I was nervous but I knew that these people supported me. No one was in the kitchen where we entered. The three of us headed into the family room and the two girls took my hands.

Becca’s mom looked up from the couch where she was reading. “Hello girls. How was the drive?”

Sorority Boy
By poetheather
Chap 4

Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. There should be no way that these characters are like anyone else, but if that isn’t the case, it has definitely been unintentional. Also, if you happen to find that your life is represented in these pages, I’ll be impressed.

 
I was nervous but I knew that these people supported me. No one was in the kitchen where we entered. The three of us headed into the family room and the two girls took my hands.

Becca’s mom looked up from the couch where she was reading. “Hello girls. How was the drive?”

“It was fine mom.” replied Becca.

“Good. Caitlin, I have you and Meredith in the guest room. Go on up, dinner is at about seven. You should have time for a swim.” With that she returned to her book.

I was confuzzled, why hadn’t she reacted? Merri tugged my arm. “So, where is our room?”

Still trying to puzzle this out, I walked with her upstairs and we dumped our stuff in the guest room. Merri flopped onto the bed and sighed. “This house is really nice. And they have a pool. That’s awesome. Let’s get our suits on and lounge in the pool.”

I shrugged. Why hadn’t she reacted, gushed over me or something? Granted, I was relieved that she hadn’t, but it was curious. Merri tossed me my bikini from our luggage. I smiled and put it on, tying the straps snugly. She also tossed me the cover up for the suit. I put it on and slipped on my flip flops. Merri bounded over to Becca’s room once dressed. Since the door was still open, she sauntered right on in.

Becca’s room was not overly girly, which had been nice when we had sat and talked during high school. The room hadn’t scared me off, which it might have done if it had been overly flouncy. Becca was pulling out her suit as we entered. Merri grinned and said, “Ready to go?”

“Dork. Let me get changed first. I’m sure that Cait here can get you downstairs and to the pool in one piece.” Becca rolled her eyes then took off her shirt.

“But Becca,” whined Merri. “I wanted you to show me everything. It’s your house.”

Becca hurled a stuffed rabbit at Merri. It was the special attack bunny as it was the killer rabbit from Holy Grail. The big gnashy teeth were cute. It bounced off of Merri’s head. My girlfriend protested immediately. “Hey, no attack rabbits!”

The two began throwing stuffed animals at each other. I giggled at the insanity of it all until I got hit by a stuffed squirrel. The three of us giggled and squealed as we attacked each other. It finally descended to tickling and all of us tangled up, squirming on the floor.

Finally we all lay there, panting. Becca struggled to her feet. “Get out so I can change.”

Begrudgingly, we left and headed outside. The pool area was beautiful, with a semi-tropical looking garden built around the water. It also had a black bottom that made it look like it was a small pond rather than a swimming pool. There was even a waterfall at the far end across from the hot tub. Merri’s eyes went wide at the sight of it. All she could manage to say was, “Wow!”

I draped my towel over one of the lounge chairs by the poolside. I walked into the water down the sloped entry. The water felt refreshing. I got all the way in, dunked my head and then began to float in the slightly shaded pool.

It was nice. I had spent several days doing just this in high school. It had been difficult being a short, smart kid. As usual, the bullies were a good bit larger and muscular and most of them not overly smart. I wasn’t sure why that was as big and stupid wasn’t really a rule. I wasn’t sure why though as it almost seemed like one. Outsmarting them had brought me some peace. Not a lot of inner peace now though.

Why did I agree to this crazy thing? I was a guy but here I was floating in the pool dressed in a bikini. The crazy thing was that I wasn’t sure that I minded it all that much. I wasn’t phased by this. I wasn’t freaking out in any way other than over other people’s opinions. I just didn’t want to upset people. Like my mother. And I was afraid of what people here might think. I wasn’t a fan of getting beaten up and had gotten my fill in middle school. Was this fear the problem that caused my stress?

I already had talked to my mom, and she was fine with all of this. Sort of understood it, but wasn’t getting all freaked out over it. It seemed that Becca’s folks were taking things in stride, as normal, so no worry there. As for other people…I looked so different that I still had moments of disbelief looking at myself. If I couldn’t tell, how could they even begin to have a clue? Was I freaking out over nothing?

I wasn’t sure. I had read about Gwen Araujo and all of that madness. From what I had read there was actually a very real danger arising out of this whole plan. But I looked exactly like a girl. With the breasts and vagina that Merri had crafted on I looked real, even naked. That did make me feel safer, but it still remained that I was a guy in a dress. Well, a bikini.

Back and forth, what was I? I stood under the waterfall, letting the water pound on me like a heavy massage, working out all the kinks and knots that had arrived with my first pair of panties. I rolled my shoulders to release the tension. Becca and Merri were talking on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water. I swam leisurely over to them.

“Hey there Cait, done floating?” asked Becca.

I nodded. “What are you guys talking about?”

“You.” replied Merri.

I blushed. Why talk about me? Was I really that interesting, even with the crossdressing?

“I was talking about how hot you look in that suit.” continued Merri, watching the red creep over more of my face.

My face was burning, so I looked down at the water. It was kind of cool being called hot, but it left me confused. “You…you really think I look hot?”

Merri had a wonderful smile. It lights up her whole face when she really gets it going. “Absolutely.”

Becca chipped in at that point. “You look really cute. If I didn’t know better I would never know. Honestly. You look incredible.”

I floated there, treading water slowly, unsure again if this was good or bad. Was it really okay to look this much like a girl when I wasn’t? I guess in this situation it was a good thing. Being an obvious guy in a dress would have been terrible in the sense of trying to pull this whole thing off. Maybe cute wasn’t terrible.

My thoughts were derailed, as both Becca and Merri splashed water in my face. As I spluttered, Merri chided, “Hey there…no brooding.”

“I was just thinking.” I protested.

“I know. That’s what I was worried about. Caitlin, just relax for once and try not to dwell on things too much. Come on out. Let’s get some sun.”

The three of us rubbed lotion on each other than lay back on the lounge chairs. It was nice lying there, warm and relaxed. I dozed some, only coming to long enough to flip over. When we got up, I stretched and stumbled inside, still a bit asleep. I was more tired than I had been aware of. We took time showering, washing the chlorine and lotion off. Becca let us know that the plans had changed for dinner so we should get dressed kind of nice.

As the last one in the shower, I found out that Merri had set out my clothes, without letting me know things had changed. My sundress was out, along with some nice lingerie. A pair of strappy sandals with a low heel and nude hose were on the bed as well. We were going out? Since when?

Becca came in to check on me. She saw me looking quizzically at the clothes. Before I asked she answered, “Dad wanted to go out to eat tonight. Merri is talking to him right now. We’re meeting your mom at the restaurant. It’ll be okay. Really.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. There was no reason to stress yet. Becca left me to get dressed, which I did with some trepidation. Going out. I could do this.

Once dressed, I did some basic light makeup and headed downstairs. When I made it down there Dad gave me a big hug. I really loved Becca’s father. “You look great.”

“Thanks. I feel so…”

“Don’t.” he chided softly. “You are being true to your word and are exploring things that only really bad movies try to explore. In a way, I am kind of jealous. You are learning more about how women tick than anyone else your age. Your mom is proud of you and the two of us are as proud of you as if you were our own kid. Now stop fretting and let’s go eat.”

It was weird having him hold the door open for the group of us, but I think I could get used to that. The drive to the restaurant was brief but all of us were talking. Merri had them laughing at some of my misadventures. I was blushing so much my face felt sunburnt. It really did feel good to have family around.

Apparently this was one of the new places they were working on before I left. It was nice when some kid opened the door for me. Becca pushed me on as the kid had smiled at me in a way I knew all too well, watching it be directed at friends. I was being hit on.

Before I could really dwell on it, we were ushered inside with me bracketed by Becca and Meredith. They were like a protective wall between me and that guy.

The foyer was nice, with hardwood and soft light. I looked over the crowd and there was my mom. We hustled together and hugged. She whispered, “You look beautiful, Caitlin. I love you.”

It felt good to have her say that and it made me feel much more comfortable about everything that had happened to me over this whole stupid idea of mine. She thought I looked beautiful. I had never been beautiful and only occasionally handsome. She and I were holding hands and smiling at each other. In a short time, it felt like a lot had changed between us. We certainly wouldn’t have done this before, but now it just felt right. This experience had definitely changed the way I was reaction with her. But there were other things that had to be taken care of.

“Mom, this is Meredith.” Merri looked a bit nervous, as if unsure of how to react, which was a nice turn about. My mom pulled her into a hug, which Merri returned.

“Welcome to this crazy family.” I beamed happily. It seemed that my mom actually liked Merri, which was a load off of my mind. I wasn’t sure what I would have done if they hadn’t really liked each other. I was quite glad that I didn’t have to find out.

The table was ready so the lot of us got seated. I was so happy I didn’t stress over the fact that we were seated near the center of the room or that people watched the group of us get seated. Things didn’t seem all that bad. If my family here supported me in this insane social experiment, then anything was possible.

Afterwards we all returned to Becca’s house. We were all sitting in the living room chatting and drinking tea. Well, Becca’s dad was having a beer, but so it goes. Meredith was busy explaining the whole sordid situation to them, making sure to clarify the positions of the House.

After her tale there were plenty of giggles at my expense, especially at my descriptions of hair removal and the whole torture of learning how to walk, sit and such. But it was good natured fun that made me feel loved instead of ridiculed. They were all a bit concerned about the panic attack but were sure to make me feel loved.

“You know, I had always wondered what having a daughter was like, more than Becca here. I guess I now have the chance.” remarked my mom.

“Do you know if you are going to do this all four years or not?” asked Becca’s mom.

“I honestly don’t know. I suppose I will, as I said I was serious, and the House is great. After that, I don’t know what I’ll do. I mean, who will I be at that point, Caitlin or Richard?” It was a long ways away but it still felt like that decision needed to be made today.

“Don’t worry about that right now sweetie. Worry about things day by day at this point. Things are still to new and it is too early to be worrying about four years down the line. Have fun and see what happens.” I nodded. Gee my mom was smart. Must be where I got it from.

It was getting late and my mom left as she had to work the next day. We hugged again and I was looking forward to coming home in a day or so. The other two girls and I headed upstairs and got changed for bed after the adults went off to sleep.

We were all lounging in Becca’s room just chatting away about movies and books and what not. It was nice and relaxing and I found myself drifting, slowly falling asleep. I remember the girls smiling at me and helping me into the bed. After that, nothing.