Girlfriend with Testing Device Ch. 21

"Ellen?" You stared back at me from across the table, expectantly. Things felt weirdly the same. I'd expected a shift of colors or some kind of fanfare. I expected to feel like a new person. All I felt was jittery from the coffee.

I sat there for a moment thinking. "Ominous." I said, the word flowing effortless to my tongue. "Philanthropically. Hydrohydroxic acid. Perspicacious."

I smiled.

I held up my hand and looked at it. It was still the same hand I'd had when I walked in. Nails still painted in that slutty shade of red I'd painted them just the other night when I'd been... when I'd been someone else.

"Is that it?" I asked, looking down at my body. "I expected some kind of -" the gears in my brain finally turned over. I screamed.

"Why am I naked!?"

"Oh good, it worked. And that's a very good question! Exactly what I'd like to find out."

"Don't you have a jacket or something you can give me?"

"Sorry." You gestured down to your own lack of clothes. "Let me ask up front."

Oh my god. This was so humiliating. I slid down low in my chair, my arms unable to contain the enormous mountains of soft, supple flesh jutting out off my chest. I looked around. Thank god no one seemed to be paying any attention.

You said something to one of the girls up front and showed her your phone. She took off her shirt and handed it to you, happily. You did the same with the girl making the coffee. She took off her pants and asked if you wanted anything else. She wasn't even wearing any underwear. What the hell kind of power did you have? There was more to you, good sir, than met the eye.

You brought the clothes over to me like it was the most natural thing in the world, like you were just bringing me another cup. I grabbed the offered bundle and ran off into the bathroom to get dressed, trying not to make a scene. I was blushing so hard I could feel it across my whole body.

I had just finished getting dressed by the time I worked up the courage to catch a glimpse of the girl in the mirror. She was like a porn star parody of the porn star parody of a body I had given myself that first night. I was like some kind of walking sex toy. No thought for grace or elegance, just every inch of my flesh crying out to be fucked. I bit my lip. Fuck, why was that such a turn on? This was Elizabeth's handiwork, obviously. She always did lack subtlety. At the party. She had... she had done so much. I furrowed my brow desperately struggling to remember, but it was like it had happened to someone else.

I frowned and hefted a boob, gasping softly at how pleasurably sensitive the thing was. Why hadn't I been more surprised by this? This was the first time seeing this body, wasn't it? Except, I guess it wasn't... I knew what this body looked like. I'd been living in it, for gods sake, for the past week. This was all old hat. But now I knew now that it wasn't mine. Now I could see it in contrast to what I should look like, that mousy little bespeckled thing that seemed so long ago now, from back before that stupid device.

Wait. Wait. I could remember that. Fuck, I could remember everything. I screamed and cried and laughed all at once. I stared in the mirror. Oh my god.

How are you supposed to feel when you realize that your best friend - your only friend - used your reality-altering super weapon to not only steal your boyfriend, but to make it so that you had never even dated in the first place? How are you supposed to feel when you see how completely they've ruined your life? When it finally hits how deep the humiliation runs?

Half of me wanted to scream, the other half wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. A third half of me was just relieved that I was, at the very least, me again. I had survived. Well, okay, I wasn't quite wholly intact, but here I was nonetheless. I was back and I knew what she'd been doing, I knew what she'd done.

A fourth half of me was just tired. Because even being me now, I had still been someone else just a few minutes earlier, I had still run and cried for my friends, I had still been terrified and confused and stupid. So stupid. But I had been sick of running then and I was sick of running now. I was tired of crying. It was time to turn the tables.

Oh my god. She'd made me a cheerleader. Of all the things I detested in the world, of all the things I'd have hated most, being a cheerleader - a dumb cheerleader - was probably the worst. She'd known exactly what she was doing to me. That had to have been on purpose. Had she thought she was teaching me a lesson? I guess the joke was on her. Being a cheerleader was not nearly as bad as I'd have thought. Everyone on the squad was... well, they seemed nice enough. They seemed to genuinely care about me - about Slut, anyway. I tried not to think about all the crazy hot sex we'd had. Uhg, this was all so messed up.

I took a moment and tried to compose myself.

Eventually, after I don't even know how long, I stepped out of the bathroom, trying to act like for all the world my life wasn't insanely falling apart.

The girl whose shirt I was wearing did a double take as she looked at me, then tried to stifle a laugh. She gestured over at me and the rest of the waitstaff turned to look as well. Their eyes went wide and I'm pretty sure some of them even cooed. You'd think I was some kind of puppy.

I blushed again. Me being naked provoked no reaction, but this? This got them all riled up?

Oh, fuck, of course. I had worn collars - no, that wasn't quite right - Slut. Slut had worn collars, like actual leather pet collars, with her name on them and everything. She'd even carried a leash with her when she went to the park. Elizabeth must have wardrobe swapped me with her stupid little yappy dog. Which meant that right now everyone was looking at me like I was a dog wearing human clothes.

Somehow that was even more humiliating than being naked.

I sat back down. Beat red. You, at least, didn't laugh.

"Feeling any better?"

"I Just realized all the horrible shit my supposed best friend put me through. My boyfriend's been stolen, I'm stuck in some bimbo body," I grabbed my tits for emphasis then had to bite my lip to keep myself from gasping at the wash of horny pleasure that ran through my body. "And... and everyone is laughing at me! So no, I'm feeling pretty shitty actually." I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "But I'm me again, and that's worth a whole lot."

Was I really back to my old self? I didn't feel renewed, I didn't feel like a new person. The change back had been about as momentous as walking through a door. I tried to do a mental inventory, but how do you even account for everything? Well, I could remember Evan, that was a start. I could remember my name and I could remember my life, and it was my life, not Slut's, though honestly, I think there was an embarrassingly small difference between the two. I stared at the topless waitress. No arousal. Well, okay, some arousal. I think it might have just been a part of the generic hot lustiness that seemed baked into Slut's body though. She had found pretty much everybody attractive. The important thing was that I wasn't attracted to her on an intellectual level at least, so that was good. I was as much me as I could tell.

"Are you ready to begin?" you asked. "I've got your swap history pulled up and the thing is ready to record. I'll roll forward your awareness with each swap so that, mentally, you stay contemporary with your place in the story."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, like we agreed."

"No!" I gasped. "If you roll me forward, I'll be that bimbo again. Please, I- I just got back. I don't want to lose myself again. I don't want to be that again!"

"Look, I'm sorry, but blame whoever zapped you. This is just the way the interview works, okay? Its hard coded into the machine. I have a job to do. You agreed to the interview when you signed that contract, and then, hell you agreed to it again right before I turned you back. Look, you won't even notice, I promise."

"But I have so much I need to do. I can't afford to go back to that. I have to stop Elizabeth, I have to rescue Evan, I have to get my life back! I can't do that if I'm stuck as that idiot.

"I'm sorry, Ellen, but this is how it has to be. I need to get all this on the record."

"There's no other way?"

You shook your head.

I nodded slowly, giving that statement some time to sink in.

I looked around. Everything seemed so peaceful. I hated that it had come to this. I threw back my chair and bolted for the door, running as fast as my legs could carry me.

You sighed and pressed a button on your phone.

I was back, sitting at the table, mid-sip of my coffee.

"Please, don't try that again."

"What the hell was that?" I cried, spitting out the sudden surprising rush of flavor.

"Look, Ellen," you said, ignoring my question. "You're clearly upset. I don't know what happened, but you're smart. I want you to just take a moment and think this through."

"You want me to just sit here sipping coffee while that bitch runs around doing god knows what?" I stood up, knocking the chair back again. "I have a whole life I need to reclaim! She has my boyfriend in her... her clutches! I can't not try to get him back! "

"So, what? You're just going to run out there and confront whoever it is that did this to you? What if that doesn't work, huh? What if she sees you coming from a mile away? What if she notices you're not walking or talking or dressing the way you should be and she zaps you back to infancy? Or worse! Sit down and tell your story. That way even if you fuck up, the rest of us have a chance of tracking the device down and getting it back."

"Are you saying that you can stop her? That you can save Evan?"

"Look, I can't make any promises. Its literally not my job. I don't even know who Evan is. But... fuck... maybe? One of my bosses might take an interest in your case and some people might get dispatched. But I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. Our company takes its reputation very seriously. They're not going to be happy with the idea of something getting stolen or spinning out of control. They might scrap the whole project over this. But again, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I don't want to be dumb again." I said, weakly. "How even am I supposed to give an accurate account of things if I'm speaking like... like that bimbo?"

"It's honestly not that bad?" you shrugged.

"To you, maybe." I flicked a strand of blonde hair out of my face. "Its torturous for me."

"You know what? I think I might have a few settings that will make it a little better. Trust me, you won't even notice."

I stared at your machine. It stared back at me, shifting its weight from side to side, eager and ready to pounce. If I ended up back the way I was, back as Slut, I don't know if I'd want to turn back. Hell, if how I felt now was any indication I definitely wouldn't. Slut had a life too. She had friends that cared about her and who she cared for. She had every reason to want to keep going. And so did I.

But what choice did I have? I eyed the door. You had me trapped, somehow. In so far as I was concerned you were capable of anything. Worse than that though, you were right. How was I supposed to stop Elizabeth? She'd have me pegged from a mile away. At least this way... at least this way, even if I didn't win, even if I ended up some kind of drooling sex-idiot, at least this way someone would know what had happened. Someone would know the truth.

I sighed. Fuck. I really didn't want to do this.

"Okay." I said.

"Okay?"

"Let's get this over with."

Your sharp teeth glinting in the dim light as you grinned.

"Great! Let's get started with last Thursday. Oh, and this is for posterity, so try to be as detailed as you can, okay?"

And so I told you my story. Every little detail. Every little laugh, every little hope, every little moment of darkness. I blushed my way through all the sex. Well, at first anyway. This stupid body was so sultry, so horny, I think It may have bled into the narrative a bit.

And at each point where the device was used you clicked your machine and it made that zzzzttttt sound and it was just like I was there again, my brain and awareness shifting to whatever reality was present in the story at the time. I expected it to be jarring, for it to throw me off, but you were a professional. Before too long I didn't even notice.

And then it was over. I'd told you'd everything I knew. Everything I could think of that was in any way even relevant to that stupid little device. And I was me again, Slut again, but now I knew everything. I may not have remembered what Elizabeth erased of my memory, but I sure as hell remembered what I'd just told you.

"And that's it." I said, looking down at my body. It was beyond late now. The staff had been ready to close up shop hours ago, but you had shown them your phone and they decided to stay open as long as we needed. At some point it had begun to rain and it seemed to only be getting worse and worse. I wiped away the hot angry tears at the corner of my eyes.

"Thank you, Ellen." You said. "I know that must have been difficult."

"Slut." I corrected. "I'm back to being Slut."

"Sorry, Slut."

I closed my eyes and focused. "Buffalo. Washboard. Infomercial."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to think of big words." I let out a sigh that was half whimper. "But it looks like I'm right back to being an idiot."

"I keep telling you, you're not an idiot. You've just lost some education."

"Yeah, but that's important to me, that's... that's..." I cradled my head in my hands. Oh my god, my smarts had been the least of what I'd lost. I hadn't even begun to realize how bad things really were. I had been this whole other person. I had had a whole other life. In my other life I'd been, well, not happy, but wow, I'd been dating Evan! Me! And we loved each other and we were amazing together and I was an idiot because I didn't appreciate him nearly hard enough.

Elizabeth had taken all that away from me. She'd thought that making me like this was a punishment? That this was some kind of ironic hell? I frowned. I was happy with who I was. I liked being me. I had good friends, I was young and healthy and athletic and smart, I had a body people would kill for, and sure I was maybe a little slutty, but I got to have all kinds of wild, crazy and interesting sex with a never-ending cavalcade of stupidly hot people. I got so much fucking dick. Who wouldn't want that? I had a good life.

But none of that was real, was it? Or well, it was real, but it hadn't been originally.

How are you supposed to feel when you find out that everything you are and value is only there to torment someone that you used to be? The worst part was that the other me had agreed with the notion that this was a hell. When I'd been Ellen again, just now, so briefly, I'd been so angry, so bitter about this. This was basically the worst thing I could imagine. No wonder I'd hated the idea of turning back.

I looked down at my body, my unbelievably hot body. My perky jiggling tits, my tight athletic tummy, my smooth hairless pussy. Who wouldn't be proud of - the gears in my brain turned over. I screamed.

"What the hell am I wearing!?"

You laughed. Not funny. I'd rather walk home naked than wear something as silly as that blouse and those pants.

I stood up to disrobe, jiggling my way out of the ill-fitting garments. The cool air of the cafe caressing the bare flesh of my cleavage. Much better. I blushed a little as I sat back down. I resisted the urge to reach up and tweak one of my nipples. God, I felt like I hadn't gotten off in forever. How long had it been? Hours at least. I squirmed.

"Look, I'll be honest," you said, scratching at the back of your head, seemingly oblivious to my plight. You were staring at one of the meters on your machine and frowning. "I'm just looking at some of the changes listed here that you apparently had no part in. This is way worse than I was expecting. This has all really gotten out of hand."

"What does that mean?"

"It means" you sighed, "that this is starting to get above my paygrade. I'll have to shunt this one upstairs. We'll have to get a team in to retrieve the device and remove everyone's awareness of it. I'm sorry, but with the amount of damage that's been done, I don't think they're going to be inclined to swap everyone back first."

"I thought you said you could fix things!"

"I said I couldn't make any promises! This whole situation is just one giant clusterfuck. The thing was getting kicked around on a dance floor for shit's sake. You might as well have put it to shuffle!"

"None of this would have happened without your stupid device to begin with!" I was livid. "You have to make things good again!"

"Look," you sighed angrily. "If anyone is to blame here its you. You signed the contract. You took full legal responsibility for the device and everything it did while in your care. We entrusted it to you. The fact that Elizabeth stole it from you doesn't excuse you from that.

"How- How dare you!"

"Look, I'm sorry, but this is the way the company is going to see things, okay? Officially, they're going to stick all the blame on you and try to wash this all under the bridge. "

"But that's not right!"

"It doesn't have to be right! Can you even imagine the kind of lawyers we can field?"

I couldn't.

"Fuck, I might even lose my job over this. I was the one who selected you during the candidate decision process. And we're probably going to have completely redesign the whole thing with all kinds of safeties. We might even have to put up some kind of customer service system just in case this kind of thing happens again. They're not going to like the prospect of spending that kind of money! That's if they don't decide to just scrap the project altogether. Fuck, I went to bat for this project! I said people were ready for it!

"Yeah, well, maybe we aren't."

"Some people aren't, obviously." You glanced out the window than looked me in the eye. "But I thought you were."

There was a moment of silence. I didn't think that was very fair given I was basically a different person than the one you'd given the device to, but I could see your point. You finished your coffee.

"So what now?"

You shook your head. "Now I guess I put you back the way I found. You won't remember the device or ever being well educated, and everyone including yourself will think that's perfectly normal. I pass this up to my superiors and we try to get a team in to retrieve the device."

"No! You can't just leave me like this!"

"I'm - I'm not. Look, I'm trying to offer you a mercy here, okay? You'll carry on as Slut for the rest of your life, and you won't know any of this ever happened. The worst takeaway from all this is that you and your friend had a fight that you can't remember the details of. You'll never agonize about your education or what could have been. You'll be happy and content."

My head swam. Some dark part within me felt like maybe that didn't sound so bad. Everything would just... go back to normal, right? Uhg. I'd be an idiot though. A happy idiot, but an idiot nonetheless. Still, I'd have the love and support of my friends, and it was like you said, I wasn't actually less smart, just uneducated. Maybe I could take night classes or something.

Sure, Elizabeth and Evan would end up together, but hadn't that how it had always been to me? If I tried to take Evan back wouldn't I be just as bad as Elizabeth had been when she'd tried to take him from me?

I thought back to all the times I'd seem them happy together. I'd never seen her as happy as when she was with him. I wanted her to be happy, didn't I? I frowned. God help me, even after all this, a part of me still loved her.