Written for Kleenexwoman's playlist challenge. Song: "Pretty Girls Make Me Nervous," by Prozzak.
After seeing the wreck he'd made of his life in 2015, Marty McFly has done everything to ensure that his future is a success. He's gone to college, gotten a good job as a musical technician (not exactly what he dreamed of as a 17-year-old, but still a thousand times better than whatever dead-end job he was stuck in with the Jitz), bought a nice house in a nice part of Hill Valley (Hilldale's still a wreck, good job dodging a bullet there), married Jennifer (big church wedding this time, no Chapel of Love and cheap Polaroid snapshot).
He's raised his kids right this time. Marlene doesn't look at her dad with such disdain anymore. And Marty Jr. is no longer the complete wimp he had to save from Griff—he's confident, maybe more so than Marty was when he was 17. Rides a hoverboard, plays keyboard in his garage band, gets good grades.
He's even managed to make friends with Griff. Marty was originally worried about that, but somewhere along the line, Griff's turned into an okay kid. Follows Marty Jr. around like a puppy. (Later, Marty will think that that was what he should have worried about. But hindsight is 20/20 no matter how many times you try to change the past.)
There's one thing he sees missing in his son's life. George had Lorraine, Marty had Jennifer, even his ancestor Seamus had Maggie…Marty's never seen his son go on a date. It's not even like he's a late bloomer, like George—George had an excuse, being scared to talk to anyone. Pretty girls clearly do not make Marty McFly Jr. nervous. Maybe they don't make him anything at all.
Marty isn't sure he wants to know, but he's a concerned parent. He has a right to interrogate his children mercilessly about their social lives. (Subtly, make a joke of it, don't want to pry.) Rehearses what he's going to say. Picks an opportune time—Marlene's at a sleepover, Jennifer's at a girls' night out with her mother. Just us guys and a pepperoni pizza.
"So," Marty asks, once the pizza is out of the rehydrator, "you got anything going on tonight?"
Marty Jr. shrugs. "Nah. Nothing really."
"No dates? On a Friday night?"
"Everybody's busy. Griff has to work at the auto detailing shop, Data's got a programming project due…"
"What about Spike?"
Marty Jr. takes a long drink of Pepsi before answering. "What about her?"
This conversation isn't going the way Marty planned. He takes a blind shot. "I thought you two were going out or something."
"Spike doesn't date guys, Dad." No, Marty thinks, she just beats them up. That was the old Spike, of course, and Marty has to forcibly wrench his train of thought back to the present. The present present. "Anyway, we're just friends."
"So…um, do you have any girlfriends?" Marty inwardly cringes. He tries to make it sound casual. "Heh, I mean, if you do, she must be invisible or something."
"Nah. No invisible girlfriend," Marty Jr. chirps. He attacks his slice of pizza.
"No? Nobody at school you like?" There, he's saved the conversation, given his son a chance to open up. Maybe he really is just shy with girls (Spike excluded, for reasons that are apparent now).
Marty Jr. swallows his pizza and says, in a manner so casual it must be a put-on, "Well, there is this one guy…"
Marty really, really, really wishes he had never asked.