Chapter 4

‘The morning after’

‘How come that I am expected to wear a
dress this afternoon when you are both
wearing trousers?’

Denise awoke with a start the next morning realising that she felt differently from normal. After a second or two she recalled where she was and remembered everything that had happened the previous day. She smiled as she again realised that she had successfully carried off the deception. She sat up and briefly admired her long and polished finger nails and pushed several strands of long hair out of her face, before getting up and looking at herself in the mirror. She was nothing like as glamorous as she had been last night but still looked like a girl, particularly once she had got up, put on Sue’s slippers and brushed her hair. She quietly opened Sue’s door, but her friend was soundly asleep. Denise was relieved to notice that her friend must have woken at some point during the night and changed into a nightdress.

It was now 8.00 am, and with nothing else to do until her friend woke she decided to have a shower and get herself dressed. The wash bag provided by Sue the previous evening contained some shower gel, and also a flowery shower cap. Denise decided not to bother washing her hair as she did not want to damage the extensions before they were taken out. She was also very careful when dealing with her breast forms, but they proved to be waterproof and securely attached. Fifteen minutes later she had dried herself and borrowed some talcum powder that was in the bathroom. She also put on the clean pair of knickers, but this time deciding not to bother with the control briefs and padding since she would be changing back into Denis as soon as Sue woke up and took her into work. Next she managed to navigate her two breasts into the cups of a clean bra and put on the second camisole top provided by Helen. She sat down on the folding bed and carefully put on a brand new pair of tights, again enjoying the sensation of having them next to her legs.

There was no point in her putting on the dress she had been wearing last night, but she did still have the blouse and skirt she had worn in the office during the previous afternoon, which were hanging on the door. She put on these, but settled for the slippers rather than the high-heeled shoes until she needed to go out. She then looked at herself in a full-length mirror and was quite pleased with the effect but decided to try and put on a little makeup. She followed Sue’s instructions and put on some lipstick, eye shadow and eye liner, being careful not to put on too much. She was just brushing some mascara into her lashes when the front door opened. A red headed woman aged about twenty three came in carrying a small suitcase.

‘Hello, I’m Alison, who are you?’ said the newcomer cheerily.

‘I’m Denise. I work with Sue. She let me stay on your folding bed last night.’

Denise felt her heart beating, and wasn't sure whether she would be able to carry off the deception again?

‘Oh yes, I remember she did mention that one of her colleagues would be staying this weekend,’ said Alison. ‘Where is she now?’

‘She’s sill fast asleep in her bedroom. I think she had one or two drinks too many last night.’

‘It won’t be the first time,’ said Alison laughing. ‘On past form I doubt if she will emerge now until midday.’

‘Oh dear, I hope I'm not in the way,’ said Denise. ‘Sue told me that that you were going to be away for the whole weekend.’

‘No problem. It is true I was planning to leave for Paris with my boyfriend first thing this morning, but something came up at his work, and so he has abandoned me now for the weekend. I’ll make sure that he more than makes it up to me next week, otherwise I'll deny him any sex for the next three months.’

Denise couldn’t help liking the rather blunt but very cheerful young woman.

‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ asked Alison.

‘Not at present,’ answered Denise. ‘I've only recently moved to London’.

‘In that case you can come out with me tonight, I’ll soon fix you up with one.’

Denise smiled and blushed.

‘Sorry I can’t, I have to leave as soon as Sue wakes up.’

‘Have you eaten breakfast yet?’ asked Alison.

‘No, I was waiting for Sue.’

‘You'll have to wait a long time, and she will probably only want a cup of coffee when she eventually emerges. Why don’t you get all of your belongings stowed away and fold up the bed. In the meanwhile, I'll make us both some scrambled eggs on toast and a pot of coffee.’

‘Alright then, thank you very much,’ said Denise, who was feeling hungry.

Ten minutes later they were sitting down to breakfast together, with Alison firing off a constant stream of questions, or else giving detailed descriptions of her love life.

‘By the way, how did the hen party go last night?’

‘It was a great success, the bride to be got drunk and made a fool of herself with some male strippers, which was one of the main objects of the evening. She had to be taken home by the bridesmaid,’ said Denise.

‘Sue said to me that you were also planning to smuggle in a lad from your work dressed as a girl, how did that go?’

For a moment Denise wondered if Alison realised who she was and was teasing her, but from her expression it did not seem so.

‘Yes, that was Jonathan. He looked quite convincing, and kept a low profile for most of the evening, and so I don’t think anyone who didn't already know guessed that he was really a man.’

Alison passed on to another topic without comment.

The next two hours passed remarkably quickly for Denise, as Alison clearly did not have much to do and was happy just to sit and chat with her new acquaintance. By the end of that time Denise knew much of Alison’s life history, particularly with respect to her love life. She also had to invent substantial passages of her own background so as not to give herself away. She found the task to be quite exhausting. At last at about 11.30 am Sue emerged from her room wearing a dressing gown and poured herself a mug of coffee.

Alison asked her how she was feeling, and then explained about her last-minute change of plans.

‘I got back here at nine and have just been chatting to Denise ever since.’

Sue turned to her young friend.

‘By the way, Denise, thanks for bringing me home last night and helping me get to bed. I hope that I wasn't too much trouble.'

‘That wasn't a problem’ she answered. ‘Thanks for letting me stay here’.

‘Were you successful in your allotted task last night?’

Denise blushed.

‘Yes I was successful but, if you don’t mind, I’ll tell you about it later,’ she said, anxious to avoid any conversation that might give her away to Alison and hoping that She would get the message.

‘Alright then, I’ll just go and get dressed and we can go into work and change you back into a young man.’

Sue went back into her room oblivious of what she'd just done, whilst Denise’s cheeks turned bright red. She looked up at Alison who was looking quite shocked.

‘Please don’t tell me that you're that bloke we were talking about earlier,’ said Alison in a quiet voice.

‘I'm afraid so. I would rather have changed back last night, but Sue insisted that I could only spend the night here if I were to remain as a woman and so I left my guy clothes at work. That's why I have been so anxious for her to wake up so I can change back again’.

‘But why didn’t you explain to me when I arrived?’ she asked.

‘I'm sorry, I didn't know whether you knew about me or not, or how you might react if you did know. By the time I got to know you it was a bit late to start telling you the truth,’ said Denise.

Alison laughed.

‘You mean that you made up all that guff about when you were a little girl! Well you certainly had me taken in. I'd no idea that you were a bloke. I would never have told you some of those things if I'd thought so. I must say you look and sound the part - how did you manage it?’

‘That was my workmates who all made a contribution to the way I look, I just had to sit back and let it all happen’.

But how did you acquire a female voice?’

Denise, who was already red-cheeked, blushed further.

‘I think I normally talk like this. I wasn't aware that I have done anything special.’

‘Oh I'm sorry’ said Alison, ‘I didn't mean to be rude. Your voice could be taken for either sex, and because you look so much like a woman I just took it for granted, that it wasn't your normal voice’

‘Don’t worry, I realise that I have a high-pitched voice, there have been a few occasions when I've been mistaken for a woman on the telephone. Sometimes I don't ever bother to put the caller right if I don't know them, as it only causes more embarrassment,’ said Denise.

Ten minutes later Sue emerged from her room, fully dressed. She started to go through the pockets of her coat which was hanging in the hall.

‘Denise, do you remember what I did with my keys after we came in last night?’

‘You didn't use your set of keys to get in last night. If you remember you loaned me a spare front door key, so I let us in. I thought you left your keys with Jane for safe keeping’.

‘Oh God yes,’ said Sue, ‘that bunch I gave to her contains my work keys as well as my home keys. I hope they'll be alright. What did you do with your work keys?’

‘I left them in my locker at work as there was no room for them in my handbag,’ said Denise anxiously.

‘Damn!’ said Sue, ‘but don’t worry, I’ll ring Jane and see if we can meet her at work.’

Sue rang Jane’s mobile number, and the two girls exchanged notes for a few minutes about the hen party and how ill they were both feeling. At last Sue raised the topic in hand.

‘Jane, did I give you my keys to look after last night?’

There was a brief pause.

‘Oh that's a relief, can we meet up this morning as I have to help Denise get changed?’

There was another brief pause.

‘Oh! I see! In that case I’ll have to ring one of the others. Will you hang on to them for me until I next see you?’

She turned to Denise.

‘Jane is currently two thirds of the way to Birmingham and won’t be back until late Sunday evening. But don’t worry, I’ll ring Helen’.

The next twenty minutes were spent fruitlessly trying to contact one of their other workmates. It transpired that Helen was also away for the whole weekend, and Mary’s mobile number was no longer current. Sarah commuted in from Reading which was forty miles away, and in any event there was no answer from either her landline or her mobile.

‘Oh God, I'm sorry Denise but I don’t know how we're going to get into work this morning.’

‘I suppose it's also partly my fault, for leaving my keys at work,’ said Denise, ‘but what am I going to do?’

‘I can loan you some jeans and a t-shirt, although they may be a little bit too big for you. I can easily sort out your hair and finger nails as well, but I dare not try to remove those false boobs without the proper solvent, they are quite expensive and I don’t want to damage them. Is there any way you can sneak home unnoticed?’

Denise laughed nervously, ‘I can’t go home wearing these boobs, and in any event there is also the problem of my home keys, my wallet and season ticket.’

‘Don’t panic, I’ll keep trying Sarah’s number and if necessary we will get a train out to Reading this afternoon to borrow her set of keys.’

Denise began to look worried but left them to go to the toilet.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Alison turned to her friend.

‘Sue, did you do this deliberately?’

‘No, absolutely not, I promise you it is just an accident. How was I to know that she had left her keys at work?’ she answered.

‘So what have you got planned for the rest of the weekend?’

‘I was planning to go to the West End this afternoon to buy my outfit for Jane’s wedding next weekend, but now it looks as if I may have to go with Denise to Reading instead,' she answered.

'What about tomorrow?’

‘Nothing really. I was planning to do my washing and ironing’.

‘As you know, I no longer have anything planned, but am always happy to go shopping. Why don’t we invite your friend Denise to stay with us for the rest of the weekend and then you can sort her/him out on Monday morning at work. If she remains as Denise I could loan her something to wear for tomorrow as she's about the same dress size as I am.’

‘That would be fine from my point of view as long as she agrees with your plan,’ said Sue.

‘I get the impression that she's quite enjoying her time as Denise. Why else would she get herself dressed and made up first thing this morning and then spend two hours convincing me she was a woman?’

Denise returned five minutes later and Alison opened the conversation.

‘We've been discussing your small problem. If you like, you would be welcome to stay with us as you are for the remainder of the weekend. Then on Monday morning Sue can take you into work early and change you back into Denis. If you agree we can go out shopping this afternoon to help Sue to choose her outfit for the wedding, and then we could all go clubbing together tonight. I'll loan you something to wear, for tomorrow, and you already have a suitable dress for tonight.’

Denise thought for a while

‘I suppose I could stay here if you'll let me, but there's no way that I'm going out clubbing again. One night was enough for me. I'ld be happy to cook you both dinner this evening and then stay in and watch television whilst you two go out.’

‘I'm afraid I couldn’t face clubbing again tonight either,’ said Sue. ‘I overdid it a little last night.’

‘All right then,’ said Alison, ‘but you aren't allowed to stay in all weekend. It's a condition of my offer that you come with us shopping this afternoon and we also go somewhere nice tomorrow. We'll all stay in tonight and have a nice meal, and decide what we are going to do tomorrow.'

‘Alright but I'll first need to wash out the underclothes I was wearing last night otherwise I’ll have nothing to wear tomorrow,’ said Denise.

‘You can put them in with mine if you like, if we are going out tomorrow I'll have to put a load of delicates in the washing machine before we leave, otherwise I will have nothing to wear next week,’ said Sue.

‘I'll also find you something a little more suitable to wear this afternoon. That blouse and skirt outfit is a little bit formal. It would be fine for the office but not if we're going out shopping this afternoon.’

Half an hour later, Denise had handed over her laundry, and changed into a black cotton dress provided by Alison, with a matching necklace of large black beads.

'You're quite fortunate that you have a slim neck and no trace of any Adam’s apple,’ commented Alison.

'I’d never really thought about it before.'

'You can wear my royal blue cardigan as well as it goes nicely with your eyes.'

‘How come that I'm expected to wear a dress this afternoon when you are both wearing trousers?’ asked Denise.

‘Because you need to be conscious of yourself all the time if you aren't going to give yourself away’, said Sue. ‘Remember you'il be going out in a crowded place in broad daylight. Wearing a dress will be one way of reminding yourself to move and act like a woman.’

Denise did not argue, but did as she was told.

'What about her makeup?' Alison asked Sue.

'She did quite a good job this morning and I don’t think she needs any more makeup on just for this afternoon,' answered Sue. Turning to Denise she said, 'I 'll just tidy your hair and put the earrings back into their holes. If you like, I'll give you another makeup lesson this evening.'

At last by lunch time they were all ready to go out and face the world.

(Next week - Denise enjoys an unplanned weekend, whilst Jane discovers that she now has a problem.)