Charlie and the Mrs.

***

So our first time together, five years ago, making love in a small quiet room. It turned into a yearly tryst. We visited our childhood home. It turned out we went to the same grammar school, the same high school, we were one year apart, we didn't know each other existed in this same little town. I tell C.J. I am going home to Metuchen to visit friends. We live close by in Jersey City, near the water, across from the City.

We just kept that one night, just one night a year, I didn't want to take Charles away from his wife. She sounded wonderful, I could fall in love with her myself.

He told Trisha he missed New Jersey, he missed HIS little town. He lived in New York City, an apartment on the upper west side, way up, near the Bronx, he just had to go back and see what he was missing.

Our third year we told our significant others about each other. Childhood friends, friends from the past, a friend that we missed, wanted to catch up with. Someone we happened to run into.

Our fourth year we made a plan, one more little visit, one more incredible day of sex and love. Once more at our favorite restaurant in our favorite town on our favorite block. Our little therapy sessions, our crazy arguments, and compliments, our ideas for better relationships with the two people we loved for the last five years. The two we loved most.

Our fifth year would be it. No more plum, no more pink. It would be goodbye to this new revamped rented little room with the half mirror. I learned so much here. I would miss it.

***

"Look at this." I had a giggle in my voice. I felt pretty feisty, well a little, I didn't even know, maybe hyper. My feet and my backside were bouncing, this wasn't my usual mood. I was looking through the translucent curtains, I was gazing at the restaurant across the street. It was almost late, it was almost eight.

"What?" He stood next to me.

"The two people we love the most, ten feet apart. Like their lives aren't the least bit intermingled." I giggled.

"They don't even realize they are connected. Of course, Trisha's filing her nails, she can't let them get too long."

"Ahh she's so cute, I love her dress. I can't wait to finally meet her."

"She's been talking about you for the last two years, when you meet she's gonna pop."

"I hope C.J. pops. Look reading a book, having fun, ignoring everyone else. So perfect for me." I breathed out, a little tremor in my breath.

"Wait, C.J., the woman with the Giants' Jersey?"

"What? No! A woman? Charles!" I moved the curtain, we looked through the squeaky clean window. "Right there that tall handsome man in the dark shirt," I pointed, I tapped the glass separating us from their world. "He's probably reading a mystery, he thinks his girlfriend is such a mystery, ha, God I love him."

Charles moved in front of the curtains, exposing his body, he was shading his eyes. "Wait, so you have been living with a man for the last five years? When was this bit of information going to be shared? When were you going to tell me?"

"What? Why would you think otherwise?" I gave him my crooked inquisitive face, I was a little surprised, he knew me, he knew all about me, why would he make that assumption? I put my arm around him, as we stared, as we got ready to leave. He gave me another one of his looks, then we kissed, it was nice, it was long, it was going to be the last one we ever shared.

He moved the hair out of my lashes, he ran his thumb down my cheek. "I think we are very lucky, we've done very well for ourselves. Now we get to introduce them to Metuchen, our past and now future. I hope everything goes okay."

"Me too, but I have faith in the two of them. I feel I look so different, though. I'm kinda nervous being so feminine, so over the top, but I'm kinda excited too, but that could be your fingers feeling me up."

His hand was now on my back, on my bra strap. I felt him trace the outline and feel the little hooks. "Are you wearing a bra? Let me see." He moved back, he took hold of my B cups, both of them, my nipples were starting to get noticeable.

"Wait, What's happening."

"What? My boobs? I hit puberty this summer, my hormones finally decided to kick in. I want them bigger, of course, a Lipstick Queen should be a D not B." I shook them, they looked sexy in this pink dress, strapless, showing all kinds of new cleavage, showing off my smooth arms and shoulders. The hem was full with chiffon showing off from mid-thigh down. Of course, it would be strapless, just like that crazy cyan dress I wore all those years ago. Now I knew how to wear something like this, I paired it with pink open-toed pumps, no more crazy glowing high heels, and no more non-existent boobs. I had a silk white strapless bra underneath, white panties and of course crotchless pantyhose, well, you never know.

"Wow, how could I have not noticed? Some lover I turned out to be."

"Ex-lover, baby."

"Heh, I'm sure C.J. loves them."

"Well, he has only seen the breastplates, I have three of them and B is definitely his favorite. I have been saving 'The Girls' for today." I shook once again as Charles kissed the top of them, leaving a wet imprint. "Let's go I want to show off this dress and my boobs, I want the waitress to think I had reduction surgery after lunch." He laughed, we closed the door. "I'm going to tell her you paid for it, you wanted me the same size as your wife in her cute dress.

*

Our last time walking down these dark stairs as a couple, standing in front of the antique store we never had time to visit. We saw C.J. and Trisha as we walked across the street. I was suddenly nervous, I wondered if they had any idea about our relationship, I wondered if they knew how important we were to each other. C.J. looked up from his book, probably not even realizing it was me, me being so glamorous, so much sexier. Trisha saw us too, she started to run, we were in the middle of the street. We were standing on the double yellow line.

"Aaaaaaaahh," Trisha ran towards us, she put her arms out, she was suddenly grabbing around my neck, we sort of spun. I saw C.J. for a second, as I made my way around, around this busy street, trying to hold on wearing my slippery high heels. "Oh my god, Sabrina, finally. Finally!"

Then she started to cry, Her face went from happiness to something I didn't recognize. I saw the tears fall, drip down her cheeks, she started to sniff, she made me nervous. She hugged me again, she was just a little bit shorter, I felt her tears on my chin as I started to cry myself. I felt Charles put his arm around us, ushering the two of us away from the moving cars, onto the less busy sidewalk.

Trisha was still crying, she was looking at me, at my plum lips. "Sabrina, all these years, Charles talks about you all the time. I wanted to meet you so long ago, he always told me we had to wait. Why did we wait, why? What were we thinking?" We were both crying, we were standing near the restaurant, near our favorite table, the waitress was watching us nervously. "If it wasn't for you I would never hear that sexy whisper he has. I would probably never go dancing." She tried to smile. I hugged her, and we continued to cry.

C.J. was watching me, he knew something bigger was happening, he knew there was something different. The transwoman that he has been living with for the last five years has changed. I was now more glamorous, my own hair long and shining, my own boobs pushing into this crazy woman gripping me tight. He knew of my huge wardrobe full of sensuous sexy dresses and outfits, they lived in a tremendous closet he built for me in the bedroom we shared, he knew what I loved, how I wanted the world to see me.

Five years was a long time ago. I was different now, better, but so was he, thanks to Charles.

We were wiping our tears as we introduced everyone, as we made our way to our favorite table again. C.J. helped me into the chair. I had to hold down my dress it was so extravagant, poofy, so attention seeking, but that was the me I wanted him to let me be. He wanted me to be like the women in the apartment building, he wanted me to dress more conservatively like the women on the streets, the women in the stores, and the women in his family. The women I was watching holding their children's hands as they walk their dogs.

He kissed me. "Hi, I missed you. You look incredible."

I started to cry again, "I know." And he laughed, and so did the other wonderful couple at the table.

"Hi, can I get you started with drinks?" Our favorite waitress was back, I was miffed, she didn't even notice my boobs.

Charles introduced her to our significant others. "I'm sorry I don't even know your name."

"Clair." She giggled, she was cute. We all said hi.

*

Trisha was drinking her beer, she didn't care for it but she was trying. I was watching her suck through a straw. I couldn't take my eyes off of her, I knew so much about her and I knew that she knew. "So what did the two of you discuss this morning?" She then slurped some more.

Well," Charles looked at me, he grabbed my hand. C.J. had his arm around me, I loved having the attention and touch of two men, I wouldn't even mind sharing them with Trisha. "Sabrina and I discussed our sexuality, heavy stuff." He laughed, the others were surprised.

"Really." She moved closer to the table, her voice got quiet. "I wonder if I had taken the longest journey of the four of us." She winked at me, she looked around to see if anyone was listening, see if the waitress was close by. "I started out in this world as a little boy, I guess I was straight at least through college." She shrugged.

"What?" I was so confused, I looked at Charles, why did he never tell me, we had no secrets, he even knew my ATM password. He smirked, made a face, and turned back toward his now excited wife.

"But, I think I knew, I knew all along. I knew I was trans. I am now a confident, happy, thirty-year-old transwoman." Her eyebrows went up, her smile got big, and her hands went into the air. "Clair!"

"Yes, hi."

"Clair, I am a transwoman, can you warn everyone else in the restaurant, I have kept it hush-hush for years, but now..." She shrugged again. Clair just watched, transfixed.

I had a huge smile on my face, "Now you don't care?"

"I guess I don't." She licked her finger and held it up feeling for a breeze. We all laughed and Charles gave her cheek a huge kiss.

I now realized why Charles never told me about his wife, I smiled, I was falling in love with both of them now. I felt C.J. hold me tighter as he kissed my cheek.

He addressed the table. "Me? I think of myself as a straight man who happened to accidentally meet a fantastic, beautiful woman." His shoulders went up, my pulse started to race, my breathing got a little faster, if I didn't know any better I would have sworn I was having an orgasm.

I stood up, I knocked over another wine glass and slid forcibly onto his lap. I kissed him with a loud smack. My arms tight around his neck. "Muah, really?"

He shook yes, "Yeah, why?"

"Why? You just made me so, so happy," I put my hands on either side of his handsome face, I heard the other three behind me laugh as I deliberately put my tongue into his mouth. I kissed him with my plum lips for longer than I think the rest of the table was ready for. I pulled away and gave him one more loud one, "Muah. And that's for loving my dress. How do you feel about my boobs?"

He looked down, he smiled. "I love them, I reach for them all night when we are sleeping. Sometimes I have to go under that um, you know." And I did and we kissed again.

"You two are so cute, I will get fresh drinks." Clair patted C.J.'s back, smiled, and inched away.

I had my head on his shoulder, my hair in his face, my thigh against his hardening member, I was happy he was excited, I was going to pop knowing that he thought of me as a woman. For the first few years, I felt it wasn't always the case.

Charles was watching, I could tell he was having fun. "We also discussed nicknames, I want to be known as Charlie."

"Charlie? Really? You always looked like a Charles to me." Trisha was fixing his collar, rubbing his rough beard.

"Charlie it is?" C.J. was all in, right away, he had never been so spontaneous in his life. "We can both be Charlie, heh."

"Wait," Charles had his eyebrows down, he was paying attention. "C.J. is Charlie..."

"Charlie Joseph, Sabrina is the only one that calls me C.J." He laughed.

"Sometimes I call him my Significant Other, but usually I just call him my boyfriend." I kissed him again, I felt his manhood get even harder.

Trisha turned to me, "And Sabrina what can we start to call you?"

I suddenly felt a little embarrassed, here was a woman, a proud, strong-willed woman in front of me and I was being flippant, coming up with a silly name. "Nevermind, Sabrina is who I am. I love my name. I love hearing people say hello Sabrina, and good morning Sabrina." I smiled, Charles shook his head, I think he understood. Of course, he did.

"Well," C.J. was thinking, he put his hand on my chin, he turned me to look at him. "I was thinking if you are looking for a new nickname how about... Mrs.?"

"Mrs.?" My mouth wouldn't close, what was he talking about? I had a queer, confused look on my face.

"I think it's time you had that white wedding you always dreamed of, right here in Metuchen, maybe Trisha and Charlie will help us get it organized."

I started to cry, I felt myself shake and I almost fell off of his lap. He pulled out a ring. I let him slip it over my plum nail, my slender finger, as the others around us gave out congratulations, as the waitress brought over champagne.

I couldn't take my eyes off of my hand, a new diamond glowing, it was the only ring I owned. "Mrs. Sabrina Brandt," I said, I smiled, I licked my lips, "I am going to love my new nickname." I was totally unprepared for this. "Wait, I thought you..." And he stopped me, he put his finger to my lips, we kissed, we tasted salty.

"Things change." And they do, and they did. And we toasted, and we told everyone else in the restaurant who didn't hear about the wedding the first time.

"Hi." There was a pretty, young girl, probably twelve, thirteen next to us on the other side of the little barrier. She just left the pet store. She was wearing a pink sweatshirt and holding onto a bag, she was looking at me.

I moved off of C.J.'s lap and sat back in my chair. My perfect eyebrows raised, "Hi sweetness, what's your name?"

"Melora, I love the color of your lips. Is it purple?"

I turned and looked at Charlie, I smiled. I looked back at Melora, "It is, Muah, nothing like purple or plum. Would you like me to put some on you?"

"Really?"

We giggled, and C.J. motioned her closer. I made her open her lips, just a slight space between them, I was a pro, I could put lipstick on a little girl, how difficult could it be? I held her chin and I followed her lines, she went from soft pink skin to dark purple, she looked so cute. She made me smile, she made me so happy, this day was fantastic.

"You are so, so pretty," I showed her in my little mirror from my bag. Charlie took pictures of us, then the waitress took more with all of us. "Would you like to come to my wedding?"

"Ooh, I will have to ask my mother." She made us giggle, I gave her my phone number, told her to have her mom call me. I told her, her whole family could come, the more people from Metuchen the better. We waved goodbye, she made the day even more perfect. I even gave her my 'Lipstick Queen' plum lipstick. Now someone else can get prepared to use that nickname.

"Melora, I love that name, I love children." We watched Trisha, we smiled, we finished our drinks, it was starting to get darker. "Um, we have some news too, I feel like I have to jump on this bandwagon. I want to ring some bells." Trisha moved closer again to the table, she picked up her champagne glass. We followed suit. "Me and my wonderful husband Charlie, hee hee, well we are having a baby."

My mouth opened, I was taken by surprise again, we congratulated them, we called over Clair, we bought champagne for everyone in the restaurant. Everyone will be going home with a story about this loud, festive, extremely happy table.

"Well, we found a surrogate," She told the table, she told the stragglers hanging around. "Of course, Charles is going to donate, well, use his, um," She whispered, "sperm."

And we all laughed. I giggled the loudest of course and congratulated again. I was so happy for them.

"Charles promised once my work settled and my surgery was complete we could start getting ready to have a family." She smiled, and she kissed her husband.

"Your surgery, are you okay anything serious?" I was now nervous, I met this wonderful woman and now I had a vested interest in her life.

She whispered again. "Well, I had my bottom surgery last November." She shrugged like it was no big deal, it was easy being a transwoman when you had a husband like Charles. "We decided once we were ready, we would move here to Metuchen and have a baby."

Charlie looked at me. He smiled, we clinked glasses. "I told you that you and Trisha were so much alike. You both love children." He gave me his look, his 'What? What did I do' look, I knew it well. I knew them all.

*

We finished dinner, we had more wine, we said goodnight to Clair and our favorite hostess. We made the trip across the street, we looked up at our rooms above the antique store.

"God this is so nice, this whole block, this whole town." Trisha was looking all around, she waved bye to Clair again, she looked into the store windows. "Now I know why you two love it here so much."

Charles grabbed her waist, he spun her around. "This is where we grew up, I don't know why we have been keeping it a secret."

"Ha," I giggled, "No more secrets." And I kissed C.J., held him tight, felt his body against me.

Trisha dragged her husband closer to us, I leaned my head on C.J.'s shoulder, I watched her, she still seemed so excited. "I think you two should reserve the room for next year. You know just in case."

"The two rooms?"

"No the one for just the two of you." She smiled, she made eye contact with each one of us. "Just Charlie and the Mrs., the last five years have been heaven, so, so wonderful, I want them to continue." And she giggled.

"Yeah, things don't have to change." And then C.J. kissed me again.

Trisha shrugged and she dragged us up the dark stairs.

We weren't leaving until the morning. I had all night to tell Charlie how much I was in love with him. C.J. I mean, he never looked like a Charlie to me at all.

***

The End

***