by Mia Archer
“I suppose,” she said. “I guess I’ve always had more of an affinity for hockey masked killers, but Freddy was pretty interesting.”
“Yeah, well don’t get your hopes up too much,” I said. “There are a couple of clunkers and a couple of good ones after that, but stuff gets really interesting with New Nightmare which leads into the Scream stuff.”
“The what?” she asked.
She was giving me one of those looks. Panic seized me. Shit. I needed to stop talking about future stuff, but it was fucking impossible because that was the world I lived in!
“Y’know I’ve been willing to put up with all the weirdness because you’re so hot,” Jenny said. “But seriously. Is there something you want to tell me?”
Shit. I was worried I was going to have a butterfly flapping its wings sort of problem if I revealed knowledge of the future. I could seriously fuck things up.
That was the question. Was this a Sound of Thunder sort of “stuck in the past” situation where something as simple as icing an innocent little butterfly could drastically alter the future just enough to create some seriously fucked up consequences? Or was it a Back to the Future sort of situation where saving someone from getting iced by Libyan terrorists, talk about a laugh that people were actually worried about that sort of thing in the ‘80s considering what came later, wouldn’t be as big a deal as it was made out to be?
“Um,” I said, not really sure what to say as I mulled all of that over and tried to think of a way I could get the hell out of this suddenly awkward situation.
“Come on Liv,” she said. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed some of the stuff you’ve been saying. You were talking about Jason Goes to Hell back in the video store even though I’ve never heard of that movie. You’re talking about Freddy movies I’ve never heard of, and I have no fucking clue what a Scream is if we’re not talking about the painting. You talk about stuff that hasn’t happened yet, so what’s going on here? Is this some weird thing you’re doing for attention or something?”
I sighed. I wasn’t sure how the hell to handle this, but at the same time I wanted to tell Jenny the truth. I wanted her to know everything.
“You’re not going to believe me,” I said, hedging just a little.
“Try me,” she said.
I took a deep breath. “Okay. The truth. You want the truth? I’m from the future.”
Jenny grinned. That grin turned to a giggle. Soon enough that giggle was a full on laugh. We’re talking slapping her knees and wiping a tear from her eyes laughing.
Okay then. I guess the thought of someone being from the future was just a touch ridiculous. I could see where she was having trouble believing me.
So I reached into my pocket. I figured if I was already potentially contaminating future timelines and doing the sort of thing that would have Doc Brown going into conniptions then the least I could do was keep right on contaminating it in the name of letting my girlfriend know how totally serious I was.
She stopped laughing when I pulled my phone out and activated the screen. The phone lit up with a picture of me, Felicity, and Candace.
Jenny stared at the phone. “What the hell is that?”
“What do you think it is?” I asked.
“It looks like something from a science fiction movie,” she said. “But how are you doing that? I’ve seen televisions that have small screens like that, but…”
“I’m willing to be those televisions are a hell of a lot bigger than this thing,” I said, moving it to its side so she could see the phone’s slim profile.
Jenny stared at this bit of technology from the future with an unreadable expression. She glanced between me and the phone.
“Can I see it?” she finally said.
I hesitated. There was a part of me that worried she might run off and hand it over to Steve Jobs or something for a shitload of money. Though he might not even be at Apple at this point. I’d read somewhere that he got kicked out somewhere in the ‘90s.
I also figured if we were going to do this whole time travel romance thing then I was going to have to trust Jenny. Even if there was that voice telling me that trusting her was a bad idea when there was the potential to have this bit of evidence from the future used to lock me up so the government could run experiments and pump me for information about the future.
“It’s okay,” Jenny said. “You don’t have to let me see it. Is that how you’re going back and forth from the future? And how far in the future are we talking?”
I snorted. The idea of using an iPhone to travel through time was the kind of ridiculous idea you’d see in a bad time travel story, but here I was traveling through time without any good explanation. Who was I to say time traveling with my phone was more ridiculous than any other explanation?
“Honestly?” I said. “I’m not sure how I’m doing the whole time travel thing. I stepped into that dance studio and everything felt weird, and the next thing I know I’m stepping into a skating rink that’s playing the greatest hits of a couple of decades ago.”
Jenny leaned back on the couch and let out a long sigh.
"Holy shit,” she said. "This is heavy!"
"I know, right?" I said. Then I caught exactly what she was doing and grinned. Wagged a finger at her.
"I know what you're doing!"
"Great Scott!" she said, wiggling her eyebrows as she said it.
She leaned forward. Her eyes went wide.
"Great Scott is it!" she said. "You could totally pull a Grays Sports Almanac if you wanted to!"
There must've been something about the way I looked at her, because she shook her head.
"I'm not saying for me," she said. "I'm saying you could really clean up. Have that dough waiting for you in the future when you get back.”
I’m not gonna lie. The thought had occurred to me. It's just that there was something about it that felt wrong.
Then again I thought about all the assholes from my time, or more realistically a little before my time, who'd made a shitload of money and caused the entire world to go to shit. Next to what those jerks were doing to the economy on the regular, was getting a little money with knowledge of the future really all that bad?
"I don't want to think about that right now," I said. "Can't we just enjoy being together?"
"Totally," Jenny said. "But that thing you’re holding is amazing. It's like something out of Star Trek!"
"Are you kidding?" I said. "This is way better than the stuff on Star Trek. We’re talking there are people walking around in Next Generation costumes at conventions who use tablets that are way thinner than anything the actors ever got from the prop department on that show.”
"Conventions?" Jenny asked.
"It's a geeky thing that people do in this time, but it’s not as popular,” I said with a twinkle in my eye, not able to resist yet another reference even if it was a reference I'd already used once. "But your kids are going to love it!"
Jenny let out a sigh. "Kids. That's wild. You'd probably know all about me from the future if you looked me up, right? Whether or not I had kids? Stuff like that?”
"Maybe," I said, thinking about the girl at the skate rental. "Then again maybe not. Who says I could even find you?”
It’d be a hell of a lot easier than it was in this day and age, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to look her up. Looking her up and seeing her happy with someone else would be acknowledging that this thing we had was temporary because of the impossibilities of time travel, and I didn’t want that.
“Twenty years?" she asked.
“As best as I can figure," I said. "I actually think I'm going to be conceived here pretty soon. Allow nine months for me to finish baking. Add on about eighteen years, and…"
"So you are over eighteen?” she asked.
That was a good question. Was I over eighteen? In my time I was over eighteen. Just barely, but I was over the line. I was getting ready to graduate from high school and everything.
“
Um, in the here and now?" I said. "I don't know. I guess I'm technically in the negative since I’m not sure I’ve even been conceived yet?"
"Huh,” Jenny said. "I guess nobody’s ever had to deal with the implications of getting it on across time travel barriers, have they?"
I shivered. Getting it on across time travel barriers sounded like a fun way to spend the evening.
"Wait a second," I said. "You're actually worried about that?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked.
"People already think I'm some sort of weirdo for being into girls. I don't want to get on the wrong side of Johnny Law when it comes to how old you are on top of that, you know?"
My head reeled. It was strange to think of those laws being used as a cudgel to beat on gay kids who were just trying to love one another. Though mostly my mind was reeling because I got the feeling she was asking me all these questions because I was pretty close to being in like Flynn, thank you very much.
"Well I suppose someone would have to be the first to try the whole time travel getting it on thing, right?" I asked.
“Considering the last time someone tried it they were interrupted by Biff trying to beat the crap out of them, and they were technically trying to get it on with their mom, I guess someone else would have to be the first," Jenny said.
Oh yeah. This was definitely getting good. So I leaned in and planted my mouth on hers. This was a time to stop thinking and start doing. And I could think of something that I wanted to do right about then, wink and a nudge! Jenny's hands moved lower, lower, and I grinned around the kiss.
For little while I didn't worry about all the craziness, or that I’d maybe become the world’s first time traveler. No, for a little while I was just a girl in the arms of another girl having a hell of a good time.
24
Back to the Rink
"I don't know why you're panicking," Jenny said. "If it's worked every other time, why wouldn't it work now?"
"I don't know," I said. "I never tried to go back this late. What if the time travel thingy is only there at certain times or something? What if I have to spend a week in the past?"
"I don't think that would be so bad," she said. "You could hang out. I could show you around.”
I stuck my tongue out at her. "I know exactly what you're doing, and this isn’t the time for movie quotes.”
"Excuse me," she said, putting up both of her hands which had me reaching for the wheel to make sure she didn't run us off the road. Dying in the past as some mysterious Jane Doe who’d never be identified wasn’t my idea of a good time.
"Gosh," she said, her hands blessedly returning to the wheel. "You really are nervous, aren't you?"
"Sorry," I said. “Being stuck in the past with you wouldn't be all that bad. I’d have to stay at your place for however long I was stuck here, of course. You’d have to explain to your mom why you're having a strange girl staying with you, but if she already suspects something it’s not like that’s going to be a huge deal, right?”
I detected a slight increase in the car’s speed. I tried not to smile. I’d found something that lit a fire under her ass about getting me back to the rink so I could do the time warp. Again.
"What's going on?" I asked, trying to sound all sweet and innocent.
"We need to get you back to that dance studio!”
I grinned and laughed, then reached out and gave her leg a squeeze. Which was a nice reminder of some of the fun we'd just had.
No, when I really thought about it, the idea of spending some time in the past with her wasn’t bad at all. For all that there were some real assholes hanging around in this time when it came to the whole gay thing.
Then again there were assholes in my time too. It’s just that they weren’t as vocal as they were in the here and now. Still, there was something about knowing I had Jenny here that made it all seem worthwhile. Like I could put up with that bullshit if I had her by my side.
"Here we are," Jenny said as we pulled into the parking lot. "Are you ready?"
"I'm going have to get my skates,” I said.
"Right," she said. “Let’s do this.”
It didn’t take long for us to get over to the skate rental. The girl there eyed me suspiciously, but having Jenny with me was enough to push away any questions.
“She must’ve been wondering how you snuck in here earlier,” Jenny said. “She’s been at the skate rental all night long and she had to know you didn’t come through.”
“Why do they call it the skate rental anyway?” I asked as we made our way back towards the dance studio.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“The name doesn’t make sense. I pay my money at the front ticket counter. It’s not like I have to pay to rent the skates. So why call it the skate rental?”
“I think it goes back to the days when skating rinks were so popular that people paid to get in, and then they paid if they wanted to skate,” she said.
“What else would they do if they weren’t skating?”
“Well there’s the arcade, and the dance studio. There was a miniature golf course once upon a time, but that got taken out when they put the dance studio in,” she said. “My mom’s been wanting to expand the place for years now with some other stuff, but hasn’t had the money.”
“Huh,” I said. “So skating was just one of many things someone could do.”
It reminded me of the big fun complexes that had sprang up in my time, though as far as I could tell none of those had roller skating on offer. Which either meant skating rinks were a huge headache to maintain, or there was too much liability with a bunch of kids and teenagers hurtling themselves around a hunk of solid wood using plastic rollers.
I glanced at the concession area as we walked past more out of habit than anything. The typical urge of a teenager to see who was out even though I didn’t know any of these people. Then I saw her and came to a stop.
“What’s wrong?” Jenny asked.
“It’s her,” I said.
My mom. She was in a corner on her own drinking from a soda cup with an ancient logo that was probably all bright and shiny and new to all the people hanging out here, and she had tears running down her face.
“Oh great,” Jenny said. “Looks like there’s more trouble in paradise. She deserves it for the way she acts towards everyone else.”
I felt a couple of conflicting emotions at Jenny’s words. I well remembered the way my mom acted the last time I saw her. If she acted like that with everyone then I could totally understand why people would hate her guts.
Everyone who wasn’t getting it on with her in that jet simulation video game, at least, and even James seemed like the love’em and leave’em type if what I’d seen of him, and what I knew of him from the future, was anything to go on.
“I have to say something,” I said. “Look at her. She’s sobbing.”
“Yeah, well it’s the least she deserves for all the misery she brings into everyone else’s life,” Jenny said.
I was surprised to hear that from her. Clearly my mom had done some nasty shit to her, but I guess I just came from a world where everyone was a little more mellow.
Even the people who got bullied usually hugged it out. I was starting to realize that maybe I’d had a sheltered existence that I was thinking this way when she was clearly scarred by all this.
I looked at my mom, and while I was doing that I also looked pretty deep in my soul. There was a time when I would’ve killed for the chance to talk to her just one more time, only now that I was being offered that chance I wondered if it was worth it. If I should even go near her if she was going to act like a bitch like the last time. I guess I understood Jenny better than I thought.
I sighed. Thought about some of the lessons I’d learned from my mom over the years.
“Y’know even Cordelia got better,” I said.
“What are you talking about?” Jenny asked.
“Y’know, from Buffy the Vampire
Slayer?” I asked.
“That new movie with Peewee Herman and the guy from Ladyhawke?” she asked. “Why would you be talking about that? I don’t remember anyone named Cordelia in that.”
I sighed. “Right. I keep making references to my distant past that’s your near future. Gotta be careful about that. The point is you should give people a chance. I know there’s some good in her.”
Jenny rolled her eyes. “Okay Luke.” She paused like she was thinking something over. “That’s a reference to a sci-fi movie from a series called Star Wars, by the way. It was really big almost a decade back, but no one knows about it these days.”
I snorted. “Just you wait. If you could invest in that it’d be right up there with Apple for stuff that’s going to explode in the future.”
“What does fruit have to do with anything?” Jenny asked.
“Never mind,” I said. “By the time you’ll understand well enough to kick yourself for not investing it’ll be way too late.”
“Whatever you say,” she said. “So you’re really going to do this?”
There was something new to her voice. An undercurrent of something I didn’t care for. A tone that said we were going to have problems if I did go over to talk with the woman who’d given me life.
“I have to,” I said, thinking back to what Aunt Olivia told me about people not being the same person at different stages of life, and sometimes maybe what they needed was a little bit of love.
Maybe I could be the change that was needed in my mom’s life. Maybe I could show her that being gay didn’t make me a monster. That I was a person just like anyone else.
Well, I wasn’t just like anyone else considering I’d be growing inside her body very soon, but either way I could be the change she needed to see so she could be the awesome supportive person I knew her as growing up.
“I have to do this,” I said again, more firm this time.
I turned to Jenny and smiled a sad smile. She obviously had her own issues she was working through, and I got the feeling working through those issues meant she wasn’t going to be following me over there.