In My Shoes (8 page)

“Yeah, she actually did…yesterday. She said
she was a little too harsh and didn’t mean to take things out on
me.” That’s sort of what I said, right? Well, at least, that’s what
I meant to say to him…I guess.

“Good. Maybe she’s not so bad, after all.
Just be careful, Jake. Give it time to find out if she’s really the
girl who apologized or if she’s the girl who hurt you the other
day. I don’t want her breaking your heart.”

Great, she thinks I’m going to break Jake’s
heart and we’re not really even friends. I will have to be careful
not to give Jake the wrong idea.

“Don’t worry mom. We’re just going to do some
studying together. It’s not like we’re even friends yet, but I
think I’m going to find that she’s the kind of person I’d want to
get to know.” Okay, that sounded cheesy. I wish I could take that
one back.

“What I mean is, I think she’s a better
person than what the other day showed, and it was probably just a
misunderstanding.”

“Just be careful,” she said with a warm
tone.

“I will.”

I finished my cereal and orange juice, rinsed
the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

“So, what are you doing today?” she
asked.

“I’m going over to…Nicole’s house to
study.”

“You guys could study here,” she offered.

“I would have mentioned it, but she had
already offered her house. Besides, she has a bigger place to
study.”

“How do you know that?” she asked
suspiciously.

Uh-oh. Did I offer too much? Be casual
Nikki.

“I guess I don’t. I guess it just sounded
that way from our conversation.”

“Okay, but next time I want you to study here
so I can meet her.”

“Sure, if there is a next time. Anyway, she’s
going to pick me up soon, so you can meet her then.”

“Oh,” she said surprised, “well I’m not
dressed yet. I didn’t realize she was going to be here so soon.
I’ll meet her next time.” She was in her pajamas still. I wouldn’t
want to meet someone new in my pajamas either. If she only
knew…

“I seriously doubt she would care, but that’s
probably a good idea.”

I sat on the couch next to her and noticed
she was watching QVC.

“Oh, I love this channel!” I exclaimed. I had
forgotten myself for a minute and realized from her look that this
was not something Jake would say.

“Since when do you like QVC? I watch it every
Saturday and you never give it two looks.”

“Well, love might be a strong word. I was
at…Mike’s…last weekend and his mom had it on. There was a really
cool clock that caught my eye. That’s all.”

“I remember that clock. It didn’t seem your
style, but I liked it, too.”

“Yeah,” I said, “maybe not my style, but it
was interesting.

“You know,” I continued, “Nicole should be
here any time. I’m going to go outside and wait for her.”

“Okay. Have a good time and behave. I love
you.”

“Uh…okay. Bye mom.”

I grabbed Jake’s backpack out of his room and
headed out the front door. Wow! I almost blew that a couple of
times. I hope Jake is doing better at my house.

Jake arrived about five minutes after I came
outside to wait for him. He pulled up to the curb, got out and
walked around to open the door for me.

“Thank you,” I said, “but girls don’t usually
open doors for guys.”

He blushed. “Right, sorry.”

“No, it was a nice gesture. It’s just not
something people would see me doing.”

He went around the other side and got in the
car. “So, how did it go?” he asked.

“It went fine, except…you now like QVC.”

“What, the shopping channel?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

How did that happen?” he asked.

“I was sitting down next to your mom, when I
noticed she was watching QVC. I just happened to mention how much I
loved QVC. I backtracked a little. You mainly liked a clock they
had on last week. I told her you saw it at Mike’s house last
weekend.”

“Hmm.”

I looked at him, hesitantly. “What?”

“Well, I hope she didn’t catch on to the fact
that I wasn’t at Mike’s house much last weekend.”

“Oh, sorry. I thought that was a pretty safe
story. I thought you spent a lot of time at Mike’s on the
weekends.”

“I do. I just didn’t last weekend.”

“Well, she didn’t seem to notice. I’m sorry,
I was just trying not to be anti-social. That one just got away
from me a bit.”

“That’s okay. Nobody’s perfect.” His tone
seemed a little more than forgiving.

“That sounded leading. Did something happen
at my house?”

“Well, your dad asked if I wanted to watch
Twilight
tonight for movie night. I might have mentioned
that Kristen Stewart is hot.”

“You what?”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry. I wasn’t
thinking. I think I played it off okay, though.”

I turned in my seat to look at him. “What
could you possibly have said to play that off?”

“Well, I realized what I said right away.
Your dad was kind of just looking at me. I told him that all of the
guys are sooo in love with her right now, and it drives me crazy.
Then I told him that I liked the guy, what’s his name?”

“Robert Pattinson?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you say Robert Pattinson?”

“No, I couldn’t remember his name.”

“So after telling my dad that Kristen Stewart
is sooo hot, you told him that you really like what’s his
name?”

My voice was getting louder, and I could tell
he was getting a little nervous. “Yeah, but it seemed to work for
him. He just said ‘okay’ and left.”

“What else could he do after that? Jake,
you’ve got to be more careful than that. I don’t want my family and
friends getting funny ideas about me because you’re being a guy in
my body.”

“I know, I’m sorry. It’s not like you were
perfect either. Look, we’ll get better at this.”

I stopped and calmed down a bit. “I wish we
didn’t have to get better at this. I don’t understand why this is
happening.”

“Do you think we are being punished?” he
asked.

“I thought about it. For that to be true, I
think we would both have had to do something similarly wrong that
was deserving of this. I don’t know about you, but I know I haven’t
done anything so bad that I deserve this.”

“Do you believe in God?” he asked.

“I most definitely believe in God. Although,
I don’t remember reading about
this
in the Bible.”

“Well, maybe God wants us to be
together.”

I laughed. “Nice try. God doesn’t work like
that. He doesn’t just force people to be together. We all have free
will to make our own life decisions. If we didn’t, how could we be
judged on our choices?”

“I guess you’re right. But then, what else is
there?”

“I don’t know. I’m guessing that we will find
out when the time is right. In the meantime, we’ve got a lot of
work to do, so we don’t make any huge mistakes. Let’s start by
getting you a phone. Well, actually you have my phone. Let’s start
by getting me a phone. We can stop at Target.”

“Okay,” Jake agreed. “I’m guessing Mike
didn’t bring my homework by this morning?”

“No he didn’t.”

“I figured. Mike doesn’t usually get out of
bed until eleven or so on Saturdays. After we get the phone, let’s
just go by his house and pick it up.”

“Sure,” I said.

Jake was driving, heading in the direction of
Target. “You know, it’s really weird being driven around in my own
car. You are the only person who has ever driven my car, other than
me.”

Jake just smiled. My smile, but not quite the
same. I looked out the passenger side window. “You know, your mom
told me that I need to be careful with…well me. She thinks I’m
going to break your heart.”

I turned to look at him, and he was blushing.
He gave a quick glance in my direction, and then looked back to the
road. “Well, are you?”

“Only if you get the wrong idea,” I said.
“Jake, when this is all over, don’t go getting any ideas about us
being together.”

“So what, is it just that I’m not your type,
or do you still think I’m a clown?”

It seemed to really bother him that I called
him a clown. “I don’t think you are a clown so much anymore.
And…it’s not so much that you’re not my type as it is that I’m just
not looking for a boyfriend right now. I’ve been working my whole
life to prepare myself for college. The last thing I need is to
find a guy who will start complicating my life.”

“So, you don’t date?”

“No, not really. There will come a time, when
I’m done with college and I’m working. Then I can start looking for
a man to let into my life.”

He kind of laughed, more to himself. “You
know it doesn’t work like that, right?”

“What doesn’t work like that?” I asked.

“Well, it’s not like you just get to choose
when everything happens to you. I mean, your idea sounds good on
paper, but if you wait until you start your career before you start
dating, you could very well let the guy of your dreams slip through
your fingertips. You don’t get to choose when your true love shows
up.”

“You’re assuming that every person has one
true love,” I said.

“Well, I don’t know about the ‘one true love’
idea, but I’m not about to take a chance on losing the person I’m
meant for just because it doesn’t fit into my schedule. If someone
is interested in me, I’m going to at least get to know them.”

“Well, you’re entitled to your opinion and
I’m entitled to mine.”

“Just as well,” he said. “If a guy asks you
out, I’m telling them no.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. That’s
really what I wanted, but it felt more like he was getting his way
there. “Can we just change the subject? I think this whole
situation is complicated enough without adding dating to the
mix.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said.

We went into Target and got a pre-paid phone,
added minutes and headed out. “Hand me my phone out of my purse,” I
said. He pulled it out and handed it to me. I programmed the new
number into my phone and handed it back to Jake. “Okay, I put the
pre-paid number in my phone under your name. If you get in a pinch,
call or text me.”

Next up, Mike’s house.

“Okay,” he said. “This is going to be a
little tricky. I am really close with Mike and his mother. They
know me really well and I know them really well. I knock, and then
walk right into their house.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” I asked with
a little bit of panic in my voice.

“Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it. You
are going to act like you are in a hurry and can’t stay to
talk.”

We got into the car and headed toward what I
assumed was Mike’s house. “So, when you get there, go to the door,
rap three quick knocks on the door and open it. You will probably
see Mike’s mother in the main family room. His house is sort of
like mine, but the front area is more open. So, as you walk in, it
is one big room. That’s where you will see his mom. Her name is
Diana. When you see her, say ‘Hi Diana’ and keep walking forward
toward the hall on the right. Tell her you just came to pick up
your homework from yesterday. If she’s dressed tell her she looks
nice.”

“Wait,” I said, “you mean she might not be
dressed?”

“No, she’ll be dressed, but she might be in
her pajamas. She knows me well enough that it doesn’t bother her if
I see her in her pajamas. They’re not revealing.”

“Okay, so knock three times, open the door,
say hi to Nancy,”

“Diana!”

“Right,” I corrected, “Diana. Tell her she
looks nice if she is dressed, and continue walking forward toward
the hall on the right. What next?”

“If she says anything more, tell her a friend
drove you over here and you don’t want to keep them waiting. Then
make a right down the hall and make your first right. That is
Mike’s room. Just barge in. That’s what he does to me, and that’s
what I do to him. I can’t promise what you’ll see when you walk in,
just be prepared for anything.”

“I’m not going into his room if he’s
naked.”

“He’s not going to be naked, but he will
probably be in underwear and his room will probably be a mess. Oh
and he has posters of girls on his walls.”

“Classy,” I said.

“Yeah, well I never said he was classy, but
once you get to know him, he’s a good friend.”

“Okay, then what.”

“Mike and I don’t talk like you and I talk.
Call him Mike or dude. Don’t be too proper. He will wonder what’s
up with you, and he’ll probably tease you.”

“Nice,” I said.

“Look, he’ll probably be sleeping still. Just
go in there and say something like ‘Mike…dude where’s my homework.
Did you get it like I asked?’ He’ll probably tell you where it is.
Say thanks, grab the homework, and say goodbye to Diana as you
leave. Easy, right?”

“Yeah, easy.” Why do I see lots of potential
for problems here?

He pulled up to what must be Mike’s house and
parked in the driveway. He left the engine running. “I could go in
with you,” he said, turning to face me.

“No!” I said with emphasis. “After yesterday,
I don’t want him getting any ideas about why I am at his
house.”

“Right. I will wait in the car, but you
shouldn’t be in there for more than five minutes, and that’s really
pushing it. If you’re not out in five minutes, I’m going to knock
on the door.”

“I won’t be,” I said confidently.

“Last thing…what’s his mom’s name?” he
quizzed.

“Diana.”

“Good. Say it like you’ve known her forever,
and not like the first time you’ve greeted her.”

“Got it. Wish me luck.”

“Luck.”

I walked up the driveway, down the short walk
to the front door. I paused for a minute to gather my courage. Okay
Nicole. Let’s see how good of an actress you can be.

I knocked three quick knocks on the door and
opened it to the see the main room. I walked in and saw what I
guessed was Mike’s mom peek out from the kitchen. “Hi Jake. I’m
getting ready to make breakfast. Are you hungry?”