Two Hundred Dollars Ch. 10

Kent had two keys to his own room, but had never thought to give one out to anybody else for safekeeping.

"I can let you in, if you just want to leave it on her bed," Laura said. "Or you can give it to me and I'll do it."

"Sure," Kent nodded. "That's be great. Thank you."

By that time, they had reached the side door of the house, which Kent unlocked and let Laura through.

Kent unzipped his jacket, thankful to find warm air in his face, and followed Laura down the stairs. She fished for the keys in the pocket of her jacket and came out with a small key much like the one Kent had for his own room.

"Here," she said, holding out her hand for the bag.

Kent waited outside Bailey's room, feeling like he'd be intruding if he went past the doorway, and watched Laura set the little black and pink gift bag on the bed.

"There look good?" Laura stepped back.

"Can't miss it."

Laura stepped back again, as if sizing it up. She took another step, then another, and eventually bumped right into Kent, pushing her rear into his groin.

Kent exhaled, biting his lips.

"Oh, Kent," Laura murmured, sounded disappointed.

He slid his arms up under the hem of her jacket, touching her hips, his fingers hooking over the belt of her pants.

"Something wrong?", he wondered.

"I promised. I promised. I promised," Laura sighed, turned around laid her head against his chest, her red beret rubbing against the underside of his chin.

"You promised what?"

"Bailey," Laura slid her hands inside Kent's jacket, around his waist. "No spankings while she's not here."

Kent listened to the irregular pattern of Laura's breathing, knowing what it meant, and feeling her push her body against him. His hands slid down, bracing themselves high on her cheeks.

"Bailey was upset because you pitied her," he whispered. "But you're not pitying her, are you? You're not paying her debt?"

Laura's body lurched against him, a sudden inhalation that sparked a twitch of muscles.

"Oh, god," Laura muttered, her face still hidden against his chest. "If only that were it. If only."

Kent tried several times to formulate a sentence, but couldn't manage it, not with Laura pressing herself against him with such enthusiasm. His hands drifted lower, cupping her cheeks and pulling her in more tightly. When she moaned, he squeezed, sinking his fingertips into the seat of her pants and squeezing the flesh behind.

"Oh," she moaned out one long note, then stopped and pushed him back, disconnecting their bodies.

She put her hands on his chest, holding the lapels of his jacket, looking down at the floor while Kent waited to get some kind of explanation for the conflict that clearly tore at the poor girl.

"If it were just that," she said, a deep breath to combat the stumbling gasps her body preferred right then, "I would let you spank me. Here or there or anywhere. But it's not, and I can't."

Laura took a deep breath again and managed to raise her eyes to meet his, and released her grip on his jacket. She had enough space, by then, to lock Bailey's door behind her back and close it.

"Thank you for the company this afternoon," she said, and bit her lip on any other further words.

"Thank you," Kent said. "I wouldn't have known where to go or... what size to buy... or anything."

Laura thumped him gently on the chest with her fist. Then a second time.

"You have a good afternoon," she said with a gulp. "I'm sure I'll catch up with you soon."

"Maybe Monday," Kent said.

Laura nodded as she turned away. "Maybe Monday," she agreed, giving a longing glance into his room before she padded onward.

Kent watched her pull her phone out of her jacket just before she turned up the stairway.

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Bailey laid down on her bed, waiting for dinner to start, taking a break between conversations with her relatives at the giant feast her parents had laid out in lieu of actual being in town at Thanksgiving. Most of her relations meant to do well by her, but they had a bad habit of looking at her suspiciously and then telling her she needed to eat more.

Like it's any of your goddamn business how skinny I am, she glared in the general direction of the noisy living room where they continued their raucous party. Then, Kent thinks I look fine. Two hundred dollars of 'just fine', as it happens.

She grabbed her phone off her nightstand and checked for text messages. Finding none, she sent one to Laura, "Too many relatives, here. How are you?"

Bailey lay in bed for several minutes before a reply came back.

"Walking home. Nice day."

A trembling came up from inside her belly, one that had nothing to do with hunger. Bailey carefully worded her reply.

"Go any place interesting?"

She impatiently endured another long pause, before: "Don't worry. No playing today."

Bailey took this to mean, because Laura would never commit the word to text, that no spankings had taken place.

"Just bored here. Relatives on my case."

"u still 2 skinny?"

"yep," she replied, and sighed.

A long texting void ensued, and Bailey didn't know how to continue the conversation. She didn't want to talk about her aunts and uncles criticizing her body, as if she didn't do that enough herself, and she couldn't talk to Laura about what had happened with Kent -- mostly because she didn't really know what she and Kent had done and what it meant to either of them.

She set her phone down on her nightstand and stared at the ceiling.

"Bailey," her mother called from downstairs. "Turkey's ready. Come help with the table."

She sighed, preparing herself for another round of 'helpful' relatives doling food onto her plate every time they thought she wasn't looking, and stood up out of her bed.

Her phone binked at her.

Bailey picked it back up and saw the message.

"Surprise for you, though. When you get back. Later. Hugs and Kisses."

She stared at that message for such a long time that her mother had to call her down a second time.

What is Laura up to? I know she won't tell me, but still.

Shaking her head, Bailey left the phone behind and went down to dinner. Maybe she could sit between her two sisters and avoid any food-based familial nagging.

=============================

She endured the ride home on the bus as well as she could -- which came out to mean that she did her best not to grind her teeth in anticipation.

What kind of surprise? What has has Kent done? Why does Laura know about it? What were the two of them doing?

The idea of Kent and Laura sharing some experience in her absence gnawed at her stomach until it ached. She nibbled on the cream cheese laden bagel she'd packed in the early morning hours before saying her goodbyes to her parents.

He didn't spank her. I'm sure of that. Very, very sure.

Then she went around again, her thoughts spiralling back to the same central problem: why do I care whether or not Laura gets spanked?

Bailey acknowledged that their mutually orgasmic session in the shower meant a change in their relationship, but not a very big one. They'd already had orgasms together and she'd already assumed it was no big deal. Other people did friends-with-benefits so often, they'd made an acronym for it.

He needed it and I needed it and that's fine.

She tried to keep her frustrated growl on the inside, but her irritation made for a long ride home.

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Monday morning, Kent nervously checked the time on lecture hall's wall clock. He had a vague idea when Bailey would get back to their apartment, just based on the last bus she'd taken and some vague mentions. The bus should reach the stop nearest their house around eleven in the morning. Give her maybe five minutes to get home if she moved her ass, and then she'd come down the stairs and...

Get your head in the your lecture, he mentally smacked himself. Your education isn't that cheap.

But he couldn't focus. He'd thought about that package, sitting on her bed, all weekend long. Several times, he'd regretted it and wanted to take it back, but he'd always overcome his anxiety. Besides, it would have required calling Laura, making her come over and unlock the door.

And what would you tell her? Kent asked himself. That you wasted her time? Or would you lie and say you meant to give Bailey her present later?

Shaking himself again, he tried to refocus on the lecture. But jarring his thoughts from the gift bag only left his brain loose enough to attach to the next most obvious thing: the contents of the gift bag.

He remembered Bailey in the green skirt. He knew how nicely that went with her skin, her hair... with her entire body, now that he thought about it. Then his mind just started imagining various combinations of the clothes she already owned with the ones he'd bought for her.

Fuck, he closed his eyes and re-opened them with the determination to bear out the last of his lecture, but his eyes caught the wall clock anyway. She should be getting home about...

=============================

Now, Bailey came into the house, I wonder what this surprise will be.

After racking her brain continuously, she'd worked herself around in circles until she'd decided that Kent must have planned something for her. She couldn't imagine what he might plan, given that the whole structure of their relationship hinged upon her deciding when she wanted to be spanked, but how else could he have a "surprise" for her?

He undoubtedly intended to overwhelm her with this surprise at some point in the evening, which meant she had to decide how to react now. Worse yet, despite her impatience, she had several more hours until the two of them would be at home at the same time.

At the very least, she reminded herself as she unlocked her bedroom door, I'll have lectures and a lab to distract myself from wondering.

As she committed herself to focusing on her school work, she opened the door and her brain lurched to a stop, an ephemeral hand constricting her heart and preventing its natural beating as she saw the little black and pink gift bag on her bed.

Oh, my.

She stepped inside the door and shut it quickly behind her. Her oversized backpack full of clean laundry found itself dumped unceremoniously in the corner as she strode across the room and opened the bag. Whatever Kent had got for her, it lay in multiple layers of tissue wrap. She laid the little package out on the bed and found herself suddenly lightheaded.

It's because you stopped breathing.

She inhaled suddenly, as if surfacing from a long stretch of swimming under water.

It's okay, she told herself, gently peeling the tape that held the tissue paper in a tight bundle, you can handle this.

Splaying it out on her bed, she soon discovered a bundle of dark green fabric.

The colour of the skirt, Bailey realized instantly. He meant it to match with the skirt.

She held up the panties first, noting the comfortable width of the crotch and the complete transparency of the entire piece. Nothing at all would be left to his imagination if she wore this. She tested the frailty of fabric in her hands and knew that it would offer absolutely zero protection against a spanking.

Panties really don't help that much anyway, she acknowledge, holding the fabric up to the daylight coming in her window, but this is definitely the thinnest thing ever.

The bra came next and she almost let out a low whistle. Without thinking, she checked the tag to verify he'd picked the right size.

Good of him to get that right, she nodded gratefully, knowing how awkward she would have felt trying to exchange it. And, wow, he stuck with the transparent theme here.

The two pieces obviously constituted a matched set. Styles and fabrics didn't line up that closely by accident.

If I wear this, and he sees me in it, Bailey shivered, I can stop pretending he hasn't seen my breasts. Because they're just going to be there, right in front of him.

She checked her phone, decided she had a few minutes yet before she had to wolf down a lunch, and stripped out of her jacket, blouse and plain white bra.

It's okay. Your chest isn't actually flat. They just say that. You can wear this and it's fine.

She slipped the ridiculous green bra up her arms and over her shoulders, adjusted the underwire and slipped her fingers around her back to do up the strap.

Nice new bra, she thought, In such good condition, I can use the outermost hooks.

Bailey twisted it until it fit nicely, feeling satisfied that her breasts filled the little cups once she got the angles comfortable.

A little bit of push-up action which -- she sighed -- let's face it, is warranted.

With a deep breath, she turned to look at herself in the mirror.

"Yep," she said aloud, her eyes widening as she exhaled, "I'm naked."

Her nipples, small and dark, found no concealment from the fabric of the bra. But with the cool air in the room, they pushed out against the thin fabric.

With a mental shrug, she undid her jeans and switched her panties out, too.

Nothing hidden here either, obviously.

This exposed her more than her white thong did. That pair, by comparison, could only be called translucent. As Bailey looked in the mirror, seeing all the details of the hair between her legs and the cleavage of her lips, she knew that this counted as transparent.

Just because he bought this for me, does it mean I have to wear it for him? That I have to show him everything all at once?

She turned herself side on to the mirror, then rotated her body back and forth.

It's a gift, after all. He made it clear after the coffee shop that he freely gives his gifts and I don't owe him anything for it, Bailey remember that moment very happily, when he had emphatically refused to spank Laura in exchange for her hot chocolate. He's noble and he understands rules. We have always had that between us.

That meant, above all else, she could show him this outfit, in part or in full, when she felt like it.

With a reaffirming breath, Bailey put her blouse on over her new bra, her jeans on over her new panties, and pulled her jacket on after all that. If she hurried, she could eat a bagel on the way to campus and still make her twelve-thirty class.

=============================

She came home at 5:30pm, entirely burnt out from a long weekend of familial harassment, an early morning bus ride spent shaky with anticipation, and a chemistry lab that had mostly gone wrong.

But at least I didn't get any crap exploding on me this time.

A burst of adrenaline hit her as she came down the stairs, looking forward to seeing Kent's eyes when he saw her, wondering how he would like her in her new clothes. With this weary determination to pay off at least one dollar while sporting her gifts, she went straight to Kent's room and found it empty.

Her body wilted, the day's efforts finally demanding their toll as her breathless anticipation dissipated, leaving her legs leaden and her shoulders barely capable of holding up her backpack.

Damn.

With an emptiness in her chest, Bailey slouched over to her room, dropped her backpack on the floor and turned on the dim light on her night stand to its lowest setting. She sat on her bed a moment, thinking of curling up under the sheets, her worn out heart wanting nothing more than to pass out and recover from tumultuous weekend.

But I wanted him to see me. A moan almost escaped her throat. To see me in the things he bought.

She took a deep breath and stood up, forcing her rebellious legs to carry her back down the hallway to his room. By the light of hallway, Bailey took the marker and made a single, lonely tick mark in the box. That would, she assured herself, bring him to her.

Her own bed, though, seemed too far away, while the darkness of his room tempted her too strongly. Bailey swung his door until it rested against the door frame. Blindly, she unbuttoned her jeans, slid them off and laid them over his chair. At least this way, she surmised, she'd have no complications whenever he decided to come home. She tiptoed over to his bed, pushed back his covers, crawled underneath and pulled them closed over herself again.

Bailey remembered nothing after that.

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Kent returned at nearly seven o'clock, hungry for a late dinner, delayed at school by the necessity of the clearing up a confusing homework assignment with his fellow students.

That shit is due tomorrow, he shook his head angrily, and we're just figuring it out now.

He knew he had a long night ahead of him, but the assignment needed to wait until after dinner. When he came home and saw both his own room dark as well as Bailey's, a wave of relief came over him, knowing that temptation wouldn't get him tonight. He needed focus.

In his haste to reach the kitchen, he slid his backpack into his bedroom as he went by, only opening the door far enough to fit its bulk into the gap. He passed by Bailey's room and discovered with a passing glance that, first of all, she had left a very dim light on in her room and she had found the gift he'd left.

Alright, he let out a relaxing breath, but what did she think of it?

It might have occurred to him, right then, that Bailey never left her room unlocked when she left the apartment, but his hunger overrode most of his other thoughts and he proceeded directly to the kitchen with little other thought, still wearing his coat.

Leftovers, fortunately, presented themselves, as Kent tried to perpetually have an emergency serving or two of pasta ready to go. He heated it up to the minimum acceptable temperature and chowed down on it immediately, washing it down with a glass of milk.

Breathing more easily, he sat back in the kitchen chair and relaxed. He had still had a few hours of work to go this evening, but he knew what he had to do. Only time stood between him and the completion of his work.

Kent stood up, resolutely fixed upon that work, and cleaned up the table, setting his dishes in the drying rack. Walking back to his room, he stopped at Bailey's open door, feeling a greater disturbance at the unlocked door and abandoned light. He stepped into the space, feeling a bit like an intruder, and took in the scent of her which infused the room.

Travelling a little farther inside her domain, he reached the lamp on the night stand and turned it off, thinking this a reasonable and practical excuse for entering her room. He had seen, however, no sign of the panties and bra he'd purchased.

But she wouldn't leave them out, would she?

He could, theoretically, search her dresser, but ruled that out instantly.

Too creepy, he decided, not going to happen.

Kent left Bailey's room and returned to his own. He pushed the door open and snapped on the light, then instantly snapped it off again.

Okay, then.

No question in his mind, Bailey waited for him in his bed, and she appeared to be asleep. He pulled the dimmer on the light switch to its lowest setting and turned it back on.

Did I wake her up? he leaned over carefully. No, still sleeping. So now what?

Kent considered his options. A quick glance at the board showed him that Bailey had left a tick mark for him. That meant, as he understood the rules they'd made, that he could wake her up and spank her.