A Mixed-Up Valentine's Day

Carl was sitting alone in his apartment on Valentine's Day. While he had a very devoted girlfriend, Felicia, she was currently on a business trip abroad, and not due back until February 15th, which ended up being a good thing, because Carl had just come down with a nasty case of laryngitis from cheering on his favorite sport's team at the local pub the night before. Thankfully it's not the contagious type, but it did leave Carl with some throat pain, and made him unable to speak above more than a quiet hoarse whisper, and even then, he had been urged by friends and internet advice to not even attempt that unless absolutely necessary to ensure it passed as soon as possible. So even if Felicia had been around to spend the day with, they wouldn't be able to properly celebrate anyway.

Having taken the day off of work, Carl was tidying up the apartment in his pajamas, and decorating for Felicia's return, so that they could do their makeup Valentine's Day the following day. He was just about to wrap her gift, which was as much for him as it was for her, a red bra and panty set, to go with Felicia's favorite red cocktail dress. He wasn't expecting visitors, which is why it was so surprising to hear the doorbell ring.

Grabbing a pen and paper, Carl headed for the door and opened it, only to be pushed backwards into the apartment by two women and a man, each pushing a small cart into the apartment.

"Sorry we're late, we got lost trying to find the building. Apartment 3C, right?" one of the women, wearing vintage eyeglasses asked, before noticing Carl's appearance. "Are you the only one living here?"

Carl nodded, but his eyes darted to her two assistants, who were quickly taking their carts apart and setting things up in the middle of his living room.

"All right, then. I'm Shirley, and this is Alejandro and Julia," the woman with glasses pointed out the other two. "And we've got you on our list for the Sweetheart Valentine's Day Makeover!"

Carl started to furiously write on the pad, trying to concisely tell them that they have the wrong address, but Shirley quickly grabbed it out of his hands and tossed it onto the counter, before Alejandro and Julia eased Carl down into a salon chair that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, before going back to setting up.

"Your lover signed you up for the full works, so just look over this contract and tell me if everything looks right, okay dear?" Shirley held out a stack of papers to Carl.

Carl scanned the paper, not spotting either his nor Felicia's name on it, and looked up at Shirley.

"Something wrong?" Shirley asked.

Carl pointed to his throat and opened his mouth, hoarsely trying to whisper "Laryngitis, can't talk".

"My stars! You have laryngitis! Don't you worry, Alejandro, go see if there's any painkillers in the medicine cabinet." Shirley ordered.

Carl started to speak, but Shirley put a finger to his lips.

"Don't speak! You could lose your voice forever!" Shirley sternly ordered.

Carl tried to stand to grab his pad, but Alejandro returned and handed Carl a pill with a glass of water. Feeling a slight discomfort, Carl took the pill and swallowed it down.

"Right, Julia, set up the basin and I'll grab the nail kit..." Shirley stated as Carl once again stood up. "It's all right, we know you're a little nervous, with this being a surprise, but don't worry, Carly, we know what we're doing."

Carl tried to walk forward, but suddenly felt woozy, sitting back in the chair.

"Who's Carly? What was that pill I took? Was I roofied?" Carl thought as his eyelids started to drift closed. "No, must fight the..."

"Carly? Carly, dear?" Shirley asked as she shook Carl's arm, but he remained motionless apart from breathing.

"She's probably napping. She seemed tense, probably nervous about the makeover, so I found a Tylenol PM for her." Alejandro remarked.

Shirley shrugged and started to fill the basin with water.

"Let's get to work." Shirley smiled.

While Carl napped, Shirley and her team worked tirelessly. Carl's hair, which he kept long because Felicia liked the length, was lowered into the basin and shampooed with warm water and a fruity, flowery shampoo, while his face was covered with a depilatory cream to handle his stubble.

"Isn't this all a bit weird? I know that gender is fluid, but I was expecting a girl, not a guy." Julia said.

"We're not here to judge, just to make people look gorgeous." Shirley admonished.

Speaking of depilatory, Julia and Alejandro had removed Carl's pajama pants and unbuttoned his flannel, leaving Carl sleeping in just his skivvies, while depilatory cream was spread over his chest, armpits, stomach, groin and legs.

"I know this was a surprise, but you'd think she'd have shaved for tonight." Alejandro remarked.

After enough time had passed, the cream was wiped off, and so was all of Carl's arm hair. While Shirley shampooed Carl's hair, Julia and Alejandro worked on Carl's nails, shaping and buffing them, before matching them to a set of acrylic nails that were glued over Carl's own, being painted a bright shade of red. Additionally, his toenails were also shaped and buffed, before being painted the very same red color.

"This is definitely her shade." Julia said.

Shirley worked with a curling iron on Carl's hair, while his face was attacked by several cosmetics by Julia and Alejandro.

"Jules, he said that her outfit was in the bedroom, go get it ready so we can get her into it when she wakes up." Shirley said.

"Got it, boss." Julia rushed towards the bedroom and started looking around, spotting the box with lingerie, and upon further search, seeing Felicia's red dress peeking out of the closet, right above a set of matching open-toed heels. "Perfect."

Julia gathered everything as Alejandro worked on Carl's face, cleaning up his eyebrows.

Meanwhile, Carl was enjoying himself. Sitting in bed with Felicia next to him, romantic music playing, and Felicia was feeding him strawberries. Though it was rather strange how she kept rubbing them on his lips repeatedly before letting him eat them. And eyes... and cheeks. Felicia put her arms around him and kissed him.

"Happy Valentine's Day, babe." Felicia said.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Carl said.

"Wake up, dear." Felicia said.

"Huh?" Carl asked.

"Wake up..." a voice, not Felicia's, said.

Carl suddenly woke up, finding himself no longer in Felicia's arms, but in the salon chair. His memories started to come back, though he was still slightly woozy from the pill.

"Wha..." Carl muttered.

"It's okay, dear. We've got you." Shirley said as she helped Carl stand up.

Carl was helpless as he felt his underpants being pulled down and some quick, uncomfortable work being done near his groin, before a pair of soft, red panties were slid up his legs.

"This is wrong..." Carl slurred.

"Don't worry, we do work with people of all genders and identities, so we're no stranger to this." Julia smiled as she helped strap the push-up bra around Carl's chest. "Such a great bra."

Carl tried to protest again, but suddenly became aware of strange weight on his head and face. He started moving towards the bedroom to find a mirror, needing to be escorted by Shirley and Alejandro.

"Alley, oop!" Julia said as she helped lift Carl's legs and pulled the cocktail dress up to his waist, letting the skirt fall over his hairless knees, which he became aware of when he felt the breeze on them.

"Wait..." Carl looked down. This wasn't his body. "This is Felicia's dress..."

"Almost..." Alejandro pulled the zipper of the dress up to the top, slightly choking Carl and causing him to stumble back onto the bed.

Carl's vision was suddenly blocked by curly hair falling into his face. He didn't have curly hair... or did he?

"One last touch." Shirley chirped as she helped Julia squeeze Carl's feet into Felicia's heels. It was a tight squeeze, but they managed it all right.

"And let's see the final product!" Julia helped Carl up, as he stared at his hands and their new extended (and polished) nails.

"This can't be happening..." Carl muttered.

"And voila!" Shirley exclaimed. "Your boyfriend should be home any minute, and I'm sure he's going to want to ravish you!"

What Carl saw in the mirror was... well, it certainly wasn't what he'd expected to see. He'd been transformed from a normal guy into a sexy woman! He never felt he looked at all feminine, but his legs in the dress, the hair, his made-up face, he looked more like the sister he never had than himself! He stepped closer to the mirror and touched it, his nails clinking on the glass as he tried to touch his own reflection. His brown hair was shiny and curly in the same way that he'd find sexy on Felicia, the alluring eyes with kiss-me lips, even the dress was slightly filled out with his pecs. He looked the part, but the question was... why, and who did this to him?

"Boyfriend?" Carl asked. "I think you guys made a..."

Carl was cut off by the ringing of a phone, Shirley's phone. She picked it up.

"Hello?" she asked. What do you mean? We're here, we just finished, it was an undertaking, but she's finished!"

Julia and Alejandro looked at Shirley with concern, while Carl was too busy sputtering to even know what to say, or yell, laryngitis be damned.

"But the note said 3C... 8C... I apologize, sir. We'll be up there as soon as we can." Shirley said. "We are so sorry. That's never happened before."

"What happened?" Alejandro asked.

"Wrong apartment. We were supposed to be five floors up." Shirley said. "We've gotta go, the boyfriend is pissed!"

Before Carl could even react, they rushed out of the bedroom and started to gather their things. By the time Carl made it back to the living room, stumbling in the unfamiliar heels, they were already gone, all evidence of their work vanished with them, except for Carl.

"I... What..." Carl sighed and tested trying to pull off one of the nails. No such luck.

And it was about to get worse. Carl heard the sound of a key in the lock of the front door, and before he could dart off or hide, the door opened, and Felicia came in, wheeling her suitcase.

"Carl! I'm home! I caught an earlier flight so we could spend Valentine's Day together and..." Felicia slowly looked up and caught sight of the feminized Carl teetering in his, or rather Felicia's heels with a deer-in-the-headlights expression.

Between jet lag, the craziness of getting through the airport and general exhaustion, Felicia had no idea how to respond to the sight before her.

"What the hell is going on? Felicia asked.

"Happy Valentine's Day?" Carl shrugged. "It's a long story."

"It looks like it probably is. Better start telling it then... Carly." Felicia laughed.

A Mixed-Up Valentine's Date:

Felicia checked her phone's clock as the taxi pulled over outside her apartment building.

"Just enough time..." she smiled. "I hope Carl is feeling better..."

Felicia grabbed the door handle and opened it, grabbing her purse off the seat.

"Don't forget your luggage in the trunk!" her Uber driver remarked as Felicia stepped out and he tapped a button, opening the trunk.

"Thank you." Felicia pulled her suitcase out and shut the trunk of the car.

The driver pulled away and Felicia quickly went into her app to tip the driver, before starting to wheel her suitcase towards the door. As she approached, a group of three people, a man and two women pushing carts rushed out, having hushed conversations with each other as they passed Felicia.

"The boss is gonna kill us." one of the women, wearing vintage eyeglasses whispered.

"Shouldn't we go back to you know who?" the other woman asked.

"You heard the boss, she wants us back at base, ASAP. Apparently this was a big client." the man said. "We're getting canned for sure."

"I told you it seemed weird!" the other woman snapped.

Felicia didn't register any of their conversation as she sped past them. She stopped at the intercom, wondering if she should buzz up to let Carl know she was home.

"Nah, I wanna surprise him." Felicia grinned as she put her key into the lock and let herself into the lobby.

After heading up the elevator, Felicia came to Apartment 3C, wondering if Carl would have even decorated. She opened the door and dragged her suitcase inside.

"Carl! I'm home! I caught an earlier flight so we could spend Valentine's Day together and..." Felicia slowly looked up and caught sight of another woman standing in the living room.

Any other woman would immediately go into a rage, to come home on Valentine's Day to find another woman in her home. There would be thoughts of betrayal, of anger and sadness. But Felicia knew two things, the first being that Carl would never cheat on her. The second thing, was that Felicia knew she recognized the girl's deer-in-the-headlights expression.

It wasn't another woman. It wasn't even a woman, although it would have been rather convincing to anyone who didn't know Carl as intimately as she did. It was Carl. Wearing her favorite cocktail dress and the matching heels. Felicia had a lot of questions. Why was Carl wearing her clothes? Was he a crossdresser? Did he do his own makeup? The questions swirled in her head during the split-second that she entered the apartment.

Between jet lag, the craziness of getting through the airport and general exhaustion, Felicia had no idea how to respond to the sight before her. So, she simply shut the door and turned to her boyfriend.

"What the hell is going on? Felicia asked.

"Happy Valentine's Day?" Carl shrugged. "It's a long story."

"It looks like it probably is. Better start telling it then... Carly." Felicia laughed.

A few minutes later, as Felicia sat on the couch, Carl had explained the entire situation, how insistent the stylists had been, how the laryngitis, which seemed to have cleared up, had lessened, and how he'd been unintentionally drugged, leading to his metamorphosis into the beauty Felicia saw in front of her.

"I just can't believe it..." Felicia muttered.

"I know..." Carl sighed, as he tried to find a comfortable sitting position. "I can't believe they mistook me for their client!"

"No, they sound like morons. I believe that. What I can't believe is that you look better in that dress than I ever have!" Felicia exclaimed.

"That is not true." Carl insisted.

"Trust me, babe. You've totally got the legs to pull that off." Felicia giggled as she put her hand onto Carl's thigh.

"That's all I want, to be able to pull all of this off me so that I can look normal again. I'll probably have to shave my head to fix the hair, I have no idea what to do about the eyebrows..." Carl started.

Felicia put her hand onto Carl's shoulder.

"Let's not be too hasty. I mean, let's face it, you're gonna be looking like that until at least tomorrow."

"What? Why?"

"It's the evening of Valentine's Day, what salon is still going to be open or taking clients?"

"Good point... It's not like we were going out anyway." Carl scowled.

"Actually..." Felicia started.

"What did you do?" Carl asked.

"Well, in the Uber, I was hoping you'd be feeling better, so I made reservations for eight tonight at Minuit." Felicia replied.

Minuit was a trendy new French restaurant in town, one that Felicia had wanted to try for ages.

"No way! I can't go out like this!" Carl insisted.

"Why not? I mean, if I didn't know you, I'd never know you weren't a gorgeous leggy brunette." Felicia said as Carl blushed at the statement. "Plus, it's sorta sexy, you know? Going out in disguise."

"Maybe for you, you're not the one that's gonna be all exposed." Carl said, pointing to himself. "Plus, what am I going to do when I order? I'll give it away with my voice!"

"We'll figure it out. Besides, I'm the one that's usually exposed like that. It'll be a fun change of pace." Felicia giggled.

"No way. I won't do it." Carl said, crossing his arms.

"Come on!" Felicia pouted.

"I refuse." Carl stamped his foot. "And that's final!"

A half hour later, it was Carl's turn to pout as Felicia put the finishing touches on her makeup after changing from her casual blouse and capris, into a black cocktail dress, complete with matching heels. She checked her earrings in the mirror, before grabbing two clutch purses from the closet, one black and one red, and handed one to Carl.

"I'm not carrying that." Carl stated.

"Well, I don't have room for your stuff in mine, and you'll need your phone, wallet and keys." Felicia said.

Carl rolled his eyes and stuffed the purse with his wallet, phone and keys. Felicia walked over and dropped a tube of lipstick and a compact inside.

"Tried my best to match the shades." Felicia said. "You know, in case you need to touch it up."

"And why would I need to do that?" Carl asked.

"In case I do this." Felicia put her arms around Carl and pulled him into a kiss.

After she pulled away, Carl smiled.

"Then I hope I have to touch it up a whole lot." Carl said.

"Play your cards right, then." Felicia said. "Let's go."

Carl spent the car ride to the restaurant nervous, and tried his hardest to convince Felicia to turn around, but she was insistent that they not let the mistaken makeover put a damper on her Valentine's Day plans. As they entered the restaurant, Carl, who had gotten more acclimated to the heels, trailed behind Felicia, mortified that they'd run into a friend or work colleague that would see through the disguise. Felicia approached the hostess station.

"Hi, reservation for two under Felicia Miller?" Felicia asked.

The maitre d' checked his computer and smiled at Felicia.

"Right here. It'll just be a few minutes, feel free to wait at the bar." he motioned towards the bar.

Felicia and Carl walked over to the bar. Carl fidgeted uncomfortably, causing Felicia to lightly tap his arm.

"What's wrong, babe?" Felicia asked.

"This was a bad idea." Carl said.

"Just relax, all right? Everything's gonna be..." Felicia started, only to get interrupted by buzzing coming from her purse. She pulled out her phone. "Hello?"

"Who is it?" Carl asked.

"Work." Felicia whispered back after covering the phone with her hand. "I have to take this. Wait here."

Felicia stepped away, leaving Carl to idly stand near the bar, alone. He glanced at the drinks menu sitting on one of the stools, not noticing the figure approaching him.

"Excuse me?" a man's voice asked.

Carl turned around to see a nervous man in a suit, holding a single rose.

"Hi." the man said.

"Hi." Carl responded.

"I'm Bennett." the man held out the rose. "This is for you."

Carl hesitated, but Bennett shook the rose, so Carl hesitantly took it.

"Wow... You're even more beautiful than your pictures." Bennett said. "I'm really glad you showed up, I know it's weird doing a date like this for the first one, but it's Valentine's Day, so it made sense to make it nice."

Carl had no idea how to react to a situation like this. He'd never had to endure it before, so the solution wasn't obvious. Does he just stop the guy, does he let him finish and let him down gently? Carl opened and shut his mouth several times during Bennett's speech, trying to figure out the proper time to interject, when he spotted a red figure in the corner of his eye. Mustering up all of his courage, Carl held the rose out to Bennett.

"I... I don't understand." Bennett's face fell.

"Listen, you seem like a nice guy, and I'm sure that your speech will be a hit, but I'm here with someone else. I think your date is back there." Carl pointed towards the entrance, where a woman in a similar dress had just walked in."

"Oh..." Bennett sighed. "I uh... she just told me she'd be wearing a red dress."

"Good luck." Carl giggled. "Now get away before we both get in trouble with our dates."

Bennett walked towards his date, while Carl tried to hold back laughter. He was unsuccessfully hiding a snicker when Felicia walked back over to him.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"I'll tell you at the table." Carl replied, giggling like a schoolgirl.

As if on command, the maitre d' returned, holding two menus.

"If you ladies will come with me." he said.

Carl and Felicia followed the maitre d' to their table for two and sat down, with the waiters pulling out both of their chairs. Felicia gracefully thanked them, as Carl simply blushed and made a quick thanks. As they started to look over the menus, the waiter approached.

"I'm Louis, and I'll be your waiter tonight. Can I start you off with drinks?" the waiter asked.

The meal went well, as the two toasted to their love with wine, Carl asked Felicia about her trip, and Carl listened as Felicia regaled him with stories of how her co-worker nearly offended a potential client, and how bored she was during the conference.

"It was such a waste of time. I'm gonna be so swamped back at the office on Monday." Felicia whined.

"Don't worry," Carl said, in between bites of food. "I'm sure you'll manage. This is really good."

"Aren't you glad we came out, now?" Felicia raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, you were right, like always. Just wish I didn't have to cross my legs." Carl shifted in his seat.

"You don't have to, but I don't think you'd want to be flashing your panties, either." Felicia joked.

"You got that right." Carl started to stand up, and steadied himself, before pushing his chair in and picking up the purse. "I'm gonna go freshen up. You want to come?"

"I'm good. Just make sure you use the right door." Felicia warned.

"I will." Carl laughed as he walked to the bathroom.

He considered for a moment, just going into the men's room, just to see what would happen, but decided against rocking the boat, and entered the woman's bathroom and found an open stall. Going to the bathroom wasn't that hard once he figured out what to do, what was hard, was getting himself re-tucked.

After re-adjusting himself, Carl went to wash his hands, and as he did, Bennett's date, the lady in red, walked out of the other stall. Carl dried his hands and looked at himself in the mirror. The only difference between his reflection back at the apartment was that his lipstick was starting to fade somewhat.

"Why not?" Carl thought to himself and started to dig through the purse for the tube of lipstick.

He unscrewed the cap and started to apply the lipstick to his lips, pursing them the way that he'd seen Felicia do countless times. As he inspected his handiwork in the mirror, he was startled out of his reverie.

"I love your dress." the woman said.

Carl turned to see Bennett's date standing at the mirror, checking her face. He noticed that, while from afar, he could see a resemblance, up close, she was very strikingly different than how he looked. Her brunette hair had highlights, and their faces weren't similar in the slightest, apart from superficial similarities in the makeup.

"Thank you." Carl replied, and realizing what women typically did in this situation. "Your's is gorgeous."

"Aw, thanks." the woman replied, before extending her hand. "I'm Sabrina."

"Carly." Carl extended his hand and shook Sabrina's.

"I noticed you talking to Bennett when I walked in... do you know him?" Sabrina asked.

Carl froze. Did Sabrina think that Bennett was hitting on him? Or that... god forbid, he had been hitting on Bennett? He stuttered as he tried to figure out what to say.

"Oh, no... I'd never met him before. I was waiting for my girlfriend by the bar, and he came up to me, cause he thought that I was you, which isn't that hard, given our similar taste in fashion tonight." Carl said. "But I set him straight."

Sabrina's eyes narrowed and she stared Carl deep in his eyes. Carl's heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest.

"Okay!" Sabrina cheerfully replied with a smile. "We'd been talking for weeks on a dating app and we'd never actually seen each other in person, so I get the confusion!"

"Oh, thank god." Carl let out a huge sigh of relief. "I thought you... Oh my god..."

"Don't worry about it, I was just having a little fun. We'd better get back to our dates, wouldn't you say, Carly?" Sabrina said.

"Good idea." Carl replied, putting the lipstick away and closing the purse.

Carl and Sabrina left the bathroom and bid each other goodbyes as they parted ways, and each returned to their tables.

"What took so long?" Felicia asked. "I was about to send a search party."

"You know how it is in the ladies' room, long line." Carl replied.

"A likely story." Felicia joked. "Ready for dessert?"

Once they finished and paid the check, the couple returned home. Carl let out a sigh of relief as Felicia unzipped him from the dress and helped him out of the oppressive heels.

"I have to admit," Felicia said, unhooking Carl's bra and looking it over. "I don't usually get to see how a gift looks before I get to wear it. It's kinda nice."

"Well, don't expect it to happen again. I'm never answering the door when I'm not expecting anyone ever again." Carl said.

"I don't blame you." Felicia handed Carl a packet of makeup wipes.

"Thanks." Carl started wiping down his face. "Do you think you can find a salon that can take care of the hair and do you think my eyebrows can be fixed?"

"Actually..." Felicia started.

"Oh god, what now?" Carl asked.

"Kidding." Felicia smiled. "I'll call the place I usually go to in the morning."

"Not funny!" Carl exclaimed.

"Although I wouldn't mind seeing Carly again when this is all over." Felicia mused.

"Good luck with that, because I never want to see her again after tomorrow." Carl said, as he pulled out a pair of his pajamas from the dresser.

"You sure you wouldn't rather wear this?" Felicia held out a red chemise.

"I'm good." Carl said.

"I mean, Carly doesn't technically have to go anywhere until tomorrow, if you're still gonna have the hair and the nails until then..." Felicia started.

Carl looked down at his pajamas in his manicured hands, and back to Felicia, who was pouting and batting her eyelashes. After all, what would eight more hours hurt? He reopened the dresser and tossed his pajamas into it.

Felicia tossed the chemise to Carl and clapped her hands as he slipped it over his head.

"Happy?" Carl asked.

"Immensely." Felicia replied as she laid down on the bed. "Now, let's finish Valentine's Day the right way, Carly."

"I like the way you think." Carl said, following her. "But to be clear, this is the last time. Once tomorrow comes, Carly is gone forever."

"If you say so..." Felicia said. "But never say never..."

The End?