Gwen awoke the next morning at her usual time, a little edgy and frustrated. This return to decency might be making the Lady happier, but it certainly was less fun than what she had been experiencing the last few weeks. Their lovemaking the night before had left her both wanting more and an appropriate finish to what it had started, and she wondered if another session with Tim might be permissible. Instead, she made breakfast.
I need new underwear, she decided as she drove into town for groceries that morning. A stop at the mall would definitely be needed before she did the food shopping. You've got plenty of underwear, the Lady argued, but Gwen disagreed. Much of it was old, almost falling apart. The Slut snickered, knowing that to be far short of the truth.
Gwen found herself standing on top of the mall's center stage twenty minutes later, unable to resist the urge to mix reality with her dreams. She allowed herself to tarry a moment, turning slowly. To the passerbys she looked like a woman searching for a planned rendezvous, but in her fantasy, she was turning for inspection. She finally dismissed the thought with a nervous laugh and a shake of her head, and made her way towards her destination.
Gwen found her way to the lingerie section of Crandall's, to the racks and bins she knew held her time-tested preferences. Old habits lingered as she looked about the bustling department nervously, initially unwilling to make it obvious to the other customers what she was looking for, that she might be shopping for garments that would cover her most private parts.
The Slut managed to strike a spark of daring that soon kindled a low flame, and she began to openly browse the familiar no-nonsense pieces, holding them up to examine them, making it clear they were for her. Her attention gradually shifted from the more conservative items to things more daring, low cut-bras and high-cut panties, colors other than her traditional whites. She spent some time deliberating, going so far as to make eye contact and smile at an older man a few feet away while she held a pair of bikini-cut undies up between them. He smiled back with an embarrassed look and averted his eyes, certain he had been caught.
Gwen eventually settled on several items, each more daring than she had ever bought before, and brazenly piled them in front of the cashier while several shoppers behind her waited their turn. Purchases made, the Lady convinced her that she had been wild enough for the day and urged her to head for the grocery store. Gwen complied, smiling at the thought of the contents in her bag, and made for the exit. A display rack just before she reached the mall corridor stopped her. A selection of tennis skirts, shorter than she had ever even considered wearing before, had attracted the attention of the Slut. Try one on, just for fun, she goaded. The Lady did her best to spur her on to the relative safety of the mall, but Gwen just stood and gently lifted the hem of one away from its sisters. She chewed her bottom lip for some time before taking it off the rack. Well, it wouldn't hurt to try it on...she was soon back at the dressing rooms, the memories of her earlier trips vivid. She was surprised by her disappointment in finding the cubicles nearest the waiting area occupied, and briefly considered waiting for one to open before coming to her senses and making her way to a spot near the back of the corridor. Gwen left the curtain open a bit, knowing it unlikely that anyone would see her back here, but not giving up on the possibility.
I could just try it on over my pants, she thought, but quickly dismissed that. No, she decided, she should see just how much leg it would leave bare. Her jeans were quickly discarded but her panties were left in place in a bow to sensibility and modesty, and the skirt was wrapped about her waist. She quickly discovered it ended midway up her thigh, much shorter than anything she had ever worn in public. It wasn't filmy or split, but it showed a lot of leg...middle-aged women shouldn't be seen in such things, the Lady huffed. Most men would disagree, The Slut chuckled.
Gwen modeled for herself in the mirror for some time, turning this way and that. Decision made, she returned to her jeans, paid for the skirt, and confidently marched out of the store and back to her truck.
The packages were placed on the seat beside her as she turned the key to bring the vehicle and its air conditioning to life. Sweat trickled down her chest and into her bra as she sat in the stifling heat, thinking about what she had just done. Gwen found she had no desire to let the excitement of her buying spree go so soon, and continued to glance at the bags as the blowing air turned from hot to tepid. Where would she wear a skirt like that, she mused. Grocery shopping, the Slut replied. Gwen dismissed the ideaβshe wasn't about to go home to get changed into THAT, and then out again. Maybe she didn't need to go home...an idea began to form as she looked about the parking lot, noting that her truck stood at or above the other vehicles about her. Nervously she pulled out the skirt, examining it for any defects before carefully removing the tags. From the bag of underwear she pulled a pair of cream-colored French cut bikini panties, laying them on the seat before covering them with the bag lest anyone look in and see them lying there. Gwen looked about, checking her mirrors for the approach of an unwary mall patron or worse, before she kicked off her sandals and slouched in the seat to undo the button of her pants. The zipper was pushed down while she did another scan. With a deep breath, her hips came up off the seat just enough to allow her to push the jeans down to her knees before she again slumped into the upholstery and slid them down to her ankles where they were hurriedly kicked off. Gwen knew speed was now of the essence, and her underwear followed her jeans to the floor mat while her heart pounded with the thought that mall securityβor the policeβwould be knocking on her window any second. She couldn't deny the illicit thrill of being naked from the waist down in the middle of a busy mall parking lot, but quickly did her best to thread the pink panties over her ankles and pull them up while keeping her hips below window level. She still did not want to have to explain why she was in her truck in nothing but her underwear and grabbed for the skirt.
Gwen found the successful arrangement of this piece a bit more difficult as she attempted to get it about her and tuck in her blouse while constantly checking her surroundings, but she eventually completed the task. The chill of the air conditioning struck her bare thighs as she worked her sandals back onto her feet, the act of bending over pulling the skirt dangerously far up her legs and giving her second thoughts about wearing this to the store.
Gwen almost lost her nerve and fully intended to drive by the shopping center before diving into the left-turn lane at the last moment. She faced her first problem after bringing the truck to a halt in the parking lot. How to get down out of the big vehicle without giving everyone a show? She was thankful for the car parked next to her, the sedan offering some protection as she opened her door and swung both legs out before gingerly stepping down onto the running board, then the pavement. Senses on high alert, she checked and rechecked her skirt and blouse from the relative safety between the two vehicles before making her way into the store. A gentle breeze blowing up and tickling her partially covered cheeks reminded her just how short this thing was, and again she almost lost her will before grabbing a cart and pushing on. To her relief, nobody seemed to stare or shake their heads in disgust, although Gwen did catch a couple of men giving her admiring glances when they thought she was not looking.
The shopping list was too extensive for Gwen to act on her impulse to grab a few things and go. She moved carefully, delicately crouching to take items from lower shelves, conscious of cool air against the bottom of her thighs as the skirt rode up her legs. She was sure any glimpse of her flesh-colored underwear would leave the voyeur believing she wore nothing at all. The scenario had a certain perverse thrill to it...She managed to make it to the paper goods aisle, noting she was alone there. Gwen bent at the waist to reach for a roll of paper towels, certain her panty-covered bum would have been visible to everyone else in the aisle had they needed cleaning products at that moment.
The bored teenaged cashier seemed unaffected by her attire, the bagger a little more so, as Gwen checked out. She managed to load the truck with her purchases without any further exposure and climbed back into the cab with as much as care as she had shown getting out. The drive home was without incident, and soon the vehicle was crunching to a stop in the Nelson's gravel driveway. Tim saw her arrival, and wandered over from his workshop to help with the groceries he knew she had gone out to get.
"You were gone a whβ" he stopped as mid-sentence as a pair of bare legs swung out from the open door. A wild thought that she was bottomless struck him before skirt-covered thigh finally appeared, followed by the rest of his wife.