Vice Versa

They agreed that getting to know each other was the first step. They bought ice cream on the sunny beach, Brian choosing a nice simple vanilla ice cream when to Brian’s dismay; Alice chose a gluttonous double chocolate ice cream. While they walked down to the beach, finally at peace with each other and no longer bickering, they told of each other’s lives.

Brian told of his band, Avenged Sevenfold and all of his friends - Matt, Zacky, Johnny and Arin. About his wife and family and his dog, Pinkly. Some simple facts about himself that he thought Alice needed to know while being in his body.

Alice told Brian about herself too. She was 28 years old, living with her best friend, Envy. Her parents were absent and she was an only child. She worked as a bartender at nights and designed websites by day. She graduated from college with a graphic design degree. Her life was much simpler and more ordinary than Brian’s.
Brian stopped Alice in the middle of the beach.

“You can’t walk like that.”

“Like this?” Alice humorously swung the hips exaggeratedly.

“You made me look like a fag!”

“You’re so self-conscious, you know that?”

“No, I-“

“You care about what others view you.”

“But that’s about how I present myself. It’s like you’re not acting like me. It weirds people out.”

“You have a point.” Alice raised a finger. The tattoo on the finger caught her eye. She studied the hand. Long spidery fingers stretched out from the hand. The letters MARL lay in each knuckle. She put both of the hands together and the knuckles now spelt out MARLBORO.

“A smoker, eh?” Alice said.

“You caught me.” A strange smirk spread in the face that Brian resided in. The expression didn’t fit in with Alice’s original face. Alice realised what Brian meant.

“Okay, teach me how you normally walk.” Alice said.

“Okay, don’t swing your hips. Girls do that. You kind of… move your chest instead of your hips.” Brian replied, directing Alice on what to do. She attempted to do what Brian said, but ended up overdoing it.

“Don’t overdo it!” Brian stopped her. Alice sighed.

“What now?”

“Just tone it down.”

"You know what really pisses me off?” Alice grunted. Her face was no longer composed. She finally felt frustrated and tired. She wanted to return to her body and not having to deal with all of this. Fatigue and despair wrapped around her chest, finally making her sightly sob. She stumbled back on the sand.

“Hey, don’t cry. Look-“ Brian was not sure on what to do. He was terrible at consoling people. But he was cut off by Alice.

“You know what really pisses me off? I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what got us in this fuck up. I don’t know who done this to us. I don’t even remember anything that…” Alice trailed off by her ramble. She remembered something. She frowned.

“Are you sure you don’t remember anything that might make us swap bodies? Any mystic witches or magic amulets or something?” Alice said.

“I told you I didn’t… Maybe.” Brian sat down beside Alice.

“Maybe?” Alice echoed.

“Yeah, I don’t remember much but I remember me and my friends getting drunk and seeing this witch. But I don’t think she did spells on us. Maybe some tarot or some shit like that.”

“A witch?” Alice grinned. Finally, both of them were getting down on something that could reverse this curse.

“Yeah.”

“I saw a witch once at a carnival. She did the whole seeing the future thing.”

“What did she say?” Brian was very interested now.

“She said that life changing events are afoot and I have to figure out what to do with it myself and if I make the right choice, things would get better. Something like that.”

“She said the same thing to me. How does she look like?”

“Blonde hair. Grey eyes. Her eyes were creepy, like it knows everything, your secrets…”\

“My witch has the same eyes.” He finished the conversation. Realisation dawned on them. They figured out that this mishap had happened because of that witch.

“Do you remember where you went to see her?” Alice asked.

“Um… maybe.” Brian stroked his chin. He flinched at the different skin on his chin. With his own body, he usually had fuzz on his chin. It felt so smooth and unnatural to him. Alice giggled at Brian’s reaction. Brian scowled discontent in being inside Alice’s body.

“It’s not my fault we swapped bodies!” Brian snapped, frowning.

“Neither was it mine!” Alice hissed back.

“Well, maybe you just wanted to swap bodies with the ‘Great Synyster Gates’.” Brian mocked in a sarcastic voice. Alice stared at him blankly, rage stirring up inside her. She bit her lip.

“You seriously need to justify your fucking pride. I told you I never heard of you until this fucking morning. Fuck you if you don’t even want to work this shit out. Hell, you might be stuck in my body forever.” Alice stood up and stomped away. Her boots sank in the sand, pouring some sand inside the shoes. With a frustrated grunt, she pulled off the dark red boots and socks. Finally have had enough, she threw the boots to the sand.

“Hey, hey, I’m sorry, okay? I don’t want to be in this fucking body. Now you’re being childish.” Brian caught up with Alice, his new short legs making him slower than he used to be.

“Childish? We swapped bodies and I find I swapped with an ego inflated douchebag.” She shrieked.

“Shhh... Look, we will work this out okay?” Brian turned her around and gripped her shoulders, ignoring the discomfort of handling his own body in an inverted way. Alice stared at him cooly, studing her own eyes staring back at her.

“If you stop being a dick.”

“I will, as long I get my body back.” Brian’s hands gripped harder, trying to get his point across. Alice simply nodded, her expression stony.