Bob Hinshelwood's Other Writing
Being Followed
She liked to wear leather trousers because it made men look when she walked down the street. She would sometimes smile at them and they usually smiled back. Of course her fantasy was to walk down the street stark naked and to see what smiles she got then. She never made that real. Until one day….
She was called Bett (short for Bethania) and one day she had been walking home from work, this time soberly dressed, and she had a distinct sense of being followed. She stopped and half turned to watch who passed. The street was quite crowded, the shops were still open. A number of people passed as she stood aside. One was a nice-looking young man in a grey polo-neck sweater with a physique that looked muscular. She hoped it might have been him who had given her that sense. He did not look as he passed her.
Cheekily, because she had a cheeky personality, she decided to follow him. And she kept only half-a-dozen paces behind. She didn’t mind if he noticed. After a short distance he stopped in front of a lingerie shop as if looking for something to buy. She stopped beside him. He said, without looking at her, “Are you looking for something nice?” His skin was black, and the whites of his eyes shone with interest. His name was Obi.
She did not tell him she was standing next to something nice. Instead, “Will you buy me something,” she cheekily grinned.
“That’s what my girlfriend said,” he replied, also with a grin, but not looking at her.
“Oh, you’ve got a girlfriend? Lucky girl,” she said admiringly. “Go on, buy me something, too.” And she put out her hand to hold his arm by the elbow. The wool of the sweater felt good quality. He gently pulled his arm away.
Then he turned to her. “Buy you something? OK. But only if you take off your blouse and show me your bra,” He smiled challengingly at her.
She retorted immediately, “I don’t have one on.”
“All the better,” he chuckled. So she undid the buttons of her blouse and flashed her naked breasts at him quickly. She slowly did up the buttons. Looking down at them as if indifferent to his reaction. “I said, take it off.”
“But,” she replied quickly, “only to show you my bra. You will have to buy me one first.” They both laughed, enjoying the moment. But. it was exactly at that moment the girlfriend turned up. “Trouble,” he muttered inaudibly to Bett.
She was frowning and looked cross. Her name was Eesha (but she preferred to be called Esther). “I saw that.” They were all silent and serious.
Bett said, “He’s going to buy me a bra.”
Obi was uncomfortable but tried to be casual, “It was just a joke, Esther, sweetie.”
“What,” Bett spluttered, “a joke?” She imitated Esther’s frown and tried to look cross. “After what I’ve just done for you.” But she couldn’t keep her frown going and burst into laughter. They both laughed. Esther was speechless her brown skin puckering round her mouth and her large and beautiful eyes raging fire. He put his hands on her shoulder and drew her forwards to kiss her on the lips. She did not resist, but the expression on her face had not changed. She did not know whether to sweep grandly away never to speak to him again, or whether to march him into the shop as if he were a possession. Bett stood outside the window watching Obi chose a bra, and Esther going to the privacy of the fitting room to tried it on.
When they came out, Bett was nowhere to be seen.
As they walked away, Bett hid in the shop next door pretending to buy their bakeries but watching the couple through the window and amongst the croissants. Cautiously, she emerged and began to follow, at a discrete distance. Nevertheless, Obi glanced behind occasional. Eventually, she waved at him – finding him irresistible. He stopped, and Esther looked too. Esther then pulsed him away by the hand. But instead he began to saunter back. As he did so, Bett prepared herself, and when a few yards away she wrenched her clothing and flashed her breasts again. Passers-by stared. He put out his hand to touch one of the offered fruits. She put up her face and pouted her lips for a kiss. As he obliged by pressing his lips to hers, her breasts pressed against his clothing which felt rough but soft and welcoming. At that moment Esther, walloped him from behind with the bag of brassieres she had been swing by her side. It caught him on the back of the head and his mouth crashed into Bett’s face. They both turned to stare at Esther who said, sarcastically, “Oh, sorry!”
They looked like a dramatic trio on stage, as Obi put his arm around Bett’s waist, Her naked headlights shone at Esther and the ugliest spite raging in her face. Obi had changed sides. Bett looked up at him, and with a sweet smile, said, “Buy me a nice bra too. Make me happy.”
Obi was staring at Esther’s lasering him with hate, and didn’t find it difficult to choose between them, “OK,” he said. And Bett placed her hand on his crutch with a wickedly triumphant look at Esther. The couple then walked back to the lingerie shop. Bett with a proud naked front that had conquered her man, and he with a stirring feeling where her hand was walked back a to the shop. The passers by thought it was some outrageous porn film being made with a concealed camera somewhere.
The two shop assistants were disconcerted with the confrontation with Bett’s demonstrated nudity. One of girls went pink, and the other pale. A customer already there decided to abandon her errand and left the shop quickly. Bett continued to smile calmly. Everyone else’s embarrassment seemed to substitute for any of her own. She almost offered her breasts to the assistants, “Measure me, my dears.” One of the assistants came around the counter with a tape and fumbled. The touch felt gentle and nice to Bett. At the same time. she could feel in her hand that Obi’s interest in her was growing. He was continuously chuckling.
The simpering girl handed Bett a catalogue and pointed out a few more glamorous products. She chose one; the most expensive. The girl asked is she wished to try it on, and pointed to the changing room. Bett started to move in the direction, and said, “Come on,” to Obi. They disappeared, pulling the curtain across. The sop assistants just stood and stared, listening to the noises emanating from the cubicle. Esther was staring through the window and bashing it with her angry fist as if she might smash the unbreakable glass.
When they emerged from behind the curtain, Obi was zipping himself up, and Bett had buttoned her blouse up. She dropped the bra on the counter and said, “No thanks,” and with a knowing look, “I did try it!”