The Bet
by Karen Singer
Chapter 33 (Wednesday - week 5)
Her dreams were short and sweet, each one lasting only a few minutes.
None of them seemingly related to each other. She dreamed of work, then
nothing. She dreamed of love, then nothing. She dreamed of Sissy, then
nothing. She dreamed of shopping, then nothing. She dreamed of the
home she would someday have... with Sissy there to take care of it, then
nothing. And again she dreamed of Sissy.
Each dream was different. None of them related. But as the night wore
on, more and more of her dreams included Sissy... or Chad. Or Chad-Sissy.
Her dreams of Sissy gradually grew more disturbing as her conscious mind
began injecting doubts and worries. Again and again she rolled over,
throwing away the dream in favor of a new one. A better one. But the
dreams kept coming. Some good, some not so good.
The dreams of Sissy and the worries and doubts began returning, again
and again. Her troubled feelings mounted with each succeeding dream.
Worry, worry, worry! Upon worry, worry, worry! Until at last she
rolled over one more time and glanced at her clock.
With a groan, she forced her legs over the side of the bed and sat up.
She brushed her long hair back off her face with both hands and pulled
on it from the back for a moment, trying to clear her sleepy mind. With
a sigh, she brought her hands back down to her lap and just sat. It was
morning. Her alarm would be going off in a few minutes. She reached
out and switched it off.
Her mind seemed still fogged with sleep as she made her way to the
kitchen to start the coffee brewing. Still half asleep, she stared at
the coffee maker for a few moments before she found the brain-power to
fill it with grounds and turn it on. But as she stood there, watching
the coffee brew, her mind slowly began to regain its function. The
smell of the freshly brewed coffee began to wake her up, bring her back
to life. Her thoughts turned finally to the day ahead... and then to
Sissy.
Sissy! He would be up by now, probably long up! At least he better be
up! She had set his alarm again last night while he was sleeping so he
had no reason not to be up! She was always amazed at how soundly he
slept every night. She wished she could do the same. She saw the
coffee finish and she poured herself a cup. Mmmm! Wonderful. She
carried it into her living room and curled up in her favorite chair.
She had worked late last night on her laptop. Work got that way once in
a while. It was just something she had accepted long ago as part of the
job.
While she had worked last night, she had made Sissy stand in his corner.
The thought of it amused her. She had made him stand there, unmoving,
for a very long time, and he had managed it just fine. It amazed her
how much power over him she held now. Yes, he still rebelled - a bit -
but overall, she was firmly in control. And it still surprised her how
much pleasure she received from having him so firmly in her grasp - and
making him do the most outrageous things - and denying him the ability
to be... a man!
And speaking of Sissy... She glanced at her clock. It wouldn't be too
long before he was due here again. She quickly finished the rest of her
coffee and got up from her seat. It was time to throw some clothes on
and make his breakfast. A baby-food breakfast! She giggled to herself
at the thought.
Chad stared at his face in the bathroom mirror. His makeup job was...
acceptable. He toyed with the idea of creating a different look for
himself, something new. Women did it all the time. But he quickly
discarded the idea. It had taken him forever to learn how to do just
what he did now, not to mention that he didn't have a clue as to how to
do anything else with his makeup. And besides, his look was...
acceptable.
His makeup was now done. He had already done his hair. He was already
wearing his two diapers for the morning along with plastic panties, a
waist cincher, his overly tight and small all-in-one girdle, and his
pantyhose. He hurried out to the kitchen where he grabbed his third and
final baby bottle for the morning, this one, luckily, filled with apple
juice. He started drinking it as he walked back toward his closet to
decide what to wear.
He opened his closet door and glanced around. The only clothes in it
were women's clothes. Mel had long ago removed every masculine item he
had in his apartment and put them... somewhere. His eyes quickly fell on
the two new pairs of slacks that he owned. A hint of a smile crept onto
his face. He hadn't been able to wear slacks in... days! He grabbed a
pair and pulled them off of the hanger. Now, what top to go with them?
His eyes fell on a pink short-sleeved top that was fairly stretchy. It
would fit a bit tight, but it was made to do that. And after wearing
his colorful dress to work yesterday, the pink top actually seemed tame.
He pulled it down too.
The pants fit tighter around his hips than the previous pairs that he
had owned - much tighter. But he didn't think they were too bad. Heck,
the women in the break room had all said that he needed better fitting
pants, and from everything he could see, these did fit a lot better. He
stared at the front crotch. He couldn't tell from looking at it that he
was wearing diapers underneath it all, but... well... he wasn't really sure,
but he didn't think it looked totally feminine either. Of course
though, with two diapers and the chastity device crushed under his
girdle, he supposed it couldn't be perfect. He just hoped that his
diapers wouldn't become too visible later, when they were wetter, or
worse.
He pulled the stretchy top on over his head and pulled it down over his
fake breasts and smoothed it into place. The bottom of it ended just
below the top of his slacks. He looked at himself in the mirror. The
first thing that he noticed was how well the pink color and v-neck of
the top showed off the pink stone in the necklace he was wearing. He
fingered the necklace for a moment and his eyes were drawn to the pink
stone in his ring. Seeing them made him feel funny, both embarrassed
and excited at the same time. He put his hand down and kept staring at
his reflection. The tight top, over top of his waist cincher and girdle
accentuated his "new" more feminine figure - quite a bit. That made him
feel funny too - for the same reasons. He stared again at his necklace
for a moment, and his eyes were once again drawn to the neckline of his
top. There was a bit of a decoration on the neckline, right at the "V"
just above his glued on breast forms that bunched up the material,
adding visual interest. The decoration did nothing to distract from his
pink necklace though and it seemed to accentuate his "boobs a bit more."
That made him feel a little funny. Oh well. He had worn worse. Much
worse. In fact, this was fairly tame. Comfortable too. And somewhat
casual.
Feeling better, he slipped into a pair of three inch heels that were
high enough to keep the bottoms of the pants from dragging on the
ground. He checked his image one more time - acceptable - maybe even
pretty good. Putting the baby bottle to his lips, he quickly finished
off the last of it. He was ready. It was time to grab his purse and
diaper bag and go. Mel would be waiting for him... Mel, and probably her
idea of breakfast for him - baby food! Ugh!
Mel smiled as she heard the knock at her door. She quickly stirred the
baby cereal in the pot one more time, then turned the stove off. It was
ready. She hurried to open her front door. The wonderful sight of
Sissy in a clingy pink top greeted her.
"Good morning, Mistress," Chad said in his silly sissy voice as he
dipped a quick curtsey.
"Good morning, Sissy," she replied as she stepped back out of the way to
let him in.
He set his purse and diaper bag on the floor by her table and turned for
her usual morning inspection. He handed her the bag of empty baby
bottles which she didn't even bother to check. Again. He wondered if
he could get away with not drinking some of them, but decided he'd
better not try it. Whenever she did open the bags, she would know for
sure!
Mel looked him over carefully, very pleased with what she saw. She
reached out and pulled on his necklace a bit. "That looks really nice
with this top," she remarked.
"I thought so too."
She walked around him, studying his figure. "Those pants do fit better.
A lot better."
Chad was tempted to tell her that he was worried that they might show
his diapers later, but he held his silence. Two minutes later, he was
sitting in his highchair, bib tied around his neck, staring at the bowl
of pasty colored baby cereal she had just put in front of him. Yummy -
not! He picked up the tiny rubber coated baby spoon she had set next to
the bowl and began trying to shove it into his mouth. The stuff tasted
awful, even though he was well used to it now. His problem was that it
still kept falling off of the tiny spoon with every bite he tried to
take. It took forever to eat it all.
Mel poured herself another cup of coffee and leaned back against the
counter to watch him trying to eat. Watching him struggle like an
infant never seemed to get old. It seemed like the harder he tried, the
more he failed. Sometimes she wanted to laugh out loud - occasionally,
she did. Over and over again, she watched as he picked up his baby
bottle between spoonfuls of cereal to wash it down. She had tasted the
cereal many times herself while she cooked it. She didn't think it
tasted quite as bad as he claimed it was, but then she only took the
tiniest of bites each time. Just enough to check the flavor. But then,
it didn't really have much flavor. And all of the varieties she had
seemed to be the same way.
Denied masculinity. Denied the ability to be and adult... well, she was
sort of working on that last part she supposed. But then there were so
many ways and reasons she would never be able to take it all away from
him. But still, the thought of it aroused her more than just a bit.
Denying him everything he used to be, everything he probably ever
thought he would be in the future. Remolding him into her own little
plaything. Of course, all too many of those directions she was pushing
him came from his own desires, his own fantasies. Way too many. But
still, she was surprised at how many of them she was really enjoying
herself. And she knew without a doubt that the forced reality of the
situation for him was far more horrible and embarrassing than his
fantasies had ever led him to believe they would be. So she felt very
satisfied in what she was doing to him. Very satisfied!
Just a typical morning. That's what was mostly on Chad's mind as he
drove to work. He looked down and saw his pants covered legs. It had
been a while since he had been able to wear slacks. They felt, and
looked, strange to him now, yet he was oddly proud and relieved to be
wearing them again.
Just another normal day... his "new" normal day. His life had been turned
upside down and been twisted around in knots like he never knew existed
since this bet had started. And "normal" lately didn't seem to last
very long. Just off the top of his head he realized that Mel had
increased his nighttime bottles, his morning bottles, and he now only
had two pairs of pants that he could wear... which meant that he could go
without wearing skirts only two days a week now - to work anyway. Once
he got home, the most likely scenario would be for Mel to have him
change out of his pants into... something else.
Yet the day did feel normal to him. And for once, he was glad. In his
new world where things changed all too often, "normal" or "usual" were
reasons to celebrate. A short while later, he was still feeling pretty
good about things as he fired up his computer and stowed his purse in
his desk drawer.
"Hi Sissy," Robin's voice called as she walked past the entrance to his
cubicle. He turned to return her greeting because she had paused
briefly at his cubicle, but by the time he turned around, she was moving
away again. He turned back to watch his computer booting up.
"I'm back," Robin said a minute later.
Chad turned around, surprised to see her so soon again. "Morning," he
finally got to return.
"Pants today," she noticed right away. He nodded happily. "And new
ones," she noted. He nodded again. "Well..."
Chad was confused. "Well what?"
"Well, stand up so I can see. That's what!"
"Oh." He felt like he was being inspected all over again. But as he
got up out of his chair so Robin could see what he was wearing better,
it struck him that her little "critiques" of his outfits every morning
had also become the "usual." Typical.
Robin's face went from happy to frustrated... or was it angry. She rolled
her eyes. "Humph!" A moment later, she stomped off to her own cubicle.
"What?" he called after her. But the entrance to his cubicle was empty.
He glanced down at what he could see of his outfit. It all looked okay
to him - as far as he could tell.
Earlier this morning, Mel hadn't said that anything was wrong. Nothing!
So what was eating Robin? He walked out of his cubicle and went into
hers. Her back was to him as she sat, slumped over, watching her
monitor as her computer booted up. "What's wrong?" he asked. "I
thought this looked fine."
She didn't turn toward him at all. She just waved a hand in the air.
"Oh, it is fine. Perfectly fine! You look great!"
Chad was confused even more. "So what's wrong then?"
"Nothing! There's nothing wrong with you at all!" She half turned
toward him. "With the way you look, anyway." She turned away again and
typed her password into the machine.
"So what did I do to piss you off?"
"You? You didn't... Ugh! Just leave me alone!"
Shaking his head, Chad backed out and went back to his own desk. What
had gotten into her? She had seemed so happy one second then the next,
she was upset. Women! He'd never understand them - even though he was
dressing like one all the time now. He logged into his own computer and
pulled up the things he was working on. Women!
"Sissy?" Robin's voice called over the cubicle wall.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry. Okay?"
That surprised him. "Sure. No problem." He still didn't understand
what was going on.
"Look, it's just that..." He heard her mutter a soft curse word. A
moment later she was walking into his cubicle. He turned to look at
her. She seemed a bit upset. "Look," she said again. "I'm a woman,
and you're not. You're only pretending to be... no offense!"
"None taken," Chad replied, wondering where she was going with this.
"Well, you've only been dressing like a woman for a short while now
but..." She stopped, trying to find the right words.
"But?" he prompted.
"But... Damn it! Did you have to wear a top like that?"
His top? He briefly looked down at it. It seemed okay to him. "What's
wrong with it?"
"What's wrong?" She threw her arm up in the air, totally exasperated.
"What's wrong?" she repeated. "Shit! Look at you. You're not a woman,
and I am!"
"So?"
"So your shape looks a whole lot better in that top than mine ever does
- in anything!"
His shape?
"I mean... look at you! All nice and slender and well, curvy in all the
right directions. While I'm just... dumpy!
"You're not..."
"Oh shut up!"
Chad shut his mouth. He had been married before. He had been around
women enough to know when to just let them rant.
"It's not fair! I don't eat that much. And I diet... whenever I can. A
lot actually. I used to look like you, in fact, better! But since I
got married... and then after the baby... and then you come along and
suddenly change your whole... "outlook" on life. And within a month you
go from looking like a guy to much more like a woman. And you've lost
weight. A lot of weight! Do you know how hard that is for me to do?"
Chad knew when not to answer. He just let her rave on.
"Very hard! But you make it look so easy! And the results! Okay, I
know a lot of what you've got there is fake, but still, it's not fair
that you should look better in a blouse like that than I do! Damn it!"
She pointed her finger at him. "I'm going with you today to that gym,
and this time, I'm going to sign up!"
Chad immediately realized the implications of that. "No!" But she was
already stomping out. He got up and followed her. She was sitting at
her desk with her head in her hands. "Robin, you don't want to go to
that gym."
"I need it. Obviously, I need it," she said into her hands.
"No you don't. You look great!"
"Get lost!" she said, none too kindly, still not looking at him.
"But..."
"Just get out of here!"
Chad backed away and went back to his own desk. His shape? Would she
really sign up to go to the gym? That gym? The very thought of it
worried him tremendously. If she did... and even if she didn't go at
lunch time with him... then undoubtedly, she would still hear about what
he had done there on Monday within a very short time. Everybody there
was still talking about him. As Cassie had said he was "all the buzz."
He stopped his thinking short. And what if she went there today... at the
same time he went? A sick feeling ran though him. The receptionist!
The damn receptionist! She had tried yanking his chain a little bit
yesterday. If Robin was there and she tried it... He stared at his
computer, but he was unable to work for worry about what Robin might do.
Gloria unlocked her office building and went inside. She went directly
into her office where she set her purse on her desk and sat wearily down
in her chair. Her mind was on Mel though... actually, Mel and Chad. She
had no doubt that Mel would call her again to set up another lunch date
and try to persuade her yet again to hypnotize Chad and help her to win
their crazy bet. But that was the one thing she would never do.
Yes, she did still want to hypnotize him again, but only to get answers.
How badly had she screwed up by setting those instructions in his mind
in the first place? It had all seemed like such fun. She had honestly
believed that he really did want everything she had done to him. And
that was her problem! Almost everything had worked - brilliantly -
better than she ever hoped they would! Which meant that somewhere in
that messed up head of his he had to really want what she had done to
him. So she had felt totally good about everything she had done.
But then she had found out how hard he was fighting the most important
part of it all - for Mel anyway. His incontinence! Those suggestions
seemed to have stuck, but only for a short while. That was common for
hypnosis suggestions. If you didn't maintain them then they eventually
wore off. But there were other things... he had reasons why he was
fighting it so hard. Darn good reasons too... as she saw it. Although
what was really important was that they were good reasons to Chad. They
were strong enough reasons that they allowed him to quickly break the
hypnotic conditioning.
So he did want what she had done to him... but now he didn't want it.
Which left her confused and feeling guilty. If he didn't really want
it, it wasn't ethical. Of course since they had done it all without his
knowledge, it wasn't ethical anyway... but she could look past that on the
pretense that he really had wanted it in the first place. Wasn't that
the reason behind their bet anyway? That he did want it?
Ugh! She was going around and around in mental knots! How could she
get Chad alone for a while to hypnotize him and really talk to him?
There had to be a way!
Mel stared at the back wall of her office, not really seeing it. Her
thoughts weren't on work, they were on Gloria... and how could she get
Gloria's help with Chad again. She only knew a little bit about
hypnotism, but she was very certain that it would be easy for Gloria to
hypnotize him again and reconvince him that he really did want to be
incontinent - and she knew for a fact that he did. Why was he fighting
against it so hard now? Okay, so he had some reasons. But in the
beginning, he had no reasons at all. The result was that she and Chad
were now firmly locked into a battle of wills. And time was growing
shorter!
She wasn't even sure if she had made any progress with him anymore. She
had thought she had. But after hearing how long he was capable of
holding back, she wasn't sure of anything anymore. Gloria could get the
answers out of him. Truthful answers. She could do so much to help,
but she wouldn't. There had to be a way!
And the first step in getting Gloria's help again was to keep talking to
her. Their lunch yesterday had been better, but strained. She had to
keep talking, keep trying! And to do that, meant more lunches. Every
day for the rest of this bet if that's what it would take.
She picked up her phone and punched in Gloria's number. "Hi Gloria.
It's me."
"Hey Mel. How are you?"
"Fine. Lunch again?"
Gloria sighed. She had known Mel would ask. "You know I'm not going to
change my mind."
"I know. But we've still got to talk."
Gloria paused for a moment to think about it. If only she could
convince Mel to let her have him alone for a while! "Okay Mel. The
usual?"
"Yeah, that's fine. See you later?"
"Later."
Chad was working, getting things accomplished. What he was doing at the
moment was repetitive and simple, but necessary. The redundancy of the
task was beginning to wear at him, but he was almost done with it. He
was surprised though when his concentration was broken by Robin walking
into his cubicle and leaning up against his desk. He turned in his seat
to look at her. She didn't exactly look happy, but at least she didn't
seem to be mad at him anymore. He just raised his eyebrow quizzically.
"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly.
He shrugged. "For what?" and then he grinned, letting her know that
everything was alright. He was pleased to see her smile.
"Ready to go to break?" she asked.
Chad remembered the doughnut from yesterday. He suddenly wanted to go
very much, but he was almost done with what he was working on. "I just
need a minute," he said as he turned back to his keyboard.
Robin stayed where she was and watched him working. She noticed
something as he worked, something she had noticed before. Something
about his hands. "You know, ever since you got those long nails last
week, you've been moving your hands much more like a woman."
He turned his head and looked up at her, then went back to his task.
"Not that that's a bad thing," Robin continued. "I mean, I think it's
really good in fact... seeing as how you dress all the time now." She
watched him for a few more moments. "And now that your nails are
shorter, but still pretty long, I think you move them even more
femininely."
Chad stopped what he was doing and stared at one of his hands. He
stretched the fingers out then curled them up, then stretched them out
again. He still thought his fingers looked much more feminine with
these nails... and it still pleased him. "Thanks," he said... "I think."
She laughed a bit. Chad quickly finished up and with a flourish and
minimized the project on his desktop. He got out of his seat. "Do you
think they'll have anymore of those doughnuts?" he asked as they both
headed out into the hall.
"I sure hope so," she replied. "You know. Your outfit really does look
nice today. I'm sorry I got all huffy earlier. I just couldn't help
it."
"Thanks," Chad replied. "And for the record, I don't think you need to
be worried about going to the gym. Not at all." The last thing he
wanted was for Robin to be going to the gym with him. She would find
out way too much!
"No, I think I do need it. Desperately! It's about time I got off my
bottom and made more of an effort to lose some weight."
"But the gym? That gym?" How could he convince her not to go?
"What's wrong with that gym? It's a ladies gym and it's supposed to be
a good one. Besides, you go there!"
Chad had no answer for her. The last thing he wanted was for Robin to
go to the gym where he got changed every day. The worry was still
foremost on his mind as he entered the break room. He spotted the
doughnuts again right away, but this time he followed Robin through the
coffee line first before they each grabbed one of the pastries. Then
together they made their way back toward the table the women usually
favored. There were still some empty seats, but the table was filling
up rapidly. Chad devoured his doughnut quickly. Yum! Solid food!
Nothing like it! He began thinking about lunch. What would be good?
Maybe a steak?
"Hey Sissy," one of the women interrupted his thoughts of food. He
looked up as he took a tiny sip from his coffee. "Love your top today.
It really shows off your necklace nicely."
"Thanks," Chad replied. "I thought the same thing when I put it on this
morning."
"That reminds me," another one interrupted. "Why do you always wear the
same old necklace every day? You've always got new clothes on. In
fact, I don't think I've seen you wearing the same thing twice."
"You haven't!" Robin agreed. "He never wears the same thing twice, not
that I've noticed either. And I get a good look at what he wears every
day."
"So how come you never wear any other jewelry?" the first woman asked.
"And how come no earrings yet?" Still another woman added. "I've been
suggesting them to you for weeks now."
Chad had no answers for them - that he could tell them. He always
bought just what Mel ordered him to and that was it. In fact, that was
enough! "Uh..." he searched for a decent answer. "Uh... I guess I've just
spent so much time looking at clothes that I haven't really gotten
around to the jewelry yet."
"But you are planning on getting some new jewelry then?" the first woman
asked.
"Uh... yeah, sure," Chad replied.
"Good," another woman said. "I can't wait to see what you get. Your
clothes are all really nice. I'm betting you have the same taste in
jewelry." There seemed to be a complete agreement among all the woman
about that.
Chad inwardly gulped. Had he just agreed to shop for a bunch of new
jewelry - nice stuff? Nice meaning probably expensive! He didn't think
he had promised to buy any, but maybe he had.
"So are you trying to be another one of those women who never wears the
same thing twice?" someone else asked.
Chad was taken by surprise by the question. "No. Of course not."
"Then how come you never wear the same thing again?"
He shrugged while he tried to think up a decent answer for that. "I
guess just because I've been buying a lot of new clothes and I just
wanted to try them out."
"A lot of new clothes. That's for sure!" someone added. "I wish I
could afford it."
"You and me both!" Robin replied. Again, there was a lot of agreement
among them all. "You know," Robin added, "if I join that gym, then
maybe I'll have an excuse to get a bunch of new cloths too."
"You thinking about it?" someone asked her.
"Yes. Seriously! I mean... look at the way he looks! It's starting to
get embarrassing for us real women! At least as far as his shape goes."
Chad didn't know whether to be embarrassed or proud.
A little while later, Chad was back at his desk again, struggling to
hold back his peeing. His efforts quickly became fruitless as he felt
it starting to leak into his diapers. With a tiny grunt of relief, he
just let it go. He glanced at his watch - eight minutes. Terrible!
But it was still early in the day. Things always went better in the
afternoons when he had less liquid in his system... and today he decided
he would drink a lot less at lunchtime!
He heard Robin's phone ring, then she talked briefly. A moment later he
could hear her typing. She was busy. He opened his spreadsheet for
tracking his bet progress. He stared at the row for today's date.
Thirty more days to go before the testing started. Basically, still one
more month. But at least it was only one more month. Very slowly, the
days were counting down. He put the cursor into the column for how long
he had been able to hold back yesterday and filled in twenty-one
minutes. Not very good. On Friday he had been able to hold it for an
incredible twenty-nine minutes. Somehow, he had lost eight minutes from
his record. But then yesterday had been a bad day. He had had way too
much to drink - all day. That was a big mistake. He would watch
himself more closely today. Of course, the coffee he had just finished
a little while ago didn't help things at all. He decided to have
nothing this afternoon to drink at all - except of course his one
required baby bottle while he was visiting Cassie.
That thought led him back to his current problem. How could he keep
Robin from joining the gym? With a big sigh, he closed the spreadsheet.
He had no ideas!
Gloria got out of her car in the restaurant parking lot. She saw Mel
driving in and waited for her friend. They walked inside together. Two
minutes later, they were sitting across from each other at a table.
Neither of them said much. Both picked up a menu to glance at the
contents, even though they both knew it by heart... as well as what they
were going to order. The waitress was there to take their orders before
either of them put down their menus. But once the menus were gone,
there was no longer any excuse not to talk. They each stared at the
other for a moment, wondering where to start, or who should start.
This time, Gloria jumped in first. "Look," she said. "I really need to
talk to him - alone! It's eating me up inside that I might have done
something unethical."
"Of course you didn't. I would never let you do something unethical!"
"Well, hypnotizing him without him knowing it sure seems unethical to
me!"
"That was your idea, remember? And it was the right decision! Besides,
would you rather he knew?"
"I'd rather I never did it at all!"
"This isn't about ethical or unethical, it's about helping out two
friends who are trying to accomplish something together - something we
both want! And there's nothing unethical about it!"
"That remains to be seen."
"You know he wants it, as much as I do. Probably more."
Gloria shook her head. "He can't want it more if he threw off the
suggestions so fast. And he had some darn good reasons!"
"Maybe, but in the beginning he didn't have any reasons."
"Yeah, none that we know of at least."
"He had none! That was why we entered into this bet in the first place
- because he wanted it. And he couldn't do it by himself. He's too
weak!"
"He's not that weak. He threw off those suggestions by himself."
"He is weak! And he knows it! He never did anything like this before
because he doesn't have the will-power to see it through - no matter how
much he wants it. And that's where I come in. I'm the will-power that
he doesn't have!"
Gloria shook her head. "I just don't know! If I could just talk to
him."
"But why alone?"
"Because if you're there, then he'll react to your presence. I may not
get a truthful answer. And I want the truth!"
"Isn't there some way you can work around that? Convince him to tell
you the truth even if I'm there?"
Gloria thought about that for a second. "I don't know. It's a very
maybe thing. I don't know that I can rely on it."
Mel sat back and they both just stared at each other for a moment, each
with their own separate thoughts. "I want the truth too," Mel finally
said. "But I want a different truth... well, about something different
anyway."
"What?"
Mel leaned forward. "I need to know how much progress he's making
toward holding back! You heard for yourself last week how well he was
doing. I've got to find out if anything I'm doing now is making a
difference!"
"You're doing something different?"
Mel nodded. "Several things actually. But I really would like to know
if I'm making any progress at all."
Gloria thought about that for a few moments, saying nothing. Before she
could respond, the waitress brought their coffee. They both sipped at
the drinks, figuring out what to say, or argue, next.
Mel set her cup back down. "Look," she began, "we both want him
hypnotized again... we both want truthful answers out of him. Isn't there
some way we can come to an agreement on this? Some way we can both get
what we want?"
Gloria thought about that. She did want answers and she knew perfectly
well that Mel would never let her have him alone. She also knew that
she wasn't willing to set anymore suggestions into him that might affect
his behavior one way or another. But what Mel had just said she wanted,
answers - truthful answers, that wouldn't be so bad. Not really. But
was that unethical in any way? She wasn't sure. There was still the
bit about doing it without him knowing about it. But would it really be
any worse than what she had already done? That was her hang-up.
But she did want answers - desperately! And she didn't dare allow him
to realize what she was doing. And if she only did what Mel was asking,
just get answers, then she didn't see any other way. She had to do it!
Ethical or not, she wanted to know the truth. And that meant going
along with Mel's suggestion. Like it or not. Mel was just sitting
there watching her. She felt foolish, but it was better to be careful.
"Okay," she agreed.
Mel breathed an audible sigh of relief.
"As long as you remember, I'm not setting any more suggestions in him.
I just want to know the truth, and I guess I can find out what you want
at the same time."
"Perfect!" Mel replied happily. "That's all I want." It wasn't really
all she wanted. They had only reached a compromise. But it would be
one that she would have to live with.
Chad glanced at the time on his computer monitor, it was lunchtime. He
quickly closed all the programs he had open and pulled his purse out of
the drawer.
"Hey Chad," Robin's voice called from the entrance to his cubicle,
"Ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"To go to the gym, of course. Since we're both going to the same place,
I figured we might as well ride together. Then we can grab something
quick to eat afterwards."
Chad was shocked. All he could think about was Robin finding out what
really went on at the gym. His worst nightmare was about to come true!
"Um... you're going now?"
"Well sure. I've got to sign up, don't I?"
"Oh yeah. I guess so."
"Then let's go. Do you want to take your car or mine?"
She wasn't going to back down from this. She was all too determined to
go - one way or another. Why did he have to wear this stupid pink top
today? That's what started it all! "Uh... wouldn't it be better to take
separate cars? I don't really know how long I'll be there."
"Don't worry, I'll wait for you. I'm sure there's going to be plenty of
paperwork for me to fill out and maybe I can get another look at the
place too."
Chad well remembered the last time she had been there - at the same time
he went. It was when she had found out that he was being called Sissy
now. Ever since then, she had insisted on calling him Sissy too. And
the name had spread rapidly around the entire company. Was there any
way that he could delay going? Or maybe not go at all? Unfortunately,
his diapers were really wet - again. He had to go. And he knew that
Cassie had other responsibilities, she couldn't wait for him forever.
He had no choice at all. "Uh... okay. I guess we'll take my car then."
"Great!"
Just thinking about needing his diapers changed caused Chad to glance
briefly down at his crotch. Yes, he was sure it looked bulkier and more
noticeable now than earlier. These new tighter pants weren't hiding
that very much at all. But would Robin notice when he got up? He hoped
not. Getting slowly out of her chair, he prayed that she wouldn't
notice anything about his pants at all! Fortunately, the moment he
started getting up, she turned toward the hallway. Chad walked next to
her the entire way out to his car to minimize the chance of her seeing
his pants. He had to throw his pink diaper bag from the front passenger
seat into the back seat before she could get in with him. Searching
desperately for a way to keep her from knowing what he really did at the
gym, he drove out of the parking lot.
When they got there, Chad reached into the back for his diaper bag
again. Robin stared at it while they were walking to the front door.
"Did you have to get a gym bag like that? The darn thing looks more
like a diaper bag than a gym bag."
Chad nearly choked. "Um... it was a gift," he lied. "Besides, I like
it."
"You would... sissy!" She giggled as Chad reached out to open the door
for her. All Chad could think was that she really had no idea! But
would she know the truth soon? Probably!
The receptionist brightened excitedly the moment she saw Sissy opening
the door, but then she got a bit of a shock as another woman - the same
woman who had been here asking about him before - walked through the
door ahead of him. "Hi..." she started to say, but the desperate look on
Sissy's face and the fact that he was trying to mouth something silently
to her stopped her from saying anything else.
"Hi," Robin returned politely, thinking the receptionist had been
talking to her in the first place. "Remember me?"
The receptionist glanced back at Sissy. He was still desperately
mouthing something at her. "Sure, I remember you," she said to Robin.
"Are you going to sign up this time?"
"That's why I'm here."
"Fantastic!" the receptionist replied happily as she glanced back at
Sissy one more time. This time she understood what he was mouthing -
"Get Cassie!" She nodded toward him that she understood. She grabbed a
thick stack of forms that has been put together already and handed them
to Robin. "If you want to get started on these, I need to see if I can
find someone. I'll be right back." With another nod toward Sissy, she
left quickly to find Cassie.
"Geez!" Robin said as she looked through the stack of paperwork. "I
expected a lot of stuff to fill out, but not this much." She picked up
a pen from a cup on the counter and started working.
Chad felt relieved. So far, so good. So far, Robin didn't know
anything, and at least the receptionist hadn't asked for another curtsey
today... or to see his diapers either. Yet! But with Robin going to the
gym with him now, how long could that last?
"She's with him?" Cassie asked the receptionist, not believing she heard
right.
"She's filling out the forms right now."
"Wow! And how is Sissy acting?"
The receptionist shrugged. "Scared. Nervous. But I don't know why he
should. I mean, the cat's totally out of the bag now, isn't it?"
Cassie thought about that for a moment. "Maybe not so out of the bag as
you think!"
Cassie led the way back up to the front of the gym. The moment she
spied Sissy, she could see how worried he looked. Obviously, he hadn't
planned on his friend being here with him. But his friend was another
customer, and customer's had to come first! "Welcome back," she said to
Robin, totally ignoring Sissy. "Remember me?"
"Sure," Robin replied. "Cassie, right? You showed me around last
time."
"Right and you're..."
"Robin," Robin reminded her.
"Of course! Forgive me for not remembering."
"No problem."
Cassie glanced again at Sissy. He looked a bit desperate. "Do you have
any questions?" She asked Robin.
"Not now, but before I leave, is there any chance I can get another tour
and maybe talk about what I think I'd like?"
"Definitely. Tell you what, I need to get Sissy here... uh..." She wasn't
sure how much Robin knew about him. What could she say? "Started," she
finally finished. She glanced back at Chad as he rolled his eyes.
"Then I'll be back and we'll start from the top. Okay?"
"Perfect," Robin replied. She turned toward Chad who had been happy to
stay somewhat unnoticed. "See you later."
"Uh... see you later," he replied as he followed Cassie toward the back.
How awkward!
As Chad followed Cassie, Robin glanced up from the paperwork to watch
them before they turned out of sight. Something about Chad caught her
attention. Something about his bottom looked different. Did it look
bigger? Then he was gone. No, it had to be a trick of the shadows.
She had only imagined it. She bent back down to filling out the forms.
"Hi Sissy," someone in the gym called out to him as he walked through.
Chad turned. A woman on one of the machines was waving to him. He
waved back. Would the customers here ever forget what he had done on
Monday? Probably not. A minute later, Cassie was closing the door to
the little office behind them.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"She insists on signing up!" Chad replied. "Is there some way you can
stop her?"
"Stop her? You've got to be kidding. She's a customer now. And
customers always come first - unlike you! Besides, we need some new
ones, and she looks like a prime candidate."
"But she'll find out what I did. Worse, she'll find out what we're
doing here!"
"You mean she doesn't know?"
"No! And I'd like to keep it that way."
Cassie shook her head. "I don't think there's anything I can do for
you. Everyone's still talking about you. She'll probably find out
sooner or later."
"I don't want her to find out at all! Isn't there anything you can do?"
"Sorry. Besides, it's not really my problem... it's yours! You might try
telling her the truth - yourself - before she finds out from someone
else."
Chad shuddered at the thought. "I can't! I don't want her to know at
all."
"Like I said, sorry. Okay, are you going to get undressed or what? I'm
afraid we'll have to skip the fun part for you today so I can take your
friend on another tour."
Chad reluctantly began undressing. As soon as he was down to just his
diapers, he laid down on the floor. Cassie handed him a baby bottle to
start on while she removed his diapers. Her actions were faster and
less personal than usual. A fact not lost to Chad. Before he realized
it, she was pushing up on his legs and sticking another of the stupid
suppositories up inside of him again. He hated it! More so because she
wasn't playing with him at all this time. Quickly, she fastened two
more diapers onto him and before he knew it, she was done and standing
up. He felt like he had lost something.
"Okay," she said. "I've got to go take care of your friend while you
finish that bottle. Maybe you better stay here till I come back.
Besides, Mel asked me to make sure you get a bottle every day so I
should check it for her before you leave."
She was out the door and gone before Chad could do anything else. He
just laid there and sucked on his bottle - while he fretted about Robin
joining the gym. What was he going to do?
It was a long time before Cassie finally came back. Chad had plenty of
time to finish his bottle and get dressed again. "All ready?" Cassie
asked as soon as the door was closed.
"Yes. What did Robin say?"
"About you? Nothing. We just walked around again and talked about what
she wants. You're in luck there by the way, she wants to come a few
nights a week right after work and she's very interested in one of the
exercise classes we have."
"So she's not going to be coming here at lunchtime?"
"Not unless she wants to. Once she joins, she can come anytime she
wants."
"You mean she hasn't joined yet?"
"Not officially. She hasn't paid for anything yet because she hasn't
decided what plan to go for yet. But trust me, she's joining!"
That was mostly good news for Chad. Maybe he could still convince her
not to join. He was struck by another thought. "Maybe if she only
comes in the evenings she won't run into anyone who was here on Monday."
"Don't bet on it. There's a few of those women who come to the later
classes too. Sometimes they come early in the day, sometimes they come
later."
Chad was not happy at all to hear that.
"There you are," Robin replied happily as Chad came back to the front
with Cassie. "You don't look all worn out."
Chad shook his head. "Trust me, I don't think I can take much more!"
He headed for the door and Robin followed.
As they went out, Robin took a good look at his crotch as well as his
backside as he walked in front of her. She had been right, she had just
imagined it. No, his crotch didn't really look all that feminine, but
it wasn't really bad either. And his backside didn't look all that big
at all - just its usual size, which she couldn't quite remember if it
was actually bigger than she remembered it used to be or not. "So what
do you want for lunch?" she asked as they got into his car.
"Something I can sink my teeth into!" he replied. "I'm hungry!"
"Yeah, dieting is tough! I ought to know!"
Chad wasn't really dieting, but she didn't know that.
"Hey," she said, "Since we don't have much time, how about just stopping
at the first fast food place we come to. Most of these places have
salads available."
"Fine with me," Chad replied, although he planned on getting a lot more
than just a salad to eat.
A few minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of a fast food
restaurant and they went inside, although Chad would have preferred to
stay in the car. Whenever he went inside these places, he got way too
many interested looks.
Robin ordered a salad for herself like she said she would. "A salad for
you?" she asked before Chad could give his order.
"No, I was thinking of trying their Mega-Burger instead. And I
definitely want fries!"
Robin laughed. "Silly. Don't even joke about it! If you're going to
be dressing like a woman then you better be eating like one too. But
you're right, I do wish I could eat something bigger. And I adore
fries."
Chad was about to order the Mega-Burger, but after Robin's comment, he
limited himself to just the same salad that she had ordered. But then
as an afterthought, he ordered a large order of fries as well. "You can
share them with me, if you want," he offered.
"Deal!"
As soon as they sat down to eat, Robin asked, "So what kind of exercises
do they have you doing? I looked for you during the tour they gave me,
but I didn't see you."
She had looked for him? Of course she would. "Uh... they have me stuck
in the back, out of sight."
"Why?"
Chad searched for a good answer. "Uh... because it's a ladies gym."
"Oh, that makes sense. I guess you would probably make a lot of them
nervous."
Chad was relieved that she had accepted the answer so easily.
"So like I asked before, what kind of exercises do they have you doing?"
Now Chad had to think quickly again. He knew that she wouldn't leave
things alone unless she was satisfied. To stall, he shoved a bunch of
salad into his mouth and chewed on it - not what he really wanted to
eat. As soon as he had swallowed he said, "Well, most of the time is
spent on... kind of... some stretching exercises."
"Stretching?" She nodded knowingly. "That's always important. Are
they trying to limber you up? Make you more flexible?"
"Yeah, you can definitely say that," he replied. "And the funny thing
is, that I'm finding that it's increasing my... uh... sensitivity, in ways I
never thought possible." He almost laughed at his own joke.
Sensitivity was right... to his asshole!
Robin stuffed a few more French fries into her mouth. Chad noticed that
she was eating more of them than her salad. "Really? Sensitivity? I
didn't know that was possible. But I guess it might make some sense if
you're learning to move your muscles differently."
"You have no idea!" he replied.
"I'm sure," she said as she grabbed a few more fries. "So how did you
get to join in the first place, since it's a ladies gym? Did they let
you in just because you're dressing the part?"
Geez she was full of questions! But this time the answer came easily.
"Cassie is my next-door neighbor," he explained.
"Oh, well that explains it. You're lucky." But she immediately
wondered if Cassie's apartment was the apartment she had seen him going
into the one time she had followed him home to see where he lived. "So
what package did you sign up for? That's my problem right now. Do I
sign up for just the six-month package, or do I go for one year, or
more? It's a lot cheaper if you go for longer."
Chad wasn't signed up for any package. He wasn't exercising. The only
thing he did there was get his diapers changed. "Um... I guess you could
say I'm on a special package, just for me. I think it just goes from
month to month." That was the best answer he could come up with to keep
her satisfied.
She nodded. "Must be nice to have a neighbor who works there!"
Chad didn't answer. Instead he just shoved more salad into his mouth.
He was relieved to see Robin digging more earnestly into her lunch,
instead of just talking. His relief was short-lived however.
She shoved a few more French fries into her mouth and looked right at
him, her eyes bright with excitement. "So what do you wear while you're
exercising?"
"What do I wear?"
"Yeah!"
She seemed so interested. "Uh... not much of anything actually." And
that was certainly the truth!
"Oh come on! That's one of the most important parts! What kind of
outfit do you keep in that pink gym bag of yours?"
"Most important part?"
"Of course, silly. What you wear is always important. And don't tell
me you're not interested in that because isn't that one of the main
reasons you're dressing like a woman in the first place? For the
clothes? I don't see this as being any different! So what do you
wear?" She giggled. "I'll bet it's a pink leotard and tights! I can
just see you in it now." She giggled some more.
Chad's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Pink leotard? Uh..."
But before he could continue, she was charging forward with more. "I
wonder if you've got a pink tutu to wear with the outfit too! Do you?"
She giggled again. "I can just see you in that too. Damn, I'd love to
see you in that!"
"Pink tutu?" Chad was fairly aghast. Where did she come up with these
things? "Uh... not really."
"Oh come on. I'll just bet you have one. Isn't that what all the
sissies wear?"
"All the sissies?"
"Well yeah."
Chad had never worn a tutu in his life, let alone a leotard. "So is
that how you're classifying me now? As a sissy?"
She shoved another fry into her mouth. "Shouldn't I?"
She did have a point. Besides, he really was a sissy. In fact, Mel had
just proven to him that he was a bigger sissy than even Robin thought.
He couldn't really deny that much at all. "I guess you do have a
point," he finally replied.
"So, is it a pink tutu, or white, or what?"
"Sorry, not tutu. No leotard either."
"Darn! That's no fun!" She grabbed the last of the fries. Chad had
gotten very few. "So what do you wear then? And don't tell me that you
just wear shorts and a T-shirt like most of the women I saw there."
Chad realized that she had just given him a way out. "Okay, I won't
tell you then."
"Darn you! That's what you really wear?"
"Uh..." Chad didn't think he needed to correct her misinterpretation at
all.
"But I'll bet you've got some kind of cute saying on your shirt!"
"Um..." He was about to say that he didn't but he never got the chance.
"What is it?" she demanded with more than a hint of laughter in her
eyes.
"Uh... nothing." He replied.
"Don't give me that. I'll bet it's something appropriate for you like...
'Girl Power' or something similar. Is that it?"
"Nope! Sorry, you're way off."
"What is it then? It's got to be something!"
There was no way he was going to tell her that he was naked - or just in
diapers. How could he explain that he didn't wear anything? "Uh... it's
nothing really."
But she didn't really believe him. "That embarrassing, huh?"
"You could say that!" Again, very much the truth!
But she took his words differently than he intended. "So it is
something embarrassing! Tell you what, if I guess it, will you tell
me?"
"Guess it?"
"Yeah. Like is it... oh I don't know, 'Fem and Fit?'"
"No. Definitely not! Are you done eating?" he asked, trying to move
the subject away from the current one."
"Yeah. We better get back."
Chad got up from the table and Robin followed him out. He was glad they
were leaving. Talk about awkward.
The minute they were in his car though, she said, "Pink and Pretty!"
Chad just groaned.
Mel's phone rang as she got back from her lunch with Gloria. She wasn't
the least bit surprised to see that it was Cassie calling. "Hi Cassie.
What's up?"
"Hey Mel. I just wanted to let you know that Sissy's little friend
Robin was back again today. And this time, she's joining the gym. I'm
afraid I didn't get any time to do more than quickly change his diapers
for him. I did make sure he drank his bottle before he left though."
"She's back? Now what's she up to?"
"I think she just wants some exercise. Most of our customers do. I can
tell you that Sissy wasn't at all happy about her being here. He kept
asking me to do something so she wouldn't join - which I won't do. We
need the customers."
Mel thought about things for a moment. "Okay, Cassie. Thanks. We'll
just wait and see what happens. Okay?"
"Fine with me, Mel."
Mel hung up her phone. The damn Robin woman again! Now what was she up
to? And looking for some exercise? Mel seriously doubted that! She
also seriously doubted that Robin needed any exercise at all! But at
least it didn't sound like Chad was in favor of her joining the gym.
What was she up to? Robin and her continually increasing involvement
with Chad was really starting to grate on her nerves! Eventually,
something was going to have to be done!
Gloria watched as her last client walked from the building out to his
car. Her next client would be arriving in a few minutes. She purposely
tried to schedule them far enough apart that they rarely ran into each
other. She wandered back to her office and sat for a few minutes to
think. She was going to get her shot with Chad tomorrow night. She
needed to figure out a way to make sure he would tell her the whole
truth, and at the same time completely minimize Mel's presence. Because
with Mel there, he might still be influenced into giving her answers
that weren't quite correct.
She was a trained psychologist. She had even tried making her living
that way for a while. But more and more she had found herself helping
people deal with too much stress in their lives. So she had begun
offering "sessions" where she tried to teach them to deal with their
problems through relaxation. But she quickly found that all her clients
were more interested in the sessions with her helping them relax than
with them trying to do it for themselves. So she had delved deeply into
the subject of relaxation therapy, and the result was her new business.
Most of her clients came in the afternoon or early evening. It was a
bit of an awkward schedule for her, but the number of clients, and their
money, certainly helped to make up for that.
As part of her training, she had studied hypnotism - enough to know
quite a bit about it, but certainly not enough to make her even close to
being an expert. Many of the basic principles of hypnotism corresponded
directly with what she did with her clients. In a way, she was
partially hypnotizing all of them, but only enough to get them to relax
completely.
But Chad would have to be different. She had already taken him very
deep, and she knew now that she could get him to that point fairly
easily again. Now she would have to go even deeper. And to minimize
Mel's presence, she had to show him other things, use other techniques.
It was going to take a lot of work, and would probably take a lot of
time as well. But there was no way around it. She grabbed a pad and
began making notes for what she would have to do. Careful planning.
Complete planning. It would be the only way.
Chad heard talking. He stopped typing and listened for a moment. It
sounded like Robin was on the phone with someone. No big deal. He
couldn't really hear very well anyway. He was about to start typing
again when some words came across louder and more clearly.
"But Honey, you want me to be beautiful for you, don't you?"
He immediately wondered if she was talking to her husband about joining
the gym. He gave up all pretense of work and listened harder.
"We can just have dinner a little bit later, that's all! . . . Yes, I
know it's expensive, but I need this! This is for me... for us! So I can
feel good about myself again. . . . No, it's important to me!"
Her voice dropped in volume and intensity again and her words were lost.
Chad looked back at the work on his computer, but his mind was on Robin.
He wasn't sure by listening if her husband had agreed or not. He hoped
that he hadn't. But knowing Robin, she would get her way no matter
what.
Tom Robinson walked slowly down the hallway. Since the last time he had
seen Chad, he had purposely gone out of his way to avoid seeing him
again. However, the rumors flying around the company about him were
many and wild! Everyone was calling him "Sissy" now? Was he supposed
to call him that too? Not unless Chad himself purposely requested him
to do it!
This was the first project where he had requested that Chad and Robin
work together. And the results, as far as he could see, were
spectacular. But other things that needed to be done were backing up...
things that couldn't be ignored anymore. Besides, from all indications,
this project was almost finished. Hence, his reason for meeting with
them... both of them!
Dreading seeing Chad again he tried to brace himself more and more with
each step he took.
Chad and Robin's cubicles were just ahead. Chad's first. He stopped
just before the entrance for a brief moment, then collecting his
courage, stepped into the entrance. Chad was working... at least he
figured it was Chad. From the back, it looked like a woman. "Chad."
Chad was startled by someone calling his name from right behind him. He
turned quickly and was surprised to see his boss. He hadn't seen him in
quite a while now, a situation that surprised him. "Tom! How are you?"
Tom ignored Chad's greeting and just stared at what he saw. And what he
saw looked - mostly - like a woman. He had heard the rumors, but seeing
him in the flesh, up close...
Chad was very much aware of the awkward silence between them as his boss
continued to scrutinize him. But he remained silent. Tom would speak
when he was ready.
"You look... surprising," Tom finally got out.
Chad didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or not. "Thanks,"
he replied.
In the next cubicle over, Robin heard the voices and recognized Tom's.
She stopped working and listened intently. Tom hadn't been down here in
quite a while now. What did he want?
"I heard the rumors of course... lots of rumors... about how much more you
were dressing... and acting... but, well, I haven't been able to get down
here in a while."
Chad didn't know how to respond. Was he about to lose his job?
"Anyway," Tom continued, "I need to talk about a few things with you."
He looked up into the air. "Robin! I know you're probably listening.
I need to see you too."
Robin was quick to get up and go over to see what was going on. "Hi
Tom," she said the moment she got into Chad's cubicle.
Tom ignored her greeting too. "From everything I can tell, and from
what Robin has sent me on your progress, you're both about done with
this latest thing, aren't you?"
Chad nodded. "Yeah. Another day or two at the most."
"That's how I see it," Robin agreed.
"Then as soon as you're done, we need to get caught back up on some
other things that I've held off on."
"Other things?" Robin asked.
Tom turned to her. "You've got some updates to take care of and Chad,
we need you to make some major changes to our own site. I'll forward
the specs to you later."
Chad shrugged. "No problem. I can handle them now if you like."
"When this thing is finished. It can wait till then." He looked at
both of them for a moment before he continued. "Since you're about
done, then I want to set up a meeting with the client and I need one of
you there. I'd rather have both of you, but... well..." He turned to Chad.
"No offense, but I think it would be better if you didn't attend."
Chad couldn't agree more. "No offense taken. I agree completely!"
Tom was relieved that Chad felt that way. Not that it really mattered.
He was the boss. His decision would stand.
"Hey," Robin spoke up. "If Chad's not going to be there, what if any
questions come up that I can't answer? He did a lot of work on this
thing too and his areas of expertise are different than mine."
Tom's face creased with worry. "That's why I'd rather have both of you
there, but under the circumstances, I'd much rather have only you."
"You could always phone me," Chad suggested.
Robin's face brightened a bit. "Yeah, that would work. That's a great
idea."
Tom was relieved. "Good. I'll try to set this meeting up for Monday
then. I'll let you know what time." He took one more long look at
Chad, studying carefully the way he looked, then nodded goodbye. "Chad...
Robin..." And he walked off, relieved to have it over with.
As Tom walked back up the hallway, he mused about Chad. He definitely
looked more like a woman now than ever. Obviously all the rumors he had
heard were true - very true. But at least he still sounded like the old
Chad. The quality of his work certainly hadn't suffered either. Did he
dare check on him and Robin more often now? Something inside of him
hesitated at that. It was rather unnerving seeing Chad this way now.
But he decided that he had better force himself to at least make his
presence a little more known once in a while. Once in a while anyway...
no need to push it too much!
Robin stared at Chad for a moment. "I hope you don't mind not being
there."
"Are you kidding? I'm much happier staying out of sight!"
"Why? I'm sure you wouldn't be dressing the way you are, everywhere -
all the time - unless you had a bit of exhibitionist in you."
"Let's just say that I'm not that comfortable, or proud, of the way I
look."
Robin smiled, "Not yet, but you're certainly getting there! Enough that
you're making me go to the gym now!"
"I'm not making you go. That's your idea. Besides, I don't think you
need it at all." He knew it was a vain attempt to make her give up the
idea, but he tried anyway.
Robin smiled. "You're sweet. But I do need it. I have for a long
time." She turned to walk out, then stopped. "Hey, if I'm going to
phone you, then I need your number. Let me get my phone so I can
program it in."
Chad watched her run out. He was a bit jealous that she was going to
get to meet with the clients and he wasn't, but not that jealous. He
would feel much better being left out - and out of sight!
Robin hurried back in with her phone in her hand. "Okay, give it to
me." Chad gave her his number. "Great," she said as soon as she
finished punching it in. "Hey, do you want mine too?"
"Sure," he replied. "Why not." Robin gave him her number as well and
waited until he had programmed it into his phone. "Good. Back to work
then. We've got a deadline on this thing now."
"Back to work!" Chad agreed as she left. He stuffed his phone back into
his purse, closed the drawer again, and turned back to what he had been
working on. Two minutes later, he heard his phone ringing. As quickly
as he could, he dug it out of his purse again. He was careful to check
to see who was calling this time - Robin! "What do you want?" he asked
into the phone.
He heard her giggle. "I wea