"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.
At first, as I made my way cautiously down the steps and into the kitchen, nothing seemed to have changed at all. My mother was in the act of setting plates down on the table. She looked up and smiled at me.
"Hungry?" She asked warmly.
I nodded. "Actually, I kind of am," I told her walking over to my customary seat. Everybody was here. Zoe, my fourteen year old Goth sister was sitting next to me looking vaguely annoyed at the world. Nothing different there. Next to her sat my younger brother Mikey. He was already starting in on his mashed potatoes and completely oblivious to anything that was going on that didn't concern his food. Next to him sat my father, and I think I noticed the first signs that something was up when I looked at him. I smiled lightly, and he simply nodded and started in on his pork chop. The look he gave me was almost cold.
"Alright, dig in," Mom said, despite the fact that almost everybody was already in the act of eating their dinners. She sat down between my father and me at the round table and started dishing up her own potatoes and pork chops. She looked at me. "So, how was school today Jon?" she asked casually.
I finished the bite I was already eating before I spoke. If there was one thing my mom could do really well, it was cook. Finally I started in, "It was alright. It's always a little weird going back after break, but I think I'm starting to fall back into the swing of things."
She smiled and nodded, taking her own bite before she continued, "And how is Karyn doing? I saw her leave a little while ago, but she didn't really stop to say hi. Is everything alright with her?"
I nodded. "She's doing fine," I told her, "She was just in a hurry to get back home."
"You know," my father said, looking up from his meal, "Karyn's a nice young girl, and you guys have been hanging out together since grade school." He smiled, and it was a smile I recognized. It was the smile he always gave out when he was about to say something that he wanted everybody else to take as casual. It most definitely wouldn't be casual though. I steeled myself. "I'm surprised nothing ever happened between the two of you."
I closed my eyes for a moment. It was probably an effect of the wish, but I could almost remember having this same conversation with him several times.
I heard my mother whisper, "Bill, don't."
"What?" My father asked. When I opened my eyes it was apparent that he was trying to appear innocent. "I'm just saying..."
"Well," I told him, "Aside from the fact that Karyn doesn't like guys and I don't like girls..." I let the comment hang in the air. I'd never actually had this conversation with him before, but it felt like I had.
He shook his head. "You know this is just a phase the two of you are going through. The sooner you grow out of it the better."
"Bill," My mother said, "Now is not the time." She looked at me in an apologetic fashion. Glancing quickly around the table I found that the food on their plates had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world for Zoe and Mikey.
"Look," he continued, "I'm just saying..."
"You know," I told him, feeling suddenly defiant, "I didn't choose this. I didn't just wake up one day and say, 'you know what? I think I want to be gay'. It's who I am, okay." That much was true, to a certain extent anyway. After all, I certainly wasn't the one who'd said it.
I looked at him for a moment and stood up. "You know, I don't think I'm actually that hungry." I pushed my chair back in and walked back up to my room and shut the door, suddenly wondering where all of that anger was coming from.
After all, technically this was the first time I'd had that discussion. Before today, I'd never so much as thought about looking at another guy. Now though, it was like I'd lived two lives up to this point. The one where I was straight, and the one where I was gay. It seemed like I was having a difficult time differentiating between the two. It seemed though, and to be fair it had only been a little less than an hour since the wishes had been made, like I was being more and more affected by my alternate life. I laid down on the bed, put my Celine Dion CD in, and started to wonder how things were going with Karyn.
