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impala_chickTitle: There She Goes Again
Pairing: Isobel Evans/Rosa Ortecho
Rated: Teen
Word Count: 3,587
Summary: Isobel and Maria drive up to Albuquerque for Rosa's gallery opening. Isobel lets a chance to be honest with Rosa pass her by, and then she gets stuck reliving her day over and over.
A/N: Written for![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ficinabox for scintilla10!
Fic on AO3
Isobel and Maria stop for gas about two hours into their little road trip to Albuquerque. After the gas pump clicks off, Isobel puts the nozzle back and tries to stop worrying so much about seeing Rosa again.
“Ready?” Isobel asks Maria once she’s back in the car.
“Yeah. The real question is, are you?”
Isobel rolls her eyes and turns the engine over.
“This isn’t a big deal.”
“Maybe not, but you haven’t seen Rosa in weeks. And you’ve been talking about her nonstop. So what’s the deal with you guys, anyway?” Maria presses.
Isobel can see the amusement in the crinkle of her eyes, like she knows what ‘the deal’ is already but wants Isobel to say it.
Isobel chews her lip and tries to put everything that’s tumbling around in her head into words. She hasn’t been the best at being honest with herself.
She settles on, “I just wanted to be here for Rosa, that’s all.”
Maria throws up her hands. “Right, ok. Didn’t Rosa invite you specifically?”
“Yeah but I’m not going to read anything into that. Liz is at a conference so she can’t make it. Rosa deserves some moral support.”
“I agree, but I get the sense I’m here as your moral support more than hers.”
Isobel scoffs but can’t deny it. Thankfully Maria drops the subject for the rest of the drive, and turns up the music instead.
Once they park, Isobel and Maria loop arms to walk up to the venue. The gallery is a lovely Spanish pueblo revival style building that has been decorated with small twinkle lights along the awning. It’s the first Friday of the gallery opening, so there is a whole schedule of events planned including some performances by local musicians and dancers. A line had already formed outside of people waiting to get in.
Isobel feels nervous butterflies fluttering in her gut as she joins the back of the line. She hasn’t seen Rosa in person in months, and Isobel has no way to know if things will be weird between them. She and Rosa have been texting on and off since Rosa moved to New York, but that only makes Isobel's anxiety worse. Isobel has seen plenty of photos and heard stories from her about all of her big city adventures. She's been visiting gay bars, showing her paintings all over town, going to drag shows, and participating in pride events. Isobel can’t help but feel left out and left behind.
She wonders if Rosa will find her boring. Or maybe Isobel won’t even feel that spark of attraction again, after they’ve had all this time to grow apart.
That notion completely flies out the window when Isobel walks inside and sees Rosa standing by her painting. She’s talking to someone else, so she hasn’t noticed them yet. She’s wearing black leather boots, skinny ripped jeans, and a low cut top with layered silver and turquoise necklaces. The way she's standing is so self-assured, like she knows exactly how talented she is. Isobel feels inexplicably drawn to her.
“C’mon,” Maria nudges her, and Isobel stops staring. They make their way over, and Rosa beams with delight.
“You made it!” She pulls Isobel into a hug, and then Maria. “Thanks for coming.”
“We wouldn’t have missed it!” Maria says.
Isobel looks up at Rosa’s huge painting. It’s filled with bright colors and surreal flowers. Looking at it makes her feel off-balance, like she’s wandering in a beautiful field but she doesn’t know where she’s going. It’s incredible.
“I love this,” Isobel says in awe.
She glances over at Rosa, who is smiling softly at her.
“Thanks. I’ve got one other one up tonight, let me show you.” She reaches for Isobel’s elbow to tug her along.
“I’m going to get us drinks!” Maria says before she shoots Isobel a meaningful look. Isobel hopes Rosa doesn’t notice.
Rosa drops Isobel’s elbow and loops her arm through Isobel’s instead. Isobel doesn’t bother hiding her smile.
“It really is so great that you drove all the way here. You guys just staying for the night?”
“Yeah, I should really get back to my students tomorrow,” Isobel says.
She’d gotten someone to cover for her the next day, and her gym was closed on Sundays, but she really didn’t want to look like she was clinging. It didn’t make sense for her to hang around when Rosa was going to be busy with gallery stuff. She probably had other friends to meet up with anyway. Isobel wanted to get out of her hair as quickly as possible.
“I’m sure you have a bunch of stuff going on anyway.”
“Not really,” Rosa says with a shake of her head.
Then she stops and lets Isobel go. Isobel turns to take in Rosa's painting.
“I really wanted to show you this one, but I waited so you could see it in person.”
This one is even bigger than Rosa's first painting. It’s got lots of dark shadows, and deep reds and blacks. It depicts the silhouettes of two women in an intimate embrace. The viewer can’t tell if they’re clothed or not. It’s almost like looking through a window at them, but not exactly in a voyeuristic way. The figures are both facing slightly toward the viewer, but their facial expressions are not visible. It’s still undeniably Rosa’s, and it’s incredible too, but this painting makes Isobel feel something completely different compared to the last one.
The subjects are posed so defiantly. Like it doesn’t matter who is looking at them. Isobel is amazed that Rosa can convey all of that emotion without even detailing their facial expressions.
“I love it,” Isobel breathes. She can’t look away. “Stunning. It’s romantic, sure, but that’s not the point. The point is that they are not hidden away. They are proud to be seen, but there are still some things that are just for themselves.”
“Yes, exactly,” Rosa says, clearly pleased. "I knew you'd understand. That's why this one is called, choosing your secrets."
Isobel turns to her with emotion rolling in her gut.
She doesn’t speak at first. Rosa just meets her gaze, her smile slipping away into something more serious. Isobel feels the tension between them; she’d be a fool not to realize it. But they're both probably just getting swept up in the intimacy of discussing such a beautiful painting. She’s hurt Rosa enough for one lifetime. She shouldn’t do something she can’t take back.
So Isobel turns to the painting and lets the moment pass. If Rosa is disappointed, she doesn’t let on.
A few minutes later, Maria appears with drinks in her hand. She hands a glass of champagne to Isobel, and jumps into a conversation with Rosa about the show.
The rest of the night passes in a blur of activity. They all sit together during the formal program, and then they share a few drinks and a few laughs at the bar.
When the party starts winding down, Isobel is seriously considering leaving. She doesn’t want to overstay her welcome, or interrupt any of Rosa’s plans. There’s no use hanging around when all she wants to do is hold Rosa close and tell her how much she missed her.
Isobel comes out of the bathroom later, ready to convince Maria that they should go. As she rounds a corner, a waiter carrying a tray of empty champagne flutes bumps into her. It’s a freak accident, but Isobel stumbles back. For a split second, she nearly reaches for her telekinesis to save the waiter’s tray. But if she does that, everyone around them will wonder why the tray didn’t hit the ground. So she lets it fall, wincing as the crashing sound reverberates through the hall.
As she tries to steady herself, she bumps into a sculpture stand on her other side. Something topples from the top of it. This time, Isobel does use her powers to catch it just before it hits the ground. She has no idea how much it's worth, and she really doesn’t want to have to pay for it. She sticks her hands out to act like she had caught it with her hands.
It’s a small green box with strange symbols on the top. It looks cute, but Isobel doesn’t recognize it. She quickly puts it back on the stand.
A few folks rush towards her and ask her if she’s alright, while someone with a broom comes to help sweep up the broken glass. Isobel instantly feels embarrassed. At least now she has an excuse to leave. She finds Maria and Rosa, and hastily says her goodbyes.
Rosa hugs her tight, and Isobel breathes in the light citrus scent of her hair as she hugs her back. Maria hugs Rosa too, and then they head for the door.
“You could have invited Rosa for post-show drinks?” Maria prods as they walk down the block.
“What good would that have done?” Isobel sighs. “She seems like she’s in such a good place. I don’t want to be the person calling her back to Roswell.”
Maria seems poised to chastise Isobel some more, but by then they’re in their hotel lobby.
“You don’t know what she’s thinking until you ask her,” Maria says.
Isobel groans. “Let’s just drop it, ok?”
Maria holds up her hands in surrender. Isobel feels slightly bad about being defensive, but she sees no reason to break her promise to herself. Rosa has been hurt enough by Isobel. There’s probably nothing she could ever do to make up for what Noah did, so she should really just focus on being a good friend.
She falls asleep uneasily that night, tossing and turning in frustration.
---
When Isobel wakes up, she’s back in the car with Maria. Or more precisely, she’s back at the gas station from the day before, with the keys in her hand. At first she thinks she’s dreaming, but the keys feel real. The place smells like gasoline. When she opens and closes her eyes again, nothing changes.
“What the fuck?” She says out loud.
Maria looks over at her, alarmed.
“What day is it? Where are we going?” Isobel asks, her voice trembling.
“What are you talking about? We’re going to Rosa’s show in Albuquerque.”
“Shit, shit, shit.” Isobel scrambles for her phone and checks the date. It says Friday, the day before. The day she thought she already lived once.
“Isobel, calm down. Tell me what is going on,” Maria says, her voice rising.
Isobel knows that maybe repeating a day isn’t the craziest thing that has happened to her. Maria is probably one of the people who could roll with it.
“I was already here yesterday. I went to sleep. Now I’m back here.”
Maria narrows her eyes and takes a long pause before she answers.
“You’re being serious? Maybe this has something to do with the mindscape?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Isobel vehemently shakes her head. “I’m not doing this.”
“Okay, okay. Well, maybe we need to call Liz. Time travel is way above my pay grade.” Maria is already reaching for her phone.
“Yeah, okay.” Isobel agrees, trying to be calm even though she’s internally freaking out. “We can’t just stay here. I guess we’ll just keep going while you call Liz.”
So Maria gets Liz on the phone. They speculate and hypothesize for the rest of the car ride to albuquerque. Isobel decides to just keep on going about the day while staying alert for clues that might help explain what is happening. And they agree not to tell Rosa. No reason to freak her out on her big night.
The night goes exactly the same as the night before. Isobel is still awed by Rosa’s talent, Rosa still gets Isobel alone, and still Isobel does nothing. The intense deja vu makes the hair on the back of Isobel’s neck stand up. She’s so focused on trying to act normal that she forgets all about the waiter and the glasses. She bumps into him, catches the strange box, and watches everyone else come to clean up the mess.
When she goes to sleep that night, she thinks maybe there was just a glitch in the matrix or something. Surely she’ll wake up and it will be Saturday, and everything will be fine.
---
No such luck. She wakes up in the car again with Maria shotgun. This has to be an alien thing. She gives Maria the lowdown again, and she’s much more matter of fact about it this time. She doesn’t let Maria call Liz, and instead they spend the drive dissecting every part of the day leading up to the road trip. Neither of them can remember anything unusual.
Then Maria starts googling time travel on her phone.
“Maybe you just need to fix something? Like in Groundhog day?”
Isobel scoffs. “Seriously?”
Maria shrugs. “Got any better ideas?”
Isobel figures she’s got nothing left to lose at that point. She tries to act cool at the gallery opening. Everything stays the same, except Isobel avoids running into the waiter with the tray of champagne flutes. Maybe that was her one mistake, and she needed to keep herself from being embarrassed.
She’s calm when she goes to sleep that night, confident that changing something about her day will get her to Saturday.
---
Except the next day is still Friday, and Isobel still finds herself in the car with Maria. She doesn’t even bother telling her this time. She already has a plan. She’ll change one other thing at a time, and see if that gets Friday over with.
She tries that day after day after day, and every day is still Friday.
She gets so desperate that she uses her telekinesis in front of everyone to save the tray of champagne flutes. The crowd gasps, and people do try to ask her what happened. She feigns ignorance, and dips out of the venue without even saying goodbye, hoping that’s a flashy enough change.
When that doesn’t work, she feels her hope and her resolve crumbling. In a fit of rage the next time, she uses telekinesis to get the tray and glasses to float in midair. When everyone gapes at her, she yells to no one in particular, “I’m an alien! I’m a fucking alien! Is that what you wanted to hear!”
Security takes her to a room away from everyone else, and she waits there until the cops show up to interrogate her. She figures it isn’t going to matter anyway, so she doesn’t call anyone when they offer her time to use a phone.
She falls asleep with her head on a desk in the back of the gallery. At least shit had been interesting that time around.
---
Isobel wakes up in the car at the gas station, and screams in frustration.
Maria is very alarmed, so Isobel explains her predicament. She’s lost track of how many times she’s lived this Friday. She feels pathetic and sad as she goes on, and Maria’s face crumples with sympathy.
But going over every detail again actually shakes something loose. That stupid box that she’d touched on the first day might be meaningful. Strange symbols sometimes mean an alien or otherwise magical connection. Isobel is slightly annoyed that she hadn’t considered it before.
She and Maria go look for the box as soon as they arrive at the venue, but it’s gone. Isobel does her best not to start panicking.
“Nothing is ever different about this place. I’ve caught that stupid box so many times. It should be here.”
Maria puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Maybe it’s good that it’s different? This might be a sign?”
Isobel sighs. She’s tried making Friday end so many times, and nothing works. All her efforts seem futile. She’s already changed everything about the night. Well, everything except what she says to Rosa in front of her painting.
If nothing is ever going to change, why is she trying so hard to keep her distance from Rosa? She could theoretically say whatever she wants to, because the next day the slate will be wiped clean. She should stop hiding.
When Rosa shows her the second painting this time, Isobel stares at her instead of the art.
“You’re so talented, and you look beautiful tonight,” Isobel blurts out honestly.
Rosa meets her gaze and smiles softly. “Thanks. You know, I was thinking of you when I drew this.”
Rosa’s admission feels monumental, and butterflies churn in Isobel’s gut. She takes a step closer, and Rosa doesn’t move away. Rosa’s eyes look warm and inviting. The moment stretches between them, and Isobel bites her lip and decides to hell with it. She’s going to say what she feels. Damn the consequences.
“I think about you all the time. I want to be the one person you call late at night. I want to see you more often than every few months. I want to go out with you, if you'll have me.”
“Oh.” Rosa says it like she’s surprised, and delighted.
Isobel leans down, and Rosa leans up, and their lips meet in a searing kiss. The sounds in the room seem to fade out around them, and Isobel feels like they’re the only two people in the world.
The elation that blooms in Isobel’s heart is nearly stamped out when she remembers that everything is going to be reset in the morning. She steals herself, desperate to forget about the future.
Rosa threads her fingers through Isobel’s.
“Walk with me?” Rosa says.
Isobel’s lips are still tingling from their kiss as they do a gallery walk together, hand in hand. She pushes down the dread that Rosa will forget all about this in the morning, and does her best to be as present as possible.
Because she spends the whole night with Rosa, she doesn’t go to the bathroom at the right time and doesn’t run into the waiter with the tray. When the gallery is about to close, she finally remembers to look for the strange ceramic box.
She slips away from Rosa to go have a look. She’s all out of ideas, so this feels like a last ditch effort to change the future. The box is still there, on its stand. The light pointed on it makes it glimmer, and the symbols seem to be mocking her for being such an idiot. She can’t decipher any of them. In a fit of anger and desperation, she grabs it and smashes it on the ground. There are probably security cameras in the place, but she doesn’t care. By tomorrow, none of it will matter anyway.
She and Rosa stay out late. They talk and laugh and share tapas at the only place still serving food, and Isobel can’t stop looking at her. Rosa’s eyes are bright, her smile genuine, and her cheeks are flushed. It’s like happiness is radiating from her.
They flirt and kiss at the restaurant, and then Isobel walks Rosa back to her hotel. She gathers her into her arms and kisses her deeply to say goodnight, and Rosa lets her. They make plans to meet up for brunch the next day, even though Isobel knows that’s not going to happen. It all feels so surreal.
Back in her own hotel room, she texts Rosa to say she had a great time. She knows she’s just grasping at straws, trying to make this feeling last. But texting about it isn’t going to make it permanent.
She sighs as she lays down, willing herself to stay awake as long as possible. She can’t help but think that in the life she had before she got trapped in an endless Friday, she could have been happy.
---
When Isobel wakes up in her hotel bed the next morning, she assumes that she’s in a dream. That’s how fucked up the whole time loop had been.
She opens and closes her eyes a few times. Nothing changes. So she sits up and grabs her phone.
It’s Saturday. Finally, it’s fucking Saturday.
Isobel could cry, she feels so happy. Something finally worked. She’s free. She immediately texts Rosa.
Good morning beautiful.
She gets up and flings open the curtains covering the windows. Brilliant sunlight pours into her room. She finds a nostalgic song on her phone and blasts it on full volume. She dances around as she gets dressed. In a whole new outfit! She resolves to burn the dress she’d been forced to wear every wretched Friday.
But then again, it’s also the dress that she first kissed Rosa in. Maybe she’s being too hasty.
Her phone buzzes and she grabs for it. It’s Rosa.
Back at you.
Isobel grins. Yesterday was real. The confessions, the kisses, the happiness. Isobel gets to keep all of it. Kissing Rosa at the gallery must have changed everything.
But then she remembers smashing the box. It’s impossible to tell if it was the box or the kiss that broke Isobel’s curse. At the moment, Isobel couldn’t care less. She’s just happy it’s Saturday, no matter the cause.
But to be safe, she decides to find out who the artist of the box is. She’ll get Max and Michael to help her look them up. She either owes them an apology or a very strongly worded letter.
She grabs her phone and shoots Max and Michael a text.
Have I got a story for you.
Pairing: Isobel Evans/Rosa Ortecho
Rated: Teen
Word Count: 3,587
Summary: Isobel and Maria drive up to Albuquerque for Rosa's gallery opening. Isobel lets a chance to be honest with Rosa pass her by, and then she gets stuck reliving her day over and over.
A/N: Written for
ficinabox for scintilla10!Fic on AO3
Isobel and Maria stop for gas about two hours into their little road trip to Albuquerque. After the gas pump clicks off, Isobel puts the nozzle back and tries to stop worrying so much about seeing Rosa again.
“Ready?” Isobel asks Maria once she’s back in the car.
“Yeah. The real question is, are you?”
Isobel rolls her eyes and turns the engine over.
“This isn’t a big deal.”
“Maybe not, but you haven’t seen Rosa in weeks. And you’ve been talking about her nonstop. So what’s the deal with you guys, anyway?” Maria presses.
Isobel can see the amusement in the crinkle of her eyes, like she knows what ‘the deal’ is already but wants Isobel to say it.
Isobel chews her lip and tries to put everything that’s tumbling around in her head into words. She hasn’t been the best at being honest with herself.
She settles on, “I just wanted to be here for Rosa, that’s all.”
Maria throws up her hands. “Right, ok. Didn’t Rosa invite you specifically?”
“Yeah but I’m not going to read anything into that. Liz is at a conference so she can’t make it. Rosa deserves some moral support.”
“I agree, but I get the sense I’m here as your moral support more than hers.”
Isobel scoffs but can’t deny it. Thankfully Maria drops the subject for the rest of the drive, and turns up the music instead.
Once they park, Isobel and Maria loop arms to walk up to the venue. The gallery is a lovely Spanish pueblo revival style building that has been decorated with small twinkle lights along the awning. It’s the first Friday of the gallery opening, so there is a whole schedule of events planned including some performances by local musicians and dancers. A line had already formed outside of people waiting to get in.
Isobel feels nervous butterflies fluttering in her gut as she joins the back of the line. She hasn’t seen Rosa in person in months, and Isobel has no way to know if things will be weird between them. She and Rosa have been texting on and off since Rosa moved to New York, but that only makes Isobel's anxiety worse. Isobel has seen plenty of photos and heard stories from her about all of her big city adventures. She's been visiting gay bars, showing her paintings all over town, going to drag shows, and participating in pride events. Isobel can’t help but feel left out and left behind.
She wonders if Rosa will find her boring. Or maybe Isobel won’t even feel that spark of attraction again, after they’ve had all this time to grow apart.
That notion completely flies out the window when Isobel walks inside and sees Rosa standing by her painting. She’s talking to someone else, so she hasn’t noticed them yet. She’s wearing black leather boots, skinny ripped jeans, and a low cut top with layered silver and turquoise necklaces. The way she's standing is so self-assured, like she knows exactly how talented she is. Isobel feels inexplicably drawn to her.
“C’mon,” Maria nudges her, and Isobel stops staring. They make their way over, and Rosa beams with delight.
“You made it!” She pulls Isobel into a hug, and then Maria. “Thanks for coming.”
“We wouldn’t have missed it!” Maria says.
Isobel looks up at Rosa’s huge painting. It’s filled with bright colors and surreal flowers. Looking at it makes her feel off-balance, like she’s wandering in a beautiful field but she doesn’t know where she’s going. It’s incredible.
“I love this,” Isobel says in awe.
She glances over at Rosa, who is smiling softly at her.
“Thanks. I’ve got one other one up tonight, let me show you.” She reaches for Isobel’s elbow to tug her along.
“I’m going to get us drinks!” Maria says before she shoots Isobel a meaningful look. Isobel hopes Rosa doesn’t notice.
Rosa drops Isobel’s elbow and loops her arm through Isobel’s instead. Isobel doesn’t bother hiding her smile.
“It really is so great that you drove all the way here. You guys just staying for the night?”
“Yeah, I should really get back to my students tomorrow,” Isobel says.
She’d gotten someone to cover for her the next day, and her gym was closed on Sundays, but she really didn’t want to look like she was clinging. It didn’t make sense for her to hang around when Rosa was going to be busy with gallery stuff. She probably had other friends to meet up with anyway. Isobel wanted to get out of her hair as quickly as possible.
“I’m sure you have a bunch of stuff going on anyway.”
“Not really,” Rosa says with a shake of her head.
Then she stops and lets Isobel go. Isobel turns to take in Rosa's painting.
“I really wanted to show you this one, but I waited so you could see it in person.”
This one is even bigger than Rosa's first painting. It’s got lots of dark shadows, and deep reds and blacks. It depicts the silhouettes of two women in an intimate embrace. The viewer can’t tell if they’re clothed or not. It’s almost like looking through a window at them, but not exactly in a voyeuristic way. The figures are both facing slightly toward the viewer, but their facial expressions are not visible. It’s still undeniably Rosa’s, and it’s incredible too, but this painting makes Isobel feel something completely different compared to the last one.
The subjects are posed so defiantly. Like it doesn’t matter who is looking at them. Isobel is amazed that Rosa can convey all of that emotion without even detailing their facial expressions.
“I love it,” Isobel breathes. She can’t look away. “Stunning. It’s romantic, sure, but that’s not the point. The point is that they are not hidden away. They are proud to be seen, but there are still some things that are just for themselves.”
“Yes, exactly,” Rosa says, clearly pleased. "I knew you'd understand. That's why this one is called, choosing your secrets."
Isobel turns to her with emotion rolling in her gut.
She doesn’t speak at first. Rosa just meets her gaze, her smile slipping away into something more serious. Isobel feels the tension between them; she’d be a fool not to realize it. But they're both probably just getting swept up in the intimacy of discussing such a beautiful painting. She’s hurt Rosa enough for one lifetime. She shouldn’t do something she can’t take back.
So Isobel turns to the painting and lets the moment pass. If Rosa is disappointed, she doesn’t let on.
A few minutes later, Maria appears with drinks in her hand. She hands a glass of champagne to Isobel, and jumps into a conversation with Rosa about the show.
The rest of the night passes in a blur of activity. They all sit together during the formal program, and then they share a few drinks and a few laughs at the bar.
When the party starts winding down, Isobel is seriously considering leaving. She doesn’t want to overstay her welcome, or interrupt any of Rosa’s plans. There’s no use hanging around when all she wants to do is hold Rosa close and tell her how much she missed her.
Isobel comes out of the bathroom later, ready to convince Maria that they should go. As she rounds a corner, a waiter carrying a tray of empty champagne flutes bumps into her. It’s a freak accident, but Isobel stumbles back. For a split second, she nearly reaches for her telekinesis to save the waiter’s tray. But if she does that, everyone around them will wonder why the tray didn’t hit the ground. So she lets it fall, wincing as the crashing sound reverberates through the hall.
As she tries to steady herself, she bumps into a sculpture stand on her other side. Something topples from the top of it. This time, Isobel does use her powers to catch it just before it hits the ground. She has no idea how much it's worth, and she really doesn’t want to have to pay for it. She sticks her hands out to act like she had caught it with her hands.
It’s a small green box with strange symbols on the top. It looks cute, but Isobel doesn’t recognize it. She quickly puts it back on the stand.
A few folks rush towards her and ask her if she’s alright, while someone with a broom comes to help sweep up the broken glass. Isobel instantly feels embarrassed. At least now she has an excuse to leave. She finds Maria and Rosa, and hastily says her goodbyes.
Rosa hugs her tight, and Isobel breathes in the light citrus scent of her hair as she hugs her back. Maria hugs Rosa too, and then they head for the door.
“You could have invited Rosa for post-show drinks?” Maria prods as they walk down the block.
“What good would that have done?” Isobel sighs. “She seems like she’s in such a good place. I don’t want to be the person calling her back to Roswell.”
Maria seems poised to chastise Isobel some more, but by then they’re in their hotel lobby.
“You don’t know what she’s thinking until you ask her,” Maria says.
Isobel groans. “Let’s just drop it, ok?”
Maria holds up her hands in surrender. Isobel feels slightly bad about being defensive, but she sees no reason to break her promise to herself. Rosa has been hurt enough by Isobel. There’s probably nothing she could ever do to make up for what Noah did, so she should really just focus on being a good friend.
She falls asleep uneasily that night, tossing and turning in frustration.
---
When Isobel wakes up, she’s back in the car with Maria. Or more precisely, she’s back at the gas station from the day before, with the keys in her hand. At first she thinks she’s dreaming, but the keys feel real. The place smells like gasoline. When she opens and closes her eyes again, nothing changes.
“What the fuck?” She says out loud.
Maria looks over at her, alarmed.
“What day is it? Where are we going?” Isobel asks, her voice trembling.
“What are you talking about? We’re going to Rosa’s show in Albuquerque.”
“Shit, shit, shit.” Isobel scrambles for her phone and checks the date. It says Friday, the day before. The day she thought she already lived once.
“Isobel, calm down. Tell me what is going on,” Maria says, her voice rising.
Isobel knows that maybe repeating a day isn’t the craziest thing that has happened to her. Maria is probably one of the people who could roll with it.
“I was already here yesterday. I went to sleep. Now I’m back here.”
Maria narrows her eyes and takes a long pause before she answers.
“You’re being serious? Maybe this has something to do with the mindscape?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Isobel vehemently shakes her head. “I’m not doing this.”
“Okay, okay. Well, maybe we need to call Liz. Time travel is way above my pay grade.” Maria is already reaching for her phone.
“Yeah, okay.” Isobel agrees, trying to be calm even though she’s internally freaking out. “We can’t just stay here. I guess we’ll just keep going while you call Liz.”
So Maria gets Liz on the phone. They speculate and hypothesize for the rest of the car ride to albuquerque. Isobel decides to just keep on going about the day while staying alert for clues that might help explain what is happening. And they agree not to tell Rosa. No reason to freak her out on her big night.
The night goes exactly the same as the night before. Isobel is still awed by Rosa’s talent, Rosa still gets Isobel alone, and still Isobel does nothing. The intense deja vu makes the hair on the back of Isobel’s neck stand up. She’s so focused on trying to act normal that she forgets all about the waiter and the glasses. She bumps into him, catches the strange box, and watches everyone else come to clean up the mess.
When she goes to sleep that night, she thinks maybe there was just a glitch in the matrix or something. Surely she’ll wake up and it will be Saturday, and everything will be fine.
---
No such luck. She wakes up in the car again with Maria shotgun. This has to be an alien thing. She gives Maria the lowdown again, and she’s much more matter of fact about it this time. She doesn’t let Maria call Liz, and instead they spend the drive dissecting every part of the day leading up to the road trip. Neither of them can remember anything unusual.
Then Maria starts googling time travel on her phone.
“Maybe you just need to fix something? Like in Groundhog day?”
Isobel scoffs. “Seriously?”
Maria shrugs. “Got any better ideas?”
Isobel figures she’s got nothing left to lose at that point. She tries to act cool at the gallery opening. Everything stays the same, except Isobel avoids running into the waiter with the tray of champagne flutes. Maybe that was her one mistake, and she needed to keep herself from being embarrassed.
She’s calm when she goes to sleep that night, confident that changing something about her day will get her to Saturday.
---
Except the next day is still Friday, and Isobel still finds herself in the car with Maria. She doesn’t even bother telling her this time. She already has a plan. She’ll change one other thing at a time, and see if that gets Friday over with.
She tries that day after day after day, and every day is still Friday.
She gets so desperate that she uses her telekinesis in front of everyone to save the tray of champagne flutes. The crowd gasps, and people do try to ask her what happened. She feigns ignorance, and dips out of the venue without even saying goodbye, hoping that’s a flashy enough change.
When that doesn’t work, she feels her hope and her resolve crumbling. In a fit of rage the next time, she uses telekinesis to get the tray and glasses to float in midair. When everyone gapes at her, she yells to no one in particular, “I’m an alien! I’m a fucking alien! Is that what you wanted to hear!”
Security takes her to a room away from everyone else, and she waits there until the cops show up to interrogate her. She figures it isn’t going to matter anyway, so she doesn’t call anyone when they offer her time to use a phone.
She falls asleep with her head on a desk in the back of the gallery. At least shit had been interesting that time around.
---
Isobel wakes up in the car at the gas station, and screams in frustration.
Maria is very alarmed, so Isobel explains her predicament. She’s lost track of how many times she’s lived this Friday. She feels pathetic and sad as she goes on, and Maria’s face crumples with sympathy.
But going over every detail again actually shakes something loose. That stupid box that she’d touched on the first day might be meaningful. Strange symbols sometimes mean an alien or otherwise magical connection. Isobel is slightly annoyed that she hadn’t considered it before.
She and Maria go look for the box as soon as they arrive at the venue, but it’s gone. Isobel does her best not to start panicking.
“Nothing is ever different about this place. I’ve caught that stupid box so many times. It should be here.”
Maria puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Maybe it’s good that it’s different? This might be a sign?”
Isobel sighs. She’s tried making Friday end so many times, and nothing works. All her efforts seem futile. She’s already changed everything about the night. Well, everything except what she says to Rosa in front of her painting.
If nothing is ever going to change, why is she trying so hard to keep her distance from Rosa? She could theoretically say whatever she wants to, because the next day the slate will be wiped clean. She should stop hiding.
When Rosa shows her the second painting this time, Isobel stares at her instead of the art.
“You’re so talented, and you look beautiful tonight,” Isobel blurts out honestly.
Rosa meets her gaze and smiles softly. “Thanks. You know, I was thinking of you when I drew this.”
Rosa’s admission feels monumental, and butterflies churn in Isobel’s gut. She takes a step closer, and Rosa doesn’t move away. Rosa’s eyes look warm and inviting. The moment stretches between them, and Isobel bites her lip and decides to hell with it. She’s going to say what she feels. Damn the consequences.
“I think about you all the time. I want to be the one person you call late at night. I want to see you more often than every few months. I want to go out with you, if you'll have me.”
“Oh.” Rosa says it like she’s surprised, and delighted.
Isobel leans down, and Rosa leans up, and their lips meet in a searing kiss. The sounds in the room seem to fade out around them, and Isobel feels like they’re the only two people in the world.
The elation that blooms in Isobel’s heart is nearly stamped out when she remembers that everything is going to be reset in the morning. She steals herself, desperate to forget about the future.
Rosa threads her fingers through Isobel’s.
“Walk with me?” Rosa says.
Isobel’s lips are still tingling from their kiss as they do a gallery walk together, hand in hand. She pushes down the dread that Rosa will forget all about this in the morning, and does her best to be as present as possible.
Because she spends the whole night with Rosa, she doesn’t go to the bathroom at the right time and doesn’t run into the waiter with the tray. When the gallery is about to close, she finally remembers to look for the strange ceramic box.
She slips away from Rosa to go have a look. She’s all out of ideas, so this feels like a last ditch effort to change the future. The box is still there, on its stand. The light pointed on it makes it glimmer, and the symbols seem to be mocking her for being such an idiot. She can’t decipher any of them. In a fit of anger and desperation, she grabs it and smashes it on the ground. There are probably security cameras in the place, but she doesn’t care. By tomorrow, none of it will matter anyway.
She and Rosa stay out late. They talk and laugh and share tapas at the only place still serving food, and Isobel can’t stop looking at her. Rosa’s eyes are bright, her smile genuine, and her cheeks are flushed. It’s like happiness is radiating from her.
They flirt and kiss at the restaurant, and then Isobel walks Rosa back to her hotel. She gathers her into her arms and kisses her deeply to say goodnight, and Rosa lets her. They make plans to meet up for brunch the next day, even though Isobel knows that’s not going to happen. It all feels so surreal.
Back in her own hotel room, she texts Rosa to say she had a great time. She knows she’s just grasping at straws, trying to make this feeling last. But texting about it isn’t going to make it permanent.
She sighs as she lays down, willing herself to stay awake as long as possible. She can’t help but think that in the life she had before she got trapped in an endless Friday, she could have been happy.
---
When Isobel wakes up in her hotel bed the next morning, she assumes that she’s in a dream. That’s how fucked up the whole time loop had been.
She opens and closes her eyes a few times. Nothing changes. So she sits up and grabs her phone.
It’s Saturday. Finally, it’s fucking Saturday.
Isobel could cry, she feels so happy. Something finally worked. She’s free. She immediately texts Rosa.
Good morning beautiful.
She gets up and flings open the curtains covering the windows. Brilliant sunlight pours into her room. She finds a nostalgic song on her phone and blasts it on full volume. She dances around as she gets dressed. In a whole new outfit! She resolves to burn the dress she’d been forced to wear every wretched Friday.
But then again, it’s also the dress that she first kissed Rosa in. Maybe she’s being too hasty.
Her phone buzzes and she grabs for it. It’s Rosa.
Back at you.
Isobel grins. Yesterday was real. The confessions, the kisses, the happiness. Isobel gets to keep all of it. Kissing Rosa at the gallery must have changed everything.
But then she remembers smashing the box. It’s impossible to tell if it was the box or the kiss that broke Isobel’s curse. At the moment, Isobel couldn’t care less. She’s just happy it’s Saturday, no matter the cause.
But to be safe, she decides to find out who the artist of the box is. She’ll get Max and Michael to help her look them up. She either owes them an apology or a very strongly worded letter.
She grabs her phone and shoots Max and Michael a text.
Have I got a story for you.