Note to the reader: Although this story has a pervasively sexual undertone, it contains almost no sex. It’s also very short, only 1800 words long. Just saying.

Alexandra shifted uncomfortably and said to her younger self: “Are you sure you want to do this, Alex?”

Younger-Alex smiled and placed her thumb and forefinger on Alexandra’s bare lips and gently spread them apart. “I’m not sure of anything, right now, but this is what I’ve fantasized about the last 2 weeks.”

Alex sat propped against her pillows, legs widespread, with Younger-Alex laying between them. Alex was 16 years old, Younger-Alex 18 days past her 14th birthday. It was their 3rd time together in the last 2 weeks.

“Don’t do anything you don’t want to do,” Alex cautioned. She’d been surprised when Younger-Alex showed up tonight. It was 13 days since her younger self initiated her 2nd temporal jump and popped into Alex’s bedroom unannounced. Alex had expected her return within days, a week at the most. Still, it was good to have her here now.

Still grinning, Younger-Alex shifted between her older self’s legs and drew closer. It wasn’t the most comfortable position to be in, Alex knew, having done this herself on other occasions. She also knew Younger-Alex fought to hide her embarrassment. Alex had never acclimated to having sex with herself. Or rather, being made love to by her older selves.

“You know that—?” Alex broke off to listen, cocking her ear toward her parent’s bedroom. Her bedside clock read 11:32 PM, too early a time, really, to be attempting something like this. A better idea was when she had the house to herself, nights that Mom worked late shift at the hospital, and her dad was out of town on business. Tonight, both were home.

Younger-Alex turned to listen, as well. She’d surprised Alex 2 weeks ago in another respect: Younger-Alex lived two states away in 2013, and had made a significant jump in space-time to reach Alex’s bedroom her first time. The eye-popping consideration was that Younger-Alex was only 9 years old the first time she appeared. (Of course, they didn’t have sex, and Alex told her not to come back until after her 14th birthday if she wanted that to happen.) Younger-Alex’s 1st jump occurred Sunday, March, 3, 2013 at 3:06 PM. She arrived in Alex’s bedroom at 3:06 PM on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, moments after Alex arrived home from school. Alex didn’t even recognize her at first; her jaw dropped when she did.

Dropping her voice to a whisper, Alex went on. “You know that I didn’t make my first jump until I was a month older than you are now, right?”

Younger-Alex blinked in confusion and stopped stroking with her fingertip. “What?” she asked too loud. Alex put a cautionary finger to her lips.

“I didn’t tell you before. I thought it would freak you out too much.”

Younger-Alex shook her head in consternation. “You didn’t jump ahead like I did? When you were 9?”

“I didn’t even suspect I could until February of ‘18. I put 2 and 2 together when I skipped ahead a day after smoking pot with Sean Lathan. You haven’t done that yet, have you.”

Younger-Alex again shook her head in consternation. “How can that be? How can you not have jumped when you were 9?”

Alex shrugged apologetically. “I didn’t trip to it like you did when I skipped ahead that visit to Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Alex’s. It confused the heck out of me, but I didn’t put 2 and 2 together. I thought I had suffered a mega- Déjà vu. It finally hit me on February 22, 2018, what I had done. That’s when I took my first real jump forward.”

Younger-Alex continued to shake her head. “That’s not what I meant, Alex.”

“No,” Alex agreed. Glancing away from her bare crotch and Younger-Alex’s bare backside, she asked. “Have you noticed you can’t go back? I don’t mean bounce back, you always do that. You can’t go into the past. I can’t, and neither could my older selves.” She gave Younger-Alex a significant look. “I’ll get back to older selves, versus older self, in a minute. It’s an important distinction, Alex.”

“OK,” Younger-Alex said expectantly.

“You’ve only made 3 jumps?”

Younger-Alex slowly nodded. “You told me not to do it again until I was 14.”

Alex laughed. “I should have told you more. I was stupid not to go into this with you 2 weeks ago when you first came. Sorry.” She shook her head. “God! How did you hold off for 5 effing years? Anyway, I’m glad you did; it makes things much simpler for you. Believe me,” she said, affectionately rubbing her younger self’s head. “I speak from experience.” She paused.

“That feeling when you jump, that mental equivalent of locating a step with your foot in the dark before you go? You won’t get that trying to jump into the past, and you can’t jump without it. You also won’t get it trying to jump forward to a location where I’m not. Forget jumping to London or Paris or even Baltimore if I’m not there. It won’t work. A bummer, but there it is.”

Younger-Alex looked dismayed. “Come on!” she objected. “That’s not right! It doesn’t make any sense!” She gathered herself and sat up. “You’ve tried it before?”

Alex gazed at her younger-self’s small breasts. They weren’t as full as they would be in 2 years, and her nipples poked out embarrassingly. She remembered how wearing the wrong top always garnered eager looks from the boys. Well, they still looked, anyway.