🏖️ The Poolside

Who plays who

• A — The one on the lounger, doing absolutely nothing.
• B — The one with the bottle of sunscreen and the sudden responsibility.
• A leads Act 1. Whoever gets in the water first leads from Act 2.

What you need

• Sunscreen — real sunscreen, applied properly and reapplied often
• A private pool, a garden tub, or a paddling pool — somewhere nobody else is
• Two towels and a lounger each, or one lounger for two
• Cold drinks and a robe for afterwards

Act 1 — 🕯️ Setup

You are on loungers somewhere private, and the sun is doing its job. One of you has the sunscreen and the other has made a whole performance of not moving. The first act is genuinely about sunscreen — it is rubbed in properly, everywhere, before anything else is allowed to happen.

Beats

• Apply sunscreen properly, edge to edge, and mean it. This is the first act, not a pretext.
• Take the touching slowly — this is a lazy afternoon, not a race.
• Nobody gets in the water yet. That happens in Act 2.

Lines to say

• "You missed a spot. Turn over."
• "Hold still, I'm being thorough."
• "You're going to burn if you don't let me finish."

Act 2 — 🔥 Build

The sunscreen is done and one of you is already at the water's edge. Somebody dives in and somebody gets splashed, and the sun is suddenly not the warmest thing on the lounger. The water is the excuse now, and neither of you is pretending otherwise.

Beats

• Somebody gets in the water, fully, and the other follows or gets splashed until they do.
• Splash properly. This act is allowed to be silly and loud.
• Whoever got in first leads from here, and can change it whenever they like.

Lines to say

• "Come in. It's cooler in here."
• "You've been lying there for an hour."
• "Get in, or I'm coming out and you won't like it."

Act 3 — ⚡ Escalate

You are both out of the water and back on the lounger, wet and warm and out of sunscreen. It is too hot to be careful and neither of you is trying very hard to be.

Beats

• Wet skin, sun-warm, and one lounger between the two of you.
• The lead swaps with a look, not a sentence.
• Keep it slow — the heat makes everything lazy.

Lines to say

• "Come here. You're dripping on me."
• "Don't move. This is the warmest you've been all day."
• "I want to remember this bit."

Act 4 — 💥 Climax

The towels are wet, the lounger is ruined and the sun is starting to drop. This is the same afternoon, just closer — hotter, slower, and completely without anything to prove.

Beats

• Not faster. Closer. That is the only direction this act moves.
• Keep the heat, keep the quiet, keep hold of the hand.
• Let it end the way it will, and take as long as it takes.

Lines to say

• "Stay there."
• "Don't move. You're perfect like this."

Act 5 — 🤍 Aftercare

The sun is off the loungers now and the water has gone still.

Beats

• Reapply the sunscreen, both of you, even though the day is nearly over.
• Shower or rinse off together, and get into the shade with cold drinks.
• One sentence each about the afternoon, said before either of you falls asleep.

Lines to say

• "Best afternoon in a while."
• "Same again next weekend?"

Aftercare

Rinse off together, get into the shade, and reapply the sunscreen you both forgot about an hour ago.,Cold drinks, dry towels, and one sentence each about the afternoon, said out loud.,Check for any red patches — sunburn is the one thing this script actually expects you to take seriously.

Ground rules and consent

• We stay somewhere private. If it is outdoors, it is ours alone — no real public pool and no shared outdoor space.
• Sunscreen is the actual point of the first act: applied fully, reapplied properly, and not left to go sore.
• Water safety first — nothing that stops either of you breathing, no holding anyone under, ever.
• "Sunscreen" stops everything instantly, and being too hot or too cold is a perfectly good reason to use it.

Before you play it, Sensate focus covers the parts that are hard to improvise.

Frequently asked