1943
"God damnit! Where the hell did you go, Steve!" I pushed through the doors to the movie theater and walked down to its side alley. I stopped at the corner when I heard my brother's famous quote, "I can do this all day." I glanced down the alley and there was Steve, being beat up, again. "Hey! Leave him alone!" The guy looked up at me and his smile faded. I marched towards him getting ready to kick his ass. "Well aren't you cute. A little fruitcake like you shouldn't be getting yourself in others' problems, especially if you have many of your own." I stop in my tracks. I hate it when they call me "fruitcake". It means crazy. They do it all because I wear mens clothing, not dresses and heels. "You can't fight me now, so go along. Go run back to your poor husband that has to put up with your nonsense!" That was it. I marched right up to him and punched him. He stumbled back in surprise and pain, clutching his broken nose. He regained his balance then, punched me back. Steve was still on the floor watching everything, shocked yet not surprised. I went in for another blow then, someone pulled him back.
"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" They had punched the guy then kicked him, he was gone after that. I bent over, catching my breath and looked down at Steve. "What did you get yourself into this time?" I looked up at the familiar voice. It was Bucky! He was all decked out in his military uniform, I think it looks really nice on him. I looked up at him, as we made eye contact his face went immediately to concern. He grabbed my hands, examining my bruised knuckles. His hands cupped my face as he examined me, my blood dripping onto them. While doing that he said "I told to stop getting in fights. I can't always be here to save you." "Bucky, I can handle myself!" I grabbed his hands and pushed them away. I started walking away then, he caught my wrist. While looking back at him, we start arguing about it until Steve breaks us up by saying "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking. It's not like I got punched in the face many times and been knocked on the floor!...in the garbage..." The arguing pauses, we both confusingly stare Steve until Bucky goes and helps him up.
He sighs then says "Sometimes I think you like getting punched." I see a little paper sticking out of Steve's jacket. I snatch the paper, open it and read it. "You know it's illegal to lie on your enlistment form." Steve rolls his eyes and ignores me and continues to talk to Bucky. "You get your orders?" I listen intently to hear his answer. "1:07 Sergeant James Barnes shipping out for England first thing tomorrow." You could tell Steve wasn't happy about it, I was either. "I should be going..." his voice trailing off. I wish I was going. We started walking out of the alley, Bucky wrapped his arm around Steve. "Well... it's my last night here. Better get you guys cleaned up." He says to break the awkward silence. I look over at him. "Why? Where are we going?" "To the Future." He says as he hands Steve a newspaper, he unfolds it. I look over his shoulder to see what it is. The Stark Expo of 1943!
Sometime later...
I looked at myself in my vanity mirror, staring at my reflection. In a different outfit but the same style. It was a nice white collared shirt tucked into a pair of high waisted gray plaid slacks. I also wore black flat dress shoes, a red coat on my shoulder, that matched my mother's red lipstick. My hair was curled and bangs tied back with a red ribbon. The only bad part was the bandages and some bruises.
I walk to the closed front door and take a deep breath. I slowly opened the door, eyes to the ground. Steve and Bucky drew their attention to me. I felt my cheeks flush hot underneath the stare. I looked up, Bucky's mouth was agape. Steve reached up to him and shut it and whispered something to him. The silence was nerve-racking. I bit my lip in anticipation of their comments. "You look great!" Steve said, smiling widely. I half-smiled at Steve then, looked over at Bucky. He had his hand covering his face, looking away. Was he blushing!? Anyways, I walked down the stairs over to the two of them. "We have to stop somewhere along the way to the Expo." Bucky said avoiding my eyes. Almost as if he were nervous. What am I saying, Bucky nervous, no way! He started walking ahead, leaving me and Steve behind. We walked down to an apartment with a girl standing outside it. "Hey, Linda!" Bucky yells while waving at the girl. "Hey, Bucky! Where's Steve?" She was looking around for him. After we finally caught up to Bucky, Linda saw Steve. She was very surprised and disappointed then, she looked at me. With a mixed expression of disgust and don't steal my man. I rolled my eyes at her and looked away. They finally stopped talking and she became all clingy to Bucky. Like ALL the girls do. We started on our way to the Expo. There were crowds of people around the gates of the Expo. After the countless tries, we finally got in. Passing all the science projects, one caught my eye, a really cool scuba suit. "Hey Steve, look at--this….Steve? Bucky?"