Mistaken For A Girl Singer - Chapter 15

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Most of the guests had left. It was just Jo, Chris, a girl from Jo's school, and a boy cousin left on the porch. Chris had had a wonderful evening just being a normal teenager with these kids. They treated him like any other girl. He loved it.

He'd talked about music and clothing and even some chatting with and about boys. He really didn't feel attracted to boys, but his newfound interest in beauty made him more aware of everything around him even boys, but mostly girls.

One of Willy's three grandchildren had come out onto the porch to join them earlier in the evening, too.

Her name was Emma. Two and a half years old, dark-skinned with her hair in tight braids along her scalp. Chris had told Emma how pretty her hair was.

Emma, in turn, had climbed onto the cushioned bench on which he sat to touch Chris's hair. At some point, while Chris was talking to a group of kids, Emma had crawled onto Chris's lap and, eventually, fell asleep in his arms with her head nestled on his shoulder and new, firm breasts.

No child had even said hello to Chris before, let alone fallen asleep in his arms. He didn't know why, but it moved him and he didn't want it to end. He held the child close to him and cooed and sang softly as she slept. Chris wasn't sure what the boy-cousin's real name was, everyone just called him 'Bucky.' Bucky had gone inside to grab another Coke when Jo's friend, Lola, sat down next to Chris.

She was very pretty and wore a very lacy top that allowed glimpses of her bra beneath. Chris didn't want to date her or anything, but he did find her beautiful. Chris had taken off his shoes hours ago and Lola picked up the left one and looked at it.

"Chrissie, right?" Chris nodded and continued cooing to Emma.

"What do your parents do for work? Doctors? Lawyers?"

He spoke softly so as to not wake the child. "My dad passed away, but my mom works at an insurance company. She manages the payroll department. Why?"

"Because these shoes cost like $300. How can your mom afford them." Jo joined them on the padded, porch bench. She sat to the other side of Chris putting him in the middle with the baby.

He was pinned in and surrounded by girls and he felt comfortable and at home. Jo bent down and picked up Chris's right shoe.

 Chris looked at the girls. He was amused by their fascination with his shoes and a bit titillated by their proximity to him.

"My mom can't afford them. I bought them, myself."

 "How?" Lola said, looking at him a bit sideways.

"Lola," Josephine interrupted, "you know it's rude to ask a question like that, but, since you've asked Chrissie, would you mind if I explained?"

Chris smiled and shrugged a 'if you'd like to, go ahead' look at Jojo.

Strangely, throughout the evening, Chris had grown very friendly with this feminine clone of Willy. She was smart as a whip and very funny. Like her parents, she embraced everything and everyone around her. No one ever felt left out.

"You see, Lola," Jojo was being broad and expressive, but remaining quiet for the benefit of her niece, "these shoes belong to the next Taylor Swift." "Oh?" Lola giggled.

"The next Taylor Swift?"

 "Or bigger, according to my dad. He says that she's a better songwriter than Dolly Parton and has a bigger voice than Linda Runstat, whoever that is." Chris laughed quietly.

"Linda Ronstadt. She's a singer."

 "Yeah, I figured," Jojo laughed.

"Anyway, according to Daddy, a year from now, this little girl will be worth millions." Jojo laughed at her own words, while Chris smiled and continued to hum to Emma, who chose that moment to snuggle deeper into his bosom.

Lola, still inspecting the shoe, gave Chris another sideways glance. "Truth?" Chris shrugged, "Maybe.

We recorded an album and everyone seems excited, but, now that it's done, I'm not so sure. Right now, I'm just a high school dropout."

Jojo took off her right flip-flop and slipped her foot into Chris's shoe. She stood and looked at her foot.

"They're pretty, alright, but $200? I don't know about that? My dad would kill me."

Now, Lola laughed, "YOUR dad would buy you two pairs as long as you were happy."

"Naw. He says that fancy shoes and stuff are a distraction. Family always comes first."

Lola nodded and handed Jojo the other shoe. She tried that one on, too. Lola leaned back, "Sounds like my grandma. She's always saying 'family first,' too. I guess they're right."

Jojo walked the length of the deck in Chris's shoes, swaying her hips like a runway model, causing Chris and Lola to laugh. As she was returning, the sliding glass door opened and Bucky came back to the porch.

"Well, what do you think?" Jojo asked him.

"About what?" asked Bucky, confused by the question.

 "About the shoes, doofus." Jojo gave him a playful slap on the shoulder.

 "Aren't they pretty?" Bucky shrugged, "Yeah, I guess." Chris and Lola giggled as Jojo made faces at her cousin. "Yeah, I guess!?!? Boys!" Bucky smiled, still confused.

"Ok. Haha. Anyway, your mama told me to come get y'all. Uncle Willy says he'll drive Christine home now."

Lola stood and helped Chris up. They were careful not to wake Emma, who, with a slight jostling, moved her thumb to her mouth. Chris slipped his feet into Jojo's flip-flops and headed to the house.

 "Wait," said Jojo as she bent to undo the straps.

"No," Chris whispered, "you keep them, but don't let Uncle Willy find out." Jojo was shocked and she smiled and bounced while whispering, "Thank you!" They went into the house where there were just a few guests helping in the kitchen. Sophie looked up, seeing little Emma sleeping on Chris and smiled.

"Oh, someone's all tuckered out. Here, darling, I'll take her from you."

  Reluctantly, Chris kissed the child on the head and handed her to her grandmother. Warmth and the feeling of longing that the child left behind was shocking to Chris.

He'd become so attached to her in just a couple of hours. He'd never even held a child before and, now, he was enamored with the idea of caring for them. He wanted her back, but instead, he just rubbed her diapered rump as he grandmother took over the cooing and rocking. "Thank you so much for coming, baby," Sophie spoke quietly.

"I hope you'll be back. I know that you'll be busy soon, but you can come back any time."

Chris hugged Sophie, being careful of little Emma. "Thank you, Auntie. I had such a wonderful time. You're home is so wonderful. Thank you for everything."

Sophie kissed his cheek.

"You're welcome, angel, and you're always welcome here." They found Willy in the front room. He was dressed more casually than Chris had ever seen him. A white polo shirt and tan shorts. He looked so happy after an evening with family and friends.

"Ready to go, darling?" He asked, his business persona gone and his drawl more obvious than ever. His smile made it clear that he had had a wonderful evening. "Uncle Willy," Chris said, "how about I call an Uber tonight?"

"AN UBER!? Not on your life, little girl. Not on your life."

Willy put his arm around Chris's shoulders protectively.

"You'll be riding in style from here on out, baby doll. Let's get you home, though. It's getting late."

 "Chrissie, sweetheart," Terry shook him gently awake.

"Come on, honey. Denise will be here in a few minutes. Then, I have a day planned for us."

  Chris grumbled a bit as he sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed, his knee-length, silky nightie riding up to his upper thigh. It had been a short night.

He got home around 1:00 that morning, but he had a hard time falling asleep. He had laid in bed and thought about everything that had happened the night before.

The loving and accepting people. The cooking - he'd enjoyed that so very much. The teenage people his age who liked him. Nobody liked Chris, but they all seemed to like Chrissie. Was he that much different, now?

Then there was Emma. He'd never held a baby before and it was so wonderful. He loved holding her so much. He'd never even thought about being a father before; now, more than almost anything, he wanted to be a mom.

Up to last night, Chris had only really been thinking about the band. Now he saw what might be possible if they were successful enough to have homes and families.

That's what he really wanted. That seemed so wonderful. Terry and the girls had done a good job of teaching him to be a girl, but, now, he wanted no, he needed to get back to Auntie Sophie to learn how to be a woman so he could have a happy family.

He pulled off his nightie and panties. Put on a clean gaff and panties, a pair of light grey, yoga pants, and an exercise top with a built-in shelf - what an awful term for an ugly excuse for a bra.

He pulled out his hair tie and ran a brush through his hair before joining the girls in the common area, just as Denise came in. The workout was brutal, but Chris had noticed that, lately, his shape was rounding out just a bit.

Maybe it was the workouts or maybe it was the light dosage of hormones he was on, but he definitely had more of a rear end than he'd had a few months ago, When Denise left, Terry said, "Put on this sundress, Sissy. You and I are going out for a sisters' day of a message, a mani-pedi, and some therapeutic shopping what do you say?"

Chris smiled, "Sounds perfect!" As if by some strange coincidence, when Chris emerged from the bedroom in the pretty, blue sundress that Terry had given him, Terry was wearing an identical dress.

 Terry helped him with his hair and makeup and when Terry stepped out of the elevator in the lobby, she was followed by a nearly identical, just the tiniest bit smaller, twin.

Rather than breakfast at the hotel, they crossed the street to a trendy, independent coffee shop where they sat down with their lattes and fruit salads to enjoy a relaxed breakfast, it was just 8:00am and they didn't need to be at the spa for an hour and a half.

"So," Terry asked through a swallow of her latte, "did you have a good time last night?"

Chris nodded as he wiped some sticky melon residue from his lips.

"It was wonderful. Willy's house is beautiful and his family were all so nice to me!"

He went on to give Terry a review of the events of the previous night. Concentrating on the cooking and the baby and just being accepted, rather than struggling to fit in.

That gave Terry pause. She thought for a moment, then said, "Chris... I need to talk to you about some stuff. Can we be honest with each other?" He nodded, concerned and confused by the seriousness of her tone. "When we asked you to do this, had you ever thought about wearing a dress, or of being a girl?"

 He shook his head and played with his napkin a bit.

"Why?"

Terry grimaced and looked around the restaurant before continuing. Maybe she should have just kept her mouth shut, but, after their talk with Allan last night, she needed to say some things.

"I don't know," she continued, "it's just that, well, it's just that, now that the recording sessions are pretty much done, I've been thinking and I wonder if you'll be happy this way.

As a girl, I mean. Forever." Chris felt a wash of nervousness flood over him. He'd been so comfortable last night, but, now, it seemed like Terry was about to call him out for being a freak or something. "I guess..." he started.

"Why? Do you think I'm doing something wrong?

I mean, I originally did this just to play with you and Margo, but... I really like it, you know? I like the clothes. The warmth of being with you guys. The feeling of being pretty. I like being a girl."

"You don't miss the old Chris?"

"I HATE the old Chris. I was alone and sad all the time. I never want to be the old Chris again!"

That broke Terry's heart. Had she been so insensitive to her brother?

"I'm sorry Chris. I didn't know." He nodded and wiped a tear from his cheek.

"What about girls or boys. Will you, you know, go all the way, eventually, and have it, have the operation down below?"

"No!" Chris said with alarm.

"I like girls Margo. I I want to keep that, but... well, after last night with little Emma... I kind of want to be a mom, too.

Weird, huh?"

Terry shook her head and took both of Chris's hands in hers, "Oh, no, no, no, baby, I'm not saying that at all. Honestly, I understand, I do. The first time I babysat for someone, I felt the same way.

It's different for a girl than it is for a guy and, I suppose, you're starting to think of yourself as a girl. That's probably a good thing, considering." Chris nodded his head and thought for a moment.

"You know when we were in classes together, we hung out and played together and I liked that. Later, though, when you skipped a grade... I missed you. Then, when I had to redo seventh grade... I never really had any friends after that. I've been lonely for a really long time..."

 "Oh, Chris. I'm so sorry. I didn't think..." "No, wait. I don't blame you or anything, but... I was lonely for so long that I was used to it, you know what I mean. It was the way things were. Now, I'm not. I think I found 'me' when I became Chrissie and I'm not lonely and I'm a lot happier." Now, Terry wiped a tear from her eye.

"Last night, with Uncle Willy's family," that made Terry smile. She didn't have the same relationship with Willy as Chris, but she loved that there was an 'uncle' in Chris's life.

"I felt at ease and happy. I didn't feel like lonely old Chris and I didn't feel like the person in charge of the band.

I felt like me. I loved talking to the girls. I loved learning how to cook. I adored holding that baby.

That's who I want to be. I want to be me and I want to be with you and the girls. Right now, without the band and without being Chrissie, I'm just a high school dropout with no friends."

"Wow, that surely answered some concerns of mine," Terry smiled and leaned across to kiss her pretty, little brother's cheek. "We need to finish up and get to the spa. It's just a couple of blocks away. We can walk." The massage was glorious.

They lay on the massage tables, which were next to each other, and all the stress and tension of the recording sessions were rubbed away in the course of an hour and a half. Then, they donned robes and were escorted into reclining chairs for their mani, and pedis.

Neither had ever experienced a message before, so they were like limp rags in the recliners. Terry had had mani, pedis at the mall with her mom before and Chris had had a very hasty procedure done the day of his transformation, but this was different.

This treatment was designed to be enjoyed. It was slow and luxurious and they felt like princesses as they were pampered and they loved it.

At 1:30, they had a light salad in the spa's restaurant, then headed out to do some shopping. Terry had a date that evening with Mark and she wanted to get something pretty to wear for him. They hailed a cab and headed to a boutique that one of the girls who worked at the studio had told Terry about. It was a small, but elegant shop with very few items in the store.

"Well, this is disappointing," Terry whispered as they entered.

"We may need to go to the mall."

Chris nodded in agreement. A well-dressed, thirty-something woman with a plastered-on smile emerged from the back room. When she saw Terry and Chris, her smile wavered a bit. When she spoke, her tone was dismissive.

"May I help you, girls?"

 "Hi," Terry smiled. "I'm looking for a dress and a coworker recommended your store."

"Uh-huh," the woman said slowly.

"What, EXACTLY, are you looking for?"

"Umm, well, I'm not sure. I have a date tonight and I" "Do you have a price range?" The woman interrupted.

"Well," Terry was a bit stunned by the interruption.

"No. I hadn't considered a price range, but I'm looking for..."

"Perhaps you should try the Aeropostale store at the mall, then, girls."

She turned on her most smug expression and started to walk away.

Chris, who had done more high-end shopping than Terry, said, "Excuse me, ma'am, if you wouldn't mind, could you please run a credit check on this card for, say, 15,000 dollars to see if our money is good here?"

He held the card out with a coquettish smile while she eyed it suspiciously. Finally, she took the card and ran it through the machine to check for an available balance.

As the result of the credit check appeared on her screen, her sneer transformed into a thin, condescending smile, she said, "Thank you, miss. Now, what can I show you, young ladies?" Chris put his card back into his purse and smiled at Terry.

"Well, I'm not 100% sure what I'd like. I have a date at a nice restaurant tonight and I'm looking for something a bit more sophisticated than I usually wear without being stuffy, you know? I was thinking of a little black dress kind of thing.

Do you have anything like that?" Terry said with newfound confidence.

 "I'm sure we do miss. What size?"

 "4 please."

 "I'll be right back."

When she'd left, Terry and Chris giggled at her attitude. "Yes, miss.

Yes, miss" she whispered an imitation of the saleswoman.

"Aren't you the brave thing? I was ready to leave."

Chris laughed. He'd already gone through a similar, although not quite as insulting, experience that night when he and Margo had gone shopping. "They only respect a platinum card," he whispered back.

"Even if the first dress is perfect, make her work a little for the sale."

At that moment, the woman returned with four black dresses on hangers. Terry and Chris smiled at her and took the seats the woman offered as she began her sales pitch.

"Each of these a limited-run, designer dress. This first one is from a small company in Italy.

They specialize in clothing for younger women such as yourself" Two hours later, they emerged from the boutique with one dress bag, a shoe box with a new pair of open-toed pumps, and a small bag of underthings.

They were elated with the perfect little dress that Terry had chosen and the fun they'd had running the annoying saleswoman through her paces. All in all, it could not have been a more successful shopping excursion for the two sisters.

It was 4:45 when they entered the lobby of their hotel; Terry carrying the garment bag with the dress and Chris carrying the bag of undies and the box of new shoes.

"Howdy, ladies" was called from the elevator banks and the twins looked up to see John Holden and Rick, Grace's techie friend. Both were dressed in sharp suits and pricy cowboy hats.

It was Rick who had called out to them. As they approached, both young men removed their hats, held them to their chests, and bowed deeply. Terry giggled while Chris gave a bit of a courtesy in response.

"Evening, fellas," Terry said using her best saloon-maid affectation.

"You boys looking to rustle up some fillies tonight?" "We sure are ma'am," smiled John, whose cowboy accent still sounded more like New Jersey than anywhere in the South.

"I take it, then, that the first video session went well?" John smirked.

"Very well, ma'am. Very well. She's a great girl."

Everyone smiled.

"We're going country dancing if y'all'ed like to join us." Ricks's drawl was sweet and natural. He wasn't a great-looking guy, but he had a sincere and infectious smile. It was easy to understand why a girl like Gracie would fall for him.

"Thanks for thinking of us, but I'm going to dinner with Mark," Terry said.

 "And how about you, young Miss Christine?"

Rick bowed deeply.

"We would be honored if you you'd join us tonight."

Chris smiled and curtsied again.

"Why, thank you sir, but I believe that I will stay in this evening and recuperate from this long, hot, and weary day." The bell rang and the elevator doors opened.

"As you wish, ma'am," grinned Rick as both he and John gave one more deep bow and used their Stetsons to sweep low and indicate that the twins should enter the elevator car.

They pushed the floor number and the car was soon headed up to their floor.

"I love the twin look you two are cultivating today," John teased.

"Almost too much beautiful for a man to stand." They laughed and blushed at his remark.

"Today was a twin-sister day. We had a great time."

She threw her arm around Chris and hugged him.