"You're kidding me!" Gabriella Saunders gasped between bouts of laughter, "she's marrying Ernesto!?" Gabriella was a good looking Latina with dyed blonde hair in her mid 30's, wearing a sleeveless white blouse, tan knee length wrap skirt and heeled wedge sandals, currently sitting at her favorite bistro in downtown Lakeview. Across from her, laughing along, was a raven haired younger woman, her little sister Sonia Esposito-Kildare, who's body, unknown to Gabriella, was currently playing host to the mind of the former Jon Gibson. The sisters had a strong family resistance, minus the hair, though Sonia was a bit slimmer and two inches taller than Gabriella.
"Mami swears it's true," Jon quipped back, "apparently Lisa declared she wanted someone boring and stable after that whole thing with that underwear model." Jon had gotten her first call from Sonia's mother the previous afternoon, and the older woman had unloaded all the hometown gossip on her supposed daughter. It helpfully gave Jon quite a bit to talk about at her brunch, as well as reassured her about her ability to present as Sonia to people who knew the original intimately.
Today Jon wore a delightfully soft cashmere lavender cardigan, a pair of crisp white slacks and what was quickly becoming one of her favorites, a pair of ivory satin Jimmy Choo pumps. It was a lucky thing Sonia was married to such a successful writer, since it meant the wardrobe Jon inherited was by no means constrained by a teacher's budget and she loved the way her clothes looked and felt on her new body. In particular, today, the soft cardigan felt so good against her equally soft skin, all of it a novel and deeply enjoyable experience for Jon.
Gabbi snorted, "Ernesto's boring, that's for sure. I give it two weeks till she's tired of him." Sonia and Gabriella's cousin Lisa was infamously unlucky and messy with relationships, having already been married three times. According to their mother, she'd become engaged again, this time to Ernesto, the son of their dad's old accountant and now an accountant himself. There was nothing wrong with the guy necessarily, but, according to the original Sonia's text when Jon had asked for context on some of the gossip, he was about as dull as dishwater and a far cry from Lisa's usual type.
Jon giggled before taking a sip of her mimosa, (she hadn't gone crazy but suddenly being of drinking age was another nice perk of the switch). Jon had been naturally a bit nervous about her brunch with Gabriella, making sure to arrive at the bistro early and review her notes ahead of time, but so far things had been going swimmingly. It was turning out to actually be a fun outing, exchanging gossip with her new sister, or playfully teasing her niece. Gabbi and Sonia had a fairly close sibling relationship, certainly tighter than Jon had with Zoe, and Jon found herself easily falling into the old Sonia's role in the dynamic. The food had been great, a western style omelette with peppers, though she'd surprised herself by not finishing the whole thing, her new stomach filling up faster than she was used to. Now the meal was winding down, with the two sisters working on their final drinks.
"What's so funny?" Tiffany, Gabriella's daughter, asked as she returned to the table from the restroom. The platinum blonde biracial bombshell wore a nice black and white plaid spaghetti strap dress that came down to her thighs and a pair of black ballet flats.
"Oh, nothing," Gabriella replied, stifling her laughter, which only made Tiffany pout in frustration. Gabbi was a big gossip but also wanted to set a good example for Tiffany, which was why she waited till the girl left the table to ask Jon for the juiciest info, like Lisa's latest fling.
When Gabriella then turned to flag down the waiter for the check, Jon winked at Tiffany and mouthed 'I'll tell you later', making the girl's eyes light up. It was funny if she thought about it. Tiffany Saunders was someone who didn't give Jon Gibson a second thought, but now Jon was the cool aunt the cheerleader looked up to. Who knows, maybe I could even convince her to finally break up with Farber, Jon mused.
Sonia's stomach growled as she climbed down the ladder leaning against the Gibson house. Annoyingly it seemed like the stereotype of teenage boys eating like black holes was true of Jon, and she was already hungry after the pop tarts she'd had for breakfast. She'd have to make a sandwich or something soon. Sonia's hope of the weekend being a little vacation hadn't come true as Linda Gibson, her mom of the moment, had tasked her with cleaning out the Gibson's gutters, and that had taken up her whole Saturday so far. It had been a bit of trial and error figuring out what she was supposed to do, (Sonia had chores as a girl, but usually things like helping with laundry or cleaning around the house), but eventually she'd figured it out.
"At least I'm close to finishing," Sonia grumbled as she moved the ladder down to a new position. The grey tee shirt she'd worn that morning was stained from the work, and she was feeling grimy in general; she'd definitely need a shower when she was done. At least the work had distracted her a bit from worrying about the original Jon and what he was up to in her body; she didn't think it was likely her student would mess things up with Gabbi but not having her hands on the reigns of her own life made her a bit nervous. She took a deep breath as she started back up the ladder, you've got to trust the program, Sonia. The whole point of the program is to experience someone else's life and that's exactly what Jon and you are doing.
Still, she couldn't help but look forward to the day she was Mrs. Kildare again, and could pay a handyman to do this kind of work.
