So manly

I opened my eyes and looked at my hand. It wasn't mine. I looked at the ring as well, the stone was completely dull now.

'It didn't work,' I said uselessly as Dave had already noticed that and was pacing up and down the room in frustration. Even I had my feathers ruffled by the series of incidents, but I knew that with some time, the stone would get its glow and hence its energy back. It was all a question of time.

'I didn't know it was so bad to be in my body,' I said dryly. 'Yet you seemed to like it a few days ago.' I immediately bit my tongue at the last comment as it brought back the memories of him touching me and as soon as it happened, I felt the immediate reaction in my body.

The problem was that when I got aroused as a woman, it wasn't visible, but as a man, the tell-tale sign of an erection would be harder to hide. I turned around and pretended to be very interested in the selection of films next to the television.

I felt a hand on my forearm and as I turned, I saw my face looking up at me.

'It's not your body the problem, it never was. If I wanted to become a woman, yours would be the body I would choose,' he said jokingly. Then more seriously, he added, 'I don't know why, I'm having some sort of abdominal cramping and it's getting me cranky. I know that everything will be okay, but the pain is...' He couldn't complete his sentence at that moment as he doubled up in pain. '...painful,' he finished after a few seconds.

That was weird as apart from the headache which I recognized as being drug-induced, I wasn't getting any pain. So why was he getting so much pain?

As he complained of his cramps again, a sudden thought hit me. 'No, it can't be that,' I mumbled to myself, but it looked to be a plausible reason. But, first, I had to confirm something.

'What's the date?' I asked.

'The 26th,' was the reply and everything became clear.

With some embarrassment, I looked at Dave and asked him to follow me to the bedroom. 'I have something to make you feel better,' I said and led the way out. He followed me and I could see that even he was having some adjustment to do. He usually had such long strides, but it was hard to do so with his shorter legs.

Luckily, Martha was not around as I didn't know what we would have told her. What could we tell her? Hey Martha, Dave is a girl now. I could already visualize her look of shock.

I went to my drawer where I had stored what I was looking for. I pulled it out and handed it to Dave. He looked at it in puzzlement.

'Use this in the meanwhile. We do not know how much time the stone would take to charge.'

If there was one thing I had taken from Claudia before leaving, it was a pack of sanitary pads. As Dave still looked hesitant, I explained.

'You're... no. I'm getting my period and you will need to wear the pad.'

I could see shock glaze the eyes in front of me as I made mention of menstruation. But there was nothing that could be done if it was that time of the month. I usually got some cramping for the first day of my menses and given that my calendar, on which I usually put an alarm to tell me when to expect my period, was on the phone I hadn't used since several days, it simply went out of my mind.

I then thought of how I had behaved on the previous night, hitting Estena and it all became clear. I was usually quite impulsive and aggressive on the eve of my menses. But, of course, that was not the only reason.

Looking at the pained expression on the face in front of me, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Dave looked at the sanitary napkin I had handed him and turned it around as if it was an alien object. Indeed, for him it must be, as I supposed that he had never had to wear one before.

'Take off your pants and give me your panties, I'll put the pad,' I said. I was sure that my cheeks must be burning red as I could feel the heat even without touching them.

'You want to get me naked, Ash!' he drawled, unbuttoning the pants. Why should I feel shy? It was my own body in front of me, it was not as if I had never seen it naked. It was easier said than done, and I found it easier to look around me, than at Dave undressing. But wait, he was going to see me naked.

'Wait,' I squealed and he paused in pulling down the panties. 'Close your eyes first and then you pull the panties down,' I said and he laughed at my words. He genuinely laughed, but luckily he complied. This was not an occasion for me to get naked with him. I pulled the underwear from him and put the pad.

'Wear it now. Keep your eyes closed.'

'Okay,' he said but I could feel the laughter in the voice which was mine, but which was somewhat different now.

When he was done pulling on the pants, I looked at him and saw his amused expression. At least, he didn't seem to be taking it so badly now.

'Take a painkiller for the pain,' I told him and he marched to his bedroom, probably to do that. I followed him at a much slower pace, shaking my head from side to side. If someone had told me that I was going to turn into a vampire, then into a man, I would have thought that he was crazy and yet it was happening to me.

I took my hands and caressed my chest. The chiselled abs and the rock-hard biceps flexed beneath my touch. I had wanted to do that to Dave since a long time, but when I was in his body, why should I not try. Would he find it weird if I tried to go to the toilet? I sometimes longed to be able to urinate like a man, especially during treks. It sure beat having to find a sheltered place and squatting down.

As I reached Dave's bedroom, I checked the ring again. It was glowing a little bit more and I felt reassured that we would soon be able to use it. We just had to wait. My stomach gave a little growl then and I thought that while waiting to use the ring, we could have lunch. We hadn't really had time to really enjoy a meal together since long.

'Shall we grab a bite to eat?' I asked Dave and he agreed. We had barely reached the main hallway when Martha came to us looking all flustered.

She looked at me, taking me to be Dave obviously. 'Miss Natacha will be in shortly Mr Dawn. She has just called.'

I turned to Dave and he was frowning. He would really make me get wrinkles before I went back to my own body, I mused. Who was that Natacha?

Martha looked at the frown on Dave's face and thought that Ash was frowning.

'Oh Miss Ash, don't feel worried please. Come have lunch,' she said and went towards the kitchen, expecting me to follow her. Why would she think that I would be worried at the mention of this name? I turned to Dave and asked,

'Who's Natacha?'

There was a slight pause before he replied,

'We used to be engaged,' he said and after a few seconds, 'I guess we still are.'