It started out as a normal Saturday, anyway. I had discovered last Monday that I was out of my favorite orange nail polish, and I'd been looking forward all week to using it as an excuse to go shopping. I had invited a couple of coworkers to go to the new mall downtown, and we spent hours browsing from the clothes to the book store to toy gadgets. I didn't end up buying very much; the nail polish I wanted, plus a technical book on how cars work and a cute jacket.
"Hey, this was great!" Alice said. "Thanks so much for inviting me." Alice was the graphic designer at the small software company we worked at.
"Yes! I quite enjoyed the experience as well," Kim added. "It was nice to get out of the house." Kim was one of the two engineers working on our website; I'm the product manager for our little group. If you'd asked me at age 16 what I wanted to do when I grew up, I wouldn't have said "manage plans for new features on a period tracker app", but it was enjoyable enough, and it was a huge windfall for a 21 year old like me, who'd dropped out of high school. Don't do anime, kids.
"Well thank you for agreeing to come," I said. "It means a lot to me that you'd humor the company nerd like that."
Kim chuckled. "Oh, you think you're the nerd. See you around," and walked away without further fanfare.
Wow, still getting used to her. "Was it something I said?"
"No, she's just like that, dear," Alice said. ""I'll see you next week, then. Have a nice Saturday, Karen!"
"You too," I said. "Later!"
Josh and I had planned to meet up outside the mall at five, to go go-carting; it was now four-thirty, so I still had some time left before I had to be there. I went over to a bench just inside the mall's big front doors and sat down. I looked out the window, and watched the cars driving by. I've been developing an interest in how cars work, lately; mine had broken down several weeks before, and the mechanic I brought it to explained each thing he did as he did it.
[Author's note: I don't actually know much about how cars work. Please suspend any disbelief.]
I heard a loud bang outside. I rushed out to see what it was, my shopping bag forgotten; several people were looking at the bus sitting at the bus stop across the street, but nothing else seemed abnormal - nobody looked hurt that I could see, thankfully.
The bus must have been what made the sound, because I heard it start, and then pull away. Josh was standing behind where it had been, with a piece of candy in his hand and a confused look on his face. He must have been early for our meeting time, too. He wasn't looking at me, so I didn't think he'd noticed I was there yet; I turned to go back inside.
Josh has been my best friend for years, since I stood up for him once when we were in elementary school. Neither of us have ever really had anyone else to go to - our parents all had the "kids should be tough" mindset, and we were both too nerdy for the popular kids at school. He's two years younger than I am - not that you'd know that these days, with how much of a kid I act like - and we've always gone to each other to share our successes and failures, for a shoulder to cry on, or when just feeling lonely.
I had my hand out to pull the door open when it happened. I suddenly felt a breeze across my whole body; I glanced down, not sure what to expect - it felt remarkably like wearing a light dress, but I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Except I wasn't. I was completely nude. I shrieked, and spun around automatically, looking around frantically for any reason for my sudden nudity. Josh had noticed me now, and was starting with wide eyes - I'm pretty attractive, and he hasn't seen me naked before, so I couldn't blame him - but just as suddenly, I was clothed again. What the fuck?
Josh was hammering the crosswalk button. The light changed immediately, and he sprinted across the street. "Holy shit," he said, as soon as he got close enough to not shout. "Holy shit, holy shit, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I wasn't even thinking!"
What the fuck. What the fuck? What the fuck. "What are you apologizing for exactly?" I said. "Are you saying you know why I was, um, naked, just now? That you did that somehow?"
He fidgeted awkwardly, playing with a ring on his right hand that I didn't remember ever having seen him wear before. "Well, er," he said, "You're not going to believe me,"
"Yeah?" I said, and chuckled. "My clothes just disappeared, came back, and then you apologize. Let's hear this story, Jay."
"Okay. Alright. So I got here early. I was bored at home and stuff, so I figured I'd just come hang out here until you were ready."
"Okay..." I said. What did that have to do with it?
"I got bored of waiting, so I went in to the gas station and got this." He held up the small bag of gummy worms he was holding. "An old lady left her purse at the counter, though, so I ran it out to give to her before she got on the bus. As soon as I handed it to her, the bus, well, died,"
"So that must have been the sound I heard, then."
"Yeah, it was pretty loud, so probably, anyway she gave me this ring," he held his other hand up, "And said it would grant my fondest wishes, which sounded like superstition," he fidgeted with his hand again and trailed off.
"Go on?"
"Well, she said that it could grant wishes, and she told me to wish that nobody could take it off, and I made that wish, and then she got on the bus and left. And I mean, I didn't think it would actually work, so I picked someone from the crowd in front of the mall and wished their clothes would d-disappear..." He gulped. "Please don't be mad..."
I stared at him. Then I stared at him some more. "You're saying you made a wish and it actually worked." It wasn't really a question; of course that's what he had just said.
"Yeah. Wow." He paused and blinked, and looked around. "Yeah, that's what I'm saying."