Back to the Future - AR

VIII

Chapter 8

I walk into the gym to see that there's no DJ, I look around until I find a chaperone.
"Hey, where's the DJ?" I ask, he shrugs.
"I think he's in the bathroom."
Fuck, I scramble around the place until I find him, he walks slowly like a sloth until he reaches the booth, I hold my phone up to his face with a Spotify code for Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love."
"Please play this, it's do or die right now." I say making him nod as he scans the code, the song begins playing and I watch as a few different cliques make their way to the floor.

I see mom and dad slow dancing together, their eyes never look away from each other and their smiles never leave their faces. Then, Kairi cuts between them and steals my mom from my dad for a minute and I suddenly begin to feel sick, my head is spinning and my vision gets blurry as I look
at my hand that begins to fade from existence,
I'm disappearing.
"No, no, no, dad go get mom, please."
I sit in a chair as a table and begin to breathe heavily as I watch Kairi and ma get further and further away from dad, I'm beginning to think this is it until I look up and see my dad walking up
to Kairi and ma.

❖

"Kai, beat it." Alejandro says as he takes Nina's hands again, pulling her away from the short boy.

❖

I can feel a bit of my energy coming back into my body as I look up to see the moment I've always envisioned in my head, their first kiss. My dad places his hands on the sides of my moms face and stares at her for a minute before kissing her sweetly. I suddenly spring up as I'm filled with energy and dance around for a second, I cant believe that after all this shit, I actually got them together, I did that! The song slowly begins to fade out and everyone make their way back to a table,
I simply can't take my eyes off my parents, they still ended up falling in love, even if I jeopardized it for them, that just proves that some things are meant to be. I see that there are lots of people going up and talking to my parents, like a lot of people, it's almost like ridiculous how nosy people were in these times. Now there's more fun music playing which has everyone up and out of their seats, my parents still listen to these songs, but it's like they're brand new in this time.

I walk out of the side entrance of the gym after realizing what time it was and am stopped for a minute by my dad, he smiles at me shyly.
"Alejandro." I say a little startled.
"Cienna, umm, I hope this doesn't bother you, but uhh, I kinda offered to take Nina home." He says as he scratches the back of his neck, I smile and pat his shoulder.
"No, no, that's great. Please, take Nina home. I really had a strong feeling about you two."
I push his face a bit and watch as he looks back at ma, I smile at the sight.
"Hey, I gotta go, but uhh, I'm wishing you two the best. And thank you for everything."
I try walking away but I'm stopped by my mother this time.
"Wait, Ci, will we ever see you again?" She asks as my dad puts his arm around her, I look back at them and nod.
"You certainly will." I say as I smile at them for the last time.
"Goodbye, for now."

-

I rush out of the car and towards the professor.
"You're late!" He shouts, I look up at him on the ladder.
"I'm sorry, I had to go back and change, my mom would kill me if she saw me in that!" I yell back as we begin to get everything assembled, we pull the cloth off the car as I continue talking.
"My dad laid out Mattia in one punch, he literally stole my moms heart by saving her! It was so cliche but cute at the same time!" I shout as we walk towards the drivers side of the car, the professor gets into the car and begins typing on the keypad, he's typing in the date of the day I left.
"This is the exact day you left, correct?" He shouts over the wind and thunder, I nod as it begins
to sprinkle.
"We'll send you back at the exact same time! It'll be like you never left!" He shouts while getting out of the car. "You need to get the car to the white line
I painted for you all the way down the street, that's you're starting point. That is the precise distance you need to get to exactly 88 miles per hour so that you gets to this point at the exact moment the lightning strikes."

He points in every direction making the instructions unclear, but all I know is, all I have to do is drive the car up to 88 mile per hour and get the hook onto the wire when the lightning strikes.
"When this alarm goes off, slam on that gas!" He says as he sets the alarm on the clock in the car,
I nod.
"That's about everything!" He shouts excitedly before placing both his hands on my shoulders.
"Thanks." I say after a long moment of silence.
"No, thank you!" He shouts back.

I frown at the possibility of this being the last time I ever see him, so I pull him into a tight hug, he doesnt hug back for a minute but eventually he does.
"I'll see you in about thirty years." He says as he lets go, I frown for a second.
"I hope so." I say quietly before making my way to the car, he puts his hands in his pockets and smiles at me before making a confused face, then he pulls out the letter I wrote him.