Rent or Forfeit 15

Chapter 15: Time to Face the Music

"Maddison, I don’t think going out tonight is such a good idea," Tommy said, his tone giving away the anxiety churning inside him.

Maddison rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Come on, Tammy. It’s the Saturday before Christmas. Why wouldn’t you want to go out and have fun?"

"I... I just don’t think I’m ready," Tommy muttered, gritting his teeth.

"Ready for what? To have fun? Nonsense. You took the bus over here, right? And when I saw you the other day, you were working in a busy shopping centre, wearing a teeny tiny Mrs Santa dress," Maddison replied, clearly puzzled.

"Yeah, I know. But I don’t feel comfortable going on a night out dressed like this," Tommy said, gesturing toward his short playsuit.

"Ahh! Got it," Maddison said, thinking she understood the issue. "Don’t worry, Janae will be here soon, and between the two of us we’ll sort it."

"But..." Tommy began, only to be cut off.

"No buts!" Maddison replied cheerfully, flashing Tommy a heart-melting smile. "Now, let’s get some drinks going and start having fun, shall we? It is Christmas, after all."

Janae arrived shortly after, and after the initial shock of seeing Tommy Jenkins looking hotter than most of the girls she knew, she quickly joined them in a drinking game involving a pack of cards and far too much vodka.

Tommy was at a disadvantage from the start, unfamiliar with the rules of the complex game. The aim was to play cards of the same suit, each one higher than the last, with certain cards having special rules attached. If a player couldn’t take their turn or a special card was played, they had to drink. After forty-five minutes, Tommy was feeling woozy. His vision blurred, and the room began to spin.

“Hey Maddy, I don’t think Tammy’s going to make it out tonight if we carry on playing much longer,” Janae said, giggling as she looked across at Tommy trying to pick up a card he had dropped and failing due to his cumbersome nails. “Maybe you should get her some water.”

“Yeah, probably a good idea. It’s time we started getting ready anyway,” Maddison replied, standing up. “I’m going to take a shower. Oh! Tammy was worried earlier about not being dressed right for clubbing. Can you take her to my room and pick something out for her?”

"Sure, sounds fun," Janae giggled to Maddison before turning to look at Tommy, who was slumped over the table. "Any colour preference for tonight, Tammy?"

Glancing up, Tommy felt disoriented, unsure of where he was or what was happening. He took a sip of the water Maddison had placed in his hand and stared at his red nails wrapped around the glass, mesmerised by how shiny and long they were. "Whaaat?" he murmured, the question slipping from his plump lips, slow and slurred.

“Colour,” Janae repeated. “What colour do you want to wear tonight?”

Tommy tried to say, "Anything but pink," but instead, a garbled sound escaped his lips, with the only recognisable word being, "pink."

The next few hours were a blur for Tommy. Janae helped him get ready, and before long, Maddison joined them as they embarked on a whirlwind night of bar hopping in the city. Drunk out of his mind, Tommy floated through the evening on autopilot, barely aware of what was happening around him.

When he finally snapped back to reality, he found himself seated on a plush sofa in what looked like a nightclub, surrounded by beautiful people. Loud music pulsed through the air, matching the throb in his head. To his right, Maddison, Janae, and another girl he didn’t recognize were engrossed in conversation with a group of three men. Tommy then noticed something strange - a hand, resting on his bare inner thigh, slowly caressing his smooth skin. Startled, he instinctively swatted it away and turned to face the owner of the wandering hand - a dark-haired stranger seated next to him.

“What the hell, babe? Those nails are sharp! You could have seriously injured me,” the smartly dressed man said, inspecting the scratch Tommy had left on his hand.

Ignoring the man, Tommy’s gaze dropped to his long nails, feeling both shock and confusion. He vaguely remembered the trip to the nail salon with his sisters, where acrylic extensions had been expertly glued to his fingers. But weren’t they red before? He stared at his nails, trying to focus, his foggy mind struggling to make sense of the details.

He then noticed something horrifying - his outfit was different from what he had left the house in earlier. Seeing himself squeezed into a low-cut pink dress that matched his nails perfectly, Tommy’s pink lips parted in shock. The snug, revealing fabric embraced his body in ways that made him suddenly long for the comfort of his simple playsuit. His shoulders were bare, save for curled blonde hair cascading over them, and the hem of the dress sat dangerously high on his thighs. The cut-out sides left him feeling exposed - especially with his legs fully exposed, a bizarre and unsettling sensation after having them encased in smooth nylon for so long.

Panic set in as Tommy scanned the crowded nightclub, frantically searching for the exits. “Are you alright?” the man beside him asked, sensing his discomfort. “I’m fine,” Tommy snapped, his voice tense with unease. He had never felt so exposed, the soft pink fabric of his dress lightly draped over his skin, while his glued-on breast forms loomed in his peripheral vision. With a shaky hand, he tugged at the hem of the dress, trying to shield his bare legs, but the action only made matters worse, pulling the fabric lower and revealing even more of his cleavage.

Then, the throbbing in his feet hit him. He extended one of his scarily feminine legs and immediately understood why - he was strapped into towering platform sandals, their hue matching that of his dress. He wiggled his toes, repulsed by the sight of shiny pink toenails peeking through the open front of the sandals. As he twisted his leg, a wave of dread washed over him. The sandals had towering heels, easily seven inches high. Walking would be a challenge; surviving the rest of the evening felt impossible.

Before Tommy could collect his thoughts, the man beside him, misinterpreting the extended leg as an invitation, placed his hand back on Tommy's thigh. Fury surged through him as he slapped the hand away, whipping his head around, his long blonde hair flying and hoop earrings jangling with the sudden motion. “If you touch me one more time, I swear, I’ll knock you out. Now fuck off!” he bellowed in a rather masculine voice.

The man leapt up, clearly taken aback by the outburst. “What’s your problem?” he spat, throwing his arms up in frustration. “You were all over me earlier. Whatever, your loss, bitch!” He then stormed off, leaving Tommy feeling humiliated as the rest of the group turned to see what all the commotion was about.

“Hey girls, Tammy’s back with us! Let’s go dance,” Janae called out excitedly. Before Tommy could object, Janae strutted over in her heels, grabbed his arm, and hauled him to his feet - his burning, aching feet. The rest of the group eagerly followed, leaving Tommy teetering in place, barely able to balance, let alone imagine himself dancing.

(See image 15)

“Hey! Come on. I’ll look after you,” Maddison said, letting the group go ahead. She extended her arm for Tommy to link with his, her perfect smile beaming at him.

Tommy stood there, shell-shocked, everything feeling wrong, wanting nothing more than to go home. Yet, the alluring scent of Maddison's intoxicating perfume wafted through the air, her radiant smile beaming at him. The thought of her perfect body inside the tiny black dress she wore, pressing against him on the dancefloor, clouded his mind. Despite the panic surging through him, Tommy hesitated before reluctantly taking her arm.

“Are you going to come dance with me?” Maddison purred, her glossy lips pouting seductively. Nodding slowly, Tommy allowed himself to be led by his dream girl, both of them tottering carefully toward the dancefloor.

The rest of the night was a whirlwind of highs and lows. Dancing with Maddison brought moments of exhilaration as their hands playfully roamed over each other, surrounded by a sea of beautiful women. However, his stilt-like sandals were absolute torture, cutting off circulation to his toes. The entire experience was an overload for his senses. Having only occasionally visited the local indie rock club with his friend Henry, this neon-lit, bass-thumping environment was overwhelming. And then, there was the unwanted attention - guys constantly grabbing at his waist or pinching his bottom, trying to get his attention as he hobbled awkwardly around.

When the girls whisked him off to the bathroom for a moment of respite, the sight that greeted Tommy in the mirror left him speechless. A living Barbie doll stared back at him, and for the first time, Tommy fully understood why he had been so popular with the men in the club that night. The reflection showed a heavily made-up blonde girl, her appearance far too slutty for his liking. As he took it all in, Janae stood beside him, casually explaining what she had done earlier when applying his makeup. Tommy nodded and muttered vague responses as Janae rambled on about how his faux eyelashes had been clumped with mascara earlier, explaining how she’d cleaned and separated them. By the time she launched into a detailed explanation of the contouring techniques she had used, Tommy's tired eyes were ready to close, his body completely drained from the night’s events.

The long, exhausting evening finally came to an end after yet another round of shots, followed by a final burst of dancing that pushed the feminized man to his absolute limits. Thankfully, when the taxi dropped him off at home in the early hours of the morning, his sisters were already fast asleep. The next day, they teased him relentlessly when he finally stumbled out of bed, nursing a killer hangover. The teasing only stopped when desperate for some peace, Tommy begrudgingly promised to join them for a night out as Tammy sometime in the future.

With all of Sunday to recover, Tommy was feeling somewhat refreshed by Monday. Back at work in his sexy Christmas outfit, he spent the rest of the week in his skimpy outfit, greeting shoppers and wishing the hours away.

When Christmas Day arrived that Friday, Tommy indulged in a delicious roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings, lovingly prepared by Monica. Feeling stuffed, he lounged in the living room, the top button of his velvet shorts undone to relieve his bloated belly. Just as he began to relax, Sarah walked in, the dreaded hat in hand.

"Time for another forfeit, Tammy," she said with a mischievous grin.

“Come on, Sare. It’s Christmas Day,” Tommy groaned. “I get paid soon. Can’t we just stop this already? I’ve been a good sport, haven’t I?”

"You have," Sarah replied, "and in a few days, you can pay your share of the rent. But until then, you still have to pick. Make it a good one if it's going to be your last."

Annoyed but hopeful that this would indeed be the final forfeit he would have to endure, Tommy reached into the hat, his acrylic nails - still pink from Janae's paint job - brushing against the folded slips of paper. Pulling out two options, he unfolded them with a sigh. His choices were: 'Wear only skirts and dresses from now on' or 'Go on a juice-only diet for the next week'.