In My Shoes (36 page)

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 wondered 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.

“Come on. I know you are. Why don’t you ever
tell me about this kind of stuff?”

“Mike, you are a good friend in a lot of
ways. But…you always mess with me. Why would I want to share that
stuff with you when it just gives you ammunition to use later?”

He didn’t say anything for a minute. When he
did break the silence, Mike was somber.

“Dude, I’m sorry.”

“For what?” I had gotten lost in thought
about Nicole and forgot what we were just talking about.

“I always thought we were best friends.”

“We are,” I replied.

“No, I mean yes, but…I just mess with you to
be funny and, well…I guess I don’t really know why. I’ve never
really thought it was that big a deal.”

“It’s not some of the time. Just, sometimes
you take things too far.”

“I guess. Between you and Nicole this week,
I…well I guess I’m realizing I’m not as funny as I thought I was.
And maybe not as good of a friend.”

“Mike, that’s not true. Just…sometimes you
take things too far. But sometimes you are really funny,” I quickly
added. “Just…don’t try so hard.”

He didn’t say anything for another while, but
I didn’t get lost in thought this time. I realized that Mike was
taking this very seriously. I’ve never seen him reflected in
thought like this.

“I…I do like her,” I finally said. “A
lot.”

He looked at me and smiled softly, like he
understood that I was taking a chance by letting him in.

“I thought so. Are you going to do something
about it?”

“I don’t think there’s anything I can do
about it. We’re just becoming friends. I don’t want to mess that up
by doing something stupid.”

“No, but you know things about each other
that most people don’t know.”

“That’s not necessarily a good thing though,
Mike.”

“I don’t see how that’s a bad thing. It’s not
like she went running away scared.”

I laughed. “How exactly was she going to run
away scared…in my body?”

“Okay, yeah…that’s a good point, but I still
think she likes you.”

“What if she’s just been civil because she
had to?”

“She didn’t have to. She could have been mean
to you. And…she wasn’t really just civil. She seemed to me like she
was pretty nice to you.”

True. She was nice to me. Even today when we
were changed back.

“Still,” I countered, “if I say something
now, I could mess everything up that’s happened in the last
week.”

“There’s always a risk, Jake.”

“Yeah, but I took that risk a week ago, and
this happened.”

“True, but would you have preferred it never
happened?”

That was a good question, and I wasn’t really
sure of the answer. There were plenty of times over the past week
where I wished it would never have happened, and that I would
change back. I don’t know now though if I would still prefer it had
never happened. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t be friends with Nicole
right now.

Before I knew it, we were parked in front of
my house. Mike left the engine on, so I knew he wasn’t planning on
coming in.

“Have fun tonight with Jessica,” I said.

“Thanks. She seems cool, so it oughta be fun.
Good luck with Nicole.”

“Thanks,” I said, getting out of the car.

I wasn’t home long enough to get comfortable.
Nicole knocked on my door just minutes after I got inside.

“Hi,” I said, motioning for her to come
inside.

“How are you?”

At the moment, my stomach was turned in
knots. “I’m good. How are you?”

“Fine thanks.”

I closed the door and led Nicole into the
family room.

“I guess I’m not the only one having
trouble,” she said.

“With what?” I asked.

“Deciding how to walk now. I feel as awkward
as you look,” she said, forcing a smile.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to spend some time
today working that out. Do you want something to drink?”

“Water, please.”

I got her a bottled water and we both sat
down on the couch.

“So, did your mom tell you about the car?”
she asked. She seemed, like me, to be trying to find a way to
relax. We were both sitting pretty rigidly on the couch.

“Oh, yeah. She gave me all of the details
this morning. I get to have a summer job, too.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I actually asked her if I could get a
job when I was sixteen, but she was against it.”

“Yeah, my parents are kind of the same
way.”

There was silence again as we searched for
what to say next.

“So,” I finally continued, “was it weird
waking up this morning at Jessica’s house? I would think that would
have been a little disorienting.”

“It was, a little. I kind of freaked them out
when I realized I was back. I tried to keep it in, but I let out a
little yelp or something, and woke them up.”

“Then what did you do?” I asked.

“I just told them I had a bad dream and
apologized.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Yeah.”

More silence.

“Is it just me,” Nicole finally offered, “or
does this feel awkward?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“We’re okay, though, right? I mean, we are
friends now…aren’t we?”

“I hope so,” I said, trying to sound
casual.

“Good. So let’s just move on then, shall
we?”

“Sounds good to me.” I was hoping to take
that conversation a little bit further, but she kind of closed the
door on that.

We both decided to start going through the
process of unlearning what we had learned. Since it seemed to be so
evident, I suggested we start with fixing our walks. It didn’t
really take that long once we spent a little bit of time thinking
about it.

We decided that we could work out our
handwriting on our own. It’s a little bit easier to fix something
you can see yourself doing rather than walking, which you really
can’t see as easily.

Next up was our homework. We didn’t really
have unlearning to do with homework, but we did spend some time
discussing where we were at in each of our classes. At least the
ones we didn’t have together. Since we already had it out, we
decided to actually work on our homework for a while.

An hour or so later, we had our homework
done, and our handwriting sorted back out. The little things that
people take for granted.

Now that our homework was done, we decided we
should review our weeks with as much detail as possible, hoping we
could prevent any awkward surprises later.

“Well,” Nicole said after we had scrutinized
everything, “I should get going. I’ve got two hours before my
flight.”

“Right.”

She packed up her things and I got up to walk
her to the door. I could feel my heart beating hard against my
chest. I wasn’t really sure why, but I guessed it was because I was
afraid if I let her walk out the door now, we would stay friends
forever. That wouldn’t be a bad thing, but…

“So,” I said, nervously, “why do you think
this all happened, anyway?”

“I’ve thought a lot about that. I don’t
really know. I have a hard time believing it was some freak cosmic
thing. I would be more inclined to think that we were supposed to
learn a lesson. What do you think?”

“Me? Uhh…well, I think that if we hadn’t
switched bodies, we wouldn’t have gotten to know each other like we
do. Maybe this happened so we would not miss the opportunity to…get
to know each other.”

“That’s as good of a guess as any. It’s
strange,” she said standing at the door, “we’ve gotten to know each
other well over the last week, but I’m not used to looking at you
through my eyes. I feel like we are friends, but still strangers.
Like we’ve skipped forward from then until now.”

“We could start over.”

“That would be…good,” she said, staring at
me. She looked rigid once again. Nervous maybe.

“Hi, I’m Jake,” I said, holding out my hand
and smiling. “I’m in your physics class.”

“Yes, I know who you are,” she said, breaking
a smile. “You’re also in my English class.”

“Right. So, I was wondering if maybe you
might want to study together sometime?”

“Are you asking me out on a date, Jake?”

I wasn’t really expecting that response.
Hoping, maybe. Definitely not expecting it. “Uhh…yes I am.”

“You know, I don’t date class clowns.”

And then she kissed me.

I’m cooking Jake’s favorite tonight. Not that
he deserves it. I get home about an hour before him most nights, so
I usually cook dinner for the both of us. His favorite meal is beef
tri-tip, and I make it the way my dad always made it for me growing
up. It usually takes about an hour and a half to prepare, so we
don’t have it very often.

The problem with making something that takes
that long to make is that, if for instance, Jake doesn’t come home
on time, I won’t know in enough time to delay it or cook something
else. Once it’s in the oven, it’s too late to go back.

Tonight just happened to be one of those
nights. Jake called, a half of an hour before he was supposed to be
home, to say that he was going to be late.

“That’s just great, Jake, except that I put
the tri-tip in the oven forty-five minutes ago! We’re going to be
eating cold dinner now!” My voice was…somewhat elevated.

“Please don’t yell, Honey. I’m sorry. I’ll
get home as soon as possible, but don’t wait for me. There’s no
reason we should both have cold dinner.”

“That doesn’t make it better, Jake. Why can’t
you give me more notice when you are going to be late? Is that too
much to ask?”

“No, and if I had known sooner, I would have
called sooner. I just found out five minutes ago.”

“Fine. Hurry home. I’m going to wait.”

“Don’t be irrational, Nicole. Just eat.” I
could hear the irritation starting in his voice. That didn’t matter
to me, though, because he just called me irrational.

“Irrational? Irrational? I could show you
irrational if you’d like.”

“Nicole, the baby. Please calm down.”

I took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to tell
him so, but he was right. I was thirty-six weeks pregnant with our
first child, and I felt like I was going to pop at any moment.

“Just get home. I’ll eat when it’s ready.” I
said it as calmly as I could.

“Thank you. I’ll see you soon. I love
you.”

“Mmmhmm.”

“You do know I love you, right?”

“Yeah. I love you, too.”

“You just don’t like me a lot right now.”

“Not at the moment,” I said with a subtle
laugh.

“I’ll make it up to you later.”

“You’d better.”

“Foot massage?”

“That could help your situation a
little.”

“Deal. I’ll see you soon.”

It’s hard to stay mad at him. Lately, it
seems like he’s been on my nerves a lot, but it’s not like he’s
trying to be. Most of the time, it’s little stuff that he does
unintentionally. Like tonight.

Jake likes to tell me that it’s my hormones.
I
hate
it when he says that. It’s like he takes all of my
emotions and everything I feel about the things he does, and he
just balls them up and dismisses them all under the umbrella of
hormones. Sometimes he’s right, not that I’m going to tell him
that. But, sometimes he’s not. Lately, I’ve felt a lot more
emotional about things than I normally would. That said, it didn’t
make my frustrations any less valid.