Parallels | Dylan O'Brien

17 - City Lights

New York -Dylan O'Brien-

I don't get suspicious often, but when Lydia winced when I touched her, I grew slightly suspicious. She may or may not be slightly clumsy, but I don't believe she'd run into the doorframe. Although, I do that all the time. Certainly, when I come home late and I don't bother turning the lights on. Even with the lights on, I'd still bump into things. I don't ask her about it though. I don't want to get her angry or ruin the mood for our second date. She'd tell me if there was something beyond the clumsiness. I have faith in her honesty. Certainly, if we both want this relationship to work.
For our date, we decided to stay home. Or that's what she thinks we're doing for our date. I'm just waiting for the sun to go down to take her somewhere I've always wanted to take someone. Posey and I spent a lot of our nights there with some liquor from dad's cabinet. It's quiet and peaceful, and it used to calm me down on an anxious day.
For now, we're just sat in my garden on a blanket with music playing softly from my Bluetooth speaker. I found a playlist with love songs that I'm certain she'll love too. Just to set the mood a bit and get her semi-prepared for what's coming tonight. The soft melody of One Direction's Night Changes fills our ears. I'm a fan of their music, to be honest.
"Did they break up in this universe too?" Lydia asks me from her spot on my lap. She's laid her head down in my lap, looking up at me as I sit up with my hands supporting my upper body behind me. Her question makes me gasp a little. One Direction broke up?
"No, they didn't. Zayn left, but that's all. The four others are still doing their thing together," I explain and she hums. I look at her for a second. Her eyes are closed, but she's still awake. Her eyeballs are still moving beneath her eyelids. Her lips are slightly parted and her lip-gloss shines a little more in the sunlight. I wonder what she's thinking about. I wonder what she sees when she closes her eyes, if she sees me like I see her whenever I close mine.
"Do you ever think if there are more universes than ours?" she then asks, not opening her eyes.
"What do you mean?" I ask, wanting something more specific. She opens her eyes now and sits up, making me regret asking the question.
"Like, if there's a universe where we're not together. Or where One Direction never existed. Or maybe a universe where you and Tyler never met, like you haven't met Holland in this one like you did in mine," her words seep into my brain, attaching themselves to the fibers. This girl always makes me think about things I'd never think about.
"I don't know, maybe. However, I don't think I would want to live in a world where I don't know you," I tell her, my hand finding its way to her cheek. She smiles as she leans into my touch. "I wonder when we send you back, you'll end up in the right universe. That's what I want to know," I tell her softly, retrieving my hand.
"I think I will. Vi veri universum vivus vici. It doesn't say it explicitly, but I think if you read between the lines, the spell will just send me back to the place I belong, the place I come from," I raise my eyebrows, looking at her in disbelief.
"You remembered the spell?" she nods her head.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" I blink a couple of times, trying to get adjusted to the fact that this Lydia is the smartest girl ever and dares to show it. The other Lydia is smart too, I'm just the only one who knows that. Lydia resettles her body and swings her legs across mine. I put a hand on her knee, rubbing circles on her soft, fair skin while her hand finds its way to the back of my neck. I feel her delicate fingers play around with my hair. "Are we really going to spend the rest of this month in New York?" she asks with a frown on her face. I don't like seeing her frown, at all.
"What else could we do?" I question, stopping my thumb from rubbing circles on her leg and instead just rest my palm on it.
"Uh travel? Dyl, I studied tourism and leisure management, okay? I've spent years looking at pictures in text books of the most beautiful destinations you could think of. Now that I have time, I actually want to see them," she tells me, but it's not like she's mad. It's more like she's trying to convince herself more than me that this is what she should do. "Justin and I had planned a trip to Europe next month. We'd go to Belgium and see the beautiful cities of Antwerp and Bruges. Our next stop was supposed to be Paris and Amsterdam and we'd end up in Berlin," I listen to her as she dreams about the plans she had made with her best friend who's apparently gay in her universe. That alone is just great to know. The palm of my hand now softly strokes her leg as if I'm trying to comfort her or something.
"Hey," I whisper, making her look up to me again, "I don't think I have the money to get you in Europe, but maybe we could do a little Road Trip around the USA? It only takes two days to get to San Francisco from here, so maybe we could find some stops on the way and you can have your discoveries on." The most beautiful smile I had ever seen appears onto her face and it makes my toes tingle a little. "Would you like that?" I ask, just to be sure. Instead of answering my question, she leans in and closes the gap that was left between our lips. I'll take that as a yes.