Mel, Unplanned Life of the Party!

After a pause to psych herself up, Mel stepped out of the booth to have easier access to zipper at the skirt's back. She unbuttoned it, unzipped it, and let it go. She crouched down to pick up Colin's latest purchase. Standing up to slide back into the booth, she shivered a bit and felt herself blushing as she realized she'd forgotten to look around to see if she was being observed when she stepped out of the booth. "Nothing to be done about it now," she thought, resisting the impulse to turn around after the fact to check, but asked Colin, "Oh, fuck, did I just moon most of our division heads and the CFO?"

"Do you really think I was looking at those guys while you were stripping just a few feet away?" he laughed, "for what it's worth, none of them are so much as looking this way, let alone staring at you, and I doubt they'd be so chill if they'd seen you flashing them just a minute ago!"

Mel couldn't say anything for a moment; hearing Colin refer to what she was doing as stripping stunned her. She asked herself if his description of her behavior was fair, and was surprised to find herself more or less agreeing with him! She thought, "It's not like I'm spinning on a pole or holding out a g-string for tips, but yeah, if I'm being honest, he's not entirely wrong!" She was even more amazed to not be particularly upset by the label, thinking, "other than accidentally flashing our waitress, I haven't really shown anything, and if I AM a stripper at least I'm a damned well paid one!"

When she was finally able to reply she told him, "I think if you were actually having dessert with a stripper instead of me, there would be a lot more attention being paid to what's been going on in this booth! If I was really a stripper, I'd be surprised by the lack of attention, and to be truthful, a bit insulted. It's kind of surprising; before you got here some of them were putting moves on me, and I was wearing a whole lot more clothing then!"

"A few hours at an open bar can definitely make a guy lose his focus," Colin said, "I've been watching them, and judging by how many rounds of shots they've done they're probably not too alert. Honestly, I'd be surprised if they were to notice you making a trip to the bar to get us an after dinner drink, even if you were to leave your tunic here!"

Mel felt goosebumps all over just hearing Colin casually mention her taking off the last piece of clothing she was wearing, even though he hadn't actually asked her to do it! Even if it was out of the question, she couldn't help imagining herself walking completely nude through the dining room on her way to the bar, passing within a dozen feet of a large table full of her co-workers, waiting while the bartender poured a couple of drinks, then retracing her steps for the long walk back to the shelter of the booth she and Colin were sharing!

Trying to calm down, Mel said nothing about her momentary lapse into fantasy, instead insisting, "Colin, no! There's just no way! I have to be able to face those guys at work, some of them every day. I'm not insisting you're wrong; It might be possible to get away with it, though I very much doubt it. Now that you've put that idea in my head, I have to admit to a smidgen of curiosity about how that would play out. But NO!"

"I understand, and hot as it would be to see you do it, I honestly wasn't thinking you would do such a thing," Colin told her, looking contrite, "but if you meant what you said about being curious, maybe there could be a less extreme way to test my theory."

"I'm not sure what you're suggesting when you say less extreme," she replied nervously," I've only got this one piece of clothing left. It's either on or off."

Colin smiled, then said,"what if it was on, but unbuttoned? That might be a fair test of my theory!"

"Maybe so, but based on how much they pay attention at work whenever I wear anything even slightly revealing, I tend to believe you're wrong," Mel insisted, "and if they DID notice me in the state you're describing, I'd never live it down!"

Colin noticed that Mel hadn't flatly ruled out his latest suggestion, and took that as an opportunity to negotiate. He offered a compromise; "your tunic has what, 5 buttons?"

"Six actually, but I've only got 5 fastened." Seeing Colin's skeptical expression, she smiled as she admitted, "okay, I only fastened 4 today, but that was barely enough unbuttoned to allow even an attentive guy a tiny glimpse of my bra, back when I still had one!"

Noticing that Mel was already absentmindedly fiddling with the highest fastened button, Colin asked, "Then how about you make the round trip to the bar with only 1 button in place? You can choose which one to leave fastened!

Telling herself that she was just checking to see how exposed she'd be if she took Colin up on his latest suggestion, Mel undid the three buttons as he proposed. She looked down and saw an alarming amount of cleavage, and even her navel, but as luck would have it, no nipples in view. She wasn't sure if this was good luck or bad; on one hand she might be able to get through the next few minutes without flashing her nipples, but this slight bit of modesty probably made it more likely that Colin's prediction would turn out to be correct. Confident that he was wrong, she said, "I, I think, I...Yeah, I could try that!" Hearing herself agree to Colin's proposal, she felt her cheeks flush a shade deeper.

Mel paused after she stepped away from the booth, realizing she'd forgotten something; she looked over her shoulder and asked Colin what she should get for him at the bar. Hearing him answer, ordering Scotch, 18 year old Macallan, she resumed walking. She felt her heart racing when she passed near her co-workers, but amazingly enough they didn't seem to have noticed her. With their table behind her, she kicked herself for accepting Colin's challenge without even asking for anything in return, wondering! "Why did I let myself get talked into this? What's in it for me?"

As she approached the bar she stopped again when she realized a bit too late that even if her co-workers were too drunk to notice her brazen attire, there was no way at all the bartender was going to miss it. Earlier in the event, when she was relatively sober and far less exposed, she'd enjoyed a bit of flirting with the bartender, who looked to be no older than a college undergrad. "A bit young for me, but could be fun," she thought. She couldn't imagine what he'd think about her new look!

Stepping up to the bar, Mel ordered, as calmly as possible, Colin's Scotch and a glass of tawny port for herself. She was impressed with the bartender's poker face, as he went about filling her order without comment.

Mel turned to bring the two glasses back to the booth, keeping an eye on the boisterous collection of co-workers as she went. To her surprise, they remained focused on their conversation, showing no sign at all that they'd noticed her! She was relieved to have gotten away with her stunt, but also slightly annoyed! She handed Colin his Scotch and congratulated him on his correct guess about how little attention they had paid to her travels. "I never would have believed it, but it was almost like I was invisible," she said, a hint of indignation in her voice.

Mel and Colin sat quietly sipping their drinks for a few minutes. He broke the silence, asking her, "one more drink before I call for your limo?"

"Sure, why not, she said. In her flustered and pleasantly buzzed state Mel had completely forgotten about Colin telling her that to be sure everyone made it home safe, each invitee to the party would have their own limo waiting when it was time to go.

"Were you disappointed that the guys from work didn't notice you because it meant I was right?" he asked, "or was not being noticed by them when strolling by barely wearing anything a blow to your ego?"

"Not being noticed by some wasted dudes while half dressed proves nothing, and means nothing to me!" she grumbled, "I'm just relieved that I was able to avoid being seen!" Her denials aside, she couldn't fool herself; she couldn't remember when or even if she'd ever been as excited as she had been when she paraded by the guys from work, fully expecting to be seen!

"Yeah, best not to read too much into it," Colin said, casually dismissing what she'd just done, calling it a watered down version of his original theory. "It's possible that they'd have reacted differently to a woman who was totally naked instead of just provocatively dressed, but as drunk as they are, I doubt it!"

"Well, we'll never know, because unlike the rest of my outfit, I still own my blouse, and as long as I do I won't be strutting around this place naked!"

"So what do you want for it?" he asked, waving his checkbook.

"I wasn't looking for an offer," Mel said, finishing the last sip of her port.

"I didn't think you were, but your saying 'as long as I do' makes it seem like you might be open to making a deal."

Half hoping she was pricing her total nudity too high for even Colin to consider worth buying, she answered defiantly, "You can have it for $1,000,000!" She was surprised to see him smiling and nodding in response! "Fuck me, I never thought he'd go for it! I guess the saying about a fool and his money is true, but maybe there should also be a saying about a fool and her clothes!"

"Let's make it a little more interesting, shall we?" he asked, "Are you open to a small change in the stakes?"

"Maybe," Mel said warily, "keeping in mind our 'look but don't touch' rule, what do you have in mind that could possibly be more interesting for me than risking being seen in the nude by a bunch of co-workers with $1,000,000 on the line?"

"It's very simple," he replied. "and doesn't involve either of us touching the other, or really anybody touching anyone at all. My proposal is, since I'm insisting that they won't notice you, if I'm right and they don't, I get to buy your blouse for 1 cent."

"Why the hell would I...." she started.

"Let me finish," he said. "If I'm wrong, and they do notice you, I'll pay double your asking price, $2,000,000! This offer is contingent on your making trip the same way as before; no detours to force the guys to notice you, no talking to them, yelling at them, throwing anything at them to get their attention, and no 'accidental on purpose' spilling or dropping any drinks you're carrying!"

Her voice reduced to a shaky mumble, Mel nodded her head vigorously to accept Colin's conditions. She could hardly believe she had agreed to strip completely naked in front of her longtime boss, and was even more surprised at how much money might be riding on whether or not some drunk guys noticed her strutting past them in the nude! As shaky as her hands were, she was glad she only needed to undo a single button to set this all in motion.

Mel looked briefly at the table of celebrating nerds and saw that none of them seemed to be looking her way, so she slipped her blouse over her shoulders and pulled her arms free of it, catching it before it fell to the floor. Seeing Colin practically salivating as she handed him her last bit of clothing, she said,"I believe this is yours now. I'll be back in a few minutes to collect my payment." He folded the blouse neatly and dropped it into the tote bag along with the rest of her outfit. She turned to head for the bar, then paused before leaving, remembering to ask, "Same drink for you?" She whispered the question, not wanting to have Colin make up some sort of excuse about her speaking loudly to win. He nodded and leaned back to enjoy her show.

Mel took a deep breath and set out for the bar, glancing down briefly as if to confirm that she really was naked; she didn't really doubt it, but the sight of her swaying, goose-bump covered breasts, smooth belly, neat patch of strawberry blonde pubes and her quivering legs somehow made it more real. "Yup," she thought, barely suppressing an urge to laugh out loud, "lots of me, nothing much else!"

Mel made her way through the dining room, retracing the path of her previous trip to the bar. She slowed her pace slightly, not remembering Colin having included any reference to how fast she needed to go. Walking slightly slower didn't seem to make any difference to her clearly loaded co-workers. Not one of the men gave the slightest sign that they noticed a woman most of them had fantasized about at one time or another was walking past their table that very minute wearing nothing but a slightly embarrassed smile!

Moving beyond her co-workers, apparently still unseen, Mel had all but given up on being noticed. All she had left to do was get the drinks for Colin and her and make one more pass past her friends; having made three trips past them already with no sign they had noticed her, she was pretty much resigned to only receiving one penny for her blouse! She could hardly believe she was actually disappointed to NOT have been seen in the nude, but realized she was, and not just because of the money!

She approached the bar and cleared her throat to get the bartender's attention. He was wiping down the back counter, and began to turn as he asked,"What can I get.....uhm....get you?" He smiled and asked, "18 year old Macallan and a tawny port again?"

"Yes, but make the port a double," she said, thinking she'd earned a little extra, and it didn't look like she was going to get anything else out of this stunt, except for a little ego boost from the grin on the bartender's face. "It's been an interesting evening," she told him as he started to pour her port.

"And a lucky one for you," he replied as he set the bottle down.

Thinking that he somehow knew about her outrageously profitable clothing sale, she asked, "What makes you think I'm having a lucky night?"

"Just a little tradition we have here," he said, "since your double port killed the bottle, you get a couple free drink tokens and a clang from Sparky!"

Not quite as quick on the uptake as she'd been a few drinks ago, Mel asked, "Who the hell is Sparky?"

"Sparky isn't a 'who', he answered. He pointed to the antique bell hanging from the ceiling, salvaged from some old fire truck, and gave the cord dangling from it a couple of hard pulls! The bell, never meant to be used inside a building, sent two earsplitting peals throughout the bistro!

Mel didn't need to look.

She knew all eyes in the place were looking toward the source of the clanging. They might not recognize the bell in the cluttered bar, but she was as certain as she could be that being just a few feet away from the bell, and on the customer's side of the bar as she was, all her co-workers would surely be enjoying a fine unobstructed view of her ass, as well as every other bit of her uncovered backside, from the top of her head down to her bare feet, and probably a generous amount of sideboob as well!

Trying to bring her shaking under control, she thanked the bartender repeatedly, promising she'd come by some other time to explain what he'd done for her. She picked up the two glasses and turned to head back to Colin, who was standing next to their booth clapping slowly. She was immediately surrounded by drunk, horny coworkers, who surprised her by mostly being more concerned for her safety than she would have expected!

"What happened?"

"Are you okay?"

"Do you need help?"

They weren't universally helpful; when they first mobbed her she felt a couple of stray hands find their way to her ass, possibly by accident, and one hand, obviously NOT accidentally groping her right boob!

Even though she'd clearly not gone out of her way herself to draw their attention, she was worried that Colin might object to her talking with the guys. Mel managed to make it clear without making a sound that contrary to appearances, she was okay. Despite having a drink in each hand she managed to give a "two thumbs up" signal and hold a finger up to her lips to indicate she couldn't talk with them. They kept their eyes locked on her but didn't follow her to the booth where Colin was waiting.

"Well done, though I'm not sure the bell ringing was in keeping with the spirit of the challenge," Colin said. "I'm not going to quibble, it was all worth it!" He filled in her final check, needing to write small to fit all the zeros.

Mel and Colin sat quietly, sipping their drinks. She was surprised to not be worried when Colin seemed to object to the role of the fire bell in drawing attention to her nude jaunt. "What's the worst he could've done," she thought, "not pay me? It's not like I had been expecting to get that money, and even if Colin hadn't agreed that I met his conditions for my nude walk, the total sum he'd paid for the rest of my outfit probably quadrupled my net worth!" If nothing else, she'd had a memorable evening, an unexpectedly exciting one! It occurred to her that she'd risked letting Colin and the bartender see her completely nude for just one shiny penny, but even setting the money aside, she'd found the suspense about whether or not she would be seen was at least as electrifying as being caught naked turned out to be!

Once Mel finished her glass of port, she strolled over to the table where her co-workers were hovering. No longer discussing whatever had kept them so oblivious to her before the ringing of the bell, all eyes were still locked on to Mel; they stood up and made small talk as well as they could with a still naked Mel in their midst, which was not so well. She thanked them all for simply noticing her walking by, confusing them even more. She waved to the bartender and made a mental note to come back soon to explain how he'd helped her and leave him a massive tip! She headed back to the booth to collect her batch of checks and thank Colin. Midway between the cluster of co-workers and Colin it occurred to her she was getting almost comfortable being naked with them all watching her!

"I should probably get somewhat covered," she thought, "but unless Colin is willing to give me back some of my old clothes I'm not sure what I would wear." She asked him for a loan of her, now HIS skirt and blouse.

"Sorry, while you were hanging out with the guys your driver came to collect your things; I'm sure your purse and phone were in the bag, I put them in there myself. I guess the assumption was made that the tote bag should be taken out to the car for you. I may have led your driver to believe that was the case," Colin explained, grinning, "Okay, yes, I confess, I did ask for that to happen."

"Colin! What the fuck? It's not enough you've had me parading around in front of everybody in the nude, now you want me to go out to my limo naked for the amusement of anyone in the parking lot?"

"That is a delightful image, but it's not as bad as that," he replied, "the door back in the corner behind me leads out to the rear parking lot. No customer in the main part of the restaurant would go back there, and that's where you'll find your limo. By the way, your driver is a woman, if that's a concern."

"Can you please confirm that before I go out there like this?"

"Don't worry," Colin said." With a few taps on his phone he reached the limo company he'd hired; after a short wait he was connected with a driver who identified herself as Alicia, who verified that the tote bag was waiting in the trunk of her limo. "No worries, Mel," he assured his naked assistant, "the driver has your stuff, and she's parked in the back lot, just like I said."

"She'd better be," Mel grumbled as she headed to the back door. She noticed her co-workers heading for the passage to the restaurant's main dining room, leaving the way they'd all arrived. "Not an option for a naked gal," she thought, remembering the presence of several families with children in the main dining room when she'd arrived. She pushed the door open, and was relieved to see at least 8 or 9 limos idling in the back lot. Satisfied that her ride, her clothes, her phone, and her purse were all just a short distance away, she turned to wave goodbye to Colin, then stepped outside. Hearing the door's metallic thunk behind her, she stopped to look at it. Seeing no knob, handle, or anything else one might be able to pull the door open with made her nervous, but with her limo so near she didn't worry too much.