Evolution / 12

Susan was awakened by the sound of her door opening.  She had fallen asleep in the late afternoon of the previous day, still fully dressed; someone must have come by and turned the lights off without waking her up.  It was 10:03 am.  As she finally determined who her visitor was, she jumped to her feet in excitement.

“Dara!”

Susan ran to Dara, and the two hugged for several minutes.

“Susan!  I’m so happy to see you...”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m all done!  I’ve certainly ‘seeded’ enough women.  But we completed the plan, and all the pre-arranged contacts are done.”

“How was it?” Susan asked.

“A lot of travelling.  In some ways I hope I never have to pee again,” Dara said, smiling.  She stepped back from Susan.  “So let me look at you!  Wow... You’re sure growing up... In fact, you look like...  me!”

“Really?  You said I would.  I don’t think my hips are the same...”

“I can see a difference already.  Your bone structure is much more feminine than it was when I saw you last.”

“You really think so?”

“Sure.  There’s no way this frame could be mistaken for a man’s.  And...” Dara looked at Susan’s chest.  “You’ve really developed, I see.  Your boobs are almost as big as...”

“Yours?”

Dara closed the door.  “Let’s see!”  She pulled off the sweater she was wearing, and unclasped her bra, then walked to Susan and removed the sweatshirt she was wearing.  Susan didn’t have a bra.  They stood next to each other in front of the mirror.

The resemblance between the two women was obvious.  Susan’s new breasts were finally becoming more rounded, from their previous conical shape, and only differed in size from Dara’s–and, even then, not by much.

“Wow... I never even realized... that they’d grow so quickly.”  Susan tentatively touched her own bosom.  Her breasts felt heavy, and still tender, but not as tender as they had been.

“You’re already larger than some women get.  In fact...”  Dara went over to the bed and picked up the bra she had just removed.  She stepped back over to Susan, and began to fasten Susan into her bra.  Susan didn’t protest vocally, but realized what was happening to her; and, again, it was a shock.  She hadn’t realized her own size, and even Karen hadn’t mentioned it.  Susan felt the straps tighten around her, and the cups of Dara’s bra soon smoothed over her own skin.  Dara stepped around in front and straightened the straps out.

The bra wasn’t as tight on Susan as it had been on Dara’s body, which made sense, but she was there nonetheless.  Susan’s breasts stood proudly out from her body, and felt very warm.

“How’s that?”  Dara asked.

“What do you think?”  Susan asked in turn.

“I’m impressed.  Just another few weeks and we’ll be entirely interchangeable, for the most part.” Dara said.  “But I think you’re close enough now that we can do some shopping for you.  This body of yours is too good to hide under a baggy sweatshirt.”

Susan looked sheepish. “Well... I didn’t have anything else.”

“Why don’t you go shower and clean up?  Then, we’re going out.  Time to

get you back to normal.”

“What?”

“Well, it seems that our most important project, you, has been neglected.  Now that I’m back for good, I want to start teaching you about being a woman.  But I do have a big favor to ask...”

“What’s that?”

“Well, back when we started this, I gave up my old apartment.  No point paying the rent every month when I didn’t live there.  I’ve been living here, but I think it’s time for both of us to get back into the real world.”

“But...”

“You still have your own apartment, Susan.  Could we be roommates for a while?”

“I do?”

“Sure.  We’ve covered your rent for you.  The official explanation given to your landlord is that, when you had to take care of your relative, you sublet your apartment, furnished, to a cousin.  Yourself, of course.  So you still have a place to live, other than here.”

“Wow... I... Sure.  I’d love it.  Where’s Marcy?”

“She won’t be back for a while.  She finished before I did, but she’s off teaching seminars now.  She still has her own apartment, but she lives in Maryland.  We’ll go visit her soon.  I bet she won’t believe her eyes when she sees you... Especially after I’m done with you, that is.  We’re going to have a lot of fun.”

The hardest part of the day was saying goodbye to Karen.  Dara gave them a few minutes alone, but reminded Susan beforehand that they weren’t going “far”, and would be back to visit, of course.

Karen was, as had often been the case, locked in her ‘trance’ with “Daniel”, who had yet to pick a new girl’s name for himself.  Karen tore herself away when Susan came in.  They hugged for a long while.

“I’m so proud of you,” Karen told Susan.  “Stay close to Dara.  She’ll take good care of you.  Then again, you might end up taking care of her, too.”

Susan was puzzled.

“I’m just saying to be a little careful.  Dara can get kind of wild.  She’s got the body for it, and so do you, now.  Slow her down if you think you need to.  So far that’s what Daniel’s needed from me; it’s too easy for me to rush through those things that I’ve taken for granted all my life.  But enjoy.  I’ll be here for you.”

“And I’ll be here for you, Karen.  Always.”

They kissed each other, and hugged for a long time.  Susan had the unfamiliar, and somewhat arousing, sensation of her own bosom touching another woman’s.

“Oooh; are you wearing a bra?”

“It’s Dara’s.  Quite a bit too loose for me, though, or so I’m told. 

We’re gonna go shopping.”

“Things are moving quickly.  Remember what I said.”

“Take care, Karen.  And Daniel.”

“All my love, Susan.”

Dara whisked them out, and was now driving her own car.  She already had a list of things to do, and it was fairly extensive.  They had shopping to do, but Dara wanted to drop off her clothes at George’s apartment first, so she’d have more space in the car.

They stopped at George’s, now Susan’s, apartment.  The mail had been stopped, and only a few flyers were in the mailbox.  In an hour they had the refrigerator emptied and spoiled food thrown out.  They agreed that, although Susan had a pull-out couch, that they’d share Susan’s queen-size waterbed.  Much of this trip was difficult for Susan; “his” old things still exactly where he had left them before he left for work one fateful morning.  She could still imagine if that hadn’t happened; continuing at work like normal, coming home every night to this same apartment.  The two plants that George had were long dead, dried from months without water; Dara threw them out.  They went into the bedroom together and looked in the closet, finding George’s old clothes.

Both of them stopped for a moment.

“I guess we should donate these to charity,” Dara said.

Susan picked up an old pair of slacks, and held them up to her, comparing the difference in her body to the shape that once fit these clothes.  She opened a nightstand drawer and found a picture of George and Karen, the only such picture in existence.  The memories were becoming overwhelming.  Susan sat on the bed, and Dara sat next to her.

“I didn’t know it would be this hard,” Dara said.  “I’m sorry.”  Tears were coming to Susan’s eyes.

“I should have known, of course.  Susan, listen to me.  This is still you.  Your body’s different, that’s all.  You’re going to run into your past once in a while; but with my help, we’ll have you feeling at home–both in this place, and in that body, in no time.  But if I were you, I’d want as few reminders around as possible.  It’d be hard for a young woman like yourself to explain a closetful of men’s clothes, you know.  Especially to another man.”

Dara disappeared for a moment and returned with a bunch of plastic garbage bags.  “You do this.  Put your old stuff in there and we’ll donate it to a good cause.  I’ll clean up elsewhere.  Actually, I think that Karen and you did a good job–it won’t take us long to feminize this place.”

Susan was still sitting on the bed, plastic bags in hand.  “Huh?”

“Make it look like a woman’s apartment instead of a man’s.”

“Well, I suppose Karen knew what was going on, and helped me decorate. 

Really, it’s just kind of neutral.”

Susan stood up and started checking the pockets of George’s clothes, tossing them in the bag afterwards.  She did so slowly and methodically, recalling the memories of her past with each article of clothing she took down from the closet.  She decided that Dara was right; some of these memories were painful, and it made sense to be rid of them.  She finished the closet and went to the dresser, putting George’s underwear in a separate bag destined for the trash.  She left behind none of the clothing; her closet looked strangely empty.  She started wiping out the drawers just as Dara walked back in.

“Ready to go?”  Dara asked.  “You can finish that stuff later.  I made a list of the things we should do this afternoon.  Tonight, we’ll go out and have some fun.”  Dara turned and walked back out to the living room.

Susan followed.  The apartment had been cleaned and dusted, some things moved around, and such.  Dara’s suitcases were still near the door.

“We have to take you to the salon, pick up your mail, go to the registry to get your real license picture, and then a little clothes shopping.  We’ll grab some lunch along the way; you must be hungry by now.”  Dara went to her suitcase, retrieved another bra, and put it on.  “I can’t really get away without this in these clothes.”

“You could have your own back...”  Susan suggested.

“No, you keep it.  You’ll need it when you’re trying things on.  Though we’ll buy you some bras of your own, as well.  Just follow what I do;

I’ll stay right with you in case there’s any questions you can’t answer. 

That’s one of the best things about being the same sex!”

They went to the salon first, where Dara had already made appointments for both women to have their hair styled, and a manicure done.  Susan’s nails were still short, and the manicurist admonished her to let them grow.  It was the first time that Susan had ever worn nail polish.  Susan’s hair had already grown, however, and was relayered into a much more feminine, sexy cut than it had been last time; now kind of “wild”, and wavy.  Susan’s sweatshirt now seemed very much out of place with the rest of her.

They stopped for lunch, then picked up Susan’s mail at the Post Office.  More than half was addressed to George, but the license renewal form that Dara expected there was mailed to Susan.  Her official records having changed, only a few credit cards and bank accounts needed “fixing”.  Susan got her new license quite easily, and Dara then took her out to her favorite clothing store, where they spent the rest of the afternoon.  The summer fashions had been out for a while, but Dara deferred getting the more adventurous outfits until Susan had acquired the “basics”–some jeans, all of which were unmistakably feminine, new underwear, several blouses, shorts, and dresses.  This was the first time that Susan had worn many of these things; and even though she had little resistance towards using the women’s dressing room, she was glad that Dara could help her.  Her eighteen-year-old body looked hardly different from Dara’s, even though Dara was really in her late twenties.

“Now, you are going to let me borrow these things, aren’t you?” Dara asked Susan while they were in the dressing room.  “After all, you can wear my things...”

Susan nodded, “Of course.”

Dara produced yet more clothes for Susan to try on.  “I think this’ll be really perfect for you... If you don’t mind.

“What is it?”

“Your first swimsuit.”

The familiar feeling returned, no longer quite as much shock as

excitement, however.  “A... bikini?”

Dara nodded excitedly.  “Here, let me help you...”

“But, Dara, it’s only March!”

“You have a pool in your building, right?   How do you plan to use it, skinny dip?”

“I see.  I’d never thought...”

“You have more to cover up than you used to.  You can’t survive without a swimsuit.  You’ll need a few more if we plan on going to the beach this summer.”

The swimsuit was a bright blue, and had some kind of fishnet to it that Susan didn’t understand.   “What’s this?” she asked.

“It’s for your legs... when you’re not swimming.”

“Doesn’t look like it does very much.”

“I have a feeling, with your body, that it will do very much.”

Susan held the fishnet leggings up.  They were indeed a separate piece.  The images crossing Susan’s mind distracted her completely; Dara’s invitation to go to the beach that summer somehow brought entirely foreign feelings to her.  Dara helped her try the suit on while Susan did little more than daydream:  Herself and Dara, walking across the beach in the warm summer sun, while she was wearing a... bikini.  Susan had been on the “other side” here; finding himself helplessly fascinated while at a rare trip to a beach, with gorgeous women walking in front of him wearing tantalizing outfits.  It had made him feel jealous, since at the time he had no girlfriend of his own; he felt the power these women had over the men in the situation; “Look, but don’t touch.”  Now she’d be one of those women.

Dara broke her trance.  “I’d also like to pick up a few exercise outfits for us.  I’d like it if you’d be my partner at the health club.  You won’t have to try them on; I think I know your body pretty well now.”

Susan’s attention snapped back into reality.  There she was, staring back from the mirror in a two-piece swimsuit.  Dara put the fishnet “pants” on her; the effect was complete.

“Nobody will be able to resist you,” Dara said.  With a smile, she added, “Not even me.  Come on, let’s pay for this stuff and get home.”

Susan, again, had forgotten these other implications.  In some ways, it felt painful; sure, she’d be on that beach with Dara, and certainly would have the attention of many men.  At least now.  Soon there would be fewer men left to admire her new body.  And the concept of being attractive to other women was just as strange.  Her emotions hadn’t had much of a chance to settle.