At the local bar Mark was the first one in the door and was a bit excited to see Stephanie, as he was attracted to her and was always looking forward to a new outfit from her. He held the door for Julia as he scanned the bar for Stephanie. He couldn’t find her at first but did see what looked to be a very tall, very well built man with a black ponytail talking to a cute redhead.
Julia passed through the door as well, and her eyes locked straight onto the tall fellow with the ponytail.
“Stephanie!? Oh my god you look so huge!” Julia said. The tall man turned around and immediately Mark had a sinking feeling. He knew that Stephanie had been to the IOC but he didn’t expect this. Stephanie still had her face, for the most part. The jaw was a bit stronger but those eyes and that nose were unmistakable to him. The lips were still fantastic, but her skin looked less well cared for than before.
Julia ran over and gave Stephanie a big bear hug, with Stephanie noticing just how much smaller Julia was. With a deep voice Stephanie replied, “yeah they really did a number on me.”
The hug lasted a little too long, and Stephanie caught herself smelling Julia’s hair. Breaking the hug, she went to shake Mark’s hand. Mark was taken aback by how strong the handshake was and by how much larger the hand was. It was also already dry and calloused, although he was sure that Stephanie had never done a day of hard labor in her life.
“Good to see you bro!” Stephanie said, as the handshake ended. “Brewski?”
“Brewski!? When the hell did you ever say that?” Mark asked, surprised.
“Oh man, they changed a bunch of things. I should fit in just fine out there. Should be a fun year- I heard that some of the guys will take a local leave of absence and be local chicks for a month as a break. Gets pretty freaky!”
Stunned, Mark said-“ I think I’ll take that beer and a couple of shots.”
As they sat down to discuss, Mark got a call from his neighbor which he promptly silenced. He then got a text following up that said: 911. Give me a call - house robbed.
Mark jumped up and called his neighbor back as he stepped out to the sidewalk.
“Dude!” his neighbor started. “They took, like, all of the clothes. Left the tv and shit but your closets are fucking EMPTY. “
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Mark asked.
“So I came home and saw a van straight up PEELING out from your driveway. And then I saw your door open but I knew you guys weren’t home so I called the cops and then came in to check.”
“Just the clothes? Like, the computers and stuff are still there?”
“Yeah dude! Maybe it’s one of those gangs that is setting someone up to take on a new life. I read about it online dude! Like, they steal a whole wardrobe and change someone to fit those clothes and then they take on a new identity. Like fugitives and shit!”
“Oh fuck dude! We will be there in a bit. Thanks for the call!”
Mark went back inside and noticed that Stephanie had scooted over and put her arm around Julia, who did not seem to mind at all.
“Julia, we need to go!” Mark said
“But we just got here.” Julia said, disappointed to be interrupted.
“The house got fucking robbed! The cops are there now! We need to get over there.” Mark explained.
“Oh fuck! I’ll come too. Help where I can!” Stephanie said, getting up and grabbing her new denim jacket.
