Here we go! Chapter 8 is here and it's time for me to get started on #9! This one was a bit longer than the others, so enjoy!
Lost in a Dream, Chapter 8
I awoke on Thursday morning practically glued to Brayden. ‘Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.’ I thought as I remembered going to bed without showering last night. Through all the drama in the late evening, Gina told us that she had pulled some strings for me and gotten me excused from my classes for Thursday. Brayden and Jason weren’t so lucky, as they were only excused from their morning classes.
When I finally separated myself from Brayden, the clock read 9:36. I grabbed my bathroom kit and went off to shower. I had completely forgotten about the feelings in and around my left eye until someone from down the hall pointed out the nasty shiner. “Dude!” he said, “What the fuck happened to you?!”
I just laughed and said, “You should see the other guy!” ‘He spent the night in jail!’ I thought, but decided I wouldn’t tell. My life certainly has gotten a whole lot more interesting, lately!
When I made it back to the room, Brayden was sitting up on the bed. “Oh my God!” he said when he saw the black eye, “That guy really got you good, didn’t he?”
“I wouldn’t have lasted long in a boxing match against him, that’s for sure!” I said, smiling. “Hey, if you wanna shower down here you can, I’ve got an extra towel and you can use my stuff. Doesn’t really matter to me!”
“Do you think anyone will say anything if they see me walking out of your room?”
“Who cares if they do,” I said, shrugging, “I can either tell them you were keeping an eye on me because of the fight, or I can tell them you’re my boyfriend.”
“Let’s just stick to me keeping an eye out for you, I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I found you like Lukas found Evan just because someone didn’t like that we were dating.”
“Me neither, Brayden, me neither. Hurry up and shower, you stink!” I said, ushering him out of the room. I opened the window and got dressed and went back to the bathroom to try and put my contacts in. Thankfully, the swelling was down, so I was able to put both contacts in. When I made it back to my room, Brayden’s phone was ringing, so I looked and saw it was Lukas calling. Hope Brayden doesn’t mind!
“Hello?” I asked as I answered the phone.
“Matt?” Lukas asked, confused, so I explained that Brayden was in the shower. “Oh, okay. Say, I’m going to go visit Evan at the hospital, would you guys like to join me?”
“I’m sure Brayden would love to as much as I would, but,” I said, feeling a sharp pain in my stomach, “I haven’t eaten a damn thing in almost a day. Wanna meet at the commons?”
“A day?! You really are fucking crazy.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, laughing, “I’m definitely regretting not grabbing something at some point, but I stopped caring about being hungry once everything was in motion yesterday.”
“I suppose,” he said, “can you have Brayden text me when you’re leaving?” I told him of course, that would be much easier than setting a time. “Oh, and, Matt? Thanks. I still think you’re fucking crazy, but thanks for all of that.” We both exchanged a few laughs at that and said our good byes. Thinking back on the whole day, it definitely seemed like I thought with adrenaline more than my noggin. I was chuckling to myself still holding Brayden’s phone when he came back from his shower.
“What’s so funny?” He asked as he came in the room.
“It seems I made an ‘interesting’ first impression on Lukas, yesterday.” I said as he dropped his towel. Amazingly, this was the first time I’d seen him completely naked in the light. He looked damn fine.
“Like what you see?” He said with a devilish grin.
“More than you know, babe, more than you know!” I said, smiling, “But we don’t have time for that now, sorry! I’m starving and Lukas is going to join us for breakfast before we go to the hospital.”
“And what happens if I already have plans for something else, huh?” Brayden said in a playful tone.
“Oh I know you do, Brayden, because I made them!” I told him, laughing. “Now, as much as I like seeing you naked, hurry up and put some clothes on!” As we left, I grabbed a pair of sunglasses to cover the black eye as much as I could. I really didn’t want that much attention out of the whole thing.
As we were walking out, Brayden sent Lukas the text I promised when Kevin came down the stairs and joined us in our walk. “Really, Matt, sunglasses indoors?” I looked at him, smiled, and pulled them down passed my nose to show him the black eye. “Holy fuck!” He exclaimed in a hushed tone, “Who did that to you?”
“That’s a story for another day, Kevin, sorry! It’s a good one with a happy ending, though, I promise!” I said, pulling the sunglasses back up and smiling.
“Look, I don’t really care about you two dating, but I definitely don’t want to hear about what you do after the lights go out.” Kevin said, grinning.
“You know, Kevin, that smile says otherwise,” Brayden said, “but, it wasn’t me so you don’t have to worry!” We all chatted casually after that, and, before long, we made it to the commons and Kevin was off to class.
When we made it to breakfast, Lukas was already there and waiting. We sat at the small table with him and I pulled my sunglasses off. He was smiling until he saw the shiner, but he wasn’t upset, merely surprised. “Oh my God!” he said, mouth agape, “Does it hurt?”
“It’s just like a bruise, ‘cept it’s around my eye.” I said, “So, were you as lucky as I was to get the whole day off?”
“You got the whole day off? Lucky! I just got my morning classes off.”
“Well, you see, I don’t have morning classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that might be why!”
“True, that could be.” He said, “Oh! Evan’s excited to meet you guys. I told him we’d be over soon!” I had just finished one of the most satisfying meals of my life and didn’t figure I’d be hungry until at least dinner time.
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By the time we made it to the hospital, it was about 11:00. To call it a hospital, though, was a bit of an overstatement. It was basically a three-floor clinic that only kept patients for a couple of nights. If they needed to be there longer, they’d be transported to another hospital about an hours worth of driving away. Lukas had told us Evan would probably be there longer than most stayed, but they said it wouldn’t be more a week or so. I was kind of surprised, but he told us they had the equipment necessary and the beds available to keep him there.
When we made it to the room, Lukas entered first. As we walked in he said, “Evan, I’d like to introduce you to Brayden and Matt.”
Evan weakly looked over at us and smiled and said, “Hi guys! Which one is which?”
“Don’t play games with the guy who did you justice, Evan.” Lukas said, sternly.
“Lukas, it’s okay. Evan, I’m ----” I started to say, but was finished by Evan, “Matt. I know, Lukas was right!”
We all casually talked for a little bit. Evan seemed to think that if things improved enough by the weekend that he could be released way early. I doubted that, but thought Monday could be a more respectable early release date. He would have to come back at some point, though, as he had ten stitches put in to help heal the cut on the left side of his left eye.
“Alright,” Evan said out of the blue, “I’m gonna ask somethin’, Matt, that I think everyone else has been thinking. When were you born?”
“April 14th, 1990. You?” I said, grinning. I think I already knew the answer to that. At least, I hoped I knew.
“Damn. I was born the 13th. So close.” He said with a hint of disappointment. “Oh well, I guess the world is just full of coincidences!” We all sat around in disappointed silence for a few minutes until something popped into my head.
“What time were you born?” Couldn’t be, though, could it?
“11:52 at night.” He said, solemnly, until something caught his mind. “Oh my God. No fucking way. And you? What time?” He asked in anticipation as the room drew a collective breath.
I smiled. I smiled hard. “Just after midnight. 12:04.” We continued talking about it for a while, learning we were born also in the same city and the same hospital. “Evan,” I started, “I think we’re twins!”
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Brayden and I chilled at the clinic with Evan and Lukas for a little while, but Brayden had class to get to and I was driving him there. I told Lukas that if he wanted a ride back to campus, all he had to do was call or text when he was ready and I’d go and pick him up. Brayden and I had to stop by the dorm to pick up his backpack, but that didn’t take long. When I dropped him off, he said he was planning on going swimming after class and probably wouldn’t be back until around 5:00. When I came back to the dorm for good, I saw Gina standing at the front desk talking to the desk worker. I waved at her and said thanks, but she stopped me and pulled me into her office before I could get away.
“Matt,” she said, “I wanted to let you know that I am very grateful for what you did to bring justice to Evan after what was done to him. However, since you’re not psychic,” she said with a wink, “you didn’t exactly solve the original crime the way the city and the university sees the matter.”
“Thank you, Gina, I really was just doing what I thought was right.”
“And everyone involved believed it was the right thing to do. Because of that, I pulled some more strings and got you a free room in this dorm for the remainder of the year. The same goes with Evan, and the university will be asking if he wants to change dorms for security reasons. However, I do not think they will be asking the same question to Lukas.”
“Is there any way Lukas could swap positions with another RA just so he could be in the same building or on the same floor as Evan?”
“Normally,” Gina started, “I would say that most people wouldn’t consider that kind of switch. But, I am planning on talking to the staff about that in our weekly meeting tonight. If I could get someone to commit, Lukas would definitely be welcome on our staff. As you can probably guess, I have suggested to the university that they offer Evan the medical emergency room, but I cannot guarantee that will happen.”
“Gina, I think I speak for Lukas and Evan when I say that we really appreciate everything you are doing. If anything else comes up, tell Jason that I need to schedule an appointment and I’ll be here as soon as I can!” I said as I got up to leave Gina’s office before I had a thought come to mind, “Gina, if they don’t offer that medical room and can’t find another empty, there’s always my room...” I didn’t know if anything would come to pass, but I thought I’d at least put an offer on the table. She thanked me for the offer and I left. It was quite relieving to hear that Evan and Lukas would be able to move if they wanted to.
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I was just sitting around in my room half waiting for a call from Lukas and half watching some movie when there was a knock at my door.
“Come on in, I’m just procrastinating!”
“I know you said this was a story for another day, but I can’t wait anymore. What the fuck happened to you!” Kevin said as he walked in and sat down. I just laughed and told him that it was a long story and he needed to hear everything in order to understand.
I started telling him about the dreams I had been having over the past week. I explained that I really thought they were just dreams until the people from the dreams popped up in real life. I told him that I had been freaked out from before I was awake yesterday morning. It started with the dream, then to the picture at the meeting, Brayden and Coach not hearing from Lukas, and then later talking to Lukas. Then, I said I had figured out something I could do about the whole thing. So I explained my plan and it’s success.
“Damn,” he said after hearing the whole story, “remind me not to fuck with you!”
“Yeah,” I said, laughing, “so that’s where the black eye came from. Good story?”
He just laughed and told me to just keep the dreams to people I trusted, which I was planning on anyway. I do think he believed me, though. He seemed pretty upset when I said that Greg just punched me, but I told him it was all for the good of the cause. When he left, I decided to see if Jason was around to update him on the situation with Evan and Lukas.
“So, Gina wants them both over here?”
“Yup,” I said, “and don’t you even think about trading spots with Lukas. It might sound good to you, but think of the rest of the guys on the floor. Most of them are sophomores now and might not take as kindly to Lukas as you might think. I don’t even know what most of them will think about Brayden and me.”
“The guys like you, Matt. Even when you’re not here, nobody talks shit about you. They all know you’re a good guy.”
“I know, Jason, and nobody has ever given me reason to believe they would do something like Greg did. But, sometimes, you just never know about someone until it’s too late. Please, stay here?”
“I won’t volunteer right away, Matt, but if Lukas wants to stay with Evan and Evan wants to move, I can’t promise that I won’t try to make that happen.” Good ol’ Jason, always trying to do the right thing!
“Oh!” I exclaimed, remembering being with Evan at the hospital earlier, “Guess what? Brayden and I met Evan at the hospital earlier.” I said, without giving him a chance to answer.
“Apparently you didn’t want me to guess...” he said, trailing off, “But, good to hear! How’s he doing?”
“He’s in good spirits, a little bruised, but so am I.” I said, “But wait! There’s more! I found out he was born on April 13th, too!” I said, excitedly.
“So, you’re not twins, then? You were born on the fourteenth, I specifically remember us having a big-ass party last year.” Jason said, perplexed by the situation. I laughed at his disappointed confusion until he said, “What?”
“We were born twelve minutes apart, Jason! In the same town, at the same hospital, even.” Right as I finished that sentence, Kelsey walked into the room.
“Crazy, man! Have your parents ever said anything?”
“No,” I started, “but I haven’t exactly asked. I was planning on going home in a couple weekends, so I’ll just bring it up then.”
“Bring what up?” Kelsey asked since she missed the first part of the conversation.
“Oh nothing, really, except that I’m pretty sure I have an identical twin!” I said as I turned and looked at her.
“What? HOLY FUCK! Matt! What happened?!” Kelsey exclaimed as she saw the black eye for the first time. Jason was sitting at his computer and I was on the futon, so the left side of my face was away from the door. Up until my statement, I had been facing away from her.
I just laughed, cracked my knuckles, and said, “If you think this is bad, you should see the other guy!”
“Oh, puh-leez, Matt. You’re not one to get into fights. Tell me what happened!”
I turned to Jason and said, “This one’s all you, Jase, I’ve told this enough today!” So Jason went ahead and relayed the story as if I were a war hero.
“Jase, you make it sound like I saved a child from a burning fire. I got punched in the face and the guy got caught!”
“And you make it sound simple! My way is more fun!” Jason said, smiling.
“Fine! But you know as well as I do that there was hardly anything fun about yesterday.”
“Matt, you’ve gotta get used to this now,” Kelsey said, “because each time he tells it it’s going to sound more and more like you killed a dragon with your fists!”
We all laughed for a few minutes and then I realized something. Jason and Kelsey had both called me ‘Matt’. No ‘Lil’’ was anywhere to be found. “You know what I just realized?” I asked, “Neither of you have called me Lil’ Matt in a while. What’s up with that?”
“You’re right, Matt,” Jason started, “you just don’t seem ‘Lil’’ anymore! Hell, you don’t even go with me everywhere I go anymore!” It will be different to hear the lack of the nickname, for a while, but I can definitely get used to not having it!
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It was about 4:00 when Lukas finally called. He had pretty good timing, as Jason was just heading off to his staff meeting. Lukas apologized for not calling sooner, but he said he ended up staying there longer than intended. “Doc came in about a half hour ago and said that Evan had made incredible strides toward returning to health. I asked him if he could be out of the clinic by the end of the week, and the Doc just said, ‘There’s no reason he even needs to stay tonight.’”
I wasn’t sure how long I was quiet, but I was truly speechless. “Has the university called about moving him, yet?”
“No, not yet. But Mark called me and said that I should expect a call about that within the next day or two.”
“Is Evan okay to stay in his room?” I asked, concerned. I don’t know if I’d feel safe there, so I’d be legitimately surprised if Evan did.
“We’re really not sure yet. The worst case scenario I see is that he has to spend the night with me.”
“He’ll be safe with you, I’m quite sure!” I said, chuckling. “Say, when it gets close to dinner time, gimme a call and I’ll come pick you up.” He agreed, and I said I’d talk to him later. I started wondering whether or not they were dating
In the mean time, I had about an hour to kill before Jason would be done with his meeting and Brayden would be back from his swim. I decided it was a good time for one of my favorite afternoon college activities. Nap time!
To be continued...
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