Published: May 26th 2025, 2:33:26 am
Taking off the frilly dress was a relief, though Sam was just as hesitant as before to step out of the bathroom once he was back in his regular clothes. As soon as he did, he was going to have to deal with more ‘Samantha’ references. Everything downstairs had spun out so quickly. Somehow, despite his gender, he was going to be the flower girl at Fiona’s wedding.
Also, a ‘girl’ in general. The make-over Sophie had given him was shockingly convincing. Sam had been the last to see it, and was absolutely stunned at the youthful, feminine version of himself in the mirror. Even after he was back in his plain shorts and t-shirt, the combination of make-up and bobby pins made him look rather girl-ish from the neck up. His bratty step-sister had insisted that he not touch his hair or face while changing and, while he wanted to rebel against her instructions, he knew the others would back her up.
After stalling for another minute or two, he reluctantly returned to the living room. The moment Sophie saw him, she jumped at the chance to have some fun with the false gender they had decided on. “That’s what you’re wearing, Samantha? I can lend you one of my shirts if you want. It’ll be a little big on you, but that’s fine.”
“No, thanks,” Sam muttered. If he was going to suffer through wearing girls’ clothes all weekend, he’d rather delay that for as long as possible.
“Whatever,” Sophie rolled her eyes. She knew better than to push too hard for anything at this point. In Sam’s absence, their mother had lectured both sisters about how this was probably going to be a lot for ‘Samantha’ to handle, and that it would be best to downplay things whenever possible. “But fair warning–we’re going to be looking for brighter colors at the store. The tomboy look is cute, but it’s not as good of a disguise.” To Sophie, that lecture essentially meant ‘don’t get caught making fun of your brother.’ Which was how she already lived her life most of the time, save for when she was testing what she could get away with when it wasn’t just the two of them.
The good news was, no amount of downplaying in the world would save little Sammie from being treated as if he was Mia’s age and gender. Not that anyone had told Sam that he was going to be presented as a twelve year old moving forward. While he was changing, however, that was something the three of them had discussed. Since Sam was their step-brother, the majority of the wedding guests didn’t know him and, more importantly, didn’t know the details of his extended family. If anyone asked, ‘Samantha’ was his little cousin. And he was going to have to act as such if he wanted the simple cover story to hold up.
“Does it really matter?” Sam asked, “No one’s even going to see me until the wedding.”
“Umm, the rehearsal dinner tonight?” Sophie said, “Oh. I guess we should find Samantha something nice to wear for that.”
“You’ll also be joining the bridesmaids for hair and make-up tomorrow,” Michelle added, “And people are going to be coming to and from the house between things. As soon as you’re done shopping with Sophie, it will be best if you stay in girl mode until after the wedding.”
Sam had already begrudgingly accepted that much. As much as he hated the idea of pretending to be a girl, especially when he knew Sophie would never let him live it down, the alternative was letting all the bridesmaids and countless relatives know that Fiona’s brother would be stepping in to solve the flower girl problem.
Except he had no idea what ‘girl mode’ was supposed to entail. Apparently he could pass as a girl with the proper make-up and clothes, but he certainly didn’t sound like the opposite gender. And pretending to be some shy, soft-spoken tween would only get him so far when someone outside his immediate family was bound to talk to him at some point.
“Let’s go, Samantha,” Sophie smiled, “I’m driving, right? You’re too young for a learner’s permit!”
Her mother didn’t catch the subtle teasing about both the false age and false gender, or at least didn’t comment on it as she was asked about the logistics. They only had the one car for the weekend, which really wasn’t a problem when they’d be carpooling for just about every outing. “Right,” she said, “From now on, Samantha is your niece.”
Still smiling, Sophie nodded and said, “Got it. Should I just use my credit card, or . . . ” She spent another minute or two on details, playing the part of a sister who needed direction when she already had a good idea of what this shopping trip was going to look like. Her little trick worked, since Michelle eventually said to just use her best judgment. As long as Sam had a nice dress for the rehearsal dinner, the rest of it didn’t really matter beyond making him look like a believable girl.
As they walked out to the car, Sophie teased that he should really sit in the back seat. They were out of state at the moment, and the laws might be different regarding how tall someone needed to be to sit up front. Sam ignored her and got in the passenger seat. The moment the doors were closed, he snapped, “This isn’t fucking funny.”
“One, yes it is,” Sophie giggled. She put the key in the ignition of the minivan, taking a moment to find a good radio station before pulling away from the curb, “Two, watch your fucking language. I doubt Mia is allowed to curse. Three, you better be nice to me. You do realize nothing’s stopping me from taking pictures of you as ‘Samantha,’ right?”
Teasing as it was, that was a valid threat. And also one that he was pretty sure Sophie would do no matter how well he played along with all of this. Then there was the wedding photographer, who would be snapping crisp photos of him walking down the aisle in the pink dress and tossing petals. Fuck. Was it too late to back out of this? Probably not, when he so desperately wanted that new car, and would just be guilt tripped by Fiona and Michelle if he tried to get out of the solution they had found for Mia’s unexpected absence.
Sophie drove them to the nearest department store, where she hopped out of the car and cheerily said, “Let’s go, Samantha! Aren’t you so excited to go shopping with your older cousin? We’re going to find you so many cute clothes!”
His attitude was the complete opposite of hers. Scowling, dragging his feet, and still wondering if it was possible to get out of this when he knew full well the train had already left the station. As they approached the main doors, Sam’s annoyance shifted to nervousness when he saw a small group of girls about his age heading towards the entrance from the other side of the parking lot. It didn’t matter that they were in a different city and he had no connection to them; he still didn’t want to be seen wearing make-up and with a bunch of bobby pins in his hair.
Apparently the look on his face and/or his body language were obvious, as Sophie scoffed and said, “You do realize we’re here to get you girls’ clothes, right? Better get used to girls being around.”
Sam hadn’t even thought about that. It was rather obvious, now that Sophie had said it out loud. He had only ever shopped in the boys/men sections; sometimes, he needed to sneak into the former when a mens’ small was a little too big for him. However, the embarrassment of occasionally buying clothes designed for younger guys paled in comparison to following Sophie through the section she’d insist he follow her into. The whole point of going with her was so they could shop together.
He reluctantly followed her to that part of the store, knowing it was way too late to backpedal on all this. Fiona and Michelle were expecting him to take Mia’s role, Sam was going to get a nice car for his trouble, and he was going to have to deal with Sophie being a brat no matter what; at least this way, he’d avoid the embarrassment of anyone else knowing who was really wearing the flower girl dress.
“Okay!” Sophie chirped, after briefly scanning the area. She had taken them to the girls’ section, since that’s where their little cousin would be shopping for clothes. Not caring who might be within earshot, she said, “Panties first. Why don’t you look around and see if there’s anything you like?”
“What? I don’t need-” Sam hesitated. Despite being eighteen, he still had some maturing to do. Like how the word ‘panties’ felt weird to say out loud. “I already have underwear.” He had worn boxers underneath the dress earlier, and was assuming he could do the same with whatever they found here.
Not lowering her voice in the slightest to match how Sam was speaking more quietly, Sophie said, “You have boy underwear, Sammie. Girls wear girl underwear. You’re going to be a girl this weekend, aren’t you? That means panties.”
Sam flushed slightly as he glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. “Okay, okay!” he hissed. Though it was just him and Sophie for the time being, there could easily be a girl or multiple girls one aisle over who were listening in on the interaction. If they weren’t in public, he would have kept arguing about how he could run over and grab a pack of briefs. He hadn’t worn those in years, but they’d obviously be preferable to panties.
Grinning as soon as he caved, Sophie said, “Okay, then. So do you want to pick out your own panties? Or let your older sister find something appropriate for you?”
Neither. But Sam knew he was going to have to choose his own. As much as he didn’t want to give Sophie the chance to tease him about how he was wearing feminine underwear that he picked out, the alternative was worse. Sophie would absolutely find the girliest shit possible if given the opportunity; meanwhile, Sam could aim for something plain and white that was as close to briefs as he could manage.
Heading to the underwear section, praying that no one else would be shopping for that over the next couple minutes, it was surprisingly easy to find a pack of simple, white panties. The part that took longer was how he needed to look up male sizes vs. female sizes on his phone, since apparently buying underwear as a girl wasn’t as straightforward as small/medium/large.
Why hadn’t Sophie grabbed a shopping cart for them? Without anywhere to put the panties, Sam had no choice but to carry them around as he looked for his step-sister. She had made herself busy looking for shirts, none of which were as neutral as the underwear he had picked out. “There you are!” she smiled, “Find some panties that you like?”
More like some panties that were as painless as he could manage. “I can find my own clothes, too,” he said. Anything would be better than the small collection of bright pink tops that were draped over Sophie’s arm.
She just rolled her eyes. “Uh huh. Let me guess. A bunch of boring blacks and grays? You do realize the whole point of this is to fool everyone, right? So you need to dress like Samantha. My twelve year old ‘cousin.’ Yes?”
. . . Yes. No matter how many times Sam had been reminded of the plan, he still hadn’t fully embraced the reality of it.
When Sam failed to come up with any kind of retort, Sophie moved on, “Now we just need to find you some skirts. I bet Mia is wearing training bras by now, too. And those shoes are way too boy-ish.” She gestured to his dark sneakers, then thought for a moment. “How about you go find some shoes for yourself? Something pink. I can figure out the rest.”
He didn’t love the idea of giving Sophie free reign to choose everything else, not that it would matter if he tagged along while she browsed. Every time he had said something so far, she had easily dismissed his complaints. It wasn’t difficult to imagine how she might respond if he argued about how he didn’t want to wear a skirt, when she’d just use the same logic about how that would make him seem more like a girl than shorts.
Deciding not to fight it, when splitting up would be the quickest way they’d be done with the shopping trip, Sam went to find a pair of shoes that were more girly than what he was currently wearing. It made sense that Sophie put him in charge of this, as she wouldn’t be able to guess his foot size as easily as she was doing for everything else. As for ‘something pink,’ he had plenty of options. The department store very much leaned into the stereotypical pink/purple colors for girls, and it didn’t take long before Sam found something acceptable.
Avoiding the dark pinks and anything else that would draw more attention than necessary, Sam found a pair that was a combination of a few lighter shades of pink. Good enough. Similar to his experience shopping for panties, it took a quick search and trying on a couple sizes before finding a pair that fit.
Just as he was putting the right ones back in the box, Sophie appeared with an armful of clothes. “All done, Samantha? I think I’ve got everything else. Shirts, skirts, training bras, and cute socks. You’re going to make such a pretty girl. Still have those panties you wanted to buy?”
Whether the bratty teen did it on purpose or not, her cheerful summary coincided with two girls walking past them. They glanced over and saw what was clearly a boy in make-up and bobby pins, and giggled to themselves at the sight of all the bright clothes in Sophie’s arms. While they wouldn’t know the context, the teasing lilt in Sophie’s voice was rather telling.
Sam blushed furiously while glaring at Sophie. Though the girls didn’t really break their stride, it was impossible to miss them whispering to each other and glancing back in amusement/curiosity until turning down the aisle they had been heading towards.
“What the fuck, Sophie?” he snapped. Standing up from where he had just been trying on shoes, panties sitting on top of the small cardboard box, he utterly failed to look intimidating thanks to why they were shopping in the first place as well as the height advantage she had.
“Language, Sammie!” Placing a hand on her hip, she explained, “You need to act your age this weekend. Remember, you’re twelve years old. So you aren’t allowed to swear. Also, you should start practicing your little girl voice. What are you going to do if someone besides us talks to you?”
He had no idea. He really hadn’t thought that far ahead, when dealing with the present was already a lot. How was he going to talk to literally anyone besides his immediate family? As the ‘flower girl,’ it wasn’t as if he’d be invisible. Michelle would be too busy to run interference for him, and Sophie couldn’t be trusted to help out like that; if anything, Sam was assuming Sophie would find a way to draw unwanted attention to him. He’d have to either act like a little girl, or be caught as a guy fulfilling the role. Regardless, that would be a win for his step-sister.
As for the swearing, that didn’t matter. Not right now, anyway. “I’ll fucking swear if I want to,” he rolled his eyes, “We don’t have to do this ‘younger cousin’ thing until later.”
“Think of it like one of your silly video games,” Sophie said, mimicking his eye roll with one of her own, “Don’t you get better when you practice and build good habits and whatever?” Of course, the same could be said about pretty much every hobby. “The sooner you get into character, the less likely you are to slip up and let everyone know that we actually have a flower boy for Fiona’s wedding.”
Sophie wasn’t wrong. That didn’t mean Sam was just going to roll over and start talking in a high pitched voice and keeping his vocabulary PG. He’d be better off waiting until they were back at the house, at which point he could insist that he would only do this for Fiona if there was a way to minimize the kinds of interactions Mia probably would have gone through.
Not pressing the issue for the time being, when Sophie knew that Sam was in too deep to back out at this point, she simply led the way towards the front of the store. Buying him a bunch of girls’ clothes was enough of a victory, anyway.
Tempted as she was to insist that he should change in the bathroom after checking out, to see if his little disguise would fool anyone on the way back to the car, she doubted it would be easy to convince him. Better to wait until he was outnumbered again, especially since the women of the family had the same ‘it’s for Fiona’s big weekend’ card they could play again and again.
Instead, she went a little more tame and made Sam carry all the bags. That’s what the boy is supposed to do, and he should ‘enjoy his gender while he still can.’
Because in less than an hour, Sam would be putting on panties and officially getting all dolled up as ‘Samantha’ for the weekend.