Charline was meticulous in her application of makeup. From her foundation to the contours highlighting her high cheekbones. She spent thirty minutes melding in a multilayered blueish gray eyeshadow to darken seamlessly into her black eyeliner. Finalized with a high-gloss rosebud lipstick. It was her masterpiece and, aside from her 4” pumps, the only thing she had on.
This was just a quick one-off to get back into writing practice while I work on my longer form stories. I initially posted this complete, but I didn't really like the way I ended this one, so I will post the ending when I have spiced it up a bit.
She could hear Tom waiting impatiently for her downstairs. He was expecting her to be dawning one of the gowns that she had worn during a previous dinner party held by his company. She had pleaded with him, leading up to tonight, that she needed money to buy a new dress. Did he not realize that she would be severely judged by all the other women if she ever wore the same dress twice to one of these occasions?
Of course, she had no intention of attending the party. She just wanted him to understand that the idea of her wearing one of those dresses was as shameful as her going naked.
“Are you almost done?” Tom called up to her.
Giving herself one more inspection, she turned and began walking. As she descended the staircase, Tom’s eyes lit up. “What do you think you’re doing? We have to go!” he bellowed at his naked bride.
“I told you, Tom. I have nothing to wear.” She said in as regal a tone as she could muster.
Tom watched dumbfounded as Charline continued down the steps and halted about a foot in front of him. Reaching into the closet, Tom retrieved her long coat. “You might want to put this on, it is a bit chilly out tonight.” He told her.
Charline stared at him defiantly. If he thought that this would spook her, he was mistaken. Charline took the jacket from him, but didn’t put it on. “Ready?” She asked.
Accepting her dare, Tom reach out and pulled open the door, causing his wife to step back as to not yet expose herself to the peering eyes of their busybody neighbors. Realizing that she had been bested, for now at least, she quickly dawned the coat before following her husband out to their SUV. The man even had the audacity to hold her door open for her.
Tom was right about one thing; it was certainly cold outside. Charline could feel her nipples stiffen against the inside of her coat. She was glad he had pulled one out that hung below her knees, though seated as she was, she had to hold it closed to keep from exposing too much of her legs.
Charline did not think her husband’s ‘joke’ was particularly funny, making her ride along with him wearing only her coat. Surely, he was just going to circle the block a few times to teach her a lesson or some nonsense. She glared at him for his audacity. She also noticed that he wasn’t turning back.
For his part, Tom didn’t say a word. He occasionally betrayed his thoughts by visibly suppressing a chuckle. “What?” Charline demanded.
Tom played it off by pretending that he had a cough. “Just something in my throat.”
By the time they arrived, she was very annoyed that he was not backing down on this. She watched as Tom pulled over and briefly made eye contact with her before opening his door and getting out of the car. Charline stared after her husband as he made his way around to her side of the car and opened the door. “Come along, dear.” He said with a grin.
The driveway was full, so they parked on the street a few houses down. The wind threatened to give the cars passing by a tawdry show. Each step closer to the house brought a deeper wave of panic. Charline realized that the moment of truth was upon her, and her nerves were nearly rattled. If not for her sheer anger at her husband for allowing this, she would likely have run away and hid in the car until it was over.
Tom rang the bell. As they stood there waiting for someone to answer the door, Tom noticed that Charline was shaking. “Are you scared?” he asked in a mocking tone.
“It’s cold, is all.” She deflected. The door opened and Mr. Parker, Tom’s CEO, stood inside welcoming them in.
“Ah, Charline, Tom. Come on it. Can I take you coats?” Mr. Parker asked.
Charline looked to Tom for guidance. These were his coworkers after all. “Wow, it’s toasty in here. You must have the fireplace going.” Tom Declared.
“Ah, yes. My wife’s become more delicate in her golden years, so we try to keep it warm in the home.” Mr. Parker said with a smile.
Tom casually undid his own coat and handed it to the boss. Mr. Parker stood expectantly waiting for Charline to follow suit. Standing behind her, Tom offered to help Charline out of the one article of clothing she had that was, up ‘til now, protecting her from utter humiliation. “Check mate.” Charline whispered as she undid the belt and buttons of her coat.
“No,” Tom whispered back, picking up on her chess reference. “Just exposing my queen.” He then gently pulled on the sleeves of the jacket, swiftly removing it, and leaving his wife now fully nude in his boss’ home. Tom then handed their coats to Mr. Parker who seemed to be in a daze at the moment.
Mr. Parker’s stared blankly at Charline, who was now standing in his foyer stark naked, except for a pair of high heeled shoes. It took several seconds for his eyes to register in his brain. “Well, I didn’t expect that.” He blurted out before moderating is voice. “Please, make yourselves at home.” Mr. Parker said before he scurried off with their coats and was quickly replaced by his wife, Angela Parker.
Mr. Parker was in his early sixties, and she was a few years his senior. Though usually a stern or even a harsh personality, Charline enjoyed her pragmatism. No nonsense and tells it like it is. She also had a keen eye for fashion, especially for someone of her age. She was currently wearing a van Herpen gown that was made from a low-cut vermilion silk leaving both shoulders bare. Charline had seen it a month earlier at the New York Fashion Week. This was a unique piece, which in practical terms meant that only 10 of them were sold. She had likely paid close to 6 figures for this dress and would never wear it again after tonight.
Charline and Tom followed Angela, as they made their way to the hall. Somehow, Mrs. Parker accepted the appearance of a naked women trapsing around her home without comment. Most everyone was already there. There were several audible gasps, but nobody said anything to either Charline or Tom about her lack of attire. Tom headed toward a group of his coworkers who were gathered around the fireplace chatting. Charline saw the wives standing across the room from the men having their own discussions.
Glancing around the room, all eyes were on her. She was starting to lose her nerve but wasn’t sure where Mr. Parker had taken her coat to. With no way to retreat, Charline did her best to walk confidently into the lion’s den.
Fortunately, she spotted a tray of wine glasses. She made a straight line to it and plucked two off for herself. The first one she gulped down immediately before returning the empty glass to the tray. The second one she carried with her, eyes on the lookout for something stronger.
It really was quite warm in the house, at least. Charline slowly made her way to the group of women. She was very nervous.
There were six women all standing together chatting. She knew all but one of them. The first was Angela Parker, the hostess of the evening, had already rejoined the group.
The women to Angela’s left was Anabel Stevens. Anabel had been Karl Stevens mistress until he got caught. She was a short blonde woman with a large chest and small waist. She was also the youngest women at the party. Charline despised cheaters, but at the very least, Karl decided to marry Anabel after his wife left him. Charline was still in touch with is ex Mary, though even Tom didn’t know about the connection.
Anabel was wearing an Amaranth Gucci dress that was likely purchased from Nordstrom Rack. It probably only cost Karl around $2,000. Of course, he spent ten times that on her breasts that seem to get larger every time Charline meets the trollop.
Next to Anabel was Wendy Chen. Tall for an Asian, she was Mr. Parker’s assistant. She was the only one in the group who worked at the company. Wendy was wearing a traditional Chinese dress Charline thought was called a ‘qixiong ruqun’ that was made of red and gold silk. Charline had no idea what one of these costs, but it did appear to be handmade, so it likely was not inexpensive.
The next two were Sarah and Carrie. They were sisters with bright red hair and freckles. Both of their husbands worked at the company, and the two women insisted that that was just a coincidence.
Sarah Dawson was wearing a celadon spaghetti-strap Vira Wang dress with a burlywood shawl. She also had on a pair of Jimmy Choo heels that were only released yesterday. How she managed to get a pair so quickly, Charline had no idea. She estimated the total cost of her ensemble at close to $14K. Alec, Sarah’s husband was another partner in the law firm and often splurged on his wife.
Carrie Davidson wore a Tom Ford design that looked to be in about half again as much as the dress her sister was wearing. It was a nice fitting feldgrau dress with a large bow between her ample breasts. The color really served to highlight her red hair and fair complexion. Her husband, David, was also a partner, but he was normally more frugal than Alec, so it was a surprise to see that Carrie’s dress was the better of the two.
In the midst of all of these high fashioned women stood a thin and attractive African American woman whom Charline had never met before. Her dress was made of a teal polyester material that looked like it belonged at a high school prom. Based on the design, Charline figured that the tag on the back probably read “Sears”.
Charline approached the group. “Charline!” Carrie said in an obnoxiously loud voice, drawing even more attention to her, if that was at all possible.
Suppressing yet another urge to run away and hide, Charline smiled at her ‘friends’ and forced herself to finish the final few steps in her most confident stride. “How are you, Carrie? I love that dress on you. Have you lost weight?”
Asking a woman if she had lost weight implies that she had previously been fat. It was one of Charline’s favorite non-plements.
“Not that I was counting but thank you for the complement.” Carrie told her, still stumbling a bit at the site of the naked woman who had just joined their group. “And you.” Carrie said more enthusiastically, eyeing her up and down. “I love those shoes you’re wearing. They really are the highlight of your outfit.”
The others in the group were all trying to act as if it were normal for one of their members to be unattired. All except for the woman Charline had never met before. “Why are you naked?” she asked, astonished as much by Charline’s presence as by the fact that nobody else said anything.
“Yes, Charline. Please tell us how this happened.” Sarah said with a mischievous smile. “Did you forget to stop at the drycleaners?”
Before Charline could answer, the other women chimed in with their guesses. Carrie suggested that Charline’s Amazon order got misplaced. Anabel and Angela offered places that they knew were open this time of night. Charline smiled and nodded. She understood that the women were insinuating that she should be wearing some off the rack dress, with Anabel even suggesting a nearby Walmart clearance rack would be the best place.
“I appreciate your suggestions, but this outfit never goes out of style.” Charline said with a confident smile.
TO BE CONTINUED