Intermission // Van McCann

7. I Can't Wait

Our first week back went by in a blur. I was excited to get back to work but the time machine was giving Bondy a hard time. He looked through the code and didn't find anything so he decided to make changes in a few places to see if that would fix things but it didn't.

I was sent back to 15 May 1956 so many times, the excitement quickly wore off. Luckily it was at a different time each time and I was only there for ten minutes.

It was now 3 PM so I began wandering around the streets, being sure to not walk down the same street I previously walked down. I could see a group of girls further down the sidewalk, huddled together and giggling.

"One time, Elvis looked at me and I almost fainted," a blonde girl told the others. "He has such beautiful blue eyes."

"I can't believe he's only 21!" another girl exclaimed. "Has he got a girlfriend?"

"Her name is June Juanico and she's absolutely gorgeous but he's known to date several girls at once."

It was strange to think that Elvis was only 21. That would make me older than him and I felt like I wasn't doing anything with my life. Here he was, accomplished, with the whole world ahead of him and I was just working. The girls noticed me coming through so they stepped aside to let me pass. I wanted to linger around and listen to more of their conversation but decided to go on.

I enjoyed looking at the businesses and restaurants that lined the streets. I'd often find myself stopping to stare through the windows to get a glimpse of what life was like in the 1950s. I looked at my watch and realized I only had a few minutes left so I ducked into an empty alley in search of a quiet place to disappear. The timer counted down to 00:00:00, and to my relief, I saw my surroundings blurring and the familiar setting of the lab appeared before me. Bondy was standing, his hands on his hips, beaming.

"Thank God that worked," Bondy spoke. "Now the missions can continue and I can go back to working on the robotic arm with Van."

Van looked up at the mention of his name but instantly went back to reading. He's been spending hours poring over research papers to the point I was getting worried. There were times where I'd have to remind him to eat and go to bed.

"Ren, are you and Van busy tomorrow?" Bondy suddenly asked.

Tomorrow is Saturday. We didn't have anything planned except for relaxing but I knew Van was going to continue reading more research papers.

"No...why?" I questioned.

"I wanted to invite the both of you over for dinner to celebrate your engagement. It won't be a big dinner. It'll just be me, you, Van, Iván, and Leigha. So what do you say?"

I smiled and nodded my head. "I'd love that. And you don't have to..." I trailed off.

"But I want to."

"Alright, we'll be there. What time?"

"5 PM."

"What should we bring? I can make a dish."

"Just bring yourselves. This is about the both of you so you don't need to bring anything. We'll take care of the rest!"

I couldn't help but smile. "Alright, then. We'll see you tomorrow."

I walked over to Iván's corner to grab my clothes and made my way towards the bathroom to get changed. Although the style of the 1950s wasn't bad compared to other decades, it still felt good to be in my own clothes. Iván and I could've done more work but we didn't want to start anything new on Friday. We figured we'd take it easy for the rest of the day and reconvene next week. As soon as I returned to the lab, Iván called me over.