Page 25

Jamie

Jamie slept better than he ever had—or at least, better than he ever remembered.

He slowly drifted awake, opening his eyes and looking across to the window.

Morning beams of April sunlight filtered in through the curtains, and the room was quiet and peaceful.

Jamie rolled over on the bed, smiling at the sight of Jesse lying asleep next to him.

Nothing could have ever prepared him for what it would feel like, to be with Jesse so wholly and intimately.

Jamie felt as if he’d been holding his breath for ages, and Jesse had given him a taste of fresh air.

He was so happy to have Jesse in his life.

He couldn’t imagine ever living without him now.

Getting out of bed, Jamie went over to the dresser and got some fresh clothes (sneaking one of Jesse’s shirts instead of his own, because he still liked wearing Jesse’s things when he got the chance of it) and threw them on before heading out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

A glimpse of white caught his eye and he looked up into the mirror—

His hair was white.

His hair was white!

Wait, what!? Why was his hair white? A jolt of panic shot through him as he stepped closer, pushing a hand through the white hair, almost to make sure that the reflection was really his, and not some kind of trick.

But it was him in the mirror; this was his hair, only white.

And now that he was closer to the glass, he realized that wasn’t the only change.

His eyes weren’t brown anymore, but were a piercing icy blue.

Jamie didn’t know what had happened to him. But then he remembered how Jesse had told him he’d feel weird today. Did that mean this was… normal?

He turned and hurried back into the bedroom, going to the bed to shake Jesse’s shoulder. “Jesse!” he called. “Jesse, does making love make your hair and eyes change color?”

Jesse didn’t answer, just continued to lie asleep in the bed. He didn’t even stir.

Jamie bit his lip. Jesse was probably very tired from working and going to class all the time. Jamie should let him sleep, and not wake him up for such a childish question. But he couldn’t just wait around, either; he needed to know what had happened to him!

…Maybe Austin could help.

But as soon as Jamie grabbed his phone, he paused.

After all, he’d promised not to let anyone know what happened in their bedroom, so he didn’t know if he could ask Austin about this without giving too much away.

He hesitated, biting his lip even harder as he looked over to Jesse.

But then he glanced back down at his phone and caught another glimpse of his white hair reflected in the black glass, and swallowed. He had to get to the bottom of this.

He went back into the bathroom, and called Austin.

It took a few rings before the line connected. “Jamie?” Austin’s voice said on the other end, sounding tired. “What’s up?”

“…I don’t know,” Jamie admitted to him, grimacing at the sight of his reflection in the mirror. “I just woke up, and – and saw in the mirror, my hair and eyes are different!”

“W-what do you mean, different?”

“It’s… they are—” Jamie didn’t know how to explain. Instead, he took a photo of himself and sent it to Austin.

“Wait, what?” Austin’s voice sounded a lot more alert now. “And you just woke up like that?”

“Yes,” Jamie said, a strange feeling going over him as he watched his reflection talk. It was so weird, seeing himself look so different, as if it wasn’t really him at all. “I don’t understand what’s wrong. Is this—does that happen, usually? To people? ”

“Uh, no, not exactly, not to most people,” Austin said, and paused a bit too long before he continued. “But… you’re kind of a special case.”

“Me?” Jamie frowned. “How am I a special case?”

“Well, I’m… not really sure how to put this,” Austin said. “Don’t freak out on me, okay? I kind of… already knew that you could do that.”

Jamie tensed, suspicion creeping into him. “What do you mean? How did you know I would do this, if it’s not something that happens to everyone else?”

At first, Austin didn’t respond, but then he let out a resigned sigh. “It happens every time you’re asleep,” he said. “But it usually changes back as soon as you wake up, so that’s why you didn’t know about it.”

What?!

Jamie felt himself tense up even more. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Well, we didn’t want to scare you.”

So he thought that Jamie would rather be oblivious? Why did everyone think he couldn’t handle anything? He was getting really sick of having secrets kept from him, especially secrets about himself. If something was happening to him, he wanted to know about it, damn it!

“Jamie, I’m sure everything’s okay,” Austin said. “We just have to find out why it didn’t change back this time.”

Jamie took in a deep breath, swallowing his frustration down so he could focus on working with Austin to figure this out. “O-okay.”

“For starters, let’s try to figure out if anything new happened to you while you were sleeping, or maybe sometime yesterday,” Austin said.

“A lot of times, major changes can be triggered by changes in routine or environment or something. At least, that’s what it’s like for normal things, so maybe the same principle applies here.

Do you have any ideas? Did you do anything yesterday that you hadn’t done before?

Or, did you notice any new or weird feelings before you fell asleep? ”

How the hell was Jamie supposed to answer that question without telling Austin what he and Jesse had done the night before?!

“…Erm, yes,” he admitted, shifting his weight and trying to think of some way to get out of this while still learning what he needed to know. “I… um…”

“You what?”

Jamie turned away from the mirror, his shoulders hunching as he felt heat rise to his face. “I… Jesse, he um… he…”

“Jesse did something?” Austin asked into the phone, sounding confused. “What did he do?”

Jamie had no idea how to answer that, without breaking his promise to keep it a secret.

“…Jamie?” Austin said when Jamie didn’t answer, his tone taking on a more suspicious tone. “What did Jesse do?”

Jamie took in a deep breath. “I promised not to tell.”

“What!?” Austin exclaimed into the phone. “Promised not to tell what? Jamie, what is it Jesse did with you last night? Did he—oh, don’t tell me! Did he… do something, that made you, uh, feel really good?”

He knew. Austin had guessed it already. Jamie winced, but there wasn’t much point in hiding it, if Austin already knew.

“Y-yes,” he admitted—and then; “it felt amazing,” he blurted, unable to keep it to himself any longer, the rush of joy he’d felt the night before coming back full force at the memory. “I felt like I was exploding!”

“Oh my god, T.M.I!” Austin groaned into the phone.

“Wh-what?” Jamie blinked. “What does that mean? Those letters?”

“Too much information!” Austin exclaimed. “No wonder your body is doing new things all of a sudden! How do you feel? No wait, don’t answer that, I don’t want to know!”

“I feel fine,” Jamie told him anyway. “Jesse said I’d feel weird today, but apart from wondering what the hell happened to my hair and eyes, it’s not actually all that bad.”

“Where the fuck is he!?” Austin demanded on the other line. “Give me to him! The phone, I mean; give him the phone, I need to talk to him!”

“He’s sleeping.”

“Wake him up, then!”

Jamie pursed his lips, but then sighed. “Okay.”

He went back into the bedroom and over to the bed, and reached out to shake Jesse’s shoulder again. “Jesse,” he prodded. “Jesse, sorry, but you have to wake up.”

Jesse still didn’t stir.

Jamie frowned, a little confused as he shook Jesse again.

“Hey, Jesse, wake up,” he tried. “It’s Austin on the phone.

He wants to talk to you. I…” he trailed off, having been about to explain that he’d told by accident, but pausing when he realized something was wrong.

“Jesse?” He leaned closer, cold washing over him as he realized that Jesse’s breathing was weaker than usual, and very shallow.

“J-Jesse, wake up!” he gasped out, grabbing Jesse’s arm more tightly as he shook him harder than before.

Jesse didn’t respond. He looked paler than usual, Jamie realized; and his skin was too cold.

Fear cut into Jamie’s heart, and he backed away from the bed, holding the phone back up to his ear with shaking hands.

“A-Austin,” he muttered weakly into it. “Something’s wrong with Jesse, I can’t wake him up! ”

“What!?” Austin exclaimed. “What do you mean!?”

“Just what I said!” Jamie replied, his voice almost hitching. “Austin, what’s wrong with him? What do I do!?”

“Damn it, check to see if his heart is beating!” Austin directed.

Jamie pulled the cover away to obey the command, pressing his hand down over Jesse’s chest.

The faint, weak rhythm of Jesse’s heart was a chilling sign—but at least it was something.

“It’s beating,” he said into the phone.

“Thank god,” Austin breathed out in relief.

“But something is wrong,” Jamie said again, swallowing down a lump of fear in his throat. “The beat is so weak, and he’s very pale and his skin is cold.”

“What the fuck?” Austin blurted out. “Okay, that’s it. I’m calling an ambulance. You stay there with him until the paramedics arrive, alright?”

“A-ambulance?” Jamie repeated. “Paramedics? I don’t know those words, Austin!”

“Oh god, we don’t have time for this! GAH!” There was a loud crash on the phone.

“Austin!?” Jamie gasped into it. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Austin replied, though he sounded pained and frustrated.

“I just – I fell, that’s all. But that’s not important right now.

Doctors. Paramedics are doctors. I’m going to call some doctors to come help Jesse, okay?

You stay there and watch over him. I’ll get down there as fast as I can. Do you think you can do that?”

Jamie nodded—and then remembered that Austin couldn’t see that over the phone.