Evan's grin remained plastered on his face as he left the store, with a grocery bag in hand. He carried with him four different flavors Polycephola soda, blood orange, tangerine, watermelon, and pineapple, and two of the Pivicephola sodas, bluberry and lemon/lime. He thought it strange that the founders laced the fusion virus with soda, but Evan figured that people would rather enjoy taking it in a refreshing drink, rather than a medicine bottle.
He continued down the sidewalk, back on his original path. He pulled the sleeves of his grey sweatshirt over his arms, to protect himself from the cold chill in the air. He had been on his way to his friend's, Dylan's, apartment and decided to stop in that particular store because it was on the way. Evan was glad he took the time to stop in because now he and his friend would have something new and exciting to attempt. He opened the blood orange soda can as he continued on. He finished the whole drink and tossed the empty container in a trash receptacle, just outside the apartment building. Evan thought that it would be fun to surprise Dylan with the soda's effects. He pictured his friend's shocked expression in his mind's eye as he rang the bell of his friend's apartment number. A buzz from the door was heard a few moments later, signaling that Dylan was letting him in.
Evan took the elevator to the third floor, and finally, he knocked on Dylan's apartment door. "There you are Evan! Thought you got lost." His friend greeted him. His dirt-blond hair was swept to the side, and he was wearing a red and black plaid shirt with jeans. "How have you been?"
"Good, good. I got a surprise for you." Evan replied as he fist-bumped his friend's opposite hand. Evan was holding the bag of drinks in his left. He then wrapped his free, right hand around Dylan's shoulder in a half-hug. He noticed that his friend was holding an empty bottle in his right hand, which looked strikingly similar to the ones he had just bought.
A moment later, only one body was standing in the threshold of Dylan's apartment. It was almost as if Evan's and Dylan's bodies had simply slid into each other, half disappearing, accompanied by the subtle sound of a water droplet falling onto the surface of a lake. The change happened so fast, that Evan had not realized what had happened. "Did you stop by the grocery story just down the street?"
His friend looked quizzically at him, "Yeah... I picked up a new soda brand for us to try."
"Great minds think alike, I guess. I did the same." Evan smiled as he lifted the grocery bag in his left hand. As he examined the empty bottle in his friend's hand, he realized that it was one of the Polycephola flavors which Dylan obviously had just finished, probably as Evan was taking the elevator up. And, Evan remembered that he had just finished a bottle of the same brand minutes before arriving at the apartment. In that moment, Evan put two and two together. He finally took notice of how much closer his friend was standing next to him, and how the right half of himself seemed to be missing. He could not feel his right hand or his right leg. With his eyes, Evan traced his friend arm to his friend's shoulder and neck. "Holy shit, it worked?!" Evan declared, shocked to see his friend's plaid shirt meet his own grey sweatshirt.
"You had downed one too!" Dylan stared in shock at their now shared body.
Evan realized that Dylan must have concocted the same plan of surprising him, but since both of them drank the soda, they were now firmly attached to the same, blended body. "Yeah, clearly we had the same prank in mind." he admitted.
"Well, I guess I should invite you the rest of the way in." Dylan smiled.
Evan smirked, "Glad you want me over. Not sure what I would have done now if you didn't want to hang out." He carefully shut the front door.
The two of them were pressed up against the right wall of hallway, facing the left wall. Evan felt his back, or at least his half of their back, pressed against the wall of the hallway. He was still holding the grocery bag with the other soda's he had bought in his left hand, his only hand to his sudden realization. Suddenly, the task of walking seemed daunting to him, and apparently his friend had similar thoughts.
"Uh... how do we do this?" Dylan asked.
Evan translated his friend's vague question to mean, how do they walk from his hallway to the couch in the other room when they only control half of the body each. The distance seemed great to Evan as well. "Good questions." He paused, thinking. "Uh, I have two of the antidote drinks in the bag here. We could drink one, and then try this over again." Evan decided not to say aloud the other, obvious option of simply attempting to walk over to the couch as they were.