Mum’s Encouragement Part 17

We were delayed leaving Aunt Julia’s as I wouldn’t leave the house without first removing the nail varnish from my fingernails. Julia found some remover and cotton pads and left me to remove the varnish as she got Emily ready and locked up.

As I removed the varnish from each finger I wondered how Nan was doing. I prayed she would be ok. I loved my Nan. She had always been around since I was a baby. I started to well up as I thought of all the good times I had had with Nan and Grandad. Unfortunately Grandad had passed away two years ago and I missed him terribly. Nan hadn’t been the same since Grandad died.

Mum and I had lost touch with my dads parents since dad had left mum for another woman when I was three. I wondered where he was now. I didn’t feel anything for him although I did often wonder what he was doing now and did I possibly have any stepbrothers and sisters.

Julia’s voice brought me out of my daydreaming “come on stop dilly dallying. Let’s get a move on before the rain starts again”

Before finally setting off I popped next door and left a note for mum on the kitchen table telling her where I was going to be.

Once Emily was strapped in Julia’s car we set of for the shopping centre. The same shopping centre where I my photos had been taken a few days before. I wondered whether mum had picked the photos up. I mentioned the photos to Julia and she said we should visit the photographers to see whether they were there. Despite my arguments Julia’s mind was made up, as she was keen to see the photos

“But mum probably hasn’t paid for them yet” I argued

“So I can pay for them and your mum can pay me back. Anyway if they are good I might get a photo for myself “Julia replied

There was no way of changing Aunt Julia’s mind once she had made a decision. Poor old Martin I thought having to grow up with Julia’s strong will. I thought Mum was the opposite and quite relaxed really.

When we got to the shopping centre I volunteered to Julia that I would stay in the car and look after Emily. Julia was having none of this and said that she would be gone too long and was worried that I wouldn’t be able to cope with Emily as she was due another feed soon.

Despite my protestations it was not long before we were walking through the mall. I was pushing Emily and I had put the hood up on my jacket to hide my stupid hair

Julia looked to me and tutted “Joe pull your hood down. You look silly with it up”

‘But then everyone can then see my hair” I argued

“So what are they going to see? It looks ok to me” Julia responded somewhat annoyed

“It looks to girly. I will keep it up”

“No you won’t. Don’t be silly. You are bringing attention to yourself by having the hood up. Now take it down now. Your hair doesn’t look girly at all,” Julia told me whilst looking around her embarrassed

I thought why is she looking embarrassed. I’m the one with the curly hair. As Julia obviously wasn’t going to take no for an answer I pulled the hood down and we continued walking towards the shops with me keeping my head down so as not to be noticed

The first point of call was Marks and Spencer’s where Julia wanted to return some clothes for a refund. There was a short queue and as we waited Julia said she needed to pop to the toilet quick and would I hold our place in the queue whilst she was gone

“How long are you going to be Aunt Julia? What if I get to the front before you are back? I worryingly asked

“I will only be gone a few minutes. The toilets only over there” she said pointing to the toilets about 30 feet away. “If im not back tell them I want a full refund on the clothes within the bag. The receipts are in the bag”

Before I had a chance to respond Julia turned on her heels and headed for the toilets

My heart beat hard as I was left in the queue with Emily with the bag of clothes. Emily didn’t seem phased and simply gurgled up at me as I nervously smiled back

“Is it a boy or a girl” I heard a voice

Turning to an elderly woman behind me I replied “sorry?”

“Your baby. Is it a boy or girl?” she spoke whilst motioning to Emily

“Oh eh she’s a girl. Emily is a girl” I stuttered in return

“She’s such a cutie aren’t you little one” she said gushingly as she grabbed hold off Emily’s mittened fingers

“How old is she?”

“7 months” I recalled Julia telling me

“She looks a lot like you young lady. Is she your first?” she beamed

“Err, err” I tried to respond before Mrs. nosy continued

“You girls start so young now. My Granddaughter is just the same. She is only 19 and she has a one year old. I guess it beats going to ……” she carried on talking as I just nodded and shook my head hopefully in the right places to her probing questions

I caught sight of myself in a full length mirror as Mrs. nosy continued to probe. Although I was dressed as a guy my hair and Julia’s coat told another story. To the unknowing eye I was a young girl whose hair looked a mess and who hadn’t taken much pride in her appearance that day. My face was bright red from being not only hot but also by being in this embarrassing situation.

The lady continued to talk until thankfully I reached the front of the queue and was summoned over by the shop girl

I was still looking for Julia as I made my way slowly to the tills

“Yes miss how may I help you today” the young girl in the uniform asked me

What was wrong with everyone? Could they not see I was a boy?

“Erm can I get a refund on these things” I said whilst handing over the bag to the girl

The girl pulled the clothing out of the bag “Can I ask why you are returning the dress and blouse miss ” she asked whilst laying the clothes on the counter

“Erm I’m not sure they are my aunts and she asked me to return them for her” I nervously answered

“Have you a receipt?” she asked just as Julia came into view

I let out a gasp of air “Aunt Julia where’s the receipt?” I shouted

Julia laughed “in the bag Joe. I did tell you”

Julia took over and explained to the shop girl that the garments hadn’t fitted her when she had tried them on.

As the girl was carrying out the refund transaction Mrs. Nosy touched Julia on the arm “ I was saying to your daughter that her baby is so cute. I bet you are so proud of them both”

Julia smiled at the lady ‘yes Joanne is a lucky girl. The lucky so and so even has her figure back already although you wouldn’t know it with that big coat on” she said whilst winking at me

“ I know. Girls these days dress down so much. She would look so much better in a skirt rather in than those jeans” she disapprovingly gestured to my legs

I was so relieved when the girl on the counter refunded Julia’s money so we could make our escape.

“What took you so long?” I asked Julia as we walked away

“I had a quick look around the lingerie department whilst I was over in that area. I just picked up a couple of things,” she gestured to a bag she was carrying “you and Emily were ok weren’t you?

Before I could respond Julia joked, “come on my new daughter lets go and get a coffee. We need to feed Emily”

We left the store and made our way to a small bakery where we found a table

“Take off your coat Joe. You look really hot,” Julia suggested

“ I am hot Aunt Julia however I can’t take the coat off. I have your jumper on underneath remember,” I protested

“So you look fine in it” Julia dispatched my argument out of hand

“I would if I was a girl. I’m a boy remember” I whispered back

“Don’t be silly. Already today everyone thinks you are a girl so what difference does it make. Just go with the flow”

“Aunt Julia” I gasped “go with the flow? If I take off the jacket everyone will know I’m a boy as I am flat chested,” I replied frustrated

“Oh I forgot about that. Well you can’t wear the coat all afternoon you will pass out. I have an idea. Look take the bag and go to the ladies and put on one of the bras that I have just bought. Hopefully they should fit you. We are about the same size honey” Julia directed me whilst handing me the Marks and Spencer bag

‘You better use the ladies otherwise you will get some funny looks. You know what to do” she brushed me off as the waitress came over to take our order

I stood there for a moment not knowing what to do and Julia’s motioning face told me to do as she had asked

Why I agreed I don’t know however I did as I was told as in a cubicle within the ladies toilet. I took of the jacket, jumper and tee shirt and looked in the bag. In the bag were a black bra, pink bra and a multi pack of tights.

I picked out the pink bra and put it on. I knew the black bra would show through the sweater. I left the tags on the little bra as I thought Julia might have to take it. Without thought as I was hot I left my tee shirt off and put only the sweater back on. I put my tee shirt in the bag and after a quick pee left the cubicle and looked at myself in the toilet mirror.

My reflection showed a young girl with a tight sweater on that obviously hid small breasts. I pulled the coat back on to hide my upper half and returned flustered to Julia

“There you are. I was going to send out a search party. Why have you still got the jacket on?” Julia asked

I explained to Julia about my lack of breasts and she laughed “have your coffee we can sort that out in a while. At least undo your jacket. You are getting funny looks Joe”

During our break I bottle fed Emily with her mums expressed milk and forgot my worries as I lovingly looked down at the adorable baby in my arms

“You are such a natural Joe” Julia again told me whilst watching me and Emily interact

Natural what I thought as someone spoke “ Can I join you?” I looked up to see Martin standing there impeccably dressed in his suit and tie

“ Hello love. Yes sit down. Joe’s just feeding Emily. I was just saying she’s a natural”
Julia told her son

I didn’t miss the reference to she however I didn’t respond and instead I just smiled, blushed and continued to coyly look down at my charge Emily

‘Fancy seeing you here Martin” I almost spat at Martin knowing full well that Julia must have been behind his appearance in the bakery

“Yeah its my lunch break and I often come in here for a snack” he less than convincingly replied

“Well fancy that” I smiled back at him before turning to Julia and giving her a knowing look

“You look nice Joe. I like your sweater” he motioned to my semi open jacket

I was about to respond when Julia spoke for me “ actually i'm glad you’re here. Could you look after Emily for five minutes? I need to sort something out with Joe”

‘No probs mum” Martin replied as Julia took Emily from me and put her in Martin’s arms “just don’t be too long. Babies and me don’t get on”

Julia grabbed my arm “come on you. Bring your bag” she motioned to her plastic bag on the floor

I was nigh on dragged to the toilet where Julia set about me “ right get that bloody coat off. Lets give you some boobs Joe”

A few minutes later Julia had pulled the tags off the bra as she said they could be seen through the tight sweater. She had plumped out the bra cups with some of the new tights she had just bought and adjusted the straps.

I looked in the mirror admiring my new breasts when Julia told me to pucker up

“Pucker what” I started to say as she applied lipgloss to my lips

“Aunt Julia what are you doing. I can’t be seen like this,” I protested as she set about my hair

“Look Joe there is no way anyone is going to think you’re a boy today. The lady in the queue in M&S even thought you were a mummy. Just go with the flow whilst we are out. You never know you might even enjoy yourself sweetheart”

I didn’t know what to say so stayed quiet as Julia created a modern hairdo better suited to a girl of my age. She pulled the hair behind one ear, which showed of one of my earrings, and on the other side of my face she swept the hair partially over one eye. No sooner had she done that but she was sweeping the hair back from my face to apply mascara to my upper and lower eyelashes.

When she had finished with the mascara she stroked some blusher on my cheeks before dousing me with hair lacquer as she primped my hair to her satisfaction.

When she had finished she sprayed me with some sweet smelling perfume

“Oh that’s so much better. You really are such a pretty thing Joe,” she said admiring her work

“Aunt Julia eh” I was unable to continue to speak as I looked in the mirror and saw only a young girl looking back. The tight sweater I wore accentuated my breasts and you could clearly see the thin bra straps and lace of the cups through the thin sweater. The woolen sweater felt itchy and I wished I had kept my tee shirt on

‘Come on missy. Martin will be wondering where we have got to,” she said whilst picking up her bags and my coat

In a daze I followed her back to the bakery where Martin was trying to console a sobbing Emily. Two of the bakery waitresses were also trying to calm Emily down however it was quite apparent that she was having none of it

As I walked towards her she held her arms out to me whilst sobbing her heart out. I took her in my arms and almost in an instance she stopped crying

“Aww she wanted her mummy” one of the waitresses spoke

Emily put her arms around my neck and held tight as I again went bright red not for the first time that day

Martin looked at me with a huge smile and said teasingly “She’s terrible when Joanne’s not around. She loves her mum so much”

I could have killed him and was about to respond when he spoke again “ although Grandma is going to have her tonight as Joanne and me are going to the cinema. Aren’t you grandma?” Martin joked

Without a thought Julia responded “ I am however we need to get a move before you go anywhere tonight as Joanne wants a new outfit to wear tonight don’t you sweetheart and you need to get home to breastfeed Emily and express some milk before you go anywhere tonight

I stood there speechless as the young waitresses looked on admiringly as Martin pecked me and Emily each on the cheek before leaving me in a dazed state.