𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 , 𝟖𝟎𝐬

49 = the gang's all here

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th 2018

with my mom working a late night at work, i thought, what's a better thing to do than invite all my 80s friends over to drink and talk about all our problems? i made a text groupchat with jason, corey, and jake, and i sent them my address and told them to just walk right in anytime after 8 pm.

so far only jason and jake were here, sitting in my bedroom with red solo cups in their hands.

"you know what's funny?" jake broke the silence.

"what?" i asked.

"that this isn't even awkward. chillin in a 17 year old girls' room and drinking isn't awkward because this is all we pretty much did in the 80s." he laughed, "well, in the time travel 80s ... dream 80s?"

"we're never gonna figure it out, man. just call it the 80s and we'll know what you're talking about." jason said, holding up his cup.

i sat with my back against the foot of my bed, staring down at the floor. i haven't felt okay since the day they took naomi off life support. and i don't know how to feel okay again.

the sound of the front door opening downstairs, and then soft footsteps coming up the steps made us all turn to my door. in a matter of seconds, feldman appeared in the door way.

"jesus christ, do you have friends your own age?" he chuckled, looking at the three of us.

i held up my middle finger, flipping him off.

"here, grab a drink." jake said, handing corey a cup.

"thanks. where've you been hiding? kennedy told us you dm'd her asking if she knew a jake while in her coma."

"i live over in bel air. it took me awhile to be brave enough to actually dm her once i saw you guys on ellen." jake laughed to himself.

"what do you do for a living? you look jacked."

i furrowed my eyebrows at jason's choice of words.

"i'm a ballet instructor at larchmont ballet school." jack answered.

"hey, you did ballet in my 80s coma." i said.

"did it in real life too." jake smiled.

"well, the gang's back together." corey announced, taking a sip of whatever he poured in his cup.

"barely." i mumbled, feeling the emptiness of the room without naomi or corey haim here.

"here, we need some music to get this thing going." corey grabbed his phone out of his pocket, "do you have a speaker?"

i pointed to my speaker that sat atop my dresser. within seconds his phone was connected to my bluetooth and some random 80s playlist was blasting throughout my room.

i sighed, taking a gulp of the watermelon vodka in my cup. through my peripheral vision, i could see jason coming to sit next to me.

"is there a reason you always choose to sit on the floor instead of an actual chair?" he asked me.

i ignored his sarcastic question, "i need to call nasa. they can help me figure all this shit out."

he laughed, "they're probably on their 15th coffee of the day trying to figure this out."

"you don't think they could help come up with an explanation?"

"i doubt they can help. unless you wanna hear about some radio antennas picking up waves of high electromagnetic energies or some shit." he smiled, probably not even knowing the definitions of what he just said.

i let out a breath, frowning down at my drink.

"they're probably just as confused as you are. how an ordinary girl can randomly time travel but scientists and astronauts have never been able to."

i suddenly felt sick to my stomach. everything was overwhelming me, between the three guys in my room, def leppard playing through my speaker, and the immense guilt of my bestfriend dying, i had to get some space.

my shaky hand placed my cup down on the floor and i quickly walked out of my room. the sound of the music was getting drowned out as i made my way downstairs.

"you're not gonna throw up, are you?" jason called out, coming down the stairs as well.

"no." i choked out, feeling a lump forming in my throat.

"are you okay?" his voice softened, seeing the state i was in.

"no! i-" tears came spilling down onto my cheeks, "my best friends dead from a car accident i got us into! and i'm here drinking with the guy who hit us!"

jason walked down the remaining steps into the foyer where i stood.

"and i watched a police officer's car blow up after i escaped from being arrested! and i yelled fuck you in greg beeman's face!"

"greg beeman? you saw him?" he asked.

"yeah, the other day i pulled over to cry and of course it was him who asked me if i was okay on the side of the road."

"wait, you were almost arrested?"

"yes! for putting condoms on a girls car." i cried. my stories must sound absolutely ridiculous but i couldn't help but cry since all my emotions have been pent up.

i leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath.

"and you know what fucking sucks? the most traumatic events that ever happened to me happened when i was in a coma. for all of you, it was dreams. but it was real for me, i didn't know i was even in a coma during all of it. i thought i was dead and in hell for a good couple of days after i woke up on the red carpet."

"yeah, you went through some pretty bad stuff." jason sympathetically said.

"and i still feel the shame for being sexually assaulted. i still find myself wanting pills to try to numb the pain. that stuff, it doesn't just go away." i shook my head, "whether it happened in a coma or not, it happened to me. and it was real."

"the worst part is that i went to you for all of that stuff. you became my person in the same month i met you. you helped me, and listened to me. and i loved you." my eyes were stinging from all the makeup i cried off.

there was a moment of silence until he spoke up, "every day i woke up from my dreams about you, and i felt this immense amount of love for a girl i didn't even think existed. that's gotta fuck with someone, truly loving someone you only get to see in yours dreams." jason said. i could see in his eyes that he meant it.

"i never gave a fuck about a goddamn thing." my voice was monotone, "all i wanted to do was just come back home to 2018. but now i just wanna go back."

jason held out his pinky, which immediately gave me flashbacks to all my pinky promises with corey h.

"listen, we make a pact okay? you and me. once lovers but now bestfriends. you know, because of the drastic age difference between us now."

that got me to crack a smile.

"we've got each other no matter what. if we can go through a time travel accident with rapist directors and drug addiction, we can go through anything here too."

i looked him in the eyes and then wrapped my pinky around his, "you and me."