DetectiveRed

  I wanted to tell him that I wasn't going to make him swap. That I cared about him and if it was making him uncomfortable and we could do it another day. I didn't want him feeling awful in my body, but it doesn't seem to matter because I'm in the passenger seat.

  "Hey, warn me next time!" he yelps. His hand is on my arm. Is skin contact enough to do it now?

  "I was about to say you don't have to come in with me!”

  "We didn't even bang our heads together."

  "Percy, I've put you through a lot today. We don't have to do this."

  "Please. You wanted this to happen.”

  "I was serious when I asked if you wanted to go home. The offer is still open." His owlish brown eyes widen as I talk. "I didn't want this. I would have bonked our heads if I did," I argue. How was I meant to know we would swap? I just wanted him to be okay.

  I thought she’d be panicking more, but she seems calm. Considering who I’m talking about though? It could be a front. Another wall I’d have to break down to get to the bottom of this. Swapping has made this ten times harder.

  "Then we might be wrong about the cause."

  "We should change back." Forcing the day to continue like this is selfish anyway.

  "Will that work?"

  "It should. If it's contact. Before I try, though, do you feel dizzy or sick?" I can argue the experiment is done if he starts throwing a pity party about how I'm forcing him to be here.

  "No, why?"

  "Nothing. Touch me on my shoulder." Noted. That feeling isn’t a physical thing.

  His hand rests on my arm, but nothing happens. I ask him to hit me and we stay put. I ask him to headbutt me and zilch. He's going to panic. Are we stuck?

  "Maybe it's got a reset time," he suggests, still calm. He couldn’t even sit still before.

  "Hopefully. We can wait and see if we can swap back in five minutes."

  "We can do the shopping in that time, I guess."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Let's get it over with."

  “You really don’t have to, we can just wait, or go driving.”

  “Look, you wanted to experiment–" he starts. “Experiment is done, I have the information I need.” I hold my hands up like I've got nothing to hide.

  “Sure you do.” He rolls his eyes. “You asked me to do this and if I don’t, you’ll force me to do it ter.”

  He’s being dramatic, but there’s no point in arguing when he’s not going to believe me. If he freaks out, I’ll get him out. I’ll point him towards comfortable clothes. It’ll be fine.

  We hop out of the car and I look down at my former body. A couple more changes. For one, I think he's slightly taller, maybe the change has lost some of its novelty. More subtly, his eyeshes might be longer. If it weren't my body, I wouldn't notice it, and if the changes were bad, maybe I'd be worried. It's not he’s making my chest bigger.

  "Hi, anything in particur we are looking for?" a worker greets us as we walk through the door. Towering over other people is going to take more getting used to than most other parts of this experience. How is Percy handling being shorter?

  He's behind me, holding on to his jacket. Presumably not well, then.

  "My friend and I are just browsing."

  "Okay, mate, upstairs is men’s and unisex cuts. Downstairs are dresses, knits, and jackets. Call me if you need anything." They walk away and Percy moves out from behind me.

  "Why do they try to talk to you?" he grumbles, still holding onto the jacket. Goodness, it was cute seeing him like this. I should be worried but he (she?) doesn't actually seem more stressed than he was earlier.

  "It’s so they can help.”

  "It really doesn’t, though. What are you looking for?" I need to switch to thinking of her as Kay, or I'll slip up and call her Percy in front of the workers watching the store. Not like it's hard when she's like this.

  "I like button-ups and cute overalls. When I'm allowed to wear them."

  "Cute overalls are a thing?"

  "Yeah. They have patterns and stuff on them." She seems so out of the loop. I guess not talking to people IRL will do that.

  "So you aren't interested in dresses or anything." Her voice gets a little more quiet. Does she want to wear girls' clothes? I mean, it is the current year. I'm not going to judge her. Still, it doesn't match up with my idea of Percy at all. Even the cute, flustered Percy. She was so grumpy about this earlier and now she's giving me adorably sad puppy eyes that I know for a fact I could not pull off. “If you're wanting to mess with me…”

  "Well, choose what you think looks good, Kay, you'll be the one wearing it," I say loud enough for the employees to hear. "What do you think would look--"

  I don't even finish the sentence before she starts digging through the clothes racks. She is such a liar.

  "Kay?" She looks up from her foraging. The reaction was instant. You would think this has been her name her whole life. For now, I’ll see her as a girl. It’s important for the ‘experiment’ and it means I won’t mess up in front of other people.

  "What?"

  I don't think she's noticed that she's smiling, her ft expression lost between options of dresses and jackets and skirts. When she sees me looking at her, though, she looks away, seemingly aware that she isn't giving off the death gre she loves to try using.

  "Nothing. Just remember you're a size sixteen."

  "Oh, thanks." She blushes.

  Nothing she's looking at is my style at all, but seeing her feeling anything positive makes me forget that it's my body and my money she's spending. She wanders between the aisles and doesn't even gnce upstairs once. The entire day she’s been frowning, but now she seems alive.

  I take a seat on the stairs. If she's the one who made this happen, calling her out on it might embarrass her, and if that happens, I won’t be able to figure out what is going on. If I act like a boyfriend in a teen drama and stay put, she can do what she likes, and I can figure out why she likes it.

  So far, I've confirmed a couple of things about her. Kay, even in this body, isn't going to intentionally hurt somebody. She's shown more concern about her - my - body than this one. Even when bonking to swap, she held back. She doesn't want to lose something by swapping lives, but she doesn't hate being in my body. Her adorable smile and wanting to try on all these clothes confirms that. Hopefully, by encouraging her, she can start trusting me? Is that fair? Whatever happens, she's gotta know I'm not able to use this against her.

  Maxamillion: Out with Percy today. He took this picture of me. Cute right. [Processing attachment]

  Kait: No hard feelings then?

  Maxamillion: He's a big softie.

  "What do you think?" I look up from my phone. The first thing I notice is her fashion sense is awful. The colours csh horribly. Her eyes and hair do not work with the amount of mismatched bcks, greys and navy blues. The second thing is she doesn't look like me. She must have messed with her hair in the mirror or something because it frames her face differently. Her cheekbones are definitely higher than mine.

  "Kay, you look like a clown." She deftes a little bit and looks down at the floor. Any guy worth a damn would be ashamed of making a girl look that sad, and as such a pit forms in my stomach. “Hold on, I’m coming over.”

  The staff behind the counter snicker as I say that and I shoot them a gre. They are not making her feel worse than I have. Her embarrassment is already palpable. I squeeze through the racks of clothing; my new body is huge, and nothing emphasises that more than when I look down at the adorable fashion disaster in front of me.

  "So you think I look bad,” she says quietly, staring at the floor. It’s like I’m in a teen drama, and she’s the sweet girl next door. I would call it an act if it wasn’t so convincing. I’m happy to py my part and comfort her.

  "No," I say gently. I'm so tempted to pat her on the head right now. "I think your outfit needs some work. You look great. Now, take off your jeans."

  "They're your jeans…" she’s mumbling, her face redder than I thought was possible.

  "And they don't work with a dress."

  "But then I wouldn't be wearing anything under the dress." She's blushing. An hour ago I wouldn’t have believed she could pull off an act like this. Hell, before we came in she was a completely different person.

  "It's a dress. That's fine!"

  "Okay.” She sounds embarrassed. “Can you leave the room?"

  "I've already seen that body naked." I regret saying it as soon as it’s out of my mouth. I’m blushing now. Between this and wanting to pat her she's gotta be doing something to me. I can not see her as being in my body, this girl is someone else.

  "It's still embarrassing to take my clothes off in front of you."

  The people behind the counter are full belly ughing at this point. My turn to be embarrassed. Hooray. I close the curtain and stumble back to the stairs.

  "Is your girlfriend okay?" One of them manages to control his cackling. A proper punk rock-looking guy.

  "She's fine. Just trying out something new and needs some help." They think I'm her boyfriend. Holy shit.

  "Fair enough, man. My friend here knows more about this sort of thing than I do. If she needs help, give them a shout. If you need anything, I'm going upstairs." He sees me as a boy. A bloke. A boyfriend. Her boyfriend.

  It shouldn't surprise me, but wow.

  "Jeans are off!" she calls.

  I pull the curtain back. Without the jeans, the blue dress she's wearing looks better. It still doesn't go with the bck patterned jacket she picked out. More important than any of the clothes, though, is her. How is she staying conscious with all the blood rushing to her face?

  "Better?" she asks.

  "It's better, but, well... Wait here and take off the jacket," I say as I slip behind the curtains.

  “If I take off the jacket, I’ll barely be wearing anything.”

  “It’ll be fine.” I’m being dismissive of her concerns, but I’m not going to let her not look good.

  She's gone for something in her comfort zone. The clothes I'm wearing are the most basic clothes a guy could wear. Like her mum bought them for her. I really shouldn't judge, but if she's enjoying herself and I'm going to be paying for it, she's going to get something she wants. The pin blue skater dress is nice, but it's something I might wear in a pinch.

  She deserves something more interesting. For example, this gorgeous orange floral pattern. It comes in at the waist to emphasise my almost non-existent curves and stops just above her knee. If I have my estimates right, it should fan out. Which gives me an opportunity to tease her if there's a breeze and an excuse for me not to not wear it. I love the modesty excuse.

  "Are you sure something like this would look good on me?"

  "Trust me. Try it on."

  She goes behind the curtain. I can hear her unzipping and getting dressed and I think for a second that I should be mad or uncomfortable about this. What if she swapped with me so she had an opportunity to see my body in just my underwear? But then why didn't she take off the jeans? It doesn't sound right.

  "What do you think?" she asks. The final piece of that thought evaporates when I look at her. If I was a guy, I wouldn't bother wearing a dress and blushing and all that jazz to see a boob. I wouldn't be as embarrassed and happy about wearing one, either.

  "You look stunning."

  "You like it?" The anxious feet tapping and fidgeting seems to have channelled itself into twirling slightly on the spot.

  "I'm definitely getting it for you."

  "Really?" Where the fuck did Percy go? Someone else must have yoinked my body.

  "Of course, let's get you a bag as well. Get your jeans. I'll find something to go with it."

  She obediently picks up the clothes and follows me to the counter. A sunflower tote is on the back wall behind the counter.

  "Hey, can she wear this out?" I ask.

  "Of course," the cashier says. "Would you like a bag for your other clothes?"

  "Just the sunflower tote."

  "No problem."

  They scan everything and I pay for it. Probably too much if she never wears it again, but who knows. Maybe we’ll swap again. If not, it was worth it seeing her happy.

  "You two enjoy the rest of your date." They giggle.

  ---

  Medusa: Lee, help

  Usually I prefer to talk on servers and stuff, but this is too freaky and urgent for anyone else to hear.

  BunBun: Did something happen? Are you okay?

  Medusa: I assure you there's a really good reason behind this. It has nothing to do with anything we talked about.

  BunBun: ;?

  Medusa: I'm in a dress.

  BunBun: HOLY SHIT

  I need to process this with someone. Sure, it was just acting like a girl for Max's benefit, and it isn't my dress, it's hers. But I'm still wearing it. I'm still wearing a dress, and it looks good on me, and that's awful. I was just trying to give her what she wants and make her story weirder, but I look good and she thinks so too.

  Medusa: Again. Very good reason. I'm not sure if I like it.

  BunBun: Important question. Does it go spinny?

  Medusa: ...yes.

  BunBun: When are you going to get some programmer socks, huh.

  Medusa: I told you it's not like that.

  "So, Kay, what on your phone is so interesting?" It’s been around five minutes since we left the store. I didn’t say anything. I’m not sure what I can say. She’s taken us out of town and is driving along the ocean. It's probably a gorgeous view. I'm just very distracted.

  I lied to Lee and she probably knows. I span in the thing. I was twirling the dress when I showed it off to her. I showed it off to her! Not only that, I wanted to look good for her. Damn it, I still want to look good for her. I want her to like me. I want her to be genuinely interested in me. I don't want her to be toying with me more than ever.

  "We're alone now. You can call me Percy." But that doesn’t mean I can let my guard down. She took me into that store. She dressed me up like this. It’s all on the cards still.

  "Okay, Percy, what on your phone is so interesting that you can't appreciate the view?"

  "I pretended to be a girl for you, wore a dumb-looking dress so you could do your experiment." She stifles a chuckle. "I think I'm allowed to vent."

  "You didn't seem very opposed to it in the store."

  "Shut up, I was acting," I squeak.

  "You convinced the guy behind the counter you were my adorable girlfriend.” She has to know what she’s doing by saying things like this.

  "You said you've seen my body naked."

  "Your body?" She raises an eyebrow.

  "You know what I mean."

  "Are you sure you're not a drama student?" she asks.

  "Why?"

  "You were able to convince me you were enjoying yourself and we've been friends for how long?"

  "I got you clothes. Can you stop teasing?" My face is definitely betraying me right now.

  Her eyes are on the road, but she does occasionally gnce my way. She swapped us earlier to drive, but this time she stayed. How much longer are we going to stay swapped? My phone buzzes, but I ignore it.

  "I'm surprised by the name choice, by the way."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I was sure you were going to say something from a Greek myth. Medusa would be my first guess."

  "Who would choose a name like that?"

  "The girl who insisted her favourite Greek hero was Medusa." Why does she remember that? “Could have gone for Alex for gender neutrality. Or maybe Persephone? That’d be cute.”

  "I'm not a girl, and I would never choose anything like that."

  "Sorry, your acting was so good, I forgot for a second." Her saying that shouldn’t make my heart flutter. Knowing that I can act like a girl is a bad thing. Knowing that she forgot who I am and just saw me as a girl is not something I should be thinking about.

  My phone buzzes again.

  BunBun: Dusa! You can't leave me hanging. How the heck is there a logical expnation?

  BunBun: Did you get any photos?

  BunBun: WAIT YOU WERE HANGING OUT WITH MAX TODAY!

  BunBun: DID MAX MAKE YOU WEAR A DRESS?

  I mute my notifications.

  "It's a cute name."

  "Thanks, I guess."

  "No problem, Kay." She smiles.

  She's teasing me. Calling me Kay, helping me pick out a dress. It's like she knows I don't hate it. The dress doesn't even look like her style. Why did she pick it? It can’t have been for me? If she’s not going to wear it, what's the point? We aren’t going to be swapping after today. Why would she think Percy wants this?

  "Is there anything else you wanted to do today?" I ask. It's around five, and I still don't want to go home. Maybe it’s wishful thinking that she might want to do something else. Maybe I just want her to get her fill of this stuff so she’ll stay away from me.

  "Wanna just drive around?"

  "I'm okay with that."

  We still have a couple of hours of sunlight left. The beaches are beautiful; the sand and the water create an idyllic atmosphere. It leaves a pit in my stomach. If this was my life from the start, maybe I would have done things like this before. Gone on drives with friends, dated, and hung out. I lost that. I'll never get it back. Maybe I’d recim that time when I get to uni, but realistically that's just going to be more studying.

  Max can’t know.

  She probably thinks I hate her. That’s the point. I don't want her to be comfortable taking that body, or teasing me, but that doesn't mean I hate her. She could have just continued to avoid me like I'd told her to, but she didn't. I'm starting to believe she cares.

  She pulls over and unplugs her phone from the car speakers.

  "Hey, can I take a photo of us together? Commemerate our st day hanging out. For old times sake."

  My answer should be no.

  "Why not?" I say.

  She puts her arm around my sleeveless shoulders and pushes her face up against mine in an attempt to fit us both in the frame. My heart thumps. She’s so close to me and she’s not treating me like a monster. She's smiling. I didn’t know that body could smile. It looks good on her.

  "There."

  I settle in and rex to her music as we continue our drive.