In My Shoes (23 page)

“Why don’t you sing for him, Nikki? You have
her CD in here, right?”

Yeah, I had a feeling that was coming. “No, I
think it’s in my room.”

“That’s too bad,” Jessica said. “Maybe
another time. How about you, Jake? Do you like to sing?”

Okay, I’m starting to regret this trip. We
haven’t even gotten to the mall, and Nicole is getting question
after question she can’t answer. I looked out the driver’s side
window, and then looked back at…well…me, hoping to subtly let
Nicole know that I can’t sing.

“No, I don’t really sing,” she said.

“Hmmm…me neither. I mean, I wish I could, but
I don’t have the best voice.”

We pulled into the mall parking lot not a
moment too soon. Hopefully, we could skip the questions for just a
bit.

We found Caryn and Meredith sitting in the
food court. They were deep in their own conversation when we walked
up.

“Hey, girls,” Jessica said cheerily.

“Oh, hey,” Caryn said, as Meredith smiled.
“We were just finishing up. Where did you guys want to start?”

“Why don’t we let Jake choose since this is
his first time out with us,” Jessica offered.

“Oh, I don’t care where we go,” Nicole said
dismissively. “Why don’t you guys go where you normally go. If
there’s somewhere I want to check out, I’ll let you know.”

We spent the next hour walking around the
mall. I felt…icky, but I tried to keep a smile on my face. Nicole
did her best to fit in. In retrospect, this wasn’t the best idea.
Not because three girls can’t hang out with one guy, but because
one guy hanging out with three girls who are shopping for mostly
clothes and accessories is awkward.

Of course, I was the one who felt awkward.
Just because I look the part, doesn’t mean I am comfortable talking
about girls’ clothes. What’s cute. What’s not. Which skirt would go
with that top. I even had to try on a few bras at Jessica’s urging.
I don’t know what makes a bra good. I ended up buying three bras
that I had no idea whether they were any good or not. I hoped that
was an acceptable use of Nicole’s credit card. She didn’t say
anything, so I was guessing it was okay.

Jessica failed miserably at trying to
discreetly be next to who she
thought
was me all night.
Anytime she did anything, Jessica would ask Nicole what she thought
about the subject. Nicole did her best, and Jessica liked her
answers, but that was because they were Nicole’s answers. I would
have answered some of the questions differently. Like when Jessica
asked Nicole what she thought of the shirt she had been holding,
Nicole told her that it would go better with jeans than the skirt
Jessica was thinking of buying. I would have said something like
‘that’s nice.’ What do I know about girl fashion?

The last stop on our mall run was to the
music and video store. Nicole made a mistake by wandering over by
the movie new releases. As she started casually looking at some of
the recent releases, Jessica decided to take the opportunity to
strike up a new conversation.

“So, Jake,” she started, “what kind of movies
do you like?”

I was on another aisle, but I could hear
their conversation. I was tempted to go try and help Nicole out,
but I thought that might be too obvious.

“I…like all different kinds of movies. How
about you?” That was good. She deflected to Jessica without even
really answering the question.

“I like all kinds of movies, too. Romance,
action, comedies, you name it. So, do you go to the movies a
lot?”

“Sometimes. If there is a movie I want to
see, I like to see it in the theaters.”

“What about
New Moon
? Are you planning
to see it?”

“I don’t know,” Nicole said. I hoped she saw
where this was going. “I was thinking about it.”

“Do you want to go see it together maybe? I’m
free this Friday.”

Yeah…I don’t think she saw that coming.

“Oh, uh, sure…we could do that. I’ll ask Mike
if he wants to go. Have you asked the girls yet?”

“No. But I can if you’d like,” she offered, a
little less than enthusiastically.

“Sure. Should we meet at the theater?”

“I was thinking you could pick me up,”
Jessica said.

“I don’t have a car.”

“Oh! Well, I should have my car back by then.
How about I pick you up? We could grab a bite to eat
beforehand.”

Nicole didn’t say anything for a few moments.
She was probably searching for the right words to say. “You know
what, it was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have suggested it.”

“No, no! I didn’t mean to…so what are you
saying? Are you…”

“Asking you on a date?” Jessica finished.
“Only if, you know…you want to. If not, it’s okay,” she quickly
added.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…”

“Look,” Jessica said, trying to sound
sincere, “it’s okay if you don’t want to. I wasn’t trying to make
you uncomfortable.”

I could tell from the little I could see
of…well, my face that Nicole was struggling with this whole
situation. I knew she didn’t want to go on a date with Jessica, for
obvious reasons. I also knew she didn’t want to hurt Jessica’s
feelings.

“You know what?” Nicole finally said, “I
think that would be good. Friday night.”

“Really?” Jessica said, trying to contain her
enthusiasm. “Great! It’ll be fun. Do you still want me to invite
the girls?” she asked as an aside.

“Sure, that will be good.”

“Okay. So, I’ll pick you up at your house at
six?”

“Sure. I’m…looking forward to it,” Nicole
said.

“I’ll go invite the girls.” Jessica turned
and jaunted off.

I walked over to the aisle Nicole was
standing in. She looked like she had just been hit by a truck. I
wasn’t sure what kind of a mood she was in, so I decided not to try
humor.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Not sure. I walked into that, didn’t I?”

“It kind of seemed like it. I can’t believe
she’s become so interested so fast. She was just talking about
Jeremy Courtfield yesterday. Is that what she normally does when
she likes someone?”

“Jeremy Courtfield, really?”

“Yeah, but it didn’t work out.”

“Well, when Jessica likes someone, she
usually makes sure they know it. I guess that should have occurred
to me.”

“Maybe. On another note, we could switch back
before Friday,” I offered.

“I sure hope so. The thought of…” she stopped
and shuddered.

“It won’t be the end of the world. You can
make it through one date.”

“First of all, yes, I can probably make it
through one date, but what about the second or third date? What if
we stay like this and all of a sudden me and my best friend are a
couple?

“Second,” she continued, “if I asked you to
go out on one date with Mike, would you be okay with me telling you
it’s just one date?”

“Good point.”

After the music store, we all decided to call
it a night. I drove Jessica home, who seemed to be riding on cloud
nine the whole time. She jumped out of the car and gave us both a
bubbly “good night!” We tried to return the enthusiasm, though I’m
sure we fell somewhat short.

Nicole and I didn’t say much until we got
closer to my house. Finally, I broke the silence.

“So, it looks like there are some things we
still have to cover.”

“It would appear so,” she replied.

“You did fine tonight. Considering you had to
improvise. So, how often do you sing?”

“Normally…quite a bit, I guess. I like to
sing while I’m driving, and usually when I’m getting ready. Mostly
when it’s just me, but sometimes I’ll sing when Jessica, Caryn or
Meredith are in the car.”

“Apparently you’re pretty good.”

“Yeah, that was nice of her to say. It’s not
like I’m going to be getting a recording contract anytime soon. How
about you? Do you sing?”

“Sometimes I’ll sing to myself. I don’t have
that great of a voice.”

“It just takes practice. We have other, more
important things to worry about, though. If someone asks you to
sing for them, just tell them you’re not feeling well.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. So,” I said,
changing the subject, “I’ll walk you in so I can see my mother for
a minute.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean,
won’t she think it’s strange that you walked in to say hi to
her?”

“We’ll say I forgot my phone and I’ll pretend
to get it out of my room. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

Nicole smiled kindly. “Okay.”

When we walked in, my mother was sitting on
the couch. We both said hi and she smiled at us.

“Did you two have fun at the mall?”

“Uhh…yeah. We had a good time,” I said. “So,
are you feeling any better?”

“I’m feeling a little better now. I should be
fine by tomorrow. That’s sweet of you to ask.”

“I think I left my phone here. I’m just going
to grab it and take off,” I said, and I turned and headed down the
hall to my room.

I returned after a moment, said goodnight,
and headed out to the car.

It was becoming a habit, at the end of each
day, to evaluate what went on during the course of the day. This
had to be the worst day so far. Maybe it’s because I was starting
to feel like I was getting everything under control, and today
proved how far away we still are from being able to pull this off.
Maybe it’s because I was probably the only guy to ever have to
leave school because he started his period.

I didn’t really expect to know everything
about Nicole in a handful of days, but I did feel like I was up on
the main things. I guess I had developed some false confidence.
Nicole and I will obviously have to spend more time going over
details, which I don’t really mind. It’s nice spending time with
her and it is definitely a unique experience getting to know her
like this.

This situation could become more difficult
with this Jessica ordeal. I’m not sure we thought this through well
enough. I know that Nicole doesn’t want to hurt Jessica’s feelings,
which I helped convince Nicole of, but thinking about it more, it
may have been better in the end to just say no. If we don’t switch
back, and Nicole can’t handle things, it may hurt Jessica more
later. Maybe we could tell Jessica about us. I know Nicole said no,
but maybe she will reconsider if this gets out of hand.

I still find myself trying to figure out
exactly why this happened to us. It’s just odd that I’ve been
switched with someone who I was interested in and who wouldn’t give
me the time of day. Now that she’s been forced to get to know me, I
think we’ve developed a pretty good friendship. I hope it continues
when we change back. Whenever that is.

Nicole’s mother and father were in the Family
Room when I arrived. They were watching a movie.

“Hi Kiddo,” her father said. “We’re watching
Music and Lyrics.
Do you want to join us?”

“What’s it about?” I said honestly. I’ve
never seen the movie, but judging from the looks on their faces,
Nicole must have seen it before. Probably more than once.

“What’s it about?” he repeated back to me.
“You know the words to most of the songs.”

“Oh,” I said, improvising, “did you say
Music and Lyrics
? I misheard you. I’d love to stay and watch
it with you guys, but I’ve got some things to take care of before
bed. I’ll catch it next time.”

“Okay,” her mother said. “Love you.”

I quickly headed up the stairs to Nicole’s
room and shut the door. I will have to be sure to ask Nicole about
the movie. They sure seemed to have a strong liking for it. That
could wait until tomorrow, though.

I couldn’t wait to get out of these clothes
and hose off. I felt gross and I was looking forward to a shower. A
nice, long, warm shower.

After what seemed like an eternity, I turned
off the shower, got out and dried off. I quickly got dressed into
my bedtime clothes. I had read in the instructions earlier that it
was a good idea to wear a heavier pad to bed, so I found the
biggest one and put it on. It occurred to me…girls have to deal
with this about twenty-five percent of the time. About one week out
of every four. That would equal three months out of every twelve.
Ten years out of every forty. Well, not every forty, but you know.
It makes me want to walk up to every girl I know and just say
sorry. I’m not going to do that, but for the moment I was feeling
pretty bad for them…and hoping I wouldn’t be one of them come
tomorrow.

The alarm clock woke me up this morning. I
never really needed my alarm clock when I was in my own body. I
always woke up ready to go. Now, it seems like getting out of bed
is the hardest thing I do all day. Once I’m up, I can go all day,
and I seem to have more energy than I had before. But waking up is
hard.

As I came to, I realized I wasn’t the only
thing on Jake that was waking up. Boy, that thing has been standing
at attention every morning since Monday. I guess they really do
have a mind of their own. I sat up in bed, trying to let the blood
sort itself out, when Jake’s mom knocked on the door.

I awkwardly made sure I was well covered and
called for her to come in. She looked at me sitting up and gave me
a concerned look.

“Are you okay, Honey?” she asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, you just look uncomfortable or
something.”

“Oh. I just woke up, but I’m okay. So, what’s
up?” I asked.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Your father,” she said, carefully looking me
in the eyes.

Oh boy. “What about him?” I asked
suspiciously. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, and I was very sure
that Jake should be the one hearing this.

“I was walking by your room yesterday, when
Nicole was over. I had just gotten home, and came to your room to
say hello. I was only at your doorway for a second, but I heard you
say something about how you wished you could talk to your father,
and how this whole thing has been awful.”