by Gaby Triana
“Thanks,” I say, sitting on one of the log benches that surround the campfire. “Too bad we don’t have chocolate and graham crackers.”
“True. But I like this better.” He preps himself a marshmallow on a stick and sits next to me. “More like the old days.” We roast marshmallows, and I notice a few pairs of eyes in the brush near us, raccoons waiting for a handout. I pull back my marshmallow, and as usual I’ve scorched the crap out of it.
Jason pulls his in, takes it off the skewer, and holds out a perfect, lightly toasted marshmallow for me. “Here, take mine.” I take a bite. The smooth meltiness dissolves on my tongue, and I feed him the other half.
Soon the rest of the Marshmallow Marsh crew arrives, and we elude them by moving to the water’s edge. We settle down in the sand, and I rest my head against Jason’s shoulder. His gold chain reflects the firelight.
“What?” he asks.
“Nothing. This.” I tug on the chain and giggle.
“My chain? Why’s that funny?”
“I don’t know. It just is. I don’t know any guys who wear chains.”
“You must not know a lot of guys.” He laughs and leans his head on mine.
“Pff, dork.” I can’t explain that most guys don’t wear them anymore.
But besides the bittersweet confliction, there is nothing in the world like this. Being with Jason, doing whatever we want to do, going wherever we want to go. Especially when he leans into me and kisses me again, and again, and it’s the sweetest, most delicious kiss ever. I don’t want this night to end. Ever.
A few minutes later a booming noise comes from the direction of the Magic Kingdom, past the Contemporary Resort, and the sky fills with sparkly fireworks. No way. Really? Jason looks at me to see my reaction. He sees I’m smiling and seems pleased that he planned this all so perfectly. “Mucho points for you, my friend, Mr. Disney Insider.”
“Hey, working here has its perks,” he says, putting his arm around me.
As much as it sucks to admit this, my dad had it right. I’m having a ton of fun—a blast even—one that I know for a fact I never would’ve had at Ranch Camp. He would revel in victory if he could hear what I’m thinking now—because Fort Wilderness is the best.
fourteen
When I awake, it’s to the sound of the Magic Kingdom launch’s trumpetlike horn in the distance. I open my eyes. Whoa, we slept here all night? I’m still on the beach, head cradled in Jason’s arm, his hand against my side. The sun is slowly but surely heating up the sand. A few feet away is a white egret staring at us, wondering what we’re doing on its turf.
Aside from the mournful horn, the morning is calm and peaceful. Amazing how soundly you can sleep when there’re no texts, posts, or updates waking you up. ’Cause right now, I really don’t care what anyone else is doing.
I wish we could stay here forever.
But.
I can’t.
Should I be letting myself fall for a boy I can’t possibly have a future with? No, no, no.
Seriously, what are my options? Staying in 1982 with Jason, getting married, then having a child who meets me again thirty years from now? So there’ll be two Haleys, one seventeen, one about fifty? Well, no, I wouldn’t exist in 2014 anymore if I disappeared from there, would I?
So if I exist here and now in 1982, does that mean my parents are not, in fact, missing me right now? Does that mean I could stay here, guilt-free, knowing that they’re okay?
Because this is heaven.
I have to think about this some more.
But suddenly Jason’s arm throws my head aside, and he looks at his Casio watch. “Holy shit, I’m late,” he blurts, jumping to his feet. “I’m so late for work!” I lift myself up, resting on my elbows while he scuttles around, collecting our stuff—the oars, the bag of marshmallows, the lantern. He looks so cute and sexy when he’s flustered.
“Come on, Haley, we gotta move. I can get you into River Country if you don’t have anywhere else to go.” Pff. I don’t really need anyone’s help getting inside River Country. I could write a book by now on how to do it.
“I don’t have a bathing suit,” I groan. “It’s, uh, back with my dad.” As much as I want to hang around and stretch this dream as long as it will go, I have to go back. Plus, it’s feeling really crappy lying to him. Even if I won’t have a future with him, I care for him now. He’s stuck his neck out for me a couple of times already. The truth is the least he deserves.
“Yes, I noticed. Come on. We’ll figure it out as we go.” He heads through the trees down a nature trail I couldn’t see last night.
“What about the canoe?” I ask.
“Do you see one?”
I look back at the canal. Actually, no. I wonder where it disappeared to. “I guess we’re walking, then.” We emerge out of the nature trail onto one of the paved loop roads where the trailers are. “Wait, I thought we were going to River Country.”
He pulls me by the hand. “I need my uniform first. I’ll see if I can get you a bathing suit.”
“Whose? Your mom’s again?” I ask. “No, that’s just weird.”
“I guess you’re right. Fine, I’ll give you some extra cash. I’m sure they have bathing suits at the Settlement Trading Post. I’ll bet your dad didn’t expect for you to find a rich fellow who would buy your survival here, huh?” He laughs nervously, breaking into a jog. “That’s kind of cheating.”
“There’s a rich guy here?” I chide, glancing around.
He looks at me, mockingly wounded. “Maybe one day. I know a thing or two, Haley. I know movies, know electronics. Hey, I would’ve gotten a job at Radio Shack if I had a car. So, yeah, you might’ve met a future rich guy.” He smiles, fishing in his pocket and giving me what seems to be the rest of his cash.
“I believe you,” I tell him. “I think you can do anything you put your mind to, Jason. I can see you doing big things. I’ll pay you back, by the way. I don’t know when, but . . . I will.”
We come upon a street lined with trailers, and he slows down. He turns to face me. “It’s amazing how you believe in me. I want you to know I really appreciate that. Keep the money. I don’t need it for anything.”
I look at it a moment, then put it in my pocket. “Thanks. Of course I do.”
“I just wanted you to know it.” He glances down the street.
“Which one’s yours?”
He points. “The one down there, the tan trailer with the brown stripes on it. You know how to get to River Country from here?”
What, he’s leaving me? Well, I suppose he can’t just show up at his trailer with his parents there and everything, tugging the lost Fort Wilderness girl by the hand. “Um, yeah, I’ll find it. Don’t worry.”
He takes my face in both hands and kisses me softly, rubbing his thumb along my bottom lip. Butterflies flutter in my belly. “Go to the ticket counter and ask for a courtesy pass. I’ll leave one in my name. If you see my brother, tell him I’m on my way.”
His brother. Shit, his brother! If I see his brother, I am definitely running in the opposite direction. “See you over there,” I say.
I take off to find my way to the trading post and buy myself a carton of milk and a small box of Frosted Flakes. Then I rummage through the clothes rack. I don’t really see any cute bikinis, except a rainbow-striped one. I grab it to try on. I suppose if I’m going to River Country, I can’t quite walk around in shorts and a T-shirt like I did last time. Jake would spot me again in a heartbeat.
Whoa. I stop sliding hangers on a rack and pull out an interesting one-piece bathing suit. It’s a white-and-black diagonally striped monokini with cutouts on the sides and white plastic rings at the hips. Very retro. Very ooh-la-la. Now this I can see myself in. And it’s size four! “Where’s the fitting room?” I ask a store employee dressed as a pioneer woman.
“You ca
n try them on right back there.” She points to a curtained recess in the back.
“Thanks.” I head over, slip into one of two stalls, and close the curtains. Changing in a general store makes me a little nervous. I can hear girls talking in the stall next to me.
“I know he is,” one of them says. “That’s why I don’t think he’ll even notice me.”
“You have to stand out, make him look at you. I think that outfit is perfect.”
“Really?”
It’s my mom and Lizzie. I would recognize the rhythm of those voices together anywhere. Who are they talking about? I peek out of my curtain to find Lizzie opening theirs to step back and take a good look at my mom. “For sure. You can wear that one tonight.”
I clear my throat and interrupt. “What’s tonight?”
Lizzie’s head whips at me in shock. My mom’s pokes through the curtain. “Oh, Haley. What are you doing here?”
I twiddle my fingers at them. “Just looking for a bathing suit. You guys?”
Lizzie makes a silly face at my mom. “Well, Jenni here needs to find something to make Oscar-poo notice her.”
My mother slaps Lizzie’s arm. “Stop. It’s Oscar, not Oscar-poo.”
“Can I see?” I ask, and my mom and Lizzie exchange cautious looks. “Come on, I promise I won’t laugh. Besides, I’m sure you look great.”
My mom looks hesitant, but after a moment she steps out from behind the curtain. What she’s got on makes me want to vomit. Long white jean shorts to her knees and a pink top with ruffles that looks like a birthday cake for a five-year-old. “Wow!” I chew on my thumbnail.
“Is that a good wow or a bad wow?” Lizzie asks.
Jenni-Mom’s eyes scan my face. “It’s a bad wow.” Her shoulders slump as she checks herself in the mirror.
Dad said that he never felt love at first sight with my mom. That their friendship sort of evolved into love. Maybe that was the other problem, besides me. Thing is, there’s not a lot to choose from as far as clothes are concerned here in the trading post. And if she wants to get an edge on Marsha, Red Bikini Girl that she is, she’s going to have to step up her game.
I have to sacrifice my finding. For her.
“That’s cute,” I say. “Really cute. But uh . . . do you want cute?” I reach into my stall, pull the black-and-white monokini off the hanger, and push it ahead of me. “Or do you want smokin’!”
“Oohhh,” my mom and Liz say in unison, their wide eyes fixed on my prize.
Mom reaches forward and takes the monokini from me. “How did I miss this? Is this a one-piece or a bikini?”
“It’s both. Try it on. You look about the same size as me.” I smile at her amazed expression both because of the super-cute bathing suit and my sacrificing it.
“Thanks, Haley!”
“You’re welcome.”
Lizzie checks the price on the bathing suit and gasps. “Forty-five dollars? Jenni, you don’t have forty-five dollars on you. It’s nice but not that nice.”
“Who says we have to pay for it?” Jenni-Mom mumbles.
“Oh.” Lizzie checks to see if the store employees are listening in.
I pretend to be super enthralled with the changing-room curtain. And there she is—my wild-child mom. Should I pretend I didn’t hear her, or try to sway her shoplifting decision in the hopes she won’t turn into the rebel my dad divorced thirty years later?
“Anyway,” she says, cutting me off before I can say anything. “I’ll be in the park most of the day, but I’ll definitely wear this tonight. Why don’t you come, Haley? There’s going to be a bonfire on the beach. Everybody’s talking about it.”
“That sounds fun. I’ll come by. Oh, and hey . . . that, with some red lipstick, and you’ll get him.” I wink at her. I watch my mother and cousin, excited over this new turn of events, retreat into the stall, and I hear their uplifting giggles.
The rainbow bikini fits me fine, so I head to the cashier to actually pay for mine, then leave the store smiling. For once I exercised some control over my parents.
Come on, Dad, I started it off. Don’t let me down now.
***
Getting into River Country legitimately was nerve-racking at first. I was afraid to approach the ticket counter for fear that a security guard would be there waiting for me, but after giving them Jason’s name and receiving my courtesy pass, it was a breeze.
I find a shady spot under the pine trees, away from the lagoon pool where Jake is working, but also close to the entrance in case I need to make a run for it. I wriggle out of my shorts and shirt and lie out on a lounge chair with a view of Jason’s rental shack, keeping my eyes peeled, like a fugitive on the lam.
Do I return to Whoop ’n’ Holler? Do I try to see if the time travel will work again? Do I need my phone? I had it last time. Will it work if I don’t have it? Gah. So many questions! The fact that I can’t figure out how to trigger time travel bothers me to no end. I always get what I want, and this whole trip has been nothing but a giant exception to that.
I spot Jason talking to customers, looking his usual hotness. It’s Saturday—I think—and this place is booming. Tomorrow is July 4. There’s a line for just about everything—the zipline, the Whoop ’n’ Holler slides, and to the left of that, the inner tubes.
Someone nearby has a boom box, probably the biggest boom box I’ve ever seen, and it’s playing that song that goes, “Physical, physical, I wanna get physical. . . .” The girl listening to it is slathering on what looks like pure oil. In fact, as I look around, I don’t see anything that looks like bottles of SPF lotion, just brown bottles of oil, oil, and more oil.
When I glance back around the other direction, Jason is walking toward me. “Hey there, now that’s what I’m talking about.” He purses his lips in approval of my bikini and leans down, hands on his knees to check me out. “Nice, Haley, nice.”
“Thanks.” I smile and shield my eyes from the sun.
“You going to lie here, or go ride something?”
Yes, Whoop ’n’ Holler. I have to. My dad is missing me. I stare at Jason’s amazing eyes one more time in case I never see them again. “I think I’ll try the inner tubes.” Each lie I tell him now feels like a paring knife slicing away at my decency as a human being.
“Good idea. Well, stay away from the slides this time.” He touches my face. “And come see me if you get bored. Or even if you don’t.” He kisses me, and my stomach flips again. Ugh. How can I go? But how can I stay?
“Go. I don’t think cast members should be kissing girls while on the job,” I say, pushing him back gently.
“All right, I’ll catch you later.” He jogs off toward the rental booth. My heart breaks watching him go. I know I was ready to go home only yesterday, but after spending the night with him, now I don’t know what to think. I know I want to help my parents have a moment. And I know I want to get closer to Jason. In fact, the thought makes me dizzy, especially when I replay the moments of us kissing last night, over and over in my mind.
Damn, I am so screwed.
I need to start rehearsing what I’m going to tell him. I also need to prepare for the worst—he won’t believe I’m from the future and may not talk to me again. But regardless, I have to come clean. It’ll go something like this: Hey, guess what? I have something to tell you. I slipped back in time through some dimensional shift—and here I am. . . . Ta-da! And guess what? The future is RAD! Oh, and by the way, your summertime pal, Oscar? Yeah. That’s my dad.
This is gonna suck.
I close my eyes and feel the sun’s warmth on my body. It’s not as hot as it would normally be in the summer. Or has that changed too, global warming and all? The smell of coconut oil wafts under my nose. The shrieks of children in the background remind me of the night I stood at the iron wall with Dina and listened to what I now realize were the ghostly echoes o
f River Country. I felt its presence calling me.
And now I’m here.
Except . . . I didn’t choose to come here. I’ve always believed our choices and actions form our future, so how did I end up here? I hate to think this, but could it have been fate? I can’t subscribe to that. It would mean that fate was responsible for my parents’ split-up and my time apart from them. That doesn’t seem right. It was their actions, or inactions, that caused it. It was also me, being born and taking sides, that eventually forced them apart.
Fate had nothing to do with that. It can’t possibly be in control. I am. I’m in control. Which means there’s something I’m not doing right in my efforts to return. I need to enjoy my last responsibility-free moments in River Country and Fort Wilderness, then go try to prompt a seizure at the slides again and hope that Jake doesn’t see me.
“And so we meet again.”
Who always appears right when I least expect him to.
fifteen
Quickly, I gather my shorts, shirt, and flip-flops, but he grabs me by the arm. “So, what’s your good reason?”
I yank my arm out of his. “For what?”
“For being here at night?” He stares at me awaiting an answer, standing there, hands on his hips, mustache twitching. “For trespassing and throwing my walkie-talkie down the slide and nearly getting me into a boatload of trouble.”
Despite my nerves being on high alert, I hold down a snicker. “You gotta admit, that was pretty funny.” I walk toward the main entrance in a huff, but he runs ahead, takes me by the arm again, and steers me toward a nature path where some guests are pointing and taking pictures. The nature trail! Where I climbed into River Country that fateful night.
“I think a thank-you is in order. You’re lucky I didn’t tell security exactly where you were when they asked for your location. That’s why you’re not sitting at the Orange County Police Department right now.”