Author's Note: After another lengthy delay, here's the next chapter!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- Second Chance – Chapter 18
"Okay, truce on the pillow fight," she said. "But, you haven't answered my question. How do you know? How can you be so . . . sure?"
He took a deep breath, shook his head, and began thinking about the best to tell Lizzie what he was about to tell her.
He didn't want it to come down to this, but he felt he had no choice. Her life was at stake.
He closed his eyes, grabbed the glass of water from the coffee table, took a slow sip, then he began to mentally prepare to tell his best friend the truth – that tonight, he had saved her from dying, but that, in a few years, unless he could change history, she was going to die at the tender age of 24 . . . .
"Lizzie, I know that we're meant to be together, because, well . . . ," Gordo stopped his sentence as he lifted up her left hand, took hold of it, and started gently stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
The soft tenderness of her hand made his heart quiver, as he thought to himself, I never want to let her hand go . . . .
She closed her eyes and sighed a deep breath as she felt a warm tingling sensation go up her arm. Gordo's touch felt like magic. She then looked down at her feet before lifting her head and staring inquisitively into his eyes. "Tell me, Gordo, tell me how you know about us, how you're so certain."
He squeezed her hand tightly, took a deep breath, and then looked up at the ceiling, wracked with uncertainty and nervousness.
He thought to himself, if I tell her the truth and she's going to think I'm a nut-job. I can't tell her that I've been talking to my future self and tell her what's going to happen to her in the future. My god, how in the world do you tell the girl you love that she's supposed to die in just a few years?
Overcome by a sense of despair, he hung his head and began to shake his head back and forth in dismay.
"Go on," she intoned, "It's okay, I'm listening."
Her melodic, soothing voice snapped him out of his hypnotic daze, and he lifted his head up and slowly focused his eyes back on her.
Even though he had just laid eyes on her face but a moment ago, upon gazing at her face once again, he felt as if he was struck by lightening, so stunned was he by her ethereal beauty. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time in his life, and he felt himself seized by his overwhelming desires as he leaned into her face and kissed her softly on her lips and then whispered, "you're so beautiful."
Surprised by the kiss, deeply moved by his words, Lizzie blushed slightly, taken pleasantly aback by her best friend's unexpected show of romantic affection.
She was left momentarily speechless. She waited for a brief second, then closed her eyes, and started to speak. She was just about to tell Gordo that she loved him, but before she could utter those words, something inside of her pulled her back and prevented her from speaking from her heart. Instead, she said, "Umm . . . is, um . . was . . . was that what you wanted to say to me? You know we're meant to be together because you think I'm beautiful?"
Gordo let out a nervous laugh, feeling extremely self-conscious of himself. All of this was so brand new to him, he had never spoken to a girl in this way, and he felt completely unsure of what he was doing. All he knew was that he was doing and saying things to her that he had been wanting to do forever, he was doing and saying things he had pictured himself doing in his dreams.
"Umm . . . no, that wasn't what I wanted to say to you, that just came out, it slipped." He paused, then asked nervously, "Was, was that okay, Lizzie? I'm sorry if that wasn't alright with –"
She cut off his sentence with a kiss on his cheeks, and then with a playful tug of his scruffy hair. "Of course that was alright, it was more than alright, that was such a sweet thing to say to me. Thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied with a broad smile on this face.
"Alright, not that I'm complaining about being called beautiful, but, back to you telling me how you know for certain we belong together."
Okay, one more deep breath, he thought, and then here goes . . .
"Alright, look, I know what I'm going to tell you is going to sound utterly fantastic and unreal, but you have to trust me on this, okay? You have to believe me."
"Okay, sure, yes, yes, yes, now tell me before I hit you over the head with my deadly pillow!"
"No, not the deadly pillow!" He let out a tiny laugh then gathered himself to speak again. "Alright, in all seriousness now, remember, yesterday, when you and Miranda were over at my house, and I had you talk to my friend David on the ham radio?"
"Of course I do. Your friend seemed really nice, but he sounded really sad when he talked to me."
"Yeah, he's a nice guy, I know him really well."
"You do? You never mentioned him to me before. Who is he, Gordo?"
"He's someone very, very close to me. David Gordon is his full name."
"Oh really? You and your ham radio friend have the same name! What an amazing coincidence!"
"You don't know the half of it yet. Anyway, David's 28 years old, and he's a filmmaker living out in Santa Monica."
"Ohmigosh, he sounds just like you. This is really amazing, it's great that you guys hooked up, he could really help you out with your film career!"
"Yeah, he's a lot like me. In more ways than you can imagine."
"Really? Next thing you're going to tell me is that his nickname is Gordo and that his best friend's name is a beautiful blonde girl named Lizzie."
He responded immediately, before his nerves prevented him from speaking. "That's exactly right. His nickname is in fact Gordo, and his best friend was a beautiful blonde girl named Lizzie."
Her face turned still and serious. She was slowly trying to take in what he was telling her. It wasn't making any sense. He must be joking, she thought.
"That can't be, Gordo. That's just not possible. You're making all of this up, right? Trying to play a joke to try and cheer me up?"
He took both her hands this time and held on to them as tightly and reassuringly as he could. "I wish I were joking, honest to God I do. Lizzie, I know you're not going to believe this, but you have to trust me . . . David Gordon, the man I've been talking to, he's, well, he's me. He's me except 12 years older. He's living in the future, I've been talking to myself in the future."
She didn't respond, she just stared at him blankly. It was as if she had just been told that martians had landed on earth. After a few uncomfortable moments passed, she finally whispered, "Gordo, this isn't funny. Please stop this, right now."
"I can't, Lizzie. I don't understand it myself, I didn't believe it myself at first, but it's for real. Lizzie, you know me, look into my eyes, you know when I'm being serious, when I'm telling you the truth, from my heart. What I'm telling is you the god's honest truth."
She tried to pull her hands away but he wouldn't let go.
"Please, Lizzie, just listen to me, just listen to what I have to say, it's so important, for me, for us, for our future."
She stopped resisting, and with a skeptical sigh, she turned her head back to Gordo, paused for a moment, thinking back on everything he had said, and started to speak. Just as she opened her mouth, she was hit with a sudden realization that stopped her thoughts dead in their tracks. Her body became very weak again, and she felt a light-headedness starting to fill up in her head.
She then peered into Gordo's deadly serious eyes, and started to speak in a slow, measured voice. "I don't believe any of this, but, let's just pretend what you're saying is true, okay?"
"Okay."
"Then, what I want to know is, you know, when you talked about David, you said his nickname is Gordo, and then you said his best friend's name was Lizzie. You meant that his best friend's name is Lizzie, right? Are you telling me that we're no longer friends when we're older?"
His eyes cringed. Okay, it's the moment of truth. You have to tell her, now. There's no turning back.
"The answer is yes and no. He, I, still cares about you, he still so in love with you, but . . . but . . . " Gordo's voice started wavering.
"But what, Gordo? Tell me!" She cried, with a sense of raw urgency in her voice.
"She's . . . dead, David's Lizzie, she's gone . . . you're gone, you're not with David 12 years from now. David told me you were supposed to die tonight in a car crash. But, I stopped that. I saved you tonight. But, that's not the end of it. He told me that you still end up dying seven years from now, when you're 23. Jimmy kills you. You marry him, you guys get into a fight, and he kills you and then himself."
He paused to catch his breath and to gauge Lizzie's reaction. Her eyes betrayed a stoney glaze, as she seemed almost in a catatonic stage. She did not move at all.
"Listen to me, Lizzie, I'm telling you all of this because we can change the future! The future hasn't happened yet! You just have to break up with Jimmy, if you guys don't end up together, then he won't be anywhere near you and he won't be able to do anything to you, and then you'll live, you'll be alive, with me, in the future, and everything will be alright, everything will be wonderful!"
He spoke breathlessly, trying to get everything out as quickly as he could. Once he had said everything, he was left panting, gasping for air, and waiting anxiously for Lizzie's response . . . .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- Second Chance – Chapter 18
"Okay, truce on the pillow fight," she said. "But, you haven't answered my question. How do you know? How can you be so . . . sure?"
He took a deep breath, shook his head, and began thinking about the best to tell Lizzie what he was about to tell her.
He didn't want it to come down to this, but he felt he had no choice. Her life was at stake.
He closed his eyes, grabbed the glass of water from the coffee table, took a slow sip, then he began to mentally prepare to tell his best friend the truth – that tonight, he had saved her from dying, but that, in a few years, unless he could change history, she was going to die at the tender age of 24 . . . .
"Lizzie, I know that we're meant to be together, because, well . . . ," Gordo stopped his sentence as he lifted up her left hand, took hold of it, and started gently stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
The soft tenderness of her hand made his heart quiver, as he thought to himself, I never want to let her hand go . . . .
She closed her eyes and sighed a deep breath as she felt a warm tingling sensation go up her arm. Gordo's touch felt like magic. She then looked down at her feet before lifting her head and staring inquisitively into his eyes. "Tell me, Gordo, tell me how you know about us, how you're so certain."
He squeezed her hand tightly, took a deep breath, and then looked up at the ceiling, wracked with uncertainty and nervousness.
He thought to himself, if I tell her the truth and she's going to think I'm a nut-job. I can't tell her that I've been talking to my future self and tell her what's going to happen to her in the future. My god, how in the world do you tell the girl you love that she's supposed to die in just a few years?
Overcome by a sense of despair, he hung his head and began to shake his head back and forth in dismay.
"Go on," she intoned, "It's okay, I'm listening."
Her melodic, soothing voice snapped him out of his hypnotic daze, and he lifted his head up and slowly focused his eyes back on her.
Even though he had just laid eyes on her face but a moment ago, upon gazing at her face once again, he felt as if he was struck by lightening, so stunned was he by her ethereal beauty. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time in his life, and he felt himself seized by his overwhelming desires as he leaned into her face and kissed her softly on her lips and then whispered, "you're so beautiful."
Surprised by the kiss, deeply moved by his words, Lizzie blushed slightly, taken pleasantly aback by her best friend's unexpected show of romantic affection.
She was left momentarily speechless. She waited for a brief second, then closed her eyes, and started to speak. She was just about to tell Gordo that she loved him, but before she could utter those words, something inside of her pulled her back and prevented her from speaking from her heart. Instead, she said, "Umm . . . is, um . . was . . . was that what you wanted to say to me? You know we're meant to be together because you think I'm beautiful?"
Gordo let out a nervous laugh, feeling extremely self-conscious of himself. All of this was so brand new to him, he had never spoken to a girl in this way, and he felt completely unsure of what he was doing. All he knew was that he was doing and saying things to her that he had been wanting to do forever, he was doing and saying things he had pictured himself doing in his dreams.
"Umm . . . no, that wasn't what I wanted to say to you, that just came out, it slipped." He paused, then asked nervously, "Was, was that okay, Lizzie? I'm sorry if that wasn't alright with –"
She cut off his sentence with a kiss on his cheeks, and then with a playful tug of his scruffy hair. "Of course that was alright, it was more than alright, that was such a sweet thing to say to me. Thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied with a broad smile on this face.
"Alright, not that I'm complaining about being called beautiful, but, back to you telling me how you know for certain we belong together."
Okay, one more deep breath, he thought, and then here goes . . .
"Alright, look, I know what I'm going to tell you is going to sound utterly fantastic and unreal, but you have to trust me on this, okay? You have to believe me."
"Okay, sure, yes, yes, yes, now tell me before I hit you over the head with my deadly pillow!"
"No, not the deadly pillow!" He let out a tiny laugh then gathered himself to speak again. "Alright, in all seriousness now, remember, yesterday, when you and Miranda were over at my house, and I had you talk to my friend David on the ham radio?"
"Of course I do. Your friend seemed really nice, but he sounded really sad when he talked to me."
"Yeah, he's a nice guy, I know him really well."
"You do? You never mentioned him to me before. Who is he, Gordo?"
"He's someone very, very close to me. David Gordon is his full name."
"Oh really? You and your ham radio friend have the same name! What an amazing coincidence!"
"You don't know the half of it yet. Anyway, David's 28 years old, and he's a filmmaker living out in Santa Monica."
"Ohmigosh, he sounds just like you. This is really amazing, it's great that you guys hooked up, he could really help you out with your film career!"
"Yeah, he's a lot like me. In more ways than you can imagine."
"Really? Next thing you're going to tell me is that his nickname is Gordo and that his best friend's name is a beautiful blonde girl named Lizzie."
He responded immediately, before his nerves prevented him from speaking. "That's exactly right. His nickname is in fact Gordo, and his best friend was a beautiful blonde girl named Lizzie."
Her face turned still and serious. She was slowly trying to take in what he was telling her. It wasn't making any sense. He must be joking, she thought.
"That can't be, Gordo. That's just not possible. You're making all of this up, right? Trying to play a joke to try and cheer me up?"
He took both her hands this time and held on to them as tightly and reassuringly as he could. "I wish I were joking, honest to God I do. Lizzie, I know you're not going to believe this, but you have to trust me . . . David Gordon, the man I've been talking to, he's, well, he's me. He's me except 12 years older. He's living in the future, I've been talking to myself in the future."
She didn't respond, she just stared at him blankly. It was as if she had just been told that martians had landed on earth. After a few uncomfortable moments passed, she finally whispered, "Gordo, this isn't funny. Please stop this, right now."
"I can't, Lizzie. I don't understand it myself, I didn't believe it myself at first, but it's for real. Lizzie, you know me, look into my eyes, you know when I'm being serious, when I'm telling you the truth, from my heart. What I'm telling is you the god's honest truth."
She tried to pull her hands away but he wouldn't let go.
"Please, Lizzie, just listen to me, just listen to what I have to say, it's so important, for me, for us, for our future."
She stopped resisting, and with a skeptical sigh, she turned her head back to Gordo, paused for a moment, thinking back on everything he had said, and started to speak. Just as she opened her mouth, she was hit with a sudden realization that stopped her thoughts dead in their tracks. Her body became very weak again, and she felt a light-headedness starting to fill up in her head.
She then peered into Gordo's deadly serious eyes, and started to speak in a slow, measured voice. "I don't believe any of this, but, let's just pretend what you're saying is true, okay?"
"Okay."
"Then, what I want to know is, you know, when you talked about David, you said his nickname is Gordo, and then you said his best friend's name was Lizzie. You meant that his best friend's name is Lizzie, right? Are you telling me that we're no longer friends when we're older?"
His eyes cringed. Okay, it's the moment of truth. You have to tell her, now. There's no turning back.
"The answer is yes and no. He, I, still cares about you, he still so in love with you, but . . . but . . . " Gordo's voice started wavering.
"But what, Gordo? Tell me!" She cried, with a sense of raw urgency in her voice.
"She's . . . dead, David's Lizzie, she's gone . . . you're gone, you're not with David 12 years from now. David told me you were supposed to die tonight in a car crash. But, I stopped that. I saved you tonight. But, that's not the end of it. He told me that you still end up dying seven years from now, when you're 23. Jimmy kills you. You marry him, you guys get into a fight, and he kills you and then himself."
He paused to catch his breath and to gauge Lizzie's reaction. Her eyes betrayed a stoney glaze, as she seemed almost in a catatonic stage. She did not move at all.
"Listen to me, Lizzie, I'm telling you all of this because we can change the future! The future hasn't happened yet! You just have to break up with Jimmy, if you guys don't end up together, then he won't be anywhere near you and he won't be able to do anything to you, and then you'll live, you'll be alive, with me, in the future, and everything will be alright, everything will be wonderful!"
He spoke breathlessly, trying to get everything out as quickly as he could. Once he had said everything, he was left panting, gasping for air, and waiting anxiously for Lizzie's response . . . .