Strange Saturday!, Part 10 (Platonic Friends to TG’d Couple)

By FoxFaceStories

A Commission for AnubisForever

Luke and Ava are two platonic friends who confess their feelings of unhappiness with their bodies while attending a music festival together. But when they make a wish to be their ‘true selves’, they quickly find out that not only can wishes come true, but they can come true in utterly unexpected ways! Now stuck as Luna and Aidan, the pair must grapple with their changed identities and strange new feelings for one another, all while exploring their newfound existences, and bodies . . .

First Parts

Previous Part

Next Part

Part 10: Reunion

Heather’s words stayed with me, and Jacob’s also, though to a lesser extent. I received a few more texts from Aidan, and responded with greater length, explaining that I was still thinking things over, but also that I wasn’t angry with him.

‘I don’t blame you,’ I wrote. ‘I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and it was a good not-date, it really was. And everything that happened after happened with my consent. I just found it really awkward the next day, and I guess I just felt like a total woman, and we’ve never been like that before. It’s hard to put into words even when writing, but I hope you know I’m not upset and I don’t blame you, Aidan. This whole thing kicked off with that strange Saturday, but all these feelings we’re feeling aren’t our fault. It’s that entity. It’s not real.’

To my surprise, he was the one that barely responded this time. I let more days pass, and I kept looking at the messages I wrote to him, all trying to rationalise and explain the factors that had led to our coming together that night, and why it wasn’t either of our faults. Finally, with just a day shy of three weeks left to go till Kallen’s Comet returned, with all its magical wish-granting entity power, I got a reply to my latest message. It was small, but it hit me like a sledgehammer.

‘Luna, thks for talking a bit more. I was going to call you, but this is better in msg I guess. I can’t say about ur feelings, but mine come from me. Just me. I can’t lie about them. They’re real, and u know what they are for u. That’s all Ill say.’

My heart skipped a beat. For a moment, that warmness flowed into an through me, suffusing me with an almost dizzy lightness. And then it faded with the full epiphany of what was being said: Aidan truly did view that night as Heather saw it: a moment when we had gone from friends to potentially being more, and he didn’t regret it.

“God, what do I even do?” I said aloud, sulking in the house, not even showered yet despite it being 10am on a Sunday. “How do I know these feelings are even mine?”

I thought about Heather, but ended up reaching out to Charlotte, the pregnant woman I’d befriended and had talked to a few times, just to hear her perspective. I still had her number, and she was receptive to what I had to say.

“Dear, my husband and I clashed like nothing else before we got together, so sometimes the time isn’t right until it is. Only you can decide if that’s the case though, no one else. Think about your feelings, and see if they’re valid.”

“But how do I know if they’re valid?” I asked.

She chuckled on the other side. “The trick is not to overthink them. Tell me the truth, if Aidan ended up knocking on your door right now, would you want to let him in? Would you be happy to have him back in your life?”

My pause was almost as pregnant as her belly. 

“I would,” I said, stuttering a little as I put words to the realisation. “I really, truly would. I - I miss him. God, I miss him. I’ve wanted him back for weeks but kept on fighting it. I’ve kept on pushing him away.”

“Then it sounds like you need to bring him back; track him down and tell him that, before it’s too late.”

I thanked her, and wished her the best of luck with her baby - she was due in a month now. I instantly tried to call Aidan, but his phone wasn’t responding. Confused, I tried to phone him several more times, but still no response. I didn’t even consider waiting: I needed to see him now, and confess . . . whatever it was I was going to confess. I didn’t know what the hell it was, my hormones were flying every which way, and I could only be grateful that I wasn’t on my period again.

“Screw this. Time to man - er, woman - up, and go get the guy.”

I showered. I got dressed up in something cute and dressy, and then instantly decided it wasn’t for me. I wanted to meet Aidan as the woman I was, not some ideal. That had been Heather’s whole point. So I put on my pinafore overall dress with a pleasant pink top beneath and my comfy denim jeans, and felt much better with myself. I still styled my hair, giving it that nice wavy look, and put on some natural-looking but complimentary lipstick and some necessary foundation. I ate a quick lunch, swallowed down the butterflies that were stirring in my stomach, and when I couldn’t think of any more excuses to sit around nervously readying myself, I marched out to my car in my ankle boots, the slight heel giving me a fairly womanly confidence, and even used my damn handbag for the first time.

I was coming or Aidan, and I wanted him to see Luna. Not Luke, not Luna-for-now or Just-Luna-for-two-and-a-half-weeks, but me, Luna. The woman I was, here and now, and screw what tomorrow would bring. 

“I’m coming for you, Aidan,” I said.

***

He wasn’t home. It was embarrassingly anti-climactic. I stood there, heart pounding and mind buzzing, flooded with anxiety and a speech prepared in my head, only for all my knocking upon his door to amount to nothing. I checked the windows, feeling a bit like a stalker, but the house was empty. 

“Wait, he likes to drink a beer in his backyard on a Sunday,” I said out loud to myself.

Making sure I didn’t look like a crazy trespasser, I went around the side of his house through the side-gate and went to his little back deck. It was smaller than mine; no wonder he preferred going to my place. But there was no sign of life. I was about to leave when I noticed a slip of paper had fallen from the front door as I passed it again, one that had meant to be stuck up, judging by the bluetac.

Luna.

Gone up the mountain trail to finish things up. Feel like getting away from it all. Turned my phone off so you can’t message me. Sorry for everything.

Aidan

My heart dropped. Worse, it was sliced. It was as if an invisible knife had fallen down my throat, cut through my beating heart, carved through my intestines, and then exited me as my entire being fell apart. I clutched my mouth, my hand trembling, as my breath caught like a chain on a bicycle, producing a ragged, horrified sound.

“Aidan. Oh God, oh Jesus, what have I done?”

I trembled, trying to get a hold of myself, my mind going to all the worst places. I’d pushed him away, I’d isolated him, not just myself, and in doing so had pushed him to the brink. He’d tried to open his heart to me, had taken that daring leap, and for his efforts I had shut him down despite my own stirring feelings. I had stomped on his heart, and now he was going to ‘finish things up.’ ‘Get away from it all.’ Even turned off his phone so I couldn’t stop him. 

Tears formed in the corners of my eyes.

“Aidan. My Aidan, what are you doing?”

My breath caught a second time, but then I regained control.

No.

I would not lose him.

I would not leave him in despair.

I would not lose the man that I lo . . . that I cared so deeply for, whatever those feelings were or might become, or already had transformed into.

There was no time to lose. I ran to my car, belted myself in as quickly as possible, and then turned the keys in the ignition and sped off. I had to get to the mountain trail. I would run up the mountain if I had to.

***

I huffed as I ascended the mountain trail. The heat was surprisingly powerful, and I hadn’t brought a hat with me, nor anything more than half a water bottle. I was wearing fucking denim jeans, and my shoes had small heels that made taking a hiking trail just about the worst decision ever. I inwardly cursed again and again my decision not to quickly dart back home and put on something better fitting, but at the time I had been thinking about Aidan, and how I had no time to lose.

I was still thinking that now.

The pain of possibly losing the man I deeply cared for, my friend - or even more - drove me forward despite the increasing ankle pain and thirst in my system. I needed to see him before he did anything stupid, and already my mind was flooded with horrid images of Aidan standing at the very edge of a cliff reading to throw himself off of it in a dark and hopeless mood. The very place of beauty and freedom and nature that he loved would become his grave, and I would have been the one to have sent him to it, all because of my callousness.

So I pushed on, uncaring how I felt, no matter how much my muscles ached and burned. I was certainly in a more athletic body than I had before, but that didn’t mean it was up to a man’s either; I was reasonably sure my old body, as unpractised in physical activity as it was, still would be more up to the job. My hair was soaking up sweat and sticking to my forehead. I had to keep stopping, take a moment to gasp in big breaths, drink what small water remained to me, and then continue, keeping an eye out for Aidan. Several passerbys were able to give me some water, looking at me like I was a crazy woman, which I was reasonably certain I was by this point. I was advised to turn back, to not wear denim, and certainly to get a damn hat. One kindly man in the end gave me his, and I was too hurried and desperate to push back against his kindness. I didn’t even want to think about the uncomfortable underboob sweat I was getting; I hadn’t even realised that was an issue women faced until now, and it was incredibly not nice.

Still I pushed forward and upward. The great vistas surrounding me in all their beauty were an unfocused background. All that mattered was the next step, and then the next, and then the next. Like a zombie, I staggered forward, reaching ever higher inclines. The sun beat down upon me, but instead of wearing me down, I only picked up speed. Images of Aidan danced in my mind, his face far more weary than my own, his expression little more than a void of sorrow. It tore me apart, and soon, rather than being winded, a second wind came over me. I surged forward, picking up speed until I was jogging and then sprinting, uncaring that the path wound further uphill. Tears streamed in my eyes, an almost manic desperation coming over me.

What if I was too late? 

What if I wasn’t there in time?

What if I couldn’t convince him?

What if I didn’t have the words?

No, I had to reach him. I had to climb this mountain, conquer it to the very peak if necessary. I ran faster, my legs burning painfully, but even the pain was just a distant thing, like a blip on my awareness. Factually, I knew that my body was giving out, but it was only a fact to me in the same way as the sky is blue and cats go ‘meow’; it had no relevance to me in the moment, all that mattered is that I soldiered on and on and on, through the winding path with trees on either side of me and into the clearing by the cliff side where Aidan stood positioning himself dangerously near a ledge and holy shit I’d found him I’d found him I’D FOUND HIM.

“Aidan!” I called, my voice ragged and unrecognisable. “Aidan! Stop! Don’t do it!”

I ran with all my might, hand outstretched, only to trip on a rock at the exact same moment as he turned to face me. His camera shutter clicked.

“Luna!?”

And then I barrelled into him, unable to stop myself tripping forward, and a terrific pain seized my ankle as it twisted and we fell to the ground together. A teaming flock of beautiful birds took off into the sky as I rolled onto my back, panting next to Aidan.

“Ohhhh,” I groaned in pain, my lungs fit to burst, my ankle exploding with tension from where I’d possibly caused more damage than I’d realised.

“Luna!” Aidan said, getting himself upright. “What on earth was that about? y'all ruined my shot, ya dang fool!”

It was then that I saw the annoyance in his expression, followed immediately by the clear concern for my well being.

“God, y'all are a mess. You looked like you ran up the mountain; what are you doing here? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

I was weary by this point, the world crashing down upon me. The edges of my vision blurred. 

“D-don’t care if I’m hurt,” I squeaked, raising a hand to try and touch his cheek. My fingers brushed against his handsome, coarse beard. “Just had to stop you. Didn’t want you to hurt yourself.”

His eyebrows furrowed, and I realised something was wrong.

“Hurt myself? What are y'all talking ‘bout?”

“Y-your letter. You said you were . . . finishing things up. Turning off your phone. Sorry for everything. I thought . . .”

His eyes bulged, and if I hadn’t already cottoned on to something being off, now it was obvious.

“Hell’s bells, Luna, is that what you took away from that? I was just trying to finish a photography job getting snaps of those downy woodpeckers you just got done scaring away. I turned my phone off because I wanted to think and be alone in the mountain air. Jesus, I’m as liable to throw myself off a cliff as to, well, apply to that dismal bank you work for.”

It was a fascinating experience, to be flooded at once with purest relief and utmost embarrassment. Were my cheeks not so red already from the sun, I’d imagine I would have been so obviously humiliated one could have mistaken me for an overripe tomato. As it was, he still managed to read my expression anyway. He placed my hand in his, looking over me as I lay on the ground.

“You ran all the way up here? In those?”

“I . . . I was scared for you, Aidan. I was so scared.”

And then the tears exploded from me. I sobbed. God, I sobbed. There’s no other way to put it, because I couldn’t control my emotions and no longer cared to anyway. The words poured out of me as surely the tears did, and I let them go freely, not wanting to hold any of it back anymore.

“I was so scared, Aidan. I thought I’d pushed you away and ruined our friendship and everything else. I thought I’d hurt you deeply and I couldn’t stand it. I just couldn’t stand it. It was tearing me up inside. I needed to see you and tell you that I do feel a connection, and that was so afraid of it ruining everything, but my regrets weren’t what I thought they were; I don’t want to regret having these regrets. I don’t want to keep wanting to go back to an old life I don’t like when I’m on this adventure with you.”

Aidan was holding me by this point; my ankle still hurt too much to stand.

“Luna, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying . . . I’m saying, oh for God’s sake, I thought you were going to do something terrible to yourself, Aidan, and I couldn’t bare the thought because I love you. There? Are you happy, you masculinised lug!? I love you, and I’m not afraid of being in love with you anymore, no matter what body either of us are in. I . . . I love you.”

He kissed me. It was not long, or passionate, but neither was it chaste. It was . . . loving. There was no other way to put it. In that moment, I felt protected, and all my fears dissipated, and even the pain seemed to dim. And then, when he drew back, there was that cheeky damn smile, that mischievous grin that he loved to plaster on his face.

“Took you long enough,” he said.

“Oh, you’re the worst!”

“But I appreciate it, honey. You did run up a mountain in those shoes just to confess your love to me, so points for that.”

“Busted my damn ankle, too.”

“Yeah, that’s swelling, alright. Looks like I’ll catch those woodpecker’s another day. Still, I was too close to that cliff edge, wasn’t I?”

“See? Can you blame me for thinking what I did! Your note sucked! Get some writing comprehension, Aidan.”

He chuckled, and then easily lifted me, letting me hold onto him to keep my hurt foot raised. His muscled were comforting, and I leaned into him.

“I’ll make a note of it - wait, that’s a bad idea, isn’t it? C’mon then, let’s get y'all down the trail so we can get a proper look at this.”
 “I might need to lean on you,” I said, pushing my hair back and still feeling embarrassed about this whole ideal.

“Of course,” he said easily. “Anything for the woman I love.”

That was enough to cheer me down the whole trail.

It was even better when he hoisted me up in his arms and lifted me for the final stretch. I’d gone up the trail thinking I would save him, and instead he’d been the one saving me. I didn’t mind, though. 

I was finally back with my Aidan, and I wasn’t ever letting him go.

To Be Continued . . .