Time is The Essence (the pals time travel au)

Sub

Sub (2022 self)

Emotion: Adventurous 

I find myself in a skating rink. An indoor skating rink, with that old arcade carpet decorating the floor and a neon rainbow painted over black walls. 80's music is blaring through the speakers. There's a concession stand with a bunch of little prizes you can buy along with snacks and slushies.

I walk to the far right corner of the room around the actual skating rink, and there's a few tables off to the side with attached benches. There's a counter with several cubbies behind it, all labeled with shoe sizes and filled with skates. There's some of those red-and-white training walkers on wheels you hold before you learn how to keep your balance on skates. A small sign on the counter reads "help yourself"

Just then, a door beside the cubbies opens. Past me steps out.

"Hey!" He greets.

"Well someone finally decided to show up." I say while playfully rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, I just got done pushing Alex into his door."

I laugh. "That's brutal."

"Sure is. He's probably gonna get me back for it later."

"This place is neat." Past me says, taking in the surroundings.

"Wanna skate for a bit?" I ask. 

"Sure!" 

We find our shoe size behind the counter and take the skates. We find a seat at the nearest table and put them on on. "West end girls" by the pet shop boys starts playing.

Past me chuckles. "This song reminds me of corl."

"I can see it." It's sassy like he is. Or was. Not that he's dead or anything, but he's been gone a while now.

I set the thought aside as we make our way to the skating rink.

Surprisingly, I still know how to skate. I see Past me find his footing and smile. He begins to glide around a bit, probably feeling like his high school self, even though that was pretty recent for him.

I pick up momentum too, and skate to the other side of the rink. I focus on the song again.

too many shadows, whispering voices,

Faces on posters, too many choices.

If, when, why, what,

How much have you got?

I skate around and listen to the lyrics. I mean, the song really does represent the corl situation if you think about it. One mistake made the whole internet go against him, and then he left.

I don't think I should tell past me about it. What good would it even do? Not to mention the fact that it causes the downfall of the channel with my friends that I helped create. I mean, I'm over it now, but past me would be devastated.

Past me skates over to my side.

"I missed this." He says.

"Yeah, I missed it even more." I say. Skating was my escape in high school. Every day after school, I would just go to the local skating rink and skate my heart out. This one doesn't look like the one I went to, but it works nonetheless.

"Could you imagine if Alex got thrown onto the rink?" I ask.

"Yeah, he'd probably fall harder than when I pushed him earlier. I didn't get to see his face, but I bet it was priceless." Past me says with a smile. 

"He's never living that down, is he?" I ask.

"Nah."

We decide to sit on the side of the rink.