200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 3

Part 1
Part 2

The library was pretty dead at 8 AM. That made it perfect for Jim's purposes. He was headed for a table in the back when he was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Thing One, what are you doing here so early?" The voice belonged to an old friend and classmate, Carla, who Jim hadn't thought about in years. They'd met freshmen year when the two of them and another student named Jim had been assigned to the same study group. Carla had immediately taken to calling the two Jims "Thing One" and "Thing Two."

"Um, hi. I just had some stuff to work on," said Jim. "Why are you here so early?"

Carla tapped the plastic name tag pinned to her shirt. "Work," she said. "What're you working on?"

"Oh, just some project," Jim answered uncomfortably. "I'd really better get to it."

"Oh, okay," she said, disappointment in her voice. "See you around then."

Jim hadn't meant to be so brusque with her, but he was nervous about trying to talk to people in the past. He was about to leave when he had an inspiration.

"Wait," he said. "What do you know about time travel?"