The home of Alicia McLean, PhD., Garfield, New Jerey

Jared looked at the brochure. The Con seemed to be much more inviting, but that probably owed more to his feelings about himself than any welcoming he might receive from a diverse if odd group of strangers. He sighed, feeling entirely invited…..

Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
Like any hot-blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave
But you, you're not allowed
You're uninvited

“You gotta do it, Jare….” The girl sat on her friends’s desk, her legs folded under like a personal guru.”

“I don’t know, Em,: Jared said as he stared at the pile of clothing on the bed.

“I’ll even give you first dibs,’ Emily said as she waved at the clothing.

“You only live half, Jare,” she teased. It really felt like Jared was only half-alive a great deal of time, but while he could not argue with Emily’s assessment, the words still sung like a lash across his already burdened back.

“I just don’t know,” he said. Even that she used his dead name, so to speak. But she quickly followed her observation with an apology that both soothed and scraped across the psyche.

“I don’t know what to call you yet, since you’ve tried to avoid names altogether. I’m sorry. You tell me what your name is, and I’ll say it as many times as it takes to show you I care…” Her voice trailed off to completely inaudible as she added, “I love you.” Jared took one more look at the clothing.

“Since there’s more than a few, you can wait until the first day of the convention. But I guess I have made up my mind. Call me….” The child set aside the ‘dead’ name and picked up a bunch of clothing with nearly no hint of color as said at last

“Call me…Jaylah.”

An unfortunate slight
Must be strangely exciting
To watch the stoic squirm
Must be somewhat heartening
To watch shepherd meet shepherd
But you you're not allowed
You're uninvited

The following Wednesday, early afternoon...

“It’s not sitting right,” the girl practically wept at the small disappointment. Emily stepped back and surveyed Jaylah’s outfit. The suit had come from some obscure company in Singapore. Unlike any Cosplay costume, this one came with something bearing a resemblance to a cross between Lycra and latex that did a better than superb approximation of a woman’s body.

“I don’t know, Jay,” Emily said, her right index finger tapping her lips as she searched for words.

“Looks fine to me,” she said as she moved close to help Jaylah adjust the fit.

“Let me look at the instructions,” she said. Picking up the piece of paper from the box, she scanned it.

“I can’t make this out since it’s in Chinese. The diagram looks like it’s saying to use the stuff that came in the tube.”

“What is that stuff?” Jay asked as ‘she’ stared at the tube in Emily’s hand.

“Gloo? It’s the only English word on the paper. I guess it’s supposed to help the suit cling? Let’s try it?”

“I’m not so sure, Em? I’ll just wear the costume without the suit. You still have that white grease paint?”

“Yes, but the suit will help with everything else?” She used her hand in a broad gesture up and down Jay’s body.

“Even the mask will help, Jay. Let’s just try it. You can always take it off if you don’t feel right, okay?” She stepped close and kissed him, more out of encouragement than anything else, it felt to him. He nodded….

A few hours later, a figure stood in Jared’s bedroom, looking quite out of place for more than just the obvious Cos-play appearance. Mostly white jumpsuit-like utility uniform The face was almost unrecognizable even before Emily had produced the white makeup that was applied with surprising ease on the exquisitely more-than-lifelike mask, leaving Jay looking exactly like the character ‘she’ had sought to honor and emulate...

“You wanna….”

“Jeez, Em? Everything is tucked away and…” Jaylah looked down at herself. The breasts, even under the tight uniform, still were obvious enough to leave her body looking decidedly female. Add to that addition by subtraction as the bottom half of the girl bore absolutely no resemblance to her previous self.

Emily stepped much closer than ever and placed her hand on the new girl’s right breast, evoking an electrical start. Nothing in the paperwork or the box that had contained the costume and body suit gave any indication, much less warning just how realistic things were. As uncomfortable her words had been, Jaylah succumbed quickly to Emily’s touch, and soon afterward the uniform had been discarded. The makeup seemed to fade as the decidedly exotic North African features of the new girl reappeared, along with erect nipples and a very moist if supposedly faux vagina appeared as well.

‘Oh God, Em? What are we…” Jaylah’s pleas were cut short as Emily began to kiss her best friend all over….

Star Trek TranUniverse Convention. Izod Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey, Sunday afternoon

Jaylah walked alongside a very pretty Starfleet Lieutenant. Their presence seemed to be noticed by a few folks dressed in similar garb, but for the most part they were almost ignored in a sea of Cos-Players. And while there were likely a few girls in the crowd who weren’t female in every-day life, Jaylah was not only the most exotic but the most realistic looking as well.

“You want to come back to my place? My Moms went to Kutztown for the Fair tomorrow?” Emily rubbed Jaylah;s arm and motioned toward the exit. At 10:17 pm, most of what they wanted to see for the day had already finished.

“I….Sure,” Jaylah said with more than a great deal of hesitation.

“C’mon. It’’ be okay, and we don’t have to do anything if that’s what you want.” Emily grabbed Jaylah’s hand and they walked out to the parking lot and then away…

An unfortunate slight
Like any uncharted territory
I must seem greatly intriguing
You speak of my love like
You have experienced love like mine before

But this is not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight
I don't think you unworthy
I need a moment to deliberate.

The home of Emily's parents, Drs. Louise and Cecilia Freitag...

They sat on the couch in the living room. The large flat-screen TV displayed a scene from one of the more recent Star Trek films, the DVD being on pause. Both girls had discarded their Cos-play outfits and were attired in a par of satin-lined cotton bathrobes from Emily’s moms' closet.

“You look so good, Jay…” Emily’s hand moved from Jaylah’s shoulder to squeeze Jaylah’s left breast, evoking a very realistic weak-kneed response and a stifled sob.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like this?

“I…I like it too much.” Jaylah…. Jared frowned, his own self-deprecating and frequently appearing expression coming through the mask.

“Too much?” Emily smiled oddly, as if something was spinning slowly in her head that Jared might need to know.

“I like….I love being her. It’s that I have to stop and this will end and I just go back to being your stupid neighborhood boy.” He began to cry; real tears emerging past real tear ducts and flowing freely down cheeks that felt more real than any sensation he had ever known. Emily touched the tears and licked her fingers almost reverently.

“I have a confession to make,” she said; her voice a very painful mixture between a giggle and a fearful sob. Jared’s eyes widened in dread, as if they would never, ever be close again. Oh how wrong he…she would prove to be.

“My Moms and your mom work at the Inventex Labs in New Brunswick. They got to talking….My Moms knows all about Jay…Jaylah since your Mom was worried about you? How you’d be stuck all your life being something…someone you couldn’t bear to be…” Emily stifled a real, full-on sob as she turned her face away. She continued.

“The suit? It DID have English instructions. The stuff in the tube? It’s an adhesive….Gloo…funny, huh?” Emily took her turn in the cringe fest; fearing that she and Jared…Jaylah would never be friends again.

“It’s …we put it on Wednesday afternoon. It’s gotta be removed with solvent within seventy-two hours or…. “ A look of horror seemed to jump back and forth between both their faces.

“It’s….I’m stuck like this?” Jaylah jumped up in what looked like panic, running to the mirror in the hallway by the front door. The fake hair was gone, leaving her with slightly wavy shoulder-length dark brown hair. Her features belied her Anglo-American background. She gave out a very long sigh and then began to weep. Emily ran to her side, falling to her knees in plea.

“I’m sorry, Jay,” she sobbed as she lowered her face. A moment later she found herself being lifted to her feet into a tentative embrace. Jaylah smiled through tears and spoke.

“No, Em. You don’t understand. This IS me. Ther person I’ve always dreamed about. The person I knew I was. There’s only one big difference.” She looked like she was scowling until her face beamed as she said at last,

"I have you Em, if that’s okay?”

“Okay?”

Emily decided to forgo any explanation or drawn out narrative of how she felt and just skipped all the way past the mundane to just to kissing Jaylah…The Jaylah she had already decided she’d love, no matter what. The costume? The Makeup? The body suit? Pretty much temporary in a way despite the Gloo that transformed Jared. But the love? That would last forever, even if it was uninvited?

You speak of my love like
You have experienced love like mine before
But this is not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight
I don't think you unworthy
I need a moment to deliberate

Uninvited
Words and music by the performer
Alainis Morrisette
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvgi7P97lu0