Chapter 5

The heavy, thunderous chimes from the clock tower reverberated through the library walls. The soft vibrations shifted through the table under them, the final chime signaling the strike of nine o'clock.

"Guys, I think I'm going to call it a night," Tommy said, rubbing his eyes.

"Me too," Billy said, closing his book. "Plus, I need to go back to the lab to finish a few calculations and clean my glassware."

"Well, at least we got through the majority of the study guide," Adam closed his book and looked to Tommy. "Hey, are you headed home?"

"Not immediately. I was gonna try to squeeze a quick work out in."

"Adam, you can ride with me," Aisha said as she put her books in her bag.

"Oh…" Adam let his voice trail off before adding, "I didn't think you would feel up to it."

"Dude, she lives a hundred meters from you," Tommy said, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

Adam glared at Tommy as if his eyes could remove skin and muttered something indistinct under his breath.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it," Tommy mocked, holding his hand to his ear.

"Nothing. Aisha, if you don't mind. Rocky has the car until tomorrow."

"You know it's not a problem. Unless you're afraid of my driving."

"Adam loves your driving," Tommy teased, "don't you, Adam?"

Adam held his breath, looking straight away from either of the two. "I have no problems with her driving."

"Great! Then Adam will be riding with Aisha. Have fun you two," Tommy said, mocking in sing-song.

Adam turned to walk toward Aisha and Billy, but Tommy pulled him by his backpack.

"Hey," Tommy whispered, "why not tell her now. You know, on the way home."

"What?" Adam whispered, "You gotta be kidding, no way am I doing that!"

"This is the perfect time. Isn't Rocky spending the night at the frat house?"

"No way, Tommy! It feels wrong. Rocky asked me to keep his feelings a secret until he could talk to her. I would be going behind his back," Adam was watching Aisha chat with Billy near the exit.

"But you're only telling her how you feel. Let her make her own decision. I don't think you should keep your feelings bottled up like this. They'll come out eventually, anyway."

"I don't even know how she feels about me."

"I know you're scared of what she may say. But trust me on this one; no matter the outcome you won't regret letting your feelings be known."

Adam sighed as he watched Aisha and Billy discuss something he could only assume was science related. "Okay. Hey, thanks for the advice."

"I just don't want you to end up as miserable as I was with Kim. It's not an experience I'd wish even on Zedd."

Adam laughed at the thought. "I think Rita could do that for you. Hey, what was with all of that earlier by the way?"

"Hey look, she's gonna take off with out you!" Tommy pushed Adam away, avoiding the question.

Aisha looked over at the two as Billy walked toward the door.

"See you guys tomorrow," Billy said as he walked out.

"Bye," they each chimed.

"Alright, see you tomorrow at Kat's I guess," Tommy said.

"Are you thinking about noon?" Adam asked.

"She said one, but I'll double check with her and give you a call later. See you guys."

"Bye Tommy," Aisha said, taking out her keys.

"Well, I guess it's just us," Adam said, walking up to her as they started out the door.

"You, me and my perfect driving," Aisha smiled up at Adam as they cleared the library to the parking lot.

"Oh my gosh," Adam looked up to the clear night sky.

"There has to be a better option!" Aisha laughed as they pulled into the apartment parking lot.

Adam laughed, "I really hope so. There is no way I'm wearing armpit pads to soak up my sweat!"

"That's just gross, Adam!"

"But my workouts leave me so sweaty now. Hey—park in your spot. I'll walk over to my apartment," Adam said, pointing Aisha to her usual parking spot near Kim's car.

"Are you sure? It's like fifty degrees outside. At least let me take you to your building."

"Actually…" Adam started.

Aisha parked and looked over to him, waiting for him to finish the rest of his statement.

"What is it? You seemed as if you were going to say something else," she said, turning off the car.

"I really wanted to talk to you about something," Adam slowly ran his hands through his thick black curls.

Aisha looked at Adam and pondered his actions. "Okay, let's talk."

Adam drew in a hard breath and sat looking out the window before speaking.

"Aisha, I really missed you when you left," Adam finally said.

Aisha leaned back into the seat and sighed. "I missed you too. I'm so glad to be able to see you and talk to you whenever I want to in person again. Even coming back to the States, I didn't expect my parents to move to Sacramento."

"When you told me you were headed back, I was sure you all would move to Angel Grove, or at least Stone Canyon. But we at least saw each other a few times. Remember the time I came up for the weekend to surprise you and your dad had to come meet me and my dad in Fresno?"

"Yeah, but my mom ruined the surprise! She started cleaning the house frantically and let it slip out."

They both laughed at the memory, relaxing a little more into their seats.

"Hey, I always wondered how our parents remembered you. Zordon said everyone was supposed to forget since you decided to stay," Adam pondered.

Aisha looked through the windshield, fixing her gaze on the leaf that had settled into her windshield wipers. She had considered the same question after calling Adam's house and speaking to his mother.

"I asked Billy about it after your parents recognized me and his theory then was that the time reversal threw us into an alternate timeline of our own childhood. When the time was restored, the chronoton particles must have realigned with our previous timeline and allowed the two timelines to merge so that we could exist as both selves without paradox. Since each person in our lives creates an anchor to our current self, those anchors kept the memories intact for anyone that I knew in the timeline as a child."

Adam looked at Aisha and let his face relax into a soft smile. She and Trini were the only two people he knew that could not only understand Billy, but also speak Billy.

"I'll ask Billy for a breakdown tomorrow," he said softly.

"To be honest, I am not sure if that is still the working theory," she said, her voice trailing as if to a distant friend. Aisha then reached for his hand as her face became serious, "You know what? I've never told you how guilty I felt for leaving without having a chance to talk to you about my decision back then."

"Aisha, no!" Adam held her hand tightly. "You shouldn't feel guilty for following your heart. That's why I never said anything about how much I missed you. I just enjoyed the time I could speak to you or times I could come see you. I didn't want you to feel guilty for making your own decision."

"But I knew you felt something!" Aisha quipped. "It felt like you were angry at my decision and at me!"

"What? I could never be angry at you for something like that."

"But even Tanya said you shut down every time she would bring me up in conversations."

"That's because I felt guilty," Adam's voice shrank to a near whisper.

"Why?" Aisha pleaded, with what looked to be tears in her eyes.

Adam sighed and looked away, out the windshield. He stared at the soft orange glow of the sodium street lamps as the fog settled into their neighborhood.

"Adam," Aisha said, her voice trembling, "she said you always seemed hard to reach. She felt like you kept a part of yourself hidden from her while the two of you dated."

Adam turned back to face her. He looked at her as she searched his eyes and he knew she was trying to read his emotions.

"I guess I did keep a part of myself hidden from her. Did she talk to you about us often?"

"She would call and ask for advice or ask me for tips to get to know you better. Usually it was what you liked, favorite foods, movies and things like that. But after you guys started dating, she would ask me why you always seemed distant when she wanted you to open up."

Adam looked away from her eyes. He never knew Tanya discussed their relationship with her. But why didn't she just talk to him first? He and Tanya weren't serious, but why not tell him what was bothering her instead of going to Aisha? Who else did she talk to? Definitely Katherine. Maybe it was his fault. He never let Tanya know how he felt about Aisha because he always assumed he had those feelings under control back then. Now, he wondered if that was the reason they never grew as close as he did with Aisha.

"Aisha, I'm sorry," he said, looking back into her eyes.

"Maybe you should tell her that," she sighed, "I don't get it, Adam. You tell me everything, but she was your girlfriend. What happened?"

Aisha's voice was tight and he could tell she was holding back emotions and tears. He never wanted her to get involved with his relationship with Tanya.

"It was high school. Honestly, it wasn't serious. But I didn't know she called you about us. I guess I kept my walls up with her more than I realized. I don't know, maybe that's why we drifted apart. I think Tanya is a great friend, but-"

"But what? If you still have feelings for her why not tell her?"

"Because I don't still have feelings for her!" Adam snapped.

"Okay, so if you don't have feelings for her, what's bothering you?" Aisha implored, attempting to back down. "You seem as if you have been keeping me at arms length lately. Something's up."

How could she tell? Had he been pushing her away? Was he putting up a wall with her?

"Aisha, I just…," Adam trailed off, looking back to the windshield.

Aisha watched as his face began to settle into thought and knew he wanted to have a longer conversation. However, she could also feel that the temperature had dropped another three degrees.

"Adam, what if I come over and we have a sci-fi movie night. We can talk and stay warm!" she smiled as she put a hand on his shoulder.

He gently took her hand in his and held it for a moment.

"Sure," he smiled. "It is getting cooler out here. How about thirty minutes? I can clean up the apartment and shower."

"Sure thing. Besides, Kim is home and I think she's going to interview me about everything Tommy did and said tonight."

"Kim still has feelings for Tommy?" Adam asked as they both opened the car doors.

"Oh of course!" Aisha said, grabbing her bag from the backseat.

"Wow, she really hides it well."

"Not really. You just have to know what to look for."

"I see," he said with a smile. "So, thirty minutes? I'll pick out some movies."

"Adam, not The Bride of Hackensack!" Aisha exclaimed, locking her car.

"Aisha, it's really not that bad."

"You called me every night instead of going to sleep for two weeks! And every time you watch it you get weird. Please, let's just watch Star Wars or something."

Adam's eyes lit up, "Star Wars, I can do."

"Great, I'll call you before heading over," Aisha said, walking up to the door of her apartment.