People are difficult

"They’re my friends… sort of…" Said the boy, looking sheepish. You had made each of you a cup of herbal tea and were sitting chatting in the sunshine. His name was Tomi, and he was apparently one of your new next door neighbours.

"A lot of people just sorta… started avoiding me, when I started to dress different. But, Shelly and that lot… they seemed really excited about it..."

He reached up to scratch the back of his head, a tell-tale sign of past hurts that had yet to pass. You guessed this was a young man that had never really wanted to be in the spotlight, but had inadvertently dropped himself under one. You knew about high school isolation. It wasn’t so much the obvious bullies that hurt the most… they were just cowards and morons. It was those you'd hoped would be allies, who just sort of drifted away. Said all the right things at first… but slowly stopped inviting you round to hang out.

While, on the other side…

"They like to dress me up and put makeup on me and stuff. It's… nice. But it just gets too much for me, sometimes. Y'know?"

He flashed you a shy, little look. Full of feelers reaching out for some sort of connection and common ground. He really was rather pretty. With soft, black hair and an angular, feminine jawline. You yourself were already imagining what you could do with such a perfect doll. Which of your new, frilly outfits would look just darling on his trim, young frame. No wonder those girls were chasing him around town… The self-conscious creature could be a model if he wanted. Yet, you could still remember the awkwardness you’d felt, as you’d struggled to work out who you were and where you fit in the world. Tossed between those who hated you for no greater reason than existing and those who would try to vicariously live out their own fetishes through you. Those like Roxanne, who would pluck you out to be their personal plaything and then oh so quickly grown bored when they found out you were more than just an off-hand fantasy.

Immediately a decision was made for you. This beautiful creature needed a wing to be taken under. The kind of support you had been grasping out for, all through your life. It was hard to imagine yourself being that kind of mother hen… having only just reached this precarious point of contentment and stability. Yet some deep, brooding part of you could not let this young man go back out into the world without letting him know that he could share this sanctuary of yours.

“Well… I might not be Mrs Jacobs, Lovey… But if you ever need somewhere to hide, you are more than welcome to jump over our fence…”

You looked around at the tangles of greenery lying under most of those stated entry points, now a little embarrassed by the state of it all. Tomi must have seen it in its prime.

“To be honest… If you can remember what she used to get you to do… I really could use some help with all this. I don’t even know where to start!”

The teenager’s eyes lit up like christmas lights. You got the feeling he’d been hoping against hope you would say nothing else the entire time. Within minutes he was excitedly naming all the plants the old lady had shown him and all the chores he used to manage. You couldn’t help but smile at the pure, unadulterated enthusiasm that gushed forth from within that tall, timid exterior. Before long the two of you were deep in the bowels of the undergrowth, tugging at weeds and staining your fine dress green. You didn’t mind at all though. It felt good to be getting stuck into something practical and worthy with this suddenly sunny character. Occasionally you even caught him casting sly glances across your own hard-won curves. Something the slutty little harlot in you couldn’t help but relish and pose for. This new friendship might be fun.