Her boss gets mad at her

I was finished with my hot chocolate and was beginning to think that I had misunderstood something about the "Allowed" rules before anything happened. A woman, wearing an expensive-looking black trouser-suit with long, straight, black natural hair, asked Bethany if she could have a word. She was wearing a smaller nametag than the other employees, and hers was made of metal. But I was too far away to see what it said. Bethany excused herself from the table she was at and followed the woman in black to the back of the cafe. I couldn't hear what they were saying, and from my seat in the outside seating area, I could barely see them from all the way on the other side of the cafe, but they appeared to be having a heated discussion.

The end of the discussion, though, Bethany took off her shoes and handed them to the woman in black, who took them through a door marked "EMPLOYEES ONLY". A barefoot and very cross looking Bethany went over to a waitress station and pulled out a stack of receipts from behind the computer monitor. Immediately, I started to become concerned: Had I just gotten Bethany in trouble? Maybe even fired? Squirming with the discomforting realisation that I couldn't done someone real harm, I waited until Bethany was done typing something from the receipts into the computer, and then take a printout over to a person behind the counter. When Bethany was handed a folded hand-full of cash I realised she had been cashing out her tips. I got up from my seat with the intent to go over a check if Bethany was alright. I still had no idea what I was going to say, but I needed to know she was alright.

However, before I could even step away from the little outdoor table I was sitting at, Bethany headed into the door the woman in black had gone into marked "EMPLOYEES ONLY". I looked around, hefting my tote bag over my shoulder and hugging my notebook to my bare breasts, thinking. Then I saw the woman in black talking to another waiter elsewhere in the cafe and, driven by the need to do something, padded my way through the outdoor seating area and into the cafe proper in order to talk with her.

And still, I had no idea what I was going to say.

"Excuse me?" I said to the woman in black when she was done talking to the waiter about tomorrow's shift and his availability to work.

"Yes?" the woman in black, whose name, now that I was close enough to read her name tag, was Dolores Frinez.

My brain had a massive 404 error and I blinked, dumbly, for a second. Then, shaking my head and blinking again, I opened the notebook to occupy my hands as I said: "My name is Skye Porter, I write for Nude Lifestyle Monthly. I'm doing a peace on nudity in the workplace," I said, surprising myself with the absolute stream of lies coming out of my mouth. "Are you the manager here?"

"Oh," Dolores said flatly, her eyes immediately flitting over to the "EMPLOYEES ONLY" door. As though remembering I was there, she looked back at me. Her eyes looked me up and down, clearly taking in my nudity, as I stood there, poised with my pencil over my notebook as though I were about to start taking down shorthand dictation. "Uh, yes, we hire people who practice the nude lifestyle, Vancetti's is proud of its zero tolerance policy for discrimination in the work place... We're an equal opportunity employer," she tacked on at the end. I was wondering if she was panicking and throwing random corporate slogans at me or if the magic was fighting her in her brain as it had in mine a few minutes ago, struggling to form a semblance of normalcy out of what was, in actuality, an abnormal situation.

"And I think that's wonderful!" I said with as big a smile as I could manage, struggling to stop from shaking as blood rushed in my ears and my heart was beating a thousand times a second. I was never a very good lier. "In fact, I was trying to get Ms. Ray to let me ask her a few questions, but she insisted that she would feel more comfortable after she could get her manager's permission. Which I totally understand, so I was wondering if the discussion you two just had," I gestured over to the area at the back of the cafe where they had had their argument less than ten minutes ago, "was regarding the little interview I wanted to give Ms. Ray?"

"Uh..." Dolores's eyes went back over to the EMPLOYEES ONLY door just as Bethany was coming through it. Bethany was carrying her purse and still very much naked, but now, again wearing her shoes. Dolores sighed and her face tightened into a stern look of determination. "Will you excuse me, Ms. Porter?"

I nodded as Dolores stormed off toward Bethany. I discretely followed, hoping I was keeping far enough away in order not look like I was eavesdropping.

"What did I tell you?" Dolores hissed as she stopped abruptly in front of Bethany, blocking her path. She was pointing down at Bethany's shod feet, accusingly.

"You said I wasn't allowed to wear them on shift!" Bethany spat back, anger across her face. "But you sent me home, and I've clocked off, therefore, I'm not on shift, am I?"

"You're still in uniform-"

Bethany scoffed derisively at the word.

"-And on premises! Need I remind you that, as a nudist it is completely inappropriate for you to be wearing shoes, we're a family friendly establishment! There is even a reporter here from a Nudist Lifestyle magazine right now!"

Bethany looked confused at that, and followed Dolores's eyes as she looked back to where I had been standing, then to where I was now. Gulping, I realised I was staring at both of them and sheepishly waved, unable to hide the fact that I was eavesdropping now. Dolores made a choked off sound of irritation in her throat and repositioned herself to both put her back toward me and to put herself between Bethany and myself. I couldn't hear the rest of their conversation. But what I could see was that Bethany once more removed her shoes and put them in her purse. They talked for a few more moments before eventually... shaking hands. Dolores cast a spiteful glance over her shoulder at me, which must have made me blink with surprise because, just as soon as I saw it, Dolores' mean looking expression was gone, replaced by a mild smile of corporate indifference.

Bethany on the other hand, was looking smug and walked over toward me. "Hi, Babes, wanna get out of here and do that interview?" she winked at me. My brain flopped like a dead fish in my skull for a second, my eyes stuck taking in the beauty of her smug smile.

"Uh..." I said, brilliantly. "Sure," I said at last, closing the notebook I hadn't realised was still open in front of me, and put that and my pencil back in my tote bag. "Where, um, did you want to go?" I said as we both walked, stark naked and barefoot, out of the cafe and out to the street in front of the cafe, giving Dolores a good view of our wiggling bare butts as we went.