Double D

That evening Eric held Jodie’s hand as he led her to the bar stopping outside the neon-lit sidewalk. “O. M. G. I, like, love this place!” Jodie bounced in place forgetting the effects physics has on her new chest.

“You hide it so well.”

Jodie playfully slapped his arm, “Shut up!” she knew she didn’t hurt him, even before being pumped with more estrogen than she knew of, she never was as strong as Eric. Earlier Jodie had only been told they were going to a bar with good music. Jodie that stood outside of the club was a stark contrast to just three hours ago. Gone was the red top and black pencil skirt and stocking-clad legs. In place of the office bimbo was Jodie. She wore her black corset in place of a top enhancing her already ample cleavage. Her black pantyhose were topped with daisy duke shorts and finished with black suede ankle boots, with brass colored laces with a four and a half stiletto heel Jodie felt more like herself than she had in months.

Jodie practically dragged Eric inside, elated to see old faces she hadn’t seen in months. “Pete!” She shouted, forcing her way through to the bar. “PETE!” She yelled again and still no sign he heard her. Finally, she whistled, cutting through the overlapping conversations and orders, “Hey! Whiskey dick!”

At this Pete looked in Jodie’s direction and came to her side of the bar. “Sorry, do I know you?”

“Uh...I guess not.” Jodie was disheartened that someone she considered a friend didn’t recognize her, but relieved he didn’t. Seeing him like this would be impossible to forget, or live down. “I think I had me confused with someone else.”

“What?”

“Uh, can I, like, get a drink, please?”

“Sure thing. What’ll you have?”

Jodie ordered a drink for herself and Eric. By the time he was able to push through the crowd she had their drinks in hand. “Where’s Aaron?”

“I saw him over there in a booth.”

“Who’s ass did he kick to get that?” She laughed taking Eric’s hand.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She lied.

“If you’re not feeling it we can get out of here.”

“No, no. I am. It’s just work BS. Couple of these and I’ll forget all about it.” she holds her glass high, taking a deep drink. “See, better.” Jodie didn’t have it in her to tell Eric that she had her second Estrogen shot in as many weeks and a third already scheduled for next month.

To her credit she tried to skip the appointment but as she feared Dr.Foo had indeed come to check on her. When he asked why she had missed she told him, “I had a weird reaction I think. Like...I’ve been crying at the dumbest things and my boo-my breasts hurt.”

Dr.Foo cleared his throat, “Jodie. Those are all very common side effects, the tenderness will go away after a few months, and as for your emotional state. Your hormone levels are going through a transition as well. They will settle in a few months and you’ll be better at managing them as well.” Jodie nodded, not sure she liked the sound of being a sore weepy mess for the next few months. “If you’d like, I talked to your doctor and explained how busy things can get around here. She does have some time during lunch.”

“I...I don’t want to put her out.”

“Trust me, her entire job is to help you.” Not seeing any other way out of this she relented and told Dr.Foo she would go at lunchtime. And of course when Jodie told Adam where and why she wouldn’t be available he insisted on driving her.

But being in her element, with her boyfriend, she could forget all of that and just enjoy her time with him while it lasts.

The couple finally made it to Aaron’s table, he sat next to a beautiful woman in leather pants and matching tube top showing off her beautiful breasts and lack of a bra. “Janet?!” Jodie choked when she realized who was sitting across from her.

“Jodie! What are the odds?” She shouted happily.

“You two know each other?”

“They work together.” Eric sighed.

“Well, sort of. Jodie’s a secretary but I've sort of taken her under my wing. Isn’t that right?”

“Something like that.” Jodie took another large drink of her thankfully very alcoholic beverage.

“You should’ve seen her before I got ahold of her. She was this-”

“Janet!” Jodie stood quickly, “I gotta powder my nose. Come with me.”

“Oh, sure thing.” She kissed Aaron sensually before standing up, “Be back soon sugar.”

Jodie dragged a cackling Janet into the ladies room. While she checked that each stall was empty, Janet reapplied her makeup. Once sure they were alone she snapped her attention to Janet, “What the hell are you doing?”

“As much as you do it, I’d think you’d know. I’m touching up my makeup. See, I plan on doing much more than kissing that hunk of man out there and I want everything to be just perfect.”

“You, like, know damn well what I’m talking about.”

Janet’s smirk faded as she put her lipstick back in her clutch and snapped it shut. “First thing’s first, Jordan. Lose the attitude.” Janet’s tone took the wind out of Jodie’s sails, and she wanted to apologize and leave but she stood firm. “Second, I’m not doing anything you haven’t already done, no doubt.”

“What do you mean?” Jodie strained to keep her voice steady.

“I found me a handsome young builder with more muscles than brains and I intend to keep him.”

“...wait, you're, like, dating him?”

“Circle gets the square.” Jodie’s face was awash with confusion, “It’s an old game show dear.”

“You’re not,like,...up to something?”

“Please. Between my workload and Aaron I have no time for evil plans. Besides, you’re not so dumb you would monumentally screw yourself while leaving me looking squeaky clean, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Really, not telling your boyfriend your favorite cake? What kind of trophy girlfriend are you?”

Her immediate thought was that Eric already knew, followed by an instant realization of who she meant, “He’s not-”

“Please. You never could lie to me.”

“Y-you’re not going to, like, tell him are you?” Janet examined Jordan’s face, Jodie looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Jordan was a real charmer but he always acted like their relationship would end eventually.

“What good would that do me? This will blow up in your face all on your own.” Janet smirked, "Take a word of advice from someone who's been a woman longer than you, and played with her share of hearts, things like this?" Her face seemed to soften. "No one comes out unscathed. Not you. Not them."

"Are you actually being nice to me?"

She shrugged her bare shoulders, "I had my fun. I'll admit maybe I got carried away but I still care about you."

"You do?"

"Of course, you airhead. You didn't think I stayed with you as long as I did just out of sex and boredom did you?"

"I mean….why else?"

Janet sighed and picked up her clutch, "Come on. The boys are waiting."

Soon after, the girls returned to their respective boyfriends, and made great attempts to not have an awkward conversation. True to her word Janet did not even hint at Jodie’s infidelity, rather when they returned to their dates the subject was diverted to how she and Aaron met. “We go to the same gym.” she smiled proudly.

“You go to the gym?”

“As of a couple of weeks ago I do. I was stressed from work and….other things and Felicity recommended her gym but that was just a yoga studio with a couple of stationary bikes.”

“How’d that lead you to the ironworks?”

“Well after realizing that yoga and meditation just wasn’t going to cut it for me, I searched online for a gym more in line with my style and I found ‘The Ironworks’ gym.”

“I saw her the first night but you know decided to play it cool.”

“I don’t know about playing it cool, you did flex in the mirror an inordinate amount of time.”

“No...that’s just him.” Eric laughed. “Half the time we put any reflective surfaces in he has to flex.”

“Can you blame me?” Aaron flexed his right bicep, joining in the joke and threatening to rip his already tight sleeve.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re just lucky I like this shirt or I’d show you somethin’.”

“Boys, boys.” Janet interjected, “You’re both very pretty.” Both Jodie and Janet laughed at the silliness of boys, followed by the boys themselves.

With the ice officially broken the couples found it easier to engage in normal conversations with each other as if it were any other day.

Later, Eric and Jodie joined in a crowd of patrons flailing their limbs wildly in time, while closer fans pushed and shoved one another in front of one of the local bands on the elevated stage. Twice patrons spilled their beers and Jodie had to jump back to avoid them staining her boots. Three of the four members of ‘Major Melon’s Discount Rockets’ suddenly dropped out of the song leaving the drummer to her machine-gun-like fire solo before joining back in for the end of their song. “Thank you Howlin’ Mal! We’re Major Melon’s Discount Rockets and you’ve been great.” The drummer clicked her drumsticks together twice, reminding the lead singer of something, “And, if anyone has any ideas for a better name come buy us a drink at the bar!”

As the band left the stage Jodie pushed through the crowd, unknowingly leaving Eric behind as she rushed to the drummer. “Hi! You were, like, amazing!”

“Thanks.” The drummer smiled as she took in all of Jodie before holding out her hand. “I’m Riley." Her smile made her snake bite piercings all the more prominent.

"Jodie." She smiled and shook the drummer's hand. "I think I saw you last year at the pitch and whistle. You were with 'Irradiated Mucus' then, right?"

"Yeah. Then 'Flight of the purple maggots' then 'Dudely's midnight Jockeys' and now I'm here."

"Oh I remember the maggots. They had, like, that guitarist with an extra pinky."

"Yeah, Shane. He was a cool dude. You play?”

“A little piano/keyboard, but like, nothing like what you can do.”

“I can show you some moves,” Riley slid her hands in her back pockets, stepping closer to Jodie. With Riley’s hair currently a purple mohawk she seemed taller than Jodie, “one...musician to another.” she smirked.

“You know, that sounds like it’d be fun.” Riley smiled and the two traded numbers before Riley went to find her band. Before Jodie had time to process if Riley was flirting with her or not she was suddenly elbowed by someone passing by, “Dude!” She spun on her heels and suddenly came face to face with the last person she hoped to see again. “Xander?”

Xander was about to offer a halfhearted apology when he saw Jodie and stopped. “That’s me, babe.” Jodie froze like a deer in headlights, if anyone could recognize the Jordan in Jodie it was him. They were band mates for years and frequently hung out at bars and clubs trying to score groupies together. “You a fan?”

“I...I...” she nervously bit her lip, afraid to speak above a whisper in case he could recognize her voice.

“Hey, no problem. I have that effect on a lot of women. Rick!” He shouted to their drummer who was already up on stage, after a quick hand signal Rick threw Xander a sharpie. “Here you go, love.” With a well and practiced hand he signed Jodie’s prominent cleavage with his right hand and lightly squeezed with his left. “After our set, maybe I’ll introduce you to the rest of the band.”

Jodie stared at her chest in shock, he didn’t recognize her-him he even thought he-she was a groupie? Standing dumbfounded, the only thing to break her free was a stranger. “You-you got a new keyboard player?”

“Oh him? Yeah. The last guy up and disappeared on us. Good thing too, he kind of sucked anyway.”

“....he sucked?”

“This guy is miles better, you’ll love him….of course he’s nothing compared to what I bring. What would the band be without my vocals?”

As she was walking away she swore she heard Xander swear. “What a waste. Dyke.” Before taking his place on stage.

Again Jodie was left trying to process conflicting emotions. Her friends, Jordan’s friends, thought he sucked? Jordan’s friends rarely if ever tried to spend time with him outside of practice and the rare gig. They didn’t even recognize him and in fact had replaced him with someone they believed his better.

“Jodie!” Eric shouted over the music while Jodie nursed a drink and tried desperately to scrub the ink off of her chest with a towel Pete had given her, “Where’ve you been? I turned around and you were gone! What happened?” He asked, seeing the black smudge on her chest.

“....Some idiot with a bad dye job, like got sweat all over me and like, three other people. “Jodie rested on a vacant area of wall that, like most of the walls in the bar, had the names of at least a hundred different bands that had played at Howlin’ Mal’s. “....talking to a drummer.”

“Oh?” Eric laughed faintly, “he try to steal you away from me?”

“No. She didn’t.” Eric made an ‘Oh!’ face. “No, she’s just an amazing drummer and she offered to teach me some stuff.”

“...baby…”

“What?”

“You uh…..you play piano?” Eric didn’t want to ruin Jodie’s good time, but he also remembered back when she was in highschool such a line managed to get Jordan laid quite a bit.

“I can play both.”

“That would take some talent.”

“Not at the same time….although that may be fun to try.” She laughed and imagined the silly sight of her trying to drum and play the keys at the same time. Eric bumped Jodie with his shoulder for being the loveable dork that she was. Jodie smiled and leaned on Eric’s arm. “I think you could beat him.”

“Who?”

“Aaron. You’re definitely stronger than he is.”

Eric said nothing, but silently kissed Jodie tasting the fruity drink on her lips. For a moment they did nothing but listen to the music before either of them spoke again. It was Eric who said, “They’re pretty good.”

“Not really.” Jodie knew enough about music to know they were indeed good. Possibly even better than when she was in the band.

"What? Come on, they’re great!”

“I guess.” gritting her teeth.

“That’s surprising, not too many bands have keyboards anymore. You’d think you’d be all over this.”

“Oh fuck off!” Jodie yelled, throwing her cup against a far wall.

"What the hell?!"

"I don't give a shit about the stupid band!" Jodie tried to walk away only for Eric to grab her wrist.

"What's gotten into you?"

"Let me go!"

"Not until you at least tell me-"

"Hey she said let go asshole!" A random guy with a sleeve of tattoo shouted as he stepped closer.

"Dude she's my girlfriend! Back off."

"Some boyfriend." A girl with multicolored hair came to Jodie's side.

Eric's grip loosened and Jodie slipped away racing through the crowd until she found Janet wrapped in Aarons arms.

"Take me home."

"What's wrong? Where's Eric? What's on your chest?"

"Nothing. Take me home. Please? I just need to get out of here." Jodie tapped her foot rapidfire.

"Do you mind getting a ride with Eric?"

"Yeah sure. No problem." He kissed Janet before turning his attention to Jodie. "I hope everything's copacetic."

"Yeah." Jodie dragged Janet out of the bar as quickly as she could through the crowd.