The Friend

Angela shot Tammy a pleading look. Tammy looked her up and down, raised an eyebrow, and then looked at her mother. Then she seemed to realize something, and her mouth formed an O shape.

“Come along, Angela,” she said, “let’s get you into something… else.”

Angela breathed a deep sigh of relief and followed Tammy up the staircase and into her room, whereupon Tammy shut the door and whirled around with a look of shock and concern on her face. “Angela, what happened to your clothes? Did that driver attack you?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Angela replied. “But, uh, this is why I wanted you to come to the mall with the outfit.”

Understanding dawned on Tammy. “Oh! You were naked at the mall! You should have said something!”

“I tried to, but—”

“Oh, if only I had known, I wouldn’t have called a driver for you! Or at least I would have made sure it was a woman. I’m so sorry, you must be so embarrassed!” Tammy looked into Angela’s eyes and laid a hand on her upper arm. “I would just die if I had to ride naked in a stranger man’s car! What happened to you?”

“It’s a long story,” Angela said. “What were you busy with that you couldn’t come to the mall yourself?”

“Oh, nothing important, really nothing as urgent as bringing clothes for my beautiful naked friend Angela should have been.” Tammy looked at her with sad, empathetic eyes, but made no move to do anything else.

Angela felt very conscious of the fact that she was standing naked in front of her clothed friend, and had not been offered so much as a blanket or a towel. “Well, I’m here now. Where’s the outfit you said you had for me?”

Tammy’s eyes lit up. “Oh yes!” She dove into her wardrobe and pulled out a yellow dress. “I’m sure this will look great on you!”

Angela accepted the dress with enormous gratitude, couldn’t stop saying thank you over and over again to Tammy, her dear friend, her knight in shining armor. She pulled the yellow dress over her head, and finally she was clothed. The nightmare was over.

Ordinarily, Angela would have felt almost naked wearing just a dress and running shoes, with no underwear on, but after her stint of public nudity, she now felt as though she was wrapped up in layers of sweaters and jackets.

“Thanks Tammy, you’re a lifesaver.”

Tammy said nothing, but cocked her head at Angela. “It doesn’t suit you. Hold on, I’ll pick out a different one.”

“It’s fine, Tammy, this is only temporary, until I can—”

“Try this one on instead!” Tammy thrust a blue dress in Angela’s face. “It’s more your color.”

“It’s okay, really, I don’t—”

“Arms up!” Tammy shouted, grabbing at the yellow dress.

Angela, stunned, did as she was commanded, and the yellow dress flew off her body, leaving her naked once more. She hadn’t been wearing it for even a full minute.

“This blue dress is much nicer,” said Tammy.

Angela took the blue dress and pulled it over her head. This one was a tighter fit than the yellow one, which, if she had to be honest, was a bit of tent. Angela savored the feeling of the fabric on her skin. She turned around and looked in Tammy’s mirror. Not bad.

But Tammy was more critical. “That’s not it either,” she said, frowning at Angela’s appearance in the mirror. “Try this one.”

Angela protested. She disagreed, this dress was perfect, sexy, brilliant.

“You and I both know that’s a lie, Angela,” said Tammy. “I cannot in good faith clothe you in something that’s just not your style.”

Reluctantly, Angela slid the blue dress over her head, and tried on the purple one Tammy had handed her. This one was looser, a fit somewhere between the two she’d tried on previously. It was quite tight around the waist, a good match for Angela’s bottom hourglass figure, which she mentioned to Tammy.

“Hmm, I guess,” said Tammy, taking a bit of the sleeve between two of her fingers. “But it’s too frilly. I’ve got a better one.”

Angela sighed and got naked once more. Tammy snatched the purple dress from her and returned to her wardrobe. “Don’t worry, Angela, we’ll find the right one. Isn’t this fun?!”

Angela smiled weakly at Tammy, who was beaming from ear to ear. She felt like an overgrown Barbie doll.

Over the course of half an hour, Tammy had Angela try on every single dress in her wardrobe. Eventually, she settled on a slinky black number, an evening dress that was far too formal for Angela to wear about town, and clashed horribly with her running shoes, but Tammy loved it. And if Tammy loved it, that meant she wouldn’t demand that Angela strip again, so Angela decided she loved it too.

The girls went down to Tammy’s kitchen to celebrate the successful outfit. Tammy opened her fridge and pulled out a big carton of pulpy fusion fruit juice and poured it into wine glasses for both of them, as she didn’t have any wine, champagne, or anything else other than water in the house.

“To fashion!” Tammy exclaimed, raising her glass exuberantly.

“To clothing!” Angela replied, raising hers more gently.

The glasses clinked together. And then Tammy’s tipped over and spilled all over the front of Angela’s new dress.

“Oh no!” Tammy screamed. “I’m so sorry Angie! Let me clean it up for you!”

Angela got a familiar sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as Tammy bunched up a handful of paper towels and rubbed them vigorously across her chest. “It’s not coming out, we’ll need to throw it in the wash.”

“Woah woah woah,” said Angela. “It’s fine, it’s fine, let me try.” Angela took the paper towel wad from Tammy and dabbed it on her front.

“It’s no use, Angie, that juice is thick stuff.” Tammy was already grabbing at the dress’s straps. “Let me go put it in the wash.”

“I don’t think that will be—”

“It’s my dress, Angie.” A dark glare flashed across Tammy’s face for an instant, and Angela raised her arms in submission. There was no use fighting, or causing a scene. Tammy’s mom might overhear, and then the only person she’d met today who hadn’t seen her naked would know the truth.

Tammy pulled the dress off Angela’s body by the straps. A familiar cool draft whipped against Angela’s skin once more. Tammy smiled and skipped down to the house’s basement laundry, leaving her friend naked in the kitchen.

Angela slumped down at the kitchen table. What was wrong with everyone today? It felt like the universe had it in for her.

The sound of the washing machine starting up reached Angela’s ears, and Tammy soon reappeared, smiling. “I put it on a quick cycle, so it should be done soon,” she said, taking a seat at the kitchen table opposite Angela.

“Tammy, could we get another one of the dresses for me instead?” Angela asked.

Tammy made a face. “But you look so good in that black one, Angie. It really was made for you. The others, just…”

Angela scowled and motioned towards her naked body. “I just want something to wear, Tammy!”

“And I just want you to look your best,” Tammy replied, stretching out an arm to put a hand on top of Angela’s.

“Could I at least borrow some underwear?”

Tammy made an even worse face. “I don’t like sharing undies, Angie. Even with besties. And besides, I don’t have a bra that big.” She was an A cup at most.

Angela sighed heavily.

Tammy reached out a hand to touch Angela’s shoulder. “It’s okay, I put it on a quick cycle, remember! What’s there to worry about? It’s a warm day, the blinds are drawn, my mom’s blind, and I’ve already seen every inch of you!”

These words did little to console Angela. She felt weird and exposed, Tammy’s kitchen chair cold against her bare bottom. “Every inch of you.” Angela adjusted her folded arms to cover more of her breasts.

“You know, Angie, a lot of girls would kill to have body like yours. We can’t just put it in any old dress… it would be like drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa!”

Angela smiled weakly. Every compliment she got about her body was another reminder of her nudity, made her feel like a cut of meat. But a prime cut. There was a part of her that kind of liked the compliments. Liked the attention.

“You know,” Tammy said, a devilish look briefly flickering in her eyes, “if it would make you feel better, I can take off my clothes too. In solidarity.”

Angela raised an eyebrow. Was Tammy hitting on her? Was she a lesbian? Is that why she seemed so eager to keep her naked? Or was this just some kind of weird game to her? Where was this going?

Tammy undid the top button of her blouse. Just then, Angela had a brainwave: if Tammy took off her clothes, she could grab them and quickly put them on. Then she’d make a break for it, and Tammy would be naked and thus too embarrassed to chase after her.

The clothes might not fit wonderfully, but Angela was far beyond caring about that. So she nodded eagerly, and Tammy undid a second button. She could see Tammy’s lacy bra. That definitely wouldn’t fit well, but right now Angela wished she had an uncomfortable bra on instead of total mammary freedom.

But before Tammy could undo any more buttons, her mother appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Tammy dear, remember you promised to drive me to the hospital to pick up my prescription.”

“Oh yes!” Tammy exclaimed, quickly doing both buttons back up. “We have to go now, don’t we?”

“Yes,” said Tammy’s mother. “Your friend can come too.”

“Of course she will!” Tammy said excitedly. “Come on Angela, let’s go start up the car.”

“Okay, sure,” Angela replied, rising from the table, reminding herself that Tammy’s mother was blind. “I just have to go fetch my, uh, purse… it’s upstairs, in Tammy’s room.”

Tammy took Angela’s arm in a vice grip. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll only be out for a minute. You can come as you are.”

“Yes, yes, come as you are, Angela,” said Tammy’s mother. “We must hurry, I need to refill my prescriptions before lunch.”

Tammy, her mother, and a very naked Angela headed for the garage.