Fool With Dreams

Dani woke up to a delicious smell of coffee and bacon. Sleepily, she padded downstairs and headed to the kitchen.

“Whoa! I must be still sleeping,” she muttered, staring at a dark haired man, standing in front of their stove. She resisted the urge to rub her eyes.

“Morning! Dani, right? I’m Brian. Get yourself some coffee and breakfast will be ready in a minute,” Brian gestured towards coffee maker with a wide smile.

Dani blinked a few times before going to take a cup.

“Why are you here?” she turned to Brian, her brows furrowed in worry.

Smile on Brian’s face disappeared. “I needed to talk with Ash,” he said while turning back to the stove.

“And?”

“And I still need to talk to her,” he kept his eyes down, not wanting to look at the woman who seemed to be judging him.

“She must have let you in, so why haven’t you two talked yet?” Dani asked, crossing her arms on her chest.

“Because he was a bit too drunk for that last night,” Ash answered from the doorway, startling them both.

There was a tiny smile playing on her lips. She found it kind of cute that Brian was making breakfast in her kitchen.

“Oh,” Dani muttered, looking from one to other. “Right. I’m gonna take Hemi for a walk,” she said at last, pouring her coffee to a thermos mug, then fled from the room.

“You want some breakfast?” Brian offered, feeling awfully nervous all of a sudden.

“Sure! Let’s see how good you are,” Ash smiled warmly, trying to break that awkward tension around them.

“I’m THE best breakfast cook in Huntington,” Brian said with a bright smile.

They ate in silence, casting shy looks at each other, both quickly turning away when caught. Eventually Brian got up and took their empty dishes.

“Let me do that,” Ash went to the sink. She needed something to do, she couldn’t just sit and wait any longer. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” she asked a minute later, when Brian hadn’t still said anything.

“I, um, I don’t know what to say,” Brian muttered, combing his hand through his already messed up hair. He felt shy and embarrassed and stupid, something that hadn’t happened since middle school.

“You can say anything you want. I wont bite, I promise,” Ash smiled again, drying her hands and turning to face him.

“Well, I’m more worried you’ll turn me into a frog or something,” Brian mumbled. “Sorry, bad joke,” he muttered right after, seeing Ash’s serious face. “I just, um,” he took a really deep breath before looking straight at Ash. “Can you give me one last chance to get to know you? It just feels like I can’t go on without you in my life. I just cant stop thinking about you.”

“Bri, it’s not gonna work out when you’re afraid of me,” Ash looked down, feeling sad inside.

“I know. That’s why I wanna get to know you, so my stupid head would finally realize that there’s nothing to be afraid of. So, what do you think? Friends?” Brian held out his hand, a hopeful look on his face.

Ash couldn’t keep back a small smile. It was a step forward and she couldn’t refuse.

“Sure, why not,” she accepted his hand and shook it.

Sudden ringing of her phone startled both of them. She quickly grabbed it from the table and answered the call.

“Oh, hi, Matt! What’s up?” she asked, hearing his familiar voice on the other end.

“Whoa, slow down, buddy. First, I don’t have the ability to track missing persons. And second, are you sure he’s missing at all?” Ash smiled, looking at Brian.

“What’s wrong?” Brian asked very quietly, stepping a bit closer to her.

“Matt’s freaked out because you are apparently missing and wont answer your phone,” she said to him, not bothering to cover up her phone.

“He’s there?” Matt yelled so loud that even Brian heard it.

“Hold on, I’m setting you on speaker,” Ash fumbled with her phone for a second. “Okay, go ahead,” she nodded to Brian.

“Hey, man,” he said, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.

“What the hell Bri? It’s ten a.m., you were supposed to be here two hours ago. Couldn’t you at least pick up your damn phone? We’ve called to every relative you have and no one knows anything about you. We were about to declare you missing,” Matt was practically raging on the other side.

“Shit! I forgot about the practice,” Brian rubbed his face. “And I have no idea where my phone is,” he added, after patting through his pockets.

“Well, get your ass here, like NOW,” came Jimmy’s demanding voice.

“By the way, did you guys made up at last?” Matt asked, hopeful happiness evident in his voice.

“I think so,” Ash smiled, looking at Brian again, who smiled back.

A chorus of cheering came through the phone, Jimmy’s voice the loudest. “Finally!” he yelled. “Now, get in here, before I come to get you.”

“God, you’re annoying,” Brian sighed, a small smile on the corner of his lips.

“NOW GATES!” Jimmy yelled, making Ash laugh out loud. She couldn’t keep her giggles inside any longer.

Brian shook his head. Seeing Ash so happy made him want to smile for some reason. He didn’t want to leave.

“Did he left already?” Jimmy asked a few seconds later, impatient like he was.

“Yeah, Jims, he just walked out,” Ash forced herself to lie when Brian looked at her with those sweet pleading eyes of his.

“Then why am I not seeing him down the street?” Jimmy demanded, obviously standing in front of his own house.

“I don’t know, Jims. Look, I have to go now. We can talk later, okay?” Ash wanted to end the call but Jimmy’s exited voice stopped her.

“Waiiit! I need your ass here too. We have a new song I want you to hear.”

“Sure,” she said, seeing Brian eagerly nodding his head too. “But I wanna wait til Dani gets back. I’ll be there a bit later.”

Realizing that Brian wanted her to be there too made her a lot happier.

“Oh, I already kidnapped those two,” Jimmy laughed.

“Well, I still have to change out of my pj’s. I’ll see you soon,” Ash pushed the end button quickly, not giving Jimmy another chance to say anything else.

“Can I come over tonight? There’s something I need to tell you about,” Brian asked with a worried look on his face.

“Sure,” Ash nodded, wondering what else it could be he needed to talk about.

Loud thumping at the front door made them both jump.

“Gates! I know you’re still here. Get your sorry ass out here, so I could kick it to the moon!” they heard from the other side of the door. Brian turned his big brown eyes at Ash.

“Back door,” she whispered to him, nodding her head to that direction. Brian ran off and Ash slowly made her way to the front door.

“Stop killing my door, Jimmy! He’s not here anymore,” she laughed, when Jimmy pushed past her and searched through the house.

“What? Where is he then? Cause I didn’t see him on the street,” Jimmy demanded, his arms crossed on his chest.

“I don’t know, he left about five minutes ago,” Ash said, bending the truth just a little.

“He’d better be at my place when I get back,” Jimmy muttered, starting to turn around.

“Wait! Did you and Leana made up last night?” Ash asked. She really wanted to know this, but she also wanted to buy Brian a bit more time.

“Oh, yeah, we totally made up,” he beamed like a maniac. “We had a pretty busy night.”

“Okay, that’s all I wanted to know. Save the details, please,” Ash said quickly, seeing that Jimmy was ready to tell her everything.

“Fine! Are you ready yet? Actually, I don’t care. You’re coming the way you are,” Jimmy launched at Ash and threw her over his shoulder.

“Jimmy! What the hell? Put me down! I’m not going anywhere in my pj’s!” Ash yelled, trying to squirm out of his grip.

“Your pj’s look good enough to wear them at my place,” he continued to walk out of the door, ignoring her pleas and struggles. He made sure to grab her keys from the shelf in the hall and locked the door behind them.