Diva in Disguise Chapter 13

The following evening was to be my last at the bar for a spell as the services of hostesses were not required on weekdays. After the excitement of the previous night, Sunday was a more sedate affair. The frocks that Alma and I wore for the occasion were the sort that you might see at any prom. It was a relief to dress like that instead of getting myself up as some kind of showgirl and it put me in mind of similar times with Mom. We weren’t much of a family for church, but on Sundays she and I would always wear our nicest day-dresses and sit and chat over coffee and magazines.

I expected to encounter Ryan again and wasn’t disappointed. In response to his question of the night before, I’d temporised. I’d said that I liked his company and if he wanted to drop in at the bar from time to time that would be okay. It wasn’t a satisfactory outcome. I came away knowing that I should just have said no, but I hadn’t the heart to do so. As it was the hulky youth had looked so deflated that I’d had to soften my words with a parting hug. Well, given the skimpiness of my attire, it was more of an intimate embrace, and yes, it might have included a kiss, but no tongues! I managed to draw the line somewhere. He had left me with a parting “See you tomorrow then!” looking a little happier.

Ryan stayed most of the next evening at the bar. Drinks were not cheap in that place, so the visit would have cost him plenty, even though I made sure he didn’t get to buy me any. There were other customers I could rely on to do that. Clearly, he wasn’t the type to be put off easily. My faithful follower left not long before the bar closed and yes, we embraced again. It was getting to be a habit!

When Alma and I finally finished work we neither of us were in a hurry to leave. Adrian had dealt with the cash, given me my wages and made a sharp exit, leaving us ‘girls’ to clear up. Though he had the expectation that he’d see me there on the following Friday, there was an even chance I’d have finished with my parent’s affairs before then. In that case I’d be far away.

The prospect of leaving the town where I’d grown up was one I regarded with mixed feelings. On the one hand I couldn’t wait to be with my little family again but on the other I would miss the present company. Underneath Alma’s feisty exterior I’d uncovered a kind and caring nature. The discovery was like finding the mother I’d always wanted to have.

When all our work was done the older woman invited me to sit with her a while. She poured us both a drink and kicking off her shoes, stretched out opposite me in one of the side booths.

“My feet don’t belong anymore” she grumbled. “You don’t feel like using those gentle hands of yours on them, do you?” At my look of consternation, she added archly “Else, I may never walk again, and you wouldn’t want that on your conscience!”

After that, I didn’t raise an objection. The request signified our growing closeness and in any case I needed to practice my nursing skills. I hesitantly lifted the nearest foot onto my lap and started to massage it.

I rubbed and stroked with a will though I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. From her reaction, however, it was easy to tell I was getting something right. “Oh, oh… That feels so good. Oh!”

I noticed how prettily shaped her feet were and surmised that in her day my new friend must have presented a dainty figure. After a few more exclamations of pleasure, she began our projected heart to heart. “Now, sweetie. Tell me all.”

“Where should I start?” I asked, though I could guess the subject she would be most curious about.

“Oh… you dark horse you! What’s the story with lover boy?”

“If you mean Ryan, he’s just a friend.”

“Yeah, yeah! Tell that to the birds. The way you two were making out just now, I was worried the whole place might catch fire!”

“It’s complicated.”

“You can say that again. How long have you two been an item?”

“We’re not an item. I’ve only known him two days.”

“Two days?” Alma’s eyebrows threatened to burst through the top of her skull. “Gee whiz! That’s mighty quick work by anyone’s standards. I used to think I was kinda fast, but you take the blue riband!”

I could see I would have to come clean. “It’s like this. I ran into a former friend of mine, Karen, and she was dating Ryan but was looking for a way to ditch him. Stupidly, I agreed to help her and so to give her an excuse, I came on to him a little.”

“A little?” my companion interrupted.

“Well I gave him a look, you know…” Alma got the benefit of my up-from-under glance and exclaimed with delight… “and he kissed me… and I didn’t object. The result is that I’ve managed to catch him on the rebound. Without trying. So now I guess I’m sort of responsible for the way he feels about me. I’m looking for a way to let him down lightly.”

“Let him down? From the way he’s hanging on your every move, I’d say he’s headed in the opposite direction, but you know best.”

I couldn’t disagree with her take on the entanglement, but what’s a girl to do?

I sat silent for a while, contemplating. Could my life get any more convoluted? I looked up to see her watching me.

Now she had my attention, Alma finished her drink. “Honey, I could stay and let you pamper my feet all night, and anything else you might care to!” she cackled. “But it’s time for beddy-byes. At least for me. You may want to paint the town red for all I know. Or care” she added.

Bed had long been calling to me as well. We made our way to the restroom to change into our street clothes. On our return she asked a favour.
“Say, can you give me a ride? Save me calling a cab. They charge double after midnight.”

Ten minutes later, we stopped outside her apartment block. I felt sad about taking leave for what might be the last time.

Alma put an arm across my shoulders. “Well, it’s been nice. For my own sake, I hope you’re still in these parts next weekend so we can do the whole thing again, but if it has to be… sayonara!”

I felt too full to trust myself with words as we hugged. I was beginning to detest the many goodbyes with which my life seemed to be filled. The thought of driving across town on my own didn’t appeal, either.

Alma’s mind was apparently running along the same groove. “You know, pet, this is what I really hate. Going into an empty place alone.” She shuddered.

“Me too!” My small voice chimed in, dolefully.

The woman clapped her hand to her forehead as if struck with an idea. “Jennifer. Stay with me tonight, why dontcha? There’s no sense in us both being lonesome. The bed’s made up in Patty’s room, all ready and waiting. I’ll find you a new toothbrush and even give you breakfast in the morning. Come on!”

I didn’t refuse. What reason could there be?

Once we were inside Alma showed me her daughter’s room and fetched a nightdress from the closet for me. It was a strappy little baby doll with matching briefs, a tad on the skimpy side, but I was too tired to be choosy.

“You don’t know how nice it is having someone here with me” enthused the lady of the house. “Call me if there’s anything you need and... I’ll see you in the morning, but not too early.” And with a goodnight peck on the cheek she left me to my own devices.

I had only enough energy to notice that my room was spotlessly clean and the décor pretty and cheerful. It felt nice to be so cosseted. I collapsed into a bed which was deliciously comfortable, though I could probably have slept on a rail, and knew no more.
When I woke, the sun was high in the sky, streaming through the drapes. Sleepily I roused myself and made my way through to the kitchen in search of coffee.

Alma was already there. She was wearing a floor-length robe and in the broad light of day, I could see that it was made of a sheer mesh material leaving little to my imagination. The sight was more than I wanted just then and provoked the inevitable bodily reaction. I hadn’t had the opportunity to apply the usual strips of surgical tape that morning, so I could only hope that the unbidden tent which had arisen in my panties was hidden by the skirts of my own nightdress, and crucially that Alma hadn’t noticed. Seemingly unconscious how revealing her garment was, she greeted me cheerfully in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I’m making coffee. Sleep well?”

My response was perhaps over-enthusiastic. “Oh, that’s brilliant. Yes, very well, thanks.”

The mature woman gave me an appraising glance. “You didn’t catch a chill wearing that nightie, then. Perhaps I should have found you one with a mite more coverage” she grinned.

Attention being drawn to the extent to which my bosom was exposed added to my confusion. “No, it was fine" I blushed.

“I hope you approve of mine.” Alma gave a twirl.

I was trying my hardest not to stare. “Er… It’s very pretty!”

“Let’s sit.” My companion led the way over to a breakfast bar where I perched myself as demurely as I could contrive.

I had coloured up deeply and her next action was not calculated to make me feel any less awkward. She placed the coffee cups on the counter, then without warning flipped up the hem of my baby doll to reveal the matching panties below, where I knew that an unsightly bulge would be disfiguring their slinky contours.

“Here’s something just as pretty.” Alma observed. “I can see how much you like what I’m wearing.”

I blushed to the roots of my hair.

“Don’t fret. At my age that’s quite a compliment!”

There was only one inference to be drawn. “You know… about me?”

She nodded. “You betcha.”

“When… how long have you known?”

“Pretty much… forever!”

“You mean… on Saturday night when you asked me to… to touch your… You knew!”

Oh my stars!

“Relax, sweetie. You did just fine, and I enjoyed every minute. It’s been a while since Alma’s had anyone play with her boobies, let me tell you. You can do that again anytime!”

I was lost for words.

My companion explained. “How things were with you when you were younger is no big secret among my acquaintance. After all, I’d known your mom since we were at high school together. She was a couple of years older than me, but we go way back. I’d bump into her from time to time and I’d get to hear about where she was at. She was bringing you and your brother up all by herself and I was told about all the scrapes you had gotten into and what punishments were being served. Believe me, I used to advise her to lighten up, but she wouldn’t have any of it. Who’s to say who was right? I can’t say I agreed with her methods but look how fine you have turned out to be.”

She continued. “For that matter, there were others at that school I knew and so I got to hear things from them too. There was Rachel’s mom, your Rachel, not to mention our present employer Madeleine Bell, though the last-named was a lot older. Wilma’s always been a good friend, but Madeleine is a piece of work. From what I heard I never liked the way she got her hooks into you. Baby-snatching wasn’t the word for it.”

I was reassured to learn that my new confidante seemed to be on my side.

“You won’t have noticed but I was there at your mother’s funeral. That was such a sad day. I cried buckets when I heard about her passing.”

I smiled gratefully and blinked hard to check my own sorrow. A silence fell between us.

I was still trying to digest what I’d just been told when it was broken by Alma.

“I’m curious, by the bye. Do you think of yourself as a boy with boobs, or a girl with a little bit extra?”

There was a twinkle in her eye and the question put me in mind of Alice’s description of me. It was such ludicrous phrase that I couldn’t help dissolving into laughter, though there may have been a few tears intermingled with it.

Alma joined in my merriment. “There, honey. It will do you good to talk. You can tell me any amount and, rest assured, it will go no further.”

With a little more encouragement I opened up a degree. “Well” I began, “I’m not sure how I view myself, to be honest. If I’m around women my feelings are definitely male.”

Alma glanced down at my lap where my nightie once more concealed the front of my panties, with a muttered “No surprises there!”

“But most of the time” I continued “I think of myself as female as the next girl. It’s when I’m with a man I don’t know how to be. I don’t want to know either, but it’s not how I ought to feel.”

“Feelings, is feelings, honey. There ain’t no rights nor wrongs. Tell me, does Ryan know?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess not, but I can’t be sure. He doesn’t act as if he knows but Karen may have told him, for all I can tell.”

“You mean Karen Morris?”

I nodded “Yes, she’s the friend I was telling you about.

Alma rolled her eyes. “Honey, you sure do pick ’em. There’s another flighty piece you should steer clear of. The things I’ve heard, you wouldn’t believe! When it comes to people to avoid, I’d rank her a close second to Madeleine herself.”

“Oh, I don’t know” was all I could think of to defend my former heartthrob.

“Well, I do.”

I made a confession. “As regards Ryan, I need to cool things off but I’m out of my depth. How do you think I ought to be around him?”

“A mite less friendly, for starters” was the direct response. “But it may be a little late for that. Your best bet would be to find a substitute and pass him on to her, but that would take time. You probably ought to bring things to a head and then tell him straight that you don’t think of him that way.”

“But how do I do that?”

“Easy! If he asks you out, say yes.”

“Yes?”

“That’s right. On the date make sure you are wearing something you know… provocative! That ought to get a response.”

“Every time he’s seen me, I’ve been dressed to kill” I protested.

“True. But there’s sexy, and there’s provocative. You want to make him think you mean it. Let me find you something.”

Ten minutes later I was attired in the ‘something’. It was a little black dress. When she drug it out of her closet I’d been doubtful, until she clarified. “It’s what you wear under this that will count.” There were a couple of other items.

The dress was in a voile fabric which half-hid what it purported to conceal. You couldn’t help but notice the black panties and fully fashioned hose that lay beneath.

Alma’s summary was typically direct. “If Ryan doesn’t get the message when he sees that shapely round butt of yours, I’ll take the veil!”

I had to agree with her. There could be no mistaking the wearer’s intentions.

Impulsively she made me a gift of the ensemble. “I bought the dress for what was to be a certain hot date that didn’t happen, sad to say. That was a long, long time ago and now I’ll never be able to get into it. It’s yours. Use it wisely, my child!”

Privately I was by no means sure that I would ever dare to wear it.

On my return home I found that an envelope had been hand-delivered in my absence. Its contents dispelled any thoughts of Ryan and how to squash his attentions. When opened, it proved to be an invitation which was both unexpected and unwelcome. It was headed with Madeleine Bell’s address and the wording was intriguing. ‘If you are able to call here at 4pm on Wednesday, there will be an opportunity for you to receive something your late mother intended you to have. M.’

When I telephoned to Rachel later that day and mentioned the note, she had no doubts about advising me to go. “Better to face uncertainties head on” was her opinion. “After all, she knew your mom very well, and in any case, what can she do?”

I didn’t like to conjecture! I was very reluctant to renew any form of contact with this woman, especially with Alma’s warning ringing in my ears.

There was plenty of past history to tell me I shouldn’t trust her. In the end, however, I decided I should go.

As Rachel had said, what harm could my former fiancé do?