The game was forgotten, along with the rest of dinner. The leftovers were in the fridge, the TV and the console were turned off. Now we were just sitting together on the sofa drinking cola. I opened another bag of chips though so we had something to munch on.

"So um," I hesitated. "I'm still not sure I believe the whole reality-change stuff. You've convinced me on the deja-vu thing, but... It's a lot I guess."

Alexis nodded, "Yeah I get it. I'm not even sure I believe it myself. It's all just weird feelings and confusing memory stuff."

I sighed, but pointed out "And for all we know, those could be side-effects of somehow seeing the future or going back in time or whatever the heck is letting you know what's going to happen."

She sighed as well and we were both quiet again for a few minutes.

Eventually I had another question. "Hey Lexi? Assuming this really is real and you really were a guy yesterday... Does that mean you want to stop being a girl? I mean, you said you wanted to fix things."

I watched as her expression shifted to a thoughtful frown.

After a minute or so she finally shrugged "I don't know, to be honest. Like I guess it was just an automatic impulse, if stuff's been changed maybe it should be changed back?"

"But do you want to be a guy again? Like, if you wanted to be a guy, why'd you start going kind of femme today? Why ask me to stop calling you Alex?"

She looked down at herself. I watched as her eyes moved from her chest to her legs. She held up one of her hands and stared at it, sort of turning it around as she studied it, along with her wrist and arm.

She finally sighed, "I did the make-up and stuff because it kind of felt good? Same with the clothes. They were in my closet and I..."

She blushed slightly. "I realized I was kind of hot, and I kind of wanted to show it off."

There was another pause, she looked at the floor again. "I think I'm ok with this. And I can't actually remember for sure that I was a guy. I don't remember what I looked like if I was, or what it felt like. I remember being Alexis, even if all the stuff I did was guy-stuff. So... I think I want to stay like I am."

I nodded slowly. Finally I smiled at her, "I am so fucking jealous right now, Lexi. But I'm happy for you. Really happy. I mean, if you're happy then I'm happy."

She turned and looked at me with wide eyes, then suddenly she moved closer and wrapped her arms around me as she pulled me into a tight hug.

"Oh my God Chloe I'm so sorry! I'm sitting here talking crazy shit about maybe turning into a hot chick and this is like, fuck! This must be your biggest wish or something and you have to listen to my crazy ass going on and on about it."

I was shocked at first by the hug. I don't think we've ever hugged, or had any other kind of contact like this before. It made me feel several unfamiliar things at once. In the end though, the emotion that came out on top was happiness. I think. It felt nice to be hugged. Especially by her.

And hearing her say my name like that added a whole new layer of joy to the mix of feelings I was experiencing.

I slowly, tentatively put my arms around her too. I was ready to let go as soon as she said something. But she didn't. She didn't mind.

"It's ok, Lexi." I finally replied. "Like I said, I'm happy for you. And I'm still not sure I believe this stuff, but either way I'm happy for you."

We continued holding each other. After another minute or so she whispered, "I still want to figure out what happened. Even if we don't fix things, I want to know what happened. Because this is some world-class level weirdness."

I nodded, "I'm on board for figuring it out."

She asked softly, "If we figure it out, you want to make it happen again right? For you?"

"Yeah, if I can." I replied. "I'm still not sure I believe it, but it'd be a hell of a lot easier than dealing with my folks. Like I have no idea how they'll take it if I tell them I'm trans. But if they just believed I was always Chloe, that'd be safer."

After a moment I added, "Of course getting magically turned into a girl would be great too because seriously? You're fucking gorgeous, Lexi. I mean you always looked amazing but today you're... Wow."

We held each other for another minute or two, but I felt her muscles tense slightly as if something suddenly stressed her.

"Sorry Lexi," I apologized. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

She shook her head "It's not that. I just had another deja-vu thing but it'll wait."

She finally moved back and looked at me. She looked troubled as she asked, "You think your folks won't handle it well? Knowing you're trans?"

I sighed again but nodded "I think they'll freak. They might kick me out of the house? Or maybe not, but maybe they won't let me transition or whatever while I live here? Which is the same as kicking me out basically."

"Damn," Alexis scowled. "I thought they were better than that. I mean they seemed ok knowing I'm a lesbian?"

I shook my head. "I'm like, ninety-nine percent sure that's just them paying lip-service. Sorry Lexi. But like, because you and me are always hanging out together, I think they assume you're into me or something."

I added with a scowl, "My mom is constantly making comments about you and I being a couple. Like this morning when I said you were coming over tonight, she was all 'no fooling around' or whatever. Which like, if she really believed you were gay she'd know you wouldn't be interested in fooling around with me."

Lexi bit her lip and blushed. "I get what you're saying Chloe, and it's true I'm not into guys at all. But like... It turns out you're not a guy."

I looked up at her in surprise. I didn't know what to say for a few moments, I just stared.

Finally I got my voice back and shrugged "It's nice of you to say, Lexi. And I really appreciate you using my real name, you don't know how happy that makes me. But c'mon. I still look like the same guy I was yesterday. Just saying I'm a girl inside doesn't change anything."

She asked, "Were you a girl inside yesterday? What about last week? Or last year?"

"Yeah?" I frowned. "As long as I can remember."

"And we've been best friends all that time too," she pointed out. "I like hanging out with you. I like you. Now I know you're a girl, and you've been a girl this whole time."

She shrugged and said "I'm not saying we're going to start making out right now. I'm just saying, now I know it's an option ok?"

I found myself staring at her, speechless again as that sank in.

She gave me a sympathetic smile then said "Look, I totally screwed up your big coming-out thing with all my crazy bullshit. So let's forget the crazy stuff for now and focus on your stuff, ok?"

I blushed, "Uh, ok? How do you mean?"

Lexi replied "Well forget about all the stuff I've been talking about. Let's just deal with reality now. I don't actually know much about trans stuff, so like, educate me I guess? If that's ok with you, if you don't mind talking about it. What do you do next? How does it all work?"

"Ok..." I took a deep breath then started explaining stuff to her. I'd done a ton of research of course, I'd been all over online reading and learning and hanging out in trans discords and all that.

I told her about some of the practical stuff, like now I was eighteen I could legally change my name. It was mostly just paperwork and paying some fees. And I told her about the medical stuff, like getting referred to a clinic, going on hormones and all that. And eventually somewhere down the road, there'd be surgery.

Alexis listened, she asked some questions here and there. She really seemed to care, she was really interested and supportive. She also asked about drawbacks or dangers, stuff like that from a medical standpoint.

I answered all her questions as best I could. And I told her how I knew it was going to be really hard, and stuff would suck, but I had to do this. I explained to her about dysphoria and told her how bad it got at times.

She looked and sounded so upset when I told her some of the bad stuff, and she gave me another long hug.

A few times I felt myself almost break down in tears. I guess I'd been so worried about all this going badly, I hadn't really thought what it might be like if it went well. And it was going really well with her.

When we got through all that she asked, "Have you ever like, experimented? With clothes, make-up, stuff like that?"

I blushed as I shook my head. "I've thought about it? Wanted to. But... I don't have enough privacy. Like when my folks are home? They never knock, they just barge into my room. And I don't even have anywhere to hide stuff, like my mom would find it if I had make-up or girls clothes hidden somewhere."

After a moment I sighed, "And I don't know if I could handle staring at myself in a mirror trying to do make-up? It sometimes gets really painful...having to look at this and knowing that's the face I'm stuck with."

She pulled me into another hug, "I'm so sorry Chloe. I wish there was something I could do to help."

I hugged her back and replied quietly, "There is, Lexi. And you're already doing it. Thank you."

The two of us ended up talking till it was pretty late. It was like neither of us wanted the evening to end or something, but eventually we were both yawning.

I finally apologized, "Sorry Lexi. I gotta get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning, and maybe start trying to figure out all the weird reality time travel stuff too, ok?"

"Ok Chloe," she got up and stretched again, then yawned once more. I couldn't avoid staring, and felt more of those mixed emotions going on. Like I couldn't tell if I was suddenly in love with her or if I just wanted to be her.

We both finally grabbed our backpacks and made our way upstairs. Lexi dumped her backpack on the bed in the guest room then went into the bathroom across the hall.

I went into my own bedroom and closed the door while I stripped off my clothes. As usual I avoided looking at myself, I just got undressed then quickly pulled on the baggy grey track-pants and an old t-shirt that served as my pyjamas.

When I opened my door again, I was just in time to see Lexi emerge from the bathroom. She came over to me and gave me another hug. "Good night Chloe. See you in the morning."

I'd lost count of how many times we hugged tonight, but I really enjoyed the feeling. I nodded, "Good night Alexis. Thanks for everything tonight."

She gave me a little smile then disappeared into the guest room and closed the door after her.

I used the bathroom, brushed my teeth and stuff, then flopped into my bed to try and get some sleep.

It didn't come easy though. I wound up laying there awake for another hour or two, thinking about the whole evening. All the impossible stuff Lexi said, all the stuff she knew that I couldn't explain. And how accepting and understanding she was about my coming out to her. Even if that didn't happen like I thought it would.

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