How the Hell Did We Get Here

 As I step out of the car, I smooth my hands over my dress, feeling the soft curve of my growing belly beneath the fabric. I still can’t believe this is my life. Three months ago, I wasn’t even a woman—let alone pregnant. Now, here I am, walking into a café to meet Daniel, my best friend since childhood, the father of the baby growing inside me. I think back to that fateful night, the bet, and everything that came after. How the hell did we get here?

Daniel and I have always been close—more like brothers than friends—until, well, everything changed. And all because of that stupid bet. It seemed so harmless at the time. We’d been drinking, the reunion was coming up, and we were feeling nostalgic and competitive, just like always. That’s when we decided to raise the stakes. Whoever lost at our old favorite video game would have to use this new body-altering app to go to the reunion as the other person’s girlfriend. It was supposed to be a joke.

But then I lost. And I had to hold up my end of the bargain.

I remember how I laughed at first, how ridiculous it sounded—me, a girlfriend? But when I opened the app and put in the settings, everything changed so fast. One minute I was me, the next... I wasn’t. My reflection in the mirror was shocking: long hair, smooth skin, curves where there had never been any before. My jaw dropped. I remember touching my chest, feeling the weight there, my hands gliding down to hips that weren’t mine—except they were now.

When Daniel saw me for the first time, he lost it. He doubled over in laughter, saying something about how I made a “pretty good-looking chick.” And then he put his arm around my waist like it was nothing. The transformation felt like a joke in the beginning—just a temporary change to get through the night. But the way Daniel’s hand lingered on the small of my back, the way people looked at me as we walked into the reunion—it was unsettling.

I couldn’t help but feel... different. Sure, it was a disguise, but the disguise felt real. I could feel the stares, the way people responded to me as this new person. And Daniel, always close by, playing the part of the perfect boyfriend—well, he wasn’t helping. Somewhere between the shots, the laughter, and the familiarity of old friends, the air between us shifted. It became something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Something intimate.

By the time we were both several drinks deep, my head was spinning. Not from the alcohol, but from this new sensation—this strange desire I couldn’t shake. I kept looking at Daniel, wondering what it would feel like to kiss him, touch him—as a woman. I’d joked about it before, but now, curiosity burned through me. I wasn’t just curious about being a woman; I wanted to know what it would be like to feel like one in bed.

I didn’t think. I acted.

It started with a kiss. I leaned in and kissed him, laughing as I did it. But the moment our lips touched, everything stopped being funny. It was electric, this immediate jolt of something new. Daniel hesitated, pulling back slightly, his brow furrowing in confusion.

“What are you doing?” he asked, half-laughing, half-worried.

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I just... I wanted to try.”

He blinked, staring at me, his eyes searching my face for something—maybe a punchline. But I wasn’t laughing. I kissed him again, harder this time, and after a second, he kissed me back.

That night, things escalated faster than either of us could process. I wasn’t thinking straight—hell, neither of us were. By the time we made it back to his apartment, I had no intention of stopping. I felt like I was floating, caught between the weirdness of the situation and a burning desire to know what came next.

We barely spoke as we stumbled into his bedroom, my hands trembling with anticipation and nerves. His hands were all over me, but it felt different. As a woman, every touch sent shivers through me—my skin felt more sensitive, my body more responsive. When he kissed my neck, I moaned without even thinking, and the sound that came out wasn’t my voice—it was this soft, feminine sound that shocked me. But I didn’t hate it.

We undressed in a tangle of limbs, the whole thing feeling surreal. When Daniel touched me, I felt exposed in a way I never had before. Every caress felt magnified—every sensation more intense than anything I’d experienced as a man. When he entered me, I gasped at how overwhelming it was. It wasn’t just the physical act; it was the vulnerability, the intimacy. I felt everything. My body reacted on its own, arching into him, and for the first time in my life, I understood what it meant to lose yourself in the moment.

Afterward, we lay there in silence, both of us too stunned to speak. I stared at the ceiling, feeling both exhilarated and terrified. What had I done? What did this mean for us?

The next morning, I tried to shake off the strangeness of it all. I opened the app, expecting to change back, but... nothing. Panic gripped me as I realized the app wasn’t working. I was stuck. I didn’t know why, or for how long, but I couldn’t go back to being my old self. I didn’t tell Daniel, though. I couldn’t. What would I even say? “Hey, remember how we slept together after I turned into a woman? Oh, and by the way, I can’t change back.”

I avoided him for weeks after that, too freaked out by what had happened and trying to figure out what was going on with the app. But then the nausea started, along with a strange heaviness in my body. My boobs were sore, and I felt constantly tired. At first, I chalked it up to stress, or maybe some weird side effect of the app malfunctioning. But when my period didn’t come—and yes, I had to deal with that too—it finally hit me.

I was pregnant.

The realization felt like a sucker punch. There was no denying it. The symptoms were too clear, and when I finally took a pregnancy test, the little pink plus sign confirmed it. I sat in the bathroom for what felt like hours, staring at the test, my mind racing. How the hell was I supposed to handle this? I was still trying to accept that I was stuck in a woman’s body, and now I was carrying a child—Daniel’s child.

For the first few weeks, I did everything I could to hide it. I wore loose clothes, avoided people, especially Daniel. I didn’t want to face the reality of what was happening inside me. I wasn’t ready to accept that I was pregnant—or that I was going to stay a woman. But eventually, my body started changing. The little bump in my belly grew, and soon I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I’d stand in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection, trying to understand how I had gone from being a man to a pregnant woman in just a few months.

And then, one day, I stopped hating what I saw. The bump wasn’t just a reminder of how everything had gone wrong. It was a sign of life, a sign of change. I wasn’t the person I used to be, and slowly, I started accepting that. I even started to feel... comfortable in this body. The way my curves felt, the way my clothes hugged me—it wasn’t so bad.

Now, walking into the café to meet Daniel, I feel more confident than I have in months. I’m ready to tell him the truth.

I spot him sitting at our usual table, looking at his phone. He hasn’t noticed me yet. As I walk closer, his eyes finally lift, and the moment he sees me, his expression changes. His eyes widen, his gaze dropping immediately to the bump that’s clearly visible beneath my dress.

“Wait... what...?” he stammers, standing up slowly, his face a mix of confusion and shock. “Are you...?”

“Pregnant,” I say, my voice surprisingly steady. “Yeah. I’m pregnant.”

His mouth opens and closes as he tries to process what I’ve just said. “But... how... I mean, you were...”

I take a deep breath. “It’s yours, Daniel. From that night. After the reunion.”

He just stares at me, completely bewildered. “But I thought you’d—didn’t you—weren’t you supposed to change back?”

“I couldn’t,” I admit, feeling a lump form in my throat. “The app didn’t work. I tried, but... I’ve been stuck like this ever since. And now, I’m pregnant.”

Daniel runs a hand through his hair, looking like he’s just been hit by a truck. “So... you’re telling me you’re... a woman now? And you’re carrying my baby?”

I nod, biting my lip. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

He doesn’t speak for what feels like an eternity, just standing there, staring at me in disbelief. I can see the wheels turning in his head, the way he’s trying to process everything. But then, to my surprise, he steps forward, his hand reaching out cautiously toward my belly. His fingers brush against the curve, and I feel a shiver run through me at the contact. “We’ll figure this out,” he says, his voice quiet but steady. “We’ll make it work, right? Together?”

I nod, my eyes filling with tears. “Yeah. We’ll try.”

From that moment on, we started trying to figure it out together. It wasn’t easy, and there were a lot of things we still didn’t know. But for the first time, I wasn’t alone in this. Daniel was by my side, and we were in it together. Slowly, I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay. Because now, I wasn’t just a woman. I wasn’t just pregnant. I was something more. I was becoming someone I never expected to be—a mother, and someone Daniel cared for more than either of us had planned.