Hermaphrodite

Luke and Janet had been friends since Janet moved in next-door nine years ago. She had been the only one to show up at his tenth birthday party. Back then, Luke had been short, fat, and wore enough silver in his mouth to plate the bumper on an old Buick.

Now that had all changed, Luke had grown taller, the fat had melted away as he became more active with sports, and his teeth were straight and pearly white. The only thing that had remained the same was his friendship with Janet.

She was home schooled and didn't mingle much. This had always confused Luke. While Janet wasn't a raving beauty by any means, she was the typical cute girl next-door type. Luke paused in dealing the cards he held and thought about that. He had never seen Janet in anything besides baggy clothes. She had always refused his invitations to use his family's pool.

Looking across the coffee table at Janet, he asked, "Why don't you ever come over to go swimming when I ask you?"

"I don't swim for one and I don't own a bathing suit for another. Anyway, my mom wouldn't allow it," Janet replied as she picked up her cards and looked at Luke expectantly.

With a little jerk, Luke continued to deal the cards. "I wonder when the power will come back on?"

"When the power company fixes the problems the storm and lightning caused," Janet said with a shake of her head and then grinned as she added, "Duh! You don't like losing at cards by candlelight? It's kind of romantic."

Luke finished dealing the cards and ignoring her barbs, he asked, "Why do you always wear baggy clothes?"

Janet studied Luke's face for a moment before she replied, "Because I'm fat, ugly, with three boobs, and a dick that hangs to my knee."

Luke stared at her with his mouth hanging open. He had never heard her talk that way before. Foul language wasn't her usual style.

Janet laughed at his expression of shock and then sorted her cards. Before he had even looked at his, she laid her hand down and said, "Gin."

Luke's eyes went from her face to the cards and back again. "Shit, that's three hands in a row," he whispered.

Janet laughed again as she finished adding up her score from his cards. "That's also game." When Luke gave her a sour look, she added, "Now who's your mama? The winner and still undefeated champion of the world." She raised her hands and pumped her arms up and down as she rocked back and forth and from side to side.

Luke glanced at the dark front windows. "If it wasn't raining so hard, I'd kick you skinny little ass out of here."

"You and whose army?"

"Who are you going to harass when I leave for college?" Luke asked in return.

"Who says I'm going to let you go off to that big school by yourself? Those college girls would chew you up and spit you out without me there to protect you."

Luke looked at Janet sharply. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not a bit. You know you don't know anything about girls. Hell, you've never even made a pass at me."

"I'm not talking about the girls, I'm talking about you going to college," Luke said and then did a double take. "Make a pass at you? What the hell does that mean? You're my best friend, why would I do that. Anyway, sometimes I'm not all that sure you are a girl."

Janet grinned and then said, "I took my finals three weeks ago and my SAT test last week. I should know how I did by Friday. I've already been accepted if my scores meet the requirements and I'm pretty sure they do."

"Us in college together. Oh shit, the world ain't ready for this," Luke said and then paused. "Hell, I ain't ready for this. With my luck, we'll end up roommates." He groaned and whispered, "There goes my love life for another four years."

"What love life, you dip shit. You dated the biggest slut in school twice and never got past second base."

"Cindy was not a slut," Luke said hotly.

"That's not what the football, baseball, and basketball teams said," Janet shot back cattily.

"You're just jealous because I've had a few dates."

"And you're still a virgin."

"So are you," Luke said, "So don't get all high and mighty with me."

Janet laughed so hard she fell over backwards to sprawl on the floor.

"You are, right?" Luke asked quickly.

After a moment, Janet whispered, "You'll never know one way or the other."

"Hey, you'd tell me if you ever did, you know, do it. We are best friends after all and have been forever."

"Why would I want to tell you? You have the biggest mouth of anyone I know. You would accidentally tell my mom and I'd end up locked in a closet even tighter than I am now, for God's sake."

"I've never understood why your mom is so strict. You have more rules and less freedom than anyone in jail or prison."

"She has her reasons," Janet said.

"Why do you put up with it? How do you put up with it? For that matter, how did you get a pardon to go to college?"

"I have to be on my own sooner or later. I have to learn to deal with being around other people, so we talked about it and college seems the right time. I want to go and she really couldn't stop me since I have enough scholarships to cover my expenses and tuition."

Luke looked at Janet thoughtfully for a moment and then said, "Deal with other people? What the heck am I if not other people? You deal with me just fine. Is there something wrong that you haven't told me about. I know about your dad running off and you spending a lot of time in hospitals when you were young. Does it have something to do with that?"

Janet looked at Luke for a long time. She chewed on her lower lip as she thought how to answer his questions. She had avoided questions all her life; she was good at it. She had to be. Secrets had to be protected for her sake and her moms but she so wanted to talk to someone else. Someone who wasn't her mom or a doctor, someone who was normal and might understand.

Finally, Janet sighed deeply and said, "It's a medical problem and that's all I can say."

"What do you mean, that's all you can say. Is it a contagious disease or something that you're going to die from? Hey, I need to know these things if I'm going to share a room with you at college."

Janet laughed. "We won't be sharing a dorm room. I'm living in an apartment off campus."

"Freshmen have to live in the dorms for one semester. It says so in the handbook."

"Not if you have medical problems," Janet said with a big grin.

Luke eyed his friend for a second and then grinned. "You are smarter than you look. Talk about having things planned out well in advance. An off campus apartment and all the freedom known to man. Party time."

Janet grinned back and then shook her head. "Study time, not party time, and the medical problems are real enough for the college admin to go along with my request."

"Now you really have me concerned and even more curious than normal."

"There is nothing to be concerned about; I'm as healthy as a horse. As for your curiosity, I thought we had that all taken care of way back when we met. No pressure on questions, remember."

"Yeah but I like you a lot now. Back then you were just the girl next door."

"How much do you like me?" Janet asked softly.

Luke frowned and nodded. "Yeah, I like you enough not to pressure you," he said in an equally soft voice.

"No," Janet said, "How much do you like me? It was a question all it's own."

Luke looked confused for a second and then said, "Well, you are my best friend, the sister I never had, and my loving confidant all rolled into one."

"Then I won't scare you away by laying my problems on you?"

"You could never do that. I think I could understand anything.... The three boobs would be interesting," Luke said holding out his hands and flexing the fingers as he leaned forward and made sucking sounds with his head between his hands.

Janet laughed and shook her head. "How about the dick down to my knee?" Janet asked in a whisper.

Luke's eyes got wide. "There's no way you are a guy. Your cloths might be baggy but I've caught a glimpse here and there and a feel or two when we've wrestled. I know you have at least two boobs and nice high round ones at that."

Janet felt herself blush.

"See, I told you so," Luke said with a smile.

"But that has nothing to do with whether I have a dick or not."

"Dicks and boobs are opposites, like magnetic poles." Luke pointed out. "Well, there are fat guys with boobs but not boobs like yours. Boobs like yours go with a, uh.... You know what I mean."

"With a pussy?" Janet filled in and smiled as Luke blushed.

Then she asked, "How come you can say boobs, dick, and butt but not pussy?"

Luke looked at her and then stammered, "It's... well.... I.... Uh.... Guys.... Personal." Then he blinked and asked, "When did I say butt?"

Janet grinned and replied, "I was just seeing if you were paying attention."

"Hell yes I'm paying attention, confused attention but attention none the less."

Janet laughed and sprawled out on her back on the floor. "I thought confused was normal for you."

Luke sighed as he stood up. He moved the coffee table out of the way, being careful with the candle on it, and lay down on the floor beside his friend. He propped his head up with his hand as he rolled onto his side facing her. "It's only the norm around you. No one else confuses me like you do."

"It's how I avoid answering questions," Janet confessed.

"Just my questions or everyone's?"

"Everyone's except for my mom's, the doctors, and some of the psychiatrist's non-personal questions."

"I thought psychiatrists were supposed to ask personal questions?" Luke said and then frowned. "Head problems on top of physical ones?"

"They think the physical problems will cause me to have head problems."

Luke chuckled and said flippantly, "Yeah, having a dick to the knee would cause head problems for a girl."

That is when Janet dropped the bomb. "How about having a pussy and a dick?"

Luke blinked twice and then laughed for a second. When Janet didn't laugh with him, he stopped suddenly and said, "You're not serious?"

"As a heart attack," Janet whispered.

Luke's mouth fell open as he stared at his best friend.

Janet shivered under those bright blue eyes and wondered if she had done the right thing in telling him. "No one needs to know this besides us. If they do, I'll tell them. I hope you understand that."

Luke gave a start at her words and then nodded as he closed his mouth. He looked thoughtful for a moment and then grinned. "You could give a whole new meaning to someone telling you to go fuck yourself."

Now it was Janet's turn to blink and hold her mouth open. A second or so later, she whispered, "I can't believe you just said that."

"I'm nervous and that was the first thing that popped into my head, sorry."

Janet chuckled and nodded. "It is confusing and a hard thing to wrap your mind around isn't it. I've had all my life to deal with it and I still have problems. For me it's not having both sets of equipment that presents a problem but the fact that I'm so different from everyone else."

"Uh, do both sets work?" Luke asked and then shook his head. "That's a silly question I shouldn't have asked."

"Yes, both sets work and yes, I'm a virgin both ways," Janet whispered and then giggled. "God knows I've been tested enough. When I was a baby, the doctors studied and tested, and x-rayed me almost to death. Mom finally put her foot down and brought me home."

"Later, when I was older, they wanted to remove one set but they disagreed on which set. My mom told them to forget it, that it wasn't up to them, that I could and would decide what I wanted done and when."

"I've always kind of not liked your mom for the way she kept you locked up but...." Luke said softly.

"She's had to deal with some shit, believe me and a lot of it from me. I had a hard time believing that people could or would be as mean as she said. Just to see if she was right, I told a bunch of my friends at school. That's when we had to move and ended up here."

"What about your dad? Did he leave...? Uh, never mind, that was a dumb question."

"Dad leaving had nothing to do with me or mom. Back then I wondered but since then I figured out that he had a problem keeping his dick in his pants and mom tossed him out."

Luke nodded. "I've seen that happen more than once."

Janet sighed softly and whispered, "You are the first person I've told any of this to besides doctors."

"I can keep a secret better than you think I can."

"I hope so for my sake and more so for moms. I'm leaving for college but she has to stay here. I still can't believe people can be so mean to other people who are different. I know it but I can't believe it."

"Yeah, people are crazy and kids are the worse. In school, just wearing glasses was reason enough for name calling. My braces got me tagged metal mouth and a bunch of other things. Being fat didn't help any either."

Janet grinned and rolled over on her side to face Luke. "Yeah, but look at you now."

Luke blushed under her leering grin on the outside but smiled on the inside. His eyes were on her but suddenly they darted to her full lips as he wondered for the first time what it would be like to kiss her. Then a weird thought darted across his mind.

"Uh, if you have both, uh, sets, then how do you know you are a girl?"

"Now we get to the meat of the question and why I had to see a shrink," Janet said with a laugh. "Since mom shows the outward characteristics of a female, she figured I would also so she started me out as a girl."

"Whoa, wait, back up. Your mom has both sets like you?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot that little detail. I'm like fourth generation hermaphrodite."

"Her what?" Luke asked with big eyes.

"Hermaphrodite. A person with both female and male genitalia." Janet explained.

"They have a name for it and everything," Luke said with a surprised look on his face.

"What? Did you think I was making this shit up?"

Luke shook his head quickly. "No! Not at all. I was just surprised is all."

Janet studied his face for a few minutes and then said, "Like I started to say, mom started me off as a girl and when my boobs started to grow when I was around twelve, we knew she had made the right decision. All our generations have been female as a matter of fact."

Luke blushed a deep red as he whispered, "Maybe you just have a really big clit."

Janet laughed and rolled over on her back. "Nope. For one, a girl doesn't pee through her clit and two, after all the tests even the doctors agree that it is a dick."

Luke shook his head as if he was trying to clear it and whispered, "Part of me still thinks you're pulling my leg."

Janet looked at him sharply and replied, "I ain't showing you, if that's what you're fishing for."

Luke blushed even deeper than before and Janet laughed again. "You were, weren't you?"

Luke didn't reply. He rolled over on his back and stared at the ceiling. "Hard to wrap your mind around, ain't the words for it," he whispered a moment later.

Janet grinned and reached over to take his hand. She laced her fingers in his for a few moments and then sighed. "It took me a long time."

When he didn't reply, she let go of his fingers and took a hold of his hand. Slowly she moved it over in front of her baggy shorts and then sat it down on top of her dick. His hand jerk up and then settled back to where she had put it. His fingers moved for a moment and then he jerked his hand away.

"Uh... yeah," he said and then looked over at her. "That's a dick alright or something very like one. I got a feel of Cindy down there through her skirt and there wasn't anything like that."

Janet nodded and then they both looked back at the ceiling. Time passed in silence.

Then Luke broke it by asking, "And you're sure about the... uh... other part?"

Janet looked over at him and sighed. "The word is pussy or rather vagina and yes, there is one between my dick and my asshole."

Luke groaned and sat up. He looked off across the semi dark room and whispered, "I'm messing this all up."

Janet sighed and sat up. "No, I should have kept my big mouth shut and avoided questions as usual."

Luke glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and grinned. "Your mouth isn't all that big."

"As compared to what or whom?" Janet asked with a grin of her own.

"Okay, now that I've made an ass out of myself several times, what's next?" Luke asked as he looked around at his best friend.

Janet shrugged. "I hadn't really thought much about it past the need to tell someone not a doctor or my mother. I'm just hoping it doesn't screw up our friendship."

Luke grinned and shook his head. "Other than my curiosity eating me up and a bunch of stupid questions floating through my brain, I don't think much has changed. Well, except for the fact that you have a dick nearly as big as mine."

Janet giggled. "You haven't seen it hard yet."

Luke's mouth dropped open. He closed it, opened it again, and then closed it. "You ain't seen mine hard so we're even."

Janet laughed and changed the subject. "So what stupid questions do you have? I've opened this can of worms so...."

"Uh, yeah, you had to ask," he said quickly.

"Hey, curiosity is a dangerous thing."

Luke laughed and laid back on the floor. "Which do you masturbate with?" he asked and then groaned. "Tell me I didn't ask that."

Janet groaned and lay back as well. "Yeah you did and the answer is not simple or maybe the simple answer is both."

Luke was quiet for a moment and then asked, "How does that work exactly?"

Janet laughed. "Lets just say it takes both hands to get it right. One on the shaft and head and one at this little spot underneath the base that drives me up a wall."

"Little spot at the base?" Luke whispered and then glanced her way for a second. "Maybe you do have a clit after all. It's just buried under your dick."

Janet felt her face grow warm. She hadn't blushed in a long time. Too many doctors poking and prodding had got her past that a long time ago. With Luke she felt different but not really embarrassed. "I've been meaning to ask one of the specialists about that but I haven't been back to see them."

"They would just want to do more tests," Luke said and then looked at Janet. "Do you... uh, what's the word, ejaculate when you do come?"

Janet shook her head. "No, but there is a wet surge in my vagina. It can be rather messy."

Luke chuckled. "Messy is when you shoot yourself in the face."

Janet laughed and looked at Luke hard. "That really happened?"

He nodded and grinned. "Just once. I learned quickly."

Janet looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked, "Is this how guys talk between themselves?"

"Hell no. No guy in his right mind would ever tell another guy he shot himself in the face. They, we talk about all the girls we've banged and how far we got with who. It's all lies and we all know it but it's one-upmanship to the max."

Janet shook her head and asked, "Then why would you tell me?"

"You're a girl and to you it would be funny, I guess. That and you gave me a big secret, so I gave you one back."

Janet sighed and whispered, "Thank you for the secret and for being my friend."

"Hey, you trusted me, so I trust you. That's what friends are for."

Janet rolled over on her side facing Luke and propped her head on her hand. She smiled and whispered, "So far so good."

Luke rolled over facing her and found himself almost against her. His knees were actually touching her shins below her knees. He propped his head on his hand and grinned. Their faces were inches apart. He thought about backing up but was very distracted to say the least when Janet leaned forward and brushed her lips against his.

He blinked twice and asked in a soft whisper, "What the heck was that?"

Janet laughed. "As close to a kiss as you'll ever get from me."