Try as I might, I was unable to conjure up the same immersive fantasy after my nemesis, the smelly ogre man, left the bus. It would be a little while before we departed, so I sighed in unfulfilled ardor, and went in search of the ladies room.
I didn't have anyone sitting beside me as the bus once again pulled out, this time onto much quieter streets than we had battled in the city. Not only were we in a smaller town, but rush hour had finished some time earlier, and there was no traffic to speak of. The bus navigated a couple of sets of traffic lights and a roundabout, before drumming its way up an on-ramp and back onto the expressway.
There was no way I was going to be able to focus on my silly romance novel. My libido was piqued, and I was restless with erotic charge. The night was still too young to draw me into sleep by force, so I was left to wrestle with loosely orbiting carnal thoughts without my ogre as a foil against which to explore them.
The lady across the other side had lucked out with a nice fellow as a traveling companion, and he was making polite conversation with her. Had I such a companion, I might have maintained a wholesome state of mind, I mused. Of course, the man who did sit next to me had done nothing to provoke my insidious projections of my own invention on his likely good nature... But I wasn't here to debate ethics. I was aroused and alone, surrounded by strangers of a social set with which I did not associate myself.
I watched, trying to ignore my unattended inner lusts, as the passenger in front of the nice man over the isle pulled the complementary blanket from their seat pocket, and began arranging themselves. My mind hovered over the scene as they settled down to attempt to sleep. A salacious thought stole across my mind.
Teetering as I was, on the boundary between my outer affect of a decent young lady and my inner reality of an awakening wanton harlot, I leaned slightly, then more determinedly, toward the harlot. I pondered if it were possible, calculated that it must be, hesitated, then double-dared myself to go through with an act I had never even dreamed of previously. This last action, the double-dare, tumbled me headlong into the familiar warm darkness of the fantasy I had enjoyed with my ogre friend, but this time I would be in the real world. The prospect was thrilling.
I fetched my own blanket, for all appearances doing just as the other passenger had done, arranging it over me so that I might sleep. But sleep was absolutely anathema to the frantic scheming of my licentious mind at that moment.
I made sure I had the blanket suitably installed, then settled as if sleeping. But really, I was monitoring the surroundings; the man across the isle in conversation with the lady at the window seat, the person in front under their own blanket and facing away, and the farthest person on the rear seat, the only one of the rear seat passengers I could see from my window seat in the next row, was playing games on a mobile device.
As I waited, and a semblance of my better reason stole into my thinking, I quietly registered an indignant objection against the double-dare that I had submitted to. Of course, on thinking over the rules, I realized that, having so committed, there really was no way out. I was forced to go through with it. I sighed in resignation to the knowledge that I was going to be forced to follow through on the lustful whim of my just-a-few-minutes-earlier self. There was no escaping it now.
The most difficult part of removing your pants without anyone noticing was the initial bit. To get them down under your bottom, you have to lift yourself up in unmistakable, conspicuous ways. But I had plenty of time, and a rapidly forming plan of action.
Pretending to adjust myself for comfort, I changed position but used the motion to disguise the fact I was pulling one side of my sweats down. The process was disappointing, because the other side remained pinned under my hip, and if I were to let go of the waist band now, it would simply spring back into place. But I couldn't just spin over to release the other side, because it would be too obvious. I had to wait a while, stuck in that uncomfortable pose.
I stayed perfectly still, my eyes mere slits so that I could survey my audience... Oh, I mean my fellow passengers. I stayed there for two long minutes, to be certain to create the impression I really was going to sleep. After that prudent time had passed, I dared the next part of the maneuver.
Trying to emulate a natural movement, I rolled the other way, this time pulling the other side of my pants downwards. It worked! I now had my uncovered bottom protruding towards the man sitting opposite, albeit hidden under the blanket. I was now almost facing the window so I couldn't be certain, but I felt I had completed the movement without arousing suspicion. It was thrilling to contemplate that, if I miscalculated, the blanket could by now possibly be revealing a centimeter or more of my bottom, and I didn't really have any way of double-checking. I was pretty sure I had managed to cover myself, but only pretty sure. Anyway, I needed to wait another couple of minutes before moving again, to maintain the ruse, so if I was flashing, there was nothing I could do about it. So naughty!
Finally it was time. I rolled back upright, but spun around so that I was sitting sideways, my back against the window and my knees up with my feet on the empty seat next to me. I was careful to ensure the blanket covered from my feet, all the way to my neck, and then I made a show of adjusting my pillow for comfort. I settled in for another period of stillness, my pants still around my thighs. A draft from who knows where, came whisping around my now uncovered bottom, and as I lay perfectly still, I struggled to imagine how it was getting under the blanket. I guessed finally that there could be a space between the seats. Not that it mattered. It passed the time.
My bottom felt terribly exposed, even though I knew it was covered. It felt naughty to be so undressed under the blanket, knowing that it was absolutely taboo. I savored the sensation for the long minutes I spent in suspended animation, waiting for a chance to continue my game.
Once I deemed it safe, I started gradually inching my pants further towards my knees. I wasn't going to be able to just whip them all the way down, because they needed to go over the knees, and that was going to be highly visible to any onlooker. I needed to be more careful than that.
After a period of what should pass for at least a fitful attempt at sleep, I lowered my knees and ostensibly sort of experimented left and right for a more comfortable position. Of course, what I was really doing under the blanket was shoving the pants past my knees as I moved. With difficulty, including a final shove that I disguised as frustration with getting comfortable, I managed it. The pants were then around my shins. I raised my knees again.
By this stage I was highly excited. The daring ploy was working, but the danger was now high. If I lost the blanket, for example, I would have to yank the pants all the way up in a humiliating and undignified recovery. I almost wished it would happen. Almost. Of course, it didn't.
Feigning sleep, I allowed one knee to fall away from the other a little, and stretch down towards the seat. It had the effect of pulling the pants all the way to my ankles. I thought I might stop there, having made a significant achievement and getting further than I had ever imagined I might, But the double-dare loomed. It was not satisfied with this partial success. First of all, I would need to remove the pants altogether (oh dear!), but more than that, the double-dare had been for nudity. The knickers were going to have to come off as well (gasp!).
It was useless to argue. If it's a double-dare, it is unassailable. I sternly tutted at myself for getting myself into this predicament, but there was no escaping it.
I absentmindedly chewed my lip as I considered what to do. I cursed my stupidity that I hadn't taken the knickers down with the pants, because I was effectively going to have to start all over again with those!
But for now it was the pants. I had one leg of the pants starting to fall down around my foot, and by wriggling it I could inch the progress onward, pulling the pants leg steadily off the end of my foot. Nevertheless, I couldn't get the other leg started, as the pants leg was irretrievably scrunched up on my ankle.
Carefully monitoring the people I could see, I dared to draw one foot close to me so that I could keep feeding the pants leg over my foot. It worked. Now I only had one leg left to go. I wriggled around as if adjusting for comfort, sitting myself upright once again. My uncovered bottom cheeks could feel the coarse fabric of the bus upholstery, and I noticed for the first time how scratchy the woolen blanket felt against the tender skin of my naked legs.
Once I was sitting up, I could use the toes of my already-released foot to pull at the other pants leg. It wasn't easy, especially as I was trying to conceal my movements from onlookers. But eventually I managed it, this time pulling the waist band down, which turned the pants leg inside out. My pants were on the floor, separate from my body. So if I were caught, I would not be able quickly to slip them on. I would need to pull the leg back the right way first, before starting from scratch to get dressed. It would be a terrible humiliation. I was breathless at the thought.
It remained to get my knickers off. At this point I ventured to speculate: Would I do it? Did I dare? But the answer was inevitable. I had dared. In fact, I had double-dared. So I really had no choice. It wasn't up to me.
Resigned to the fact that I must go through with it, I decided to try a slightly different tactic this time. After the obligatory delay to feign sleep, I again turned sideways on the seat, my feet on the next seat and my knees up, my back to the window. This, I felt, would allow me a slightly easier task. After, of course, another minute or two of enforced delay to cover my tracks feigning sleep.
When the time came, I gently, and with a minimum of movement, lifted my bottom off the seat and slid my knickers to sit across my thighs, gently returning my bottom to the seat. I was focused intently on the task, so much so that I failed to notice the young guy in the back row had put down his mobile device and was getting up from his seat!