Going Up

On a mannequin, it would hang straight, if rather limp, but Siren's curves would fill out the dress, her breasts, hips, and buttocks giving the dark fabric a seductive look that the gown, of itself, could never achieve. Having donned the dress, turning this way and that as she regarded herself in the full-length mirror on the bathroom wall, it was difficult to believe that the stitching had been deliberately sewn so that the whole gown would split apart easily under only slight resistance. Siren knew that it would do so, though, just as the dress she'd been wearing earlier this afternoon, upon being caught in the closed doors of the elevator, had split apart and fallen away from her, leaving her naked. This dress, lovely though it looked, was seriously flawed. It was a tear-away gown, meant to come apart at the seams when pulled even slightly. It was a pity that she'd be able to model something so lovely for only a few minutes on film, she thought. Still, she could enjoy wearing it for the time being. She smiled, as she said to the beautiful woman in the beautiful dress in the looking-glass, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

Turning, she started for the door, to thank her benefactor. She paused, considering the idea that had just presented itself to her. She smiled. Yes, she told herself, she would do it! It was the least she could do for him-besides, it might help her career. At the least, Charlie would be apt to put in a good word for her with Mr. Kurtz, and, with a reference from the studio's president, the director might well decide that Siren Call's audition had won her the part in the film that could make her a star or, at least, a familiar face on the silver screen. Her smile became a grin as she removed the tear-away gown and set it carefully aside.

She returned, naked, to Charlie's den.

He was sipping a drink when she returned. Puzzled, he set the glass down. "Didn't the dress fit?"

"Perfectly."