Beach Blonde

by Alyson Belle

  “Unless you count, you know, pleasuring a woman,” Andre added after an awkward lull. “So, yeah, you’d better go see a gynecologist or something.”

  Chris blinked at him. “Are you kidding me? Do you even know what a gynecologist does? That’s not going to help here. I need someone who can teach me how to be a woman, not have a poke around in my…” She blushed.

  “Vagina?” Paul offered.

  “Yes,” Chris muttered, eyes on the ground.

  “Lisa and Sarah should be on their way,” Andre said. “It’s a four-hour drive, but they agreed to come hang out with us today. Hopefully, they’ll know how to help you.”

  “Wait…” Chris jerked her eyes up. “Sarah is coming?” Sarah was one of Chris’s best and oldest friends. Chris had wanted Lisa because they barely knew each other. She didn’t want to have to explain what had happened to yet another close friend!

  Paul shrugged. “I couldn’t exactly say no when she mentioned Sarah was coming with her. We’re all friends, dude.”

  Chris felt sick. “I’m not sure I can fake it with Sarah… I’ve known her too long. What if she figures out it’s me?”

  Andre and Paul exchanged a look. “Uh…” Andre said, “I wouldn’t worry about that, babe. This isn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill situation.”

  “Fine,” Chris huffed, mildly peeved at being called babe. It wasn’t like she had a choice about Sarah, though. Maybe she would be useful. Chris just hated the idea of lying to her friend like this.

  “And we’re still going with the strict Catholic parents story, right?” Paul asked. “Because that’s what I told Lisa when I mentioned we were hanging out with Chris’ sheltered friend.”

  “Yeah, that fits,” Andre agreed. “We’ll just tell them that when you were like thirteen or whatever, your parents became overly zealous, wouldn’t let you go to school, watch tv, et cetera.”

  “Sounds like a very tragic backstory,” Chris said, turning the idea over and over in her head. “I guess it works. I hope it will, anyway.”

  Sarah was always practical and had some really keen insight, though. Chris knew that if she could convince Sarah, then everything else would be a small hurdle in comparison. Despite that, guilt churned in her stomach again.

  “It’ll be fine,” Andre said. “We’ll get the girls here, they’ll help you out, and uh… um…”

  “Yes, Andre,” Chris snapped. “What exactly do we do next? I just go on living as a woman for the rest of my life?”

  Andre frowned and shrugged while Paul just smirked and looked away.

  Chris just sighed and waved them out. “Shoo, guys. I need to at least figure this bra out before the girls show up.”

  As the door closed behind them, Chris glowered at the bra where she’d left it on the bed. She only hoped that they were right.

  ***

  “Here she is,” Andre announced. “Sarah, this is Christina. Christina, this is Sarah.”

  “It’s so nice to meet you,” Sarah gushed, pulling Chris in for a hug. “Andre and Paul told me all about your little… dilemma. Don’t you worry, honey, you're in safe hands.”

  Not knowing what else to do, Chris brought her hand up and gave Sarah a little pat.

  Sarah giggled and drew back, shooting Andre and Paul a look over her shoulder. “Do you guys have any food?”

  “Umm, I think we’ve got some leftover pizza in the fridge,” Paul said, stepping out from behind the kitchenette counter and crossing his arms. “Let me guess; you need us to run to the store?”

  “If you mean the store that’s just downstairs, yes,” Sarah said. “We need some candy, chocolate, and soda.”

  “What’s that got to do with anything?” Andre asked. “I thought you were supposed to be helping Christina—not having some kind of slumber party.”

  Sarah raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. “We were supposed to be hanging out and partying at the beach, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. You don’t get to question my teaching methods when you ask for my help, okay?”

  Andre rolled his eyes. “Ugh, fine, whatever, but you both owe us.” With that, he grabbed Paul’s arm and steered him towards the door, grumbling the whole way.

  Alone, Sarah forced Chris onto the beige couch, rearranged the mismatched pillows to make sure it was comfortable and built up almost like a nest, and drew the curtains.

  Chris sat and watched her nervously, wondering what she was up to. This wasn’t at all like the Sarah she usually knew.

  “Girl, you are so pretty,” Sarah said. “And don’t worry about what I told the guys; I was just trying to get them to leave so we could talk in private. You must have a lot of questions. They said that you need help with some girl stuff? I’m sorry to hear you were so sheltered growing up. And then you lost your luggage! Sheesh, talk about bad timing.”

  “Yeah, it was pretty frustrating. All of it has happened so fast, and I just haven’t known what to do.”

  “Well, we can sort out some clothes for you later. Lisa is an expert when it comes to picking the cutest outfits.”

  “Uh-huh,” Chris agreed. He didn't know the details of fashion, but Lisa’s outfits always looked cute. But then, Chris remembered that she wasn’t supposed to know Sarah or Lisa yet. “Who is Lisa?”

  “Paul’s ex,” Sarah said. “Don’t worry, though. It’s all good between them now. I think they may even be better friends now that they aren’t together anymore.”

  Chris nodded, realizing just how openly girls could talk to each other. “Okay. So, where is she now?”

  “She wanted to go pick some things that we need for the weekend. It’s not really a two-person job, so I came over to meet you and keep you company. We’re going to have so much fun!” She crossed the room and came to sit beside Chris on the couch, scooting closer.

  Chris fidgeted nervously.

  “So, Paul and Andre told me you had a pretty strict upbringing,” Sarah began, her voice tinged with sympathy. “What exactly did they keep from you?”

  “Everything,” Chris said miserably. Her cheeks colored. “I can’t even put on a bra.”

  Sarah’s eyes widened, and she gave a low whistle. “That bad? Okay, I can work with this. Don’t worry. Do you have one?”

  “It’s in the bedroom. I bought it this week, but I was struggling with it earlier and just gave up. There are too many parts of it to figure out.”

  “One sec.”

  Sarah hopped up and headed into the other room where Chris had left her bra in frustration. Seconds later, Sarah emerged with the bra dangling from her pointer finger. She demonstrated the proper technique, took Chris’s hand, and had her practice until she could find the eyes by feel alone and how to latch the hooks into them.

  “Well, go ahead and take your top off so you can try it,” Sarah urged. “It won’t go on over your shirt.”

  “In front of you?”

  Sarah laughed. “We’re all girls here. At least until the boys get back, anyway.”

  Chris didn’t have a good response to that, so she quickly pulled her t-shirt off and slipped into the bra, just like Sarah had shown her. Her cheeks burned, but she tried not to feel too embarrassed. It was only Sarah, after all.

  “Man, I never know bras could be so complicated,” Chris muttered, eyeing herself in the mirror and turning this way and that once she’d gotten. “Why do women even bother?”

  “Support for the titties,” Sarah answered with a smile, gesturing at Chris’s breasts. “Some women don’t need them if theirs are smaller, but it can help you feel feminine and sexy. You definitely need one, though, love. I’m shocked your mom didn’t even let you have a bra!”

  Chris blushed again. “They were really, really strict about this stuff.”

  “I guess. That must have been terrible growing up, especially if you were going out and running errands. That’s a cute bra, though! Do you have matching underwear to go with it?”

  Chris shook her head. “Just the bra for now. I wasn�
�t sure what to buy exactly.”

  Sarah nodded. “We’ll get you covered when Lisa gets here. You want to go shopping for all this stuff later?”

  Chris released a deep breath. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  Sarah patted the space on the couch next to her. “Why are you standing? Come sit next to me.”

  Chris returned to the seat beside her friend nervously, feeling weird about sitting in front of her in just a bra. In her yoga pants, tight tee, and open-toed sandals, Sarah was effortlessly beautiful in a way that Chris had always been attracted to. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, showing off her long, slender neck, and her brown eyes were filled with sympathy and warmth.

  She realized with some discomfort that she was still really attracted to her friend. It seemed the sea sprite’s magic had added an attraction for men without dampening her attraction to women.

  “So, what do you do for a living?” Sarah asked.

  “I, um, I’m working for this marketing firm,” Chris said. “Online, obviously, so my parents won’t find out. But now that I’m free and making my own decisions, I was thinking I’d apply to the company where Chris works. He said it’s great working there.”

  “It is. Or at least, that’s what I hear, anyway. I wish Chris had told me his grandmother was sick,” she admitted, looking down at her hands. “It just seems so sudden.”

  “It was,” Chris said. “He has no idea when he’s going to be back—that’s what he told me.”

  “I’ll give him a call later and check in with him.” Sarah made a dismissive hand gesture. “So, let’s talk waxing.”

  “Waxing?” Chris squeaked.

  “Waxing.” Sarah grinned.

  ***

  “We decided to give you some extra time to let you girls chat; we figured you’d have a lot to talk about. Are you having fun learning about your new body?” Paul asked as he and Andre came back into the room.

  Chris had popped out from the adjoining room where, for the past three hours, Sarah had done nothing but delve into the female body and all the things Chris ought to know about it. She’d listened with mounting horror, the knots in her stomach twisting at her friend’s rather vivid descriptions of all of the things she’d never paid attention to in sex-ed. It was a lot to take in. And it really showed how little he’d known when it came to his girlfriends.

  She welcomed the interruption. Chris banged her forehead on the counter. “No, thank you, I am not having fun, and I don’t want to be a woman anymore. I know way more about the female reproductive system than I ever wanted to know. It’s too hard and I don’t like it.”

  “Oh, stop whining,” Andre said. “You’re stuck like this for now, so you may as well suck it up and just roll with it. See it as some kind of experiment. Just think how they must feel if you hate it after a couple days.”

  Chris lifted her head up and shot Andre a withering look that made him back up a few steps and put his hands in the air. “Maybe I’ll experiment with how once a month I’ll get to kill you guilt-free. Don’t tempt me.”

  Andre scoffed. “Oh, please, you’d miss me too much.”

  “And me,” Paul added, rooting around in the fridge. “Just wondering, but has Sarah taught you how to make a good sandwich yet?”

  “Bite me,” Chris snapped, flipping him the middle finger.

  “No, thanks,” Paul responded without looking back. “I think you’d better get back in there before Sarah comes out here looking for you.”

  Chris gulped and twisted around to look at the door to the other room, left slightly ajar, where early 90s pop music was pouring out. Sarah had been trying to teach Chris some ‘culture.’ “She made me put some ridiculous perfume on. I smell like a stripper.”

  She held her wrist up and allowed both of them to sniff, earning a round of chuckles.

  “I think it smells nice,” Andre said. “Maybe your female senses just aren’t attuned to what smells good to men anymore.”

  “At a minimum, I’d say that you smell like a high-class stripper,” Paul added.

  “I hate you both,” Chris said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “And just for that, I’m going to talk shit about you to every single woman who crosses our path.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair!”

  “You can’t do that!”

  Chris lifted her chin up and sauntered off. “Watch me, boys.”

  “There you are,” Sarah said as Chris swept back into the room. “I thought I was going to have to send a rescue team out after you or something. How are the boys?”

  “Andre and Paul were being dicks,” Chris said, sinking into the mattress and sighing. “I don’t understand why they can’t just stop teasing me.”

  “Guys aren’t wired like we are. Honestly, I think it’s because they don’t know any better. They’re all just desperately horny and can’t help it. It wouldn’t surprise me if they never grow out of that schoolyard phase where they tease the girls they want to fuck the most.”

  Chris blushed. “I don’t think Andre and Paul want to fuck me, Sarah.”

  Sarah cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Those boys? Trust me. You don’t wanna know what they’re thinking. But we’ll worry about guys later—unless there’s someone specific you have in mind.”

  Chris’s blush deepened, and she shook her head a moment too late.

  Sarah sat up and brought her hands together. “There’s a guy already? Ah, there is! I can see it on your face. Damn, girl, you move fast. Spill. Now.”

  Chris knew Sarah well enough to know she wouldn’t let it drop, and she supposed there wasn’t any harm in talking about her feelings a little if Sarah didn’t really know who she was. Maybe Sarah could even help her be a little less confused.

  “Well… I don’t even know if there’s something there or if I’m just imagining it because all these changes have been overwhelming. It seems like everything is going super fast,” Chris said, pushing herself up on her elbows. Images of her afternoon with Jack swam through her mind. “But I think… I think I like him. It’s hard to say, but he makes me feel things. Especially,” Chris paused and glanced around before pointing, “Down there.” It felt so childish to say it like that, but he wasn't ready to face the truth of what was between his legs in place of his cock. Not just yet.

  Sarah grinned mischievously. “Do you think he wants to help you feel things… down there?”

  “What?”

  “You know.” Sarah’s eyes drifted down then back up. “Did he show you he’s interested, honey?”

  Chris blinked. “I, um, don’t know.”

  “Well, did he give you any signs?”

  “Signs?” Chris knew what he would do to get women to notice him, but being on the receiving end was a wholly different experience. He really didn't know if Jack had been flirting or if he just treated women differently than he treated guys or if it was something else entirely.

  “You know, finding excuses to talk to you, to touch you, things like that. Wait, do I know this guy?”

  “Kind of,” Chris admitted. “Do you know Jack?” Of course Sarah knew him, but Chris had to keep playing dumb. And why not fish for a little more information when she was still so confused about what she was feeling about Jack?

  “Jack. As in Jack Hayes?”

  Chris nodded.

  “I’d be careful with him. I don’t know if Chris told you, but there’s some kind of rivalry there. Since you and Chris are friends…”

  “He’s probably not interested in me, anyway,” Chris said, glancing down and twisting a loose strand of fabric around her fingers. “And I’m not sure if I want to do anything about it even if he is. So, I guess it doesn’t matter in the end.”

  Sarah punched Chris’s arm. “Stop it. You’re freaking hot, and he’d be an idiot not to see that. Tomorrow, you, Lisa, and I are going to go shopping, and we’re going to treat you to a makeover. When Jack sees you, he won’t be able to resist you. He'll probably want to get in your panties there and
then.”

  “Is it going to involve that waxing thing you told me about?” Chris asked with a wince.

  Of all the ways women tortured themselves, waxing sounded like it might be the worst. A chill raced up her spine at the thought of having hot wax anywhere near her delicate nether regions.

  “Don’t worry. It’s not too bad,” Sarah replied. “And I know just the right eyeshadow that will make your eyes pop. Those pretty eyes of yours are a great asset, you know.”

  Chris glanced over at the mirror, feeling warm waves of appreciation at the compliment. “They are?”

  Sarah clapped her hands together, giddy at the thought of tomorrow. “This is going to be so much fun.”

  Chris wasn’t so sure about that, but another image of Jack flowed through her mind. She placed her hands over her stomach to quell the nervous flips.

  Why does that keep happening when I think about him?

  Chris kept thinking about that even after Sarah left the hotel room. If she was going to try something Jack, she should get to know herself, right? Even if nothing happened, it was important to convince him that she was a woman and not his old best friend Chris Cooper, totally a man.

  Andre and Paul were out on their own or at least weren’t bothering her, so she locked all her doors and took a deep breath. For the first time since meeting the sea sprite, Chris stripped naked and really took a look at herself. Her showers and her time changing clothes had all gone quick, not taking the time to linger because she was almost afraid of acknowledging what had happened. If she looked down and saw… a vagina—a pussy? She called it a pussy on other women, so why not her own?—it would only make things undeniable.

  But it’s not like the sea sprite was rushing to fix things, so she had to find a way to live in her new skin. She ran her hands over her breasts, following the soft slopes and cupping them, giving them a squeeze how she used to squeeze her girlfriends. “Ow, shit…” Okay, too rough. He’d apologize to his exes if he ever got to see them again. He cupped them again and tried again more gently, swiping her thumbs over her nipples. A shiver rippled up her spine as warmth spread over her, sharper jolts of pleasure sinking into her belly as she stroked circles around her nipples.