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?”
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 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.
Jake wasn’t going to be home for an hour and a half, and that’s if everything went well. So, I decided to watch a movie. I hadn’t seen Moulin Rouge in a while. I’ve loved that movie since I first saw it as a teenager. Jake didn’t really like it, so I don’t put him through it.
Actually, I almost turned it off after the first fifteen minutes the first time I watched it. I’m glad I didn’t, though. After that, the music was amazing and the story actually started making sense. It’s funny how a movie I almost turned off became one of my favorite musicals ever. Now that I know the whole story, the first fifteen minutes aren’t even so bad.
The nice thing about watching Moulin Rouge alone is that I can sing all of the songs without bothering anyone. Well, except maybe the baby. Although, I couldn’t help but think the baby liked it. When he doesn’t like something, I can feel a nice swift kick that feels like he’s bouncing on my kidneys. This was more of a slow rolling kick, which I usually felt when he seemed to be happy. Interestingly enough, it usually coincided with when I was happy.
My frustration with Jake seemed to subside as I had dinner and watched the movie. This wasn’t so bad, though it’s not really about whether I can find a way to entertain myself or not.
It’s more about knowing my husband will be there when I need him. He is, though. Jake really is great. He’s been to every doctor’s appointment so far for the baby. That’s probably why he’s late tonight. I just wish he would have thought about it earlier and let me know sooner. Oh well, nobody’s perfect, right?
Jake came in toward the end of the movie.
“Ahh…Moulin Rouge, huh?” he asked as he kissed me on my forehead.
“Yeah, although I should have made you suffer through it for being late,” I said, playfully.
“I’ll allow my ears to bleed for you anytime,” he played back. He doesn’t like musicals.
“Ha…ha…ha.”
“So, how’s my favorite child?”
“You’d better be talking about the baby.”
“I am,” he said rolling his eyes. “Am I still in trouble?”
“Not at the moment, but you’ve still got time.”
“You only get the foot massage if it gets me out of trouble.”
“When I get the foot massage, you’ll officially be out of trouble.”
“Hmm…let me get a bite to eat and I’ll get started.”
“I made you a plate. It’s in the fridge.”
“Thank you, Love.”
He heated up his food and brought his plate and a glass of milk over to the couch where I was sitting.
“The baby’s fine, by the way.”
“Good,” he said, rubbing my belly. I love it when he does that. Not anybody else, but I love it when he does it.
“We’re getting pretty close,” I said. “We probably should decide on a name.”
“I still like Evan Keith.”
“Evan Keith Matthews. It’s good, but you don’t think it’s weird having his first name so close to my maiden name?”
“No, my opinion hasn’t changed since the last time you asked me,” he said smiling. I gave him a playful shove, and he started coughing. “Hey, I’m eating here,” he said, feigning irritation.
“Sorry,” I said, smiling.
“I think it’s a good name, and it has family ties with it. We still have a few weeks, so we don’t have to decide tonight. If I had to choose tonight, that would be my vote.”
“Okay. Evan Keith. My dad will like it.”
“I would imagine so.”
He finished his food, washed the dishes and motioned for me to turn myself around as he sat back on the couch. “Oh, wait,” he said getting up and leaving the room.
After a minute, he returned with lotion. He grabbed my left foot and started massaging it. He gives the best massages.
“That feels really good,” I said.
“Well, I would hope so.”
“My feet are so swollen.”
“It’s temporary. You’ll spring back after the baby is born.”
“I hope so.”
“Me, too,” he said smiling. I kicked him. Not hard enough to hurt. Just hard enough to playfully make my point.
“Umph. Thanks for that.”
“Anytime,” I said, smiling big.
“Remind me never to meet you in a dark alley.”
“Don’t you forget it. You should just be glad you don’t have to be carrying a bowling ball around in your stomach. You should be thankful you’ll never have to know what this feels like. Not to mention, the fact that I have to go to the bathroom every twenty minutes. And sometimes…I feel like a pinball machine.”
“Well, it could be worse,” he said, finishing up my right foot, “you could have to deal with the woman who is carrying around a bowling ball in her stomach and has to go to the bathroom every twenty minutes.”
He was joking, but it’s not the first time I’ve heard that joke, and it’s still not funny. I pulled my foot away.
“Oh, come on…I’m just joking around with you.”
“It’s not funny.”
“Well, what am I supposed to say when you start talking about how I should be glad I’ll never have to go through all that stuff? I’m sorry you have to go through it all, but it’s not my fault.”
“Last time I checked, you got me pregnant!”
“Last time I checked, we made that decision together. This is how the process works, Nicole. I get you pregnant, you carry the baby, we both raise it.”
“Yeah, not exactly a fair trade there.”
“Maybe not, but it’s still not my fault. I don’t make the rules on pregnancy.”
“And if you had, I’m sure you would have decided to make it so the man carries the baby, right?”
“Well, it couldn’t be any worse than having to deal with this? What are we even arguing about?”
“We’re arguing about the fact that you are insensitive.”
“Nicole, I was just joking. What happened to your sense of humor?”
“Nothing has happened to my sense of humor. I have no trouble laughing when I hear something that is funny.”
“Honey,” he said, trying to bring his tone back down, “we need to stop this. It’s not good for you or the baby. I’m sorry if I offended you. I’m sorry you are uncomfortable. You don’t have much longer, and then the baby will be born, and you’ll start to feel better.”
Once again, I took a deep breath. It hasn’t been like this the whole pregnancy, but I seem to be taking lots of deep breaths over the last week. I don’t know why I get so worked up over things. Insensitive or not, I usually handle things better than this. All of a sudden, a wave of emotion came over me and I started crying.
“Sweetheart, please don’t cry. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. This whole thing is dumb. I don’t even know why I’m crying.”
“I’m sure it’s perfectly normal. It’s just…well, it’s just your hormones are all out of whack right now.”
I started crying even harder.
“Nicole,” he said hugging me. He didn’t finish his thought. He just kept holding me, and I slowly gained my composure.
I snuggled my head in Jake’s chest, and everything just melted away. I don’t know how much time passed, but we stayed like that for a while.
Before I knew it, it was time to head up to bed.
“So, did you have a tough day?” Jake asked as we crawled under the covers.
“No, not really. I mean, right now every day is uncomfortable, but it wasn’t really a bad day. I just can’t wait for…Evan…to be born.”
“That’s the first time you’ve called the baby Evan.”
“Yeah, it felt kind of nice. It makes it a little more real.”
“It’s going to be very real very soon.”
“Yeah,” I said, smiling at him.
“I love you. Sleep well.”
“I’ll try,” I said as he gave me a kiss goodnight.
Chances were slim to none I was going to sleep well tonight. I haven’t really slept well in weeks. Normally, I would sleep on my back, which I can’t do being this far along in my pregnancy. I’ve had to sleep on my left side to keep the blood circulating, and I’m just not used to doing that.
As I lay in bed in the dark, I started thinking about the day. It had gone fairly smoothly for most of the day. At lunch time, Jake and I had an ultrasound and got to see the baby. That has been my favorite part of the week these days. The doctor said that the baby looked strong and healthy, which is always a relief.
As the day went on, it just seemed like all of the little things started to build up. When Jake called to tell me he was going to be late, that was kind of the icing on the cake.
Jake and I have been married for almost four years. We were originally going to wait until we were done with college, but after our junior year, we decided it was time.
Sometimes we have disagreements. I mean, we grew up with different family lives, so we are naturally going to see things differently. Sometimes. Over the last nearly eight years we’ve been together, we have grown to share a lot of the same interests, and we agree on most of the big issues in our lives. It wasn’t always that way, but when you are together with someone for so long, you learn to compromise.
That’s what has made it so hard lately. It has seemed exceedingly difficult to be on the same page with Jake. What should be little things have been big things, and it has just felt like he has been very insensitive. He probably hasn’t been as thoughtless as it has seemed, but that hardly made me feel better. If he only knew what it was like to be in my shoes, maybe he would have had a different respect for what I have been feeling. Every man should have to spend some time in their wives’ shoes so they could understand exactly what we have to go through.
It definitely has not been easy being pregnant. As much as I’m looking forward to baby Evan coming into our lives, I am just as excited to get my body back to normal. It will be nice not to feel short of breath so much. I’ll probably feel light on my feet, too.
I was feeling unusually drowsy as I allowed my mind to wander. Maybe tonight I would actually get some sleep. I can only hope.
As the alarm clock went off, I slowly opened my eyes. I was staring at myself. Uh-oh.
~~~~
This book was set in Times New Roman, 11 point font
Headings were set in Garamond, 14 point font (bold)
Nicole’s mother’s note was set in Brush Script MT, 11.0 point font (italicized)
Nicole’s signature was set in Kunstler Script, 11 point font
About the Author
Adrian Stephens was born in southern California, but has lived most of his life in Las Vegas, NV, where he currently resides with his wife, Cristy, and two children, Bailey and Brendan. Adrian never had an interest in reading for fun until his brother, Dustin, bought him the first six books of the Harry Potter series for Christmas in 2006. He read the entire set in less than a month, and never stopped reading. A few years later, the first of several story ideas came to Adrian, with this novel being the first to be completed.