It was a month later. Karen sat in her room thinking. A month ago Mike had asked her the ultimate question, that he marry her. She had gone back to him saying that she needed to think it over. Surprisingly he was vary obliging. Now it was a month later. Time had passed very quickly. The guys got a lot of gigs but somehow at the same time they weren’t very well paying. It seemed like they were falling into a rut. It was the night before a higher paying gig at the sugar shake shack. The band had been banned there after a food fight broke out the last time they performed, but apparently they had been forgiven. Karen had gone up to her room after the band practiced. The whole gang was involved with the music now. Chea even wrote a song. Okay it was a Britney spears rip-off, but it was still her own, and she loved it.
Karen as deep in thought as the girls snuck into her room.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Chea asked as she crashed onto the bed. Karen grumbled. "Ah come on, the song wasn’t that bad was it?" Chea looked up. "Was it Brianna?"
"Not really?" Brianna said. "The time frame is all wrong. This era isn’t right for Britneys moan and groan kind of singin'." She stopped. "Great. I am gaining an accent. I'll get you Nesmith!"
Karen sighed. Chea looked at her. "Its about Mike is it?"
"Yeah." Karen sat up and faced the duo. "Maybe I oughta sit down."
"You are." Brianna said.
"I mean, you oughta sit down." Karen said. The girls grabbed seats. Brianna sat on a stack of milk crates while Chea sat up.
"When Mike asked me to marry him, I thought at first that he was you know, not serious. I thought it was something that he said cause we were both tired from the constant time traveling." Karen confessed. "When he didn't bring it back up right away, I thought this to be the case and forgot about it. Then like a week later he gave me this." She opened a drawer on her bed. She moved aside the emergency time gadget and brought out a small black box. She held it in front of the girls. "I guess you can imagine what’s in this." She opened the box. A well sized diamond ring was contained in it.
"Oh my god." Chea said. "When did he get that?"
"Never mind when? How?" Brianna asked.
"Apparently he did it in the middle of the scavenger hunt. He bought the ring while I was still sleeping. He used some of the leftover money from the contest that he had saved up." Karen said. "He's had this planned for a long time."
"Wow." Chea said. "Have you made up your mind?"
"Its been a month, Karen." Brianna said. "If you don't tell him either way, he’s already gonna assume the answers no." She nodded. Chea gave her a look. "I'm sorry, I spent a lot of time watching Ricki Lake when I coulda been studying." Brianna said quietly. She cleared her throat. "So what’s taking so long?"
"One thing." Karen said. "That if I decide to say yes to him, then its gonna affect all of us."
"What do you mean?" Chea asked.
"We still have a real life out there." Karen said.
"Unfinished business." Brianna said thinking about it. "So if you decide to stay here, then we need to decide whether or not we go for good or stay for good."
"Yeah." Chea said. "No wonder why it has taken so long."
Karen nodded. "You have no family, but I do. And so does Brianna. And her job."
"Yes." Brianna said. "I think they stopped wondering about me a long time ago, though."
"So I guess we have it settled." Chea said. "We'll go back to the real world and pack things up."
"What we do with the stuff we can't bring back?" Karen asked.
"I belong to Ebay." Brianna said. "We can take a care of it that way.
"Cool." Karen said. "Let's get the gadget."
"Wait." Brianna said. "Micky is still fixing the original one."
"No problem, we can use the spare." Chea said.
"The spare is still a bit iffy isnt it?" Karen asked.
"Don't worry. Micky made some modifications on it. It should be worry free now." Chea responded. Karen nodded and grabbed the gadget. "Should we tell the guys?" She paused before entering the coordinates.
"Nah, let it be a surprise." Brianna said. "After all, Davy wants to take me swimming tonight. This would be a good way to get out of it."
"But I thought you got better at swimming." Chea remembered.
"He means without suits!" Brianna said. "I just aint ready for that, and the images that idea puts in my mind. Whoah!"
"We should at least leave a note." Karen said grabbing a piece of paper. She wrote down something quickly. "Gone trippin', be back for supper."
"Are we ready?" Karen said punching in the numbers.
"As ever." Chea said. Brianna nodded.
"Real world, here we come." Karen punched the red button. They vanished instantly.
A second later a stiff wind blew through the house. It rustled the curtains before blowing up the stairs. The note lay on Karens night stand. The wind quickly picked up the paper and carried it out the window.
2000
Chea and Karen blinked as the light faded from around them. They looked around and tried to orient themselves.
"That was fun." Chea said.
"You think so." Karen said. "I can never get used to that!"
"How are you Brianna?" Chea said turning. "Brianna?" She turned to Karen. "Wheres Brianna?"
"I dunno. I thought she came with us." Karen said. They looked around. She started to look around but she stepped back a little bit. "Whoah. I'm still a little dizzy." She confessed.
"Me too." Chea said.
"Why do I feel so weird?" Karen asked.
"Let's go find a bathroom, we can splash some water on our faces." Chea offered, giving her friend a helping hand.
"Thats a good idea." Karen said. "Thanks."
They walked down the street for a block and a half before finding a place with a public restroom. "Here we go." Chea said as she went in. Karen slowly followed.
She looked around a bit at the restaurant. It was familiar. She had lunch there a lot with Chea when they first lived together. They always had crab cakes.
A scream caught Karens attention. She turned her head so quickly she thought she had given heself whiplash. She knew the voice.
"Chea!" Karen ran in to the room. She saw Chea. Her face was pale.
"Oh my god!" Chea said.
"What?" Karen asked.
"Look!" Chea said bringing Karen to a sink. "Look in the mirror."
"Okay." Karen said looking at the mirror. "Oh my god!"
