I Can Wear A Skirt To Work - Chapter 9

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Saturday morning, I awakened late. I wrapped myself with the only robe available in this room, a negligee left over from a previous night’s gown. Out in the hall, I discovered that the door to my bedroom, or rather, of late, Kate's was ajar. I knocked; she wasn’t here. Neither was her car in the driveway. A quick survey of the bedroom confirmed that she’d moved out. Ted’s belongings were back in place.

I caught my breath at that thought. I had actually thought of my male self in the third person, as though he were someone else.

I called Kate, but only got her answering machine. I almost hung up immediately but was stopped by the message. "If it’s Ted calling, don’t worry about the stuff in the other room, we’ll take care of it next week. If it’s Tess, I’ll call you tomorrow. Anyone else"

I couldn’t think of what to say, so I hung up anyway.

Jean called early in the afternoon to tell me that she was taking Kate’s turn tonight, in return for her help last Saturday.

We had an early dinner. Over the meal, she brought the conversation around to my role as "Tess", asking if that really was the end of it. She had no way of knowing that under my clothing were the most feminine set of underthings. What may have appeared to be the outline of an undershirt was actually a lace-edged camisole with wide shoulder straps.

I neither confirmed nor denied her speculations. I wanted to discourage her from pushing me toward working as "Tess" again, but I couldn’t make myself lie and say that "she" was gone forever. Especially, I didn’t want to admit  to Jean, anyway - how much I had ended up enjoying my feminine role. I settled for leaving her with the impression that my part in our arrangement was concluded.

I wasn’t especially surprised Monday morning, when I was told that Cheryl wasn’t coming in this week, either. Still, I didn’t volunteer to take over the board again; I waited until Elaine asked. The day went smoothly enough, calls were especially light for a Monday, but something didn’t feel quite right.

As lunch approached, Diane asked if I preferred to take my lunch first. I deferred to her. When my own turn came, I ate alone.

I didn’t know what to make of my feelings. The main sensation was a profound sadness - the reason for which, I couldn’t identify. I had a fleeting recollection of the warm glow I’d felt when functioning as "Tess". Yet, I couldn’t relate my current feelings to that experience, just yet.

It wasn’t until the subject of dinner was brought up, that I began to recognize the reason for my unease. I received some confirmation of this when I ate at Jean’s place that evening. As "Ted", I was no longer the intimate friend. It was fully confirmed at Kate’s, the next evening.

Kate had invited Diane and Jean to make a foursome for dinner. The conversation was subdued - to say the least - and Jean left early.

I still hadn’t done anything about the clothes in the spare bedroom. When it seemed appropriate, I mentioned it. Kate passed it off, saying that she’d been very busy.

"Besides," she observed, "a lot of those things are yours."

Seeing my puzzled expression, she continued, "You paid for them, that certainly makes them yours."

"What about all the clothes that were borrowed?" I asked.

"Maybe we can sort all that out this weekend," she replied.

Then, Diane asked a question that made all the difference in my life. Would "Tess" ever again appear?

I had reservations about the matter, which I expressed by saying that I really didn’t have any reason to become "Tess" again.

Diane could think of one, "How about to come over and share a meal? Tomorrow night is the last dinner you’ve earned. While I do enjoy having you as a friend, I’d go to more trouble to make the meal special, if ‘Tess’ were coming."

Thus it was, that I spent three hours, Wednesday evening, becoming Tess again, entirely on my own. Dinner conversation gravitated to my impressions of the past two weeks.

The doorbell rang.

"That’s probably dessert," Diane said, as she got up.

"Surprise!" Kate exclaimed as she entered. She laid out the shortcake and semi-frozen strawberry yogurt she’d brought. "Something light, so as not to spoil your figure," she explained as she gave my tush a friendly slap.

Saturday morning was spent in returning those items that had been borrowed. The rest of the day was spent by the three of us going shopping. When they finally brought me home, well after dark, we all went inside to put away my portion of the purchases. Surveying my growing feminine wardrobe, I was struck by a thought, which I expressed vocally, "Where am I going to wear all this stuff? I won’t be needing it at work anymore."

Diane was quick. "You never know,".