"There was nothing you could do, and i handled it!'
"With booze?"
"Just beer! Maybe a little more than usual, but i knew Dad would be home soon enough! I'm fine!" She rolled her eyes. "Look, you don't have to worry about me! You're still my kid brother even if Monica's a couple months older than Katey." She closed the laptop she been writing one of her videos on and said she was going to work in her room.
I'd been waking dishes, so I wiped my hands and put an arm around Rusty's shoulder. "Hey, I'm glad you're concerned about your brother, but we've been together since she got here. She's holding together. Now, how about you? It looks like you had fun."
She shrugged. "Monica's family is nice. Kind of on my butt - or her butt - about not having a boyfriend, but i guess she's super-picky or something. Never really noticed on her socials, but apparently nobody lasts more than a month or so." She laughed. "One of the cousins suggested that maybe she was looking for a girlfriend, which freaked her dad out, but, honestly, who has time for all that in their twenties? Go to the gym, full day of work, and then I'm supposed to shower and change and go out again? I really don't know how you and Mom found the time!"
I laughed. "It was less frantic then, but you find the right person, and your priorities rearrange." I chuckled. "But wait till we're back home."
Kutter apologized for snapping at us when she came out of her room the next day, but we both said we were fine; she'd been through a lot. We got texts from Razzie asking if we were around for trivia, since Chandra and Lettie weren't, and said sure.
It was a bit of a different vibe, but i think we were all feeling good about Manhattan being turned down to about 80% that night. I did keep a bit of an eye on Kutter, but she wasn't drinking more than usual or getting terms around men or anything, which is probably better than I'd be doing in her place.
We actually squeaked out a win, which had a lot to do with only half the teams showing up, but it felt good. Of course, it also led to the second-place team buying us a round of drinks and mentioning that the brokerage firm that they worked for was letting them throw a New Year's Eve party the next night with an open bar and a heated balcony with a view of Times Square and everything, and it would be nice if we could come and make it more fun. Rusty immediately said that sounded amazing while I said I didn't know, lying about having a lot of invitations.
The kids were quiet on the subject for the subway ride home and up to the apartment, but that was apparently just for appearances' sake, because as soon as we were inside, Rusty was all "i know it's not really your thing, but this is once in a lifetime chance! New York on New Year's Eve, and did you hear the DJ they've got? We've gotta go!'
I looked at her incredulously. "Really? You want to walk into a pot of entitled, coked-up finance bros less than a week after what happened to Kutter?"
Kutter raised her hands. "Hey, don't put it on me; I think it sounds awesome."
"Really? What if--"
Like they'd practiced it, they both reached into their handbags and pulled out spray cans of mace.
"Since when--"
"Dad, I hand-sell soda to bodegas in some sketchy neighborhoods. Razzie showed me where to get it after the first time someone groped me at a street fair."
"Ms. Grayson gave this to me when she told me never to be alone in a room with the nepo baby son of the founder."
I shook my head. "Look, I can't stop you, but it seems like a really bad idea."
Rusty leaned her head back. "That the thing, though - you can! That guy only texted one name to be put on the list, and he didn't even ask us ours!"
Kutter nodded. "Yeah, that thing you said Thursday about me being sexier than you was sweet and there's some truth in it, but it's not like we're talking the most mature guys around here. And some of the ones who do know what they like do in fact go for the blonde with the big boobs."
"Yeah, and... Wait, Dad called you sexy?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Maybe i needed to hear it, but it was weird."
I didn't break that night, and settled in for a nice long day of watching football when they say on either side of me with their laptops and phones so that they could share the pictures and videos of New Year's festivities from Midway to New Zealand to Australia and on every hour, as well as texts about parties they'd been invited to and how they'd be watching the ball drop on TV, or how they weren't both invited, the guys they didn't trust who would be there, and how if they did go to Times Square, it was one of the biggest nights of the year for pickpockets, purse snatching, and even girls getting pulled into alleys and--
"Fine! We'll go to the party! My good, it's like I actually raised two teenage girls!"
Rusty hugged me. "And you would have been a great girl dad!" Then she ran to her room, and i turned to Kutter. "You guys don't find this disturbing?"
She shrugged. "I mean, yeah, kind of, but i just figure whatever changed the rest of our bodies also gave us the brain chemistry of straight, cisgender girls, and rolling with that beats tormenting yourself like the kids at school afraid to come out to their parents. The Inn will change us back and we'll be straight, cis guys again."
I chuckled. "Just like riding a bike, huh?" She said it only made sense. "I guess. Then again, I didn't even know the word cisgender when I was your age. Barely know it now, so maybe I just don't have the vocabulary for this."
This thought was interrupted by Rusty rubbing out of the room with a green dress that was going to have to stretch to fit her and matching heels. "What do you think? I've been a little afraid to wear it out because of how tight it is on my butt, but it's not a night for subtlety." Kutter have her a thumbs up, and i rolled my eyes.
"Hey, guys would like dressing up more if it wasn't always made to feel like an obligation that makes you blend in rather than stand out. Go to any museum and look at portraits of kings, military officers from 150 years ago... Heck, weren't you alive in the 70s?"
"I was a kid!"
After that, they dragged me into Emilia's room, opened the closet, shoved the practical things I kept up front for easy access to the aside, and then Rusty's eyes went wide as he saw something silvery. "Come on, don't you want to wear this at least once?"
I really didn't, but that hardly seemed to matter, and soon enough I was in this dress that may have had a neck clasp but was slit to the navel, splaying wide enough that a bra was out of the question and Rusty had to let me borrow some double sided tape lest my nipples jiggle free. There were matching heels and nail polish - although Kutter looked at the state of my toenails, got a file out of the bathroom, and said they were only going to do this for me once - so I got those painted. They had me wear the dress around the apartment and walk around to make sure I hadn't forgotten how to balance or to cross my legs in the two months since getting a job where wearing flats was not just okay, but encouraged. After they got dress themselves, they did my makeup and put glitter in my hair.
Looking in the mirror, it wasn't just that I looked like a different person, even considering that I've gotten used to Emilia's face over the last four months or so, but I kind of felt like I was seeing these three girls the way they must have come across as a group in college: Emilia, tall, blonde, and busty, flaunting what she's got; Monica trim, cool, and confident; Katey less glammed-up but the softer face making her look kind of relaxed as the goofy wingman. They/we look right as a group, even if my and the kids don't entirely map to the images.
Downtown was already kind of a mess by the time we got there around 8:30 or so - and Kutter had us use a rideshare, even though they were alarmingly expensive on NYE, but it was too cold for the amount of leg Rusty and I were showing (Kutter wore boots) and we didn't want to get mussed up on the subway Rusty had apparently texted Razzie when I was busy being fussed with, so she was waiting for us.
The guy at the front desk of this office building looked slightly amused to be acting as a bouncer, but not exactly irritated as he was probably getting some very generous overtime. He found Emilia's name on the list, shrugged when I said these were my friends, and pointed us to the right elevator.
We didn't immediately see the guys from trivia, but noted the weird vibe immediately: lots of guys in suits, lots of girls dressed like me, few of whom gave the impression of working in a financial firm. I mean, yeah, appearances can be deceiving, but I know holiday-party flirting with co-workers, and this was definitely "play my cards right and I could be set for life" flirting.
At first, I spent most of my time keeping an eye on Kutter, but she didn't spend a lot of time at the bar like I feared; she was there to dance and way more comfortable doing it than I was in those shoes. I did eventually catch up with the guy who invited us, and we danced a bit, but I was pretty terrible. Imagine an SNL skit where a girl doesn't really know what her hips are doing and is torn between thrusting her boobs out because they're what guys are looking at and being terrified that the tape will give and that was me. I convinced him that I was a complete nerd, and that did not seem to be what he was looking for, no matter how the girl looked. He didn't seem to mind much when I excused myself to use the ladies' room, although I was amused to come out and see him dancing with Rusty.
I kind of figured my work there was done and found a stool at a portable bar that had been erected in a corner and asked for a bourbon. They had the good stuff, and some senior manager noticed my good taste.
We talked for a while, and it was actually kind of nice, at first. I don't get a chance to talk to men my real age that often, not for more than a few minutes at a time, and it was easy to fall into the right rhythms, and I didn't really think, hey, shouldn't he find it weird that this 23-year-old girl is connecting so easily with a guy twice her age? until I was another drink in and really wary about getting off the stool and walking around. Of course, he wouldn't be - middle-aged white men making the sort of money he does kind of assume that they're the default and anyone different is strange (yeah, I'm more acutely aware of this than I used to be), and most of zoomer girls he meets have probably taken step to make themselves more appealing and ingratiating. I was kind of looking to either side of him when I could, seeing if I could catch the kids' eyes, but they were on the other side of the patio beyond a lot of people. I also became kind of aware that he had placed himself such that it was hard to step down and move around him, all the more so when he put his hand on my back when the countdown started and everybody had moved toward the edge of the balcony to watch the ball.
They'd gotten down to six when I heard a familiar voice say "There you are, sexy - you're about to miss it!" and when I looked up Razzie was pulling me up and pulling me across the room. At around three, she quickly said we had to sell it right before yelling "Happy New Year!" and kissing me full on the lips.
I must have looked shocked when we disengaged, while she looked sheepish. "I'm sorry! This was really uncool, but he's our friend's boss, and he likes to pressure his people to give him girls' numbers, but thinks gay people are kind of gross. Monica would have come to grab you herself, but, well, I kind of wanted to. Kind of have for a while, but it doesn't look like you're into it."
I wasn't sure whether to protest or not - she was a good kisser and the piercing in her lip didn't feel nearly as weird as I would have thought, but, no, I really wasn't into it even though I felt like I should be. She laughed at me still looking dumbfounded. "Hey, it's okay, I'm not usually into Barbie dolls myself. You just have a really unique vibe." She laughed. "Man, when I met you guys, I thought you were some sort of lesbian polycule, but that ain't it. You're just really good friends, which is really cool." We'd reached the elevators, so talking got awkward, and we were back down at the street before we knew it. "So, uh, I should probably go. See you at trivia!" And with that, she was off to the nearest subway station.
Surprisingly, Rusty and Kutter were among the next group the elevator disgorged, Rusty with a smirk on her face. "Well, that was hot!"
I groaned. "You saw it?"
Kutter held up her phone. "I am putting this on a memory card as soon as we get back to the apartment so I'll have it forever, even after I no longer have access to Katey's cloud storage."
"She was just trying to convince that guy I wouldn't be interested!"
Kutter put her phone away. "Uh, would you be?"
I shook my head. "I don't think so. Heck, I don't think I'd do much more than, you know, hang out at the bar talking just to talk to someone if I met him as myself. Although..." The kids started to grin a little sarcastically, Rusty more so than Kutter. "I mean, look, I'm not going to lie to you, when he touched my back, there was a bit of excitement about what could happen next along with the feeling that this could get out of my control, and there really wasn't with Razzie. Maybe what you said about having these bodies' orientations and the like is true." They seemed to consider that as we stood against the building. Finally, I crossed my arms over all the sideboob that was getting hit by the wind. "Whatever. Thanks to this dress you guys insisted on, I'm freezing my tits off, so let's get home."
They agreed, and we figured we were okay with the subway this time, even if it was crowded as heck. By the time we got to the apartment, the three or four drinks finally caught up to me, and I basically dropped on my bed in just my panties, which I never do, figuring there would be some sort of longer talk the next day, but they were gone to their jobs by the time I woke up, and then I was off to mine before they left.
Maybe there's not much to talk about - we've got the bodies of young women with standard-issue hormones, there were guys around, but what are we going to do, considering we're halfway through our time like this? As much as there was some knee-jerk physical reaction for me, it still felt weird, and I can't imagine it not feeling weird by the time we go home.
-Aidan/Emilia
