by E. C. Myers
“So, I'll call you,” he said as he took a backwards step.
“If you're feeling better, you could come in for a little bit. My parents are out. This is their bridge night.”
“No, I'd better not push it. I should go home and rest.”
Suddenly she leaned up and kissed him. Her lips were cool, but then they opened and he felt her hot tongue slip into his mouth. Now he really felt dizzy.
She pulled away, her hands on his chest. “I know you're shy, it's adorable, but really—I've been wanting to do that since our first date. Not that it isn't good to take things slow,” Mary said. “I see how fast Shelley and Nathan are moving and I wonder if it's me…”
“Well, that's Nathan for you.”
“And my sister. She becomes attached really easily.”
Mary walked up her driveway then whirled to face him. “It would be nice if you asked me out instead of the other way around, for a change.” She turned and walked up the path to her door. She stopped again and looked over her shoulder at him. “Was that too obvious?”
“You can never be too obvious for a guy,” Ephraim said. His head buzzed with shock and pleasure. Then feelings of guilt began creeping in.
“That's what Shelley says. Take care, Eph.”
“Good night.”
He still felt her lips on his. He had never kissed anyone that way before.
He wondered what it would be like with Jena.
Ephraim's mother jumped up from the couch as soon as he entered the apartment. “Finally! Where have you been?” she said.
“What's wrong? Who died?”
“Don't make jokes like that.”
Uh-oh.
“I have something to tell you,” she said.
Ephraim followed his mother into the kitchen. She filled the tea kettle with water and put it on a burner but forgot to switch on the flame. She leaned against the counter and looked at him somberly.
Ephraim sat down at the table. “What is it, Mom?” He was getting scared.
“Linda called,” she said.
“Linda?”
“Linda Kim, Jena's mother.”
“Oh.” Ephraim gripped his knees, digging his nails into the warm denim. “Is Jena…is everything all right?”
“Her father's at the hospital. He's had a heart attack.”
Ephraim started breathing again. “Is it serious?”
“Of course it's serious. It was a heart attack. He's in the ICU. The doctor says he has a fifty-fifty chance.”
“Oh God,” Ephraim said.
“Jena's obviously upset. She's still at the hospital, just in case…” At the expression on his face, his mother put a hand on his arm.
“Should we go there?” he said.
“I don't think there's anything we can do there except get in the way.”
Ephraim put his hand into his pocket.
A fifty-fifty chance. Might as well flip a coin.
His hand twitched. It was his fault. If he hadn't made that wish, none of this would have happened.
“Do they know what caused it?” he said.
“It's hard to say. He's been under a lot of stress. The new job. The move.”
“I guess…they won't be leaving, then.” He stared down at the table.
“Not anytime soon, I imagine. If at all, after this. Are you all right, Eph?”
He stood. “I'll be in my room.”
His mother nodded. Then she remembered. “Oh, don't you want tea?” She turned to the stove and realized she hadn't turned on the burner under the kettle. “It'll be a minute.”
“No, that's all right.” Ephraim stood. “I need some time alone.” He walked to the door, then turned, struck by a thought. “How do you know Jena's mother, anyway?” he asked.
His mother looked at him, one hand still on the handle of the tea kettle. “We're on the PTA together.”
“Since when?” His mother had never shown any interest in his school. It was just the place he went to every day, the way she went to work. As long as he stayed out of trouble and got decent grades, she didn't care to know more. But this was a new mother—the one he had wished for.
For the first time he missed his old mother, the one who'd raised him. He loved her, flaws and all. There was so much he didn't know about this woman. What had their life been like together until now?
“For over three years. We've had the Kims over for dinner plenty of times. Honey, I know this must be hard for you, after what happened to your father—”
Ephraim stepped back. “What?” he said.
“Ephraim?”
“What happened to Dad?”
His mother's eyes teared up. “I know what you're thinking. But Mr. Kim is in much better shape than your father was when he died. John Kim doesn't drink, for one.” She shook her head.
Ephraim's father was dead? Even though his parents were divorced, he still liked knowing that his father was out there somewhere, thinking that one day he could be a part of their lives again. He wasn't supposed to be dead.
“You look pale. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything,” she said.
“I'm worried about Jena, that's all.”
His mother nodded. “He'll make it,” she said. “I know he will.”
Ephraim shut himself in his room and sat on his bed. He turned the coin over a couple of times. Heads then tails. Heads. Tails.
It was too risky to keep using it.
Every wish brought other changes that he didn't ask for, things he didn't know how to handle, like Mary liking him, and his father…
Why did that bother him exactly? His father was barely in his life at all before. What did it matter if he was alive or dead? He wasn't a good man—he probably got exactly what he deserved for hurting his mother. For hitting her.
Ephraim had made a mistake. He needed to make one more wish to fix it, then he would stop.
He had also made a promise, he remembered. Nathan was sharing the coin with him now; he'd come with him this far, and he had to be included in it. Ephraim rolled the coin over his fingers. But there wasn't time. If he waited too long, Mr. Kim could die. Besides, if he made the wish now, Nathan would never know.
Ephraim sighed. He put the coin down. He'd told Nathan about the coin to make up for betraying their friendship. He couldn't do that again. He would find him, and they'd make this last wish together. Once he explained what he'd figured out, he was sure Nathan would understand why they shouldn't make any more wishes.
“I don't understand. Why do you want to stop using it?” Nathan stabbed a french fry into a glob of ketchup.
“It's too dangerous. It's unpredictable.”
“What's unpredictable? You make a wish, you flip the coin, you get your wish. Am I missing something?”
Ephraim tried to stir his straw in his black-and-white milkshake but the ice cream was too thick.
“Bad things keep happening, things we didn't ask for. Whenever the coin lands on tails.”
“Nothing bad happened last night,” Nathan said. He had reported a similar experience to Ephraim's after their wish: he'd appeared in a movie theater with Shelley. But he'd taken to the abrupt shift with more enthusiasm. “If Mary is anything like Shelley, you'll see the coin is the best thing that ever happened to us.”
“Charming. I don't want to hear any more about it. And I don't want to see any more pictures.” Ephraim nervously separated the layers of his paper napkin. “Listen, we don't know anything about the way this magic works,” Ephraim said. “I found those instructions, and I followed them without thinking it through.” That excuse only worked for the first time, though.
“It just doesn't seem that harmful to me.”
“I gave Jena's dad a heart attack.” Maybe he should try a different tactic. “It's not just changing things. It's changing us. Doesn't that scare you?”
“You're right, Eph. You weren't always this selfish.”
“Selfish? I want to help Jena's dad. You're the one who's changed. You didn't
always have such a bad temper. You used to care about other people more.”
“I still care. But from what I'm hearing, you want us to stop using the coin, except when you really want to. If you didn't want to share it with me, you shouldn't have told me about it in the first place.”
“This next wish has to be our last. Just to set everything straight again.”
“No,” Nathan said. “I like things the way they are. Don't take that away from me.”
“I just want to wish for Jena's father to be all right. Even the coin can't mess that one up.” He wished he was more confident about that. If the coin landed on heads, they would be okay. If not, things might get even worse.
“You just spent the last half hour trying to convince me that the coin is unpredictable. If you're right, I might lose Shelley with the next wish. You can't promise otherwise.”
Ephraim squeezed the coin. He couldn't believe Nathan was going to put his stupid crush ahead of someone else's life.
“If this wish changes that, we'll figure out how to get her back, all right? But safely, after we know how it works,” Ephraim said.
Nathan glared. Then his shoulders drooped. “Okay, Ephraim. I trust you.” He shoved their plates aside, and Ephraim stared at the coin, concentrating.
“I wish Jena's dad were healthy again,” Ephraim said. Heads, he thought. Please be heads. He flipped the coin and caught it.
Heads!
Ephraim grinned.
Too late, Ephraim realized he hadn't taken Nathan's hand before he flipped the coin.
Ephraim blinked, and he was suddenly alone in his bedroom. He was beginning to adjust to the coin's abrupt changes; the diner was gone, but the french fries he'd eaten there weighed heavily in his stomach. He wondered where Nathan had ended up this time, and what state he might be in.
He tried Nathan's house first and was relieved when he answered.
“Nathan! Are you all right?” Ephraim said.
“What? Who is this?” Nathan sounded groggy, like he'd just woken up. It confirmed Ephraim's fear that he'd left his friend behind with that last wish. Maybe there was a chance he would still remember, since he'd actually been a part of Ephraim's wishes before.
“It's me. Ephraim.”
“Ephraim…Ephraim Scott? What do you want?”
“Stop playing around. Look, I made a mistake. Please tell me you remember the quarter.” Ephraim squeezed the handset of the phone.
“What quarter? What are you talking about?”
What have I done? Ephraim thought.
“You have to remember it.” You have to remember me. “The coin. Come on, think about it. Just a couple of minutes ago we were at the diner—”
Nathan groaned. “I was asleep a couple of minutes ago, and I wasn't dreaming about you. Whatever you're on, save some for me, dude. Later.” The line clicked and went dead.
Nathan didn't remember the magic coin. He barely seemed to remember Ephraim, for that matter. On the one hand, Ephraim's accidental exclusion of Nathan could be for the best: he wouldn't have Nathan pressuring him to use the coin anymore.
On the other hand, Ephraim might have a bigger problem to worry about. He might have lost his best friend.
Jena checked the time on her cell phone pointedly when Ephraim rushed into the library.
“Late, for the second day in a row,” she said.
“Sorry. Rough morning,” he said.
So he still worked there. He'd hoped that would change, considering he'd taken the job because Jena was leaving. But that didn't mean his wish hadn't been granted. The coin had landed on heads, so her father should be all right. That's what was important. The fact that Jena was at work today was probably a good sign.
She hadn't changed much either. Maybe she looked a little tired, but that was understandable with her father in the hospital.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” Jena asked.
“I'm not.”
“Okay.” She patted a cart by the desk. “This cart's ready for shelving. If you're ready to do some work.”
“Yeah,” he said. Jena's appearance was the same, but her personality had been altered. She seemed colder than before. Maybe she was still worried about her father.
“Hey, is your dad okay?” he asked.
Jena's expression softened. “He's going to be fine. It was a false alarm. How'd you know he was in the hospital?”
“My mom mentioned it. A false alarm? That's a relief, but I'm sure it was scary.”
Jena nodded.
“I guess you're still moving then? After he recovers,” Ephraim said.
Jena stopped scanning the stack of books in front of her. “I'm not moving anywhere. What made you think that?”
“Uh. Then why am I working here?”
“What? Mary said you wanted a summer job for your college applications next year. If you're having second thoughts—”
“No. I want to work here. I do. Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm not making a lot of sense.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“I'll put those carts away,” he said.
She gave him a tight-lipped smile. “You do that.” She picked up the scanning gun and turned away from him. “Let me know if you have any questions.”
“Yeah.” All he had were questions.
Jena barely spoke to him all morning, except to give him orders, correct a mistake, or make sarcastic comments intended either as insults or humor, he couldn't tell which. She wasn't the girl he had fallen for. He worried that he'd lost her friendship too, before he'd ever really had it.
Mr. Kim wasn't going to die, at least, but that pretty much discounted his ideas about the coin flip determining the outcome of the wish. Which meant Ephraim knew very little about the coin at all.
As the clock ticked toward twelve o'clock, he tried to figure out how to ask Jena to join him for lunch. But at the stroke of noon, the wide glass doors of the library slid open, and Mary and Shelley walked in. Of course she would already have lunch plans.
“Hi, guys,” Mary and Shelley said in stereo.
“Hi,” Jena said. She smiled for the first time all day.
Mary sidled up to Ephraim. “Hey, sweetie,” she said. She put a hand on his arm and leaned in for a kiss. Ephraim froze.
“Hi, Mary,” he choked out.
He disengaged himself and grabbed onto another cart half-full with books. “I'll be right back. Just have to finish this up.”
He tried to ignore the hurt look on her face and the annoyed one on Jena's. He pushed the cart dangerously fast and ducked behind a shelf, knocking some books to the floor. He could still see the front desk through the gaps in the books on the shelf. He leaned on the cart, his heart pounding.
“You ready for lunch?” Jena said to the twins.
“You bet,” Shelley said.
“Is it all right if…” Mary darted a glance toward where Ephraim had disappeared.
“Sis wanted to have lunch with Ephraim,” Shelley said. “She was going to make him lunch until I talked her out of it. I mean, it's the twenty-first century, right? Do we really want to perpetuate those outmoded stereotypes?” Speaking of stereotypes, that was the longest sentence Ephraim had ever heard Shelley say at once. Had everyone changed with that last wish?
Jena darted a glance over her shoulder and lowered her voice. Ephraim practically shoved his head through the bookshelf as he strained to listen.
“…creeping me out,” Jena whispered.
Jena didn't sound jealous of Mary like he'd assumed. More like she hated him.
Ephraim pulled out the coin. “You caused all this trouble,” he said to it.
“Who are you talking to?” Mary said. She had just come around the corner. He concealed the coin in his fist.
“I was just…working.” His eyes fell on the book cart. “I like to read the titles aloud as I put them away.”
“‘You caused all this trouble’?” Mary said.
“It's a self-hel
p book.” Ephraim shoved the coin in his pocket and stepped around the cart.
When they reached the library entrance, Ephraim saw Nathan standing there, and he couldn't believe his eyes. Nathan had really changed—physically. His usually floppy hair was short and spiked, pointing in every direction. He wasn't as thin as he should be, either; his shoulders were broad, and tight muscles showed through a thin Summerside Badgers football jersey. Nathan hated football.
“You've met Ephraim, Nat?” Shelley said.
Nat?
“Ephraim? Hey, what did you want this morning?” Nathan's voice sounded deeper than normal.
“Nothing. I dialed the wrong number,” Ephraim said. “Sorry about that.”
“You know, I think I'll pass on lunch,” Jena said. “I didn't expect it to be a big group thing.”
Mary drew Ephraim outside with them. He pulled his arm away from her at the top of the stairs. “I can't come either,” Ephraim said.
“Why not?” Mary asked. A lock of curly brown hair stuck to her sweat-dampened forehead.
“We're just busy today,” Ephraim said. He glanced over his shoulder back into the library. He saw Jena at the circulation desk, head bent down toward her computer screen.
“You'd rather hang out with the bookworm?” Nathan laughed.
Ephraim stared at Nathan in shock. He felt Mary's eyes on him, and he shriveled up inside under her gaze.
“It's my job,” Ephraim said.
“Do you want to meet up later?” Mary said softly.
“I can't. I have…plans tonight.”
“We don't need him along to have a good time,” Nathan said. He grabbed for Mary's arm, but she jerked it away from him.
“Actually, I think I'll go home then,” she said. “Three's a crowd.”
“Suit yourself,” Nathan said.
Shelley pouted. “See you later, sis.”
Mary stalked off down the street.
“Nice ass,” Nathan said. He winked at Ephraim. “That's the best thing about dating Shell. She can't get upset if I compliment her sister's looks.”
“Is something going on with you and Jena?” Shelley said quietly to Ephraim.
“No.” Not anymore, anyway.