Mallory Fitch Saves the World

Affogato

If you're talking about coffee, an affogato is just a delicious dessert drink. If you're familiar with Italian, then you know that the word affogato directly translates to the English "drowned." If you're drinking an affogato, then you're probably sitting somewhere in a much preferred situation to that of mine and enjoying some gelato drowned in espresso. And if you're Mallory Fitch, then you are not enjoying a delicious coffee-based dessert and instead you're the one drowning, not the ice cream.

Okay, not exactly physically drowning, but mentally for sure. So much is happening right at this moment and so much is running through my brain that I can barely see straight. I pace around the room trying to figure out what exactly is going on. I'm on the verge of hyperventilating as the waves of thoughts and terror slam into me, forcing me to gasp for air. "Okay, Mallory," I say out loud to myself. "Maybe it was just a dream. A very vivid, super realistic, dream. No, it was too real." I groan and run my hands down my face. I turn on my heel and begin walking in the other direction. "Alright, option two. Very strange, super realistic déjà vu? No, not déjà vu. Oh my God, Mia!" Why didn't I just call her in the first place?

"Hello, Mallory. What's going on?" I hear Mia's voice on the line.

"Mia!" I squeak. "Something very, very bad has happened!"

"What? What is going on? Are you alright?" She asks, her tone laced with worry.

"Um...I- I'm not exactly sure. That's why I called you."

There is silence on her end for a moment. "I'm sorry, I'm not following. What exactly happened, Mallory?"

I explain everything to her, every detail from beginning to end. Rather, i explained everything that apparently didn't happen from now to...well, now.

"Okay, that's everything. Now, in your professional opinion, am I dying? Just flat out insane? Oh no, is this like that Bill Murray movie? Mia, please tell me that I am not going to be living this exact night over and over again because if I do I-"

"Stop! You're not dying, you're not insane, well not totally, and this is not a movie. Gosh, you're being farcical. Are you always this dramatic?"

I take a moment to think about whether or not I should be offended by her remark. "Yes, yes I am. I am literally always this dramatic. Now, please, help me here!"

"I think I know what happened. But, you're probably not going to like it," she tells me. Oh, goody. "It's going to take a little bit for me to explain, so right now you need to do whatever you were doing at this time yesterday. Have you called Oliver about dinner?"

      "Obviously not I've been on the phone with you!"

      "Hey don't get sassy with me, just hang up call him and say exactly what you said to him the first time around. If what I think happened actually happened then if you stick to the original sequence of events then everything should end up the same. That means that you'll have to act like everything is normal tonight and I will explain all of this tomorrow as soon as I can."

      "What? No, absolutely not. I need an explanation right now. I'm slowly losing my mind Mia and I cannot go through this night, again, trying to act like I don't have a screw loose!" Yes, here I go with the dramatics once again. But, how am I just supposed to act like everything is normal now and go on replicating the night? I can't just pretend I don't know exactly what's going to happen or what he's going to say and when he's going to say it. What if I slip up? Will it ruin everything? What exactly is there to even ruin? How did this happen, and even better, what even happened? "Wait, Mia, if I do this right am I just going to wake up here again?"

       "Mallory shut up for five minutes and listen to me. Call Oliver, make your plans, follow through with the night, and as soon as he leaves call me. Just act natural and get through the night. It is imperative that you do exactly that Mallory. I swear, I will tell you everything tomorrow. Just get through the night," she orders.

       "Okay. I'll do it."

       As soon as I hang up with Mia I dial Ollie. Alright, Fitch. It's showtime.

- - - -

      I can't say the night wasn't weird. I mean it was great because everything went exactly as it did before, but I couldn't help but feel a little anxious the whole time. It was just hours of that constant feeling of familiarity in my stomach, waiting for each action and every word I knew would come. Now I'm on the couch, wrapped in Oliver's arms, right where I fell asleep the first time. He's out cold, but I can't seem to get there. I think I'm too scared to wake up and have to do this all over again. I guess it could have been a worse night for me to relive. If it were any other situation and you told me that I could relive this amazing night with this amazing guy, I would do it in a heart beat. But, this? This just feels weird.

      I eventually drift off, finding the warmth of Oliver's body against me and the sound of his heart beat under me quite soothing. I awake like any normal morning, slowly blinking the sleep from my eyes. Then, I remember everything that had happened and snap up. I swing my head around too take in my surroundings and realize that I am in fact in the living room and that I am literally lying on top of Oliver. He too jolts awake, squinting his eyes shut and quickly blinking a few times to adjust to the light.

     "What's wrong, what happened?" He asks, clearly confused, frantically looking around the room.

     I spin around and grab my phone from the coffee table. November 9th, 8:46 A.M. Oh, thank God. I let out a sigh of relief and turn to look at him. I reach out and place my hands on either side of his face before leaning in to mold our lips together. A few short seconds later I pull away and hop off the couch, waltzing into the kitchen. Clearly my mood has done a 360 compared to last night part two. I open the fridge and peek around the door at the beautiful, sleepy, and bewildered man on the couch. "Want some breakfast?" I ask.

      He smiles and shakes his head to himself before turning his attention back to me. "Sounds great."

      I am beyond happy that the incident didn't occur again, so I'm reveling in the fact that Oliver just spent the night at my house for the first time. Another good thing is that since I'm not repeating the night for a third time, I can definitely cross time loop off the list.

      Whatever it is that happened, can wait. I'm just going to savor my light, happy mood for a while and enjoy the morning. Especially since I have a feeling  that as soon as Mia shows up, this bliss will be the next thing drowning.