We swung by Nick's home, and I briefly chatted with his parents. I was able to do some quick thinking and explained my situation to his parents. He seemed keen on hanging out with me, and while it was mostly in line with what I had said at the Arcade, I couldn't help but feel he was sensing some bullshit.
Nonetheless, we found ourselves later that evening stretched out in my living room with various snacks, drinks, and pizza boxes. His console was rigged to the TV, and we were playing games between joking and goofing around. Truth be told, I was settling really nicely into this charade. Being young just felt... right, but even more, I felt good as this kid. Dustin felt less like a mask, and more like someone I could have been. Maybe there was a swirling of identities, the person Dustin actually was, and an idealized version of myself at this age. It was working though, because Nick seemed to be having a good time.
As the night wore on, we cycled through different games, and eventually we ended up sitting real close somehow on the couch. The game I was playing was a single player one he wanted me to try out. I was riding a horse through some pleasant grassy plains, and the music was a somber, peaceful melody that was accentuated only by the sounds of wind and animals in the game world. I was relaxing, when suddenly I felt Nick's knee press against mine. At first I thought it was an accident, and I brushed it off, continuing to roam the fantasy world on horseback.
A few moments later, his knee pressed against mine again and linger. It felt warm, despite his knobbly, bony knee being quite pronounced through his skin. He was only wearing shorts. I glanced over, and saw he was blushing, but kind of eyeing me. It dawned on me what he was doing, and a rush of conflicting emotions came over me. I was more than three times his senior in reality. But in this body... I wasn't. And I wasn't attracted to folks his age as myself. But again, the feelings that overcame me felt less like my true-self, and more like what I had sensed before. That when I'm in someone else's body, I'm not actually me OR them. I'm a mixture. And if I'm not me...
I paused the game and turned to Nick. "There's something I need to tell you."
He looked aghast. "Oh shit, look... I'm sorry I just thought that maybe I had sensed you were-"
"No, wait. You aren't entirely wrong. But there's something about me... something impossible that I need you to understand before we continue. Because I'm not sure if you'll want to keep going when I tell you." I blurted, cutting him off.
"Ok. I'm all ears." Nick said, his curiosity showing in his bright green eyes.
"I'm not actually who you think I am." I explained. "I mean, this-" I pointed at my teen body. "-this is not my real body."
An unexpected expression washed over Nick's face. He almost seemed elated. He then said: "I don't understand."
"I found these socks... err- magic socks. I know how that sounds, crazy as hell. But bear with me. When I put these shoes on over the socks, they turned me into this kid, who I've been calling 'Dustin.'" I gestured at the converses and then at my face.
"I don't think I believe you..." Nick said, his tone sounding skeptical. "You should show me, that's what would help I suppose."
"Good idea!" I exclaimed. "I'll be right back!"
I ran upstairs, leaving Nick with a quizzical expression seated on my couch. I grabbed the socks from their hiding place, and brought them down to Nick, who surprisingly had pulled his shoes off and put them on the table in front of him.
"Here they are!" I brandished them. Nick seemed to give them a fleeting look of absolute lust, but before I knew it, he was looking unimpressed so far.
"If it's true, I want you to try my shoes on and turn into me. I feel like this is some sort of scam, dude." He said, shrugging.
"I'm telling you the truth. I'll show you." I grabbed his shoes, and ripped off the converses and plain socks. Before long, I was morphing into Nick's body.
As I settled into his form, I realized his eyesight was pretty bad, most of the room got pretty blurry. But I saw him doing something before I felt his hands pushing me over. I was surprised, and before I knew it, he yanked off my untied shoes and pulled the socks off too. "Nick, what the hell!" I said in his higher pitched, nasally voice.
"You'll see soon enough." And as I pulled myself up, feeling the clothes were somewhat looser on his incredibly thin, fey body, I saw the blurry form of Nick dart into the nearby bathroom.
"Hey, what the hell is going on!" I shouted, trying to yank the door open. He had it locked, but I knew if I got a paperclip I could push the lock open through the hole. I pulled open some of the junk drawers in the kitchen, and by the time I was able to find an object I could use, much harder when my vision was super blurry, the bathroom actually opened up.
"Here, you're going to need these." Nick said, tauntingly. He pushed his pair of glasses into my hands, which I donned. Looking up, I was staring into my face... or rather, "Dustin's."
"What the hell man!" I barked. "Give me the socks back and let's fix this."
"Actually, 'Nick' I don't think so." He said menacingly. Let me explain, and I'll be succinct because you'll want to get home before midnight. You aren't the first person to discover those socks. In fact, these babies-" He gestures to his feet, with the socks peeking out from the converses- "caused me a great deal of trouble before. I'm guessing you are actually your so-called 'uncle,' right? Well, I tried a con like that before. I messed around and turned into all sorts of people, and had a lot of fun goofing off, dipping my toes into other peoples lives." He paced as he told his story.
"Well, I got too cocky one time, and tried to infiltrate a family. I wanted to take this sort of fantasy as far as I could. I took the place of this boy you are now. Nick, as I would discover, was a far more wily opponent than I expected. I had secretly stolen into his room one night, and placed the socks on his feet, and shoes of my original body on him too. I needed someone to fill that role, because as you can guess... a disappearance would raise questions. Questions that a teen boy probably wouldn't be able to answer, at least not adequately to police who would no doubt think the magic socks a hoax. And I needed to keep them... I had no intention of being the nerdy boy forever. I just wanted to... play the role for a time."
I edged towards the kitchen counter, the drawer with the knives.
"Well, he awoke as he morphed into the fat, sad, old body of mine. He freaked out though, and unlike how I thought the meek, cowardly boy would act, he actually punched me... knocked me out! Well, in the commotion, his parents woke up and saw this old man, my body, standing over their precious child, and next thing I know... I'm waking up being tended to by the paramedics and seeing him carted off to prison. The socks, I believed, would be lost to the criminal justice system, and never be seen by my eyes again. This was two years ago. I was just about to get used to his life... well, until I saw you!"
"Me?" I spluttered, still discretely moving for a weapon.
"Yes. At first, I truly had no idea. Your face was turned away from me. But as I drew closer, I was startled to see the long dead face of my real life nephew. You see... these shoes belonged to my sisters son, who 5 or so years ago died in a car crash. His mother must have sold some of his clothing to goodwill or donated it, whatever. But of all the impossibilities... you not only found the socks somehow sold back into the public, but also just happened to turn into someone only I, among few others, would possibly recognize... It seems fate plays with loaded dice. And has lead me to here."
"And what do you plan on doing with me now?" I asked, fingers gingerly closing on the handle to the knife drawer.
"Well, it's up to you and how quietly you go. Will you silently accept your new life as Nick Sinclair? Or do I need to silence you in a more violent way?" He threatened, drawing closer now...
It was at this moment I decided to...