So, I Had a Dream

"So I had a dream, a dream about a girl, a dream about a girl that I know… " When Henry noticed that Ray raised an eyebrow he thought to quickly clarify, "Not one that you know though. You don't know her name. You don't know where she works. You don't know who she is…"

"This story is becoming insanely boring," Ray said, ready to return to the game on his phone.

"Okay, so I had this dream about this girl - that we were hanging out and suddenly she was all over me… Kissing me!"

"Ummm… I don't know if I'm the guy to talk to about in your pants dreams. Have you tried your father?"

"It wasn't like that!" Henry insisted, blushing. "Well, I mean, it kinda was, but like… We're not like that. As a matter of fact I just low-key scolded her for thinking I might be interested in her because of some stupid dream she had."

"What is my place in all of this Henry? In other words… How is this my business?" Ray wondered.

"I think you meant, 'How can I help?' and I'm just venting, Man."

"This is either emotional or hormonal. At any rate, vent to Charlotte or Jasper! I don't want to hear about your teenage dream!" Ray said, tuning back into his game, "Next, you'll be talking to me about babies… WHICH COME FROM the Baby Store!" He added, turning away.

Henry sat down and sighed, "It can't be either of them, because they know this girl."

"And I don't," Ray said, skeptically. "So, it's not Charlotte, then?"

Henry scoffed, laughed, shook his head frantically and uttered, "What? Noo. Nopity nope, nope. It's very not Charlotte." He laughed, "I mean, could you imagine? Me thinking about Charlotte tackling me to kiss me and straddling me on the floor of the Man Cave?" He laughed nervously. "I certainly can't picture that. Is it hot in here? We've gotta check out the AC. Good talk! Good talk…" He rushed away and Charlotte removed the chameleon ring and appeared almost right in front of him. He tiny screamed when he saw her. "Char!"

She bit her lip and handed him the ring, "This isn't as much fun as you guys made it seem."

"Hey, Charlotte! Glad you're here. Now Henry can make YOU uncomfortable with his inappropriate dreams about you."

"Aaaalready there," Charlotte said, glanced at Henry, then stared at her feet.

Henry scoffed again, "It's a different girl and you don't know her."

"But I do?" Charlotte confirmed.

"I mean.. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know who you know. You weren't in my dreams. Don't flatter yourself."

"And she, like me, recently had dreams about you?" Charlotte confirmed.

Ray set his phone down, "See? NOW, it isn't boring anymore. Give him a harder time, Charlotte!"

"Yeah. She did. And I told her, just like I told you, it doesn't mean anything."

"But, unlike me, now you're dreaming about her, so maybe it does mean something, with her. Not me, of course." Charlotte confirmed.

"Of course not. Could you imagine?" He laughed awkwardly.

"I mean, obviously. I could. I was having dreams." She shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe you should go for it. Maybe she's still having dreams about you, too."

"Not you, right?" Henry confirmed.

"Right." They both had been dancing around the conversation and nervously trying to keep it going while getting away from each other to the point that they didn't realize that they had the same plan until they were both on the elevator together.

Ray shook his head and picked up his phone. "She'd better not straddle him in that elevator!"

Whenever they got off of the elevator, still playing the "Not me, not you," game, Jasper watched them stumble over their words for a few minutes.

"Because, if it WAS you, you'd totally not be into that!" Henry laughed.

Charlotte laughed and shrugged her shoulders, "I mean, if it was ME, I'D rethink my initial response of flight. Because, if you're dreaming about me too, MAYBE there would be something more to it."

He laughed too, "So, like IF it had been you, I could've just asked you out on a date and not made it weird and you totally would have accepted the invite."

"Definitely, if it was me."

They both laughed a lot, then said simultaneously, "But it wasn't." She turned and headed for the front door and he headed for the counter where Jasper was.

"SOooo.. You gonna ask Charlotte out?" Jasper wondered.

Henry made every ridiculous noise he could conjure. "WHY would I do that?"

"If she was having dreams about me, I'd ask her."

"Yeah, right."

"I did. She told me that she wasn't having dreams about ME, so I brushed it off. But, she was having dreams about you. How can you be this nonchalant?"

"Dude, it's Charlotte!"

"Yes. She has perfect teeth and really nice lips. She's also pretty and smart. I shot my shot."

"And she curved you, you said."

"Yeah, but she said that she'd say yes to you!"

Charlotte came back into the building laughing at herself, "I'm not scheduled to leave work. Where was I headed?"

"Hey, uhh… Char. After work, you wanna like, go hang out at like… A place where dates happen?" Henry asked.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at Jasper, who smiled and nodded. "Sooo… Like ON a date, Henry?"

"Not like on a date, but yes, on a date."

She shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah. Sounds like a dream."

Henry laughed, "I see what you did there!" She went towards the elevator, to go back down for the rest of her shift. When she was out of range, Henry let out a high pitched, "It's a date!"