Qzar24

  The exhirating ride in Gym Bro’s sports car was almost exciting enough to get Josh to forget about his situation. He enjoyed his hair whipping in the wind as Gym Bro expertly maneuvered along the highway to get to the coast. The perfect mixture of airflow and sun on his skin kept Josh at a pleasant temperature; never too hot or too cold.

  Then Gym Bro parked the car and Josh had to face reality. His breath quickened. He felt his substantial chest rising and falling. Thankfully, he was allowed to borrow one of Gym Bro’s shirts for the ride over, but he was going to need to take it off now. Right now. And then everyone would see him. They would see Zoe.

  He was fully aware that Gym Bro already turned the car off and was unloading their stuff from the trunk, but Josh wasn’t able to move himself. He knew Gym Bro was going to be upset if he didn’t man up and get out of the car, but Josh couldn’t move himself. Why couldn’t he move himself? It felt like he was facing down a rampaging bear and he was frozen in pce. This was bad. This was dangerous.

  “Zoe? Let’s go.”

  Josh blinked his eyes. He tried taking some deep breaths. Gym Bro said, “Zoe, come on. Waiting around isn’t going to make it any easier.” Josh nodded their head. His brain felt all fuzzy all of a sudden. He felt his arms move and take the oversized shirt off their body. Everything felt off though. Is was like his body was a weird puppet being moved around. And his skin felt like it was glued on instead of a part of him.

  Still, he was able to move now; that was a good thing. He let his puppet body be moved out of the car and follow behind Gym Bro. He was grateful whoever was making him move right now chose to cross his arms over his chest and hunch his back so he had a small amount of decency.

  He stayed quiet and felt himself shrinking as he watched Gym Bro y out a big beach bnket and set up an umbrel in the sand. Eventually, Josh noticed that they were still standing with their feet in the sand. His shoes were off though. He looked around and saw Zoe’s sandals pced neatly next to the side of the bnket.

  He felt a gaze upon him and started gncing around. “Zoe.” His head snapped back to Gym Bro who was giving him a weird look. Gym Bro stood up and leaned his head next to Josh’s ear to whisper in his ear, “The weirder you act, the more likely people are going to stare at you. If you pretend to be having a good time, then, maybe, you’ll actually start to enjoy yourself.” He leaned back and gave Josh a reassuring squeeze on their shoulder before lying down on the towel and closing his eyes.

  Josh closed his eyes as well. He knew Gym Bro was right. He needed to do that focusing trick he’d accidentally learned and block everything out so that he could do this. He felt their breathing slow down. His arms uncrossed themselves. He straightened their back and stretched a little to loosen up.

  That’s good. What had they been doing all that stretching for if they were going to walk around tense anyways? He wiggled his fingers and mushed his toes in the sand. He scratched his head. He felt himself smile as they thought about how nice it would be to go back home and take a shower and wash their lovely hair at the end of today.

  They felt the sun warming their skin and started to feel much better about what was happening. They could do this. Zoe could do this. She was normal girl who did normal girl things like wear a cute bikini to the beach. Nobody needed to look closer at her. Zoe nodded his head. He could do this.

  No.

  She could do this. She was a normal girl doing normal girl things. Zoe opened her eyes and saw the world in brilliant high definition for what felt like the first time. She smiled and shook her body once again before sitting down next to Gym Bro. “Feeling better?” he asked. Zoe nodded her head and then noticed Gym Bro’s eyes were still closed. “Yeah,” she said, “I’m feeling a lot better.”

  She put her hand up to her throat. She didn’t know any other way to put it, but it felt like she’d finally chosen her own words. Or that her words were finally real?

  “Good.” Gym Bro blindly felt around until his hand nded on Zoe’s thigh. He gave her nice pat and squeeze and she smiled a little rger. She took another deep breath of the fresh ocean air. Today was a good day. She was pretty sure that they’d managed to arrive before noon, so the sun wasn’t too bright yet. Even though it was early, it was still a weekend, so the beach was pretty full of people.

  She felt Gym Bro moving next to her and watched him sit up and grab a rge steel water bottle out of the cooler he’d brought with them. He took a big swig and then offered it to Zoe. She took a sip and almost spit out the nasty liquid.

  “Is this beer?” she said. “Shh,” Gym Bro said as he snatched the container from her. “Keep your voice down,” he chuckled, “I snuck it in. We’re not supposed to have alcohol at the beach.” He took another swig. Zoe managed to keep smiling on the outside, but she was a little nervous. She was fine with being out if people kept their distance, but she definitely didn’t want to interact with any w enforcement.

  It also wasn’t a great idea for her to be drinking. She hadn’t been pretending to be a woman very long, so she needed all her mental faculties to be able to pull this off. Plus, Zoe was pretty sure beer was gross.

  She continued to smile and simply said, “I think I’ll stick with water today. Maybe I’ll drink with you ter back at the house. You can make me that tasty mixed drink again.” Gym Bro shrugged. “Suit yourself. More for me.” He emphasized his point by taking another long drink before putting the bottle away. He handed Zoe a pstic water bottle and returned to lying down on the towel.

  Zoe held the bottle and considered her options. Something in her head was telling her that women drank from bottles differently from men, but she couldn’t recall how. Did they drink daintily? Or softly? Demurely? Elegantly? Zoe carefully took off the cap and took a small zip from the bottle. Did she do that right? It didn’t necessarily feel like she was being feminine, but it also didn’t feel masculine.

  Zoe gnced around the beach to look at other people. Maybe there was a woman who happened to be drinking at the same time. Zoe could watch her and then copy her movements. As she was looking around, she caught eyes with a handsome young man who was with his friends. Zoe smiled a little rger and nodded her head forward before quickly diverting her gaze.

  That was awkward. She needed a better way to observe the people around her without them knowing she was watching them. “Hey,” she said, “did you bring any sungsses by any chance?”

  “No, why? If the sun’s getting in your eyes, I can move the umbrel.”

  “No, no. It’s fine. I was just looking around and having to squint. But I’m fine.”

  Gym Bro opened his eyes and sat up. Zoe felt a little bad that he was disrupting himself because of her stupid question. “Hmm,” Gym Bro said, “It is getting pretty bright already.” He leaned over and dug around in the rge bag he brought. He pulled out a small tube and showed it to Zoe. He said, “Here, let’s put some sunscreen on and then we can walk around for a little.”

  He squeezed some white goo into Zoe’s hand before doing the same for himself. Zoe was immediately struck with another dilemma. Normally, when they were Josh, well, first of all, they wouldn’t be wearing sunscreen. Josh had special fishing shirts and cargo pants that protected him from the sun when he went fishing. And he had his nice fishing hat to cover his face. He missed his fishing gear. He’d sold it all to make money to cover his bills.

  Zoe snapped herself back to attention. She needed to figure out how to apply sunscreen like a woman and fast. She used the fingers from one hand to dip into the glob sitting in her palm. Then she tried to gracefully apply it to her cheeks and forehead without getting it caught in her hair. Okay, that worked.

  Next, she did the same dip and rub method for her neck. Then the tops of her breasts. At that point, she was able to see that the cream was obviously not absorbing into her skin with her light rubbing from her fingers. She probably looked ridiculous right now with white patches of goo smeared all over her face.

  She deposited the goo glob onto her left thigh, rubbed off the extra on her hand onto her right thigh, and then used both hands to firmly rub the sunscreen into her face, neck, and chest. She paused for a moment to look around and saw nobody giving her a second look. She was doing well. She used the dip and distribute method to initially cover her legs before rubbing the cream into her skin.

  Unfortunately, this presented two more problems. She wasn’t sure she was flexible enough to reach her back and she was already out of sunscreen. Then a mental image formed in her mind that answered her initial question about how women applied sunscreen at the beach. They didn’t! In the movies, the women always had their friends or boyfriend apply sunscreen to their backs. They almost never applied it to their fronts at all.

  “Hey dude,” Zoe said. She blinked and frowned her face. It felt weird calling Gym Bro her “dude” but she also didn’t want to call him Gym Bro out in public. “I mean, Kevin, could you do me a favor and rub sunscreen on my back?” Gym Bro looked over and raised an eyebrow. “Kevin? Since when do you call me Kevin?”

  Zoe blushed a little bit. It was true, calling Gym Bro by his government name also felt a little strange. “I don’t know,” she said, “I felt a little embarrassed I guess.” And idea formed in her mind. “Plus,” Zoe said in a lowered voice, “I like calling you Gym Bro in private.” Gym Bro smirked and Zoe felt a weird tingly feeling in the back of her mind; she was doing a good job.

  Gym Bro replied, “I guess it would be weird if you never called me by name; especially in public.” He shrugged. “Okay, I’ll allow it.” Zoe smiled. She was doing a very good job. “So,” she said, “my back? Can you put sunscreen on it?”

  “Of course, y on your stomach.”

  Zoe shifted around so her head was towards the ocean. She id down and immediately realized thsi was going to be a problem. Her chest squished somewhat uncomfortably against the bnket. She tried adjusting herself by moving her boobs around, but she couldn’t find a good position. “You okay?” she heard Gym Bro ask.

  “Yeah, sorry,” Zoe said, “I’m trying to get settled.” She pressed up on her arms. Why didn’t they have this much trouble during massages? The bed! Their bed at home was much squishier than the sand. “Kevin,” Zoe said, “did you bring any towels?”

  She heard Gym Bro moving around as the ocean waves crashed against the shore. The warm sun grazed her skin. Gym Bro handed them a big, plush towel from the big beach bag he brought. Zoe folded it up and used it to prop her chest up slightly on the ground. There. Now her breasts didn’t have as much pressure against them. She settled her head and closed her eyes.

  Suddenly a cold glob hit the center of Zoe’s back causing her to flinch. “Ah!”

  She heard Gym Bro chuckling. Zoe decided it was best to ugh as well. Gym Bro quickly began spreading the sunscreen across her back. “Mmm,” Zoe moaned. This must be what the massages really felt like. She could vaguely remember getting them, and how nice their body felt afterwards, but she couldn’t really recall experiencing them for herself.

  Gym Bro said, “I’m going to undo this so I don’t get sunscreen on your suit.” Zoe felt the back of her top come undone. A part of her felt really nervous, but she reasoned it would be fine since she was ying on her front anyways. Plus, now she got to enjoy the feeling of Gym Bro massaging her shoulders.

  “Oooh, that feels amazing,” Zoe said. She heard Gym Bro’s adorable chuckle and envisioned him doing that cute little smirk he always did when they said cute or silly things. She heard him say, “I’ll get the backs of your legs too. They look a little bare.”

  “Thanks.”

  Soon, Zoe was totally protected from the sun’s rays. For a brief moment, Zoe considered that she didn’t actually know what the sun did to damage peoples’ skin. She knew too much sun could cause sunburns, but she wasn’t sure how some cream was supposed to protect from the heat. The sun still felt just as hot after having the sunscreen applied. Hotter even.

  So hot…and comfortable…

  Zoe vaguely felt Gym Bro tapping their shoulder and helping them flip over. Her eyes were so heavy. And the sun was so warm. And she’d finally gotten a nice massage. She never got to rex like this.

  Zoe’s eyes came back into focus. She gnced to one side and saw the sea of people spread across the sand running parallel to the ocean. She turned to the other side and saw the empty beach bnket with their shoes, bag, and cooler. No Gym Bro. She groggily sat up and looked around. She felt her breasts pulling down and a sliding feeling against her shoulders.

  Zoe’s mind snapped to attention and she managed to catch her bikini top before it slid all the way forward and exposed her. “That was close,” she said to herself. She easily re-did the csp in the back and readjusted the cups. She looked around again and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She didn’t see Gym Bro anywhere.

  “How long was I asleep?” she wondered.

  She stood up and stretched her arms and back. It was such a lovely day to be at the beach. Zoe closed her eyes and let the sounds of the world flow into her ears. She heard children ughing, the ocean waves crash against the shore, the screaming cry of the birds looking for food, her stomach grumbling.

  She reopened her eyes and looked through the cooler. Unfortunately, all she found were a couple more waters and some empty sandwich bags. Her stomach rumbled again. Zoe looked around the beach once more, but she still didn’t see Gym Bro anywhere. She did notice this one guy who seemed to be staring at her, so she smiled and looked away to try and avoid attention.

  She sat down on the towel and scooted forward so she could poke her feet in the hot sand. She remembered doing this with her mom when they were little. Zoe closed her eyes and let her head fall back as she recalled the pleasant memories of coming to the beach with their family.

  Well, she would come with their mom and Ali. Their dad was always busy with work or his friends. Zoe remembered building sand castles with Ali. Well, Ali built the castles while Josh came up with stories for the people who lived inside them. They would always cast themselves as the Queen or King of the nd, depending on their mood, and had Ali as their loyal knight.

  She chuckled to herself as she recalled one time when the two of them were fighting pretend monsters in the ocean using their water powers. Ali got sad that they always had to fight monsters and never got to meet cool sea creatures, so they’d told him they would become a mermaid for him one day.

  Of course, their mom informed them that they would become a merman and not a mermaid since they were a boy, but they always thought that idea was silly. Nobody ever told stories about mermen after all. Obviously, if you were going to become a beautiful sea creature, then you would have to be a mermaid.

  “I would make an excellent mermaid now,” Zoe thought to herself.

  She opened her eyes and looked out over the clear waters. It had been years since they’d been swimming, but she was certain it would come back to her if she tried. She stood up and shook her legs out to prep for getting into the water. If she remembered correctly, it would be super cold when she first got in, but their body would get used to it fast.

  “Hey, are you Kev’s friend?”

  Zoe turned and saw the man who had been staring at her earlier. He was a little taller than her and had an average build. He seemed to still be studying her face. Suddenly, she became very self-conscious of how masculine their face still was. She looked down and away. “Um, yeah, why?” She asked.

  The man snapped and pointed his finger at Zoe. He said, “I knew it. I knew he was up to something.” Now Zoe was pin confused. Thankfully, the man continued, “I think he went off to get you guys drinks or a snack or something. You cool if I chill here until he gets back?”

  “Um,” Zoe trailed off. The guy smacked his forehead. “Oh duh,” he said. He extended his hand out. “I’m Jack, one of Kev’s friends.” Zoe lightly shook Jack’s hand. “I’m Zoe,” she said. Jack squeezed Zoe’s hand a little harder and closed the distance between them by pulling her forward. Zoe jumped a little.

  “Z-o-e-y?” He asked. She replied, “Z-o-e.” Jack let go of her hand and made a big gesture of groaning and swinging his arms around in distress. “Agh! Of course you spell it weird.” He shook his finger at her and smiled. “You’re a tricky one, aren’t you? Kev always liked tricky girls.” Zoe could do nothing but smile awkwardly. She still wasn’t quite sure who this man was, but she definitely wanted Gym Bro to hurry back.

  Almost like he was summoned, she heard Gym Bro’s voice come from behind her. “Jack? What are you doing here?” Zoe spun around and smiled in relief. She moved over to be next to Gym Bro and turned to the side so him and Jack could talk. “Wassup man,” Jack said. He and Gym Bro csped hands and did a side hug.

  Jack continued, “I thought it was a nice day, so I came to the beach to check out the babes.” He leaned his head to his left and looked Zoe up and down. “I saw Zoe tanning and was waiting for the huge goril next to her to leave her alone when I finally noticed it was you!” He spped Gym Bro’s chest and made a thudding sound.

  Gym Bro locked eyes with Zoe for a second. She shrugged. “So,” Gym Bro said, “you two have already met?” Jack shrugged. “Yeah, but don’t worry, I was good.” Gym Bro cocked an eyebrow and gnced back at Zoe. While she was definitely uncomfortable with Jack around, she couldn’t deny that he hadn’t actually done anything, so she nodded her head slightly.

  “Okay,” Gym Bro said, “well, I mean, take a seat.”

  “Don’t mind if I do.”

  The three of them sat down with Gym Bro and Jack sitting next to each other and Zoe sitting slightly behind Gym Bro. Doing so meant she was partially in the hot sun, but she figured it was better to stay out of the way until Jack left. Something about him had her guard up on high alert.

  Jack said, “I had no idea you had a girlfriend again dude. Didn’t Marissa dump you, like, a month ago?” Zoe’s ears perked up. Before she could think, she felt herself saying, “I’m not his girlfriend!” She blushed and covered her mouth. She’d spoken with Josh’s voice. Jack and Gym Bro both stared at her.

  Zoe adjusted her throat and said, “I mean, yeah, we’re just friends. Not that he’s not totally awesome, but just that he doesn’t see me that way. Because we’re roommates, and friends, you know?” Finally, she managed to stop herself from talking and smiled.

  Jack’s eyes got big. He gestured at Zoe. “This is your new roommate? I thought it was some guy from your gym.” It was Zoe’s turn to make her eyes wide with shock. Gym Bro gave her a strained grin as he said, “Nope, it’s been Zoe, the whole time. She’s my roommate.”

  Jack ughed. “Well,” he said, “I guess we’ll all have to apologize for all the gay jokes now.” He paused and looked at Zoe again. She was too scared and nervous to say anything else. Jack’s eyes seemed to be honed in on her chest. “Damn,” he said, “with a roommate like that, I guess I can’t bme you for backing out of the tournament st month.”

  Gym Bro shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Like I told you guys, I’ve been busy.” Jack smirked. “Busy,” he said while making air quotes. Gym Bro gave him a light shove. “Not like that,” he said, “I’ve got big pns for work. Plus, I’ve been helping Zoe out with things.”

  Zoe piped up, “Yeah, he’s been really helpful! I’m sorry if I’ve been keeping him away from you guys.” Gym Bro put his hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly. “You don’t need to apologize for anything.” Zoe returned the warm smile.

  Jack spoke in a deadpan voice. “Stop. Please. I’m gonna puke.” He shook his head. “Well, anyways, I’m hoping you weren’t pnning to back out again today.” Gym Bro scrunched his face and scratched his chin. “I dunno. We were probably going to find something to eat nearby. And Zoe needs some more swimsuits. There’s some other cool shops nearby we might check out. After all of that, I don’t know if I’ll make it.”

  Jack groaned. “Oh come on man. Not two months in a row!” Gym Bro shrugged. “It depends on how long Zoe wants to shop, you know?” Zoe spoke up, “I don’t need to go shopping today that badly. You should hang out with your friends.”

  Jack said, “See? Even she knows you need some bro time. The tournament isn’t the same without you.” Zoe asked, “What tournament are you guys talking about?” Gym Bro waved his hand dismissively. “A couple of us get together every month and challenge each other in a video game. It’s not a big deal.”

  Jack gasped. “It is definitely a big deal. The winner gets to pick the game for next month and the person with the most wins at the end of the year wins the prize money.” Zoe felt a spark in her mind. “Prize money?” she said. Jack nodded his head “Twenty thousand dolrs. At least,” he said.

  The spark exploded in Zoe’s mind. “Twenty thousand?” She looked up at Gym Bro. “How many wins do you have?” Jack cut in, “He was in the lead until he skipped st month. Now we’re tied.” He punched Gym Bro in the shoulder. “Come on man. Don’t make me win by default. I want to beat the reigning champ.” Gym Bro still looked unsure.

  Gym Bro was the reigning champ? Zoe had to get him to compete. She had this conviction inside of her that winning that prize money would be their salvation. She looked at Jack. “What time does the tournament start?”

  “Not until eight.”

  “What game?”

  “Mortal Kombat. The test one.”

  Zoe saw the matrix. She pulled on Gym Bro’s arm and accidentally let her breasts squish against his muscles. “Oh come on,” she said, “You’ve got to py! You’re actually really good.” Jack ughed. “What, you believe everything he tells you or something?” Zoe smirked. “I’ll have you know that we py Mortal Kombat all the time, and he even manages to beat me sometimes.”

  “You think you can py Mortal Kombat?”

  “Better than you anyways,” they said with confidence. This Jack guy was really starting to heat them up. It was hard to stay in character as Zoe when Josh really wanted to y out a verbal smack down. Of course, he knew that women didn’t really talk that way.

  Jack replied, “How about you put your money where your mouth is?” Gym Bro finally spoke again, “Dude, no. She doesn’t have that kind of cash right now.” Josh scoffed. “What?” he said, “How much does it cost to participate?”

  “One thousand dolrs,” Jack said. He had the most punchable face in the world. “Deal,” Josh said. He ignored the gre he could feel coming from Gym Bro. Josh figured the portfolio was doing well enough since Gym Bro hadn’t said anything about it recently. Plus, competing in the tournament was basically like another investment. He said, “We’ll show up and beat anybody you throw at us.”

  “Deal.”

  Jack put his hand out again. This time, Josh made sure to shake it firmly as he could. Jack cpped his hands. “Well, I guess I’ll let you guys get to your busy day of shopping.” He stood up and stretched his back. He snapped his fingers and did fingers guns. “Don’t be te.” Josh gred at Jack’s back as he watched him walk away.

  “What an asshole,” he said. Gym Bro replied, “Yeah, I was kind of looking forward to having an excuse to not see him again.” He groaned. Josh felt the fiery passion beginning to leave his body. “Hey, what’s the big deal? With both us in the tournament, there’s a better chance to win this year. Then we can split the money!”

  Gym Bro rolled his eyes. “You can’t share the prize money with anyone. It’s against the rules.”

  “What?”

  “If you could share prize money, then the best pyers would all form a team and beat everybody every year. You have to spend the money completely on yourself. Last year I used it to get my car. The year before that, Harry paid for his fiancé's dream wedding.” He groaned again.

  Josh sat quietly. Maybe he’d made a miscalcution. “Well,” he said, “I mean, there’s still plenty of time in the year for me to win anyways. And…” He struggled to find words. “And, and, well, I’ll be happy if you win.” He tried to smile like Zoe would but it felt off.

  Gym Bro rolled his eyes. “We’re committed either way now. If I don’t show up this time, then Jack is never going to let it go.” He stood up and started gathering their things. Josh said, “Wait, the tournament isn’t until eight. Why do we have to leave now?” He’d never gotten to swim in the water or dig a big hole in the sand. And he had the vague feeling that he should eat something.

  Gym Bro continued packing as he spoke. “The tournament is at Jack’s house and he lives closer to where we are now than to the house. So unless you pn to compete in a bikini, we’ve got to get lunch, drive home, change clothes, and then drive all the way back over here before eight.”

  “Oh.”

  Gym Bro continued, “Plus, I imagine you need more time to get into Zoe mode again. Your voice is slipping a lot. Plus, you’ve got a lot of dude energy coming off of you.” He stopped what he was doing and looked at Josh with a mix of anger and confusion. He said, “Why would you do a stupid thing like tell him you’re my roommate?”

  “But, we are roommates.”

  “I know that, you know that, but my friends didn’t. I was keeping your identity vague on purpose. You should have said we were dating or something like that.”

  Josh scrunched his nose. “Dude, that would be so weird.” Gym Bro actually looked a little offended. “Because dating me would be such an awful thing.” Josh shook his head. “No, I mean, I’m not gay, but if I were then you’d be, like, my first pick.” He wasn’t sure why, but saying that felt strangely cathartic.

  Gym Bro chuckled. “If you were gay, you’d be going after chicks Zoe. See what I mean about slipping?” Josh felt a twinge in his mind. That was right, he was supposed to be pretending to be a woman right now. He’d gotten caught up in talking with his friend that he forgot they weren’t alone in the house right now.

  Josh said, “Oh, yeah.” Gym Bro nodded his head. “So, as a woman. You would date me?” It didn’t feel as good to say, but Josh forced the words out of his mouth. “Totally.”

  Gym Bro ughed again.

  “That’s good to know at least,” he said, “still, I don’t know what’s going through your mind today.” Josh was confused. “What do you mean? I know I slipped a couple of times, but Jack didn’t seem to notice.” Gym Bro gave Josh a weird look. “Um, what do you think is going to happen if you actually win the prize money this year, but then a dude named Josh, who mysteriously looks like Zoe’s twin brother, is the person spending it all?”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. Oh.” Gym Bro shook his head. “It’s too te now anyways.” He finished packing up and started walking back to the car. Josh followed him as the reality of what he’d down sunk into his mind. He could barely remember anything he’d said or done while interacting with Jack outside of the st bit. He’d completely forgotten about being Zoe or a woman or anything.

  They got in the car and Gym Bro pulled out of the parking lot. Josh could vaguely hear him talking about food and simply nodded along. He was too busy trying to figure out a way out of this mess. Maybe, as his breasts shrunk, he could keep stuffing his bras for the rest of the year. The tournament was only once a month after all; he was used to pretending to be Zoe once a week already.

  Maybe he could fake Zoe’s death at the end of the year? Then cim that she left it all to her twin brother Josh. Who happened to also be great at video games and Gym Bro’s friend. Jack didn’t seem like the brightest person in the world. Maybe he would buy it.

  Josh randomly spoke up, “Wait, won’t your friend with gynecomastia be there? He could help expin things to everybody.” Gym Bro shook his head. “Nick? I haven’t seen that guy since college. And while he had to wear sports bras eventually, he wasn’t going around telling everyone he was a woman or giving out different names. Even if he tried, he was a division one linebacker; nobody would have believed him.”

  “Oh,” Josh said. There went that idea.

  Gym Bro pulled into a small pce with outdoor seating that would enable them to eat in their swimsuits. After their short lunch, Josh resigned himself to the path he’d set himself on as they drove home. He had months to figure out a pn so that he’d be able to spend the prize money, as Josh, after winning the little tournament.

  His confidence was destroyed when he stood in front of the closet after showering. He had no idea what to wear. If he was going as Josh, he could have worn a basic t-shirt and some shorts. But what did cool gamer girls who definitely weren’t actually guys wear?

  Obviously he needed a bra and panties, so he went ahead and put those on. As he slid the panties up his legs Josh was confronted with his obvious bulge once again. There was no way to move his penis and balls around in a comfortable position that looked ft enough to pass as female. He definitely couldn’t risk being ughed out of the tournament for something as simple as having a visible penis, so Josh knew he would have to wear something like a skirt to cover up.

  At least that narrowed down his options for outfits. Still, Josh had something telling him that he needed to really commit to being as feminine as possible for the tournament. It made enough sense; the more feminine Zoe seemed, the less scrutiny Josh would receive if he slipped a couple of times. Plus, he would seem more masculine by comparison when he finally stopped being Zoe and got to be himself all the time again.

  “Look more feminine,” the thought pyed on a loop in Josh’s mind.

  Josh found himself sitting at the desk with a mirror and staring at the makeup Gym Bro bought him months ago. He’d never touched it, despite the strange pull in his mind he’d felt a few times, but this seemed like the best night to go for it. He needed to look more feminine.

  He quickly eliminated using any of the powders. Every attempt made him look like a clown and his face felt weird having the makeup touching his skin all the time. He wasn’t too confident trying to do anything with his eyes either. He tried watching a few videos, but his result always looked like random blotches of color and poorly drawn lines. He was also terrified of stabbing himself in the eye with the mascara brush.

  That left his lips. He wasn’t an expert, but he could vaguely remember women applying lipstick in a few movies. All he had to do was rub it on like chapstick and then smack his lips a few times. Or squeeze them against a napkin? Something like that.

  His first problem was the lipstick was a twist top instead of a cap like he remembered in movies. Then, after untwisting it, he was faced with a stick with a gooey sponge on the end instead of a tube of colored stuff like he was expecting. Still, it wasn’t too difficult to use the mirror to guide the sponge across his lips.

  After a few tries, and finally reading the instructions, Josh managed to successfully get his lips to be a brilliant, deep red color. A part of him felt really happy looking at his reflection. Probably because Josh had mastered something in minutes that took women years to learn.

  Next step: his hair. He didn’t know many hairstyles and usually kept his hair down or in a ponytail. However, he wanted to make his hair look extra feminine tonight. He tried, and failed, to do any of the braids he saw in pictures. He felt he could figure them if he had more time, but all his mistakes with makeup had cost him over an hour already.

  He decided the easiest and most feminine hairstyle he could go with was pigtails. Plenty of men would wear their hair out loose like a lion’s mane or in a functional ponytail, but only the girliest of girls wore pigtails. Josh got them sitting on his head properly after only a few tries.

  He returned to the closet. He knew he needed to pick something with a skirt, but he had another idea forming in his mind. At the beach, Jack had barely been able to keep his eyes off Zoe’s chest. Josh could use this to his advantage. Having cleavage on dispy would definitely make sure everyone know Zoe was all woman, and it had the added benefit of potentially distracting his opponents. Maybe pretending to be a girl would actually pay off in a big way by the end of the year.

  None of the dresses Josh had from Alice showed much cleavage outside of the super elegant red one, but that would be super weird to wear to a video game tournament. Josh pushed those clothes aside and looked at the clothes from Gym Bro’s Ex. This is the stuff he needed.

  He picked out a flouncy skirt and a body suit with a deep scoop neck. He changed into one of the new bras that gave him support but had the push-up effect. He just finished putting everything on and adjusting his boobs when Gym Bro opened the door saying “We’ve really got to go.” Josh turned around and saw Gym Bro’s jaw practically fall to the ground. He smirked.

  “Hey there big guy,” Josh said in Zoe’s voice. He immediately switched back and cackled like a mad man. “I’m sorry, I just had to say that.” He waited for Gym Bro to ugh with him. He heard nothing. Josh quieted down and watched Gym Bro staring at him.

  “What?” Josh said, “Do I look weird or something?”

  He went over to the mirror on the desk and tried to get a good look at himself. Gym Bro walked over and pced his hand under Josh’s chin. He tilted Josh’s head up and looked down into Josh’s eyes. Josh felt his temperature rise. His heart beat faster in his chest. He tried not to stare at Gym Bro’s mouth, but his only other option was to accept the hungry gaze coming from his eyes.

  Gym Bro moved his hand from Josh’s chin and ran it down the side of his arm. As it approached Josh’s side, Gym Bro’s other hand came up to match as he traced Josh’s waist down to his hips. Josh let a small gasp escape form his tingling lips. It felt like Gym Bro’s face was getting closer.

  Their bodies were definitely closer. Josh had to pce his hands against Gym Bro’s chest. He felt like their bodies were pulling; merging into one as the pressure against his chest built. Finally, Gym Bro said something in a quiet, husky whisper. “You look stunning.” They still hadn’t broken eye contact.

  Josh whispered back, “Oh, thanks.” He felt his chest rising and falling. “Um, I’m ready to go. I think.” Gym Bro broke contact and stepped back. “Yeah,” he said, “yeah, I think you did a good job.” He pointed at Josh’s face. “And you did some makeup finally. Nice.”

  Josh blushed. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. “Thanks,” he said. They both stood awkwardly. Gym Bro cpped his hands. “Right, let’s get out of here.” He spun on his heels and walked to the front doors. Josh took a moment and tried to remember how to breath properly. He shook his head and felt his pigtails swing across his face.

  A part of him new he looked ridiculous and should be ashamed of himself, but he also knew this was necessary. Winning that prize money would help him get the breast removal surgery in the future. Tonight was the first step on that journey. He grabbed the purse he’d prepared with with his phone, wallet, and the lip liner and followed Gym Bro out the door.