No one in the restaurant looked at them twice as they walked through to the elevators, taking their first steps and strides in their new bodies. “Your hips sway much more than mine do” Ellie said as they reached the elevator doors.

Laura smirked “Well your legs are longer and your hips are narrower than mine…” she said under her breath.

They rode up to the third floor and got out “I’m on three too” Ellie said.

“Good than we won’t have to go far” Laura replied as she pulled out the key card from her pocket. “Get ready…”

She opened the door and both women stepped in.

Will Anderson was sitting on the bed when he heard the door open “Good you’re back…we can get going” he said as he stood up “Oh…Hello…who’s your friend?”

“Um…”Laura started to say as she saw her husband staring at her since she was the stranger to him “Look…this is going to sound crazy…”

Will looked back and forth between the two as Laura talked and Ellie bit her bottom lip and just generally looked nervous and uncomfortable.

“…but you have to hear me out and don’t call me a liar” Laura said as she stepped closer “I am your wife”

Will looked confused and started to smile as if it were a joke.

“This is not a joke and it’s not a drill. This lady, who looks like me…is not me; her name is Ellie and she’s from St. Louis. We were eating breakfast and I commented on her glasses so she took them off and I tried them on…and then she tried my glasses on and the next thing either of us knew, we were trading places. I had her eyes and then her nose and then her whole face and then I look over and she has mine and then our hair changed so we got up and ran to the restroom and then our whole bodies swapped”

Laura finally stopped and took a breath as Will sat down on the corner of the bed.
“So that’s why she’s wearing my clothes…we never changed clothes…we changed bodies and now I look like her and she looks like me but it’s still me inside…I’m still your wife” Laura dropped her arms at her side and looked dejected. “And you don’t believe me and you think I’m crazy and…”

“I don’t think you’re crazy” Will said quietly.

“What? Because you should totally think we’re crazy…shit like this just doesn’t happen.
People don’t just switch bodies but you have to believe me that we did”

“I believe you” Will said looking back and forth between the two. He stood up and walked over to his wife in her taller and younger body. He hugged her and when she hugged him back as strong as she could and began to sob he said “Because if you were a stranger trying to pull a joke on me, you wouldn’t react like that to me coming up to you no matter how hard you had practiced this scenario”

“Oh My God I love you” Laura said breaking down.

“Wow…I would have never thought of that to test this out” Ellie admitted.

Will smiled as Laura sat down hard on the bed and grabbed a handful of tissues.

“So how weird is this for you” Ellie asked. “I mean you’re talking to your wife but I’m not your wife”

“It’s extremely weird and I have no clue what to do” Will said.

“Neither do we and we are severely weirded out right now. Do you have any idea what it feels like to walk in somebody else’s body…not just their shoes but their entire body?”

“Can’t say that I do…” Will admitted with a shrug “But the way you talk and the way you walk is still the same” he said to Laura. “You can look like somebody else but you still have your mannerisms and speech pattern”

“How am I going to tell my husband though” Ellie said “How’s he going to react to this” she said waving her hands up and down the front of her body.

“We’ll all go…you two first but I’ll wait in the hall and if he has a hard time with it, I’ll try to help convince him…maybe call him a pet name or start with a detail that only you two know” Will said.

Ellie and Ray’s room was just a few down the hall. Ellie was nervous as she opened the door and peeked in “Ray are you decent?”

“Hello…who is it?” Ray called out to the unfamiliar voice.

“It’s me Ray…it’s Ellie…I have somebody else with me and I need to tell you something”

Ray came into full view and he was dressed so Ellie came in with Laura close at her heels. “What’s going on honey…who’s this and why is she calling me honey?”

“Ray, I need you to listen to me and believe me and trust me when I tell you that I’m your wife in this body”

“What…is this some kind of joke because if it is you need to knock it off because it’s not funny” Ray said as he took a step back.

“Don’t be as stubborn as you were when you wouldn’t listen to me about building that dresser so shut up and look me in the eyes. I left you here and went down to breakfast and the only open seat was next to her…her name is Laura by the way. We got to talking and she tried on my glasses because she thought they were cool and when she had my glasses on, I put hers on and then…boom…next thing I know I have her face and then her body and she has mine”

“But that’s impossible” Ray said looking between the two of them.

“That’s what I thought until it happened to us…you have to believe me” Ellie said.

Ray looked at his wife and then at the woman claiming to be his wife. “If you’re my wife tell me what I told you on our first date”

“That’s simple honey…you told me I was…and I quote…your little daisy” Ellie responded without hesitation. “We had just left Marcello’s and I was wearing that yellow dress; we were walking to the movie theater and you took my hand and told me I was your little daisy”
“Ellie…holy crap what in the world…how did you…” Ray looked around confused “What’s going on?”

Laura went back and opened the door to let Will in. He came in and said “Trust me…I’m just as lost about all this as you are”

“So that’s…” Ray said.

“That’s my wife…or rather your wife in my wife’s body and my wife is in your wife’s body” Will said as he came into the room.

“I just…I can’t…honey, is that really you?” Ray said.

Ellie nodded and sat down next to him. She took his hand in hers “Your hands are so rough” he said.

“I know…don’t remind me” Ellie said from her new body. “But the important question is do you still love me?”

“Of course I still love you” Ray said. “I mean, you might not look like the woman I married but you still are her”

Ellie put her head on his shoulder and the room went silent for a moment.

“I don’t want this to stop our vacation though” Ellie said suddenly standing up. “I’ve waited my whole life to come to NYC and I’m not going to waste today just because I look different”

“What are you saying?” Ray said.

“I’m saying that I’m not going to sit around here and pout all day about this. We can still go to Times Square while we try to figure this out. Believe me, I want to get back to my own body but I’m also not going to waste my day”

“Yeah” Laura chimed in “I don’t want to waste today either. Maybe if we swap clothes, we might swap back anyway” She looked around “I’m going to go get my suitcase for you” and off she went.

Ellie jumped up and started going through her clean clothes “We will figure this out and we will swap back. I am not going to live the rest of my life in this body…that’s just not right…but until then…I still want to go to Times Square today”

“What the hell” Ray mumbled under his breath to Will.

“I know man; this is some weird ass shit” Will replied. ”I don’t even know what to say let alone do right now”

“I’m so confused” Ray said.

Laura was back in a few minutes. She came in and kicked off her flip flops in front of Ellie. “Do you want these clothes?”

“Maybe…do you want these?” Ellie replied.

“Maybe…I just know I’ll be more comfortable once I get some clothes on that fit me.

“Are we supposed to watch or what?” Ray asked as if they had forgotten about them.

“No…go back to our room…I’ll be down in a minute Will” Laura said.

“And if you could step out until we at least swap underwear…” Ellie said.

Ray and Will left and stood in the hallway. Ray pulled out his phone and started typing away as Will looked around still befuddled by the entire morning.

Will took a few steps away and pulled out his own phone. He opened the internet and his homepage of DA came up. The small yellow envelope showed that he had a new message so he clicked on it. It was from a fellow user that he collaborated with many times but as he read the message, Will went pale and felt faint.

‘You are not going to believe this but it’s real. I can’t explain right now but F2F is real’

Will looked down the hall and swallowed hard “Holy shit” he mumbled “It can’t be…”

The coincidence was too great for it to be anything else when he said “So that’s why you didn’t have a big problem believing what happened this morning?”

“What?” Ray said.

Will glanced down at his phone before he turned it around and waved it in the air “Nice to finally meet you in person…If you’re on DA with an interest in stories where two women swap bodies…a little F2F action if you will…I’m the author you’ve been working with for the past year: I just got your message”

Ray now went pale “Are you fucking kidding me?” he closed the distance between them. He grabbed Will’s phone and stared at the message he had just sent.

They were both speechless for a moment.

“Do you realize what this means?” Ray said. “We might have caused this…this might have happened solely because of the fact that we write these stories. When our wives met, they didn’t stand a chance…”

“Our fantasies caused this…but that still doesn’t answer the question of how we can reverse it”

Ray had to laugh “Of all the people, of all the places…I don’t…but shit…it’s real! It really happened!”

“I know…it’s fucking crazy as hell!” Will replied.

As Will and Ray talked and tried to figure out what to do and even if they should say anything Laura and Ellie began to exchange clothes.

The door shut and Ellie started to take off her clothes. She kicked off the tight shoes and undid her skinny jeans. She had to shimmy quite a bit to get them down and off her thighs. “Oh” she said as she got a full look at her bare legs for the first time.

It wasn’t as difficult for Laura as she took down her shorts and lifted off her orange top. She looked down though at her too large bra and saw her smaller breasts swimming in the cups.

Ellie got her shirt off and had the opposite feeling as her breasts now squeezed out of the top of her bra.  “No secrets obviously” she said as she unhooked her bra.

“I know what they look like” Laura replied as she too took off her bra.

“But seeing them from a different perspective is still weird” Ellie stated.

“And here goes…” Laura said as she took down her panties. She looked down as she did it before she cocked her head over her shoulder looking down her back. She put her hands on her naked hips, slapping the skin there “Wow”

Ellie smiled as she too took off the last piece of her original clothes “This isn’t going to be permanent…it better not be…no offense but I just want my own body back”

“Oh I get it” Laura said “I don’t want it to be permanent either”

Ellie opened up Laura’s bag and brought out a pair of pale blue panties and a white bra. She stepped into the underwear and put her arms through the bra straps. “That feels much better” she said as she adjusted and hoisted her breasts in the bra that finally fit her.

Laura found a pair of white boy shorts and a white bra and put them on, happy that they fit. “I’m wearing your skinny jeans; that is definitely happening today” Laura said as she picked up the jeans Ellie had taken off. “I have never worn skinny jeans in my life and I will today” she added as they went right up and she buttoned them closed.

“No questions huh” Ellie said as she went through her choices. “I don’t know if I want to wear your flip flops all day though”

“I also have a pair of sneakers and a pair of black flats back in there” Laura said pointing to her bag.

Ellie pulled out a black V-neck top and put it on. She turned to the mirror “I see why you like these shirts…they show off your boobs and make your stomach disappear”

Laura smiled “I’m not as young as you are…I need a few tricks” she picked up the white and blue stripped shirt “I want to see…” she said as she put it on “See; I liked this outfit when I saw it on you…I think I’m going to wear it”

“Sounds good to me” Ellie said as she put on a pair of tan Capri pants and dropped the black flats on the ground.

She fastened the pants and patted her waist before she ran her hands down her thighs smoothing out her clothes. Ellie looked down at her feet and wiggled her toes “This still blows my mind” she said looking at her shorter red painted toes. “I still cannot
comprehend how in the world I am inside your body. I mean I’m physically a different person today than I was yesterday but I’m still me”

She stood back up straight and flipped her hair back taking how much less hair there was to move. Instinctively, she tried to touch her bangs, but all she found was a bare forehead.

“They’re over here” Laura said pointing to her bangs. “I know…I’m totally blown away at this too. I mean, just look at me; look at us. Total strangers an hour ago now inhabiting the others body; using your arms and legs, your hands…your feet. I look like you, talk like you…smell like you!”

“What if we don’t change back? What if we just can’t…what if we are stuck like this?” Ellie asked.

Laura shrugged. “If we are, we are. If that’s the case then there was obviously nothing we could do about it and it could be worse”

“It could always be worse” Ellie agreed.

“At least we’re both healthy; sure it’s different though. I feel bad for you and I feel like you’re getting the lesser trade” Laura said.

Ellie blushed and felt embarrassed for her.

“You had to get older…shorter…10 pounds heavier” Laura started.

“Stop: Just stop…it could be so much worse” Ellie said. “Don’t insult yourself; come on now, you’re pretty and have plenty going on for yourself”

Laura smirked “Thanks” she said somewhat sarcastically.

“No seriously…look around and look at all the people you are I could have swapped bodies with and then realize just how lucky, if you can call this lucky, we were to at least find each other. This could have happened while walking around a Walmart on a Tuesday morning…I shudder at that thought to say the least” Ellie said.

Laura smiled and looked down at her feet. Even though they were a size smaller, they seemed longer to her eyes. It must have been the narrowness and the long skinny toes that cause the illusion as she used those toes to grab and pull the brown flats toward her. She slipped her right foot in, feeling her toes disappear under the end.

As she slipped her left foot in, it felt complete to her: Laura was Ellie. She turned and smiled at her former body as she too lined up her shoes.

Ellie lifted her wider right foot and slipped it into the black size 8 flat in front of her. Once inside, she lifted her toes and rubbed the ball of her foot back and forth appreciating the fact that the shoe fit her well. It felt comfortable for a day of walking and she quickly put her left foot into her shoe as well.

Wearing her clothes, having her body, having her voice, Ellie felt complete as well: Ellie was Laura.

“So I guess we go gather up our husbands and make them spoil us today for what we’ve been through right” Ellie said.

“Damn straight” Laura agreed. “We’re going through Central Park and then down Broadway and back to Times Square, so maybe we’ll see you there”

Ellie nodded “Take my clothes down to your room and give me your phone number; we will talk again tonight and we are definitely getting back together before we leave to straighten this out tomorrow morning”

Laura gathered up her clothes and they exchanged numbers “Early tomorrow we figure this out and get our bodies back”

When Laura opened the door, Will and Ray looked like two kids caught with their hands in a cookie jar.

“What are you two so jumpy about?” Ellie asked.

“Nothing” Ray answered quickly and the two of them exchanged a nervous glance and nod.
Will followed Laura down the hall to their room.

Once inside, Laura dropped the bag and spun around and grabbed her husband “You can’t leave me…I know I don’t look the same but you can’t get mad at me and you have to promise me that no matter what happens that you won’t leave me”

Will embraced his wife “Honey…oh…don’t worry I would never leave you”

“But I’m not…”

“You are the woman I married inside and that’s what matters”

“So do you think I’m prettier in this body?” Laura asked.

“No” Will said as fast as he could.

“So if I’m stuck in this body for the rest of my life you think I’m ugly now?” Laura said.

“No, that’s not what I said at all. You’re beautiful to me no matter what your body looks like. If this is you from now on, then it’s you. I love you and I always will”

“Ellie and I are going to meet back up…maybe tonight but definitely early tomorrow to try and figure this out. You’d better be thinking about it today and come up with some ideas on how we can swap back” Laura told him.

Will put on his shoes and they headed out for a trip to Central Park.

Ellie and Ray had a similar conversation on their way to Rockefeller Center as Ray constantly told his wife that she was beautiful in either body and that he would love her forever.

As they got off the subway and headed for the exit though, Ellie quickly began to learn some of her new body’s disadvantages. Simply put, her short legs couldn’t keep up with her 6’4” husband’s strides. “Wait up!” she called after him after becoming separated heading across the street.

Ellie shuffled and ran and found herself huffing and puffing trying to keep up now. “Jeez” she said catching up to him and pointing to her legs and sticking her right one out “Short remember”

“Sorry, I’ll slow down” Ray said as he bent down and kissed her on top of her head.

The gesture shocked Ellie but also made her happy “That’s the first show of affection you’ve made to me in here”

Ray smiled shyly and took her hand. They walked hand in hand from then on around their tour.

Will and Laura were on a horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park when Laura laid her head on Will’s shoulder.

Will put his arm around his wife and pulled her closer “Your hair smells different” he whispered. When Laura pulled back and away she found him just laughing.

She playfully smacked him on the chest “Stop” she said “Be nice”

“I am being nice. It’s a nice smell but it’s not your usual shampoo fragrance”

“No; I guess it wouldn’t be” Laura replied.

“Imagine having to learn everything little like that new…like if this body is allergic to something or if a deodorant makes her break out. You have enough issues like that with your sensitive skin…you probably should have warned her about that”

“That wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when I was changing body parts with her…oh hey…don’t use Irish Spring soap, it makes me itchy” Laura said.

Laura snapped some pictures with her phone as they rode on, snuggled up close to her husband.

Ray and Ellie took a break to get lunch since he had missed breakfast in all the mornings’ excitement.

There was an Indian place that looked busy with locals; always a good sign for the two of them.

Ellie loved spicy food and ordered the Chicken Curry but with the first bite, her eyes went wide. “This doesn’t taste right…try it” she said.

Ray took a bite “Tastes fine to me”

“No, it’s too hot, too spicy” she said hanging her tongue out and waving her hand over it.

“Maybe Laura’s mouth isn’t used to spicy food” Ray suggested.

“Shit” Ellie realized “I have to get my body back. I want my food to taste like it usually does to me” she said.

Ray dug in while Ellie picked at her food.

As they finished up, Ellie scanned the room “Do you think people are looking at us today?
“I think you’re just self-conscious today because of all, you know”

“I know I’m sure I’m being paranoid but you have to think, you’re now a guy in his mid-twenties walking around with a woman in her late 30’s”

“You are paranoid” Ray told her with a laugh.

“Are you okay with being with a woman 11 years older than you if I’m stuck like this?”

“Yes” Ray said a bit weary of the constant reassurances he had to give today. “You don’t look 37…you look early 30’s in all honesty. I think it’s the smaller features that make you look younger”

“But I’m no longer younger than you. I was a year younger and now technically, I’m a decade older than my husband. My body is almost 38”

Ray didn’t know how to respond. He could tell that the situation was starting to get to Ellie “Let’s get going” he said. “Times Square is going to be busy and I know you want to get as much in as possible”

Ellie smiled weakly as she got up and they left the restaurant.