Blushing, Blue Jeans, and Bloomers

"Thank you for doing this." Lloyd sounded earnest.

"I find you attractive too." Gwen smiled. "It's been a long time since I had a boyfriend. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I wiped some of the paint by accident because I was getting a little wet, and it was't pee."

"It's normal," Lloyd assured. "Bodies react sometimes even when the mind isn't on the same page. I've got an erection right now, but I'm not going to bend you over and ravage you."

"Why not?" Gwen grinned and then clarified, "That's a joke."

Lloyd grunted acknowledgement. "I don't sleep with models. I did it once back in San Fransisco, and it fucked everything up."

"Fucking can do that - I hear," Gwen acknowledged.

"I think I'll use the bathroom now. We'll be pressed for time if we don't start on the front soon."

Gwen shrugged, and he slipped past her to leave the room. After ten minutes, Gwen shouted, "Did you fall in?"

"All better now," he claimed upon return.

The design on the front matched Lloyd's previous description. The image of a white cotton muscle shirt sagged at the neck line leaving Gwen's right nipple uncovered. Bristles tickled her left nipple while he painted that side. A realistic depiction of draped cloth disguised the raise of breasts but failed to cover substantial side boob. Lloyd fussed painting curls of chest hair. He wiped away paint and tried again twice. The third time, he left her honey pale flesh unblemished.

When Gwen asked, Lloyd explained that he wanted to match the hair on her head, but there wasn't enough contrast with her skin tone. It looked like dirt smudges instead of chest hair. "Not every plan works," he confessed.

Lloyd painted a low slung brass belt buckle below her navel. "Hold still," he admonished when Gwen rocked her hips almost imperceptibly. Then, he started to work on her "package". Simulated jeans stretched to the limit with a fly straining for release. Each tiny stroke for the zipper teeth made Gwen's body twitch. "There's not much I can say about this part. We just have to ride it out," he confessed with brush hovering over the hood of Gwen's clitoris. Lloyd sounded distracted, and Gwen wasn't sure if he was talking to her or himself. She rode it out without comment, but a few beads of sweat bloomed on her brow. Her breath became erratic. Lloyd painted the bulge of a large phallus pointing up and to Gwen's right. Most of the time was spent around the border between Gwen's pelvis and part of her thigh leading to her hip. A turgid shaft culminated in a an almost discernible mushroom head suggesting seven or eight inches of meat.

Gwen chuckled.

"What?" Lloyd pause his labor.

"I was wondering: Am I circumsized or not?"

Lloyd considered. "I'm circumsized, so I suppose I imaged you circumsized too. I'm not sure it matters though because you are sporting a monster boner. The foreskin would surely be retracted.

"Good to know." Gwen giggled.

"Why's that?"

"Well, lately I've been imagining. Now, I can construct a more accurate image in my mind."

Lloyd neglected to comment. They were in the home stretch, and he picked up the pace. He didn't spend any more time below her waist. Soon, they heard pounding on the front door. "Go ahead and stand up," Lloyd requested, "But don't smudge anything."

Dianna entered the bedroom before Lloyd and conducted a dispassionate examination. "Nice work." Dianna addressed Lloyd as if Gwen wasn't in the room.

"What about the smudge between my legs?"

"Shit! I forgot about that." Lloyd bent with his nose almost touching wet paint. "You have to sit in the car, and anything I paint now will still be wet. I might be able to touch it up when we get there."

"What's this all about?" Dianna expressed curiosity.

"Gwen wiped off some of my work when she used the bathroom. It's not very apparent from this angle." Lloyd mimed a sight line from his eyes far above Gwen's head down to her groin.

"Let me see." Dianna requested.

"Not now. We need to get moving." Lloyd was adamant, so Dianna resisted any urge to argue.

Lloyd covered Dianna's passenger seat with a large white towel and guided Gwen to sit on it. "Please, please, please do not rub off all my work."

"I have to ride to the show naked?"

"You aren't naked." Dianna said. "You're painted."

"My nipple is hanging out, and my kitty is on display!"

Lloyd took off his button down shirt and extended it to Gwen. "Cover yourself with this. Hold it away from the paint." With some fussing, the shirt covered Gwen from neck to knees and seemed to satisfy her.

Lloyd dove into the back seat with the car already moving. "No time to waste," Dianna asserted.

Dianna drove with manic abandon taking her eyes off the road to ask Gwen, "Was I right?"

Gwen looked baffled for a moment until Diana elaborated, "My advice earlier."

Gwen blushed and confessed, "Oh yes."

"What's this about?" Lloyd interjected.

He didn't receive a reply.

The venue was a derelict nineteenth century theater. Gwen trudged up four flights of creaking stairs holding Lloyd's shirt like a matador's cape. She peered over her shoulder multiple times to find Lloyd staring at her bare backside. Dianna led the way and flung open a wood panel door hanging cockeyed in its frame. The attic space housed some sort of studio with ballet bars and mirrors on one wall. A few hard plastic chairs adorned another wall. Dozens of people meandered around the space. Most of them were artists. People greeted Dianna, but nobody commented about Gwen or gave her more than a glance.

"Do you still feel naked?" Lloyd whispered in Gwen's ear producing a shiver.

She thought about her answer for a few heartbeats and handed the shirt shield back to its owner. "I feel invisible."

Lloyd smiled and kissed her forehead for a long moment. When he withdrew, her fingers brushed the warm spot lingering from his lips. Lloyd buttoned his shirt and made a show of walking around the perimeter of the room appreciating works in many media hung from every available surface.

Gwen waited alone near the center. She eavesdropped when she could. It seemed a little nubile naked woman was banal among this crew. There was a middle aged bald man with a glorious handlebar mustache who escorted an elderly woman - probably his mother. A cute couple sashayed with arms intertwined. They sported matching dreadlocks, deep V neck blouses, and no bras. There was a man in a muscle shirt similar to Gwen's, but neither of his nipples were exposed nor were they as hard as Gwen's.

More people arrived. A few disgorged small talk in Gwen's direction. She replied with "yes" or "no" whenever possible. At least twenty boisterous guests surged into the room together. They wore colorful batik togas or serappes. Two striking individuals in the gaggle attracted the collective attention of everyone present. An athletic man with chiseled features revealed perfect bare skin where pubic hair should camp. His pendulum swung under scant fabric always on the verge of flopping into view. After a long stare, Gwen resumed breathing. A woman as tall as Lloyd's models but much moe voluptuous greeted people in her path. The gossamer weave of her toga failed to conceal large breasts. When the amazon turned, Gwen spotted an odd white fur tail dangling between the woman's legs. With a bend at the waist to kiss a sitting woman, the tail jut into the air lifting the toga hem to present lower ass cheeks.

"Is it in her anus or her vagina?"

Gwen jumped startled by Dianna's question. "Um," encompassed her reply.

"My bet is ass," Dianna confided. "I don't think people have looked enough to appreciate the genius of Lloyd's work. I brought you to a few peoples' attention." Dianna gesture to a couple having an impassioned discussion looking toward Dianna and Gwen. "I'm going to do something. Don't be embarrassed!"

Gwen belatedly reached for Dianna's arm to restrain her from mischief, but Gwen clasped only air.

Dianna dragged a chair close to Gwen's roost and stood on the chair. Dianna waved a fancy camera in one hand and a flute of champaign in the other. "Everyone, please," Dianna waited. When enough heads turned, Dianna continued. "What I have here is something for everyone. In our time of fluid gender and culture wars, I present Lloyd's masterpiece. Look at him flaunt that monster cock." Dianna waved vaguely in Gwen's direction. "I see you appraising it, Trevor."

A few people laughed, and pretty young man punched Trevor in the shoulder.

Dianna hopped down and dragged Gwen to sit on the vacated chair. Dianna adjusted Gwen to slump in the chair with knees wide apart.

"Isn't it just like a man to swagger and take up space. Look at him acting like he owns the world. But wait! You know me. I've got no use for cock of any size. Look more closely, and behold a buffet of my favorite dish served the way I like it, hot and moist."

Gwen clamped her knees together and crosser her ankles. Her back became ramrod straight.

"Before your eyes, the brute becomes a damsel in distress. Who will defend her virtue?"

Gwen remembered to cover her breasts with an arm.

"That's enough for now," Lloyd approached and suggested. "Quit hogging all the attention."

Dianna shrugged, faced Gwen, and snapped a picture.

"Still feel invisible?" Lloyd asked after most people resumed whatever they did before Dianna interrupted. "I asked her not to do that. If my art needs to be explained, I've failed. Come, stand up," Lloyd offered a hand.

Gwen looked like she wanted to shrink into the floor, but she accepted the gesture.

"Let's mingle and give Dianna her photo shoot. Pose with a few likely patrons, and then we'll find someplace to hide until Dianna drives us home."

"Stay with me."

Lloyd nodded assent.

Gwen sipped until someone snatched away her champaign and thrust a 40 ounce can of cheap beer into her hand. She set the can on the floor by a wall, but soon, a stocky woman almost as short as Gwen insisted she accept the can. "It's a prop for Dianna's photos," the stocky woman asserted.

Gwen sighed and held the can to her lips while looking toward the camera.

One set of photographs involved two handsome men standing either side of Gwen in leather pants. They made gestures like the were impressed by her cock. Then one got on his knees beside her and mimed performing fellatio.

"This is the last one," Lloyd demanded.

Dianna returned an inconclusive shrug and started posing her subjects. The woman with the fur tail sat on a chair with the tail bent forward between her legs. "Gwen darling," Dianna commanded. "Sit in her lap with your legs spread and pull the tail up to cover your kitty."

Gwen blushed but obeyed.

"It looks like that tickles," Dianna mused to nobody in particular. Dianna directed the owner of the tail to grope Gwen's cock. To Gwen she said, "Rub it around a bit like you're masturbating."

Lloyd stepped between Gwen and the camera and said, "That's it for tonight."

"Oh, come on! She wants to do it." Dianna insisted.

Lloyd glanced back to see Gwen already rubbing herself with the tail

"Is there any pose you want to do?" Dianna spoke past Lloyd.

Gwen shook her head negative, but it wasn't convincing. She continued absentminded play with the tail between her legs.

Dianna smirked and bellowed, "Anyone here man enough for side by side comparison?"

For a while, nobody volunteered, and Gwen stroked herself with the tail as if she wasn't aware of her actions.

The couple that earlier held an animated discussion while gazing at Gwen approached. "You'll never get a better opportunity," the woman of the pair assured her man while reaching around him to fiddle with his belt. Soon, the man's trousers bunched at his ankles.

Dianna directed. "Gwen, stand and turn to the right. Gregor! Drop the underwear and slap your meat up against Gwen's."

Gregor didn't move a muscle, but his woman yanked down white briefs and fiddled with his flaccid penis until it rested against Gwen's thigh.

"Turn a little more, Gwen."

With everyone positioned, Dianna captured her image.

Somebody shouted, "It's not a fair comparison."

The woman wrapped her fingers around her man's semi erection and masturbated him until he grew to her satisfaction. More pictures were taken including a few with the woman measuring the deficiency of reality next to art.

"Thank you honey," the woman patted Gwen's shoulder. "It's gets us both hot," the woman informed while tipping her head toward Gregor who she advised to "Take me someplace and ravage me." He reclaimed underwear and trousers in one motion but didn't speak. He looked shell-shocked.

The handsome man in the colorful toga took a turn. He thrust his hips to rub an already stiff prong against Gwen's virtual appendage. Handsome didn't measure up either, but Gwen panted through the entire ordeal.

"Anyone else?" Dianna shouted. "Last chance!"

Nobody volunteered, so Dianna suggested, "One more. Get on your knees."

Gwen complied with hesitant motions.

"That's right. Ass up. Put you face on the floor."

Gwen did it.

"Now, reach back and spread you pussy lips."

Gwen didn't move. Dianna continued snapping pictures anyway.

Lloyd placed a hand on Gwen's back. "I got us another ride home."

Gwen struggled to her feet and hugged Lloyd. She pressed her bare flesh against him and squeezed tight.

They walked side by side holding hands to the door, and then Gwen lead the way down the steps.

They loitered with Gwen stark naked on the public sidewalk waiting for their ride.

"I shouldn't have painted it so big. It's given you a swelled head."

Gwen smiled. "You too - I think."

"I'm sorry I put you through this." Lloyd touched Gwen's chin and turned her face to see her eyes.

"I might be sorry tomorrow," Gwen speculated, "but right now, I'm so wet I'm ruining your art."

"We'll get you home and clean you up."

"What if I want to get dirty?" Gwen looked up at Lloyd.

"Take my shirt again," he replied as he unbuttoned.

Gwen masturbated in the shower. She slept naked and masturbated on the futon in the morning with eyes locked on the closed bedroom door. Sated, she pulled herself together and rode the bus to her next therapy appointment as if nothing at all remarkable happened over the preceding 24 hours.

Lloyd didn't raise the subject at dinner, so Gwen blurted, "It feels like it was all a dream bordering on nightmare that still fills my stomach with butterflies. I keep rethinking the thoughts and feeling the sensations."

"What were the thoughts and sensations?"

"You know that feeling when you climbed a rope in gym class? Do boys feel that too? The elongated muscles almost like a sprain but good?"

"For me, it was hanging from a tree branch," Lloyd reminisced. "When did it feel like that?"

"While I was sitting - It was intense. I didn't dare move or ruin it. Then Dianna made me stand, and my skin tingled. Right before those men touched me, the anticipation - like the moment before a lover spreads me open for the first time."

Lloyd grinned. "What were your thoughts through all that?"

"I never dreamed of standing naked in a crowd of clothed people. And suddenly, it was a non-issue - a letdown. I half forgot I was naked. All those people are so interesting."

"That's what my other models tell me. I'm jealous they get paid to nap while I paint. I forget they're naked and focus on the work."

"I mean, customers at work look at my chest, but I'm busy. I'm not really showing anything. I almost don't notice. And when the other girls get better tips, I feel small. But last night, I felt desired - or no - that's not it - I felt like I wasn't displaying my body - I was displaying something more intimate."

"I don't understand." Lloyd searched her eyes.

"So, like - everyone has a body, and mine is cute but not exceptional. People looking at my body - looking at the thing that is my body - doesn't much arouse me. But last night wasn't like that by the end. I felt like they were looking at a shameful kinky erotic part of my soul. It was embarrassing but deeply affirming."

"It boosted your ego?" Lloyd looked confused.

"It was the opposite. It enflamed my Id, the animal part of my personality that demands lots of sex and wants to eat my weight in chocolate. Most of the time, my ego wrestles my Id into sulking submission. Last night, my Id sat on my ego's face and made it eat me out."

"Wow. Just wow." Lloyd accepted.

They sat in silence eating green beans with spicy soy sauce and almonds.

"I owe you a second session," Gwen reminded. "What's next?"

"I talked about it with some friends this morning. One is a Theater professor. He specializes in costume design and hosts a Halloween party every year for a select cadre of favorite students. I expect the costumes are impressive. Anyway, we talked about how long my paintings take because he might hire me for a production that's still in the planning stage. He invited me to paint at his party - performance art - everyone can watch the process instead of just the result."

"You want me to be your canvas?"

"You don't have to. Rent is due next week, so I can probably scrape together enough money for one of my regular models."

"I'll do it!" Gwen looked surprised by her own enthusiasm.

"In that case, I'll offer our apartment for the party. Arranging private transportation for a naked woman is more difficult that you'd think."

"You don't want me to ride the bus?"

"Would you?"

"Probably not," Gwen frowned.

As Halloween approached, Gwen wore less and less around the apartment daring Lloyd to accept her availability outside the role of canvas. He never commented, but he didn't look away either.

On the morning of the day, Gwen sat naked and masturbated at the breakfast table while she sampled Lloyd's favorite cereal. Lloyd's door remained closed until the last moment as if Lloyd had a sixth sense. He emerged just in time the witness Gwen's orgasm face. Then, she blushed.

They looked in each other's eyes.

"It's hotter because you're forbidden fruit," Lloyd observed. "Teasing only works when it's a tease as opposed to a proposition."

"What do you mean?"

"It's the opposite of your example with chocolate. You have to resist the urge to eat all the chocolate, but you CAN eat it. What if the chocolate is right there, but you can't eat it. You're starving, but the chocolate is out of reach. I'm a famished little boy watching through the window as you feast."

"Um." Gwen paused. "Is that good or bad?"

"If I spontaneously combust, you'll know the answer."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry." Gwen's expression was unreadable.

"Finish your breakfast. I have some errands and then lots to do before the guests arrive. I'll be back later."

Gwen emerged from the bathroom naked except for her towel. Lloyd ushered her to the table and boosted her onto it. She stretched her legs to extend beyond the surface and reclined with her head propped on one arm. Lloyd fussed to unwrap the towel. Gwen flipped and flopped until she lay bare.

Eight guests plus two residents made the apartment claustrophobic. People navigate life in costumes, and costumes invite assumptions: rich or poor, casual or formal, male or female. The costumes surrounding Gwen manufactured stark contrast between the vulnerability engendered by her nakedness and the cloth shields wielded by her guests.

Lloyd's costume consisted of hair died orange and a cloth bandage around his head. His t-shirt displayed a faded print of a Van Gogh self-portrait. The guests were mostly young and mostly male even though one dressed as Liza Minnelli from the musical, "Cabaret". The most interesting costume was a hooded cloak covering its wearer from head to toe hiding face and gender. Silver embroidery formed Nordic runes, and in the center, a full length embroidered tree extended root legs suggesting something sensuously feminine. A red heart invited the eye to gaze upon the crotch between roots.