I'm trying not to be too mad at Andy, because it's not really his fault, but I can't help it. It's just so frustrating!
We decided to spend the weekend hanging out with Krys and her friends (who call her Mac because Inn), having a beach day while we both had the bodies for it. Krys's friends are a grade or two behind us, but whatever; it would be a lot weirder when Andy looked like some guy in his thirties. It wound up being a little chillier than expected - New England basically decided to remind folks that it's not officially spring for another few days - so it wasn't really great weather for walking about shirtless, which I'd been weirdly excited about and scared of. Like, yeah, I haven't had breasts for months, but even doing track & field, I've kind of had the tendency to change quickly and not take my t-shirt off during practice even when I'm getting really sweaty, because who knows, forces I don't understand are involved, and I could just suddenly change back, or I don't want to get into the habit for when we turn back.
Anyway, Andy was happy, because I guess he associates Len slipping him some tongue during prom with wearing a dress that showed a bit of cleavage, and he wasn't really looking forward to wearing a swimsuit, even a one-piece. He was pretty glad to be able to have shorts and a t-shirt over it the whole time. He kind of wasn't in the mood for much Saturday, and then yesterday he kind of waved us off and went back to the hotel room early in the afternoon, leaving me alone with Krys.
Which was fun, but weird - she was flirting with me pretty hard, and I kind of didn't know whether she was teasing or if she was trying to make something happen before I turned back. And there's part of me that would kind of like that - like, what's the point of being a guy for the better part of a year if I don't get to try at least making out with someone, especially someone like Krys who has some experience. A lot of experience, to hear folks tell it. As both a girl and a guy. I mean, I could learn some stuff. But then I also get freaked out by just how Krys has been able to get all that experience and still look younger than me.
So I said good night after we got some pizza at Lisa's and headed back to the hotel room. There was no answer when I knocked on Andy's door, so I figured he had already left so he could be at the Inn if the change happened overnight.
He wasn't, though - I heard groaning from the bathroom when I woke up this morning, and then a thunk as he fell. I rushed in and saw him him struggling to sit up. I helped him to the next room and got him on a chair - yay for being bigger, I guess - and asked if he'd been drinking or something and didn't realize how it would affect him at my size. He said no, he just felt like he got hit with a truck the afternoon before, came back to the hotel suite to have a nap before heading to the Inn, and didn't wake up until morning.
A light went on in my head, and I said to stay right there while I ran to the nearest drug store and bought a couple of Covid tests. We both took one, and I tested negative while he was positive. Crazy; we've been together most of the past week or so, and it's not like I was that much better about wearing a mask than he was. I got him back into his room right away, opened all the windows, and then headed out to the sidewalk myself.
I was about to call home when Krys rode up on her bike and asked how Andy was. I asked how she knew and she shrugged, saying that ever since Cary started leaving coupons, a lot of people would come to the hot dog stand for explanations and such after they changed, and I looked at her in horror. "Andy wasn't there - Covid knocked him flat yesterday afternoon!"
She looked at me wide-eyed and moved back a step. "Are you...?"
I shook my head. "Negative, for now, but you should probably get a test, too."
"Yeah, of course, but what about the curse? You've lost a window!"
I hadn't even thought of that, really - seeing Andy with my face looking so sick didn't leave room for much else in my head. I said I'd have to figure out what to do about that, and then called Dad and told him what had happened.
He gasped but managed to get me calmed down a little when I started talking fast and frantic. He wanted to know first and foremost whether Andy was all right, and I said he seemed really tired and weak, and shouldn't it all be more mild because we're vaccinated? He said nothing was 100%, which is why they still told us to wear masks and get outside as much as we could, but that Mom would call him right away to see how he was doing first-hand.
That's when I brought up that the Inn had done its thing without him, so what were we going to do? I said I figured maybe I could head over there starting tonight, and then he would probably be well enough to take over after I changed, and that would gave us plenty of time to arrange to stay an extra couple weeks or hope that maybe we could squeeze another change in - it's not unheard of for enough people to hang around the Inn during peak vacation time long even after they change so that they change back before the next two-week block - but he said to stop and slow down and think about it a little more. I wouldn't know who I was turning into, and if we couldn't finagle that extra change somehow, it would be a whole year in a life I knew nothing about. That as much as me and Andy switching places was weird and uncomfortable, it was sort of a best-case scenario for us.
Then he said to hold on, that Mom just got off the phone with Andy, and that we were to isolate in separate rooms, wear masks indoors, all that, and not to mess with the Inn until we were sure we could extend stays a couple of weeks.
I don't have a good feeling about this, and the fact that I may have more chances to go shirtless doesn't exactly help.
-Andi-with-an-i
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