by NTS
The hot sidewalk burned the soles of her bare feet as she left her building. It was weird how she now associated being barefoot with being casual, as her entire "professional" attire consisted of the heels she normally wore at the office. It was just one of many weird little quirks that came with a naked lifestyle, but in any case she opted to seek out the shade rather than go inside and find something for her feet.
She was also, of course, instantly aware of the attention that she garnered as she walked down the street (hopped, really, to avoid the parts of the sidewalk in direct sunlight). She remembered about how Lisa had acted, showing off for the spectators, but Sarah couldn't bring herself to that - it felt gutsy enough for her to just be out here when she didn't absolutely have to. For a pizza boy, for Tom, in situations she could control... that was one thing. In front of the whole city like this, she shied away from the stares as best she could.
Where she went was determined more by what path would be easiest on her feet than any deliberate choices she made. But soon she realized she'd reached the vicinity of the same park she'd been in with Lisa a few days ago. She knew it held cool grass rather than hot pavement to walk on, so headed in that direction.
After entering the park, Sarah heard the noises of a large crowd on the far side, beyond where she could see. Her first instinct was to avoid it, as big public events were low on her list of things she wanted to do naked, but as she sat soothing her burning feet she became aware of something: she wasn't the only nudist here. A naked couple walked down the path towards Sarah and the park's exit.
"Heading to the protest?" the man asked when they spotted Sarah.
"Um, yeah," Sarah lied; she had no idea what he was talking about. "Thought I might check it out."
"Well we had to jet early, but it's still going strong. They can always use one more body though, so no doubt they'll be glad to have you."
After that they walked off; Sarah watched their bare bums as they confidently strode out of the park and back onto the street. Her curiosity was piqued, and she began heading in the direction of the noise. She didn't exactly plan on joining anything, but she wanted to know what was going on.
What she saw when she got there surprised her - there was a group of somewhere between 50 and 100 naked people occupying a small section of the park. Sarah had never seen that many nudists in one place before; she didn't know what to make of it.
She surreptitiously walked around the perimeter, unsure of whether she should join in or run the other way. It seemed that the nudists were protesting a protest, or something. There was definitely a larger group not far away in another section of the park, though what their purpose was Sarah couldn't easily tell.
A tall, redheaded naked woman approached Sarah, catching her by surprise. She was covered in freckles and surprisingly pale skinned for a nudist; Sarah guessed she was around 30. "Hi, you new here?" she asked, with just the hint of an Irish accent.
"Yeah, I was just..."
Too late; before Sarah could object, she had signed a petition and was standing amongst the nude protesters holding a sign that said "I WAS BORN NUDE AND PLAN TO STAY THAT WAY."
From her new vantage point, Sarah was beginning to get a better idea of what was going on. It looked like there was an anti-nudity religious demonstration across the way, and the nudists were here holding a counter demonstration. But whereas there were a hundred nudists here at most, there must have been close to a thousand people at the other demonstration - most of the signs on the clothed side were either bible quotes or bad puns, and at least a few were pretty disturbing - "YOU CAN GO NAKED IN HELL" and "PEOPLE WITHOUT SHAME SHAME OUR COUNTRY". Sarah shuddered, and was glad she hadn't stumbled on such a hateful bunch by herself... though she was still nervous given how outnumbered the nudists were.
Despite herself, Sarah started to get into it. She joined in with the occasional shouts and cheers of her fellow nudists, shouting down whoever was speaking at the other event. She actually felt some solidarity with the other nudists; Despite her personal struggles with her lack of clothes, she realized that the anti-nudity bigots hated her as much as any other naked person.
Plus, it was kind of cool in its own right. Sarah had never been politically active before, and she'd certainly never seen so many naked people in one place. She even felt kind of anonymous in the crowd; for the first time in over two months, she didn't stick out. She was able to loosen up in a way she hadn't been able in public in a very long time, and was able to relax her demeanor in a refreshing way. Strangely though, she was at the same time more aware of the fact that she was naked than she'd felt since the first time she stepped into the sunlight without clothes.
After a while though, her arm needed a break from holding up the sign and she handed it off to someone else. She then pulled out her camera phone and started taking pictures. She'd told her mom she was "involved" in nudism, and this could be some proof of that, despite the fact that her presence here was totally accidental. She took a couple of photos of the crowd of nudists, taking note of some of the more humorous protest signs and interesting body types, and then took some shots of the anti-nudity protesters on the other side. An old stodgy woman was talking on the stage, talking about obscenity and how free speech was wrong - Sarah snapped a photo of her, as well as the other people sitting up there.
Mental note Sarah - if you see any of those people on the street, run the other way.
A naked man approached her. He looked to be in his forties, and bald from head to toe. He might have been attractive if not for a slight pot belly. His was just one of the great many body types on display here, from the good looking to quite ugly. "First time I've seen you around - I'm Bill," he said.
"Sarah," she replied. "And yeah... I guess I'm new."
"Well, thanks for coming out. We need everybody we can get to show that we'll defend our rights," Bill said.
"Glad to help," Sarah said.
"Twisted thing is, the same law protecting them is the one protecting us - they're all registered Christian fundamentalists, you know. But then, they don't get evolution, so it's not surprising that equal rights is too hard for them to understand," Bill explained.
Sarah laughed, then surprised herself. "Hey, would you mind taking my picture? It's for my mom."
"Sure," Bill said, accepting the camera phone.
Oh my God Sarah are you really going to pose naked for this guy? Sarah thought, in a moment of panic. Yes, yes I am, she assured herself.
Sarah borrowed another sign and held it low enough so it'd be in the frame, and then gave the camera a full frontal view of her exposed naked body, all while smiling for Bill. A rush of adrenalin surged through her as the tiny flash went off, accompanied by a warm tingle between her legs. She'd been photographed naked plenty of times already - but that was always by strangers on the street she couldn't control. This was the first time she posed for one, and the first nude picture of her she'd keep for herself.
Two months ago, she could never have imagined doing that. But here she was. "Thanks Bill," she said.
"You should come to the community meetings," Bill said. "It's easy to feel alone as a nudist in this city, I think it's good for everyone to spend some time around like minds and naked bodies. We don't just do activism, we try to have fun once in a while too."
"Thanks," Sarah said. "I'll think about it."
Sarah ended up staying at the protest until it finally ended a few hours later. She then followed the nudists to a barbecue they were hosting on the pier, mingling and meeting other nudists. For the first time, she didn't feel like an outsider... she even regained a sense of what had made her so popular in high school. Her warm smile, her social skills, and most importantly, her confidence.
She did still force herself ignore her pussy though, which had gotten wetter as the day went on. There were at least a few other nudists around at various levels of sexual excitement, though Sarah still refused to act on those impulses the way some of the others did. Still, it w
as reassuring in a way - she realized that her own feelings weren't that unusual, and it really did make sense. Once you're naked, no one is seeing anything that they couldn't see already, after all. It was completely natural, and these nudists were all people who just thought their bodies were nothing to be ashamed of. Sarah was envious.
She met a lot of friendly people before the end of the day and even wound up posing for a few more photos - one of the other nudists was a photographer, and promised to email them to her. After the sun went down, they watched the fourth of July fireworks together.
Sarah actually felt disappointed when the group finally broke up for the evening - she realized how much she missed being that social, and knew that the confidence she was feeling would evaporate once she ceased to be one of a crowd and went back to being a naked girl in a clothed world.
Chapter 16
Yukiko returned at some point during the night, but Sarah didn't get to see her before heading to work the following morning. The euphoric feelings she'd felt with the other nudists the day before quickly disappeared as she boarded the subway wearing nothing but her heels, doing her best not to react to the way that businessmen were staring at her breasts.
By the time she'd reached the office building, her self consciousness had completely reasserted itself. Sarah did her best to recall the feelings of the previous day, but it was useless... how could you be self confident when you were the only one without any clothes?
Sarah had an air of depression about her as she walked through the office. It seemed that this was her life now. Whatever else happened, she'd also come back to feeling embarrassed and meek from being naked in public. There were moments when she felt good about it, or at least push the negative feelings from her mind, but that was all they were - just moments. They were nothing compared to the daily grind of stares and standing out. The constant judgment just endlessly chipped away at her self esteem.
It didn't help Sarah's mood when she saw Kierra was sitting at her desk when she got there. Just seeing Kierra was enough to reinforce what Sarah was feeling. Even standing over her, Sarah felt weak and submissive to her old high school nemesis, who today was wearing an expensive looking tan business suit, which modestly complemented her dark skin.
"Nubbly! Just who I wanted to talk to!"
Sarah groaned.
"I was supposed to bring these to the courthouse today," Kierra said, motioning towards a manila folder on the desk. "But wow, I just have so much on my plate today! So I asked if one of the interns could go instead, and wouldn't you know it, they agreed to send you!"
Sarah groaned again.
"That's the spirit! I thought it would do you good to get out of this office for a bit, out into the world, into public," Kierra continued, putting special emphasis on the last word. She smiled evilly, then slapped the manila envelope into Sarah's hands before walking off.
And so Sarah found herself leaving the building and back out on the street, once again naked before the whole city, feeling frustrated. After more than two months of this, after yesterday, she'd have thought she'd at least be used to being naked in public. But this morning she was feeling particularly vulnerable and ashamed - she just felt so confused of late, and couldn't be sure of anything.
The courthouse was on the other side of the city, which meant she'd be taking a long trip on the subway to get there - no doubt why Kierra had been so enthusiastic to send Sarah to do this. At least the crowds had thinned out, now that it was the tail end of rush hour. The ubiquitous business suits had been replaced by the more casual wear of tourists and people going about their errands, not that any of them were naked. Sarah did have at least a tiny bit of luck though; a train pulled up just as she walked onto the platform, and it was empty enough that she was able to find a seat.
She tried not to think about the stares she was getting as she rode across town. It was a relatively long ride, over half an hour, and she had to switch lines half way. Sarah was dismayed when she got on the new train; there was a creepy guy who just constantly smiled at her and proved particularly hard to just ignore. Not that ignoring the the myriad of other riders who got off and on the train at various points was easy to do. She sighed with relief when she finally got to her stop and was able to exit - not that there was really any respite to be found outside the station. A shocked woman gasped when she saw Sarah exiting the station; Sarah just pretended she hadn’t heard.
The subway stopped right in front of town hall. So the street level was particularly busy, with plenty of politicians, lawyers, and similar types in making up the crowd, as well as a heavy police presence for security. The courthouse was across the street and a block away, so Sarah had to pass by just about all of them before she could get inside again.
She reached the giant granite steps of the court and began to ascend up them when there was a loud SNAP. Sarah took a tumble, yelping as she fell forward.
“Are you alright?” a nearby police office offered. A small crowd formed in less than a second, all attracted by what was going on with the naked woman.
“Fine, fine,” Sarah said, frustrated. Actually, she’d scraped her knee... the lack of protection was another of being naked, she realized. But her immediate concern was just getting away from the eyeballs of the crowd.
She fiddled with her heel and realized it was unrecoverable. Dammit, that was a nice pair of shoes too. With no other choice, Sarah took them off and walked barefoot up the steps, now feeling even more underdressed.
There was a security checkpoint at the entrance with a metal detector. The guard had her put her purse through an x-ray as she walked through and checked her nudist registration card. Sarah realized that was the first time anyone had actually checked it to prove she was a nudist - most anyone could walk around naked with little trouble, it seemed, registered or not. That was interesting.
Sarah stood for a moment in the main lobby, just looking around. It was a beautiful building, constructed over a century ago with stone floors and marble pillars. The centerpiece of the entrance hall was a life size statue of lady justice was - complete with blindfold, scales, and a single bare breast. Sarah couldn't help but feel some empathy with the figure, standing as she was with both breasts exposed, as well as a whole lot more.
She wasn't sure where to go next, so she approached an information desk. It was staffed by a young guy, probably about Sarah's age. He had blue eyes and a dark five o'clock shadow, contrasting his bleached hair. Aside from the dorky security uniform he wore, he was pretty cute.
"Hi, I'm looking for Tom Matthews, do you know where I'd find him?" Sarah asked.
"Hold on a second, I'll take a look," he offered, and began tapping at his keyboard. "So, first time I've seen you around," he said casually. "I'm Earl."
"Sarah," she replied politely. She had to give him credit; he definitely looked at her naked body, but at least he looked her in the eye when he spoke to her. Most guys never rose their eyes above her breasts when they spoke to her. They seemed to assume that being naked was an invitation to ogle, and that they could abandon all rules of propriety and respect.
"Live around here?" he asked.
"Across town, actually," she answered.
"Looks like he's on the third floor, Judge Judy," he said. "Don't laugh, that's actually her name. Anyway, I expect you'll find him in conference room C1, third door on the right from the elevator."
Sarah didn't laugh, but she smiled. "Thanks."
"Hey, would you want to get together for coffee later?" Earl asked suddenly, as she turned to leave.
"Oh..." Sarah said, completely taken by surprise. "I... can't. I'm seeing someone."
"Ah," he said, never losing his smile. "Well, can't blame a guy for trying."
"Nope," Sarah said. "Well, have a good day."
"You too."
Sarah walked away, baffled. She wasn't sure where that lie had sprung from or even why she'd turned him down, actually. She realized she hadn't really given much thought to dating as a
nudist. Other than a few unremarkable dates here and there, she'd been single since graduating high school over a year ago. Which was fine with her, actually. She liked having the freedom to discover herself... but now that she was a nudist, she wasn't sure how that changed things. How many guys would want to date a girl who let every other guy in the world see her naked all the time? How many would go out with her just because she was naked all the time?
Still, that didn't explain why she'd said "no" just now... he seemed nice, cute, and was interested. Instinctively, she just hadn't wanted it, even though she was kind of second guessing that decision as she walked away.
Her thoughts returned to the task at hand as she got on the elevator and hit the button for the third floor. She shared the elevator with a woman and four men; all older, all with pervy looks. Surprisingly though, she got the most lustful look from the woman - which made Sarah think about Yukiko, oddly enough. In either case, it was short lived. A moment later she exited the elevator - although despite herself, she gave her ass an extra little shake for her female admirer. You're just a glutton for humiliation, Sarah, she told herself.