Rent or forfeit 13

Tommy sighed; this was by far the worse job he had ever done. Stood in a shopping centre. With a forced smile on his painted lips, greeting parents with their children, before they went through to the next room to meet Santa.

Looking down at his shiny red claws protruding from the end of his fingertips, he was still getting used to, he cursed his sisters for making him get such long extensions. He hated how they made everything so difficult, but he still preferred the idea of having something touching his eyes, he had always been sensitive about that.

He slowly wiggled his fingers, watching his nails glisten in the light, knowing they were partly to blame for the situation he now found himself in, stood in an indecently short Christmas dress, crushing his insides due to its corseted waist, and teetering on ankle breaking red platform shoes that he could barely stand-in, never mind walk.

He had started the week, working in an office, doing some data entry, but with his typing speed down to a snail’s pace, thanks to his new nails, he wasn’t invited back the next day, that’s when the offer came to work as Santa’s helper, desperate for the money he had accepted without hearing all the details.

Lifting his right foot off the ground, to get some momentary relief from the crippling pain in his feet, he was startled by a voice, “excuse me, Miss, do you know how long the wait is, we’ve been here for almost an hour now”,

Looking up, Tommy came face to face with the last person he wanted to see, like a deer in the headlights, with the colour draining from his face, he said something he instantly regretted, “Maddison”.

Maddison looked puzzled, “Do we know each other”?

Tommy started to shake, kicking himself for being so stupid, why did he say her name? it must have been the shock of seeing the girl, he’d had a crush on all throughout school, standing right in front of him. Thinking fast, he dug himself a deeper hole, “err..., I think we went to the same school”.

Maddison tilted her head to the side, as her piercing blue eyes locked on, examining his sparkly made-up eyes and his pouty red lips, “you do look a little familiar, but if we had gone to school together, I’d remember, I’m good with faces, what’s your name”?

Tommy started to sweat, as his mind went blank, try as he might, he couldn’t think of another name, as the silence became awkward, he quietly said, “Tammy”.

Tommy saw a look in her eye, as she paused for a moment as his heart skipped a beat, “Tommy”. She uttered, “Tommy Jenkins”.

Tommy didn’t know what to say, as he just stood there and pulled a stupid face, “Oh my god, Tommy, is that really you? Wow”, Maddison said in shock.

“Please, Maddy, I can explain, please don’t tell anyone you saw me like this”,

Maddison looked down scanning the rest of his sexy Christmassy outfit before looking back into his eyes, “Tommy, I had no idea you were trans, don’t be embarrassed, I think it's great you are doing this, you’re so brave”.

“Really”, Tommy said shocked, “you don’t think it’s weird”.

“Hell no”, Maddison said enthusiastically, “you look amazing, did you do your makeup yourself”?

Relived that she wasn’t screaming out that there was a boy in the room pretending to be a girl but feeling completely emasculated in front of a girl he fancied, Tommy answered, “no, they have a makeup woman working here”.

“Well, either way, you look stunning, better than most of my girlfriends, we defo need to hang out so you can tell me the story of how you ended up working here”, Maddison replied.

“Sure”, Tommy answered, still in a daze, in some way excited by the thought of spending some time with her, but mostly terrified.

“OK, great, I’ll text you, I should get back to my family, so how long will the wait be”?

“err..., shouldn’t be long now, I think you’re next”, Tommy said shuffling his feet.

“Oh, thank god, I only came along because my little sister begged me too, but now I’m so glad I did, see you around Tammy”, Maddison with a huge grin on her face before turning and walking back towards her family.

A day later, a text came through from Maddison, “let's hang out Saturday night, come around to my place at seven”.

Not really wanting to go out as Tammy, but also wanting to spend time with Maddison, and needing to make sure she wouldn’t tell anyone about seeing him en femme, he agreed to meet her.

He was a nervous wreck the rest of the week as he tottered about as Santa’s helper in his skyscraper heels, trying to work out what he would say to Maddison when they met up, he was so deep in thought, he didn’t even care about the forfeit he chose on Friday evening with his sisters, even though he hated both options, he just picked one without complaint.

1) Dye your hair pink.

2) Get a spray tan.

What should Tommy choose?