Only as the panties neared the point where they would cup her sex did she notice the residue of the dried semen between her thighs. She'd used the toilet, but had wiped quickly and instinctively, paying no special attention to that area.
Now she stopped, frozen again as the memory >– and enormity - of what had happened rose from the depths of her psyche and breached the surface of her consciousness like a whale, breaching the surface of the ocean. Now, suddenly, internal muscles she had been too distracted to notice announced the muscle memory of having been plundered.
"We had sex!" she yipped, standing up with the panties still just below her vagina.
"I know," he said, looking over at her.
"We had sex!" she whispered.
"I think that's when we switched back," he said.
"I came in you!" she said, her voice sounding awed.
"Or something like that," he said, with a smile.
"You came in me!" she yipped. Her fingers reached to probe her labia, but she'd wiped away all the liquid evidence that remained. When she examined her fingers, there was nothing to see. She sniffed at them, and wrinkled her nose.
"I need a shower," she said.
"Well, since you're the one who insisted it would take me an hour to get ready, now you have an hour to get ready," he said, grinning.
She took the panties off again and tossed them on the bed. She turned toward the shower, but then stopped, looking over her shoulder.
"Don't tell Mom and Dad yet."
"Why not?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Just don't. Promise me."
"Okay, I won't," he said.
"We'll tell them tonight," she said. "After school."
"Whatever you say," he said.
"Thanks," she said. "Now, finish getting dressed in what I picked out. Don't put on anything else. And comb your hair. You look like a mess."
She disappeared in the bathroom and closed the door.
Craig turned to the mirror and examined his image.
He smiled.
He looked just fine.
*****
They didn't tell Sherry either. Not at school, where her reaction might be both unpredictable and attention-getting.
Carly saw her once during the morning. Sherry's behavior was off a little. She didn't run up to talk to her best friend, who she still thought was Craig. She did approach and whisper, "You're walking like a boy. Loosen up."
Craig also saw her once during the morning. He called out to "Chair" and grinned. She came up to him, patted him on the arm, and said, "Good job."
At lunch it was Craig, posing as her best friend, who approached Sherry at the lunch table and asked Sherry if she could come for a sleepover that night.
"Not after the first day of school," said Sherry. "My mom will want to know all about what my new classes and teachers are like. She does this every year, but it makes her happy when I tell her. I'll see about the weekend, though. Craig seems to be doing pretty well. How's it going for you? Had any boners yet?"
"Just one," said Craig, who was lying. He hadn't had a boner all day. He hadn't even checked out all the girls, like he normally would have. He'd been too busy interacting with his male friends, enjoying the familiarity and ease of male banter. He lied because he knew Sherry expected "Carly" to have problems with her penis.
"Good," said Sherry. "Now, get out of here. People will see you talking to me. We don't want them to think you're interested in me."
"Why not?" asked Craig. "I am."
"You know what I mean. You're one of the popular guys. It will seem off if you pay attention to me."
"Who cares? I like you," he said.
"It will draw attention, that's why," she said. "Now scoot. Here comes your brother. It's okay for him to sit with me."
"Right," said Craig, who moved away as Carly sat down.
"Are any of the girls suspicious yet?" asked Sherry, leaning forward and speaking quietly.
"Not that I can tell," said Carly.
"Good. Just keep doing what we practiced. It will get easier. You'll do fine."
"I'm feeling pretty confident," said Carly.
"I feel like I'm going to explode or something." said Sherry.
"You can explode later. Can you come over tonight?"
"Craig ... I mean Carly asked me the same thing. I don't think it's a good idea the first night of school. My mom might get suspicious."
"Make it soon," said Carly. "We have a lot to talk about."
"I know you," said Sherry. "You want to do more than talk."
Carly smiled widely.
"Guilty as charged," she said.
*****
"So ...?" asked Fran. She was obviously worried. She examined who she thought was her son, residing in her daughter's body.
"I am happy to report that everything went fine," said Carly, trying not to smile.
"Nobody was suspicious?"
"We're going to be okay, Mom. This is working out better than we hoped."
"How about your sister? Where is she?"
"He stayed behind to go to tryouts for the musical they're going to do."
"What? Why? Is that a good idea?”
"Why not? He's been in musicals before."
"No, you've been in musicals before. Carly never went in for that kind of thing. Mrs. Thomason knows you! Carly doesn't know anything about acting. Mrs. Thomason will know something is wrong! I thought you were going to keep a low profile!"
"Mom, Carly's been getting a lot of practice acting lately. You can't be in the wrong body and try to convince people otherwise without becoming a pretty good actor."
"I hope you're right. I don't like this."
"He'll do fine," said Carly.
"You're both doing better than I am," sighed Fran.
"What do you mean?"
"You keep referring to her as 'him.'"
"I have to. He's my brother. I mean, as far as the world is concerned."
"I know," said Fran. "You're doing the best you can."
"We're doing better than you think," said Carly, again hiding a grin. "And now, believe it or not, I have homework after my first day of school. They expect more of seniors than they should, in my humble opinion."
"Well, go on and do it then. Your father will be home soon. I need to get supper started."
Carly hugged her mother.
"I love you, Mom," she said.
Fran hugged her and then pushed her away with both hands on her "son's" shoulders.
"And you know I love you too, no matter what has happened.”
*****
When Craig got home, both parents were there. He got a big hug from Fran.
"How'd it go?" asked Jack, who'd been filled in by his wife.
"Was Mrs. Thomason suspicious?" asked Fran.
"Not even a little," said Craig, aware that his parents thought they were talking to their daughter. "We're doing Oklahoma. I tried out for the part of Curly."
"But why?" asked Fran. "You've never been interested in being on stage before."
"I guess I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about," said Craig. "And I have to act like Craig."
"In regular things, yes," said Jack. "But it doesn't make sense to take chances."
"Well, it went fine. This body sings pretty good."
"This is so strange," said Fran.
"You just now figuring that out?" asked Craig.
"You sound more and more like your brother every day," said Fran.
"I'll take that as a compliment," said Craig, grinning.
*****
Craig stopped by Carly's room, and found her lying on the bed on her stomach, leafing through a magazine. She was wearing headphones, and one of her feet was keeping time with the music.
He snuck up on her and reached to tickle her sides with both hands. She reacted violently, spinning onto her back. In the process, his fingers found the mounds of her breasts and mauled them gently.
"You're a pervert!" she whis
pered, looking angry.
"You're a pervert too," he whispered back. He did not move his hands.
"What if Mom and Dad come in?" she asked.
"You're worried about that now?" He grinned.
"Need I remind you that we're back in our own bodies now?" she asked.
"So?"
"So you're my brother!"
"I was your brother last night, when you practically raped me," he said.
"I did not. I just laid there. You were the one who squandered my virginity on your nasty old cock."
"Penis," he said, grinning. "Girls call them penises."
"Is it hard right now?" she asked. "I bet it is. If I was still in that body it would be. It was always hard."
"Do you want it to be hard?" he asked, teasing. "Do you want me to be turned on by my sister ... like you were?"
"My body ... your body ... was what was always getting turned on. I wasn't controlling it. I couldn't control it!"
"Well, that was only because you hadn't had enough practice. I'll have you know that, right now, I do not have a boner. So there!"
"You don't? Why not?" She sounded unhappy.
At which point Craig felt blood start rushing toward his groin.
He took his hands away from Carly's breasts, and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"I'm not supposed to," he said.
"So you don't feel ... that way ... about me anymore?" There was definite negative tension in her voice now.
He looked at her.
"If you're asking if I still love you, of course I do. Nothing could change that. Last night was the best night of my entire life. And not just because I had sex. But we are back in our right bodies now. I'm not a girl any more, wanting ... what I wanted last night. Now I'm a guy again. Do I want to do what happened last night again? Of course I do. But I'm not going to push myself on you or any other girl. I know what it's like to be a girl, remember? I know what it's like to be scared about ... that. And I don't care what anybody says, getting a dildo stuck up in you and having the real thing there are not the same thing. They aren't even close."
"It's not fair," said Carly. Her lower lip began to protrude.
"What's not fair?" he asked.
"I was a virgin," she said.
"I'm sorry," he replied. "I didn't mean to do that."
"I still feel like I'm a virgin," she said. "I mean I didn't get to feel what was happening to my own body!"
"Yes, but you did get to feel what was happening in the body you were in," he pointed out. "Are you saying that was terrible?"
"Of course not. I felt like I was shot into space, and was out there where there was nothing. And then I was rushing back towards the earth ... towards you, and I wished I could be part of what was shooting into you."
"Actually, I think that's what happened," said Craig. "I've been thinking about it all day. I think when you shot off, you did shoot yourself back into your body, kind of."
"The point is that it's not fair that I didn't get to feel what it was like to lose my virginity," she said.
"But you got to feel what it was like for me to lose my virginity," he argued.
"In your body," she complained.
"Well, look at it this way, then," he said. "You still get to see what it feels like, because you've never felt it in that body. For all intents and purposes, you are still a virgin."
"My body's not," she argued.
"If we've learned anything, it's that the most important thing is what's inside the body, not the body itself," he said. "You're not stuck in my body any more. Be thankful for that."
She reached for him and gripped his wrist with her left hand.
"I am," she said. "I really am. I'm glad we changed back. But I don't want everything to change."
"Like what?" he asked.
"You haven't asked me why I didn't want to tell Mom and Dad we changed back," she said.
"As a matter of fact, that's exactly why I came in here to talk to you," he said. "Are we going to tell them tonight, at supper?"
"No," she said.
"Okay, when?"
"I don't know yet," she said.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not ready for them to split us up again," she said.
"Why not? I thought you'd be happy to be in your own room again, with your own stuff."
"Things have changed, Craig."
"That's kind of an understatement," he said, grinning.
"How are we going to explain why we changed back?" she asked.
"I don't understand. We just tell them it happened," he said.
"There was a reason why we got switched. We were abducted. That was something they could understand. So there has to be a reason why we changed back. We weren't abducted again. Do you want to tell them it happened while we were losing our virginities to each other?"
"Um ... I think not," he said, sarcastically.
"Then we're going to have to manufacture some kind of incident for it to happen during," she said. "Something they'll be willing to believe."
His face took on a look of concentration.
"You always were the brains in this partnership," he said.
"And you were always the balls," she replied. "I have to say I'm happy things are back to normal."
"You didn't like my balls?" He tried to sound hurt.
"You didn't like my tampons?" she said.
This time it was her voice that was sarcastic.
*****
They were called to supper before they could make any further plans. Once they were seated, and grace had been said, Jack looked at his children and said, "Your mother and I are proud of you both. You're handling all this much better than we ever could have."
"Thanks," said the twins, in tandem. They found themselves in the distinctly odd situation of having to pretend they were still each other. They were still "under cover," except the people they were trying to fool had changed. The irony of that did not escape them. Both decided it was easier to just stay as quiet as possible.
Fran, however, wanted details of their first full day in public since their alien abduction, and what issues each had run into.
They had to make things up. Actually, all they did was think back to the things they'd been worried about, and talk about them.
"I'm feeling much better about this," said Jack, after a few imaginary anecdotes had been described.
"Me too, but we can't let our guard down," said Fran. "If anyone finds out about all this, you'll be either studied by the government for decades, or put in the loony bin."
"They don't have those any more, Dear," said Jack.
"Whatever," said Fran. "You know what I mean. I don't want to have to go visit my children in Area 51."
Jack looked at each teen in turn.
"She's right, of course. You did well today, but you have to do well every day from now on. Whatever you've been doing to prepare for all this ... keep doing it."
"We will, Daddy," said Carly.
Craig almost jumped as, while she said this, her hand landed on his thigh under the table.
And slid up to land lightly on the bulge of his flaccid penis.
Which she squeezed, gently.
"One thing," said Fran.
"What?" asked the twins together.
"Are you wearing a bra?" Fran looked at Carly. "Um ... no," said Carly, who had taken it off to enjoy the feel of the cloth rubbing her nipples. It was something she hadn't so much missed by being in Craig's body, as something she'd never learned to enjoy until Craig described how good it felt.
"Well you have to wear one, Craig," said Fran. "When you go without, it's distracting to boys."
"To men," added Jack, helpfully.
"I beg your pardon?" said Fran, looking over at him.
"Well, it's true," defended Jack.
"I know it's true," said Fran, scathingly, "but you don't have to point that out to a child!"
"I'm not a child, Mom," said Carly, who was, at the same time, bo
th miffed at her mother and astonished by her father's comment. She wasn't used to the idea of her father "noticing" her sexuality. That Craig did was something she was comfortable with. But that didn't mean she welcomed that kind of attention from any other male.
"Of course you are," said Fran. "I understand that it's hard for you, being a boy in a girl's body, but you must pay attention to things like this. We don't need you drawing attention to yourself, particularly in that way."
"As a boy, you should know how distracting that is," said Jack, barging ahead. "I'm sure you've noticed braless girls before this."
"Have you?" asked Carly, staring at her father. This was something she wasn't quite prepared to contemplate.
"Of course," said Jack. He frowned as Fran glared at him. "It's normal. All men notice that kind of thing. There's nothing wrong with you because you appreciate beauty in a woman." He blinked. "Well, let's not encourage that, though. One woman appreciating that kind of thing in another one could draw unwanted attention too."
Fran groaned. She stood up and looked at her daughter, who she still thought was her son.
"You have to wear a bra!" she ordered. Then she looked over at Craig. "You're going to have to help him practice putting one on." Craig grinned. And, because of the circumstances, Fran interpreted that grin completely incorrectly. "I know, Honey," she sighed. "I hate the damn things too. But he has to know how to do this. Go on. Help him get proficient."
"I will. Do I have to do that now?" asked Craig, trying not to grin this time.
"I know you've been through a lot today," said Fran. "I suppose it can wait until you get ready for bed."
*****
Jack was looking at the program guide on the flat screen TV in the living room, seeing what was on that night.
"We're going to go prep for tomorrow," said Carly. "You guys can watch whatever you want."
"Okay," said Jack. "That's a good idea."
"Remember to practice with the the bra," said Fran.
"Got it," said Carly, who looked at Craig, and jerked her head toward the bedrooms.
Once they were in Carly's room, and the door was closed, she moved to press him against the wall with the front of her body. Her hand reached to squeeze the same place she'd squeezed under the table.
"Are you hard now??" she asked, softly.
"I've been hard ever since you groped me under the table," he said.
"Good," she said.
"Why is that?" he asked.
Alien Exchange Program Page 18