The Perfect House

Chapter 19: Florina's progress

Florina was now quite good friends with Mrs Stein and had even been inside her house a few times for a cup of tea. She no longer held any fears that the woman would penetrate her disguise.

And as Florian, he was getting a bit slapdash with his 'gate changes'. The other people who used the back gate seemed to pay little attention to him/her and he rarely saw them around the campus. So what if they were a bit confused about him?

It hadn't taken long before he gave up changing back and forth at the house and simply remained as Florina. He reasoned that not only was it easier, it was also safer in case Mrs Stein or any of the neighbours spotted him through a window or something. He was visiting home regularly and, of course, dressed as Florina to go to and from. He hardly thought about it, but very quickly he gave up changing there as well and stayed as Florina for the duration of the visit; nobody seemed to mind.
The others at the uni house were now calling him Flori all the time and they were tending to treat him more and more as a girl; it was a bit of a joke at first, but had come to seem pretty much normal.

But what Florian did pick up on, was that quite a few people at the uni seemed to think that he was a girl - instances such as, he and Macy being invited to play in the women's softball comp; boys chatting them up on more than one occasion - yet they knew that his name was Florian, what was going on?

He began to have some suspicions. A bit of research confirmed those suspicions: Florian was an unusual name and was originally a boy's name, but it seemed that it was now starting to be used for both boys and girls.

"I can't take a trick, Macy," he complained when he told his friend about it.

"You worry too much, love. Anyway, my preference is 'Florina'."

"Oh, thanks a lot. I'm not sure you're helping."

Macy just gave him a sweet smile.

Adele was showing signs of being increasingly downcast. Something seemed to be seriously troubling her. Halfway through the second semester, Flori, who had a pretty shrewd idea of what was happening, asked Macy about it. They were sitting in one of the library cubbyholes - soundproofed to allow mutual study and discussion.

Macy didn't often speak of personal matters and was very reticent about her own feelings. Instead of responding to Flori's inquiry, she just sat there chewing her lip.

Flori waited and then sighed, "You and Adele aren't together anymore, are you?"

"No," Macy shook her head, "in reality, it only lasted a few months."

"Right," Florian acknowledged slowly, but with a tone of expectation.

Macy went quiet for a few moments, then, "I'm lousy at talking about personal stuff, Flori. You know what I'm like: 'Let's keep everything light-hearted and giggly'."

The ensuing silence was broken by Flori, "Okay, but maybe if we talk, we can work out some way of helping Adele . . . and you."

"Florian/Florina, I've never met anybody quite like you before, you're sort of . . . I don't know, like someone whom I feel that I can trust. You're . . . oh hell. Come on, let's try it. Hold my hand will you please, babe."