Pink Panties

[billykins]

37.
But Conor wasn’t the only one getting a new outfit.  Archie went home with Sarah on Friday evening to try on his new clothes, ready for his date with Patrick on Saturday.  He was strangely subdued, no doubt wondering what he had got himself into.  Sarah had laid his new outfit out on her bed, and left the room while he stripped off and got into his panties and tights.  Then she was back.  She helped him into a little white silky vest, fastened on his pink pleated skirt, and then handed him his purple top.
“You look gorgeous, Archie.  I’m sure Patrick’s going to be so surprised.  He’s only seen you in your Irish dancing dress.”  She made him sit down on a chair, and knelt to put on his shoes.  “Do you like your outfit?”
“It’s okay.”
“Look at your jacket!  It goes so well with these colours.”
“I’m gonna ‘ave to tell ‘im
”
“Of course.  Don’t worry.”
“Do you fink ‘e’ll be angry?”
“Of course not.  He’s a really nice guy.  I’m sure he’ll want to be your friend, whatever.”
“Do you really fink that?”
She knelt up, took his hands, and looked him in the eye.  “I really do, Archie.  I think Patrick is someone special.  He liked you right from the start.  I’m a good judge of people, and I would bet on it.”
“Y’know, Sarah, I ain’t never ‘ad a proper friend aside from Conor, an’ we don’t really talk about fings.  We just like ‘ang out, an’ that’s it.  Patrick seems like, sort of, different
”
“You like him too, right?  Well then, trust him, and be honest.  You have nothing to lose.”
Archie looked into the distance.  “That’s right,” he murmured, “
nuffink to lose
.”
“Now come downstairs and show mum.  And I want to give you a little elocution lesson.”
“A what?”
“I want to help you to speak a bit better.  To think before you speak, and make your words sound a bit nicer.”
D’you fink ‘e’ll fink I’m ignorant?”
“I don’t.  But I want you to be more confident with people.  And if you allow me, I’m going to help you.”
“Yes, please, Sarah
I allow you
”
She looked at him affectionately.  He could seem so arrogant, but in reality that was just his way of hiding his lack of confidence.  She was going to attempt to change all that


[billykins]

38.
Sarah’s first elocution lesson consisted mainly in making him practise the “th” sound over and over, in sentences such as, “That thrush has the thinnest thighs in Southampton
” or “On Thursday I think I’ll wear my thong to the theatre
”  It was an amusing, if not a totally successful exercise.  But at least it made him more careful with his manner of speaking.  It was in fact, the beginning of a transformation


Patricia drove Archie to the park the next day.  Sarah sat in the back, reassuring him. 
“You look beautiful Archie – I mean Annabel.  So when you break the news to him, he simply won’t be able to get angry with you – so don’t worry.”
“You do look amazing,” added Patricia.  “Unless you tell him I’m pretty sure he won’t guess.”

They had gone to town, not only dressed him in the clothes, but found him a pair of silver clip-ons to match his necklace, made him up with peach lip gloss, a touch of blusher, a little pink glittery eye-shadow, and the tiniest bit of mascara.  Sarah had donated a bottle of perfume she had been given on her last birthday.
“You can walk through the park knowing no-one will guess you’re a boy,” said Sarah.  “So be confident.  Take small steps, and take your time.”
“Yes – a lady should always be just a little bit late,” added Patricia, “so as not to seem forward or easy.”
“Okay, okay, you two.  I’ll be fine.  I ain’t – I mean
  I’m not scared
”

Patricia dropped him off at the main gate, then drove up the hill and parked in the main car park.  Sinead was waiting for them.  There was no way she was being left out.  Then the girls cut through the woods and came out on the higher side of the park.  The cafĂ© was on the far side, a single-story building surrounded by tables.  They settled down on the grass.  Sinead produced a miniature pair of binoculars.  She handed them to Sarah. 
“Have a look.  Is that him on the left?” 
“Yes
that’s him all right.   And there’s Archie, crossing the park now.  I wonder what’s going to happen
”

Archie could see him too.  He looked cool and relaxed, which was not at all how he felt.  His legs were wobbly, and the nearer he got the more he wished he had never agreed to meet.  But there was no going back now.  Patrick had spotted him, and was waving.  He gave a little wave back.  The next moment he was there.  Patrick had stood up and pulled out a chair for him.
“Annabel
hi.  I’m so glad you could make it
  I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me
”
He seemed a lot less confident than he’d looked a moment ago.
“Hi Patrick.  Nice of you to ask me, like
”
“No, not at all
  You look amazing, by the way
”  He was staring at him in a sort of daze.  He seemed to have run out of things to say.  Archie felt embarrassed.  He also felt a fraud.  Should he tell him straight away?
“Listen, Patrick
”
“Would you like a drink?  And maybe a cake?  Of course you would
”
“Sure
  Anything
”
Anything to put off the fatal moment.

Patrick returned with two cans, straws and a plate of small cup-cakes.  Despite their nervousness, they tucked in.
“What would you like to do today?  We could go skating?  Or whatever.”
“Can we just hang out here for a while?”
“Course!  I’m not trying to be pushy
”
“I know you ain’t
aren’t.”  He took a deep breath.  Now was the time.  Or was it?
“What do you
I mean, what school do you go to?”
“Oh, St. Mark’s.  You may not know it.  It’s out Onslow way.  In fact I only happened to be on that bus because I was meeting a friend in town.”
“A friend?”
“Oh, just a guy I know from primary school.  We were mates.  Still are, sort of
  But what about you?  You do Irish dancing, right?”
“Yeah
yes.  I only started a few weeks ago.  It’s fun.  It’s good exercise too.”
“I’d do it too, if I were a girl – I like those amazing dresses
”
“You don’t ‘ave to be a girl.  Well, you wouldn’t get to wear a dress, of course
”  He laughed.  “Not unless you wanted to
”
“I wouldn’t mind.  There’s too much regimentation these days.  At my school
  Well, that’s boring.  But what I’m saying is, I think kids should be allowed to wear what they want.”
“I agree!  Totally!  It’s not like it was in Victorian times, right?  Kids these days know a lot – more than their parents, ‘alf the time
”
“It’s true.  Yet it’s the grown-ups that get to lay down the law about what children can do and what they can’t.  When we grow up we’ll change all that.  We’ll make the decisions about how we live our lives.”
“Yeah.  And we’ll decide what they can do and what they can’t.  Like when you’re over, I dunno, say forty
  then no alcohol!”
“No television after nine at night!”
“No phone at the meal table!”
“No sex!”
They burst out laughing.
“They’re gonna suffer
” grinned Archie.
“Big time!”

“They seem to be getting on like a house on fire,” said Sarah, handing the binoculars to Patricia.  “He can’t have told him yet
”
“I can’t believe it,” said Sinead.  “I’ve never seen my brother actually hold a conversation with someone.  With Conor it’s all grunts and monosyllables
”
“Look, they’re moving off,” hissed Patricia
  Where are they going
?  Damn – they’re coming this way.  Quick, let’s get back in the woods
”
The three girls scrambled up the hill, ducked through the trees, and found a place they could watch the boys from unobserved.  They were strolling across the park side by side, chatting happily.  Patrick pointed up the hill, they walked up, found a flat place on the grass, and sat down.  Sinead, Patricia and Sarah watched them for the next hour and a half, during which time all they did was sit and talk – talk incessantly.  Once Patrick put his hand on Archie’s leg, once Archie took hold of Patrick’s arm.  Sinead shook her head. 
“Is that really our Archie?  What has this bloke done to him?”
“This is boring – and I’m hungry,” said Sarah.  “Can we
”
“Hold on.  They’re moving,” interrupted Patricia.
The boys had got to their feet, and were walking quite swiftly towards the park gate.
“Quick!  Back to the car,” said Patricia.
“No.  Wait,” said Sinead.  “Am I imagining things
?
Sarah gasped.  “They’re
holding hands!”
All three of them stood staring for a moment.  Then they bolted as one back to the car.  But when they got back to the car park, they were just in time to see the two board a bus headed into town.
“Damn,” said Patricia.
“fuc-k,” said Sinead.
“I’m hungry,” whined Sarah.

[billykins]

 39.
Archie’s childhood had not been any harder than millions of other children.  He barely remembered his father, who had left when he was very young.  He had a loving mother in Myra, but she had struggled to provide for her children and he had spent more time with his sister than with her.  And Myra herself had never been encouraged to show her feelings.  She had a rather brusque way of expressing her love, by brief cuddles, or a ruffle of the hair, or a sudden kiss on the cheek.  This may be preferable to the fawning, possessive behaviour which passes for love in some mothers, but it lacked that thoughtful enquiring tenderness that encourages a child to open its heart to a parent.  Often she got home from work late and exhausted.  Archie had often already been put to bed by Sinead.  And it was Sinead who got him dressed, gave him breakfast, and packed him off to school.  Luckier parents may criticise Myra despite the pressures she had been under.  Those who have experienced those pressures may be a little more sympathetic.  Sometimes when money is short there is little time for the luxury of a beautiful relationship


Patrick was quite a lonely child.  He was rather too sensitive and responsible for the boys he mixed with at school.  It was a private school, to which he had been sent in the hope of preparing him for a job that would, in the family tradition, pay him a lot of money.  But he wasn’t terribly interested in money.  He liked unfashionable things, like music and poetry.  And he liked to read old novels and watch films where virtue was rewarded and justice was done – though preferably without violence.
There was something in Archie’s face that had attracted him from the first time he saw him.  He saw a thin mask of dissatisfaction, of not-happiness, but in his eyes a desperate honesty and a great capacity for love, if only he could connect with a sympathetic spirit.  And he felt he could be that sympathetic spirit.

For Archie his conversation with Patrick was a new and life-changing experience.  No-one had ever asked him about himself, about how he felt, what made him happy, what made him unhappy, or what he would like to achieve.  It was as if his new friend had opened the doors of his heart, and all the things that he had stored up in there, all the lumber piled up to the ceiling, had come tumbling out at once.  That in itself would have been sufficient liberation.  But in the process, and because he was essentially an unselfish soul, Archie also came to understand the importance of reciprocation, and stemming the tide of his revelations, he began to ask Patrick about his life.  And in that one afternoon, both lives were altered forever, and a friendship formed that would never be dissolved.

Archie didn’t get home till nine, and when he did, he found not only his sister, but Sarah and Patricia waiting for him.  His eyes were sparkling as he came into the kitchen, where they were sitting.
“Hi, sis.  Hi guys.  What you doin’ here tonight?”
“Waiting for you, dumbbell,” said Sarah, rudely.  “Where have you been?”
“Oh
well, we went ice-skating, then we got a pizza at the rink and sort of, you know, sat around
”
“And did you tell him?”
“Tell him?”
“That you’re a boy!”
“Oh
no
not exactly
”
“Not exactly?”
No, then.  No, I didn’t tell ‘im.”
“Why not?”
“It don’t matter.  I mean it doesn’t matter cos
he’s my friend.  That’s what matters
”
“He’s right,” said Sinead.  “That is what matters.  Agreed, Pat?”
“Totally.”
“But they were holding hands!”
Archie stared at Sarah.  “You were spying on us?”
“Oh.  No, we just happened to see
”
“You were!  What, all of you?”
The older girls looked guilty.
“We just wanted to make sure you were okay, that’s all,” said Sinead, quietly.  “You said yourself you didn’t know how he was going to react
”
Archie looked hurt for a moment.  Then his face cleared.
“Yeah, I can understand that.  Anyway, Patrick’s great.  I’ve never met no-one like ‘im in my life.  I don’t know ’ow long we can be friends, but I’m gonna stay bein’ a girl for the time bein’.  But I can’t carry on wearin’ the same outfit, so tomorrow I’m goin’ out to get some new clothes.  Could you help me, sis?”

[gunrunner]

Please, please continue the story, Pink Panties! You can't just leave us stranded half way through the story. So please continue.

[billykins]

40.
They went shopping the very next day, since Archie was meeting Patrick again the following Tuesday evening.  If Archie had ever felt any embarrassment at dressing as a girl, it seemed to have evaporated, and now he was intent only on impressing his new friend.  Sinead drove them all to the shops.
“What sort of thing have you got in mind, Archie?” she asked.
“I dunno.  I dunno what there is, really.  And I never look at what girls are wearing, partic’larly.”
“Maybe something a little more grown up?” 
“Patrick’s what, a year older than you?  Two?”
“Two, yeah.  What I wore yesterday weren’t partic’larly cool, but he seemed to like it.”
“When are you meeting him exactly?”
“After school Tuesday.”
“After school?”
“Yeah
.shit!”
“Yes.  School uniform.  You’re going to need a girl’s uniform.”
“But then how
”
“You’ll have to go to school as a girl!” screamed Sarah.
“You’ll have to wait for everyone to leave and then change – and hope no-one sees you.”
“Too risky,” said Patricia.  “Look – all you need is a skirt and white socks, right.  After lessons go to the toilets, put the socks on under your trousers, put the skirt over your trousers but hold it up round your waist, then all you have to do is find somewhere to take off your trousers, right?”
“He’s gonna need panties, too,” put in Sarah, matter-of-factly.  Pretty pink panties, with bows and stuff, in case Patrick gets a flash
”
“Don’t worry, Archie.  He won’t see them,” reassured Patricia.  “But yes, you’ll need panties, all right.”
“I’ve got some already for Irish dancing
”
“We’ll get you nicer ones than those,” smiled Sinead.  “Where are you meeting him?”
“In a restaurant
Luigi’s
”
“Who’ll be there first?”
“Oh – me.  He’s got to come from out of town
”
“Okay.  If he’s not there, go into the toilet and change.  Sorted.”
“Yeah, great!  Perfec’!  But I can still have some new casual clothes, right?”
“Yes, of course,” said Sinead.  “I’m thinking of one cool outfit, with black leggings and ankle boots and a ripped Goth T-shirt and a little leather jacket.  Very cool with some black lipstick and eyeliner.  And then something more youthful, like a short cotton dress with ankle socks, maybe,  and
”
“What?  I’m not sure about that
”
“Well, you don’t know what his tastes are yet?  And in any case, dressing young will be good practice for Saturday!”
“Oh, shut up, sis!  Did you have to mention that?”
“Ooh, I’d almost forgotten!” cried Sarah.  “Do you know we saw Millie and her mum out shopping for baby clothes?”
“We don’t know that, Sarah,” said Patricia.
“I bet they were
probably nappies and bibs and plastic pants
”
“Shut up!”
“Shh, you two.  Look, we’re here.  Let’s work together, shall we?”

They spent all the morning buying stuff.  As Sarah said, it was even more fun than buying for themselves.  Archie was in and out of the changing room so many times he lost count.  But at last they were satisfied, and repaired to the store cafĂ© for lunch.  They reviewed their purchases.  Apart from the casual - a pair of girl’s jeans and a few girl’s T-shirts - they had ended up with four distinct outfits, which could roughly be classified as cool, cute, and juvenile.  For cool there was the Goth, for juvenile the little girl – pretty summer dress, white tights, sequin bomber jacket, crisp hair ribbons – and for plain cute a couple of things in between, cute but elegant at the same time, things a thirteen-year-old girl would be comfortable wearing. 

Surprisingly, Archie had seemed to favour the party dress end of the “cute but elegant” spectrum rather than the casual end.  His eyes sparkled when he saw some of the lovely glittery things on the rack, and the girls looked at each other with raised eyebrows as he fondled the various textures.
“Ooh, sis
  Feel this velvet
  It’s so soft, but stretchy too.  Do you fink I have the figure to wear somefing like that
?
“You’ve got a great figure, Archie.  You could wear any of those.”
“Really?  You reckon?  Do you fink
I mean, do you think
Patrick would like me in that
?”
“You’d be irresistible!  But it’s quite posh.  I mean, it’s a party dress really.  Have it if you want, but you’ll need something a bit more casual too, but different from your first outfit.  What about
  What about something like that
”
She pointed at a display opposite; a short flared black faux-leather skirt paired with a shiny red stretch satin crop top with a high neck and long sleeves.
“We could get you some black stockings and red panties to go with that
”
“And maybe some shoes with a heel?” suggested Patricia.  “A low heel.  But he should start learning to wear heels, don’t you think?”
“It’s quite, well
sexy
” said Sarah.
“Exactly,” said her sister.  “Patrick will love it, won’t he?  If he doesn’t, he’s not the boy you’ve described to me.”
Sarah laughed.  “You’re right.  If he fancied Archie in his Irish dancing costume
”
“Then he’s going to love him in this!”
Archie blushed slightly looking at the ensemble.  The thought of merely putting it on  gave him butterflies.  Imagine wearing it out!  Imagine Patrick’s face

“But
can I have the party dress too?  The blue velvety one?  It’s so pretty
”
“Gosh, Archie, you’re really into it, aren’t you,” grinned Sarah.  “Fashion, I mean,” she added, not wishing to break the spell.  “You’ve got great taste.” 

“I think we did really well,” said Patricia, taking a sip of coffee.  “Archie?  Are you happy with your purchases?”
“Yeah.  I love all of them.  But don’t tell Conor, will you?  I don’t want ‘im tryin’ to outdo me some’ow
”
“Don’t worry, we won’t,” grinned Sarah.  “By the way, you won’t have to compete with him at Irish dancing any more.  You’re getting new summer costumes and their both the same – just different colours.”
“Really?  What are they?”
“You’ll see.  It’s a surprise
  Guys?  Can we go?  I want to get home so we can get Archie to try on all his new duds again
”

[gunrunner]

THANK YOU!!

[gunrunner]

Please don't stop. I'm enjoying this story. Archie's diaper day is coming up. I also want to see what transpires on the trip to Texas after the competition.