Changes

“Well, I thought that I could just make one of those mazes where you train the mouse to find the cheese. It seems simple enough.” Jimmy answered.

“Ok, I understand.” I said nodding my head. “But where do you plan on getting a mouse for this thing?”

Walking over to a box covered in a blanket, Jimmy took the cover off to reveal a cage filled with a dozen mice. Not expecting this to happen at all I was quite surprised and actually let out an involuntary squeal. The first smile that Jimmy had ever shown graced his lips as he humored himself with my reaction.

“Do you not like mice Colie?”

“To be honest I wasn’t expecting you to have a cage full of them. Where the hell did you get them all Jimmy?” I asked very curious now.

“Syn’s friend had a snake who just kicked the bucket and these were left over food.”

“That makes sense. Wait, who is Syn?” I questioned again.

“Sorry, it’s Brian’s nickname.”

I figured that by asking another question it would only lead to more of them, so I decided to just pretend like I understood the whole nickname thing and let Jimmy get started on his project. He began by taking a wooden flat with a three inch high border and started gluing wooden slabs down to make the maze walls. Every now and then he would give me something to hold down for him while he set something else into place. Since he had started neither of us had said a word and shockingly Johnny hadn’t popped in on us yet.

“So Jimmy,” I said breaking the silence, “what do you plan on making the overall goal of your maze?”

“Ah, to see that if repeated attempts by the mouse can eventually speed up its time in the maze?” he said, almost asking me if it was alright.

“Nice one, that’ll be fine for the project.” I said smiling at him.

He glanced back down at his maze but I could still see the smirk he was trying to hide. The wood glue that he had used would take a while to dry thoroughly, so he silently motioned for me to follow him upstairs. When the basement door opened I heard a ruckus start which involved multiple people. This must happen quite a bit since Jimmy showed no concern towards the yelling and screaming. But then again, Jimmy really hasn’t showed that much concern for a lot of things from what I’ve been able to see. Trailing Jimmy I was led into a room at the opposite end of the house where the voices were coming from. I walked into the room to find the guys in a heated game of Mario Kart 64.

“Who the fuck is Princess Peach? She just dropped fifty fucking bananas in front of me!” Brian roared.

“Sorry Syn, you snooze you lose.” Matt said with a chuckle.

I sat on the couch next to Zacky and watched the rest of the race. Johnny ended up getting a lightning bolt that shrunk the other guys letting him win the race. A slight case of the giggles fell on me as I watched his little victory dance. Zacky glanced over at me quickly which turned into him doing a double take.

“Whoa, Colie, what a pleasant surprise.” Zacky said happily.

“Yeah, I forgot to mention that she is Jimmy’s Biology tutor.” Johnny informed quickly.

A collective ‘what the hell’ filled the room as all eyes fell on Jimmy who simply shrugged at the guys. Zacky just looked really bummed out.

“Not fair. How did Sullivan land the hot tutor? Last year I got some pimply Asian boy.” Zacky protested.

I’m pretty sure that my cheeks were on fire right now. Never in my life has someone called me hot and let alone said it to my face.

“Shit, Baker, way to embarrass the poor girl.” Matt said from his spot on the floor.

“Hey, I’m just saying what everyone else is obviously thinking.” he said in defense.

“Zack, just shut the hell up.” Jimmy ordered with a smirk as he leaned against the doorway.

“Fine then. Maybe Colie wants to ditch you losers and come watch me play guitar?” Zacky asked looking in my direction with hopefulness written in his eyes.

“Actually, I think that Jimmy and I should go back to his project so that we can finish it tonight.” I said hoping that I didn’t hurt his feelings.

“That’s cool, another time then.” he suggested.

I nodded to Zacky before I returned to the basement with Jimmy. The two of us slowly removed any support beams that we had put up so that the walls wouldn’t fall over.

“So, it seems that Mr. Baker has taken a liking to you. How does that make you feel?” he asked.

I stared wide eyed at Jimmy who actually spoke to me without any encouragement. Gazing into his eyes it was like he had blocked me off from reading any emotion in his face. I felt like there was a motive behind this question other then sheer curiosity. His claim that Zacky liked me struck me as odd. I never got a vibe from him that told me he was interested.

“Zacky’s nice and everything, but I don’t even know him. He seems to be very outgoing and direct and that is something that I’m not easily attracted to.” I said, surprised with how honest I was being with Jimmy.

He simply nodded without another word. A couple taps on the wood and we deemed it safe for the little white rodent to travel through it. Jimmy picked up the cage and dipped his hand in. His long pale fingers seemed to have trouble catching one to put in the maze. It was weird how the mice traveled in a group away from his fingers. The same reaction could be compared to trying to put magnets together but one was facing the wrong way. He seemed to be forcing the animals away from his touch.

“Wow, I take it animals aren’t too fond of you?” I asked quietly.

Sighing in defeat he handed the cage over to me so that I could give it a try. A few missed swipes later and I had finally managed to grasp one by the pink tail. I held it up in the air so that Jimmy could easily see my success.

“Show off.” he muttered.

The mouse just sat there once I had put him at the entrance of the maze. It possibly took a few steps had you paid close attention, but that was giving the creature the benefit of the doubt. A good twenty minutes had gone by and it was getting really late. My empty house was waiting for me.

“Well, Jimmy, it seems that that stupid mouse isn’t going to move anytime soon. I have to be heading home anyway.” I said getting up to leave.

“Fair enough. I’ll show you out.”

The moment Jimmy opened the front door a huge white streak of lightning cracked through the sky soon followed by the deafening boom of thunder. It was if someone poked a hole in the sky and every last drop of rain was falling to the ground. I looked outside smugly, not really wanting to go out there but I had to.

“See you tomorrow Jimmy.” I said and I hesitantly stepped toward the door.

“Wait a second Colie.” he said in a rush.

I turned around just inside the door frame and waited for Jimmy to continue.

*****************************************************************

LADIES AND, WELL, MORE LADIES!
WHAT WILL JIMMY SAY TO COLIE?

1. “Here’s an umbrella.”
2. “Let me walk with you.”
3. “Thanks for everything that you’re doing.”

PICK A WINNER!