“What am I going to do?” Taylor asked, after explaining his current situation to Aunt Agnes. She sat with a pensive look on her face.

“I suppose you could always just… explain the mix-up and tell them that you’re a boy.” Aunt Agnes remarked. “At least that’s what I would do.”

“But if I do that, they’ll make fun of me! Between the nails, the sunglasses, even if I tell them that the nails were a prank, they’d just think I’m some freak. And Emily changed her shirt in front of me! Her dad’s like a marine or something, he’d pummel me if he found out!” Taylor said. “Maybe I can just never leave the house again… And you could tell them I went home.”

“If that’s what you want…” Aunt Agnes said.

“But then I couldn’t go out by the pool, and what if they saw me through a window…”

“There is one more solution, but I don’t think you’d like it.”

“What is it?”

“If you’re so vehemently against telling them that you’re a boy, you’ll just have to keep up the charade. At least until we can fix the nails and cut your hair. Then I can tell them that my ‘niece’ Taylor went home suddenly, and my nephew, who is also named Taylor, came to stay instead, and you can be the real you.”

“But would they really believe that? Identical cousins?”

“I don’t see why not, family resemblances are fairly common, aren’t they? Of course, you could always spend the whole summer as a girl and then you won’t have to worry about them recognizing you ever again.”

“Let’s not be hasty… I guess you’re right. That might work… A week pretending to be a girl isn’t so bad. I can still wear guy’s clothes, lots of girls do that nowadays.”

Suddenly, the doorbell rang throughout the house. Aunt Agnes made her way to the door and opened it, revealing Emily and Logan standing behind it.

“Hello, you must be Emily and Logan. I’m Taylor’s aunt, Agnes.” Aunt Agnes said. “Come in.”

“Thank you.” Emily said. “Is Taylor finished with what you needed her for?”

“I think that she is. Taylor! You’ve got guests!” Aunt Agnes shouted.

Taylor walked in from the other room, suddenly self conscious in front of Emily and Logan, despite knowing that the only feminine thing he really had were the nails.

“What’s up?” Taylor asked.

“We wanted to see if you wanted to come back over and hang.” Logan replied.

Taylor looked to Aunt Agnes, who just shrugged in response.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Taylor said.

“Great!” Emily exclaimed. “Let’s go!”

Taylor followed the siblings out the door as Aunt Agnes shut it behind them, chuckling as she walked away. Thankfully, Taylor didn’t have any more awkward moments after heading back to Emily and Logan’s. All that happened was a bit more conversation and a few rounds of video games between the three teens.

The next morning, Taylor was woken up bright and early to Aunt Agnes walking into the room and pulling the curtains wide open.

“Jeez! What are you doing? It’s only…” Taylor glanced at his phone. “8 a.m.”

“Which is a perfectly normal time to wake up. But more importantly, your new friend is waiting for you downstairs.”

“New friend?”

“Emily came by after her morning jog and wanted to know if you were awake yet.”

“Why didn’t you tell her I was asleep?”

“I did… when she came by before her jog.” Aunt Agnes sighed. “If she’s going to be that insistent, I’m not going to keep turning her away.”

“Ugh…” Taylor groaned. “All right. Tell her I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

After Aunt Agnes left, Taylor quickly brushed his hair out of his face and brushed his teeth, before heading down to the foyer, where Emily was sitting on the small bench near the door.

“Good morning!” Taylor said, coming down the stairs.

“Taylor! Your aunt didn’t just wake you up, did she?” Emily asked, as chipper as ever.

Taylor wondered how someone could be that happy at that time of the morning.

“Sorta.” Taylor yawned.

“Someone’s a night owl, sounds like Logan.” Emily giggled. “He stayed up way too late trying to beat your high score.”

Taylor chuckled in response. He bet Logan wasn’t used to a “girl” beating his high-score. Even if the situation sucked, Taylor could see some humor in it.

“Got any plans for today?” Emily asked.

“Not yet… why?” Taylor replied.

“Are you planning on going swimming again?”

“Let me guess… you don’t have a pool?”

“It’s not filled yet.” Emily said. “And you did say it was getting boring swimming alone…”

Taylor weighed his options, it wasn’t like, especially during the summer, he was gonna get out of swimming. And if he refused, it meant he wouldn’t be able to swim without Emily edging her way in. It was probably better to figure this out early.

“Let me check with my aunt to see if it’s okay.” Taylor said.

“I’ll go grab my suit! Text me what she says!” Emily rushed out the door, back towards her house.

Taylor went into the den and found Aunt Agnes reading a book.

“We’ve got another problem.” Taylor said.

“That certainly seems the trend this week…” Aunt Agnes sighed. “What is it this time?”

“Emily wants to go swimming.” Taylor said.

“And…”

“And if I go swimming without a shirt, she’ll see that I’m a guy!”

“Oh, right. I think I have something that might help. It came with the bathing suit.” Aunt Agnes quickly stood up and went back to the closet, pulling out a long sleeved blue rash guard. “How’s this?”

“Perfect.” Taylor said, taking it.

Taylor quickly texted Emily and changed into his suit, using his computer to look up how to hide his male bits temporarily with some tape. After some doing, he managed to securely hide them. Thankfully, the rash guard wasn’t quite his size, so it managed to hang in a way that would obscure his lack of breasts. Taylor really hoped that he wouldn’t have to figure out how to fake that.

Once he was finished, he grabbed his sunglasses, towel and went out back to the pool, letting Emily in through the back gate when she arrived. She was wearing a striped bikini and Taylor lowered his sunglasses to get a better look at it while she set up her towel on one of the lounge chairs.

“That’s your suit?” Emily asked as she walked over to the side of the pool and sat down, dipping her legs into the water.

“Yeah, my aunt accidentally sent my regular one out with the laundry, so I have to use this one.” Taylor replied.

“That stinks. You should’ve told me, I’d have let you borrow one of mine.” Emily remarked. “I’ve got this great one-piece that you’d look great in!”

“That’s okay,” Taylor said. “I’ll stick to this one for now.”

“Suit yourself,” Emily giggled as she hopped into the pool.

Taylor followed and everything went fairly well as they swam. No embarrassing situations for Taylor, and he got to covertly check out a pretty girl in a bikini without her realizing it. Emily just assumed that Taylor was comparing. Which conveniently also served as a test for how good his tucking job had been.

Eventually, they were done swimming and were splayed out on the lounge chairs, catching some sun. Taylor dried himself off and stood up.

“I think I’m done for the day. I’m gonna go change.” Taylor said.

“I’ll come with!” Emily exclaimed, sitting up.

“Nah, you stay down here, I’ll be quick.” Taylor insisted.

“I don’t feel comfortable just being left alone out here… besides, I wanna see your room!” Emily said.

“...Fine.” Taylor said, grabbing his towel.

Taylor and Emily began to walk through the house, as Emily remarked on the aesthetics of the mansion.

“Your aunt has great taste. Everything is so nice!” Emily remarked.

“Yeah,” Taylor said. “I guess.”

As they approached the room, Taylor hoped he hadn’t left any obvious masculine items strewn about the floor as they walked inside.

“Nice room!” Emily remarked. “Kinda sparse, though.”

“Well, it’s cause I’m only visiting. So this is still technically Aunt Agnes’s room.” Taylor explained. “The game systems are mine, though.”

Taylor started rummaging through a drawer to grab his clothes, while Emily looked around.

“You might want to head home… I’m probably going to take ages to pick something out.” Taylor hoped that Emily would take the offer.

“Ooh! Let me help!” Emily said. “I’ve been told I have an eye for fashion.”

“That’s okay, I pretty much know what I like to wear.” Taylor said, reaching into the drawer where his t-shirts were.

Taylor started rummaging through the shirts as Emily pulled open the closet door and smiled.

“Here we go!” Emily exclaimed.

Taylor looked up, surprised to see that inside the closet that he’d never opened, was a bunch of clothing suited for a teenage girl. Dresses, skirts, and all manner of shoes were arranged very nicely within the closet. Taylor’s face dropped.

“I think these will look great on you!” Emily finished making her selections and handed a bundle of clothes to Taylor.

“Uh…” Taylor started.

“These are your clothes, right?” Emily asked.

Taylor’s brain began to short circuit. He desperately wanted to respond that they weren’t, but he couldn't think of a good reason why those clothes would be in his closet, especially if he was trying to keep up the charade for the whole week.

“Yeah.” Taylor said. “I just prefer to wear a t-shirt and shorts is all.”

“So I’ve noticed. You’ve gotta branch out, show off your femininity, or else people are gonna think you’re a guy.” Emily said. “These clothes will help with that.”

Nevermind that Taylor wanted people to think he was a guy, because he really was one, Taylor silently took the bundle and rushed into the bathroom. He unrolled the pile, and within it was a pair of white panties, a white padded camisole, a pair of denim shorts that went down to about to the knee, and a pink polo shirt. As Taylor inspected the clothes, he was startled by a knock on the door.

“Come on out! I wanna see how it looks!” Emily said as she rocked on her heels on the other side of the door.

“Uh, I’m not too sure about this outfit. It’s not really my style.” Taylor responded through the door.

“Come on, just try it!” Emily insisted.

Taylor desperately wanted to just tell her that he was a boy, but the fear was too strong. Besides, what are the odds that the outfit would even fit? Taylor sighed and stripped out of his bathing suit, putting on the new outfit. Pulling on the panties, he quickly adjusted himself similarly to how he’d done for the bathing suit.

While he’d hoped that it wouldn’t fit, it seemed that the clothes were nearly perfect for his size, except of course, for his obvious lack of feminine assets, though the camisole was doing a pretty good job of creating the illusion of endowment.

“Taylor!” Emily sang from outside the door.

“Coming!” Taylor replied, before wincing as he looked in the mirror.

Before, there was a bit of ambiguity. The nails and long hair were feminine, but the clothes weren’t. Now, that ambiguity was gone. Apart from Taylor’s hairy legs and lack of breasts, he didn’t look all that dissimilar to a teenage girl, the shirt resting in such a way that his chest wasn’t obviously flat.

Taylor exited the bathroom, with his shoulders slumped and walked out. Emily squealed with delight.

“You look great! What’d I tell you? You’re still wearing pretty casual stuff, but now you look like the cute girl you are!” Emily exclaimed.

“Great…” Taylor winced.

Emily looked Taylor up and down, then frowned. Taylor worried that she might have noticed something and his heart began to beat faster.

“Hmm…” Emily started.

“What’s wrong?” Taylor asked.

“Don’t take this the wrong way but… why don’t you shave?” Emily replied, motioning to his legs and arms.

Taylor had to think on his feet. Why might a teenage girl have stopped shaving? Taylor didn’t think the personal preference excuse would work for this one.

“Oh… I uh… I ran out of razors. My aunt gets all her stuff delivered and doesn’t have a car, so I haven’t been able to. She’s supposed to get some next week.” Taylor said.

“Okay.” Emily said, before her eyes twinkled with an idea. “If that’s all it is, I’ve got something that can help with that at my house. Come with me!”

Emily grabbed Taylor’s arm once again and the two teens rushed out of the bedroom and down the stairs. As they approached the door, Aunt Agnes walked into the foyer. Her eyes widened slightly at Taylor’s appearance, but if Emily noticed, she didn’t say anything.

“Hold on one sec, wait for me outside, I have to talk with Aunt Agnes about something.” Taylor practically pushed Emily out the door and rushed over to Aunt Agnes.

“This is a new look…” Aunt Agnes said, deadpan.

“Emily took a look inside my closet. Why do you even have clothes for a teenage girl?” Taylor asked.

“I told you, I get it as comp for the consulting I do with fashion designers, and I used to send some of it to your cousins as birthday and Christmas presents, but I’ve been busy so I just put them in a closet for storage.” Aunt Agnes asked. “Despite everything, she definitely has good taste. That color certainly suits you.”

Taylor’s phone began buzzing in his hand. He checked it and saw a message from Emily urging him to hurry up.

“I really don’t want to go outside like this.” Taylor said.

“This is the choice you made. A week pretending to be a girl, you made your bed, now you’ve got to lie in it.” Aunt Agnes said.

Taylor sighed in acknowledgement, slipped on his flip-flops, and headed towards the door.

“I’ll be back for dinner.” Taylor said.

“That’s all I ask, dear.” Aunt Agnes said. “Have fun!”

Taylor headed out the door and Emily cheerfully led him across the street to her house and straight up to the bathroom adjoined to her room. It was pretty small, just a bathtub with a shower, a sink and a toilet.

“This stuff is a lifesaver. Here, take the shorts off.” Emily said, as she pumped a healthy amount of depilatory into her hand.

Taylor hesitated, because smooth legs would make it hard for him to shed this appearance at week’s end, but Emily took it as fear of the cream.

“Don’t worry, it only burns a little.” Emily said, patting her other hand on the side of the bathtub.

“I’m really okay waiting until my aunt gets new razors.” Taylor insisted.

“Come on!” Emily said. “You’ll love how smooth it gets you, I promise!”

Taylor could have just made a break for it right there. Refuse and put his foot down, but he started thinking about how Emily might scrutinize that. Why might an otherwise normal, if tomboyish teenage girl not want to shave her legs? The fear of her discovering the secret was too much. He pulled down his shorts and sat down on the side of the tub.

“Put your leg on my lap.” Emily said, as Taylor complied. “Oh, you could totally use a pedicure, too.”

She started rubbing the cream over his legs and arms while making idle conversation, mainly about the area.

“Have you checked out any of the malls?” Emily asked.

“I haven’t left my Aunt’s house since I got here. She doesn’t have a car, and it’s a good half hour walk into the main part of town.” Taylor replied.

After she finished, Taylor sat with his legs in the tub.

“Awesome! I’ve got my car, so we can check out the malls together! It’ll be so much fun!” Emily said.

Before Taylor could respond, he felt the tingling from the cream start to go even further.

“Ooh!” Taylor exclaimed.

“Okay, that means it’s working.” Emily grabbed the showerhead and started to spray Taylor’s legs down.

Taylor moved his arms under the faucet and wiped the excess off with a towel. Emily ran her fingers across Taylor’s thigh as she admired her work.

“Smooth as a baby’s bottom!” Emily exclaimed as Taylor involuntarily giggled. “See? I told you that you’d like it!”

“I guess… Why don’t we go see what Logan’s doing?” Taylor asked as he pulled on his shorts, hoping to free himself from Emily’s room and any more femininity than he already had.

“Interested in my brother, eh? Don’t worry, I’ve seen his girlfriends, I know exactly what his type is.”

“No, I don’t mean like that.” Taylor tried to backtrack.

“And your hair is a mess too… maybe I should just give you a little makeover while you’re here.” Emily sat Taylor down into a chair and quickly started attacking his hair with a brush.

After a few minutes, and a lot of wincing from Taylor, she had brushed Taylor’s hair out and tied his long hair into a simple messy bun.

“There... we... go!” Emily grinned as she made some final adjustments, leaving a strand of hair hanging over Taylor’s face.

“Thanks, Emily but…” Taylor started to get up.

“Hold on! One more thing!” Emily pulled Taylor back down.

Emily attacked Taylor’s face with a pair of tweezers, and after she plucked some stray hairs around his eyebrows, she put some blush onto Taylor’s cheeks, along with giving his lips a generous coating of pink lipgloss.

“It’s not just about looking good, you know, you’ve got to keep your lips moist or they get chapped. Especially if you sunbathe as much as I do.” Emily continued.

She’d have probably done even more damage, but she was called to help her mother with something, and so left Taylor to sit in her room for a few minutes. What’s funny, is that having been alone in a girl’s bedroom with her would have been his dream. But not when Taylor is just another one of the girls.

As Taylor scrutinized his new look in the mirror, trying to mess his hair back to its former messy state, but unable to untie the bun, he muttered to himself.

“Taylor, what have you gotten yourself into…” he sighed.

“Taylor! You look… different.” Logan’s voice surprised Taylor and he jumped, before turning around to see Logan popping his head into the room.

“Yeah, I had a little help from your fashion-forward sister.” Taylor sighed.

“Yeah… Emily can be a little… much. But she means well.” Logan said. “For what it’s worth, I think you look nice.”

“Thanks.” Taylor blushed, since being complimented by another boy was a strange feeling, especially dressed as he was.

“Say, I’m having a hard time with a stage in Doom Gods. Mind helping me out?” Logan asked.

“And avoid any further makeovers from Emily? Yes, please!” Taylor followed Logan out of the room and into Logan’s.

Despite his appearance, Taylor found it much easier to deal with Logan, since he didn’t have to put up any facades. He could simply play games, talk about the latest in geeky news, and if it wasn’t for the clothes, nails, makeup, and the fact that Taylor could feel his hair sitting in the bun, this would feel like any other gaming session.

“I think they’re announcing the DLC expansion pack at the next convention.” Taylor said.

“Really? I’ve been hoping we’d get that for this game.” Logan said, admiring Taylor’s skill as he slew demons onscreen. “I’ve ran out of stuff to do in the main campaign.”

Eventually, Emily made her way back upstairs and poked her head into the room.

“Hey you guys…” Emily sang, seemingly knowingly. “Whatcha doing?”

“Doom Gods.” Logan said. “Taylor is amazing.”

“I spend a lot of time playing with my friend Owen.” Taylor said.

“Boyfriend?” Emily asked excitedly.

“God no!” Taylor exclaimed. “He’s just my friend.”

“So no boyfriend, eh?” Emily giggled.

“I’d rather not talk about that, if that’s okay with you.” Taylor said.

“No problem, Tay.” Emily said, before winking at Logan, who rolled his eyes.

After some more gaming, Taylor got a text from Aunt Agnes reminding him about dinner, so he excused himself and thanked both Emily and Logan. For Emily, a reluctant but polite thank you for the makeover, and for Logan, a thank you for getting him out of Emily’s clutches just in time. After Taylor left, the siblings were left to talk amongst themselves.

“Wasn’t Taylor pretty today?” Emily asked.

“I know you gave her a makeover, so I’m not gonna say no.” Logan replied. “But yeah.”

“I think she likes you.” Emily said.

“You think so?” Logan asked. “That would be really cool,”

“Yeah, she asked about you today. I think she just needs help coming out of her shell. I’m gonna help her blossom into a woman.” Emily said.

“Just don’t overdo it and scare her off. She’s the only other person our age that we’ve got to hang out with ‘til school starts.” Logan said.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. I bet she’s just shy because she’s a late bloomer. I saw her comparing herself to me in the pool. Kept staring at my chest.” Emily said. “She just needs a guiding feminine hand. Which I just so happen to have.”