Skinship

Based on my experiences in Japan, this story won the undergrad fiction award at Western Michigan University in 2003, and in 2007 was awarded best creative nonfiction by and published in the GlassFire Anthology.

 

            I remember the exact moment I first wanted to get drunk. It was in Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture, approximately nine a.m. Japan standard time on July twenty-third, a Wednesday. I had just finished reading an email from my fiancé back in Michigan. He had spent about a page detailing his make-out sessions with guys from a party the night before. It is true that we had come to the agreement that he should experiment while I was away, and it is also true I never wanted to inhibit him, but reading this email did nothing to reassure me and I was not relieved that he was being honest with me by reporting his actions. I was miserable and I had class in ten minutes.

            I went over the email in my head as I shuffled over to the academic building. Was I jealous that he was getting some action and I wasn’t? Possibly. All the American students at the Japan center were feeling a bit lonely. Maybe I felt betrayed despite our agreement. Whatever the case, I wanted to drink.

            I sat through class paying even less attention than usual. I’d learned years before in high school French class that a foreign language is quite easy to tune out when one wants to do so. I tuned out the three hours of morning classes so thoroughly that I had to have my classmates explain the lessons to me later. Over the hour lunch-break at noon I put the rice and water into my room’s rice-cooker and then headed down to the dormitory lobby (where most students met for lunch) while I waited for the rice to cook. I joined Chizu and Riss.

“Youkoso, youkoso! Welcome to our table.” Chizu smiled brightly as I took a seat on the tabletop she cleared for me.

            “Sushi for lunch?” I asked.

            She nodded enthusiastically. “Oishii yo!” It’s tasty.

            “Conbini no?” From the convenience store?

            “Hai.” Yes.

            Riss, who had just delved into his plastic tray of conbini yakisoba, turned to me and asked, “Hey, do you have a lot of shukudai?” Homework.

            I had to think that one over. “Not yet, I don’t think.”

            “Okay, cool. We were thinking about having a party down on the beach with fireworks and stuff.”

            “And gettin’ good ‘n yopparai!” Chizu cheered.

            “Excellent,” I returned. “I want to get drunk.”

            It was then that Dane made his appearance. “Drunk? What? Where? I’m in.”

            I snickered through my nose at him. Unlike Chizu and Riss, I knew Dane before entering the study abroad program and liked to tease him.

“I want to get drunk,” I repeated.

            Dane sat down across from me. “Oh? Any particular reason?”

            I smiled. “Relationship trouble.”

            “Do you want to talk about it?”

            “Not now.”

            He nodded and started in on the steaming bowl of curry-rice before him on the table. “You know how to find me.”

            “Thanks.”

After the one hour of afternoon class Chizu asked what everyone’s plans were for dinner. No one had anything definite so she suggested we ride out to Bell Road for okonomiyaki – an interesting cross between a pizza and an omelet. I told her I was in before heading to my room to drop off my school stuff. On my way back downstairs I met Dane in the hall and asked when we were leaving.

“Probably not until five or so. Some people made a plaza run so we’re waiting for them to get back.”

“Okay, I’ll be in the computer room.”

“I’ll be down in the benkyou room benkyou-ing in a few.”

“Maybe I’ll head there when I’m done checking email.”

Chizu was already in the computer room. “Osu!” she greeted me.

“Osu!” I returned. “Hey, is there anything more on the beach party tonight?”

“So far it’s me, you, Riss-san, Walker-san”—by this she meant Dane—“Kerri-chan, and probably Duke-san.”

At the mention of his name, Duke, who had been sitting at a computer around the corner, called out, “Hey, do you want me to bring my guitar?”

“That’d be great,” I answered. “You and Dane-chan can do a duet!”

“Does he sing outside of karaoke?” asked Chizu.

Duke and I chorused, “He’s in a band.”

Chizu rolled her eyes. “Who here isn’t?”

I shrugged. There were a lot of musicians in the program, but only Duke had brought an instrument. I remembered how they had run around at the airport before we left looking for a proper case for the guitar so he could use it as a carryon.

When I’d re-read the email from my fiancé a few times, I moved next door to the study room. Kerri, Riss, and Dane were there with their books open. When I entered, Kerri pointed at me. “Are you benkyou-ing? No coming in here and distracting us unless you are here to benkyou.”

“I’ll benkyou if someone will explain the shukudai.”

Dane offered his services so I sat next to him. He and I were in the same class; Kerri and Riss were in a different one so they worked on their shukudai together. At around five Chizu came to collect us.

“Ikou! Ikou!” she chanted. Let’s go!

In all nine of us hopped on our uniform bikes, secured our fly bike helmets (which we were forced to wear for liability reasons) and set off. Most people think of Japan as being crowded with buildings reaching up to the sky, but Hikone is rural and full of rice fields. We rode on sidewalks along the main roads and kept to the sides if it was a back street. Some rode faster than others so we made a nice gaijin-on-parade down the road. At the corner where we turned into the park someone leaned out of a car window and yelled hello to us (it came out as haro). He waved while his friend at the wheel honked the horn. We waved back which made them laugh and chatter rapidly in Japanese.

I liked riding through the park because the main path we took ran along the moat of Hikone Castle, one of the most well-preserved castles in Japan. It was the rainy season, so the gardens were in full bloom, the nameless flowers permeating the air with their scent. We rode by quite a few schoolchildren and a few of them waved and said “haro,” to which we answered “hello,” and they squealed with delight. It was fun being in Japan – we were celebrities.

The okonomiyaki shop was small with only three booths. Chizu, Dane, Duke, and I all sat at the booth on the farther end; Riss, Kerri, and a student I didn’t know sat in the middle with the remaining two sitting nearest the door. Each tabletop was made of a flat black grill surrounded by a thin strip of wood just wide enough to fit a small plate. The waitress brought us hot towels and asked in English, “Water?” and we all responded, “Hai.”

It took a few minutes for us to decipher some of the kanji – Chinese characters – on the menu. Everyone who owned one had their electronic dictionary out in a race to figure out our orders. The okonomiyaki was made by the cook at the counter opposite the line of booths, then brought to us and set on our grill-top tables where it finished cooking.

Dane looked down at his okonomiyaki. “So how do I eat this?”

“Oh,” I said. “I’m sorry. You haven’t had this before?”

“Not yet, no.”

“Okay, well, it’s easy.” I took up my metal spatula and used it to slice my okonomiyaki into quarters—“You cut it”—then slid one of the slices onto my small plate—“and get it onto your plate like this.” Putting down the spatula, I picked up my chopsticks and broke them apart to separate the two sticks. “Then you want to use your hashi to break off pieces of the okonomiyaki. See?”

Dane repeated what I did and I waited anxiously for him to have his first bite. Okonomiyaki is dripping with Japan’s favorite condiment, mayonnaise, so not everyone takes a liking to the dish.

“Well?”

He nodded as he chewed. “This is pretty good.”

I smiled. “Glad you like it.”

It turned out to be very lucky that he liked it since I was unable to finish mine and Dane was quite happy to take it off my hands. As I was passing it over to him, my spatula slipped and my instinct was to dive for it. When I did so, my finger touched the grill.

“Ow! S**t, s**t, s**t!” I hissed as I whipped my hand back and forth in front of me.

“Here, here.” Dane took my hand and pressed his now cold towel against the burn.

“Are you okay?” Duke asked. Chizu echoed in Japanese. “Daijoubu?”

“Ow,” I answered.

“Let me see it.” Dane uncovered my finger and peered at the fresh burn. “Doesn’t seem too bad. I’ve got some band-aids and Neosporin in my room.”

I looked at the burn myself. “Yeah, me too. It’s not bad. Just stings!”

“Well,” said Duke. “Let’s finish up and get out of here.”

On the ride home Dane and Duke both stuck close to me and kept asking if I was all right. I assured them I was fine and rode mostly one-handed back to the center. As we piled into the genkan (where we took off our outdoor shoes and put on our indoor slippers or sandals), Riss came up and asked if we were ready to head to the beach. It wasn’t even eight yet, but the sun had already dipped below the horizon and we’d had to ride our bikes with the lights on.

Chizu chimed in, “We’re going to make a sake run to the conbini first for those who need some nomimono and hanabi.”

“I need to go,” I said. “Just let me get a band-aid.”

Riss cocked his head. “Did you cut yourself?”

“No, I burned my finger on the grill.”

“Oh, you burned your finger? I’m sorry.”

“I’m fine. Just don’t go anywhere without me, ‘kay?”

I ran upstairs to my room as quickly as my legs would go. I was dying to run my finger under some cold water. When satisfied, I tapped my hand dry with the kitchen towel, and put on some Neosporin and a band-aid before heading back downstairs.

The cashiers at the neighborhood conbini were mostly used to us gaijin coming to their stores, but the customers were not. When six of us stepped through the door, a little girl who stood with her mother opened her eyes wide, pointed with her hand and exclaimed, “Aa! Gaikokujin!” I smiled because she used the more polite and official word for foreigner. Even we didn’t use it. We knew we were gaijin – outsider.

            Following Dane to the back of the store, I looked over the well-stocked chilled alcohol. “What do you think I should get?” I asked him.

            “Well, I’m getting the super dry, but I know you aren’t particularly fond of beer.” He placed a hand on the chu-hi. “These are usually good. It’s just fruit juice mixed with sake.”

            “Yeah, I had a grapefruit one at karaoke.” I picked out two cans of peach chu-hi. The chill of the metal sank into my palms. “What about the stuff that people were mixing with Coke? That was pretty good.”

            “That’s over here.” I followed him to the end of the far aisle. “I recommend the blue label. It’s sweeter and mixes better than the pink label. I like it with orange juice myself, but Coke isn’t bad.”

            “I’ll get a thing of orange, too, then.”

            There wasn’t a liter of orange juice, but there was plenty of orange drink which was close enough for me. I felt bold as I approached the counter. This was my first alcohol purchase and though I was twenty, the legal age in Japan, there was something illicit about the transaction. Of course they never carded gaijin (everyone at the center was buying booze regardless of age), but just knowing that I was legal gave me a bit of a high.

From there we headed out to the small beach located maybe a block behind the center. Everything was dark and we had to step carefully from the pavement down onto the gravely sand. Riss was in the lead and he soon called back, “Look at all this wood! It’s dry, too!”

“How can anything be dry with this rain?” I could hear Kerri roll her eyes through her words.

Chizu grinned, her teeth flashing in the moonlight. “Let’s build a bonfire.”

We quickly spread out, gathering up all the old driftwood we could find. There was some kind of dried, stringy brush that we found in abundance and Riss used that to coax the wood into burning. Duke pulled out his guitar and settled into the sand while the rest of us pulled out our drinks. Kerri sat down next to me.

“What do you have?” I asked her.

“Coconut rum and Coke.” She held out the water bottle in which she was mixing the drink. I didn’t need to lean in far to get a nose-full of coconut. It reminded me of tanning oil.

“I think I’ll start with a chu-hi.”

The can opened with a satisfying click. I swished it around a little and took a whiff of the contents. Smelled like fresh peaches. I didn’t taste any alcohol in my first few sips – it wasn’t even in the aftertaste. It reminded me of sparkling juice, but not nearly as sweet.

Dane sat down on the other side of  me. “All good so far?”

“Yeah, this is really good stuff.” I lifted my can in a belated toast. “Kanpai!”

He raised his own taller can of beer. “Kanpai!”

When my chu-hi was a little more than half gone, I started to feel dizzy. It was an interesting feeling so I chugged the rest of the can to see what would happen. Kerri offered me some of her bottle and I took a swig of that, too, which tasted more or less as I’d expect tanning oil to taste. I even tried some of Dane’s beer which made my face pucker. He laughed and offered me more.

Once the fire was going strong, Riss held up his grocery bag. “Anyone ready for fireworks?” We all cheered. “Anyone have an empty can?”

“I do!” I answered and ran over with the empty chu-hi.

“Great. Thanks.”

We cheered for the bottle rockets that popped over the lake and then for the one that accidentally went into the water.

“Woh!”

“Suge!”

“Did you see that?”

“That was so cool!”

“Do it again.”

After that Riss alternated between shooting them into the air and into the lake. Duke sang a few songs before passing the guitar on to Dane who sang more. Sometimes they would harmonize together, which I really enjoyed, and others would join in on the parts we knew. It was Kerri who first ventured into the water.

“Hey, you guys! It’s really warm!”

Chizu strode in after her. “You’re right, it is.”

The two of them walked around a bit before Kerri grabbed Chizu’s hands and pumped them up and down. “Let’s go swimming!”

Riss dropped his mostly empty bag of fireworks. “I’ll go swimming with you.”

Kerri waved him into the water. “C’mon then!”

Stripping down to his boxers, Riss jumped right in. Kerri came back up on shore and took off her summer dress, leaving just her bra and panties.

“Uh-oh,” said Chizu. “They’re getting’ hade in the mizu.”

Kerri laughed from the water. “We’re not naked yet!”

“Besides,” put in Riss. “It’s too dark to see anything.”

“What, you’re looking?” Kerri splashed him.

“I think we’re all looking,” Dane informed her.

It was when I finished my second chu-hi that I moved beyond the dizziness into something else. I felt warm and relaxed as my eyes settled on Dane, who wandered with the guitar just outside the circle of firelight.

Kerri begged us again to come into the water. Climbing unsteadily to my feet, I joined Dane at the water’s edge and took a few tentative steps in, but couldn’t stay long. The gentle tug of the waves was enough to unhinge my balance.

“C’mon!” Kerri urged. “It’s really nice.”

“I can see that,” I replied. “But it makes me dizzy.”

Chizu halted her march around the shallows and held up her hand. “All right, I’ll get in.”

Kerri and Riss cheered as she walked out into the water fully clothed and went under. I looked down at my shorts. “I don’t want to get my jeans wet…”

“So take them off,” Dane offered.

I felt my cheeks color. “I dunno.”

Duke called from his position at the fire. “Hey, if you aren’t gonna play, then pass the guitar back here.”

“Oh, sorry!” Dane ran back to return the instrument while I watched Chizu lift her pants into the air to Riss and Kerri’s further cheers. Running up on shore, she put them down by the fire, then returned to the dark water.

“What?” Dane exclaimed as she ran away. “You took your pants off?”

“Take yours off!” Kerri returned.

“Hai!” declared Chizu. “Everyone must be pantless.”

“Fine, you want no pants? I’ll give you no pants!” Dane dropped his shorts to the sand and stood by the fire in his boxers. Everyone in the water cheered.

“Now get in the water!” they called.

“Why should I?”

“Hey, how’s this for enticement?” asked Chizu. She once again strode up on shore, this time depositing her bra by the fire.

“That’s no fair,” said Dane. “You’re still wearing a t-shirt.”

“Okay, fine.”

My eyes popped when she stripped off her wet t-shirt and stood with her back to the fire, arms raised in triumph. Then I almost collapsed from laughter.

“Wow,” murmured Riss. “Chizu-chan, you are like my hero now.”

“I’ll take mine off, too, but I’m not taking it on shore,” added Kerri. “Dane has to come get it.”

After he went into the water and much more than just her bra was removed, I felt a little lonely on the beach. They urged me to get in the water, but I again said I didn’t want my jeans to get wet. I was told to take them off and, after a moment’s hesitation, I figured what the hell and dropped my shorts. I ran into the water with my tank top and underclothes still in place.

Dane gave my shoulder a squeeze. “All right, Kia-chan!”

 “You have too much clothing on,” accused Chizu. “Take something off.”

“No way!”

“I’ll take your bra off,” Dane offered.

I grinned. “Okay.” He seemed a little surprised by this. “If you take if off you have to run it on shore, too.”

“Take it off!” Chizu and Kerri chanted. “Nuide!”

“Be a man!” Riss threw in.

“Geez, fine. No pressure or anything.”

I stood as steadily as I could while Dane reached clumsily up the back of my shirt. He was jeered mercilessly the longer he fumbled with the strap. When he finally managed to unhook the thing, I slid it off and handed it to him. He raised the lace bra in the air like a trophy and took it to the beach.

“You’re still more dressed than we are.” Chizu shook her head. “It’s kind of making me feel uncomfortable.”

Emboldened by my last move, I decided to take off my panties. “How’s this?” I held them up for all to see.

“That’s much better.”

Dane took these from me and ran them up on shore as well. After a little while of swimming and playing around we noticed that Chizu was wearing something on her head. Riss asked her what it was and she grinned.

“My underwear. I was wondering when you guys were gonna notice.”

His jaw dropped. “Wait, so you’re naked now?”

“I am completely hade from the kubi down.”

“I’m naked, too,” chimed in Kerri.

“You guys seem to be a little overdressed,” Chizu noted.

“Aw s**t.” Riss took off his boxers. When Kerri told him to run them on shore, he obliged her but was sure to cover himself as best he could. Kerri threw open her arms.

“Give me a naked hug!”

The three naked people exchanged hugs while Dane and I hung back.

“Hey,” Dane said to me. “I’ll take off mine if you take off yours.”

I looked down at my white linen shirt. It glowed in the water. The others began to chant “take it off” and the mood caught me. “Okay!” I pulled the tank top over my head and handed it to Dane who then took it to the beach with his newly removed boxers. There was another round of naked hugs. Dane was last to hug me and when he did, he rubbed my back.

“You’re really cold, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I answered, though my teeth had begun to chatter through my smile.

“Come here.” He pulled me in close and continued to rub my back and arms. The water’s constant pull was beginning to get to me so I rested my head against his, my arms wrapped around his neck.

“Aw… how sweet…” Kerri cooed.

I raised my head and smiled at her. When I turned back to Dane our eyes met and it suddenly struck me how close we were. I put my head back down, closed my eyes, and wrapped my legs around his waist to keep from floating away. I could hear the waves lap against shore and Duke still on the beach singing, but louder than all that was the sound of Dane’s deep breathing as he held me in the water.

“You know,” said Chizu in a pensive voice. “If somebody came down here and caught us, I wouldn’t care at all.”

“Yeah,” replied Kerri. “This would be worth being kicked out of Japan for.”

“What kind of story would that make?” asked Riss. “ ‘You were kicked out of Japan? What for?’ ‘Oh, getting naked in Lake Biwa.’ ”

Chizu laughed. “ ‘Nothing big.’ ”

“Hey!” Riss sniffed. “There is a thing called shrinkage.”

“I didn’t mean that!”

After a while Chizu decided she was getting cold.

“Duke-san’s been keeping the fire going if you want to warm up,” Riss pointed out.

Chizu and Kerri got out and stood around the fire, their bodies glistening. Riss soon followed with his hands cupped over his crotch.

Dane gave me a squeeze. “You should probably get out, too.”

“Only if you get me my shirt.”

I waited in the water while he hunted in the sand for it. Frowning, he held up the soaking wad of linen and sand. “Do you just want to borrow mine? It’s dry.”

I accepted it and as I rose to put it on he stood between me and the group dancing around the fire. When I pulled on the shirt I noticed that my band-aid was gone.

“Oh no!”

“What’s wrong?” Dane asked. I showed him my finger. “Don’t worry.” Taking my hand in his, he drew it to his lips and gently kissed the burn. “There. Now it’ll get better.”

I was shivering so he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight. Resting my head against his chest, I closed my eyes, and listened to his heart beat.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m sure it will.”

Reviews

[Annabelle Baptista]

You have a lot of running around before you get to the meat of the story which is the meeting up with Dane (at least too me) and your chemistry together. You can hint more at the chemistry earlier and even have a reflection to the fiance, so he is fleshed out a little more in the story. I really liked learning a little japanese and your writing is great, you set scene well, and language is nice, i would just like to have the situation tighter. I hope this helps. Belles

[Sanand]

I enjoyed this story. Romance and friends in a unique setting which you used well.
Sanand