GIRLIFIED: 15 BOOKS MEGA BUNDLE

by Nikki Crescent

  And Darren was happy with his small accomplishment, though he wasn’t sure where to go from here. He went up and ordered his sandwich, and then he found himself standing next to Lexi with a few other people, waiting for his order to come out. He looked over at Lexi and she smiled. His mind was completely blank. He couldn’t think of anything to say. He started to panic—every silent second was eating away at him. So he went to the bathroom, and he hid there for a few minutes, staring at himself in the mirror, trying to calm down his racing heart.

  When he emerged, Lexi was already at her own table by the window, with her sandwich. And Darren’s sandwich was waiting for him on the counter. So he grabbed it and started towards the door. And then he saw Lexi waving at him. “I got a table,” she said, “if you want.”

  Darren’s whole body became tense. He managed to force a smile and then he managed to take the seat across from Lexi at the small table.

  “It’s almost impossible to get a table here—no one ever gives them up,” she said. And then she looked over at a guy on his laptop. “People come in here in the mornings with their laptops and they don’t leave until the place closes. And I’m willing to be they’re all aspiring screenwriters.” She laughed. Darren tried to force himself to laugh, but even he could tell that it didn’t sound genuine. But his mind was still blank. He couldn’t think of anything to say. He strained to bring something into his mind—any possible topic of conversation, but he couldn’t muster anything. But he did think of a compliment—he wanted to tell her that he liked her hair. But he couldn’t say it—he was afraid that complimenting her hair would make him look shallow. But he didn’t know enough about her personality to compliment anything but her appearance.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Darren nodded and forced that big, fake smile. “Great,” he said.

  “I’m Lexi by the way—I don’t think I ever got your name,” she said.

  It stung, hearing that Lexi didn’t know Darren’s name, even though they’d been working together for almost two whole years. “Darren,” he said. At least they were talking now. At least she was learning his name now, rather than never learning it at all.

  She reached her hand across the table. Darren was slow to realize she wanted to shake his hand, but once the realization set in, he gave her his hand. And for the first time, he felt her warm, soft skin. “Nice to meet you, Darren,” she said.

  And then the silence returned to the table. Darren’s mind was blank again, and he found himself trying to decide whether or not to compliment her hair. What if she didn’t like her hair? What if she was planning on getting it changed soon? A few minutes of complete silence went by, and then Darren couldn’t take any more. He got up and said, “I’ve got a file I need to finish. See you at the office.”

  “Bye, Darren,” she said, only half done her sandwich.

  Darren didn’t actually have a file he needed to get done. He just needed to get away from Lexi before he made a complete blundering fool out of himself.

  CHAPTER IV

  Darren was buzzing for the rest of that afternoon, until his phone buzzed and he saw that he had a new message on Tinder. He opened the app up and saw that Duke had received a message from Lexi. “Hey there,” she said simply.

  Darren felt strangely defeated, as if he’d lost his chance—as if he’s lost a battle with himself. Duke and Lexi had matched in Tinder twenty-four hours before, but Lexi had waited to send Duke a message. Maybe she was waiting for Duke to send the first message—or maybe she was waiting to see if anything happened in real life. And something did happen: Darren talked to Lexi and had lunch with her. But Darren didn’t have the balls to turn that conversation into anything, so now Lexi was resorting to the buff, handsome, and non-existent Duke.

  “How was your day today?” Darren asked, as Duke.

  Lexi didn’t reply right away. So Darren went ahead and made himself some dinner, and then he watched an especially riveting episode of Law and Order. And then his phone buzzed again. “My day was okay. It started out rough but it got better,” Lexi said.

  “Why did it start out rough?” Darren asked.

  “I’m going through a breakup. I guess I’m just not used to waking up alone.”

  “Sorry to hear that,” Darren said.

  “It’s okay—sorry to throw that on you. I’m not trying to complain.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Have you ever been through a bad breakup?” Lexi asked. And then Darren found himself staring awkwardly at his phone, wondering if he should lie. He’d never been through a bad breakup—the only breakup he’d ever been through was in high school, and they’d only been dating for a week, if you can even call it dating. “Not lately,” Darren decided to say—it was more of a stretch of the truth than a lie.

  “Anyway, let’s not talk about that,” Lexi said.

  “Why don’t you tell me about yourself,” Darren said, and then he was shocked when Lexi really did start telling him about herself. She told him about where she was from—which wasn’t too far away from where Darren was from. She told him about how she wanted to be an artist, but she couldn’t afford it. She told him about how she dreamed of visiting Paris and London one day—but the furthest she’d ever been from home was Winnipeg.

  And then Darren told Lexi about himself—about growing up in Red Deer, and about all the places he wanted to visit one day. And then Lexi asked Darren where he worked. And now he had to lie. “Some investment banking firm downtown,” he said.

  “Which one? That’s what my brother does, too.”

  So Darren looked up a few online and picked one at random. “No way, that’s where my brother works. I bet you know him—his name is Lewis.”

  “I think I know Lewis—he works on a different floor though,” Darren said. And he squirmed as he realized he was no longer having an honest conversation with the girl of his dreams. Now he was just lying, pretending to be someone he wasn’t, just so he could chat for a few minutes with the girl he’d been obsessed with for two whole years.

  “I should be getting to bed,” Lexi said. “We should talk more tomorrow.”

  “I’d really like that,” Darren said.

  Darren went to sleep with dreams of Lexi, and then he woke up with a big smile on his face. Maybe it wasn’t the way he’d always dreamed he would have his first real, deep conversation with Lexi—but at least he’d had a real, deep conversation with Lexi.

  He perked up when she came into the office. He smiled at her and she smiled back. “Hi,” Darren said, and then he couldn’t believe that he’d said it first.

  “Hi Darren,” Lexi said. She actually remembered his name. His heart pounded into his ribcage—she’s actually remembered his name.

  She took a seat at her desk with a smile on her face. She was really glowing today—more than most days. She looked happy, and Darren couldn’t help but feel partially responsible. Was she thinking about Duke? If she was, then in a way she was really thinking about Darren—and no beautiful woman had ever thought about Darren with a smile on her face before.

  Darren went to that sandwich shop again for lunch. Lexi was there when he walked in, already at a little table in the corner. He smiled at her as he walked in, and she smiled back. The seat across from her was empty, and Darren was sure that he was going to take it, and then he was going to talk to her openly and confidently—the way he talked to her as Duke. But as soon as he got his sandwich, his stomach started to turn and his heart started to flutter. He couldn’t do it—he was just too anxious. So he slipped out of the café without even making eye contact with Lexi, and he ate at his office desk.

  But when he was home from work, he didn’t hesitate: he opened up Tinder and he sent Lexi a message. “I hope you had a good day today,” he wrote. And she wrote back within minutes.

  “Much better than yesterday,” she wrote. “In fact, it wasn’t even until this afternoon that I remembered my ex.”

  And the conversation picked up fro
m there. They talked about favourite food, favourite movies, and favourite music. It was midnight when Lexi finally said, “Oh my God, it’s so late. I really need to get to sleep.”

  “Well I can’t wait to talk to you tomorrow,” Darren wrote.

  And then Lexi sent a message that made Darren’s heart skip a beat. “There’s something I need to tell you. I always hate telling people this, but you should know before we talk any more.”

  “What is it?” Darren asked. He had his eyes glued to his phone. He didn’t even want to blink.

  There was a long delay. The messenger told Darren that she was writing a message, but no message was appearing. She was either hesitating or writing an exceptionally long message. But when the message came, it wasn’t long at all—just one simple, bone-chilling sentence.

  “I used to be a man,” she said.

  CHAPTER V

  That single message kept Darren up late. He didn’t reply to it right away—he didn’t know how to reply to it. He tried wrapping his head around the message. Was it a joke? Was she testing him? Or was it real? And if so—how was it possible? How could one of the most beautiful women on the planet actually be a man? She was too petite to be a man—too soft and smooth. And her voice sounded feminine—not at all like a man’s voice. Surely it was just a joke—or a test, to see how serious Darren really was about her. So it was a couple of hours later when Darren finally sent his response. “That’s cool,” he wrote.

  And then he felt stupid for writing it, but he couldn’t take it back. He tried to think of some sort of follow up, so he didn’t sound so foolish, but he wasn’t able to think of anything. So he put his phone away and he tried to get some sleep, but he only managed to squeeze in a couple of hours before his alarm went off. The first thing he did was check his Tinder messages. And he was excited to see a message from Lexi. “You really don’t mind?” she asked.

  He caught himself smiling, but he wasn’t sure why. If it was true, he couldn’t possibly continue to be interested in her. He couldn’t date a man—not that he was going to be dating Lexi anyway. He wasn’t even talking to her as himself, so why did he think he had any sort of chance? If anything, he was ruining his chances by making Lexi think there was some handsome hunk that wanted to be with her, regardless of whether or not she had a long cock between her soft, smooth thighs.

  “I don’t mind,” he wrote back.

  He arrived at work twenty minutes later. Lexi came in just two minutes after him, with a big smile on her face. Her cheeks were red, as if she’d spent the night with the real Duke, having multiple orgasms while somehow also getting the best sleep of her life. Darren smiled at her as she went by. She smiled back, but her mind was clearly elsewhere. Her eyes were glazed over. Even Matt came up to Darren and said, “Think she got laid last night or what?”

  Darren shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t help but notice that Matt wasn’t the only guy staring at her—which wasn’t out of the ordinary. But now that Darren knew her secret, he couldn’t believe her popularity. All of these men were obsessing over another man!

  But was she really a man? Was there any evidence? Darren found himself staring at her, trying to spot an Adam’s apple. She had a bit of a lump on her throat, but some of the other girls in the office had slight lumps as well. And Lexi’s tits did seem slightly stiffer than normal tits, but maybe she just had an especially firm bra. The dress she was wearing was tight, but Darren couldn’t spot any bulges. She seemed to be anatomically correct for a female—but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

  There was only one way to know for sure, and that was to see her naked. So that night, Darren started the process of trying to get Lexi to send a nude photo. He was careful and he didn’t move too quickly. He started with a few compliments and then he started telling her about how long it had been since he’d been with a woman. He was surprised when Lexi said, “I assure you that it’s been longer for me.”

  “But you were dating that guy for so long,” Darren wrote, as Duke

  “How do you know how long I was dating Craig for?” she asked, and then Darren realized she hadn’t said anything about her ex.

  “I just assumed,” Darren wrote back with a stammering heart.

  “Well you’re right. We were together for almost two months, but he never put out. I don’t think he was comfortable with what I had going on downstairs, if you know what I mean.”

  “That’s a shame,” Darren said. And it was the first mention of her apparent masculinity since her first message, the night before. Darren was still determined to obtain some proof.

  “I wish you were here with me, right now,” he wrote. It was a risky move, but it was an important step towards getting a photo.

  “I wish I was there with you, too.”

  “Any chance I can get a picture of you, to keep me company?” Darren wrote. Now his heart was racing, pounding so hard that he was worried it was going to pound right out of his chest.

  “There are lots of pictures on my profile,” she wrote with a little smiley face.

  “I was thinking something more… private,” Darren said.

  Then there was a long silence. Darren regretted sending the message. He started pacing around his living room. He tried to think of a way to take the message back—maybe by saying he was just kidding. But he knew she wouldn’t believe him. And if she deleted the message stream and blocked him, then what? What were the chances of him finding her again with a new fake profile? And what were the chances of him matching with her again? Maybe it was for the best—maybe taking Duke out of the picture was the best thing for Darren. Then there wouldn’t be some big handsome hunk in the mix. Then Darren could make a move—and now he knew so much about her. He could relate to her so much easier now that he knew they had so much in common.

  Darren’s phone buzzed. There was a picture. He opened the picture as his heart skipped another beat. She had her dress pulled down to her waist. The skirt of her dress was still covering her downstairs, but her tits were out, and they were perfect: adorable C-cups with perky nipples. It wasn’t the proof that Darren was looking for, but it was more than enough to put a big, crooked smile on his face. “You’re so beautiful,” he wrote to her.

  “You really think so?” she asked.

  “I know so,” he wrote. And he stared at that photo for the rest of the night. He wanted to make it his background photo. He wanted to print it out and put it on his wall. He wanted to have it tattooed on his body—but he managed to simply keep it saved to a private folder on his phone. He stared at that photo as he went to sleep that night, and then he stared at it in the morning, before going into the shower. He thought about that photo while he jerked himself off in the shower, and then he thought about that photo when Lexi walked into the office that morning, beaming even brighter than usual.

  “Hi Lexi,” Darren said.

  She smiled and nodded at Darren, and then she went to her desk and started daydreaming—probably about Duke. Was it Darren’s dream scenario? No. But at least he got to be personal with Lexi—personal and private and intimate—even though it wasn’t in person, and it wasn’t genuine. Lexi thought she was talking to someone else—someone with a different name and a different body.

  Darren knew he was a catfish. He knew he was a creep and probably a pervert too. He knew he had to find a way to come clean for the sake of his own conscious, even if it meant losing any possible chance at a relationship with Lexi. He had to do the right thing.

  And he kept telling himself that he was going to do the right thing, after another day or two of enjoying his online relationship with her. He was already looking forward to getting home so he could continue their conversation.

  Darren went to the café again for lunch, and again he saw Lexi sitting at a table by herself. “Mind if I sit?” he asked once he had his sandwich.

  “Go ahead,” she said with a big smile.

  Darren took a seat. He was painfully nervous, but he was proud of himself for taking
a baby step. He looked into Lexi’s eyes and said, “You’re glowing.”

  “I’m what?” she said.

  “The last few days, you’ve been glowing,” he said. “You just look—happy. Not that you aren’t usually happy. But now you’re unusually happy.”

  She laughed and her cheeks turned red. “Well I guess I’ve been happier than usual lately.”

  “That’s good,” Darren said. But he didn’t want to ask why—because he didn’t want to hear the truth coming out from her lips. “The turkey sandwich here really is good,” he said. And then he noticed her attention was down at her phone, which she held under the table.

  Darren’s pocket buzzed a moment before Lexi looked up. “What’s that, sorry?”

  “The turkey really is good here,” he said. He looked at his phone under the table. He had a Tinder message. He opened it up slyly and saw that it was from Lexi. “I’m thinking about you,” she wrote. Darren’s gut turned. He felt strangely hurt, even though Lexi had just zoned out from his conversation to talk to him in another conversation. “I just remembered I’ve got a file I need to finish before lunch is over,” Darren said. He stood up and wrapped his sandwich back up. “I’ll see you back at the office.”

  Lexi smiled and nodded, and then Darren left, still with that fluttering in his gut.

  CHAPTER VI

  Friday came along, and it was a special Friday: it was the staff Christmas party. Every year, something hilarious happened at the staff Christmas party that people never forgot. One year, one of floor managers got completely naked and ran around the block. He tried to do a full lap, but the cops nabbed him. Another year, two of the interns were caught having sex under the boss’ desk. And another year, the CEO got so drunk that he bought every employee a new big-screen television. He stumbled into the electronics store across the street—which was just about to close—and he bought every television they had in stock. Darren got a nice 52-inch screen, which was probably worth $1,800 at least.