“You didn’t drive?”
“No.” I realised my car was outside but I just had to hope they wouldn’t notice it.
“So you just hung around in the corridor?”
I paused, my story really did sound ridiculous. Luckily Tom stepped in.
“I saw her out there. My Dad had just come in from there, actually, that’s why I looked up. I think he was helping get some wine.”
“Oh, was that your Dad? I saw some guy and Leslie out here just now, I was hiding up by the stairs.”
All this time Jim was just staring at me, as if trying to figure out what I was saying was true and what wasn’t. I had to just ignore his look, if I let him scrutinise the tale at all then I was certain it would just come crashing down.
There was a brief silence, then Jim spoke up. “So, what now? You wanted to find us.”
“Well, you can help, can’t you?”
“Can we? Drive you home or something?”
“Well, no, I can’t go home yet. I can’t let my parents see me in this dress.”
“Didn’t they see you leave in it?”
“No, I sneaked out, but there’s no way I can sneak in. Can’t we go back to yours, Tom?”
“Maybe, but, I dunno. What time will your parents go to bed? My Mum is probably going to go back soon, she rarely stays long at these things.”
“Not for a few hours at least.” It was true, despite what had gone on it was still barely nine o’clock. Now I was desperate.
“Jim, can we go to yours?”
He shook his head. “No, everyone’s in there. That’s why I agreed to come to this lame party.”
“What, you asked me to let you come?”
It was Jim’s turn to ignore a comment, he carried on. “I reckon we can help you anyway, though.”
“Great.”
“Yeah, we can just drive around for a few hours. Maybe get a drive through and eat. My car’s here, so,” he shrugged, “I’d be glad to.”
“Thanks, Jim, you’re a life saver.” I felt slightly calmer for the first time in what felt like years, it was beautiful.
“I do have a condition, though.” His grin grew very wide.
“Oh, right, let’s hear.” But before I could finish there was a knock at the door.
“Claire, are you in there.” I froze, it was Colin’s voice. I was instantly back at maximum alert. Tom and Jim also froze in alarm, I could see from their faces that they also recognised who it was.
All I could think to do was just wait it out in silence, but then I realised that no one had locked the door. I had left it open for Tom and Jim, and then in the excitement of the conversation I hadn’t thought about it. I took one step to try and rectify that but there was another knock and this time the door started to open.
“Claire, are you here.” Colin opened the door and then stopped immediately as he saw his son. “Oh, Tom, why.” He stopped dead as he saw the rest of us as well.
“Dad, I, er.” Everyone was frozen, I realised I had to act.
“Colin, I’m fine, don’t worry. Thanks for coming back.” I tried to sound perfectly calm, it was my greatest acting role yet.
He looked at me, and then at the other two. “Oh, right, OK.” He sounded extremely nervous, but wisely thought better of speaking further.
I looked at Tom. “I’m sorry, I met your Dad in the corridor just before you. I asked him to help, to maybe quietly find someone who could take me home, but when you said you’d seen your Dad coming back to the party I realised who he was and I was embarrassed. So, I, you know, thought it was better to not mention it.”
Tom nodded. “OK” He also sounded like he wanted to be anywhere but here.
I went back to addressing Colin. “I thought we’d be gone before you got back. They’ve agreed to give me a lift, so.”
“Oh, right, well. That’s fine, I think, only I did find out where your.” He hesitated, he was probably going to say where my clothes were but realised he couldn’t mention them in front of Tom and Jim. I cursed internally. “I mean, er, found someone to help, but, er.”
“My car’s here and it’s no trouble. Really” Jim spoke up, just about. He sounded very different to how he had with me lately, deferent and nervous.
I thought quickly, it was surely better for me to get my clothes back but I couldn’t be completely certain that’s what Colin was going to say, or that there was a good plan for how I’d get them. At least in Jim’s car I knew I’d get home eventually. There was his condition, but that was hardly something to worry too much about given what we’d done in the past.
“Yes, I’m fine now. I’ll be home soon.”
All this time I was still in the black dress offering an insane amount of cleavage despite the hand that was in place there. All three men were not so nervous as to not sneak glances at it and my legs as often as possible. I realised that if I could get over the fear of people finding out something that might make my life overly complicated, this was exactly the sort of situation I loved.
“Right, well, if you’re sure, I’ll head back in. Tom, are you coming or?”
Tom looked at me and Jim. “I’ll go back with Claire and Jim, I think, Dad. I’m not loving the party and.”
Jim looked as if he wanted to say something, no doubt encouraging Tom to stay here so he’d have me to himself, but he obviously didn’t want to speak up with Colin here.
“Right, well, er. Nice to meet you, Claire, and, well, I’ll see you later Tom.”
“Bye, Dad.”
I saw Colin nod to Jim before he left. I immediately crossed and locked the door.
“Well, well, very interesting!” Jim had immediately regained his normal, cocky attitude.
“Shhssshhh!” He’d spoken normally and I was worried Colin might still be able to hear.
He grinned back. “We’ll have to invite your Dad next time, eh, Tom?”
Tom looked at me and then back at Jim. He clearly didn’t know what to say, I decided we needed to move things forward.
“Oh, come on, don’t be childish. Stop embarrassing your friend and tell me what this condition of yours is.”
He looked at me for a moment, then smiled. “I mean, I’m pretty sure you can guess what it is.”
“Yeah, I think I can.” It seemed obvious that he would want me to get naked as we drove around, just like I had been with Tom the other day.
“Deal?”
We all knew that I had no choice, but we also all knew I would probably have agreed to it anyway.
“Yes, fine, I’ll take my clothes off while we drive around.” I sounded resigned but also relieved, which was exactly how I felt. With the door locked behind us and Jim’s car outside I had somehow made it out of this situation. All I needed to do now was strip, but that was becoming very easy for me.
“Great.” Jim’s grin grew to its widest extent. “OK then, get ’em off.”
“What?! Not here, Jim, in the car.”
“That’s not the deal.”
“Come on!” I couldn’t believe it, just when it seemed like I’d escape easily it seemed Jim wanted me to walk naked to the car. “No way, no chance, I’ve had enough of being stuck somewhere I don’t want to be naked.”
Jim laughed, “if that’s true you should probably think about the choices you seem to be making recently.” He didn’t seem close to budging from his request, and, as we all still knew, I didn’t really have much of a choice.
“Jim, I don’t know. I mean, if we get seen with her then we might get in trouble as well.” It seemed as if Tom might be an ally.
“No one’s going to see, it’s late. How many people drive up here at night? Almost none. Besides, we can just hide her between us if someone does drive past, they won’t be looking very hard anyway. Who’s going to expect a naked girl?”