I bashfully blushed and pulled one of those faces. Cat told me that I really am girlie sometimes. I felt myself blush a little bit more and glanced down at myself. “It comes with the clothes.” I replied. Then I considered what Jenna had told me and relayed it to them. “Clearly I’m not that girlie.” I added.
“It doesn’t matter what people think.” Terrie said. “If they think you’re a girl, fine. If they think you’re a guy, fine… so long as they’re cool with it there’s no problem.”
“Yeah I suppose.” I replied. “Makes me nervous though… knowing that I’m not kidding everyone in this get-up.”
“I think you’re nervous coz you know how cute you look… and at least it was a girl who hit on you… imagine if it was guy!”
“Let’s not think about that.” I grimaced. We did check out the tunnel and it was pretty cool with its eerie echo and the way it curved beneath the river; like walking through the inside of a huge hula-hoop. The Cutty Sark was expensive so we didn’t go in. Instead we strolled up to the observatory but we didn’t bump into Jenna and her friends again. We strolled and sat and smoked for an hour or so before heading back to the car and the long drive home.
Cat put on some AC/DC which blasted out of the speakers as we headed toward the M25. Guns ‘n’ Roses filled our ears as we headed up the M1. Cat and Terrie sang along from the front seats. Izzy and I sat in relative silence in the back, watching the landscape whiz past.
“So how do you like your dress?” my sister eventually asked. “You didn’t seem too keen last night.”
“It’s nice.” I said, agreeing that I wasn’t keen to begin with. “It looked a lot better once I’d put it on.” I said. “It’s really comfy too.” I added.
“Yeah I can tell.” my sister smiled. “Are you gonna call Jenna?” she enthused.
“I’ll text her.” I said. “…and send her a link to my FaceBank profile.” I added. “Probably never see her again though.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well…” I shrugged. “…she lives in Warwickshire somewhere.”
“She lives in Atherstone… it’s only about twenty miles away.”
“From here or from home?”
“From home.” she said.
“Really?!” I exclaimed. My sister nodded. “Cool.” I said, wondering if there’s direct bus.
“You could cycle there in a couple of hours.” she supposed.
I suppose I could, providing Jenna did want to meet up again. I grabbed my handbag and removed my phone, found Jenna’s number in my contacts list and sent her a message: Hi Jenna… it’s me, Matty (Tilly). Was really cool talking to you today. Sorry we didn’t bump into each other at the observatory. The tunnel was really cool tho. Heading home now. If you wanna catch up on FaceBank, search for Matty Phillips, Melbourne, Derbyshire. “Should I sign off with a kiss or a smiley?” I asked my sister.
“Girls always sign off with a kiss.” she grinned.
“Yeah but she knows I’m not a girl.” I replied. Izzy reckoned on the kiss, I didn’t want to appear pushy, so signed the text with a smiley and a kiss: 🙂 x
“You may as well reapply your lippy whilst you’ve got your handbag open.” Izzy suggested.
“Has it worn off?”
“A bit.” she said. I rooted the lipstick from ‘my’ handbag and chuckled to myself. “What?” my sister enquired.
“It still feels weird thinking about ‘my lippy’ and ‘my handbag’.” I replied before removing the lid. Today’s lipstick looks a lot more pink that I imagined. I held the vanity mirror up to my face and carefully applied it and rolled my lips together. Izzy asked I preferred the pink lipstick or the darker red one I wore yesterday. “Err… I dunno.” I replied, looking at my nails which perfectly matched yesterdays lipstick. “This one suits my outfit better.” I figured, since it’s girlie rather than gothy.
“It does.” my sister said. My phone beeped. “You’ve got a message.” she grinned.
I put down the mirror and picked up my phone. One message from Jenna: Hi Tilly 😀 We’re still in London. Getting the train home later. Was great speaking to you too… she left me her FaceBank details and signed off with a kiss, but I didn’t read to much into it as that’s what girls do, apparently.
“I think you’re in there.” my sister grinned.
“Maybe.” I pessimistically replied. “She might not like me dressed as a guy.” I nervously chuckled.
“Well you can always borrow one of my dresses if you do meet up.” she grinned. I knew she was joking but as the old saying goes, there’s many a true word said in jest.
Cat switched CDs and put on some Sabbath. Before long we pulled into the service station at Northampton and headed directly to the ladies. I wasn’t half as nervous today as I was yesterday. We grabbed an overpriced coffee and returned to the car where we enjoyed a cigarette before setting off. Apart from AC/DC’s storming performance last night, I was the other conversation… or my clothes, hair and make-up were.
“Which do you prefer?” Terrie asked. “Yesterday’s rock-chick or today’s girlie-girl?”
“Oh I dunno.” I replied. “Yesterday I was dressed for a concert. Today I’m dressed for a walk in the park.” I said, thumbing the ends of my curly bouncy hair. “I don’t look like Jon Bon Jovi do I?”
“In that dress?” my sister chuckled.
“Not in the least.” Cat insisted.