All characters of age. This one escalated quickly, then abruptly kind of ends. I feel like if the reader wants more, I've done my job. Sometimes, I question if I pull back too far. Feel free to let me know. Like most of my stories, it involves a ridiculous situation with a bit of a "free use" theme. Enjoy
*****
The investors were going to be very happy. As I looked her over, I knew Mannequin X was going to be a total success. It was sure to be a hot seller in the retail clothing industry, I thought. It was so very lifelike, like nothing I'd seen before. Up til now, attempts at creating "lifelike" mannequins hadn't been successful. Some artists and manufacturers got close, but the finished products always had a creepy vibe to them, I can't explain it any other way. This didn't, though.
I was staring at Mannequin X while sitting in the front chair of the conference room. I was the first to arrive for the scheduled meeting, as usual. I always show up early for appointments, just a habit. I've worked for Lovecraft Modeling & F/X for nearly two years. I love the job, as it exercises the creative side of my brain.
Lovecraft specializes in making lifelike mannequins and prosthetics for Hollywood films. We are hired regularly for scenes requiring special effects with bodies, or even parts of bodies, to be used in place of actors. CGI isn't always the way to go, and we maintained a healthy flow of business.
A year ago, a different kind of company hired us, an upscale clothing chain called Fortana Fabrics. They wanted us to design a mannequin so lifelike, it could fool people into thinking they used real life-models in their retail stores. The company also intended to sell this design to other stores and chains for a costly premium.
By the time we were finished with the prototype, I don't think anyone at Fortana Fashions (or even us) expected the results to look so good... so perfect. The mannequin looked exactly like the model we'd hired when we began the project, right down to the very pores in her "skin" and the moving body parts. Even the jaw. We worked with some high-tech synthetics to make the flesh.
Mark designed the most ingenious part. It was what separated us from the competition, and contributed to what made Mannequin X look so real. The flesh had pores essentially built into the mold. Before the body was wrapped in the frame, or the "skeleton" as we called it, Mark seal a plastic to the back of the skin. After the skeleton was "wrapped" he squeezed an epoxy into a tube that he put into the plastic.
The pores of the skin allowed tiny strands of this epoxy to just barely squeeze through. When it dried, bonded through the skin, it looked and felt like little hairs. A process that once would take thousands of man hours had been reduced to about twenty. The flesh also felt very close to real, as the material was made to conduct and insulate heat, putting its temperature almost as high as a real person's.
I envied the body of Mannequin X. It stood there naked, with perky B-cups (perhaps on the fuller side of that), with a slim waist and small, shapely hips. A bit narrower in the hips than me, but my tits were easily twice as large. Unlike hers, which were pert and high, my breasts resembled giant rockets. My nipples are - by the grace of God - well positioned on the fleshy mounds, but they are larger than average, with areolas at least five inches in diameter. I had features and a figure that would never be found in the pages of Playboy, or walking the latest fashions on a catwalk.
It's why I wished I had the body of this mannequin. The girl who modeled for it was very pretty. If I had a body like hers, I would show it off all the time. No wonder she modeled for a living. I always fantasized about being an exhibitionist. The thought of being naked in front of strange people excited me, and I masturbated to that idea frequently.
I never had the courage to do it, though. I figured my "cow-like" features would be a turn off to most men. Here I was, at the age of 23, never having been with a man, much less seen by one. Well, that wasn't exactly true. Up until a year ago, my brother lived with me and on a couple occasions he saw me naked. He teased me about my big tits, so it didn't make me feel better about them. In fact, he was the first to refer to them as 'udders' back when I was eighteen.
Just then, Bill Jennings stormed into the meeting room. He was a good friend of my folks and also the reason I'd landed this job. I'd known him long before starting here. "Mary Brooks!" he yelled, staring me down. Bill always called me by my full name. It was actually his way of saying he was relieved to see me. "Did you hear about Cindy?"
Cindy McCabe was the model we'd hired to make the prototype. If the investors loved her look, hundreds of naked Cindy McCabes would be scattered throughout the east and west coasts, in every Fortana Fashion's location. I always wondered what Cindy thought about that, as the finished product looked exactly like her, in every detail. There was no getting around the fact that employees, perhaps even customers, would grope the mannequin just to see what it was like. The flesh felt every bit as authentic as the real thing... so far as I could tell.
"What about Cindy?" I asked.
"She can't make it. Came down with the flu."
"Oh, that's terrible," I said. "That blows our plans."
The investors were coming by to see the finished prototype in about fifteen minutes. It's why the mannequin and I were in the meeting room, waiting on everyone. For dramatic effect, we planned to have Cindy here, standing naked next to her synthetic doppelganger. We were going to shock the audience by allowing them to guess which was the real woman and which one was the mannequin. If Cindy could keep still long enough to pull it off, it would be genuinely difficult to tell the two apart.
I thought the presentation would be cute - and certainly effective and memorable - but being able to stand like a mannequin for more than a few seconds is far more difficult than most people know. It probably wouldn't take long for us to know who was the real person. The trick is controlling your breathing and "zoning out" as it were.
During my childhood, my best friend and I used to play dress up where we would each pretend to be a "store doll" as the other selected a wardrobe. Shelly and I actually got very good at "freezing" in place and continued exercising the craft well into high school. 4H and Drama Club loved having us work Halloween nights, because we would play Gothic statues. When kids got close, we'd spring to life, chasing them away and scaring them to pieces.
I digress...
"Angie and Mark are terribly upset," Bill said.
Mark Lovecraft started the company after freelancing for Winston F/X and Marson Media. Angie Perkins was his first hire and it led to a romance. They eventually married, but Angie retained the role of Office Administrator, managing the day to day duties, but not getting so much into the physical work anymore. Angie was also seven months pregnant with their first child.
Bill continued, "They were really hoping to compare this mannequin to a real person. I was wondering, Mary. Would you be willing to stand in for Cindy?"
I was shocked by the question. Utterly stunned. I couldn't for a minute imagine presenting myself naked to people for real, even if I did fantasize about it. I protested, "Uh, the reason Cindy needs to do it, is because she is identical looking to the mannequin. I don't look anything like her."
Bill conceded the fact, holding his palms up and shrugging. "Mary, of course that would be the best case scenario - to use the same model as we used for the mannequin - but the thing is, any other body will do. The investors still have to guess which one is real, and which one isn't. They haven't seen any pictures of the work in progress, so they have no idea what the prototype looks like."
"I... I don't..." My mind race for objections.
"Thank you so much, Mary. It means the world to us."
"But I... I don't know if I could do that, Bill!" I shouted, just before he made it out the door.
He stopped. "Consider this. You may well be saving the company. We intend to land extra premiums and lock in loads of sales on this first impression. Will you please do it?"
"No one is going to believe I am the mannequin." I exclaimed. "My proportions are ridiculous." I was grasping for anything.
