I lay sprawled across Karmen’s queen-sized bed watching the latest football game. I was wearing nothing but a pair of white boxers with blue stripes and a pair of white socks. My hands were tucked behind my head as I stared fixated on the game. My hairless chest was bare as I lay relaxed on her comfortable bed. My chest rose and fell steadily with my rhythmic breathing. After meeting Karmen at the club, we have talked for hours on the phone, and we have gone out quite a few times. I have been seeing her for about three-months now, and things are great. After the night we met at Boys, Girls and Shims we have been going steady. I was lounging around at her apartment waiting for her to get back from the store with something for us to eat. She was planning on cooking dinner, and I couldn’t wait to see what she would whip up. Karmen was a heaven sent. Not only was she gorgeous, but she was educated, she had a good job, and she had her own place. Karmen was older than me by only two years at twenty-three, but she seemed as if she was years more mature than I was. She worked for a company as a computer Programmer. She had graduated from the University of Virginia and started her career right away. “She is fine as wine, and she is all mine.” I thought grinning proudly to myself.
If you haven’t guessed it already, Karmen isn’t your average woman. Karmen was born Kamren Elijah McNeil, but now is known as Karmen McNeil. Growing up as a child Kamren suffered from gender identity disorder or “GID.” He knew that he was “born wrong” from the time he could walk and talk. He suffered tremendously throughout his childhood because of his gender issues. Kamren ran away from home at the age of fourteen and started living his life as a woman. He was able to find a community of young, misfit people like himself who were shunned by their families for one reason or another. They took him in and treated him with the love and care that he wasn’t getting at home. Kamren grew up on the streets of Virginia pan-handling and prostituting himself to get by. Even though he was homeless, he continued to go to school every day so that he wouldn’t be thrown into foster-care. Things were hard for Kamren, but he conquered every task that was thrown in his way. He was able to graduate from high school and went on to college.
By the time Kamren entered college, he had pulled himself out of the gutter. He was able to get a full scholarship to complete his four-year degree, receiving his bachelor’s in computer science. While attending college, Kamren started the process to become who he felt he was always meant to be. Things were not easy for him while he was transitioning. He suffered severe violence at the hands of his college peers who didn’t understand his reason for wanting to become a woman. Even though times were difficult, Kamren didn’t fold. He didn’t let society dictate to him who he was supposed to be. He lived his life on his own terms, and he didn’t care who didn’t like it. He was often ridiculed and tormented by people out in public. The pressure got to be too much, and he tried to commit suicide. He was hospitalized for an entire month before the counseling that he was mandated to attend started to help rebuild his self-esteem. His family wanted nothing to do with him. When they found out that he was living his life as a woman, they completely disowned him. He was alone in the world dealing with his gender issues.
Currently, Karmen is going through some minor body sculpting procedures to make her a little more feminine. She still had her male genitals, but as soon as she could get the money saved, she was going to have the full transformation. From the outside, she looked like a regular woman who was just a slight bit masculine looking. She walked and talked like a woman. Everything about her screamed woman. There wasn’t much about her that was masculine at all. She has beautiful, full breast that I love to suck on. Her nipples are so big, and round they look like huge chocolate chips. She has the smoothest skin I have ever felt. There isn’t one single bump or blemish tarnishing her body. To me, she looks better than most natural born women. Karmen is fashionable, so she keeps herself looking presentable always. I’m proud to walk around town with her on my arm. The guys are always checking her out, and I love it. I like Karmen just the way she is. I think she is gorgeous and I am proud to call myself her man. I knew who and what Karmen was when I first met her, so it doesn’t bother me that she hasn’t gone through the full transformation. I’m going to want to be with her whether she does or not.
I reached over to the nightstand where Karmen’s house phone was sitting and picked up the receiver. I dialed my parent’s number and waited for the phone to be answered.
“Hello,” my mother answered, yawning loudly.
“Dang, mom. How rude.” I joked.
“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I just woke up from a much-needed nap. I have been working long hours at the hospital. I’m so tired.”
Laughing, I replied, “it's ok mom. I understand.”
“So, how’s school going?”
“It’s good. I can’t wait until I graduate though. I’m ready to start working.”
“I’m so proud of you baby. Out of my three children, you are the only one doing something with your life. That makes me so proud. Dealing with your brothers, I often wonder where I went wrong.”
“Mom, don’t blame yourself for how Marvin and Mathew turned out. They chose the path their lives are going. You and dad gave us all the tools of life we needed growing up. They made the decision to do their own thing.”
“I know, but it still gets me down sometimes when I think about it.” She said sadly. ”What in the devil would make them do the things they did?”
My older brothers had destroyed their lives. Marvin, who was twenty-five was locked up in prison for the rest of his life. He and some of his knucklehead friends decided that it would be cool to rob a check-cashing store. What they didn’t count on was the owner of the store having a gun. The owner was able to shoot and kill one of the would-be robbers, then Marvin stupidly shot and killed the store owner for killing his friend. He was charged with all kinds of crimes, so he will never see the light of day. My other brother Mathew who is twenty-four, got himself hooked on crack. I don’t know what in the world made him want to start smoking that stuff, but he is a full-fledged crack head now. I know he used to smoke pot a lot and I guess it wasn’t doing it for him anymore. He has done some despicable things just to get high. My parents were disappointed in my brother’s. My mother couldn’t figure out what she did wrong while she was raising us.
“Mom, you can’t blame yourself for their decisions.”
“You’re right Melvin. I guess I feel guilty for some reason. So, when are your father and I going to meet this girlfriend of yours?”
My heart pounded rapidly at my mother’s statement. Even though Karmen and I have been seeing each other for a while, I have never brought her home to meet my parents. That was something I couldn’t do. Although Karmen looked like a woman, there were still things about her that you could tell she was still a man. I couldn’t allow my parents to meet Karmen. There was no way I would want them to know what I was into. I couldn’t bear to look at the look of disappointment that will surely be apparent on my parent’s face. I was their golden son. I didn’t want to tarnish my image in their eyes. Finding out about my sexual preference would be devastating news to them. I had to keep Karmen my little secret.
“Well, uh… mom, I’m not sure yet. She works a lot of long hours.” I lied.
“I’m sure she can find some time in her busy schedule to meet your parents. We can go out to dinner or something. Nothing major. We want to meet the lovely young lady who has been keeping our son from visiting.” Said my mother.
I could tell there was a smile on her face from the tone of her voice. My mom was in love with Karmen, and she hadn’t even met her yet. She had spoken to Karmen a few times on the phone, but that is all the contact they have had. I needed to keep things that way until I felt that I could present Karmen to my folks.
“We’ll plan something as soon as she gets some free time,” I said, trying to appease my mother.
“Ok. I would love to meet her. She seems as if she is a wonderful fit for you. She is so well-mannered and sweet.”
“Yeah, mom. I think I am falling in love with her.” I announced without even thinking before I spoke.
I continued to talk with my mother for another few minutes, then we finally ended our call. I lay back on the bed and turned my attention back to the game. I sat up from my sprawled position when I heard the front door open. I could hear Karmen rattling bags as she brought them into the apartment. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. I stretched, then made my way out of the room. I walked down the hall until I came to the kitchen where Karmen was placing the bags on the counter. She left back out of the front door to get the rest of the bags. I peeped through the bags to see what she had bought. I smiled as I rubbed my hands together greedily. She was about to throw down in the kitchen. My stomach growled loudly letting me know that I hadn’t eaten much today. I was sure going to chow down on dinner as soon as Karmen got started on it. I jumped away from the counter startled when I felt a smack on the back of my head. I turned around to find Karmen grinning at me.
“Boy, get your head out of my bags.” she said, sitting down a few more bags. “You are in here being nosy, and you couldn’t even come and help me with these bags.”
“I’m sorry,” I said sheepishly, looking down at the floor.
“Well, the least you can do is go and close the front door for me and start putting this food away.”
“Ok. No problem.”
I left the kitchen and headed into the living room. I closed and locked the front door and made my way back into the kitchen. Karmen was looking through the cabinets for her cooking utensils as I stepped up behind her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and planted a kiss on her neck.
“Boy, get off me. I need to get dinner started.” she giggled, trying to break my grip.
“Say please.” I teased.
Whining, she said, “Melvin.”
“Say please,” I said again.
“Pleeeeeese.” she shrieked as I tickled her.
I could feel my dick rising as her ass pressed up against me from her struggling. I was becoming turned on. I loved to play with Karmen like this. We liked to wrestle and play fight all the time. Usually, by the end of our playing, we ended up making passionate love. We’ve christened every room in her two-bedroom apartment since we have been together.
“Mmm.” Karmen moaned aloud.
“You feel that, don’t you?”
“You know I do, but as much as I would like to get busy right here, I have to get dinner started. We can play later.”
She finally broke out of my grasp and busied herself getting everything started. I rummaged through the bags and started putting the groceries away. I left out the items she said she would need for dinner and put the rest away. Once I was done with that, I pulled a chair from the dining room table and sat down. I watched Karmen walk to and fro pouring this and mixing that. She was so damn sexy to me. She was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans and a sleeveless red Tommy Hilfiger top. The jeans made her already round booty look even rounder. She wore some red open-toe sandals and her pretty, pedicured feet showed. Her long hair was swept back from her face with a red head band. My woman was sexy, and I loved it.
“Do you need any help?” I asked.
“No baby. I have it. Thanks for asking though.” she said with a smile before she returned her attention to her food.
I kept Karmen busy with conversation as she worked. The aromas emanating from the pots invaded my nose as I sat waiting. After about an hour, dinner was finally ready. I got plates out of the cabinet and sat them on the table. I walked over to the silverware drawer and got us some utensils out, then shut the drawer.
“What do you want to drink babe?” I asked, looking at the array of choices of drinks in the refrigerator.
“Pour me some Pepsi.”
“Ok.”
I grabbed the two-liter bottle of Pepsi and poured us both a glass and sat them on the table along with our plates. I replaced the soda in the refrigerator and walked back over and took my seat. Karmen came over with the hot pots and sat them on the table on top of pot holders. She sat down across from me and served dinner. She had cooked garlic mashed potatoes, home-made gravy, buttery corn, and steak. I rubbed my hands together in anticipation of the feast I was about to enjoy.
“Everything looks so good babe.”
“Thank you.” she said, smiling as she ladled some gravy on top of my potatoes and steak.
Once she was done serving everything I dug in. I scooped a huge helping of mashed potatoes into my mouth and moaned my satisfaction.
Laughing, Karmen said, “Melvin you don’t have to do all that. Don’t try to spare my feelings.”
“I’m telling the truth babe. Trust me. If your food wasn't good, I wouldn’t lie and tell you it was. You know I am particular about my food.”
“Ok. If you say so.” she replied, cutting her steak into small pieces.
I reached over and stabbed my fork into one of her pieces and quickly shoved it into my mouth.
“Hey!” she said, swatting my hand from her plate. “Eat your own food.”
I grinned slyly as I chewed contentedly on my stolen piece of steak. Karmen rolled her eyes playfully at me and continued to eat her food. We talked and laughed as we enjoyed our meal. This was the way things went with us. On the weekends, I would spend all my time hanging out with Karmen. Instead of staying at the campus apartment, I would spend the weekends held up with Karmen and go back to campus on Sunday evenings. With Karmen, I had a home away from home. I could be myself and didn’t have to worry about putting on an act for anyone. I could kick back for a few days and be me.