Tell Me You'll Miss Me | ✓

2. photosynthesising

"Another dream?" Summer rolled her eyes and gave a big theatrical sigh. "Jess. Your dream girl is a total tease. She's standing you up in real life, you gotta move on already."

She wasn't wrong. Since the second time it happened, I'd been telling Summer every detail I could remember from my dreams. She pretty much always made fun of me for it, and would turn the conversation into telling me about how in her dreams, Godzilla had tea parties with her mom, so when was that going to happen? 

I scrunched my mouth to one side, thinking about it, then shook my head. "I don't know, Sum. You believe in ghosts, horoscopes, and psychics, but not prophetic dreams? Go hard or go home, dude. I think she's gonna bump into me eventually, and it's gonna be under that tree on a sunny day, and I'm gonna fall hella in love and that's that."

Summer groaned, knocking her shoulder playfully into mine and almost sending me stumbling over into some guy I barely recognised. The poor guy did his best to avoid me by clinging to the lockers lining the halls, and I shot him a grimace that said it wasn't really my fault. "You're such a loser. True love this and soulmate that," Summer huffed, ignoring the near-collision. "Grow up like the rest of us and resign yourself to dying alone, already," she said, playing it straight and grouchy even though I knew she was just messing around.

"Whatever," I said, laughing and holding my hand up to say I'd had enough. She hadn't won, but she was so hard to disagree with and get one over on that she might as well have, so I switched topics to make my quasi-defeat less obvious. "What are you doing later? Apparently the new neighbors are gonna be moving their junk in. We could swing by and say hi?" Dad hadn't said anything about not introducing Summer to them as well, after all. The more the merrier, I figured – although having her along for the ride would definitely narrow the new family's chances of getting as many cupcakes as they should.

"Mm. Hard pass. I hate people," Summer said, wrinkling her nose up almost apologetically.

"You like me," I pointed out, like maybe she'd do it as a favor to me.

"Debatable," Sum grinned, despite her words, "but I'm free. I might as well see what kind of weirdos this town actually attracts." She fished her phone out of her pocket and checked the display for the time. "See you at lunch?"

I shook my head. "I have an assignment for Martinez's class to finish, so I'm planning on photosynthesising today, instead. I'll catch you out front after the bell?"

Summer smirked and nodded, giving me a lazy salute as she wandered off.

I didn't lie to her very often. I tried my best not to lie at all, honestly – but my efforts were doubled with Summer. We shared everything, but Sum would have said I was losing my mind if she'd known my plan, so I couldn't tell her. The gross, sentimental truth was that I wanted to have lunch off campus, just to see if sitting under the big oak tree would be as blissful as it was when I was asleep.

I'd bought a pre-packaged chicken salad from the cafeteria and had stopped off for an iced coffee before coming to my destination. It was weird, being here in real life. It wasn't as if it was an important place in my life or anything, it was just somewhere I walked past regularly on my way to and from class. I looked up at the tree for a moment, then checked out the few people that were milling around. Maybe my dreams were fate's way of telling me to get my ass under this tree to meet my soulmate, right? Unfortunately for that theory, no one was paying any attention to me.

I glanced up at all the leaves, still a bright green, and then sat down where I had dreamt I'd been sitting. It should have been peaceful, but I was totally on edge – like any moment someone would tap me on the shoulder or come into my eyeline and change my world. I hadn't dated anyone since I was too young to really consider it dating, just hanging out and holding hands, and I was so ready to find someone new. Too ready, probably.

As time ticked on, I sipped at my iced coffee and picked at my salad, wishing I'd spent lunch with Summer. I mean, why had I even thought this would work? For one, the weather wasn't even right for it – light was shining through the leaves, but it wasn't sunny like I'd dreamt. The clouds overhead looked gray and purple, threatening to drizzle at any moment. I zipped my hoodie up a little more and picked up my now-empty salad container and cup of coffee, then headed back to campus feeling like the human embodiment of one big, long sigh. 

***