Gradual Change – Part 5

OTHER PARTS | ALL STORY LIST

They entered their home together as a family.

“Boys, please change out of your uniforms and wear something casual,” said Jeff, once they were all inside.

Heather followed Ryan to his room as he still didn't have the privilege of choosing his clothes. Entering his room, Heather went straight towards his closet, chose a white sweater with skinny grey jeans, and left the room so Ryan could change.

Ryan didn't mind that much with mom choosing his clothes. The only problem was that he was always being mistaken for a girl. Ever since he was five, that was the reason he decided to let his hair grow. If he's going to be mistaken for a girl, he may as well do what he likes.

He had always liked his mom's hair. Silky and long with a beautiful golden shine. He was happy to have the same hair as his mom and wanted to have it long, just like his mom. That's why Ryan didn't mind being mistaken for a girl and decided to let it grow.

Short hair caused him more problems. People would give him weird looks. Some people at the salon where his mom goes, especially some older ladies, always asked Heather why she had kept her daughter's hair so short? Of course, Heather couldn't answer them. She wouldn't even tell them that Ryan was a boy.

No stranger had the right to make decisions for her son. She always made it clear that Ryan could have his hair as short as he wanted to, and they should mind their own business. Heather, however, didn't tell them he was a boy as she considered it off-topic and wanted nothing to do with strangers interfering in her child's life.

Ryan got dressed before putting on a pair of black sneakers. While he was walking out of his room, his long hair was in front of his eyes, blocking his view and caused him to walk into the door. When his chest hit the door, he felt like some kind of electricity ran through his body. His chest had been a bit sore lately, but he hadn't been paying attention to it. But this time, he never felt like that before.

With a sigh, Ryan brushed the hair away from his face and opened the door.  He decided to tell his mom about this; maybe she could help him. Ryan also wanted to ask his mom to help him with his hair. Walking to his parents' room, Ryan knocked on the door.

After Heather opened the door, Ryan could see his mom was wearing a white sweater and gray skirt. She was wearing her outfit to match Ryan, only that Ryan's clothes were obviously for boys. Heather knew how Ryan hated being mistaken for a girl, so she thought maybe if his clothes were somewhat boyish, then people would stop mistaking him for a girl. It never worked, but Ryan never complained.

"Is something wrong, sweetie?" Heather asked.

Ryan nodded. "My chest hurts a bit, and Mom, can you tie my hair back like you did last week?"

After listening to what Ryan said, Heather got a little worried. In the past, she used to love winter, but now she hated it. Watching Ryan sick in bed while the other kids were playing or going to school was never a good thing to see. Ryan would spend most of the winter in bed. Sometimes he would even spend Christmas in bed. He seemed to have such a weak immune system.

Heather placed her hand on Ryan's forehead to see if he had a fever, but he seemed to be ok. "You don't have a fever; do you feel sick?" Heather asked.

Ryan simply shook his head, as several hair strands fell in front of his eyes. Heather couldn't help but chuckle as Ryan adjusted his hair to stop blocking his vision.

"Not fair," Ryan pouted as Heather laughed.

"Ok, come inside, let me take a look at your chest, and then I will fix your hair," Heather said.

"Alright, let me take a look," Heather said as Ryan took off his sweater and undershirt tank top. After closely observing Ryan's chest, Heather immediately spotted the problem. There seemed to be a bit of swelling on his chest, and his nipples were getting larger.

Heather's worst fears seem to be coming true. However, she couldn't show her emotions as there was still a possibility of it being something else, and she couldn't risk Ryan seeing her freaking out.  Thinking quickly, Heather calmed down so Ryan wouldn't feel anything unusual.

"I might have the right thing for your sore chest, can you bear it until we return from the restaurant”?

Ryan nodded, telling his mom he could wait. Although his chest started to feel weird around a week ago, it never felt that strange before. After putting his clothes back again, Heather helped Ryan pull his hair and tied it in a ponytail.

"You need a haircut, sweetheart," Heather said.

"But I like it long," Ryan pouted in protest. It had taken him weeks to convince his parents to let him grow his hair. And it took him a year more to get it to this length; he wasn't about to cut it short again.

"I don't remember saying anything about a short haircut, did I?"

Ryan smiled. If someone liked his hair long more than him, it would be Heather. While as a mother, in her eyes, no one looked better than her sons. She could see girls checking George everywhere he went; he had become handsome just like his dad.

On the other hand, Ryan kept getting prettier. If he was a girl, Heather would say he was the prettiest girl in the world. This, however, made things complicated for Ryan.

Every time Ryan had to run to the restroom in a restaurant or a place where no one knew him, he would receive weird looks from all the men and boys in the restroom, thinking he was a girl. This was an insurmountable problem, as Heather had no solution for it. Ryan would look like a girl even if she was doing her best to make him look like a boy. Growing his hair out didn't help, but she wasn't going to say no to what he loved the most.

"I'm sure you're hungry by now. Shall we go?" Heather asked, walking out of the bedroom with Ryan.

Heading downstairs, they saw George and Jeff already waiting for them. Before they left, Heather told them she needed to call her sister Lynn first.

Upon hearing this, Jeff couldn't help but suspect something. He, however, knew that Heather would talk to him about it later, so he just let it go and decided to take the boys and wait in the car, so Heather could call her sister without anyone hearing.

When everyone was out of the house, Heather called her sister Lynn. Lynn was one of her two elder sisters. Heather also had two big brothers who were the oldest twins, followed by two sisters who were also twins, and she was the youngest. Her sister Lynn was a doctor and specialized in gender-related genetic disorders.

Once Heather dialed her sister, she answered almost immediately. "Heather, how are you?" Lynn asked, a bit surprised that Heather called her this late in the day.

Heather would usually call her in the morning. By now, she should be having dinner with Jeff and the kids. Seeing George had a football game today, she should be going to a restaurant to have a nice family dinner.

"Yes, I am fine, how are you? And how are Maria, Daniel, and the boys?" Maria was Heather's niece and Lynn's only daughter. She has two boys; one of them is 18, the other is 16, and Maria is 10, just like Ryan.

"Oh, we're fine; how's Jeff, George, and our favorite “Rye-Rye”? That was the nickname given to Ryan by his aunt and uncle. Although he didn't like it that much.

"You know he hates that name," Heather said with a nervous chuckle.

"Like or not, he's stuck with it, anyway. Usually, you don't call at this hour," Lynn was getting to the point. “Did anything happen”?

"Well, you see," Heather started explaining carefully everything she saw to Lynn.

On the other side of the line, Lynn listened carefully to what Heather was saying and could sense that she was freaking out for some reason.

"Heather, I would expect Leslie to freak out but not you. You are more experienced when it comes to raising boys," Lynn said calmly. Heather and Lynn were the only sisters in their family who had given birth to sons.

One of their brothers also has a four-year-old little boy. Their sister Leslie had three daughters and a stepson, who was more like a girl. Leslie always supported her stepson Dennis and defended him against her husband, and her husband always listened to her, so he didn't give Dennis a hard time.

Dennis was very slender and skinny, with average height for his age. He looked almost identical to his half-sister Emma who's surprisingly is only two days younger than Dennis.

"I know Lynn, but I can't help it; you know that's Ryan we're talking about," Heather said, biting her nails.

"Yes, I understand; I know people in the lab and I can get the lab result from Ryan's blood test by the day after tomorrow. I need you to bring Ryan to my clinic tomorrow as I want to confirm something; Ultrasound can help us there," Lynn told Heather what she needed to do for Ryan tonight. After the call ended, Heather felt a lot more relaxed. She took her jacket, locked the door, and walked over to their car.

As she entered the waiting car, she heard Ryan whining about how hungry he was.  While her sons ate much more than other kids their age, their body metabolism was higher than average. The doctors explained that it was genetic. All doctors showed great interest in George and Ryan; their fatigue levels were very low, and it seemed as if their bodies were made for sports.

"Sorry for being late, let's go. We shouldn't keep the Collins waiting for us," Heather said, taking her seat beside Jeff while both Ryan and George sat in the back.  Jeff started driving to the restaurant.

"I heard you cracked someone's nuts today, Ryan, is that true?" Jeff asked jokingly.

George told his dad everything; his boys would never bow down to bullies; No, they will always put a bully in their place.

While telling the story, George couldn't help but burst into laughter before ruffling Ryan's hair. Remembering Oscar's face was hilarious. No one messes with his little bro and gets away with it.

"Indeed, he did kick Oscar, which he will remember for the rest of his life; he might even see it in nightmares," George said joking, and Ryan just smiled.

Ryan never got into fights; George got involved in a couple of fights but nothing serious. It was always because of Oscar. Fortunately for George, he had a good reputation at school between his classmates and teachers. Everyone witnessed Oscar starting the fight.

Heather stated angrily, "It's Oscar again? We have seen enough of Oscar. He had a big mouth. I had enough of that boy; I am calling Rachel and Martin today once, -".

Ryan worriedly interrupted his mom, "No, mom. If you do, he will only bully Conner and Shelby even more,"

He was worried about his friends, knowing that Oscar was such an asshole and would do anything. He always bullied Conner and Shelby every chance he got.

"I know, honey, but we all have to put an end to his bullying, it's been long enough; maybe his parents will send Oscar away to a military school for good," Heather said with a sigh. She hated doing this, but she couldn't bear him anymore.

The argument didn't go further than that. No one wanted to argue with Heather in that state. She simply wasn't going to let Oscar get away with it. Especially after trying to mess with her baby. She didn't need to hear any details; she knew that Ryan would never misbehave, but he wouldn’t hesitate to defend himself.

Jeff parked in front of an unfamiliar restaurant. It looked new and the sign said Middle Eastern Cuisine. They also saw the Collins pulling up in front of the restaurant as well.

While George was outside the car, he saw Nancy and her mom. George immediately rushed to hold the door. That made Ryan smirk as he walked towards the restaurant entrance. Seeing Oliver walking out of the car, Ryan waved to him, and Oliver waved back.

Soon afterward, the two families were sharing a table and looking at the menu with confusion. They didn't know anything on the menu. Names like Stuffed Grape Leaves, Kofta, Kebab, Fattah, Shawarma, and Koushari.

"What is this? I never heard of any of these dishes," George said, looking at the menu again. He was sitting across Nancy while Ryan sat beside her with Oliver sitting across from him.

Jeff sat there with a smile on his face. "Why don't you let me handle this?"

While he hadn’t told anyone about this, he had been here a few times before. One of his clients treated him to dinner here. He was also confused at first, but then he enjoyed the food and decided to bring his family over. Seeing that no one understood anything from the menu, they all decided to leave the orders to Jeff.

As Ryan sat there, he couldn't help but realize how George couldn't keep his eyes off Nancy. He knew that George liked Nancy; he couldn't blame him though. While Nancy was like a big sister to him, he could tell she was beautiful. Ryan failed to realize that Oliver was giving him the same kind of look as George was giving Nancy.  Oliver didn't understand what he felt, but he just couldn't keep his eyes off Ryan.

Nancy had reddish-blonde hair and ice-like blue eyes.  Just one look into her eyes was enough to make George her hostage. Nancy knew that and used it to her advantage; she did everything to make George hers and would never let any girl snatch him from her. Little did Nancy realize; George also couldn't see anyone but her.

Nancy was always fashionable, but today, George found her even more attractive. She was wearing black knee-high boots with three-inch heels. A pair of white tights, a short, slim, black skirt, and a white knitted sweater. While her clothes were simple, she looked very beautiful, and George couldn't help but stare.

Sitting across from each other, both Heather and Nancy's mom, Carol, looked at each other with a smile before shaking their heads. They could tell what Nancy was doing, and Heather was ok with it; she trusted Nancy and considered her as a daughter.

Deciding to save her son, Heather took out her phone from her handbag and texted Nancy.

Go easy on my boy. Will you do this for me, sweetheart?

Nancy took out her phone from her white clutch when she heard it chime. Turning on the phone, she saw Heather's message. She smiled widely and giggled.

Looking at Heather, who just smiled, Nancy quickly replied.

Yes, ma'am.