Future Me Saved Me From Ruin

Chapter 1

In one month, I'd be marrying Callum Johnson.

I was all smiles as I picked up my phone and filmed a video.

"I'm so excited. In one month, I get to spend forever with the man I love. I know our future is going to be amazing. I want two kids, one who takes after him and one who takes after me."

I posted it and two DMs came in not long after I posted it.

Unknown ID: Summer, I'm you from ten years in the future. You're not happy.

Unknown ID: You never had those two kids. You hemorrhaged during delivery, and your body never recovered...

The sender's username was gibberish, and the profile picture was the default stock avatar. Even so, a cold knot of panic settled in my chest.

I typed back.

Summer: What about Callum? Where was he while I was bleeding out?

She replied.

Unknown ID: He was off traveling with the woman he actually loves. The marriage license he got you is fake. He's in love with someone else. He never loved you.

Before I could ask anything more, she sent another message.

Unknown ID: Leave Callum if you can. You'll have a better life without him. Don't get married. The ending turns out the same either way.

My chest tightened as I stared at the message on my screen.

Callum and I had known each other since we were five. On the day we got engaged, he promised he'd take care of me forever. Everyone said we were made for each other.

"Summer, get down here! I'm taking you to that seafood grill."

I leaned out the window. Callum stood beside his car, waving up at me. "Hurry up, I can't park here. Keep dragging your feet and you're walking there yourself."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming. Just wait for me, Callum." I shook my head, trying to rattle the worry loose.

There was no way Callum would ever let me be unhappy. He remembered everything I said. I'd mentioned last night that I was craving fish, and here he was at lunchtime with a surprise, ready to take me out for it.

I hurried downstairs. I was reaching for the passenger door when the window slid down.

My best friend, Amelia Daniels, was sitting in the front seat.

She blinked at me. "Summer, I'm tagging along for seafood grill. You don't mind, right?"

"It's just lunch, what's the big deal? Summer isn't that petty. Come on, hop in, there's room in the back." Callum kept rushing me, and I climbed into the back seat.

He glanced at me in the mirror, his smile bright. "Amelia said she felt bad about third-wheeling, but I told her you wouldn't care, right, Summer? She's your best friend. The three of us grabbing a meal together is totally normal."

It was normal. The three of us ate together all the time and crossed campus together every day. But today, after reading those messages, something about seeing the two of them in the same car made my chest ache.

I looked around the car. Two iced lattes sat in the cup holder, leaning against each other. They wore matching tennis outfits, and two matching rackets lay across the back seat.

In that moment, Amelia looked more like Callum's other half than I did.

I asked softly, "Were you two together all day?"

Callum clicked his tongue. "All day? Please. We played tennis this afternoon. You don't play, so I had to ask Amelia. And don't go getting upset over that. You don't even know how."

I froze for a second.

He'd used that line on me so many times.

When he pulled Amelia into a video game, I wanted to join. He said, "It's too hard. You wouldn't keep up."

When he teamed up with her for a tournament, I wanted to join. He said, "It eats up too much time. You can't handle it."

But tennis? I knew how to play.

I'd taken tennis as an elective back in college.