37. The Future

"The future is now ladies and gentleman!" The bald man announced from the podium on the stage. He was visiting the college for free to tell the students about how their future was imminent, somehow that just didn't seem to make sense to Lumina. How could the future be now? Only the present is now, and that soon becomes the past, in fact as soon as you say it then it is technically in the past… her head hurt.

"You're all procrastinating, you're putting your lives off until the future. You need to grasp what you want now, because soon it might not be available." He told them, pacing across the stage and staring down at them for emphasis.

"What's he on about?" Kyra whispered and Lumina shrugged, she was too busy gazing sadly over at Angel to listen. "Will you stop watching my boyfriend?"

"Huh…" Lumina said vacantly, she then flushed after realising what Kyra had said. "He asked you out?"

"Not yet… but he will soon," she hissed and Lumina shrugged again. She was debating whether or not she regretted unselfishly asking her crush to go out with her best friend. She snapped her glance away from Angel and focused her attention on the speaker, he was too tall for his own good and seemed to lean precariously over the edge of the stage.

"I'm going to be speaking to you all each morning to encourage all of you to take a grasp on your lives… carpe diem ladies and gentlemen, carpe diem! Seize the day!" He announced before gesturing for them to leave. His words brought forth a memory from Lumina's mind bringing with it a feeling of nostalgia.

"Carpe diem, Rock,"

"What?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows and wondering if she had sneezed. She sighed and then smiled.

"Seize the day."

"Oh."

She shook her head, trying to pay attention to the present rather than the past. How was she supposed to concentrate on making her future now when her past seemed to stalk her? She looked over at Kyra flirting with Angel and felt jealousy run through her veins like poison.

"Seize the day Angel… ask me out!" Kyra said bluntly, her green eyes burning into his blue ones with a lustful look.

"Kyra… I was going to ask you on a date first…" He explained calmly and she rolled her eyes.

"Fine, dinner, tomorrow night, be there." She ordered before turning away with a flick of her hair and walking down the hall. Lumina smiled amiably at him and walked over.

"Sounds like you just got forced into a date," she told him giggling, her eyes then widened, how bitchy did that sound?

"You told me to ask her out, Lu, are you sure this is what you want?" He asked with inquisitive blue eyes and she bit down on her lip hard. "You can let the past go you know…"

"No," she said firmly. "No I can't, the past is a part of who I am, it doesn't just go away because I've met someone new."

"There'll come a time when you have to choose between clinging to your past and getting on with your future," he warned, yet it sounded more like a prediction than a threat, as though he somehow knew this would happen. She frowned and turned away, she then turned back quickly with an afterthought.

"Maybe, but maybe my past is part of my future. Rock is my future…" She told him, although it sounded more like she was convincing herself than him.

"I like your dress," Lumina told Kyra who was dressed in a slinky, black, strapless number that came just down to her toned thighs. Kyra added the final touched to her makeup and sprayed on some expensive perfume.

"I used Daddy's credit card," she said with a shrug, running a hand through her mahogany hair to give it a slightly messed with look. Lumina nodded and picked up her book on famous pianists, running her eyes over the page between glancing at Kyra enviously. Did Angel find Kyra prettier than her?

"You look nice,"

"I know, Lu, you really should get your nose out of that book and go somewhere tonight…" Kyra told her with a look of sympathy and Lumina rolled her eyes.

"Like where?" She asked sceptically, "besides I have no one to walk with."

"You're such a baby, right, well I'll see you when I get back. With any luck that shouldn't be until tomorrow morning." She told Lumina with a sexy wink before turning and walking out of the door. Lumina shuddered as she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, it could have been envy pains or even heartache, she didn't know. She just knew that letting go of Angel was one of the stupidest things she had ever done, but maybe it was for the best. After all, she was sure she was still in love with Rock, why throw that away for some random guy?

"Angel's not some random guy… he's perfect…" Her mind told her sadly and she swallowed hard, well she'd blown it now.

Celia adjusted the hem of her skirt to cover her slightly growing stomach, really she just looked bloated, but she was worried of suspicion. She was still trying to curb her hormones just for a little bit longer until she told Marlin about her pregnancy, she was still wondering whether to tell Gustafa the child was his or not.

"Maybe this should be my secret…" she thought, after all, if she kept it to herself it couldn't get to the wrong ears.

"Celia," Marlin called from downstairs as she quickly took her hands from her stomach and went to see him.

"Yes Marlin?" She asked meekly and he beamed at her. Things between them were now better than ever, there was no way she could spoil that by telling him about the baby.

"I've been thinking… about the future." He told her and she looked at him curiously. "I think we should try for a baby."

Celia's eyes widened, did he know about her baby? She swallowed hard and looked at his face filled with love and devotion, this was just a coincidence.

"I think that's a wonderful idea, Marlin." She beamed and he leant over to kiss her and breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"We have so much to discuss, where will we keep it?" Marlin said excitedly and she smiled, things were turning out better than she had expected.

Jack lugged the suitcases from the boat, they both seemed a lot heavier than when he and Ann had first set out on their week filled with love. Ann seemed to have bought every souvenir known to man, most of them junk, and he had bought home a couple of different plants.

"Ann… did you pack one of the locals accidentally?" He asked, wiping the sweat from his sunburned brow. She shook her head and lifted one of the suitcases he was struggling with easily.

"No dear, I did pack a porpoise though," she joked and he chuckled. Zack rushed over to greet them, clapping Jack on the back and hugging Ann, he then took the suitcases from them and lead them to the inn.

When they arrived there wasn't quite the welcoming party they had expected, merely Doug looking rather angry.

"Get your brother off this island!" He yelled as soon as Jack entered and he froze, he had completely forgotten about his brother. He sighed and took a seat at one of the tables, he had known leaving him there would be a bad idea.

"What's he done this time?" Jack asked with an eyebrow raised and watched a thick vein bulge out of Doug's neck. Jack had never seen him this angry at anyone, especially not at him, he never wanted to get on the wrong side of Doug again.

"He's made all of the girls dump their boyfriends, they're all arguing between them who gets him, people have stopped doing their jobs because they don't feel like it! This is chaos!" Doug yelled, looking like a fierce lion as he roared.

Jack looked over at Ann who looked a little shocked. "Damage control?" He suggested and she nodded. Just then Mark walked in, dressed in low riding jeans and a tight, tie-dye t-shirt he looked very out of place.

"Dude, you're home!"

"What the hell have you done?"

"Just had some fun," Mark told Jack innocently as he grabbed himself a beer.

"Where's mom?" Jack demanded and Mark shrugged.

"I dunno… I think she went to nag the Mayor." Mark yawned and Jack gulped.

"Honey, how do you feel about moving?" He suggested to Ann who looked very unimpressed. Suddenly a noise sounded at the door and a group of angry girls gathered, looking as though they should be wielding pitchforks and torches.

"Oh look…" Jack said sarcastically, "the welcoming committee."

"Your brother is a menace to society!" Ellie shouted, her face flushed with anger.

"He's a jerk!" Popuri added, her eyes tearful and wide, staring at Mark accusingly.

"He used me!" Came a slightly masculine voice and Jack turned around with a shocked expression to see Rick. Jack gawped at him and Karen stood angrily by his side, she seemed to be debating who to kill first, Mark or Rick.

"MARK!" Jack shouted, a traumatised expression tracing across his face. "What the hell happened here?"

Mark chuckled and walked over to the mob to wrap his arm around them, as though proving he was in no danger. "What can I say… they love me here!"

"I mean… what did you do?" Jack demanded and Mark shrugged, leaning against Rick with a superior expression.

"More like "who did I do?" Brother! You've missed so much this past week, I've gotta say, village people are fun." He smirked and placed a hand on Popuri's shoulder. Jack's eyes widened as he looked at the villagers with horror.

"You all…?" He began and trailed off as they nodded. "You let him…? Okay how?"

"It was too easy, it was like they were all asking to play along in a drama surrounding me. They were all willing, so don't blame me for making their lives a little more interesting."

"Mark… you have torn apart relationships! You've really crossed the line!"

Mark laughed and ran a hand through his dark brown hair, a glint sparkled in his eyes. "They'll get over it!"

Jack sighed, his brother had caused a big mess and he honestly didn't want to be on the clean up committee. "Just… pack your bags and leave tomorrow."

"Sure thing bro, this town's getting dull anyway." Mark chuckled. Jack rolled his eyes and reached out to take Ann's hand, he knew when there was an angry mob after his pervert brother it was best just to leave them to tie him up and hang him from the ceiling all the while beating him with a baseball bat, like a piñata. They headed up to his room in the inn and sat on the bed, he turned to her, holding her small hands.

"Ann… we should talk," he said softly, in truth he'd wanted to talk to her about their living conditions for a long time. They could hardly live with her dad in the inn their entire lives.

"About what?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. "Okay you look serious… is this about your brother ruining people's lives? Cos honestly, they'll get over it…"

"No… well not really… Ann, we need to plan where we're going to live now." He told her, looking into her crystal, azure eyes.

"Why can't we just live here?" She asked, looking confused. Jack sighed, had she really believed they would live in the inn forever?

"We're married now," he said lamely. "Look, we need a place of our own, we can't burden your dad forever."

"He doesn't mind…"

"I've already talked to him, he said he'd miss us, but he understands…"

"You talked to my dad before me?!" Ann interrupted lamely and Jack looked uncomfortable. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand and took a deep breath.

"Sweetie, when we got married I swore I'd provide for your future, our future together. I… I want to move back to my farm in Forget-Me-Not valley, it was my dad's last wish that the farm should become a successful family farm." He explained, all the while not taking his brown eyes off his wife's beautiful face. She bit her lip, her mind running over the possibilities, truly she knew he was right, but she found it difficult to let go of the past that she had clung to for so long.

"Can I think about it?" She asked softly and he nodded. He leant over and kissed her brow, running his hand over her back quickly.

"Take your time," he then stood up and left to make sure his brother was packing.

Lumina skimmed through the pages of the book, trying her very hardest to focus on something that wasn't whatever Kyra and Angel were doing. Images of them kissing, perhaps even going further appeared in her minds eye, making her feel sick to her stomach.

"I can't do this," she whispered, standing up and throwing the book down on the bed. She glanced in the mirror, taking in her appearance, she looked nowhere near as glammed up as Kyra, but it would have to do. She slipped on a jacket and hurried through the door, what she was about to do could potential ruin hers and Kyra's friendship, but she couldn't care about that now.

As she was running down the hall she knocked into someone smelling heavily perfumed, she looked up to see Kyra, makeup trailing down her face.

"Kyra… what happened?" Lumina asked, stopping to wrap an arm around her friend. Kyra sniffed and rubbed her eyes.

"Angel told me this couldn't happen between us! He likes another girl, Lu! That bitch…" Kyra hissed and Lumina felt her ears burning slightly. Lumina hugged her tightly and shook her head.

"He's an idiot not to love you," Lumina told her honestly and Kyra looked up with big, green eyes.

"Thanks…" she whispered with a weak smile and Lumina nodded.

"Look, there's something I have to do, are you okay to go back to the room?" Lumina asked and Kyra nodded. "Great, I'll be up in a bit, you get a good night's sleep."

She watched as Kyra took heavy steps up to their dorm room before turning her golden eyes ahead. She continued running, her feet taking her without even having to think, straight up to Angel's room. When she arrived she knocked on the door and he answered it immediately with a big smile.

"It's about time," he told her glancing at his watch and she frowned.

"How did you know…?"

"Look Lumina, I may not know everything, but what I do know is that if something is meant to be it will happen. I think we're meant to be, so what is there to stop us?"

Lumina gazed up into his breathtakingly blue eyes and he reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He then leant forward and time seemed to slow down, there was just the two of them. He then kissed her gently, placing his hand under her chin to tilt her face up to his. He left her breathless again and she opened her golden eyes, meeting his again and smiling.

"You are my future…" he whispered.

Later she could not remember if he had whispered the final words or if she had just heard them in her mind, sweeter than any sound she had ever heard before. But she knew everything she had felt: safe, wanted and perfect, exactly where she should be in the scheme of things. Everything had just felt so right as she let her past drop away to make way for the future, feeling almost no nostalgia.

A couple of days later they were in the hall again listening to the speaker on the future. His bald head shone like a beacon of hope for the future as his wide eyes examined the students.

"I hope you've spent your week productively, grasping the future." He announced. Lumina smiled and looked down at her hand which was currently clasped in Angel's, yes, they had done a pretty good job of grasping the future, she was grasping hers right now.

"Sometimes, I'm afraid, Ladies and Gentlemen, we must let go of the past to make way for the future. We hold on to the lessons, but we must let go of the feelings or they will consume us and hold us back. I want you all to take a deep breath and let go of past pain…" He instructed. They all took a deep breath and Lumina found her mind trailing off to a place where nothing else mattered.

"Now everybody… heal."