“You’re sure about this?” Nancy asked. “Because you don’t have to do this.”

“Yeah,” I said, taking a good long look at what I used to look like. Or, well, what I still looked like for a short period of time. “I do.”

“Why?”

I looked up at her. Nancy had Mom’s features, but Dad’s eyes and hair. Those eyes looked vulnerable and frightened, even on Dad, and especially on Nancy. Granted, she was about to lose her older brother, after a fashion. “You’ll understand, Nance. You’ll understand.”

And I prayed she would. This wasn’t something that I was taking lightly, it wasn’t the easiest decision in the world, but it was the right decision. It was the one I’d needed to make since the day I’d heard the news.

~~Nine Weeks Ago~~

“Ooh, I’m sorry,” she said, reaching out to help me, “I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s fine.” I took her hand and pulled myself up. Her shopping cart was on its side, mine was still standing. “Looks like I knocked your cart over.”

“Well, I knocked you over, so we’re kinda even.”

I laughed. “Yeah.” I looked at her cart. “Lemme help you, okay?”

“Thank you.” I knelt down and helped her pick up the groceries that had fallen out of her cart. Not much. Some cans of dog food, a bag of potato chips which were probably all broken before she even pulled them off the shelf. “I’m Ellen, by the way.”

“Nathan.”

“Um… This may seem silly, but I sorta feel bad for knocking you down and you did just help me, so can I buy you lunch?”

Ellen was strikingly beautiful. Her dark green eyes looked warm and caring, I almost wanted to kiss her lips right then and there. Freckles dotted her cheeks, but not excessively. I wasn’t even paying attention to her body or her clothes, just the look of her face mesmerized me. Of course, her body was just as wonderful, curves in every place a girl would want curves.

Saying no to her just wouldn’t be an option.

“I’d love to go to lunch with you. But I can pay for myself.”

She smiled, and I was in love.

~~Eight Weeks Ago~~

We kissed on the bench in the park. Her lips were delicious, especially with the lipstick she was wearing. I cupped her face in my hands and felt every soft inch of her skin. Ellen was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen and I couldn’t get enough of her.

She pulled away first. “Are we gonna go for that walk or just keep making out?” she asked.

“Which one sounds more fun to you?” I asked in response, with a smile.

“As cute as you are, and as much as I love having you sucking on my face, I think the walk would be nice now.”

I nodded, then stood. She stood up as well, and then hand-in-hand we walked the park trail, which didn’t stick to just the park. The park trail ran around the edge of the park, then to the center of town. We didn’t live in a very big town, we just had a park almost as large as Central Park because the town was built because of it.

The walk was so peaceful, so quiet, it was impossible not to enjoy it because she was beside me. Just the feel of her hand in mine was pure pleasure for me, and the way she gripped my hand tight told me it was the same for her. Just one week and we’d already become as close as any relationship I’d had before that had lasted months. Ellen really was the love of my life, and it was no exaggeration.

A part of me worried about when we’d have to go back to our houses. It would be a long seven to eight hours between then and when we woke up again the next morning.

~~Seven Weeks Ago~~

“What?!” I asked, shock evident in my voice. “Why?!”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Daddy just felt it would be better for me, y’know?”

“But… I was looking forward to us going to school together.”

She kissed me on the lips. “Me, too. Though, I think that’s exactly what Daddy enrolled me for. I don’t think he likes that I have such a great boyfriend.”

I sighed. “Can we at least spend time together after school?”

She shook her head again. “Sorry. It’s a good forty miles out of town. Plus, they are very strict about the No Boys rule.”

I put my arms around her. “This is gonna be painful for both of us, isn’t it?”

“Baby, don’t say that. The best part about this is that you don’t have to worry about me falling for some other guy, but I have to worry about you, because all the girls prettier than me are staying here.”

I hugged her tighter. “There’s nobody prettier than you.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“I’m only sayin’ it ‘cuz it’s true.”

~~Six Weeks Ago~~

“How are you doing without me there to kiss you?” I asked Ellen, laying on my bed and holding onto my phone, talking to her on speaker. I’d use Skype, but her roommate apparently hated Skype for being too new.

“Well, I got a little desperate today. I walked up to Ruth and kissed her right on the lips because she looks like a boy.” I could hear the amusement in her voice. Ruth was the roommate I’d just mentioned, though that was all I knew about her. “I bet you woulda liked that, wouldn’t ya?”

I smiled. “Gimme a reason not to.”

“Because it’d probably be easier to fall in love with her than it was you. And I fell for you in seconds.”

I took a drink of the soda can I had beside me. “How are they on weekend visits?”

“Like I said, they enforce the No Boys rule. One of the girls in the dorm next to me had her little brother help her carry her stuff in, and the supervisors made us put him in a miniskirt and halter top with six inch pumps. I didn’t help with the dressing, but I did pick the pumps.”

I laughed. “Sounds like you had fun.”

“And it’s because of that that I don’t want my boyfriend showing up here. We can sign up for weekend passes and I’m sure my mom’ll pick me up and take me back to school. I’ll see if next weekend is open, okay?”

“Why not this weekend?”

“Because all the passes are taken.”

“Aw, dammit. Please get that pass for next weekend, babe. Just talking to you ain’t enough, y’know?”

“I know, baby, I know. Well, it’s dinnertime, so I’ve gotta go. I’ll call you when I get back. Bye!”

“Bye, sweetpea,” I said. I made a kissing sound just before she hung up, which I hoped she heard. I set my phone on the bedside table and couldn’t help but miss her already.

~~Four Weeks Ago~~

As soon as I saw her, I grabbed hold of Ellen and kissed her as passionately as I could. I didn’t want to let go of her, not for the whole seven hours we had to spend with each other. I was hoping that this would make up for all the time we couldn’t spend together while she was at that stupid school. I finally broke off the kiss and my hands slipped from around her down to her hands. We just stared for a moment and then finally she spoke.

“Are we gonna get to the date part of this date or are we just gonna kiss and hug?”

“Would ya complain?”

She shook her head. “No.”

I smiled. “Good.”

There was a strange old woman walking nearby, staring at us. I glanced at her, but then I returned my focus back on Ellen. I only had a certain amount of time to spend with her, and I wanted to keep her with me for every minute.

“So,” I started, “where ya wanna go first?”

~~Two Weeks Ago~~

I poked through the necklaces, wondering which one to buy for Ellen. Her birthday was two weeks away and I needed to find something. She liked dolphins, so I looked for interesting looking dolphin necklaces. All I ended up finding was a dolphin holding a dollar sign and making the peace symbol. It looked stupid, and I didn’t want to buy Ellen something like that.

I moved from necklaces to earrings. The pickings weren’t much better there, with most of what I found similar to what Ellen already had. This was getting annoying. I wanted to get her something special, and nothing here leapt out at me as special or even interesting.

“Certainly the best thing you could get her is yourself,” came a voice from somewhere. I turned to my left and saw that old woman I’d seen a couple weeks ago.

“Um… What?”

She smiled. “I saw you with that beautiful girl a few weeks back. I assume you’re buying her a present.”

She was creepy. She looked homeless or at least like she’d lived with a thousand cats for most of her life. She smelled like cat piss, that was for sure. I moved over to the bracelets, hoping she’d leave me alone.

“Now, now, Nathan, I hope you’ll take my advice.”

I was worried now. “How do you know my name?” I asked.

“Certainly you have your doubts and suspicions about me, and I assure you that I can help you stay with your girlfriend forever.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I have something for you,” she whispered, reaching into her sleeve and retrieving a vial. “Take this on dear Ellen’s birthday, and the two of you will be together for the rest of your lives. Though I suggest you say goodbye to at least one family member.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ll never see your family again, though they will see you.”

~~One Week Ago~~

“That sounds crazy,” Nancy said between popsicle sucks. “You’ll never see them again, but they’ll see you? Yeah, I don’t buy that.”

“She said I’ll be with Ellen forever.”

“And you believe that?”

“I wouldn’t have if she hadn’t said our names despite not having met us before.”

She blew me a raspberry. Literally, too, it was a raspberry popsicle. “She’s clearly a stalker. Dump that stuff down the toilet and get back to that goofy-ass plan you had for sneaking into Ellen’s school through the laundry room.”

I held the vial in my hand. “I looks and smells like faucet water, so at worst I’ve got a drink for later that day, and I already gave up the laundry room plan.”

“Good for that. You do realize that water’s gonna be stagnant by next week, right?”

I shook my head. “Actually… I gotta feeling it won’t be.” I grabbed her by the arm and politely pushed her out of my room. “Now, I’ve gotta call Ellen about this and see how she feels.” I heard her say something after I shut the door, but I didn’t pay any attention to that. I grabbed my phone and dialed Ellen’s number.

“Ellen’s not here, Nathan, go away,” Ruth said when she answered the phone.

“Ha, ha. Just have her call me when she gets back in, okay?”

“I’ve never had a boyfriend as nice as she says you are. How are you gonna hurt her, and when is it gonna happen?”

“I’d never hurt her, and you know that.”

She sighed. “Whatever. I’ll let her know. Later, weiner face.”

I hung up and shook my head. I dunno where I got that nickname from, but at least Ellen hadn’t called me that.

~~Today~~

“You’re sure about this?” Nancy asked. “Because you don’t have to do this.”

“Yeah,” I said, taking a good long look at what I used to look like. Or, well, what I still looked like for a short period of time. “I do.”

“Why?”

“You’ll understand, Nance. You’ll understand.”

“I doubt that. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole You’ll never see us, we’ll see you thing.”

“I don’t get it either. Either way, Ellen says she’s okay with whatever happens as long as it means we’ll be together.”

“What if I don’t wanna lose my brother?”

“If what that crazy old bat said, you won’t lose me, I’ll just lose you.”

She sighed. “Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

I nodded. I popped the cap off of the vial and chugged back the water. At first, I felt nothing. Then I doubled over, fell to the floor, and blacked out. I heard Nancy calling after me, but that drifted away quickly and then I heard nothing. I started to freak out. Had I just accidentally committed suicide? Had that old bitch killed me? That wouldn’t be staying with Ellen, that would be taking me away from her!

After several minutes of blackness, I finally opened my eyes. I looked around the room I was suddenly on the floor of and realized it wasn’t my room at all. I saw feminine things, magazines and makeup. Bras discarded on the floor and a blouse hanging off the edge of the bed. I reached up to grab the bed for support and lifted myself up.

I finally caught sight of her. There was Ellen, standing there in a skirt and knee socks but completely topless. Her hair rested on her shoulders, and her eyes looked wide in shock. I took one step toward her, and she toward me.

“Baby, I’m here,” I said, but it wasn’t my voice. And Ellen’s lips mirrored my words. Her eyes widened even more when I realized that the room wasn’t big enough for me to be looking at a door.

“Oh, it’s about time,” Ruth said, walking in with a bag of Chinese food. “I was wondering when you’d get here, weiner face.”

“What?” I asked, still in shock that I was speaking in Ellen’s voice.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. She probably didn’t tell you. The old lady who gave you the vial? That was my aunt. I called her and told her all about you and Ellen and she said she had a way to help you, so I paid her for it. For the next two hours, you’ll be in Ellen’s body, but she can talk to you in your - or well, her - head. Your body keeps going back home with a copy of your mind living out your life.” She pulled out one of the boxes of Chinese and handed it to me. “Then you just take another drop of the liquid and repeat whenever you wanna see her. You get past the No Boys rule, and Ellen gets to spend time with her boyfriend. I woulda made it so that you were the one talking to Ellen through her mind, but Auntie Bella couldn’t do that.”

I opened the box and then realized what she’d said. “Um… Another drop?”

“Yeah. You were only supposed to take one drop. Didn’t Auntie Bella tell you that?”

I shook my head.

“Oh… Crap… Nathan, I’m gonna havta go over Ellen’s notes with you, because you have a test tomorrow that Ellen was really worried about…”