24

2K 55 17
                                    

By Sunday evening, after Cindy's call with Matt, she was feeling more comfortable. And she decided she was ready to come out officially to Dad and Jason.

Sammy helped Cindy with her hair a bit, and they chose a nice outfit.

Cindy looked into the wall mirror in Sammy's room.

"You look so cute Cindy," Sammy said.

And Cindy felt like she really did. Her hair was a little bit longer than when school had ended, and using things like a straightener had made it look much more feminine. She wore the denim skirt from her first date, and going simple, just chose a pink t-shirt.

"You ready?" Sammy asked.

"Yeah," Cindy smiled with sparkling eyes.

The two sisters walked upstairs together. Sammy went on ahead, and asked everyone to sit down in the family room.

Sammy came back a bit later, and motioned that Cindy could come up now.

Slowly, Cindy made that final walk up the stairs.

Just put one foot in front of the other...

Cindy walked down the hallway, and into the family room, in full view of Mom, Dad, and Jason. Jason gawked at her, and she looked down sheepishly. She had gotten close to looking this feminine before in front of them, but never quite so far.

No one said anything as Cindy and Sammy sat down on on the short leg of the couch.

"So," Dad said. "You've decided you want to be a girl."

Cindy nodded silently.

"I... realized this about a month ago," Cindy said.

"That's why you didn't want to cut your hair," Dad guessed.

"No," Cindy said.

"Why didn't you want to cut your hair then?"

"I...." Cindy sighed. "It's complicated."

She glanced over at Mom, who smiled reassuringly.

Sammy got up from the couch, and quickly went back downstairs. Cindy knew what she was grabbing.

"So you aren't going to get your chest operation?" Jason asked.

"I... I don't want to anymore," Cindy said. She looked up at Mom and Dad for confirmation. They didn't say anything.

Sammy came upstairs not too long after. The silence felt very painful though, despite being brief.

Sammy unfolded Cindy's tail, and held it out for them to see.

"A... mermaid costume?" Jason asked.

Cindy felt stung. She'd always known Jason would think it was super weird that Danny was into mermaids.

"I bought it online," Cindy said, trying to stay calm. Her secret of so many years was finally out. It felt extremely uncomfortable.

"So... you wear this?" Mom asked.

"I swim in it," Cindy explained. "With my friends. That's why I met them. They have swimmable mermaid tails too."

"So... you wear a mermaid costume," Dad said, "a bit... odd. But I don't really understand why you're telling us this."

Cindy closed her eyes for a moment, preparing for many more minutes of difficult conversation.

"For one," she said, "I feel really embarrassed about this. I've always been interested in mermaids, and because I was so scared of how all of you would react, I kept it a secret."

I'm a Mermaid, Not a MermanWhere stories live. Discover now