I could not resist sitting on the bike. Being careful not to jostle it, I swung a leg over and put my butt on the fancy leather seat. I was surprised that I could reach all the controls and my legs were long enough to reach the footrests. I had seen a few at school, but I had never been on a motorcycle in my life. Yet this one felt comfortable. It was well-balanced too and I had no trouble standing it upright. The ignition switch was right under the handlebars, but there was no key in it. I got off the bike and walked back to the cabinets at the other end of the room. Opening the right-hand cabinet, I put my hand on the top shelf and felt around in the front corner. The key was right where I would have hidden it if I were Bambi Reynolds.
Once I had the key, I got back on the bike and put it into the switch. Imitating the guys who rode their bikes to school, I twisted the throttle once and turned the key. The engine fired up instantly.
I turned the key back off, leaned the bike back onto the kickstand and got the hell off. After I checked my shorts to make sure I had not wet them, I took the key and put it back in the cabinet. I walked back and looked at the bike. My stomach was still turning over in imitation of the motor. My heart was beating in the same quick pace as the motor's idle and I had to take a few deep breaths to get it to slow down. Nothing had ever scared me as much, or excited me as much, as the sound of that engine. To me, it sounded just like a dragon's roar. It wasn't ear-splittingly loud, but it had an awesomely powerful note of authority that brooked no argument. It made Brute's deep growl sound like the whine of a puppy. It seemed to continue bouncing off the hard walls and floor of the workshop even after I shut it off.
I opened the double-doors at the front of the room. Just outside was a concrete driveway leading around the corner of the house and down to the street. It was lined with evergreen trees on both sides, which is why I had never noticed it before. The trees hid it completely unless you were looking straight down it.
I turned off the lights and climbed back up to the second floor. As I walked down the hall I heard voices coming from one of the guest bedrooms and I went in. Lori, Sara and Neeka were trying on clothes and there was a large pile of clothes on the bed. I could hear Bambi's voice coming from the closet.
"I'm sure she'll be along soon, Neeka. But if you want to go look for... oh, here she is."
Neeka dropped the blouse she was about to try on and ran over and hugged me.
"Are you all right?" she whispered. "I got an image of you riding a dragon. You were scared to death."
"It's OK," I whispered back. "I'll show you the 'dragon' later. Right now it's a secret, OK?"
"OK. But you scared me. I thought something had eaten you... and it wasn't me." We both laughed at her joke.
Sara said, "Took you long enough! Neeka was worried. Don't tell us you got lost on the way down the stairs."
"No, I looked in on Jim and Bud. They went back to bed and they're both sound asleep. They must have had a rough night."
Neither Lori nor Sara had a reply to that. Beyond them, I could see Bambi trying to keep from smiling. Of course, I could not stop there.
"They both looked positively drained!" I said with as straight a face as I could manage.
Bambi was the first to lose her composure. When she started laughing, everyone else did, too.
"I mean, Bud could hardly get it up!" I had to almost shout over the giggling. Personally, I thought that one might have been one remark too many, but the whoops of laughter seemed to justify my effort.
If I had thought busty Bambi would have a hard time finding clothes to fit tall, slim Lori and Sara, I was very mistaken. This guest room closet seemed to be her storage for one-size-fits-all clothes. She had a large assortment of wrap-around and tie-on skirts and dresses, as well as tops that either adjusted to fit the wearer or could be worn by almost anyone.
Lori modeled a chamois skirt that was designed to resemble a Native American loincloth. It tied on both hips and left the outsides of the legs bare. The larger your hip measurement, the more skin showed. On Lori it only revealed a narrow slit down both sides. The top was a stretchy fishnet bra with feathers tied to it that would be risqué on someone with a large bustline, but on Lori, was quite modest. She even had a beaded headband to complete the Amerind-theme look.
Sara wore a blue two-piece set in a sheer ruffled material. The top was a ruffled boa that went around her neck and crossed in front. The ends of the boa held the loose-fitting skirt up. The ruffled hem of the skirt was cut diagonally from one hip to just above her other knee.
Neeka had on a shimmering-green spandex tube-top and a matching micro-miniskirt that was just a slightly wider version of the tube-top. The color went perfectly with her dark-red hair and the tight-fitting spandex showed off her figure nicely.
We spent the rest of the morning swapping outfits and trying on clothes in different combinations. It was a blast. I hadn't had so much fun in practically forever. Bambi joined right in with everyone else in trying things on and modeling. I could tell that she was having just as good a time as I was. She had always seemed much younger than her actual age to me, and in a roomful of teenage girls she was so relaxed and at ease that she fit right in. The way everyone talked and joked so easily with her, she might have been 18, instead of 30-something.