Chapter 65: The Best Dress I Have Ever Seen in My Life

Saturday, April 16, 2005 (Continued)

We saw Cindy's car arrive as close to 7pm as made no difference, making me suspect that Julia had been specific in her instructions. Cindy walked up the path carrying something fairly large and reflective, although I couldn't see much of it.

I opened the door as she neared it, and she walked right in. The mystery of the object was quickly solved. It was my HUGE first place trophy. The damned thing was big enough to mount in the front yard with a fountain around it. Eagles could land on it when they wanted a drink. I'm exaggerating somewhat, but it was a LOT bigger than the little medal or few-inch high trophy I'd expected.

I said, "Good grief. Where are we going to store that? If we put it in the garage we won't be able to get both cars in anymore. Oh, sorry. Hi Cindy. I didn't mean to be rude, but I wasn't expecting a slightly scaled down Statue of Liberty."

"Haha. Most people put them on their mantle piece, or in a trophy case. Hello everyone, nice to see you again."

My shock at being brought the Colossus of Rhodes passed, so we chatted normally. Re-introductions were made, and general chitchat ensued.

Cindy's hair and makeup was done a whole lot better than it had been this morning. My opinion of her prettiness rose a couple of notches, not that I'm so shallow as to judge girls by their appearances, you understand.

#4: <I wish she'd take off her coat so we can see what her body looks like.>

#1: <Yeah, me too.>

I wasn't really paying attention, but I heard Mom ask Cindy what was the plan for tonight. Cindy said, "Julia said something about going out to a very upmarket restaurant, and to make sure I got dressed up to the nines. I'm only a poor student, so I probably only got as far as an eight."

Uh oh. Three girls plus me at a "very upmarket restaurant." This is going to cost a bundle. The trouble being that I don't have a bundle. Or even half a bundle. I excused myself for a second and shot back to my room to call the organizer. I quickly explained my concern to Julia.

Julia laughed, "Don't worry, I've got it covered."

Despite Julia's instruction to the contrary, I kept worrying. I told her of my consistent attitude.

Julia said, "Mark, in a few weeks you're going to get millions for us. I think we can cover the cost of a few meals before then."

"But we haven't got the money yet. Something could go wrong."

"If it does then we'll think of something else. With your abilities there are probably dozens of ways of making money."

I could certainly make a lot of money from the scrap metal value of the running trophies I could win. Reassured, I hung up and hurried back, as I'd suddenly remembered that Cindy had been in the process of taking her coat off to show what "dressed to the eights" looked like.

I hustled down to the kitchen, but skidded to a halt when Cindy was in sight. She was posed, clearly waiting for my return. I had fully intended to make some excuse ("Sorry, I just remembered something important", or the like), but it's hard to talk and drool at the same time.

Cindy was wearing a little, light-green dress - "little" being the main word. She's a fit, slim girl, and her muscular arms and shoulders were fully exposed as the dress just had a couple of thin pieces of green string holding it up. Medium-sized breasts, which - and I've got no idea how this thought entered my head - would probably be very exposed if she leaned forward. The dress was loose and the straps long, so surely the dress would gape forward. It was very worth keeping an eye open just in case she leaned forward, especially as I was pretty sure she was braless.

Short skirt, very nice legs and high-heeled shoes completed her look, and a very nice look it was too. I hoped the restaurant was well heated because I sure didn't want her to keep her coat on.

When a sufficient quantity of drool had accumulated on the floor, Cindy laughed, which brought me back to reality. "I take it you approve then?"

"There's very little dress to approve of, so naturally I love it! You look very, very nice. That's much more flattering than the last outfit I saw you in."

"Good. Julia told me I had considerable competition in the looks department and to pull out all the stops if I wanted to get your attention. I'm not sure why she told me that - her being your girlfriend and all - but you only live once so why not. I like dressing up anyway, and I'd hate to be underdressed compared to everyone else at the restaurant."

"In that dress you're underdressed already. It's definitely a lovely dress. I think I know what Julia's wearing." I turned to Mom and said, "The black dress she wore on our first date. Do you remember that?"

Mom nodded, "Of course." In a tone that meant, "What a silly question. I'm a woman and we don't forget important things like the clothes someone was wearing several weeks ago."

"I think Julia is wearing that, and Carol's wearing a similar one from the same store."

Mom asked, "If Carol's dressed up that nicely, would you ask Vanessa to take some photos please?"

"Sure."

Cindy asked me, struggling to raise the trophy, "Do you want to bring this to the restaurant?"

"Good heavens no! Just drop it there and we'll find somewhere to store it later."

Cindy said, "You really aren't going to display it?"

"It's HUGE. Something maybe a tenth that size would probably be okay. We could put it on a shelf somewhere and it wouldn't be too obvious. But that thing's a monstrosity. It's just too big. Why do they make such big trophies in running?" Then I had a thought, #1: <No, that's not right. I've seen Donna bring home lots of little medals and plaques and things. How come that one's so huge?>

Cindy was looking puzzled.

Donna said to her, "He doesn't know what he entered. A couple of weeks ago he asked me to enter him in a 10k or marathon, and this was the next 10k, so I entered him."

Cindy said, "You really don't know what that race was?"

"Sure I do. It was on the top of the registration papers. It was the 'Men's 10k something something of something.' Or was that the 'something of something something.' Something like that, anyway. I didn't really notice. Donna said it was the sort of race I wanted."

"Do you know who you beat out of first place?"

"A very sore loser, that's for sure! I've got no idea of his name and I don't want to. Surely coming second is still pretty good? Why'd he get so upset?"

"Because he's used to coming first."

"Coming second will do him good then. Shall we go, I'm getting hungry."

Mom advised, "If I were you, I'd go. When Mark says he's hungry, he really means it."

Cindy still look a bit confused, but Mom said to her, "Just drop the trophy there, Cindy. I'll get Steven to find somewhere for it in the garage. If you spend much time around Mark you'll get used to this."

Cindy put it down and started putting her coat on. I remembered my previous lesson and leaped forward to help. I was wearing a "sports jacket" already. Why they call them that I'll never know. I can't think of a single sport you can comfortably play in one. But much about sports makes no sense, especially the size of their trophies. Actually, I'm not that dumb. Obviously the race wasn't just the local club's fun run. But whatever it was, I didn't care.

Cindy started for the door, when Donna called out, "No, that's not right. You do it this way." Donna got me to hold out my arm and she took it the way Carol does when I walk her out to the school car.

Cindy came back and replaced Donna on my arm. Donna said, "That's better," as I led Cindy outside. I thought it was better too, as it allowed my upper-arm to confirm that Cindy was braless.

On the way to her car I told Cindy, "It's a new family tradition. About three weeks old, but we like it."

We'd arrived at Cindy's car. Her comment about being a poor student was confirmed. Although I imagine she saved some money by only buying half dresses. I escorted her around to the driver's door and held it open for her after she'd unlocked it and got in. Damned coat! I would've gotten a spectacular look otherwise.

I directed her to Julia's. On the way she asked me about my not having a car.

I wasn't sure what Julia had said, if anything, about our ages, so I just said, "I'm getting one in a few days. I've just been biking around." (Corvallis is geographically small, with lots of students, and is very biker friendly, so this is plausible and not as insulting as it would be in other places.)

Cindy asked me, "How many other races have you competed in?"

So I got to use an old (probably ancient) line, "Besides today's you mean?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, let me see. Umm, 1, 2, 3 ... When I think of it, about zero, haha."

"That was your first race?"

"Yeah. My last one too. I didn't enjoy it much because there was too much crap. Why can't people run just for fun? Donna and I have been out a couple of mornings, and it's good just to jog along and chat. That I enjoy, but I don't like all the aggression that seems to come with organized sports."

Cindy had an answer, "Because with organization comes support, publicity, competition, finance, motivation, verifiability, research and lots more besides."

"I suppose so, but it doesn't suit me."

"How did you motivate yourself through all your training then?"

I was going to enjoy this little tweak, and I was quite happy to talk about any non-age related topic, even running, "It was easy. The first time was when I hadn't had time to catch up with Donna's life for a while, so we chatted, and that was nice. The second time my other sister Carol came on her bike, and the third time we canceled because it was raining."

"Huh? Two training runs? Now I KNOW you're BS'ing me." ("BS" means "bullshit".)

"No I'm not, but I understand why you'd think that. I seem to be somewhat naturally gifted when it comes to running. You commented on how good my style looked. No one taught me that, it just came by itself. I find long-distance running absurdly easy. I don't really understand why; it just is."

#2: <"Effortless" is certainly "absurdly easy", and FOR SURE I don't understand why. "Moving in harmony with the Universe" doesn't add much understanding.>

"Now I'm not sure whether to call you 'Modest Mark' or 'BS'ing Mark'."

"Don't forget 'Handsome Mark'."

"I don't think I will. I'm surprised Julia and your parents were so accepting of me, especially Julia. Isn't she worried that a handsome guy like you will stray? You must get lots of opportunities."

Not yet I don't, but after the "School Plan" goes into operation I certainly will! Then I realized that I already have had lots of opportunities: all the girls that had been coming on to me at school. The "fame groupies", as Dad called them. I was so used to dismissing them that I'd forgotten that they were "opportunities", even if Mom and Dad had scared the shit out of me about hurting Julia and Vanessa.

I was about to answer when Cindy added, "Are you sure Julia's not trying to get rid of you?"

"I'm sure. She's busy planning for us to buy a house so we can live together. Julia, my mom and her mom are looking at some tomorrow afternoon, I believe. Let's just say that Julia and I are very secure in our relationship and not worried about anyone else upsetting it, even after Julia sees how good you look 'dressed up to the tens'. I disagree with your 'eight' comment, and nine isn't high enough either."

"Thank you, kind sir. Buying a house is a big commitment so she must have faith in you. Aren't you young to be buying a house?"

I was spared giving much of an answer to that because we'd arrived, Cindy didn't know Corvallis well and giving her the directions to Julia's had spread our conversation out a lot. I just said, "Yes, somewhat," and left it at that.

I offered her my arm for the short walk to the front door. Cindy said, "What if Julia's parents see?"

I answered, "They know already. Vanessa - that's Julia's mom - was with Julia at lunchtime when Julia was asking me for everything I knew about you, which wasn't much. They're fine with it, don't worry."

Vanessa opened the front door for us, and I made the introductions. Vanessa was very welcoming and friendly, but Cindy clearly felt a little uncomfortable.

Which was not helped when Vanessa said, "You'll be here at least half an hour Cindy, so give me your coat and I'll hang it up here." (There are several coat hooks behind the front door.)

Cindy paused, shrugged, then started taking it off. I helped, for a variety of reasons. As the coat was coming off Vanessa got a clear look at Cindy, and said, "Beautiful dress, Cindy. Poor Mark isn't going to know where to look tonight. Or maybe that should that be 'Lucky Mark'. Anyway, Julia wants me to take Cindy up to her room, so the three girls can talk. Mark, why don't you wait in the Guys' Room and I'll join you shortly."

If that's want Julia wanted, then that's what I'd do. I said to Vanessa, "So you're saying that the three girls are going to plot my doom between them, even before our date starts. I think 'Poor Mark' was the right description. Oh, while I remember, Mom asked me to ask you to take some pictures of the girls."

"I'll get some as you're about to leave. I'll take Cindy up now."

I said, "Cindy, when you're plotting my doom with the others, please ask them to be gentle. I'm young and have so much to live for." I hung my head and shuffled off as if to my doom, but expecting "delight" rather than "doom", knowing how Julia looks after me.

I heard Cindy saying, "What a nice house" as she was led upstairs.

Prof was in the Guys' Room, and he asked me if I wanted my "usual" (a glass of milk). I had a ginger ale instead because he had one of those handy.

Once that was done, Prof said, "Julia tells us you're only a few days away from getting your license?"

I nodded. "Yes. I can drive Dad's car fine. I think I've gotten the Driver Manual pretty well memorized now. It's really just a matter of coordinating between the guy whose name you gave me and Dad being free to take me to the DMV in his car. Probably sometime next week."

"Good. Julia doesn't seem highly motivated to get her license so it's just as well you'll get yours quickly. While you're waiting for the girls to do whatever it is they do at such times, now is a good time to tell you about my missing leg. It happened about forty years ago. Vanessa and I had only been dating for a little while when we and another couple of friends decided to go away for a long weekend's skiing. We got up very early Friday morning, our friends picked us up and we set off. Vanessa and me in the back, them in the front. In those days seatbelts were around but weren't used much and none of us were wearing them.

^-- "We entered some heavy fog, not that Vanessa and I paid much attention because we were too busy talking to each other. This was our first weekend away together and we were in a very good mood. The police told me later that our driver had gone over the centerline and had been driving too fast for the conditions. Our car was hit a glancing blow and it spun several times. I was thrown out and the others stayed inside. I landed in some long grass so was relatively undamaged. The car that had hit ours was off the road on the other side from me, and our car was stationary parked sideways across the road, so it was blocking lanes in both directions. Its remaining headlight was pointing across the road so would be virtually invisible in the fog until the other traffic was on top of it. I could see headlights coming from both directions and couldn't think how to stop both streams of traffic before they hit our car.

^-- "I ran to it intending to get everyone out. When I got there the three of them were groggily moving but they were badly dazed and recovering too slowly. I tried to rouse them into action, but they didn't respond in time. Another car plowed into ours, sliding ours down the road and injuring me. I was able to get up, and could see that more vehicles were going to arrive very shortly. I managed to pull Vanessa out of the car and drag her to the side, but even before I got her off the road I heard the first of several more crashes. By the time I got her far enough from the road to be safe, I was unable to return because my leg had been too badly hurt. As you saw, it had to be amputated afterward. Our two friends were killed in the subsequent pile up, as were six other people.

^-- "Two morals from this story: First, drive safely. Our driver was not driving safely and as a result caused the death of a total of eight people including himself, and several people were badly injured. Second, wear seatbelts. Had we been wearing them we would have been able to exit our car almost immediately, and possibly been able to stop or slow the traffic in both directions, saving not only ourselves but several other people. I didn't emphasize those morals strongly enough. If you're the driver, then you do not start the car's engine until all the seatbelts are on, and you make sure they stay on until after the engine is stopped. If I ever see or hear of you in a car with the engine going and seatbelts not on, then you'll be persona non grata anywhere near vehicles and my family. Likewise if I hear of or see you driving dangerously. I cannot emphasize strongly enough that I've got a very low definition of what constitutes 'dangerously'."

I answered, "Yes, sir. I haven't forgotten the last time you stressed car safety to me. I'll be a safe driver."

"You'd better be. You strike me as a responsible teenager and certainly not a show-off, but you're still a teenager - a group not known for their self-control and attention spans. This won't be the last time you'll be reminded, just like our children. On a more pleasant note, I hear Donna has largely financed your car purchase already?"

I answered, "Yes. She certainly has plenty of ingenuity and a good heart. I'm a bit worried what she'll think if I turn up with millions of dollars in a few weeks though, as that'll downgrade the value of her present enormously. Julia and I can easily share her car until then, when we can buy more reliable cars for each of us, so it doesn't make sense to go to all the trouble of buying a cheapo one now."

Vanessa, who had come back in during Prof's story, said, "Reassure her that 'it's the thought that counts.' She should be old enough to understand that."

"Yeah. That's what I figured too."

Prof said, "I'll head back to my work. Oh, while I remember Mark, The Boys are going to ask around tonight about getting you a fake ID. We'll probably have some news for you tomorrow. I hope they're successful, as I'm looking forward to doing it. It should be fun, not to mention highly profitable."

Vanessa added, "It's fun already for the women because we're going mansion viewing tomorrow. It's just as well you're getting your license too, Mark, as I think they're all out of town because of our criterion for being distant from our neighbors."

Prof made his departure.

After he was gone Vanessa said, "Now I'll fill in the small omissions from Prof's story. When he was initially thrown from the car, he was considerably more injured than he implied. Nonetheless he staggered back to our car, even though he was clearly heading into danger. He was trying to get my door open but was unable to because it had been jammed by the first impact, when the next car hit us the other side. His lower-leg was mashed when our car was pushed over it. He got up and hopped around to the other side of our car, managed to get that door open, and dragged me out. I was unconscious from the second impact and was a dead weight. Afterward everyone was incredulous that a little guy like him, with one leg that was completely unusable and doubtless incredibly painful, could have dragged me off the road.

^-- "Because of his heroism in saving me he nearly died himself, because when all the emergency services arrived no one knew about us. He'd pulled me behind a bush before passing out on top of me. We were only found because an observant EMT noticed the trail of blood Archie's leg had left. He followed it and found us, otherwise Archie would have died soon from blood loss. Also, if he'd left me in our car I would certainly had died, as our car was flipped onto its side and totally crushed in the subsequent pile up. He saved my life, at great risk to his own.

^-- "It took him a long time to recover from the guilt of not being able to save everybody. He lost his best friend, a guy he'd known all his life, because he chose to save me, a girl he'd only been dating for a few months. He had a great deal of trouble facing his friend's family, all of whom he knew well. His insistence - OUR insistence - is not just to prevent needless injuries and deaths, but to prevent repeats of the considerable guilt he experienced. He was my hero but he thought of himself as a failure. His guilt meant it took me several years to talk him into marrying me. Now you know why road safety is so important to us, and part of why Prof is so important to me.

^-- "But enough of that, on to more pleasant topics. The girls will be down shortly and your eyes are going to bug out when you see Carol's dress. Julia has been quite naughty. Carol is loving it."

#4: <Do you think we can go upstairs now. I want to see!>

#1: <Only if you take me! We ALL want to see it, but Julia wanted to have a chat with Cindy, and knowing Julia it won't be about the weather. If we barge in we might upset her plans. We should be patient.>

#4: <Damn.>

#1: <We all agree with that.>

Vanessa said, "Watch a movie or play on the pool table. The girls shouldn't be long and I'll send them here when they come down."

There wasn't time to get into a DVD, so I just goofed off, as Donna would say, playing 8-ball with my right side against my left. The best half-man should win.

About ten minutes later the girls came in. Julia entered first wearing her First Date dress, then Cindy. And that was all. Damn!

I must have had an amusing expression on my face because Julia laughed, then said, "I see Mom told you about Carol's dress?"

I realized I had to be careful what I showed and said in front of Cindy, so I answered, "Yes. But only that you were very naughty about it. Just enough to make me curious. Where is she?"

"She's waiting outside the door. We want to make sure she has your full attention when she comes in. I see she will." Julia called through the door, "Come in, darling."

#1: <Julia called Carol "darling" in front of Cindy. Was that deliberate or an accident?>

#2: <You have met Julia before, haven't you?>

#1: <Oh, right; deliberate then. To let us know that Cindy knows something about their relationship?>

#2: <That'd be my guess.>

The internal conversation stopped there, as did all the rest of my thought processes, because Carol walked into the room. I had assumed that Carol was going to be wearing a dress something like Julia's because it came from the same store. I was WRONG! Julia's dress was classy and elegant. Carol's dress was classy and gloriously obscene. Yubba, yubba!

I'll start describing it from the top down, following the direction my eyes took. Carol was completely topless, except for a thin, silver string that ran around the back of her neck then down over each of her breasts, widening as it descended. But - obscenely - not widening much until each strap was below its breast. Each breast had, at nipple level, a third of its width covered. The center portion over her nipples of course, but with a considerable amount of breast on either side of the strap exposed ("exposed" being the perfect word). When Carol turned into a sideways pose a few seconds later, the view was even more spectacular, as the straps were pushed out from her body. I've only described the top half of her dress, and already it was the best dress I HAVE EVER SEEN!

As the straps widened going down, I could see that they were made of a black fabric underneath, with many thick silver threads on top. The silver threads widened with the straps, forming rays shooting down her dress. Two or three inches below waist level the straps widened and merged to form the skirt part of dress. It was predominately black, with the silver rays expanding as they descended all the way to the bottom of the ankle-length dress. It was a VERY different style of dress than Julia's.

Carol was wearing black high-heeled shoes, with silver things on them. I can't say exactly where, as I didn't look at her shoes for long enough to remember. Her long hair was raised in a bun above her head, and she had a large silver necklace that trailed down into her cleavage, which wobbled DELIGHTFULLY every step she took. With her hair and high-heeled shoes she looked very tall, glamorous, and incredibly sexy. Yubba, yubba!

"WOW! That dress is incredible! That's nothing like I imagined you were going to get. Just WOW! You're going to cause a riot tonight, Carol. And several heart attacks. I've never seen you look as incredibly sexy as you are now. Mom and Dad are going to ... Actually I'm not sure what they going to. But it's going to be fun to see, haha."

#1: <Might I suggest a go-soft? Never mind, I'll do it. Do THEM actually, as I can't imagine that one will be enough tonight.>

I was vaguely aware that Julia had started laughing at me, and Cindy had joined in too, but I wasn't paying them much attention. Julia said, "I take it that you like the dress then?"

"Sorry. Could you repeat that please? I wasn't listening."

More laughter, then Julia asked, "Do you know why I chose this dress?"

"Because you wanted to win the Nobel Prize for Services to MAN-kind. And if they don't have such a prize, it's only because they haven't seen that dress yet."

"Haha. Actually it was for the opposite reason: Services to one womankind. So I can do this." Julia had walked behind Carol, and now she slid a hand around Carol, under a strap directly over and cupping a breast, visibly rolling Carol's nipple between her thumb and forefinger.

#4: <Go-soft!>

#1: <I'm on it.>

#4: <#3! Come off duty and have a... >

#3: <OH MY GOD!> (You can tell how good we've gotten at ignoring reality when we're on duty.)

Carol was very turned on. She melted into Julia's embrace. Julia's other arm came up to hold Carol around the waist, also under the straps. With a degree of panic I suddenly remembered Cindy. I looked at her, and she was accepting of what was happening. She didn't appear to be turned on, which I'd had a momentary hope about, but she wasn't upset or disgusted either, which I'd also had a momentary fear about. I was experiencing MANY momentary emotions, plus one emotion that was lasting a great deal longer than a moment. I double-checked Cindy's turned-on-edness after realizing that in her dress hard nipples would be easily visible. Nope. They were visible, but not prominent. What a pity.

#2: <Julia said, "So I can do this." She didn't say, "So WE can do this." She even specified that it was for "one womankind". I think she's enjoying herself letting us know that Cindy is aware that she and Carol are lovers, but is not aware that Carol and her brother are.>

#1: <Yeah. Cindy's not surprised, so I guess Julia did the same thing upstairs. That makes sense.>

Julia said, "I bet you're regretting that Carol is your sister now?"

"I'll never regret that, but I know what you mean. Boy oh boy do I know what you mean! If I was so unlucky that Carol wasn't my sister, then I'd be tempted all right. Which reminds me that my girlfriend - whom I haven't seen all day - has yet to greet her BOY-friend. I demand equal time! Although maybe without my nipple being tweaked please."

Julia laughed again, "Your wish is my command, oh Lord."

Julia released Carol, who wobbled on her feet, and elsewhere. Julia made sure Carol was steady before removing all support, then came into my arms. She gave me a big, open-mouthed, busy-tongued kiss. I even forgot about Carol for a few seconds.

I also forgot about Cindy, and was surprised when Cindy commented, "I've never see a guy share his girlfriend with his sister before. That's gotta be weird?"

I disengaged to answer, "It's wonderful. Look how happy Carol is."

Cindy and Julia joined me in looking at Carol, who was visibly happy and proud to show it.

I continued, "Julia's happy too. Who wouldn't be with a girlfriend as nice and sexy as Carol. And I'm happy seeing the two most important girls in my life so happy, so everyone wins."

Julia said, "That's exactly right, except that I sometimes feel guilty for not being as available to Mark as I should be because I'm busy enjoying myself with his sister. I appreciate his attitude toward Carol's and my relationship so much that I'm not jealous about you coming along tonight, Cindy, or even bedding him if you want."