A Boiled Frog Pt. 06

I got the luggage out of the car while Emily went to knock on the door. When I came up, I was looking for recognition in Shelly's face, but thankfully saw none. Shelly looked at me in surprise, and said, "Where's the squirt? I thought you were bringing him with ya."

Emily grimaced and protected me.

"This is Tina," she explained. "She is, um, Julie's best friend. Chris couldn't make it so she, uh, volunteered to come with me."

I put on my winningest smile.

"Hey, free trip," I said. "I wasn't doing anything anyway."

Shelly nodded and seemed to accept the explanation.

"Well, come in, come in. It's cold outside. Frankie went to the store. He should be home in a few. He'll be sad Chris didn't make it. He said he was looking forward to seeing him."

I bet he was. Frankie was a bully from my high school baseball team. He was one of our starting pitchers and thought he was hot shit. He used to pick on me, especially once he started getting pulled out of games for me to pinch hit for him. I had forgotten Shelly married him. I certainly didn't go to the wedding.

"Well, I'll definitely pass that along," I responded.

"Oh well, I guess he'll be stuck babysitting the kids alone tonight," Shelly mused.

"Why, what's tonight?" Emily asked.

"Girls night out," Shelly beamed. "I can't wait to introduce you to my friends. They know all about you."

"I'm not drinking right now," Emily said.

"Then you can drive. Tammy'll be happy about that. It's her turn for designated driver and she's a lush. You must come too, Tina. You don't want to be stuck here with Frankie and the kids."

I certainly didn't want to spend any time around Frankie. "Where we going?"

"It's karaoke night at J&A Tap; we usually go there. They've got great tater tots."

I was glad at the last minute I had packed my slinky shimmering dress, the one Lisa bought for me in Vegas. I decided I wanted to show Emily why I liked being Tina.

"Oh, okay, that sounds like fun."

Emily looked at me in surprise. I'm not sure what she was thinking.

"Can I get a glass of water?"

"There's bottles in the fridge," Shelly commented. "Help yourself."

I got up to get one and left them alone. The moment I was out of sight, I heard Shelly, although she tried to lower her voice.

"She's gorgeous. She looks an awful lot like you. I'm glad she's coming with us. I wouldn't want to leave her here with Frankie. She'd be all over him and he might not be able to resist her. He does love me, but still."

"I think Chris figured out she's our fourth cousin. Also, I don't think she's into guys," Emily quietly lied. "You should see the girl she's dating. She's a foot taller than me."

"Shut up," Shelly exclaimed. "She's a lesbian! That'll be interesting. The girls will get a kick out of ..."

I had grabbed the water bottle and returned. She abruptly cut off once I appeared into view.

"I'm awfully tired," I said. "I was up most of the night packing. Can you show me where I'll be sleeping? I'd like to take a nap if we're going out later. Plus, that'll give you guys some time to catch up without me being a third wheel." My real motivation was I wanted to avoid having to deal with Frankie when he got back.

Emily smirked at my comment of packing all night. Shelly said sure and showed me a guest bedroom where Emily and I would be sleeping. It was small, a queen-sized bed took up most of the floor. The closet door was missing and had stacks of boxes filling it. But the nice part was that it had a door that led to a guest bathroom. We wouldn't have to share with the rug rats.

I moved all my luggage into a corner and got Emily's for her as well, telling her to sit and visit with her friend. Then I laid down and took a nap.

Chapter 7

I woke groggily a few hours later to buzzing. It was coming from the bathroom. I recognized the noise from earlier and started. Emily was at it again. Holy crap! I had a horny big sister.

I decided to languish on the bed until she finished. I had no desire to go out and spend time with Shelly or Frankie or their kids. I figured I would minimize my time around them to preserve the chance of discovery. At least that was the excuse I decided to stick to.

I listened closely trying to hear moans or her orgasm, but all I heard was the noise of the vibrator buzzing along. After a couple of minutes, it shut off and I closed my eyes and pretended sleep. Emily exited the bathroom a few minutes later and went out into the living room. I heard voices and checked the time. Shelly had said we were leaving at 7 p.m. and it was already 5:30. I decided to jump in the shower and do myself up right.

I took a quick shower and washed my hair then went through the long task of blowing it dry. It was now past my shoulder blades and thick and wavy. After I fixed my hair, I put on a silver necklace and dangly hooped earrings. I did my makeup for going out, put on my dress and realized I had to dig out a bra. My saline-enhanced chest wobbled way too much to go braless, unlike the breast forms I had worn before. As I looked in the mirror and admired myself, I had to admit I looked good.

Since I had to dig out a bra, I decided to go all out with my underwear. I started over with a black garter belt and silk hose. That was followed by a gaffe tucking me out of sight, followed by my corset as well, cinching it down real tight. I had a new underwire black bra that Lisa had provided when she filled me with the saline and that went next. Then I threw on the dress. I had looked good before, now I looked even better. I slipped on heels and walked out into the living room to wait for our ride.

As I entered the living room, there sat Frankie, looking much worse for wear from high school with a fat old beer belly. He was splayed out in a lazy boy chair with a beer in his hand watching college football on TV. Emily was sitting on the couch and had on tight jeans and a sweater and sneakers. Shelly was cutting up food for the kids, who were all gathered around the table arguing about ninja turtles. She was also in jeans, although she had a silky blouse on.

All three mouths were gaped open.

"What?" I questioned. "What's wrong?"

Frankie popped in first.

"Sorry, we just aren't used to having any supermodels here," he said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes.

Emily spoke next. "You do know this is Iowa City, right? We're not in Chicago or Vegas."

It finally registered. I was overdressed.

"Oops. Do I have time to change?"

"Don't you dare," Shelly pronounced. "You look glamorous as all get out. In fact, I'm going to put on a skirt too." She left the room. I walked over to continue chopping the food for the kids. Emily looked at me in disbelief. Me doing a domestic chore without being asked. I shrugged.

A car horn honked about 10 minutes later and we hustled out to find Tammy and their friends Michelle and Skyler in a mini-van. Emily and I were introduced as we climbed in and the girls nattered on for the 15-minute drive to the bar.

As we pulled up to J&A Tap, I could see why I was overdressed. Outside the bar was sand volleyball courts and the place looked a little run down. It was a dive bar. The place was doing good business, but not full, as we managed to grab a table close to the stage. Already, some guy was singing about his "Achy Breaky Heart" and looked like he had put more than a few away.

Emily looked surprised when I sat my purse down in my spot and went over to get in line for singing right away. I did want to impress her. I didn't think she had heard me sing before.

I hadn't been in the line 10 seconds when the first guy approached me and began flirting. I quickly got rid of him by saying, "Sorry, I'm engaged." He took it well and left. After signing up, I headed back to our table and joined the girls.

"That boy was cute," Skyler said. "If you don't want him, send him my way."

"Oh, don't worry, they're all yours tonight," Shelly said in a very loud voice. "She's a lesbian."

I think half the bar turned and looked at me. I cringed for just a second before I decided this could be to my advantage.

"I've known my whole life I was into girls," I pronounced, giving Emily a wink. She was grinning. "Boys are gross."

"Oh, honey," Shelly exclaimed. "You just haven't met the right one. Take my Frankie ..."

I stopped listening and nodded along, watching Emily out of the corner of my eye. I wanted to impress her and show her that I was happy living as Tina, but that I hadn't stopped being Chris completely. It was a delicate tight rope act I was trying to accomplish, and I wasn't sure exactly how to do it. I so wanted her to be okay with me.

My song finally came up and I got on stage. I had picked Lorde's "Royals" and I nailed it. My voice came out flawlessly and I knew the song well so I was able to sway and dance to the beat. By the second verse, I had the crowd into it and Shelley and her friends all agog in shock. Emily even had her hand covering her mouth in surprise.

I finished up and returned to the table.

Skyler blurted out, "That was so sexy, my panties are all wet."

"That was so good," Shelly agreed. "I'm going to go sign you up for another. What do you want?"

"Do 'Brave'," I said.

She looked at me funny and I elaborated, "Sara Bareilles."

"Oh, okay."

Emily leaned over to me and whispered in my ear.

"Oh my gosh, Chris! That was so good. I never would have believed that was you up there if I didn't know better. I didn't know you had it in you. What brought that out?"

"Tina," I said, shrugging. "I can't do it as Chris."

She looked at me strangely.

Shelly returned just as a guy approached and said, "Hi, I'm Dave. You looked incredible out there. Do you sing professionally?"

"Nope, not at all," I smiled, flashing all teeth, the exhilaration still running through me from the performance.

"Well, that was really good," he said. "My brother and I have this band and wanted to know if you would do vocals for us."

"Sorry, just passing through. Not from around here ..." I got out before he cut me off by grabbing my bicep.

"Well, in that case," he said, pulling me up to my feet. "You should come join us and we can talk music for a few." He wasn't being subtle at all and he was slurring a couple of his words. He was pretty far gone.

"Sorry, Dave," Shelly broadcasted loudly for anyone who hadn't heard earlier. "She's a lesbian."

"That just means she hasn't met the right guy yet," Doug said, actually tugging to drag me away.

"I'm sorry, Doug ..." Emily announced.

"It's Dave," he replied.

"That's my woman you're trying to drag away. Would you please take your grubby hands off her?"

He looked at her closely and let go. Turning he mumbled loudly, "Fucking bitches."

Shelly looked at Emily and laughed, "Your woman?"

Emily shrugged and said, "What, I had to say something."

"That's true though," I quipped, with a wink. "We are sleeping together tonight, aren't we?"

Emily shook her head, blushing. "You're so bad."

The rest of the night was fun and exciting. I sang three more songs and had three more guys approach. Shelly announced loudly to all three I was a lesbian and off the market. One of them ended up settling for Skyler and she smiled and disappeared on us. Towards the end of the night, a young girl who had to be 21 because of the beer in her hand but looked 16, approached and asked if she could talk to me for a second.

I had just returned from singing my last song and hadn't sat down yet so I turned and followed her off to the corner table. Emily watched like my guardian hawk, as if she was truly my girl for the night.

"You sing real pretty," the girl shyly said. I could barely make out her voice over the din of the bar and the singer trying to stumble through Blake Shelton's "Hillbilly Bone."

"Thanks," I said. "What can I do for you?"

"You're real pretty too," she said, blushing as she said it.

Was this a hit on? I hadn't had a girl try to pick me up in a bar before. I looked at the girl. She was very pretty. She had long straight black hair that came past her shoulder blades and her skin was alabaster white. She had a pug nose and these huge blue eyes. She looked incredibly young though.

"Thanks, you are as well," I said. "I'm Tina. What's your name?"

"I'm Dakota," she smiled. "I overheard that girl saying you're a lesbian. Is that true?"

"Well, I am into girls, but I do have a fiancé," I said politely.

"Oh," she said, sadly, nodding her head. "I should've thought of that."

"It's okay," I said. I could see the nervousness in her so I tried to let her off gently. "You were brave to put yourself out there like this. I can't imagine it was easy."

"No, it's not. You have no idea what it's like to be stuck in this town. I'm the only gay girl I know."

"I'm sure someone is out there for you. You're very pretty, you just need to be patient."

At that point, I noticed a boy walking over. "Dakota, what're you doing?" he said loudly. "Why are you talking to that woman?"

She quickly popped out of her seat, slipped me a piece of paper, and said, "I gotta go, sorry."

I watched her slip out the front door with the boy following behind her yelling for her to wait up. Once he was out of sight, I glanced at the paper. It had her name and phone number and a call me please written on it. She must have written this in advance before coming to talk to me. I sat there thinking for a minute and Emily wandered over.

"Does this happen a lot to you?" she queried.

"What?"

"Getting hit on," she said. "I admit, you are far prettier as a girl than me, especially with that boob job. Is this unusual?"

"These are just saline Lisa injected," I replied. "They'll go down over the next week." Her eyes lit up in surprise at that. "They want me to get permanent ones, but I told them I have to talk to you first. We can discuss that later. Not here. Back on the road."

She nodded.

"I get hit on occasionally, the only time I become invisible is when I'm with Lisa."

Emily nodded again. At that point Shelly walked up and asked if we were ready to go. We nodded and headed back home.

As we pulled in I told Emily I would be a few. I wanted to call Julie and check in. She nodded and went into the house with Shelly. I called Julie and the phone rang and rang. I called back a second time and it rang until voicemail. I called a third time and was just about to give up when I heard the phone answered.

"Can't you get a hint we're busy," Lisa exclaimed, fully exasperated.

"Hi, Lisa, this is Chris," I said. "Can I talk to Julie?"

"Jules is tied up at the moment," she giggled. "I'll have her call you tomorrow."

And then she hung up!

I stared at the phone for a second in disbelief. Had I just been blown off? I called back and it rang and rang. I called again. This time it went to voicemail immediately. Lisa had turned it off. The bitch!

I dialed Lisa's number. She answered with a "Sheesh, Tina. Relax. Can't this wait? We're kinda busy over here."

I switched to my Chris voice. I had been talking as Tina for so long that it cracked and was actually hard to do.

"Dammit, Lisa, put my WIFE on the phone!"

"She's wasted. Now's not a good time."

"I don't care! If you ever want me to be nice to you again, put her on the phone now!"

"Fine, gimme a minute."

I waited. And waited. And waited. I was getting pissed off. Finally, Julie's voice came through the telephone. She did sound bombed.

"Hey, baby," she cooed. "I miss you!"

"Julie, are you okay?" I asked. "What're you and Lisa up to?"

"She tied me into her fucking machine," Julie slurred. "I haven't cum that many times since college. This one has multiple speeds. It can even do both holes at once."

I heard a muffled 'sshhhhhhh' in the background. Lisa was being bad.

"So, what're you doing?" Julie mumbled somewhat coherently.

"We just got back from karaoke," I said, wanting to focus on her. "It was okay. But ..."

"Did you get hit on?" she giggled.

"Yes, four or five guys, even one girl."

"Was she cute?"

"Adorable."

"I wanna see. Send me a picture."

"I didn't get any pictures. She did give me her number though."

"Call her. I wanna picture."

She was out of it. I asked her to put Lisa on the phone.

Lisa came on the phone with a "sounds like you are having a good time."

"Cut the crap, Lisa!" I interrupted. "What did you give Julie? She sounds totally out of it."

"Nothing serious," she said. "We're just getting reacquainted."

"You're already breaking the rules we agreed on! Do I need to come back home?"

"It wasn't bigger than you, I promise."

"But you told me you'd stay out of her ass. She already told me you were DP'ing her."

"She begged for it."

"No more drugs!"

"Okay, okay. Relax will ya. I love you."

"Then respect my wishes, please. Julie's not your toy. She's my wife."

"I get it. I get it."

I had nothing else to say and told her to put Julie back on.

"Jules, he wants to talk to you again."

I told her I loved her and I would be sending Dee to check up on her. She told me to have a good time and to send her a picture. I sighed and hung up. My nightmares looked to be happening. Was Lisa my ally or my enemy? What exactly was going on?

Chapter 8

It was late so I put off calling Dee until the morning. I went into the house to find everyone had gone to bed. I walked into the room Emily and I were staying in and found she was in the bathroom. I leaned against the door and heard the buzzing of a machine going again. I shook my head in disbelief. I never knew anyone who masturbated as much as she did. Did I know my sister at all?

I needed to pee so I went out of the room and over to the main bathroom in the hall. I did my business, even brushing my teeth since I hadn't put my toiletries in the bathroom yet. I opened the door and jumped. Standing right there waiting for me was Frankie.

"You scared me," I hissed. "Sorry, Ems is in the other bathroom."

"Have we met?" Frankie asked. "I never forget a face and yours looks so familiar. I know we've met somewhere."

Instantly the hairs on my neck rose and panic set in. I was going to be outed with Shelly finding out. I couldn't think of anything worse, except maybe Julie's parents.

"I, uh, don't think so," I said. "I would've remembered someone like you." I was trying to throw him off my scent.

"No, I know it. We've met. I'm sure it'll come to me. Did you go to Lincoln High?"

"No, I'm from New York. You ever been to the Big Apple?"

He frowned, scrunching his face up in thought.

"What about Richard J. Daley community college?"

"Sorry no, I went to Columbia," I replied, pulling a school out of my butt. "I did do a TV commercial once though," praying for a way to throw him off the scent.

"Well, it'll come to me eventually."

"If I remember, I'll let you know," I said, scurrying past him and into the room in a panic. I closed the door and locked it.

Emily was still in the bathroom so I changed out of my dress and corset, threw on a satin slip that came to mid-thigh and climbed into bed. I didn't want to embarrass her so I pretended to be asleep when she entered the room. She whispered my name and when I didn't respond, she climbed on the bed next to me. I slit my eyes open and noticed she was wearing an old faded t-shirt type sleeping dress. She laid down next to me and whispered my name again. Again, I remained asleep, figuring she would nudge me or something if she really wanted to talk.

I still had my eyes barely slit open when I saw her reach her hand out and brush my cheek. She pulled a few wisps of hair away from my face. I kept up my breathing, trying to make it as normal as possible.