We arrived at the Ride Along clinic at around 8:00am on a Friday morning. Our mini vacation was set to start at 10:00am, and the specialists had advised giving them around 2 hours to finish paperwork and get everything set up. I was a little leery of the whole thing, but Jeff, my boyfriend, seemed really excited about it.
We had signed up for a hyper realistic virtual reality getaway. The technology was fairly new and there wasn’t a ton of information on it, but essentially we would spend the weekend believing we were other people. Jeff and I opted for 60 hour package, meaning we would still be together until 10:00pm the following Sunday night. The options presented were extensive. While I was a bit intrigued by the transgender option, just to see what it was like to be a woman for a weekend, Jeff had easily convinced me that we should both still be men, at least for the first time. I even noticed there were a few animal options, which could be something for us to explore down the line. There were a ton of options under men that would allow us to stay together: collegiate athletes ranging from wrestlers to football players to baseball players, some professional athlete packages (which cost quite a bit more), porn stars, police men, marines, CEOs, 18 year olds, movie stars, personal trainers... pretty much any stereotypical fantasy life you could think of.
“God, imagine being 18 again” I said with a laugh.
“Being that horny again all the time? Sounds exhausting” Jeff replied.
“Oh? I don’t make you horny all the time?” I said with affected offense.
“You know you do Ben” Jeff said, slightly pushing me. “But it was constant back then!”
While the options were extensive, they were also purposefully vague. Beyond the lifestyle you were going to be watching for a weekend, the agency didn’t provide any information on the specific person. Jeff thought it made it more exciting.
The specialist greeted us in the lobby and handed us some forms to fill out. Basic health information, assumed liability, and the last page was our selection. Jeff and I got the last page at roughly the same time. I looked at the options once more, then looked to Jeff.
“So this is it. You’re sure?” I asked, this time with a bit of concern.
“Totally. This weekend is going to be amazing. Even if it is just a simulation, you and I will get to see what it’s like to be..."