Reese
Of course he’d be late. Why wouldn’t he be?
I stop pacing across the stage when the sound of the door opening reaches me.
Looking up, I see myself standing at the end of a row of seats.
Looking at myself from the outside will never not be weird.
Evan rests his hip against one of the chairs and folds his arms across his chest, like being here is a major inconvenience for him.
Well, too fucking bad. I need my body back, which means we’re stuck with each other for the time being.
At my question, Evan rolls his eyes. “Of course that’s what you’d think.
Look, I know you think you’re Mr. Perfect or whatever, but I hate you.
No way I want to be stuck looking at your ugly mug in the mirror for the rest of my life.
The money is nice though.” The smirk he aims at me makes me want to grab him and pull him close.
Wait. What? I just need him in punching distance.
That’s all. What other reason would I have for wanting him close?
Evan shoves away from the seat and approaches the stage with a swagger I didn’t even know my body was capable of. I hop down to meet him on his level. “Look,” he starts, “why don’t you just tell me how you got us into this mess? Then at least we’ll know where to start.”
“Me? You think I got us into this? Why would I want to switch places with some broke ass dude with an attitude problem? You’re the only one benefitting from this. This is clearly your fault. Just own up to it so we can go back to normal.”
Evan steps into my space so we’re practically nose to nose. “There you go again. Assuming I’d actually want to be you. I may not have money like you, but I wouldn’t give up my life. Not when my sisters need me.”
I jerk back. That’s not even close to what I expected him to say.
I’ve seen the trailer he lives in. It’s falling apart, and don’t get me started on the beater he calls a car.
I thought for sure he’d be jumping at the opportunity to live a different life.
Would he really stay in his life, just for his sisters?
The thought of being loved that much makes my chest hurt.
Focus Reese! Don’t let him see any cracks.
I decide to offer an olive branch. Tugging on the longer hair that I’m not used to, I say, “Look, what I said earlier about leaving your sister was a dick move, even for me. I’d never actually leave a kid stranded somewhere. I promise to leave them out of this thing between us.”
It looks like it causes him physical pain, but Evan manages to grate out, “Thank you. They’ve been through enough. I’m all they have, they can’t lose me, too.”
I nod as I hop up to sit on the stage, swinging my feet. “What’s the last thing you remember, before the switch?”
“I went to sleep last night, in my own shitty bed, and woke up this morning in a cloud.”
That causes me to chuckle; I cut it off quickly though. “Yeah, your bed is the worst. Same situation for me though. I didn’t go out or anything last night. We have a big practice today. No way I’d drink the night before. You haven’t been to any shady Chinese restaurants lately have you?”
“Do I look like the kind of guy that can afford to eat out?” he asks as he joins me on the stage.
“Fair.”
“I don’t know how we ended up in this situation. All I know is we need to figure out how to get out of it, and quick.”
“Well in the movie, they had to understand each other better, before they could switch back.”
“This isn’t a fucking movie, Reese! This is my real fucking life!”
I’m taken aback by his sudden outburst. He’s been the one that seems to be taking this all in stride. Why is he suddenly so adamant about getting out of my body?
Grabbing at his hair, he lets out a growl and surges to his feet. “Look, just figure it out, and not some fake ass movie solution. I gotta go.” He storms out, leaving me staring and my jaw basically on the floor. What just happened? For a minute, it seemed like maybe we could be civil.