Tom held the bag of weed in his hands, almost guiltily. He had never been this close to it before. The smell provided a slight peace to his rising anxiety, and he wondered if it smelled this good just by itself, how much better would it be to smoke it?
He shook his head quickly, his red locks falling into his face. *God, this kid’s a fucking stoner?! Does that mean I am too?* he thought as he slid his shaggy hair behind his ears. He couldn’t deny that the scent was tantalizing. But he was freaking out at the thought. He had always been a straight-laced guy. He didn’t even like to get drunk, let alone do any kind of drugs. Sure, he lived in Colorado, and weed was legal there now, but even still, he had never had any real desire to smoke anything, not even a cigar. He grabbed the bag, the lighter, and the pipe, and looked around his room. He had to hide this stuff. He was freaking out at what might happen if Matt, Steve, or Alice found it. He got up and quickly walked over to the dresser. Opening his top drawer, he buried it under his socks and underwear. *Yeah…that should do it…*
“Hey dad! What are you doing?” a voice called behind him.
Tom jumped. “Gah!” he cried out, turning around to see Matt standing in the doorway. “Matt! You scared me! I didn’t hear you come in. Is school already out?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. It showed to be 3:45PM. Had he already spent over two hours looking through this stuff?
“Yeah, I just got home. I was startled myself when I saw you in your new body. It’s so weird to think that you’re just a couple of years older than me now…” Matt replied with a smile.
“Yeah, you keep bringing that up. Just don’t forget that no matter what I look like on the outside, I’m still your dad on the inside!” Tom said, folding his arms over his chest. Even still, being the same height and several pounds under his son’s weight felt incredibly disconcerting. “Anyways, I’m just getting comfortable, unpacking my new clothes…” *Hiding this kid’s marijuana paraphernalia,* he thought to himself.
“I gotcha,” Matt said. “Would you want to take a break and play some games for a while?” Sometimes when Tom got home from work, they would play games on Matt’s Xbox One S. Although Matt wasn’t a huge gamer, he did like to play shooters from time to time, and it was a great way for him and Tom to connect.
“Sure! That sounds like fun,” Tom said, closing the dresser drawer and making his way into the living room with Matt. He grabbed one of the controllers and sat down on the couch. Matt was looking through the snack bag that Tom had bought at the convenience store.
“Whoa, Dad! Bang? I thought you hated energy drinks. And spicy Cheetos too?”
“Well, apparently my new body has different taste buds, and it apparently likes both of those things,” Tom said. “Actually, if you don’t mind, I’ll take the Cheetos now. I haven’t had much to eat, and it’ll still be a couple of hours before Alice gets off work. Oh, by the way, she and I are going out tonight. You’re cool here with Steve?”
“Well, Brad and Dominick got tickets to the new Fast and Furious movie, so I was going to go out with them, if that’s all right. Can I have one of your Bangs?”
“Yeah, that’s fine, to both of those questions.” Matt opened one of the Bangs and brought the bag of spicy Cheetos over to Tom. Tom opened it and started eating while Matt got the Xbox turned on and the game pulled up.
Before they could get started, Tom’s cell phone rang. He looked down and recognized the number as Dr. Pinkerton’s office. “Hello?” he said, answering the phone.
“Hello, this is Jane with Dr. Pinkerton’s office. May I please speak to Mr. Allen?”
“This is he,” Tom replied.
“Hi, Mr. Allen. I know we had scheduled your follow-up appointment for April 15th; however, Dr. Pinkerton will be out of the office that day due to a conference. I need to reschedule the appointment. Would the 20th work? 3:00PM?”
“Yes, that’s fine,” Tom replied. “My work is pretty flexible with doctor appointments, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Excellent, I’ll get your appointment updated,” Jane said. “Thank you so much for your time!”
“Of course. Have a good day!” Tom exited out of the call. “Sorry about that,” he said, looking up to Matt who had the menu of the game pulled up. “Shall we get started?”
Soon the two of them were engrossed in teaming up in an online shooter to take out the opposing team. Tom was so focused on the game that he was completely unaware when Steve came into the apartment and sat at the bar between the kitchen and the living room, drinking a beer and watching Matt and Tom play.
“Wow, Tom! Your reflexes at this game have definitely improved with your new body,” Steve said.
“Steve?” Tom said, looking up from the game. “Did you get off work early?”
“Nope. Same time as normal. 5:00.” Steve said as he took a drink from his beer.
Tom looked over to the clock on the wall to see that it was 5:45PM. He had been so into the game that he and Matt were playing that he had been completely unaware at how fast the time had gone by.
“Holy shit, I’ve still got to get ready! Alice will probably be here around six, and we’re supposed to go out tonight!” he said, getting up from the couch.
“Hey, watch your language, young man!” Steve said jokingly.
“Go to hell. I’m still older than you are,” Tom said.
“Yeah, but the mirror sure doesn’t show that, Dad!” Matt chimed in as he turned off the Xbox.
“Not helping, Matthew!” Tom gave his son a derisive look. “Anyways, I need to find something decent to wear. This kid’s clothes are kind of thrift-store. I don’t exactly have a lot of options to choose from.”
“Do you want to borrow some of my clothes?” Matt asked. “We look to be about the same height.”
“Yeah, except you easily have 20 to 30 pounds on me,” Tom replied. “Your clothes would probably fall right off. This kid’s a skeleton. I think Alice and I are going to go clothes shopping. I’m going to at least need some suits for work on Monday. Thanks though, son!”
“No problem! I need to get ready for tonight anyways. The guys want to grab a bite to eat before the movie,” Matt said.
“Do you need any money? I put my wallet down somewhere around here…” Tom entered his room and looked around, but couldn’t remember where he put it.
“It’s out here!” Steve called out from the living room. He walked into Tom’s room and tossed him the wallet.
Steve looked at the piles of clothes that Tom had organized earlier. “Yeah, this kid’s style doesn’t exactly match yours, huh?”
“No kidding!” Tom said. He opened his wallet and grabbed two 20-dollar bills. “Give these to Matt while I get dressed, would you, please?”
“Sure,” Steve said, taking the money and leaving Tom alone in the room. Tom took off the athletic shorts and grabbed a pair of jeans from the stack which had a canvas web belt around the waist. While they definitely had some rips and tears in them, there was nothing too blatant, and looking at his other options, there weren’t many choices that didn’t have multiple holes in legs or knees. He held the jeans to his nose to determine if they were clean, when he realized that there was something in the back pocket. He pulled out a worn black wallet. Opening it up, he saw a student ID for Daniel Walker, his new body’s face reflected in the image on the ID. Tom hadn’t heard of the high school that was on the ID, but he knew it wasn’t anywhere super close to his apartment. The opposite side held Danny’s Colorado state ID. Looking at it, he saw that their birthdays were the same! May 18th! Obviously, 19 years apart, but it was surprising that he had the same birthday as his host body. A shiver went down his spine. Why hadn’t anyone at the hospital told him? *I guess no one thought it was super important…*
Danny glanced through the rest of the wallet, which had Danny’s Social Security card, a punch card for a local fast-food restaurant, and a business card for the Wadsworth Youth Home, which matched the address on his state ID. Opening the center of the wallet, he found eight dollars and a condom. *Well, at least the kid probably practiced safe sex…I’d hate to think I have some illegitimate children in this new body or something like that!*
He put the wallet on the nightstand, then paused for a moment. Maybe he should take at least the kid’s ID with him. In fact, it might be easier to just move his stuff into this kid’s wallet. At least, that’s what he told himself. He wasn’t sure why the beat-up old wallet held such a strong pull for him, but he felt he should keep it, at least for now. He grabbed his wallet and pulled out his debit and credit card, along with his old driver’s license and slid them into Danny’s wallet.
He grabbed the burgundy boxers he had worn for a couple of hours the night before and slid them on, before slipping on the jeans, which he determined seemed pretty clean. He tightened the belt around the waist and was content with the fit. He slid the wallet into his back pocket. He figured he would be trying on shoes if he got fitted for a suit, so he walked over to his dresser and got a pair of his black dress socks out, as Danny did not have any nice socks in his clothes. He tried on a pair of his old shoes, but he quickly determined that they were a few sizes too large. He wasn’t exactly thrilled about wearing the beat-up black and white Vans skateboarding shoes, but they were better than nothing. He slid them on and was amazed at how comfortable they felt. He had never been a fan of sneakers, and while he had an old pair of Adidas that he used to wear when he went to the gym, most of his shoes were loafers or dress shoes. He looked at himself in the mirror. Fully decked out in the clothes, he really did look like a normal teen kid. He could probably hang out with Matt and his friends at the mall and no one would even bat an eye. It still unnerved him how young he looked. Still, he had plenty of money to buy at least a few outfits that fit his more preppy style. He walked back out into the living room just as there was a knock on the door. He walked over and opened the door, revealing Alice.
“Hey Tom!” she said as she entered and gave him a hug. Tom returned the hug, and while they normally would kiss, he backed away after the embrace, remembering that she still felt awkward about his new look. “Are you ready to go out to dinner?”
“Yeah, that would be great,” Tom said. “And afterwards, do you think we could hit up some stores to get me fitted for some new suits for work on Monday and just some new clothes? I feel like a teenager in this kid’s clothes.”
“Ooh! I want to see all of your ‘new’ clothes before we go!” Alice said, as she walked into the apartment. Tom closed the door, and they walked into his bedroom. Alice looked around at the different stacks that Tom had organized, sometimes pausing to pick up a shirt before neatly folding it and returning it to the pile.
“I can see what you mean!” she said. “His style is VERY different from yours!”
“Yeah, I don’t think the kid exactly had a huge clothing budget,” Tom replied.
Alice walked over to his closet and looked in. “And none of your old clothes fit you?” she asked.
“Not well, at least. I definitely need to get fitted for new suits. I just hope that they have something workable for me to wear until I can get some suits perfectly tailored for this new body.”
“Well, you could always keep your old suits in case you grow into them. Is your body still growing?” Alice asked as she turned back to face him.
“I….I don’t know,” Tom replied, realizing that he couldn’t remember the doctor saying anything about it. “I don’t think Dr. Pinkerton ever really brought it up. But there was a lot of stuff he was discussing with me before you got there, so I may have forgotten about it.”
Alice gave him a curious look but didn’t say anything else on the topic. “Well, I’m sure they’ll have something that will work for you,” she said. “Anyways, if we’re going to get dinner and still have time to go clothes shopping for you, I suggest we get going. Ooh! You might want to bring a jacket or something. It’s actually pretty nippy out there this evening.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Tom said, grabbing a lime green hoodie off the stack as they walked out of the room. He slid it on over his head and was instantly hit by the strong marijuana smell. Hopefully it wasn’t too apparent to Alice.
They walked into the living room, and Tom said goodbye to Steve and reminded Matt to be home before curfew. “You too, Dad!” Matt replied with a smile. “With that baby face, the cops would totally think that you’re breaking curfew!”
Tom blushed as he realized that Matt was 100 percent accurate. He shook his head, not really having a quick comeback in response.
“Do you mind driving again?” Tom asked Alice as they walked out of the apartment. “It’ll still be a bit before I can get my license updated. You can take my car if you want.”
“I’ll drive,” Alice replied, “But we’ll take my car. Your car’s always too messy!”
Alice was always giving Tom a hard time for his messy car. He tried to keep it clean, but it was challenging sometimes with work. He climbed into the passenger seat of her SUV and put on his seatbelt.
“So, we should try something fun that you didn’t like before in your old body!” Alice said as she got into the driver’s seat. “How does Indian food sound?”
“Meh…I was never a big fan of it before, but I seem to have a taste for spicy foods, so why not?”
“I know!” Alice said with a squeal of delight. “It would be awesome if you actually liked Indian food now.” She pulled out into the street and headed down towards a local Indian restaurant. “And we could also try Thai food, or Vietnamese…”
“Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure I’m still good with a plain burger and fries too,” Tom replied. “I doubt this kid got to go to nice Indian food restaurants often.”
“I know,” she replied. “I’m just excited to go to these restaurants! You never want Asian food.”
“That’s not true! I will go with you when you want!” he replied, rolling his eyes.
“Yeah, but you always complain about how spicy the food is, and how it gives you indigestion…”
“Well, I’m glad to know this new body can allow you to eat wherever you want now!” Tom said, annoyed at the conversation. He slumped in his seat and looked out the window, a position that his new body felt oddly comfortable in.
“I’m sorry, sweetie!” she replied, glancing over at him briefly. “I’m just still trying to figure things out! I know you’ve been under a ton of stress.”
“It’s all right,” Tom said, consciously sitting up and looking back towards Alice. “I’m still figuring it all out too.” He had to wonder, though. Was he losing himself inside of this new body?