University was a financial struggle, my parents money was all tied up in Dad’s business, we were not well off cash-wise, there had been no legacies from my grandparents to subsidise my continuing education. Rather than enjoying the rich social life of the college, I had to work my way through a series of low paid bar and restaurant work to keep my head above water. That is until, on the way back after my early morning fitness run, I saw a sign posted on the door of a local nightclub. ’Bar staff wanted, immediate start, well above average wages plus tips.’

When I say ‘nightclub’, I’m being very generous with the description, I had heard that ‘The Hotspot’ was more of a backstreet cabaret club at the cheaper end of the market, but with the promise of better money than my current job paid I had nothing to lose. I rushed back to my room at the halls of residence, had a quick wash, brushed my hair, and changed from my jeans and t-shirt, into a decent shirt, slacks and gave my only decent pair of dress shoes a polish before making my way back.

The door was locked, but after a few sharp thumps it eventually opened and I was faced with a bedraggled unshaven middle-aged man who had obviously just rolled out of bed.

“What do you want at this unearthly hour?”

“It’s about the bar work, are you still looking for people?”

“We are, you had better come in, take a seat at the bar while I make some coffee and smarten myself up, it was a long busy night yesterday and I need to clear my head.

“Ok tell me a bit about yourself and where you have worked before. I’m Duncan Grant, the owner and manager of what you can see is not exactly the plushiest club in town.”

“I’m Cory Farewell, I’m a student in my final year at university studying drama and performance, part-time working to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. For the last two years I have worked at various pub and restaurant venues around town, some quite classy with high reputations, mostly undeserved, and some which were not much more than transport cafes, where the food and atmosphere were actually much more pleasant, I’ve even spent some time down at the Comedy Club. I’m good behind the bar and have a fair knowledge of mixing cocktails. I have to admit that I have never been here as a customer, but looking around the place it seems a lot better than it’s reputation.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. I like your manner, you obviously get on with people, you seem to know what you are doing, when can you start?”

“Where I am now I’m on a zero-hours contract and can pick and choose my hours, as can the management, I’ve not been called in tonight so why not give it a start right away. “I’ve got classes today, but I can be back by six if that suits you.

“Sounds good, that’ll give me time to give you a briefing before the others start to arrive. Welcome to The Hotspot Cory.”

When I retuned later It did not take long for me to become familiar as to where things were and how the computerised till keys functioned, and along with Sandy who would be working the bar with me, we soon had the place ready for when the punters started to roll in. “One last thing before we start.” Said Sandy. “Because we serve food from the bar, you need to tie your hair back in a ponytail, you can’t leave it hanging over your face like that, have you got any bands or anything like that?’

“What? No, I’ve never needed one in the other places I’ve worked”

“Here have one of mine, sorry it’s pink with beads on and is a bit girly, but it will do the job, you can keep it if you want it’ll save you going out to buy your own”

The first two nights the acts were a tribute band, Antarctica who played mainly Arctic Monkeys tunes and a comedy duo, Sam and Terry, who I had previously seen at the Comedy Club. Usually the nights started off slowly, but nearer the time the acts were due to perform, there was always a bar rush so people could settle down for the entertainment, and a rush afterwards to refill their glasses.

I had heard about the third night’s act, an in-house dance troupe of girls, The Hotspot Hotties, who did several session of showgirl, contemporary, can-can, and freestyle, linked together by a drag queen, Mimi la Reine, who filled in while the girls did costume changes, and I was looking forward to meeting the girls.

When they arrived, they came directly over to the bar to order dinks and to meet the ’hot new young barman’ that they had been told about, probably by Sandy. Melanie, Sue, Tara and Zara all seemed pleasant and friendly and I was hoping that I could get to know them, any one of them, they were all quite attractive.

We were soon interrupted by the most flamboyant and camp man I had ever come across, walking, or rather mincing, over to us. “Hi sweetie, you look a bit of alright, I do like what you have done with your hair” he looked at the band holding my ponytail and right into my eyes, “We must get together later for a chat, but I have a lot of work to do to get ready for my audience, you don’t know what us girls have to go through. I’m Mimi la Reine, that means ‘the queen’ don’t you know, but my friends just call me Mimi.”

My embarrassment was obvious to the girls who burst into giggles. Tara gave me a big wink, blew me a kiss and whispered to me, before the girls left to get ready for their show. “Don’t take any notice of that old queen, he’s good at his act and the audiences like him, but he is a bit much sometimes. We’ll make sure that he doesn’t come on too strongly to you.”

We had a busy time at the bar, with everyone getting their drinks in and settling down before the show started. Suddenly the PA system started blasting out the music and Mimi pranced out onto the stage. If I had thought that Mimi was flamboyant when dressed as a man, it was nothing to compare with how he now appeared. From the top of his head covered in a lilac shoulder length wig, his face made up with half the contents of a store cosmetic counter, past the figure hugging, skin tight lurexdress, slit from the hem to the hip cut to reveal a deep cleavage between his huge breasts, to the 6’ pencil heeled stilettos, he was a cartoon caricature of a woman. I couldn’t make up my mind whether I was mesmerised or repulsed by his appearance.

I was even more astounded when he started his routine of bawdy innuendo and risqué monologues as a warm-up act for The Hotties, in a very feminine lilt, but still at a lisping male pitch. The audience, particularly the women, seemed to love what he was doing, although several of the red-necks propping up the bar were not as enthusiastic and some of the language being used by them was not fit to repeat.

Mimi soon handed over to The Hotties, whose first routine was showgirl style, dressed in tight sequinned outfits that were not much more than bathing suits with a few decorative accessories,. They soon had the place rocking and the blood pressure rising in many of the men in the audience, including the red-necks at the bar counter, who now seemed much happier. They had short breaks between their following routines of contemporary sexy dancing and finishing with a flourish of can-can, Mimi doing the fill-ins while the girls went off stage to get their breath back and change costumes.

At the end of the night, Sandy and I tidied up the room, Duncan did the till count and split the tips left at the bar, the girls and Mimi packed up their costumes before we all sat down for drink and a bit of socialising. Mimi didn’t stay long and flounced off in a huff once he realised that the girls weren’t letting him anywhere near me and that I was more interested in them than in him.

“Mimi seems a bit too much, how did he get to work with you girls anyway?”

“It’ was the other way round actually. Mimi was running a successful drag club and wanted to have a dance troupe to fill in between his acts and the other performers. He wanted the dancers to be boys impersonating girls but couldn’t find enough convincing cross-dressers that could also dance, so settled for a female troupe. Unfortunately , as you can see, he can be a bit temperamental and was not a sensible businessman, the club closed but he asked us to continue to support him as he appeared at other venues, and here we all are.”

That became the routine for me, lectures at the university during weekdays, down at the Hotspot three week nights and weekends and a couple of nights at home studying. It was not exactly a full social life but at least I was earning reasonable money, most of which was going on living expenses, but I was able to put a bit away each week to build up my bank balance.

Over the next month I got quite friendly with the girls in the Hotties and with Sandy behind the bar sometimes going out for a drink with them socialising when we all had a night off. One night when I left the club with the girls, Tara was going my way and we were walking near her apartment when a taxi drove close up to the kerb next to me, drenching me by driving through a large puddle in the gutter, not even stopping to apologise,

“Look at the state of you Cory, you can’t walk the rest of the way back to your room like that, come on in with me, get dried off, and I’ll dig out something dry for you to wear to walk home in.” Tara almost dragged me in through the door into her apartment.

After I dried off and brushed out my damp hair in the bathroom I found that she had left some clothes for me outside the door, quickly grabbed them and went back in to get dressed, Nothing was too girly that would be embarrassing to wear, just a light camisole top, a wooly jumper to go over it, fresh plain cotton panties, slim -it tight trousers and sandals with a slightly raised heel.

“I hope that stuff all fits you and feels comfortable Cory, it’s all fairly gender neutral so don’t feel embarrassed about wearing my clothes, Your stuff will take ages to dry, do you want to wait while the dryer does it’s work or do you need to get off?’

“To tell you the truth Tara, I’ve got lectures first thing in the morning and it’s getting pretty late now, I don’t want to seem rude and ungrateful but I had better be getting back. If it’s ok with you, I’ll bring your clothes back tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry about that, I understand. Hold on and I’ll get you a coat, it’s too cool to be walking home without one.” She returned a few minutes later with a fitted belted jacket which was a snug fit on me, and handed me a leather shoulder bag, “ I thought that you would probably need that too for your keys wallet money and bits and pieces, the pockets in the trousers and jacket are not really designed to be stuffed with things like yours are.”

“Safe home then Cory, and, if it’s not taken as an insult, with those clothes you are looking a bit girly, so be a bit more careful than you normally would be, girls walking the streets alone at this time of night are a lot more at risk than you boys.”

I hadn’t really thought about it before but following her advice I was much more wary than normal, keeping to well-lit areas and making sure that I was always in calling distance of other people making their way home. I made it back to my room in the hall without any problems, but as I was opening my room door my neighbour happened to leave his room, see me, giving me a strange look as he cast his eyes over me from head to toe.

After lectures the next day, I was leaving the hall to go to The Hotspot, carrying a shopping bag containing Tara’s things, when I was approached by one of the girls that I vaguely recognised from some of my classes. “ Hi, it’s Cory isn’t it, we’ve not really met and talked, My name is Maggie, and I was wondering if you would like to come along with me to the LGBT meeting tonight.”

“Why on earth would I want to do that, I’m totally straight.”

“There’s no need to be shy and embarrassed Cory, there are a few other cross-dressers come along and you would be more than welcome. Rumour has it that you were seen last night wearing girl’s clothes, with your hair brushed out quite full and looking cute.”

“Thanks for the invite Maggie, but it’s honestly not my scene, there has been a misunderstanding. However if you fancy going for a drink and a chat sometime, I would like that,”

Maggie smiled and giggled “Thanks Cory but I’m not really into boys, but if you ask again when you are dressed up it could be different.”

I was deep in thought as I walked to the club, It was only trousers and a jacket that I had been wearing, albeit Tara’s, and fair enough carrying a shoulder bag, but it wasn’t as if I was wearing a dress and heels with my face made up, the thought of looking remotely like Mimi caused me to shiver.

That night, business was a bit slack so Duncan decided to close early. “Hi Cory we’re all going down to the pizza bar for a snack and a drink to unwind after the show, do you want to join us?” Tara asked as I gave her the bag with her things in it,

“Why not, it’s still early. It’ll give me a chance to get to know you all a bit better. “

We were met by a smiling waiter as we went in “Well hello girls, we haven’t seen you all for a while and you have brought a new friend with you, she will be more than welcome anytime.” causing a load of giggles from the girls.

As the girls sat down Tara grabbed my hand , pulling me away from the table, and I suddenly found myself in the Ladies restroom with her. “You heard the man Cory, he thinks you are a girl, and I must admit that the way you looked last night it’s an easy mistake to make. Get in the cubicle and change into the stuff you wore before, don’t bother with the jacket and jumper, just the Camisole, trousers and sandals, you’ll fit in better with the rest of us, it should be fun. When I was in getting changed something flew over the cubicle door and when I picked it up I saw that it was a bra. “You need that under your cami, I assume you know how to put it on, and stuff it with a load of toilet tissue, we can’t have you totally flat chested, I can manage without it and to be honest often go without. When I came out of the cubicle Tara had a load of stuff on the washstand, “I’ll not go mad but you need a little bit of warpaint to complete the picture.” When she was satisfied with my look, and brushed out my hair, she gave my tissue breasts a squeeze to give a more realistic shape, picked up all her belongings and we went back out to join the others.

“Right girls, Carrie has decided to join us tonight, I see you have got the drinks in already, let me tell you where Carrie has come from.”

After Tara had finished explaining about me needing to get into dry clothes after getting drenched by an inconsiderate taxi driver, I told them about being seen as I was going into my room, and the rumours that had spread about me being a crossdresser.

“Well, you had better make sure that nobody sees you tonight as they will just fan the rumours and may even start another one saying that you are actually a girl as you are really looking the part tonight with your new boobs and a bit of slap on your face.“

I was totally embarrassed at first but soon got over it and settled down enjoying my time chatting with the girls, who were soon calling me Carrie and talking to me as if I was another one of them.

When we left the girls made sure that I stayed dressed as I was and wouldn’t let me change my clothes or clean off the makeup, they were enjoying teasing me.

“Are you coming in Carrie?’ Tara asked as we got to her house. “You can’t go back to your room looking like that, you’ll probably be seen again. You will probably get away with being seen dressed in my clothes once, but a second time will leave no doubt in their minds. Stay the night in the spare bed.”

“Sounds like a good idea, thanks.”

“There you are Cory, I’ve put out some pyjamas for you, a bit girly but at least they’ll keep you decent, there’s cream and cotton pads in the bathroom to clean off your makeup, get yourself ready for bed.

The next morning I got out of bed and although I was wearing only a light shortie pyjama sleep set, I didn’t bother getting dressed as I needed a coffee urgently to clear my head after the night out with the girls, I wasn’t used to drinking the wine they kept putting in front of me.

“Good morning sleepyhead, were you comfortable in there.” Tara was too bright and breezy for me so I just grunted a quick “Yes thanks.”

“There’s coffee and toast for you, I assume that you are not into muesli and yoghurts like us girls. It’s almost 9 o’clock, if you are going to your classes you need to get yourself together and get on your way.”

Throughout the day I was still getting strange looks in classes, the rumour mill was obviously still at work, and I got a nice smile and a finger-wave from Maggie when I saw her at the back of one of my classes, and a come-on-over wave inviting me to sit next to her.

“Hi Cory, I hear you didn’t get back last night, did you have a good time. They were all talking about you at the LGBT group, wondering when you are going to come out.”

“There’s nowhere to come out from Maggie, as I told you, I am totally straight.”

“Ok, whatever, but if ever you want to talk please give me a call.”

To be continued.