5 ~ But It Was Just So Obvious
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uhhh hey, here's two chapters today I guess! But there's still an epilogue to come, and it's a really good one, I think.

When I got to Sam’s place, his mom directed me out to the backyard. Apparently Elise and Sam were already up in the treehouse when I arrived. Once I got out there, I hung out for a moment at the bottom, hesitating before climbing the rope ladder. If I strained, I could hear them softly talking.

“I’m just worried…” That newly melodic voice had to be Elise. “You know how he can be. What if he reacts badly?”

“Trust me,” Sam’s own voice floated down, sounding confident. “Yeah, he’ll be weird about it at first, but then once he has a chance to think it over, I have a feeling he’ll admit it’s the only thing that makes sense for us.”

I felt my stomach sink a bit. I was still so wrapped up in the high of feeling good about myself and my body that I momentarily forgot about the other looming problem. The two of them dating. Clearly they were thinking about how to break it to me. But you know what? I was going to be the most supportive friend. I trusted them. They wouldn’t leave me behind. So, sure, some things would change and that’d be a little bit sad, but it’d be counterbalanced by getting to see the two of them thriving.

Yeah. This was going to be okay.

“Coming up!” I called out.

The two of them fell abruptly silent. As I climbed the rungs of the rope ladder I could hear Elise hiss, “Who is that?”

And then I popped my head up into the treehouse and grinned. The two of them were sitting on the floor side by side. Awfully close together, I noted. And they were staring at me like I had two heads.

Taylor?” Elise said. Her eyes were cartoonishly big, making my smirk only deepen.

“Sup?” I casually answered. I hopped up, swinging my legs around to take a seat myself, across from them. “God, this place seemed a lot bigger when we were, like, eleven.”

Sam opened and closed his mouth. His eyes trailed down my body and back up. Then he barked out a laugh. “Yeah,” he said. “Okay. That makes sense.”

Elise stared at him, unblinkingly. Then she stared at me again. “It does?”

I shrugged.

“Where’d you find more soda?” Sam asked.

“Elise helped me out.”

She gawped. “I did?

“By the way, good to see you back to your normal self,” I offered, smiling at Sam. I meant it, too. He was wearing a sweater over a button-up, the epitome of neat and put-together as always, but his chest much more reassuringly flat. I had to chase away the brief thought of what it’d be like to trace my fingers down his front just to make sure everything was good. “I like you better this way,” I ultimately said. 

He grinned back. “Me too. The whole girl thing looks a lot better on Elise. Or you, for that matter.”

I felt my cheeks heating a bit. I knew he had that particularly charming smile but I wasn’t used to him training it on me so directly. “Aw, thanks,” I muttered. “But, um, Elise said we had some stuff to talk about?”

“Yeah.” He hesitated for a moment, looking over at Elise. He had to nudge her shoulder to get her attention. “Does this change anything?” he said quietly, clearly directed at her alone.

She kept staring at me. Somewhere along the line, it had changed from shocked amazement into something different but no less equally intense. I shifted awkwardly in place, feeling like her eyes were going to burn holes in me or something.

Sam had to nudge her a second time to get an answer. “No,” she said, biting her lip. “This absolutely, definitely doesn’t change anything.”

That drew a chuckle from Sam, even if I wasn’t quite sure how to interpret it. He scooched forward a bit, with Elise following close behind. It wasn’t exactly spacious up in the old treehouse already, but now we were all awfully close. He reached out, and after glancing down, I followed his lead and took his hand. On my other side, Elise took my other hand, and then Sam’s as well, so we were in a circle. Just like old times, when we were talking about something particularly important.

“Taylor…” Sam said. He froze, his eyes going wide. “Wait. Shit. Is it still Taylor? I’m so sorry, I didn’t even ask.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, dude, it’s still Taylor.”

“Okay,” Sam said, still sounding worried. “Sure.” Elise bumped her shoulder against his. “But if you do ever want to try out something different, we’d be glad to—”

“I know, I know,” I said. “But it’s fine. Really.”

“Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Taylor… Elise and I were talking, after the soda stuff, and in the wake of all those changes, we had some other realizations too.”

I gave a tight smile. Yup. I know where this was going, dude. It’s cool.

Sam took a deep breath. He looked to Elise, and she gave him an encouraging nod. “And the short and sweet version is… we want to try dating.”

I let out an even breath. There it was. Right. I nodded. “I want you two to know that I’m so, so happy for you.”

That… Somehow wasn’t the response they expected. Because they just kind of blinked at me. 

“You two are going to be so fucking cute together,” I continued. “God. I’m kind of jealous. Ha ha, just kidding.”

Elise bumped Sam’s shoulder again, her eyes large and worried.

“I don’t think you understand,” Sam said. “Um.”

I stared at him. “Wait. Did I fuck everything up by showing up as a girl? Oh shit.” I looked over at Elise in sudden worry. “I swear to God I wasn’t trying to steal him away or anything. I’m fine with you two being together. I— I just still want to be friends. Is that okay? Or, no, of course it wouldn’t be. Shit. Um. I can leave? Would that be—” 

“Taylor,” Elise said, sounding a bit panicked. “Stop.”

Sam just groaned. “You beautiful dumbass,” he said.

Huh, that was new. I had gotten plenty of ‘colossal dumbass’es from him. And plenty of ‘unbelievable dumbass’es, and once even a ‘magnificent dumbass.’ But ‘beautiful’ was a new one. I kind of liked that one.

“What then?” I said. “I don’t understand.”

We,” Sam said slowly, “would like to date you.”

I blinked looking between the two of them. They looked back at me. “Wait. Which one of you?”

“Both of us,” Elise said, her voice kind of scarily intense. “Together. At the same time.” She glanced across at Sam. “And also each other at the same time.”

“What?” I said, suddenly feeling like the treehouse was spinning around me. “Me? Why?”

Sam just rolled his eyes. “C’mon, fishing for compliments?”

“N-no, I just… I just don’t understand.”

Sam smirked. “Because, Taylor, you’re absurdly dedicated and driven…”

“And you’re hot,” Elise chimed in.

“…and always stand up for what you think is right…”

“And you’re hot.” Elise nodded to herself.

“…and you’re hands down the most loyal person I know.”

Elise kept nodding. She looked over at Sam, wiggling her eyebrows in some kind of silent communication. 

“Also, you’re really fucking hot,” Sam admitted. “Even before the change, but now? Damn, girl.”

“Wh-what?” I said. I was definitely blushing now. 

Elise squeezed my hand gently. “Once I started to understand who I was as my true self, it felt like it unlocked a door. Because then I could suddenly see myself with you and Sam. At first I was really confused because… because I realized I was really into both of you, and I couldn’t possibly figure out a way to pick just one. But then, I was talking about it with Sam, and…”

“And I agree,” he said. “I’ve had a crush on both of you for years. The weird past day hasn’t changed anything at all. After I got over all the bad stuff connected to being in the wrong body… well, then getting to see Elise, all happy and so fundamentally herself, more than ever before? It made my feelings towards her practically unbearable. And now you too? I don’t know how to hide the way I feel about you two any more. I don’t want to.”

“We were always meant to be together,” Elise said. “Forever and ever. You’re the one who always insisted on that the most of all.”

I mean, I had said that. But I hadn’t meant it exactly like this.

…Had I? That picture kept popping up in my brain.

“But… but… this isn’t allowed,” I said. “It’s not supposed to work like that.”

Sam frowned. “Oh yeah? Says who?”

“Says plenty of people!”

Sam opened his mouth to say more, but Elise squeezed his hand and shook her head slightly. She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Taylor,” she said. “Sure, some people may have a problem with us having an… unorthodox relationship. But is there anyone who you can’t handle? That you’re scared of?”

I blinked. I opened my mouth, and then closed it again. “Well,” I finally said. “No.” That didn’t quite seem sufficient. “Fuck, no. I’ll break anyone’s teeth who says something shitty to either of you two.”

Elise smiled. “Then there, we’re good.”

“Hold on,” Sam said. “No picking fights.” He hesitated. “Unless it’s necessary, and you’re sure that you won’t get hurt.”

I gave him a smile that showed a lot of teeth and he shivered slightly.

“Taylor will protect all of us, and Sam will keep her from straight up murdering anyone who doesn’t deserve it,” Elise announced. “See? All it takes is a little teamwork.”

“And what was your role in this?” Sam said archly.

Elise giggled. “I came up with the plan. Someone’s got to be the brains of the operation.”

Sam grumbled to himself, but he was smiling. Meanwhile, I was still floating a bit from Elise so casually calling me ‘her.’ Like it was the simplest thing in the world. Wow.

“So we’re in agreement, then?” Elise said.

“Absolutely,” Sam said.

I gulped. “I suppose it’s… it’s worth a try at least.”

We all shared a look of quiet resolve. But then Elise slipped into a giddy smile, and I found myself grinning, and Sam joined in too. This, this was what I had always wanted. This comfortable familiarity. This trust in one another. This was perfect.

Though...

“So…” I said. “Um. What does that mean now then?”

“What do you mean?” Elise asked. She squeezed in a bit closer, practically clinging onto me now. On the other side, Sam smirked and also moved in close. It was awfully warm up here in this treehouse, huh?

“I just, uh—” I took a shaky breath as Sam reached up, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear so he could gaze directly into my eyes from way too close. “In my imagination this is about as far as things get. I don’t really know where to go from here…?”

“But this is the best part!” Elise said reproachfully. She was squeezing in awfully close. I could feel her… her chest pressing against my arm now.

“And so you’re admitting you’ve imagined this before?” Sam teased.

“M-maybe.”

“Hmmmmm…” Elise hummed. “Remember when we were kids? It gets cold up here at night, so we’d get two sleeping bags and zip them together and all climb in to stay warm. Maybe we could try that again.”

“That… that’d be an awfully tight fit,” I said. I let out a mortifyingly high-pitched squeak, as Elise’s hand slipped under the hem of my shirt, slowly moving upwards.

“I think we could make it work,” Sam murmured into my ear, giving me a full-body shiver.

“We’d just have to get really… cozy.” Elise whispered into the other. And then she lightly nipped at the lobe of my ear, and I couldn’t help it. I let out a sound.

“I— I— I feel like I’m being ganged up on here,” I protested.

“Don’t worry,” Elise said. “We’ll take good care of you. After all—” She cut herself off, sucking in a breath. I felt her hand gliding across my midsection. “Wait.” When she spoke again, she sounded too distracted to be as devastatingly flirty as before, so I had a blessed moment of reprieve. “Holy shit, Sam, her abs.”

“Um.”

“Let me see!” Sam said, and now his hand was up my shirt too, spread out against my stomach. “Wow. Taylor. Um, wow.” 

I felt a bit like I was about to overheat. Their touches were already so… so intimate, and now I couldn’t help but realize stuck in the situation I was… just as Elise’s soft fingers kept climbing up, brushing against the curves of anatomy that I was still getting used to, and Sam’s hand traced downwards, following the path of my torso all the way to…

I whimpered. Sam heard me and hesitated. “Are you okay? Maybe we should slow down. Sorry, it’s just. Um. Easy to get a little carried away with— Elise!” he said sharply. 

She pulled her head up from where she had been gently nibbling on my neck. “What?”

“I think Taylor is getting overwhelmed. Let’s stop for a moment.”

“I swear to God if you stop right now I’m going to break up with both of you,” I hissed.

Elise giggled. “Well, you heard the girl.”

I let out another slightly desperate sound. And then I couldn’t quite say anything else, because Sam was kissing me, and Elise’s hands were places and…

From that point on, it was not like old times, not at all.

It was way, way better.

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