“Not necessarily,” Caryn countered. “Jessica, you did ask him out, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, maybe he didn’t want to say no. Maybe he was being nice. Maybe he doesn’t realize he still likes Nicole.”
“And maybe he doesn’t like me,” I offered.
“Maybe, maybe, maybe and…maybe,” Jessica said, kind of smiling. “I don’t know. I’m not counting on a second date, though.”
“It could be that there is some other reason,” I said.
“Like what?” Jessica asked.
Okay. This could go really wrong, but it could help. Do I go for it? Why not? “Okay, I’m not sure about this so…”
“What?” Jessica said, sitting up attentively.
“I think Mike might…kind of like you.”
“Really?” she asked. I think she was surprised, but she didn’t seem upset or unreceptive to the idea, so I continued.
“I think…maybe.”
“Why do you think Mike likes her?” Caryn asked.
“Well, I overheard Mike and Jake talking earlier today, and I thought I heard Jake say something about him not realizing Mike liked Jessica. I could have heard it wrong,” I quickly added.
“Why would Mike tell Jake he liked Jessica knowing Jake was going on a date with her tonight?” Meredith asked.
“I don’t know. Like I said, I could have heard it wrong. Do you want me to try and find out?”
They looked at each other hesitantly, and then Jessica responded, “How would you find out?”
“Jake and I have become pretty good friends. I’ll just ask him.”
“You don’t think that will be awkward?” Jessica asked.
“I don’t think so. I won’t just blurt it out, but if I feel I can work it in to the conversation, I will. But…what if Mike does like you? Do you like him?”
Jessica looked a little nervous or confused, like she didn’t know what to say. “I…don’t know. I mean, I was just on a date with Jake. Like, an hour ago. Doesn’t it seem a little…I don’t know…fast to be thinking about whether I like his best friend?”
“Maybe,” I said. “But, you didn’t really hit it off with Jake. Maybe he was uncomfortable because Mike likes you. Look, I may have my information wrong, but if I’m going to call and try to find out, it’s kind of important to know if you could be interested in him. If Mike asked you out, would you say yes?”
“I…I guess so. He’s funny. I wouldn’t want to hurt Jake’s feelings though.”
“Of course not,” I said. “I’ll be careful.”
I turned to leave her room and they all, pretty much at the same time, said, “Where are you going?”
I turned back. “I was going to go out to my car to call Jake.”
“Now?” Jessica asked, surprised. “Well, why don’t you call him here?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” asked Meredith.
“Because, if he hears you in the background, it might make him hesitant to talk. I don’t want him to think we are messing with him.”
They all kind of looked disappointed, but they didn’t argue anymore. “Well, okay, but hurry back,” Jessica conceded.
“And take good notes!” Caryn added enthusiastically.
I left the room, and went out the way I came in. Fortunately, I didn’t run into anyone. Once I was in the car, I called Nicole.
“Hello?” she said. I could tell from her tone that she was down.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. No. I don’t know.” Well, that just about covered the spectrum of answers.
“What’s wrong?” As if I didn’t know, but I figured I should just ask.
“I’ve just been thinking about the disaster that was tonight.”
“It wasn’t that bad, and I think we can fix it.”
I was expecting her to ask how, but she didn’t pick up the cue. “Doubtful. Jake, that was a mess. I just keep running everything over in my head. I should have never agreed to go on the date. Then, I think about this whole situation. What if we never change back?”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I hoped that wasn’t true. I could hear Nicole’s…well, my voice quivering. I think she was starting to cry.
“Nicole…we’ll change back.”
“How can you say that, Jake? How do you know?”
“I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem possible to have us stay this way forever. Why would we have ever been born who we were, if we were just going to switch and never change back?”
“I don’t know. When I think about the possibility of us never changing back…I mean, at what point do we stop holding on to who we were? I don’t think I can get used to dating girls.”
“I know. I’ve had the same thoughts, but like I said, we have to change back at some point.”
She didn’t say anything, so I thought I would try to get the conversation back on track. “Did you want to hear how I think we can fix this?”
I heard a sniffle, but when she spoke, her voice was steady again. “Sure, how?”
“I was just talking to the girls.”
“Where are you now? They aren’t listening to this conversation, are they?”
“No, I went back out to your car. So, as I was saying, we were talking about tonight. Jessica was a little down about how things went, and they started trying to come up with reasons why you were so…distant.”
“I know. Could I have been more obvious?”
“You could have worn a sign,” I said lightly.
“Funny,” she said. I think I could feel the smile come back.
“So, Jessica said she thought I was still interested in you, which I said I didn’t think was the case. Then, I told her that I thought I had overheard a conversation between you and Mike earlier where I thought I heard you guys mention that Mike liked Jessica.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did.”
“What did they say?”
“They were curious how that conversation would have come about, but they seemed to think that could make sense.”
“Okay. How does that fix things?”
“Well, I asked Jessica if she was interested in Mike.”
“Did she say yes?”
“Sort of. It wasn’t that easy, but she basically said that if Mike were to ask her out, she’d probably say yes.”
“So, you need to get Mike to ask her out,” she said.
“I don’t think that will be too hard. He did seem interested. Is he there with you?”
“No. I had him take me home.”
“Okay. I’ll call him then.”
“But, this still doesn’t explain how Mike and I would have been discussing that he likes Jessica when I already had a date with her. I mean, guys don’t usually do that do they?”
“Well, no. I was kind of hoping they would forget about that part.”
“Yeah, girls don’t forget about it. At some point, they’ll ask, and we’ll need a good answer.”
We were both quiet for a bit while we tried to think of a good reason.
“I know,” I finally said. “What if we say that Mike told you that he liked Jessica before you could tell him about your date? Then, once Mike told you, you felt bad about going on the date, and so you had a hard time enjoying yourself.”
“That…might work,” she said optimistically. “I guess it’s worth a try. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“It could all come crashing down,” I said, mostly joking.
“Thanks! I feel much better now,” she said with sarcasm.
I laughed. “I better call Mike,” I said.
“Jake?”
“Yeah?”
“I just wanted to say…well, thank you and…I’m sorry.”
“You’re welcome. But, what are you sorry for?”
“I’ve just been thinking a lot about the first day we really met. I was so mean to you. I really had no idea you were
anything like you are. I just wish I had…”
“Said yes to my study date?” I interjected.
“Well, I was going to say I wish I had gotten to know you better before this all happened, but...”
“Are you saying you are interested in me?” I asked playfully.
“No. I mean, I look at you and I see me. You speak and I hear me. It’s hard to be interested when we’re like this. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, had I taken the opportunity to get to know you, it wouldn’t have been this difficult to become friends.”
“Well, we’re friends now, and that won’t change when we switch back,” I said. “Anyway, I should get going. The girls are going to be wondering where I’ve been, and I still have to call Mike.”
“Right. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow?” she asked.
“Sure. I’ll call you in the morning. Oh, real quick…tell me what I need to know about Jessica’s house and family?”
“Oh, wow! Sorry about that. Jessica’s dad is Steve and her mom is Teresa. She has two sisters and one brother. Jennifer is fifteen, Erica is thirteen, and I think John is 12. Not that you’ll be quizzed on that.”
“Do you call them all by their first names?”
“Yes. I’m pretty close with Teresa. I don’t see Steve that much. We don’t really hang out with the two younger kids, but sometimes Jennifer will hang out with us.”
“Okay, last thing…where’s the bathroom?”
“The bathroom is on the left, heading toward Jessica’s room. You and Meredith will shower tonight, probably. Caryn and Jessica will likely shower in the morning. Wow,” she said, laughing, “you know way more about my friends than you should.” No arguments there.
We both said goodbye and hung up. I quickly dialed Mike’s number.
“Hello?”
“Hey Mike, it’s me.”
“What’s up? I thought you were hanging out with the girls tonight?”
“I am, but we had some issues come up from tonight.”
“Yeah, the only thing that was missing was some crime scene tape.”
“Well, we were talking, and I sort of came up with a story to try and fix things. I told them I thought I overheard you and…well, me talking about how you kind of liked Jessica.”
He laughed. “Did that fix things or make them worse?”
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“Do you want to call Jessica and ask her out?”
“Why? Does she want me to?”
“Well, I asked her, if you were to ask her out, if she would say yes, and she said she probably would.”
“She probably would?” he asked.
“Dude, just call her.”
“Sure. When?”
“If you called now, I think my night would go a lot better.”
“Okay, give me the number.”
I looked the number up in Nicole’s phone and gave it to him. Then, I gave him the story we were going to use for how this all happened out. Once we had everything sorted out, we said our goodbyes and hung up.
I got out of the car and headed back to the house. I hoped it was appropriate for me just to walk in since I had already been in the house. So, that’s what I did. I walked in, up the stairs and down to Jessica’s room.
When I opened the door, Caryn and Jessica were painting their toe nails and talking on the bed. I guessed Meredith was in the shower.
They both perked up as soon as they saw me, but before I could say anything, Jessica’s phone rang. Jessica noticed my smile and jumped to answer the phone.
Caryn and I listened intently, to a one-sided conversation that included a lot of giggles and uh-huhs.
“Are you sure Jake is okay with this?” she asked. Then, after a moment, “Well, then, okay. That sounds great! Yeah, just the two of us would probably be better.”
Jessica gave Mike her address and directions to her house. “Okay, I’ll see you then. Bye.”
She hung up the phone, and Caryn and Jessica gave out a little, high-pitched scream. I jumped a little, not expecting that response.
“This could be the strangest night ever,” Jessica said. Caryn and I agreed.
We talked about everything for a few minutes, and then Meredith came in, dressed in her pajamas, and joined the conversation.
“What did I miss? I heard you scream from the shower.”
We filled her in on everything that had happened. She didn’t scream, but she seemed happy for Jessica. Once she had the scoop, Meredith went back to blow-dry her hair.
Jessica and Caryn finished up painting their nails as we talked about the day. The mood in the room was so much better since Mike had called. I was thankful for that, because I had been nervous about how tonight was going to go before that.
When Meredith got back, I took my things into the bathroom to get cleaned up for the night. A lot of things have changed over the last week, but I still love a nice, warm shower. As the water ran over my body, I let everything else go away. Nothing was going to bother me at the moment.
After a few minutes of relaxing in the shower, I started cleaning up. I was in the middle of washing my hair when a huge clap of thunder made me jump so hard I almost fell out of the shower. Suddenly, my heart was racing and my relaxing shower was no more.
I finished up as quickly as possible and got out of the shower. After drying off, I got dressed in my pajamas and started to blow-dry my hair. Once my hair was dry, I packed up my things and headed back to Jessica’s room.
I could hear them talking before I entered the room, but they all stopped when I opened the door.
“Did you guys hear that thunder?” I asked.
“Which one?” Jessica asked. “There’s been a lot of thunder.”
“Really? I just heard the one really big one. I almost fell out of the shower.”
There were no windows in the bathroom, but now that I was in Jessica’s room, I could see and hear the rain pouring outside.
“So,” I continued, “what did I miss?”
“We were just talking about tonight,” Jessica said. “You know, Nikki, I still think Jake likes you.”
“Why?”
“Well, it just seemed like every time I asked him a question tonight, he was looking at you before he answered. Like he was trying to impress you or something.”
“I really don’t think that was what he was doing.” In fact, I’m positive. Not that I can tell them that.
“And…you don’t like him at all?” she asked the question more like a statement she didn’t really believe.
I was hoping I wouldn’t have to answer these questions anymore. “I like him. Now that I’ve gotten to know him, he’s a good guy. Do I like him? I can’t really think about that right now.”
“Nicole,” Caryn said dismissively, “you never think about that.”
“Yeah,” Jessica added, “you’re only seventeen once. You have everything in order. You’re going to get in to whatever college you want. Don’t you think at some point you should let your hair down a little?”
“Maybe.” What do I say to that? “I don’t know. Let’s continue this conversation tomorrow.” That way I can at least see how Nicole wants me to finish that conversation.
“So,” Meredith said, changing the subject, “what are we going to do tonight?”
“I vote for popcorn and a movie,” Caryn said.
Everyone agreed, which is strange since we just came from a movie. But, I was just along for the ride, so we filed out of Jessica’s room and headed downstairs.
After making popcorn, the girls all decided to watch Twilight. I had already seen it this week, but this was the second movie I was going to see tonight, so I didn’t really care what we watched. At this point, I just wanted to veg out and do nothing. The girls spent the next two hours engrossed, as though they had never seen it before. I’m pretty sure they all had, though.
When the movie ended, we all went back upstairs to Jessica’s room. I was kind of hoping that ev
eryone would be ready to sleep by the time we got back upstairs. That wasn’t quite the case.
Once we took our places, Jessica and I in her bed and Caryn and Meredith in sleeping bags on the floor, we turned out the lights and I thought that would be the end to a strange day. And that’s saying a lot these days.
Instead, the thunder and lightning show continued playing outside, and the girls spent the next hour or so talking in the dark. Thankfully the conversation stayed away from Nicole and me.
First, we talked about Jessica and Mike’s date, which apparently will be tomorrow night. They decided, quite wisely, not to invite any of us. Mike told her to be ready at six, and he would take her to dinner.
He said they would do something after dinner, but he said it was a surprise. He would probably take her miniature golfing, because that’s what Mike usually does on first dates. There’s nothing wrong with miniature golf, it’s just not much of a surprise for anyone who knows him. Jessica doesn’t, so it should be fun.
Once we had sufficiently beaten that conversation to death, we moved on to other boys in school who Caryn and Meredith liked. I was having a hard time keeping my eyelids open by the time we were talking about how we couldn’t remember the last time we had a storm so strong. After that, we…started…talk…
DAY 9
Since last week, when Nicole and I switched bodies, I’ve slept pretty solidly almost every night. I don’t know if it was because I have been in Nicole’s body, or because I have been so exhausted from the events of the days. I was definitely exhausted last night. I must have fallen asleep at some point, but I feel like I tossed and turned all night long.
I was just starting to wake up on my own when I heard a cell phone ring. I figured it must have been one of the other girls’ phones because I didn’t recognize the ring tone. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but when nobody answered the first time, the caller called back. I rolled over and opened my eyes, ready to see if someone was getting to the phone.
When I opened my eyes, I was a little disoriented to instead find myself lying in my bed, and nobody around. I jumped up startled! Was it possible? Could this nightmare really be over?
I looked around feverishly, trying to take it all in. It was really my room. I jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom to look in the mirror. I let out a laugh and tears filled my eyes. I went back to my bedroom and looked for my phone to call Nicole.
In My Shoes Page 26