The knocking on the door woke her up. She grumbled out of bed and walked towards the incessant noise.
"I'm coming!"
She opened the door.
"Cooper?"
Oh God. She wasn't supposed to see him until the morning. She hadn't figured out what to say, how to say it. Why was he here?
"Cooper. What are you doing here? It's like 3 in the morning." She said, but opened the door a little wider so he could come in. Breathe, Violet. In. Out. In. Out.
"Yeah.. I know. I'm sorry." He looked at her with apologetic eyes, "I just, I've been...I need, I need to take back what I said earlier."
She racked her brain for anything offensive he may have said, but nothing came up. She looked at him blankly and he continued.
"I can't do friends."
What?! How was she supposed to tell him she loved him if he couldn't even be friends with her? This was supposed to be something they would be able to laugh about! How could a dream ruin her life?! It was a series of images, thoughts, and emotions that a person experiences in their mind as they sleep! She hyperventilated internally, hoping for this to be a nightmare.
She shook her head. "You're not making sense."
"Violet, I can't be that person. That one that gives you guy advice and sends you off on dates every Friday. I don't want to be your best man. I can't settle for that. And I'm sorry."
She waited patiently for him to finish, her mind racing in all directions. She wasn't sure how to start a sentence, let alone finish one.
"What are you talking about?" She said after a paused.
"What? You know what I'm talking about. You know I know. Your Someone Else!" He said tensely.
Her what?! She continued to look at him in confusion. No sentences were formed completely enough to be verbalised.
"What I'm saying, Vi, is that I can't sit there and be your friend, while He gets the whole package!" Cooper said, frustrated. And she was frustrated also, because she still had no idea what he was on about. But she started to realise that he may not know about the dream after all. And she didn't know she felt about that.
"Cooper. No one is getting the whole package." She shook her head and tried to disguise a smile. She had a package. And he acknowledged it. Would now be a bad time to offer it to him?
He waved his arms around frantically, "What about Mr. Breakfast and The Bee Gees?"
She started to laugh. He was jealous of himself. "Cooper. That was dream I had."
He stared at her for a second, "Oh. So why were you avoiding me?"
She paused. "It was about you."
He looked at her, and opened his mouth to say something, but shut it promptly. She glanced around the room, then looked back at her and sat down on her couch. She sat down next to him. He turned to her, opened his mouth to say something again, but no words came out.
Eventually, after a long silence: "So there's no someone else?" he asked.
She shook her head, "I don't want someone else."
And there it was. She had said it. Or at least said something to the equivalent. It was up to him now. He placed a hand on her knee and smiled.
And his face got replaced by the dark ceiling of her bedroom. You've got to be kidding! She groaned loudly and covered her face with a pillow. She hated when people played games with her mind and now her mind was playing games with her mind. And now she was confused and tired and in love. It wasn't even morning. What was she supposed to do? Go back to sleep? Unlikely.