OMG! I'm Naked in School! Ch. 02: Carolyn

The way he was grinning, Carolyn knew he wasn't really angry, but only still trying to lighten the mood; surely, for his own state of mind, as well as hers. She shook her head. "You know I didn't mean it that way. I'm sure people would care if you went around with your fly open." She kept her hands folded on top of her purse, and her purse in the center of her lap. "I tell you what, when we go into the movies, why don't you unzip your fly and we'll see if the ticket taker or the popcorn girl notices?"

Even before he could respond, Carolyn realized the conversation was starting to get pretty weird. Luckily, Ryan probably realized it too, as he dropped it.

"I got us tickets to see that new Drew Barrymore movie." He kept his eyes firmly fixed on the road.

Carolyn responded with, "Isn't that kind of what you guys call a chick--flick?"

Ryan surprised her by managing a fairly good Austin Powers impersonation, "Yeahhhh baby! What ever you like. I always watch a chick--flick when I'm out with a really groovy chick."

Carolyn couldn't help but fall into character, coming back with her own smarmy British accent. "Oh! Be--have!"

During the rest of the drive to the Cineplex they managed to keep up a fast--paced and enjoyable repartee, cleverly inserting lines from their favorite movies into their conversation. Carolyn was actually amazed to learn how well versed Ryan was in vintage Monty Python, and at one point they ever ran through the entire routine of King Arthur being dressed down by the insulting French knight upon on the parapet. They even ended together as if singing a duet with a resounding an entirely snide, "You silly English, Kaa--nigget!" A few minutes after their laughter had died down, Carolyn spotted the theater and the crowded Saturday night parking lot. That happy glow from just a few moments back simply vanished, and she was self--conscious about it when she tossed her hair back over her shoulders. Her angst was such she couldn't help but be aware of the nonverbal signal Ryan had taught her about in tossing her hair, but she wasn't consciously aware that her toes were also curling in her sandals.

Ryan was lucky to be able to pull into the parking lot, come around to the side of the building and immediately "park shark" a couple leaving the theater. He trailed them to their car and got their spot, which was fairly close in. It was comical for Carolyn to see the reaction of the guy backing out and looking over his shoulder, when he saw Carolyn was topless. He probably hadn't been able to really see Carolyn before, but he was driving this monster Nissan SUV, as big as a tank; and being able to look down and into Ryan's car he almost clipped two cars he had his eyes so fixed down on Carolyn as he passed by.

Once they had parked, Ryan removed his key chain from the ignition and twirled it around his finger gunslinger style. He looked at his watch, then turned to Carolyn, who probably hadn't even realized once they'd pulled into the parking lot how much she had scrunched herself into the corner of the seat and the door. "We've got fifteen minutes until the movie starts. I don't suppose you'd want to go in and stand out in the lobby and maybe play a video game?"

Carolyn, though all day she had told herself she was going to be brave, the earlier ease she gained during the drive was simply gone, and she felt the numb chill set in as the blood drained from her fingers and toes.

"Hey, just kidding!" Ryan reacted. "You sure you're okay?"

Carolyn realized her body language for what it was and forced herself to sit up. She tossed her hair back and checked the clock on her wristband. "I don't mind sitting out here for a few minutes. That is if you don't?"

He sat up and pocketed his keys. "Cool with me." He gave her a quick grin. "Usually I don't get to park until the end of a date."

For a moment, it was all silent. The dearth of sound in the car was such that it was readily apparent this time; Ryan's attempt at lite humor had fallen flat on its face.

Carolyn looked down to see herself. That was one of the stress avoidance no--no's they'd been taught in orientation. Like a contestant on the reality show, "Fear Factor" the counselors had explained, who is way up somewhere scary, climbing a ladder or suspended out on a high wire, you do a lot better in keeping it together if you don't look down. And now, Carolyn had just looked down to see herself. In becoming real in her mind it all became so unreal. She was sitting here in Ryan's car: her breasts, her nipples, her tummy, her bellybutton, her legs, her thighs, her knees; she was naked.

Suddenly Carolyn was so conscious of the feel of her bare bottom on the seat, and too, the uncomfortable chaff of the seat belt, which was separating and cutting across her bare breasts. In fact, the entire seatbelt and shoulder strap felt like some kind of bondage device against her bare skin. In the ugly yellow glow from the parking lot's sodium vapor lamps, everything was so surreal. It was like an image from a Twilight Zone horror in how the light and shadows patterned and illustrated her naked body through the windows. Those were her very own naked breasts she saw. Making it even worse, her nipples were standing out stiffly. The very worst of it was, when she had resituated herself in the seat Carolyn had forgotten about her purse, and in a little patch of light, she could clearly see highlighted, as if in a spotlight, the little wisps of brown pubic hair tucked into the tightly clenched triangle between her legs. She gathered up her purse and put it back in her lap, suddenly having to swallow back the urge to plead with Ryan to please just take her home.

Carolyn knew she had to say something. "So you didn't have a game last night?"

His voice sounded relived if not somewhat strained. "We played OD high."

"OD?" Carolyn squinted, ala Marcie. "Overdose?"

Ryan was looking right at her, but being very careful to keep his eyes above shoulder level. "OD, it's an acronym. It stands for Open Date. That's what they put on the schedule, OD. So we make a joke out of it saying we're playing OD high."

Carolyn knew he was looking at her, but she kept her own eyes out on the parking lot. "So what did you do? Did you go out cruising with your football buddies?"

"Yeah." He now regripped the wheel with both hands, stretching his arms out and leaning back in the seat. "We got a couple of six packs and went out to the reservoir. The moon was up. It was really pretty out over the water. I kind of wished I had brought my sketch pad." Out of the corner of her eye, Carolyn could see him smile. "But, I don't think the guys would understand my sitting out there and drawing. That's not all that macho of a thing for a football player to do, you know?"

Carolyn had a flash. Last night, when Ryan had called to ask her out he'd said he was going to be running around with Darius, who she knew also played on the football team. That's where Ryan heard about Charli's little business. Yesterday, in homeroom, she'd told everyone about it and now, obviously Darius had told Ryan. She wondered what else they had talked about, and was instantly glad she hadn't been so ready to prove to Marcie she wasn't a stick--in--the--mud that she'd taken Darius up on his awful request to "spread--em" for the class.

"You know, maybe we ought to go in." Ryan released the wheel to look at his watch. "It might be better if we go in and get a good seat before it gets too full?"

Carolyn looked over to the crowded strip shopping center. For a Saturday night, she'd had seen it more crowded, but there still were quite a bit of people milling about near the ticket sales windows and out in front of the doors. She pictured going into the theatre and them not being able to find two seats together and her having to sit next to some smarmy looking pervert guy. She could next imagine the geek then trying to cop a feel in the dark. Of course, she doubted any smarmy perverts would actually be going to see a Drew Barrymore chick--flick, but that idea was enough to spur her to action. She'd made up her mind. She wasn't going to be conservative Carolyn; she was going to do this.

Carolyn reached down to unsnap the seat belt, and gather up her purse in one hand and put her other hand on the door latch. "I'm ready if you are?"

"Hang on," Ryan cautioned. "Let me go out and open your door for you. It'll look better that way."

Carolyn wasn't exactly sure how that would "look better," but she was pleased he was obviously focused on being a gentleman, and obviously had given a lot of thought as to what he was going to do tonight, too.

Once the door had closed, and the alarm had chirped, it was so difficult to get her legs to move. Dazed, Carolyn found she was so numb she felt as if she were floating. Maybe I should hold his hand? Maybe I should put my arm around his waist? Yet she discarded those as quickly as they had flown at her. She wanted to stick close to him, but not that close.

Coming out of the parking aisle and into the lane where the cars were dropping off and picking up, the effect of Carolyn's emerging into the light was even more than she had ever expected. Everything just stopped. People were staring open--mouthed out of their car's windows, and one guy even got out to block traffic and pounded on the roof of his car, then gave her a long and sweeping wolf whistle.

Carolyn was doing everything she could to focus on nothing and nobody. Yet that was impossible. Through her adrenaline rush and haze she saw it all, in a crazy whirl. The people in line at the ticket counter turning around, the one girl behind the glass knocked the girl working next to her in the shoulder so she could see. It seemed the general milling and murmuring had come to a complete and utter hush. That is until a boy somewhere squealed, "Look! That girl's naked!"

Carolyn knew it when they were at the door. It was a weird rush, when Ryan let go of her hand so he could step up and open the door for them for her to realize at some point she had taken his hand. Gripping her purse at her hip, she stepped into the too bright lights of the busy concession area with Ryan right behind, and in but a matter of a few racing heartbeats the only sound in the place was the roar of the popcorn popper erupting behind the candy counter.

Ryan, though, was right beside her, even though everyone, absolutely everyone was staring. Sensing her discomfort, he offered, "I guess you'd like to pass on the popcorn? What do you say, let's just go in."

They crossed the paralyzed lobby, and the people already in line at the ticket takers had all turned about to stare. She and Ryan stepped up, and it was everything Carolyn could do to not look at the fat balding guy who had turned to face her and inches away was gaping and grinning as though Santa had just brought him his dream come true.

"Hey!" Ryan spoke up, produced the tickets out of his shirt pocket. "If you people aren't going to go on in why don't you just step aside and let us go on?"

The fat guy in front of her was doing a head bob routine of sweeping his eyes over Carolyn up and down, up and down. It wasn't so much him, but his attitude and expression, which were so awful. This was the pervert she had imagined sitting next to her. She really did have an urge to just bolt and run. Had Ryan not had her hand she probably would have. She did cast a quick look back over her shoulder to see that wouldn't be possible anyway. It was as if every person in the theatre was now standing directly behind her, with the first three rows deep of gawkers all males and about Charli's age.

She was conscious of Ryan leaning in and turned her attention back. He whispered to her. "You okay, Carolyn?"

The one thing she heard, even more than the words themselves, was the sincerity of concern for her in his voice. She squeezed his hand, and something actually did come out of her mouth. "Do you think we can just go on in?"

Ryan reacted by pushing past the fat gawker and moving right up to the front of the line, brining Carolyn in tow. The kid in the theatre uniform standing inside the red velvet rope didn't appear to be up to any of this at all. He'd frozen, rooted where he was. Ryan was forced to tear the tickets and put the stubs in the slot, then just stepped past the guy, and they were free. He somehow found the right theatre and led them inside. Luckily, Carolyn was able to breathe a sigh of relief as it wasn't all too crowded at all.

Like a couple of conspirators they were standing close together, still hand in hand and peering around the edge of the entry wall into the seating area. Carolyn was aware she had her breasts crushed against Ryan's arm, but she wasn't about to let go of his hand and stand away.

No one inside, as of yet had seen them.

"Where do you want to sit?" Ryan asked.

Carolyn normally tried to get middle center, but tonight the least conspicuous was what she had in mind. "How about if we go all the way up to the back and sit up in the corner?"

Ryan squeezed her hand. "Follow me."

Of course, it was a repeat performance of stunned shock and amazement amongst the people already seated as a naked girl clutching her purse was led by her hand up the stairs. People eating popcorn stopped in mid mouthful, and everyone turned, and every eye followed them each step of the way up. By the time Carolyn and Ryan stepped between the seats up against the back wall and to the very corner, word had spread, and even those people seated down in the section lower and nearer the screen had all turned about to stare. Ryan allowed Carolyn to lead the way, letting her take the last seat in very corner with himself positioned between her and the end of the row. Though she was self--conscious about doing it, while all eyes in the theater were watching, she opened her purse, pulled out one of the hygienic towelettes and placed it down over the seat before sitting down.

Once Ryan was settled beside her she again took his hand not wanting want to let go, at least not just yet.

Ryan looked at their hands and then up to Carolyn's eyes. "You sure you're okay, Carolyn?"

With her other hand she was clutching her purse and was trembling, her heart was racing, and her mouth had gone stone dry. There was a commercial on the screen for Coke with a question about Hollywood trivia. Carolyn was aware of reading the question, but the words and letters as they tried to form in her mind might just as well have been Greek.

"Carolyn?" Ryan squeezed her hand again.

She came out of it to focus on him. In just seeing the expression on his face a huge weight fell from her. No child ever awoke from a terrible fever to look up into the eyes of an anxious parent who displayed more sincere worry or concern, than Ryan showed her right now.

"Yeah. Yeah," she croaked. "God, that was all so intense."

"I thought that guy in front of you in line was going to bust his aorta," Ryan offered lightly, though to tell the truth, his own voice was a bit shaky.

"What guy?' Carolyn came back.

"The bald guy with the triple--X size beer belly in line at the ticket taker's, when he turned around and saw you, his face went from red to blue."

Carolyn looked past Ryan to the aisle. A group of boys had gathered and were standing there gaping at her. Seeing her looking past, Ryan reacted, and turned back to his left.

There had to be twenty boys, none of them older than fifteen. The rest of the people in the sparsely filled theatre were mostly couples, so it was plain these moviegoers had followed Carolyn into this theater for an entirely different kind of show.

Ryan did get Carolyn to allow him to pull her his hand free, and the linebacker with the enormous shoulders twisted about to face the boys dead on. "I was wondering something?" He stated out of the blue, causing every eye to suddenly leave Carolyn and fall upon him.

One boy, who was dressed in an "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" t--shirt, and who had moved in so close as to be sitting on his knees facing them backwards on the third seat in the aisle just in front, took the bait. "Wondering what?"

"Wondering where the closest hospital is?" Ryan stated flatly, but with a very apparent resolve. "Because if you geeky little spazzes think I'm going to just sit here while you stare at us and embarrass us, I can tell you right now, that's just not going to happen."

"Yeah?" One still standing back in the aisle piped up. "What you gonna do about it?"

"I'm only seventeen," Ryan lied. "So legally, I'm not an adult. So if I come over there right now and bust a couple of you up, probably the worst that would happen to me is I'd get thrown out of the theatre."

Ryan stood up.

"Hey!" One of the boys nudged another. "With the way she's sitting and how dark it is we can't see anything anyway. And I don't want to see this stupid movie. Let's go."

Still, though, about a dozen thought it was worth the risk.

Ryan sat down and shrugged to Carolyn. "Hey, I tired. Maybe if we ignore them, they'll go away?"

Carolyn immediately tapped Ryan on the shoulder indicating to him he should look back out into the theatre. When Ryan looked around, he saw a man in a cheap suit followed by an officer in a brown uniform who had a firm hold on his gun as they both were climbing the steps two at a time. When the man in the suit got up to them he was entirely red faced and out of breath. Still he managed to put his hands on his hips as he stood in the aisle heaving and spat, "Just what in the hell do you think you're doing? Get out of my theatre!" He looked back over to the officer. "Arrest those people and get them the hell out of here."

Carolyn sat where she was. Ryan was so big it was as if she could just look around him. Her mouth was so dry, and now she was conscious of the tang of a bit of brass. Still, even if it was weakly, she managed to speak up. "I'm not doing anything wrong."

"Yeah, one of the kids piped in. "She's looking pretty good." He punched the kid next to him. "Man, I saw her tits just now!"

"Come on!" The theatre manager was hitching his thumb toward the exit. "I want you two out of here."

Carolyn spoke up again. "I told you I'm not doing anything wrong." It was dim back here, and the officer was standing off to the side, but Carolyn had a flash of recollection. "Deputy Ramierez? Is that you?" She almost stood as a reflex, but thought better of it and continued to peer around Ryan.

The deputy stepped around into the light, and a grin spread across his face. He pointed as if firing a gun. "I know you. I saw you at the pool the other day, didn't I?"

"I don't care where you saw her." The manger had droplets of spit flying out of his mouth he was so upset. "Get her out of here!"

Deputy Ramierez regripped his pistol and shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know what I can do. She's not breaking any laws as far as I can tell."

The manager fairly roared. "She naked for Christ's sake!"

Carolyn could see something in Deputy Ramierez's expression, which told her exactly how much he thought of the theater manager and how much he was enjoying not doing as he was instructed. He kept the one hand still on his pistol and his eyes on Caroline. "Look, Darren, I'm telling you, she's not breaking any laws."

"What the hell do you mean?" Carolyn caught the flash of the man in the awful suit's name badge as a brighter slide lit the screen. It read Darren Stephens, Manager. "She can't just go around naked. It's obscene." Darren pointed, indicating the gawking kids. "I can't let these kids in to see an R rated movie, and you're telling me it's okay for them to see a real live naked girl?"

"I don't make the laws." Deputy Ramirez was stroking the tips of his moustache with his free hand. "I just enforce 'em. Speaking of that." He shrugged to indicate the gawking kids. "How much you want to bet none of these boys have tickets for this movie?"