As the afternoon went on, the sun shining in through the window began to make the alcove that three of you were sitting in rather warm, while it wasn’t quite enough to force Kate to take off her sweater, it did give you a thought. Making an excuse, you stood up and walked away from the table, and once you were out of sight, began looking for a thermostat. The heat for the floor might be centrally controlled, but you figure it’s just possible that the heating system was designed to allow people in the library to control the heat for the area they were in. After walking along an inside wall for a minute, you discovered a thermostat with the designation “2nd floor library, NE wing”. After checking to see if anyone was paying attention, you turned the knob on the thermostat up ten degrees.
You returned to the table where the girls were, and it was as though nature were on your side. The sun was shining directly on to Meryl. You looked at the way directly behind Meryl and Kate, and noticed the narrow heating vent. You could feel the warm air pour through. No one commented, but Kate nonchalantly took off her sweater, under which she was wearing a cotton tank-top. Meryl, meanwhile was starting to sweat pretty noticeably, and the heat was still rising.
It didn’t take much longer before Meryl had sweat enough that her light sweater was starting to cling to her body in a way that invited scrutiny of what she was wearing underneath.
“Meryl, you’re clearly sweating, why don’t you take off that sweater? It’s ridiculous,” Kate suggests, and if she has any idea of why Meryl is still wearing the sweater, it doesn’t show.
“Yeah Meryl, we’re going to be heading to the bar later, you don’t want to be all gross with sweat, do you?” You chime in.
Meryl just glares at you, but with beads of sweat forming on her forehead, it’s clear that Meryl is going to have to do something. Thankfully, after a minute of silence, Kate decides to take a moment to go to the bathroom.
“Ok, god, can I please have my bra and shirt back. That was amusing, but it’s hot in here and I can’t just sit here topless?”
“It’s true, you can’t sit here topless. So, I’ll tell you what I’ll give you your top back, but instead, you have to move to my side of the table and work the rest of the afternoon without your pants or underwear on.”
“WHAT?! Absolutely not, and I can’t believe that you would suggest that! Our little dare earlier was amusing, but that’s taking it too far.”
“Ok, but then the deal is off and I want my money back.”
“That’s fine, take it, but get the hell out of here! I’m definitely not interested in going to the bar with you now, and I’ll make sure that you don’t get anywhere with Kate. Just get lost. Creep.”
You’re actually a little taken aback by her response. Up to this point you had sorta thought you were just playing a little game with her and that she was mostly faking her outrage. Unfortunately, it turns out that despite your earlier success, Meryl really doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.
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