Here I was again back in the good old Summer of 88. It was the summer I first fell in love and nothing and no one had compared since. There were things I needed to do differently this time around and with the knowledge I had now that I could never have had that night would hopefully make all the difference.

I took a deep breath and took a twilight zone step into Skate City. My heart was pounding loudly in my chest and my nerves were going crazy. I couldn't believe I was here again. The familiar smell of buttery popcorn and overcooked hotdogs flooded my nostrils as I neared the concession. The upbeat sound of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" boomed on the speakers.

Now you might be wondering if there was some dangerous possibility of me running into myself and fucking things up. I asked those questions also and learned that I'd appear just as I did on that original night. So my rules weren't the same as Marty McFly's and running into myself wasn't going to be an issue. But with that said I still felt uncertain. I am, after all, a time travel novice so I quickly went into the bathroom to find a mirror.

I gasped at my appearance. I forgot how much makeup I used to wear. Or how crazy my hair actually was. I also forgot what it was like to wear clothes this short and tight. I couldn't help but gaze deeply at my reflection and seventeen years old "me" gazed back with a look in her eyes that had nothing but love and hope. In spite of this, I knew that in several short hours from now that look would be forever wiped from my face.

My thoughts were, however, interrupted by the one voice that had been left in braille upon my heart for all these years.

"Hey, babe, what's taking you so long?" I turned slowly and looked at her. The world felt like it was suddenly in slow motion and the impossible was possible.

I studied her for a long silent moment, remembering every curl and curve and the way her lips pouted a bit even as she smiled. Then finally I stared into her eyes that looked like oceans and pulled me in like a tide.

"What's wrong with you, Lola? You look like you've seen a ghost," Dana said with a bit of a chuckle.

Even though this was what I came back for I still couldn't believe I was really seeing her again. I had been hopeful but skeptical. It was almost overwhelming.

"I'm fine. Just making sure my hair wasn't doing that thing it does," I lied.

"Oh, the Alfalfa thing. I think it's adorable. Stop hiding it and just be yourself."

She was always telling me that and she would be the only one I ever knew who truly meant it I thought quietly to myself.

"Let's go rent those skates and hope they aren't gross," I said as I reached to take her hand gently into mine, lifting it up to my lips softly.

We walked hand in hand, something we had only recently started doing, towards the skate rental booth.

"A size 6 and 7. Please make sure they are clean this time, Ricky," I said to the tall considerably good looking senior. In just three years from now, he would be dead from an overdose. My first instinct was to tell him but he wouldn't believe me anyway and I'd be breaking my time travel agreement.

"Alright, ladies have a radical time," he said flashing a smile before helping the judgmental cheerleaders behind us.  

I heard them whispering loudly, "Gag me with a spoon. I'm pretty sure Lola and Dana are bone buddies," then laughing. I felt myself begin to blush a bit. Dana on the other hand could care less what a bunch of preppy cunts thought and that was just one of the many things I had always loved about her.

Besides, little did both those cheerleaders know that they were both going to turn into fat sloppy depressed divorcees whose husbands met at one of their barbecues and skipped off into the sunset together, leaving them with nothing but Percocet and soap operas to keep them happy. And that thought alone made me smile.

"Come on, let's go. ''Tell It To My Heart'' is playing. That's our song, babe!" Dana practically screamed excitedly.

We took each other's hands again and skated onto the busy rink full of laughing teens and scented with weed. We'd never be this young again. We'd never be this full of life again. And I wished more than ever I had taken the time to cherish the moments. Thank god for second chances. 

We held each other tight and moved to the beat of the song, skates sliding against the hard wooden floor of the rink, our singing completely out of tune. But it didn't matter.

I leaned in and whispered into her ear, "I love you and I'm glad we're together."

Hours and countless songs passed. As "I Don't Want to Live Without You" began to play I knew that we were reaching the hour in which everything counted. I couldn't fuck this up. It would be my only chance. I had to make this right.

I looked over at the group of guys standing in the corner passing a flask back and forth. Dread and disgust filled me instantly.

The leader of their gang was laughing and looking at us. I saw him mouth the word 'dykes', one hand buried in his jean jacket and I knew that in one of those pockets he was carrying the switchblade that was going to cut Dana's life short.

They were your typical homophobic scum. The kind of filth that Charles Bronson dealt with in the Death Wish movies and the kind of scum previous me didn't have the guts or the know-how to avoid. I thought to myself, Not tonight boys. Not ever.

"Let's go to our quiet spot," I whispered softly to her.

She seemed surprised. "Last time we went you said you weren't ready."

I had said I wasn't ready previously, and ever since then, I had been pretty sure that, had I not, things would be different. Much different.

"I'm more than ready," I said as I directed her hand between my legs so she could feel the damp warmth of my shorts.

Her smile lit up like a thousand fireworks in the night and we skated off the rink and changed into our Converse's and headed towards the backdoor.

We broke out into the cold air of the night and made our way down the alley.

We kissed hard and deep, the intensity almost burning me, yet making me shiver at the same time. But my shivering wasn't just because of the kiss. I knew that in a matter of seconds I'd have to be braver than I ever was before and being someone who always failed at everything I didn't have confidence in anything, especially myself. What I needed now more than anything was some of George Michael's "Faith."

It was just then that I heard the shuffling sounds of footsteps on the pavement.

Prior to coming here, I had a few hours to spare which meant I had time to go to my parents' house and open my dad's dresser and grab his .44. Later, I hid it in the alley behind Skate City where a brick had come loose.

During a short period of time in which Dana and I had become grounded from seeing each other, we had used it to pass notes back and forth. After that, it became a spot to stash our weed. While you might think that risky, the fact that no one stole the weed in the two years I had been storing it there was a reassurance that it was safe. I had never fired a gun but I had seen plenty enough movies to understand the gist of it, but if my calculations were right I wasn't going to have to blow any grungy motherfuckers away.

"What do we have here guys?" spoke the jean-jacketed punk.

"Looks like a couple of dykes swapping spit in the alley to me, Scuzz," one of his equally trashy friends replied before laughing a little.

"I know that, dipshit. It was rhetorical," Scuzz answered, his tone sounding a bit more annoyed than before. "Now shut it, Knuckles."

When it had happened on that night I had run screaming down the alley with my heart pounding to the point it felt like exploding. Fear had taken me in its grasp. I thought Dana was following behind me. She was the brave one, not me. How could I know? How have I lived with myself for so long after this night?

Slowly I took a step backward until my back was against the brick wall. I got myself into a strategic position.

"Don't you know that being a lezbo is wrong?" Scuzz said before laughing his hyena laugh.

"Yeah," parroted Knuckles, the obvious doofus of the gang.

"Hey. Now don't be too hard on them. Maybe they've never known the pleasure of being with a man before," said another member of their skeezy little gang.

"So... let's teach 'em a lesson they'll never forget then," came the reply of the pizza-faced fat guy in the back who had clearly had more than his fair share of whatever the fuck was in that flask.

"First good idea you've ever had, Rash," Scuzz replied before taking another step closer.

"Who should we start with?" Knuckles asked excitedly.

"I like the curly-haired one," Scuzz said with a smirk, referring to Dana.

"I like the other one. She looks like a scared little bitch," Rash said laughing hard.

"Go home and fuck your mothers you stupid pieces of trash!" Dana said all of a sudden. Any amount of fear she might be having was masked by the pure rage she was now feeling. Though I wondered if Dana had ever felt scared about anything in her entire life.

Scuzz reached into his pocket, which instantly brought my anxiety up to a full one hundred, and quickly brought out a shiny switchblade that he waved threateningly at us. 

"Now, now, you girls wouldn't make me have to use this would you? That wouldn't be very nice of you at all." 

I knew the answer to that. Luckily, while he was busy talking and showing off his blade, I had managed to wiggle the brick loose. It dropped with a loud crash to the concrete.

"What the fuck? You think you can fight me off with a fucking brick?" Scuzz growled.

My hand was lightning quick as I grabbed the .44 and held it up in front of me.

"No, but I'm pretty sure I can fight you off with this, seeing as how you literally brought a knife to a gunfight." My voice was as calm and cold as it had ever been. 

Up until this moment, I hadn't said a single word. I had just been quietly contemplating exactly what I would say.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the dim street light shining on Dana's surprised face.

Scuzz and his gang moved back for a moment in equal shock but to my disappointment began advancing again. "You don't have the lady balls enough to use that," he said in an angry stammer.

It's now or never, I thought quietly to myself. Fuck it.

I clicked the safety off and cocked it. I raised the gun and pointed it at the boy pausing for a moment and meeting him dead in the eye. I then pointed it down at his crotch making him jump and scream.

"What was that? Something about not having lady balls?" I said with a contented smirk. 

They were backing away now but I wasn't done, not by a long shot, This was the day of reckoning I had dreamed of for years.

So they'd know I wasn't fucking around I took a shot at the trashcan beside them. "I have no problem blowing a couple of low-life scumbags away. I'm pretty sure I'd be doing the world a favor by doing it. So don't test me, motherfuckers."

"Come on, Scuzz, she's fucking insane. All dykes are. Let's go," Rash said before he and Knuckles and the one whose name never came up ran as fast as the could out of the alley leaving Scuzz behind.

"I'll get you for this bitch. I'll see you around," Scuzz said his voice trembling with small dick energy before taking off.

"HOLY FUCK! What was that? I can't believe you did that?!" Dana said excitedly. 

"Me neither. But what was I going to do, run?" I said smiling softly.

"Running would be the first thing the Lola I know would do," she said as she lightly moved her fingers over my face caressing softly.

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm a better Lola now," I said as I moved to wrap my arms around her and pull her tightly to me.

"That actually kind of turned me on," she whispered lustfully into my ear.

Which instantly made my heart flutter in my chest. "Shall we continue on towards our spot?" I asked hopefully.

"I love our spot," Dana replied, her voice echoing a tone more loving than usual. 

Our spot was the most beautiful place in town. It was where a small stream ran by the largest oak tree I had ever seen in my entire life. The roots of the tree branched out over the water and made a small waterfall that had created a small deep pool. We spent countless days and nights just talking about life there in between long make-out sessions.

We walked hand in hand and in my heart, I knew with every step we took we were walking into our future. 

Once we got there we began kissing harder and deeper than we ever had before. Each kiss growing more intense and wetter than the last. We hardly even stopped to breathe. We slowly undressed each other with the light of the full moon shining down on us.

"Hold on," Dana said reaching down to get something out of her shorts' pocket and retrieving a small portable tape player. She hit play and "New Sensation" by INXS began to play. 

"You brought our mixtape!" I said smiling.

"Of course, I always carry it on me," she replied, her tone soft and loving.

I laid down on the soft mossy ground and breathed deeply the scent of damp earth. I felt renewed in every way possible.

No words were spoken. No words were needed. We lost ourselves in each other. We kissed, licked, and tasted every inch of each other. Our moans covered by the sounds of music.

"I've wanted this for what seems like an eternity now," I said speaking in a low sexy voice that had replaced my usual perfectly made for cartoons voice.

"So have I, babe, so have I," Dana replied, as she moved between my legs and easily positioned herself until our pussies met. We rubbed our hot glistening swollen lips that ached with forbidden timeless passion.

Slowly she began to rock back and forth, hips moving up and down, as she began rubbing and grinding her slippery wet cunt against mine. We moaned together as our bodies writhed.

Hot wet slapping sounds mixed with 80s jams filling the air while she thrust her cunt harder and harder against mine. The sensations were unlike anything I had ever felt. I couldn't believe I had always stopped us. What had I been so afraid of? Why had it been so hard for me to accept that love is love? 

I arched my back and lifted my hips slightly up off the ground and humped my pussy into hers. My heart pounding louder than the drum in a hair metal song.

Our juices were flooding down my thighs and onto the surface. My fingers moved to squeeze and pinch her nipples before groping her perfect tits as she continued fucking me harder and faster with every movement. I had been fucked by a guy before and it didn't compare to this, and at this moment I was certain that nothing ever could or would.

"Cum with me. I want to be covered in your juices," she moaned out as our clits danced and sent electrical shocks through my entire body.

"Oh, fuck!" I moaned out as I felt her cunt begin to quiver and pulse, exploding onto mine like a hot geyser. That was all it took. I saw the stars align and began to squirt against her still flooding cunt.

We laid still wrapped in each other's arms. Drenched in each other's cum mess.

I held her tighter, pulling her as close as I could possibly get her. Wanting this moment to never end. Then I closed my eyes.
 

                                                  
I felt my eyes open as I let out a soft yawn. The early morning light was shining in through our window.

"About time you woke, babe," Dana said with a smile. "Coffee's ready and the cats have been fed. You promised you'd go thrifting with me today," she sang.

I felt the weight of decades lifting off of me. She was safe. She was mine. And I was never going to let her go. I had changed our destiny and all it took was fighting for what I love.