The three ladies of the house were quick with their dinner efforts, with Miren restoring the kitchen space to its former spotless glory, Dr. Tachibana inspecting the pots on the cook top for more ingredients, and Chara setting out silverware.
A knock on the door interrupted them. Miren stopped cleaning the table, moist towel in hand. "Were you two expecting company?" she asked, a bit of worry on her voice. More so than being pitied, Miren also hated being a burden. She was used to being her own problem for so long.
"Don't worry about it!" Chara called out from the dining room, not answering her friend's modest question.
Miren sighed. She didn't like surprises; this day was already a bad one. With a sigh, she resumed cleaning the table. Scratch that. Today was more like a hard slap to the face. But she was recovering - she had a plan. She just didn't know who would step in her way to thwart it.
Because someone always did.
**
Chara opened the door to find her favorite young man in the world, Wallace. He pulled her into a hug.
"Hey, Chara. Â How goes it?" he asked, stepping through the door. He breathed in the scent of the home. "Dinner smells nice. Thanks for having us."
Chara's smile intensified. It was so bright that it could of burst the sun. "Thanks, sweetie," she said, placing a kiss on his lips. But as her brain slowly processed what he said over her love-struck heartbeat, her eyebrow rose. "Us?"
"Hiya, Chara," Parker interjected, emerging from the darkness of outside. "Forgot these in the car," he said, firming his grip on a bouquet of flowers. "They're for you and your mom. Thanks for inviting us over for dinner."
"Yes...uh, thank-you," Chara said in a slightly panicked fluster. She breathed in. Out. She refused to let anxiety glaze over her brown eyes. "You can...ah...put those in the dinning room. Yeah. Um, please wait there. Dinner'll be up soon."
Parker nodded, walking toward the adjacent room. Her eyes watched his form until he was out of the foyer. She turned to her boyfriend. The look of love and affection she had toward him earlier had dissolved into hot furry.
"You brought Parker?" she practically yelled. "Aren't you supposed to be the certified genius?"
"Only by Mensa's standards," Wallace merely replied, his dark brown eyes calm and steady. "And besides, I'm fifteen. How was I supposed to get here without him?"
Chara rolled her eyes, however, most of her annoyance redirected towards herself. "Right. Sorry about that," she said, her head falling slightly. "But what are we supposed to do about Miren? She doesn't even know that you're coming. Let alone your brother." She placed her head into the palm of her hand.
This could have been fun. If Penelope wasn't an evil girl who insisted on being with Parker, maybe he would have been with Miren. Maybe this could have been a nice double date. Instead, this was going to be a disaster. Of her doing. She was the inverse of Penelope, good intentions gone bad.
"I'd like to say that this isn't a big deal, but Parker could pose a real problem." He tapped his fingers against his chin. "Where is she? Bring her over."
Chara raised her shoulders, which now felt heavy with doubt. "What's that going to do?" The whole night was ruined, after all."
"Well first off, I need to give her these transfer documents," he said, waving a manila file in the air. "And secondly, if I can see her before Parker does, maybe I can determine if you've done a good job with the whole transformation. I am a guy after all," he reasoned. "If I don't think it's good, you can tell her to wait upstairs. She can lie that she has a stomachache and be completely out of the picture. Just make sure your mom doesn't mention her. In fact, she might be the one to unravel the whole thing if we're not careful."
Chara nodded. It wasn't a seamless plan, but it was more than she had. "Okay, I'll take the other way to the kitchen. Distract Parker for the time being."
They went their opposite ways. Only, when Wallace came across the dining room, there were flowers, but no Parker. He groaned, already feeling frustrated by day one of this insanity. What had he gotten himself into?
"Parker better be in the bathroom..."
**
Parker was in the kitchen.
Maybe it was because he found the scents coming from the room enticing, or maybe he was just really determined to get his flowers in the arms of a generous mother, but he was there. When he wasn't supposed to be.
"It smells great, Dr. Tachibana," he said, rubbing his very firm, but grumbling abdomen. "Rice and chicken is my favorite."
Miren was in a crouch behind the island, harmlessly putting pots away, when she froze in place. I know that voice. She closed her eyes, praying he wouldn't step further.
"Oh, Parker, thank you," Chara's mom said with a friendly smile. "How are you doing? Where's your brother?"
"Good," he said. He pointed his thumb behind him. "In the foyer. He was discussing something with Chara, I think. Did you need help?"
She shook her head, taking out some plates from the cabinets. "No, but thank you. Please make yourself comfortable with your friends. In fact, Mir-"
"Mirrors were once believed to be portals to alternate worlds!" Chara interrupted, in an overpowering yell. Her eyes met Miren's, before her mother's. "Fun fact of the day...It's a free iPhone app. You all should totally download it..." She turned to the only male in the room. Or the one who wasn't trying to be one. "Parker? Wally's in the dining room. He wanted to ask you something."
"Like what?" he asked casually. Chara tried not to widen her eyes. She wasn't expecting that.
"Um...you'll have to ask him."
"Fair enough." he said, walking out of the room with a wave. "Guess, I'll see you ladies in a bit." He turned to Chara's mom. "I brought some flowers. They're on the table in the dining room."
"Oh, how sweet of you." Dr. Tachibana turned around when the boy left the room. "Wallace and Parker are great young men, aren't they?" she said, making conversation. But Miren had already dragged her daughter to the hallway.
"What the hell?!" Miren said in a frantic whisper. "What's he doing here?"
"I'm sorry!" Chara could only respond, waving her hands in defense. "Wallace said he was coming to give you your files, and I completely forgot that he couldn't drive here himself." Her cheeks heated up, red with humiliation. "This is a lot harder than I thought it would be."
"You think?" Miren snapped, although she was mostly angered by the extreme lack of optimism in Chara's voice. She was supposed to be her supportive one. Miren already knew the harsh reality of what she was doing. She was scared. She was the one who would be humiliated if she got caught. She was the one with no other option if things had to come to that.
And now the Harisson's were over for dinner. Miren tried to exhale the tension in her lungs. But tonight wasn't the end of the world, was it? Even if Parker did find out, what was he going to do about it? Help her? It's not like he ever did.
Parker wasn't a bad person, Miren knew that. His righteousness was as evident as his attractive outer appeal. He was senior student counsel president. He volunteered at the local homeless shelter without looking at the inhabitants with pity in his eyes. He was nice to freshmen. He just didn't do anything for her. Ever.
"What are we going to do then?" Miren then said in a near desperate croak. She didn't know how she felt about Parker, despite everything. How she felt about him seeing her like this. Even if he wasn't supposed to see her.
"How about you lower your tone?" Wallace said, walking up to the girls. "I could hear you all the way from the bathroom." His eyes steadied on Miren.
"Impressive," he said, examining the cross dresser. Miren felt uncomfortable. "You actually look like a dude, Miren."
"Hello to you too, Wallace," she said through her teeth. So it was official. She was a man. Hooray?
"Yay!" Chara then cheered. "So this wasn't a wasted effort!"
"But it will be if your mom blows Miren's cover," Wallace then said. He turned to the damsel in drag. "Here's your file. From now on, you will be known as Miles Ellison."
"Miles Ellison?" Miren called out. "What kind of a name is that?"
"Coming from, Miren Eze? A decent one," Wallace replied. "You should feel happy I didn't pick a stupid one. I could have."
Miren narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms. "Yes, Wallace. Because every girl grows up just wishing to become a boy named Miles Ellison."
He shrugged. "When I altered your records on file, it was easier to give you a name that looked similar to yours, mostly by the first letters and the number it contained. The name Miles also translates to merciful, which I found fitting. As for Ellison, the whole thing made me thing of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison."
Chara patted the boy's shoulder. "See, he really is the brains of this operation. No need to worry."
Miren still looked a little bit more than worried.
Wallace then blinked at the girl. "What's wrong? You still look angry."
She heaved a sigh. "It's not that I'm not grateful for what the two of you have done, but someone could have at least told me Parker was coming."
"You seriously still have a crush on him?" Chara said.
Miren glared at her.
"Then there's no need to worry," Wallace announced, starting for the dining room. But not before taking his girlfriend's hand.
"We'll just make sure mom doesn't say anything," she assured Miren. "No big deal."
No big deal? Miren watched them walk off in their collective ease. She sighed before following.
Maybe if this doesn't kill me.