Cosima squirms out of her arms in the morning. Delphine finds herself reluctant to release her, their bodies still entangled in sleep. She tries to hold on, to kiss and pull Cosima back into her arms, perhaps to stir up emotions and recommence lovemaking. But Cosima shakes her head, brushing off her hands and lips impatiently. She pouts as she watches her beloved pull away.
"Yeah.. umm I have a class to TA, like in ten minutes. Shit… So I'm going to run." Cosima tells her as she shuffles about her apartment, haphazardly grabbing items of clothing, throwing a dress over her head and pulling her dreadlocks back into a ponytail.
"What?"
"I'll be back for lunch. A late lunch." Cosima promises, gesturing at her once again, "so umm, stay in the apartment and try not to like burn the place down or whatever."
"Burn the place down?!" Delphine sits up suddenly, clutching the sheets to her chest.
"The stove is electric, you can just like turn the knobs to the little numbers to set them, but if you use it," Cosima warns very seriously, "make sure you turn it off again. Actually, just like, have cereal. The white appliance is a fridge, there's some stuff in there and the cupboards"
"Okay." She nods, but the rest of Cosima's safety rant is lost on her as she's quickly kissed before Cosima grabs a pair of shoes from near the doorway and dodges outside.
She hears her steps echo down the hallway for a few moments, and then Cosima is gone.
"Cereal." Delphine repeats. She looks around the small apartment, at the odd clear window to the balcony. Or is it a door, she inspects it more closely, once she's thrown a robe of Cosima's around herself.
She manages to find a box of cereal, several are colourful and when she tastes them she spits them out near instantly, reeling from the overwhelming taste of sugar and something sickly sweet she cannot easily identify. This, whatever it is, is not food. Eventually a box of granola is found, and while it too has an unusual taste, it is much more palatable than the others.
The milk is another matter. There's an 'almond milk' in the fridge, and unable to find anything else, except for a large number of take-out containers and mostly unrecognizable products. She opts to use it, and is very pleased with the result. A reasonably palatable breakfast. She grabs an apple from the crisper drawer and wipes it off on the robe before biting into it. At least this is familiar.
Cosima hadn't bothered to eat at all. Delphine notes to herself, taking the time now to explore this tiny space. The kitchen is really just a stove, fridge, sink and counter in a small recessed area of the large room. There are two closets, one larger containing clothes and storage. The other one smaller, linens, towels and to her surprise, canned goods.
The bathroom is much as it was last night, its indoor plumbing and hot running water, though she notes that it is not as clean as it should be. The fridge Cosima spoke of seems to be for keeping food cold. And she ensures she returns everything to exactly where she found it.
She splashes water on her face, and finding that she smells distinctly of sex, washes herself quickly with the damp facecloth she found. No reason to waste water, Delphine thinks to herself, as she fills the sink to sponge herself down.
There are a few items of clothing pushed to the side in the closet, a small yellow piece of paper stuck above them, with one word. Delphine. She tries to wear some of the garments, but ends up simply throwing one of the dresses over her head. It's too revealing, but she cannot bring herself to wear pants. Or even the small package of what she assumes is underwear, with a matching post-it. It's all too alien, and so small. It would barely cover anything.
Occasionally there are loud noises, the neighbours next door, or above. Traffic and honking horns, and boisterous talking. So many voices. It's French. Most of it, she decides after managing to open that odd glass door to the balcony. She crouches there looking down. But it's somehow unfamiliar, words jilted and left unfinished. Others that seem unfamiliar or shocking.
She finds herself so lost in observation of the deafening, but fascinating world beneath that she does not notice the door open.
She immediately leaps to her feet, clambering back into the apartment and sliding the door shut behind her. Only to find the boy from yesterday, waving at her and holding out an oddly stretching white bag with something in it, as if he expects her to be excited by this.
"Hi."
Her smile fades instantly. "Where is Cosima?"
"Right… Cosima. I'm Scott, remember me, Delphine? Cosima asked me to bring you lunch and make sure that you hadn't gotten yourself into any trouble." Scott looks awkward, is it because she is underdressed? That the apartment is a mess? Or is he, as she briefly thought yesterday, a little scared of Cosima?
"I haven't…"
"It's really warm in here. What… how long was the sliding door open for?"
"Sliding door? Is that what it is called?"
"Yeah… I take it for a while. Great, well if you want… I'll just give you your food and leave." Scott looks around awkwardly for a moment, gazing at Delphine, around the apartment and at the rumpled sheets on the bed.
"No… I need to know, am I underdressed?"
Scott observes the dress, it's black in colour, but it is short. "No, for summer that's fine… I mean, I see girls wearing less things outside all the time… you're from 1910 though… what else has Cosima got for you?"
"Not much." Delphine points at the closet. "She said we'd get more together."
"Yeah… And while you're doing that Cosima has another friend working on getting you a birth certificate. All the stuff you'll need. Course… it will be fake. Passport too… but I couldn't talk her out of this… I mean, how much did Cosima tell you about the 2000s?"
"A little." She's shy now, unwilling to answer, even as Scott carefully moves papers aside on the small table, and sets down a white container.
"Well, here is your lunch. Cosima will be back soon… but… they're going to find out she brought you back… And I have no idea what will happen then." Scott clutches his head in his hands, "Dr. Womiloju doesn't like it when we mess with her stuff. And it's not like we can just put you back now. You're all contaminated from 2015. You could ruin the fabric of time itself," Scott begins to breath heavily, "creating a paradox that could unravel everything…"
"Paradox?" Delphine tilts her head. Cosima had not mentioned a paradox or the world ending. She had spent her life in a convent, or would have… there couldn't be any ill effects to one missing nun. Or whatever she would have been there.
"We need to talk…" Scott looks around nervously, "do you have a whiteboard?"
"Hey Delphine," Cosima called cheerfully from the door.
After two hours of eating an alien-looking but very delicious lunch and listening to Scott talk about time and space and paradoxes.
"Will the world really end if I stay here?" She lets it rush all out at once. The paranoia had set in, even while being encouraged to eat as Scott rambled on about butterflies and specs of dust out of place and the end of the world.
"What? No… Fuck… Scott." Cosima groans in exasperation. "He… he watches too many science fiction movies. I mean it's possible we altered history in some small way, if you like invented something. But I doubt it..."
"Are you sure?" Delphine breathes more steadily, "Where, where were you?"
"I had a class." Cosima yawns, "And then I called my friend who is doing your birth certificate and passport. Weirdest thing, can't get you a Québec one… it's easier to get you documents from another province and then have you 'move' here."
"But… But I'm québecoise!" Delphine protests.
"Umm well according to your new documents, you were born to quebecois parents outside of the province." Cosima tells her apologetically. "Anyway, the important thing is we get the documents for you, least then you can start having a life here…. you know, after you're less afraid of the noise and shit."
"Right." Delphine nods. She's beginning to sound more and more like Cosima. Is it that easy? To fall into another time? Another person?
"Anyway… did you like your lunch?"
"It was...different. Very different." She says at first, reflecting on the dish that Scott had brought to her. "But I liked it."
"Pad thai… well, vegetarian pad thai… I don't really eat meat." Cosima explains, "but like you can if you really want to or whatever. I'm totally for choice. You can eat whatever you want… Which reminds me, I think we need to go get some groceries. I do not have enough food left in this apartment."
"You want to take me out again?" Delphine perks up. Would it be overwhelming like the last time? The people. The noise. The smells. This was not Montréal. Not the Montréal she remembered anyway. Nearly 100 years later, so much had changed.
"Yup. Have to… get some things. The grocery store is close." Cosima informs her, grabbing canvas bags from on top of the cupboard. "It won't take long, consider it a test outing. See how much of the outside world you can handle."
"And I am ….the test subject." Delphine acknowledges, face morphing into a pout. She doesn't want to feel like Cosima's pet, something that needs to be constantly cared for and looked after.
"No… well yeah, if you want to think of it that way." Cosima shrugs, grabbing her keys. "Oh yeah, we should get you sandals too."
"Sandals would be helpful." Delphine thinks of the plasticy pink sandals Cosima had had for her the other day. Flipflops, she'd called them. "Like yours."
"Okay," Cosima laughs, dreads falling down into her face. "We'll get you some like mine." Her lover hesitates a moment, looking her over before they exit the apartment. Shaking it off, Cosima guides her out of the apartment locking the door behind them.
She glances back at Cosima, why would she be nervous? This is her world after all. "What is it?"
"Delphine," Cosima begins looking uncomfortable, "Are you wearing underwear?"