“Miss!”
Amie stumbled to a stop as she watched Ziya push through the static exit next to the revolving doors. She turned to see the man at the desk holding out a hand.
“The card?” he prompted.
“Oh.” Amie scrambled to remove the elevator key card from her pocket, practically throwing it at the poor man before running to the exit. “Sorry. Thank you!”
Pausing at the revolving door, she watched it for a moment before jumping in. Its speed had seemed too quick as she waited to enter, but once inside, she urged the doors to move faster, visualizing Ziya disappearing around the corner as she finally emerged onto the sidewalk. Amie looked around wildly to see where Ziya had gone, only to find the subject of her search standing off to the left, arms crossed as she gazed at the darkening sky.
“Need a ride home?” Ziya asked. She looked away from the clouds above, though still not at Amie. “Seems like it’s about to rain.”
Amie had been eagerly awaiting her first post-loop rainstorm. The light sprinkle on her first day had only left her wanting more. But now the impending weather was the last thing on her mind.
“Is everything okay?” she asked. “We haven’t talked about last night, and I know I’m probably overthinking it, but …”
She trailed off as Ziya glanced at her, brows knit with sadness as their eyes locked for a brief moment. Then she was gone, looking away down the street as she dropped her arms, thumbs rubbing the side of her fists.
“Oh my god,” Amie said softly. “I’m not overthinking it, am I?”
“Ames …” Ziya said, her voice heartbreakingly gentle. She had that expression on her face, that look that Amie would never forget, no matter how much time passed, no matter how poor her memory got. The look that haunted Amie so much she’d become determined never to ruin things with Ziya again, even if it meant going on the same exact date day after day after day.
“No,” Amie blurted out, shaking her head. “No. That’s not fair.”
“You don’t know what I’m going to say.”
“Yes, I do. You’re going to say we should give it more time.” She stared at Ziya, willing her to say she was wrong, to laugh and tell her not to be silly.
Ziya didn’t do any of those things. She just sighed. The sound ripped through Amie as frustration and desperation welled up inside of her.
“What did I do?” Amie asked in a small voice, horrified as her voice cracked a bit.
“You didn’t do anything,” Ziya said quickly. Her hand lifted as if to reach out for Amie, but she pulled it back to her chest in one fluid motion. “I’m sorry. I wanted to think about this some more, and then talk and maybe figure things out together. But then you said you were coming here, and I didn’t want you to go alone—”
“I just don’t understand what there is to think about.” Amie felt a petulant whine creeping into her words. Her mind was racing to figure out how to save things. There would be no restarting. If Ziya walked away, she could be gone forever. “Last night you said you wanted this. I thought we both wanted this.”
“We did.Idid.”
“So what happened?”
“The time loop.”
Amie’s stomach dropped. “You don’t believe me.”
“Oh!” Ziya’s eyes widened. “No, of course I do. I … admittedly didn’t really know what to make of it at first, but last night, when you told me everything … ofcourseI believe you. You wentthrough something that was so …” She shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t know what I would have done. And I know you did what you felt like you had to do to keep going.”
“I’m okay,” Amie said, her insides warming from the confirmation that Ziya really did believe her. She knew what this was about. Shecouldsave things. “I understand. You feel like I need some time on my own to recover, but I’m really okay. For now I have to take a different route to the grocery store, and last night I moved my bed, and I’m still not convinced that I’m not technically thirty, but eventually I’ll be back to normal. Everything can go back to how it was.”
She gave Ziya a tentative smile, holding out a hand. Ziya took it, her eyes not leaving Amie’s face as she studied it.
“Why didn’t you do anything?” Ziya asked.
Amie gave her a puzzled look. “When?”
“In the time loop.”
“I did things in the time loop. I told you.”
“You did the same things. Over and over again. You were the only person who could change their actions each day, and you hardly ever did.”
