It’s a lot to wrap my head around. If there is an infinite number of parallel timelines, then it’s possible that the Jay I’m chatting with will be fine and won’t ever disappear. And it’s possible that the Aleeza in his timeline won’t have a best-friend breakup with her oldest friend and will stay in the West Hall dorm room all year like she’s supposed to.
Aleeza:How do we figure how similar our timelines are?
Jay:You can send me more sports scores. But I think we can assume that we are at 85 percent similarity. That’s why the note I left you wasn’t there.
Aleeza:What did the note say? In case I find it somewhere else.
Jay:JAY IS HERE. ALEEZA WILL BE HERE. 100458008.
Aleeza:What do those numbers mean?
Jay:Don’t worry about it. Send me some sports scores for tonight.
I send ten scores for games on October 20. I’m really hoping that none of the sports predictions come true. Or at least, fewer than 85 percent. Because that would mean the guy I’m chatting with lives in a parallel universe not like this one, and he won’t go missing. It’s funny—before this, when he disappeared, I think I felt terrible for him only because it hit close to home to have a student in my own university be all over the news. But Jay Hoque’s disappearance was abstract to me. I may have seen him around campus, but I didn’tknowhim. He was just a guy with a bit of a bad reputation who probably did something to upset someone and found out that karma could be a bitch.
But now, nowI knowJay. And he doesn’t seem to be that bad of a person. He clearly loves movies, like me. He likes Indian food and shawarma. He’s smart enough to be able to talk to about this mindfuckof a situation. He trusts me. He doesn’t deserve whatever bad thing is going to happen to him, and I want him to be okay.
Aleeza:I guess it’s possible that the version of you in my time didn’t have this conversation five months ago.
Jay:Yeah, maybe if you find me, don’t mention it. There’s no reason to freak the hell out of two Jay Hoques, right?
Aleeza:No, I suppose not.
Jay:I don’t know much about temporal anomalies. I should ask my physics teacher about this—hey, are we keeping this between the two of us?
That’s an excellent question. I have no idea ... On one hand, yeah, we discovered something amazing here. Science should be shared, right? But also, who would believe us? And if they did, would that mean that the researchers would take over the room? Would we have to leave? Where would I go? Not back to Mia. Also, the fact that in my timeline Jay isgonecomplicates things. Would people think I manufactured all this because I’m obsessed with him like Gracie seems to think I am? Would telling people somehow make things worse for Jay?
Aleeza:Maybe let’s not. We have no idea if this will keep happening.
Jay:It has happened for the last three days, so why wouldn’t it?
Aleeza:If it doesn’t then we’ll look like idiots when we tell everyone about it.
Jay:I’m used to looking like an idiot, but okay. It’s our secret, Roomie.
I smile at the nickname.
Aleeza:So now you’re okay with me living in this room?
Jay:Yeah, it’s all good. I get the good parts of having a roommate and none of the bad. I don’t have to deal with your shit everywhere but have a friend to talk to when I don’t want to talk to myself anymore. I can even tell you that I smoke weed in the room, and you can’t get me in trouble for it because I don’t even live there anymore. And you can talk to me instead of to an octopus.
I exhale. He wants to be friends, but I’m keeping something from him. Somethinghuge. And also? Me and Jay Hoque, friends? I’m the dork who just lost her only friend and now has no one else. And Jay Hoque is cool. A real city guy. One who smokes weed and dates lots of girls and has people obsessed with him. Jay Hoque and I don’t belong in the same orbit. Also, he might be dead.
I feel awkward, so I do what I always do when I feel like that. Plan an escape.
Aleeza:I’m going to go. I have to work on my media project. And get dinner.
Jay:Yeah, no worries. Hey, how did you end up in this room, anyway? March is a weird time to move into a new room.
Aleeza:I had a falling out with my roommate.
Jay: Are you a bad roommate or something? You should probably tell me. But I mean, I won’t know if you leave a mess.
Aleeza:No, I’m not messy. My roommate was my old friend, and we were supposed to make this video series together for my media class. But she changed the topic and added her boyfriend’s sister without asking me.
Jay:Ugh. That sucks. That’s not a good friend. One more question, how do you pronounce your name? I want to make sure I say it right in my head.
This is weird.
