Yay for updates! I'm actually really happy with this chapter, and I hope that you all like it too. Please read, review, and enjoy :D!
Chapter Eleven: A Rude Awakening
"Luke…Luke…" A voice whispered in my ear.
"Uhhh, mom, a few more minutes…" I grumbled, turning away from the voice and rewrapping myself in Luke's heavy covers.
"Mom? Luke, your mom's been dead for years." Dead…Mom…Luke?
My eyes quickly snapped open in realization, and I found myself face to face with Bo, Luke's fellow carpenter.
"Bo! G-good morning! Sorry about that, I, um, must've been still asleep." I chuckled nervously, wondering how much I might've given away in my half-awake mumblings.
"Luke, are you feeling alright?" He questioned me, looking skeptical.
"W-what makes you think I wouldn't be alright, buddy?"
"Well, first of all, when you finally got home last night, you were really…quiet."
"But I—" I tried to get a word in, but Bo continued. Obviously, he was used to Luke trying to interrupt him.
"You're never quiet, Luke. It was actually pretty creepy." He said, almost seeming to shiver at the thought of Luke being quiet. And Bo did have a point; I hadn't been overly chipper when I'd arrived at Luke's house. In fact, all I'd wanted to do was collapse onto a bed and sleep. And that's what I did almost immediately; I hadn't bothered with pleasantries.
"Secondly, you didn't wake me up at precisely 6:03 this morning. You've been doing that every day since we were kids. Care to explain?" Luke woke Bo up at 6:03 every single morning? Wow, I don't know how on Earth Bo managed to put up with that. It sounded like a special form of torture.
"Ah, Bo! That's just like you, always reading into things." I laughed, hoping to drive him and his questions away. It didn't work. Bo kept staring at me, waiting for a proper explanation. Trying to act unbothered, I continued.
"Well, I guess have been feeling a bit off ever since the night in the woods thing." I threw Bo a bone, hoping that he'd take it for what it was worth and leave me alone. He sighed, finally realizing that he wasn't going to get much more out of me.
"Okay, Luke. Whatever you say. Just…feel better, will you?"
I gave him my best Luke grin and hopped up from the bed. "I will! Gee, thanks for caring so much, Bo. You're the best carpenter brother buddy a boy could ever have!" I then pulled him into a bone crushing, Luke-ish hug. I could feel Bo's muscles relax under my squeeze, and knew that I was officially in the clear. For now, anyway.
Pulling away from the brotherly hug, I smiled at him again. "You go down and tell Pops I'll be there in a little while." Bo nodded, and went down the stairs. As soon as he was gone, I fell back onto the bed in a relieved heap. That was a close call…who knew that Bo was so darn observant! I didn't know him well, but the impression that he left on most of the village was that of a quiet, sensitive boy who would rather keep to himself. However, if what had just happened was anything to go off of, it appeared that Bo was a lot more intelligent and perceptive than he let on. And he knew Luke like the back of his hand. I made future note to be especially Luke-like when I was around Bo.
Getting up from bed, and wishing nothing more than to stay in bed all day long, I pondered what to do next. Having to be someone else felt like playing a video game; too many wrong steps, and I'd fall through a trap door.
I looked down at my outfit, which consisted of Luke's usual ripped brown vest, white muscle shirt, guy jeans (which, I'd noticed while wearing them, were much baggier than girl jeans), his shark tooth necklace, and, atop my head, the trademark flaming bandana. As Luke had been wearing the same outfit when we were in the woods, and I'd woken up in the clinic yesterday wearing it, it was safe to assume that the clothes had been on the body I was residing in for at least two days. Which meant that they definitely needed to be washed.
And apparently, the clothes weren't the only things that needed to be washed. I lifted up an arm, and sniffed curiously. My arm went down almost immediately, and I could feel my nose wrinkling in disgust.
Ugh, I smell like...male!
There was no way around it, a shower was in order.
I walked over to Luke's dresser, and rifled through the drawers until I found something suitable to wear. It was pretty much the outfit that I already had on, except that the muscle shirt became a red t-shirt, the vest became a green and black jacket, and the fire on the bandana changed from yellow to blue. Not a huge difference at all, really.
Cautiously, I entered the bathroom, fearing what I might see. In a house with three guys and no ladies, who knew what the condition of the bathroom would be like?
It wasn't clean, that's for sure. But it wasn't terrible either; nothing a bit of tidying up couldn't fix. The floor was tiled, but there were several shirts and shorts strewn across it. The countertop featured several different toothbrushes, a few opened tubes of toothpaste, some used hand cloths, and what looked like a squished beetle. The toilet seat, of course, was up.
I walked farther and looked into the mirror, still startled to find Luke's face looking back at me instead of my own. One couldn't possibly imagine how strange it is to look in a mirror and not see the same reflection that you've been seeing for years.
I stared the Luke in the mirror directly in the eyes. He stared right back at me. I blinked, and he blinked too. I smiled, and suddenly Luke looked overjoyed. I put a hand to my face, and traced down my jaw line, watching intently as he did the same. I could feel the prickle of stubble beneath my hand. This is so strange…
A loud voice interrupted my thoughts. "Luke! Are you going to spend all day admiring yourself in the mirror? Get the shower running, and come on down! Before the pancakes get cold!" I immediately tensed up. How did he know? Suddenly paranoid, I took a quick glance around the bathroom to make sure that there weren't any security cameras. Results were negative, so I assumed that Dale had just made a lucky guess.
"Sorry Pops! I'll be down soon!" I shouted, relieved that I wasn't being spied on, and resolving to save making faces in the mirror for later.
I knew that it was time to face the inevitable. Hesitantly, I pulled Luke's vest and shirt over my head, and let them fall onto the floor in a pile. I'd intended not to look in the mirror, but curiosity got the best of me, so I turned around.
Even though I didn't like him all that much, as he was annoying, nosy, and undoubtedly obnoxious (although my opinion may have changed a bit since the switch…maybe), I couldn't help but admire the shirtless boy that I saw in the mirror. Luke's skin was consistently, beautifully tan. His abs were absolute perfection, probably because of all that axe swinging he did. He had the type of figure that, properly shown off on a beach, would undoubtedly make girls swoon.
My eyes travelled upward slightly to the bandana that was still on my head. I couldn't remember ever seeing Luke without a bandana, and my guess was that everyone else in Castanet would probably say the same. Luke without a bandana was like cake without frosting.
Hmmm, I wonder…
Carefully, I began to untie and remove the bandana. I did it slowly because, oddly enough, removing the bandana felt like I was removing an integral part of what made Luke who he was. I almost expected to see a secret bald spot or horns protruding from my head or something else strange and hidden. But there was nothing like that; just more thick, long, blue hair. Still, it was a weird sight.
I then looked down and gulped nervously. This is one thing that I won't be looking in the mirror for. Closing my eyes, I unzipped jeans, removed boxers, and sighed.
Now that that was done with, I stepped into the shower and turned the temperature dial to the spot in the warm section that I usually liked it. Water started pouring out of the showerhead above me, but, weirdly enough, it felt cool. I waited a few minutes, wondering if it was just in the process of warming up, but there was no change in temperature. Hmmm…maybe Luke's shower is different than mine is? I thought, and turned up the dial a little bit higher. Nope, still too cold.
It was then that I decided to observe the dial more closely. There were two words embossed in the metal ring surrounding the dial; one reading warm, and one reading cold. Upon looking again, however, I noticed that a third label had been added on scotch tape at the top of the warm section. In Luke's messy scrawl, it read, "EXTREMELY HOT :D!"
I winced for a moment, remembering a time that I'd accidentally turned my own shower dial up that far and how it was so hot that it hurt my skin. I didn't know how Luke could deal with the temperature that high! Then something occurred to me; I had eaten like Luke the previous night, because I had his stomach and, therefore, his appetite. Would I want to shower at the same temperature as Luke usually did, because I had his skin? Hmmm…it's worth a shot. I turned up the dial all the way, so that it was pointing directly at "EXTREMELY HOT :D!".
The water changed temperature almost immediately, going straight from way too cool to just right. The scalding hot water splattered against my back, feeling like perfection. I couldn't help but laugh; it figured that Luke liked to take showers with the most extreme temperature possible.
I washed blue hair thoroughly with shampoo (which was quite odd, seeing as Luke's hair is actually longer than mine is). I then moved onto washing everything else, focusing every bit of energy that I possessed on looking forward the entire time.
Stepping out of the shower proudly (as I had succeeded in not once looking down), I grabbed the only cleanish looking towel in the room and wrapped it around my waist.
I brushed out Luke's hair, as he'd instructed me to, so that it would come out knotless when it was dried. I then got dressed, which was much easier than getting undressed. Bandana on my head once more, I grabbed Luke's axe and ran down the stairs, trying to look eager as I imagined Luke would.
"Good morning, Pops! Hey Bo Bro! I hope I'm not too late." I shouted to them. Bo, who was sitting at a small wooden table and chewing a pancake, nodded at me in acknowledgement. When I spotted Dale, I almost laughed out loud. He was standing in the kitchen, flipping pancakes, wearing a frilly apron and oven mitts. Seeing the gruff carpenter in cooking attire was definitely not something most people would be able imagine without cracking up.
But, for the first time since becoming Luke, I restrained myself. Everyone in town knew of Dale's situation. Since his wife died, he'd become stressed and overworked. It was understandable, seeing as how he had to fulfill both the father and mother role in the lives of Luke and Bo. I had often seen him drinking in the bar, drowning in his sorrows to somber music.
Quite contrast to those bar nights, Dale was presently grinning broadly at who he thought was his son. "Nope! You aren't late; in fact, you're right on time. Second batch of pancakes is just being finished, all for you." On cue, he handed me a plate filled with piled up pancakes. At first I was intimidated by the amount, but I remembered my last dinner and knew that I could handle it.
One by one, the pancakes disappeared off of my plate and into my mouth. I was completely oblivious to anything else in the world besides those pancakes; they were phenomenal. Who knew that carpenters could also be great cooks? I was just finishing up, when Dale looked at me kind of oddly.
"Why, Luke! You haven't taken any maple syrup!" he said, apparently surprised at me.
"Oh, maple syrup isn't my favorite," I told him. "It's a little too sweet for my tastes."
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Your tastes? Since when do you have tastes? "
Oh, Goddess. "Ahaha, what I mean is, I'm just not really in the mood for syrup today, Pops." I tried to explain, with a bright smile on my face. I found that Luke's oversized smile always found its way straight into the heart of those who received it. It was just so…innocent, so blissfully happy. You couldn't help but be content and understanding when you saw Luke smile. And, now that I possessed such a skill as Luke did, I made sure to take full advantage of it.
Dale looked at me with slight concern for a few more seconds before the smile got to him, and he couldn't help but smile back. Success!
"Well, alright. If you've developed so called 'tastes', I guess I can deal with it." He said. "As far as work today goes, Bo, I've assigned you to make the rocking chair that Mira ordered. If you could get it down by evening, then I'm sure she'd be appreciative." In a flash, the warmhearted Dale that had made me breakfast had vanished. He became all business.
Bo nodded in understanding of his instructions. "Yes, sir. I'll be on it!"
"And, Luke, I want you to chop down some more trees in Fugue Forest. Ramsey's just put in an order for a whole dining room set; table, chairs, the works. I want to make sure we have adequate supplies."
"Aye aye, Pops!" I said, saluting. It seemed like the kind of thing Luke would do in the situation.
Bo and I sat there at the table, waiting to receive any more instruction. "Well, what are you boys doing? Get moving!"
And, without further ado, Bo and I jumped up from our seats and dashed out the door.