Back at the apartment, John runs into someone he doesn't want to.

I changed the second half of the chapter after considering feedback in the comments.

After making plans, I got out and climbed the stairs to my apartment. So I had two numbers, the one from the kinky doctor and one from a lost connection. I was a regular Casanova.

Or not. There was definitely something wrong with me or this world. Everybody was acting different than how I would expect. First there was the doctor fucking me in the hospital bed. Then the more subtle behavior like Lucy and the old man in the cafeteria. Now there were young women from my building playing basketball in the court below my window.

That in itself wasn’t something I had seen happen at this building before, but what made it especially unusual was that most of the girls weren’t wearing tops. Not even sports bras. They were sweating it out in the glorious half-nude as they dribbled and blocked. I think I even saw one girl get a faceful of breast when a taller girl jumped to stop her from making a shot.

I could have explained that away as saying that maybe they were just really brave and trying to make a point, but that wasn’t even the weirdest thing. The apartment was clean like a serial killer had invaded while I was gone and had removed every stain and spot of dust. The apartment was so alienatingly organized that I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that all the books and boxes of cereal were alphabetized.

Internet time. My phone was where I had left it, charging. The normality of that aspect of the situation was eclipsed by the fact that the phone didn’t have the crack I remembered making in it half a year ago.

Well, if that tripped me up, then things were about to fucking diabolically strange when I opened the information floodgates to the web.

The knock on the door couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“Who the fuck could that be? The camera crew to tell me that this has been an elaborate prank?”

But what I found online was far too detailed to be a prank. Nobody had enough time to fabricate a phony website for every URL that I might have thought to type in.

The pounding on the door repeated, this time louder.

“FUCK, FINE I’M COMING.”

I opened the door to a young woman in black sunglasses with her black hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore tight jeans and a leather bomber jacket, She looked to be about my age and yet she was bossier than her mother, who was my landlady, Mrs. Lewis. It was with Mrs. Lewis that I arranged to pay 50% rent at the end of the previous month on the condition that I found a roommate to help me pay the rent in full by the end of the next. Soon after, Heather, who helped her mom manage her properties, had paid me a visit. Phrases like, “freeloader” and “taking advantage of my mom” had been lobbed from her end. Heather hated my guts, and based on the haughty look she was currently giving me, I concluded that, despite reversed gender norms, some things remained the same.

“It’s not a good idea to be cussing at me when you’re living at my mom’s mercy,” Heather said, taking off her sunglasses.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was you. I’m looking for a roommate, and then I’ll be able to pay the rent in full.”

“Find a roommate, or I’ll find one for you,” Heather said.

“Don’t do that. I’ve got some leads,” I said.

Heather eyed me up and down like she owned me along with the apartment. I couldn’t tell if she was about to fight me or suck my dick; thanks the reversed gender norms I didn’t know anything anymore.

“I need to check for mold on the windows,” she said.

I moved aside to let her into the apartment. As she walked through my home, her eyes roved over much more than the windows. But the John I had replaced in this universe was a neat freak. I could tell that Heather was disappointed at not finding any damage she could complain about.

“The only reason we’re being so lenient with you is that you can keep this place tidy,” Heather said.

Well, I knew that was a lie based on the fact the apartment back in my universe had never been anywhere near this clean.

The windows didn’t have mold on them (obviously). It occurred to me that she might have been looking for undergarments to perv over (unfortunately for her, they were in other-John’s hamper). I didn’t quite know how creepy to expect women to be.

Heather stopped near the bed, a bemused expression on her face.

“You know, an attractive young man such as yourself could pay me back in other ways,” she said. Her waggling eyebrows left no doubt as to what she meant.