“What do you mean?” Said Samantha, tucking a loose strand of windswept hair behind her ear. A soft breeze coming in from Autumn’s open window stirred through the car, disrupting little things like that and causing her collar to flap up against her neck. The weather was chilly in the shade, but for the rest of the afternoon the sun offered them plenty of warmth. It’d be chilly after the pub, but for the next few hours they were both intent upon enjoying what warmth the year had yet to offer.
Autumn fiddled with the radio and the glove compartment, pulling out one of a half-dozen lollipops from within. “I mean, Holly can just make all of my clothes, right? So why go shopping for them?”
Samantha pursed her lips and nodded thoughtfully as she made a turn onto the freeway. “That’s true. But clothes are important to a lot of women, as is makeup and all sorts of the little intricacies we tend to love. We’re not going clothes shopping just so you’ll have clothes to wear. We’re going shopping for the experience.
“And when you go into work, you’ll have conversations with people. Especially if you’re shooting another red carpet or something like that. You’ll talk about clothes and about makeup and if you have no experience and simply rely upon an AI to do all the work for you, you’re going to raise some eyebrows.”
“Point taken.” Autumn said with a small sigh. “I’ve got a lot to catch up on.”
“Maybe.” Samantha offered a reassuring smile before sparing a casual glance at her outfit. “Maybe not. You’ve certainly got the fashion part down, if not the specifics.”
“Thanks. I’m starting to worry about all of this, honestly.”
“Well, don’t.”
The sternness in Samantha’s voice caught Autumn off guard.
“Ethan, you are a wonderful man, but it didn’t take an AI for me to realize what your problem was.” Her voice softened as she looked over to the girl in her passenger seat. “No, it’s not like I thought you were painting your nails and looking for guys on the weekend, but I could just… tell. You weren’t happy. There was something missing from your life, you even said so in your letters. And then when I saw you, ‘Ethan’ wasn’t the name I felt when I looked at you.” She shrugged self-consciously. “It was ‘Autumn’.”
Autumn blinked. “Oh, my God. My name. You came up with my name?”
“…Kinda? Yeah. But even Holly said it felt right.”
A voice from the backseat piped up. “As an AI who’s literally only days old I don’t think I can be held responsible for my opinions.”
Autumn laughed. She wasn’t mad, though. How could she be? Autumn… The name felt… right. But not like it came from outside, like how she liked pink and girly fashions right now. It felt like her.
“Well, thank you. I love it. It’s perfect.” Autumn smiled and carefully leaned over to plant a little kiss on her cheek, laughing when she blushed and shooed her away. “But, come to think of it…”
“Uh-oh. What now?” Samantha grumbled, turning off the freeway to wait at a light. They were almost to the mall.
“You have been making some considerable changes to me without my knowledge, and—”
“Uh-huh!” Samantha shook her head. “You agreed to the terms last night.”
“I did,” she held up a finger to stall any more arguments, “but I don’t think you’ve been following those terms.” She waited for Samantha to say something, but she kept quiet. “I lost the wars, that’s true, which meant that you could give me either a change that I wasn’t aware of, or you could give me a long-term change that I was made aware of. See what I’m getting at, here?”
“That sounds right to me.” Said Holly, who peeked her head up from the backseat. She still looked like the waitress, Maria.
I’ve got to come up with a different way for her to look, thought Autumn.
Samantha shrugged. “What’s the big deal? Your first change was that you’d turn more and more feminine every time I orgasmed—”
“Ooh, that was clever.”
“Thank you.”
“But because I didn’t know about it, it shouldn’t have been long-term. Except it was.”
Samantha started to speak, but was cut off.
“Not only that, but you also get to make a new rule for me every day, which seem to be long-term, even though you haven’t told me what your ‘rules’ are. Holly, does that sound like Samantha honored the terms of our deal to you?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
Samantha didn’t like where this was going.
“So I think that it’s about time you paid up.” Autumn grinned mischievously, reaching into the glove compartment and grabbing another lollipop as Samantha pulled into a parking space.
The taller girl looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “What do you mean, ‘pay up’?”
Autumn looked to Holly, who said, “As the impartial judge of your game of War, I hereby rule that you must tell Autumn the changes you made to her, and that she gets to make two changes of her own—”
Autumn pumped her fists in the air while Samantha’s jaw dropped. “No fucking way!”
“—but only short-term ones.” She held up a finger. “And we’re in public, so be careful.”
Samantha was about to say something when she paused. The last day had been incredible for her, but for Autumn it had been literally life-changing. What Autumn had said about being worried came back to her, and Samantha made a decision. If she could offer Autumn a little distraction and some fun, maybe she’d worry less.
She met the smaller girl’s eye and stuck her tongue out. She doesn’t have to know I’m enjoying this. “Lay it on me, Girlfriend.”
Autumn met her stuck-out tongue with a glare that Samantha quickly decided was her favorite thing in the world. “First, I want to know the changes you made to me.”
Samantha bit her lip and racked her brain. “Your tits are larger, and your lips are more sensitive…” Autumn nodded as she continued, “your obviously a woman now. Which, by the way, shouldn’t count against me since you ended up liking it.”
“Nope, keep going.”
“Ugh. Your name is Autumn and you like pink little girly things.” She fingered the hem of Autumn’s skirt as she said it. “Aaand… I think that’s it.”
Autumn glared again, and Samantha decided that it was in fact her favorite thing in the world. “What about the rules you’re making for the rest of the week?”
It was Holly who spoke up. “Those haven’t happened yet, so she doesn’t have to share anything.”
“Fine.” Autumn resigned herself to her turbulent future and opened the door, stepping out of the car. A little breeze came by and she was suddenly made distinctly aware that she was wearing a skirt as it flitted up her thighs and gave a passing car a glimpse of her toned legs and the curve of her ass.
Samantha smiled as she watched Autumn wrestle with her clothing, balancing in her heels as she reached back in for her bag. God, you’re adorable, Ethan. She didn’t think the name out of disrespect toward Autumn at all, but rather because she found herself talking to him in her head. He was a very good friend, after all, and though he hadn’t gone anywhere, Autumn was also not exactly him. She loved the girl in front of her, and loved the memory of friendship and of who she used to be as well, and she thought that was okay.
“Need any help there, Marilyn?”
Autumn walked over and looked up at her with another glare before they started walking toward the large building in front of them. The mall wasn’t the largest either of them had ever seen, but it was respectable. A small cedar on a raised display marked the entrance a family entered through the main doors behind it. As they approached Autumn asked, “So, Holly, do I need to tell Samantha what her changes are going to be for the night?”
Before Holly could respond Samantha thought quickly to her, “Tell her no!”
“Nope.” The AI responded without missing a beat.
Autumn whirled on Samantha, making her skirt flit up again. “Ha!” she laughed, “You scared, yet?”
“Not one bit.” Samantha stuck her tongue out as Holly discretely asked her why she’d made the request. “Tonight’s her night, Holly. I want it to be special, and ‘special’ is in the little things.”
“Well, you should be. It’s a doozy.” Autumn smiled and turned to face the doors before she froze. Standing in the reflection coming off of the glassy surface was a girl in her twenties dressed in a pink skirt that showed off the little tear drops just above her knees. Short, white heels had the short girl standing taller and added more definition to the muscles on her thighs and the curve of her ass. A simple white tank teased at the large breasts hidden beneath, though its high neck hid any cleavage. Her short purple hair was held back in a bun, as if trying its hardest not to conceal her face. Perfect makeup accentuated her features, drawing attention to her plump, full lips and her cute noses.
Autumn saw all this at once and her heart jumped in her chest. That was her there, standing in the reflection. That. Was. Her.That drop dead gorgeous girl wasn’t somebody else. Those lips weren’t somebody else’s. That thigh muscle that flexed as she approached the reflection in a daze belonged to her, as did the way her hips swayed to make up for walking in heals.
“That’s me.” She whispered as a second reflection approached behind and wrapped its arms around her.
“That’s you.”
“I’m beautiful.”
“You are.”
Autumn felt a tear come to her eye and her heart started racing. This was so right. She was supposed to be here like this with Samantha. But then when she looked at those doors again, she no longer saw her reflection. She saw that she was about to make her first foray into public as herself and it began to scare the shit out of her. It was the first time the world would see her for who she was, and when she realized that her stomach jumped into her throat. She turned around, starting to protest but Samantha cut her off, her finger on her lips and a loving smile on her lips.
“I know. It’s a big first step, Autumn. But it’s not a step you’re taking alone, okay? I’m right here.” And then she held her, and Autumn didn’t feel afraid anymore.
A moment later, Autumn nodded. “Okay, I’m ready.” She felt a kiss on the top of her head and then she turned around to face the door, eyeing her reflection once again. “You know what?”
“What?” Samantha grinned, leaning on one hip as she waited patiently.
“I look fucking good.” And then Autumn grabbed the door handle and opened it, holding it for Samantha, who laughed.
“That you do.” And she stepped in, checking in the reflection to watch Autumn stare at her ass as she walked. Gotta put a little extra sway into the step now. Autumn followed behind her but quickly overtook her as she headed to the display map of the mall. “Where to, first?” Samantha asked.
Autumn shook her head. “I have no clue what I’m doing, remember? You decide.” A little smile played at the edge of her mouth before she forced it away. “But first,” she held up a lollipop she’d taken from the car, “sucker?”
Samantha raised an eyebrow but took the treat and unwrapped it as she studied the map. “We could start with professional wear, or with underwear, maybe…” When Autumn flinched at the suggestion she dug her heels in. “Underwear it is.” She smiled and plopped the sucker in her mouth.
The shorter girl sighed, but Samantha could tell she was hiding a smile when she said, “Fine. Lead the way.”
With an extra sway in her step, Samantha did just that.
