Jenny, The Invisible Co-Ed

Ted sat at the kitchen table in his tiny apartment, dressed in pajamas and a bathrobe, moodily sipping at a cup of tea before turning in for the night. So Jenny is still around, he thought. What’s going to happen to her? She can’t keep this up forever; sooner or later she’s going to have to stop all this foolish running around and come back down the world of cold, hard reality. Sure, she’s having fun now, being The Invisible Girl, but eventually, it’s bound to catch up with her.

He just couldn’t figure her out sometimes; she was a real mystery. She was so intelligent, and yet so unpredictable, so lacking in self-discipline that Ted couldn’t understand how she got as far as she did in the sciences. In a lot of ways, she was like a female Nutty Professor…

His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock at the door. Who the heck could that be at this time of night? he wondered. He put the teacup down and got up to take a look. He looked through the peephole in the door. There was nobody there. He sighed; some idiot playing pranks, no doubt. Just as he turned away, there was another knock, only louder. He froze. No. No, it couldn’t be…could it? He slowly turned back to the door.

"Ted, lemme in!" a feminine voice said.

"Jenny? Is that you?"

"Are we gonna go through that whole routine again?" Jenny’s impatient voice said on the other side of the door. "How many invisible girls do you know, Ted?"

Ted opened the door, and invisible Jenny rushed past him inside. "Jeezy, it sure got cold out there all of a sudden! I’m frozen to the bone! Brrr! It was so warm earlier, I really didn’t expect this!"

Ted was both surprised and delighted. "Jenny! I didn’t expect to see you again so soon! I mean—I didn’t expect to be talking to you again—I mean--"

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." Jenny said, rubbing her arms & shoulders, trying to warm up. "I’m sorry to come barging in on you this way, but I wondered if I could ask big favor of you. I don’t have any place to sleep tonight. I missed the last bus and all the stores are closed. Which means another night in Kressler’s mattress department is out of the question. So I was wondering: could I spend the night here?"

"Um—" Ted was taken completely by surprise. "Yeah, of course you can spend the night here!" He struggled valiantly-and failed miserably-to conceal his delight.

"Thanks; I knew I could count on you. It’s lucky you live so close to campus; my feet are killing me! I’m lucky I made it this far. Whew! Oh, and could I--" she giggled, as though embarrassed. "Could I use your bathroom? I’d like to take a hot shower."

"Of course, of course!" Ted nodded enthusiastically. "Be my guest!"

"And do you happen to have an extra set of pajamas and a bathrobe I could wear?"

"Um…yeah, I guess so… The pajamas I think I’ve got, I’ll go check." he said as he turned and walked back into his bedroom. "As for the bathrobe, here, you can wear mine."

He took off his robe and pulled out a drawer, rummaging around in it, looking for the extra set of pajamas. When he found them, he bundled them up along with the robe and held them out in front of him, thinking Jenny had followed him in.

"Here, take these." he said, holding out the bundle of clothes. "Jenny?" he repeated. "Jenny? Are you there?"

"I’m out here," her voice came from the other room.

"Here, I have something for you to wear," he said as he walked out. Midway in the hallway, he collided with something unseen. The bundle of clothes scattered on the floor.

"OH! Jeezy, I’m sorry! Are you all right?" Ted said.

"Yeah, I’m fine. I’m used to it by now; it’s been happening for days now."

"I’m really sorry! Are you sure you’re all right?"

"Don’t sweat it. At least you didn’t step on my feet with cleats; that’s already happened once to me, and that was enough."

Ted watched amazed as the pajamas and bathrobe floated up from the floor as they were picked up by unseen hands. The clothes tumbled about in midair as they bundled themselves up again and floated into the bathroom. The bathroom door closed by itself and shortly thereafter followed the sound of water running.

Ted sat down again, barely able to contain his excitement. He couldn’t believe his luck. Jenny here! Tonight! It was like an answer to a prayer. Maybe now he could get her to quit fooling around and listen to reason. There was so much important work to be done, and she was just wasting so much valuable time with all this stupid clowning around…

Inside the bathroom, meanwhile, Jenny luxuriated under the soothing warm jets of the massaging showerhead. It felt wonderful. This was the first decent bath she’d had since she became invisible. Baths were necessary, of course, especially for an invisible person; without regular bathing, a residue of dirt would build up, especially in the hair, making the person ever so slightly visible, a fact which Jenny was horrified to discover at the end of her first day invisible.

Yet baths were a bit tricky to come by. She eventually worked out a method whereby she would find the nearest Motel 7, follow the maid as she made her rounds to the different rooms until she found one that looked vacant. Jenny would then slip inside and wait for the maid to finish her chores. After the maid left, Jenny would remain inside and use the shower. It was actually a very good arrangement, and it worked out very well for a while. Until that one time a few days ago, that is... Oh, that had been a nightmare. Jenny shuddered as she recalled the incident…

That time the maid had apparently heard water running and went back to inspect, perhaps thinking that she had left a faucet running by mistake. When she inspected the bathroom, she was shocked to discover the ghostly sight of Jenny’s soap-covered invisible body standing in the shower stall, looking like a gigantic soapsud in roughly humanoid form. The maid ran screaming out of the room, and of course, her screams brought others. The feeling was actually mutual, come to think of it, as the maid’s screams scared Jenny out of her wits!

Jenny had no time to think; she hastily rinsed and dried herself. Her hair was still wet, however, so she quickly wrapped a towel around her head and ran out the door, just as the motel manager, the desk clerk and a couple of other people arrived. They stopped dead in their tracks when they saw a rolled-up towel float out through the motel room door. As soon as Jenny saw she had company, she took off running. The manager and others watched in awe as the floating towel suddenly flew down the hallway and down the stairs. The little party stood stunned for a moment before they began to give chase to it. They ended up chasing the flying towel out the door and down the street for a half a block.

Jenny managed to duck into a Laundromat, which, fortunately, was deserted. She jumped up onto one of the washing machines and stuck her toweled head inside. When her pursuers arrived right behind her, they looked around but saw no sign of the floating towel anywhere.

The manager and the desk clerk looked in a couple of washing machines, looking for the towel. After a while, however, they began to feel a little silly, despite the bizarre circumstances. The desk clerk was just about to look in the washer where Jenny was hiding her head like an ostrich when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He leaned forward cautiously, peering (at a safe distance) into the open top of the empty washer, as he heard a curious, reverberating sound coming from inside.

"What’s the matter, Mike?" the manager asked as he approached him.

"That washing machine, boss: it’s BREATHING!"

The manager laughed, but the clerk said, "No, LISTEN!"

The manager also leaned forward and, sure enough, for a moment, thought he heard a sound like breathing, followed by what sounded like the taking of a deep breath…then silence. The manager and the desk clerk stared at the washing machine for several seconds, neither one moving a muscle. Then, when they were just about to turn around and walk away, they heard what sounded like a person letting out a breath, followed by the inhalation of another deep breath. Both of these sounds were greatly amplified by the resonance of the interior of the washer, and sounded as though they were coming from some gigantic, fearsome beast. The manager and desk clerk exchanged frightened looks with one another, then returned their gaze to the haunted washing machine. Both men, however, began to take steps backward.

"Let’s…let’s get outta here…" the manager finally said, trying to appear authoritarian despite the fact that he was on the verge of wetting his pants. The two then quickly beat a hasty retreat. Jenny, meanwhile, let out her breath as soon as she was sure the two had left, and patiently remained in that uncomfortable upside-down position for what seemed like an eternity while her hair dried.

After that experience, Jenny could never entirely relax when sneaking a shower; she always feared that some bozo would come barging in on her at any moment. Sheesh, some people just can’t respect a person’s privacy, she thought as she rinsed off the last of the soap. And I suppose that whole stupid thing made the papers too, so Ted will probably start heckling me about THAT before long…

Jenny turned off the water and stepped out of the shower stall, drying herself with a towel. She wrapped the towel around her wet hair, like a turban, and then slipped into the pajamas and bathrobe that Ted had given her. Ted was such a nice guy, she thought. He’s kind of uptight and a little too serious, but really a sweet guy. He really ought to try to get more fun out of life. Maybe he just needs a little encouragement, she thought…

She paused to wipe away the steam-covered mirror to admire her ghostly reflection for a few minutes, marveling at the empty collar and sleeves of the robe. Ooooh, wowwwww, she thought. This is just so cool! I still can’t get over it! She continued to strike various poses, and waved her arms in the air, laughing at the reflection of the empty sleeves flapping about in the mirror. Look out world, she thought, here comes The Invisible Girl! She chuckled softly to herself and clowned around with her lack of a reflection for a while longer before tiring of it, then she opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the hall.

"Ahhhh, that shower felt wonderful!" she said as she joined Ted at the kitchen table. Ted looked up and jumped at the sight of invisible Jenny wearing his pajamas and bathrobe. He had an idea of what it would look like, and had seen similar images in movies and such. But to actually SEE it in real life was still a bit of a shock. It was kind of creepy and yet it was somehow intriguing, too, to see his own pajamas and bathrobe standing and walking around by themselves; it was even stranger to see them filled out with Jenny’s unmistakable curves and to hear her distinctive voice coming from them. It was spooky, the effect enhanced by the towel wrapped around the top of her invisible head, appearing to be wrapped around nothing and simply floating above the empty collar of the robe. Try as he might, Ted couldn’t help but stare.

Jenny noticed this, but ignored it. This must be so weird for him, she thought. If she weren’t so tired, she might feel like playing around with him a little bit & mess with his head…no, no, I really shouldn’t, she thought. Besides, he’s been such a nice, sweet guy about this whole thing.

In fact, as Jenny thought about it, she began to feel guilty about the day she first became invisible and had played those tricks on Ted, pulling his shirt out and tickling him and pulling his cap down and everything. She’d done those mean things to him and now here he was, being so kind to her and helping her when she needed help. She felt like such a heel...

"Say, Ted…?" she began to say.

"Yeah?"

She paused. "Nothing, nothing…"

The two sat in uncomfortable silence for several seconds, before Ted offered Jenny some of his chamomile tea, "Best thing in the world before bedtime," he told her, and Jenny accepted it. Soon the two were seated at the kitchen table, drinking tea, one person visible, the other not, just as though it were the most natural, ordinary thing in the world. After a while, Ted began to get used to the unusual situation and didn’t stare QUITE so much…

"Oh, damn!" Jenny exclaimed suddenly.

"What’s the matter?" Ted asked.

Jenny let out an exasperated sigh. "I just realized I left my purse with my keys and wallet and everything else back at the lab! They probably got ripped off by now! Damn!"

"No, they didn’t they’re uh…er, um…well, they’re…right over there." Ted said, pointing to a paper sack tucked away in the corner. "I—I didn’t know where you’d gone or when you’d be back, and I didn’t feel right about leaving your stuff just laying around in the lab, so I…I bagged ‘em and brought them home with me."

Jenny was silent for a moment. Ted WAS a sweet guy! "Why, Ted!" Jenny said. "That was sweet of you! Thank you!" She reached out an empty sleeve and a soft, unseen hand gently squeezed Ted’s. Even though he couldn’t see it, he could tell that Jenny was beaming at him with that dynamite smile of hers. At that moment, he wished more than ever that he could see her.

They continued the discussion they’d had earlier in the evening, regarding Jenny’s invisibility and what should be done with it. Ted, of course, was of the opinion that Jenny should return to the lab immediately, so that all sorts of tests could be made, while Jenny simply wanted to have fun with her new power.

After much discussion, a compromise was finally reached. Since Jenny couldn’t return to her dorm without a lot of stupid questions being asked, she would stay at Ted’s apartment. That way, Ted could monitor her condition and keep an eye out for signs of her invisibility wearing off. Ted would also assist her with the numerous little things that an invisible person needs help with, such as providing clothing, food and shelter, which was all Jenny was really interested in at this point. Ted would also periodically visit Jenny’s dorm room to pick up personal items and belongings that Jenny might need.

Meanwhile, they would continue to work together as a team, just as they always had, to try to find an antidote for the invisibility formula. But even with this compromise, both Ted and Jenny knew that they each had a separate agenda in mind as far as her invisibility went, and nothing was going to change that. As she had earlier in the evening, Jenny made it very clear that she was in no hurry to get visible again.

Ted also wanted to discuss more long-range plans (he mentioned that he was able to talk to Dean Hallott and get Jenny an extended leave of absence and an extension on the deadline for her ‘bio-optical density project,’ making up some lame-brained excuse to explain her disappearance), but by now the hour was growing late, and Jenny was very tired. At length she stood up and stretched. "I think my hair’s finally dry now." She pulled the towel off her head, and her hair was in fact dry, as Ted was unable to see it, as he would have had it been still damp. Instead, he heard a slight swishing sound as Jenny threw her head back, shaking out her hair. Ted shook his head in amazement; this is all just sooooo weird, he thought…

"Well, I hope you don’t mind," Jenny said at last. "But it’s been a long day and I’m really beat. I’m going to turn in now. Good night, Ted." She turned and headed for the bedroom.

Ted followed, saying, "Good night, Jenny."

Jenny suddenly stopped abruptly, turned around and held out an empty sleeve. An unseen hand against Ted’s chest stopped his progress. "Whoa! Hold it! Where do you think you’re going?" Jenny said.

"I’m going to bed, of course."

"Not here you’re not; you’re sleeping on the couch."

"WAIT A MINUTE! Do you mean to say I gotta give up my apartment, my bathroom, my pajamas, my bathrobe and now I gotta give up my bed too?"

"Aww, come on, Ted," said Jenny in her sweetest voice. "Please? Pretty please?" The empty robe turned partially sideways, and the empty sleeves made a slight motion in front, tightening the sash and accentuating the already-considerable curves underneath. "You know I’m worth it." she said.

Ted stared at the curves of the bathrobe. The robe then turned to face him and moved closer. The empty sleeves raised themselves up towards his face, and unseen hands placed themselves on his shoulders. Unseen fingers caressed the back of Ted’s neck. From the empty collar, Jenny’s cajoling voice continued. "Come on, Ted; please? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeez?"

Those curves underneath the robe continued to hold Ted’s attention. "Well," he finally said, "I guess it’ll be all right. Okay, you can have my bed. I’ll be a nice guy and sleep on the couch."

"Thanks! I knew you’d understand!" Ted flinched as the hands gripped his face. The collar of the robe moved closer and Ted received a quick peck on the cheek from a pair of unseen lips. The empty robe then turned and walked into the bedroom. "Nighty-night, Ted." Jenny said as she closed the door.

Ted continued to stand and stare at the closed bedroom door. He stood immobile for countless minutes, as though working out a particularly difficult equation in his mind. Finally, he let out a long, lonely sigh. Well, this is an interesting development, he thought…

What was so puzzling to Ted was his own reaction, the feelings that he was experiencing at just that moment. Because what he was feeling was something new to him, something strange and somehow alien, and yet not unpleasant. But it was unexpected, surprising and therefore a little bit scary, too. Because up until then, he’d always thought of Jenny as just a pal, a friend, a good colleague to work with. A pretty girl who happened to also have a brilliant mind. But he’d never actually, you know, had FEELINGS for her before. At least, not until now… It was all very strange and puzzling to him. What the heck WAS this?

Finally, he heaved another great sigh, turned and headed toward the linen closet, from which he pulled out an extra blanket. He then walked over to the couch, where he curled up with the blanket and tried to go to sleep.

But sleep wouldn’t come; Ted had too many things on his mind.