Shift

Not again.

It was happening all the time now. Aida Nguyen was experiencing... actually, she didn’t know what she was experiencing. All she knew was time kept repeating itself.    

   It had started three weeks ago, when she was ordering a burrito at Taco Bell. She placed her order at the Drive Thru, and was going to the window to pay and get the burrito, when time shifted. Everything moved back to two minutes prior, when she was getting to the Drive Thru. It seemed like she was the only one to notice, as well.

   It wasn’t just messing with her at the Taco Bell Drive Thru. It happened everywhere! At random times, random places, random scenarios! Right now, it was the eve before Christmas Eve. December 23. 

   Aida still had to buy a present for her mom, and was rushing to find the book her mom wanted. There was only one left in the store, and she needed to get to it first. Running through the store, she located the book section, and found the book. Just as she was about to grab it, time shifted. But she was the only one who shifted. No one noticed, though. Time shifted her to a few feet away from the aisle the book was in. She started running again, just in time to see an elderly man grab the book. 

   Aida ran up to the man and asked if she could have that book. “Please, mister. I’ve been looking for that book for weeks!” What she said was partially true. Aida had in fact been looking, just not for weeks. More like for the last ten minutes.

The man must have known, somehow, and said “I’m sorry, miss, but I feel as though you haven’t. This is a present for my wife, and I must be going. Happy Christmas.” And he left. 

   Aida was not one to say “Happy” Christmas. She said “Merry”, and was about to tell this to the man, when someone grabbed her shoulders and whipped her around. Out of instinct, she balled up her fist, and threw it into where the person’s stomach most likely was. And her aim was accurate.

   “Oohhhhh, ow…” Aida opened her clenched eyes to see her best friend rolled up in a ball on the ground. “Ethan! We’ve talked about this! No scaring me unless you want me to do - well, that.” Aida told the ball on the ground. Helping him up, she apologized, and asked “what are you doing here?” 

   After catching his breath, he told her that he needed help - fast! They ran out of the store towards the most popular clothing store for girls Aida’s age, which was around 20. They rushed in the doors of the store, and Aida grabbed Ethan’s shoulder to ask him what the hell he needed.

   Ethan stopped. “I need a present for Ava. And the store is closing in 5 minutes, we gotta move!” Ava was Ethan’s girlfriend, and, come to think of it, Aida still needed to get a present for Lily, her own girlfriend! That was one thing she had in common with Ethan; they both liked girls, and girls only!

   They were racing around the store, looking for a present for their girlfriends, when it happened again. Everything shifted. The time went back 3 minutes, when they had first arrived. But, they didn’t move. It was like time was helping. Aida stopped for a second, and looked at Ethan. He didn’t notice. She shook her head and looked through a rack of cardigan sweaters.

They left soon after. Ethan held a bag with fluffy slippers in it. Aida held a bag that held a fluffy purple sweater for Lily, and she found the book for her mom at the last second. They were walking towards the exit when Aida’s phone buzzed. Bzzzzz. 

       Mom: Where are u? Dinner is going to be very late… Dad burned the food, had to go out and get more. Stay out for dinner, ok? Love u!

   Aida smiled, responded with a quick ok and looked at Ethan. “Want to grab something to eat?” She asked. Ethan smiled, and they turned left to go to the food court. 

   As they walked, they talked about Christmas plans, food, and gifts. They got to the food court to see a few people sitting down, eating hamburgers. “Where is everyone?” Ethan asked, as usually the food court was packed full of people. “I don’t know… Well, let’s enjoy it while we can.” Aida replied. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the Chick-Fil-A. There they ordered two chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and two sodas. They sat down at a table, splitting the fries and nuggets, chatting. The people who were sitting and eating were giving them weird looks. It's not very common to see a Black girl sitting with a white guy eating Chick-Fil-A in a mall food court. But Aida was used to it. The weird looks, the comments, the rude remarks, everything. Luckily, Lily was from India, so she understood what Aida went through.

   “So, what else are you getting Ava for Christmas?” Aida asked, swallowing some soda. “Well, uh… a book?” Ethan replied sounding unsure. 

   Aida: Mm-hmm.

   Ethan: I’m not sure I understand… 

   Aida: Stop talking like Siri. No rings?

   Ethan: *practically chokes on soda*

   Aida: *laughs*

   Ethan: What?!

   Aida: No? No smoochies? No white and lace?

   Ethan: AIDA!!! 

It was 5 pm, Christmas Eve Day. Ethan had left soon after Aida asked if he was proposing to Ava. She later remarked to Lily over the phone that he seemed mad. Like, really mad. Perhaps it was a touchy subject with him.

   Aida picked up her phone from her bed. Another text from Lily. Instead of answering, Aida tapped the FaceTime icon. Lily picked up on the second ring. 

   “What should I wear to the party tonight?” Aida asked. “What do you want to wear?” Aida pulled three different outfits out of her closet. The first included a pair of warm blue leggings with a loose purple miniskirt pulled over top, a T-shirt, and a pink fuzzy sweater. A knitted black hat and scarf accompanied the outfit, along with black boots. 

   The second outfit was a very obvious party outfit. The leggings had sequins sewn down the side of both pant legs, the jacket was sparkly and jingle-jangly with Christmas bells. The boots, hat and scarf were brightly colored, and the outfit carried along lots and lots of sparkly necklaces. 

   The third and final outfit was more meant for New Years in California, with a tight dress that covered the bearer until mid thigh. It was a sunset scene, with dark pink near the top, and a lighter pink near the bottom, yellows and oranges mixed in between. A black city skyline was at the hem of the dress. The heels were about an inch high, with glitter covering the fake leather. Lots of necklaces accompanied it. Aida threw it back into her closet.

   In the end, Lily, fashion expert and party extraordinaire, chose the first outfit, so Aida threw it on her bed. The couple chatted for over an hour about the party, which was being held at a skating rink. Lots of people from their college were going. Mostly people from their Psychology class. Soon after, Aida heard her mom calling for her from the floor below. She was lucky; her college was in her hometown, so she could stay with her family a bit longer.

At 7:30, Ethan, Ava and Lily came to pick Aida up for the party. She stepped out of her house, wearing her outfit and lots of necklaces. Her hair was curled, and her eyelids sparkled. Her lips shone like the North Star with all her lip gloss, and she walked with a sway in her hip. 

   When she got to the car, Ava rolled down her window. They embraced through the small space, and Ethan asked how her hips were doing after that walk to the car. “Sore,” Aida said, causing laughter in the car. “Very sore. Mental note, don’t do that again.” Just as she was about to grip the car handle, time shifted again. 

   Aida prepared to start walking towards the car again, but the car was gone. She was still standing on the sidewalk, a little too close to the road itself, arm still outstretched. Quickly, she stepped back, and pulled her arm down. She waited a bit for the car to pull up again. When it did come, Ava again rolled down her window, and they again hugged. 

   “A bit eager to get to the party, aren’t we?” Ethan asked, jokingly. Aida laughed, and got into the backseat successfully. Lily hugged her when she sat down, and gave her a quick kiss. She seemed a bit nervous, for some reason… Aida shrugged it off and started talking with her friends.

They got to the party with no more shifts, thank God. There were lots of people. It was in the middle of a field, near the edge of the city. There was a huge ice skating rink, a snack bar, hot chocolate bar, and skate rentals. A few feet away from the rink was a firepit. In the middle of the skating rink stood a huge tree. The tree was dressed from tippy top to bottom of the trunk with Christmas tree ornaments. And on top of it all stood a massive glowing star.

   “Aida!” Aida heard her name and turned to see a male with short blonde hair and a black jacket running over to her. She didn’t recognize this person... But, she did at the same time. And it wasn’t a boy, either… “Aida! It’s me, Josie! I cut my hair! Now it looks like it should be on a male head!” Aida’s eyes widened.

   “Josie?! Oh, my God!! It looks great! I didn’t even recognize you! I thought you were a dude!” The girls hugged, and Aida turned towards two confused faces. “Ethan, Ava, this is Josie, one of my best friends at college! Josie, this is Ethan, who I’ve known since birth, and his girlfriend, Ava.” Ethan shook Josie’s hand, and Ava hugged her. Then Lily came up and greeted Josie with a hug. 

   “Good to see you, girl! How’s it going?” Josie said, hugging back. “It’s great. Speaking of great, look at this party!” Josie smiled. “Your welcome! I’m Party Council Chairperson - again.” 

   “Congrats!” Aida said. Then they all headed towards the skating rink. They grabbed some cocoa, rented some skates, and hit the ice. Ava clutched Ethan’s arm, even though she was a figure skater. Lily and Aida held onto each other for dear life, as both of them had been born in different countries, neither of which had ice very often. Josie skated with her boyfriend.

   After a few hours of skating, drinking cocoa, dancing around the firepit, and chatting, Lily grabbed Aida’s hand and pulled her towards the forest area. They stopped just at the edge of the forest. Aida, smiling, asked what was going on. “I wanted to get you alone. We haven’t been hanging out a ton, recently. And when we are together, there’s other people around.” Lily said. Aida smiled again, and stepped closer to Lily. The kiss they shared was wonderful. It was hot, long, and beautiful. It lasted almost a full 30 seconds before Lily, being the jokester she is, pulled away, saying she needed oxygen, gasping for breath. Aida laughed before kissing her again, just quick, short, sweet.

   For once, she wanted a shift to happen to redo this moment. But before she could wish it, Lily was talking again. “You know, I do really love you. I want to spend forever with you, and I thought today was a good chance to ask…”

   Jokingly, Aida said that it was already technically Christmas Morning, and it would be a bit late to ask what she wanted for Christmas. “Har har,” Lily grinned. “Anyways,” she continued. “I want to have you… If you want me, at least. Aida Imani Nguyen,” Lily got down on one knee, and Aida gasped, tears already brimming her eyes. “Will you marry me?”

Time stopped. Literally. Stupid time shifts… 

   Aida could move around, but everything was frozen, like an extremely icy breeze came through and froze the world. She looked closer at her girlfriend, soon to be fiancée. Aida would have said “yes” if this didn’t happen. 

   She realized that Lily had beads of sweat on her forehead. That’s why she was so nervous in the car! Aida followed Lily’s arms to where they sat near one pocket. Aida looked in the pocket to see a box. Pulling out the box, she noticed it was a box for jewelry. She was about to open it, but realized she wanted it to be a surprise. She put the box back in Lily’s pocket and went back to her place in time before time had stood still.

   “... marry me?” Aida blinked. Time unfroze, and Lily proposed again. A tear trickled down Aida’s cheek, probably from before. Aida’s smile grew, and was about to respond when Lily was getting down on one knee for the second visible time. What the hell?!

Aida tried to cover her facial expression but it didn't work. "What's wrong?" Lily said. "Oh, no. You aren't ready! I'm sorry, I really am, oh, God," Aida was about to calm Lily down when another shift happened, and Lily was, again, getting on one knee.

   Aida put her hands behind her back and pinched her skin as if to wake up. But she quickly had to pretend to stifle a gasp, as this had happened three other times already! Lily hadn’t even had time to finish her question when Aida blacked out.

She didn’t know how much time had passed. She didn’t know where she was, even. But she woke up to someone gripping her wrist lightly, and a small tug. Keeping her eyes closed, she followed the tug, until she opened her eyes to see her beautiful girlfriend, and it returned to her. She was at a Christmas party with Ethan, Ava, and Lily. But why was she in the forest?

   “Why are we here?” Aida asked, smiling. “I wanted to get you alone. We haven’t been hanging out a ton, recently. And when we are together, there’s other people around.” Lily said. Aida smiled again, and stepped closer to Lily. They shared a beautiful kiss before Lily, being the jokester she is, pulled away, saying she needed oxygen, gasping for breath. Aida laughed, feeling a sense of déjà vu.

  Lily was talking again. “You know, I do really love you. I want to spend forever with you, and I thought today was a good chance to ask…

  “I want to have you… If you want me, at least. Aida Imani Nguyen,” Lily got down on one knee, and Aida gasped, tears already brimming her eyes. “Will you marry me?”