Vestiphobia Pt. 03

Chapter Seven: Unable

Lisa was late for class. Her Classics lecture was going to start in five minutes, and she was on the other side of campus. She had been chatting with some new friends she'd met in Linguistics during her free period, and had completely lost track of time, until Kevin mentioned he needed to get going if he was going to make his Math lecture, which was in a much closer hall.

After waving a quick goodbye to Kevin, Julie and Sasha, Lisa walked briskly in the direction of the Classics hall, soon breaking into a jog. After having missed so many lectures at the beginning of the semester, she was determined to have a complete attendance record for what remained. And her Classics professor liked to lock the doors right after starting.

Lisa ignored the looks she got from other students as her sneakers bounced off asphalt. Unlike the last time she'd run across campus, she was fully clothed, so they could stare all they wanted. After everything she'd been through, there was slim chance she'd ever feel embarrassed while fully dressed again.

Her mind was hard at work, figuring out the best route to get to the lecture hall. At this pace, she still wouldn't make it if she ran along the road. But there was a shortcut, if she took a secret route through the campus botanical gardens. That was it.

Asphalt gave way to grass, and soon she was standing in front of the wire fence that surrounded the gardens. The original planner had been an eccentric academic, with some pet theory that made him insist that gardens be experienced along a specific path, and so he had a wall built around the whole thing, with only one entrance and exit. The legend went that he originally wanted it built out of solid stone and at least seven feet high, but all the college could fund was a five foot chickenwire fence, prone to breakages.

Lisa had come across one such breakage a few days ago, and now lifted and slipped under it. But as she continued forward, she felt a snag. Looking back, she noticed that her top was caught on a protruding wire.

Even though she was still in a hurry, Lisa slowly, carefully stepped back and then carefully disentangled the wire. There was no sense in destroying the clothes she had waited so long to wear. Just imagine the irony of losing her top like this, after she had been cured!

The wire came loose with a few seconds of worrying, leaving only a small pinprick in her top, barely large enough to see.

Lisa made her way through trees and bushes to the official path, and then continued her dash. She jogged down the winding cobblestone path, taking no time to admire the trees and flowers around her, but noting that the whole place seemed a bit wild. She'd only been inside once before, and if she hadn't known that there was only one path through it, she probably would not have considered it a shortcut. Luckily, the lecture hall was close to the official exit of the botanical gardens, so she wouldn't need to find another break in the fence.

As she ran, she felt a vibration in the back pocket of her jeans. Someone was calling her. Exasperated, she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. The name Debra Sorrenti appeared on the screen.

Debra had been saying something to her a couple of days ago about the counter-curse being temporary, or the original curse being more powerful, but she'd sounded really unsure of herself, and kept throwing in maybes and possiblities. Lisa was grateful to her, of course, but the more she learned about Debra's secret, the less confidence she had in the witch's actual understanding of the magic she used.

It had been a full two weeks since that night on the roof, and Lisa was showing no signs of rebound. Debra agreed that that was a positive sign, and that anything that happened would happen gradually, like the original onset of Lisa's condition. Lisa had agreed that as soon as a shoe felt too tight, or a bra started burning her, she'd come see Debra immediately.

But Lisa had felt fully comfortable in every item of clothing she'd worn for weeks. She and Shelly had celebrated the cure by experimenting with how many clothes she could put on, and she had triumphantly padded up in half her wardrobe before feeling a pretty normal amount of heat and tightness.

Even now, Lisa was wearing a long-sleeved, fitted button-up top, tight jeans and boots, and feeling perfectly fine, if a little hot and sweaty from this running. She felt better if she was overdressed these days. Maybe she'd try out some shorts in a few weeks.

Lisa put the phone to her ear. "Hi Debra," she said between breaths. "What's up?"

There was a brief silence on the line, and then a cracking voice came through. "Lisa, listen, we've gotta meet up. Urgently. You have to get to my dorm. Right now."

Lisa's heart stopped. "Why? What's happened?"

"N-nothing. Nothing yet. But it will! Listen, I've been doing some reading, and I think I was wrong before. We don't have much time."

The botanical garden exit was in sight, and there were still a few minutes to go before the lecture started. Lisa stood for a moment, contemplating her options. She had half a mind to put the phone down and keep going. She was fine. She felt great! She looked down at her top and pinched its fabric between two fingers, drawing it back and releasing. Still fine.

"Lisa? Are you there?" came a distant voice from the phone, which was hanging by her side. "Please hurry!"

She may have been feeling fine, but Lisa knew better than to tempt fate. She imagined herself tearing off her clothes in desperation right in the middle of the Classics lecture. Old Professor Jameson's eyes would pop out of his head! Actually, it might literally kill him. Not to mention give her a reputation as a crazy stripper, all across campus. It was bad enough seeing the occasional blurry, poorly lit photo of the infamous Owl Mask Streaker dancing at the Freshers Streak after party.

Lisa pulled the phone back up to her ear. "On my way." She hung up, spun on her heels, and took off in the opposite direction, back towards the break in the fence. She could feel heat rising to her cheeks. Maybe she was just hot from running, or maybe Debra's counter curse was busy failing.

Starting to panic now, Lisa turned from the cobblestone path she'd been on and ducked under a tree branch, heading directly for the break in the fence. Hair fell about her face as she raced, dodging trees and stomping on flowers. She'd be in massive trouble if they ever caught her, but that paled in comparison to the alternative.

There it was--the gap in the fence! Lisa ducked under a last tree branch, but her foot caught on sometime, and she fell. Down, down, down. Her foot was caught in a root! She struggled to dislodge it, got up again, and dashed forward. But where was the fence? It had been right there...

Lisa doubled over with sudden nausea. She felt a familiar tightness, but it was worse now than it had ever been before. It was as though she was being crushed in an avalanche of sheets. She pulled violently at her top, popping off the top button.

Then everything went black.

* * *

A shallow stream wound through the botanical garden, charting a course much different from the official path. It grew to its widest near the center of the garden, in a particularly overgrown patch. On that particular day, shortly after the start of the third morning lecture period, a pair of small, delicate feet dangled off the bank, with the weak current lapping over them.

Those feet belonged to a sleeping female student, lost in the garden. They were clean, with cute pink toes, spread wide from a lot of time barefoot. They connected to a pair of strong, slender white legs, which met in a wide, firm, and completely bare ass, and continued up in a bare back, and a mass of dirty blonde hair.

Lisa awoke with a start. She could feel water lapping at her feet, and the breezing whipping across the bare skin of her legs, ass and back. The grass tickled her boobs and tummy. She was naked once more.

"Ow!" she said as she pinched herself. "Not a dream. Didn't think so. Where am I?"

Lisa groaned as she raised herself up on her arms and shakily stood up, pulling her feet from the stream and now feeling the unwelcome breeze across her front. She was still in the garden, but deeper in. She remembered rushing for the fence, tripping, getting back up, and nothing after that. Well, nothing coherent. A crushing sensation. The sudden return of her hated symptoms. The revenge of the witch's curse.

How long had she been out? She had no watch to tell the time, and her phone was nowhere in sight. Neither, for that matter, were her clothes, or her book-bag. All around her were trees, flowers and birds.

Well that's just great, she thought. Her clothes had to be around there somewhere, but probably not in a neat pile. She narrowed her eyes and scanned the area.

There! On the end of a tree branch, something white. Lisa darted towards it and took a closer look.

It was one of her socks. Well, that was a start, at least. She reached out to grab it.

As Lisa's hand touched the sock, a jolt of electricity shot down her arm. She yelped and stumbled back, tripping over another root. Waving her arms in the air in a futile attempt to maintain her balance, she plomped down, butt first. Mud splashed all around her.

Lisa groaned as she picked herself up. Now she was dirty, on top of everything else. But at least there was a stream here. She stepped into the cool, shallow water and squatted to let the current wash the mud off her ass.

There was a rustle in the bushes. Lisa's eyes locked onto the source of the noise. A voice said, "Hey, is this your--oh!"

For an awful long moment, Lisa held eye contact with the boy who had just stepped into view. A sheepish, gangly student with green eyes and a mop of brown hair. He wore baggy cargo pants and a graphic T-shirt with a band logo Lisa didn't recognize, under an open flannel shirt that looked a few sizes too big. In his right hand, he held a dirty white piece of ragged fabric. His jaw looked about ready to hit the ground.

And it was no wonder--here was Lisa, squatting naked in the stream, arms dangling at her sides, legs wide. She blushed furiously as she straightened up and moved to cover herself.

"Sorry!" the boy squeaked, slapping his free hand in front of his eyes. "I found this, and I heard your voice, and I... I..." He held out the ragged piece of fabric in front of him. "Y-yours?"

Lisa examined the fabric and realized with horror that it was her top, torn in two places and covered in dirt. What had happened while she was out?

Still, a torn, dirty top was better than none. "Y-yes, it's mine," she replied, forcing the words through a dry throat. She stepped forward. The boy dutifully turned his face away, hand still firmly in front of his eyes.

As the initial shock receded, Lisa felt another emotion: indignation. She'd seen this kind of scene in too many movies. "You shouldn't disturb girls bathing in the woods, you know! Or steal their clothes!"

"This is a... garden?" the boy replied, confused. "And I wasn't... I mean... uh..."

Lisa softened, and then immediately felt bad. The boy was clearly just trying to help her. "I'm sorry," she said, reaching for her top. "I appreciate the--ow!"

At the touch of fabric, another electric jolt ran down Lisa's arm. This one didn't make her lose her balance, but she immediately withdrew her harm from the fabric and shook her arm thoroughly. What was going on with her?

"You okay?" the boy asked, still standing with his arm outstretched.

"Yeah," Lisa lied. She reached for the top again, and immediately drew her hand back. "Ow! Fuck!"

"Are you sure you're okay? Do you need any help?"

"With what?!" Lisa snapped.

"I dunno, you keep saying 'ow'."

"It's just, um..."

"Are you, uh, going to take this?" The boy waved his arm up and down.

Lisa had, by now, thoroughly proven to herself that she was in no way capable of taking the top from him. After two weeks of normal, clothed life, the curse was back with a vengeance, worse than it had ever been before. If only she'd gotten to Debra in time! Now she was naked in the middle of the botanical garden, with no phone, and this random guy.

Her phone! "Did you see anything else, other than that top?" she asked. "Like, uh, some other clothes, or a book-bag, or maybe a phone?"

"Nope, it was just this. Lying in the dirt." The boy mused for a bit. "I did think it was a bit strange."

"Someone must have stolen my clothes!" Lisa cried, feigning shock.

"Oh no!" the boy said. "At least they left you this top, though."

"Yeah..." Lisa looked at the white top, which was now trailing the ground, as the boy had gotten tired of holding his arm up. She didn't want to touch it again.

The boy half-heartedly lifted the top back up to her. "So, uh, you... ready to get dressed yet? Are you dry now?"

Lisa breathed a sigh of relief. He'd thought she was waiting to dry off from being the stream before she put her top on. Not that she was weird. Well, no, he probably thought that she was pretty weird for skinny dipping in the botanical gardens. But no weirder than that.

Lisa put a hand on her butt. It was basically dry. But she still couldn't take the top from him. Maybe she should just ask him to put it down on a rock and go. Then she would have some peace, and be able to search for the rest of her things. Most importantly her phone. She briefly contemplated asking to borrow the boy's phone to call one of her friends, but the only number she knew by heart was her mom's. And that definitely wasn't a call she was going to make right now!

Just as Lisa opened her mouth to ask the boy to leave, she heard the sound of drums in the distance.

"Oh, the drumming club's about to get here," said the boy. "They usually meet in this part of the gardens. I was actually--say, are you part of the club?"

The blood drained out of Lisa's face. "No," she said sharply. "And I do not need anyone to see me like this!"

The boy held up the top again. Lisa sighed deeply. She'd been just about to get rid of this guy and figure things out on her own. But now, unless she wanted to parade herself for the drummers, it looked like she would need his help. And that meant she would need to let him know that she wasn't going to be putting that top on anytime soon.

Lisa squeezed the bridge of her nose between her fingers, and then sighed again, shoulders slumping. "Look, uh... actually, what's you're name?"

"Colin," replied the boy.

"Look, Colin, I'm in a bit of tricky situation here and I'm going to need your help," she said, resisting the urge to grind her teeth. "I'm Lisa by the way."

Colin perked up at once, holding the top aloft like a flag. "Sure, anything!"

Lisa smiled. "Okay, so it's like this. I need to get to my friend in the Usman dorm. And, for, uh, reasons, I can't wear any clothes. It's like... an illness that I have. So I'm going to need you to put that top in your bag, and then help me get to Usman without being spotted. I'll walk behind you and stay hidden, and you'll tell me when the coast is clear, okay?"

Colin stood rooted to the spot. From the way he was squirming, Lisa surmised that his pants were probably feeling a bit tight. She wondered if this was the first time he'd seen a naked woman in real life. Slowly, the fingers over his face started to spread out, and the grip of his hand relaxed.

"No peeking!" Lisa snapped, and the fingers obediently came together again.

The drums were getting louder.

"That's going to be... a bit difficult," said Colin.

He had a point, Lisa supposed. She filed it away for further consideration.

"But I'll do it. Help you, I mean! Not peek! We can use the tunnels."

Lisa had heard about the tunnels before. An underground network that connected most of campus, built during a more paranoid time. She'd thought they were just a rumor. But if they were real, and this Colin guy knew where they were, that could save a lot of time and embarrassment.

"Let's get out of here before these drummers arrive, okay. Do you know where the break in the fence is?"

"Which one?" asked Colin. "We're pretty close to one of them, actually."

Along with the drums, Lisa could now hear murmuring voices. "Doesn't matter! Lead the way, I'm right behind you."

"Roger that!" Colin turned around, stuffed the top into his backpack, and darted into the trees. Lisa followed in a low crouch, arms crossed over her chest, hoping she had made the right decision.

* * *

Chapter Eight: Undetected

Colin led Lisa on a winding path through the trees and up to another break in the fence, looking over his shoulder every now and then to ensure she was keeping up. Lisa maintained her crouch, kept her arms firmly crossed over her breasts, and gave him a withering look every time his gaze lingered slightly too long.

"We're here," he said, indicating a large hole in the chickenwire, bigger than the one Lisa had initially come through. Lisa stood just behind him, willing him not to turn around or look back again.

"Ladies fir--" Colin started, then blushed as he realized what he was saying.

"Nice try," Lisa replied. "Go through and make sure there's no-one around. If it's all clear, give me the okay symbol."

Colin obediently crouched down and slid through the hole in the fence. He took a few paces out of the garden, toward the road. Lisa watched as he turned his head one way and then the other, and then signalled that it was clear for her to proceed. All without looking behind him. He was learning.

After taking a deep breath, Lisa resumed her crouch and passed through the hole in the fence. Up until now, she had been trekking through dense foliage, which, while treacherously slow-going, afforded her a lot of coverage. Outside of the garden, that would change. With Colin's help, she may avoid being seen, but she'd need to dart between coverings, which could end up being massively far apart. For now, she hid behind a bush on the other side of the fence.

"I'm through," she said in a harsh whisper. "Come here, we need to figure out the next part."

Colin walked over to the bush, a thick, tall plant that did an admirable job of covering Lisa. Only her head and shoulders were visible above it. Still, she could see Colin's eyes dart between her face and the flesh of her upper torso.

"The closest entrance to the tunnels is through the Fine Arts building," Colin said, locking eye contact with Lisa. He checked his watch. "We're in the middle of a lecture period, so it ought to be quiet outside. But it's going to be a bit of a walk."

Lisa hadn't been to the Fine Arts building before. Having only been able to walk around campus with clothes on for about three weeks total this semester, there was a lot she hadn't seen.

Colin checked both sides of the road. "Someone's coming!" he hissed.

Lisa dived down and crouched behind the bush. There was the sound of an engine as a car passed.

Moments later, Colin said, "It's gone now. There's no-one else. We should go."

He was right. Lisa straighted up and stared straight ahead, across the road. Her eyes locked on a couple of trashcans against the wall of a building on the other side. But between the bush she was hiding behind and those trashcans was a long, empty expanse of grass, sidewalk and road, with nowhere to hide.

"I-I'm going to make a run for those trashcans," she said to Colin, hardly believing herself. "Go stand by them and give me the signal if it's still clear when you get there. Then close your eyes until I tell you to open them again."

Colin nodded and started walking. He crossed the road at a brisk pace, clearly energized by the excitement of it all. Lisa was thankful that he hadn't asked too many questions, and had just gone along with her story, which much have sounded crazy. But then, she knew what effect she had on men--and nudity supercharged it.