The cold war 15

2 hours later, Ben exited the cab, he and Irina had just taken, outside their apartment building. Standing up he once again felt strangely off-balance, still not used to extra weight attached to his chest that seemed to jiggle about with every step he took on his high heeled feet.

“You’ve hardly said a word all day”, Irina suddenly asked, seeing Ben stood in a trance like state looking down at his new body shape, “Is everything ok”?

Ben slowly looked up, removing a strand of hair that had blown across his face and stuck to his glossy lips, “I guess so, I just wasn’t expecting all this”, he said pouting.

“Well, now you have what all real girls have, they’ll take some getting used to, but if it’s any consolation, you look beautiful”, Irina said as they started walking towards the entrance to the building.

“You’re just saying that to make fun of me”, Ben shot back, not wanting to admit what he knew to be true “No one would think I’m beautiful, dressed like this”.

Irina shook her head, “oh really, watch this”, she said as they approached the entrance, seeing Clive the doorman stood outside his little office.

“Good evening Clive, this is my friend Bunny”, Irina announced, stopping to talk, “she's visiting me for a few weeks, can you make sure to let her in if I’m not with her”?

Ben watched as Clive looked him up and down feeling very awkward, “no problem Miss Volkova, I’ll be sure to do that”, Clive replied before turning to Ben and looking him straight in the eyes, “Nice to meet you Bunny, if you need anything, please let me know”.

“Thank you”, Ben muttered nervously looking down to avoid eye contact.

“Thanks, Clive”, Irina added, “oh and one more thing, we’ve just been to have our hair done, I told Bunny she looks beautiful, but she doesn’t seem to believe me, what do you think”?

Ben head shot up in shock as he was again faced with Clive the doorman staring right at him, “How does he not recognise me”? he thought, “I’ve walked past him every day for years, is he just being polite”?

“Well, I have to agree with your friend Miss…”, Clive said before pausing.

“Petrova”, Irina said with a smile, “Bunny Petrova”.

“Well, Miss Petrova, you look very beautiful today, I’m sure your boyfriend will love your new hairstyle”, Clive said, charming and polite as always.

Ben could feel himself going red in the face, “thank you, but we must be going now, nice to meet you Clive”, he said, not waiting for Irina and tottering off towards the elevator.

He heard Clive, shout “you too”, before Irina caught up with him, “see beautiful”, she said playfully giving him a little nudge with her elbow.

Ben rolled his eyes, reaching out to press the button that called the elevator, “was that really necessary”? He asked, “and what’s with the Russian name”?

Irina chuckled, “just having a bit of fun, and I don’t know, it’s the first name that came into my head”.

The elevator arrived with a ping and the two stepped in, the sound of high heeled shoes clip-clopping, echoing loudly throughout the small metal box as Ben once again caught sight of himself in the mirror and breathed a heavy sigh.

Irina put her arm around his shoulder and pulled him in tightly, “go on, tell me I'm wrong”, she said looking into his eyes through the mirror.

“Fine”, Ben exclaimed, “I guess I look pretty good”.

Irina placed her head on his shoulder, “not pretty good, beautiful, just ask Clive”, she said playfully.

“You don’t think he believed that do you”? Ben asked, liking the attention from Irina, she had been a lot friendlier lately, a side of her he had never really seen before.

“Who cares, he’s the doorman”, Irina stated, “I could have told him you were the queen of England and he would have nodded and said nice to meet you”.

Finding the comment funny, Ben joined Irina as the two laughed loudly together as the elevator ascended up taking them home.

It felt good to laugh after the stressful day of surprises, Ben had just endured, his feet were killing him, and he couldn’t wait to get inside and take off the tall thigh high boots he had been walking around on all day. But just as they reached the apartment door, Irina turned to face him, “before we go in”, she stated, “I have one more surprise for you”.

Ben stopped and looked at her, from her body language, he knew it wasn't going to be a nice surprise, “I’ve had enough surprises for one day Reeny”, he moaned, running his hands through his extended long hair before pointing at the breast forms attached firmly to his chest.

“Don’t hate me ok? We’ll change it back when you change back”, Irina said sounding nervous for once”, I was just so sick of you complaining every morning”.

“Reeny, what have you done”? Ben exclaimed.

“As I said, nothing that can’t be undone, but while we were out today, the decorators have been in to give your room a little makeover, I’ve even donated some clothes I don’t really wear any more, now you have somewhere to get dressed in the mornings”.

“No, tell me you didn't, not my room”, Ben said in a panicked voice, thrusting his hand into his purse, rummaging around with his long red nails trying to find his front door key.

“Here let me”, Irina said, finding her own key and moving to open the door, “just don’t overreact ok, your room was a pigsty, it was well overdue a bit of TLC”.

As the door swung open, Ben dropped his purse on the table by the door and set off, scurrying comically down the hallway towards his room.

Flinging open the door, his mouth fell open in shock, his usual dingy but comforting room had been transformed, much like him, it now looked much more feminine.

The old, stained carpet, which had previously been littered with clothes and old boxes, had been replaced with a brand new peach coloured one. The colour matched the new flower-patterned wallpaper, that now covered the walls, his collection of posters nowhere to be seen.

Shuffling slowly inside, the fresh, fragrant smell of Jasmine, invaded his nostrils as he looked around at the alien environment, examining the new furniture, a chest of draws, a vanity covered with makeup and beauty products, and a writing desk.

He was now standing in a young teen girls dream bedroom, and he felt sick to his stomach knowing he was the one who was going to have to live in it.

As he continued to edge his way across the room, he noticed a rather large closet, taking up almost all of the wall space on the right side of the room, which Ben assumed was full of the clothes Irina donated, but not in the mood to find out, instead he wandered over to his new feminine-looking bed, covered in cushions with pictures of flowers on them, seemingly the theme of the room, and sat down to try and process all the changes this day forced upon him.

(See image 8.2)