Two adult outcasts find a mysterious skull that lets them possess people while making their target think that every action is of their own volition. And whatever they do while inside can change their target’s mind when they leave in Friends with Benefits 1, available on Body Swap Stories, Smashwords or Amazon.

Phil and Annie have been friends and unpopular outcasts since high school. Now grown but stuck in the same small town, they’re still tormented by pretty, perfect Kylie.

But everything changes when Phil finds a small jade skull that allows him to possess Kylie’s body and make her do whatever he wants. Even better, Kylie doesn’t suspect she’s being controlled and thinks that everything she’s doing is her own choice. Whatever Phil does while inside her can change her mind permanently.

Phil and Annie see this as the perfect opportunity to torment their tormentor. Phil will possess her and make her fall hard for Annie, while having some fun of his own in Kylie’s sexy body.

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Phil

There are a handful of people scattered around the diner. People, like Annie and I, here for a late lunch. She sits across from me on the sticky vinyl booth, the laminate table between us yellow with age. The glass syrup jug sitting beneath the window in its well-worn holder on the table is at least a decade older than me. But this is the best—and only—diner in our pissant little town.

Annie’s black hair is short and spiked. Her skin pale. She still wears dark clothes and a black necklace but has abandoned the leather trench coat and black face makeup of her high school Goth phase. It was a lonely existence in high school. The two of us hung out with each other but I suspect Annie was even lonelier being the only lesbian. Or, at least the only out one. Even two years since graduation she’s still known around town as the Goth girl. Everyone knows everyone around here and no one will let you forget that. Thank god for the internet or we wouldn’t have any kind of escape.

We’ve just been seated and handed the crinkly menu when my phone dings with a message.

“Just got a client email I have to answer,” I say, my fat thumbs already tapping.

Annie scoffs good-naturedly, adorable nose wrinkling as she grins. “I like how you call them clients.”

“What should I call them?” I say, only half-listening as I ponder a response to the email.

“Fellow nerds? Dungeoneers? Nerf herders?” Annie suggests, digging through her bag and pulling out one of the fantasy novels she always keeps on hand.

“If they heard me call them that I’d be lynched by both the Star Wars fans and the Dungeons and Dragons fans for heresy.”

“Best of both worlds,” Annie mutters, finding her page in the book. Any excuse to read.

This client wanted a D&D character page and miniature customized to look like his wife. It was a cute request and I happily accepted. Selling these online kept me from having to get a real job and brought in much more money than I could have ever made working retail on our town’s fading Main Street.

When I’ve finished responding to the email, I rub my thick red beard absently while I peruse the menu, as if I haven’t read it a million times before. The trick is in ordering just one thing. I’m trying to watch my weight but so far I’ve only watched it increase.

“What are you gonna get?” I ask her, already knowing the answer.

Two eggs. Fried. Slice of toast. I’ll tease her about being able to make that at home. She’ll reply that she would rather pay someone a million dollars for an egg than touch a stove.

Lots of people have confused our easy friendship for dating. As if being a lesbian was a sickness that could only be cured with the love of a good man. Annie is objectively good looking and all but I’ve never once considered dating her. We’re just friends. If I was a woman maybe it would be different, but as it is, I’m not anyone’s pick of partner. Nobody’s looking for a chubby, awkward, redheaded nerd. Maybe one day I’ll make enough money to escape this town.

Annie is opening her mouth to reply when she glances behind me and suddenly ducks her head down behind her book, muttering, “Oh god, I thought she worked the morning shift.”

I know exactly who it is before I even hear the chipper southern twang.

“Morning, y’all,” Kylie says, stepping into view, her order pad at the ready.

Kylie is impeccably made up, looking like someone out of a movie. Bright blue eyes. Silky blonde hair in a cute ponytail. Apron tied snug around her hips. Top unbuttoned just enough to reveal a glimpse of her cleavage. And those legs poking out beneath the skirt. Golden. Toned. Perfect.

She’s everything Annie and I aren’t: athletic, popular and confident. Guys love her. Girls want to be her. She’s the southern belle. The popular blonde cheerleader of every Hollywood movie. And she knows it, too.

Kylie wasn’t mean to me in high school. Just completely dismissive. Like I was so lowly I might as well not have existed. But to Annie, she was awful. Starting rumors. Turning others against her. Constantly teasing. She was Annie’s nemesis.

Naturally, Annie and I desperately lusted after her.

“Phil and Annie. Y’all two are tethered at the hip. You kiss her yet?” She asks me, a twinkle in her eye.

She knows Annie’s a lesbian—no secrets in a small town—but she loves embarrassing us. Annie and I blush red and sink lower in our seats. Kylie laughs. A delightful carefree tingle. She enjoys this.

“No.” I mumble.

“Beautiful,” Kylie says with the world’s fakest smile.

Kylie’s eyes go to the book Annie’s holding up to hide her face. The cover features a cloaked figure cowering as a dragon looms over them.

“Good book?” Kylie asks.

Annie does her best to sit up straight and feign a smile. “Yes. It’s about a necromancer who learns that he’s actually…” She trails off on Kylie’s blank look.

Kylie shakes her head. “Once a nerd always a nerd,” she says. It’s probably the nicest thing she’s ever said about Annie.

“I’ll just have fried eggs and toast,” Annie mumbles.

“Pancakes for me,” I say.

“Beautiful!” Kylie chirps. “Anything to drink?”

“Coffee,” Annie says. “And keep it coming.”

It’s meant to be an awkward joke but it’s more awkward than joke. Kylie looks neutrally at Annie for a beat, probably wondering whether to be insulted at the apparent rudeness. Annie blushes again, her pale cheeks now turning crimson as she forces a laugh to show it was a joke. Kylie smiles, suddenly all sunshine and bubblegum again.

“You got it,” Kylie says, turning and heading back to the kitchen.

If Kylie had walked the other way I’m not sure I could have kept my eyes off her ass. Annie has much better self-control.

“Beautiful!” Annie mimics Kylie’s southern accent and her chipper attitude quietly when she’s safely away.

“Howdy, y’all,” I say quietly in my own overly chipper imitation of Kylie. “Anything else I can do to wreck your day?”

We snigger at each other.

“I didn’t think she worked Mondays,” Annie says eventually. “You think she’ll spit in my food?”

“I don’t think she’ll care enough to waste her saliva,” I respond.

“Probably right. She’s, like, small town Barbie.”

“Gossip not included.”

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