I had two missed calls. Both were from Nicole. She apparently had already figured out the good news.
I dialed her number and she answered on the first ring.
“Hello?” she said enthusiastically.
“It is so good to hear your voice on the other side of the phone,” I said.
She let out a big sigh. “Tell me about it. I was just beginning to lose hope.”
“You sounded pretty bad last night,” I confirmed.
“I felt pretty bad last night. Oh Jake, I am so relieved. I don’t know what made us change back, but…I’m just glad to be back as myself.”
“I know, me too.”
“So, I’m on my way home to pack. I talked to my parents this morning, and they are going to fly me out, and let me stay the night so I can see Tyler. I even got to talk to him! He is really sore, even with the pain meds, but he sounded pretty good, considering.”
“That’s great! I’m glad he’s still improving. What time do you leave?” I asked.
“I’m flying out at six tonight. We need to get together today, but I’m assuming you want to spend some time with your mom first?”
My mom. “Yeah, I would. I should probably call Mike pretty quick, too.”
“Right, well why don’t we get together later so we can make sure we’ve got everything sorted out moving forward? We’ve got some unlearning to do.”
“That sounds good to me. Why don’t I pick…oh yeah, I don’t have a car anymore.”
“You will soon. Your mom said you could get a car.”
“Really?” I said, excited.
“Yes, but she’s got some ground rules she said she’d think about and give you today.”
“That is…awesome!”
“I thought you’d like that. So, in the meantime, I’ll pick you up at, say two?”
“Okay. I’ll see you at two.”
We both said goodbye and I hung up the phone. I really wanted to call Mike and give him the good news, but I had to see my mother. I opened the door to my room and started walking down the hall, when I realized the first thing I needed to unlearn. I needed to stop walking like a girl.
I tried to readjust my walk, but I was caught somewhere in the middle of walking like a guy and walking like a girl. Fortunately there was nobody around at that moment, because I probably looked like someone walking with a mess in their pants.
I continued down the hall and found my mother on the couch, eating breakfast and watching television.
“Hi, Hon,” she said.
I didn’t say anything. I just sat down next to her and lay my head on her shoulder. It’s funny, but sometimes you don’t realize the little things you enjoy until they’ve been taken away from you.
I’ve never thought of myself as one who has taken things for granted, but I’ve definitely found a new appreciation for all that I have. I pulled my head back up to look at her and she just smiled. We sat quiet for a while, sitting next to each other, silently watching TV.
After a while, my mother finally broke the silence.
“So…I suppose we should talk about your car.”
“Okay,” I said, turning my body to face her.
“You have a ten thousand dollar limit. If you go a little over, that’s okay, but you need to keep it around ten thousand.”
“Okay.”
“So, it won’t be a new car, but we don’t want it to be a piece of junk either. We will research cars, and find out what should be available in your price range, and how those cars rate. Once we have a list of acceptable cars, we will go out and try to find something you like that we can have certified.”
“Deal.”
“There’s more,” she said in a kind, but parental voice.
“Sorry.”
“You will have to care for your car. It needs to be kept clean, and the same rules will apply that you have with my car.”
“Is there anything else?” I asked.
“Yes. One last thing. The money your father left was for you to get a good college education and to have a small start when you get out of college. I’ve never let you get a job because I wanted you to focus on school. I still believe in that, but you are almost eighteen. So…I will pay for your gas and insurance during this school year. Next summer, you can get a job and your income will go into a separate account to pay for your gas and insurance after that.”
“Really?” I asked, even more excited. She has never wanted me to have a job.
“Yes, but you understand that I’m talking about a summer job, right?”
“Right.”
“When school starts, you are going to be focusing on college. The money you earn over the summer will need to stretch out across the school year, so don’t go spending it all.”
What if I can’t get a job to cover the expenses?” I asked.
“Between gas and insurance, you’ll need about $4,000 for the year. If you can find a job that pays ten dollars an hour and you can work full-time, you will be able to cover it. So that’s your goal. If you can’t find one, we’ll deal with that then. You’ll still get your weekly allowance, because I’m still going to need your help around here.”
“No problem,” I said. “Thanks.”
“You are welcome. You’re a good kid, Jake. You deserve it.”
We turned our attention back to the TV and just sat there for what seemed like forever. It was nice to be home.
After getting some quality time in with my mother, she announced that she was going to get cleaned up and run some errands.
“Yeah, I need to get cleaned up, too,” I said.
“Do you have anything special planned for today?” she asked.
“I’m probably going to go hang out with Mike for a while and then I’m going to see Nicole after that.”
“So, are you going to tell me what happened with your date last night? You didn’t seem to want to talk about it when you got home.”
“Oh, it was just really awkward. Jessica is a nice girl, but she’s more Mike’s type. They actually have a date tonight.”
“That’s…fast,” she said.
“No, it’s okay. We were all pretty much in agreement that we weren’t going to work out. It was actually my suggestion for them to go out.” Sort of. Details weren’t really necessary here, right?
“Well, okay. As long as you are okay with it.”
“I’m definitely okay with it.”
“So, does this mean your attention is going to be back on Nicole?”
“That’s a hard one to really explain. I don’t really know what is going to happen with Nicole, but she’s become a good friend.”
“Well, it’s really best if you can become friends with a person before you date them. Down the road, a relationship built from friendship will help get you through the difficult times.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” What else could I say to that?
“Okay, Hon. You have a great day, and I’ll see you tonight. Or are you going to stay at Mike’s tonight?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll call.”
“Sounds good.” She turned and started to walk out of the room.
“Mom?” I said.
“Yes?” she said, turning back toward me.
“I love you.”
She smiled warmly. “And I love you.”
I walked back down the hall to my bedroom and closed the door behind me. Inside, I picked up my phone and called Mike.
“Hello?” He sounded like he just woke up.
“Mike, it’s me.”
“Hey, what’s up?”
“No. It’s me!”
“Jake? Dude, you’re back? It’s about time! I was starting to think you’d never be back.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Can you come over?”
“I can if you pick me up.”
“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
“Shower first,” I said with a laugh.
“I’ll see you in thirty-two minutes then.�
��
We said goodbye and I hung up the phone. Now it was time for a shower. I grabbed my clothes and went to the bathroom to wash up.
Being a girl wasn’t all bad, but…I was really looking forward to quick showers and getting ready in under twenty minutes. I won’t miss the makeup, either.
Once I had showered and dressed, I relaxed in my room to wait for Mike. It was nice being in my room, alone again. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Nicole had kept everything pretty much just as I had left it.
I lay on my bed taking it all in. I knew it was silly, but I was a little afraid to close my eyes. A little part of me worried that if I closed my eyes, I could wind up back in Nicole’s body. So, I just stared at the ceiling, thankful it was my ceiling.
Mike arrived just over a half hour after I hung up with him. I knew he would be fast. Even though I’ve seen him plenty over the last week, neither of us could really be ourselves around each other. I would guess that even though he knew it was me in Nicole’s body, there was still a hesitation to be himself because he couldn’t actually see me.
Mike walked in and came straight back to my room. I heard him call down the hall, so I jumped up off my bed, ready to leave.
I opened the bedroom door as he was getting ready to turn the doorknob.
“Dude, is it really you?”
“It’s really me.”
With that, Mike gave me a very awkward hug. It wasn’t uncomfortable because he gave me a hug. It was awkward because I don’t think he’s ever given me a hug before, and emotion has never been one of his strong points. It was a nice effort, though.
We turned to leave, and my mother opened her bedroom door, dressed for the day.
“Hello, Mike. Long time no see. How are you?”
“Good Angela. How are you doing?” Mike always puts on his best charm for my mother.
“I’m fine, thank you. So, what are you boys off to do?”
“Well,” he replied, “we haven’t really decided yet. We could go back to my house and play games,” Mike said turning back to me. “Or, we could go catch a movie.”
“Let’s…not do a movie,” I said. I’d had enough of movies yesterday.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to figure it out. Have a good day Jake,” my mother said, giving me a kiss on my forehead. “You too, Michael.”
My mother headed to the garage while Mike and I headed out the front door. As we got in his car, Mike broke the silence.
“Man, it’s good to have you back. I realized over the last week…I don’t have a lot of friends.”
“Yes you do,” I argued.
“Well, not good friends. I mean, I have plenty of people who are kind of friends, but not a lot of good friends.”
“You know,” I replied, “you don’t need a lot of friends. You just need good friends.”
“Yeah, but it helps to have more than one good friend, especially in case your one good friend becomes a girl. It would have sucked if you had stayed like that.”
“No kidding. But, I’d say we got a couple more good friends out of it, so it wasn’t all bad. Not that I’d want to do it again,” I quickly added.
Mike laughed. “So, what do you want to do?”
“Why don’t we go to your house and hang out. We can play video games for a while, and then maybe you can help me research cars.”
“You’re getting a car? Dude, that’s awesome! How’d that happen?”
“Well, when I found out that I had the savings account that my father left me, I thought I should ask to get a car. I mean, I’m always having to count on others to get around.”
“And your mom just said yes?”
“I don’t actually know how the conversation went. I asked Nicole to ask my mother before we had changed back, and apparently she asked last night. My mother gave me the conditions today.”
“So, what are the conditions?”
“I have a ten thousand dollar limit. We have to do research to find which cars are reliable. I get to get a summer job…”
“Dude, she’s going to let you get a job, too? I thought she said you had to focus on school?”
“She did, that’s why she said it has to be a summer job. I have to earn enough money over the summer to afford the gas and insurance for the whole next year.”
“How much is that gonna be?”
“She thinks I need about four thousand to make it through until the following summer.”
“Is that possible?”
“I think so. I hope so.”
“Hey Jake, we should both get a job at the same place.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Mike.”
“Why not?”
“I’m going to need them to like me. I want to do whatever job I get right, and I can’t do that if you are goofing off at work.”
“Dude, that hurts. I won’t goof off at work. If we get a job at the same place, I won’t do anything to mess it up for either of us.”
“Yeah, but you goof off at school. How am I going to know it’s going to be any different?”
“I don’t know. I’ll show you.”
“How are you going to show me?” I asked.
“Well, we still have months before school ends. I won’t mess with you any more during school. At the end of the school year, if I’ve kept my part of the deal, we look for jobs together. Deal?”
That actually seemed like a good idea. If he could take school seriously for the rest of the year, I would at least know he was serious…and I’d have less tripping in the aisles to deal with. He might actually get better grades, too.
“Okay, deal. You take school seriously for the rest of the year, and we’ll look for jobs together.”
“Cool.”
The drive to Mike’s house made me feel normal again. We talked about nothing in particular, which is what we used to do. I was shedding the nightmare of the last week, and it felt good.
The next couple of hours went by quickly. Mike and I played video games. I schooled him. It must have been all of the frustration that had built up, finally getting to release. I don’t think Mike even cared. He was probably just enjoying the return to normalcy, too.
After we had our fill of playing video games, we got on his computer and started researching cars. We found a website that rated cars by make, model and year. They also had a list of best rated used vehicles by price range.
Mike and I started on the list in my range and quickly reduced the list by any cars that were, as Mike liked to call them, “hard to look at.” We couldn’t look at pictures of all of the cars, so I relied on Mike’s car knowledge. Mike likes cars and knows a lot about them. Well, he knows a lot more than me, anyway.
Next, we started removing the oldest cars from the list, until we narrowed the list down sufficiently. If we kept it within seven years, there were still plenty to choose from.
At that point, we needed an account to get more information, so I wrote down the cars that we had left and figured I would check them out more with my mother later.
Once we were finished looking at cars, we decided to go out and eat lunch. We went to our favorite hole-in-the-wall burger joint, Nick’s Burgers. I don’t even know how they stay in business, because it seems like we’re the only ones ever in there. We must always miss the lunch and dinner crowds.
The nice thing about Nick’s is that they still have video games in the restaurant. Mike and I can spend hours playing games while eating our lunch. Today, we didn’t have that kind of time. We still played, but we didn’t spend hours today.
While we played, we talked about anything that came to mind. Jessica was a topic of conversation while we played. As I figured, they would be going to play miniature golf tonight.
I didn’t know if I got the wrong impression or if they actually projected it, but I started out thinking Nicole and her friends felt they were better than us. Whatever the case, now that I’ve gotten to know them, I really like them all. Even Meredith. Mike likes them, too. I wondere
d if they felt the same way about us.
The surprising thing is…it actually does seem like they like us. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m surprised that they could like us. It’s more that I can’t believe that they’ve grown to like us in just a week. At first, I didn’t think anything good could come out of Nicole and me switching. Now, I can’t help but wonder if that wasn’t the whole reason it happened. I wonder what Nicole thinks about that? I’ll have to ask her.
After getting our fill of video games in, catching up and talking about his date tonight, the time finally came for Mike to take me home.
“So,” Mike said as we got in his car, “what are you and Nicole doing today, anyway?”
“I think we’re just getting together to compare notes. We were in each others’ shoes for over a week. We need to make sure we aren’t missing anything and we need to unlearn some things.”
“Now that you mention it, you have been walking a little funny today,” he said smiling.
“I know. It’s like I’m caught somewhere between the two walks.”
“Well, yeah, that’s kind of what it looks like,” he said with a laugh.
“I’ll work it out.”
“You might want to make that a priority. You don’t want to be walking like that in school on Monday.”
Of all the things to worry about for Monday, my walk tops Mike’s list of priorities. Sadly, he was probably right.
“Don’t worry, I’ll give it sufficient attention,” I said, somewhat sarcastically.
“I’m just sayin’.”
“I know.”
Mike waited a minute before continuing on. “So, are you and Nicole gonna hook up?”
I looked at him with a vacant expression.
“What?” he asked defensively.
“How am I supposed to answer that? Just because we switched bodies back and forth doesn’t mean she’s interested in me now.”
“Okay, but you’re still interested in her, right?”
“I don’t know,” I lied. Of course I was still interested in her, but I wasn’t really comfortable talking to Mike about that. He’s been better the last couple of days, but he’s still Mike, and Mike has a history of messing with me.
In My Shoes Page 27