A charming tale of magical self-discovery.

Part 3B of 8
Part 2 of 2 Parts

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Admin Note: Originally published on BigCloset Classic on Saturday, 03-08-2003 - 01:47:03 am and migrated to BigCloset TopShelf, this retro classic was pulled out of the closet, and re-presented for our newer readers. ~Sephrena
 
Image Credit: Divider licensed for use in publishing from Photoshopgraphics.com ~Sephrena.

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Part 3 - The Dating Game

Sunday morning dawned like any other day that I have experienced. I awoke feeling so incredibly refreshed. I felt like I had been injected with some sort of energy drug and it was boiling over. I literally bounced out of the bed and rid myself of the morning duties. I had to check on mom since she was not feeling that well last night. Almost as if she was having a relapse of whatever it was that caused her to be sick. A quick check in her room showed that she was not there. She could be one of two places – the kitchen or living room. When I check both places, she was not there. I was starting to get concerned. Then I heard her voice out on the front porch.

As I went out the front door, I was confronted with a strange sight. Dan was out there with two people that he resembled. They must have been his parents. Mom was talking to them. It was strange for someone to be visiting this early in the morning. I did a quick glance at the watch on my wrist and discovered that it was nearly 9:00. I really overslept this morning.

"Good morning mom. Hi Dan. I didn't expect to see you today."

The lady with Dan was looking at me with disgust on her face. She turned to Dan and said, "Is this the person that rubbed her money in your face?" What was going on?

"Dan, what is going on?" I was really puzzled about this.

"Jennifer, last night when I got home with all the stuff that you bought me at the mall, my parents started asking all sort of questions about where I got the stuff. When I tried to explain where it came from, they hit the roof. That is what this is about." He looked sad about the issue.

I turned to look the woman in the face. "If you have any problems with what I did, talk to me about it instead of discussing it with my mother as if I were not even here. What is it that you do not like?"

She huffed herself up with her own self-importance. "What I do not like, young lady, is for you to rub your richness in my son's face. We may not be rich but we will provide for our son as we can. We do not need some hoidy-toidy like you ruining our efforts to teach him right from wrong."

This woman was starting to get on my nerves a bit. "Is it because I bought him a suit that I thought looked wonderful on him? Or is it because it cost me over $750? Or just that I bought it at all?"

"It is the principal of the matter if you must know. My husband works hard for what money he gets and there is no way that we would ever buy Dan anything that would cost nearly two weeks wages."

"Yet you would give him something that is over thirty years old and expect him to feel comfortable in it? No wonder he feels like a clown in a suit. They are so old and outdated that it would cause a hesitation to a bum to wear it."

"Mrs. Banks, will you control your daughter? She is a very rude young lady."

"No I will not Mrs. Sparks. I happen to agree with her on the issue. No handsome young man like your son should have to be subjected to such situations regardless of any financial situation. I have raised my daughter to use her best judgment in everything she does. You may not know it but she has very deep feelings for your son and I have never before seen her act in the manner that she has been showing. In my opinion, she should continue to do what she is doing."

Mrs. Sparks puffed up even further. "Well, we are just going to have to forbid him to ever have anything to do with her again. As far as we are concerned, she is nothing but hilltop trash that grinds those below her into the ground." She turned to Dan. "You, young man, are to return those clothes to the store they were purchased from immediately and make sure that this person is credited with the money. Then you are never to have anything to do with her again. And if I hear of you associating with her again, you will be grounded for the rest of your life."

I could tell that Dan was getting very angry with her. His eyes had a dangerous look to them. "Mother, you will not even come close to making me do those things. I am 18 years old and legally an adult. Nor am I your husband to browbeat as you do to him. Jennifer did not have to buy the suit for me but yet she did. Not once did she rub her money in my nose nor has she ground me into the ground as you say. If anything, she has shown me more respect than you have ever shown me. For that matter no other woman has shown me the respect that she has shown me. All I have ever gotten was disrespect and all out belittling from any girl that I have tried to date. Jennifer has stated an understanding to me that no one has ever shown. She did not have to go out with me but yet she did. And why? I don't know but her reasons are her own. I will not analyze why but it will be up to her to tell you why. If you want to ground me, you go right ahead because I will be moving out of the house immediately and you will not ever see me again."

Now she was angry and turned to me. "See what your high handed ways have done? You have turned my own son against me! You are even worse than I said.!"

I had to smile at that one. "Mrs. Sparks, no disrespect is intended, but I would say that your son is growing up and is starting the process of cleaving himself from the arms of his parents. It is as God intended all people to do. If he chooses to be with me, then that is HIS choice, not yours. Just as my choice was to date him. I found someone who was a kindred spirit to me and I enjoy being with him. I bought him the clothes because I WANTED to and not to even mention the fact, he just looked so handsome and strong in them. But I am sure that you did not know that he will be paying for them in a way that no money changes hands. I expect him to wear them when we go out on our next date. I suppose that you also did not even know that I had spent over $1200 on myself so that I could go out with him. And I will spend more money getting myself prepared to go out with him. Yet, I do not care how much money I have to spend to make myself look good for him since he is worth every penny that I do spend. However, I do have to tell you this; if Dan were to listen to you, I think he will be miserable for the rest of his life. Legally he is an adult and thus can make decisions concerning his future without having to answer to you over it. But one thing that I am very pleased about, at least he does not have your abrasive personality to mar him in any way. Although I am sure that if you tried real hard you can make a little boy out of a man. Then where will you be? Miserable, I would say."

With those words said, I stepped off the porch, went to Dan and gave him a big kiss. "Dan, I am sorry if I have made things hard on you. For me, please be strong and endure it. But do so with the knowledge that I am in love with you and I do not want to lose you." With that, I turned and went into the house. On the way, I glanced at mom. She had the biggest smile on her face that I have ever seen. I could tell that she was proud of what I had just done. I went into the house with stunned silence from Dan's mother at my back.

About 15 minutes later, mom came back into the house with a huge smile on her face. "Jennifer, where did you get that sort of strength that I witnessed? You would have just kowtowed to someone before this."

"Mom, what I said out there was because I did not like to see the mental abuse that she was subjecting Dan to. I am beginning to realize that he is the way he is because of her. I could tell that she has firm control over her husband because he did not say a single word while I was out there. I could tell that at first, Dan was terrified of her and as I watched him and talked to her, he grew even more confident to the point that he stood up to her. At that point, I could see a very strong man grow out of his little hurt boy façade."

"I know, I could see him go through that also. I do have to admit, I was half way daunted by her accusations against you but I was also starting to get angry with her. How you kept you cool is beyond me but I am certainly proud of you for it."

"I had figured that you would let me explain myself about my actions yesterday. But I felt that I had to keep me cool or things would go against me. I felt justified with everything I said. And that last part to Dan, I meant every word of it. I am falling love with him and I am even more so now. He needs me to give him the support to get past his mother. Mom, please do not be angry with me, but I have never met such a disagreeable bitch such as her."

"I know Jennifer. I felt the same way. The only thing that I would hate to see you do is marry into that family and then I would have to deal with the bitch on a regular basis. Oops. We are both very bad. We said the B word. Shame on us." She giggled about it and I had to join her. I went over to her and hugged her.

"Mom, I love you but if it is meant to be, I will marry Dan. However, I am still young enough to know that it is too early to even think about marriage. I would not think about linking the two of you unless I had no choice but to do so. I would not like to have her as an in-law either."

"I just hope you know that she is going to be giving him a hard time from now on over you."

"I can just see it now. But it will not last long after what I witnessed today. He will no longer put up with any garbage from her and it will make him stronger. He is the type of man that could replace Daddy. Now that I ever wanted anyone to replace Daddy but I know that a male figure in my life will take second place at first. After a while, he will become the only man in my life. It is just the way that it has to be."

"Well, I have to tell you this, Robert would have been proud to see you in action today."

"Robert? Who is that?"

"Why, that is your father! Don't tell me you forgot his name already!"

"No mom, it is not that at all. The only thing that I ever knew him by was Daddy and that is all that I ever thought about him as."

"You mean to say that you have never read his name on the tombstone whenever we go visit his grave? Or never paid any attention to anything that pertains to him on any document?"

"I'm sorry mom, I have always been looking for something that said Daddy, never realizing that his name was right in front of me." All of a sudden, I burst into tears for a man that I never knew but I knew he had loved me or at least Jennifer. Mom took it the wrong way thinking that I was crying for not knowing his real name. I did not want to let her know it was for something else. However, it was too reminiscent for me since I had lost my own father a few years back and the ache for his loss was still on me. I cried for quite some time for both of my fathers. Eventually I was cried out and I was able to dry my eyes.

"You know Jennifer, we are already late for church, so why don't we just skip it for today. We can go tonight for worship instead. It will give us a chance to relax from our hectic morning."

"That is fine with me mom. Thank you. I am sorry I am such a crybaby this morning. Things stressed me out more than I had thought they did. If you don't mind, I am going to go into my room and lay down for a while. I think I am starting to develop a headache. I will have to take some aspirin before it gets too bad for me to handle."

"That is fine dear. I just hope that you are not coming down with what I had last week. You take it easy and I will check on you later on."

"Thanks mom. I love you." I gave her another hug before leaving.

"I love you too sweetheart."

I left the living room and went into my bedroom. Since I had not gotten out of my nightgown, I took the robe off and climbed back into bed. It was not too long before I was asleep again.

Several hours later I woke feeling much better. It was almost as if the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. I went out to talk to mom. She looked up from her reading as I entered the living room.

"Hi honey. How are you feeling now?"

"I am feeling much better now. My headache is completely gone now."

"That is good to hear. Now, do you have any laundry to do today?"

"Yes I do. I was going to get on it right away. Do you have anything that I can do with mine?"

"No sweetie, everything is fine for now. You go ahead and do yours. Do you have any homework that needs to be done also?"

"I think so, I was going to work on that while my laundry is being done."

"Ok. I know how you love to put off your homework for as long as you can. Just do not wait until the last minute to do it please."

"I won't mom. As I said, I was going to do it while my laundry was being done. Well, if you will excuse me, I will get busy on things now."

"Ok. I will have dinner ready by 5:00 so that we can get to worship at 6:00. Please be ready to go by 5:45."

"Ok mom. No problem here." I left her so that I could get started on my chores. Since I had never washed women's clothes before, I had to be careful to read the labels and see what they required for cleaning. Fortunately, none of them required anything drastic like dry cleaning but I was careful to keep my colors away from the whites to keep them from cross coloring the whites. I took all the panties in the pile of dirty clothes and got out the special delicates cleaner and went into the bathroom and washed them by hand and hung them on the shower curtain bar to dry. While the main batch of clothes were washing, I sat down on the bed and prepared to familiarize myself with Jennifer's school work.

After digging around in her backpack, I pulled out all her books and glanced through her notes for the assignments. Nothing seemed too hard to do. It mostly entailed reading several chapters of the heavy textbooks on advanced English, Trigonometry, Biology 2, and advanced Spanish. Since I already had those classes years ago, I felt that I could pass these classes easily. I read the assigned chapters anyway just to see if there were any changes since I took them years ago. From what I was seeing with Jennifer's schoolwork, she was taking college preparatory courses. I guess it fits in with her inheritance that she would take those courses. I delved into the books and later came up for a break. Whew! Very intense reading. Now I know why Jennifer is known as an intelligent girl. This stuff was almost past me but I understood it well enough to keep her grades going as they are.

I kept very good retention of what I had read and felt confident enough to hold my own with the subject matters during class. I quickly went and checked the laundry and took care of the items that were ready to be put away. The rest of the afternoon was spent studying, doing laundry and getting ready for church. By the time mom and I arrived back home from church, it was 8:30. I had to go into my room to check and see if there had been any calls on the phone. There was one message waiting on the answering machine. I pressed the button to listen to it.

"Hi Jennifer." It was Dan's voice. "I just wanted to call you and let you know that everything is fine. If you get this message before 9:00, please call me on 555-DANG. I hope to be able to talk to you before then. Love ya. Bye for now." The recording gave a couple of clicks for the line being disconnected and then a buzz of the dial tone and then the machine disconnected the call. I picked up the phone to call Dan. The line rang and was immediately picked up.

"Hello?" It was Dan's voice.

"Hi Dan, its Jennifer. I am returning your call."

"Hi Jennifer. I am so glad that you called before 9:00. My mother is still having a hissy fit over this morning and has forbidden me to use the phone after 9:00."

"That is too bad. I hope that I did not get you into too serious of trouble with my mouth."

"I do not think you have to worry about that. I have been getting tired of her treating my like garbage all the time and this morning to hear her talk to you and your mother that way made me snap. By the way, my father came in to talk to me this afternoon while mother was out visiting one of her friends. He said to tell you that he admires your spunk and to never change. He was so happy that someone was able to stand up to my mother and not back down. You may have made an enemy with my mother but you made a friend with my father."

"I am glad that I was able to hit it off well with him. Maybe in time, I will be able to work out the differences with your mother. But she is a very hard person to like, as I found out this morning."

"I do admit she is a hard person to learn to like but she really is a good person at heart. She just has had a hard life years ago and it made her protective of what she has. I am sure that in time, she will learn that you are not meaning any harm and she will simmer down. Let her get to know you and things will workout."

"How do you propose that with me? I am sure that she would not have anything to do with me right now."

"I know, but let me work on it for a while and see what I can do."

"Ok. Now, is it still ok for you to come and pick me up for school in the morning?"

"It does not matter if it is ok. I will do it regardless. Since School starts at 8:00, I will pick you up at 7:30. That will give us plenty of time to get there and hang out for a while."

"Not to mention the fact that we will shock the whole school. The popular misconception is that our date on Friday night was only a one shot and would not last long. Shall we really make the news around the school? Let's walk in hand in hand. Not to mention a little public display of affection. That will certainly start the rumor mill rolling."

"Ooh, you have a very devious mind, you know that?"

"Honey, you have not seen anything yet. By the time I get through with the girls that rejected you as boring, they will not know what hit them. Not to mention the fact that your popularity rating will go sky high."

"Girl, I like the way you think. I am going to enjoy tomorrow a lot. Well, I had better go. Mom is giving me the evil eye and tapping her foot. I will see you in the morning. Good night. I love you."

"I love you too. Good night." He hung up and then I followed suit. I had many weird thoughts going through my head after that last exchange. In the last three days, I had gone from someone who was mostly a man, to being a teenage girl in the bloom of her first love. What had changed in me that caused this overall change? I have no idea but I am going to have to find out where it came from. In the meantime I am going to have to get ready for bed. It has been a long hard day and I was tired. It was time to go to bed. I concluded my ritual of cleaning my face and headed for the wonderful story that was written on the inside of my eyelids.

Morning came too quickly for me. The alarm went off at 5:00 and I groggily climbed out of the bed so that I could prepare myself for my first day at school in twenty-three years. In a way, I was not looking forward to it. I was still hoping that the time passes by quickly so that I can get out of this round.

Before I knew it, I was done showering, dressing, applying makeup and eating breakfast. Soon it was 7:30 and Dan was here to pick me up. The drive to school was quick even though I lived a mile from it. At least I did not have to worry about the bus today. I did not know why Jennifer did not own a car. I would have to ask Heather the reasons since she knows Jennifer better than I do.

Our arrival at the school was uneventful, at least until everyone saw who Dan had in his car. Then people stopped what they were doing and stared. Mouths dropped open when they saw us walking hand in hand. The talking was about to start.

When we walked into the front doors, the gaggle of girls that were sitting inside giggling could only be the most popular girls in the school. I felt Dan squeeze my hand a bit at the sight of them. I squeezed back trying to communicate that it was ok. One of the girls, obviously the leader looked like she wanted to throw up.

"Well, look what the dogs drug in off the street. Hey Jennifer, did he lose his way the other night? Or did he forget how to find his way back to the school without your help?" Her braying laugh was enough to piss me off.

"Can you tell me why you are being such a jackass? Your laugh says it all. No, Dan did not lose his way. I would say he found it. At least not by the likes of you guiding him. Obviously from your comment, you found him WAY below you. In my humble opinion, he is a thousand times better than you. Come on Dan, these people are not worth my time nor yours." We walked off with me holding on to Dan's arm in an endearing fashion. Silence followed us to the rear.

Between Dan and I, the rest of the day followed in such manner. We had a couple of classes together and I was able to rearrange our seats so that we were next to each other, much to the surprise of the rest of the classes. The teachers seemed to be a bit amused with our obvious affection though we did not outright fondle each other. It was the tiny things that set it off: the light touching of hands, the looks at each other, the warning looks to others to back off, things like that. By the end of the day the whole school knew about us being an 'item' and it was the buzz of the day. Many girls had confronted me while I made restroom breaks during the day. They all wanted to know what I saw in such a loser. My reply was that if they thought he was such a loser, then they must not be very good women because he was much better than they were. I had also found out that the girls that had confronted us first thing were the school bitches anyway and were not worth more than what I had given them. For Dan's part, he had been congratulated by a LOT of his male friends for the catch he had made of me. He told me later that he had been a bit nervous at first but all the guys were supportive of him. Quite a few of them had been very jealous of him since they had been trying to date me for quite some time and had had no luck in doing so. That boosted his rating with the guys higher than ever. Dan went home that day soaring on the clouds. I could tell his self-esteem had started climbing out of the cellar and was now looking at the brightest day it had ever seen. I was happy too.

The rest of the week went better than the first day but I was still having problems with the bitches. But by Friday they had taken their attention someplace else, which suited me fine. Heather, Tiffany and the rest of the girls managed to con Dan out of a ride to school each morning but it was under the proviso that they all met at my house in the morning or they would not get a ride. When that occurred, Dan's popularity rose higher than ever. Here he was going out with me, and he was suddenly the chief stud for one of the worst pack of girls in the school. Singly we were nothing, but get us all together even the bitches were afraid of us. We were literally the terrors of the school. At least our reputations were worse than we really were. That, I knew for a fact.

When we were dismissed on Friday, Dan had officially become the BMOC or big man on campus. He had single handedly tamed the terrors of the school or at least took them under his control. The girls and I all protected him fiercely from all that might have a problem with his association with us. Not that we had any problems, but it was passed around that if anyone had a problem with him, they would have to deal with us first. Life was sweet for Dan now. It was even better for me since I was feeling better about myself.

Schoolwork really was no problem for me. The classes were so easy that I could breeze through them without any real effort. Unlike in my male incarnation, which was a struggle. The only thing that I could attribute it to, was the fact that Jennifer's brain was unfettered with the problems my male brain had.

Dan all week had talked about our upcoming date on Saturday night but he would not say anything about where he was going to take me but he did say that I should look my best. With the outfit I bought the previous week, it would not take much to do that. Get my hair fixed, nails done, special makeup job and I would be ready. I was looking forward to our outing regardless of where we went. One thing I was sure of was that it was not going to be a repeat of our first date.

All week long, the only thing that I did not like was the fact that after Dan had dropped everyone off at my house and I said goodbye and received a big kiss, I did not see or talk to him until the next morning. He had a job in the evening after school that kept him busy until late. It saddened me to see him have to work so hard to get what he made. Little did I know, he was doing it for me and not him. His normal shift was for four hours a night but at his request, he started working a longer shift that wound up being eight hours a night. He would be tired the next morning, but he was happy. I just thought they were taking advantage of him and that they should not work someone still in school as hard as they were. They paid him weekly so he knew he would be able to afford to take me out on Saturday night.

I didn't see Dan Friday night so I hung out with the girls and talked with them for several hours. I found out one of the best things about being Jennifer was the fact that I did not have to work a job for her. Her trust fund inheritance kept her in money without any other work entailed. Poor Dan had to work for everything he had. I guess his car had been bought after nearly a year of working for the down payment and he still has two years to pay for it. I think I will at least help him out in the respects of gas consumption. I am using his services as well as the other girls using him to get to school. It certainly did make for a fun ride to school in the morning with six girls riding with one boy. Dan seemed to enjoy it from what I could tell.

After all of us had dinner on Friday night, we met at the park around 6:00 in our little corner of the park. It was the first time we had been able to get together this visit and discuss my objectives. School and other things had kept us apart.

Heather was the first to speak up. "Jennifer, I have been doing some thinking about what you told me last Friday night about your visit this time. I think what the 'Settle in' means. It means that you need to become comfortable with being Jennifer and deal with what she is on a daily basis. The experiences that you could gain that would be more than a few hours of being her and it would go so much further in the end. The best thing about this week has been the fact that nobody has noticed anything different about you. To them, you are still Jennifer. I had a few people comment to me how much more sure of yourself you are since you started going out with Dan. They all said that it is nice to see you with someone and having all your energies pointed towards him and not anyone else. I do have to agree with them. Sometimes the other Jennifer could be a real bitch to people but only if they were on the wrong side of her anger. For the most part, she is an agreeable person to be with."

"I know that I can certainly be a bitch after I jumped at those girls earlier this week. But you know, it felt really good after what they said to and about Dan."

Tiffany jumped in then, "I know, I heard about it later and I was so wishing that I could have been there to see the looks on their faces. I guess it was absolutely priceless. I heard that they were left totally speechless since Jennifer never talked to them like that before and it shocked them completely. They were wondering who you really were. You were not the meek little person you are when you are alone."

Michelle said, "Where did you ever learn to be such a hard person anyway? I mean, being a man and all, you never had been with another man I presume?"

"No, I was not gay or anything. I just had never dealt with girls or women for any length of time and kept to myself for the most part. I really do not know where all this came from exactly but I am having thoughts that it might be Jennifer's potential to be this way. I have no way of knowing for sure since I have no idea what her actual potential is. I only know mine and I did not know I had it in me either."

Sarah said then, "Maybe you did not know it but it sure poked its little head out at a perfect moment."

The conversation continued for sometime after that but it was mostly inconsequential stuff that need not be repeated. When we were all talked out, we all made out ways back to our respective homes for the night. We really did not want to stay out past dark so we all left well before sunset so that none of us would have to walk home alone in the dark. We bid our good nights and parted.

Once I woke up in the morning, I was still amazed at how well I woke up. I never had an ability to wake up so quickly and be so fully awake. I knew this day was going to be a busy one and I felt that I should enjoy it. I arose out of the bed, slid the robe on, and went into the bathroom to rid myself of the nightly accumulations. After I was finished, I went into the kitchen where mom was sitting at the table reading the small newspaper this town produced.

"Good morning mom. How are you today?"

"Good morning sweetie. I am doing well today. How about yourself?"

"Oh, you could say that I am totally excited about my mystery date tonight. Speaking of which, I was wondering about something that you could do for me, it you would like to."

"What is that honey?"

"Well, I do not know how to put this but would you take us down to the salon today so that I, no, WE can have the full treatment? My treat."

"I will be happy to take you but you know that you cannot spend anything on me as per the inheritance agreement."

"I know but you do so much for me and it is so unfair that just because Grandma did not agree with you marrying daddy does not mean that I do not agree with it too. I will make up some sort of excuse for the auditors over this. I do hope that you will join me and make it a mother-daughter day out. We have not spent any time together in such a long time that I think it is time we do so. So say yes, PLEASE!" I put on my best sad eyed waif look to try to coax her into it.

"Damn, Jennifer. What has gotten into you lately? You seem like such a different person these days. First you never want to spend any time with me and then you do. You do not want to spend any money on me, then all of a sudden you do, and you say you will make an excuse for the expenditure. I know. You are not my Jennifer. You are some stranger who is wearing her body."

When she said that I turned completely cold. I must have become pale white because she stopped talking and was staring at me as if something was wrong.

"Jennifer, what is wrong. You suddenly turned ghost white. Are you sick?"

I tried to talk calmly but all I did was stammer. "N...no, mom. I am fine. Y... you just scared me with what you said. I have been getting that a lot lately at school. One person had even looked at my head to see if there were any scars from what she termed 'brain transplant surgery' to see why I was acting as I was. She said the same thing you did and it scared me." I thought to myself, 'good cover.'

"I am so sorry sweetie. I did not mean to upset you."

"It is ok mom. Please do not say that again, ok? Things have been very strange for me lately and I am trying to deal with them as best as I can."

"I promise I will not say anything again. Look, if it means so much to you for me to go to the salon with you, then I will do it. Lord knows I could use a good relaxing treatment myself."

"Thank you mom. You do not know how much this means to me. I miss not being able to just spend some good quality time with you."

"Now I know it is true. You are not my daughter! She would never say such things." She looked dead serious when she said that so I started feeling exposed. "Geez, Jennifer. You should see the look on your face! I am teasing you. That girl must have really scared the daylights out of you. However, on a more serious note, you do seem to me a much more mature person lately and the only thing that I can attribute it to is your relationship with Dan. He really is a nice young man and I am glad to see him being such a great influence on you."

"I know he is being a good influence on me. I think that the greater influence is what I am having on him. He is acting more like someone who is not frightened of his own shadow. The bad thing is that I have not really seen him all week except for school. I find myself missing not being able to talk to him in the evening and school is not the best place to talk except at lunch. I just wish that I could talk to him now. Just to hear his voice. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes, I do honey. I think what you are describing is sometimes called love. I know you professed to him Sunday morning that you were falling in love with him but this is something completely different. My baby is growing up and will be leaving my house soon and I do not want to see that happen." With that, she burst into tears that I was not sure if they were happy tears or if they were sad tears. I scooted my chair over to where she sat and hugged her tightly. I had tears running down my face also but I felt that I could control them a little bit. After a while, she managed to stop her crying, looked up, and smiled at me.

"What did I ever do to deserve a daughter as sweet as you? You are wonderful sweetie."

"Thanks, mom. Yet, I do not think you should knock too hard on yourself. You got what you deserved when you and daddy had me. I miss daddy and I know how hard it was on you trying to raise me without any help from him. I promise that those days are over and I will do what I can to help you out as much as I can. One day it will be up to me to take care of you and I certainly hope that I am up to that task."

"I do too sweetie. Now, what do you say about us going and getting ready to go. I will call my salon and set up appointments for us both. Go take a shower but do not do anything with your hair or face otherwise. We will let the salon take care of all that. Once you are done, then I will take a shower also."

"Ok mom." I stood up in preparation to leave the kitchen. I reached down to where she was sitting and gave her a other hug. "Thanks mom. I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart. Now go take your shower while I make the phone call."

I left the kitchen realizing that I had not had anything to eat since I had come in to talk to mom specifically. I gathered up clothes to wear for the day that was casual as well as nice and went into the bathroom. As I was undressing, I stopped for a few minutes to admire Jennifer's body. I could not believe that everything about her was absolute perfection. There were no scars of any sort on her body. That in itself is an unusual thing. Everyone gets cuts or scraps throughout their lives and nobody is so protected that they acquire no scars. It is totally unheard of. Jennifer is the type of girl that is a prime candidate for centerfold of Playboy or some other sort of thing like that. Not to mention the possibility of model material. She is a teenage boys wet dream come to life. Moreover, I am here as Jennifer so all these things are ME! I felt like I was living my favorite dream.

I had to shake these thoughts out of my head. Mom is going to need to take a shower soon and if I do not hustle, she will take one ahead of me. As much as I wanted to further explore the budding sense of self as Jennifer, I had to conclude my shower as quickly as possible. I had not realized how quickly I would become comfortable as Jennifer if my visitations were over an extended period. It was almost as if I felt I would be happier as Jennifer and not as my old male self. I wondered idly what the future visits entailed. I would have to wait for this visit to be over before I found out.

Once my shower was concluded, I dressed myself and settled in to wait for mom to get done with hers. It was amazing to see how quickly the water heater recycled. When I was in the house as Michael, it took forever for it to reheat. Did new occupants of a house mean that things were different too? I knew it was pointless to ask the questions because it would bring rise to ones that I did not want to have to answer. I searched the house while waiting for mom to finish her shower and found two things out. One, there was not a book in the house to read. Were Jennifer and her mother anti-reading? I did not know and was afraid to ask. Two, there were no magazines in the house either. The only books I found in the house were Jennifer's schoolbooks. I KNOW I saw mom reading a book one time but for some reason, I could not find her stash so that I could read one. I know when I was a man here, I had a room dedicated to books so that if I got bored, I could read. I resolved to check into the book issue later.

After about an hour of waiting for mom, she finally emerged from her room dressed for a day out of the house. I could tell that she was excited about the prospect of spending time with me. She glowed with the joy that a day out would be an escape from the prison of the home.

"Are you ready to go Jennifer? The salon says that they are rather slow today and if we are able to get there quickly, we will have all day to be pampered."

I had to smile at that. "All day? Well, what are we waiting for? We have already killed half the day just getting ready to go. Let's get a move on it!"

With that, we both went out to the garage and got in mom's car. In all the times so far that I have been Jennifer, I had never even seen her with a car. It seems that everything I did revolved around me and I paid no attention to the details. I was going to have to look closer from now on. The car we got into was one of the latest models of Jaguars in a midnight blue color. I could not help but wonder what Myra did that she could afford a car this expensive and yet live in a house as tiny as what we were living in. I could see the old me living in the house since it was small and I was single without much of an income, so it made sense to have a house like it. This woman though, was a mass of contradictions that were very puzzling to me. Maybe I should stop trying to figure out the puzzle of Myra and work on the puzzle of Jennifer.

It took us about ten minutes to arrive at the salon. If this place was slow today, I wondered what it would be like on a busy day. It seemed like someone occupied every chair and there were no openings to be seen. If we were going to spend the rest of the afternoon there, they would have to kick someone out. Unexpectedly, a woman comes rushing out to greet mom.

"Myra, darling! How good it is that you can join us today. I take it this is Jennifer?"

"Yes, this is my daughter Jennifer. She is the one that suggested that we come here today and even offered to pay for both of us. Jennifer, I would like you to meet Monica Strazinski. She used to work with me at the real estate office before she got tired of the rat race there and decided to open up a salon." OH, ho! So that was what mom did. It still didn't answer the question of why she drove a Jaguar and lived in the dinky house.

"Hi Monica. It is a pleasure to meet you. I hope that you can fit us in today. It looks like all your people are tied up with someone else."

"Honey, don't you worry your little heart out over that. Monica will take good care of you and your mom. We were preparing for your arrival in another room. Besides, this IS a slow day. If it was busy, your mom would not have been able to get an appointment at all."

We were ushered into another room that made the outer area look like a dump. As I entered it, I stopped suddenly with my mouth agape. I had never seen such luxury before and I could only stand there in shock.

"Come on Jennifer. You act like you have never seen the luxury suite of a salon before."

"I have never seen such a place before. The place does not look big enough to have something like this inside of it."

"Well, you are not rightly inside of the place that you entered from. This is in an adjacent building that is well hidden by the surrounding buildings outside. There was no other access to this area except through the front area of my original store. I got a wonderful deal on the rent and when someone wants a good pampering, they come in here."

"You can be assured that you will be getting my business from here on out and I expect to have the 'treatment' back here."

"You betcha sweetie. You can have it any time you feel like it. Come on now, let's get busy."

I went into the room with only slight apprehension. Mostly from not knowing what was going to happen. I was ushered over to a barber style chair that looked like it was covered in suede leather but felt much more decadent than that. I was never able to identify the actual covering but I knew I was going to have to find out, it was so that I could get furniture for my own house in the future.

During the next 5 hours I was pampered, preened, and sometimes tortured. Mom had thought it would be a great idea to have my legs waxed so that there would be no stubble from a razor on them. After I was done with that excruciating agony, I was ready to kill her. I didn't ever think that a woman would go through that sort of thing because it HURT to have the hair on your legs yanked out by the roots. They tried to tell me that the more I had it done, the easier it would become but I am highly certain that I will not do that again. Mom just stood to the side while it was being done and smirked at my exclamations of pain. I think she enjoyed it while it was happening. The wax technician even had me strip to skin and did my bikini area too. I was literally tearing up from the abuse of my lower extremities. She was finally done but would not let me up off the table.

"Jennifer, I would like to apply a new treatment that will help you in the future. It is called Exfolicid and it is a new treatment that will prevent you from ever having to shave your legs again once it has finished its work. It is like a lotion that I apply to your legs, but you will have to be standing for at least ten minutes while it works."

"It sounds almost like it will hurt, Sheila."

"It will only sting for a few minutes because of the follicle killer that will be in it. What we did with the wax was open up the pores of your legs and the Exfolicid will move down the opening and settle in the bottom and eat away the hair root that is left. It will kill any new hair starts as well as any hair that has just been pulled out. Once it has gone its route in killing the roots, it will stop working and the aloe vera in it will smooth out the problems and heal your legs up. Two hours after you leave here, you will not have any marks or redness to show you had anything done to your legs. Now, shall I do the treatment? It is only a one-time application and will never have to be repeated. It would also be preferable to do your underarms too but it will not be necessary today unless you want to do so. That is up to you. So, what will it be?"

"Since you recommended it, I might as well go all out. Give me the works. That is what I am here for, is it not?"

"Good girl. Would you please stand up for me while I apply it to your legs? While that is working, we will work on your underarms and prepare them too. Here goes." With that, she applied a warm lotion to my legs and worked it into every nook and cranny that they hid. It felt good for a couple of minutes and then started a minor irritation that was not unbearable. She finished putting it on the area that she did for the bikini line and let that work its way in. She had me raise my arms and hold them up while she applied the wax again and denuded under the arms of hair. Then she applied the lotion there too. The stinging sensation increased for a few minutes and then went away. Before too long Sheila was wiping the residue off my body.

"There you go young lady. You are now hair free for the rest of your life. Money back guarantee if one hair grows back."

"How can you be sure that the hair will not grow back?" I asked.

"This product has been in extensive testing for a few years and when all of the test subjects never grew a hair back, in a year, the testers were satisfied. It took a bit to get approval from the FDA but that was granted a month ago and was permitted to be sold just last week. We were one of the first places to buy it. We will give you your money back if the hair grows back in any location that it was applied to. No questions asked either."

"That sounds good to me," I told her. I ran my hands down my legs and they felt silky smooth. Before I could feel tiny razor stubble but now it was gone. It also felt slightly erotic. Dan was going to love the feel, I just knew it.

The very last things they did were put my hair up into a very elaborate style that I would never be able to duplicate in a million years. It was too intricate for me to even follow or describe. They also applied makeup in what they called 'night out on the town' and showed me how to renew it once it was looking a bit smudged. I was taken to a large mirror to see the results of their work. If I had thought I was beautiful last week when I went out with Dan that first night, the angel in the mirror astounded me. I giggled at a thought that went through my head. Dan was going to pass out when he sees me. While I was absorbed in my thoughts and admiring the reflection, I heard a voice call out "Jennifer!"

I turned around to be confronted with several cameras pointed at me and flashing their bulbs at me. I was nearly blinded because it was so unexpected to have my picture taken. After the initial shock, I started strutting around like a model and flashing big grins. The photographers loved it. After several minutes, the flashing stopped and the photographers vanished into the nothingness they came from. Everyone acted like nothing had happened and it left me wanting to ask some questions.

"Monica, who were those photographers?"

"Photographers? What photographers? There were no others here. Are you sure you are not dazed because of the vision of loveliness that was in the mirror?"

"I don't know. Forget it. It is not important." What were these people up to? I needed to put the incident from my mind. I had more important fish to fry right now. Dan's goose was going to be cooked once he caught sight of me.

"Well Jennifer, do you like what you see in the mirror? You have gotten our best work so far."

"I do Monica. Are we concluded for today? If so, please let me know what I have to pay for the services."

"Are you sure that you are ready for this hon? All your treatments are rather expensive."

"It does not matter to me. Just let me know what the bill is and I will pay it. Oh, and could you make sure the receipt says nothing about mom on it at all. I will pay extra for the service."

"That will not be necessary, dear. Your mother has a long standing agreement with me that she will not pay for any services here."

With that, I was even more puzzled by the disclosure. "What do you mean by that? Mom, can you explain that to me?"

"Sure sweetie. It is simple. I helped Monica get into this building when she was first setting up her salon. Because of the fact that I waived my customary fee for procurement. Monica in return signed a paper that I would not ever pay for the services here. But I do leave wonderful tips for the girls that wait on me."

"But yet you let me think that I was going to pay for your pampering and the whole time knew that you were not going to have to pay. That is low mom. VERY low."

"I am sorry you feel that way dear. If MONICA (a look of something at her), had not said anything you would not have known."

"Myra, I thought that you did not keep anything from your daughter. I thought she knew about the agreement."

"No, she did not. It was my one little secret that I kept from her. Just like she has some of her own that I will never pry into. I expect her to respect my wishes with this one."

"Ok mom. I will not ask about it ever again. Now, back to the matter at hand. Monica, what is the total bill for my services today?"

"Do you want the item by item amount or a total?"

"I need to do an accounting for the expense auditor so the receipt must be item by item. But you may only tell me the cost before a tip based on the cost of services provided by each of your consultants."

"That I can do. Your total before a tip is $416.00. How much of a tip do you wish to add in?"

"I feel that a 15% tip is generous enough. I will let you break it down into whatever each consultant cost was."

"Good enough. Let's see here. Your grand total comes to $478.00. Will that be cash or card?"

"It will be on my card. Here you are." I handed my card to her.

"Thank you. It will be just a moment while I wait for the approval." She stood there watching the card machine. Within a few seconds, I heard the clatter of a printer working. A zz-ii-pp of paper being removed from it sounded. "Here you are hon. Please sign on the line at the bottom."

I took the proffered pen and signed Jennifer's name to it. Could not help but compare my signature of her name and her actual writing and they were the same. Somebody up there must like me. My old signature is nothing like what it was now. I could do nothing except shrug it off. "Here you are Monica. Thank you for your services. I will be seeing you a lot more often in the future."

"You are welcome. If you would like, I will give you a 25% discount on future services to any referrals that you make to your friends or anyone else. All they have to do is mention your name and they will receive a 10% discount."

"Thanks Monica. I will let the girls at school know. They will appreciate a good salon experience." I turned to mom. "We need to go now. Time is growing short and Dan will be to the house soon and I still need to get finished getting ready to go."

"Alright dear. Monica, it has been a pleasure as always. I will see you again for my regular appointment in 3 weeks. I have to look good for my job you know."

"I will mark it down Myra. Enjoy your date Jennifer. Goodbye."

Since my time was short, we made our way to mom's car and left to go home. I had to address something that was bugging me. "Mom, may I ask you a question?"

"You already did," she said with a smile on her face. "Sorry, go ahead."

"Mom, this is a strange question but I have to ask this. I know you work at a real estate company and you drive a Jaguar but why is it that we live in such a small house?"

"I knew one day you would be asking the question. The answer is simple. Your father bought it when we got married and it was the last thing he had the money to buy. He didn't want to have a big flashy house because of what he lived in all his life. He felt that it was best to just fade into the woodwork and forget his past. He disdained the money that had made his life pure hell. He still had a lot personally from his own inheritance but he did not want to have anything to do with such amounts of money. He only used enough to get by and for the most part ignored everything else. I have a sizeable amount of money in the bank that I inherited from him when he was killed but I was ingrained with hanging on to money. When I am gone, you will receive a large amount of money yourself but you will not really need it because of your inheritance from his mother. As for the reason we are still in the house we are is because of the fact that it belonged to your father and it is about the only thing that is left from him besides the bank account. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, it does. From what I get, the house is still occupied by us because of sentimental value rather than functional value."

"That is it precisely. Anything else?"

"No mom. Thank you for telling me."

The rest of the ride home was done in silence. I was absorbed in the thoughts of getting ready to go out with Dan. I would not have much time and I had to be very careful that I did not muss up the makeup on my face and the intricate hairstyle that had been done on my head. I was getting nervous myself. Would Dan like what I had done? Or would he run from nervousness himself? I knew we would both have to work hard on it this night. I broke my train of thought as we pulled into the driveway. I had to hurry to get finished.

I quickly went into my room and pulled out the dress and accessories that I had bought last week. I dressed as quickly as I could without causing unsurpassable problems. Somehow, I managed to do minimal damage. The worst was the fact that my newly longer nails ripped holes in the nylons twice. Now I knew why Heather and the girls insisted on me getting at least six pair. At last I was ready to go over how I looked one last time before Dan arrived. I did a close inspection of my makeup and my hair. I had a smudge of makeup on my face that was easily correctable. Not a hair was out of place after all my gyrations in getting ready. I felt that it was a miracle that I had not destroyed everything that had been done for me. I touched up what needed to be touched up and gave a quick spritz of perfume. I believe I am ready for this date.

A quick check of the time showed that any second now...DING-DONG! Yep. It was time to go.

"Mom, can you get the door please? I think it's Dan."

"Sure sweetheart." I heard her footsteps going to the door. I had to prepare myself mentally. Mom's voice broke me out of revelry.

"Jennifer, Dan's here. Hurry up honey."

"Ok mom. I'll be right there." I had to hurry out but take it slow as to seem if I was not nervous. I walked out into the living room with as much grace as I could muster. As I entered the living room, I paid close attention to Dan's face. I was pleased with what I saw. It was exactly as I had planned.

First, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Second, his mouth nearly hit his chest. Then lastly, his mouth started acting like a fish gasping for breath. I smiled at him and it increased his fluster. He finally was able to get his eyes and mouth under control.

"My God, Jennifer. You look beautiful. No, gorgeous. No, I...I...I don't know. I can't find the words to describe how you look. I have never before seen anyone like you. Just looking at you takes my breath away."

"I take it that you approve of your choice of dress for our date?"

"You looked good in it then but you are beyond good looking now. If anything, you do not deserve even being with scum like me."

"Now Dan, you know we have been working hard on that attitude. I really do not want to hear you ever say that again. Are we understood?"

"Y...y...yes Jennifer."

"Now, do you remember what I said before? I did not have to go out with you but since I did, I hope that you will enjoy it. I know I will. Are you ready to go?"

"I guess so, but I feel so inadequate in comparison to you."

"There is that self esteem problem I dislike. YOU, young man, are the candy of MY eye. You are so handsome that I would like to do something right now." I slinked over to where he stood and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I think you have been working too hard this week. We have not been able to see each other as often as I would like to. Because of that, poor baby, you are so lacking in the attention that I am just going to have to bathe you in it tonight." With that, I gave him a big kiss. "Oops! I hope I didn't mess up my makeup. Do I look ok?"

"Honey, you couldn't look messed up by any means. You look superb no matter what. Come on. Let's go. Your limousine is awaiting, my dear."

"Then let us go, kind sir." I took his arm and was lead out the door to a...LIMOUSINE! I turned to Dan in shock. "How could you afford this? I thought you had no money!"

"Well, I did have some savings and it was a very hard time working all the hours I did this week. In my opinion, it will be worth every penny of it. Come, our transportation waits. Not to mention our reservations." He guided me to the car and the driver was there waiting to open the door. I stepped into the vehicle in awe. I had never been in anything like this vehicle and I felt that it was nothing to sneeze at.

Once both of us had settled into the car, the driver climbed in and took off. I looked over at Dan and he was still staring at me. From the look in his eyes, it was either love or lust but I was not sure which one it was. I could not help but blush at his attention.

"I have to tell you Jennifer, I cannot believe how good you look tonight. I had picked the dress out as more of a joke just to see what you would do but I did not expect it to be this good looking on you. Then again, you could look good in a burlap sack. There is something about you that just glows and I have not been able to figure out what it is. Whatever it is though, please do not change."

"Thank you Dan. I must say, you look better in your suit than I had thought on a casual day like last week. Once you set your mind to do something, you go all out, do you not?"

"True, but in all fairness, most of this is because of you. You saw something that others did not and that sets you apart from all the rest I tried to go out with. They all seem so shallow while you have depths that have not yet been discovered. I hope that our relationship goes far enough that I can but discover ten percent of those hidden depths."

"Well Dan, at least you have a good come on line," I said with a twinkle in my eye. I knew what he was talking about but I wanted to tease him a bit.

"I didn't mean it like that. You do not interest me sexually. No, that's not it. You interest me sexually. Oh geez. I'm fouling this up again. Let me try this again. What I mean is that I am interested in more than your body. Your mind is so fascinating that it is attracting me more than that beautiful body is. I had judged you a long time ago as an easy lay because of what other guys have said about you. I am finding out that they are all wrong and you are nothing like that. They painted you out as a total slut and only interested in sex."

"I know how the guys talk about me. I may be female but I am not stupid, nor am I deaf. They look at the exterior and see the same sexpot I see in a mirror every day. None want to know more than one thing about me and that is how good I am in bed. You on the other hand are shy and mostly quiet. Overall you are a normal guy that likes a good-looking girl but you know when to keep your hands off. If you are willing to take me to bed and also willing to wait until I give you the signal, I will let you know when. Now, I can tell you all the other guys are wrong. I have never been to bed with anyone. I am also not ready for that step now but I feel that I will be in time. If you are willing to date and be very good friends, you will be the first to know when I am ready to take that step. Does that sound ok with you?"

"Damn, Jennifer, when you lay it on the line, you REALLY lay it in flat out. I agree to your terms. How can I not? It gives me the opportunity to be with the most beautiful girl, no, woman in the school and I do not have to act like the macho shitheads, pardon my language, that run around the world. Those types of people detest me and I would much rather just be with you than forcing you into something that I would later regret."

"Dan, you say the sweetest things!" He deserved a big reward for what he just said. I leaned over to him, wrapped my arms around his neck and proceeded to kiss him hard enough to curl his toes. Upon separation, I told him, "That dear sir, is only a message of things to come in the future. In time, hold on to your hat because things will only get better."

"Whew. If that is just a message, I can hardly wait to get the whole story."

"Oh, you will. You will. Now, may I ask a simple question?"

"If it has anything to do with tonight, no. You will just have to wait until we get there to know."

"Oh you meanie! How did you know what I was going to ask?"

"It is a well known fact that girls are very curious creatures. They have to know everything that is going on so that they can plan around it. The only plans that I would like you to know is that we are going to dinner and then somewhere special. Do you think you can handle that?"

"No. And you know it! You are going to drive me crazy I hope you know."

"Yes, I do and I am going to enjoy every minute of it. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. It will not take us more than an hour or three to get there."

"An hour or three!? Where are you taking me? Help! I'm being kidnapped!"

"Nope, no answer coming from me. My lips are sealed. Mmmphmmmphm!"

"You're silly! Ve haff vays uff macink shoo tock." If he did not understand what I said, I made my point by starting to tickle him. Before too long, I had him saying uncle. I just hoped that I did not mess up my hair or makeup. I could ill afford to go anywhere looking like a person who just got out of bed. I could not believe this guy was so ticklish.

"Ok Jennifer, I give up. I am taking you to...URK! GAK! UGH! Whoosh!" He pretended to collapse.

"Dan? Dan?? Are you ok? Hmm, I guess not. I guess I'll have to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation to revive him." I made fake motions for preparing him and I planted another big kiss on his mouth. I held that position for quite some time. Of course, when I tried to break it, he held the vacuum so that I would not be able to do so and held me even tighter. "Mmm, mmmphmmpjhm," was my attempt at saying 'Help, I'm being smothered!'

"You know, no matter what I still refuse to tell you where we are going. But I will tell you this: we are going to have fun."

"Oh pooh! You're a spoilsport. I'll not bother you any more about where we are going. But I will bother you in a different way." I proceeded to bother him in the different way. It was quite enjoyable too. I felt myself starting to feel like I did in the shower earlier. Then it dawned on me that what I had been feeling was my body becoming aroused. I think that once I was ready for sex, it might be even more fun than what I have been feeling. Who knows, I might want to fill out the part of the form that asks the question Sex [] and I'll mark 'Yes please.'

The rest of the trip to the Where Ever Place was spent in relative silence. At least silence on my part. I was too busy with my mouth to do much talking. An occasional gasp for air was the only things heard in the passenger compartment of the limo. I do not know how long we drove but it could have been anywhere between fifteen minutes and three hours. I could not care less about how long. I was enjoying being in his arms WAY too much to care about things.

Shortly I felt the car come to a complete stop and heard the driver's door open. I stopped what I was doing and tried to arrange myself before the door opened. I was not able to check my makeup before I got out of the car. That was the first thing that I had to check once I was inside the building.

When I got out I was confronted with the sight of a theater style building that had a marquee that read 'Dinner and a Play'. What sort of place was this that had dinner and a play? I am sure that I would find out.

Dan opened the door for me and I stepped through into a luxurious lobby. I waited for Dan to come along side me and I took his arm as he guided me into the building. I spotted the ladies room off to the side before the entrance into the theater.

"Dan, I need to run into the ladies room quickly. I have to powder my nose. Please wait here for a minute. I will be right back."

"Certainly Jennifer. I would not go anywhere without you."

I gave him another kiss before I went to the restroom. Once I was in the ladies safe haven, the first thing I did was verify that I did not destroy my face too badly. I did mess it up a bit and a couple of hairs were out of place. A few minutes work and things were back the way they were supposed to be. Since I was in here, I felt that it was best to make sure that I did not have to get up and run to the bathroom at the wrong time. I finished, washed my hands and rechecked to make sure things were still ok. I went back out to rejoin Dan.

He was waiting patiently for me just outside. I took his arm again and we went to the ticket taker.

"I have two tickets on hold for the 7:00 show. My name is Dan Sparks"

"Yes, Mr. Sparks. Here you go. The seats are as you requested. Thank you for coming. I hope you enjoy your dinner and the show."

He took the tickets and led me to the doors where there was an usher waiting for the tickets. Upon being handed them, he led us further into the bowels of the chamber beyond the door. We were taken to a table near the stage/musicians area. I was impressed about how close we were to the stage. At least it would not be hard to see the actors in the play.

Once we were seated, a waiter dressed in an old time Western style bartenders outfit brought us menus. "I will return in a few minutes to take your orders. Would Sir and Madam care for some refreshments?"

"Since we are both minors, we cannot have anything alcoholic. I think that for now, we will settle for a coke each. Is that ok Jennifer?"

"Yes, that is fine," I said.

"Very well, I will return in a minute with your drinks." He turned and left us alone.

"Dan, where ever in the world did you find this place? I have never even heard of it before."

"It comes from having worked here at one time as a stage hand when I was studying drama my Junior year. I always enjoyed the atmosphere and the actors are actually professionals. They do have other jobs but this pays them fairly well. I was able to pull my past employment here and wrangle the seats here. Tonight, they are kicking off a new play that has the looks of being a success for them. As you can see from the people around us, this is going to be a sell-out crowd. This place has a good following among the drama crowds and the play itself has been the talk for quite sometime. They are trying a new twist on a very old play."

"May I ask what the play is?"

"I should keep it a surprise, but I won't. It is Romeo and Juliet portrayed as a musical melodrama based in the old West."

"Really, that sounds pretty strange to me. I am not sure that it will be that successful. Really, you just can't mess with the works of the Bard like that."

"Please be patient with me on this. I feel that you will enjoy it. Have you decided what you want to eat?"

"I am a bit confused about that. There are no prices on the menu. I do not want to overspend your budget."

"Please do not worry about that. The prices of the tickets include the meal regardless of what a person selects. That way, nobody feels like they are being taken advantage of. It is a system that has worked out for quite a number of years since the dinner theater opened. Go ahead and order what you would like."

"I see. That makes things easy for me. I love shrimp and seafood, so I will have the seafood combo plate if that is ok."

"That is perfect. I was thinking about having the twelve ounce top sirloin and lobster tail."

About then the waiter came back with our drinks and set them down. "Are you ready to order now?

"Yes sir, we are." Dan proceeded to give him the discussed upon items as well as the side dishes such as salad and soup. It had been a long time since I had had the money to buy a good seafood plate and I was practically drooling over the thought of the shrimp. The other components of the plate were an added bonus to me.

The waiter left us to ourselves and went into the back room. I felt the need to find out a bit more about Dan and his job at this place.

"Dan, without getting too detailed, what was your job doing here?"

"I did not have too important of a job. They needed to have stage hands to move the scenery around to new settings and I was just one of the six grunts they utilized for the tasks. Sometimes it was rather difficult trying to get things done in the two minutes that we had for scene changes. It was challenging and fun. There were times that I wished that I could have been out on the stage rather than behind the scenes."

"Does that mean that you have an aspiring talent to be an actor?"

"That is the reason I took drama in school last year. I enjoyed acting but according to the director, I did not have leading man capability and the best that he could recommend would be as an extra. He said something about presence or presentation on stage. I am not sure what he meant but I knew it was a negative thing. I stopped having anything to do with the stage after that."

"You have to be kidding! You have many hidden talents that people have not found yet. I think you really need to try it again and see what happens. Besides, I have the utmost confidence in you that you can do it. I will support you all the way, if you would care to try. I think you can surprise all your non-supporters."

"I appreciate the thought Jennifer but that sort of thing is not what I am interested in at the moment. I have better things going right now and I would like to see how they turn out. If things do not work out, then I will try it. Is that ok with you?"

"What are your 'better' things you mention?"

"I guess I should be blunt about it. You are my 'better' thing. I have never run into anything or anyone like you before and it seems like there are so many things that can be done and I would like to explore the possibilities as they arise."

"That is sweet to say. I too would like to explore the possibilities with you. The things is, is that each of us have to do things without the other so that we are at least diversified and not totally dedicated to each other. Please do not take that wrong. The reason I say that, is I have seem many couples do things together practically 24 hours a day and after a while, they get to the point that any love has turned to hate and they break up."

"I never thought about it that way, but you are right. There is too much contention in life as it is and not enough variety for people. You can only do so much together before it becomes boring."

"That is right. So, I think what you need to do is try out for the next play they are doing here and see how things go. If you like, I will help you out with the parts as you get ready for the tryouts. Any idea when the next one is going to be?"

"No, but I can check with the director to see when it is and what they are going to do. Maybe I can work things out beforehand get the part down before the tryouts."

"That would be something that would impress them more than going in cold and doing a poor job with the part. In acting, you have to be confident in your manners and that would reflect in the job you do. If you have a higher confidence factor in yourself, then it will show to the director. Remember what I said before about your self-esteem? That is the biggest part of being confident. I have been able to see you change over the last week and I really like what I am seeing."

"Now that you mention it, I have had a lot of people commenting about how I have been holding my bearing lately. One woman mentioned to me that she had noticed me before but I had an invisible sign up that said 'Warning, jerk at work' or something like that. She said that the way I have been carrying myself had announced that I had dumped the negative feelings. She asked me if I wanted to go out with her sometime. I had to tell her that I was otherwise taken and would do nothing to ruin the relationship I was building. Needless to say, she was a bit bummed out but understood."

"Did I not tell you that if you had confidence in yourself that people would notice? It is already starting to show to people and they are starting to take you seriously. THAT, my dear, is why I said you need to try out for a play. I KNOW you will get the part you want. I have all the confidence in you that you will get it too."

"You know what they say too, behind every great man is a great woman. I think you are going to be that great woman behind me."

"I will do my best to be that woman for you."

He smiled brightly at me, moved closer, and gave me a very passionate kiss. He was learning to show his feelings. It was better than I had hoped with him.

Before he could be too carried away, our waiter brought our meals out to us. We had to scoot apart so that the meals could be placed in front of us. "Please enjoy your meals. The play should be starting in about twenty minutes. If there is anything I can get you, please feel free to signal me."

"Thank you, we will," Dan said as he dismissed the waiter. "How does your meal look to you Jennifer?"

"It looks absolutely wonderful. Almost too good to eat. I know I will enjoy it. It has been too long since I have had seafood."

"With your money, I thought you would be eating seafood whenever you wanted to."

"That is not the way it works Dan. I would feel guilty eating it if I could not buy it for my mother also. The terms of my inheritance states that I cannot do anything for my mother when it comes to buying things. My grandmother did not like my father marrying below his station and she thought mom was a golddigger and nothing more. My father died before Grandma did and I was given his inheritance with those rules. I have to go to college after high school or I will have to wait for a long time to get anything else. As it is, I will only get enough to pay my living expenses and tuition with little left over while I am in college. Right now, I am getting only $5000 per month and once I graduate, unless I am enrolled in college, I will lose that money until I turn twenty-five. If I do not spend the $5000 in a month, they will not roll it over to the next month. They will just add on to make it the $5000. If I do not spend it, I will not get anything else the next month."

"Wow, it sounds like your grandmother had it in for your mother."

"Yes, she did. Grandma could be a royal witch if she tried and did not like the person much. I was her only grandchild so she doted on me while daddy was still alive but never in view of mom."

"It sounds like you at least got along with her."

"Yes, I did. She died about three years ago and left me her estate. As I said, it is with a lot of restrictions. I just have to be careful how I do things or I stand the chance of losing everything that I inherited."

"I hope that I am not one of those restrictions."

"No, you do not have to worry about that. The restrictions are all with mom. Grandma was upset when daddy died because it meant that mom got his money that was his inheritance from his grandparents. Grandma did not want mom to get it and tried her best to stop it from happening but she was not able to because of the marriage."

"Ok, I understand now. How is your dinner?" I had been eating between my talking and him talking.

"It is fantastic. The shrimp are the best that I have ever had. It is almost a dream to eat them."

"That is good. They have always had the best food here. Not to mention the entertainment too."

The rest of the meal was eaten and we engaged in small chitchat while we ate. I was not able to get all of my meal eaten since it was a rather huge plate of food. I was at least able to get a to go box for it. Shortly before we were done eating, the play started with a preamble of music. We had watched the musicians tune up and prepare for the performance. That in itself was entertaining. The play started up right at 8:00. If I had any doubts before it started, by the time it was over, I had been able to get into so deeply that I was doing the same things as the rest of the crowd was. That is, whooping and a hollering, booing and hissing, cheering and jeering, as well as the hushed silence at the end when the two lovers were silent with their deaths. Never in my life have I ever had as much fun as I did this night.

I left the theater that night with a reverence that having seen a group of people work hard to entertain their audience. Along with a feeling of pleasant surprise over the fact that my original assessment that it was sacrilege to treat the Bards work with completely rewriting the play to a different format than what was originally intended to be done.

Immediately after the play was over and the curtain calls were made to a standing ovation, we left the auditorium/dinner room and Dan wanted to go see the owner of the theater. He talked with the man for several minutes and came back to me with a smile on his face.

"The owner says that the next play they are going to put on will be having their tryouts starting in December. I will have that long in which to prepare myself for the part. He said that they would be doing West Side Story. I think I can get the lead easily enough if I work on it. Are you still willing to work with me on it?"

"I certainly am. When do you want to start?"

"Let's give it a couple of weeks so that I can find the play script book and read it over. Then we can get started."

"That sounds good. You know Dan, I have to thank you. I really doubted that the play was going to be very good and you advised me to be patient. I must admit, you were right and I was wrong. I enjoyed myself very much and it is all with thanks to you."

"I had a great time myself. This was all due to you. If it had not been for you having the confidence in me, I think that I would have been a lost cause. You are special and I think it would be in my best interests to remain with you no matter what."

He had been looking me in the eyes as he said that. I knew what he was feeling in his heart and I was starting to feel it even deeper than he was. He was in love with me as well as I was falling deeply in love with him. He reached up with his hand and stroked the side of my face with the sides of his fingers. The look of love in his face was nearly overpowering. The spark of love in my own heart threatened to explode in my chest, sending me into oblivion.

His kiss was not unexpected and was most welcome to me. The passion in it was unbridled and wild to my senses. I was overwhelmed by the sensation as his arms wrapped themselves around me and held me tighter than I had ever been held in my life. I melted into his arms and practically became one with him.

He finally broke the kiss and I was instantly overcome by the sensation of loss. I did not want him to let go of me. "We need to go. I told the driver to be back here by 10:30 and it is now 11:00. I do not want to incur penalty payments so we need to get out there and go home. Are you ready?"

"Not really but let's go. If you run into any charges, I will pay them. It would be the least that I can do."

"If we make it home before midnight, we will have no charges to pay. Come, my lady, your carriage awaits your arrival." He gave a small bow and pointed with his arm towards the door. I took his arm and we left the theater to got to the limo.

Our drive home was not nearly as long as the one to the theater, but we were not paying attention to anything other than each other. His face filled my eyes and all I could see in his eyes was my reflection. No word was spoken between us as there was no need for words.

The arrival back to my house was not a welcome one. I did not want to leave him but I had to. The car had to go back to the company. A quick but long goodbye permitted me to get a goodnight kiss before I went into the house. Dan was quick back to the car so that he could get home and avoid the late charges. It was going to be close for him, but he would at least make it.

I went inside the house and prepared myself for bed. I knew that I would have to go to church in the morning since mom had warned me about it earlier. I had to be up early and I could not waste any time. The ritual of getting ready went quickly and before too long, I was in bed.

The next week or so went very well. I had become used to the morning and evening rituals that I had to perform every day. My relationship with Dan was growing ever closer each day. The school no longer used us as the butt of their jokes. All the girls that Dan had dated before were very jealous of me because I had something that none of them had ever been able to bring out. Sometimes I was treated rudely but that was few and far between. It is just the normal treatment that a girl gets when others are jealous of something that she possesses. Moreover, did I ever possess an object that none could wrest from me. I would have fought tooth and nail to retain him but I did not have to do so.

My third week in Jennifer's body was one of the worst ones in my life. It seemed that nothing I did could shake the weird feeling I had been having. By Wednesday, I was sure I was ready to kill someone. It did not matter who it was but I just wanted to kill someone.

Heather and the girls noticed that I was being a bit sullen and one of them asked me what was wrong.

I looked her in the eye and said, "I have no idea what is wrong. Lately, I am tense and I hate the way my skin feels to me. Nothing is right and I do not know what to do about it."

That must have made sense to all of them since they got a knowing look on their faces but they did not tell me anything else. By the end of the week, I was in even worse condition. Saturday morning, when I was getting dressed, the bra I was putting on felt so tight that I had to take it off to verify that it was not too small. I felt like I was being cut in half by it and I also felt as if I was overflowing the cups. My shoes were tight on me when I put them on. I was miserable all day long. I was not the angry person I was earlier in the week but I was still off kilter and there was no reason for me to be that way.

Sunday morning dawned and I was feeling absolutely horrible. My stomach was in turmoil, as if I was going to be sick. I wanted to die! I went to church with mom but my mind was not on the services as it usually was. As the morning wore on I started feeling worse. My stomach was giving me horrible cramps and I was wondering what I had eaten that was making me sick.

Finally the services were over, much to my relief. Mom and I went home quickly. Actually, not quick enough for me. I wanted to just crawl in bed and die. At one point while I was feeling sorry for my state, there was a knock on my bedroom door. I hollered out, "Come in," and crawled back under the cover to hide.

Heather walked in the room after being invited. "Jennifer, I had to come over and see you. After the way you were acting last week, I felt concerned over your state of mind. I can see that I was right. Something is wrong and I know what it is."

I uncovered my head. "You know what it is? What can make me feel so bad? I just want to be left alone so that I can die in peace."

"I keep forgetting that you are still new to this sort of thing. Jennifer would have taken it in stride and nothing would have been said about it since it is normal."

"What do you mean normal!? Nothing about what I am feeling is normal!"

"It is normal...for Jennifer. However, you are not Jennifer. You are someone else who is only Jennifer for a short time. I watched Jennifer go through exactly the same things a few years back but this time, you don't know the cause."

"Will you stop babbling and tell me what you are talking about!!!!"

"Now that sounds almost like her. What I am talking about, is you are starting her period."

"PERIOD!! What do you mean, I'm starting her period? I can't be!"

"How can you be so certain about that? Look, I have been friends with Jennifer long enough to know what she goes through when she has her period. You have been showing classic signs of her PMS and now, you are most likely having very severe cramps. Very shortly, you will be bleeding down below and that will need to be taken care of before you wind up having to clean up a terrible mess on the bed and in your clothes. We need to get you taken care of now before it gets really bad for you."

"I can't do this! I am a man for God's sake. Why I am I having to go through this? I don't want to have to deal with this."

"I would suggest that you just get used to the idea. You don't know what you were supposed to find out yet and you'll be dealing with this regardless. Now get your lazy ass up out of that bed so that we can go to 'girl' school. I have to teach you how to deal with this."

Not really feeling like it, I rose out of the bed and followed her into the bathroom. She went to the sink and bent down to open the panels underneath it. She pulled out a box that read 'tampons' on it and another box that read 'Kotex'. I didn't like the looks of things but I had to bear it or, as she said, deal with a worse problem.

"Now, what you need to do is basically, sit on the toilet with your underwear down. If you have to go to the bathroom, do so, but you will have to follow my instructions explicitly."

For the next fifteen minutes, I listened to her as she explained how to use the tampons and why a pad was necessary. I shuddered at one point when I heard a drip hit the water below me. A quick glance showed me that I had started bleeding. It nauseated me to no end and I felt like vomiting. Within a short time, I had been able to insert the tampon and prepare the pad for any secondary absorption.

"You will find out that Jennifer has a very heavy flow for the first three days of her period, which requires constant looking after. You will more than likely have to change the tampon and pad every two to three hours. After that, it starts getting better for you but you will have to deal with it for seven days before it will end. Now, do you understand everything that I had told you?"

"Yes, but I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it. You just have to be aware that it is normal. Regardless of how you feel about your period, it'll come every month except when you are pregnant. Up until now, you have been seeing the best part of being a woman. Now you get to experience the worst part. Make the best of it."

"I'll try my best. I just hope this week passes by quickly so that I can get away from this problem."

"I can only say that the week will be the longest one in your short life as Jennifer."

True to Heather's words, that week was the longest of my life. I hated dealing with the mess that my period brought to my ritual. The smell was nearly overpowering to me and I had to mask it with plenty of perfume. I felt that everyone could tell that I was on my period and I was a little wallflower all week long. My relationship with Dan was a bit strained that week. I tried to act like nothing was wrong but he knew that there was and assumed that I was mad at him for some reason. It took a lot of talking with him to convince him that nothing was wrong and I was not mad at him. We at least ended the week as a couple.

During that week I also learned that no matter what, things were normal regardless of the fact that when a woman was having her period, life had to go on. Half the human race had been dealing with such things for their whole lives and I only had to deal with the one. I hated it but it was a consolation to me that every woman had to deal with the same thing all the time and they acted no differently than they ever had. I did not know it at the time, but Heather had been having hers the first week I was back here while a couple of the others had theirs at the same time as I did. Moreover, they did not even show any signs that they were having them.

For me though it was the shock of what I was dealing with that caused me my problems. I would know what to expect next time it happened. I would not have to worry about showing the signs since I would know what to expect.

Saturday dawned a lovely day. It was a briskly cool morning that was shown in the bright early autumn colors. Per habit of that week, I went to the bathroom to check my tampon and pad. The pad had nothing on it and the tampon had hardly anything on it. It looked like my period was nearly over. I still put new ones into place and prepared myself for the day.

For the first time that week I did not feel like an outcast although it was self-imposed. I was practically skipping around feeling good. Mom had had to go to work since she was doing an open house, so I had the house to myself all day. I felt like calling up Heather and the girls and having them come over. I wanted to call Dan and ask him to come over but I knew he was working today and would not be off until after 6:00 this evening.

I decided to go out onto the porch and sit for a while before making any phone calls to the girls. I received a big surprise when I opened the door. Taped to the glass of the screen door was an envelope that had my name on it. Immediately I took it down. I went back into the house and sat on the couch. Had it really been a month since I came back here? It did not seem like it. It seemed longer than that.

With trembling hands, I opened the envelope as quickly as I could. I carefully pulled the letter out being careful to not take the enclosed charm out. I read it to myself. I had to re-read it to make sure that I understood it.

"Congratulations Jennifer. I know this was a hard month to get through. You discovered the main thing that was supposed to be learned here this time. Women must do whatever is necessary at all times regardless of what was going on with them. You discovered how hard it can be for them when they have their period. It is the worst time of their lives and they spend nearly a quarter of their year having one. This test is over. Now you will get to set your own pace on the next one. It will be quite pleasurable for you once you figure out your objective. Your clue is easy: Personal Pleasure. However long it takes you will be dependant on how you feel about your goal. They always say, seven is a lucky number. Do you feel lucky? You will have it."

It was still unsigned. I upended the envelope and allowed the charm to fall out onto my hand. The only glimpse I was able to get was the shape of the number seven. The spinning of my mind began again. I was back to being myself.
 
To Be Continued...
 

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Note: TG magic age-regression adult-teenager borrowed-body rated-g
Posted by: Admin on Saturday, March 08, 2003 - 01:47 AM