Haunted Mirror Ch 07

"Shit! Shit!" Vivian cursed as she paced back and forth like a trapped animal. Her heart raced with anxiety as she tried to think of how she was going to get out of this one.

"Abigail! Seriously, Abigail, talk to me!" she whispered angrily to herself, trying to keep her voice low enough so the random passers-by didn't hear her arguing with herself. She already stuck out like a sore thumb being completely naked from the waist up. No need to make them think she was literally insane.

"How am I supposed to get home? I can't get on the subway like this! And I have to walk about three blocks through New Jersey, where being topless is ACTUALLY ILLEGAL!!!"

There was only silence from Abigail. Abigail was probably still there, laughing it up. But getting a response from her would be next to impossible. She had abandoned her, half naked, in the middle of New York City.

She took a deep breath. Maybe she was overthinking it. She had learned to be comfortable walking through the park with no shirt. Was the city really going to be any different? Or would Abigail have any more surprises for her? Well, at least Abigail had promised no more 'sticking' while she was out like this.

But as soon as she neared the main gate, she saw a long convoy of yellow school busses parked on the side of the road. She heard the constant, energetic murmur of masses of school children running around as their teacher struggled to get them to line up.

The Natural History Museum was a common spot for field trips, and of course there had to be one today. While she would be breaking no laws simply strolling by minding her own business, her imagination still ran wild with all the ways that could go wrong.

"No big deal... no big deal..." she whispered to herself. "Just turn around and go out the other side of the park."

Several minutes later, she was walking down the sidewalk, feeling confident once again. This really wasn't so bad! Yes, she was still getting more stares than she could count, with reactions ranging all over the spectrum. But most of the onlookers simply enjoyed a quick glance and then got on with their day, maybe with a slightly wider smile than before. Vivian could live with that.

And then, in the corner of her eye, she saw somebody aiming a smartphone right at her. Shit! Of COURSE some people were going to try to take her picture. She was well familiar with the laws of public photography. If you were in a public space, there was no expectation of privacy. Any way she chose to present herself, people were free to look and even take pictures. Even the media release form Grant had had her sign was probably more of a precaution than a legal requirement.

Maybe that was the flip side of having freedoms like free speech. If you're going to defend your own provocative actions as exercising your freedoms, you have to be prepared for other people to exercise theirs in ways you don't like. So, Vivian simply obscured herself in the crowd, hoping to ruin any shots he had yet to take.

...

Vivian's first concern was to find a shirt to wear for her double date. She had briefly entertained the thought of showing up as she was, but decided that even if the tavern allowed it, Olivia might not appreciate such a surprise. She was trying to make a good first impression with an important business partner, after all.

After a block or so, Vivian passed a TJ Maxx. Though it was far from her favorite, it sometimes had a few options on the lower end of her tastes, and she needed something quickly. Before walking through the open doors of the building, she briefly scanned the windows to see if they had any "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service" signs posted, but there was nothing of the like.

But as soon as she entered the building, she met the eyes of the greeter: a short, stout woman with fake 'customer service' smile on her face, and Vivian knew all about fake smiles. Immediately, her eyes widened, darted downward, and came back up with the slightest scowl.

"Um... I'm sorry, Ma' am, but you can't come in here like that!" she announced sternly, and moved to block her way in.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I figured it would be okay. This is perfectly street legal, after all."

"Ah... I don't know anything about that, but the store does have a basic dress code."

"Yes, and I respect that and all. But maybe you could make a little exception this one time? Please? I would really like to buy a shirt!"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. As I already said, we have a basic dress code for all patrons here. You need to cover up right now, or I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"

Vivian lifted up her tote bag and held it over her chest with crossed arms. "Fine, does this work?"

"No! That does not work. You need to be wearing a shirt to come in here!"

She returned her tote bag to her side with an exasperated sigh. "Right. But the problem is I don't HAVE a shirt to put on. And if figured since this is a, you know... clothing store..." Vivian flourished her hands up and down her naked upper torso for emphasis, "maybe I could buy the clothing I need to cover up with!"

"Ma'am, I don't know if this is some kind of prank, but if you don't either cover up right now or leave the store, I'm going to call security!"

"Can I just BORROW something while I'm in the store?" Vivian almost yelled at the unsympathetic greeter. "Literally anything you have in the store until I find something that fits me? It's not a prank! I just need a shirt!"

"This isn't funny at all, this is obscene! I'm going to call security!"

"Oh, so you're telling me I need to have a shirt in order to buy a shirt? Is that how it is? How is one supposed to obtain a shirt in the first place if you need one to buy one? Huh?"

"That's it, I'm calling them now." She rummaged through her podium and picked up a small radio.

"Fine! Screw you, too! You just keep selling your shirts exclusively to... to... other shirt-havers, you elitist pig!"

Before she turned and left, Vivian picked up her breasts with each hand and shook them at the miserable cunt. The disgusted scowl she returned before turning her head away made it all worth it. She decided not to push her luck any further, as playing with herself too obviously might actually count as a lewd act.

Vivian turned the first corner she came to, not even wanting to be on the same street anymore. Well, it was time to look for other options. Surely not every store employee would be as uncaring as that nasty goblin of a woman. Soon, on her left she passed a small souvenir display. She tried to imagine herself showing up to her fancy double date in a poorly fitting I 'heart' NY t-shirt. Besides, the man at the register was gawking at her in ways she didn't like. She had long since gotten a feel for if someone was likely to be a creep to her, and the way he was looking at her made her uncomfortable.

At this point she was starting to worry about being late for her date, and not even the fashionable kind. But when she picked up her phone to check the time...

"DAMMIT!!!"

It was almost 1:30! She wouldn't be remotely on time even if she showed up topless!

"Dammit... dammit..." she whimpered, as her heart began to sink.

She had just fallen in love with Olivia! And their first date as official lovers, and this happens! And in front of a high-profile business partner Olivia had been waiting months to set up a meeting with! What would Olivia think? How would Vivian even explain herself to her?

She brought up her text chat with Olivia, and her fingers began flying over the keypad, frantically, as a sore lump formed in her throat. She ignored spelling error after error, until... No, that didn't sound right at all! She deleted a veritable wall of text and began again. But after some fumbling, that was deleted, too.

"Oh, fuck it."

She hit the green call button and brought the phone to her face. It rang once... twice... How would she break the bad news?

"Hi, love! How's your day going?"

"Yeah, hi, uhh... love." Had they even come up with their official romantic titles for each other? Could they both be 'love?' "Look, uh, don't be angry at me. Some things happened. I'm running behind. Really behind. I'm sorry!"

"What happened? You sound like a nervous wreck! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm okay. I'm just going to be quite a bit late. I'm really sorry!"

"Vivian, don't worry about it! That's totally fine! We'll save you a spot and keep some appetizers around."

"Oh, thank you. THANK YOU! I don't know how to explain all this just yet. I know I promised I'd be there, but some things happened that I couldn't control, and..."

"Vivian, stop! You don't owe me an explanation at all! It was just an invitation, and a last-minute invitation at that. If you can't show up for any reason at all, hell, even if you just don't want to, that's all you have to say."

"Okay. So, you're not mad?"

"No, of course I'm not mad! Viv, I'm not entitled to your time. Nobody is! Nobody owns you! I'll miss you, of course, but we'll see each other again. I promise! So, what's got you so shaken up? If there's something you need to talk about, you know you can trust me."

"Maybe we can talk later. But, yeah, I'm okay. It's just... I've had some ups and downs today. Actually, today's been a fucking rollercoaster! But, hearing your voice is one of the ups. And maybe that's all I really needed. So, thanks! Maybe I'll tell you about my adventure later, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"Ha ha! I wouldn't doubt it! Well, call me if you need help. And there's a seat for you here if you want it. Whatever you've got going on, go take charge of it like I know you can. I love you!"

"Thanks! I love you too!"

As they ended their call, Vivian nearly cried tears of joy! Cancelling on someone without even needing an explanation was something new to her. Any of her previous boyfriends would have made a stink about something like that, even with a perfectly good reason. She was starting to realize how much all of her former boyfriends had treated her like property. Now that she finally had someone who seemed to actually care about her, maybe she was just terrified of losing her. But Oliva was still there for her, as strong as ever. Maybe love... real love, wasn't so fickle as that.

Seriously, was that nervous, blubbering woman from two minutes ago really the same one who had told off that douchebag in the park earlier that day? Told off? More like annihilated him! Rollercoaster of a day indeed! But now that she didn't need to hurry to her date anymore, did she really need to go buy that shirt just yet? No, maybe not. Maybe she had everything she needed to walk around anywhere she wanted to go, confident and proud!

...

Vivian was seriously starting to enjoy this new feeling of freedom. After everything she had been through that day, she was barely even out of her comfort zone anymore: just enough outside to add a feel of excitement to it! So, she decided to wander around the city to see what fun she could find.

She ended up finding a small bar with a nice, inviting layout; a collapsible front wall left the bar completely open to the street view, just beyond a small red brick patio for outdoor dining. A few trees surrounding the patio left a comfortable level of shade, and a gentle breeze wafted through the area which felt wonderful on her skin. She was famished, and though her date with Olivia was no more, the thought of a cold drink did sound nice. The early afternoon crowd wasn't exactly hopping, but this place seemed to have enough patrons to make it in worth a stop. As she approached the bar, a young, bearded man sitting at a patio table turned his head and stared at her with a disbelieving look. She smiled casually back at him as if to say 'Yes, this is totally fine for me to do,' though when the man turned back, he found his date considerably less pleased.

As she found an empty stool at the bar, the other patrons seated there turned their heads in almost perfect unison. The bar tender, a woman with one side of her blonde hair shaved off and a lip piercing did a quick double take, but didn't seem the least bit bothered.

"Ah, you with that book club?" she asked Vivian.

"Book club? No, just me."

Vivian vaguely remembered reading about a topless book club when she had done her research that morning, and apparently walking in here like this wasn't unprecedented, which made her feel even more at ease. Vivian ordered a grilled chicken salad and considered the drink options. As it turned out, and she shouldn't have been the least bit surprised, she didn't have to pay for a single thing while she was here! She was the absolute center of attention for the small crowd sitting at the bar. Even the other women seemed at least amused by the spectacle. The bartender didn't seem to mind either, as Vivian's mere presence seemed to draw in more patrons by the minute. Before her meal had even arrived, Vivian was having to turn down free drinks simply to remain upright.

"Hey, I don't know what my chances are, but I'm going to kick myself if I don't at least ASK for your number," asked a tall, rather handsome man with a wide, stubbled chin.

"Well, how about my Instagram?" she replied, handing him a card.

"You know what, that's more than I thought I'd get, anyway. Thanks!" he said as he accepted the card with a smile.

For the next hour or so, Vivian chatted with her new fans, enjoying being the center of attention. Her small stack of cards was depleted within minutes. Generally, her fans were respectful enough, though she enforced her boundaries strictly for those who pushed their luck. Even the bearded fellow sitting at the patio table didn't seem to be in the doghouse anymore, as he and his date were constantly glancing her way, whispering to each other, and giggling loudly.

But after about an hour, when she had drank about as much as she thought was wise, an incident happened.

As she turned in her stool to face the street view, someone yelled "Whoa, boobies! Hell yeah!"

It had come from a somewhat unkempt man wearing an open Hawaiian shirt and a hat she thought might have been called a trilby which appeared entirely too small for his large, pudgy head. He hadn't remembered seeing him in the bar until now, and he was staring wide-eyed right at her chest. Without warning, he reached out both hands, apparently meaning to pinch each of her large, protruding nipples in his fingers. Vivian jumped, nearly fell out of her stool, and barely managed to cross her arms in front of her breasts in time to block him.

For a moment, Vivian was stunned... absolutely frozen, as her mind tried to process what had just happened. Thankfully, she didn't need to respond any further.

"HEY!!! GET OUT OF HERE!!!" screamed the bartender, in a voice so furious it even terrified Vivian.

"Wha...? Hey, it's cool!"

"NOTHING about what you just did is 'cool.' Don't EVER touch someone's chest without their consent!" she scolded him, pointing toward the doorway. "LEAVE! NOW!"

"I didn't touch her!" he began go protest. "She's the one walking around like..."

"I don't give a shit how she's dressed!" the barkeep interrupted him. "And I don't care if you touched her or not. What you did was over the line! If you don't leave now, I'm calling the police!"

"Come on, I didn't mean to... OW! OWWW! LET GO!!!"

By now, the tall man who had asked for her number had grabbed the unruly intruder by the collar of his shirt, and was trying to drag him out. That man had some serious shoulders on him, she noticed. The intruder was no small man, either, but he was struggling to stand his ground against the new volunteer bouncer.

"Fine, you fucking dyke!" he spat at her, as he finally stopped fighting and allowed himself to be let out to the street.

There was a silence in the bar so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

"Are you okay? Did he touch you?" the bartender asked with genuine concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay. No, no, he didn't touch me."

Vivian's hands were shaking a little bit, though she wasn't sure if it was what the stranger had tried to do, or the commotion it had caused that had activated her fight or flight mode. In a minute, she began to laugh.

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's just... today's been quite an adventure. I've seen the absolute worst and the absolute best of humanity today. And you guys are definitely the best!"

...

After another half an hour, Vivian stumbled out of the bar. She wasn't sure if it was four drinks she had finished or five. The food she had eaten had slowed the effects, and she made sure to call it off when she felt she had had enough. However, it seemed alcohol was still seeping into her blood from her stomach, so maybe she had overdone it a little after all.

She wanted some peace and quiet until she could sober up a little, so she meandered around in search of a less crowded place to have a rest.

"Well, aren't you just Little Miss Center-of-Attention," Abigail's voice rang in her head after a few minutes, as snotty as ever.

"Oh, hey! Welcome back! Want to tell me where you hid my shirt now, bitch?" The alcohol was making her a little bolder with her words than usual.

"Clearly, you don't need it. Look at you, just basking in their attention! Is there anything you won't do to have your ego stroked? It's pathetic."

"YOU WANTED THIS!!! You said walking around with your boobs out was YOUR fantasy! But you couldn't do it back in your time. So, we did it in my body! We're still doing it! Why are you getting pissed, when I'm literally doing what you want?"

"Whoring yourself out for more Instagram followers and turning yourself into a drunken embarrassment in public wasn't what I had in mind."

"Oh, fucking seriously? YOU are going to talk to me about being a whore? Weren't you a literal prostitute in your life? Or are Instagram follows and free drinks too cheap for you? Maybe you think I should have been collecting actual money like a proper, business-minded whore. Or maybe... MAYBE you're just jealous that it was me they were falling in love with, not you. Maybe you're jealous that I can make people flock to me better than you ever..."

At that moment, Vivian's foot twitched badly enough to make her stumble. Was it her drunkenness, or had it been Abigail? But before she could fully ponder that mystery, she smacked right into a streetlight.

"Oww, fuck!" she groaned, and rubbed her head.

Her right shoulder had caught the brunt of the impact, though her temple had taken a glancing blow, too. Once she had found her center of balance again, she pushed herself away from the metal post.

"Gyahhh!" she screamed, as she felt a harsh yank on her right tit.

Her nipple stretched out like elastic as she tried to pull away from the pole. She gave another tug, but no surprise, it was on there good. Though she was well familiar with the feeling by now, this time she was in public! She looked around as quickly as she could, and already there were a couple of onlookers from the opposite side of the street.

"Abigail!" Vivian squeaked! "Get me off of here! People can see!"

There was no response.

"Seriously, you promised no 'sticking' today! And I remember exactly how the promise went this time! You are breaking your word! Abigail!"

She looked around again, and already more onlookers had stopped to see what was going on. She was so humiliated. Not wanting to show off her embarrassing problem, Vivian just stood there, leaning against the pole. Maybe if she just stood there and didn't do anything interesting, they would lose interest. Just a tipsy girl leaning against a pole, nothing to see. In a minute, one or two had indeed lost interest, but another few people had stopped to watch. Her state of dress alone was going to attract attention, of course. What was her game plan anyway? Just stand here until Abigail decided to let her go? How long would that even be, hours? It was already starting to feel like an unbearable eternity. Dropping her guise for a moment, she leaned back enough to check if her nipple was still stuck, and it was.