New Fic-Wishful thinking -16

I didn't wait until I got home. Instead, I tugged on my winter coat and hurried out to my car. The temperature had dipped well below freezing on this late October night, and my breath fogged up my window as soon as I slammed the door closed. I was so furious, I barely felt the chill. I squeezed my thumb and forefinger together. "Jaze!"

I was used to it by now—the glitter of magic dust, the swirl into a human shape. I barely blinked as I registered the outfit du jour: an Arctic explorer. Jaze wore a bubblegum-pink parka, and her matching moon boots barely fit in front of the passenger seat. She took off massive goggles and said, "You rang?"

"I wish I had a perfect body," I snapped.

Silence.

"Did you hear me? I wished for a perfect body."

"Oh!" Jaze exclaimed. "You're serious? I thought you were joking."

"Ha-ha." I was in no mood for games.

"No one agrees on what makes a body perfect."

I thought about Carmen Rodriguez, eating my sundae. I pointed at my perfectly average chest and said, "Let's start with some double-Ds."

"On your frame?" Jaze's laugh only tossed fuel on my rage.

"Don't tell me—"

"It's like outfitting a sled for the Iditarod," she said with exaggerated patience. "If you start with a lightweight frame, you can't expect to pack on—"

"I am not a sled!"

Wow. I hadn't realized how loud echoes could be inside a Ford Focus.

As soon as my ears stopped ringing, I said, "And before you share any more nifty analogies, I need to lose about fifteen pounds."

"Anything else?"

"My hair needs to be longer. Twelve inches, I guess. With waves, extra body." Jaze nodded. "And my eyebrows need to be waxed." Why go to a salon, when I had a genie at my beck and call? "And my teeth. Can you bleach them?"

"How about fingernails, while we're at it?"

"Great idea! I've always wanted long fingernails."

"Of course," Jaze said, rolling her eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"A lot of men find long fingernails attractive. Brings out the animal in them." She growled suggestively.

"I'm doing this for myself," I protested. "I deserve to be happy."

"And this perfect body will obviously make you very happy."

"Yes!" I wasn't going to let Jaze talk me out of this. It might be cheating to force Rob to love me, but I was allowed to be noticed, right? Especially with Carmen sucking all the air out of Mephisto's. "Come on, Jaze. You're the one who wants to get into your precious Garden. I'm ready to make my wish."

"All right, then. No skin off my nose." She stripped away a mitten and found the tip of her earlobe. She stared at me, her eyes asking a silent question.

"Do it!" I said.

"As you wish." Jaze tugged, and my body was folded into a blanket of sparkling lights.