The Fountain: Chapter Three

Phone. 

My phone was ringing. Why did it sound so far away?

Oh. Right. I had passed out in the bathroom.

I was still in the bathroom. 

My eyes slowly cracked open and I saw that I was slumped against the tub with my head between my legs. My eyes immediately fell onto the silky shorts with two soft round thighs protruding from them. I was still a woman. 

And my phone was still going off. 

I pulled myself up and like a baby deer, awkwardly shambled over to my nightstand where my phone was on charge. A picture of Matt and who I presumed to be me filled the screen. The caller ID read “Matty!”. 

Matty? 

“Matt?” I answered, hearing the soft feminine register of my new voice. 

“…Andy?” Matt’s voice asked from the other end. 

I blinked a few times. “Matt. What is happening.” I asked in a quite almost horse whisper. 

“I’m not sure.” Matt replied. “I’ll be over in a second.” There was a click and the line was dead. My hand remained at my ear for a second before my brain caught up with reality. I had just made contact with someone outside of my apartment. Someone who seemed to be clued into the serious predicament that I was currently in. 

And what the hell was up with the picture of Matt and I on my phone?

I unlocked my phone and pulled up my pictures. Part of me was relieved to see that a majority of them seemed to be screenshots of webpages and goofy pictures from Reddit and Tumblr. There were a few pictures that stood out to me. One from Halloween, Matt was dressed up as Captain America with a shield and all. I, again presumably, was standing next to him with my hands on my hips in a black catsuit with my blonde hair dyed dark red.

“Jesus.” I breathed. I was dressed as Black Widow and… and I made it look good. I shook my head and kept scrolling. It was almost a creepy feeling, as if I was looking at someone else’s personal photos. But it wasn’t someone else. 

My thumb landed on a photo from Christmas, two years ago. It was taken at my mom’s house. Mom was standing front and center with Jessica on one side and me on the other. But there was something else. Something that shocked me more than waking up with boobs. My father was also there, standing behind my mother in the photo. He looked older, and maybe a little heavier, then I remember him ever looking but he was there. 

My father… was alive.

I began to make mental gymnastics. If I was a girl, and all the photos and seemingly the rest of the world thought I was a girl than I must have been born a girl. Right? Which means that I never went to Boy Scouts, I couldn’t have. Which means that Dad would not have been driving to the campsite to pick me up at two in the morning which means…

“My father is alive.” I said out load and for the first time this morning I felt my heart skip a beat in a good way. 

My phone vibrated in my hand and alerted me to a text from Matt. 

-5 Min away- Matt’s text read. 

-Ok- I replied.

As I replied to his message, something odd caught my eye. The last text I had sent him was last night and read.

-Love You!- With a heart emoji.

I had been able to put two and two together based on the pictures that Matt and I must be an item but it was so strange to see a conversation that, for all intents and purposes, did not actually happen. I scrolled up through the messages and learned about my relationship with my former fellow man. We seemed to be well and truly in love. We enjoyed poking fun at one another, sending goofy pictures and memes and otherwise talking about our days as they happened. 

And then I saw something that made me clam up. A photo. A photo sent by me to Matt. A photo of me in a lace corset that pushed my boobs up pretty much under my chin. I had red lipstick on and was biting my lip. I had sent that photo four days ago with a message under it that said -Waiting for you- and a winky face emoji. 

I dropped my phone onto the bed and sat down.

“I’m fucking Matt.” I said quietly. “I’m a woman and I am fucking Matt.” 

I let the words linger in the air for a moment like a cloud in the room. The idea that somewhere in this room there was probably a drawer or something with multiple pieces of lingerie. Lingerie that I have worn, allegedly, for Matt. The same Matt who I had gone out for beers with last night as a man. 

My phone went off suddenly and I let out a small yelp.

“Hey are you okay?” Matt asked on the other end.

“Yeah, er, no.” I stuttered.

“I’ve been knocking for like five minutes. Can you get the door?” 

“Shit, yeah, hang on.” I said as I hung up.

I sprung off the bed and out of my room and swung open the front door to find Matt standing in the doorway. He looked, unfortunately, exactly the same as he did last night.

“Okay.” Matt said as he pushed me backwards into the kitchen and closed the door behind him. “Let’s just close that so no ones sees you.”

I felt my cheeks blush and realized that I was still wearing silky short-shorts and a pretty much see through tank top. “Oh… right.” I said. “Matt, what the hell is going on!”

Matt locked the door and walked over to me and I realized that the guy I used to be a few inches taller then now had a whole head over me. 

“What do you remember from last night?” I asked. 

Matt made a strange expression. “I remember being really drunk.” He said slowly. “Like really drunk. When we left the bar, I went to walk off some of the alcohol.” He explained. “And… well. Look, I think I know what happened, or at least I have an idea but it’s crazy.”

I gestured down to my body. “Matt, this morning I woke up with boobs and a vagina, in a world that has seemingly never known me any other way. Try me.” 

Matt sighed and rubbed the back of his head. It was a gesture I had seen from him many times before growing up. It normally meant that he was anxious about something or feeling guilty. “Well, I walked for a bit until I was in the park, or a park, I’m not sure which.” He began slowly. “And I remember kind of stumbling a bit and sitting down on a bench. I closed my eyes for a few minutes and when I opened them, I saw a fountain a few yards away.” 

I blinked a few times, already putting the pieces together in my head. 

“Anyway.” Matt continued. “I got off the bench and I made my way over to the fountain and well… I thought about how much easier it would be if I could talk to women like I could talk to you and wouldn’t it be nice if I could find a woman who was just like you… and I threw a quarter in the water…” 

SMACK

I didn’t even let him finish the sentence before my hand connected with his cheek.