The next morning was rather awkward.
George seemed quite contemplative and distant. He was a little unresponsive and overall a tad quieter than normal.
Dream chewed his lip in thought. He tried as hard as he could to think of a solution to make George a little more comfortable, but in the end, nothing came to mind.
He decided to go with his only other option, calling his sister.
Dream called Drista rather often. They talked about normal sibling things and jokingly threatened each other.
Dream often came to her for relationship advice. She liked to make fun of him for it, but was always happy to help.
Dream called her and prayed she wasn't busy. She picked up eventually.
"Hey," Dream said.
"Hi."
"Are you busy?"
"I'm about to go to my friend's house but I have a few minutes before they pick me up."
"Can you help me out?"
Dream could hear the smile on her voice.
"Oh, of course young grasshopper! What might you need assistance with."
"Ok, you can drop the act."
"Dang it."
"I need help with my fiancé."
"Ooh, coming to your sister for relationship advice once again?"
"Just shut up and listen."
"Ok, ok, what's the problem?"
"We ran into his ex the other day and it wasn't pretty."
"Oh, no. Is he alright?"
"That's what I need help with."
"Not to pry, but can you tell me what happened?"
Dream explained everything. Luckily for him, Drista had found out on her own that George was actually a revived ghost, so he didn't have to dodge all the paranormal parts. How she did that, Dream had no clue, but she had managed to find it out. George knew she knew as well and was relieved that he had one less person to avoid.
"That's... really bad," Drista decided.
"Yeah, and now I don't know what to do!"
"First off, what's he acting like."
"He seems really distant and un-talkative"
"He may just need a minute to process, give him a little space."
"But he looks upset."
"What kind of upset? Like sad or angry?"
"A bit of both."
"That's really not good."
"Just tell em what I should do!"
"Give him some space for about an hour then ask him how he's doing and if he wants to talk about it. Throw an extra hug in there or something."
Dream thanked her repeatedly and they said their goodbyes and hung up.
Giving George space was harder then expected.
It was difficult to see the look in his eyes as he gazed out the car window. The way that they had hone stormy and thought full.
Dream decided that he'd been quiet for too long and he should probably say something to George now.
"Are you alright?" He decided that was his best bet with getting a response.
"Yeah, better now."
"That's good."
George reached over and intertwined his fingers with Dream's hand that was resting on the center console.
"Still feeling good about meeting my mom?"
"Yep. I'll try to be a bit more talkative."
"You don't have to push yourself, just do what feels comfortable, she'll understand."
"Thanks, Dream," George smiled.
They drove a little longer until George seemed about back to normal. Still a little quiet but it wasn't too noticeable. It was probably only something Dream would pick up on.
"My mom thinks you're great."
"She's never even met me?"
"Yeah, but I've told her about you a little and she thinks you sound sweet."
"You talk about me to your mother?"
"Yes? We've been dating for several years, of course I've mentioned you."
"Still, it's weird. I didn't know you had much to say about me."
"I could write an entire book and two sequels about you."
"Oh, shut up."
Dream laughed and continued to drive. He started talking about what his mother knew about George.
"She knows what you look like because she's forced me to send pictures of us together. She knows you can be a little soft spoken around new people. She knows you like reading and that you like mythology and other smart people stuff."
"What have you used as your cover up for how we met?"
"I told her that you lived in the area and we ran into each other one day."
"Good lie."
"It's not necessary a lie it's just told a little..."
"Creatively?"
"Yes! You get it."
Finally the car drove into a narrow driveway. This was it. The house Dream had grown up in and knew every nook and cranny of.
"You ready?" He asked.
"As I'll ever be."
