Story: The Rivalry

The Rivalry
Part 1

Shannon

Standing before the silly pink dresser in the equally pink painted room she fumed. She wouldn’t do it she thought with conviction. It was unseemly and undignified. Staying in the house of her colleague’s brother instead of a hotel paid for by the company was one thing. She could go along with that. She wouldn’t however wear his niece’s clothes. She just wouldn’t. And yet she really didn’t have a choice. She was naked and still a bit wet from her shower at the moment and they had to go interview an important witness soon. Outside. Where there were people.

“Are you ready to go yet, Shannon?” her colleague Spencer called impatiently from halfway up the stairs. “We really need to be going.”

Shannon fumed but restrained herself from yelling something obscene down at him. Instead she balled her anger and frustration up inside her and as evenly as she could manage responded “I’m almost ready. Just a few minutes please and then we can go”

“Alright, but don’t be too long…” Spencer trailed off as he left the stairwell and went back downstairs.

“Mother Fucker…” Shannon said under her breath before forcing herself to approach the little pink dresser. She hated to do it but having no choice she would have to wear the girls clothing. She wondered if Spencer was one of those weirdoes who got off on this sort of thing. Then she remembered he was an investigator just like her. He deserved some respect for that. She felt even a little bad about even questioning Spencer’s motives.


It wasn’t his fault her bags had been lost on their flight from New York to the small resort town. It wasn’t his fault that stray dog had gotten a hold of her only remaining decent clothes and torn them apart while she was in the shower. And it wasn’t his fault the town was too small to have any stores that were open on a holiday weekend. He was being especially kind letting her wear his niece’s clothes. It was just a lucky stroke that Shannon being rather petite and his niece being rather tall for her age wore the same sizes. To an objective observer like Spencer having her wear his niece’s clothes must have seemed the perfect solution. She would just make the best of it she decided as she opened the first drawer.

It seemed quickly evident after just a little sorting that the clothes Spencer’s niece had left behind were clothes she had either outgrown or thought were too childish even for her. She couldn’t imagine a ten year old being too happy in many of the outfits, let alone a young woman like Spencer’s fourteen year old niece. There was nothing else for her to wear though so Shannon went through all the drawers and the closet and put together and outfit and reluctantly put it on.

Rather then the expensive high cut satin thongs she typically wore to eliminate panty lines she ended up wearing a cutesy pink cotton panty with a cuddly bear on the crotch. Likewise Shannon had to improvise in the bra department. Despite the girls size she didn’t have a single bra. Shannon had to go without and wear just a tight white cotton camisole for support. For a brief moment Shannon was almost glad she was as flat chested as she was. She was just a large A cup after all. Had she been any bigger this would have been a big problem. She hoped her diminished chest size wasn’t too apparent.

Over this she wore what she found to be the most decent blouse in the girl’s wardrobe. It was light pink with short sleeves and a white collar. She tucked this into a short white pleated skirt she found hanging in the closet. It was a little more daring on her then she would have preferred, but it was that or shorts or jeans with holes in them. She was glad her only girlfriend had convinced her to go to that salon with her last week. Her legs and in fact her whole body was totally free of hair making the wearing of the short skirt not nearly as much of a problem. There were no pantyhose or stockings to be found. There was a wide assortment of knee socks and cotton tights of varying color and design but they were out of the question. Shannon pulled on a pair of the girl’s ankle socks. They were the least girlie ones she could find, but they were still white with a pink toe and heel and a little bow on each ankle.

Shoes turned out to be another big problem. Shannon’s feet were too big for any of the girl’s shoes. She nearly decided to go barefoot when she found a shoe box in the back of the closet she had missed earlier. They looked to have never been worn, most likely because they were too big for the girl. They were her size after all. Slipping them on Shannon found they fit perfectly. Unfortunately Shannon was worried about the message the pastel colored sneakers would send.

She was here to show Spencer up after all. They were gunning for the same promotion and had been for weeks. She groaned as she noted she already looked unprofessional enough as it was. Beggars can’t be choosers she finally decided. No one she knew besides Spencer would see her anyway. Anyway it would just be for one day. That determined she headed downstairs dressed as she was.

“Wow, you really look lovely” Spencer complimented Shannon as genuinely as it appeared he could manage as soon as he saw her. Shannon was not amused and shot him a killer look. She almost walked straight back upstairs and told him to go on without her, but she didn’t. This case was too important.

“Are you ready to go?” Spencer asked as he put down his coffee mug and ground his cigarette into the ashtray.

“Yeah. Just let me grab my shit” Shannon replied as she walked over to the little end table she had put her personal belongings on after retrieving them from the rogue dog. Normally she kept her cell phone, wallet, keys and other things in her purse, but it had been hopelessly ruined as well by the rampaging animal. The gun she usually wore in a shoulder holster under her jacket. That wasn’t possible now though. How was she supposed to carry all this stuff now?

Spencer seemed to notice her conundrum and offered a solution. He went to the hall closet and returned with something. “Here use this” he said as he tossed it to her. Shannon caught it with high hopes and was once again let down by lady luck. Spencer had so thoughtfully found her a bag to put her belongings in. Unfortunately the bag in question must have been his nieces backpack from when she was in the fifth grade. It was pink with flowers and a picture of the remarkably vacant eyed Barbie on the back.

“There isn’t ANYTHING else in there I could use?” Shannon asked incredulously. Spencer just shook his head impatiently and tapped his watch.

“I didn’t see anything else and I’m not looking again. We’re going to be late enough for this interview as it is, and despite him only being the mayor of a little resort town, he’s still the mayor and from what I hear quite influential. We were lucky to get him to speak to us about the case during the holiday.” Spencer urged her to hurry up.

“Let me just throw on a little makeup-“ Shannon picked up her compact makeup kit.

“No time…” Spencer tapped his watch again.

“Fine. I’m driving though.” Shannon almost spat back at him.

“Whatever” he replied neutrally.

Shannon groaned inwardly and vowed to make Spencer’s life miserable when she was made his superior. She shoved all her things off the little end table and into the Barbie backpack then slung it on her back. She knew it was ridiculous, but acted as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Again she considered just allowing Spencer to conduct the interview by himself though. Only professional pride and her irresistible desire to show her rival up kept her going. Head held high she opened the front door and led Spencer to their company car. Spencer followed along quietly with just a hint of a little smile on his face Shannon couldn't see.

To be continued…