The Other Side of Me – Part 17
by Limbo’s Mistress

As ridiculous as it might sound, I had hoped that Shelly would offer to spend the night with me. After the evening I’d gone through, I wanted the comforting touch of someone who knew the truth about my situation and gave a shit about me.

Unfortunately, soon after our discovery that my absentee phone was currently hanging out at de Casa la Kappa, Shelly yawned and stood up to raise her arms high over her head and bend her back as she performed one of those full-body stretches that indicate exhaustion.

I immediately averted my eyes from the way her motions pushed her breasts forward and made her bottom look insanely hot.

“I’m sorry, Chuck, but I really need to get home,” she said, grabbing her own phone and car keys. “Morning is going to get her sooner than I’d like and I have to open tomorrow.”

“Open?” I asked. “Open what?”

She stared at me for a moment, as if trying to decide if I was joking, then she laughed and shook her head.

“Oh, right. I sometimes forget that you might have Charlene’s body and mannerisms, but you don’t have her memories. I work at the Galleria. In a store called Eternal Style. It sucks, but the money’s okay, the hours are decent, and my boss is pretty cool.”

I nodded. “What time do you get off?”

“My shift is from nine to six.”

“Wow. That late, huh?”

She nodded her head. “You were hoping I could go with you to get your phone, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. I’m a bit concerned about the why and how of it being there. Especially since Charlie wasn’t anywhere near the Kappa house when we swapped back.”

“Well, if you want to wait until I get off, I’d be happy to go over there with you.”

I shrugged. “I’ll let you know, okay?”

Shelly tilted her head, looking at me curiously.

“I can’t explain it,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “But something that’s gnawing at the back of my mind tells me that the longer I don’t have it in my possession, the more trouble I’m going to be in.”

“You think there’s something on it that would be bad for you if someone saw it? Or maybe bad for Charlene?”

I looked up at her, frowning. “I’m starting to feel that there really isn’t a difference anymore.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Rather than offer any words, which might have come across as hollow, she leaned in and gave me a big hug. When she stood back up, she smiled.

“I’m here for you, Chuck. Just as I would be for Charlene.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling up at her. “You’re the best.”

After she had left, I thought about the fact that Charlene had no one to talk to in my world about what she might be feeling. The only people who might understand and give her decent advice she’d attacked and alienated. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that my Jackson was probably working harder on getting the window repaired than Other-Jackson.

If for no other reason than to be rid of my lunatic double.

I stripped out of the boots and clothes, pulling on a slightly too big, dark blue t-shirt with the words “Cheer Extreme” scrawled across the chest in hot pink. Then I headed down to the bathroom to wash my face and brush out my hair. By the time I got back to my room, my mind was on the verge of exhaustion. As was my body.

I turned out the light and crawled into bed, falling asleep in less than thirty seconds.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was brilliant sunshine that streamed through the gap in the window curtains. It illuminated the entire room and seemed completely wonderful. I guess getting up at an ungodly hour, like well before dawn, over the past few days made me appreciate the fact that I could sleep in even more.

I climbed out of bed, pulled my hair back out of my face in a loose ponytail, threw on a pair of powder pink sweatpants, then went in search of some much needed caffeine.

Downstairs, I found Katie sitting at the kitchen table. A bowl of cereal was slowly divested of its contents while my kid sister scrolled through her phone. She looked at me as I entered, and I noticed the way her shoulders seemed to flex with tension.

“It’s me,” I said as I moved past her watchful gaze to the coffee pot. The lights on the front of it were dark, but there still seemed to be about half a carafe of liquid goodness inside.

Her sigh was audible. “Thanks for letting me know.”

I grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured a cupful of the java. Then I popped it into the microwave before turning around to look at her. I cut my eyes over at the doorway and lowered my voice.

“Where’s dad?”

She took another bite of cereal before answering. “Work.”

“On a Saturday? My dad doesn’t work Saturdays.”

A single brow rose over one of her eyes. “Well, ours does half-days on Saturdays, Chuck. I think he just wants to avoid being at home alone.”

I nodded. “Fair point. So, I guess you should know Miss Wonderful put in a brief appearance on this side of the dimensional wall last night.”

She frowned and nodded.

“Jackson called me. I guess after you bounced out and she bounced in. Told me about the early warning system thingy. I spent most of the evening waiting for her to come back and raise hell.” She took another bite of cereal and swallowed before continuing. “Since I didn’t hear you come home, I guess she was gone by then?”

“Yeah. She was only here for about two hours.”

“How was it? Being back in your world, I mean.” There was an obvious note of worry in her voice.

The microwave beeped, and I held up one finger at her before pulling the steaming mug out. After adding a dash of hazelnut-flavored creamer to the hot, black liquid, I walked over to sit across from her at the table. Blowing on the surface of the beverage, I took a sip, savored the delicious caffeine goodness, then put the mug down as I looked at her.

“It was okay. I got to hang out with my Katie a bit.”

I guess I hoped she would be happy to hear that I reconnected a bit with her counterpart. However, the expression on her face was anything but joyful.

“Oh … cool. How was that?” There was a flatness to her voice.

I tried to keep a smile on my face as I mentally kicked myself in the shin. Way to go, dumbass. As if she wasn’t already feeling guilty about her practically begging you to stay. Now she’s probably sure that this means you’ve actually decided not to.

“It was good,” I said after another sip of coffee. “Though it started off as just damage control. At first.”

“Damage control?”

I nodded. “Apparently Charlene was verbally abusive to her right before I stepped in. I had to try to smooth things out with her.”

She shrugged, the frown on her face deepening. “That doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

“What doesn’t? Me trying to be a nice guy?”

“No. I’m not surprised Charlene was verbally abusive to her. God knows she’s lashed out at me enough times over the past few years.” She used her spoon to tap on the side of the bowl. “I guarantee you, if she were sitting there right now, she’d comment that I’m putting a ton of empty calories in my body, and that it would be my own fault if someone mistook me for a hippo in a skirt.”

My hand curled into a fist before I even realized it happened. What the ever-loving fuck was Charlene’s problem? Originally, when Jackson told me that she didn’t move onto campus, I assumed she remained home to be closer to her remaining family. Now, having seen firsthand the results of her attitude on both versions of Katie, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she only counted her father as being worthy of her time.

As I stared at the frowning girl before me, I began to suspect that it wasn’t just herself she blamed for her mother’s death. Perhaps she felt Katie was, on some level, also at fault.

I uncurled my fist and took a deep breath.

“First of all, Katie-Kat, you are not a hippo. Nowhere close. You’re a very pretty girl, and no matter how many sugary bowls of …” I looked at the bowl, but didn’t recognize the cereal. “… whatever that is you ate, there is no reason to berate you.”

She arched a brow, looking from me to the bowl and back. “It’s Frosted Flakes.”

I looked at the bowl again. True, there were sugar-coated, flake-shaped bits in the milk, but they were chocolate rather than bran. They also shared the container with what seemed to be tiny cocoa marshmallows.

“That is so not Frosted Flakes,” I said, shaking my head. “Frosted Flakes are not chocolate.”

Katie laughed, shaking her head. “They are in this world. They are also really delicious, so just deal.”

I chuckled a bit at her feigned indignation at my questioning her cereal choices.

“I guess I just don’t get the obsession with chocolate. It doesn’t really appeal all that much to me.”

Katie pointed her spoon in my direction. “You don’t understand the allure of the wonder that is chocolate, Chuck, because you’re a guy.”

“Am I?” I asked on reflex.

Just like that, the jovial mood immediately ended. Katie frowned, putting down the spoon in the bowl.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

I shrugged.

“What happened last night? Other than Charlene being a total bitch to my other-self?”

I didn’t answer immediately. Instead, I twisted several strands of hair around one finger and began to wind it around slowly as I attempted to put into words the feelings which had been assaulting me over the past twelve hours.

“I really liked seeing my parents, particularly my mom. And hanging out with Katie for a while had a whole new dynamic. Especially since I brought her into the knowing club.”

“But?” She leaned forward, staring at me with wide, curious eyes. “Because I totally sense a ‘but’ in your voice.”

“It just didn’t feel like … home. Not completely. Yeah, I was angry when I found out what she’d done over there. In addition to being a general bitch to my Katie, and giving my folks major attitude, she also tried to destroy the dimensional machine.”

“What a skank,” Katie said, her jaw clenching tight for a moment.

I shrugged. “However, even though I was dealing with the messes she was making in my life, I couldn’t stop worrying about what she might be doing here. In this life.” I sighed. “I think I was more concerned about latter than the former.”

I half-expected Katie to actually throw her fist into the air in premature celebration. After all, she’d come right out and begged me to stay, and now I admitted that I felt more of a connection with Charlene’s life than Charles’.

Instead, her frown deepened and she leaned back in her chair.

“Do you think she’s really determined to destroy both of your lives?”

“I don’t know. I recorded a message for her to watch when she got back in my body.”

“Did you tell her to stop being an idiot?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly. I told her how disappointed I was in the way she was acting. I told her that I believed she was a better person than that.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “Really? Well, I hope she listens to you. God knows, she sure doesn’t listen to anyone else.”

“Yeah, I hope she gives at least a little consideration to my comments.”

Katie finished her chocolate apocalypse and announced that she needed to run upstairs to change. Apparently a few of her friends were coming by to pick her up for a day of hanging out at the skate park to boy watch. I offhandedly teased that maybe the younger North brother would be there, causing a crimson blush to explode across her face.

“Don’t say that!” She yelled, waving her hand at me. “If Sebastian was to show up, I’d have to find a hole to hide in!”

“No you would not,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. “You will smile, allow him to flirt with you. Respectfully,” I added. “And then you will ask him if he wants to go see a movie sometime.”

She blinked. “You want me to ask him out?”

I nodded. “Trust me, Katie-Kat, guys are impressed by a girl who takes the initiative sometimes. Plus, I saw the way he was looking at you last night.”

A smirk formed on her face. “You mean like the way his brother was looking at you?”

Now it was my turn to blush as the flames of perdition seemed to dance across my cheeks.

“Uh, sure. Let’s go with that.”

After she agreed to take my advice under consideration and bounced up the steps, I grabbed another cup of coffee and returned to my room. While I would like to wait until Shelly got off work to go over to the Kappa house to get my phone, I knew I couldn’t wait that long. However, it was still mid-morning, and the thought of dealing with a possibly hung-over Rachel Bostwick seemed extremely unappealing.

So, I did my homework. Well, Charlene’s homework.

Fortunately, a couple of her classes were similar to mine and the assignments were not completely confusing. A few, though, were totally different. I found myself having to review recent past assignments to figure out what I was supposed to be studying.

I finished all the math problems and made rather good progress through her literature assignment. Glancing at some of the documents on the laptop, as well as a review of her syllabi, gave me an extra jolt of confidence that any extended stay on my part wouldn’t seriously disrupt Charlene’s academic trajectory.

Which was nice to know. Particularly since there was a more than decent chance it would turn out to be my trajectory in the end.

My tummy released a long, low rumble, informing me that I had only had coffee for breakfast. Standing up, I closed the lid of the computer, then journeyed downstairs in search of sustenance.

I spotted the box of Frosted Flakes on top of the fridge, but decided that putting a ton of chocolate on an empty stomach was only asking for trouble. Rummaging around inside the appliance yielded a bounty of sliced turkey, wheat bread, Irish cheddar slices, a half a head of romaine lettuce, and an almost overripe tomato.

Popping a couple of slices of bread into the toaster, I grabbed a plate from the cabinet, a cutting board from under the sink, and went about getting the middle section of my future sandwich together.

“Bye, Charlie,” Katie called as she headed out the door. “See you later.”

The door slammed simultaneously with the bread, now a golden brown, leaping up from their slots.

I had just finished adding a touch of mayo to my creation, and taken a bite when the phone in the living room, the house phone, began to ring. I started to put my food down and answer it, but I figured anyone calling the main line would either be a wrong number, a telemarketer, or looking for my dad.

“That’s why they made answering machines,” I said in a little sing-song voice as I took another delicious mouthful.

As soon as the device in the other room beeped, Shelly’s voice rang out from the speaker in the phone’s base.

“Chuc .. Charlie. If you’re there please, please, please pick up.” There was obvious panic in her voice. “If you’re not, call me the very second you get this.”

I dropped the sandwich on the plate and sprang across the room. Luckily, my own parents kept the living room phone on the same end table, so I didn’t have to waste precious seconds hunting it. Before the sound of the line getting disconnected could sound, my fingers curled around the cordless handset, thumbed the talk button, and I brought the whole thing to my ear.

“Shelly?” I said, hoping I hadn’t missed her. I couldn’t call her back, since I didn’t have her number memorized and my phone was MIA.

“Oh thank god,” she breathed. “I’m so glad you answered.”

“What’s wrong? You sound like you’re about to freak out.”

She paused for a second, and I could swear I heard her swallowing.

“Rachel has been blowing up my phone all morning. Tell me to have you call her.”

“All morning?” I glanced over at the clock on the wall over the fireplace. “Shelly, it’s almost one-thirty.”

“I know. I’m not allowed to have my phone when I’m working. I didn’t see the messages until I went on my lunch break.”

“Did she say what she wanted?”

“No. Just five texts that all say some variation of ‘Tell Charlene to contact me’.”

“How? I don’t have my phone. It’s at the Kappa house. Surely she knows that.” I sighed. “Fine. Text her and tell her that I don’t have my phone but that I will be over at there inside of an hour.”

There was another long pause.

“Rachel’s not the only one who’s been trying to reach you.” The panic had settled down into something far more ominous.

“Who else?”

“Josie,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Josie?” I asked, crinkling my brow. “Why is Josie trying to reach me?”

“There were two texts, Chuck. The first one asked if you were at home. I sent a response that said you were, as far as I knew.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, still feeling like I was running a couple of meters behind. “What was the second message?”

“I’m going to kick her ass.”

I closed my eyes, tightening my grip on the phone. “That’s what she said?”

“Yeah. Do you think she knows? About you and Danny?”

“I have no idea,” I said, dropping down into the floral print chair next to the phone. “Danny has that video of us. What if he and Charlene got into an argument at the party, when she was back in her own body, and he sent it to Josie like he threatened?”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Shelly countered. “Then he would be in as much trouble with her as you.”

“Still, she’s obviously mad at me about something. Sleeping with her boyfriend is the only thing I can think of that Charlene’s done.”

“No clue. I didn’t even know about her and Danny until the other night. If I were you, I’d go take care of the Rachel thing and get your phone back. Maybe there’s a clue or two on it.”

“Good advice. Thanks.”

“Call me after you get your phone back. I’m going to put mine on vibrate and hope my manager doesn’t notice it’s in my pocket.”

I hung up the phone and bolted upstairs. I threw on a pair of low-waisted jeans and a dark green cardigan. I pulled my hair down and redid the ponytail, covering the black rubber band with a scrunchie that matched the sweater. I slipped my feet into a pair of pink and black Nikes before giving myself a onceover in the mirror. The casual outfit was a far cry from the awesome ensemble I’d sported the previous evening, but I was going for comfort and speed, not style.

However, I also knew I couldn’t show up at the Kappas without any makeup on, no matter how rushed I might feel.

I dabbed on a little foundation, then applied a touch of midnight blue eyeshadow. Whipping out the mascara wand, I brushed three slow strokes over each set of lashes and then painted my lips with a caramel nude gloss.

Grabbing my purse and keys, I hopped down the steps two at a time, grabbed the doorknob, and yanked the front door open.

Much like the previous evening, there was a girl standing on the other side of the threshold. Unlike the previous evening, however, this girl had not come with the anticipation of getting laid.

“Josie!” Her name leapt out of my throat before her presence finished fully registering in my brain.

“You fucking whore,” the blonde said in a snarl as she narrowed her eyes at me. “How could you do that to me?”