She waits for Jenna

Hannah shook her head.

"I'll wait. She promised."

The girl looked a little disappointed, but she stayed. They sat in an awkward quiet while the party thudded on the other side of the wall. Hannah kept the key in her fist so tightly it hurt. At least she had that. She just needed something, anything, to put on.

Just as she was starting to believe Jenna really had passed out somewhere, there was a stumble and a giggle from the hedge.

"Hah-nnah? You still there? I got you stuff!"

Jenna lurched around the wall with a plastic bag and a proud, drunken grin. She took in the other girl, then Hannah, still completely nude on the rubber mat, and did not seem nearly as shocked as she should have been.

"Oh, hi. I brought clothes! I told you I'd be quick."

It had not been quick. And when she upended the bag, Hannah understood why this was going to be almost as bad as staying naked.

A tiny black dress spilled out. It was the sort of thing you wore over a bikini, if you were being generous. The neckline plunged. The hem, even before anyone put it on, looked like it would barely clear a pair of underwear. Jenna had not brought underwear.

"It's... it's a bit slutty, sorry," Jenna said, not looking sorry. "It was on my chair. Everything else is in the wash. But it's clothes! See?"

Hannah stared at it. Then at her own bare body. Then at the two girls watching her. The investigating girl had a hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh.

"That's all you have?"

"That's all I have that would fit you. You're small. Put it on, come on, you're freezing."

Hannah put it on. There was no dignified way to do it, crouched behind a slide. The fabric clung. It was stretchy and thin and it stopped high on her thighs. When she tugged the hem down, the top slipped. When she pulled the top up, she felt air on her ass. She was pretty sure that if she bent over even a little, the whole party would get the rest of the show they had been hoping for. She had nothing on underneath. The key had nowhere to go but her hand.

"There," Jenna said, delighted. "You look hot."

"I look like I lost a bet."

"You kind of did, though."

The other girl stood up, still glancing at Hannah's legs. "I should get back. For what it's worth, the guys have probably moved on. Probably."

She left them. Hannah did not ask her not to mention this to anyone. It was too late for that.

Jenna walked her as far as the hedge. After that, Hannah was on her own. She took the long way around the party, the dress riding up with every step, one hand glued to the hem and the other clutching her key like a lifeline. People still saw her. Of course they did. A girl in a dress that short, flushed and barefoot, hurrying along the edge of a loud garden, was not invisible. Someone whistled. Someone else laughed and said something she did not catch. She kept her head down and did not stop.

The park path felt endless. Under the lantern she was lit up for a second, the cheap black fabric shining, her thighs bare, and then she was past it and at her own gate. She fumbled the key into the lock with shaking fingers and almost dropped it. The dress had ridden up again. She shoved it down, got the door open, and fell inside.

She peeled the thing off in the hallway and left it on the floor. For a long time she just stood there in her own house, finally naked in a way that did not matter, and waited for her face to stop burning.

It had been humiliating. That was the word. Not exciting, not in the way the rest of the night had been. Just stupid and exposed and seen, in a dress that did none of the work of actual clothes. She showered until the water ran cold, ignored her phone, and went to bed with her hair still wet.

She would have to lay low for the rest of the summer. At least she was doing an internship abroad next semester. By the time she came back, maybe people would have forgotten the girl in the tiny black dress, running home like she had something to hide. Which, of course, she had.