The Time Capsule

Chapter Thirty-Three

Selena

“Okay, take a right here.” I say, glancing up from the directions I had in my hand. “and then ten steps.”

“here?” James asks, looking down at the spot he and Greg were standing.

I shrug, “I don’t know, dig and let’s find out.” After about five minutes of digging they came up with nothing.

Amber laughs and takes the directions from me, “you’d think with how smart we were, we would have thought to do measurements. Obviously our steps would be bigger now.” We all turned to Amber with wide eyes, “what?”

“you’re a genius Amber. Come on guys, dig that strip you just walked.”

James and Greg look at each other and then me, “nu-uh sweetheart, that’s not happening. It’s like 90 degrees out right now.” James says.

“fine then, if you’re too weak to do it, hand me the shovel.” I tell him, holding out my hand.

“you really think you’re going to dig that?” he chuckles and hands over the shovel, “be my guest.”

I grab it and start to dig in random places around. It only took about fifteen minutes until I reaches something that made the shovel stop. I send a smirk James’ way and start digging in that particular area.

A rock came out of that hole. James and Greg laugh while Amber slaps both of them for being rude.

“Selena, why do you have a random rose growing there?” Greg asks, pointing a little bit to the side, “Everything’s dead around here.”

James cracks up once again, “we sure were a lot smarter when we were younger. Come on, let’s dig up that rose.”

The metal box was definitely rusty, but still intact. It had all of our names written on it with the date. It was also quite heavy, so the guys were the ones to carry it back to the house.

“Ready?” James asks, slowly unlatching the hinges. We all nod and stand a little to the side as he opens it. It makes a loud squeaky sound as it slowly creaks open.

“Oh god James! You put a Twinkie in there?!” I ask, that being the first thing sitting there on top.

“hey! How do you know it was me?”

“because none of the rest of us would be curious enough.” He just smiles and takes out the Twinkie, opening up the wrapper and takes a bite. We all cringe as he chews and smiles.

“they’re right, Twinkies do last forever…or at least sixteen years. Any of you want some?”

I hesitate but lean down and take a small bite. James was the most shocked that I would be the one eating a sixteen year old Twinkie. But what’s the worst that could happen? I throw up for a couple hours? And actually, it didn’t taste any different.

Amber takes the food product and sets it aside, pulling out the letter that was beneath it. “Now that we’re done experimenting, let’s open the first letter.” She hands it to Greg who looks at her confused.

“Why’d you do that?” Greg asks.

“well I didn’t want to read it.”

“and I do?” he tosses it to James.

“hey! I don’t want to read it.”

I grab the folded paper out of James’ lap and slowly open it. “I’ll read it.

Dear future Amber Woods, Greg Toomey, James Watson, and Selena Lawrence,

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY!! Or belated-birthday. Whatever, welcome to your past. Now, the rules for this are as follows: Each of you chooses a name out of the cup that is in the left corner of here. That’s who’s letter you get to read first. Then it’s upon you guys to decide if everyone reads everyone’s letters or what, but at least one person does. But no reading the letters out loud.

Also, don’t forget to look through all the random things we put in here. James wanted a Twinkie, but don’t worry; the rest of us stopped him from doing so.” We all glance at James who was smirking in victory. “Anyways, I think that’s it. We made random lists and stuff to glance at. Hope the future isn’t too terrible!

Love you,

Past Amber Woods, Greg Toomey, James Watson, and Selena Lawrence” I finish reading it and fold the paper back up.

“love you? Was that really necessary at the end?” Greg asks.

“I’m sure it was one of the girls.” James adds, looking over at Amber and I. Though I honestly don’t remember which one of us added it, it could easily be either one.

“we can’t hate ourselves.” Amber tells both of them and leans over, grabbing the cup with slips of paper in there. “I’m tempted to just read all the letters out loud.”

“No, we’re doing it how we wrote it years ago.” I say grabbing the cup from her and shaking it up.

Amber sighs and watches my movements, “you’d think you’d finally become some badass bitch by now, Selena, but you really haven’t changed.”

I look at her for a moment, pausing the shaking, “thank you?”

James laughs, “I don’t think that was a compliment sweetie.” He’d been calling me by all those cliché pet names the whole day yesterday. I think he’s trying to stuff every couple-type thing into two days. Which is adorable and annoying at the same time.

“okay, choose the name.” I say, holding the cup out to Amber first. Once the three of them picked a name I grabbed the last slip. James was writing in my old penmanship. Of course I’d end up reading his letter. I glance down at James and he looks up at me, smiling. I smile back and then look up at the others, “hey, why don’t we read the letters when we all get back home. You know, that way it won’t be awkward or cause arguments and stuff.”

Amber and Greg look at each other confused at my statement, “you got me, didn’t you?” James ask, his smile faltering a little. I nod slightly. It wasn’t that I didn’t ever want to see him again in my life, because I did. My feelings aren’t those of hatred anymore. And that’s the problem. If this letter is anything similar to the one he wrote to me, then it will hold a lot of the mushy stuff that of course I remember. And all of those memories bring back old emotions and remind me why James is such a great guy. And then I’ll make some stupid decision like quitting my job and moving up to New York and he’d have already found somebody else.
You see? This letter would definitely ruin things for us and I don’t want him to be around to witness that. Because if he is, then I really won’t hesitate following him to New York. All of my logic would be pushed aside for emotions and that just doesn’t work for me.

“Well, that works with me.” Amber says, knowing that it would probably be best for me if we did it that way. Eventually we get the guys to agree on that new rule and continue to go through the box.

One picture in particular caught my eye. It was a black and white photo of the four of us at a house in New York when we went to visit James’ mom. We stayed at this house since it was such a large group of us. There was a white picket fence and a tire swing. It was my dream house. I even remember telling my parents that I would buy it someday. I turn it over to see the date and notice that there’s also an address.

“What are you looking at?” James asks, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his head on my shoulder.

“just an old dream of mine.” I say in a slightly joking manner.

“old dream? Lena, I know you better than that. The white picket fence house is still your dream house.” Whenever James uses my nickname now I don’t shudder at the memories. I don’t even think about Rick anymore. Everything that happened in the last couple of years has been pushed aside. I realized that I was still letting Rick control my life even when he’s not in it, and that’s not okay.

“we look so happy in that picture.” I whisper.

“That’s because we were.” James replies and kisses my cheek. I could honestly get used to this. Being with James and everything. The only problem is that I don’t have enough time to. Because as of tomorrow, we will once again be living at two opposite points of the country.
♠ ♠ ♠
So the next set of four chapters (starting with Selena) will go into more detail about what's in the capsule.
The next chapter will have a sweet Selena/James scene, so stay tuned. I should have another update this weekend.
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