REM // Van McCann

16. A Deal Is a Deal

Not sure what was happening, one thing was certain. I was hiding from Florence. In order to get out of her sitting in on my dreams, I called out sick but I knew this didn't get rid of the problem entirely. I was afraid to go outside and see her so I ordered takeaway to be delivered and just got notified it was here and they were waiting outside my building. Not wanting to change into jeans, I decided to stay in my joggers and take the lift down.

I could see the person through the door but they didn't notice me as their back was to me. I pushed the door open and greeted them, confirming that I was the person they were looking for. When she turned around, I was surprised to see that it was Florence with an ominous smile on her face knowing she had me caught. I felt the need to get away but didn't move because I knew I was dreaming. First of all, my mind got the structure of my building wrong. It was a weird mix of my work building and a place I've never seen before. And secondly, the person delivering my food seemed to change. From the back, I couldn't recognize her and all of a sudden, she became Florence.

It's silly to think that it's come to this. I'm having nightmares about our encounter! Since I was dreaming, I tried my best to manipulate my dream. This is known as lucid dreaming. It takes a certain amount of skill to lucid dream. Oftentimes, when people realize they're dreaming, they wake up. Only a small minority of people can stay asleep long enough to change the outcome of their dream. In this case, I was going to talk to her.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

She didn't answer and the features of her face began to blur which meant I was waking up. I opened my eyes to darkness and turned over to look at the clock. 4:14 AM. Fuck's sake. Less than 12 hours until I see her.

I sat up, turned the lamp on, and rummaged through my drawer until I found my dream journal. Although this dream was a nice break from dreaming about Clara, I didn't appreciate her making an appearance in my dreams. This is all Bondy's fault. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and began writing on a new page, documenting what I could remember but also adding a note that this dream was a result of the bet Bondy made. Once I was done, I put my journal away and went to the toilet. I've got a bad habit of checking my socials when I should be sleeping. I fell asleep with my phone on my chest.

-

Bondy was surprised to see me at work today. He didn't say anything but his face said it all when he watched me walked in. There was a hint of a smile which meant he was excited to see how today would unfold.

"Mornin'," I greeted him, putting my stuff away. My back was to him the whole time as I made my way to the kitchen to make a brew.

"Have you heard from her yet?" he finally asked. I turned around and leant back against the counter.

"No, not yet."

Bondy stayed silent, pleased to hear that she hasn't dropped out of the study yet, though she still has six more hours to do so. My hope was that she'd have cold feet right before our session. Fuck's sake...right when I managed to recover from my nightmare, Bondy had to go and remind me of it again. I pushed myself off the counter and made my way over to my desk. When I sat down, Larry burst into the room, breathless and the both of us eyed him, waiting for him to speak. Once he caught his breath, he beamed.

"I did it! I asked if she wanted to eat dinner some time and she said yes!" he shouted. I was elated.

"Congrats, mate. How'd it happen?" I questioned. Larry went to put his stuff away, talking the whole time.

"I was running late this morning and we actually left at the same time and took the same lift down. I asked how she was settling in and she said nicely but she's lonely because she doesn't know that many people. I asked if she wanted to get dinner some time and she got excited and suggested tomorrow."