Free Tomorrow Is Today by Julie Cross Page A

toward the door. One of my roommates, Danny, was already shaking his head and partially blocking Adam’s way in. “No way, Jackson! No babies allowed! We agreed.”
    “He’s eighteen.” Today .
    “Oh man,” Danny groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. “There’s more.”
    It took me a second to see the two additional “high school babies” behind Adam. Holly Flynn entered the living room, followed by a very tall, skinny guy who looked even more nervous to be here than Adam did. He stuck out his hand. “I’m David…thanks for letting us crash your party…this is pretty awesome.”
    “No problem, man. Glad you could come.”
    The music got cranked up about five more notches and Adam grabbed my sleeve and pulled me into the kitchen.
    “Sorry, they begged me to come,” he said in a hushed voice. “Well…more Holly than David, but that’s usually how it goes with those two.”
    I leaned against the counter and watched Holly chatting with my neighbor. Her blonde hair was long and flowing today, not pulled up like she usually had it on staff training nights. She also had on a form fitting black dress and five inch platform shoes, but she still barely made it to David’s shoulder.
    “Those two?” I asked Adam.
    “What?” He had his back to the crowd and was now typing something into his phone. Experiment data . “Oh…right. David and Holly. Those two.”
    “They’re together?”
    “Yeah, for over a year now. They’ve known each other since freshman year…I mean…we all have.”
    A year? Holly had been with the same guy for a year and in the two months I’d known her and Adam, this had never come up? Or maybe I just didn’t listen very well?
    I clapped my hands together. “Okay, ready for the real fun.”
    Adam looked up at me, finally. “I’m ready, but we need to hang out for a couple hours…you know, record the current scene, then compare once you’ve acquired some time-travel data.”
    “Alright.”
    For the next thirty minutes, I played the perfect host and chatted and danced with two girls who lived in the building but on a different floor and another chick from one of my classes fall semester. Then I spotted Holly alone, leaning against the kitchen counter. I wandered over and rested my back on the counter opposite of her. “So…where’s Doug?”
    “ David ,” she corrected, then glanced around the living room. “I’m not sure. Last I saw, he was with Adam and they were quoting movies and cracking up.”
     

    “So, why are you in here, by yourself? Mentally drafting important notes to your future self?”
    She shot me a dirty look but was smiling. “I was just messing with you the other day. I don’t like doing any of that stuff.”
    “Don’t deny it. I know you’re lying. You are so totally all about the ‘future plans’ game…” I paused for a second, choosing just the right words to describe this girl who was still mostly a mystery to me. “More like the ‘dream big’ game…goal setting and all that inspirational crap. I bet you even write in a diary.”
    She quickly diverted her eyes from mine, cheeks flushing like they had the other day.
    “Ha! I knew it.”
    “Okay,” she shrugged. “You’re right…but really, if I’d lived here…in New York all my life, I don’t think I’d have anything to write about. I’d be out there doing stuff…not writing about what I plan on doing. I’m convinced the best writers have very boring lives.”
    My eyebrows lifted. “Good answer. Not sure I can continue to make fun of you now.”
    She smiled at me. “You’ll think of a new topic.”
    “Do you want to see something really cool?” I asked, making a quick and impulsive decision.
    “Okay…?”
    I snatched a few tools from a kitchen drawer and led Holly out the door, pointing to the coat rack so she’d grab her jacket. When we were in the empty hallway and the door to my suite was shut, I removed the tools from my back pocket. “Tell me if you see