Chapter 21: Chapter 21

The journey back to the apartment had been truly wondrous. The wind had picked up a bit, and the sensation of the breeze against her bare legs, occasionally blowing up to swirl around her waist, elicited a giddy giggle.

Even the crowded bus couldn’t bring down her spirits. She stood happily in the aisle with Aiden’s arm around her. He held an overhead luggage bar for stability. She held him.

As they walked back to the apartment hand in hand, she was nearly fit to burst with excitement.

‘Cailyn’s gonna freak when she sees me,’ she thought, grinning like a fool.

“Do you miss the tail and horns yet?” Aiden asked as they waited in the elevator as it climbed towards their apartment.

‘Their apartment,’ she realized. ‘Now that I’ve unraveled, I’ll have to move back to my place…’ The thought of leaving Aiden sent a pang of sorrow through her newly re-fleshified heart.

Still, she couldn’t say she’d miss her demonic features. “Nah, I think I’m perfect the way I am,” she smiled.

“Glad to hear it,” Aiden said, “because I think you’re perfectly beautiful this way.”

The compliment sent scarlet flooding her face again, and a pleasant warmth accompanied it.

“I never noticed what a shameless flirt you are, Aiden,” Ashe teased, squeezing his hand. 

“Only with the prettiest girls. I’m shallow like that,” he shot back playfully. 

Shallow didn’t begin to apply to him, she thought. He was a lot of things, but never shallow. Caring, gentle, handsome, reliable, easygoing, handsome… where was she going with this again?

The key rattled in the lock and brought her back to reality as Aiden pushed open the door to the apartment. “Hey, Cay. We’re back!” Aiden announced to the interior.

Ashe expected Cailyn to come running to see how she’d made out with her visit to the Department of Uptight Mages, but there was no sound of a bedroom door opening, no footsteps, no calling back from another room that she was on her way. 

“Maybe she’s asleep?” Ashe posed, kicking off her shoes just inside the door and setting them neatly aside. 

“Maybe,” Aiden agreed. “Do you want to check while I get changed?”

“Changed?” Ashe asked, tilting her head.

“For our dinner date,” he explained with a grin.

Ashe felt her cheeks color again. “O-oh, right, of course! I’ll have to ask her if I can borrow a nice dress…”

“Mhm. Something black and slinky…” he said with a coy grin as he slipped off to his bedroom.

The idea of dressing extra sexily just for Aiden caused a flutter in her chest - and a faint warmth elsewhere further south. She blushed and smiled, quickly making her way to Cailyn’s door.

Several knocks later, there was no reply. She decided to use the newfound privilege of ‘we’re both girls, so it’s ok, right?’ to enter the bedroom and wake her.

Except she wasn’t there to wake.

“Huh.” She saw Cay’s purse hanging on the vanity chair, so it was unlikely she’d gone out… unless she’d put her stuff in a different bag? Some girls had multiple purses, didn’t they?

She grabbed her phone and shot Cailyn a text, asking where she was, and if it was OK if she borrowed a dress for her date.

Several painfully long minutes passed without a reply before her eagerness got the better of her.

‘Oh well,’ she thought as she crept over to the closet. ‘I’ll just ask forgiveness for borrowing a dress later.’

She grabbed one of the slinky little black dresses out of Cailyn’s closet, holding it up against herself. It had to be damn stretchy, because it looked like it was sized for a kid compared to her. 

She stripped out of the dress she’d worn to the Monty, and quickly deemed her underwear suitable. It wouldn’t show with the dress, and she wasn’t planning on letting anyone else see it… not yet, at least. 

She might be seriously falling for Aiden, but there was no way she was going to let herself get a reputation for being easy after a grand total of a day as a girl.

She grabbed a pair of black strappy heels from the closet as well, thanking whatever lucky stars had made her roughly the same shoe size as Cailyn.

After a few tentative, newborn fawn-like steps, she made her way out of the bedroom.

Aiden looked over at the door as she exited Cay’s room, his eyes going a bit wider. 

“Oh wow, you look amazing,” he said, barely keeping his jaw off the floor.

“Thanks,” Ashe blushed. The dress fit her like a second skin, and emphasized every curve. It also just barely kept her decent, the hemline falling just ever so slightly below her nether regions. She’d be fine up and walking around… but forget dancing or bending over or taking too long of a stride. She’d be flashing the entire city.

“What did Cay have to say about your new look?” Aiden asked.

“Dunno, she wasn’t there and…” she checked her phone again, “still no reply on my text.”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “Must be out doing whatever it is she does. I doubt that she’s actually started working again. Nate would have mentioned it - or she would have.”

“Speaking of,” Ashe said, “I think I wanna get back to work as soon as I can. I’ve missed running deliveries.”

“Heh, I think you’re going to need to stock up on some clothes first. Your old wardrobe won’t exactly fit you anymore. Besides, you’re way too pretty to hide in a hoodie and jeans anymore.”

“You don’t think I’d be pretty in a hoodie and jeans?” she mock-pouted.

Aiden looked stricken, but shifted into an easygoing grin. “I think you’d look pretty in anything, Ashe.”

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“Nice save,” she laughed, putting her phone back into the little black purse she had borrowed from Cailyn for the evening.

“Think we should wait to hear back from Cay before we head out?”

“Nah,” Ashe said. “She’ll fend for herself. Besides, if she comes back before we leave, she might decide not to let me borrow this dress!”

“Well that would be a crying shame,” Aiden laughed.

The pair headed for the door. Ashe let Aiden take the lead and open it for her like a gentleman. “Why thank you, sir,” she teased, walking past him into the hallway.

“My pleasure, ma’am.” 

“Ma’am?” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m way too young for ‘ma’am’. How about ‘Miss Gray’, or ‘Your Highness’?”

Aiden laughed again, walking her down the hall towards the elevator. “How about just ‘Ashe’?”

“I suppose that’ll have to do for now,” she grinned, taking his arm as they got onto the elevator.

The way that they just seemed to fit together walking side by side had yet to stop impressing her. She felt warm and safe at his side.

 

Dinner was amazing. Far higher class than anywhere she’d ever eaten before. Even the least well-dressed people were in suits and fancy dresses.

Ashe felt a little underdressed in her little black dress. Especially because she had a faint suspicion it might be a little on the ‘going clubbing to get laid’ side of the rack.

“Wow… I bet the air costs money to breathe in here,” Ashe mumbled as they were walked to their table by the matre’di.

“Relax, you look great,” Aiden assured her, giving her hand a squeeze. 

“Thanks,” Ashe smiled. “So do you.” 

The couple got a few stray looks as they took their seats - Ashe could feel the eyes of the guys lingering on her body, taking in the curves… and the judgment of the women who were clearly deeming her lack of makeup and “slutty” dress inappropriate. 

‘Whatever, let them think what they want,’ Ashe thought. ‘As long as I’ve got Aiden with me, I’m fine.’

That thought sent a wave of doubt through her that hit hard.

‘What if I’m only comfortable as a girl because Aiden likes me? Or because I like Aiden? What if we break up and I’m miserable? No way I’ll be able to get another Knot from Nate. Not with all the trouble the last one caused…’

She found herself biting her nails nervously - a carried-over habit from her male self.

“Ashe? You okay?” Aiden asked, reaching across the table to take the hand left laying there.

“Huh? Oh… yeah. I’m fine,” she lied. The touch of his hand on hers was distracting, sending little tinglies up her arm and to some weird nebulous pleasure centers in her brain.

“Mmm… I have a passive aggressive sister and mom. You’re gonna have to up your ‘fine’ game if you wanna fool me, girl.”

The way he called her a girl sent flutters of euphoria through her.

“I… was just thinking that maybe the only reason I’m okay being a girl is because I’m with you.” Admitting it brought a blush to her cheeks.

“What? I doubt that. I bet you’d be happy even if we weren’t trying out this whole date thing.”

“But how can we know, Aiden?” She bit off another chip of her nail.

“Well,” he began nervously, “we could try not dating and see how you feel?”

The idea of ending the relationship before it had even begun was like a shot of ice water straight to her heart, causing it to clench and skip a beat.

“No!” she half-shouted, drawing some local attention from nearby tables. “I-I mean… no,” she lowered her voice, embarrassment settling in. “I… don’t want to do that. Unless you want to. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. Are you uncomfortable? I mean I’ve only been this way for less than a day and it’s probably really weird for you and I’d totally understand if you–”

“Ashe,” Aiden said, stressing her name. “You’re rambling. I am so happy to date you if you want to. I’ve had a thing for you for ages.”

Her heart struggled to get back to its normal rhythm. ‘Crap… He really does want to date me. He really likes me… and I think I really like him. What does that mean? Does that mean we can just… date? Do like… couple stuff? Oh god, I want to try that… all the stupid cliche stuff…’

“Ashe? You okay? You’re kinda spacing out and turning red…” 

“I’m fine!” she assured him, willing her blush to go the hell away. She really needed to get a handle on the blushing.

“If you say so. Your ‘fine’ game is still pretty weak though,” he teased, lightening the mood.

“Whatever… let’s just decide what we’re going to eat heee…oly shit!” she swore as she saw the prices. The cheapest thing on the menu was a salad for $12.99.

Aiden picked up on what had triggered her, and laughed. “Don’t worry. Nate’s paying me really well with all the overtime I’m picking up to cover for Cailyn.”

“Are you sure? I mean… this is all crazy expensive, Aiden.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Order whatever you want. Don’t go doing that girl thing where you order a salad and water because you want to look dainty, and then you’re all hungry later.”

“Psh,” Ashe giggled, “as if. I’m gonna make you regret your offer, moneybags.”

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