No Way To Turn
By Ellie Dauber
Copyright 2001
Nate Quinn looked at his watch. It was 8:43.
Just enough time to nuke some nachos and get a
beer before Monday night football started. There
was a good game scheduled, and, much to Nate's
surprise, Dennis Miller hadn't sucked nearly as
much as a commentator as Nate had expected.
Nate had just hit the start button on the
microwave when the doorbell rang. "Who is it,"
he yelled, running in from the kitchenette of his
apartment. He wasn't expecting anyone, and Kera
Hejak, his girlfriend, was out of town on some
kind of business trip for the next few days.
They'd been getting very serious about one
another, and he had been thinking about proposing
marriage when she got back. He smiled. 'Maybe
she came back early.'
"Kera." The voice was vibrant and feminine.
Nate ran to the door and flung it open. Kera
Hejak was 24, a willowy brunette, about five foot
nine of feminine curves. She was dressed in a
simple gray business suit, with a skirt that came
to just above the knee. Her long brown hair was
done up in a French twist, and her make-up was
understated.
Nate reached out to take her hand as she walked
into the apartment. She pulled away, a look of
revulsion on her face. "Please, no. Is bad
enough that I had to come here at all."
Nate closed the door behind her. "Kera, what's
the matter? Why are you so mad at me?"
"Because of what you do to my daughter."
"Daughter? I don't understand?"
"Then I show you." Kera made a strange gesture
with her hands. As Nate watched, she began to
change. She shrank by three or four inches while
gaining about twenty pounds. Her face wrinkled,
and her hair darkened, then turned a solid gray
as it rearranged itself into a simple bun. The
business suit became a housedress and sweater.
Her three-inch heels changed into a pair of
comfortable flats. Kera had somehow become her
mother.
"Mrs. Hejak?" Nate looked at the transformed
woman in amazement. "What? How did you do that?
Where's Katy? Is she all right?"
"She still in Chicago, Mr. Quinn. I spoke to her
last night. She is fine."
Nate tried to be diplomatic. "I'll admit that
you and I haven't hit it off very well, but maybe
we can do something about that; now that you're
here tonight. Why did you come, by the way? And
why -- and how - did you come here looking like
Kera?""
"I use Kera's form to show that I powerful enough
to be taken seriously. Why I come is to make you
go away."
"What! Look, Mrs. Hejak, Kara and I are very
fond of each other, and nothing you say can make
me 'go away'."
"You won't just leave because I ask you. I know
that, but I have good bit of money. How much it
take to get you to leave her?"
"There isn't enough. I truly love Kera too much
to put my feelings up for sale."
"So, you have some sense of honor. At least you
not total stinker."
"Thanks...I think. If we're finished talking
about my character, may I get you something to
drink? Then you can tell me how you managed that
trick."
"Discussion is finished, Mr. Quinn, but not the
way that you think. I offer money first just to
see how stubborn you are." She paused for a
moment. "You see what my magic do to me. I use
on you if you not leave my Kera alone."
"Look, Mrs. Hejak, I don't know how you pulled
that trick, but I already told you. I love Kera,
and I don't want to give her up."
"You think it only a trick." She made an odd
gesture with her right hand. "Now I do it to
you." The air seemed to shimmer around her hand.
The shimmering became a sort of mass of silvered
sparkles that flowed through the air and towards
Nate. He tried to dodge, but the flow followed
him and suddenly passed without effort into his
body.
Nate looked down at his chest. There was a faint
sort of afterglow where the sparkles had entered,
but he felt no pain. Then, as he watched, he
felt a strange cold tingling in his chest. The
tingling grew in strength, then it seemed to flow
outward to every part of him. He closed his eyes
as the sensation reached his head. Instead of
darkness with vague patterns of light, he saw the
same sparkles he had seen with his eyes opened.
It was as if they were actually flowing through,
filling up every part of his body.
Nate felt muscles all over his body clenching and
unclenching. He couldn't seem to move, except for
his neck and head. His clothes seemed to be
moving - no, they were somehow getting looser on
him. The room seemed to be growing, too. It was
hard to believe, but he was shrinking. He looked
down and saw the sleeves of his flannel shirt
slide down over his hands, hands that seemed
slimmer than he remembered.
His chest felt odd, tender against the rough
fabric of his shirt. Then, as he looked down at
it, the shirt swelled, pushed outward by what
Nate instinctively knew was a pair of woman's
breasts. They continued growing, popping a
couple of buttons off his shirt. Nate could see
them now that his shirt hung open. They were
round and pink with dark nipples the size of
quarters.
His pants began to get tight at the hips. His
butt seemed to be growing. The pants were loose,
much looser, at the waist, and he felt them slide
down onto his now wider hips.
He felt the tingling as the sparkles seemed to
flow down into his penis and balls. He grew
erect at the odd sensation. Then the feeling
kind of faded - no, it was more like it was
sinking back into his body. He guessed that his
genitals were sinking in as well, converting into
their female equivalents.
He felt a tickling on his neck and ears and
realized that his hair was growing longer. He
felt it slide past his shoulders and guessed that
it stopped just after that, since he couldn't
feel it on his back.
His vision blurred for a moment, and he felt his
face twitching. He tasted something sweet and a
bit sticky on his lips. He had to be wearing
make-up now.
Then he saw his shirt begin to change. The arms
faded while the rest of the shirt seemed to
become some sort of sheerer fabric. The colors
changed from a dark green plaid to a lighter,
solid green color. The shirt shrank down,
hugging his new figure.
He felt his pants sliding up his leg, not
stopping till they almost reached his crotch.
Then he felt the cool air of his apartment
against his bare skin. His shorts seemed to
move under the pants. The material felt a lot
softer now. He felt something silky against his
now flat crotch.
Suddenly, the feeling was gone. He could move
again.
Mrs. Hejak let out a laugh. "I must say, you
turn out prettier than I expect."
Nate panicked and ran into the small bathroom
just off the kitchenette. He looked into the
mirror in amazement. The image in the mirror
looked a lot like him, same color hair and eyes,
similar shape to the eyes and the nose. But the
hair was longer, and his lips were a bit fuller.
He - no, she - was the sister Nate had never had.
There was certainly nothing masculine about the
body, though. She was a good six inches shorter,
a slender girl with wide hips, a narrow waist,
and what looked like 36-C breasts. Since she was
only about 5 foot 5 inches, now, they looked even
bigger.
Her flannel shirt and jeans were gone, too. The
girl in the mirror wore a pale green camisole and
matching denim cut-offs. Nate looked down at
herself. Her socks were gone, replaced by a pair
of fuzzy mules with a two-inch heel. Nate had
never worn heels before, had never even thought
about wearing heels. Yet, just now, she'd run
across the room in them as if she'd been wearing
them all her life.
She came storming out of the bathroom. Mrs.
Hejak was standing in the center of the room,
arms crossed over her chest and looking very
satisfied with herself.
"I don't know what you did, lady," Nate growled,
raising her hand in a fist, "but you're UN-doing
it and right now!"
Mrs. Hejak didn't move. "Such a bad temper.
Tsk, tsk, it so unladylike."
"I'm not a lady. I'm a guy!"
"Really? Then why - and how -- _this_ happening
to you." She made another gesture before Nate
could stop her.
Something, something Nate couldn't see, was
rubbing her breasts, caressing them. The nipples
began to tingle and stiffen. Tiny sparks of
pleasure flowed out of them through her body,
especially down to her groin. The sensations on
her breasts didn't stop, but Nate felt something
- an invisible finger -- slowly slide its way
down to her crotch.
"No, p...please. Stop!" She was frozen, unable
to move. The hand - if it _was_ a hand --
reached her crotch. A finger played along the
lips of her new vagina. Nate felt herself
growing warm down there - and wet. The finger
moved in and began to rub against her clit. Her
hips responded, moving in time with the finger.
She cried again, "Sto...stop, plea...uh,
oh...please do..uhh...don't!" Then she felt
something, something that she didn't want to
think about, something larger than a finger,
slide into her moist vagina. It moved in and
out, and her entire body matched the movements.
A feeling of immense energy, immense pleasure,
grew within her groin, then exploded out through
her entire body.
She screamed in ecstasy as the world grew dark.
Sometime later, Nate found herself lying on the
floor. There was a sort of afterglow warming
her, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling.
That is, not until she looked up and saw Mrs.
Hejak still standing there.
"Ready to admit that you a girl, now?"
Nate ran her fingers through her hair. "I guess
I have to, but why - why did you do this to me?"
"Because you want to betray my daughter, to lead
her on, use her body, and desert her."
"No, no, I don't. I love Kera. I would never
want to hurt her."
"Well, now you not have choice."
"You - you're not going to leave me like this,
are you?"
"You be Nate-ely...Natalie Quinn for the next two
days. You live the life you would have lived if
you been born a woman, and none but you or I will
remember that you not. You see, you even gonna
act like you was a girl. When Kera come back from
Chicago, you change back - for a while."
"For a while? Why? What do you mean?"
"So you can break up with her. You change back
when she land because she want to call you when
her plane come in. Tell her whatever you want
when you see her that evening, but try not to
hurt her."
"But I don't want to hurt her - or to break up
with her."
"You have no choice. When she leaves you that
night, the spell ends - _if_ you two are no
longer together."
"And if we are still together - at the end of the
evening, I mean."
"Then, you not be together at one minute longer.
You be Natalie again. Forever this time, and Kera
will never have heard of you."
"Never?"
"Oh, she may know a girl named Natalie Quinn, but
Kera not be in love with her." She laughed. "Is
perfect. Either way, my little one is
protected." She turned and quickly waked out of
the apartment.
Natalie Quinn looked down at her new, feminine
body. It was still tingling from the - from
whatever she'd experienced a few moments before.
"Oh, Kera, what have you gotten me into? And how
the Hell am I going to get out of it?"
* * * * *
The radio turned on at 6:45 AM, some thirty
minutes earlier than it was usually set for. "I
don't remember re-setting it," Nate thought, "or
changing the station." Nate normally listened to
a morning sports show, not
NPR.
A hand reached out to hit the snooze button, a
slender hand with long, feminine fingers, fingers
manicured and the nails covered with a pale pink
polish. Natalie Quinn brought the hand close to
her face. She was suddenly wide awake. She
looked down at herself under the covers. The
body looked smaller, and there were two very
prominent bulges at chest level. "Mrs. Hejak,"
she said in amazement. "It - it wasn't a dream."
Natalie threw back the covers and looked down and
her body. When had she changed into a woman's
pink babydoll nightgown? But then, when had she
re-set her radio alarm or changed the station?
She sat up and looked around the room. Mrs.
Hejak hadn't stopped with changing her or her
clothes. The curtains were a frilly yellow, now,
instead of the solid brown ones that had hung
there the day before. There was a small vanity
table against one wall, its top covered with
various cosmetics. There were some brushes that
Natalie had never seen before, and her mother's
old jewelry box sat on top of her dresser. Even
her bed linen had changed. The dark brown
bedspread was now a pale yellow that matched her
curtains -- and covered with tiny flowers.
There were clothes on the floor and tossed over
her chair. She smiled. Some habits are just too
hard for even magic to change. But then she took
a closer look. The clothes on the floor were a
high cut panty, cut-offs, and a camisole. A
woman's blouse and a skirt were on the chair.
She sighed and tossed the dirty under-things into
the hamper near the dresser. She tossed the cut-
offs on the bed, to be put on after work, and
hung up the still clean blouse and skirt for
possible wear. She suddenly heard a voice in her
head. 'They should go into the hamper, not the
closet.'
"What the?" Natalie nearly dropped the hanger
with the blouse.
'A woman doesn't wear her clothes a second time,'
the voice said.
"Now I'm hearing voices telling me how to act -
oh, I get it. This must be what Mrs. Hejak meant
when she said I'd act like a girl. She put a
voice in my head to tell me how to do it." She
smiled. "Okay, voice. I'll listen, but I may
not always go along." She put the hanger in the
closet, determined to keep a little bit of Nate's
sloppy, masculine self in her.
She took off the nightgown and tossed it onto the
bed. She was naked underneath. She walked over
towards the mirror on the closet door. 'Not
bad,' she thought, striking a pose. 'Not bad at
all.' She'd seen her body last night. It looked
even better without clothes. There was still a
strong resemblance to Nate in the face. She
might have been his twin sister; same round face,
same color hair and eyes, just as she'd noticed
last night. Only her nose was smaller and her
cheekbones a bit higher. Her lips were fuller,
too, even without lipstick. It was definitely a
woman's face.
The body was even more definitely female. Her
breasts were full and firm. That same voice in
her head told her that she'd guessed right about
the breasts, they were a 36-C and with no trace
of sag. The aureoles were about the size of half
dollars and the nipples big and sensitive. She
tingled a little when she touched them.
She had a narrow waist and nice round hips. She
turned then strained her neck looking back at the
mirror. Nice ass, just the right amount of
roundness; firm, too. She gentle rubbed it with
her palm and felt another tingling in her skin.
Now she got down to basics. Her muff was neatly
trimmed to just a patch around the genitals. She
could wear a narrow thong panty without showing
any hair. She smiled at the thought until she
realized that this could mean that her new self
was sexually active. Natalie shivered again.
She was _not_ ready for something like that. She
closed her eyes and tried to ask that voice -
whatever it was - about sexual activity. It was
silent, and she wasn't sure if that was good - or
bad - news.
She was about to go exploring her new sexual
equipment when that damned voice did speak up,
beginning to nag at her again. She didn't get up
early to have time to play with herself. It took
longer for a woman to get ready in the morning,
and she didn't want to be late for work. She
hurried into the bathroom and washed. There was
a can of Secret where she'd kept the Right Guard.
She used it, then dusted herself with a floral-
smelling body talc that she'd never seen before.
Now - now, it was time to get dressed. Natalie
went automatically to one of the dresser drawers.
She took out a pair of pink panties and matching
bra. There were several balls, rolled up
pantyhose and a couple of those egg-shaped
pantyhose containers in a corner of the drawer,
and she pulled one of those out as well. She
stepped into the panty and pulled it up past her
hips. The material felt soft and cool against
her skin, so different from Nate's boxers. She
wasn't sure that she would be able to handle the
bra, but her arms and fingers seemed to know what
to do. She put her arms through the straps and
leaned forward into it. When she reached behind
to fasten it, her fingers found and hooked the
clasps as if it were something they did every
morning.
She sat down on the bed and popped open the
pantyhose container. 'How the heck did you put
these on, she thought. 'They barely looked big
enough for a six-year old. Still, her body
seemed to know because a few moments later, she
was straightening the sheer material on her legs.
The material was so sheer that she didn't feel it
when she was standing still, but when she moved,
she felt the tension of it against her skin.
She opened the closet door. The nice rack of
slacks and suits was gone. In its place was a
double rack of skirts, jackets, and blouses. She
picked out a pale gray satin blouse and put it
on. The buttons were on the "wrong" side, but
Natalie's fingers seemed used to them. The
blouse was looser than a man's shirt, and she
felt the material slide along her body as she
reached in for a matching burgundy skirt and a
woman's tailored jacket. She stepped into the
skirt and wriggled it up to her waist, zipping it
at the side. She tossed the jacket onto her bed.
There were things she had to do before she put it
on.
She sat down at the make-up table and clicked on
the mirror light. 'Okay, now what do I do,'
Natalie thought. She found herself brushing some
powder onto her cheeks. It was like someone else
was moving her hands. She picked up and opened
one of several tubes of lipstick from a tray.
Pursing her lips, ship applied it, then carefully
blotted the excess with a tissue. Her hands
moved just as naturally as she applied mascara
and shadow to her eyes. She didn't even flinch,
much to her surprise. The image in the mirror
looked like any other career girl Nate might have
met in the course of a day. Only, this was Nate
-- Natalie, she corrected herself.
She stood and walked over to the dresser, to her
mother's jewelry case. She opened it and took
out a pair of silvered earrings. Again, her
hands moved naturally as she found the holes --
Good heavens, she had pierced ears! She picked
up a wide silver and ruby bracelet and placed it
on her wrist. Her watch was where she always
left it, but it was a lady's watch now. She
strapped it on, and grabbed the jacket. She was
putting it on as she walked towards the bedroom
door.
'Wait,' the voice in her mind said. Natalie
looked down and realized that she was just in her
hose. There was an entire rack of women's shoes
on the back of one closet door. She reached for
a pair at random, and something guided her hand
to a pair of low, burgundy pumps. She stepped
into one, then the other.
'This should be fun,' she thought, bracing
herself for a fall with the first step. But no,
as she had the night before, she moved as easily
in them as if she'd been wearing heels for years.
She smiled at the small success and headed out
the door.
She drank some milk -- from the container, it was
another of Nate's habits that hadn't changed --
and grabbed a sweet roll from the breadbox and an
apple from the fridge. Her wallet and keys
were on the small table near the door, along with
a gray purse. Natalie tossed them in the purse,
grabbed her mercifully unchanged briefcase, and
headed out the door and towards the elevator.
Five minutes later, she stepped out into the
garage beneath her apartment building.
Her car, that sweet gray '83 Chevy Nate had spent
a month of weekends tuning just right, was gone.
Instead, there was a cute little blue Hyundai in
her parking spot. 'A chick's car,' Natalie
thought. She got in, instinctively sitting down
and moving her feet in, like a girl, rather than
stepping in and sitting down like a man.
'If so much else has changed,' she thought, 'I'd
better see where I work." There were business
cards in her wallet; the same ones that had
always been there, except for the new name. With
a sign of relief, she started the car and headed
to Miller, Hersh, and Greene, the consulting firm
she still worked for.
* * * * *
Or did she? When Natalie pulled into the
underground lot, Mark Franz's car was in her
spot. Or should she say, "his spot", since the
sign said, "Reserved for M. Franz, Director of
Operations Research." Natalie groaned. "What the
Hell?" She checked her business card again.
Instead of listing her as 'Director', it had her
old 'Operations Analyst' title. "Damn, somehow
Mark got the job instead of me when old man
Davies retired." She put her purse back on the
seat and circled through the lot until she found
a vacant spot two rows back.
Natalie felt self-conscious walking into the
office from the parking lot. 'Anybody asks why a
guy like me is wearing a dress,' she thought,
'and I'm out of here.' But no one did.
Lynn Corman, one of the women from her office,
was already waiting by the elevator. "Hi,
Natalie," Lynn said cheerily. I just love that
dress you're wearing." Nate had known Lynn,
although not very well. She was a trim-looking
brunette, about Nate's age, wearing a long green
skirt with a matching blouse with a pretty yellow
and green scarf wrapped loosely around her neck.
Nate and Lynn had worked together on several
projects and become casual friends. He'd even
dated her once or twice before he'd gotten
serious about Kera. Now, it seemed they were
good friends.
"Umm, thanks, Lynn," she said almost
automatically as they walked in, and Lynn pushed
the button for their floor. "I like scarf. Is
it new? It goes so well with that outfit of
yours, too."
"Don't you remember, Natalie? You and the other
girls gave me this scarf for my birthday last
week. Today's the first time I've had a chance
to wear it in to the office."
Suddenly, Natalie had an image of about a dozen
women sitting around the table at Sorrell's, a
small bar about a block from the office. Lynn
had a mass of boxes in front of her, and she was
just picking that same scarf out of a small box
on the table. Natalie shook her head. First,
the voice, now, new memories. This was getting
too weird. "I must still be half asleep," she
said. "We picked pretty good. That scarf looks
great on you."
"Well, I wanted everybody to see it." The
elevator stopped and the doors opened. Lynn was
a demographer in Joe Halpern's shop, off to the
right. "See you at lunch." She headed down the
corridor.
"Bye," Natalie said. She was guessing about
where her office was. If she had lost out on the
promotion, and still had her old job, then her
office -- Nate's old office -- was to the left.
She took that direction and quickly found her old
office. Sure enough, the sign on the door read
'Natalie Quinn, Grants Analysis.'
'Yep,' she thought, 'same old office, same old
job.' She sighed and walked in. The office was
pretty much as she remembered it, though there
were a couple of feminine touches, a couple of
flowering plants -- azaleas, came the voice in
her mind -- one on the window ledge and a second
on the coffee table by her office couch. The
Neimann football lithograph on the wall had been
replaced by a framed poster from the New York
City Ballet.
Natalie walked behind the desk and sat down.
Another old habit was still there; she'd left
herself a detailed "To-Do" list from the night
before. She and Mark Franz were working on the
same projects that Nate had been working on with
Mark, only he was the boss, now, and she was the
subordinate. 'Well,' she thought, 'better get
moving. That project conference call is still
set for 11 AM.' She turned on her PC, logged
into the project directory, and began working.
Natalie spent the morning getting up to speed for
the conference call, catching up on the details
that she would now be expected to know as the
grants specialist, with the half dozen grant
proposals the firm was currently consulting on
under her direction during the development
process.
At 10:30, the phone buzzed. It was Mark Franz.
"Nat, can you come over here before the meeting
to brief me on what's where?"
"Sure, I'll be over in five minutes." She got
the files together and walked over to his office.
It was a little aggravating seeing Mark sit in
the chair that was really hers. 'Just for two
days,' she told herself. She briefed him, and
they had a quick cup of coffee before the meeting
started.
The conference call went fine, except that
Natalie caught herself early in the meeting
wanting to jump in and answer a question or make
a comment as the Division Director. That was
Mark's job now. By the end of the conference
call she was automatically deferring to Mark and
to the clients on-line. It was as if Mark had
always been her boss.
She was thinking about it after the meeting.
This new life was getting more and more natural
to her, and she didn't like it. She'd been less
aggressive even than was warranted at the
meeting. Was she starting to act like the demure
woman she appeared to be? Natalie shuddered at
the thought. 'Just two days,' she thought.
'Yeah, two very hard days,' she answered herself,
'but what can you do about it?'
"Nothing," she said aloud, making a face.
There was a knock on the door. "Something
wrong?"
"Oh, hi, Lynn. No, just not exactly myself
today."
"How about we grab some lunch and do a little
window shopping? That always perks me up."
"Why not?" Natalie shrugged. "It's better than
ordering in at my desk." She pulled her purse out
of the drawer and followed Lynn to the elevators.
"Any place special you want to go?"
"How about the Galleria? It's close, and we both
like their food court."
"I guess." Nate did like the food. It seemed
that Natalie did as well. Some things never
change.
* * * * *
The Galleria was an upscale mall that took up the
first three floors of an office building about a
block away from where they worked. They headed
straight for the Food Court. Lynn got in line at
the "House of Chan", while Natalie went to the
"Pizza Palace." When Natalie had her food, she
turned and saw Lynn waving at her from a table
near the escalators.
"What's with all that junk food," Lynn asked as
Natalie sat down.
"What do you mean?" Natalie looked down at her
tray. It was the sort of lunch Nate normal would
have had, two slices of pepperoni pizza and a
large coke.
"There must be a couple thousand calories in that
pizza, two slices, and with pepperoni, no less --
I've never seen you eat more than one slice and
that with just cheese." Lynn had vegetable lo
mein and a small coke -- or diet coke, more
likely.
"I -- umm -- didn't really have any breakfast
this morning. I was hungry, and it smelt so
good. I guess I just got carried away and
ordered too much."
"Well, you'll never keep your figure if you keep
eating like that."
Natalie smiled. "Probably not." She didn't want
to keep her figure. Hell, she didn't even want
to _have_ a woman's figure. She took a bite of
pizza and shivered involuntarily at the
greasiness of it. She tried to wash it down with
her soda, but that was far too sweet. 'Damn,'
she thought. 'Now my body won't let me enjoy
this stuff.' She took a breath. 'Okay, body,'
she said to herself, 'How about a compromise.
I'll switch to drinking a diet coke, if you let
me enjoy the pizza.'
Not expecting an answer, she stood up.
"What's the matter," Lynn asked.
"They gave me regular coke instead of diet." She
walked back over to the "Pizza Palace." The guy
on duty was unusually apologetic, she thought,
until she realized that he was looking at her
chest instead of her face.
'Well,' she thought, 'I guess I'll take a little
leering this once if I can eat the pizza.'
Natalie returned to the table. For whatever
reason, the pizza didn't seem quite as greasy.
She finished the first piece, then ran into
another problem. She sat and stared at her
plate.
"I knew you were hungry," Lynn said, "but I
didn't think you really had room for two slices
of pizza and that big drink."
"I guess not," Natalie said. She hated to admit
it, but she _was_ stuffed. They went back to the
"Pizza Palace" and got a single slice box to
carry the pizza in. Natalie put it in her purse.
There was a mini-fridge in the office that would
keep it reasonably fresh until she could eat it
the next day.
Lynn looked at her watch. "We've still got about
a half hour. Let's see what they've got over at
Hanson's." Hanson's was a chain store-boutique
on the second level of the mall. The window had
a spring display, dresses and mix and match
outfits in shades of blue, pink, and yellow.
Natalie caught herself looking at a long blue
skirt with a matching sweater top. She was
thinking about how it would look on her. 'With
those new shoes....' Wait a minute! How did she
know that she had a pair of shoes at home that
were almost an exact match to that outfit? Even
worse, why was she picturing herself in it, and,
worst of all, why was she happy about what she
was picturing? This was definitely getting out
of hand. She shook her head to try to clear away
such thoughts. "Hadn't we better be getting
back?"
"Since when would you rather go back to work than
window shop?"
"I don't know. Like I said, I guess I'm not
quite myself today."
"Well, snap out of it, girl." Lynn paused.
"Hey, how long ago did you and Ray split up?"
"Ray," Natalie said. "What do you mean, 'Ray'?"
"Duh! Ray Weston, your boyfriend - your ex-
boyfriend; you two split up - what was it - about
a month ago."
Ray was an old friend of Nate's. He'd worked as
a financial analyst for MH&G before he left to
start his own company with a couple of other
analysts. Ray and Nate still got together weekly
to play handball at the Y. In this new reality,
it seemed that they'd gotten together for more
than that.
"Ray...but he...." Memories popped into Natalie's
head. She and Ray had had some kind of fight and
decided not to see each other - at least, not for
a while. Something seemed to tell her, though,
that they weren't going to get back together as a
couple, and she felt a pang of regret at the
loss.
"Have you been seeing anybody else since then?
Or even just been dating at all?"
"No. No, I...haven't." Had she? Natalie didn't
remember. 'No,' the voice said suddenly and
without emotion.
"Now, you're moping about here, acting depressed
because you haven't gone out in so long. Nat,
you need to get out and have yourself some fun."
"No, I - I couldn't. I don't...." Natalie
blushed. Looking at clothes was one thing; she
could almost get used to that, but the thought of
being with a man was something else entirely.
The part of her that was Nate panicked at the
idea, but the part - the small part - that was
Natalie began to think of the possibilities.
Worst of all, her body seemed to tingle in
anticipation of those possibilities.
"Sure you do, Nat, but not right now, and you're
feeling down about it. Well, nothing helps a girl
when she's feeling down like shopping, maybe even
buying something a little naughty." Lynn
giggled. "Something you can wear to show the
guys that you're back on the market and available
again." She grabbed Natalie's arm and dragged
her into the store. "Or some fancy lingerie to
show yourself off to just one lucky guy."
Natalie closed her eyes and groaned inwardly, not
knowing what to do. A very attractive redhead in
the store's trademarked rose blazer came over to
them. "May I help you," she said with a polite
smile."
"We're just looking," Natalie said quickly.
"I'm just looking," Lynn said. "My friend here
has been having a romantic cold spell, since she
and her boyfriend split up. We're here to get
her mind off it with a little 'shop' therapy, if
you know what I mean."
"Certainly, my dear," the clerk said. "What
would you prefer?"
"To leave, thank you."
"Oh, come on, Nat," Lynn said. "Don't tell me
that the idea of buying something pretty to wear
doesn't appeal to you. Tell you what. You close
your eyes and think about it for a minute. If
you don't like the idea -- not even a little bit
-- we'll leave."
"Oh, oh all right," Natalie said. She was really
a man, so she couldn't possibly want to wear
something "special" for another man.
Or could she? She closed her eyes and visualized
herself standing in a room wearing an outfit like
the one she'd been looking at outside the store,
a long blue skirt with a matching sweater top. A
man, Ray Weston - maybe - his face, his features
were blurred somehow, was standing nearby. He
was in a shirt and slacks, a tie hanging loosely
under the shirt's collar. He looked at Natalie
and smiled. Natalie noticed what a nice smile he
had -- how muscular he was. The room looked sort
of familiar, but she couldn't recognize it. Was
she imagining this or remembering it?
She saw herself turning slowly, posing for the
man, even as she wondered why she was going on
with this stupid idea of Lynn's. Her nipples
began to tingle just a little. Her poses got a
bit more suggestive - what the hell was she
thinking? The man's smile got bigger. The
tingling got stronger. It began to spread down to
her groin. Suddenly, he stepped forward and took
her in his arms and kissed her. She could feel
the tingling grow into a gentle heat that flowed
out through her entire body. She heard herself
sigh and opened her eyes.
Lynn and the salesclerk were smiling at her. "I
think you lost," Lynn said, breaking into a
giggle.
"I - I guess I did," Natalie said. She was
willing to admit defeat, but she was damned if
she'd admit how tight her nipples still felt or
the pleasant warm feeling in her groin. She
sighed. "Okay," she said to the clerk, "but none
of that 'naughty" lingerie you mentioned, Lynn.
Miss, could you show me what you've got in a
blouse?"
Twenty minutes later, Natalie left the store
carrying an innocent looking pink shopping bag
with two very sheer lycra blouses inside. "I
don't believe I let you talk me into buying this
stuff," she said to Lynn as they walked back to
their office.
"Oh, come on, girl. You can always use another
blouse. Tell you what; after work, you go home
and put it on. We'll go out to that club you
like, what is it? - Nickleberry's -- and listen
to some good music." She yanked at Natalie's
arm. "Now c'mon. We'll be late getting back to
work if we don't hurry."
* * * * *
The afternoon went smoothly enough. There were a
couple of things that she'd been assigned to do
during the conference call. She made a couple of
necessary phone calls and began work on a meeting
report with the additional information. Mark was
the same sort of boss that she had been as Nate.
He wanted the report on his desk by close of work
the next day. Since she expected to be Natalie
until the day after next, she was working to
finish it in time. She wondered, though, what
the report would look like and whose name would
be on it when she was Nate again.
She did finish the report, though.
When she got home, she brought the shopping bag
with her into the bedroom, tossing it onto the
dresser without emptying it. Then she stripped
to take a quick shower before she got ready for
her evening with Lynn.
She showered, trying very hard not to notice how
nice the streaming water felt on her breasts. It
wasn't easy. Especially when she closed her eyes
and had an image of a man - she wasn't sure if it
was Ray -- there in the shower with her. She
felt his hands on her breasts. No, they were her
hands, and she quickly dropped them to her sides.
She reached out and shifted the water to cold.
'Just in time,' she thought, even as she squealed
when the icy stream hit her. She forced herself
to stay in for a few seconds, then jumped out and
grabbed for a towel.
She patted herself dry, then dusted herself with
a floral body powder. Wrapping a towel around
herself, she headed back to the bedroom.
She opened her lingerie drawer, trying to decide
what to wear; a garter belt and stockings? No,
that would be surrendering to the sexy, the
female feelings she was having. The feelings,
the thoughts, were coming to her often enough as
it was. She was not going to...encourage them by
wearing anything so obviously sexy. She put the
stockings on top of the dresser and took out
pantyhose and a matching panty and bra in pale
green.
She stepped into the panties, then drew them up,
past her hips, to her waist. Then she put her
arms through the straps of the bra and reached
behind her back to fasten it. When that was done,
she adjusted her breasts in the cups. She looked
down and her body and shook her head. That was
probably the strangest part of the whole thing,
that she knew exactly what to do, how to act like
a woman, and - worst of all - that she felt
comfortable doing it. Just as it felt
comfortable for her to be sitting there on the
bed and carefully putting on the pantyhose,
drawing them up one leg at a time as if she'd
been wearing pantyhose for years.
She stood and walked to the closet, watching
herself in the mirrored door. She looked good in
the feminine underwear, and she had a nice, sexy
strut to her walk. 'More of Mrs. Hejak's magic,'
she thought. She opened the door and pulled out a
dark green silk blouse with a high, ruffled
collar. There was a matching pleated skirt on the
hanger next to it. The skirt looked long enough
to hang below her knees. She pulled on the
blouse, carefully buttoning the small, gold-
colored buttons. It wasn't easy the way the bra
pushed out her breasts, but she managed. She
stepped into the dress, pulling it up around her
waist and tucking in the blouse.
She looked in the mirror again. She still looked
very pretty, but not _overtly_ sexy. The blouse
was a little tight against her breasts, and the
way the skirt hung called some attention to her
narrow waist and wide hips. It stopped just about
_at_ her knees, showing the pleasant female curve
down to her ankle. But she was an attractive
female, and just about any outfit would have
shown that fact. She could live with it.
Make-up was next. She put on a dark red
lipstick, blotting it with a tissue almost
without realizing it. A bit of blush and a
little eye shadow, and she was done. No, she
used some sort of medieval torture device to
apply mascara to her lashes, making them look
thick and sultry. She found a polish that was
almost an exact match for her lipstick and
applied it to her nails, blowing on them
afterward. The polish was some new product that
dried almost immediately. She touched a nail
gently with a tissue and found no stickiness.
Natalie took a pair of thin gold bracelets from
the top of her dresser and put them on her right
wrist. A thin gold wristwatch went on the left
wrist. She found a pair of gold earrings that
she liked - they looked like a pair Kera owned -
and put them on. Her hair was okay; she just
fluffed it up some and let it hang down around
her neck and shoulders. She was just dabbing a
bit of perfume on her neck when she heard the
doorbell.
"Just a minute," she yelled; hoping whoever it
was had heard. There was a rack of shoes hanging
on the wall of the closet. She grabbed a dark
green pair and hurried to the door without
bothering to put them on.
Lynn was smiling at her when she opened the door.
"I was half afraid you were going to chicken
out," she said as she came into the apartment.
Lynn wore an electric blue tube dress that hugged
her every curve. She had the top pulled low on
her breasts. The bottom stopped well up on her
thighs. She had on matching shoes, with a heel at
least three inches high, and pale gray panty hose
- no, when she stepped forward, Natalie could see
the top of one stocking held in place by a narrow
band of elastic at the top.
"No, I'm still, well, kind of out of it, but I'm
not going to let it ruin my evening" She stepped
back, leaning against the doorframe. "I just
need to get my shoes." She balanced on one foot,
while she put on a shoe, then switched her stance
to put on the other. "Okay, I'm ready." She
grabbed for her purse, and the two of them headed
out of the apartment.
'Damn,' Natalie thought as they walked down the
hall to the elevator. She hadn't taken a good
look at the shoes that she'd picked to wear. The
things had a three-, no, a four-inch heel. She
took a step expecting to fall over, but found
that she could walk in them. The problem was the
way the shoes made her walk. The heel
accentuated the curve of her leg. She also had
to take smaller steps, swaying her hips in a very
feminine gait.
Lynn stopped for a moment to fix her own heel.
She watched Natalie walk on for a few feet then
hurried to catch up with her. "Well, I guess you
are - ready, I mean," she said.
"Why do you say that?"
"The way you're walking, Nat. You're putting an
awful lot of 'oomph' into the way your hips and
butt are moving. That sexy walk with that oh-so
demure little dress, it's gonna be like shaking a
red flag at a bull when we get to Nickleberry's.
I just hope a few of the guys stop looking at you
long enough to notice me."
"I'm not trying to 'oomph.' It's these stupid
high heels."
"Yeah, and you're the one who picked them.
You're a billboard, Nat, and the message is 'Here
I am, boys. Come and get me."
"Listen, Lynn. The heels were an accident. The
last thing I want - believe me - is to get picked
up by some guy." Natalie spoke slowly and
firmly, hoping that Lynn would believe her." A
large part of her meant it. But the way her body
began to tingle whenever she thought about men,
she was hoping that she believed it herself.
* * * * *
Nickleberry's was a rock club at the edge of a
large mall about twenty-five minutes from
Natalie's apartment. Lynn parked her Chevy near
the entrance, and they headed in. The place was
packed. The bouncer was starting to turn away
people. Natalie thought he might not let in the
two of them, and she would be off the hook. They
waited in line, slowly inching their way forward.
Natalie tried to smile when they got to the front
of the line, hoping that they would be turned
away.
The bouncer, a tall bearded man in a muscle
shirt, looked at the pair of them closely. He
smiled and opened the chain across the doorway.
"For two ladies as lovely as you, we always have
room." He bowed slightly at the waist and
motioned for them to go in.
"Say 'Thank You' to the nice man," Lynn said.
Natalie looked up at him. He was just over six
feet tall, but so perfectly proportioned, so that
he seemed even taller. Natalie looked up at him,
feeling smaller than ever. "Th-thanks," she
said, feeling her body respond to the attention
he was giving her. 'Am I going to get the
tingles from every cute guy in here,' she
thought. 'Wait a minute! I did _not_ call that
guy "cute", did I?' She shook her head once to
try to get the thought out of her head. A line
from an old Bette Davis movie came to her, 'Brace
yourself. It's going to be a bumpy night.'
The house band, a "70s revival" group with the
original name of "The Generic House Band" was in
the middle of a number as Lynn and Natalie walked
down the long ramp into the club. Colored laser
beams were tracing patterns above them, sometimes
triggering holographic images like an indoor
fireworks show. "Should we try and find a
table?" Lynn shouted over the noise from the
bandstand
"No, let's get drinks first," Natalie said. They
walked through the crowd toward the nearest of
the three small bars in the room. Lynn began to
get into the music as they walked. She was doing
a little dance step and moving her body more to
the music. Natalie felt the music, too, but
walked stiffly, her shoulders scrunched together,
her head bowed slightly. She was avoiding
attention as much as Lynn was seeking it.
They reached the bar just as the music ended.
The bartender looked to be in his late 40s, a
slender man with a close crop of sandy brown
hair. He smiled at Lynn, then at Natalie. "And
what will you two pretty ladies be having?"
"White wine," Lynn said.
Natalie wanted - needed - something stronger.
"Scotch, straight up."
"Nat, are you okay," Lynn asked. "That's awfully
strong stuff. Can you handle it?"
'Damn,' Nate thought. 'She's right. I need a
drink, but I sure as hell don't need to get
plastered.' She signaled to the bartender, who
was pouring Lynn's drink. "I - I'm sorry. I
guess I'm not myself tonight. Please make it a
white wine instead of that scotch."
The bartender nodded. A minute later, he was
putting the two wineglasses on the bar. Lynn had
reached into her purse, but suddenly, a large
hand reached out and put a $10 bill on the bar
next to the two glasses. "I'd be honored if you
lovely ladies would allow me to buy your drinks."
Lynn and Natalie both looked around. The hand
belonged to a tall, ruggedly built man about 6
feet tall in a dark gray suit. He was smiling,
almost grinning at the two women. Lynn smiled
back and threw her arms around him.
"John," she said. "I thought you were out of
town." She kissed him, then turned to Natalie.
"Nat, this is John Rutledge, an old -- umm --
friend of mine. John, this is Natalie Quinn.
She and I work together."
John smiled and gently shook Natalie's hand.
"Very pleased to meet you, Natalie. Are you two
here with anybody?"
"Not until just now," Lynn said, hugging his arm.
"Great," John said. "Look, I'm also here with a
friend from work. Why don't you two join us over
at our table?"
"Actually, we just came to listen to the music,"
Natalie said, hoping Lynn would take the hint and
tell this Rutledge guy to go away.
"Sounds good to me," Lynn said, missing the hint.
Was she doing it on purpose? "How about you,
Natalie?"
Natalie's first impulse was to say "NO." She'd
let them walk away, then sneak out of the place.
Only then what? She'd come in Lynn's car. It was
much to far to walk, and finding a cab wasn't
going to be easy. She was trapped. "I guess,"
she said with no real emotion.
John signaled for the bartender. He paid for a
bottle of the white wine, then lead the two women
away from the bar and towards a group of tables
near a wall painted to look like an exaggerated
city skyline. As they got close, a second man
sitting alone at one table stood up. He was
tall, taller than John, and slender, but muscled
like a basketball player beneath his brown suit.
John led Lynn and Natalie to the table. "I
thought you were just going for drink," the other
man said.
"I was, Bill - Lynn and Natalie, this is Bill
Ecklar. Bill, these two fine ladies are Lynn
Corman and -- umm -- Natalie, Natalie Quinn.
Lynn and I are old, ah, friends. When I saw
Natalie and her at the bar, I went over to say
'Hello.' Then I found out that they were alone
and decided to ask them to join our celebration."
He set the bottle on the table and helped Lynn
into a chair. Bill held a second chair for
Natalie and helped her sit.
"What are you celebrating," Natalie asked.
"Meeting the two of you," Bill said with a wry
smile. "Besides that, we're salesmen for Intext,
the software company. We just signed a very
large contract with the city to upgrade their
human resources and computer based training
systems. It means a couple of very large
commissions with a bonus as well."
"Congratulations," Lynn said, raising her glass
as if making a toast. "Natalie and I work for
Miller, Hersh, and Greene, it's a consulting firm
here in town. "She does operations research and
grant writing. I'm a demographer."
"A real people person," John said, grinning at
the pun. Lynn giggled at it, too, though she'd
heard the joke before.
"Do you enjoy your work, Natalie," Bill said.
"I guess." Natalie was still trying to find a
way out. The problem was that a part of her
found Bill - well, interesting. He had a nice
voice, and he seemed kind of cute. Damn, where
had that thought come from?
"Natalie's a little bit out of it tonight," Lynn
said. "I thought if we came here, it might cheer
her up."
"Well," Bill said. "At least it isn't the
present company. Anyway, I hope it isn't."
"No," Natalie said truthfully, "I'm just not
quite myself today. I'm sorry." She found that
she was actually beginning to feel a little
attracted to Bill. It was crazy. She was a guy
- wasn't she?
"Hey, that's okay," Bill said. "Everybody gets
out of sorts every once in a while. You just
sit. We'll talk, have a little wine, and listen
to some nice music. Best way I know to get
yourself straight is a relaxing evening with
friends, okay?"
"I guess," Natalie said. Despite herself, she
began to smile slightly. Bill was cute - stop
thinking that! - but he wasn't really coming on
to her, except as somebody just looking for a
friendly face to talk to.
They just sat and talked. Between the wine and
Bill's easy-going manner, Natalie found herself
getting drawn into the conversation. Lynn helped
as well, often asking Natalie a question or
deferring to her about some point.
Natalie was explaining about a survey technique
that the firm used when she glanced over and
noticed that Lynn and John were gone. "Now where
did they..."
Bill laughed. "You were so deep into that
business about polling that you didn't hear John
ask Lynn to dance, not that I minded. It was
interesting, and my outfit uses surveys like that
before they send us out." He pointed towards the
dance floor. "Anyway, there they are."
Natalie looked in the direction Bill was
pointing. Lynn and John were dancing to the fast
melody that the band was playing. Lynn must have
seen Natalie looking because she waved in
Natalie's direction.
"Would you like to join them," Bill said.
Natalie hesitated, uncertain how to possibly
answer. She was really a man, regardless of how
she looked. How could she want to dance with
another man? But Nate loved to dance, and the
part that was still male inside Natalie was
curious about what it would be like to dance as a
girl. Natalie loved dancing, too, and she was
attracted to Bill in spite of herself. He was
strong and good-looking and, well, relaxed. He
was just trying to enjoy himself, not coming on
to her. She found herself smiling. "I'd love
to."
Bill stood and pulled out her chair. As she
stood up, he took Natalie's hand. She discovered
that she liked him holding her hand and let him
lead her onto the dance floor.
The band was playing a fast number, so they just
stood a few feet apart and began moving to the
music. Bill was a good dancer, moving sensuously
to the beat. Natalie found herself matching his
moves, getting caught up in the music. She
danced around him, not really noticing the
seductive way she was moving as one fast number
followed another.
Finally, the band switched to a slow, romantic
number. Bill took Natalie in his arms and pulled
her towards him. She felt herself moving with
him to the music. It was nice, surprisingly
nice. She felt safe and protected without really
understanding why. It felt so good that even
Nate, buried deep in her mind, was enjoying it
just a little. She leaned forward and rested her
head on his chest. She could feel his heart
beating; feel hers beating as well; her skin, her
entire body tingled pleasantly, and she smiled to
herself.
The band announced that it was taking a break.
Natalie and Bill walked back to the table. As
they walked, Bill reached down and took Natalie's
hand in his. She looked up at him and nodded her
approval. Her whole body seemed to be tingling.
Lynn and John were waiting for them. "Well, you
certainly seem to have come out of your funk,"
Lynn said. "We came back here a good ten minutes
ago."
"Oh, Lynn," Natalie said. "I - I'm sorry."
"Oh, don't be, hon. John and I put the time to
good use." Lynn was holding John's hand. About
half the bottle of wine was gone. There was
lipstick on John's face.
"I see," Bill said. "I'm glad you remembered to
save some of that wine for us."
"Plenty left," John said. "But if it bothers
you, we can order another bottle. Besides, we've
got more back at the apartment, too, remember."
"Mmm," Lynn said. "Maybe you and I should head
back there later."
"Why wait," John said. Then he turned to face
Bill and Natalie. "That is, if you two don't
mind."
"John and I share a condo downtown. I guess I
can get a cab back later," Bill said. "I'd be
glad to spend whatever time with Natalie that
she's willing to spend with me."
"Yeah," Natalie said. "I guess I can grab a cab,
too."
"We -- umm -- both came out in my car," Lynn
said. "Maybe I can drop you off now, Natalie."
She fumbled for her keys. "Where's your
apartment, John?"
"About a block and a half from the City
Government Center."
"Hmm, that's a bit out of my way," Lynn said.
"Unless, of course, Natalie came with us."
"What?" Natalie panicked. Go back with a man to
his apartment? She shivered at the idea, but
only partly in fear. The part of her that was
Natalie was just a bit tempted by the
possibilities of going back to Bill's place.
"Hey," Bill said. "Don't rush her into
anything." Then he took Natalie's hand gently in
his. "Unless, of course, you'd like to go."
"Thank you, Bill." She smiled with relief,
hoping he wouldn't read anything more into it.
"You're a very nice man, and I'm very flattered.
Only, I'm...well, I...we just met. I'm afraid
that's a bit too fast for me." She actually felt
a little sad at turning him down.
"I understand," Bill said. "And I, well, I
respect you for it, even if I am a bit
disappointed. Would it be okay if we just stay
here and listen to the music for a while, maybe
dance again? I promise, I'll pay for your cab
home."
Natalie felt her hand tingle, a feeling that
spread to her nipples. "That's very sweet, Bill.
Yes, I would like to stay for a while. You're a
good dancer, and I've enjoyed myself more than I
expected to this evening. We'll, well, we'll see
who pays for the cab."
"If that's settled." Lynn said, "I'll see you in
the morning, Nat. Enjoy the rest of the evening."
She winked as if to suggest that Natalie might
change her mind.
"Thanks, Lynn. It was nice meeting you, John."
She rose and offered him her hand.
"Likewise, Natalie. Don't keep this guy up too
late. We've got calls to make early tomorrow
morning." He shook her hand briefly. Then he
put his arm around Lynn's waist and guided her
towards the door.
They sat and made small talk for a while. Bill
told a few stories about life on the road,
including one very off-color joke about a
farmer's daughter that got Natalie giggling in
spite of herself. She also tried to remember
it, so she could tell it when she was Nate again.
('It was a little too naughty for a girl to
tell,' she thought.)
When the band started one set of slow tunes, they
danced for a while. Natalie enjoyed being in
Bill's arms. She snuggled in closer, resting her
head on his chest. He was humming to the music,
and she thought that she could feel the
vibrations. 'Maybe it wouldn't be _that_ bad to
go back to his place,' she thought. 'There's
still time....' Time for what? To have sex with
this man she'd just met? To have sex with any
man? She panicked and pulled away.
"What...what's the matter, Natalie?" He stopped
dancing and looked straight at her.
"I - umm - it's the...what time is it?" She
needed some sort of excuse.
He looked at his watch. "About 10:40. I don't
think the club's going to close for a while yet."
Natalie - Nate - had been to Nickleberry's enough
times to know that it was open until midnight
during the week. "No, but...I'm sorry, Bill, but
I'm kind of - kind of tired. I think the wine's
getting to me a little, too. Would you mind if I
left?"
"Terribly, but if you have to, you have to." He
took her hand and led her back towards the table.
"Let me pay the bill, and then we'll see about
getting you a cab."
"You don't have to do that." He was so sweet,
Natalie was sorry to be leaving him.
"I want to. Besides, I _did_ sort of promise
Lynn that I'd make sure you got home okay." He
put a $10 on the table. With what they'd paid
during the course of the evening, it would more
than cover what was left of the bill. "Can I
share a cab with you?"
'No!' Natalie thought. 'If you do, you'll ask to
come in for a drink or something, and I'll - I'll
wind up in...in bed with you.' She almost
shivered at the thought, partly in fear but
partly - Lord help her - in anticipation.
'And what would be so bad about going to bed with
this guy,' the voice in her head asked.
'I'm a man,' she answered herself.
'Oh, _are_ you' the voice asked sarcastically.
Natalie remembered an old saying of her dad's.
The first step of going crazy is when you talk to
yourself, but everybody does that. The second
step is when you argue with yourself. When you
start losing the arguments, _then_ you're crazy.
She decided to drop it before she lost the
argument.
She smiled up at him. "It would be nice, but
John said you live downtown. I live so far out
that it would take you twice as long to get back
to your hotel from my place as from here."
"Well, could you at least give me your phone
number? I'd like to call you sometime. No
strings, and you can say 'No' when I do and tell
me to tear up the number. I will if you ask. I
promise." He held up his hand, three fingers
raised like a Boy Scout.
'Why not,' Natalie thought. 'When things get
back to normal the day after tomorrow, and I'm
Nate again, he'll have never met me. In the
meantime, he'll be happy.' She took a breath.
"All right. Do you have a pen?"
Bill took a pen from a jacket pocket and handed
it to her. "Always. Even today, with palm pilots
and such, it's still a major tool of the trade.
Natalie took a business card from her purse and
wrote her home number on it. She handed the
card and the pen back to him. He smiled - that
same cute smile that she was really getting to
like - and put them back in his pocket. "Okay,
then. Let's see about those cabs."
There were a number of cabs in line outside
waiting. Bill led Natalie to the first one and
held the door while she got in. "Take the lady
to...." Natalie told the cabby her address. Bill
handed the man a $20 "Will this cover it?"
"With some to spare, sir," the cabby said.
"Thank you."
Bill leaned in. He put his hand gently on the
side of her head and pulled it towards him. He
kissed Natalie, holding her there for what seemed
to her like an hour. Her body began to tingle,
and she fought the impulse to pull him into the
cab. She sighed and broke the kiss. "Thank
you for a lovely evening, Bill...and for the cab
ride."
"It was more than worth it." He shut the door
and waved as the cab pulled out of the parking
lot.
* * * * *
Natalie sat quietly in the back of the cab
listening to the driver cursing at the traffic.
'What am I doing,' she kept asking herself. Her
mind kept going over the evening. Part of her,
the part that was still Nate was repulsed at how
she'd acted with Bill. 'Like some horny little
twit,' he thought. Another part, the part that
was Natalie, was also feeling regret, but it was
the regret that she had turned down Bill's offer.
He was cute and so considerate. I bet he'd be
great in bed. Damn! She was doing it again. She
whimpered and scrunched down further in the seat
shivering. How could she think of betraying her
male self so easily?
The cabby let her out in front of her apartment.
She ran up the steps and into the building before
he had pulled away. It was late, and the lobby
was all but deserted. She ran into a waiting
elevator and pushed the button. As it rose to her
floor, Natalie studied her reflection in the
mirrored doors. A beautiful woman stared back at
her. Natalie's face was flushed; she could feel
the heat in her cheeks - and in her nipples.
'Oh, Lord,' she thought, 'don't let me be
sexually aroused.'
"Why is this happening to me?" Natalie said
aloud. She felt tears filling her eyes. Her
legs were weak. "Why did Mrs. Hejak ever think I
would cheat on Kera?" The elevator doors opened
on her floor, and she rushed to her apartment.
She was so nervous that she kept fumbling with
the keys, but eventually, she managed to get in
and closed the door - almost slammed it - behind
her.
She quickly stripped off her dress and took off
her pantyhose. It was a little too cool to just
sleep in her underwear. She looked at the pink
nightgown from the night before. 'Much
too...feminine,' she thought. Too sexy was what
she meant. She dug through a dresser drawer and
found a long yellow flannel nightgown. She put
it on and climbed into bed.
Her body was still tingling, and she
absentmindedly reached down to touch her breast.
Even through the fabric, the sudden sensation of
her hand against her nipple made her realize what
she was about to do. No! She pulled her hand
away. She closed her eyes, but she kept seeing
Bill's smiling face. She got out of bed and
walked into the bathroom.
The sleeping pill had her snoring in five
minutes. She slept soundly till morning. The
trouble was that she kept having dreams, erotic
dreams, about men - about Bill.
* * * * *
The radio woke Natalie far too early. She
stretched. "Man, oh, man, what a crazy...."
Natalie stopped in mid stretch and looked down at
her breasts pushing out the front of her
nightgown. "Damn! It wasn't a dream. I really
am a girl."
She threw back the blankets and climbed out of
bed. The room -- everything -- had the same
feminine look as she remembered it now from the
day before. She glanced around, then reached over
and pulled the covers back, making the bed. She
took off her nightgown and tossed it on the bed.
As before, she was naked beneath it.
Natalie looked down at her body. It didn't seem
strange to her any more. It was, well, it was her
body, and it felt natural to her now. In fact,
she was proud of it, how good, how sexy she
looked. She posed in the mirror, knee bent, hips
cocked, and one arm raised, as if beckoning
someone to come to here. She smiled at what she
saw. "Boy, if Bill could see me like this," she
said aloud.
Then she realized what she was saying, what she
was thinking. The small part of her that was
still Nate took over. Her face flushed