Return of the Sister: Part 9

Over the following week, for the first time in what felt like forever, Bobby got the sense that things were all going to work out okay somehow. The cheerleaders had backed off, for one, and were eager to get back into “Barbie’s” good graces now that they knew he was going to be doing a photo shoot with the Jan Van Antwerp -- they were now loudly disparaging whatever “jealous weirdo” had taken the bathroom video, as if they hadn’t been the ones sharing it all over the internet.

Bobby wasn’t above making them grovel a little, and he’d even used his newfound influence to suggest Bev and Ally and the rest of them start wearing skirts and stilettos daily, claiming Jan Van Antwerp was appalled by any type of leggings or flats, no matter how trendy. The male half of Jefferson High certainly thanked him for it, as it became typical to hear all the school’s hottest girls clicking their way through the halls in high heels and flirty skirts, and Bobby knew it would mean at least a few less eyes on his butt throughout the day.

Of course, Serena was still devising new ways to torture him -- one day she would be dragging him to a “strippercise” class, the next she would have him practicing getting in and out of the Range Rover in the most constricting minidress possible, out on the driveway in full view of the neighbors. But Bobby was able to stick it out with a big fake smile on his face, because once “boot camp” was over he got to go hang out with Josh.

His cover story was that he had a big test coming up in cosmetology class, and that he and Kimberly were studying together every evening -- there was no way he was going to let Serena find out the truth, since she would find a way to ruin it somehow. In reality, he was actually just walking around the corner, to find Josh faithfully waiting to give him a ride.

After spending so long in girly purgatory, hanging out with his former basketball rival was heaven. Normally they would cruise around town for a while, talking about the NBA season and enjoying the horsepower of his dad’s Mustang. Bobby even persuaded him to rev the engine at a red light now and again, which always got stares. Then they would head to Josh’s place to play video games or watch movies on his massive flatscreen TV. Bobby was getting the hang of using a PlayStation controller with long nails, and it was always competitive.

Of course, whenever they went out to get food together, people always seemed to assume they were a couple. At first Bobby found that humiliating, but after a while he realized it was actually great: the closer he stood to Josh, and the more girly he acted, the fewer guys dared to ogle him. They assumed that “Barbie” was off the market, and Josh was big enough to intimidate them a bit, too. When a blushing Bobby pointed this out to his new buddy, Josh just shrugged, but said they could play it up a little if he thought it might help.

That was how Bobby started getting into the habit of accepting Josh’s hand on the small of his back while they walked from the car, or of holding onto Josh’s muscular arm while they waited in line -- he was a little startled by how big the other boy’s bicep was, especially in comparison to his. The male hormones he was taking had yet to kick in, and compared to Josh his slender arms and wrists were completely dainty.

Clutching onto Josh’s arm like an obedient girlfriend would have been humiliating under other circumstances, but since they were both in on the joke, it felt more like they were fooling everybody around them. Plus, Bobby couldn’t deny that Josh still smelled really good. Sometimes just being close to him made his stomach flutter for some reason.

That was the one bad thing about being around Josh, or at least the confusing thing. Thanks to all the female change rooms Bobby had been in the past couple weeks, he’d recently seen more near-naked women up close than in the rest of his life put together. But while he could still enjoy the view, it definitely didn’t give him a physical reaction the way it used to.

On the other hand, when Josh had come straight from a workout to meet him, all sweaty and rocking the post-weightlifting “pump,” Bobby had felt an instant tingling in his breasts. It had only intensified when Josh changed right there in the car, casually pulling off his shirt to reveal glistening pecs and a six-pack Bobby once would have envied, but now, for some reason, just couldn’t stop staring at.

Never suspecting the female hormones coursing through his body, Bobby managed to convince himself it was just the cheerleaders’ general boy craziness rubbing off on him somehow. At the same time, no matter how exhausted he was after Serena’s latest “bootcamp,” he found himself taking extra time with his hair and makeup before he snuck off to meet Josh. He reasoned it was the least he could do: Josh was driving, often paying, and definitely keeping the horny guys away, so the easiest way to repay him was by looking good, and making Josh look good by proxy.

And really, it was a small price to pay for the sheer bliss of having a guy friend to play video games with again. Case in point, right now: he was currently kicking Josh’s ass at the latest Call of Duty.

“Boom!” Bobby announced, tossing his controller onto the couch. “That’s another in the win column, bitch!”

Josh leaned back with a mock scowl. “You’ve got to be cheating somehow.”

Bobby batted his eyelashes. “Who, me? Nuh-uh. This is pure talent, J-dog.”

It was Friday night, meaning Bobby had survived another week of Serena, and he was feeling victorious. The threat of the impending photo shoot was still hanging over his head a little, but talk of the boob job had been forestalled: his mom had found several articles stressing the importance of letting hormone therapy run its course before getting implants.

Of course, Bobby thought to himself, she didn’t know that he was secretly taking male hormones instead of female ones -- maybe it was actually a good thing the pharmaceutical company had colored them pink. In any case, by the time the hormones “ran their course,” it would be obvious a boob job was out of the question.

“You know, I think I’m going to put this on Insta,” Bobby grinned, reaching for his phone. “This is the best K/D ratio I’ve ever had, and I’m doing it with these things!” He wiggled his glittery pink claws.

“Don’t rub it in,” Josh said. Bobby stuck out his tongue. When he pulled up his Instagram account, he saw a long chain of comments on his latest photo, all from one particular follower, whose handle was @HidingPrincessSupaFan. It looked like all of them contained the same link.

“Some weirdo is trying to make me read their LiveJournal,” Bobby said, frowning. “That’s like Tumblr for old people, right?”

“LiveJournal?” Josh echoed, in a weirdly strangled voice.

Bobby glanced over. Josh had bolted up off the couch and was staring at Bobby’s iPhone as if it were a snake. “Uh, yeah,” Bobby said. “It’s probably a fan thing. People are weird. Might be funny, though, want to look at it?”

To his surprise, Josh grabbed his phone right out of his hands and tossed it aside.

“What the hell?” Bobby snapped, standing up. “That’s an expensive phone, dumbass!”

Josh had a strangely panicky look on his face. “Yeah, I just, uh…” His gaze moved from Bobby’s eyes to his lips.

“Just what?” Bobby frowned. “And why are you -- ”

His next words were cut off by his former basketball rival leaning down and kissing him full on the mouth. Fireworks went off all through Bobby’s feminized body. Josh’s lips had just unleashed a hurricane of pent-up hormones, and it felt like an electric current under his estrogen-softened skin. Stomach fluttering, he had no brain power to process the weirdness of what was happening.

Bobby parted his glossy pink lips and let Josh deepen the kiss. He had to loop his arms around the taller boy’s neck for support as his waxed-smooth legs suddenly went weak. He was vaguely aware that Josh was a guy, and Bobby definitely did not kiss guys, but his body didn’t care. His breasts were tingling like crazy and it felt amazing, almost as amazing as the good old days when he could get a reliable hard-on. Besides, Josh was so cool, and they made such a good beer pong team, and it was so fun hanging out together...

With one tiny push from his muscular arms, Josh sent Bobby toppling back onto the couch, lips still locked to his. Bobby gave a small squeal of surprise, which gave Josh’s tongue the perfect opportunity to penetrate Bobby’s mouth, claiming new territory. His muffled protest came out sounding like a moan of pleasure, and a moment later, it actually was. Josh’s hard, muscular body was on top of him, pinning him to the couch, and he felt so small but for some reason it felt so hot, and...and...

When Josh finally broke off the kiss, Bobby’s head was spinning in circles. He tugged down his skirt, which had ridden almost all the way up his hips. He stared up at Josh, particularly at the lip gloss he had smeared on Josh’s lower lip. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. Josh looked almost as stunned, and definitely nervous. Bobby knew he was supposed to start shouting, ask Josh what the hell he was thought he was doing, tell him that he was not gay and he did not kiss guys. Instead, he looked down through his fluttering eyelashes and blushed.

“So you didn’t really think I was a seven,” he said in a small voice.

Josh had a pained smile on his face. “Barbie, you’re a ten,” he said. “Can you, uh, go grab us a couple beers? My dad has some in the fridge. Budweiser.”

Bobby had never felt more confused in his life, but he also felt undeniably happy. In a daze, he stood up, clutching Josh’s arm for balance, and adjusted his top. “Sure,” he said, then, in a flash of inspiration, added: “Don’t go anywhere."

Still blushing, he scampered away towards the kitchen, putting a little extra “sexy” in his strut for some reason. He completely missed the expression of panic on Josh’s face as the St. Ceylan’s star grabbed for his phone.

#

Kimberly couldn’t believe it. She had gone to absolutely insane lengths to girlify her ex, and had worked even harder to cover her tracks. She had invented an anonymous hacker to force Bobby into “coming out,” then sent said hacker to jail. She had persuaded a drug dealer to pretend to be a doctor in order to keep Bobby taking female hormones of his own volition. She had even thrown Serena off her trail by pretending to still be in love with her ex.

And somehow, some way, she had completely forgotten about the fucking LiveJournal account. It had been her first move against Bobby, creating an anonymous page where she impersonated him, pretending he was a trans girl stuck in the closet, but it had fallen by the wayside when she teamed up with Josh, whose hacking skills provided a much faster way to get Bobby stuck in the “Barbie” lie.

Now, it had come back to haunt her, and possibly ruin everything.

“Is it down yet?” she demanded, speaking to Josh on the phone in the privacy of her room.

“It’s down,” he confirmed. “I deleted the LiveJournal account, and I just deleted the links that got posted on Barbie’s Instagram, too. Blocked the follower.” He sounded almost as stressed as she was -- at least he recognized the gravity of their situation. “But those links were up on her page for at least a day. People probably clicked them.”

“But the LiveJournal is gone, now,” Kimberly said. “It doesn’t matter who read it, so long as Barbie doesn’t ever read it.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Josh drew a crackly breath, clearly hesitating to say something.

“Something else?” Kimberly demanded.

“Kimberly, I kissed her.”

Kimberly blinked. “What?”

“I know I was supposed to wait a little longer, but I had to distract her from her phone, so I just went for it,” Josh babbled. “And…”

Kimberly braced herself. Dosed to the gills with estrogen or not, Bobby was still a homophobic little shit at heart, and she had no doubt he’d freaked out at Josh. She’d told her partner in crime to be patient, to wait until Bobby was truly desperate, but now he’d gone and jumped the gun, dashing their shared dream of turning “Barbie” into his submissive little girlfriend.

“It was amazing,” Josh finished. “The connection we had, it was unreal, Kimberly. Like, neither of us could stop. I have a freaking hickey on my neck.”

Kimberly nearly dropped her phone. “Seriously?” she demanded, forgetting the LiveJournal fiasco completely as she was struck by the mental image of her ex-boyfriend cuddled up on Josh’s lap for a hot and heavy makeout session.

“Seriously,” Josh said. “We didn’t, you know, go too far. I didn’t want to scare her off. But what we have is special. I just know it. I can feel it.” His voice was almost shaky with emotion. “But if she ever finds out what you did, I know it’ll all be over.”

“What we did,” Kimberly said flatly. “That’s why she’s never going to find out, remember?”

Her phone buzzed with a new message. She flipped over to her Instagram, checked her DMs, and felt all the color drain out of her face. It was from @officialserenavickerson.

Josh was still talking, but Kimberly couldn’t hear him. She had a weird rushing sound in her ears and felt vaguely sick. She took a gulp of air and tried not to panic. Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe Serena was telling her about some new barre technique. She opened the message.

You should really watch your socials more closely, Kimberly! Don’t worry, someone sent me screenshots before the LiveJournal account disappeared.

Kimberly’s heart started beating double-time. But just because Serena had found the LiveJournal -- of course she had, of course she had somebody monitoring Bobby’s Instagram for her -- that didn’t mean she knew what she’d found. She would probably think Bobby and Kimberly had written it together, as part of their plan to steal her spotlight. That meant there would be no reason for her to share it with Bobby.

Her phone buzzed again.

I guess I’m still a sucker for high school drama, because I asked some of your friends for details on you and Bobby’s break-up. Apparently he said he would be better off dating a Barbie doll. What a funny coincidence!

Kimberly’s fingers were shaking as she tapped out her reply: What do you want?

Just a little chat, woman to woman. Come over to the house tomorrow at 2:00 PM.

She read the message over and over again, breathing much too fast. Serena knew what she’d done, and if she could prove it, it didn’t just mean “Barbie” was gone. It meant Kimberly, and Josh by extension, might be in very, very serious trouble.

“Kimberly?” Josh repeated tinnily. “You still there?”

“I’ve got some studying to do,” she said, forcing herself to sound casual. “Good work taking the LiveJournal down. Talk to you later.”

She ended the call and tossed her phone onto her bed. “Fuck,” she whispered.

#

“Sweetie, those are the bottoms. Here, let me help.”

Bobby barely registered the exasperation in his mom’s voice -- he had been in a state of total distraction ever since the events of the previous night. After a couple beers and a little more kissing, he’d carefully repaired his hair and makeup and let Josh drive him home. Sleep had been a temporary respite from the confusion swirling around his brain, but as soon as he’d woken up this morning, what had happened with Josh had been all he could think about.

Which was probably why he had been trying to wrap a pair of blue bikini bottoms around his chest. Flushing, he dropped his arms to his sides and let his mom take over with the actual top, gently fitting his small boobs into the cups and then tying the straps into a pretty bow between his shoulder blades. The Vickerson women -- Bobby realized he was now counted among that number -- were swimsuit shopping.

It was Serena’s idea, of course, just another way to humiliate him, this time by making him try on an endless parade of skimpy swimsuits in front of her and their mom. The store’s air conditioning was cranked up way too high, and his newly-sensitive nipples certainly noticed. Serena was in fine form, too, making constant remarks about his “beach bunny” potential and asking him about his dream cup size. She was downright gleeful today.

But despite the fact that Bobby was stuck in a changing booth displaying his growing boobs to the woman who’d raised him, his embarrassment was dulled by an even bigger conundrum: Josh had yet to message him. He was eagerly checking his iPhone whenever he got the chance, but so far all he’d gotten were texts from Beverly and Ally. Maybe Josh was feeling just as confused about their make-out session as he was, maybe Josh was already regretting it and never wanted to hang out again…

“Can you figure out the bottoms on your own?” Bobby’s mom asked, holding up the matching blue scrap of fabric.

“Yeah, I got it,” Bobby said, blushing. “Do you mind, um, shutting your eyes?”

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” his mom said. “And you’re all tucked up anyways, aren’t you?”

“Mom!” Bobby squealed.

“Shutting my eyes,” his mom sighed, dramatically placing one hand over her face.

Casting another look towards his phone, which showed no new notifications, Bobby grimaced and shucked off his panties, then spent the next minute wrestling with the ties for the bikini bottom -- his nails made doing knots a much bigger struggle than he remembered. When he was done, the little scrap of fabric was sitting snugly against his hips, presenting a perfectly smooth crotch.

He winced as he observed his reflection in the mirror. Tucking was getting easier and easier, and not just because his technique was improving. It was impossible to deny it any longer: his Little Bobby was definitely littler than it used to be. God, he hoped the male hormones kicked in soon.

“Oh, sweetie, you look hot,” his mom said, delighted. “Let’s go show Serena.”

Bobby pasted the smile onto his face, bracing himself for another round of torment from his big sister. Then his iPhone finally buzzed, and he forgot all about Serena in his haste to yank it off the changing booth chair. His heart leapt -- Josh’s name was beside the message.

Hey, what you up to?

Ignoring his mom, Bobby furiously tapped out a reply: Swimsuit shopping with Mom and Serena, it’s the worst.

Bobby watched the little dots that showed Josh was writing another message. They disappeared, then reappeared, then disappeared again. Bobby’s stomach felt like it was on a rollercoaster. Was Josh about to bring up last night?

Josh’s new message blinked onto his screen: Need another opinion?

Bobby’s stomach flip-flopped. He looked at his reflection in the mirror again, casting a critical eye over his coltish legs, dainty waist, and small but perfect cleavage. There was no use denying it, he looked like the kind of babe he once would have drooled over at the beach. And Josh wasn’t gay, so it made sense that he wanted to get a look, too. It wasn’t all that different from sharing a picture of a sexy girl with one of his friends.

“Barbie?” His mom had an eyebrow raised. “Everything okay?”

Bobby adjusted his hair. “Um, you go ahead, Mom,” he said. “I’m just going to take a selfie real quick."