by Kara Bryn
Susan was thankful that the inside was not the teenage boy's fantasy that the window display had hinted at. There was a range from neat, stylish, and sensibly sized underwear down to the gossamer thin pieces of tack that she imagined desperate men bought at the last minute on Valentine's Day. The window display was mirrored glass on the outside so it let plenty of light in, but shut out the prying eyes.
The assistant was also a refreshing change from the teenagers in the previous shops. Obviously purchasing underwear requires much more hand-holding and the thirty-something saleswoman came towards Susan. She was wearing a semi-transparent blouse with a gorgeous full-cup bra. She had cleavage to die for, sheer stockings and small, but completely opaque, shorts. Her inch-high heels shaped and lengthened her legs and she oozed sex appeal as she held a wide smile and briefly looked Susan up and down. Even with the heels she was shorter than Susan, but the way she was dressed (or nearly undressed) demanded attention. In contrast, with her coat on over her old underwear Susan felt curiously overdressed.
"Hi there. Are you looking for anything in particular, or just browsing?" the assistant asked.
"Erm… a bit of both, actually. I'd like a strapless bra to wear with a low-cut top, and then some knickers that match. Nothing too full-on, if you know what I mean."
"I know what you mean," she laughed, and headed straight for a rack on one side of the shop.
"What size are you. About a thirty-four C, I'm guessing? Although it's hard to tell under that coat."
"Wow. Bang on." Susan answered. And thought: oh no, I am not taking my coat off so you can assess the size of my breasts.
"Let's see… here you go for the bra. Try this one on. And for knickers, maybe something more like shorts, and I think this pair would go well. A thirty-four around the waist too?"
"Dead on again. I guess you've done this before." The assistant smiled as she handed the pair over to Susan. Both were more, shall we say, exotic than Susan's regular tastes. This seems daft, she thought, I already have plenty of nice underwear at home. But these were more than nice.
The bra didn't sacrifice any functionality and it certainly did have style. The cups were made from a thin black mesh with a lace pattern across them that would not cover much that the imagination couldn't make up for.
The knickers were black lace shorts, again made of a thin mesh and the lace pattern matched the bra. Well, if she wanted to feel sexy beneath her new clothes, these were certainly going to do it. They looked perfect, all in black, but could Susan carry it off?
"The changing room's back there. Give me a shout if you want a different size or anything else." The assistant pointed towards the back of the shop.
"Thanks. I'll see how I go."
Susan took the bra and shorts to the changing room, put her bag with her new skirt and new top down, and again stood and stared at herself in the mirror. Do I look sexy? she asked herself. She wasn't sure… she had felt sexy, when she first walked out of a changing room without trousers or skirt on, and when she flirted with the waiter in the coffee shop with only her coat to cover her underwear. But now that feeling was starting to fade.
She sighed and her shoulders slumped, and the coat fell forward revealing her old bra strap again. She slowly undid the belt and belt again, but this time it didn't feel sexy to reveal her legs, her chest and her midriff. The figure in the mirror made undressing a chore rather than the slow revelation of a beautiful object.
She flung her coat onto the stool in the corner and again looked in the mirror at the drab bra and knickers. She felt like she was at school and had forgotten her gym kit, and everyone would laugh at her as she was made to play netball in her underwear. The flat shoes even looked like she was wearing a pair of old plimsolls. She turned away from the mirror.
Who are you kidding? she asked herself as she slipped off her shoes, unclasped the bra and threw it onto her coat. She slipped down her ever-so-practical knickers, letting them fall down her legs onto the floor before picking them up and tossing them onto her coat and bra. She looked at the pile of non-descript fabric. The coat that was brown when new was now a faded, murky grey. The knickers and bra had both been mixed in too many washes to stay white and virtually matched the coat. Beige, she thought, it is the colour of Susan.
She took the lace shorts from the hanger and pulled them up over her hips. They fit perfectly, and the fabric felt gorgeous on her hands and against her skin. Then she took the bra, wrapped it around her and fastened the front. Her breasts filled the cups and even the wiring felt comfortable.
She turned around to look at her reflection and blinked in surprise. The clothes had transformed her. Instead of pale grey cloth against fair skin, the black of the shorts and bra made her shine from inside. The shorts clung to the tops of her thighs and moved with her as she moved her legs. The bra had given a small amount of lift and an extra half an inch of cleavage, and her nipples were in part visible and part hidden behind the lacework. She stood tall again and marvelled as she turned from side to side, eyes transfixed on her image all the time.
"How are you doing in there?" came the assistant's voice from outside.
"Great! Really Great! These fit perfectly!" Susan was ecstatic with the choices the assistant had made for her.
"Come out and let me take a look and I'll give you a second opinion."
Come out? Come out of the changing room dressed in underwear that's so revealing she may as well be nude? Was the woman mad?
"There's no-one out here," the voice from beyond the curtain continued, "and at the back of the shop you can hear if anyone comes in and be inside the changing cubicle in a flash. Customers do it all the time."
Susan took a deep breath, and then reconsidered. No, she thought, I can't do it. But then she felt sad: no-one would ever see her like this, and she badly felt in need of seeing some admiring eyes on her body. It would be a shame to miss that opportunity in a safe environment. She pulled back the curtain and stepped out.
"Wow! That really works!" exclaimed the shop assistant. Was that genuine, or did she always say that? Who cared: a compliment is a compliment.
Susan stepped out of the changing room, and then stopped as she saw people passing by in the street on the other side of the windows.
The assistant read her hesitation. "Don't worry, it's one-way glass. They can't see inside."
Ah, yes. Susan remembered. There was a thrill to standing there in exotic lingerie with a street full of regular shoppers walking past not more than twenty feet away. Would it be so bad if they could see her? She saw herself in another mirror and turned again. This felt good and Susan felt her nipples harden as she savoured the moment.
"Girl, I think you've nailed that one" the assistant said. "I'd love to sell you something more expensive, but I don't think I can do any better than the way you look now."
Susan stood and looked into the mirror. Yes, the whole sexy thing was back on again. This underwear beneath her new outfit would give her all the confidence she needed tomorrow night. She turned back to the assistant and walked over to where she was standing at the desk by the window. Even though she knew no-one could see in, the thought being virtually naked as so many people passed by was thrilling, and she couldn't help but move a little closer.
"Well, thanks so much for your help… erm…" Susan leaned forwards to try to read the small name badge pinned to the assistant's bra strap.
"It's Marian," the assistant helped her, and Susan flushed slightly as she realised she was staring closely at the woman's breasts. Marian smiled at her, and Susan had a feeling that the typeset was deliberately too small just to encourage such a situation.
"Thanks for choosing these, Marian. They're absolutely perfect and I wouldn't—"
The shop door opened just behind where Susan stood. Marian was right: it made enough noise to get into the changing room, but that was if she'd stayed at the back of the shop rather than seeing how close she could get to the windows. An ungainly run to the changing roo
m in plain sight would do no good now. Marian glanced at her and winked, and then looked over her shoulder to address the new arrival.
"How may we help you today, sir?"
Sir? Sir?! Oh lord, open up the ground beneath me now, Susan thought to herself.
She turned around. The new arrival was a man in his forties and smartly dressed. His eyes glazed as he tried to take in the sight of Marian and Susan standing together, the one in heels and dark, black opaque underwear barely covered by a sheer transparent blouse, and the other wearing nothing but lace shorts and a strapless bra. There was too much to take in for him to notice that Susan wasn't wearing any shoes, or that she held a terrified look on her face.
"I'm hoping to get something for my wife's birthday…" he tailed off, looking at the two women, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I? I can come back later?"
"No! Not at all!" Marian said, "I'm just training my new assistant here and perhaps we can help together?"
Marian winked again and flashed an impish smile, and Susan half-smiled back. What a great way to save her embarrassment, by pretending she was just another member of staff! And the new customer had never been in a lingerie shop in his life, so maybe this is how everyone dressed inside one?
"Great! Well, I'm looking for something… well, you know…" the new customer continued.
"Something adventurous perhaps, sir?"
"Yes, that's the word. And I don't know where to start."
"I presume this is just for the privacy of your own home?" Marian was good at this. Ask all the right questions and be one step ahead of the nervous man in front of her.
"Actually, not just… we're having some photos taken, just for us… and, erm… well, something that looks good. It's going to be a surprise present."
Susan's eyes widened. If she had met him in the street, would she have guessed that the man who walked in was interested in having some erotic photos of his wife taken? Almost certainly not. But then, would he have guessed that she had been only in her underwear beneath her coat? Absolutely not. The world was getting stranger by the minute, but more interesting with it.
"Excellent. I know exactly the type of thing, sir. So you'll be after the stocking, suspenders, corset type look…."
"Yes, yes! Exactly!" The new customer was relaxing now Marian had managed to list exactly what he wanted without him having to.
"Okay! Let's get you started. What sort of size is your partner, sir?"
"My wife…" he said smiling, "she's, erm, pretty much the size of your colleague." He indicated Susan standing next to Marian.
"The same size in build and shape as well as height?" Marian indicated with her hands to Susan's figure. This gave him the permission he'd been looking for to look Susan over closely from head to toe, and toe to head, and head to toe again. Susan saw his eyes dwell on her breasts, knowing full well that her nipples were virtually on full display and that… well, it was best not to think about what the shorts revealed lest the colour come to her face again.
"Yes… yes, pretty much. As close as I can tell anyway. And a similar age, too. She's quite a bit younger than me, in her late twenties."
Susan had passed thirty some years ago and greatly appreciated the unwitting compliment. Marian took control again.
"Well, if it's to be a surprise, then we can't just have your wife in here trying things on. But sizing of this kind of thing is really quite specific, so let me make a recommendation, if I may," Marian said.
"Absolutely, please do," he replied, eager to be lead through the process.
"You really want to be sure you've got the right thing, otherwise your wife may not like what you've chosen. Plus, as I said, it needs to fit well… and not just well, but perfectly… So we'll pick out an outfit, and then when we have it all worked out we can get your wife to say "okay" to it and she can try it all on? How does that sound?"
"Well… I was really hoping it would be a surprise…"
"Oh, don’t you worry – it sounds like the whole thing will be quite enough of a surprise. Take that from another woman," she said with a smile. Marian had obviously dealt with situations like this before. "Don't you agree?" She turned to Susan.
"Erm, absolutely," Susan replied blindly.
"Okay then, let's do what you say. You're the experts," the customer said.
Susan didn't feel like an expert, but she did her best to nod along as if this was the obvious course of action.
"Great!" said Marian, "Okay, if I pick a few things out…"
What did that look on Marian's face mean? What was coming next?
"…then we'll get my colleague here to model them for you, and you can pick the one you like!"
What! thought Susan, almost fainting as the room span. She wanted to say I am not modelling lingerie for a stranger, but no sounds came out. The charade of assistant and trainee and gone on too long to turn back, and Marian was increasingly enjoying herself.
"Fantastic! Perfect!" the man said, rather too enthusiastically. A young attractive woman was going to model underwear just for him? He might just become a regular customer here. Susan could see his head spinning as much as she felt hers.
Susan turned towards Marian and tried to plead with her eyes. Marian smiled. "Don't worry, this'll be fun," she whispered and, as she did so, she ran put her left hand on Susan's right shoulder and ran her fingers run down the small of her back. Susan was surprised that her nipples started to harden again. What did that touch mean, and why had it felt so good? Marian pretended not to notice, but her smile was even more impish than before.
Marian turned walked over to some racks and continued in assistant mode. "Okay, sir, are we going for black, white, or something else, sir?"
"Erm, white, please… I had imagined white."
"Absolutely. So let's see… sheer stockings, panties, and this corset… we'll go for an overbust, shall we? Rather than a separate bra?"
"Erm… yes?" came the reply. He had little what the difference was.
"Okay, so corset… here we go. Nothing crass and over-the-top…" Susan almost laughed at this as the whole thing sounded quite crass to her, "…and these are all sheer satin with just some vertical lines on the corset to slim the waist. Sound good?"
"Sounds great. Yes!" He would happily take whatever Marian was going to sell him. Marian continued.
"If you can take a seat here, give us a few minutes then we'll be back and show you how it looks."
Susan felt the room spin again, realising that it was her turn to be in the spotlight. This day was no longer going as she'd planned.
Marian took Susan's hand, led her into a small office at the back of the shop and turned to face her.
"I think we just need a bit of highlight on your face now… Some lipstick and eye liner to set the whole thing off," she said.
"I can't go through with this. I'm sorry, I'll just have to get my things together and go," Susan said with panic in her eyes.
"Don't be silly!" Marian said, "He's already seen most of you for a start, and you'll be more covered the next time you go out. And besides, the only way out of here is through the front door, and are you going to explain the situation to him?"
Susan had no answer. The only way out was to wake up, because this had to be a dream. There was no way this was really happening, not to Susan.
Marian took out a small make-up box. "I'm going to put some fairly trashy red lipstick on you… This one will do it… There, that's got that. You carry it well, actually. Now hold still while I line your eyes and add a touch of mascara. Your skin is really great, do you know that? Lovely and milky and smooth." As Marian said it Susan felt a touch again, on the neck and shoulder this time.
She held up a mirror for Susan. "Oh lord do I look cheap," she said.
"Not at all! And it's exactly what he'll want. Now, here's the gear he wants to see you in, so get yourself into the changing room again and I'll keep our man occupied. You do know how to put a corset on, don't you?"
"I'l
l work it out."
"Oh, and borrow my shoes too…" Marian kicked them off, "They're not great, and red won't really match the white outfit, but they've got a heel and I don't think he'll be looking at colour. Not with those legs to distract him." She looked down admiringly and Susan's shyness overwhelmed her again.
Susan picked up the shoes as well as the stockings, panties and corset and took them into the changing room. She pulled the curtain closed and stared at the mirror again. It all felt like a dream, and she was just a passenger, unable to stop this journey. Well, the faster it goes, the sooner it'll end, she thought and unclipped the strapless bra, slid down the lace shorts and put them on their hangers.
She took the white knickers and pulled them on. They were pure white, but less opaque than she had thought, or hoped. The lack of pattern left little to the imagination as they clung to her skin. Next she rolled the stockings on, one at a time. She had to admit to herself that this felt good. The material was sheer and the way they lightly held the tops of her thighs was as pleasant as it was unfamiliar. She ran her hands up and down the stockings, feeling their touch on her legs and the fabric on her fingertips.
Susan picked up the corset and wrapped it around her torso, fastening the hooks at the back as best as she could. At least it looked okay in the mirror, she thought, and felt snug but not overly tight. She wasn't going to crack her ribs for a stranger anyway, but then if she'd been asked about it earlier she wouldn't have said she'd parade around half-naked for a stranger either. She hooked the stockings onto the corset in the only way that seemed to make sense. How had she gotten to this age and never done this before?
Finally she slipped her feet into the shoes. The heel was only an inch but she could feel her calf muscles having to work. Standing tall she turned around and looked in the mirror. The image looking back at her was almost unrecognisable. The corset had squeezed her waist yet further, and with the extra height she looked even thinner than usual. Her calves were shaped now and, really, her legs were totally glorious.