Douglas is forced to apologize and the girls escape to Bree's bedroom for relationship soul searching or something like that

Chapter 6

“Douglas, apologize, your sister is allowed to change her opinion on something. Further, even if Breanne does not chose to change her mind and get her ears pierced your mum and Breanne’s friend both have pierced ears because they want them, and your reasoning is rude and demeaning to people that want to get their ears pierced. I had been completely impressed with how you acted today and you have just ruined it with that boorish comment.” Their step-dad angrily stated and it took Douglas a moment to realize for once, that it wasn’t him that was in trouble or being addressed but Breanne.

“I told you I wanted to go by Mark instead of Douglas.” Breanne surly stated.

“Then act like Mark, and we will call you Mark. Now apologize!”

“Sorry ‘sis’, your new style got me by surprise, and I miss-spoke.” Well she had got the important boxes for the initial meeting checked. Breanne quickly apologized not realizing she had stressed ‘sis’ and that her new sister and Leah would think she had done so on purpose. It was galling and cruel that she had to help push them together. Her jealousy didn’t help her apology any either. Worse she had one more time she need to say things to push them together.

Douglas didn’t want to accept the back-handed apology but didn’t want to appear bad to his step-parents as they likely wouldn’t have caught the stressed ‘sis’ nor know it was likely intended as an insult, so decided to change the subject. “So you are now going by Mark. Is that for Marcel?” he asked, to avoid actually saying he accepted the insincere apology.

Leah also noticing that it seemed Mark had insulted Bree decided to add her own muddying. “Mister and misses Parson can Bree and I head up to Bree’s room?”

“Sure that will work, and ‘Mark’ can help me prepare dinner.” Mrs. Parson replied.

As the girls left Dan interrupted his wife. “I’ll help you dear.” He then after checking his watch turned to his son. “You have forty-five minutes Mark, best get moving, and know if I didn’t think this was important that things would likely be different after your earlier tasteless comment.” He could explain in the kitchen what their son had planned for this evening, and why he didn’t ground him.

Bree let Leah drag her back upstairs and happily shut her bedroom door. She was thankful to finally be out of the awkward situation downstairs. If she hadn’t been wearing such a tight skirt that impeded movement she likely would have been the dragger due to his desired haste to get away as soon as allowed. As she removed the blouse she noticed Leah had grabbed a blue bra from his new underwear drawer.

“Swap bras too and then put on the blouse you were wearing this morning as it goes with your earrings.”

“I was going to take the earrings and make-up off.” Douglas answered.

“That will be taken as a victory by Marcel, ‘call me Mark, because I think I would get teased using my real name…’

“You do know that’s my name…

“Nope, you are Bree now. One hundred percent grade A cow… girl. Ye-Ha! Actually what was Breanne’s Middle name?” Leah asked.

Bree’s eye glistened slightly with unshed tears as she reverently whispered, “Julie.”

“Julie is your mum’s name, my Jubrelie?” Leah asked while handing a tissue to her. Bree nodded and turned away to wipe her eyes. Leah hugged her from behind. “Hey think about it, I am happy to keep calling you Bree, or either of the other two.”

“Let’s stay with Bree, but…” Bree gathered herself and soldiered on. “In private, I kind of like being your Jubrelie.”

“Anything you want, my Jubrelie, you’ve got it.”

Giggling through her tears she hopefully asked. “So I can take the earrings and make-up off?”

My Jubrelie, if you really want to of course, but know that Marcel will count it as his victory, and you are so pretty wearing earrings, and I saw you first as a girl wearing them, along with the peasant blouse. For those reasons I would really hope you wore both for our first evening meal, our first date together. Please…” Leah fluttered her eyes and pouted cutely. Sighing Douglas, no Bree internally corrected herself in who she was. Having decided that she changed bras, and blouse. She then checked in the mirror to ensure her earrings hadn’t been moved by the clothing change.

“Now come on I need to do your nails. Sit!” Leah indicated for Bree to sit at Breanne’s vanity.

Bree turning from having hung up the other blouse in Breanne’s closet lifted her hand. “My nails are done you did them already.”

“Bree, really you can’t see what is wrong. Your nails are hot pink, which was for the other blouse. Now… Yes, I think silvermist will work best. Come on Bree, sit. You know make-up is a girl’s war-paint. Men might think we do it for them. They are completely wrong. Marcel is clueless on this topic, and tonight we are going to destroy him.” Leah moved the stool out from the vanity so she would be easily able to get to Bree’s toenails.

“Let me change back into the denim skirt first” Bree asked mainly to delay and decide if she wanted the upcoming nail treatments.

“Nope, the denim skirt was nice and casual for the day, but what you’re now wearing is better for evening wear. Oh, yes my Jubrelie, I will be doing your first evening make-up!” Leah squealed delightfully at the realization.

“Leah, I am not comfortable with more make-up. Fine I’ll let you do my finger and toenails in silver, but no more…”

“Silvermist, Bree, the colour is not just silver. Come-on spoilsport let me get the spacers in between your toes. You know I wonder…” Leah looked carefully at the nail polish. “As this is so translucent I want to see how it looks over the hot pink, I can always add a second coat, or remove it all if it looks bad but I am hopeful that it might look good.”

A few minutes later and Leah was bouncing on Breanne’s bed while Bree sat at the vanity stool waiting for her nails to dry. “Bree, please let me do your make-up for tonight. If you don’t like it we can remove it, but at least I will have done your first evening make-up, please.” Bree falling to Leah’s deadly pout, figured there was no harm in letting Leah be able to say she had done her first evening make-up. There was plenty of time to take it off before dinner, so sat and acquiesced. She was curious how she would look too. Though she didn’t want to admit it she had actually liked how her nails had looked. Leah didn’t need to be offered twice as she set to with gusto.

“You don’t think this is too much.” Bree asked looking at herself while twisting her head from side to side. Three coats of mascara had thickened and made her lashes appear longer. Even when he was Douglas he had naturally long eyelashes, and that stayed true when he became a girl, but the mascara appeared to make them even longer as well as thickening them. The eye shadow went from a mid bright electric blue at the inside to a very pale pastel baby blue. Her cheeks had a bright rosy bloom and her silver lips could not be ignored. Glancing at her nails she could see it appeared they were a muted pink beneath a nearly translucent silver veil.

“Nope it is just right. Let me do mine so you can compare.” Leah said. “Can I borrow your green wrap around dress for tonight, Bree?” Bree nodded from Breanne’s bed, and watched Leah taking off her face, having relinquished the vanity stool to her. “God, your sister has almost no jewelry. I have the perfect pair of emerald earrings at home that would go with the dress but will have to make do with my silver hoops.”

Bree trying to appease Leah jumped in. “I think your dangling hoops work better than studs, and silver goes with dark green.”

“Wow look at you girl, coordinating and knowing what works. The emerald earrings aren’t studs though they have three dangling gold chains with several emeralds in them. If your ears were pierced, I could let you borrow them when you wear the wrap.

“Well sister you have gone all girly, and getting your ears pierced too.” Mark stated having just walked into the room and seeing Douglas, nope there was no Douglas here he was actually seeing his new sister, dressed to the hilt. Mark was in athletic shorts and a white V-neck T-shirt with under vest beneath. Even though freshly clean and pressed, it was quite glaring how he was dressed compared to the two girls that were dressed to the nines.

“Marcel, you know that now this is no longer your room, you should knock before entering a girl’s room.” Leah said after looking out the door and ensuring it was just the three of them.

“What the f… Douglas you told her!”

“I worked it out Breanne. I’ve known since the start that it was Douglas playing hockey, not you. I didn’t care because Douglas helped the team, and you wouldn’t have.” Leah defended Douglas. “Also she is Bree now so I can keep you guys straight.”

“Then don’t call me Breanne, to stop a potential problem call me Mark. Any-way, Leah, are you going to show Bree how make-up looks done right on a pretty girl?”

“I did Bree’s make-up, and she is a beautiful girl. I would date her, actually I am, and tonight is our first date.” Mark reared back shocked at Leah’s confession. Well that explains why she only had three chances to end up in a relationship with her. “All along I was more interested in Douglas than you Mark. Now she is Bree, you have no chance, I like girls not boys.” As Breanne further found out why any relationship would be so short, and was also realizing that she could leave, they had already reached the point she thought she needed to nudge them into, Leah however kept on talking before he could excuse himself. “Please close the door when you leave Mark, we girls are having a slumber party, and boys are not needed. Aren’t you supposed to be with your mother making our dinner too?” Leah turned and went back to working on her make-up, completely ignoring Mark.

After the door closed Bree let go of her held breath. “That was a bit mean Leah.”

“Mark was not being nice to you Bree. Some times its okay to be mean or others will walk all over you. Can I see if your wedges fit me, and borrow them tonight if they do?” Bree took a moment at the abrupt conversation change prior to nodding. It had also taken her most of the time she paused to realize that Breanne’s shoes were now hers.

Leah completed her make-up then rose while unbuttoning and slipping her blouse off her arms. Bree couldn’t stop herself staring at the lacy black demi bra, and of course what was beneath Leah’s nearly transparent bra. Going over what Leah had said she might actually be getting something going her way, and she would willingly accept all the prior losses for the current gain. She tried to not blush as Leah proceeded to pull the tight jeans she had been wearing off next, as if he wasn’t directly in front of her in his sister’s, no her bedroom with the door closed. The small lacy black briefs matched Leah’s bra. When Leah passed her heading for the closet to get the dress, Bree couldn’t stop feeling hot, nor stop enjoying the beautiful girl passing by virtually naked. Leah’s tight bum was prominently displayed as what little piece of cloth there was at the back of the panties was of the same transparency as the bra was.

Leah deliberately took her time getting the dress off the coat hanger enjoying the hungry eyes following her every move. Her nipples had to be as hard as diamonds as she was excited knowing Bree was interested. She slipped it on her arms and wrapped it around herself then tied it closed loosely. Leah then turned to confirm that Bree was still staring at her. “See something you like?” she asked knowing full well the answer. “If you wear the make-up down to dinner I’ll let you undress me tonight.” Smiling at Bree’s gorgeous innocent blush she waltzed back to the vanity stool. “Could you do my toe nails in the same silver mist?”

“I don’t want to mess them up. You did everything so well, as you know what you are doing.” Bree replied.

“Bree you need to learn, and it is easier to apply nail polish to someone else’s toes than to your own. We have plenty of time so if you mess up a nail it can always be redone.” She then placed the spacers between her toes. “Except you have pink beneath your silver mist, we both have the same nails and silver lipstick. We’ll have the same open toe wedge and silver accent jewelry. So you’ll be silver blue and I’ll be silver green. Do you know the biggest advantage of having the same colour lipstick on?” After Bree shrugged Leah continued. “We can kiss and not have to always then fix our lipstick.” Leah stole a quick kiss while Bree was stunned from her comment. This was going to be fun.

Bree was left reeling. He had fantasized kissing Leah for nearly two years, but never thought it would occur. Definitely she never expected that it would be Leah kissing him, nor that he would be a girl. He never thought his heart would be racing and thumping so loud surely her steps could hear it downstairs, nor the feeling of light-headed-slight-dizziness. Jeez he was such a girl. Come-on she was kissed and he/she was going to swoon. He had always thought romance novels saying the women swooned were so cheezy. Now she gave herself a female pronoun and just tried to mimic the same cheesy books that when he was a boy he made fun of.

“Are you going to paint my nails Bree?” Leah asked, knocking her out of her internal musing. Knowing full well what the kiss had done.

Strangely Bree was not glad when she finally finished from her kneeled position painting Leah’s toenails. It had taken a few retries to get the coating on smoothly. Now, unfortunately, she no longer had reason to hold one of Leah’s feet. Nor any reason to stare carefully at her foot. Looking up she noticed that Leah had sprawled her other leg sideways causing the slit of the wrap around to open to the waist and allowing him to look at the crotch of her black lace panties. Oh now there was reward for being on your knees. She could clearly see Leah’s parted lips and a moist patch on the materials. Quickly looking up at Leah and seeing her watching her she gulped.

A knock on the bedroom door had her spring back and hit the door to Breanne’s clothing cupboard. She had just righted himself when her step-mum entered. “Oh you two ladies look lovely. I am going to have to get myself dressed too. Leah, are you going to go barefoot it would be a shame to hide those toenails in the trainers you were wearing?”

“Bree’s going to let me borrow her other pair of wedges once these dry. She painted them. Her first set of painted nails so of course I am going to show them off.”

“Wow Bree, you did them well. You’re going to be able to paint your own too, now. Anyway, dinner will be in fifteen minutes, so don’t mess up your make-up. I’ll see if Dan is willing to dress up a bit too. So, dinner in fifteen, actually make that thirty minutes, okay?” After getting two sets of acknowledgments she let herself out re-closing the door.

“Bree, I love your mum.”

“Step-mum…

“Come on Bree, cut her some slack she’s been your mum now for like half your life. She thinks you were hiding your breasts and yet she goes out buying you new clothes. She could have said for punishment you can wear the wrong sized stuff. Or forced you to get used clothing, but no she bought you new, and brand name clothing that is currently in style.”

“Well I wasn’t the one hiding them, and I am sure forcing a child to wear clothing that doesn’t fit is some kind of child abuse.”

“Not if it was the child that tricked the parent, and she doesn’t know that it was Mark that was hiding stuff from her unless you’re willing to admit what happened.”

“Well she was the one that took us away from my Grandma. Off to another country…

“Where you met me, are you not happy to have arrived here? I thought you liked me.” Leah pouted putting it on a little thickly.

Bree came up short on that one. Realizing her first few comebacks would hurt or insult Leah, she had to really think a moment. If she was about to start a relationship with the girl of her dreams then she couldn’t be mad at her step-mum for uprooting him or she wouldn’t meet said girl of her dreams. Saying he would have met someone else, though potentially true, would be at best cruel to Leah. At worst, and of course more likely, blow any chance of catching the girl. Further, unless she thinks her steps were some kind of mad scientists that experimented on children she had to figure this whole gender swap thing was going to happen whether she was here or still back in the states.

What were the chances if he was in the states, of the girl he was then chasing as his dream girl, would like Leah, actually bat for the other team. Thus still be possible to catch when last night’s madness occurred. So she was left having to re-visit his preset rant against his, no her step-mum. “My mum died for us. My grandma that raised us said that we must never forget that her daughter gave her life for us and we should call her grandma to honor what her daughter, our mum, did for us. She said that we must honor our mum by not giving anyone else that title.”

“Okay I can see that.” Leah said to diffuse the situation a bit while she internally thought about how the grandma had manipulated her grandkids to dislike their new step-mum. “So I was wondering if you were interested in another kiss.” Needless to say Bree was extremely happy to try out some more kissing.

Having fixed Bree’s and her own make-up after their make-out session, Leah decided she had put together a good argument to make Bree see that she had a good step-mum. “Your grandma is not selfless, Bree.” Seeing Bree about to interrupt Leah continues quickly. “No listen to me on this. Being a bit selfish is not bad. In fact it is vital and Bree, you really need to be a bit more selfish at times. Your grandma, just like everyone has an agenda. She had lost her daughter, and needed her grandchildren to acknowledge that daughter, to minimize her loss.”

“So what’s your agenda?” Bree angrily retorted.

“Oh I have many, but to stick on topic, the ones in regards to you are as follows. I want to have all your attention. In order for that I want the relationship between you and your parents to improve. So they have a vested interest to keep me interacting with you. If I can encourage you to do things that your parents want you to do then I get more time with you. For me this is easy because your parents don’t know of the change. Where I teach you to fit in as the girl you now are, they see the metamorphosis of an angry tomboy that hated anything girly into a polite pretty happy daughter.”

Bree stared at Leah trying to work out what she had just told her. It was bad wasn’t it? Manipulative even, then why did it seem good for her?

“Bree, hopefully you are interested in me. Acting on that feeling is selfish. The reason that is not bad selfishness is because it aligns with my selfish desires. I have been granted my wish. I wanted Douglas’s mind in Breanne’s body. That Bree, is who you are. I get my cake, and eat it too. What I am trying to explain to you is that in business and life there are four types of transactions, and you should always strive for ones that are win-win…

“Leah, what are you talking about?”

“Bree, humor me. This was told to me by my Grandpa when I was mad with my parents for grounding me and returning Alexei’s DS3 a couple of years ago. ”Leah held up a hand to stop Bree from interrupting her. “I had tricked Alexei with a win, loss transaction. That is I won and Alexie lost until my parents grounded me, and forced me to return the DS3, and then I lost completely on the transaction.”

Leah paused and stopped herself from going off track. “My Grandpa finally made me realize that I shouldn’t be angry with my parents, because a win-loss or loss-win transaction will at best help one side of the transaction once. You will only trick or be tricked by someone once so it is a bad end to a transaction between friends.”

There was a knock on the door and it opened to admit Misses Parson wearing a floor length crimson ball gown with scooped neckline. She was also holding a bag. “Leah, your Mum dropped this off for the sleepover and it has your school uniform for tomorrow. Shall we now head down to dinner? I think Dan will have got everything onto the table.”

So did Mister Parson and Mark dress up nice and handsome for dinner too?” Leah asked, with a smirk.

“Oh, my husband has washed up quite nicely, thank you Leah. Mark I am sorry will not be eating with us as he is out with his girlfriend this evening.” Both girls were shocked by that comment. “Breanne, I know how badly you wanted to do the tennis mixed double with Douglas…

“I do not want to play tennis with her…im!” Bree started off exclaiming then forced the ‘im’ as she corrected the pronoun. How could Breanne do this? He knew exactly what she was going to say too. ‘Bree aren’t I the super nice brother I will be the partner you wanted me to be for the mixed tennis that prior to turning over my new leaf and becoming Mark, when I was Douglas, I had no interest in doing.’ Then in private ‘if you don’t accept they will know we swapped.’ This was not going to happen. Leah had said she wasn’t selfish enough. Brea… Mark was not going to walk all over her and get his bloody tennis! The nerve of…

Leah was suddenly hugging her Jubrelie, and frantically rolling her eyes trying to convey the items she couldn’t say. Also rubbing Bree’s back soothingly. “Bree it’s okay relax. Your mum is talking about Mark’s girlfriend playing as Douglas’s partner. Not you, I think.” She almost whispered the last part.

Bree heard her step-mum nervously laugh. “Well this went different than I expected, but I think Leah has a better grasp of what I meant to say. I thought the explosion would be elsewhere so I messed up the delivery of this.” Ellin took a breath and ensured the crisis of a nuclear meltdown had been averted at the current moment thanks to Leah’s intervention. Pausing she got back to the point, having rearranged the order of her planned spiel. “Mark has a girlfriend who wants to be his mixed double partner. I hope you aren’t upset he chose his girlfriend instead of you. I know, well I thought I knew…

“That’s great mum, I know how much I’d tried pestering Douglas into being my mixed double partner, but I thought he was going to suddenly force me last minute when I’d accepted I wasn’t going to play in that tournament.” Hopefully, using the mum card would distract her mum from wondering why her daughter was no longer interested in tennis and win brownie points from her girlfriend.

“Dan and I are going to check our friends with sons…

“Please mum, I really, really do not care, and don’t want to enter. I am no longer interested. I mean it, mum. Do not try to set me up with anyone…

“Even if it is with me?” Leah asked. Bree enjoyed the feeling, Leah was still hugging her so tightly, it was really nice.

“It’s mixed doubles…

“I look quite dashing when I dress like a boy. However, I wasn’t talking tennis.” Leah let Bree know, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Leah Anne Martins!”

“Misses P. you know my middle name?” Leah stated after the initial shock of thinking her mum must have arrived.

“I might have heard your mum yell it at you, a time, or ten.”

“Oh.” Then trying to hide her blush she carried on. “Shouldn’t we head down for dinner? Poor mister Parson might think he needs to send out a search party.”

“Poor my foot! The man has three beautiful ladies as his dates for the evening.” Ellin’s smile couldn’t be bigger. Her daughter had called her mum, and not just once. Ellin had never thought this day would come. Sure she’d hoped it would, but thought it never could. She needed to work out what Leah was interested in. It was Christmas in two months.