The Time Traveler's Guide to Modern Romance

by Madeline J. Reynolds

  Eli hesitated, then asked, “So you can honestly tell me that you haven’t told anyone my secret?”

  Tyler opened his mouth to yell of course not, but he couldn’t—not if he was being truly honest with Eli, so he bit his lip instead. Eli took the silence exactly how it had been meant and shook his head, a tired, appalled expression coming over him.

  “You did tell someone.”

  “Only Zoe and Oscar.”

  “You told two people?”

  “The two people I trust most in this entire world,” Tyler said. “They’re my best friends. I couldn’t keep lying to them.”

  “But you were more than willing to lie to me. You were ready to continue on, pretending as if you hadn’t shared my secret with anyone.”

  Tyler hadn’t thought of it that way. The sudden guilt caused his chest to feel tight and his heart to feel heavy. “You’re right…I’m really sorry. I should’ve checked with you first to make sure it was okay. But this wasn’t them! I know it wasn’t. They wouldn’t do that.”

  Eli took a deep breath, his expression softening a little. “Okay, well then if your friends didn’t alert the media and you did not call them yourself…then how exactly did they get the information about my…circumstances?”

  Tyler shook his head, mostly in disbelief. “My video…the video of you showing up here in the library. It’s out.”

  “Out? What do you mean out?”

  “I mean out there in the world. Posted on the internet for everyone to see!” Tyler couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. He was still trying to get his head around how any of this was even happening right now.

  Without wasting another moment, he sat down at his desk and pulled open his laptop, typing furiously. “My cloud must have been hacked.”

  “You’re what must have been what?” Eli asked, blinking.

  “It’s the only answer that makes sense,” Tyler said, without delving into an explanation. He didn’t have time to give Elias a lesson on cloud storage or hackers. They had much more important things to deal with. “The only other places the video exists are on my laptop and the SD card in my camera. The only people who have had access to either of those are you and me. And I know you didn’t leak the video.”

  The lack of any sort of affirmation or sound of agreement from Eli’s side of the room caused Tyler to look up, slowly.

  Eli was quiet for a moment, avoiding eye contact with Tyler. “There was one other person who had access to your computer.”

  “What? Who?”

  “Oscar,” Eli said.

  “Oscar? But when did he—”

  “Just the other day,” Eli said, as if already anticipating the question. “He told me that he just needed to borrow it for a bit because he was hoping to get some footage to use for a surprise for your birthday. In a million years, I would have never guessed that he’d meant that footage.”

  In that moment, Tyler did not snap at Eli, call him names, or make him feel bad for lending the laptop without his permission. He didn’t even question him. Instead, he stood up without a word and made for the door, despite Eli calling after him.

  He made his way to Oscar’s room, balled his hand up into a fist, and banged it against the door.

  Oscar opened the door, but he wasn’t wearing his usual happy-go-lucky grin. His eyes were as wide as his and Eli’s had been when they’d walked outside to find a group of reporters. “Dude, I just checked Twitter. I was about to come find you.”

  Tyler tried to remain calm. This was one of his best friends in the world—but if Oscar was the reason for all this, then he intentionally went behind his back and his wishes. Tyler took a deep breath, trying to find the right way to word all the different things he wanted to say to Oscar in that moment. “I’m giving you a chance right now…just tell me why you did it.”

  Oscar seemed genuinely confused. “Wait—what do you mean?”

  Tyler sucked in another deep breath. “Eli told me that you borrowed my laptop. And now suddenly the video is out? You can’t expect me to believe that’s just some sort of coincidence, can you?”

  “Look, I know it probably looks like that, but it wasn’t me, I swear!”

  “Then how did it possibly get out? You tell me.”

  “Eli told you I was putting something together for your birthday, didn’t he?”

  Tyler nodded.

  “And that’s honestly what I was doing. I was hoping it would be a surprise,” Oscar brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “While I was grabbing the clips I needed, I was on a public network…the type that isn’t secured or anything. It was probably leaked at some point around then. And for that I really am sorry. I had no idea…”

  Tyler was silent.

  “You…you don’t believe me, do you?” The slight tremble in Oscar’s voice made it clear he was hurt, causing Tyler to hurt, too.

  “It would make sense, considering that when I first showed you the video you were all in favor of me showing it to people.”

  “Yeah…but you told me you didn’t want to, and you asked that I keep the secret. So I did. Do you really think that little of me, Ty?”

  He didn’t. Or at least he thought he didn’t. Oscar putting him on the spot was suddenly making him feel equally foolish and guilty. That said, there weren’t exactly any other suspects.

  Oscar shook his head then walked over to his desk, opening his laptop. “Fine, you want to see what I was working on with the video clips that I actually grabbed from your computer?”

  Oscar turned his laptop so that the screen was facing Tyler and pressed play on a file that was open in iMovie. The first clip that played was from Oscar’s birthday last year. He had told Tyler and Zoe that all he wanted to do was see a concert in New York City. After looking up different venues, the only show that wasn’t 18+ that they could find was for a Poison cover band. The video was from after the concert. The three of them were sitting on the roof of Tyler’s car, laughing and singing “Every Rose Has its Thorn.”

  This transitioned to a clip from Halloween the year before. Zoe was in old-fashioned clothing, explaining that she was dressed as Nora Stanton Blatch Barney, the first woman to receive a degree in civil engineering. Zoe then grabbed the camera, turning it on Oscar, who was dressed as a vampire, and then to Tyler, who had hand constructed his own Tin Man costume. Zoe and Oscar were cheering Tyler on as he showed off his creation, strutting back and forth like a model on a catwalk.

  The video came to a stop and Oscar closed his laptop. “Those are the clips I grabbed off your laptop. I was going to cut in a webcam video of Zo-Zo and I singing Happy Birthday to you.”

  Tyler instantly felt like an unbelievable asshole.

  “If the video was leaked while I was in the process of uploading then it was a complete accident. I promise, it wasn’t shared by me—at least, not intentionally. I am really sorry. I swear, I was just as shocked as you were when I opened up Twitter and saw it was trending.”

  Tyler blew out a sigh and plopped down at the edge of Oscar’s bed, running a hand through his hair. “I believe you. Really, I do.”

  Oscar bit down on his lip. “It was pretty shitty that you would just assume I’d just go against your trust like that.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you at all, it’s just…I was in such a state of shock that I think I needed someone to blame. Someone to be mad at.”

  Oscar nodded, a look of understanding in his eyes. “It’s still shitty but…I get it, man. And if you need someone to take it out on, you can still be mad at me. It still happened on my watch. I probably shouldn’t have been using an unsecure network. Or maybe I did something wrong when transferring the files.”

  Tyler shook his head. “No, I’m not mad. Not at you. I’m just upset thinking about Eli and what this means for him. How we’re going to deal with this…”

  “You really like him, don’t you?”

  “I do. He means a lot to me,” Tyler said wit
h a smile, as if he was just realizing that information, too. But the smile was tinged with sadness at the simultaneous realization that the chance that Eli would no longer be able to stay had now grown much larger.

  There was a knock on the door, which was still slightly ajar. For a second Tyler panicked at the idea that someone might have walked past and heard them, but then he immediately realized there was no point in getting worked up over spilling the secret. It was out at that point. Both he and Oscar looked up to see Craig, the RA, in the doorway.

  “Hey, Forrester, Heron wants to see you in her office.”

  Tyler dragged his palms over his face. “Great. That’s exactly what I need right now.”

  Oscar patted Tyler on the back. “You want me to come with? For emotional support or something?”

  Tyler shook his head. “No thanks. I’ve got this.”

  Tyler followed Craig across the campus, and it felt more like he was leading him to the executioner rather than the school’s guidance counselor.

  Once he was seated in her office, they sat in silence for a few minutes, Ms. Heron just staring at him with a thoughtful smile and expectant eyes. She was doing that thing that counselors do where they just sit quietly and stare at you until you finally crack and say something.

  Tyler decided to go ahead and ask the only question that was on his mind. “Am I getting expelled?”

  She laughed. “Heavens no. We don’t blame you for the conduct of those reporters. They should not have even been on school grounds in the first place. No, we just wanted to follow up and ask you a few questions. First off, how are you? I understand how an incident like that might leave a person a little shook up.”

  “I’m fine,” Tyler lied. It had happened within the past couple of hours. It wasn’t like he’d been given any time to actually decompress.

  Ms. Heron placed her hands in her lap. “When students go viral, it can be good or bad depending on the content. That video was…remarkable, to say the least. What exactly was going on there?”

  “Well…” Tyler started, choosing his words carefully, “I’m trying to get into film school after graduation. I wanted to test out my skills and see what types of effects I could play with.”

  Ms. Herron’s already wide blue eyes grew even wider. “And you did all that with a digital camera and software on your laptop? Wow.” It didn’t sound suspicious or accusatory. She sounded genuinely impressed, and added, “We’ll definitely make a point of highlighting that when sending out your college applications.”

  Something told Tyler that lying about his visual effects prowess to get into film school would not be the best way to start off his college career.

  “And the boy in the video? He did not appear to be a current student, but some of the other faculty have noted that they’ve seen him with you around campus quite a lot recently.”

  “His name is Eli. He’s a pen pal from England who’s visiting the States on an extended holiday,” Tyler explained. Tyler dug his nails into his palms. When he’d left Eli in his room to go confront Oscar, Eli was still pretty pissed. What was going through his head now that Tyler had been gone so long? He had to get back to him and make sure everything was all right.

  “And is it true that he has been staying in your dorm room?”

  Tyler gulped. He was already caught. There wasn’t much point in lying about it now. “Yes.” Tyler’s right foot started tapping uncontrollably. How much longer was this going to be? Ms. Heron said she’d wanted only to check in to make sure he was okay.

  At this Ms. Heron took on a more serious expression and tone. “Now this is where we are going to run into some trouble, Mr. Forrester. Guests who are staying on campus need special permission to do so, you know that.”

  Tyler did know that, so he simply remained silent, bracing himself for whatever she was about to say next. “Look, I want to give you the opportunity to handle this quietly. I see no reason to escalate the matter unnecessarily. Your friend will need to leave the campus and find new accommodations for the remainder of his vacation. You have three days; your RA will be checking in, and if he is not out by then, we will need to look into disciplinary action, which could include or result in expulsion.”

  Ms. Heron might as well have pulled out a bow and arrow from behind her desk and pierced him through the chest. Three days. Tyler had known there was a chance that Eli would have to leave but this was so specific. So finite. So soon.

  During his walk back to the dorms, Tyler’s glasses kept fogging up due to the tears that kept filling his eyes, making his vision blurrier than it already was. Once he got back to his room he thought he had regained his composure somewhat, but then he opened the door to his room and saw something he had not been expecting. Eli was there, but not in the clothes that Tyler had laid out for him. Instead he was dressed head-to-toe in the nineteenth century clothing he’d first arrived in. The pocket watch was clutched in his right hand.

  “Whoa…what’s going on here? Why are you dressed like that?”

  “I’ve made a decision,” Eli said, his words slow and his voice strained, as if speaking was taking a toll on him, physically. “I’m going back.”

  “Back?”

  Eli just nodded.

  “But…but we can fix this.”

  “I’ve already caused you so much trouble. This is all just one big mess…well, a lot of messes, one right after the other. And you’re the one who will be left to clean everything up.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Oh?” Eli asked. “Then where were you just now?”

  Tyler blew out a sigh through clenched teeth. “I was called in to talk to the school counselor about what happened.”

  “And?”

  “They’re making you leave.” Tyler’s voice wavered. “The school says that we have three more days and that you have to be gone by then.”

  Again, Eli nodded. He’d clearly already been expecting something like this to happen sooner or later. Truthfully, Tyler had been, too. He just hadn’t wanted to admit it.

  Tyler shook his head. “But so what? There’s no reason you actually have to go.”

  Eli raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  “We can fix this.” Tyler could hear the desperation in his tone, but he didn’t care. He pointed to the watch in Eli’s hand. “You can turn back time. We can make this all go away. We can go back to before the video leaked and make sure it doesn’t happen. You can go back to check in on your family and make sure they’re okay, then you could come right back. It could all be so easy.”

  “Easy? Tyler, what part of this has been easy? From the moment I arrived, everything has been just so…hard. Hard on me but even harder on you, I can tell. You’re all but giving up your dream, you’ve been keeping secrets, breaking promises, and always having to look over your shoulder. I could have gotten you into serious trouble with the school…or your friends. And I’m the one who is making your life harder.”

  “But what if I told you it was worth it?” Tyler felt like it was a losing battle in his tone; he could already tell that Eli’s mind was made up, but he still had to try.

  Eli shook his head, no longer letting himself make eye contact with Tyler. “You deserve better than all this. It’s messy. You deserve to have your life put back on track. And that won’t happen if you’re constantly having to look after me and cover for me. Your school wants me gone, and I think it is best that I listen and just go…for good.”

  For good. Those words sounded so final. So resolute. Tyler had told himself that the time travel would be the key in Eli being able to stay here with him. He’d imagined it working like some sort of magical do-over button, where if they ran into any major mistakes, they could just try again. In all reality, he knew it couldn’t work like that—that there would be consequences to using time travel at will. But it hadn’t stopped him from hoping—at least not until he heard those words. For good.

  “Let’s face it, my family needs me. And you need to b
e rid of me.”

  It sounded so harsh that Tyler almost cringed. What he wanted to say was “I need you too,” but he knew how selfish that would sound, so instead he went with, “That’s not true. I don’t need to be rid— I like having you around.”“Like” didn’t feel like the right word. He knew it was off as soon as it came out of his mouth. But he wasn’t sure what more he could comfortably admit.

  “And I like being here,” Eli said with a smile that looked too hollow to be convincing. “But my being here has made things complicated for you. And that’s not something we would be able to avoid—things will always be complicated when it comes to me. I am not from here and, try as I might, I am afraid I will always just be a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit. I am an oddity…a secret to be kept. No one can actually live like that for long.”

  Tyler could feel both dread and acceptance seeping in, but neither one of them raged, or shouted, or cried. Eli simply walked across to Tyler and wrapped him in a tight hug. Tyler matched his embrace, maybe squeezing him even tighter.

  “Well, at least now you’ll be able to make things right with your family.” The words were muffled as Tyler spoke them into the shoulder of Eli’s waistcoat. The old clothes smelled musty and odd but Tyler fought against the urge to pull away and instead buried his face deeper.

  Eli patted his back and once they pulled away from each other, he half smiled, clearly trying to share in Tyler’s play at optimism but finding the silver lining wasn’t really working in this instance. Bittersweet didn’t even begin to cover it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  There and Back Again

  Tyler and Elias sat cross-legged on the floor across from each other, the bronze timepiece sitting directly between them. Elias was outfitted in his original clothing that he had first arrived in. Tyler had put on music, which was softly playing in the background. David Bowie. It seemed only appropriate that the musician he had come to love his first night in the twenty-first century would now sing him off.