Chapter IX

The rest of Friday and all of Saturday passed by in a blur and, before she knew it, Sunday had arrived and with it, the scheduled get together between her and the Magic Club to conduct their experiments with what Vinny apparently dubbed “The Switch”. Lilly had no idea what they intended to do in their experiments but she knew for certain that it would probably entail more body swapping. The thought made her both turn red in embarrassment and get a little excited at the prospect of using magic again.

She was also grateful to have a heads up that she would be switching bodies again as it meant she could actually plan for it and psych herself up before doing it. In addition, despite not having any clothes that might have been questionable anyway, Lilly still made sure that what she wore wouldn’t be embarrassing if she wound up swapping with one of the guys. She ended up wearing loose black shorts that went to her knees and a dark red t-shirt that she had gotten back in March.

Once she was dressed and had her sandals on, she told her parents that she was going out for a walk and left. There wasn’t any big reason to lie to them as she was sure they wouldn’t have minded her going out to Liz’s—and might’ve even been happy about it—but she knew both them and Alexa would have started bombarding her with questions considering the fact that she was notorious for never leaving the house. Therefore, she opted to avoid the hassle and simply lie.

Much to her relief, Liz lived in a nearby neighborhood that only took a short, ten-minute walk to arrive at. Despite the small distance however, the sweltering heat has her sweating by the time she made it to her destination.

God, why does it have to be so hot today?

Grimacing and wishing she could have just stayed home, Lilly walked up the cute, brick path that led from the sidewalk and up to Liz’s porch. The house was a small one-story with a covered porch out front. There was a wooden rocking chair a few feet to the right of the door and she noticed some motionless wind chimes hanging over the path. When she approached the door, she saw a welcome mat with the name “Tao” written across it in curly red letters.

Well, at least I know I’m at the right place. Before knocking, she glanced over her shoulder and scanned the area but didn’t see any sign of cars parked in either the driveway or on the street. So either they all walked here or I’m first. God…let it be the first option.

Praying that she wasn’t about to be stuck alone with Liz while they waited for the others, Lilly hesitantly knocked on the door. She stood in place, waiting with a quickened heartbeat, until she heard footsteps on the other side and was, much to her relief, greeted by the calm features of Damien.

“Hey,” he said with a smile, motioning for her to come in. “I’m surprised you actually came.”

She cocked an eyebrow as she stepped into the small entryway. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The boy shrugged. “Well, you just looked really uncomfortable the other day, is all. Part of me thought we scared you off and you just said you’d come to get us off your back…something I wouldn’t have blamed you for, honestly.”

Lilly laughed softly, sliding her sandals off and placing them beside a group of shoes to the left hand side of the door. Judging by the many pairs already there, she realized the others must have already arrived.

“Well, I won’t deny that I wasn’t uncomfortable,” she admitted. “But I can’t exactly pass this up. It’s not everyday you stumble upon magic, after all.”

Damien glanced away for a moment and suddenly seemed distant. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Ah, good! So the gang’s all here!”

At the sudden exclamation, Lilly turned and looked down the hall to see Eric staring back, a hand raised in greeting.

“Come on into the living room and make yourself comfortable,” he continued before turning and once again disappearing around the corner.

Lilly frowned. “This…is Liz’s house, right?”

“Yeah,” Damien grumbled in reply. “But on quote-unquote ‘club business’, Eric’s in charge.”

“Ah…gotcha.”

The boy sighed once again and beckoned for her to follow after him. She silently obliged, ready to get the experimenting on with.

Damien led her into a rather large living room consisting of a dark red couch facing a mounted flat-screen TV. Off to the left of the couch were some dark gray recliners at which Vinny and Liz were currently sitting and there was a coffee table in the center. To Lilly’s immediate left was a door that most likely led to a kitchen and dining area and to the right was a hallway that almost certainly led to the bathroom and the bedrooms.

As she scanned the living room, she suddenly realized how weird it was to see the four of them not in their West Wilham uniforms. She was so used to them being dressed that way that it took her a moment to take the scene in. All three boys were dressed in light cargo shorts with Vinny and Eric wearing tank tops and Damien wearing a light t-shirt. As for Liz, the girl had on a cute baby blue blouse and a short black skirt. However, her ever-present headphones around her neck hadn’t moved.

“There she is,” Vinny called out with a smile. “The great Lilly Harper herself. Glad you could make it!”

“You can sit anywhere you want,” Liz added. “And I’ve got sodas and water in the fridge if you’re thirsty.”

“Oh, I’m good,” she muttered. “Thanks though.”

In reality, she was a bit parched but she wasn’t one who liked taking things even when offered. She wasn’t sure why but she never felt comfortable doing so.

“Well, in that case, let’s start,” Eric announced as Damien and Lilly both took their seats on the couch. The tall boy remained standing as he walked around the coffee table, all the while reaching into his pants pocket to produce the stone. “So begins the first Switch Investigation Meeting of the Magical and Other Anomalies Investigation Team!”

“Oh yeah,” Liz grumbled. “Really rolls of the tongue, that one.”

Ignoring the girl’s snarky commentary, which Lilly was beginning to realize must’ve been the norm for them, Eric continued on.

“Damien! You take the floor, my friend. After all, you’re the one with all the questions, aren’t you?”

“Yeah sure,” he replied, seeming only mildly interested in the whole situation. Nevertheless, Damien went on. “Well, first of all, I think the biggest goal here would be to simply figure out the boundary between what’s physical and what’s psychological.”

Lilly frowned. “W-what do you mean?”

Since none of the others seemed confused, she figured they must have already gone over what Damien was talking about before she arrived at the clubroom the previous Friday. Normally, she wouldn’t have wanted to interrupt but, since being confused would only make coming to the meeting pointless, she forced herself to speak.

Damien didn’t seem bothered by her interruption in the slightest. “Well, you know the brain is more or less the control center of the body. Everything you do comes from signals it sends out. Your consciousness is also within the brain. This is all basic stuff, yeah?”

She nodded to let him know she was following his explanation.

“So, I think we can assume that the gem isn’t physically switching brains into opposite bodies,” he continued. “That’s just…absurd even if we’re talking about magic. The only other thing I can think of is that living beings actually do have some equivalent of the soul and that’s what the gem is swapping.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” she said with another nod.

Damien smiled, seeming suddenly a little more into the subject than when she arrived.

“So, take your swap with Eric for example,” the boy said. “If your soul is what went into Eric then that should mean you had his physical brain, right? But that just brings up a whole other load of questions.” He frowned, seeming to consider the topic for a moment as he folded his hands together on his lap. “Memories and personality are dictated by the brain so…technically, you should have had his memories and at least aspects of his personality. Yet, Eric says he had full recollection of all of his own memories and none of yours when he was you. So did his memories transfer with his soul?”

“Ah, I see,” Lilly said softly. “So you guys want to figure out what transfers and what doesn’t?”

“Exactly,” Vinny chimed in. “Damien was also going on about what effects the physical body could have on the mind.”

Lilly tilted her head. “Meaning?”

“Meaning,” Damien began, “what would a boy being in a girl’s body do to the soul? How would the different hormone levels and physical urges affect his conscious existence and vice versa.”

“Oh, okay,” she muttered. “That makes a lot of sense, actually.”

“Good!” Eric said excitedly. “Then if we’re on the same page, we can begin.” The boy then turned to look at Lilly. “And let me quickly say that we have no intention of making you do anything you don’t want to, Lilly. If you don’t want to swap, that’s perfectly fine. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

She glanced up at him, surprised to see genuine concern in his eyes that she might think they intended to make her use the stone. However, as sweet as it was, she had been considering it ever since she made the choice to go to their clubroom. As strange as being Eric had been, she couldn’t deny that a part of her wanted to switch again so she could experience it under different, less chaotic circumstances. Since they were alone away from school, she had decided that, to help their self-proclaimed investigation, she would be willing to switch with the boy once more.

“Thanks,” she replied. “But don’t worry about me. In fact…I’m prepared to switch again…if you need me to.”

She didn’t look away from Eric when she said it but she could sense the surprise of the other three around her. As for the tall boy, he merely smirked and eyed her with clear approval.

“A woman as curious as I, it seems,” he said with a laugh. “You see that, Liz! It seems being in my body has not scarred the poor girl!”

Liz snorted. “Eh, it could still be some twisted, magical version of Stockholm syndrome. Maybe being you messed her up in the head or something.”

“Liz!” Vinny admonished. “That’s a rude thing to say to our guest!”

Lilly cringed inwardly, still not used to being around their obnoxious and outgoing personalities. She simply considered herself grateful that at least Damien seemed sane enough.

God, of all the people in the world to get their hands on a magic rock, it had to be these maniacs, she thought in part amusement and part discomfort.

“Anyway,” Eric interrupted before Vinny and Liz could go off on a tangent. “Lilly, if you are willing to switch with me again then that means we could truly start to try and understand just what effects this thing has. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

She nodded firmly, slowly getting to her feet. “Certain. I want to know more about this, too, you know.”

Eric grinned. “Good. In that case, shall we?”

He held out his hand with his fingers wrapped around the orange surface of the stone. Lilly looked down at it, feeling a swirl of emotions within her. She was both excited to use it again and nervous to be willingly giving her body to a boy she hardly knew and entering into his. It was as that thought crossed her mind that she realized just how crazy her life had become in such a short time that her dilemma was even a possibility. Yet, she knew she had to do it if she wanted her curiosity satisfied.

Taking a deep breath, Lilly reached out and placed her fingers against the stone.

Much like the last time she used the stone to swap bodies, the second her skin touched its surface, she was engulfed in that world of formless white. Without any physical body, she couldn’t breathe or move or speak. For those brief few moments, all she could do was exist until she abruptly found herself once again standing in Liz’s living room. Except this time, she was seeing it from a higher vantage point and instead of looking into Eric’s eyes, she was looking into her own.

She immediately released her hold on the gem and looked down at her body. Everything was as she had expected. She was no longer wearing her red shirt and black shorts but Eric’s cargo shorts and his tank top. Her shoulders were broader than before and she didn’t have any hair falling into her vision. In addition, the other differences that were due to their different genders caused her cheeks to heat up in embarrassment. Everything was just like the last time.

It happened again. It actually happened. I’m in Eric’s body.

When she looked back up, she found Eric tugging on a strand of her hair as he looked down at his own new form. Luckily, unlike the first time they swapped, he didn’t touch anywhere she didn’t want him touching and instead simply looked back up at her with an excited grin.

“So, I’m assuming by your weird reactions that it worked,” Vinny said, breaking the silence.

Eric chuckled, his confident laugh sounding really strange when paired with her voice.

“That it did, my friend,” he said with an extravagant wave of his hand. “The switch was once again a success! Now our investigation can truly begin!”

“Yeah, it worked,” Liz muttered. “Poor Lilly’s been condemned to the terrifying prison that is Eric’s body. Poor, poor Lilly.”

“Hey, silence, you witch!” Eric snapped. “Nobody asked for your opinion! Your jokes are getting old.”

Liz smiled with a sweetness that was very clearly faked. “I dunno. I still think it’s funny.”

“Regardless,” Eric growled. “Damien! You may begin! The reins are yours from here on out!”

Lilly couldn’t help but to cringe hearing Eric talk like that in her body but she knew she couldn’t complain. She knew what she was getting herself into when she committed to the swap.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Damien, who looked equally as put off by the whole scene as Lilly did, grimaced before getting to his own feet.

“Alright…I guess I’ll start with the obvious,” he grumbled. “It doesn’t seem like anything’s off to me, but how hard is it to move while swapped?”

Lilly frowned. Both the first time and the current time, she found it as easy to move around as Eric as when she was herself. Walking was any different from normal with the exception of the clear difference in physical fitness between the two of them.

“It’s pretty normal,” Eric replied. “Why?”

Damien cocked an eyebrow before glancing over at Lilly, as if waiting for an answer. She nodded her head in agreement with Eric’s response, which only seemed to confuse him even more.

“It’s just odd,” he muttered. “The center of gravity between boys and girls is very different…not to mention the obvious height difference between you two. You should be stumbling around right now.”

“So?” Liz piped in. “What does it mean if they aren’t?”

Damien shrugged. “Well I’m not really sure. The best guess I have is that the part of the brain that deals with motor control doesn’t swap. Lilly has Eric’s ability and he has hers.”

“Interesting,” Eric murmured. “So what does that mean?”

“Hell if I know,” Damien snapped. “Remember, I’m just guessing here. Most of my psych knowledge comes from the internet so take it with a grain of salt.”

Vinny smirked, getting to his own feet as he looked between Eric and Lilly. “Alright, so we’ve got that down. What else?”

“Well, let me just ask you both something kinda awkward,” Damien began with a grimace.

Lilly glanced away, not liking the uncomfortable tone of his voice. None of the other three seemed particularly bothered however.

“So…obviously your current bodies are…different,” he continued. “So I guess what I want to know is…how noticeable is everything? Like…how foreign does it feel?”

“Yeah, Eric! What does it feel like to have boobs?” Vinny inquired with a sly grin, earning him a snack over the head by Liz.

“Who’s bothering the guest now, huh?” she snapped. “What a tactless question.”

Lilly forced herself to ignore them, irritated by how often her cheeks seemed to be turning red in the past few days.

“Honestly,” Damien said. “While I wouldn’t phrase it as bluntly as Vinny, that is essentially what I’m asking. To both of you. How does it feel to have the body of the opposite sex? How different are the sensations?”

Vinny smirked, eyeing Lilly this time. “Ah yes, different sensations. Like a boner. Are you interested in experiencing your first boner, Lilly?”

Somehow, her cheeks got even redder than they had ever been as she was forced to face the reality that his question was actually a possible experience she could now have. She desperately tried to shove the thought from her mind for fear that just imagining it would cause it to happen.

“You asshole,” Liz growled, smacking him over the head a second time but this time, Vinny was busting up laughing. “Go in the other room and think about what you’ve done.”

“No, I’m sorry!” he apologized between laughs. “I’ll stop now. I promise!”

Damien looked somehow less amused than Liz as he turned a genuinely apologetic look her way. She tried to look like it didn’t bother her but she knew she wasn’t very convincing. Eric had his back to her so she couldn’t see his reaction. However, moments later, he spoke.

“To be honest,” he said. “As weird as this might sound, unless I really think about it, it doesn’t feel odd at all.”

Damien frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Eric sighed as he began to pace again, his brow furrowed in clear concentration. “As long as I’m not actively thinking about my body, it almost feels like I was born this way…as if my brain is correcting everything to make this all seem normal.”

Lilly exhaled softly, realizing that Eric hit it right on the mark. It didn’t feel weird to be in his body unless she started thinking about all the differences. In fact, she remembered noticing that odd fact the first time they swapped.

“Okay, so the magic corrects that, too?” Liz asked.

“I think so,” Eric replied.

Damien scowled. “Okay, that doesn’t make any sense but then again, none of this does so I’ll just move on to the next topic.” He shook his head, seemingly trying to process everything and lead the meeting at the same time. “So you remember how I mentioned physical urges and hormones?”

Lilly nodded, as did the other three.

“In that case, I have to ask you something, Lilly,” he went on.

She hesitated, hoping it wasn’t another weird question. “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Are you into girls or guys?”

She was taken aback by his question, having not expected him to take that route with his questioning. She’d never given her sexuality much thought since she didn’t think she’d ever bother dating anybody anyway. But, since she tended to notice the hot male actors on TV, she figured that meant she was probably straight. She quickly recovered and replied with a shrug.

“I’m…into guys, I think. Why?”

Damien nodded. “Okay, interesting. So then…” He then eyed Vinny with narrowed eyes.

“What?!” The blonde boy asked, feigning offense. “You can ask her whatever! I’m not gonna say anything this time!”

Damien didn’t look like he believed a word Vinny said so, seeming to come to a decision, he then walked toward Lilly, beckoning her to lean forward. Realizing he wanted to whisper the question so Vinny couldn’t hear, she did what he wanted and leaned over.

“Sorry about this but…” he began softly. “Do you feel any…urges to touch your body right now? Like…are you attracted to it or…?”

Lilly’s eyes went wide at the awkward question but, trying not to let her discomfort show, she quickly shook her head and answered honestly.

“N-no! Not really!”

“Ah, come on!” Vinny whined. “Now I really want to know!”

Damien ignored him, nodding his head as he considered her response. “That makes sense,” he whispered to her. “After all, any normal person wouldn’t be sexually attracted to themselves. Aside from the normal urge to masturbate, which we aren’t going to test for, there shouldn’t be any other urges. It seems the gem corrects that, too.”

He backed away and began to pace, earning curious stares from those who didn’t hear his question.

“I already asked Eric the same thing the other day,” he mumbled. “And he said the same thing. Okay then…” Raising his voice to once again address everyone, he continued. “Now we come to a certain problem. I’m curious to know how much the consciousness and physical body clash when it comes to sexual attraction.”

Lilly frowned. “Huh?”

“You know,” he went on. “Like, if you’re attracted to boys and Eric’s attracted to girls, how does the gem mess with that?” He cleared his throat and sighed. “Attraction has a lot to do with hormones. Those are produced by the body in the endocrine gland. Therefore, by all technicalities, Lilly would theoretically be attracted to girls when Eric.”

Lilly glanced down at her feet in embarrassment, irritated at how so much of the experiments were sex related.

“On the flip side,” Damien explained. “Lilly is consciously attracted to men. So with her brain and body on opposing sides, what would win out? Now of course, this is just a theoretical scenario. That’s where the problem comes in.”

Lilly cocked an eyebrow. “Problem? What problem?”

Damien shrugged. “Well, simply put, Eric’s bisexual.”

Her eyebrow remained raised as she looked at him in growing confusion. “And that’s a problem how?”

“Well, if Eric swings both ways and you’re only attracted to guys,” Damien said. “Then it’s my theory that with body and brain at odds, both would correct to a male attraction since aspects of both body and mind have it. Only Eric has any attraction to girls so I think both your body and mind would overcome that and build off his male attraction.”

“Ah,” Lilly uttered, realizing now what he meant. “So we can’t really test it with us, can we?”

“I don’t think so,” he replied.

Lilly frowned in an attempt to come up with a solution when, before anybody else could say anything, Vinny began chuckling slyly.

“Well then, I guess you could say this is a job for the horniest guy around,” he said wryly. “Have Lilly switch with me and I assure you that you’ll notice an immediate change.”

“Oh absolutely not!” Liz protested before Lilly could say anything. “Why would we ever condemn the poor girl to being you! Being Eric is bad enough!”

“While we need to further discuss my placement below Eric, I’ll put that on hold for the time being,” Vinny growled. “And anyway, I don’t think it’s up to you, dear Liz. It’s up to Lilly.”

“Vinny,” Damien grumbled, clearly worn out by the day’s events. “Are you suggesting we put you in Lilly’s body because that sounds like a terrible idea.”

“No!” he exclaimed. “God! What kinda pervert do you guys take me for? I’m saying I’ll become Eric and she’ll be me. When she gains my uncontrollable libido, we’ll know how the gem affects attraction.”

Lilly glanced between the four of them in consideration. While she wasn’t exactly excited at the prospect of becoming yet another, supposedly hornier, guy, she also couldn’t deny that she was getting caught up in the investigation and was genuinely curious to see what the effect would be.

“Well, it’s up to Lilly,” Eric said, chiming into the conversation for the first time in a while. “Like I said earlier, I won’t make her do anything she doesn’t want to do.”

At the boy’s words, all eyes turned to Lilly as the group awaited her answer. She could tell that Damien and Liz expected her to turn Vinny down so she was certain they would be surprised when she responded.

“Okay, let’s test it,” she said. “I’ll swap with Vinny.”

“Hell yeah!” the blonde boy cheered. “At least somebody trusts me!”

Damien’s eyes were wide. “You’re seriously okay with that, Lilly? You really don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Maybe the gem really has driven all logic from her mind,” Liz muttered.

Ignoring the bespectacled girl’s comment, Lilly responded directly to Damien.

“I’m being serious,” she said. “I’m actually kinda curious to see how it would work, too and it’s not like being him is going to be much different from being Eric.”

The boy sighed. “Alright then. If you’re good with it then I won’t stop you.”

Vinny grinned, holding his hand out and motioning toward Eric. “Awesome. Then give the gem here, buddy. Let’s get this going.”

Eric chuckled softly and seemed ready to toss it to the boy.

“No, Eric,” Liz protested. “Don’t throw—!”

However, she was unable to get the whole thing out before he had tossed the stone over the coffee table and into Vinny’s outstretched hand.

“You dumbass!” she snarled.

“What?” Eric snapped back. “What’s wrong with throwing it?!”

Liz scoffed. “What if he missed and it hit the table and broke? You’d be stuck in Lilly’s body the rest of your life and, more importantly, she’d be stuck as you!”

“I’d like to think a magical stone would be a little less fragile,” Vinny chimed in. “And anyway, it’s not like he can just hand it to me!”

Liz narrowed her eyes at him. “Then just set it on the table like a normal person.”

“Oh whatever,” Vinny said with a wave of his hand before turning to look at Lilly. “Anyway, my friend, are you ready to do this or what?”

She nodded, feeling slightly irritated after bearing witness to the argument. She realized Liz had a point. If they broke the gem while they were swapped, there was no reason to believe they’d go back to their original bodies. It made her tense up at the thought of Eric tossing it. However, she kept her fears to herself and stepped forward to where Vinny was holding the stone out to her.

Well, here we go again, she thought moments before placing her fingers against its surface.

For the second time that day, she was submerged into the realm of nonexistence but, now knowing to expect the strange feelings that came with being formless, it didn’t scare her as much and, seconds later, she was back in the living room. The fact that she was staring at the face of Eric Reiner with the gem clutched in her hand was proof enough that the swap had succeeded and she was currently in the body of Vinny Mickelson.

“Man,” Vinny said with a laugh as he looked down at his body. “I know I swapped with Eric the other day but it doesn’t get any less surreal. Really makes me wonder what it’s like to be a girl.”

“Keep dreaming, bud,” Liz quipped.

Ignoring them both, Damien once again focused his attention on Lilly. “So? How do you feel? Anything different?”

She frowned, not sure of how to tell if becoming Vinny actually changed anything. Since she wasn’t one to check people out to begin with, she wasn’t sure how to test it so, deciding to be as simple as possible, she turned to look at Liz in an attempt to see if she noticed anything different in how she perceived her.

The moment she did, however, she was taken aback by how much more noticeable her feminine features were. While Vinny’s body didn’t feel like he was really attracted to her, Lilly did find herself more drawn to the curve of Liz’s body and the softness of her face. Suddenly scared of the foreign feelings welling up inside her, she turned away, her cheeks burning once again.

“Um…” she whispered, immediately noticing the different voice emerging from her mouth. “Uh, yeah. It…definitely has an effect.”

Liz immediately laughed with clear satisfaction. “Good to know you realized that while looking at me. I’m hot, aren’t I?”

“Oi, don’t get the wrong idea here!” Vinny protested. “Just because I’m aware of you being a girl does not mean I’m attracted to you! You are a witch, after all!”

“Witch, siren, you guys just aren’t consistent,” she retorted. “Pick one and stick with it, why don’t you?”

Not wanting to make it seem like Vinny had a crush on Liz and give anybody the wrong idea, she quickly jumped to his defense.

“He’s right,” she said. “I don’t feel any sort of attraction, per se. It's more like I’m just more aware that you’re a girl than before. That’s it.”

“Interesting,” Damien muttered. “Very interesting. So, for the time being, it seems like the physical is outweighing the psychological.”

“It seems so,” Eric agreed. “Well, in that case, I suggest we take a brief break. I want to think a bit before we move on. Liz, you mentioned smoothies earlier?”

The girl immediately perked up at his question. “Oh, right! Yeah, I’ll go make those! Damien, wanna help?”

The boy smiled. “Of course. You want one, Lilly?”

She opened her mouth to reply but Eric beat her to it.

“Yeah, she does actually,” he said. “Her throat is really parched.”

Lilly grimaced, having forgotten that she couldn’t deny her thirst if she wasn’t even perceiving it. Deciding not to say anything, she watched as Damien and Liz headed into the kitchen, leaving those who were swapped alone in the living room.

“Man, what an experience,” Vinny said, flopping down into one of the recliners. “It’s so trippy hearing Eric’s voice coming out of my mouth…er, well, at least the version of it that he hears.”

Eric chuckled, taking a seat in the other recliner. Lilly immediately tensed and prepared for him to spread his legs but, to her surprise, he actually crossed them in the way she normally did when she sat down.

I wonder if that’s another one of those subconscious habits that doesn’t transfer over, she thought to herself.

Realizing that meant she might start subconsciously acting like Vinny, she opted to stay standing and not sit down, especially given the fact that she didn’t want to be any more conscious of what was currently between her legs.

Vinny’s right. This whole thing really is trippy…

“So, Lilly,” Eric said, bringing her attention back to them. “I wanted to quickly thank you for coming. To be honest, even though you said you would, I wasn’t sure if you’d actually be here.”

She frowned, recalling that Damien said the same thing. “Did I really come across like I was lying?” she asked, momentarily surprised by her voice before remembering that she was in Vinny’s body.

Eric shrugged. “A bit. I know I probably scared you the other day when we first swapped so I wasn’t really sure what to think. I was hoping you’d come though.” Then, as if a thought occurred to him, he went on. “Also, I’m really sorry about running into the boy’s bathroom while in your body. I’m sure I embarrassed the hell out of you in front of your friends.”

She looked at him in mild surprise. While she hadn’t thought of Eric as a bad guy, she’d been under the impression that he was so absorbed in his own little world to realize just what he had done to her. She hadn’t expected him to apologize.

“Wait, you did that?” Vinny asked incredulously. “Dude! They’re gonna think she’s some sort of peeper or something!”

“No, it’s fine,” Lilly quickly interjected. “I’m sure you were just caught up in the moment. After all, it’s not every day you swap bodies with somebody. I smoothed it over with my friends so we’re okay.”

Eric smiled in a way that she realized she rarely did. It was a foreign expression on her face and once again, she was taken aback by it. It was then that she realized she wasn’t feeling the same attraction toward her own body like when she looked at Liz.

I wonder if my mind is overriding any attraction toward me since it’s my body, she wondered. Either that or Vinny just doesn’t look at me as a girl.

“Well regardless,” Eric said. “I hope that doesn’t put you off. Truthfully, I’d really like it if you could keep experimenting with us after this. You might be rather quiet but I…get a good feeling from you. I trust you, dear Lilly Harper.”

She was once again taken off guard by his comment. Despite his almost comical tone, she found from the look in his eyes that his words were genuine. He wasn’t putting on a show or simply being nice—he meant what he said.

Maybe…I had the wrong impression of them, she thought. They aren’t anywhere near as bad as I thought they’d be. Sure, they’re really frickin’ weird, but they aren’t bad people.

Surprising herself, wondering if it might’ve been an effect of being Vinny, she returned the smile with one of her own.

“Thanks, Eric.”