200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 11

Part 8
Part 9
Part 10

Jim left the bar and followed Carla to the table.

"Glad you decided to come," she said as they walked. "Thing Two's in kind of a funk tonight, so I can use the reinforcements."

"Sure," replied Jim, still distracted by his train of thought.

As they reached the table, Carla asked, "Oh, how's that story of yours coming?"

"What st-," Jim caught himself. "I mean, it's coming along fine. I actually wanted to talk to you about it." Acknowledging the other Jim, he added, "Hey, man."

Other Jim nodded glumly.

Jim leaned over to Carla and whispered, "What's with him?"

"He wouldn't tell me."

Jim really didn't remember much about Other Jim. Not surprising as they'd never been close.

"So," he said to Other Jim, "having a rough time of it, huh?"

Other Jim shot him a look that suggested that this was the stupidest question ever.

"Yep, bad times," Jim continued weakly.

"So," said Carla, "you wanted to talk about that story you were working on."

"Oh, um, we can talk about it later," Jim replied. "I'd hate to bore our friend here with it."

"Nonsense, Thing Two loves time travel stories."

"Time travel?" Other Jim asked, suddenly interested.