In My Shoes (34 page)

“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 everyone
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…

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.

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?”