Two Sides (Tess POV)

“Don’t leave out a single detail, Tess,” said Zan. “I want to hear all about how your first official date went.”

It was early in the morning during one of our summer workouts. I was cycling alongside Zan on a stationary bike.

“Well,” I said, leaning over the handlebars, “we saw a movie and had dinner.”

It was hard talking about my sex life with Zan, but I’d opened up to Wyatt first. The genie was difficult to put back into the bottle - ostensibly, talking to her should be even easier, right? And what’s the worst that would happen? Zan picturing me naked? These days, she saw me naked a lot, like when we changed before or after workouts. It's not like I was embarrassed by my body.

“And?” asked Zan.

“And,” I pedaled faster, “we went back to his house afterward, and he asked me to get naked.”

Zan scoffed, as if offended by the detail. “Come on Tess, that's tame. Did you make out? Did he devour you with his eyes? Did you flash him your kitty?”

It was pretty standard procedure to undress for Wyatt when he asked (it wasn't as weird as it sounded, he had to check that my subliminally enhanced body positivity wasn't backsliding), but what happened after? I was still getting used to it.

“We went up to his room and had sex,” I said simply.

“You two are on fire!” cheered Zan, laughing.

I gave a shy smile.

It felt weird admitting aloud, but replaying in my mind how Wyatt pushed me down and mounted still filled me with excitement. It was nice finally being sexually active with my friend-turned-boyfriend. And honestly, even though we’d just done it yesterday, I was already ready to have sex again. With Wyatt, that wouldn’t be a problem - he was ready to be just as sexually active as I was.

Zan did the mental math. “What's that make? Third time this week?”

“So far,” I corrected her. In our relationship, neither of us voiced any interest in cooling things off. We were still figuring out how we worked together - physically and emotionally.

But my friend's expression darkened. “And you’re sure it’s okay? That this is what you want with Wyatt?”

I sighed and slowed my pedaling speed so I could think, talk, and breathe at the same time. “I had my reservations the first time we slept together,” I told her. “It did almost feel **** - and I’m not sure I was totally onboard, at first. Wyatt didn't exactly ask. He just sort of assumed...”

“And you’re sure you’re okay with that,” said Zan.

I shrugged. “I was turned on and wasn’t thinking straight, and we were talking about sex… I don’t know.”

But as always, listening to the casual guitar strings of Wyatt’s latest CD on Zan’s mobile speaker (a sweet apology gesture he made for me after the fact) made me feel a lot better about the whole thing.

“I’m glad my first time was with Wyatt,” I reiterated, for the umpteenth time. “I was ready for it, and it was long overdue.”

In hindsight, me and Wyatt probably should have been dating all through high school. Us getting together like this was inevitable - it was only natural our friendship would evolve into something more. If we'd gotten together sooner, we both would’ve had a lot more sex, for sure...

“How about you, Zan?” I asked, shaking myself from my thoughts. “How’s your love life going?”

Zan made an exasperated sound. “I went home with a guy from the club last night, and we had fun, but sadly he wasn’t boyfriend material.”

“Oh… bummer,” I said, trying to be supportive, but I didn't really feel it.

Zan was having more one night stands recently, which was odd for her. She was usually more of a slow-and-steady monogamous, or outright 'job/classes/life first, boys second' type. To be honest, I was worried, but it felt hypocritical to question Zan’s sex positivity when I’d just started having frequent, regular sex with my own boyfriend.

Zan spared me a glance, smiling. “Maybe I should finally bite the bullet and catch up with your loverboy Wyatt,” she said. “See if he’s got any hints about what makes smart guys tick.”

Her tone put me on guard. “What does that mean?”

I knew Wyatt was into me, a lot, but the thought of Zan - with her new sexually adventurous streak - being alone with my boyfriend made me justifiably nervous.

“Relax. I’m just teasing you,” laughed Zan, tapping my arm playfully.

I laughed too, but I didn’t believe her.

There was something off about Zan lately. She was happier, more energetic, but almost manic. Sort of like how I’d felt myself since beginning the experiment…

Course, my first thought (as ever) was that it had to do with Wyatt’s CDs. While they were perfectly safe for me (the subliminals were designed specifically for me, after all), I wasn’t so sure about Zan. Sure, she didn’t know any key phrases when I asked, but that didn’t mean the experiment's CDs weren’t having any effect on her.

Zan cut her hair and dyed it shortly after I did mine - but what were the odds Zan becoming more body positive would manifest in the same way it did for me? She said she was inspired by my style, when I asked. Didn't that Occam's Razor into the more reasonable explanation? Frustratingly, my hypothesis about Zan being under the sway of my CDs was near unverifiable. I'd just have to keep a closer eye on her.

Anyway. Even if Zan wanted to cause trouble with Wyatt, it wasn't him I was worried about. No matter what, Wyatt was always going to be my best friend. Jury was out on the boyfriend part, but still; he wouldn’t go behind my back with Zan, even if she came onto him. Which she definitely wouldn’t do, right?

Unfortunately, while I trusted Wyatt to do the right thing, I was trusting Zan less and less. Beyond noting the oddity in her behavior and filing it away for later, however, I was uncertain how to proceed. I was happy to be a part of Wyatt’s tests. I was even eager to experience more powerful subliminal effects. But not like this.

If it turned out the CDs were at fault, that the subliminals not only were affecting Zan, but exerting an adverse effect on her... I needed to find out. And soon.

In the meantime, just to be safe until I figured it out… whether we were hanging out, driving, or tag-teaming one of our co-workouts... listening to Wyatt’s music with Zan was off the table.