The Only One Naked

This is a new story based around one of my favourite ideas, that of being the only one naked in a group, and although it’s relatively long I believe it’s worth the read. The second chapter will be uploaded quite soon so look out for that, and feel free to follow to ensure that you don’t miss it. Until then I hope you like this theme as much as I do, and as always any comments or feedback are much appreciated. Enjoy!

*****

Sasha Vernier stood sweltering in the blazing midday sun, beads of perspiration dripping down her bronzed, gleaming skin, as she peered through her shades along the white, sandy beach that stretched out endlessly in front of her. She was an aspiring lawyer in her early twenties, a women totally committed to her dream job, and at her firm she was seen as the next bright young thing, a true model professional. She’d never do anything to jeopardise her future career prospects, and in fact up until a month ago she’d been the most clean living, mild mannered, and generally unexciting workaholic you’d ever care to meet. With that said, it may now surprise you to learn that of the two thousand or so beachgoers that lined the idyllic shore, happily sunbathing or swimming in their bikinis and shorts, there was only one that was unapologetically wearing absolutely nothing at all. And yes, that person was Sasha.

How on earth had she ended up in this bizarre predicament? Sasha was wondering the same thing as she watched the eyes of those surrounding her swivel round, and then widen in disbelief at the sight of her naked body. Murmurings began to emanate from the astonished faces that stared up at her, along with a few tuts and scoffs of disapproval. Sasha ignored them and let out a deep breath, exhaling slowly to get her heartbeat under control, and then she pulled off her sunglasses and casually dropped them down onto the hot dry sand below. After blinking away the shock of the dazzling sunshine she reached behind her head to quickly tie back her hair, and then with a final nervous lick of the lips she began the long, long walk, down the packed and bustling beach.

*****

Thirty two days earlier, Sasha’s life had been very different. She was slumped in a chair, drowsily nursing her pornstar martini, and rolling her eyes as she watched her friends shamelessly flirt with Jamal, an old course mate from university who she’d accidentally run into earlier that night. She was out for the evening with her flatmates Alex and Katie, to celebrate the end of the week with some Friday drinks, and at Katie’s instance they’d tried out a new bar which up till now seemed to be a winner. The music was great, the cocktails were alarmingly drinkable, and maybe most importantly of all it had more than its fair share of cute looking guys.

In all honesty Sasha wasn’t really in the mood for a night on the town, she’d had a miserable and exhausting week of futilely trying to make several deadlines, missing meals and working ridiculous hours, only to be screamed at by her boss anyway for mistakes in the contracts that weren’t actually her fault. She couldn’t really complain too much, she was only six months into her first job as a lawyer at a very reputable firm, and she knew full well that’d signed up for a lot of hard labour and not much time off. Ultimately that was a sacrifice she was willing to make in order to further her career, but recently the lack of a work-life balance had been grinding her down, and tonight she would much rather have gone straight to bed and let her worries drift away, rather than force herself into a pair of heels and go out drinking.

Her flatmates hadn’t given her a choice though, they too were tired of never seeing their now obsessively hardworking friend who had become so grumpy and irritable these days, so they insisted that for once she would come out and have some fun. A few hours later and Sasha still wasn’t really enjoying the evening, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying, and after a lot of drinks the room was starting to spin and everyone’s faces had taken on a blurry quality. Despite this she instantly recognised her old friend Jamal when she spied him across the bar, easily recognising his tall frame as he stood out above the rest of the crowd. She fought her way through the throng of partygoers and tugged at his arm eagerly, she was genuinely really excited as she hadn’t seen him for about eighteen months. Jamal turned round and immediately broke into a huge smile when he recognised her, and the tipsy friends reunited with a tight hug.

‘Sash? Oh my God hi, how are you?’

‘I’m good Jamal, wow it’s great to see you! What are you doing here, I thought you were still living by the coast?’

They’d met over four years ago at the university induction day for their law degree. They’d immediately hit it off and had been each other’s rocks during the gruelling course, working on assignments together and sharing notes for the exams, that kind of thing. After three years they’d gone their separate ways to focus on different specialisations, but unbeknownst to Sasha Jamal had just moved back into the area after getting a new job. He bought a large round of drinks as they chatted and then took them back to his friends, who he briefly introduced to Sasha, before they ordered four shots for themselves and spent half an hour catching up on each other’s lives.

For the first time that night Sasha was actually gad she’d agreed to come out. She’d forgotten how easy Jamal was to talk to, not to mention how equally easy on the eye he was, and it felt so good to be able to rant and vent about her hectic job and horrible deadlines to someone who knew just how she was feeling. It turned out that Jamal’s first few weeks at his firm had been equally depressing, and they both enjoyed the chance to bitch and complain about their problems guilt-free. It was going well, but then Alex and Katie rocked up.

‘Oh my God finally, there you are Sash, where the hell were you? We were looking everywhere, I even tried calling you.’

Sasha opened her phone and frowned. ‘Oh yeah sorry Alex, my bad, I’ve got into this bad habit of keeping it on silent when I’m not meant to be working, otherwise I get these nonstop email notifications which just stress me out.’

Jamal laughed ruefully. ‘You do that too, huh? Yeah same, when I clock off for the night I make sure no one can contact me, otherwise those bloodsuckers will never give you any peace.’

‘Right? Oh yeah so guys, you know the Jamal I’d sometimes mention, from uni? This is him, we just randomly bumped into each other and we were catching up. And Jamal this is Katie, and this is Alex. We all grew up together and now we’re roommates, we’ve got an apartment a few streets away.’

Jamal shook both women’s hands. ‘Lovely to meet you, Katie and Alex.’

‘Oh my, so you’re the famous Jamal…’ Alex moved over to his left as Katie leant up against him on the right, and inside Sasha died a little as she recognised her drunk friends’ not-so-subtle flirting techniques. She’d never admitted this to anyone, but ever since they’d met she’d had a pretty severe crush on Jamal, the sort of annoying lingering affection for one of your friends that is always there but you know you’ll never act on, because well, they’re a friend. The other two didn’t know this so she couldn’t really be annoyed with them, but at the same time it meant that watching them begin to tease and joke around with Jamal, as they batted their eyelashes and ran their hands across his arms, wasn’t exactly fun. Sasha excused herself to go and buy another round, after a brief glance in the bathroom’s mirror to make sure that her make up was still flawless, and when she returned she soon realised that the conversation had quickly moved on from just causal small talk.

‘No you didn’t!’

‘Mate I did, anyone will tell you!’

‘Absolutely no chance, you’re so full of it.’

‘Err, why do you think I’m lying? Why is that so hard to believe?’

‘Nah, I just think there’s no way that you in particular would ever do something that wild.’

‘Oh really, so you’re like some kind of expert on me now, are you?’

‘No, but-‘

‘Oh wait look, here she is, she’ll confirm it. Hey Sash?’

Sasha carefully sat down as she balanced four glasses precariously in her hands, then passed them around the table. Jamal was still trapped in between the two girls and it was Alex, who now had her whole arm tightly hugging his bicep, who was waving a finger round indignantly.

‘Sash, Sash, listen. So your friend Jason right.’

Jamal sarcastically shook his head. ‘Rude, you literally just saved my number in your phone, under Jamal.’

Alex dismissed him. ‘Oi, I said be quiet. So this Jerome guy here, he doesn’t believe my beer pong story, so please would you back me up here? And look, you,’ she prodded Jamal firmly, ‘she’s a lawyer too, like you, and you guys can’t lie right?’

Sasha shook her head. ‘No you moron, you mean anyone under oath in a court of law can’t lie.’

Alex shrugged, she was drunk and just wanted to tell her story. ‘Whatever, the point is that you’re trustworthy. Now please tell Jacob the truth, the whole truth, and-‘

Jamal raised his hand. ‘Ok thank you Alex, I get your point. Please Sash, enlighten me.’

Sasha reluctantly took a long sip from her drink and then set it down with a sigh. ‘Oh yeah, right. That story…’

When Sasha had moved away from home to study law, Katie had gone off to a different university to pursue her interest in art history. She’d done well and got a good degree, but jobs in that field were scarce, and when she left after three years she’d reluctantly had to start a career as an estate agent instead. Alex was never interested in any further study and so she’d done bartending for a while, before becoming self-employed as a personal trainer, and now she enjoyed working full time out of a local gym. The trio had always had vague plans of living together once everyone had graduated, so first Alex rented a flat which Katie crashed at for a while, and after Sasha had completed her extra year the three of them moved into their current apartment.

Sasha’s university experience had been one of late nights devoted to studying instead of partying, of more hours spent visiting the library than any of the campus’ bars, and of countless weekends socializing at networking events, rather than bonding with her fellow undergrads. Katie’s time had been considerably more fun, she’d been surrounded by young, uninhibited art students who knew their future career prospects weren’t great, so they all focused on having as good a time as possible whilst they still could. She found the course was a breeze too, so she’d had lots of time for extra curricular activities, and plenty of experimentation in all senses of the word. Likewise Alex had also come to enjoy the pleasures of adult life, she earnt good money and she was always more than happy to spend it. Her active lifestyle at work meant she had plenty of licence to go hard at the weekends, so in all honesty she had something more akin to a crazy student lifestyle than Sasha did.

All this meant that despite having relatively similar personalities as they grew up, the last few years had made Katie and Alex a lot more sociable and outgoing, whereas Sasha had become increasingly serious and maybe even a little boring. This difference was apparent whenever the three of them linked up. When Sasha let them visit her dorms the only thing to do was spend the afternoon in a dingy local pub, which was as mediocre as it sounds. However, if they met at home or during the holidays then they’d mess around at each other’s houses, go out on day trips, or drink themselves silly at Alex’s old bar. And if they went to Katie’s university then well… stories like the peer pong night would occur.

‘So yeah, whatever she told you was probably true. Me and Alex had gone down to see Kate for the weekend a few times before, and that weekend we’d arranged to visit during some big summer celebration thing. Anyways, long story short a bunch of her course mates had thrown this party in someone’s accommodation block, and so we went along too. And there was a lot of alcohol, way too much, and we were young and stupid, and then these guys who thought we were pretty invited us to go and play beer pong with them. They’d set up a table in one of their rooms, so we agreed to a three versus three.’

This time it was Katie who leant her body into Jamal’s, looking up at him with large, suggestive looking eyes. ‘Actually, it was strip beer pong…’

Sasha gave her friend a withering look before continuing. ‘Well, it was after they quickly realised that we were too drunk to throw straight. They were winning every time, so they said they’d make it interesting, and one person from either side would have to take off a piece of clothing whenever the other team sank a shot. And to make it fair, well fair according to them, they offered to play left-handed.’

Jamal chuckled. ‘And so, how did that go for you girls?’

Now Alex interrupted. ‘Well Sash chickened out immediately.’

Katie laughed as she recalled the events of the night. ‘Oh yeah that’s right, but to be honest it wasn’t a huge loss because no offence girl, your hand-eye coordination is non-existent.’

Sasha bristled slightly as the others all laughed at her. ‘Ok fine, yes I wasn’t great, but more importantly I could see that we were being hustled, the other two guys were still way better than these idiots. So every now and then they’d miss a few throws and lose a sock or something to make it look competitive, but really they were always going to win.’

Alex snorted into her mojito. ‘Now that’s rude, we weren’t that hopeless. We started to make a bit of a comeback, and we definitely got their tops off, right Kate?’

Katie nodded. ‘Oh yes.’

‘And sure enough they were pretty hot, which made the risk of losing not seem too bad.’

Jamal raised an interested eyebrow. ‘Oh really, is that so?’

Katie giggled and whispered confidentially into his ear. ‘Oh yeah… I hooked up with one of them later that week, then dated the other for a few months. They were good looking boys.’

‘So anyways,’ Alex had replaced Sasha as the storyteller, ‘I think it was Kate who got down to her underwear first? Then me immediately afterwards, and at this point we knew we were a bit fucked, I think they still had their jeans and boxers on.’

Jamal was now looking at the women on his arms with a renewed interest, one which made Sasha grimace. ‘So what happened next? How far were you willing to go?’

Kate butted in. ‘Well everyone begins to tense up and no one can hit a shot for love nor money, for like five minutes we all just miss everything. Then they finally make one, and after a game of rock paper scissors we decided that Alex had to take one for the team.’

‘Wow really?’ Jamal’s head swivelled back round to grin at the blushing Alex.

‘Yeahhh… not ideal. But I never back away from a challenge, unlike some…’ She looked pointedly at Sasha. ‘So I took off my bra, managing not to flash them, and then I had to play the next round with one hand over my chest.’

Jamal leant back as he hooted. ‘Well surely that must have slowed the guys down a bit, right? At least you were providing a good distraction?’

Alex slapped his chest excitedly. ‘That’s exactly what I said! I told Kate that now it was our time to shine, and I even squidged the gals together a bit to show off some more cleavage, I didn’t think they’d be able to look away.’

‘And did it work?’

‘God no, I missed by a mile and then they immediately got another cup.’

‘Oh dear.’

‘Very oh dear.’ Katie narrated the next part. ‘So then I had to be next, obviously, and I went topless too.’

Alex teased her. ‘Yeah but then you quit the game too, you just stood there using both hands to cover up and didn’t want to play anymore.’

‘Ok but come on, these were two guys I had to see every day on my course! It was way more embarrassing for them to see me half-naked than it was for you, and as for not playing, well I couldn’t continue one handed like Alex did, because it’s not as easy for me to keep everything contained…’ She grinned and looked down at her impressively large boobs, which she playfully shook by wiggling her chest coquettishly. Jamal pretended not to look.

‘Ok so you tap out and what next, was the game over now?’

Alex exhaled ruefully. ‘No… not quite.’ The others looked at her expectantly, so she bit her lip nervously but then continued. ‘ So obviously I didn’t know anyone there, so I didn’t have to worry about seeing them again, or anything like that. And one of the guys was really really fit, and I was still incredibly drunk, blah blah blah. So I decided to challenge him to a final one versus one.’

Jamal was impressed but confused. ‘Why though, were you insane? After you’d lost so much already?’

Alex waived away his concerns dismissively. ‘Yeah yeah, I know. But in my defence I made him agree to take off his jeans first, so we both only had one thing on, and then it was like winner takes all. Plus we got rid of all my cups apart from one, but I still had ten of his to aim at. So I did think the odds were slightly in my favour…’

‘And were they?’

‘Again, no…’

Katie laughed.

‘It was hilarious to watch. I’d put on a t-shirt and me and the other guy were just sitting on his bed, watching them miss again and again and again. Alex was simply rubbish, and he was just nervous I guess, and couldn’t hit her last cup to save his life.’

Alex concurred. ‘Yeah, I was struggling badly. I was so paranoid that he was gong to win though, so as his throws started getting closer I got desperate and decided to drop my arm and hope that my boobs were enough to put him off.’

‘You should of seen her,’ mused Katie, smiling at the memory, ‘the way her tits would bounce with every throw, or fly around when she’d drop the ball and scramble to pick it up… the poor bastard didn’t stand a chance.’

Alex cackled in agreement. ‘Oh God yeah I remember now, he was trying really hard to hide his erection wasn’t he? But it was so obvious, and just hilarious, and overall I was having a weirdly good time. And then, to add insult to injury, I finally made my first shot in about half an hour.’

Jamal was genuinely shocked. ‘No way, you actually won? You beat him? Nice one!’ He reached over and the two shared a high five.

‘Thanks Jamal,’ Alex looked at him with amusement. ‘But no, unfortunately I did not win. See I had thrown first, so to be fair he got one more attempt. And of course, because the universe hates me, somehow he gets it in like it’s nothing.’

Jamal groaned. ‘You’re kidding! So what, you called it a draw?’

‘Yup.’

‘And I guess you just got redressed like Katie?’

‘No…’ Alex looked truly shy now, and so once more her friend spoke up.

‘You’re right Jamal, for any normal person a draw would mean the end of the game, nobody loses. But for Alex and my ex they decided, for some reason, that they’d both lost, and both needed to carry out a forfeit.’

Alex just sheepishly raised her glass and toasted her friends.

‘Alcohol is one hell of a drug kids, drink responsibly.’

‘And so,’ Katie continued, ‘they kick us out of the room as they start giggling stupidly together, and then after a minute or two… wait, I think I still have the video somewhere…’

‘Kate!’ Alex lunged for her friend’s phone and tore it from her grasp. ‘Jamal does not need to see that, thank you very much, a vivid description is more than enough…’

‘Ok fine, Jesus. Anyway, so I go to find Sash again who’s sulking in the kitchen.’

Sasha rolled her eyes but it was true, that night she’d felt completely alienated by her friend’s strip-game shenanigans, and had gone away to mope on her own.

Katie continued. ‘And then all of a sudden we hear screaming and yelling from the corridor, and into the kitchen bursts Alex, and her new friend, and they’re both completely naked!’

Jamal snorted. ‘See no, that’s just not true is it?’ He looked over at the only one he trusted. ‘Sash?’

‘No… yeah,’ Sasha nodded forlornly, ‘she did actually do that.’

Alex beamed. ‘Told you.’

Katie kept recounting the moment with a pride that made it sound like she’d been the one streaking. ‘Yep, they really did it. They ran through the kitchen, to the far end, and touched the fridge, right? I think that was the target they gave themselves. Then they turned around and sprinted back the way they’d come, I remember someone having to open the door for them because neither of them were willing to take their hands away from their junk. Mind you, we all got a pretty good view from behind anyway. Then they made it back to the bedroom and finally got dressed.’

Alex sat back and twiddled her straw victoriously. ‘See, I was telling the truth, every word. I ran through a university dorm, a university that I didn’t even attend can we all appreciate, without wearing a stitch of clothing.’ She stood up to take a theatrical bow, and they all wryly applauded her as she blew kisses to a non-existent crowd. ‘Thank you everyone, thank you.’

Jamal now had a glint in his eye when he gazed at Alex, and Sasha noted it with disgust. Men, she thought, so easily and predictably side-tracked by even the mere mention of some female nudity.

‘But why did you do it if you hadn’t even lost the game? Did you guys just both persuade each other to say fuck it, let’s go?’

Alex cocked her head to the side and frowned. ‘I don’t know, I guess we were just young and dumb, and it felt like a funny thing to do at the time. You only live once, have no regrets, that kind of thing. And honestly it was hysterical, everyone’s faces were priceless, and it was over in a flash so no harm done, right?’

‘I guess… I mean good on you, I could never do something like that, I’d be way too scared.’

‘Yeah, well,’ Alex shrugged, ‘I used to be a bit crazy back in the day. I’ve calmed down now, but I still don’t regret any of it. Old me was a blast.’

Jamal nodded thoughtfully, then turned to Katie. ‘And did you say you filmed Alex, you still have a video?’

Katie shook her head. ‘No no, I didn’t even see them when they were in the corridor, it was over too quickly. But one of the girls in the flat started recording them the second they burst out the bedroom, and she shared the footage with me the next morning.’

‘So stupid…’ Sasha had accidentally grumbled out loud and she glanced up to see the others looking at her judgingly. ‘No sorry, I just mean… well no, it is so stupidly risky to have some complete stranger film you doing something like that. You’re lucky it was just her and that she only showed Kate, that footage could have been sent to absolutely anyone, appeared literally anywhere online… and then what? What if it gets back to your family, or to your boss, or to any future employer… what then?’

Katie snored theatrically. ‘Oh God, aren’t lawyers fun.’

Jamal interjected. ‘No, Sash is right though. You really should be careful with that kind of thing Alex, everyone has a phone so if you’re doing stuff like that out in public you run a real risk of having your image widely distributed. And if someone manages to attach your name to that video then yes, anyone who ever needs to run a quick background check on you, or just gives you a cursory google, has a decent chance of finding something very unexpected…’

Now Alex pretended to slump into a boredom-induced coma. ‘Oh great, now there’s two of them. Guys I’m a big girl, I can look after myself thank you.’

Jamal raised his palms in surrender. ‘Just some advice ok, be careful out there. You too Katie.’

Alex snorted. ‘Her? She didn’t do shit, she didn’t even show off anything more than a push-up bra exposes. I’ve seen her wear low-cut shirts to secure house sales that reveal more than I saw that night.’

‘Oh really?’ Katie looked with indignant surprise at Alex’s unkind words, she hadn’t expected to be the one accused of being vanilla, not with Sasha still sitting at the table. She had a quick glance around to confirm that nobody in the bar seemed to be paying particular attention to their group, then with a sardonic smile aimed at her friend, she reached for the neck of her top and confidently pulled it down. She was wearing a flowery, strapless off-the-shoulder dress, the sort which have a singular wide neckline, and despite her generous proportions she didn’t ruin the lowcut lines of the garment with a bra. Therefore as she pulled her top down it tightly stretched across her bust, before pinging down as it passed over her nipples, then settled in a ruffled ring around her waist as her captivating breasts were suddenly exposed to anyone who might be glancing her way. Alex snickered, Jamal gawked, and Sasha put her head in her hands.

‘For fuck’s sake…’

‘There we go.’ Katie smirked triumphantly at Alex who just shook her head disbelievingly, before snorting and breaking out into a grin too. ‘You happy now? Am I daring enough for you?’

‘Ok, well played Kate, I take back what I said.’ Alex reached over and the giggling women clinked glasses, then Sasha grew tired of her crush ogling her topless friend and leaned across to tug Katie’s top back up.

‘Come on stop it, put them away, or you’ll get us kicked out.’ She was so annoyed that she found herself actually shoving Katie’s boobs back into her clothing, as her friend looked down at her chest with bewilderment.

‘Umm thanks, Sasha, think I got it though.’ She finished adjusting and tucking herself in, then smoothed out her top and looked around eagerly. ‘Anyone want more drinks?’

Yet more shots were purchased and downed, and then it was Jamal’s turn to surprise them all. ‘You know I actually have a crazy streaking story too, and I think it beats your one.’

Sasha had been absentmindedly sucking on an olive, and now she nearly choked on it. ‘Sorry, excuse me what? You did something like that as well?’

Jamal laughed. ‘God no, can you imagine. Like I said, I have a career to think of, anyone who wants to make it as a lawyer needs a bullet proof history, no criminal record, and nothing that could be used as blackmail.’

‘Sounds super fun.’ Alex sarcastically retorted.

‘You want the story or not?’

‘No sure sure, go on.’

‘Right. So this happened during my fourth year at uni, after I’d left Sash and gone to this new place, and honestly, it was crazy. It was around Christmas time I think, like the last week of term, so it was freezing outside and pretty quiet. And that night it was raining too, really heavily, and I remember because I’d had the worst time working until two in the morning on this deadline, and then I got soaked on the way home, my glasses got completely fogged-up and I was in a shit mood. But then I decided to take this shortcut home over the grass, and because I’m just staring at the ground, trying my best not to slip over in the dark, I’m not looking where I’m going right? And then suddenly bam! I almost walk straight into this nude chick.’

Now it was the girls’ turn to frown in disbelief, and they all chorused in sync.

‘You did what?’

Jamal nodded vigorously. ‘I swear, to God, on my life, on anything. She was completely naked, didn’t even have shoes on, and she’s soaked to the skin and just standing there, looking all shiny and shivery in the rain. And she clearly hadn’t seen me coming either, because she screams like she’s just seen a ghost, and like tries to cover herself up.’

Katie purred into his ear. ‘And was she hot? Did you get a good look at her?’

Jamal whistled. ‘Oh she was very, very attractive. She managed to hide most of her… umm, assets, almost immediately, but I did get a quick glimpse and yeah… if everyone looked like her then maybe running around with no clothes on wouldn’t be frowned upon so much.’

Sasha couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘So what did you say? What did she say?’

‘Nothing, not for a moment. I just kind of froze, it was late and I was sleep deprived so I genuinely thought for a second that I might be hallucinating, and she was like a weird angel or something. And she didn’t say anything either really, just sort of stayed there staring back at me, with her mouth wide open. It was one of the stranger moments of my life, and I guess she was pretty weirded out by it too, I don’t think she’d really planned on getting caught.’

Katie scoffed. ‘A streaker who didn’t anticipate people seeing her?’

‘Yeah but you know what I mean, it wasn’t like she just laughed and kept on running with her arms waving up in the air, like they do in dumb college movies, she actually seemed really mortified to see me. Maybe she’d lost a bet, or it was some insane dare, I don’t know.’

‘Ok, so what happened next?’ Alex was enjoying this story, this sounded like her kind of woman.

Jamal rubbed his eyes. ‘Well after a few seconds where we were both lost for words, I think she just said goodbye..? Yeah she did, she said bye, really awkwardly which I guess given the circumstances wasn’t surprising, and then she just turned and sprinted away up the road. She was running towards the center of campus too, which would have had more people around, like I said it was one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen anyone do.’

‘You didn’t want to follow her?’

‘Again, given the circumstances I think that might have come across as a little creepy… and I was still freezing, and then the thunder and lightning began, so I rushed back to my flat. I never saw her again, I thought I might bump into her somewhere the term after, but I never did. Then a few months later I left, and I never really thought about her again until you mentioned your story.’

Katie leant back in her chair and giggled. ‘Well, good on her. I hope she had fun, wherever she ended up.’

Sasha just ruefully dropped her olive back into her drink and wondered why on earth people just couldn’t keep their damn clothes on…

*****

A short while later the evening was beginning to draw to a close. Jamal hugged the girls goodbye and promised Sasha that they’d meet up for lunch soon, then he went off to get a taxi home with his friends. Even Alex and Katie were now beginning to feel pretty tired, and so they agreed to start the twenty minute walk back to the flat, and headed out into the cool evening air. It was only about one in the morning and there were still plenty of people about, some continuing to drink outside bars or simply on the street, and the rest heading home or searching for a cheeky takeaway. As the girls stumbled along the pavement they chatted.

‘So, Sash, how come you never told us what a hunk Jamal is?’

‘Yeah Sash, what’s up with that, he’s gorgeous! Why did you never say anything, or make a move yourself back in the day?’

‘Guys come on, it’s not like that…’

‘Why not?’ Alex nearly tripped over an uneven paving stone and swore. ‘What’s wrong with him? Is he gay? I wasn’t really getting that vibe, but he did have great hair-‘

‘Ok there’s nothing wrong with him, got it? We’re just friends, always have been, always will be. Now can we drop it, please?’

‘Alright alright, relax.’

The trio passed by their local park and swung round into the penultimate road on their route home, the call of their beds was growing louder with every step.

‘Tell you what though, he put my story to shame…’ Alex muttered, looking up at the stars twinkling above them. ‘Every other man I’ve told that to has ended up drooling over me like a dog, but no not Jamal, he just one-ups me with a better one.’

Sasha had been ignoring Alex but now she felt a twinge of smug satisfaction begin to grow in her chest. Finally the other two knew how it felt to not to be the most daring one in a group, and she was glad that they’d had their stupid anecdote undermined. ‘Yeah well, that girl sounded ballsier than most.’

‘What?’ Alex shook her head disapprovingly. ‘Nah, she just had more of an opportunity than me. I didn’t even go to uni, imagine what I’d have got up to if I had done.’

Katie yawned. ‘Bollocks.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You wouldn’t have dared. Running down a flat corridor is one thing, but outside in public, and for more than the thirty seconds you managed? That’s way harder.’

Alex was genuinely offended. ‘Are you insane? You, who couldn’t even show her tits to a couple of guys because you were too scared? You really think you’re in a position to say what I would and wouldn’t do?’

Katie pouted. ‘Sorry, do I have to flash my boobs at you again to prove a point or what? Sure, you pulled off one impressive streak, one time, in a place where literally no one knew you, so it was basically anonymous anyway. Other than that you’re not the daredevil you think you are.’

‘I actually don’t believe this. So what, you’d do it? You really think you’re that brave?’

‘Yeah sure, why not. I’m just as likely to do it as you, if not more so. There’s no way you’d be able to outdo me.’

‘I did once before, you idiot!’

‘But now it’s an equal playing field, and there’s no way you’d have the guts!’

Sasha had tried her best to remain calm but now all her frustrations and pent-up grievances from the evening finally bubbled over. She was sick of everyone showing off about how outgoing and free-spirited and fucking sexy they were, it was driving her insane and she couldn’t take it for another second.

‘Oh shut up, both of you! Neither of you would do it because it’s fucking ludicrous! You’re adults now, with jobs and bills and real responsibilities, you’re not stupid college students anymore who are just trying to get their kicks with some stupid dare! Now stop acting like you’re both the bravest, or the craziest, or the hottest or whatever shit you think you are, and just grow up for once.’

‘Wow…’

‘Sasha, no one was even asking you…’

They’d come to a halt at the junction that led onto their road, and they all turned to look at each other as an uneasy silence descended between the three. It felt like they’d also reached a metaphorical crossroads in their friendship, and they were waiting to decided which way to go. Down one path lay the future that Sasha wanted, one of successful careers and strings of promotions, of adult obligations and mature decisions. And down the other was the life that Katie and Alex preferred, with a good work-life balance and just enough immaturity to stop them feeling that they were getting too old too quickly. Unfortunately for Sasha she was outnumbered and outargued by two to one, and even for a lawyer those were tricky odds to beat. Her friends looked at her for another moment with growing contempt in their eyes, then they disregarded her and started bickering again.

‘Ok fine, I’ll tell you what, I’ll do it if you do it too.’

‘Oh yeah, sure you will.’

‘I’m serious.’

‘Ok fine, so am I. I will if you will.’

‘Ok.’

‘Ok.’

‘Go on then.’

‘What?’

‘You go first.’

‘No, we do it together, at the same time.’

‘Hah see, I knew you wouldn’t. Chicken.’

‘Urgh, screw you.’ Alex’s teasing finally broke Katie’s resolve, and she leant against a post box as she reached down to tug off her heels, stepping out of them to stand barefoot on the pavement. ‘Come on then, or are you all talk like I think you are?’

Sasha groaned, she could tell that she’d messed up as she saw a flash of anger cross Alex’s face. Growing up they had all been at times ridiculously competitive and stubborn with each other, even over the most trivial things, and although Sasha had matured to the point where she was now happy to be the bigger person and let most things go, the other two were still very much prone to clashing horns.

‘Fine, if you want to play this game then fine, let’s play.’ Alex’s shoes quickly joined Katie’s on the floor, and then after a pause both women started to frantically shrug their coats off their shoulders, flapping their sleeves comically as they raced to undress.

‘Here Sasha, take this.’ Both jackets were shoved at Sasha who sighed and folded them over her arm, then apprehensively looked up and down the road to see if anyone had noticed this odd behaviour. At the far end of the street, near their apartment block, she could see a group of people walking away from them, and she hoped that they didn’t turn back for any reason. She returned her attention back to Alex, who seemed to have stalled slightly, and was standing there shivering uneasily on the pavement. Then Katie goaded her again.

‘See, feels pretty different now that you actually have to go through with it, doesn’t it?’

Alex just glared back in reply, then reached behind her back and began to fiddle with a clasp. In a moment it had snapped open, and she reached under her crop top and slid the straps down, before yanking her unfastened bra out and holding it aloft triumphantly.

‘Happy?’ She tossed it at Sasha who added it to the coats, and now it was Katie’s turn to look slightly concerned.

‘Ok, ok…’ To her credit she didn’t delay for long, instead she seemed to force herself to move quickly, and after bending down and rummaging briefly she straightened and clumsily hopped around on one leg as she stepped out of her tangled thong. ‘Here, take this too.’

‘Eww.’ Sasha carefully added the piece of underwear to the growing pile of clothes, delicately holding it between the tips of her finger and thumb, and once more the pendulum swung back round to Alex. They all knew that Katie only had one item of clothing left, her flower-patterned dress, but her competitor was still wearing three.

Alex bit her tongue anxiously, and then turned to look dead into Katie’s eyes. ‘Ok look Kate, are we really about to do this? Because all joking aside, if you want to, then fuck it, let’s do it. I’m actually serious now. What do you say?’

Katie’s face melted into an excited grin, and she nodded eagerly. ‘Ok, I say we do it! Come on, it will be so fun! As long as we do it together, right?’

‘Right.’

‘No guys, seriously,’ Sasha tried one final time to appeal to whatever semblance of common sense their tequila-addled brains were still able to conjure up. ‘I was being harsh and I’m really sorry, but this is an incredibly dumb idea, there’s still loads of people around, not to mention our neighbours, and you don’t have to prove-‘

‘Shut up Sash. Ok, let’s do this!’ Alex interrupted Sasha’s speech to disappear behind the post box, crouching down to undress as even she realised that they were a bit exposed, standing there on the corner of the road, brightly illuminated under a streetlight. Katie just smiled victoriously at Sasha, who realised that all she’d managed to do was take all the animosity and spite her friend’s had for each other, and instead aim it straight at herself. Now it was Alex and Katie united against her, drunkenly determined to prove that they weren’t afraid of anything.

‘Ok I’m ready, nearly.’ Alex remerged from her cover with her skinny jeans held in front of her breasts, the denim legs hanging down low enough to cover the rest of her body. They could see from her bare hips that she’d taken off everything else, and sure enough in her other hand was the rest of her clothes. She unceremoniously chucked the balled up top and thong at Sasha and then anxiously smiled at her new partner in crime.

‘So, you ready too?’

Katie nodded nervously and reached down to the hem of her dress, but then at the last second she paused. ‘Hold on.’ She walked over to Sasha and tried to reach through the pile of clothes in order to get to her coat, but to no avail. ‘Oh fuck it, Sasha give me your phone instead, I can’t be arsed to get mine.’

‘What? Why?’ Sasha felt her friend reach into her pocket and pull out her mobile. They all knew each other’s passcodes and so Katie quickly had it unlocked.

‘Well you know, after all the fun cyber-safety lawyer talk earlier, I thought what would make this even more fun?’ The phone’s torch clicked on as Katie opened up the camera app and began to record. ‘Well, if we film it of course!’

Alex giggled. ‘Oh no how naughty Katie! You better hope our prospective employers never see this.’

Katie laughed too as she temporarily wedged the mobile in-between her thighs, and then once more reached down for the bottom of her dress. ‘Well in case they do we better make it a good show!’ And with that she whipped off her last piece of clothing, struggling slightly as it caught on her hair, but then just like that she was standing there, at the end of their own road, completely naked from head to toe. Alex squealed with glee and also bared herself to the world by throwing her jeans into Sasha’s outstretched arms, who was now had enough outfits in her possession for three people.

‘Ahh! Come on, let’s go!’ Alex reached out and grabbed Katie’s arm, then the two bare-arsed woman turned and ran shrieking and cackling away into the night. They made for quite the sight as they scampered down the middle of the road, their naked skin shining under the yellow light from the streetlamps, and they unashamedly raised their arms above their heads, wildly whooping at the moon with an adrenaline and alcohol fuelled lust for life. Katie held Sasha’s phone out wide and pointed it towards her as she ran, then briefly panned over Alex’s nude body, and then she managed to keep both of them in frame as they swept past the rows of darkened front windows and empty parked cars.

‘Alex, we’re proper streakers baby, we’re actually doing this!’

‘I know, this is amazing! I feels fucking incredible! Woo-hoo!’

‘Hahaha, yes girl! Woo-hoo!’

Their road wasn’t a particularly long one so soon they arrived at their apartment block, and they darted up the steps which led to their front door and gratefully slammed into it, giggling uncontrollably as they looked down at each other’s nude bodies.

‘We did it, oh my God we did it!’ They clasped each others arms as they bounced up and down giddily on their doormat, grinning like idiots. Katie broke off and aimed the phone at Alex one last time who stood back, smiling happily, and struck a final sexy pose with her knees slightly bent, her hip jutted to the side, and her arms pushed out carefreely above her head. She screwed her eyes shut as the bright torch dazzled her eyes, then reality set in again and she self-consciously hunched over and covered herself up, looking at her friend questioningly.

‘Umm, Kate, the keys?’

Her friend blinked in surprise, God they really were drunk. ‘Oh shit, yeah. Where the hell is Sasha?’

They turned to look back down the street and both moaned in exasperation when they saw that Sasha, and more importantly their door keys and clothes, had only just crossed over to their side of the street, and so were still what felt like miles away.

‘Here, I’ll get them.’ Katie passed the phone over to Alex, who flipped it round and took over the filming duties, and then she jumped back down the steps, onto the gravelly pavement, and sprinted back the way they’d come. Of the two Alex was considerably taller and very lean from all her time spent in the gym, with strong, powerful legs built from years of squatting, and a toned, taught stomach. Katie however had South American blood running through her veins, and her Latino genetics had blessed her with phenomenal thick black hair that cascaded down to the base of her spine, and more than her fair share of generous and gorgeous curves. However, none of that made her particularly suited to running, and as she hurried along with a renewed sense of urgency she had to use both arms to hold down her wildly bouncing breasts. Sasha watched on in quiet disbelief as her lifelong friend jiggled her way back towards her, and she slowed to a halt as Katie immediately dived down and started pawing at her jeans.

‘Other pocket you idiot, Jesus.’ Sasha rolled her eyes as she felt her stark-naked friend groping the wrong thigh, and immediately Katie switched to the other side and found what she wanted.

‘Great, thanks.’ With that the supposedly professional estate agent crossed her arms over her bare chest again, with the keychain dangling from her fist, and shot off back to the relieved Alex. ‘Got them!’

‘Hurry up!’ Alex had moved away from the exposed doorway as she waited for her friend to return, and instead crouched down on the pavement next to a car as she watched Katie retrieve the keys. She’d been paranoid that someone would walk up behind her, or maybe appear from one of the adjacent buildings, but tonight the universe seemed to be smiling on her instead. Now she got up again, still documenting the ludicrous scene before her with the phone, and the girls ran up the steps for the second time.

‘I am hurrying, now shine the light here.’

‘Katie, faster, come on!’

‘Shut up!’

‘Someone could come at any moment!’

‘I’m doing it for Christ’s sake!’

After what felt like an eternity of battling with the lock it finally cooperated and clicked open, allowing the pair to burst inside and stumble into the apartment block’s lobby. They hadn’t really planned this far ahead but luckily for them there was no one around at this hour, and so they quickly rushed to the stairs and sprinted up the five flights to their level, screeching and laughing as they went.

‘We fucking made it!’

‘Hahaha I know, that was unbelievable!’

Back on the street Sasha exhaled bitterly as she walked up to the front door which had already swung closed, and she awkwardly fished around in Katie’s jacket until she found her flatmate’s keys. She accidentally dropped both pairs of heels as she reached out for the handle, and crudely cursed at her friends as she stooped to retrieve the shoes, before booting the door open in frustration. The lobby was still deserted as she waited for the lift, and then the knackered lawyer was finally rewarded by the sight of their flat’s number on the wall, she really couldn’t wait to fall asleep. She got inside and just chucked her armful of clothing onto the floor, the others could deal with it in the morning. Her set of keys were lying on the kitchen counter, next to her phone which irritatingly still had it’s torch on. She turned it off and quickly checked her messages, then looked up as Katie came back out of her room, finally covered up again under an oversized t-shirt, and clad in fluffy socks.

‘What. A. Rush.’

‘Hmm?’ Sasha genuinely wasn’t interested.

‘You have got to do that someday Sash, I have never, ever, felt as alive as I do right now. What an adrenaline hit, my whole body is buzzing.’

‘Yeah…’ Sasha still wasn’t listening as she foolishly opened her email and watched thirty two new messages pop up. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, even if it was the weekend.

‘And you said we wouldn’t do it…’ Katie strutted victoriously past Sasha who noticed with mild disdain that her friend’s nipples were threatening to cut through the thin material of her top, clearly she had found the night’s experience very stimulating indeed. ‘Well we showed you Sash, we may be getting older but that doesn’t mean we’re not fun anymore, we’re just as daring as when we were young, if not more so…’ Katie chuckled to herself as she opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk.

Sasha sat down on the sofa in their living-dining room combo and pulled off her shoes. ‘Yeah, very impressive, well done. Still really stupid though…’

Katie poured herself a glass of semi-skimmed and took a long sip, leaving a white moustache on her upper lip. ‘Was it though, really? Me and Alex had a blast, you had to eat your words, and no one even saw us, like at all. It was the perfect crime, no one got hurt, no one got into trouble, it was just good clean fun.’

‘Yeah but that was purely luck though, any stranger could have walked by, or someone could have seen you out of their window, or bumped into you on the stairs…’

‘But they didn’t Sash, that’s the point. God, you really do have to learn to live a little sometimes, ok? Otherwise what’s the point of anything anyway?’ She finished her drink and looked past Sasha. ‘Oh hey you, I didn’t recognise you with clothes on.’

‘Hahaha, you too my naughty friend.’

Alex had also appeared and began to fill up her water bottle, tiptoeing as she leant over the sink. She was wearing an actual pyjama shorts set, with slippers too, and Sasha assumed from the goosebumps which peppered her skin that the cold had finally caught up with the girls.

‘Kate is your whole body still like, shaking? Like it’s vibrating?’

‘Oh yes, you feel it too?’

‘Yeah, it’s crazy, I feel like I’ve got the jitters but in a fun way?’

‘Yeah exactly! You didn’t feel like this back at the party, at my uni?’

Alex screwed her bottle shut, then tapped the cap against her chin thoughtfully. ‘A bit, maybe? But not to this extent, this was way more intense. I think just because it was outside, you know? So fucking risky, which made it feel so much better, oh my God.’

Katie nodded her agreement. ‘Honestly, and you know what thanks for baiting me into doing it, I wouldn’t have dared without you.’

‘Oh yeah same, I’m really glad we annoyed each other into giving it a go!’ The girls gave each other a warm hug as Sasha pouted and pretended not to listen.

‘Right then, I’m off to bed, that’s me finished for the day. And speaking of vibrating, I know exactly what I need to do before I go to sleep…’ Katie stretched as she walked towards her room, causing the hem of her shirt to rise up and show the undercurves of her buttocks. ‘Night Alex, that was super fun, we should do it again some time,’ she joked, turning to give her roommate a cheeky slap on the butt which made her jump.

‘Hey! But yeah sure, we’re experts now right, we can do it whenever we want.’

‘Exactly. Night Sasha, thanks for bringing our stuff back. Oh, and could you send me that video please, I really want to watch it back.’

‘Oh yeah message me it as well please, thanks.’ Alex waived goodnight too and suddenly it was just Sasha left alone in the kitchen.

She walked to her room to get undressed and changed into a jumper and shorts, then she went to the bathroom to clean her teeth and wonder how on earth the other two could go to bed without doing the same. She washed her face and did a quick bit of her skincare routine, before deciding that she was too tired to care, and instead headed to bed. She wrapped herself in her duvet and absentmindedly browsed her phone for a few minutes, not looking at anything in particular.

‘Oh, shit…’

With a groan she remembered her friend’s stupid video and opened her camera roll to see it sitting there, at the front of the page, clocking in at just over two minutes long. She decided to put this irritating night behind her and sort it out immediately, that way she wouldn’t have to think about it again in the morning. So despite the fact that her yawns were now so wide they were making her eyes water, she flicked through the app’s options until she saw Alex and Katie’s names, selected them both, and then hit share. The upload icon flickered briefly and then was gone, so she deleted the original video without even bothering to watch it, and then finally drifted off into a deep and well-earned sleep.

*****

‘SASHA!!! SASHA WAKE UP!!! WHERE IS YOUR PHONE!!!’

‘Huh… hey, what-‘ Sasha was woken with a start by Katie tearing open her door and leaping onto her bed, grabbing her through the duvet and shaking her violently by the shoulders. ‘Get off me, what are you-‘

‘WHERE. IS. YOUR. FUCKING. PHONE.’ Katie let go of her and started scrambling around the edge of her bed, searching for the charger cable. ‘Where is it?’

‘Here, Jesus Christ…’ Sasha’s ears were ringing with Katie’s screams and bellows, and her head was absolutely killing her already. She groggily turned over and felt underneath her pillow, which was where she always left her mobile to recharge. ‘Why do you even want it, what’s the prob-‘

Once again she couldn’t finish her sentence as Katie almost erupted with fury. ‘What’s the problem? You, you fucking idiot, you are the problem! You somehow managed to upload the video from last night and share it with the whole fucking world!’

Sasha just shook her head, then immediately regretted it as the pain in her temple made her whole skull twinge. ‘No, no I didn’t, I just sent it to you two, I…’

‘No you didn’t, you absolute moron, you posted it onto your personal account, and you even tagged me and Alex in it!’

Sasha wasn’t really listening though, instead she stared dumbfoundedly at her lock screen which showed that she had twenty seven missed calls… Her stomach immediately dropped and she thought she might be sick as she unlocked her phone, and with an awful sinking feeling opened her social media page.

‘No, I’m sure I… there’s no way I could have…’

‘Are you being intentionally thick? Look!’ Katie thrust out her own phone towards Sasha to show her the evidence, but it wasn’t necessary. Sasha had already turned completely white as she saw that her most recent post, which she had no recollection of creating, had sixty one interactions and comments. They consisted mostly of shocked emojis and downvotes, or panicked replies from her appalled friends and family, who were understandably asking why on earth had she just sent them that… With a shaking finger she tapped on an icon and oh God, there it was, the raw, unedited video that Katie and Alex had filmed last night, sitting at the top of Sasha’s feed next to her smiling profile picture. Sure enough there was no additional caption or title provided, just two highlighted links which led straight to her friends’ accounts. Katie reached over and grabbed the phone from Sasha’s hand, and in an instant she had permanently deleted the post. Sadly, the damage had already been done.

‘For fuck’s sake Sasha, how could you be that stupid? And that fucking careless?’

‘I don’t… I’m so sorry I just-‘

They both fell silent and turned as they heard hinges squeaking open, and at the doorway appeared an ashen-faced Alex. Her hair was chaotically tousled around her head, her eyes were red and puffy, and her expression implied that she was on the verge of tears.

‘Sasha?’ She spoke quietly in a husky, timid voice. ‘What… what did you do?’

*****

The girls spent the next hour sat on Sasha’s bed as they tried to come to terms with the gravity of the situation. And it was bad, really, really bad. None of them had made any plans for the day and so that morning they’d all slept in late, Katie waking up first but only at well past twelve. That meant the video had been up for over eleven hours, and every single friend in every single one of their contact lists had been able to see it.

‘Kate…’ Alex had looked over pleadingly at her friend as she heard the exact details of Sasha’s awful error. ‘Before you deleted the post, did you see how many people had watched it?’

Katie sighed. That had been the first thing she’d checked when she’d woken up and seen that her phone was blowing up with countless missed calls and unanswered messages. ‘Umm yeah, I did look…’

‘How many was it?’

‘Alex, do you really want to know?’

‘Please Kate, just tell me…’

‘Ok… One hundred and twenty four. It had already been watched by one hundred and twenty four people…’

‘Jesus Christ…’ Alex rolled over onto her front and buried her gave in her hands.

Sasha went through all her texts and voicemails from concerned family members and friends, who were asking what the hell she had just uploaded and why, and she tried her best to claim that she’d had her phone hacked. It wasn’t particularly plausible, but to be fair the truth was even less believable, because who would ever be that irresponsible? Katie and Alex couldn’t bring themselves to check their mentions or messages, they were too humiliated to even begin thinking about what their excuses would be. Sasha felt genuinely awful, completely wracked with guilt, as she began to fully appreciate just how much she’d betrayed her friends’ trust. She knew it had been an honest mistake, she’d simply not paid enough attention and accidentally chosen the wrong share option, which was an understandable error for someone falling asleep to make. Unfortunately that was of no comfort at all for Alex and Katie, who were both absolutely beside themselves with shame and worry.

Alex was self-employed as a personal trainer, and so her whole livelihood revolved around the community of customers, gym owners, and other industry connections that she’d worked so hard to cultivate over the years. And so for her this was a professional disaster, as every client she was currently working with had just been sent a link to a video of her streaking her way down a public street, then provocatively posing on her doorstep for good measure.

Katie was slightly more fortunate in that she only had a couple of her closer work mates added as friends, but for her the impact on her family was by far the worst. She was one of those weird people who for some reason had shared her profile with every third cousin twice-removed, every great-great-step-aunt, and most alarmingly both of her incredibly strict and religious parents. They’d been continuously calling her phone all morning, but she couldn’t bear the thought of facing their scorn and disappointment.

‘Guys, I am so, so, sorry…’

As well as her overwhelming remorse, Sasha was also feeling a pang of anxiety in regards to her own reputation. Perhaps selfishly her mind turned to the colleagues form her firm that she’d have to desperately hope didn’t bring this misdemeanour to the attention of her manger, or even worse, to her boss. Luckily there was no mention of her name or face in the video, so hopefully they would believe that she’d been the victim of some bizarre hacking attack, and in fact she too was a victim here. Satisfied that she’d done as much damage limitation as was humanly possible she finally put down her phone, then offered to go and get them all some lunch. The other two muttered in agreement but didn’t even watch her get up as she moved over to her wardrobe. She was going to ask them to leave so she could change but she thought that given the circumstances that might be taking the piss just a little, so instead she just got out a long winter coat and pulled it on over her pyjamas.

‘I’ll be back soon, ok? Just try not to stress too much.’

Still there was no reply, so Sasha got her purse and walked out of the apartment. She winced as the bright afternoon sunshine hit her eyes and regretted not bringing any sunglasses, but then thought hey, at least she was wearing clothes. After a quick stroll to the high street she picked up an order of coffee and bagels, then carefully carried them back to the flat. As she walked through the door she was surprised to see her roommates sitting on one side of the dining room table, an empty chair waiting for her across from them, and ominously there was a mysterious sheet of paper lying between their clasped hands.

‘Umm hey guys… I got your food.’ Sasha kicked off her boots and hung up her coat, then passed their cups of coffee around.

‘Thanks…’ Alex blew on her drink before taking a sip, and then hungrily unwrapped her bagel and took a bite. Katie watched her friend eating and seemed to be unimpressed, and she ignored her own food and instead asked Sasha to sit with them.

‘Yeah, of course.’ Sasha nervously slid down into the chair and immediately felt like she was attending some sort of job interview, or maybe an interrogation. Her appetite also suddenly disappeared, so she just anxiously cupped her drink in her palms and took some comfort from its warmth.

‘So,’ Katie brushed her hair back behind her ears and looked accusingly at Sasha. ‘Alex and I have been talking.’

‘Ok…’

‘And we know that this wasn’t intentional in the slightest, and that it was just a freak accident where unfortunately the timing of it all turned it into a compete clusterfuck.’

Sasha nodded. ‘Yes, agreed. And again guys I’m so, so sorry, if there was anything at all that I could do-‘

‘But that’s the problem Sasha, there is nothing you can do to fix this. The damage has already been done. Everyone has already seen it, our reputations are irreversibly damaged forever, and we’ll have to live with this for the rest of our days.’

‘Not everyone saw it, it could have been way… no sorry, I get your point.’ Sasha just hung her head woefully. They were right, and there was nothing she could say in reply.

After a heavy silence Katie took a deep breath and continued. ‘So, with all that said we asked ourselves, what would make us feel better about this whole shitshow? And so we decided that we want some reparations from you.’

Sasha raised her eyebrows warily and Alex misinterpreted her concern as confusion, and chipped in helpfully.

‘That means revenge.’ Her voice was muffled as she was still battling with a chunk of bread in her mouth, but Sasha understood the message.

‘Yes, thank you Alex.’

Katie ignored the interruption and continued. ‘The way we see it, you’ve inflicted major damages upon us, and so we think you should have to compensate us, in full, for the psychological distress that you caused.’

Sasha snorted internally at their clumsy attempt to use some of the legal jargon they’d picked up from tv shows over the years, but she thought that in principle what they were saying was reasonable. And it wasn’t without precedent, either. When they’d first been looking at apartments Katie had messed up sending in the deposit for their dream place, and they’d ended up losing it, meaning they had to move into a smaller flat which still managed to be more expensive. As a punishment she’d had to do all the girls’ laundry and dish washing for one month, and she’d accepted the reprimand graciously. A similar thing had happened a few weeks later, when Alex had left a tap on in the bathroom as she rushed out for work. Luckily their insurance covered the cost of the flooding repairs, but their bathroom was left unusable for a fortnight, and even after that the flat was often rammed full of builders as they replaced the whole floor. On that occasion they’d decided to go with a month of cooking and cleaning as compensation, and again Alex hadn’t argued back.

‘Yeah I understand, and that seems fair to me. I know I have to make it up to you two.’ Sasha wondered what they’d want from her. Admittedly this offence was far more serious than anything any of them had done before, and so maybe they’d want her to buy all their drinks on nights out for the next thirty days? Or maybe they would demand takeaway breakfasts each morning, or perhaps she’d have to give foot massages every evening, who knew… Whatever it was though she wouldn’t mind complying, the punishments were never really about getting revenge, they were more demonstrations between the three of them that they were genuinely sorry for their various mistakes, and that they didn’t want their collective friendship to suffer because of them.

Katie nodded sagely. ‘Ok good, so we all seem to be on the same page here.’

Alex washed down the last of her bagel with a swig of coffee, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Tell her the terms, Kate.’

‘Yes, the terms. Well first, Sasha do you remember how many people I noted had seen the video before I managed to take it down?’

Sasha frowned slightly at this unexpected line of enquiry, but she did know the correct answer. ‘Umm, I think you said that it was one hundred and twenty four?’

‘One hundred and twenty four, exactly. So that many people saw Alex and myself naked, agreed?’

‘Ah yeah, yeah agreed.’

‘Ok. So we decided that you have one month to pay your dues…’

Sasha nodded, this is what she’d been expecting.

‘And in order to fully reimburse us for the embarrassment we had to suffer, during this month you will also have to be seen naked too, by up to at most one hundred and twenty four people.’

Ok never mind, this was definitely not what Sasha had been expecting. She leant forward in her chair and placed a hand on the table, nervously drumming her fingers lightly.

‘Sorry, what? I don’t understand…’

Alex also shifted further towards her friend and looked at her with a cold, hard stare. ‘We get thirty days to show you off to anyone we’d like, whenever we want to. If we hit the one-two-four target before that deadline then fine, we’re all even and we’ll stop. And if we don’t hit that number in time then again it’s cool, we drop it and move on. But until then you will do as we say, without any complaints, until justice is served. We’ve written it all down here, drawn up a contract, and you need to sign it.’

Sasha couldn’t believe her ears. ‘Guys, what is this? I thought you’d make me take out the bins for a few weeks, or maybe buy you some new shoes or something… but this isn’t a punishment, this is just straight up revenge?’

Alex shrugged. ‘Yeah? I said it was revenge.’

Katie also wasn’t backing down. ‘That kind of punishment worked before, when someone did something dumb but trivial. But this is different Sasha, this is a million times worse, and we need you to suffer just as much as we did.’

‘But, but… this isn’t the same though, you guys were mostly asleep when your thing was going on, it’s not like you were being embarrassed in real life for a whole month.’

‘No you’re right. Our exposure was way worse, at least we’re not going to make you strip off in front of all your close friends and family, or your fucking work colleagues for crying out loud.’

‘Yeah,’ Alex agreed, ‘at least you’ll only be seen by strangers, and it won’t be filmed and uploaded online with your name attached. We’re actually being pretty lenient.’

‘Sorry, what? Lenient?’

‘Of course. If we were being bitches we’d rip off your clothes and chuck you into the street right now, and wait to see what happens.’

‘Alex, Kate, please. Look ok, even if this was fair, which I’m not saying for a second it is, I still wouldn’t be able to do it. I’m a lawyer now for Christ’s sake, at a really serios firm, with really strict bosses. You know what they would do to me if I ever did something like you guys did last night? One guy in my first week got caught smoking weed by the police, his first ever offence, they didn’t even charge him, just gave him a warning. But his supervisor found out and sacked him on the spot. Then this girl in the floor above me had her dating profile discovered, and there was a picture on it of her in a bikini. They said that was too inappropriate, and terminated her internship. So you guys can’t get me to do anything illegal, because I’ll definitely lose my job.’

‘Illegal?’ Katie leant back in her chair. ‘Who said anything about doing anything illegal?’

‘What do you mean? You just said you could make me do whatever you wanted, and that you had a month to get me naked in front of over one hundred people. I assumed that you plan to make me go streaking or flashing or some other stuff, which is all classed as exhibitionism and public indecency, and which is one hundred percent illegal.’

‘No no, we’d never put your future at risk like that. You’re right, you will have to do as we say. But that doesn’t mean you’ll ever have to break the law, or do anything unsafe.’

Sasha was now more confused than she was angry. ‘What? How does that even work then? How are you going to get me to be seen by that many people, in a legally acceptable way?’

Alex held up her phone and waggled it. ‘Don’t worry, we’ve already got a list of ideas. Suggestions are always welcome though.’

Sasha felt a migraine coming on. ‘So sorry, just to summarise, you want to embarrass me by making one hundred and twenty-‘

‘One hundred and twenty four.’

‘Ok, one hundred and twenty four people see me naked, and you promise that you won’t get me to break any laws, or be identified and reported to work, or have my reputation affected in any way at all? That is what you’re saying?’

‘Yes, exactly. And all you have to do is follow our instructions, down to the letter. And sign this’ Katie tapped the sheet of paper.

Sasha reeled back in her chair, shaking her head in exasperation. ‘Guys, what the hell is this? Of course my answer is no.’

*****

The rest of the afternoon passed without incident, which was entirely down to the fact that upon her refusal Katie and Alex immediately gave Sasha the silent treatment. As in they quite literally, for the next day and a half, refused to say a single word to their flatmate, no matter how much she pleaded. She tried to give them alternative punishment suggestions that she was willing to carry out, she ordered their favourite Indian food in an attempt to get them to talk to her, but to no avail. Eventually Sasha gave up, took their stupid contract from the table and angrily crumpled it between her hands, then retired to bed, pissed off with her friends but sure that they would have grown up by the morning. But Sunday came and yet offered no respite as still Alex and Katie acted as if Sasha did not exist. Even when she angrily waved her hands in their faces they would just stare through her, as if she were a ghost. Sasha decided that they were both being totally unreasonable and that frankly they could go to hell, so she stubbornly spent the rest of the day locked in her room, typing away on her bed as she tried to get ahead on next week’s deadline. However, as she tried to focus on her task she could almost feel the silence in the flat beginning to suffocate her, and all her guilt was really starting to weigh heavily on her conscience.

‘Oh, fuck it…’

Unable to focus anymore she chucked her laptop to the side in frustration and stomped over to her desk, muttering irritably under her breath at the ridiculousness of her current dilemma. She fished out the scrunched ball of paper, from her little bin where she’d chucked it yesterday, then smoothed it out as best she could and briefly scanned over the handwritten text. Obviously as a legal document it read as a complete joke, and was not contractually binding in the slightest, but for her friends it seemed to be an important symbol of her dedication to honour their twisted agreement. She’d be agreeing to following their orders, without questioning them, until they’d hit their weird target.

Could she really commit to this? And what even was this, exactly? Even though she understood in practice what her friends wanted from her, she was still absolutely clueless as to how they intended to execute their scheme. All she did know was that she couldn’t stand being alone any longer, and if signing a pretend contract was what it took for life to start going back to normal, then she was willing to do it and hope that she could deal with whatever lay in store for her. Sasha glanced at her watch and picked up her fountain pen to write in the date, July the fifteenth. All she had to do was hope that her friends were merciful for the next thirty days, and then all of this would be over and everything would be ok once more. With a resigned sigh she scribbled her signature on the wonky dotted line provided, then slowly trudged off to the kitchen.

Katie and Alex were sitting on the sofa at the side of their living room, watching a wildlife documentary on the tv. They continued to snub Sasha as she walked in and looked down suspiciously at them, trying to decided whether or not she was really going to do this. Before she could talk herself out of it again she found herself tossing the piece of paper at her friends, and as it landed in Katie’s lap Alex reached for the remote and paused their programme. The pair of them studied the contract for a moment, then glanced at each other before bowing their heads sombrely, and turned to look up at Sasha.

‘So, we have an agreement.’ It wasn’t a question from Katie but a statement of fact, one which sent a shiver down Sasha’s spine. It was also the first time anyone had spoken to her for nearly thirty hours.

‘We do.’ Sasha’s voice caught in her throat and she coughed to clear it. ‘Yes, I’m yours.’

Alex nodded as they all let the moment sink in, and then her phone vibrated and broke the tension. ‘Oh perfect…’ She angled the screen over to Katie who smiled.

‘Oh yeah, that is perfect, the timing couldn’t be better.’

Sasha rubbed her shoulder nervously and shifted uneasily from one foot to another. ‘What is? What’s so perfect?’

Alex grinned at her, a flash of mischief lurking in her eyes. ‘I ordered a pizza for us earlier, and the delivery guy is fifteen minutes away. It says our rider is Sergio.’

‘Umm, ok?’ Sasha didn’t understand what was so interesting about that, but clearly the others did.

‘You want to share some with us?’

‘Umm yeah sure, I still haven’t had dinner so that would be nice.’

‘Good, good…’ Katie smiled knowingly at Alex, then turned back to look her lawyer friend up and down. ‘You know what though Sash, how about you have a shower before we eat?’

‘What, why – oh…’

*****

Three minutes later Sasha was standing under a stream of steaming hot water, furiously massaging shampoo into her hair as her mind whirled and wrenched with worry. She reached down and began to lather up her legs as she frantically scrubbed every inch of her body, desperately trying to distract herself and not think about what she had just been told to do.

‘Fuck you Katie, and fuck you Alex… and you know what fuck you too Jamal, and your stupid fucking stories…’ With no parts of her left to clean she rinsed away all the soap suds, turned off the water and stepped carefully onto the bathroom mat, before reaching for a fluffy towel and using it to aggressively scrunch up her hair and dry it out. Once that had stopped dripping everywhere she quickly used it to pat down the rest of her body, then folded the material around her and fastened it over her bust. She got a second towel from the pile on the side and tied up her hair in a wrap, and tested it to make sure it was tight enough.

‘And to whoever designed the photo reel share options, fuck you too, make the icons way bigger next time…’ There was a knock from outside and she heard Alex calling through the door to say that they’d just buzzed the delivery guy in, and he’d be at their door in less than a minute.

‘Yes fine, I’m coming alright..?’ Sasha snapped petulantly at her friend, but she knew she couldn’t disobey her. After using her fist to wipe away the condensation from the mirror she looked at her reflection staring sadly back at her, and sighed. Yep, she really was going to do this.

‘Shit…’ Sasha unfastened her towel and slowly opened it out wide, watching its sides peel back to reveal her freshly washed and exfoliated skin. She looked down at the reversed image of her naked body for a moment, then self-consciously brought her hands across her chest again and closed the towel up, wedging the knot in securely. Typically she wasn’t a massive prude, well not really… well ok kind of. She definitely didn’t need to be, her figure was effectively a blend of the best features from Katie and Alex’s, and they were always telling her how she needed to learn to flaunt her body more. But for Sasha nudity was exclusively reserved for getting changed, having a shower, or occasionally having sex, and otherwise there was no good reason to go around with no clothes on. Conversely her roommates would often travel from the bathroom to their rooms without bothering to wear a towel, and sometimes on hot days Alex would walk around the apartment in her underwear, occasionally not even bothering with a bra, but the modest Sasha would never dram of doing anything like that. Today though, that had to change.

‘Urgh, why God, why…’ She leant against the sink, sulking self-pityingly to herself, until she heard the flat’s doorbell ring and knew that her time had come. She got up and waited until she heard Alex unlocking the front door, then after a deep breath she stepped out into the corridor and walked tentatively towards the kitchen, clutching her towel nervously to make sure it was staying tightly fastened. Sure enough there was the delivery guy, passing a pizza box and large bottle of coke over to Alex, and he glanced up and noted Sasha’s presence as she entered the room. As the trio had briefly discussed earlier Katie was leaning nonchalantly against the kitchen counter, one hand resting down by her side as the other browsed her phone, and Sasha walked over to her side, as planned, acting like she was getting a glass from the sink. She passed behind Alex who continued chatting cheerfully to the delivery man, as he pulled out a box of chicken wings from his bag.

‘Ah perfect, I think that’s everything… yep, thanks. Hey, you’re allowed to accept tips right?’

The pizza guy was a bit older than them, and with his thick beard and piercing eyes he looked pretty charming, despite the huge motorbike helmet which was obscuring half his head. He nodded and replied in a heavy Spanish accent.

‘Ah yes we are, but you don’t have-‘

Alex smiled at him and interrupted. ‘No please, we’d like to. Hey Sash?’ She turned to look at her underdressed roommate and gestured down towards her own arms, which were carrying all their food and drink. ‘I haven’t got any hands left, could you bring over that cash on the side?’

‘Yes…’ Sasha replied through gritted teeth and picked up the fiver and handful of coins that were on the countertop, then just stood there staring down at them for a second. This was it, her last chance to bail out, her last chance to say no to her friends’ ridiculous plan. It was so tempting, all she had to do was run back to her room and get her clothes on again, it would be so simple. But deep down she knew she had to do this, she had to start earning her friend’s forgiveness, and the sooner she started then the sooner it would be over. She took one last deep breath and whispered a silent prayer, then with a heavy heart she turned to walk over to the doorway. As she turned Katie surreptitiously reached across with her left hand and firmly pressed the side of Sasha’s towel into the edge of the counter, pinning it in place. This meant that as Sasha took her first full stride out towards the delivery guy her towel didn’t move with her, but it instead immediately unwrapped and fell away from her body, leaving her standing there with her arms at her side, stranded completely naked in the middle of the kitchen.

‘Fuck…’ Even though she knew that this had been coming, that this had been the idea all along, the shock and humiliation of suddenly being the only one with no clothes on was still just as violent as it would have been if it had happened accidentally.

‘Oh!’ Sergio gasped and his eyes widened in astonishment as he was presented with the very unexpected, but not at all unwelcome, sight of this beautiful young woman’s body. He felt sorry for her, it seemed to him to have been an unfortunate mishap, but he wasn’t such a gentleman that he was going to look away, after all she was very attractive indeed. Instead he stared unashamedly as Sasha cringed in shame at her only covering being unceremoniously ripped away from her, and she instantly collapsed into a tight ball, dropping the money and covering her boobs with both her arms as she hid behind her knees.

‘Oh Sash, careful!’ Katie looked down at her in feigned surprise, as did Alex.

‘Ah no, Sash, your towel!

Sasha awkwardly looked back, still balancing unstably on her heels, then spun one-eighty degrees and stumbled desperately over to the towel, giving Sergio and Alex a great view of her bare behind. She reached out and panickily pulled the material into her chest, then seemed to realise that her butt was hanging out, and instead swivelled round to face the door again. She was trying her best to stay covered up, holding the towel lengthways as it hung down from her neckline, and using the other hand to keep it in place over her stomach and genitals.

‘Shit, umm sorry, sorry…’ She didn’t even bother to look to her friends for assistance, she knew none would be offered, so instead she tentatively stooped to pick up the coins that had scattered across the carpet. She was genuinely too flustered and mortified to think straight, otherwise she’d have realised that it would haven been a lot easier to quickly stand up and retie the towel properly, and then finish collecting the cash. But her brain was totally scrambled and her cheeks were burning, she just desperately wanted this man to leave, and to not see any more of her body than he already hade done. So she foolheartedly continued to keep one arm over her chest as her towel frequently fell forwards away from her body, constantly threatening to flap to the side and expose her nipples or, even worse, to reveal the inside of her thighs.

‘Here,’ she finally straightened up and reached out her fist, emptying its contents into Sergio’s palm, who tipped his head gratefully. ‘Thanks and umm yeah, sorry about this. Have a good night.’

He pocketed the money and slung his delivery pack over his shoulder. ‘Please ma’am, do not apologise. Thank you very much, and yes ladies, I hope you all have a lovely evening too. Goodbye.’ With another bob of the helmet he departed, and Sasha stepped forwards to hurriedly prod the door shut with her toe. As it clicked shut she finally let out a huge sigh of relief and quickly flipped her towel round, wrapping it back around her body, and briefly flashing her boobs to Alex again as she did so.

‘There you go Sash, now you’re beginning to get a small taste of how we still feel.’

Katie and Alex laughed at their humiliated friends as they poured out glasses of rum and coke, then settled down on the sofa with their food and drink. Sasha ignored them and rushed back to her room in a huff to quickly pull on some proper clothing, before reluctantly returning to her triumphant flatmates.

‘Seriously though, well done Sash, you did good!’

‘Yeah very nice, it looked very convincing. I think you gave Sergio quite the shock, and quite the tip.’

‘Guys come on, please…’ Sasha sat down in the space they made for her, cosily squidged in-between them, and she begrudgingly accepted a slice of pizza. ‘Can we not call it evens now? That was so embarrassing, I can’t possibly keep that up for a month.’

Katie shook her head as she munched away and scrolled through the channels, looking for something to watch. ‘Sorry no, you signed a contract, remember?’

‘Yeah, but-‘

‘Then sorry babe but no, I know it feels harsh but I don’t make the rules.’

‘You quite literally did make the rules, you-‘

‘Hush now.’

Sasha groaned forlornly and took a sip from her surprisingly potent drink, then she leant her head back and allowed the hit of alcohol to rush through her temple and down her back. ‘Fine, whatever.’ At least it had been over quickly, she thought. If anything it had been the build up which had been the most stressful part, and definitely the scrambling about on the floor which had been the most demeaning. But her friends were right, it had looked like an honest mistake, no one could ever get in trouble for accidentally dropping a towel inside their own home. And Sergio had no idea what her full name was, so there was no way anyone at work would ever hear about this. So yeah, all in all no harm done, she guessed, other than the damage her pride had suffered…

Katie found a comedy which looked promising. ‘Ok, you guys want to give this one a go?’

They all fell silent for ten minutes and watched the introduction of what was actually a pretty boring film, then Alex yawned as she opened her notes app and tapped at her phone. ‘One hundred and twenty three.’

Sasha hadn’t quite heard her. ‘Sorry, what?’

Alex turned to her and smiled softly. ‘One down, one hundred and twenty three people left to go.’

‘Oh…’ Sasha gulped slightly and downed her glass, then got up for a refill. This was going to be a long old month…

*****

After a restless night Monday morning rolled around, and Sasha didn’t see her friends as she had to hurry off early to work. She had two meetings to sit through but she couldn’t concentrate during them, as the events of the previous evening played over again and again in her head. She worked at her desk for the remainder of the morning, and then about an hour or so before her lunch break she received a mysterious text from Katie.

‘Meet me outside your office at one o’clock.’

‘What, why?’

‘Just be there.’

Normally Sasha ate at her computer so that she could keep working, a grimly common practise at her firm, but today she excused herself by saying that she was meeting a friend for lunch, and took the lift down to the lobby. Sure enough Katie was waiting outside, tapping her foot impatiently, and when she saw Sasha walking out she grabbed her arm and jostled her down the high street.

‘Come on, we’re late.’

‘Late for what, what’s going on? Are we getting food or what?’

‘Ha, you wish.’

The pair arrived at a beaty salon which Sasha had never had any reason to notice before, and they went inside to be greeted by a perky receptionist.

‘Good afternoon ladies.’

‘Hi there,’ Katie leant onto the counter, ‘I rang you guys earlier today and made an appointment for ten past?’

‘Ah yes, are you Miss Vernier?’

‘No, but this is.’ Alex gestured her head towards Sasha who apprehensively stayed quiet.

‘Ah, right. Well you prepaid I see, so you can go straight into room two, our beauty technician is waiting for you.’

‘Thanks.’ Katie dragged the very wary Sasha down the hall and knocked on the corresponding door.

‘Come in.’ Inside was a large, friendly looking woman, wearing scrubs and pulling on white silicone gloves, her afro pinned down under a blue hair net. ‘Hi there girls, my name is Patricia, I’ll be looking after you today. Which one of you is Sasha?’

‘She is.’ Katie sat down on one of the chairs at the side of the room and folded her coat across her lap. ‘And I’m Katie.’

‘Right, well Sasha I’ll be doing your…’ Patricia glanced at her notepad quickly, ‘your bikini wax hair removal and exfoliation?’

Sasha groaned internally. Well played, Katie…

‘Err, yes.’

‘Great. And you’re staying in with her are you, Katie? Bit of moral support?’

Katie grinned. ‘Yup.’

‘Ok perfect. Well Sasha, if you’d like to get undressed I’ll give you a minute, and then we’ll get started.’

Patricia swept out of the room and Sasha glared furiously at Katie. ‘Really, you’re making me spend my lunch break doing this? I have important stuff to be getting on with, Kate.’

Her friend just shrugged. ‘Well one, it’s good for you to take a proper break from your desk, otherwise they’ll work you into the ground. Two, there’s only a finite number of ways we can legally get consenting people to see you naked, given your stupidly strict rules. And three, really I’m doing you a favour, that body of yours is going to get looked at one hell of a lot this month, so I thought you’d want it to be in the best condition possible.’

‘Urgh. Whatever…’ Sasha sat on the sheet-covered bench and undid her shoes, then balled up her socks and placed them inside. ‘And you’re just going to sit there and watch? What are you now, some kind of voyeur?’

‘Nah, but I knew that otherwise you’d just run off, so I need to keep an eye on you. Plus it will be funny.’

Sasha had removed then folded up her trousers, and placed them on a spare chair, then she shrugged off her blazer and continued to complain. ‘You know I felt so awful about what I did to you and Alex, but you guys are enjoying your revenge way too much.’ She put her hands to the waistband of her underwear, then looked at Katie pointedly, who in turn averted her eyes skywards. Sasha grimaced but slipped them off and hid them under the rest of her clothing, then got up onto the table and lay back against the headrest, the cold plastic covering feeling alien against her bare butt.

‘What? What are you doing?’ Katie turned back and looked accusingly at Sasha who was still wearing her bra and shirt, the tails of which she had self-consciously pulled down so that they lay over her tightly-shut thighs.

‘What?’

‘Sorry, did you send my friends and family a video of me running bottomless through the streets?’

‘Umm, no…’

‘Exactly no, you didn’t, you sent them a video where I was completely naked.’

‘Yeah, but-‘

‘No, no buts, get the rest of it off, now.’

‘No.’

‘Sasha-‘

‘No!’ Sasha never actually booked appointments at places like these, for the exact reason that she found the experience way too embarrassing, having a stranger touching one’s private parts sounded like a nightmare to her. But even she knew that you didn’t need to take off all your clothes for a bikini wax, you just had to undress from the waist down.

Katie hissed angrily. ‘Did you forget the deal or something?’

‘Kate, you know no one gets naked for these things, the woman will think I’m a psychopath-‘

Their bickering was cut off as Patricia reappeared through the door, opening it just enough so that she could slip through and not reveal her client to anyone walking along the corridor.

‘Alright ladies, are we ready? Ok Sasha, let’s see what we’re working with.’

Katie reluctantly fell silent and sat back in her chair, her arms folded disapprovingly across her chest, as Sasha awkwardly moved her hands away from her lap and watched as Patricia ambled over to her side.

‘Sorry darling, if you could just hike your shirt up a bit. Perfect, and relax your legs hun, no need to be so tense! It’s nothing I haven’t seen a million times before. So, come straight from the office did we? You work nearby?’

Sasha grimaced and reluctantly pulled the bottom of her top up a few inches, revealing her belly button, and begrudgingly let her legs open slightly by about five millimetres. ‘Umm yeah, just round the corner…’

Patricia reached out and Sasha shivered as her gloved hand rested on the inside of her thigh, and she looked away in shame as the technician gently but firmly prised her legs further apart. ‘Ah nice, we get quite a few people nipping in here during their lunch breaks. Right, so you keep everything pretty neat already don’t you darling, so we’re just looking for a bit of a top up and then some exfoliation, right?’

‘Umm, yes…’ Sasha tilted her head back and scrunched her eyes shut, why oh why was she doing this? It was true though, she did keep herself fully clean-shaven, not out of vanity particularly, but just because she preferred how it felt. It certainly wasn’t out of any obligation to please a man, as between the demands of her final exams and then the first few months of work, it had been over two years since anyone else had seen this part of her body. Well, other than her flatmates, and of course Sergio.

‘Ok, then let’s get started. So are you girls both local?’ Patricia got to work, using the warm wax and pieces of paper to strip away even the finest of hairs from Sasha’s skin. She was very thorough and clearly vastly experienced, and she went about her task with a quiet confidence, keeping up a constant stream of small talk, aimed mainly at Katie, as she worked. First she had her client lie back with her knees completely bent out in the butterfly position, leaving her completely spreadeagled and dreadfully exposed. Sasha just bit her lip anxiously and tried to think of happy thoughts, ones where she wasn’t having her most intimate area scrutinised by a stranger, as she tried not to think about the cool air which was currently wafting over her loins. After what felt like forever Patricia sat back and put her equipment to one side.

‘Ok we’re done there.’

Great, thought Sasha, to be honest overall that had been quicker than she’d expected.

‘So now if you could turn over for me?’

God dammit.

‘Err, yeah.’ Sasha sheepishly rolled onto her side and irritatingly found herself looking straight at Katie’s smug face. She would have preferred to point away from her friend to avoid her silent gloating, but that would have meant presenting her with a view that would have brought their friendship to a whole new level entirely. Unfortunately Patricia was still going to get an eyeful regardless as she sat down on a wheelie chair and rolled her way behind Sasha’s butt.

‘And bring your legs up for me darling, tuck them into your stomach. Ok great, and I’m just going to get in here…’ Sasha gulped as she felt Patricia grasp her buttock and gently pull it up, thereby fully exposing her inner lips to the room. The hot wax hitting her most sensitive area of skin made her flinch, but Patricia kept on chatting away as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Sasha could feel her body start to automatically respond to what it considered to be intentional stimulation, and she prayed that it wasn’t obvious to Patricia that she was involuntarily starting to get a little bit wetter… but then again, with the technician’s head that close to the source of the action, how could she fail to notice? After several more strips of paper were torn away from Sasha’s unprotected rear it was time to move again.

‘Ok, and last position. Could you get onto your hands and knees for me…’

Sasha kept her legs tightly squeezed together as she awkwardly lumbered over onto her front, alright Patricia may have seen every inch in-between her thighs but Katie still hadn’t, and she’d rather it stayed that way.

‘Great, and now if you lean forwards, yep like that on your elbows, and really stick your bum out in the air… even more sweetie… ok, perfect, that’s great. And now again I’m just going to put my hand here, try to relax… so, you girls got any plans this weekend?’

Sasha wanted to die. A women who she’d met thirty minutes ago was now sitting at eyelevel with her bare arsehole, and now she seemed intent on spreading her cheeks as wide as they would go. Her butt could literally feel the breeze wafting up it, and she balled her fists tightly as glob of wax was slowly poured down her crack, an area of hers that had never received any attention from any person before. Why the fuck would anyone voluntarily pay good money for this, she thought, this was the most vulnerable and on edge she’d ever felt in her entire life. As the torment continued she just succumbed to her fate and just stuffed her face into her arms, praying that it would soon be over.

‘Ok lovely, that’s the wax all done. How do you feel darling?’

Sasha immediately rolled back over and sat on the table with her legs lying straight out in front of her, discreetly holding her hands over her newly smoothed mound. ‘Yeah it was fine, thanks…’ She wondered if Patricia would leave so she could stand up and get dressed again, or if actually pretending to have any modicum of modesty left was foolish. Her heart sank however when she saw the technician wheel her chair over to a steamer in the corner. She wasn’t going anywhere.

‘Great, well now we can start the exfoliation. Just lie back again please, and pull that shirt right the way back up, we don’t want to get any products on it.’

‘Oh… ok…’ Sasha silently cursed the universe, leant back once more, pulled her top up over her hips with a resigned autonomy, and wished that the ground would swallow her whole.

*****

‘So can I see it?’

‘What? No you freak. Move over.’ The girls were back where they had been the night before, wedged side by side on the sofa, as Alex heard the details of Sasha’s torrid afternoon.

‘Ok fine, but how does it feel? Are you all shiny and smooth, down below? Have you been touching yourself all afternoon?’

Sasha sighed as she reflected on the experience. In all honesty the skin exfoliation hadn’t been as bad, she’d only had to stay in the original butterfly position, with her knees out wide and her heels tucked in together, which by that point she was weirdly used to, even if it was like being at the gynaecologist. The sensation of Patricia plumping up her skin with warm steam, then scrubbing various gels and moisturisers into her crotch, had been initially alarming, but also felt undeniably tingly. And not even tingly in a bad way, especially when the technician’s hands had strayed dangerously low in-between her thighs… no, on the whole it was not unpleasant at all. The whole ordeal had lasted about an hour, and afterwards she’d rushed back to the office with barely a word of goodbye said to Katie. She’d worked late to make up for the time lost during her lunch break, then hurried home for a shower, eager to wash her feeling of general stickiness away. And as Alex had correctly guessed Sasha had indeed spent a few minutes more under the water than she normally would, running her hands between her legs and down her butt as she marvelled at how silky her body felt. Once she’d dried off she’d changed into fresh pyjamas, and the sensation of the crisp fabric against her hypersensitive skin did actually feel exhilarating.

‘Yeah it was fine, ok, and it all still looks the same…’ She twirled up a forkful of pasta and used it to gesture at the tv. ‘Now can we just watch something, please, it’s been a long day.’

‘Yeah ok, sure.’ Alex passed her the remote, then went to add the day’s statistics into her phone. ‘So this morning you had one hundred and twenty three left to go, and now you have… one hundred and twenty two, and a half.’

Sasha’s head whipped round. ‘You what?’

‘Oh sorry, one hundred and twenty two point five, if you’d prefer decimals.’

‘No what do you mean? Why did I only do half a person today?’

Katie looked at Sasha with genuine bemusement. ‘Seriously? You’re lucky you we gave you half a point at all. You kept your top on the whole time, you only got half naked.’

Sasha almost exploded. ‘What the fuck?’ She looked at Alex for backup, but she could see that her friends were in agreement. ‘Sorry, did you see the positions that woman put me in? I had to lie with my legs wide open, my vagina staring her in the face for an hour, and she almost had her head up my arse as she grabbed my butt, and then she literally, like literally, spread my cheeks apart! She saw parts of me, from explicit angles, that no one else, in this world, not even any of my exes, has ever seen before, like ever. And for all of that shit you’re giving me a half? One half?’

Alex and Katie were unmoved by her impassioned defence.

‘I still think a half is generous.’

‘Oh same, and seriously grow up, it was just a bikini wax, we’ve all had them before.’

Sasha was still fuming. ‘I hadn’t!’

‘Well now you know, it’s just something us girls have to suck up and do sometimes.’

The young lawyer had been unsuccessful in her defence once again. ‘Unbelievable, you’re both absolutely ridiculous.’

‘Honestly Sash,’ Katie leant over to take back the remote, ‘this month will go a lot smoother if you just do exactly as we say, like you said you would when you promised to honour our agreement.’

Sasha just bit her tongue and shook her head bitterly. The really infuriating part of all this was that she suspected her friends were right.

*****

The next day passed without incident, then on Wednesday she was interrupted at her desk again, this time by a call from Alex.

‘Hey you.’

‘What do you want, I’m busy.’

‘Alright, don’t bite my head off. I’m just ringing to say make sure that you’re free tomorrow morning, say you won’t be able to make it into the office until about eleven.’

‘What? No I can’t, what excuse would I even give for that?’

‘You’ve got a doctor’s appointment, I’m sure they won’t mind.’

‘No I don’t?’

‘Well you do now silly.’

‘Sorry, why am I going to the doctors?’

‘You’ve got a nasty cough, have done for a couple of weeks now.’

‘Oh, right… I don’t understand.’

‘You don’t need to. Now go and talk to your manager or boss or whatever you call them.’