Painting Flowers

Sophia slowly woke up to find herself in the familiar room of her boyfriend’s apartment. She smiled as she rolled over onto her side expecting to see said person lying next to her but frowned when she saw that it was empty. When was Jack ever up out of bed before her? Especially on a weekend. That was just strange. But what was even stranger was the fact that she was in his apartment when she had fallen asleep in a hotel a few hundred miles away from Baltimore.

She got up from the bed and then made her way out into the hallway to check out the rest of the apartment. Something really strange was going on and she wanted to know what. And the only way to begin to understand was if she found Jack. Maybe he could help her understand what was going on.

Going into the living room first, she saw that it was empty and the tv wasn’t even on. On the few rare occasions that Jack had actually woken up before her, in the last few days or even when they had been kids, she usually would have always found him in front of the tv eating a bowl of cereal while watching cartoons. But he wasn’t there.

Her next option was to go check out the kitchen and as soon as she walked in, she found that he wasn’t there either and she was starting to get a really weird feeling about this. She was about to turn around and head back to his room when she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the phone ring.

The loud shrill ring of the phone form where it sat in its holder next to the tv. She could hear it loud and clear. As if she had never been deaf for the last fifteen years.

Panic filled her as she ignored the phone and bolted for the bathroom. Wasting no time, she slammed the door shut and heard the bang of the door as it locked in place and stared at it for a few moments as she could hear the continuous ring of the phone through the wood of the door. She stared at it for a few moments as if it could explain to her what exactly was going on but then her brain kicked in and reminded her of why she was in the bathroom in the first place. It had a mirror.

She turned away from the door and cautiously walked up to the mirror and gave a slight yelp as she saw the reflection. What the hell was going on? And why was her boyfriend staring back at her through the mirror? She cautiously raised her hand and the reflection in the mirror did also following her movements as she touched her face.

“What the hell?” She asked herself as she felt the rough stubble on her cheek realizing it was really the same as the reflection in the mirror and reality finally hit her.

For some reason, she was in her boyfriend’s body and she could hear again. She had no idea why or how it had happened but now she was staring at her reflection in the mirror with a horrified expression. This was all too much for her. The only reasonable explanation she could think of was that this was all a dream and she was going to wake up and find that she was in the hotel room with Addie and Kora and this was just her mind playing tricks on her.

She reached out with a shaky hand and turned the water on from the faucet and waited for it to get as cold as possible. When it was, she cupped her hands together and took a deep breath before splashing the water of her face hoping that it would make her wake up. But in reality, all it did was make a mess of water all over the bathroom.

Deciding that once more wouldn’t hurt, she splashed a bigger handful on her face only to realize that she had the same result. She wasn’t waking up and she was still standing in the bathroom wet and staring at herself in the mirror.

“Yo Jack!? You better be up!” A voice called from the other room as the front door opened and slammed behind them. She still managed to jump since she was still trying to get used to the fact that she could hear again, all because she was now Jack Barakat. The famous guitarist of a popular band loved by thousands.

This was all really too much for her to handle at the moment.

The person knocked on the bathroom door making her yelp and lose her footing on the wet floor as she fell and wacked her head on the wall. Groaning, she watched as the door opened to reveal a concerned and slightly amused looking Alex looking down on her with a ‘what the hell are you doing’ expression.

“Seriously, you’re not even dressed and are messing around in the bathroom when we have to leave in like three hours. You better not have been jacking off either.” Alex said as he glared down at Soph. She sighed and tried to calm her racing heart as she took the hand Alex offered her and pulled her up on her feet.

“Are you ok Jack? You seem a little freaked out. What’s going on?”

Soph bit her lip as she silently debated with herself if she should tell him what was going on. Would he even believe her? This was Jack’s body which she was currently using, for reason’s still unknown, and would Alex actually take her seriously or just laugh at her and think she was just being the same old Jack?

“Seriously Jack, you can tell me anything. Are you ok?”

Yeah right, like Alex would actually believe her if she told him.

“I’m f-fine Alex, I’m just a little out of it today. Don’t worry.” She replied as she ran her hands through her hair, trying to ignore the weird feeling since it was shorter and thicker now that it was Jack’s and pushed passed him to walk into her room.

“Ok, whatever dude. I’m going to grab food.” Alex muttered as he turned and disappeared into the kitchen.

Soph sat at the edge of the bed and stared at her hands. What was going to happen if she couldn’t wake up? Was she going to be stuck being Jack for their tour? Oh God, the tour. She didn’t even know how to play guitar that well, let alone knew any of their songs. What was she even going to say to the guys when they found that she had mysteriously forgotten how to play all their songs?

God knew they had enough of them. There was no way she was going to be able to secretly teach herself how to play all of them in the short time she had between flying and their first show in like two days. Dear God, this was turning out to be a nightmare.

The only good thing she could think of about this strange predicament she found herself in was that she could suddenly hear again. It was strange, getting used to all the noise that accompanied life. Like that moment for instance, she could hear Alex loud and clear through a closed door and down the hall banging things around in the kitchen while the microwave beeped telling him whatever he had put in there to heat up was now done.

She was so lost in her thoughts that moments later she jumped when suddenly Alex called her name after he opened the door and walked into the room. “Hey Jack, do you want anything to- Are you seriously ok Jack? You’re really freaking me out right now.”

She slowly shook her head, “No, I’m not ok.”

“What’s going on dude? You’re really acting strange. Can you please just tell me what the hell is going on with you? Seriously, I’m not going to freak out on you. Just tell me.” Alex said as he sat next to her and their shoulders touched.

“You wouldn’t believe me,” she mumbled to the floor not wanting to look up and see the confusion and worry in her boyfriends best friends eyes.

Alex touched her shoulder, “You can tell me anything dude. Whatever it is I’m sure it’s not that bad. Just tell me Jack,”

“That just it,” she mumbled still staring at the floor. “I’m not Jack.”

“What do you mean you’re not Jack? Dude I’m sitting right next to you, you’re Jack.”

She looked up and met his eyes, “I may look like Jack on the outside but I’m really not him. I’m Sophia.”

“Your girlfriend?” Alex asked as she nodded. “Seriously Jack, if you wanted to pretend to be someone else, you should have picked another name.”

“I’m telling you the truth Alex!” She nearly yelled, getting slightly startled by her own voice as she stood from the bed and stared him down. “I’m not Jack. I’m Sophia. For some reason I woke up this morning here at Jack’s place instead of at the hotel where I’m supposed to be with the rest of my band. I don’t even know where the real Jack is. Hell he could be anywhere. He could be in my body for Christ’s sake. I have no idea what’s going on. All I know is I fell asleep at the hotel and woke up here and I can suddenly hear again like I never lost my hearing fifteen years ago.” She exploded and Alex just sat wide eyed at her as she ranted, walking back and forth throwing her arms in the air for good measure.

Before either of them could say anything else, a loud buzzing noise filled the room and they both looked to Jack’s night stand where his phone sat. She glanced at Alex once more before walking over and carefully picking it up worried about who it might be. When she finally forced herself to look at the phone, she nearly cried when she saw who the new text was from.

From: Soph
Soph, please tell me you’re there.

“Oh my god, he’s in my body.” She whispered, more to herself than anything. Saying it out loud sort of helped her realized that this dream was actually becoming reality.

To: Soph
Yeah, I’m here Jack. What the hell is going on?

“Jack,” Alex said making her realize that she wasn’t actually alone in the room. She turned to him and saw that he was actually standing right beside her reading the text over her shoulder. “What’s going on? If this is a game you and Soph are playing please stop. You’re freaking me out.”

“And what do you think I’m doing?” She snapped. “Secretly having a party in my head because I’m suddenly in my boyfriend’s body?”

The phone buzzed again and they shared a look before she opened the text and they both read what the reply was.

From: Soph
I don’t know babe, all I know is that I woke up in a strange hotel and I can’t hear anymore.

“Oh my God, it’s true then?” Alex asked as she nodded to him and waited for him to freak out. “You’re really Sophia?”

“Yeah Alex I am, do you finally believe me now?” She asked as he sat back down on the bed and slowly nodded.

He looked up at her with wide eyes and just stared for a few minutes making her feel really uncomfortable. “Do you have any idea how this happened?”

“Honestly no, all I know is what I told you. I woke up here and can suddenly hear again and in my boyfriends body.” She sighed as she sat next to Alex but allowed herself to fall backwards so she could stare at the ceiling. “Why did you believe me so quickly anyway?”

“Because, I’m the one with the voice in my head and stranger things have happened.” Alex replied with a small smile.

Then Soph suddenly remembered that Alex was sort of in the same predicament that she was in. Only his issue was in his head, not that Zo was a issue or anything, and hers was that she had magically switched bodies with a famous guitarist she happened to be in love with. Not that she had told Jack that or anything. It was too soon to say it out loud even though she knew it was true. They really had only been in a relationship for about a month at the most, but she knew she loved him, and she knew he loved her back, they both just knew it was still too early to say it out loud.

“What are we going to do?” She finally asked. The question had been bothering her since she had realized what had happened but only then did she had the courage to actually say it out loud.

In all honestly she was freaked out about what he was going to say. The one thing she was most freaked about him saying was that they had to tell everyone. Which she understood why but she didn’t want the be faced with the stares and the freaked out looks. She was scared enough as it was, she didn’t need everyone else freaking out as well. But it was just her luck that is exactly what Alex said in reply.

“It’ll be fine Soph, I promise. I’ll be right by your side when we tell them.” He said and she figured he caught the worried look she had. “I know that Zo will understand, I mean, we all are in sort of the same predicament together. Just stop freaking out ok. These guys are actually pretty understanding and it won’t be that bad ok?”

She sighed and nodded looking to the lead singer who was giving her the best encouraging smile he could come up with. “Just stop over thinking everything and get up. We have a super long day ahead of us and it looks like Jack left you to finish the rest of his packing. Just go get a shower, and get ready to leave. We’ll figure this out together ok? Everything’s going to be fine.”

She just nodded not knowing what to say and prayed to God that he was right.