A Christmas Party - part 4


Bob gets invited to his office's Christmas Party. His colleagues convince him that life is more fun in a dress.

In this part; Brian gets snubbed and Bobbi has lunch with the ladies.

A Christmas Party - part 4

When Cathy and I trooped back up to see Karen we found her talking softly to Brian. His face was sour. There was a moment of malevolent glee when he saw me first, followed by confusion when he saw we had our coats, more confusion when he realised my boss was with me and… a really odd and creepy look when he took in the face Karen had painted on me.

I gritted my teeth and smiled sweetly at Brian as I asked Karen if she was ready to go to lunch.
Karen answered “I'll just grab my coat…” at the same moment as Brian said “I could do with a break!”
“Oh, I'm sorry, I think you misunderstood” I told Brian, fake sympathy pouring from my lips “We don't have a spare seat, we're going for a 'girls only’ lunch, no boys allowed!”
Brian swallowed his disappointment and embarrassment at being snubbed.
“Ah well.. I guess I'll just 'hold the fort’' then!”
“Yes, hold that thought” said Cathy, which left him looking more confused.

“Let's get out of here!!” Karen said, and we left, giggling to each other at nothing.
When we got to the stairs Karen said “Did you see his face? That was priceless!”
“Are we going to give Becky, Claire and Fiona a call?” I asked.
“Fine by me…” Karen said.
“Are you ok with going to the 'Newt and Cucumber'?” Cathy asked.
We both replied “Sure!” and nodded. Cathy got out her phone and explained the plan to Becky as we walked up the hill into town and the pub. Karen and I chatted with each other as Cathy walked a little behind us and talked on the phone. Karen was really lovely, not stuck up at all, despite my impression when I'd seen her from afar when I'd joined the company. I guess that might have been because I was dressed as a guy then. Karen was very down-to-earth and matter-of-fact, she asked me how long I'd known I was a girl?

Cathy had just hung up on Becky and she was clearly interested in the answer, too.
I tried to work it out with my fingers…
“Er… about… 12….. yeah, 12 hours. If you take out time I was asleep...6 hours? I think, roughly, that I've been dressed like this...well, not like this, I only put this outfit on this morning. Lucy glued my boobs on about...9? 9 o'clock, yesterday evening” I said. I looked at Cathy for confirmation and she nodded and gave me a quick smile. It suddenly hit me, yesterday evening I'd been a normal guy heading out for a normal-ish evening out. I almost felt like I couldn't remember my old life anymore. I couldn't connect myself emotionally with the person I had been 24 hours ago.

Karen's jaw dropped but she recovered quickly.
“I find that hard to believe that you didn't have an inkling… you look and act in such a feminine way now.” she said.
“I know, right,” Cathy chipped in “we dressed him in his girlfriend's dress for a laugh, I think the joke is on us, we've created a monster!”
“Girlfriend? What does she make of your crossdressing?” Karen asked.
“I can honestly say, she's fine with it…” I said.
“Actively encourages it, actually…” Cathy chipped in.
“To be frank, I'm not sure she'd look twice at me if I lost these boobs” I hefted my girls to underscore the point.
“So… she's a lesbian?” Karen asked?
“Sort of, it's complicated. I think I pushed some buttons she wasn't previously aware of”. I said.
“She watches Bobbi like a cat watches a salmon fillet, it's disturbing” Cathy said.

We got to the pub and it was heaving. We found a table far from the bar and sat down. I looked at the menu and realised that you could connect to the WiFi in the pub and order a meal without leaving the table. I grabbed my phone from my handbag (I experienced one of those odd double-takes where I was doing something that yesterday would have been virtually unthinkable, i.e. carrying a handbag, and today seemed a perfectly natural consequence of not having functional pockets).

My IT skills were undiminished by wearing a skirt and I had connected to the free WiFi and downloaded the pub's app in about as long as it took to say it. I looked at the menu in the same way as the others did and I'd ordered my lunch before Karen and Cathy had finished deciding what they would have.

I explained to Cathy what I had done, Cathy was intrigued but Karen wanted to pay cash so the two of them headed to the bar to order their food, I stayed at the table to guard the table and our coats. The pub was so busy that it took them a long time to work their way to the front of the queue and place their orders. Becky and Claire arrived while Cathy and Karen were away. I explained about the online ordering. To underscore how effective it was someone bought out my drink and meal as Cathy and Karen got back to the table while I was still explaining the app to Becky and Claire. The upshot was, I had to show them how to download and use the app instead of tucking into my meal. Then Fiona turned up and I had to explain to her as well, and load the app for her.

So, even though my meal turned up first (by far) it wasn't long after I started eating that everyone else's food arrived.
Mine was a little cooler than I would have liked by the time I started eating, but it was still edible.

The conversation around the table was very lively and there was a lot of laughing. We were all drinking soft drinks but getting louder as we finished eating.
No one was making a big deal out of me being there, no one pointed out what a freak I was. I got a little teasing about my girlfriend, but so did Karen (who knew she was a lesbian? I hadn't realised) and Becky got teased about her string of men. I held back a little, at first, not wanting to show myself up. But all the girls sucked me into the various conversations that were going on, they asked my opinion on things (boys, makeup, programming languages and politics) and shared their views. By the time we had finished eating, which took longer than normal, it was time to head back to work and I had a warm fuzzy feeling that I was with friends.

We clattered back to work in our heels, talking loudly over each other and laughing at Karen's impression of Brian's 'shocked' face.

Cathy steered Becky and me into the ladies loos downstairs while the rest headed upstairs. Karen gave me a hug as she went.

I said to Cathy "But I don't need the loo!"
"Silly girl, you need to check your face! The wind could have blown your hair askew, you might have spinach in your teeth, anything could have happened while you were out and distracted!" Cathy said.
"Huh?" was my reply.
"Becky, back me up here?" Cathy said.
"It's a good idea" Becky agreed "It's not a rule, but… women are held to a higher standard of appearance…"
"Really?" I interrupted, "Including Dasha in call handling? She was wearing wet-look leggings and a t-shirt that said 'I'm here, now what are your other two wishes?'"
Becky said "Yes, but she's young, Czech, and she has the attitude to pull off that look. Plus, her hair was looking good, even if it was dyed scarlet, and everything was clean and fit properly. Think about Ben or Dave…"
"Or Brian!" Cathy chipped in.
I had to admit, they had a point. All three of their examples were guys who were relatively senior and were complete slobs. Ben wore a polo shirt to work every day, you could tell which one of his three shirts he wore by the faded pattern of the foodstains in it and they were all grey now, rather than white. Brian wore a suit and tie, but it was obvious he hadn't bought a new one in years and he had put on a fair amount of weight since they had been bought. Dave just looked perpetually scruffy, his hair never seems to have seen a comb and his clothes always seemed to be disheveled in some way.
Thinking about the women in the company… I'd never really thought about it before, but they did seem to hold themselves to a higher standard than the men.

"I guess you're right" I allowed "but it's a self-imposed standard, though?"
Becky snorted, Cathy shook her head and said "Oh you poor innocent child, what will you do when you learn about the double standard?"
"Oh!" I said "I've heard about that! It's when, if a girl sleeps around she's a slut and if a guy does it he's a hero?... That doesn't seem very fair?"
"Ha! A girl for one day and she already has some insight!" Becky said.
"But it's not just men that hold you to that standard" I said, thinking aloud "Other women judge you, too - and you judge them! You were bitching about Jordan last night!"
"...and you were right there with us" said Cathy "it's one of the reasons we thought you'd make a good girl, you fit right in!"
"But…" I struggled to understand "that means you're like… like slaves to a system where you are expected to make your own chains and share them with the other slaves!"
"Well… I wouldn't go that far, but there is something to what you're saying." Cathy said.
"It's hard, letting go of all the habits of a lifetime" said Becky, "plus, it's _So_ much fun to slag off the skanks!"
"But… don't you have shared experiences of discrimination and a common enemy?" I asked.
"Well, yes, when you put it like that. But… some of those 'enemies' are _very_ friendly enemies. And the skanks are in competition for the nicest enemies, with cutest bums and the biggest…" Becky paused, waiting for us to insert our own word in her sentence… "smiles" she concluded, clearly meaning another word.
"So, it's complicated?" I asked.
"For women, who are born with all the bits, yes. For you, it's a lot worse than that, I'm afraid." Cathy said. "I worry that this has got out of hand and your life is about to get a lot more complicated". She looked a little sad as she said this.
"Yeah, I guess some women would see you as both the enemy and the competition at the same time. To say nothing of how most guys would see you as competition at best and a trap at worst…" said Becky.
"I've never really understood that whole 'trap' thing" Cathy said to Becky "How is being trans a 'trap'?"
"I don't know, some kind of ass-backward victim-shaming? When a 'straight' guy finds he's attracted to cute guys he beats them up and blames them to show how straight he is?" Becky answered.
I look horrified.
"Beaten up for being a girl?" I said.
"Yeah, guys beat up girls all the time to show how butch they are." Becky said.
"Not just trans girls, either." Cathy said.
"Not all guys, surely? Not even most guys? Surely it's just a few psychos?" I said.
"Most guys, if you push them far enough, resort to physical or emotional violence against women, I think." said Becky.
"Anyway, enough chat, back to work!" said Cathy, gesturing to the door.

-0-0-

The rest of the afternoon rolled by. Being dressed like I was starting to feel normal. No one made any comment about it. I guess after Cathy's pronouncement that morning, nobody dared to say anything.

It got to 5pm and the normal early birds started to leave. I went round to Cathy, got her attention and asked quietly, hoping no one would listen in to our conversation "So, what's the plan this evening, then".
"Oh, I forgot to call Becky!" Cathy replied "Hold on, let's call her now…"
She picked up her phone and started to dial.
"Becky? Are you still ok to drop Bobbi off at the hotel to collect her car?" Cathy said, then paused for the reply, "Great, we'll meet you down there at 5:30, thanks!"
Cathy listened to the reply, then she put the phone down and turned to me.
"Alright, Becky will give you a lift to the hotel, it's on the way for her because she normally takes the motorway… What are your plans? Are you going to pick up your stuff from the hotel? Didn't Jordan leave your shirt and trousers with Julie? Don't you need the solution for the glue, as well? Who are you going to get to help you?" Cathy asked.
I gaped for a moment, I hadn't really been thinking about what I would have to do, both to get home and after I got home.
"Err… I don't know… I hadn't really thought that far ahead… I was going to call Jordan and ask if she wanted to hang out this weekend and then try and make it back to guy-hood ready for Monday morning…" I said with an odd sinking feeling in the pot of my stomach.
"You don't want it to be over, do you?" Cathy asked, softly. She wasn't really asking the question, more stating the obvious fact.
"No… no, I don't. I know it's just a lark, but… something about this just feels… right, somehow. Like… I've never noticed before, but I was a girl all along… I can't explain it…" I said.
"I think you just did explain it." Cathy said simply, "I think you have a lot to think over this weekend, don't you?"
I just stared blankly for a moment. Was this what I wanted? What on Earth was I thinking? What could I do?