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 ï>¿Karen Shows Off Her Birthday Suit by LuckyDave1066

   With her date called off, her clothes start coming off too!

   Less than an hour into another long overnight shift at her convenience
store job, Alexa was already bored.  She'd forgotten to put the novel she
had started reading earlier in the day in her tote bag, leaving her only a
few day-old newspapers available to fend off boredom.  Keeping herself from
getting too bored was increasingly important now that some of the tenants
in the adjacent shopping center had re-opened as pandemic restrictions were
gradually being scaled back; she could only imagine what the various
shopkeepers and their customers would say about some of the things she'd
gotten up to out in their parking lot over the last year or so!

   The sound of the door chime promised, if not excitement, at least
another person to briefly break up the monotony.  She looked up to see who
was coming in; would it be college students looking to buy some beer before
the 11PM closing time the state had temporarily imposed on bars during the
pandemic, the occasional fellow night shift worker filling a thermos with
coffee on their way to work, or a frazzled parent hunting for a few diapers
at the only place in the neighborhood still open?

   "None of the above," Alexa whispered to herself, studying the shapely
woman entering the store.  Alexa was sure the newcomer was easily the best
dressed person to show up during her shift, and seemed likely to hold on to
the title until her 6 AM quitting time.  She was dressed for a big night
out, not a typical look at this store; a white silk blouse just sheer
enough to see a hint of a dark colored bra, a semi-short dark gray pencil
skirt, stockings, and shiny pale gray heels.

   The customer herself looked somewhat familiar, but with much of the
stylish customer's face covered by a gray mask, Alexa couldn't quite place
her.  Judging by the look on her face, the newcomer was having the same
problem, eyeing Alexa with a quizzical look as she approached the counter.
As Karen came within a few feet of her, Alexa finally worked out where she
knew the buxom brunette from.  Alexa smiled and had just opened her mouth
to offer a greeting when Karen beat her to the punch.

   "Please, don't say you don't recognize me because I'm wearing clothes,"
Karen said.

   "Wasn't going to, I was going to say your hair looks better than the
last time you were here!" Alexa replied, "Though the clothes do make a big
difference; nice outfit, by the way."

   "Yeah, thanks.  This is what my hair usually looks like when I'm not out
in a downpour like I was that night."

   "So, what brings you in tonight?  Visiting the scene of the crime?"

   "I was supposed to be meeting my boyfriend to celebrate my birthday at
the little restaurant down at the end of the shopping center.  The asshole
not only didn't show up, he broke up with me in a text.  On my freaking
birthday!  Technically he didn't break up with me, he just told me he
couldn't go out tonight because of something he needed to do with his wife.
His not-ex but current wife, whose existence was news to me until that
moment."

   "Ouch.  What did you do?" asked Alexa.

   "I had a second glass of wine and ordered dinner.  When I finished I
called him on his landline I had looked up when we started dating.  Wifey
answered, but I resisted the urge to bust him and asked for some other guy.
I'm guessing she gets a lot of wrong number calls and hang-ups."

   "Sounds like you made the best of it; what can I do for you?" Alexa
asked as she headed to the refrigerated beer and wine case.  She returned
carrying a 4 pack of champagne splits and offered Karen one, telling her,
"It's better than you'd expect to find in a place like this, and we should
celebrate your birthday!"

   Karen looked at the small bottle doubtfully, then shrugged, pulled down
her mask, twisted off the cap, and held the bottle out towards Alexa, who
opened her bottle, tapped it against Karen's, and wished the middle-aged
brunette a happy birthday.

   After taking a long swig of champagne, Karen asked, "Um, well, this may
sound weird, but I've been curious about whether or not there's really a
photo of me in the nude on display somewhere in this place?"

   "Nope!" Alexa replied.  Sure she was seeing surprise mixed with
disappointment on Karen's face she continued, "There are actually two shots
of you on the back of the counter, yours are right next to the one of me."

   "Mine are next to yours?  You didn't say either one of the two photos
you showed me was of you!  Which one are you in?"

   "I don't know why I told you the picture of me was of Lexie, just a
little embarrassed I guess."

   "So, is Lexie even an actual person?" demanded Karen, "You told me a lot
about her during my other visit."

   "No.  And yes, sort of.  If you were to ask almost anyone who's known me
for long about my personality, they'd tell you I'm pretty straight-laced,
level-headed, responsible, not the sort of person who takes chances or
breaks rules," Alexa replied, "definitely not someone you'd expect to not
only have a picture of herself stark naked on display where she works but
likes it being there!  Lately, I've gotten in touch with another whole side
of myself, and I've taken to calling that girl Lexie like she's a different
person entirely."

   "Wow.  Lots to unpack there," said Karen, "Honestly, I was hoping you
might introduce me to Lexie sometime to compare notes.  I've been trying to
make sense of some of what I did and felt that night, and based on what you
told me she sounded like someone who might understand what I had going on."

   "Well, consider yourself introduced," Alexa laughed, "what do you want
to know?"

   Karen asked Alexa, and maybe Lexie, a whole list of questions;

   "How did you get started?"

   Alexa told Karen about the New Year's Eve adventure.

   "How many times have you been nude in public?"

   Alexa had to think a bit before admitting to 7 times.

   "Have you ever been seen by anyone?"

   Karen was surprised to hear that she'd been seen naked every time but
one.

   "Was being seen accidental or intentional?"

   "Strictly speaking, more accidental than intentional," Alexa answered,
"but usually so likely to happen it might as well have been intentional. 
Or maybe was, it's hard to say."

   Finally, Karen asked the question she most wanted an answer to; "How
does being seen while nude make you feel?"

   "Fucking AWESOME!," Alexa replied, "I mean, scared and embarrassed as
hell at first and a little bit ashamed, but that fades and is followed by a
sort of high, practically an out-of-body experience."

   Almost as soon as she'd answered Karen's final question, Alexa shifted
the conversation, asking, "how about you?  Same questions..."

   Karen hadn't expected to be put on the spot this way but knew it was
only fair after Alexa had opened up to her, so she willingly answered.

   "How did I get started?  On vacation, drying off after a shower.  I
didn't know anyone could see me at first, but by the time I took the towel
off I knew someone was watching."

   "How many times have I been nude in public?  I guess four or five times,
but during several of those I was just topless, and in a clothing-optional
part of the resort I was staying at, so I'm not sure they count.  A couple
of times were completely accidental, too, or at least began that way."

   Was being seen accidental or intentional?  "Accidental, except for one
time at the resort when I thought I was stripping for one man, some
distance away, as a kind of thank you for something kind he did for me.  I
found out a little late that I had a larger audience, a few dozen people.

   "How does it make me feel?  Like you, scared and embarrassed, too much
so to feel any kind of high, but despite feeling incredibly vulnerable, I
do get very excited.  I've never deliberately stripped naked just for the
hell of it, right in front of some stranger, the way you've done, so I
can't say how that would feel, at least not yet."

   "So it sounds like more people may have seen you naked than have seen
me!" Alexa laughed.

   Maybe so, but that night I came in here you acted like my being nude was
no big deal, while I was shaking like a leaf in a windstorm."

   "Well, I was completely dressed, even before adding this stylish uniform
apron, while you were as naked as naked gets," Alexa replied, "I had it
much easier than you that night!"

   Both women laughed, then fell silent for a minute, quietly sipping their
champagne.

   Karen broke the silence, looking at her almost empty bottle as she said,
"This is actually pretty tasty, but probably not a good idea."

   "Why not?  If you're worried about driving, just hang out here with me
until you're okay to drive."

   "Thanks, but that's not what I'm afraid of," Karen replied.

   "What's got you worried?  I mean, it's Friday night, your birthday,
what's the worst that could happen?"

   "Based on past experience, having a relationship go up in flames and
responding by letting myself get a little buzz on is exactly the recipe for
me to do something foolish," Karen admitted.

   "Foolish, like flashing someone?" Alexa asked, "Cool!  If you're afraid
you're going to get out of control, just flash me something and get it out
of your system!"

   "Does it even count if the person being flashed knows what's coming? 
Seems contrary to the concept."

   "You could always go outside and wing it, then I wouldn't be expecting
anything in particular," Alexa replied as she dropped her bottle into a
recycling bin, "and any random spectators would REALLY be surprised!"

   "Spectators?  Ohhh, this sounds like a bad idea already!" Karen said,
trembling slightly.

   "I didn't mean to freak you out; the restaurant is the only business
besides this place in the entire center open past 9:00, and they're always
gone by 10:30 or so.  The last bus passes by around 10:45 and the handful
of college students coming in to get beer before we have to stop selling it
at 11:00 are in and out by 11:10.  After that, traffic passing by is pretty
light, so..." Alexa said as the door chime interrupted her.

   Karen jumped slightly, imagining being surprised while improvising some
sort of exposure out among the gas pumps or farther out in the parking lot.
She had already begun thinking what she could do, and how far she might be
able to go; now she shivered as she imagined all the options she'd come up
with combined with the added variable of random spectators!  As Alexa had
predicted, every one of the steady stream of customers suddenly appearing
right at 10:50 was carrying at least a twelve-pack of some sort of beer,
hard lemonade, hard seltzer, or wine.  By 11:05 the rush was over, ending
as abruptly as it had begun.

   Coming back out from behind the counter, Alexa said, "As I was about to
say, after all the people making a last-minute beer run have left, I hardly
see anyone until the early bird commuters start coming in, around 6:00. 
Customers between 11:30 and 5:30 are few and far between."

   "Few?" Karen asked, "How few?"

   "I can usually count them on one hand," Alexa replied, handing Karen
another small bottle of champagne, "Here, I can't sell half of a
four-pack."

   "Usually, but not always?" Karen asked as she twisted off the new
bottle's cap.

   "Not always," admitted Alexa.

   "How often would you say.." Karen said before Alexa cut her off.

   "I don't know what to tell you, most nights you could hang out there for
an hour or three and never see anyone go by.  Once in a while, it gets a
little busier.  There's no way to predict it.  Personally, I think the
uncertainty is half the fun."

   "Like I said before, almost all of my experiences with being caught
naked have been accidental, actually thinking about risking it on purpose
still scares me.  A lot!"

   Alexa smiled, saying, "You didn't look scared that other time you were
here when you stripped out of your t-shirt and threw it away!"

   "You saw that?" Karen said, blushing, "I thought the pump was blocking
your view!"

   "The canopy has a camera above each pump.  I wasn't paying attention
until you showed up inside, but after you left I replayed your whole visit.
Sadly, the system records over the previous day's recording, so your
performance is lost."

   "You say sadly, I say fortunately, though I do kind of wish I could have
seen it." Karen replied, taking a long sip of champagne, "to be fair,
between being ridiculously tiny and all but transparent when wet, that
shirt was worse than no shirt at all."

   "If you'd like to give the security camera experience another try, the
cameras are always ready!" Alexa laughed.

   "Not sure about that, it looks pretty damn bright under the canopy, but
I might possibly be able to do something out in the darker part of the
parking lot," Karen replied.  She walked over to the door and peered out,
looking for any sign of life.  After at least 5 minutes of monitoring the
quiet road and parking lot while chatting with Alexa, she opened her purse
and rummaged around, eventually finding her spare keyfob.  She took out the
single key and closed the purse, then asked Alexa, "Could you take care of
this for a few minutes?  And let me have a shopping bag?"

   "Sure," Alexa said, handing her a plastic bag, "do you want me to take
care of that, too?" she asked, pointing at Karen's half-filled bottle.

   "Nope!" said Karen as she downed the remaining champagne and dropped the
empty bottle in the recycling bin.  She pushed the door open and stepped
outside, saying, "Wish me luck!"

   Karen strode quickly through the gas pumps, glancing up once or twice at
the canopy; sure enough, there were a whole lot of cameras recording every
inch of the area below.  "Something to remember when I come back," she
thought.  Her destination now was her ratty pickup, the only vehicle in
sight, right out in front of the restaurant where she'd parked a couple of
hours earlier.  Well clear of the bright and camera-covered canopy now, she
was soon nearly one-quarter of the way to her truck.  "Time to see what I
can do," she thought, and stopped where she was, turned to face her only
spectator back at the store, and unfastened about half of the buttons on
her blouse.  Her hands shook a little, but she didn't hesitate, telling
herself, A little bra showing, no big deal."

   Since the reason she opened her blouse was to make removing her bra a
little easier, her calm began to fail her as she reached behind her back
and unhooked the band, and she shivered in earnest when she had worked both
shoulder straps down her sleeves and over her hands.  She took a deep
breath and gave a tug to the last part of the lacy maroon bra still in
contact with her body; the cups slipped off her breasts and she pulled it
out.  She glanced down and saw a whole lot of cleavage, and quickly
refastened two buttons, then had another look and decided she could stand
to undo one after all.  She dropped her bra into her shopping bag and began
walking towards her truck again.

   As she approached what seemed like the halfway point of her journey,
Karen slowed her pace, wondering if she could really go through with what
she had loosely planned for this spot, let alone the steadily more
unsettling ideas she had in mind for the last few stops.  When she reached
the point she estimated to be halfway between her two available places of
refuge, she paused and took a good look around.  Finding herself thoroughly
alone, she decided to stick to her plan.

   Reaching behind her waist, she unhooked her skirt, and grasped the
zipper's pull.  Despite a persistent trembling in her hands she quickly
pulled the zipper down as far as it could go, feeling the snug skirt
loosen. She let the waistband go, then let go of the pull; with her skirt
now held up only by what little friction existed between her skirt and
blouse, she gave the skirt a slight tug.  The skirt slid easily down her
stocking-clad legs; she stepped out of the pool of fabric at her feet,
smoothed out the newly freed tails of her blouse, retrieved the skirt from
the dusty pavement, folded it, and put it in her bag.

   Curious about what her somewhat diminished outfit must look like, Karen
made a detour to the sidewalk of the shopping center, looking for a window
to see a reflection of her current look.  She found a doorway with a light
shining down right in front of it, allowing her a good view of her current
look.  The blouse turned out to be nearly long enough to look like
something an adventurous woman might wear to a club, but the stockings,
with their exposed tops and straps hooked up to a garter belt made it clear
that she was in fact only partially dressed.  It occurred to her that she
might actually look less scandalous without the stockings, and definitely
less so without her garter belt and its dangling straps.

   A bench in front of the closed grocery store gave Karen a comfortable
spot to ditch the stockings.  She bent down and unhooked the straps on her
heels and stepped out of them.  She unhooked each strap on the garter belt
and pulled it down past her butt, allowing it to settle on the sidewalk
next to her heels.  She sat down and began sliding the stockings down her
thighs.  She peeled her stockings off the way she imagined a stripper would
do; she enjoyed the fantasy, taking her time rolling them off, imagining
herself performing on a stage in a crowded club instead of at a deserted
shopping center.

   After a minute or two to enjoy her unexpected stripper fantasy, she
decided she should move on.  She put her garter belt and stockings in her
bag, amused and a little bit shaken to think that more of her outfit was
now in the bag than was left on her body.  She got her heels strapped on
and headed for a spot she estimated was roughly three-quarters of the way
along her route from the store to her truck.

   Despite now wearing a lot less than she'd started out in, Karen was
feeling more comfortable than when she began this slow-motion striptease.
Although looking pretty outrageous, she wasn't actually showing much more
than some cleavage and a bit of leg.  "Okay, maybe a lot of cleavage and
definitely a lot of leg," she whispered to herself, "but I'm not showing
anything you can't see in a PG movie." Reaching her chosen location, she
set her bag down on the pavement.  She began to get nervous again as she
slid her hands under the hem of her blouse and found the waistband of her
panties.

   Though the tails of her blouse were long enough to cover her ass and
pussy, reducing her outfit to one slightly sheer blouse seemed a bit
reckless; "and exciting," she said out loud.  "So fucking exciting!" She
paused, then pulled the lacy maroon panties slowly down, holding on to them
until the tiny garment was well below the tails of her blouse, then letting
go.  Once the panties settled at her ankles, she kicked the skimpy piece of
lace off her feet and placed it in her bag with practically everything else
she'd worn to her dinner date a few hours ago.

   More than a little amazed that she was now strolling about in public
wearing only a mostly unbuttoned blouse, Karen headed for her truck,
planning on driving it to the store, where she'd get dressed.  When she
reached her truck she was still debating whether or not to give the cameras
at the gas pumps, and therefore Alexa, a quick boob flash on her way into
the store.  She tossed her bag full of discarded clothing onto the
passenger seat, climbed in, and started it up.  She pulled out of her
parking space and turned around to head to the convenience store.  She only
went a few car lengths before stopping.

   Despite being just one piece of clothing away from being completely
naked in a decidedly inappropriate place, she couldn't shake the feeling
that she had stopped too soon.  Going any further would mean being naked in
public, a scary proposition even if nobody else was there to see her.  The
problem was, her current look just didn't seem all that daring, more PG-13
than she was feeling.  Looking herself over as well as she could while
sitting in the driver's seat, it occurred to her that she hadn't been
nearly as daring as she could have been; she thought nothing of showing
more skin every time she went to a beach, even when wearing her coverup! 
"Hell, I've probably been more exposed than this at some office picnics,"
she grumbled.  Despite all she'd already done, she felt like she wasn't
exactly acting like she was committed.

   But oh, the alternative to stopping now!  To go there by her own choice,
she just wasn't sure she could do it, however much she wanted to.  After at
least five minutes quietly thinking in the privacy of the cab of her
run-down pickup, she began talking to herself, saying, "I guess I do want
to try, if only to find out if I can do something this scary.  There may be
a big gap between what I want to do and what I'm capable of, but I'll never
know if I don't at least try." Her left hand was gripping the door handle
already, as if it had known all along that she would be getting out here.
She pulled the handle but didn't get out right away, pausing a moment to
consult the small mirror on her visor.  Checking this mirror was usually
about whether her makeup was okay; this time she was looking herself in the
eye as if to confirm she was up for this challenge.

   Karen opened the door and stepped out, closing the door gently behind
her, as if a loud slam might draw unwanted attention.  She walked slowly
around her truck, studying her surroundings one more time.  She belatedly
realized that with her previous focus on her truck and the shopping center
she'd completely ignored the apartment building across the road from this
part of the parking lot!  Half the three-story building's windows facing
the street had lights on.  "Okay, this has got to be a deal breaker,
doesn't it?" she asked herself nervously.  She stopped and leaned against
the side of her truck, studying the building.  "Karen, you can not
seriously be thinking of stripping right here.  Can you?" she whispered to
herself.

   Karen noted that there were no doors facing the street, or more
importantly, facing her.  There was also no parking lot in sight, so she
guessed cars and their occupants all came and went on the opposite side of
the building.  She saw most of the windows had curtains drawn, though a few
had blinds raised.  The important question was whether or not people living
there would be likely to bother looking out at a usually empty parking lot
and darkened storefronts.  "Why would they?  It's not like they'll be
expecting to see a naked woman wandering around out here..." she said
quietly, "I think it's okay." Her calm decision to continue was in sharp
contrast to her shaky voice.

   Karen took a few wobbly steps away from the truck to avoid being tempted
to hop back inside too quickly, then unfastened the three buttons holding
her blouse mostly closed.  She pulled the front wide open, exposing her
breasts and pussy for the first time tonight.  She felt her pulse racing as
she pulled her left hand out of its sleeve, then somehow go even higher
when her uncovered left hand pulled the blouse off her shoulder, down her
arm, and finally off her right hand, removing the last bit of fabric from
her body.  "Holy crap, I really fucking did it!  I'm naked!" she whispered
to herself.  She raised her hands high and twirled around a few times in
celebration.  She strutted back to the truck, opened the door and paused,
trying to decide whether to put the blouse inside and get in herself, or
put the blouse in and stay outside for a while.  She stuffed the blouse in
the bag with the rest of her date night outfit but didn't get into the
truck.

   Karen continued warily looking around as she considered her options;
call it a night and get dressed, or maybe just hang out for a few minutes
and enjoy the warm breeze, or get in the truck and drive home this way? 
All her choices seemed insignificant when compared to the one she couldn't
get out of her mind.  Ever since she'd set out from the convenience store,
she'd been unable to get the idea of making the return trip on foot and in
the nude out of her thoughts.  For a long time she doubted it would be
possible, since she didn't expect to have the nerve to get naked at all. 
The moment she stripped off her blouse, her fantasy of risking the long
walk all the way back with no way at all to cover up suddenly if the need
arose seemed like a possibility.  As much as the idea excited her, she was
sure she'd quit before she got far; even if distant, the sound of a car
starting, a door slamming, a dog barking, any sound at all to remind her
there were other people in the world would doubtless send her scampering
back to her truck and her bag full of clothes.

   Karen decided to quit while she was ahead, or at least unseen by the
much worried about, so far theoretical random voyeur.  She opened the
truck's door and took a last look at the scene of her adventure, lingering
as she looked wistfully at the convenience store off in the distance.  She
got in and reached to pull the door shut, then jumped out like something
terrifying was in the truck with her, which in a way was true, but her
fantasy was the thing frightening her, and it was still with her as she
stood next to the open door.  Not giving herself even a few seconds to come
to her senses, she pressed a button on her key fob locking the doors, then
tossed it on the driver's seat, and slammed the door shut!

   Her grimace as the door latched shut slowly morphed into a smile as she
thought, "Okay, definitely committed now!" Even if she'd wanted one, with
her spare key locked inside the truck, she had no other option but to go
back to the store in the nude!  She was glad she hadn't gotten around to
replacing her spare key in its holder below her truck's bed after her
experience being naked in public a few months ago.  "Funny how that night
having the key was critical, while tonight putting it out of reach has made
things more...I'm not sure yet, but definitely exciting!" she said as she
thought about her long trek back to the convenience store.

   Seeing her own reflection in the truck's window before beginning her
long naked hike, she noticed she was still wearing her mask.  She decided
it was kind of silly to wear it while wearing absolutely nothing else above
her ankles, so she left it behind, placing it under a wiper blade like some
kind of parking ticket.

   Keenly aware of how exposed she would be during most of her jaunt, Karen
decided to take advantage of the limited shelter available along the
sidewalk in front of the stores; having a few planters, columns, trash
receptacles, and the bench where she had stripped out of her stockings
available to duck behind if need be seemed like a good idea, so she took
the short detour.  She looked inside the restaurant where she'd had dinner,
trying to imagine what she'd have said if anyone had told her then what
she'd be doing just outside a little bit later.

   She was enjoying the impossible idea of making this same trip, just as
she was, when the restaurant was open, but was startled out of her latest
fantasy by the sound of a car.  It sounded close!  She crouched down behind
a large planter and listened as the sound grew steadily fainter, finally
disappearing entirely.  Her racing pulse during the minute she thought
someone might come close enough to see her was to be expected, but the
wetness she felt beginning was surprising.

   She stood up and continued walking down the sidewalk, passing a few
small shops before coming to one with a recessed entrance and a light at
the ceiling of the alcove.  She couldn't resist pausing to have a look at
her reflection, stepping into the pool of light near the door.  She
shuddered at seeing her naked body even dimly lit; in this light, the pink
color of her areolas was close enough to the color of the breasts
surrounding them to blend in, but the light was more than bright enough to
reveal how stiff her nipples had become.  She brushed them lightly with her
fingertips, causing them to swell even more.  Karen escalated her private
show, squeezing her boobs and tugging at her nipples, aroused by both the
increasingly intense physical sensations and the visual treat reflected in
the glass door.

   Up until a year or so earlier, Karen had never been topless where she
could have been seen by anyone except her ex-husband or one or two serious
boyfriends, and even the members of that small club had never seen her
completely naked out in the open as she was now.  She would have laughed
uproariously if anyone had suggested back then that she would someday not
only choose to be nude in public but also get herself off where she could
be seen; it just wouldn't have seemed possible, yet here she was, naked
outside a dry-cleaning shop, eagerly fondling her boobs, with her left hand
already having traced a line from her upper rib cage, down over her belly.
Her wandering hand was now passing through her thin patch of dark brown
pubes, only moments away from teasing her already wet pussy.

   By the time Karen felt her fingertips lightly graze her soft outer lips
she was breathing hard, and was sure her knees were about to give out.  She
knew she had to stop, and did, reluctantly taking her hand away from her
sex.  She gently cupped her boobs and turned to continue her journey along
the sidewalk.  Less than 20 feet further along her route, she came upon the
bench where she'd had so much fun peeling her stockings off.  She
immediately saw its potential as a place to carry on with the
self-stimulation she'd been indulging in, but hesitated.  Her playing with
herself in the doorway had started almost accidentally, an outgrowth of the
arousal brought on by seeing her reflection.  Deciding to just take a seat
and finger herself seemed somehow dirtier than doing the same thing because
she had just been carried away.

   By the time she reached the bench, Karen's thoughts were a jumble of
conflicting impulses and decades of messages about what a "nice" girl would
or wouldn't do.  She sat down and tried to make sense of how she felt.  On
one hand, she was almost desperate for the satisfaction she had felt
herself heading towards a few minutes earlier, and nobody else was around
to be offended.  On the other hand, a lifetime of trying to be a
respectable daughter, wife, or mother, combined with the dread of what
people, particularly her daughter Brianna, would think if they somehow
found out about her raunchy behavior.

   While trying to decide what to do, Karen was distracted by a purely
technical question, wondering, "Is this bench even long enough for me to
get comfortable on?" She tried to lie down but found the seating area way
too short, and a little too narrow.  She laughed at herself for indulging
in the pointless debate when it seemed that the bench wasn't really
suitable for masturbating anyway.  "Unless," she thought, adjusting her
position as she improvised, "If I slide my butt close to one end so my head
has room at the other end, yeah, that's better.  Then all I need to do is
find a way to get my legs comfortable instead of being all scrunched up. 
Maybe if I let my left leg dangle off the cushion so that foot touches the
ground, yeah, that feels okay, and if I can get my right foot and calf to
drape over the back of the bench, wow, I think that could work!"

   She made a thorough check to confirm that her new position would allow
both of her hands to reach everywhere they would need to, and found that
she was able to reproduce, and even improve on, the feelings she'd been
enjoying in front of the dry-cleaners.  Before committing to an all-out
attempt to have an orgasm she quickly settled her inner debate, deciding
the lack of any witnesses trumped any worries, whispering hoarsely, "If a
nice girl masturbates outside at a shopping center but there's no one there
to see her, is she really being slutty?"

   Quickly progressing beyond the level of excitement she'd reached
earlier, she spread her pussy's outer lips wide with her left hand, and
began running one finger up and down her slick inner lips for a minute,
then added a second finger.  Her right hand kept busy caressing her breasts
and gently tugging on her nipples.  She began softly moaning as she
penetrated deeper with both fingers and started to gently roll the heel of
her hand over her clit.  A few minutes of steadily intensifying pressure
caused soft grunting to join her moaning just before a powerful orgasm
enveloped her.  She writhed on the bench but kept frigging herself, and was
rewarded by a second, less strong but still very enjoyable orgasm flowing
through her.  She basked in a mellow glow, letting her eyes close briefly.

   Karen was startled back into consciousness by the crackle of a police
radio, sounding very close.  She also could make out voices, one male and
one female, separate from the various voices coming from the radio.  She
also recognized the sound of a car idling, presumably a police car.  She
was relieved to see she had pulled both her legs onto the bench while she
had been sleeping; she had to believe the sight of a woman's calf and foot
wearing a high-heeled shoe draped over the back of the bench would have
attracted some attention.  She didn't dare peek over the back of the bench;
the voices sounded close, and she didn't think knowing exactly where the
cops were really would make any difference.  All she could do was hunker
down and wait, and maybe pray that they didn't come close enough to spot
her.

   "I don't know, Jerry," Karen heard the woman say, "There's never anyone
parked in this lot overnight, I think we should look around and check the
doors of the stores."

   Sounding annoyed, the man replied, "Andrea, I've already looked up the
plates, the truck is registered to one Karen Martanon, age 48, birthday
yesterday.  My guess is she had a little too much to drink and got a ride
home.  We've looked in the cab and bed, nothing looked suspicious. 
Besides, we haven't had any alarm activations reported here tonight.  Let's
move on."

   "Can we at least call Ms.  Martanon to verify she's okay?"

   "Sure, Andrea, go ahead.  I just texted you her number."

   "It's ringing," Andrea said moments later.

   "But I won't be answering, since my phone is back at the store." Karen
thought, "I hope that doesn't make them suspicious enough to keep poking
around here!"

   With nothing better to do than try to watch Karen's progress from her
post at the convenience store, Alexa followed her new friend's progress as
well as she could from so far away.  She was fairly sure she had seen Karen
get naked, but had lost track of her since then.  At first, she thought she
might have gone back into her truck, got dressed and fell asleep.  When she
saw the police car pull into the parking lot, park near Karen's truck, and
watched the two cops look inside with flashlights that theory fell apart,
they'd surely have done more than look inside the truck for a minute if
Karen was inside, dressed or naked.  But where was Karen if not in her
truck?  And wherever she was, had she put any clothing on before the police
arrived?

   Alexa almost didn't respond when Karen's phone rang, thinking it none of
her business who was calling her.  Then, thinking perhaps Karen needed help
and had somehow got hold of a phone but didn't know any number to call the
store or Alexa directly.  She scrambled to pull Karen's phone out of her
purse and was shocked to see the number the call was coming from; she'd had
to call police on some late-night drunk or shoplifter often enough that she
recognized the number on Karen's phone as that of a female officer she'd
seen several times, Andrea or Angela something, she thought.  She wasn't
sure she should pick up, but went ahead.

   "Hello?" Alexa answered tentatively.

   "Hello, Ms.  Martanon, this is Officer Andrea Dudzynski with the
Winchester police department.

   "Oh, Hello.  What can I, why are you calling?" Alexa replied.

   "We're just checking in with you to be sure you're okay tonight, since
your truck seems to have been abandoned."

   "They believe I'm her," Alexa thought, suppressing a chuckle.

   "Oh, the truck, yeah," Alexa said, then took a chance on just making
shit up, saying, "I had a little too much wine at dinner and decided taking
an Uber home was in order."

   "Oh, okay then, sorry to have disturbed you so late, Thanks for being
responsible, have a good night."

   "No problem, good night." Alexa signed off, ending the call.  A minute
later she was relieved to see the patrol car move on to deal with whatever
mayhem was happening somewhere else in town.

   Karen was baffled when the female officer seemed to be having a
conversation with someone using her phone, then realized Alexa must have
answered on her behalf.  As soon as the sound of the departing patrol car
had faded, she hopped off the bench and began walking briskly towards the
convenience store.  She covered the 100 yards between the bench and the
door of the convenience store faster than she would have believed possible
in her heels, not breaking stride as she passed Alexa, who was leaning on
the door to hold it open and was clapping loudly, shouting, "Awesome job.
Fucking amazing!"

   The two women told each other their side of Karen's adventure; Alexa was
surprised at all Karen had done, and even more amazed that Karen left out
nothing!  The effect of hearing Karen tell her about her session on the
bench shocked her even more; she felt herself blushing and her pulse racing
as if she was the one who had been stripping and masturbating!

   After a solid 15 minutes of comparing notes, Alexa offered Karen another
single-serve champagne bottle, "To celebrate!"

   Karen shook her head, saying, "Maybe later, first I think it's time for
me to get some clothes on!  Please tell me you sell t-shirts or something I
can wear back to my clothing in the truck?"

   Alexa shook her head, "Sorry, we've got nothing like that at all.  We
used to have uniforms which covered enough to get by, but they got rid of
those and now all we have are these aprons."

   Karen looked at Alexa's apron, a nondescript brown polyester square,
tied around her waist, covering her legs down to about midway between her
knees and ankles.  "Maybe..." she started before Alexa interrupted her.

   "If we tie it on so the top edge was just above your boobs, it might be
long enough to cover your.."

   "Pussy," Karen said, finishing Alexa's sentence, "That still leaves my
butt hanging out, but beggars can't be choosers.  Let's try it."

   In less than a minute Alexa had her apron off and tied it on with a bow
just below Karen's shoulder blades.

   "I know you're eager to get to your truck, but I wouldn't recommend
running, or even jogging in this thing.  The fabric is kind of slippery and
I'm no expert at tying knots."

   "Thanks.  It's better than nothing.  I've had enough nothing for one
night." Karen chuckled.

   Karen pulled her key chain out of her purse and paused briefly to check
out her reflection, turning around to see what this improvised outfit
looked like from all angles.  Always convinced that her ass was her worst
feature, she wished it could have been covered too, but the apron could
only cover so much territory.  She headed outside, weaving her way through
the gas pumps.  Walking slowly and carefully, Karen thought about her
night's adventure.  While she was relieved that the only people who'd come
close to seeing her in the nude, the police, hadn't, she couldn't help
wondering what it would have felt like to intentionally allow herself to be
seen naked.

   "I can't believe I'm feeling disappointed by NOT having some stranger
see me naked.  Why couldn't I have had some less risky mid-life crisis?"
she said to herself, chuckling at her unexpected regret.  Now nearly a
third of the way through the hike back to her truck, she figured if this
strange urge persisted she could always deal with it at some other time and
place.  Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice a change to her
surroundings, a school bus parked on the street next to the parking lot. 
It had arrived when she was in the store talking with Alexa, and without
the engine running or lights on had escaped Karen's notice.  Alerted to
Alexa's presence by one of his passengers, the driver silently gave thanks
that he had picked this particular time and place to pull over and look up
the addresses of the next few passengers he needed to drop off.

   Shortly after she walked by the driveway connecting the street to the
parking lot, Karen couldn't help noticing the bus, as its engine rumbled to
life, its headlights came on and it began to roll.  She focused on it and
seeing several shadowy faces at the windows briefly panicked, afraid she
might have shown her naked ass to a busload of school kids.  It took her a
few more seconds to notice the bus had a paint job no school district would
ever have approved, featuring a scantily clad model and the name of a local
strip club!  She realized she was seeing some kind of party bus, most
likely heading to or from somebody's bachelor party.  A few seconds later
it became obvious that the party had also noticed her, as several windows
slid open, releasing a torrent of howls, cheers, and whistles.

   There was another clue that the howling was focused on her; the bus
pulled into the lot and turned to follow her, creeping along 30 feet or so
behind her at the speed she was walking.  She was tempted to make a run for
her truck, but worried the apron might fall off entirely.  "Besides," she
thought, "they're staying back a fair distance, not crowding me."

   She kept walking towards her truck, feeling her pulse skip a beat or two
when a voice came over a speaker on the bus, saying, "Don't worry, Miss,
nobody is going to bother you.  The guys just wanted to have a closer look,
and I did too.  Nobody will be getting out of the bus, I'm not even going
to open the door; my boss would kill me if I let these guys cause any
trouble."

   Karen felt her heart skip a beat.  She had been wanting to find out what
it would feel like to choose to strip naked in front of some strangers. 
This might be as good an opportunity as she'd ever have.  She decided to
test their willingness to follow her lead, turning to face the bus and
motioning for it to stop.

   It did, keeping its distance.  She turned around and began walking
again, keenly aware that other than the bow Alexa had tied the apron
strings in, seen from behind she was already naked!  She motioned for the
bus to resume following her.  Shivering as she said it, she told herself,
"If they follow my directions one more time, I'm really gonna do it!" She
walked on, looking over her shoulder once to confirm the driver wasn't
trying to sneak closer.  He wasn't.

   Nearing her truck, she turned again to face the bus and motioned one
more time for it to stop.

   It did!

   She gave the driver a smile and a thumbs-up sign.  She was shaking like
crazy but felt strangely calm as she brought her right hand behind her back
to search for the ends of the bow Alexa had tied.  She found one and pulled
on it, separating the two straps.  Her breathing grew ragged as she felt
the apron slowly slipping off her boobs and saw it fall to the ground at
her feet.  She felt like every nerve ending in her body was firing at the
same time, and felt woozy for a moment but kept her balance, smiled, raised
both her arms high in celebration, then took a bow!  The driver flashed the
headlights off and on a few times and she heard at least a dozen men
howling their approval from inside the bus.

   Karen took a couple more bows and blew the occupants of the bus a kiss.
She heard the driver through the speaker, shouting to be heard above the
racket inside the bus, "Lady, you rock!" She worried a bit that all the
noise coming from the bus would draw the attention of the apartment
dwellers across the street, but the raucous cheering, whistling, and
raunchy flattery being shouted to her was exactly what her bruised ego
needed.  A few hours earlier she'd been a jilted middle-aged woman, stood
up and dining alone on her birthday.  She had transformed herself into some
kind of object of desire for a busload of guys, most of them probably close
to her daughter's age!  She wasn't sure what else there was for her to do,
with nothing left to reveal; though she was enjoying basking in the
adulation, and didn't want it to end just yet, she definitely didn't want
this encounter to escalate into actual sex.

   She had a sudden inspiration, and trotted over to the bus driver's
window to make a request.  "Do you think one of your guys would be
interested in helping me get dressed?  It's been a long night and I'm
pretty tired, so having someone help me might be nice.  Just to be clear,
I'm not talking about sex, just a chance to help a gal get back into her
clothes," she asked.

   "Oh, I think we can find you a volunteer," chucked the driver, "I'll
send you your assistant in a minute."

   Karen shuddered as she left the bus and headed for her truck.  She
retrieved her mask and put it on, then opened the door, took her bag of
clothing out, and went back to the truck's tailgate.  The tailgate was
permanently locked in the down position these days, one of many
dysfunctional parts of the 20 year-old vehicle.  Karen didn't really need a
pickup truck, but it had been the only thing of value she'd managed to get
from her ex-husband when they divorced 15 years ago, and it still got her
where she needed to go, so she hung on to it.  Tonight it was about to
serve as the stage for a sort of reverse striptease.

   Karen greeted her assistant, who introduced himself as Kevin; he looked
like he was probably one of the older members of the party, in his
mid-thirties, she guessed.  He was already waiting by the back of the
truck. She ignored the hand he had extended to shake hers, choosing instead
to greet him with a tight hug.  She whispered in his ear, "As I told the
driver, I don't want to have anything like sex here, but it probably
wouldn't even be possible for you to dress me without a certain amount of
contact.  As long as it's not excessive, I promise not to complain!  Do we
understand each other?" He nodded his head and finally returned the hug,
letting one hand rest on her lower back, barely above her ass. 
"Excellent," she said, "Can you give me a hand getting up on the bed?"

   Kevin bent down and locked his fingers together for her to step up.  She
climbed up on the bed and motioned for the driver to bring the bus closer;
he wasted no time, pulling the bus behind her truck, the side of the bus
only a foot or two away from the truck's tailgate.  Kevin joined Karen at
the front of the bed.  She was leaning back against the back of the cab,
holding one high-heeled foot out for Kevin; he was baffled at first,
thinking he was supposed to be putting things ON Karen, not taking them
off. When he saw Karen fish her stockings out of the bag, he understood
what needed to be done, asking, "I get it, shoes off, then stockings on. 
Then shoes back on, right?" Karen smiled and nodded.  He clumsily unbuckled
the shoe and slipped it off, and she offered him her other foot.  He did
far better with the second shoe, cradling her calf as he unbuckled the shoe
and giving both her calf and foot a brief massage before letting the foot
go.

   "Mmmmn, nice,"she murmured.  She shivered slightly as she realized she
hadn't been completely naked before, but now, finally, was.  "It's not like
the shoes were providing any cover, but having the last bit of my outfit
removed by some guy I met about a minute ago, with all his friends so near,
watching me...so intense," she thought.  She handed Kevin her garter belt,
but he clearly had no clue, so she pulled it on herself and handed him one
of her stockings.  He slipped it over her toes, straightened it up, and
slid it up her calf, over her knee, and to its end, most of the way up her
thigh.  It took him a minute to figure out how the straps dangling from the
belt attached to the stocking, but she enjoyed his hands roaming around her
upper thighs as he worked it out.  As with her shoes, he did much better
with his second effort, getting the stocking clipped in place a bit more
quickly, but managed to work in a gentle squeeze of her adjacent ass cheek!

   Karen blushed as he took her panties from her, thinking she couldn't
remember any of the handful of men she'd been with ever helping her get
into her panties; they typically focused on getting them off her as quickly
as possible.  She lifted one foot at a time and felt Kevin working the lacy
maroon panties up her legs, sliding easily over her stockings.  She wasn't
sure at first if the slightly twisted way he pulled the panties up was
accidental or intentional, but the way he went about straightening them at
her pussy left no doubt.  After much more time than necessary to adjust the
garment, he settled the panties in place and pulled his hand away.

   Getting her bra on was less memorable than having her stockings and
panties put on had been, though Kevin did manage to cup her breasts and
massage her nipples through her bra's cups.  Karen would have been fine
with Kevin spending more time on this part of his task, enjoying having him
put her bra on from behind her since this gave her audience first an
unobstructed view of her naked boobs and then the sight of Kevin massaging
them through the lacy fabric.

   Donning her skirt and blouse was less interesting to her audience than
any of the steps leading up to this point, though some gratuitous but
pleasant fondling of her breasts while buttoning up her blouse and
massaging of her ass through her skirt while zipping it up made for a fine
ending to this part of Karen's adventure, both for her dresser and her. 
"Thanks for all your help," Karen said to Kevin, pulling her mask down to
give him a light peck on the cheek.  Turning towards the bus, she added,
"And thank your friends for giving my self-esteem a boost.  Have a good
night!" Kevin helped her down from the tailgate, then climbed aboard the
bus.  The bus pulled away and Karen got into her truck, taking some time to
review the last ten minutes before driving the short distance back to the
convenience store.

   "Wow.  Just wow..." said Alexa when Karen joined her in the store, "You
were too far away for me to see much detail, but it looked like you got
that audience you were wondering about!"

   "I definitely did, somewhere around a dozen very enthusiastic young
men," Karen said, going on to describe the audience participation part of
her adventure to a stunned Alexa.

   Karen was just wrapping up her tale when she heard her phone alert her
to an incoming text.  Seeing the short message, "Call me!" was from her
daughter, she said goodbye to Alexa and went out to her truck to call
Brianna.

   "What's going on, is everything okay?" Karen asked when Brianna
answered.

   "I was going to ask you the same thing, that voicemail you left me when
you were at the restaurant sounded like you were really upset.  I'm sorry I
didn't notice it sooner, I was out with a couple of friends."

   "I was upset then, thanks for checking in, but it's really no big deal,"
Karen replied.  She told Brianna about her latest dating fiasco, then
joked, "And what does your husband think about his wife being out so late?"

   "Andy can't really object, since he only made it home himself a few
minutes ago.  He went out hours ago with a bunch of guys from his office
who were having a bachelor party for his buddy Kevin," Brianna replied. 
Karen was glad this wasn't a video call, so she didn't have to explain the
look of utter panic on her face!

   After a few seconds, she realized Brianna must not have heard about her
naked show for the bachelor party bus, or at least not about the identity
of the unexpected stripper.  She was sure the tone of the conversation
would have been very, very different if Andy had told Brianna even a little
of how her Mom had been spending her Friday night!  "So, did Andy tell you
what they'd been getting up to?" Karen asked, working hard at sounding
nonchalant.

   "Andy was so loaded he needed a couple of his friends just to get him
from the bus they rented for the party to our door.  I had them set him
down on our couch.  Even if he was willing to tell me about his big night
out, I doubt he'd be able to remember much.  His friend Kevin said Andy
passed out so early he missed the highlight of the evening, apparently some
kind of surprise extra stripper."

   "I think I'm happier not knowing what they would consider the highlight
to be," Karen said, breathing a sigh of relief.