WRONG NUMBER
PART 4: Third Time Is A... Complete Disaster

It was only natural that Keri and Kelly arranged for a third date before they parted company —- right after another thoroughly intoxicating round of kisses. This time, it was to be the two of them alone! Kelly was so excited to finally be with the love of his life all alone without that damn Chloe interrupting the best moments. Chloe was a great friend and they got along famously, but her patience could be a tad thin at times. Kelly couldn’t wait to finally be able to let love take its course uninterrupted. What was it that Kelly had said during the second date, something about being a dreaming airhead? Yeah, that was it!

Kelly dressed as a girl again before Keri arrived. Kelly had realized, the previous night, that Keri had seen Kelly-the-girl but never Kelly-the-boy. It was going so well and he didn’t want to risk any problems (irony of ironies). He had gone shopping and bought himself a cute, soft dark purple corduroy jumper with a pale lavender long-sleeve shirt to go under it. He already had a pair of white tights he could wear with it.

She arrived right on time and Kelly greeted her with a long, warm hug at the door. Kelly hadn’t put his make up on —- though he was otherwise ready —- so he led her up to his room. All of a sudden, everything went horribly wrong. When Keri saw his room, she stopped dead in her tracks and her smile faltered.

“Are you all right? What’s the matter?”

She was very flustered and Kelly could tell that she was about to cry.

“Oh my God. You're a girl!”

"W-what? No!"

"I'm so sorry, Kelly. I just didn't expect this to happen. I need to leave! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

She ran down the stairs and Kelly ran after her.

"Keri, wait! Please!"

She opened the front door, turned around, and tearfully said, “I’m so sorry!” Then the door was closed behind her.

Keri’s sister, Sharon was responsible enough to wait for her sister to get safely inside before leaving the curb. She was about to meet up with her best friend, who was supposed to call her and confirm their plans. Sharon hadn’t heard from her friend and she used the opportunity to make a phone call while she waited for Keri to get inside. Better to do it at the curb then on the freeway. Her friend had answered and had just confirmed their plans when, out of nowhere, Keri ripped the door open, lunged inside, slammed the door, and begged for her sister to get them out of there. As soon as she had her seatbelt on, Keri burst into tears.

Sharon got the icy feeling that her sister’s date had turned out to be a freak after all. Without batting an eye, she did just what her sister wanted her to. She pealed out of there and took her sister home.

Kelly was beyond stunned. What in the hell had just happened? He closed the front door, still in shock and filled with worry that he would never see Keri again. He walked back up to his room to try to figure out what Keri had seen that made her come apart that way. He stood in his doorway, feeling steadily closer to crying, and looked around. The walls were light blue, the bed sheets were white with white embroidered patterns on them. They were old ones of Tara's and were definitely feminine. A few months previously, Kelly had revealed to his mother that he loved them and she very open-mindedly agreed to let him use them. The rest of his room was a mix of male and female, but he had feminized it because Keri seemed to like him as a girl —- or was there another reason?

Kelly had dug out a couple of his old stuffed animals from storage (a small Snoopy and a small, pale yellow horse) and placed them on the bed. He had cleaned up his room, and had replaced his Einstein and Howard Jones posters with a Cyndi Lauper poster and a print of a vase of flowers in an inexpensive frame. It began to dawn on him that Keri must have taken one look at his room and thought he was transgendered! She had said that she liked boys who dressed as girls, not boys who thought they were girls! Kelly gasped loudly as he felt an awful sorrow sweep through his body. He was sure that he would never see Keri again. He could no longer hold his emotions in. He began to cry inconsolably as he collapsed onto his bed, racked with heaving sobs.

He heard his mother and sister hurry into his room to see what was the matter. Tara let her mother do the talking.

“Kelly? Sweetie? What happened? I heard Keri run out the door. Are you crying? Did you have a fight?”
“No.”

Tara grabbed the tissues off of his desk and handed one to him before placing the box on the bed next to them. Kelly's mother took him in her arms and hugged him, stroking his hair. Kelly and his mother both knew that he was not just a crossdresser but Kelly, anyway, had no idea what that meant. His mother had known what she was doing when she allowed him to use Tara’s old bed sheets. His mother understood that he felt a need to explore and decided to support him in the process. Kelly figured that he had a definite feminine side that he needed to express regularly to be sane and that was it, but now he was not so sure.

“Does it have something to do with the way you’ve been experimenting with your identity lately?”

I nodded my head and blew my nose before I answered.

“She took one look at my room and ran. She likes boys who love dressing as girls but now she probably thinks I'm transgendered!”
“Oh no. Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry. I know how you feel about her.”
“She was so perfect and now I’ll never see her again! I knew it was too good to be true, I just knew it! I’m such an idiot!”
“What do you mean, honey?”

Kelly knew that his mother would never have permitted his first meeting with Keri and he had avoided that problem by "neglecting" to tell her how he and Keri met.

“Keri and I met randomly when I accidentally called a wrong number. We hit it off and found out we had a lot in common, so w-we… we met up at the mall. She brought a friend and I tried to but none of my friends were available.”

His mother was horrified that he had taken such a risk, especially without telling her, but that was hardly the time to discuss it.

“Why didn’t you ask me to come along?”

Kelly stared at her, wondering how on earth she could overlook the problem with a sixteen-year-old showing up for a date with his mother!

“Why do you think?”
“Oh, I see. Ordinarily you would have a point.”
"How about Tara?"
"I couldn't have gone, Mom. I had plans I couldn't have canceled."
“Mom, I know it was nuts to do it; it was just… I knew, Mom. I don’t know how, but I knew she was safe. If I had had any doubt I would never have done it.” Okay, that was a slight fib.

She was unsure she should believe Kelly, but it was not a good time to argue the point.

"Tara, did you know anything about this?"
"Not the part about it being so random, no."
"All right."
"Kelly are you sure that's why she left? It couldn't have been something else she didn't mention?"
"I don't know, Tara, but it sure as hell seemed to be something about this room that set her off."

Kelly dried his eyes and looked up at his mother.

“I think I need some fresh air to try to clear my head and think things through.”
“Okay sweetheart. How long, do you think?”
“An hour or so.”

Kelly's mother hugged him warmly.

“Okay, sweetheart, why don’t you do that. But be careful!”
“I will, Mom. Let me redo my makeup, though. I must look awful.”

Kelly's mother smiled at him and stood up to leave the room. Kelly smiled back weakly.

“You could use a little touch up. Anyway, I’m going to start dinner. It should be ready when you get back.”
“Okay.”
"Care to assist me, Tara?"
"Sure, Mom."

Kelly's sister and mother left the room to head for the kitchen and he opened his desk to get out his makeup. He didn’t need much at his age. He went into the bathroom, washed the mascara and lip gloss off of his face, and reapplied them. Satisfied with his freshened face, he replaced his makeup in his desk and headed for the front door. He paused at the door to shout goodbye to his mother before he walked outside and closed the door behind him.

Keri was too devastated to talk about what she experienced and Sharon drove in silence. When they walked in the front door Keri’s mother saw her face and came straight over to her.

“Keri, sweetie, what’s the matter? What happened?”
“I don’t know, Mom!”
“Go on upstairs and I'll bring you a cup of your favorite jasmine tea, okay?”

Keri hugged her mother.

“Okay. Thank you.”
“Oh, you’re welcome, sweetheart.”

As Keri and Sharon walked up the stairs, Sharon got the feeling that Keri was confused about something and might want some private time to figure it out.

“Hey, Keri, you seem like you need some alone time right now, but if you want to talk about it, please come and get me, okay?”

Keri stopped, reached for her sister’s arm, and led her into Keri’s room. Keri flopped down on her bed in a ball, with her head on her pillow, and Sharon sat next to her, trying vainly to console her.

“Keri, what happened over there?”

Keri opened her mouth to reply and a sob came out.

“Did she do something to you?”
“N-no, she didn’t do anything. I just…”

Keri cleared her throat and a second later her mother walked into the room with the sweet smelling jasmine tea. Jasmine tea had long been a kind of comfort food for Keri. The fragrance and the warmth of the tea had always done a wonderful job of relaxing her. Keri’s mother set the tea on the night stand and Keri sat up to blow on it and take a sip.

“Keri, sweetheart, please tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know. I’m so confused. We went upstairs to Kelly’s room and for some reason when I saw her room I freaked out.”
“What did Kelly’s room look like?”
“Almost like a girl’s room.”
“Any idea why that freaked you out, sis?”
“I don’t know. I just know that I expected to see a boy’s room and something about it being a feminine room just made me panic.”

Keri stared into space, finishing her tea, trying to figure herself out.

“Would you like another cup, sweetheart?”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back.”

Keri waited until her mother was downstairs before leaning close to Sharon.

“Sharon?”
“I’m here, sis.”

Sharon rubbed her sister’s shoulders.

“I’m a lesbian.”
“Wow. I can see how it might feel scary to find out something like that. Well, it’s totally okay with me; it’s no problem at all. I love you now matter what, you know that.”
“Thanks, Sharon." Keri hugged her big sister. "I just didn’t know until now. With a room like that, Kelly must be transgendered. I didn’t know that either. I thought she was just a crossdresser. I thought I was attracted to boys who love dressing as girls, but when I walked into Kelly’s room and saw how feminine it was I knew he was really a girl. Then it hit me that I am in love with a girl! I am a lesbian and I was totally not ready for it.” Keri took a deep breath. “It just really sandbagged me.” Keri began to cry again. “Kelly probably thinks that I don’t want to be with him anymore!”
“Oh, no!”
“I really need to call her, but… I’m still a mess right now. I need to pull myself together first.”
“Yeah, I think that's a good idea.”

Keri’s mother returned with a fresh cup of jasmine tea and Keri took it eagerly.

"Thanks, Mom."
"You're welcome, honey."

Keri's mother kissed her daughter on the top of her head. Keri knew the tea would help her calm down, just like it always did. She took her time with her tea, letting it do its magic.

"Could I have some privacy, please?"
"Of course. Come on, Sharon."

Keri's family left to give her some privacy. When Keri finished her tea, she put the cup in the saucer on the nightstand and closed her bedroom door. She pulled her cellphone out of her purse and dialed Kelly's number. She got his voice mail. For a moment, she considered leaving a message, but she decided to try again in five minutes. She paced around her room and tried to think of what to say. When five minutes elapsed, she tried again and got no answer.

She tried again several times during the next hour and got Kelly's voice mail every time. She realized that her number would be displayed on his cellphone and he definitely knew she was calling. She began to wonder if Kelly was refusing to take her calls. Tears began to leak from her eyes again. She threw her door open and ran to Sharon’s room.

“Sharon! Sharon, he’s not answering his phone. I’ve been trying for an hour. He knows it’s me and he's not answering. You have to take me back there! Please??”
“I’d be happy to. Anything for love!”

Keri threw her arms around her sister.

“Come on, let’s go.”

Keri ran down the stairs to grab her jacket.

“Mom! We’re going back to Kelly’s house!”

Keri’s mom came out of the living room to see what was going on.

“What’s happened?”
“Kelly’s not answering his phone and he knows it’s me. He won’t take my calls! I have to talk to him!”
“You go get him, honey!”
“Thanks, Mom!”

Keri hugged her mother quickly.

“Come on, Sharon!”

Fifteen minutes later, Keri leapt out of Sharon’s car and ran to Kelly's front door. She rang his doorbell and waited breathlessly for someone to answer. Nobody did. She rang the bell again and nothing happened. She could swear that she smelled food cooking. She rang the bell one last time and tried to look into the house through a narrow window next to the door. She couldn't see anyone and she didn't hear anything. What the hell was going on? She went back to the car.

TO BE CONTINUED! PART 5: TURN FOR THE WORST

Author's note: This part and ensuing ones are narrated in the third person rather than first person. It avoids confusion this way! :)