//------------------------------// // In Which Skirts Are Better Than Pants // Story: DJ-P4NTL3SS // by ThisIsMyFateNow //------------------------------// Have you ever had one of those mornings where you never want to get out of bed? For me, that’s nearly every morning. Of course, it doesn’t help that I usually go to bed at, like, four in the morning, only to wake up a couple of hours later for school. This morning, the cool autumn air permeated my small studio apartment, causing me to wrap myself into the mess of sheets on my bed. As I snuggled deeper into the pile of warmth, I almost missed my phone ringing softly. Hoping against hope that it would stop, I waited. After a good minute of ringing, I grumbled and slipped an arm out into the crisp morning air and grabbed the device that I had almost missed in my blissful slumber. Huffing, I cracked an eye open, attempting to glare through the haze and see who would be so crass as to interrupt my slumber. Turns out, it was an angel calling. Well, I mean, she’s not an actual angel, but she’s the next best thing. After I slid the icon to “Answer,” I slipped the phone over to the side of my face. “Good morning, Vinyl,” Octavia said, her melodic intonation coaxing the sleep from my brain. “I’m guessing I woke you again? Another night of mixing?” I responded with a hum of affirmation as my body began to move and wiggle out from under the sheets and a smile slid across my face. No matter how many times she calls, she can always get me going. Which, if I’m fair, is needed nearly every morning. A shiver ran through me as my feet hit the cold, laminate floor. I really need a rug there. I sighed. One of these days, I’d do something about that. Tilting my head, I sandwiched the phone between my ear and shoulder as I made my way to the small bath to start the day. “I really do detest how much reading Ms. Longsdon gave us for this coming weekend,” Octavia rambled on as I turned on the shower, letting the hot water steam up the bathroom. While everything got all nice and warm, I let Octavia’s voice carry me away as I just listened. “Were you able to finish that math homework?” she asked as I started to brush my teeth. Humming a response, I finished before rinsing the leftover toothpaste out and shed my panties and the over-sized shirt that I was wearing. Realizing that I did need to get moving, I set the phone to speaker before stepping into the warm water. As it cascaded down on me, it plastered my hair to my head and, as usual, my face. Pushing the hair out of one eye, I work to get said mess of hair clean. The only problem with losing yourself to Octavia’s voice while showering? You don’t realize how foamy the shampoo has gotten until it’s found its way into your eye. I let out a sudden shriek, and then reached up to scrub the irritation from my eyes. Octavia's laughter cut through the sound of water pelting against my head. “Shampoo in the eyes again, Vinyl?” she asked, still giggling. She knew me well enough to figure out what’s happened, and even then, she could make me blush even from across town. Now that I was nice and clean, it was time to get a move on. I shut off the water and hurriedly dried myself. I picked up the phone again and cradled it between my head and shoulder as I raced about the small space, trying to get dressed and ready for school. “The bus is here, love. I’ll see you at school, okay?” I mumbled a reply as I grabbed my bag and also headed out the door, but not before saying my good-byes to Octavia and slipping my headphones on. With the music pulsing through the headphones, I locked the door and began to make my way to the bus stop. Another chill raced along my legs as a soft, autumn breeze brushed past me. Lost in thought of my lovely Tavi’s voice, I made it to the bus just as it was pulling up. Even though it was still early autumn, everything seemed so cool that morning. Especially once I got to my seat. When I sat down, another shiver ran through me and my seat felt far cooler than I was used to. A quick glance down, and I quickly figured out why everything was so cool this morning. I noticed the pink and grey panties peeking out from under my shirt. No skirt, no shorts, no pants. Nothing. I got so lost in Octavia’s voice that I forgot to put on any pants. Oh, goddess… this was going to be a very long day. As the bus continued to pick up other students, I did my best to hide my lack of clothes by positioning my bag next to me. I was able to tune everyone out as I lost myself in the pounding beat that was blasting out of my headphones. I watched the cookie cutter houses, with symmetrical patches of green out front, go by in a blur. Thankfully, I didn’t get too many strange looks during the seemingly-interminable bus ride, but there were a few. Each time I felt someone's eyes on me, I shifted my bag to try and hide my predicament. It was more once I left the bus that the looks, whispers, and giggles came. The walk to first period had never taken so long. While there would usually be a confident swagger in my step, today I scooted as fast as I could, trying not to draw attention to myself, which didn’t happen, as Lyra and Bon Bon tried to stop me for a brief chat. I don’t remember how, but I managed to extricate myself from that awkward scene. Thankfully, I made it to homeroom before the bell rang, and I took my place at the back of the class. Since I wasn’t allowed to wear my headphones in the building, they had to go. Now, I could hear all of the whispers. And the giggles. And the comments that my panties were decidedly Octavia-themed. I could only sit there and try and lose myself in the memory of the call from earlier that morning. Her lovely voice, filling my head until it felt like I was floating. I spent the better part of the first two periods like that. Head in the clouds, trying my best to ignore the whispers and doing my best to hide my predicament from the teachers. I still couldn’t believe that I had become so ensnared by Octavia’s voice that I had forgotten to put pants on. The bell rang, signalling the start of the twelve-minute break between classes, and I made my way quickly through the hall to where our lockers were. As I weaved through the crowd, my lack of pants were evident to everyone I passed, a trail of laughter following me. At that point, I was too focused on finding Tavi to pay them much notice. Although my bright red face might have suggested otherwise. As I approached my locker, I could see her standing just a few feet away at hers, door open. Hearing me approach rather rapidly, she turned to face me. I could have melted right then and been happy to get lost in those mulberry eyes. Her face lit up when she saw me, only to have that gorgeous smile quickly vanish as she saw the panicked expression on my face. “I’ve already heard what’s happened. Are you okay?” Her tone was full of concern... for me. I slipped my arms around her, holding her close. Leaning back slightly, I saw her eyes make their way down my body to alight upon my very severe lack of pants… and I noted that she looked good when she blushed. Thankfully, she seemed to understand what had happened. “I see you were distracted by my voice again,” Octavia said. Nodding, I buried my face against her neck. What I didn’t expect was for Tavi to lean in and whisper to me, “I think I can help.” After she pried my arms from around her, she took my hand and lead me to the ladies room, right into that large stall at the end. Once she had sequestered us in the stall, Tavi removed her pants before holding them out to me. I’m not going to lie. If that’s all it took for me to get her to remove her pants, I would have stopped wearing mine to school a long time ago. Tossing her pants at me, Tavi tugged down her sweater, neatly covering her panties, and you know what? She could totally rock the no-pants look. Slipping Tavi’s pants on, a great sense of relief washed over me, not to mention some much needed warmth. My own panties would finally be hidden from everyone else’s view. “Do my pants fit alright?” she asked, eyeing me up and down. Nodding, I run my hands over them, feeling how snug they are. Tavi stepped close to me and leaned in, whispering, “Good. I rather like you wearing them between us. And thank you for giving me a breezy excuse to think about you all day.” Smirking at me, Tavi took my wrist, and led us out of the bathroom. Walking hand in hand back to our lockers, she leaned over. “Did I really talk you out of putting on pants this morning?” she whispered. “Because I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.” Nodding, I felt the blush spread, suffusing my whole face. I’ve never blushed as much as I had that day. And Tavi’s coy smile at me didn’t help things either. Sadly, the bell rang, signalling an end to our brief rendezvous. With a quick kiss before we had to go to our separate classes, Tavi hugged me again. “I’ll see you at lunch,” she whispered. I just stood there for a moment, a goofy grin on my face as I watched Octavia vanish around the corner. Spinning about, I walked off in the other direction towards my next class. And with my usual confident swagger, no less. Halfway to my next class, my phone began to vibrate. As I pulled it from my bag, Tavi’s face appeared on the screen with a message icon. I opened the texts and found the new one from her. By the way, smashing color choice. Maybe this afternoon you'll get to see mine. Once again, this girl managed to distract me as I ran right into someone. A cold wet feeling hit me as I looked down and saw a large wet spot gracing the crotch of Tavi’s pants. As I looked back up, I saw another student holding a now-empty bottle of soda. She sputtered an apology, but I wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying. Tavi’s message kept distracting me until I put my phone away and waved it all off. As I stepped around the other student and continued on my way toward class, only one thought occupied my mind: Lunch couldn’t come soon enough.