“Yeah… I guess you’re right,” Suzie said. She looked at Brad, and he was looking back at her in a way that made her a little self-conscious. “What is it?” she asked him.
“I was thinking you don’t have to put your clothes on right away,” Brad said. “Why not practice being naked? You’re going to have to at some point, or you’ll never get used to it.”
Suzie looked at the two brothers, who were staring at her eagerly. “Um… tonight? I don’t know. Well… I guess I could try. Maybe I could try being nude while we eat dinner?”
“That would be just fine,” Mrs. Harper said. “Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes or so. You can hang out with Brad and the boys in the living room, maybe watch some television.”
“Ok. Thanks!” Suzie was a little uncomfortable with the way Marty and Jack were watching her expectantly, and her mind quickly ran through reasons that she shouldn’t remove the robe. But the logical part of her mind just as quickly discarded the reasons.
…I can’t just be naked in front of strangers…
…But you’ll be naked in the play in front of strangers…
…I can’t be naked in front of Brad’s family…
…But in the play you’ll be naked in front of Brad’s family…
It all came down to the same thing: eventually, she would have to get comfortable being nude in front of people, and trying to be modest would only delay the inevitable. It was one of the hardest things she ever did, but finally she slipped the robe off of her body and passed it to Brad. Mrs. Harper had already returned to the kitchen, but Brad’s brothers were still there. Suzie stood patiently and let them look at her naked body.
“You’re gorgeous,” Jack said. “Damn, what a nice body.”
“Thanks…” Suzie blushed.
“Better than Brad’s last co-star, Tonya,” Jack added.
Suzie thought of the tall and blonde Tonya. “I don’t know about that…”
“Well, I prefer brunettes.” Jack grinned. He let his eyes flicker downward, then added, with a smirk, “NATURAL brunettes.” Marty was silent; he seemed shy, and would only venture furtive glances at Suzie’s body.
Brad took hold of her hand, and put his other hand against the small of her back. “Come on,” he said, smiling. “I’ll show you were the phone is.” He gently pushed against her back, and Suzie started to take small steps towards their living room.
She felt very exposed and wondered if she was really going to be able to go through with the whole thing. Naked, eating dinner, in a room full of people she had just met, all of who were going to be dressed? It seemed too weird.
Brad must have sensed her tension. “Suzie, where was Jenna born?”
“Um… Cincinnati,” she answered, remembering it from the play.
“What color was the house she grew up in?”
Suzie tried to remember. “Um… I don’t know. Does it say somewhere?”
“I don’t think so,” Brad said. “But that’s something you have to think about. You have to make Jenna your own. What’s written in the play is just to give you something to start with. You have to fill in the details yourself.” He leaned in close and whispered, “Remember, you aren’t getting used to being Susie Moore naked in front of people. You’re getting used to being Jenna Algood, and she’s comfortable being naked in front of people because that’s what she does. Think about Jenna.”
“All right,” Suzie said. “I’ll try.” It did make it easier when she imagined herself in the role.
They found the phone and Suzie called her father. “Hi, daddy,” she said. “I just wanted to ask if I can have dinner at Brad Harper’s house? He’s in the ‘Candlelight City’ play. He’s my co-star.”
“Brad Harper? Have we met him?” her father’s voice asked.
“No, daddy. But he’s nice. We were just rehearsing some lines, and his mother asked if I wanted to stay for dinner.”
“Hmm. Well, I suppose that should be fine,” her father said. “We trust you, Suzie. Are you all right?”
“Yes!” she said quickly. She looked down at herself, wondering how she could possibly explain her situation.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” He seemed to sense that she was holding something back.
“I’m fine,” she reassured him. “I’ll be home later.” She said goodbye and hung up.
“For a minute there, I thought you were going to tell your dad you were naked in our living room,” Brad said, as they walked over to where Jack and Marty were watching ‘Jeopardy’.
“Should I have?” Suzie felt conflicted. “Was it dishonest not to tell him?”
“Is he okay with you being in the play? And what you have to do?”
“I’m not sure. My parents have read the play, but I think they have a hard time thinking of me as Jenna. I haven’t figured out a way to explain to them all the things I’ll have to do on stage.”
“Well, you don’t have to tell them immediately,” Brad said. “But you should tell them before opening night.” He led her through the gap between the couch where Jack sat and the recliner where Marty sat. The chairs were arranged around a low wooden coffee table. Brad dropped onto the other side of the couch, and after a moments hesitation, Suzie lowered herself between Jack and Brad. It wasn’t that big a couch, and Suzie was uncomfortably aware of how her right hip and arm were touching Jack.
“Your parents were fine with you staying over for dinner?” Jack asked.
“Yes.” Suzie felt self-conscious, talking to him while she was naked.
Jack smirked. “What did they say when you told them you weren’t wearing anything?”
Suzie felt her face get hot. Brad answered for her, “She left that part out.”
“I don’t know if my dad is ready to hear that,” Suzie said. “He still thinks of me as a little girl.”
Jack gazed pointedly at her body. “Well, you look like a grown woman to me!”
“Thanks,” Suzie said, looking down at herself. Perhaps her body was okay. But definitely not as nice as Tonya’s. She looked at Brad. “You were in Equus last year, weren’t you?”
“I was. Did you see it?”
“I didn’t see it,” she said. “But I heard you had to be nude in it.”
“Yeah. Tonya, too. We had a sex scene.”
“Um… did Tonya come over like this? To practice being naked?”
“No. We rehearsed a few times, but we always did it at Tonya’s house. She lives in a big house with a swimming pool.”
Mrs. Harper appeared. “Dinner!” she called to them. They all stood and made their way to the kitchen table.
It was a surreal experience for Suzie to be sitting and eating dinner with Mrs. Harper and the three boys. Most of the time she was fully aware of being naked, but every now and then she would forget. She would be chatting with Jack and he would glance at her breasts, and she would think, “Oh, yeah… I’m naked!” She was amazed that something so important could slip her mind.
They were eating spaghetti, and Suzie was embarrassed when she leaned forward to reach for a pitcher of water, and her breast grazed her plate of spaghetti. She pulled back, but it was too late. She had a smear of red spaghetti sauce crossing her right nipple. Suzie looked up and everyone was watching her.
For a moment, she was uncertain what to do. It didn’t seem appropriate to take her napkin and wipe the sauce from her breast at the table. It seemed as if it was something to be done in private. But then again, it wasn’t exactly normal to be a dinner guest and be eating in the nude.
“Here, let me.” Brad smiled at her. He picked up his napkin and leaned towards her. Suzie was surprised, and she wondered if this was appropriate. But she amenably leaned towards Brad and allowed him to palm her right breast in his napkin. He cleaned it thoroughly.
When he was done, she nodded at him. “Thank you.” She leaned back, and noticed both Marty and Jack were giving her odd looks. She wondered if she had gone too far in letting Brad clean her chest.
>
The conversation at the table turned to “Candlelight City”. Brad was talking about how he thought it was an excellent play, but might be hard to stage.
“You two were rehearsing earlier, weren’t you?” Mrs. Harper asked. “How did it go?”
Suzie said, “I think it was a good start. We still have a lot we need to work on.” Then, she carelessly blurted out, “We’ll watch the video later and see how it looks.”
Too late, she realized what she had said. But the rest of Brad’s family was now looking at her with interest. “You taped your rehearsal?” Jack asked. “Maybe after dinner we can watch it?”
“Um… I don’t know…” Suzie glanced nervously at Brad’s mother. She couldn’t help blushing, remembering how their rehearsal of the scene had gone.
“Oh, come on, you have to let us watch it,” Jack urged. Suzie looked at him, and he had a sly look in his eye. She wondered if he had noticed her blush.
So Suzie found herself back on the couch, naked, squeezed between Brad and Jack, squirming as Brad’s family watched the tape of her and Brad’s rehearsal. It hadn’t felt so explicit when they were acting out the scene. But on the television, it almost looked like they were watching a porno.
As Suzie watched the image of herself, standing naked in front of Brad while Brad pushed his finger into her vagina, she felt compelled to tell them, “Um… it probably won’t be so X-rated in the actual play.” She felt her face burning with heat.
But Jack spoke from next to her, and his tone was thoughtful instead of joking. “I don’t know…” He studied the recording, “You know, it really works though. There’s something very real about it.”
“Yeah,” said Brad. “It’s actually pretty good, Suzie. I think we really caught something. Maybe we should show this to Mr. Belfast.”
“Uh… really?” Suzie was surprised. On the screen, she was now sitting on Brad’s lap, with her legs spread, and his finger was rubbing her clitoris. She was unzipping his pants and fishing out his penis.
When Mrs. Harper spoke, there was a tone of admiration in her voice. “Brad’s right, you really are quite an actress,” she said. “You’re so sweet in real life… but in this scene, you really come across as a whore. It’s amazing.”
“Thanks,” Suzie said. But when she looked at the scene from that perspective, she didn’t think she was so convincing. The way she looked at Brad in the scene… it seemed more like an innocent girl rather than a jaded prostitute. Suzie knew they still had a lot of rehearsing to do.
The scene finally ended, and Brad’s family all clapped. “Bravo!” Jack said, and he was grinning again. Suzie smiled and nodded to them. But then the smile fell off her face. The tape was continuing; Brad hadn’t stopped it recording.
“Do you think I could have done anything better?” she heard her voice say, and then a moment later, Brad was instructing her on how to give a good hand-job.
Brad jumped up and went over to stop the tape from playing. Jack’s grin was even wider now. “You know, Suzie… if you ever want some more practice giving a hand-job…” He laughed.
“Oh, don’t tease her, Jack. Look at how she’s blushing,” Mrs. Harper chided her son. But Mrs. Harper was smiling too.
Suzie went with Brad back to his room, and he watched her as she dressed. “Thanks for coming over,” he said. “My family really likes you.”
“Thanks for inviting me.”
“Did you feel a little more comfortable being naked in front of people?
“A little,” Suzie said. “But I’m still not really used to it.”
“Well, we still have a while before the play. You’ll be fine.”
Suzie said goodbye to everyone, and Brad walked her to her car. “It was nice getting to know you,” he said, and they hugged.
As Suzie drove off, she watched Brad walking back to his apartment. He has a girlfriend, she reminded herself.
8. Swimming Pool
The following week, Suzie spent time in rehearsal, and also in wardrobe. Mr. Cullen was in charge of the costumes, and he seemed to have boxes and boxes of different things for Suzie to try on. All of the outfits were very sexy, which made sense, since she was playing a prostitute. Nevertheless, Suzie felt strange standing in the middle of the room in a lacy bra and panties while Mr. Cullen walked around her, scrutinizing how the fabric clung to her curves.
Tonya also came by to try on costumes. At first Suzie was worried that Tonya would hold a grudge because Suzie had beat her out for the part. But Tonya was very friendly, and already seemed to have put it behind her.
“I knew you’d get it as soon as I saw your audition,” Tonya said. “I might have had a chance if you’d gone first. But when I saw how you were letting Brad take your clothes off, I thought, why didn’t I think of that. It totally made the scene sexy. I wished I’d done it, but it was too late.”
They talked a little about the sexy costumes and risqué scenes in the play. Suzie explained how she felt nervous being nude in front of people, and Tonya was sympathetic.
“Are you doing anything this Saturday?” Tonya asked.
“No, not really… why?”
“Come to my house, if you want. We have a big pool in the backyard, and it’s got a wall so the neighbors can’t really see in. We can take off our clothes and go skinny-dipping, or just lay out and get some sun. If you want to spend some time naked, getting used to it, that’s a way to start.”
Suzie nodded. “That sounds nice. Thanks, Tonya!” Tonya assured her it was no trouble.
However, when Suzie knocked on Tonya’s door that Saturday, a young boy with spiked hair answered the door. He looked like he was about sixteen, and was slightly taller than Suzie. “Hi… um… is Tonya here?” Suzie asked.
The boy looked her up and down, and grinned. “Sure, come on in,” he said. Then he shouted, “Tonya! You have company!”
Tonya came down, wrapped in a silk pink robe. “Hey, Suzie. How are you?”
“Um… fine,” Suzie said, confused. The way that the silk fabric clung to Tonya’s body made it clear that Tonya was naked underneath, which seemed to indicate that the plan for the day hadn’t changed. But then who was this strange boy that had answered the door?
Tonya seemed to read Suzie’s thoughts. “That’s my brother, Donald,” Tonya said, with an obvious lack of enthusiasm. “Come on, let’s go to the sun room.” Tonya took Suzie’s arm, and led her down a hallway. As they walked, Tonya leaned in close. “Sorry,” she whispered, “I accidentally let Donald know what we were planning to do. He was going to go rock-climbing today, but after he found out I had a friend coming over to skinny-dip, he decided to hang out. He’s a huge pervert.”
It was an enormous house, and the sun room was at the end of the hall. It was a really nice room, with large windows that viewed a beautiful green garden. A sliding glass door led outside to the pool, and French doors led out to the garden. Another door opened into a bathroom.
“This is beautiful,” Suzie said. But then she noticed that Donald had followed them in, and was loitering in the doorway. He had a big grin on his face, and it made Suzie feel very self-conscious.
“You can leave your clothes here,” Tonya said. She waved a hand towards the bathroom. “Then when you’ve had enough swimming, you can shower in there.”
“Okay.” Suzie looked over at Donald. She wished he would leave, but he showed no sign of going anywhere.
Tonya scowled at her brother. “What is it, Donald?”
“Nothing,” he smiled. “Just hanging out in my house. Keeping you two company.”
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Tonya snapped.
“Better than seeing a naked woman? There’s nothing better.” Donald grinned widely.
“Isn’t it gross to want to see your sister naked?” Suzie asked him.
“I don’t want to see her naked.” Donald smirked at Suzie. “You’re the one I want to see naked.” He looked her up and down again, and Suzie felt like she was alre
ady naked.
“She’s not going to take anything off until you leave,” said Tonya.
“No, Tonya,” Suzie said reluctantly. “He can stay. I came here to get used to being naked, and being seen. So he might as well stay and see me.”
Tonya was a little surprised. “Well…okay, Suzie. I guess you’re right… when we do the show, there’s going to be plenty of boys like Donald in the audience… perverts who don’t care so much about the show, they just want to see naked women.”
“That’s right!” Donald laughed. “We’ll be there!”
Tonya shrugged. “Well… I’ll go get us some towels, Suzie. Come out when you’re ready.” Tonya walked out the door, leaving Suzie standing in the middle of the room, with Donald staring at her. Feeling very self-conscious, Suzie began to strip.
If Donald was embarrassed, he didn’t show it. He came in and lounged in a chair, watching Suzie undress. She couldn’t meet his eyes as she pulled off her shirt and set it on the couch. Then she undid the button on her skirt, and pushed the fabric down her legs. She had a white bikini on under her clothes, but it didn’t cover much, and she was going to take it off as well. She glanced at Donald nervously as she reached behind her back and undid her bikini top. Trembling, she pulled her top off, aware that Donald was leering at her exposed breasts. Finally, she pulled down the bikini bottom, and stood naked. She looked at Donald, and he was running his eyes up and down her body, admiring her exposed flesh. Suzie made herself stand up straight, and put her hands behind her back, so that he could have a good view of her nakedness.
“Damn, you’re hot,” he breathed. “What a nice body.”
Suzie wanted to get away. She walked timidly towards the sliding door that led to the pool. Donald hovered behind her, and Suzie could almost feel his eyes on her ass as she walked away.
Candlelight City Page 4