She gets a text from her best friend to meet her about something...

Marie was so preoccupied with trying to logic her way to maintaining her modesty that when her phone let out a chirp indicating she'd received a text message, she nearly launched her purse into the air.

It was from her best friend Erika, asking if she was here yet. She tapped out a quick confirmation and immediately received instructions to meet her in the girls bathroom closest to the stage along with a follow-up message saying, "WE'RE FINALLY GONNA DO IT I'VE BEEN WAITING YEARS FOR THIS!”

Marie drew a blank as to what she was referring to, but Erika had been a staple in her life so long, she could have been referring to anything. They had met early in high school, when Erika had walked out into the quad one lunchtime and spontaneously decided that she and the bookish Marie were friends and had been ever since. She was the wild to Marie's mild, making Marie push the envelope just a little bit more than she would otherwise feel comfortable. In turn, Marie softened Erika's edges and helped raised her GPA from slacker to respectable. They'd blossomed into two very distinct young women, but their differences always meant they had something to talk about.

When Marie arrived at the appointed bathroom, she was greeted by an 'out of order' sign. She gave a furtive glance to either side of her and quickly ducked in, shutting and locking the door behind her. That was Erika's influence. Four years ago she never would have thought about going somewhere off limits.

"DUDE! WE'RE GRADUATING!" Erika, in her cap and gown, ran to Marie and scooped her up in a massive bearhug. It was a typical greeting from Erika, but today there was something off about it... Something... softer?

"Erika... are you not wearing a bra?"

"Dude, I'm wearing a LOT less than 'not a bra'!" She unzipped and parted her gown to reveal a great deal more of her caramel skin and pubic hair than Marie had been expecting. She placed her hands on the sides of her flat stomach in a superman pose with a mischievous grin. She held this pose for a few seconds, before she stuck her tongue out and rocked her shoulders back and forth, causing her plump D cup breasts to bounce playfully. "Your turn!"

Marie responded with a bewildered expression. Why was Erika naked under her gown? Did she expect Marie to be naked too? Her mind reeled, before finally stumbling onto some bread crumbs set out by her memory.

It had been two years ago, the summer between their sophomore and junior year. Marie's parents had been out of town and Erika had stayed the night with a six pack of hard seltzers. It was her first time drinking and the topics had been myriad: boys they liked, *girls* they liked, goals for the future... At some point, Marie had started talking about how she wished she could be wilder and more uninhibited. When Erika inquired further, Marie clammed up. With a little bit of prying and another hard seltzer, she loudly said "I don't know! Maybe, we like, go naked under our robes for graduation!"

Erika got pumped. The girl was a known quantity when it came to risqué behavior. Whether it was skinny-dipping at the lake (Marie had kept on her very sensible one-piece), naked dares (Marie couldn’t help but suggest them), or sending Marie nude selfies about how rad her tits were looking that particular day (Marie almost responded with a pic where you could see some of her bra once), the girl certainly was brazen, if not an outright exhibitionist. Marie had forgotten about the suggestion entirely, but Erika had taken it to heart.

“I’m… not naked…” Marie said sheepishly, unzipping the front of her gown, revealing her dress.

Erika was unphased. “No worries, pop that bad boy off and I’ll hold onto it for you. I promise I’ll give it back after the ceremony.”

“Erika, you don’t understand. I’m valedictorian, I can’t do this. We were drunk when we decided to do this! What if something happens? What if everyone realizes I’m… naked under my robe?” Marie bit her lip. She felt her pussy tingle at the thought of it.

Erika, unflappable and resilient Erika, looked like she’d been shot through the heart. It was immediately clear to Marie that this meant a lot to her friend. She realized that in its own way, this was her graduation from Erika’s tutelage. The two girls were headed to different colleges on different sides of the country. They didn’t know when they’d get to see each other again once the summer ended. By refusing this, she’d be turning her back on all the time they’d spent together.

Marie couldn't believe it. She had expected loose nails and chemicals that dissolved fabric. Unrealistic flights of fancy that were best left to fiction written by perverts, for perverts on the internet. She never expected it to try and undress her with guilt. She mulled it over in her head for what felt like hours before giving a heavy sigh.

“Alright, give me a second. I’m gonna undress in the stall and I’ll hand my stuff out to you.” Marie stepped into one of the bathroom stalls and latched the door behind her. She removed her cap and gown and hung them on the jacket hooks on the stall door. She took a few heavy breaths and reached behind her to unzip the dress. Once unzipped, the dress went slack on her body and drooped on her shoulders. She carefully pulled the dress up over her head by the waist, holding it carefully in one hand as she gently pulled her panties down over her thighs, carefully lifting one foot out of her heels to tug them off one leg, then the other.

“Okay, I’m… naked!” Marie’s voice wavered slightly when she said the word naked. “You ready?”

Erika responded, “Yeah, just slide them over the top of the stall!” Marie cautiously fed her dress and panties over the stall and they were gingerly plucked out of her hands by her friend.

Marie stood there for a moment, remembering the arousal she’d felt earlier that morning. She was naked in public. Sure, she was in a bathroom stall but it was still well and outside her comfort zone. The tingle was a buzz now. She caressed her bare breasts and thighs and was about to probe her lips with a finger when she smelled something.

Was that… smoke? She bolted out of the stall without even throwing on her robe. When she emerged, she saw her friend squatting as she fiddled with a zippo lighter, robe still open, with embers of flame gently wafting off the rapidly immolating clothes in front of her.

“Erika!! What are you doing??” Marie hissed in such a way that it bordered on a shriek.

Erika stood up quickly and saluted like a soldier, breasts heaving once before settling again. “When you agreed to do this, you told me to, and I quote, ‘burn my clothes like Cortez burned his boats upon arrival in the New World to motivate his men’ so you can’t back out.”

The specific words clocked Marie as unfamiliar, but they had the vibe of something she’d have said. No doubt the ****’s doing. Or was it the notebook? Had she given it power to change the past? She frowned.

“Damn Marie, you run a tight ship down there. Do you wax?” Marie let out a tiny eep and threw her hands over her breasts and pussy. She’d rushed out here without thinking and now her best friend in the world was eye level with her most intimate of places. Her hand involuntarily cupped her breasts and the buzz grew even stronger.

She shuffled back into the stall and quickly threw on her gown and cap as she sheepishly explained that no, she didn’t wax. She just was a very meticulous shaver.

By the time she reemerged, what had once been a beautiful dress and modest pair of panties were just a pile of ashes. There was no going back.