Prologue

"Hahaha! Oh man, can you believe that? Building robot women to take as dates? What was he thinking?!"

Ramesh wiped his eyes with the end of his rolled-up sleeve and shrugged. "I do not know. I will have to ask him what he had taken so I will not take it. That kind of crazy is not one that I would like to catch."

Another laughing fit rippled through the three friends. James had to drop to his knees to support his weight as his legs gave out on him. Ramesh took a shaky step sideways to use Chen as support to keep from falling and Chen counterbalanced on him.

It took a few minutes more for them to finally get a hold of themselves, the laughter trickling down to random bits of giggling.

Chen was the first one to try talking, letting out a small sigh of relief beforehand. "Weeellllll, now that Drew's lady-fetching attempts have failed in amazing proportions, what should we do now?"

It was James' turn to shrug as he picked himself off the floor and stood back up, brushing his pants free from the small bits of grit that clung to them.

"Why should Drew's bogus attitude ruin our night?" Ramesh asked. "I say we go to the mixer and really let loose the boogy!"

James gave a belly laugh and was about to reply when the sudden twinge of a feeling hit him deep in his gut. The cold knot in his stomach made him frown and turn away from his friends, to look down the hallway opposite them and try to figure out what it was.

It took him a second to recognize that small gut-clenching cold. He hadn't felt that since he had teased his older sister and blew up her 18th birthday cake in front of half of her class and making her pet hamster disappear into the time-space continuum:

it was guilt.

Guilt!

Why did he feel guilty? Why should he feel guilty? It was just good-natured jabbing after all. It was a silly thing, really. Just silly. Nothing to feel bad about. He shouldn't feel bad at all!

But…

As he looked down the hallway again where his friend had run, fists clenched and a scowl on his face, the small knot tightened in his gut.

Yup. He felt guilty.

Drew was their friend after all. He had looked pretty angry when he had left, ranting about how someday people would recognize his genius. And it wasn't like he was trying to do anything bad or strange on purpose.

On the other hand, Drew had made ridiculous robot women to try and replace real women as dates to a party. Really.

'Robot women' he tried to reason with himself. 'He had built robot women for us to take to a dance. We would've been laughed right out the door!'

'But at least he tried the best way he knew how' the small voice in the back of his head responded. 'Besides, didn't you just manage to laugh him out the door instead? You should at least check on him'

James shifted uncomfortably and looked at his other friends who were mimicking the robot women in a twisted sort of parody. He didn't want to let this get to him. Drew was just being silly about all of it.

He should just…just go to the dance and let Drew cool off. Maybe.

The scene froze as James balanced the two choices that lay before him in his mind, the color draining away as time stopped around him.

James' next actions would determine how the rest of his life went, as unbelievable as he might think it. It would also affect everyone around him whether he realized it or not. If he were to go with Chen and Ramesh to the science mixer, he would meet a lovely young pre-med student named Anne that he would develop a crush on. He'd eventually build up the nerve to ask her out on a date and she would accept and they'd end up living happily ever after in suburban bliss with their daughter and twin boys.

If, however, he went check on Drew, his life would take a dramatic turn. He would never meet Anne. Instead, she would meet a military man at the mixer who was asked to be there as a guard of sorts to make sure no 'unruly hooligans' ruined their dance as they had a few times in the past. She would find herself attracted to him and he, like her, would also realize that he liked her. Being the gentleman of tradition he was, he would eventually and bashfully ask her out on a date. They would eventually fall in love and get married in a dream wedding with the dress, the flowered arch, and a ten-gun salute. James may see her wandering campus at some point later, but he would still end up falling in love with someone else just as she had done with the military man.

The scene unpaused, the grey brightening back to colors as James finished the thoughts currently battling in his head with a compromise.

It wouldn't hurt to just go check on him, would it? Just a quick look to make sure that nothing was wrong. They were friends after all. And it wouldn't eat out of his party time. Barely even a few minutes.

"Sorry guys," James replied with a small smile, turning to go the opposite direction. "But we ARE Drew's friends. One of us should make sure he's okay." He started walking down the hallway and gave a backwards wave, adding "Don't worry. Once I make sure Drew's not doing anything drastic like calling his mother to complain about things here, we'll be down there to dance the night away. Not like this will take all that long. Just need to check…"

Ohlook, another one of my stories. But wait...what's this? I've written this one out ahead of time?! Jeepers!

Yup. It's true. I have actual chapters and most of this story finished. Thanks to the editing of the wonderful Star-Eva01 (though he didn't get to edit this prologue...), this interesting idea I had a year ago is going to start being posted.

The story universe (if I ever actually write other stories which, by my record, is doubtful XD) is Unexpected Possibilities and the story is Dominoes. Hope you enjoy the prologue. I'll post the next chapter. Next month probably.

And as for James' sister? Cousin Larry had a mother after all. And I'm pretty sure his name was Larry Possible, wasn't it? If it wasn't, then eh, I'm taking liberties.