i accidentally met dream

fourteen

I was laying in my bed, wide awake, staring pointlessly at the ceiling. The time was clicking by slowly. It reads 1:06 am, on my phone. I've been trying so hard to fall asleep, but I simply cannot. Maybe it's because we are both aware that Clay is Dream now. It's so weird to think about me 100% knowing and him 100% knowing that I know. It's weird because just the other day I was pretending that I didn't know him. I was pretending that his name was a coincidence. It's only been a few days since then, but still.

My phone went off, like a full phone call. I picked it up and saw that Clay was calling. I answered, slowly. "(Y/n)? I- I'm sorry. It's late. I know."

"Yeah, but your sleep schedule is wack anyways." I paused, "What's up?"

"You haven't seen Patches around your neighborhood or area, have you?" He sounded anxious, terrified, and worried laced into one voice. "I- She got out. I don't know what to do. I don't know where she is." His panicked breathing pattern worried me.

"Clay, it's gonna be okay. I promise that. Now listen, you're looking around your neighborhood now?" I ask, getting out of bed and changing into something comfortable. I grab my keys, my wallet, my shoes to slip on in the car and Clay's hoodie that I keep forgetting to return. I slip on his hoodie in hopes that while I go look for Patches, she'll recognize his scent. "Stay on the phone with me, okay?" I say, closing my door and locking it, unlocking my car as fast as I could.

I turn the car on and drive. "Yeah okay, I'll stay on the line."

"Good. Don't hang up." I say, driving around my area, looking for any signs of a cat. Patches is precious to Clay and I would do anything to find her for him. Not only is she precious to him, but she's precious to the fans. The fans need Patches. "What happened, do you know?"

"I guess when I was bringing the fan mail in today, I forgot to close the door after getting the second trip and she slipped out. I brushed it off as she was sleeping somewhere like, under the couch, so I didn't think much of it, until an hour ago." He said, his breathing getting exponentially worse.

"Okay. Clay, I'm going to need you to breathe. You're going to need to stay calm. I promise being calm will help you feel better. If you're all panicked, it'll be harder to find her." I say, spotting a cat, but it was black. I came to an area that was a dead end, so I turned around and headed in the direction of Clay's neighborhood. "Deep breath in-" I hear him do so. "Hold it for 1, 2, 3, 4, release." I repeat the process until he says he's good.

"Thank you (Y/n)." He says, his voice a lot calmer.

"I'm on my way to your area, by the way. I couldn't find her around here which means she can't be that far from your place or neighborhood area. I don't think she would go to an area that she wasn't quite familiar with." I state, looking around on my way there.

I was only about 5 minutes away from Clay's place when I saw a cat wandering around on the sidewalk. I tell Clay to hang on for a second and pull over, leaving the phone in the car. I hop out of my seat and over to the cat. It looks too much like Patches so I try. "Patches?" Her ears perk up to her name being called and she looks my direction. "Come here baby." I crouch down and calmly wait for her to come to me. "Pspspspspspsps." I had to give it a try.

I decided to take a risk and fully sit on the sidewalk. "Come here Patches, please." I whisper the please, but she inches closer to me, unsure of whether to trust me or not. I know there aren't many occasions where I've bonded with Patches, but I really want to. I want to gain her trust so she comes running to me if this ever happens again. I put the sleeve over my hand to see if she'd come sniff it. It still smells like Clay still. There's no way she can't recognize his scent on this hoodie.