Pauline got dry as best she could, quickly did her hair up, and stepped out of the bathroom, still in her robe. James and Carlos were sitting on the couch, chatting. There was a buzz from the intercom.
"James, can you let that person in?" Pauline called out, as she got into her bedroom, slammed the door, and quickly pulled on her nicest strapless red bra and panties set and some nude stockings, and the same little black dress, which she had luckily picked out and set aside earlier. She slipped on some simple black heels, grabbed some makeup and did her best quick-fix setup as she heard her apartment door open and close, and some chatting from the other room. Ok, ok. This is fine, she thought. No time to worry about anything.
Pauline stepped back into the living room to see Audrey had shown up, and was chatting nicely with James and Carlos.
"Hi Audrey, welcome. Would anybody like a drink?" she asked. "Please pour your own." There were wine bottles and glasses on the table. Pauline went to the kitchen to warm up the food, then remembered there was an extra guest. They were supposed to be eight, but with Carlos showing up unexpectedly, they would now be nine.
"James, sorry to bother you," she said. "But I've got an unexpected extra guest coming tonight." She didn't mention it was his. "Could you perhaps bring a chair from your place? I'm one short."
"No problem," said James. "I'll be right back."
Carlos stayed behind, chatting with Audrey. Pauline set another place at the table and then sat down to chat with them. Carlos said he was born in the Philippines, and had moved to London only three years ago. He was finishing a degree in graphic design in London.
"Oh, so you're into the arts. I as well," said Audrey. She began telling him about all the art classes she'd taken. Audrey was a small, mousy woman with short-cropped dark red hair. She was dressed in a simple green dress.
The intercom buzzed again. Pauline answered it and saw it was Maxine, and she wasn't alone. Her brother Craig and his girlfriend Susan were with her. Pauline buzzed them in and she knew what that meant. By the rules of the dare, as soon as they walked in, there would be two members of each sex present who had never seen her naked. She would have to get undressed immediately. Her heart felt like it was going to explode as she stared at the door, imagining the three of them walking to the elevator, counting how long they would wait for it, then how long it would take to get to her floor, and then for them to walk the length of the hall.
There was a knock at the door. She answered, but it was only James with the chair. She took it from him and set it up at the table, when there was another knock. This knock she recognized as Maxine's traditional DUM da-da-da DUM dum rhythm.
"Have a seat, James. I'll answer that," Pauline said. She walked to the door, opening it wide with a big smile. "Maxine! Craig! And you must be Susan. Welcome, come on in."
They stepped inside and introductions were made all around. Chairs were pulled from the dinner table to congregate around the couch. Craig looked as good as ever. Dark like Maxine, but where she was short and round, he was slightly taller and muscular. He was dressed sharply in a blue blazer over khaki pants. Susan seemed tall as well, though that may have been due to her pencil-thin figure and chunky platform shoes. She wore a light blue summer dress and delicate subtle jewelry. Her pale skin and long vivid orange hair contrasted sharply with Craig's look.
Maxine looked at Pauline expectantly but Pauline just stood there, frozen. "Paul, didn't you want to say something?" Now everybody was looking expectantly at Pauline. She stood at the edge of the living room, surveying the six faces around her.
"Umm. Well. We're expecting a couple more people, aren't we, Max?"
"Yes, but..." Maxine said, pointing at her phone.
"Right. Everybody, um," Pauline stammered, turning bright red. "Thank you for coming tonight. I hope you'll have a great time."
Maxine wasn't going to let her get off so easily. "Everybody listen up," she said, now standing up and walking over to Pauline. "Paul's got a dare to do. Isn't that right, Paul? Right now."
"Ooh, how exciting!" shrieked James, clapping his hands.
"That's right," said Pauline, swallowing hard. She took a deep breath, and said quickly, "I've been dared to get completely naked and stay that way until the last guest leaves. If that's a problem for any of you, I suggest you leave immediately."
Pauline scanned the faces around the room, looking for reactions. People seemed frozen.
"Craig, did you know about this?" Susan asked, accusingly.
"I had no idea, honest."
"That's the truth," said Maxine, earnestly. "I'm the only one who knew."
Nobody moved. "Well, here goes nothing," said Pauline. Standing in the middle of the room, with everyone watching, she stepped out of her heels, reached down to grab her dress at both sides and pulled it up over her head, revealing her bright flowery red bra and panties. Quickly, before she could think too much, she dropped the dress to the ground, reached behind her back, unsnapped her bra and let it fall to the floor. Somebody gasped, but she wasn't sure who. Everyone's eyes seemed glued to her. As she had rehearsed in her mind many times over the past week, she now turned her back to the room, pulled her panties down from the sides and, without bending at all, let them too fall to the floor. All that remained were her nude knee stockings. These could not be removed without bending, so still keeping her back to her rapt audience, she bent slightly at the waist, bent her right leg back at the knee to pull the right stocking off, then repeated for her left. The whole operation of disrobing couldn't have taken more than 15 seconds, but to her it felt like an eternity. At each point she imagined which of her body parts Craig might be staring at. Her flat stomach. Her small soft breasts and hard dark nipples. The lines of her back. The curve of her butt, accentuated as she leaned over. Her calves as she bent her legs.
"Wow!" said somebody. Pauline slowly turned around, blushing hard, not knowing where to put her hands. First she instinctively moved one arm to cover her breasts, and the other hand to cover her shaved crotch. Then she awkwardly moved the top arm down and clasped her hands together in front of her crotch. Then looked down, away from everyone and moved her hands behind her butt. Then looked back at the crowd. "Ok," she tried to sound funny. "Who's hungry?"
"You should model," Audrey spoke first. "Honestly, you'd be great for drawing. And they pay. Handsomely."
"Maxine, did you put her up to this?" Susan asked. But before she could answer, Susan said, "Craig, stop staring. Maybe we should go." She stood up. Craig didn't move.
"I'm not the one that dared her, no," Maxine giggled. "But I'm all for it. You go girl."
"Craig?" Susan stared at him.
Craig finally unfroze and looked directly at Susan. "Sorry. No, I'm not staring. I was just taken by surprise. Let's just stay and enjoy that delicious smelling dinner. I'm sure Pauline worked very hard on it." He didn't break his gaze from Susan.
There was a buzz at the intercom. "I need to finish up some prep in the kitchen," said Pauline, trying her best to get back into normal hosting mode. "Maxine, would you let that person in, please?"
Pauline headed to the open kitchen, trying to steady her nerves by keeping busy. There was a cheese platter to prepare, so she started chopping. She had to be careful because she was so nervous that her hands were shaking. She heard Maxine buzz the arriving guest in, and she realized she had no idea who it was going to be. There were two more people to arrive.
She could hear Craig in the living room, trying to get the conversation going again. "So, life drawing. Tell me about that," he said.
"Oh, it's really simple actually. There's not much to tell. I take a class once a week at an art school. There's a teacher who demonstrates techniques and concepts, and then we all sit around and draw a model in several different poses."
"A naked model?" asked Carlos. "Like, totally naked?"
"Usually. Well, it depends. Sometimes the teacher or the model has an idea for a pose that involves partial clothing, or props. She holds a pose for ten minutes while we draw, and then she holds a different pose and we draw again."
"She?"
"Or he. Sometimes there are two. There are several different models that work with the teacher."
There was a knock at the door. "Can you answer the door, Maxine?" Pauline called out.
Maxine came into the kitchen, speaking loud enough for the whole party to hear. "I think you're supposed to get it, Pauline. It's your party." Pauline made an angry face. She stuck out her tongue. But this was part of the game, and the excitement. She didn't know who was on the other side of the door, only that it was someone she knew who would be totally surprised to see her totally nude.
"Coming!" yelled Pauline, and rushed to the door before she could change her mind. She opened it wide, trying to act as if everything was completely normal.
"Welcome, Sarah. So nice of you to come," she said.
A pale young woman stood in the doorway, clearly frozen in surprise. It was Sarah, a shy girl who had been in classes with Pauline and Maxine at university. They had never been close, but had kept in touch, seeing each other once in a while. She lived close by.
"Did I misunderstand something?" Sarah said, looking worried as if she had done something wrong.
"Not at all, Sarah. I've invited you and some other friends for dinner. It just so happens that I'm also fulfilling a dare which requires me to be nude for this event. I hope that's alright with you."
"Am I to get nude as well?" she asked, innocently. Pauline wasn't sure which answer she was hoping for.
"Not at all. Just make yourself at home. Everyone, this is Sarah from school. Please, introduce yourselves."
