The sooner the better.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck….FUCK!” You said as you paced back and forth outside the shop as Mellie read the hand written sign on the door.

CLOSED FOR THE WEEK

FAMILY EMERGENCY

“Now what the fuck are we going to do?” You said, your chest heaving, tears starting to form in your eyes.

“Calm down.” Mellie said, enfolding you in his strong arms. The contact felt good. Too good. “We can do this. We just have to get through the week.”

“But how?” You said, your voice sounded weak and small, and you hated it.

“Well…we’ll just have to carry on until she gets back.” He said, holding you tighter. “We’ve made it this far and neither of us has died yet right?”

You nodded, unconsciously resting your head on Mellie’s chest. It felt good to be in his arms…it felt…safe, like everything was okay, in spite of what the two of you were going through.

“We’ll just have to stay together, you know, at your place…like you always wanted.” A small chuckle escaped his lips at the irony. “We need to keep an eye on each other in case something like Keith pops up again. My parents will be calling eventually too… Don’t worry baby. We can do this, it’s only a week.”

“But…I don’t want to be a girl for a week.” You said, sniffling.

“Don’t cry, your mascara will run all over my shirt.” Mellie said, softly stroking your hair. “I don’t want to do this either, but it’s not like we have a choice. Come on. Toughen up. We can do this.”

You looked up at him, your lip quivering. Damn it you were getting emotional. You felt so helpless and fragile. Mellie was right…you could get through this, you just had to stick together. After the week was over, you’d come back down and **** this old bitch to switch you back. You lifted a hand to Mellie’s cheek…feeling the stubble under your fingers, and **** a smile. “Okay baby.” You said and together you headed back for the car. Beside you, Mellie’s face twisted into a smile.

The car pulled up outside the small, second floor walk-up apartment in the middle of town. “What are we doing at your place?” You asked.

“If we’re going to stay at your place I’ll need to grab you some things. You don’t have enough clothes.”

“I have clothes at home.” You said, sounding defeated.

“Yes, but you can’t wear the same thing every day… and now it’s even more important that we dress in our new gender roles. Like it or not, our reputations are at stake until we can switch back. You wouldn’t want me to go around making you look like some sort of crazy derelict would you?”

You shook your head.

“It’s settled then…come on.”

You went up the stairs to Mellie’s apartment. It was a tiny little one-bedroom affair with tan carpeting and white walls. She hadn’t had a lot of time to decorate it since she had moved in, even though you had offered to help her, but she had a few pictures of her family, and some of her and you together set on one of the side tables. A couple of framed art prints hung on one wall, and an unused TV sat against the other. She had an ugly, flower-print couch and matching chair set behind a low coffee table, but that was about it.

In the bedroom Mellie started to go through the little white dresser while you sat listlessly on the bed. It had a white down comforter decorated in a pretty blue floral pattern. You didn’t want to be here…you didn’t want to be in this body. This all had to be some sort of nightmare…you just had to wake up…

Mellie started throwing some underclothes into a little pink suitcase decorated with peace signs as you looked around the room. Stuffed animals, hearts, and multi colored peace signs dominated the décor. Over the dresser hung a picture of Janis Joplin. Slowly you looked over to see what Mellie was packing. You had seen it all before, but now...Janis's eyes seemed like they were handing you some sort of **** sentence even as her fingers stood up in the universal peace sign.

“What the hell is that!!?” You said, jumping up quickly. “What the hell are you packing that for?”

In Mellie’s hands he held a little blue and gold cheerleader outfit, complete with skirt and spandex crop top. In gold letters across the front was emblazoned the letters “EZ”. In his other hand he held a pair of white sneakers with blue stripes to complete the ensemble.

“It’s my uniform.” He said, furrowing his brow. You had forgotten about the waitressing job at the End Zone you had helped her get. You knew the manager, and between that, and one look at Mellie's taught little body, and she had been a shoe in. The End Zone was a popular sports bar out by the highway, similar to “Hooters” but with a sports theme. All the staff dressed liked cheerleaders. “You didn’t have a problem with it last weekend when I showed it to you.”

“Yeah, that was before. What are you packing it for? I’m not wearing a fucking skirt!”

“Well…I need to work.” He said, the anger rising in his voice. “I’ve only been at the job a month, I can’t call in sick all week. Besides, this apartment costs money, and tomorrow is Sunday… you know how busy it gets during football season.”

“I know but…”

“But nothing. Unless you’re going to give me the money to pay my rent. I need to work…which means YOU need to work.”

You stared back at her. You hated the idea of wearing the skimpy little outfit…but you couldn’t afford to pay rent on two apartments, plus your car payment…utilities…”Fuck.” You said again.

“You won’t have to go that far,” Mellie said, his features softening a little. “At least not until you get home.” His smile grew as he gave you a sly wink. “Seriously though, honey...Just wait the tables. It's no big deal.”