so worked up, but I was.

I picked up my shorts and panties, but scooted over to my bag, bending over to give him a look at my bare bottom. He smiled even more. I have to focus here, remember why I came. I'm here to get photographs for my portfolio, not tease Oliver. I was starting to get seriously horny.

I stripped off my safari jacket and bra, fully naked now, save for my sandals and necklace. I felt terribly self-conscious, showing off my body to Oliver as if it were some kind of present for him. He was trying to keep a straight face, but he kept breaking into this grin, unable to contain his glee. I slowly turned around, arms out, showing him my body from every angle to see what he thought.

"Yeah, you look great, gorgeous. Who knew?" he laughed. A little tent was forming at the front of his pants. Oh dear! I guess I should have realized that might happen.

Oliver pointed towards my camera, the real reason we were out here.

"Oh right," I blushed. "I guess I got a bit carried away." I stuck out my tongue, and grinned at him, trying to get him to laugh too, but he made this mock stern face to get me to behave. Pretending to pout, I finally fetched my camera bag, and set out along the path towards the main trail. I heard him laugh.

"What?"

"No, you look so... um... I don't know the English. Huere schön? Mega schön? Beautiful? Hot? You have the most perfect little ass. The skin so smooth and soft looking, the way your cheeks bounces. It makes me want to..."

"Hey, slow down there, lover boy."

"No, honestly, Emi. I mean it. You really are so..."

I was kind of surprised that he was so hotblooded all of a sudden. Not like him at all.

"Anyway, we'd better focus on the assignment for now," I blushed, embarrassed by his compliments. It is nice that he finally has realized how cute I can be...

Once I'd made my way out to the main trail, I kept going right on up the hill until I could see the supermarket and the tops of the construction workers' trucks. A bit giddy myself, I began to wonder if I could get the workers into the shot.

"Hey, slow down," Oliver warned.

I finally did stop, and set the tripod down, trying to frame a shot with at least the top of the supermarket in the background. Oliver motioned for me to keep back, but it didn't look like anyone was coming. I scurried back and forth--buck naked--taking test shots trying to get the framing right. I was trying to concentrate on getting good pictures, but running around out here naked so close to the street was getting me excited like you wouldn't believe.

Eventually, the noise from the jackhammers stopped, and there seemed to be a lull in the traffic.

"Do you think they left?" I asked Oliver.

He made a doubtful face, but it had gone quiet now. I motioned that I was going to go up further and take a look.

"Hey, wait," Oliver called after me, worried. From where the path comes out of the woods up to the top of the hill where it opens out onto the street was not that far. I could really feel the breeze on my naked skin now, reminding me of how naked I was. Oliver seemed concerned, but he did keep peering down at my bare behind admiring my curves.

"I can't tell if it's safe...," I shivered. I still couldn't see the workmen, just their equipment, so I continued on up the hill. I went so far that I emerged from the park right out to the street. There was a traffic light further on, and stores and such beyond. The supermarket across the street had this huge glass show window, but in the early morning light maybe they could not see out so well. My whole body was shivering though from the excitement of standing out here on the street buck naked.

Oliver was the one who first spotted a car coming. He reached for me signaling we should go back. I ran down the hill, just barely getting away in time. It all seemed so funny though I broke out laughing.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to savor the moment, because just then, I heard a rustling noise heading this way from inside the park. On instinct, I grabbed my camera, and ducked into the woods. It's a good thing I did too, because coming up the trail straight our way was a cyclist guy! I think he must have seen me, because just at the entrance to the trail I came in on, he stopped, and looked over this way!

I froze, stock still, heart pounding in my chest, peering through the leaves, trying to see what he was doing. Fortunately, there were a few trees between us, but one problem was that my pink skin was lit up, standing out against the greens and grays of the forest.

I felt so strange though, really turned on. The cyclist was kind of handsome in a rugged outdoorsy way. The way he stopped seemed to show that he had seen me, and wanted to see more. Where's Oliver? He must have ducked into the woods too because he didn't seem to be on the trail, but I couldn't see him for the trees.

Anyway, finally realizing that I shouldn't just stand here--naked--with this cyclist guy looking on, I carefully made my way through the woods back towards the logs where my clothes were. The cyclist didn't follow, but I did find Oliver.

"Oh there you are."

"What's he doing?" Oliver whispered, pointing towards the cyclist.

"I don't know. He's just standing there, looking at a map or something. I don't know if he saw me or not."

I set my camera down, but just stood there, peering over at Oliver. I nervously fiddled with the flap of my camera bag, trying hard not to let on how excited all this was getting me.

"Do you think he's gone yet?" I asked.

"You're not going back out there?" Oliver protested.

"Not if he's still there! Go check."

Oliver looked doubtful. I'd gone all the way out to the street, but hadn't even got any pictures when I was out there. I was really starting to get into this, running around naked out here near the busy street.

Oliver disappeared off into the woods, but without waiting, I set out after him. He shooed me to stay back, pointing out that the guy was still right there, but I just giggled, finding the whole situation so exciting. It was pretty clear by then that the cyclist must have spotted me. I mean why else would he be hanging around. Here we were sneaking around trying not to get caught by the workmen, and then this other guy pops up out of nowhere, and catches me naked. He didn't seem offended though. He was probably just wondering what's going on, what I'm doing out here running around naked.

Oliver stood there facing the guy, but shielding me. I kind of leaned my naked body up against, appreciating the cover.

Eventually, the guy gave up, and headed on his way. Oliver turned and looked down at me, wondering why I was snuggling up next to him. I didn't really mean anything by it. I just appreciated his chivalry I guess. I backed up a bit wondering if I'd maybe gone too far. He seemed a bit on edge, but didn't say anything about it.

Anyway, now that the coast was clear, I nodded for Oliver to keep going back towards the main trail. He didn't seem so keen now that I'd been spotted once. I didn't want to argue, but I didn't want to stop either. To humor him, I headed back to the logs where I'd left my things, so we could talk about what to do.

"I know it's dangerous, but I still need to get a few more pictures," I told him. "I didn't even get any pictures out on the street."

"You can't go back out there!" he admonished.

"Where then?"

"We should head back into the park. At least there are trees and stuff to hide behind."

I smiled at his gallantry, and agreed to do that.

Still naked, I bravely set out along the narrow path through the woods. It really did feel weird venturing off into the unknown buck naked like this. My heart was still pounding from our close call.

When we'd come this way earlier, it had been pitch black out, but now the sun was higher in the sky, and the trees weren't providing as much cover as I'd hoped. Opening out on the left, we came upon this huge apartment building overlooking the park. Up there on the left were hundreds of balconies and windows looking down on us. Even though I couldn't see any people, I felt these waves of embarrassment wash over me, sparking my desire even more.

A little ways further, we came upon another apartment. I looked back at Oliver. He frowned, worried I guess that I would be spotted. It didn't look like there was anyone at their windows there either, but it was hard to tell for sure.

Eventually, we came to the end of the side trail where it branched back into the main path. There was a clearing here where I could take pictures, but the question was was anyone else around. I glanced back at Oliver for reassurance, but then bravely walked out onto the main path. There was a huge arching bridge overhead just a little bit further on, and almost too late, I noticed an outdoor cafe terrace on the far side of the park. Outdoors, there were a couple of busboys dressed in white aprons setting out silverware on the tables, and back inside the cafe you could see other people buzzing around.

Realizing that they would be able to see me if they looked over this way, I backed up into the woods, bumping into Oliver. It took Oliver a moment to spot the cafe himself, and he went into a fit.

"Oh, c'mon, Emi. We'd better stop! There are people everywhere!"

It was definitely true that this whole neighborhood had come alive with more and more people. If I go out there, the busboys will see me, and if I go back, we'd have to worry about the people in that apartment. I didn't know what to do. I did want to take more pictures just to make sure I had enough for the assignment. My pussy was tingling away like crazy.

I stuck my head out from behind a tree, and peered over at these busboys. There were dressed in aprons and long pants, seemed pretty young and innocent.

"They don't look that dangerous," I noted. "Do you think I could take a picture with them in the background?"

Oliver looked skeptical.

"Oh come on. They won't try anything. They are working. Besides, you are here to protect me."

He just shot me this look, like 'What? Are you crazy?' He wasn't really on board.

"You said nudity is no big deal in Switzerland."

"Yeah, well, this isn't Switzerland," he laughed. He finally went out, and took a look around.

"Just a bit further on, there is a clearing, but there is a tree that might block their view."

"Oh OK."

We walked down through the woods to this spot. I grabbed a few quick pics, but there was a bridge above us with cars going by. I couldn't see any pedestrians on the bridge, but it was true this was getting awfully dangerous. I walked under the bridge, but that just opened out onto a big clearing with paths leading up the hillside and a park above us. I could hear voices, laughter, people playing Frisbee in the park I guess. I was sorely tempted to go further, but Oliver grabbed my wrist, holding me back.

"What?" I teased.

"You can't go out there. People will see."

"Oh you're no fun," I chided him. I knew he was right, but I'd kind of got to the point where I almost wanted someone to spot me just to see what it would feel like. Oliver had said I look gorgeous. I was getting a real thrill out of teasing him in any case.

"Oh OK. But I want to do something..."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Like walk home naked. Our house is just over there," I pointed.

"Uh, you do realize how insanely hot you look, dressed like that."

"Um, thanks," I blushed, flattered by the compliment.

Even though Oliver was trying to be the voice of reason here, I could tell that all my teasing had got to him. We hadn't said anything about it, but his penis was clearly pushing up against his pants, fully erect from the looks of it. He was still trying to act though like this all was normal, like he was just here to keep lookout.

I shook free of his grip, and went back over peering out at the clearing. I couldn't see the people up the hillside, but I could definitely hear their voices. I wonder how close they are to the lookout.

"I guess it would be kind of risky," I finally conceded. He nodded, but I think he too was wondering if I had the nerve to actually go out there.

Soon though, we heard more noises from back the other way, tires or boots hitting the dirt of the path. Oliver herded me back into the woods, the little side trail, so we could hide. It was more cyclists, three of them. They bicycled on past.

"Phew! That was close," I gasped.

Oliver just stood there, looking at me, unsure what to do.

"Here. Just take one last picture of me, before I get dressed." I gave him my camera, and we cautiously went back out onto the path. We were both too jumpy by then, but I tried to pose natural. He snapped the shot, and then we ran back into the woods, and got out my clothes. I rushed to pull on my panties and bra.

"Cheezus, Aims. You are something else," he marveled. I pulled on my cargo shorts and safari jacket, covering up.

"Safe and sound," I patted my tummy.

"Yeah, I guess. Wow! That was like amazing!"

On the way back to my house, Oliver was pretty quiet. I think he was still trying to parse this whole different me, the daring temptress, so different from how I am usually.

We went back to my house, downloaded the pics onto a flash drive, and then made some lunch. He was still kind of tense, awkward, but I was pretty grateful for his help.

The next time I saw him was on Monday in class.

"Oh, Emi. There you are." He seemed much lighter now, I guess relieved that we'd got away with it, with no ill effects. The way he looked at me had changed too. There was more of a sparkle in his eye, this knowing look, a sense of satisfaction. 'I know what you look like naked.' kind of thing.

We had a few more classes after that, but soon the course ended, and he went back to Switzerland. I couldn't get to the airport to see him off, but he was one of my friends on messenger, so we kept in touch.

Emi Tsuruta