Chapter Seventeen:
Dreams

Other than the runaway bride, the wedding went down without a hitch and the reception just got better as the relatives got more drunk. It hit its peak when Greg started to break dance in the middle of the floor.

"Are you glad you went through with it?" Luca asked as the last few people left the room.

"Yeah." Natalee smiled. "Especially because we're going to Maui in T-minus three hours and then I'm out of the apartment for good."

Luca frowned about her being not being so upset about moving out, but tried to hide it. "Well, have fun."

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Luca looked at her. "Nothing."

Natalee linked arms with her and dragged her to the bathroom. "Tell me. I know something's wrong, Lu. I've lived with you for, like, ten years."

"Aren't you a little sad about moving out?"

She shrugged. "Why would I be?"

"Me, Natalee!"

"Luca," Natalee said. "We're still going to see each other, why do we have to live together?"

"It's fun living together."

"It was more fun in college, Luca," she said. "Now we have to move on with our lives, have families. It doesn't mean we can't be best friends still."

Luca nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks. "It's just going to be lonely not seeing you walk around in your underwear and telling you everything." She laughed.

Natalee hugged her. "I have the craziest idea."

"What?"

"Let's have babies together."

Luca laughed again. "That's so weird."

"Then they could grow up together, be best friends." Natalee squealed with pleasure. "It's fucking adorable, Luca. Admit it."

"How do you know they'd even like each other?"

"I'll make them like each other," Natalee said, making Luca laugh more. "I'll do what my grandma did and beat them with a wooden spoon," she said as someone walked into the bathroom, giving Natalee a odd look.

Luca smiled.

"Let's go," Natalee said, hugging her.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Being weird about this," Luca said. "You're right. We can't be eighteen for the rest of our lives."

"It's fine," Natalee said, leading Luca out. "Better idea: arranged marriages for our kids."

Luca just laughed and shook her head. "I'm going to miss you."

"Hon, I live right across town. You can come over anytime. Unless we're having sex. So…call first."

"Deal."

After work, Greg walked into the bedroom in the pitch dark, trying not to wake up Luca. It took everything he had not to turn on the hall light as he walked into the apartment.

"Greg?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "Did I wake you?"

She sat up. "No. I couldn't sleep."

"You've been awake this whole time?"

She flipped on the lamp next to her and closed her eyes while they adjusted. "Yeah."

"Well, what's up?" He said, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling off his pants. He curled up next to her and she smiled.

"I had a gig last night."

"I was there," he reminded her.

"Right. Anyway, after the show, a man came up to me."

"A man?"

"Greg, let me finish. This man offered me a large amount of money to travel around the country."

"How much money?"

"Half a million dollars for six months of work," she said.

Greg sprung up now. "You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not."

"Well, you took it, right?"

"Fuck no!" Luca said still laying down.

"Why, Luca? We would be, like, rich!"

"And we would be away from each other for six months," she pointed out. "Money isn't everything. And anyway…I've been thinking about going back to school. I can probably teach a physics lab at UNLV and get a tuition waiver. Eventually, I could work my way up to getting my doctorate and being a professor."

"Is this what you want to do?"

"My dream has always to be happy and I used to think it was going to take money and groupies to make me happy. But, I've never been happier than when I'm with you, Greg."