A young woman secretly uses some body transforming pills to turn into a sexy man so she can flirt with her mom’s friend and give her a confidence boost, but she soon gives in to her new body’s urges in A Friend in Need, available on Smashwords, Amazon or Body Swap Stories.
Zoey was practically raised by her best friend’s mom, Samantha. Going to Samantha’s house was like being with her second family. That’s why it pains Zoey so much to watch Samantha fall into a depression after her divorce.
So Zoey hatches a plan to give Samantha a huge ego boost with the help of TransForm pills, which recently became available to the general public. The pills can instantly morph a person into one of the hundreds of people registered in the TransForm company database. Zoey secretly transforms herself into a handsome young stud and goes out to flirt with Samantha.
It was only meant to be a harmless flirtation, a brief reminder to Samantha of how great she is. And…maybe…just a little experimentation with the new equipment hanging between Zoey’s thighs. But Zoey feels compelled to push the encounter a little bit further and soon finds herself falling into a relationship with Samantha.
Can Zoey extricate herself from her predicament without devastating Samantha and before she runs out of pills? And what’s the harm in seeing just how well her new body performs, anyway?
Zoey flipped her black hair out of her face and watched as Samantha pretended to be carefree. Though Zoey noticed how she listlessly pushed the lettuce of her small salad back and forth across her plate while barely eating a bite.
“Dating over forty is awful,” Samantha complained, playing it off as funny to try to disguise the hint of despair in her voice. “Everyone’s got twice as much baggage as they did when they were twenty.”
“Dating sucks in general, mom,” Lise agreed.
The three women sat around a small table on the patio of Samantha’s favorite café. Zoey was taking small bites of her fish while Lise had half a chicken burger still on her plate. Samantha’s salad, despite the small size, didn’t appear to have been eaten at all.
“Did you know…” Samantha said, gesturing at the other two with a slice of tomato stuck to her fork, “Women over forty are more likely to be killed by a serial killer than get a response on a dating app.”
“That’s not true,” Lise rolled her eyes.
“It’s true. I read it on the internet. Also, older women typically want older men, while older men typically want younger women. So you think it would work out!” Samantha laughed and finally ate the tomato stuck to her fork.
Zoey and Lise had been friends since they were in preschool and their families had always been close. Samantha was practically Zoey’s second mother. The last few years had been hard on Samantha. Though she’d been separated from her husband for years, they’d gone through a long, drawn out divorce that had only been finalized a month and a half ago. Through it all Samantha was never anything less than loving and kind to Zoey, comforting her when Zoey’s mother died, letting her stay in the spare bedroom when Zoey had the fight with her previous boyfriend, even chipping in to pay for repairs to Zoey’s car back when she was a poor, broke college student.
A week prior to this lunch, Lise had mentioned to Zoey that her mom was back in the dating scene. Samantha had apparently been exercising and sticking to a strict diet. She’d gradually been replacing most of her wardrobe, ditching the boring old outfits and choosing ones with bold colors and which showed off her rapidly toning body.
The outfit Samantha wore to lunch today was a sleek sleeveless blue dress with a small pattern of pineapples across it. The neck was also cut lower than Zoey had ever seen any of Samantha’s other outfits, giving the waiter a generous view of her cleavage. Samantha didn’t seem to mind the attention, which made Zoey wonder just how lonely she was.
Samantha’s arms had gained some tone. Her coffee-brown hair had new red highlights. Her dark eyebrows had recently been shaped. All in all she looked prettier and more together-looking than Zoey had seen her in years. Though Zoey could sense that the happiness was a façade. The whole reason Lise had invited Zoey to lunch with them was to help cheer Samantha up.
“It’ll work out,” Zoey assured Samantha. “I haven’t dated anyone since Jeff and, frankly, I think I’m better off.”
“Give it time,” Lise added.
“It’s just…” Samantha dropped her fork and looked at them. “Do you know how many guys have ghosted me in the last two weeks? Three! That’s not even counting the guys who just message me to see if I want a cheap hookup. I thought dating online was supposed to be easier.”
“It is and it isn’t,” Zoey said. “It helps you filter out the losers but it’s also a good way to get your inbox filled with dick pics. I swear, guys will send dick pics for no reason. Want to hook up? Dick pic. Happy birthday! Dick pic. Sorry your whole family died in a fiery plane crash. Dick pic.”
Samantha’s laughter rang out through the café before she could clap her hands over her mouth. “So true,” she said when she finally got herself under control.
“You’ll find someone, mom,” Lise patted her hand. “Guys don’t know what they’re missing with you.”
Samantha smiled sadly at her daughter then folded up her napkin and placed it on the table before pushing her chair back. “Excuse me a second. I’ve got to go find the toilet.”
She stood and made her way around the crowded tables and disappeared into the café. Lise turned to Zoey.
“Oh my god, thank you for coming with me today. I just can’t handle my mom right now. She’s been so fucking depressed and it doesn’t matter what I say. It didn’t help that dad showed up out of the blue a few weeks ago with his new girlfriend. She looks about my age!”
“That’s gross,” Zoey agreed. “I feel so sorry for your mom.”
“Ugh. I know this sounds awful but I’m over it. She gets all excited when some rando messages her on whatever dating app she’s on and then a few days later she’s depressed again because he’s disappeared or he’s an asshole or something.”
“She’ll get there. Maybe all she needs is one good date. Just a confidence boost.”
“Hell, at this point I’d settle for one guy to just not disappear on her,” Lise agreed. “But I’m afraid I’m going to kill her before she gets there!”
“Don’t do that. Then you’ll both die alone!”
Lise snorted and sipped on her water. It was a sore point with Lise and Samantha that Lise was adamant she wanted to be alone and Samantha felt she was just in denial.
“You don’t know anyone mom’s age who’s single do you?”
“Hmm,” Zoey screwed up her mouth and thought. “Not really.”
“What about that guy at your work you always talk about?”
“Creepy Peter?”
“Oh. Right. Never mind. Anyone else you know?”
“My boss’s boss apparently broke up with his girlfriend. Though, I guess that was more of a consequence of him getting promoted and having to move across the country. So he’s out.”
“Well, if you think of anyone let me know.”
Samantha returned a few minutes later.
“Ok, girls,” Samantha said. “Ready to go? I’ve already paid.”
“Oh, thank you,” Zoey replied. “I’ll owe you.”
“Please,” Samantha smiled. “You’re basically family.”
The women walked out through the front entrance. Zoey hugged the others before they split up to go to their cars. Zoey did feel bad for Samantha. She was a really great woman who didn’t deserve the crap life had thrown at her. The divorce had been long and drawn out, and clearly Samantha’s husband had come out ahead. But then, it was always easier for older men, wasn’t it?
Zoey sighed as she drove along while some top 40 hit played on the radio. Samantha had spent the last years of Lise’s childhood as basically a single parent. She was off again and on again with her husband, not quite ready to leave him until she caught him red-handed with his secretary. How fucking trite. But Samantha plodded on, setting aside her own personal life for the sake of her daughter. That meant that when Lise finally moved out of home, Samantha’s singular focus vanished. Suddenly she had free time she didn’t know what to do with. And Zoey thought Samantha deserved someone charming and funny and amazing to enjoy that free time with.
It was that moment that Zoey drove past the newly opened TransForm store. She swerved into the parking lot on impulse, earning an angry honk from the car behind her. She pulled into a parking spot, the engine still running, and stared up at the store. The TransForm store loomed over the strip mall. Pictures of gorgeous models—both men and women—filled the windows beneath bubbly text that read Be the person of your dreams.
Zoey had heard about the TransForm pills the store sold. They were an expensive and trendy item that could literally transform one person into anyone else. She’d never done it before, though she’d always been curious.
All Samantha needed was one brief flirtatious encounter with a handsome stranger to buoy her confidence. After all Samantha had done for Zoey, surely it wasn’t too much to help her out?
Zoey killed the engine and hurried into the store before she could change her mind. She was expecting some sort of decadence but the inside was small and tastefully austere. Large monitors sat on either wall, imploring customers to “Touch Here to Begin”. Two women in silver and black TransForm uniforms looked up as she entered and one of them—wearing a name tag that read Alison—swept towards Zoey.
“Hi,” she chirped, “Can I help you?”
Zoey was taken aback by how ordinary Alison looked. She would have expected that the people working the counter at this store would have used the product to become supermodels. The look must have shown on Zoey’s face because Alison laughed.
“No, I haven’t taken a pill recently,” she said. “But I have taken them before. Do you know how they work?”
“Only what I’ve seen in the news.”
“Great. Well, let’s start with the video.”
She ushered Zoey over to one of the monitors and pressed the screen. A welcome menu appeared and Alison touched one of the onscreen buttons for the tutorial video. Over the scenes of DNA strands and smiling volunteers and stock footage of scientists in laboratories, a calm female voice explained the process.
Read the rest on Smashwords, Amazon or Body Swap Stories.
Loved this story so much! you really capture the feminine and masculine natures well!
Thank you! FtM isn’t done a lot (even by me!) so it’s good to hear you enjoy it.