Part 19

When I finished changing from work uniform to everyday clothes, Carlo was already waiting outside in the lobby, with a bag in one hand:

“Lexie, are you still thinking about going back together?”

“Sure I am.” I suddenly felt a bit edgy, but tried my best to not show it. And noticed how the women, coming out of the changing room at the moment, exchanged again meaningful glances.

“I sense you are a bit tense,” said Carlo quietly while we were walking out of the subway. “Can I help?”

“Um, no… not really…”

“Are you afraid of me? If yes, I’ll go to my place, no problems with that.”

“No, you don’t have to…”

“You are worried that I might abuse you sexually? I mean, before we take the bodysuits off? I will never do that. I know very well how a woman would feel if raped. I guess a man would feel even worse. Remember, I fought to defend you from that.”

“Before you knew that I was not really a girl.”

“That changes nothing. Girls, boys, we are all humans first. No way I am doing that, or even permitting it happen. No matter what.”

Somehow I just felt it was true. Maybe the bodysuit of Carla was making somehow others trust and feel protected by her… him… shit, that didn’t really matter! Carla, Carlo, they are the same person!… But I decided that I would trust them.

“Thank you… And I also promise that I will not do anything bad to you after we take the bodysuits off. Or before that.”

“I believe this. You outdo the character of practically every man I have seen. That is what makes you so… so…”

“Beautiful?” I couldn’t suppress my smile.

“That too. But, you see, most men at work warned me in no uncertain terms that if I do not care for you enough, there will be nasty consequences. If you were a very beautiful but not very nice girl, there would be no such warnings, trust me. So, it is not only my opinion.”

“Thanks… And, from what I have heard and seen from you, you appear to be a very decent person too. The other women – that is, the women at work,” I felt myself blushing slightly, “they believe that you are the perfect man. Always ready to help a girl, to defend her, to protect her honor and everything…”

“Of course I will be. I know very well how much the girls need that. This disguise allows me to give it to them – what scum I should be to not do it?… And, exactly like you, I felt obliged to be the perfect man for you before I knew you will not be hurt by learning that I am a girl…”

“True… This is my entrance, you know it.”

The bag of Carlo contained a set of clothes – jeans, two blouses, a pack of underwear, sneakers – and a few packs of food. We made a dinner, ate, exchanged our life stories in more detail. However, when it came to bedtime, there was a problem:

“Take the bed, I will sleep on the couch.”

“Throw you out of your own bed in your own home? No way.”

“It is not right for a man to take the bed and let a woman sleep on the couch.” I had seen that in at least a dozen of rom-coms.

“Exactly! A true man like me will never do that to a beautiful girl like you!” Carlo tried to hide his smile. I couldn’t hold it and laughed.

“Tomorrow you will wake up as a girl and me as a boy!”

“Yes, but today it is the opposite and today comes before tomorrow!” Now we both couldn’t stop laughing.

“Okay… what about then sharing the bed? It is wide enough for us both… That is, if you aren’t afraid of me when we wake up.”

“I would be more afraid of you before we go to sleep.” Carlo winked.

“Okay, we go…”

Five minutes later, we were both in the bed, in our underwear, holding the bodysuit remotes.

“One, two, three!”

I knew that I had a few seconds between pressing the buttons and getting asleep. And they were… strange. I would usually find inconvenient sleeping in the same bed with another man, but this time it was somehow different. Less territorial, more acceptable, more calming…

… Was it because Carlo was actually a girl inside that bodysuit?…

* * *

“Wake up, sleepyhead!”

The voice was high and somehow singsong. I slowly tried to get up and wipe the sleep off my eyes.

The bodysuit was all around me. I drowsily pulled it off me. Then suddenly remembered the previous evening, and that kicked me wide awake.

Next to me, on the bed was lying the appearance of Carlo. Looking like an incredibly realistic, half-deflated blow-up doll.

“Do you like pancakes?”

Standing in the door of the room was… Carla.

The first thing I noticed – with some relief – was that she was about a couple of centimeters shorter than me. About the height of Lexie, passed through my mind.

She was slim and ungainly built, like a teenager. Boyish figure, rather modest curves, barely noticeable under the jeans and the blouse. Slim wrists with long thin fingers. Big and round head, shortish brown hair. Big – I would dare to think, beautiful – eyes, smiling even more than her mouth. Two big front teeth that made her look a bit like a rabbit or goffer from the old animes for little children. Or like that girl from the books, I couldn’t remember her name, with two red braids and two long socks of different color, and could lift a horse. Overall, Carla looked like a taller twelve years old.

So that was why she couldn’t find a job in the IT. Not only she was a girl, but on top of that looked like being obviously underage. It was nearly impossible to me to believe that she was a competent, knowledgeable and professional IT expert, despite that I had witnessed it so many times… Poor girl!

But her smile was charming. Maybe not as perfect as the smile of Lexie, but somehow no less attractive. Warm, nice and full with… well, personality, individuality – I couldn’t find the exact word. In short, she was very homely. Attractive – sexually too, but as a person even more than that.

“Well? They are getting cold.”

“Ugh, I love pancakes!”

I jumped from the bed. Then guessed to turn my back to her and hastily put some underwear, pants and T-shirt on. She couldn’t stop giggling.

“What is the funny thing?” I asked before biting off from the first pancake. It turned out delicious.

“How modest you are. Given that I saw you naked just a day and a half ago.”

“You didn’t!… Well, you saw Lexie naked, not me!”

“And who is Lexie, may I ask?”

“… Not me, in that sense!… If that is true, then I saw you naked too!”

“Did I have a good package?” She giggled again.

I tried to compose myself. And to shake off the thought that, well, she did. That is, he did.

“Well, I haven’t seen too many packages to compare…”

“Really? I thought you guys love to compare your dicks!” She continued to giggle.

“And it was… You had an…”

“Erection? Of course. The bodysuit has several modes for triggering that. I couldn’t allow to disappoint the poor Lexie, that wouldn’t be nice to a girl. Especially to such a beauty…”

I bit off a big piece of pancake. My poor head needed some time to process all that.

“And you had a perfect body. I am hetero, and despite that I felt liking the idea.” She giggled again. “What about you keeping the bodysuit on some weekend, and trying some girl-on-girl action?”

“What about you keeping the bodysuit on some weekend and trying some boy-on-boy action?”

“Eww! That’s gross!… Okay, I was just goading you. But you were really beautiful.”

“Well, I understand nothing in male handsomeness, but you also looked really good. I know more than a few boys that would kill for such a body.”

“I also know women that would kill for a body like yours… that is, Lexie’s. For example, every woman around. Including me… Want more pancakes? There is enough mix left.”

“I would love one more, thank you… I wonder why you were so repulsed by the boy-on-boy idea, while joking about girl-on-girl?”

Why it felt so natural to discuss with a girl such things? I would never dare to ask Sandra about them. And I knew Carla since just a few minutes… actually for more than a month, but not as Carla… Was it because I knew Carlo?

Or because I somehow felt closer to women than before? A bit used to such talks in the company of the women at work?

“Well… Girls are more open about such experiments than boys. And maybe it is objectively more natural. After all, most guys like to watch lesbian sex.” She smiled again. “Or maybe not. There are gays, they… Dunno, I have never been really male, it is just to me personally guy-on-guy feels gross. Being with a girl does not, though I definitely prefer boys.”

Was she hinting on something? Or I just hoped that to be true? I would never harass her for physical closeness, despite that she was really cute. Would defend her against anything. Without even thinking of what a real man ought to do. I just knew I will. She deserved it. She was worthy of it, without a drop of hesitation.

“Well, what we do now?”

“Thank you very much for the breakfast. The pancakes were wonderful… Hm… You know, before I learned who you are, I thought that Carlo would make the best friend in the world. And I dreamed to teach him climbing.”

“Did that change after you learned I am a girl?”

“Yes, it did. I want it now even more. You… you are someone who makes an absolutely great friend.” I felt blushing slightly. “But your clothing is not good for climbing, we will have to get you climbing clothes and shoes and will lose the day… Have you been in the zoo? They opened it a couple of years ago.”

“Never have been in a zoo at all.”

“What about visiting it, then?”

“Great! I’d love to see the cousins.”

“You have cousins working in the zoo?”

“The monkeys, silly.”

“Oh…”

* * *

Carla said that she has to do something, and in the subway was concentrated on her old-style phone, typing stuff on it. In the zoo however, she was excited like a child. She couldn’t stop photographing every animal we saw, often multiple times. I also photographed her with my phone several times, posing in front of different animals, with the air of a kid overflowing with joy.

And I tried to remember and apply the lessons I had learned from Carlo. Always left the best view for her. Chose for her the best road, helped her with any possible obstacle, held her hand while coming off the subway train. At the first, barely noticeable signs that she might be tired, I offered her to sit down for a lunch and was as adamant about getting the best for her as Carlo was for me. That is, for Lexie.

“Thank you, Damiano. I didn’t know they serve such good food here. However, we will split the bill.”

“No way. It is my turn now.”

“Since when?”

“Since you told me at the restaurant that we will split it some other time. That is now.”

“I didn’t! That was Carlo telling Lexie, not me to you!” She stick out her tongue.

“Well, I am a good student and learned a thing or two from Carlo. Blame that on him .”

“I get an excellent salary—”

“So do I. It is just a compensation that girls have so many more expenses than boys.”

“Well, I am a girl only two days out of seven in a week, you are a girl five days in a week, more than me. It is more fair for me to take the entire bill…” She giggled happily. “Okay, okay, you are the man. Thank you, really. You are indeed a very decent guy. Mountain rescuer, you say?”

“Yeah, I was raised by them… And you are a really nice and beautiful girl. Absolutely.”

“You know you are a terrible liar?”

“I am that, but I do not lie. I really think so.”

Carla looked at me, and even I could see in her eyes a flurry of thoughts passing through her.

“I look like a kid. Nobody can think of me as beautiful.”

“I do. And you are not only beautiful, but also the nicest girl I have ever seen… After all, you are a part-time man and know what is to be one. There can be no better woman than one who can understand the men and be a true friend, not just a sex partner. With that you can woo on the spot any man you want. He will immediately feel that you are the real thing.”

Carla was silent for some time. Then looked in my eyes:

“Thank you. And for caring for me too. Yes, I noticed it.”

“Well, I have a debt to return three times, not one.”

“One is sometimes enough… May we go and see the birds too?”

“Of course!…”

We came out of the zoo only when it was about to be closed. I invited Carla to visit a restaurant, but she insisted to try and cook something at home.

That turned out to be something with fried bits of meat, vegetables and rice, together with some spices. She said she had read the receipt in a book about Uzbek meals. It was both filling and tasty, and I liked it.

“Can I have the recipe, please?”

“Of course. And during the weekdays you will cook it, since you will be the girl.” She made a funny face at me.

“If you wouldn’t be afraid to eat it, why not?… But now, I would be the man both at getting asleep and waking up. Should I move to the couch?”

“We already slept in the same bed and none of us raped the other. Why not try it this night too?”

She was really brave, I thought while undressing. I wouldn’t dare to do it so quickly while being Lexie. Well, maybe I would now, knowing that Carla is a really decent girl. That is, if I am Lexie, Carlo being a decent man… Ugh, as if it mattered – they were both the same person.

And that was a really caring and nice person. I remembered how scared Carlo was for me when I helped him with that armored fridge of a thing. How caring he was always for every woman, even when he didn’t need that for a cover. And how tactful he was with men. And how brave he was, defending a girl from being raped… None of these was something you take off with the bodysuit. Carla was a dream woman. One in a million – I would likely never see another one like her.

One that I felt happy and proud to care for, protect and cherish.

Everyone around me believed that Lexie is unique girl, a perfect one. Well, she wasn’t – she was actually the cowardly and opportunistic me on the inside. However, Carla was nothing less than what they believed Lexie is. I couldn’t be with Lexie, but I could try to be with Carla, if she would accept it. She was the real thing. What the idea of the others about Lexie was, but in reality.

She had waited for me to get in the bed, then turned the light off and undressed. Now I felt her slipping under the blanket next to me. Waited for a moment – likely hesitated – and then snugged next to me.

The feeling was like a music. She had both the attractiveness of a woman and the vulnerability and purity of a child. I felt her closeness making me feel whole, real and capable of moving mountains to protect her and care for her.

Without thinking, I moved my fingers very lightly over her hair, trying to put into that warmth and protection, not abuse and assault. She didn’t react, and with some hesitation I did it again, trying to be even lighter and more caring.

She squeezed into me, then lifted her head towards mine. And our lips met.