(Ella)
I was on my way in the city when I saw a familiar shape in front of me. I recognized that thick red down jacket immediately - that had to be my good friend Lisbeth! She had her hood up, although it wasn't that cold and the weather was dry. That was a bit unusual, I hadn't seen her wear it often. But even seen from the back I was quite sure it was her - Lisbeth's jacket is quite unique. It's thicker than pretty much any jacket I've seen, and it's in a shiny red color that makes it hard to miss.
I closed the distance between us and dropped my arm around her shoulders. I must have scared her badly, she seemed very startled. "Hi, Lisbeth," I said. "Oh! Hi Ella." Now that she was turned towards me, it was my turn to be surprised. The hood of her down jacket was not merely up - it was tied firmly around her face, which made her look like an Eskimo. The hood looked really enormous like this. And under it I could see her white sweatshirt hood. I grinned at her.
"Wow, you are dressed warm!"
"Yes, I... felt a bit ill today."
"Oh, that's too bad. Will you be able to make it tonight?" We had planned an evening out with some friends that evening - me and Lisbeth and two other girls, Tamara en Paula. A restaurant, a movie, have a drink somewhere.
"Er, yes, I'll be okay."
"Good. Where are you headed now?"
"Nothing special, just looking at the shops a bit."
"Great, I have nothing to do either. I'll come along!"
Arm in arm we walked through the pedestrian zone. It occurred to me just how thick Lisbeth's jacket was. I couldn't even feel her arm through the soft padding of her sleeve. Suddenly I spotted a nice skirt in a shop window. "Oh, look. That skirt would suit me perfectly! I want to have a closer look at that." I turned towards the entrance but Lisbeth resisted. "Wait... I think I should go home now," she said. I was confused. "Why?" "Um. You know, to get ready for our evening out. I want to take a shower, and..." "Lisbeth, it's 3 o'clock now. You still have four hours to get all the showers you want. I just want to look at this skirt first, and you know how much I value your opinion about clothes. So let's go inside now, and after that we can go home and we'll have plenty of time until our dinner."
I still felt some resistance as I pulled Lisbeth along, but I ignored it. She was being a bit silly, I thought - there really was more than enough time left, and I wanted to try on, and maybe buy this nice skirt. While I tried to find the skirt I'd noticed, Lisbeth still had her hood up. "Aren't you going to take your hood off?" "No, I... don't feel very well, I'll just keep it up for now." She must be worse than I thought. I looked at her face, framed by the thick down hood. I realized that maybe she had wanted to go home because she was really quite ill. "Are you okay, Lisbeth? Maybe you'd better go home after all?" "Yeah, I think I'll do that."
I walked with her towards the exit door when suddenly a shop assistant appeared.
"Excuse me, miss, could you open your jacket for a moment please?"
"I... I was just leaving," Lisbeth sputtered.
"I know, but can you unzip your jacket for a moment please? I just need to see what you have underneath."
Apparently the shop assistant wanted to check that she had not hidden any clothes under her jacket. I couldn't really fault him for that, since Lisbeth looked so bulky in her down jacket. She could easily have another jacket underneath. Lisbeth unzipped the jacket and pushed her hood down... and revealed another down jacket! I was so confused I could only stare at her.
The second down jacket was identical to the other one, except it was black rather than red. And its hood was also tied around her face.
"I'm feeling pretty ill," Lisbeth explained to the shop assistant, who must no doubt have thought at first that he had caught a shoplifter. Luckily the jackets were of a brand that wasn't sold in this store.
"Can you unzip that one too?" the man asked.
"Um, yes." But instead of unzipping her jacket, Lisbeth reached behind her, in her neck. What was she doing? I looked closer and saw that the drawstrings of this hood were looped around the base of her hood and she was undoing a knot in her neck. Apparently the two jackets weren't completely identical - while the red one had elastic drawstrings, this was a normal, non-elastic cord. This was odd, it seemed as though she had in fact replaced the drawstrings.
Finally Lisbeth managed to undo the knot at the back of her neck. She quickly undid the knot in front of her and then she could at last push down the second down jacket hood, along with her sweatshirt hood, and unzip her jacket. The shop assistant saw that everything was okay, apologized for the inconvenience and left. So I was left with Lisbeth in her two jackets.
"Well, you were wrapped up even better than I thought," I commented.
"Yes, I was feeling really cold when I left, so I put on an extra jacket."
"I see. But why is it tied in your neck like that?"
"Oh, I... just... because..." Lisbeth stammered, but then she fell silent.
"Why?" I insisted.
"Well, you know... it's a bit embarrassing to wear my hoods like that. So I thought I would be tempted to take them off, but I didn't want that because I felt ill... That's why I knotted the inner one in my neck. This way I couldn't take off my hoods easily, because I'd have to reveal the second hood before I could take it off."
"So basically you prevented yourself from taking off your hoods, because you were afraid you'd do that?"
"Yeah."
"That's pretty clever actually."
"Can we go now? That shop assistant is still looking at me."
"Yes, but you have to put your hoods up first."
"I'll do that outside. I'd rather be out of here."
"No, Lisbeth. You said it yourself. That knot in your neck was to prevent you from taking off your hoods, because you'd be ashamed to wear them. You have to put them up again now. Here, I'll help you."
I carefully put up Lisbeth's sweatshirt hood and the inner jacket's hood. I zipped up her jacket and pulled the drawstrings of her hood tight. I did everything up just like it had been before, including the knot in her neck. I put up the second hood and made sure it covered the inner one nicely. When she was completely wrapped up again, I took her arm.
"Now we can go."
At the end of the pedestrian zone, we parted.
"Are you sure you'll make it tonight?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Okay then. See you tonight."
"Bye Ella."
"Oh, Lisbeth..." She turned back to me.
"You will make sure to be dressed like this tonight as well, right?"
"Oh, I thought... maybe... I'll see how I feel..."
"No Lisbeth. You will dress exactly like this." I looked her straight in the eyes. "Promise me, Lisbeth."
"Okay... I promise."
On the way home I thought about the knot that Lisbeth had tied in her neck to prevent herself from taking her hoods off. And about her reluctance at the end. I was sure that if I hadn't insisted, she wouldn't put on the second jacket tonight. It was clear to me that Lisbeth needed to be protected from herself. She must have felt really ill to dress like that, but when unimpeded she would take her hoods off anyway. I decided Lisbeth needed someone else in charge, who made sure she was dressed appropriately.
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(Lisbeth)
I was still in a bit of a shock after what happened that afternoon. I had been enjoying my little fetish when suddenly Ella had been there. I'd had no idea how to get rid of her and then the whole scene in the shop had happened. It had been very humiliating, and now Ella knew I'd been wearing two jackets. Even worse, I now had to wear them for our night out with Tamara and Paula as well.
I hesitated before putting on both jackets, but I could see no way out of it. Ella had made me promise, and I wouldn't be able to convince her that I was no longer 'ill'. Of course I never had been ill, it was just my excuse for being dressed like that, but I couldn't really tell her that. Because then she'd no doubt want to know why I had been in those jackets and hoods, and I didn't want to tell her about my fetish. So after much agonizing I decided I had no choice and put on my jackets and hoods.
I met Ella shortly before arriving at the restaurant where we had arranged to meet Tamara and Paula. As we arrived we could see our friends who were already inside. When we were about to enter, I hesitated and wanted to take my hoods off first. But Ella quickly grabbed one of my hands and pulled me with her. Of course Tamara and Paula were quite amazed when I had to reveal my second thick down jacket. Ella wasted no time in telling them the entire story of what had happened that afternoon. That was quite uncomfortable for me but there was nothing to be done about it.
We did not take too long at the restaurant since we wanted to go see a movie afterwards. When I put my first jacket on, Ella took charge. "It's colder now than it was this afternoon," she said, "so I think it's better if we tie your hoods a bit tighter now." So she pulled the hood tight around my face, until only my eyes and nose were visible. She knotted the drawstrings, went behind me and knotted them again in her neck, tying several knots so I knew I wouldn't get out easily. Only then she allowed me to put on my second jacket. Of course I had to tie that hood tighter as well, if only because otherwise the hood underneath would still be visible.
When I was well wrapped up we headed out. While I enjoyed being dressed like this I was very ashamed about it now. The thick, tight hoods hindered my sight, my hearing and my speech. But I was completely in Ella's hands for the rest of the night. After the movies we went to a couple of bars as well, and each time Ella made sure I was completely wrapped up before we left, and only helped me out well after we were inside, no matter how crowded and warm it was inside. And every time she tied my hoods tighter and tighter...
Yes, looking back at it, I think it was the best day of my life.
Overview
