Parallel (Travelers Series Book 1)

Parallel (Chapter 11)

Not a chance. “I don’t know. He probably has other things going on.” Besides, I don’t even know how to contact him. He never gave me a number where I could reach him and I’m certain his number isn’t programmed in my cell. “Besides, I already told you. He’s just a friend, nothing more.”

Jaime points a finger at me. “You are such a liar! There’s no way you can only be just friends with a guy that hot.”

If only Jaime knew that just a few short days ago, she feared he was some kind of stalker. Now here we are, at the same coffee shop, only now she’s telling me she thinks he’s hot stuff. It’s enough to send me to the brink of laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” I wave it off. “I was just thinking.”

She squints her eyes at me, clearly indicating her skepticism. “You’re going to keep him a secret aren’t you?”

“Yup.” This world is throwing me some curve balls, so I figure I’m owed a little bit of fun.

“Have it your way.” She gives up and slumps up against the chair. “But I can’t promise I’ll back you up when Alex finds out something’s going on between you and Hunk.”

I know for a fact Jaime will keep any secret I share with her, but now isn’t the time. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Cooper never said I couldn’t tell anyone about my switch, but I know that telling my best friend, or even Aunt Maggie for that matter, what’s really going on will land me straight into a private room at the local loony bin. For now, I’ll keep whatever secrets I have to myself.

We stay a little while longer, enjoying our coffee and it’s hard to imagine all the nuances that set these two realities apart. If I sit here and don’t think about it, I can almost picture myself back in my other world, sipping coffee with Jaime before heading back to Dominion House before curfew. The coffee in front of me stills sends off an impressive aroma in the air. While the inner nerd lurking inside understands that the term “alternate” implies a variant, my teenage situational awareness can only see as far as what’s in front of me.

“Hey, let’s go see a movie.” Jaime leads the way, tugging at my sleeve as we cross the street, towards the movie theater. The Old Town Theater isn’t like a normal multiplex that features tons of movie selections—at least it wasn’t where I came from. Instead of the normal dozen or so new releases, The theater features only two first run films at a time. The place even has a deli and if you’re over twenty-one, you can also buy beer.

“I’m not really in the mood to watch—” I start, but the movie posters stop me mid-sentence.

We walk up to the marquee and while I’m pleased to see the theater is still the same in concept, I don’t recognize any of the actors, with the exception of Tom Cruise. The Old Town Theater must be some kind of independent movie theater here. Even the titles are foreign to me. None of these films were playing a few days ago: a supernatural flick entitled Under the Dark Moon and Sunset Retirement, a comedy about old folks.

I wonder if Twilight was ever made. Not that I’m a fan of the franchise, but that Taylor Lautner guy, the one that plays the lovelorn werewolf, is totally hot and I’ll admit I watched all the movies just to watch him shirtless—but only when it got to DVD, I wouldn’t have been caught dead watching it in the theater. The vampire, whose name I forget (both the actor and character) does nothing for me. He’s way too possessive and wimpy, plus he’s too pasty for my taste.

“Did you see any of the Harry Potter movies?” I ask Jaime while she’s deciding on what movie we should see.

“Harry who? Never even heard of him.”