Part II
Start Fiction:
Jay sat and listened to his family talk to Emma and get caught up on her life. Normally, he would interject or add a comment to the conversation, but instead he was content to just listen. It had been so long since he felt so relaxed and he loved the fact that it seemed as though his family was as excited she was back in town.
In one fluid motion Jay laid his head on Emma's lap and she immediately began to run her fingers through his hair. He felt as though he was going to cry. It was as though no time had passed, nothing had changed.
This is how it's suppose to be he thought as he laid there, almost in a trance.
"Where's your beer?" Emma said.
"I have been sober for over six years," Jay said. Emma laughed. "Did you just laugh at me?"
"Yes," she said, "you are kidding, right?
Jay sat up and turned to her. She was startled by his quick movement.
"Seriously, it has been six years, and forty-five days since my last drink." Emma's smile faded as her eyes widened; she blushed slightly.
"Wow, that's amazing," she said. "I'm sorry if I offended you."
"No," he said as he laid back down, "I don't joke around ALL the time anymore."
"Well, as long as you still joke around, we'll be just fine," she said as she leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. "I need to use the rest room."
"Let' head to house," Jay said as he made his way to his feet. "The bathroom might be a little more sanitary than the port-a-potty's out here."
"And perhaps a tour of your uncle's house," she said extending her hand for Jay to take and help her to her feet. She kissed him on the cheek as they began to descend the hill. Hand and hand, they both smiled.
They walked into the house and Jay showed her to the little bathroom off the mud room.
"Wow, only skinny-assed people can use this bathroom," she said. "I'm gonna have to take off my hat just to sit on the toilet!"
Jay left Emma as she closed the door and he walked down the hall to the kitchen. There were people milling around, mixing drinks, making snacks. The layout of the house was completely different than in reality. However, it didn't register with Jay that it was different house as he had been in that house before and was somewhat distracted by the presence of Emma.
As he looked out over the living room, he heard a drill running. He opened what he thought was a closet door but there was a room with all kinds of machinery and a man doing work on a helmet.
Wait a minute, Jay thought, some thing's not right. He turned back to he kitchen and living room and took a closer look. This wasn't his uncle's house; he wasn't sure it was even a house at all.
Jay quickly made his way back through the house, finding the house changing slightly as he moved from room to room, his anxiety building.
Please don't be a dream, please! His heart raced as he finally approached the bathroom where he left Emma.
The door was open and the bathroom was empty. He bolted out to the door and ran outside. There stood Emma, twirling her hat.
"You figured it out, huh?" she said. She appeared to be as disappointed as Jay was by his realization: this was a dream.
"But it's so real," Jay said as he stood in front of Emma. She handed him her hat, and turned to walk away.
"It was nice to be with you again," Emma said as she walked up the driveway. "Maybe we can do this again sometime soon."
"Maybe," Jay said as he just let her go.
Typical Jay.
Jay awoke and shot up in bed. He placed his hands over face and fell back on the bed.
It was just a dream.
Damn my dreams, he thought. Damn them for being so real.
He laid in his bed staring at the ceiling wondering if that dream was perhaps a view into another world. In that world, he and Emma came back to each other, as he had often thought they would.
While he was pleased with the idea of an alternate reality in which he was loved as deeply as he loved, he wondered what stopped him from being pleased in this reality.
The grass is always greener, right?
End Fiction.
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