I sat there like that for a minute, and Jenny sat back, admiring my boldness, perhaps even impressed that I had got up the confidence to do it. I chatted to her for a while like that, glancing a couple of times at the guys, they both looked in that moment, just glanced, not staring, not wanting to be caught, or to be too bold. But they saw, and I felt my arousal growing as I knew they had.
I could only sit like that for a few moments, my body started to feel warm, I could feel the nipples pressing into the slightly rough white lace bra that I was also wearing, the bra matching the thong. Jenny glanced down at me, seeing small dimples on the tight white t-shirt.
“Mmm.” She murmured. “I can see you are actually enjoying yourself, showing yourself, being seen by him here on the steps, actively showing yourself to a guy you fancy. You know you really have to go and talk to him eventually; you can’t hope to seduce him just by showing off to him. That isn’t going to get him into your bed.”
“Who said anything about getting him into my bed Jenny!” I exclaimed. “Just because I want to play with his arousal, doesn’t mean I want so much more.” I retorted with a grin on my lips.
“Oh yeah, right, so you show yourself to people like this all the time do you? You would like any of the other guys in the class to see you how you are, showing so much? You really aren’t doing it just because it is Greg down there. Come on Clare, I don’t know who you are trying to persuade, because it isn’t working.”
I got up and returned my skirt to a more respectable position, smiling, and then taking her arm we walked down the steps and passed the two guys. They focussed intently on their food as we walked past them. Both sides of the quartet ignored the other, each pretending that nothing had happened.
“Hey Clare, what are you wearing to the ball on the weekend?” Jenny walked into my room without knocking, as was her way. “I hear that Greg is going, and you should wear something outrageously sexy so you can seduce him once and for all.”
I looked around on my chair at her, my head at a slight angle as I shook it, her behaviour was getting worse I felt, her suggestions getting more outrageous by the day.
“Jenny, since when has it been your role in my life to determine what I should wear, who I should seduce?” I responded, although the gentle smile on my lips gave away my real feelings.
“Look, it’s more than halfway through the year and the opportunities for getting you into bed with him are passing by. You need to get a move on, we can’t send you back to wherever it is you come from without having got off with at least one guy this year.”
I felt the same way in my heart, but somehow having her saying it to me made me feel defensive. I knew she a quiet affair simmering nicely with a second year she had met in a Law Society ball and that she was getting more than her fair share of physical affection.
“OK, so I am planning on wearing that black strapless dress that you saw at Christmas, you know, knee length. It is pretty sexy, and I am sure I will look good in it.” I reply. It is my only real sexy dress and so there isn’t really a lot of choice.
“Boring! Come on Clare, that will be the third time you have worn that, you can’t roll it out again. Look, there is this website where you can buy second hand dresses, or even just hire them for a night. I know you can’t afford to buy a new one but this will be within your means.”
I look around at her, but she has already grabbed my laptop and is typing into the browser. I have seen her in this mood before and I know there is no point arguing, she will only become more intent, violent even. So, I stand from the desk and walk with her, slumping into the duvet on my bed, beside her as she starts to scroll through the available dresses.
“Look…. Here this is the sort of thing I think you should wear with your gamine figure, kind of like a 1920s style, a bit Downton. What do you think?” She is gesturing to a black and white dress that looks great on the model, but I can’t quite envisage how it might fit me.
I looked at the pictures, the tight silky fabric with tulle panels over the bust and at the bottom of the hem, a very daring low back and just two thin spaghetti straps on the shoulders. I knew it would suit my figure but also that I would feel very exposed in it. I imagined it and my body responded, the hairs on my arms raising a little, and a blushing on my chest.
“You have the right figure for it, small hips and breasts, you can just wear it on its own, and Greg will go wild for your, imagine him dancing with you, his hands on your bare shoulders. Look it is super low on your back, so it will feel delicious on you. And I can lend you some long pearls and maybe a band to go round your hair, or perhaps a cigarette holder.”
I couldn’t get over the idea that this whole thing was an ambush, she seemed to have already prepared all her plans for the ball and the dress, and at the same time, I could see the sense in it. It wasn’t very long before I was entering my card details into the website to have it delivered the next day.
The dress arrived the next day and I took it up to my bright and perfectly tidy room straight away. I took it out and held it on a hanger. It felt so light, the main body was a thin silky satin in narrow black and white stripes decorated with tulle panels above the neckline and below the hem, some additional pretty, decorative ribbons also decorated the waist and neck.