Ava Ever After

Chapter Three

Shopping wasn’t one of Ava's strong points. Especially when it came to lingerie. She was more of a supermarket multipack briefs kind of girl, rather than lacey panties with intricate florals. Gully had given her the equivalent of a months café wages, to buy her uniform and promised she would have earned that back within the first shift if she kept up the sweet-talking she used in the café.

“Ava? I’m Rachel. Gully told me you’d be here, waiting for me.”

Ava looked up to find a stunningly beautiful woman smiling at her as she took a seat on the opposite side of the café table.

“I hope you haven’t been waiting long? Traffic is a bloody nightmare today.”

“No, I haven’t. I’m sorry Gully had to call you out to help me shop,” Ava told her sincerely.

She had felt uncomfortable with the idea of shopping for underwear and Gully had sensed it, offering to call Rachel to help her. Ava, at first, had objected but Gully had insisted, telling her Rachel, despite being a stripper, understood how hard it was to put yourself on show.

“Oh, don’t worry, honey. I’ve been there we all have at some point. It’s just that some of us don’t like to admit it. I know what it's like to be thrown in at the deep end and how embarrassing it is, buying anything that’s not a supermarket multi-pack. There was a time I couldn’t tell you the difference between a thong and a brief and the thought of doing what I do now, would cause nightmares.”

Ava stared at Rachel, not quite believing that she had any idea how embarrassed Ava felt at the thought of buying lingerie. She was tall, slim, perfectly proportioned and had the most luxurious black curly hair, that Ava had ever seen. She oozed confidence and seemed the complete opposite of Ava.

“Honestly, I’m more like you than you think, honey,” Rachel told her, as though she had read her mind.

“I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t believe you but I look at you and then think of me and you’re like, I don’t know. A butterfly, I guess, and I'm a bloody moth,” Ava said, with a nervous laugh.

“Ah, confidence issue huh? Have you ever looked at a moth up close? They have the most beautiful patterns and they have scales on their wings that are so fine, they’re like gold dust. You’re probably wondering what that has to do with lingerie shopping, and the answer to that would be nothing, but it has a lot to do with you. To see the beauty in a moth, you have to look closely but once you see it, it will always stand out. You just need to look closely at yourself to see your inner beauty, that’s all.”

“You make it sound so easy to become something you’re not,” Ava sighed and looked out of the cafe window.

Her gaze fell upon an elderly couple. They were walking on the opposite side of the road and Ava smiled as she saw they were holding hands and then sighed, lowering her head slightly.

“It isn’t easy. The first hardest part is accepting that you’re not becoming something you aren’t. You’re becoming something you are. The second hardest part is listening to who you truly are and accepting that she wants to be freed. You already do the second bit but without realising.”

Ava looked at Rachel, thoughtfully. She was kind of right. The Ava she knew herself to be had decided not to go to The Bike Shed, but she had found herself going. The Ava she knew didn’t want to take the job, but she had taken it anyway.

“I wasn’t going to take the job, you know,” Ava told her.

“As I said, you already do the second bit. You just need to pay a little more attention to what the real Ava wants.”

Ava took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, before blowing out, slowly. “Bloody hell. I can’t back out at the first hurdle. Let’s go shopping.”

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Ava stood outside Whipping Willows, trying to muster the courage to walk into the adult store.

“Ready?”

“Nope. Not really,” Ava told Rachel.

“Failing at the second hurdle, Ava?”

“Second? It’s not even the first, let alone second. I’ve not even got off the bloody starting block,” Ava laughed. “I can’t bloody do this.”

“The starting block was accepting the job. The first hurdle was standing outside the store. You’re looking at it all wrong. You’re already halfway there. The second hurdle is buying the stuff and the third hurdle is turning up for work tomorrow. Halfway there, honey. Listen to the real you, not the Ava you show everyone else.”

“You keep saying I need to listen to me, but this is me. The nerdy bookworm that hasn’t got a bloody clue how she’s going to fit her arse flab into sexy bloody underwear, is the real me. f**k sake. Why did I ever think this was a good idea?”

Ava shrieked as Rachel grabbed her hand and pulled her into the store.

“The third hurdle is coming your way and you’re going to jump right over it. You’re hung up on your negatives. You see arse flab. I see peachy. You see nerdy bookworm but I see a challenge. What do you think of when you think sexy nerd? Five seconds to answer.”

Completely confused as to where Rachel was going with her question, Ava just stared at her.

“Come on. Three seconds. Two.”

“Glasses, short skirt, shirt, tie and stockings,” Ava blurted out.

“Brilliant,” Rachel beamed. “Now what did you think of when Gully told you the uniform?”

“All skin and no fabric.”

“See the difference? You thought one thing and it terrified you, but Ava, the real Ava, told you something else. Let’s see what I can do with what she wants. Hang on.”

Ava watched Rachel wander around the store, flicking hangers of sexy dress-up clothing, pausing to contemplate, then sliding them along again. She picked up a red, plaid mini skirt and a white blouse and passed them to Ava, before walking over to a rail that held suspender belts.

“Colour?”

“Erm, white, or maybe black. I don’t know,” Ava mumbled as she looked around the shop.

“Both, and a red one, I think.”

“Shoe size?” Rachel shouted from somewhere behind Ava.

“Seven,” she shouted back as her feet began to carry her towards the rear wall, which was lined with bralettes, panties and bras of every colour. As though belonging to someone else, Ava's hand reached out and picked up a black, padded cleavage boosting bra, with floral lace design, and matching short briefs.

“Good choice. The dressing room is in the corner. Come on. Let’s see how we did.”

Five minutes later, Ava stood in front of the full-length mirror, not quite believing it was her. The bra had created cleavage that Ava didn’t even know she had and Rachel had, rather than using the buttons, tied the blouse in a way that showed off her cleavage and her waist, but didn’t leave Ava feeling exposed. The skirt was so short it just about covered her arse but the short briefs she had picked up covered her enough to hide her insecurities, but also allowed her to feel sexy. Rachel had picked up some white stockings with red plaid bows, to match the skirt and helped Ava to secure them with the suspender belt. The heels were super high but surprisingly comfortable and seemed to extend Ava's legs by miles and looking at herself, Ava felt completely different to how she thought she would feel.

“Damn, girl. Where did the innocent Miss Bookworm go? Oh, glasses. Willow, I don’t suppose you have a pair of geeky glasses, do you?”

“I do, as it ‘appens. Hang on. I’ll bring them over.”

A short, plump lady, who looked to be at least sixty, appeared and handed Rachel some large framed, black glasses. Rachel handed the glasses to Ava, who put them on and looked in the mirror, then pulled her long brown hair out of its ponytail and fluffed it out over her shoulders.

“That’s better. What do you think? Will it do?”

Rachel wolf-whistled in response and Ava saw Willow clap her hands together in excitement, then added: “I can’t believe that’s the same girl who stood outside for twenty minutes.”

“How do you feel, Ava?” Rachel asked.

Ava examined herself in the mirror again, taking in every part of her.

“This is going to sound weird but I feel like it’s not me. Not in a bad way. It’s just, looking at myself, I see me, but not the usual me. I thought id feel exposed but I don’t. I don’t feel frumpy, either. I feel sexy and I have boobs. I finally have boobs.”

“Hurdle two is well and truly cleared,” Rachel beamed.