“Uh, sure, Jen. Come on in.”
The room was in its typical state of disarray. Clothes, Pepsi cans and sheet music littered the floor. The infamous Physics book lay unopened on the nightstand. Marty stood by the bed, guitar beside him, and looked up at Jennifer. She noticed that he looked tired and supposed that he would be, all things considered. It was still difficult for Jennifer to comprehend that last Saturday her boyfriend had spent nearly two weeks travelling through time. She’d probably never have believed it if it hadn’t been for her own brief, but hellish, memories of a future that, thankfully, would now never come to pass. Just thinking of that experience was enough to make her shudder. Marty noticed and his blue eyes filled with concern. “What’s wrong, Jen?” he asked.
“With me? Nothing. I just stopped by to ask you if we were still on for Josh’s Halloween party tomorrow.”
“Jeez, Jen, I totally forgot about that!” Marty ran his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit that Jennifer usually found particularly endearing. At the moment, however, she was worried. Marty seemed awfully upset about a stupid party.
“Don’t worry about it, Marty,” she said. “I only remembered today when Cindy said something about it in study hall. I would’ve called you when I got home, but your phone’s been busy all afternoon.”
“Linda’s been on the phone with her boyfriend,” Marty explained, looking relieved. Then he sighed.
“Marty, is something wrong?”
Marty ran his hand through his hair again and sat on the bed. He wasn’t really sure how to explain this. “It’s just – everything’s so – different now, you know?” He looked up at Jennifer.
She did know, sort of, what he was talking about, but she wasn’t sure if she really understood. She sat on the bed next to him. “But, Marty,” she said, “Isn’t that a good thing? I mean, no offense, but from what you told me about the way things were before, your family was in pretty rough shape.”
Marty sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, it was, but they were my family and I knew them. Now – hell, Jen, now half the stuff they do I don’t know why. They talk to me about things that I should know about, and I don’t. I feel like I’m going nuts!” Jennifer looked confused. Marty didn’t blame her.
She said, “I thought you said that you were starting to remember the way things happened now.”
Marty shut his eyes and grimaced. “I am, Jen, but it’s not... It’s like, what happened to me before I went to ’55 – that’s my past. What happened to me the way things are now – I can remember what happened if I think about it, but it’s more like a story someone told me than remembering something I actually lived through. Does that make any sense?”
Jennifer tried to process this, and a question came unbidden to her mind. “Do you remember how we started dating?” she asked without thinking. She clapped a hand over her mouth as soon as the words came out. Way to be sensitive, Jen! She told herself fiercely. But to her surprise, Marty smiled.
“Yeah,” he said. “That happened pretty much the same way both times.” He didn’t really see the point in mentioning that, in Version One of his life, her father had pitched a major fit after discovering that his only daughter was seeing one of those “loser McFlys.” Actually, for a while right after they had started dating, Marty had wondered if she’d have kept seeing him if it hadn’t pissed off her old man so much. Even though he figured out that wasn’t the case before he changed the past, it was nice to have that reinforced through his new, more pleasant memories.
Jennifer was relieved, both at his answer and at the fact that her question hadn’t upset him. She was still worried about her boyfriend, though. “You haven’t been sleeping too good, have you.” It wasn’t a question.
Marty shook his head. “No, I’ve been spending all my free time trying to remember what else is different now. Besides,” he said, making a face, “I keep having dreams about terrorists and junk when I do fall asleep.”
“What?!”
Shit. Marty thought. He’d forgotten that he’d never really explained to Jennifer just exactly how he’d wound up in the ‘50s in the first place. “It’s a really long story, but I promise I’ll tell you later?” He looked at Jennifer, hoping she’d understand.
“You’d better,” she said seriously.
“Marty!” Lorraine McFly’s voice echoed down the hall. “Dinner’s ready. Jennifer can stay too, if it’s all right with her parents.”
Jennifer looked at her watch. “Wow. Actually, I’d better go home, but I’ll call you later, okay?” Marty nodded. Just talking about all this stuff with Jen made him feel a lot better.
“Okay, Jen. When do you want me to pick you up for the party?”
“Six should be fine.” They left the room together, holding hands.
Later that night, after talking to Jennifer on the phone and deciding that “Clint Eastwood’s” clothes would make a good Halloween costume, Marty finally got around to studying for the dreaded Physics exam. Opening the book, he gingerly removed the makeshift bookmark that had been keeping his place. He held the business card up to the light and read it again. “David Calvin McFly.” He stared at the card in wonder for a moment more before placing it on the desk.
written February 2003 by StarlighterCRM_114
StarlighterCRM_114@hotmail.com
View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook