How To Interact With Girls?- Chapter 1

ALL STORY LIST | CHAPTERS - CH 2 | CH 3 | CH 4 | CH 5 

Synopsis: Zach has always had to keep the fact that his mom was an enchantress from everyone his entire life. That secret becomes a lot harder to keep when his mom takes things into her own magical hands to teach him and his friend, Liam, about the nature of boys and girls.

Boys and Girls  "I don't know man. I just don't know how to talk to girls. I get so nervous," Zach admitted.

"C'mon, dude. Girls are easy. I don't see how you can't talk to them. You go up to them, tell them they're pretty, and boom you got them hook line, and sinker," Liam stated. "You just have to be more confident."

Zach and Liam were hanging out at Zach's house on a lazy Saturday afternoon. The two were long-time friends and fellow teammates on their school basketball team. They had just entered their third year of high school, so as with most conversations between guys their age, their conversation had shifted to the topic of girls.

"I guess so," Zach agreed quietly. Of course, he had a reason for being nervous around girls. He knew some girls had magic like his mom, enchantresses. Not only that, but girls always seemed so mysterious with their whole feminine mysticism. Maybe it was just him, but it always felt like all girls were in the know of some secret that they didn't want to tell you.

"You guess so?" Liam asked sarcastically. He rubbed at the nearly translucent blonde stubble on his chin. He had bragged for weeks when he finally started to get facial hair growing in last year. Blonde-headed guys always had it tough in the facial hair department. "Everyone knows girls love when guys show a lot of confidence."

"So I just need to magically make myself more confident?"  "That would be nice..."

He paused briefly, an odd look coming over his face. "I might have an idea. How about you practice?"  "Practice what?" Zach asked.

"Practice talking to a girl."

Zach furrowed his brow. "Do you just happen to have a girl on standby I can practice with?"  "Um..."

Liam hesitated. "You can just pretend that I'm a girl. How would you talk to me if I was one?"

"That's not going to work man. You're not a girl. You're my friend."

"Just try doofus. I'd only do something like this for you," Liam said, standing in front of Zach sheepishly before clearing his throat, "Hi. I'm Leah. What's your name?"

Liam said, getting into character.  Zach rolled his eyes, "I'm Zach."

"It's nice to meet you, Zach."

Liam smiled brightly and did the finger wave that girls always do. "So do you have a girlfriend?"

"No, and my friends never fail to remind me of that either," Zach said sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at his friend.  Liam chuckled cutely and ran his hand through his short blonde hair. As he did so, his hair miraculously grew longer until it fell just above his shoulders. His bangs fell in front of his face, all the way down to his mouth. He stood silently, confusion plastered on his face, "Uh, did something just happen to my hair?"

Zach's eyes were wide with surprise. This could only be due to one thing. His mother. Where was she? Was she listening to their conversation? Zach glanced over at the closed door of his bedroom wondering if his mom was directly on the other side. If she was eavesdropping, then Zach had a guess as to what was happening, and he didn't like it one bit.

My hair just got longer. I'm not going crazy, right? Do you see this Zach?"

Liam asked again.

"Uh yeah," Zach stated in a panic, unsure of what to say.

"Weird," Liam said, tossing his hair out of his face, and brushing it over his ear. He looked at Zach meekly. "Does it look okay?"

"Sure, Yeah, it looks good," Zach said, half paying attention. His eyes were darting between his friend and the door to his room.

"That's good at least," Liam sighed with relief.

"As long as it doesn't look bad it should be fine. I guess my hair was just longer than I thought it was. I was going to get it cut tomorrow anyway. So where were we?"

Liam questioned, scratching his head and resting his other hand firmly on the back of his hip. "Oh right! You don't have a girlfriend. That's actually really surprising to me. I totally would have thought you had one."

Zach was drawn back into the conversation by his friend's words. "Why would you think that?"

Liam blushed slightly.

"Oh, it's just that you're a really nice guy. You're honest and sweet. Girls love that kind of stuff in a guy."

Without him realizing it, Liam's t-shirt was shrinking and tightening around his upper body as the sleeves drew up to become the straps of a tank top.

"T-That's really nice of you to say."

He tried not to focus on the changes, he knew they could be reversed, and maybe his mom wasn't going to take things all the way. He knew she liked giving people the "female experience" as she called it. It was kind of her thing.  There was only one instance that Zach knew of where one of those changes had been permanent.

Six years ago, his friend Matt, who had been a bit of a troublemaker (borderline delinquent), had been turned into a sixteen-year-old female babysitter named Mattie. Unfortunately, his mom had been so impressed with Mattie's work as a babysitter, that the change stuck. His mom paid a visit to Mattie's parents to explain to them that their ten-year-old son was now their sixteen-year-old daughter.

With a little of her magic and enchanting charisma, she easily convinced them that their new extremely responsible and well-behaved daughter was far better than the troublesome boy Matt had been. So Zach lost a friend and gained a new babysitter for two years until Mattie graduated from high school. Zach was friends with her on Facebook still. Apparently, she was finishing up nursing school at a big university somewhere and had already gotten engaged to some guy. Zach winced at the thought of something similar happening to Liam.

"Earth to Zach," Liam said, waving his hand in front of Zach's face.

"Man, you really are bad at talking to girls. Do you space out like this all the time?"

"What? No. Not all the time. I only space out like this in very specific circumstances," Zach said, exhaling deeply.

"Ooh. Very specific circumstances huh? How mysterious. Guys with mysterious sides are pretty popular with the ladies you know," Liam said, twirling his hair around his finger absent-mindedly.

"I don't know if I have a mysterious side, but things can definitely get weird around me sometimes."  "Weird in what way?"

"Oh, I don't know."

Zach raised his voice so his mother could clearly hear it if she was standing outside his door. "Maybe it's just my family? My mom likes to get all in my business and work her weird mom magic around everything all the time."

Liam groaned, "I totally know what you mean."

He took on more feminine mannerisms as he spoke, gesturing flamboyantly with his hand. Zach quietly observed as a couple of Liam's now manicured fingernails were magically being colored in with a purple polish. "My parents are such control freaks and they always try to embarrass me around my friends. Anytime I go on a date, they never stop teasing me," Liam continued.

"How many dates have you been on?"

Zach asked out of genuine curiosity.

"Six since the start of this year," Liam beamed proudly.

"Six dates and you still don't have a long-term girlfriend?"

"Boyfriend," Liam corrected before adding. "Remember, you're talking to Leah right now."

He struck an impressively girly pose to prove the point but immediately seemed to get embarrassed about it. He tried to shove his hands in his pockets awkwardly, but his fingers were forced to an abrupt halt partway in. "What the heck?"

They both looked down at Liam's blue jeans, which had tightened considerably from the classic cut he had been wearing. The pockets were virtually non-existent, taking on the characteristics of the pockets found in girl's jeans.

"W-wait a second," Liam said slowly, just now noticing the swoop-necked tank top he now wore in place of his t-shirt. "What is."

"Who wants cookies?"

Zach's mom interrupted as she barged through the bedroom door, startling the both of them. The smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies wafted in with her. She sat down the plate of cookies on Zach's desk and placed two glasses of milk next to it. "They just got out of the oven, so eat them while they're hot."

Liam blinked confusedly before finally finding his words, "O-Oh. Thanks, Ms. Lindsay. Homemade chocolate chip cookies are my favorite."

"I know. That's why I made them. Any time you come over to spend time with Zach is my excuse to make them since I know they'll get eaten up and I won't eat all of them myself," she said, taking one of the cookies off the tray and taking a bite. She put on an expression of mock guilt.  Lindsay Sterling was a beautiful woman in her middling ages who never seemed to actually show it. She had the slim figure of someone half her age who filled out a simple yet sophisticated black sundress. Her wavy reddish-brown hair fell around her shoulders effortlessly.  Zach was glaring lasers at his mother. When she caught the eye of him, she winked knowingly.

"Mom," Zach said sternly. "Please stop."

"Stop what sweetheart? I can't make cookies for you and your friend?"

Zach shook his head, "You know what I mean," he nodded toward Liam, who was looking between the two of them, obviously oblivious to what they were talking about.  Lindsay's gaze drifted back over to Liam before her eyes went wide with realization, "Oh Leah! I'm so sorry. I should have said something. I love your hair. It's so beautiful."

Liam was taken aback, startled by being referred to as Leah by Zach's mother outside of the context of the two friend's little roleplay scenario. "Oh. Um, thanks? It's long now," he said dumbly, still baffled about the current length of his hair as he combed his fingers through it. "Zach said it looked good though," he added shyly.

"Well, it does. It seems my son has great taste," she said with a mischievous smile. "But I think I know what would make it look really good."

"What?" he asked tentatively.

"Sit down in front of me and let me show you. You can let me know if you like it or not," she said, motioning to the floor in front of her as she sat down in a small chair in the corner of the room.  Liam looked apprehensive but complied as he knelt down on his knees in front of Zach's mother, presenting the length of his hair and the smooth skin of his bare shoulders.

"Mom I know what you're doing. Can you please just be normal and let me hang out with my friend without doing something weird?"

Zach pleaded.

"Oh, hush. You're just jealous because you don't have long hair like us," Lindsay said teasingly as she ran a brush through Liam's hair.  Liam let out a small uncharacteristic giggle at the comment. His eyes were closed and his mouth was settled in a calm smile, for all intents and purposes, he seemed to be enjoying the scalp massage that Zach's mother was providing.

"Besides, I just so happened to catch wind of what you two were talking about up here."

"Yeah, I was trying to teach Zach how to talk to girls. He gets so nervous around them for some reason," Liam said quietly, letting his head tilt back along with the soothing strokes of the brush.

"Oh, I heard. I must admit I wasn't too impressed with the initial advice that was given. There is far more to it than just simply telling a girl she is pretty."

Liam blinked his eyes open lazily and looked up at Ms. Lindsay. "But that always worked to get me dates."

Lindsay smiled down at the feminizing boy in front of her, "It may work to get dates now, but you're young. You still have a lot to learn about women."

She continued to brush out his hair, causing his hair to grow out even further past his shoulders and cascade down to his mid-back.

Zach for his part was kind of entranced by the bizarre scene in front of him. His mother had a strange way of soothing your senses, but he'd like to think he'd grown immune to her shenanigans over the years. His immunity still didn't help how weird this all looked.  Liam was wearing a tight-fitting yellow tank top that actually still seemed to be in the process of shrinking, now revealing a sliver of pale skin just above the waistline of his tightening jeans. The jeans themselves looked to be something more akin to skinny jeans now, providing less and less room for his friend's poor family jewels.

His hands rested gently on his thighs, showing every manicured nail now glinting with a purple glossy paint. The ring finger on each hand was painted differently with an intricate flower design.  The craziest-looking thing was the long blonde locks that fell down his back. He seemed halfway oblivious and cognizant of the changes, which made the casual banter he was having with Zach's mother while she brushed out his hair all the more outlandish. The worst part was there wasn't anything that Zach could do about it. His mom seemed to have something in mind, and when she gets stuck on an idea, she doesn't let it go.

The only thing Zach could do now was wait it out and see where this all went. If he was being honest, he was kind of interested in what his mother was saying.  She continued smoothly, "So tell me. With how you feel right now as Leah, would you have a different approach in mind?"

"The things that guys always tell other guys to do is to be assertive and confident when," he paused briefly, "they approach a girl."

Lindsay nodded, "Being confident is a good thing, but of course, there is far more to interactions than just coming on strong for a date. But I don't believe I asked what other guys say to do, I asked what Leah thought."

Liam closed his eyes again, considering his answer. "I think a casual approach would be best I guess," he shrugged. "If a guy comes on too strong, it might feel abrasive. Most girls can probably sense false bravado so the boy might seem disingenuous. But if a guy is too timid like Zach, then girls will be more inclined to overlook them."

"Hey!"

Zach cut in. "I'm not too timid."

"No. Leah has a point."

She patted Liam on the shoulder gently and set down the brush. "That was a much better answer. You're learning," she said softly in Liam's ear.  Liam smiled at the compliment and let his head fall back into Lindsay's hands as she pulled his hair to one side and over the front of his shoulder so that it lay against his right pectoral. She got a cookie from the plate and tapped Liam on the shoulder to offer it to him. "While they're warm," she said. He took it gratefully, his eyes still closed as he took a bite. She tossed one to her son as well which he caught. Their eyes locked in a staring contest of sorts. Zach's a questioning look, his mother's was mischievous yet wise.

She procured some lotion from out of nowhere and applied it to her slender hands before turning her attention back down to Liam. She began working it into his shoulders, massaging down his arms and around his neck. The scent of flowers wafted around the room, mixing with the sweet smell of the cookies. Liam moaned softly with pleasure. His shoulders slimmed as Lindsay's warm hands rubbed over them, molding them into something more petite. He shivered visibly.

"Wow. That feels so good," he slurred.

"Every girl deserves a little pampering now and then," the magical matron said gently.

"Mhmm," Liam hummed, too lulled by the message to respond to implicitly being called a girl. He leaned further back into Ms. Lindsay's embrace as she ran her graceful hands up and down each arm. She massaged over the muscles that he had built up over the past couple of years, causing them to atrophy and soften. The sparse hair on his arms became even more elusive while the majority of it fell away onto the ground.

"Mom," Zach said sternly, making sure she didn't get too carried away.  His mother gave him her signature smug, overly sympathetic pouty face before finally continuing. "I'm going to give you both some advice, and I hope that you both take it to heart. There are many types of relationships in this world, but since we are on a topic of a certain sort, I shall not deviate from it. The relationship between men and women is a very simple and oh-so-complex thing. It's fickle. It ebbs and flows. And it makes most people go absolutely crazy. It's terrifying and beautiful."

"I'm pretty sure we already know it's complicated Mom. You're not doing anything to comfort my fears," Zach pointed out.

"Shhhhh," Liam and his mother hushed him in unison. Liam looked up at the woman massaging him and they shared an amused look with each other.  There was that girl thing Zach always noticed. That thing where girls seemed to know something boys didn't. It was intimidating, and his best friend, who should be a guy, just did it. What was going on in Liam's head right now? Was his mind being slowly opened to all the secrets of the cryptic female clan?