SATURDAY MORNING – FINISHING TOUCHES

       Jack and Justin sat more quietly, almost docilely, as Stephanie and Caitlin set about transforming their blonde hair into passably girlish styles. Armed with combs, brushes and a curling iron, the older girls coaxed the twins’ natural curly hair into soft, gentle tresses that framed their faces cutely. Jack and Justin got glimpses of the work in progress in the mirror, and soon the sweet scent of hairspray filled the air.

       Strategically placed bobby pins and a dab of gel gave their hair polished finishes. The twins blushed as pastel bows fringed with lace—pink for Justin, yellow for Jack—were pinned into place for the crowning touch, making them feel even more girlish. Jack’s heart sped up a bit as Caitlin delicately adjusted his pretty bow. Justin silently watched his sister work on Jack even as he felt Stephanie’s gentle touch securing his own darling pink bow. He was fascinated as he stole a look in the mirror to see how delicate it looked perched in his hair.

       Knowing that they only had a little time left before Claire returned from her walk, the older girls worked with efficiency to do the boys’ makeup. With some amused looks and now almost whispered instructions, Caitlin and Stephanie were nearly done: “Close your eyes! Tilt your chin up!” The makeup was light and sweet—a gentle dusting of pink blush to make their cheeks glow, a touch of shimmery gloss for lips, and just enough mascara to make their eyes sparkle. The tickle of brushes on their cheeks and the slick feel of the lip gloss sent fresh tingles down their spines. The barest touches of mascara made their eyes adorably dewy. As the girls worked, they kept one eye on the time.

       Finished with the brothers’ makeup, the girls used cotton swabs, nail polish remover and a few more touches of polish to gently clean up the boys’ nails. Then, they stroked on a quick-drying topcoat for added shine. As the girls touched up their glossy pink nails, the boys were nearly mesmerized by the way their nail polish gleamed and flashed under the light. Noticing the boys’ more gentle demeanors, Stephanie caught Caitlin’s eye and shared a soft, knowing smile. They both thought it cute how Jack and Justin seemed to be lost in such quiet fascination. Both older girls found it utterly charming.

       Caitlin leaned a little closer to them and whispered gently, “You know… it’s perfectly fine to enjoy feeling pretty.”

       Stephanie nodded in quiet agreement, her face warm and encouraging. There was little joking in her tone now as she spoke softly, "Your big sister's right. It's pretty obvious that you two don't 'hate' this!" She said the last part with the gentlest of teases and a warm, loving smile. The boys reddened a bit more, but they almost seemed to be basking in the sweet, gentle attention now.

       The basement was very quiet and still for a few seconds.

       All too soon, however, the tender moment passed. They were still on the clock after all. “OK, up you go!” Stephanie urged as she had them stand with a wave of her hand. Jack and Justin stood up tentatively, skirts swishing, as the girls checked over their outfits. Standing side by side in their Easter best, they had butterflies in their tummies.  From their frilly boy shorts and bralettes to their preciously curled hair, every aspect of their outfits made them feel dainty and precious.

       â€œHold still,” Caitlin said as she straightened Justin’s hair ribbon. Meanwhile, Stephanie reached down and tugged delicately on one of Jack’s frilly white socks. The girls’ faces broke into affectionate smiles as they fussed over the last details. When the girls finally stepped back, the boys stood blinking and a little breathless at their relentless and fast-paced makeovers.

       â€œPerfect,” Caitlin declared. “You both look absolutely darling!” She continued almost giddily, “I never knew I had such cute little sisters!”

       â€œAunt Claire won’t believe her eyes!” Stephanie agreed excitedly. Clearly very satisfied, she added, “you two are all sugar and spice now… just like the nursery rhyme!”

       Jack and Justin cringed adorably as the girls gushed over their sweet looks. The boys’ cheeks were pink with embarrassment. Every playful tease seemed to affect them a bit more. Being fussed over like this and dolled up so thoroughly made them very self-conscious. It seemed increasingly evident, however, that they were both secretly at least a little bit pleased at the girls’ reactions.

       Still, as the reality of their transformation settled in, Jack and Justin were somewhat overwhelmed by just how sissyish they were dressed. Their pastel dresses, layered with billowing frills, made their previous Christmas outfits seem plain in comparison.

       Justin’s cheeks flushed as he admired Jack’s sunny yellow dress, his oversized satin bow and gleaming Mary Janes. "Wow, Jack… I can’t believe how we’re…” he murmured softly as his voice trailed off. 

       Jack let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, I mean, we look like we belong in a dollhouse… Christmas was wild, but this is… just wow,” he stammered, unable to find more words. Their bashfulness was tinged with a hint of pleasure; the feeling of being so prettily dressed was clearly having an impact.

       Justin recovered a bit and shrugged helplessly, “I think it’s way too late to back out now.” Turning to Caitlin, he added nervously, “You really went all out on us.” Their hearts beat a little faster now as they thought about the spectacle they were bound to create at brunch, but they both managed shaky smiles. They seemed resigned to following through and tried to find humor in their predicament.

       â€œWell, at least I don’t have to wear pink!” Jack offered softly, finding his voice again and trying to joke. Justin cracked a reluctant grin.

       â€œI happen to look great in pink!” Justin teased with a little more energy, his nerves melting slowly into a hint of confidence.

       Caitlin smiled at her adorable brothers and said, “Don’t worry! Everyone will love you!” Then, she added insistently, “we still have a little time left. Let’s practice those curtsies one last time. Make them pretty!”

       Jack and Justin gulped in unison as their cheeks warmed again. Nothing was left to do now but go all in. They gamely grabbed their skirts and daintily dipped into a few curtsies. With each one, their rustling petticoats and swishy frills made the boys acutely aware of their utterly girlish outfits. Still, the twins managed shy smiles. Their embarrassment mingled with a sweet pluckiness as their natural exuberance flashed a little.

       As the girls admired their handiwork with satisfaction, they heard the door open in the kitchen upstairs. They’d finished just in time… Claire was home from her walk!

       Suddenly, Stephanie whispered urgently, “Wait! There’s one last thing!” She hastily rummaged through her pink tote bag and produced a small glass perfume bottle. “I almost forgot!” she admitted.

       Before the boys could react, she sprayed the air around their necks a few times. The delicate perfume quickly enveloped their noses in sweetness. The dainty fragrance was barely there. It was like a whisper of femininity mixed with subtle hints of floral blossoms and fresh body powder. The scent was subtle and sweet, perfectly suited for shy young teens, and it added the finishing touch to their transformations.

       â€œNow you’ll smell as sweet as you look!” Stephanie beamed.

       Jack wrinkled his nose adorably, exchanging a look with Justin as the girlishly dainty fragrance engulfed them. He sighed slightly, “we’re going to smell like this all day, aren’t we?”

       In response, Justin tried another weak joke, “I guess they’ll smell us before they see us now.” He shuffled his feet adorably, not quite sure whether to laugh or groan. 

       Caitlin laughed softly, “OK girls, let’s see those pretty smiles!” Gesturing to the stairs, she added excitedly, “it’s showtime!”

Once again an excellent passage with perfectly detailed clothing descriptions enhanced by noting the comprehensive emotional and tactile effects on the boys of such feminine dainties and delicates.  Really, an author can go to great lengths with clothing details and yet still miss the mark by omitting or limiting discussion of the clothing's effect on the wearer.  You, as usual, hit the nail on the head. Can't wait for the brunch.

Chapter 325.

The vicar of St. Michael’s, a woman in her mid-thirties with large pale blue eyes and silvery-blonde hair in a bob, was standing in front of the altar chatting to a man in a dark suit, while two middle-aged women were arranging flowers around the church.  The women stared as Tim and Serena walked in, and one whispered something to the other, in which, in the silence of the church, the word “pageboy” was distinctly heard.  The vicar turned her head, smiled, and gave them a little inviting wave.  They walked up the aisle to where she was standing.
“Good morning!  Welcome to St. Michael’s!”  She smiled at Tim.  “Tim, I presume.  We’ve all been looking forward to meeting you.  This is Roger, the best man.  I’m Ashley.  We were just going over the order of ceremony.”  She looked at Serena.  Serena smiled.
“Nice to meet you, Ashley.  Yes, this is Tim, and I’m Serena Egerton.  Tim’s very excited about his part in proceedings.”
“I’m sure you are, Tim.  So am I, as a matter of fact.  I’ve never had a pageboy leading the procession before.  It’s a first for me as well.  And you’re a fine, handsome lad all right.  I was sort of expecting a younger boy, but…”
“I’m nearly eighteen, miss!”
“Goodness!  Well then, if you’re lucky, you might get offered a little glass or two of champagne at the reception, don’t you think?  You certainly deserve it, for volunteering to be Debbie’s page.  You’re going to steal the bridesmaids’ thunder, you realise, especially in that amazing outfit.”
Tim blushed with pleasure.
“Now, I should explain the procedure.  The guests with begin arriving around nine-twenty.  The ceremony begins at ten.  If you would like to take a seat in the very last line of pews, I will make the introduction, and when I give you the signal, you and one of the bridesmaids will open the double doors.  Debbie and her father will be waiting outside.  They will wait for you to position yourself ahead of them, the organ will start to play, and that’s your cue to walk slowly up the aisle leading them.  The bridesmaids will follow behind.  When you get here, you should stand there – see that piece of yellow paper I’ve stuck to the floor?  That’s your place.  Now, Debbie’s asked if you could be the ring bearer on this occasion.  Often it’s the best man, but you don’t mind, do you Sebastian?”
Sebastian grinned.  “Nope.  One less responsibility for me.”
“Wow!  Really?”
“Yes, Tim.  Seb, might as well hand them over now.”
Sebastian passed him a velvet bag.
“Thanks!”
“All you have to, Tim, is to walk forward when I call you.  You needn’t handle the rings at all.  Just open the bag and offer it to the bride, and then to the groom.  They’ll take them out.  Then move back to your place.  When the ceremonies over, I’ll signal you, and you’ll lead the procession out of the church for the photos.  Any questions?”
“No…  I don’t think so…”
“Nervous?”
“No!”  he said, quickly.  “Just excited.”
“Good boy.  Now, I have some final preparations to make.  Please feel free to look around the church, if you wish, Ms Egerton.”

There was still nearly an hour till the wedding, so they wandered out into the sunshine.  A few more guests had arrived, and Tim was immediately spotted and pounced on by two girls only a couple of years younger than himself.
“Are you the pageboy?  Of course you are.  We're bridesmaids.  We’ve been dying to see you!  Mum told me all about it.”
“She did…  About…?”
“You know, all about how…  you know, how lucky Debbie was to find you…and everything.  Wow, nice outfit!  Super cool!”  She grinned.  “I’m Melanie.  I’m Debbie’s niece.  This is my friend Delia.  What’s your name again?”
“Hi.  I’m Tim.”
“Yeah, Tim.  I remember.”
Melanie was looking at Tim’s shorts with a strange expression on her face.  She was seized with a sudden fit of coughing, but quickly recovered.
“They’re very smart shorts.  What are they…  What are they made of?  Vinyl…?”
“No, latex.  It’s very fashionable you know.  And these colours…”
“They’re going to be the “in” colours next year, right?”
“Yeah…matter of fact…”
“Melanie’s mum told us.  We couldn’t believe…er, you’d really managed to get such trendy stuff…”
“It weren’t easy…  I mean, I ‘ave connections in the trade, see…?”
“Ooh, really.  Could we have a selfie with you, Tim?”
“Course.  Serena?  Could you take a piccy for my friends?”
“Of course.”

The girls stayed commendably straight-faced while Serena took a photo with Melanie’s phone.  The girls checked it, giggled, and turned away.  Delia looked back and waved.
“See you later, Tim!”
Then they ran off back to a group of women in long dresses who had been watching from the lawn.
“Nice girls,” remarked Serena.  “I think that Melanie fancies you, Tim.”
“D’you reckon?”
“Are you going to wear your gloves for the ceremony?”
“No…”  He looked away.
“Okay.  Maybe later, then…”
 

Chapter 323.

After a few days of pampering, saunas and massages and facemasks and healthy food, interspersed by gym sessions and five-a-side football games with the other trainees, Tim was tingling with fitness and excitement.  On Friday morning Carly took him to one of the spare bedrooms, helped him on with uniform, brushed his hair, rubbed his cheeks gently to make them look fresh and rosy, and stood him in front of his bedroom mirror.
“Well, what do you think?”
“What do you think, Miss Carly?”
“I think you look amazing.  You’d better be careful you don’t steal Deborah’s thunder!  No, seriously, that’s a great outfit.  Love those cute shorts.  They look like they fit perfectly?”
“Yeah, they feel great!  Ain’t they smart?  I can’t wait to show everyone.  I bet most of ‘em won’t ever have seen a real pageboy before!”
“Aren’t you going to put on your nice red gloves?”
“Oh…not right now…”
“Okay.  You look cool enough as you are, I guess.  Right, let’s go see Lucille.  She’s dying to see your outfit.”

Lucille was in her office.  Carly knocked, opened the door, and ushered him in. 
“Your delivery is here, Lucille.  Full dress rehearsal.  He has gloves as well, but he didn’t want to put them on right now.  Call me when you’ve finished with him.”
“Thanks Carly!  Come in Tim – I can call you Tim now.  Stand there…  Let me look at you…”
She regarded him with obvious approval.
“Well, well…  You look absolutely gorgeous!  That’s such a smart ensemble.  Simple but so eye-catching.  You’ll be the beau of the wedding.  And you’re positively glowing!”
Tim blushed a little.  “Everyone’s been so helpful…  And Cynthia did such a great job.  I can’t wait till tomorrow.”
“She really did.  Aren’t you even a teeny bit nervous?”
“Maybe a little bit.  But I’m more excited.  Do you think Deborah will like me?”
“Are you joking?  I’m sure she will.  She’ll be ecstatic.  There aren’t many brides these days lucky enough to have a real pageboy.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the last wedding you’ll be attending.”
“Really?”
“It’s a big do.  It would be remarkable if no-one else spotted your talent.”
“Oh…  I hadn’t even thought of that…”
“Come and stand over here so I can get a piccy.  That’s right, there.  Smile…  Great.  Now come here and let me have a closer look at you.”  She felt his shirt and ruffled the frills on his shorts.  “You should have put on your gloves too.  Well, make sure you wear them tomorrow.”
“Oh…  Well, I’ll probably take them...just in case…”
“You should wear them.  They complete the outfit.”
He blushed slightly. 
“Oh well, no problem, I suppose.  I’ll tell Serena to bring them anyway, in case you change your mind.  Whether you wear them or not, I’m certain you’re going to turn heads tomorrow.  It definitely won’t be your last pageboy assignment.  Actually I’ve asked Cynthia to send a couple more outfits like this, but with slight style and colour variations.  I’d like to put you in the brochure alongside your maid persona.  So I’ll need you to do some modelling next week after we get our Fantastex delivery – probably Thursday.  I’ll pencil it in.”
“Oh…”
“We’re just getting the Christmas issue ready.  I’m considering whether to give you two pages, one for your maid role and one for the pageboy.  You could wear two different outfits for each.  We display the boys alphabetically, so you’d be near the middle.  It would be nice if you could be the centrefold – then we could have two piccies on one page and another two opposite, and you’d need to turn the brochure through ninety degrees – just like those centrefolds in girlie magazines, - which I’m sure you’re familiar with - which you can use as posters.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in!”
It was Cassandra.
“I had to come to have a peek at out pageboy.  Well!  Tim, you look fabulous!”
“I’ve been telling him…”
“Did you tell him about the brochure?”
“I just did.”
“What do you think of that, Tim?  A nice big spread all to yourself.”
“Thank you, Miss Cassandra.  Would I be the only one to have a pageboy outfit?”
“The only one.  The only trainee to have an alternative identity.  You are multi-talented, after all.  What do you think?”
“Wow, it would be really great.  Actually I think I like my pageboy outfit the best…”
“Yes, I sort of thought you did.  And you like showing it off, right?  It’s fine, don’t blush.  I’m happy you’re so proud of yourself.  You have every right to be.  So just enjoy the photo shoot.  We’ll do it next week.  You can show off to your heart’s content.  We’ll make an album for you, then choose the best snaps for the brochure, okay?”
Tim nodded enthusiastically.
“Good boy.  Now off you go and get changed.  And get a good night’s sleep tonight, won’t you?  Carly will help you dress, and Serena will collect you at nine.”
“I will, miss.  Thank you miss!”

After he had left, Cassandra and Louise had a good giggle.
“He’s going to be a sensation, Cassie.  Should spice up the wedding nicely.”
“He’s so damn cute he’s irresistible.  I hope he never loses that delightful innocence.  He’s a changed boy since he came here.  I heard from Violet he could be quite surly at times when he started at Pitt’s Wood.  Now he’s the sweetest boy you could hope to meet.  I’ve scheduled the photoshoot for Thursday.  We should have the variant outfits from Cynthia by then, and we’ll aim for two pageboy and two maid piccies.”
“Super.  Oh, by the way, for some reason he’s reluctant to wear his gloves tomorrow.  Is that a problem?”
Cassandra laughed.  “Oh, yes – he has a little thing about latex gloves.  I was just telling Nicola.  He likes to pleasure himself in his latex shorts and he likes to do it wearing his latex gloves.  So wearing both at the same time can be rather dangerous - if you see what I mean.”
Lucille raised her eyebrows.  “Really?”
“Probably better he doesn’t wear them tomorrow.”  She grinned.  “He understands that.  Serena can take them if she wants.  He can put them on when they leave.”

I think the Boys are really enjoying the dressing up. Looking forward to hearing what their dresses are going to look like. Short and Lacey?. Whatever they are I am sure the 'Daughters' will look absolutely adorable.