After I Saw His First Love, I Left

The Hourglass Emporium had set me up with a perfect cover: I was Calixta Hartwell, Eliseo's classmate. That made blending into this world a breeze. I'd just finished tidying up, still waffling over what kind of vibe I should go for when I saw him. Someone banged on the front door before I could make up my mind. Bang bang bang. "Calixta! Time for school!" A boy's clear, bright voice drifted through the wood. I called back, "Got it!" loud enough for him to hear, fumbling to tie my hair up before yanking the door open. There stood Eliseo, a slice of bread sticking out of his mouth. His school uniform jacket hung unzipped, showing off the black T-shirt underneath. He raked a hand through his messy black hair, the gesture making him look even more roguishly handsome. For a second, I zoned out, thinking of the Eliseo I knew from twenty years in the future. He didn't carry this bold, uninhibited swagger back then, but he was as gentle as still water, and he treasured me like I was his whole world... Before I could snap out of it, Eliseo grabbed my wrist and tugged me down the stairs. "What're you zoning out for? Hurry up, or we'll miss Isadora Whitmore and have to go without her!" Isadora. The top student who aced every subject in every exam year after year. And the girl Eliseo was head over heels for. He swung one leg over his bike, and I climbed onto the back seat without even thinking about it. In my original timeline, Eliseo was my dad's college classmate. I'd grown up calling him Uncle Eliseo, even though we weren't related. But he'd always been my guardian angel. He'd been there for me since I was little, and whenever I ran into trouble, even when my life was on the line, he'd move heaven and earth to protect me. When I was seven, I fell from the fourth floor by accident. Eliseo caught me without a second's hesitation, and broke three ribs doing it. When I was eleven, I fought with my mom, stormed out of the house, and got snatched by three human traffickers. Eliseo got stabbed six times fighting them, and almost died getting me back. When I was sixteen, I went into sudden liver failure and needed an emergency transplant. Eliseo signed the organ donation papers before anyone could even finish explaining the risks. When I turned twenty, I realized I was in love with him. I told him how I felt. He'd never turned down a single thing I asked for before, but that time he didn't answer. He vanished completely, and was gone for seven whole days. I could barely remember what ran through my head during those seven days. All I could recall was how I sobbed my heart out the second Eliseo showed up in front of me holding a diamond ring. He really did love me more than anything. He always said, "Calixta, I've been waiting for you this whole time." I loved him just as much. Even when everyone else thought we were a terrible match, I was convinced we were made for each other, two halves of the same whole. That's why, after Eliseo died in that car crash, I struck a deal with the owner of the Hourglass Emporium, trading thirty years of my lifespan for a second chance. Even if I only got one year with him, I wanted to make every second count, to be by his side properly. But I never thought this trip back in time would make me realize I was nothing but a stand-in this whole time. Because the girl he actually liked was Isadora, the one who shared half my features. Of the full year I'd traded so much for, only a single month remained. In this timeline, Eliseo and I were neighbors, classmates, even ride-or-die buddies. But lovers? That was never on the table... I was still drowning in those old memories when Eliseo's voice cut through my thoughts. "Know any good couple names? I need a matching set for the pets Isadora and I are getting together." The words got stuck in my throat. "No." Half a year back, he'd asked me to get Isadora's contact info for him. She'd turned me down flat, and I couldn't stand to see him disappointed, so I'd given him my spare social media account instead. After that, I'd pretended to be Isadora and chatted with him every day for six whole months. I'd never dared tell anyone about it, terrified the truth would slip out and blow up in my face sooner or later. The rest of the ride passed in dead silence. We pulled up to the school gate right as the morning self-study bell droned to a stop. Students swarmed toward the teaching building in a huge crowd. Eliseo parked his bike, then automatically walked over to Isadora's side, his steps softening the second he got near her. I trailed behind the pair like an afterthought, an extra shadow no one needed, and followed them into the classroom without a word. During morning self-study, the whole class had their heads down, quietly reading their textbooks. The only sound in the room was the soft, steady rustle of turning pages. My fingers brushed over the yellowed pages of my textbook, my chest feeling hollowed out. I kept silently counting down the thirty days I had left with him, over and over again. Suddenly, I felt a light tap against my side under the desk. I glanced down and saw Eliseo quietly pushing a neatly folded note across to me. A tiny, barely noticeable warmth flickered to life in my chest before I even thought about it, an old habit carved so deep into my bones it would never fade, even though his gentleness no longer belonged to me. I unfolded the note quietly. The sharp, elegant handwriting was unmistakably his, and there was only one line scrawled across the paper. Isadora didn't eat breakfast this morning. She's not feeling well. Buy her a carton of warm milk from the school store after class, okay? That fleeting spark of warmth was snuffed out instantly, drowned out by a cold, bitter ache that settled heavy in my throat. I wiped the dejection from my eyes before anyone could see it, curled my fingers tight around the crisp note, and gave a slow, small nod. The second the dismissal bell blared, Eliseo didn't waste a single second. He twisted around in his seat immediately, his voice low and gentle as he checked on Isadora in the row ahead of him. "You feeling rough? Just hold on a little longer, okay? Calixta's gonna go get the milk right now." Isadora gave a small, gentle nod, her features soft and docile. She flicked a faint, unconcerned glance my way, her expression completely unchanging. I clenched my empty hand into a fist, pushed myself up, and walked out of the classroom. The crisp early winter wind gusted right up my sleeves, biting so cold it made my fingers stiffen all the way to the tips. I sprinted to the school store, tucked the warm milk close to my chest to keep it hot on the walk back, and set it down gently on Isadora's desk like I was handling something fragile. Isadora mumbled a quiet "thanks" and reached out to take it, careful not to let her fingers brush mine even for a split second. The whole time, Eliseo's eyes were locked on her, soft and attentive. He didn't so much as glance at me standing right next to him. The class bell rang again not long after. It was the strict homeroom teacher's period, so everyone scrambled back to their seats faster than lightning, the room going dead silent in seconds. I'd just barely gotten settled when I felt a soft poke in my back from the tip of a pen. It was Eliseo. I turned halfway around, assuming he had another tiny favor to ask me. He held out a whole carton of warm strawberry milk, the exact same kind he'd always used to cheer me up when I was little. My chest gave a sharp, shaky lurch. Old memories came flooding in all at once, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying right there. But the next second, he tilted his head toward me, lips moving faintly as he mouthed, "Pass this to Isadora for me. It's her favorite." Every last flutter of hope and silly little fantasy I'd been clinging to turned to ash in the blink of an eye. I swallowed down the lump in my throat, took the box of milk, and passed it forward in silence, setting it gently on the corner of Isadora's desk. The movement was tiny, but the homeroom teacher up at the podium spotted it immediately. Her face darkened instantly, and she barked sharply, "Calixta! Isadora! You two were passing things around during class. Stand up!" My body went rigid. I slowly rose to my feet, every pair of eyes in the class locking straight onto me. The deafening, heavy silence pressed down on my chest so hard I could barely breathe. Right as I was about to open my mouth to take the blame, the chair behind me scraped softly with a low screech against the floor. Eliseo stood up straight, his voice clear and unashamed, ringing out across the entire classroom. "Teacher, this has nothing to do with Isadora. Calixta was the one passing the thing. Isadora was paying attention the whole time. Calixta's the one who disrupted the class." I went stock-still. A tiny, fragile spark of hope had just flickered to life in my chest, and his words snuffed it out completely before it could even catch. He stared right at the teacher, every word sharp and distinct, his favoritism as obvious as day. 'Oh. He wasn't standing up for me at all.' He just couldn't stand the thought of his precious Isadora suffering even the slightest injustice or unfair blame. I stood there rooted to the spot, icy cold seeping into every last inch of my skin, wrapping around my bones. Even the air I breathed tasted bitter and freezing. I should have known better a long time ago. The Eliseo from twenty years in the future, the one who loved me with every fiber of his being, he was real. But this eighteen-year-old Eliseo, the one who only had eyes for Isadora? He was real too. I'd used that stupid time trade as an excuse to fool myself, clinging to a shred of warmth that was never mine to take in the first place. With only a month left, it felt like even the right to pretend I could stay by his side was slipping right through my fingers.