The Bet - Chapter 55 (Thursday – week 8 Part 3 of 9)

The Bet

By Karen Singer

Chapter 55 (Thursday – week 8 Part 3 of 9)

     The parking lot looked a lot different now since it was packed with cars as Mel once again pulled up to the curb near the door where Sissy had entered.  She pulled out her cell phone and called Robin’s number.  “I’m right outside,” she said before hanging up again.  She had been busy since she left Sissy off earlier.  She had gone home and gotten dressed for work. Then she had gone into Chad’s apartment and grabbed a few things for him.  And finally, as per one of Robin’s requests, she had stopped at the grocery store and bought a few things.  Now she just needed to hand it all off to Robin so she could get to work herself.

     Robin smiled as she set her phone down again.  Sissy was working at his desk so he might never even see her leaving – not that it really mattered.  She got up from her chair and walked out, glancing at him as she passed.  His back was to her and he appeared to be working intently – in that ridiculous blue dress.  He never even turned around. 

     She spotted Mel’s car through the glass walls long before she got to the door.  Mel herself got out of her car the moment she got outside.  As she approached, she saw Mel open the back door to her car and pull out a small travel bag.

     Mel smiled broadly as Robin approached.  “How’s it going?” she asked.

     Robin nearly laughed. “I can’t believe that outfit!” 

      “You like it?”

      “I love it!” Robin proclaimed.  “It’s… beautiful!  And on him…  I nearly died when I saw it.”

      “Any problems yet?” Mel asked.

      “None.  But then the day’s just started.  As long as he stays at his desk, there isn’t a huge chance that someone else will see him.  But… like I said yesterday, I can’t guarantee that nobody is going to stop by sometime.  It does happen from time to time, just not very often.  I’m more worried about it happening this morning rather than later in the day.”

      “That’s what you said yesterday,” Mel replied.  “If it happens, then it happens.  It’s just one more thing that he’s going to have to deal with.”

      “Yeah,” Robin replied.  “But that dress…  To be honest, I’m still thinking about taking him to the break room that way.  The others would just die!”

      “Not to mention Sissy. But then, as much as he would hate it, I have no doubt that he’d love the humiliation just as much… if not more.”

      “Yeah,” Robin replied, “so you’ve explained.  “I just have to make sure that I don’t get in any trouble.  Speaking of which, you got everything?”

      “Right here,” Mel replied before reaching back into her car and pulling out a heavy plastic bag from the grocery store.  She handed it over to Robin who grabbed it along with the travel bag Mel had already set on the sidewalk.  “Call me later,” Mel said as she got back into her car.

      “Thanks,” Robin replied before starting to lug the heavy bags into the building.  The one from the grocery store was particularly heavy.  She had to stop for a moment part of the way back to her desk to rest her hand.  As she passed Sissy’s cubicle one more time, she glanced in again.  His back was still to her and he was still working.  Good!

     Chad heard someone passing by out in the hallway and panicked for a moment.  But when he turned around, there was nobody there.  He was fairly sure he had heard Robin leaving a few minutes earlier though so it must have been her returning – probably from the ladies room – the one place in the building he had no need of anymore… at least until the bet was done with – and then he would need the men’s room instead.  But the idea was the same.  Sure that it had been Robin, he turned back to his work.

     Robin finally was able to set everything down on the floor to her cubicle.  The travel bag she left on the floor. The grocery bag she set on top of her desk and looked inside.  It looked like Mel had gotten her everything she asked for… and maybe a few other things as well.  Good!  She picked up the travel bag and set it on her chair to check the contents.  A few of the items on top she removed immediately and set on her desk.  Then she closed the bag and put it on the floor under her desk where it would be out of the way.

     She checked the bottles in his diaper bag.  Of the six, three were still full, so there was really no need for her to refill any of them yet.  But…  She pulled out one of the empty ones and looked at it.  There was still a tiny bit of liquid in the bottom that he probably hadn’t been able to get from his drinking.  She knew from lots of experience with her son that you could never get it all out.  Knowing it needed to be rinsed, she grabbed the other two empty bottles as well and carried them all down to the ladies room to clean them.  Once inside, she started taking them all apart and cleaning them. 

     Another woman entered as she was doing it.  “Hi Robin,” she said cheerily as she noticed what Robin was doing.  “I see you’ve got the same problem I often have.”

     Robin wasn’t sure what she was talking about.  “What’s that?”

     The woman laughed, “Finding used bottles in places you forgot you put them.”

     Robin laughed.  “Yeah, something like that.”

      “Are you coming to break in a little while?” the woman asked.

      “Of course,” Robin replied.  She expected her friend to go straight into one of the stalls, but she didn’t, she came over closer to talk instead.

      “So what’s Sissy wearing today?” she asked.  “I know we’ll see him later, but I was just wondering.  I mean, after his weird outfit on Tuesday, I just had to wonder if it was something more interesting again.  Although, after Tuesday, I guess he’s going to go real conservative now and wear something we’ve all seen again.”  Her voice seemed to hold a touch of disappointment.  “You know, for a while there, he was always wearing something different every day.  But I guess he’s not shopping as much anymore since he has more women’s clothes now.  So… is he wearing something we’ve seen already?”

     Robin couldn’t help but laugh a bit – which was exactly what she shouldn’t have done.

     The woman smiled.  “I can see from you face that he must be wearing something different,” she said, the excitement obviously showing.  “Is it something pretty?”

     Robin nodded.  “Oh, I think it’s pretty.  Very pretty.”

      “Oh good!  I can’t wait to see it!”

      “Um…  I’m not sure yet if he’s going to be at break this morning though,” Robin told her quickly.  “He’s got a lot of work to do, and you know he’s going to be off all next week so it has to get done.”

     The woman’s face clouded.  “He won’t be there?”

     Robin shook her head.  “Probably not.”

      “Maybe you can convince him to come... at least for a few minutes.”

      “Uh…  I’ll certainly try,” Robin promised.  And she knew she would bring it up with Sissy.  Just as she knew he was going to turn down the opportunity to go.  But later, for the afternoon break… well, that was a different story.  She hadn’t made up her mind about that one yet.

     When she got back to her cubicle, she pulled a large can out of the grocery bag and opened it.  Using his tiny infant spoon that she had pulled out of the travel bag earlier, she started adding spoonful after spoonful of the powder to the bottle.  She had done this many times for her son, but for her son’s bottles, she had been able to use a bigger spoon. 

     She pulled one of the large bottles of water that Mel had bought for her out of the bag next and carefully filled the baby bottle.  After screwing the nipple back on, she plugged the nipple with her finger and shook the contents vigorously.  There, one bottle filled with infant formula done.  Two more to go… for now.  She knew there would be many more later.

     Once she was done with all of them, she called over the wall, “Sissy…  If you’re not leaking before break time, I’m going to ask one of the other ladies at break to change your diaper for you.”

     Andrea grabbed all the mail from the stack on her desk that needed to go to Mel.  The office was quiet again since she had cancelled all but a few clients that couldn’t be put on hold.  She carried the mail to Mel’s office.  The door was open as it had been for the last few days so that she could go in and out without disturbing her boss as much.  As usual, Mel was deeply buried in the many pages of the contract.

     She entered quietly and set the stack of envelopes down on the corner of Mel’s desk, far enough away that it wouldn’t disturb her work.  She glanced into Mel’s coffee cup and saw that it was getting low.  She grabbed the cup and left with it to refill it. 

     Mel barely glanced at Andrea as she came in and then left again – with her coffee cup.  Her eyes glanced briefly at the stack of mail Andrea had set on her desk, but she wasn’t overly worried about getting into it yet.  She was making good headway on the contract in front of her and needed to keep at it.

     As her eyes started to leave the stack of mail, they noticed one odd envelope at the very bottom of the stack.  It was on the bottom because it was the largest envelope there.  She looked closer and saw that it was a manila packaging envelope.  A package, not a regular piece of mail.  Her brain quickly figured out what was most likely in it. 

     With a smile, she reached for the envelope and pulled it out from under the other mail.  She pulled her scissors out of her desk drawer and cut the top so she could look into the envelope.  She smiled.  She reached in and pulled the item out… and smiled broader as she held it up to examine it closer. 

     Andrea came back with the full coffee cup and stopped in the doorway, her eyes fixed on the item in Mel’s hand.  “Oh!” she said, half giggling.  “It’s adorable!”

      “It’s for his ballet performance on Saturday,” Mel replied. 

      “That’s… for his ballet?” she asked incredulously.

      “Yup!” Mel replied as she turned the thing around in her hands one more time to see all of it.

     Andrea giggled as she set Mel’s coffee back on her desk.  “I can’t wait!”

      “Yeah,” Mel replied happily.  “It should be a ton of fun.”

     Robin was again holding Chad’s skirts out of the way so he could change his soaked and leaking diaper.  There was a baby bottle with a little bit of tea still in it sitting on her desk that he still needed to finish, but getting his leaking diaper changed had to be the priority before he dripped all over her floor. 

     She watched as he taped the first side in place, then she grabbed his skirts on the opposite side so he could fasten the tapes there.  “Hurry up,” she complained.  “It’s almost break time and we don’t want to be late.”

     Chad’s knees nearly buckled.  Break?  Dressed like he was?  There was no question of him even trying to curtsey while he was trying to change himself – even though he probably wouldn’t have thought of it.  “Please!” he begged through the pacifier in his mouth.  He couldn’t remove it because his hands were busy holding his diaper in place.  “Please!  I can’t go dressed like this!”

      “Why not?” Robin teased.  “You’re dressed perfectly presentable.”

      “Please!  Please!” Chad begged again.  “I can’t!  I just can’t!  Not dressed like this!”

      “Would you rather take that dress off and just go in your diaper?”
      “No!  Not that!” He replied in total horror.  “Please, Robin.  I can’t!”

     Robin smiled, but it was a mischievous smile.  She nodded her head.  “Well… okay – this time!  But start bracing yourself for this afternoon.  Because there’s a lot of ladies there who will be just dying to see that pretty dress of yours!”

     But Chad still couldn’t comprehend going anywhere dressed as he was.  He shook his head in despair.  “I can’t!” he pleaded.  “Please.  Not today.  Please don’t make me go anywhere where someone might see me today.  Please!”

     Robin shook her head.  “Personally, I think I’m being awfully lenient to allow you to stay here this time.  Just think how much everybody looks forward to seeing you every day… twice a day!” 

     Chad’s nerves were growing worse.  

      “We’ll discuss it later,” Robin told him.  “Now hurry up and finish with that diaper.  Now I have to explain to everyone why you’re not going to be there this morning.  Although, it won’t surprise me a bit if some of them want to stop by here after break… just to say hello.”

     Was she teasing?  Chad couldn’t be sure.  It didn’t sound like it, but then it sounded all too much like she wasn’t teasing.  He simply wasn’t sure though.  He hurried to fasten the tapes on his diaper so as not to anger Robin and make her do something he really wouldn’t like.

     Robin dropped his skirts.  “After you get rid of that soggy diaper, you can finish your bottle.”  She reached into his diaper bag and pulled out one of the bottles of formula she had made earlier.  “And then, since you won’t be getting a cup of coffee at break, you can drink this one too.”  She set the bottle on her desk next to the other one.

     Chad noticed that the new bottle was white instead of containing the usual murky tea mixture.  “What’s that?” he asked, forgetting to curtsey.

      “Infant formula of course.”  What did you expect?”

     Chad just looked at her with a shocked look of astonishment on his face.

      “Now I have to go and figure out what to say to the ladies about why you’re not there this morning,” she told him as she headed out of her cubicle.  She stopped at the entrance and turned back toward him.  “Is there anyone you’d like me to bring back with me?” she teased with a mischievous smile.

     Chad just looked at her with a horrified expression on his face as Robin disappeared.  She wouldn’t really bring anyone back with her, would she?  He simply didn’t know.  On the one hand she might be just teasing.  But on the other hand, he had seen her do all too many things to him that he simply couldn’t believe she would do… and many of those things had been right there in the break room – in front of everybody else!  He shuddered as he remembered accidently curtseying to Derek after bringing him his coffee. 

     He grabbed the baby bottle, now filled with infant formula, and stuck it in his mouth as he unconsciously sank down into his usual spot on her cubicle floor to drink it.  He drank, momentarily registering the strange new taste of the formula, but his mind was too occupied with worrying about all the many ways he could get caught throughout the day wearing the silly sissy dress he had on.  How was he going to get through the day?  It seemed impossible! 

     And would Robin really force him to go to break like this later?  He hoped not, but only time would tell.

     Robin poured her coffee and glanced momentarily at the doughnuts before turning toward the table where most of her friends already were.

      “Where’s Sissy?” someone asked as she sat down. 

      “Working,” she replied simply. 

      “So he’s not coming at all?”

      “Not this morning,” Robin replied.

     The woman who she had talked with in the ladies room asked, “Did you ask him?  You told me earlier that he would be busy, but he won’t come even for a few minutes?”

      “Yeah, I did ask, but you know how men are, sometimes work is more important to them than people… and we all know that underneath his makeup and dresses that he’s still just a man.”  She saw the disappointment and realization register on all their faces, but in her mind she was thinking just how little of a man he was.  He wasn’t a man at all.  Not really.  He was… a sissy.  A stupid sissy.  Not a man. 

     After a moment of disappointment, the same woman replied, “But you said he was wearing something new today… and pretty.  I was looking forward to seeing it.”

     Robin shrugged.  “I tried to convince him, but in a way he’s right, his work does have to come first, especially since he’s going to be gone all next week.”  She was relieved to see a few heads nod in agreement.

     One of the other women however had a different suggestion.  “Maybe you should point out to him what you just said about work being more important to men than women.  Point out that since he’s trying to be a woman, that he needs to change his attitude just a bit about it.  Work may be important, but people are important too!”

     There was a lot of agreement around the table.  But Robin only nodded her agreement with them. 

      “I’m sure that if you point that out,” another woman added confidently, “that he won’t dare miss break later this afternoon.  And I’d like to see his new outfit too.  Especially if it’s something pretty.”

     Robin nearly spit the sip of coffee she had just taken back into the cup. 

      “I’ll talk to him,” she promised.  But the truth was, in what he was wearing, she still didn’t think it would be a good idea to bring him anywhere where someone might see him.  As much fun as it would be.