For Our Future #ONC2020

02. No Way

That night over dinner Joel and Laura sat down and read over the rule book that they had requested online. Laura was sitting crisscrossed in a chair she has sense let her strawberry blonde hair down it was down to her mid back and when she leaned over her food which was homemade pizza a small amount of it fell over her shoulder. Joel pushed it away.

"This is crazy." He looked at the woman he loved most in the world and he knew if they didn't give this a shot they'd regret it forever. To the dream. "What era would we even choose?"

Laura took a minute to think about it, the eighties, too many drugs , the nineties, too modern. Aztec era, too old. Her eyes wandered the wall behind her husband, There was a photo of them in the center on the day of their wedding. Laura was wearing a long dress that had a little bit of a poof at the end not to much though. On her head was a tiara instead of a veil and she was kissing Joel on the cheek. He was wearing his fathers tux and had both hands on Laura's waist.

The other photos were of their moms dads them as kids their grandparents. One photo stood out to Laura it was of her great great grandma in the twenties. It had her grandma in the middle of the floor making eye contact with the man that she would eventually marry. She was twenty one. Laura will be twenty one next year. "The roaring twenties."

Joel looked up from his pizza which was now just crust. "The twenties?" He bit the last piece he had and set the final bite on the plate. "No way."

"Just..." Laura stood up and took the photo off the wall that was taken ninety six years ago. "Its tradition." Laura traced her great great grandmother in the image, "didn't your great great grandfather get discovered as an author in the twenties?"

"Yeah." Joel said as he walked over to where Laura was, "He wrote about the uproar, Harlem." Joel realized if he wrote about them doing this contest and everyone that did this contest he could get discovered. "History does repeat."

Laura turned around and kissed him. Joel played his hands on her hips and kissed her back in a moment of passion the two lovebirds responded to each other, they were going to do this. No matter the stakes they wanted to win. For their home away from the city for their future children.

They spent that night reading the rule book. Laura began to order flapper dresses and Joel began to make a list of appliances they would need but first they would need to go and look at the storage unit of both his and Laura's grandparents

began to practice her dancing with a half empty wine glass is her hands.

"Put the glass down." Joel said as he sat on the couch watching his bride dance to orchestra music in bright pink bunny slippers.

Laura drank the rest of the red wine that was in her glass. "Put the bottle away." Lara said as she began to pick up the two glasses. "We cant drink all of grandmas wine before we turn twenty one."

Joel let out a laugh as he put the cork back in the bottle, "One more year!" He put the wine away and looked at the digital clock on the oven, "We got work tomorrow."

Laura glanced at the green numbers ten forty two. "You are no fun." Joel who was wearing sweat pants and a tank top wrapped his arms around Laura. "Bed it is." Laura said as they walked to bed with Joel his hands feeling Laura's waist.

Together they curled into bed. Laura had her head against Joel's side and he had his arms around her. They fell asleep listening to the sound of hail outside their bedroom window.

The next morning Joel woke first, he is careful enough to avoid waking Laura. With the help of an old lamp with a dull shade he picks out his outfit for the day, blue jeans and a dark green tee. He avoids the creaks in the hard wood floor and gets in the shower. As he lets the warm water run down his tan face he pictures him and Laura with two kids and house in the suburbs. They would have a dog, German Shepard Laura would have rescued him from the shelter and their kids would be one girl with his hair, blond and a boy with hair like his mothers only more ginger. Joel get out of the shower and wraps a blue towel around his waist. He stands in the door way of the bathroom that's connected to their bedroom and looks at how peaceful Laura is while she sleeps. "Stalker." Laura whispers under her breath as she sits up. She runs a hand through her hair, "What time is it?" She glances at the window and the sun has not yet risen.

"Almost six thirty." Joel responds as he begins to get dressed. "What do you have planned today?"

Laura doesn't look as she reaches into her nightstand drawer and pulls out a planner with the year 2019 scrawled out on it in cursive writing. "Um . . ." She flips to December one of the last pages, "Eight I plan to play at the park that is until ten where I have to come home and get ready for work at the cafe until six tonight.." Joel sits down on the end on the bed and begins to pull on black socks, "Then after that I plan to preform down the street." Laura crawled down to the end of the bed and kissed Joel on the head. "You?"

"Work till four and then instead of coming home, right away I'm going to sign us up for the contest." Laura hugged him but caught him by surprise and the two of them rolled off the bed in a fit of laughter. Laura stood up and helped Joel up too, she had landed on him after all. "I then plan to pick you up and go look through the warehouse. "

"Great." Laura had a giant smile on her face one that Joel fell in love with. "Now get out of here so I can go back to bed till seven." With that Joel turns off the old lamp and walks out of their shoe box apartment. Laura crawls back into bed with the days activities on her mind.