The front closed heavily as Jeff came home and his aunt greeted him with, "You have anything planned for dinner?"
Jeff, with a shake of his head, replied in the negative, and Melissa commented, "Your father and I are thinking of ordering a pizza. Please go upstairs and see if your cousin's home and, if she is, tell her what we’re planning."
He really didn't want to do this, but with a sigh, Jeff kicked off his shoes and headed upstairs. Making his way toward Rachel's room, knowing he wasn't allowed inside, he instead knocked on the door upon reaching it. When there was no answer, he wrapped his knuckles a second time on the solid wood door and called out, "Rachel?"
From within came a sleep-laced, "Huh?" and figuring she must have fallen asleep, Jeff stated, "Mom and dad are thinking of ordering pizza. If you want to have any say on what's on it, better come downstairs," and turning away from the door, not caring what she did, he headed toward his room. There, he dropped his bookbag on his bed, sat down at his desk, and booted up his laptop, figuring he probably had enough time to check his email before heading back downstairs.
Inside her bedroom, Rachel stirred as she tried to work out what it was her cousin was babbling about. Next to her, a soft, feminine voice whispered, "Did someone say pizza," their voice still heavy with sleep.
Yawning, stretching, sitting up, Rachel reached over and clicked on the bedside lamp, saying as she did, "I think Aunt Melissa and Uncle Frank plan to order pizza," before pushing the sheet away, standing and heading over to her dresser. Opening two of the drawers, she withdrew a two pairs of pyjama bottoms. Looking at them, she asked, "Strawberries or heart print?"
"I don't care," Tanya replied as she yawned and sat up.
Rachel, skipping putting on any undergarments, pulled on the white pyjama bottoms with the strawberry print, then tossed the other garment over to her friend. Taking out of another drawer two shirts, both white, one long sleeve with Kuromi on it, the other with a heart, spade and diamond, each with a skull in the middle, she put on the one with the anime character and tossed the other to her girlfriend. Realising how she'd just thought of the other girl, Rachel glanced over at her laptop and mentally shrugged as she thought, "I guess there's no denying it any longer," and thinking about waking the machine up to save, lock, and close their profiles, she was distracted from her thoughts when Tanya, standing, stretching, commented, "Wonder what type of pizza your aunt and uncle are going order."
"Let's go find out," Rachel said as she stepped across the room, opened the door, thought about turning off the lamp, but decided to leave it on.
Downstairs, Rachel greeted her aunt and uncle, who, after asking her how her day was, and she responding, inquired, "Are you staying for dinner, Tanya?" to which the other teenage girl shrugged and replied she would it wouldn't be any problem, something Melissa affirmed it wouldn't as Jeff came back down.
The matter settled Tanya could stay for dinner, as well as the night, the conversation turned to what type of pie to order. Rachel put in a vote of either chicken with lots of vegetables or something vegetarian, Jeff said he wanted pepperoni with mushrooms and black olives, Tanya opted for vegetarian, Uncle Frank sided with Jeff, whilst Melissa was impartial. The order placed for two large pizzas, one made the way the guys wanted, the other made half with chicken, the other half with all vegetables, as well as a medium order of garlic bread, Rachel and Tanya headed for the TV room to find something to watch, Jeff went back upstairs to his room, Frank went to change out of his work clothes, whilst Melissa set the table, left the money for the dinner on the kitchen counter, then went upstairs to change into something more comfortable.
Food arriving in about forty minutes, the dinner was as chaotic and loud as Rachel's new memories insisted it usually was, with topics ranging far and wide. After the meal had concluded, and she and Tanya had helped Melissa clean up, Rachel returned to the TV room. Her Uncle Frank watching a movie, she and Tanya watched along for about half an hour or so before, both growing bored, they headed upstairs.
Loud music coming from Jeff's room, Rachel and Tanya giggled and whispered in hushed, quick conversations about what he might be covering up by having his radio turned up so high, as they made their way down the hall. Inside her bedroom, Rachel flipped on the overhead light, turned off the bedside lamp, and sat down at the computer. Oblivious to how her room had been rearranged by a reality shift, the way it was now slightly smaller, she turned her attention to the Chronivac. Waking up the laptop, she asked, "Is there anything you want to do with this programme," as she waited for the log-in screen.
Tanya shrugged and sat down on the bed. Looking down at what she was wearing, thinking about who'd she'd been, who she was now, she shook her head after a bit. And as her friend logged onto the laptop, Tanya at last answered, "All my life, well, my previous life, I had felt like my something was off, I had been born wrong. But now? Now that I am a girl, for once in my life, everything seems right. Well, except for my parents, who are still a bunch of total religious spazs who cannot understand their daughter is in love with a girl, and, so far as I know, are convinced I'm going to some place I don't believe exists."
From where she sat and worked with the laptop, Rachel listened to her friend. Her memories of growing up with Tanya as two girls confirming what she heard was what she remembered, she saved Tanya's profile, locked it and closed it. Pulling up hers, she was about the do the same when she paused in what she was doing. Seeing the timer readout was set for forty-eight days not hours, she furrowed her brow. Recalling what her girlfriend had said earlier before they'd fallen asleep, her first thought was either someone had tampered with her profile, or the programme had a bug. Mind leaping to the dream she'd had about being awoken because someone was in her room, she wondered if there was any truth to this, and she had in fact woken up because somebody was creeping about her room.
"But who," she asked herself before deciding it had to have been a dream, as nobody had any way to access her laptop once it went into sleep mode, nor did anyone besides Tanya know about the Chronivac programme.
"Something wrong," Tanya inquired, breaking into her train of thoughts.
With a shake of her head, Rachel replied, "Nothing. I think, when I made myself a girl, I clicked on the wrong thing and accidentally set the timer for a little over a month instead of two days," as she also decided it couldn't be a bug, as the laptop automatically swept and washed itself every time she logged and logged off.
Tanya getting up f and padding over to where Rachel was, she leaned down. Wrapping her arms around her friend in a hug, she said, "Is it such a bad thing?" as her hand dropped to gently cup one of Rachel's breasts.
A quick shake of her head, then turning it so she was looking up at the other teenage girl, Rachel pushed herself up to kiss Tanya, causing in the process her breast to be pressed even more into the hand cupping it. Telling her girlfriend, "No. It's just, I didn't expect to remain Rachel for so long, and figured to go back to being Patrick at the end of the weekend. Afterward, I'd make a final decision of whether I wanted to become Rachel again, this time for good, or stay as Patrick. Maybe delete the Chronivac afterward. Especially if you don't have any use for it."
Finger tracing the now erect nipple, Tanya thought for a moment before answering, "Well, whatever you do, I hope I am still your friend. And if you decide to remain as Rachel," and leaving the end of the sentence implied, she smiled as she kissed the other girl.
Satisfied the situation was resolved for the time being, Rachel saved, locked and closed her profile. Shutting down the Chronivac, the two teenage girls began to discuss what they could do to occupy their time. Deciding to watch a movie on Rachel's laptop, they each began to search through the few disks on the desk, those in the middle drawer on the right side, and lastly the few Rachel kept in a binder, mostly because their cases had broken. Deciding on what to watch, Rachel was about to put the disk in when she stopped. Handing the movie back to Tanya, who asked, "What? You don't want to watch this one?" Rachel began to go through all the disks again.
Not finding what she was looking for, she repeated the action once more. As she did this, Tanya frowned and said, "What are you looking for," after a bit, and stopping mid-search, understanding coming to her, Rachel looked at the other girl and explained, "The disk is gone," and seeing the blank look on Tanya's face, she added, "The disk with Chronivac programme. What I used to install it onto my laptop. It's gone."
The full implications of this not setting in at first, Tanya soon stepped back until the bed hit her legs. Sitting back done on it, she uttered, "Well, shit," before glancing hastily in the direction of the bedroom door, as if expecting her mother or father to appear and scold her for what they called, "Unladylike language." Realising her slip, she glanced back at Rachel, she didn't say anything before enquiring, "You don't suppose someone took it do you? Could your cousin have come in and taken it? Or maybe your aunt or uncle?"
Questions, beyond what Tanya had posed, circled her thoughts as the dream she'd had returned to her. Shaking her head after some time, telling herself, "It was only a dream, nothing more," she replied aloud, "Jeff knows better than to come in my room. And Uncle Frank and Aunt Melissa haven't set foot in here since I was like ten or eleven, ever since my aunt made it clear I was becoming a teenage, a young woman, and as such, needed my privacy. Anything they have to say, or if they want to talk to me about something I did, they call me down to the kitchen or TV room."
Her new memories confirming everything she said, Rachel still felt there was something off. Trying to work out what, she heaved a sigh after a bit. Holding out a hand to get the disk back from Tanya, she stated, "I suppose it isn't too bad. I mean, whoever has the disk, has just that. This means it's tied to whatever computer they install it on. If it had come with the emitter it was supposed to have, I'd probably be more worried."
Movie given to her girlfriend, Tanya mulled over what she'd just heard. Inquiring about the emitter, she also asked where it was Rachel had gotten the programme. Inserting the movie, Rachel filled in the other girl with as much as she felt comfortable revealing. Discussing amongst themselves different possibilities about what might have happened, what could happen, their conversation eventually turning to more and more speculation until, after a bit, they soon lost interest. And as Rachel moved over onto the bed with Tanya, bringing the laptop with her, the two became engrossed in the film, talking more about what was going on in the movie, then about what they might watch next.