The Only One Naked Ch. 01

Sasha nodded. 'Yes, agreed. And again guys I'm so, so sorry, if there was anything at all that I could do-'

'But that's the problem Sasha, there is nothing you can do to fix this. The damage has already been done. Everyone has already seen it, our reputations are irreversibly damaged forever, and we'll have to live with this for the rest of our days.'

'Not everyone saw it, it could have been way... no sorry, I get your point.' Sasha just hung her head woefully. They were right, and there was nothing she could say in reply.

After a heavy silence Katie took a deep breath and continued. 'So, with all that said we asked ourselves, what would make us feel better about this whole shitshow? And so we decided that we want some reparations from you.'

Sasha raised her eyebrows warily and Alex misinterpreted her concern as confusion, and chipped in helpfully.

'That means revenge.' Her voice was muffled as she was still battling with a chunk of bread in her mouth, but Sasha understood the message.

'Yes, thank you Alex.'

Katie ignored the interruption and continued. 'The way we see it, you've inflicted major damages upon us, and so we think you should have to compensate us, in full, for the psychological distress that you caused.'

Sasha snorted internally at their clumsy attempt to use some of the legal jargon they'd picked up from tv shows over the years, but she thought that in principle what they were saying was reasonable. And it wasn't without precedent, either. When they'd first been looking at apartments Katie had messed up sending in the deposit for their dream place, and they'd ended up losing it, meaning they had to move into a smaller flat which still managed to be more expensive. As a punishment she'd had to do all the girls' laundry and dish washing for one month, and she'd accepted the reprimand graciously. A similar thing had happened a few weeks later, when Alex had left a tap on in the bathroom as she rushed out for work. Luckily their insurance covered the cost of the flooding repairs, but their bathroom was left unusable for a fortnight, and even after that the flat was often rammed full of builders as they replaced the whole floor. On that occasion they'd decided to go with a month of cooking and cleaning as compensation, and again Alex hadn't argued back.

'Yeah I understand, and that seems fair to me. I know I have to make it up to you two.' Sasha wondered what they'd want from her. Admittedly this offence was far more serious than anything any of them had done before, and so maybe they'd want her to buy all their drinks on nights out for the next thirty days? Or maybe they would demand takeaway breakfasts each morning, or perhaps she'd have to give foot massages every evening, who knew... Whatever it was though she wouldn't mind complying, the punishments were never really about getting revenge, they were more demonstrations between the three of them that they were genuinely sorry for their various mistakes, and that they didn't want their collective friendship to suffer because of them.

Katie nodded sagely. 'Ok good, so we all seem to be on the same page here.'

Alex washed down the last of her bagel with a swig of coffee, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. 'Tell her the terms, Kate.'

'Yes, the terms. Well first, Sasha do you remember how many people I noted had seen the video before I managed to take it down?'

Sasha frowned slightly at this unexpected line of enquiry, but she did know the correct answer. 'Umm, I think you said that it was one hundred and twenty four?'

'One hundred and twenty four, exactly. So that many people saw Alex and myself naked, agreed?'

'Ah yeah, yeah agreed.'

'Ok. So we decided that you have one month to pay your dues...'

Sasha nodded, this is what she'd been expecting.

'And in order to fully reimburse us for the embarrassment we had to suffer, during this month you will also have to be seen naked too, by up to at most one hundred and twenty four people.'

Ok never mind, this was definitely not what Sasha had been expecting. She leant forward in her chair and placed a hand on the table, nervously drumming her fingers lightly.

'Sorry, what? I don't understand...'

Alex also shifted further towards her friend and looked at her with a cold, hard stare. 'We get thirty days to show you off to anyone we'd like, whenever we want to. If we hit the one-two-four target before that deadline then fine, we're all even and we'll stop. And if we don't hit that number in time then again it's cool, we drop it and move on. But until then you will do as we say, without any complaints, until justice is served. We've written it all down here, drawn up a contract, and you need to sign it.'

Sasha couldn't believe her ears. 'Guys, what is this? I thought you'd make me take out the bins for a few weeks, or maybe buy you some new shoes or something... but this isn't a punishment, this is just straight up revenge?'

Alex shrugged. 'Yeah? I said it was revenge.'

Katie also wasn't backing down. 'That kind of punishment worked before, when someone did something dumb but trivial. But this is different Sasha, this is a million times worse, and we need you to suffer just as much as we did.'

'But, but... this isn't the same though, you guys were mostly asleep when your thing was going on, it's not like you were being embarrassed in real life for a whole month.'

'No you're right. Our exposure was way worse, at least we're not going to make you strip off in front of all your close friends and family, or your fucking work colleagues for crying out loud.'

'Yeah,' Alex agreed, 'at least you'll only be seen by strangers, and it won't be filmed and uploaded online with your name attached. We're actually being pretty lenient.'

'Sorry, what? Lenient?'

'Of course. If we were being bitches we'd rip off your clothes and chuck you into the street right now, and wait to see what happens.'

'Alex, Kate, please. Look ok, even if this was fair, which I'm not saying for a second it is, I still wouldn't be able to do it. I'm a lawyer now for Christ's sake, at a really serios firm, with really strict bosses. You know what they would do to me if I ever did something like you guys did last night? One guy in my first week got caught smoking weed by the police, his first ever offence, they didn't even charge him, just gave him a warning. But his supervisor found out and sacked him on the spot. Then this girl in the floor above me had her dating profile discovered, and there was a picture on it of her in a bikini. They said that was too inappropriate, and terminated her internship. So you guys can't get me to do anything illegal, because I'll definitely lose my job.'

'Illegal?' Katie leant back in her chair. 'Who said anything about doing anything illegal?'

'What do you mean? You just said you could make me do whatever you wanted, and that you had a month to get me naked in front of over one hundred people. I assumed that you plan to make me go streaking or flashing or some other stuff, which is all classed as exhibitionism and public indecency, and which is one hundred percent illegal.'

'No no, we'd never put your future at risk like that. You're right, you will have to do as we say. But that doesn't mean you'll ever have to break the law, or do anything unsafe.'

Sasha was now more confused than she was angry. 'What? How does that even work then? How are you going to get me to be seen by that many people, in a legally acceptable way?'

Alex held up her phone and waggled it. 'Don't worry, we've already got a list of ideas. Suggestions are always welcome though.'

Sasha felt a migraine coming on. 'So sorry, just to summarise, you want to embarrass me by making one hundred and twenty-'

'One hundred and twenty four.'

'Ok, one hundred and twenty four people see me naked, and you promise that you won't get me to break any laws, or be identified and reported to work, or have my reputation affected in any way at all? That is what you're saying?'

'Yes, exactly. And all you have to do is follow our instructions, down to the letter. And sign this' Katie tapped the sheet of paper.

Sasha reeled back in her chair, shaking her head in exasperation. 'Guys, what the hell is this? Of course my answer is no.'

*****

The rest of the afternoon passed without incident, which was entirely down to the fact that upon her refusal Katie and Alex immediately gave Sasha the silent treatment. As in they quite literally, for the next day and a half, refused to say a single word to their flatmate, no matter how much she pleaded. She tried to give them alternative punishment suggestions that she was willing to carry out, she ordered their favourite Indian food in an attempt to get them to talk to her, but to no avail. Eventually Sasha gave up, took their stupid contract from the table and angrily crumpled it between her hands, then retired to bed, pissed off with her friends but sure that they would have grown up by the morning. But Sunday came and yet offered no respite as still Alex and Katie acted as if Sasha did not exist. Even when she angrily waved her hands in their faces they would just stare through her, as if she were a ghost. Sasha decided that they were both being totally unreasonable and that frankly they could go to hell, so she stubbornly spent the rest of the day locked in her room, typing away on her bed as she tried to get ahead on next week's deadline. However, as she tried to focus on her task she could almost feel the silence in the flat beginning to suffocate her, and all her guilt was really starting to weigh heavily on her conscience.

'Oh, fuck it...'

Unable to focus anymore she chucked her laptop to the side in frustration and stomped over to her desk, muttering irritably under her breath at the ridiculousness of her current dilemma. She fished out the scrunched ball of paper, from her little bin where she'd chucked it yesterday, then smoothed it out as best she could and briefly scanned over the handwritten text. Obviously as a legal document it read as a complete joke, and was not contractually binding in the slightest, but for her friends it seemed to be an important symbol of her dedication to honour their twisted agreement. She'd be agreeing to following their orders, without questioning them, until they'd hit their weird target.

Could she really commit to this? And what even was this, exactly? Even though she understood in practice what her friends wanted from her, she was still absolutely clueless as to how they intended to execute their scheme. All she did know was that she couldn't stand being alone any longer, and if signing a pretend contract was what it took for life to start going back to normal, then she was willing to do it and hope that she could deal with whatever lay in store for her. Sasha glanced at her watch and picked up her fountain pen to write in the date, July the fifteenth. All she had to do was hope that her friends were merciful for the next thirty days, and then all of this would be over and everything would be ok once more. With a resigned sigh she scribbled her signature on the wonky dotted line provided, then slowly trudged off to the kitchen.

Katie and Alex were sitting on the sofa at the side of their living room, watching a wildlife documentary on the tv. They continued to snub Sasha as she walked in and looked down suspiciously at them, trying to decided whether or not she was really going to do this. Before she could talk herself out of it again she found herself tossing the piece of paper at her friends, and as it landed in Katie's lap Alex reached for the remote and paused their programme. The pair of them studied the contract for a moment, then glanced at each other before bowing their heads sombrely, and turned to look up at Sasha.

'So, we have an agreement.' It wasn't a question from Katie but a statement of fact, one which sent a shiver down Sasha's spine. It was also the first time anyone had spoken to her for nearly thirty hours.

'We do.' Sasha's voice caught in her throat and she coughed to clear it. 'Yes, I'm yours.'

Alex nodded as they all let the moment sink in, and then her phone vibrated and broke the tension. 'Oh perfect...' She angled the screen over to Katie who smiled.

'Oh yeah, that is perfect, the timing couldn't be better.'

Sasha rubbed her shoulder nervously and shifted uneasily from one foot to another. 'What is? What's so perfect?'

Alex grinned at her, a flash of mischief lurking in her eyes. 'I ordered a pizza for us earlier, and the delivery guy is fifteen minutes away. It says our rider is Sergio.'

'Umm, ok?' Sasha didn't understand what was so interesting about that, but clearly the others did.

'You want to share some with us?'

'Umm yeah sure, I still haven't had dinner so that would be nice.'

'Good, good...' Katie smiled knowingly at Alex, then turned back to look her lawyer friend up and down. 'You know what though Sash, how about you have a shower before we eat?'

'What, why - oh...'

*****

Three minutes later Sasha was standing under a stream of steaming hot water, furiously massaging shampoo into her hair as her mind whirled and wrenched with worry. She reached down and began to lather up her legs as she frantically scrubbed every inch of her body, desperately trying to distract herself and not think about what she had just been told to do.

'Fuck you Katie, and fuck you Alex... and you know what fuck you too Jamal, and your stupid fucking stories...' With no parts of her left to clean she rinsed away all the soap suds, turned off the water and stepped carefully onto the bathroom mat, before reaching for a fluffy towel and using it to aggressively scrunch up her hair and dry it out. Once that had stopped dripping everywhere she quickly used it to pat down the rest of her body, then folded the material around her and fastened it over her bust. She got a second towel from the pile on the side and tied up her hair in a wrap, and tested it to make sure it was tight enough.

'And to whoever designed the photo reel share options, fuck you too, make the icons way bigger next time...' There was a knock from outside and she heard Alex calling through the door to say that they'd just buzzed the delivery guy in, and he'd be at their door in less than a minute.

'Yes fine, I'm coming alright..?' Sasha snapped petulantly at her friend, but she knew she couldn't disobey her. After using her fist to wipe away the condensation from the mirror she looked at her reflection staring sadly back at her, and sighed. Yep, she really was going to do this.

'Shit...' Sasha unfastened her towel and slowly opened it out wide, watching its sides peel back to reveal her freshly washed and exfoliated skin. She looked down at the reversed image of her naked body for a moment, then self-consciously brought her hands across her chest again and closed the towel up, wedging the knot in securely. Typically she wasn't a massive prude, well not really... well ok kind of. She definitely didn't need to be, her figure was effectively a blend of the best features from Katie and Alex's, and they were always telling her how she needed to learn to flaunt her body more. But for Sasha nudity was exclusively reserved for getting changed, having a shower, or occasionally having sex, and otherwise there was no good reason to go around with no clothes on. Conversely her roommates would often travel from the bathroom to their rooms without bothering to wear a towel, and sometimes on hot days Alex would walk around the apartment in her underwear, occasionally not even bothering with a bra, but the modest Sasha would never dram of doing anything like that. Today though, that had to change.

'Urgh, why God, why...' She leant against the sink, sulking self-pityingly to herself, until she heard the flat's doorbell ring and knew that her time had come. She got up and waited until she heard Alex unlocking the front door, then after a deep breath she stepped out into the corridor and walked tentatively towards the kitchen, clutching her towel nervously to make sure it was staying tightly fastened. Sure enough there was the delivery guy, passing a pizza box and large bottle of coke over to Alex, and he glanced up and noted Sasha's presence as she entered the room. As the trio had briefly discussed earlier Katie was leaning nonchalantly against the kitchen counter, one hand resting down by her side as the other browsed her phone, and Sasha walked over to her side, as planned, acting like she was getting a glass from the sink. She passed behind Alex who continued chatting cheerfully to the delivery man, as he pulled out a box of chicken wings from his bag.

'Ah perfect, I think that's everything... yep, thanks. Hey, you're allowed to accept tips right?'

The pizza guy was a bit older than them, and with his thick beard and piercing eyes he looked pretty charming, despite the huge motorbike helmet which was obscuring half his head. He nodded and replied in a heavy Spanish accent.

'Ah yes we are, but you don't have-'

Alex smiled at him and interrupted. 'No please, we'd like to. Hey Sash?' She turned to look at her underdressed roommate and gestured down towards her own arms, which were carrying all their food and drink. 'I haven't got any hands left, could you bring over that cash on the side?'

'Yes...' Sasha replied through gritted teeth and picked up the fiver and handful of coins that were on the countertop, then just stood there staring down at them for a second. This was it, her last chance to bail out, her last chance to say no to her friends' ridiculous plan. It was so tempting, all she had to do was run back to her room and get her clothes on again, it would be so simple. But deep down she knew she had to do this, she had to start earning her friend's forgiveness, and the sooner she started then the sooner it would be over. She took one last deep breath and whispered a silent prayer, then with a heavy heart she turned to walk over to the doorway. As she turned Katie surreptitiously reached across with her left hand and firmly pressed the side of Sasha's towel into the edge of the counter, pinning it in place. This meant that as Sasha took her first full stride out towards the delivery guy her towel didn't move with her, but it instead immediately unwrapped and fell away from her body, leaving her standing there with her arms at her side, stranded completely naked in the middle of the kitchen.

'Fuck...' Even though she knew that this had been coming, that this had been the idea all along, the shock and humiliation of suddenly being the only one with no clothes on was still just as violent as it would have been if it had happened accidentally.

'Oh!' Sergio gasped and his eyes widened in astonishment as he was presented with the very unexpected, but not at all unwelcome, sight of this beautiful young woman's body. He felt sorry for her, it seemed to him to have been an unfortunate mishap, but he wasn't such a gentleman that he was going to look away, after all she was very attractive indeed. Instead he stared unashamedly as Sasha cringed in shame at her only covering being unceremoniously ripped away from her, and she instantly collapsed into a tight ball, dropping the money and covering her boobs with both her arms as she hid behind her knees.

'Oh Sash, careful!' Katie looked down at her in feigned surprise, as did Alex.

'Ah no, Sash, your towel!

Sasha awkwardly looked back, still balancing unstably on her heels, then spun one-eighty degrees and stumbled desperately over to the towel, giving Sergio and Alex a great view of her bare behind. She reached out and panickily pulled the material into her chest, then seemed to realise that her butt was hanging out, and instead swivelled round to face the door again. She was trying her best to stay covered up, holding the towel lengthways as it hung down from her neckline, and using the other hand to keep it in place over her stomach and genitals.