Fast Forward to us

20- Something on Your Mind?

Jeremy

It was a quiet drive home that night on the bus. Sitting next to me was Melissa who was passed out and was somewhat drooling. Apparently, she went wild and got drunk after our little incident in the closet. Turns out, she was the first one on the bus. There were about six other drunkards with us on the bus. There was so much innocence in her sleep. It almost felt like I was sitting next to a child. In a way, that was true.

My mind began to wander off as Butts took his time to drop everyone off making sure they safely got to where they needed to be. Was my device really a special kind of phone? It didn't make any sense. Phones are used to make phone calls. If this was a phone, this obviously was a special phone. It had to be a phone from the future. But was it really?

Heck, my own eyes saw that I ended up married to Hailey in the future. How did that happen? What did I do to cause this girl to fall in love with me? Were we happily married? Did we have any children? My head began hurting with this thinking. Yes, I desperately wanted to take this device out of my pocket and do more research. Everything in me needed to know more, but that risk couldn't be taken. Butts could start asking questions. My mind could only imagine what was on that device.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," declared Butts who was a priest again. "You may kiss your bride."

Who wouldn't want to kiss Hailey's perfect lips? Me. Just like that, it happened. We were married. We were Jeremy and Hailey Phillips. Our famous picture was taken that ended up in Facebook Memories. After the wedding, we went on our honeymoon to Disney Land. It was the first time either of us had been to Disney Land. In our hotel room, we shared a loving and passionate night.

"Jeremy!" she shouted as her body lay in nothing but her bra and underwear. My wife was ready and couldn't end her heavy breathing. All I wanted was her. And I would be all she wanted. My thumb slowly moved up from her stomach to her covered breast. Bam! Things went dark.

Things came back to light and I stood in front of The University of Virginia. Students were all over the place going to where they needed to go. Somehow, I felt alone.

"Where's Hailey?" I asked nobody in particular.

"She went to LSU," laughed Ted. "I convinced her to go and now we're married."

It felt as if my heart had completely sunk and my skin began burning. Hailey went to LSU? We never got married. The smart and most beautiful girl listened to an idiot like Ted. Why wasn't I smart enough to go to LSU? It never occurred to me as one of the schools to apply to.

"You alright there Jeremy?" asked Butts who parked next to my house and stood up from his seat. "Looks like you've been doing a lot of thinking tonight." His butt parked itself on the seat on the other side of us. "What's on your mind?"

With every word, my tongue had to be careful. "What do you think about Hailey?" Seemed like a pretty decent question to ask a bus driver who used to be a priest.

The man smiled and placed a hand on my knee. "She's a nice girl. But something tells me you don't care about my opinion. What's going on between you two?"

My shoulders shook. "What do you mean?"

Butts couldn't help but chuckle at my question and place his hands together as if he were about to pray. "Son, you must think I'm stupid. I know more about you kids than you realize. You've had a crush on Hailey since I became your bus driver four years ago. You know it. Ted knows it. There's a reason he hates you more and more each day."

"Alright, but what about Hailey? Does she like me?" What I would say next needed to be crafted with extreme care. This was going to be hard. "What if we're destined to be together? And if we are, am I fighting against destiny by being afraid to talk to her? I'm not even sure what college she's attending. What if we never cross paths again after graduation? At the party tonight, it almost seemed that she might like me." All this talking was too much. My brain was spinning.

With a deep breath, Butts spoke. "Do you still have that plastic cross that I gave you earlier this morning?"

My memory had completely forgotten about the cross. It was in my pocket. Pulling it out, it went on my lap. How had it not been lost at this point?

"There's a reason I gave you that cross." Butt's sight was completely focused on the front. Why wasn't he looking at me? "That cross is supposed to remind you to not worry. You seem more worried than you did this morning. You'll find the right college to go to. If Hailey is the one, it'll happen between you two one way or another. You'll lose today if you focus on tomorrow."

The cross went back into my pocket next to the device.

"You know, Hailey almost crashed into me today." Butts had no reaction and stayed silent. "After I bought the new Blink 182 album today and tried to cross the crosswalk with my bike, it got stuck and Hailey was driving not paying attention. If it weren't for Melissa, Hailey would've crashed into me. It's a little weird, don't you think? If it weren't for her, maybe I could've met Hailey. Maybe I could've talked to her."

"Yeah maybe," Butts stood up and stretched. "But I'm glad you're okay. Why don't we get your friend Melissa off this bus? There's a wheelchair in the back that we can put her on."

Just like that, Melissa was in a wheelchair and neither of us had to carry her body. With that, Butts waved goodbye and wished me a good night.

WOW! 20 Chapters! Thanks for sticking around. Remember to comment and vote!

Do you worry a lot?

Is Jeremy fighting against destiny?

Will Jeremy get the courage to talk to Hailey?