Bank Nerves

Aaron squirmed in the passenger seat. He'd been pretty boring in terms of the law his entire life. Maybe a scrape or two in his younger days, but nothing that led to an arrest. Now here he was, dressed up as an attractive woman, travelling towards a bank to open up an account. Surely this was fraudulent in some way. Sure he needed something for the job but would any judge sympathise? The image of him standing in the witness box came to mind, but uncomfortably he saw himself in make up and female formal wear.

"Nervous?"

Aaron was shaken out of his thoughts. "Oh, um... just, nervous around banks."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." Luke gave an assured smile. "I know the manager, it'll all be hunky dory."

Despite driving, Luke put an arm around Aaron's shoulder against the red T-Shirt. Aaron breathed heavily, he needed to get out of this as soon as possible.

Eventually, the car drove into a wide car park in front of a strip mall. Aaron got out quickly, worried that Luke would be too happy to assist if he hesitated, and then winced as the sudden movement and heels put pressure on his ankle again.

"You okay?" Luke was quickly by Aaron's side, and arm against him offering support. Aaron nodded, broke away from the constant with the excuse of taking the purse from the car.

Standing up again, Aaron took a moment to look around at the array of buildings with their slogans and brand names, before his eyes settled on a bank. The same bank that he had his own account with!

He quickly turned to Luke. "I'm not sure about..."

"Relax!" and before Aaron could reply, Luke has his arm around his back and hand clamped around his cinched waist, guiding him across the tarmac to the glass doors of the branch. Aaron could barely do much then try to keep balance with the pressure off his sore ankle as his pumps clacked on the asphalt.

Finally guided through the door, Aaron saw some small queues, kiosk and desks. Aaron had barely time to glance at them before Luke brought them both up to the reception desk. "Is Stuart Mullins in today? It's his friend Luke!" The receptionist asked for a moment or two while she made a quick call, and soon a smartly dressed brunette woman in a suit came out.

"Luke Cosgrave correct?" She offered his hand and they shook. "I'm Ann Vern. Stuart is on holiday with his family right now, but I'm sure I'll be able to help you. He made special mention to make sure you're well looked after!"

Luke smiled, "Well of course he did, Stuart and I go way back, probably deserves the break!"

"Of course, and you are..?" she looked towards Aaron, still with Luke's arm around him.

"She's new to the city, Erin Fletcher." Interjected Luke, "We need a new account for her."

"Well, if you come this way..." they were soon led into an office. Ann sat behind a desk while Aaron and Luke sat on comfortable seats beside eachother.

"So, what sort of account are you looking to open?"

"Well, I'm starting a job..." Maybe if he didn't outright say he wanted an account it would somehow be more legal?

"The usual account." Took over Luke, "Checking, cards, the usual stuff. Like I said, she's new to this place and needs to get fully set up."

"Okay," responded Ann, "To start with, we'll need a few documents first, such as ID."

Aaron hesitated, but then noticed Luke looking over at him. Of course Luke knew about the ID, he'd helped him get it! Gradually Aaron opened his purse and a mass of paper documents met his eye.

These were the documents needed to help with opening a bank account alright, but they were in his real name. His real male name! He'd planned for them to be used when he wasn't dolled up in makeup and heels! Under no circumstances could he ever let anyone see...

"Ah here we are," with a single movement, Luke reached over and plucked the massive sheaf of documents out of Aaron's purse and dumped them on the desk right in front of Ann. Aaron let out a silent squeal, wide eyed, as Ann nodded and put on a pair of glasses to read them.

He wanted to reach out and grab the documents off the desk and run out of there as fast as his high heels would allow, but instead was frozen. He felt Luke's hand on his shoulder, probably intended in comfort, but feeling more like a clamp holding him down. He could only squirm nervously and look at the woman's face as she examined and frowned at whatever personal documents Luke had handed over.

Ann finally looked up, looking over her glasses Aaron who found it hard to meet her gaze. "So I've a few questions. Most of these documents are in the name of Aaron.

"That her husband, he died some time ago. She moved here for a fresh start," Luke spoke up, content with himself for helping Erin avoid talking about a sensitive subject.

"Oh, I'm very sorry."

Aaron could only nod, long hair swinging by his ears.

"By any chance, you have personal ID in your own name?"

At this stage all Aaron could do was dig into the depths of the purse and fish out the newly minted driver's license, shuddering momentarily at the recollection of his experience with Ted on the day he got it, and hand it over. Ann took and peered at it. Aaron sank back in the chair and wanted to fade away. Part of him even wanted Ann to put everything together and tear this whole facade apart. It would be chaos, but maybe this whole thing would end.

"You see what confuses me is that a lot of these bills have your late husband's name on them, even recent ones such as bills and ones with your current address on them."

Aaron wasn't sure how to respond. Even Luke hesitated and looked at Aaron with a perplexed look.

"In addition to that, you seem to have a bank account with us already. A joint account under the names Erin Fletcher and Aaron Fletcher."

Aaron was momentarily stunned, and then could have slapped himself. Of course the bank account he'd been trying to access had originally been set up as a joint one, they'd they'd used it together for years! Some part of him must have assumed the account had been updated after Erin's passing, or maybe a year of using it on his own had led to him forgetting.

Meanwhile Luke looked towards him, processing the unexpected development. He saw a woman clearly upset, shocked and clearly looking back at memories no one else could see. This was clearly a bit much for her. "Ann, can we move on from this?"

"I'm... sorry." Ann took a breath, "Look, Erin, I know this is hard, but can you at least tell me if you were the one who made these transactions." With that she held out a banks statement, with various run of the mill household expenses on it."

Aaron could only nod.

"So you have been using your husband's name and cards to access... your own joint account?"

Aaron resisted, then just nodded again. Suddenly he felt Luke putting an arm around his shoulder in comfort. "It happens," spoke up Luke, "Wives do things in their husband's name all the time, mostly with their consent! She just... clearly didn't get out of the habit."

"I understand, but accessing a bank account in someone else's name is... well, can have legal ramifications.

"But it was a joint account," Luke quickly said, "She had full legal right to access it."

"Well yes, that's why I'm not speaking to the police about it right now."

"Well... you sort of are," Luke said and grinned, taking his arm off Aaron and leaning forward.

"Oh... yes..." Ann coughed. "Look I'm sure we can sort this out. "

"I was hoping that would be the case."

"But as much as I'm sympathetic Erin's position, there's various procedures we have to go through."

"Okay, well what are those procedures?"

"Well first of all..."

Ann continued talking with Luke while Aaron just sank back into the chair. Words such as "fraudulent", "identity", "transactions", "account owner", "identity theft" started swimming around, and Aaron quickly got lost and was too afraid to speak up. The conversation became more involved and faster between Ann and Luke. Ann gradually stopped even looking in Aaron's direction, and Luke was clearly happy to be engaged with the issues. Aaron was feeling left out of a conversation involving his own finances, but at the same time worried that engaging with it would implicate him somehow. Can't get arrested for doing nothing right?

Then "Social Security Number" got mentioned along with references to looking it up, and Aaron got even more nervous. He asked to use the restroom. He was quickly dismissed and the conversation resumed, hearing a fragment of "she has trouble letting go..." through the door. Following directions to an employee restroom (unisex, so none of the momentary stress), Aaron took a moment to relieve himself.

Aaron nervously tried to think of what Luke and Ann were talking about, but felt distracted. Looking at himself in the mirror, he noticed his makeup was a bit smudged and reached into his purse for the makeup bag. Surprisingly, he found applying makeup to be somewhat relaxing. Making delicate marks, making sure not to get too much or too little on, rubbing some away and reapplying. Adjusting to the perfect shape. He'd taken some art courses as a teenager and in a way he could see the parallel. It felt like it wasn't even his face anymore in the reflection, just one of some attractive woman he was just trying to tweak to bring out her natural beauty. More strokes, more makeup...

A gentle knock on the door. Suddenly, Aaron snapped to attention. How long had he been in there? With one last glance in the mirror, he put his beauty stuff away, and opened the door, catching the eye of the male employee who had been waiting to go in.

Returning to the office he was on the cusp of apologising for being in the toilet for so long, when Luke turned with a big smile. "Erin! Just in time, everything's been sorted out!"

"R-really? No jail time?"

Luke laughed, "Not with me here anyway. I've talked with Ann and everything's sorted out."

"Yes," spoke up Ann, "normally having a **** certificate would help, but Luke has been explaining your situation and how you've been trying to settle in here and everything. Since he's vouching for you, and he's a friend of Stuart, we're trying to sort this all out!"

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Certainly, just sign here and here! And everything will be cleared up!" Ann slid some forms across the desk with an "x" written near the signature fields.

Aaron knew you should normally read a form before signing it, but between a bank manager and a police officer and a bunch of dubious legality, he figured this was his clearest shot out. Aaron picked up the pen and scribbled in a squiggly signature.

"And done!" said Ann with a smile on her face. "Thank you for banking with us Ms Fletcher. The cards will be posted to you in the next few business days, but for now..." she took some printouts and handed them over "...here are the details of your new bank account."

Aaron's eyes couldn't believe it. A new bank account under the name "Erin Fletcher", with the address he'd recently moved into and other details. "Wait, what about the previous account?"

"The joint account? That's been closed down and the funds transferred to this one."

Aaron's eyes widened Looking at the printout, he could indeed see that the opening balance of the new account was a number very close to what he remembered being in his previous account.

"Bet you didn't think it would be sorted out this easy," remarked Luke.

"But... my previous account? With my... husband's name on it?"

"That's one of the reasons we had to close it. It's much easier this way. Luke was saying you were trying to make a fresh start. If you want statements for record keeping we can always mail them to you, but the main thing is you now have your own personal account that you have full control over. You don't need to worry about working with your old account anymore."

"Thank... you..." Luke could barely get the words out. His mind reeling. His previous account, under his own real name, was gone! There was no longer an Aaron Fletcher bank account, and all the bank cards he had still not gotten back yet were now rendered useless, even if he did get them back. On the other hand, he at least had access to his own funds now, and a place to put incoming funds if he got them, but they were all under the name "Erin." If he ever got back to his male appearance he wouldn't be able to go into a bank and access his funds, he'd only be able to do it looking as he did right now! And when the cards arrived, he would be showing his name as "Erin" in every place he paid. If he went back to his regular appearance, simply buying groceries or using an ATM could get him accused of fraud!

"You're very welcome!" Ann beamed in response. "I suppose you were expecting it to be a lot more complicated than this!"

Aaron could barely nod. Ann started offering him some of his documents back while giving some basic terms and conditions, and Aaron found himself clutching his purse and stuffing the documents and printouts into it.

"You've done wonders Ann," beamed Luke, "I'll make sure to let Stuart know how great a job you did next time I see him. Truly wonderful"

"Thank you!" beamed Ann back, and then turned to Aaron "Of course the key thing is that Erin is happy!"

Finding eyes on him once again, Aaron paused, his purse clutched against his buxom, knowing he had to speak. "I... can't believe this is happening... It's like my old life is falling away. I really want to... thank you."

Ann smiled, "No problem at all. Having your banking details sorted out gives a great piece of mind. If you need anything else with this, feel free to come to me anytime!" Aaron could just nod.

And with that, Luke had his arm around Aaron's waist again. "Well, thank you again Ann and goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

Heels on carpet, finding he had to lean into Luke once again to ease pressure on his ankle, Aaron was guided out of the office, through the glass doors and back into the outside air.