The Online Job - Chapter 15

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Waking up on Saturday, Natti dressed and put on a dark green skirt and a pale green sleeveless pullover top. She brushed her hair and applied light makeup and switched everything into her white purse and with white sandals stood in front of a mirror approving of the finished Natti.

She came down and grabbed a bottle of carbonated water and poured it into a glass over ice adding a wedge of lime. Sitting back down at her computer decided to kill time looking at shoes online. She noticed that she had an email from Tara and opened the reading. Hey girlfriend, check these out and get an idea of which style you’d like.

Natti clicked on the link and it was a treasure chest or a wish list. Seeing what she was asking her to pick out made her kind of choke on the water that she was sipping from the straw. There in front of her were swimsuits. One-piece swims suites but are nonetheless very revealing. The name of the store was My Sister’s Closet and it was in West Palm Beach. That was only like an hour away, but I’m sure that she wasn’t thinking about going there because she said to get ideas, Natti told herself.

She was sure that she just wanted her to get an idea of what kind of swimsuit she’d like. Natti would like one but she just wasn’t sure if she would want to show that much skin. Natti was looking at the different styles and she saw a couple she might feel comfortable with when she got a call on her cell. She picked up her phone and saw that it wasn’t a number that she recognized but noticed that it was a local number. She answered it, and a voice asked, hello, is this Natti? Natti informed the voice that she was Natti. The caller continued, “Hi my name is Hayden and I’m with an MTF transgender support group in Weston. I see that you asked to find a support group and I’m calling so that I can help you find a group that would be a good match for you. Do you know where Weston is?

Natti said that she did and the caller said, “I’d like to find out how you heard about us.” Natti replied that she was watching a video on a website and there was a link that let me apply for the meeting and I guess that’s how you got my information. Then Hayden asked for the name of the website, and Natti told her that it is called “Review A Story”, and she reads the stories and then gets paid. Hayden told her that she reads those stories as well.

They discussed the meetings and Hayden told her where the meetings were. Even though they were in Weston it wasn’t far from Natti’s house. Hayden told her there were 3 meetings a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and on Thursdays. The ones on Wednesday were in the mornings for those that had to work in the evenings. “Oh and you can come to whichever one you want, but it’s best if you can come to the same one all the time, that way you will become friends with the people at that meeting. We have people from all stages of transition. At the meetings, we have doctors, therapists, and social workers that can help by providing information. If you need transportation let me know at the first meeting and maybe we can find someone that lives close to you.”

Natti told her that she would like to talk to her mother and Hayden told her, that if her mother had any questions to give her a call at this number. Hayden told her that she was a college student at the community college in Weston and the meetings were in the student union building in Weston. They started at 7PM for the evening meetings and 10am for the ones on Wednesday. Hayden asked if Natti had started estrogen or spiro which was short for spironolactone. She said that she hadn’t but that she had an appointment with a therapist in a little less than 3 weeks. Hayden told her that she could get her one sooner and that she would email her the link. They chatted for a few more minutes and then they hung up.

Natti was on top of the world. Seeing that she had a couple of hours before Tara would come and pick her up she decided to work on her stories for the day. She did 2 more stories and then just puttered around until she received a text saying that she was on her way to pick her up. She got her purse and was walking out the door when Jake pulled up she got in the back, which was really cramped. She noticed that Jake was holding Tara’s hand on the console as she turned and talked to Natti. She thought that this was unusual, but they were very close. Jake said that he had talked to Dmitri last night and he told him that he was going to be at the mall all afternoon, and if he had a chance he should drop by and they could meet.

After parking at the mall they got out and Natti received a phone call from her mother. She told Tara and Jake to go ahead as she wanted to talk to her mom. She told her mom about Hayden’s phone call and that she would fill her in that evening. Her mom said that she had met with Dmitri’s mother and they seemed to get along well with each other. She also said, now don’t buy a watch or let Tara buy you a watch. I’ll explain later. She said okay and hurried to catch up and they had already walked inside. Natti had to run to catch up with the two and Jake said that he had to go one way and let go of Tara’s hand as we were going the other way. Tara suggested that they go and get something to eat at the food court, and Natti was all for that idea. As they ordered their food and sat down Natti began to tell Tara about Hayden’s phone call and about the support group.

It was nice being out in the large throng of people with them going this way and that, and in the food court the crowd would walk by and you could people-watch. It was kind of like that allegory of Plato’s Cave. Tara didn’t understand and her friend explained what Plato’s cave was. She explained about the prisoners seeing only the shadows of what people were carrying and about how that was their reality. They played a version of that as they could see the people walking by and you could guess where they were going and what they were going to do. It was a fun little game that they played while they ate.

So are you going to go to the support group, asked Tara? Natti said that she was, but she needed to talk to her mom and get her input. Tara asked, “You and your mom are closer now huh? I mean you told me about her helping you with the clothes.” Natti said that they had always been close, but now there is just so much more we can do together. It’s like someone has turned on a light in a dimly lit room and I can see so much more. There is more to life than just interacting with stuff. “Tara do you know I haven’t played a video game in over a week mom and I ate dinner the other night and it took us over an hour and a half. We just talked, nibbled, and talked. It is so much fun with her now.”

“So what do you want to do first”, Tara asked? Natti thought for a moment and replied, “Shoes!” So off they went. As it turned out Natti bought a pair of white sandals with a two-inch heel, a pair of pink athletic shoes, a pair of tan Suiess shuffles, and a pair of black semi-dress open-toed shoes with a three-inch heel. Natti said that if she did much more shopping that she would have to read more than just 2 stories a day.

Tara said well you don’t have to worry about our next purchase as it is going to be on me and it won’t cost you as much as one pair of your shoes that you bought. She lead Natti to a bright and well-lit store and Natti knew what was on her mind. As they walked in she could see the large sign that read, “Sun N Swim”, and Tara questioned her in a low tone, I hope you’re wearing one of those special gaffs that we got from Violet. Natti said that she was and began to look at the displays of women’s swimsuits and beach apparel. There were shorts, tops, sandals, sunglasses, and of course swimsuits. Tara said that she saw one in here that would be just perfect for her. Natti replied well I’m not going to wear a bikini, as I don’t have the figure for that.

Walking to one side of the store that was mostly swimsuits she exclaimed to Tara in a low voice as they passed mannequins displaying one bikini after another that hardly covered anything. The next few were displaying one-piece suits but some of those were just as revealing. Her guide seemed to know just where she was going and found some hangers with different color swimsuits for sale. She flipped through some and then she asked, “What do you think about this one.” she was holding up for Natti to approve.

Natti looked at the dark blue shiny suit trimmed in bright yellow and immediately thought that it would indeed look good. Tara held it up to Natti saying, “See how it goes all the way up to your neck so that it will cover”, and leaning close to the girl and whispering, “Your breasts.” Natti did see that right off when Tara held it up to her. Natti replied that she did like it and wanted to get it then and there. Tara told her that she had to go and try it on first.

They took that one and two others and went back into the changing rooms. A sales lady checked their bags and then put a plastic numeral 3 on a peg behind her and removed a key from the same peg handing it to the two girls. They went into the changing room and Natti began to remove her clothes when she got to her bra looked at Tara.

Tara looked back at her wondering why she stopped and then said, “Go ahead and remove your bra, it has a bra built in and you need to take yours off or it will show at the top.” She just looked at Natti then catching on to her hesitation added, “Damn girl, they aren’t even real, now take your bra off so you can try the suit on.” Natti finally did remove her bra and when she picked up the suit familiarizing herself with the fastening system of the garment Tara remarked, “I can understand how you would hesitate as they do look real.” The only real fastening that needed to be done was behind the neck and just to straighten out the back strap.

When she was done she turned to the mirror and said looking into the mirror, well what do you think? Tara told her to turn around and when she did Tara stepped back and kind of bent over and exclaimed, Damn that does look real. Natti looked down but couldn’t really see anything and then turned back to the mirror and then noticed what her girlfriend was looking at she turned back to her kind of smiling saying that she was so juvenile.

Tara told her to take it off and get dressed leaving out the room they left the 2 other suits and key with the girl in charge of the changing area. Walking out and heading to the front of the store to purchase the suit Natti said, that she had to get something else. She went back to where the suits were hanging and a little further down the aisle she picked up a light blue beach cover telling Tara that she burns very easily. Tara agreed with her saying that she also had lobster tendencies and understood completely.

As they were walking to where Jake was playing with his video game team “The Sparks”, they passed a jewelry store and Tara said that they should go in there. Natti told her that her mom said that she didn’t want her to purchase a watch and that she thought that she was going to get one. Tara told her that we could just shop and not buy.

Inside a young lady behind the counter offered them assistance, and Natti explained that they were just looking. She told her that her mom was going to buy her a watch and she was just looking to see what kind she wanted. The clerk showed them the watches adding that they were all in the display cases and then gave Natti her card and told her if she needed any help that she would be happy to help them when she came back with her mom to ask for her. They were looking at all the watches and decided that what she needed was a sports watch. There were so many styles and colors that they were a little overwhelmed by the selection. Finally, they decided to go and see how Jake was doing.

It was only a little further to the SCEA theater and they had to have Jake come and escort them in as they weren’t open to the public at that time. They were surprised to see Dmitri was there and both he and Natti were happy to see each other. They watched the sparks playing God Of War with a Homer and Bart Simpson mod. It was really very funny and Jake was really very good. At one encounter he was attacked by 3 other players who all looked like Flanders and he won the battle. It was very funny, but then the 2 girls noticed that they were the only ones laughing. Tara said that they must take their gaming very seriously here. Tara asked Jake who one of his teammates was. Jake called one of the gamers that were playing one of the Flanders and he introduced her to Cole.

They began talking about playing Flanders and she asked him if he was holding back from letting Jake win. The team laughed at this and he said that Jake was an exceptional player. He began to explain that the controllers all had the same setup so whatever game they played the same button did the same action. He took her to the chair that he was playing in and showed her how to move. He told her that when they would practice, one of their routines was the dance moves. He turned on his controller and everyone laughed at Flanders doing a pirouette and then moving into petit saut on the huge screen on the wall. Natti had never seen anything so funny and she turned back to Dmitri and Jake who were talking about their costumes for Cos Con.

Dmitri was telling Jake that if he had his ticket the online costume store would provide free shipping and that he would text him the URL when he got home. He excused himself and went back and picked up his controller and soon Homer and Flanders were holding hands and dancing on the screen. Neither one had seen anything so funny and was constantly laughing. Dmitri stated that he was getting ready to leave and offered to give the girls a ride home. Natti asked Tara, that now had a controller in her hand and was making Flanders miss Homer every time she swung her sword if she wanted to get a ride with Dmitri and her? She told her no and to go ahead with Dmitri and that she could get a way home with Cole.

Natti was happy with the way things worked out and she told Dmitri, well you heard her so I guess it’s just you and me. They said their goodbyes to everyone there and walked out to Dmitri’s car. As they walked out Dmitri asked about what she bought and she gave him the run down about the shoes and the high cost of being a girl. He told her that she looked really good so if it cost a little more he thought she got her money’s worth. She added that she had also gotten a swimsuit and he smiled and said now he would really like to see her in that. She told him that he would have to wait until Monday when they went to the beach.

It was hot outside but the humidity wasn’t too high so it felt kind of nice after being in the air-conditioned mall. Natti continued talking with Dmitri about the video game theater. Did you see the size of that screen? It must have been 20 feet high! Dmitri said he did and he asked Jake how big it was. He said that it was 4.6 meters high and 7 meters long. He said it was built just for that theater.  What really impressed me was the killer refresh rate. They got to the car and they started off he asked her if she would like to stop and get something to drink as he was very thirsty. Natti told him that if it was okay that she just wanted to go home and that she would get him peach-flavored carbonated water if that was okay with him.

Dmitri readily agreed to her plan and when they walked in Natti told him that she was going to her room to put her purchases in her room. Dmitri asked if her mother was there and as she left she said no, but added for him not to worry because he had the mother's seal of approval. She came back and invited him into the kitchen and told him he could sit at the bar and she would fix their drinks. He said, I need to get something out of the car and I’ll be right back. He left as Natti got the glasses, and ice, cut a fresh lime, and poured the bubbling liquid into the glasses. Dmitri came back in and he had something in his hand and she asked what that was that he had.

Dmitri began I asked your mom something and she asked my mom at lunch today. I wanted to give you something, but there are no strings attached. If you never speak to me again I still want you to have this. Natti was mystified as to what could be so important that he would have to go through the parental approval process. Of course, he couldn’t just give it to her but it had to be presented. Guys can never just give something, no they always have to present it, and that means it also has to be accompanied by a speech. Natti took a sip of her drink and sat there on her stool looking at the shiny black cube Dmitri held in his hand.

She looked up at him as he proceeded, “Natti from the moment I saw you in the hallway I thought the guys were just goofing me, about how pretty you were. It just wasn’t one or two of the guys, but different ones I spoke to that morning. That was all anyone could talk about, and how you and Tara have dressed alike.

Then seeing you and the way that you were with that group of girls, I couldn’t believe that you were, well you know.” Here he faltered a little but continued, “That you were”, struggling to find the correct word and then being inspired, “A new girl in the school.” Which made Natti scrunch her nose a little and look deeper into his eyes. “I knew that I wanted so much to get to know you better and show you that I do indeed care for you, even though I know nothing about you personally, I still had to know you better. So when I heard Tara talk to you about your watch I wanted to give you something to let you know how I felt.

So I bought this today after getting permission from your mother. As I’ve already said, it comes with no strings or any obligations on your part. I just want you to enjoy it and to know I gave it to you.” With that, he finally put the box in her hand.

Natti looked at it and then putting it all together asked, “You bought me a watch and then looking at him?” Dmitri just smiled and told her to open it. She did that immediately, and lifted the top of the black box, and inside was a silver watch. It was silver in color and the face was pink and was a square tilted to one side so it was kind of like a diamond shape. The band was kind of like “V’s” that fitted into one another and nestled into the diamond-shaped body. “Oh Dmitri it is so pretty, oh thank you so much!”, she exclaimed gleefully and leaned over and kissed him. Dmitri was smiling as he took the watch out of the box and put it on her wrist.

Natti turned her wrist this way and that looking at the pretty watch. Dmitri said through a smiling face. It’s a sports watch and it is scratch-proof, impact-resistant, heat-resistant, and is waterproof down to 620 meters which is a way down.

Both young people turned their heads as they heard the front door open and Natti’s mom walked and entered setting down her bag on the counter. Natti was quick to jump up and show her mom the watch and added, “Oh mom look at the watch Dmitri just gave me isn’t it adorable.” She did get a quick glance at it as Natti continued, “Oh mom let me introduce you, this is Dmitri, and Dmitri this is my mom, Alicia Silvers. Oh look at how pretty it is and it is all kinds of stuff, and since it is waterproof I won’t even have to take it off when I go into the water.”  Miss Silvers extended her hand to Dmitri, and said, “So we finally get to meet each other face to face so to speak and I am very impressed that you would care so much for my Natti”, she said.

Natti was in a bubble of confused felicity not really jumping, but rather more vibrating standing there. “Oh mom checks this out”, Natti removed the watch from her wrist and handed it to her mother. Her mother now looked more closely at the watch, and noticing the name of the watch looked at Dmitri and stated somewhat shockingly, “This is a Tag Heuer watch, a real Tag Heuer”, she asked him? He said that it was and don’t worry about anything.

It is my gift to her, and it comes without any obligations or expectations. Her happiness right now is what it is worth. Natti couldn’t take it anymore and loudly exclaim, “Oh isn’t it pretty?” Her mother smiled at her handing it back and adding you take care of it. She looked back to Dmitri when he said that she doesn’t have to do too much, as it is all automatic and mostly all she has to do is just enjoy. I had the jeweler set it and it shouldn’t lose any time and if it does it is guaranteed for life.

Miss Silvers then asked him if he would like to stay for dinner and Dmitri then made a counterproposal. “How about I leave and go back to my house and collect my mother and we can take you both out to dinner? I have already talked to her about it and since my dad is out of town she is all agreeable to the idea.” He stood and without waiting for an answer said, “About 7pm we will pick you up. I know she is dying to meet Natti.

We have reservations at the Top Floor in Miami for 8 PM.” As he hugged Natti and they kissed and he turned back to her mom and said, “It was a pleasure to meet you Miss Silvers, so then until seven.” And with that the young man turned and holding Natti’s hand they both walked to the door. She looked around the door and they kissed again and he left. She noticed that he hadn’t stopped smiling the whole time that she was there.