Chapter 4

Note on this chapter: I know in the series proper the characters were all in high school, but here they are past college and are about 23 meaning that drinking is now legal unlike what it would have been during the series proper.

[Previously] Now all the group needed to do was wait until the 26th when the planning Cyd and Shelby had done over the last 5 years would be put into action.

"Tonight's the night," Cyd spoke as she, Shelby, and Daisy got up on Friday morning to get ready for work.

"Yeah," Shelby said. "It was an ordinary day that first time when the accident happened and we had no idea it was going to happen."

"Because we didn't jump that far ahead in original time," Cyd said.

"But you know now," Daisy said. "Any ideas for dinner later tonight?"

"Order a pizza!" Cyd exclaimed.

"Works for me," Shelby shrugged. "Also, I won't be drinking anything alcoholic tonight," she informed Cyd.

"So you'll be the designated driver tonight?" Cyd asked. She looked to Shelby and received a look that clearly said 'really'. "I was kidding. I'm not planning on drinking either. I don't want to mess up being able to do anything if I drank something that was alcoholic."

Daisy and Shelby shook their heads at Cyd's remark and finished getting their breakfasts. The girls were soon on their way to work for the day.

That day at the small business where Cyd and Shelby worked to learn more about business and where they wanted to go in their future careers seemed to drag on. Though they were also dreading what they had to do that night and thoughts of what happened before in a different timeline filled their minds, they wanted the work day to be over. When it was over, they hurried home and waited for Daisy, who had a slightly longer drive to their apartment, to get home as well.

Soon after Daisy got home, the girls ordered the pizza they had planned to have for dinner that night. A half hour later, their pizza was delivered and they were able to have their dinner. Before long, Cyd and Shelby were getting ready to head to the bar and stop Ralph from doing something that would change lives forever. Though in original time, the accident had also resulted in his death, just not until a couple days later in the hospital, this time around Cyd and Shelby hoped to also save him.

"Stay safe and text me so I know how it's going," Daisy said right before Cyd and Shelby left.

"We will," Shelby assured her. Both she and Cyd gave Daisy goodbye hugs before they headed down to Shelby's car and towards the bar.

CHCHCH

"Here we are," Shelby said as they pulled up in front of the bar. It was in an area downtown so it was unlikely that they would get a parking spot directly in front of or across from the bar, so they went to a nearby parking garage. After a short walk from the parking garage, they made their way back to the bar.

"Shelbs, there he is," Cyd said almost as soon as they entered the bar. Ralph was sitting at the counter talking to a couple other guys that were there with him.

Shelby shook her head. "I can't believe he was and is so stupid to drive after getting drunk," she said. "We should probably sit close enough to hear what he and the other guys it seems like he's with are saying."

"But not so close that it seems like we're stalking them, even if we kind of are," Cyd added in a quieter voice.

Shelby nodded her agreement. After a couple moments of looking around the bar they spotted a table that was close enough to hear Ralph and the guys he was with. After they sat down, the sent a text to Daisy to let her know they had made it to the bar and began looking over the menu. They both ordered waters and some fries to share while they waited until the time came where they would need to do something. They sat for a while watching what different sport games were on the TVs in the bar.

CHCHCH

"WOOHOO! I could do anything! Nothing can stop me!"

Cyd and Shelby turned at the exclamation of someone who was sitting at the counter of the bar. When they spotted the man, they noticed that it was Ralph."

"No, you can't. You've just had like 7 beers and think you're on top of the world like you always do when you have too much to drink," one of the guys with him said.

"No, no, no, no, Shawn. I really can do anything."

Cyd and Shelby could see the guy with Ralph, Shawn, roll his eyes. "Just water for him now," he said to the bartender. The bartender nodded and handed a water over to Ralph.

"I can't drink that."

"Pretend it's liquor," Shawn said. "Or, you know, this is liquor actually. It will help make you even more invincible."

"For real, bro?"

"Yeah, totally." Ralph was clearly too drunk to notice his friend's lie and downed the water in a few seconds flat. It left Cyd, Shelby, and Ralph's friend Shawn, rolling their eyes.

There was some more casual conversation at the counter for a little while from then on. However, it didn't last much more than 15 minutes before Ralph decided to exclaim that he was invincible once again and could do anything he wanted without any sort of consequences. "This is getting lame. I'm going to drive myself home," Ralph decided.

"No, man, hand me your keys," Shawn said. "I can't let you drive. You'll get pulled over for a DUI or something like that."

"Fine, here they are, take my keys."

"I didn't expect that so easily. Why don't you go sit outside and get some fresh air to chill for a little while? You can crash on my couch tonight and we'll come pick your car up in the morning. All I've had to drink tonight was a Coke, so I'll be fine to drive back to my place for the evening."

"All right," Ralph seemed to agree.

Cyd and Shelby took cash out to pay their bill and followed Ralph out of the bar. Instead of just sitting outside like Shawn had suggested, he started making his towards the parking garage where Cyd and Shelby had parked Shelby's car. "What is he doing?" Shelby asked quietly. "His friend took his keys; he can't drive himself."

"Yeah. And at least that Shawn guy he was with was smart and took his keys from him even if he is a butt-face and is going to find a way to drive," Cyd said. "I guess we just need to see what he's doing and stop it."

Shelby nodded in agreement. After about a minute of walking around the parking garage, Ralph stopped at a car. He reached down under it and pulled a small key holder thing that had been stuck to the underside of his car out. From there, he pulled out a car key. He seemed proud of himself as he unlocked the car and started the ignition.

"The nerve of this guy!" Cyd exclaimed.

"I know!" Shelby agreed.

"All right. I guess our plan will be to jump back, leave a couple minutes before he does, take the key off his car so he can't drive himself and then his friend will drive him."

"Great idea, Cyd. Wait, when did you become the idea person?"

"I dunno," Cyd shrugged. "Sometime in college?" she offered.

Shelby laughed as the two brought their hands up for a high five. They were instantly back in the bar about 10 minutes before. Ralph was again claiming that he was invincible and his friend Shawn was trying to tell him that he couldn't drive and taking his keys from him, assuming he wouldn't be able to drive without them. "We better pay and head out," Cyd said. Shelby nodded her agreement and the girls once again left cash to pay for what they had had while they were there.

Since the car garage Ralph had parked his car in was the same one that Shelby and Cyd had parked Shelby's car, it was easy to find. His bright red Camaro also stood out against the other cars in the parking garage. After looking around for a minute, they were able to find the place where he hid a spare key and slipped it into Cyd's bag while also sending another quick text to Daisy. They would get up early the following day and put it back before anyone else ever knew it was gone. It also seemed likely that Ralph would be hungover the following morning so it would be difficult for him to drive in the morning anyway.

They were curious what Ralph's reaction would be when he found that the key was missing, so they waited nearby. "The spare key is gone! The spare key is gone!" Ralph exclaimed. He began back towards the bar and Cyd and Shelby followed him back. "Shawn, Shawn," he said when he got back. "I went to my car and my spare key was gone!

"Your spare key?"

"Yeah, my spare key for my car."

"Are you telling me you were planning on driving yourself home? Do you realize how dangerous that is?"

"What?"

"Dude, you're drunk as heck. You aren't allowed to drive. We're leaving now and we'll pick your car up tomorrow. You'll sleep this off at my place." Shawn pulled some cash from his wallet to pay his tab and lead Ralph out to his car.

"We did it!" Cyd said as they saw Shawn escort Ralph to his car. They shared a smile and hug before going to Shelby's car and heading home.

CHCHCH

"How'd it go?" Daisy asked the second Cyd and Shelby got back to the apartment. "Did you stop Ralph from driving?" she asked even though the texts she had received gave her a good idea of what had happened.

"Mission accomplished," Cyd answered.

"That's great!" Daisy hugged her friends.

"We just need to get his key back before he and his friend who drove him home go to pick it up tomorrow," Shelby explained.

Cyd took the magnet that was a key holder from Ralph's car out of her bag and stuck it to their fridge. "Now we don't have to worry about it getting lost."

"Yeah," Shelby spoke. "But we should get to bed so we can make sure we get up early and return Ralph his key."

"I'm going to get to bed too," Daisy said. After making sure the door to the apartment was locked, the girls all went to get ready for bed.

CHCHCH

"Cyd, we've got to go get Ralph's key back," Shelby spoke, entering Cyd's room on Saturday morning. It took Shelby a couple minutes to wake Cyd up, but that was something Shelby was used to after nearly a decade of living with Cyd.

Daisy woke up before Cyd and Shelby left so the girls all ate breakfast together. They were going to hang out with the guys later that morning and into the afternoon before Shelby went to her parents' house for dinner that night so it wasn't a big deal to Daisy that she was already up.

Cyd and Shelby had no problem returning the key back to his car where he had kept it hidden. They were able to be on their way soon after that.

They met up with the guys after picking Daisy up and shared the good news that they had stopped Ralph from driving and returned his key back to his car before anyone else knew. It seemed unlikely that Shawn would really believe his friend who had been drunk the night before.

After several months, the three weddings had taken place. The group got homes on the same block for time traveling emergencies and so their kids could all be close to be friends and so Shelby's co-grandma plan would be able to play out for her and Cyd. Eventually, things did play out that way for the group and together, they perfected time travel for them so any two of the group could jump without the others.

Though they didn't have to face the untimely death of any other members of their group, they found a few other things that they were able to stop over the years that happened the first time around. In that time, April 26, 2039 didn't end up being a day filled with bad memories coming, it was instead a day of celebration for the group. The party they had confused their kids because it seemed to be for no reason. However, they were used to having cookouts and game nights on the weekends by that time. Life was great all because they'd been able to prevent one accident from happening.

A/N: That concludes this short tale. I hope everyone enjoyed the happy ending and that the group was able to make a few more changes for the better from that point on. Thanks to everyone who had read and will read the story. Thanks also for the follows and favorites that have happened; I appreciate ever one. I'd love to know what you thought or any constructive criticism you have.

Thanks again for reading,

-CrazyHayniac