Author's note - this is the fourth installment in a planned series of 5, and is a bit of a change of pace from the preceding chapters.
It's taken a while to get started on writing this - I wasn't happy with my original plan for part 5, and so I put the series on hold while I considered totally rethinking parts 4 and 5. At long last I've had a flash of inspiration, and it complements my original plan for part 4 perfectly.
*****
Kelly sat alone at the bar, contemplating her cocktail and contemplating life in general, how one day you can be out getting drunk like it's any other night, and then suddenly the universe does something totally unexpected and you no longer recognise yourself.
For Kelly, that event had occurred two weeks ago, and this evening, like most evenings, she found herself reminiscing. After the peculiar incident at the RIBRUNT lab, and her fortuitous rescue, Kelly had returned home to find herself a changed girl, in more ways than one. Firstly, there had been the question of what had happened to Gemma. Kelly wasn't worried about Gemma's safety, per se - there were plenty of reassuring emails to set Kelly's mind at rest - but Gemma wouldn't say where she was, or what she was doing. The only clue was that Gemma had specifically asked Kelly to hold off on looking for a new flatmate, for now.
Once Kelly had managed to stop worrying, she decided it was about time to check out her "souvenir" from RIBRUNT. In the lab, the two of them had been utterly swept away by the powers of the equipment there, and their lust had caused them to transform their bodies beyond imagination. Before leaving, Kelly had had herself returned to normal, but held onto two small changes, the first being just a slight breast augmentation, the second something a bit more spicy. So she had undressed and lay down on her bed. She ran her hands slowly over her new boobs, gliding them across her belly to the vertical scar-like slit on her pubic mound. Bracing herself, she closed her eyes and clenched those new, unfamiliar muscles, feeling the change in her body that it triggered, a change that brought a smile to her face. She opened her eyes, and screamed.
Kelly shook her head to try and clear that memory, and focussed very hard on her cocktail, tried to shift her thoughts away from that detail. She pondered, for the millionth time in the last fortnight, whether it was the events in the lab or her new physical attributes that had turned her from being a totally heterosexual woman, to one who was now spending time in LGBT bars. Her memory of that evening at RIBRUNT was hazy, she had been incredibly drunk.
She swirled the ice in her drink as she reviewed more recent events. It hadn't taken long before her new desires had brought her to this place, in the hope of finding someone who could accept her as she now was. She'd had a one night stand with a fairly cute girl - they'd had some fun, but Kelly hadn't been comfortable enough to bare her secrets, and when the girl asked about the scar, Kelly just dismissed it as an old operation scar, and offered no further details.
Even if it amounted to nought, Kelly liked this place. People were friendly, and that was enough. Right now it was still early in the evening, and she scanned around the place looking for someone to talk to, someone who didn't seem to be too immersed in a conversation already. You could tell a lot about a person by how they dressed and their body language, but Kelly was also acutely aware that her secret was a strange one, and the kind of soul who could be trusted with it might be living beneath the most unlikely facade.
Kelly found her attention grabbed by a loud, but not harsh-sounding, female laugh. Looking towards the source of the sound she saw that it had come from a small group sat at a table that she had noticed earlier. There was a slim redhead in a brilliant scarlet dress with her back to Kelly, but even from behind she was clearly giggling. Kelly correctly judged her to be the one who had laughed, and instantly hated her. She reminded her of the popular girls in school, who were impossibly good-looking and always gave Kelly a hard time for being a bit awkward and overweight and unathletic. For the hundredth time in the last fortnight, Kelly sighed and added one more item to her mental list of things she should have done before leaving RIBRUNT - why had she walked out with this slightly pudgy body, when she could so easily have said "oh, and can I have a supermodel body and amazing hair". If she'd done that, then people like that laughing redhead wouldn't be so sickeningly far out of her league.
Kelly realised that she'd been staring, and one of the redhead's male companions had noticed. She quickly snapped her attention back to her drink and tried to suppress the feeling of frustration that was bubbling inside her now, the depressing thought that it's hard enough to find "the one" for normal human beings, let alone physical freaks like her. The odds just got exponentially longer.
The conversation over at the redhead's table had dropped to a murmur. Kelly stole a quick glance, and her insides twisted into knots when she realised that they were all looking at her now, every single one. It was like school all over again, the popular kids all huddled round, whisper whisper whisper, Kelly's so fat she blah blah blah. Shit. Head down. Grab drink. Gulp. Steal another glance. Oh fuck the redhead is actually physically laughing now, looking at Kelly and joining in with their cruel insults. Time to blow this joint. Drain the glass. Peripheral vision detects movement, the redhead is stood up, walking over. Grab purse. Muscles so tense, Kelly reckons that she could reach the door with one leap.
"Hi."
The softness of the voice caught Kelly off-guard. She froze on the very cusp of exploding from her barstool, and after half a heartbeat, the tension just melted. Attempting to reevaluate the situation, she came to the conclusion that it would be rude to leave right now, and so she racked her brains for a suitably polite response.
"Hi."
It would have to do.
"My friend said you were looking over at our table, and he thinks it was me you were looking at."
This could still go either way. Was this the setup to some torturous gag at her expense? Should she use the old "I was just kinda staring off into space" excuse? Kelly looked up at the girl's face, she had pale skin and green eyes, and was smiling softly. There didn't seem to be any malice in her voice either. It was a pleasant voice, sweetly musical with a strong Irish accent. With one huge force of willpower, Kelly threw off the burden of her school years.
"Yeah, he got me. Kelly." She extended her arm for a handshake, and then immediately felt slightly awkward about it, but hey it was already out there, so might as well own it.
"Siobhan," came the reply, as a pale, slender hand moved in to accept the gesture. Kelly felt that it made her own hand look clumsy and masculine by comparison. "Can I sit here?"
"Mmm, please do."
"You look like you were about to leave."
"I... kinda was... sort of... I wasn't sure if you were friendly."
Siobhan looked a little hurt, but when she saw the panic and embarrassment break out on Kelly's face, she just threw her head back and laughed, not a cruel laugh, but a disarming laugh that soon had Kelly laughing too.
"I'm sorry, I'm quite new to this." continued Kelly, once the merriment had subsided.
"Oh?" Siobhan lowered her perky derriere onto the barstool next to Kelly.
"Yeah, I'm still figuring stuff out. I've recently had a sort of... awakening."
Kelly looked Siobhan up and down as she talked, trying to be as discreet as possible. She really was a sensation to look at, her silky red dress clung to her body and advertised everything, from the curve of her breasts down to her slender waist and rounded buttocks. Sat up on the barstool, the slit up the side of the dress revealed long, toned legs which tapered down to dainty feet in matching red shoes, with toenails painted in the same shade. Kelly imagined having a body like that, a body that could make any clothes look good, instead of having to try on dozens of outfits before she found something that suited. Her and Gemma used to call such outfits their "sexy disguises" because they hid all the imperfections so well, and they so often ended up being just a fairly plain black top and skirt, like she was wearing tonight. That said, she was far happier with her cleavage than she used to be, and loved to flaunt it.
"Do you want to talk about it? Your awakening, I mean."
"Maybe. There's some stuff in there that is hard to talk about. I sometimes wonder whether I'll ever find anyone I can talk to it about."
"Oh, babe, everyone feels like that, but in truth, there are probably a million people out there who have been through the exact same thing as you."
At this, it was Kelly's turn to laugh out loud, but Siobhan didn't join in.
"Sorry, that wasn't mean to sound dismissive. But trust me, I'm not exaggerating, my situation is unique."
Siobhan thought for a while, then her smile returned.
"Okay, well I can accept that you have to wait until it's comfortable for you. In the meantime, let's get something to drink."
Kelly stared down at her empty glass, and flushed with embarrassment before pushing it away from her.
"Yes, let's."
* * *
The two girls sat and drinked and talked for a while, gradually learning more about each other. They were shocked by how similar their tastes were, in music, film, books, food - the list went on and on. Siobhan didn't talk much about her career, but what she did say left Kelly feeling a little daunted by her successes in life, her years of university followed by a start in a career as some sort of financial contractor. But the subject swiftly moved on, and they talked about their friends and families and found common ground once more. Kelly asked about Siobhan about the friends that she was out with tonight, and Siobhan admitted that she'd only just met them this evening.
"Do your parents know you're a lesbian?" asked Siobhan quite suddenly.
