Jon had to remind himself that, from this Karyn’s perspective, he’d never been to her house before. He let her feed him directions in the car as though he didn’t know where to go. He obediently followed her through her house, even though he knew exactly where everything was. And he suppressed the urge to comment on the changes to Karyn’s bedroom.
About half of it was as he’d remembered. But the vanity was new. And the cheerleading poster was new. And half of the clothes were new. Was all of this part of the same phenomenon that was making Karyn change personalities? Were physical objects changing, as well?
“I hope you’re not too banged up from this morning,” Karyn strolled languidly over to her closet. “I’ve got plans for you tonight.”
She pulled out a long T-shirt that was on a coat hanger. Jon recognized it as one that Karyn often wore as pajamas. It came all the way down to her knees, in her signature green, with a cute drawing of a red panda on the front.
But in Karyn’s hands it shifted and shrank, and it turned black and sheer until it was a short little negligee trimmed in lace.
Karyn didn’t react, as though the garment had always been a see-through black negligee. But Jon let out a squeak at the sight, and had to stumble out an excuse for the noise. It was the first time since the host had asked about a reservation that he felt un-suave. Not in control.
Karyn stepped over to a drawer and pulled out some items that matched the black lace of the negligee. Jon had a feeling that they had looked different when they were still in the drawer.
Karyn gave Jon a look that he had never seen on her face before and said “I’ll be right back. You just stay here and… make yourself comfortable.”
Jon could only stare in shock as his best friend in the whole world, the girl he’d grown up with, that he knew better than his own siblings, slunk back to her bedroom door with a sway to her hips that was giving him stirrings downstairs, as she drew her fingers across the white-painted wall and a pastel pink pigment began to spread out from wherever she touched.
She gave Jon a furtive glance as she snuck out the door, and Jon was left to watch as the white paint continued its retreat, until all four walls and the ceiling were a girly pink color that the original Karyn would have hated.
