The Time Traveler's Guide to Modern Romance

by Madeline J. Reynolds

  His second class of the day was World History, and Charlie Holt just happened to be in his class. He did his best to avoid eye contact throughout the entire period. Once the bell rang he made a beeline for the door, but Charlie stepped straight into that line.

  “Man, that Gathering was a great night—definitely one for the books!”

  “Yeah, agreed, thanks again for the invite.” Tyler was still doing anything not to make direct eye contact.

  “And hey, look, that thing about kissing your third cousin or whatever? Don’t sweat it.”

  “Huh?” Damn it, he did remember.

  “We all do crazy things we regret when we’re wasted, right? You’re definitely not the first to do something stupid.”

  Tyler had been far from wasted and he also wasn’t sure if the kiss had been something he regretted, but he was now at least off the hook socially. “Yeah, totally. What can I say? I’m a lightweight.”

  Charlie just laughed. “No worries, see you around, Ty!”

  Tyler exhaled and one of the countless knots that had formed in his back over the weekend loosened. There were still plenty of other things causing him anxiety, but now he didn’t have to worry about rumors going around school about how that one film geek with the red hair and glasses—yeah, you know the one, the guy who passed out during dissection day in bio—had a thing for his cousin.

  Come lunchtime, Tyler wondered if he should be going back to his dorm to check on Eli. He was a little worried about him after how emotional he had gotten yesterday but, in order to keep him preoccupied while Tyler went to class, he had introduced Eli to the beauty of streaming. Eli had been immediately fascinated and seemed content enough when he left. Kids who had grown up with this technology could lose an entire day to a Netflix binge. A kid who was experiencing all the joy it could offer for the very first time? He would likely have to pry his laptop away from Eli.

  So instead, he grabbed a turkey sandwich and some kettle chips and scanned the cafeteria for Zoe and Oscar but didn’t spot them, so he went to eat outside on the steps and wait for them to find him.

  And they did.

  “Dude, you went to one of the Gatherings? Are you kidding me?” Oscar sat down beside him then placed a hand over his heart, making a pained face as if he had just been pierced by an arrow. “Thanks so much for the heads-up.”

  “Hey, look, I’m sorry,” Tyler said. “To be fair, the invite was really more for Eli than it was for me. Having a cute British accent grants you automatic popularity, unsurprisingly.”

  “Okay, whatever, Tyler got to go to some stupid party—big deal,” Zoe said. “We’re burying the lead here.” She flashed Tyler a toothy grin and starry eyes. “You and Eli kissed?”

  “Wait…how do you know that?” Tyler asked. “Word travels fast around here.”

  “It’s all over Vanessa’s Instagram. Although, from her caption it seems like she thinks you guys are cousins. What would give her that impression?”

  Tyler looked over Zoe’s shoulder at the screen of her phone and groaned. Great, so much for rumors not getting around. “I don’t know,” Tyler said, hoping it sounded casual. “She was pretty drunk—everyone was. Maybe she misheard something.”

  “Fair.” Zoe bit her lip and frowned in a way that made her look almost concerned. “But what do you know about Eli or his actual family? Do you know anything about the guy?”

  Definitely concern, although it seemed unwarranted and completely out of left field. Hadn’t she been the one basically pushing him toward Eli that first night, talking about him being cute? And just a second ago she sounded excited about the fact that they had kissed.

  “Umm, well…he just got here. So not much.” Tyler cocked his head. “I know he has a younger sister named Sam. And from what it sounds like he and his grandfather were—are close. But where is this even coming from?”

  Zoe shrugged. “I’m happy for you, don’t get me wrong, I just…this is all happening so fast, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Plus there’s just…I dunno…something about his mannerisms and the way he speaks…something just feels kind of…off.”

  She wasn’t wrong on that one.

  “Whoa, mama bear,” Oscar interjected, taking a big, crunching bite out of a pickle. “You’re starting to sound a little judge-y.”

  Zoe’s cheeks turned bright pink and she shrank, her shoulders sagging. “That’s not— I didn’t mean…” She straightened her posture then turned to Tyler. “Look, just be careful okay?”

  I’m happy for you? Be careful? This all made it sound like he was about to embark on a serious relationship. It had been one weekend. He certainly had no idea what would happen with Eli or where any of this was going to lead, but he still nodded to give his friend some peace of mind.

  His next class of the day was his favorite. Media Studies. It was technically more of an independent study that he had built for himself as an elective, since he was doing well in terms of credits for graduation. It was either independent study or study hall, and this seemed like a much better idea.

  Technically, according to the syllabus he had to submit for the course to be approved, today was supposed to be spent reading a piece from The Atlantic about whether the changing landscape of digital media affects the initial creative process for content creators and storytellers. But he figured his time would be much better spent sifting through the footage he had gotten so far. Maybe it would give him a chance to finally sort some things out.

  Since he was at the school’s computer lab and not in the privacy of his own room, Tyler decided to go ahead and skip the night of Eli’s arrival, just in case any wandering eyes landed on his computer screen. He didn’t have any sort of explanation for the footage, as there was no way he could actually convince anyone he was any good at special effects—let alone that good.

  He watched a few minutes of the footage that he had taken during the Gathering, but it was all pretty boring. Mostly people talking, but with so many different clusters of people that it was hard to make out what anyone was saying, and occasionally people would start dancing. It was as if he had been getting background shots for a party scene in a movie—a scripted one, that is.

  All that was left was his interview with Eli. Considering it had just happened yesterday, it was still extremely fresh in his memory. But still he played it.

  And then he rewound and played it back again.

  Rewind.

  Playback.

  It was enough to bring Tyler to tears himself. It was good. It was damn good. So many documentarians spent years, sometimes spanning their whole careers, trying to get that same kind of raw, emotional breakthrough, and here it was, playing on his screen right in front of him. This film really would be his masterpiece.

  But as he watched how Eli sobbed at the prospect of going back to a home that did not want him—a place where he clearly did not feel safe—Tyler’s heart ached. What kind of monster would he be if he turned his back on Eli and shut him out? He had absolutely no right to send him away or make him go back, and so he wouldn’t. He had meant what he said when he’d told him that no one was going to make Eli do anything that he didn’t want to do.

  But if Eli was going to stay, that also meant that this film—this beautiful, life-changing documentary—could never, ever see the light of day. If Eli wanted to lead a normal life here, there was no way Tyler could let any of this footage get out. If it did, people would come around asking questions, reporters would stalk his every move, scientists might take him to go be studied or experimented on—hell, the government would probably get involved, too. The life of acceptance and normalcy that Eli had come here so desperate to find would be all but impossible.

  Tyler took one of his books and slammed it against the desk, causing the other students to either jump or turn and glare at him. Life was cruelly unfair sometimes. This film was the key to everything he ever wanted, but in order to achieve any of that he would have to be horrid and selfish. However, doing the right thing wo
uld mean saying goodbye to his dreams—okay well maybe not goodbye as much as “see you later” until he was able to break into the industry some other way. Still it was hard to let go with it so close.

  Tyler sat with his head in his arms on top of the desk. Stewing. Moping. Contemplating. Evaluating. Moping some more. Weighing.

  Then he packed up his bag and left for his dorm room to rejoin his roommate. Not his temporary roommate. Not his visiting cousin or exchange student he took under his wing. His for-real, long-term roommate. He wasn’t even sure why he was pretending to contemplate it anymore; he knew that the decision to let Eli stay had already been made a while ago. The movie may be over, but Eli’s new life here was just beginning.

  Chapter Thirteen

  City of Lights

  With everything that had already occurred in the time since he’d arrived stateside in the twenty-first century, Elias felt as though he’d been away from home a matter of years. It was hard to believe it had been only a matter of days, and it was also hard to believe that upon appearing on what might as well have been a new planet, his explorations had been limited, for the most part, to the campus of Briar Grove Academy.

  It was due to this that he could hardly contain his enthusiasm when Tyler proposed a day trip into the city. He said that it would help Elias learn more about the culture and the technology so he could adapt quicker.

  New York City.

  Even back in his own time he had heard grand tales of the great American city. It was a blooming epicenter of industry, prosperity, and a place where people went to make dreams come true. Even then he’d fostered a desire to see it in his travels someday. He certainly hadn’t counted on the fact that he would be doing it over a hundred years in the future. It would be a different animal now, as any city would be with the addition of time and technology. Still, from what he surmised it still held the same ideals at its core, and he was eager to walk its streets.

  First, though, they would have to take the train.

  Elias had assumed they would be taking Tyler’s automobile, but he had protested, claiming that it would cost too much to keep it parked somewhere—an idea that was utterly baffling to him.

  “You actually pay a fee to someone to keep your vehicle stationed somewhere?”

  “Yeah.” Tyler shrugged, as if it was the most common thing in the world.

  “Well, then the train it is.”

  The train, however, was not akin to the ones that Eli had been accustomed to. The floors were hard and filthy, the seats fashioned out of what looked to be leather, though it didn’t feel quite like it, the electric lighting illuminating each car was somehow stark and dim all at once, and from what he could tell there was no dining car. They also were unable to reserve their own personal car, and unfortunately, when there did not appear to be four seats together, he and Tyler were forced to be separated from Oscar and Zoe. Instead, they were seated across from a large bald man who had fallen asleep and was now snoring.

  “So, what do you want to do first when we get into the city?” Tyler asked.

  Elias raised his hands, impassive. “I’m going into this experience completely blind. Show me all the sights you think most worthy. You are the expert, after all.”

  Tyler smiled at this, and Elias knew exactly why. From the way Tyler spoke of New York, there was something in his voice, a certain knowledge, a fondness, a yearning. New York was home to him. It was where he’d grown up. He told stories of the days he spent with his father going to athletic matches or seeing a large Christmas tree at a place known as Rockefeller Plaza before ice skating and drinking a hot chocolate beverage. And he talked about his plans for the future with the same sense of yearning. When he spoke of university, a school in New York City seemed to be the only option he would consider. His mind and his heart were made up.

  Elias completely understood. He knew what it was like to be proud of your hometown. He may not have felt that he fit in among his peers or even his family, but Elias had always loved living in a thriving city like London. Being around culture and excitement and always the feeling that anything could happen…that anything was waiting, and waiting just for him. With how much the world had changed and advanced, it struck him that London was likely a much different city from the one he had left behind in a span of time that was so short for him yet so long for the rest of the world as it continued to spin. He wondered if he would be able to see the new London…perhaps experience it with Tyler just as they were about to experience New York, side by side.

  “Hmm,” Tyler pondered, “I suppose Central Park would be the best place to start. After that we can hit all the major spots.” Tyler flashed him a playful grin before adding, “You’re basically the ultimate tourist.”

  Elias grinned back, feeling ready for anything, though visiting a park didn’t sound all that exciting. With all the things that were so new and unusual, a stroll through a park was something he could easily do back in his own time.

  The day prior, Tyler had brought him to a magnificent shopping centre with colorful displays, bright lights, and shops that sold objects he only just recently learned existed. His favorite part, by far, was the area Tyler had called the “food court.” It had taken an eternity for him to decide on what to eat—orange chicken from a stand selling Asian delicacies—but even still he would have been happy to try one of everything. Tyler had noted that if Eli was staying he would need to start building up his own wardrobe. They procured him a few pairs of jeans, a jacket made of the same material, and assorted shirts. Today he was wearing one that he particularly liked with navy and white stripes and, if he did say so himself, he felt he looked the part of the modern man.

  They disembarked at a stop titled Penn Station. They were underground at this point, and Elias’s eyes trailed after a pair of rats a few tracks over. Zoe and Oscar made their way over to them and the quartet traveled through the sea of people and up the stairs. When they pushed their way through the glass doors, Elias let out a long breath, as if he had come up from underwater rather than underground.

  Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by buildings of glass and stone that stretched taller than any building he had ever laid eyes on. Pinnacles of architectural advancement, beacons reaching up toward the heavens and piercing the limits of what was once thought possible.

  When he brought his eyes down from the skies, he saw streets filled with automobiles and buses of every size, shape, and color. There were long vehicles that resembled trolleys, only they had passengers seated upon the roof as well as the inner car. Along the sidewalks, people were rushing about in either direction, their garments running the gambit from drab to flamboyant, and every shade in between. They all seemed to be in a hurry, their focus elsewhere, and none of them seemed to notice or care about the magnificence surrounding them at every corner.

  There were vendors, much like ones at the open-air markets back home. Unlike the vendors back in London, these men were peddling strange dishes and cuisines, the likes of which he’d never heard of: hot dogs, churros, and something called falafel.

  The scene was a cacophony of city life: people shouting, the horns on automobiles making their presence known, music bleeding out from radios (like the one in Tyler’s car, only portable), sirens rounding adjacent streets. But none of it was blaring, as it should have been. It was like a symphony, welcoming him into this new, strange, and glorious world.

  Elias had somehow forgotten the rhythm one naturally breathes, for he was sucking in air rapidly, as if he couldn’t seem to fill his lungs, then dragging out his exhales in long stretches, as if he had alternatively managed to collect too much air. His heart was rattling about at a rate that was just as unusual as his breathing pattern—one moment alarmingly fast and the next, slow and stilted.

  His eyes darted from the tops of the buildings to the street below, from one passerby to the next, glancing at ostentatious window displays for nearby shops and inside the windows of yellow autos with signs atop them that read �
��taxi.” He didn’t keep his gaze fixed on one sight for too long for fear of missing something, anything amazing that might happen at any moment while he wasn’t looking.

  “So?” Tyler asked, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose.

  Elias knew that his bewilderment was plain as day, but he figured he would humor him all the same. “It’s…it’s incredible!”

  “Eh, it’s all right, I suppose,” Oscar said with a shrug.

  For a split second, Elias wanted to shake Tyler’s friend and ask him if he was looking at the same city. After turning to see the playful grin on his face, though, it quickly dawned on him that the remark had been meant in jest. Sarcasm was a language understood across generations.

  “To the park, then?” Zoe asked.

  Elias nodded. “Yes, yes, and let’s be quick about it, too! I want to be sure we have time to do everything…and I do mean everything.” In his excitement, Elias dashed out in front of the others, making it only a few meters before realizing he had no idea which direction they were supposed to be going. When he stopped to wait for them it was just in time, as an automobile whirred past, horn blasting. The driver popped his head out of the window to yell a string of profanities in Elias’s direction. He decided in that moment that the man would not ruin the day’s splendor, so he simply waved in his direction and shouted back, “You have yourself a lovely day, good sir!”

  Zoe and Oscar were laughing as they ran up beside him, but when Tyler caught up he was wearing a sour expression, his eyebrows crinkled by concern. “Eli, you have to be more careful. We’re not on the BGA campus. Not paying attention is a quick way to get hit by a car.”

  Oscar scoffed on Elias’s behalf. “I thought you were the guy’s boyfriend, not his mother. It’s not like they don’t have streetlights in London.”