Anything But Normal [MellowYellow & Somikat]

Agh... this was a pain. Texting just wasn't a thing back when Jeremy was dating growing up, and now it was something that was all the rage. Still, that short and sweet message was enough to make him smile, and he was determined to make the effort... even if it did take an extra ten minutes after reading for him to create a decent response.

Ah, it was my pleasure C. I had fun too, so here's hoping we can go out again sometime. Call me whenever.

Perhaps that message was a little longer than it ought to have been, but Jeremy was no expert on these things. Oh well, he hoped he didn't come on too strong there. He had dressed down into a simple red t-shirt and knee-length white boxer shorts for bed, and was quick to slip under the covers. Things were really looking up now, getting a chance to date the cute and quirky neighbour girl.

Haha. "C"—that's kinda cute. She smiled at the message, and after further deliberation decided not to reply this time. Everything had gone well, and just a little part of her enjoyed the idea of playing coy. He'll be thinking about me, she thought happily, and—setting her phone aside—she curled up in bed with a book before drifting off to sleep.

When she awoke in the morning, that book was the first thing she saw, sitting on her night-stand. George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows, the fourth book so far in the popular 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series, and one of the very few pieces of popular anything which Charlie enjoyed. She'd begun reading the books before the release of the television series though, so she had that to comfort her and distance her from the popular crowd. The second thing she saw was her phone, sitting beside the book.

Jeremy, she thought warmly. It would be nice to text him—nice to interact with him in some small way—but that would surely be a little over-zealous. No, she would wait at least a day or two. As for today, she had no work until the afternoon, and looking at her phone she noted that it was rather early—only just after 9am. More sleep, she thought, and for another hour she dozed with the image of Jeremy's face floating before her mind's eye. Evidently, she was quite smitten with her handsome neighbour.

Jeremy's own day had been a long and dull affair, dealing with designs on renovations to the city library. They apparently wanted to expand on their storage space, so it fell to Jeremy to approve the final design and make any corrections he saw fit to make. It had taken a lot of checking with a fine-tooth comb to see if there was anything worth changing, and it took up the better part of his work day.

Finally he was able to leave the architecture firm, feeling in somewhat of a foul mood after wasting his day on something as utterly pointless library expansion. Ah well, there were somebody he knew could cheer him up. He stood outside his office and spent a few minutes typing out a decent text because he simply couldn't bring himself to use 'txt talking.'

'Hey C, just got off work now. If you wanted to, we could hang out again.'

With his message sent, Jeremy breathed a small sigh and got to walking, heading down the right pattern of streets to reach his home.

The phone in her pocket buzzed silently, but it was another twenty minutes before Charlie had a chance to check it. When she saw the text from Jeremy she wished the store would just empty—but it wouldn't. She had herself half-convinced that her handsome neighbour would think she was ignoring him by the time she told Alice—the tall, freckled blonde she was working with—that she needed to use the bathroom, but would be right back.

Hey Jeremy! I'm in work until 9... if that's not too late I'd love to hang out. I'll call you when I'm done, k?

Yes, call—as an avid reader, she detested the 'txtspeak' fad, and not in a million years would she lower herself to participate in such a brutalisation of the English language. The rest of the evening could not pass quick enough, and when herself and Alice finally closed up shop, the first thing she did after bidding her co-worker goodbye and parting ways was to call Jeremy.

"Heyyy, I'm out of work," she chimed when he answered. "I'll be home in ten minutes—do you still want to hang out?" She didn't mind in the slightest what they did—the prospect of seeing him at all was exciting enough.

Jeremy had nodded in understanding when he read the text. 9 PM... well, it wasn't exactly late but it meant that he couldn't do a whole heaping lot. He needed to get plenty of sleep for his job given the amount of precision and care it took. Ah well, getting to hang out at all would be pretty fun, so he had headed back to his apartment and waited about watching TV and playing old video games before he finally heard the noise of his phone.

"Ah, hey there Charlie," he answered, managing a slight smile from her sweet voice. "I'm still available to hang out, sure," Jeremy added, checking his wall clock. "I dunno... did you wanna watch like a movie? I mean I've got plenty of DVD's here at my place, but we could head out to the cinema. Whichever you prefer," he explained.

Was that a good idea for a date? Ugh, honestly he had no idea, relationships were always a pain when it came to what was and wasn't appropriate.

There was a brief pause as she considered the options proposed to her; a movie was an agreeable idea, but she had no idea what was in the cinema at present, while the prospect of going to his apartment brought its own considerations. It offered more opportunity for conversation, but it also meant they'd be alone, presumably only feet from his bedroom, and that threatened to be an unnerving piece of knowledge, particularly as this was only to be their second 'date'. As nice as he seemed, Charlie couldn't be sure of how quickly Jeremy was prepared to let things move, but she did not feel prepared for sex so soon. After all, there was still the small matter of her past, which she was yet to reveal to him.

"Um... I guess I can come over," she replied. "Can you give me a few minutes to get out of my work clothes?"

Arrangements made, she told him she'd see him soon, and excitedly quickened her pace for home. With excitement came nerves, and once home she took a few liberties with the time he'd allowed her, showering quickly and then spending another five minutes blow-drying her hair, and at least another five deliberating over what to wear. In the end she settled on sandals and a variegated dress slashed with red, pink, and sky blue against a black background, and left her long, brown hair down. Her make-up was sparse, and a gentle layer of gloss brought out the pink in her lips. It was just after 9.30 by the time she finally rang the doorbell of number 22, the sound of the bell ringing within the apartment precipitating a flutter of butterflies in her chest.

'A few minutes' she said. Yeah well, Jeremy knew how well women handled their time... which was to say, rather poorly. Maybe women resided in some sort of parallel timeline where minutes translated into hours. Ah well, Jeremy supposed he didn't mine much. He just rested back on his couch while he waited on Charlie to make her return. Well whatever she decided to do, he didn't mind. He knew there was some stupid 3-date rule when it came to sex, or something like that, but Jeremy was a gentleman and didn't just jump straight into the sack.

When his doorbell rang he was quick to his feet, awoken from his mild dose. He strode over to the door and was quick to open it, and he tried his best not the be floored by the rather attractive dress she had on. Charlie was a hell of a woman, that was for sure. "Aha... hey there, great to see you," he greeted, managing a warm smile. Jeremy stepped back, giving a better glimpse of his apartment. Rather clean and well kept, with nice modern furnishings and a few pieces of artwork and retro movie posters in fancy frames.

It had only been a day since they'd seen each other last, but in the excitement of seeing Jeremy again, it almost seemed that she had forgotten how handsome he was—the sight of his face kicked all of those butterflies into a manic frenzy. It did feel good to have the hots for someone again, and for someone who was as eager to see her as she was them, it seemed.

"Hey," she smiled, bowing her head cutely as she took his step backwards to be an invitation to enter, and for the first time she set foot in Jeremy's apartment. A tingling blend of excitement and intrigue betook her as her fell around the contents of his private world, and for a second at most her conscious mind drank in the sights, sounds, smells... anything which was a part of the domain in which he resided. It lasted only a moment though—a first impression to be quickly built upon—and she stopped just inside the front door, turning back to her host. "How are you?"

"Little old me? Oh I just spent several hours drawing an expansion for a library... it's practically a Michael Bay movie in my office, ya know?" Jeremy joked "I don't mean to sound bitter, of course, but... well you know, when you spend your life building upon a specific set of skills, you'd kind of like to show them off in a better way." He shrugged then and gave his attractive neighbour a chance to look over his home.

He moved in deeper after closing the door, striding past Charlie and heading to the stack of DVD's at the side of his decent TV. It was a few years old now, but it had a good size to it, and crisp video quality. He didn't have the cash for a giant TV, but he hardly wanted or needed one when this one was more than good enough. "So... anything strike your fancy? I've got plenty to choose from."

"Yeah, it's like you need to show all those skills to get a job in the first place, and then you never get to use them once you've got the job," Charlie sympathised. She imagined it was quite frustrating, and she still wanted to see what Jeremy could and would do when left to his own devices, but she did not push it this time. Instead, she followed him into the sitting room as they made small talk, and soon found herself hunkered down before his collection of DVDs, partly scanning for something to watch, partly interestedly taking note of what her handsome neighbour liked to watch. There were some—more recent action movies—which did not interest her too greatly, but also others—more classic films—which were more to her idiosyncratic likings.

"Ooh, I've never seen Duck Soup!" she exclaimed, hitting upon the Marx Brothers' classic. "We could watch it, if you like?" Still hunkered on one knee, she glanced over her shoulder at Jeremy, DVD in hand.

Jeremy watched Charlie from behind while she scanned over the collection of DVD's he had gathered throughout his teens and early twenties. He had grown up in a family that appreciated classic Hollywood pieces, and a good deal of that had rubbed off on him. He'd take Laurel and Hardy over modern hacks any day of the week. It didn't help that modern comedy consisted mainly of mimicking Friends and Seinfeld ad infinitum.

"Duck Soup eh? Great choice Charlie," the older male said, managing to smile at her selection. Not bad at all. He loved the mirror scene most of all, always had and always would. "You got it." he crouched down and opened the tray f the DVD player, letting Charlie slip the disk into place. "You hungry? I mean, I got some of those microwave popcorn bags if you're into them."

"Sure, that'd be great," she smiled in response. Who in their right mind would turn down popcorn every once in a while? "It'll be like we're at the cinema, only your couch looks way comfier than cinema seats," she joked, standing before him. Letting the DVD run to the start menu, she assisted him in the making of the popcorn, which in actual fact meant that she merely accompanied him and made conversation while the microwave did all of the work. Making popcorn was scarcely even a one-man job, let alone work for two.

She'd been meaning to check out the old Marx Brothers flicks ever since Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times had opened her eyes to the lasting comedy of some of the perennial classics, and so she shared with Jeremy as they waited for the microwave to deliver hot deliciousness unto them. Once it had, they took their places on the sofa—popcorn between them—to enjoy the antics of Groucho, and the others whose names Charlie could never remember. Groucho, Wakko, Yakko, and Dot, she mused humourously to herself.

This movie was indeed timeless, and even though Jeremy had seen it a few times in the past he still got the occasional chuckle. he tried his best to keep his laughter under control so he didn't wind up guffawing and distracting Charlie from the movie she'd never gotten a chance to see. Whenever there was a lull, he'd have a little bit of popcorn and then make some smalltalk with Charlie.

And then the movie came to an end and the credits started to roll. It was truly late by now, but Jeremy didn't feel in the least bit tired. Charlie had a sort of... contagious air of enthusiasm that brought Jeremy straight out of his funk. He smiled over at her and stretched his arms above his head "So what did you think of that? And the mirror bit? Classic," he explained with a wistful smile on his face "This is one of my dad's favourite comedies."

"Haha, yes! That bit was great," Charlie enthused. "And the lemonade stand? Genius!" She'd laughed heartily at that when it had come on, though it hadn't been the only time. Her spirits were high; Jeremy was not only exciting company but good company, and she'd thoroughly enjoyed the movie. "I don't know how it took me so long to watch the Marx Brothers," she added, "they're hilarious!"

She grinned, and—taking the empty popcorn bag as a hat—she balanced it on Jeremy's head like a hat (the open end up, so as not to get kernels and grease in his hair) and mimicked the unfortunate lemonade vendor from the film: "I'll teach you to kick me." She laughed again, and whatever tension she'd felt in her neighbour's presence before seemed dissipated now; she was relaxed and happy, so much so that her dorky side was coming out quite unashamedly.

Jeremy managed another smirk when Charlie let the bag sit on the top of his head (And thank god she had remembered not to overturn it on top of his head), and her quoting earned a laugh from the handsome architect. It was good to hang out with a person who knew a good movie when she saw one "You don't need to teach me, I already know how to,"

He smirked and leaned in a little "Buuut.... meh, I think I'd rather kiss you than kick you," he said in a casual manner. He was quick as a flash, a quick and chaste peck on the lips. He knew better than to just ram his tongue down her throat, just something quick and innocent to let her know his interest. And hell, if she wanted to make it deeper than he'd be all for that.

The poor girl's heart leapt in surprise, and there was a fleeting moment where she felt as if she might fall foul of a heart attack, but the brush of his lips brought on no such thing. In their wake, they left only the look of surprise upon her face—whose cheeks quickly began to blush—and a giddy excitement which grew quickly from the sudden surge in her heart-rate. He'd kissed her! A quicke, chaste kiss indeed, but a kiss nonetheless. In a second, the surprise was gone and replaced by a happy smile, but the rosy tint lingered on her cheeks. She giggled, and her grey-blue eyes held his in silent approval.

Oh, how she wanted to lean in and kiss him full on the lips right then and there... but she couldn't, she remembered. There were things he must know first, and the thought of having to do so brought her anxiety back with a vengeance. She felt as though she had his affection in her grasp, but the truth threatened to take that away from her. She managed to keep her smile—having being kissed by Jeremy, it was difficult for her not to smile, but she averted her eyes shyly now.

"I'm... I'm glad," was all she could muster. A pitiful response, she felt, particularly opposed to the way in which she wished to reply. Maybe he would be ok with it... she could only hope so.

"Well, you didn't slap me, so I'm happy," Jeremy said. And that was perhaps a little victory in its own right. Okay so she hadn't leapt for joy or kissed him back or anything, but Charlie was still blushing and smiling after his swift gesture of his affection. Oh well, she liked it, and was probably just feeling too awkward to really make a proper romantic response. Meh.

He reached for the bag of popcorn and raised it up to peer at its contents. A few measly white crumbs of popcorn, some stray pieces of salt, and unpopped kernels. Well damn, that was a shame. He gave Charlie a brief smile and rose up, heading to the bin and dumping the bag into it. "Well tonight was pretty fun Charlie. I'd really like to hang out with you in the future, you know, if you want."

"I'd love to," she replied, and the sweetness of her smile for a moment hid all anxiety. She genuinely liked Jeremy—she hoped he could see that—but there was an elephant in the room, and she was going to need to introduce it to him sooner or later. Now was perhaps not the time, but there was little doubt in her mind that she must figure out how to do so before she saw him again. He had kissed her tonight, and if he wanted to do that again... well, it was only right that he knew. She could really, really only hope that he would want to kiss her again after that, and she grew nervy at the prospect of rejection.

"Call me again?" she requested, standing and holding her hands at her waist. "Or text me—whatever. I'd... I'd like to see you again too," she admitted, and now she really did seem shy. It wasn't quite how he must have thought it was—hell, he'd do well to even imagine how it really was—but at least he seemed interested in seeing her again. That gave her time to figure out how she would best explain her past to him, though she knew full well that the cookie would crumble not over how she told him, but how he accepted her news... or didn't.

He was quick to look her way when she made her suggestions, earning a smile from him. She was so cute when she looked so shy and embarrassed! Buuuuut he wasn't going to say as much aloud, because saying that would make him seem word. "You got it Charlie, I'll call you, or text you. Maybe I'll send you a telegram. Or a smoke signal if the sky is clear enough," Jeremy joked.

An idea suddenly popped into Jeremy's head, and he became aware that he wouldn't have the free time he'd hoped to have "Oh darn it... Hey, I won't really be available to hang out in the next two days. There's a big project coming to the firm, and the work from that will be keeping me pretty slammed. Sorry. Maybe we could make plans for Saturday? I mean assuming you don't have something else going on that day," Jeremy said, managing an awkward smile.

Charlie laughed, and a wide smile spread across her features; he was funny too. She didn't believe in god, but she prayed anyway that he wouldn't reject her when she told him about who she'd been and what she was.

"Carrier pigeon, please," she joked back. And then... "Saturday? Um... I'm pretty sure I have absolutely nothing to do on Saturday... except work, but that's like... twelve till eight? I can check my schedule, but I should be free to hang out around nine, if that suits."

He was cute himself when he got that awkward smile on his lips. And as much as she'd love to see him tomorrow, this wasn't bad; she'd have plenty of time to mull over how best to tell him—or at least what best to sandwich the news with, to most soften the blow—and then hopefully he would really prove himself to be perfect. She prayed that he was open-minded but knew that even that might not be enough. She was still rather inexperienced when it came to relationships or even sex, and that was largely related a fear of rejection stemming from a lack of experience in telling men that she was transsexual. She had little idea how they tended to respond, nor how easily their responses could be grouped or not. All she did know was that she liked Jeremy, and he had to be told.

Before she left that night, she promised to text him to confirm their date for Saturday, and—after a moment's dilly-dallying—she rather rushed to hug him and thank him for another enjoyable night. She knew it must have come off as awkward, but at least it was obvious that she liked him. It felt so good to know the embrace of his chest against hers, and her desire to kiss him made her pause for a moment upon releasing him, her smiling eyes upturned to his.

The rest of the week moved about casually, with work consisting of Jeremy's new project. It was a large one indeed, working on expansions for the mall. They were going to be adding in six new stores and as a result they were adding a new smaller wing to their building, one of a fairly decent size. They needed to make sure that the proportions worked well and that all the measurements were in check.

But as tiresome and irritating as the new batch of work was, Jeremy didn't seem to mind as much. He and Charlie chatted regularly via text, and her goofy jokes and puns were enough to bring a smile to his face. She was... well, just plain fun to chat to. He had made the plans for their Saturday date, making reservations at a nice restaurant. The place wasn't the ritz or anything, but it was fancy enough all things considered. And affordable, for him.

When Saturday came around, after the older man had finished getting his groceries for the week, he headed to his wardrobe and started laying out his clothes for the date. A nice white shirt, a black blazer, black jeans, and some clean brown shoes. When half eight struck on the clock, he dialled up Charlie's number and waited for her to answer "Hey hun, it's me. Our reservations are for 9:40 tonight, just giving you the heads up so you can prepare," Jeremy explained.

The voice on the other end of the phone was sweet, and Charlie was buoyed by his calling her 'hun'. With her formative teen-to-adult years having been devoted to the kind of changes which would have been completely alien to most people—not to mention the associated nervousness she felt around the opposite sex as a result—she'd had very little experience of the brand of excitement which coursed through her being when talking to Jeremy, and it all brought her a novel sense of giddiness. She was quite smitten with her handsome neighbour.

"Hey Jeremy, that sounds great. I'll call over to around 9, if that suits."

She'd thought about him a lot over the past few days, though the time had not made her any less nervous about revealing her gender switch to him. She had had to accept that he might not respond as well as she hoped, and though she had wondered if she should try to rouse in him a stronger investment in her, she decided that that would be too under-handed for her to be comfortable with. She would have to take the chance and accept what came of it.

Her stomach was once again churning with nerves as she made her way home from work that evening, and after showering, drying her hair, and dressing in a frilled and layered black skirt, black tights and a low-cut, long-sleeved black woollen sweater which hugged her figure nicely, she slipped into a cute pair of flat shoes with gold buckles and made her way to Jeremy's door. A quaint leather purse hung over one shoulder, and her fringe was parted in the centre, her long, brunette locks cascading over her shoulders. She took a deep, calming breath, and rang the doorbell.

The ring on his bell did send a little bit of excitement through the older male, though Jeremy was quick to calm himself. After all there was no guarantee it was Charlie he was answering to right now. It could be a deliveryman at his door or something, so he worked to keep his expression relatively restrained as he headed over to his door. He was fully dressed for their night ahead and was just done fixing up his sleeves as he reached out for the handle. He took a quick breath to steady himself and then opened up his door.

And there she was, stunningly gorgeous and dressed to kill herself. Charlie did look damn good. "Well hello there," Jeremy replied, managing a warm smile. He leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the lips, again nothing too raunchy. "You're looking great tight by the way. I do love your sense of style," Jeremy added. The older male reached a hand back and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck "So ah... ready to go or is there anything you need to do before we head out?"

"Thanks!" Charlie replied with a smile, and the compliment brought a little colour to her cheeks. "You look good too."

God, that sounded lame. He really does look good though, she thought wistfully, scarcely able to believe that she was about to go out for another date with Jeremy, and this time she was certain that it was just that. She could remember him kissing her—and could remember too the brush of his lips against her own—but he did so once more and she did not need the memory, sweet as it was. She smiled at the gesture, and her cheeks burned a little hotter. "I'm ready to go if you are," she said, wishing she weren't so nervous; there was no need to blush around him, surely.

Their voyage to the restaurant was a pleasant one, and Charlie was pleased to find her nerves easy to hide; Jeremy was so easy to talk to! She hoped that that boded well for what she had decided to share with him later, though she knew that that would have to wait until after the meal. Such information—she thought—was best divulged in private, or at the very least not at dinner in a public restaurant.

Along the way, Jeremy began to suspect that something was up with Charlie. It was just a hunch but she seemed even more nervous than usual tonight, and he honestly couldn't figure out what it was. Well... maybe it was just some sort of private girls problem. Either way, Jeremy didn't actually bring it up just along the way. For all he knew he was reading too much into nothing and that she was totally fine in reality. Oh well, she could bring up any concerns she had.

The restaurant was a nice enough place, using a style and decorum used to replicate some sort of classical Chinese Palace, red walls and jade ornaments... but it was done in a sparing way so it didn't come off as tacky. One kindly male server was quick to lead them to their private, reserved booth. The architect sat across from his 'girlfriend' (Assuming that was what they were right now). "So... what do you think? A bunch of us from the firm came by here at the last New Years, and it was pretty great," Jeremy explained.