Chapter 3: The Calm Before the Storm

Staring at the dress he had bought for her, Sharon asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Greg answered. He had spent a fortune on the dress after having found her dress size by checking her best fitting outfit in the closet. It had taken him ages to find a dress that she had worn in the recent past.

“It’s rather fancy for dinner at a neighbor’s house,” she said with a frown. She didn’t even wear such a nice dress when they went out to restaurants. She hated when he did things like this. She knew that she’d show up and be overdressed compared to the other women.

Greg smiled and said, “They are rather fancy neighbors.”

“I’m going to look ridiculous,” she said. She knew this was going to be a disaster. Crossing her arms under her breasts, she said, “I’m not going to wear that. It’s too fancy.”

“Then you won’t be going,” Greg said. There was no way that he was showing up with her dressed in her usual attire. The thought sent shudders down his spine.

“All right, what are you wearing?”

“A tuxedo,” he answered pointing to the other hanger in his hand. When Jim had told him that it was formal, he had enough sense to ask what that meant. After the evening spent there, he wasn’t surprised to learn that it meant formal dress for women and tuxedoes for men.

His answer was totally unexpected. She asked, “You are wearing a tuxedo to have dinner at a neighbor’s house?”

“Yes.”

She decided that he was going to surprise her and take her somewhere else. Rather than argue, she grabbed the hanger with the dress on it and headed towards the bedroom to get dressed. Once there, she debated between doing her makeup first and then dressing or dressing first and then doing her makeup. It had been a long time since she had worn a fancy dress.

It wasn’t until the dress was on that she realized just how much it revealed. The straps of her bra and the clasp in the center were clearly visible. She took off her bra and looked down at her chest. She sighed at the sight of how her breasts sagged, but she didn’t have a bra that would go with the outfit. She didn’t even know if they made a bra that would go with that outfit.

The dress settled onto her body once the bra was gone. It was tight around the hips, but loose around her legs. She was surprised at the fit. She hadn’t realized that Greg had known her dress size. She felt along the back and realized that most of her back was bare. She swallowed at the thought of how much the dress must have cost.

After taking care of the Visa bill, Greg went into the bedroom to put on the tuxedo he had rented. His wife was in the bathroom putting on her make up so he didn’t have a chance to see how the dress fit. He was worried that it was the wrong size. Once he was dressed, he went out to the family room to wait for her.

The kids came in and walked past without saying a word. His son did raise an eyebrow, but his daughter ignored him. They returned after a few minutes with cokes. They sat on the couch and immediately went into their standard couch slouch. Greg was tempted to give the usual command to sit up straight, but sat down instead. He said, “How was your day?”

His son looked over at him and asked, “Are you talking to me?”

“Yes. How was your day?”

His son shrugged and, in a surly voice, answered, “Okay.”

“Cathy, how was your day?”

She looked up at him with a frown and shrugged her shoulders. She was curious why he was wearing a tuxedo, but not curious enough to ask. He knew that he wasn’t going to get more information out of her than that. She hadn’t said a word to him in such a long time that he wondered if he would recognize her voice. He tried again and asked, “Is school going all right?”

Both of the kids just shrugged their shoulders. He said, “I guess no news is good news.”

After a while, Harry asked, “When’s dinner?”

“You are on your own tonight,” Greg answered. He fished out his wallet and removed two twenties. He knew it was more than necessary, but they’d ask for more if he gave them less. He handed each a twenty and said, “Have fun.”

The kids looked at the bills and did the sort of mental calculation that all teenagers performed when parents handed out money. Deciding that they couldn’t get away with asking for more, the two kids shrugged their shoulders. Greg was beginning to hate shrugged shoulders.

Sharon came out of the bedroom wearing the dress he had purchased. Looking at her, he couldn’t believe the transformation that she had undergone. The stretch pants, tee-shirt, and lack of make-up had made her look unappealing. The vision standing in front of him was anything but unappealing. Her full length black dress had a plunging neckline and a bare back. It hugged her figure at the places where it should and hung loose where it was appropriate.

Harry looked up and did a double-take when he saw his mother. He said, “Wow, you look great, Mom. Where are you going?”

“Thanks. I don’t know where we’re going. Your father keeps telling me we’re having dinner at the Green’s,” Sharon answered looking over at Greg in irritation.

Cathy sat up straight and looked at her mother. Incredulous, she asked, “You are going over to Robert Green’s house for dinner?”

“Yes,” Greg answered, knowing that she was referring to the son. Sharon was stunned by the sudden interest of her daughter.

“You better put on some jewelry to go with that outfit if you’re eating there,” Cathy said.

Harry nodded his head and said, “Right. It’s a shame that you can’t do anything with your hair.”

“Jewelry?” she asked. She looked over at Harry a little irritated by the hair comment.

“With that black dress, you could wear your silver necklace, some earrings, and maybe a bracelet,” Cathy said. Shaking her head at the shoes, she asked, “Do you have a pair of heels?”

“Heels?” Sharon asked. She had gone through all of her shoes to find something that wasn’t a tennis shoe. She turned to look at Greg and asked, “Are you sure this is some neighbor’s house?”

Harry said, “The Green’s are really famous. I’d give anything to be invited over.”

“You can say that again.”

The fact that the kids were actually interested, amazed Greg. He was used to them ignoring him. The contrast between the conversation before and after learning about their dinner plans couldn’t have been greater.

Sharon asked, “What’s the big deal?”

“It’s like they live in this totally cool world that is all their own,” Cathy said. She knew a few kids who had been over for a visit. They talked about how much respect the parents showed their visitors. One could talk about anything so long as it wasn’t gossip. Shrugging her shoulders, she added, “It’s very adult.”

Nodding his head in agreement, Harry said, “Boys have to wear suits just to visit. Girls have to wear dresses that go below the knee. No tennis shoes are allowed. People with bad manners are asked to leave. It’s all please and thank you. You address people by Mister, Misses, Miss, and Master. It’s all pretty cool.”

“And you kids would like that?” Sharon asked stunned by the description of the activities there.

“You bet,” Harry said. He would give anything to be taken seriously by an adult for an evening.

Greg said, “I was at their house when Master Johnson and Miss Ables visited. They appeared to have a very good time.”

Harry nodded his head and said, “Hal sure was surprised that his parents gave him permission to have a drink there. I didn’t realize that you were the Mr. Anders he mentioned. I did hear that you weren’t wearing a suit. I’m surprised that they invited you back.”

“Amy is over there all the time. She’s going steady with Robert,” Cathy said. She still hadn’t gotten over the fact that Amy and Robert were going together. Her voice took on a dreamy tone when she said, “He’s a real hunk.”

Sharon stared at her kids unable to believe what she was hearing. She wondered what Cathy meant by so adult. She wondered what Harry meant by a drink. Worried, she looked over at Greg hoping for an explanation.

Greg missed her look and responded to what Harry had said, “It was a last minute invitation.”

“Ah, that explains it,” Harry said with a knowing nod.

In an action that was totally out of character, Cathy got off of the couch and took her mother’s hand. After looking over her, she said, “Let’s go see what we can do about fixing you up a little more.”

On the way to the bedroom, Cathy went into her room for a minute. She met up with her mother who was staring at the jewelry box as if it was the first time she had seen it. Cathy said, “Catch.”

Sharon turned around in time to catch a small piece of cloth. Once it was in her hands, she realized that it was one of her daughter’s thong panties. Shocked, she said, “I can’t wear this.”

“You better. You’ve got a bad case of panty lines from the granny panties you wear,” Cathy said while sorting through the jewelry. She pulled out a rather substantial silver necklace and held it out for her mother.

“That’s kind of big,” Sharon said. She took the necklace and put it on the bed. Lifting her dress, she took off her regular panties. She untangled the thong panties and stepped into them.

“With that much skin showing, it’ll be perfect. It will accentuate your breasts without looking slutty,” Cathy said. She dug into the box looking for a pair of earrings. She found a perfect pair of earrings and turned to her mother in time to see her struggling with the thong panties. She didn’t want to laugh, but it was hard not to laugh when her mother jumped when the thin cloth settled into the crack of her ass.

After adjusting the dress, Sharon blushed when she said, “There’s not much material to these panties. They are kind of uncomfortable.”