Chapter 21

I was dreaming and I knew it right away.  It was strange because from the moment I recalled the dream I was with Rachelle.  Just like when we met in our dream last night, we were in a room pretty high up.  And just like last night with the renaisance type house, this house was weird too, it was clearly the house of a cookoo person.  Some freakazoid inventor.  Well, I guess I shouldn't be one to talk because my grandfather was an inventor.  Supposedly, my grandparents went to the future a long time ago (since he invented a time machine) and gave birth to my mother there, and came back when mom was a little girl.  That's why everyone in school thought she was a freak: because she always said that she was born in the future.  It's insane, I know, but I've seen it before at my grandparents house.  It would be an extreme joke if it were one, and it wasn't.  No one could keep up such a joke.  And, no one in my family are liars.  Well, it was their house, before they were made to go to the nursing home.  They've told me that they went there because a brain test went wrong and they were shown to have some kind of a developing mental disorder, but I don't buy it.  They've been hiding something from me all my life, I just don't know what it could be.  The nurses have them in a special room!  And certainly there are many old people with brain issues!

"Ah, I love that we're having dreams together again!  I think I'm able to be lucid to act dramatic because I can't stop thinking about dreams!  I just know you'll be in them, so it's always on my mind.  Alex, you're amazing."

I smile wide.  "You're amazing too."

"Come on, no time to gawk at each other.  Let's explore."

Ha ha, there she goes.  The confident Rachelle of my dreams, in fact literally.

Then I look out the window.  We're on the moon!

We get out of the house (which looks even weirder on the outside), and I look down over the moon's landscape.  The house is right on the top part of where an asteroid must have landed.  The valley below was amazing-clearly this wasn't just the moon-this moon had people on it!  Ah, what a dream can do.

I could feel Rachelle looking at me as I held her hand.  But I didn't mind.  In fact, I tried to make my face nice with its expression so I'd look especially nice for her.  Nothing like your brows being knit with a frown on your face when a girl you like is looking at you.  Total turn-off.

We continue to walk a little ways as I look at the landscape below, and I have an idea perfect for the environment of a dream and not a good idea in any other situation.

"Rachelle-let's slide down this crator and see what it below."

"Sounds fun!"

So we slide down its side.  Unlike in real life, it didn't hurt at all.  My jeans weren't ripping, I wasn't getting a rash.  I wasn't even flipping or anything.  I just felt the rush of falling straight down, watching the landscape before me move along.

There are some really cool futuristic buildings before me, but for some reason the construction site farther off in the distance caught my eye.

"Hey-let's check out that construction site over there."

"Whatever you like, Alex."

She was really talking to me differently in this dream.  In a good way.

We arrived there, and there was a food truck.  Quite an odd place for a food truck to be!

"I'm going to get something to eat, Alex.  I love eating in dreams.  You can really taste the food, or at least your brain thinks you can.  It's really neat."

She went up and ordered her hot dog.

"That'll be five simoleons."

She just laughed. "This is my dream!  I don't have to pay you."

The person inside just went with it without asking another question and gave her the hot dog."

"You should order something, Alex."

So I did.

"So what, is it your dream too or something?"

"That's right.  I don't owe you a penny."

"Are you kidding me?  That's not possible!  Only one person is in a dream at a time-only one real person."

"Well-here we are."

It's really quite a strange thing.  I don't really know if this dream is mine or hers, or somehow both of ours.  Either way, we were in the same place, that much was clear.  I just wish how I knew it was possible.  Rachelle said that shared dreams can theoretically happen, but I wish I understood the science behind it.  I'm pretty sure if I was told, though, I would just blankly stare at the person telling me, or the computer screen, book, whatever.  I am not smart enough to understand it, I guess.  That's my problem, I'm so curious, and my questions sometimes involve answers that only a really intelligent person would understand.  I'm not stupid, but I am also not a brilliant man that graduated from Harvard.

So Rachelle was just eating her hot dog outside really fast.

"Alex, you have to eat your hot dog fast because you don't know when you're going to wake up!"

She was scarfing the hot dog down, and it wasn't a pretty sight.  But it's just a dream so I gave her some slack.

For whatever reason, I ate my taco (my taco from the food truck the other day was so good that I wanted to taste it again) in this room in the little building leaving Rachelle behind.  Sometimes it feels like you have free will in lucid dreams, but in a way you don't because you choose to do something that in waking life you wish you wouldn't've done in the dream.  Does that make sense?

But anyway, the taco tasted just as good as in real life!  It was amazing how it actually tasted like food and not nothingness-as Rachelle said.  Considering how I was sleeping in bed, obviously eating nothing, it was weird that my brain could think that I was really eating anything.

I woke up from my dream and smiled.  I am just really glad that Rachelle has been back in my dreams.  No one else can say that their lover (she can be considered that by now, can't she?) exists to them in both reality and in dreams, as in, their real self in the dream, not some made up version of them that your brain makes you think is them.

Then I decided to drive home.  I truly adore Rachelle and I want to be with her, but it was time to be home.  I have a life in Longview, and I can't just leave it behind for a girl.  It's not like we're not going to see each other again.  I wouldn't be able to handle that.  Bridgeport is an hour away, and we can drive to see each other.  Naturally, we exchanged phone numbers, and I was already longing for her to call me.  I wasn't worried like a teenager would be, thank llama for that.  I wasn't wondering if she would ever call me again, or if I would be too pushy if I called her, and when it would be okay for me to call her so I didn't have to act desperate or that I was cheating on her.  No.  We already have trust, and besides.  With what's been happening in our dreams, surely we'll see each other every night.  It's not the same as seeing her in real life of course, but it is really her and I'm really me.

When I got back home, I didn't even have to guess where Marshall and Jeff were.  I heard the video game blaring, and not only was it plainly loud, but the tv is right near the entrance.

They were playing the sport video game.  See, I don't even know its title.  Marshall and Jeff play that when I'm not playing with them since I don't like it which directly coincides with me not liking sports.

Clearly, Marshall and Jeff could hear me come in even though their game was pretty loud, but they still weren't answering me.

"Um-Marshall, Jeff?  HELLO?  Your best friend has just arrived home!"

They continued to ignore me.  I assumed it was because I didn't tell them I would be gone as long as I was- I just told them that I would be gone for a day without even knowing that I would find Rachelle and stay longer.  I didn't find it necessary to call them to say that I would be gone longer. When I talked to Mr. Simmons, I told him that I would be gone longer, sure.  But he's my boss and he has to know, and he also wouldn't ask me why I was going to stay longer as he didn't.  But I knew Marshall and Jeff would ask, but what would I tell them, really?  Sure I could tell them I met a girl because that would be technically correct, but I wasn't sure how well it would go.  And now that it's went well...I figured I could tell them, and then surely they wouldn't ignore me.

"Guys!  Earth to Marshall and Jeff.  I met someone."

Both of their heads instantly whipped in my direction.

"Really?  Oh, well it's ok that you didn't tell us that you would be gone longer.  We don't care anymore, just tell us about this girl."

That was also a consideration I made when I decided not to tell them.  They give things up very easily.

So I sat down in the middle of them.  Though I love being with Rachelle, sometimes it's just nice to be home with the boys.

"Did you really meet a girl Alex, or did you just say that so we'd listen to you?"

Marshall has to put in his two cents as well, "seriously, Alex.  We almost decided to file a missing person report!"

"Marshall-really, no you didn't."

"Alex, come on, don't avoid the subject!  Did you meet a chick or not?"

"Yes I really did!"

Then, Marshall and Jeff ask in unison: "Did you guys have sex?"

Of course.  That's what they wanna know. "No, we didn't have sex!  Unlike with your guys' relationships, ours is based on compatibility, and not just sex."

They both laughed.  Marshall and Jeff laughed.  That never happens.

"Alex, you make us laugh!  You didn't even kiss her, did you?  It's all in your head!"

"Yeah I kissed her."

"Did you guys make out?  Oh wait!  I know!  She dissed you, right?"

"Yes, we made out, and no she didn't diss me!  She likes me just as much as I like her.  And she's amazing, actually.  We have so much in common it would knock your socks off."

"You gonna see her again?"  That's one thing I love about them.  After a while, they just believe you.

"Yeah I'm gonna see her again!  It was not just a one night stand.  Well, techincally it was two days.  We exchanged numbers and all that."

"Is she hot?!"

"You'll have to see for youself.  Anyway, I'm gonna make a call."

I really need some new friends.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice to hang out with Marshall and Jeff, but sometimes they're just as sex driven as a couple of sixteen year olds.  Their minds revolve around it.  I need a new guy friend to discuss it with in a mature manner.

I decided to call my uncle Otto to get together.  He would listen to me about this, he has always been good with ladies, and he's a little too old to be a hundred percent sex driven.  But don't get me wrong.  He's not married, so he does still have flings with twenty-something-year-olds.  Marshall and Jeff think of him as llama, since they're all about that kind of thing.  But Otto being fifty something is actually mature about it.

"Hey uncle Otto, wanna go to the beach?"

"Yeah, that sounds fun!  I'll meet ya there in fifteen minutes."

As I've mentioned before, uncle Otto is the person in my family with all of the bucks directly at his fingertips.  He lives in the giant mansion that's been in my family for decades.  All of the men in my family have been CEO's, so that money has added up.  My uncle is no exception unlike my dad (he broke tradition-he's too shy to be a CEO), and he tends to have an open schedule on the weekend.  I mean, we don't really have that much in common, but he still is my uncle and he's good with girls anyway.

Uncle Otto was already there in his trunks by the time I got there.  It's been a while, but when we get together we tend to throw a football at the beach in our swimtrunks (okay, I'm not into sports, but throwing around a football is different than actually playing football).  Of course we only do it when it's warm out, but it is now!  It was made a tradtion because I tend not to like to be in his enormous mansion.  It's quite daughnting to be in such a large, fancy building when I myself am not that fancy.  I am quite casual.

Uncle Otto is also very...athletic.  He always has been, and he has aged quite well and still does excercise which is why he is still able to get young woman.  At one point he was with my mother.  My own mother!  It is kinda creepy to think that my uncle could've been my father, though technically I would cease to exist...My mother fell for my geeky father when my uncle was in a coma from a head injury!  My family's history is full of injuries!

Since uncle Otto isn't only good with the ladies but also athletic (and you know how Marshall and Jeff are about that!), he's pretty much their role model.  It's just a tad creepy that my best friends' role model is my own uncle, but anyway...

We walked closer to the beach. "So Alex, your uncle Stephan and his girlfriend Lesley are going to get married soon!"

Yes, I have another uncle.  My mother didn't have siblings, so he is my uncle and dad's brother, from that side of the family.  Funny thing is, my grandparents from that side died in a car crash soon after my uncle Stephan was born.  He was like two at the time.  But you see, Casey and Otto were in their twenties at the time so they could take care of him!  Somehow my grandparents had a kid at a very old age!  It was most likely an accident, but really I have no idea.  My point it, my own uncle is just a few years older than me.  It's really creepy. 

My uncle Stephan is your classic I-want-to-pinch-your-cheek-you-little-cutie.  He is a goody two shoes, and everyone loves him.  He isn't a tad weird.  He was the teacher's pet kind of guy, and certain women were really attracted to him, all put together and everything.  He isn't a womanizer unlike some people I know.

"Wow that's great!  Can't wait to see it."

Then we started to throw the football around.

"So, what's been up, Alex?  How's the old nine to five?"

"Oh, it's fine.  But I didn't just call you to throw around this football and to bore you to death about my boring life."

"Oh yeah?  You have something you want to tell me?"

"Yeah I do!  I...I think I have a girlfriend."

"That's my man!  Tell me about her."

Oh great.  That wasn't exactly what I was expecting to hear.  Really, I hide part of myself from him.  In other words, he doesn't know quite how weird I really am.  So telling him about Rachelle...yeah...

"Oh-um.  She's nice..."

Lucky for me, uncle Otto let that part slip.

"How did you meet her?"

Oh crap, how could I answer that?

"Um-she was the secretary for a music company I visited in Bridgeport."

Everyone (except Mr. Simmons, of course), thinks I went to Bridgeport to pick up new supplies.  It's not like I admitted to everyone that I went there for a dream presentation!

Uncle Otto made a weird look, but he too let that slip.  It's not exactly cool to meet a girl that's a secretary, I guess.  I wish I could just be more truthful.

"Look, I really like her, okay?  And it wasn't even a one time stand.  We didn't even have sex.  But that's not because I chickend out or she didn't want to have it, but what we had wasn't a hook up.  It's going to be a lasting relationship, I know it.  Maybe it'll even lead to mirage."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that.  Will I be able to meet her?"

"Yeah, sometime.  She should come here eventually.  This isn't just going to blow over.  We're together even though we're an hour away."

Then my phone rang.

"Hey Alex, this is grandpa Joel.  We're at your house right now-why aren't you there?"

So I guess that grandpa finally was able to catch a ride in the Nursing home's van!  That's great news, but...

"Um, why didn't you just call first?  Then I could've made sure that I was home."

Silly old people, not bothering with certain things.

"Oh.  Sorry about that, Alex.  I wanted it to be a surprise.

"Well, I'll get going now."  Uncle Otto should understand.

"We can speak about that lady that you mentioned when we last talked.  What was her name again?"

He thought for a minute.

"Ah!  Marina.  That's it."

My heart sank at her name.  I totally forgot about her.

"Ill be there as soon as I can!  Bye, grandpa."

"Bye, Alex."

What could Marina be up to now?  How could I have forgotten about her?  Oh no, now I have to deal with her, and figure this out.  But will grandpa or grandma even be able to help me?

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Well guys, lots will be revealed next chapter.  You don't want to miss it.  Stay tuned!