Episode 5 - The Video Date

Tuesday morning was very much like the day before. Work was becoming a break away from Casey’s increasingly chaotic home life. As he looked around the cubicle at his coworkers, he wondered what they would think if they only knew he was living a double life — one as a gamer girl.

For most of the day he stuffed those thoughts deep down inside and focused on work. But during break, the many DMs that Lexi had sent him would remind him of the hole he was digging.

ManicLexiDreamGirl: hey u. happy tuesday!!

CosmicJusticeCasey: Happy Tuesday to you too.

ManicLexiDreamGirl: what do u have planned for 2nite?

CosmicJusticeCasey: Tuesdays are my day to just veg.

ManicLexiDreamGirl: fun! listen… i know ur shy about the internet, but i really enjoy talking to you.

Casey’s heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. This girl — this really really cute girl — liked him.

ManicLexiDreamGirl: do u want to video chat tonight? just for a bit? i want to see that smile live. <3

Biting at his lip, Casey could feel his anxiety about pretending to be a girl begin to return. It was one thing to send pictures of him crossdressing, but another thing entirely to do a live video chat. Could he take this role playing guise to an entirely new level?

Or maybe now was the time to put a stop to this, to stop this ‘Girl Casey’ charade.

But what about Darla’s kickball game tomorrow? What would he tell Will? Especially after they bought all that stuff at the mall?

Glancing up at Lexi’s user pic, he realized did want to see her on video, even if he could feel his anxiety rising about the prospect of coming clean. How angry would she be when she found out? How much worse would it get if he kept digging this hole? Even for an online stranger — and likely one he’d never meet — he still felt himself growing quickly attached to her.

CosmicJusticeCasey: Let’s chat tonight then!

ManicLexiDreamGirl: yay! what time?

CosmicJusticeCasey: I’m typically home by 5:30.

ManicLexiDreamGirl: let’s shoot for 6 then! be sure to eat! i know u like to skip meals.

CosmicJusticeCasey: will do. see you then!

ManicLexiDreamGirl: 🥰

Warmth pooled in Casey’s stomach as he smiled at her reaction. Even if he felt like he was leading her on, it still felt real somehow.

He glanced at the clock. It was just a little bit past noon, giving him only five hours until showtime.

If he was going to do this, he would need more time. He needed to prep, and more importantly: he needed the help of someone who knew what they were doing: Abby.

Casey: Hey Abs, I need your help. I may have agreed to an, uhh…

Casey selected his next message and made the text as small as possible.

Casey: video date with lexi.

Abby: OMG, that’s so awesome Casey! I’m so excited for you. What time? 

Casey: 6

Abby: Squeeeee, I’ll be home at 5 to help you get ready. We’re going to make you sooooo pretty! <3

Casey cringed at her excitement, but what other choice did he have? There was no question that he couldn’t do it without her.

Casey: Thanks! I’ll come home early too.

Casey put his phone away and after a long exasperated sigh, stared absently at his computer screen. Had he really just committed to leaving work a half an hour early just so he could properly prepare for this… date?

* * *

Casey got home ten minutes before Abby was due. During the work day he had started to make a mental note of things he needed: to shave the stubble off his face, to find a new outfit, to put on makeup. He couldn’t do the latter two without Abby’s help, so he wasted no time running into the bathroom and shaving his face.

His facial hair grew in sparsely, thanks to his father’s genetics. While other male friends could grow full beards, the best he could do was an embarrassing mustache and the patchy facial hair of a pubescent boy. 

Despite that, those patches were likely visible on a high-definition webcam.

Grabbing his shaving cream, he lathered up his face and shaved off every trace of hair he could find.

When Abby came home, his body was already buzzing with a sort of nervous anticipation. This had to go perfectly if he was going to impress Lexi.

“Hey Case,” Abby said, dropping her bags, and walking up the stairs with a huge grin on her face. “Let’s turn you into Girl Casey.”

Casey simply smiled.

Abby held out her hand and gestured towards her bedroom. “Enter my office, m’lady.”

“You’re enjoying this way too much,” Casey noted drily, entering the room with Abby close behind.

“So.” Abby said, looking Casey up and down. “Girl Casey’s first date. Did you have anything in mind to wear?”

“Not a clue.”

“Well, she knows you have a job right?”

“Right.”

“And she knows you're just getting off of work?”

“Right.”

“Then we should dress you in work clothes.” Glancing skeptically at Casey’s clothing, she added, “But maybe not those work clothes.”

“Makes sense.”

“What kind of job does Girl Casey have? A sexy waitress? A sexy maid?” She paused, biting her lip, her eyes rolling up in thought. “Ooo, or a sexy secreta—?”

“My job never came up. But if it does I'd rather keep it… closer to the truth so I don’t have to make up lies on the spot.”

“That’s a smart idea,” Abby said. “You should be yourself with Lexi.”

“Except for the part where I’m not a girl?”

“M-mm-hmm,” Abby replied, turning her attention to her closet. “So, what do women in your office wear?”

“Ummm… business casual?” Casey shrugged.

“How casual? Business casual is a huge range.”

“I dunno. Kinda like what you’re wearing.”

Abby was wearing a fitted dark green blouse, black slacks, and heels. She looked down at herself then back to Casey. Standing on her tiptoes — although barely — she brought herself level with Casey, a devious look dawning on her face. Pinching her blouse’s neckline, she asked, “Do you want to wear this?”

Casey frowned. “Umm… wouldn’t trading clothes be kinda weird?”

Abby shrugged. “I used to trade clothes with my sister all the time. But if that makes you uncomfortable, I can get you similar clothes from my closet.”

“No no, that’s fine," Casey said, not wanting to be a nuisance. After all, Abby was doing him a huge favor as his crossdressing accomplice. Plus Abby hadn’t really judged him for this very weird thing he’d been doing.

“Here’s your bra,” Abby said, handing Casey the nude bra he recognized from Sunday afternoon.

“My bra?”

Abby giggled. “Yes. I mean, it’s the same one you wore the other day. I haven’t washed it yet. It still has the extenders attached.”

“Shouldn’t I wash it first, before I use it again?” Casey asked, reluctantly taking it.

“Nah, only if you get it sweaty. Though we should get you fitted for your own at some point, so you can stop borrowing mine.”

“No thanks,” he quickly replied, before realizing he already owned a sports bra in a shopping bag in his closet. But Abby didn’t need to know that.

Or at least that’s what he had been thinking, all the way up until Abby hooked her fingers under the neck of her top and pulled it over her head exposing the beige bra she was wearing underneath. Alongside what it was cradling.

Casey blushed and immediately turned his back to her. “Sorry, I should give you some privacy.”

“We’re all girls here,” she giggled.

“I’m not a girl,” he squeaked, taking his bra and fleeing to the fading sound of Abby’s giggling.

He dropped the bra on his bed and paced his room, embarrassingly lewd images of his housemate and one-time crush in her underwear flashing through his head. We’re all girls here, something that could only mean that he was permanently in the friendzone now.

Abby, now dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, poked her head into his room. “Hey Case, catch!” She tossed her clothes into his waiting arms, winked, and then shut the door behind her.

The clothes were warm to the touch and still smelled faintly of Abby, which only made him feel even more awkward.

Dropping her clothes onto his bed, he started by taking off his polo shirt. Remembering how Abby explained how the bra works on Sunday, he wrapped it around himself, hooked it and raised the straps over his shoulders.

Then he held out Abby’s dark green top. It shimmered softly and was made of the same stretchy material he wore on Sunday.

He kicked off his work slacks and slid on Abby’s. Unlike his, hers were fitted around his hips and tapered off at the knee, with the top of the pants resting across his abdomen.

These were certainly snug across his stomach. No, snug was the wrong word: these were tight. Taking a deep breath, he sucked in his stomach just to button and zip them up.

He checked out what they looked like in the mirror. His abdomen was cinched and created a muffin top at his waist. Thankfully the top covered that up, giving his waist a surprisingly tapered look. Aside from that, a glance over his shoulder surprised him with just how great it made his butt look.

He just had to keep his stomach sucked in. And not breathe very much.

After smoothing out the top and pants, he returned into Abby’s room.

She looked him up and down. “Wow, it’s crazy how we’re the same size!” Walking around behind him, she made a low wolf-whistle and gave him a light slap on his ass. “Damn girl, these things look painted on.”

Casey frowned, remembering all of the times he was called short and scrawny in school. “You’re making fun of me.”

“Nah, I’m your ally. I’m in your corner. And besides,” she said, tilting her head around to take another peek, “there’s no way I could ever make fun of an ass like that. Enough chit-chat, time’s a-wastin’ and we don’t have much time to do your makeup. Now sit.” 

Casey sat down on Abby’s bed again.

“This is going to be pretty similar to last time,” Abby said. “Although I’m going to give you more of a smoky eye,” Abby said brushing on eye shadow. “You’re a girl boss. You can look a little sultry.”

When Abby was done, she fitted the wig onto Casey’s head.

“Time check?” Casey asked.

“It’s…” Abby looked down at her phone. “Quarter to six.”

“Twenty minutes til the video chat.”

“I’m almost done,” she said, straightening the wig and fluffing the hair out onto his shoulders. “You should consider growing your natural hair out.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re cute with long hair.”

Casey blushed.

“Like manly cute?”

“Like cute cute. Does it matter?”

“It does.”

“Then yeah. Guys with long hair are cute,” she said, booping Casey on his nose. “There. I’m done. Check out the latest version of Office Girl Casey.”

Casey stood up from the bed and peered into Abby’s mirror.

He was amazed at his reflection again. Wow. The green top, the black slacks, and the tasteful makeup all combined to make him look very professional. He felt a tightness in his stomach as he stared at the pretty girl in the mirror, a cracking sound echoing in his ears.

Shifting his weight, he looked down. A small hair clip lay underneath where his foot had been, the plastic badly cracked. Picking up the pieces, he held them out to Abby as if they were a baby bird. “I’m so sorry.”

Abby took the cracked hair clip and tossed it into a waste basket. “Eh, don’t worry about that. I’ve got at least a dozen just like it.” She then stood behind him, twisting his wig around her hands and clamping it down into a leopard-print claw clip at the top back of his head. Then she started pulling locks of hair out of the clip, with a bunch in front framing his face and the rest hanging loosely. “Perfect. Professional but a bit haggard. Like you spent all day being the big boss girl.”

“Big boss girl,” he echoed, twisting his head back and forth to see how it looked. “Hey, Abby? Thank you,” he said.

“Just be sure to invite me to yours and Lexi’s wedding.”

Casey giggled — then abruptly caught himself. “Let’s get through our first date before we get that far ahead of ourselves.”

* * *

Casey sat down at his computer and adjusted the web camera. He made kissy faces into the camera and admired the outfit — no, the costume. The disguise. No matter how many faces he made, he still couldn’t believe the girl reflected back at him was him.

“Ten minutes,” he mumbled, setting a timer on his phone. He then pulled his headset over his wig and adjusted the microphone.

Opening up Fourteen Night Fight, he selected Astra Amethyst and started a single-player game.

He started attacking the NPC enemies. “Cosmic Justice!” he shouted into the microphone. Nothing happened.

“Cosmic Justice!” Still nothing.

“Hii” he said, his voice cracking. Clearing his throat, pitched his voice up again.

“Cosmic Justice!” This time it worked, as Astra launched a beam of light from her hands.

“Hi,” he said into the camera, this time maintaining that same voice. “Hi, my name is Casey.” 

“Hi Lexi, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

His phone timer went off and he closed out of Fourteen Night Fight and brought up Discord on his computer.

Here goes nothing, he thought to himself as he cleared his throat again.

The clock on his computer reached six and he clicked on the Video Chat button on Lexi’s profile.

A video stream of Lexi appeared on the screen. He recognized her face from her pictures, however she still looked perfectly put together after a day of work.

Her wavy red hair was expertly styled, flowing out from under her headset. She was wearing a low red blouse that showed off her—

“Casey!” she exclaimed, a great big smile on her face.

“Lexi,” he said, trying to maximize the feminine voice he’d been working on.

“It’s so nice to finally see you.”

“Same.” He brushed one of those strands of hair framing his face behind his ear, only for it to fall back in his face again.

“Oh my God, you’re even cuter in motion.”

Casey blushed and wondered if she could see how red his face had turned.

“Y-you too.”

“You look very ‘HBIC’. What do you do?”

“HBIC…? Oh, I write software for a delivery service.”

“A software developer? Hmm, that’s a great cover!”

“A cover?” Casey questioned.

“Yeah,” Lexi giggled. “You know? Like how super heroes need cover. Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne. Peter Parker. Apparently Astra Amethyst is a cute office worker named Casey.”

Casey laughed. “I promise I'm not hiding a magic wand in my desk drawer."

Lexi slapped her legs, half bent over as she shook with laughter.

"I highly recommend getting one,” she said, still snickering. “Never know when a girl will need saving.”

“Well, let me know if you need me to save you with it.”

Lexi’s face turned bright red. “Is that all it takes? I tell you to come save me, and you wind up on my porch in your cute Astra uniform?"

“Umm… yeah I guess.”

“Astra! Please! Help! Save me! You’re my only hope!” she cried into her microphone, sounding every bit the damsel in distress.

Casey smiled. “Sadly, I don't own an Astra uniform.”

“You don’t? I guess I’d pegged you for a cosplay like myself. I bet we could make one.”

“You do cosplay? That’s really cool. The most I’ve ever cosplayed is on Halloween.”

“What were you last Halloween?”

“A vampire. I went around stalking guests and threatening to bite their necks.”

“Ooo that sounds hot!”

“Well they didn’t think so.”

“Well I would’ve taken you up on the offer,” Lexi said, winking into the camera. You should try cosplaying at conventions, I’ll bet you’d love it.”

“I’ve never been to a con.”

“There’s plenty up and down the East Coast… sorry. I’m assuming you live on the East Coast based on the fact we seem to have similar sleeping schedules.”

“Yeah, I’m on the East Coast.” Case admitted.

Lexi raised her eyebrows and flashed a smirk. “Oh yeah, where? Just in case I really need you to show up on my porch to save me.”

“A suburb of Washington, DC.”

“OMG! I currently live in New Jersey. We’re not that far from each other!”

New Jersey? That was only a few hours away! Casey immediately started day dreaming about seeing Lexi.

Her statement hung in the air as both Casey and Lexi sat there in silence not sure which one would ask the next obvious question.

"Wow. That's… th-that's actually really close," Casey squeaked out.

"Right?" Lexi grinned. She started twirling a strand of red hair that was sticking out of her headset. "Like, what is that — a couple hours? I mean, if a certain magical girl wanted to escape her corporate office, she could practically be on my doorstep by dinner."

Casey’s heart fluttered and he bit his lip. “Well, I’m not sure. How do I know you’re not a serial killer? And not just listening to podcasts?”

“I’m an assassin, remember? Technically that’s a serial killer,” Lexi winked at her screen. “Just someone who kills a lot. Serially.”

“So umm… Lexi, what do you do? When you’re not assassinating."

Casey noticed that Lexi slightly shrunk in her seat and turned more timid.

“I uh… “ she started. “I don’t have a real job per se. I mean, it’s a job. I make money. But I don’t have a steady nine to five and I’m always just scraping by.”

“Oh? What is it you do?”

“Well, I'm a writer slash artist. I have a large Patreon with a rabid women fanbase.”

“Oh — that actually sounds really cool. What do you create?”

“I write and illustrate comics. Lesbian yaoi romance stories, mostly.”

Casey cocked his head. He wasn’t completely familiar with that term, but he swore he’d heard it used by Abby’s girl friends. “What’s yow-wee?”

Lexi laughed. “You know. Male queer romance.”

“Oh,” Casey said. “That’s… umm… interesting. Wait — but you said your patrons were women? Wait — Lesbian?”

Lexi laughed. “Yeah. That’s what makes it a fun niche. I think you’d actually enjoy some of my stories.”

“Oh. Yeah. Definitely.” Casey still had no idea what that was. But if Lexi was excited about it, it must be good.

“What do you have planned for the rest of the week, Casey? Maybe we can get a FNF game in.”

“Well, I’m playing kickball with my best friend and his girlfriend tomorrow.”

“Kickball? I haven’t played that since I was in junior high.”

“Well, it’s big here for some reason. Although, to be honest, it’s mostly an excuse to get a whole bunch of professional twenty-somethings to the bar afterwards.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Are you free Thursday?” Casey asked. “That’s usually when me and Will play. Will is my best friend.”

“Was Will the ninja boy you rescued from me the other day?”

“That’s him.”

“He sounds like a good friend, and it’s cool that he’s chill with you being a lesbian and all.”

“He’s got his moments.”

“Well, let me know when you’re on. I’m sure I can wrangle up a party. Maybe we can even be on the same team this time.”

“I’d like that. Although I would miss kicking your butt again.” Casey was grinning ear to ear and pushed that annoying strand of hair behind his ear again. That was until he caught motion at his door and looked over to see what Abby wanted.

Except it wasn’t Abby.

Will was standing there, a dumb grin plastered across his face.

When was he ever going to learn to close his door for privacy?

He turned red, then faced the camera. “Lexi,” he said, his voice cracking as he realized he was also performing for Will. “Speak of the devil. My friend, Will, just came over… I need to go.”

Lexi flashed a look of subtle disappointment. “So soon? Well, tell Will I say ‘hi’! It was lovely to talk to you Casey! We should plan on getting you to a con and getting you in cosplay! And we should do this again.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Casey replied.

“Good night, Casey!” Lexi said.

The call closed with a depressing ‘ba-doomp’ sound.

Casey turned to face his best friend.

“Case — you look amazing!”

Casey winced, feeling vulnerable all dressed up in Abby’s work clothes. At least Will didn’t seem to be weirded out though. “Thanks.”

“Were you talking to your girl?”

“She’s not ‘my girl.’” Casey cleared his throat and returned to his normal voice. “But yeah. Lexi.”

“You two getting serious?”

“I don’t know. She lives in New Jersey.”

“Oh, she’s a Jersey Girl?”

“Did you need anything?” Casey asked. “Why are you here?”

“I came over to… I dunno… rehearse our stories for tomorrow. Maybe have you try on your complete ensemble… but I like this one more. Very executive chic. You just can’t wear that to play sports.”

“Will!” Abby’s voice rang from the hallway.

“Abby!” he said as she barged into Casey’s room.

“I didn’t know you were coming over,” she said.

“Well, Casey is doing me a favor tomorrow.”

“How do you like this version of Casey?” she said, looking at Casey with a wink and a flourish. “Girl Casey.”

“Abby!” Casey whined.

“Impressive,” Will said.

Abby leaned over to Will’s ear and said something to him Casey couldn’t decipher.

Then Will whispered something back to Abby.

Casey could’ve sworn Will said “You haven’t won yet,” or something like that.

“Hey guys, I’m still here.” Casey said. He stood up and clutched his wig, about to yank it off.

“Hey wait,” Will said. “Do you… ladies… want to go out to dinner?”

Abby raised her eyebrow. “What do you have in mind?”

“That sushi place you both like.”

“Let me get undressed first,” Casey said.

“No,” Will interrupted. “It would be a shame to put all of that effort into that outfit and not go out on the town in it.”

“I can’t go in this!”

“Case, you can totally go in that,” Abby agreed.

Casey looked back and forth between his best friend and his housemate. Both clearly wanted him to leave the house like this. “Okay, fine. But Will treats.”