Zelda stared at her hands in her lap, obviously deep in her own thoughts.

I raised my eyebrows. "You would? And why's that?"

She sighed and looked out ahead of her. There were a few seconds of silence with her just staring ahead. After a while, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd actually even said anything, but eventually she spoke up.

"What do you think their stories are?" Zelda asked.

I followed her eyes to the front of the bus. She was looking at the other people sitting silently in their seats. I don't know why she was avoiding my question, but I chose to just go along with it.

"I see these people every day. Well, every weekday." I told her. "But I wouldn't be able to tell you a thing about them."

Zelda turned to me. "So how do you think they got to a point in their lives where they take the bus everyday? What brought them to this bus?"

Her questions were getting unexpectedly deep, I wasn't sure how I should approach them.

"I really wouldn't know where to start." I said, shrugging.

Zelda got a disappointed look on her face. "So you don't really think about this stuff?"

I shrugged again and shook my head. "Sorry, but no. But you just brought up the future, why are you asking about the past now?"

Zelda look down at her hands again. "I don't see much of a difference between the two."

I must've given her quite the look because she quickly began trying to reason her idea. "No, no, that came out weird! I don't mean that all time is the same thing or anything, I'm not some conspiracy theorist or something. Obviously there are differences between past and future, but those differences don't really seem to matter that much."

I nodded, but still gave her a confused look.

Zelda let out a frustrated sigh. "How do I put this?" She took a second to think, then said, "Ok, so future, becomes present, becomes past, right? So let's say today you decide that for tomorrow's lunch you'll get a bagel. That's the future. Then when tomorrow comes, you get the bagel. That's the present. Then, on your bus ride home, you think about the bagel you ate for lunch. That's the past. But thinking about the past makes you decide you want the same future. You'll say to yourself you want a bagel for the next day's lunch. You see what I mean?"

I took a minute to think about what she was saying. "I see how they're similar, but I wouldn't say there's hardly a difference."

"Think about it." She said, pulling a leg up to her torso, so she can completely face me. "Your past helps you make the future. Be it in getting a bagel or deciding which bank to go to. In this situation, getting the bagel before helps you know to get it again. Whether it already happened or has yet to happen, you know that you have a bagel. In the past you have a bagel, in the future you have a bagel." I nodded, starting to understand what she was saying. Zelda gestured to the other people on the bus. "I want to know their pasts. Knowing their pasts helps to know their futures. It could even help me get to know mine."

"You've lost me again." I said, scratching my head. I looked up at the sign and saw it was approaching Hylia Drive. "I'm sorry, but I have to get off here."

Zelda turned around and looked at the sign. "Hylia already? I have to get off too."

I pulled the cord setting off the ring notifying the driver to stop. We both got our stuff together and got off the bus. "Hey Link." Zelda said getting my attention, then walking to the cover of the bus stop. I paused for a second, then walked over with her.

"You said you see those people on the bus everyday?" She asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, almost without fail."

Zelda looked at me hopefully. "Then that means you're on the bus at the same time everyday, right?"

I smiled. "Everyday after class, yeah."

"So I'll be able to see you tomorrow?" She asked.

"Absolutely."

Zelda smiled. Not the polite or apologetic smiles she had given me before, but a truly happy smile. "Great!" Her eyes sparkled, even in the rain, when she said that. She really was a remarkably beautiful girl. It made me happy that I could bring a smile like that to her face. "I'll see you tomorrow then!"

Before she walked away, I held out my umbrella for her. She smiled, but shook her head. "I have a hood today, see?" She said, pulling it over her head.

I smiled back. "I know. But take it anyway. This way you'll have to find me to return it."

Zelda gave me that smile again. I couldn't help but appreciate it as she grabbed the umbrella from my hand. "Bye Link."

"See you tomorrow Zelda."

As I walked home, I thought hard about what Zelda was saying. Would I want to know where my life goes? Would that take away the surprise and thrill of actually living it? Could my future really be that dependent on my past?

I smiled to myself as I entered my apartment building.

I wouldn't exactly mind that. If I paid last month's rent, then I would definitely be able to pay this month's. I thought to myself.

I couldn't decide if I agreed with Zelda on her view of past and present. I don't like the idea of what I'm going to do being decided by what I've already done. She did have a point, but I still don't think the two are as connected as she thinks they are. Plus, there are always exceptions to the rule.

I entered my apartment, still thinking about it. Pipit was on the couch watching TV.

"Yo." He greeted, sitting up. "Any reason your aunt would've tried calling me?"

I shook my head and walked to the kitchen. "Probably because she can't reach me." I grabbed a soda from the fridge.

"Ah." He replied, nodding. "Is this because of Groose?"

"It's because of Groose." I said, sitting down on the other side of the couch. I wanted to change the subject, so I asked him, "Do you want to know the future?"

Pipit looked at me. "Is this a rhetorical question or an offer?"

"Take a guess." I said, smirking. "No, but seriously. If you could know what would happen to you, would you?"

He thought for a moment, then said, "Don't have to."

I raised an eyebrow. "You don't?"

"Nah." He shook his head. "As long as I have clothes to wear in the morning and food to eat, I know my future's off to a good start."

"That's rather simplistic." I commented.

He grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels. "No one ever said it has to be deep."

I stared at the TV. "Fair enough."

Pipit and Zelda are on opposite ends of this. Pipit seems more in the moment, Zelda thinks ahead. Where am I in this? And the best question of all, why am I taking some random girl's question this seriously?

I tried focusing on whatever show was on, but it really didn't work.

I waited at the bus stop. It wasn't raining today, so walking here from class wasn't too bad, but it was still rather cloudy. I stood there, acting like I was just waiting for the bus, but in reality I was anxiously waiting for Zelda. Something about her was just so interesting, I found myself thinking about our conversation with fond memories, even though it was incredibly perplexing. I pulled out my iPod to pass the time. I knew there's no way I'd get wifi from where I was, but I just looked through all of my apps to distract myself.

"Hi Link."

I turned around and saw Zelda there, holding my umbrella over my head. She was giving me a slight smile.

"You know, usually a person will wait for it to rain before they open their umbrella." I said to her.

There it was. She smiled her breath-taking smile again. I hadn't even realized I was doing it, but I think I was purposely trying to get her to give me that smile.

"Maybe I'm just using it as a parasol." She replied, a mischievous glint in her eye.

I laughed at her. "I think that requires sunlight."

She began laughing too and handed me my umbrella. I folded it down and tucked it away in my backpack. Behind us, the bus pulled up. We both got on and sat next to each other.

Part of me hoped we would just pick up where we left off, but Zelda stayed quiet. I wasn't sure whether to just bring it up again, or if I should wait for her to say something.

She turned to me while I was thinking and said, "Did you know we're in the same Hylian Studies lecture?"

I turned to her. "I did. It took me a little while to place you when we first met, but I eventually remembered."

She smiled slightly. "You did? Why didn't you say anything?"

I shrugged. "Didn't really seem to matter at the time."

She thought for a moment, but eventually turned to the front, nodding. "I guess. But, anyway, that's actually why I found you yesterday. And today, for that matter." I looked at her. "I noticed you leaving the room, so I just followed you until you stopped at the bus stop."

"Really?" I asked, almost disbelievingly.

She nodded. "Let's sit together next class, ok?"

"Are you sure your friends won't mind?"

Zelda shook her head. "Nah, I don't even have to sit up front with them." She paused, then looked at me, slightly worried. "But I mean, if you want to sit by your friends, that's totally ok. I'm not trying to pressure you or anything."

I shook my head. "I don't know anybody in the class, I usually just sit by myself."

"Great!" She said. "Well, not great. But you know what I mean."

I laughed at her. After a second of silence we turned to face the front. We didn't say anything for a minute or so.

"Have you learned any of their names?" Zelda randomly blurted out. "The other people that ride this bus?"

I looked around at them, then back to Zelda. "No, I just know that they're always here."

"Ah. Just curious." Was all she said in reply.

I turned to face her. "You would look at your future if given the chance?"

She returned the gesture. "Of course I would."

"Sorry if this is offends you or something, but that doesn't make much sense." I said, bluntly.

Zelda got a confused look on her face. "Why not?"

"Because if the past and future are the same thing to you, or practically the same, then shouldn't you already know what your future will look like?" I asked her.

Zelda looked straight ahead, taking in what I had said. "I never finished explaining myself, did I?"

I wasn't really sure how to respond. "Didn't you?"

"When I said that yesterday, I wanted you to agree with me." She sighed. "It's what I used to believe. And I mean I really believed it. But with things that have been happening recently, I'm kind of being forced to change my mind. I should really say sorry, I sort of used you. I just wanted somebody to agree with me so I wouldn't have to change my mind, so I tried hearing it from anybody, even a stranger." She leaned back in her seat. "But that way of thinking can't be true, can it? I mean, maybe for little things, like lunch, but…"

I leaned in slightly, eager to hear what she had to say. "So what about the big things?"

"I don't know." She said, almost as if I had defeated her. "I really don't know. Time is cyclical, but only to a certain extent. I thought the past was my answer to my future, but it's just… not. That's why I want to see into my future. I want to know where my life is so I can make the choices that get me there.

I looked ahead, not quite sure what to say to comfort her. "So how do the other people on the bus work into this?"

Zelda looked ahead at the old man. "I want to know where there lives are, how they got there. Maybe it could help me make similar choices, or help me to avoid similar choices."

"But why are things that other people did so important to your decision making? Why can't you do that yourself?"

Zelda looked down at her hands, letting her hair fall in front of her face. Then it dawned on me.

"You're terrified of the future, aren't you?"

Zelda brushed her hair behind her ear. She gave me a quick embarrassed glance, then went back to looking at her hands.

"Is that bad?" She asked. But she wasn't trying to defend her idea, she was legitimately asking the question.

I had to word my answer carefully. "I think it can be bad. But it's not inherently. Everybody is nervous about what's coming ahead, I'd say that feeling never quite goes away. But I think it's only bad if those nerves stop you from having a future of your own."

"Is that what I'm doing?" She asked. I guess, from her perspective, I was giving her advice.

"It's not really my place to say." I said, turning to look out the window.

"Oh." She said quietly.

I didn't know what to tell her. I only met her three days ago, how could I? We completely skipped over the small talk part of meeting someone and jumped right into the big stuff. I don't know what to say to her.

Our stop came up quicker than I had expected. We got off and before she said bye, Zelda turned to her side, almost as if she was afraid to fully face me. She had her contemplative face on.

"Link, we're friends, right?" Zelda asked me.

"I consider you my friend, yeah." I said, nodding.

"Good." She said, turning to me completely. "None of my other friends want to talk about this kind of stuff. It's nice being able to get what's in my head out there."

"Hey, if you need to talk, I'm here." I said, internally wondering why I said it. I don't know what to say to her, but I guess that doesn't matter. Maybe she just wants someone to listen.

"I appreciate that." She said, smiling. She turned around with a little bounce, and began walking away. I sighed, looking up at the sky.

I wish it had rained today.