The man standing in front of Lisa burst out laughing. "You know everything?" The laugh wasn't mirthful nor was it malicious, but it was clearly an emotional released tinged with sadness. "No. Clearly you figured out that 'James' was really 'Sharon' and that ended up bring you here, but you really don't know what you're talking about. But since you're here, let me fill you in."
Fill you in Lisa instantly imagined herself on the bed flat on her back, with this ruggedly handsome man with the piercing blue eyes thrusting into her. She took a deep breath, feeling a sudden sense of desire welling up within her, but also fearing that the man in front of her was propositioning her.
The man turned, not towards the bed, but to a chair to sit down. Lisa exhaled slowly in relief, not even realizing that she was mildly annoyed that the man hadn't wanted her.
'Should I stand or sit?' Lisa thought to herself. 'Do I give up the power position if I sit? Or if I stand do I look weak like I'm awaiting his directions or his permission to sit? If I sit on the bed is that some type of an invitation for him to join me?"
The recognized the conflicted look that Lisa had, not only from his own previous experience when he was Lisa, but having seen many other women throughout the years dealing with similar perceived 'power struggles' with men.
"It's hard being a woman, isn't it?" The man empathized.
Lisa's head snapped up, her posture stiffened and she brought up her arms and folded them under her chest.
'Is he in my head?' Lisa thought in a panic. "No, he's just stating the obvious. He's been 'me', so he knows what it's like, that's all."
"James, you can sit " The man started.
"Don't " Lisa was going to say call me that, but instead she said " tell me what to do."
"Stand if you like, but let me give you a lesson in being Lisa when you're crossing your arms, especially if your not wearing a bra, place them over your chest, and fight the urge to place them under your breasts. When you do, it pushes them up and out, which you'll find most men will see as an 'invitation'.
Lisa looked down and indeed she had put her arms under her breasts, which was more comfortable, but it did push them up and together. In Jack's polo shirt it wasn't as obvious, but if she'd been wearing a different top, it would have really put her on display. She slowly separated her arms let them fall to her side.
Lisa fumed, she came her to confront the real Lisa about why she had done all this, and she was getting edict lessons. This wasn't her body; she'd only had it had it really only been 36 hours? It had only taken her 12 hours to fall in love with Jack and then another 12 to realize it, and now she was here to find out
"Why?"
"Why what?" The man said leaning forward in the chair. "Why I turned into Sharon and spent the day with you? Why I didn't tell you? Why I turned Sharon into 'James'? Why I changed to look like this? Why I want you and Jack to be together?"
"Why you cheated on Jack?" Lisa spat the word 'you' out pointedly.
The man paused for a moment and Lisa saw tears welling up in his eyes.
"I thought you knew everything." The man said remorsefully. "It all started with the night we had the threesome with Sharon. God, I wish that night had never happened. Everything changed after that. Jack was hesitant, and I encouraged him to join us I honestly thought it wouldn't bother me, but after seeing Jack fucking another women in front of me I just couldn't unsee it. And then she would come over and now that I had given my permission, it would happen again and again. A couple of times Jack asked me if I wanted to stop the threesomes, and I loved him so much that I wanted to prove to myself that it didn't bother me, that I could get over it and be this awesome wife who wasn't overly possessive, but I soon found myself resenting both Sharon and Jack. It was my fault we were doing this, Sharon started it, but I let things go to far."
The man looked up at Lisa who stared back at him coldly, he dropped his eyes and continued speaking.
"So one night after work a bunch of us all went out to a happy hour, you we're even there." He said pointing at Lisa. "It was the day we got that big bonus and we're all celebrating. It was also after a night that Sharon had stopped by, so I was feeling particularly disgusted with myself. Rounds of drinks were being bought and people kept sending me over shots and soon I was feeling numb. Jack had hurt me, I know he did it with my permission, but he did it and I wanted to even the score. I actually looked for "you".
The man looked up at Lisa again. This had clearly shocked her, as all of the possibilities of what might have been, and how James could have been guy Lisa had been cheating on Jack with. God knows that James would have jumped at the chance, and if he had, he would be the person that was ruining 'her' marriage. It was dizzying to think about. Lisa once again stiffed and folded her arms defensively, but this time resting them on top of her breasts.
"You're learning, good." The man said sadly. "But when I looked for you, James was gone. I was heading out the door, planning to call a taxi as Jack was out of town, when I ran into Joe. He'd just arrived at the bar and we just started talking. He was clearly interested, so I asked if he'd take me to another bar. I might have been a little drunk, but I didn't want anyone from work seeing me with another man. Soon we we're at this hotel and I'm "evening things up" with Jack. It was revenge sex and I think I must have blown Joe's mind. I didn't plan on doing anything night, and as I sobered up I felt terrible that I had cheated on Jack. And in my drunken state I'd told Joe all about being married, about Jack and why I we we're having sex. I tried to pretend like it never happened, but then a few weeks later I got a text from Joe saying he wanted to meet back at the hotel room. I knew he wanted sex, and things had been so tense between Jack and I, that I didn't know what I wanted, but as soon as I saw Joe it was just a release. I didn't love him he was just an escape from the life I created."
Lisa suddenly jumped at the sound of a baby crying in the bathroom. The man quickly stepped into the bathroom and returned with a newborn baby dressed in a pink onesie.
"I'd like you to meet Joann. I was just about to drop her off with the authorities and then in the morning I was going to change my appearance again."
Lisa's eyes widened as she stared at the tiny baby, presumably a girl.
"Why " Lisa started to say, but the man quickly interrupted.
"James or Lisa, this takes care of everything. Sharon is gone and no one will miss her, James has been replaced and he won't have any leverage over Lisa's life, and tomorrow I'll turn into Joe, quit his job and he'll disappear too."
Tears once again started swelling up in the man's eyes.
"I saw how you and Jack were together. I don't know how you did it, but you fixed everything. You to were clearly in love. When I saw Jack with Sharon it hurt me, but not as much as when I saw you and Jack together, because he was clearly in love with you. It hurt me because it WASN'T ME, but he thought it was. I'd ruined everything, but now I could fix it and at least I could make him happy again with you. I know leaving you stuck as me, without a choice was wrong, but I could tell that you we're happy with him, I knew when I walked in on you and you were going down on your husband, that you'd be happy staying as me. Much happier than you ever were as James, so I thought by not asking you, by leaving you as me, you'd find the happiness that I had lost. "
Lisa didn't know what to say. A part of her wanted to say that she had no right to take away her identity and leave her trapped forever as Lisa, but a new part of her wanted to say that she know understood and wanted to go back to her husband.
"So now that you're here, what do you want to do?" The man asked. "I can walk out the door right now with this baby and the medallion, and then you can go home to your husband, wake him up and have some amazing morning sex, never again having to worry about any of my messes coming back to haunt you. Or we could change you back to normal, back into James, go turn Sharon back into herself, and we could even Joe back to normal tomorrow, but then I think the best thing to happen is for me to still disappear. I'll leave Jack a note telling him I'm leaving then he'll be able to get on with the rest of his life. "
"So who do you want to be?"
