HenshinTetsuya

Hello. This is a story that I wanted to write in my free time to try and improve my typing speed. I based this story on something that happened to me last year and thought it could be an interesting premise. Any writing critiques or tags that you feel should be added are welcome.

"Oh..."

I was looking online for designs I could use for our island, since the game me and my little brother liked to play was getting a little stale to be honest. So, when I saw something that I thought I could actually do myself, I left my bedroom and walked to the living room where my little brother was sitting on the couch with his laptop. He was probably watching anime or playing a game or something. Ignoring him, I walked over to the console in its dock and reached down to pick it up. And that's where my little "oh" came from.

I guess JJ forgot to log out of his profile last night, because he was still in the clothing shops' dressing room. His character, Caleb, kinda, sorta looked like him. They both had matching dark-brown skin for example. JJ had brown eyes compared to Calebs Dark-Green, squarish, eyes and a square, button nose. The in-game models didn't come with eyebrows, so we had to paste a custom design on their faces to give the illusion that they did. And while my brother has short, low-cut hair, Caleb has long, dread-like locks. JJ changes Calebs outfit pretty often, but he always goes back to wearing his green jacket with a tiger on the back.

On the screen, everything about Caleb was the same, except he was missing his favorite jacket. Instead, he was now wearing a Dark-blue prom dress that had been released in the game recently. Nothing else was different about him. He still had on the green sneakers from his previous outfit as he was striking one of those sassy poses that your character always did whenever you change their clothes. He was staring at me with those half-open eyes. And I was staring back, confusion plastered on my face.

I looked at JJ with what was surely concern. His eyes were still glued to his laptop. I wanted to say something but was struggling to find the words to say. My eyes snapped back to Caleb posing on the screen I was holding in my hand. As I was staring at the screen, I started thinking, maybe... maybe he accidently tried the dress on when he was putting the console in the dock last night before bed. Yeah... It's probably not that big of a deal. It's just a video game. Why was I letting it get to me so much? The strange panic I was feeling began to wind down. Yeah... No big deal. Satisfied with my reasoning, I looked up from the game and saw JJ staring back at me.

He removed his right earphone and asked me, "What's wrong, Maya? You've been standing there for a minute."

I looked him in the eyes, then back at the screen in my hand. 'It's no big deal', I thought. I smiled as I walked over to him.

"You forgot to log out of your profile last night. Here!"

I handed the game to JJ and waited for him to give it back. He held the console in his hands and instantly froze. His eyes were filled with panic as they jumped from the screen in front of him and then back to me.

"I-I uh..."

My smile faltered as I watched JJ's mouth flop open and closed like a fish, like he was struggling to come up with something to say but nothing was coming to mind. I guess he was waiting for me to say something, because we ended up locking eyes for a few seconds. When neither of us said anything, JJ broke eye contact first and began mashing buttons, trying to get to the log out screen as quickly as possible.

ready to make your purchase?

             Nope.                    (Yes please!)

Do you want to wear what you picked out?

        No, thanks.                   (Yeah!)

"Ah-"

Caleb walked out of the dressing room wearing his new Royal Blue prom dress and green sneakers. JJ, still flustered, tried to remember how to log out of the game the right way, accidentally bringing up the cell phone multiple times. When the game finally started saving his progress, he handed the console back to me.

"H-here you go!"

“...”

I just stood there speechless. JJ put his earphones back in, snapped his focus back to his laptop screen and didn't look back up. I'm pretty sure he was waiting for me to leave, because his body was clearly tensed up and he didn't make a single move.

"Thanks..."

I turned on my heels slowly and began to make my way back to my room. When I reach my room, I toss the console on my nightstand next to my bed and immediately face plant onto my pillow. My mind drifted back to just a few seconds ago. The look on JJs Face when he saw Caleb in the dress. He looked so freaked out, like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"What does that mean?"

I turned over onto my back and stare at the ceiling. It wasn't a big deal. Right? It shouldn't have been. But the way JJ reacted says otherwise. Like he was feeling guilty for what he had done. But if he had just acted like it was an accident, or if he hadn't reacted in the first place...

"What does it mean..."