Vice Versa

Brian banged the door open to his house, not caring if he disturbed Alice and Zacky. All that mattered was that he was finally out from the girl’s day out. Safe and alive. He checked the clock. It was already quite late. Night was befalling. He marched into his entrance, greeting Tholomew who scuttled to him, meowing to be picked up. Brian obliged. Pinkly lumbered up to them, barking. Brian figured that Tholomew had been taunting his white Maltese. He rolled his eyes.

He walked into the living room to find Zacky and Alice across from each other, holding their guitars. Brian’s jaw tightened when he saw Alice was holding his prized black Schecter custom. He trusted a few people with it, but then again, whenever it broke, even a string, he could always buy a new one. He never cared much for restringing or fixing his own guitars. Alice had a face of deep dissatisfaction. Brian noticed, frowning.

“Hey, what’s up?” he said. The two people whipped around to face him.

“Hey, you’re back! You’re early. Is the others here?” Zacky shot off, setting down his black and gold Schecter Blade.

“Hold up, hold up. I got home because I ‘felt sick’. I can’t stand it. Nah, it’s just me.” Brian talked over Zacky. The green eyed man laughed.

“Got sick of them, eh? I never figured you would be sick from being at a spa.” He grinned.

“Whatever. What’s up, A- Brian?”

“I don’t get it at all. I fucking don’t.” Alice grumbled, staring depressed at Brian’s guitar resting on her lap. Brian looked at Zacky for confirmation. He turned up his mouth into a dejected grimace, nodding once. Brian groaned.

There was no progress at all with Alice and her guitar learning. She only heard a few of Avenged Sevenfold’s songs. She had no co-ordination whatsoever, especially that she was in Brian’s body. It was too big. More than too often, she would misaim. She wasn’t clear on different chords and tones and she could not be stuffed remembering everything. Her mouth was in a sorrowful straight line, already deciding that she was giving up.

"It’s fucking weird. Especially since you came, Alice. It’s… ugh… You’re not yourself, Brian. That had to be some fucking memory wipe. And Alice, you seem… familiar. I feel more comfortable with you than Brian.”

“Hey!” Alice threw in, trying to uphold her ‘identity’ as Brian. Tholomew squirmed in Brian’s arm, forcing him to drop him. The cat ran up to Zacky and jumped on his guitar and vaulted himself to his lap. The guitar gave out a loud feedback and a crackled twang.

“That fucking cat…” Zacky’s face became murderous. He shoved off the offending cat off him. “He had been wreaking havoc in this house. And then this! Everything is fucking up. We have tour in two weeks, Brian can’t remember a thing, my guitar broke, Brian can’t play and I’m fucking hungry!” His ear tips turned redder as he went through his rant.

“Just calm down, dude. We can work it out somehow.” Brian hushed Zacky.

“Sorry.” Alice squeaked before setting down the black guitar and picking up Tholomew for consolation. She wished that she would turn into a cat and run away instead of turning into a man. Silently, Brian picked up her gaze.

“It’s like you guys have swapped bodies or some shit. If you came here for a reason Alice, just fucking tell me. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want to. Just… I need something that could explain all of this.” Zacky trailed off, facing the two other people in the room.

Alice glanced at Brian. It would be beneficial because Zacky could help them, but at the same time, the situation would escalate. Alice wanted nothing more than to just let it all go. She wanted to tell him what was going on and release her pent up anger and frustration for once. She wanted to solve this mess up as soon as possible so that another day won’t drive her crazy. She didn’t want another guitar lesson because she was basically tone deaf. She didn’t want to have Michelle coming on to her and making Michelle feel rejected or offended.

With Brian, the only thing he wanted was to get out of this body for once and all. He was tired of being ignored, he was tired of watching Michelle focus her attention away from him and he was tired of pretending to be a girl. After gazing at each other and silently discussing, they finally came to a conclusion. Brian cleared his throat.

“Here we go. What was really going on is-“ He was cut off by a door opening and a chatter of voices emitting from the hallway. All three of them groaned by the interruption. From around the corner came Michelle, Val, Gena and Lacey. They were discussing all of the things they bought.

“Hey!” Val greeted everyone in the room. Gena was attached to Zacky in an instant. She was fussing over him, trying to figure out why he was so frustrated.

“How was the guitar relearning going?” Michelle asked.

“It was perfect. Brian relearned everything at the first go. Now we all can go and have fun at tour and nothing fucked up is happening.” Zacky remarked sarcastically.

“Really?”

“Do you not understand sarcasm? No! He made no progress. At all. It’s like he lost his talent or something.”

“You don’t need to be so rude!”

“I can! I’m stressed!”

“Well, imagine how Brian would be feeling?”

“I know! But- God, ugh.” Zacky threw up his arms and rashly repacked his broken guitar back in his case. After he rolled up his cord and turned off the amp, he straightened and pointed a finger to Alice and Brian.

“We will talk later.” With that, he stormed off, with Gena following behind him out to the door.

“That’s strange.” Lacey said after a short shocked silence. “Zacky is usually so relaxed and easy going.” Everyone murmured their agreements with the exception of Alice. She was still holding Tholomew. Michelle was indeed right on how she felt. She felt depressed, frustrated, angry, stressed and pressured among other things. To put it simply, she felt like shit. Especially right after Zacky’s blow up.

She turned around and climbed the stairs to Brian’s room. She flopped on the soft bed and curled up, stroking the black cat. Tholomew seemed concerned and consoling, letting her stroke him and nuzzling in her neck.

“I wish you could talk anytime. So you could tell me what to do right now.” She whispered to Tholomew. The door quietly opened and in came Michelle. She took her place next to Alice. She stroked her muscled back in calming circles.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry about Zacky and… everything.” Michelle said quietly in her ear. Alice wanted to cry. But she figured Brian didn’t want to ruin his macho image so she held it in. Michelle wrapped her arms around Alice, pulling her close. Alice didn’t mind. She needed a good hug.

“It will work out, okay?” she continued, pulling Alice’s head to her. She was about to lean in for a kiss. Alice was already uncomfortable enough with kissing Michelle. Jesus Mother of Mercy, no!

Alice pulled away just as their mouths met. Michelle let out a groan of frustration. She pushed Alice away on the bed and stood across from it, arms folded.

“What the fuck was that?” she hissed. “Why can’t I give my husband some affection?”

“Oh, um, er…” Alice fumbled, not sure what excuse that would convince the towering woman full of rage. “Cold sore?”

“I don’t see any cold sores, Brian! Tell me the truth!”

“I can’t. I don’t think you would believe it.”

“You can tell me anything. I’m your wife. We supposed to tell and trust each other with everything?” she pleaded. Alice looked down on the stitching on the bedspread. It was purple and white woven together, creating intricate designs. Alice let her mind trace each stitch before Michelle brought her back to Earth.

“Are you with Alice? You’re cheating on me?” Michelle’s tone had significantly gone down. Alice considered her being with Brian. The idea was awfully laughable. She let out a really high pitched laugh, perfectly reflecting her disbelief and scorn. She couldn’t believe that Brian owned such a high pitched laugh.

“Dear God, no! She’s my cousin!” Alice laughed. Michelle’s eyebrow rose. “Seriously. I can’t just imagine myself with her.”

“Then how do you explain your memory wipe and Alice and you not wanting to be with me?”

“The memory wipe and Alice is a coincidence. I don’t know what I was planning before I had to pick her up at the airport. And since I forgot everything, it’s a bit overwhelming between us. Just… let this take time and space. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you anymore.”

Michelle stood there, drinking in everything that Alice said. Slowly, she nodded her head, accepting it. Alice opened her arms for extra measure. The other woman accepted her embrace, all forgiven.