“You don’t understand!” Danielle repeated, as she paced frantically across her spacious living room. “I can’t do this!”

In frustration, she reached up and combed a hand through her hair. Somehow, that only made it worse. It had been almost a week since Danielle’s impromptu makeover, and she still hadn’t got used to how her hair felt now, short and swept on one side and shaved on the other. The sensation was nothing but a fresh reminder of why, exactly, she was so upset.

“Of course you can,” Grace, her personal assistant, assured her smoothly. “It’s just an interview. You’ve done this dozens of times before. It’s totally gonna be great!”

Danielle just shook her head. She was falling apart. She’d been falling apart all week. Grace was the only thing keeping her together. Her assistant’s tireless efforts were the only reason she hadn’t gone full meltdown. That, and the fact that her fiancé, Cameron, still wasn’t home. One look at him would have snapped Danielle’s porcelain-fragile mental health like a twig.

She’d cheated on him. That was the problem. At the hair salon, something indescribable had come over Danielle, and she’d ended up with the hair stylist bent over the counter, her pussy dripping all over Danielle’s hand. Even now, she couldn’t fathom what she’d been thinking, or why she’d been so turned. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she’d been drugged. Fortunately, that was impossible with Grace keeping a watchful eye out. Unfortunately, just the memory of the way she’d had Katerina squirming under her fingers was enough to make Grace wet.

Right before it made her chest ache with guilt.

Danielle wasn’t naïve. This was Hollywood. Infidelity happened. Danielle wasn’t the first celebrity to risk a discreet fuck with someone and she wouldn’t be the last. Except, Danielle had always intended to be different. She took relationships seriously. When she’d accepted Cameron’s proposal, she’d fully and gladly known that it would mean being faithful to him forever. Now, her promises were all tainted, and her newfound sexuality along with it.

It was more than she could handle.

“They’re going to ask,” Danielle muttered hysterically, still pacing. “They’re going to ask about Cameron. They’re going to ask about our relationship. And I’ll…  I can’t… what do I do?”

“Calm down, babe,” Grace soothed. She was sitting on Danielle’s couch, looking utterly serene. “The interviewer isn’t coming here to talk about that. They just, like, want to talk about your new look!”

Grace was right, even if it was cold comfort. Partly at Grace’s urging, after her haircut, Danielle had taken a series of selfies for social media to show off her dramatic new look. They’d blown up beyond all expectations. Her Instagram had exploded, and a whole new breed of fans had flocked to her in droves - mostly women, who were, apparently, very supportive of other women with alternative looks. Her friend, Dulcinea, seemed to have helped send them her way. Danielle would have to thank her.

Danielle’s newfound popularity had brought her some measure of comfort. Her flagging career could certainly use it. In her line of work, there was no such thing as bad fame. The sudden social media boost had even prompted some professional interest - including the magazine interview that Grace had booked for her that afternoon.

The interview that currently had Danielle in hysterics.

“Yes!” she conceded unhappily. “But they’re still going to ask! Of course they are! We’re a celebrity couple. And besides, he’s more famous than I am! What am I supposed to say?”

“I mean, like, what is there to say?” Grace’s calm bordered on unnatural.

“What…” Danielle simply couldn’t see where her assistant was coming from. “What is there to say? After what I did? I… I don’t know! That’s the problem!” Exhausted, she collapsed in a heap in the armchair opposite where Grace was sitting. “I can’t just pretend that everything is fine, Grace. I can’t.”

She let out a long, weary, miserable sigh.

“But… everything is fine,” Grace insisted. “Babe, I don’t get what you’re so worked up about!”

Danielle looked at her, speechless. “I cheated on my fiancé, Grace!”

Something dangerously close to amusement danced in Grace’s eyes. “No you didn’t,” she replied.

Danielle stared at Grace in utter disbelief. “What are you talking about? You were there!”

She and Grace had been having this argument all week, in various forms. Danielle appreciated that Grace was just trying to help her feel better, but it hadn’t worked. This angle, though, was new to her.

“I know, babe.” The trans woman stretched out languidly across Danielle’s couch. “Trust me, I remember the way you topped Katerina. The whole salon smelled like pussy once you were done. And the look on your face when you called her a good girl? Delicious.”

Danielle’s eyes shot wide at Grace’s lurid words, and she found herself squeezing her thighs together. “T-that’s not the point,” she retorted. “I betrayed Cameron!”

Grace just shrugged. “Eh. Not really.”

For perhaps the first time, Danielle was on the verge of growing angry at her assistant. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Grace seemed to notice her mood, and move swiftly to explain.

“Listen, babe, it’s like this,” Grace said. “Have you ever been to a frat party?”

Danielle shook her head.

“Well, trust me,” Grace continued. “Guys at frat parties love it when their girlfriends make out with each other. They, like, practically beg them to do it. Especially when everybody’s real drunk. It’s just no big deal.”

Danielle frowned. “I don’t think that’s the same,” she replied.

“Why not?”

“For one thing, we went, um, a lot further than just making out.” Once again, the memory of what she’d done to Katerina flashed before Danielle’s eyes, making her blush. It was always sweet, no matter how ashamed of it she was.

“Eh.” Grace shrugged, a crafty smirk on her face. “Maybe. Maybe not. But, like, how much does that really matter? You were just letting off some steam. Most guys would think it was hot.”

Danielle’s frown deepened. “It matters to me,” she said, in a warning tone.

Grace did not heed the warning. Instead, she rolled her eyes, exasperated, and rose to her feet. “Wow, babe. You’re way too strung up about this. I think you just need to, like, take it easy for a bit.”

Something about the way she was behaving made Danielle deeply uncomfortable, especially as she started to circle around the celebrity, still sitting on her armchair. “What are you-”

“Shh,” Grace urged her, making her voice soft as she rested her hands on Danielle’s shoulders. “You just gotta relax. Let me work my magic on you, m’kay?”

Danielle gasped as Grace started applying pressure, massaging her shoulders in that way, by now, was incredibly familiar. The effect was electrifying. Eagerly and automatically, her body started to relax and sag.

On this occasion, though, it wasn’t welcome.

“N-not right now, Grace.” Danielle tried to sound firm, but she could already feel her strength being sapped away. “I need to figure this out.”

“Don’t be silly.” Grace giggled. “This is my job, remember?”

“I said… um… um…” Danielle’s eyelids were already starting to droop. Even if it was against her will, she felt far, far more relaxed than she had been ten seconds ago. The memory of what she’d been so worked up about was already slipping away. “Um… stop?”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Grace cooed. “You trust me, remember?” Danielle nodded reflexively. “All you gotta do is, like, let me take care of you, babe. Just like you let me take care of everything else.”

Danielle let out a low whine of protest. What Grace was doing to her was wrong - or at least, she thought it was. It had to be, didn’t it? All of her certainly from moments ago was dissolving into fog and fuzz. She still remembered wanting Grace to stop, but she couldn’t so much as lift a hand to throw her off. She felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

“There, there. Isn’t that better?” Grace’s hands were merciless. When she was massaging Danielle like that, the celebrity simply couldn’t think. She nodded dully. “Of course it is,” Grace told her. “You don’t want to be upset about this, do you? You want to be nice, and happy, and relaxed.”

“I… d-d-don’t…” Danielle slurred. From behind her, she heard Grace giggle, and then felt one of her hands lift away from her shoulder, instead pushing against the back of her head, making the helpless Danielle nod.

“Good!” Grace laughed, amused with herself. “That’s right, babe. Way better to be all happy and chilled out - like this! That’s why you trust me. That’s why you, like, need me.”

“N-n-need…?”

Need to wake up. That was what Danielle was trying to make herself say. What she was trying to make herself think. But even her thoughts were treacherous, twisting themselves around in knots to match Grace’s words. She could feel her assistant’s hypnotic presence already within her as much as she could feel it intruding on her mind from without.

“Need me,” Grace finished. “You got it! You need me. You need your assistant. See how much happier you are now?”

“N-no.”

Danielle’s feeble, whiny protest was made all the more laughable by the dumb, dull, blissed-out smile starting to form on her face. She couldn’t help it. It was only natural, when she was this relaxed. Her body couldn’t resist Grace, and it was taking her mind with it.

“Poor, confused Danielle,” Grace mocked. “You can be so, like, traditional about these things! It’s kinda cool, actually. Buuuuut… it super doesn’t work for me. I’m gonna have to fix it.”

“W-w-what are youuuu,” Danielle slurred. “D-doing to me?”

She could hear the dopey smile in her own voice. It was awful. But she was still totally relaxed.

“Hush now,” Grace soothed. “You’re not gonna remember any of this, babe. Just go deeper, deeper, deeper. You remember deeper, don’t you? You remember how good it feels to go deeper for me.”

“D… deeper,” Danielle repeated helplessly, the words drawn out of her by the many hours of hypnotic mantras she’d been listening to.

“That’s right,” Grace said, still massaging Danielle. “Nice and deep and happy.

“N… nnice.” Danielle’s thoughts were as thick as treacle.

“See?” Grace giggled. “It’s just nicer to be nice, y’know? Nice and relaxed like this. Let me make it easy for you, babe. Do you wanna be all worked up like before? Or do you wanna be relaxed, like this?”

“Rel… relaxed,” Danielle mumbled. She didn’t have the willpower to wish for anything else.

“That’s right!” Grace sounded like a patronizing teacher praising a slow student. “That’s why you just gotta, like, listen to me, and let me explain why everyone’s just fine.”

Danielle just nodded. It was all she was capable of.

“See, it’s just like I was telling you,” Grace went on. “Guys love it when girls make out. Hell, they love lesbian porn, too. You ever notice that? Like, even when the girls they’re watching don’t like guys at all, they’re totally into it.”

Danielle nodded. It was true.

“I bet your boyfriend wouldn’t mind, even if he knew what you’d done. Don’t you think?”

Danielle didn’t respond.

“You do,” Grace told her. “You do think.”

Now, Danielle nodded. It should have been a difficult pill to swallow, but it wasn’t. Her mind was wide open.

“I guess that’s kinda ironic,” Grace giggled to herself. “It’s not like you’re doing a whole lot of thinking right now, right? Anyway, since your boyfriend wouldn’t mind, there’s no reason to tell him.”

“No reason to tell,” Danielle echoed dully.

“So, you’re not gonna tell him.”

“I’m not going to tell him.”

“Good.” From the sound of her voice, Danielle could tell Grace was grinning from ear to ear. “You see, when it’s with girls, guys don’t mind. But if you cheated, they’d mind. So, doing things with girls doesn’t count. It isn’t cheating.”

As flimsy as that logic was, it was already sinking into Danielle’s mind. “With girls… doesn’t count?” she repeated, confused.

“That’s right!” Grace told her, her hands massaging those words into Danielle’s body. “With girls, it doesn’t count.

“With girls, it doesn’t count.”

“Sex with guys and sex with girls is just, like, totally separate,” Grace continued. “Sex with guys would be cheating, so you wouldn’t want to do that. But sex with girls? That’s fine. Sex with girls isn’t cheating.”

“Sex with girls isn’t cheating,” Danielle said, her own voice sounding so very distant. The more Grace talked, the more right her words felt. A lot more right than Danielle’s previous convictions.

“Right!” Grace agreed happily. “And since sex with girls isn’t cheating, you have sex with girls as much as you want.”

“I… I can have sex with girls as much as I want.” This time, it wasn’t hesitation that made the words catch in Danielle’s throat, but eagerness.

“And, babe, you love to have sex with girls. You love to top girls. You love to dominate girls.”

Grace needn’t have reminded her. Not an hour went by without Danielle daydreaming about it guiltily. And one look at her gorgeous personal assistant always brought those fantasies to the forefront of her mind.

“There! Much better.” Grace sounded incredibly satisfied with her own hypnotic handiwork. As she fell silent for a few moments, nothing rushed in to fill the void within Danielle’s mind. She was completely blank; putty in her assistant’s hands. “Hmm… now, maybe we should talk about your interview a little. I’ve been thinking: I’m not sure ‘Danielle’ really suits you anymore.”

Danielle shivered. It was as if some part of her subconscious knew that she was about to lose something precious - but was helpless to keep hold of it.

“How do you feel about ‘Dani’?”

***

“Ms Caraway, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us this afternoon,” began Christine D’Amelio, the reporter for Vanita magazine. “I think our readers are going to be very interested in hearing all about your new look.”

“Sure,” Dani replied, smiling politely.

It was funny - she could remember that, only that morning, the mere thought of the interview had left her tearing her hair out. Now, she felt perfectly calm and confident. She couldn’t even remember what she’d been worked up over. All she remembered was that one massage from Grace had made everything right again.

Where would she have been, without her assistant?

The two of them were carrying out the interview in Dani’s home, and Dani had taken the opportunity to show off her new style to its fullest. Thanks to some deliveries, courtesy of Grace, she had plenty of fresh options in her wardrobe. That afternoon, she’d opted for something stark, striking, and minimalist - some neat, white pants and some snappy shoes, paired with a black, short-sleeved top, slightly cropped and arranged carefully and teasingly to show off the mesh insert she was wearing underneath. She’d been much less sparing with her jewelry - she was wearing a whole set of chain necklaces, including one with a padlock, and her fingers were dripping with heavy rings. The gold-and-diamond engagement ring Cameron had bought for her looked a little out of place amongst the rest.

The only splash of color in Dani’s outfit was her dark, crimson lipstick, set off nicely by her heavy, carefully messy-looking eyeshadow. All in all, along with her new, side-shave hair style, it was a look intended to project effortless confidence in a way Dani had never been able to manage before. The looks her interviewer was flashing her let her know that it was working.

Christine D’Amelio was pretty - unsurprisingly, given her job as a writer for a celebrity fashion magazine. She was younger than Dani, and her bright, wavy, blonde hair along with her subtle makeup made her look like an all-American high school starlet, just moved to the big city. She was dressed professionally, but not too professionally, in a mint cardigan over a pale, modest dress. She had an easy, friendly demeanor that was almost certainly calculated to get people talking, but Dani was sure she could detect a hint of genuine, flirty interest behind all that  performance.

It made her very, very glad to have a pretty young thing like Christine sitting across from her on her couch.

“One last thing, now that we’re ready to get started,” Christine said. She was holding up her phone, ready to take notes. “You mind if I call you ‘Danielle’? ‘Ms Caraway’ is so…”

“Go ahead,” Dani replied lightly. “But I’d prefer it if you called me ‘Dani’.”

“Oh?” Immediately, Christine started tapping. “I’ve never heard anyone call you that before. In fact, I remember a piece on you last year mentioning that you disliked the nickname. Has that changed?”

Dani was hit with a strange, unpleasant kind of deja vu, leaving her momentarily nauseous and dizzy. She couldn’t remember what Christine was referring to, and yet it sounded so familiar. But it couldn’t be right, could it? After a moment, she managed to brush past the feeling.

“I guess I was still processing,” she replied smoothly. “I just wasn’t ready yet.”

“I see.” Christine was taking eager notes. “So, does that have anything to do with your new look?”

Dani laughed. “Right to the point, huh?”

Christine smiled back at her. “Of course! It’s been getting quite a bit of attention. Tell us, did something inspire you to get a makeover?”

“You know how it is.” Dani was leaning back, relaxed, as she let her smile tease the big story. “Sometimes, you just need a big change. You need your style to catch up with how you’re feeling.”

“Sounds like there’s been quite a few changes in your life,” Christine replied. “Something related to your engagement with Cameron Haines?”

Dani just laughed. “Not at all.”

“Then what?” Christine pressed. “Surely you’re not gonna leave us all guessing,” she said playfully. “There have been all kinds of rumors.”

“Really?” The corners of Dani’s mouth turned upwards. “Like what?”

“Some people think it’s just for the wedding,” Christine told her. “Some people think it’s a statement, or that you and Cameron aren’t doing so great. Some people even think you’re gay.”

At that, Dani couldn’t help but smirk. “And what do you think of my look, Christine?”

The interviewer raised an eyebrow, surprised by the question, but answered: “I think it looks great.”

“Thank you.” Dani rewarded her with a winning smile and a knowing wink. “Well, I guess not all of those people are exactly wrong. As you suggested, a lot of things have been changing for me. I’ve recently discovered that I’m attracted to women.”

Now, Christine looked even more surprised - and pleased. She had a genuine celebrity coming-out on her hands. She was tapping furiously at her phone. “Wow, congratulations! Does that mean you’re bi, or…?”

Dani thought about saying ‘yes’, but instead she replied with: “I think I’m not quite ready for labels, yet. ‘Bi’ doesn’t feel like the right fit.”

“Sure thing.” Tap, tap, tap. “This is the first you’ve said of this publicly, but you must have told some people in your private life - your fiancé, for example. Does everybody know?”

“I’ve told a few people.” Dani waved a hand vaguely. Christine’s question prompted her to realize that she hadn’t even told Cameron yet. In fact, she hadn’t really intended to come out to a magazine at all. Somehow, though, that didn’t trouble her. “But it’s time for the world to know. This is me.”

“That’s amazing!” Christine said. “I’m sure a lot of people will be inspired by your confidence and pride. But it must be very strange to be coming to terms with this at this point in your life - why don’t you tell us about that?”

Dani tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re engaged,” Christine replied. “Which means, presumably, you’re not going to change to act on any of the feelings you’ve been discovering. What does that mean for you?”

Amusement danced in Dani’s eyes. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”

Christine shot Dani a look. She seemed breathlessly excited; obviously, this was much more of a story than she’d anticipated. “What do you mean, Dani?”

“Well…” Dani paused, savoring the younger woman’s visible anticipation. “Have you ever kissed a girl, Christine?”

Christine’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates at the unexpectedly personal question. She didn’t reply, but the look on her face was all the answer Dani needed.

“It’s different, right?” Dani didn’t have as much experience as she was pretending, but she somehow felt sure that what she was saying was the truth. “Girls are soft, but passionate. Fierce. You fit together with them so neatly and delicately, don’t you? Wrapped up in each other’s arms, making out. Girls can be so eager to please, when you get them in the right mood. Nothing like men at all. It’s wonderful.”

“That’s…” Christine’s note-taking was becoming haphazard.

“So,” Dani explained. “If you’re dating a guy and you kiss another girl, it’s not really cheating, is it? It’s… something else. Women should be able to kiss other women whenever they want, as much as they want.”

“I… see.” Christine looked bewildered and enthralled in equal measure. “That’s, um, very… progressive?”

“Let me put it another way,” Dani said. “Have you ever been to a frat party, Christine?”

Christine nodded.

“Then I’m sure you know that frat guys love it when their girlfriends make out.” Those words seemed oddly familiar to Dani, like she was repeating something, but she was almost certain she’d never heard them before. “Especially when everybody is really drunk. They practically beg them to do it. A little intimacy between girls is such a natural thing. Everyone loves it.”

Tap, tap. “So you’re saying Cameron enjoys your, ah, experimentation?” Christine asked.

Dani shrugged. “I’m saying he would, if he knew. So what’s the harm?”

“Wow,” Christine breathed. “Dani, are you sure you want that to be on record?”

“I’m sure I can trust you to decide what belongs in your article,” Dani replied smoothly. “It seems a little off-topic, doesn’t it? After all, you came here to talk about my new look. Instead, you seem much, much more interested in what I do with other girls.”

Christine turned scarlet. “I… I didn’t…”

“Oh, it’s OK. I’m not offended.” Dani was enjoying how easy it was, teasing Christine and guiding the conversation exactly where she wanted it to go. She felt like a cat toying with a mouse. “And I don’t mind talking about it at all - not to you, anyway. I can see that you get what I’m talking about. You’re a bit of a kindred spirit, Christine.”

“Am I?” Christine replied nervously.

“Of course.” Dani’s eyes flashed with lust. “You said you’d kissed girls before, after all.”

Christine’s blush deepened still further. “We… um… perhaps we should get back on topic,” she stuttered.

“No, I don’t think so,” Dani said firmly. Christine looked at her, surprised. Dani could tell she was ready for a firmer hand. “Since you’re so curious, I think we should take this upstairs.”

“Upstairs?”

“My bedroom is upstairs.”

Dani’s tone left no doubt regarding what she was proposing. Christine looked like a deer in headlights and shook her head, but when Dani stood up and reached for her hand, she took it and let the celebrity guide her to her feet.

“I… I’ve never really done this before,” Christine said quietly, as Dani folded the younger girl into her arms. “I have a boyfriend.”

Dani silenced her with a kiss.

“That’s OK,” she told the interviewer. “It’s not cheating. With girls, it doesn’t count.”