Lucy

Julie J.

On one of the days that I was on the balcony patio dressed as Alana, I thought I heard the sound of a drone passing overhead. It didn’t seem to pause so I did not think anything more about it. I should have. Over the next couple of days, I noticed that the drone seemed to be flying over at a lower altitude and a slower speed each time. I often opened the umbrella on the patio table when I was doing my homework or just enjoying tea on the balcony.

One day I heard the sound of the drone unusually loud. I turned in the direction of the sound. A drone popped up from below and hovered just outside the balcony guard rail. Its camera was pointed directly at me. I noticed the drone had been spray painted. It was blue on the underside and pink on top. Someone had taped cat ears on its top surface. There could only be one person who would personalize a drone like that. It could only be Lucy.

Lucy was a childhood neighbour. She had not been present on the day of my impromptu coming out event to the whole neighbourhood. Whether or not she had heard about that event I did not know. The drone flew away in the direction of her house. Over the years Lucy had changed from a conventional young girl to a Goth teenager. Now she wore black clothing, dyed her hair black with purple and blue highlights, had tattoos and adorned herself with several body piercings. She was rumoured to be a lesbian. Despite all these changes I still liked her. I was too afraid to even talk to her these days especially now that she had embraced a Goth lifestyle. We might nod at each other whenever we passed each other at school but that was the full extent of any interaction.

She was often seen in the company of Jamie. Jamie had transferred in our high school after the Christmas break. Lucy had been seen kissing Jamie which is how she got the label lesbian. The rumours were that before Christmas Jamie had been a boy at different school but was now attending our school as a girl. I had never spoken to Jamie. I didn’t know if the rumour was true. I heard that she was exempt from PE. She was supposed to be a dancer so in place of PE she went to a dance studio located down the street for the PE time slot.

I was sitting at a table located at the back of the school library when I noticed Jamie in front of me. She was holding up a cellphone as if she was recording me. Suddenly I felt a hand on each side of my face. I realized someone had taken hold of my hair and was bunching it up on each side of my head just like I wore it when I dressed as Alana. I heard a voice from behind me say, “Look straight ahead.” I recognized the voice, it was Lucy. She let go of my hair. I pushed my chair back from the table then turned the chair so that I could look at her.

She pulled out a chair out from the library table then sat down next to me. We were both seated facing each other. She leaned closer to me. She spoke to me in a low voice. “I’m sure you know by now that it was me flying a drone over your balcony. And, guess what I saw?”

I really didn’t need to know.

“One time I noticed a girl dressed like a private school girl carrying a teapot to the patio table. That’s odd I thought. In all the years I have known you I have never been aware of any girl staying at your house. On many occasions my drone camera caught that same girl on your balcony. Stranger still, she was always dressed in a private school girl uniform. Guess what? There are no private schools in this area. There are also no schools in this area that have any requirement for girls to wear a school uniform. So, who is she?”

She looked directly at me. I’m sure she saw the blank look on my face. Should I answer her? What would I even say? She waited.

When I did not reply, she continued, “You know what is even stranger? On those days when you stayed later at school I didn’t see her on the balcony. From the close-ups I got from my drone, she looks a lot like you. Undo her hair, put her into male attire and I’ll bet she could pass for you. So who is she?”

I knew for certain she knew that answer to her question but she wanted to hear it from my own lips. I still was unable to speak.

She said, “I had a very strong suspicion as to who she might really be, so I hovered my drone such that she had to look directly into the camera. Remember that? In a minute or so I am going to meet up with Jamie and we will compare the face of the girl from the drone camera with the pictures Jamie took while I was holding your hair in bunches at each side of your face. I wonder what we will find.”

She started to get up then leaned over towards me and kissed me. That kiss was unlike any kiss I had ever experienced. It was noticed by other students in the library. The rumour quickly spread that Lucy was not a lesbian she had been seen kissing a boy in the library. It was also noted that this was not a peck on the cheek kiss but a full on, lingering-on-the lips kiss. I was stunned. I could not move. I could not concentrate on what I had been reading. The memory of that kiss lingered. Before leaving she whispered into my ear, “There’s another kiss for you just like that, after I meet her.” I knew exactly who Lucy was referring to.

Lucy intercepted me at the school exit. She informed me that about twenty minutes after I got home she would be at my door. She wanted to meet the girl that she had often seen on the balcony. If she didn’t meet her today she intended to come to my house every day after school until she met her. I have to admire her for her persistence. There was no doubt in my mind that she would persist until she met Alana. The memory of the promise of another kiss from Lucy was playing in my mind. Lucy needed to meet Alana soon, very soon. My parents had confined Alana to the house and balcony but did not say anything about having someone over so I figured having Lucy over would be within the established rules. “Ok” I said. Actually I was sure my parents would be ecstatic if I had a girl over, any girl.

Since I don’t wear make-up, I was easily able to become Alana within the allotted twenty minutes. I waited anxiously for Lucy’s arrival. True to her word, my doorbell rang in about twenty minutes. When I opened the door, it was Lucy but not the Lucy I had seen earlier that day at school. I almost didn’t recognize her. Gone was the Goth look. This Lucy still had black hair with purple and blue highlights but looked much more conventional. Her white face make-up was gone and so where her piercings and tattoos. She was not wearing her black Goth attire but a pretty dress. This change was dramatic. My immediate response was to say, “Wow!”

She looked at me and grinned. “I’m here to meet balcony girl. I see she’s here. Aren’t you going to invite me in?” She leaned forward and planted a kiss on my cheek as she entered. I noted she was carrying a textbook and notebook. “In case anyone asks, I’m here to help you with your homework.” I could tell from the smirk on her face that wasn’t true. We moved into the kitchen where I began brewing tea. She sat in a chair. I could tell from her eyes she was admiring me. Finally she asked, “What do you call yourself when you are dressed as her?” pointing at me.

“Alana”

She smiled, “Alana, I am pleased to finally meet you. I can tell already we are going to be such special friends.”

When the tea was ready I placed the teapot on a tray along with two mugs and milk. “Do you need sugar?”

“No” was her reply.

She followed up the stairs but when she saw the balcony door she scooted past me to open and hold the door for me. I placed the tray on the patio table. She opened up the sunshade. All the while she was smiling at me. At first, she chose to sit in the chair directly across me. She remained silent. We looked at each other.

I broke the spell when I said, “I think the tea’s ready. Milk?”

“Yes”

I poured her tea, added some milk, got up and carried it over to her. When I sat back down she leaned towards me before inquired, “Tell me about Alana. And, how long have you been dressing like this?”

“I don’t know why I do this ... I like the feelings I get when I wear girl’s clothes. I have been doing this for about a year now.”

“Do you want to be a girl?”

“No, I just like wearing the clothes.”

She stood up then moved to a chair closer to me. She continued, “In the drone pictures, I’ve only seen you wearing what you have on now. Do you have anything else to wear?”

“No”

I barely heard her whisper to herself, “I’ll have to fix that.”

This was the first time I had ever been alone with a girl. I was at a loss for what to say or do. I hoped she would give me some clue as what she expected of me. At school despite her Goth appearance she often got asked out. Strangely I had only ever heard her turn down dates. One time when another girl was standing beside me I said, “There she goes again turning down another guy. She always turns down guys but still they ask.”

The girl replied, “She’s waiting for one particular guy to ask her out.” She looked at me. “Why don’t you ask her out?”

“And be humiliated when she says no?”

“She won’t turn you down.”

“Right!”

The girl looked at me then said, “Whatever” and walked off.

Lucy, the girl who kept turning guys down was here with me. She showed no signs of being impatient with me or wanting to leave. After a long awkward silence she inched her chair right up next to mine. “I came here to help with your homework, remember?”

I could smell the delicate scent of her perfume. She opened her textbook and notebook at no particular page. “I need to get my books” I said as I stood up. I went to my room to get my homework. I needed to calm down. This girl was arousing feelings in me that I had never ever experienced before. I returned to the balcony with the same textbook and notebook for the subject that she had brought. We both turned to the same page as if we were really studying. Although we read the words in the textbook she was too distracting to concentrate on the homework. After a while she said, “I think that’s enough for today.” She closed her books then turned to look at me. “Why don’t we relax on the swing?” she asked.

We moved over to the patio swing. After we sat down, she turned to face me, snuggled closer and kissed me a long passionate kiss. I felt a hand under my skirt and it wasn’t mine. I pulled back from the kiss. She removed her hand from my leg. I said, “I’m not that kind of girl!”

She giggled, “Just testing.” Looking into her eyes I had never seen anyone’s pupils as big as hers were. “Hold me” she said softly.

I heard a car in the driveway. “My parents are home. I think it’s time for you to go home.”

It must have been comical for them to see Lucy and me still dressed as Alana, come down the stairs. My mother smiled at Lucy with one of the biggest smiles I had even seen on her.

Lucy said, “We were studying.”

My father said, “You’re okay with Alan dressed like that?” pointing at me.

She smiled, “No problem.” Turning to me, she said, “We need to study together again.” Books in hand, she left.

The next time I saw her was at school. She was Goth Lucy again. Sometimes I saw her with Jamie and sometimes without but I noticed that regardless she always had a smile for me. It was about a week after our last study session when she stopped me in the corridor. She was with Jamie. She turned and in a softened voice said, “Could you pass on a message on to Alana. I would like to meet up with her about half an hour after school today. Tell her I will meet her at her place.”

“I’ll pass the message on. I’m sure she will be ok with meeting up.” With that she and Jamie continued on their way.

Half an hour after I got home from school the non-Goth Lucy was at my door. In addition to some textbooks she had a shopping bag. As she came in, she gave me a kiss on the cheek. She handed the shopping bag to me and said, “This is for Alana.” When I looked in, I saw girl’s clothing. We went into the kitchen where I began to make tea. I sat down at the table.

She began in that soft voice she uses with me and only with me, “You said you only had what you are wearing now. A girl needs more than one outfit. I am just helping.”

“I don’t understand. Why are you helping me?”

“I like guys in dresses. It turns me on.” She said grinning.

I could see the pupils of her eyes growing bigger. “You have Jamie. Why me?”

“Jamie’s becoming a girl. You’re not. You’re a guy who likes to dress as a girl. I like guys. I especially like you.” She got out of the chair, came around to where I was sitting, bent down and gave me a soft passionate kiss.”

There were tears in the corner of her eyes. She continued, “With you I have the best of both worlds, a guy who wants to be a guy but also likes to dress up as a girl. We have a future together.”

As if to emphasize this, she sat on my lap, put her arms around my neck and gave me a kiss that would seal any deal. I knew for certain that Alana would have many more study sessions with Lucy.