Tracey woke up to the sounds of the local rock radio station and Shadoe singing along with Pat Benatar in the kitchen. Tracey's sense of smell told her that breakfast was being prepared.
The combined aromas of eggs, bacon, toast and coffee beckoned for her to wake up.
For a moment she found herself disoriented but then she remembered the previous day, “Oh yeah, still female,” she said quietly to herself as she sat up.
“Oh yeah and naked as a jaybird.” she said as she got out of bed and looked for a robe or something to cover herself up.
“You awake there, Trace?” Shadoe called in, then corrected, “I mean Tracey. Sorry.”
Tracey smiled now feeling slightly amused at her situation.
She looked towards the door and spied something white hanging on a hanger on the back of the door. She walked over and found it was a robe. Of sorts.
It was short, and only covered her down to just past the hips, and made of a sheer white fabric.
She reached out for it Thinking it was better a little coverage than none at all.
She looked around curiously, “Yeah, I'm awake and don't worry about it, I can't expect people to alter from the name they knew me by to Tracey,” Tracey replied barely wrapping up her nakedness and walked out into the kitchen.
“Wow, you look sexy as hell in that!” Shadoe smiled and winked as she flipped the bacon onto a plate with a paper towel on it.
“Where are my clothes at?” Tracey asked.
“Oh, I put them in your room,” she smiled.
“My room?!” Tracey gasped. “you're not serious?”
“Well for a while anyways,” I used to have a friend named Bunny that lived with me. She moved in with her new boyfriend and has her new life now, hence the empty room. It's furnished and now comes complete with your own clothes!”
“So why did I sleep naked with you last night then?” Tracey asked suspiciously.
“Ha ha!” Shadoe laughed, “Yeah I can understand how you could be feeling a bit weirded out here but I had to remove a bunch of Bunny's old stuff she left behind before you could use it. Still you have to admit it, sleeping on that giant bed of mine is far better than dealing with the couch. We actually were about three feet apart for most of the night.”
Tracey felt the tension leave her. Damien was still within her and he jumped at the very mention or insinuation of almost anything remotely sexual. Even possessing a female body she still clung to her male moralities.
“Oh okay,” Tracey smiled, “Is the coffee ready?”
“Definitely, “ Shadoe poured a mug, “the cream is in the fridge and the sugar on the counter just beside the fridge.”
Tracey mixed her coffee and looked into the livingroom. There were a few boxes on the couch and leaning against the wall was a black hardshell guitar case.
As a musician, Tracey's attentions had been stirred.
“If I can get back into music maybe this new life will be easier to deal with,” Tracey pondered to herself.
She checked the fingertips on her left hand and sighed, “There is definitely going to be a few tears shed before I can use these tiny hands very well. It'll be like learning all over again!”
Tracey took a sip of her coffee as Shadoe sat down at the table with her noticing Tracey's line of interests.
“Yeah that used to be Bunny's old guitar. She bought it when she was going out with a musician back when she first moved here. She wanted to be able to share his musical life but he ended screwing around on her. She left the guitar behind because she didn't want the memories,” Shadoe said.
“Really, some guys sure can be assholes,” Tracey responded still entranced by the guitar case.
“I didn't know you played guitar Tracey,” Shadoe replied.
“Well, I know only a little bit but I have been considering learning some day,” Tracey responded, “Could I look at it?”
“Sure, help yourself! It's just gathering dust here.” Shadoe said.
Tracey had to stop herself from running over to the case to open it up. Her professional curiosity was just that overwhelming.
She opened the case and found a rather serviceable Yamaha acoustic. It wasn't an overly expensive guitar as far as acoustic guitars went. It was a quality guitar for people on a budget and it was the perfect size for Tracey's smaller hands.
She pulled it out and forced her fingers to try a few chords. It was a forced sound, quite typical of a newbie. Despite having all the musical knowledge that Damien had amassed over the years, Tracey's body had never done it so it had to be taught.
On the plus side most of what she had to learn was just strictly physically based.
“Tell you what,” Shadoe smiled, “If you can get $30 you can have the guitar, case and everything!”
Tracey's heart jumped. Her reaction was to run over and give Shadoe a hug of appreciation!
“Wow, you really know how to show appreciation!” Shadoe smiled and hugged back, “Maybe when those assholes release Damien you can talk him into teaching you.”
“I don't know about that,” Tracey sat down once again with her coffee, “I have this awful feeling neither of us will ever see him again.”
“Aww don't talk like that, girlfriend,” Shadoe consoled her, “I'm sure he's okay. I mean he's been a fixture on the street for as long as I've known him and I doubt very much on this earth can keep him away.”
“Well you might be right there,” Tracey smiled weakly.
Tracey really did want to go back down to the strip but she was still a wanted person, she couldn't be seen anywhere near there nor any place remotely related to the street people.
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” Tracey said after finishing her coffee, “You have that date tonight? Do you have any suggestions on where I could go?”
“Well do you like rollerskating?” Shadoe asked.
“Hell yeah, but...” Tracey stopped for a moment and pondered.
Did Tracey even know how to rollerskate at all?” Tracey knew from her own experience that it wouldn't be too hard to learn but she was going to be there alone and would have no one at all to support her if she fell.
“I suppose it's been a while since I tried to skate at all,” Tracey replied, “but it does sound like fun!”
“I can set you up with a guy to go with you if you want,” Shadoe offered.
“Oh no, that's okay,” Tracey almost panicked at the thought of dealing with a guy right now. She barely knew who she was, never mind having to deal with meeting someone else on a personal level, and there is nothing impersonal about a date, and that was what Shadoe was insinuating.
“I need some time so mull about. You know, see how I far out there on my own with this new look,” Tracey smiled as sweetly as she could, “It could be fun.”
“You are definitely different, girl,” Shadoe grinned.
Tracey poured herself another cup of coffee and replied as she mixed it, “Trust me, I'm far more different than you may suspect!”
Tracey spent the day setting up her room and attempting to introduce the fine art of guitar playing to a body that had never done it before. After a mere 20 minutes she had to put the guitar down because the steel strings hurt so much.
“Still, no pain no gain as the weight lifters say,” Tracey said to herself.
She put the guitar down after 20 minutes, allowed her fingers to recuperate for a half hour or so, and picked it up again to practise another 20 minutes before the pain would influence her to stop again.
She did this on and off for most of the afternoon until around 4pm when she entered the livingroom where Shadoe had just finished a minor clean up.
“Hey, I was thinking of taking a shower and getting ready to go out for rollerskating tonight,” Tracey announced.
“Sure, not a problem. The master bedroom, mine, has a bathroom of it's own,”
Shadoe said, “After you finish your shower I'd do your makeup again. This time we will have the mirror in front of you. I'll go through all the techniques and wheres and what-fors again so you can reproduce it without my help. A girl should be able to do her own face after all.”
“Here, hold on for a second,” Shadoe disappeared into her bedroom and returned momentarily. She stepped behind Tracey and gathered up her hair, extensions and all up and clipped them up and out of the way.
“There you go,” Shadoe patted Tracey on the back, “That hair clip will keep your hair up while you shower. It would make life easier if you didn't get the extensions wet today, it would take far too much time and effort fix.”
“Oh. Why thank you!” Tracey reached up and gingerly felt the clip and smiled.
“Oh and after we're done your face, I'll do a little something with your hair as well. We may as well go all out for tonight. We're going to make you top model material tonight.”
“Well, remember that my aim tonight is entertainment, not to find companionship, so don't make me too irresistible,” Tracey smiled, “after all I have enough to deal with this new life, without adding a gir... err boyfriend to it.”
Shadoe smiled slyly, “oh my god, Tracey, did you just say what I think you said?”
Tracey got worried and backed off a bit, “What? What did I say? What do you mean?”
Shadoe pushed the envelope a bit more, “Did you just say gir, as in girlfriend? Do you like girls?”
For a moment Tracey couldn't think straight. Shadoe had her flustered. Damien had long had a minor crush on Shadoe and now Tracey felt her secrets would be uncovered if she was not careful.
But what was wrong with liking girls anyways? Damien had known a great many women over the years and the majority of them were either bisexual or outright lesbian. It was only natural for Damien to like girls but Tracey was a girl herself and now it was considered as a lesbian interest.
But was it natural for Trace as it was for Tracey? She took a breath and answered honestly without uncovering her other secrets.
“Well, now that you bring it up, yes, I do like women,” Tracey looked down at her feet, “But I have never had lesbian relations.”
It was true, for Damien. Damien was a man and as such could not have a lesbian relationship. Trace on the other hand could have but it was not known for sure if she did. Tracey did know that the interest was there, otherwise she would not have felt nervous being in bed naked with Shadoe. Something had to be there already.
“Don't worry about it girlfriend,” Shadoe gave Tracey a hug, “We don't spend all of our lives on our backs, do we?”
“Oh umm, no we don't of course,” Tracey replied.
Shadoe stepped back to admire her work and smiled, “Girl, you are such a fox! I don't doubt you'll find someone to chat to over the course of the evening.”
Tracey looked at the image in the mirror, “You really can do wonders! But I don't know, I'm almost afraid to go out like this. Oh and I am definitely not looking for someone to spend the night with, so I should be back later tonight. I don't trust very many people very easily.”
“Who does? It's the first rule of the street,” Shadoe smiled, “Trust no one except yourself and even then only with caution. But anyways, if you can't come back for some reason or another tonight you can use this phone. My number is programmed into it. I had this cell phone set up when Bunny lived here and it's on a family plan. Bunny didn't have much use for it after she met her current boyfriend. He bought her an iphone complete with calling plan.”
“So why did you keep it around? I mean Bunny got her own phone,” Tracey asked accepting the phone from Shadoe.
“As I said, it's on a plan. I can't opt out for another 5 months yet,” Shadoe replied, “So consider it an extra bonus! Oh and you can put it and all your other stuff, in this purse. You can keep the purse. We need to keep you away from who you used to be and let's face it kid, you were really notorious for having that waist pouch of yours.”
Shadoe handed Tracey a black suede purse with leather fringes. Tracey smiled, “Nice design. It looks expensive! Are you sure you want to part with this?”
Shadoe scoffed, “Pfft! I'm Native; I have family that churns this stuff out regularly.”
Tracey smiled, “Wow, really nice work and thank you.”
“The best thing is that it's black and black, as we both know, goes with everything!” Shadoe smiled.
Shadoe looked at the clock and took in a deep breath.
“Well, my friend will be here in about a half hour,” Shadoe smiled, “Inside the purse you'll find a bit of fun money and a five bus tickets. Don't bring any identification with you. That is a bad habit that you newbies do all the time. Especially if you happen to be on the run. Stash your ID in your room somewhere and leave it there for now. I'll give you the makeup we used as well a few extra brushes. Put that in your purse as well so you can do touch ups over the evening. It probably won't be necessary but your never know. It's better to be safe than sorry.”
Tracey smiled and hugged Shadoe tightly, “You really are a very good friend. I can't imagine what would have happened if I didn't run into you yesterday.”
“Now you run and get dressed,” Shadoe replied with a smile, “try that outfit we had you in last night. That really looked good on you.”
“Hey what if I fall on the rollerskates?” Tracey asked.
“Well put on a pair of those black tights instead of the fishnets,” Shadoe replied, “that should help to conceal anything that shouldn't be displayed in public. I put a few pairs in with your clothes.”
“Now run along, my friend will be here in just about a half hour,” Shadoe said playfully slapping Tracey's butt as she passed by.
Comments
some stability
having a safe place will help her sort herself out.