A Diary for Two Ch. 07

A slow built story about a character's transformation. Sexy bits may be present in some chapters, but are not the main focus. So no quick thrills here, but some development of the protagonist(s).

Also this is my first attempt at writing erotic literature. The feedback has been great on the last chapters, so please keep it coming! (whether good or bad, as long as it's fair)

I'll repeat my recommendation of 'Ranma 1/2' (japanese anime) and 'The Blue Necklace' (Literotica story), two great pieces of fiction I inspired myself from in this story.

I'm sorry for taking so long with this chapter, I have been a little overworked of late. Don't hesitate to kick my butt for this in your feedback, although I'm hoping you'll forgive me as I'm attempting to lengthen the submissions to allow a better read... Is that what you guys prefer?

*****

October 19th, 2014

God I'm glad I don't have a headache! I just can't wait to see how Henry is faring... Anyway, he isn't up yet, so I guess I should start at the beginning.

I woke up late yesterday morning, getting up around 10 a.m. and wondering what to do during the day as I got dressed in jeans and a shirt. I exited my room to find Henry sitting on the couch and watching an old rugby match. We greeted each other with our usual morning grunts, and I went to fetch a bowl of cereal and milk to eat as I watched.

"What's the plan for today?" I asked him.

"Well, I'm starting with the gym. It's arm and ab day for me."

"Oh all right... Mind if I come with you?"

"Nope." He paused. "I didn't know you went to the gym, girly."

"Shut up!" I retorted, "I'm not the one pining to be a girl here..."

I'd struck a nerve here, and I knew it. Henry simply tossed the dregs of his glass of water at me, splashing me in the neck and face as I suddenly felt myself shrinking in my clothes.

"You idiot!" I hissed, my voice now sounding a lot higher, "What was the point of that?"

"A bit rich of you to be so defensive, seeing how much you act and look like a girl..." He told me, "Anyway, I usually go to the gym with a group of lads. If they see you as Erik, they'll give you a hard time unless you prove that you can keep up..."

We both knew that wasn't going to happen. I may be sort of fit in a wiry way, but I certainly wasn't anywhere close to the level of Henry of his fellow gym lads. I glared at him however.

"Listen, you're lucky: Your... Thing seems to make you look rather fit as a bird. How about you come like this? You'll get a good workout whilst being one of the fittest chicks out there. Nothing humiliating about going to the gym in one of the finest bodies out there..."

"Yea, right," I snapped at him sarcastically, "Nothing humiliating about going to the gym as a girl!"

"Besides," Henry continued, "If you try turning back, I'll find a way to get you wet on the way there." It was a wonder that there weren't sparks coming out of my eyes at this point. "You might also want to go and get changed, I can hear someone walking around upstairs..."

Darn it, I thought, as I quickly scampered off to my room. God he was being annoying this morning, but he'd left me no choice. I found some clean pair of shorts and a white tank top (I'll be running out of clothes in no time if I don't start doing some washing), which I wore over some panties and a strangely thick, firm bra, which I think, is called a sports bra. I hoped it would hold everything together throughout my exertions (I'd noticed a little too much wobbling during my jog the previous day).

I then sent a text to Henry, asking him if the coast was clear to leave. After a short pause, he answered: "Exit ur room and go out the front door. Quietly. I'll join u".

I did what he told me, slowly opening my bedroom door and creeping out the front door as I heard the chatter of two guys coming out of the kitchen. I waited outside, sitting on the lawn in front of the house, until Henry walked out, spotted me and beckoned to me as he went down to the road and started making his way to the gym. I followed him, feeling begrudgingly like a dog following his master.

"You need to be more careful," Henry told me quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"You left your jogging clothes in the laundry basket last night. Mike noticed them, and we all know that your clothes are far too small for Beth..." I felt myself going pink, realizing I might just have accidentally tipped Mike off as to what I had become. "You have no idea how embarrassing it was for me, explaining those clothes to Mike." Henry finished.

"Oh," I said, giggling nervously, feeling a little relieved, "I wouldn't have liked to be in your shoes..."

"Yea right. I told him you had been lucky the other night. Brought back that 'Elise'..."

"What?" I exclaimed, "Are you stupid?"

"What are you complaining about? That'll just make you look like a pro, pulling a bird as good looking as... Well, as you! I think Mike wanted to have a go on 'Elise' since he met her."

"And we both know that I'm not the type to pull that often!" I snarled, feeling myself go from pink to crimson, "He'll never let me go on this one! He'll want to know everything about how I did it. What am I supposed to do then?"

Henry sighed. "I know it was a mistake... I just got caught out by surprise and messed up, ok?" He paused, and I felt myself calming down slowly. I knew it wasn't really his fault. The situation was just starting to get to me. "Anyway," Henry said, "Your ability can give you quite some advantages you know!"

I looked up at him, feeling confused.

"Well," He continued, "With these looks you can pull anyone you want!"

I glared at him furiously.

"No, no!" he quickly said, trying to rectify himself, "I don't mean guys... I mean, even if you only have access to lesbians, it's got to be a lot easier with your new body..." he trailed off.

"Yea you wish! And I'm guessing you'd want me to ask lesbians to accept you in an observatory position or something whilst we play?"

"You don't understand," Said Henry, "I'm serious! Don't you think it would be an appropriate compromise to your situation? It makes sense to me."

"I-" I started hesitantly, before stopping as I thought.

I sighed, closing my eyes as I thought about what he was saying. My situation was already very confusing... Wouldn't turning myself purposefully into a female to attract lesbians and satisfy my male needs just make it even more so? I imagined myself as Elise, laying along side a pretty girl as she kissed me, and I felt... Absolutely nothing. The idea was neither attractive nor disgusting. It seemed pointless. For some reason this made me chuckle, feeling both amused and distraught as I slowly worked out what this meant.

"I... Don't think it'll work. I'm straight you see, Henry, and I'll always be like that."

"Isn't that exactly why it would work?" Asked Henry, uncomprehending.

"No! I don't think I'm really attracted to girls when I'm Elise."

"You mean that you're a straight girl?" I nodded, wishing he hadn't put it like that. "So... Are you saying that at this very moment, you are attracted to m-...?"

"Shut up!" I almost shouted, cutting him off. "I don't know! I don't... I don't want to think about it."

"I was about to say men." He pointed out doggedly.

"I..." I hesitated for a fraction of a second. "I know."

There was an awkward silence. For a while, all we heard was the sound of our footsteps as I stared down at the sidewalk. It was only a little before we got to the gym that I noticed a new problem.

"Wait a second... How am I supposed to do my washing without anyone noticing?" I asked Henry.

"You tried wearing less clothes?"

"Oh ha ha! Come one mate, this is a real problem."

"I don't know... Perhaps you're going to have to do your washing at a launderette, or you'll have to tell the others that Elise is sleeping over all the time. Either that or you'll have to try sneaking your washing into the machine when no one is looking."

"A bunch of girls' clothes whirling around in the washing machine for two hours? Oh that'll definitely go unnoticed," I said, sarcasm dripping from my every orifice. God that expression sounds very different to me now... "And as for the Elise sleeping over thing... Ok that'd allow me to sneak in and out unnoticed, but the logistics of that would be impossible."

"God you scientists!" Exclaimed Henry.

"Come on mate, think about it! Wouldn't you find it weird if you kept seeing Mike, and you kept seeing this stranger walking in and out of the house who is supposed to be sleeping with him, without ever seeing them at the same time?" I snapped impatiently. God all this gender swap thing has been making me cranky. "The only option left is the launderette. Last thing Erik needs is to be seen taking a bunch of female clothes at a launderette every few days, but Elise could... God I'm going to hate spending the extra money though."

"Talking about that," Said Henry, "How are you going to carry money? Shouldn't we get you a handbag?"

I stopped and looked around at him. We were right in front of the gym now, standing next to the entrance.

"Why would I want a handbag?" I asked Henry.

"Well for one thing, girls do all seem to have one." He answered, "But more importantly, your clothes obviously don't have big enough pockets for money or anything else for that matter. I've seen how many problems they've been giving you. How do you expect to carry a wallet, or... Other things?"

"Well ok they're small, but if I get a coat or something I'm sure I can fit my wallet inside that. Besides, what other things would I need?"

"I'm not sure ladies' coats have inside pockets, not big ones anyway. And as for other things... Well you know, ladies' things..."

I stared at him blankly.

"Oh come on," Henry said, "the usual... Money and ID, a phone, tissues, breath mints, deodorant, an notepad and pen, lipstick, a pepper spray, tampons..."

"Shut up!" I cut him off, "I get it! But do you really think I need any of those things? That I'd ever carry a pepper spray can? Or lipstick? Do I look like I need that rubbish?"

"Well I don't know... Listen, you're Elise now, not Erik. That means that you're not just socially different, you're physically different to! What makes you think you're immune from other peoples' judgment of your appearance? You're a girl right now, so do all you can to look like one and act like one. You don't seem to get that in this situation, you want to be treated as one and pass unnoticed!"

Henry was starting to get agitated now, and I stared at him, a little puzzled. I wasn't too sure if he was nervous or annoyed.

"You should have a purse and wear make-up, not as a humiliation, but because it'll stop you from attracting attention! You should carry pepper spray because you're not yet aware of how much more vulnerable you are, and probably wont be able to defend yourself as you usually would if you got attacked!" Henry was starting to sound like some weird teacher or coach now, building up confidence in his speech.

"Your body is different, so adapt to it: do martial arts and workouts as Elise to get used to it if you want. And I really think you should carry tampons on you... I don't know if you'll ever need them, but if you do at some point..."

"Ok! Ok! I get it!" I interjected, trying to calm him down and get him off this extremely uncomfortable train of thoughts; "We'll go buy me a handbag after this alright?"

"Good." He said, breathing a little heavily.

We made our way into the gym, as I lost myself in thoughts about what he'd said. He was right of course, although I truly did not like having to admit it, even to myself. I was also a little worried about the tampon problem... Could I really start to menstruate at any moment? I had no idea, and it was deeply unsettling. I then wondered if Henry might just have planned this conversation all along, which would be why he was so insistent to take me to the gym as Elise...

I suddenly started as Henry called out to me. He was at the reception desk and beckoning me towards the locker rooms.

"I bought you an entrance. I've already got my membership," He told me.

"Wait a sec..." I said, "Wouldn't they need to ID me or something? Or make me sign something for insurance issues?"

"Don't worry about it, I'm a mate of the guy at the reception. He studies the same subject as me, so I got him to overlook certain policies as a favor... After all, what ID do you have for Elise?"

"Thanks..." I said, feeling stupid that I hadn't thought of this beforehand. Henry definitely was a lot cleverer than anyone gave him credit for, as well as a very good friend... "How am I supposed to come here regularly without ID though? This may work as a one time thing..."

"I've been thinking," replied Henry, "And you could either subscribe as Erik, then change in the changing rooms. You'd have to find an empty one, but I doubt they'd notice you if you just walked out of there and went straight to the machines... Or you could do other stuff, like attend the martial arts clubs on campus. The sessions are for paying members only, but I know they never check. I went to every single judo session last year and no one ever noticed I wasn't officially a member."

I nodded.

"Anyway, I thought you might want to avoid the changing room trick today, which is why we got changed before we came." He added.

He walked over to the weights across the room and casually picked up a pair of twenty-four-kilogram dumbbells, immediately getting into position and starting to curl them in sequence. I hadn't done this in a while, so I decided to go for the sixteen-kilograms ones instead of the usual eighteens. I lifted one from the display and nearly dropped it on my foot. God it was heavier than I expected!

I quickly put it back down, feeling frustrated, and downgraded to the fourteen-kilograms. It was heavy too, but I could only just deal with it. I grimaced as I curled it once, feeling a strong pressure on my right arm. This was going to be doable, but it certainly was no picnic... A few minutes later, I was going through the motions, using weights and machines in significantly easier exercises, feeling a huge strain on my muscles as I struggles completing ten reps for most exercises, against my usual fourteen.

I felt a little humiliated as I struggled with my weaker muscles to do even a fraction of the work that Henry was doing just beside me, and at far higher speeds with his gorilla strength. The only thing that didn't seem to change much were the stretches, which felt a little weird with my thinner frame, but otherwise gave evidence as to my usual flexibility.

I was sweating profusely by the time I finally stopped, panting and exhausted by my workout. I watched Henry finish his own exercises over the next ten minutes, his thick muscles rippling through his undershirt as he pulled, heaved, pushed and stretched. When he was finally done, we walked back out of the gym, feeling disgusting in our sweaty clothes under a now bright sunlight.

"You alright in there?" Henry asked me once we were out, "I've rarely seen a girl your size working those sorts of weights... I was half expecting them to break your bones."

I blushed, uncertain whether to take this as an insult or as a compliment. I tried changing the subject.

"So... How about that handbag we were going to buy?" I asked.

"Oh alright, if girly really wants her handbag, we'll just need to get it." He was smiling cheekily down at me as he spoke.

"Well let's move then," I declared, ignoring his jibe.

The next couple of hours dragged on painfully, as we walked down to the town center and started shopping for a handbag. As if it weren't humiliating enough, Henry then insisted on buying some other 'necessities'. It was long and surprisingly difficult as we went from shop to shop, trying to find me a handbag that was of an acceptable size and practical to use. Although that was pretty much all I cared about, Henry made it quite a lot harder by insisting on a certain 'aesthetic', saying it would add to my... Disguise.

By the time we finally sat down for a drink, stinking in our clothes under the blazing sunlight, I had found myself a plain red handbag of average size, along with a small black purse, a "three function personal spray" (we'd been surprised to find out that pepper sprays are illegal in the UK), and, worst of all, tampons. We were panting in the heat, our muscles burning and my blood boiling at what Henry had just made us shop.

The twisted irony of it was that I had brought very little cash with me to the gym, and found myself mainly relying on Henry to pay for most of it, which he did voluntarily, ignoring my protests against the very principle of our purchases. Feeling both annoyed and guilty, I concentrated on my Ice Tea, also bought by Henry... though I noticed from the corner of my eye that he too seemed a little flustered, even accounting for the heat.

"You know..." Henry told me as I slurped my drink, "The funny thing about this is... This is the best possible moment in your life for this to happen. Logistically I mean." I glared at him.

"Look," he went on, "I know this is difficult, but you can't control the weather! We both know that you can very easily turn into Elise by accident, whereas the opposite is extremely unlikely. Here, we're at university, so no one checks where or who we are in lectures. Erik could almost disappear from the face of the earth without anyone noticing on the short term. And Elise can do what she wants and follow lectures without anyone being any the wiser."

He paused for a second, looking at my frozen expression, before continuing.

"I know that it isn't practical with Mike and Beth, but I'm sure we can deal with that! And next year, you might not even have to worry about that either. You could even just live as Elise all day, everyday, and things would be fine."

"What?" I exclaimed, outraged, "You want me to live as a girl all the time?"

Henry sighed. I suddenly noticed that he was looking tired, and another pang of guilt hit me. I had never really seen Henry tired... He was always so full of energy!

"I know this isn't ideal." He said, "But neither of us control this... I understand that you're not meant to be a girl. But you have to do what has to be done! So be the guy you've always been if you want, but try to enjoy what you have as Elise! There are many girls out there who wished they had your looks, your fitness and your brains! Now I know that isn't you, but you can still try to enjoy it..."

The look on his face at that point made all my frustration, my resentment, and my worries wash away. I knew he had done everything he could for me, not just to make me happy, but to do what was best for me. He had tried so hard to adapt to me, to help, and all for... What? Did he do all that so that I may continuously shout and defy him? My feeling of guilt intensified, and I nodded.

I may not have decided to be like this, but if it was my fate, I might as well try to accept it. I kept my eyes on the table as I sipped my drink quietly, feeling ashamed of myself. When my drink was finally gone, I looked up to see the still tired looking Henry staring at me, worry still etched in his face. I didn't know what to say to reassure him, so I simply reached out with my two slender hands and gripped his hairy paw, lying limply on the table.

He was obviously surprised by my action, and so was I to be honest, but I hid it as best I could. I looked up at him.

"I'll try my best Henry."

He smiled, and we sat like that for a few instances, before we finally shook ourselves a little and I released his hand. It was awkward. Henry knew how to break the tension however.

"How about a steak?" He inquired.

I shudder now to think how much Henry must have spent during the day... I'm guessing his credit card must be in the same state as mine by now, probably worse knowing him. But we enjoyed the steaks. Expensive and tough as I found them, hot and sweaty as had been the day, and awkward the shopping may have been, but nothing felt better than to dig into a nice tasty steak.