Arriving at the restaurant

As Alex’s mother led him into the restaurant, Alex stumbled a bit, despite his practice, in the heels. Alex realized his mother was right about the place being upscale, he wasn’t even sure he had anything in his closet that was fancy enough for the restaurant.

During the car ride over, Alex’s mother had gone over some tips about how to carry himself as a young woman, which essentially boiled down to moving with purpose, and were mostly posture lessons that Alex had failed to learn as a young boy, sitting and standing straight, walking precisely, which was useful for Alex, since the heels were slightly unwieldy for him, and of course, how to sit with a skirt or dress.

“Table for two?” the maître d' asked as Alex and his mother approached the stand.

“Actually, we’re meeting someone here, Richard Parrish?” Alex’s mother replied.

“Ah, yes, he was just seated, follow me, please.” the maître d' motioned for Alex and his mother to follow.

As they walked through the restaurant, Alex noticed how, despite how exposed he felt, nobody was paying him a second thought. He might as well be wearing a suit and tie, which put him a lot more at ease, since he knew the disguise was convincing. As they approached the table, they spotted Richard and Molly sitting and talking at a table for four.

Richard looked about how he’d looked in the photos Alex’s mother had shown him, square jaw, broad shouldered, and he immediately grinned as he saw Alex and his mother approaching.

“Natalie, I’m so glad you could make it. This is Molly.” Richard motioned for Molly to stand up.

Molly was the same age as Alex, with long brown hair, the same shade as Rich’s, flowing over her shoulders. She was also in a dress, but a simple black dress. Alex noticed that she stood slightly behind her father, an act of shyness that Alex was unintentionally mimicking as he stood behind his mother.

“And this is Alex,” Alex’s mother, Natalie, stated. “Well, go on, introduce yourselves.”

Molly took the first step forward and extended her manicured hand, which Alex shook in response. Alex brushed a strand of hair out of his face and took a deep breath.

“Hi, I’m Alex.” Alex said.

Alex and Natalie had gone over some vocal changes in the car as well, so Alex’s voice was slightly higher.

“Molly.” Molly replied.

After a long, awkward pause, where neither Alex nor Molly said anything, Rich broke the silence.

“Shall we sit?” Richard asked.

“Of course.” Natalie replied.

Richard quickly pulled out Natalie’s seat, as the maitre d’ did the same for both Alex and Molly’s chairs.

“Mademoiselles,” the maître d’ said.

“Thank you.” Alex and Molly said at the same time, before blushing and giggling.

“See? You’re already on the same wavelength.” Richard chuckled.

As the dinner gets off to a good start...