January 9th, 1990 — Cape Canaveral, FL
6:45 AM, EST
As Shelby got ready for work the morning following her date with Adam, she had a peculiar feeling. Her brain was tugging at her, as if there was something she was forgetting. Shelby had an exceptionally great memory, so she didn't often forget something.
"Shelby, your toast!" Maggie's call from the kitchen brought Shelby to attention, and the redhead quickly realized that she was, in fact, forgetting something: her breakfast.
She shook the thoughts aside and hurried into the kitchen, joining her roommate at their small kitchen table. Despite having the toast in front of her, the strange feeling continued to nag her brain. It was like an itch she couldn't scratch, right in the center of her skull.
What was she forgetting?
"Maggie," Shelby began as she spread peanut butter on her toast. "Is it your birthday?"
Maggie, having gotten used to Shelby's antics by now, simply shook her head. "I'm a Scorpio, remember?"
Shelby nodded. "Right." She frowned and continued to methodically smear the peanut butter over her entire piece of toast before setting the knife down and taking a bite of her breakfast. "What am I forgetting?"
"You don't forget stuff, Shelby." Maggie stated as she poured milk into her Cheerios.
"I know." Shelby replied. "It's just ... I've got this weird feeling in my brain, like ... like I don't know something that I need to. That I'm forgetting something. It's like when I forgot my lunch for work that one day."
"Do you have any appointments today?" Maggie questioned.
Shelby shook her head, but dug into her bag for her planner just to make sure. "No."
Maggie glanced around the room, squinting at the calendar they had hanging on the wall by the telephone. "I dunno, Shelbs."
"Yeah," Shelby replied as she grabbed her piece of toast and headed for the calendar.
January 9th was a day that held absolutely no significance to Shelby at all. No birthdays, no anniversaries, no holidays ...
So what was it?
After scanning the calendar and turning to take her seat once again, a slip of paper sitting near the phone caught her attention. It was from the notepad the girls kept near the phone, but it was ripped off of the pad and half of it was missing, as if Maggie had written down something.
"Maggie," Shelby asked, holding up the piece of paper. "Did I have any messages last night?"
"Messages?" Maggie's eyebrows went up in a look of genuine cluelessness. "I don't know, girly. Let me play through my night." Maggie often couldn't recall memories of nights she had been drinking, and due to the fact that Shelby had woken up to two empty wine bottles in the recycling bin, last night had been one of those nights.
Shelby glanced at her watch, knowing she needed to leave soon. "Okay, go ahead then."
"Okay, so first I opened up the bottle of Chardonnay, and then I put on my sweatpants, and then I turned on the TV and Beetlejuice was on, so I was like 'hell yeah', and then I finished off the first bottle. Then, Beetlejuice was over, so I got up to open the second bottle, and I couldn't remember where I had put the wine corker, so I went looking for it, and then ..." Maggie's eyes went wide and she clapped her hands. "Right! Phone call! The phone rang and it was some guy for you—"
"Some guy?" Shelby questioned, cutting Maggie off. "Who?"
Maggie shrugged. "I dunno, Shelbs. Said he was a friend from MIT."
Shelby's breath hitched in her phone. Robbo called all the time, but she had a feeling it hadn't been him. "Was it Rob?" She questioned as she casually took a sip of her coffee.
"Mmm, no, I don't think so." The brunette said with a shake of her head. "Doesn't ring a bell."
Shelby took a deep breath before saying a name that she hadn't uttered in a long time. "Tony?"
"Yeah, Tony!" Maggie replied. "Isn't he that douchebag?"
Shelby nodded, setting her coffee cup down. "Yeah, that just about sums it up."
"Anyways, I said you were out with Adam and he said to not take a message, that he'd call back later." Maggie stated.
"So he didn't give you a number?" The redhead asked.
Maggie shook her head. "No number, just the name. How'd he get our number anyways?"
Shelby rolled her eyes, and a smirk overcame the nervous expression on her face. "Robbo."
"Robbo's your hottie ex-college-boyfriend, right?" Maggie asked. "You know, the one you have a picture of on your desk?"
Shelby rolled her eyes. "It's a picture of all of three of us, Maggie. Me, Robbo, and ..."
"And Tony." Maggie finished with a smirk. "Mhmm. He who shall not be named." The girl winked across the table as the redhead. "I see the kind of girl you are, Shelby Colewell."
Shelby rolled her eyes and stood to rinse off her dishes. "Whatever, Mags. I've got to get to work."
The redhead grabbed her briefcase and lunch, then headed out of the apartment and downstairs towards her Jeep. As she backed out of her parking spot, she realized the nagging feeling she'd woken up with was gone. Instead, it was replaced with a different one.
Tony Stark had tried to call her, and she'd missed it. She had no way to call Tony back, and only one man stood in between this: Robert Everett.
As she got to work, Shelby was thankful to see that Adam's car wasn't in his parking spot yet. She usually looked forward to meeting him in the parking lot and walking towards their offices together, but that day, she was thankful to not see him with what was on her brain.
She quickly raced towards her office, saying a short 'good morning' to the few co-workers that she saw on her way. She had time before her day really started, so she quickly dialed Robbo's phone number, knowing he wouldn't be at work for a few hours yet, as he was in Seattle.
"Hello?" His groggy voice filled her ears after he finally answered. She normally would have felt bad about obviously waking him up, but not that day. Shelby was slightly mad at him for giving Tony her phone number and then not telling her so.
"Robert!" Shelby's voice was a bit louder than she had intended.
"Shelby?" Robbo asked as he stifled a yawn. "Is everything okay?"
"Y-you gave Tony my phone number." She said with slightly less anger and confidence that she had begun the phone call with.
Robbo groaned. "God damn, you two need to work your problems out yourselves. I'm not a couple's counselor, Shelbs, I'm a mechanical engineer."
"Yes, I'm aware." Shelby replied.
"Shouldn't you be at work?" Rob asked.
"I am at work." She stated.
"Ooooh." Robbo laughed. "Shelby Colewell, making personal calls on NASA property."
Shelby rolled her eyes. "I'm always putting in overtime here, Robbo, and my day doesn't officially start for 8 more minutes. So, if you could be a doll and give me Tony's phone number, that would be—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rob cut her off. "Didn't he call you? Why do you need me?"
The redhead sighed. "He spoke with Maggie and she told him I was out on a date, and he didn't leave a message."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Shelby Colewell, NASA engineer and post-college-homebody, went on a date? Isn't that your first date since ... me?" He joked. "Who is he?"
Shelby frowned. "Robbo..."
"Come on, Shelbs. I'm not giving up Stark's phone number until you tell me more." He replied.
She sighed. "Fine. Adam."
Rob laughed. "Oh, the Adam? The one that Shelby always talks about? The one that you most definitely have a crush on but won't admit it?"
"Yep. That's him. Come on, Robbo, I really have to get going." Shelby begged.
"Oh, fine." He said with a groan. "Got a piece of paper handy? Here's his number."
January 9th, 1990 — New York, NY
12:04 PM, EST
Tony was on lunch break, having worked since 7 AM with his father and his employees. He was using his brain again, and perhaps that was what he needed. He was a smart young man, with his whole life ahead of him.
He and his father had headed back home, where Tony's mother had prepared them lunch. Tony was just glad to be off of his feet and not staring through the scratched lenses of his safety glasses, even if it would only be for a half hour. As the Stark family ate in silence, the phone rang, a shrill, cutting sound that drove deep into Tony's brain. After listening to loud machines whir and whiz all day, he had momentarily been enjoying the peace and quiet.
Mrs. Stark sighed and stood to answer it. "Hello, Stark residence. This is Maria speaking." An intrigued smile overcame her face as Maria turned to look at her son. "Oh, hello dear! One moment, I'll see if he's available." She placed her hand over the receiver before saying, "Tony, it's for you."
"For me?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow.
The older woman nodded. "Shelby."
Tony, who had only taken one bite out of his sandwich, quickly shoved the rest of it in and shook his head. "What does she want?"
"She said she's returning your call." Mrs. Stark stated.
Tony frowned and stood. "Come on Dad, we better get back." He said through a mouthful of sandwich.
Howard, however, had just cracked the top off of his Coca-Cola bottle, and he wouldn't be going anywhere for a few minutes more, at least. "For God's sakes, Anthony. Go talk to her."
Mrs. Stark smiled, clearly pleased with her husband's response. "He's right here, dearie." She said to Shelby before handing Tony the receiver.
Tony finished chewing before clearing his throat. Why were his hands so sweaty? It was just Shelby.
Right, just Shelby. he had no reason to be scared.
"Hello?" He said carefully.
"Hi, Tony."
Her voice was like music to his ears. He resisted the urge to say 'Hey, Shelbster, it's been awhile' and instead gave a cool, "How can I help you?"
Shelby laughed slightly. "Well, I'm only returning your call. So really, the question is, how can I help you?"
Tony hadn't left his number with Shelby's roommate. She must have gotten it from Robbo the same way Tony had gotten hers.
"You know, actually ..." Tony said quietly, "I'm good."
With that, he hung up the phone awkwardly and grabbed the rest of his sandwich. He had more important stuff to do than fawn over a college crush that had never wanted anything more than to be his friend. He was Tony freaking Stark. He had an empire to uphold. "Pops? Ready to head back? We've got a lot to do."