When Jennifer went out onto the terrace William was nervous but relieved to be with someone his own age and gender, even if that person had been sissified just like himself. The two eighteen-year-olds regarded each other and their feminine attire silently for a moment before Archie at last broke the tongue-tied awkwardness.
"Better make a start," he said, "If we loop a cord around your middle it'll give you something of a waist and make your skirt flare out more."
William noticed that his cousin's face was lovely and made-up to feminine perfection, and when he spoke his voice was in keeping with his sweet features. He seemed surprisingly calm about being made to wear a frock and lipstick, but full of doubt and unused to standing in shoes that raised his heels he himself sank down onto the Chesterfield. Frowning and biting his lip, his eyes followed his companion, gazing in wonder at legs sheathed in sheerest black nylon. He couldn't deny Archie looked good in a skirt and stockings, and the raised heels of girl's shoes provided a sort of tension that gave the back of his legs a marvellous shape.
"Well, what do you think?" Archie asked when he returned to tie a velvet strap about his waist and then began brushing his blond locks with an onyx hairbrush. "Do you like the way your outfit feels?"
"No I don't. I hate it," William fumed. "I'm a man and I don't want to wear dresses and girls underwear. Jennifer shouldn't be allowed to make me do it."
Archie unzipped a small red bag full of cosmetics. "Did you tell her that?"
"Yes, well sort-of, but she's awfully cruel. She nanny-spanked me over her knee in the garden, then nearly pulled my balls off a few minutes ago. Well I mean that's not right is it? She's only a girl."
"You're cute. You're just the type she likes to smack, and exactly the kind she likes to put in a skirt."
"It's degrading to make boys dress like this. Everyone will think we're weird, and it's all your fault for kissing me yesterday."
"You liked me kissing you."
"Yes - well, but just look what's happened because of it. You've given Jennifer a chance to be a bully."
"She's always a bully, and she's awfully fierce, isn't she? She says she'll not marry until she finds a rich boy who can beat her in a fight, but she does exercises every day and she's stronger than most boys, so I think the rest of us will have to suffer for quite a while."
"Your mother - Aunt Miriam - she should stop her from being so beastly."
Archie sighed as he contemplated turning his cousin into an erotic young maiden like himself. Like himself William was beautiful, but in a different way. A degree smaller and softer and rather more camp.
"Mother admires what she does, and sometimes she puts me in a schoolgirl uniform herself when she takes me shopping." He reached out and stroked William's cheek. "Trust me. No one will think you're weird. They'll think you're a cute girl, that's all."
William wasn't reassured. The whole family were crazy. What they were doing was absolutely, totally and utterly wrong. The females were deviants, while Archie accepted things so easily it was unnatural.
Taking William's chin between his finger and thumb Archie said, "Sit up straight, I have to work on you."
Unaccountably William obeyed, stiffening his back and tilting up his head, aware of an odd sensation as his cousins delicious perfume assailed his senses and their stocking clad knees ribbed together with a whisper of nylon. The insignificant rasping signalled his first nylon-on-nylon experience, and it made something throb.
"You've a lovely complexion so you won't need much make-up," Archie gushed, "Nice features and a good mouth too, and you've eyelashes any real girl would die for. Your lips don't really need lipstick, but Jennifer will expect to see some so we'd better do it right. Shame you don't have pierced ears though."
"I've never been allowed to have my ears pierced."
"Jennifer will tell you all girls' have their ears pierced, but never mind for the moment, when we get around to earrings I think I'll be able to find a pair of clip-ons for you. We'll do your nails first, 'cos they'll need time to dry."
"Nails!"
"Your fingernails you chump, they'll need to be lacquered. What colour do you think? Red is too harsh for you - I think primrose pink like my own. It's a colour people associate with young girls."
William's face darkened like a thundercloud and he gave his industrious cousin a petulant look as he twisted his hands in his lap. "I already look girly in these clothes. Do I really have to have make-up too?"
"Of course. Come on, you'll look really elegant, and you know you'll have to give in eventually. Jennifer will have you dressed like this for as long as you stay here."
"All the time? Every day?" The thought sent shivers down William's spine and a look of horror developed on his face. What kind of family had he blundered among?
"Certainly all the time. It amuses her to dress you as a sissy and watch you behave like a girl - for a few hours or a few months - for as long as it pleases her. You won't find any of your own clothes upstairs now. The cupboards in your room will have frocks in them. Look, your jolly lucky really, I have to put up with it every time I'm home on holiday."