She looked at me for a moment and then nodded, handing the stone back over to me. "Is there anything you'd like to add?"
I thought about it for a moment. Karyn had made several wishes now, and altered several aspects of my life without my consent. I'd honestly never thought her capable of doing something like this. She'd always seemed rather caring, and concerned about others. Possibly, without doing anything too terrible, I thought, I should punish her a little. I thought about Karyn's life. It was true that she had altered her own just as much as she'd altered mine, but it had been completely consensual on her end. Even though I was accepting what she'd done, I still felt she should be taught a little bit of a lesson. Then it came to me. Something that wouldn't cause any long term negative effects, but something that would possibly make her think twice about wishing like that again.
I held the stone close to me, closed my eyes and made my wish. "I wish that, for the next seven days, Karyn and I were both smokers." After the flash of light, it was her turn to shoot me a surprised look. "I also wish," I continued that we wouldn't have to worry about the long term negative effects. I wish that we wouldn't be affected by any of the cancers, or diseases or conditions that you can get from smoking." Another flash of light, and another surprised look. Of course, this one was bordering on evil. I'd thought briefly about only applying the wish to Karyn, but that wouldn't have been very fair. After all, everything she'd done to me with the stone, she'd done to herself as well. "Now, for the finishing touch," I went right on, before she could say anything. "I wish that we both had a pack of cigarettes that wouldn't run out until the seven days is up, and a lighter." The familiar light flashed before our eyes, and I added another stipulation, "I also wish that our friends and family were aware of our addictions, and happy or not, didn't prevent us from indulging." After this flash of light, Karyn looked like she was about ready to pounce on me and tear me to shreds.
"Jon! How could you!" She looked livid. Her eyes were on fire, and I couldn't help but think that only a few minutes ago, I would have found this passion extremely attractive. Now, it didn't really phase me. "You know how I feel about smoking!" she continued. "It's disgusting!"
"How you felt," I corrected her. "I'm pretty sure you're probably okay with it now." It was my turn to smile. "Look Karyn, you did all of these things to me without even asking. When we talked about swapping something, I really had no idea what you had in mind. I have to say I might have objected. Of course I'm relatively okay with it right now, but that might just be an effect of the wish itself. Whether I wanted it or not, I'm gay now, and I'm not sure I even know how to not be okay with that." I paused, and it looked like she was calming down a little.
"You know what," she said with a rather frightening smile, "Fine Jon. You're right, it's just for seven days, and we don't have to deal with the negative health concerns, so... Fine. I'll deal with it." She still didn't seem happy about it.
"That's the spirit," I told her. "Sometimes," I said in a cruel imitation of her, "You're just no fun Karyn." I shook my head and gave her a rather condescending smile.
I watched for a moment as she fumbled in the purse she'd set on the floor. She finally pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She pulled one of the cylinders out of the cardboard packaging, placed it between her lips and lit it. I watched her take a drag and exhale.
"It's actually not so bad," she said. I walked over and opened the window. I picked my own smokes up off the computer desk, lit one and sat back down.
"I wish we had an ashtray," I said. Flash of light, and a small white ashtray was sitting on the bed between us. "Anyway," I told her, "You're always going on about how people should quit smoking, and giving them grief about it. I've never smoked before either, but at least I accept the fact that it might not be that easy for some people to quit. You, on the other hand, don't. You think they should be able to do it one, two, three. Maybe this will help you understand that better." I had a flash of insight and smiled, "It'll give you a fresh perspective."
"Ha ha," she told me, flicking her ashes. I took a drag and watched her for a moment. It really was remarkable, I thought. I'd spent the last several years of my life pining over her in secret and now... Well, now I could sit here and talk to her, and be around her without that feeling of longing weighing down on my chest.
"So," she said after a few minutes, stubbing out her cigarette, "I think we've probably made plenty of wishes for one night, and it's getting kind of late so I should probably be heading home." Karyn looked at me for a moment, her eyes scrutinizing my own. "You should probably bring the stone to school tomorrow, just in case things get out of hand. Otherwise, I think we should keep the wishing to a minimum for the next week."
I nodded back at her. "I agree. I think for the moment, we should wait and see what kind of damage we've done already." I smirked, hoping that she took it in a much lighter way than I felt it.
"It'll be fine Jon," she told me as she approached my bedroom door. I had to wonder. I watched her go, and thought about the wishes we'd just made, and how insane this entire thing was. I looked out the window, lighting another cigarette as I watched her make her way home. I really hoped that she was right, that this would be nothing more than a little fun, and that once it was over, we'd both have a good laugh about it. I couldn't quite make myself believe it.
It was a few minutes later when I heard my fourteen year old sister Zoe call up the stairs, "Jon! Dinner's ready!" I left the window open to air out the room, and made my way out into the house, wondering if I would notice any differences...
