Chapter 9: Overnight

I guess I might have been moping through dinner, despite Shirley's kiss. For some reason, it just didn't seem genuine to me; I kept receiving this feeling of disdain from Shirley with regard to my obvious shortcomings as a cook.

After dinner, it turned out that Shirley was indeed serious about shopping. In addition, she managed to take over the "boss" position in our relationship.

To drive in the point, Shirley insisted that they both dress me, and then I would dress both Wendy and her. Shirley seemed to find it very amusing as I made some fumbles. For instance, I had no idea which side of their panties was the front, and I seemed to get it wrong both times. (Do you think they'd give me some hint about how to figure this out? I thought there would be tags to indicate the back, like on guys' shorts, but there weren't any.)

I finally reached the end of my rope, and said, "That's it! No panties for you!" I forcefully pulled Shirley's panties down her legs, and then did the same, albeit not as roughly, to Wendy.

Shirley had this crooked smirk on her face, which made me even madder. "Do you two want to go bra-less, too? Did I managed to get them backwards, perhaps?"

Wendy shook her head, and looked a little alarmed at my reaction.

Shirley, on the other hand, said, "No, you figured out the bras adequately."

That smirk on Shirley's face was building up my anger. "That's it! No bra. Take it off!"

Without losing a beat, Shirley reached under her blouse and undid her bra, and then went through some contortions before slipping it out from her sleeves.

With an innocent-sounding voice, Shirley asked, "Anything else?"

My anger was fueled even more by Shirley's happy acceptance of the "no bra" threat. What could I do to wipe that stupid smirk from her face?

"Want to go all the way? How about no clothes for the entire trip to the store?"

"Stores," Shirley corrected, a gleam in her eyes.

"OK, Strip!"

"Wait!" Wendy spoke up. "Shirley, you're not helping Jim. You've humiliated him all since dinner, and the only thing he's tried to do is help you. Now, apologize to him!"

Something in Shirley changed. "Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Jim. I was just having fun..."

Wendy shook her head. "At his expense, you were having fun!"

Shirley hung her head. "Yes. I'm sorry."

For some reason, something in Shirley's voice emptied my anger completely. Immediately, my heart went out to Shirley. "That's OK..."

Wendy shook her head again. "No, Jim. That's not OK!" She turned to her best friend and said, "You heard him, Shirl. Strip! We'll be waiting in your car for you."

"You want me to strip and then go outside?"

"You did it when you hopped into the whirlpool."

"But..."

Wendy had an expression on her face that I hadn't seen up until this point. "But nothing. Jim told you to strip, and you goaded him into doing that, so it's up to you to do it. We'll be waiting in your car. You may bring your clothes, but you're driving naked."

"Are you crazy?" Shirley asked.

Wendy turned to me. "Jim, it's up to you. Shirley misbehaved, and now has to be punished."

Shirley cried, "You said no outside dares!"

"This isn't a dare," Wendy explained. "This is punishment."

"Jim?" Shirley asked me hopefully.

This was happening at a pace that I hadn't anticipated. Sure, I was angry just a few moments before, but I felt differently already. However, it occurred to me that this may be one of those humiliating things that Shirley may have fantasized about. I wondered if she would go through with it. Wendy was also correct about how Shirley made me feel so useless. "I guess it's unanimous: strip."

Wendy and I opened the door--wide!--and left the door open as Shirley started to undress. For her part, Shirley did not close the door to cover herself.

(Shirley)

I couldn't believe Wendy!

I thought I was having fun with Jim. After all, he showed just about every stereotype of the useless husband in the kitchen. It reminded me of all those things I used to tell my friends that I hated about guys. I mean, come on, who doesn't keep the basic vegetables available fresh in the fridge? He didn't have onions, celery, or carrots! His spices were ancient! Who doesn't know how to cut a fucking roast beef?

I didn't realize how much I was pushing him until Wendy piped up and told me how I had been humiliating him all through dinner and then afterward as he was dressing us. In retrospect, I guess it's not obvious which end of a pair of panties is in front, but it was another silly male stereotype that he easily fit into.

I didn't mind him pulling off our panties, and even losing my bra would only be a mild discomfort during our shopping trip. I let him have his way but, for some reason, Jim kept on getting angrier and angrier.

Finally, he lost it completely. "Want to go all the way? How about no clothes for the entire trip to the store?"

"Stores," I helpfully corrected him. We had more than just grocery shopping to do.

"OK, Strip!" I saw the fire in his eyes, and he wasn't kidding. Did I push him that far?

"Wait!"

Finally, Wendy was coming to my side. She had been silent through the meal, come to think of it.

"Shirley, you're not helping Jim." She pointed out how I had been humiliating him all throughout dinner, and all he tried to do was to be helpful. You've been a perfect bitch all this time, you know. Now apologize to him!"

"Oh, shit!" Was I really being a bitch? I didn't mean to hurt Jim's feelings. I almost didn't know what to say. Finally, I said, "I'm sorry, Jim. I was just having fun..."

"At his expense, you were having fun!"

Wow! I realized that Wendy was really pissed off at me!

"Yes," I admitted, hanging my head down. "I'm sorry."

Jim's look immediately softened. "That's OK..."

"No, Jim," Wendy wasn't satisfied. "That's not OK!" Turning to me, she added, "You heard him, Shirl. Strip! We'll be waiting in your car for you."

Shit! Was Wendy intending me to go through with this?

"You want me to strip and then go outside?" This was ludicrous!

Neither Wendy nor Jim could be convinced. They left me, allowing me to bring my clothes with me, but I had to go back out to the car stark naked!

Wendy left the door wide open. This wasn't so embarrassing; in a minute, I'd be walking outside without anything on with my clothes in my arms. Anybody driving by would see me.

Luckily, nobody was driving by. I have no idea how many of Jim's neighbors saw me, but I was beyond caring.

Of course, I had to be the driver. It was my car. Wendy and Jim were both in the back seat, leaving me alone in my nudity in the front.

"Where to?" I asked.

"You seemed to want to go grocery shopping. There's a supermarket down the road, about a half mile down." Jim pointed down the street.

I held my breath as I backed out of the driveway.

Nobody seemed to stare at me as I drove down the road. When I got to the parking lot, of course, it was brightly lit with lots of people walking back and forth to and from their cars.

As soon as I found a parking spot, I let out my breath.

So far, so good.

I heard Wendy and Jim whispering in the back, but was so concerned that people would see me, I didn't really hear them.

"Put on the dome light," Jim ordered.

"Huh?"

"You heard him," Wendy said.

I fumbled with the light switch. The inside was now illuminated.

Jim said, "Wendy and I will be leaving. Meet us in the produce section when you're dressed. Don't turn off the dome light until you're dressed."

I watched incredulously as Jim and Wendy exited the car, and then walked hand in hand toward the supermarket. I felt very exposed with the light shining on me. Luckily, I was in a less crowded section of the parking lot, but I knew that having the light on would attract attention.

I quickly got dressed, putting on my bra and blouse first, since my top was the most exposed part of my body. I had a hard time pulling on my panties in the bucket seat, but managed it, and I didn't seem to have a crowd staring at me. I put on my skirt, ignoring my pantyhose, and instead slipped my shoes on my feet bare; I did this occasionally in the summer, and my feet were used to it.

When I got out of the car, I saw a few people looking in my direction. I wasn't sure if they saw me dressing in the car, so I pretended to ignore them. However, I felt each and every person's eyes boring a hole into me as I quickly walked into the supermarket.

The entrance led to the produce section, and I easily found Wendy and Jim, who had a push cart and were discussing something next to the cucumber bin.

Wendy noticed me first, and looked at me curiously, and turned and whispered something to Jim.

I went to give Jim a hug so I could whisper an apology to him, but Jim stopped me, holding a cucumber as a pointer at me.

"Wendy says you're wearing a bra."

"Um, yes. I put it on in the car..."

"I told you no bra! I take it you're wearing panties as well?"

I was starting to blush. Jim did nothing to hold down his voice, and I know that others heard what he was saying.

"Yes," I whispered.

Wendy spoke up. "It's not fair if I was punished for your attitude and you get to wear underwear!"

Jim nodded. "If Wendy can't wear panties, neither can you. Take them off now."

I was aghast. "Here?"

Jim raised his voice just a little louder. "Now!"

I couldn't bear to look around to see who was listening to us. Meekly, I did my best to lower my panties in as unobtrusive manner I could in the middle of the produce section.

"Pick them up and put them in the kiddie seat in the cart."

"Huh?"

"You heard him, Shirley," Wendy said, a bit of smugness in her voice. "Put them in the shopping cart."

As I bent down to pick up my panties, I knew there were other people watching. I closed my eyes, pulled them off my legs, and then put them into the seat portion of the shopping cart.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that Jim and Wendy had packaged the cucumbers they were looking at, placed them in the larger section of the cart, and had already departed for other vegetables. I was left to push the cart to catch up with them.

Wendy had two bags in her hand, one with a stalk of celery, and another with a bunch of carrots. "Hurry up, Shirley." She placed her vegetables in the cart. I noticed that the food they were selecting wasn't going to be covering my panties at all.

"Keep up, Shirley," Jim said as he headed to get some onions.

"Get red ones and the regular ones," Wendy told Jim.

My two so-called friends left me to push the cart with my panties in the front as they collected various items throughout the store. I was mortified, and realized that those two people were quite capable of exacting punishment for misbehavior. I felt like a chastened schoolgirl caught playing doctor at school (a memory I had from my childhood, actually).

At the check-out counter, Wendy and Jim emptied the cart, allowing me, finally, to separate from the cart and walk behind them.

As Wendy pushed the cart through to the bagger, she picked up my panties, and showed them to the boy loading the groceries. "These aren't from the store, they are Shirley's." She nodded back to me. My face must have been the color of a fire engine by this time.

When we finally got back to my car, it turned out that I locked my purse in it! In my haste to get out of the car quickly, I forgot it, and guess where my keys were?

"You locked your purse in the car?" Wendy asked, shaking her head. "What are you, nuts?"

"I'm... I'm sorry!" I started to blubber. "I'm fucking everything up. I'm really sorry..."

Jim looked at the car, and tried one of the back doors. To my surprise, it opened. I never hit the electric locks, either!

After Jim popped the locks, Wendy opened the front passenger door and retrieved my purse. Meanwhile, Jim came over to me and hugged me.

"There, there, Shirley," Jim said in a soothing tone. "You just got flustered. No need for the water works."

"I'm... I'm just so sorry..."

"So am I, dear. So am I."

(Jim)

How could I stay angry at Shirley? Of course, she pissed me off during dinner, but I think it was just her way of taking control--being bossy. I really don't think she was directly insulting me, but the comments she made about men in general made me wonder if she was some sort of misandrist--a man hater--or perhaps even a militant feminist. I started to think of a few other things that Shirley said previously and it occurred to me that this might actually be the case.

I originally took Wendy's quietness during dinner and afterward as some sort of silent agreement with Shirley, and I think I got mad at her for that as well. My assessment appeared to have been wrong; it turned out that Wendy was simply trying to stay out of a potential problem between Shirley and me. Only when it started to get out of hand did Wendy take my side, and when she did it surprised me. After all, Shirley had been her friend longer than I had.

Anyway, the two of us got Shirley back by embarrassing her in her car and in the store, but when we got back to the car and Shirley realized she might have locked herself out of it, my heart just went out to her. This last bit wasn't anything that I intended to happen, and I could see that she was really trying and just appeared to be constantly fucking things up.

This was something I could relate to. Shirley made me feel that way when she criticized the food and spices in the house and when I was dressing the girls. I also sort of felt that way the previous night when I couldn't sleep. For some reason, this made me feel even closer to Shirley.