It was snowing. Jake was walking from the parking garage to the office, hunched forward slightly with his arms crossed against the wind. The snow was coming down in huge individual flakes, and it made him think of the saying that no two snowflakes are ever the same. Personally, he thought that was a load of bullcrap, because who would have the time and resources to look that closely at such a large number of snowflakes that it would practically become scientific fact? He stuck one hand out into the wind. A slew of snowflakes landed on his gloved hand and instantly began to melt. Seriously. Crazy-impossible dedication. With emphasis on the crazy-impossible part.
The next building ahead was the office. Jake crossed a street and was about to perform a mental 'almost-there' dance when he saw Amir. No he didn't. He backtracked and stared. Yes, he did. Huddled against the side of the building Jake had just passed was Amir, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and presumably freezing his ass off. Quite possibly in the literal sense.
Jake turned down the street and waved. Amir looked at him, then put his head between his knees and shivered.
"Hey," Jake called out. "Amir. What's up with you?" No response. Jake ran the last few feet to him and sat down in front of him. The snow immediately began seeping into his clothes and he winced.
Amir looked up. "Hi, Jake," he said dismally.
Jake put his hands on Amir's knees. "What the hell are you doing out here?"
"I don't want to talk about it." His teeth were chattering like crazy.
"Don't you have a coat? Never mind, here," and Jake took off his gloves and handed them to Amir. Amir reached out a reluctant hand, grabbed the gloves, and put them on quickly.
Jake was reaching to take off his scarf. "Wait," said Amir. "We could just go to the office."
Jake had completely forgotten. "Why aren't you at the office?" he said. It came out a little harsh without him meaning it to.
"I dunno, well, I do know, Pat was making fun of me, and Sarah was like, 'oh, Pat, you're so funny, Amir's stupid, hahaha,' or something, and at some point I got kicked out."
"They can't do that to you. Let's go back there. I will make sure to personally kick both their asses."
Amir smiled. "Really? You're such a good friend." And with that they both stood up and began the walk to the Office of Ass-Kicking.
"Hey Amir," said Jake as they walked into the office building, "can I ask why they were making fun of you?"
"Well, we were talking about who would be the best person to write the script for this video series, and I said you should write it because you're really funny and stuff."
"They made fun of you for praising me? Now I'm really gonna do some ass-kicking." The elevator doors opened and they stepped in. "Why would they do that?"
"Uhh," Amir said, "they said I was only saying that because…"
"…Because why?" Jake prompted.
"Because I, I dunno, because I'm in love with you or something."
There is a hissing noise coming from Jake's shower. He sits up in bed. He can distinctly hear someone singing. Then it hits him. Amir is in his shower. At 7 in the morning.
Well. Better than a murderer.
Jake gets out of bed, hardly even creeped about the Amir thing. Pieces of his dream start wafting back to him. He can distinctly remember someone saying that they love him. Sarah must have finally come round. He laughs about the fact that that could only happen in his dreams. Sarah is attached to Pat like…something that's really attached to something else.
Amir emerges from the bathroom wearing a pair of Jake's boxers. "Good morning, comprende!"
Jake starts to say "Why are you here," but the sight of Amir brings the full reality of his dream back in a rush. Jake is silent for a moment, remembering and processing.
"Yo, Jakeyboy, are you awake? You're not a zombie, are you? I hope not, because gullies or not, I'll have to kill you. I'm dead serious. Hah, I said 'dead' like—"
"Amir," Jake says.
"Huh?"
"Shut up."
Amir pouts. He thinks maybe Jake is pissed that he's wearing his boxers, but honestly, Amir borrows clothes from him all the time and he also uses his shower all the time, so he can't see what the problem is. Until he notices Jake's face is red. "Why's your face all red?"
Straight up, Jake thinks. I have no idea. But he has an idea. He has a lot of ideas, for that matter. "It's hot in here," he says. Amir blinks. Jake can tell he doesn't believe the lie.
Amir looks like he may call Jake out on it, but he just says, "Whatever, bro," and walks right out of Jake's apartment.
Jake sits on his bed. This is all so ridiculous, he thinks. But the blush remains. He looks at his alarm clock. "Shit!" He has to be at work in half an hour and he hasn't even changed clothes yet. He jumps off his bed, pushes the dream-thoughts into a corner of his mind, and decides instead to concentrate on not being late.
