A/N: Don't even say it. I know, shame on me for starting yet another one. This one will hopefully just be a oneshot – I'll leave it open for more chaps but I think it'll just be one. So, whoopee. And it's definitely inspired by a lot of other fics like it, like one by someone that I can't remember whom. So if anyone comes up with a name please review with it and I'll update this AN. PS – element90, I'm freaking honored to be one of three on your favorite authors list!
"Sharar" means "enemy" in Hebrew. And apparently Candida's last name is either "Keegel" or "Stobel," the first from "Versa Day" and the second from "Maybe-Sitting" so. The "Fry Game" comes from Boy Meets World – it's practically a copy of that jellybean scene where Cory decides between 'Pangers and Lauren.
Thanks a ton to Teej and Janine for helping me out with my whole internal struggle lol :) Fresh pie to both of you, overnight mail. ;-)
I know the ending's realllllllllllllllllllllly random and sudden but I had to finish it.
Neither POTF nor HSM is mine.
I feel the need to add here that I'm not writing any more of this. It's complete!
Title: Visitation Rights
Working Titles: Visitation Rights, Five and Seven
Beginning Date: 29 December 2005
End Date: 16 February 2006, thank God!
--
Visitation Rights--
Keely flipped through her twelfth grade yearbook, reminiscing. She saw Candida Stobel in the tenth grade pages, her eyes turned up as if staring up the page; following the girl's glare, Keely's eyes met with the mocking smile of Pim Diffy near the top of the roster.
The Diffys. Why did she have to be reminded of them?
She was just starting to erase their remnants from her memory, trying to forget about them. Looking through her yearbook had been an invitation to more memories, of course, and she knew that full well; she knew she'd opened a Pandora's box of sorts when she opened the thick leather cover. The "H.G. Wells Junior/Senior High 2008 Yearbook" was just too tempting to ignore… the thick metallic-printed letters beckoned her.
She had no resistance, resistance defined as "desire to resist." It wasn't that she hated them, no, definitely not that. She was forcing herself to move on.
As she thought about the picture of Pim, a knock resounded on her apartment door. Grateful for being forced to leave the yearbook alone, she peered through the peephole. "Hey!" she yelped as she unlocked the deadbolts and pulled the door open. "I'm not ready for company! I'm not dressed for company!" Quickly she pulled a hairband off her wrist and twirled her dark brown, straight hair into a ponytail.
"It's okay," said the tall boy with light brown hair as he picked Keely up around the waist and twirled her. "You always look beautiful to me."
Keely blushed furiously as Shar set her down. Cruel mockery, she thought as she admired his tall form, the six-pack that shyly poked shadows in his shirt, the brown hair that stood up, frozen by copious amounts of gel, atop his head. Granted, his hair was a lot lighter than that of that boy, but he still bore a significant resemblance to the man of her past. However, she chose to ignore that at the moment as Shar kissed her swiftly.
There were even similarities in their kisses. Both slow, unexpected, but quite near the best things in the world.
I can't believe I'm comparing Shar and… Phil. I mean, come on, Keely, move on! Phil left five years ago! You're an independent woman now!
"Keel?" a voice sounded through her self-deprecation. Phil? she thought excitedly. Wait, no… Shar. Another cruel mockery – they both called her Keel. "Do you want to join me for some coffee?"
Keely nodded, relieved to escape her turbulent Jacuzzi of thoughts. "Yeah."
--
Keely put the ugly helmet on and jumped onto the second seat of Shar's motorcycle. He sat in front of her and revved the bike up; within seconds they were out of the apartment's parking lot. "Hold on!" Doing as she was told, Keely wrapped her arms around Shar's waist, not that she minded.
After a couple lights and a bit of traffic, the couple arrived at Cuppa Joe. They removed their helmets and walked inside, inhaling the fragrance of the fresh-ground coffee. Picking a table in the waxing sunlight, each of them ordered "the usual" from the barista who knew them both by both name and taste in coffee. Soon enough, a mocha latté arrived for Keely, and Shar got a big plain coffee with just the perfect amount of milk and sugar and hazelnut stuff in it. He paid for their $6 order with a $10, and with a wink told the barista to "keep the change." Keely smiled at Shar in admiration.
Sipping their drinks, the couple talked about stuff that they didn't already know about each other. Keely discovered that Shar once set the table runner on fire during Hanukkah by dropping the match, and Shar learned that Keely used to have blonde hair until the last week before college started.
Then he just had to ask that question.
"So, were there any other significant guys before me?" he asked, semi-jokingly.
"Well, no one proposed to me," Keely laughed, finishing off her latté.
"None?"
Keely, determined, shook her head with a smile. "Nope. Nothing serious. What about you?"
Shar looked up in thought. "Yeah, one in college. Name's Rebecca. She just didn't work out."
"Cheated on you?"
Shar nodded.
"Awww, poor Shar-baby," Keely teased. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of her chair. He kissed her again.
--
He knew what he was getting into when he carefully backed the time machine out of the garage. Calmly he checked his Wiz'rd again, checking to make sure his parents were indeed still asleep. With comfort from confirmation of his plan's ingenuity and perfection, he climbed into the time machine, strapping himself to the seat and running through the checklist on the Wiz'rd. Assuring himself nothing would go wrong, he sat back for the two-hour (even though it wasn't really two hours; it technically couldn't be measured because he was going backwards) drive to 2013. Mesmerized by the vortex before him through the continuumshield, his mind wandered while his eyes closed.
The day he left flickered through his mind like a dusty eight-millimeter film on an old projector.
Keely walked up to me in her blue cap and gown. "Um... it's graduation day."
"Why so dismal?" I asked her.
"Well, I mean, we all know, or at least I do, what's happening today," she said sadly as she walked up the bleachers to the top row.
"Keely," I followed her up. "Everyone has to say good-bye at graduation. That's what it's for."
She sighed, sitting down and slumping forward. "But you're going to be gone for good. I can't visit you, or call you. At least Via's only moving to LA, so I can visit her if I want. Owen's going to UT, and I can call him, that is, if I were infected by a strange virus that made me want to call him. Anyone else is accessible, even if they moved to Antarctica. Okay, maybe not Antarctica, but at least Europe. You're going far away, Phil. I won't ever see you again."
I felt slightly offended. "Who's to say I won't come back to visit?" The stands, both those for the graduating seniors and those for the sobbing parents and unhappy siblings, were filling up quickly. Via and Owen squished in next to us.
"So, Phil, where you going after this?" That was the first time Owen had called me Phil in a long time.
"Yeah, Phil, where are you headed for college?" Via chimed in.
I shot a pained look at Keely. She shrugged with a facial expression beyond description, as if to say 'I told you so.' I smiled at Via. "It's a secret."
"Secrets secrets are no fun," Keely taunted me.
I sat back as Vice Principal Hackett walked up to the podium. He gave his excruciatingly boring, long speech, and I poked Keely many times to keep her awake.
Finally, after other excruciatingly boring, long speeches, we were called to receive our diplomas. I was the first of us to go, and I took my piece of parchment from Principal Tillywack. "Congratulations," he said. I smiled, nodded, and went back to my spot.
Then Owen went next, then Via, and then finally Keely was last. She was glowing as she came up the stairs. "I'm proud of you," I said earnestly.
"May I present to you the H.G. Wells Junior/Senior high class of 2008!"
Everyone stood up in unison and we all took our caps off, tossing them in the air. Keely laughed as a hat hit me in the face on its way down, and I scowled, then smiled.
Then something happened that ruined my life and redeemed me at the exact same time. It may have come from Via bumping my shoulder accidentally and knocking me off balance, or it could have been the caps raining down, or whatever. I don't know.
I saw Keely smiling, looking up. I just put a hand on her cheek, turned her to me, and I kissed her.
Or I tried to. I missed her mouth and ended up kissing her between the eyes. "Phil," she said, putting her hands on my cheeks, "you've got it all wrong."
Keeping her hands on my face she pulled me so close I could drown in the smell of her familiar perfume, and then she kissed me. Caps were still falling, because people had discovered that tossing them up was actually quite fun, but both of us ignored the satin squares that fell onto us because we were occupied with grander things.
Almost immediately after the ceremony I had to leave. I dreaded having to say good-bye for real. My eyes sought hers in the crowd, and hers were full of… something. She looked as if she felt betrayed; I couldn't blame her. Why did I have to try to kiss her? I knew I would be leaving. Great going, Diffy. I'd just ruined both of our lives.
Climbing into the time machine. Getting out. My friends' expressions when they saw that I had aged four years in five minutes of travel. The jokes they told. The blank, indifferent look on my face. All a stream of consciousness springing from my current melancholy funk. I had left love behind.
I didn't talk to anyone for months on end.
Phil fell asleep in the time machine.
He was rudely awoken when the time-machine-now-RV screeched to a halt in front of a bleak apartment building. Freeing himself from the seat belt, he pushed a touch-screen in front of him on the dashboard. The RV turned into a sports car, all the time engine controls in the glove compartment. Phil locked the compartment securely and pocketed the keys before leaving the car.
Crossing the asphalt lot, he searched out the office. He was planning on staying a long time, and he had his old wallet loaded with practically every cent he'd ever made, plus a credit card or two.
--
Back in 2126, Phil's parents picked up a note left by the door.
Mom, Dad –I've gone to 2013 to visit Keely. I'll be back within minutes of you reading this, obviously, but I thought I'd let you know where the time machine went. Please don't follow me.
Phil
Barb looked up at her husband. "Lloyd… what are we going to do?"
"Nothing," he shrugged. "He'll be back sometime today, even if he stays for years. Even if he gets stuck."
--
Keely and Shar pulled into the parking lot minutes after Phil opened the door to enter the front office. Keely was giggling as she pulled her helmet off and stepped onto the sidewalk. "I didn't know you could pop a wheelie like that," she smiled, shaking her hair.
Shar pulled something out of his pocket and knelt in front of Keely as he got off the motorcycle. Tears almost immediately started streaming out of Keely's eyes. "Keely Teslow," he said in a soft voice, "we've been dating since junior year. That's two and a half years. Would you marry me?" Gently he slid the platinum ring with a princess-cut diamond onto her finger.
"Yes!" she shrieked.
--
A scream drew Phil's attention out of the office briefly, and his eyes focused on a girl outside jumping into a tall man's arms. The girl remotely resembled Keely, but he couldn't tell because she was wrapped in the man's arms. Well, at least that wasn't her. Her hair was a dark brown, almost the color of his own, and straight. And she was nowhere near the weight that Keely'd been when he last saw her – she was downright plump. Couldn't have been Keely. Besides, Keely had told him herself that after college she'd be leaving to go to New York to work for a major broadcasting studio.
He turned back to the saleslady. "What have you got for rent?"
Within about two hours' time and some paperwork, he had put down his first rent payment on a nice little apartment in the building, 3105. Pickford was a small town even in 2013, fortunately, and rent was not a big strain on the wallet.
Walking back to his sports car, he took a suitcase out of the trunk and started up the stairs to the third floor. Within minutes he was stepping off the stairwell and onto a concrete floor. He took a moment to glance around the dim hallway, lit only by an anemic sconce and the natural light from either end, and find his apartment number. The happy couple danced up the stairs behind him and as he turned into his apartment he noted how much that girl looked like Keely. He wanted to introduce himself but it was hurting, so he just smiled politely at the couple and shut and locked the door, collapsing onto the couch.
--
As Shar walked Keely back to her apartment, a rather downtrodden-looking man about their age walked into an apartment. Keely smiled and waved at the man, who just smiled politely back. He looked a lot like Phil, and she made a mental note to introduce herself when she was less ecstatic.
The happy couple walked into Keely's apartment and sat on the couch. "Did you not go to New York for me?" Shar asked.
She shook her head. "No. When Mom had the heart attack I decided that I shouldn't leave her here alone. Even with my aunt here living with her. It had nothing to do with you. That is how unimportant you are to me," she joked.
Shar laughed. "I'll take that as a cue to leave." Keely stood and walked with him the whole three yards to the door, and they stood on the welcome mat for a brief kiss. "Bye," he said with a wave.
The yearbook was once again opened by some unseen hand when she sat, beckoning her in. This time she had to flip to the awards section in the back.
"We won Best Friends!" I screamed when I saw Phil in the hallway, all but jumping into his arms. "Everyone thinks we're the bestest best friends in all of H.G. Wells!" He hugged me, patting my back in a poorly planned effort to calm me down; it just riled me up more. "I'm so excited!"
"Me too," he murmured into my ear. "But did you see what else they voted us?"
I hadn't, and so I opened my thick yearbook back up again. "Most Likely to Get Married? What the…?"
"Ratsnacks," he agreed before I could complete my sentence.
I was slightly offended. "Do you find it that hard to believe? I mean, we do hang out a lot." I liked him a lot back then as well, and it bothered me that he could slough me off so easily.
"That doesn't mean we're in love, for God's sake," he retorted.
Okay, not slightly. "Well you're certainly a lot more sensitive about this than you were about Via and Owen finally getting together, aren't you?" I yelled, sarcasm dripping. "All happy-go-lucky-turn-around-badmouth-to-ME about it all, but you didn't say a darned thing to them! What, because it's me you feel you have a right to slam me to my face?" I was on a roll. I think I was trying to hide my true feelings a little bit too enthusiastically.
He seemed taken aback. "I'm sorry, Keels… I didn't mean to come across like that."
"Don't step on the bridge if you don't know where the broken planks are," I snapped, not ready to forgive him for his heresy.
He turned around and walked away. I felt horrible.
The next day was when he told me he was leaving. After school, he'd told me to meet him at the flagpole at nine the next morning. So I did – the worst meeting I've ever been to.
"I was wrong yesterday," I apologized.
"I know."
"Phil…"
He smiled good-naturedly. "I know you were, and I also know you're sorry."
"Thanks. So what did you have to tell me?"
"Um…" he took a deep breath. "Keely, I'm leaving. We're going home after graduation."
"Back… to the future?" my voice was shaking.
"Yeah. My dad fixed the time machine and tested it. It's working one hundred percent." He sighed.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I had something I was going to tell you too, but I guess now it's irrelevant."
"Keely, I…"
I couldn't help myself in the least. "Phil, I love you."
"Keely, don't do this to me now."
I stood up, again furious. "I'm not doing anything to you. I just… wanted you to know. And," I insisted, off his look, "I don't want to carry this with me knowing that you will never hear it."
Keely couldn't help but wonder if she was making the right decision to marry Shar.
--
Phil was excruciatingly bored. He'd brought his Cinespecs with him and his whole library of movies, but none of them seemed interesting. He decided it was as good a time as ever to go meet the person across the hall.
Standing up from the couch and stretching with a groan, he crossed the modest living room, full of Wiz'rded-in furniture that he'd cloned from the Ikea® magazine that the saleslady had given him, and unlocked the door. Crossing the hallway that seemed to grow more depressing every time he looked at it (he made a mental note to buy a high-wattage light bulb for the sconce and replace the dying bulb), he stood on the welcome mat.
Taking a deep breath, unaware that this meeting would affect his life as much as it would, he rapped his knuckles on the dark blue door.
--
Keely closed the yearbook and set it aside before getting up to answer the door. Through the peephole she saw the man who'd just moved in across the hall. With a smile she pulled the door open. "Hi."
"Hi, I'm…" Phil was unwilling to give her his real name just yet, not until he knew exactly who she was, and because his real name had emotional attachment to someone who looked a lot like her that he'd rather avoid at present. "…Bob."
"Hi, um, Bob," Keely said enthusiastically, shaking Philbob's hand. "I'm… Layla." She used a pseudonym for the same reasons her love of years ago had chosen to. "Um, won't you come in?"
Philbob smiled and nodded politely. "Only if you have a Fresca to offer up."
Fresca was Phil's favorite drink, Keelayla thought sourly as she went to the refrigerator to grab the citrusy soda. More cruel mockery. The visitor smiled in thanks. "So, when did you move in? I haven't seen you until today."
"That's why," he answered after taking a gulp from the can. "Didn't live here until today." Then he spotted the yearbook on the side table. His hand moved out for it before Keelayla could take it away. "Interesting… do you mind if I take a look?"
Of course I mind! Keelayla thought furiously. "Not at all." Philbob opened the yearbook cautiously, internally monitoring his facial expression to ensure that no trace of emotion slipped out. He flipped casually to the page for their graduating class, and Keelayla pointed at a picture of her senior-class self. "Oh, she's pretty!"
"She was my best friend…" Philbob said, until he realized what he'd said and his hand flew to his forehead, catching it between thumb and forefinger. "I mean…"
Keelayla now knew it was him. "And he…" she said, sliding a finger down to Phil's picture, "was my best friend. And my boyfriend for the span of… I believe you can fill in my informational void, Bob." Her voice was icy.
"Well if I recall correctly, Layla," he said just as coldly, standing up to stare down at her, "it was about half an hour, thank you very much."
He thought she'd get up and yell back as she used to, but she didn't. Her head sank down into her hands and she rocked back and forth for minutes. "Phil," she said finally in a feeble voice, "why did you have to come back?"
"I…"
"Don't answer that," she stopped Phil in the same shaking voice. "Couldn't you have come back to yesterday? To junior year? Couldn't you have come back to graduation and told me you didn't have to leave?"
"Keely, you know I…"
"Don't answer that either," she said, finally standing up. She flew into his arms and into hysterics. "Phil, why did you kiss me?" she screamed, sobbing uncontrollably.
"If I recall correctly," Phil jumped at the opportunity to speak, "you were the one who told me you loved me in the first place."
"That didn't make it imperative that you confess your own love the day before you were leaving forever!"
He rocked her back and forth and yelled in a forced whisper, trying to soothe and anger simultaneously. "I missed your lips! You were the one who made it real! Besides, it wasn't forever. I'm here now, aren't I?"
She pushed him away and he struggled to avoid smashing the table he flew into. "I thought it would be forever!" she screamed. "You were supposed to be gone! I was supposed to move on! I was this close," she walked up to him and pulled him to her, but not violently, almost seductively, "to moving on." Her voice was icy again, and she thrust him away, rubbing her temples.
The phone rang, and Keely picked it up, accurately disguising the tears and anger in her voice. "Hello? Okay, thank you. I promise. Thanks." She turned to Phil and jabbed a finger at him. "Apparently we have to take our domestic struggle somewhere else," she yelped.
And the phone rang again. "Hello? Oh," she said with a dramatic cough, "I've come down with a case of the flu. I'm going to…" she couldn't think of anything to improvise very well, "drive down to my sister's and rest for a couple of days, okay? She's not home so I'll just borrow her humble abode. Don't call," she stressed. "Love you."
She turned back to Phil. "Okay, that was my… never mind. Where can you take us that will be safe, private, and secure?"
He didn't even have to think. "My parents never sold our house. Unless it's been bulldozed, then I think it's still there."
"Worth a try," she nodded and they were gone within minutes.
They arrived at the Diffy house soon after, and though Keely was surprised at the mint condition of the place, Phil wasn't. "I knew it, Mom's been sneaking back to take care of the place." He smiled and pulled out a house key. "She left this in the time machine."
"Where is the time machine anyway?" Keely said, stepping over the threshold into the house where she spent so much of her teenage years. Memories overwhelmed her and she fell back, but Phil caught her easily.
"That little sports car out front," Phil smiled and he helped her over to the couch. "Pardon me for asking, but why did you color your hair?"
Keely smiled despite herself. "In memoriam," she mumbled shyly. "To you. And in case you didn't notice, I put on a little poundage too."
Phil lied gracefully. "I didn't notice at all. You're every bit the sparkling girl I knew and loved in high school."
"Don't say that," she scolded, sinking into the comfortable couch that she'd done so many homework assignments on. "Even though I know it's true. And Phil… I've not stopped loving you quite yet. Though I have tried my darndest to erase you from my past and ignore it…" she stopped and shook her head. "That's so damn cliché. I cannot believe I just said it. I take it all back," she insisted, stomping her foot like a small child.
"L is for the way you look at me…" Phil murmured.
"Don't do that…" Keely growled.
"O is for the only one I see…" Phil continued in a still-quiet voice.
"I said don't do that," she moaned.
"V is very, very extraordinary…" Phil reached down to pull Keely off the couch and into his arms.
"Why?"
"E is even more…" he looked expectantly at Keely.
"I know I'm going to regret this but… than anyone that you adore…"
And the dancing began. Phil took his Wiz'rd from his pocket and pushed a button, moving the coffee table to the side. Keely noticed that it was different, and Phil noticed that she noticed. "It's an updated model," he smiled as they slowly danced around the living room to what they sang. "Can love, is all that I can give to you…"
"Love is more than just a game for two…" as Keely sang the lyrics in her clear voice that was unchanged from high school years, Phil pushed another button and the Nat King Cole song played softly through the house.
"Two and love can make it," Phil sang along, twirling Keely around.
"Take my heart and… I can't do this, Phil." The Wiz'rd sensed her comment and responded with a record-scratching sound as Keely pushed Phil away from her again. "I can't do this! I'm engaged, Phil!"
"What? You didn't mention this before why?" Phil was outraged.
Keely threw her hands up and sat on the once-welcoming couch that now seemed sentient, angered, and foreign. "Because… it was magic. I'm still living those memories, Phil. Like an old lady I still live vicariously through the Keely that once was here. I'm different, Phil."
"No you're not," he complained, almost like saying it would make it true.
"Yes, I am," Keely retorted. "Phil. Come on. What was I going to do? Wait around for you?"
"Yes!"
Keely laughed, not a kind laugh. "I can't believe this! Phil, you left me five years ago. I thought it was for good. What college-age girl would wait for a boy who she thought would never return?"
"The old Keely would have," Phil sighed. "The Keely that found magic in rain, saw good in evil, and managed love where no one else ever could have. Keely, you used to be courageous. What happened?" he asked softly.
"I wasn't courageous, I was reckless. I never would have loved you had I had an inkling of how it would have turned out!" she whined.
It was Phil's turn to laugh. "Oh really?" he asked, a tone of sass in his voice. "You can control who you love? Please, oh Good Witch Glinda, teach me your craft, for the ground has to catch me when I fall in love."
Keely crossed her arms. "Stop making fun of me."
"Why did you lose your courage?" he said gently, sitting next to her.
"I don't know," she growled.
Phil rolled his eyes. "Come on, did Mr. Smooth-Talker have anything to do with it?"
"Not directly," Keely confessed. "When Mom had a heart attack…"
"Your mother had a heart attack?" Phil immediately interrupted. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine, she's why I stayed here instead of going to New York. Anyway…"
"I was wondering about that."
"Would you like me to finish or not?" Keely said with a good-natured smile. Phil nodded with a smile as well. "So during sophomore year in college I was pretty depressed. That's where my poundage came from. And Shar just… swept me off my feet. Kind of like somebody else I know."
Phil nodded. "So, is he a nice guy?"
"Yeah," she said with a smile. "He's tall, brown-haired, nice, loving, polite, smart…"
"I meant Shar," Phil said with a grin.
"I was describing Shar."
"Oh."
Keely sighed. "Phil, I'm really sorry about how this turned out. But that was senior year, Phil. I would have changed it if I could."
"You still can," he pleaded.
"Unlike you, I'm not from the future. I haven't got a time machine to fix every mistake I make." She turned from him, but he touched her shoulder gently and turned her back to face him.
"I'm going to tell you a little story."
"The results are in for yearbook voting…" I wasn't really paying attention to what you said, Keely, because I always hated yearbook votes ever since I got voted 'worst first day' in freshman year, this was sophomore year, so I just made sure you stayed properly framed in the camera. Then something cut through my ignoring.
"Wait," Keely interrupted. "I don't remember any of this."
"Just let me finish, okay? You'll get it all when I'm done."
"Okay."
Anyway, you were opening an envelope. You seemed interested in this one, until you read, "Cutest couple, Keely Teslow and Phil Diffy." You seemed shocked. I was shocked myself.. I didn't even hear the next couple of things you said until you made a cut motion and I stopped filming. Then I came up and sat next to you on the broadcast desk.
"Cutest couple?" we said in unison. Then we had this whole wacky dialogue about how stupid it was that the students could even think that. Then you told me you wanted to be a couple. We tried to kiss but you didn't want me to kiss you in front of the whole school, so we sort of held hands to class.
"Is this going to take long?" Keely checked her watch. "Because I'm starving."
"Okay, fine, I'll do the short version."
"Thanks."
So we're a couple. You ordered an engraved picture frame for our two-hour anniversary but instead you got two engraved salt and pepper shakers. I decided we should each take one, you took pepper and I took salt, and whenever we were apart we'd look at them and know we're supposed to be together. We tried to kiss again but the bell rang and people came out of class.
I went home after school to discover that Pim had "accidentally" fixed the time engine, and my parents tried to destroy it but I wouldn't let them. I learned we'd be leaving, and then I had to tell you the next day. So I told you and at first you didn't believe me, but then you understood that I was really leaving. That night you came to say good-bye, but you just said it. The next morning, we got in the time machine and took off, but I wanted to say good-bye for real, so we went back.
I met up with you in the broadcast lab, and then I kissed you.
"You know, I really think I'd remember this!" Keely yelped.
"Could you be quiet?" he smiled, trying to restrain his frustration.
"Sorry."
So I kissed you. Everyone was cheering, a passing car honked, and the whole school saw it on the screens in the halls. Then I left. But while in the time machine, we forgot Curtis. So, we came back to get him, trying to get back to where we'd just left, but we missed and landed a week before the votes were in.
First I sabotaged the voting so we wouldn't win, and then I wrecked the time engine again. I made sure it was so wrecked that Dad wouldn't be able to fix it. You were so important to me I did what I hadn't let other people do. Unfortunately, Dad's smarter than we give him credit for, and he fixed the time engine in two years. And we had to leave.
"You… you came back to stay… two years…" she said, trying to make sense of it.
"I came back because I knew you loved me and I wanted more time with you."
"Phil Diffy," Keely said, trying to hold in her tears, "you are the most wonderful boy I've ever known."
He smiled. "Déjà vu. You've said that before to me."
"I mean it. I don't know that anyone would ever do that for me. Except for you."
"No one else you know has a time machine," he reminded her gently, pulling her off the couch into his arms.
The Wiz'rd started up of its own accord and another song whirled through the house; Vanessa Carlton's old song from years ago, "A Thousand Miles," was playing. Keely, who now had soft, quiet tears rolling down her makeup-painted cheeks, leaned her head on Phil's shoulder. His hands rested in the small of her back and he pulled her closer to him.
"I would have walked a million miles to be able to see you again, Phil."
"I'm sorry I couldn't come back sooner," Phil apologized.
"I'm glad you're here now. Phil, I have to tell you something."
"What?"
"I love you."
"I know."
The pair stood and rocked back and forth, a combination soothe-dance. Tears were still rolling down Keely's face and Phil rubbed her back softly.
"I'm engaged, Phil."
"What are you going to do then?" Phil asked.
"Let me test the waters."
Phil wondered what she meant by that. "But what about…"
"Phil?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm hungry."
--
"You liar."
A curly fry hit Phil in the eye. "Ow. I'm not a liar," he complained. "You're the liar. Omissive liar. You told Via it was 'complicated' to ask me to a dance, omitting the part where you could have said you liked me."
Keely picked up another piece of ammo. "How do you know that?" she was baffled, and decided instead to eat the ammo.
"Via told me," Phil said through a bite of hamburger.
As a lady should, Keely swallowed her fry before talking. "Well it was complicated. I loved you. Nothing's more complicated than love."
"Shame." Phil reached over to Keely's fry basket. "In punishment I am taking a fry without having it thrown at me."
"No fair!" Keely yelped, reaching over to take a bite of his cole slaw. "What's wrong with you, not getting fries? You're stealing mine!"
"Because stealing yours is more fun."
Somehow this made Keely blush. "W-w-well, I'm stealing your cole slaw," she retorted.
Phil reached out for the Styrofoam container just as she did and his hand closed over hers. They both flushed and cleared their throats. "Why are we so nervous?" Phil asked. "We've kissed before. Twice, if you don't count the one I… undid."
Keely sighed. "That was five years ago."
"Five and seven."
"Whatever." Keely finished off the last bite of her chicken sandwich. "I just wish I'd never fallen in love with Shar in the fist place."
"I can make it happen."
Keely sighed. "I didn't mean it. How am I supposed to decide?"
"Okay. Let's play the Fry Game." Phil pulled two napkins from the holder and put them on the table. "This one's me, that one's Shar. So, we'll go between us and you'll say the pros about our relationships. Then we'll do the cons. For every pro you put in a fry, for every con you take out a fry."
Keely shrugged. "Okay," she said dubiously. "Well, Shar's already proposed to me, so that's one." She picked up a fry and put it on Shar's napkin. "But I've known you longer, even though you've been gone awhile, so that's one for you." She put a fry on Phil's napkin. "Shar is gorgeous," Keely said, placing a fry on Shar's napkin, and Phil looked slightly dejected. "But," she smiled, "you're handsome." Another fry for Phil.
Suddenly she smiled and ate a fry from Shar's pile.
"What are you doing? You're going to screw up the game!"
Keely dumped both the piles back in her fry basket and put the basket on Phil's napkin. "I can live without him. I can't live without you. No contest."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Go with you, of course."
Phil sighed. "It's not that simple, Keely. We're not in high school anymore. The boy's gotten a ring for you, you're getting married. I just randomly showed up out of nowhere. What do you think he'll say? 'Okay, Keely, I understand that you're leaving me for your high school sweetheart from five years ago. Have fun. Call me!' or what?"
Keely groaned. "I told you there was nothing more complicated than love."
"Keely, it's not an issue of love, it's…"
"Why did we play this game if all you want to do is defend Shar? Don't you love me?"
Phil sighed and nodded. "So what're you going to do then?"
"I guess I get to tell him to his face."
"You know I can't go with you, right?"
She nodded with a new, mature resolve. "I know."
--
The drive back to Phil's old place from the burger joint was deafeningly silent. Keely sunk down into her chair and tilted her head back, and Phil with one hand on the wheel and one on the gearshift. Keely picked up her hand and closed her fingers over top of his and he looked at her and smiled.
"I think I'm ready."
He nodded and she pulled her cell phone from her purse.
"Shar? We need to talk." A lonely tear swam in Keely's eye. "Yeah. Could you meet me at Cuppa Joe tomorrow at eight? See you."
Stopping at the red light ahead, Phil reached over to Keely's face and wiped the tear from her eye with a well-aimed thumb. "I believe in you."
The rest of the drive went as it had before the interruption. Finally the tiny red sports car that only seated two pulled into the driveway of 182 Duquesne Avenue and nostalgia once again hit Keely like a Mack truck. "I missed you."
"I missed you too. I came back for you."
The car slowed to a stop. "Will you ever have to go back?"
"I can take you back with me to visit my parents once in a while," Phil smiled.
"That would be so awesome."
"My parents love you," Phil said, opening his door and getting out. Keely reached for her handle but Phil opened the door for her, offering her a hand to help her out. Arm linked in arm, the pair walked to the front step. "I love you."
Phil turned her to face him and gently touched her left wrist. A shock went up her arm and chills ran down her spine, causing her to shudder involuntarily, as his warm fingers closed like a bracelet made especially for her. His thumb rubbed over the spot where the blue vein was just barely visible through her young skin, and his other hand reached up to her cheek. The shock was more intense from that gesture, and she shuddered again, harder this time. Phil smiled, and Keely could see the love in his eyes. His hand drifted slowly from her cheek to her waist, and she knew she'd made the right choice.
Even slower if possible his other hand slowly went up her arm and down to her lower back, where it rested. Keely stepped closer to him and put her hands on his chest. "I love you too." For an impossibly long twenty seconds they stared into each other's eyes before Keely stepped forward and gently put her lips on his.
For minutes they stood in the pure, innocent dark of night. A wind whipped around them, forcing Keely to step right in front of him, no space between them anymore. The dark tendrils of her hair lifted up and wrapped around them both, and as they stood there on the step Keely felt her strength leave her. Her arms slid up to wrap around his neck, and he responded by pulling her closer, if at all possible, his hands gently rubbing her lower back.
Though she didn't want to, Keely knew that the wonderful kiss would have to end. So she pulled away, and her jaw dropped almost immediately. "That… was amazing," she fawned. "I had completely forgotten how good of a kisser you are."
"I've never had a reason to kiss anyone like that before," Phil smiled. "No one but you."
"Unfortunately, I have an engagement to call off tomorrow," Keely groaned, the magic broken. "Let's go in, shall we?"
Phil took the key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Exhausted and full, Keely instantaneously dropped onto the couch, curling up around a pillow and falling asleep. Taking a leaf from her book, Phil slowly took the stairs up and fell asleep in his old bed.
--
A plume of smoke drifted up the stairwell and into Phil's room, and he was awakened by the smell of chocolate chip pancakes. Throwing the comforter aside, he swung his legs off the bed and went down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
Phil –
You slept in so I made you breakfast. I'll be back soon enough.
Keely
The note was sitting on the counter next to a plate of, yes, chocolate chip pancakes. Eagerly Phil took a fork and knife from a drawer and started eating, ignoring the smoke that was rising from a piece of batter that had fallen onto the burner during cooking and had been on fire some point earlier.
--
Meanwhile, Keely was sitting anxiously at Cuppa Joe, waiting for Shar, crossing and uncrossing her legs, and checking her face in her compact mirror. Seconds stretched into minutes, minutes of intense and fretful waiting, before the bells on the door rang and Shar stepped inside. Keely smiled at him and he came to join her, where his "usual" sat, marking his place. "Hey Keel," he smiled.
"Hi, Shar," Keely said, a small painful look creasing her face.
"What's… going on?" he could sense something was wrong immediately.
"Um, I don't really know how to tell you this but… I can't marry you."
"What do you mean, you can't marry me?" Shar was baffled.
Keely sighed. "Someone very important who recently left my life came back in… and…"
"You fell back in love with him," Shar finished for her.
Keely nodded, biting her lip as her eyes glistened with the beginnings of tears. "I'm… so, so, so sorry, Shar."
"Me too," he sighed, and Keely put her left hand up on the table. Gently he removed the ring from her finger. "Me too."
"I hope I can see you again someday," Keely said, pushing her chair back from the table. "I will always have a special place for you in my heart." She took her purse off the back of the chair and stood.
"Same here." Shar stood up and hugged Keely. "I'm glad you were honest with me. I will never forget you, nor will I never completely understand you." He didn't say it meanly, just… confusedly.
Keely sniffled. "Bye."
Shar waved as the bells on the door jingled and Keely ran back to the sports car/time machine, tears streaming down her face. Pulling the gearshift into reverse, she stomped on the gas and, shifting to drive, shot out of the parking lot. A quick trip down the street and she was pulling into the driveway back at her "cozy vacation home."
Phil was leaning against the door as Keely dashed up, somehow managing up the walk in her heels, and she ran into his arms. He cradled her as he had done so many times before, rocking her back and forth as she sobbed against his shirt. "I feel horrible."
"Shhh," he soothed, rubbing her back. "It'll be okay."
"There's something else I have to do," Keely looked up at Phil, and she pulled away. "I'll be right back."
She hopped in the car, leaving Phil bewildered on the step, and drove to the pharmacy. Quickly she picked up something from the shelves, trying to move inconspicuously lest someone identify the small box in her hand, bought it, and drove out.
When she got back, she handed Phil the bag. He pulled out a box and stared at it, confused. "What the heck is this for?"
"I'm dying my hair back blonde," she said, taking the dye box and following him inside. "I don't need to be in memoriam anymore. You're here with me, and I noticed my blonde roots were growing out anyway. And I'll go to the stylist's tomorrow to get my curl restored. It was already losing some of its straightness. We'll have to start taking walks, so I can lose some weight."
Phil laughed as he put the dishes in the sink. "You sure will be busy, and thanks a lot for breakfast."
Keely took off for the bathroom and put on the plastic gloves, wrapping herself in a towel and tossing her clothes in the hamper. Brushing her hair out, then smoothing the dye through, and then opening the door because the smell of the peroxide was overwhelming her, she yelled out, "Phil, don't come in! I had to leave the door half-open because the smell gave me a headache!"
Confident in her privacy, the brunette-turning-blonde sat put the top toilet seat down and sat on it, flipping through an ancient Vogue she found in the magazine holder on the wall. After about fifteen minutes, Phil came up, passing through the hall on his way up to his room to shower. "Hey Keels," he said, knocking on the door and pushing it open. "You done ye… oh God! I'm so sorry… I'll go."
"You're darned right you will," Keely laughed, pulling the towel tighter around herself as Phil disappeared down the hall.
Once the amount of time stated on the dye package had passed, Keely got in the shower and did as the box instructed to wash the blonde out. Soon, she had a head of beautiful pseudo-natural blonde hair, and she brushed it out and blow-dried it before realizing she had forgotten to bring clothes with her on her vacation. "Phil… um, can you tell me where I can find some clothes?"
"My mom's stuff should fit you," he yelled from his room. "It's all still there."
Though the thought of wearing Phil's mother's clothes was less than… fashionable, she checked the hallway, dashed into the master bedroom, and rummaged through the drawers. When she found everything (and was surprised at Barb's fashion) she needed she ran back to the bathroom. About twenty minutes later she emerged wearing a black peasant blouse, jeans, black Converse low-tops. Her once-again blonde hair was dried and back in a French braid that ran down her back.
"Wow, you look fabulous," Phil grinned lopsidedly when he came out of his own room to see Keely flipping channels on the TV.
"Thanks," she smiled. "These clothes are kind of small. Do you want to go on a walk now? Might as well start sooner than later."
Phil smiled. "Let's go, then." Each of them went about the house for a couple minutes, Keely grabbing her cell phone to stuff in her pocket (it was a tight fit), and Phil took the Wiz'rd from the counter. When they met up again in the living room, Keely figured out what he was thinking, and she put a hand on his arm.
"I've got my iPod, that'll work better, and look less suspicious."
Phil smiled sheepishly and put the Wiz'rd back in a drawer, and Keely got her iPod out of her purse, where it "lived." Phil took the right headphone and Keely took the left, and they linked arms as they walked out of the house onto the street. It was mid-afternoon already, and a couple of people were walking dogs or pushing strollers. "Don't you love this song? Oldie but goodie," Keely smiled at Phil. The song was "The Start of Something New," from a TV movie that came out at the beginning of 2006.
"I know that something has changed, never felt this way, and right here tonight, this could be the start of something new…" I sang along in an echo after the words of the song on the TV, not having known the words.
"It feels so right, to be here with you, oh, and now looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart," Phil sang along next to me, both of us parked on the couch with a bowl of popcorn between us.
"The start of something new," I grinned. Something touched my shoulder, and I noticed that Phil had put his arm around my neck. I put my left hand up on his hand and thought about picking it up and tossing it back at him, but decided against it... He smiled, and I laughed, leaning against him. The characters onscreen sang and danced, and I wondered if I would find my own something new tonight as the girl almost fell off the stage. It ended up I didn't, but it was still a fun movie.
"Yeah, yeah, it is," Phil said. Keely started singing along.
"I never believed in what I couldn't see, I never opened my heart to all the possibilities…"
"I know that something has changed, never felt this way, and right here tonight…"
They sang in unison. "This could be the start of something new, it feels so right, to be here with you, oh, and now looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart…"
"The start of something new," Phil whispered in Keely's ear. Shivers ran down her spine as they walked off the sidewalk onto the fresh green grass of the Pickford Park. Immediately they dashed to the swings, trying to beat each other and get higher in the air. The iPod had been tucked carefully into Phil's deep pocket, but the song still ran through both of their heads.
Keely was really high in her swing when Phil jumped out, tagged her foot as it whizzed past him, and yelled, "You're it!"
It took her a couple of seconds to slow down enough to jump off, but when she did she took off racing to catch him. By the time she caught up, she'd followed him into the small forest that bordered the park, and he was leaning against a tree trunk. "Hey," she said, huffing and puffing. "You really know how to get a girl exercising."
Chuckling, Phil patted the tree trunk. "Pull up some tree."
"So," Keely said, choosing instead to pull up some Phil and leaning into his arms, "are we going out?"
"Oh, I'd say so," Phil laughed, wrapping his arms around her. "Did you miss that whole kiss-on-the-step thing?"
Keely made a thinking face. "Remind me again?"
Sighing, pretending to be disappointed, Phil said, "I suppose." Keely grinned like a child and twisted around to face Phil as he relaxed his hold on her, and she puckered up. Unable to help himself, Phil laughed. "You look so silly."
"Fine, if you're not going to do it, I will." She put a hand on each of his cheeks and pulled him to her, and his hands slid down to her waist and around, lacing his fingers together when the circle was complete.
For minutes there they leaned into each other, kissing like there was no tomorrow. Then Keely broke it. "The world looks so much brighter with you by my side, Phil."
"And vice versa," he crooned as they started out of the forest. Keely slipped her hand into Phil's, and they fit together perfectly. "So, what's next, eh?"
"I have to work tomorrow," Keely sighed. "I called in sick for a couple of days once Shar proposed to give us time to maybe make some preliminary preparations for the wedding. Unfortunately, I have few sick days left and I really do have to go back."
"Do you… want to go visit my parents?" Phil was hopeful. He'd been living at home despite finishing his homeschooling, and being away even for what, two days? was absolutely killing him.
"Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea," Keely smiled.
---Epilogue---
I was quaking in my boots, okay, heels, as I tried to remain upright. The fluffy white dress that covered me was soaking up buckets of my sweat as the pastor read from the book.
"Blah, blah yadda," came the garbled speech through my brain's version of the vows. "With blah, and yadda, ringadingdong."
I looked at the tall handsome boy opposite me with a confused look. Are you getting any of this?
He shook his head, somehow receiving my desperate telepathic message. Nope, hun.
How was he doing that?
The love of my life… he'd proposed to me one day in a parking lot getting off his motorcycle, and now we were up at the head of the church listening to an ancient man reading even ancient-er words.
"Kiss the bride" were the first three words that made it through the filter. Slow like the many kisses we'd shared before, it represented the beginning of our new life together.
His mother wept on his father's shoulder as we walked down the aisle. With a quick kiss, we parted to our rooms to change.
When I came out I was in an adorable white satin dress, and I saw him across the courtyard in his suit. I ran to him and jumped up into his arms as he held me up with my legs around his waist.
"Hold it, honeymoon's not for a couple hours," said my best girlfriend from high school, her arm linked into that of her boyfriend.
My husband sheepishly put me down. "Sorry. I'll restrain myself," he said, pulling me over to the fountain.
When the friends left us, he smiled. "I love you, Keely."
I had a secret with myself that he wasn't ever going to know, not even in this romantic moment in the moonlight. He'd proposed to me the same way that another boy had, years before Phil, my new husband, came along…