The Other Side of Me – Part 22
by Limbo’s Mistress

The Sunday morning sunshine stirred me into wakefulness and for a few, terribly short minutes, I lay there with my eyes closed, a little smile playing on my face as I thought about the events of the previous evening.

The urge to kiss Mike really had been a spur of the moment thing. I thought about it a few times while we’d walked around the carnival, and on the ride home. But when I climbed down out of the truck, I thought perhaps it would be best to not rush into anything. Taking it slow, especially when I wasn’t completely sure of my own feelings about the situation, seemed like the best course of action.

Then I’d seen Katie and Sebastian practically swallowing each other’s tongues on the front porch and decided that I wanted to know how that particular activity felt from a female point of view.

With Mr. Michael North.

Spoiler alert! It was wonderful!

I uncoiled myself into a large stretch beneath the thick comforter and was instantly hit with what I was sure was the worst gas pain in my entire life. I let out a low moan and curled back up into a ball, breathing shallow breaths until the waves of pain radiating through my midsection subsided.

Once I was able to not feel like I’d swallowed a dozen razor blades, I threw back the covers and quickly climbed out of bed. However, as soon as I stood up, another bout punched me in the gut, feeling like someone was squeezing me from the inside. Without another thought, I rushed from the room, hands pressed over my belly, and headed toward the bathroom.

I wasn’t sure what I’d eaten to give me such pain, but I figured the toilet was the safest place to be until things calmed down.

Inside, I flipped on the light and practically teleported from the doorway to the commode. I had worn an oversized gray tee to bed. The logo across the front was mostly faded, but it was still possible to read the phrase “Cheer Extreme Bootcamp” in red, white, and blue across the front. I hiked up the gigantic shirt and pushed down the peach panties I’d worn on the date and dropped my bottom onto the seat.

As if on reflex to assuming the familiar position, my bladder gave a tiny protest and I granted it permission to empty. Just as I leaned over to get some toilet paper, I glanced down. There was something inside the front of the panties wrapped around my ankle. I wiped and then grabbed the waistband of the thong, pulling it taut so the light could shine into the underwear.

My eyes widened at what I saw, my heartrate going from slightly elevated to upper stratosphere in the tick of a second.

Blood. There was blood in my panties. I’m bleeding.

It took me a second to realize that the screaming that immediately followed the discovery belonged to me. Then I released my grip on the ruined underwear to clamp both trembling hands over my mouth.

Bleeding. My period. Shit, I totally forgot.

The bathroom door burst open, and Katie rushed in. She took one look at me before slamming the door closed just as our dad appeared.

“Katie! Charlie! What the hell’s going on?” a tired, muffled voice asked through the slab of wood. “It’s not even eight in the morning and you two are causing a ruckus!”

“Sorry, Daddy,” Katie said shooting me a look that told me to keep my mouth shut. “Girl emergency.”

“I don’t get paid enough for this,” the man on the other side of the door said. A moment later, the sound of his footsteps retreating down the hall was followed by the slamming of his own bedroom door.

“What am I going to do?” I asked her, still perched on the toilet and pointing down at the crimson stains marring the soft peach fabric.

She sighed, shook her head, and pulled open one of the drawers under the sink. Her hand remerged with a paper-wrapped cylinder that she held out to me. “Well, Chuck, you can start by cleaning yourself up with a wet wipe. Then use this.”

I already knew what the object was before my fingers curled around the item. I’d seen plenty of them in the bathroom back home, in the drawer designated solely for my Katie’s things. I turned the tube over in my hand, looking at the purple and pink floral design adorning the wrapper. Sighing, I looked back up to her.

“Uh, so this just … goes up … up there?” I pointed at my lady bits. “Just unwrap and shove it home?”

Katie’s eyes widened in abject horror. “What? Oh God, no! Jesus, Chuck. Didn’t they teach you anything in high school health class?”

A wave of extreme annoyance flooded my entire being. It was like the panic and fear that had been rolling through me since spotting the blood stains had been instantly transformed into a mushroom cloud of anger. With Katie squarely in the blast zone.

Gripping the cylinder, I glared up at her as I shook my head. “This might surprise you, Katherine, but when I had health class in the tenth grade, they didn’t cover the ins and outs of a menstrual cycle. I guess the teachers didn’t think it likely that any of the boys would ever get stuck in the body of a female version of themselves while on the rag.” I shook the tampon at her. “So proper protocols and instructions were sorely lacking!”

Katie’s mouth dropped open in shock and hurt. However, before I could even begin to apologize for the uncontrolled outburst, she turned and walked out of the bathroom. Within a few seconds, I felt the wetness of the tears sliding down my face at the shame for my behavior and the anxiety for the current situation.

I grabbed a wipe from the package on the shelf next to the toilet and carefully cleaned myself up. Tensing as I expected to feel a jolt of pain, due to whatever was making me bleed, I was instead surprised to realize that I could only feel the cool wetness of the wipe, which came away a lot less red than I expected.

Kicking off the panties, I stood up just as the door reopened and Katie returned with my phone in her hand. She put the device on the counter and then looked at me. The hurt of my words still shone in her eyes.

“Katie, I’m sorry. I …”

She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s okay. This being your first visit from Aunt Flo, your reaction is not out of line. Charlene is a real mega-bitch on Day One and you sounded so much like her just now that it caught me off-guard.” She shrugged. “Just don’t make it a habit and we’ll be okay.”

“I won’t,” I said, though I knew it was likely a promise I might not be able to keep. “So, about this.” I held up the tampon.

Katie shook her head. “Sorry. Assisting you with your hair, makeup, clothing, and everything else Charlene-related does not include teaching you how to use a tampon. The line has to be drawn somewhere and showing the guy inhabiting my older sisters’ body how an applicator works is where it’s drawn.”

She pointed at the phone on the counter. “Google it. I’m more than positive there are numerous, high-quality videos that will walk you through the whole process.” Then she reopened the cabinet that held the sanitary products and pulled out a small bottle of pills. “Also, you might want to keep these handy for the next two days or so. Charlene gets really horrible cramps.”

I left the bathroom a few moments later, the peach panties cold soaking in the sink per Katie’s suggestion. Despite the fact that the shirt hung down far enough to hide the fact that I was bare assed beneath it, I was thankful that the door of my dad’s bedroom was still closed.

Back in my own room, I watched multiple videos on the proper insertion techniques for tampon use. Since they were geared toward much younger girls, they also included some dos and don’ts, as well as a couple of links to information on when and how to use pads and rather intimate details of what was taking place. Biologically speaking.

By the time I was done, I had a much healthier respect for the hell women had to go through each month. I felt like I had something much larger shoved up inside of me than a little bit of cotton. Like, say, a queen-sized comforter. However, the pain medicine did do its job, and the agony of my randomly clenching abdominals retreated to a dull ache.

I put on a pair of ivory-colored panties, some black and pink sweatpants, and a gray zippered hoodie that had the university logo on the left breast pocket. Then I threw my hair in a ponytail and ventured downstairs for some food and coffee. Since the tummy issues I thought was indigestion had turned out to be just Mother Nature, I figured I should try to actually put some food in my belly.

The cinnamon and raisin bagel in the toaster was just about done when my dad walked into the kitchen, pausing in the doorway. He looked at me for a moment or two, as if trying to decide if I was going to come at him with the case knife sticking out of a nearby open tub of hazelnut and honey cream cheese.
Then, obviously satisfied that my more murderous impulses seemed to be under control, he made his way over to the cabinet and grabbed a coffee mug. As he filled it, he glanced back over at me with a cautious expression on his face.

“So, about last night. Was that an actual double date?” Turning around, he took a sip of the steaming beverage before continuing. “When Katie told me about your plans, it seemed like you were only going along to keep the party balanced. Two guys and two girls.”

I nodded as opened the toaster over door and retrieved the two halves of my bagel, dropping them on the plate with a hiss of slightly burned fingers. “Uh, yeah. That was the original plan.”

His mug stopped halfway to his lips, one bushy brow arching slightly. “The original plan? Does that mean said plan changed at some point during the evening?”

Shrugging, I began to smear a generous heaping of cream cheese onto the flat surfaces of the bagel. The aroma wafting up from the plate made my stomach growl loudly. “Sort of.”

When I glanced up, he was still standing there, cup halfway to his mouth and an expectant look on his face. Apparently, he required more of a detailed explanation than just ‘sort of’.

I put the knife down on the edge of the plate and turned around to lean my back against the edge of the counter. “The more Mike and I talked, the more I realized that I liked him.”

He gave a single nod. “So, does that mean you and Jackson are no longer dating?”

Another shrug on my part. “It’s … complicated.” Which was the same excuse I’d given Mike at the lake. “There have been some changes recently, which have sort of redefined our relationship.” I sighed. “But yeah, I think it’s safe to say we’re not going to be dating anymore. We’re still going to be friends, though.”

At least, I hoped we were. If not, I doubted he was going to help me get back home.

Would that be so bad? a voice in my head immediately whispered.

He took another sip of his coffee. “While it is really not my place to comment, I can’t say that I’m not relieved. You know that I didn’t care for Jackson at first. I thought he was an extremely strange young man whose intelligence might actually be a danger to my daughter. An opinion that wasn’t exactly improved when he accidentally made it so that you couldn’t speak or understand anything but Japanese for two whole weeks.”

I couldn’t stop a look of shocked surprise from flashing across my face. My own Jackson had built a prototype universal translator that would make anyone instantly fluent in any language. He’d managed to overcome my initial hesitation by offering to make it so that I could watch anime without needing the subtitles.

On the day of the experiment, however, an unexpected thunderstorm knocked out power to the whole neighborhood. Rather than proceed without a backup source of power, he decided to postpone. A few days later, upon further review of his calculations, he deduced there would have been a forty percent chance the device might have completely replaced my native language with Japanese. Looks like the weather was more favorable in this universe on that particular day.

Fortunately, my father was too busy looking into his half-finished cup of coffee to see my expression. By the time he did look up, I was busy chewing nonchalantly on the bagel.

“Your mom, though, she always thought he was a good boy. Not sure what she might have made about you two getting romantically acquainted. I suppose she would likely approve. She always did think the best of people.” The sadness in his voice at mentioning mom was also prevalent in his features. “Regardless of my feelings about it, Charlie, you need to be completely honest with him. You two have been more than just neighbors for years.”

I don’t know what spurred me, but I put down the bagel to walk over to where he stood and hug him tightly. Here was a man who had lost his own love thanks to a tragic accident and was doing his best to raise two teenaged daughters without any feminine support. Not to mention one of them wasn’t doing anything to make the job any easier.

Sure, Charlene was affected by her mom’s death. But so was her father and sister. She was just too blinded by her own pain to notice theirs.

One of his large arms slipped around my shoulder to give me a long, loving squeeze. After a few moments, I stepped back and dabbed at my damp eyes as I nodded.

“I know,” I said quietly. “I’m going to go over there after I eat and talk with him. Jackson has been too good of a friend, and a boyfriend, to just stomp all over his heart. I need to clear the air and make sure there are no hard feelings.”

He laughed a little, mirthless laugh. “Oh, there are going to be some hard feelings, Charlie. That boy has pined for you pretty much since the day you two met. Losing you isn’t going to be an easy thing to take.” He sighed. “I’m sorry I don’t have better advice. Your mom would know what to tell you to say. She was always better at communicating than me.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, wiped away another few stray tears and looked at him. The ache I felt in my chest was from a combination of sympathy for this family’s loss and my missing of my own mother. Who, if I continued along my current path, would be as lost to me as she had been to Charlene.

“I miss her, too, Daddy. But we … we have to let her go. At least a little.” I pointed to him and then to myself. “We’re both holding on too tightly and it’s not good for either of us.”

“I know. Maybe we can help each other with that.” His mug got a refill, and then he left the kitchen to head back upstairs. The discussion obviously tabled for now.

After finishing my bagel, I slipped my feet into a pair of sneakers and headed across the street to face the music. As much as I dreaded what was coming, I knew I had to see it through. After the terse, tense conversation we’d had the previous evening, I fully expected the news I had to crush the last of Jackson’s feelings for Charlene.

What I didn’t expect, after knocking on the door, was for Jackson’s mom to answer it. The huge smile I turned her way quickly evaporated when I noticed the extremely disapproving expression staring down at me.

“Charlene,” she said with the same tone of voice one might use upon finding a door-to-door salesman on their front porch. “Can I help you?”

I swallowed and turned the smile back on, albeit with a bit of difficulty. Back in my dimension, Jackson’s mother alternated between treating me like another son and treating me like the whole reason why her super-genius spawn hadn’t already made millions from his incredible inventions.

“Uh, hi, Mrs. Donahue,” I said, trying to act as I believed Charlene would act. “Is Jackson available? I need to talk to him.”

The woman standing before me looked like she would prefer to have zapped me with a cattle prod, rather than step aside to let me in. However, after five or six seconds of angry glaring, she gestured at the foyer.

“He said you might be coming over. He’s in his lab.” When I stepped inside and began to move toward the basement stairs, she grabbed my upper arm. “I’m not really sure what this game is you’re playing with him, Charlene.” She practically spat my name out. “But you need to either fix whatever it is you’ve done, or don’t ever come back here again.”

I blinked, my face instantly igniting with a wave a shame over a situation that I didn’t create. I nodded my head rapidly as I pulled my arm free. “That’s why I’m here, Mrs. Donahue. To fix things. Again.”

She gave me another threatening look, then turned and marched off toward the kitchen. I went down the steps and entered the lab to find Jackson underneath the dimensional control unit podium. His upper body was hidden, with only his waist and legs sticking out. From inside the unit, I could hear him muttering to himself.

Apparently, he hadn’t heard me come in, because when I cleared my throat, his lower body jerked, followed by the thudding sound of meat on metal.

“Ow!”

The whole situation struck my hormone-laden brain as hilarious, and a nervous giggle came out before I could stop it. The number of times something similar had happened back in my universe was in the dozens, and each time I thought it was hilarious.

He slid out from under the machine and looked up at me with an unamused frown.

I waved my hand in a circle at myself as I got the snickers under control. “Jack, it’s me. Charles.”

His expression turned sarcastic. “Naturally. Considering that the D.I.A.S. hasn’t activated since Friday night, it’s more than obvious which one you are.”

“D.I.A.S?”

He pointed to a red light and siren hung on the wall next to dimensional window. “Dimensional Incursion Alert System.”

“Is that the early warning unit you built?” I asked.

He nodded as he climbed to his feet. “Exactly.” Then he actually looked at me, frowning even more. “Is there any particular reason why you look, uh, less put together than normal?” He held up a finger. “Less than Charlene’s normal, I mean.”

I sighed, walking to the sofa and plopping down. “Well, your mom seemed to indicate that it would be nice if I just dropped over dead. And considering how I feel, I’m not exactly in disagreement with her sentiment.”

“Hangover?” he asked with a bit of uncharacteristic snark. “Did you have a little too much fun on your date?”

I blinked at his comment. Seems that this conversation wasn’t going to be as easy as I hoped. He was obviously angry with me for some reason. I just really couldn’t figure out what.

Shaking my head, I pointed at my crotch. “Charlene’s period started today,” I replied.

His hard expression slipped into a wince, as one would expect a guy to do if another of his male friends announced the start of their menstrual cycle. Hell, if the roles had been reversed, I know I would have experienced a burst of testosterone sympathy for his situation.

“Yeah, that can’t be fun.” He walked over and sat down next to me, making sure to put as much distance between us as the small piece of furniture would allow. “Charlene has it rough, and she’s got years of experience behind her. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”

I shot him a serious look. “Honestly? I feel like I’m not excited about going through this at least five more times.” Before he could ask, I pointed at the universe’s control unit. “Charlene practically destroyed it over there. And cracked the mirror to boot. Other Jackson said it might be up to six months before he can get it fixed now.”

“Are you joking?”

“Not in the least,” I replied and tilted my head back to stare at the ceiling. “And that’s not all.”

I proceeded to tell him about all the recent exploits of his ex-girlfriend. In both universes. I also provided a short summary of the video she’d left me, leaving out her opinion of his lack of sexual prowess. When he asked if he could see it for himself, I lied and said I’d deleted it out of anger.

He nodded. “I can’t really say I’m surprised at her actions. All things considered.”

“You mean the fact that Charlene is determined to stay in my world?”

“Yes. Though her lying to Rachel Bostwick about which version she was is curious.”

“I’m not sure if Rachel completely believes her. But she did mention some of your other inventions as a way of adding legitimacy to her acceptance of the situation.”

“Don’t trust her,” he warned, rising from the sofa. “Charlene might like her. She may even really idolize her. But she definitely didn’t really trust her. Rachel was a means to an end. Much like the rest of the people in her life.”

I stood up as well and walked over to put a hand on his arm. “Jack, listen. I’m sorry she did this to you. All of it. I don’t think she deliberately meant to hurt you. She just …”

“Please don’t try to make any excuses for her, Charles. She did what she did because that’s what she wanted to do.” He let out a little defeated laugh. “You know, I wanted to show her the dimensional window because I thought it might rekindle something between us. She used to enjoy my experiments, even when they affected her.” He shakes his head. “Turns out it just ended thing quicker than anticipated and ruined your life.”

“My life’s not ruined, Jack. Just a bit … different.”

“Well, that’s one way to put it.”

Part of me wanted to give him a comforting hug, as I’d done for my father. But I feared that might send a seriously mixed signal. So, I settled for nudging him with my shoulder. “Actually, I think I’m coping pretty well. Truth be told.” I crossed my arms over my chest, wincing a bit at the tenderness of my swollen bosom. “I think I’m … adapting.”

No, that didn’t seem like the correct word for what I was experiencing.

“I’m accepting,” I corrected. “The more I’m here, in this world, in this body, the more I am starting to accept things that go with it. Enjoy them, even.”

“You’re not just talking about makeup or walking or things of that nature, are you?”

I shook my head. “I went out on a date last night with a guy that I found attractive. It started off as just being another semi-adult chaperone, but the longer we were together, the more … right … it felt.”

He gave me a raised eyebrow of surprise. “I wonder if the quantum entanglement is messing with your sexual orientation.”

“It’s not,” I said almost immediately. Then I realized that I hadn’t really accepted the complete truth until that moment. “Turns out, I’m bi in both universes. I guess I just didn’t notice it, or probably deliberately ignored it, as Charles.”

“I guess that shouldn’t have been a surprise. I mean, it’s pretty much a conclusion that sexual preference is genetic. Despite the chromosomal differences between you and Charlene, you share a lot of the same markers. Hair color, eye color, et cetera.”

He laughed ruefully. “I guess I’m just a bit upset that my girlfriend doesn’t want to be with me, regardless of who’s in her head.”

My face warmed and I looked away for a few seconds before finally turning back to face him. “Jackson, listen. It’s not fair what Charlene did to you at all. But you’re my best friend. At least, the other version of you is. When I think about you, that’s what I feel. That friendship. Nothing more.” I sighed and looked down at my feet. “I’m sorry.”

There were a few moments of awkward silence before Jackson reached out and put his fingers on my chin, tilting my face back up to his. For one panic-inducing second, I feared he was going to try some romantic movie shit and kiss me in the hopes of igniting some passion I was obviously fighting.

Instead, he smiled at me. “Charlie, I’m mad at her. You’re right, what she did was totally not cool. You don’t need to apologize for not having any more feelings for me than you already do. I shouldn’t have said anything to make you think that I blamed you.”

There were a couple of hugs that followed. Strictly platonic hugs. Then Jackson asked if I wanted to help him with installing one of the new circuit panels on the control device. Since I really didn’t have any other plans at the moment, I agreed. Helping Jackson in the lab was something familiar to me, and it didn’t take long for us to fall into a rhythm that I knew all too well.

An hour after starting, just as he was testing the power couplings, Shelly called.

“Hey, Shells,” I said as I put the phone on speaker and handed Jackson the insulated gloves. “What’s up?”

“Where are you?” She asked. “Home, at Jackson’s, or out with Studly Do-Right?”

Jackson arched a brow and smirked at me.

“We are so not calling him that, Michelle. And I’m at Jack’s. Say hi, Jackson.”

“Hi, Jackson,” my friend echoed.

“Okay, I have Josie with me and we’re on our way there. She has agreed to listen to what you have to say. I haven’t told her anything except that there is a very good reason why she should not be mad at you. I don’t think she’s completely convinced, but I at least bought you some floor time.”

“You have five minutes, Miller,” the angry blonde snared through the phone’s speaker. “Not a minute longer.”

“I can explain in five minutes, Josie. It just might take longer for you to actually believe me.”

“Five minutes.” Then the line went dead.

I sighed and looked at Jackson. “Josie found out about Charlene and Danny. She almost clawed my face off yesterday.”

He nodded. “Now you’re going to inform her that it was Charlene that fucked her over, but that it wasn’t you. Who currently looks and sounds like Charlene?”

“Yeah.” I wracked my brain trying to think of a plan. “Michelle was easy to convince, because she knew you and believed you long enough to calm down and listen. I don’t think Josie is going to be so easy to convert to the truth.”

Jackson pulled the gloves back off and tossed them on the control panel. He walked over to a metal cabinet surrounded by what looked like a copper wire cage. Opening it, he pulled out a clear plastic jewel case with a silver disc inside.

“Then we show her the truth.”