Gina slid behind the wheel of her car, grateful that another week of work had passed by in an uneventful fashion that allowed long lunches with Amanda and office betting with Danny. Their latest bet had been on whether a new cadet would last the week. Gina had put $5 on her leaving within three days while Danny had upped the anti by placing $10 on the cadet staying. It looked like Danny might win as the new girl was a dedicated worker. So Gina had taken it upon herself and corned the poor girl in the toilets. She laid on her a whole host of ugly press stories that were entirely false and so it was only Danny that was surprised when the girl left a day later in floods on tears.
          Also making Gina's week far more pleasant than the last was the fact her cold was all but gone. To make sure it didn't return she'd started drinking orange juice religiously and trying to get a bit of exercise. Well, there was little else to do seeing as she'd only seen Paul once. He'd turned up around 10pm, they'd had sex and by the time she'd woken he was nowhere to be found. Although, he had left her a voice message everyday professing his undying love, so she didn't deem him a total arse.
          She battled the Friday afternoon traffic while listening to a radio jock rabbiting on about the latest competition they were running. Eventually Gina managed to pull into the parking lot of the local supermarket and locked her car before making her way through the electronic doors. Inside it was crammed with other workers who were stocking up on goods for the weekend along with beleaguered mothers and decrepit old people who stood milling around like they’d been planted there just to annoy people.
          Gina grabbed a trolley and began piling it with supplies, she dodged several children before finding herself stuck behind a couple of old biddies who were in deep conversation about hip replacements in front of the milk fridge.
          “Excuse me,” Gina said politely but the women ignored her. “Excuse me,” she said a little louder. Still the women insisted on ignoring her and Gina let out a huff, parked her trolley near the ice cream freezer and turned around fiercely. “Excuse me I’d like some milk before you ladies keel over and I hit menopause,” she declared pushing past them to retrieve the cartons she wanted. “Thank you,” Gina sneered and went back to the rest of her shopping as several shoppers mumbled how rude she was.
          It didn’t take long before Gina stumbled up the stairs to her apartment, three bags of groceries in each hand and her keys between her teeth. She placed one lot of bags on the ground and unlocked the door before she had to pick it up again and stagger inside
         . Gina reached the kitchen door and dropped all her bags heavily onto the lino floor. Paul was dipping a teabag and looked at her puffed, red face amused.
          “Hey, you did the shopping,” he chirped, motioning to the bags at her feet.
          “Wait,” Gina declared, frowning as she stalked toward the fridge. “Don’t I know you? Hold on, weren’t we dating once?”
          Paul stopped dunking his teabag and crossed his arms. “No, must have been your sexier flatmate.”
          Gina, who was gulping from a bottle of water, nearly gagged. “Yeah must have been,” she breathed. “I’ve been desperate honey,” she continued and looked him up and down. “But never that desperate.”
          “Ohh.” Paul giggled and pretended to flash his claws while growling. “Are you ovulating or something?”
          “Possibly,” Gina sighed, putting the lid back on her bottle of water. “But I’m actually considering a cull of old people, especially in supermarkets.”
          "Oh what did the festering, incontinent community of Australia do to you huh?” Paul chided. “You want one?” he added motioning to his mug of tea.
          “They set up a false hip barricade of the dairy products,” Gina pouted. “Yes please,” she added, wrapping her arms around him from behind, her chin resting on his shoulder. “Where have you been all week huh?”
          “I think it’s more a case of where haven’t I been?” Paul sighed as he grabbed another mug and proceeded to make Gina tea. “I’ve been doing GNW shit mostly. I tried to write an article which turned into some song lyrics, a sketch of my left foot and three games of Solitaire. Not to mention organising stuff for today’s breakfast show.”
          “Aw,” Gina cooed, nibbling his earlobe. “Never mind, you’ve got the weekend free.”
          “I wish,” Paul sighed as he finished stirring the mugs of tea. “I’ve got some charity thing tomorrow night.”
          “Charity thing?”
          “I think it’s for Variety Club or something,” Paul sighed as he handed her a mug of tea. “They want Mikey and I to do a bit of humorous commentary.”
          “So you’ll be fraternising with the celebrity masses again huh?” Gina pouted, taking her mug and sipping its sweet contents.
          “Yeah, it’s a hard life,” Paul mused. “You’ll come right?” he added, guiding her to him with his free hand.
          “Me?” Gina gasped. “You don’t want me there. I mean, I was only at the ARIA’s because of work…”
          “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want you there,” Paul frowned. “All you have to do if throw on a nice frock and smile a lot.”
          “Yeah but I promised not to follow you everywhere,” Gina winced. “And besides, I don’t have a nice, celebrity meeting frock.”
          “Genie are you even listening?” Paul chided and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “I want you with me. You’re my woman, why shouldn’t you attend functions with me?”
          “Because you’re you and I’m me,” Gina gasped. “Did I not mention the lack of nice frocks in my wardrobe.”
          “What do you mean I’m me and you’re you?” Paul frowned, starting to get frustrated. “And I’ll buy you a fucking frock!”
          Gina moved away from him, placed her mug on the breakfast bar and fiddled uncomfortably with the rings on her fingers. “Well, ah, you’re very good at these types of events and I’m just little old me who is hardly going to look vaguely glamorous in a room full of celebrities including, well, you.”
          Paul rolled his eyes. “You think I care what anyone else looks like? Christ, it was bad enough at the ARIA’s having half the men in the room checking you out,” he declared, putting his mug down. He sauntered over and rested his hands gently on her arms. “To me you’ll be the most beautiful woman there, even if you turn up in a fucking garbage bag.”
          “Thanks,” Gina smiled slightly and they shared a gentle kiss. “You know I think I am ovulating.”
          Paul shook his head and smiled. “Did you buy anything frozen?”
          “Only ice cream why?” Gina asked as she went to kiss him again and then squeaked. “Oh shit!”
          “I’ll help you put the shopping away shall I?” Paul sniggered as Gina started pawing through the bags before the ice cream turned to a watery milky mess.

          Gina snatched up her bag from where it had been abandoned in the kitchen as Paul emerged from the bedroom looking pleasantly disheveled.
          “Going somewhere?” he asked, scratching his stomach and yawning.
          “I’m going dress shopping,” Gina replied. “Since you insist I go to this charity thing with you.”
          “Oh, want me to go with you?”
          Gina raised an eyebrow. “Hon, while I value your opinion, no.”
          “Hey, I’ll have you know I have a great taste in fashion,” Paul groused, pouting.
          “You’re wearing purple underwear!” Gina declared and brushed a kiss against his cheek. “Besides, Amanda has offered to assist me.”
          “Fine,” Paul sighed, seeing nothing wrong with his purple undergarments. “Can I at least pay for your new frock?”
          “You don’t need to do that,” Gina cooed as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pondered the idea of ignoring the need for a dress and ripping Paul’s underwear off with her teeth instead.
          “I want to, I do,” Paul smiled, unwrapping himself from her and descending back into the bedroom. He returned a few moments later with a cheque. “There ya go.”
          Gina took the cheque and he watched her eyes go wide. “$500, for a dress?”
          “Is it not enough?” Paul asked, realising he really wasn’t actually sure of the costs of women’s evening attire.
          “Enough? It’s too much,” she gasped. “I could get a dress, shoes, sexy lingerie, have my hair done and still have change.” She passed him back the cheque but he refused to take it.
          “So do that, go treat yourself,” Paul encouraged, closing her hand around the paper money. “Go wild, I don’t care, I can afford it.”
          “Are you sure?” Gina winced as a car horn beeped loudly to the tune of ‘la cucaracha’ which indicated that Amanda had arrived.
          “Yes, come back looking even more amazing than you do now,” Paul grinned. “Especially the whole sexy lingerie thing yeah?”
          “You are a gorgeous man,” Gina smiled and pulled him close as they shared a heated kiss. The car horn went off again and Gina forced herself to pull away from him.
          “Better go before Amanda comes in here and drags you out,” he mused as Gina quickly straightened herself and put the cheque safely in her purse.
          “Going, I’ll see you tonight,” Gina called as she raced out of the apartment. “And don’t wear purple undies tonight!” she added before closing the door loudly.

          “How much did you say he gave you again?” Amanda asked as Gina reappeared from the bank after cashing Paul’s cheque.
          “500,” Gina shrugged, slipping the money quickly into the confines of her bag.
          “And he expects you to get a dress for that?” Amanda sighed. “Tight arse.”
          “Mandy!” Gina gasped. “It’s far too much as it is and I refuse to pay extraordinary amounts of money for a bit of fabric.”
          “But $150 for a pair of jeans is fine?”
          “That was only once and I got them because I didn’t have to take them up,” Gina frowned, looking down at her jeans.
          “Of course you did darling,” Amanda chided. “Come on, I know the perfect shop for you.”
          “The excitement,” Gina sighed as her friend dragged her into a rather cluttered boutique.
          The shop was lined with dresses in varying colours, sizes and styles and while Gina quickly hovered to the black numbers, Amanda started poking around the brighter colours. It didn’t take Gina long to contemplate a plain black cocktail dress which promised not to cost the earth.
          “Hey Mandy what do you…”
          “This one, you have to get this one,” Amanda declared, holding up a striking long red dress.
          “Hmm let me think,” Gina mused. “NO!”
          “Oh why not?” Amanda pouted. “You’ll look a million dollars in it.”
          “I bet it costs that much too,” Gina frowned, putting her hands on her hips.
          “Actually it’s only $200, it’s on sale,” Amanda grinned. “Oh at least try it on.”
          Gina rolled her eyes, “Ok, fine but I’m not buying it.” She stalked over to Amanda and snatched up the dress.
          “You’ll have Pauly salivating,” Amanda teased and watched an almost excitable glint flicker in Gina’s eye before she disappeared into the changing room.
          Gina made sure the curtain was pulled across before she stripped off her jeans and shirt and pulled the slinky red dress on. It wasn’t until she had it on that she discovered that either side had a thigh high split, while the top was a rather low cut, spaghetti-strap deal.
          “Let’s have a look at you then,” Amanda announced and poked her head around the curtain.
          “Hey, I could’ve been naked,” Gina scorned as she tried to catch a glimpse of herself at every angle. “It looks bad right?”
          “Gina honey, if I were a lesbian you’d been in serious trouble right now,” Amanda teased. “You look stunning, I’m jealous.”
          “You think?”
          “Oh please, you know you look good,” Amanda chided. “You go in that and you’ll have Paul a pile of McDermott sized putty all night.”
          Gina smiled broadly and then pouted model style into the mirror. “And to think I promised him sexy lingerie too.”
          “Oh I remember sexy lingerie,” Amanda mused whimsically. “A small lacy deal, not so good when you’re breastfeeding.”
          “But effective for McDermott sized putty,” Gina grinned as she stripped the dress back off and passed it through the curtain, along with the hanger to Amanda.
          “Thankyou for crushing the last of my spirit,” Amanda declared, narrowing her eyes as Gina fell against the mirror as she struggled with her jeans. “Did you hurt yourself?”
          “Ow, yes,” Gina groused.
          “Oh good,” Amanda chided and headed off to the counter with the dress.

          Paul lay sprawled on Gina’s couch sporting only his underwear and Gina’s dressing gown. He hadn’t bothered to shower and instead was working on a rather large bowl of cornflakes. His mobile phone rang and he quickly swallowed his mouthful before answering.
          “Hello you’ve reached the number of Spankurama the sexist nightspot in Sydney. This is Ralf speaking how can I help you?” he announced in his best sleazy strip joint owner voice.
          “Yeah g’day mate, I’m looking for a private dance, if you know what I mean? From that hot blonde ‘Steamy Genie’,” came Mikey’s reply.
          Paul started to giggle. “You be nice about my woman.”
          “Or what? You’ll attack me with a paintbrush?”
          “They’ll have your eye out,” Paul huffed and made a ‘plock’ noise to indicate the noise an eye gouging might make.
          “You have some serious issues my friend.”
          “At least I don’t call people wanting lap dances from their girlfriends.”
          “Speaking of which can I talk to her? She makes more sense than you.”
          “Ah get stuffed,” Paul chided. “So is there an actual reason you called.”
          “Yes, my furry little friend. I was wondering if you’re wearing a tux tonight?”
          “Nah, I’m gonna wear the velvet,” Paul replied. “Genie likes it.”
          “Genie likes it,” Mikey mocked.
          “At least there’s enough velvet to make me a suit.”
          “Yeah, it’s amazing what you can pick up from Osh Gosh for Kids these days.”
          “Oh very funny,” Paul said with mock annoyance. “Why do you want to know anyway? Have we started couple dressing?”
          “Right down to the matching silk boxers,” Mikey teased.
          “You said you’d never bring that up again,” Paul gasped and then giggled. “Is Laura coming?”
          “At this very moment…”
          “To the charity thing!”
          “Yeah,” Mikey sniggered. “She’s out having her hair done or something.”
          “Genie’s buying a frock,” Paul sighed. “What is it with women and the effort they go into for a night out?”
          “I know, I haven’t even showered,” Mikey agreed.
          “I’m still in my underwear.”
          “Yeah, that was too much information.”
          “So, see you in the limo tonight then?” Paul laughed sticking a spoonful of cornflakes into his mouth.
          “Yes, later darling,” Mikey chided and ended the call.
          Paul lobbed his phone into an armchair and got himself comfortable so he could finish his cornflakes.

          Gina had tried to take in what the hairdresser was saying, but the man was so flamboyant that she became transfixed on a pendant around his neck like a magpie and hadn’t really paid attention at all to what he said. Still as he blow dried her now copper streaked locks, she wasn’t unimpressed with his work, even though it cost a lot more than she was happy with. Amanda sat in a chair beside her, diligently holding onto the bag that contained the dress, along with the sexy, strappy red sandals she’s insisted Gina buy and some raunchy red undies and a lacy red corset. Well, at least Paul would be getting some enjoyment out of his money.
          “See how the highlights just frame your face darling,” the hairdresser babbled as he continued to attack her with a large round brush.
          “Oh yes,” Gina said with more sarcasm than she’d meant, but really she couldn’t have cared any less if she’d tried.
          “It also gives you a lot more body,” he continued putting the hair drier down and grabbing a round mirror to show her the back.
          “It looks great,” Gina smiled deciding it actually did look rather nice. The hairdresser removed the plastic cape from around her neck and she got to her feet. “Thankyou.”
          “My pleasure,” the hairdresser perked and then charged her a ludicrous amount of money.
          “I’ll bet,” Gina mumbled as she followed Amanda back to the car. “Now what?”
          “We get back to my place, get you all ready and then watch that man of yours become completely useless.”
          “Yeah, somehow I doubt that’ll happen,” Gina laughed.
          “You’d be surprised,” Amanda grinned and winked. “Especially when I’m finished with you.

          Paul checked his reflection in the mirror, he was looking rather dashing even if he did say so himself. After falling asleep for a couple of hours on Gina’s couch, he’d quickly dressed and caught a cab home. In the sanctity of his apartment he finally shaved, showered put on his good black underwear and proceeded to get his velvet suit on. Once he had his satin shirt and velvet pants on he headed back to the bathroom to do his hair. Halfway there he heard the front door go and looked over to see Gina saunter in.
          “Hi!” she perked, placing a few shopping bags on the floor.
          “Hey,” Paul smiled back and continued to the bathroom until reality set in and he did a double take. “Mary mother of god!”
          “What?” Gina asked innocently as Paul made his way over somewhat gingerly. He looked her up and down, from the red sandals, to the dress, generous cleavage, soft-looking hair and then back to her cleavage. She looked at him blankly as he seemed to lose the power of speech.
          “You, you look…that dress…I…I can’t find words.”
          “You approve though right?” Gina smiled and realised Amanda was right and Paul did appear to be salivating.
          “Approve? Yes, me and all the blood rushing form my head approve,” Paul said breathlessly as he gently reached out to stroke the fabric that covered her stomach. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re mine.”
          “Aww,” Gina cooed, feeling her cheeks redden to the colour of her dress. She let her fingers caress his shoulder and then leaned forward to drop a kiss on his cheek. “I remembered the sexy lingerie too.”
          Paul made a strangled sound in his throat and looked down to see her lift one of the slits high enough to reveal a red suspender. His pants suddenly started to feel very tight and he fought for words again. “I ah, I have to finish getting ready for the…thingo.”
          “Well don’t let me stop you,” Gina shrugged, noticing his hand was sitting on her waist without any intention of moving.
          “Oh please, feel free to stop me,” Paul swallowed and felt his heart jump into his throat when Gina gave him a very sexy light kiss on his lips.
          “I think Christmas just came early,” he said in a barely audible voice. Gina smiled, teasingly ran a hand over his rear and left him standing in a giddy state.

          “You’re very quiet,” Gina chided ten minutes later as they waited at the kerb for the limousine to appear.
          “Are you surprised?” Paul gasped, his hands dug deep into his pockets. “You’re looking mind blowingly sexy and I’m using all my will power not to ravish you.”
          “You can ravish,” Gina shrugged. “The dress isn’t breakable you know.”
          “My pants might be,” Paul chided and Gina giggled.
          “Not a hope in hell.”
          “Nasty,” Paul teased and pulled her into his arms, something he’d been dying to do since he’d first set eyes on her that evening. His hands relished the feel of the soft fabric against her warm skin and he breathed in her sweet smelling perfume that only added to his overwhelming desire to go back upstairs and make love to her until dawn. “You really need to frock up for me more often.”
          “So I can see,” Gina mused as she felt his hand creep through one of the slits and grope her thigh.
          “I really don’t want to share you dressed like that with anyone,” Paul breathed as their lips edged closer. “I just want to explore this side of you all by myself.”
          “Y’know, Amanda was right,” Gina smiled, her lips just touching Paul’s. “You’re putty in my hands.”
          “Mould me, shape me, cram me into all your nooks and crannies,” Paul said breathlessly. “I am a pathetic, sex obsessed male who is weakened by the sight of a beautiful women in a sexy red dress and alluring underwear and I’m totally at your mercy.”
          “Just the way I like it,” Gina mumbled as they went to kiss but were interrupted by the sound of the limousine pulling up in front of them.
          “One minute, why couldn’t you be one minute late,” Paul wailed as the door opened and Mikey, Laura and Ted Robinson looked at him like he was completely mental.
          “What’s wrong with him?” Ted asked, sipping a glass of champagne.
          “No idea,” Gina shrugged as she clambered into the limo with both Mikey and Ted unashamedly looking down the front of her dress. “Up here?” she chided motioning to her face.
          “That dress is gorgeous,” Laura cooed and felt the fabric.
          “Thanks, yours is pretty stunning too,” Gina smiled as Paul fell into the seat next to her.
          “One fucking minute,” he pouted as Mikey passed him some champagne, he skulled the glass. “60 seconds was all I was asking…”
          “I feel a long night coming up,” Mikey sighed, shaking his head and looking around the limousine. The others nodded and agreed as Paul continued to rant unstoppably.