The dorm had planned a "mixer" for Saturday night. That's just a party, with a DJ and music, designed to give people a chance to flirt and make new friends, maybe from other floors in the dorm. The college would provide snacks and sodas. You could assume that various students would supply other, less legal, provisions.
That provided just the excuse Julia needed. "Let's go shopping," she said. "I need to get something to wear, if you know what I mean."
I knew what she meant. She was tiring of her flashing shirts. Everybody had already seen everything those could show, so she was looking for something new and, if possible, even more revealing. The mixer would include people from the whole dorm, not just our floor, so there'd be a brand new audience.
There was a little shop on the outskirts of the college town that sold girl's clothing. (Back then, it was normal to say "girl" instead of woman. Those were the days!) Their stock was very casual, a little bit counter-culture, like what would have in an earlier era been called "hippie." They also had a window display of bongs, so that gives you an idea of what kind of store it was.
In the store, Julia picked up a cotton top, somewhat sheer, with a little embroidery. She went to the changing room and put it on, braless of course. When she came back and looked in the mirror, we were both disappointed. It wasn't very much revealing. The embroidery was in all the wrong places, covering what should have been uncovered. Worse, there was a pocket on top of her left boob, so it was really hidden. All wrong.
Then the manager walked over to us. He was, maybe 50 years old, with a beard and long hair in a ponytail. He probably had enrolled at the college and dropped out freshman year to have more time to smoke weed. He asked if he could help us and what were we looking for.
I looked at him and was inspired. I noted that there were no other customers in the store. So I told him the truth, or at least an approximation to the truth. "We're going to a party this weekend, and the girls are supposed to dress sexy. We're looking for something to get attention."
Julia looked at me, and it was clear she was working to hold back a laugh. She added some detail. "Maybe something very sheer? Or maybe low cut so it's easy to look down. Something like that? I'd wear it without a bra, of course."
I have to give the manager credit. He kept a completely straight face, like this was the most normal request in the world. "Do you like the one you have on?" he asked.
I answered for her. "Not really," I said. "You can't see much, can you? All that decoration is in the way." I used my hands to guide his eyes to her chest so he could understand my concern. I touched the blouse. "The embroidery covers too much," I said. Then I moved the fabric aside a little, so the embroidery wasn't covering anything anymore. "We're looking for something more like this, so you can see more," I said.
Julia stood there calmly as we both examined her barely-covered nipple as an example of what should be visible. Then she unbuttoned the top two buttons. "How about this?" she asked. "What's it look like if I bend over?" She bent over for us to look down the shirt, but unfortunately, there wasn't a lot revealed.
I shook my head. "Doesn't work," I said.
The manager nodded, quietly, totally cool with what was happening. Just a typical day at the shop.
Julia and I resumed looking through the racks of tops, and the manager went off to the rear of the store. He came back with a few choices. Julia examined the fabric on the first and declared in inadequate. "That won't show much, will it?" she said. The second one was also not transparent enough, so she passed on that. She looked sincerely at the manager. "We want something more..." She waved her hand in the air, looking for the right word, then she found it. "...naked," she said. "We want something naked."
He nodded, then went to another shelf and came back with something much more promising. "This is intended to be worn over a camisole," the manager said. "But you don't have to if you don't want to."
The shirt was, to my eyes, nearly completely transparent. As sheer as you could ever imagine. I'm sure he was expecting her to laugh or be horrified, and to tell him she couldn't possibly wear a top that revealing without something under it. He didn't know Julia.
She looked at it calmly. She put her hand under the fabric to see how sheer it was. You could probably count the hairs on her arm, as transparent as it was. "What do you think?" she asked me.
"It has potential," I answered. "Try it on."
She nodded and went to the changing room. In a minute, she came back out, wearing the top. Her jean shorts were unbuttoned and unzipped too and her sandals had been left behind. I don't know why, but I didn't object. There was more than a wisp of pubic hair showing above her lavender panties.
Once again, the manager kept his cool. No reaction. It couldn't have been easy because Julia was, for all practical purposes, nearly naked. And she has nice boobs, I can assure you. And she was expecting us to look at them. And we did. She turned and looked in the mirror, then turned back to us. "What do you think?" she asked.
I answered thoughtfully. "Well," I said, "it's certainly revealing enough. You look fantastic in it. But it's pretty dramatic. I don't know if you can get away with wearing that in public."
She agreed with that and nodded. "I'll think about it," she said. She looked at the manager. "This is a possibility. What else do you have?"
When she spoke, he moved his eyes away from her chest and up to her face. He was quiet for a moment, then left, and started rummaging around on a shelf a little bit away. What he came back with was an inspired choice.
It was a knit, like a short-sleeve crop-top sweater, but the weave was very loose and open. You were supposed to wear it over something. Without that, plenty of skin, and other things, would show through. I was impressed. So was Julia.
"I should try that on," she said. She took a step toward the changing room, but I knew that was just for show. That was my cue to speak.
"There's nobody else here," I said.
She looked around to make sure I was right, shrugged, then, completely casually, took off the transparent shirt and handed it to the manager. "Save this one for me, will you?" He folded it up, carried it to the checkout counter, and laid it down.
Meanwhile, Julia was examining the sweater. She looked at the tag, examining everything closely, making sure to take her time so she was still naked when he came back. She made a little smirk toward me, and adjusted the shorts and her panties to be a little lower. More pubic hair was showing at the top.
