Reluctant Diva 21
Inspired by Lipstick Discipline
Chapter 21 – A New Perspective
After a few moments the woman’s sobs ceased and we lay still, wrapped around each other. This was exciting, but totally scary! I knew I had somehow to take charge if I was ever going to. “I do want you, Maria, though not in the way you mean” I tried to reassure her. “You can stay here with me tonight. First, let’s get comfortable.”

With an effort I extricated myself and went over to rummage in the dresser. I found one of the night chemises I had worn under my corset. That ought to serve. I held it out to her and like a child she reached up her arms so I could slip it over her head. Now one of us was decent! For myself something similar was needed but I searched in vain. In desperation I took the bed sheet and wound it around myself so that at least it afforded some covering for my nakedness, even if precariously. Back on the bed I held her close to me once more with her head resting against my chest. Ruefully, I reflected on how that part of my anatomy now formed a more than adequate pillow!

We were both wide-awake, and the air seemed supercharged with emotion. I needed to defuse the tension somehow. I clutched at the first thing that came into my head. “Tell me about when you were a quinceañera, Maria. I bet you looked amazing.”

“Ah, yes. Then I was young and so pretty. Not so big… ” and she placed her hand on one of my breasts to illustrate her meaning. “Very pretty. All the boys chase me! Paulo! Aah! Yes, he say I very sexy!”

She went on to describe the members of her ‘court’ further, dwelling on some of their physical attributes. Sensing that our conversation wasn’t taking the direction I’d hoped, I sought to deflect it onto safer ground. “What colour was your dress?”

Animated once again and her tearfulness forgotten, my bedfellow was induced to describe her party dress in the minutest detail, then her shoes and her headdress and from there the venue and the food served. Gradually, as she talked, her voice sank into a monotone until… at length… silence. She slept. She lay like a babe in my arms. This was a role I hadn’t experienced before. Given the strangeness of my situation it took me longer to settle, but eventually I too must have succumbed and drifted off to sleep.

It was late when I woke next morning. Madeleine was gently shaking me. “Come on sleepyhead! It’s long past time you were up.”

Drowsily I propped myself on my pillows, still tangled in my bedsheet. Maria had evidently left me at some point in the night without disturbing my slumbers. A welcome sight met my eyes. My hostess had brought me a cup of coffee herself. As I drank, she chatted to me about the events of yesterday. She complimented me that I had carried my role off so gracefully and commented that she had never seen me enjoying myself quite so much.

“I don’t know what came over me” I tried to explain. “Up until yesterday morning I’d been dreading everything about the party, but suddenly it seemed like it was all going to be okay; and it was great.”

“How strange. That was a huge emotional change. Have you ever felt anything like that before?”

To be scrutinised like this when I was only half awake was uncomfortable, but I thought I could recall similar times, like the Thanksgiving parade. “Well, I hadn’t thought of it like that, but I guess so.”

“Mmm. Well I’m not totally surprised. It’s quite usual for a woman to get what are called mood swings.” What she then went on to ask surprised me, “You’ve been taking your meds for nearly a year; I believe you already have a “time of the month” established?”

I gulped in shock. Was there nothing my mother hadn’t told her?!

I understood that what she was asking referred to my so called ‘period’. This was something which my parent, thorough in every detail, had originally nominated for me as one week in every four. That was a year or so ago when I began taking those salmon coloured pills every day. Even now I’m not entirely clear what was in them. Though she had specified that I would have a four week cycle, in actuality the one my body had settled into was closer to five weeks. During my 'period', first my chest would become extra-sensitive and I would sometimes feel nauseous. The following day I’d endure more nausea and some abdominal cramps and hot flushes. I’d have headaches and feel tired and moody. The symptoms were mild, thankfully, but this would go on for about six or seven days.

Madeleine attempted to enlighten my understanding further. “If you are watchful, you may observe some differences in your emotions at different times in your cycle. While during your ‘period’ you may find yourself not wishing to be quite as social as usual, in the week that follows, your mood may then be quite the opposite. You might feel light-headed and find yourself behaving unpredictably. I’m guessing that yesterday would fall within your second week, yes?”

I nodded.

“It’s helpful for a woman to understand what her mood is likely to be. Otherwise it may be unsettling. If she can anticipate her needs, it may help her come to terms with them. Just be observant and think about what I’ve said.”

Though it was true that right now I was at the point in my ‘cycle’ to which she had alluded, her explanation didn’t mean much to me. It was to make more sense later.
When I’d drunk my coffee, Madeleine left me to make my own ablutions without Maria’s assistance. I was grateful for that. After the previous night I wasn’t sure whether I could cope with the maid’s wide-ranging set of emotions. Anyway it meant I could take as much time in my bath as I pleased today. There was no school, it being the half-term break. Relaxing in the tub I reflected on the events of the last twenty-four hours. They seemed surreal, as if it were all a dream. My memories would take some digesting, but in the main they were pleasant ones.

Back to reality, when I returned to the bedroom I found a new outfit had been laid out for me beside my birthday present of a new pair of heels, given me yesterday by Madeleine along with matching purse. It was a white blouse and a short straight wool skirt in a hound’s tooth pattern that caught the eye.

The skirt looked both tight and tiny. There was a little cardigan to go over the ensemble which was in shocking pink and finished just above the waist. Thankfully there was no sign of a corset such as I had worn twenty-four seven during the previous weeks. No panty-girdle was in evidence today either and the bra and panties which were laid alongside these clothes I recognised as new. It was a set similar to the ones Madeleine had loaned me previously. There was another new addition too; some sheer pantyhose in a neutral shade.

I’d only worn pantyhose once before, on my visit when I spent the day with Marnie. These products had only become generally available the previous year, and they were about to make shorter skirts practicable for everyday wear. I was examining them and the rest of the outfit at my leisure with only a towel wrapped around me when my hostess reappeared.

Her manner had now become brisk and business-like. “Maria has breakfast ready, so finish getting dressed quickly. I need to call in at the salon today. There can be no dallying if we’re to be out of the house in good time. Hurry now!” and she left me to get dressed.

It didn’t take too long to apply tape to my private area before donning my panties and slipping into the pantyhose. The result was the flat feminine front which would be essential if I was to wear such a tight little skirt. To put my recently extended hair up took longer. Fully dressed, I checked in the mirror and could see nothing amiss in that direction. Besides the brevity of my tiny skirt I could see that the blouse was stretched tightly across my breasts, and though I tugged at the material fruitlessly, their outline was all too visible. Well if I was to be a woman, why not?

By the time I got to the table there were only a few minutes left for me to eat some breakfast.

“Everything okay, honey?” asked Madeleine. She was primping in front of the mirror and nearly ready to leave.

I hastily poured myself another cup of coffee and grabbed a piece of toast. Still standing I took a hasty bite, shifting my weight from one foot to another uncomfortably. “Oh, it’s these shoes. I love them, but they’re still new and this skirt is so tight, especially when I walk” I complained.

“Oh, is that all?” she laughed. “You need to swing your legs more from the hip. You know, like a girl! You just need a little practice.”

I took her word for it. I seemed to have little choice in any case. I made my farewells to Maria who seemed subdued over my leave taking. She really seemed to feel sad at my going and I shared that feeling too, well sort of. In the main I felt relief to be out of there, though we had become quite close in the past fortnight.

Once we were in the car, I was enlightened about my programme for the day. “I have to go straight to my salon” said Madeleine as she drove. “Your mom has some errands for you to run. She wants you to change some library books for her on your way home, so I’ll set you down close by. Oh, there are a few things she wants you to get her from the drugstore too. There’s a list of it all in your purse.”

I could see the books on the rear seat next to my case and my other belongings, which my mentor told me I could leave in the car. She would deliver them to my mother later. When we pulled to a halt some blocks away from the library, I looked my surprise that she didn’t park up any nearer that building, but she didn’t explain and only smiled back at me, knowingly. Then she took me in her arms and I was enveloped in her perfume once more as she kissed me goodbye. My eyes were misty at this fond parting.

“You know, I will really miss you, but I know we’ll meet soon. Bye, sweetie!” As I got out of the car she called, “You’re going to have such fun today!!”
Fun?! Why did that word inspire dread in me?!

Feeling extremely self-conscious in my tiny skirt (mini-skirts were yet to become a common sight), and my too tight blouse, I made my way down the street, carrying the pink cardigan over my arm as the day was warm. I encountered plenty of people on the sidewalk and walking in my tall heels and hip hugging skirt was a whole new experience. Trying to swing my legs as Madeleine had advised me helped some, but that itself had an unwanted side effect. My butt seemed to sway from side to side like a pendulum, the more freely as I wasn’t wearing a panty-girdle. I was self-conscious about the prominence of my bust too. Sure enough, I found that I was getting more attention than I looked for in this busy street. What else should anyone expect, wiggling their ass in such a tight little skirt? It wasn’t just boys my age that took a second look as I passed but men old enough to be my dad turned their heads. Eww! There was even a whistle from a passing car.

The thing which really took me unawares, however, was the novel affect this attention was having on me. I found I was actually enjoying the idea that I was being looked at. Also I realised that I seemed to be conscious of something about men that I’d seldom noticed before. I caught myself looking at a handsome guy in his thirties getting out of a car and recoiled internally when I found myself checking out not just his broad shoulders, his hair and face, but the front of his pants. What am I doing?!

Why was I feeling like this? Was this one of those mood things that Madeleine had been referring to? It didn’t happen just that once either. A young couple approached me and what got my attention was not the girl, who had a curvy figure and was pretty, but her partner. His trousers bulged suggestively in a way I wasn’t in the habit of noticing ordinarily. Thankfully I made it to the library without incident and paused in the doorway to get my head back together before going inside. Here I ought to find a sanctuary where I might be out of the public gaze for a while. Breathing a heartfelt sigh of relief, I wiggled my little skirt over to the desk to hand in Mom’s books. Just my luck! The librarian on duty was someone I recognised only too well. It was Mr McShane, the tall dark-haired guy who had expressed his interest in me on previous visits and today I could see that he couldn’t take his eyes off my... er… attributes. Now I knew from experience what it felt like to be mentally undressed.

He took quite a while over retrieving Mom’s tickets, smiling and making some lame efforts at conversation; like he was on the same wavelength as a teenage girl! Eventually I made my escape and went in search of the books I’d been asked to get. There was to be no respite, however. Ignoring the woman who had entered after me and was waiting to return her own borrowings, the librarian followed me down the row. When he smilingly called to me that he could help me find what I wanted, I wasn’t entirely sure he had reading material in mind!

Searching fruitlessly as I walked, I made slow progress and he soon caught me up. To get away, I slipped around the corner at the end of the aisle. Mistake! Where I had headed was into an alcove that led nowhere and when he followed me I realised that I couldn’t escape. McShane smiled and asked to see the list of books I was looking for, but he already had his hand on my arm and was standing way too close as we talked. All I wanted was to get away and be left alone, but I couldn’t free myself without pushing past him, which would be difficult. My boobs were simply in the way!

I found myself glancing down at his pants (what is it with me?!) and saw that one of us was fully aroused and it wasn’t me! Well, okay perhaps me too… Maybe just a little bit… Okay have it your own way, a whole lot! However, it was in a different way than formerly. My body seemed to be tingling all over and I was very conscious of the soft material of my blouse stretched over my prominent bosom. This was all wrong! I needed to get out of there. As I made to slide past, I missed my step and staggered against him. It was a golden opportunity for him to grab me. He took it with both hands, one on my waist and the other around my back.

“Whoaa! Steady there, honey!” he chortled, and held me tighter, at the same time sliding the hand which was on my waist down to cup my butt.

Noooo! Worse, that actually felt nice! A wave of pleasure swept through me. My chest was heaving and my breath was getting shorter by the second. I could feel my breasts touching him and I knew part of me wanted this to continue. I had to resist an urge to press myself up against him even closer! Perhaps if I did, he would give my ass the squeeze I was longing for; with both hands. I just had to tilt my head up and he’d kiss me… Eewk!! Why was I even thinking this?! Finally in panic I handed him off and managed somehow to wriggle free.

“Thanks! Sorry! I got to go!” I cried and just fled. Mom would have to do without those books she wanted. Self-preservation was more important! At the desk the woman was still waiting there and as I passed she glared at me. She must have guessed what had been going on but even so I got no sympathy from her direction.

I heard her mutter something about, “dressed like that, you’re just asking for it, missy!” She was probably right. Part of me at least had been craving… something!

In my haste to leave the building, my new purse slipped off my shoulder as I pushed through the revolving door. It fell, the contents cascading onto the pavement and in attempting to prevent it doing so, I too went sprawling. I saw that it had slid away and had come to rest at the feet of a young man who was watching me with amusement and something more. I could tell that from my involuntary glance at his crotch. There I go again! Oh no! He can see that I’m looking! I quickly averted my eyes.

He knelt to help me while I focussed on trying vainly to retrieve what was left of my modesty. With a grin all over his face he smoothed down my tiny skirt and I coloured to the roots of my hair.

I got to my feet, crammed as many of my things as I could into the purse and without even a thank-you I ran for it blindly.

It took a few minutes before the realisation of what a sight I must look hit me, clattering along in my tight little outfit and heels while clutching the random belongings which remained in my hand. I stopped and, turning, saw that my rescuer hadn’t followed me. Whew! I could see him in the distance standing and watching me, still with that broad grin. I tried to collect myself before continuing along the street. There were several more blocks to pass before I reached the store I was headed for and how I got there I couldn’t say. I went inside and instead of going to the pharmacy counter, found a nearby aisle to hide in. I leaned back against the shelves and closed my eyes. I still had shopping to get and then I needed to be home to change for my job at Mrs Martin’s in the evening. I didn’t see how I could face all that.

Then “Jennifer? Is that you? What are you doing down there?”
Help!