Immediately after graduation, Rose finally took a leap of faith and began social transition into a woman. She had been on hormones since her 18th birthday (roughly 6 months before graduation) and she started coming out to her close friends. In a misty-eyed end of the year party, a week after officially graduating, Rose announced to all her thespian friends that her name was Rose, she uses she/her pronouns and had been in the closet for 17 months.
Being a theatre program in northern california, the entire guest list was enamored, piling praise and congratulations onto her brave friend. Vivian, of course, already knew.
Tom Wingfield was not an easy role for Rose to play. It was the first and only role she would play as a boy, knowing she is truly a girl. It became exceptionally challenging, but it was too strong of a role to pass up. Very soon, she shared her secret with Vivian who was a godsend to Rose. They could always talk, Rose always vented. And being of similar build, Rose would borrow her friends clothes a lot during her early stages. The two were simply inseparable by the time Rose’s transformation was complete.
It was their junior year of college; both girls had chosen the most convenient 4 year university, 2 hours north of their hometown. They would still call themselves best friends, but the truth is they’ve parted quite a bit since school began. They no longer lived together by year 3, and with separate majors it became difficult to stay connected. They ended up growing in different directions, thus the two found themselves as strangers rather than friends. They agreed winter break would be different.
Staying home for the holidays (excluding a long christmas eve drive home) left the girls with some free time and space! Both girls only had 1 roommate, both roommates decided to head home for the entirety of winter break. Committed to spending more time together, they both had free access to each other’s apartments. It was set up to be a very nice, intimate winter. Just two old best friends.
Vivian arrived at Rose’s apartment shortly after 3Pm. The girls had planned for the first day they would just stay in, chat, catch up; order a pizza and watch a movie. Maybe adding some wine or pot into the mix later on. And Vivian was planning on staying the night, in Rose’s absent roommate’s room.
“Oh my gosh! Hi gorgeous!” Rose exclaimed, welcoming her old friend in warmly. Rose was a serenely beautiful woman. She wore long, vintage dresses or skirts topped with sweaters or leather jackets. The outfit she chose for this reunion was a long green dress dotted with flowers and birds. Her body was hugged by a long gray cardigan that nearly reached her socked feet. She had long, black hair that stretched down below her butt, always accessorized with ribbons, bows, or a variety of headbands that she never seemed to run out of (a black band with a small green bow on it was chosen today). Her face was round and smooth, lightly brushed with perfectly matching contours, hi-lights and blush. She wore finely applied eye liner that more often than not turned into a sleek, pointed wing. This was a woman who know how to take care of herself, and she rarely failed at the intricate rules of dress and fashion, for the style that she wanted that is.
“You look so good! I’ve seriously missed you so much!” Her friend in the doorway exclaimed. Vivian, conversely, was a simple, somewhat basic white girl. She liked to wear jeans, tennis shoes, hoodies; and occasionally a cute sundress if the mood inclines her. It did not incline her today, however. She arrived wearing a pair of blue jeans, a pink hoodie, and white adidas sneakers. That didn’t make Vivian any less beautiful, however. She truly was a gorgeous girl with shorter, dirty blonde hair that hung right above her shoulders. She had incredibly soft features other than her nose and jawline which gave her an impressively sharp silhouette. Her eyes were large and closer to a foggy gray color, her brows were exceedingly feminine by nature, but unkempt and rarely maintained. She had a wide, bright smile that anyone who witnessed it would instantaneously melt at the sight. Rose melted every time.
The long time friends embraced each other for a long moment. Their feelings of fondness for each other was overwhelming, missing one another desperately over the past few months. They broke apart and Rose invited her guest into her home.
“It’s looking nice! You guys really got something going here!” Vivian remarked, seeing this apartment fully furnished for the very first time. It was small; the living room was simple with a tv against the front wall and a sofa with its back to a hallway leading to two bedrooms. The kitchen was on the left, simple white fridge, gray oven, and white painted wooden countertops made for a simple, functional kitchen.
The walls were decorated with all sorts of random art. There was a poster for In The Mood For Love on the left side wall in the living room. There were abstract paintings of bodies and flowers near the ceiling in the kitchen. And a large violet and maroon tapestry of intricate, oblong patterns hanging above the tv stand. A cute wooden tea table with floral pattern sat between the brown fluffy couch and the tv; covered with a stack of magazines, some remote controls, and a red glass with a mysterious drink and straw poking out. It was cozy, Vivian thought to herself. It should be nice to hang out here for the night, just them two.
“Thank you!” Rose replied, “please make yourself at home! Thirsty? We got water or I got started a little early. Bam!” She had walked around behind the counter and presented a bottle of cheap, but smooth vodka and a cartoon of mixed berry fruit punch.
“Ya know what? One of each sounds great!” Vivian said, eager to start the drinking. It was only past 3, but they were in college! On winter break no less! Rose began pouring the drinks and the girls began chatting. A flurried exchange of ‘how are you?’s ‘how’s school?’ the usual stuff two friends would get out of the way. Both girls were doing well it seemed!
Rose was a theatre major working part time as a hostess in a nearby diner; and Vivian was on her way to becoming a nurse! And she dedicated her full time to studies, being funded by her parents back home.
Vivian’s drinks were made and the two headed over to the couch, where more intimate conversation between close friends developed.
“This drink is really yummy, Rose!” Vivian said as she was sipping town her fruity beverage.
“Oh my gosh I know!” Her friend replied, “Ok confession time. I was with a boy who made me a drink using that same kind of juice. I didn’t end up sleeping with him, but I DID steal the recipe.”
The pair laughed together. Boys were a different species to them. Sex machines with no off switch that could make their lives a living hell.
“Why didn’t you sleep with him?” Vivian asked friendly.
“Just not the right vibe, ya know? He could be kind of condescending on really small stupid stuff.”
“Oh I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be! I’ve still been doing pretty well for myself.”
“Oh yea??”
Rose began elaborating to her friend about all her recent escapades in conquests of the past several months, “I hooked up with this football player like the first week of school. He was cute and really buff! Kinda dumb, but really sweet and considerate. He did a lot of stuff most straight guys are afraid of.”
“Good for you!” Vivian laughed in response.
“Then there was also this other boy I met in biology. Oh my god, Vivian, let me tell you.” She took a long sip of her drink, set it on the table and continued. “So this dude was like right wing, Ben Shapiro conservative. He kept making snide comments here and there about ‘biology’ and ‘chromosomes’ to me like I wouldn’t be able to understand it. Well one day, we get paired up for a project! We’re supposed to do a presentation on cellular mitosis, it’s a whole boring thing, but he came over here to work on it!” She stops to take another sip, all the while Vivian listens with full attention.
“So he comes over, we work on it for a while. And at one point he does it again, he says some shit like ‘when cells reproduce they can reproduce either as males or females, they can’t really just change however they want.’ And at this point, I’m like fuck this guy, right? What’s he really gonna do? So I tell him, that just because a cell has a Y chromosome, does not automatically make it ‘male’. There’s intersex people with breasts and vaginas and Y chromosomes. There are MEN with penises and two X chromosomes. And what is ‘male’ and ‘female’ can not be tracked and determined simply by cells. It’s a whole range of social and cultural standards and practices.”
“Mhm, totally.” Vivian added to show shes attentive.
“And you know what he says to me? ‘Facts don’t care about your feelings.'” She looks dumbfounded at her giggling friend. “And that completely set me off! So – I’m wearing a cardigan at the time, not this one but a shorter and thicker one – I pull it open and I say ‘THESE don’t care about your feelings!”
“Oh my god! You flashed him?” Vivian exclaimed.
“No! I didn’t flash him! But with my cardigan out of the way my t-shirt was very flattering!” The two begin laughing hysterically.
“What did he say?”
“He’s mumbling and he just goes ‘th-th-those are nice!’ And I tell him they’re real! Naturally grown with estrogen like any cis girl! And he starts doubting me! He says they must be implants or I’m just stuffing my bra or whatever it is. So I say to him, well go ahead and touch them.”