The Last Shapeshifter Ch. 02

Steve Burrtrick thought that an odd job or two would help him take his mind off an invisible deadline. A talk was coming with his son, Trevor. It wouldn't be about the birds and the bees. He would give that talk all day every day as opposed to the one he'd inevitably need to give Trevor. He wished he could just get it over with, but he understood that if he brought it up prematurely, he'd sound insane. He felt he had laid the necessary groundwork. He'd encouraged openness with his son and been a solid father, though it had gotten rough this past year because of his wife's passing. If only she were here. It was her story to tell after all, not his. But now the burden would fall to him. He just hoped that Trevor would come to him when it was time.

What terrified Steve the most was the possibility that maybe his son's problem wouldn't begin until after he had graduated and moved out. It was why Steve hadn't pushed Trevor to apply for college, even going as far as to lie about the strain it might put on their finances. His two older kids he had made sure got out of the house shortly after graduation, but Trevor, well Trevor couldn't leave until he knew the unfortunate nature of his circumstances. If Steve had it his way after that, Trevor wouldn't leave at all, not until he'd gained some semblance of control. But Steve knew he'd probably be long dead before that actually happened.

Steve knew the worse part though, was that he couldn't forewarn his son, not really. Trevor's wouldn't believe his father until it had already begun. His wife had warned him that that was always how it was, that she herself had refused to believe until it had snuck up on her. But was it happening already? Trevor hadn't seemed off that morning, no more so than usual. Eighteen year olds were impossible to know sometimes. Maybe he should just tell him regardless of how crazy it sounded. It would be wiser to wait though. But would it? Steve knew he was stuck in a circular pattern of thinking, but seemed incapable of focusing on anything else. Because of this, he was making more errors laying tile than he should, and decided to call it early.

Steve drove home and was pleasantly surprised to see his son's car in their driveway. It was often Trevor's habit to spend time at one of his friend's after school. This made Steve nervous, not because of Trevor's quality of friends, but his increasing absence. Steve allowed it because they seemed to have a positive impact on Trevor after his mother's death, but now maybe he should put a stop to it. He'd hate to ground him, but it might be worth it in the long run. He'd need an excuse though. Steve was sure Trevor was academically slipping somewhere. He'd find something and then make sure his son came home this early after school every day.

Steve parked his vehicle, and strode quietly into the house. He hoped to surprise his son, give him a little scare, maybe. It was kind of a fun game, but it was also Steve hoping to catch his son in the act of shapeshifting. He hoped that when that crazy moment arrived, his son would come to him, but there was always a chance his son would try to hide it.

Steve saw no movement in the living room or kitchen. He pressed an ear against the downstairs bathroom and didn't hear anything. Then a muffled sound came from upstairs. It seemed to come from Trevor's room. Steve crept up the stairs, being sure to miss the steps that creaked. He was ready to give his son a good jump scare, as he positioned himself carefully in front of his son's door, one hand on the door knob. A second before he purposed to push it forcefully open and rush in with a warrior cry, he heard another sound. It was a gasp, or a high pitched moan, or some sound that someone would make if they were very pleased, and it sounded distinctively feminine.

Steve abandoned the idea of a jump scare, and for a brief second, had a hopeful thought that maybe his son had brought a girl home and he should give them their privacy. But Steve was in forward motion now and there was no stopping him as the door was already swinging open. A very odd sight greeted Steve. A very beautiful young woman a few feet opposite him, facing him. She was wearing tight workout clothes. She had on a yellow sports bra that left little to the imagination and dark blue spandex leggings. But what really was strange was that she was holding the front of her spandex leggings out with one hand while the other hand looked like it was about to travel down towards her...

Steve's eyes narrowed and locked onto the girl's face. She had registered his presence and her face had contorted from lust to that of someone whose hand was caught in the cookie jar. Her hands went quickly to her side, which made the elastic she wore give a crack as it rebounded against her tight waist. Steve watched her smile awkwardly, and he let his eyes give a quick cursory glance about the small room. His son was nowhere to be seen, but his clothes were. The ones he had been wearing were near the girl's feet. He extended his hand in greeting and he tried to hide the suspicion in his voice. "Hi, sorry if I startled you. My name is Steve Burrtrick. Do you know my son?"

She hesitated for a few seconds, then seemed to perk up, as if some exciting bit of information had been revealed to her for the first time. She took his hand, squeezed it gently, and she gushed, "Oh my gosh! You must be Trevor's dad. Wow! You're really handsome for an older man." She placed her other hand on Steve's arm, gripping his bicep. "You're real strong too. You must work out a lot."

The compliment fell flat as Steve gently removed the girl's hand from his arm. "I'm Trevor's dad. Are you a friend of his?"

The girl's face showed surprise and hurt. She proceeded to shift her weight to one side, letting her hip jut out. A hand found purchase there. It was a pose she flaunted when trying to seem important. "This is so embarrassing!" she squealed. "I can't believe he didn't tell you! That's so like him, of course. Well, anyway, I'm his girlfriend."

Steve's face remained placid and his eyes unblinking. "He didn't tell me. Where is Trevor now?"

Denise's eyes darted around for a second, as if confused by that question. "Oh, right, he's...he's waiting for me in the car. We're going out and I..." she put her finger to her head and made a silly face, "...totally left my phone here so I came back for it. So, it was nice to meet you and..." she began trying to scooch past him in the doorway.

"Trevor..." Steve began, letting the name hang in the air. It made the girl freeze in her escape, and she looked up at him, their eyes locked on one another. The girl tried to give a shy smile, but it faltered. She was clearly nervous. Steve finished the sentence. "...wasn't in the car."

The girl's brow furrowed in confusion. "Who wasn't in the car?"

"Trevor wasn't," Steve said. "I just came from outside. His car is there, but not him."

The pretty face registered a hint of panic, but she pulled it together. "That's so weird. Well, I hope he's there now." She pushed by him and walked quickly down the hall.

Steve deflated a little at her insistent exit. He called after her. "What's your name?"

She halted in her tracks, but didn't turn around. "Denise."

"Okay, Denise," Steve said her name like he was going along with a known ruse. "When you see Trevor, give him an urgent message from me, will you?

Her head partially turned, and she gave him a cautious, "O-okay."

Steve's voice was stern now. He knew it, but he couldn't help it. "Tell him that we need to have a talk. There are some things that he needs to know, and I'd really like to tell him before he does anything rash."

"Will do!" The girl's head snapped forward again and she was on the move.

Steve continued talking even as he heard the door slam shut moments later, even though he knew the girl couldn't hear him anymore. "He wouldn't have believed me till now you see. But he needs to know. Needs to be warned."

Denise was wearing heels, and she strode confidently in them to Trevor's car. She got in with no problems, despite the tight skirt she wore. As she got behind the wheel, she began adjusting the seat for her smaller frame, then stopped and looked at herself in the rear view mirror. Trevor took in the reflection and marveled. He didn't just look like her, he felt like her. It was different than when he had turned into Mrs. Schultz earlier that day though. He felt completely in control. But he also felt like he could have fooled Denise's parents right then into believing that he was one hundred percent their daughter. He knew everything about her. Her likes, dislikes, dreams and aspirations, and the unfortunate fact that she barely registered him as a person. That last part hurt, but it was true. When Trevor had called Denise his boyfriend, the part of her that he was somehow tapped into had found that quite comical. He focused on his own form in his mind, and a few seconds later, his face looked back, complete with the clothes that were still on his bedroom floor.

With that transformation, Denise's confidence that he had tapped into left him and his circumstance took on more weight. He didn't want to carry this all alone. He needed to talk to someone. He started the car with the keys he had thankfully left in the ignition, and contemplated his options. There was his dad. He was a great guy, and he really seemed like he wanted to know every facet of his life, but...it was also his dad. How would that conversation go. "Hey dad, I can turn into hot girls, sometimes when I don't even want to, and I used that ability to peep on them in the locker room today." Those were all things no father wanted to hear.

His siblings were too far away, and he wasn't about to try and explain what was happening to his body over the phone. That really left his two best friends. One of whom he had turned into and seen naked, and the other who he couldn't stop thinking about in ways that baffled and nauseated his male self. His dad was logically the best option, and for a moment, he seriously thought about shutting the car off, going back inside, and letting his dad know what was up. But he didn't.

Like a lot of teens, the prospect of opening up and being vulnerable to his father seemed like an insurmountable challenge, so he sped towards Max's house. That decision made gave him a new dilemma. Should he open up to just one of his friends, or both of them? The latter was not appealing. He could reveal his situation to one of them first, and if it went south, deny it to the other. They couldn't force him to turn into someone, except, if the day's events had taught him anything, they probably could. He had to figure that out as well. He went over everything for the hundredth time during his short drive to his friend's. He was almost there, driving slowly down the residential street, when he saw Sabrina exiting Max's front door. Trevor pulled behind a vehicle that was parked on the street, and watched covertly as Sabrina got into her car and drove off. Trevor guessed they had called it early for some reason.

He had originally been going to share his secret with Sabrina and her alone, but now he was curious. When the three of them got together, they would often hang out for hours. Was that something they had been doing just for him, or was there another reason? Usually, this would have been resolved the normal way, by knocking on Max's door and asking why Sabrina bailed early. But for Trevor, today was far from normal.

Trevor looked in the rear view mirror, and focused. A couple seconds later, Sabrina's eyes stared back at him, and he winked at his new reflection. "Might as well have some fun if I can," Sabrina's voice said, and then she giggled, or rather, tried to. Trevor noticed the giggle hadn't come naturally. He wasn't comfortable in Sabrina's skin like he had been as Denise. He didn't have Sabrina's memories either, like he thought he would. What kind of sporadic ability was this? Well, he knew her well enough, so he should still be able to fake it. But not having her memories, he would have to be careful how he proceeded.

Trevor got out of the car and felt a little out of balance in Sabrina's frame. Her proportions were so different. He hadn't appreciated that fact when he was ogling her in the mirror, but now that he was moving towards Max's front door, well, he was very glad that she hadn't been wearing heels like Denise had. In Trevor's mind, he was going to prank his friend and find out why Sabrina left, and then give the big reveal that he could transform into other people. Anything past that, he wasn't sure about, but he at least someone else would know his secret. Trevor's youthful inexperience gave hime a dangerous level of overconfidence. He felt more in control of whatever was happening to him, almost entirely forgetting the strong impulse he had felt as Mrs. Schultz just hours ago.

Max was inside his house, relaxing, not knowing he was about to have more company. As soon as Sabrina had left his house, Max had taken off his shirt and pants and was now reclining in his boxers. His parents were gone, and he reveled in the chance to just veg and eat snacks in front of the television. At the sound of the front door opening and closing, he jerked up and then scanned the room for his pants. The distance was greater than he remembered. In his haste to be free of them, he had tossed them to the other side of the room. He was halfway to them when he heard a wolf whistle behind him.

"Nice boxers!" Sabrina called out.

Max spun around and went red. Sabrina was walking towards him and he wasn't wearing pants. They had been friends forever, but friends that always wore pants around each other. "Yeah, uh...I thought you had gone and..."

He made to reach for his pants when Sabrina cut him off. "You don't have to put them on for my account. I just came back to ask if you thought Trevor was acting a little weird today."

One of Max's hands was on his pants now, and he might have put them on, except the question seemed to have broken his brain. He looked at his friend very curiously. "Uh, did you forget everything we just talked about 30 minutes ago?"

Trevor felt he had just basically given himself away before his prank had even begun. He needed to distract Max from his slip up, but how? He flashed Sabrina's pretty smile at him, then got the idea to stretch. Sabrina seemed to stretch all the time, like a cat in a beam of sunshine. Whenever she did, her boobs would stand out tantalizingly. This simple thing, when done in the presence of her pervy friends, would cause whatever conversation to cease as their eyes were drawn to her busty form. They would look away of course the moment she stopped, but she had teased them about it on more than one occasion. Sabrina's eyes were always closed while she was stretching, but Trevor opened one eye halfway, and saw that Max had indeed been distracted. His eyes were focused directly on Sabrina's rack, and his mouth was hanging open a little bit.

Finally, Sabrina stopped and said Max's name. Trevor found his friend's face comical as his eyes snapped up to Sabrina's, clearly caught undressing her in his mind. Trevor ignored this as his Sabrina form asked, "Do you have any coffee?"

"Uh, sure. I'll make some right now." Forgetting his pants, Max hustled into the adjoining kitchen to make coffee.

Trevor thought the reason his friend had wanted to leave the room so quickly, was because he was now sporting a boner. "I know we talked about, uh, Trevor being a little odd, but I uh...I didn't tell you everything."

Max was half listening as he rinsed out the coffee pot, cursing himself for forgetting to put on his pants. He couldn't get them now, because he was sporting an erection that would not listen to reason. If Sabrina saw it, he'd never hear the end of it, and she'd tell Trevor, and his last year would be spent with their mercilessly ribbing him for something that was beyond his biological control. He needed a girlfriend. For the hundred millionth time Max thought about the pact the trio had made that they would never date. It still seemed a shame that neither he nor Trevor had really got a chance to shoot their shot with Sabrina. But was all pure fantasy anyway. Max knew he personally didn't have a chance in hell with someone as awesome and hot as his friend. She had never looked at him that way, even though he had so many times. It was why he needed Trevor around, so it wouldn't be awkward. He could be her friend if Trevor was there, but couldn't stop thinking about her when Trevor wasn't. He cursed his eighteen year old hormones.

As he moved the coffee pot now full of water to the coffee maker, he almost dropped it on the floor. Sabrina had followed him and was right in front of him now. She was asking him a question, but he hadn't heard the whole thing. He might not have heard any part of it, except there had been one key phrase that sparked his brain's interest and shot it to the top of his awareness level.

"...imagining me naked?"

Try as he might, Max couldn't remember if there were any words before that, or if there had ever been any words ever said before, ever. His mind became white noise as his face flushed, eyes widened, and mouth began to sputter, "What? Who naked? Me? No, I...what? What was the...I"m sorry, I was running the water for the coffee and..."

"I said Trevor's been looking at me really intensely lately. Do you think he's imagining me naked?"

Max watched her mouth so closely as she said the word naked. Her voice made it sound so sweet and inviting, but also like a challenge. Was she teasing him? She only did that if there was an audience, but Trevor wasn't there to appreciate the joke. Did the question have merit though? Was Trevor blatantly perving on her...more than usual? They were both the worst. He'd have to tell his friend they both needed to cool it, that they were all friends and... His mind shut down completely as Sabrina's hand touched his arm.

"Max? Do you ever imagine me naked?"

Dozens of responses flew through Max's head in a nanosecond. Most of them would have deflected the question, but for whatever reason in this instance, he decided to be bold. He mechanically put the coffee pot onto the counter, looked directly into Sabrina's eyes, and answered truthfully, "All the time."

It was Sabrina's mouth that hung open now. Internally, Trevor had not expected that response. He thought he'd see the usual bluster from his friend and an outright denial to his question, not...not this. He felt Sabrina's cheeks grow hot. He had pushed this far enough. It was time to come clean and reveal his secret to his friend. "Look, Max, I'm not really..."

Before Sabrina could dispel the moment with whatever she was about to say, Max put a hand delicately on his friend's cheek. He had wanted to do that simple, intimate gesture for so long. If she was about to shut him down and let him know that she was just messing with him, that was fine, but he wanted to do this simple thing, at least one time.

Trevor felt the familiar tingle in Sabrina's face that was indicative of an impending transformation. He heard a moan, and realized it was Sabrina's voice coming from his mouth. Trevor knew he wasn't changing, at least not externally, but something in his brain had flipped. He felt more like Sabrina than himself, and that fact terrified him. He tried to turn around, to run, but his legs were rooted to the spot. He felt a haze begin to cloud his mind. It was eroding his good judgment. That wasn't right. Her judgment. Why had she thought of herself like a guy. She didn't have time to think about that though, as her mind snapped one thing into focus. Her friend, her sweet friend was in front of her, and he was touching her face. It felt nice. And it made her feel other things too. She was getting turned on. Before she could stop herself, Sabrina's mouth was on Max's. Her tongue parted Max's lips, and found his. The kiss was sloppy, wet and awkward, as if neither had ever kissed before. But what they lacked in inexperience, they made up for in youthful exuberance.