Avery and Isaac

This is a sequel to my story "Avery's Exposure." This particular story does not have any action that is nonconsensual or reluctant, and is, in fact, a much-requested romance between the two characters. However, it is set in a world where minor crimes can be punished with humiliating and painful nude punishments and often references Avery's previous experience with those laws, so be warned if that isn't your kind of thing.

Thank you to everyone who reaches out with feedback and leave comments. Talking to readers is what makes writing these stories so fulfilling. If you ever want to chat or talk about my world or sex stories in general, I answer every email. More stories are in development and I love hearing suggestions.

Avery rolled over, sinking into her mattress, and slowly her memories of the previous day returned to her. "Oh God, why didn't I make him stay?" she thought, "I'm so dumb!"

Yesterday had been terrible and hopeful in equal measure. Her greatest fear, that had been building for weeks since she got her speeding ticket, had finally happened. She had attended her appointment at the Judicial Center where she had been strip searched and then put on display in an auditorium in front of twenty or so of her fellow citizens. She was tied to a couch and her knees and ankles were forced apart and, for an hour, her breasts and all her feminine secrets were on display.

However, she had thought it was going to be much worse. As she sat there, she got used to it. In the end, the worst part was her sore back and cramped legs. Isaac had made it all better. He was her best friend but since yesterday she couldn't shake the feeling that she wanted him to be more. She'd even kissed him! And then, she wasn't able to close the deal.

Isaac was amazing, she thought. They'd been friends for two years, all through graduate school. They had graduated a couple months ago and both searching for jobs. In the meantime, they were hanging out all the time and enjoying the nice, summer weather. It was only yesterday, as her punishment was approaching, that she realized how much she liked him.

Now it seemed insane how long it had taken her. He was just perfect. He was always so relaxed, and he would do anything for her. Anything she ever asked he came through for her and he was so cute. He was tall and much bigger than her, which before the previous night, she had never realized how much she liked. She wanted to rub her hands through his buzzed, blonde hair and stare into his blue eyes.

Avery trusted him completely. So much that she invited him to watch her punishment. She just didn't want to be alone and he was the only one she could think of who wouldn't be weird about the whole thing. And it was definitely weird. Obviously, she was naked in front of him, but there were others being punished, too, and he had had to watch that. Four other women and a man were punished with her and, in Avery's opinion, they had it much worse than she did. They were whipped and caned and groped as punishment for their various crimes. She felt terrible for them and even worse that she thought it made her punishment go by more easily in comparison.

Before telling Isaac, she'd thought about talking to a couple of her girlfriends, but her friends that lived nearby were all school friends, not really close, forever friends. Her closest friends were spread across the country and hours away. That's what happens when you're twenty-five: jobs and school disperse even the closest friends to the four corners.

Somehow, despite only knowing him a couple years and only being really close to him for less than half of that, she knew that he would be there for her. She just had a feeling. It was more than friendship, she thought, and she wondered if she'd had these feelings for much longer and only noticed it yesterday. "Terrible timing, really," she thought.

Avery threw the covers off and climbed out of bed. If she did lo . . . She had to push the L word out of her head. That was silly and it scared her that such a strong word was flitting through her mind after one kiss. If she did like him the way that she thought she did, she wished she had realized it before.

She feared what he must think. That kiss shouldn't have happened. It was too wild and too close to what had just happened to her. It must have seemed that it was a side effect of her punishment. Her emotions were high, and she did something without thinking. "God I must be freaking him out."

However, she knew that wasn't true. She'd meant it when she kissed him and then she got scared. When they left the Justice Center, she had every intention of dragging him inside and . . . well she didn't know what she was going to do other than kiss him, but she had some ideas. She wanted his hands on her. Twenty-five was too old to be a complete virgin and she wanted that to change. Maybe she didn't want to jump to sex straight away, but she wanted something. She just needed to be brave and convince herself to tell him.

She just couldn't make herself do it. He had come inside and made sure she was ok, but no matter how much she wanted more from him, she couldn't put it into words.

Isaac had been so nice. He offered to talk about what happened or pretend it never happened or whatever she wanted, but she didn't know. She wanted to cuddle and kiss him and, well, she didn't know what else but be close to him. But she clammed up. She couldn't put words together and she was afraid to make a move.

Avery knew that she had to do something to get what she wanted. This morning, she was gonna call him, or, rather, text him like any normal young millennial. She grabbed her phone and headed to the bathroom.

She sat down on the toilet set and stared at her thread with Isaac. It was filled with memes and jokes and idle conversation, but currently it ended with her awkward signoff from last night. He had wished her goodnight and she responded, "Thanks," and that's where it stood.

She beat herself up further, "He saw me naked, I kissed him, and all I could say was thinks. Crap, I'm so dumb. He must hate me." Avery tried to compose a new message. Something apologetic and flirty and with just enough cleverness and coyness that everything could go back to normal if he turned her down.

Typing and deleting she tried a few options, "Hey, Isaac, what's up?" "Waddya up to today?" "Sorry about yesterday." "How are you?" "Up yet?" "Hey, cutie <3 <3." She sighed. Nothing seemed right and nothing sounded like her and she didn't want to spend all morning drafting a novel of text describing all of her feelings. She would tie herself up in knots if she tried that, both emotionally and in her prose.

Avery brushed her teeth and used the toilet trying to compose a message, but, feeling hopeless, she gave up and sent the most boring, generic message, "Hey."

Disgusted with her lack of style, she put her phone down, promising that she would look at it after a nice, long shower. She reached into the shower and turned on the water and began to take off her clothes. For the first time in her life, she felt blessed to take off her clothes unaccompanied by a mountain of stress. It had been two days since that was true.

Yesterday, at the Judicial Center, she had stripped in front of the warden (a woman, at least) and another guard (unfortunately, a man) during her strip search. She had been able to wear a robe for a short time as she waited for her punishment to begin, but, really, that barely counted as far as she was concerned. It was so short that she was sure that anybody who wanted a view could have gotten an eyeful if she wasn't careful with her legs or if she wasn't mostly alone in a cell. It didn't matter if she was alone, it was still stressful. She'd been well trained to keep her thighs together. There was a reason these new punishments seemed to work. Women especially, but probably everyone, had a deep fear of public nudity. She knew that somewhere, probably deep on the internet, there was some woman that must like it, but that woman was the exception that proved the rule. The supposed thrill of it wasn't something that ever occurred to Avery.

After sitting in her cell, alone and in a too short robe, a guard arrived and Avery was marched to the door of the auditorium. The guard ordered her to take off her robe, which, of course, she did with trembling hands, and then she was naked for an hour on stage. Afterward, she was able to get dressed in her normal clothes again and she hadn't taken them off since. When she had gotten home, she hadn't even changed. Between her punishment and not being able to express herself with Isaac, she was angry and numb and had just slept in her clothes and makeup.

It felt nice to have the weight off. For the rest of her life, Avery wanted to be in control of whether she had clothes or not. "No more speeding for me," she joked to herself. She sighed and wondered if she was ever going to be able to wear this particular combination of clothes again. The brunette didn't exactly want to be reminded of the previous day. Quickly her t-shirt and blue and silver running shorts were in a pile that grew as she deposited her bra and panties.

She felt like a new woman. She had control of her own body again and could do what she wanted with it. She looked in the floor length mirror on the back of the door. A day and a half ago, she stood in the same spot afraid to take off her bra and panties and she didn't want to feel like that anymore. She was proud of her body. Her breasts were large and round with just a little bit of sag without her bra. She had round thighs that she was often self conscious about, but Isaac said he like thick thighs, so right now she loved them.

She frowned a bit though when her eyes reached her newly bare mound and lips. She didn't love her current lack of pubic hair, but there was nothing she could do about it. They would grow back if that was what she wanted. Yesterday morning, in the same shower she was about to enter, she had to completely shave all the hair on her legs, armpits, and crotch. Those were the rules for offenders and every other woman up on stage with her was similarly hairless, although the other man was only bare between his legs. "So much for fairness," she grumbled.

Yesterday, she had told Isaac it made her feel like a kid. She had barely touched her pubic hair and to have it all gone made her blush, which she found odd, "After yesterday what do I have to be embarrassed about?"

Obviously yesterday sucked but it wasn't nearly as bad as she imagined it would be. She'd dreamed of onlookers inches from her wide-open legs taking pictures and taunting her, but they had been safely twenty feet away from her at least. The camera zooming in on her privates gave them plenty of views, but she didn't feel as threatened as she thought she would. It helped that their eyes were mostly on the other offenders. Avery felt that she was really just set dressing to much harsher punishments.

Her conscience twinged. It was great to have Isaac, the one person certainly on her side, there, but she felt bad that he had to watch all the other punishments. It couldn't have been easy for him. Avery thought the punishments were barbaric and just because hers wasn't as bad as she feared didn't mean that she was suddenly a supporter.

Again, her conscience called foul. It wasn't just that he had to watch. It was also that he got to watch. She had worked hard to tamp the feeling down, but she was jealous that he got to see the other girls. Her stomach churned in shame as she remembered coveting another offender's, Elizabeth's, toned legs. Poor Elizabeth. For an hour she stood on her tip toes with a dildo in her vagina. "Forget her," Avery told herself, "Isaac was there for me."

The twenty-five-year-old shook her head and focused on herself in the mirror. Maybe being shaved wasn't so bad. Slowly, she felt herself with her right hand. It was soft and she kind of liked it. "Maybe Isaac will too," she thought. If her plan was to explore herself maybe this was the way she wanted it. No hair in the way. She would know how she actually felt down there.

The idea made her blush. Avery had never touched herself before. Not really. If a pillow was just in the right place, she might move her hips back and forth, but she had never planned to pleasure herself. On those rare occasions, it never lasted more than a few seconds before the moment was over.

She shook the idea out of her head. This was crazy. She had never felt like this before. She wanted Isaac's hands on her, and it was giving her ideas. "God, I hope he's not too mad at me."

Avery shook her head and pulled her eyes from the mirror. She checked the water and found it hot and ready. Looking at her phone, she saw that he hadn't responded. With a sigh, she left it behind into the shower, closing the frosted door behind her.

***

Isaac didn't want to get out of bed. He laid awake for the last few hours hating himself for how the previous day had went. His crush for more than a year had kissed him and had done absolutely nothing. "I'm such a loser!" he screamed internally, "I don't deserve her after that."

He'd spent most of graduate school falling for that wonderful woman. They had met during first semester and worked in the same project group. He was immediately besotted by the kind, vivacious girl and they became very quick friends.

The previous day had been . . . something. At Avery's invitation, he had accompanied her to the Justice Center on the other side of town and watched as she was tied with her knees and ankles apart giving him, and the rest of the audience, an unhindered view of her hairless pussy and perfect breasts. He had spent hours over the past few years imagining what she looked like under her clothes and in the weirdest possible circumstances, he had gotten what he wanted.

He couldn't help but replay the moment that the camera zoomed in on her bits and showed her in all her glory on the giant screen above the stage. He perfectly remembered the rosy color of her lips, the bits of stubble on her mound, and the hints of her clitoral hood poking through. He hated himself for it. "Such a creep. I shouldn't have been staring there. I should have just looked her in her eyes."

He had done his best to hold her gaze, but it was a constant struggle between his two mind and his second brain in his pants. He actually felt relieved when the camera focused on the others. Sure, he looked at the other nude bodies in front of him, and some of the women were cute, but none of them were as indelibly etched into his mind as that first look at his crush's most private anatomy.

Isaac rolled onto his stomach in order to fight the urge to slip his hand down his boxers. It didn't feel right to pleasure himself thinking about a moment that must have been absolute terror and humiliation for Avery, but he couldn't deny the presence of his growing member. Shamefully, he had been excited the entire show at the sight of Avery being naked in front of him.

Then when it was over, it got even better for him. He had been pacing in the lobby of the Judicial Center when Avery returned from the bowels of the building. He'd tried to comfort her and make sure she was ok, but she hugged him, rose on her tip toes, and planted the most wonderful kiss he had ever shared with anyone. His heart and his soul had leaped into outer space and every wonderful dream of his seemed possible. Images of entwining his body with Avery, taking care of her when she was sick, and building a life together flitted through his mind.

Then it just kind of fizzled. They had left the Judicial Center, his heart pounding with every step, and drove home. He wasn't sure what he thought would happen when they returned to her apartment, but nothing did. He got her water and asked her over and over how she was doing and if he could do anything to help, but she seemed to go numb and just want to lay on the couch. He didn't want to start any conversation without her permission, so they just sat in mostly silence, unwilling to broach the kiss or her punishments.

Isaac was sure now that the kiss was just a moment of weakness that she must regret. His dreams of a requited romance were just fantasies and he just hoped that their friendship wasn't ruined forever because of what he had witnessed. He would understand. It would be hard for him to talk openly about it if he had been punished like that and maybe he would just remind her of that terrible day and she couldn't bear it.

Eventually, he had wished her goodbye, unwilling to continue sitting in the torturous quiet, and promised to do anything for her if she asked. Now he was just waiting for a text, hoping it would be some joke signaling that everything was back to normal.

Isaac had blown it yesterday. He had almost told her how much he liked her yesterday morning before travelling to the Center. He'd even opened his mouth and started, but she had cut him off: thanking him for supporting her. He had made the scummy decision to not tell her. He told himself that he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. It was noble to not add to her stress during her sentence he told himself, but he knew, even at the time, that he didn't want to risk her uninviting him.

Guilt rose in him again at the thought. Lust got the better of him and now he was getting what he deserved. He was going to feel lucky if Avery was ever his friend again. He was just going to be happy to spend time with her again.

His phone buzzed and he snatched it off of the bed side table. Avery's name shone on the screen and he quickly typed in his password and read the message, "Hey."

Isaac sighed. He didn't know what he wanted from the message, but that wasn't it. There was absolutely no information one way or the other. He had no idea how to answer that and decided to take his time. It had to be the right message if he was going to salvage his friendship.

He started to roll out of bed and pulled on his sweatpants and a t-shirt, trying to ignore his erection which he knew would go down if he got up to move. He ambled into his kitchen. It was messy and he needed to do the dishes. His roommate, Joshua, had moved out a couple months ago at the end of the semester and he was the one that made Isaac do the chores.

With a sigh, he put on the kettle and started to make coffee. He stared more at his phone wishing that she would send him something more. He was usually good for a joke, but a one-word text wasn't much to work with, "Doesn't she know that's how you end conversations?"

Slowly, he started to rinse off the plates and silverware and put it in the dishwasher while imagining what Avery must be feeling. He imagined her laying in her bed still upset from the previous day and regretting their kiss. Maybe he just needed to be proactive and tell her that they could pretend it never happened.

No matter how pessimistic he felt, though, he didn't want to completely shut that option off. He wanted more from her, but he didn't know how to ask for it. He should just give her time and not freak her out. It wasn't fair to her if he rushed it, but he felt like something had changed yesterday. They couldn't just pretend that the punishment hadn't happened or that she had kissed him. They couldn't go back to the before time.

Isaac didn't even know which one was the moment that changed them. The kiss had been so quick, and her exposure had been so drawn out. He didn't know if he could ever look at her again without imagining her naked. At least, he couldn't yesterday, and the image was still flitting invasively through his mind. It wasn't fair to her for that to be how he imagined her, forever. She was still the kind, intelligent woman he had crushed on for more than a year. He shouldn't objectify her like that.