Ficorpio
Chapter 1
A freak accident caused my best friend and me to switch bodies.
To switch us back, he pinned me down and started kissing me like his life depended on it.
“Oh, come on! We’re best friends. What’s wrong with a kiss and a hug?”
I cursed at him. “If your mom knew you were kissing another man, she’d die of rage!”
He laughed. “My mom wouldn’t care. If anyone’s going to die mad, it’ll be yours.”
I never imagined that it wouldn’t just be my mother.
My father would die too…
“Kiss him! Kiss him! Kiss him!”
Under the hazy lights of the bar, drunk out of my mind and egged on by the chanting crowd, I cupped Ethan Sterling’s face in my hands and kissed him.
The room erupted.
Screams and cheers crashed over me from every direction, loud enough to split my skull. My thoughts grew foggier by the second. I sank into the couch, unable to drag myself back up, and passed out cold.
Four hours earlier…
I’d been sprawled at home, engrossed in a novel, when Ethan called me.
“Julian… I…”
“What happened?” The sob in his voice made me put the book down at once.
“Why?” he choked out. “Why do people lie like that? How can they treat someone else’s feelings like they mean nothing? I feel awful…”
Noise pounded in the background. I frowned, grabbed my jacket, and headed for the door.
“What bar are you drowning your sorrows in? Send me your location. Now.”
On the way there, I sat in the back of a cab and made what felt like a hundred thousand phone calls, summoning every attractive man and woman I knew.
Julian Bennett might not have many talents, but when his best friend was heartbroken, he knew how to put on a show. Men, women, drinks, music. The whole works.
Eventually, everyone got thoroughly drunk and started having fun. Then I lost a round of truth or dare and was ordered to kiss another man.
Naturally, everyone shoved the guest of honor in front of me.
And that was how the kiss happened.
“Mr. Sterling? Ethan Sterling? Can you hear me? Wake up!”
Someone shook me, then pried open my eyelids and shone a painfully bright flashlight into them.
My head spun. The entire world seemed to tilt and whirl around me, and the sharp stench of disinfectant filled my nose.
“His skin’s turning yellow. It’s alcohol poisoning. If he doesn’t regain consciousness soon, we’re going to have a serious problem. Get him to the emergency room.”
I was pushed and wheeled from one place to another. My stomach churned violently until I finally leaned over and vomited all over the elevator floor.
Chapter 2
When I looked up, Ethan’s waxy yellow face stared back at me from the elevator mirror.
I scratched my head in irritation. “What the hell, Ethan? Are you okay? Damn it, I feel like death.”
The nurse stared at me as if I belonged in a psychiatric ward.
“Are you awake or not? Mr. Sterling, that’s you in the mirror.”
Her words instantly sobered me.
I whipped around and stared at the reflection. Then I looked down at the name on my hospital ID wristband.
My heart practically launched out of my chest.
“What the hell is going on? Where’s Ethan Sterling?”
I froze.
“No, wait. Where’s Julian Bennett?”
The nurse grabbed my hand as I tried to rip out the IV.
“Stop! Don’t panic. Your friend went to pay the bill. He’ll be back any minute!”
“Let go of me! What’s happening? What happened to me?”
Ding.
The elevator reached the third floor.
The doors slid open, revealing… me.
My own face took in the sight of Ethan’s body struggling with the nurse, then let out a helpless sigh.
“You’re awake? Good. Looks like you’re going to be fine.”
I charged at him.
“You call this fine? What the hell is going on?”
Ethan glared at me through my own eyes. “Keep your voice down! Do you want everyone to know we switched bodies after kissing?”
What?
The kiss caused it?
Then we just had to kiss again.
Problem solved.
Without another word, I grabbed Ethan, dragged him into the elevator, and pinned him against the wall. Then I lunged for his mouth.
He planted a hand against my face.
“You just threw up! You stink!”
I had no idea where the strength came from, but I forced my way closer.
“No! We’re doing this now. Hold your breath!”
I kissed him hard.
He shoved me away furiously and pointed a shaking finger at my nose.
“You… you… you!”
I blinked.
What the hell?
Why hadn’t we switched back?
Beside us, the nurse stood in stunned silence, her expression asking three very reasonable questions:
Who am I?
Where am I?
And what am I supposed to do now?
Suddenly, the phone in my pocket rang. It was Ethan Sterling calling.
When I picked it up, the name displayed on the screen was Coco.
My eyes lit up. “Oh, so this is the person who broke your heart? And her name is Coco? Seriously?”
The moment Ethan heard the name, his eyes brightened too. He rushed over, snatched the phone from my hand, hesitated for a second—and then hung up.
A while later, another message came through. Ethan clutched the phone and stared at it in silence. I grabbed it from him.
It was from Coco.
Meet me downstairs at your place tonight. There’s something important I need to tell you.
“Let’s go!”
Ethan seized my wrist and dragged me toward the door.
“We need to find a hotel, get a room, and solve this problem!”
Chapter 3
I knew perfectly well that he wanted to meet Coco that night and was trying to figure out how to switch our bodies back as quickly as possible. Even so, I couldn’t resist teasing him.
“Oh? A minute ago you said you didn’t want to. But now your body’s being completely honest, huh?”
I glanced back at the nurse, who was still standing there in total confusion.
Ha. Life was a stage, and all I had to do was keep making jokes.
Inside the hotel room, Ethan looked at me, and I looked at him.
I rubbed my chin and gave him a mocking grin. “All right, tell me. What’s the story with this Coco?”
He pressed his lips together, clearly reluctant to talk.
“We agreed to keep it a secret for the time being. Neither of us was allowed to tell anyone.”
His eyes were rimmed with red as he spoke. I’d always known he’d been in a relationship for several years, but he had never told me anything about it. So the two of them even had some kind of secrecy agreement.
“Who decided you had to keep it secret?” I asked. “If it was only one of you who wanted that, then I’d say something’s off. Be careful you’re not getting played.”
“That won’t happen. It won’t. There has to be some kind of misunderstanding between us. Once we meet tonight and clear everything up, it’ll be fine.”
He looked so hopelessly devoted that I knew talking him out of it would be useless. If he were capable of seeing the truth right now, he would have done it already.
Maybe the time simply hadn’t come yet.
He asked cautiously, “How about you try kissing me again?”
I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly reached the back of my head. “You’re handsome, and you certainly know how to dream big.”
He looked annoyed. “You seemed pretty enthusiastic when you kissed me earlier.”
“I was still drunk! I obviously wasn’t thinking straight.”
When he saw how firmly I refused, Ethan suddenly gave me a challenging look.
“What? Are you scared?”
I stared at him.
Was he seriously trying to provoke me?
“I’m not scared. I just…can’t bring myself to kiss you right now.”
“Then how did you manage it yesterday?”
“Yesterday, I was kissing your face. Right now, I’d be kissing my own.”
The words were barely out of my mouth before I realized how wrong they sounded.
Ethan’s face flushed too. His fingers tightened around the phone.
“Tonight, I have to meet Coco. Cooperate with me. We’ll switch back, and when I return, I’ll tell you everything.”
As he spoke, he leaned toward me. I instinctively dodged, and the two of us toppled to the floor.
He lowered his head, his expression complicated. He looked as though he were trying to reassure himself—or convince me.
“Come on. What’s wrong with two best friends kissing and hugging?”
Then he planted one right on my mouth.
“Holy crap! You really kissed me?”