CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Corey
Nora emerged from the bathroom in my grey pyjama pants and a black shirt. ‘I’m going to check my work emails and make sure no one has recognised anything weird about us there either.’
I didn’t respond, unsure of whether to give her a heads up about my conversation with Mark on Friday. With any luck, her new contract was already in her inbox.
Her teeth sank into her lip, the nervous habit I’d noticed when she raised her hand in class. The little heart in my body raced as her gaze bounced around the screen. She gasped. ‘Oh my god.’
I pressed my lips together to stop them from rising.
‘An email from Mark. He never emails me. What did you do? We’re screwed.’
My fingers twitched for a pencil and paper. I verged on passing out from the dizzying excitement and needed to channel everything into my sketchpad.
‘Wait, what? Congratulations on my new pay rise?’ She looked up to me with my grey eyes, conjuring her own astonished sparkle in them.
She gave me the kind of smile that punched deep in my stomach, and I’d never felt more satisfied than right now. The confusing upturn of her lips from the way she’d injected her own personal Nora touch to my smile.
‘Good for you. You deserved it,’ I told her.
She looked back to the screen and clicked and tapped away. ‘You did this? You got me a pay rise? How much? Was it a—?’
Her gaze bounced between me and the screen, her lips moving but no words coming out. I wasn’t sure what she looked at, but it seemed like a good guess that it would be the new figure in her contract.
‘Holy shit, that’s an impressive pay rise,’ she shrieked with my deep voice.
I shrugged, because I couldn’t decide what to say when all I could focus on was how much joy it brought me to make her this happy. Her arms were moving all over the place, unable to decide what to do with the energy running through them.
‘Don’t shrug at me, this is a big deal. I can’t believe you did this.’ She bounced on the couch like an excited child.
‘Stop jumping before you break a spring in the couch with my weight. The opportunity presented itself, so I simply pushed for the best possible outcome. You’ve been worth that amount for a long time. They’re lucky I didn’t insist on back pay.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Well, consider it a mutual benefit. If I’m going to be stuck in your body, I don’t want to earn shit pay.’
Nora winced and I wished I could snatch the words back and rinse them down the sink.
‘I’m kidding. We’re going to switch bodies back, and you’re going to continue earning what you should have been earning all along. Maybe I will work on getting you that back pay after all.’
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish. Eventually, she shook her head and grinned. Since getting naked with my feelings and letting her into my family life, I decided to test the waters by sharing more of my problems.
‘Hey, Nora, did you know everyone at work likes you?’ I asked.
Nora lifted her shoulders and stared at me through the blue-framed glasses I rarely wore. ‘Well, not everybody. But yeah, I get along with almost everyone at work.’
‘But they like, really like you. You’re like the beating heart of that place, the morale everywhere needs for good work culture. Nobody at work feels that way about me.’ I frowned. ‘If I get my body back—’
Nora held her palm to my face. ‘When.’
‘Right. When I get my body back, I want to do better.’ I didn’t like my job, and no one else seemed to like me there. I was in a vicious cycle where none of us were coming out on top.
A smile peeled across her face like the opening of a zipper.
She tightened her fists and gave a few delicate air punches in front of her chest. It was almost cute, and I didn’t like how much joy it brought me to see her proud of me.
The smile she wore on my face was one I hadn’t seen since I was a child.
The realisation gutted me. Had it really been that long since I’d been truly happy?
‘Yeah, yeah.’ I rolled my eyes at her.
‘Well, when I get my body back, I’m going to quit.’ She gave one decisive nod.
My mouth dropped open. ‘But I got you a kickass pay rise.’
‘That’s it, Corey. Everything you and my mum said earlier?
I hate to say it, but you guys were right.
This proves they haven’t cared about me all along.
I kept thinking if I worked hard enough, they’d see how valuable I was.
It probably shouldn’t have taken me this long to realise how invaluable I was.
I mean, look how much they were underpaying me! ’
I wanted to shove a coat hanger under her shirt to prop up her drooping shoulders. I wanted to be that coat hanger. She wilted like a flower that had been sitting in a vase too long. I rested my hand against her back. ‘You’re valuable. Maybe they don’t realise it, but you are.’
She twisted to face me, red-rimmed eyes holding back tears. ‘I’m sorry, I’m grateful for the pay rise. It’s just, well…’ She threw her hands in the air, and they landed with one on her leg and one on mine.
Hairs prickled my neck, and my insides squeezed like a snake slithering through and coiling around my chest. ‘Nora.’ My voice turned hoarse.
‘Seeing everything through your eyes – literally – has changed everything. But now I’m not even me, so I can’t change what I want to change.’
I didn’t know what she thought she needed to change, because if I’d learned anything from being her, it’s that she was already pretty darn perfect. Weird style and all. ‘What would you change if you could?’
Her fingers twitched, the reminder of their presence sending goosebumps across my skin. For once, I was grateful not to have a flesh announcement between my legs screaming I’m getting horny.
‘I’d be more assertive, like you.’
‘You mean arrogant?’ I teased.
Nora tilted her chin back and laughed, a little glimpse of the old her coming back.
‘You’re not arrogant. I was being harsh. If I’d spoken up, maybe I would have gotten that promotion after all. Being a people-pleaser has gotten me nowhere.’
I shook my head with a response I’d never been more sure about in my life. ‘You never would have gotten that promotion, no matter what.’
Nora snatched her hand from my leg, leaving a cold empty space behind. I grabbed her hand before she could abandon the couch.
‘I mean it as a compliment. Mark chose Freddie because he wanted a mini him, which you’re obviously not. You’re too good for him. You’ve got drive and enthusiasm. You’re a team player, a dreamer, a goal kicker.’
‘Another compliment from Corey Flemmington. Who would have thought moments like this would be in my future?’ Nora slid her hand from mine and twisted her fingers together until they cracked.
My hand cupped hers, and every nerve in my body froze, waiting to see what I’d do next. ‘Stop, you’ll break my fingers.’
Nora shifted her gaze to my mouth. ‘Then you should stop biting that lip.’
She pulled one hand from mine and brushed her fingers across my lips with a tenderness that jump-started my nerves.
Close enough to feel the warmth of her breath, her head tilted in a way I’d seen her do time and time again.
Despite staring at what was essentially my face in front of me, I could only recognise Nora’s soul.
Her gaze lingered on my lips, so I leaned closer.
The rise and fall of her chest increased, and she glanced to my eyes.
My fingers grazed her cheek, lingering and soaking in the intimacy.
When her eyes closed, I leaned forward until my lips brushed against hers.
My chest tightened at the thrill, and goosebumps raced down my arms, but without being able to see her Nora traits, our kiss confused me.
Her lips were large, and the stubble on her chin grazed mine.
Nora was in my mind, but the touch of our kiss was dead grass in a forest. Misplaced, jumbled, a serial killer in a romance novel.
I was kissing myself, and not even Nora’s soul could remove that reality.
I pulled back as she opened her eyes, creases lining her forehead. She shook her head and avoided my gaze.
‘Sorry,’ she whispered.
‘Don’t apologise, we got caught up. That’s all.’ I wished that was all.
I’d wanted that kiss more than I could ever explain to her, but in these bodies, it wasn’t right. I turned away, tormented by the evidence in front of me that Nora wasn’t her.
‘It’s a shame the kiss didn’t switch us back.’ She tried to lighten the mood.
‘You don’t think we need to, you know…’ I glanced between our groins.
‘No!’ Nora jumped to her feet. ‘God, I hope not. I couldn’t, and, anyway, if it didn’t work, then what?
Do we give up? Do we live out our lives in each other’s bodies?
Does it mean I’d be part of the LGBT community?
I’ve probably missed some, I can never remember all the letters of the acronym.
I can barely remember the extra ‘r’ in February.
But I can’t be part of their community if I can’t spell the acronym correctly, can I?
I should have shown more support during Pride Month.
Hung a flag from my balcony or something. Maybe I could—’
‘Nora.’ I climbed to my feet to meet her eyes. ‘Would you chill out for a second?’
I grabbed her hands as she took a deep breath.
I wouldn’t crush her dreams yet, but I needed to come to terms with reality.
Switching back wasn’t going to happen. At least, not any time soon, which was a hell of a lot more depressing now that I realised I could have something really special with her.
I’d never shared so much of my life with someone, and Nora had taken it all in her stride.
Literally. Walking through my life and accepting that this was me.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. ‘It’s going to be fine. Either the umbrella is going to show up again, or it’s got nothing to do with it, and we’ll wake in our own bodies at some point. I don’t know how it works or why, I only know it’s going to be okay.’
What I really meant was, as long as we’re together it’s going to be okay.