Driven from Normal .

Simon McKenzie started his week normal enough, but after a series of events he found himself standing in a bar wearing a cocktail dress. Chapter 23.

After tentatively agreeing that Simone would help on Dads trade stand at the field days, I finished my drink and decided to have a wander around and try to find some way to entertain myself, and also try to burn off the energy drink cocktail I had just smashed back.

I was deep in thought as I walked the few blocks from the hotel into the shopping centre, not really paying too much attention to what was around me. After all, my own Dad had just asked his son to dress up as a girl and help him sell motorbikes, and that can't be normal?. What definitely wasn’t normal was that I had said yes, and was now trying to work out what I could wear that I’d look the best in.

I stopped and looked at a few window displays as I strolled the streets, but I never actually went in. Even though I thought that I looked very girly-ish, I was still a guy and not confident enough to actually go shopping in “Boy mode”, not even just for a quick look.

There was a small nail salon tucked in beside a Noodle place and I almost opened the door and walked in, then it occurred to me that Simone would need “Pretty nails” in a few days so what was the point. The girl at the counter had looked up and smiled as I approached the door, so I had to make out I had walked into the wrong place as an excuse for not entering. Being able to play the silly blonde had its benefits I guess.

Nothing really interested me enough to make a stop in anywhere. I grabbed a takeaway Burger then walked across the road, to the lake edge to eat it. I messaged Mel to see what she was up to. Heading out with Kamyla for a small work party was what she replied. So, just me on my lonesome then. The universe must have read my thoughts, because as I picked my drink up, my phone dinged with a message from Dylan.

(Hey you, Remember me? Just wondering how you're going)

I smiled as I replied back to him, that started a brief exchange of polite messages, it was when he sent a video message request that I panicked.
I quickly declined the call and text him that it wasn't a good time to talk. Shit, now what!
I was really panicking then, if he tried a video call once, the chances where he would try again, and if I answered I didn’t look like Simone anymore, well not really, or did I?

In a fluster, I quickly hatched a plan, possibly still powered by the cocktails and beer I’d had, but it seemed pretty solid in my head.
I finished off the mouthful of my meal, found a bin to dispose of the remaining rubbish and headed back across the road to the department store I’d remembered walking past. I say department store, but it was more sort of just a mini version.
Dylan had text me back saying to Facetime him when I was free.

I headed straight to the cosmetics counter and not really knowing what I was looking for, began scanning the shelves for anything that looked familiar to what Mel had given me, all of which I had deliberately left at home, to have a normal boys weekend.

I found the “Volumizing Mascara” all on my own, then as I was looking at the foundation selection, started to get very lost. The brand was no issue but I had zero idea of what colour to get, they all looked the same!

A saleslady approached me and asked if she could help, which, for a moment, terrified me. It was when she said something about “us girls” that I managed to calm myself down internally.
She obviously thought I was a girl anyway, so no need to panic.

She helped select the correct colour, testing the closest options on my wrist of all things. I also picked a red lipstick, my figuring with that, was bright lips may take attention away from anything else.

"Trish" handed me a small travel sized thing of bronzer and some little sponge things to help apply the makeup. At some point, I had lied to her, saying I had left my makeup at home this morning in a rush to get to the airport. I think it worked, but didn’t care either way at that stage anyway.

My hair would pass enough now being blonde, so with the new make up, I figured I'd be all sorted. With my purchases all gathered up I headed towards the cash register, negotiating my way past some racks of women's clothing, when I spotted a "Clearance" sign above a rack of lingerie, and a light bulb appeared over my head.

The first item I selected on the rack was my size, a very plain white satin bra and knicker set. I also grabbed a cheap womens cropped singlet, thinking that I would need all the help I get in pulling off a Simone transformation without the pretend boobies. With my small shopping bag in my hand, I headed back to my hotel room, to try and make myself look more like my other self.

Dylan's constant message bombardment continued as I stripped off my sweatshirt and tee shirt in case I got makeup all over everything. Then set to applying Simone’s face to mine. Making sure the job was neat took much longer than expected, but I was happy with the result, and replying back to Dylan every few minutes didn't make it any easier.

Happy with the makeup job, I fished the bra out from the shopping bag and the white singlet, luckily it had a larger neck hole than my tee-shirts making an easy job to stretch it over, clear of my face without smudging, then I fixed my hair up as good as you can in a hotel bathroom. Returning back to the main room I noticed the new white knickers half hanging out of the bag, still sitting on the bed,

"Meh! May as well go all in…"

I dropped my shorts and undies, tucking myself as I pulled the satin panties on.
OK then, I'm all set…

Sitting in the tub chair in the corner of the hotel room I messaged Dylan, saying I was free for a chat now if it still suited. As I waited for him to get back to me I glanced around the room, almost a little nervous feeling, my reflection in the large wall mirror beside the TV caught my eye and it suddenly dawned on me. I had actually just put makeup on and was now waiting for a guy to call me wearing a bra and knickers…holy shit!

When my phone vibratied in my hand as Dylan's video call request came through, I froze! Should I answer it or not, the anxiety levels were sky high with my finger hovering over the screen, I took a quick breath and then hit the green button

Dylan's zoomed in face filled my screen before he held the phone back and found the right spot.

"Hey! How are you doin?"

"Not too bad, thanks, what's happening there?" I replied.

"Nah, bugger all really. Wow, you look amazing by the way!"

"Ah shucks, thanks. You look like, well you!" I said with a sly grin.

"Yeah, I guess I probably do!" He laughed.

"I'm a bit surprised to see you still with make-up and stuff on, I thought you might have ditched it all by now…"

I thought I knew where the questions were heading but desperately hoping I was wrong.
The little cogs spinning around in my brain trying to work out what he was saying blew themselves apart, I tried really hard to remain composed as I pretended not to know what he meant…

"Huh?" I asked, trying to act confused.

"I thought when you got home you would've just gone back to being a guy, not that I'm complaining or anything. Like I said, you look gorgeous."

…….shit! The blown apart cogs jammed the system and I froze solid, unable to move at all.

"Ahhh shit, what's happened now? Can you hear me?... the bloody call has frozen!" Dylan said, trying to reestablish contact with me.

"You… knew…I was a guy...the whole time?" I eventually blurted out as my brain engaged its emergency backup system.

"Yeah. Well, no, not the whole time. I had no idea at the pub when we first met…"

Still in shock and now almost overwhelmed with the revaluation I'd just been told, I had to ask.

"When?….How did you….?"

Dylan explained that he had known that Simone was just a guy dressed up, since the go kart racing, he said he'd felt a bit silly not realising that I was the guy that Liam had told him about. The guy that had to wear a dress for the TV ad. He said he didn't think any guy would look as good as I did, so never put two and two together that first night in the pub. It was something I'd done while racing the karts that made him actually make the connection.

"You've known since we went kart racing?.... Then you knew at the pool party!" I was genuinely shocked…piecing things together.

"You never said anything at all?. You even kissed me… you kissed me knowing I was a guy"

A large sheepish smile appeared on Dylan's face.

"Yeah… we kissed. You kissed me back too, remember?"

I had to take a few moments to process what had happened. Memories started flashing through my mind, like after the big reveal on one of those old "Whodunit" movies. There were so many questions falling out of my mouth all at once, I stuttered and stammered only managing to really ask a couple of coherent ones.

"Are you gay, or bi, or what?... Why did you let me panic about flying home dressed as a chick?"

Dylan chucked, dropped his head, avoiding any eye contact before responding.

"Nah I'm not gay… I don't think I'm bi either? Mmmm, well maybe I am, I dunno… I just think you're amazing! You're bloody gorgeous, funny, smart, basically the whole package I reckon. I know it sounds batshit crazy, but I don't even care if you're a boy or a girl, it makes no difference to me..... Huh, didn'tthink I'd ever say those words to anyone"

He paused for a few seconds then his expression changed to a look of confusion,

"And... I didn't know you were panicking about flying because you were dressed like a girl, you said you didn't like flying?"

Mel and I thought we'd been super careful, keeping a secret like a couple of special agents, deep undercover, and it turns out we sucked big time. Dylan had even seen the boarding pass with "McKenzie, Mr Simon'' printed on it, that I was so sure I'd whipped it away without it being spotted.

I burst out laughing and explained how Mel and I had tried all of that morning to come up with a plan for me to change back to the normal me, but everything seemed to work against us. The longer we both talked the funnier the whole situation sounded, all of our attempts to hide the fact I was a guy to Dylan were a complete waste of time, he knew. He knew, and didn't care.

We talked on, about what we'd both been doing over the past week, Dylan had seen the Instagram posts on Simone's page and told me how great I looked, I blushed and tried to move the conversation on, telling him about to the shopping excursion with Mum, I mentioned how that had led onto having tea with Dad and his blasé reaction to the whole thing.

Dylan thought that was cool, he said he couldn't understand why anyone would have an issue with Simone’s true identity anyway, or why it was anyone's business for that matter, I blushed again when he said "he would be as proud as all hell to be with me"

I was really struggling with the compliments he was dishing out, dismissing them with a change of subject each time.

"Well Dad can't be too disappointed in me, he asked for Simone’s help at the Field days stand this weekend…"

"Really! So you're coming back down here again this weekend?"

The excitement in his voice was so obvious, if he was a small dog he'd be wagging his tail and may have peed on the floor a little bit.

"Yep, I got a deal, well, no Simone got a deal, at Millbrook for a room for the night in exchange for an insta promo thing…"

He asked me all about the logistics of how I was getting from Mel's to the field days and due to me not having any idea of how that would happen, Dylan offered to take me, actually he insisted. He even offered to chauffeur Mel and I to and from the resort so we could have a few drinks without worrying about driving.

I thought it was far too generous of an offer but there was no chance he was accepting an answer unless it was "Yes!"

By now I had moved to sitting on the far more comfortable bed, sitting with legs crossed and propped up against a wall of pillows. We laughed, joked and discussed the world's problems, only stopping as my tummy rumbled loud enough that Dylan heard it as well.

"What was that noise?" He asked.

"My tummy! I didn't really finish eating my dinner earlier on.."

I held the phone down to my exposed abdomen as another round of thunder rumbled out.
When it finished, I held the phone back up giggling ready to continue the conversation. Dylan's expression had gone back being completely confused again.

"What's the matter?" I asked him

"Are you wearing a bra and panties?"

"Yeah…." I now felt very self conscious.

"How come? I thought Simon was doing the driving thingy tomorrow?"

"He is!... I had to shoot out and buy this when you wanted to video call me…"

As I was saying it I realised just how stupid that actually was and the heat in my face went thermonuclear.

"So that's all for me?" He replied with a massive shit eating grin.

"No! Well…. Yeah, nah, I guess it sort of is, kind of….. ahhh shit! I think this new blonde hair has started affecting me!"

It was Dylan's turn to go bright red for a change. He gave a small chuckle

"Well you'd better give me a look at the full effort then!"

I smiled then changed the camera on my phone to the rear camera as I slid off the edge of the bed and stood in front of the mirror so Dylan could see how I looked.

"Wow! You look incredible!, as always… And to think that was for me… I'm truly honoured!"

"Pffft, only because I thought you didn't know I wasn't really a girl…"

I really struggled accepting a compliment when it had anything to do with Simone, I wasn't sure what bothered me so much about it, I liked hearing them but maybe just wasn't sure what to do with them?
It was strange to be hearing such things said about the way I looked from a guy.

"So I'm a bit curious…" Dylan started,

"I get the makeup and stuff, if you thought you needed to disguise yourself for the video call, not that you did!, but why the bra and knickers, or that sexy little singlet top?"

I opened my mouth to answer Dylan's question and no words came out, the only noise was the air escaping my lungs. I had no idea at all why I thought I would have needed clothes. It would have been so easy to keep the camera zoomed in close on my face, but I wanted to look right, no I wanted to look great. I wanted to look great for another guy! All of this was going to take some unpacking.

My lack of vocal response was interrupted with another very loud tummy gurgle.

"Friggin hell babe, you might need to order something from room service and keep that monster under control!" Dylan laughed.

"You might be right there…" I replied, leaning over towards the bedside cabinet to retrieve the room service menu…

"Hang on…. Did you call me Babe?"

Dylan smiled and gave me a cheeky wink, as I tried to keep the small smirk hidden away out-of his sight.

"Mmmm. The Ham and Cheese toasted sandwich sounds pretty good" I said out loud but really to myself.

"Well, I think you should order something, we can't have you fading away"

Just as Dylan finished speaking my phone beeped a warning that the battery was almost gone and demanded a charge.

"Shit my phone is dying" I announced.

"Yeah, mine's not far off either. We have been talking for nearly two and a half hours, do not really surprising "

He was right, the call duration had just ticked over two hours, twenty three minutes. Shit, where did all that time go?

That was the catalyst to wind up our chat. I needed to order a feed and put my phone on charge. Dylan made me promise I would let him know when I was heading down so he could swing into action. He ended the call by blowing me a kiss and a wee wink, catching me slightly off guard.

I just missed getting my phone plugged in as the two percent warning flashed and instantly turned off, nevermind, while it recovered enough to turn back on I made a call on the hotel room phone to room service for the toasted Sammy.

With that underway I started thinking about everything Dylan had said and how it had made me feel. It was a strange feeling, warm, but strange. I even allowed my thoughts to wander away, remembering how it felt when we kissed. It wasn't awful, that much I was certain.

A knock on the door ended my day dreaming dead in its tracks, and actually gave me a bit of a fright.

"Shit that was fast!"

I bounced off the bed towards the door. When I swung the door open to grab the food, my eyes would've been hard pressed to open any wider when I realised it was Mitch waiting there.

He was holding a couple of new white shirts, neatly folded. As he extended them out towards me he stammered,

"These are yours…. For tomorrow…" he paused, taking a long slow look at me.

I watched his eyes scan right down towards my feet, then as his eyes carefully made their way back up to meet mine, he continued,

"I…I tried to call you, just now, but your phone…"

Mitch didn't finish his sentence, his attention was elsewhere, somewhere deep in my eyes at a guess. As romantic as that would have been between a guy and a girl, the moment was ruined by, what I would say was the worst thing imaginable.

It was right then, after close to two and a half hours, that the satin knickers decided to ever so slightly, release the hold on my tucked equipment. Not a full release, just a hint of bump appeared in my previously flat crotch.

I felt it happen, I had hoped Mitch missed it, but no such luck. His eyes dropped, just for the briefest of moments, before returning to look back into my eyes. Nothing was said by either of us, I had no idea what Mitch was thinking, and what the hell was I going to say. I had just answered the door in a bra and panties with full makeup for no real reason.

"I…. Ummmm…" was all I managed.

The two shirts slipped from Mitch's grip, dropping to the hallway carpet, he stepped in closer towards me, lifting one hand up to my face. I'd frozen in place, waiting for him to strike. His hand slipped behind my head as his other hand wrapped around my lower back.

It was then that Mitch closed his eyes, pulled me in close and kissed me. A deep kiss that sent a wave of electricity the full length of my body. As his hand on my lower back pulled me in tighter, I relaxed and returned the surprise affection.