Over the next few days, Taylor’s attempts to keep Emily’s girlier side at bay were met with… mixed results. Taylor was unable to spend the day with Emily without her not so subtly suggesting that Taylor could use a touch of blush on his cheeks or mascara on his eyelashes. Which she was naturally more than happy to do for him. Taylor had to be extra careful when he gamed with Owen to ensure that if he was on video, he’d cleaned his face well. And he’d gotten far more acquainted with the clothes in the closet, since Emily seemed to take it upon herself to ensure that Taylor was wearing the girliest thing possible.

“Oh, no, no, no. No friend of mine is going to be running around in those when she has such cute clothes stashed away in her closet.” Emily said, as Taylor opened the door in a pair of his own shorts and a t-shirt, grabbing Taylor’s arm and practically dragging him back upstairs.

Taylor wanted to refuse her efforts, but given that the day he’d be able to get the nails off was just a few days away, he decided to go with the flow and lay low, hoping that this would all be over soon. Eventually, Emily decided on a midriff-baring floral top with a matching skirt, plus a pair of low-heeled sandals for Taylor.

“I don’t see why I have to get all dressed up if I’m just going over to your house.” Taylor said after he emerged from the bathroom dressed. “And what’s the deal with the purse?”

Taylor inspected the small bag with a shoulder strap sitting on his bed, finding his phone already inside.

“Oh! I forgot to tell you, Daddy let me borrow the car! We’re going to the mall!” Emily exclaimed.

Taylor suddenly felt as if he was completely naked. He had been fine with Aunt Agnes, Emily, and Logan seeing him like that because it was a necessity. He was also fine with being seen by Emily and Logan’s parents because they didn’t know him as anything other than a teenage girl. But to go out in public? Where everyone would see him? Sure, it’s not like he knew anyone in this place, but still. Although, with only one day left until the delivery of the nail polish remover, what was the harm?

“Great!” Taylor tried to respond with the same energy as Emily, despite his trepidations, as he threw his wallet into the purse.

“I’ve done some research about the stores, there’s some cute boutiques…” Emily started, though Taylor tuned out as he mentally planned out how he was going to handle his ‘departure’ and re-introduction to the twins.

By the time they arrived at the mall, Taylor’s fear returned, but they didn’t spend much time wandering. Emily had an agenda and she stuck to it. After checking out a few specialty stores, where Emily very overtly hinted at what types of makeup and skin-care items she thought that Taylor should use, though he didn’t have to buy them today, they hit the clothing stores. Taylor was thankful for being in a women’s clothing store, since he wouldn’t have to worry about potential stares from guys. He got enough of that from Logan. And it didn’t help that Emily kept making comments about them.

“You know, Logan’s never really had a girlfriend before.” Emily said as she started going through the racks. “You’d have to teach him how to do it right?”

“Me?” Taylor’s heart stopped.

“Sorry, I meant whoever ends up dating him.” Emily casually replied. “Though you two seem to be getting along pretty well…”

“I think I want to stop talking about this now.” Taylor said, halting the conversation.

Taylor worried that he’d have to try on even more clothes than he already had at home, but Emily seemed more focused on herself, and once she was satisfied, she dragged Taylor off in a hurry.

“What’s the rush? I thought we were just looking around.” Taylor said.

“Well… I may have made an appointment at the salon here. I’ve heard great things!” Emily excitedly said as they approached a chic salon.

“I wasn’t exactly planning on a haircut this week.” Taylor said.

“It’s my treat, and don’t worry, it’s not going to be dramatic, just something to freshen you up. I didn’t want to say anything, but your hair needs major TLC.” Emily said.

Taylor was concerned, given Emily’s personality and lack of restraint, but he also knew that by the next day, he’d probably be shaving it off anyway once he got the nails removed, so what was the harm of a little styling? He’d been told many times that his hair would be nicer if he actually went to a place that catered to people with hair of that length. And if Emily was footing the bill, there really was no reason not to.

“Fine.” Taylor said. “But nothing dramatic.”

“Don’t worry!” Emily practically started to push Taylor into the salon.

Emily approached the reception area with Taylor trailing behind and checked them in, teaching Taylor that Emily and Logan’s last name was Jackson. Once they were sat into a couple of chairs, the stylists came over to them.

“What’ll we be doing today, miss?” the stylist asked Taylor, and he blushed slightly at being called “Miss”.

“Just a wash and rinse, please.” Taylor said as the stylist draped a pink cape over his body.

“Got it.” the stylist smiled and lowered Taylor’s head into the basin and started washing.

As she did that, Taylor noticed that getting his head massaged and washed felt really good. Maybe he’d ask Aunt Agnes if her hairstylist could do this to him once he was back to normal. In a far more masculine manner, of course.

Taylor got lost in the combination of relaxing massage and relaxing music and just enjoyed the ride, despite it being slightly painful as they ran a comb through his tangled hair.

“Ouch…” Taylor winced.

“I know just the shampoo to stop that, you know.” Emily informed from her chair.

“You’ve got some split ends, do you mind if I fix them?” the stylist asked Taylor.

Taylor just nodded, again figuring that it didn’t matter what they did to his hair. A few snips here and there couldn’t change his hair that much, right? Though he wasn’t entirely prepared for how his hair would look at the end.

“Voilà!” the stylist pronounced, holding a mirror up so Taylor could see the back of his head.

“Woah…” Taylor gasped.

He had figured it would just look cleaner and maybe straighter, but he was wholly unprepared for the fact that his hair was far shinier than it had been before, with the split ends gone and a few snips in front leaving Taylor with very pronounced and feminine bangs, and the blow dry giving his hair far more volume.

“You look gorgeous, Tay!” Emily exclaimed. “And like I promised, nothing dramatic.”

Of course, Emily wouldn’t think that this was dramatic, it was probably her standard type of haircut, given how her hair was similarly blown out.

“Right… this isn’t dramatic at all.” Taylor muttered, then turned to the stylist. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” the stylist replied. “You girls have a good day.”

“We definitely will now!” Emily smiled as they left the salon.

Taylor was shocked at how easy it was to make even him believe that he looked like a girl. And he wasn’t even wearing any makeup today! Thankfully, that was the end of the mall trip, but of course, upon their return back to Emily’s, Logan was inside the garage with their father, helping him organize the room.

“The mall here is great! I think I’m going to like it here.” Emily remarked as she handed her father the car keys.

“I’m sure glad that we define the quality of an area by the quality of the shopping.” Mr. Jackson glanced down at the bags in Emily’s arms.

“Logan, notice anything different about us?” Emily asked, striking a pose.

“Should I?” Logan asked.

“Of course you should! We got our hair done!” Emily huffed, before turning to Taylor. “Honestly, boys will never understand.”

“Yeah…” Taylor said.

“Then you look very nice.” Logan said. “Especially you, Taylor.”

Taylor blushed at the compliment. It was definitely the first time he’d gotten complimented on his hair by another guy.

“Th-thanks.” Taylor muttered, staring at his feet.

Emily just grinned knowingly as she pawned a few bags off to Taylor and the two headed up to Emily’s room.

“You know, if there’s ever anything you wanna borrow, feel free to ask. I know I’ve got a few tops that you’d look great in.” Emily said as she hung up her new dress in her closet.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Taylor said, handing Emily another one of the bags. “I’ll stick with my own clothes.”

“Well, if you ever change your mind, just know the offer stands. And it works both ways.” Emily giggled.

Taylor weakly smiled in response.

Later, Taylor frowned in the mirror as he tried several ways of styling his hair. As is, Owen would definitely notice how girly it looked on videochat. Even tying it back didn’t help, all Taylor could see in the mirror was the girl that Emily and Logan believed him to be. Maybe it was his own insecurities, but maybe not… After all, no one had seen through his disguise at the mall.

Taylor went to his computer, and he got an incoming call from Owen. Taylor hesitated, but eventually hit “Audio Only”.

“Hey, man! What’s going on?” Owen asked.

“Not much.” Taylor replied. “Ready to game?”

“No camera tonight?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s glitching out. I don’t know what’s wrong with it.”

“All right, let’s do this!”

As Taylor and Owen started to play, Taylor’s phone began to buzz. Taylor ignored it, but the buzzing got more and more insistent until Taylor’s resolve broke.

“BRB.” Taylor said, putting his controller down and picking up his phone.

Emily had sent him a makeup tutorial. As Taylor tried to close his phone, he accidentally started the video, which Taylor fumbled at shutting off thanks in part to the nails.

“Hello girls! And welcome back to another makeup tutorial!” the heavily made up girl in the video exclaimed.

But not before Owen heard at least a snippet of the video.

“What the hell are you watching?” Owen asked.

“Nothing!” Taylor replied. “I hit the trending tab on YouTube by mistake.”

“I was about to say, I didn’t think you were that desperate to see a girl our age.” Owen laughed.

“Actually, my aunt just got new neighbors. Twins around our age, a guy and a girl.” Taylor said.

“Is the girl cute?” Owen asked.

“Yeah, but she’s a little much.” Taylor replied. “Very strong personality.”

“Well don’t go spending all your time with them and forget about me.” Owen said.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Taylor smiled, though he frowned as he caught his reflection in the black screen as the next stage loaded.