(I thought I'd give myself a writing challenge and write the inverted version of this as well.)
Jared Ambrose decided to take a quick walk around the neighborhood to clear his head. He knew his parents would be home soon and was expecting his mom to read him the riot act about his grades. He'd made a decision about school...after taking a bunch of courses, what he thought he wanted to do wasn't something he was enjoying. He wanted to change majors. Fortunately, he was only a freshman, but he knew what his mom would say.
Both of his parents were successful in their careers...and that put a lot of pressure on him to succeed. He knew his father wasn't going to give him a hard time, except to ask if a girl was responsible. If only he could blame a girl. He'd struck out all semester.
As he walked, his downcast eyes caught glimpse of something on the sidewalk. He stopped to examine it. It was a bracelet - cheap, plastic, probably worthless. But for some reason, he was drawn to it. He bent down and picked it up, examining it closely. Certainly gaudy, and not something that he would ever wear. Yet strangely, he felt compelled to slip it on his wrist. As he did, he also felt an odd sense that someone was watching him.
He continued on, almost forgetting the trinket he'd just picked up. His mind wandered to more important things. It was his parent's anniversary this week. Maybe he could distract them for as long as possible.
His mom could be very critical when she wanted to be. He was 18, and he knew his mom loved him, but she kept acting as if he wasn't good enough...as if he was somehow disappointing her.It didn't help that their interests were about as far apart as possible.
He got back to the house, and noticed his dad's car outside. He peeked into his dad's home office. Sometimes, he worked out of the house. He was on the phone. He gestured to his son he'd be out in a few minutes. Jared knew better than to interrupt.
He relaxed on the couch, watching TV, when he heard a noise from the front door. He turned to spot his mother crossing into the living room. "Oh, hey mom!" He said, as he got up to greet her, expecting the invariable disapproval and conversation about his grades. Jessica moved in and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
At that moment, everything froze. Jared suddenly became dizzy and everything went blurry. One moment, he felt his mom's lips against his cheek, and the next, he felt his lips against someone's cheek. His dizziness passed and things started moving again - but things felt very different.
"How was work today?" he heard his mom say. Jared blinked and stepped back.
His mom was standing there in loose jeans, and a t-shirt over her unsupported breasts. The exact outfit he was wearing. Except he wasn't wearing it anymore - he looked down at himself and saw a yellow blouse, black pencil skirt, and Gucci pumps.
"Okay..." he said out loud, trying to puzzle out what the fuck was going on.
"Good! I wanted to talk to you about something..." Before he could even react, he heard another voice behind her.
"There she is! How was work, beautiful?" He turned and saw his dad, who walked right past his mom and wrapped his arms around Jared before kissing him deeply. The young man pushed away, suddenly shocked.
"Dad!" his mother said.
"Sorry kiddo!" his dad said noticing the shocked look on Jessica's face, "Since you've been out of the house, I guess your mother and I have been a bit more frisky!"
"Fine, but I don't need to watch it!" Jessica insisted.
"Jessica, you're a grown man now! You can handle two adults loving each other. Right son?"
"Of course I can...but...jeez...get a room."
"Say, now that the family's all together, why don't we go out to dinner?"
Jared stared blankly, not quite realizing his father was addressing him.
"Jared, are you all right?" His father asked when he didn't respond. "You seem a little off...are you up for dinner?"
"S...sure," Jared said. He really wasn't. But he didn't know what was going on. "But..I need to...get changed," he said, the first thing coming to mind.
"Are we going someplace fancy or something?" His mom asked.
"You'd better get changed too," his dad told her. "You know how your mom likes you to look presentable. What if you see some cute girls.
Jared started up the stairs, eager to get away from both of them to figure things out, but not before receiving a playful slap on the ass from his father that propelled him up the stairs.
Jared's head was spinning. He looked at his wrist and then, like a light switch, everything clicked. The bracelet was still there even though he'd switched clothes with his mom. It had given him an uneasy feeling when he first picked it up - it must have been responsible for this. When he made contact with his mom...
