Chapter 61

7:55 p.m. Saturday

The scene in the suite when the guys returned was something that would be burned into Andy's memory for decades, he was certain. There was no circular staircase for the young women to descend – and given the brevity of their dresses, Andy found that to be a particular shame.

Instead they exited Anne and Camille's sleeping quarters at the back of the hallway in pairs – one from each room. Regan and Elizabeth came out first and walked side-by-side toward the adults and the dates.

Elizabeth's altered dress fit her snugly across her breasts and butt – and it stopped well before it hit mid-thigh. As she'd told Andy (but that he didn't really understand at the time), the modesty shield had been removed so the front was cut much lower than the clothing Elizabeth usually wore. The black sequined material seemed to shimmer and it drew the eye to tops of Elizabeth's breasts that spilled out of the dress.

Regan's dress was also sequined but in green. The thin straps across her shoulders widened only slightly as they dropped to form the front of the gown. The deep V neckline stopped well below the bottoms of her breasts and the open sides gave tempting glimpses of what had become known as "side boob." The hem of the dress was perhaps only six inches below where the neckline stopped – and it rested so far up Regan's smooth thighs that Andy could see the tops of her white silk stockings beneath it.

He felt his breath catch in his throat when he saw her approaching.

"Breath, Andy," Collette Dalrymple prompted she noticed his face start to turn colors.

"So that's what the term 'breathtaking' means," Chris said with a laugh. "I thought it was a euphemism or something."

Regan beamed at her boyfriend's reaction – just as she'd done a week earlier.

The girls stopped well short of their escorts and turned around to show the back – or lack of back – of the dress. Both dropped dramatically, displaying for the world that no undergarments were worn above the waist. Elizabeth and Regan collected their boyfriends and ushered them to the side as Anne directed Chris to the center.

Both Paul and Andy were effusive in their praise – not only verbally but from their reactions.

"It's not too... ?" Regan whispered when Andy leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. With her heels, she was only an inch shorter than him.

"It's perfect," he replied. "You look fantastic. I'm just sorry I'm not taking you somewhere nicer to show you off."

Regan caught his chin when he straightened and turned his face for a soft kiss on the lips. She put an arm around his waist and hugged herself to him. Andy could barely keep himself from staring down the front of her dress. Regan would notice his gaze dropping from time to time and smiled inwardly.

"You need to give your attention to Ruth and Joy," she prompted.

"Huh?" Andy said, his eyes lifting from Regan's cleavage to eyes that danced with happiness.

"Ruth and Joy," she said softly, gesturing down the hallway. "I promise you'll get these all to yourself later tonight.

Beside him, Paul was having the same problem. He had his arm around Elizabeth but everywhere he touched he found warm skin instead of clothing. Elizabeth's normal mode of dress was similar to the clothing rules in her house. Her jeans might be a little snug but she didn't go out of the house in miniskirts or low-cut tops. She had even managed to convince the school to buy cheerleading uniforms that were long enough that Lycra shorts could be worn beneath them. Now she was going to show more skin at her final prom than most professional dance teams did at NBA games.

"Bloody hell," Evan mumbled when the Ladies in Red made their way forward, Ruth's breasts leading the way.

Paul caught Andy's attention and motioned to John, who was standing beside his father with his mouth hanging open. Steve noticed their gaze and glanced to his son. Shaking his head, he reached over and pushed the 14-year-old's mouth closed.

Chris immediately decided that the air conditioning had to be on high in the bedroom where Ruth had been stationed because her nipples were sticking out about an inch. The material was tight not only across her chest but down her hips to her thighs. As the week before, her hair was done differently than her usual style. Last week it was ringlets; this week it in a braid that left her shoulders bare.

Beside her, Joy's dress was equally as tight across her hips. The material in her red dress was layered slightly at the square neck to show off her cleavage, too. The kicker, of course, was when she and Ruth turned to show the back. Her hem was only slightly below the curve of her butt.

"Doesn't she look lovely?" Varina DeLancy asked her husband while gesturing toward their daughter. Brentwood DeLancy offered only a nod.

Andy noticed that all the women in the room – with the exception of Lupe – looked at the foursome with pride. The older men – the fathers and in Steve's case the father of a teenager himself – did not seem as pleased to see so much of their daughter's anatomy on display.

"You're all hot!" John said, his eyes sweeping the room in appreciation. Andy noticed that his gaze included Lupe in the assessment.

"That will be our first picture," Elizabeth declared. "Come here and stand with us. When you get to school on Monday and your friends ask how you spend your Saturday, you can show them."

The next 20 minutes were spent with the fathers and mothers taking pictures and having their pictures taken with their children. All the men in the room managed to get a photo taken with all four of the young women – much to their delight – and Lupe got a picture with Andy's arm around her that Regan had suggested.

Finally it was time to make their way to the high school gym for the dance.

If the social hierarchy that dominated Regan's school existed at Andy's, Elizabeth and Paul would have been the last people to arrive. Instead, they were among the first – since she viewed it as her duty to greet the students when they arrived and to wish them a fun time.

Instead, she suggested that Chris, Joy and Ruth wait until after the dance started at 8:30 p.m. to make their grand entrance. She would ensure that her brother and Abby Barnes were right at the front of the room.

Andy thought it made sense. Eisenhower's band, although small, was its most successful extracurricular activity – by a wide margin. Chris was the band's president and he was the student accepted to the most prestigious school. But popularity isn't based on achievement – or even on likeability. That meant Chris Grant fell far down the pecking order in the school's social climate – below even someone like Andy, whose star had risen in the past year (and continued to rise, it seemed).

Like Regan's dance, this event would be sparsely populated. The dance was open to juniors and seniors from Eisenhower High School and their pre-approved guests. The juniors would outnumber the seniors by a wide margin, Elizabeth had said, but neither would have even a third of their class present. Elizabeth said that the year before – Paul's senior year – only 190 kids out of the 520 that were eligible had shown up.

Andy had been one of those who had not attended. He didn't own a suit and he didn't have money to rent a tux so he didn't ask anyone to attend (not, he supposed, that anyone was likely to consent to go with him). Instead, he had worked at the warehouse that Saturday night, covering Leslie Amos' mother's shift so she could help her daughter get ready. He was happy that Melinda Amos had moved to a different department because she hadn't asked him to work for her this year.

The drive to the school was a form of slow torture, Andy decided. Regan had given him the keys to her car and refused to take them back. As he drove, she fiddled with the hem of her dress, lifting it slightly to show him that didn't have on pantyhose but instead a pair of stockings with an elastic top to keep them from slipping down.

"Hose aren't the only accessory I'm without," she said casually, taking his hand and putting on her bare mound beneath her dress for a moment before pulling it away. She put it on her stocking midway down her leg. "The sad part about these dresses is that none of us could wear panties with them. Poor Joy is the only one of us with anything on beneath her dress but thigh-high silk stockings. She has a killer water bra to push her boobs upward and outward. The rest of us are as naked as the day we were born beneath our clothes."

"Uh, Regan, you're always naked beneath your clothes," Andy said with a sideways glance.

"Fine," Regan said. "I guess you just won't get to play with my little kitty on the way to the dance if you're going to make me feel stupid."

"I didn't say you were stupid!" Andy cut in immediately. "I was just, you know, pointing out the obviousness of the statement."

"Does that mean you do want to play with my kitty?" she asked, taking his wrist and sliding northward up her leg at a tantalizingly slow speed.

"No," Andy said. "I mean, yes. If you want me to. I just didn't want you to think I was calling you stupid. I was pointing out you just said 'water is wet.'"

Regan reveled in the fact that she could make Andy so flustered. She was just as agitated as he was – and she knew it.

"I'm wet," Regan giggled as she moved Andy's fingers to the juncture of her thighs. He found that she was honest: there was no impediment to his exploration and she was already aroused.

He found his attention drifting from the road and pulled his hand away.

"We're going to wind up on the sidewalk," Andy told her.

"We'll get back to that later," Regan promised. As always, his fingers dancing across her box had felt amazing. "Are we almost there?"

"It's the next turn," Andy replied. "Did Elizabeth tell you about getting into the building?"

"What do you mean?" Regan answered. She assumed there would be a sidewalk leading to a door.

"You'll need a photo ID," Andy explained. Elizabeth had promised that she would make sure Regan could get through the doors.

"Why?" Regan wondered.

"They'll check your name off a list," Andy continued. "If you don't have ID, you can't get in. Some people are barred from school grounds and that applies to dances, too."

"I have my license in my bag," Regan told him. She had a white clutch purse on the floor between her feet.

"What else is in there?" Andy inquired.

"Just my phone, some makeup and some money," Regan said with a shrug as she pulled the bag from floor to make sure she had her wallet.

"No nail files or fingernail clippers?" Andy wondered.

"Do you have a hangnail?" Regan asked back.

"Those are prohibited items on campus," Andy told her.

"Really?" Regan asked incredulously.

"Really," Andy confirmed. "When we get there, you'll need to have your phone out. They'll hold it while they scan your bag. Uh, I've only seen this so I'm not sure but they might make you open your makeup and work your lipstick."

"That's stupid," Regan told him. "Why all the rules? What do you mean 'scan my bag'?"

"There is a metal detector at the door," Andy replied. "They don't make you put your phone through it though. They'll put your bag on a conveyor so they can make sure you don't have a gun or a knife inside. When they see the makeup, they'll make you show it doesn't have a false bottom."

"Why would a compact have a false bottom?" Regan asked in irritation.

"Drugs," Andy answered with a shrug. "Now, they might run a wand over your torso. It'll be a female and she won't touch you. I doubt she even wand you, though. You couldn't conceal anything in the dress that wouldn't be obvious. A couple of years ago, though, a girl snuck a gun in for her boyfriend in her ... vagina."

"You are fucking kidding me!" Regan exclaimed. "She stuck a firearm up her cooch!? That's insane."

"That was a popular hiding place when they banned cell phones for a few months during my freshman year," Andy told her. "They caught a guy with heroin up his ass over at Truman right before Christmas. That's another thing. They might have drug dogs there. Don't try to pet them or anything like that. Elizabeth said she was going to explain this stuff to you."