Chapter Nine Mason （In Daphne’s Body）
“ L ook, this might be a bad idea, but what if we tried to run into each other and somehow physically force ourselves back into our own bodies?” I suggest, feeling incredibly uncomfortable that I’m sitting at the kitchen island, looking up across the counter into my own eyes.
Daphne looks at me like I’m stupid, and I chuckle.
“Can we use that as a last resort? I don’t want to start the day in pain.”
“Fine. Do you have any better ideas?” My legs dangle in the air, and I swing them back and forth, not used to them floating above the ground. “Daph, your legs are so short! Look!”
“Are you doing okay?” she asks me timidly. “You are handling this oddly well now.”
My stomach rumbles, and I shrug. “I mean, we obviously need to figure out how to change back. But until then, I figure it’s better not to freak out, to stay grounded, and think logically, not emotionally.”
She glares at me, her jaw on the floor. And I suppose her stupor isn’t for nothing, as I might not have handled it well right away.
Literally five minutes ago.
“Oh my God! What the fuck is going on?” I screeched and jumped off the bed, my legs feet shorter than before, and I fell to the ground, screaming on the way down. “Ahh!”
I caught myself and looked up at my body towering over me. “Daphne! Why are you in my body right now?!”
She lifted her—MY—hands out in front of her like she was facing a wild animal. “Just take a deep breath and try to calm down. We’ll figure this out.”
“A deep breath?” I shouted at her, feeling my chest tighten. “You cannot tell me to calm down right now when it’s my own voice talking at me.”
My eyes trailed up my six-foot-five body to my sparkling hazel eyes, and my stomach felt like it was going to spill everything inside. “Oh God. This cannot be happening!”
Rushing over to the huge mirror in the corner, I gasped when I saw my reflection for the first time. “Daphne.” I turned to her, looking up into her wide eyes. “Give me my body back!”
She ran her hand down her face in frustration. “You think I want to be in yours?! Wrong!”
“This is a dream, right? It’s just a dream,” I muttered, flipping my hands back and forth, studying every inch, like I was trying to find a button to undo this.
Panic overtook me, my chest becoming painfully tight, my breathing ragged and fast. “Daphne, how am I supposed to play hockey in this body? I will drown in my gear. They are never going to let me on the ice. I’m going to lose my spot on the team.
Lose my chance at going pro,” I wailed. “This is going to ruin my life!”
My cheek burst into flames, and it took me a second to realize that she just slapped me. Hard as fuck.
Her big hands cupped my face and held me steady.
She looked at me with annoyance and impatience. “Mason, get it together!”
From the jolt of her slap, I oddly felt better, as if it reset me somehow. Taking a few shaky breaths to calm myself down, I sighed. “Thank you.”
She nodded sharply. “Come on. We need to get you dressed.”
“We?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“Well, you’re certainly not going to be allowed to see me naked. So, I’ll do it for you. You just keep your eyes closed.”
“I’ve already seen you naked before, so what does it matter?” I chuckled, knowing I was getting under her skin.
“Close your eyes.” She glared at me. “And your mouth.”
Shaking the thoughts of my freak-out from my mind, I sigh as my stomach rumbles again.
Reaching for the box of doughnuts on the counter between us, I slide it over to myself, and Daphne audibly gasps and reaches out, slapping my hand away.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She scoffs, ripping the box away from me.
“Umm … eating breakfast?”
She chuffs. “Well, you can’t eat that in my body, unless you plan on spending the rest of the day in pain in bed. Or even potentially the hospital.”
“Oh shit,” I exhale. “Do you think that’s still a thing since we switched?”
She eyes me, annoyed. “You think that our magical body swap just cured my celiac disease?” I watch the wheels turn behind her eyes before lighting up like a Christmas tree. “If you can’t eat it in my body … maybe I can eat it in yours!”
She squeals and opens the box of doughnuts, her eyes shimmering with excitement as her fingers hover above the assorted rolls.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! We don’t know that for sure. What if you took celiac disease with you?”
She holds her ground, standing up even taller. “And if I didn’t? Can you imagine? Oh my God, I could eat all of my old favorite foods again!”
My heart swells in my chest when I see pure joy cross her face, even if the face she’s wearing is mine. “Okay, fine . How do you propose we test this out?”
As if she’s trying to defuse a bomb, she carefully plucks a glazed doughnut from the box. “Here goes nothing.”
“Wait, Daph!” I try to stop her, but it’s too late.
“Oh. My. Gooood!” She melts against the counter as she chews, her eyes welling up with happiness. “Do you know how long it’s been since I tasted a real doughnut?” She devours the rest of it, committing to the test fully. “This is amazing.”
“Well, let’s hope for both our sakes that your celiac didn’t switch with you because that was far more than a small trial bite, you psycho.” I run my hand down my face, mentally preparing for how the hell we’re going to cover this up when she slips into a gluten coma in my body.
“I don’t want to switch back. Ever.” She moans as she grabs her glass of water and chugs it.
“That’s just the endorphins talking. We are still going to switch back. We cannot live like this.” I throw my arms out.
It’s kind of hard to be upset about whatever’s happening when this is the most relaxed she’s been around me in years. We’re just talking and interacting without the feeling of impending heartbreak hanging on every word.
I cannot fuck this up.
“Well, how are you feeling? Can you usually tell this soon?” I ask, looking for some neon sign to appear above her head, spelling out gluten with an arrow pointing at her.
“Sometimes.” She shrugs. “The water will help process it faster, but honestly, so far, I feel great!” Her eyes glimmer. “Maybe another one would help speed this along.”
Reaching into the box, she grabs a white frosted long john with rainbow sprinkles. “Ooh, these were one of my favorite kinds.”
“Last one, and then you need to stop shoveling so much sugar into my body. It’s not used to it.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watched you down almost an entire cheesecake at Maeve’s graduation party.” She waves my concern away effortlessly, as if she didn’t just admit to watching me at that party.
Don’t draw attention to it. Just take the moment and move on.
“In the meantime, we need to figure out how we’re going to get through the day without getting checked into a mental institution if people hear us talking to one another like this.” I grab my phone from the counter next to her.
It doesn’t recognize my face, for obvious reasons, so I just enter the code. I’ll need to add her face in as an additional person. “Are we going to have each other’s phone or our own?”
Her eyes widen, which piques my interest. “Our own .”
“Okay.” I open the Notes app on my phone and start a new one. “What’s on your schedule today? Things that can’t be canceled or missed.”
Her eyes widen, and she pauses mid-bite. “Oh God. I have skating class tonight.”
“Can you call out?” I ask her, and she glares at me.
“ No . I’m their coach. If I call out, then class is canceled. And they’re learning a new skill today, and they were all so excited. I can’t not show up and let them all down.”
She frowns at the possibility, tugging at my heartstrings, and I quickly make my mind up on what to do.
“You’ll teach it to me beforehand, and I’ll teach it to your class.”
Her eyes soften for a second as she considers my offer. “Well, that might work. But you don’t know any of their names, any of the skills they already know. You don’t know the parents or any of the problems certain kids have been having.”
“Then teach me all of it. Everything I need to know to pull it off,” I offer without thought. I’d do anything to make her happy.
Besides, I know more about figure skating than she thinks. I spent years watching her skate, far more intently than she ever realized.
She holds my stare for a moment, and I can see a storm brewing behind her newfound hazel eyes. “Maybe. I don’t know. I feel like it might be too risky. What if someone figures out something weird is happening?”
I laugh. “I doubt their first guess would be that we switched bodies. They’d probably just think we’re having an off day.”
“Fair.” She bites down on her bottom lip in thought. “Do you have anything today?”
“Nothing that I can’t miss,” I answer her honestly. I mean, even if I did, I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend quality time with her. “I’m free today, so we can try to sort this out.”
“Okay, good.” She stands up taller. “First things first. We need to set some boundaries.”
“Like what?” I ask, starting a new note to jot them down for us.
“No touching. No looking. You know where I’m talking.” She eyes me.
“Deal,” I agree effortlessly. “Unless you want me to, just say the word.”
Her eyes drop. “I’m serious.”
I scoff. “So am I.” I clear my throat, hearing the higher pitch in my voice. “The last thing I’d want is to touch your body without you absolutely begging me for it.”
“Mason,” she exhales breathlessly, and as if on cue, I watch her guards shift back up in her gaze.
Shit.
“But how do you propose we shower?” I counter genuinely. “Or use the restroom?”
“Umm … we both sit down on the toilet. Eyes closed. Finish. Boom, problem solved. As for showering, hopefully, we can switch back before that becomes an issue.” She tables that discussion for later.
She tips her head side to side in thought. “There’s another issue we have to sort out.”
I nod, urging her to continue.