The Stacks

Chapter 9: Dream On

Song: "Dream On" by Aerosmith

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Sunday afternoon, I was getting ready for my sister and her boyfriend to arrive. Since the next day was Halloween, we decided to paint our faces. No extravagant costumes or anything; I was just wearing a black sweater with my black skinny jeans, and I made up my face to look like a kitty cat. I put on a headband with cat ears; simple enough.

We were just planning to go to a bar and have dinner and maybe a few drinks, and not stay out too late since it was a Sunday night, after all, so I had to work in the morning. I was glad for the chance to meet Scott, and that I didn't have to think about cooking anything for them since we were going out. I had the Lions game on TV while I was doing various things throughout the afternoon. The Lions were winning so there would definitely be celebration in the city tonight.

The makeup on my face hadn't even dried completely when I heard a knock on my door. I wasn't expecting Lauren and Scott just yet since the game was still going, unless they decided to beat the foot traffic. It was a pretty sure win for Detroit anyway, but it would be strange for Lauren to want to leave before the final play.

I kept the chain latched on my door and opened it just enough to see who was there.

It was Harry.

I quickly closed the door and unlatched the chain, then threw it open again. "Hey," I said, trying to sound casual when in reality, my heart was galloping with excitement. "Come on in."

"Thank you," he said and I was happy to have his voice in my loft again. He hugged me and then stepped back and took a better look at my face. "Halloween?" He asked.

"Yeah, my sister and her boyfriend are coming over after the game and we're going out for dinner. Figured we might as well since Halloween is tomorrow. They tell me I'm too old for trick-or-treating," I said, shrugging.

Harry laughed and it made me happier. "I'm sorry for just stopping in unannounced, but I realized that I didn't have your phone number or any way to contact you."

Yep, I noticed that, too. I was still trying not to act too excited that he was there. "Why don't we get that out of the way before anything else?" I suggested. I handed him my phone and he put his number in. Then I texted him and voila, we had a connection.

"Well, it sounds like you already have plans, otherwise I was going to see if you, uh, might want to have dinner with me." He seemed to be a little nervous about asking, which was odd since we'd had such a nice time together the previous week. But maybe he was asking me on a date. Like a real date and not just a hang-out date. It didn't seem like he was ready for a real date yet, but why would he be so nervous about a hang-out date?

"Regan?" He prodded, interrupting my frantic thoughts. "Sorry, I know this is a bad time. I guess I'll just take off since you're busy."

"No, it's not a bad time at all," I assured him. "I was just thinking for a minute. Would you like to come with us? We're most likely going to hit a bar and have dinner there. It's really casual. No pressure."

He tilted his head to the side and scrunched up one eyebrow. "I have one question: Do I have to paint my face?"

"Face paint is optional," I said, laughing.

"Then that sounds great," he said, taking off his coat. "Again, I'm sorry for just showing up unannounced. My mum would scold me, saying it's not polite, but I had no other way to contact you."

I almost said, You could have come to the library, but I didn't want to sound angry or upset that he wasn't there this week, even if I had been quite disappointed. He didn't have to be there and he didn't have to explain why he wasn't.