"Hey bro, you headed back to that dress shop tomorrow?” Jessica asked innocently the snicker only audible in her voice if Alex chose to hear it.

Looking up from his phone, Alex decided to ignore it and pretend he had not heard the implied levity levelled at his expense.

"Yeah, Tracy and Lilly want me back to help out again there's still a lot of work to do. I can't believe mum stuck me with this though instead of you. "

“Well, that's easy, she probably knew which one of us would be more interested in hanging around a dress shop.” Jessica quipped smugly.

“Hey, that's not fair, I've seen you in a dress at least twice this year.” Alex exasperatedly choked out in defence. His sister's raised eyebrow was her only real response.

While it was true that Jessica did occasionally wear dresses, her accusation although made in jest did have some merit behind it. Alex had never been a particularly boyish kind of boy, while his sister had always more easily fitted that stereotype having always been somewhat of a tomboy, now in her late teens growing towards adulthood that had seemingly not changed much. Usually, she could be found when not otherwise occupied, in a set of loose-fitting jogging bottoms and a white muscle top worn over a white sports bra. The muscle top showed off the well-defined muscles of her arms and shoulders, a testament to how long Jessica spent working out in the home gym she had created. The gym had been created several years ago, by partitioning the double large double garage in half. It was just such an outfit that Jessica wore now perched on the arm of the sofa annoying he brother. Alex was not in fact helping his own case. He too wore jogging bottoms but they were only really that in name only, the material was much lighter than most and fit snugly over his legs more like leggings than jogging bottoms. That, however, was not what had caught his sister’s attention, which was directed solely at the oversized t-shirt he was currently wearing, the hem of which hung down to mid-thigh level.

"Ha ha, sis, very funny, what's next, suggestions that I could accessories with a high waist belt or something.”

"Nah, nothing so cruel, I was just going to ask you if your boyfriend wanted his shirt back and if he knew you had stolen it.” Jessica smirked, taunting Alex was always far to easy and saw it as her duty as the elder sibling. She knew perfectly well that Alex had deliberately bought several of his T-shirts far too big because he loved the effect for just hanging around the house but it made a particularly tempting target especially when considering dresses.

"Funny, I was going to ask you the same question.”

“Ha jokes on you, I haven't dated guys in years, and Katie really loved it when I wore this. " Jessica nonchalantly returned.

Alex blushed crimson at the memory, only a month ago he had made the mistake of trying to find his sister when she had invited Katie over, he had scrambled away before he had actually seen them, but Katie's, carnal screams had left him extremely embraced and in no doubt as to what they had been doing. Jessica, who preferred to be called Jess by most people, made no sex secret of her sexual encounters or her relationships such as they were, had known of this and found it immensely funny how embraced Alex got about it.

“Well, bro, I’m going to go and do some weights, want to join, you never know Tracy might prefer a more muscled version of you.” Tracy was something else that she liked to taunt Alex about, several months ago she had discovered his crush on the girl and what is more, Jess was virtually certain that Tracy felt the same way but neither had moved to do anything about it.

Alex shook his head. “No thanks. Though I hope she doesn't, I'd hate to lose her to my big sis. Wouldn't that violate some kind of brotherly code or something?"

Despite the hushed tone of the last part of his sentence, Alex's words were caught by Jess and her clear light laughter could be heard long after she had left the room.

As good as the tea had been the last time Alex had worked with Tracy at her mother’s store he stopped by a McDonald’s on his way to the shop and purchased a chocolate milkshake for himself and a strawberry one for Tracy, her favourite flavour. Despite it being totally the wrong time of year for anything as cold as the milkshakes, Alex felt that it could never be the wrong season for milkshakes and he felt certain that Tracy would agree with him.

The pair drank the cold but extremely tasty milkshakes as they discussed what they were doing for the next several hours, taking sips of the nearly frozen liquid between sentences so as not to end up with brain freeze.

“Mum thinks we have done a lot so far, she told me if we continue at that kind of pace this morning, we can do something far more exciting this afternoon. " Tracy paused in her exuberant excitement to consider Alex for a moment.
"Well, something I think is more exciting anyway. Mum has agreed to a few model shots and stuff."

Alex nodded, obviously not as enthused as Tracy was.

“Come on, it will be fun you will see. You can take most of the pics and I can do most of the hard modelling work. Lighten up will you.” With that last sentence, Tracy punched Alex in the arm in a jovial way.

Fate might have been so different but for that one act. Alex had only just retrieved his half-drunk milkshake the contents having just warmed up enough to be liquid enough to easily be sucked out through the straw. Unfortunately, for Alex, he had not bothered to make sure the lid was properly attached. One minute at Alex was holding the Milkshake the next, jostled by Tracy, he was wearing the half-drunk milkshake.

Tracy immediately raced to find some tissue to mop up the sticky cold mess, apologising profusely as she did so but no matter what she did, the damage was done. Alex stood shivering slightly, the cold sticky milk having already seeped through both his light blue fleece and his t-shirt underneath it.

“Well, there’s nothing for it, you will just have to start modelling early is all." Tracy said finally with a smirk.

“What?" Alex questioned through chattering teeth.

"You’re standing in a clothing shop, and yes lots of what my mum sells is not cheap, but some clothing lines are quite moderately priced, and I'm sure mum will give me a discount. Don't look at me like that, you can't stay like that, you can’t go on wearing those clothes now, and you can't go anywhere to get others, not like that anyway. "

Alex, who had been glaring profusely at her, slowly let the sense of what Tracy was saying wash over him and he was reluctantly forced to agree.

"OK, I guess, but just nothing too... " Alex trailed off.

"Fine, I will see what I can find. Why don't you take off those wet clothes, while I go up and talk to mum and hopefully find something for you to wear.” Tracy enthused already bouncing off to do just that. While Tracy was gone Alex removed the sticky garments until he stood in just his boxer shorts. While his fleece hoody and t-shirt had brown the brent of the sticky cold liquid his jeans had not been so lucky as to escape the dairy deluge altogether. In the remaining time before Tracy returned Alex used the sink and some tissue to sponge as much of the sticky residue from his skin as possible.

Alex felt quite vulnerable standing there in only his boxer shorts waiting for Tracy to return. A vulnerability that was not helped by the look in Tracy's eyes when she caught sight of Alex. She was holding a bundle of clothes that looked ominously pink, the bundle of clothes was haphazardly dumped on the one of the two bean bags as Tracy stalked towards Alex like a lioness stalking her prey. Alex stood nervously, unsure what to do or what he should think and feel as Tracy closed the gap between them.

Her hands met the exposed flesh of his torso, stroking upwards to roam over his chest. Alex breath hitched at her wondering hands and the powerful, possessive, controlling, lust-filled look that met his own adoring and admittedly lust-filled gaze. Tracy could feel herself getting drunk on the power she clearly had over Alex. She could feel his body shiver with pleasure and excitement at her touch. The adoration and pleasure she could see in Alex's eyes that bore straight back at her own, enticed and egged her on. At last, unwilling to go further Tracy ran her hands down from his shoulders to the centre of his chest eliciting enticing little gasps that sorely tested Tracy's resolve. Finally, Tracy removed her hands from Alex's chest all together and took a half step back, taking a moment or two to regain control of her lust and other emotions.

Tracy let out a breath and spoke, her voice suddenly raw and gravelly full of emotion.

“Go and put on some of those clothes I brought on." Tracy's voice so commanding and far harsher than she had intended it to be, struck a note inside Alex and without a thought he instantly found himself moving to obey.

Alex examined each item before he put them on and was quite relieved to discover that Tracy had been for the most part kind in her selections. While the top was indeed a girl’s top, it was a light blue and there was only a small discernible difference from a guy’s top. Alex was slightly perturbed to discover that the girl's top fitted him better around the arms and shoulders than the guy’s t-shirts he was used to wearing it left him wondering if maybe his sister hadn't been right after all about those weights. Tracy had found a replacement for Alex's fleece, while it was bright pink and very girly the fleece did, have a zip at the front which was a design that Alex favoured. The pink hoody was in this way a slight upgrade over the light blue one Alex had worn to the shop that morning but and when Alex felt the material, he was forced to raise it even further in his estimation, his light blue one was the warmest fluffiest fleece Alex possessed and he loved the soft fluff but from the feel of the material, this pink one had it beat.

The leggings were similar to his jogging bottoms at home and Alex took a moment to admire how the material hugged his legs and bum, a trait that he was not alone in admiring as Tracy looked on eagerly.

“Sorry I couldn't get you any jeans, women’s jeans tend to hug our hips and bums more than men’s, to wear most of the designs mum sells you would need panties and that’s one thing mum doesn't sell. I think you can just about get away with the boxers under those leggings though." Tracy hurriedly explained.

When the full effect was complete, Tracy stepped back from Alex to admire the transformation and gasped. Alex immediately started to become self-conscious over his appearance and the clothing Tracy had dressed him up in, an anxiety that was only partially assuaged by Tracy’s calm reassurances. She had sat back down next to Alex her hand pressed soothingly to his back running reassuring circles over it until Alex had his emotions under better control. When Alex was more in control of himself Tracy gave him tissues which he used to dab away the tears that had tricked down his cheeks during the few minute’s ordeal.

“You look fine Alex, really you do. It's just, well, it's just I didn't expect to look so natural, so feminine. It came as a surprise but you don't look like a freak as you claim. You look great, hot even. "

Alex snorted at this and tried to look annoyed, after all, what guy wanted to hear that they look like a cute girl, even if they are wearing women’s clothes but a part of him, a large part was really very pleased. Part of Alex felt that this was the most right thing he had ever done and Alex was not sure how to react or deal with that part of himself now he was suddenly confronted by it.

Alex was quite perturbed by Tracy's refusal to allow him to see how he looked. She had taken his phone before this had begun and the basement didn't have any mirrors. Alex briefly considered going up to use the one in the store but immediately rejected the idea, he had no wish to make himself into a public laughing stock if everything did look as disastrously drag as Alex believed it did despite Tracy's reassurances. Instead, Alex resorted to an annoyed pout, a pout that Tracy found incredibly cute, laughable and just as irresistible.

“Fine, I will let you look but you need to allow me to brighten you up a bit first."

Alex considered for a moment his face brightening. “Ok, but no makeup."

"Yeah," Tracy nodded eagerly. “You don't need it, and this is already a lot for you. Maybe some other time.” She added wistfully.

Tracy instead set to work on Alex's hair, first brushing it out of the usual ponytail Alex had put it in that morning, trying to make his flowing locks appear as plain and boyish as possible before she arrayed it in a high ponytail that bobbed around at the top of his head. As a last finishing touch, Tracy added a red satin ribbon tied into a bow. Alex sat patiently back as Tracy worked, the feeling of someone brushing his hair and strongly calming, reminding him of when his mum used to brush his hair when he was little. Alex would admit to being slightly perturbed when Tracy produced the ribbon to tie into his hair but he remained mostly calm and did not freak out like he had earlier. The sensation of the high ponytail was unusual and felt different but not in a way that upset Alex, on the contrary thinking about the feeling caused a warm wave to course through him. It was a feeling brought on by the same place in him that was positively giddy about the whole transformation a part that was rapidly winning against the more boyish elements of his psyche.

Pulling out her own phone Tracy unlocked it and set it to the camera function. She then directed Alex to stand and pose for her while she took pictures from several different angles. Finally, Tracy sat back down next to Alex sharing the bigger of the two bean bags, cautiously she handed over her phone set now to the gallery displaying the pictures she had just taken, and Alex eagerly accepted it.

Flicking through the pictures Alex let out an audible gasp the girl staring flirtatiously back at him from the phone screen looked undeniably beautiful, happy and full of life.

“I look like a girl. "Alex breathed softly almost under his breath.

Tracy’s arm shot out at his half-uttered words and pulled him tight to her.

“You make a really beautiful girl, Alex you're a very hot girl."

Alex blushed, the words Tracy had uttered speaking to his soul and once again Alex felt the same familiar hot tingle as the girlish part of him silently begged him to accept this.

"It feels really odd calling you Alex now. I mean it can be a girl’s name as well as a boy’s but, well you don't really look like an Alex like that." Tracy babbled in coherently at his side.
Alex felt the same tingly heat and a certain rightness in all of this, a name sprang to mind.

“Alice." It was quite little more than a whisper, at first Alex did not even realise he had said it out loud until he looked over at Tracy.

More confidently now he spoke again. "For today at least I am Alice." Alice immediately tasted the rightness of her own words and leaned into Tracy's embrace her head resting on Tracy's shoulder and a smile playing peacefully upon her face. Tracy smiled back acceptance in her eyes as she fully accepted Alice and how full of surprises Alex could be.

“Well then Alice, come on girl we have a lot to do this morning." With that Tracy disentangled herself from Alice and strode off confidently towards the other side of the long room.

Obediently, her heart and cheeks warm and glad for two very separate reasons, Alice followed like an obedient puppy.

Alice had to admit that, that day was one of the best she had ever experienced. While the morning was spent cataloguing as before, the afternoon was spent in joyous revere with Tracy. They were supposed to be modelling clothes or at least Tracy was but as they both joyously declared to one another, there was no reason that they could not have some fun while doing it. In fact, the pair had rather a lot of fun teasing, and laughing and talking as much and as loudly as they dared. By the end of it, Alice had taken several very good photo shots of Tracy in four different artists that Tracy had told her could be used later when Tracy was back home and could be added to the shop's website and social media pages.

Tracy kept Alice's boundaries in mind through most of the day, she did not want to scare Alice away, it was strange, Alice was just so natural it almost made Tracy forget that she was really Alex. That line of thought made Tracy question a lot of things about Alex, if Alice was so natural was she meant to be there instead of Alex? Tracy assumed her friend would tell her the answer when and if he knew, but Tracy did have to question even that because Alice seemed to be something Alex had been struggling with for a long time and he had never even vaguely confided in Tracy. Tracy tried not to feel too hurt by that decision.

While Tracy had tried to be mindful of Alice's boundaries, she had been forced to push them twice. Once out of necessity and once for Alice's own good. It had been necessary for Lilly to meet Alice, something that had gone surprisingly well. While Alice had been very frightened of Tracy's mother's reaction, she need not have been, all Lilly gave her was compliments, there was no judgement there. Lilly was just incredibly supportive and completely understanding of the young girl's, younger even than your tender years, anxiety over being seen in public.

Yet despite Tracy's knowledge of Alice's anxiety over being seen in public, Tracy still forced her out, so that together they could get something for lunch. Alice was self-conscious the whole time, despite most of her outfit being covered by her coat, looking all about her suspiciously as is every person she met, and even the inanimate objects might soon discover her and do her some harm. Tracy did her best to distract her friend and by the time the pair came back to the basement to eat, Alice was no longer so wry or afraid. Tracy though did mark the change in attitude between Alex and Alice. Alex was usually very closed off and times distant, there were times that Tracy had found she had to call his attention back to either herself or the task he was doing. Getting Alex to talk was also sometimes difficult and while most of the time he gave normal answers, at times he would seem even more closed off and liable to give monosyllabic answers. Alice in contrast was bubbly and talkative her attention never wondering she also seemed somewhat happier, and freer than Alex ever had. Tracy wondered at such a marked difference between them, it troubled her even as she was glad of Alice's more upbeat nature and freer tongue.

As the pair were finishing up for the day, Tracy finally shared with Alice some great news that she had been intending to tell her all day.
“Mum's book idea is going really well. The other day I told you that she had contacted one of the authors and that, that author lives locally. Well, the author has been in contact and she is going to come to the shop at the close of business in two days’ time to sign some of the books and meet with mum. Mum asked me this afternoon to ask you if you would come back that day to help us prepare."

Alice nodded vigorously, her high ponytail bobbing comically. “That's amazing, of course, I will come and help." She giggled.
“I was told to tell you that it doesn't matter who comes Alice or Alex, mum doesn't mind. She told me to tell you that there is no pressure or expectation either way. " Tracy broke into the giggle fest, regretting it instantly as the giggling immediately fell silent. Alice wasn't sure how to react to that, emotion overwhelmed her at the acceptance, she merely nodded, her eyes to the floor and a tear of gratitude trickling down her cheek.

Tracy immediately stepped forward to close the gap between them and threw a supportive arm over Alice's shoulder. The other hand sought and found in her pocket a small pack of tissues, one of which she used to dab away Alice’s tears.

They stood like that for some time before they were interrupted by a loud electronic beeping. Alice disentangled herself from Tracy's comforting embrace, which she had been quite enjoying, realising that the beeping which had since ceased had been her phone.

Alice's face fell when she looked at the text message, she had just received and Tracy came bounding up to her because Alice once again looked to be on the brink of tears.

"Apparently, it's going to be really cold tonight, possibly snow. Mum fears that it is already getting icy so she has sent Jess to fetch me in the car." Alice told Tracy when queried about what was wrong.
"So,” Tracy began, drawing out the last letter as she did so. "I don't see what the problem is.”
“She is coming in ten minutes and I am like this.” Alice gestured to herself her confidence having clearly evaporated at the thought of her sister's impending arrival.
“Yes, and you look very hot. I'm sure if she wasn't your sister she would not be able to resist you." Tracy joked lightly.
Alice didn't find it half as amusing as Tracy did. “First off ew, no, just no. And again ew gross. Second, she will judge me."

Tracy snorted at that last sentence and could not contain her mirth and laughter at the notion. "Really, you think Jess, your sister, who is one of the most prominent members of the LGBTQ community in our small town, will judge you, for this? Jess who is every lesbian or bi-girl’s wet dream, " Here Tracy sighed dramatically. "Is not going to judge you for this even if you weren't her little sister. " Alice felt a surge of joy despite herself at being called Jess’s little sister and could not help either the snorting or the giggling that ensued along with Tracy now her fears and tears forgotten.
"You seem to have given my sister some serious thought." Alice pointed out through her giggling.
“Oh please, what girl in this town hasn't fantasised about Jess.” Tracy dismissed pulling a still giggling Alice close to her.