Epilog - Emily Brooks

“Hi, ladies! My name is Aster! What can I getcha today? Can I start you out with a margarita?” The waitress’ attitude was as exuberant, as her outfit was revealing. The uniforms at OWLS, a restaurant just across from The Hanger in the mall, consisted of nothing but a pair of skintight orange short shorts, and a tank top covering just enough to be legal. The cleavage from this girl’s double-Ds was on full display, as were her pearly whites. Clearly she wanted that tip.

“I’ll take a margarita.” Bianca said, returning the smile politely.

“Just a water for me, please,” Emily said, “and a house side salad.” She folded up the menu and handed it back to their server, signaling there’d be no entree. As she left, there might have been a smile on the woman’s face, but if someone looked close enough, they’d see the disappointment as she tallied up twenty percent of the small tab.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Bianca leaned in close to her bestie, and whispered, “You know, I heard that girl fucked Santa when she was one of the helpers last year.”

“You’re kidding.” the brunette replied, always excited to dish on some hot gossip with her friend, and boss. That day, the two had gone to the park to shoot Emily’s senior pictures, and now Bianca was treating her employee to a meal, not that she was expensive. The girl was a waif nowadays, though Emmanuel would never have been accused of putting on weight. They scrolled through the final results on Bianca’s tablet, settling on a photo of the outgoing teen sitting across a tree branch, with the sun setting behind her. “Girl, you’re so talented.” Emily gushed, amazed the trained photographer could make her look so pretty when she felt anything but.

“Bitch, shut up.” Bianca shot back, pretending to slap the young girl across the face. “You make it too easy, you know. It’s no wonder Theo’s head over heels for you, when you got a kisser like that. How’d he do on his finals, anyway? I remember you saying he was worried.”

“Yeah, I just don’t think he was getting enough sleep.” Bianca filled in the blanks herself, her amused expression not hiding anything. “What can I say? The man is insatiable. Anyway, he did okay. Might need to retake a class. Next year he’ll be a senior, but he’s still pretty excited we get to spend one year at school together. I keep telling him I have to stay in the Zeta house every night while I’m pledging but that hasn’t dampened his spirits at all. He’s so good to me, you know?”

“I do.” Bianca replied, doing nothing to hide her jealousy. “Good men are hard to find. Don’t you dare let him go. You staying over there tonight?”

“It’s Saturday, isn’t it?” came the girl’s bubbly reply.

Nine months earlier Emmanuel walked out of Bianca’s office, not for the last time, but the last as her captive. Freshly feminized by Song and Emery, the anxious teen had suffered enough as far as the Bia was concerned. The person she now perceived as a girl said she didn’t want to go back to being a boy, and had begun dating a handsome college athlete to boot. The idea of that person ever displaying any predatory behavior in another dressing room seemed absurd.

Emmanuel’s first impulse was to tell the boy bolt when he got into Theo’s car, but unable to toss his feeling for his ex-girlfriends in the garbage, the guilt had him using puppy dog eyes to ask Teddy to wait. Sitting with the boy, and singing along to Dude Looks Like a Lady was kind of fun anyway, even if it was a little on the nose. By the time the girls came outside, he understood that he didn’t ever have to worry about Bianca again. After following Song up to her room, and getting the key, he knew neither of his exes would either. Only one major problem remained, and it was holding his hand as they made their way back to his apartment after dropping off Emery.

“Are you okay, Babe?” the boy asked as they pulled into the parking lot. “You know, if you’re thinking we rushed into this pretty fast, I understand. We can slow down. I want to go your speed. However you’re comfortable.” Theo said, worried he’d already fucked up something good.

Emmanuel knew a veiled threat when he heard one, or at least he thought he did. He hurried to put a stop to that train before it left the station. “Teddy, no! I want you, silly! Like…a lot!” The skirted boy spread his arms as wide as the vehicle would allow while somewhat doing his best impression of Emery. He wasn’t sure how Emily should act. The persona was still new, even if he was stuck with it, and he wasn’t really sure how girls behave most of the time. The fairer gender was a mystery to Emmanuel, and now he had to pretend he was one of them. “Seriously, enough of that. I’ve just got a lot of new stuff going on, so I get trapped in my noggin sometimes. Of course I love you, Teddy Bear.” The terror on Emmanuel’s face came in an instant as soon as the words escaped his lips. In trying to go for “happy girlfriend”, he overshot it, and landed on “clingy mess”. “What I mean is…” he started to explain, only to be interrupted by his new boyfriend holding both manicured hands in his own, and looking deep into eyes.

“You don’t have to explain that, Milly. I love you too. I just didn’t say it because I know it’s fast, and I was afraid of scaring you away. I love you. I’ll say it again. I love you. Knowing you feel the same way is more than I could ever ask for. God you’re so fucking beautiful.”

‘Shit, what have I just done!?’

Theo’s lips pressed into his own and the two shared a passionate kiss while Emmanuel tried to reconcile the gentle giant professing his feelings, and adoring the ground he walked on with the devious schemer currently plotting to trap him as his girlfriend, at least until he got bored with him. It was all too much to process, so Emmanuel checked out and let the boy have his way, locking lips until they both needed to come up for air. “Umm, I guess my mom wants to meet you.” Emmanuel said after they parted. “Wanna come upstairs?” Theo was only too happy to comply, him also wishing to meet the angel who gifted the world with this beautiful creature’s smile.

Bianca, having grown bored with her game, had started taking a more hands off approach to the other two’s punishment, satisfied to get a text from them, and that being enough. If one ever stopped suddenly, then she’d cross that bridge when she got to it, but now she needed a new project, and she found one in the new girl, Emily. “You know, you don’t have to be Emery, right?” she asked as she watched the girl walking across the sales floor one day after checking in with a customer.

“What do you mean?” Emmanuel asked in response, caught completely off guard by the comment.

“She taught you how to walk, didn’t she?”

Wondering if the girl a good five inches shorter than him was psychic, he answered, “Yeah, how’d you know.”

Bianca laughed, thoroughly amused by her own insight. “That girl is a flirty idiot, and everything she does screams it. You’re not a flirty idiot, are you Emily?”

“Umm, no?” It was more a question than an answer. A lot of people accused Emmanuel of not being bright, but he studied hard to show his mother how much he appreciated her sacrifices. It was his quiet nature that led people to the wrong impression.

“Of course you’re not.” his boss said kindly, walking over and scanning the new girl up and down. She was wearing a cute pair of flats today while Emily had on a pair of chunky heels, making the short woman have to crane her neck to look up to the eighteen year old. “You’re a strong, confident young woman who knows what she wants. Sure, you need to learn to walk in heels, but you need to do that like Emily…not Emery, right?”

“Right.” Emmanuel may have said that, but he didn’t believe any of it to be true. Still, it wasn’t in his nature to argue. He was much more likely to get swept up into other people's ideas, and boy did Bianca have some ideas. In an instant she moved from playing matchmaker onto a new game, build-a-bestie.

“Girl, from now on, I want you to start every morning in the mirror, and say, I am a beautiful woman. I am kind, I am smart, I am worthy, and I deserve happiness. Say it for me.”

“Wai…wha…?” Not only was that something Emmanuel would never do, but it was also a mouthful.

“Emily, seriously. I promise it will help.” Bianca bolted into her office, and came back with a post-it note. She wrote the script on top, and handed the stack to her employee. “Stick this on your bathroom mirror, and say it out loud every day. You need to remind those shitty voices in your head just how special you are, okay?”

“Okay.” Emmanuel replied, looking at the little stack of paper like it might explode any minute.

The woman was proud of herself, thinking this would surely help the girl come out of her shell, and maybe just maybe stop blaming herself for everything. “Seriously, Emily. This is for your own good. Say it for me.”

“Right now?” the nervous boy asked.

“No tomorrow…of course right now, girl. Do it. You’ll feel better after, I guarantee.”

“Okay umm…I’m a beautiful woman. I am kind, I am smart, I am worthy, and I deserve happiness.” The feminized boy might have sounded like an actor in a local car commercial as he read the words, but the effect was there in a sense. Saying it, he realized that Emmanuel might have been a stupid, selfish, trouble magnet, but that didn’t have to be the case for Emily. She might have been harassed walking home from the bus but nobody outright tried to fight her. She could be a new person; a better person. She could be the selfless daughter her mother needs. She could be the shield that protected Emmanuel from the cruel cruel world. He didn’t quite remember it, but she’d already done that once the night he lost his virginity to Theo.

“That was great! Use that pad to write some other nice things about yourself, and stick them up next to it.” Excited that her new student actually said the words, and didn’t just sputter into a puddle of self hatred before the sentence left her mouth like Emmanuel would have, Bianca eagerly looked forward to helping this girl figure out exactly who she was. That started with the rest of the shift consisting entirely of Emily walking back and forth across the store until that waggle in her hips moved from overly erotic to just a little suggestive.

Over the next couple of weeks Theo took Emily out for dinner a few times, but mostly the two would hang out after work, and watch tv while cuddling. Occasionally they’d share a meal with Lauren, but otherwise the routine went unchanged. That was all until one night the couple was invited to go out dancing by Jason and Stacy, after the two barged into Theo’s room unannounced, interrupting the young couple as they were about to get handsy.

This came as a relief to Emmanuel, having not yet gotten used to the sensation of the much larger boy’s cock in his mouth, but when he realized that meant an outing into a public place, a night club no less, that came with a whole new bag of worries. The perils of deciding on an outfit, and fretting over bad hair were a frightening prospect, and made no less awful by Teddy’s assurances his girl would look good in a paper bag.

A quick trip home, and Mom was there to help. A slinky blue number was the ensemble of choice, and after Lauren took a flat iron to those curls, the result was a sexy young lady, ready for a fun night out. Emmanuel still felt the need to invite Emery to tag along, the girl being a good bridge since she was friends with Teddy as well, and the increasingly girlish boy was pretty sure if the blonde fell into the tiger enclosure in the zoo, she’d be besties with the cat before anyone showed up to rescue her.

When the three youths pulled up to the club, Emmanuel was clearly very nervous. Emily had mostly been relegated to work, and home, and those felt like mostly safe spaces where things could stay under control. This was something else entirely. Who knew what waited on the other side of the door besides pounding bass beats?

“Milly, you gotta calm the fuck down.” Emery said when she noticed the droplets of sweat forming on the girl’s forehead. The beautiful blonde wasn’t looking too shabby herself, in her highest pink heels, and a matching neon tube dress. She dug through her little clutch as though it was ten times its actual size, and pulled out the all too familiar vape pen she’d used to smoke on her dates with Manny. “Seriously, hit this. Just like once. Otherwise you might get more weird.”

Emmanuel would never have done that in a million years, but Emily decided now it was time to step in to play protector. One little puff was all it took for the teens shoulders to relax for what was probably the first time in weeks. As the soothing sensation washed over him, Emmanuel took a step back, and let the girl out front. She leaned into her boyfriend’s arms, and giggled at how naughty she’d just been. Theo hit it once too, and the three were off to see what all the hullabaloo was about.

One of Bianca’s many lessons was dancing. Not that Emmanuel was very much of a dancer, but from time to time people were going to expect Emily to cut a rug, so the self appointed tutor gave a few lessons. It wasn’t about learning any steps, just understanding that you can move every part of your body, and how to follow the beat. Most of those sessions Bianca would lead while Emmanuel would hold her shoulders stiffly, and move like the tin man at the start of Oz. Apparently that was a good enough foundation because, unencumbered by self consciousness, Emily actually enjoyed swaying and moving beside her boyfriend to the rhythm of the thumping music, Teddy clearly being the more awkward of the two. As the evening progressed, a handful of Zetas introduced themself, each blown away by the girl’s aesthetic, and moves. She tried to brush it off as her mom’s doing, but Stacy, Britney, and even Emery were adamant the girl knew her stuff, toting her tenure at The Hanger. She must have promised to pledge Zeta to every one of them at least twice.

Emmanuel knew it was expected that he play the role of adoring girlfriend to the boy who held the feminized teen’s fate in his hands. Being arm candy was a must, as was praising his skills on the court no matter how the game went. If Theo looked like he was sore, he got a massage. If he seemed bored or frustrated, it was time for a blowjob. Sex was becoming more frequent as well, but the **** boy tried his best in those situations to take a step back, and let Emily take over.

It wasn’t all bad for sure. The young couple never ran out of things to talk about. Theo could be incredibly caring. As many massages that were given were received in kind. Singing along in the car became a part of their routine, and one Emmanuel looked forward to as his shift ended. The free pizza didn’t hurt either. Sometimes when he was able to forget all of the baggage associated with the relationship, the trapped boy had the most fun of his life with his beau. If only he could have realized he was trapping himself. Theo was exactly the kind, caring, horny sweetheart he appeared to be.

Theo adored his girl, wanting nothing more than to give her the world, and he’d certainly die trying. She made him feel valued, like for once in his life someone besides his Aunt could say they cared, and then not actually disappear right after. She might have been clingy sometimes, but she’d obviously been hurt as well, especially after her dad was shipped off to prison. Sometimes she pawed at him endlessly until he relented, like when he was trying to do a take home exam.

Emmanuel sat on the bed, feet crossed at the ankle while watching an amusing video on his phone. Looking over to his boyfriend, him sitting at his desk in the corner of the room, the feminized teen was going to share what he was watching when he saw the look of frustration on Theo’s face. “Teddy, are you okay?”

“Yeah, just… I will be fine.” The college boy said without looking away from the exam question that was taunting him on his laptop’s screen.

‘He doesn't look happy. I need to be a good girlfriend…’ the teen thought, his stomach churning. “I know what will cheer you up, how about a blowjob.”

Theo blinked twice, glancing at his girl. ‘God I love her.’ he thought before turning back to his school work. Theo was almost failing the class and as much as he wanted to say yes, he had to focus. “Not right now.” The reply came out a bit shorter than he intended, but he wasn’t fully considering what he was saying.

‘Is he mad at me? Is this a test? He would expect Emily to suck his cock…’ Scooting off the bed onto his bare feet Emmanuel scratched Theo’s back with his long nails before slipping onto the floor and crawling under the desk. Theo tried his best to focus. He didn’t notice what was going on until he felt his girlfriend’s hand on the crotch of his pants. Looking down he saw a sly smile on her face as she pulled down his zipper and unclasped his pants. ‘She asked if I wanted a blowjob, but she wasn’t really asking. Girl gets what she wants… I guess this is a kind of clingy I can deal with.’

As the weeks went by, Emmanuel found it easier to let Emily drive, taking the backseat and watching his life playout like a movie. She was better at it anyway. Work was going great, and his bank account actually had four digits in the balance for once with all the commissions she was bringing in. Bianca was talking about making the girl assistant manager once she graduated.

Their friendship had blossomed, and slowly but surely Emily had assimilated a chunk of Bianca’s vernacular into her own. She became Bianca’s favorite model, as the fashion photographer rediscovered her love for the craft without ****, or professional fulfilment being involved. She just took pretty pictures of her pretty friend, and that was good enough for the first time in a while. Emily had even talked her into coming out with the crew one night, and while she had a good time, she felt a hundred years older than she actually was the entire night. It probably wouldn’t happen again for a while, but she promised to go out for the girl’s nineteenth birthday.

Just before Christmas that year, the semester was winding down at Central, so the guys in Epsilon house decided it was the perfect time to throw a party. Unfortunately for Emmanuel, that really meant it was time for a party to be held where almost everything but procuring a keg would fall to the girlfriends. The guys tried to dress this up as a sister sorority thing, but most of them didn’t even date Zetas, and yet somehow their partners would inevitably get dragged into the mix. It definitely wasn’t fair, and absolutely sexist, but the **** girl was at least blessed to have one of the few guys self aware enough to realize he should at least drive his lady around to pick up whatever she needed. Emily was placed in charge of the decorations, a simple enough job for the highschooler. She was given a budget, and a list, then on the day of the event, she’d be responsible for hanging up the banners, streamers, and the like before people started showing up. Pretty sure she was given this task because of her height, she willingly accepted, knowing it was expected for her to be a good girlfriend after all.

Struggling to get the last of the little paper decorations taped up over the door, Emily, on her tippy toes, straining to reach, suddenly felt a pair of hands around her hips lifting her up to finish the job. Expecting to turn around, and find her Teddy Bear, she discovered his best friend instead.

“Oh, uh…Hey, Porkchop. Thanks.” Emily was a good shield for Emmanuel, but even she struggled to fake liking Steven and all the sexist bullshit that came out of his mouth on the daily. Nervously, she moved back into the living room, hoping someone else would be around to join the conversation so she wouldn’t be **** into an awkward unwanted conversation.

No such luck, and the buffoon was right behind her, trying to make small talk. “Damn girl, looking good.” he said, scanning the girl up and down in her off the shoulder, magenta minidress, and skyscraper heels.

Feeling obligated to respond in kind, Emily checked out the boy’s t-shirt, for once clean, and free of stains, and said, “You too…uh…buddy,” An uncomfortable silence permeated the room as the brute tried to meet eyes with the young girl while she pretended to check behind herself and her work. The guy kind of reminded her of Song, and he was how she imagined he’d have wound up if he wasn’t doomed to be the same size as a seventh grader for the rest of his life. Girl Song could be a bitch sometimes, but Emily would never wish this asshole on anybody, even her. Whatever Britney saw in him would never make sense to anyone but herself, and even then the new girl wasn’t so sure.

Fortunately, at that moment, Theo came in through the back door, done tapping the keg on the porch. Emily couldn’t throw her arms around him fast enough, squealing, “Teddy! Take me upstairs, Babe. I want a little alone time before people start getting here.” That was all the reason the boy needed to scoop his girl up in his arms, and bolt to his room.

A short while later, people started trickling in, and the party was under way. The music was so loud, no one could hear anyone speak, but somehow people were having the time of their lives. On the back porch by the keg, a beer pong tournament had spontaneously started, even though no one really knew who was winning, or losing, or even who was on the same team. Even when campus police rolled by slowly to make sure their presence was known, they didn’t get out of the golf cart, probably thinking the kids deserved to cut loose after the particularly hellish finals that semester.

Emily wasn’t a Zeta, and she definitely wasn’t an Epsilon, but her people pleasing instincts kicked in, and she appointed herself de facto party hostess. Nobody’s drink was empty, and everyone felt welcome, like they were the life of the party. She joshed with all of the boys, and complemented every girl’s outfit, making sure they felt as sexy as they should have. It took mental effort to not stare, and check the coeds out, but by now Emily was getting as good at compartmentalization as Song.

As the evening waned into the wee hours of the night, the crowd thinned, and the volume turned down. A few folks were still going strong at the beer pong table, determined to tap out the keg before they succumbed to **** poisoning. The core group was sitting around the coffee table just talking about life, and the kind of dumb pointless shit people talk about at that age. The twelver of PBR had just run out so Emily took it upon herself to jump up from her boyfriend’s lap, a light buzz helping her deal with her sore feet, and head out to the garage for another. As she came back in through the empty kitchen, that’s where she was cut off by Porkchop blocking her path.

“Hey, sugartits. Whatcha doing?” he asked, his words slurred by the many beers he drank, as he leered at the object of his transparent desires.

“Hey, Porkchop.” the girl said, trying to be nice. “Just getting more beer.”

“I know. I came to help.” He stepped in closer, and she could feel his pungent breath on her forehead.

“You came to help…carry a twelve pack?” Emily didn’t want to be rude to Teddy’s best friend, but he was making her uncomfortable on a whole new level, and she wanted more than anything to get away from the creepy linebacker.

“I saw the way you were looking at me in the living room earlier.” the drunk said, wrapping his arm around the slender figure and forcefully shoving his tongue down her throat. If he’d thought about it for a minute, he might have expected her to bite down. What he definitely didn’t know was that this girl was a former street tough with far more experience fighting than he’d ever see. That’s how he wound up with two bleeding black eyes after she bit his tongue, when she popped him twice, the stones set in her rings tearing the flesh on his face. Overcome, she slapped him across the cheek for good measure, and then screamed at the top of her lungs, drawing everyone left at the party into the room.

Emily left the moment Emmanuel balled his fist, and had yet to return. The panicked boy was left in her place with two-dozen eyes fixed on him, Porkchop, or the blood splatter between them. This was it. The skirted boy felt weaker than he had when he attacked the larger man, but the outcome was the same, and now that he stood there wobbling slightly in his heels he felt more exposed and **** than ever before. Manny knew he’d pushed it as far as he could, and now he was about to pay the price for his sins. Theo was going to dump him, his mom was going to be fired, and one fear he’d never thought about before, he was going to lose all his new friends he’d made in Zeta. Horrified by it all, with tears and eye makeup streaming down his cheeks, Emmanuel wailed, pleading for understanding.

“I’m so sorry I fucked up your best friend, Babe! You have to believe me! I didn’t mean to! I guess I somehow made him think I was into him earlier, and when he tried to kiss me, I freaked out! I would never cheat on you, I swear! Please don’t break up with me! I can’t lose you!” As far as Emmanuel believed, every word was true. Once their relationship was over, his life might as well have been forfeit. That way at least his mom wouldn’t have two mouths to feed after she lost her job. She could at least get by doing Uber again for a while, and hopefully after that she could find a better job, and a better husband to have a better child with. He was so distraught, the boy collapsed down on the floor, and started weeping.

That was when, for the very first time, Emmanuel saw Theo angry. His usually jubilant expression was scrunched up into a red mess of strain and fury. Bracing himself for the worst, the terrified teen heard the jock ask, his voice as cold as ice, “What the fuck happened here?” Peeking through one cracked eyelid, looking up at him, that’s when he realized his boyfriend wasn’t talking to him.

“You heard the crazy bitch,” Porkchop said, gesturing to the crying mess on the floor, “she fucking attacked me, bro. Yeah, get the fuck out of here, EMILY. Nobody wants you here.” Clearly the idiot couldn’t read the room, as every angry eyeball was fixed on the asshole, unable to believe the gall.

Theo moved slowly toward the guy he used to consider his brother, each step firmly resonating through the floorboards of the old house. “You’re telling me Emily…kind, sweet Emily…girl next door Emily…the one person nobody ever has a negative thing to say about Emily…the Emily whose one single goal in life seems to be bringing a smile to people’s faces Emily…that Emily walked into the kitchen with a twelve-pack from the garage, only to the throw it on the floor, and then bite your tongue as you walked by before kicking your ass for no fucking reason?” That’s how Porkchop left the party with a broken nose as well.

“Okay show’s over, everybody. Time to go home.” It was Jason who cleared out the party, and then roused the **** prick enough to get him into his car, and on the way to the emergency room.

As he was being dragged away, Britney made a special effort to spit in his wounded face, making it very clear they were through, before sitting on the floor next to Emily, and pulling the girl’s face into her chest tightly, letting her cry it all out. “I’m sorry he did that to you, girl. It wasn’t your fault. He’s been kinda like this all year, but I just chalked it up to everybody getting used to him pushing boundaries, so he needed to move the goalpost a bit. I can’t help but feel like this is somehow my fault…actually you know what, it’s not your fault, or mine. Fuck that guy!”

It took a minute for Theo to calm down, before he felt comfortable enough to talk to his girlfriend. The anticipation terrified Emmanuel, as he couldn’t fathom what the boy was thinking standing in the corner by himself. Sure, he’d just heard the same speech as everyone else, but that kind praise felt like it had to be for someone else entirely. Like a baby with a tax form, he just couldn’t make sense of it. Only when the giant turned back around with that same warm expression as always did it start to sink in.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that, Milly.” Teddy said, taking the spot of the other side of the emotional teen. “I doubt he’ll be back tonight, and he’s definitely not coming back to the house next semester. If you don’t feel safe, I can take you home, or, if you want, you can stay here with me. Whatever you need, Babe. I love you so much.” He kissed her on the top of the head, and let his face rest there, buried in her scent.

“But he’s your best friend?” Emmanuel muttered, confused. “...and you’re choosing me?”

“He was my best friend, Babe. Definitely not anymore. Even then, the guy who was my buddy grew into that. He’s not even the same person now. We all grow. Some of us grow apart and some of us grow together. Regardless, I will always choose you, Milly. You versus anyone else on the planet, and it’s you. For the rest of my life if I can help it. If I’d walked in to find his corpse, and you were standing over him with a bloody knife, I would have helped you bury the body in the woods.”

Emmanuel lifted his head, and looked Theo in the eyes. “You really do love me, don’t you?”

“Of course,” he replied, “how could I not?”

For once in his life, somebody besides his mother told him they loved him, and he believed it. Somebody else’s blood was running from his mouth, ruining his dress, and even with that craziness, he still believed them. Theo was, in fact, the wonderful guy he seemed, and there was no ulterior motive, nobody’s schemes, absolutely nothing behind it. He just was what he was. In that moment, Emmanuel decided that even though he wasn’t worthy of love, maybe Emily was. He decided to get in the backseat, and fucking stay there.

Emily threw her arms around her boyfriend’s neck, and still sobbing, said “I love you too, Teddy Bear.”

“I know you do, Babe.” he said, stroking her hair soothingly. “Do you want me to take you home?” The girl pulled away so he could see, and dramatically shook her head, no. “Let’s get you cleaned up, then.” For what wasn’t the first time, and definitely wouldn’t be the last, Theo scooped his girl up in his arms and carried her up the stairs to his room, saying goodnight to everyone along the way. What did happen for the first time was Emily initiating sex, and enjoying herself so much that she didn’t give a shit if anyone else in the house knew.

For the next semester, the lovebirds couldn’t get enough of each other. The newly prescribed hormones were working wonders on Emily’s body, and her lips were somehow fuller than when she was getting injections. This didn’t bother Theo one bit when he kissed them, and especially not when they kissed his cock. Lauren got used to her daughter's bedroom being empty on the weekends, and especially enjoyed when Theo would join the family for dinner, sometimes cooking, himself. He was pleasant to be around, and as far as potential son-in-laws go, it could be much much worse. A man that not only could, but would cook for you was hard to come by after all.

The frat unanimously voted to remove Porkchop for behavior promoting and reinforcing toxic ideas of masculinity that men were long past needing to leave behind. This was pointed out by the Zetas the next time the guys wanted to throw a party without helping. It was basically smooth sailing all the way to this day, Emily especially dolled up for her senior pictures, enjoying a meal with her best friend before going to spend the night at Teddy Bear’s.

That night in Theo’s bathroom Emmanuel popped in again, as he did from time to time to remind Emily that if she broke up with the boy, then even if he wasn’t actually an asshole, his aunt would still fire Mom, and their lives would be ruined. What was essentially the manifestation of his mental breakdown responded with, “Sure, whatever you need to tell yourself, honey.” before turning her attention back to the mirror, and fixing her lipstick, and saying, “I’m a beautiful woman. I am kind, I am smart, I am worthy, and I deserve happiness. Now let’s go give your man some happiness too, Emily.” The girl smirked as she performed a quick twirl in the mirror, making sure Theo’s jersey she was wearing like a dress was hanging right, and covering everything. She wasn’t wearing any underwear underneath, but that was supposed to be a surprise.