“Jayden, this is Caleb…we’ve been dating for a few weeks now and I really like him. I wanted you to meet him,” she said slowly and Jayden’s eyes swung over to me.
“Caleb…yeah, she’s spoken about you. I think she might love you already, but she’s too hardheaded to admit it.” Jayden spoke bluntly and I glanced down at Melina whose cheeks were turning red.
“Well it’s no secret how I feel about Melina,” I said and glanced down at her with sincerity in my eyes.
“And how is that?” Jayden asked. He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. I honestly didn’t imagine he’d act so normally. Melina said his memory was bad, but clearly he remembered her talking about me. I grew a bit nervous and glanced down at Melina. She was looking up at me with her eyebrows raised.
“Calm down man, I’m just rattling you. Come on in,” I think both Melina and I breathed a small sigh of relief. I knew I was done for when it came to her, I knew she had my heart. But I didn’t know how she’d react to me telling her I loved her. Jayden lived alone, though Melina had mentioned that he had a nurse who came to help him occasionally.
Things were going perfectly fine while we visited with Jayden. He was funny, even though he sometimes lost sense of time or his surroundings.
Of course I got too comfortable though. Jayden wanted to cook dinner with Melina, and they needed pasta and sausage. I was supposed to run down to the store a couple of blocks away and instead decided to jump from the hallway. I got the food and jumped back to Jayden’s door. Melina was waiting outside in the hall for me with her arms crossed and her face deathly pale.
“What are you?” she asked me, her tone and expression both horrified. My heart thundered in my chest and I gripped the plastic bag in my hand tightly as my mind raced. How would she take it all, would she freak out and bolt if I told her the truth? Melina continued, “I was running out after you to tell you to get ice cream and I saw you holding out your hand and then…you stepped forward and just disappeared. So I stayed out here to make sure what I saw was real and then you just…you just reappeared out of thin air with the groceries! Did you…teleport? Can you teleport?” Melina demanded and I took a deep breath and nodded.
“Yes…I can teleport…and I can time travel,” I said in a low voice and Melina’s mounting anger froze as she digested all of that.
“Why didn’t you tell me before? Why did you hide such a big part of yourself from me? You don’t have like a family on each continent or something do you?” she asked, her tone again horrified. I took a step towards her and she backed up against the door. I stopped and then took a deep breath to explain everything to her.
“I’ll tell you the truth then, because I don’t want to lose you…I—well I saw you get hit by a truck. It’s supposed to happen in a couple of hours. I was leaving the sports bar a couple blocks down and you were walking to the subway. Your scarf blew off of your shoulder and into the street and you didn’t see the truck coming. You were hit and you were dying. I knew I could save you if I went back in time so I did…” I trailed off and then took a cautionary step towards her.
“I was dying…? And you came back to save my life?” she asked slowly and I nodded.
“I did, I couldn’t just let you die, it was unfair, it would have been too soon,” I said. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. I became unsure and wondered how the hell I could have made her cry with any of that.
“So all of this, you spending time with me and wanting to meet Jayden…it was just some good Samaritan act all along?” she said with a choked up voice. I couldn’t stand to see her cry and it killed me that I was the one making her do it.
“It wasn’t that at all, from the first time I saw you, walking on the sidewalk you enchanted me Melina. Then when you got hit, I came back to save your life. I couldn’t just let you die. Then we spent time together and I fell for you, I love you,” I said desperately. I was just trying to make her understand by that point.
“I don’t—I can’t…I need a break. I need some air,” Melina turned to walk inside and I followed after her as she shrugged on her coat and told Jayden that she’d be right back. I started to panic when I realized she was going out there where it wasn’t safe.
“You can’t be serious Melina. You’re going out on the street after what I just told you?” I asked her and she brushed me off.
“I’ll be careful not to go into the street, I don’t even have a scarf with me,” she said before she stormed out. I watched helplessly as she walked out.
*****
I went into the kitchen to set the groceries down on the counter. Jayden walked out of his room with a long, thin, white box that had a red bow on the top.
“Where is Melina? I have something for her that I made,” he said with a small smile on his lips. As I stared at the box I knew exactly what it was. The white scarf she was wearing; it must have been why she had such a happy expression on her face the first time I saw her.
“I’ll go and get her, she just went around the corner,” I said and then hurried out of Jayden’s apartment. By the time I got downstairs and outside there was no sign of Melina anywhere. I couldn’t let this happen to her, she simply could not die. The sense of urgency I felt was palpable, it saturated the air around me wherever I walked. I circled Jayden’s block three times before I started to branch out to the surrounding four blocks. I couldn’t find Melina anywhere and I was beginning to get desperate. Especially as time was progressing like a freight train down a steady track.
Even though Melina knew about her fate, no matter how careful she was, a variation of the accident would happen again and she would die after all. That was how it went. I wondered if I should go back again and fix things in the past.
When I heard a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning that signaled a new wormhole, I realized that I was too keyed up. I needed to calm down. Creating a pathway into the past would not be helpful at that point. It would more likely just make things more tangled.
I kept walking, my eyes in search for red hair and a red coat. I turned a corner and realized that I was at the sports bar. My eyes glanced over to the other side of the street and I saw her. She was upset this time and walking with heavy feet. I felt a brief sense of relief until I heard the roaring engine of a bright yellow Jaguar as it barreled up the street. The guy in the driver’s seat didn’t seem to be paying attention to the road and he was swerving all over the place.
I acted before I could watch what would happen. I created a portal quicker than I ever have before and jumped over to the other side of the road. Just as the driver veered to the right and jumped the curb, I grabbed Melina and jumped just as quickly to my place in Midtown. We appeared in my foyer and she was frozen against me. Her hands clutched my coat with a death grip and I held onto her tight, my arms wrapped around her as we both recovered from the shock and rush of adrenaline that the near death experience brought us.
“Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay,” I said and Melina nodded her head woodenly against my chest.
“We just teleported…we teleported and you saved my life,” she gasped with blind shock in her voice.
“Yeah…I told you I was here to save you. But I’m not going to leave you Melina. I love you and I want to be with you,” I said.
Melina pulled back a fraction and she looked up into my eyes with her wide blue ones. She studied my face for a long moment as I looked back at her with sincerity.
“I was just scared that…I was just scared that you would leave me once you managed to save me, that we’d amount to nothing,” she said with a shaky voice. I shook my head no.
“I have never told another woman that I love her before, apart from my mother. I don’t say it to you lightly. I do love you Melina and I want to be with you,” I said earnestly and she gave me a watery smile.
“Good…because I love you too,” she said and I smiled from ear to ear.
“Are you sure?” I asked her and she laughed
, but then nodded.
“I’m sure,” she said and then I picked her up and twirled her around in a circle before I set her down and pressed my lips to hers. The reality of my having saved her set in and I grew ecstatic.
“You’re alive! We’re here together!” I said enthusiastically. She giggled as she wiped her eyes of unshed tears.
“We are, all thanks to you…I’m sorry I made it difficult though, I shouldn’t have left Jayden’s apartment. I should have stayed inside,” she said with a sniffle and I hugged her again.
“As long as you’re here now, as long as you’re here,” I said.
*****
Melina and I teleported back to Jayden’s place where we had dinner and he gave her the scarf he’d made. Melina absolutely loved it. I respected his ability to make her smile.
After dinner I didn’t want to take any chances. I teleported back to my apartment with her and she sat down in the living room with a ton of questions for me.
“So…how long have you been able to time travel?” she asked curiously. I shrugged.
“I was always able to do it; I just didn’t know how until it just…happened. Same thing with teleporting. I was always able to make the little cracks in time, I just didn’t realize it or hone in on it until I was thirteen,” I answered.
“Can your parents do it? Do they know about you?” I shook my head.
“They have no idea…though sometimes when I think back to my childhood I think my grandfather was able to do it. He was always off on ‘business trips’. He always said that I was special, too, that I was just like him,” I said. Melina’s eyes widened a fraction as she took in the information.
“Well not even your parents know, I guess I can’t be too mad at you for not telling me before,” I chuckled.
“I don’t think they would take it well at all. I never told anyone because I was scared of becoming some lab rat, or worse,” I said. Melina nodded thoughtfully and she got up to walk into the kitchen for ice cream.
“So…if we had a baby boy then he’d be able to teleport and time travel like you?” Melina asked cautiously.
“Now that you mention it…my grandfather only had two girls and my mother’s sister only had daughters. And I’m the only child of my parent’s.” I said. “Maybe it’s some weird trait passed on to boys in our family.”
“Interesting,” she said. I watched Melina scoop out some ice cream into a small glass bowl, then put the carton of chocolate ice cream with cookie and brownie dough back into the freezer.
“So what do you think about all this, really?” I asked her. She shook her head.
“I think I’ve overcome the shock and I’m coming to terms with it. After all I’m a little bit stuck with you,” she said as she ate a spoonful of ice cream.
“You’re stuck with me?” I asked and she smirked.
“Well yeah, it’s not like I’m leaving you. I love you, and you did travel back in time to save me from dying so we can be together. Right?” I smiled. She was right. Though I hadn’t fully realized it at the time that’s exactly why I went back.
“You read me like a book. What can I say, it was love at first sight for me,” Melina laughed and I watched her finish her ice cream. I wanted to make sure she was done before I threw her over my shoulder and took her to my bedroom. Melina giggled the whole way over and I plopped her down onto the bed.
“I’m so glad it’s Friday, because I don’t think I’ll let you out of here for a long, long time.” I said. She quirked an eyebrow at me.
“Is that a promise?” she said and I smiled devilishly before I attacked her with tickles. Her laughter turned into moans as I pressed the bulge in my pants right against her core and nibbled on her neck. I pushed her sweater up and then kissed the soft skin of her stomach, waist, and hips which were moving restlessly under my hands. I unfastened her jeans and then pulled them slowly down along with her panties. When her clothing hit the floor I spread her legs and then put my mouth against her slick folds.
Melina’s hips moved restlessly as she rubbed herself against my mouth. I flicked my tongue against her clitoris relentlessly and she tangled her fingers in my hair as I worked her towards orgasm. Melina came swiftly and she shuddered as waves of pleasure coursed through her.
We undressed each other quickly. Neither of us could wait to be lost in the other. I spread her legs and then pushed myself into her sweet, warm depths. She clenched and squeezed around me impatiently and I grit my teeth as the pleasure shot through my cock and up from the base of my spine all throughout me.
“Uhh,” I breathed and she squeezed me again. I groaned and began to move, thrusting into her until she was calling out my name. We both came together.
I wasn’t sure how it could have gotten any better with Melina, but it had. As we lay beside each other, spent, I whispered to her.
“So do you want to go to Italy tomorrow after your rehearsal?” I asked and she looked up at me strangely. I gave her a pointed look and realization dawned on her face.
“Wow, this is crazy…we can actually do that,” she said and I laughed at her expression.
“Yeah, we can go wherever you want to go, you name it,” I said and she grinned.
“Then let’s go to Italy tomorrow, I’ve always wanted to see Rome,” she said just before she pulled my head to hers for a scorching kiss. I groaned and she broke the kiss to look at me questioningly.
“Kissing me like that won’t get us to Italy; we might have to sleep in tomorrow instead,” I said, and she smacked my lightly on the chest.
“You know, this means I get to pull out my bucket list of places to visit and you have to take me to each one,” she said. I smiled.
“Yes,” I said.
The End
Bonus Story 38 of 40
Loch Morar’s Dragon
Maisie was no stranger to exploring the lands around her family's home on her own. She would never grow tired of the tall, rocky crags and sprawling lochs tucked away in all the nook and crannies. It seemed as if there was always something new to discover every time she left their little village, something that Maisie had managed to pass by no matter how many times she rode or ran through the same places. There were caves a person could lose themselves in, and some of the lochs, though small, were so deep it was impossible to see the bottom.
Maisie had never been afraid of anything that lurked in the hills around them. She never went too far from the village, as per her father's wishes, and even that small population meant that predatory animals stayed far away from it, lurking only in the thickest woods and deepest caves, preying on the wildlife that roamed there, the same as the villagers did. Recently, however, there had been rumors and news of a particularly brave pack of wolves in the area. Several of the shepherds in the surrounding villages had lost sheep to them, and had devoured them so completely that there was only a handful of bones left behind.
Wolves didn't prey on humans, however, at least that was what Maisie had learned growing up, so there was little reason for her to be afraid. If the pack was growing fat on sheep then she need not worry about them attacking her out of desperation and could continue her roaming free of fear, so long as she was back by sundown and had finished all she needed to do for the day, her father's only real requirements. Her brother wasn't quite so lucky, but he made a decent living as the village's sole blacksmith. Maisie missed wandering the highlands with him, but his income helped put food on their table, and she couldn't be angry at him for that.
The morning had brought with it the perfect weather for a romp in the endless countryside. Even with summer on the way, the air in the morning was still cool to bring the kiss of dew to the grass and settled in Maisie's long hair. She finished her chores with lightning speed, dumping out the pots and feeding the goats and chickens all before her father and brother had moved from their beds. She could have left a message to let them know where she had run off to, but they knew her well enough, and should they question, Maisie passed a small nu
mber of people on her way out of the village, all of whom could attest to her whereabouts. It was far too nice a day to spend inside slaving over the fire or helping Ramsay in his shop. No, it was a day for an adventure.
Determined to find something new, Maisie set out with nothing but the clothes on her back and a small satchel filled with food for the day. Even if she did nothing other than find a fair spot to sun herself, it was better than being cooped up in the village, surrounded by the noise and mess of people. She would far rather soak in the sounds of nature, and there was plenty of that to go around. With the ease born of years of experience, Maisie made her way through the rocks and trees, past what was familiar and seeking something new.
She slipped into the forest, letting her feet follow the well-worn hunting paths, letting her soul guide her on her way. Under her breath she hummed a quiet ditty. Around her the wilderness thrived, all but untouched by man, and perfect in its wildness. She was too far in for the wind to reach and rustle the leaves, but she could hear critters skittering about in the brush. She wondered if they could enjoy the weather as much as she did. She imagined no creature was immune to such a joyful day.
Her wanderings took her off the trail and into the thick of the woods, but still she knew where she was. At a very young age she had known what signs to look for to find her way home again, and the trunks around her were as familiar as the walls of her house. For eighteen years she had explored the woods, and they never failed to surprise her in one way or another.
For a time, Maisie walked aimlessly, humming, letting the trees and bushes around her brush against her skin and tug at her dress. The earth was cool and moist under her bare feet, though she had a pair of shoes tucked away in her bag along with her food, just in case. When hunger started to grow in her belly she stopped and looked for a decent place to sit and eat, only to realize that she didn't recognize where she was. She automatically glanced over her shoulder. She could see the trail she had made easily enough, and as long as she could see that then she would be fine. Just to be safe, she slipped her little knife from her satchel and whittled away a bit of bark off a nearby tree until there was a clear mark on the trunk.
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