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xoxo,

Clover

BLUSHING BRIDE

Man Magically Becomes a Woman

Clover Cox

CHAPTER 1

“Maurice, could you please come here for a second?”

“Of course,” I said and stood from my desk to follow my boss to her office. I wasn’t worried that I was in trouble. In fact, I worried the opposite was true. I ratted out one of my coworkers for playing a game on her cell phone when she was supposed to be working, and I had a feeling that Julie wanted to reward my snitchy behavior. Becky pissed me off earlier in the week when she talked shit about my pants being so tight they made my legs look fat.

“If you wouldn’t mind recounting what you saw Becky do, it would be much appreciated,” my boss said after we’d sat.

“She was just playing a game. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, I’m glad you did. Playing games distracts us from our work. We can’t waste time like that. It’s unethical.”

“You’re completely right, Julie. I totally agree.”

“I’ll speak with Becky. Thank you for letting me know, Maurice. You did the right thing.”

I stood when Julie glanced at her door, indicating that I could leave. I sighed as I stepped out to the other side, hating myself for throwing Becky under the bus. What happened to the simpler days of my past? I missed my undergrad years dearly when my best friend Rodney and I would play video games, go to the gym, and drink beer. He never figured out that I was madly in love with him. Now he was living in Chicago working seventy hours a week.

Later in the evening, I stared at my cell phone, contemplating if I should send Rodney a message. We used to spend so much time together, and now I barely heard from him at all. He was busy working at one of Chicago’s best law firms after getting his degree here in town at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We grew up in Urbana and had known each other a long time, and it hurt seeing how much we were drifting apart since he moved to Chicago.

As I was staring at my phone, it rang. My heart raced when Rodney’s name flashed across the screen. He almost never called me, so I raced to answer. “Hey, is everything okay?”

“Hey, man! What’s up?” he said casually.

“Nothing, I’m just surprised to see you calling.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I know I’ve been super busy with work since moving to Chicago, but I’ve been so stressed out lately and didn’t know who else to call. I hope you don’t mind. You can hang up if you’re too busy.”

“No, it’s okay,” I said and adjusted how I was sitting, delighted to hear Rodney’s voice after so long apart. I wish I had the guts to tell him how I felt, but I could never bring myself to say the words. I worried confessing the truth would destroy our friendship. Rodney only dated women. He wasn’t the least bit interested in a guy like me. Not romantically. “What’s going on?”

“They’re working me to the bone at the firm.”

“Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

“Yeah, I guess,” he said with a sigh. “I just didn’t think it would be so lonely. Everyone tells me to get a wife, but where am I supposed to find the time to date girls?”

“That’s a good question,” I conceded. There was nothing I wanted more than Rodney’s happiness, but the thought of him settling down with a woman gave me nightmares. I would attend his wedding. He would probably make me stand next to him at the altar as his best man while he promised his life to a woman, and I would support him, but it would be the hardest thing I ever did. “You want me to put out an ad for you?”

“That might not be a bad idea. You know what I like,” he said with a laugh before sighing more deeply. I could tell that he was troubled, but what did he want me to say? If he were in the market for a husband, I would offer him my hand in a second. “They keep promising me that everything will work itself out. They say that being a lawyer at their firm is like a magnet for women, but I don’t want a woman who’s only after me for my status, you know?”

“Yeah, but maybe you should have thought about that before becoming a lawyer for the richest among us.”

Rodney chuckled. “You’re probably right. What about you? How’s everything going in Urbana?”

“You know,” I said. “Same old, same old.”

“How’s the hospital treating you?”

“I can’t complain, but I had a pretty bad day. My coworker was talking shit about how I looked last week, and I ended up ratting her out to my boss today for playing video games on her phone in the heat of the moment. I feel like a total asshole.”

“What did she say to you?”

“That my pants were too tight and made me look fat. I shouldn’t have said anything to my boss, and now my coworker might be in trouble.”

“Damn,” Rodney said. I could hear the hint of judgment in his voice. Snitching on people wasn’t something either of us were too fond of doing, so I felt ashamed. “Guess she had it coming for talking shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Maurice. We can’t be noble all the time.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Look, I gotta get going, but keep a look out for my future wife. Okay? I’m sure you’re busy looking for yours too, but I’ll need all the help that I can get,” he said with a hint of nervous laughter. “It’s nice talking to you.”

“Same, and I’ll definitely keep my eyes open.”

“Bet. Talk soon,” Rodney said and disconnected the call. I set my phone to the side and stared blankly at the wall. What I would give to become the woman that Rodney married. I slid from the couch and dropped to my knees on the living room floor. My life had been so confusing and empty ever since Rodney moved to Chicago, and all I wanted was to have him back in my life.

I clasped my hands together and turned my chin toward the ceiling. “Please,” I begged whatever magical forces controlled this universe we called home. “Please grant me this one wish to become the woman Rodney needs. I’ll never ask for anything else again in my life,” I said in a tone more desperate than I’d intended. I shook my head at the silliness of my actions and stood. Nothing was coming to save me or grant my wishes. No magical forces could transform me from man to woman overnight.

I sighed and made my way to the kitchen to fill up a tumbler glass with whiskey. I wasn’t much of a drinker, but I needed something stiff after the day I had. Hopefully Becky would find a way to forgive me for ratting her out over something as trivial as playing a game on her phone, but what I hoped for more than anything was a way to salvage the friendship that Rodney and I once had. We were drifting apart like two boats that’d been untethered at sea, and it broke my heart.