Lillian got up from her desk a few minutes earlier than usual to leave for lunch break. She usually waited a few minutes for the crowd to die down, then would take a short drive home to have a leisurely time making her own food and eating it fresh. But today she had something different to do. Something crazy and novel.

She stopped by a fast food restaurant to grab lunch today. She normally never did this, the food was unhealthy, and as a routine-oriented person she found it easier to cut it out entirely than to rely on it every day. Still, today could be considered a special occasion. She ran through the drive-thru and ate as she drove to her next stop.

She parked in front of a small hair parlor and smirked at the place as she finished eating her meal.

Claire took a deep breath to settle her nerves. She could still hardly believe what was happening. She’d had to excuse herself to use the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and grinned like a little schoolgirl, vibrating a little. She’d wanted this for months.

She checked her makeup; still looking pristine! She smoothed out her lacy blue dress. Yup, still as gorgeous as ever! She treasured the opportunity to let herself look so girly. You got this, girl!~ she thought to herself.

With a long sigh she settled herself down. Now or never. She briskly left the bathroom and returned to the living area. Gosh, the whole place was so plain and white and boring. It was somewhat expected but also unexpected for an oddity like Lilly. But she was invited to her place and that was still exciting.

It was Friday evening. After work was over the two of them had gone to the park and explored for a little bit, then came here to have a homecooked dinner. Lilly had paused the movie they were watching and was just staring off into space, typical for her. When she heard Claire sit down next to her she looked over and smiled that adorable smile of hers and said, “ready to keep watching? We’re like halfway through.”

Rather than respond, Claire just stared at the girl in wonder. During lunch on Monday she came back with a haircut. A really bold one. The sides and back were shaved down nearly to the scalp and the top shaped into a pointy little mohawk. It was just the cutest thing ever! Then for the rest of the week she had kept trying new things: painting her nails, piercing her ears, going without makeup, wearing butch clothing. For their date Lilly had put on a band t-shirt over a sports bra, blue denim shorts rolled midway up her thighs, and to top it off a matching leather duster and combat boots. It was such a boyishly cute outfit and Claire couldn’t get enough of it.

Lilly giggled at the awestruck look that must have been on her face, and in retaliation Claire cupped the girl’s cheek and suddenly pulled her in for a passionate kiss. She gasped in response and took a moment to let her lips part to give Claire access. She obviously wasn’t an experienced kisser, not by a long shot. This might’ve been her first time in years from what Claire knew of her. But Claire was willing to take the time and help her get more familiar with it; she was too precious not to.

She pulled back after a minute and looked at Lilly. Lilly opened her eyes and stared at some point behind her head until her vision came back into focus. “How ‘bout that?”

“Um. Wow.”

“You want to keep going?” Claire turned and swung one of her knees over Lilly’s lap, sitting and straddling her legs between her own. She rested her hands on Lilly’s shoulders and stared into her eyes.

Lilly’s eyes bugged out of her head. “Yeah, sure. Let’s.” She put her hands around Claire’s waist, getting a shiver in response.

Claire guided them through the motions, wary of Lilly’s hesitance and keeping things slow to not overwhelm the girl. She tried pressing her body closer, reaching under clothing to feel bare skin, and placing gentle kisses. But she relented and eased off when Lilly audibly gulped and clenched her eyes shut. She looked sick.

“Is everything okay, hun?” Claire asked, stroking her cheek with a thumb.

“I… I guess not,” she replied, putting her top back on.

Claire got off her lap and sat next to her, giving her a bit of space to sort through her emotions. She had a pretty distinct feeling they wouldn’t be going on another date after this.

Tears were pooling up in Lilly’s eyes and her voice was choked. “I thought I figured it out. After last weekend, I… I was sure that I would be a lesbian. When I had sex with a guy it sucked. But this was even worse. And I don’t know why! W-What is wrong with me?” The tears started falling.

Claire pulled her friend into a hug. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re a wonderful girl with some confusing feelings. It’s okay.” Dammit. She was really hoping to bang her brains out, but she guessed it just wasn’t meant to be.

A few minutes passed. When the crying stopped, Lilly just slumped lifelessly like her soul had been sucked out.

“I’m here for you Lilly. Wanna talk about it?”

She didn’t move a muscle as she responded bitterly. “Please stop calling me that. My name is Lillian.”

Huh. “Alright, Lillian, I’m sorry.” She had forgotten that was just a nickname she’d given her.

Lillian took a deep breath and sat up, finally looking at her. “No, I should be sorry. I ruined our date together. I… pretended to be someone I’m not.” She looked down at herself. “I look like a clown.” She sobbed.

“No, Lillian, you look amazing.” Claire squeezed her shoulder. “You don’t have to be a certain way to look however you want. Your gender and sexual orientation have nothing to do with your presentation. I dunno what caused you to start experimenting, but I’ve never seen you happier than you’ve been this week.” Lillian looked at her with eyes sparkling in wonder. The same eyes that used to be so distant and opaque.

“Thank you. That really means a lot. Especially coming from the local lesbian queen.”

She giggled. “No problem cutie. Hey, even if you don’t want to have sex, do you wanna cuddle instead? Platonic cuddles can be just as enjoyable, y’know,” she waggled her eyebrows.

Lillian actually seriously looked to be considering it. “I don’t see why not. We’ll give it a shot. But let’s finish this movie first!” She stood up. “Oh, and I bought us ice cream for dessert. Caramel mousse. Want me to dish you up some?”

Claire smiled. “Yeah, that sounds nice, go ahead.” Lillian was still a sweet girl after all.

“Just sit tight,” she skipped off to the kitchen.

Claire smirked a little and, out of sight, got up and strode down the hall in search of Lillian’s bedroom. She found it easily at the end of the hall, flipped on the lightswitch, and giggled. There was a folded blanket at the foot of the bed. Perfect for sofa cuddles. She snatched it up and made to leave when she heard an odd noise.

Was that a voice? It was behind a door, definitely coming from within the house. But Lillian lived alone.

She supposed a peek couldn’t hurt. She dropped the blanket and slowly opened the door, beholding a… a clothing closet. She stepped in and looked around. It smelled stuffy in there, and the only notable thing was the full-size mirror at the end. Instead of a reflection, it looked like the pane was missing and there was a curtain draped behind it. She was about to shrug it off when she heard another voice. It was a girl’s voice, eerily familiar, and it was coming from behind the curtain. There was no way she couldn’t check this out.

So she stepped forward and tugged on it. It fell down on the other side of the mirror, revealing another room. A mirror reflection of the same room, in fact, the only difference being the clothing it held. It was uncanny. She pressed forward.

Cracking the door open as quietly as she could, she peeked out into a mirror image of Lillian’s bedroom. At the foot of the bed lay discarded clothing, including a red dress and a t-shirt that looked just like one she owned. She pulled the door open a bit further and oh my god. Two people were laying on the bed making out, in just their underwear. But the freaky bit was that the girl looked exactly like herself, and the guy looked like he could be Lillian’s twin brother. His body was hairless, or clean-shaven at least, and his long hair—wait, that was a wig, and it had just fallen off.

Claire’s doppelganger giggled as he pulled away from the kiss with a fierce blush on his face. “Let’s get rid of this thing, it’s just in the way.” She tossed it towards the rest of their clothes and he looked ready to protest. She put a finger to his lips. “Hush, Lia, you’re beautiful no matter what. Alright? Short hair can be pretty too.” She ran her fingers through his—through her hair.

She sighed wistfully in response. “What did I ever do to deserve someone as good as you?”

“Well, you spent all week being adorable and winning over my heart, for one thing! I can’t believe how much you’ve come out of your shell, sweetie, you’re actually like a whole different person.” She booped Lia on the nose. “But you’re also the same a-dork-able best friend I’ve always had. And that’s perfect.” Claire found herself nodding along. That was kinda the perfect way to put it, at least considering her own feelings about Lillian, and she wished she’d had the chance to say those words.

“Hey, I know this sounds a little out of the blue, but before we got distracted by all this—ahem, stuff—I was gonna serve us up some ice cream for dessert. Caramel mousse. Would you like some?” Woah, deja vu.

Other-Claire giggled. “That’s—”

“CLAIRE!” The voice from behind her caused her to jump, and the two body-doubles finally saw her creeping on them, pulling up the sheets in modesty.

Well, she supposed it was time to come out of the closet. She opened the door the rest of the way with a smirk. “Before anything else, I just wanna say, top-notch lesbian scene. Claire, you piled on just the right amount of sappy, sentimental bullcrap. Ten outta ten.” She smiled back, still looking somewhat bewildered. “And Lia, wow you are so useless. You were like an inch away from getting laid, you know that?” Lia choked on her own tongue.

Lillian ran up behind Claire, pushing her aside to see the scene for herself. She looked between the three girls in the room at a loss for words. She was holding a bowl of ice cream in her hands.

“Oh hey, is this for me?” Claire said.

“What in the actual hell is going on right now,” other-Claire demanded.

Lia scratched her head a bit bashfully. “Last week I opened a portal into a universe where I had been born a girl instead of a boy. That’s, um, what led to that little spiral on Monday where I realized that I’m a lesbian, and also probably trans.”

Other-Claire took a moment to let that click. “Why would he also be on a date with me, then?”

Claire shook her head. “Better question, Lillian, would you like us to use he / him pronouns for you?”

Lillian just took a large bite of his ice cream and walked back the way he had come in.