Timed Encounter

The Redemption.

The drive home was extremely awkward for him. Rather miserable too. He couldn't tell if whatever they had was over or not.

It had to be. He was returning to 1985 in a mere three days from now. It certainly wasn't far off. He had to go back to Jennifer, knowing that he couldn't do such a thing to her.

She'd always been there no matter what.

He began to regret the entire thing.

Betty cried all that night. She didn't know what to do.

Returning to the mansion after dropping Betty off, Marty walked inside the house, door creaking quietly on his way in. His head slumped.

He had so many chances to tell her but he consistently chickened out at every opportunity. Doc's words reverberated through his mind.

When Marty got home, Doc was sitting on his couch, looking over a blueprint for something. "I hope you cut ties with that girl, Marty." He said loudly, making sure he heard.

Upon the silence, the man turned around and saw his friend slumped and upset. Doc frowned. "Okay...what happened? Don't tell me any lies, Marty. What exactly happened."

Doc stood up and led Marty to the couch, sitting him down. He sat across from him, preparing to listen.

The only thing Doc could really think of was that his cutting ties with the girl made him upset, but he didn't at all expect the true answer. Doc promised himself that whatever it was, he wouldn't be mad; Marty was upset and he wanted to help.

Marty couldn't even look at who was supposed to be one of his closest friends straight in the face. His gaze was constantly averting from Doc's out of pure shame.

The color had drained from his face even.

Sinking into the couch, Marty rubbed his eyes lazily. "She asked me to go on a date," He began.

"I dunno, Doc. I just couldn't say no... But then I started thinking about Jennifer. I couldn't get her off my mind. Afterwards, I told her that I was going to the dance with Lorraine..." Pausing for a moment, "Doc, you should've seen the look on her face..."

Marty looked up at his friend with a painful stare. He was clearly very damaged by this entire experience.

He once again put his hands in his face, feeling completely awful. What if this whole plan didn't even work and he couldn't make it back?

All of this for nothing... It had to work. It just had to.

Marty didn't know what he'd do if it didn't.

Doc sighed when he heard the news. He looked at the floor, listening to his explanation. He closed his eyes. "I'm sure it's a hard thing, Marty. Watching a girl become broken-hearted. But you did the right thing. There shouldn't have been anything between you two in the first place, and.. it's not fair to her, or Jennifer. You need to pick one or the other, and in order to prevent chaos, I would choose Jennifer." He said.

Marty knew that Doc was right and was both relieved and upset that he'd decided to finally end it before it got any further. Thankfully, it hadn't been too serious. That would've only made things that much more severe.

"I'm sure that she was happy to be your friend, despite the current events. She'll remember you well." He said, moving to sit next to Marty. He patted his back. "Soon, none of this will have mattered and you'll be back home. I promise." He reassured him.

When Doc sat next to him, Marty exhaled, looking down at his shoes.

"You're right... I guess I really screwed up..."

For the next three days, Marty promised himself to only focus on what mattered. Returning to his normal life in his time period. He didn't belong here and he never would.

He'd do his best to completely forget about Betty. This was already proving difficult.

Nonetheless, he'd power through to ultimately do what was right.