The Fall Semester had just begun and students were flooding the school halls, filling them with sound. In the rush, a young woman carefully navigated through the crowd. She was wearing a knee-length skirt and a cardigan, and her hands rested atop the large tote bag slung across her shoulder.
"Oh my god, Flo!" A girl called out to her. She turned to look for the source of the voice. "It IS you!"
"Amy! I'm so glad to see you," replied Florence. She would have waved.
"Me too! I didn't think you would..." Amy looked down, slightly confused by the sight of hands. "...be here. After... I'm sorry, anyway, do you have classes today?"
"Yes, I have a Psych class this afternoo--" Someone collided into Florence. The impact caused the mannequin arm stuffed up her right sleeve to become dislodged and clatter on the floor.
"Flo!! What the--" gasped Amy, now seeing an empty cardigan sleeve. It hung loosely from Florence's shoulder.
"Don't just STARE Amy, grab it!!"
"Oh, uhh..." She quickly snatched it up and tried to hand it back to her friend.
Florence rolled her eyes. "This one's fake too. Geez Amy, here... Follow me." She led Amy to a bench outside and gestured for her to sit down with her chin. "OK, just pull back my cardigan and slide the hand through."
Amy got a clear look at Florence's shoulder; it was round and smooth, with just a hint of a scar. She delicately maneuvered the mannequin hand through the sleeve, but kept getting the thumb caught on the seam.
"God Amy, it's not that hard. I'm going to be late!"
"Flo, I--What the hell is going on? I didn't even think I'd see you in school." She stuck her tongue through her lips in concentration.
"Why wouldn't I be here? That was two years ago, sheesh... and hurry!"
Amy was sweating now. Florence had always been on the pushy side, but this was beyond awkward. She finally managed to push the false arm through the sleeve. "There, is that OK?"
"Now set them on my bag so they don't fall out again." Amy did so, and Florence shimmied a bit, testing the position. "OK good."
"Um.. Flo? Why not get actual, you know... REAL fake arms?"
"Ugh, they look gross. OK, I'll see ya round!" Florence stood and left Amy sitting there in a stupor.
"You're... welcome?"
---
Florence yawned and restlessly bounced her feet with impatience. She had an appointment with her guidance counselor, and had been sitting there for what felt like hours. It had been fifteen minutes. She thought back to her interaction with Amy. Why are people so WEIRD about this? It's not like I'm ugly now or something. How annoying...
"Florence? Florence Miller?" Finally.
Florence stood and nodded. "Here."
"Great! I'm Judy, please follow me!" They headed back to Judy's office, which was small and crammed with books and binders. "Please take a seat Florence."
"Flo."
"Flo it is!" Judy made a couple of notes in a file. "I wanted to meet up with you in order to discuss accessibility options we have for people in situations like yours."
"Cool! Do I get a helper or something?" Getting a personal assistant was something she was hoping for. It would sound cool dropping 'my personal assistant' into conversations.
"Potentially! I see you have prostheses, how have you been able to adapt to them?"
"No way, these are just for appearances. I hated those things. Yuck city." Flo made a gross-out face. "It's the first day at school, and I don't need people staring at me. Anyway, when do I get my personal assistant? It's free right? Can I take them home?"
Judy was not prepared for this. She was accustomed to working with people who had a quiet dignity, or were in an emotional struggle. People she could empathize with, and work with to make at least one part of their lives a little more bearable. Florence was... a JERK!
Their conversation had Judy on the defensive. Student Aids were available for class-based activities. Taking notes and helping navigate places like the library, they did NOT help with shopping or chores. Nor did they cook or drive people around town.
Florence frowned. "Sounds kinda chintzy, but I'll take what I can get. My first class is this afternoon--Millcrest Hall, room D22. They just meet me there right?"
"Sure, Florence."
"Flo." She stood to leave. "Door?" Judy hesitantly rose and opened it for the armless young woman. Florence walked passed her and called out, "I'm gonna need you to open these too, thanks."
---
Florence got off the bus and walked to her apartment. She banged on the door with her knee. A few moments she banged on it again, and was about to attack it a third time when her roommate opened the door. "Sorry, Flo! I was in the restroom."
"Hey Maggie, no big. I'm just wiped out from carrying all this crap. Help?" She stood by the coat rack expectantly.
"Oh, sorry Flo!" Maggie hoisted the shoulder bag over her roommate's head. "Woof, this is heavy!" She hung it on the rack. Flo shimmied her shoulders and her mannequin arms slid out. "Let me get those."
"Could you take my sweater too?" It easily came off, and Flo stretched. Beneath, she was wearing a tank top which revealed the size of her breasts. They weren't huge, but having no arms, they were actually visible from behind. Flo plopped on the couch as Maggie took her things to her room.
Maggie eventually joined her with a glass of water with a straw in it. She held it to Florence who leaned over and took a sip. "How was school, Flo?"
"So crazy! They got me a personal assistant! His name is Martin. Kind of a dork, he keeps stuttering."
Maggie adjusted her glasses. "He's probably just nervous. You're really beau-- good looking. Boys used to chase you all over in high school."
"Well he's a geek, who cares. Mags, help me with my bra? I'm done with this thing." Florence sat up and arched her back. Her slender, empty shoulders and large bust made for a stunning profile.
Maggie's glasses fogged up as she reached down her friend's back, under the tank top and undid the hooks. She pulled the wings up, shimmied the bra to free the cups. The bra was slowly coming loose so she wiggled a little more and pulled it out. It resulted in Florence's breasts flopping out of the front of her tank top. Maggie was oblivious and trotted back to Florence's room to deposit the bra on her bed.
"Uhh, Maggie?" Florence was trying her best to grab the seam of her top with her toes, but having trouble. Both of her feet were now up, and her skirt had ridden up to her hips.
"Just a sec," her friend called out from the other room. When she returned, she could see the state Florence was in. "Oh my god, I'm sorry!" She ran over and pulled the top back in place. "Is that OK?"
"Just be more careful, geez." Florence shrugged with what was left of her shoulders to help the top settle a little better. Her breasts undulated with each gesture. "How can you even see like that?"
Maggie's glasses were now completely misted over.
---
Flo and Maggie had been friends since middle school. One had blossomed into a beautiful, outgoing woman; the other into an introverted bookworm. Maggie helped Flo with studies and was a shoulder to cry on when a boy had jilted her friend's heart. Flo got Maggie into the cool kids' group by proxy, so she got hob nob with the class royalty. They were a bit of an odd couple, but their friendship had remained tight. Especially after The Accident.
Maggie had been there for every step of the recovery process, and when Florence had decided she wanted to return to academia, she went too. This was a huge relief to Florence's mother, who was somewhat obsessive about her little girl's well being. Maggie thought it was going to be wonderful to spend her time with her best friend in the world, but... it was torture. Maggie was in love, and had been for some time. Her dedication to helping Flo navigate her new life without arms was her constant love letter.
Flo, being her usual self, was oblivious to Maggie's accidental stares and touches that lasted a little too long. On top of that, Florence was lazy. The effort of putting on clothes just to eat some breakfast wasn't worth it; she'd often just plop down at the dining table in a ratty t-shirt and undies. It drove Maggie crazy, having the object of her desire wandering around the apartment in her underwear. Even more so, as Florence frequently asked for help getting dressed. Those moments took all of Maggie's self control to act calmly.
---
It was the end of her first week in classes, and Florence was on her way home. It had gone surprisingly well! Martin had shown up for all of her classes and did what did what he was told. When Florence crossed the line beyond his actual responsibilities, he'd try to stutter something incomprehensible at her, but she'd do something simple like 'accidentally' rub her leg against his, or maybe bite her lip and say, "Oh but, Martin..." in her best vocal fry. SO easy.
She hopped off the bus, walked to her apartment and banged on the door with her knee. She banged on it a couple of times more to no response.
"Maaaaaaggie!" Nothing. "Geez, Maggie." Florence bent over and let her bag rest on the ground, then angled her head to be free of the strap. She kicked off her shoe and wrestled her foot out of her sock, then used her toes to rummage through her bag. She eventually located her phone and wrapped a couple of toes around the edge of it, pulling it out.
The phone lit up: Four missed calls. Florence rolled her eyes and carefully sat on the ground. Good thing I didn't wear a skirt today. She angled the phone to a better position in front of her and unlocked it with her toe. She went to Voicemail and tapped Speaker.
"Hey, it's Maggie. I'm really sorry, we're short people today and I've been asked to work late. There's leftover pizza in the fridge though! I hope it's not too hard to manage."
Florence sighed. She kicked the phone back onto her bag and shifted to her knees. The tassel on her key ring hung out of the side pocket. She bit on it gently and pulled her keys out. Now bent over her bag, she dropped her keys on top of it and spread them out with her nose, singling out the one for the apartment door.
She got back up and wrapped her toes around the key, then lifted it up to the door. She rested her armless shoulder against the stucco wall and slowly tried to insert the key into the lock. It took a couple of tries, but the key finally went in. Once it was in place she dropped her leg for a moment to let it rest. Florence lifted it back up and carefully used her toes to turn... and thankfully heard the latch.
Then she switched feet, and raised her other foot and used the sole of her shoe to get purchase on the door knob. It slowly rotated and the door opened.
"Oh my gawwwwd, FINALLY." She looped her foot through the strap of her back and flung it inside. Florence carefully bit down on the key and jimmied it out of the lock and simply dropped them on the floor, kicking the door shut. She was sweating, and just wanted to peel her icky, damp clothes off so she could take a shower and freshen up. As hungry as she was, this needed to be step one.
The first part took forever; she had learned how to use her feet for most tasks, but it was so awkward and weird looking. Plus her arms were--sigh--LEGS were too tired to mess with her clothes, so she used the friction of her bed and her teeth to get her top off. She leaned over the corner of her dresser drawer to grab the bridge of her bra, freeing the cups and making it easier to shimmy off by bending over. Her stomach growled.
When it came to her shorts, Florence instinctively tried to unbutton them with her hands. There were moments when she was tired and just plain forgot. The only things with mass on her torso now were her boobs, which seemed to say, "No" at her as they shook. "Gahhhh, fucking... BUTTONS!! I'm in college!" She opened the drawer closest to her waist, squatted and got purchase on on the band of her shorts. As she stood, they began to slide down her rump. A little further... and they cleared her hips. Her undies had thankfully followed and she was able to shake them off.
"Finally..." She was ready for her shower... But then again, her stomach reminded her of how empty it was. "OK, just a slice."
In the nude, she padded into the kitchen and pulled the refrigerator door open with her foot. She pulled the pizza box with her toe and got it to the point that she could wedge it between her chin and shoulder. She slowly balanced it and set it on the counter. With her teeth, she was able to open the box and raise it enough to keep the it open.
Florence needed some paper towels, so she used her teeth to peel some sheets from the vertical roller on the counter. She let go of them and pressed her boobs on the loose sheets to anchor them, then used her face to push the roller backward, in hopes of getting the perforation to tear. So... fucking close... Got it! The sheets came loose and she picked them up with her mouth.
The front door jiggled and opened. It was Maggie. "Flo? Oh! Uhhh!"