Diva in Disguise Chapter 3

After Pete had gone, Alice left the little motel where they had been staying and moved in with me. My college friend offered to remain a further fortnight. Her stated intention was to help clear my mother’s house for sale, but while her practical assistance was welcome enough, just having her around was an emotional support I was most grateful to lean upon.

My spirits were often lifted by her refreshingly artless remarks, and I found her wide-eyed openness something to be treasured. One evening as we sat and chatted over the events of the day, I noticed that my words were not holding her attention. My brother was seated on the floor watching TV. He and I were on much better terms these days and I could see that having Alice with me had been a contributory factor in the improvement of our relationship. He seemed surprisingly content to be around us.

The reason for her inattention was not long in being discovered. Later that evening when Alice and I were alone she casually inquired “Jennifer. How much younger is Thomas than you?”

“Oh. Slightly more than two years. He’s fifteen, sixteen in October.”

Alice looked a little crestfallen at my reply. “Really! Yet he’s so much taller, and so broad-chested. Quite the man! He’s very good looking.”

Engaged as I was in removing my makeup before bed, it was easy for me to hide my smile. I’d allowed Alice to have my room and was sleeping in Mom’s. It had seemed better that way.

The girl was silent for a full five minutes before continuing to voice her train of thought. “I suppose four years is a big difference, in age I mean, especially if the girl is the older of the two.” It didn’t take a genius to understand what was running through her head. She had celebrated her twentieth the month before.

Mischievously I couldn’t resist helping that train of thought further along. “Rachel is five years older than me, and she is the female in our relationship!”

“Yes, but you and she have something special. Anyone can see that. If it’s a more casual liaison, then these things matter.”

“Is that what you and Harvey have, a casual relationship?”

Alice looked perplexed. “I don’t know.” She pondered some more. I could almost see the wheels revolving!
“No, I think we are more than that. I told him I’d wait for him, even before he asked me to. He said I better had!”

When we had stopped giggling, she continued. “Anyway, that shows we’re serious.”

The idea seemed to satisfy her for a moment and then “But he’s abroad for two whole years and is such a long way away” the girl groaned. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able bear it that long.”

“I do. A day at a time! You can be true to him and still have fun. I reckon he’s worth the wait.”

My friend looked doubtful. “I guess you’re right. I don’t like it though.”

I made to leave her.

“Oh, don’t go yet. There’s so much for us to talk about” she pleaded. “Unzip me please. It’s our last night so… stay with me.”

I felt dubious. “I don’t know.”

But the girl had already started to remove her dress. “Yes, please do. It will be all right as you’re so nearly a girl… just a girl with a little bit extra!”

We dissolved into mirth again at that idea.

The dress fell to the floor. Reaching behind her she unclipped her bra. I quickly turned my head away as it followed the other garment.

“I won’t be able to get to sleep unless you do” she begged. “Please say you will.”

Alice had persuaded me to do this once before, and on that occasion, she had succumbed to slumber almost immediately, so I had been able to escape quite soon. It would be okay. With averted eyes I picked up her nightdress from the bed and handed it to her.

“Thanks.”

I heard rather than saw her slip into the silky chemise. When I judged she had made herself decent I turned back… a moment too soon. Her panties were descending her legs but the hem of the nightie was still gathered around her waist.

At the look of consternation which spread across my face she laughed out loud. “Don’t be such a prude!” she called as she left me to use the bathroom. “You’ve seen everything before.”

Actually, I hadn’t! Not of her anyway. I sometimes wondered whether Alice’s ideas on the intimacy of our friendship went a bit too far.

When she returned and had gotten herself safely in the bed I relaxed. “I’ll sit with you just till you nod off” I temporised. “I won’t undress, as I am a married… person. I have my reputation to consider!”

There was silence between us. I lifted my eyes to see my friend regarding me thoughtfully.

“Rachel is so lucky.” Alice sounded envious.

“Is she?”

“Well yeah! She gets to have a girlfriend and a boyfriend all rolled up into one person.”

“I’m sure she could do better, if she tried. I think I’m the lucky one.”

The older girl stopped to consider, while I waited patiently for the conclusion of her deliberations. I began to feel drowsy myself. Surely, she must sleep soon.

Next thing I knew, I came to with a jerk. I had drifted off in the chair. A stealthy glance told me that my confidante had also slumbered. She was sound. Phew! As quietly as I could, I crept away to Mom’s old room.

Alice had to leave the very next day. She was planning to visit her folks en-route to our home town. The girl was nearly in tears as I drove her to the bus station, and I felt quite emotional myself. We’d become awfully close. It had been fun having the kookie girl around and in Rachel’s absence I’d come to depend on her.

We had an hour to wait before the bus departed. The weather made the parting additionally dismal, with lowering clouds threatening rain. I bought us a coffee to fill in the time but neither of us had got much to say. I drove back to the house with a lump in my throat. I would miss Alice almost as much as I was missing my little family.

What was even more dispiriting was that it wouldn’t be long before my brother also departed. He would soon go to start his new life with our father. Then I really would be alone. When Dad finally called to collect him, the youth actually hugged me in taking leave and made me promise to come and visit. “I surely will, Thomas. It isn’t too far to drive to where you are going to be living.”

That the relationship between my younger brother and I had improved so dramatically over the past few weeks may not have been too unusual. Siblings can be drawn together by the loss of a parent, or alternatively, they can be pushed further apart. It was heart-warming to know that it was the former which was prevailing in our case.

After Thomas had gone, the plan was for me to remain in Mom’s house for two more weeks and finish up. I had toyed with the idea of going home to be with Rachel for a few days in the meantime before returning to transact the final business, but the distance and expense involved made that option unattractive. As solace for our prolonged separation I had to content myself with a lengthy phone call to her most evenings. It didn’t matter what we talked about. I just needed to hear her voice, and listen to our child’s babbling. I wanted to be sure there would be no danger of the baby forgetting who I was. Being alone in my mother’s house didn’t bother me in itself, but the empty evenings seemed interminable. The rest of the day I was far too busy clearing it out. There was so much to dispose of. My solitary condition was not to last long, however.

Amid the blurred sea of faces which had faced me at the funeral there had been two which I would rather not have seen. Time seemed to have stood still that day, but dully I had become aware that Karen Morris and Madeleine Bell were there. They were sharing an umbrella and the presence of neither was welcome. The former had been my childhood heartthrob, my first love, in fact. As regards the latter let’s just say we had history. Seeing them together was an ominous portent of worse to follow. However, to my relief, both had departed by the time we left the graveside and since then, I had been able to put them out of my mind.

Late one afternoon, however, I was downtown taking stuff to Goodwill. I’d been busy house clearing most of the day and had put on an old pair of jeans and top while working. Both were a tad on the small side for me now and had seen better days, but I couldn’t be bothered changing before I left the house. In any case I Hadn’t planned on being long. I had almost walked all the way back to the place I’d parked the car when I encountered Karen face to face.

We were some distance apart when I first noticed her and as we approached, I formed the intention of merely saying hello and passing quickly by, but she stopped me with a hand on my arm.

“Jennifer. I’ve been wanting to see you. How are you?” Running her eyes over me, she added “I have to say you’ve blossomed. In fact, you’ve developed out of all recognition. You look great!”

I was very conscious how scruffy I must have appeared in comparison to herself. With her tall and elegant figure, she was looking sensational in a pale leather dress and accessories which matched it perfectly. Instead of dressing like the tomboy I had been accustomed to seeing, on this occasion she personified feminine refinement.

“Thanks.” I didn’t return her compliment. “I’m fine, I guess” I added coldly.

“Oh, this must be a very difficult time for you. Your mom was such a great person. You must miss her terribly. I do myself. We were quite close, you know.”

“I remember!” I recalled all too clearly how thick Karen and my mother had been together. Sometimes they’d spent hours on the telephone and usually the aftermath of such calls had augured mischief for the boy-girl relationship which I had so desired. It had been doomed from the start with the attractive teen never fitting in with any of the plans I made for us. My so-called sweetheart would always go her own way, often with someone else. She had displayed besides an undoubtedly mean streak, insisting on dating me only if I were dressed as the female and she as the male, with Mom’s connivance. Naturally this had made it harder for me to resist my mom’s feminising influence. With her and Mom in league against me, I’d had no chance.

I have never been able to understand why the object of my devotion had behaved so perversely. She seemed to delight in humiliating me. Unlike my parent, who appeared to have a score to settle with the male sex and who avowed a determination to prevent me from ‘turning out like my no-good father’, her motivation remains obscure. Whatever Karen’s reasons, however, mortification and frustration had been my inescapable lot until in the end, I made the decision to give up on the romance. Even though we were in the same year throughout high school, thereafter I managed to have as little to do with the teasing teen as possible.

“Say, is that your little car?”

My two-seater was parked close by. It had originally belonged to Pete and was by no means new, but I loved it for its quirky style.

“It’s so cool! Could you give me a ride to my house? I know it’s not far, but today is much too warm for walking, especially in heels.”

Reluctantly, I complied with her request. I felt I had to, if only out of politeness. Besides, I’d always had trouble resisting those puppy dog eyes which she could make whenever it suited her!

As we drove, Karen made another appeal to my better self. “You know, we really should be friends, you and me. We go back such a long way. You used to find me attractive once. Don’t you think I look nice still?”

Given the evidence of my eyes, I could make no denial, and couldn’t hold out against the openness of her question. “Sure, Karen, you always did look good. You’re prettier than ever.”

Pretty wasn’t quite the word for her. She looked elegant and sexy perched beside me, in fact, positively stunning.

“I knew that you’d come around. Let’s go in and I’ll make us a coffee. We’ll have the house to ourselves.”

We had reached her home, and I couldn’t think of a ready excuse. She walked around the car and opening my door, held out her hand. I suffered myself to be led inside, yes, like a lady!

Karen happily chatted away to me, calling through from the kitchen while she made us drinks. It was easy to fall in with her mood. When she wanted to be, the tall girl had always been able to be good company and we passed a pleasant hour or so.

When I glanced at my watch it was after 6pm. “Heavens, look at the time. I really must be going.”

“Oh, must you?” Those puppy eyes again!

“Well…”

“What are you doing this evening? Nothing? Then here’s a plan. I’m supposed to be meeting some of the old gang for cocktails and you… well you are coming with me. Sound like fun?”

I had to admit that it sounded better than being alone in an empty house. “But I can’t go like this” I objected. “I’ll have to go back and get changed first.”

“You’re so right!” she laughed, looking me up and down. “But no need to go. I’ve a couple of really super dresses that I’ve never worn. They’re a fraction on the short side for me, and I know one of them will show off that sexy little body of yours a treat.”

“But I need to make a phone call.”

“No problem. Do that now while I sort out what we’ll wear. Come up when you’re done.”

My conversation with Rachel was briefer than usual. Once she understood what the evening held for me, she cut it short. “If you have still to get yourself ready then I’d better let you go. It wouldn’t do to keep the others waiting. One word of caution, however. I’m glad you and Karen have repaired your friendship, but don’t be too trustful. Leopards are slow to change their spots!”