Abbie's costume fitting

Abbie was excited to be part of a show with The Community Players upcoming show. The rehearsals had been very enjoyable, and with the show opening soon, it was time for the costume department to figure out Abbie's wardrobe.

For this show, she had three costumes. Two were casual dresses, and the third was pajamas for a night scene. The costume designer, Paula, had set up the appointment via email for an evening when Abbie's rehearsal ended early, so Abbie just stayed at the theater a little later in order to attend her fitting.

She had never had a costume fitting before, so she was eager to find out what was in store. Once rehearsal ended, she asked where the costume shop was, and walked through the backstage area to find Paula and begin her session.

She walked into the room -- it was a large space with several racks of clothes around the edge and a few large tables in the middle for cutting and sewing, as well as a few mannequins on which there were some assorted articles of clothing. It was somewhere between a warehouse and a clothing store. Working on a mannequin off to one side was a woman, blonde, maybe mid-30s.

Abbie said, "Excuse me ..."

The blonde woman turned and smiled. She was cute, with blue eyes and big plastic-framed glasses. She said, "Are you Abbie? I'm Paula. Nice to meet you." She walked over and shook hands with Abbie. "Douglas? Are you back there?" she called into the next room. "My assistant Douglas will be out in a sec."

"I've never been here before. This is a cool space!" Abbie looked around, wide-eyed.

"Is this your first show? Oh my goodness. I had no idea!"

"Yeah, first show. But really fun to be a part of it."

Paula was looking Abbie up and down. "I honestly didn't realize where we were in the process. We have a few things to try on you, but I think we should get your measurements as well for our files." Paula pulled a cloth tape measure from her pocket, and gestured for Abbie to stand in a clearing to the side of the table. She had some loose pages on the table, and one of them appeared to be a chart for taking body measurements.

"To get all the data we need, I'm going to have to hold the tape measure here to your body. Frankly, it's impossible to do costumes or costume fittings without some physical contact. Is it okay for me to touch you while I take these measurements?"

Abbie nodded. "Yes, of course."

"Always want to ask first so no one gets unpleasantly surprised."

Paula measured Abbie's height, arm length, shoulder width, and ask her for some sizes of clothes she bought for herself. She noted all of this on the paper on the table.

"For women, we also have to measure some of the more, shall I say, intimate parts. As you probably know, undergarments are very shape and size specific. Since we provide all of those to you as part of your costume, we need to know details."

"I understand."

"Is it okay for me to measure these parts of you?"

"Yes. It's absolutely fine."

Paula held out the tape measure. "Bust," she said. Abbie held her arms out, and Paula wrapped the tape around her breasts. She held it pinched together on Abbie's side, very close to the edge of her breast. Paula hadn't made any direct contact with Abbie, but it was clear she wasn't actively trying to avoid it either.

"Under the bust," she said. She moved the tape to under Abbie's boobs. As she did, the back of her hand pushed up on the underside of Abbie's left breast. "As we shop for the right products, I need to ask -- do you tend to wear very supportive bras, softer bras, or no bra at all?"

Abbie took a breath. "Usually softer bras, and sometimes none at all." She put her hands on her own breasts and squeezed lightly. "My breasts are pretty firm, so I don't need that much support."

Paula smiled. "That's what it seemed like to me. Thank you." She moved the tape measure down, and said, "Stomach." After measure that, moved further down. "Hips."

As she wrapped the tape measure around Abbie's hips, the tape slipped and got twisted. She picked it back up, and held it together against Abbie's ass. Paula was very business like in her approach, and it seemed that it wouldn't have mattered if she was measuring a woman's ass or a folding chair, she'd have had the same demeanor.

"Are you willing to be barefoot on stage?" she asked.

Abbie nodded. "Yes, that's fine with me."

"We're looking at the midnight scene where you're in pajamas. Since the scene is fairly active -- you and what's-his-name have quite a conversation, move about the set a lot, and engage in some, well, physical activity, we want to make sure that costume is serving all its needs." Paula was a little vague, but the truth was that it was a bit of a love scene. Abbie and her scene partner had to kiss, have some brief foreplay-looking interaction, and then the lights would fade out before anything got more intimate.

"Sounds good," said Abbie. She wasn't saying so, but she was looking forward to that scene. Her scene partner was pretty cute, and even though they were being totally professional about the whole thing (plus, he was married!), it was fun to pretend all the intimate stuff they had to do.

Just then a man emerged from the next room. He was young, had dark skin and dark hair, was fairly tall and good looking. Abbie glanced over at him. "Hi, I'm Abbie."

He smiled at her. "I'm Douglas, nice to meet you. I'm Paula's assistant."

Paula nodded. "Okay, I think we have a few dresses to try on you, and then of course the pajamas."