The Other Side of Me – Part 21
by Limbo’s Mistress

Mike’s ride turned out to be a glossy black, current model pickup truck featuring a large extended cab as well as a lift kit that I knew right off was going to present an interesting challenge for those of us in skirts. As we walked to where it was parked behind my Jeep, I glanced across the street to Jackson’s house.

I hadn’t spoken to him since he called to warn me about the switch during the party. Part of me felt guilty about not spending much time with him. After all, he and I were really tight in my universe. However, I also felt a similar pang of regret thinking about being around him, in this body, after what Charlene had done to him.

Damned if she did, and damned if I didn’t.

I had hoped Katie and I would ride together in the back. So, I could rely on her to help me bluff through any unknown Charlene stuff. However, as soon as Seb opened the rear door, he hopped up into the seat, then leaned out, arm extended to offer Katie the necessary boost to get inside. She ascended gracefully enough not to flash anyone her panties and grinned mirthfully down at me before closing the door.

Which left me up front with the older of the North brothers.

The original plan had been to grab something to eat and maybe catch a movie. Even if it was the epitome of cliché.

However, once we were all in the truck, Katie mentioned that it was the last weekend of the lake carnival. The deliberation took less than a minute, then we were off on a thirty-minute trip to Lake Marshall.

By the time we arrived at the lake, it was already nearly dark, and the parking lot was full. Mike pulled down the road, stopping in an open field beside the road. In addition to helping us down onto the thick grass, both boys decided that it would be the height of chivalry for them to hold our hands until we made it to the paved areas.

Just so no one tripped and injured themselves.

Mike’s hand in mine made my heart hammer wildly in my chest and felt so nice that it terrified me. The moment we reached the cracked black asphalt of the parking lot, I let go and stepped a foot away from him. If the action offended him, it didn’t show anywhere on his face. He merely gave me an easy smile as if he understood my reaction.

Though I was pretty sure he absolutely did not.

“Let’s get something to eat,” Katie said, pointing at one of the food trucks parked near the carnival entrance. “I’m starving.”

The three of them ate while I merely snacked on some of Katie’s fries. My stomach had been clenching at random intervals throughout the evening, making me worry that actually putting more than a few morsels in it would result in a bad time for everyone.

I chalked it up to the stress of the day. And the date. Otherwise, it was likely I was coming down with a bug or something.

After eating, we went through one of the attractions called The Mirror Maze. Inside we were greeted with dozens of altered reflections of ourselves. I gawked at Super Tall & Skinny Charlene, Short & Fat Charlene, Bendy Charlene, and Inverse Charlene. Katie and the boys laughed and pointed out how funny their bodies looked.

I was too busy looking at the duplicates and remembering that had all started with what I had thought was a mirror. Despite all the altered forms that faced me, they all had one thing in common.

There wasn’t a trace of Charles anywhere.

We moved on to playing some of the obviously rigged games, though Seb did manage to win a stuffed tiger that he immediately gave to Katie. She squealed, then laughed as she bopped him on the arm with it. The grinning boy responded by rubbing at his arm and adopting a pained expression. As if she’d hit him with a two by four instead of a plushy smaller than a housecat.

After that, Katie announced that she felt enough time had elapsed since putting food in her belly that she was ready to ride some rides. I, however, still didn’t trust my aching stomach, so I begged off to wander to the boardwalk running beside the water. I paused and leaned on the railing, gazing out over the placid, dark surface of Lake Marshall.

A few moments later, Mike appeared at my side, leaning on the aged wood next to me.

“Not riding with them?” I asked, not taking my eye off the lake.

“Nah. I figure they could use some time alone. It is their date, after all.”

There was a moment or two of silence around us. Then Mike moved a half step closer. “Are you okay, Charlie? You’re not getting cold, are you?”

I slowly cut my eyes over at the handsome young man and smirked. “If I say yes, are you going to put your arms around me? Attempt to warm me up with your body heat?”

He let out a little laugh, cheeks flushing a bit, and shook his head. “Actually, I’ve got a jacket in the truck I can run get for you. Unless … you would prefer I did warm you up myself.”

Ignoring the enticing offer, not exactly an easy task, I turned my face to his. “I’m fine, Mike. If I do get too chilly, I’ll be sure to let you know which method I prefer for getting my temperature to rise.”

He grinned wider and gave me an small salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

His gaze remained on me for a few more seconds before he turned around to look over to where our younger siblings were waiting in line for one of the rides. I turned and followed his gaze, watching the animated way Katie and Seb were conversing. They seemed to be having a wonderful time.

I couldn’t help but grin when Katie’s eyes widened at something Sebastian said before my sister devolved into a series of high-pitched giggles I could almost hear over the gentle lapping of the water on the bank behind me.

“Thanks for coming along with us,” Mike said, nodding his head at the pair. “Seb was worried that having his older brother tagging along would harsh his style.”

“They seem to be enjoying themselves,” I commented. “I figured it would be a lot of strange looks and awkward silences.”

“Oh, you mean like what’s going on between us?”

My gaze snapped back to him for a moment before I turned back around to look at the lake.

“It’s not … I mean … I’m just …” The flustered stammer in my voice made me want to kick myself.

Or possibly kick Mike.

“It’s okay, Charlie,” he said quietly. “Sometimes I don’t exactly think before I speak. If I made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

I tried to think of an acceptable excuse for my response to his comment. I couldn’t tell him the truth. That I was really a guy trapped in a female version of myself and that, while I was attracted to him, I didn’t have the slightest clue how to handle it. I also had no experience with fliting like a girl. Like Charlene.

“It’s okay,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. “You don’t make me uncomfortable.” Yeah, it was a bold-faced lie. But my level of comfort was something that was my problem, not his.

Mike nodded. “I know that you agreed to this outing because Katie begged you to. Not because I asked. I’m not trying to make a move on you.”

“You’re not?” I made my question one of high skepticism.

He looked into my eyes for a moment. The blueness of them reminded me of a summer sky, just before a storm. My pulse quickened and the knots my stomach had been in all day tightened. As a guy, I’d seen girls with pretty eyes. Even enjoyed looking at them, too. Honestly though, that wasn’t the part of their anatomy that usually got the majority of my focus.

But looking into Mike’s eyes was different. The more I looked into them, the more I wanted them to continue to stare back at me. There seemed to be a flurry of different emotions swirling in those dangerously blue-tinted orbs. One of which was responsible for my increased heart rate.

Desire.

“Would I normally?” He asked as he moved an inch or two closer. It wasn’t enough to actually invade my space, not that I think I would have actually protested if it had, but close enough that I could smell the faint trace of the cologne he was wearing. It reminded me of the smell of a campfire on a cool fall evening. “Yes, I totally would.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” He flashed me a wide, slightly embarrassed smile. “So, confession time. I’m not a big fan of football as a whole, Charlie. However, some friends convinced me to go to the game against Medford. After about twenty minutes, I was completely done and ready to leave. Then I saw you on the sidelines.” One shoulder rose and fell. “I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

I gave him a slightly amused look. “Because of the short skirt? Or was it the tight top?”

Mike shook his head. “It wasn’t either of those, though I’d be lying if I didn’t appreciate the way the uniform looks on you. No, it was you. There was something about you just …” He laughed and held up his hand. “Please don’t think I’m insane, but I saw you and thought to myself, ‘That girl does not want to be here. Sure, she’s smiling and waving to the crowd, but she doesn’t look like she’s having fun’.”

The comment caught me off guard, and I drew in a quick breath, blinking up at him. Why would Mike get the impression Charlie wasn’t having a good time at the game? Granted, I had only been to one practice and zero games, so I didn’t know firsthand what sort of stress a cheerleader might be under when actually on the field. Could it be that he saw her when she was dealing with something not sports-related? Rather than actually seeing through some façade she’s erected.

Then I thought about Shelly’s comment earlier in my bedroom. About the idea that I really hadn’t enjoyed my life as Charles. I didn’t have any fun. That I assumed I was happy, when in fact, I was not. What if … just what if … Charlene was the same way?

Just really good at hiding it from the people closest to her.

“I had a lot on my mind that night,” I said, finally finding my voice and conjuring the most basic explanation I could. “Bunch of personal stuff.”

He nodded. “That’s fair. Of course, after that I noticed you all the time. At other games and around the campus. You were always with Michelle and Josie. Or some of the Kappa girls. So, I never felt comfortable enough to walk up and introduce myself out of the blue.” He sighed and looked at me for a moment before returning to studying the lake. “I always got the feeling you were unhappy those times, as well.”

“Always?”

I tried to wrap my mind around what he was telling me. Either Mike was the world’s worst at judging someone’s mood, or Charlene was the world’s greatest at hiding her true feelings. After all, if she was as constantly miserable as Mike claimed, then surely someone else would have noticed it, right? Katie. Or Jackson. Definitely Shelly.

He shook his head. “Not all the time. Just mostly. Granted, I never actually interacted with you, so I could be way off base. It’s just … back then you seemed like you were just going through the motions.”

“Back then?” I tilted my head to the side to stare at him. “When did she … uh, I … change?”

“I don’t know. The first time I noticed it was the other day when you nearly fell running to your Trig exam. There was just something in your eyes that struck me as different. Even though you were obviously in a hurry, and a bit stressed, you didn’t have that look.” Mike let out one of those annoying adorable laughs. “You didn’t have it at the mall yesterday either.”

“What look is that?” I asked, genuinely curious about his insight.

“Hopelessness,” he said softly, cutting his gaze over to me.

“Hopelessness?” I repeated. “Seriously?”

He shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know you well enough to say with complete certainty. I just know what it seemed like to me.”

Could he be right? Maybe Charlene wasn’t the upbeat, social butterfly everyone assumed she way. Is that why she wanted to stay in my life? A semi-fresh start?

I started to inquire further into Mike’s theory, but that’s when my phone rang. Pulling it out of my pocket, I looked at the Caller ID and froze. Jackson. Jackson was calling me.

“No, no, no. Not now,” I murmured softly as my thumb swiped across the screen. Looking at Mike, I pointed at the phone. “I really need to take this.”

He nodded and turned back to look at the carnival while I stepped several yards away and put the phone to my ear. “Please don’t tell me there’s a swap coming.”

“Huh?” Jackson’s confusion resounded clearly in his voice. “What? Oh, no. The warning system isn’t going off. Sorry.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the railing, my free hand rubbing at my temple. “Okay. Good. That’s good.”

“Are you okay, Chuck?” he asked. “You sound a bit out of it.”

That’s because I’m on a date with a guy who makes my heart go pitter patter and I think I’ve discovered what your former girlfriend’s problem is.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to force the timbre of my voice back to something akin to normal. “I’m okay. Uh, what’s up?”

“You didn’t call me when you returned last night. I just wanted to find out what happened over in your universe.”

I thought about what happened between Charlene and my Katie. Then about Samantha and what we were doing when I returned to my female counterpart. “Why did you call Charlene and warn her about the switch?”

“Because I wanted to make sure she wasn’t doing anything that would be dangerous for you to suddenly find yourself in. What if you were sitting in your dimension and instantly found yourself walking down a flight of stairs? That would be bad.”

I blinked a few times as the seriousness of what he was saying hit me. Each time Charlene and I changed places, there was a few seconds of disorientation. Not all that dangerous when someone was, say, in the middle of getting a blow job. But possibly deadly in certain situations.

“Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Thanks, I guess, on her behalf.”

“Believe it or not, she actually thanked me herself.”
I felt my mouth drop open. Charlene had actually been courteous? To the very person whose feelings she hadn’t given a damn about while in Danny Morris’ bed? The lame boyfriend who she obviously didn’t miss? I was rendered momentarily speechless by the information.

“Charlie? Are you there?”

I nodded, then realized that Jackson couldn’t see it over the phone. “Yeah, I’m here. Listen, can I come over tomorrow so we can talk. I want to, uh, touch base on some things.” Almost on reflex, my gaze swung back over to Mike, who was trying to not act curious about the phone call. “There’s a bit to unpack.”

“Sure,” he replied. The eagerness in his voice made my tummy knot even more. “If you want, you can come over now if you’re not too busy.”

“Oh, I can’t,” I said. “I’m not home at the moment. Katie and I are out.”

There was a bit of a pause before Jackson spoke again. “I thought I saw your Jeep in front of your house just a few minutes ago when I was upstairs.”

I winced, feeling like there was no way to avoid hurting his feelings. “I didn’t drive. We’re out with some friends.”

“Friends?” There was a note of disbelief in that single word. “I wasn’t aware Charlene and Katie had friends in common.”

Now it was my turn to pause. I considered making up something, anything, to avoid telling him the truth. Then I realized that would be the sort of thing Charlene would do. Had done, actually. I was trying to be better than her. Even if it meant dealing with some unpleasantness from time to time.

Like with Josie.

“Uh, well, there is this guy that is in Katie’s class. Sebastian. We ran into him and his brother at the Galleria last night and today he asked her out on a date.”

“So ... you’re on a date with Katie and this Sebastian? Sorry, that sounded really weird out loud. What I mean is, you’re accompanying them while they are out together? That’s got to be a bit awkward. I could have gone with you.” Almost immediately, he did a little throat cough. “I mean, as someone to keep you company. You know, so you wouldn’t be bored or anything.”

I sighed, the knife in my guts twisting even more. “Uh, Sebastian’s brother is with us. He had offered to drive them around, since Seb doesn’t have a license. He invited me along so that he wouldn’t feel like a chaperone.”

This time the pause was longer than before. “Oh. So, it’s like a … double date.”

“Jack …”

“It’s okay,” he said in a tone that indicated it was anything but. “Enjoy the rest of your evening and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Jack …”

The line went dead.

I sighed and slumped against the railing, feeling like the biggest heel in both universes. Hell, in all possible universes. Why hadn’t I just lied about where I was. I could have said Shelly had picked me up. Or that I was getting ready to take a bath and shave my legs. Anything would have been better than further rubbing Jackson’s nose in the fact that his girlfriend wasn’t really his girlfriend anymore. Regardless of who was in the driver’s seat.

“You okay?”

I jumped and glanced up from the darkened screen of the phone to see that Mike had moved over next to me while I was lamenting my predicament. The hot tears that had formed in my eyes made him appear slightly blurry, though no less handsome.

“Yeah,” I said, using two fingers to wipe them away before they could slide too far down my cheeks. “I’m okay.”

“Bad phone call?”

I shrugged and looked back down at the phone before slipping it back into my pocket. “It could have gone better.” When my gaze came back up, I could see concern, as well as curiosity, in those rich blue eyes. “It was my … my boyfriend. Sort of.”

“Sort of boyfriend? The one you mentioned last night when I asked you to tutor me?” He nodded his head slowly. “I guess he wasn’t too happy? Not that I can blame him.” His serious expression became even more dour. “I’m sorry that I put any pressure on you to come along tonight, Charlie. Yes, I would be thrilled to go out on a date with you. But I’m not the guy who tries to woo away another guy’s girl.”

“I know you’re not, Mike.” I closed my eyes and took a breath, fighting against another round of tears. I wasn’t sure what had made me so damned weepy today, but if it didn’t stop soon, I was going to have to start carrying tissues around with me everywhere I went. “It’s a complicated relationship.”

Even though he was trying to be comforting, the corner of his mouth twitched up slightly. “All relationships are complicated, Charlie. That’s just the truth of it.”

I shook my head. “This is a bit more complicated.” I chewed on my lower lip for a moment before formulating an acceptable method of explaining things. “We were best friends when we were younger. Then a little over a year ago, we started dating. Now, things are different between us. Now we’re, uh, we’re not the same people we used to be and I don’t think things are ever going to completely go back to how they were.”

Holy shit. Talk about dancing across a really thin line. If there was a deity in charge of bullshit, I was definitely going to need to make a tithe of worship.

He nodded. “So, you’re not together, but you’re also not completely broken up?”

I thought about that for a moment. Was Jackson and Charlene’s relationship, the romantic one, completely over? We hadn’t discussed it in detail, but given what had transpired, it was pretty much a sure thing. Even if Charlene and I swapped back permanently, something that I was starting to fear wasn’t going to happen, the Danny Morris incident would always be there. The elephant in the room.

True, they could possibly repair that damage if Charlene really wanted to. However, from the statements she made on the video she left me, it sounded like she was done with Jackson regardless of which universe she was in.

“No, I think we are. We just need to talk about a few remaining details.”

He nodded. “I understand. Sorry that this seems to have upset you.”

“Thanks.”

We milled around the carnival for another hour. Eventually, Mike cajoled me into riding the Ferris Wheel with the promise that he would remain on his side of the car. When the wheel stopped right before we reached the apex, I shot him a dirty look.

He laughed and held up his hands. “I swear, Charlie, I didn’t do it. I know it’s a total cliché thing for a guy to do, but I promise this wasn’t me.”

I continued to give him a stern glare for another second or two, then pushed myself across the seat to his side. “I’m chilly now,” I said quietly before pointing at the parking lot far below. “And your jacket is all the way over there.”

He gave me a confused glance, then smiled and lifted his arm. I leaned against his side with my cheek pressed against his chest. When his arm came down over my shoulders, I couldn’t help the little sigh of happiness that bubbled out from between my lips.

We remained that way, not speaking a word, until the ride brought us back down to the ground. Mike took my hand to help me out of the car, then didn’t release it for the rest of the evening. Katie gave me a couple of confused looks when she noticed, but it took a moment to realize that she was wondering if Charlene was back.

To put her mind at ease, I smiled and winked at her. “Still good, Katie-Kat.”

Mike’s truck rumbled to a stop in front of our house at exactly four minutes before eleven. The boys helped us down and then escorted us to the door. Katie and Seb stopped on the front porch and did that awkward thing where you’re not sure if you should kiss the other person or not. Finally, they coordinated their movements and were soon locked together at the lips.

I let out a little snort of a laugh and looked up at Mike, arching a brow. “I hope you weren’t getting any ideas of that nature, Mr. North.”

He glanced at the high schoolers and then back to me, shaking his head. “I refuse to answer that, Miss Miller. On the grounds that it will incriminate me.”

I nodded. “Good. You just keep those ideas to yourself.” Then I released his hand and turned to face him, looking up into those wonderful eyes. The smile that spread across my face felt huge and my cheeks burned like the noonday sun.

Mike tilted his head. “Are you getting ideas of that nature, Miss Miller?”

I reached up and slipped my hands around his neck, tugging lightly to encourage him to bend down a bit. When he complied, I rose up on my toes and closed the distance between our faces until they were only an inch or two apart. Part of me tried to issue an urgent reminder that I was really a guy in my head. However, a larger part of me reminded the rest that it really didn’t matter.

Guy or girl, I thought Mike North was incredibly attractive. Too attractive to send home empty handed after being a damned near perfect gentleman the entire evening.

“I have lots of ideas of various natures, Mr. North,” I replied softly before I leaned in and kissed him as deeply as I could.