Mentor
Chapter 9 - Tribute
After Heather invited me to Cyndy's party, I decided to splurge on a new dress. This was before I'd savaged my monthly budget at the adult store, but since I'd bought online it wasn't as expensive as it could have been.
In fact, I'd been looking at a version of the dress since it first popped up as an ad. In the way of Internet ads, once I'd clicked on it, it kept popping up in random locations, and every time I saw it I'd be tempted by it. But when I visited the site after the invitation, I discovered the vendor now had a version in fall colors; a leaf pattern in dull gold and dark orange, that looked even better than the one I'd been considering. The reviews were very positive, and the pricing good, so even though I'm never entirely comfortable buying clothes online, I decided to order it.
I'd also decided to have my hair styled by a hairdresser who'd been recommended to me. I expected to have to take time off work, but when I called she'd just had a cancellation on the Saturday of the party, which was perfect for me.
Then I'd acquired my "necessities" from the toy store, with the result that my monthly savings contribution was going to take a hit. I considered whether I could skip the hair styling, but no, I really wanted to do it. I'd try to make up the savings shortfall next month.
Elaine, the stylist, was impressive. She was middle-aged, motherly, and friendly, but she had a seriously thorough understanding of fashion concepts for younger women. She had the usual commercial books of suggested styles, but she'd also taken many photos of her clients with her own work, and they were excellent, including ruler-straight geometrically perfect hair with rainbow dyes, bright red, magenta, yellow and cyan jobs, spiky hair, wavy hair, braids of separate colors, along with more conservative styles, wedding styles, and the like.
I wanted a style that was half and half, like the wide braid I'd done for myself, but with better braids and more interesting styling of the unbraided remainder. When I described what I'd done and how it had turned out, Elaine was convinced that I hadn't taken enough hair into my braid, and that it might have been from the wrong places. Since I had such thick hair, she'd recommend... and she deftly pinched out several places to be braided, holding them out of the way, letting the remainder fall naturally. Even with that quick demonstration, my hair lay better over my back than it had.
For the longer term, she wanted to persuade me to let her curl my hair, and to cut it shorter, just below the base of my neck. But for today she'd add some waviness by blow drying, then braid my hair using the design I'd selected. I promised to think about the options for perming.
So after a long session, I had soft waves of dark hair falling well below my shoulder blades, the body formed by teasing
out
enough hair to create two braids on each side. Each pair of braids joined in an arc on either side of my head, merging in a single braid, woven through with an olive ribbon, a bow at the top, tied off just above the base of the braid. I'd shown her a photo of the dress for her color selection, and she'd chosen the olive to work with its colors.
When she was finished, I was thrilled with the look, and Elaine was well enough satisfied with her work that she asked if she could take a photo for her book. I consented gladly.
~~~~~
I had tried on the dress briefly when it was delivered. Arriving home from the salon, I put it on again and studied the overall effect in the mirror.
The dress was maxi length, backless, and the colors and shapes of the leaf pattern were perfect, working well with my hair. But there was a problem.
The bodice consisted of a pair of narrow triangular cups, each tapering to a point close to the upper edge of my breast, supported by thin straps which crossed behind my shoulders. The aim was to anchor my boobs in the center of the cups, the triangles meeting at the base of my rib cage, giving a deep center slash with an audacious view of cleavage and almost as bold a view from the side. I'd never worn anything so daring in public before.
However, although this had worked well for the online model, her cup size was around a B. It did a poor job of holding my Ds in place. Possibly the cups were just not shaped well, or possibly the model used some additional support, but I could feel my breasts sliding around. Standing still, the dress looked amazing, but when I moved, my boobs swayed and jounced unattractively, and I wasn't certain they wouldn't slip out completely.
Any bra I owned would be visible within the deep wedge, as well as spoiling the effect, and my only backless bra would be particularly noticeable in the front. So I drove to a nearby boutique to pick up boob tape. After some experimenting, I found that a strip of tape on both sides of each triangle of fabric gave both stability and lift.
The final result, when I studied my reflection, redeemed my opinion of the dress. Except that next year, I decided, I really needed to work on my tan lines.
When I was ready, I was already running slightly late, though I thought I'd left plenty of time. I packed the rest of the boob tape in my purse, and headed to the coffee shop.
Parking wasn't hard, but only because most of the stores were closed. After what was still a long walk in heels through an uneven lot, I found the coffee shop full. The tables and chairs had been moved to the side, but even with everyone standing the rooms were crowded.
I seemed to be attracting more attention than I was used to, and I wondered if maybe the dress was too over the top.
The first group of people who weren't complete strangers included Anita and Heather. Anita held up her hand, then mimed looking for something on the floor. "Hold on," she said. "I think my heart leaped out of my chest. It has to be around here somewhere."
I rolled my eyes. "Nice to see you too, Anita," I said.
She moved in to hug me. "Seriously. You look amazing," she said.
I kissed her lightly on the lips. "Thanks, Anita," I said. "That means a lot to me."
Then I released her and hugged Heather. She stiffened, then returned my embrace briefly before I disengaged.
Heather's cheeks had colored, but she smiled. Taking my arm, she led me around, leaving Anita with the group they'd been talking to. She introduced me to friends and strangers alike. Margot was nearby, of course, and Tiff and Emma. I hugged them all closely. Dylan seemed surprised by the hug, but not unreceptive. She introduced me to her boyfriend beside her, Austin. I didn't think Dylan would be okay with me hugging him, too, so I took his hand.
Austin opened his mouth to say something, but Dylan interrupted. "No, you are
not
going to ask her to model for you."
I laughed, though I wasn't sure how serious she was. Dylan spoke up, saying, "I was going to ask what she did for a living. But now that you suggest it..."
Dylan slapped his arm, though her expression was amused, and Austin mock-winced. Heather asked if she could leave me with them, since she had other duties, so I stayed with Dylan and Austin for a while. Dylan realized I didn't have a drink, so she vanished for a moment, locating some champagne somewhere.
Cyndy showed up as we were talking. She got an extra special hug, since the celebration was about her. Cyndy was shorter than... well, than everyone I could see, though her fiery red hair and her confidence made her seem larger than she was. Her boyfriend, Josh, was behind her, and after I'd released her from my embrace, she took his hand and drew him forward. After talking to him for a while, I found that I liked him, especially his sense of humor. He was shorter than me in my heels, but still well above his partner's height.
A woman standing with a group by the far wall glanced my way, catching my eye. I recognized the glasses before I realized who it was. "Is that Michelle?" I asked, to no one in particular.
It was Austin who replied. "Oh, yeah. I guess you'd know her. I invited her. She's a friend of mine."
