In My Shoes (5 page)

“Wow!” I interrupted. “That is a huge
screen.”

“Yeah, my dad wanted this room to be set up
like his own mini movie theater. Most of the time, we get together
to watch a movie on Saturday evenings. It’s something we try to do
together. We like movies.”

She continued walking me through the house.
“There is one bedroom downstairs, but my father uses it as an
office. I don’t really ever go in there, either. The bathroom is
straight down that hall,” Nicole said, pointing to her left. “That
brings us back to the main foyer area. Now we head upstairs. You
probably recognize my bedroom on the left there. We’ll head in
there in a minute. Straight ahead is the Jack-and-Jill bathroom
that opens also into my bedroom. To the right is the loft. Are you
keeping up?”

“Yeah, I’m keeping up,” I said with a laugh.
It’s not like this was rocket science. “Nice pool table,” I said.
Man, I was starting to feel like I was on
The Price is
Right
, and I was being walked through my “Showcase
Showdown.”

“Thanks. Do you play?”

“A bit. I like to go to Crazy Cues with my
friends sometimes. I’m not the best, but I’m okay.”

“Yeah,” she said, “I don’t play a whole lot,
but I’m not too bad. My dad’s given me pointers over the years, so
I don’t always lose. Just in case anyone asks you to play, I rarely
beat my dad. So if you’re that good, lay up so he doesn’t get
suspicious. I don’t usually make more than a few shots in a row.
Just keep that in mind.”

“Okay. You’re really thorough at this. Have
you switched bodies with someone before?” I said, trying to lighten
the mood.

I saw the slightest sliver of a smile, and
then I saw the crease between my eyebrows. “Very funny. I am hoping
we will wake up tomorrow and this will all be fixed, but if not,
you need to know what to do tomorrow morning when you wake up. You
can’t wake up screaming every morning or my mom is going to try and
get you help. So, take this seriously.”

“I am taking it seriously. I was just trying
to lighten the mood.”

“Otherwise known as not taking this
seriously,” she sneered.

“There is a difference between taking
something seriously and being serious.”

“Uh-huh. Down the hall, on the left, is a
short hallway. The laundry room is on the left of the hallway, and
ahead is my brother, Tyler’s, room. He’s away at college. He is in
his second year at Stanford. I don’t expect to see him anytime
soon, so for now, just remember Tyler, Sophomore, Stanford. Got
it?”

“Got it,” I repeated.

“Good. The last set of doors down here is my
mom and dad’s room. My dad’s name is Keith and my mom’s name is
Sara, but you will call them Mom and Dad.” She led me to a picture
of the two and pointed.

“Keith, Sara, Dad, Mom. Got it,” I said.
“Man, their room almost takes up half of the upstairs.”

“Yeah, I don’t come in here too often now
that I’m older, and I think it best you try and stay out. I don’t
want you walking in while my mother is getting dressed.”

Their room had a big square bedroom area with
the dressing area in the back, right corner. There was a makeup
table, lavatory and walk-in shower on the left wall, a tub with
jets straight ahead, a walk-in closet to the right by the tub and
then double sinks on the right closest to me. All that was missing
was a brand…new…car!

“That’s about it. Let’s go back to my room.
We need to get cleaned up.”

She led me back into her bedroom. Her bed
faced the door, and we stopped right in front of it.

“Okay, I don’t know how familiar you became
with my room earlier, but let’s just cover the basics. You
obviously know where the bed is. To the left, over there, is my
desk. You probably noticed that since I always put my backpack and
purse there at night.”

She turned over her left shoulder. “This is
the walk-in closet. Not nearly the size of my parents’, but I’m not
complaining.”

She turned back around and went to the other
side of the bed. “Over there is my dresser, and over here is my
makeup table. The house didn’t come with it, but I asked my dad if
I could have one like my mom’s, and he built this.”

“He did a nice job,” I offered.

“Yeah, he’s pretty handy when he has the
time. And this is the bathroom. Like I mentioned, Jack-and-Jill.
You’ll want to be sure to lock both doors when you’re in here, or
you may just get a rude surprise from a guest.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So, why don’t you go first. Get undressed
and you can get cleaned up.”

I looked at her.

“What? You need a shower. You…I mean, I…I
mean… you stink,” she said.

“Umh, you want me just to get undressed in
front of you, and get in the shower?”

“Yes,” she said as she went to turn the
shower on.

“I’m not getting undressed in front of you,”
I said, as a matter of fact.

“Look, I understand this is awkward, and I
wouldn’t expect you to get undressed in front of me normally,
except, you do realize that is my body. I’ve seen it a couple of
times before. Now if there’s a way to keep
you
from seeing
it, I’m all ears.” Too late.

“Okay, so maybe I’m being dumb but it makes
me uncomfortable. I don’t want you watching, scrutinizing as I take
a shower.”

“I’m not going to watch you take a shower.
I’m sure you know how to take a shower, but I want to make sure
that you know how
I
take a shower. You can leave the door
cracked open, and I’ll talk to you from the bedroom, okay?”

I looked at her in disbelief.

“Look,” she said, “if I had my choice, you
wouldn’t even be in my house right now, much less in my body. You
can do this on your own, but it’s going to be a lot harder without
my help.”

“Fine,” I grumbled. “You sure seem awfully
okay with this, though.”

“No, I’m definitely not okay with this. Like
I said, it’s not like I have too much of a choice. I could expect
you to just stay dirty until we change back, but then I don’t think
I’ll have too many friends when I’m me again. I could complain, but
I’m not exactly sure who to complain to about this. You are
familiar with the female anatomy, I assume?”

“Yes, but they didn’t look this…well, they
didn’t look like this in the anatomy books,” I said meekly.

She blushed. Is that what I looked like when
I blushed? I guess so.

“Thank you for the compliment, I think, but
I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ogle over my body too much. Until
you exposed my breasts to your ape friend earlier today, nobody but
my family had seen me naked.”

I put my head down and then I looked at
her-I’m still not used to seeing her in my body. “Look, I’m really
sorry about that. It felt like the whole conversation was getting
out of hand, and it’s the only way I could think of to shut you
up.”

“Well, I’m not over it yet, but I understand
your logic. It worked, I guess. Although, I think if you had tried
harder you could have come up with something else. It’s a pretty
weak excuse for flashing your friend.

“I have four laundry baskets in the closet,”
she continued. “One each for towels, whites, colors and darks. Do
you know how to sort your laundry?”

“Yes,” I said. “I do my laundry at home,
although I don’t separate colors and darks.”

“Well, that’s how my mother sorts them and
she does my laundry. You can throw the clothes you are wearing in
the baskets and hop in the shower.”

I looked at her again.

“Look, you are going to have to get over
this. I could turn around, but when you get out of the shower, you
are probably going to need help getting dressed.”

She was right. I did as she said, placing the
clothes in the baskets and trying to cover myself as I walked
toward the shower.

“I’m going to give you the quick run-down,”
she said yelling into the bathroom. “I shower in the evenings
before bed. On Saturdays I usually shave my legs, but hopefully we
will be back to normal tomorrow and I will just shave my legs
myself. Otherwise, I’ll show you how to shave my legs later. And my
armpits. I usually shave them every day, but we’ll skip that
today.

“Now,” she went on, “I don’t know how you
care for your hair, but girls, particularly girls with long hair,
have to take care of it a certain way. After you get it completely
wet, take the shampoo, about…two quarters’ worth, and rub it all
throughout my hair. Let that sit while you…clean my body,” she said
hesitantly. I think she was struggling with this part. I couldn’t
see her face, but I’m sure she was blushing from beyond the door. I
know I must have been blushing because my face was on fire.

“Make sure you rinse all of the soap
completely, or you’ll be uncomfortable later. Now, rinse the
shampoo out really well. Once it’s completely rinsed, put about two
quarters’ worth of conditioner in your hand and work it through the
hair.”

“Got it,” I yelled out to her.

“Now grab the comb in the basket and comb the
conditioner through the hair. This will help work any knots
out.”

“My head feels heavy with all of this wet
hair and conditioner,” I said.

“I’m sure you can handle it,” she said.
“While the conditioner is sitting, I clean my face. I use the
facial wash on the shelf. Rub it all over my face, let it sit for
about twenty seconds, and rinse it off.

“Once I am done with my face,” she continued,
“I will shave my armpits. If it’s Saturday, I’ll shave my legs
next. Then I rinse the conditioner out of my hair.”

“That’s a lot to do every day,” I said.

“Well, I only wash my hair every other day.
The rest of the time, I just get it wet. Some girls have to wash
their hair more, some less. If I wash mine more often, it gets dry
and brittle.”

“I didn’t realize there was so much to this.
Okay, so what’s next?” I asked.

“Now you get out of the shower.” She handed
me two towels. “Use one to towel off and then roll your hair up in
it. Bend over so your hair falls down. Wrap the towel around your
hair somewhat tightly, stand up and let the towel fall over
backwards. This will let your hair keep from getting frizzy until
you are ready to blow-dry it.”

“What’s the other towel for?” I asked.

“To cover up, after you put lotion on. The
lotion is on the counter, there. I put a good amount on my arms and
legs because they dry out so easily. I put lotion on my stomach,
back, chest and neck, just not as much.” I did as she said, and
walked out of the bathroom. She saw me and rolled her eyes.

“What?” I asked innocently.

“The towel was supposed to be wrapped over
your…chest. Not your waist. Then you wouldn’t have to use your arm
to cover your…my…your chest.”

I felt dumb. “Oh,” I said, turning and fixing
it.

“That’s okay, we don’t want you to walk
around in a towel for the next hour, anyway. Let’s get you some
clothes.”

“The next hour,” I said shocked. “Does it
take you that long to get ready?”

“Sometimes more, sometimes less,” she said.
“It depends on what I do with my hair.”

She walked me over to the dresser and showed
me where the bras, underwear, socks and jeans were. She pulled one
item out of each drawer. “You can’t make too many mistakes with the
socks and underwear. The bras are different for different tops. I
have regular bras for shirts and blouses that cover completely.
Don’t wear a black bra with a white shirt or a white bra with a
black shirt. The idea is, you want to match the shirt and bra
colors as closely as possible. Bras are supposed to support, they
aren’t for show. At least that’s the way my mother taught me. The
other types of bras, we’ll get into later if we have to. For now,
just wear shirts or blouses that cover completely.”

I put the underwear on and grabbed the bra.
“So, is there an easy way to get this on? Your mother had to help
me this morning.”

“That had to be interesting.” She stared out
into space for a brief moment, then shook her head. “I don’t want
to know. Anyway, I’ve gotten really good at it, but I’ve had lots
of practice. For now, why don’t you clasp it around the waist, turn
it around, pull the straps up over your shoulders and adjust the
cups into place. There are three sets of clasps. I usually use the
second set of clasps, but you can adjust as needed for comfort or
support.”

I did as she said and then I put on my socks.
“I am going to get your outfit for today and then I will lay out
your clothes for tomorrow. It will take time to teach you outfit
coordination. I’m hoping…”

“I know,” I interrupted, “you’re hoping this
will all be back to normal tomorrow and you won’t have to show
me.”

“Am I annoying you? I just want to make sure
that we cover everything so you don’t have any problems.”

She actually wasn’t annoying me. “No, I
didn’t mean it to sound like that. You are doing a great job of
explaining everything. It’s just that, well, I’m hoping everything
is back to normal tomorrow also. Let’s just assume that anything
you don’t tell me you will cover later, if necessary. If I have a
question, I’ll ask.”

“Fair enough. So, this is your outfit for
tomorrow. Jeans, a t-shirt, bra, underwear, socks. Today, you can
wear this,” she said as she laid out shorts, another shirt, bra,
underwear and socks.

“Oh, I almost forgot, this drawer has night
gowns and shirts for bedtime. I don’t wear bras for bed. They are
uncomfortable to sleep in. Let’s do your makeup,” she said, leading
me to the makeup table.

“I’m just going to do your makeup for now.
I’ll teach you tomorrow if…” she paused. “Sorry.”

I smiled and she smiled back. My smile, but
different. Even in my body, I can still see a hint of Nicole. Her
mannerisms and features look more feminine. We’ll have to work on
that.

She left the clothes on the bed and headed
toward the makeup table. “Shouldn’t I put my shirt and shorts on
first?” I questioned.