Staycation

“Mom! Marissa!” Jasper pleaded, “Please, there must be some way to reverse this sooner. I can’t be you for a whole week, Marissa…”

Marissa was Jasper’s mom’s old friend from high school, whom they were visiting over a week during the summer break.

“Hun,” his mother, Amy, tried her best to soothe her teenage son, “I don’t think there’s anything we can do but wait it out.”

“Yeah,” Marissa, now in Jasper’s body, sighed, “Your mother’s right, kiddo. It was those fortune cookies from that lunch place: one week in each others’ shoes. Yada yada…”

“I’m an adult woman! What about Dave?” the idea of having to encounter Marissa’s husband of 30 years like this was terrifying.

“He’ll never believe this,” Amy let out a defeated sigh.

“It’s okay. It’s just a week.”

Jasper slumped onto the couch, feeling the unfamiliar weight of Marissa’s body as he sank into the cushions. His mother’s friend had always been petite, but now that he was trapped inside her frame, everything felt wrong. The way his—her—blouse pulled across the chest, the unfamiliar sensation of long hair brushing against his neck, the slight pinch of earrings he’d never chosen to wear.

“Just a week,” Amy repeated, though her voice wavered slightly.

Jasper ran his hands through Marissa’s hair, an unconscious gesture that felt foreign with these unfamiliar fingers, “What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to act like an adult woman? I don’t know anything about being someone’s wife!”

Marissa—in Jasper’s body—cleared her throat with a sound that was distinctly teenage, “I’m not just ‘someone’s’ wife, you know…”

“Yeah, come on Jasper, you know Marissa! She’s funny and easy-going. It could be …fun,” Amy shrugged, “And besides, Marissa and I will be here the whole time to help out.”

“Fun?” Jasper stared at his mother, incredulous, “How is any of this fun? I’m stuck as your middle-aged friend!”

Marissa leaned forward in Jasper’s body, her posture suddenly more adult despite the teenage frame, “Look, kid, I know this sucks, but we’ve got to make the best of it. Dave will be home from his fishing trip tomorrow, and I can’t exactly explain this to him over the phone.”

Jasper ran his hands over his face—Marissa’s face—feeling the unfamiliar contours of cheekbones and the slight wrinkles around the eyes. The sensation was surreal, like touching someone else while somehow being connected to the nerve endings.

Then he noticed her breasts. He couldn’t help but stare down at them, these foreign appendages that now protruded from his chest. The weight of them was strange, pulling at his—her—shoulders in a way he’d never experienced. Jasper felt his face flush as he realized both his mother and Marissa were watching him.

“What?” he snapped, crossing arms that now felt too thin, too delicate, “I’ve never had... these before.”

Marissa chuckled, the sound weirdly high-pitched coming from Jasper’s own throat, “Boys…”

“Look,” Marissa said, gesturing with Jasper’s lanky teenage arms, “I know this is weird, but we need to establish some ground rules.”

Jasper nodded, feeling Marissa’s hair swish against his neck. The sensation was oddly pleasant.

“First,” Amy said, pulling out her phone, “we need to figure out how to handle Dave.”

“Right,” Jasper sighed, his voice still startling him with its feminine tone. “Your husband who thinks I’m his wife.”

Marissa ran a hand through Jasper’s hair, “He’s not going to believe this. We need to just... pretend.”

“Pretend I’m you?” Jasper’s voice cracked slightly, “What if he tries to …kiss me?”

“Then you kiss him back,” Marissa said firmly, “He’s my husband. You can’t just push him away.”

Jasper felt his—her—stomach lurch at the thought, “But I’m not you! I don’t know how you kiss!”

“Same way anyone kisses,” Marissa shrugged with Jasper’s shoulders.

Jasper opened his mouth to protest, but it stuck in his throat. He sat there, tasting his new teeth, feeling the shape of his tongue in the new mouth, and caught himself staring at Marissa. Perhaps this wasn’t as bad as it seemed.