Chapter 14

Debbie’s party

I arrived at Debbie’s house just over an hour after leaving Suzanne having negotiated my way across central London to Debbie’s house in Balham. She lived in a large Victorian family house which had been let to a group of young professional women, all in their early twenties. They had jointly decided to organise a New Year party for their friends.

Debbie answered her doorbell; she was wearing jeans, a baggy top, and large rollers in her hair.

‘Hi Clare, it’s good to see you, please come in,’ she said kissing me on the cheek. I handed over a bottle of wine as my contribution to the party, and also some flowers for her room, that I’d bought at the station. She showed me up to her bedroom on the first floor. It was quite large, somewhat more so than my own bed sit, and she also had access to a shared kitchen. Her room was furnished with a large built-in wardrobe, a dressing table, and an en-suite shower and toilet. I noticed my party dress was hanging on the wardrobe doors and my new shoes were on the floor underneath.

‘We’re going to have to share the shower and dressing table, but we should be alright. Now let’s sort out your boobs first of all, whilst the others are out, they should be back fairly soon and we do tend to wander in and out of one another’s rooms, so you should be a little careful,’ suggested Debbie.

‘Fine, I’m quite looking forward to having my boobs attached to me once again.’

‘Things do seem to have changed since I first put them on you a fortnight ago,’ she commented smiling.

‘Yes, I believe they have,’ I replied.

I stripped to my waist once again and lay on the bed. Debbie carefully replaced my breast forms and disguised the joins. Twenty minutes later it was as if they were a part of me once again. During this time we heard various female voices downstairs, as her housemates and their friends returned.

‘Thanks a lot Debbie, I feel so much better now that they are securely in place again.’

Debbie smiled, and I began to get myself dressed.

‘Will you need any help with your hair or your makeup later on?’ she asked.

‘I hope I’ll be able to manage alright, I’m now quite used to putting on makeup and Suzanne has been showing how to put my hair up, but I would welcome a last minute inspection just to be sure I look ok.’

‘Yes of course and you can do the same for me. If you like we can get ourselves ready together later.’

‘I should like that as long as I’m not in your way.’

‘I’m a little ahead of you,’ she said, pointing to her rollers. ‘So why don’t you come up at about six o’clock and take a shower, I’ll join you about ten minutes later.’

‘That sounds good to me. Is there anything I can do to help with the preparations in the meanwhile?’

Yes, by all means, come down and meet everyone in the kitchen and perhaps you could help preparing some snacks for an hour or two, but don’t leave it too late to get yourself ready.’

‘Do any of your housemates know about Tom?’ I asked hesitantly.

‘No. The only people who know your secret are me and your two colleagues, and I’ve sworn them both to secrecy. It’s therefore up to you to ensure that nobody else finds out or even suspects during the course of the evening, unless of course you want them to know,’ answered Debbie.

‘Thanks, I’ll do my best to keep things the way they are.’

We joined several other young women who were all about Debbie’s age in the kitchen and my friend introduced me to them as her workmate. My outlook and approach to life had changed since I’d become Clare and I now had more confidence. I soon found myself something to do to help and joined in the general conversation around the table, whilst Debbie continued with other last minute preparations for the party. It didn’t occur to me to be anxious about being unmasked.

Eventually, at about 6.00 pm I excused myself to go upstairs to begin to get myself ready for the evening. Debbie arrived, as promised, soon after I’d emerged from the shower, dressed in my underwear, and had begun putting my hair in rollers, and using her dryer. By the time she emerged from the shower she had just about caught up with me, but fortunately it was a large dressing table and there were two stools in the bedroom and so we could sit and do our makeup together.

‘You really are getting good with makeup Clare,’ said Debbie as she watched me do my eyes.

‘Thanks; I guess I’ve had a very good teacher over the last few weeks,’ I replied.

‘But Suzanne appears to have had an enthusiastic pupil.’

I shrugged.

‘Yes, I do quite enjoy making up my face and doing my hair.’

‘I used to do so as well, but when you have to do it every day for work some of the shine wears off, but I always enjoy getting ready for a special occasion.’

‘You always look smart when you come to work,’ I added.

‘You could too, if you wanted. I’m sure that Karen wouldn’t mind.

‘I don’t think so,’ I replied without exploring that topic further.

Instead we got to discussing Suzanne’s condition and our shared concerns for her future.

Once I’d finished with my hair and makeup and put on the new necklace and earrings, I put on the dress that Debbie was loaning to me and the new shoes. I then looked at myself in her full-length mirror. Debbie, who was almost finished herself, came up and stood behind me.

‘How do I look?’ I asked expectantly.

‘Clare you look absolutely stunning in that dress and your shoes and makeup are also just right.’

I certainly felt that I looked as feminine as Debbie, or any of her housemates.

‘You look lovely too, Debbie, but in your case it is the real thing,’ I answered with a note of sadness in my voice.

‘The real thing is what goes on up there,’ she replied, gently touching my forehead. ‘Anything else is just superficial, and, if necessary, can be fixed.’

I smiled and changed the subject.

‘Whilst we are on the subject of superficial, what about my boobs? This dress is rather revealing, are you sure that nobody will notice they’re not the real thing?’ I asked.

Debbie peered carefully at my cleavage.

‘Honestly Clare, I would never know that they were not genuine, but even in the event that someone did notice, lots of girls wear falsies these days.’

The guests began to arrive soon after 8.00pm. I didn’t know any of them, and so was quite pleased when Helen, Karen and their respective partners, arrived. My two colleagues promptly sent their escorts away to find something to drink and used the opportunity to congratulate me on my appearance.

‘You look even lovelier tonight than when we saw you before Christmas Clare,’ said Helen.

I blushed but was quite pleased by the compliment.

‘Let me have a look at these new shoes then’ added Karen

‘There you go, Debbie helped me to choose them’, I answered holding back my skirt so they were more visible.

‘They go well with that dress, and your hair looks most impressive too,’ said Helen.

‘Thank you, I styled it by myself,’ I answered proudly, ‘but please be careful what you say about me when others are in earshot.’

‘Don’t worry, Debbie has already warned us, and we both promise to be careful. So far I’ve seen nothing about you that would raise any suspicions.’

‘So this is how you’ve been dressing since I last saw you?’ asked Karen.

‘Well not exactly, I have made a particular effort for tonight.’

‘But we’ll not be seeing Clare at work next week.’

‘Sorry, but no, this little adventure will be coming to an end tomorrow, by which time I’ll have fulfilled all my commitments.’

‘That’s a pity you look so nice as a girl. I’m sure that we would be happy to work with Clare rather than Tom if you ever change your mind.’

‘Thanks for the offer, Karen, but my life is quite complicated enough as it is,’ I replied.

Karen’s boyfriend returned with drinks for the three of us at that point and so the conversation moved on to other matters.

The party went well, and Debbie introduced me to a number of her friends of both sexes. She was undoubtedly the ‘life and soul of the party’, and appeared to know everyone. I noticed that she embraced several guys and was clearly having a good time, but there seemed to be nobody special at present. I couldn’t spend the whole evening chatting to my workmates and so did my best to circulate. At one point I found myself chatting with a group who clearly knew one another well, with the exception of a slightly shy young man in his mid-twenties. Gradually the others in the group moved away to dance or else to get some food, leaving the two of us together.

‘Hi, I’m Andy. May I get you a drink?’

‘I’m Clare, and no thanks I already have one on the side there, but if you’re going into the kitchen you can bring me back a bite of food if you like,’ I replied smiling.

He did as I asked and soon returned with a plate of food finger-food, which we shared as we chatted together for half an hour or so. It transpired that he’d worked with Debbie in her previous job with a firm of stockbrokers and like me, he didn’t know many others at the party. He then asked me about how I came to know Debbie. I didn’t want to admit that I worked with her as then it would mean that I lived in London, and I could see that he was edging towards asking me out. So I made up a story that we were old friends and that I’d been staying with another friend in London over Christmas but would be returning home to Loughborough on New Year’s day.

‘That’s a pity, I was about to offer to show you some of the sights of London,’ he said.

I smiled that I’d been right in my prediction.

‘Thanks for the offer Andy, but I’m afraid I have to get back to work on Tuesday, and it’s a little too far to travel down from Leicestershire for an evening out,’ I replied.

He sighed and looked disappointed but accepted the situation and changed the subject. We stayed talking to one another for some time and enjoyed one another’s company. I even decided that I would dance with him if he asked me, but before he did so I noticed that Karen and her boyfriend were about to leave.

‘Goodbye Karen, I’ll see you on Tuesday’ I said.

She kissed me on the cheek and whispered in my ear.

‘Goodbye Clare, it has been really nice meeting you and please think about my suggestion.’

I smiled but said nothing.

Karen’s departure was followed soon afterwards by Helen and her husband, and one or two other guests. The party was now beginning to break up and I noticed that Andy was on the point of leaving, so I went over to say goodbye.

‘Goodbye Andy, it was nice talking to you’ I said smiling.

He looked as if he wasn’t sure whether to believe me or not, but decided to do so.

‘Are you sure I can’t telephone you sometime?’ he asked, hopefully.

‘Sorry, it wouldn’t really be practicable, but it has been nice to meet you,’ I replied.

I felt awkward and also a little sorry for him, knowing what it was like for a guy to lack confidence in social situations. On impulse, I went to kiss him on the cheek, but at the last moment he turned his head and I ended up kissing his lips. For a moment it seemed quite pleasurable, but then I felt the tip of his tongue and felt a pain between my legs as my penis began to grow. So I quickly turned away from him and returned inside, without looking back, knowing that my cheeks had turned bright red.

Once the guests had left Debbie’s housemates disappeared to their bedrooms together with their boyfriends. Debbie and I did a quick survey to make sure that everything was ok, but decided to leave the bulk of the clearing up until the morning.

‘I must say Clare, you were an absolute triumph tonight. You looked lovely in my dress, and I sure that nobody who didn’t already know would have suspected your secret.’

‘Thanks, it was good fun, but I’m glad it’s over now. However you appeared to be having a good time as well,’ I commented.

‘Yes it was a good chance to catch up with some old friends. By the way did I see you snogging with my friend Andy?’ she asked laughing.

‘It wasn’t supposed to be a snog, just a goodbye kiss on the cheek which missed its target,’ I replied blushing.

‘Did you like him then?’

‘He was ok to talk to, although perhaps a little shy.’

‘A bit like Tom used to be in that respect.’

‘Maybe, but it was Clare he was talking to tonight.’

‘Will you be seeing him again?’

‘No, I wouldn’t give him my telephone number, there’s no time and it would all be too complicated’ I answered.

‘That’s a pity, I think you two would go well together’.

‘I’ll just change out of this dress and these shoes and then help you to clear up after the party,’ I said wishing to change the subject.

‘I would rather do it in the morning when the others will be around as well, if you’re still willing to help then,’ said Debbie.

‘All right, as long as we can make a reasonably early start. I should like to look in on Suzanne by lunch time, then there will be the complex an arduous task of changing myself back in to Tom,’ I replied.

‘Remember that you’ve promised to spend tomorrow evening with Suzanne and Monday is a Bank Holiday, so you could change back then.’

‘Yes I suppose so. It has been a great couple of weeks living as Clare, but I’m soon going to have to pick up the threads of Tom’s life once again.’

Debbie didn’t respond but led the way upstairs to her room.

Ever since that first Sunday when we met, Debbie appeared to have accepted me as Clare, and she had no inhibitions about getting undressed in front of me or even sharing her double bed. She didn’t need to spell out that it was just two girlfriends sharing a bed in order to get some sleep, it was just understood between us. So we chatted happily together as we removed our makeup.

‘How are your boobs?’ asked Debbie.

‘Fine thanks, how are yours?’ I asked with a smile.

‘Clearly they aren't as attractive as yours,’ she replied smiling. ‘I noticed a couple of guys peering down your cleavage during the course of the evening.’

I blushed, as I hadn’t really been aware.

‘I guess that dress is a little revealing.’

‘Don’t worry, you’ll know better next time, but what I meant to say was: are they comfortable and still on securely?’

‘ They feel fine. At present they feel as if they could happily stay in place forever.’

I blushed again, not having intended to spell out what was then going through my mind. Debbie noticed my embarrassment and decided not to pursue the issue.

‘Do you need to borrow some of my pyjamas?’ she asked.

‘No I’m fine thanks, Suzanne bought me a lingerie set for Christmas with a nightdress,’ I said, retrieving it from my bag, and holding it up in front of me for her to see.

‘Very nice!’

We got into bed and turned the light out.

‘Tell me Debbie, why exactly have you devoted so much attention to Clare over the last few weeks.’

‘Selfish reasons, I guess. Tom was not exactly the most interesting colleague to work with, and whatever happens from now onwards, we’ll always have something interesting to talk about. I don’t think Tom will be able to go quite so far back into his shell again, and, in any event, I hope there will be opportunities for us to meet Clare again.’

We both got up early the next morning as I’d promised to help Debbie and her housemates to clear up after the party. I dressed fairly simply with a denim skirt and a plain top together with a minimum of makeup. As there were a number of helpers, the task of putting everything to rights only took a couple of hours, when the two others in the house returned to their respective rooms and Debbie and I stopped for a cup of coffee and some toast in the kitchen. My mobile phone started to ring. I looked at the display, expecting the call to be from Suzanne, but I didn’t recognise the number. I therefore answered the call with ‘hello’ in a non committal and androgynous voice. The caller asked to speak to Tom Evans. Only Debbie was within earshot and so I confirmed that I was Tom and tried to adopt a more masculine sounding voice.

‘Mr Evans, this is Simon Johnson of the Andrews and Johnson letting agency. I’m afraid to tell you that there was a fire in your room last night. Most of your belongings appear to have been damaged by smoke and your room is currently uninhabitable. Please will you come down to see us as soon as possible.’