I bunch my nose up. He’s starting to upset me. I always have to deal with him leaving at night without an explanation. I’m always have to put aside our time so he can take calls from this ‘Connie’ guy. Once… just once I want more than a ‘just drop it’ or ‘don’t worry about it.’ “No,” I say with force. “No.”
“Fine,” he snaps, “fine. You really want to know that bad, huh?”
“Yeah. I do.”
He pauses for a second.
Shifts in the bed.
Moves his hand to his side.
Then says, “You died.”
~~~
The coffee shop is pretty dead.
Ryan is the back doing inventory and I’m putting the finishing touches on Lara’s iced coffee while she waits at the counter.
“It was just a nightmare, Lee.” Lara says as I walk over to her and slide her iced latte across the counter. She picks it up, bites down on the straw with her teeth, sipping on it.
Sometimes on her break she visits me at work. She’s still working at the perfume store and I like that we work in the same vicinity. I like that she comes to visit me. And I’m sure she likes coming to see me for the free drinks.
“I know,” I tell her. “I know, but it’s still disturbing.” I’ve heard that dreams can be some kind of subliminal message. Part of me believes in this. Once, when I was younger I had a dream that I was going to ace a spelling test and wouldn’t you know, a week later I got that A. “I think it just bother because what if he’s dreaming about me dying every time he has a nightmare?” That’s got to mean something, right?
Lara shrugs. “Honestly, I wouldn’t even worry about it. You’ve got enough going on.”
I know she’s right. On top of my new and mysterious relationship, I’ve got drama at work with Ryan. Ever since my birthday he’s been adamant on giving me all of the shitty shifts. Of course I don’t tell Sean this, mainly because I know what the end result would be.
Ryan losing a couple teeth.
Maybe acquiring a black eye.
A few broken bones.
I go on, “Sometimes I wonder if he’s involved in something bad.”
Lara gives me an odd yet wary look. She lifts an eyebrow. “Who Sean?” Her voice goes up an octave.
“No,” I roll my eyes and say with sarcasm, “the postman. Have you not been listening to a thing that I’ve said?”
She removes the straw from her mouth and purses her lips. Her eyes flash irritation and I think that maybe I should have cooled it on the smart-ass comment. “Of course I was listening and do you know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think you’re being completely and absolutely ridiculous and worrying about all of this for nothing. You’re only stressing yourself out more.”
“You’re right,” I agree.
She is right about the whole nightmare thing. But when it comes to the things I know Sean is hiding from me, that’s a different story.
And what scares me is that I don’t know how much more of that I can take.
Chapter 5
~Connie~
The sun sat high in the sky shining vibrantly. The powder blue, cloudless sky-line stretched on for miles and miles.