Future Date #5
“I told him I’d travelled from far away to impress a girl,” he said with a wink. “And playing this song might help my chances.”
“Chances for what?”
He didn’t say a word as he led her out on to the dance floor again. Even as they danced to the upbeat song, Ella knew one thing – she was falling for him, big time. “I’m glad you brought me here,” she said over the music.
“Me too,” he said. “I’m glad you finally believe me. Ella. I know we’re moving fast, but I have to tell you something – I’m falling in love with you.”
She felt her face flush. “I think I’m falling in love with you too.”
And then, he leaned forwards and gave her the warmest, sweetest kiss in all of time, in front of all of the patrons of the Cotton Club and Duke Ellington. They were still kissing even as the ice cold of time travel took them away in an eye blink.
They broke off the kiss shyly and took in their new surroundings. “We’re back already?” Ella asked, disappointed as she looked around to find herself in the snow once again outside her house.
“The travel lasts for only an hour, remember? I got a few bonus minutes to allow for time to come get you. It came with the package deal.”
“Naturally,” she said in shock.
“Listen, Ella,” he said. “I’m afraid I’ve got to tell you something else. Something important.”
“More important than being from the future?”
“I told you before, time travel is pretty expensive. And I’m just a journalist. We don’t get paid much, even in the future.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t afford to keep coming back to see you.”
Her heart plummeted into her stomach, and she was surprised to realize how much the loss of him would affect her. “What? So we can’t keep seeing each other any more? I thought that was the whole point of this, to find someone in the past.”
“It is and I did. I met you, Ella.” He took her hands in his.
“Like I said before, I know we’re moving really fast and I know you barely know me, but I also know that there’s no other woman in all of time that I want to be with.
Love at first sight might be a cliché, but I think in this case, it’s also true.
I’m asking you to go to the future with me. ”
“You said I couldn’t go to the future.”
“I said you couldn’t go to the future for a visit. But you could go to the future permanently.” He squeezed her hand. “With me. We wouldn’t have to get married right away; I wouldn’t ask you to do that. We can wait until you get acclimatized in the new time period.”
She was stunned at what he was asking. “I’d have to leave everything and everyone I know behind. For ever!”
“Not for ever, we could save up so you could come back for visits, like on holidays or something. And you could email them, as I said before; emails are easier to send back in time than people.”
“They’d just think I disappeared on them!”
“Tell them you’re joining the Peace Corps or something.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think I can. I don’t think I can give up everything I have and everyone I know for someone that I just met.” She met his eyes. “Herman, I think I am falling in love with you, but how do I know it will last?”
“How do you know with anyone?”
“And this is only the second time I’ve met you,” she said. “Shouldn’t you have at least three dates before you commit to something big like this?”
“Well , we’ve met three times actually.”
“No, we haven’t.”
“I wasn’t sure if you’d agree to go on this date, so the other night I borrowed money off of my dad to do one last grand gesture. I went back to the night you signed up for the account on Future Date and met you in person.”
Her mouth fell open. “W-What?”
“I thought I’d do something romantic, like meet you with flowers after the bad date you were telling me about, the one with the guy who didn’t like kids.
You never mentioned the name of the restaurant though; you only said you went to your friend Serena’s where she signed you up on the dating site.
So I found her address online and met you outside of her apartment. ”
“No, you didn’t.”
“You had a flat tyre.”
She gasped, staring at him in recognition. “Oh, my God! That was you!”
He nodded. “I was going to try to use that as proof of the time travel . I realized afterwards that didn’t really prove anything about time travel , only that I met you before. So—” he shrugged sheepishly “—we’ve met before.”
“I don’t think changing a tyre counts as a date,” she said with a wry smile.
“It should.” He looked at her, his eyes so hopeful. “So, will you go to the future with me?”
Ella couldn’t believe she was even considering this.
She had never done a crazy thing in her life before signing on to that website.
She had always been the good girland played it safe.
Had anyone ever said that she’d be standing in the snow after having been on a date to see Duke Ellington in the 1930s, contemplating marrying a guy that she just met face to face a few days ago, she would have laughed.
Instead, she smiled.
“Yes,” she said. “I will .”