Do Over

Her doorbell rang again, she had hoped the person would get the message and go away, but no such luck, her usual fate.  Putting down the pen that had been twirling in her hand she dragged herself out of the chair and trudged over to the door, snapping it open.

‘Avon calling,’ a woman smiled and laughed a tiny giggle as she held up a sample cosmetics case.

The young woman rolled her eyes turned on her heel back to the sofa and flopped into it.

‘I have got the right person, Arlene Compton?’ she asked following her into the condo where all she got was silence which she took for agreement.

‘Wendy Rogers, I could tell by the greeting you expected me but hoped somehow I wouldn’t show, no such luck and now that I’m here I expect no demand your full attention, so off goes the TV and away goes the phone!’ she said hitting the remote and grabbing the phone from her hand.

‘Oh, level 56, quite an accomplishment,’ she added shutting off the device and tossing it on a nearby chair.

‘No offense, I neither want, need or require a self help session from you or anyone else in this organisation since I don’t plan to be here much longer.

‘I see, well that makes my worker simpler and short, still time to enjoy the day.  I’ll be on my way then but only after you tell me why you’ve come to this conclusion,’ Wendy stated as she sat down across from Arlene, neatly and elegantly despositing herself in the chair. 

A long silence began, Wendy looking at Arlene, her lovely hazel eyes never leaving the young women while for her part Arlene looked everywhere but at Wendy.  It soon became apparent to the young woman that this intruder into her life was not going to leave without an answer.  She looked her up and down for the briefest of moments, everything she hated and feared was encapsulated across from her, it only made the time drag further.

‘I just don’t think this is for me, I don’t think I can hack it, it’s too tough and I’m not,’ she said hoping this would do, self blame had always been a reliable out in the past. 

‘If this was a movie then this would be the moment to queue the sad violin music and you’d be bursting into tears, hands in face, I’d accept it and wish you good luck, a pat on the shoulder and I’d be gone.  But since this isn’t a movie, you’ll have to do a fuck of a lot better than that to get me out the door.  You see I have evidence that says the opposite,’ Wendy smiled as she opened the case pulled out her tablet and began reading. 

‘You signed on knowing you’d be put into a rigorous program at exercise, diet and lifestyle change, essentially tearing your down and rebuilding you and your habits.  You finished the program 2 months ahead of schedule.  Sounds to me you knew exactly what you wanted and pushed to do it, so much for the I’m not tough enough BS.  Now as I leaf ahead, well let’s see, excellent in all aspects of first year training until we come to the last item in the program.  Do you want me to continue or do you want to revise your answer?’ Wendy asked.

‘You’re smug and self-assured and everything I despise.  You have no business being like that, it’s like you don’t know your place,’ the young woman answered.

‘And what place would that be?’ Wendy asked in a calm manner further irritating then young woman as she failed to rise to the emotional bait.

‘You’re big and fat, you’re like the ride along friend in a large group, not there because you belong, but because you make the others look that much better.  You’re a court jester, the before photo, the ugly duckling who never becomes the swan like all the other swans in the group,’ she stated flatly and coldly.  ‘Now leave.’

‘Now that’s honestly, but don’t ever transfer you’re feeling of inadequacy to me, you own them, that way you can deal with them. As for the ugly duckling, well I think over my career I’ve done fairly well in the allure department because if I hadn’t I won’t be an agent now would I?’ she ssid her voice calm and cool as she got to her feet.

‘Here take my hands in ours,’ she said.

Wendy got the young woman to her feet with just the slightest of tugs and pulled her close.

‘Now as for the other part, run your hands over me, pinch gently if you like, go on.’

Arlene reluctantly did as requested, her hands swirling up the arms of Wendy.  She felt the hard smoothness of them, she squeezed a little about the biceps and then moved onto the shoulders and neck then swung down her shoulders and back and about her waist the taper of her form impressive to say nothing of exciting.  Arlene was struck by the paradox, she was so hard yet so smooth and soft and ultra feminine. Hands eddied about her ass, firm and full, not a soft spot could see find even at the top of the back of her thighs.  She came back in front up and then down the flat stomach and down her long legs, pressing the material of the skirt against the insane firmness of her thighs, Arlene feeling the sexy sculpted pythons, her hands surfing the peaks and valleys of the toned muscles and she rode her hands down to the wave of skin and around the sexy flow of her calves and onto the conclusion of her legs at her thin ankles, the whole ride a sensual thrill.  That would have been more than enough but when you added in the sensory intake Wendy Rogers was surely sensory overload.  Added to the body were the clothes, make up, hair and accessories to finish the package and make one anyone would love to unwrap.

‘You want to see and feel what’s underneath, don’t you?’ Wendy asked.

‘Sorry what?’ Arlene said here mind swimming around the very question Wendy had just asked her but she hadn’t heard.

‘Exactly, this what makes you and me such deadly weapons, the want of the unknown.  Your eye gets caught, maybe it’s a flash of the leg, maybe the hair, the face, maybe your breasts inside that nice blouse, who knows it’s something and it’s different and alluring so you take a closer look, those legs look great, those thin ankles rising to those exquisitely structured calves and then that skirt blocks the rest.  I wonder what they look, feel like further up, same for those full breasts behind the blouse, if only on more button was open, wonder what kind of bra she’s wearing, do they support themselves, how firm are they?  They all of sudden you’ve acquired the target, you catch them looking at you just one time too many for it to be coincidence, now you want them to lock onto you so you give them what they want, but in a perfectly natural way.  The simple act of taking a seat, could be a bar stool, always a grabber or just a normal chair, you deposit yourself smoothly and elegantly and cross those legs of yours, showing just a hint of thigh, as good as what is below and you have them.  That is just one sample of our power Arlene, there are many more.’

‘Sorry for the comments, obviously stupid and wrong about you,’ Arlene said.

‘But not about you?’ Wendy questioned. ‘Or so you think.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s obvious isn’t it?’ Wendy said walking away, her body moving gracefully her legs dancing lightly in a manner Arlene had to stretch her imagination to its very length to see her doing.

‘Look at those two sacks you’re wearing, one upper, one lower.  Must have pulled those out of the bottom of the drawer where they’d been hiding from your college days when you tried to skate by in oversized clothes hoping they’d mask how really big  you were under them.’

For a second it could have gone either way for Arlene, either fight or flight, she didn’t know which would prevail, but Wendy did.

‘That was me and that was Ivory and Marcia and Cindy and all the others.  The key is that was, not that is.’

Wendy had her in her arms before Arlene even knew it and just let her go, holding her while she cried.

‘Push it out of you Arlene, all of it, I know it’s painful, that’s not you anymore and never will be again,’ she soothed as she held her and patted her back.

When Arlene finally let go she sat down on the couch as did Wendy.

‘Now, no bullshit, nothing goes beyond these walls, tell me what happened.’

Arlene gathered herself and began. ‘They gave us a first assignment, before formal training actually began.  We were all to go to this Upscale Piano Bar/Bistro and see if we could hook up with a guy.  It didn’t have to lead to anything, if you didn’t want it to,’ she added. ‘But just to get a date for the evening and secure a second one.  I bombed out and I was the only one who did!  God, that was humiliating, it still is,’ she added but refusing to cry her face more rueful than crushed.

‘I see, so what do you think went wrong?’ Wendy asked.

‘Everything,’ and then there was a long pause. ‘I never went on a date in High School or my prom and well in college you don’t really go on dates in college, mostly house parties and when I was asked to tag along it was easy to find corners to disappear into or similar girls to hang out with until the thing was over and I could go home.  I guess that’s what I felt like on that night.  I watched all those other girls walk in and stun the room, so I just used them as cover and slunk away and counted the minutes.’

Wendy thought hard before she spoke.  She had never been in this situation.  Yes she was a plus, but she’d been a teen model, yes larger, but still curvy, sexy and confident, her modeling classes and experience giving her those qualities.  She needed very little “toning up” as it is called, so she was a little out of her depth here, but fortunately she was an excellent swimmer.

‘There’s a video of all this!’ Arlene exclaimed as Wendy’s tablet played the night in question.

‘We’re a spy agency my dear, of course there’s a video,’ came the answer. ‘I’m guessing this was a wear from your closet what you think will be appropriate and make the mission successful,’ Wendy added as they watched and Arlene shrank a little more into the cushions.

‘Ok, some observations so far,’ she said pausing the recording. ‘Firstly none of you are dressed appropriately, a few are close.  This girl and this one, for instance are and with a few tweaks would be perfect.  Everyone else is showing far too much far too early in the game except for this girl, who is showing nothing all.  When the instructor said from your closet she didn’t mean your Aunt Mildred’s closet.  I mean what is this thing?  Who wears full length sack decorated with Maple 

leaves?

  If a sudden gust of wind came up, this sail would billow and catapult you up to 78^th Street.  I’d hide in the corner to if I had that on.’

‘Finished,’ was all Arlene said in a snappy tone.

‘One more small scene and that attitude I just heard is what I want more of.’

She played the scene then stopped it.

‘What the fuck!’ she exclaimed.

‘What, it’s a guy going to the washroom, it’s just around the corner,’ she answered back just as excited.

Wendy replayed the scene only this time is slow motion.

‘Look, he visibly slows his gate, see the shorter step, then his head moves just a little up and down, here, he’s checking you out.  Nice suit, nice buns, in shape, better than average looking and he’s checking you out and what do you do, turn away and put your head down, the universal not interested signal, holy fuck girl!’

‘You swear a lot for a person who’s supposed to be refined and sophisticated,’ Arlene fired back.

‘When it’s warranted and it’s something I care about, then yes, I do.  That guy was checking you out, you had the assignment in the bag at this point, all you had to do was smile and he’d have stopped and been over beside you.  Maybe it would have gone somewhere, maybe not, that would have been up to you, but you didn’t even try to get to that point.  This guy could see what I see and he had to see it though that hideous dress and well whatever you call that make up job you didn’t even try to apply.  

He saw a beauty, a stunner that somehow everyone had missed in their rush for the shiny sparkly objects that dazed the eye for a second.  He saw the rare beauty, the lasting deep glow and you blew him off because you didn’t want to give him the chance to do the same to you,’ Wendy said seeing her words hit home.

‘Yes.’

‘You made all this effort,’ Wendy said smacking her on the shoulders. ‘To change your body and your eating habits and that was so hard, but it’s nothing compared to changing was inside here,’ the spy added touching the top of Arlene’s head.  That is the hardest thing to change, but once done you’re unbeatable in whatever you pursue.  Don’t you at least want to find out,’ she said playing the video again. ‘Find out if you could have taken that guy home and given him the night of his life all because you’re confident in yourself?  I know I want to!’