“Yeah, of course.”
I stared at him, hopefully harshly for a few more seconds then spoke. “Go on then!” He turned and walked to the door.
“No one there,” he said after checking and we went out. He went ahead slowly and I followed behind, both hands desperately holding up the front of my dress. I could feel my boobs tugging at it with every step.
We inched our way down the stairs, the sounds of the party getting louder and louder and a sick but in no way exciting feeling rising in my stomach. I tried to tell myself that I looked fine really, and that no one would be able to tell how close to exposure I was if I was careful, but I knew it was untrue. Even if I was wearing this dress at it should be it was close to scandalous in this setting.
We got to the bottom of the stairs and then Colin slowly rounded the corner to the rest of the house. He looked back and held out his hand stopping me. He edged back himself.
“There’s someone in the utility room, I think getting some wine. I’ll walk past quickly, they shouldn’t notice, then you can slip by when they’re gone.”
“What?” I didn’t want him to go, but I quickly realised that the sooner he did the sooner someone who was prepared to help me escape might turn up. I fought down my fear and nodded. “Fine.”
He looked at me for a second, he seemed on the verge of apologising again but then turned and walked away quickly. I edged to the corner and peered round, the light was on in the utility and the door was ajar but Colin walked past quickly and quietly and turned into the kitchen. It seemed he had joined the party relatively unobtrusively.
I wondered about joining him as hovering here in the corridor seemed risky in itself, but after a few moments I saw Leslie some out of the utility carrying a few bottles of wine. I ducked back behind the wall but it seemed like she had no reason to even glance in this direction. I heard her also head back to the party.
After a few moments and no one else seeming to come out into the corridor I steeled myself and walked around the corner slowly. I used one hand to attempt hold my dress in place, trying to make the gesture seem casual. I think I probably failed on both counts and I stopped for a moment to hoist it up firmly and get both nipples covered again.
As I approached the utility room I started to doubt the plan. If Leslie came back for more wine what on earth could I say? I began to wonder if I could just stand towards the back of the kitchen and keep out of sight. Shouldn’t I at least have a look to see how plausible that was? I could probably have a glance without anyone noticing. I carried on down the corridor.
I edged slowly to where I could see into the kitchen. It was still fairly sparsely populated, but it also seemed much smaller than I remembered and much better lit. There was certainly no unobtrusive place to hang out. I stared for a moment longer but it was clear it was the utility room or nowhere. I didn’t think anyone had seen me, but I needed to hurry. I turned and started back.
“Claire?”
I froze, I couldn’t believe it.
“Claire, it’s Tom.”
It of course was, I’d recognised his voice instantly. I didn’t know what to do, but I know I needed to say hello.
“Tom, hi.”
I saw his eyes sweep over my body, his eyebrows raised immediately. It was easy to realise why.
“Oh, wow, I. Nice dress.”
“Yeah, look, that’s the problem. I just need to get in here, OK?” I gestured behind me. I realised there was no way I had the time to get him to leave me alone, there was nothing for it but to have him follow me inside.
“In there, why?”
“I’ll tell you, just I’m going in now.”
“Right, but I’ll, er, go and get Jim. He’s here too and we were looking for you.”
At this point I couldn’t believe how much was going wrong but it didn’t change things really. I still needed to get out of sight and there was no way I could stop him. He was already heading back.
“Fine, whatever.” I said with genuine annoyance in my voice. I opened the door and slipped inside, I thought about locking them both out but there was no telling what they’d do then. They might bring the whole party after them.
I stood there, again lost in fear, annoyance and frustration but it was only a few seconds before there was a knock at the door and it opened. Tom and Jim slipped inside looking like they thought they were in a spy film.
“Hello, Claire.” Jim grinned at me with his usual casual, silly arrogance.
“Hello.”
“Fancy seeing you here.”
“Yeah, fancy.”
“Why are you hanging out in here?”
“I’m not hanging out, I’m hiding. It’s my dress.” I gestured down at myself with the hand not holding it up in place.
They looked. “What about it?”
“It’s broken, it keeps falling down.”
“You wore a broken dress?”
“No, of course not!”
Their two gormless, slightly worried expressions were almost too much to bear. I could feel the frustration building and building, but I knew I had to keep it together and try and come up with a story which didn’t involve stripping in a cupboard for one of their fathers.
“Look, OK, I’m in a bit of a panic, but if you’ll just keep your mouths shut for a minute I’ll tell you, OK?” I still sounded dangerously annoyed, but I was getting things under control. I hoped.
“OK, OK, fine,” said Jim, holding his hands up. Of anyone he was by far the most used to dealing with me in this sort of state.
“I figured you might be here, Tom, so I thought I would come along dressed like this and maybe we’d have some fun. You know?”
They both know, obviously.
“What about me?”
“What about you?” He looked angry and I carried on quickly. “Well, I knew you might come as well.” I gestured towards him. “Like you have, and that was fine but,”I carried on, steeling my voice more, “why should I be nice to you after what you did to me in the cinema the other day?”
“I helped you out, didn’t I? Got Tom to take you home.” There was an amused edge to his protestations.
“Yeah, right. We both know you could have just given me your spare outfit, but you didn’t.”
“I never thought of it!” There was still the slight smirk there but I hadn’t the strength to go any further. I shook my head. “Who cares. Anyway, when I got here I couldn’t see you two, I went to the toilet and I got my dress caught on the door. I thought I’d torn it so I unzipped it a bit and my bra fell off into the toilet itself.”
“What?” Jim sounded totally sceptical. I realise it did sound ridiculous, but I had no better explanation.
“I know it sounds ridiculous, but it wasn’t a proper bra. It just sat on the front, it was supposed to stick by itself but it was the first time I’d ever worn one and.” I shrugged. “I guess I put it on wrong, and soon as I pulled the dress down it just fell off.”
Jim continued to stare at me disbelievingly but he was quiet at least.
“Couldn’t you have picked it out?” Tom asked.
“Out of someone else’s toilet? No way. I just left it there. Besides, I didn’t know then that the dress was unwearable without it. But it is, I just fall out.”
“Really? Let’s see!”
That was Jim, I gave him a look and ignored him.
“So then, when I came out and realised, I was stuck, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go into the party but I also couldn’t walk home like this.”