The sun was streaming in around my bedroom curtains when I woke up. I rolled over and stared blearily at the clock for a few seconds. It was early, just after nine in the morning.

I yawned and blinked. Suddenly last night came back to me, and I realized I was alone now.

There were a few seconds of panic. Did I snore? Did I do something stupid or gross in my sleep and scare her away? Or did something else happen to freak her out? I was equal parts scared, embarrassed, and worried.

Before I could go and look for her, I noticed I could hear the shower running. I relaxed a little after that. She'd probably just woke up before me again like she did yesterday, and decided to hop in the shower before I was up.

I wound up just laying in bed as I waited for her to finish up in the bathroom. One of the pillows very faintly smelled like her and that sent some new feelings fluttering through my stomach.

Some fifteen or twenty minutes later I heard the shower stop, but it was almost another ten minutes before she finally emerged from the bathroom. She had a towel wrapped around herself, and another around her hair.

"Good morning," I called to her as she was crossing the hall from the bathroom towards the guest-room.

I must have startled her since Lexi jumped slightly and made a little squeak sound that was too adorable for words. Her face went bright red in embarrassment and she replied "Good morning Chloe... How long have you been up? I didn't wake you did I?"

"Nah," I shook my head. "I woke up about a half hour ago and was just laying here."

Her face stayed bright red and she nodded slightly "Oh... Well... The bathroom's all yours now. I'm going to get dressed, I'll see you downstairs when you're ready."

"Ok Lexi," I smiled.

She hurried into the guest room and closed the door, but I was kind of confused what had her so jumpy this morning.

I wound up having a shower as well, she left me enough hot water. Not that I needed much. Showers were another huge source of dysphoria for me so I made them as brief as possible, just get clean and get out. Then I braced myself and took care of the facial hair, and after that I was able to relax again.

Back in my room I got dressed, same style as always of course. Baggy jeans, loose t-shirt, sneakers. Then I made my way downstairs.

Alexis was in the kitchen, standing at the stove. She smiled, "Hey Chloe? I hope you like French toast!"

I stopped in the doorway and stared. She was actually cooking breakfast. She had two pans on the stove, a bowl on the counter, some bread, and a package of bacon.

She was back in her skinny jeans today, and a small tight pink t-shirt. She had her ankle boots on already too. Her hair was still a bit damp but she had it tied back with a scrunchie, holding it in a single long messy ponytail.

She looked incredible, but it was so weird to see her actually cooking breakfast for us. As I stared, I also noticed how small she looked. I mean she was the same size as always, she wasn't shrinking or anything. But I'd never really noticed before how small her normal size actually was.

It sort of threw me for a moment.

We'd been the same size when we were younger. Then she hit puberty first and got taller, and at some point I guess I caught up and passed her. I was five-foot-eight now, she was like five-four or maybe five-five. But I could swear we stood eye-to-eye. Actually no, she was just slightly taller than me. I was positive I could remember her being like an inch taller.

It was the weirdest thing, like one of those optical illusions where it's two faces in silhouette or it's a vase? Only it was happening in my memories. She was still the same person, the same pretty face and long brown hair. She was still Alexis, the same cute girl standing before me now. But somehow, last week at school I remembered her being like an inch taller than me.

"Holy crap," I stumbled forward and collapsed onto a chair by the kitchen table. If it hadn't been there, I might have wound up on the floor.

Lexi rushed to me, "Chloe what's wrong? Are you ok?"

I nodded slowly "I'm ok, I'm fine. I just had a... I don't even know what. A weird brain thing?"

She was holding one of my hands in both of hers as she watched me. She looked worried as she asked, "Do you want to tell me about it?"

I hesitated a moment, then frowned. "It's like, you're the same Alexis as always, but at the same time I was just noticing how much smaller you are? Like, you've always been that height right? Except I just remembered, like a few days ago, you were taller than me. Not a lot? And it was still you, still Lexi. But you were like, an inch taller than me?"

She frowned and bit her lower lip. Then her eyes widened and she cursed "Shit!"

She let go of my hand and dashed back to the stove, "Aw crap. Ok this one's a little done to death." She tossed the burnt toast in the trash and put a replacement in the frying pan, then looked back at me.

"Sorry Chloe. And yeah, that's definitely some weird brain stuff. And it totally sounds kind of like the thing I was feeling on Friday."

That led me to hesitate again. Finally I asked, "Was feeling? Like, you're not feeling that any more?"

Last night's conversation played back in my head and suddenly I worried she'd been right, that all the weird stuff was over for her now.

Her back was to me again as she focused on cooking breakfast, but I could see just enough of the side of her face to know she was blushing again.

She replied, "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten the weird stuff. I still remember things felt super weird on Friday. And less weird yesterday."

I watched her as I asked, "And how do they feel today?"

She glanced back at me before quickly turning to focus on her cooking again. After another second or two she finally answered, "Good. I feel good like this."

I nodded slowly, "Well, that's good right?"

"Yeah," she said, sort of noncommittally. Then she changed the subject. "Breakfast's almost done here. I saw some orange juice in the fridge, could you pour us a couple glasses?"

"Sure Lexi," I got up and got us some OJ, and I pulled out some cutlery and napkins. I also grabbed a bottle of syrup out of the fridge and set it on the table. She served up breakfast, we each had a couple pieces of french toast and a couple strips of bacon.

She sat down across from me and I smiled, "This smells delicious, thanks!"

"You're welcome Chloe," she smiled.

As we started eating I commented, "I didn't even know you knew how to cook. I'm sure you said once that sort of thing was uh, women's work..."

She rolled her eyes, "I probably said a lot of dumb stuff in the past. But it's a pretty important skill right? Everyone should know how to cook and stuff."

Breakfast was great, I complimented her again on it as we ate together. I was still a little concerned though, about the stuff she'd said last night and how she was acting this morning.

"Lexi? You're sure everything's ok with you? You're feeling all right? You were a little jumpy earlier when you came out of the shower."

She blushed slightly and bit her lower lip, but after a moment she nodded "It's fine Chloe. Like I said, having a shower Friday morning felt really strange and different. But this morning it was fine. It was actually really good."

I nodded, "Ok. I'm glad things are feeling good for you."

There was another slight flush in her cheeks but she just nodded quietly as we finished breakfast.

Since she did the cooking, I did the washing up. The dishes all went in the dishwasher but the frying pans had to be done by hand. Alexis kept me company, she sat at the table and had some more juice.

As I was scrubbing one of the pans she asked, "So we're still going to that occult place right? They open at noon."

"Yeah," I agreed. "We may as well get going as soon as I'm done here."

"Sounds good."

I glanced at her and asked, "You still figure this is the right path? I mean, I don't want to sound negative but it feels kind of unlikely to me. Like, a little hole in the wall new age shop right here in our home town has reality-changing magic or something?"

Alexis sighed. "I don't know, Chloe? I just know when I saw that business card I knew I'd seen it before? And their webpage had a picture of inside the store and that totally triggered one of those deja-vu things for me. Like I was absolutely in there before, for sure."

She shrugged and sighed once more, "I guess I don't know that this is the right answer? But I want to follow the lead. I got nothing from searching the web, so this is the only clue we have right now. I have to follow it."

"Ok," I nodded. "I'm with you, we'll follow the clue and see where it takes us."

As I finished up, Lexi asked "Hey Chloe? I have a question for you."

I glanced at her, "Yeah, what is it?"

"I know you're out to me, but are you like, out-out now? Like when we're out today, is it ok to call you Chloe? Or should I use your other name again? And I should have asked this Friday night, but what pronouns do you want me to use for you?"

"Um..." I frowned and took a deep breath, then sighed. "I guess I'm still in the closet, with everyone but you? Though if you could avoid saying my old name I'd appreciate it. But I guess if you absolutely have to use a name, the old one's better for the time being."

I hated to say it, I was so used to her calling me Chloe for the past two days the thought of hearing her call me the other name absolutely sucked. But if someone we knew heard her call me Chloe and they mentioned it to my folks... I didn't want to think about how that might play out.

"And I guess same for pronouns. Just between you and me, she/her all the way? But out..." I sighed and shook my head.

She gave me a sad look, "I'm sorry Chloe. I can't even imagine how much this must suck for you."

I shrugged, "I'll live. I've survived it for eighteen years right? I'll manage a while longer."

Lexi took a few minutes to get ready again. She pulled the scrunchie out of her hair and spent a little while brushing it, then did her lipstick again. Today she even did some eyeshadow and mascara.

When we were ready to go I pulled on my hoodie but Lexi just grabbed her little purse. She slipped her phone inside and pulled the strap over her head and shoulder.

I stared at her for a few seconds, "No hoodie today?"

She shrugged, "I looked at the weather report. It's already like twenty degrees out there, it's gonna hit twenty-five soon. I don't want to get all sweaty."

"Right," I nodded slowly. I felt another of pang of jealousy as well as attraction. She'd said the other day, she was hot and wanted to show it off. Now she was going to do that, first time out in public without her oversized hoodie hiding her figure.

I still needed the security, the obscurity. I still needed to hide myself, and I'd put up with the discomfort if it got too warm out.

PurpleCatGirl

If you're enjoying our work and you'd like to support us, please consider joining our patreon & get early access to new chapters!
https://www.patreon.com/purplecatgirl