What would you do if you knew there was a parallel universe just like yours, existing right now?
Would you want to see where you were? How you fared?
Who was there with you?
Chapter 1
A strong gust of wind blew in my direction, making the paper wrapping of my sandwich flutter so I grumbled. 'Just let me eat my lunch in peace' I thought. The short half hour between 12:30pm and 1:00pm was the only real release I had from my mind numbingly boring day job - filing papers and attending horrendously dull meetings at a local accounting firm. It wasn't what I had imagined for myself as a strapping young teenager - filled with ideas about the world and how I was going to change it with the power of my voice. But it paid the bills, and I had a lunch break. I could feel the heat from my sandwich seeping through the wrapping and warming my fingers, the smell wafting up so I licked my lips and prepared for a short moment of bliss.
The object must have come from my far left, hitting my face with such a force that I felt like I'd been shot. As the pain coursed through my cheekbone I realised to my horror that my hands had involuntarily lurched upwards, sending my sandwich and one bright moment of the day flying almost slow motion into the air. Lettuce and tomato sprayed in a beautiful fan of colour, stopping the world for a second before they crashed unceremoniously to the floor, the rest of the bread and filling splattering along with it.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!" At first I couldn't pinpoint the source of the voice, wondering if it was my own mouth conveying the horror I was feeling, staring down at the mutilated corpse of my lunch, but as it drew closer I realised it was coming from somebody else.
"I am so, I am so sorry!" My head turned slowly around, blurry vision focusing on a man rushing towards me. The horror on his face was almost as clear as mine. He seemed to be wrestling a dog as he moved, the animal barking animatedly at either me or the sandwich - probably the latter. Feeling a sharp stab of pain again I reached my hand up to my left cheek and felt a large bump already forming. My eyes widened and the approaching man looked even more stricken.
"Please don't sue me!" He pleaded, finally reaching me and almost dropping to his knees. The dog jumped up towards me like I was a long lost friend and I lurched backwards, jabbing my elbow into the back of the bench so I cried out in pain.
"MILO!" A sharp tug on the lead sent the dog off me, but he was still yapping away, the noise ringing through my already pounding head.
"I'm sorry, he's never normally like this." Eventually after more tugging 'Milo' seemed to settle, occupying himself with the remains of my sandwich. A sharp pang of sadness ripped through me, before I looked back towards the man to find his head merely inches from mine.
"Woah!" My new 'friend' lifted his hands in the air, obviously terrified that I was going to pull out my phone and call the police on him or something.
"I'm sorry!" He burbled for about the fiftieth time. "I'm just checking for breakages." Breakages? Shit, if my cheekbone was broken that could affect my singing - and I had a gig next week. I tried to move the muscles in my face and felt another stab of pain. The man lifted up his hands gently towards me and gingerly ran them over the swollen area.
"No no no…" He mumbled to himself, still stroking the area in what seemed an oddly tender motion. "What is your pain scale?" He asked me suddenly.
"What?"
"Your pain scale? From 1-10? 10 being excruciating and-"
"-Ok I know what a pain scale is!" I snapped, beginning to find this whole situation annoying and a little uncomfortable. "Um, about a 7?" The man's face scrunched up once more and I began to wonder if he had any clue what he was doing. "What hit me anyway?" I asked, trying to look around for the offending object.
"Milo's ball." The man replied. "I'm still working on my throwing aim."
Suddenly something else burbled up inside of me. It started in my belly, rolled right up my chest through my oesophagus and out of my mouth. A laugh. The man looked at me with disbelieving eyes for a second, perhaps wondering if I was delirious, but then after a few more moments a smile spread across his face and he burst into laughter too. We sat there for a while, tears spilling out of our eyes as we laughed and laughed. The pain in my cheek was excruciating but I didn't care. It was hilarious. Eventually when we quietened down I looked properly at my new friend for the first time. He seemed a similar age to me, mid twenties, maybe a few years younger. I hadn't noticed it before but he was decidedly beautiful, tousled platinum blonde hair framing his well proportioned face. Despite the youthfulness of his upper half his clothes seemed a little older, almost as if they were hand me downs. I was wondering what kind of body his faded brown jacket and green sweater were hiding when I realised that I was definitely staring. Luckily the man didn't seem to notice.
"How ridiculous…" He muttered to himself, either referring to himself, our laughter, or just this whole situation.
"I know." I murmured in reply. "What a lunch break…" Suddenly he seemed to remember my sandwich. Staring down in horror again he lurched to his feet, almost losing his balance.
"Your sandwich! Oh no! Let me get you another one!" Before I had time to say anything he rushed forwards, stopping abruptly when his leash snapped taught.
"Milo!" Tugging frantically on the rope I watched with great amusement as the dog refused to move. It had polished off my sandwich nicely and now for some reason was trying desperately to jump up at me again, tail wagging frantically as it barked and completely ignored it's owner.
"MILO!" When there was still no response he threw his hands up in the air, suddenly handing me the leash end.
"Will you hold him for me? I'll only be a few minutes." Again before I had time to open my mouth he was off, leaving me and the excitable dog stranded on the bench.
"But you don't know what kind of sandwi-" My words fell onto deaf ears. Slumping back into the bench I looked down at the dog, still for some reason totally obsessed with me, and sighed.
"What a lunch break."
The man returned five minutes later with a large bag. Sitting himself down beside me he first brought out a large ziplock filled with ice, thrusting it towards me like an overbearing parent.
"Put this on your cheek. Now." Smirking at his sudden authority I took the bag and pressed it gingerly to my cheek. The coldness bit into my skin, but it did soothe the throbbing.
"And here…" He continued, reaching further into the bag to pull out a long shaped package, "…is your sandwich." Placing it helpfully on my lap and I tried to unwrap it the best I could with one hand. "I realised I forgot to ask you what you ordered so I just made an educated guess." As I finally got the wrapping open I peeked inside the bread and laughed.
"Chicken, lettuce, tomato, avocado…" He had my order down to a tee, even the sauce that went with it.
"My favourite." Looking at the other long package in his hand I realised he had ordered the same. Wow. He may not have had much skill at throwing pet toys, but he did have good taste in sandwiches.
For a while we sat and ate in relative silence. Milo bounced around us, happy as Larry and despite the situation things seemed decidedly… normal. I could feel the swelling on my cheek lessening a little and paused my eating to talk again.
"So are you a doctor?" I asked, causing my new friend to look over with his mouth half full. "I mean the checking for breakages, pain scale, ice…"
"No." He replied, chuckling to himself. "That would be my husband. It's amazing what you pick up during pillow talk." Finishing his mouthful he turned to me properly and smiled. "Plus I watch a lot of Grey's Anatomy. McDreamy…" He whistled and I laughed, finding him adorable and intriguing at the same time.
"Do you regularly assault your husband with dog toys too?" I asked again, making him cringe so we laughed once more.
"Again, no. Normally he's the one that deals with Milo - I'm just helping him out while he's at work. I guess I need a little more refining."
"Maybe practise away from the general public." The man nodded, before he lay down his sandwich and leaned over to check my cheek again. The gesture was strangely intimate and for a second I felt a little inappropriate, before I settled my jittering heartbeat. I guess he was fairly lenient with personal boundaries.
"The swelling seems to be going down." He said after a second, pulling way but still sitting awfully close, the concentration on his face fixed and serious. "But I still think you should go see a doctor, a real one. Did you say you were on your lunch break?"
"Yeah, it finishes in…" lifting up my wrist I saw to my disappointment that it was 12:45pm, "…fifteen minutes."
"Shoot…" The man took another bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. "Well I would still go. Screw work." Titling my head to the side I tried to figure out the familiar feeling that had begun to pool in my stomach, the cogs in my brain turning as I watched this ridiculous but transfixing man eat in front of me.
"Have we met before?" He looked at me again, seeming confused.
"Er, I don't think so…" I stared some more, trying to pinpoint what it was that I recognised.
"There's something about you that seems, familiar." This was crazy. I didn't even know the guy's name. My friend suddenly concentrated too and as we stared at each other the feeling grew stronger.
"Wait, have you seen one of my plays?" His face lit up, suddenly incredibly excited. My eyebrows furrowed, trying to remember if I had.
"Where did you perform?"
"The playhouse on 5th. Sam Evans in 'The Man With Three Chickens'." A snort escaped from my mouth which I desperately tried to hide but failed.
"Um, no, I don't think I saw that one." My friends expression fell before he quickly looked in through again.
"Now that you mention it you kinda look familiar too… Maybe one of the bar openings?" Now that was something I had probably gone to. When your life consisted of numbers and pieces of paper you were always looking for ways to relax.
"I guess it must be." I replied, prompting another pause. It was funny to meet someone properly for the first time but feel so…familiar.
"That would make sense with Milo too." Sam continued. "Normally he hates new people. If we'd met before that would explain his…" He waved his hand vaguely around the area of his dog, who was still happy to wader around my general area wagging his tail. I had never been a huge fan of dogs, but this one I could get on board with.
"Hmm…small world." Silence feel over us again. I wondered if I'd taken my lunch to some other park if Sam and I would have ever met, if we would ever meet again. Then I wondered why the hell I was wondering that.
"I guess I should go." I said abruptly, standing up so Milo barked frantically, somehow stressed that I was leaving. "It's 12:55." Sam looked at the clock, scowling in a decidedly naive and adorable manner.
"Go to the doctor." He said, putting on his mother tone again and pointing to my ice covered cheek. "Screw work."
"It was nice meeting you." I said, holding out my free hand and wondering if it was the ice that made me shiver when ours connected in a handshake. "I'm Blaine, by the way."
"Go to the doctor Blaine. Screw work." As Milo barked a frantic goodbye I slung my bag over my shoulder, walking off in the direction of my building and shaking my head in disbelief.
"Screw work…" I muttered to myself. "Screw work…"
