Finding Time

Chapter 19 - Anna Dublin 2033

Another day at school. Anna put the papers back that she had been working on for her class. They had been required to do their own essays about what they thought the future would look like. Now it was time to grade.  She put the essays in her bag and sighed. This was going to be the rest of her life.

She walked out of the classroom and down the empty hall. She had gotten a job as a history teacher because it seemed as if she had an intimate knowledge of events that could not be explained by just independent research alone. She chose Trinity College because she could not take herself away from the experiences she had back in time abroad. Something of Ireland spoke to her. The people were kind, and the greenery was so beautiful. This would be her new home.

She achieved tenure, and was seen as a valuable contribution to the university, so she prized herself on making her job as efficient and well-performed as possible. This meant holding herself to a professional standard. To not entertaining the fantasies she used to have about love and where she would be in the future. This was okay. Being alone, independent, and free of any man.

She walked out onto the sidewalk. She glanced at the old buildings, and smiled at the blue sky. Then she tripped.  Fumbling with her hands, she waved frantically. She landed with a soft thud onto another body.

"I'm sorry" apologized Anna. This was not what she would be imagining on her first day back to the new term.

"It's okay."  She looked to see a hand being offered to her, and she took it. The man looked about 12 years older than her at 29. He had a stubble that he was trying to keep back, hear that was supposedly well-kept but flaying out at the edges, and the slight hint of a dad-bod in his stomach. Other than that, it looked like he took a lot of pride in his appearance. Behind him was perhaps an ego as well.

The man looked into her eyes.  "You look strangely familiar" he said.

She looked at him.

"It's funny. You do too. I can't figure out why."

"Probably just deja vu. I got that a few times in my life" he said. "I hope that doesn't come across as weird or anything, it's not like I really believe in the phenomenon."

"Yeah" she said. "I've gotten that a few times but I found out that I was wrong."

"About the person?" asked the man

"Yeah. Romance. Thinking there's a soulmate for you."

Oh god. She was baring her soul to someone else. Hadn't she told herself to keep it impersonal? Brief? To not trust or idealize another person? Badly done.

"How about we go get a coffee over it?" he asked.

"Okay."

The second mistake, going on a date to "talk."

They walked silently next to one another. The man looked straight ahead, nervous as well. Something about the woman seemed so fragile and feminine yet hard and guarded. His body tensed, as if he had sensed this presence before.

Once they arrived at the busy coffee shop, he opened the door. They grabbed the first seat closet to the door, each eager to run away on a moment's notice.

They looked at the menu. Neither knew what to say to one another.

"What would you like?" he asked.

"I can get it myself."

"I insist" he said.  "Okay"she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes in her uncomfortableness.

"A flat white please."

"Two flat whites."

They sat down, and the lady came with their coffees.

"Very good choice by the way" he said, sipping his coffee. "That being said, you look like the image of a person that has gotten used to living in Europe."

"Have you never been here before?" she asked.

"I haven't. With all the money I made, you would think that I would want to travel and take advantage of life. Unfortunately, with the messy divorce I went through, it was time for a change."

"Now you're a professor?"

"Yes. I teach advanced machine learning."

They sipped their coffees.

"You seem too young and pretty to have a serious university tenure."

"I've seen a lot of the world" she said. She cut herself short, unable to go much further. Time travel would be discovered in the next 20 years.

"I knew someone that you reminded me of back in my own younger years. She disappeared. Her name was Anna Mason. She was this girl that used to follow me around in college. She had never had a boyfriend before. I decided to be nice to her. She was so infatuated with me that she would do anything for me. I took it for granted. I wasn't in love with her" he said, looking away. "I met someone when I got back home. We had happy times but it wasn't love. I know its stupid and selfish of me but I thought about her. For years. All that innocent, unconditional puppy love stuff finally got to me. I can't believe I'm telling you this"

"It's okay."

"No" he said, "It's not okay to ignore what you have."

"You can't change the past. You can only move forward" she said, putting a hand on his. "It's cool even that you would tell me that. I had a similar experience being in love with somebody who didn't love me back.That's my name too" she said.

He stared at her.

"Mason?"

"Who are you?"

"Daniel."

"Holy shit."

She got up and walked out of the coffee shop. Daniel followed her, the shop door slamming behind him. His determined steps followed her, his shoes clicking and clacking against the ground.

"Wait! I need an explanation!" he said.

She stopped. Her arms held protectively across her chest.

"I thought I could escape you."

"Imagine what I felt all these years."

"Oh yeah" she retorted. "Must have been nice with Adinda and the kids."

"I didn't have a choice!" he yelled. "You try telling your parents you knocked up a chick you met after a few months and then tell me you can go run away. Which is obviously what you did."

"I couldn't have stayed."

"No. You fucking time traveled. That's why you're so young isn't it? They said it's possible but you had to be one to actually do it."

She stomped off angry. He could read her so well that there was nothing to hide from him. He read it in the way she held herself, the way she averted her eyes, and the way she blushed when he spoke. Hot tears hit and slid off her cheeks.

"Damn you Anna. I'm not going to lose you again. Don't run away from me!"

"That's what you did. Must have been easy huh? Anna the bipolar girl. The one who seduced you. The one who had no self-love or confidence in herself."

He grabbed her wrist.  "I'm not running now."

She stared at him.

"Look at me like you still love me."

Tears spilled from her eyes.

"But I do love you."

He rested his head inside her shoulder as they remade a promise to each other, a promise they made when they first met long ago.