It's funny about my relationship with Mike at that time. I mean he was clearly fascinated by me as Denise. Yet he also was dating "real" girls. And in fact, our "dates" remained very innocent, chaste affairs. He and I were both treading very lightly at this point, and I think both of us were scared to death at the implications of our continuing relationship. As time passed, Mike gradually came to feel comfortable doing things like holding my hand in public. This, he explained to me, was so we would make a more convincing couple. I convinced myself that this was the case.
But it was clear that, as time passed and we each got more comfortable in our roles, that Mike was relating more and more to me as a girl, and I was relating to him the way a girl relates to a boy. It was a subtle progression, and at the time, I was pretty well in denial about it, but it was clearly so.