Chapter 3: 3: Missing Magician Might Mean Moving Measures

Something was definitely different this morning. I had expected to feel a bit like garbage from last night, and initially had blamed my lack of balance on some leftover effects from the night's drinking. By the time I had showered and gotten dressed though, I was of a different opinion. To start off with, during my shower I felt oddly sensitive to the water. It resulted in an overall more refreshing shower, but it was distracting having the water almost hurt when hitting my chest at the wrong angle. Being able to feel it dripping down my skin more distinctly than I ever remembered in the past was an even stranger form of distraction. On their own, I probably wouldn't have even remembered those oddities if it weren't for the fact that all of my clothes didn't fit me correctly any more. My pants almost universally hung significantly lower than I wanted them to. And the single pair of tight jeans I had were a struggle to get past my legs whatsoever. Apparently, while my waist may have shrunk, a good portion of that weight had dropped down to my hips and thighs. Luckily most of my shirts were already a little loose on me and I couldn't tell too much of a difference with them. I pulled out a rarely used belt to fix the pants issue and on a whim checked my weight after getting into some cargo shorts. While I didn't check frequently, I did so enough that I expected maybe a five pound range of difference, but was instead met with an almost 10 pound loss of weight. I was about to look up the campus doctor hours when I remembered the spell. That stupid spell was probably behind all these changes knowing my luck. I resolved to track Mel down after breakfast to interrogate her. I let out a groan of frustration that turned into a sharp inhale halfway through. Tentatively, I made a few more normal sounding sounds. My voice was higher. I didn’t think it was enough that anyone else would notice, but if it kept going, I was sure to get some comments. Alright, step 1 of my Saturday was definitely going to be tracking that girl down.

Finding her was proving to be a task easier said than done. She wasn’t in her room, nor anywhere else in the house, which I couldn’t say was too unexpected considering how late I had slept in. I decided to go grab lunch since I was absolutely starving and with any luck maybe I could stumble upon my witchy housemate. 

Sadly, that hope was dashed when I arrived at the cafeteria, though I did run into a few friends from the gym. They invited me to play basketball in a few hours, to which I gave a hesitant affirmative. From there, I proceeded to the library to see if she was studying. No dice. Given that she still hadn’t gotten back to me via text, I figured I’d try one last place before giving up and trying to enjoy the rest of my day. 

Feeling out of place, I made my way through the halls of the engineering building. Somewhere in here, I knew there was a shop class. It was the one class from the engineering track that I thought sounded like it might be fun to take as an elective. After 15 minutes of opening various doors, I finally opened the right one to find a few tired looking students working over various projects with a bored looking grad student ambling through the room. He honestly looked like he would prefer for something to go wrong just for the change of pace it would provide. A quick glance was all I needed to see a lack of Melissa’s signature hair and I closed the door before anyone could ask what I was doing. Sighing, I made my way back home to change into some clothes better suited for the gym. Thank goodness for elastic since the pants still managed to fit relatively well.

When I got to the gym, it turned out I was the first one there, so I tried a couple warm-up exercises to kill time. All of them felt slightly off, but I tried to ignore the strangeness until I took a few laps around the gym to get my blood flowing. Running had never been my favorite thing, but neither had it been something I've ever hated. I just let myself zone out and lose myself to the rhythmic patterns of my shoes slapping on the floor. It always worked as a way to clear my mind more so than anything else. Sometimes that meant I would have no thoughts and other times, it would help me focus on problems I needed to work through. The world beyond the next few steps would simply fade into the background and all I was left with was the sound of my body and the thoughts going through my head. I had gotten so wound up in my thoughts that I had to skid to a stop to avoid running into a guy almost a head taller than me as my brain caught up to the signals my ears had been sending. "Hey, Earth to Nathan Lane. Helloooo," Garth droned. Seeing my eyes finally fix on him in recognition, he continued. "Damn bro, you got something on your mind? We called your name like 3 times without you reacting at all."

"Oh uh sorry, nah I'm good, just zoned out I guess" I laughed a bit awkwardly. Noticing that everyone else was already throwing shots, I ran over to join with Garth. I tolerated the jokes At my expense, ranging from me being an airhead to having my mind on a girl. The latter half were arguably pretty close to being true, just not in the way they meant. I bared with their jabs and jeers as we got started, chuckling along with them while my anxiety slowly built. We played for half an hour before I got tired of all the insults that were thrown my way. after the initial wave had died down, they had become jabs for how messily I was playing. The fact that Kyle decided the best way to insult me was to compare my playing to that of a girl didn’t help either, considering it might not be too far off. It was still bullshit since we all knew that Dante’s ex-girlfriend could dribble circles around all of us. My balance felt off and every time I took a shot, my throw would fall half a foot short of where I wanted it. I could play around it fairly well by simply relying on the backboard and putting a bit more into each throw, but it just added to my growing frustration. After falling for the 10th time from my attempts to do normal changes of direction, I threw my hands up in frustration and declared I was done. I felt a bit guilty for leaving early, but with how bad I was playing nobody blamed me for my early exit.

I still felt antsy so rather than head home, I decided to embrace the aimless running I had started prior to playing. It was a little harder to get into the rhythm when I was trying to stay away from roads but luckily the campus was large enough that I could simply circle it for the most part. Feeling the way my body moved was still strange. It felt so similar to how it always did when I ran, but at the same time the tiny changes that I had to assume had to do with the spell would cause me to stumble occasionally as my body didn’t predict a shift correctly. Something about the uneven ground outside made it significantly more noticeable than it had been in the gym. Once I finally got into the trance-like state I was looking for, it took seemingly no time for me to feel sweat dripping off me and I decided to head home for the day. 

Checking my phone, it had apparently been a little over half an hour since I had left the gym. I also had gotten three messages in that time. As I was a lot more winded than I realized, I slowed down and read them on my way home. Of the three, the first was from Mel. It informed me she was on a camping trip with friends and hadn’t responded due to poor reception. I considered asking her about the changes I’d had over text, but that felt like a bad idea for some reason. She had mentioned she’d be back tomorrow, so I resigned myself to exercising my patience. Of the other messages, one was from my parents asking to talk and I told myself I’d deal with it tomorrow, and the final message was from the house group chat about plans to do a communal dinner with a few extra friends tonight. Food together sounded nice, but friends sounded tiring after how basketball had gone. I considered my options but as I had no better ideas for the night and home cooked food sounded absolutely amazing, I resigned myself to hanging out. No drinking tonight though. I wanted to actually wake up on time and study tomorrow. And I was sure I’d need the extra rest to deal with my parents. 

Upon entering the house, I could already hear Rachael, Vanessa, Richard, and Amanda talking in the kitchen. Entering stealth mode, I snuck into my room, grabbed my towel and a change of clothes, and then pointed myself towards the bathroom, waiting for a particularly loud laugh from Vanessa to close the door behind me. I took a five minute shower, trying to ignore the oddities of my body once more, as I wiped my body down to make sure I wouldn't be sticky with sweat the rest of the day. I threw on my clothes and took a breath as I stepped out into the hallway. I was immediately assaulted by three things. The first two were expected: the delicious smell of Richard’s house-famous lasagna and the sound of tipsy merriment. The third was Rachael’s tiny frame crashing into me in a hug that always squeezed me in a way that made me want to smile. Not that I’d ever admit it for fear of seeming weird. I awkwardly hugged her back once I got my bearings. “Oh hey Rach, didn’t think you heard me get in. How’s life?”

“Don’t you ‘how’s life’ me you…you butt!” she pouted up at me, pulling out of the hug and poking my chest with an accusatory finger. “I heard you were being mean to my bestie and-” I interrupted her by ruffling her hair affectionately “-and hey no treating me like a little girl when I’m mad at you! No being mean to my friends or else you lose your big brother title!” My childhood friend was already past tipsy apparently and I couldn’t even pretend to be surprised. She had always been a lightweight. Probably due to the fact that she was only barely 5 foot and I still wasn’t fully convinced that wasn’t at least a quarter inch exaggeration. It was admittedly a little early for her to be this far gone, but that’s what college was for, right?

Holding my hand to my heart as if mortally wounded, I reached my other hand out towards her as I collapsed to my knees. “How could such an innocent looking maiden deliver such a killing blow so easily? That title is all this poor soul has!” My playing along with her joke elicited a giggle, as per usual. She very courteously offered her hand to help me get back up. “So how long has it been this time, nerd; two whole weeks since we last hung out? Anything good worth reporting or is this more a drink your stress away sorta weekend?” I asked as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders to help her walk back to the kitchen.

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“Both!" She said with an exaggerated nod. "I got an A on my generative modeling test. And I dumped Brad for being dishonest. So drinks for good work and weight loss! Oh and don’t you dare say 'I told you so' Natty! That’ll put you in the same book as him in my boat. I mean the same boat as his book. Whatever, you know what I mean.” I couldn’t help but pull her into another hug as we entered the kitchen. I knew that despite my reservations, she had really liked that dipshit. The fact that I had miscalculated and she was already drunk cemented that knowledge. The rare self-started display of affection surprised everyone in the kitchen, myself included, as I saw raised eyebrows from Richard and Vanessa who weren’t as familiar with my protective relationship with Rachael. Amanda simply nodded approvingly after a startled delay. 

“Hey dickwad, don’t think just because you’re being nice to Rach means I’m gonna go easy on you tonight.” Vanessa said, glaring daggers at me. I grimaced. The tall brunette had always seemed like she had it out for me and my latest mistake seemed to be the perfect excuse for her to take me down a peg. It was pretty easy to fall into the same mentality with her and my argumentative nature lent itself well to the dynamic. I suppose someone with less of an issue with the word might call us frenemies.

“Nice seeing you too, Vanessa. Always a pleasure. Love the winged eyeliner, the red is a nice change of pace." I responded dryly, ignoring her barbs for once. There was a shocked silence as everyone looked at me. Our back and forth was practically legendary in our extended friend group. I had even heard Jacob and Richard talking about setting up a bingo board for parties that involved both of us once last year. If they had gone through with it, they’d been sufficiently secretive that I never found out. For me to compliment her was unheard of.

Ever the Captain Obvious, Richard cut the silence “Did. Did you just compliment Vanessa? Am I hallucinating? Are you actually Nate or are you an alien that’s replaced him?” He went so far as to hold his hand against my forehead as if checking my temperature. I batted said hand away, not enjoying how his huge frame always made me feel small when he performed actions like that.

“Maybe I don’t feel like arguing all night and having everyone gang up on me when I shove my foot in my mouth again. Or maybe I’m just thinking that it’s been weeks since I’ve gotten to hang out with this drunk little gremlin” I ruffled Rachael’s hair as she took another sip of a drink that had materialized in her hand “and I don’t want to spend all night in a pissing contest. Maybe I’m just tired.” I sighed. “Hell, maybe you’re right, Rich. Maybe I’ve been replaced and don’t know it yet. Been feeling weird all day after all.” Against my better judgement, I took the drink he offered me as I finished speaking and took a large gulp. “Or maybe I just felt like pointing out that Vanessa has put extra effort into her looks tonight so that I could ask who she’s trying to impress. Who’s the unlucky suitor that doth warrant her full attention? Who’s Jacob bringing over?” I continued, not loving the awkward silence I had created.

“Oh he’s bringing Perry and Bill. I’m gonna guess…Perry?” Richard picked up my teasing, looking over to Vanessa, who’s face had suddenly turned bright red. I had to admit that when she wasn’t busy attacking me she really was quite pretty. The blush made her downright adorable. I found myself idly wondering if anyone would think the same about me in a similar situation. But in a guy way, obviously, my brain pointed out, ever helpful.

“What, no! Why would you think that! It’s just because it’s Saturday! And I wasn’t sure if there were gonna be any good parties after this! I mean an afternoon in nice clothes is a small price to pay to be ready for anything without having to go back across campus. And besides, I don’t even know anyone named Perry!” she responded, backpedaling as she realized I may have come up with the perfect way to make her the focus of tonight’s teasing. I grinned as she fell for Richard’s trap.

An increasingly drunk Rachael chose that moment to chime in “How do you not know Perry the Platypus?” she asked incredulously, giggling. I couldn’t help but laugh with her at her reference. The other three just stared at us blankly, which only made both of us laugh harder.

Ignoring us, Amanda joined in the conversation, lifting her voice to be heard “Oh so you admit it’s Bill then? Thanks for helping me figure out tonight’s seating for dinner then!” she cackled. I pulled Rachael out of the kitchen as I saw Vanessa spin on Amanda with a look of betrayal. I sat Rachael down and we caught up while waiting for the others to arrive. As she told me about the latest project that had kept her holed up in the Architecture building, I stepped away to grab some water whenever she started going too deep into technical details for me to follow. 

The three guys arrived another hour later and the rest of the night went off without any contention. Interacting with Vanessa in a normal way was strange to say the least. She still had an edge towards me, but she respected that I didn’t have the energy for our normal antics and we just enjoyed a night with friends. There was still plenty of ribbing that went on around the group, but it was relatively bearable. After dinner and cleaning up, we threw an awful movie on the tv for the group to make fun of while we chatted and the others drank. When they were moving on to the next movie, I retired to bed early despite the fun I was having since I knew tomorrow would be another long day. Slipping into bed, I noticed that my sheets felt divine against my skin. Maybe this curse wasn’t all downsides.

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