Tug of War 66.8

"Martin?!" Timothy cried out, once again stunned. It seemed like the surprises would never come to an end that night.

Only then Martin noticed Timothy, and his eyes opened wide as his jaw dropped in amazement. "Wow!" he exclaimed, completely dazed. "You look... wow!"

"Where have you been, Martin?" Timothy asked, a little impatient. "I spent the whole week trying to talk to you!"

"Where have I been? I don't even know anymore... Tiff, you look so gorgeous that I'm finding it hard to think about anything else right now."

"Don't be silly, Martin!" Timothy said, although he blushed one more time after hearing his friend's compliment. "Just tell me what's going on! Wait... why are you carrying a guitar case?"

"Am I? Oh, yeah, I see! Well, this is the gift I've been mentioning for so long. Maybe I should have wrapped it in gift-wrapping paper or something?" He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh, well, I guess it's too late now. But open it. Let me know what you think!"

When Timothy did so, he had yet another big shock. "Wait... Oh my gosh, Martin, it looks exactly like my old guitar..."

"Good, 'cause this is exactly what it is!"

"My guitar?! Is this my guitar? Like, for real? Gee, how is that even possible?"

"Months ago, I saw it in the window of a musical instrument shop downtown and I recognized it right away. How couldn't I, right? You used to carry this guitar everywhere. I didn't understand why it was there, though. I knew you had come out as a trans girl, but I didn't believe you would want to get rid of your guitar, as it had always been so dear to you. I thought you might have sold this along with your other guy's stuff by mistake; or maybe you truly intended to sell this, but would regret it later."

"In any case" Martin continued. "I thought it was better to keep the guitar with me, even if it was just as a remembrance of you. We weren't talking to each other at the time, you know, and I didn't know if you'd ever want to be my friend again... So, yeah, that's it. If you really don't want the guitar anymore, that's okay. I can understand" Martin finished, scratching his head, as he considered for the first time that it might have been a bad idea to give it to his friend, since the guitar could bring back bad memories of the time that Tiffany had been forced to live as a guy.

However, before he realized what was going on, Tiffany threw herself into his arms and kissed his face, sobbing. "Oh, Martin... I swear this totally is the best gift I have ever received! You have no idea how much I missed my guitar... like, every single day! Gosh, you are the best friend a girl could ask for!"

A little surprised but a lot pleased by his friend's reaction, Martin hugged the girl back, while everyone around watched the scene not knowing how to react to what they were seeing. "But wait a minute..." the feminized guy said suddenly. "It still doesn't explain why you were missing in the past few days."

"Well, after I learned to play the guitar, I..."

"Wait a minute, Mister! What do you mean by 'after I learned to play the guitar'? I tried to teach you in the past, but you never had the patience to practice – which was kinda surprising, considering you usually have the patience to do anything, even watch the grass grow up!"

"Well, I thought it would be a good idea. I believe any instrument gets sad if no one plays them for a long period of time. And learning it was easy. I just had to get in touch with the guitar soul and then..."

"Martin!"

"Fine! Some tutorials on YouTube helped as well. But as I was saying, after I learned the basics, I started writing a song – just for fun, you know – and that was when a tragedy happened... I dropped the guitar one day, and it got hurt, with an ugly crack in the neck..."

"What?! Did you break my guitar?" Timothy cried out, frantically looking for the crack. "Where is it? I can't see anything!"

"That's what I'm trying to say. After the accident, I did some research and found out that the best luthier around lived in a small town across the state. I traveled up there earlier in the week to get the guitar fixed. The problem was that the man was very busy when I arrived, so I had to wait a few days until he had some free time. That's why I came back only today."

"Let me see if I got it right, okay? Are you saying that you, like, crossed the entire state just to get my guitar fixed?"

"I had broken this, hadn't I? It was the least I could do. I know there are luthiers who live closer, but none of them are as good as Mr. Dunlap from what I read. I have to say he did an incredible job, don’t you think?"

"I don't know what to say, Martin. You keep surprising me, and... You truly are an amazing guy. Thank you... thank you so much! You have no idea how much all this means to me!" Tiffany cried out, hugging Martin again. And while she was there, feeling her delicate body being embraced by Martin's strong arms, a crazy, absurd idea crossed her mind...

...an idea that could seal her fate forever.

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Hey, guys!

I'm going to post the conclusion of "A Special Deal For You" tomorrow! Stay tuned hehe :-)