Spit and Image - 1
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knew that Paul bore a strong resemblance to his grandmother when she was young, but
when he lets his hair down and becomes his mom's dress model, they realize that he
truly was made in her Spit and Image.
Author's Note: Thank you for all the wonderful emails and comments about this story. Please continue to let me know what you think of the story. All comments, pro or con, are really helpful. ~Clara.
This version of Spit and Image: 1 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.
Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.
Chapter 1
"Paulie, honey," his mother called from the dinning room where she'd set up her machine, hangers and bolts of material. "I need your help again, please. I won't hold you up for more than ten minutes, more."
Paul sighed and shook his head, "Yep. I'm coming." He put down his video game controller, pulled himself off of the couch, closed the soft robe more tightly around him as he rose and made his way from the family-room to the dinning room. "This has to be the last time, though," he told his mother. "I've got to shower. Lori is picking me up at 5:30 and I need to shower and change before she comes."
Eighteen year old Paul, a high school junior, had not yet gotten his license, but Lori, his first serious girl friend, who was a year ahead of him, had. They'd been dating since homecoming back in October. He loved the feeling of independence that he had whenever he climbed into Lori's car and they went out for the evening.
As Paul entered the dinning room, pulling the robe a bit more closed around his neck, his mother smiled at his modesty. Typically, Paul was walking around the house in his tighty-whities, but, for last couple of weeks, when she needed his help, he was suddenly bashful.
"I just need to pin the hem on this one, honey. Then, you're off duty. Ok?"
"Ok."
"Thanks, honey. I really appreciate your help. Now, step into the gown and I'll help you get it past the petticoats."
Paused let out a frustrated sound and pulled his mother's peach colored, silky robe off of his shoulders revealing the pretty, padded, lace covered bra beneath. As he dropped the robe to a chair, the full, fluffy petticoats appeared as did his stocking feet and the simple, twoinch pumps underneath.
The image of her son dressed in this manner always brought a smile to her face. At five-foot-four inches tall, one-hundred-and-seventeen pounds, Paul was even a bit small for a girl of his age. It never seemed to bother him, though.
"Ok, young lady," his mother teased, eliciting an irritated grunt from her son, "step into the gown for me."
For the last two weekends, Paul had been doing this over and over and over again, but it still gave him shivers when his mother pulled the silky material onto his shoulders and zipped up the back of the Victorian-style gowns.
"Ugg," she complained, "I wish that you'd let me shave your arm pits while we're doing this. This beautiful dress, your lovely body and those hairy pits just do not go together."
"Yeah, not happening, mom. I don't understand why your making all of the bridesmaids dresses, anyway. I mean Keith is your son. Shouldn't Abby's mom be making the gowns."
"I'm doing it because I have a great deal of experience sewing dresses, you know that. Besides, Abby's parents are struggling to pay for the reception as is. Your father, God rest his soul, left us very well off and I am happy to contribute to the wedding in any way I can."
"I know, but, mom, you volunteered to make dresses for all the bridesmaids and half of my cousins. That's like twenty dresses."
"Oh, stop exaggerating," she chided as she straightened the gown on his shoulders and over the petticoats, "it's only twelve dresses and you only have to help me with eight. And, believe me, I am grateful to have your help. That's why I'm going to pay for your Driver's Ed classes so you can get your learner's permit. That's our deal, so, no more complaining. Now, step up onto the platform so I can pin up the hem."
She held out her hand to support Paul, while he used his other hand to hold up the skirts and petticoats to maneuver himself up the step and onto the sixteen-inch high, carpeted box that his mother had asked a neighbor to make for her.
Just as she knelt to begin her work, her cell phone rang in the kitchen. "Oh, for crying out loud," she complained as she stood again and headed to the other room. "That damned phone is a curse."
"Hello?" Paul could hear his mom a room away. "Yes, this is Lilly Rooney. Oh, yes, thank you for calling back. I need to reserve the hall for a wedding rehearsal dinner in June..."
He sighed. This would take awhile. Stuck on the platform as he was, there wasn't much he could do except stand there.
He brushed his hands across the skirt of the dress. It sure felt different than brushing the front of a pair of pants. It was soft and smooth, but still somewhat stiff. Elegant in a way that he could not imagine men's clothing ever being. He felt awkward and strange in any of the dresses that his mom was making, but after wearing the panties, petticoats, stockings, shoes, bra and his mom's robe for the last six hours, he was getting used to the sensations and there were aspects of his ordeal that he actually enjoyed.
He ran his hands over the breasts that his padded bra created and he felt even weirder. It was like touching Lori's breasts, but not. They were on HIM and as the day had progressed and even the bra had become comfortable and second nature, he was kind of enjoying having breasts of his own.
It was weird.
When this all began two weeks ago. Then, it was just, "Paulie, I just need you to try on this part of the dress. You're the same size as Mary and several of the other girls, and I have to make sure it's right. I don't have time to keep changing the dress form..."
Last week, it was, "I bought some more undergarments that will shape you more like Betsy, but I'll pay for your Driver's Ed if you give me a few hours each weekend till I'm done..."
Today was actually Friday, but Paul had the day off from school so the teachers could all attend a system-wide meeting, his mom had cleared her schedule so she could get an extra day of sewing in. 'Lucky me,' Paul had thought. He figured that the day would be a big pain in the butt of sitting around in a bra, but instead, his mom had presented him with the shoes and petticoats. The stockings were added because the shoes didn't fit quite right without them. By the time his mom had gotten him into everything she said that it would just be easier for him to just keep everything on as she worked.
She gave him her long, silk robe to cover himself. It was comfortable enough, but it smelled like his mom's body wash, makeup and hairspray.
It was weird, too, but things normalized as the day went on and he got used to it.
His mother stayed in the kitchen talking on the phone.
Still bored and trapped on his pedestal, he fluffed the skirts and watched them settle. He caught a glimpse of himself in the darkened glass of the China cabinet that was on the wall to his left. Huh. He really did look like a girl from the neck down.
He reached up and pulled the hair tie from the man-bun that he wore on top of his head and he shook his hair free. Typically, it was always in a bun unless he was washing it. When freed, it fell to just below his collar, only the dress had no collar, so it tickled his upper back as it settled. He used his hands to comb it out and shook it to have it fall more naturally and he looked at himself in the China cabinet glass. Huh. A very plain girl looked back at him.
He played with the skirts a little more and watched the girl in his reflection. Huh.
He didn't look all that bad.
It was weirder and weirder and the fact that he felt his penis growing in his panties was also weird and a little disturbing.
He wondered what it would feel like to go whole hog and try some makeup and maybe even have his ears pierced and his hair done. That would feel nice, right? Maybe have his nails done nicely. That looked very relaxing. Maybe...
"Ahem," his mother fake-coughed from the doorway as she watched her son flouncing his skirts with his hair down.
Paul froze and his face reddened.
His mom laughed and crossed the room to him as she picked up her pincushion and began working on the hem. "Don't worry, honey. You're just reacting to the costume. If I'd left you standing here in a cowboy outfit, I probably would have caught you playing with your six-shooters, but I left you wearing a Victorian dress, so you were playing with your dress. It's perfectly natural."
Paul breathed and relaxed as his mom worked around his feet. She was quick and nimble and soon had finished pinning the hem.
"Here," she said to Paul, "take my hand and I'll help you down."
Once he was on the floor, she fussed with the shoulders of the dress and assessed her son. Paul was very bright and had lots of friends - although most of them were girls. He was never going to be tall, broad and handsome like his father had been or his brother was. Keith, who was ten years older than Paul and had been taking care of himself for nearly a decade, now, was nearly six-foot-three inches tall and was the spit and image of his father. Paul was frail and delicate and was, she had just realized, the spit and image of her own mother.
She laughed gently at that realization as she played with his hair.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing," she smiled at the boy. "I just realized how much you look like your grandmother. Come with me for a moment."
She led him to the hallway mirror and and stood beside him as they stared at what really did look like a young version of his grandmother.
"Here," his mother reached behind her neck and unclasped a small silver necklace with a blue stone hanging in a pendant. She came behind him and connected the clasp behind him, then adjusted his hair as she looked over his shoulder. "That was your grandma's. Isn't it lovely?"
Paul looked at the pendent which made his already feminine looking bosom even more so. He began to feel flushed - a little excited and very scared by his reflection and the fact that he felt excited at all.
Lilly watched her son and wondered what he was thinking. Eighteen and still so small. Keith was already over six feet tall at this age. Keith's teenaged years were consumed by sports, Boy Scouts, girls and cars. He was strong and independent and off on his own before he was out of high school. Paul was more interested books, drama club, art class and movies. Keith was her big guy. Paul was just... her baby.
"Do you like the way you look, honey?"
Paul shook off his reverie. "Mom, I need to go shower. Lori will be here in fifteen minutes. Can you help me get changed?"
"Sure." She smiled at his behavior as she lead him up the stairs to the master bathroom off of her bedroom. "Use the walk-in shower in my bathroom. It'll be easier than the tub in yours."
She pulled down the delicate zipper in the back of the dress and lowered it to the floor for him. He stepped out of it and she stepped into the bedroom to lay it carefully on her bed. When she returned, she had him turn and she undid the waist of his petticoats. Again he stepped out and again she laid it on the bed.
When she returned, he had taken off his shoes and he was struggling with the rear hooks and eyes on his bra.
"Here, I'll get that, sweetheart."
"Thanks, mom."
Lilly smiled, "That's ok, baby. Girls need help with things like this. That's why mothers and daughters stay so close."
Paul blushed a bit deeper and let his mom take off the bra and she helped him with his stockings.
"I think you can handle the panties by yourself, though, can't you?" she asked.
"Yeah, mom. Thanks."
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"Shoot, mom, it's Lori. She's early and I'm not ready."
"Don't worry, honey. You just take your shower and I'll entertain Lori." His mother turned him towards the shower and patted his pantied bottom. "Go on, now. Be quick."
As he showered he noticed three things.
First, his grandmother's pendant still hung from his neck. He tried to open the latch, but couldn't quite do it. Oh, well, he'd deal with it later
Second, he noticed that, after wearing a bra for six hours, his chest seemed to have an outline of the bra imprinted on him, giving him a hint of breasts. He didn't know quite what to make of that, but time was running short, he'd just have to see if the outline faded on its own.
Third, his mother's soaps and shampoos were all floral scented. Oh, so what. The smell would fade in a few minutes. He didn't have time to run down to his tub. Besides, he was already soaking wet.
He showered and dried himself quickly. Then, naked, of course, he tiptoed to his room. He could hear Lori and his mom talking downstairs.
"Oh, Mrs Rooney, it's beautiful!" Lori was gushing. "You are such a talented woman..."
Paul ducked into his room and dashed to the closet where he grabbed a pair of chinos and a checked, button-down shirt. He threw them on his bed, then grabbed a pair of socks and a tee shirt from his drawers. As he searched for a pair of underpants, he found nothing but an empty drawer.
"Shit," whispered as he went to the door to call down for his mother to look for a clean pair in the laundry room.
When he reached the railing he could, once again, hear Lori and his mother talking. "Oh, I love how deep the color is. It just shines. I can't believe you found something this elegant in a fabric store..."
"Damn," he whispered, again and ran to the hamper in his bathroom.
Empty. Mom must have put the laundry in the washer this morning.
The only solution was to go commando, or...
On top of his dresser was a package of panties his mother had bought for him to wear when he was acting as her dress model. He'd worn the white ones earlier today, but there were five other colors in there. What the heck, they were only cotton panties. No big deal, right?
The only solid color pair remaining was pink, so he grabbed a purple and white pair and pulled them up his legs, careful position his moderately sized penis correctly where a pouch should have been.
There. Problem solved.
He grabbed his other clothes and threw them on, wrapped his wet, floral-scented hair up into a bun and ran downstairs to Lori and his mom.
"Hey, babe," Lori smiled as he entered. "Your mom was showing me the material she picked up for my prom dress. Have you seen it?"
Paul said that he had and he knew that she'd like it.
Lori was wearing her favorite cowgirl boots tonight. They were red and had a very high heel. Paul loved the way the she looked in them, but didn't like her wearing them on dates. She was three and a half inches taller than him in bare feet. With the heels, she was five or six inches taller. They did make her butt look good, though!
After a moment of conversation about the material, Paul tried to usher Lori out the door quickly so that he could be alone with her.
"Paul Anthony Rooney," his mother's voice stopped him in his tracks. If she was using his middle name, he was in some kind of trouble, but he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what he'd done.
"What did I do?"
"It's what you didn't do," his mother's scolding voice was cartoonish enough for him to know that he wasn't in any serious trouble.
"Look at this beautiful young woman who you are accompanying tonight. She took the time to look perfect from head to toe before driving over here to pick you up and you're headed out the door with wet hair wrapped up into a ratty bun."
Paul looked from his mother to his smiling girlfriend who raised her eyebrows and said, "She's right. Your hair is kind of stringy and wet right now."
"Oh, for crying out loud," he sighed. "You both know that I let it dry for a while, then redo my bun."
"Not good enough," his mother scolded. "By the time you get to The Dairy Bar, your hair will still be wet. It'll look terrible for hours. Now, upstairs with you and dry it with my blow dryer."
"Mom," he laughed, "I think that the last time that my hair was dried by a hair dryer was four or five years ago when we were late for Aunt July's wedding. I don't even know how to use it. Besides, we're running late. It'll dry."
He took Lori by the arm, but she shook him off with a big, conspiratorial smile. "Oh, we're not in THAT big of a hurry and I'd kind of like your hair to look nicer than it does. You know, your mom is right. I took the time to look nice for you - you should do the same for me."
Paul shook his head. "Come on, mom... Lori... like I said, I don't even know how to use a blow dryer..."
"No, problem," his mother cut him off, "we'll teach you. Come on, Lori, let's go to my bathroom and we'll teach my son how to make himself presentable."
Despite his protests, he was led upstairs to his mother's room and into the lavatory where he was told to sit on the toilet seat and let his hair out so that it could be dried.
As his mother plugged in the drier and took out a large, round brush, Lori spotted the bridesmaid's dress on the bed and said, "Oh, Mrs. Rooney, this is gorgeous! Is this for the wedding?"
Lilly peeked out of the lavatory and smiled at Lori as she held up the dress. She smiled at the younger woman's romantic reaction to the elaborate garment. "It is, dear. I just pinned the hem. Isn't it coming well? I still need to add all of the lace, and there's a lot of it on each dress, and there is a decorative flower pattern fits right at the bottom of the bust line. They will be beautiful when I'm done."
"Oh, and what a beautiful petticoat. Oh, I hope that my wedding will be this beautiful."
"It will, dear, I'm sure. Come on in here so we can talk while I deal with this mop of hair that you're dating."
As Lilly went to work on her son, Lori asked questions about the colors that the bridesmaids were wearing and the venue where it would all take place. The hair dryer was loud and hot, so Paul only caught snippets of the conversation.
"Honestly," his mom said with sincere feeling, "if I didn't have to work for a living, I would have loved to have made the bridal gown, too, but that's a pretty huge job and I never did anything like that, before."
'Thank God she's not making the bridal gown!' Paul thought as his hair was pulled so hard that he thought that it might get pulled out.
"Well," his mother smiled as the dryer whirred to a stop, "that came out better than I expected."
"Yeah," Lori agreed. "You look great, babe! Leave it down, tonight. I like it."
Paul turned and looked in the mirror, surprised by what he saw. Typically, he just pulled his hair back and wound it into a bun. This time, though, there was a neat part down the middle and his hair looked healthy and hung nicely around his face and neck. It even looked just a little lighter due to being fluffed the way that it was.
"Wow. I look so different."
"Do you like it, because I really like it!" Lori was beaming.
"I guess... Sure, I like it, fine." Paul was very surprised that it looked so good. He never really looked all that good - just, kinda artsy.
"Wait, just a minute." Lilly had an idea. "Let me show you something amazing."
She ran to her bureau and pulled out a photo album, thumbing through to find a specific picture.
"Here, look at this! Isn't it uncanny!?"
Paul and Lori looked at the picture and, truly, it was uncanny! The person in the black and white picture was wearing a checked, button-down shirt and tan pants, very similar to Paul's. The person also sported a very similar haircut and, and this was the uncanny part, the image had Paul's face! If it were not for the feminine smile, light makeup and obvious breasts beneath the shirt, even Paul would have sworn that it was a picture of him.
"Oh, my God!" Lori whispered. "Who is that?"
"That's my mother," Lilly beamed! "Just a few minutes ago, when I was helping Paulie take off.... Well, never mind that.... Anyway, I just said to Paulie that he was the spit and image of my mother, but this is getting a little freaky!"
For his part, Paul was relieved that his mother had not blurted out anything about him wearing a dress, but he was bewildered by the picture.
"Wow," Lori put her arm around his shoulder and shook him
affectionately, "your grandma was a babe and you look just like her! How cool is that, babe!?"
Paul wasn't sure how 'cool' it was, but it was a strange turn of events. He loved his grandmother and always enjoyed it when she was with them, but this was downright odd. They looked identical.
"Isn't it amazing, honey?" Lilly was truly thrilled by the likeness. "And you know what's even stranger, Lori? This is the house that my mother grew up in. We bought it when my grandfather passed away. The room that Paulie sleeps in, now, is the same room that his grandma used to sleep in when she was his age."
"Wow!" Lori laughed. "If your grandma weren't still alive, I'd swear that you were her reincarnated!"
"Yeah... haha..." Paul was getting concerned about all of these coincidences. It was as if life was making him feel inadequate as a guy. He was ok with being on the short side - usually - but having been in petticoats all day, then Lori wear those damned spectator boots so he felt tiny and now this! His sense of masculinity was waning.
"When was this picture taken, Mrs Rooney?"
Lilly took the picture out and look at the back of it. "Let's see that was fifty-five years ago and mom is seventy three, now so..."
"Oh, my God, babe!" Lori shrieked. "She was eighteen - the same age as you!!! You really are twins! Nearly identical!"
Paul had had enough of this talk. "Alright! Alright! It's a pretty weird coincidence, but that's all it is - a coincidence. So, what? I look like
my grandma? Big deal. Lots of kids look like their grandparents. I think we've talked about this enough. Come on, Lori, let's go to The Dairy Bar
and have some dinner. I'm starving."
"Ok, babe. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tease, but you have to admit... it is pretty amazing."
"Ok, you two," Lilly laughed as Paul pulled his girlfriend towards the door, petulantly. "Be good! Be careful! Come home safely!"
"Good bye, Mrs Rooney! See you later!" Lori hollered back as the door closed, maybe just a little too forcefully, behind the two teenagers.
The Dairy Bar was crowded, as it usually was on a Friday evening. Since most sophomores, like Paul, couldn't drive yet, at least not without an adult, most of the kids were seniors. Paul was one of the few boys with an older girlfriend, but there were a few sophomore and junior girls there who were dating older boys.
Lori found a spot right by the front door. They got out and went in to place their standard order -two burgers, one small fries to split, a coke for Lori and an iced tea for Paul, with a malted chocolate milk shake to share for dessert. They greeted those kids with whom they were familiar and he chatted with a group of girls about an AP English Lit project that was due on Monday before getting in line at the counter.
"$23.88, please," the cashier said.
Paul reached for his wallet and felt just an empty pocket. 'Shit,' he thought as he realized that in his rush to get out of the house, he'd left his wallet on his bureau.
Lori saw his panic and stepped forward, opened her purse and pulled out $30.00. "Here you go," she said as she handed the cashier the bills. "Keep the change."
She smiled at her diminutive boyfriend as she threw her arm around his shoulder, "Pretty smooth way of not paying the bill, stud."
"I'm sorry, Lori. I guess I was in such a rush that..."
"Lori! Rooney! Over here!" It was Lori's friend, Beth. Until they started dating, Paul had never seen Lori without Beth. She always called Paul "Rooney" for some reason. He didn't mind. It sounded kind of tough.
"Wow, Rooney! Your hair looks cool tonight! New look for you?" Beth asked as they took their seats.
Paul smirked and shrugged as Lori grinned. "It's cute, right? I like it better than his boy-bun."
"It is cute, Rooney." Suddenly, Beth reached across the table and reached into Paul's shirt. "Hey, what's that?"
Paul saw the pendent in Beth's hand and he nearly died. He'd forgotten to take it off! How could he have been so stupid!?
"Aww, that's really pretty, babe," Lori was admiring the jewelry. "Where did you get that?"
"Umm... well, it was my grandmother's and she gave it to my mother and... well, earlier today my mom got it into her head that I looked like... well, she usually wears it, but she put it on me as a gag and..."
Lori laughed. "Oh, Beth, you wouldn't believe it, but when Paulie and I were getting ready to leave, well, his hair was all wet and his mother wouldn't let him leave until his hair was dry, so she..."
Paul melted into his chair as Lori brought Beth up to speed on the Paul/grandmother story.
Mercifully, the loudspeaker announced their number and Paul jumped up to get the food. When he returned, the girls were giggling and Paul was sure that it was directed at him until he realized that they were watching a couple of little kids who were playing outside the window. The conversation for the evening never returned to Paul's jewelry or his grandmother.
At 9:30, they pulled out and went for a ride along the coast until they came to an inlet with a parking lot. They sat, Paul moved over and nestled in the crook of Lori's arm, and looked at the water and chatted for a while until Lori pulled him close and planted a long, luxurious kiss on his lips. He smiled as they parted and Lori immediately leaned in again and this time her tongue plunged deeply into Paul's surprised mouth. He accepted her tongue as deeply as he could as his hand caressed the side of her breast.
Lori pulled Paul as close as the stick shift between them would allow. Her tongue searched deeper and deeper into his throat and he slipped his hand inside her bra, releasing her left breast from its bondage.
Soon, he was suckling on her nipple, tenderly biting it with his lips and teeth and she moaned in delight.
Soon, her left hand had undone the button on his chinos and her hand was caressing his organ through the soft cotton of his underpants. They had ended their dates this way several times and both loved to play with the other in this way.
As his penis became more turgid, she searched for the 'Y' front of his briefs to pull his member free, but she could not find the opening. As her hand went to slip beneath the waistband of his underwear, she noticed a difference. The band was smaller and gave way more freely and... what was that... was there lace around the elastic. What the hell was this!?
Suddenly, Lori stopped and pulled away from Paul.
"What?" he asked, confused and frustrated.
"Sit back by the door for a minute."
Paul did as he was told and Lori turned on the dome light.
"What's the matter?" Paul was concerned. Had he bitten her when he meant to nibble? What?
"Pull down your pants for me."
"Ok," Paul said as he started to comply, then realized why she'd stopped. "Umm... I can't."
"Why not?"
He remained silent and tried to think of something to say.
"Are you wearing panties, Paulie?" Her face was passive, well, maybe a little curious, but not angry.
"It's not what you think... I was just in a big rush and... all of my underwear was in the laundry, so..."
A smile crept across Lori's face. "Let me see them."
He pulled down his pants, revealing the purple and white stripped, obviously feminine, panties. He had not even noticed, until that moment, that there was a band of white lace around the waist and leg holes. Could this night get any more embarrassing?
"Cute," Lori grinned broadly. "I like it. Take off your shirt for me."
Paul did as he was told and soon he was sitting in the passenger seat of Lori's car in just a pair of panties and a pretty pendant.
"Hmmm...." She hummed. "I like this look. Is there anything you want to tell me?"
"I'd rather not," Paul answered honestly.
"What are these marks?" She ran her hands along the traces of the bra straps and band that still remained. "Looks like a bra. I think you need to be honest with me, Paulie. Are you a transvestite or a transsexual or something? I mean, I'll love you regardless, but I need to know."
Paul broke down and told her how he'd been helping his mom with something private, leaving out the most embarrassing details about the petticoats and how pretty he thought he looked in the dress. He said that it wasn't what it looked like and he swore that it wasn't anything weird - he was just helping his mother.
When he was done, Lori told him how impressed she was that he'd help out his mom like he did, but her gaze remained focused on Paul's panties.
She leaned over and reached into his waistband, grabbed his equipment and pushed it down between his legs. When she pulled her hand out, he was smooth where a bulge used to be.
She rubbed his smooth abdomen. "That's better. If you wear panties, they should look pretty. Your wiener messes up the front. I like it better this way."
"You're not mad?"
"Mad? No. I think it's sexy. Tell you what - if you wear panties for me again tomorrow, I'll make it worth your while. How would you like to have your first BJ?"
He smiled. "I'd like that."
"Then wear your prettiest panties for me and make sure that the front of your panties are smooth and pretty for me. Ok?"
Paul was very flushed. He was so enthralled by the idea of an actual blowjob that the strangeness of the request didn't even register with him. "Ok. I'll wear panties for you."
"Nice" her smile grew wider. "Let's get you home."
Saturday morning began with a nice breakfast with his mom. Turkey-Bacon with eggs and fresh fruit before Lilly suggested that Paul take a shower before she got him ready to hem another dress or two.
"Use my shower, honey, and use the conditioner after you shampoo. Just follow the instructions on the bottle."
Paul enjoyed the warm water and the massage feature of his mom's shower. He'd been in the shower for about fifteen minutes and was rinsing after his second application of conditioner out of his hair when he heard his mother enter the bathroom.
"Paulie, honey, I need to open the shower door. Turn your back to me if you want."
He did and Lilly opened the shower door. "Here, honey, cover yourself with this," she handed him a face cloth. "Now, hold up your arm for me."
"Mom, no!"
"Paulie, yes. I can't put those beautiful dresses on you with that ugly underarm hair sticking out at me. It'll grow back. Don't make this into a big thing. Just let me take care of it."
Paul sighed and shook his head. "Geez, mom, this is getting to be a bit much, don't you think?"
"No, honey, I don't. I asked for your help and you agreed to it, and that involves looking good in the clothes. So, please, let's just do this and get it over with."
Reluctantly, Paul raised his arm and his mother shaved away the little tufts of hair under his arms.
"Now, face me," she directed him and she made quick work of the few hairs that populated his chest.
Then she pulled a small stool to the side of the shower and told him to put a foot in her lap so she could take care of his legs.
'What the Hell?' He figured that there was no stopping her at this point and, like she said, why make a big thing out of something that would grow back in a few weeks?
"Now, that looks much better. Now shut off the water and lean over towards me." She wrapped his head in a towel, turban style, then instructed him, "Rub some of this body oil into your skin before you get out of the shower, put on a pair of panties and my robe and meet me in the kitchen."
When he arrived in the kitchen, Lilly guided him to a chair by the counter where there was a hair dryer, a brush and various other hair care tools. She removed the turban from his head and rubbed it to dry it a bit, then placed the towel on his shoulders, like a hairdresser's cape, before grabbing a brush and starting the process of preparing his hair.
"See, the conditioner makes it much easier to run a brush through your hair. No snarls, right?"
Paul nodded. She was right. His hair was, typically, a mess of knots and snarls. The brush seemed to pass through it easily, today.
"Did anyone comment on how nice your hair looked, last night, honey?"
"There were a few comments, alright. Lori's friend, Beth, teased me a little, but most people just kind of acknowledged it and moved on. No one made a big deal out of it, either way."
"Hmm. I'm surprised," Lilly had moved to the back of her son and was looking at the ends of his hair. "It looked so much nicer than usual."
Paul shrugged, but then sat up straighter as he heard the sound of scissors closing behind him. "Mom! What are you doing?"
"Oh, just relax. I'm just taking about a half an inch off of the end of your hair to get rid of the split ends and neaten it up for you. You liked how it looked yesterday, right? Well, this will make it look even nicer."
Paul breathed a frustrated sigh. "You know, mom, I think you're losing sight of the fact that I am actually your son. Don't let the panties fool you. I still have a penis down there."
Lilly delivered a well-placed dope slap to the back of his head. "Don't be crass to me, Paulie. Listen, your hair has been driving me nuts for years and FINALLY it looked nice yesterday. Lori thought so, too. Let's build on that. As for the panties, well, we have a deal right? It won't last forever. Oh, and I noticed that you're still wearing your grandma's pendant. I think that's sweet. Why don't you keep it?"
Paul had just gotten used to it being there and forgotten to ask for help to remove it. "Actually, the only reason it's still there is because I can't work the clasp by myself. Can you take it off for me?"
"Oh. I thought you liked it. It's very pretty and grandma will happy to know that someone is wearing it. You are her favorite grandchild, you know."
"That's just because I'm the youngest."
Another dope slap. "Stop it. You know that she dotes on you. Leave it on for now. It looks pretty with the gowns. We'll talk about taking it off
later."
After the split ends were removed, Lilly went to work with the blow dryer, taking her time this time. She worked it and worked it, occasionally spraying parts of his head with water to fix mistakes. It seemed to take forever and felt like it was burning his ears and drying out his eyes.
After a shower of hairspray for "just a little hold," Paul was told to stay where he was while Lilly helped to raise the stockings up his newly shaved legs. They did feel much nicer than yesterday, he had to admit. Then his shoes were added and he stepped into the petticoat which Lilly tied tightly behind him. Finally, the bra was hooked in the back, but then, instead of putting on his mother's robe, Lilly held open a light blue, checked shirt similar to the one he'd worn last night, but this one buttoned on the other side and had darts sewn into the front to accentuate a woman's figure.
"Mom..."
"Humor me. Just let me see something."
He put on the shirt and Lilly buttoned it up for him, then stood back to take a look at him. "Wow."
"I know. I look like grandma."
"No, honey. You ARE your grandmother at eighteen. I mean, I know that I said you were the spit and image, but I am wrong. You really are your grandmother. Look in the hall mirror."
As Lilly picked up the counter, she heard a shriek from the hallway. "Mom! You... you flipped my hair under! I have grandma's actual hairdo from that photo!! Are you nuts!? I'm going out with Lori tonight! I can't go like this! Are you crazy?"
Lilly hurried to her son and rubbed his back to calm him down. "Honey, honey, honey. I just put the flip in to see how it would work. I'll comb it out before your date. Don't worry your pretty little head, you'll look fine tonight. I'm sorry. I should have asked before I did it."
He breathed again, a bit relieved.
"I'm sorry, honey. Tell you what. You can take off the shirt if you want and go play video games. I won't need you for an hour or so."
"Ok. Sorry I yelled I was just... you know... Anyway, I need to do some reading for AP Lit, so I'll be reading in the family room when you need me, ok."
"Ok, honey and I'm sorry, too."
Just shy of an hour later, Lilly walked into the family room to find Paul, still in the checked shirt with his feet curled up under the petticoats, tucked femininely into the corner of the couch with a book in his hand and cords from his earbuds hanging out of his softly flipped hair. He just made such a precious picture, that she took out her phone and took a picture of him. He never noticed.
She touched his shoulder to get his attention. "Paulie. I need you now."
"Ok, mom." He got up, managing the petticoats quite well, she noticed, put down his book and phone and followed her to the dining room.
"Here, honey. I need to do the soft rose-colored one, now. Take off your blouse and I'll help you into it."
Paul rolled his eyes at the word 'blouse' but did as he was told.
The dress went on the same way that yesterday's did. Lilly zipped up the back for him, helped him onto the platform and knelt to pin the hem.
Paul noticed that a tall mirror on a stand had been placed in the dining room about eight feet in front of his platform. There was nowhere else for him to look except at his reflection.
It wasn't so bad, though. It was very different, of course, but the dress was very pretty and it was fascinating to see how different he looked with just a few alterations. And when he thought about it, his mom was really quite an artist, making all these beautiful gowns. It was like when he molded clay, or painted. Start with nothing - end up with something amazing.
Lilly smiled as she spotted her son looking at his reflection. Paul was always a sweet, gentle boy, but all of this dressing and hair care seems to have taken that up a level. She didn't want to play games with his psyche, but she was enjoying having a 'pretend daughter' for as long as it lasted.
"You look very pretty, Paulie."
Paul shrugged nervously, but could not think of a thing to say. Finally, "I guess," came out as a whisper.
The hem was pinned, but rather than take the dress off of him immediately, Lilly stood and looked in the mirror with her son. The platform and shoes made him almost half a head taller than her. That was unusual. She raised her arm, put her it around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You know, it couldn't be possible for me to love anyone as much as I love you and Keith, but part of me always wished that I had a daughter. Thank you for indulging me. I'm really looking forward to spending the next few weekends getting to know the new, feminine person that you are when you're dressed like this. I hope you're having fun, too."
He thought back to last night and how turned on Lori was when she saw his panties. 'What is it with women wanting men in pretty clothes? And I thought I was weird!' he thought.
"I wish your grandma could see how much you look like her. She'd love it."
"Oh, I don't know," Paul chuckled. "She's a bit old-fashioned about boys and girls."
"Nonsense, I'd like to..."
Their quiet chat was interrupted by a woman's voice calling as she swung open the kitchen door, "Hi, mom! Are you here? Paulie?"
It was Keith's fiancé, Abby. As one of the family, she just entered without knocking.
"Mom...!" The panic in Paul's eyes spoke volumes .
There was nowhere to go. The kitchen was twelve feet away. She was headed into the dining room and neither of them could get to the door before Abby did.
"I brought the lace material you wanted, it was delivered... oh! I'm sorry," she spotted the woman modeling the dress and stopped yelling so loudly. "Hi, mom, here it is." She came around to the front of the pedestal and extended her right hand to the model, "Hi, I'm Abby, the bride. Thank you for helping out, the dresses are just... PAULIE!?!?!?"
Paul's entire body turned blood red as he tried to hide, but was unable to get down.
"Yes, it's Paul, but..." Lilly tried explain and calm everyone down.
"Mom, Paulie's in a dress... a gown... his hair... mom! What's all this about!?"
"Now, that's enough, just stop right there!" Lilly raised her voice to gain control. "Paul is my model - my PAID model, by the way - and he has been allowing me to have a little fun at his expense. Now, just stop the dramatics and calm down and whatever you do, don't tell his brother about this - he's only doing this because he loves you and and Keith."
"Oh," Abby sputtered. "I see. Well, umm... Paulie... thank you for your help and, mom, thank you for explaining." She evaluated her soon-to-be brother-in-law more closely and smiled. "You don't look half bad, there, Paulie. I wonder what your girlfriend would think of you."
As if on cue, another woman's voice sounded from the doorway. "Could someone explain it to me? Because I am curious as to why my boyfriend is wearing a Cinderella gown."
Paul turned on the pedestal and wished that he could just melt into the petticoats and disappear. Not only was Lori standing there with a shocked smirk on her face, Beth was there, too.
"Looking pretty good there, Rooney." Beth joked at his expense. "So, Lori, what kind of a tux are you wearing to the prom."
"Oh, shut up and leave him alone," Lori scolded her friend. "I'm sure there's an explanation for all this and, even if there's not, damn, baby, you are a hot-looking girl - and no makeup. I like the flipped hair, too."
"Alright, Alright, Alright!" Lilly took charge. "Everyone's had their fun, now, out into the kitchen with the lot of you. Let me help Paulie down and we'll be there in a moment to explain everything. Shoo, now, all of you."
They left and Lilly shut the door before helping Paul down. She hadn't noticed the tears that coated his face.
"Oh, baby, I'm sorry. I didn't think that something like that would happen. It'll be fine, you'll see."
Paul couldn't help it. When his feet were on the floor, he buried his head in his mother's shoulder, held her tightly and sobbed
uncontrollably.
"It's over, mom, it's over. She's never going to go out with me again... Lori and Beth will tell everyone... I might as well be dead, mommy. My life is over."
Lilly couldn't help but chuckle just a bit as she rubbed his back. " Oh, baby, baby. Nothing's over. We'll explain it all and everyone will laugh."
He could barely breathe, let alone talk, through the gasps and sobs. "No... I wish I was dead. My life is over."
Minutes of this fear and hysteria passed until there was a knock on the door. Lilly opened the door enough to see Lori's face.
"Can I speak to him for a few minutes, alone?" Lori asked.
Lilly nodded and opened the door wider to let the younger woman in.
"Be gentle," she whispered. "He's very upset."
Lori whispered back, "I will. Umm, can we have like fifteen minutes or so. I need to make sure that he knows that I'm fine with this."
Lori closed the door behind his mother and quietly locked it. Then she put her arms around Paul and hugged him close. He calmed down with the feel of her touch and the smell of her and her voice and her... everything. He'd honestly thought that he'd lost her. Thank God she was back.
"Oh, baby," she whispered, "why are you crying? Everything is just fine."
"I... I..." He still gasped as he tried to gain control of himself. "I thought that you'd leave me after seeing me like... this."
"Are you kidding me? As much as I loved you yesterday, I love you even more, now. Look at how cute you look."
Paul pulled back and smiled, looked at the gown he was wearing, fluffed it a bit and shrugged. "Cute is not exactly what I was going for."
Lori played with his hair for a moment. "I love this look for your hair. Was it your idea?"
"What?" Paul was incredulous. "Of course not. I showered this morning and mom wanted to trim my split ends, then dry my hair. I had no idea that she'd done this to me till I looked in the mirror. She was going to fix it before anyone saw me, but that was a giant fail, wasn't it?"
"Well, I think it's adorable on you."
She touched the exposed skin on his neck, shoulders and chest. "You're smooth, too. Did your mom shave you?"
He nodded.
"Your legs, too."
He nodded and his blush deepened.
"Really? I want to see."
She knelt and raised the skirt of the gown. "Oh, my, Oh, my," she whispered. "Look at all those pretty petticoats."
When she'd reached his legs, she said, a bit louder, "Oh, my, Oh, my. Stockings. And heels," she gave a sharp, exaggerated intake of air, buried in his petticoats, "and panties! Yay!"
Paul giggled, but when he felt her pull down his panties, he gasped for real.
When her tongue touched the tip of his penis, he was in heaven. He'd never felt anything this wonderful before and Lori had completely disappeared. He could see no trace of her beneath his voluminous gown, but he could feel her touching him. Playing with him. Kissing him. Suckling on him.
It was amazing.
He grasped the silken skirts of the gown and his head rolled back, allowing his curled hair to swing freely, femininely beneath his lolling head. His hips began to buck and his breathing began to increase in tempo. He could feel a bead of sweat run down between the cups of his bra.
His entire manhood was being consumed amidst his feminine clothing. When he thrust forward, or pulled back, he remained entirely in her mouth, but the friction created by the movement combined with the suckling of Lori's mouth and throat made everything bubble up faster and faster. He was either going to cum or pass out pretty soon.
When he came, it was powerful and violent and gentle and sweet, all at once. He let go torrents of seed into her mouth while stifling his need to scream at the top of his lungs and just let his eyes close and his mouth hang open until Lori climbed out of the tent of fabric and took him in her strong arms.
His eyes rolled as they opened and gradually focused on his girlfriend.
"Wow," he whispered.
Her smile turned to a laugh. "You're adorable. Come on, your mom is worried."
"...and then you all showed up at once. I know it seemed odd, it really was all explainable." Lilly had the photo album out on the kitchen table, opened to the picture of her mother in the checked shirt. They were all seated around the table drinking tea and laughing at the strangeness of the situation.
Paul had taken off the rose-colored gown and had put the checked shirt his mom had given that morning back on. The tailored nature of the shirt did accentuate the line of the padded bra beneath, but no one seemed to mind. Below the shirt, his petticoats exploded into a heap of femininity, but, again, no one seemed to mind.
"Well," Lori smiled, "I, for one, am glad that I got to see the 'new you' and you had better believe that I'll be back to see more of you over the next few weeks until the dresses are done."
"Actually, I'm glad you all saw Paulie, too, because I've been trying to bring up something all day and I couldn't quite get the words out."
Everyone waited for Lilly's thoughts to continue as she flipped through the album of photos. "Here, look at this photo of my mother."
She showed them a picture, this time in color, of a young woman, who looked remarkably like Paul, wearing a knee length, scooped collared, three-quarter length sleeved, lace covered, white dress standing in front of a flowering bush that was still very much alive in their own back yard.
"Aww, she looks so young and beautiful there," Abby gazed at the picture. The timelessly elegant dress made the young woman look more mature, but still virginal and nearly goddess-like. "When was this taken?"
"See, that's the thing. After Paulie left last night, I took out this album and looked all these pictures of my mom. This was taken fifty-five years ago next Saturday when mom went to her debutant debut at the country club. All the eighteen-year-old daughters of the members would dress up and be 'presented' as women for the first time. It used to be a big deal."
"Huh," grunted Beth.
"Yeah," Lori continued her thought for her, "sounds pretty primitive to me. 'Here's my daughter. She's ready for a mate. Come get her.' You know what I mean."
They all chuckled at that and Lilly said, "I do, but it was pretty common for affluent families back then to have their daughters participate in these events. The newspapers took their pictures and wrote about them. It was a big deal."
"She looks happy in the picture," Paul was more taken by the joy on his grandmother's face than anything else. She still smiled like that when the family was all together.
"She was. She talks about this night a lot. She met my dad that night. They danced, they laughed, they fell in love, and they got married five years later when Dad finished college. It truly was her first night of womanhood."
There was a general sigh of approval for the romance of the evening from the women and Paul.
"Which brings me to my idea..." Lilly's smile was Cheshire in nature. She had something big planned.
"See, I have that dress in storage. It was here when we moved in, so I brought it to the cleaners and had them store it correctly in case I ever had a daughter who may fit into it and... well, now, I kind of do... and, since next weekend is the fifty-fifth anniversary of her debutant debut, it seems like it would be the perfect time to recreate this picture for mom."
"Mom..." Knowing his mother, Paul was already wary of where this was headed, but Lori cut off his objection.
"Oh, what a great idea!!! You could have Paul dress exactly like your mom was, hair, makeup, jewelry, everything, and retake the photo by the bush in the backyard! I love it!"
"That's it, exactly!" Lilly beamed at the enthusiasm from Paul's girlfriend.
"Mom..."
"Oh, mom," Abby cut him off this time, "grandma would adore that, I'm sure of it. What a great idea!"
"Mom, I don't know if grandma would appreciate her grandson all dolled up in her old clothes."
"Oh, don't be a stick in the mud, babe," Lori dismissed his concerns as she looked more closely at the photo. "He'll need an older shade of red for his lipstick and these pearl earrings are pretty distinctive. We'll have to find something similar."
"No, no, I have those in my jewelry box. Mom gave them to me on my wedding day. They are for pierced ears, though..." Lilly threw in, but Abby came to the rescue.
"They sell adaptors for unpierced ears..."
"... or he could just get his pierced..." Beth offered.
Paul felt as if he was in the midst of a tornado with words that seemed intent on destroying him swirling around him. Every 'but,' 'maybe' or 'I don't think' disappeared in the storm of women's voices.
Finally, Lilly, looked at Paul and smiled. She was thrilled by the amount of support coming from the women in the room. "So, Paulie, what do you think? Will you do this one more little thing for your mom and your grandma?"
"And for me, too, babe," Lori took his hand in hers and held it tightly. "It's going to be so much fun."
"You're already doing so much for me, Paulie," Abby smiled, "helping out with all the bridesmaids' dresses and all, but knowing grandma the way that I do, I know that she'd adore a picture of her grand-baby, as she calls you, paying tribute to her like this."
Beth was uncharacteristically quiet as the final arguments went around the table.
How about you, Beth? What do you think?" Paul asked.
"I think you should do it, Rooney. Not for any particular reason, I just want to help dress you up."
That brought laughter from the others.
"I don't know, mom. I mean, I'd have to go out of the house and all... I'd feel kind of stupid, you know?"
"No, I don't know, Paulie. What's stupid about doing something nice for your grandmother. She does nice things for you all the time."
"Do it, babe" Lori said, then squeezed his hand to get him to look at her. She nodded her encouragement. She winked and smiled sexily. "Come on, babe, do it."
Paul breathed a heavy sigh. "Ok, I'll do it, but you'd better make me look like a real girl. I don't want to look like a joke when we take the picture."
They all applauded him.
"Welcome to The Girls' Club, Rooney," Beth teased. "You've got a big week ahead of you!"
After lunch, Paul went back to his book and Music, hoping to keep his mind off of the week ahead. Part of him was scared to wear the clothes and part of him was excited. The biggest problem was the fact that he was excited scared him more than wearing the dress.
Lilly went back to preparing another dress.
Abby went off for a bridal gown fitting.
Beth and Lori went to the dry cleaners to get grandma's dress and do some other shopping. Their playful offer for Paul to join them was treated with a sarcastic, "No, thank you," from Paul.
By the time dinner had rolled around, Paul had been a dress form three more times and had finished his AP Lit homework. Still wearing the checked shirt and petticoats, Paul joined his mom at the table at 5:30 for a typical Saturday evening meal - tuna sandwiches and fruit salad.
"So, what are you and Lori doing tonight, honey," Lilly made small talk.
He shrugged and finished his mouthful of food. "I don't know. I think we're hanging out here and watching some Netflix or a dvd. Is that ok?"
"Sure. You know that Lori is always welcome here. I have to go over to Keith and Abby's for a few hours, though. I'm getting together with Abby's parents to go over things for the wedding. You guys will be ok alone here, won't you?"
Paul nodded.
"Now, be careful and behave yourselves while I'm gone. No alcohol, drugs or sex, right?"
It was a usual warning from his mother and he chuckled. It was kind of her fault that he'd gotten his first blowjob earlier today and now she was telling him 'no sex.' Well, that was as far as things had ever gotten anyway. Probably no harm in that, so he kidded his mom back, "Don't worry mom. I won't make you a grandmother for a long time, yet."
"Good," She kidded back, "because I'd have a heck of a time explaining how you got pregnant."
"Hey! That's not funny!" He waved her off with a gesture that was decidedly more girlish than usual. Lilly wondered if he was teasing, but decided it was better not to ask.
"Anyway," Paul continued, "Lori will be over in about an hour and a half, so, after supper, if you wouldn't mind helping me to get changed and maybe straighten my hair before she gets here, I'd really..."
"Knock, Knock!" Lori called in through the screen door, then she pulled it open and came right in. She was carrying several shopping bags and a garment bag with the name of the local dry cleaners' printed on it.
"Lori!" Paul accepted a kiss on his cheek. "You're early."
"I know, but I had all of this stuff and, to tell you the truth, I wanted to get here before you had a chance to get changed. I'm hoping that we might have a little fun with some things that I bought for you."
Paul's mouth hung open as his mother took the garment bag and said, "Oh, how sweet! I wish I could stay to see what you got, but I need to get to Keith's. Here, let me take the garment bag, I'm dying to see the dress. Paulie, will you clear the table for me, dear?"
She pulled the garment bag to the side and looked at the dress, which looked as if it had just been stored away yesterday. The material was bright and clean and freshly pressed. “Oh,” Lilly put one hand to her heart as she looked at the beautiful dress. “It’s just perfect! Oh, I wish we had time to have you try it on now, Paulie, but I have to get going. Tomorrow, I’ll see if I can find a shorter petticoat to go with this and I’ll check all the seams to be sure that the thread is still strong before you put it on. Oh! I’m so excited!”
She skipped into the dining room with the dress and hung it up before heading upstairs to get ready to leave.
Paul stood to carry dishes to the sink, but Lori stopped him. “Come here, beautiful. I want a kiss from my girly little guy.”
He laughed as she planted a kiss on his lips, but when they broke the kiss he said, “Hey, lay off the ‘girly’ stuff, ok. This is weird enough.”
“Oh, you’re right. I’m sorry. I’m looking at my boyfriend while he’s wearing panties, petticoats, stockings a bra, high heels and a pretty little blouse, his hair is flipped up like that girl on an old TV show and he’s got a pretty little necklace hanging in his cleavage. Why would I ever call him girly. I’m sorry.”
They laughed at that and she kissed him again. “I have to do the dishes, then, if you want, we could watch some Netflix.”
“Ok, honey, do the dishes, but I don’t foresee a lot of Netflix in our future. I do foresee a lot of silk and lace, though, so hurry up.” She swatted his pantied and petticoated butt as he walked away with his hands full.
“Don’t be so fresh,”he called back to her.
“Oh, you two,” Lilly said as she reentered the kitchen in a rush. “Now, look, I’m serious, you too are pretty frisky right now, but I’m warning you both – behave yourselves while I’m at Keith’s. We’re all having a good time and all, but I don’t want to have to be the bad guy and ruin all the fun. You both know how far ‘too far’ is, so stay away from that and be good.”
“Don’t worry, mom. We’ll be fine.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs Rooney. He’ll still be in his bra and panties when you return.”
“See that he is,” Lilly said with mock seriousness, but the kids knew that she really did expect them to behave. Heavy petting was ok, but that was it. If she knew about this morning’s blowjob, there’d be hell to pay.
“Bye, sweetheart,” she leaned in and kissed Paul’s cheek, careful not to let the dish water splash her, “love you.”
“Love you to mom. Drive safely”
And they were alone.
“Look at what I bought!” Lori squealed with delight. Out of the first bag she pulled several pretty, silky panties with lace panels on the front and sides. There were six of them. Then she pulled out a matching bra for each pair of panties. Each was as pretty and silky as its partnered panties.
She had shown him her shopping hauls before and those had included bras and panties before, but never so many at once.
“Aren’t they pretty?” She was delighted with them.
“Beautiful. I can’t wait to see you in them.”
She laughed, taken aback by this thickheadedness. “They aren’t for me, silly. They’re way too small for me. They’re for you.”
“For me!? Why would you buy me six bra and panty sets? I’m only dressing on the weekends and mom bought me plenty of panties. We have a washer and dryer, you know.”
“Correction, sweetheart,” Lori reached down and flounced his petticoats as she spoke, “you WERE only dressing on the weekends because it was all a big secret, but now that the secret is out, I want you to be pretty a lot more than just on the weekends. We’re just getting your wardrobe started, girlfriend, and by the time we’re done, you are going to be the cutest girl in town, I promise.”
“You don’t mean, like full time, do you? Like to school and stuff?”
“Not at first, babe, but, trust me, once you start to feel little and cute and feminine and SEXY, you’re going to want to feel it more and more and more and more.”
“But, Lori... I agreed to do this to help out and I’m glad that it didn’t freak you out, but you’re kinda freaking me out right now. I don’t want to be a girl. I want to be a guy and be with you.”
“Oh, don’t worry, baby,” she kissed him and fondled him through his blouse and padded bra, “you’ll always be my guy no matter how you dress, but you agreed to the photo thing on Saturday, so you’re going to need to be able to leave the house to prepare for that and it will be a lot easier for you to have your hair and nails done if you look like a girl, right. That’s at least a few evenings out this week. We’ll go someplace out of town where no one will know you, ok? Hmm, we should talk about your eyebrows a little, too.”
“Hey! My eyebrows are fine as is, thank you very much. Now, I agreed to do this for grandma and if that requires dressing a bit more convincingly than I’d like, then so be it, but that’s it. After Saturday, I go back to just weekends until the bridesmaids’ dresses are done.”
“And your cousins’ dresses, too,” Lori pulled him into a tight hug. She guided his arms up behind her neck and she started humming and swaying him from side to side. She liked how he felt, soft and curvy. The modest heels made him a tad taller, but they also seemed to elongate and thin him out a bit more than usual. His rump stuck out more than usual, too, and that’s where she rested her hands. The petticoats felt delicious.
For his part, Paul found the feel of the petticoats swaying around his legs distracting and exciting. “What, do you mean?” He asked.
“You said till the bridesmaids’ dresses are done, but your mom said that she needed you for some of you cousins dresses, too, so...”
“Ok, ok, you know what I meant.” He rested his head on her shoulder and listened to her humming while she guided him around the kitchen floor.
She kissed his neck as she hummed.
He loved it.
She was in charge. She could do whatever she wanted as long as she kept doing this with him forever.
“Tell me you love me,” she whispered and then resumed kissing his neck.
“I love you.” He whispered back.
“Tell me I’m beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful,” he giggled as she nibbled his ear.
They swayed some more and the soft layers of the petticoat tickled his legs.
“Now tell me that you don’t like how you feel when you’re dressed like this.” She looked him directly in his eyes.
He grinned and turned away.
“Come on, you pretty little thing. Tell me that you don’t like how you feel when you’re dressed like this.”
He heaved a heavy sigh. “Ok. I do, actually, like the way I feel when I’m dressed like this. It’s all so soft and... delicate. I just feels kinda nice.”
Lori smirked. “See, I told you, so. Come on, let’s have some fun.”
She began by untying the back of his petticoats and letting him step out of them, then she handed him a pair of the panties that she’d shown him.
The pair she chose were purple with a lace panel in the front and a narrow lace panel on each side.
“I got you briefs, rather than bikinis so that your willy won’t poke out. Aren’t they pretty?”
Paul looked at the elaborately laced item and could not deny that they were pretty – beautiful even, but when he touched them, they gave him shivers. They were cool and soft and silky. Now, he had seen some of Lori’s panties, before – never while she was actually wearing them because, she pointed out, correctly, that it was ok to fool around with his privates, but fooling around with hers could lead to consequences – but her panties always seem cute and kind of playful. These were down right beautiful. They were they kind of panties he looked up on sites like Victoria’s Secret when he needed a little erotic inspiration at night.
“Go ahead,” Lori thought that his hesitance was adorable, “put them on. They won’t bite.”
“Ok.” He moved to go into the bathroom, but Lori was in his way and didn’t move. “I need to go in the bathroom to change.”
“Why?”
“Why!?” That seemed like an odd question to Paul.
“Yeah,” Lori scrunched her face in confusion, “why? I mean, a few hours ago, I was nose to nose with your willy. I know what your dinky looks like, babe, and, frankly, I like it. Just get changed here in case you need help getting them over your heels.”
‘What the heck,’ he figured and he slide his colorful, cotton panties to the floor and slipped them past his heels fairly gracefully.
Lori took in the vision before her. Paul was small and slender. The modest heel gave him some kind of fanny. His hips seemed a bit androgynous and his shaved legs, with their stay-up, nude stockings looked sexy and inviting. He could use a little trimming in the ‘bush’ area, but that could be dealt with easily enough at some point. Except for the rapidly stiffening penis, his lower half looked like a slightly late- blooming eighteen-year-old girl’s body. His still-clothed torso was still sporting a blouse, but the padded bra gave him some nice curves there, too. His face, which had never appeared to be overtly feminine to her before today, looked soft and sweet and virginal. His strawberry blonde hair flipped up at the bottom and his gorgeous blue eyes, a feature she had always envied, looked, suddenly, girlish and timid. Maybe just a little thinning of the eyebrows and some tasteful makeup, but nothing more was needed to make him pretty enough to break any boy’s hearts if he wanted to. He was just so... cute.
“Um,” Paul’s voice got her attention. “I have a little problem.”
Lori followed his eyes to his new panties where a tent stood straight out in front. She laughed causing him to blush the sweetest shade of pink.
“You like them, I see.”
“Come on, Lori, you knew what this would do to me – to any guy. You bought the silkiest and frilliest panties you could find on purpose.”
“Well, maybe I did,” she grinned, “but so what? I want my boyfriend to be the prettiest girl in town. Just tuck it between your legs.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, I have a problem. I can’t get it to tuck. It’s too stiff.”
That made his girlfriend break out in a sincere, belly laugh. “Well, then take care of it so that we can try on some of the clothes I got you.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“You know... take care of it. Do what you have to do.”
“Are you nuts? I’m not going to jerk myself right here in front of you.”
“Why not?”
“Why not!? Because... Because... Lori, I couldn’t. Not in FRONT of you – or even while you waited for me. I just... couldn’t do it.”
She heaved a huge, theatrical sigh, took his hand and said, “Fine, I’ll help you,” as she led him to the bathroom, positioned him in front of the toilet and lifted the seat.
“Ok. Not exactly as romantic or spontaneous as a girl might like it to be, but here we are. Now, take off your panties, little girl. You don’t want to get them messy while mommy makes you cum.”
Her playful attitude and in-charge manner did nothing to calm Paul’s excitement. “Oh... ok.” He removed his panties and put them neatly on the towel rack.
He really was stiff. Lori wondered how much stiffer he get before he exploded. She maneuvered him back to the front of the toilet and she began to run her hand gently along his shaft. She wanted him to come so that she could dress him, but he looked adorable like this, too. From his heeled feet to his curled hair, just adorable.
His little tush was more pronounced than usual due to the heels. So, so cute. As she masturbated him, she gently caressed his bottom with her other hand, gently touching his cheeks and letting her fingers tickle his crack. His reaction, surprised her. As he rocked a bit to increase the excitement caused by the work of Lori’s hand, her fingers ran through the crack between his cheeks, he would freeze for a moment and gasp. She knew that many men could orgasm just through manipulating their prostates, but it never occurred to her to try something like that – but there it was. She could see and feel his opening right there under her fingertips. The time seemed right. She could do something that she’d never even considered before. She could penetrate her boyfriend.
His eyes were closed, he was lost in her touch. She kissed his narrow, weak shoulders. “So, pretty. So, so, pretty,” she whispered both seductively and maternally- as if speaking to a child.
Her sense of power gave her shivers. She was bigger than him. She was stronger than him. She’d been in jeans and sneakers all day, he’d been in petticoats and gowns. Suddenly, she wanted to take him as if he were a woman more than anything she’d ever wanted before. At that moment, he was a woman – no, a girl – no, her girl and she was the one in charge. The alpha. Yes, he had a penis, but she held it – it was hers. He was hers – SHE was hers.
The temptation was too much. She gave in.
As three of her fingers slid, suddenly, into him, his eyes opened, he gave out a guttural groan as his penis spasmed in orgasm, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his knees buckled and he blacked out.
Lori hugged him and continued to milk his organ until she realized that Paul was passing out. She grabbed him and tried to hold him, but his dead weight was more than she could handle.
“Paul! Paulie! Paulie!” She said as panic overtook her. “Paulie! Stay with me, babe. Come on, Paulie!” but they were stinking, as slowly as she could manage, towards the tile floor.
Mercifully, Paul shook himself back to consciousness just as his limp body was about to pull Lori completely over. He grabbed the toilet bowl and hung on until he was fully aware of his surroundings.
“Are you ok?” Lori asked.
Paul blinked to clear his head, then nodded, “Yes. I think so. What happened?”
The laugh that Lori let out was more out of relief than amusement. “I think you blacked out for a minute, you little bunny, you.”
He used the toilet bowl to help himself back up as he asked, “Bunny? Why did you call me a bunny?”
“I read, one time, that, sometimes, male bunnies get so worked up during coitus that they pass out – just like you did.” She hugged him, relieved that he was ok, if just a bit pale. “I take it that you enjoyed that?” She handed him some toilet paper to clean himself up.
Paul just smiled, feeling too awkward to give a real answer. He cleaned himself while Lori washed her hands.
Soon, his panties were back on and they returned to the kitchen, where Lori pulled a lavender dress from out of a bag. It was a sporty, casual dress, a lavender background adorned with images of pink and white roses all about it. She held it up in front of her to show Paul. “You like?”
“It’s very pretty. Is it for you?” Paul asked, knowing that it was for him. It did scare him just a bit. It was a normal dress. No big, fluffy petticoats, just a dress that a girl his age might wear to school or church. Up till now, he’d kind of been a cartoon of a girl. This was the real deal.
“Of course not,” she laughed, “it’s much too small for me. I got it for you, silly. It’s pretty, right!? I like it a lot. Let’s get it on you.”
There were no buttons or zippers, it just pulled on over his head. The top was stretchy and fitted him beautifully. The skirt reached just below mid-thigh.
Lori adjusted the dress till it clung perfectly across his shoulders and ‘breasts,’ and hung playfully from where it flared out where a girl’s ‘natural waist’ would be.
“Oh, it is pretty, babe, and you look so cute.” Her eyes sparkled with joy and young lust. She was smitten with her new girlfriend.
“Now,” she reached into an other bag and pulled out a pair of low-heeled, white sandals, “take off those shoes and stockings. These shoes go better and you don’t need stockings, your mom already shaved your legs and they’re cute as hell, even without the stockings.”
He did as he was told and sat to take off the shoes and stockings. He fastened the tiny, delicate buckles on the straps of the sandals and, before he could stand, Lori put a hand on his shoulder, telling him to stay there a moment.
“Your hairdo is too old fashioned for this dress. Let me brush you out before I do your makeup.”
“Make up?” Paul laughed, now getting a bit more relaxed with Lori leading him down this strange, new road. “Do I really need makeup to watch Netflix with you?”
“Why not? I’m wearing makeup to watch Netflix with you, aren’t I? I think that you need the full ‘girly’ experience. Between me and your mom, we’re going to make sure that you enjoy being a girl before you become your grandmother, next weekend. That way, you’ll look happy to be wearing that dress – the same way that she looked.”
The brush was moderately stiff and dug into his hair, which had been made stiff with hairspray. It scrapped his scalp and pulled the hair a bit. At first, it was a bit painful, but it became more and more relaxing as he got used to it. Eventually, it felt wonderful and he decided that it was best to just relax and enjoy it.
“Hi, guys. I’m home,” Lilly called as she entered through the kitchen door.
“Hi, mom!”
“Hi, Mrs Rooney. We’re in the family room.”
Lilly headed towards the giggling voices and the ‘shhh-ing’ sounds. When she entered the room, she stopped dead in her tracks. Here was her son, the one who, just twelve hours ago, was sobbing to the point wanting to die because his girlfriend had seen him in a gown, wearing a flouncing, dark purple, sleeveless, ball-length nightgown with a shirred lace bodice, scoop neckline and a tiny white bow at the bodice-line. He was sitting sideways on the couch, the gown spread beautifully around his legs, with Lori behind him, winding his hair into rollers. His face was made up with pretty and youthful eye makeup and a pinkish lipstick.
“Hi, mom,” he giggled. “This was all Lori’s idea. I hope you don’t mind.”
“What do you think, Mrs. Rooney? He looks cute, right? “
The amused shake of her head indicated to both teenagers that she was not upset. “Well, it looks like I may have opened up Pandora’s Box. At first it was, ‘Mom, I don’t want to do this. What if Lori finds out,’ and now, this. Any one care to explain the choices in clothing, makeup and, um, hair style?”
“Well you see, Mrs. Rooney,” Lori was anxious to explain, “I figured that, if you wanted a model who looked like a debutant from fifty five years ago, then I should teach Paulie what it felt like to be a girl back then. So, I found an older style nightie, I did his makeup similar to these pictures that we found online, and, according to my grandmother, girls back then wore curlers to bed most nights, so, I’m curling his hair. I was even able to find some of this ‘Dippity-Dew’ stuff to comb in before the curlers. He’s adorable, right?”
“He is that,” Lilly laughed. She held Paul’s face in her hands as she spoke to him. “And how do you feel about all of this, Paulie?”
“I don’t know, mom. It’s kind of fun, now that the cat’s out of the bag and Lori isn’t upset. My head hurts a little, but I’m having fun.”
“Oh, and Mrs Rooney, you have to see,” Lori was very excited. “Stand up, Paulie.”
He did as she instructed, but he was shocked when Lori nonchalantly grabbed the hem of his flouncy nightie and raised it up to his shoulders, exposing his purple bra and panty set.
“Oh, my, how lovely!” Lilly gushed, with no sense of it being odd at all.
She reached out and touched the fabric of the panties, running her fingers along the lace of the front panel where, had it not been tucked safely in the gusset, Paul’s penis would have been. “Oh, Lori, these must have cost a small fortune, but they are gorgeous. Paulie, you must feel so pretty in those”
‘Was this conversation really taking place?’ Paul wondered as his mother still caressed his lower abdomen without seeming to notice that something was missing.
“I guess...” he said.
“I guess, he says,” Lori laughed. “He loves it and he knows it, don’t you, babe?”
“Sure, ok,” Paul pulled the hem of his nightie out of his girlfriend’s hand and lowered it to just above his ankles, straightening it as it fell in billows about him, “but would you mind not showing my mom my underwear, please. It’s a little embarrassing.”
“Oh, Paulie,” Lilly laughed, “stop being a guy. Girls show their girlfriends, and even their moms, their pretty lingerie. It’s part of the fun of being a girl. Just let us have our fun and you’ll enjoy it, too.”
Then to Lori she said, “I like the high waisted panty for him. Good choice. I imagine that it’s easier to tuck himself away in these than some of the others.”
She turned back to Paul, “Are you comfortable down there, sweetheart?”
Paul clapped his hands over his ears, returned to his seat and yelled, “Blah, blah, blah, blah... I can’t hear you! I’m not listening! Blah, blah, blah, blah”
Lori laughed at his silliness, “I guess that he’s too macho to talk about his panties. I’ll just finish putting in his curlers then pin it all into a silk scarf that I brought for him, so that my big he-man can take off his makeup and crawl into bed in his nightie and get his beauty-sleep.”
Lilly giggled at that and shook her head, once more. “Alright, girls. I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.” And off she went.
Lilly raised the shades in Paul’s room. It was a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning and she’d been up working since 7:00; that was three and a half hours ago. The sudden injection of light did nothing to rouse her son, though, so she walked to the side of the bed to give him a shake.
When she saw him, though, she paused and smiled. Many times she’d wished that she’d had a daughter. She’d always wanted to teach a daughter to sew and cook. Someone to do girl things with. Someone to come with her to a salon, or nail center. Things like that.
And there was Paulie.
His hair wrapped in a flowered scarf with the curlers obvious beneath. His small, smooth shoulders emphasized by the straps of the his purple nightie. His face clear and shiny – what had he used to remove his makeup? If Lori was sticking with her ‘fifty five years ago’ system, it was probably Ponds cold cream.
She sat on the edge of the bed and sighed at his sleeping form. She’d never really viewed him as girlish, before. Small, yes. Bookish, yes. Artistic, yes, but never girlish.
But now....
Could she ever think of him as a boy again? Probably, but, at least for this week and for a few more weekends, she had a daughter and Paulie was going to learn about being a girl before Saturday’s photo shoot.
She took his hand in one of hers and rubbed his arm with free hand. Lord, his skin seemed so soft. She hoped that she hadn’t gone too far with this, but, for now, she still needed him to wear the Victorian gowns while she worked and she wanted desperately to take those pictures for her mother.
“Paulie,” She sang his name softly as she rubbed his arm. “Paulie, sweetie, I need you to get up, love.”
Paul’s eyes rolled open and he smiled at his mother. This was unusual. Usually, she just hollered his name from the bottom of the steps. She’d never woken him like this before.
“Hi, mom,” he rolled over and felt the curlers in his hair. He touched them and smiled sheepishly at his grinning mother.
“You look lovely in that night gown, dear. Is it comfortable?”
Paul though for a moment. What was the point in denying that these were the most exotic, soft, just plain lovely things he’d ever worn in his life. “It is. I like it. The bra and panties that Lori got me are really soft and nice, too.” He sat up with his back against the headboard and his perky, little, false breasts causing the bodice of the silky gown to hang in a lovely manner.
His mother sighed quietly. Her little boy made such a pretty girl. “I’m sorry that I woke you, but I need your help, sweetheart. I ran my machine over the seams in grandma’s debutante dress and I need you to try it on. I also need to get at least another gown hemmed before we go out with Lori. Come on.”
She stood as she pulled the covers to the side. Paul swung his legs out and sat up, stretching and slipping his little painted toes into little purple scuffs that matched his night gown perfectly. When he stood, he reached for a sheer, purple peignoir. It had long, sheer puffy sleeves that ended in long cuffs. The bodice was more opaque and would have framed his bust prettily had he had a more maidenly form. It buttoned just below the bust with one, silk covered button, then burst into shear pleats that ballooned out in feminine splendor. It was obviously part of
a set. It matched the night gown and scuffs beautifully.
“Good heavens,” Lilly was actually a bit jealous of how elegant Paul looked. “How much did Lori spend on all this?”
The shrug and smile that Paul gave her was as cute it could possibly be. “I don’t know... but, wait, you said we were going out with Lori?”
“That’s right, honey. We’re going to see Lori’s Aunt Alison. You’ve heard me talk about Alison, my hairdresser. Well, she’s Lori’s aunt and I want her to look at you and my mom’s picture so she can get things ready for you for next Saturday. We’ll get some lunch, too.”
“Really? When was all this decided?”
“About twenty minutes ago when I was measuring Lori for her prom gown. She’s downstairs now and she’s very anxious to comb you out. So, move your tushy, young lady. We’ve got a lot to do, today.”
Paul floated into the lavatory, enjoying every luscious breeze that played with his billowing clothes and dealt with his morning ablutions, then, realizing that all of his new, fancy bra and panty sets were downstairs, he decided to get changed down there.
He hustled down the stairs as quickly as his clothing would allow, turned at the foot of the stairs, excited to show Lori that he was wearing the entire ensemble that she’d purchased for him, skipped to the kitchen and came to an abrupt stop when he saw that there were three people in the kitchen – not just two as he’d expected.
“Jesus, Rooney!” Beth’s grin was huge, “you look like you just stepped out of an old movie. Do you have curlers in your hair!? Holy cow! What gives!? I mean.. girls don’t dress like that anymore, you know!?”
“ Oh, stop teasing him,” Lori chastised her with a gentle slap on her shoulder. “It’s my idea. Kind of a method-acting thing, you know. Like, if he wants to look and act just like his grandmother next weekend, he needs to know how it felt to be her. So, I bought him things that would help him experience being an eighteen-year-old, fifty-five years ago.”
Then she turned to Paul, kissed his cheek and placed her hands on both of his cheeks and shook them, playfully. “Oh, you are the cutest little lady!”
Paul smiled at the attention that Lori was giving him, but he was still embarrassed that Beth had seen him dressed so completely femininely, so he kept his eyelids lowered, giving him a decidedly old-fashioned demure look, which made Lori even happier.
Something that definitely caught Paul’s attention though, was how tall Lori was as she hugged him, just now. When their embrace ended, he looked down and saw, at the tapered ends of her jeans, she was wearing higher heels than he’d ever seen her wear before. The shoes had a small platform at the toe and Paul could not even guess how high the heel was. They were beautiful, but...
“What’s with the shoes?” He asked quietly.
“What? Don’t you like them? I think they’re adorable.” Lori held her hair back as she looked more closely at them.
“They’re... well... they’re really tall. That’s all.”
“Oh! I see. Yes, they are. They’re for prom. I wanted your mom to get an accurate measurement.”
Paul was a bit surprised by this choice of footwear. “Lori, are you really planning to wear shoes that tall to prom?”
“Yes, of course. It’s my senior prom. I want to look beautiful. You don’t mind, do you?”
He shrugged, “I don’t know.... I guess I kind of do. I mean... if I’m taking you to prom and you’re that much taller than me...”
“Whoa, Paulie...” Lori stopped him. “You’re not taking me to prom. I’m taking you. Remember, I’m the senior, you’re the junior. I have a job, you don’t. I can drive, you can’t. You are my date – not the other way around. I mean, yeah, I’ll be taller than you, but so what? I’m taller than you anyway. It’s never been a problem before.”
Even though everything that she’d said was true, it caught Paul a little by surprise. She was just soooo tall in those shoes.
“Besides,” Lori continued, “I look good in these. Wait till you see the dress that your mom is making me. With that dress and these shoes, you’re going to be happy to be there with me, Paulie. You’ll see.”
“She’s right, Paulie,” Lilly chimed in. “She’s going to be a knockout on prom night. You’ll see.”
“Yeah, don’t sweat it, Rooney,” Beth laughed. “I’m eight inches shorter than Jeff. It’s no big deal. Oh, I have an idea! I’m getting some really tall shoes for prom – not like Lori’s, her’s are just elegant – I’m talking skyscrapers! You can come shopping with me. I’ll fix you up and you can be as tall as Lori.”
Everyone got a good laugh at Paul’s expense. He laughed with them, realizing the silliness of the situation.
“You’re all sick, you know that, right?” He joked as he sat at the table, smoothing the gown and peignoir beneath him.
“Says the boy with his hair in curlers,” Lilly laughed. “Speaking of which, Lori, would you, please, take out his curlers while he eats breakfast? I’d like him to try mom’s dress on before I get him into his big petticoat for the bridesmaids’ dresses.”
While Paul nibbled at an English muffin, Lori removed his curlers with enthusiasm, letting each curl bounce freely around her boyfriend’s face. “Wow!” She giggled, “ that setting-gel did a great job! These curls are amazing. You look like Shirley Temple, babe.”
“What!?” Paul shouted, slightly afraid that he’d be stuck with a head of curls that he’d be unable to loose before school the next day.
“Don’t worry. I’m brushing it out, now,” Lori chuckled.
By the time he’d finished his breakfast, Paul’s hair was brushed out leaving behind a thick, fluffy, wavy mane of hair. Lori had parted it on the right side making it more like the picture of his grandmother. With the help of a curling iron, his hair was flipped under again and when Lilly held the photo of her mother up beside Paul’s un-made-up face, Beth and Lori both agreed with Lilly, his resemblance to the young woman in the photo was truly uncanny.
“Aww, very cute,” Lilly said as she picked up a shorter, less full petticoat that would go under his grandmother’s debutant dress. “Here, hold up your nightie and I’ll put this on so we can get started.”
Paul stood and did as he was told, turning his back to Beth to avoid comments about his panties. She saw them, anyway, but Lori gave her a smile and a shake of the head to keep her from saying anything. Lori liked the panties and didn’t want Beth creating a reason to make it difficult to keep him this way.
He stepped into the petticoat and Lilly pulled it up past his waist where a narrow elastic held it in place. It was not nearly as full as his long petticoat and this one ended at his knees. This one was slightly stiffer, but was absolutely dripping in lace.
Then, with the help of all three women, Paul’s slippers, peignoir and nightgown were removed, leaving him barefooted in a padded bra and petticoat.
“I don’t think that the purple bra is right for this dress, Paulie. Do you have another bra you can put on?”
“Geez, mom,” Paul was both embarrassed and titillated to be standing there in such frilly attire discussing what other lingerie he may currently own, “just come right out and tell the world that your son owns several bras!”
“I bought him a white set yesterday, Mrs Rooney. Paulie, where’s that bag?” Lori added helpfully.
After a moment’s search, they found the bag on the counter. Beth brought it to the table and they dumped the contents out.
“Oh, Lori,” Lilly gushed, “you picked such pretty things for him. These sets are all so gorgeous and, Paulie, look, these dresses are all so cute, too! Oh, Paulie, we’re going to have to find an occasion for you to wear them.”
“Mom! Can we just concentrate on the matter at hand!? Come on, I’m not going to find any ‘occasion’ to wear a dress! Let’s not get carried away.”
Beth smirked as she hung the lace-covered, white, padded bra from her right index finger, her left hand on her thrust hip. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” she said dramatically as she bowed theatrically and held the bra up for Paul to take.”
He snatched the item from her and put it back on the table in front of him, then reached around his back and struggled to undo the hooks and eyes that held his current bra securely around him.
After watching him struggle for a few moments, eliciting giggles from the younger women, Lilly said, “Ok, big guy, we’ll help you. Lori, you help him with his bra.”
“Ok, Mrs Rooney,” she giggled as she stepped behind him and undid the hooks and eyes.
Meanwhile, Lilly knelt in front of him and, without any warning, reached under his petticoat and pulled his panties to the floor in one, quick pull.
“Mom! What are you doing!?”
“Step out of your panties, Paulie. Beth, please hand me the white ones,” Lilly was matter-of-fact about everything going on. She had things to do and she was getting things done. Had it not been for the shock that Paul experienced due to her behavior, he would have been sporting a massive erection. He’d grown to enjoy the feel of women’s clothing and the fact that Lori found it exciting made it all that much more erotic, so wearing women’s underwear while standing in a room with three beautiful women – none of whom were wearing anything nearly as pretty as he was – was a huge turn-on, BUT having his mother exposing him like this was shocking.
“Mom!!”
“Oh, hush, you big baby. No one can see anything. Women can do this without anyone seeing their hoo-hoos.” She pulled the purple panties off his feet and held out the white ones into which Paul’s feet descended.
As Lilly raised the panties up his legs, Lori was attaching the hooks and eyes on his new bra. “Put your arms up, babe. This is a push-up bra. I’ll attach the clasps and when you lower your arms, it’ll catch as much
flesh as possible in the cups.”
Paul did as he was told. He concentrated on the sensation of Lori’s hands as he did his best to ignore his mother pulling panties up his legs. Lilly pulled the panties over his rear end, but then, as she pulled the front of the panties over the front of his crotch, Lilly slid her hand into the front and pushed his penis and ball sack back between his legs and pulled the panties up tightly, nestling his manhood in the panties’ gusset.
“Mom!” His arms shot down in an attempt to pull her hand away from his privates, but the petticoats made it impossible to defend himself.
“Oh, stop. I’m your mother. I’ve touched you there a million times. It needed to be done and I was in the position to do it, so – just stop.”
The whole situation amused Beth to no end. Paul just wished that SHE wasn’t there. His mom or Lori was fine. Even his mom AND Lori was fine, but he was a bit scared that Beth would tell others about this.
Lilly produced a pair of white, open-toed pumps and had Paul step into them, then she asked Lori to help her retrieve Paul’s grandmother’s dress, leaving Paul and Beth momentarily alone in the kitchen.
“You’re looking pretty cute, there, Rooney.”
“Beth, you won’t, you know, tell anyone about all of this, will you? I mean... you won’t, will you?”
“Rooney, I think you’re cute as hell and you should actually consider dressing pretty all the time, but I won’t tell anyone. Lori and I have been best friends since before preschool. I’m not sure that I could date a guy that was prettier than me, but Lori is nuts about you and she is really hot and bothered about this girly stuff. You’re making my best friend very happy, Rooney, so your secret’s safe with me. Cool?”
Paul let out a long sigh. “Very cool, Beth. Thanks.”
Lilly and Lori returned with the dress. It was just as pretty as it looked in the photograph. It had weathered the decades and remained beautifully preserved. Paul was surprised to see that the back of the dress did not have a zipper, but, rather, what looked like at least twenty little, pearl buttons.
The women lowered the dress to the floor and Lilly instructed Paul, “Step into it, honey, and Lori and I will raise it around the petticoats.”
Paul stepped into the beautiful dress and Lori and his mom raised the dress slowly, careful not to catch it on the petticoats. As he slid his arms through the arm holes and pulled the bodice against him, he was encased in cool, smooth material that felt amazing against his skin. He was so excited by the sensations he was feeling lightheaded. He couldn’t help but run his fingers over the lace coverings and move the material against his body.
“The under-dress is real silk, honey,” Lilly explained. “It feels nice, doesn’t it?”
Paul nodded as his mother began the slow process of buttoning up the back of the dress.
“This dress was custom made by a seamstress who used to have a studio downtown,” Lilly continued, “and I guarantee you that my grandfather paid top dollar for this dress. He had four sons, but only one daughter and that was my mom. He spoiled her rotten and she loved it. I bet you that he paid nearly a thousand dollars for this dress and that was more than fifty years ago. I can’t imagine how much it would cost today.”
The bodice was tight – not uncomfortably so, but definitely tighter than any clothes he’d ever worn before. It forced him to stand straighter than he normally would. As each button closed around him, his mom would adjust the back and shoulders for a better fit. He began to feel as if the dress was not his garment, but rather that he was just a vehicle for the dress.
“Stand a little straighter, honey,” Lilly advised, “the buttons are very small and I need you as straight as possible so that I can get them into
the holes.”
It took more than a couple of minutes to button all the tiny pearls into place. “Whew, that was a job!” Lilly joked as she fussed with the top of
the sleeveless formal, working her way down to the bottom of its skirt at Paul’s knees. She tugged gently on the petticoat so that it peeked prettily out at the bottom.
“Wow!” Lori breathed, “it’s just perfect.”
“Well, close,” Lilly smiled, “but not quite perfect, but we can fix that.”
“What’s wrong with it?” both younger women asked as they inspected the dress, too.
“Well,” Lilly mused as she put one hand on her hip and the other on her chin, “I WAS concerned that his shoulders would be too wide, but, if anything, it looks a bit loose there.”
“Congratulations, babe,” Lori teased, “You’re smaller than your grandma was when she was your age.”
“But look at the bust-line,” Lilly continued. “We need to make him a little fuller there. Lori, run upstairs and grab a few pairs of socks out of Paulie’s bureau, please, so that we can make his girls a little bigger. Beth, please grab mom’s photo for me, so I can figure this out.”
Paul was silent as everyone worked around him. He was considering all the sensations that were bombarding him right now. The dress felt like nothing he’d ever worn before. It was soft and silky inside and out and it felt wonderfully constrictive and protective on the top, but loose and flirtatious below. When anyone touched the skirt of the dress, the dress and petticoats rustled and swished and made him feel pretty and vulnerable. He wanted to take it off immediately. To put on some dirty, boy clothes and go do something tough and mannish. He wanted to scream at his mother for assuming that, just because he was small, she could humiliate him like this. He wasn’t a sissy and she had no right to do this to him.
But, even more than that, he wanted to run to a mirror and see himself. He wanted to spin, to see and to feel the mass of skirts expand with his motion, to feel them wrap themselves around his legs when he stopped spinning. He wanted to tell his mom and his girlfriend and even Beth how pretty he felt. He wanted to run out in the street and show everyone how pretty he was. He wanted to go to his grandmother’s and show her how he looked. He wanted to shake his hair to feel it tickle his neck and shoulders. He wanted to try on the jewelry. He wanted to do it all. To be a pretty girl and to nestle under Lori’s strong arm while they hung out with their friends.
And all of that scared him and froze him in his pumps, allowing the women to do whatever they wanted.
He was in heaven and he was in hell.
But heaven was winning.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Lilly showed Beth the photograph, “he’s a little straighter here in the torso than mom was.”
“Well, yes,” Beth looked at Paul critically, “but won’t he look curvier when his boobs are a little fuller? Sorry, Rooney. I don’t mean to criticize your boobs, but...”
“Yes,” Lilly put the photo down and squeezed Paul at the line where the dress flared out from the tight bodice, “but if I get him a waist cincher or a nipper, nothing too drastic, I don’t think he needs a full corset, or anything, but just a little more shape and he’ll fit it perfectly.”
“Here are the socks,” Lori returned and held out the selections of hosiery.
Lilly took two pairs, rolled them and tucked them into Paul’s bra, adjusting the dress when she was done. “Better,” she proclaimed, “but I’ll need to get him something more natural-looking.”
“I have plenty of foam inserts,” Lori laughed. “Between my three sisters and me, we have a bag full. We were all late bloomers.”
Lilly thanked her, but explained that she wanted something more natural-looking. “A friend of mine had a double mastectomy a few years back and she’s mentioned that there is a place in town that specializes in realistic breast forms. I’ll ask her where it is. I’d say he needs at least a “B” cup. I’ll find a tactful way to ask my mom how big she was back then.”
Lilly noticed the disconnected look in her son’s eyes and realized that she’d left him out of the conversation. “What do you think, Paulie?”
Paul snapped back to the conversation. Part of him wanted to tell them all that he was so excited that he was afraid he’d have an orgasm right there in front of them all, but, instead, he muttered a bewildered, “About what?”
Lilly smiled. He was obviously enjoying this, at least at some level, but he seemed so scared and, well, female. Like a little girl getting ready for the biggest, most terrifying event of her young life. She assumed that her mother probably felt the same way all those years ago. Excited and scared.
“Would you like to see yourself in the mirror?”
“Sure,” Paul tried to be as nonchalant as possible. He didn’t fool anyone.
Lilly held the girls back while Paul took in the reflection. “Give him a few moments,” she whispered.
The reflection was not of Paul. There were hints of Paul there, but not Paul. At least not the Paul he’d seen every day for eighteen-plus years. This reflection was of a young woman. A pretty young woman, at that. She needed a few more touches to be beautiful, but it was obvious that, with a little makeup, some jewelry and a little more attention to her hair, this young woman would be a stunning sight.
He turned to the right to see how the dress flared out behind him and he ran his hands along his rear end, compressing the material against himself, then watching it pop back out to all of its girlish fullness.
He turned to the left and did the same.
It was odd and disconcerting and absolutely wonderful.
He ran his hands over his new breasts and down his sides and shook his shoulders from side to side to watch how his hair bounced and his dress swung. He felt nice and pretty and special. The dress was so beautiful and it fitted him so well – it was as if the fates had been keeping this very special treat for him since long before he was born. Had that ever happened to anyone before? Probably not. That made him special.
Finally, he glanced down the hallway and saw his mother, friend and girlfriend watching him closely and he realized that they’d been watching him sway and primp. He felt embarrassed.
“Sorry,” he said quietly.
Lori walked towards him while shaking her head, “No, no, baby. No need to be sorry.”
She placed an arm around his shoulder and turned him to face the mirror once again. “Look at that girl in the mirror, babe. Isn’t she adorable?” she whispered.
She fluffed his curled, flipped hair and, then ran her palms across the back of his bare shoulders and gripped them in her strong hands. She whispered, “You like it, don’t you, baby? You like being my pretty, little girlfriend, don’t you?”
Paul didn’t answer. He just stared at their reflection in the mirror. Even though he was wearing heels, the reflection of the girl in the white, lace dress looked so much smaller and more feminine than Lori. If that girl was him, what did this mean?
“Come on, baby, tell me that you like being my little girlfriend. Just tell me that you do.”
Eventually, he nodded a tiny nod.
“No, baby. Tell me. Say the words. I need to hear it.”
It took a moment, but soon he he knew that he could not deny it. This was how he was meant to look. The whisper was quiet and weak and girlish, but it was exactly what Lori wanted to hear. “I do. I like being your little girlfriend.”
“See,” she kissed his shoulder, “that was easy. You are a cute little thing. You were meant to be like this, baby. I want you to always be my girlfriend. I want to take care of you, baby. I want to help you get prettier and prettier when we’re together. I can teach you to be a girl, a woman. I’m going to help you to be my dream girl. That’s what you want, isn’t it, baby?”
He was in a trance. This all just seemed so right. Lori’s lips on his shoulders and neck were too much. His knees buckled as the orgasm exploded into his panties. He hadn’t felt it coming and he had no warning. He clung to Lori for support.
Lori felt him tremble and watched his eyes roll to the back of his head. She couldn’t believe that this had happened, but she knew that she had a
power over him that she had never considered before she saw his panties two days ago. If he wasn’t before, he was hers, now, and she was going take him all the way. She’d never had lesbian tendencies, but she wanted this little girl in her arms to be her lover more than anything she’d ever desired before.
She chuckled and purred while she supported him. “Oh, you’re a naughty little thing, aren’t you?”
“Paulie!” Lilly exclaimed as she hurried down the hall.
“Don’t tell my mom,” he begged Lori, but it didn’t matter. When she saw his flushed skin and the sheen of sweat on his face, she knew.
“Oh, Paulie,”she giggled, “did you get too excited?”
He nodded.
“Do you need clean panties?”
He nodded again. “I think I need to pee, too.”
She chuckled again. “Ok, honey. That wasn’t very ladylike, was it? Umm, you’ll need some help with your dress and petticoats, so...”
“Rooney, you ok?” Beth had been waiting down the hall, but couldn’t wait any longer to see if Paul was alright.
“He’s fine, Beth,” Lilly assured her. “He just had a little... well... Beth, umm, Lori and I have to help Paulie in the bathroom. Would you, please, grab him some fresh panties and hand them into us?”
“Sure, Mrs Rooney,” there was a muted chuckle in her response, too.
“There’s several pairs of white ones in the bag, Beth,” Lori called. “Grab the ones with the pink bows. They’ll match his bra the best.”
Paul was so far beyond being embarrassed at this point that he couldn’t care less that Beth knew, too.
They walked him to the downstairs lavatory and his mother turned him towards her. “Now, Paulie, I’m going to have to wipe you off when I drop your panties, ok? I know that you’d prefer that I not touch you, but these petticoats are very expensive and I certainly don’t want any of that on grandma’s dress.”
“Here are his panties, Mrs Rooney.”
“Oh, thank you, Beth. Um... could you go into the hall closet and grab the package of baby wipes and, well there’s no need in being subtle now, I suppose, would you also grab a panty liner for Paulie?”
Beth nodded and Lori told Lilly what a good idea that was. Paul was oblivious to what a panty liner was.
When she had everything ready, Lilly told Lori to hold up Paul’s petticoats and skirts. Lilly knelt and lowered his panties to the floor, lifting each foot to pull them off. Then she took a baby wipe and cleaned up the mess on Paul’s thighs and penis. The wipe was cold and made his spent penis contract further.
When he was clean, they guided him to the toilet so he could sit. Lilly pushed his shrunken equipment between his thighs so that he could relieve himself. He could see nothing past the dress and petticoats.
While he sat, Beth assisted Lilly with the panties and panty liner. Paul watched, confused.
“What’s that, mom?”
“Oh, Nothing, honey. It’s just a pantie liner. Women use them to keep leaks from soiling their panties. Under the circumstances, I think you should wear one, too. Just till you’re more accustomed to the new you, if you know what I mean.”
He knew exactly what she meant. “I’m done with the toilet, mom.” He said quietly.
“Oh, well don’t stand until I wipe you! Did you just do pee-pee, honey, or do I need to wipe the back, too?”
“Just pee,” he sighed.
Lilly lifted his frothy skirts and, for the third time that day, gently gripped his penis, pulled it clear of the toilet seat and used another wipe to ensure it was clean. This time, however, either due to absent-mindedness, of because handling him was becoming routine to her, she allowed his skirts to come high enough to expose him to Beth, who stood in the doorway. Beth’s smile was playful and a bit superior. Paul scowled at her, but she just raised her eyebrows and licked her lips playfully.
When his clothes were properly reassembled, Lilly announced that she needed to take a few photos so she could plan what she needed to do that week and after that she needed Paul in his Victorian petticoat so she could pin up the last of the bridesmaids’ gowns before going to see Lori’s aunt that afternoon. Lori and Beth excused themselves to run some errands while Lilly and Paul worked on the last two gowns.
Neither said much.
Finally, as she was pinning the hem of the last gown, Lilly said, “You’ve been pretty quiet since the girls left.”
Paul shrugged.
“Is everything ok?”
He shrugged again.
It was silent for another minute or so until Paul finally offered, “It’s just that.... Well, I’m not sure... I mean, mom, I’m boy, right...”
“Right...” Lilly didn’t look up, she just focused on the hem and allowed Paul to search for his words.
“And boys shouldn’t... you know... like to wear clothes like... this. And I... do. Is there something wrong with me that I let you dress me like this and that... I like it?”
Lilly stood and fluffed his skirts, looking at the hem with a critical eye, keeping everything very ‘matter of fact’ as she responded to Paul. “I don’t see why you shouldn’t like it, Paulie. The clothes are soft and beautiful and you look lovely in them.”
“I know, mom, but I am a guy, you know.”
“Yes, of course I know, Paulie, but this is the twenty-first century. Girls have been wearing jeans and slacks for three generations, now. Every day, I see stories about boys in dresses. Maybe you’re over thinking this.”
Lilly let her gaze rise up to meet Paul’s. With Him on the platform, he was about half a head taller than his mom. She fussed with the gown, then fluffed his hair a little and ran her hands along his soft, hairless cheeks, finally resting them on his exposed, narrow shoulders.
“I am only asking you to do this for the photo, next Saturday, and then to help me finish the gowns and dresses. After that, you can do whatever you want, but, and I don’t think that this will come as a surprise to you, I think that Lori is pretty happy with her new, pretty boyfriend, don’t you? She might have different ideas.”
Paul knew that his mother had hit the nail on the head. He was nuts about Lori and had always been thrilled that she took a shine to him, but she REALLY seemed turned on when he was in a dress. What if she asked him to stay looking girlish all the time? Could he do it? Yes. Would he do it? He wasn’t sure, but ‘probably’ seemed like the right answer.
“Tell me the truth, Paulie. Do you like wearing these clothes?”
“Yes, mom. I really do.”
“Then enjoy them while you can and if you want to stay in boy clothes when you’re not helping me, then I’ll support that, BUT, if you want to stay in girl clothes part-time OR full-time, I’ll support that, too. It’s up to you honey.”
“Thanks, mom.”
She kissed his soft cheek and walked behind him to look at the hem back there.
Paul stared at his reflection in the tall mirror.
“Mom?”
“Yes, Love?
“Do you think I look nice like this?”
“I do, sweetheart. I think you look absolutely beautiful.”
Paul stared some more while he tenderly caressed the gown and his hair. “Thanks, mommy.”
Lilly smiled, “It’s the truth, honey. It’s the truth.”
They were already ten minutes late and Paul was being stubborn.
“But, do you think it’s ok to wear a dress outside of the house, mom?” Paul was having a bit of an anxiety attack.
“Well, of course, honey. People do it every day.” Lilly dropped her hands to her sides in exasperation.
“Paulie,” Lori was losing her patience, “it’s not a dress, it’s a romper and a very cute one at that. Just put it on so we can get going to my Aunt Alison’s house. We’re going to be late!”
As these kinds of things go, this garment wasn’t likely to draw a whole lot of attention. It was made of a grey, crepe material with a seemingly random assortment of what looked like paint brush marks that were darker grey, black and blue all about it. It buttoned up the front and was sleeveless. Maybe it would be ok to give something like this a try.
“Ok,” he said as he pulled the romper up his legs. It had spacious leg holes and, when he pulled the bottom up to his waist, the short, but spacious, leg material barely touched his legs. He pulled his arms into the sleeveless openings and shrugged it into place, then buttoned up the front.
When it was all in place, he looked at the reflection in the tall mirror and said, “It sure looks like a dress to me.”
“Well, I for one,” smiled Lilly, “think it looks just lovely. Is it comfortable?”
“Yes. It feels a little big, though.”
“Maybe it is just a little big, but it’s supposed to fit loosely, babe,” Lori smiled as she grabbed her purse and ushered Paul out the door. “We may as well take my car, Mrs Rooney, since I’m behind you.”
“Oh, what a treat!” Lilly smiled, as she looked at the cute little, seafoam-green VW Beetle that Lori had purchased herself several weeks earlier. “I can’t remember the last time that I rode in a convertible!”
Lori pulled the passenger side door open and lifted the button to release the seat mechanism and allowed the back of the front passenger seat to slide forward and thereby create access to the back seat. “Paulie, it would probably be easier for you than your mom to ride in the back. You don’t mind, though, do you?”
Of course, she was right. His mom was in her forties and not as used to crawling into little spaces as he was, but, yes, he did mind. He wanted to ride up front with Lori. Instead, he was in the back, like some child. Regardless, he said, “Sure,” and pulled himself into the back.
When she was about to back out of the driveway, Lori stopped, turned in her seat, grabbing three baseball caps she kept in the arm rest. “I almost forgot!” She handed one to each of the Rooneys. All bore the Red Sox logo and all were a vivid pink. “These will keep your hair out of your eyes.”
As they started down the street, Lilly said to Lori, “That is a lovely romper you bought for Paulie, but you shouldn’t be spending all of your money like that.”
“Oh, I didn’t buy that,” she grinned from ear to ear. “That belongs to one of my little sisters, Meredith. They’re pretty much the same size.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’ve met your little sister. Is she at school with you and Paulie?”
“Not till next year,” Lori pulled out not traffic. “She’s in eighth grade.”
‘Wonderful’ thought Paul.
“And she and Paulie are the same size?”
“Well, I thought so, but obviously, Paul is a little smaller. She fills out that romper a little more than Paulie does. I bet that he’d fit in my sister, Samantha’s clothes though.”
“Oh, and how old is Samantha?”
“Sammie will be thirteen in a couple of weeks. She’s in seventh grade.”
‘A twelve-year-old. Well, that’s just great! I’m the same size as her twelve-year-old sister,” Paul began to despair that Lori would ever see him as a man, but she turned and winked at him. That’s all it took for Paul. She loved him. He was fine.
“Well. There are some things I could do for him here, but I’d need him at the salon for a lot of what I’d like to do, and there’s no way that you can do everything that he needs done in one morning. If you want him to be a dead ringer for the girl in the picture, I need him for a couple of
hours in the middle of the week.” Alison was inspecting both Paul and the photo and making mental notes.
“What kind of things?” Lilly asked.
Alison sighed, “Well, he’ll need a body perm to get his hair that full and he needs a lot of work on his brows. The perm should take a day or two to relax enough to truly style it like the girl in the photo and if I pluck his brows on Saturday, they’ll look swollen when you take the picture. I mean, I could do the eyebrows now, but I’ll need to do the perm at the shop. “
“Also, even though he doesn’t have much of a beard or arm or leg hair, I’d suggest that I give him a good waxing to make him look right.” Alison paused and continued to scrutinize the boy in her chair. “And I wouldn’t take a chance on those crappy earring adapters. I’d pierce them sooner rather than later, put the pearls in on Saturday then he can decide if he wants to put the studs back in to keep the holes open, or let them close.”
“Cross your legs, baby,” Lori whispered to Paul. “Sit like a lady.”
“Do I really need to get my ears pierced?” Paul whispered back as he adjusted himself in the chair.
“It doesn’t really hurt, baby, and lots of guys at school have theirs pierced. It’s no big deal.”
Paul sighed. He wanted to explore his feminine side now that he’d found it, but this seemed a bit out of control. His mother seemed enthralled in the whole process, as if he was really a debutante preparing for his own coming-out party.
“Hmmm,” Lilly considered her options, “I don’t know, Ali. Waxing seems a little much. I’m sure that we can use a depilatory and he’ll be ok for one day. If he decides to continue to stay smooth, he can come back for a waxing. I see your point about the eyebrows, though. Could we do those today?”
“Sure, I’ll get things ready.”
Paul was relieved that he wouldn’t be getting a full body wax, but shaping his eyebrows seemed a bit extreme, too. “Mom, do you think that’s necessary? I mean, I have to go to school. I don’t want to get beat up because I have girls’ eyebrows.”
“Honey,” Lilly patted his arm reassuringly, “look at grandma’s picture. She didn’t have thin little eyebrows. They’re just sculpted a little. No one will notice at school, but it will make a big difference in the photo.”
Lilly went off to talk to Alison.
“She’s right, babe. She’ll just neaten everything up a little for you.”Lori patted his shoulder.
“Lori, what if the guys notice. What will I say?”
She laughed playfully. “Just tell them that you did it because I asked you to. They’ll believe that.”
Well, there was truth to that. Lori was beautiful and she hung out with the most popular groups at school – as well as with the theater, band and chorus kids. Most of the guys would give a testicle to go out on just one date with her. No one, not even Paul, understood why, when she could have anyone in the school, she would have picked him. But, she did and every guy knew that he would do anything for her – they all would, too.
“Ok,” he smiled knowing that it would make Lori happy if he trimmed his eyebrows a bit.
Alison returned with a tray with lots of items on it. “Ok, Paulie, first we’re going to wash your hair and get a little color into it while I do your eyebrows.”
As she turned his chair and lowered the back of the chair to the sink, Paul said, “You’re dying my hair!?”
“Just a little lighter, honey,” Lilly reassured him. “Grandma’s hair in the photo is a little bit lighter than yours and we want it to be perfect. You’ll hardly notice.”
“Then why do it?” Going to school with his hair AND his eyebrows both looking different may attract even more attention.
“You’ll hardly notice it in real life, honey, but I want to have the two pictures be absolutely identical, so that when people look at it, they can’t tell which girl is my mother and which is my son.” Her smile was infectious.
Paul let out yet another sigh of resignation, “Ok, mom. If it’s that important to you...”
Several hours later and Paul had a new, substantially lighter, hair color, ears pierced with little gold studs in them, well-groomed eyebrows which, although not feminine arches, were undeniably female and one appointment at Alison’s salon at 6:00pm on Wednesday to get a body perm and a trim and another for Saturday morning at 7:30am to have his hair and makeup done before the photographer arrived at 1:00 that afternoon.
As Lilly and Alison settled the bill, Lilly remarked to Alison, “Didn’t I tell you that he was just the spit and image of my mother. I think it’s amazing.”
“He certainly is that,” Alison agreed. “Isn’t that a strange expression – spit and image.”
“It is,” Lilly nodded.
Being the age that she was, Lori had already grabbed her phone and googled the phrase to find its origins.
“Huh,” she showed her phone’s screen to the older women. “it says here that it comes from the Bible story of God creating man in his own image using mud and spit. So Adam was ‘the spit and image’ of God. That’s cool, isn’t it.”
“It is,” Lilly laughed, “and how appropriate as we recreate Paulie in the image of his grandmother. Thank you, Alison, see you Wednesday!”
“Ok.” Lilly closed the door to the VW Beetle after Paul had climbed into the front seat, “You two have a good time and get this young lady back home before 10:00. It’s a school night, remember.” They’d had a lovely lunch at a small delicatessen that catered mostly to business people in the downtown area. Paul was reasonably sure that they wouldn’t run into anyone he knew, there. Then Lori and Paul had waited in the car while Lilly had run into a couple of shops to pick up a few items. Then, at Lori’s insistence, they’d taken a quick spin along the coast so that Lilly could enjoy the smell of the ocean while riding in a convertible. Now, they were dropping Lilly off before going to Lori’s house.
Lilly fished the keys out of her purse, took off the pink baseball cap, passed it back to Lori, then leaned down and kissed her son affectionately on the cheek. “Now, be good, you understand. I know that you two are all hot and bothered, but be good, anyway.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs Rooney. We’re just going to my house for an hour or so, then I’ll have her back to you safe and sound.”
Paul rolled his eyes at the use of the feminine pronoun. “Bye, Mom.”
It was just a few blocks’ ride to Lori’s house. It was a standard, blue and white McMansion that looked like every other house on their block.
“Are you sure that your mom is ok with me being dressed like this?” Paul asked as they climbed the steep stairs that led to Lori’s house.
“Sure. I told her about the picture and all that. She thinks it’s as sweet as I do.”
Being the middle child of five, Lori’s house was always a bit hectic, so it was rare that Paul was ever invited over. Her oldest sibling, Andrew, had already graduated from college and moved away. He was the same age as Paul’s brother Keith and he was the only boy in Lori’s family. Lori’s mom and dad had split years ago, so the house was always filled with the girls and their friends. Whenever Lori’s brother came home, he referred to it as ‘The Hen House’ and the first rule of The Hen House was boys were only allowed in when mom was home and they were never allowed to go upstairs for any reason.
This day, when they entered, Lori’s two younger sisters were sprawled out on the living room floor with homework spread everywhere. They were in a mad dash to get things done that they should have gotten done before now and their mom was not happy with them.
“Hi, Lori,” they each called. Meredith was thirteen and in eighth grade. Samantha was 12 and in seventh. They were born only ten months apart, so her mom referred to them as “the Irish twins.”
“Hey, guys. You know Paulie, right?”
Meredith lept to her feet and ran around to see Paul’s clothes. “Oh, let me see, let me see.” She was all grins as she inspected him. “Huh, my romper looks a little too big. Sammie, come here. Let’s see how tall you are next to Paul.”
Sammie stood, jumped onto the seat of the low-backed chair between her and Paul, used it as a trampoline, lept over the back of the chair, landing right next to Paul.
“Go back to back and let’s see who’s taller,” Meredith was running the show as Lori ducked into the kitchen to get her mom.
“Look, mom,” Meredith was inspecting Paul and her sister who stood back to back with each other, “Sammie is only about a half an inch shorter than Paulie. I’m a little taller. Not much – yet – but give me a year.”
Paul grimaced.
Besides her mother, Lori’s older sister, Becca, was there. Where the younger sisters only seemed interested in whose clothes would fit Paul better, Becca and Lori’s mom were really taken aback by how Paul looked.
“Paul Rooney,” her mom smiled, “my goodness, is that really you!?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Paul stuttered. “It’s me, alright, Mrs Carter. I hope you don’t think this all too weird or anything...”
“Not at all, dear. You look absolutely precious, doesn’t he Becca?”
Becca laughed and agreed.
“So, Anyway, I need to gather up a few things for Paulie to wear in the evenings this week so that he’s ready for Saturday. Is it ok if we go upstairs and rummage around through Sammie and Merrie’s closets and see what we can find?”
Mrs Carter sighed. “I guess, but no nonsense, now. Becca, will you please chaperone for them?”
“Sure, mom,” Becca bobbed her head towards the stairway, “let’s go, ladies.”
When they reached the room that the two younger siblings shared, Lori opened the closet door and began looking at dresses. She explained to Becca that, if Paulie was as comfortable as possible in a dress by Friday night, then Saturday should be a breeze.
“That does make sense,” Becca said. She’d not taken her eyes off of Paul since they entered the room. You do look cute, Paulie, I’ll give you that. The hair, the earrings, the romper – very nice. And I see that you shaved your legs, too. Also cute. Did you pluck his eyebrows, Lori?”
“No, Aunt Alison waxed them for him. Nice, huh?” Then, pulling a red peasant dress with elbow-length, puffy sleeves from the closet, she held it up for Becca’s approval. “What do you think?”
Becca took the dress, “Let’s Give it a try. Come on, Paulie, you need to take off your romper.”
“Umm, can’t I try these on in the bathroom and come back to show you?”
“Paulie,” Lori laughed, “Don’t worry about it. You’re all tucked in. All Becca will see is a bra and panties and she’s seen those before. Come on.”
“Yeah, Paulie,” Becca helped him remove the romper, “where’s your sense of fun and adventure? Here, hold your arms up for me. I’ll help you get this on.”
Holding up his arms, Becca slipped the red, flowered dress over his arms and head, letting it balloon out as it dropped, then settled around him.
“Oh, that is cute, Lori,” Becca beamed.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a little too... Holly Hobby-ish for him, though. Maybe a little too little girl. What do you think?”
Becca adjusted the dress some more and smiled at Paul. “I hope you’re having as much fun as I am, Paulie. I don’t know why, but this is a lot more fun than dressing one of my sisters. I like the way you blush.” Then to Lori, she said, “I think you should at least consider it. I mean, it is a little young for a debutante, but just look at how cute he looks in it. Makes me want to take him out and show him off.”
“Oh, stop,” Lori joked. “Here, try this sundress.”
Becca helped Paul get out of the peasant dress, commenting, “Oh, nice. You shaved your pits, too,” while his arms were up.
If anything, the sundress made him look even more like a classmate of Samantha’s.
“You know what the problem is,” Becca said. “It’s not the dresses, it’s because Paulie isn’t wearing any makeup. It makes him look like a little girl. We could fix that pretty easily.”
What was it with women wanting to make him look like a girl? Obviously, he enjoyed the feeling of the clothes and the pampering, but here was another woman getting excited about him looking like a girl.
Lori considered it for a moment, then said, “You’ve definitely hit the nail on the head. It is the lack of makeup, but it’s already dinner time. I think I’ll spare him another round of primping today. You must be tired, baby, aren’t you?”
Paul was both relieved and disappointed, but he nodded, “”Yes, I am kinda beat. It has been a long weekend.”
“I’m sure it has been, babe. I’m tired, too, but I had a great time. Here, try this last dress on for me, ok? I think you’ll like it. It’s very comfortable.”
Paul removed the sundress and slipped into this casual dress. It was a short dress, well above his knees, with very short, cap sleeves. It had a cream-colored background, with dozens of little, realistic-looking birds of many varieties scattered about the fabric. Some birds were upright, some upside down. Some facing up, some facing down. Some in flight, some at rest. It had a little brown belt which couldn’t have been more than a half-inch tall, that nestled against his torso prettily and the material was a cotton so light and soft that it felt as if he was wearing nothing at all.
“That’s perfect,” Becca clapped as Lori buttoned six tiny buttons up his back.
“I agree,” Lori was looking at Paul in a mirror on her sisters’ door. “We have our winner! What do you think, Paulie?”
He liked it. In fact, he loved it, but he wasn’t sure that he should say it out loud. “It’s nice, I guess,” he said.
Lori wrapped her arms around him from behind. “Nice, Huh? Ok. It’s nice, but look at that girl in the mirror. She looks better than nice, doesn’t
she? She’s adorable and you know it... AND... she’s you.”
She kissed the back of his head.
“You know She’s right, Paulie,” Becca stood beside him. All were looking at his reflection. “You’re a cute little guy, Paulie, but as a girl... well, just look... you’re a knockout. You should consider dressing like this full-time.”
There it was.
Someone had said it out loud.
Full time.
Now he was scared.
He was scared that he’d be forced to be dressed as a girl and having to go to school.
He was scared that he’d be forced to be dressed as a girl and having to face his brother and cousins.
He was scared that he’d be forced to actually become a girl.
But mostly, he was scared that if he resisted dressing as a girl, he’d never be able to feel this soft and pretty and wonderful again.
A shiver ran down his spine. He needed to do or say something and finally, all he could think to say was, “I don’t know. Do you really think I look ok?”
“No one said that you look OK, babe. You look adorable and you look like a girl and I kinda love it.” Lori was sincere. She was smitten with Paul and she would never tell him that he had to dress as a girl “or else,” but she found him so amazingly attractive this way.
It was still too much for him to commit to, right now, so he said, “ I don’t know. Can we just keep it between us for now? I mean, if people found out... I don’t know... your sisters won’t tell, will they?”
“I won’t say anything, Paulie,” Becca smiled, “and I’ll make Sammie and Merrie swear not to, either.”
“Hey, girls,” Lori’s mom shouted up the stairs, “I’m ordering Chinese takeout. Are you eating with us?”
“Yes,” the sisters yelled back.
Becca and Lori picked up the discarded clothes and put them back on hangers. As Lori picked up the romper that Paul had been wearing, he walked over to her and turned his back to her.
“What?” Lori asked, confused.
“Will you unbutton me so I can put the romper back on?”
“Oh, baby, no. The romper was just to go to Aunt Alison’s. Kind of like a ‘training dress.’ If you’re going to be comfortable in your grandmother’s dress next weekend, you need to be used to wearing real dresses. So, from here on until Saturday, when you’re not in school, I want to see you in a dress. The cuter, the better. And that one is adorable – BUT – it is pretty flimsy. Becca, can you dig through Sammie’s drawers and find a short half-slip so Paulie has a little modesty. Tonight, baby, you are getting some tutoring from The Hen House ladies so that, by Saturday, you’ll be right at home in your grandma’s dress.”
After a moment’s rummaging through her youngest sister’s underwear draw, Becca produced a small, white half-slip, dripping in lace. “This is a pretty one, Paulie. You’ll like it.”
She handed the slip to her sister who said, “Bec, can I have a minute alone with Paulie?”
Becca smiled, “Sure,” and she left, closing the door behind her. “I’ll be right here... keeping watch for you.”
Lori gave her sister a little wave of thanks, then knelt in front of Paul, holding the slip open for him. He stepped into it and Lori guided it up his legs, letting the gentle elastic waistband secure the silky garment to him.
“There,” she whispered as she adjusted the slip and dress. “That feels nice, doesn’t it?”
He nodded.
Lori lifted the front of his dress, once again, as if inspecting the slip. Then she lifted the slip as well.
Paul’s breath skipped just a bit.
She gently caressed his flat panty front. “Mmm, I like you like this; nice and flat, but you know what would make it better?”
“What?”
She kissed the front of his silky, lacy panties. “If your skin was smooth here. Tonight, when you shower, do me a favor and shave all this nasty hair off for me, Ok?”
As she said this, her hand slipped between his legs, gently rubbing his tucked organ through the gusset of his panties and the panty liner. He breathed in, sharply and she could feel him grow stiff immediately, forcing the tip of his organ to pop out of the side of the leg hole.
Lori glanced up at him and smiled seductively. “Oh, dear,” she giggled and she whispered, “someone’s getting excited. Does my sweet, little boyfriend like wearing my little sister’s dresses? I think he does. I think he likes it a lot. So much that he’s not going to be able to keep from showing me how excited he is.”
She slipped a finger around the protruding part of his penis and gently stroked the sensitive vein on the underside of his inverted manhood. That was all it took. He exploded into Lori’s hand. She was able to catch most of it in her hand. She looked up at him and smiled as he spasm-ed and released all that he could.
When his orgasm subsided, she carefully tucked him back into the gusset, allowing his panty liner to absorb any residual cum, and she stood, careful not to let his seed spill from her hand. When she reached her feet, she hugged his head to her shoulder and breasts. “Shh, baby. That felt nice, right?”
He nodded and tried to regain his senses.
Lori stuck a finger into the goo in her hand, raised it to her lips and licked it. “Mmm. You do make delicious treats, Paulie.” She stuck her finger into the goo, again and, without warning, stuck the semen-coated digit into Paul’s mouth, holding it there. “Suck, babe. You’ll like it.”
Paul was shocked, but complied. The taste was not bad, per se, just odd – a bit salty.
Three more times, Lori took a helping for herself and then fed a helping to Paul. She was heady with the desire to share this with him. She felt so powerful and in command of the situation. There he was, her cute little boyfriend. He was barefoot and tiny and almost helpless while she wore very high heels and towered over him and felt the now familiar feeling of power over their relationship. He had on lacy, silk panties, a lacy, softly padded bra and the cutest little dress while she wore sensible, cotton panties, a casual bra with jeans and a tee shirt.
This was all so damned fun and Paulie just looked so, so, so adorable. This was how it was all meant to be.
Suddenly, the door opened a crack and Becca whispered into the room. “Are you guys about done? The Chinese food delivery guy just showed up. We should go downstairs before mom comes looking for us.”
“Oh, we’re done, aren’t we, baby?” Lori grinned, then headed to her sisters’ lavatory to wash her hands.
Becca came in and looked at Paul. She ran her fingers through his hair and adjusted his dress. “Breathe correctly, Paulie, you’re kinda of red in the face. Mom will want to know why.”
He nodded as Becca went to the closet, retrieved a pair of white sandals with a one-inch kitten heel. They had just a narrow strap that crossed his foot, just behind his toes and another, more narrow strap that went around his ankle. Becca knelt and fastened the ankle straps for him. He glanced at the mirror. “Those are pretty,” was all he could think to say before being led downstairs by the sisters.
“Hey, that’s my dress!” Samantha shouted.
“And my shoes!” Meredith joined.
“Yeah, but you guys never looked this cute in them, did you?” Lori said with a smile.
“Here, let me take a look at you,” Lori’s mom pulled him to a clear area in the kitchen to check him out.
“Very nice, Paul. Spin for me, let me see the dress flare out on you.”
He did as he was told, but stopped when Samantha shouted, “Mom, he’s wearing my slip! Oh, my God, Lori, he’s not wearing my panties, too, is he!?”
“No, of course not,” Lori laughed. “I bought him his own bras and panties. What girl would ever pass up the chance of buying lingerie for her boyfriend?”
Before Paul could even blush, Lori’s mom was fussing with his hair and looking at him in a very critical way. “I like your hair this color, Paul, but it needs a little more styling. Are you brushing it every morning and night? At least a hundred strokes each morning and night will make it shine and you’ll be amazed at how healthy it looks in just a couple of days of brushing combined with a good shampoo and conditioner. So you’d better start that regime with your next shower.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“I’m surprised that my sister didn’t even up the length while you were there. What’s the plan for your hair?”
“I’m going back on Wednesday for a body perm and a trim.”
“Excellent. I hope that a mani/pedi is scheduled, too, because your toes and fingers need to be just as dressed up as the rest of you. I like the
color on your toes, but they need some shaping. Your fingernails need a lot of attention.”
“I’m taking him to our nail salon after school tomorrow, mom,” Lori said. That was news to Paul, but not overly surprising under the circumstances.
“Good. Ok, Paul – or are we saying Pauline, now?”
“No, mom,” Lori answered for him, “we’re sticking with Paulie.”
“Hmm, I guess that works fine. I went to school with a girl named ‘Polly.’ Polly Brennan. She was a beautiful little girl as I recall. Just like you, Paulie. Ok, let’s eat.”
As they each took their seats, Samantha was eyeing every move that Paul made. When he sat, she criticized his posture and her mother was more than happy to have the other girls demonstrate how to sit up straight with their backs not touching the chairs and their legs crossed at the thigh or ankle.
Amused by her sister’s observation, Meredith joined in the fun and soon, every bite of food, every sip of water, every shake of the head was being scrutinized and corrected by Lori’s family of girls.
“So, Paulie,” Samantha asked, “does it bother you that you’re wearing your girlfriend’s youngest sister’s clothes, now?”
Paul swallowed the little bit of rice in his mouth. “Actually, yes. It kind of does. It never occurred to me that I could wear your clothes.”
“Oh, don’t let it bother you, Paulie,” Mrs Carter patted his arm. “All of my kids are tall. You’re just a bit on the shorter side. It’s no big deal. Look on the bright side. You have a lot of hand-me-downs to look forward to in the next few months.”
All of the girls seemed to think that this was a much better idea than did Paul.
“That’s a great idea, mom,” Meredith agreed, “and judging by how he looks in that dress, he’ll be a lot cuter in Sammie’s clothes than she ever was.”
Mrs Carter, Becca and Lori all laughed at Meredith’s joke. Sammie yelled, “Hey! That’s not funny! He’s not cuter than I am! If mommy let me wear a padded bra like his mommy does, then I’d look cuter, too! So, shut up, Meredith!”
The women all laughed boisterously, but Paul felt a little uncomfortable with his underwear being discussed so freely amongst all these females ranging in age from forty-nine to twelve years old – especially since he was being compared to the twelve-year-old – the twelve-year- old who would definitely be much taller than him in a year or less. He squirmed as he felt his penis shrivel with nervousness. What would it be like if he decided to stay in skirts and dresses? He’d be smaller and weaker than every other woman in this room – heck he was already smaller and weaker than four of them AND he was the only one wearing a dress.
That was it, he decided. He couldn’t let his desire to wear these clothes take over his life. He’d live up to his commitments to his mother, but that was it. Then he was going right back to being a guy.
“Well, Paulie,” Lori was still laughing at her younger sisters’ argument, “what do you think? Are you looking forward to getting Sammie’s hand-me-downs? Because, you know, with her being the youngest, she’s already gotten all of our old clothes. So, you’ll kind of be getting all of our hand-me-downs.”
Paul thought for a moment, then smiled before he shrugged and said, “I don’t think I’ll need them. This is only for a week, then I’m going back to wearing my jeans,” but then he shook his head so his hair was moved behind his shoulders and he took a nibble of rice from his chopsticks, being careful to lean over his plate so nothing could fall into his napkined lap. The move was so instinctively feminine that, unseen by Paul, all the girls and women exchanged smiles and nods. It was obvious that whatever was going on in his head, wasn’t going to end on Saturday. He was hooked.
To Be Continued...
Spit and Image - 2
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Author's Note: Please continue to let me know what you think of the story. All comments, pro or con, are really helpful. ~Clara.
This version of Spit and Image: 2 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.
Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.
Chapter 2
"Hey, cutie. Why is your hair up in a bun again? It looks so pretty when it's down." Lori was in Paul's driveway, picking him up for school, just as she did every school day morning at 7:05.
"That's exactly why it's up," Paul countered. "I swear it's even lighter this morning than it was yesterday. It was always more red than blonde. Now, it's blonde with just a little red. I just hope no one notices."
"Well, what difference would it make if someone did? I mean, people dye their hair all the time. Guys do it nearly as often as girls do. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. You really should let it down."
"Lori, please, let's not discuss it right now. I have so much spinning in my head right now... This is going to be a long, tough week for me. Don't make a big deal about my hair, right now, ok?"
"Ok," she put the VW in reverse and backed out of the driveway. As she shifted into drive, she said, "but can I ask a few questions?"
"Sure."
"Great. Are you wearing briefs or panties?"
Paul sighed. She wasn't going to let him relax. "Panties."
"That's my good boy," she was extremely pleased with this response. "Cotton and plain or silk and lacy?"
"They're cotton, not plain, they have little flowers all over them and a little lace on the waist and legs. Satisfied?"
"Not really, but it's a start." She shook her shoulders with joy.
Their school was just a five minute ride from Paul's. They parked in the student lot, then went into the school. Paul's homeroom was at the far end of the campus, so he usually hung out in Lori's until a couple of minutes before the bell rang, which meant he was hanging with her friends, which was very cool - usually.
Today, the conversation was typical Monday morning stuff, cute clothes, weekend dates, tv shows, music, etc., but then Beth showed up.
"Hi, guys," she said. Then, "Hey, Rooney, did you dye your hair?"
She had not seen it, but she could have been more subtle.
"Yeah, I was looking at that too, Paulie," Mary said. "I like it. It suits you."
Other girls were complimenting him, too.
"It's really pretty when he has his hair down," Lori threw in.
Mary said, "Yeah, I saw you at The Dairy Bar, Friday, Paulie. I liked you with your hair down. It looked really good, but you hadn't colored it then. Can we see it down?"
"Not right now," Paul stuttered. "I have to get to homeroom in a few minutes."
"He's just a little embarrassed," Lori put her arm around him and pulled him close, "aren't you, babe? See, I kinda pressured him to do this and it wasn't supposed to come out this light. He's just not used to it, yet."
"Aww, Paulie," Tianna rubbed his back, "I bet it's just fine. Can't we see it?"
"Maybe at lunch." Paul smiled and picked up his binder. "I have to get to homeroom. Bye, guys. Bye, Lori."
He leaned up and kissed her cheek.
"Bye, babe. See you at lunch."
Paul rushed through the hallways and made it to homeroom with time to spare. He said hi to classmates and took his seat. First period went by before he knew it and no one said anything about his hair. Second and third were the same.
'Maybe I'm being silly,' he thought. 'No one is even noticing.'
Third period was chemistry and his lab partner, Sally Ledger, did complement him and asked him what the name of the hair dye was. She was thinking that she might want to go that color as well. He had known Sally since kindergarten and this was the longest conversation he ever had with her. That was pretty cool.
Then, it was time for lunch.
Paul wandered in to the cafeteria, grabbing his usual lunch of a free Apple and the free banana, and sat down at their usual table. In less than a minute, all of Lori's gang was there and all of them wanted to see Paul's hair. They were disproportionately excited about the fact that his hair had changed just a few shades of strawberry blond.
Finally, Beth just got up and pulled his hair loose. It fell down beyond his shoulders and hung prettily about his face. Rather then get angry and draw more attention to himself, Paul heaved and exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes before burying his face in his hands and grunting at Beth's audaciousness.
He waited for the teasing to begin, but instead the girls oohed and ahhed over his new color. They played with his hair and told him how beautiful it was. They all encouraged him to leave it down telling him how much better he looked that way. Eventually, Paul realized that they were actually telling him the truth and not teasing him. They really did prefer his hair this way, too. Oh, what the heck.
"See, Rooney," Beth put her arm around him, "it's just pretty hair. Everyone loves pretty hair. Just think of that guy, Dennis, in Drama Club. He's a big, athletic, straight guy who happens to have really pretty hair, right?"
He had to admit it. She was right. Denise had lettered in football, track and field and wrestling, but he had a very flamboyant hair cut. Kind of short on the sides with a big whippy-dip on the top. It was all dyed a shocking, unnatural, but not unattractive, shade of red-orange.
"She's right, Paulie," Lori threw her arm around him and hugged him tightly. "You don't need to be embarrassed. Just be yourself and everyone will love you."
Paul smiled and nodded.
"So, are you gonna leave it down, now?" Mary asked.
"Wellllll....." Paul was hesitant.
"Yes, he is," Lori assured her friends. "Someone give me a brush."
She went to work like a woman on a mission, which she was. She parted his hair on the right side and worked his hair till it stayed put. Had she had hairspray, she would have locked it in place.
Again the girls complimented him endlessly.
When the bell rang, they were all caught by surprise, they had been so involved in his hair that they had lost all track of time. So, they all ran out of the cafeteria leaving Paul to gather his stuff and hustle out without a hair tie to be found anywhere.
He hurried to the music wing without making eye contact with anyone. Hopefully, he could get there without attracting any attention.
The bell rang just as Paul's hand slammed against the door to the chorus room to keep it from closing. The teacher, Mr Mwangi, was startled by the person slipping under his arm and into the classroom so quickly.
"Excuse me, young lady, but where are you supposed to be this period?" He asked with a firm, authoritative voice, not recognizing the student who'd just blown past him.
Paul was confused by the question and turned towards the teacher to see to whom the question had been directed.
"Oh," Mr Mwangi was startled once again, "Mr Rooney. I didn't recognize you. New hair style I see."
"What's?" Paul was confused, then realized what his teacher was getting at."Oh, um, yeah, kinda. It's.... it's a long story."
"Uh Huh." He said. "Well, grab your folder and take your seat in the tenor section, please."
He grabbed his folder and hustled to the front row of the tenor section. Being smaller than the other boys - and, frankly, almost all of the girls - in the chorus, meant that he was always relegated to the front row, next to the sopranos.
"Hi," the girl who sat next to him whispered as he took his seat.
"Hi," Paul smiled.
Mr Mwangi was taking attendance and his neighbor, a senior named Melissa, whispered, again. "I like your hair, Paul. It's really nice."
Uncertain as to how much pride he should be taking in his appearance, he squirmed in his seat a bit, finally grinning broadly and saying, "Thanks. I lost my hair tie."
She smiled back at him. He'd sat next to Melisa for more than thirty weeks and she'd never so much as acknowledged that he was alive, let alone speak to him. This conversation had been a very pleasant surprise. One of several already today.
"Mr Rooney?"
"Yes, Mr Mwangi?"
"Perhaps you could stand and join the rest of your section to review Mr Mozart's 'Ave Verum."
Paul had not even noticed that the other tenors had stood up. "I'm sorry Mr Mwangi." He stood and held his music.
"Thank you, Mr Rooney. Now, from the canonic section, gentlemen..."
They worked through the sectional problems for both of the male sections before trying it with the women added.
When Melissa stood, she turned her back to Mr Mwangi to place her folder on her seat and whispered to Paul, "Seriously, Paul, you really look stunning with that new color and your hair down. Have you decided to transition?"
The question caught Paul completely off guard. 'Transition'!? Did he really come across so femininely that his classmates were EXPECTING him to become a girl at some point? He was so flustered that he couldn't even think of a response for a moment. In fact, he could barely breathe.
Melissa looked towards him for a response. He smile was sweet and supportive. She was obviously not teasing him, but asking a sincere question and offering her support.
When he shook his head, his face had gone pale and he was suddenly perspiring. He mouthed the word, "No," but no sound came out. The room was whirling around Paul. Transitioning!? What? Didn't she know that he was with Lori!? He didn't only have A GIRLFRIEND - he had one of the BEST POSSIBLE GIRLFRIENDS in the whole school. The last thing he wanted was stop being a guy and being with Lori!
"Mr Rooney," Mr Mwangi was hurrying to Paul, "are you alright?"
He had begun to swoon without even realizing it and Mr Mwangi caught him, just as his knees gave way.
He helped Paul to sit in the rehearsal seat. "I have told you all that if you lock up your legs and lose track of your breathing, you can pass out. You must be careful. Especially, now that the room is warmer than it was in the winter." He looked at Paul, again, "Now, just sit here while we run the piece, Mr Rooney, and if you need to see the nurse after that, I'll call for a wheelchair for you."
"Maybe I should get him a bottle of water from the machine in the hall, Mr Mwangi," Melissa was genuinely concerned.
"Thank you, Ms Turner, that would be helpful." Mr Mwangi gave her a handful of change from his pocket and Melissa ran to the hall, returning a moment later with a cold bottle of water. She sat in her chair, opened the bottle and gave it to Paul, while the rest of the ensemble kept their attention on Mr Mwangi and Mr Mozart.
After a few sips, Melissa leaned in and asked, "Are you feeling better?"
Paul nodded. He actually was, but he was still confused. Her earlier question had so unnerved him that he'd almost passed out. Who does that?
"My cousin transitioned a few years ago," Melissa was speaking as comfortingly as she knew how, "and she had a few episodes like this when she first started her hormones. I guess it just takes a while for your body to get used to things. She's fine now. She's actually kind of pretty in a mannish kind of way, but you're going to be beautiful. You're already cute and you're just starting." She gently pulled his hair to the back of his neck, allowing him to cool off a bit. "Oh, and you've pierced your ears, too! That's nice."
What was she saying? Hormones? This was just supposed to be a little secret to make his mom and grandmother - and Lori, of course - happy. What was going on with everyone around him?
"I'm not transitioning," he whispered. "I just dyed my hair and pierced my ears because... well... it's too complicated, but I don't intend to..."
"Mr Rooney?" Mr Mwangi's deep voice demanded Paul's attention.
"Yes, sir?"
"Are you feeling better?"
"A little better, yes, thank you, Mr Mwangi."
"Good. Then you have three choices:
1) You may sit and be silent for another few minutes while you drink your water quietly.
2) You may ask me to call for the nurse.
3) You may join your section and assist us with Mr Mozart's music But you absolutely, positively may NOT continue to sit in my classroom and chat with Ms Turner whilst your classmates and I work to interpret one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written!"
His tone was serious and even. He never raised his voice or lost his temper, but there was a threat in it that scared Paul enough to keep him from dwelling on the things that Melissa had said.
"Do I make myself crystal clear, Mr Rooney?"
"You do, sir," Paul stuttered. "If it's ok with you, sir, I'd like to stay seated for another minute of two and drink my water. I think I may just have been dehydrated, before."
"Fine. Ms Turner, I trust that you are well enough to join us."
"Yes, Mr Mwangi." Melissa stood and patted Paul's shoulder gently, "I'm sorry that I was talking. I was just concerned about Mr Rooney... um, Paul."
"Very good, then, and I am sure that Mr Rooney thanks you for your concern, do you not, Mr Rooney?"
"Yes, I do. Thank you, Melissa." Paul needed to clear his head. Melissa's caring smile didn't help at all. He needed to talk to Lori and his mother about all of this.
"Paulie," Lori was trying to be reasonable, but still keep things on track as they drove towards the nail salon, "you said yourself that Melissa Turner never said a word to you until today. I'm happy that she was nice to you and all, but why should what she thinks matter to you at all? You've told me that You want to do this for your mom and grandmother. You've told me that you like to dress up. You've told me that you enjoy the pampering. I've told you that I love you this way. So, what's the problem? Let's just stay focused on what needs to be done right now if we're going to have you ready for Saturday. Ok?"
Paul was looking at Samantha's red peasant dress, which was laying across his lap. Lori had brought it so that he could change before going to the nail salon. She also wanted to put 'just a little' makeup on him and, of course, he was supposed to put on one of his padded bras so that the nail-girl wouldn't ask any questions.
"Lori..." Paul was in a deep quandary. He really liked everything about dressing, but he'd rather that it remained a secret for now. How would he hide things as the week wore on? "I admit that I really like this, but I can't go to school looking like a girl."
"Why not?"
"What!? Why not!? You know exactly why not!?"
"No, I don't, Paulie. Look there are lots of boys at school who have their hair done in salons. Lots with long hair. Lots who have their eyebrows done. There's at least a half-dozen who wear makeup. Most of those guys are straight guys who just want to look nice. You're no different except you're reading more into people's reactions than you should."
"Lori! Melissa assumed I was transitioning! That I was becoming a girl! How could I possibly read more into that!?"
"Well, baby, the truth is that Melissa is right. You are transitioning and becoming a girl."
"What!?"
"But only for the photographer on Saturday."
"And that's another thing - originally, mom was going to take the picture herself. Then you and Beth and Abby got involved and now she has a professional photographer coming. This has turned into some kind of big production!"
"And you're the star, baby." Lori pulled to the side of the road and stopped the car.
"Here's what we need to do, baby," she smiled at him. "First, you need to calm down. You agreed to help your mom and I agreed to help you. We have to follow through with those promises.
Paul hemmed and hawed for a few minutes, but eventually nodded, "Ok."
"Good. Now, following through means that you're going to have to deal with a few things at school. People will notice some of the changes you'll be going through this week and some may ask about them. I suggest that you're honest with them. Tell them that your doing something for your family and that these things are mostly temporary. I bet you that no one questions you beyond that. You'll see. Things will be fine as long as you stay in control of the situation. I promise."
He breathed deeply and shook his head while he thought about things. "Alright, I guess." He finally said. "Do you think you could talk to the girls that you hang out with and ask them to kinda make sure that I'm not alone too much this week? If I was with someone in the halls, I'd feel better. The teachers will help me in classes."
"Sure, babe. They'll be thrilled to help out!" She squeezed his knee reassuringly.
"But..." she smiled at him, "right now, we need to get you into that dress so that you can get your nails done, ok?"
He nodded and shrugged. "Ok. Where are we going to do this?"
Lori's smile was broad and happy, again. "There's a McDonald's down the block from the salon. We'll stop there and we'll use the ladies' room. It's just a one stall room, so the door locks."
Paul nodded his assent. If Mr Mwangi thought he was a girl, then he should be able to get into a ladies' room without anyone looking sideways at him.
Except for the moment between when he took off his sneakers and socks and the moment that he put on the red flip-flops that Lori had brought for him, when he had to put his bare feet on the floor of the McDonald's rest room, the change of clothes was fairly uneventful. Lori made short work of putting a little make up on his face, which did make him look closer to his own age - maybe not eighteen years old, but at least sixteen or seventeen. Lipstick was definitely different than lip balm, but it wasn't all that challenging to wear and the eye makeup was easy to get used to.
Lori insisted that they have a drink and some fries before they left. She paid, of course, since his clothes were in a gym bag and his wallet was in his pants' pocket. They sat in a booth and ate and drank their snack.
"Baby," Lori reached across and rubbed Paul's arm, "relax. We're miles from school. Why would anyone come here when there is a McDonald's and a Burger King right down the street from the school?"
He smiled and tried to relax a bit, but also remembering all of the training he'd had at The Hen House last night. He sat upright with his back not touching the back of the bench, his legs crossed at the knee and his dress was nicely smoothed below his rump.
Soon, they were finished, back in the car and pulling up to the nail salon.
"Hello, ladies. What can I do for you today?" The receptionist was a middle aged, slightly plump woman of Asian descent. She had way too much makeup on, but she had an infectious smile.
"Hi," Lori took the lead. "We have a three-o'clock appointment for manipedis."
She consulted her binder. "Yes, I have you right here. Lori Carter and Polly Rooney. Come with me, ladies."
So far, so good. The receptionist hadn't noticed anything odd about him.
They were seated at adjoining stations. Two young ladies, also with Asian features, appeared and began speaking to them in a rather harried manner. 'Please, soak your feet in this. Please, put your hand here. Sit back. Relax. When was your last pedi? When was your last mani?'
Paul couldn't think as quickly as they were speaking. Lori answered for him more often than not.
When the questions of length and color were put to Lori, she knew just what she wanted. When the same questions were put to Paul, he didn't know quite how to answer. Lori jumped in.
"For her hands, she'd like French nails, not too long, maybe a half an inch, with squared tips and an extra shiny finish. For her toes, she needs a nice, right, shiny red and all of her toes nicely rounded."
"Ooh," the manicurist said, "Are you in a wedding? A junior bridesmaid or a flower girl?"
'A flower girl!?' Paul thought. Lord, he looked older than a flower girl, didn't he? He checked the mirror. Yes. He definitely looked like a teenager.
"No," he finally answered, "nothing like that."
"She's having a formal photograph taken of her this weekend. We want her to have a classic look. Her dress is made of gorgeous, white lace and she'll be wearing open toed shoes, too. Everything very formal and pretty."
"Oh, that sounds nice," the manicurist smiled. "You're a pretty girl. You'll look beautiful in a photograph. They should make a painting of you!"
"Thank you," Paul smiled and blushed. Why was everyone so much nicer to him when he was in a dress, or just because he had prettier hair? He had always been a polite young man, but no one treated him like this until he became a girl. Well... not really, but... almost a girl.
When the acrylic nails were applied to his fingers, he nearly screamed because they were so long, but Lori assured him that they would be cutting them back.
Suddenly, he chair was pushed into a reclined position and another technician pulled his foot from its soaking basin, dried it and began working on shaping his toes. Oh! The feeling was beyond exquisite! It just felt wonderful and relaxing. She could go on doing that for hours and he wouldn't mind one bit!
"What do you think, Paulie?" Lori asked.
"Ahh." Paul moaned. "This feels so good. How come I never did this before?"
"This is your first pedicure?" the manicurist asked.
"It is," Paul smiled, "but it is wonderful."
The manicurist said something in an Asian language to the woman working on his feet who replied enthusiastically. "She says you should close your eyes and enjoy it."
He decided to do just that. He took a deep breath and concentrated on the feelings of having his fingernails and, more importantly, his toenails manipulated and massaged. He never drifted off to sleep, but he was extremely relaxed.
"We need you to sit up now," The manicurist's soft voice encouraged Paul to open his eyes and sit up.
He glanced to the right and smiled at Lori, who held up her fingers and shook her dark cranberry colored fingernails at Paul. They looked absolutely decadent in their beauty. "Pretty, Huh?" she smiled and he nodded.
The lady at his feet said something that Paul could not understand, but the manicurist translated, "Do you like your toes?"
He looked down and saw his toes with brightly painted, bright, cherry red toenails. Knowing that he could cover those with shoes and socks, he smiled and nodded to the woman. "Very pretty," he smiled at her and wiggled his toes. That was one of the most pleasant experiences he'd ever had and he would be happy to do that again.
Then he glanced at his hands and saw his fingernails. Natural looking bases with perfectly sculpted, white tips that protruded a half-inch beyond his fingertips. His face went white when he thought about going to school in the morning.
Lori saw him staring at his hands in shock, so she intervened, "Oh, Paulie. Didn't Joyce do a lovely job on your fingernails? They are absolutely perfect for your photograph on Saturday, aren't they?"
Not wanting to make a scene, Paul nodded, then turned to the manicurist, Joyce and said, "Oh, yes, Joyce. They look just perfect. Thank you, so much."
Once they were in the car with the doors closed, Paul held his hands out, fingers spread and wiggled them at Lori. "Well?"
Lori started the car, then looked from his fingers to his face and back again before saying, "What? Your fingers are lovely. Classic. Julie did a wonderful job on them. Is there something that you don't like?"
"Is there something... Lori, I want to do everything I can within reason to make everyone happy, but how can I hide these?"
"Paulie, they're beautiful. Why on earth would you like to hide them. We've already discussed staying in control of this. The girls will be be with you between every class. What can go wrong? I made sure that she didn't use any color. I doubt that anyone will even notice."
He let his hands drop into his lap and shook his head. He noticed that the nails stood out in beautiful contrast to the flowers that adorned the red peasant dress - a dress that belonged to Lori's twelve-year-old sister. He blinked his eyes and tried to think through his dilemma."
"I bet that your mom will love them, too. She text me while we were in the salon. We're meeting her at a store on Cambridge St in twenty minutes."
"Are we stopping at McDonald's again so that I can change back into my regular clothes?"
She smiled and put the car in gear. "Baby, there's nothing irregular about the clothes you're wearing now, but, regardless, we're going to have you fitted for breast-forms, so I'd suggest that you stay in your dress." When she reached the stop sign at the exit of the parking lot, she looked at her pretty, little boyfriend once again and asked, "What's wrong with that dress? Don't you like it? It's always been one of our favorites. It was Becca's first, then mine, then Merrie's and now Sammie's. I bet that she'd be happy to make a gift of it, if you like it. Don't you like how it feels?"
Paul thought about it. As a matter of fact, it was incredibly comfortable, but there was something that scared him about wearing it - it was so thin and light and it hung so loosely that it felt was if it was barely there. The panties he was wearing, too. They were made of much thinner and softer cotton than his usual briefs. He felt soft and vulnerable and his penis had been tucked for so long, now, that it actually did feel a bit disconnected in a way. But he knew it was there and he knew that the only thing separating it from Lori's touch was less than a thirty-second of an inch of soft, pink cotton.
He thought about all of that and compared it to his 'regular clothes.'
"I do like the dress, Lori. It's very comfortable and pretty."
"Alright, then. Let's enjoy this week. You're happy. I'm happy. Your mom is happy. Now, let's go get you some nice, plump boobies."
They parked in a municipal lot and walked down the street till they came to a small, tasteful looking boutique called 'Athena's.' It was tucked in between a Starbucks and a tuxedo rental shop. The windows were adorned with beautiful, lacy bras, nighties, stockings, jewelry... It looked exotic and elegant to Paul. Normally, he'd never think to even stop and look at the window for fear that passers by would think he was a pervert.
Obviously, these were not concerns for Lori. She strode casually to the door, commenting on an article of lingerie that she thought was beautiful, although Paul had never heard of the article of clothing, nor could he imaging how or why it would be used.
When he looked around at the store's inventory, everything was screaming 'female' and 'you do not belong here.' It made him nervous - so much so that he felt a tug as his penis and scrotum contracted slightly with fear.
"Oh, here they are, now," Lilly announced from the counter where she'd been chatting with a saleswoman.
Lori hustled towards her, but stopped, went back a few steps and grabbed Paul, pulling him along with her.
"Lori, this is Stacy," Lilly introduced the women.
They shook hands and said their hellos and nice to meet yous.
"And this is my son, Paulie. See what I mean. The padded bra doesn't give him the tear-drop shape of a natural breast. He wants his breasts to look as natural as possible for the photographer."
Paul nearly died. He expected some sort of story to preserve his privacy. Something like, 'my daughter hasn't developed yet,' or 'he is playing a woman in a play,' or something - anything other than 'he wants his breasts to look as natural as possible!'
"Mom! Seriously!?" He hissed.
"Oh, sweetie," Stacy said, "don't worry about that for a moment. No need to be embarrassed here. I cater to all kinds of people. Woman who have lost breasts due to illness. Woman who want to even out their breasts. Men who want to look like women and even boys who want to look like girls."
While she'd been speaking, Stacy had come around the counter and was already pulling a tape measure around Paul's torso.
"30," She muttered as she walked back to the counter and picked up a tablet and started typing into it.
"I see what you mean, Lilly," she continued on, obviously in a 'work' mode, "it doesn't look 100% natural. Even if we use an older style bra, like the girl in the picture did, it will look much better if the breast beneath the cup is a natural shape and not a rolled up sock. A 'B' cup will give him a nice, girlish shape, too. Come here, dear."
Paul stood still for a moment, then, with a slight push from Lori, he went to the counter and looked at the tablet.
"You see, Polly," Stacy barely breathed when she was on a roll, "there are cup sizes and there are cup sizes. The girl in the picture looks a little older than you, she was, what, eighteen or nineteen?"
"Eighteen," Lilly said.
"And you're, what, fourteen or fifteen?"
"I'm eighteen," Paul said, a bit hurt.
"It's the dress," Lori laughed. "It's my twelve year old sister's. You should see him in it without makeup. He looks like a sixth grader."
"I do not!" Paul couldn't believe this! Had his girlfriend and mother lost all of their filtering mechanisms today, or did women just always discuss embarrassing things without any thought for the consequences?
Lilly laughed. "I bet you do, Paulie. Your brother was at least your height in sixth grade, probably taller and definitely broader.
"Here, look at these Polly," Stacy, interrupted. "For an eighteen year old who is fit and hasn't carried a child, her breasts should be high and perky and look healthy. The nipple, as a rule, should be high on the tear drop shape and should have a little movement when she walks or runs, but not just swing around. What do you think of these? They are very supple, the nipple is pronounced, but don't protrude too much and they have a little weight to them, so they'll move naturally when you walk. You can even bath and swim in them."
The item on the screen was fairly nondescript. It was a lump of silicon that had the shape of a natural breast, but it was just a beige lump.
"I like the shape, Stacy," Lilly said, "but can we get them in a flesh tone?"
"Oh, sure. We can make them as realistic as you'd like, but every addition is a little more expensive. We can match her skin color easily and, of course, a little makeup will make it perfect. We can make the nipple and areola more realistic, too. As a matter of fact, we can make them so realistic that she could take of her bra in public and no one would even suspect that her breasts weren't real."
Paul opted not to correct the barrage of female pronouns that had just been directed at him, but he had to admit that the idea of breasts was very exciting. His penis was stirring in his panty-gusset.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for Paulie to experience what it's like to be a woman," Lilly purred, obviously enraptured by the idea of purchasing breasts for her little boy. "I think we'll go all in and get the best. What would that cost us?"
Stacy and Lilly continued to talk prices, breast types and different types of adhesives for attaching the breasts and securing his manhood - that second thing seemed a little unnecessary to Paul, but no one seemed overly interested in his point of view.
Meanwhile Lori put her arm around Paul's shoulders. "You ok, baby? You look a little overwhelmed."
He shrugged. "I'll be ok. It's just a lot to think about."
She kissed the part in his hair and breathed in the smell of strawberries, flowers and hairspray. She really liked it.
"What's to think about? You'll just look like a girl, and the breasts will make you look a little older, too. Of course, once you've had your makeup and hair done by Aunt Alison, you'll look a little older, anyway."
She rubbed his rear end through the thin material of the dress and panties as she continued. "Just imagine what those will feel like when their attached. You'll feel like a girl every time you move and they jiggle on your chest. Just like mine do. Won't that be nice?"
"Attached? Don't they just sit in my bra?"
She smiled and caressed his bottom some more. "The basic ones would, I'm sure, but your mom is buying you the best. Those are glued to your chest. You heard what Stacy said. You'll be able to go topless and no one will be able to tell. If we glue your wee-wee between your legs, you'll look just like a girl. Like my girl."
This was a lot to take in. The idea of being that much of a girl made him want to leap up and scream 'hallelujah,' but it also scared him to the point of feeling that now familiar sensation of his genitals contracting. He cupped his left hand over his mouth and his right hand on top of the left as he considered how small and pretty and vulnerable and female he'd be if he did this.
"Oh, Paulie, look at those nails!" Lilly looked with amazement at his hands. She took them from his face and held them in her hands as she inspected them. "Oh, Lori, she did such a good job! They make your hands look gorgeous, Paulie."
"Thanks," he smiled at the attention, but he was still concerned about keeping them concealed at school.
"Oh, honey," Lilly loved the look of his hands. "We need to get you a couple of pretty, sparkly rings so that everyone notices these. They're so pretty."
"See, baby" Lori jumped into the conversation before Paul could say anything, "I told you. You need to embrace these things. You've never looked this cute before. You need to show off the new you. Not hide it."
"Oh, yes, Paulie," Lilly continued. "Why just look at this little dress of yours. How cute can you get? Why wouldn't you want everyone to see how adorable you are in this?"
"Yesterday, Lori said I looked like Holly Hobby in this," Paul was trying to make a point. He wasn't sure what it was, but at the core of it, he wanted to express that he thought that the dress was cute, too, but if he had to dress as a girl after school, then he at least wanted to look like a girl his age.
"Oh, you're right, Lori, he really does," Lilly gushed. "Oh, Paulie, I wish you could enjoy this as much as we do. You are just adorable, sweetheart."
Stacy interrupted the flow of conversation, which was fine with Paul since there didn't seem to be any possible way to point out that he wanted to be a big girl without sounding like a child.
"Ok, Lilly, good news. Our supplier has exactly what you need in stock. I can have it for you tomorrow. These are perfect for you, Polly. They will do everything real breasts will do - shy of breast feeding a baby. You can wear anything, no matter how revealing. Even a bikini. Lilly, I ordered the adhesive for the prosthesis and that other adhesive we discussed. Those will secure her girls AND her boys nicely."
"This is going to be so freaking awesome, Paulie!" Lori was bouncing on the balls of her feet as she spoke.
Paul noticed how her breasts bounced with her and he thought, "I wondered what that wouldl feel like."
The Dairy Bar wasn't very crowded. Monday nights were much less busy than Fridays and Saturday's.
"Lori, I already put in your order," Beth called from a booth where she sat with several of the girls from Lori's group at school.
As Lori and Paul approached the booth, a series of 'Awws' erupted from the girls as they caught sight of Paul in the youthful, red, flowered, peasant dress. He looked around and there were just a few, older couples enjoying their burgers or fried fish, so he relaxed and got into the spirit of things. He took a hold of the hem of the spacious skirt and gave a slightly clumsy, slightly self-conscious curtsy, eliciting more 'awws' and some applause.
Beth stood to meet them. She hugged Paul patted his back. "Aww, Rooney, you look adorable. Like a little, Russian peasant girl."
"You look great, Paulie," said one.
"That's adorable, Paulie. Lori, did you pick that out?" said another.
He smiled at the attention. He felt safe with these girls. They always made him special, kind of like his was their mascot or something.
"Oh, Rooney! Look at his toes, girls! How cute!" Beth bent low, put one arm behind his waist, the other behind his knees and, seemingly effortlessly, lifted him up as if he was a bride being carried over the threshold on her honeymoon, and she held his feet towards the girls for their inspection.
For his part, Paul, instinctively, threw his arms around her neck to keep from falling, let out a high pitched, girlish squeal of delight allowed himself to be their play thing for the time being. They'd always treated him well, but this kind of attention was new and exciting and wonderful. Not just being part of their group in a new way, but the feeling of being lifted and swung around, the air flowing up up under his dress and billowing the skirt. He loved it.
When she put him back down, Lori said, "Show them your fingers, baby."
He did and suddenly, these things that had made him so apprehensive became a source of pride. The compliments were coming in waves as the girls showered him with compliments.
The food was good and greasy and they all shared a huge plate of fries and chatted about school and friends and boys and college and prom.
At some point, Lori noticed that Paul was looking towards the rest rooms. "Do you need to use the ladies' room, babe?"
Paul bobbed his shoulders from side to side a few times before nodding that he did.
"I do, too, Rooney," Beth said. "I'll take you with me."
She jumped up and offered a hand to Paul, who took it and headed off to the ladies' room with her.
Paul had been in the men's room at The Dairy Bar dozens of times. It was just like a million other men's rooms. Two urinals, one stall and two sinks.
The ladies' room was a bit bigger than the men's. Where the men's room had a band of blue tile around the walls, the ladies' had a powdery pink band. It also had four stalls, the same two sinks and a long, padded bench.
Beth saw Paul staring at the bench and it occurred to her that this was probably unique to a women's lavatory. She smiled and said, "It's for changing a baby's diapers or breast feeding. People used to be more bashful about breast feeding in front of other people," and she entered a stall.
Paul lingered there a moment longer, looking at the bench, then letting his gaze wander to the bodice of his dress where his padded bra created a protrusion in the line of the garment. Obviously, he knew that women breast fed their children, but, up until this moment, he'd really only considered breasts as beautiful, feminine and desirable. For the first time, he considered the actual biological function of breasts. How extraordinary it must be to not only bring a life into the world, but to then have the responsibility of creating food with your own body to sustain that life. What must that feel like? To have a life that dependent on you? To feel that life cling to you? Attach to you? To have another, beautiful, helpless, little being draw milk from your breasts so that that tiny life could thrive.
It was just biological, yet it was magnificent and miraculous.
He looked at his own, padded imitation of breasts and he felt strangely impotent and inferior.
He entered the stall, all these thoughts swirling through his head, pulled his panties to his knees, raised his dress, sat, pushed his limp penis between his thighs and relieved himself, while wondering, suddenly and shockingly, what it must really be like to be a girl - a woman. It had never occurred to him before how truly superior a woman was to a man - to any man. It was a revelation and it was awe inspiring.
When he was done, he wiped, tucked and adjusted himself before stepping out of the stall. Beth had finished washing and was seated on the bench, using her phone to check one social media platform or another.
When he'd washed and dried his hands, he looked at Beth who patted the bench next to her and said, " Let's chat, Rooney," and she smiled.
Paul sat as he'd been taught, knees together, dress smoothed under, back straight and not touching the wall. Once seated, he crossed his knees and made sure the hem of the dress was perfect. He made quite the little picture of femininity, especially in contrast with Beth who was somewhat sprawled on the bench next to him. This contrast did not go unnoticed by Beth.
They sat in silence for a moment or two, until Beth drew herself forward, hunched forward and put her elbows on her knees and let out a long breath before speaking.
"We're friends, Rooney, right?"
Paul had always thought of Beth as Lori's friend, not his, but, come to think of it, he had been spending a lot of time with her since October when he'd started dating Lori. "Sure," He said, "I guess so."
She smiled at his response, but didn't challenge the way he said it. She nodded and proceeded cautiously. "Ok, so, we're friends. Well, I want to ask you something, as a friend. Is that ok?"
"Sure, I guess so."
"Ok..." she chose her words carefully. "So... on Saturday morning, I saw you in a dress for the first time, right? And your mom explained it, ok?"
He nodded.
"Then, yesterday morning, you came downstairs in some kind of old-style negligee and your hair in curlers, looking much more like a girl than you did on Saturday, right?"
Again, he nodded.
"So, today you show up at school with your hair dyed and your ears pierced. Again - all explained away."
He was getting nervous. Where was this heading? He shrugged.
"Now, you show up here looking cute as a button, but kind of over the top girlie, if you know what I mean."
Paul felt some shame and knew that his cheeks were red. He could feel them burning. He nodded, but he wasn't smiling. He could feel embarrassment burning his throat and tears threatening to leak from his eyes.
Beth could see that she was upsetting him, so she paused and took both of his hands in hers as she sat somewhat taller.
"Look, Rooney, I'm not judging you, or anyone else. That's not what I'm getting at. I just want to ask you... well, I guess that what I'm trying to say is... Aww, shit, Rooney, I'm no good at this, but I need to ask you - Where are you going with this? I mean, are you going to start dressing girly all the time, because you can't really be doing it part time for long. And... well, are you ok with all of this? I mean, no one's forcing you, right? Your mom, or Lori? They're not making you do anything you don't want you to do, right? I mean, I love Lori, but I know how obsessed she can get and if she's putting too much pressure on you, you can tell me and I'll talk to her."
A tear fell down Paul's face and his eyes closed in demure thought as he considered her question. Things were definitely moving very fast and his mom and Lori were unquestionably moving faster than he had expected, but the truth was - no - they were not forcing him to do anything that he didn't want to do and was actually very happy to do. It was exciting and he felt... right... when he was dressed.
He shook his head, throwing his hair behind his shoulder, used the ring finger of each hand to wipe away the tears that had already escaped his eyes, as he sniffed back more tears. He struggled to smile as he turned towards Beth.
"Beth, I don't know what to say. You're so kind... I didn't expect you too... I mean, if anyone was going to tease me, you know..."
She put her arm around his shoulders and gave him a loving shake. "Don't kid yourself, Rooney. I may have a tough crust, but I love all you guys."
Paul smiled and even laughed as he struggled not to cry.
"So, tell me the truth, Rooney. Is anyone forcing you to do anything you don't want to do? You can tell me. If you need help, I'm here for you."
He shook his head, again, and finally he was able to smile a big, full, pretty smile and laughed as he admitted, "No, Beth, thank you. No one is making me do anything I don't want to do, but thank you, so much, for caring so much. I'm really touched."
She gave him a final hug before releasing him.
After a moment, she asked again, "So, where is this all headed, then?"
Paul shrugged, rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I don't really know. It's all happening so fast. I mean I like it - I mean I REALLY like it - but should I be doing it at all, let alone full time, you know? I just don't know how to answer that."
Beth nodded. He'd given her an honest answer. Now, it was time to join the others again. "Ok, Rooney," she helped him to stand, "just remember that I'm here for you if need anything. Anything at all."
Paul gave her a tight, thankful, chaste hug. In true male style, he'd never examined his relationship with Beth, before. He wasn't even sure she liked him. He certainly never expected her to show him this kind of friendship.
As he released her, she kissed his right cheek, then patted his left cheek. "Remember, Paulie, I love you, too. I used to think of you like a little brother. I like you as my little sister, too."
Paul beamed. "You called me 'Paulie.' You've never called me that, before."
She gripped his shoulders firmly and turned him towards the door, pushing him forward as she headed for the exit. "Yeah, well, forget about it, Rooney. It'll never happen again."
When they returned to the booth, they were holding hands and laughing. They joined the others and talked and laughed and teased each other until it was time to go.
He'd slept the night in a light blue, cotton nightie that his mom had picked up for him Monday evening, and when he came downstairs, his hair was still braided. He had started brushing his hair one hundred times in the morning and evening as Lori's mom had suggested and he liked how it looked and felt, but one of the girls at The Dairy Bar last night had suggested that, if he brushed his hair, then braided it before going to bed, then, again, brushed it in the morning, his hair would have more body - so, he was trying it.
"Oh, how pretty you are this morning, Paulie," Lilly gushed. What a change she'd seen in him over the last few days. Gone was the sloppy, artsy boy with the stringy, greasy boy-bun, and in his place was this rather meticulous young lady, experimenting her way into womanhood - much the way that a twelve or thirteen year old girl did. Trying just a tiny bit more each time she went out.
"Thanks, mom. Do you think you could help me put my hair into a neat bun this morning? It's always kind of messy when I do it."
"Well, yes, I certainly can, but, maybe you should consider leaving it in a braid for today. It looks so nice."
"Mom," Paul smiled at her, "it's hard enough to hide what's going on around here this week from the people at school as is. If I wear a braid to school, how will I explain that?"
"Explain what? That you want to look nice? Since when has that been a crime?"
"You know what I mean, mom. Will you help me out"
Lilly gave a loud, long, dramatic, noisy sigh. "If I must, I must, but I want to go on record as saying that I think your braid is absolutely adorable in I think that it's a shame that you aren't man enough to wear it to school." She smiled at him and kissed his forehead, then placed a plate of fruit salad in front of him.
"Tell you what. You eat your breakfast and I'll brush out your hair, then I'll do the bun after you're dressed."
While Paul munched his melon and apple bits, Lilly gently undid the braid and, with a soft bristle brush, began brushing his hair.
"It is amazing," Lilly commented, "how much better your hair looks after just a couple of days of care. The conditioning and brushing have helped immensely, not to mention this color. Oh, Paulie, all of this beauty that we found... I hope that you keep some of it after this week. It would be such a shame to waste it, now."
Paul just smiled at his mother's flattery.
When he'd finished, he hustled upstairs, removed his nightie, folded it neatly under his pillow and picked out his clothes for the day.
First, a pair of beige, silky panties with the lacy front and side panels. He tucked himself in securely, then placed the matching bra in his book bag so he could put it on after school.
He went to grab a pair of jeans, but decided that they would be too rough. He'd gotten used to nicer fabrics. Instead, he grabbed a pair of dress slacks and pulled them on. Still not as nice as a dress, a slip or a petticoat, but better.
Then he had a revelation. He grabbed the bag that Lori had brought over on Friday and rummaged until he found what he was looking for. There it was! A pair of sheer pantyhose. That would feel better than the rough fabric. He took his time and put them on correctly, then noticed that there was a pack of the type of tee shirts that he usually referred to as 'wife beaters' in the bag. He grabbed the bag. It read, "Layering Tee Shirts. Pack of 3. Cotton/Lycra blend." He took out one of the white shirts and slipped it over his head. It clung to him pleasantly and hung over the top of the pantyhose, assuring him that they would stay concealed.
He looked in the mirror.
Ok. Kinda cute, but he missed his breasts.
He grabbed a pair of Star Wars socks - they had markings that looked like the markings on R2D2 - and pulled them on, lamenting that they would cover his pretty, painted toes. Oh, well. Best to just enjoy these things 'in the closet,' so to speak.
He pulled his dress slacks on for the second time, then grabbed a white polo shirt, but he stopped as he was taking it off the hanger because something else had caught his eye.
There, in the back of the closet, was a Hawaiian shirt that he'd worn to a neighborhood luau-themed party last year. It was a men's shirt, but it had a light blue background with hibiscus flowers all about the material. It was lightweight and pretty and comfortable and hung loosely about his small frame. It was perfect for a bright, sunny, breezy Tuesday morning.
He looked in the mirror, again. Again, it looked cute, but with a padded bra and a little makeup and he'd look HOT!
He smiled at his playfulness. He really enjoyed this, but he had to remember not to get carried away. Geez, his hair did look good, though. It was shiny and silky and had a nice amount of body to it. When his mom was combing it, she said that he should "undercomb" it, too. He guessed she was right, because it looked great! Maybe he'd just wear it down today. He'd see what his mom thought.
He slid on his moccasins and hustled back down to the kitchen.
Lilly caught sight of him and wondered what he must be thinking. Yes, he was wearing boy's clothes - and they were 'boy's clothes. He was too small for men's sizes - but they were all, well, maybe 'androgynous' was a bit of an understatement. They were kind of girlish. The flowered shirt was loose and swung about him and his slacks were a tad big, too and had pleats in the front, making them puff a little. The long hair and deck shoes moccasins didn't help, either.
"What do you think?" He asked and spun on the ball of one foot.
He'd never asked her that before. Obviously, he thought he looked nice. Well, what could it hurt? Kids dressed in sexually ambiguous clothing all the time, right. She kind of liked this look for him.
"You're adorable, Paulie. Do you want me to put your hair in a bun for you?"
"I don't know, mom. What do you think?"
She smiled. There he was. Her pretty, little son. Right now, it didn't matter what he wore. He was going to look like her pretty, little daughter no matter what. Oh, how she hoped he'd stay in skirts and dresses like those kids she'd read about in magazines. Wouldn't it be wonderful to take him out shopping and to restaurants and, oh, just about anywhere and have them both dressed beautifully? Look at how he was acting right now. He'd be so much happier if he was always a petite, little lady. She knew it and she knew that deep down deep inside, he knew it too.
"Do you want me to try the bun, then we can always take it out if you don't like it."
He agreed and sat in a chair at the table while she grabbed a brush again and started grooming him and, again, she hoped he'd want to stay this way. She'd shared so much more time with him in the last few days than she'd ever shared with him before. Boys were great, but every mother wants at least one daughter to spoil.
"Paulie,"
"Yeah, mom."
"Could you do a little favor for me?"
"Sure, mom. What do you need?"
Lilly pulled a section of hair from both sides of his face and pulled them to the back of his head where she took a Bobbie-pin and held them together, in place.
"Just for this week, while you're kind of my son and my daughter at the same time," she added a few more pins to hold everything tight. Then she sprayed a little hairspray on his head and ran her hands through his hair to separate all of the hair from around the back of his neck, leaving a section of hair hanging from each of his temples, and she created a ponytail below where she'd pinned the first sections. "Would you mind terribly calling me 'mommy?'"
He laughed softly as she took the right side remaining section and took it to the left side of the pony tail and pinned it in the back. "Sure, mommy. That's fine with me."
She did the same to the left side and pinned it, too.
"Thank you, sweetheart. That means a lot to me." Through the window, she noticed that Lori was pulling into the driveway.
Lilly took all of the hair and wound it loosely to create the bun, then pinned it securely before adding a few more pins.
Lori came through the door, "Hi! Are you all set to go? It's almost 7:..."
Lilly pulled a few strands loose near his face to fame it and he was perfect. His hair swooped from his perfect part to the sides where it hung loose and softly before swooping back up to the large, loose bun at the back of his head.
It was a far cry from the sloppy topknot he usually wore. It was an elegant woman's hairdo. Understated and beautiful.
Lori stared in shocked awe.
Lilly smiled at Lori. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself."
"Wait, what?" Paul felt his head, realizing that the bun was much further back, looser and bigger than usual.
He got up and headed to the mirror in the hall, but Lori stopped him, held him at arms length and looked at his new look with watery eyes. Then, suddenly, she pulled him into a tight hug, closed her eyes and smiled. Everyday, he was more and more beautiful. More of a defenseless little girl and she loved it more each time and each time it caught her by surprise.
"You're so beautiful," she whispered. "You did such a great job on his hair," she said to Lilly.
When she let him go, she was shaking with emotion. "Are you going to school like this?"
Paul looked at both of the women, confused. He turned away and walked to the mirror.
It was so simple and elegant. Nothing like his grandmother and not a quick brush out or an attempt to imitate someone else. This was Paulie and he knew that he could go into any place in the world and the only thing that anyone would think would be, "She's a good looking woman."
His stupid attempt at being androgynous with the Hawaiian shirt looked ugly and insulting to this beautiful face and hair.
He didn't know why there were tears on his face, but there were.
He turned to the women standing near him. "I... I can't."
"Can't what, baby?" Lori asked as she rubbed his back.
"I can't go to school like this. I want to, but I can't. I'm not that strong."
"Come back to the table, sweetheart," Lilly nodded her understanding. "I'll take it out."
"No, please," Lori said with quiet urgency, "keep it for a few minutes. You look like such... well. There's no other way to say it... such a grown up girl like that."
That was definitely part of it for all of them.
Finally, Lilly asked, "Paulie, how many absences do you have this year?"
"Huh? Just one. Why?"
"Well," she kept her words calm, but she really wanted to do this, "I don't have any showings today, so Linda can run the office this morning, so I was thinking... you know that sleeveless, yellow dress that Lori brought over Friday night?"
"Yes." He'd stopped looking in the mirror and was looking at his mother, curious as to her point.
"How about if we did this? You put on that dress, I'll put on something nice, too, Lori, you can run home and put on something, too, then we all play hooky this morning and go to the country club for a lovely, weekday breakfast. After that, you can come back here and change, then be in school by 10:15, or 10:30. That way, you guys can still be in school for a half a day and I can take two of my favorite girls out for a nice, sit down breakfast. Beautiful clothing, beautiful surroundings and delicious food. No one there will know you. What do you say?"
Lori looked to Paul. For a moment, each waited for the other to commit to an answer, but suddenly they both burst into giggles. "Yes," "Sounds Great," "I'll call my mom and tell her."
"One thing, though, Lori said. "I don't need to go home. I was hoping to take Paulie out for a cheap-movie-night date, tonight, so I brought a nice pair of slacks and a pretty blouse. That will due, won't it?"
"Perfect," Lilly clapped her hands. "Go get your clothes and you two get changed in Paulie's room while I change in mine. Paulie, you may need a little help with the dress. If you need anything, a slip, or chemise, just come and get it from me. Lori, you do Paulie's makeup while I do mine and we'll head to the club."
Wait. Did his mother just suggest that he and Lori get changed in the same room? Together!? Had she actually forgotten that he was a boy!? Oh, well. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
There were a few giggles from Paul's bedroom, but, for the most part, they behaved themselves.
There was a knock on Lilly's door at one point.
"Yes?" Lilly called, as she worked on her lips in her vanity mirror.
"Mommy," Paul called through the door, "Lori says that I need a short, half slip for this dress. Do you have one I can borrow."
She smiled. Who'd have ever thought that her son would ask her that question. "Come on in, sweetheart."
She rose and went to her bureau and pulled open a drawer, searching.
As Paul entered, he was shocked to find that his mother was dressed in slacks and heels, but on top, she was covered only by her bra.
"Here you go, Paulie," she smiled as she turned, then realized that she was shocking her son, dressed as she was.
She laughed, "I'm sorry, honey. I always do my makeup before I put on my blouse. It keeps me from making a mess. I hope I didn't shock you."
He smiled and realized that he must have looked like an idiot. Himself in a bra and panties, acting as if his mother, who was wearing a lot more clothing the he was at the moment, was being, somehow, inappropriate.
"Try it on, honey. Make sure it's short enough."
Paul did as instructed and stepped into the short, silky ring of fabric. It was cream colored and had tiny flowers embroidered around the hips. It felt lovely as it slid around on his silky panties, and, although a little loose, the half slip would do fine for breakfast.
"That should do fine, Paulie, and it looks very pretty on you. I'm sorry if I surprised you, half undressed like this. Most boys don't even think about their mothers even having breast and here I am, nearly exposing them."
Paul shrugged and smiled, then turned to the door, before stopping with his hand on the nob.
"Mommy?"
"Yes, Love?" She returned to her makeup regime.
"When Keith and I were babies, did you...?" He reconsidered asking the question. "Never mind."
"No, honey. Go ahead. You can ask me anything."
"Alright, but if it's weird, just say so, but I've been wondering lately... did you ever breast feed either of us?"
She stopped powdering her face and turned to look at her son. "Well, yes, honey, of course. I breast fed both of you. Why?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Is guess that I never really thought about it before, but that must be an amazing thing to be able do, Huh?"
She smiled as she thought about it. "It is, dear, it truly is. Sometimes you feel live a slave to biology while at other times it feels miraculous to have that connection to another person."
Paul nodded and looked a bit wistful.
Lilly looked at the pretty boy with his pretty hair, lacy padded bra, femininely embroidered half slip, little white heels with red toenails peeking out and perfectly manicured fingernails, who was lost in thought and she knew that the clothes and pampering, for better or for worse, were definitely entering his psyche.
"Why do you ask, honey?"
Again, he shrugged. "I never really thought about it before, but for some reason, I just started thinking about what it must be like."
She smiled. It was definitely for the better.
He turned and walked back to his room to change.
The country club was, as one would expect, lovely. Paul had only been there once before for a reception following his father's funeral, but that was a long time ago. He didn't remember much about it. For Lori, this was her first visit. Typically, Lilly only used the country club as a place to network with affluent clients. She'd have a meeting over a meal or drinks, maybe twice, maybe four times in the course of a month. The yearly membership fee was very steep and just having a meal there was expensive. So, if she couldn't write it off as a business expense, she usually stayed away.
But today was a special day: Breakfast with her daughter and her girlfriend.
Paul sat in the back of the SUV, behind Lori, who was in the passenger seat. As they drove up the long, winding driveway and the country club came into view, he was very impressed with the opulence - even from the outside. Nothing too flamboyant - stucco, field stone and large, exposed beams - but it was all put together beautifully. Well proportioned and it looked perfect in with the wide, deep green fields in front of it and the dense New England woods closing in behind it.
"Wow," he said from the back seat. "Are we dressed well enough to go in there?"
Lilly was in dress slacks, smart, businesswoman jewelry and an elegant blouse, while Lori was in wonderfully tight, grey slacks with nice, three inch sling-back heels and a silky blouse that had what she referred to as 'cold shoulders', which just meant that her shoulders were exposed, elbow-length sleeves and it fit loosely so that it hung sexily from her ample breasts.
As they got out of the car, Paul checked his look. The soft, cotton, summer dress was sleeveless and buttoned up the front, with eyelets all about the bodice and a moderately full skirt that ended several inches above his knees. It fit loosely, too, and it blew easily in the breeze, making him aware of its flimsy material every moment that he was outside on this sunny day with its gently, late spring breezes. The scoop neck showed off his grandmother's pendent beautifully and his mother had given him several, sparkling rings to wear as well.
He'd seen himself in the mirror and he knew that no one could tell that he was a boy, but he was still feeling a little nervous and excited due to the possibility of discovery. More than that, though, he was thrilled by the sensations and how these clothes made him feel; cute, adorable, delicate. Like a pretty girl; a real, honest to goodness, pretty girl.
It was absolutely wonderful.
They entered the foyer, which had deep, rich woods and regal looking, green fabrics everywhere.
"Good morning, Mrs Rooney," the hostess enthused. "So nice to see you, again. Oh, and are these two beauties you daughters?"
"Oh, good morning, Rita," Lilly enthused in return. "Yes, these are my girls. This is Lori and this is Paulie."
"Lori, it's lovely to meet you, and oh, Polly, what a lovely dress you're wearing. Oh, so adorable."
Paul blushed. "Thank you, ma'am."
The hostess laughed, "Oh, so polite! Well, you are very, very welcome, my dear. I have a lovely table in the alcove reserved for you, Mrs Rooney, just as you requested. Follow me, ladies, please."
They wound their way through the restaurant with Lilly stopping occasionally to greet people and introduce them to 'her girls.'
They sat in an alcove with a lovely view of a river in the distance. It all seemed so fancy and grown up and elegant - especially while wearing these pretty clothes.
Fruit, eggs, mini muffins, cow cheeses, goat cheeses, omelets, bagels, lox, hollandaise sauce, bacon, kippers, granola... they had everything and it was all delicious.
Eventually, Lori excused herself to use the ladies' room.
"Are you enjoying yourself, sweetheart?" Lilly asked.
Paul nodded, smiled and wiped a little dab of yogurt from his lip. "Oh, mommy, it's all so good and this place is so lovely. Why don't we eat here more often?"
Lilly laughed, "Because this little feast will run me about two hundred dollars before we're done, but, so what? I'm having a great time with you, Paulie." She reached across the table and rubbed his petite hand.
"Me too, mommy."
"Oh, Lilly," a woman interrupted, "I'm so happy I ran into you. Can I pull you away from this charming child for a few moments to talk about that property on Elm St?"
"Of course, Betty," Lilly turned on her business face. "Paulie, will you excuse me for just five minutes?"
Paul smiled and said he was fine till Lori returned.
Lilly left and Paul was looking at his phone, when someone moved quickly into the seat that Lori had vacated.
Paul turned expecting to see his girlfriend, but, instead, he was treated with the angry face of his future sister-in-law, Abby.
"Abby!?" Paul was, at first, happy to see her, but her scowl sobered his mood quickly.
"Don't 'Abby' me, Paulie. What the hell is going on here? I thought this was just something you did to help out your mother. Do know how hard it is for someone who comes from my side of the tracks to get into this place? It's nearly impossible. Now, I'm out having breakfast with my maid of honor and her mother and I see my future mother-in-law and my fiancé's prissy, little brother flouncing around looking like some kind of fairy princess." She leaned in and hissed in his ear, "I swear to god, Paulie, if you ruin this or my wedding for me, I will make your life a living hell." She held up her phone and showed Paul a picture of him sitting at the table, smiling as his mother rubbed his hand. "You want your brother to see this picture, 'Pauline?' What do you think your big, strong, tough brother will do if he finds out? He's a real man, Paulie. He'll beat the living crap out of you and make a real man out of you."
Paul was too stunned to react. He couldn't explain. He couldn't yell. He couldn't cry. When he tried to talk, just a whimper came out of his mouth.
"I was willing to excuse your perverted little game," Abby continued, "as long as you did it in your own house. I indulged your mother's scheme to recreate your grandmother's picture if it made all of you weirdos happy, but I will NOT be embarrassed by you and this freak show of a family. So, here's what you're going to do. You're going to go tell your mother that you don't feel well and that you need to leave immediately. I don't want you messing up my life, Pauline. Do you understand me?"
He nodded. Suddenly very frightened.
"Now, I'm going to stand up and kiss your cheek before I leave, because I told everyone at my table that you were a little girl that I used to babysit. After I leave, you wait a few moments, then , go get your mommy and have her take you home. Clear? You can wear your petticoats and panties there - behind closed doors - but I swear, if I ever see you out and about dressed in sugar and spice and everything nice, you will find yourself in a full body cast for months. I'll see to it that Keith puts you there."
He nodded.
She stood, bent to kiss his cheek, then smiled a big, friendly smile and said, "I'm sorry you can't join us, Pauline, but I understand that your mommy has an appointment. Bye, bye, honey," and she patted his shoulder and returned to her table.
Paul was shaking with fear as he heard Abby say, obviously loud enough for him to hear, "No, she can't join us. She has to get to school."
He concentrated on his breathing, trying to control the horrible vertigo he was feeling. What the heck had just happened. He'd been such a perfect day up until that moment. He thought that Abby was supportive of this. Keith! He really was a tough kind of guy. If he found out, he might actually kill him.
He stood slowly, holding on to the table for support. He still looked beautiful, but he felt like a clown. A cheap imitation of something pretty.
He looked around and saw his mother at the unopened bar with the other woman. He looked in the opposite direction and saw the exit. He decided just to head for the exit. He'd figure out what to do after he got out and felt safe.
He headed towards the door.
"Are you ok, honey? Are you feeling ill?" a waitress asked as he dodged past her shaking his head struggling to hold back the tears.
"Paulie!" Lori called. She'd caught site of him as she exited the ladies' room and he pushed the door open and ran out into the sunlight. She tried to give chase, but there was a whole room of people, tables, chairs and commotion between her and the exit.
She looked towards their table and spotted Lilly at the bar. She ran to her.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt, but Mrs Rooney, what's wrong with Paulie?"
"What?" Lilly was shocked by the question, but frantic once she saw the look on Lori's face.
They both bolted to the table. Paul's cell phone was still there, as was Lilly's purse. Lilly looked around the room in a panic, not noticing her future daughter-in-law, who kept her head low.
"Mrs Rooney, that's what I was trying to tell you. He just ran out the front door. He looked panicked. I couldn't stop him."
They hurried to the door. Lilly called to the hostess to put the bill on her account.
They opened the door to a bustling parking lot with lots of people coming and going, but no sign of Paul anywhere.
"He must have gone to the car." Lilly grabbed Lori's hand and they ran as fast as their heels would carry them to Lilly's SUV. No Paul. No nothing. Just an empty SUV.
"Oh, my God!" Lori was nearly unhinged with concern. Her little boyfriend, the one that she'd always felt so protective of, was all alone, upset and in a dress and heels somewhere. Anything could happen to him!
"Come on." Lilly didn't know where he was or how she'd find him, but she knew that she had to look for him. "Jump in. We'll find him."
To Be Continued...
Spit and Image - 3
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He really needs someone to talk to. This was a tough installment for me to get
through. I hope it was worth it for those who are enjoying the story.
Author's Note: If you enjoy this story, why not consider leaving me a review? ~Clara.
This version of Spit and Image: 3 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.
Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.
Chapter 3
They'd looked everywhere. He wasn't on the streets near the country club, or on the way home, or at the school or at The Dairy Bar. He wasn't downtown or in the park. He wasn't at McDonald's, or Burger King, or Dairy Queen... he wasn't anywhere.
They'd gone home and checked twice; he wasn't there.
Lori called the kids from school and asked for their help. They'd spread out and looked everywhere. He was nowhere to be found.
Lori was at her wits' end. Lilly was staying controlled for Lori, but she was ready to fall apart at any moment. She'd thought about calling Keith and Abby, she didn't know how Keith would react to the news that she'd dressed his younger brother up in a pretty dress and took him out in public. Keith could be very unpredictable and, when he was young, he lashed out at people before thinking. He was much better at controlling himself, now, but it was probably best to hold off calling him for now.
"Oh, my God, Mrs Rooney! Where could he be!? I'm so scared that something may have happened to him! What are we going to do?" Lori cried for the millionth time that day.
Lilly took the younger woman's hand. "We'll find him, honey, I promise. I just wish I knew what caused him to run off like that."
"I know! It seemed like he was so happy. He looked so pretty... Did I push him too hard, Mrs Rooney!? I just found him so beautiful like that. Oh, Mrs Rooney, if anything has happened to him, I'll never forgive myself."
"Now, calm down, honey, or you'll have me crying, too."
They saw some people walking their dogs, coming out of a wooded path that Paul had used as a cut-through to school before Lori started driving him. Lilly lowered her window and called out, "Excuse me. You haven't seen a young woman in a yellow dress, have you?"
The man, a distinguished man in his sixties hurried to the side of the SUV. "Small girl? Blondish hair and no shoes?"
Lori stopped crying and listened as Lilly spoke. "She had shoes when she ran off, but have you seen her!? We're so worried!"
The man explained that the young lady had come running out of the path as they entered it about a half an hour earlier. "I'm afraid I knocked her down when she ran into me. I never saw her coming. I helped her up and asked her if she was ok. She said she was and I asked her if I could help her get home. She said that she was headed to her house and that it was just a block in that direction." He pointed towards Lilly's house.
Both women let out massive, shaky breaths of relief. "Oh, thank god!!" Lilly finally allowed herself to let out her tears. "Thank you so much!"
The man waved as they pulled off towards the house.
The screen door was closed, but the interior door was wide open when they got their. Lori ran in first, followed closely by Lilly.
"Paulie! Paulie! Paulie!" They called as they looked around frantically.
They spotted the yellow dress and feminine undergarments just inside the dining room door. The dinning room was a mess - dresses on the floor and the mirror turned backwards.
"Oh my heavens," Lilly couldn't breath. Paul had been attacked. It was obvious. Someone had grabbed him, dragged him in here and done God knows what to him!"
The volume, pitch and frantic nature of her voice rose with each syllable. "Oh, no, Oh, no, Oh, no, Oh, no... Paulie! Paulie, please, Oh, God, Paulie, please, where are you!?"
Lilly, who had remained calm all day, was unhinged. She was desperate and all of her fears hit Lori like a sledge hammer!
Lori, who'd knelt to pick up the clothing, suddenly realized what Lilly was thinking. She wanted to calm her and assure her that she was wrong, but, instead, she ran like a woman possessed, up the stairs to Paul's room. The door was closed. She grabbed the knob and tried to turn it, but it was locked.
She leaned against the door and listened. She could hear him crying - deep, sobbing cries of despair.
"Oh, thank God," she whispered,.
She calmed herself and tried to sound rational. "Paulie?"
Nothing.
Just a little louder. "Paulie, baby?"
Nothing.
"Paulie, please, Oh, Paulie, baby, are you in there?"
Finally, "Go away."
"Paulie, are you ok, baby?"
"Go away!" A little louder
She heard something just inside the door. It banged on the door. She knew it was his head, she could sense it. Paul was sitting on the floor with his back against the door. The bang came again. He was banging his head against the door.
"Paulie, Love... did someone... did someone attack you downstairs?" Lilly joined her in the hallway.
"What!" Paul was barely coherent in his despair and he couldn't understand the question. The head banged again.
"We saw your dress, baby, and the dinning room and we thought..." Lori tried to explain.
"What!? Oh for crips' sake, no!! It's not MY dress! It's your little sister's goddamned dress!!" He was yelling. Neither of them had ever heard him like this before. "I'm not your damned little sister! I was supposed to be your boyfriend!!!" He was losing control completely. "I'm not a girl!!! I'm not a man!!!! I'm just this pathetic, useless, ugly little.... THING!!!!" He was crying and moaning and banging his head more forcefully on the door.
Lori and Lilly stared at each other. They had no idea, none, what to do! Call the police!? Call an ambulance!? As his wailing grew and their silence increased, Lori finally whispered, "I have to..." and she ran to the lavatory down the hall where she slammed the toilet seat up.
Lilly could hear her vomiting in huge, painful thrusts followed by cries and wails as despairing as Paul's. She felt weak and guilty and lost and responsible and frantic and confused and more things than she should ever have to feel at once. She'd hurt her son in ways she could never fix. She'd loved him so much that she wanted to share something with him that she'd never shared before and she'd destroyed him. How could she have done this? What kind of a monster was she?
She was empty.
"Paulie," it was barely a a breath, let alone a whisper. "Paulie, I... I... I, love you, honey..."
He wailed all the harder. He was saying something, but his wails and moans were so violent that she couldn't make it out. She had no more strength. None. She turned and leaned her back against the door and slowly slid to the floor where she sat as closely as she could to a child she loved more deeply than she could explain and finally, with no possible way to stop it, she sobbed as as deeply as he did.
They were all awash with sadness.
Soon, Lori joined Lilly on the floor and cried as she laid her head in the older woman's lap.
Nothing else happened - forever.
As the house grew darker and darker, the sound of the back door slamming rang through the old house.
"Rooney!!! Rooney!!! Jesus Christ!!! Rooney!!! Where are you!?!?" It was Beth.
She shouted and panicked as she ran through the house.
Lori leaned over the railing. "Beth?"
"Is Rooney up there?"
Lori nodded. "He's locked himself in his room."
Beth took the stairs three at a time and arrived at the top step, red with adrenaline. "Let me talk to him."
"We've tried." Lori's voice was weak and defeated. "He won't talk to anyone."
"Beth?" The voice from behind the door was also weak.
Lilly and Lori both turned to the door, hopefully, but there was no more sound.
Beth pulled a crumpled note from her pocket and handed it to Lori. Lilly rose and looked over her shoulder to read it as well.
"Beth.
You said that if I ever needed help, I should come to you.
I need help, now.
Everything is all messed up.
I don't know what to do.
Maybe everyone would be better off without me.
I don't know.
I think I might be leaving tonight.
Maybe forever.
I don't know.
I think you might be my only friend.
Can you help me?
I lost my phone.
I don't know where.
I'll be at my house for a few hours before I go
Please come if you can.
I need to talk to you
If I don't see you before I'm gone
Thank you for being my friend
You were nice to me
I'll always remember that
Thank you
Good bye
Your friend
Paul"
"Beth?" The quiet voice from behind the door asked again. "Will you come in here, please?"
Beth looked to the other women who nodded.
Beth went to the door and tapped gently. "Rooney? It's Beth. Can I come in?"
The door opened without a glimpse of Paul visible. Beth entered and the door closed the same way that it had opened. Then there was a quiet 'thunk' as the lock was engaged.
There was some muffled crying from behind the door, as if Paul was crying into Beth's shoulder. There were hushed sounds that seemed to be Beth's voice, but it was small and intimate. They couldn't tell what was being said from the hallway.
After straining to hear for a few minutes, Lilly whispered to Lori, "Come on. Let's have some tea and let them talk."
Paul closed and locked the door. His face was wet with tears and smudged makeup.
"Hey Rooney," Beth said, unsure of how to start. "You're, umm... you're not looking real good, pal. What's going on?"
"Beth," he was confused and exhausted. "I'm sorry that I got you involved, but yesterday, you said if I ever needed someone... did you mean that?"
"Sure, I meant it, Rooney. I'm here, aren't I? What do you need? How can I help?"
He tried to say something, but instead, his face dissolved as the tears ran freely again and he hugged Beth tightly to draw strength from her.
For her part, Beth was very scared. Scared that she'd bitten off more than she could chew. That she'd say the wrong thing. That she'd upset him more. She'd never seen anyone this upset before. It was upsetting her, too.
"Take a breath, Rooney."
He cried some more "Come on, please, try to breath, for me. You're kinda scaring me, you know."
He nodded and tried to gain control, but it wasn't happening. "What happened, Rooney? Did Lori or your mom hurt you in some way?"
He nodded.
"How?"
"They forced me into being that... thing. That perverted, ugly thing." It was an angry whisper and he spit the last 'thing' to emphasize his disgust.
"I...I don't understand, Paulie. What ugly 'thing' are you talking about?"
"You know. That sissified, little, fairy - thing. Then they dragged me out in public to show off their creation and I actually believed them. I believed that I could pass. That I was pretty. What an idiot it was. They lied to me and I believed them and now I'm humiliated.
He waved her away from the door and towards his bed. She sat with her back against the headboard while he stood and cradled his head in his hands. "Beth. Please, tell me the truth... what do you think of me?"
This didn't help. Her usual course of conversation would involve a glib, friendly insult to break the ice, but that didn't seem right, so, she chose honesty instead. "Well, Rooney, I think you're a smart guy with some real talent at singing and drawing and even acting. You're polite and, well, I guess that I think of you as a good guy."
"See, that's what a was. Just a regular, nice guy. Then they made me their plaything and now, I'm... I'm... what? I'm a laughing stock or an embarrassment to everyone around me, I guess. Why couldn't they have left me alone!?"
"Alright, Alright, Rooney. Come on. Sit on the bed. Tell me what happened"
They both sat with their backs against the head board, at first side by side, but then with Paul's head in Beth's lap, while he told he the story, leaving out Abby's name in case his mother was listening, and for several hours, she just listened.
When the lights went on in the kitchen, they revealed that both women were puffy-eyed and pale. They were still baffled by what had happened to set Paul off and now there was the mystery as to why he'd asked for Beth.
The water was heated in silence. Lori laid her head on her arms on the table and tried to think things through. None of it made sense.
Lilly busied herself with the kettle, cups and teabags and wondered about everything. Until 8:45 this morning, she would have thought of herself as a good parent. Now... this.
Did she know what was really going on in Paul's life? No
Did she know how sexually active he was? No
Did she understand anything about him? Obviously, not.
She carried the tea to the table and placed one in front of Lori who thanked her. They both examined their cups for a few minutes before Lilly asked, "Did you know he'd go to Beth for help?"
Lori shrugged her shoulders, smirked a bit and shook her head. "I didn't even think they liked each other all that much. Whenever we were together, it was always like Beth was the cat and Paulie was the mouse, you know?"
Lilly nodded. "That's how I saw it, too. Thank God he's talking to someone, but... how old is Beth, 19?"
Lori shook her head. "No. She's only 18. She skipped third grade."
Lilly sighed, "That's pretty young for this kind of responsibility. Can you text her that we're here if she needs help?"
She did.
Then, they waited.
When the sun came up, Lilly was asleep in a recliner and Lori was asleep on the couch. Beth's hand shook Lori's shoulder gently and then indicated that she should go to the kitchen. They roused Lilly along the way, too.
"How is he?" Lilly asked.
"Well, he's asleep now. I still don't know exactly what happened, but it certainly upset him. He keeps saying that 'she' called him a pervert and a freak, but I don't know who 'she' is," Beth spoke as quietly as she could. "He keeps calling himself an 'ugly thing' and says that he shouldn't be around 'decent' people."
"Is that all he's said?" Lori asked.
"No," she shook her head. "He's pretty mad at both of you."
They nodded guiltily.
"But probably not for the reason you think."
"What do you mean?" They asked in unison.
"Well, he's not mad because you dressed him up, anymore - he was at first. He's mad because he says that you showed him 'the truth' about himself. He says that he didn't know that he was - and these are his words - 'a fairy and a little girl' until you guys showed him that he was and, now, he can never be happy again, because if he ever wears a dress, again, 'she' will have him beaten."
They all considered who 'she' could be for a few moments before Lori said, "You don't suppose he imagined all this, do you? You know, like a he might have had a psychotic break or whatever."
"Well, he's certainly having some kind of mental break down, but... I just don't know." Lilly pulled out a bottle of orange juice and poured three glasses.
Beth stood and took her glass. "I'm going back up. I don't want him to wake up alone."
"I'll come, too. I want to be there when he does," Lilly rose to follow her, but Beth shook her head.
"Honestly, Mrs. Rooney, I think you're going to wait until he's ready to come to you. I'm sorry."
Lilly nodded. Of course she was right, but Paulie was her baby.
"I'll send texts when he's up and when he's hungry. I'll do whatever I can to help."
Lilly kissed her cheek and she headed for the hallway.
"Thanks, Bethy," Lori called quietly. "Love you."
"Love you, too."
And the waiting began, again.
Paul stirred around ten o'clock. "You're still here?" He mumbled as he saw Beth sitting on his floor looking at her phone.
"Where would I go, Rooney? I can't leave till I know you're going to be ok."
He nodded. "Yeah. Sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Remember what I keep telling you: I love you, Rooney and I'm here as long as you need me to be here."
He nodded and smiled.
"Can I ask you some questions, though?"
Another nod.
"Ok. Forget about whatever happened yesterday morning. Until then, you were getting a kick out of the dresses, right?"
He shrugged. "I guess, but I never intended to go out in public in dressed like that."
"Right. I understand, Rooney. Really, I do."
She let the silence build.
"But, you did go to The Dairy Bar in a dress and you seemed happy and you told me that you felt 'right' in a dress, right?"
"I guess... but..."
"Ok. I'm just checking my memory. I thought you liked it. I'd kinda bet that Lori and your mom did, too. That's all I'm saying."
Paul nodded and a certain light began to dawn. "I get it."
"So, can you tell me the whole story about yesterday morning?"
He nodded and told her everything.
"So, Abby did this, really? Not your mom? Not Lori?"
"Yeah, but... if they hadn't made me go...and showed me how I really SHOULD live... I didn't mean that. They did this to me, Beth. They MADE me go!"
"Did they, Rooney? Did they MAKE you go, or did you think it would be cool to try?"
Paul sighed. "I get it. You're right. I guess I owe them an apology."
"I don't know... they both adore you, you know. They're just worried about you. An apology probably isn't necessary."
He smiled. "I know. I'm such an ass."
"I love you, too, Rooney. You know, last night, I thought you were going to kill yourself and that really scared me and made me cry. You know why I cried."
He laid his head on her shoulder and smiled. "Because you'd miss me?"
She put her arm around his shoulders and gave him a shake. It had been a long, emotional and emotionally intimate night and Beth felt closer to Paul, right now, than she did to her own boyfriend. It was different, though. It was like he was her little brother. No, her little... no. She wouldn't go there unless he did.
"I truly would, you know." She smiled. "But what really made me cry is what really happened. You were so upset and so scared that you completely forgot that people love you. And we do, Rooney. We really do."
He sniffled a bit and leaned even harder into her shoulder. "I know, Beth. I'm sorry I upset you."
"Don't worry, Paulie. I'm a big girl. I can handle it."
A moment of silence passed.
"I suppose I should go apologize to them, huh?"
"In a minute. Before you do, though, you should think about Saturday. Are you still going to do it?"
"I don't know. What do you think?"
"I think that it would make your mom, your grandma and Lori very happy, but if it makes you unhappy, Paulie... you shouldn't."
"What about Abby and Keith?"
"Frankly, Rooney, I don't think you should give a thought to what Abby thinks and I never met Keith, but he's your brother, right? He'll understand, right?"
"I doubt it. He's a guy's guy. Football in high school and college. Football on tv every weekend. Lots of beer and lots of poker. Honestly, if she tells him, or if he ever finds out... I think he'll kick my ass."
She laid her head on his. "You really did like it though, right?"
He nodded. "I did. I loved it."
They both thought about things.
"Then, I think you should do it again. If you don't, then Abby wins. What do you think?"
"I see that," he shrugged, "but if Keith gets mad, then mom will be upset and I'll be in traction, so..."
She snickered. "It's your call, Paulie, but we'll all love you, no matter what you do."
He sat up and gave her a chaste kiss on her cheek. "You know what?"
"What?"
"I like it better when you call me 'Rooney."
They smiled and giggled.
"Get dressed, Rooney. Let's go downstairs and let them know you're ok."
Suddenly, there was an uproar from downstairs.
"What's that?" Paul asked, concerned.
"I'll check." Beth got up and opened the door as the commotion moved up the stairs.
The hours had dragged and dragged. Occasionally, Beth would send a text giving an update, 'no tears for the last hour,' 'can he have some tea and toast?' but Lilly and Lori were relegated to the kitchen while Beth and Paul spoke and healed.
When it came time for dinner, Lilly thought that Paul might like some pancakes and bacon - his favorite 'breakfast for dinner' meal. As she was mixing the batter, she saw a car pull into the driveway.
"Oh, damnit, this is not the right time for a visit," she muttered.
Lori jumped up to look out the window.
The man who stood and pulled his large frame out of the car and headed towards the door was Keith, Paul's brother. A confirmed workaholic, Lori had only met Kieth on two occasions, Thanksgiving and Christmas. He was as big, handsome and masculine as Paul was small, cute and feminine.
His body language was stiff and quick, he entered the house with a purpose.
"Hi, mom, Lori, I only have a few minutes. Where's Paul?"
Lilly was shocked. Kieth had never, ever asked to speak to Paul, before. "Well, Kieth, to tell you the truth, Paulie is not having a great day, today."
"Yeah, I imagine. I saw the picture. Where is he? In his room?"
He immediately headed towards the stairs. "Paul!? Paul, are you up there?!" He called as he walked with determination.
"Keith!" Lilly called after him, "Keith! What picture? Keith! Don't go up there right now! Keith!"
But he was not listening.
"Hey!" Lori yelled. "Didn't you hear her. Don't go up there." She tried to grab his arm, but he shook her off, nearly unnoticed.
When he reached the top of the stairs, he was met by a girl he'd never met before.
"He doesn't want to see you," she stated flatly.
"Well, I want to see him," Keith pushed right past her and entered Paul's bedroom just in time to see Paul ducking into the lavatory off of his room.
Keith closed the door behind him and locked it, then went to the lavatory door and tried the handle. It was locked.
Keith spoke to the door, "Come on, Paul, open the door. I want to talk to you."
"Please," a frightened voice from inside the lavatory called back out, "don't hurt me. I promise, I'll never do it again! I swear! Please!"
There was some banging and shouting at the bedroom door, but Keith ignored it.
"Paul... come on... I want to talk to you and I don't have much time." He checked his Apple Watch. "Come on, Paul. Let's talk. Just you and me. Right now. Brother to brother. Come on."
No reply.
He grabbed the door handle and shook it, considering how easy it'd be to knock down the hollow-core door. He grunted in frustration. "PAUL!" He yelled. "I want this door open and I want it open, NOW!"
"Leave me alone! Please! I'm sorry! I promise... I'll be good! I'll be like you! I'll be a tough guy! I'm sorry! Tell Abby I'm sorry! I won't do it again! I swear to God! Please, Keith! Please, don't hurt me!!!"
Keith stopped and rubbed his forehead ferociously, then ran his hands through his hair in frustration. Finally he breathed out an angry breath to gain control of himself, then he grabbed the chair from Paul's desk and pulled it over to the lavatory door and sat. He put his elbows on his knees, then bent forward and ran his fingers through his hair, again, pulling several strands out with the force of his stroke.
"Paul..." he was a very busy man and he didn't really have time for all this emotional stuff, but he needed to take care of this - right here/right now.
He started, again, more softly. "Paul... I am not going to pretend that I know what is going on with you and I don't care. I'm your brother, Paul, and I want you to know how I feel about it. You don't have to listen, but I have to say it. Deal?"
No reply.
"Ok... well, you see, Paul... I wasn't brought up like you. Dad was still around and, because I was big and tough, I guess, he really pushed me to be as tough as I could. When he died... well, I guess I just sort of shut you and mom out. I mean... oh Christ... I didn't mean to, Paul. It just... you know... it just all hurt too much and I was just a kid..."
He hated this. Searching for the right words. He hated it all.
"I know that's no excuse and believe, Paul, I know that I've been about as shitty a brother as anyone could be, but... well... I guess there is no 'but.' I just wasn't here for you and mom. I know that. I always knew that and I've always been ashamed of that. But... what can you do? I don't know why I did it, I just did and I'm... well... I'm sorry, I guess. Yeah... I'm sorry, Paul. For everything. For every time that you needed a brother and I wasn't there. I'm sorry."
The knocking at the bedroom door had stopped, but Keith hadn't really been paying attention to it, anyway. He continued on at his own pace.
"Paul..." Geez, did he really have to say this!? "I hope you'll forgive me."
Slowly, the door to the lavatory opened. Paul stood there with his arms folded and his head down. He didn't say a word. He had on a pair of old gym trunks and a dirty tee shirt with the name of a local pizza place written on it.
"Look, Paul... I'm not used to this stuff, ok, but... damnit, Paul, why didn't you tell me you wanted to become a girl. I could have been more prepared."
"I don't," Paul whispered.
"You don't, what?"
"I don't want to become a girl. I want to be a guy, but..."
"But, what, Paul. Can you help me to get my head around this?"
Paul shook his head. "No. How can I help you get your head around it when I can't get my head own around it? I just want to be me, but I don't know who I am or how I should be or look or dress."
Keith nodded, but it made no sense to him. He was who he was. A guy. Guys wore pants and shirts and suits and ties. He'd never once questioned that.
"I saw the picture, Paul."
Paul nodded. It seemed like Keith wanted him to say something, but there was nothing to say. Eventually, Paul whispered, "And?"
"And... at first I was shocked. I don't know how I would have reacted if I saw you out in public like that without knowing that you'd been dressing at home.
Paul's eyes raised to meet his brother's, but he just waited for Keith to speak.
"My first reaction was to call mom and give her an ear full, but Then Abby told me that she'd seen you there with mom, so I knew that she knew. And then she told me about the dresses for the wedding and grandma... well... suffice it to say that I know mom well enough to know that this all sounds just like her."
Paul smiled, just a little, but it didn't last.
"So... What? You got caught up in it and you like it?"
Paul shook his head. "It's more than that, Keith. It's like I was no one before, then I put on a dress and I'm... right. I don't really know. I spent the last thirty hours trying to figure this out. When Abby threatened me, I felt like I was a freak. Like I was less than human. It's a pretty bad feeling. I stood on the Water St bridge for almost an hour trying to get up the courage to jump in and kill myself. Mom and Lori kind of pushed me in this direction, so I couldn't talk to them. I was so alone that I wanted to die. Finally, I decided to just run away."
"Why didn't you call me, Paul?"
Paul raised his eyes and smirked at his brother. "Seriously? Like you said, you were never around much and, besides, your fiancé had just threatened to have you beat me to death because of the dresses."
Keith nodded.
"I asked Beth for help and she's been helping me sort everything out since last night."
"Who's Beth?"
"The girl who tried to keep you from coming in here."
"Oh. And?"
"And... I still have a lot of sorting to do. I don't know who I am or what I want right now, Keith. Abby scared me into thinking I was trash. It's not a good feeling. I still feel like maybe she's right. I don't know what I'm going to do."
Several moments passed while Keith thought about that. "I'm sorry about that."
"About what? Abby?"
He nodded, sadly. "Just so you know, I sent her back to her parents for a few days."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Right now, the wedding is on hold. We're going to get together Friday night when we've both had time to cool off and we'll figure things out then."
Paul felt terrible. "I'm so sorry, Keith. I didn't mean for any of this to happen..."
"Paul," Keith interrupted, "you have nothing to apologize for. Whatever you do is your business and if you present as a girl, that's nobody's business but yours. Abby had no right to make you feel anything less than wonderful, because you are, Paul. I've spent a good chunk of my life thinking about how lucky mom and dad got when you were born. I'm just a big, lunky guy, Paul. I was drinking and smoking pot behind mom's back at dad's funeral, for crying out loud. I do know who I am, Paul, and I wish that I was a better person. More like you."
"Keith... you do not have to say those things. I don't need you to tear yourself down to make me feel better. Knowing that you hate yourself will never make me happy."
The brothers looked at each other, both thinking, 'Where do we go from here?'
Finally, Paul said, "I'm glad we're talking, Keith. I wish we'd done this before."
Keith nodded, then smiled, "Yeah, but I started this whole conversation by saying that I'm a shitty brother."
He stood, standing chest, head and shoulders above his brother. "Come here. I think we need to do something we've never done before."
Paul did not move, but looked warily at Keith. "What?"
"Hug each other."
Paul smiled.
The bigger brother wrapped his arms around the smaller in a big, bear hug. It was nearly painful for Paul, but very needed and very glorious in its own way. It lasted longer and felt more healing than either had expected and when it ended, Keith leaned down and hugged him again, ending that hug with a gentle kiss to Paul's cheek.
"If I were to ever, hypothetically, dress like a girl again, how would that impact you?"
Keith smiled. "It wouldn't impact me at all, Paul."
"Not even with Abby? I feel weird about that already. I don't want to be responsible for breaking you guys up."
He looked more melancholy, now. "Whatever happens between me and Abby is because of me and Abby - not you. This whole thing did bring out a side of her that I didn't know about, but that's probably a good thing, right? We'll get together Friday and talk things through and then, either we'll get married, or we won't. Either way, I'm still going to be your big brother."
Paul smiled.
"And not only that," Keith smiled, "I'm going to start acting like one."
Paul hugged him once again, marveling at how big his brother felt. "Thanks Keith. I love you."
"Whoa! The 'L' word right off the bat. I think you really must be a girl."
Paul smiled. "Alright. Haha." He pulled himself out of the hug. "I think I need a shower right now. I've had a rough day and a half and I smell bad."
"Ok, buddy. I'm going back to work. I'll call you later to check up on you. Let me know if you need anything."
He opened the bedroom door to find three baffled women waiting for an explanation. Instead, he kissed his mother's cheek and said, "Gotta run, mom. Talk to you soon," and he jogged down the stairs.
She looked into the room and saw her youngest child looking messy and exhausted, but not too much the worse for wear. She ran to him and embraced him tightly. "Oh, Paulie, Paulie, Paulie... I'm so sorry honey. I'll never ask you to put a dress on ever again." She kissed his cheek and looked him in the eye. "Never again."
"Mommy..."
Lori interrupted, "Me neither, Paulie. I'm so, so sorry, baby. I never meant to hurt you." She kissed him fully and deeply on his lips. "I was so afraid that you were going to hurt yourself, Paulie. I was so scared..."
"I'm sorry, Lori, I didn't mean to upset everyone. I was just... well... it's a very long story, but there's the happy ending." He pointed to the doorway where Beth stood.
He left his mother and girlfriend and went to Beth and gave her a big hug. "Thank you, Beth. Honest, I might not be here if it weren't for you."
She hugged him back and both of their faces were buried in her hair. When their hug ended, both their faces were covered in tears.
"I mean it, Beth." Paul was as sincere as he could be. "You saved me. Thank you."
Beth nodded, afraid to cry too much for fear that she'd never be able to stop. She'd had the roughest night of her life, too, and she had a lot to process, but not here and not now. Instead, she reverted to typical 'Beth behavior' and wiped the tears from her eyes saying, "Geez, Rooney. You went and made it all weird."
They all laughed, but Paul hugged her once more, kissed her cheek and said, "I love you, Beth. Thank you."
"So, do you want to tell us what happened?" Lilly asked.
"Not really. At least not right now. I really need a shower and you two," he indicted Lori and Lilly, "have things to do."
"Such as?" Lilly asked.
"Mommy, it's nearly 5:30 and Athena's closes at 6:00. I bet that Stacy was disappointed that you didn't show up yesterday. You'd better get going if you want to get there before they close."
"Oh, Paulie, no." Lilly shook her head. "That's all over and done with."
"Mommy, I have gone through hell because of this. I am going to do the picture on Saturday. If I don't, then I let that obnoxious bitch win, right, Beth?"
"You know it, Rooney."
"Wait. Who? What bitch?" Lilly was trying to figure all of this out.
"I'll explain later, but I need to hurry if we're going to make it to Allison's by 6:30 for my body perm."
Lilly was truly dumbfounded. Eventually she muttered, "Paulie... honey... are you sure? Really sure?"
"I am, mommy. Not only do I want to do this for you and grandma, I need to do it for me. I'm sorry I blamed you guys when things went wrong. Beth is right. I could have said 'no' anytime I wanted to. I wanted to dress yesterday morning and I REALLY want to wear grandma's dress on Saturday - more than I can explain."
"Well," Lilly hugged Beth, " It seems we underestimated you, dear."
"It happens," Beth joked, still weeping a little bit.
"Ok, then," Lilly started down the stairs, "I'll be back as soon as possible."
"We'll meet you at Allison's, mommy. Ok?"
"Ok," Lilly was shocked by this chipper personality. "I'll see you there."
"What do you want me to do, Paulie?" Lori hugged him and kissed his forehead.
Paul smiled. Last night, he wasn't sure he'd ever feel the safety of her strong arms again. Thank God she was holding him. "I need you go home."
She was taken aback and held Paul at arm's length. "Go home?"
He nodded, "and look through Samantha's closet. Find me the cutest, girliest dress you can. If I'm going out, I'm going all the way."
Lori looked at Beth, "You want to come with?"
"Might as well," Beth smirked. "I need some time away from Rooney."
Paul smiled and gave her another kiss on the cheek. "You love me and you know it?"
"Yeah," she teased. "What makes you think so?"
Paul walked towards his mother's bedroom to use her walk-in shower, but called over his shoulder. "You told me so last night. You said it at least a hundred times and you know what?"
"What?"
"I could hear it a million times more and never get tired of it." He stopped and turned. "I mean it, Beth. You saved me. Thank you. I love you, too."
She smiled and choked back another threat of tears. Tonight, in bed, she'd let it all out, but right now, she'd hold it in. "You're making it even weirder, Rooney. Knock it off. I mean it."
He turned into his mother's room, but turned one last time and said, "Go with Lori and get me something cute. When you get back, I'll smell like strawberries and flowers, instead of despair, like I do, now." His smile disappeared. "I don't like this smell. I'm never going to wear it, again."
At 6:30pm, on the dot, three very cute young women walked into Allison's salon. The two taller ones were wearing jeans, sandals and tank tops, while the smaller, who looked a bit younger, was wearing a charming, summer dress - navy blue underdress with a light, sheer navy blue outer dress with bright white flowers and stems about it. It has narrow shoulder straps, a pretty, tight bodice with triangular cups, a high waist and a wide, flouncy skirt that ended at mid-thigh. Her thin, smooth legs looked more youthful and less shapely than her companions' but the promise of womanhood was evident. Her limbs all ended in meticulously manicured nails and her pretty, little, navy blue sandals framed her bright red toenails perfectly - and her toenails matched her luscious red lips.
Lilly, still looking a bit disheveled from the endless hours of drama she'd gone through, stared at her son in disbelief. What had all of the last thirty-six hours been about?
"Paulie!?" she muttered. Then a bit louder, "Paulie, what's going on? I mean, a few hours ago, you said that you'd never dress like this again. Now... you're beautiful again. What happened yesterday that upset you so much?"
Paul hugged her a bit. He really didn't want to tell his mother that her future daughter in law had threatened him, so, instead, he said, "Mommy... someone made me feel as If I was a trashy freak. She made me feel so bad about myself that I was, seriously, considering running away or, well, much worse, but after talking to Beth and Keith, I realized that whatever I choose, my mother, my girlfriend, my best friend and my big brother will always love me."
Lilly smiled. She wanted to know more and she figured that eventually she would, but this was ok for right now. He seemed fine, but she wanted to be cautious. "And you're sure you want to do this?"
"Mommy, I am sure that I want to wear grandma's dress and take those pictures on Saturday and I want to be just as beautiful as she was. Whatever that takes, that's what I want to do. Beyond Saturday? I don't know. Maybe I'll never wear a dress again and maybe I will, who knows? Right now, all I want is to make Saturday perfect. Ok?"
"Ok," she kissed him, then said to Allison, "I guess he's all set, then, Ali."
"Excellent!" Allison grinned and came over to join them. "My, oh, my, Paulie, you have become quite the little lady since you were here on Sunday." She fussed with Paul's hair for a moment, then adjusted his dress a bit and her eyes narrowed. "That is a lovely dress, Lori. I really like it."
"Thank you," Lori beamed.
"As a matter of fact, I think that, the first time I saw it, I liked it so much that I bought it and gave it to Meredith for her birthday, last year."
Lori looked slightly sheepish. "Oops. You did. Merrie has actually outgrown it, but hasn't passed it to Sammie, yet, so I figured no one would notice if I borrowed it for Paulie. Sorry."
Ali smiled, " Oh, that's ok. Merrie never looked this cute in it. You're lucky that you're so small, Paulie. You'll get a lot of hand-me-downs if you stay in dresses. By the way, are you?"
"Am I What?" Paul asked.
"Staying in dresses?"
"I haven't decided, yet. Why?"
"Well, I've been looking at your grandmother's hair in the picture and, well, take a look."
She held up the photo so that everyone could see. "She had these little, wispy bangs, see them? Well, if I cut those for you, then you will have a hard time hiding them. They won't be thick and stylish like Katy Perry's were, they'll be like these; just a few, but they'll definitely be noticeable. They only way to hold them back till they grow out will be to wear a headband close to your hairline and that will be just as girlish and much more noticeable than the bangs themselves. If you want this new picture to match the old one, I need to do the bangs, but... it's your call, Paul. What do you think?"
He shrugged, "In for a penny, I guess."
"But, Paulie," Lori pointed out, "you realize you'll have to school with the body perm AND bangs. After what you went through last night, can you handle that?"
He looked at Beth. "What do you think?"
"Your call, Rooney. I'm with you, no matter what."
"Mommy? Lori? Are you with me?"
"I am, honey," Lilly smiled.
"Always, baby," Lori kissed his check.
"Let's do it, then!"
It took about an hour for Allison to wash his hair, roll it in different sized rollers, then partially unroll each to treat it with perm solution, before re-rolling it and wrapping it all in cling-wrap and letting it all set-up. She took advantage of the set-up time to clean up his eyebrows just a bit more.
While he was waiting to be unwrapped, Paul's phone dinged. He checked it to find a text from Keith. 'Hey, Bud. How's it going?'
He replied, 'Going great. Getting ready for Saturday's photo shoot.'
Keith's response surprised him. 'Cool. I want to see it. What time?'
'1:00'
'Got it. See you then.'
Finally, Allison removed the wrapping, then she spread a neutralizing agent over the curlers, followed by a quick rinse in the sink.
Then, Paul had a tutorial on using a 'volumizing' hair dryer attachment so that he could maintain the curls.
"It would probably be best if you used a hair net tonight so you don't damage the curls too much while you sleep," Allison said, "and it goes without saying that you shouldn't wear a hair tie before Saturday, or you could upset the curls with that, too."
"Uh oh," Lori said. Is that going to be a problem for school, tomorrow?"
"I don't think so," Paul smiled, looking at the pretty body his hair had, now. "I think I'm wearing it down all the time."
"Really?" Lilly's eye brows rose on her head. Just yesterday morning he didn't have the courage to wear a fancy bun to school. Where did this courage come from? He seemed very determined. "So, are you just wearing the hair, or other... things... like, makeup and heels and dresses...?"
"Just the hair, for now. I really like it, Allison. It looks so full, now."
She thanked him.
"You said, 'for now,' Paulie," Lilly said. "Are you planning on adding the other things later?"
Paul's smile in the mirror was very coy. "I really don't know, yet, mommy. I'm definitely being a girl at home - and only at home or with friends - until Saturday. After that, I really don't know what I'm doing. I'm thinking about it. Who knows, maybe I'll go to school as a big, tough guy on Mondays and Wednesday, the be a pretty little girl on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then I'll alternate Fridays."
Everyone laughed, but Lilly was encouraged. He just seemed so much more natural as a girl. She just knew that he'd be happier that way. She kind of always felt that way, but now she knew it. Whatever happened at the country club had destroyed Polly, but whatever happened between Paulie and Beth and Paulie and Keith seems to have resurrected her from the ashes and brought an easier going, less self-conscious Polly back to her. This Polly enjoyed being a girl too much to not continue doing so.
It was already getting late when they left Allison's salon and everyone was exhausted from the previous, emotional day, but Lori asked Paul for just a little time together before they called it a night. Lilly said it would be ok as long as Paul was home by 10:30.
They drove to a side road by a river and got out of the car to look at the moon reflecting in the river waters. They sat on the bank, Paul cuddling close to Lori to stay warm on this cool, late spring evening.
"Do you want to talk about what happened at breakfast yesterday, Paulie?"
He smiled and shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I think I'm done with it, now. I just wish I hadn't been such a bitch to you. I'm sorry."
Lori laughed at his choice of words.
They cuddled in silence for a while longer until Lori's hand drifted to Paul's silky thigh. She caressed him and started kissing his neck, making him purr with pleasure. Instead of relaxing and letting Lori bring him to ecstasy, he shifted and moved to his knees, smiling as he kissed her. She prodded his mouth with her tongue, but pulled away when she felt Paul unbuttoning her button-fly jeans.
Her hand grabbed his, "Paulie, we've talked about this..."
Paul smiled. "I'll stop if you want, but I promise it will just be my tongue. I know this is going to sound weird, but I feel too much like a girl to think about my thingy, right now. I just want to please you, if you'll let me."
Lori smiled at the thought of her pretty, little guy servicing her. It gave her shivers. "Ok."
She stood and looked around to be sure they were alone.
Paul knelt taller, resting his rear on the back of his legs. He undid the five buttons and slid the jeans down past her knees, leaving her in a blue, cotton thong that had a small triangle of fabric separating her treasures from Paul.
He kissed all around the area, both skin and fabric, until, finally, he gripped the waist band with his teeth and pulled the front of the thong down far enough to expose a neatly sculpted band of pubic hair that seemed to act as a corridor that led to her vagina.
Lori was shaking with excitement. He was kneeling before her - kneeling - of his own free will! Not only that, he looked nothing like the boy she'd started dating in October. From the way that his full, wavy, light reddish-blonde hair fell to his exposed shoulders, to his cherry red lips and perfectly painted eyes, to the way that his blue, flowered dress spread over his thighs, he was a girl. A girl, on her knees, kissing her little patch of pubic hair.
"That's my good, good girl," she whispered and patted his hair. She could feel the little earrings in his lobes when she ran her fingers through his hair. She could smell the perfume of the hair products. The beauty of her girl in the moonlight was overwhelming and she felt herself spreading her legs to allow access.
Paul pulled the thong down and moved closer. He had to lean his head back slightly to work his tongue into her opening and by doing so, he looked up past Lori's breasts to see her towering above him with a far away look in her eyes and a smile on her face.
Their eyes locked for a few moments.
From her vantage point, Lori saw Paul's smiling eyes, with their long, feminine lashes and mascara and brilliant, blue color that was so perfectly complemented by his dress looking up at her in complete submission. No matter how he decided to present himself, from here on out he would always be her little girl.
Suddenly, Lori's head rolled back and she began to convulse against Paul's face and tongue. She groaned and held back the howls she wanted to let out. Her orgasm encompassed her whole being in a way that nothing ever had before and she wanted it to last forever. Her grip on Paul's head intensified as she tried to pull every bit of him inside of her. She wanted that so badly. She needed it. She tried harder and harder to pull him in until, finally her strength gave way and her wits returned to her and she knew that it had to end. Slowly, she relaxed her grip and struggled to maintain her balance as she steeped back from Paul, who gently returned the thong to its rightful place, kissed it once more, then raised her jeans back up and fastened the buttons again, smiling up at her the whole time.
By the time he'd risen to his feet, she'd regained control of her breathing and was ready to hug him tightly.
He cuddled under her arm as they walked back to her car.
It was a good day to be alive.
To Be Continued...
Spit and Image - 4
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feminine exploration.
Author's Note: If you enjoy this story, why not consider leaving me a review? ~Clara.
This version of Spit and Image: 4 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.
Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.
Chapter 4
"Oh, Paulie, that's just adorable," one of the girls in Lori's homeroom group said.
"Those bangs, Paulie," said another, "they're so cute. I really like them. They make your face look kinda... I don't know... cherubic."
"Cherubic!?" Said a third. "Angelic isn't enough. He has to look 'cherubic'!? You're going to make a great writer, Lisa." Everyone laughed.
Paul loved the attention. He'd worn his hair down, parted on the right side and, as Allison had promised, there was no hiding the wispy, little bangs and that was just fine. He liked them.
He glanced at the clock. "I gotta run." He stood taller and kissed Lori's cheek.
"I'll walk you to class," Beth said and gave Lori a wink.
They moved through the crowded hallways without a lot of chatter, although Paul's hair did inspire a few surprised looks.
"Beth! Paul!" The call came from a nearby locker. It was Melissa from Paul's chorus class. "Can I walk with you?"
"Sure," Beth welcomed her. "How's it going?"
"Good, I guess. Umm... Paul? You weren't in school for the last few days. You ok?"
He smiled at her thoughtfulness. "Yeah, I'm ok, Melissa. Thanks. I just... wasn't myself for a bit. I'm much better, now, though." He grabbed Beth's hand and gave it a thankful squeeze.
"Oh, good. Hey, your hair is hot! I love it. I it looks so cute on your face."
"Thanks, Melissa."
"Gotta run! See you in chorus!" and Melissa disappeared into a classroom door.
"See," Beth leaned in and spoke softly. "I told you that people would be supportive."
Paul was about to answer when the resonate and beautifully accented voice of Mr Mwangi rang through the hallway. "Mr Rooney. May I see you in my office for a moment?"
Paul stopped and turned and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Umm, yes, sir, but I only have a minute to get to homeroom."
"I'll write you a pass."
Beth offered to come with him, but he gave her a kiss on the cheek and entered Mr Mwangi's room and the his small office.
Mr Mwangi regarded Beth with curiosity before closing his door and entering his office and looking at Paul. "I thought you were dating Ms Carter."
"I am, Mr Mwangi. Beth is just my friend."
"Ahh, I see." He nodded as he closed the door to his small office. "Take a seat, Mr Rooney."
Paul was a good kid. He'd never been in any trouble at school before and he was trying to figure out what he'd done, now.
As he sat, so did Mr Mwangi who also folded his long legs as he leaned his chair back and took Paul in, making note of the recent changes.
After a few moments of silence, paul asked, "Did I do something wrong, sir?"
Mr Mwangi smiled just slightly as he considered the question, the slight exposure of his white teeth flashing brightly against his coco-brown skin. "You've put me in an awkward situation, Mr Rooney."
"I'm sorry sir. What have I done?"
The tall man looked at the ceiling for a moment before continuing. "You are making it necessary for me to take an interest in my students private life. I find that awkward."
Paul could not think of anything to say. This was all very confusing.
"I like you, Mr Rooney. You're a good boy."
"Thank you, Mr Mwangi. I like you, too. You're a nice man." That had come out oddly, but Paul was just trying to return the compliment.
Mr Mwangi smiled as he searched for a better tact. "What I mean is, Mr Rooney... I have been teaching a long time and every now and then a student stands out as a special student. You are one of those students, Mr Rooney."
"Thank you, sir."
"You are bright, pleasant and reliable. All good qualities in a young man."
"Thank you, sir." Paul swallowed, a bit uncomfortable with the conversation. "Sir, have I done something in class to upset you?"
"No, Mr Rooney, no. I am just a bit concerned about you at the moment."
Paul shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "Why, sir?"
The older man took a deep breath and pursed his lips in thought before speaking. "Monday night, Mr Rooney, I was leaving The Dairy Bar with my wife and I saw Ms Carter walking across the parking lot with a very attractive young woman." He paused for a moment while Paul considered what he was saying. "Imagine my surprise to realize that you were that young woman."
"Oh..."Paul gave a half-smile as he tried to find the words to explain things to his teacher.
"Then, on Tuesday morning, my wife was at the country club having breakfast with some colleagues when she saw a very upset young woman go running out the door and she was pretty sure that that young woman was the same one we'd seen on Monday night."
Paul nodded his head as he considered what he wanted to say. Mr Mwangi was not the hippest teacher at the school. He was from a more conservative culture where sexual roles were well defined and rigid.
"So, Mr Rooney, I want you to take this," he handed Paul a business card. "That is my sister-in-law."
"Sir?" Paul looked at the card. It was for a psychologist. The address for her office was just down the street from the high school. Why did Mr Mwangi think he needed a psychologist?
"She's a councilor who specializes in gender dysphoria and other issues."
Paul breathed a sigh of relief. He was gearing up to defend himself, but here was Mr Mwangi - man who seemed so old-fashioned in his behavior with 'Mr' this and 'Ms' that - giving him support in a very sweet and paternal way.
"If you're just playing at this, Mr Rooney, I must warn you that you can get hurt, both physically and emotionally, but if you're seriously dealing with gender issues, I encourage you to seek out counseling. You're going to need a professional to talk to as you progress."
Paul smiled. He wanted to hug Mr Mwangi, but he had an aura - almost a bubble - of respect about him that suggested that emotional outbursts were not welcome.
The bell rang and Paul rose. "Thank you, Mr Mwangi, sir, but right now, I'm just helping out my family with a project. I'm not really sure where I'm headed with all of this right now."
Mr Mwangi nodded and indicated the seat again. "Sit down, Mr Rooney. What we're discussing is more important than your civics class."
Paul sat again and waited nervously.
The teacher contemplated his student for a moment and chose his words carefully. This was not a conversation that he found comfortable, but it seemed necessary. "Mr Rooney... I was very worried when you did not appear for class on Tuesday or Wednesday. You are rarely absent."
"I know, sir, I was... well, I had a bad day on Tuesday and yesterday I... I needed another day to get myself back on track."
Mr Mwangi nodded. "I see." He regarded Paul before he spoke again. "Your hair has changed... and your eye brows and you have pierced your ears and you have long and shiny fingernails."
Paul nodded.
"I am not an overly observant man, Mr Rooney and I have noticed these things. I suspect that your classmates have as well."
Paul shrugged. "That's ok, Mr Mwangi. I'm ok with them asking questions."
The older man grumbled a laugh. "I admire your naïveté, Mr Rooney. There are many in this school who may not ask, but lash out instead. Simple minds do not like what they don't understand and I do not want you to get hurt. Am I making myself clear?"
Paul flushed a bit. Would someone really, physically hurt him? He figured there'd be questions, but he hadn't considered violence.
"So, I am asking you to be cautious, Paul."
Paul!? Did Mr Mwangi just call him Paul!?
"Please, until you have made a decision to announce to the world that you are going to become a woman, or until you stop 'helping your family,' I suggest that you take precautions."
Paul was listening closely. "What kind of precautions?"
"For instance, do not use a lavatory without someone you trust with you. Stay clear of the locker rooms unless you have to be in there. What I mean is, take care of yourself, Mr Rooney... or Ms Rooney... just... take care. There are small minded people amongst the population of the school. Do not, for a moment, forget that they are there. If you look like a woman, then you are vulnerable as a woman. Do you understand?"
"I do, sir."
"Good... good." He thought for a moment, but there was nothing more to be said. "Then, I will write you a pass to Mrs Priestly's class." He jotted a few things onto a school pass and handed it to Paul who stood stone still for what seemed to be a very long moment.
"Is there something else, Mr Rooney?"
"Yes, sir... I'm just... I'm sorry, sir... I'm just very thankful that you took the time to think about me, Mr Mwangi. I just never would have expected you to... I don't even know how to say it, sir..."
When Mr Mwangi stood and Paul felt even smaller than usual. The man was at least as tall as Keith, maybe taller. He placed a large hand on Paul's shoulder and tapped it gently. "Then don't say anything, Mr Rooney. I will walk you to class if you'd like."
Paul shook his head and took a moment to wipe a tear from his eye. "Thank you, sir, but I'll be fine. The assistant Principals are still in the halls. Thank you, though. Thank you for... well, thank you, sir." He extended his right hand.
Mr Mwangi took Paul's right hand with his and then covered the back of Paul's hand with his left. "You are very welcome. Now, go learn something useful, then come back to chorus after lunch and do something fun and useless - like singing."
Paul smiled at the man's joke. He nodded and left. When he entered the hallway, he found Beth and Lori waiting for him and explaining to Mr Cramer, an Assistant Principal, why they had not yet reported to homeroom.
Mr Cramer looked over their heads to see Paul and said, "Alright. There he is and he's fine. Do you have a pass, Rooney?"
Paul nodded and held it up so they could see.
"Then get to homeroom and I'll escort your security patrol to their's."
"Everything alright, Paulie?" Lori asked.
Paul smiled and nodded. Mrs Priestly's class was just around the corner, so he hustled to the door as he heard Mr Cramer admonishing the girls, "The only reason I'm not writing you two up is because this is the first time in four years that either of you has broken the rules. I'm going straight to my office and I'm calling your homerooms. If you're not there when I call, you'll both be reporting to detention hall at 2:30 this afternoon. Clear?"
"Clear," the girls replied as they smiled and waved at Paul before hustling off to their rooms.
"I mean it, girls!" Mr Cramer called after them. "You have about three minutes to get there."
The rest of the day went without incident. At the sound of each bell, one of the girls hustled to meet Paul as he exited one class and escorted him to the next. Melissa became one of the security team as well. She seemed to find Paul's new, feminine qualities very engaging and, during chorus, she even offered him the opportunity to join her and her friends at her home if he needed some practice-girl-time. He thanked her for her offer, but declined taking her up on it this week since he had a very busy schedule to get ready for a Saturday.
When school ended, Lori drove Paul to her house. "We've got some work to do, babe, and we have to meet your mom at your house for dinner and some alterations."
"Alterations?" Paul asked. "She's not going to alter grandma's dress is she?"
Lori laughed. "No, babe, not the dress. You."
"Me?"
She laughed harder. "Yes, you. She wants to try the dress with your new breast forms and a waist nipper. The bodice on your grandma's dress is designed to show off a more feminine shape than you have. A nipper should help."
He nodded. Whatever it took was fine with him.
When they arrived at Lori's house, Meredith and Samantha were just getting off of their school bus. They ran up the driveway, cheering that they had arrived in time to help.
"Help with what?" Paul asked.
"Oh, you'll see," Lori and the girls smiled in a very knowing manner.
"This can't be good."
When they entered the kitchen, Lori instructed, "Ok, you two, run upstairs and grab everything and bring it down to the living room." The younger girls nearly knocked each other over, running up the stairs. "Paulie, why don't you go into the bathroom down here and put on your bra and some nice panties. Make sure you're well tucked because, evidently, Merrie and Sammie are helping."
Paul grabbed a gym bag with his lingerie in it and asked, "Helping with what?"
Lori smiled. "Babe, I hope you don't mind, but, honestly, they're just trying to help and they're so excited."
"Excited about what? Lori, what have you gotten me into?" He was smiling, but he was leery.
Lori's smile grew. "They cleaned out their closets, babe. They have all sorts of stuff for you to try on."
Paul laughed. "Lori! I don't even know..."
"I know, I know - you may not continue wearing girls' clothes after Saturday. They know that, and that's what makes it so urgent that you do this with them today. Come on, babe. They're excited kids and they want to help. It's ok, isn't it?"
Paul shrugged. "Ok, but they're not going to see me in my undies, are they?"
"Babe, in this house we're all used to seeing each other in our skivvies. You're in 'The Hen House,' remember? If you're tucked, they're not even going to think twice about it. They just want to give you their pretty clothes. Ok?"
Shaking his head, Paul went to the bathroom to change.
When he returned, there were four reasonably large piles of girls clothing on the couch. It was definitely 'girls' clothing - not women's. The colors were brighter than women's clothing and the clothing looked as if they were designed for younger tastes.
Paul laughed at the quantity of clothing. "Wow. That's a lot of clothes. Did you girls keep anything for yourselves?"
Their grins were huge. "Try on mine, first, Paulie," Samantha begged. "You'll probably fit into all of Meredith's clothes. See if any of mine fit, first."
"Ok," he smiled at the excited tween and her enthusiasm.
There were pretty, ruffled tops that were way too young-looking for Paul to consider wearing, but one soft, blue top that looked nice with a short, white skort that also came out of Samantha's piles. Other than those items, though, everything was either too small, too short or too childish.
Meredith's piles of clothes, however, yielded a lot of comfortable clothing, including a heather-green, sleeveless romper that was dripping in layers of lace and buttoned up the back. Paul thought that it was the most comfortable and one of the most beautiful things he'd ever worn.
"Are you sure you don't want to keep it?" Paul asked.
"No, you can have it. It was Lori's when she was my age and I got it as a hand me down. I never wear it."
"How about you, Sammie? Don't you want it?" Paul asked the youngest sister.
"Nah," Samantha scowled. "I don't like green."
Paul hustled, barefooted, to a mirror in the bathroom. The garment hung loosely and luxuriously from his shoulders, over his faux breasts and to the elastic waist. Below that, it had very spacious shorts that more resembled a skirt than shorts. He turned to see how it hung behind him. It was just perfect. He adored it. Everything about it was just perfect. He checked himself out from every angle. He loved everything about it.
He'd never been so excited about an article of clothing before. He was giddy with excitement.
He hustled back to Lori. "This is cute, isn't it?"
She was amused by her boyfriend's enthusiasm. "Actually, I never much liked it much when it was mine, but I love it on you. You look great, babe. You like it, right?"
"I love it!"
Lori adjusted the shoulders a bit then held him at arms length and looked at him. One of the reasons she didn't care for the romper when it was hers was because she thought it was a bit too 'girlish' when she wanted to look 'womanly.' On Paulie, though... well, it made him look 'girlish' too and that was just fine with her. His slender legs were very well displayed by the wide, floppy legs of the romper and his arms, in fact his whole being, looked more youthful, playful and delicate in the garment. "Then it's yours, babe. Right, girls?"
They were enthusiastic in their agreement. Paul was a nice boy and they had always liked him, but it was so cool to dress a boy, an older boy, up like a pretty girl in their clothes.
When they were done, Paul had acquired six dresses, two rompers, four tops, three skirts, two pairs of shorts and a the skort from Lori's youngest sisters. He had enjoyed trying everything on and the enthusiasm of the younger girls made Paul delighted as well. He'd had a great time playing dress up and being one of the girls.
They arrived at Paul's house, just as Lilly was finishing grilling some salmon for dinner.
"Hi, mommy! It smells great in here!"
"Hi, ladies," Lilly teased, but then spotted her son's outfit. "Paulie! Where on earth did you get such a stunning romper? Why, it's absolutely precious!"
"Isn't it, Mrs Rooney?" Lori loved that Lilly's reaction was so supportive. "It was mine and I passed on to my sister, Meredith. She didn't care for it, though, so now, it's Paulie's."
"Give me a spin so I can see it, honey." He did and both women noticed how his shoulders rose playfully to his cheeks as spun on the balls of his right foot. "Oh, honey, that is just the most darling outfit on you."
"It's definitely his favorite, but he has a few more, too," Lori held up a bag full of clothing.
The fact that her son was happy to receive hand-me-downs from his girlfriend's sister who was more than five years younger than him amused Lilly a bit. It was so nice to see Paulie happy and pretty, again, though, but she decided to keep that observation to herself and just enjoy having him as her little girl as long as it lasted.
"Well, I have some goodies for you, too, Paulie. So, let's have our dinner, then get you all ready to fit into grandma's dress. We don't have an awful lot to do, tonight, but we want everything to be perfect for Saturday, so I need to make sure that everything fits perfectly."
They ate their salads and salmon and sipped their iced tea while discussing Lilly's purchases of the breast forms (they're as realistic as they make them), waist cincher (it's not overly fancy, just a Maidenform like mine. It'll do the job, just fine, though. You'll really only need it for grandma's dress. Most dresses and tops aren't as well defined as the fashions were back then), the shoes that she'd had dyed to match the just-slightly-ivoried shade of the dress (it was never perfectly white, but this way everything will look just wonderful) and the new, shorter petticoats that she'd purchased (I measured it and I got one that will fit perfectly. It will sit snuggly at the waist and end perfectly with the hem of the dress and, oh my goodness, it's just so pretty).
It would have been difficult to judge who was most excited by the prospect of getting Paul into that dress.
Lori thought it was the hottest thing she could think of.
Lilly thought that it would lead Paul to a life that was more appropriate for someone of his size and temperament.
Paul was just excited to be dressed so prettily. He had grown to desire the feel of all things feminine and that dress... well, it was just the most feminine thing he could imagine and to top it off, he'd look just like his wonderful grandmother. He couldn't wait to get dressed!
Just as they'd finished dinner and Lori had volunteered to load the dishwasher so that Lilly could get Paul ready, there was a knock on the door and Beth entered with a big smile on her face.
"Hi, all! Hey, Rooney, nice outfit. Love the lace. Its good to see that you're butching yourself up for the summer, huh?"
Everyone laughed.
"What are you doing here?" Lori asked. "I mean... I just didn't expect to see you tonight. We're fitting Paulie for his grandma's dress tonight."
"I know," Beth smiled. "That's why I'm here. I want to be sure that my new-best-girlfriend looks hot for Saturday morning."
"Ok, Paulie," Lilly pushed Paul towards the dinning room doorway, "we need to get you ready. Into the dinning room and I'll help you."
Lilly unbuttoned the back of the romper and guided it to the floor so Paul could step out of it. He stood in his panties and bra.
"Take off your bra, Paulie. I bought you a couple of new sets. You won't need a padded bra, now. The breast forms will fill the cups just fine."
He removed the bra and took a new one that his mother offered to him. The cups hung rather emptily from the front of his body and left him feeling a bit inadequate.
"Look at these, honey." Lilly held up a rectangular, pink box and pulled off the cover to reveal two, very realistic looking, women's breasts. Paul stared at them with a mix of horror and excitement. They looked SO REAL!!! As if they had been taken off of a real woman. The skin tone was natural and looked like his own. The nipples and areola looked natural and enticing. Suddenly, his own, immature body-structure made him feel wholly inadequate - not just as a man, but as a woman. He had a sudden longing to have the same breasts as everyone else in the house. It just seemed unfair that they all were so beautiful without even trying and he had to fake so many things just to look pretty.
His penis stirred and shriveled just a bit. It was the fear of trying these on and looking foolish as well as the excitement of wanting so badly to have them attached to his body - maybe permanently - that confused his manhood. He couldn't imagine ever losing his penis - in many ways, it was the center of his being, but, now that he'd seen these breasts, he couldn't imaging not having them attached to his body. He knew that they were silicon and pigment, but part of him felt that, if only he could have them attached to him, that he would be able to feel Lori's lips when she suckled him. He just knew how it would feel.
"Paulie?" Lilly asked, pulling him from his reverie, "did you hear what I said?"
Reluctantly, Paul pulled his attention from the box of breasts and looked at his mother dumbly. "What? What did you say?"
Lilly smiled. "I said that, according to Stacy, if we really want the breasts to look natural on Saturday, we should put them on with the adhesive tomorrow night, feather out the edges the way she showed me, so that they look perfectly natural, and then you can wear a bra for normal support. Just putting them into the cups, the way we will right now, will give us the right size, but they'll look a little saggy without being attached."
"Oh," Paul nodded his understanding. "Well, why don't we attach them, now? You know... just to see how they'll look."
Lilly smiled at his desperate need to still sound casual about wanting to be as female as possible.
"Because, Paulie, if we attach them, they'll need to stay on for a good long time before we take them off. If we put them on tomorrow afternoon, we can take them off again Sunday night without causing you any skin damage, but Stacy says that both the adhesive and the adhesive-remover can be damaging to your skin if you apply it and remove too quickly."
"So," Paul countered, "why not put them on today and keep them until Sunday?"
Lilly smiled. "Paulie, you already missed two days of school this week and I don't think going to school with breasts is necessarily the best idea, unless you're absolutely positive that this is something you want to do forever."
Paul nodded, disappointed. "Ok."
Lilly gently placed the prosthetics into his bra cups and helped him to adjust the straps. They definitely felt different. They had a heft to them and they moved more naturally than the bra-pads that he'd been wearing up to this point. He liked them a lot, but he couldn't wait to have them attached.
Next, Lilly handed him a matching panty. It was high waistlined, silky, lacy and, liken the bra, elaborately embroidered with flowers.
"This is a light-control panty, Paulie. I have another adhesive that we can use to hold your 'boys' in place on Saturday, if you want, but this will be helpful, too."
Paul lowered the panties he was wearing and stepped out of them without even considering turning his back to his mother. Then he pulled the stretchy material of the new pair up and into place. When they were properly situated, he reached in to them an tucked himself into place. Lilly watched, fascinated by how natural and casual all of this had become for him. He wasn't embarrassed or modest at all.
"And now, a little torture," Lilly smiled as she had Paul hold the waist nipper in place and she went about the job of connecting the long row of hooks and eyes that would hold it in place. It was worth it, though. When she was done, his shape was much more lady-like than it had been before.
"And finally," she held the breathtakingly pretty petticoat open and he stepped into it as she raised it up his legs and tied it behind his back. As she secured everything, Paul stepped into his silk-lined, opentoed shoes and shivered with excitement as he awaited the dress.
Lori was rinsing and Beth was loading the dishwasher as they waited for Lilly and Paul to come back.
"He's ok, then?" Beth asked as quietly as she could.
"Paulie?" Lori looked towards the dining room to be sure that no one was listening. "Yeah, I think he's better than ok."
"Meaning?"
"Well, I think he's decided to enjoy all of this for the time being. Whatever you said to him, Beth, seems to have been exactly the right thing. He's back to being my Paulie."
Beth nodded, then looked at her best friend appraisingly. "And what about you?"
"What about me? I'm just happy that he's ok."
Beth checked the door to the dinning room, too. "Ok, but... Lori, do you expect him to keep all of this up... I mean, what do you want from this? Are you looking to have him, like, go all the way? Become a girl? Like being altered, you know, down there? Or, maybe, dress part time, or... what? What are you getting out of this? - him dressing up like a girl?"
Lori wiped her hands and considered the question. "I don't know. I mean, I love Paulie - I mean, I really LOVE him and I want to, someday, be with him, you know, a family and all that - so I can't imagine him being a real girl, down there - but, Beth... there is something about seeing him in a dress that just... I don't know - it just drives me nuts."
"And if the dresses get put away?"
Lori smiled, "Then I'll have a beautiful portrait of 'my girl' to keep forever and I can remember how wondered it was to help him experience some time as a girl."
Beth nodded. "Ok, I guess. As long as you're both ok with it and no one forces anyone to be someone they aren't, ok.?"
"Beth, you don't think that I..."
Beth held a finger to her lips, "Shh. They'll hear. You know what I mean. If Paulie wants to wear a dress, then great, right?"
"Of course," Lori said.
"And if Paulie wants to wear jeans and a tee shirt and get all sweaty, then that's great, too, right?"
Lori smiled and nodded. "Yes, Beth, of course and thank you for being his guardian angel."
"Hey," Beth closed the door to the dishwasher, "I really like him and I really like you two together. Don't screw it up, ok?"
Lori nodded, then leaned a bit closed and she whispered, "Ok, but... can you tell me what happened at the country club?"
Beth sighed, folded her arms and looked at Lori with disappointment on her face.
When no answer came, Lori said, "Ok. I'm sorry that I asked."
Suddenly, Lilly appeared from the dinning-room and announced, "Moment of truth, ladies."
When Paul appeared, the girls just stared. The wide, scooped neck revealed soft, feminine skin and led to an enticing cleavage. From the shoulders to where the sleeve ended, just below his elbows, the fabric was covered in lace and little, pearled-glass beads that shone, even in this low light. The bodice was the same as the sleeves, but with his enhanced figure, it hugged him very sexily.
Where a woman's natural waist would be, the dress spread into layers and layers and layers of fluff and lace and more pearled-glass beads.
From below the delicate mass of petticoats and dress, two perfect, creamy, smooth legs descended to the open-toed, two inch heels. There was no way to describe the young lady before them other than to say that she was...
"Stunning. Just, stunning." It was Keith looking into the kitchen from the back door. He pulled the screen open and entered, but his gaze never left his little brother.
"Keith!?" Lilly and Paul both said.
"What are you doing here?" Lilly asked. She loved seeing him, but it was rare that he ever came by and, with the exception of yesterday, she couldn't remember the last time he came over without calling first. He usually wanted to be sure that he could run in and run out as quickly as possible.
"Nice to see you, too, mom." He smiled, kissed her cheek, then looked at Paul.
"I was going to ask my kid brother if he'd like to go grab an ice cream with me so we could talk for a little while, but it looks like I'd have to invite my little sister, instead."
"An ice cream?" Paul was literally astounded. This had never happened before.
Keith moved from his mother and kissed Paul on his cheek, leaving him standing still and stunned.
Finally, Paul gathered his wits enough to speak. "Wow, Keith, I'd love to say yes, but..." he indicated the dress, "mommy set aside tonight to do the final adjustments for Saturday."
"No problem. I'd just like to talk to you alone for a bit before I meet with Abby tomorrow."
"'Meet with Abby?'" Lilly was confused. "What do you mean, Keith? Is there something wrong between you and Abby?"
Keith glanced at Paul with a question on his face, but Paul only replied with a small, negative shake of his head.
"You didn't tell them?" Keith asked.
"Ummm..." Paul stalled. "Maybe we SHOULD go get some ice cream and talk a little. Can you wait until mommy is done with what she needs to do?"
Keith nodded, but Lilly jumped into the conversation. "Now, wait just a minute. What exactly is going on here? Paulie, do you have anything you'd like to tell me about Abby? Did she have anything to do with the country club? Keith, didn't you say something about pictures when you went upstairs yesterday? I want to know what is going on and I want to know, now!"
Keith and Paul looked at each other and the rest of them waited in silence, until Paul said, "Maybe we should all sit down."
He pulled out a kitchen chair and moved to sit in it, taking the time to smooth the multitude of material beneath him. Seeing his little brother maneuvering himself, Keith, instinctively, grabbed the back of Paul's chair and helped him by pushing his chair towards the table.
Paul smiled at the gallant gesture. No one else seemed to notice.
"Maybe we should go..." Beth started, but Paul interrupted.
"No. I want you all here with me." Paul crossed his legs daintily under the table and settled himself as straight backed as a princess holding court.
Keith, Lilly and Lori sat in kitchen chairs. Beth grabbed a step stool, pulled it towards the table and sat on it. Keith sat to Paul's left, Lilly across from Paul, Beth to Lilly's left and Lori to Paul's right.
Paul took Keith's right hand in his left and Lilly's left in his right. He smiled at them both, his pink-painted lips were shiny and cute. "Mommy. Keith. You know that I love you both, right?"
They both acknowledged that they did.
He looked at Lori and Beth, "Lori. Beth. You know that I love you both, too, right?"
They nodded and Lori rubbed Paul's arm.
"Ok, then. I am going to ask you all to indulge me." They waited for him to continue. Had any of them been capable of registering it, they would have noticed that Paul's body language - the way he kept his back straight, the way he used his eyes, the way he used his lips and voice, the way his shoulders remained straight as he occasionally leaned forward, the way his shoulders wiggled on occasion - they would have realized that there was no remnant of a boy sitting with them. There was just Paul: a small, pretty, suddenly confident young girl speaking to them.
"First, I want to thank you all for letting me work through everything that happened, yesterday." He smiled at everyone, but he didn't leave enough time for anyone else to say anything before continuing. "I was very upset - probably more upset than I should have been - and I blamed everyone else for how upset I was and that was wrong of me. I'm sorry."
Everyone tried to jump in to say that no apology was necessary, but, again, he remained in control.
"No. I'm sorry and I need to say that. Now, about the country club. Yes, Abby was involved, but that's between Abby and me or Abby and Keith and I don't think it would help anyone for us to be discussing it. I mean, we're not going to resolve anything by making Abby into a villain, so, let's just not do it, ok?"
They all looked at each other, surprised and confused by Paul's attitude. Lilly interrupted the silence, "Well, Paulie... if Abby hurt you then I'd like to know..."
"Mommy," Paul stopped her, "Abby only hurt me because I allowed her to hurt me. Beth helped me to understand that. Now, I'd like that to be the end of the discussion. If anything should come out of what happened this week it should be that 1) I learned that no one can hurt me unless I let them, 2) No matter what, there are a lot of people who love me, 3) I have a big brother again and he loves me, too, and 4) I can be whoever or whatever I want as long as I have the courage to be whoever or whatever I want to be. As I see it, as bad as things got, it was all for the best. So, no more discussions about Abby, ok?"
Lilly was amazed. Where did all this wisdom come from. Just as that thought passed through her consciousness, Paul released her hand and reached to Beth and gave her hand a squeeze and he smiled at her. Beth? All of that came from Beth? Good God, she felt so disconnected from, yet proud of Paul at the moment. There was a lot to this child. She needed to get to know him much better.
"Ok, Paulie," Lori put her arm around his shoulder. The soft material and beads of his grandmother's dress felt odd and delicate against her fingers. "Whatever you want is fine with us, right?"
Everyone agreed.
Paul laid his head on Lori's shoulder for a moment. "Now, if it's ok with you guys, I'd really like to finish whatever we need to do so I can take my brother up on his offer of an ice cream. Mommy, what do we need to do?"
Lilly sniffled back a tear as she said, "Not much, really. Come with me," she stood and took Paul's hand, helping him to his feet, "and stand on the platform in the dinning room. Let me just check everything out, then I'll let you go out with Keith. Lori, while they're gone, I'll work with you on your prom gown, ok?"
"Sure, that's great, Mrs Rooney!" Lori smiled.
Paul and Lilly disappeared leaving the awkward circle of Lori, Beth and Keith at the table.
"So," Keith tried to get a conversation going, "Lori, you and Paul have been together a while, now. Are things going well for you two?"
Lori nodded, but before she could respond, Beth asked, "Umm, yeah, Keith, where have you been all of Paulie's life?"
Keith was taken aback for a moment, "Well, Beth - it is Beth, right? - I've been right here. I am Paul's brother, you know."
"Yeah," she persisted, "then how come I've been around here since October and I didn't even know you existed until yesterday?"
Keith smiled at her abrasive protectiveness. "Cause I've been a pretty sad excuse for a brother, I guess. Thank you for pointing that out."
"Huh," was Beth's reply.
"And now...?" Lori asked.
He considered that for a moment. "And now... I'm trying to be a better brother."
"Good," Beth leaned back on her stool, folded her arms and glowered.
Keith smiled at the two, young mother hens.
Lilly inspected every inch of the dress, making sure that the beads were attached and the seams were all tight. She fluffed the skirts and smiled as she looked at her beautiful boy.
"Does it feel ok, honey?"
Paul smiled and shook his head. "Mommy, it feels glorious. This is the most exciting thing I have ever worn. I wish I could wear it everyday. I hope that grandma likes the picture."
"She'll adore it, honey. I promise." She inspected the dress once again, then asked, "Why did you say it was an 'exciting' dress, Paulie?"
"I don't know... I guess I'm just excited to wear it. It's just so... gorgeous. The way it hugs me up here... the way it flows around me down here... the way the beads sparkle and... oh, I just don't know. It makes me feel so... pretty..."
Lilly smiled. "You're miles beyond pretty in that dress, Paulie. You are truly beautiful. You hold yourself so beautifully when you wear it... oh, sweetheart, if I didn't know better, I'd swear that you were raised in dresses. You do like it, then?"
Paul kissed her cheek, then turned and held his hair to the side so she could unbutton the dress for him. "Mommy, to tell you the truth, I adore it and almost everything about all the clothes I've worn this week."
She lowered the dress and he stepped out. She hung it on a hanger and started untying the back of the petticoat. "And after Saturday? What will you do, then?"
Paul shrugged as he contemplated the breasts that were held to his chest. "I still don't know, mommy. I just know that I love doing this, now."
She lowered the petticoat and he stepped out of that as well. "Do you want some jeans to wear to get ice cream with Keith?"
Paul smiled. "Absolutely not! I'm wearing my new romper. Keith said he wants to take out his little sister, well, his little sister is going to go get ice cream with him."
"Ok." Lilly smiled and shrugged her shoulder. "Let's get you dressed, then"
Keith put his arm around Paul's waist and both of them, once again, marveled at their size difference as they headed to his car.
"Let me get that for you," Keith said as he, due to years of experience, opened the passenger door for the young lady he was escorting out for an ice cream.
Paul's smile was huge and sincere. "Thank you." He sat in the car, fastened his seat belt and waited for Keith to enter through the driver's door.
"What do you feel like, Paulie? The Dairy Bar? Dairy Queen? Friendly's? What sounds good?"
"Why don't we go to the drive through at Dairy Queen. I'm not sure I'm ready to see everyone at The Dairy Bar or Friendly's just at this minute."
"Really?" Keith seemed surprised.
"Yeah. Why did you ask it like that."
"Well," Keith shrugged, "I was just hoping that I could show off my beautiful, new, little sister, is all."
"Ok, ok," Paul pushed on Keith's shoulder the same way that he did to Lori when she teased him about something, but Keith didn't budge - not even a fraction of an inch. He was rock solid. "You can be honest with me." He indicated the way he appeared. "Does this bother you?"
Keith was genuinely hurt by the question. "Paulie. I'm being 100% honest with you and I want you to believe what I'm saying. I love you and I support you, no matter what. I think that you look adorable in that... dress or whatever. If we did go into a restaurant, you'd be the prettiest girl there, and I could not be happier to spend time with my little sister."
Paul blushed and smiled. "Well, enjoy her while you can. She may not be around much longer."
"Really? Why?"
Paul shrugged. "I don't know. She might go back to being your kid brother after this weekend."
"Huh," Keith looked at his brother. "Paulie, you know I will support whatever you do, but, damn, buddy... you look as cute as can be as a girl."
They both laughed at how awkwardly and sincerely Keith has said that sentence.
"You know what I mean, right?"
Paul smiled again. He had always wanted to spend time with Keith and this was a great start. He wondered if it could continue if Keith reunited with Abby.
Keith seemed to feel the same way. He was smiling the whole time and he'd always seemed so serious around Paul in the past. Almost like Paul was a nuisance. Paul had never understood why, but it always seemed as if he annoyed Keith.
"So," Keith began slowly, "to address the elephant in the room... you know that I'm getting together with a Abby tomorrow, right?"
"I do," Paul nodded.
"And..."
"And... What?" Paul lingered, not knowing what was expected of him.
"Well, if things go well... what do you think?l
"Are you asking me if you should get back together with Abby?"
"Yeah, I guess I am. What do you think?"
Paul shrugged. "Do you love her?"
"Yes, I do... or at least I thought I did before she did what she did to you. I really don't know for certain, now."
"Well, Keith... I mean, come on, families are mean and horrible to each other all the time and... yeah, Abby was mean to me, but I'm over it and over whatever she thinks of me. So, if you love her, then you make your own decision. If you decide to stay with her, I'll be happy for you and know that you made the right decision. If you decide to wait, or go your separate ways, then I'll be with you to help you through it, but if you break up just because of me, I'll feel terrible about it." He took his bother's big hand in his smaller one and gave it a squeeze. "Do what's right for you, Keith, and I'll be happy for you."
Keith smiled at the small, frail 'girl' beside him, shook his hand loose and pulled Paul close, leaned over, kissed the top of his and rubbed his bare arm. "Damnit, Paulie. You are one of kind. Thanks, pal."
They pulled out of the drive through with root beer floats for both of them, and Keith drove to the beach parking lot. It was still early in the season, so only a few people were hanging about. The ocean in the twilight glowed a soft orange as they walked to the swings and sat to enjoy the warm evening and the cool treats.
"You know," Keith said with a touch of embarrassment in his voice, "I really should have asked you to be one of my ushers for the wedding. I'm sorry."
"Why?" Paul swallowed a sip of his root beer. "Like you said, we barely know each other. You should have your friends there with you."
"No. I should have thought of my family, Paulie. I don't know why, but I keep wondering how my life got so off track and I wonder if things would have been different if Dad was still here."
"Keith, you've got a great job, you make good money, you have friends and, who knows, maybe you still have a fiancé. You're doing great."
He smiled as he turned the swing seat to look at his brother. "You're a good kid, Paulie. I do love you, you know. I'm just not very good at showing it, I guess."
"You're doing great, Keith. I love you, too." His smile bordered on maternal.
Keith smiled, sadly. "It's just that you and mom, Paulie... you guys have always been like a team. Like Dad and I were, but... Paulie, do you remember Dad at all."
"Sure I do. I remember how he looked. And how smelled. And the way he'd rub his stubble against my cheek in the morning to make me scream."
They both snickered at that.
"I remember watching him watch you play baseball and football when you were in high school. I remember seeing the pride in his eyes and I wanted him to be proud of me like that, too. I remember a lot about him."
The older brother nodded and his tongue moved in his mouth before he spoke. "Paulie... did you know that he cheated on mom?"
Paul stopped swaying on the swing and turned to fully face his brother.
"What? How do you know?"
"I knew before he died. I heard him and mom yelling at each other one night and the next day, when he'd had a few beers and was feeling sorry for himself, he told me."
"Wow. I never knew about that."
"The thing is, Paulie... I didn't do anything about it. I didn't hit him. I didn't comfort mom. I just didn't do anything except think about how it impacted me."
Paul just listened.
"Why didn't I help mom when I found out? Why didn't I try to comfort her? Why did I just start shutting out my family? What kind of a person just... shuts out the people who love him?"
"I don't know. You were only a kid, Keith."
"I was your age, Paulie. I see how thoughtful and considerate you and your friends are and I wonder why I'm such a piece of shit to my family. I let mom down, I let you down... Geez, Paulie, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be telling you all this." He stood and turned his back to his brother. "See! That's exactly what I mean. I came to help you and all I can do is go on about my problems."
He walked to the short, wooden wall that separated the playground from the beach. He put his hand in his pockets and looked out at the ocean, his back still to Paul."
Soon, Paul had slipped his head under his brother's arm and hugged him around the lower torso.
"I love you, Keith."
Keith pulled him tightly to his side and Paul realized that his brother had turned his back to avoid having Paul see him cry. He wiped a few tears from his eyes before smiling down at Paul.
"Thank you for telling me, Keith."
Keith let out a sardonic snicker. "I really am sorry, Paulie. I didn't mean to unload on you."
"It's ok. That's why I'm here. Really. I didn't even know that you were hurting, Keith. I want to help if I can."
They both watched the waves wash gently onto the sand.
"Paulie... I'm kind of scared."
Paul waited, but Keith remained silent.
"There's nothing to be scared of, Keith."
"Yeah, there is." Keith chocked back his emotions. "I'm scared of losing you and mom. I wouldn't blame either of you if you decided to shut me out."
His eyes showed so much sadness that Paul's heart broke with empathy.
"I'm scared of losing Abby and being alone, too. I've been ignoring my feelings all of my life, Paulie, but when I thought that you were hurt, I mean REALLY hurt, because of me... all of those feelings kind of came avalanching down on me and now, I can't seem to ignore them any more."
Paul looked up from under Keith's arm. He didn't know what to say.
"Do you think I can ever make all of this up to mom?"
Finally, Paul did know what to say. "No. You can't, because she doesn't even know that there's a problem. She loves you, Keith, and she never needs to know. Just... come back to her. Talk to her and tell her you love her. Tell her the way you've been telling me for the last few days. I can't tell you how good that feels. She loves you. She'll love to have you back in her life."
He nodded his head and nodded sadly. "What about Abby?"
Paul hugged him again before he released him. "You'll figure that out. You're a smart guy."
"You're just like mom, you know?"
Paul smiled. "That's just about the nicest thing you could say to me."
"No. I mean it. I'm like Dad - I never see what I have until I've hurt it somehow. You're just like mom - your heart is open and filled with love. I envy you."
Keith bent and kissed his brother's forehead. "You're ok, Paulie. You're ok." Then, without warning, he picked up the smaller boy and ran to the water's edge, pretending to throw him into the cold water, as Paul screamed his protests.
"Keith! No! My hair! My clothes! Mommy will kill us!"
Eventually, they were both breathless with laughter and he put Paul down with his feet in the wet sand where a wave had just retreated back to the ocean. They took each other's hands and walked back to the car, the tall, broad man in dress pants and an Oxford shirt and the small, delicate boy in the pretty romper and bare feet - both feeling different. Both feeling like family.
To Be Continued...
Spit and Image - 5
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in helping his mother with this project.
Author's Note: If you enjoy this story, why not consider leaving me a review? ~Clara.
This version of Spit and Image: 5 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.
Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.
Chapter 5
"You should have something more substantial than just a piece of toast and a cup of tea, Paulie. You've got a long day ahead of you. Remember, I need you to come right home after school so we can get things ready for tomorrow. We've got a lot to do."
Paul laughed quietly to himself. His mother was getting very wound up and stressed over what was supposed to a simple event to recreate a picture that was taken fifty-five years ago. "Don't worry, mommy. I'll be here by 2:45. I promise. And I'm really not all that hungry. This is fine." He took a small bite of his toast and sipped his tea.
Lilly sat opposite her son, crossed her legs and stirred some berries into her yogurt. "Your hair looks very nice, today, Paulie."
"Thanks, mommy." He was still experimenting with how he wanted to present himself in his male-mode. Today, his hair was brushed straight back and he'd sprayed it rather heavily to hold it in place. The short, wispy bangs that he was sporting curled down to his well groomed, though not overly thinned, eyebrows. It wasn't exactly how he'd need to wear his hair on Saturday, but the look was definitely old fashioned, slightly formal and definitely girlier than boys usually wore theirs.
Lilly smiled and considered how he'd look just a day from now. He would be as beautiful as her mother had been when the original picture was taken. Heck, right now he was trying to be as boyish as possible for school, but his lightened hair, sculpted brows, long lashes (there must be some mascara lingering in them for them to be that long), his grandmother's lovely pendent around his knock where it had hung since she'd put there a week ago, and his overall body language... he was just too cute to be boyish.
"That's a nice shirt. Is it new?"
He glanced down at the plaid, button down he was wearing. "This? This was Meredith's. It was in the bag I brought home, yesterday. It looks ok, doesn't it."
"It looks lovely, honey." The colors were fine, if just a little softer than a man's shirt would be, but that suited him. The buttons were on the left side instead of the right, but who'd notice that? The only distinctly female touch to it were the very short, short-sleeves which also featured an inverted 'V' cut into the cuff with a tiny, white-grey button sewn at the top of the 'V'. If anyone noticed those nuisances, it would more than likely be a girl, so Lilly doubted that he'd have any problems.
The 'toot-toot' of Lori's VW sounded from the driveway.
"Oops! Gotta run!" Paulie stood, grabbed his backpack and kissed his mother's cheek. "Bye, mommy. See you after school."
He hustled out the door, down the driveway and into Lori's cute car.
"Look at you, you cutie, you!" Lori giggled as he fastened his seatbelt. "Pretty hair and a cute little blouse! Hot, hot, hot!"
Paul smiled as he leaned over the shifter and raised his head to kiss her cheek. "Mom's getting pretty excited about tomorrow. She wants me back here right after school."
Lori raised her eyebrows lecherously. "She's not the only one, baby."
He laughed and gently punched her arm, "Stop it."
"Oh, I am serious, Paulie. You are hot as hell in that shirt. That's a fact."
Paul smiled and shrugged his shoulders joyously. He loved that she was smitten with him when he looked cute. He wasn't a bad looking guy and he knew that Lori found him attractive, but this was different. He loved being appreciated as being pretty.
"Besides," Lori continued, "my boyfriend is getting boobies today!!!" She bounced in her seat. "I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!"
They both laughed.
At school, they headed for Lori's homeroom, as was their norm, but, just as they reached the door, Paul stopped. Lori looked at him and she could see that he had something on his mind.
"What's up, babe?"
Paul turned towards her, obviously shaken from thought by her words. "Oh, umm... Lori, I think I need to go to the chorus room for a few minutes before class."
Lori smirked, crossed her arms and leaned on the doorway. "Oh? Is everything ok with you and Mr Mwangi? He’s not giving you a hard time about the way you look, is he?”
He shook his head, but Lori could tell that something was up. “No, no... it’s just that I... I need to grab my folder. We have a quiz today and I haven’t memorized part or the... ummm.... Well, I need to work on one of the pieces.”
“Ok. I’ll walk with you.”
“Oh, no... I’ll be fine... thanks.”
Lori watched as he walked down the crowded hall. Something was up with him. He’d tell her eventually.
Just before he reached the chorus room, he ran into Melissa from chorus who was just headed to her locker.
“Hi, Paulie! Why are you walking alone? Are you headed to your homeroom?”
Paul accepted a kiss to his cheek from the pretty senior girl. This had become one of his favorite parts of being girly – the kisses. So much nicer than a wave or a handshake or man-hug with an abusive slap on the back.
“Hi, Melissa. No, I’m going to see Mr Mwangi for before the bell.”
As they stood in the hall and spoke, a very big kid walked right into Paul, almost knocking him off of his feet.
“Hey, watch it!” Melissa yelled down the hall as she caught Paul falling forward.
“Faggot!” the other student called over his shoulder, causing most of the students in the hallway to stop and look from the bully to Paul, trying to figure out how they should respond – talk to the bully, beat up the bully, call a teacher?
Melissa’s face turned bright red and she was about to go after the bully when Mr Cooper’s voice rang out, “Simpson! My office! Now, smart ass!”
There was some relieved laughter from the students in the hall. Several patted Paul’s shoulders or back saying encouraging things like, “He’s an idiot,” Screw him, Paul,” “Ignore him.” Paul shrugged and thanked them. That was unexpected – not the bully, Mr Mwangi had warned him about them, but the support. Maybe this wouldn’t be as hard as he thought.
“Everything ok, here?” Mr Mwangi’s rich voice asked.
“That idiot, Roland Simpson, just bumped into Paulie...” Melissa started, but Paul cut her off.
“Everything is fine, sir.”
Mr Mwangi smiled and patted Paul’s shoulder. “Good to hear.”
Paul found his teacher’s demeanor comforting. “May I speak with you privately, sir?”
“Any time, Mr Rooney,” his smile grew slightly. “I shall walk our friend to Mrs Priestly’s class after we speak. Thank you for getting him to me.”
He bowed, just slightly to Melissa. Considering how aloof Mr Mwangi always appeared, this familiarity with Paul did confuse her just a bit. She nodded, smiled, kissed Paul’s cheek and walked away with a quiet, “Ok. See ya.”
Mr Mwangi guided Paul into the chorus rehearsal room and then into his small office, offering Paul a seat and then he sat himself down in his desk chair. “What can I do for you, Mr Rooney?”
Paul took a deep breath and turned his head to the right to gather his thoughts. “I don’t know, sir. I’m just... well, I guess, I’m just pretty confused, sir, and I was wondering if I might be able to ask you for some help.”
The older man nodded. “If I can help you, I will. What kind of help do you need?”
“Well, sir, I was wondering if you might make a phone call for me?”
Mr Mwangi’s eyebrows rose on his forehead. “Who would you like me to call, Mr Rooney?”
After school, Beth and Lori met Paul at the door of his last class. “All set, baby?” Lori asked as they headed towards the doors and the parking lot beyond.
“I am,” Paul smiled and accepted Lori’s kiss on his lips. “I text mom to tell her that I was going to be a little later than I expected. I hope you don’t mind, but I need to make a stop on the way home.”
“Today!? Ok? I thought that you needed to be home right away.”
“I do, but I just need to make this stop. It’ll only take a half hour or so.”
“Ok. Your mom said ok to this, right? I don’t want to get her upset today, of all days.”
“She’s fine with it. I won’t be long.”
“Yo, Beth!” A voice called from a car that was pulling up beside them. It was Jeff, Beth’s boyfriend. Jeff was a very talented athlete and he worked for his father’s store most afternoon and evenings when he wasn’t swinging a bat or throwing a ball. Beth tended to only spend the late evenings. He seemed like a good guy, but Paul didn’t know him very well.
“Hi, Jeff!” Beth skipped to the side of the car and bent to kiss Jeff through the driver’s window.
As she bent forward and spoke to her boyfriend, Paul felt a pang of jealousy – not as if his girlfriend were flirting with another guy, he’d never thought of Beth as his girlfriend, but more as if someone had just come between him and his favorite, big sister. Her attention had been diverted away from him and it bothered him. AND it bothered him that it bothered him. He had no claim on Beth. Why did he feel so odd that she had looked away. Suddenly, he realized why girls hated their girlfriend’s boyfriends. He decided that this was one aspect of girlhood that he needed to get control over. He didn’t like being petty.
“So,” Beth smiled as she returned to Paul and Lori, “Jeff has to work till 9:00 instead of 6:00. Mind if I hang with you guys for a while?”
“Sure,” Lori shrugged. “Paulie has his mysterious appointment, so you and I can do a little shopping till he’s done.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Beth pulled open the passenger door to Lori’s VW and climbed into the backseat. Paul and Lori climbed in, too, and they were off.
Paul asked Siri how to get to a specific address and within a couple of minute, his phone announced, “Your destination is on the left.”
Lori pulled into the parking lot and Paul pulled the handle to open the door. “Thanks. I’ll call you when I’m done.”
Lori stopped him, “Paulie, are you sure you’ve got the right address? This is a ‘professional’ building. There’s only lawyers and doctors in there.”
Paul leaned over and kissed Lori’s cheek. “Yep. It’s the right place. Love you. See you in a few.”
He held the door while Beth climbed out. She glanced up at a sign bearing the names of some of the names and professions of the tenants of the building, the smiled at Paul. She kissed his cheek and whispered, “Don’t do anything rash, now. Think your decisions through.”
He smiled and returned her kiss. “Don’t worry, but... thanks for worrying.” And they watched as he entered the building.
They drove to an outlet mall down the road and went into one of their favorite outlet stores, Aeropostale. They entered the store and dove into the discounted clothing with all the enthusiasm of two nineteen year old women with debit cards burning a hole in their purses.
Within minutes, Beth had gathered a pair of jeans, a tank top, an off the shoulder top and a short peasant-style skirt. “You like these? They’re really cute. I’m going to try these on. Be back in a sec.”
The tank top showed too much side-boob for her taste, but loved the skirt and the off the shoulder top. She called Lori over to the mirror. “What do you think?”
“Oh, Beth, those are perfect! I love them! Are you buying them both?”
“Sure. It’s only $22 for both of them. Oh, this skirt is so cute! I love it!”
She noticed that Lori had several items draped over her arms. “Did you finds some things?”
“I did. Some really cute stuff.”
“Cool. I’ll get changed. Are you trying those on?”
“Not just yet. I’m going to keep looking.”
“Ok.” Beth went back in to change and returned with a smile on her face. It wasn’t exactly ‘a haul,’ but she’d found some cute stuff and hadn’t broken her budget.
She found Lori still looking through the racks. “Are you trying them on? I’d like to hit Dunkin’s and grab a coffee before we leave.”
“Great! I’m all set,” Lori smiled. “Let’s pay and we’ll head out.”
They’d started towards the cashier when Beth noticed the color of the clothing that Lori was carrying. Bright pinks and yellows and soft baby-blue. Not Lori’s typical clothes palette. “Wait a minute, Lori. Can I see something?”
Thinking that her friend had seen another item, Lori stopped and turned back to face Beth, who reached over and took a pink, lacy, lace up, fit and flare dress off of Lori’s arm. Not only was it have been way too small to fit Lori’s size four body, it didn’t look anything like something Lori WOULD EVER wear.
Beth held up the dress and cocked her head at her friend.
“What?” Lori asked. “It’s cute, right?”
“It’s for Paulie, right?”
“Well... yeah. Everything I have is for Paulie.”
Beth shook her head impatiently. “Put it back.”
“Beth? Why? They’re all priced right and he’ll look adorable in them.”
“Lori, do ever listen to what Paul says? He’s not sure about what he’ll do after the picture is taken tomorrow. You have to let him make up his own mind. He’s not your doll, Lori. If you buy him new, girly clothes, he’s going to feel pressure to stay in girly clothes and that’s not fair. Let him make up his own mind.”
“But...”
“But, nothing. Put them back. If he decides to be your girlfriend instead of your boyfriend, you can come back Monday and buy all of these, but until he decides, you are not allowed to buy him things like this. Period.”
Lori ‘tisked’ at her friend and marched back to return the clothes. “You’re no fun at all, Beth and I absolutely hate it when you’re right. I’ll let him decide on his own, but he would have been adorable in that dress and you know it.”
“Not the point, Lori.”
“I know, I know, but you watch, I’ll be back here on Monday buying this same pile of clothes.”
“And that will be fine.”
Just as the last hanger was rehung on the rack, Lori’s phone chimed, indicating a text. She looked at the phone and read, ‘I’m going to be another 45 minutes. I told mom. We’re meeting her at Allison’s instead of at home.’
She text back, ‘Ok.’
‘Can you call mom? She needs to ask you something. I don’t know what. Do you have her number?’
Lori checked and she did. ‘I’ll call her as soon as we leave this store. Love you.’
‘Thanks. Love you, too. See you soon.’
Beth paid for her purchases and they went out to the walkway. As they headed to the Starbucks, Lori called Lilly.
“Hello, Lori. Thanks for calling.”
“Hi, Mrs Rooney. I’ll get Paulie there as soon as possible. He said he’d be done in about forty-five minutes, so we should be at Aunt Alison’s in about an hour.”
Lilly sighed. “Can you believe he’d do something like this – today of all days!? Oh, well. Whatever he’s up to, I’m sure we’ll hear about it soon enough.”
“I’m sure.” Lori laughed.
“The reason I wanted to talk to you, though is because I’d like you to come dressed up for the photographer, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Sure. Are we going out after?”
“Well, that might be nice, but, actually, I was thinking that, since I have the photographer coming anyway, we should take a few family pictures, too. I’m going to ask Keith to come, too. We’ll do pictures of you and Paulie and the family and you and the family... shots like that, ok? Oh!!! And if you can reach Beth in time, I’d like her to come dressed up, too. Do you think she’d take part?”
“I think so. She’s right here, Mrs Rooney. I’ll ask her.”
Beth, who’d been looking at her phone, looked up. “Ask me what?”
“Will you dress up for the photographer tomorrow? Mrs Rooney wants you in some of the pictures, too.”
“Cool! I can wear my new outfit!!”
Lori smiled. “She’s very excited, Mrs. Rooney. We’ll be dressed up.”
“Wonderful, dear. I’ll see you at Alison’s in an hour, then. Oh! Don’t tell Paulie about the extra pictures. I want to surprise him. Bye, dear.”
“Ok. Bye, Mrs Rooney.”
“We’re getting our pictures taken, too?” Beth was suddenly much more enthused. A real photo session? That was pretty cool. She’d actually had her senior year book picture taken by an artsy classmate. It would be cool to have a real portrait with her friends.
“Looks like it!”
“That’s awesome. Come on. I’ll buy you a latte and a biscotti to celebrate.
They picked Paul up when he was done and then headed to Alison’s salon. Paul seemed very excited for the events of the next fifteen or twenty hours. So much so that they didn’t even realize that he’d not put on his girl-clothes until they arrived.
“I’ll drive you to someplace with a restroom, babe,” Lori said, apologetically. “You can get changed there and we’ll come right back.”
“Nah,” Paul pulled the handle on the door and pushed it open. “I’m sure that there’s someplace I can get changed, here.”
Wow. Just a few days ago, Paul was petrified to enter a salon looking like a pretty girl. Now, he was willing to enter in boy-mode and let people think whatever they wanted. Lori and Beth looked at each other, eyebrows raised, and smiled at his new-found courage.
Lilly was waiting when they entered and she had several waiting room chairs covered with different items, including the rectangular box containing Paul’s faux breasts.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re here!” Lilly was stressed and not doing a very good job of hiding her anxiety.
Paul kissed his mother’s cheek. “Relax, mommy. Our appointment is at 4:00. We’re three minutes early.”
“Yes, but we should have already applied your breasts by now. This takes some time, too, you know. Oh, lord, Paulie, of all the days to wander off for God knows what...”
“How are we all doing, today, ladies?” Alison broke into the conversation. She kissed her niece and said hi to everyone else.
“We’re running a little late, Auntie,” Lori said. “Mrs Rooney has some prosthetic breasts for Paulie and we’re running a little behind schedule. Is there someplace she could help Paulie put them on?”
“Sure.” She indicated a doorway. “Let’s go in here.”
When they entered, there was a waist-high, padded table, much like a doctor’s examination table, located in the center of the room. Typically, the room was used for waxing customers’ legs, arms or private areas.
“Paul,” Alison asked, “why don’t you strip to your panties and lay down up here. Let me take a look at your chest. I can give you a hand with the breasts.”
“Oh, Alison, thank you!” Lilly said, relieved. “Have you done this before?”
Alison laughed. “Oh, you’d be surprised what we’re asked to do, here. Every Halloween, there’s always one or two clients with boyfriends who need help with their breasts. It won’t take too long.”
Paul removed his shirt and trousers, revealing a plain camisole and a pair of soft yellow, silk and lace panties.
“Cute, Rooney,” Beth smiled as she took Paul’s discarded clothes from him an folded them neatly.
Paul smiled, coyly. All four women took note of the fact that Paul was already well tucked and his panties presented a smooth, glossy, lacy front. All four women smiled.
He pulled himself up onto the padded table, situated himself and laid back so that Alison could inspect his chest.
“Hmm,” she looked at his chest, closely. “You’re pretty smooth, I assume you used a depilatory recently?”
“I just used the over-the-counter stuff,” Lilly answered. “That’s ok, isn’t it?”
“Oh, sure. If this is going to be a frequent thing, you should consider waxing or laser treatments, but this is fine for today.”
Alison took the prosthetic breasts from the box and placed them on Paul’s chest, then took a white-board marker and made a few marks. “You have lovely skin, Paul. Most boys your age have hairy, sweaty torsos that are covered with pimples and ingrown hairs. Yours is flawless.”
“Isn’t he adorable?” Lori giggled.
Beth and Lilly giggled at that, but Alison was serious. “I’m not kidding. Your shoulders are lovely. You need to let people see them, Paul.”
“Paulie,” he said.
“Pardon?”
“Please, call me Paulie. When I’m getting fitted for breasts, Paul seems a bit... boyish.”
Alison smiled. “Ok.”
She pulled the breasts aside and asked Lilly to help her prepare the Paul’s chest with adhesive, while she did the same to the back of the breasts. Lilly noticed that Paul was shivering while she brushed the adhesive on to him.
“Cold, honey?”
He shook his head. “Not really.”
His mother smiled as she realized that she was seeing shivers of anticipation. That’s how excited her little boy was to be getting plump, womanly breasts.
“Ok,” Alison held Paul’s fake breasts inches above his real chest and smiled. “Are you ready for this, Paulie? Once they’re on, they’re there to stay for at least a couple of days.”
His tongue poked just slightly through his teeth as he smiled and nodded. Then he nodded far more broadly than was necessary. “I’m ready.”
Alison grinned at his reaction. It was cute and childish and undeniably female. She wasn’t looking at a boy who was about to have breasts attached to his chest, she was looking at a little girl who was about to explore one of the most magnificent aspects of womanhood – breasts.
She carefully placed them onto his chest and asked Lilly to hold them in place while she worked the edges as so they would set as smoothly as possible. Then she instructed Paul to lay perfectly still for the next ten minutes.
“Can someone get a mirror so I can see them?” There was an excited desperateness in his voice.
Beth found a fairly large hand mirror nearby and held it up above Paul so that he could see them. She moved the mirror from side to side so he could see them from every angle.
“Wow,” he whispered, “they look so real.”
“And just how would you know that they look real, mister!” Lilly teased and she slapped his shoulder playfully.
Lori leaned forward and unconsciously laid her hand on her boyfriend’s smooth, creamy thigh to balance herself as she peered over the mirror at his perfect, smooth, creamy face, “I don’t see any ‘Mister’ in this room. But I do see another beautiful girl. Holy cow, Paulie, this is almost more than I can take. You’re getting more gorgeous by the minute.”
He smiled and blushed.
“You should be able to sit up, now,” Alison smiled as she placed a hand behind his back and helped him to sit upright. As he did so, the breasts shifted and adjusted themselves in a remarkably natural manner. When he threw his legs over the side of the table and sat up straight, the breasts hung perky and naturally from his chest. The coloring of the silicon was uncannily close to his own skin tone and the nipples sat lifelike and sexily on the teardrop shaped appendages.
He wiggled his shoulder and they moved on his chest. He smiled as he looked around at the astonished women in the room.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Alison smiled at his obvious joy. “These are really nice. Shy of hormones or surgery, you couldn’t ask for prettier breasts.”
“How do they feel?” Lori asked.
“They feel awesome,” Paul laughed, at a loss for explaining how they made him feel exotic and attractive and inexplicably complete.
Lilly touched them. “My goodness. They do feel natural. They’re even warm.”
“Really?” Lori asked and she reached to feel them.
Soon, Beth’s curiosity got to her and she groped him as well. All agreed that they were remarkably real and the barely visible seams would be very easy to cover.
“Do you have a bra?” Alison asked, rousing the others from their fascinations. “You should support them. They will pull on your skin unless you take care of them.”
Lori handed him the pretty bra that matched his pretty panties and Lilly helped him fasten it. Now, in the bra and with his grandmother’s pendent hanging daintily between the mounds, he looked just like a beautiful girl. No make up, just a pretty face and shapely body. He didn’t look as mature as Beth and Lori, his thinner hips and thighs gave him a more youthful appearance. A stranger might say fifteen years old or so – or perhaps a well developed thirteen year old – but the promise of a fertile woman emanated from him and he seemed to sense it. He stood straight and proud, his breasts standing powerful and erect before him.
“How do I look?”
“Oh, Paulie,” Lille started, but she had to stop to wipe a tear from her eye.
“Baby,” Lori filled in the silence, “you’re gorgeous. You could walk down the street in just your undies and no make up and people would swear that you were the prettiest thing they’d ever seen.”
“No BS, Rooney,” Beth’s smile was sincere and encouraging, “you’re unbelievable. I can’t believe it’s really you. I hope it makes you happy.”
Paul laughed. “I think it does. I’m actually a little lightheaded right now. It all feels so amazing.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, Paulie,” Alison interrupted, “because we have a long way to go to transform you into your grandma. Between tonight and tomorrow morning, you’re going to experience a lot of girly things that you may find a bit extreme, but, trust me, you’ll be happy with the results. Do you have something feminine to wear?”
Lori pulled a dress from his bag. It was a simple, soft-green dress with an elasticized top and cap sleeves.
“Oh,” Alison scowled. “Do you have anything that doesn’t pull on over his head? That may be easier.”
“Sorry, that’s all I brought,” Paul said. “I didn’t realize it made a difference.”
“I’ll go buy him something,” Lilly said, but Lori interrupted.
“No! I know the perfect dress! Beth just talked me out of buying it. I can be back in fifteen minutes!”
Beth laughed and shook her head as her friend ran to grab her purse. Lori had gotten her way after all. “You’re in for it, Rooney.” Beth winked at Paul.
Paul smiled and winked back. He loved both Lori’s enthusiasm and Beth’s protectiveness. They were two sides of the same coin and he knew that they both loved him in different ways.
“Here,” Alison handed Paul a clean, sleeveless, front buttoning, pink blouse. “I keep extra tops around in case of accidents when I’m working. This should fit you like a short dress until Lori gets back.”
The blouse was far too big on his small frame, but it did the job. It was very silky and had a very different smell to it than any of his own clothes or any of Lori’s little sisters’ hand me downs. He loved the way that his new breasts held the blouse away from him, making swing against him when he moved. It felt odd, but in a lovely way. It made him feel strangely smaller and somehow more reliant on the women around him – younger and less independent. It was like he was a child again and they’d sent him to school with one of his mother’s shirts to use as a smock in art class. He liked it.
When he was seated at a station in the salon, Alison looked closely at his face, comparing it to the picture. “Alright, Paulie. We did most of the heavy work on your eyebrows the other day, but now I need to shape them just a little more, ok?l
Paul nodded.
“The thing you need to understand, though, Paulie, is that for the next couple of months, you’re going to have women’s eyebrows. You’ll have them for school, prom...”
“Keith’s wedding,” Lilly offered. “Maybe we should just keep them as they are. It won’t make that big a difference.”
Alison nodded. “Ok...”
“No. Not ok.” Paul announced. “I want the picture to be perfect. Go ahead, Alison. Make them just like grandma’s. If I need to draw them in later, I will.”
Alison looked to Lilly who smiled and shrugged.
“Ok, then, young lady,” Alison teased, “let’s give you Miss America eyebrows.”
When Lori returned with the same pink, lacy, lace up, fit and flare dress that Beth had, essentially, forbade her from buying an hour earlier, Paul’s eyebrows had been sculpted into lovely arches – not overly thin, but definitely sculpted.
Beth, who was sitting at a bank of unused hairdryers, saw the dress, laughed and shook her head as her best friend sat next to her. “Unbelievable. You are completely incorrigible, You know that?”
Lori smiled and dismissed Beth’s teasing with the raise of her eyebrows. “He’s looking awesome, isn’t he?”
“You better calm down, Lori, or you’ll have a stroke before tomorrow is over.”
Lori laid the dress on the chair next to her. “Damn,” she whispered, “he’s going to be cuter than either of us pretty soon.”
Beth nodded. “What do you think his grandmother will think? I think that, if we gave my grandma a picture of my brother dressed to look like her, she’d freak.”
“You’re brother is six foot two, has a beard and weighs three-hundredand -seventy-five pounds.”
“Be that as it may,” Beth shrugged, “you know what I mean.”
“Mrs Rooney seems to think she’ll like it.”
Beth looked at Paul’s mother who was standing next to her son, transfixed by his metamorphosis. “What if she’s as blinded by excitement as you are and his grandma freaks out? What then?”
Lori shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Why do you have to be this way, Beth? Can’t we just enjoy this?”
“I’m sorry.” Beth leaned forward and took her friend’s hand in hers. “I just want you to keep at least one foot on planet earth. If she goes nuts when she sees the picture, you need to be ready to help Paulie. You saw what happened this week...”
“Yeah, but he’s stronger, now, and...”
“And... and... and... nothing. He’s not a strong, confident man, Lori. He’s an adolescent girl, right now, and he’s thinking like one. You helped to create this situation – if things go badly, you need to be the grownup.”
Lori looked at Paul, then back at Beth and she considered everything that Beth had said. Finally, she nodded. “Ok. When she sees the picture, I’ll be there with Paulie, but I really think she’ll love it.”
“Since we can’t see the back of your mother’s head in the photo,” Alison was saying to, Lilly, “I’m going to have to guess at how she wore her hair back there. Let me try a few things and you can pick the one you like. That way, tomorrow morning, I’ll know what I need to do.”
“What did you have in mind?” Lilly asked.
“Well, it looks as if she had it done up in a chignon. I’ll try a couple of different styles and you can pick what you like.”
She wound his hair into elaborate formations behind his head until she found one that, when viewed from the front, looked very similar to the way that Lilly’s mother had worn hers all those years ago. His hair had been pinned into a medium sized ball, which started at the back of his skull and curved to the nape of his neck. It was simple, but elegant. Classic.
“Yes, Alison,” Lilly said, sounding relieved that they’d found the perfect look for her son. “That’s it, exactly. You’re a genius.”
“Thank you,” Alison looked at the boy in her chair. “I agree. I’ll do it like this in the morning, but, since it was a very special occasion for your mom, I imagine that the chignon was a little more elaborate. I’ll add some more details – a few waves and curls – and, if you look closely, right here, I’m pretty sure that she had some baby’s-breath woven into it, as well. I’ll pick some up on the way in, tomorrow. I think that will be perfect for this look.”
“How much time will you need to get him ready, then?”
“Oh, I’d say forty five minutes to an hour for his hair and another forty five minutes for his makeup. It’ll be busy here, so I will have other customers, too... let’s say two hours, maybe another fifteen minutes – maybe not.”
“Wonderful. Thank you, so much, Alison.”
“I’m happy to do it, Lilly. Paulie, you’re going to look beautiful.”
Paul was still in the chair, inspecting his hair in the mirror. His face was tingling with excitement. “Thank you,” He managed to reply.
“What about tonight?” Alison asked.
“What do you mean?” Lilly hadn’t really thought about anything but tomorrow.
“I mean – are you going home? Going out? Should I put a little makeup on him or doesn’t it matter?”
Lilly turned to Beth and Lori. “What do you think, girls. Are we going home or would you like to go get some dinner?”
Lori stood and held the pink dress up for Paul and Lilly to see. “I’m starving. Food would be great and look at this dress, Paulie. Isn’t it great?”
Paul smiled and nodded, while Beth stood behind him and looked at his reflection in the mirror. “What do you want to do, Rooney? Would you feel comfortable going to a restaurant or would you rather go home?” She ran her fingers along the beautifully crafted design of his hair.
Paul took her hand in his and held it to his cheek while looking at her in the mirror. “I want to go out.” He kissed her hand. “Thank you for worrying about me, though.”
She bent and kissed his cheek. “You look awesome, Rooney, but I have to head home. I’m meeting Jeff later and I need to get ready. Looking at you, I’m feeling a bit... underdressed to go out.” She winked at him.
“I’ll drive you home,” Lori said, but Beth waved her off.
“Naw, that’s ok. I’m only a couple of blocks away and it’s not dark out. Can I meet you guys here, tomorrow morning, around nine thirty?”
They all agreed and Beth waved as she walked out the door.
“Alright, then,” Alison picked up her makeup palette, “I’ll just put on enough makeup to make you look natural and you are free until tomorrow.”
Lilly excused herself to use the Ladies Room.
Lori watched as her aunt worked on her boyfriend. “Don’t make him look too grown up, Auntie,” she said, quietly. “I like it when he looks natural – maybe just a little younger then he is. You know? Kinda ‘fresh faced,’ I guess.”
Alison let out an amused breath. “Kids,” she muttered, “you get weirder every day.”
Lilly returned as Alison removed the cape covering Paul’s make-shift dress. She stopped and took in the sight of him. He was adorable. Pretty. Unpretentious. Happy. The perfect little girl. She’d miss this if he went back to being a boy. “Oh, honey, you just look so precious.”
Paul stood and looked at himself in the mirror. He like what he saw and his broad, youthful grin displayed his feelings. “Thanks, mommy. And thank you, Alison. It looks... I look... amazing! Thank you.”
“My pleasure, sweetheart. Lori, go get her... sorry, him dressed. You all must be starving.”
Lori grabbed the dress, then took Paul’s hand and led him back to the room with the padded table, while Lilly helped Alison pick up her work station so that she, too, could go home.
“Let me help you with that,” Lori turned Paul toward her and she unbuttoned her aunt’s blouse. Paul shook it from his shoulders and smiled as he stood there in his bra and panties.
“Wow,” Lori said quietly. “You look amazing.”
He smiled and shrugged. “Not very manly, though.”
Lori’s smile turned just a little sad. “No, but still amazing. How do you feel?”
Again he shrugged. “I guess ‘amazing’ sums it up. I certainly don’t feel like me, but I do feel... amazing.”
Lori held up the dress she’d purchased, suddenly feeling little pangs of guilt as she thought of Beth’s chastisement. “I’m afraid I went a little overboard and got you a pretty girly dress.”
Paul looked at it and snickered. “I’ve never seen a macho dress. It’s very pretty. I like it, a lot.”
“Good,” Lori said, relieved. She undid the laced up front of the dress and knelt as she lowered it to the floor. He stepped into it, and Lori started to raise it, but as she reached his knees, her eyes rose to the level of her boyfriend’s smooth, silk and lace pantied crotch and she paused. She leaned forward and gently kissed the bottom of the embroidered front panel.
Caught by surprise, Paul made an odd sound with a quick intake of air. “Not now,” he whispered. “Not here.”
Lori smiled. Was there still a boy in there? She wondered. Was there still a penis tucked in those panties? It sure didn’t look like there was. And what boy would ever turn down a little attention in this area?
She kissed his panties, again. She let is linger this time. He smelled of scented soap and perfume and just the tiniest bit musky. Like a girl.
She smiled up at him, noticing hope ripe and natural his breasts looked from this angle, too. “Sorry,” she kissed his panties one more time, “but you needed some kissing and I don’t want to mess up your lipstick.”
She stood as she raised the dress to his shoulders and she laced up the front. The inch-wide straps hung from his shoulders and the bodice only just covered his newly acquired breasts, following in a straight line around his back to reveal his naturally beautiful shoulders. The all over lace pattern created circles all about the dress which flounced nicely to a few inches above his knees. It was sickeningly feminine and youthful. It was absolutely perfect. He had become the boy of her dreams by becoming the girl of her dreams. Her aunt was right: this WAS weird, but it was wonderful, too.
“God. I could eat you up,” she whispered as she centered his grandmother’s pendent to hang perfectly above his ample cleavage.
“And I’d like noting better,” he smiled, knowing how cute he looked and he stood on his toes to give her a peck on her beautiful lips with his beautiful lips, “but mommy is waiting...”
They said their goodbyes to Alison and walked to a Greek restaurant down the street. Paul walked between his mother and girlfriend. He was mesmerized by the feel of the dress as he walked. The laced up bodice hugged so tightly and accentuated his bosom so beautifully, while the skirt teased his legs and brushed his arms with each step. His white, beaded slippers were flat and felt as if he were walking barefoot.
By contrast, Lori was wearing a grey, tight fitting tee shirt, a pair of jeans and ankle boots with a two inch heel, while his mother was wearing her real estate agent attire – a white blouse, navy blue blazer and a conservative, grey skirt with classic, black pumps.
His bright and playful attire and the fact that he was half a head shorter than his mother and a full head and a little more shorter than his girlfriend, made him feel small and a bit vulnerable. It was wonderful to feel this pretty. He could only imagine how wonderful it must be for some girls who felt this way every day. EVERY DAY!!! God, that must be amazing!
Three Greek salads, three glasses of iced tea and three small triangles of baklava later and they were all sated and happy. The waitress had complimented his appearance several times and had fawned over him with each visit to the table. She made him feel very speacial.
Paul’s phone buzzed, indicating a text. It was from Keith. ‘Hey, Paulie. How goes it? Mom and Lori getting you all ready for tomorrow?”
Paul text back, ‘They are. You wouldn’t believe how I look right now. We’re having dinner downtown.’
‘Where?’
‘Toula’s. Near city hall.’
‘Cool. We’re actually across the street at the Brewing Company. Do you think we could talk to you for a few minutes?’
‘You and ???’
‘Abby’
Paul sighed prompting the others to ask who he was texting. He held up a hand and continued texting.
‘I’m very girly, right now. Will she behave?’
‘Definitely. We’ve had a long day of talking. She wants to apologize. She’s really sorry. I’m serious.’
He thought for a moment before replying.
‘Ok. I’ll be there in a minute or two.’
‘No. You stay there. I’ll come and accompany you over.’
‘Ok.’
Paul put his phone down and smiled at the women at his table. “Umm... Keith is in The Brewing Company across the street. He’s coming over to get me. I’ll just be a few minutes.”
“What!?” both women asked.
“Why?” Asked Lilly. “Does this have something to do with Abby? Paulie, I don’t want you to be upset tonight, so you just text your brother...”
“Mommy... mommy... calm down. If Keith and Abby are ever going to get back together, then this has to be resolved and I am willing to do whatever I can for my big brother.”
“And I am ready to do anything I can for my little sister,” Keith said as he came up behind his brother, bent down over him and and kissed his cheek. “How are you doing, princess?”
“Keith,” Lilly stood as Paul did, “now, I don’t want Paulie to be upset tonight...”
“Oh, don’t worry, mom... Wow! Paulie! Holy Moses! You’re absolutely beautiful! You really are a princess! Ready?”
Paul grabbed his phone and smiled. “Sure. Mommy, Lori, I’ll be back in ten or fifteen minutes. Please, just be patient with me. I won’t be long.”
“Paulie!...” Lilly stamped her foot.
Paul kissed her cheek.
“I love you, mommy. I’ll be right back.” He took his brother’s arm and headed toward the exit.
“Don’t worry, Mrs Rooney.” Lori took the older woman’s hand. “I think he’ll be ok. He’s much stronger than he was on Tuesday.”
“Good God, I hope so, Lori, because I can’t take another night like that one.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Keith asked as he put his arm around Paul protectively when they stepped into the street.
“Sure.”
“Those are... well, how did you sprout real boobs since last night?”
Paul laughed and used his head to hug his brother as they stepped onto the curb on the other side. “You’re a riot. They’re glued on - until Sunday night by the way. Pretty impressive, though, huh?”
“You certainly are,” Keith guided Paul into the restaurant and towards a tall, round table where Abby sat on a tall stool that looked like a kitchen chair with very long legs.
Abby was wearing a pretty, loose, flowered sleeveless blouse and incredibly tight jeans. Her eyes were red rimmed and puffy. She’d obviously been crying. Her face was reddish and blotchy from stress. If someone didn’t know her, then they’d think she was just tired, but Paul knew how meticulous she was about her appearance and he knew that she was a mess of emotions and that made him feel bad for her...
...but, even though he did feel bad, he also felt a distinct pang of caution and a touch of fear when he saw her. A wave of heat passed through him, but he refused to show her anything but a calm exterior.
Abby looked up and made eye contact with Keith as they approached the table and a smile creeped across her lips, but then she realized that the very young, very pretty girl in pink under his arm was his brother, Paul, and her eyes went wide as her jaw dropped.
“Paul...?” she said quietly, but excitedly. “Is that really you!? You look...”
“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘gorgeous,’” Keith’s smile showed his sense of pride and love as he pulled out a chair for Paul.
Paul smiled at his brother’s effusiveness. The chair was a bit high and Paul pondered the best approach to getting into the seat with his short dress, but Keith, ever the gentleman, offered Paul an arm to steady himself and it made it easy for him to put a slippered heel on the footrest and raise himself high enough to sit while smoothing the dress beneath him. He smiled a thank you, while Keith moved the chair closer to the table.
Paul sat tall and royally, back straight, hands laid one on top of the other on the table and smiled confidently, yet cautiously, at Abby. His ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ showed no emotion. He waited for her to begin.
“Well,” Keith pulled up his tall chair and began his work as a liaison, “here we all are.”
There was an awkward silence.
“Abby,” Keith prodded, “I believe you have something to say...”
She heaved a nervous sigh. “Well, Umm, Paul...”
“Paulie,” the vision in the pink dress stated flatly.
“I beg your pardon?”
“My name. My name is Paulie. Not Paul. You’ve always known that, so, please, call me Paulie.”
She looked at Keith, who offered no comment. “Ok... Paulie... look, what I did was... well, it was unforgivable.”
She paused and waited for Paul to say something, but he remained enigmatic.
Her eyes darted from a Paul to Keith, waiting for someone to help her, but she was met by silent stares.
“Even my maid of honor was furious with me, but to be honest, I didn’t really expect you to run out the way you did...”
“Yes, you did.”
She looked hurt. “No, Paul, I didn’t...”
“Abby, you waited till I was alone and then threatened to have me beaten.” Paul’s voice was steady. A slightly condescending smile toyed at the edges of his lips. “My reaction exactly what you wanted and Keith...?” his eyes remained locked on Abby’s.
“Yes?”
“If she calls me ‘Paul’ once more, I’ll be asking you to escort me back across the street.”
Keith looked at Abby, raised his hands, palms up, and shook his head from side to side. “You have to do the right thing, Abby. Truly, I love you, but I love Paulie, too.”
She wiped a tear from her eye and sniffled slightly – a bit too dramatically, in Paul’s opinion. “Ok...Paulie... I was being a self centered, obnoxious bitch. I was at the height of my bridezilla mood and I can’t even explain why I decided to target, you, but I swear that I have learned my lesson and from now on, I promise that I will support you. I will be the best sister in law imaginable, Paulie. I swear it.”
There was silence while Paul remained still and waited.
She looked to Keith who used his eyes to guide her right back to Paul.
Finally she asked, “Do you forgive me?”
“I can’t,” Paul said quietly and emotionless lay.
She looked from one brother to the other, nearly frantic. “What...? Why...? I mean... What do I have to do?”
“Well, the first thing you have to do is apologize.”
Abby looked confused. “I just did.”
“No. You said a lot of things, but you never apologized.”
She looked to her possible-fiancé with a look on her face that said, ‘Seriously?’ but Keith remained impassive.
Finally, she looked at Paul and steeled herself to say one of the most difficult sentences of her life. “Paulie, from the bottom of my heart, I apologize for what I did. I was mean and selfish and I know I hurt you and I will never forgive myself for what I did.”
Paul considered her words for a few moments before he spoke. When he did finally speak, he kept his spine straight, but leaned forward forward just slightly, placing his hands on his crossed knees, now, pulling Abby’s attention closer to him. “Abby, I want to explain something to you. What you did to me was, as you said, unforgivable, and at least right now, I, honestly, cannot forgive you. But I do accept your apology and this is why – I actually considered killing myself that day, did you know that?. That’s how badly you made me feel. But out of that despair, a few things happened.”
“First, I realized that I was a lot stronger than I thought and that the only reason your petty and spiteful words hurt me was because I allowed them to. Your meanness taught me to be a stronger, more confident person. You no longer have that kind of power over me.”
Abby nodded, a bit taken aback by the maturity that Paul was displaying.
“Second, my brother loves you and I want him to be happy, but I know that, if I do not accept your apology, he will feel that he has to chose either you or his family and, if that happened, he’d never truly be happy.”
Keith reached over and squeezed both of Paul’s dainty hands in one of his dig, strong ones.
“And finally, and absolutely most importantly,” he breathed back the emotions he wanted to show, “because you were such a bitch to me, my brother came back to me and the last three days with him have been more precious to me than you can imagine and I actually owe you a thank you’ for that. So – thank you.”
Keith’s head sagged for a moment and when he looked back up, he discreetly wiped a tear from his eye.
“So, Abby, for the sake of my brother, I will learn to love you as a sister and I will never share what you did to me with my mother or anyone else, ever again, but I cannot forgive you, right now. Maybe later... who knows. Can you live with that?”
Abby felt as if she’d been called out on the carpet by a truly superior person. How had she been made to feel this way? Paul was a child, for crying out loud. She could feel the tears welling up behind her eye lids, but she did not want to cry.
Paul saw the redness returning to her eyes and cheeks. He felt as if he’d made his point. No need to remain and gloat.
“Well, I should get back to mommy and Lori, so, Keith, if you wouldn’t mind...”
“Not at all, princess,” he stood and helped Paul to dethrone.
Paul stood and stepped close to Abby, leaned towards her and kissed her cheek. “Congratulations, Abby. Keith is a wonderful person and he loves you, very much. I know that you will have a wonderful life together.”
Paul turned to leave, but kept his back turned to give Keith a moment. He, too, leaned down to Abby and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be right back, Abby.” He stood to go, but stopped for a moment and said in a slightly louder voice, “Didn’t I tell you? I have the coolest sister, ever.”
With that, he placed his arm around his brother’s shoulders and gave him a hug and kissed the top of his head. “Thank you, Paulie. I love you and I am so proud of you.”
Paul was actually shaking from the encounter. He had behaved and explained himself exactly as he’d wanted, but the amount of adrenaline that was coursing through his system was beginning to overwhelm him. He threw his arms around Keith and hugged him tightly, too. “I love you, too, Keith, and I’m glad that things are working out with Abby.”
They stepped out onto the sidewalk as Keith said, “I think we’re on the road to fixing things, Paulie. We still have a lot to work out.”
“You’ll get there,” Paul smiled.
“Well, girls,” Lilly said as she rose from the couch, “this show is of no interest to me, so I think I’ll head up to bed. Paulie, I need you to be up by seven o’clock, so set your alarm.”
“Ok, mommy,” he smiled as he cuddled into Lori a bit more than he had when his mother had been sitting with them. “Love you.”
“Night, Mrs Rooney,” Lori called.
They were watching a mediocre comedian on NetFlix and neither was very interested in what he had to say. Mostly, they just wanted to be together as long as they could before Lori had to leave for home.
“You really do look beautiful, babe,” Lori loved the way he cuddled into her.
He smiled broadly and turned to kiss her. It was a brief kiss, but the one that followed was deeper and more sensuous. And the one that followed that was very, very deep.
“You’ve always been beautiful, Lori. I could never catch up with you.” They kissed again. “I love you, so much.”
“And I love you, baby.”
He settled back down and cuddled again.
After a few minutes, Lori asked, “How do they feel?”
Paul grinned again. He knew that’d she’d been dying to talk about his breasts all night.
“Fine, I guess. I’m pretty used to them, now.”
“Do you like them?”
He sat up straight and shimmied a little to make his breasts wiggle. “More importantly, do YOU like them?”
She giggled and threw her head back in mock frustration. “Oh, Paulie! I LOVE you and, yes, I love LOVE them, and you know it. Now, come on. Tell me how you feel.”
He leaned forward, just a bit, exposing his cleavage a little more than necessary. “I really,” he kissed her, “really,” he kissed her, again, “really like them.” He kissed her a third time. “To tell you the truth, I absolutely love them and I can’t even think about what it’s going to be like to take them off.”
She liked that answer. “Then keep them on forever.”
He giggled and smiled again before going back to cuddling. The comedian on NetFlix told a joke about the lost and found at the airport. The audience laughed hysterically, but neither of them were listening. They were both lost in their thoughts; nervous about saying anything more.
Finally, Paul whispered, “I wish they were real.”
Lori smiled, relieved that he’d said it first. “So do I, baby.”
To Be Continued...
Spit and Image - 6
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picture of his grandmother. First some breakfast with mom, then a visit to the
salon before the photographer arrives..
Author's Note: Yes, I see that comments have dried up completely for this story and Positively Glowing. I did something wrong. For that, I apologize. ~Clara.
This version of Spit and Image: 6 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.
Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.
Chapter 6
It was barely past 6:30am on that Saturday morning and Lilly was already showered and dressed. She'd pulled her ivory, jacketed-sheath dress from the closet, hung it on the back of the door and pulled out her shoes and jewelry, preparing for the big day. The entire time, she'd been as quiet as she could so as not to wake her son. It was going to be a long, tiring day for him. He might as well sleep as long as he could.
She crept past his door and headed down the stairs to make some breakfast for them both. When she stepped from the hallway into the dinning room she stopped to look at the bridesmaids dresses that had begun this whole adventure and she shook her head at the realization that she'd neglected these dresses for an entire week now and, if in fact Keith and Abby were going to go through with their wedding, she needed to spend a lot of time in this room over the next couple of weeks to catch up.
As she was admiring the gowns on the garment rack, she was shocked to hear hushed voices in the kitchen. She moved quietly until she could hear who was speaking.
"I am excited, sure, but I wonder what she'll think of it when she sees it, you know?" It was Paul's voice.
"From what you've told me, I would think that she'll love it," It was hard to tell who it was. It wasn't Lori, that was for sure. It didn't sound like Beth either. The voice continued, "but, Paulie, this has to be your choice and your choice alone. From what you've told me, you've been very public in your female persona over the last few days, but it can be very difficult to come out like this to your entire family and your school."
"I'm not 'coming out,' Joyce. I'm not sure what I'm going to do after today, but..."
Joyce? Who was Joyce?
"...but what, Paulie?"
He laughed. "I don't know. Honestly, I'm more excited to do this than I have ever been about anything, but, and again, if I am being honest, I'm kind of scared of where I'm headed. What should I do?"
"You should do what's right for you, Paulie, and only you can decide what that is."
"Geez, you sound just like a Beth."
"You mention Beth a lot. I think I need to meet this girl."
Lilly needed to know what was going on, so she walked into the kitchen, pretending to be shocked to find Paul awake and with someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you were up, Paulie," she fibbed.
"Morning, mommy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Paul was wearing a simple, white, polo-style top with very, very short sleeves and an undersized pocket halfway up his left breast. The material stretched tightly to accentuate his new figure. Below that was a cute pair of peach track shorts. "Mommy, this is Joyce Kim and she's..."
"Hi, Mrs Rooney. Actually, I'm DOCTOR Joyce Kim." The athletic looking, Asian woman rose and shook Lilly's hand. "I'm a therapist. I specialize in gender identity issues. Paul came to see me yesterday, and..."
"Paul came...? Paulie!? You went to see a therapist without discussing it with me!?" Lilly's face was filled with shock and concern.
"Mommy, I needed..."
Lilly had not heard him. She was looking at the clock on the microwave oven. "And exactly what kind of therapist makes house calls at 6:42 on a Saturday morning!?"
"Please," the Asian woman smiled and indicated another seat at the kitchen table, "Mrs Rooney. Have a seat and let me explain. I assure you that I am here to open up a conversation between Paul and your family. Not to hide anything from you."
Lilly sat, confused and a little hurt that a stranger was in her kitchen talking to Paul about these things. Why hadn't he just spoken to her? If there was something to be said, he could say it to her. He didn't need a mediator.
"I suppose I should start by explaining my appearance and why I'm here at this time of day. You see, Paul came to see me, yesterday, after school. Normally, it would have taken weeks to have fit him into my schedule and I typically don't go into the office on Fridays, but Paul's chorus teacher, Nana Mwangi, is my my brother-in-law and he asked me to make an exception. So, yesterday, Paul and I spent a very productive hour and a half together. And, I must say, Mrs Rooney, you have raised a very remarkable young person."
Lilly glanced at Paul, still trying to get a handle on what was happening, then returned her confused gaze to Dr Kim. "So, you're Mr Mwangi's sister-in-law?"
"Yes, I am. I'm married to his sister. I know that it can be confusing with my wife and I being lesbians, and the fact that her family is Kenyan and mine is Korean, but we are related, yes."
"How did Mr Mwangi get involved in any of this?"
Paul said, "It's a long story, mommy, but he offered his help if I need it, so I asked him to call Dr Joyce for me."
She nodded at that, then returned her gaze to Joyce.
"To explain why I'm here this morning - typically, a person discovering their gender confusions approach their milestones of realizations slowly, but Paul's situation did force things for him a bit due to today's deadline. So, after our discussion, yesterday, I mentioned that I jog down your street everyday between 5:30 and 5:45 and, if he needed to talk more, he could catch me as I jogged past."
"So, I did," Paul concluded.
"Paulie," Lilly felt the guilt that she'd felt earlier in the week creeping in on her, again, "if you had doubts about doing this, I wish that'd you'd told me about it..."
"Oh, mommy, no, no, no. I have no doubts about today. I really want to do this and do it right. My doubts are about what I'm going to do later. After the photographer leaves and grandma's dress is back in storage - then what? Do I give up being a boy or do I give up being a girl? I love being both, but I don't know what to do. That's why I went to see Dr Joyce. Of course, I want to know what you think, but she's helped lots of people through these kinds of things, right?"
"I have, Mrs. Rooney," the doctor smiled as she reached across the table to take Lilly's hand in hers, "and I have to tell you, Paul is one of the most well adjusted people I have ever met and his questions and concerns show a remarkable grasp of his needs and society's reactions to what he's doing today. I am confident that, with your support, the support of his friends and your other son, and just a little professional help to offer guidance, he will discover his correct path."
Lilly nodded, but turned to Paul and said, "Paulie, I don't understand why you couldn't just talk to me about all of this. I know that we had some problems earlier in the week, but..."
"Mrs Rooney," Joyce interrupted, gently, "please don't view this as a break in trust. Paul told me about what happened earlier in the week and he just came to me to work some things out. That is a much better decision than bottling up his feelings or lashing out at others or, worst of all, inflicting pain or worse on himself. Honestly, he did the right thing and you should be very proud of him for that."
Lilly looked at Paul, his pretty little outfit, his cute hairdo, his delicate eyebrows, his breasts, the pendant - how could her heart not melt. She rubbed his cheek and smiled, "How could I not be proud of you, honey? I wish that you'd told me that you had gone to see Dr Kim before I found her in the kitchen this early in the morning. Maybe then I would have been better prepared."
"Sorry, mommy, but I just don't know how to say everything that I'm thinking. Dr Joyce has a way of asking the right questions. I hope that you're ok with that and that this won't upset you - today of all days."
She kissed his sweet face. "Not at all, honey. Thank you."
Dr Kim rose and extended her hand to Lilly. "Well, I need to finish my run. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Rooney. Paul, you have cell number. Call or text if you need me."
They watched as she jogged down the driveway and turned onto the street.
"Are you ready for your big day?" Lilly asked. Now that he was standing and Lilly could get a better look at the whole outfit, Paul looked even cuter.
"Almost. I need to shower and have some breakfast."
"Tell you what. Go shower, put on something comfortable that doesn't pull over your head and lets go to the diner and have a nice, Saturday morning breakfast before we go to Alison's."
That did sound very good, so Paul hurried up and got ready.
Louie's Diner was just an old train-car style diner on the edge of downtown. The food was good and the atmosphere was noisy and joyous. Paul and Lilly went there two or three times a year - usually on vacation days when there were lots of errands to be done. Saturdays were particularly busy days, so they knew they'd have to wait in line to be seated, but that was fine, it was early, yet.
As soon as they got in line on the long ramp that ran up the front of the train-car, Lilly was approached by another businesswoman who was a couple places further forward in the line.
"Lilly!" The woman waved. "You're out and about early, today. Are you running an open house?"
Lilly smiled, "No, no." She indicated Paul, who looked cute as a button in a casual, yellow-flowered sun dress and flip-flops, light makeup and his hair brushed out, but still slightly wavy due to yesterday's chignon, "we have a busy day. We're starting at the salon at 9:30."
The woman smiled at Paul and introduced herself as Esther Foster. "And your name is?"
"Paulie," he shook her hand and smiled.
"Lovely to meet you, Polly," she looked from him to his mother. "You certainly are your mother's daughter, Polly. My goodness, you two must have been made in the same mold."
"You really think so?" Lilly asked, flattered and surprised.
"Oh, Lilly, come on. Your eyes and chin and, good heavens those smiles... two peas in a pod."
Of course, Lilly couldn't resist showing Esther the photo on her phone of her own mother and pointing out the resemblances between her and Paul.
"Oh, heavens, Polly, your grandmother must show you off as her doppelgänger all the time! It's like you're twins born decades apart. Look you even have the same bangs."
Lilly went on to tell the story of the dress and the photo recreation scheduled for that day. "That's why we're headed to the salon so early."
"Oh, my goodness," Esther held a hand to her breasts and looked as if she was about to cry. "I have never heard of anything this sweet, before! Polly, your grandmother is going to be on cloud-nine when she sees that picture. What a wonderful things for a girl to do! You are an angel!"
She hugged Paul tightly and kissed his cheek. Then made a huge show of wiping the residual lipstick from his pale, smooth cheek. She was taller than Paul by an inch or so, but her heels made her slightly taller, still, and she was higher up the ramp than Paul, so he was only shoulder height to her. Her fussing with him to remove the lipstick made him feel very small and younger. It was kind of nice.
"Such a lovely, little thing," she beamed at him. Then she shocked him with, "I have a son just about your age and he's as handsome as you are gorgeous." She turned to Lilly, "We should get these two together, Lilly. Imagine how beautiful their children would be!"
Esther didn't notice that Paul turned pale, but Lilly did and she threw her arm around his shoulders. "That would be lovely, Esther, but I'm afraid that Paulie is very much taken and they've been dating for months."
Esther's head tilted to the side as she sighed "Oh, poo. Well, if that ever changes, Lilly, you send Polly here over to meet my Roland. They'd be perfect together."
'Oh, my God,' Paul thought. 'Roland Foster! She's trying to set me up with Roland Foster!" Roland was a freshman in his chorus class. Actually, when he thought about it, Roland was a very handsome boy - always well dressed and well groomed and he was usually very polite to everyone, but Paul had always kind of considered him to be somewhat spoiled because of the obvious amount of money that was spent on his nice clothes and nice grooming. It was like Roland was a bit of sissy, not gay, necessarily, but a bit effeminate. That seemed pretty funny now that Paul considered how much money and time he'd spent on his own appearance in the last ten days, and the fact that he was wearing a pretty, breezy sundress that was playing teasingly about his smooth legs. Suddenly, Roland was like a hairy, he-man compared to Paul.
Wow! He'd never really thought about his transition in comparison to other people's search for their own daily presentation, before. He guessed everyone was searching to one degree or another.
He was shaken from his thoughts by a knock on the window above his head. He looked up to see the smiling faces of Lori and Beth who had surprised looks on their face as they indicated that they had room at their table and that Lilly and Paul should come through the line to join them.
"Oh, look at that, Paulie! Your friends are inviting us to join them. Esther, would you like to join us? I'm sure that we could make room for all of us." Lilly was nearly as relieved as Paul to end the current conversation, although she did find Esther's praise of Paul's beauty and his resemblance to his mother wonderfully flattering.
Esther smiled and shook her head. "Thank you, but I'm meeting Joan Albright. You know Joan? She's in accounting at my company?"
Lilly acknowledged that she knew Joan and they said their goodbyes as they worked their way up the ramp and through the crowds to join the table where Lori and Beth had already had a coffee waiting for Lilly and a tea waiting for Paul.
Paul slid in next to Lori and Lilly next to Beth.
"We didn't expect to see you girls here," Lilly said as she settled her pocketbook in the space between her and Beth.
"We were surprised to see you, too," Lori kissed Paul's cheek.
"Was that Erick Foster's mother you were talking to out there?" Beth asked.
"I imagine so," Lilly said. "That's Esther Foster. She works for a finance company. I've known her for years - just as a colleague. She mentioned her son, but his name wasn't Erick. Paulie, what was the name Esther mentioned."
"Roland. Do you guys know Roland Foster? He's in my chorus class. He's a freshman."
Lori didn't, but Beth said, "I know who he is. He looks just like a younger version of Erick. You know Erick, Lori. He's in your AP Physics class. Really good looking... always dresses nice."
"Oh, sure."
"Well, Lori," Lilly teased, "you'd better keep your eye on this one," she waved a finger at Paul, "because Esther just tried to hook Paulie up with her son, Roland."
"Wow!" Lori said loud and playfully, "You're such a little tease!!!" She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek.
He smiled, but Beth saw a little concern in his eyes. "Were you ok with that, Rooney?" she asked.
He shrugged and smirked, "It was ok, I guess..."
"What's the matter, honey," Lilly asked, "did that bother you?"
He shrugged. "A little... I guess."
"Why, baby?" Lori's lack of insight made Beth sigh.
"Lori, he's a straight guy. Of course it was a little weird that someone wanted to hook him up with her son."
"Well, yeah... but, Paulie, you look like a girl, right? And a really hot girl... so, of course..."
"I know, but..." Paul thought through his words before speaking, "...I just want to look nice and be with you guys, you know? I guess that it never really occurred to me that boys - or boys' mothers - especially mothers of fourteen year boys - would find me attractive. It's a little hard for me to think about."
Lori hugged him a little tighter. "I'm sorry, baby. It's not that big a deal, though..."
He shrugged again. "It kinda is... I'll figure it out though. It was just something new, you know."
Beth smiled and said, "If it helps, Rooney, it's the same way for a girl the first time it happens, too. You know, it's like, one day you're a little girl, almost just like a little boy except for the clothes. Then, out of the blue, you start gaining weight in funny places, your period starts, you get pimples and greasy hair and you feel so ugly that you can't even look at yourself in the mirror. Then, one day, you wake up and you feel pretty, so you dress up a little and go out and, without any warning, a boy - or a boy's mother - suddenly starts looking at you differently. Like you're breading stock or something. I can remember the first time it happened to me, too. It really shakes you up."
Paul nodded and laughed a little. "She said we'd have beautiful babies. Can you imagine that? It made me feel really weird."
"She was just being a mom, honey." Lilly smiled. "I've thought the same thing about you and Lori a million times. It's just hardwired into moms to think that way."
"Oh, we're going to have REALLY beautiful babies, Mrs Rooney! Aren't we Paulie?" Lori was beaming.
"See, that doesn't make me feel weird," Paul said, "because I know that between you and me we have the right equipment to make that happen."
"But not too soon, you two!" Lilly teased.
"I don't know, maybe I just read too much into it," Paul said, "but she just made me feel funny."
Suddenly, he sat up straighter, "But enough about that. I feel like having a waffle for breakfast. Let's see if we can get a waitress over here so we can eat."
They all agreed, but Lilly teased, "Now, don't go stuffing yourself this morning, Paulie. I don't want to have to let out the seams on grandma's dress."
Everyone laughed as the waitress arrived to take their orders. When she'd left with their menus, Paul looked at the women and asked, "Do I really look like I'm fourteen?"
They all laughed, again. "I think it's the bangs, Paulie," Lilly said. "They're kind of old fashioned, so they make you look a little younger than a more modern cut would."
"Just wait till your done at Auntie Alison's, today, baby," Lori gave his shoulders a playful jostle. "You'll look all grownup and beautiful.
"Just like your grandma, Rooney." Beth smiled. "Just like you wanted, right?"
Paul smiled and nodded. He'd enjoy every moment today, then make the real decisions tomorrow.
They arrive at Alison's salon at 9:27 for their appointments. Lori and Beth were just getting a quick touch up for their hair and makeup and Lilly was getting her hair "done" for real. Paul, of course, was getting 'the works.'
Paul knew that his mother was getting hers done - she frequently had a salon appointment on Saturday mornings. "Why are you guys getting your makeup done?" he asked Lori and Beth.
"We just wanted to spend a day at the salon with you, baby," Lori smiled.
"It may be our only chance, right Rooney?" Beth added.
Paul accepted their stories and he went to Alison's chair to begin his day.
"Hop up into the chair, young lady," Alison patted the seat and smiled. "Let's get you ready for your big day."
Until now, Paul had been rational and focused on just doing this for his grandmother and he knew that it pleased Lori and his mother, but now - he had actual butterflies in his stomach. He was very excited and not just because of the picture, but because he wanted this. He wanted to be beautiful. He wanted to put on that dress and look gorgeous. He wanted to be the beautiful young woman that his grandmother had been - for real.
The chair was swung around and as the back dropped, placing Paul's head in sink, he thought about where he was. He was in a place that was reserved for women. Women who wanted, just like he did, to be beautiful. It was where he was meant to be, but it was also exciting because it was, in a way, forbidden.
The warm water felt wonderful and the feeling of Alison's beautifully manicured fingers scratching into his scalp felt glorious. Then she squeezed the excess water from his hair, wrapped it in a turban, sat him back up, then set to work.
She brushed his hair and pulled over a cart of rollers. "Your hair is holding the body-perm nicely, Paulie, but I'm going to just curl the back a little more for today. It'll make the chignon even fuller and I'm going to put a few small curlers in your bangs so that they curl correctly. I could do that with a curling iron, but since I'm going to put you under the dryer, anyway, we might as well kill two birds with one stone, ok?"
"Sure," Paul smiled. "Whatever you need to do is fine with me. I'm all yours."
"Oh, honey," Alison giggled as she started rolling the first curler into place, "that is a dangerous thing for a boy to say around here!"
The three pink curlers she put into Paul's bangs were fairly small in size, as Alison had stated, but she put a variety of different sizes into the hair in back of his head. "It creates a kind of 'structured-messy' effect," she explained. "You'll love it, I promise."
Once the curlers were in, Alison put a hair net over his head and placed him under a dryer beside an older woman. Within minutes, there was a twenty-something woman sitting on a rolling stool in front of him. She had a rolling cart as well. She said something, but Paul could not hear her, but she reached down and lifted his left foot so that it sat on the front of her stool and she grabbed a cotton ball, soaked it in nail polish remover and began removing the polish from his toes, replacing it with the same, deep, brilliant red color. When his toes were done she went to work on his finger nails, leaving the French manicured nails glistening with a new, clear coat of lacquer. She communicated with Paul via smiles and hand gestures throughout her chore, which lasted as long as Paul was cooking under the dryer.
When Paul's dryer hood was lifted, the older woman next to him lifted hers and said, "You're getting the whole nine yards today, sweetheart, aren't you?"
Paul smiled and nodded.
"Are you in a wedding? I know that prom is a few weeks off, still."
He smiled again and gave a quick explanation of recreating the picture of his grandmother.
"Oh, my dear, what a wonderfully thoughtful thing to do." She waved her hands near her eyes. "Oh, look at me... you've got me all teary eyed. Come here, dear."
Paul came forward and the woman took both of his hands in hers and she smiled up at him. "You are a very special young lady. Don't let the world jade you, honey. Stay exactly the way you are, today, do you hear me?"
"Ok. ma'am. I promise. I won't change."
"I hope not. Young women are so bright eyed and so full of love." She kissed both of his hands. "Next time I see you here, I would love to see the picture."
He smiled broadly. "I'll make sure you see it, ma'am. I promise."
"What's you're name, honey?"
"Paulie."
"Well, Polly, you have a wonderful day."
"You, too, ma'am. Bye bye."
"Come on, Paulie," Alison called. "We're falling behind!"
Paul wiggled his fingers as a wave to his new friend as he hurried to Alison's chair. When the curlers were out, she ran a brush through his hair until his hair was full and lustrous. "Did you like the chignon, Paulie?"
He did.
"So, for today, I'm going to do the same thing, only fancier. The chignon will be made up of waves and curls that will have the baby's breath woven into it. How does that sound?"
He shrugged. "Wonderful, I guess? I don't really know much about this, but I love everything you've done up to this point."
"Do you?" Alison continued her work as she spoke. "I've been thinking a lot about you, you know?"
"Really? Why?"
"I've been wondering what it must be like for a boy - a young man, really - to suddenly be so deeply involved in all this." She spoke in a normal volume, but with so much activity going on in the salon, no one seemed to notice what was being said. "It must be pretty strange for you."
Another shrug from Paul. "I don't know... It all moved pretty slowly at first, I guess. Then, it took on a life of its own. I was helping my mom with a big sewing project, and then she saw how much I looked like my grandma. Now, I'm here."
Alison smiled at the innocent response. She knew that there had to be something just a bit kinky in all of this. She knew her niece well enough to know that she was getting pretty hot-and-bothered by her girly-boyfriend.
She decided to push the point a bit. "And after the photographer leaves today? Is that it? Then you go right back to being a boy?"
There was a pause before Paul answered. "I... I don't really know. Mom's sewing project isn't done yet, so there's that and... well, I just don't know..."
Alison smiled as she looked at the picture of Paul's grandmother and began sculpting his hair on top of his head.. "You like it, don't you? All the pampering, the hair, the makeup... it's not easy to give all of that up once you've tried it. I know that I couldn't."
Paul watched her work in the mirror and thought about what she'd said for several moments before he said, "And would that be so bad? I mean, if I stayed looking this way. Would that be a bad thing?"
He felt the gentle stab of a bobby-pin being pressed into his scalp to hold an elegantly puffed pile of hair on top of his head and he heard Alison say, "That's not for me to say, Paulie, but I will tell you that I have girls your age in here every single day and I bet that ninety percent of them would kill to be as cute as you are. You've got the hair, the eyes, the face, the smile - you've got it all going on as a girl. Do you like feeling pretty?"
Paul smiled. "I really do. It makes me feel very special."
"And did you like dressing up and looking handsome as a boy?"
That was a good question. In fact, he never really did like dressing up and wearing a tie. His suit coat was heavy and binding and the shoes were all clumsy and uncomfortable. "Not really, no. Besides, I don't think that I look very handsome in a suit. I just kind of feel - out of place."
"And in a dress?"
"Well, honestly, I haven't really gone out that much in a dress. I mean, I went to the country club on Tuesday, but that didn't work out so well - Not because of the dress. I really liked the dress and how I looked in it. It was something else, but..."
"Did you go out last night?"
"Yes, but just to the Greek place down the street. Nothing fancy. And we had breakfast at Louie's Diner this morning."
"And?"
"And what?"
"Did you get compliments?"
"Yeah, sure. I got lots of compliments. My big brother even said I looked like a princess last night."
"In that pink dress? Trust me, sweet-pea, you definitely would have made Cinderella look like the house-maid that she really was if you'd gone to the ball in that! You looked absolutely adorable."
"Really?" Paul had the same smile that Alison had seen a million times before on adolescent girls when they realized how beautiful they had become. He was definitely smitten.
"Really, Paulie. How Do you like your hair?"
He'd been lost in the conversation until now. Starting with his cute, wispy, curled bangs, his hair rose to a puffy, perfect ball on top of his head, then pulled behind his head, where it was sculpted into another, oblong puff of a chignon, but it was full and curly and delicate. The very center of the chignon was a rose sculpted of his very own hair! It was inconceivable to Paul that anyone had the skill to do such things with hair! He'd never seen anyone with hair this beautiful outside of a bridal magazine.
"Alison..."
"What? You don't like it?"
"Like it? It's amazing! I LOVE IT!" His skin actually flushed from excitement. In the gusset of his panties, Paul could feel himself stiffening dangerously, but he didn't want that right now. He just wanted to look at his hair. His beautiful, amazing hair!
"Now, watch this." Paul closed his eyes Alison sprayed some spray into his hair. When he opened them, though, he was shocked to see that there was a sparse layer of glitter in this hair. He glittered! He actually glittered!!! "You like?"
"Oh, my God! I didn't think it could look better than it did..."
"Oh, I'm not done, honey." She pulled out several sprigs of greenery with little, white flowers with tiny yellow centers. "Now, I'm going to weave these into your hair. A little baby's breath for your grandmother's new, baby girl."
He could not wait to see what everything would look like. As she started weaving the stems into his hair, he became fidgety, trying to see each bud in the mirror, all the while praying not to have an orgasm right here in this sanctum-sanctorum of femininity.
"Oh, my heavens, Paulie, look at you!" It was Lilly's voice as she stood behind him and looked at his hair from every angle. "I swear, you're even more beautiful than my mother was." He really was at least as beautiful as the girl in the picture.
"And we haven't done his makeup, yet," Alison pointed out, "but we're going to move to a makeup station for that."
She pulled his cape off and helped him stand, noticing that his eyes were riveted to the mirror. She exchanged a knowing smile with Lilly. They'd both had this same experience as girls. That first time that you're really done up for an event! You could never forget that feeling of being truly beautiful and Paul would be feeling that all day today. What a wonderful thing to share with your daughter and an even more wonderful thing to share with your son.
Alison gave Lilly another smile and a raise of her eyebrows before speaking to Paul, "Do you need a bathroom break before we start your makeup, sweetheart?"
Paul thought for a moment before saying, "I probably should."
"Ok. It's just back there. We'll meet you at my makeup station when you're all done."
He smiled. "Thank you," and he hustled off.
"He'll be a few minutes, I'm sure," Alison grinned at Lilly.
"Oh?" Lilly was oblivious for a moment before she realized Alison's implication. "Oh! You don't think that he's going to....? He wouldn't do that here, though!"
Alison laughed as she led Lilly across the salon. "I'm shocked that he hasn't just cum in his panties at this point. He's a boy, Lilly. Boys can't help it. Just let him deal with it. He'll be fine."
Paul closed the door to the lavatory behind him. It was not tiny, but not spacious, either. Big enough for the toilet and a fairly large vanity as well as a little room in case a woman needed to change her clothes. There was a large mirror over the vanity and full length mirror on the door behind him so he could look in the vanity mirror and see both the front of his hair and the back simultaneously. He was enraptured by it all. His hair and his dress. His smooth face. He was shaking. At a time like this, the last thing he wanted was to think about his boyish genitals, but he knew that he'd be in trouble if he didn't deal with a growing problem very soon.
He took a moment to remove his the lovely dress and hang it on a hook on the wall.
Oh, Lord, if anything was ever worth the effort, this was it. The realistic breasts in the soft, lacy bra and the silky panties that matched perfectly, but as beautiful as his panties were, they had to go and go quickly! He stepped out of them and hung them as well. Now, when he looked in the mirror, he saw a beautiful girl with a sizable, rigid penis where she should be smooth. Her penis was smooth and hairless, like a little boy's, but it was definitively functioning in a manly manner. He shivered just a little as he realized that even his most manly attribute looked as if it belonged to a junior high schooler. For some reason, even that excited him.
He raised the toilet seat and sat with his legs spread, allowing him to be able to aim himself down into the bowl when the time came.
He'd avoided touching himself all week. He didn't want to ruin his soft female garments with ugly male behavior, or stain them with... well, no need to think about that.
When the shiny fingernails touched him, they felt alien - not like they were attached to his hands, but like they were someone else's - Lori's, maybe, but feminine, regardless. They tickled him as they gently toyed with him. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the feeling of the fingers, as he slipped their softness around himself.
As his excitement built, his mind played tricks on him, and suddenly it was the penis that felt alien. The amount of hand and face cream he'd used over then past few weeks had soften his hand - which, of course, was very familiar with his penis - but he hadn't realized that the body washes had softened the skin on his boyhood so much. That, combined with the lack of pubic hair, made everything feel different.
It wasn't his hand - it was a woman's hand - yet, somehow he was that woman.
It wasn't his penis - it was another man's penis - yet, somehow, he was touching that other man's penis.
He could smell the fresh hairspray in his hair and taste the pink lipstick he'd reapplied after breakfast and the breasts on his chest and the bra securing them and hugging him so softly, securely and lovingly and he could feel the other man's penis stiffen and twitch as his pace increased and his breathing became ragged.
The soft "Ahh!!!" of a woman resounded in the room as the man's twitching became spasms and it exhausted itself in the soft, controlling, female hand that Paul was manipulating, but Paul continued to caress it to make sure that he milked every creamy drop from the man.
Finally, he shivered and shook as he felt something shake his entire body through and through. It was an icy feeling that shot from the area of his fingers and groin and then shot through him, leaving behind a warmth that overwhelmed him to his core. His eyes shot open as he sputtered to inhale until it passed and when it did, it left him feeling spent, yet fulfilled in a way that he'd never felt before.
"Oh, my God, Oh, my God, Oh, my God..." he muttered quietly as the shaking stopped and his breathing returned to normal. He closed and opened his eyes several time as he slowed his breathing and regained control of himself. What had happened? Whatever it was, it had never happened before and he sure as heck wanted it to happen again - but not now. Now, he had to clean up and get back to being the virginal vision in the picture. He looked at himself and his surroundings. He was a little sweaty, not too bad, he could clean himself and wash his face, but he'd completely forgotten to adjust his aim before his climax. This would take a few minutes to clean up.
Paul glanced at the clock as he reentered the salon. He had no concept of how long he'd been in there. It could have been three minutes and it could have been three hours. He was both relieved and embarrassed to see that it had been thirteen minutes. No one takes that much time in the lavatory unless they're suffering from a stomach bug or...
He spotted Alison at her makeup station, but his mother seemed to have left the salon.
Alison smiled as he sat down. "Feel better, sweetie?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Things like this can get very exciting, can't they?"
'Oh, my God!' Paul thought, "She knows what I just did."
Alison felt him tense up, so she let him off the hook. "Probably gave you an upset stomach, huh?
He relaxed. "I guess...Yeah."
She brushed on a base coat of makeup to smooth out his skin tone, then worked his cheeks a little.
"Your grandmother had a very wholesome look for back then. Most girls of that era overdid it with lots of blue on their eyelids. Lucky for you, your grandmother was subtle. You have those light blue eyes, so I'm going to use a brown eyeliner instead of black. It will keep everything looking more natural for you."
She leaned down as she worked on his face, standing to judge her work on occasion and showing smiles or scowls depending on how she evaluated the makeup job.
After a good long time in the chair, Lori popped her head into his sight line. "Baby, Beth and I have to go. We'll see you at the house in a little while. Your mom is back, now, so, you should be all set. Ok?" She kissed his cheek and whispered, "Oh, baby, you look so pretty!"
He smiled. "I love you."
She stood back up. "I love you too, baby. Oh, my God, this is SO EXCITING!!!"
Alison went back to work and pretty soon, Paul saw his mother smiling down at him. "Paulie, Paulie, Paulie..." she said quietly, "you are not going to believe how beautiful you are."
Finally, Alison proclaimed him ready. He stood and looked in the mirror, then looked again to be sure that it was, in fact, his reflection. The girl who looked back at him was truly beautiful. Her face was plump, soft and white, with huge, soft blue eyes that were lidded with long, dark lashes and the classic, deep, velvety, red lips were bigger, plumper and more inviting than anything he could have imagined.
The thing that was most shocking, though, was that, despite the modern, flowered, yellow sundress, the girl in the mirror WAS the girl in the picture. He had actually become that girl. He had actually become his grandmother.
He tingled with excitement and the anticipation of completing the look with that beautiful dress.
"So," Alison explained to both of them, but mostly to Lilly, "Everything he's wearing is waterproof and long lasting. I'm sending Home a tube of the lipstick with you, just in case, but he should be fine, even if he eats or drinks before the picture. Now, before you go, I want you to promise me that I will get a copy of the picture, ok?"
Lilly air-kissed Alison's cheek, promised to bring a picture as soon as possible and told Paul to thank Alison so that they could get going.
"Alison..." he started, "l don't even know what to say. I can't believe that you made me look like... well, like THIS! Thank you, so much."
"Oh, you are so welcome, little girl. Now, you go home and look pretty for everyone."
He smiled broadly and with an unselfconsciously feminine nod of his head, he took his mother's hand and allowed himself to be led to the door.
It was too early for Paul to get completely dressed, but, because he was so excited, when they returned home, he wanted to start getting ready, so his apparel for the late morning was comprised of the silk and lace matching bra and panty set that Lilly had bought specifically for this event, the waist nipper, the open toed, cream colored pumps and the new, knee length petticoat that was covered in layers and layers of soft, bouncy, lacy material.
At 12:30, an hour before the photographer was to arrive, Beth and Lori both showed up, dressed beautifully - Lori in a short, gold, formal dress that she'd worn to a wedding last summer and Beth in a very pretty, sleeveless, white top and the pleated skirt she'd bought the day before.
"Hello, hello!" Lori called as they entered, finding Paul hurrying to grab a shirt. "Relax, baby," Lori told him, "we've seen you in much less."
Beth assessed her friend in his finery and said, "Hocky smokes, Rooney! You're making me feel underdressed and you haven't even finished getting ready, yet!"
Paul smiled, but pulled on the checked blouse with the darts in it that he'd worn back when his mother started all of this.
"I thought that I heard you two come in." Lilly entered looking beautiful in a sparkling, champagne colored, cocktail dress. "And you both look absolutely beautiful."
"So," Paul sat, smoothing his petticoats daintily beneath him, then crossing his legs at the knees, "is anyone going to tell me why everyone is so dressed up?"
"No big surprise, honey," Lilly smiled. "Since I'm paying for a photographer, I thought that it would be nice to get pictures of the whole family. I've even invited Keith to get dressed up and join us. You don't mind, do you?"
He smiled. "Why would I mind? I'm getting pictures with everyone I love! I'm thrilled!"
"Would you like us to help him get dressed, Mrs Rooney?" Lori asked.
"Oh, no, no, no. Not yet. I'd like to wait until the photographer is all set and ready to go before Paulie is dressed. That way he can't get wrinkled, but while we are waiting, Lori, come on in the dinning room. I'd like you to take a look at something I'd like to add to your prom dress."
Beth sat with Paul while the other women left. "How're you holding up, Rooney. You've already had a big day, huh?"
"I'm great, Beth. Thank you for asking. I'm really excited. I mean, after everything we've done this week, I can't wait to actually do this."
She reached over and held his hand. "And after this?"
He shrugged. "I'm still not sure, but I have boobs till tomorrow night, so I'm a girl till then, anyway."
"Boobs, or not, Rooney, you're about a kagillion times more girly than I am right now, and I have a vagina."
"You're not jealous are you?" Paul asked as he batted his eyelashes at her.
"Kinda, actually!" She joked. "Seriously, though? You don't have any idea what you're going to do?"
"Beth - look at me. I've never felt more beautiful or special or important as I do right now. No one every looked twice at me before. Now..."
"So... you're going girly?"
"Like I said, I still haven't decided. As special as I feel right now, this would definitely be a lot more work than going back to being a boy. And I don't mean the beauty parlor and all. I mean explaining who I am and what I am all the time. So, I still just don't know."
At that moment, a minivan pulled up in the driveway.
"That's the photographer!" Lilly shouted as she hurried through the kitchen to exit onto the back porch, waving and calling all the way.
Paul and the girls giggled at her enthusiasm as they watched the somewhat flustered man being led around to the back yard by Lilly, who spoke nonstop and with broad hand gestures.
"Did she sleep at all last night?" Beth asked.
"I think so. Why?" Paul looked out the window to see if any assistance was needed out back.
"Because she's more excited than a kid on Christmas."
"It's nice to see old people excited, though," Lori said.
"You want to see the flip side of my mom's 'happy and excited coin?' Let her hear you calling her 'old!'" Paul laughed. "Years from now, I'll be looking at pictures of me and Beth and mom and Keith and feeling sad because mom threw my girlfriend out of the house that day."
Lori laughed. "Don't worry about it, sweetie. I know when to keep my mouth shut."
A short while later, the photographer and Lilly came into the kitchen. Lilly was still talking nonstop.
"...Keith just text me that he was on his way, so we can get Paulie dressed and we'll be ready when he gets here, ok? Oh, and this is Paulie."
Paul stood and offered the man his hand.
The photographer took it and shook it gently. "Hi, Polly. I guess you're my victim today, huh?"
Paul smiled. "I am. This is Lori and this is Beth. They're victims, too."
The photographer smiled. He liked this girl. She was quick. "Hi, girls. Just call me Rick."
"Hi, Rick," they said in unison.
"Oh, here's Keith, now," Lilly said, taking Paul by the shoulders and leading him into the dinning room. "Lori, I'll need your help and Beth, would you be a dear and grab my camera?" She nodded at Beth and kind of directed her eyes towards the back door in a manner indicating that Beth needed to do something.
Paul was immediately suspicious that something was going on, but Lilly guided him into the other room too quickly for him to ask any questions.
Lilly took the dress off the hanger and turned to Paul, who was removing his blouse. She looked at her son - her petite, beautiful son with his perky breasts, his stunning red lips, his silky skin and equally silky, lace adorned lingerie - and she couldn't help it. Her emotions took over and tears of joy flowed from her eyes as she hugged her mother's empty dress to her own bosom.
Paul smiled as he approached his mother and hugged her and the dress. "Are you ok, mommy?"
"I'm just... so happy, Paulie. You're so beautiful and you've done so much and been through so much to get ready for today... I know it's silly to cry, but, honestly, sweetheart, I just can't help myself."
He hugged her more tightly before releasing her and smiling at her, his own eyes glistening with tears of joy. "You'd better stop, mommy, or I'm going to start crying, too."
He turned to face Lori only to find her wiping tears from her eyes, too. "Oh, you two... look what you've done to me, now." She giggled at her own emotionalism.
Out in the kitchen Paul heard Keith say, "Hi, Beth. Where's the lady of honor?"
"In the dining room getting into the dress," Beth responded.
Then the voices became hushed. There were women's voices as well. 'Keith must have brought Abby,' Paul thought. That was fine. He thought that they'd reached an agreement at the restaurant last night when he'd felt more confident in her presence than he'd ever felt before. Besides, even if she was only feigning her contrition, she'd behave herself with all of these people around.
"Turn and face towards mommy, baby," Lilly said softly.
He did.
"Are you ready?"
He nodded.
"Lori, I think we need Beth's help, too."
Lori went to the door, said hello to Keith and called Beth in to help.
Finally, with the three women creating a triangle around him, the dress was lifted carefully over his head, then lowered down onto his hairless arms, past his gorgeous hair, until it rested on his tiny, feminine shoulders. Then they continued to guide it past his breasts and hips to settle over the petticoats.
All four of them shivered at the beauty of the frock. It was, truly, every girl's fantasy to wear something this painstakingly rendered. Something that glittered and shone in the midday light of the dining room.
Even Beth wiped a few tears from her eyes. "Rooney..." she was at a loss for words. That never happened. "Paulie..." She hugged him and kissed his cheek and whispered, "I love you."
Paul whispered back, "I love you too, Beth. You're the best friend I've ever had."
Beth shook her head. "You're not my friend, Paulie. You're my little sister - or my little brother - or whatever, but we're family, now."
"Oh!" Paul squealed quietly, his eyes melting towards tears.
"No," Beth scolded, her eyes doing the same, "no more tears. Just be beautiful."
"Do you have my camera, Beth?" Lilly asked.
Beth nodded and grabbed the camera from the table and handed it to Lilly.
"Lori," Lilly continued to direct the scene, "ask the photographer and Keith to come in."
When they'd both come in, Lilly said, "Ok, now, Keith, I want you to button up the dress and we'll take pictures."
Keith came up behind Paul, put both hands his shoulders, leaned over and kissed his cheek then said quietly, "Wow, princess, you look amazing."
"Thank you," Paul smiled as he leaned his head back into his brother's chest.
"Ok," Lilly took over, again, let's get started. "Abby," she called over Keith's shoulder, "Come on in and see this, too."
Abby took her place next to Beth. She looked happy, if a bit sheepish.
"Ok, Keith," Lilly continued, "just pose like you're fastening the buttons."
"Like this," the big man asked as he pretended to work the buttons.
"Yes, just like that." Cameras clicked and everyone smiled.
Paul giggled at the silliness of the situation.
"Alright," Lilly proclaimed, "now, button Paulie up for real, but do it SLOWLY so you don't pull the material. It's very delicate."
"Ok," Keith laughed.
It took a moment, but the buttons started to close around Paul's waist, slowly and carefully.
"Just keep looking toward me, Polly," Rick, the photographer said as the camera clicked and clicked.
After a minute or so, the dress had been buttoned about half way up, but pictures were still being taken. "This all seems a bit excessive," Paul laughed.
"It sure does," Keith agreed as he stepped in front of Paul and moved beside Abby. He smiled at his younger brother.
It took a moment for Paul to realize that the dress was still closing around him, yet Keith was not the person closing it. He started to turn to see who was fastening the buttons, but a voice scolded, "Now, don't squirm or I'll never get this buttoned up."
He looked forward again at the six smiling faces of the people who were all taking picture after picture after picture.
"Who...?" he mouthed, as the buttons were attached all the way to the top of the dress.
Small, cool fingers caressed his bare shoulders. "There. You're all set, now."
Paul turned slowly to see a woman in her seventies, but looked as if she was in her fifties, her beautifully coiffed hair was nearly identical in color to Paul's.
"Grandma!" Paul whispered.
"Paulie," she smiled as she stroked his hair. "You look beautiful, pumpkin. Why, I don't think I ever looked half as pretty in that dress as you do." She kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly.
Paul was in an emotional overload. He'd been a bit trepidatious about how his grandmother would react to the picture. He hadn't ever considered her actually being here and seeing him in HER dress! Now, here she was and she seemed absolutely at ease with the fact that her grandson had gone to very great lengths to look just like she had at his age.
"Grandma..." He sputtered, "... are you, you know, ok with this? How did you even found out?"
Keith chimed in, "That's kind of my fault, Paulie. Sorry. I stopped by grandma's to talk about the wedding and everything, and I just assumed that she knew about the dress and the picture. Anyway, since the cat was out of the bag already, I invited her to come for the pictures. I hope that you're ok with that, Paulie."
"Paulie, sweetheart," his grandmother caressed his cheek again, "I'm your grandmother and I love you and I truly love that you and your mother would go to all this trouble for me."
They smiled at each other, then Paul hugged her and nestled his head into her neck. "I love you, too, grandma."
"Do you realize," she reminisced, "that I met your grandfather fifty five years ago tonight while I was wearing that dress? It was one of the most wonderful nights of my life. I really didn't want to get all dressed up to be paraded around like I was in some kind of an auction, but I did it for my daddy - and thanks heavens I did..."
She pulled Paul to arms length so she could take him in. "...because everything good that happened in my life happened because of that night. I was with your grandpa for nearly fifty of marriage and he gave me your auntie and your mommy and they gave me your cousins and Keith and, of course, you, Paulie - my sweet, pretty, baby."
Paul smiled and blushed. "We all love you, too, grandma. And so did grandpa. I remember how you two always held hands and kissed no matter where you were. You were the only two grownups I knew who did that."
His grandmother ran her hands down his arms and she flounced his skirts and watched them settle. "I remember how your grandfather looked at me the night I wore this dress. I knew right then and there that he was the man I would marry - and I did - and he looked at me that same way every single day until the day he died."
She looked at Lori. "What do you think of Paulie looking like this?"
"I think he's the most beautiful, exciting thing I've ever seen."
"Good." She nodded and smiled. "That's a good answer." She kissed his cheek, again. "You truly are a beautiful girl, Paulie. Now, I think we should go outside and take some pictures."
"An excellent idea!" Rick clapped his hands. "Ladies," then to Keith, "and sir, let's head out to the backyard and get this started. Mrs Rooney has a long list of portraits she wants taken. So, the sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done."
Paul grabbed the tiny, lace covered, white gloves that completed his ensemble and they all filed out the sliding door in the living-room, across the deck, down the patio-stone-walkway to the flowering bush that made up the focal point of the beautiful back yard. The Bush was in full bloom with huge pink, blue and white balls of color exploding from each blossom. It made a perfect backdrop, just as it had fifty-plus years ago when his grandmother wore this same dress.
"We'll start with the recreation of the original picture," Rick announced. "Polly, I need you to stand here and look towards that corner of the house..." he went on directing Paul.
Paul's grandmother stood back a few feet to watch all of the excitement. Her daughter and her grandsons and the women who were important to them, all together in the yard in which she'd grown up. It was a wonderful moment and she just wanted to take it all in.
As she sighed with contentment, the one young woman that she didn't know approached her and extended her hand.
"Hi," the pretty young woman said, "I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Beth. I'm Paulie's friend."
The older woman smiled. "From what I understand, Beth, you're much more than Paulie's friend. You were Paulie's savior this week. I'm Rose, Paulie's grandmother."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs...?"
"Call me grandma, please. I can see how much you mean to Paulie." She kissed Beth's cheek. "Thank you for being the sister he needs."
'Wow!' Beth thought while thinking back to the conversation she'd had with Paul less than a half an hour ago. 'I like this lady!'
"I think we're ready," Rick announced as he adjusted his lighting just a little.
He took several pictures and each time his shutter opened, the resulting image popped up on his laptop where he could compare it to the original picture. At first, he adjusted Paul's stance or raised or lowered the camera on its tripod, but it just wasn't coming out as perfectly as he wanted. Something wasn't quite right.
"I'm going to see what they're doing," Beth told Rose, who accompanied her to look at the computer screen.
There was a lot of discussion going on as they reviewed the shots. Everyone had an opinion, but they just couldn't put their finger on what was amiss.
Rose knew, though.
While the others conversed, rose went and whispered to her beautiful grandchild.
"Paulie, in my day, women weren't like Lori and Beth. We weren't independent like they are, now. That came later. We were demure. I didn't WANT to be a debutante. I was TOLD that I had to be one and I did as my father told me. The saving grace of preparing for the ball was this dress, Paulie. It made me feel so grown up and womanly; just like you feel, right now, but, Paulie, we weren't allowed to show as much joy as you're showing. Think about what it was like to know that, even if you met the man of your dreams, that he would always be your superior. Thank God, your grandfather was different, but that's what we girls had to look forward to, back then. You need to bow your head, just a little, baby, then, look back up at the camera and when you smile, just let me see your front teeth - not the huge smile you're showing now. Do you understand, sweetness?"
Suddenly, Paul felt a little sad for his grandmother, but then he thought about how much he depended on Lori to be strong for him, to take care of him. How strong she was when he needed her to be.
He thought about Beth, too. His rock when he was falling apart.
And he understood. Completely. Totally. He understood what his grandmother was telling him. He was more like her than he had ever thought.
"Thank you, grandma." He kissed her cool, smooth cheek. "I think I know what to do."
"Let's try it again," Rose called as she moved behind the others.
"Ok," Rick looked through his lenses again and refocused on Paul.
'Click' went the camera and they all looked to the laptop to see the result.
It was perfect. His eyes were just slightly lidded, his smile was sincere, but more maidenly, more feminine. All the changes were small and subtle, but they were what was needed. The photo was identical to the original. It was impossible to tell if the virginal, fertile image of blossoming womanhood was Rose or Paul.
They all sighed in relief. They'd done it. Lilly and Rose had their picture! Now, they could move on to the simpler chore of photographing all of them in large and small groups.
Rick had packed up his gear and was backing out of the driveway, as Keith, who had carried most of the gear from the backyard, reentered the house, his tie loosened, three shirt buttons unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up. "Well, mom, I'd say that you've had a very successful day. What do you think?"
Lilly kissed her oldest son's cheek. "I think it has been a wonderful day, so far, but I don't think it's over yet, though." She turned to the rest of the crowded kitchen, "listen, we're all dressed up, let's all go out to dinner. My treat."
"Oh, that would be lovely," Rose clapped her hands, "but it's Saturday evening. Where could we go with seven people and expect to get in? I don't want to stand and wait for an hour or more."
Lilly smiled, slyly, "I took the initiative and I made a reservation for seven people at "The Cupola" for 6:15 this evening. What do you say, everyone?"
"Am I going out in this?" Paul asked.
"No, honey," Lilly smiled at him. "You'll need to change into something else, but it should be something nice."
Paul's heart sunk just a bit at the prospect of taking off this amazing dress, but he'd still be dressed up, so that would be good. "What should I wear?"
"Well, with that hair and makeup, it should be something very nice. What do you have?"
"Everything I have is either casual or kind of everyday. The only 'very nice' dresses that fit me are the bridesmaids dresses and this one."
"Oh!" Lori offered, "I have just the dress for you, Paulie! I wore it for my confirmation. We saved it for Meredith, but it's a little small for her. I'm sure it'll fit you. I'll run home and grab it. I'll be back in twenty minutes!"
"Ok," Paul laughed at her enthusiasm and she ran out the door.
"I guess that takes care of that, then," Lilly laughed, then looked at her mother who was sitting at the kitchen table. "Lori has been in heaven since Paulie started wearing dresses to get ready for this."
"Come here, Paulie, sweetness," Rose called.
When Paul reached her, she took his hands in hers and spread his arms wide. With her seated, her head was just about bosom high to him and afforded her an unimpeded view of the dress on his petite form. "I can't believe that this dress looks this good after being in storage for so long. Or that you could look so beautiful in it, Paulie."
"Thank you, grandma."
She smiled at him, then asked, "So, now what, Paulie?"
"What do you mean, grandma?"
"I mean what now? Are you going to be my grandson or my granddaughter?"
"I'm not really sure, yet, grandma. I've decided that I need to make a decision before I go to bed tomorrow so that I know what I'm going tell people at school."
Rose nodded and considered how difficult this could be for Paul. She smiled at him and said, "You are a wonderful grandchild, Paulie." She kissed both his hands and held them to her chest. "Whatever you decide, I know that you always will be my precious child, but, just so that you know, I have always imagined that you would look exactly like this if you'd been born a girl. Every time I looked at you, I saw myself as girl and now I see myself as a young woman. You are my special grandbaby, Paulie, no mater what."
"Thank you, grandma," the tears welled in his eyes. "You're my special grandmother, too."
She let go of his hands and laughed. "I'd be flattered if I weren't your only grandmother. Now, go get changed. Beth and Abby, would you please help him? I need to talk to Lilly and Keith for a few minutes."
Abby balked a bit at this, both because she felt that she was being dismissed so that 'the adults could talk,' and because she knew that both Beth and Paul were frosty towards her because of her, admittedly, horrid behavior of a few days ago, but, rather than ask to stay, she went, some what sulkily, with the teenagers.
There was a cool silence in the dining room for a few minutes until, finally, Beth said, "Abby, if you could start with his buttons, I'll run up and get his robe."
When Beth had headed up the stairs, Abby asked, "Is that ok, Paulie?"
Paul looked a bit confused. "Yeah, of course. I'm sorry, I can't really reach much of anything in this. I'm kind of trapped until you get me out."
Abby smiled, then began to unbutton him, taking great care with each button. The last thing she needed right now was to damage the dress in some way and have Keith's family get mad at her, again.
"Abby," Paul asked, careful of his words, "can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, I suppose."
"Do you love my brother?"
"Of course, I love him Paul. I'm going to marry him."
"I know you're going to marry him, but do you truly love him. You know - like 'you'd die if you had to live without him' kind of love? Do you truly LOVE him?"
Abby stood taller, having finished unfastening the buttons, and she thought about the question. "Paul... Paulie... To be honest, if I had to, I could probably live without Keith, but I truly do not want to. I really, really love him."
Paul nodded and shrugged the dress from his shoulders and undid the waist nipper. "Could you loosen my petticoat for me, please."
She did. "What about you, Paulie?"
"You mean, do I love Lori? Yeah. I'm completely in love with Lori."
"No." Abby lowered the dress and petticoats to the floor so he could step out of them. "I mean... do you love Keith enough to ever forgive me?"
Paul, in his pumps, panties and bra, turned to Abby and looked her in the eyes. She was at least four inches taller than him, but she looked small and frail, waiting for his answer. He wanted to be strong and cruel and leave her hanging for an answer, but it just wasn't in him - not any more. Instead, he hugged her, without saying a word.
It took Abby a moment or two to bring her arms up and hug him in return, but when she did, she started crying. The tears were tears of regret and of relief - and, most importantly they were sincere. It felt as if Paul had given her a ladder to climb out of the hole that she'd dug. She was grateful, relieved and happy.
"I'm sorry, Paulie. I'm really, really sorry. I was such a rotten bitch to you and, I'm just so, so sorry."
Paul released her and looked her in the eyes again. His smile grew, slightly, then he pulled his lips tight to keep from tearing up, himself. He nodded and sniffled before saying, "I'll never forget how you hurt me, Abby, but Keith certainly loves you, so I will, too."
"Thank you, Paulie." She picked up the dress and hung it and the petticoats from hangers. Then she turned to look at Paul. He seemed so... un-boy-like... in his lingerie, full breasts and smooth fronted panties. He also seemed completely unabashed about being not just in his underwear, but his women's underwear in front of her.
"Here you go, Rooney," Beth entered with a mid-thigh, light blue wrap in her hands. She held it so that Paul could slide into it.
"Thanks, Beth." He tied the belt.
When they rejoined Keith and the two older women in the kitchen, Paul just caught the end of something that Keith was saying, "...Abby and I really want to help out any way we can."
"Here are the girls, now," Rose said.
"Lori should be here in a moment," Beth said. "She sent me a text about five minutes ago saying she was on her way back with the dress. Rooney, she says that you should keep your white pumps on."
Paul shook his foot at Beth to show that he was in compliance. "Yes, ma'am."
"Here she is, now," Lilly pointed towards the window.
Lori burst through the door, breathless and carrying a dry cleaner's bag with a lavender dress within. "Sorry! I hope I didn't hold everyone up. It took a minute to find it in Meredith's closet. Come on, Paulie. I'll get you dressed."
"No need to rush," Lilly stood and straightened her dress. "As long as we're underway in the next ten minutes or so, we'll be fine."
Paul followed Lori into the dining room, started removing his robe, but someone from behind him helped him take it off. He turned to see his grandmother laying the robe on the back of a chair. "Heavens, your mother has turned my mother's beautiful dinning room into a garment district warehouse!" She smiled at her own joke as she looked at her grandson in his lingerie.
Paul returned her smile, then became just a bit self conscious as her eyes scanned him critically.
"Everything looks so real, Paulie. Those breasts are impressive, but your rump and hips, honey... they look like a girl's too. Not a woman's, yet, but you definitely have a head start."
He looked at his midsection and inspected himself. "Really?"
"Wouldn't you say so, Lori?" Rose asked his girlfriend.
Lori had pulled the dress free of the bag and pulled down the back zipper. "I certainly would," she smiled, too. "Arms up, baby, so I can get this on you. Grandma Rose, can you help with his hair?"
Lori stood in front and Rose in the back and they lowered the dress carefully onto Paul. Then, for the second time that day, Rose closed the back of a dress for her grandson. This time it was a delicate zipper that slide slowly up his spine.
When it was secured, she, again, patted his shoulders. "And your shoulders, sweetheart... they're small and feminine, too. I think you're making the right decision, sweetheart. You may be a boy, but you're built just like a beautiful girl."
The bodice was a stretchy mesh of flowers and leaves that formed a sheer tank-top of the dress, exposing the skin beneath, and leaving his shoulders bare to the world. At the cups of his bra, the dress material became denser to provide modesty, then it flared into several layers of very light material that formed a very flouncy skirt that ended midthigh, again giving him a youthful appearance, although, with the makeup he was wearing, he did look more like a sixteen or seventeen year old than he had at the restaurant last night.
As Lori flounced and straightened her boyfriend's dress, Paul said, "Grandma, I really haven't made any decision, yet. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do."
Rose watched as Lori fawned all over Paul, preening him to make him presentable and she watched how Paul submitted to the preening in a way that no boy ever would. She could see it in his eyes - he adored this treatment. "You'll make the right decision, Paulie. I'm sure you will."
Dinner was fairly uneventful. Paul's grandmother went to great lengths to let all of the wait staff know that he'd done something very special for her that day, although she didn't go into what it was, and that caused the wait staff to pay extra attention to him, which was nice. They brought him a special dessert; a huge ice cream sundae which he shared with everyone, prompting the waitress to point out to both Lori and Beth that they had a very special little sister, to which Keith called out, "We sure do! A toast to our little sister!" That had made them all smile as they raised their glasses, water glasses for the teens and wine for the older people.
At one point during the meal, Lori mentioned to Rose that Lilly was making Lori's prom dress, to which Rose said, "Oh, how marvelous, Lori! And, of course, Paulie, you'll be wearing my dress, right?"
Paul nearly spit out his gnocchi soup at that. "Grandma, I don't really know how I'll be dressing for prom, but your dress is way too valuable to ever wear out."
"I don't know, Rooney," Beth said, "if you actually decided to go that route, then you'd definitely stand out in that dress - especially if you wore the lace gloves and all."
Paul smiled at that. He knew that she was being as supportive as possible, and teasing just a bit, but, as usual, there was an undercurrent of truth to everything that Beth said.
"Oh, I miss the extra touches like the little lace gloves we used to wear," Rose lamented. "We'd go to church all dressed in beautiful dresses with lace gloves and matching lace veils... it was so beautiful. Of course, I know that you girls have it much better than when I was young and you don't have time for those kinds of frills, but I still miss them. I'm just an old fashioned girl, I guess, just like Paulie."
"Just what I'm looking for," Lori smiled and kissed his cheek. "Some one to take care of me."
Other than that, though most of the night had been just a dinner with the family.
As they left the restaurant, they all agreed to meet at Lilly's house tomorrow at 6:00 for dinner, following which, Paul would let everyone know how he was going to be presenting himself from then on. It was Paul's decision to make his announcement in this manner, but immediately after stating a time and place for his announcement, he felt a huge amount of pressure to make the correct decision.
Paul kissed his mother, grandmother, brother and his brother's fiancé before climbing into the VW with Lori and Beth. They dropped Beth off before they drove to the river for some much needed 'alone' time.
They spread a blanket on the bank and sat looking at the moon and the stars and breathing in the fresh night air.
That evening, their playfulness merely extended to playing with each other's breasts. Lori enjoyed the erotic novelty and fantasy of playing with Paul's new bosom, and Paul never tired of worshipping Lori's breasts.
"So, baby," Lori asked as Paul dry nursed, "What are you thinking? BoyPaulie or girl-Paulie?"
He shrugged as he continued. "I really don't know. I'll figure it all out tonight and tomorrow, though. Which Paulie do you want?"
She wanted so badly to say, 'Stay girly, please!!,' but she could hear Beth's voice in her head telling her that she couldn't put that kind of pressure on him. So, instead, she said, "You know I love you, baby, and I'll love you whatever you decide."
"Thanks. That's no help at all."
When he got home, it broke his heart to have to brush out his hair and remove his makeup. He'd looked so amazing all day that he'd just wanted it to go one forever. After he cleansed and washed his face several times, he noticed that his lips still held some tint and looked more plump than usual. He guessed that this was due to the high quality, long lasting color that Alison had used. He kind of liked it.
This night, he wore an emerald green, silky nightie to bed. It hung loosely and comfortably from his shoulders and felt luscious against his smooth, moisturized skin.
He climbed into bed, stared at the ceiling and cried. What should he do? Did he want to give up being a boy? Some parts, yes, he'd give up willingly, but he didn't want to give up women - Lori, to be specific - and he couldn't imagine not having a penis. He'd LOVE to have real breasts of his own, but was it possible to have those AND a working penis? He didn't know. And would he still look like a girl in a few years, or would he look like a foolish drag queen. Again, he didn't know.
He stared through the tears and hoped that he'd cry himself to sleep, but, instead, it turned into a long, long, long night.
To Be Continued...
Spit and Image - 7 Final
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What route will Paul take from here?
Author's Note: Again, I deeply apologize for having lost you all throughout this story. I have to consider maybe this was the wrong sort of thing to tell. ~Clara.
This version of Spit and Image: 7 Final has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.
Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.
Chapter 7
'I know it's Sunday and all, but if you have a few minutes, I could use someone to talk to. Nothing big, just trying to decide how I will live the rest of my life.' Paul added a smiley face emoji to the end of the text and hit send. He'd wanted to talk with Dr Kim all night, but held off until 4:30am to actually send a text. If she was available some time today, that would be helpful, but he thought that he kind of knew what direction his life was headed.
He'd given up tossing and turning in bed around 1:30 and come down to the great room to play video games, but he didn't seem to have any taste for blowing things up just now. So, he got out his tablet and looked into information on everything from programs that promised to 'make a man out of your sissy son' to cross dressing sites to surgical information to hormonal therapy - both to make people more manly and more womanly. His exhausted brain was swimming with confusing information.
At 5:00, his text message chime rang. He grabbed his phone and looked for Dr Kim's text, but it was from Keith. 'Hi, princess,' it read. 'I'm headed to the golf course with friends. Just wanted to touch base. You looked amazing yesterday, but, you know, I'm with you, no matter what. Call or text if you need anything. Big day, I know. Love you.'
He put down the phone and cried for at least the hundred and twentieth time since he'd gone to bed. Would Keith still love him if he was a boy? He'd really only been back in his life for four days, now. They were four great days, but, still, only four days.
'Thanks, man,' Paul text back. 'Love you, too.'
Suddenly, there was a gentle knock on the sliding door behind him. Startled, Paul jumped from his cocoon of silk robe and nightie and he turned to see Keith smiling in at him.
Paul rolled his eyes in relief and pulled his robe closed as he went to let his brother in. "Geez, Keith!" he whispered, "you scared the bejeezus out of me! What are you doing here at this time of the morning?"
Keith came in and pulled Paul in for a tight hug. "I really am going golfing, but I came by on the way. I figured you'd have a tough time sleeping. I saw the light on, so I peeked in. I sent the text to see if you were awake. Can I help?"
There in the tight hug, with his face buried in the chest of his big, strong brother and his fake breasts pressing into his brother's stomach, all the fear of change, all the fear of loss and all the fear of the unknown burst forth and Paul wept like a child. Then, his words flowed as quickly as the tears. "I... I... I don't know what to do. Keith... is this all as crazy as I think it is? I don't know what I want. I want all of this, but I still want to be a boy. Does that make any sense? I... I... have spent the last week trying to figure out who I am and what I am and I still don't know. I'm such an idiot! Why didn't I just leave well enough alone and just stayed a boy? I never would have even thought about ever doing any of this if mom hadn't... no. This was all my doing. Mommy just wanted some help. God! I am an idiot! What should I do, Keith?" Then, the sobs were too deep for Paul to form any more words.
Keith held him even tighter. "Shh, Paulie. I knew that you were being way too cool about all of this, last night. Shh."
Paul pulled away, stepped back, hugged himself and very harshly asked, "If I made it your decision, right now, without any debate - you tell me - what should I do?"
Keith was stunned by the question. He barely knew this boy, this girl, this child in front of him. He was only just reentering his sibling-ship with Paul. How on earth could he be expected to tell him what to do.
He was taking too long to answer for Paul. "Keith... please... tell me what to do..."
The silence became thick and uncomfortable. Finally, Keith pulled out his phone and pressed a contact name. Paul looked confused, but Keith held up a finger telling him to wait a moment. After a moment, Keith spoke into his phone, "Hey, Pete. I'm sorry, man, but I won't be able to make it. I have a family emergency to deal with." He paused and listened. "Yeah, ok, thanks, bud. I'll see you guys next time. See ya." And he ended the call.
"I'm sorry, Keith. I didn't want to ruin your day, but... thanks."
His brother shrugged. "Don't be silly. You want some coffee?" Keith headed towards the kitchen.
Paul blocked his way, "No, but I'll make you some coffee. I'll have tea. You sit." He wiped his sodden cheeks. "I need to do... something... anything. I've been staring at the walls all night."
Keith sat and watched as his little brother scurried around the kitchen. There was no boyishness, let alone manliness, in any gesture that he made. It seemed as if he'd been born female.
The tea and coffee were brought to the table. Keith made busy work of stirring the sugar into the black brew while Paul played with the string on his teabag - neither speaking. Each peeked at the other to see if the other would speak first, but they remained quiet, until each took a sip and they accidentally made eye contact with each other. Then they smiled and placed their cups on the table simultaneously.
Finally, Keith admitted, "I don't know what to say, Paulie. I mean, it's your life, Bud. How do you want to live it?"
Paul squirmed moment, then asked, "Do you like me better this way?"
For a moment, Keith didn't know what to say, so he asked, "Why would you ask me that, Paulie?"
He shrugged and his face melted as his eyes teared up. "I don't know. I just hardly saw you until, you know, I started being girly. Now, we've done stuff together and you're here, now, and, I don't know... it just seems that you like your sister a lot more than you liked your brother."
Keith nodded, shook his head and sighed. "Paulie... honestly, it had nothing to do with you. It was just me being a self-centered jackass. Until I found out about what happened at the country club, I just assumed that you and mom had everything under control. I just wasn't paying attention. When I found out, though, I came and I'm here now. I'm here for my brother and my sister. I'll never leave you hanging, again. I promise. No matter what. I'm here and I'm here to stay."
Paul nodded and looked around to gain control of himself, again. "Sorry, Keith. I didn't mean that. I'm just... kinda scared, I guess."
Just then, his phone chimed. It was Dr Kim. 'You got eggs and bread?' it read.
Baffled, Paul typed back, 'Yes.'
'I'll be there in twenty minutes. I'll have fried eggs and toast with butter. No margarine. Relax. Like you said: it's nothing big. You can do this, Paulie. I promise you, you can do this.'
"What's that all about?" Keith asked. "Who's texting you at this time of day?"
Paul smiled. "My therapist. She's coming for breakfast, apparently. She wants eggs and toast."
"Can you make that?"
"I can make toast..."
Keith laughed louder than he meant to, then covered his mouth to mute himself for fear of waking his mother. "I'll make the eggs, then."
At 9:45, Lilly pulled on a robe and started down the stairs before saying, "Keith!?" in a startled voice as she discovered her oldest son sitting on the staircase.
He turned and looked over his shoulder, held a finger to his nose and lips, indicating that his mother should speak quietly, then said, "Hi, mom. Come on down."
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, he patted the stair next to him, asking her to sit with him. "What are you doing here?" She asked as she took a seat to his right on the same stair.
Keith whispered, "I was going to meet the guys for breakfast and golf, but I sent Paul a text to see if he was ok. He text me right back, so I swung by and talked to him. Now, he's with Dr Joyce or Dr Kim, I'm not sure what her name actually is, in the great room."
"It's Dr Joyce Kim. Did he ask her to come?"
"I think so. She seems pretty good, though - came over at, like, six o'clock to talk to him. She had me sit and talk with them both for a good half hour or so, too. I've never been to a therapist, but she seems to know her stuff."
Lilly nodded. "I met her yesterday. I googled her after that. She's got a great reputation. Thank you, by the way, for picking up your grandmother at Alison's yesterday. When I ran to her place and got her, Paulie was in the bathroom. When we got back to the salon, he'd just sat down to have his makeup done. He walked right past her on the way out. I can't believe it all worked out."
"No problem, mom," Keith chuckled. "It was a heck of a day, wasn't it?"
Lilly smiled him. "It's nice to have you back, Keith. I've missed you. And Paulie... well, I guess that I never realized how much he needed you till you came back."
He nodded and rubbed his mother's back. "I'm sorry I ever left."
They sat in silence for a moment or two before Lilly shook her head and said, "This is all crazy. What the hell was I doing, putting my son into dresses!? I pushed him too hard, Keith. I'm going to go in there put an end to this."
She started to stand, but Keith pulled her back down. "Mom... do you remember John Elliot from high school?"
Lilly nodded.
"Well, John never dated anyone or asked any girls out, but none of us on the team thought anything about it. We just figured he'd find the right girl eventually."
"Anyway, about six weeks before our senior prom, we're all together at Dave and Buster's playing video games and John calls us all together and announces that he's got a date for prom. We're all excited for him and ask him who he's taking. He says, 'I'm going with Ben Cohen. Actually, we've been going together for about a month.' We're all stunned for ten seconds or so, then it all occurs to us, like, yeah, of corse John's gay. We all knew it, but it never really occurred to us to think about it."
Lilly said, "So you're saying Paulie's gay?"
"No, well, maybe, I don't know, but what I'm saying is, just think about it. Did any of us think of Paul as a guy? Like a manly guy? Not really, right? He was always just Paulie. Maybe we didn't really think of him as a girl, necessarily, but once we saw him in a dress, we all just kind of said, 'Oh, ok, Paul looks right in a dress,' and now that we've seen him really done up, our brains just accept that he's a girl."
Lilly nodded.
"When I first saw the pictures that Abby took," Keith continued, "I didn't wonder why Paul was in a dress, I thought, 'Oh, he looks so pretty.' He looked more natural in that picture than I'd ever seen him. See, it's just like with John - we all knew, but we didn't think about it."
"Maybe you're right, but I don't know. I just hope that I haven't messed him up forever."
From beside them, from the doorway to the dinning room, they heard the sound of someone clearing her throat. They turned and saw Dr Kim. "I'm glad to find you both together. May I speak to you both for a few moments?"
Lilly sprung to her feet as if Dr Joyce were a surgeon coming into the waiting room. "Is Paulie ok?"
The doctor saw the concern in the mother's face and smiled
sympathetically. "Yes, he's fine. I suggested that he take a little nap on the couch. He didn't sleep much last night."
"Oh, thank heavens," Lilly breathed a sigh of relief.
At the Doctor's insistence, Lilly sat back on the stair next to Keith while they spoke.
"Mrs Rooney, when a young person - or any person, really - discovers that they are confused about their gender or sexuality, that realization can occur quite quickly, as it did with Paul, but unlike Paul, most people come to terms with those realizations over the course of weeks or months or years, or, sadly, sometimes - never."
"Now, Paul is very bright and perceptive and, ultimately, I am sure that he can make a good decision, but he he has set an artificial deadline for himself of 6:30 this evening and, quite frankly, I find that very concerning."
"I see," Lilly said.
"What if I talked to him and tried to talk him out of doing this today? Encourage him to give himself more time? Would that help?" Keith offered.
Dr Kim shook her head. "I don't think that's the right path to take. I think it might be best to just let him stick to his plan of making his announcement tonight."
"But you said..." Lilly was confused.
"Yes, Mrs Rooney, I know what I said, but let him make his decision his way, but then he'll need you and his friends to be there for him - not only to support the decision he makes, but to be there to help him if he discovers that he makes the wrong decision."
"Wrong decision?" Keith asked. "But if he started hormones and stuff, can't he hurt himself?"
"Oh, Mr Rooney," the doctor chortled and shook her head, "he'd have a long row to hoe before he could start hormone therapy. Don't worry about that, just yet. He could do some emotional damage, though. Mrs Rooney, do you love your son?"
"I love both my sons," she stated emphatically and with great hurt in her voice.
"Mr Rooney, do you love your brother?"
Keith nodded, also a bit hurt, but feeling guilty, too.
"Good. If you two and the girls he talks about, Lori and Beth, can commit to him, remain patient, remain supportive, and exhibit the love and affection that he will need, then I'd say he's already better off than 95% of the people I see everyday."
"Here," she reached into her pocket and produce two business cards. "Call me if you have any concerns, or questions, or if you just need to talk. I'll need to see Paulie two to three times a week from here on out - no matter what he decides. I'm sure that your insurance will cover everything. I'll have my secretary call you tomorrow and get that information from you."
"Before I leave, though, I want to emphasize that Paul is a remarkable girl..."
"Girl?" Lilly asked.
Dr Joyce nodded, "Yes, girl. Paulie may be transgender, or gender fluid - he's definitely non-binary, but the child I spoke to yesterday and today is unquestionably a girl. Perhaps not biologically, but certainly she presents herself as a female. Regardless, though, even remarkable girls make mistakes. Maybe the girl is here to stay - maybe not - but no matter what happens, we are her safety net."
Lilly was shaking with nervousness. This had all gotten so out of control. Keith stood and helped her to stand, keeping his arm around her shoulders. "Yes, we are, Doctor, and with your guidance, I'm sure that we can help Paulie through this."
"Yes," Lilly shivered, "yes. Of course we can. Can't we, Keith?"
"Yeah, mom."
Dr Kim smiled. "I know you can, Mrs Rooney. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get home and spend the rest of my Sunday with my wife. Call me if you need me, but... try not to need me." She smiled and left.
Lilly listened until she heard the back door close. "Keith, my phone and tablet are in the great room. I don't want to wake Paulie. Do you have your phone?"
"Yeah, sure." He fished it from his pocket and handed it to his mother.
She waved it off. "Can you Google 'non-binary' for me? I have no idea what that means."
"Just a grilled English muffin and a coffee for me, thanks," Beth said, smiling and handing the waitress her menu. It had been a long and busy week. She'd missed spending time Jeff, but, being the thoughtful guy that he was, he had asked her for a nice Sunday morning breakfast before he had to go to work at noon.
"So, Anyway," Jeff continued the conversation from where he had been before they had placed their orders, "I was thinking that, if you wanted to, we could go in halves with Juan and Julia and get a limo for the prom. What do you think?"
"Sounds good, but Juan does drink sometimes. If we share with him, he can't have booze in the limo."
Jeff let out an exasperated breath. "I though you might say that. Oh, well. Looks like we'll be going in my dad's eight-year-old minivan."
"And that's fine with me," Beth laughed. It really was fine with her long as she and Jeff and all their friends had the chance to get dressed up, have fun and go to prom. "Did you buy the tickets?"
"Yeah. We're sitting with the baseball team group, but we're right next to your crew, too."
"Great!"
Jeff's phone beeped and he glanced at it and chuckled.
"What's that about?" Beth asked, wanting to be in on the joke.
"Oh, nothing big. Simpson's been pissed off at this little fairy who got him an overnight suspension last week. He's trying to figure out how to pay him back. He's talking about pulling down his pants in the hallway to see if the kid's wearing panties." He laughed at that.
Beth sat back and crossed her arms as she looked at Jeff coldly.
"What?" He asked.
"There's a kid struggling with his sexuality or gender and you and your prick friends want to embarrass him in front of the school?"
Jeff gave a nervous laugh. "Well... yeah. Simpson got suspended, Beth. He has a right to..."
She grabbed her coat and started to leave, but Jeff grabbed her arm and asked her to stay and talk. He was as confused as she was angry.
"Listen, Jeff, I thought you were better than this," she hissed is an angry whisper. "What kind of an asshole gets off on bullying others for no reason...?"
"Oh, there's a reason! Simpson got suspended..."
"'Simpson got suspended.' Simpson's a Neanderthal moron and you know it. How would you like it if someone attacked you because you had different feelings about your sexuality or gender."
"I have never had any questions about my sexuality or gender..."
"Well, aren't you fucking lucky!" That last part came out a little louder than she'd intended. She looked about apologetically, but no one seemed to have heard.
"Oh, come on, Beth, really... look at this picture that Simpson sent me of the kid at the diner yesterday morning."
Jeff held up his phone to reveal a picture of Paul and his mother sitting in the booth at Louie's. You could see the backs of the heads of two girls as well.
Beth shook her head and looked at him pitifully.
"Ok, tough guy, I'm leaving. You stay here and keep looking that picture until you figure out why I'm pissed, ok? Then, when you're ready to apologize AND promise me that you will talk Simpson and your other friends out of whatever stupidity they're planning to subject this person to, then call me. Here's a hint as to where I'm going: I'll be at that fairy's house."
She stood, leaving Jeff alone in the booth staring at the phone flummoxed. "Jeff... I really like you and I don't really want to breakup, but right now... well, I can't even look at you"
And she stormed out of the restaurant.
When Paul woke up at 11:30, his head was on someone's knee and his hair was being petted. He blinked his eyes and raised his upper body, sitting back expecting to see Lori sitting there, but, instead it was Beth and she didn't look good.
He was suddenly very much awake. "Beth!? What's wrong?"
His friend shook her head and wiped her eyes. "Nothing, really... Jeff and I had a pretty big fight and... I don't know.... I think we might have broken up..."
"Oh, Beth, no... I'm so sorry."
"It's just.... Well, I told him to call me when he was ready to apologize and....it's past noon and... he hasn't called... so..."
"Oh, honey..." this time it was his turn to console Beth. He held her and she sobbed for a moment, but then tried to regain control of herself.
"I'm fine... I'm fine..." she lied. "I shouldn't be here like this when you have so much to think about, but Lori's not home and my mom... well, she hates Jeff anyway, so..."
She gave a sad chuckle regarding her mother, then she realized that she needed to deliver a message, "Your mom went out, by the way. She said that she'd be back around three this afternoon."
Paul sat next to her, kissed her arm and laid his head on her shoulder as she rested her head on his. Their arms were interlocked.
"Paulie, I'm sorry..."
"Don't be, Beth. I'm sorry that you're in pain."
They sat and talked for a while, but Beth never broached the reason for the argument.
After nearly an hour, as the clock got close to 1:00, there was a knock on the back door. Paul got up to get it and saw Lori peeking in through the window. When she saw Paul, she opened the door and came in. "I didn't want to wake you, your mom said you were asleep. Is Beth here?"
Beth emerged from the great room. "Yeah, I'm right here. Where have you been? I've been trying..."
Behind Lori, Beth spotted Jeff with his head down. Beth just folded her arms and waited for him to speak, but there was nothing but silence for what seemed like forever.
"Jeff?" Lori finally said, "don't you have something to say?"
"Beth..." He sputtered. "I... umm... I talked to Simpson and the others and..."
"...and what, Jeff? Did you eventually figure out why I was so pissed off at you?"
"Yeah, I did and... well, sorry Rooney. I didn't know... you look good, by the way." It wasn't until Jeff spoke to him that Paul realized that he was still wearing just his emerald green nightie and a silky, sheer, matching robe. Suddenly, he felt very exposed and vulnerable.
"Thanks, I guess," Paul mumbled. "What's this all about. Shouldn't you be apologizing to Beth, not me?"
"Don't sweat it, Paulie," Beth waved him off, but Paul knew that she was stressed. When she wasn't stressed, she called him 'Rooney.'
"Look, Jeff," Beth continued, "if you have nothing to say, then, maybe you should... just... go."
"Beth, honey," Jeff stepped put from behind Lori.
"Don't 'Beth, honey,' me, Jeff! I'm just fed up with the bull... Jeff? What happened to your face?"
She hadn't seen his face before, he'd been standing behind Lori, but now she saw him clearly. He was red and bruised and swollen.
"Oh... Nothing. I went to talk to Simpson and the guys and... Well, things got a little out of hand, I guess."
"You guess!?" Beth's voice was raising in pitch and volume. She was very agitated. "You mean you got into a fight? Jeff, I didn't mean..."
"Maybe," Lori spoke loudly and with authority, "we should all sit down, stop trying to talk over each other and actually discuss what happened, today. Paulie, I'm sorry. I know this is the last thing you need today, but do you mind if we take a few minutes to talk this out?"
Paul shook his head and wrapped his skimpy robe tighter. "I'll get you some ice, Jeff. Your face is pretty swollen."
When he returned to the table to join the others, Paul handed Jeff a zip-lock bag filled with ice and a dish cloth in which to wrap it. He sat between Lori and Beth and watched sympathetically as Jeff winced when the ice touched the swellings.
"Beth.." he began slowly, "I'm sorry. I guess I wasn't thinking clearly this morning. I was just going along with the guys, you know?"
Beth nodded, but waited for an explanation.
"And Rooney, man, I really didn't know that it was you in the picture. I mean, I know that you and my girl are tight, so I wouldn't have joined in if I'd known it was you?"
Paul looked to everyone. "What picture?"
Jeff looked at Beth. "You didn't tell him."
She glared at him.
"Tell me what?"
Slowly, Beth turned her attention from Jeff to Paul. "Yeah, Paulie, see... Jeff showed me a picture this morning. That piece of crap, Ken Simpson, you know - the one who bumped into you in the hall - Well... he got pissed because he got an overnight suspension. I guess he was at Louie's yesterday morning and he saw you, you know, all done up and he took a picture of you."
Paul nodded. He understood this much. "Why did he take my picture, though?"
Beth turned back to her boyfriend. "Jeff...?"
"Yeah, so, Rooney, Simpson wanted the guys on the team - me included - help him get you alone so he could... you know... get even with you."
"Get even!? But, I didn't do anything! He bumped me and called me a faggot. Mr Cooper heard him. I didn't do anything!"
"I know, baby," Lori rubbed his arm, "but Simpson's too stupid to understand that."
"So, What...?" Paul was getting very scared, "I'm going to get jumped tomorrow?" Suddenly, Paul thought of what Mr Mwangi had said in his office. 'If you present yourself as a woman, then you're vulnerable as a woman.' Oh, God! Getting beaten up might only be the beginning. What if they...? He looked to Lori, fear written across his face."Oh, my God! What am I going to do!?"
"It's ok, Rooney," Jeff said, "let me finish."
"When I realized it was you in the picture, I figured out that the two women sitting opposite you were Beth and Lori."
He looked at Beth. "I'm sorry, babe. I felt like such an asshole and I wanted to show you how sorry I was, so I went to the basketball courts at the middle school to confront Simpson. He was playing with Walters and Hansen, so, as you can imagine, things went pretty bad pretty quickly. They got some pretty good punches in before Lori pulled up."
"I was driving over here and I saw them kicking the crap out of Jeff."
Beth's demeanor had softened considerably. "What could you do?" she asked Lori.
Jeff chortled. "She drove right onto the courts and got out of the car swinging a folded up umbrella. I jumped in her car."
"And you came here?" Beth asked.
"No," Lori said. "First we stopped at Mr Cooper's house and showed him the texts and Jeff's face. Long and the short of it, Simpson, Walters and Hansen are all suspended and they're going to have Simpson expelled because of his history of violence."
"And, Mr Cooper called the police," Jeff added. "Lori and I gave statements, so they've probably already been arrested for assault."
There was silence around the table.
"I'm sorry, Beth," Jeff said.
Finally, Beth took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well, I guess you've more than made up for it at this point." She unfolded her arms and stood. "Come on. Let's take a walk and talk."
Jeff nodded and stood, taking his girlfriend's hand as they stepped out, onto the porch to take a walk.
"I called in late to work," Jeff said, "but I really have to get there pretty soon."
Lori looked at Paul. No makeup, hair a little messy, emerald green robe and nightie in the middle of the day and he was still more attractive to her than she could ever explain.
She reached over and gripped his hand in hers. "You ok?"
"Sure... I guess..."
"You look pretty."
"I look a mess," he giggled.
"I think you're beautiful." She smiled and squeezed his hand in hers. "Have you made a decision?"
"I've made lots of decisions, but I can't decide on which decision is best."
She smiled at him. "You'll figure it out, Paulie."
He breathed deeply and leaned back in his chair, his prosthetic breasts bouncing with his motion. "Seriously, without trying to be gentle with me or anything like that, if I asked you to make the decision for me, what would you choose?"
Now, Lori sat back and looked away, thinking for a few moments. "Paulie, I love you, no matter what, but I can't deny that I find you beautiful when you look girly. I don't know why, but looking at you in a dress... it just blows me away!"
Paul nodded. "And, if I never wore a dress again? If I got a boy's haircut? Then what?"
"Then, I'd still love you just as much and I'd have a great memory of when you were my girl."
Again, he nodded.
"So...?" She asked.
"So... I still don't know for sure, but I need to get dressed. I'd like to go out for a couple hours. Is that ok?"
"Sure. Where would you like to go?"
He got up and headed towards the door for the dining room. "I'd like to go and sit on the beach for a while."
Lori called after him. "It's a little chilly to swim."
"I just need to think."
They'd walked along the shoreline for nearly an hour. Paul asked Lori dozens of questions to try to figure out what to decide, but Lori kept seeing a little angel, that looked like Beth, sitting on her shoulder telling her not to put pressure on him. So, her answers were always unsatisfying to Paul.
As they walked, Paul's little, white, casual summer dress blew and inflated around his legs, the soft material dancing playfully around his smooth legs. The top of the dress fitted him like a pair of farmer's coveralls, then burst out into a fun skirt at the waist. It was definitely young in its appearance, having come from twelve year old Samantha's closet, and he'd picked it specifically because he felt like he needed to be taken care of today. It felt wonderful, freeing, gentle and feminine. If he chose to give all of this up, the things he'd miss the most would be the wonderful, exposed feeling that he felt in a soft skirt. It made him feel so... nice.
At 2:30, they headed to The Dairy Bar to meet Beth and the girls from school. It may be the last time that they could see their little friend, Paul, in this, his girl-mode persona.
Lori went to get a couple of cones, while Paul sat at the picnic table outside with Mary and a few of the other girls. He was surprised to see that Melissa, from his chorus class, had joined the other girls.
"Today's the day, huh, Paulie?" Mary asked.
He nodded and smirked.
"Paulie," Melissa asked, "why is it so important that you make this decision right now? Why not just feel your way through it and transition slowly? My cousin toyed with being a woman for a long time before committing to it all - you know, the surgery for breast implants and his castration and the removal of his penis..."
Paul shivered and grimaced. "Oh, don't even mention that!"
"Well, Paulie," she pointed out, "if you become a woman, then someone's going to have to discuss it with you at some point..."
He shrugged and nodded. He really liked his penis. He didn't want to lose that.
"So what do you think it'll be, Paulie," Mary asked. "Are you planning to be a 'pointer' or a 'setter?'
He sighed, again. Why did everyone need to be so graphic about this? It wasn't a joke for him. He needed to figure this out and soon.
Lori returned with a sundae for her and a scoop of lemon sherbet for Paul. "I wanted chocolate," he said.
"You're wearing white, baby. Girls who wear white don't eat chocolate ice cream."
That was fine. He liked lemon sherbet, too.
The girls all gushed over Paul when Lori showed them the pictures she had on her phone from the previous day. "My God, Paulie, you're gorgeous." "You look just like your grandmother!" "Oh, how precious, the two of you together..." "Lori, you'd better be careful. He's putting you to shame! Look at that makeup. Oh, my goodness." "Look at that dress, Paulie! You're wearing that to prom, aren't you."
He loved every second of it, even though he found it confusing to think straight while they chatted.
Just before they left, Beth got a call from Jeff and she stepped outside to talk to him. A moment later, Paul was at her side and he asked if he could speak to Jeff for just a moment. Beth handed Paul the phone, a bit surprised by the request.
"Umm... I guess that I just want to say 'thank you,' Jeff, for sticking up for me. I'm sorry that you got hurt."
Jeff chortled at that. "I'm not really hurt - well, my pride is hurt, but that's about it. Just so you know, Rooney, I'm cool with whatever you're doing, but I didn't do what I did for you. I did it for Beth."
"I understand," Paul nodded, "but, thanks, anyway."
Lori took the long way home, wanting so badly to beg him to stay this way, but knowing that it was wrong to do so. They listened to music and looked at the ocean until Paul asked, "Lori, have you ever wanted to be a guy?"
It was a question that she'd considered a few times, but she answered honestly, "No. Not really. I love being a girl. Why."
"Why?" That seemed like an absurd question to Paul under the circumstances. "Because I'm considering being a girl and I'm scared."
"Listen, baby. I love everything about being a girl and I love everything about you. Being able to share WHAT I love with WHO I love has been a wonderful gift. Having said that, if a girl wears pants, no one cares. If a girl wears a suit coat or a tux, no one cares. I know girls - pretty girls - who HATE makeup. If there are girls who don't like to dress like girls, then it shouldn't be a surprise that some boys don't want to dress like boys, right?"
He nodded in agreement. It made sense.
"We've never really been a 'normal' couple, baby. I'm taller than you. I'm older than you. I drive everywhere and you don't have a license. I take you out, not the other way around. I have no desire to be a man, but I'm already, kind of, 'the guy' in our relationship. And, that's just fine with me."
It was all true and Paul acknowledged that it was a pretty good arrangement for him.
When they arrived at Paul's house, Keith's car was already in the driveway, parked behind Rose's. Paul glanced at the clock on the dashboard and took a deep breath. It was nearly 5:00. Time for dinner with the family followed by what promised to be the most awkward and scary family-meeting of his young life.
"There they are!" Lilly shouted as they entered. "We we're afraid that you two were going to stand us up."
"I told you that they'd be here," Keith smiled and kissed his younger brother's cheek. "Nervous?" He whispered.
Paul nodded.
"Don't be. We're here for you."
He nodded again.
"There's my youngest grand-baby!" Rose clapped her hands as she and Abby emerged from the great room. "I'm going to steal your baby away from you. Lori." She stood behind Paul, her hands on his slender shoulders as she guided him towards the dinning room and beyond. "I have a surprise for you, Paulie."
"What's that all about?" Lori asked Lilly.
"Just a grandmother wanting to spend one last evening with her granddaughter." Lilly's smile indicated that something was definitely up.
Rose guided Paul up the stairs and into his mother's bedroom, where, on the bed, he saw a beautiful, white slip laid out on her bed. It had a fitted and lace covered bodice with a slim skirt and a slit on the side.
"What's this?" Paul asked.
"This," Lilly smiled as she rubbed the small of Paul's back, "may well be my last night with my granddaughter and I'd like to share something very special with her."
Paul looked from the silky smooth garment to his grandmother and back. "You want me to wear a slip to dinner?"
"Yes. And something else."
"What?"
Rose smiled. "You'll see. For now, let's start with the slip. Are you all tucked away down there?" She pointed to his groin.
He nodded.
"Then let's get started. I'll help you to take this off." She unbuttoned the straps of his over-all style dress. "This is cute. Where did you get this."
"Lori's little sister, Samantha. I got a bunch of hand me downs from both of her little sisters."
"And how old is Samantha?"
"Twelve. Why?"
Rose smiled as she helped him step out of the dress. "I was just curious. You look very cute in it," she lowered the slip over his head, "but, for what I have for you, you will want to look beautiful. Come sit at the vanity for a moment."
He complied and she began the process of making up his face. She spoke as she worked."
"When I was a girl, about your age, and I was just becoming a woman, there was an actress who I adored and I wanted, more than anything, to look like her. Her name was Audrey Hepburn. Have you heard of her?
Paul thought for a moment, then said, "I think so. Yes. In theater class, we watched her in 'Philadelphia Story' when we read the play."
Rose shook her head. "No, dear. That was Katherine Hepburn. Audrey came along a little later than Katherine, and when I was about fifteen, she was in a movie called 'Breakfast at Tiffany's.' Have you seen it?"
He shook his head.
"Oh, it was SO romantic. She was an escort, he was a writer... Anyway, she wore this dress - black, with thin straps, plunging neckline, tight in the hips, a slit that came all the way up to here and a short train that dragged behind her. Oh! I thought that she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen and I wanted to get a dress like that so that I could look just like her!"
"Of course, my father forbade that. 'Rosie, she was supposed to be a whore, for crying out loud!' he said when I asked him about it."
She began to brush his hair. "After a few arguments, my mom let me get my hair cut like Audry's - just like yours is cut now - and, eventually, I found a dress that was similar to the one in the movie. It wasn't as long and didn't have a slit, but it was pure silk and the top was cut the same and I just loved that dress. I wore it to special occasions for years. It was my first little black dress and I adored it. I would wear it to dinners and cocktail parties," she placed a rhinestone covered, decorative hair-comb into the front of his hair, just behind his bangs, "and other than my wedding dress and the one you wore yesterday, my Audrey-dress is the only other one that I ever saved."
She helped him to stand and she smiled at him. He looked adorable. He looked just like she once had.
She fussed with his hair a bit more while she went one, "You know, Paulie, from the first moment I saw you at the hospital, the day you were born, curled up in a blanket, your mommy cuddling you... I knew that you were my special baby. I saw those beautiful eyes of yours and my heart just melted. When people said that you looked like me, well, Paulie, I can't explain how proud that made me."
She kissed his cheek and primped him just a bit more to get everything just right before the dress was revealed. "You are my very special boy, Paulie. Or, you are my very special girl. I really don't care, but, while you are still open to wearing pretty things," she opened the closet door, revealing a slender, black dress hanging from a hook on the interior of the door, "I'd like you to share this dress with me."
Paul's breath caught midway through an inhale. "Grandma..."
She removed it from the hanger and put one arm through the shoulder straps while supporting the skirt with her other arm. "I know. It's beautiful, isn't it?"
Paul nodded as he fingered the material of the dress. It felt different than the other 'silky' clothing he'd worn. It was actual silk. It felt natural. It looked and felt - right."
"Do you like it?"
He nodded, a bit mesmerized with anticipation.
She released the zipper hidden in the side of the dress, then held it low so he could step into it. "This style isn't the easiest to get into," she chortled as she assisted him, "but it's worth it, Paulie."
She was right. It was actually difficult to get his arms into the sleeveless openings and maneuver the dress onto his shoulders.
"There. I knew that it would fit." Rose's smile was warm, appreciative and maternal. Paul smiled in return.
"Hold your arm up, sweet pea, so that I can pull up the zipper."
The dress pulled tight around him as the zipper was pulled to his arm pit. 'What an awkward place to put a zipper,' Paul thought, but as he glanced at himself in the mirror, the effect of having actually been sewn into the dress was breathtaking.
The slender straps on his shoulders led to scoops in the neckline and the back line, showing lots of creamy white, shoulder, back and chest, with just a hint of cleavage to make the top seductive to both men and women. The bodice hugged him and the skirt continued that hug down past his hips, over his thighs and ended just below his knees.
Rose had him sit, again, and she knelt in front of him to help him put on a pair of black, patten-leather, peep-toed pumps with a three inch heel and a delicate strap around the ankle. She secured him into the shoes and helped him to stand.
Now, she positioned him by the door to the hallway so that he could see himself in them mirror which hung on the interior of the door. Then she sat, removed her sensible shoes and put on a pair of heels of her own.
'Grandma," he whispered as he turned to see how beautifully the skirt hugged his bottom, "it's beautiful."
She watched her grandson and she relished every second that he enjoyed his femininity. She stood and looked over his shoulder and spoke to his reflection.
"Paulie, every child or grandchild is special to a woman, you'll learn that in time, with your own children and grandchildren, I'm sure, but if you're lucky you'll have one special baby who just connects with you differently. I love Keith and your cousins, Paulie, you know that I do, but I have always seen the little girl that I once was in you - every single day of your life and now I see that girl becoming a woman - or perhaps a man - but, Paulie, always remember that I am part of you and you are part of me. I feel your hand print on my heart, baby, and I hope that you feel mine."
"Oh, grandma," he fought back the tears that wanted to flow, "I love you, so much."
He hugged her and felt her body. It was the same as his. The same height, the same width. She was right. They were made of each other.
"Grandma? What should I do."
"You should take very small steps, baby, because, unlike Audrey's dress, this one has no slit, so there's an art to moving in it. That style is called a pencil skirt. It's a little challenging. You'll catch on, though."
"No... I mean... should I be a boy or a girl?"
She smiled, "Oh, my sweet, sweet child. You should be Paulie and only you know who Paulie should be."
He nodded, touched and a bit unsatisfied by the response.
"Now, we need to get downstairs to dinner with our family, Paulie. You and Lori, Keith and Abby and your mommy and me. Our family. We all love you, Paulie, and we're all here to help you become whoever you want to be."
He nodded as he prepared himself. "Ok. I'm ready."
"You certainly are, Paulie. You certainly are.”
“Oh, Paulie, that dress is stunning, just stunning!” Lilly gushed as he entered the kitchen. Paul’s steps were hobbled by the narrow skirt, making his steps somewhat mincing and old fashioned.
“Wow, babe,” Lori beamed at the sexy silhouette her boyfriend presented. His grandmother had been right about his hips and rear end. “Wow!”
He smiled at the attention as Keith pulled out a chair at the table for him. “M’lady,” he said with great affectation as Paul, with a little difficulty, lowered his rump into the chair. After Keith scooted his chair in for him, Paul shifted from side to side, just a bit, to free enough material in the sleek skirt to allow him to cross his silky smooth legs at the knees.
“Thank you,” he smiled at Keith, who, by then was assisting his grandmother in the same way.
As Keith started to take his own seat, Abby let out an exaggerated, “Ahem.”
The big man paused. “What?”
“Aren’t you going to hold my chair for me?”
“Why?”
“Well you held your grandmother’s and your brother’s. Don’t I deserve the same treatment?”
Keith sat. “My grandmother is my grandmother and my brother is wearing a pencil skirted dress for the first time. You’re wearing jeans. I think you can handle this.” He flashed his charming smile to indicate that he was toying with her, but her eyes were opened wide with irritation.
“Let me assist you, madam,” Lori, who had been moving food to the table with Lilly, pulled out Abby’s chair and spoke in a low, mockingly manly voice.
Abby sat and allowed Lori to move the chair forward for her. “Thank you, Lori. At least you’re a gentleman.”
She rolled her eyes at Keith, then looked at Paul, who was sitting bolt upright with his princess posture, and said, “They can be such uncouth beasts, can’t they? You’ve got a good one, Paulie.”
They all tore into the roasted chicken dinner that Lilly and Rose had prepared for the family. It was one of Paul’s favorite meals, but he only nibbled at it; partially because of his nerves, but mostly because of the dress. It was not uncomfortably tight, but it was noticeably snug in all the right places, so it made him very aware of his intake, but he was also petrified of dripping a bit of food or gravy on the material. Lilly noticed his cautious demeanor and looked to her mother who had noticed as well. They smiled at his behavior. He was being such a good young lady.
Just as the plates were being cleared, Beth knocked on the door and was invited in. “Geez, Rooney,” she teased, “Are we dressing for dinner, now?”
Paul had a napkin in his lap, which he raised to dab the corners of his mouth theatrically. Then in a posh English accent, he said “Yes, old thing, from now on, we shall be dressing for each meal. I’ve instructed the staff to have our clothing ironed and laid out for us each morning and evening. It’s time that we raised the tone of this establishment, a bit.”
They all laughed at his brief performance.
“Beth, honey,” Lilly said as she moved some dishes from the table to the sink, “grab a chair from the dinning room and join us for dessert.”
“Thanks, Mrs Rooney. I’ll grab a chair, but no dessert for me. I just ate. I’m really just here to hear Paulie’s decision. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not, dear,” Rose said. “You’re just as much a part of Paulie’s family as any of us.”
Beth placed a chair between Paul and Keith and sat. “I haven’t missed the big moment, have I?”
“No,” Lori smiled. “Paulie is making us wait till after dessert.”
Beth looked at Paul and gave him a sad, supportive smile. She sensed that he was feeling more and more pressure as clocked ticked closer to his announcement.
Unexpectedly, Paul shifted in his seat and uncrossed his legs. “Beth, could you help me with my chair.”
She stood and pulled the chair back, allowing Paul to stand with a little support from the table.
“I hope you’ll all excuse me from dessert,” he said. “Honestly, I’d be afraid to eat anything sticky in this gorgeous dress.”
They all chuckled a bit at that.
“Grandma, thank you so, so much for sharing this dress with me, but I think I need to put on something a little less... formal so that I can think clearly when we all sit down for our meeting.”
“I’ll help you...” Rose started, but Paul interrupted.
“No, that’s ok, grandma. You have dessert. Beth, you’ll help me change, won’t you?”
“Sure, Rooney.” She replied quietly. Her sad, supportive smile faltering a bit.
The two friends headed into the dinning room and towards the stairs, but Paul stopped at the full length mirror to admire the ancient dress and how well it fit him. It was beautiful and he was beautiful in it. He stared for a long, long moment before Beth interrupted.
“You, ok, Rooney?”
He let out a wistful sigh. “I’m fine. It’s just...”
Beth rubbed his back through the silky material of the dress and slip.
“... I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem fair...”
Everyone at the kitchen table heard that and felt sadness for the little boy in the grown up dress.
“I know, Paulie.” She remained with him as he stared longer. “Come on, Paulie. We’ve got to go upstairs.”
He nodded and walked upstairs with her.
“Wow,” Kieth said quietly. “Looks like he’s giving dresses, huh?”
“Yeah,” Lori whispered sullenly.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Rose smiled, “I’ve never seen a boy look that happy in a dress before.”
“Well, honestly,” Abby suggested, “wouldn’t it be easier for him if just wore boy’s clothes.”
“It would be if he felt like he was a boy,” Rose replied.
Lilly put the fresh baked apple pie on the table, sat and dabbed her eyes. “Oh, God, I should never have pushed him to do this. I’ve put him in such a terrible position.”
“Mom,” Keith consoled her, “Paulie never would have gone along with this if he didn’t want to.”
Lilly shook her head and chuckled. “No, YOU wouldn’t have gone along with it, but Paulie... he’d do whatever I asked.”
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing,” Keith said. “If I’d known that you’d let me take pretty girls up to my room to dress and undress me, I would have put on a dress in a heartbeat.”
They all let out a tired chuckle.
“Honestly,” Lori said, “I don’t think that Beth even thinks of him as a boy, anymore.”
“You’re right,” Lilly agreed. “They’re much more like cousins or sisters than friends.”
“She’s good for him,” Keith smiled. “She’s a much better sister than I ever was as a brother.”
“Oh, stop it,” Rose slapped her grandson’s shoulder. “That boy worships you and you know it.”
“And he’s thrilled to have you back,” Lilly agreed. “Just... never go away, again. Ok?”
He smiled his handsome, warm smile. “Ok, mom. I promise.”
Abby smiled at that. Then she looked at Lori. “How about you, Lori? Are you hoping for skirts or slacks?”
She shrugged. “I’m with Mrs Rooney. I kinda hate myself right now. I put so much pressure on him...” she stopped to wipe a few tears. “... I just want Paulie to be happy. I’m such an asshole for doing this to him.”
“Oh, honey,” Lilly reached for the younger woman’s hand. “It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”
“You know,” Keith pointed out, “we might all be taking the blame for nothing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides to go girly the whole way – hormones, surgery, everything. He’s awfully good at being a girl.”
Lori considered that. Paul being an actual female. No balls. No penis. It shocked her and her tears rolled now, “Really? Like ‘the whole way.’ I don’t want to lose him! I’m such an idiot!”
Lilly moved to sit next to Lori and held her. “Ok, ok. Let’s just wait and see what happens”
“He just looked so pretty. I really liked him looking like that. I shouldn’t have... God! I’m so stupid!”
Lilly consoled her while the others discussed Paul’s options.
When they reached Paul’s bedroom, he sat on the bed, shook his head and sat, looking at a spot where the wall met the ceiling for a long, long time.
“Scared?” Beth asked.
He nodded.
“Of what everyone will say?”
He shook his head from side to side. “Of making the wrong decision.”
“Then, you’ve made a decision?”
He shrugged and turned his focus to his grandmother’s little black dress. “It’s pretty, isn’t it.”
Now, Beth nodded.
“Help me take it off, please.”
It was nearly a half-hour later when Beth stepped back into the kitchen. She gave the others a tight smile, a shrug and she raised her eyebrows as high as she could before sitting in her chair.
No one spoke. They just waited for Paul.
Moments later Paul entered wearing deep blue, summer dress with large roses printed on it. It was sleeveless, with a scooped neck and a stretchy top that ended with a tiny, white belt before the skirt flared out, then ended high on his thigh. It was light and breezy and cute and young and Lori recognized it as one of Meredith’s hand me downs. He had a matching hair-band in his hair and his makeup had been redone to match the dress – nothing elegant, but very ‘girl next door’ in its freshness.
Everyone except Beth stared breathlessly as he sat.
“Ok...” he took a deep breath and made eye contact with each person as he spoke.
He started with his future sister in law “Abby, I know about and I appreciate your concerns. You’re right, it would be easier if I could just be a boy. The problem is... I can’t.”
Slowly, he turned his attention to his friend. “Beth, you know how much your friendship means to me. If nothing else comes of me being a girl for the past couple of weeks, at least I realized how wonderful you are.” Beth brought back her tight smile and nodded.
“Grandma,” he looked into the older woman’s soft, loving eyes, “I was so scared of how you’d react when you heard about me dressing like this, but you have been,” he paused to swallow the tears that were welling up in him as he looked at this wonderful woman, “so... wonderful and supportive... thank you, grandma. Thank you, so, so much.” She returned his words with a soft, loving smile.
“Keith,” Paul took his bother’s hand as he spoke. It was a little hard to make eye contact as he said these things, but he forced himself to do so. “I’m so happy to have you back. I missed you so much. Thank you for being there for me this week. I could not imagine doing everything I’ve done in the last few days without your support.” Keith kissed his brother’s hand and smiled.
Lilly was next and the tears that had gathered in her eyes made it hard for Paul to maintain his own composure. “Mommy, I admire you, so much. You became my mom and dad after Dad died. You’re so strong and so sweet... I’ve always wanted to live up to your example and I really don’t want to let you down – ever. I just want to make you proud.”
“I’ve always been proud of you, honey,” she kissed his forehead.
“And Lori,” he gazed at the woman he loved with all of his heart. “I love you so, so much. I can’t imagine going a single day without being with you. More than anything, I want to make you happy. I want to be with you and care for you... I want you to know how much you mean to me, but I don’t really know how to say everything that needs to be said. So, I’ll just say it again – I love you.”
He sat back and took another breath.
“Now, having said all of that,” he looked at each person in the room before dropping the bombshell on them, “I don’t want to be a girl anymore.”
That caught everyone by surprise. They all shifted in their chairs and looked about at each other. When Paul had come down dressed as he was...
“And I don’t want to be a boy, either.”
Now, there was just stunned silence.
“But, Paulie, there aren’t a lot of other choices, you know,” Rose said, gently.
“I know, grandma, but I don’t just want to be a boy or a girl. I just want to be me – Paulie. I can’t imagine ever becoming something other than just me. I want to be Paulie Rooney. Not ‘Paul’ Rooney and not ‘Polly’ Rooney with an ‘o’ like a girl would write it. I just want to be Paulie. I want to be pretty. I want to wear pretty clothes and makeup. I’ve discovered that that is who I am. A boy who needs to present himself as a girl.”
“So no surgery or anything?” Keith asked.
“No surgery to remove anything, anyway,” Paul said uncomfortably, “but I’d like to look into, maybe, adding a couple of things either through surgery or hormones.”
Lori couldn’t help but smile just a bit at this. It looked like she might actually get the best of both worlds – a lover with breasts and a penis.
“So...” Paul was waiting for someone to say something – anything – but everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts. “... is this something that everyone can live with?”
“I think it’s awesome, Rooney,” Beth said as she kissed his cheek. “I think you’re awesome.”
Lori hugged him tightly and kissed him, too. “I’m very happy for you, baby. I think you’re going to be very happy.”
Abby shook her head and sighed. “You know that you are choosing the hardest road possible, Paulie. I’ll support you any way that I can, but you’re setting out on a long hard journey.”
“I know.”
“Ok.” She smiled sadly and hugged him, too.
“I don’t know, Paulie,” Keith’s smile was warm and supportive, “after seeing you as a girl, I couldn’t imagine you ever going back to being a boy. I think you’re doing the right thing, but do you want me to call you my brother or my sister?”
“I don’t care, Keith. As long as you’re my brother, that’s all that matters.”
“Come here,” Keith stood and held his arms wide. Paul rose and hustled to his brother, embracing him and receiving a huge, masculine hug in return that lifted him off the floor and spun him around, three hundred and sixty degrees, before landing him back on the floor.
“I love you,” they said in unison.
When he was released, he looked at his grandmother. “Are you ok with this, grandma?”
She stood and hugged him, now, playing with his hair as she held him close. “Of course, I’m ok with this, Paulie. You’re my grand-baby and you always will be, honey. I agree with Keith. There was no doubt in my mind that I’d be buying you pretty things for Christmas from now on.”
When they separated, Rose paused and fingered the blue pendent that hung from Paul’s neck. “Everything I ever loved – those dresses, this bauble, this house – all of it – it’s all nothing, Paulie. Your mommy, your auntie, your cousins, Keith and you... you’re all that really matter to me. You are my true loves. If you’re happy, sweet pea, then I’m happy, too.”
“Thank you, grandma.”
Finally, he turned to his mother who had tears in her eyes. “Oh, Paulie, Paulie, Paulie... my sweet little boy. I love you so much, baby. I hope that you’ll be happy.”
“I am happy, mommy.” He hugged her and they both cried tears of joy. “Thank you for introducing me to all this. I love you.”
She released him and kissed him, first on the forehead, then on the left cheek, then on the right. “I love you, too, honey, and I always will.”
Paul stood back, smiling and daintily wiping tears from his eyes, “Thank you, everyone.” He chuckled a bit. “I guess that I look a mess, now, after all this crying.”
“You’ve never looked more beautiful, pumpkin,” Lori said.
“Oh, no!” suddenly, Lilly’s face was filled with worry.
Rose was alarmed by her daughter. “What’s the matter, Lilly? Are you ok?”
“No! I’m not!” Lilly’s expression changed from worry to surprise. “It just occurred to me. This means I have to make another dress for the wedding!”
Paul laughed. “I’ll just buy a dress, mommy.”
“Like hell you will!” She teased. “I’m not going to have my daughter wearing something off the rack while my nieces are wearing dresses that I made!”
They all laughed.
“Oh!” Lilly called out, again, “and then there’s prom! I’ll need to make you something for that, too!”
“Oh, don’t be silly,” Rose said. “He can wear my white debutante dress to prom. He looks beautiful in it.”
“Mom,” Lilly scoffed, “I’ve waited all my life to have a little girl to sew for. If you think I’m going to let him go to prom without making his gown, you obviously don’t know me very well.”
The good natured arguing began amongst the five women and the volume in the room grew to a frightening din.
Keith walked over to his brother, put his arm around his waist and led him towards the door. “Come on, princess. Let’s go get an ice cream to celebrate. I don’t think you’ve been a girl long enough to handle all of this stuff.”
Paul smiled. “Thanks.”
THE END
Author's Addendum: This may be the end of the Paulie saga. I’m not quite 100% sure about that, but at least this seems to be a good place to take a break for now. I truly apologize to all of you for having lost most of the audience throughout this story. :( ~Clara.