In, Not On (Part 1)
by, Barbara

Preface

Chapter 1.

The first event that led to my awareness of the excitement I have about wearing hoops in my ears came at a dinner party my husband Ken and I had at our house one evening.  Our friends Erica and Andy were our guests that night, and as usual, Ken was spending much of the early part of the evening, before dinner, seemingly deep in conversation with Erica, and apparently fascinated by her.  I had noticed his focus on her before on other occasions, feeling jealous on some occasions, but mostly deciding that her work as a hair salon owner, and his as a business consultant meant that they had business-related subjects of mutual interest.

Erica had always been a stylish dresser, carefully groomed, with a slim figure.  As she became more self-assured with the success of her salon, she ventured into what some would call the more trendy aspects of fashion, helped in part by her business of staying in touch with fashion trends.  Tonight was no exception to her adventurous nature; the previous time we saw her, for example, Erica's hair
was moderately long, covering her ears, and light brown in color.  In retrospect, I also recall that she always wore medium sized gold or silver hoop earrings that were visible when she tied her hair up, or when her hair moved away from her face when she walked or moved.  Tonight, however, she appeared at the front door as a blond, and her hair was cut quite short, and I barely recognized her at first.

She was wearing a white silk long-sleeved blouse with the collar up, and tied in a knot to show off her slim waist.  She was wearing black Capri pants, black stiletto heels, and not one but two silver ankle bracelets, one on each ankle, clearly visible below the Capri pants and above the stilettos.  True to form, however, she wore in each ear a 3" thicker, ornate silver hoop of the sort worn in India. As her hair was so short that each ear was entirely exposed, her earrings were prominently visible.  I said hi to her and Andy quickly, but apologized as I returned to the kitchen to finish preparing the dinner.  But, as
I delivered snacks and wine to Erica, Andy, and Ken, and peeked into the living room where they were sitting, I noticed that Ken could barely keep his eyes off her for the first 30 minutes after she and Andy arrived.  They were all deep into conversation with her about what I gathered was her haircut and hair
coloring.  At dinner, as we sat down, finally, and somewhat giddy with two glasses of wine bathing our empty stomachs, we all began to converse with each other, me sitting to Eric's left side, and Ken on her right, and Andy across from Erica.  This is how I recall the conversation that led to my awareness of
Ken's fascination with hoop earrings, and that awakened my own interest in wearing gold and silver rings in my ears.

"So Erica", said Ken, "what made you cut and color your hair in this style?"

"Well, Ken", she said, "I was at a hair show in Chicago last week, and I saw a woman with this hairstyle and color who looked absolutely great.  So, I just decided to do it.  It's so great to be able to just wash it and dry it in a few minutes, and I really like the way it lets me show off my earrings.  Like I was telling you earlier tonight, it's been really interesting, sexy even, to feel my earrings swing freely in my lobes without my hair getting in the way.  And without all the hair in the way, it finally made much more sense for me to have my ear pierced again, as I have wanted to do for a year or two now."

I was puzzled, in part because I was not in the room when this was discussed before dinner, and in part because as I looked at Erica, I saw only one hoop earring in a pierce in her left lobe.

"Erica" I said, "I guess I'm a little confused, because I only see one earring in your ear."

Erica turned her head, left, to face me directly, and said "Oh, I thought you had seen this!"

She turned her head more to the left, so that her right ear was fully visible to me, and pointing to her ear lobe first, she said "Well, I have always wanted to be able to wear two earrings in my right ear, so I had this lobe pierced a second time."

See?" she said, putting one of her long red fingernails near her lobe, "In Chicago, at the hairshow, I had a pierced stud put in my lobe just above the pierce where I wear my hoop.  I just love the  double-pierced look, don’t you Barbara?  I can hardly wait until it's healed so I can wear a small second hoop in this ear."

She shook her head gently, and said "I just love the way hoop earrings feel in my ears, especially when they're dangling like this.  Don’t you too Barbara? It will feel so interesting to have two rings in this ear."

She got up to go to the powder room, and was quite a site to behold, strutting off down the hall on her stilettos, hoops dangling from her ears, and a charm on each of her ankle bracelets tinkling with every step.  Ken could not keep his eyes off of her.

We chatted a bit about something or other while she was gone, but when she returned and sat at the table, she said "Oh, and look what else I had done while I was in Chicago!"

She raised her right hand, and spread her fingers in front of us.  Her nails were perfect, really, red, and moderately long, as you might expect for a salon owner with access to the best in manicuring.  Near the tip of her fingernail on her pinky finger, plain as day, was a tiny silver ring dangling from a tiny hole
that had been bored through the nail tip.

"It's the latest, really," she said "Nail charms are all the rage now, and the best way to wear them is to have your nail pierced, like this.  I just love the way it dangles from my hand when I am writing, or talking on the phone. My salon is all geared up to do nail piercing now, and we have all kinds of nail charms.  They're so much fun!"

Then Andy spoke up "We're going to have to watch out for Erica, don't you think? Rings in her ears, a ring in her fingernail, tinkling ankle bracelets, quite the little gypsy all in all. The next time she goes to Chicago for one of these hair shows, I wouldn’t be surprised if she comes back with a ring in her nose!"

We all laughed, but then Erica got a mock-serious look on her face, and said "Actually, I have thought about that already.  That woman I saw in Chicago with this hairstyle wore a tiny gold hoop through her nostril.  I thought it looked really cute."

Then she turned directly to Ken, got close to his face, held up her pinky finger with the nail that had the ring in it, let the tiny ring settle directly on her right nostril, saying "What do you think, Ken?   Wouldn’t this look pretty? How do you think I would look with a ring in my nose?  I could wear it like this, in
my nostril" turning her head so she could be seen by Ken, then Andy, and then me, dangling the ring slightly as she turned.

Then, she moved her ringed pinky nail to just in front of her septum, holding it there, and dangling the ring a bit, saying "Or I could wear it like this, in my septum, like another woman I saw at the hairshow in Chicago.  What would you think, Andy, if your wife came home from her salon - or the hairshow -  with a ring in her nostril or her septum to match her hoop earrings?"

Erica then laughed, and said, "Actually, I did see several other women at the hairshow wearing tiny nostril rings, and I was so intrigued by this that I bought a clip-on one at the show.  I wore it the day I had my haircut, and just about shocked one of my hairdressers who thought I had pierced my nostril. But, I'm not ready for that just yet."

Andy said "Erica, you're kidding!  Please don’t tell me you were wearing a nose ring there!"

Letting the serious look come over her face again, Erica said "Of course I did, Andy.  How else could I make people believe that my nose is pierced?"  

Sternly, Andy said " I hope you're not going to start wearing a ring in your nose too here in town."  He was serious.

Erica laughed, and said "Well, not just yet, at least not at home - the clip-on is at work in my drawer."

Ken's eyes were hugely wide by now, and he said "Actually, Erica, I think that's a great look, either style would be a great look on you, and I really like your new double ear pierce.  It will look terrific with a second ring, once it's healed. Barbara, maybe you should try that sometime, as a way to spice up your look."

I just had to speak up now, as I was fingering the small gold studs that were fixtures, at the time, in my singly pierced lobes.  I was jealous of Ken's focus on Erica, yet, for the first time, I realized that Ken might have a thing for earrings, and maybe even nose rings, instead of just for Erica, which could
present an opportunity for me to rekindle what had become a rather mundane relationship. "Ken, I'll be you didn’t know that before I met you, I once went to a Halloween party as a punk rocker with about 6 earrings in each ear."

I was lying, of course, but wanted to test my theory about how I might attract his attention.

"Barbara, you're kidding" he said.  "You only have one hole in each ear, and you never wear hoops."

Aha, I thought, maybe I'm right.  He has bought me about 10 pair of hoop earrings in the 6 years we have been married, I rarely wear them, and he's quite quick to point out that I only have one pierce in each ear and that I never wear the earrings he buys.

"Oh no, Ken, not pierced earrings. " I said, "but I did enjoy wearing them even though they were clip-ons.  Who knows, maybe I'll go visit Erica at her salon and see if I can get a cut and color that will show off my ears, and make hoops more appropriate for my look."

And, as I fingered my single ear studs, I began to recall the few times when I had worn hoops in my ears.  I remember having felt a bit like a gypsy as the rings swayed in my ears while walking, or when turning my head, and feeling a bit more interesting, or even sexy, than the old, conventional, ear-stud-wearing Barbara.

Ken's eyes widened slightly, and as he focused on me he said, somewhat sarcastically "Really?  I think that might be a great thing for you to try.  You have all of those hoops I've bought you, just sitting in your jewelry box waiting for you to try."

Then he turned once again to Erica, and basically spent the rest of the evening focused on her, and her damned earrings, and the nose ring story.

I'll admit it.  I was jealous of Erica. But, I thought, I think I know your weakness, and I'll give Erica a run for her money.  Just wait for what I have in store for you.

Chapter 2.

That night, in recalling many of our previous conversations, and the events of that evening, it had become clear to me that Ken found hoop earrings sexy, andwas especially excited by the fact that my ears were pierced.  I had never really given it much thought; I liked wearing earrings, and had found it
convenient to have my ears pierced several years earlier.  However, at the time, I mostly wore tiny gold studs.

I was intrigued by my new awareness of his interest in hoops.  Mostly to attract his interest, over the next few months I found it fun to wear the larger silver or gold hoops that he found attractive, even though I did not have my hair cut as we had discussed that one evening with Erica and Andy.  Wearing hoops certainly did wonders for our relationship.  I noticed that he was especially attentive whenever I wore my hoops, and especially if I was wearing high heels, and pants.

One afternoon at lunch, after a few drinks, he pointed out that Erica had one ear double pierced, and now always wore two hoops in that ear.  He also mentioned that my friend Kay had two holes in each of her ear lobes, and that he had seen women wearing three pierced earrings in their lobes.  I could see this was his way of trying to get me interested in having my ears pierced again, as I only had one hole pierced in each lobe.

So, I said "Ken do you think I would look good with another hole in one of my ears"?

"Oh yes, I think that’s a very sexy look", he responded, "Would you ever consider having that done?"

I said "Well, I’ll think about it."

Actually, I had in fact thought about it, but never got around to doing anything about it.  But, just to tease him a little, and as I was fingering the large silver hoops in my ears, I said "Well, I would think it would be kind of sexy to be able to wear two earrings in one of my ears."  I laughed, and said " Gee Ken, did you ever think your wife would be getting into body piercing?"

He laughed too, in a nervous sort of way, and then I said "Just for fun, sometime, maybe when you are out of town, maybe I’ll go have one of my ears pierced again.  You know, I will only be able to wear a stud in the hole for a while, until it heals."  Then he said "That’s ok, but would you actually wear two hoops in your ear sometime?  I think that would be very sexy."  I said "Maybe, I’ll see", knowing full well that I would when I wanted a little attention from him.   I had actually discussed this with my friend Kay.  She had both noticed that Ken’s eyes would focus on her double pierced ears, and that he
would always make a beeline for her whenever she was wearing two hoops in her ears.  I had asked her about what it was like to wear double piercings, and if it hurt any more that the first pierces.  She had recently cut her hair rather short also, and I was absolutely positive that Ken found this attractive also, as it showed off Kay’s earrings.  I knew this because my hair was rather long, and Ken seemed most excited whenever I pulled it back, or wore it up, and my ears were showing.  It was about this time during lunch that I noticed that Ken took what seemed to be an excessive amount of interest in our waitress.   I could not quite figure out why he kept staring at her, but the drinks were starting to have an effect on me, and at the same time I noticed that she was wearing a tiny silver stud in her left nostril.  Then I thought "Aha, just like Erica's story, Ken is interested in this woman’s nose stud.  So I said "Ken, why are you staring at our waitress?  Haven’t you ever seen a woman with a pierced nose?"  He said " Of course I have. Was I staring?  I guess I was.  I actually find that to be quite attractive on her, don’t you think?"

I thought to myself "This is just like the night with Andy and Erica.  You know, he does like nose rings too"  A sly mood came over me, so I said "Actually, it does look good on her. I wonder how I would look with a silver stud in my nostril.  What would you do if I decided to wear a nose stud like her?"

He became quite excited, and said "Would you really do something like that?  I think you would look extremely sexy."  I felt like teasing him, so even though I really had not ever considered it, I said "Who knows, maybe.  I’m not sure if I would look better with a stud or a ring in my nose.  Maybe I’ll get my nose pierced when I have my ear done", I said laughingly.  "I might like wearing a little tiny ring in my nose." I could see an extremely interested look in Ken's eyes, and imagined the conversation was about to start to focus on this when two of our friends happened by the table, and that was the end of the conversation.  Lunch ended soon thereafter, and Ken had to go to back to work. I said to Ken
"Why don’t you and I meet for dinner tonight when you get off from work?  I’ll meet you at The Grill on your way home.  I’ll call Kay and Bill, and we can all have some fun.  Who knows, maybe I’ll have pierced one of my ears again by then."  We both laughed, and each went to our cars.

It was Monday, the day my store is closed, and I had some shopping to do at the mall.  As I was driving to the mall, I began to think about our conversation, and I began to conspire to give Ken a bit more than he had asked for.  Of course I could have simply gone to the mall and had one ear pierced with a stud at one of those stores that use a piercing gun, as I had suggested to Ken.  However, I
thought it would be much more interesting if I showed up for dinner with Ken, and with Kay and Bill wearing a hoop in my new ear piercing.  I knew that this would not be possible if I went to the mall, since the ear piercing store there used the gun that uses a stud to pierce the lobe.  However, Anne, another girl friend of mine, had had one of her ears pierced through the top of her ear, and was able to wear a small ring in the hole right away.  So I called her on my car phone, and found out that he had had it done at a body piercing store called the Sun and Stars.

I then called there to find out about having my ear pierced, and learned that they could not do it for me for another two hours.  I made an appointment, and then I thought "Maybe I’ll have my hair cut short, so that Ken can focus on my pierced ears at dinner, instead of Kay’s".  Fortunately for me, my hairdresser was able to fit me in for a short cut.  We went quite a bit of time looking through books of sort cuts, and I finally settled on a very short, spiky cut. When she was done, my hair was closely cropped at the back and the sides, but the front and top were longer, and teased into a slightly "spiky" look.  I actually liked it a lot, since it looked very much like the picture of the model in the magazine.  It was an unusual experience for me to put my earrings back on afterward, because I had always had to hold my hair out of the way to put them in, and once in, they were only barely visible unless I had tied my hair up for some reason.  Now, however, the silver hoops were plainly visible, and dangled every time I moved my head.  It actually made me feel more than a little bit interesting, sexy even, to see the large silver rings dangling from my ear lobes, and to feel the ear wires moving in the holes pierced in my lobes.  As I drove to Miami Moon, I looked in the mirror and found myself looking forward to
having a second small silver ring in my right ear lobe, and shivered slightly with the thought of having two rings clicking against each other as they dangled in my ears.

I arrived at the Sun and Stars piercing studio a few minutes early, and as I was waiting for my appointment, I noticed a large variety of unusual jewelry, of the sort that is made to be worn in unusual pierced places.  Even though I had teased Ken about "getting into body piercing" when we were discussing about me getting my ear pierced again, I had never really thought about this sort of thing, and I was really quit surprised to see it all.

At first, I thought I would just have a second hole done in only one of my ears, like I had teased Ken about.  But I noticed that the woman who would be piercing my ear had several small rings through each of her lobes, and I asked her about them.  She said "Oh yes, my ears are multi-pierced.  Aren't they neat?  It's becoming a very popular style.  Some women just have one ear double pierced, like you want to do, but I would say that most women who come in these days want to have both ears double pierced.  And, a lot of the women who had double piercings are now coming in to have their ears pierced again, you know, so that they will be triple-pierced". 

"Multi-pierced", "double-pierced", or "triple-pierced", I thought.  Wouldn’t it be extremely exciting for Ken, and for me, if I showed up at lunch wearing not just one new earring in one ear, but a new one in both ears.  I somehow found the idea very sexy, and then I had a very wicked thought.  What if I had two new holes pierced in each ear, and showed up wearing three silver hoops in each ear!  I could even hear myself saying, "Why yes, Ken, I'll be wearing three hoops in each ear from now on because both of my ears are now triple-pierced.  Did you ever think you would be married to someone who is multi-pierced?"

So I said to the woman "Is it possible for me to have two more holes done in each ear today, so that I have three in each ear?"

"Oh yes, she said, that will be quite easy.  Why don’t you go pick out the earrings you want me to put in your ears, and I’ll get started here".

I saw an enormous range of gold and silver hoops, studs, and all other kinds of earrings.  I picked out two pair of simple silver rings, one slightly smaller than the ones I was wearing, and the second ones smaller still.  I had decided that while the holes were still healing, it would be fun to wear three small
graduated silver rings in each ear.  I went back to the woman with the packages of sterilized hoops still sealed in their packages.  First, she removed the large silver hoops I was wearing in the existing single piercing in each ear.  One by one, she marked the site for each new hole, so that the first of the new
holes would be about one quarter of an inch higher than the previously existing one, then the second one still higher on my lobes.  Starting with my right ear, pushed a thin hollow needle through the lobe where she had marked a hole.  The pain was not trivial, but not overwhelming either.  Once the needle was through the lobe, she threaded one end of the silver earring onto the hollow needle, and then pulled the needle back out of the lobe while simultaneously moving the earring into the lobe.

Next, the second hole was done, in the same ear, but higher up at the edge of the soft part of the lobe.  Once again, the thin hollow needle was pushed through my lobe where she had marked a hole. Once again, a tiny silver ring was put into the hollow needle, pulled through the newly formed pierce, and fastened at the back.  As I waited for the other ear to be done, I shook my head slightly, and felt both rings in my right ear swing ever so softly from the newly pierced hole.

As the rings swung gently from my ear, I became extremely warm, and a strange and somewhat sexy feeling came over me.

"I'm being pierced", I thought, "so that I can wear several silver rings in my ears".  Somehow, the phrase "in my ears" not "on my ears" became a focus of my thoughts, and I noticed my attitude changing markedly, from the somewhat mild, and meek Barbara into the slightly wicked, slightly haughty, slightly sultry attitude that Erica always seemed to have.  Now, I thought, I was beginning to understand why Erica had always wanted to have a second pierce in her ear, and why she tried the nose ring.  Truth be told, I suspected, Erica would in fact love to wear more than two earrings in her ears, but with her husband Andrew to consider, she might just have to stop at two in one ear and one in the other.  And, my guess was that for Erica, when Andrew was not around - when Erica was at her salon, or out of town at a hair show - she would often take the opportunity to wear her little nose clip.  In fact, knowing Erica, I'll bet that she would love to have her nostril pierced for a ring, but could not do so without sending Andy into orbit.  So much the better for me; I don't have such restrictions.  In fact, my husband will probably love it when he sees me wearing three hoops in my new multi-pierced ears, and would probably faint dead away with happiness if someday I decided to pierce my nose for a ring.

The woman returned to me, startling me somewhat out of my trance-like state, and completed the remaining two piercings. As before, twice in succession, a hollow needled pierced my lobe, and made it possible to place two new silver rings in my ears.  Before I knew it, she had installed each of the four silver rings into the newly pierced holes.

When she was done, she put my other silver earrings back into the bottom piercings for me.  I then looked into the mirror, and was pleasantly surprised to see how nice the new earrings looked.  In each ear, I was now wearing a large-sized silver ring in the piercing at the bottom of each lobe that I had had done many years ago.  Then, about a quarter of an inch higher up, I had a smaller silver ring in the second hole, and again, a quarter of an inch higher still, I had another tiny silver ring that had been slipped through the third and highest piercing.  When I turned my head even slightly, all three hoops
dangled in unison, and I could hear them clicking together.  Since my hair was now so short and exposing my ears, the three earrings were clearly visible.  As I looked at myself in the mirror, it occurred to me that, actually, I now had a total six piercings. Did that qualify me to be able to say to someone "I have multi-pierced ears"?  I thought so, and it sounded like it would be rather naughty and wicked to hear myself say that I was "multi-pierced" to someone if they asked. I could not deny it, the look made me feel sexy, haughty, and attractive. 

I then thought I would treat myself to a manicure, to complete my new look.  I went to the mall, to Erica's salon, and while I was happy to learn that there was an opening immediately with my friend Marcy, but I was disappointed to learn that Erica had stepped out for a while.  I was so excited about having my ears pierced again, and Marcy and I had a nice conversation about my new earrings.  As she was doing my manicure, I caught a glimpse of one of her nails that seemed to have a small rhinestone on it.  Finally, I just had to ask her what it was.  She said "Oh, it's a small nail jewel.  We have a whole selection of things like this.  Are you interested?".  I really didn’t know what to say, but I did think it looked interesting, and it reminded me of Erica's pierced nail, and then I recalled that Erica said they were going to be doing that at her salon.  So I said "Well, maybe.  How does it work?"  She said "Well, for small rhinestones like this, we either attach it to the nail with a special glue, or we have another style, like this one, that attaches to a hole that we make in the nail.  Here, let me show you."  She turned over her fingernail, and there, behind the nail, was a small piece of metal that sort of looked like the back of a pierced stud earring.  So I said "so it's almost like having your fingernail pierced?  I've seen that before."  

She said "That's exactly what we call it.  See, if you do that, then there are many more styles of nail jewels that you can wear, like little small dangles, and tiny hoops, for instance.  Erica always has two or three of her nails pierced now, and she always wears little tiny rings in the piercings."  I was surprised, to say the least, because I could not imagine Andrew liking that very much.

Just then, I heard the door in the back of the salon open and close.  Out of the corner of my eye in that general direction I caught site of a thin woman of about 35 years of age, with very short black hair, wearing black Capri pants, black stiletto heeled pumps, and a sheer white silk blouse tied at her waist over a black bustier.  Shades of Erica, I thought.  As she walked towards a station at the back of the salon, I noticed that she was wearing an ankle bracelet around both ankles, and that she seemed to be wearing three rings in each ear, just like me. I turned my attention back to Marcy when I heard Erica's voice, coming from that direction.

"Barbara, it's great to see you!  It's been ages!  Let me finish up here and I'll come over to talk."

Erica!  It was, in fact, Erica, my old "friend", but now sporting extremely short jet black hair.

"What are you having done today Barbara?"

Just before she turned around to grab something I could swear I saw a small shiny glint on the side of her nostril, almost like she had a silver stud in her nose.  No way, I was just imagining things.

Marcy was just finishing up, so, I tipped her, and thanked her for doing such a nice job on my nails.  Then she spoke up for me "She's having a manicure, and wants to have a nail charm."

"Great, let me do it. It will give us a chance to catch up.  Barbara, if you'll just sit there for a minute, I'll be right over."

As Erica walked over, I could see that she was still in great shape, and her pants and blouse fit her like a glove.  She carried herself so well, with her head erect, that it made her seem even taller than she actually was.  From the back, when I watched her earrings dangle as she talked with the receptionist, I
thought to myself that Andrew must be quite excited to have such a sexy and exotic looking wife, but then I thought, no he probably doesn't appreciate this, whereas Ken almost certainly would.  Then she came over to me and sat down in her chair, facing me, across from her manicure table.

"Erica, I can’t believe you are wearing all of those earrings.  What does Andrew say about that?"

"No problem", she said.  "I have little almost invisible retainers that I wear in the holes to keep them open when I am around Andrew.  He has no clue that my lobes are triple pierced.  Speaking of pierced earrings, look at you! Three?  In each ear?  And I love your short hair.  Ken must think this is great."

"Well, I finally just did it, today, actually. I like this look so much.  I feel so sexy with all of these rings in my ears."

"I know exactly how you feel Barbara.  I just love wearing hoops in my ears." She shook he head, and all three rings moved in unison, dangling from what looked to be well-healed holes. "Doesn't it make you feel so primitive when you wear large hoops in your ears, like a sort of 21st century tribal gypsy or
something."

We both looked down at her hands, and showed me her nails.  She had a tiny hoop in each of her pinky nails, and a slightly larger hoop in a hole that was pierced through the nail on her ring finger. Then she looked at me, finally, and she said to me "So you want to have one of your fingernails pierced.  You'll really like it.  I think it's so sexy to wear a little hoop in one of your nails.   They're so dainty, and it really draws attention to your hands.  As I was looking at my hand that she was preparing to work on, my eyes moved upward to her face.  As she worked, telling me what she was doing, I watched her.  She was a very pretty woman, with a fine complexion.  As I had noticed before, each of her ear lobes was pierced three times.  She was wearing large silver hoops in the bottom hole of each ear, and small hoops in the upper two holes.  What was quite surprising, however, was that she was wearing a very tiny ring in the part of your ear called the tragus – I had learned that when I had had my ears
pierced earlier in the day – on both ears.  And, she also had a very small silver ring through the cartilage at the top of each ear, like my friend Anne had done, though Anne only had one such ring.  On most women, five pierced earrings in each ear would seem garish and unattractive, but she carried herself
with so much class, dignity, and attitude, and she was so pretty, that the effect was actually rather attractive. I almost started to ask her about her unusual earrings when I noticed the small silver stud that now adorned her left nostril.  He nostrils were so fine and delicate, and the tiny silver stud made her nose seem even prettier.  I couldn’t take my eyes of it. Somehow, I began to day dream about what I would look like with a small silver stud in my nostril, remembering what Ken and I had laughingly talked about at lunch and I more or less forgot about what she was doing when she said to me

"Do you like my nose stud, Barbara?"

"Why, yes, uh, yes, I do" I stammered.  Actually, I did like it, at least on her.

"It's pierced, you know. I had it done several months ago, a couple of weeks after that dinner we had at your house.  The conversation that night got me to thinking about doing it, and I wore that clip-on hoop for a couple of weeks here at work just to see what it was like.  I wasn't sure I would like it at first,
but I really do now.  I hide it from Andrew with a little nail polish at night before I go home.  He's so focused on his work these past several months that I hardly see him anyway, and when I do he is so preoccupied that I don't think he would notice even if I wore a ring in my nostril.  I've been taking the stud out now and then, and putting it back in, so I think it's almost healed.  I'm really looking forward to being able to wear a little silver ring in my nose, to match my earrings. What do you think?  Would a little silver hoop look good on me, or do you like the stud better?"

Actually, I though, anything would look good on this woman. "Yes, actually, I do. The stud looks nice, but a small hoop would also."  I was very curious, all of a sudden, and I said " Did it hurt to have it pierced?" ("Goodness", I thought, "wouldn’t Ken just go crazy if I tried wearing a nose stud like we had
discussed earlier today!"). 

"Oh, it hurt a little" she said, "but only for a few days."  I actually got used to it quite quickly." She smiled and thanked me, and said "Actually, I had thought for a long time about what it would be like to wear a ring in my nose.  That trip to Chicago where I saw that woman with the short haircut and tiny thin gold ring in her nostril made it clear to me that it could be quite fun and pretty."

It did look pretty, but I was mostly fascinated by her hoop earrings, and by mine.  Seeing her earrings sway when she turned her head, and feeling mine sway the same way, made me feel warm, extremely warm, and the feeling of the silver wires that passed through the holes in my lobes was too delicious to describe.

Then she reached up to get something from the shelf above her.  I was curious to see what a nose stud looked liked from the inside of the nose, and I peered up in that area and was very surprised to see a small bit of silver glistening on both sides of her nasal septum.  "My goodness", I thought, "I think her septum is pierced too!"  I was so surprised that I completely forgot about looking for the inside of her nose stud, and I let out a quiet "oh!'.

She looked down, and said "I see you’ve seen my other nose ring too.  The she sat down, and leaned forward, whispering to me "My septum is pierced also.  See, I'm wearing a little piece of silver jewelry in it called a retainer." With that, she gently pulled on one side of the silver device and with that, the
retainer popped down so that it was dangling outside of her nostrils, each side arcing slightly towards the middle of what could be a ring, except that it was interrupted.  On almost anyone else, it would have looked like those rings they put in the noses of bulls, but on her, it was actually very pretty, and, I thought it was very, very sexy looking in a naughty sort of way.  I have to say that I was shocked at myself by how fascinated I was at seeing her with a tiny silver ring through her septum.

"Wow" I said. "That's interesting."

"Yes, I like this one too.  I had this done before my nostril.  It's a little kinkier than some of my clients can tolerate, so I usually wear this retainer and keep it hidden.  Of course, Andrew would absolutely freak if he knew about this, and the retainer keeps him clueless about it.  Sometimes on my days off,
or when I'm out to lunch, I wear a real ring in my septum. I was going to wear one today to a business lunch, with a funky woman from New York who I am trying to hire as a stylist, but I ran out of time and had to go of to lunch without my septum ring.  It's a good thing too, because I ran into your husband on my way back to the salon.  He would have freaked out, and maybe told Andrew if he had seen me with my septum ring."

"Oh my gosh" I said, "did he see your new earrings?"

"Barbara, of course!  We chatted for about 15 minutes.  I have to say, he was quite intrigued by my little nose stud. I made him promise not to tell Andrew."

I could feel myself getting jealous again.  Just when I thought I had been making progress on Erica's hold on Ken, she shows up with as many earrings as me,  even more, and a stud in her nose as well.

"It's actually quite fun to wear the septum ring.  It feels so sexy just dangling there, just like the feel my earrings have to my ears as they swing when my head moves. I'm going to wear it tonight when I’m out with the other girls here at my salon, for girls' night out. So when we’re done with your nail piercing, and after I close up here, I'm going to replace this retainer with a ring."

I was fascinated, and I said "Can I watch?"

She said "Sure, I can do it now, if you want.  She looked around and said" actually, it’s so close to then end of the day that you are the last client here, so there will be no conservative clients to offend."

She gently slipped the retainer from out of her septum, and then put it on the manicure table.  I was rather surprised to see that it was slightly thicker than the standard earring I was used to, as if the pierce in her septum was slightly bigger than the ones I was used to having in my ears.  Then she pulled out
another very tiny silver ring from one of the drawers at her table.

She said "You can see that the thickness of my septum ring is slightly larger than the usual earring.  It has to be that way for septum piercings.  And with that, as she leaned forward towards the mirror on her table to see what she was doing, she slipped the other ring through her septum, and then closed the ring around a small ball that was held by the spring-like tension of the ring.  When she was done, and looked up at me, the very tiny ring dangled gently from her septum, and it looked absolutely fantastic.  I actually envious of her, and wondered for a moment if I would look as pretty as she did with a small silver stud in my nostril, and a silver ring in my septum. She finished my nail piercing, installing a small silver ring in my left pinky nail, and a small silver stud in the nail of my right pinky.  We had a great conversation; I was still so excited about my ear piercings that I just had to tell her about them
thought I felt like a bit of an amateur compared to her.

Continued