Charlene's friends arrived about half an hour before the package came. Kumiko was the first to ring the doorbell at Charlene's parents house. Her smile was radiant and the girls hugged and kissed on the cheek. They had been close friends the previous school year but had not seen each other over the summer.
Charlene had a round face and was of average height and build with light brown ringlets of her hair falling past her shoulders. She was modest, but descriptions of her ranged from cute to stunningly beautiful. She was beginning her third year as an English Literature major at a university that until recently only enrolled women students. It was still warm on the late autumn day when the package arrived, and Charlene wore a piece blue dress more appropriate to summer.
Nineteen year old Kumiko was in her second year. She studied Sociology and had few classes in common with Charlene but two had become close friends. In her high heels, Kumiko was the same height as Charlene, and on that day she wore a white blouse with a black pleated skirt.
Despite her obvious beauty, Kumiko was quite shy. Charlene sometimes found this trait endearing, at other times frustrating. The previous year, after Kumiko had confided that she was a virgin, Charlene decided to introduce her to Marc. Marc was one of the best looking boys in the school, and something of a prize in a school where girls outnumbered boys three to one. Charlene hadn't thought she wanted Marc; indeed, she had chosen to attend a school with a majority female student population precisely to avoid romantic engagements. She had had boyfriends in high school and over the summer breaks, and there would be enough time for that after college. Despite her attitude, she had found herself jealous of Kumiko and Marc's relationship. At the end of the previous year, Charlene had confessed her feelings to Kumiko. She had run off, almost in tears, before Kumiko could respond. For the next few days, Charlene was so distraught that she barely ate. And then she learned that Kumiko had broken off the relationship with Marc before going to Japan for the summer. When the fall semester began, the girls quickly resumed their friendship.
As Kumiko and Charlene sat in the living room of Charlene's parents' house, Cathy and Julie arrived together in Julie's Honda Civic. Both had straight dark brown hair that came to their shoulders. They looked like sisters and might even pass for twins. Their resemblance was skin deep however, as their temperaments were quite different. Julie had a logical mind and was studying to be an engineer. In conversation, she was direct, but discreet. Cathy loved being the center of attention. Like Charlene, Cathy studied English Literature. She had sharp wit and supplied copious snark in class. Julie and Cathy were close friends and spent nearly all their free time together. The previous year, Charlene had learned that Julie and Cathy had bedded one of Marc's friends together. Charlene suspected that the two were linked sexually, but she hadn't asked.
Like Charlene and Kumiko, Julie and Cathy were remarkably beautiful. On the day they came to Charlene's parents house, Julie was casually dressed in blue jeans and a black T-shirt. Cathy wore a prim white blouse with a short grey skirt and white stockings. Both had brought their bookbags so they could study.
"So, did the package arrive yet?" asked Cathy as Charlene showed them around the house.
"Not yet," said Charlene. "It should be here in thirty minutes or so."
"Did you say your aunt worked in research and development at Dear Angela?" Julie asked.
"Yeah," said Charlene. "She's a project manager."
"Research at an underwear company," teased Cathy, "Hmm, sounds very high tech."
"Well, the slips we're going to be testing are made from a new material they developed in the lab," said Charlene. "I don't know if it's high tech, but she said it'd be different from anything we've worn before."
"Oh, I'm not complaining," said Cathy. "Being paid $200 to try on sexy underwear for three hours is a good deal. I'm glad your aunt offered us this little job."
"But paying us to try on lingerie and fill out an evaluation sounds more like marketing research than science, remarked Julie. "Calling it 'R&D' is a little pretentious, don't you think?"
"It does sound a little funny," admitted Charlene. "But I trust my aunt. She a master's degree in chemistry, you know. I'm surprised she went to work for Dear Angela, actually."
"And all we need to do is try on their chemically advanced lingerie?" asked Julie.
"Right. For three hours. And fill out an evaluation."
"So, these slips we're going to wear... have you seen them?" asked Kumiko.
"No," said Charlene. "I don't think it'll be anything too weird. My aunt said they'd be short, though. She told me to try them with friends I'd feel comfortable around. So I called you all!" Charlene smiled. "I honestly don't know what they're going to be like. Since my parents are out of town for the week, I thought this would be a good place to try them on."
"What's so special about this new material?" questioned Cathy. "Is it transparent?"
"I don't think so," Charlene replied. "In fact, I remember her mentioning something about it being completely opaque."
"Opaque?" said Kumiko.
"Yes, that means the opposite of fun," said Cathy. Julie laughed at this, and Kumiko giggled.
Charlene led her friends to an open area upstairs where there was a weight bench and a pool table by a sofa. A door led to Charlene's old bedroom.
"When I moved into the dorms at school, my dad wanted to convert my old bedroom into his exercise room," explained Charlene. One wall of her old room was covered in floor to ceiling mirrors. Against another wall was a giant bed, and two small couches were crammed into the corner by a stereo system. "But his sister got divorced and she needed a place to stay. She had that bed and those loveseats brought in with her. Also, the pool table outside. She stayed for half a year and left all this stuff behind when she went to live in Spain."
"Is this the aunt who's hiring us to test the slips?" asked Julie.
