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Image Credit: Picture from PublicDomainPictures.net. Free for commercial and personal use with restriction. Girl in Red.

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Chapter 4: At the club
 

I rehearsed our little sketch with Randi for forty-five minutes or so during the course of the afternoon. It went reasonably well but it must have been obvious to anybody watching that I was a novice even if I did look quite presentable in the borrowed costume and wig. However, Randi assured me that I needn’t worry. None of the other contestants would be professional performers even if several of them would have had plenty of experience in drag. Randi then invited us to have a bite to eat with him before the club opened for the evening.

‘So how did Nicole do, or perhaps I should say Marilyn?’ asked Lucy.

Randi smiled indulgently.

‘In some respects the combination of good looks and incompetence is just what we are looking for on this occasion.’

Then turning to me, she said: ‘But don’t worry my dear, I was a lot worse than you are when I started.’

I wasn’t sure what she meant by that word ‘started’, but decided it was probably wisest to let it pass for the time being. Once we’d finished, Randi announced a surprise.

‘Now ladies, to increase the sense of spectacle, I have arranged with a friend who is a chauffeur for a limousine hire company nearby to pick the two of you up at the back door at 7.50.’

‘What for?’ asked Lucy.

‘He’ll drive you around the block for a few minutes and then deliver you to the front door, so you can both make a glamorous ‘entrance’ to impress all the punters. As you’re one of the contestants, you do not have to queue with the others but can go straight to the door. I’ll get one of the security guys on the door to treat you as if you really were a couple of celebrities.’

‘Oh heavens, I’m not even sure how to get out of a car wearing a dress,’ I said.

‘We have half an hour to spare, I’ll give you a quick demonstration,’ said Lucy.

~o~O~o~

There was quite a queue waiting to get in the club when we drove up and went straight to the front of the line. I could see lots of eyes turned in my direction, wondering who it was. I received another wolf-whistle as we walked past and so I turned and smiled and blew a kiss to the guy responsible. Somewhat to my amusement, he went bright red.

‘Well done! I think you’re beginning to get the hang of being a girl,’ said Lucy smiling as we went in.

As soon as we were inside we deposited our coats and started to have a quick look around at the other contestants to size-up the opposition.

‘I think you may be in with a reasonable chance,’ said Lucy. ‘Just remember how much trouble Randi and I have taken and so please don’t let us down.’

‘I promise to do my best,’ I answered, feeling both petrified and yet excited at the same.

‘Good, now come with me to the ladies and we’ll touch up your make-up.’

‘Is that allowed?’ I asked.

‘Well you can hardly go to the gents looking the way you do,’ she replied. ‘It might start a riot!’

Of course nobody batted an eyelid, as Lucy refreshed my lipstick and I carefully put on an extra coat of mascara. As we emerged, the competition was just being announced and competitors were asked to make their way to the stage. Lucy gave me a quick hug.

‘I mustn’t spoil your make-up, but keep in your mind that you look lovely, and make a very convincing and attractive young woman. Try to speak and act in the way that we’ve taught you and then you should be fine,’ she said.

I thanked her for her help and she left me to join the audience.

~o~O~o~

There were fifteen or so other contestants. They all appeared to be far more confident than me and several of them already seemed to know one another. About a half of those in the line were clearly men, although several of them looked very nice in their outfits, all the same, and some even looked quite sexy. Another three or four might have raised a question in my mind if I’d met them in the street - it would depend upon how they spoke and acted whether I’d think of them as being male or female. Finally there were a few real beauties who walked, talked and gestured just like glamorous young women and whom I’d never have dreamed might be men. I so wished that I could be like one of them, no matter what my mother or sister thought.

Randi explained the proceedings to us and the fact that the competition would be judged on looks, costume, presentation (including body language and voice), and entertainment value. It would be decided partly by a team of ‘celebrity’ judges and partly through a popular vote from the audience. We were each allocated a number and waited our turn to go on and be introduced to the audience, and perform our act.

‘You’re a newcomer to these events aren’t you?’ asked a brunette in front of me in the line.

I nodded in response.

‘I’m Cherie, and this is my third competition,’ she continued, offering me a large but nicely manicured hand.

’Your face and make-up are pretty good, Cherie, but I’m afraid your hands and your voice will always give you away,’ I thought to myself.

‘Hi, I’m Nicole, or rather Marilyn, just for this evening,’ I said smiling and shaking her hand.

‘Yes, of course, in that dress, who else could you be.’

‘You’re right, this is my first competition, but I thought it was going to be for debutantes only,’ I said motioning towards a particularly poised and glamorous young lady being interviewed by Randi.

‘In this context a debutante is anyone who hasn’t appeared professionally before, but several of the contestants have loads of experience as amateurs and one or two spend their lives as women and by the looks of things have been taking hormones.’

‘I wondered why everyone seemed to be so much more confident than me,’ I replied.

‘I wouldn’t worry, you look pretty good for a newcomer; I can see you doing very well this evening.‘

‘Thanks, for the compliment. You look pretty good yourself and I love your outfit,’ I said, which was true.

‘There’s a rumour going round that they may be looking for one or two new regular performers from among the winners tonight.’

‘Yes, I’d heard that as well. Would you be interested?’ I asked.

‘Oh yes,’ Cherie sighed wistfully, ‘but I‘m afraid that I‘m not blessed with your feminine features.’

I didn’t answer, not knowing what I thought about the idea.

‘You’ve made an excellent job with your make-up Nicole, where did you learn to do it so well?’ she asked

‘It was done for me by my cousin, who also helped me with my hair. I would never be able to do it by myself.’ I replied.

‘Oh, I see,’ she replied.

‘Last night was the first time I have ever dressed as a woman,’ I replied by way of explanation.

‘In that case, you are doing extremely well. I have been dressing like this for several years but unfortunately I only ever get the chance to be Cherie at weekends,’ she continued.

’I wonder if I’ll next have another chance to dress as Nicole,’ I thought to myself, but before anything more could be said, Cherie was called on to the stage to do her bit.

~o~O~o~

My little set piece with Randi seemed to amuse the audience and I shrieked with genuine surprise when the air blower blew up my dress, revealing my knickers for all to see, which caused much hilarity and applause from the audience. However, in other respects I knew that I’d lacked the confidence, feminine poise and performing talent of many of the other contenders. Nevertheless, I got a good round of applause and came away feeling quite pleased with myself. It was as if I had at last got over a major hurdle in my life. I’d appeared on stage dressed as a woman and the world hadn’t come crashing down.

Whilst I was waiting to go on stage, Lucy had teamed up with a couple of lads in the audience and was sitting at their table. She motioned for me to come over and join them afterwards whilst we waited for the audience votes to be counted and the judges to make their decision.

‘Well done, Marilyn. If they judge it on looks and costume, I think you ought to come first or second,’ said Andy, one of the two lads who appeared to have taken a shine to my cousin.

I blushed, feeling that he was being unduly generous.

‘If only you hadn’t stomped up on the stage quite so much like a baby elephant,’ said Lucy.

I blushed.

‘Sorry Nicole, I didn’t mean to be rude. Given that it was your first time, you were very good indeed, and with a little more practice you would have been a triumph.’

‘Well I think you were great,’ added Paul, Andy’s friend, who put his arm round my shoulder and kissed me in a friendly manner.

I knew from his body language that he was just being friendly and had no serious designs on me, but I continued to blush all the same, but at the same time felt good about myself and the way I looked.

~o~O~o~

Of course I didn’t win the competition, or even come second for that matter: this isn’t a fairy tale. Somewhat to my surprise, though, I came fourth out of sixteen, which, given the circumstances and my lack of experience, I thought was quite creditable. Cherie was placed sixth, which also seemed to satisfy her.

The remainder of the evening turned out to be really good fun. The Marilyn Monroe costume went down well, and attracted a fair amount of attention. I was asked for a dance by several guys, and a number of others wanted to be photographed with me. Both Lucy and I were plied with offers of drinks. After a drink or two I even gained a little more confidence and so was willing to be photographed sitting on the laps of guys (and one or two girls), putting my arms around them in a provocative poses. Several other girls also came over to offer me congratulations, or else wanting to admire my dress and make-up. I even felt sufficiently confident to go to the ladies toilet on my own, where I also refreshed my make-up, whilst chatting to others doing so at the same time. My cousin was right about the clip-ons, however, which were becoming quite painful, so I ditched them soon after the show, putting them in my handbag. All in all, it proved to be an enjoyable evening and both Lucy and I had a lot of fun.

Once the show was over and the prizes presented, Randi came round to commiserate with each of the unsuccessful contestants individually. I was the last one that she spoke to, shortly after midnight.

‘Nicole, my dear, I’m so sorry you didn’t win, and you looked so lovely in that dress. However, you were up against stiff opposition tonight and did pretty well for a first-timer,’ she said.

‘Thanks Randi, I did much better than I imagined,’ I replied.

She smiled.

‘You so remind me of my first occasion doing drag,’ she continued. ‘But you’re going to need quite a bit more practice walking, and talking as Nicole before you will be really convincing.’

‘Thanks, but I’m afraid that isn’t very likely in the foreseeable future.’

‘So you haven’t said anything to your parents about tonight?’

‘No, my parents live in different parts of East Anglia. I’m staying with my elder sister, who is a banker. I’m not sure that she’d approve of tonight, if she knew.’

‘Are you sure about that? We have quite a few bankers who come to the club, some of whom love to do so in drag.’

‘I think my sister is a little bit more serious minded than that,’ I replied.

‘So couldn’t you spend a few more of your weekends staying with Lucy?’

‘Lucy has her own life to live and won’t want me around every weekend. In any event I’m going to need to find myself a job before I think about doing anything else.’

‘So you are not employed at present.’

‘No; just occasional casual work.’

Randi thought for a moment.

‘What are you planning to do tomorrow?’ she asked.

‘Nothing much, I’ll have to get changed back into Nick before I return to stay with my sister.’

‘Would you be able to come back to the club at lunchtime tomorrow? My business partner will be there and we will be seeing one or two people. I think he might like to have a talk with you as well.’

‘Do you mean for me come as Nick or as Marilyn?’ I asked, only half serious.

Randi thought for a minute.

‘Come as Nicole, just as I saw you this morning, if you can manage to do so; that might be best.

‘I’m not sure, if I‘ll be able to. I’ll need to talk to Lucy first about whether or not she will let me continue to borrow her clothes.’

‘Tell her that that it might be worth your while to do so.’

With that she left me to return to her job as compere for the remainder of the evening.

~o~O~o~

This time Lucy and I stayed after the show, having fun at the club until the early hours of the morning. Paul and Andy didn’t live too far away from Lucy and so they invited us share their cab. We didn’t invite them in: I don’t think they were expecting it, but I’d noticed that Lucy and Andy had exchanged telephone numbers earlier at the club. I gave Paul a chaste kiss on the cheek and thanked him for a nice evening. I don’t think the taxi driver realised that I was really a guy, so there was no reason for him to be embarrassed.

~o~O~o~

‘So, young lady, have you enjoyed your night out?’ asked Lucy as we entered her flat.

‘Oh yes. It’s been great fun, thank you so much for encouraging me to take part,’ I replied, still retaining my girly voice.

‘We’d best get you changed out of that dress, and then I’ll show you how to remove your make-up.’

‘Alright, I suppose so,’ I replied, this time not seeking to disguise the note of sadness that the wonderful night would soon be finishing.’

‘Do you want me to help you to remove your boobs as well?’ she asked.

‘May we leave them in place until tomorrow?’ I asked.

Lucy smiled.

‘Yes alright then, as long as you don’t mind taking a shower wrapped in cling film once again.’

As we shared her dressing table mirror, each one removing our make-up and putting on moisturiser, I raised a topic that was on my mind.

‘Randi came over to speak to me after the competition last night. She wants me to go back to the club at 1.00pm tomorrow to meet her boss.’

‘Did she say what for?’ asked Lucy.

‘No, but she suggests that I should go dressed as Nicole.’

‘So what did you say?’

‘I said that I didn’t know whether I could go or not and that I’d have to talk to you first.’

‘Do you think they might offer you a job?’ she asked.

‘I don’t imagine so, I may have looked alright but I didn’t do all that well on stage.’

‘Well there must be a reason why they want to talk to you. How would you feel if they did do so?’

’After that night I knew exactly how I would feel, but didn’t dare to spell it out.’

‘I don’t think I could possibly accept,’ I replied. ‘Whatever would Carol say?’

Lucy shrugged her shoulders.

‘It’s your life.’

‘So what do you think I should do, Lucy?’

‘Go, of course, at least to find out what they have in mind, and then you can decide what you want to do.’

‘Alright then. In that case may I borrow your clothes once again?’

‘Yes, of course. I’ll help you to get ready and put on some make-up as well, if you like.’

‘Oh yes please, and I don’t suppose you would come with me for some moral support?’

‘I’ll come into town with you, but you will be on your own once we get to the club,’ she replied. ‘I’ll wait for you outside in a café and then we can have a look around Covent Garden Market afterwards if you like.’

‘Thank you Lucy. I’d really like that.’

‘But you should understand that there’ll soon come a time when most of my time will be taken up with college work.’

‘I realise that,’ I replied. ‘And also perhaps seeing Andy once again?’

She blushed.

‘Maybe, if he decides to call me sometime.’

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