forget-me-not

There’s nothing more unforgettable than meeting your soulmate in a dream while whisked away on a solemn boat underneath a galaxy of stars. 

But Laurence Everly is not prone to typicality, and his blaring ‘Slow Rise’ phone alarm is nothing if not a jarring clockwork memory-wipe. Laurence thinks that the name for his alarm is an ironic slap in the face almost every time it rings at ass-o-clock in the morning, because the only thing that is ‘Slow’ about it is it’s ability to turn the hell off. 

It’s not often that Laurence dreams at all, honestly. Minimal hours of bedrest after back-to-back soul-crushing shifts at bars and cafés leave little to no time for unconscious antics, so usually when he dreams, it sticks. This time, though, when it truly counts, he comes up blank. 

He remembers his parents gushing to him as a child about how they met each other in a dream as teens, and that the first time they crossed paths in the real world they were head-over-heels as soon as they saw that familiar face. They knew they were meant to be - that they were soulmates. He waited with stars in his eyes for his time to finally arrive, for that fateful night he might see the one he’s destined to love for the rest of his life, and finds that as soon as it happens he’s forgotten it as if it were some passing irrelevancy. 

Laurence tries to recall the face he saw in his dream as he dresses for the morning shift at a local café, but, his stupid alarm be damned, there’s nothing he can remember. He pulls on his shirt with recollections of ocean mist and twilight skies, but the face he saw and the voice he heard feels much too far out of his reach. 

If only he’d refused those extra overtime morning shifts, then he might know who exactly he was looking for. Money has been tight recently and the due date for his rent is creeping uncomfortably close, so realistically Laurence knows he couldn’t have refused the hours, but he likes to humour himself with ‘what-ifs’ and self-ridicules in the hope that his problems will magically be solved. 

He bustles out of his shoebox apartment with his brain wracking for at least one distinguishing feature, but there’s absolutely nothing. He knows it was them, he could feel it. But how could he forget what they looked like? 

It’s what he spends at least three quarters of his shift wondering, so distracted he almost drops a cup of coffee right into a customer's lap. 

He apologises meekly, scurrying back behind the counter to hide his face in shame. If only he could remember, he wouldn’t be acting like this. He’s usually quite diligent (well, as much as a minimum wage job can call for), but his blank memory has him stumped in more ways than one. 

Luckily, he’s able to catch the next customer before they arrive, saving himself from being caught lost in thought and finding himself even more embarrassed.

He smiles at the blond man probably around his age, fingers poised readily over the cash register. “Can I help you?” 

The man gawks at Laurance, staring at him as if he’s seen a ghost. 

“Uh… is everything okay?” Laurence asks cautiously. He’s starting to worry that this customer saw him hiding behind a cookie jar in unadulterated shame and now thinks he’s a crazy person. As if he needed any more reasons to be humiliated today. 

The man seemingly comes to, although still eyeing Laurence wearily. “Yes I…” he pauses as if deep in thought, “I just thought I recognised you.”

Laurence frowns. He doesn’t think he’s seen this man before in his life. “No, I’d remember you,” he says with certainty. There’s something distinct about his face, handsome but still boyish and charming. It’s a face to remember.

“Sorry,” the guy apologises, “off day, I guess.”

“I know the feeling,” Laurence says through a sigh. Perhaps he knows too well, “what can I get for you?” 

“Large back coffee to go,” the man requests with a light smile. 

“Sure,” Laurence says, already typing the order in, “could I get a name?” 

“Geo,” the man answers. 

Scribbling the name onto a cup, Laurence smiles to himself. He has a feeling he’ll remember that. Geo hands over his cash and waits over by the takeaway counter, leaning nonchalantly against the wall as he types something onto his phone. 

Once he receives his order from a coworker, Geo flashes Laurence a shy smile as he takes his leave. Laurence grins to himself. Cute. 

The rest of Laurance’s shift is significantly duller than his previous encounter, as are the next few days after that. He barely remembers any of it, having spent all of his required hours on autopilot so he doesn’t die of boredom. He finds that he slowly begins to forget about his soulmate dream all together, assured that if he and his soulmate truly are destined, they’ll find each other when the time is right. 

The only interesting development in his life is his new neighbour. Laurence doesn’t usually pay much attention to new tenants in the apartment complex, since it seems to be a temporary fix for most, but a mop of electric blue hair is difficult to ignore. His neighbour is an enigma that goes by the name of Jake, a charismatic young aspiring personal trainer with quite the booze collection. He’d invited Laurence for a drink when they first met on his moving day, but Laurence was running late for his graveyard shift at a bar across town and had to take a rain check. He’s supposed to head over tonight after work, and as he heads back to his house for a quick outfit change, Laurence finds that he might finally have found a potential good companionship to help him through his tough times. 

It’s not that Laurence struggles with making friends - in fact, he considers himself decently outgoing - but his constant moving and awkward shifts make it difficult to hold friendships deeper than surface level. Jake told him his schedule is flexible, since he works on a freelancing basis and clients are few and far between nowadays, so they can hang out whenever Laurence can spare an hour or two. It almost seems too good to be true, but he’d be damned if he missed an opportunity to see others outside of work. 

They spend all evening chatting, and Laurence learns that Jake moved into the building because he thought there’d be a better opportunity for clients, though he bregudingly had to leave his best friend searching for a roommate in their old place. He told him their other friend was set to move in, but she met her soulmate recently and decided to move in with him instead. Laurence assures Jake that if he hears of anyone needing a room, he’d let him know so the message can be passed along. He seems satisfied with that. 

They spend the night getting to know each other, and Laurence stumbles back to his own apartment, slightly tipsy, but assured he has a new friend.

A couple of days later, Laurence finds that there’s an obnoxious neon pink piece of paper taped to the front of his door when he arrives home from work. Laurence almost wonders what on earth it could say until his heart drops all the way out of his ass. 

His rent was due two days ago. For the second time. 

Laurence rips the eviction notice off the door and presses his back to the wood, burying his face in his hands. He’s been evicted again. It’s not as if he tries to get out of paying rent on purpose, he just can’t find a job that pays a liveable wage. Most of the time, Laurence is sure of his decision to skip university and head straight for real life, but in times like these he contemplates if he would have been better off with a degree holding him up. He sighs into his hands, wondering how on earth he’s going to find a place to live in just two weeks. 

Right in the middle of his pre-mental breakdown, Jake exits his own apartment just down the hall and notices Laurance’s distress. 

“Hey,” Jake greets sympathetically, “I saw that notice when I got home earlier. Rent’s tough, huh?” 

Laurence rests his head against the door and lets out probably the most dramatic sigh of his entire life. “What am I going to do? I have nowhere to go,” he pouts.

Jake is silent a moment as he considers Laurance’s question, locking his own door. “Well, my old roommate still has that spare room if you need it. My best friend. He’s a great guy, would let you skip out on rent for a month or two until you can make ends meet.” 

“Really?” Laurence perks up immediately. “Oh my God, are you serious? I could kiss you right now, Jake, thank you!”

“Don’t,” he warns with a chuckle, “but it’s no problem. I’ll give him a call, see if I can invite him over tonight and you can meet. Sounds good?” 

“Tonight is great. Thank you so much, Jake. You have no idea how much this helps me out. I owe you one.” Laurence assures, relief flooding through him. This is exactly what he needed. 

“It’s no problem. I’ll text you later to see if my friend is up for tonight,” Jake says, making his way to the stairwell. 

“Thank you again!” Laurence calls as he watches Jake leave. He takes a few moments to collect himself before he enters his own apartment, staring at the contents of his house. 

He supposes he better start packing and hopes this potential new roommate is someone he can see himself living with for the foreseeable future.

It’s a couple hours later when he receives a text from Jake telling him his friend is eager for a new roommate and that tonight is still on. Laurence tries his best to dress up, hoping that this friend will overlook his missing rent for his nice appearance. He ignores how unlikely that seems, choosing instead to keep up a demeanour of unwavering optimism. When the time comes, he hastily heads to Jake’s house with a racing heartbeat. 

“Hey,” Jake greets when he opens the door, “Geo’s just inside; he can’t wait to meet you.”

“Geo?” Laurence asks. That name sounds familiar, but he can’t quite place his finger on where he heard it before. He realises where he recognises the name when he sees Jake’s best friend for the first time. 

“I know you!” Laurence says enthusiastically, “I served you at the coffee shop the other day.” He was the cute guy who said he swore he recognised him, but Laurence is sure to leave that part out.

Geo looks up from his phone in his seat at Jake’s kitchen island, looking very surprised. “Oh, hey, I remember that. Are you the guy who needs a room?” 

“Yeah, small world, huh?” Laurence grins. This guy was super cute; he kind of wishes Jake had introduced him when he moved in a couple weeks ago. “I’m Laurence by the way. Great to see you again.” 

“Likewise.” Geo smiles in return.  

“Wow, weird that you met before. That’s lucky, I guess,” Jake comments, and when Laurence and Geo hum in agreement, he turns towards his hallway. “I’m going to run to the bathroom quickly. Laurance, make yourself at home and get to know Geo. I won’t be long.” 

“Sure!” Laurence smiles, sliding into the seat next to his new blond friend. 

As soon as Jake is gone, Geo turns to Laurance. “Are you sure we haven’t met before? Before the coffee shop, I mean. You just… seem so familiar.” 

Laurence frowns at the odd question. “I don’t think so. Like I said, I feel like I’d remember you.” 

Geo seems to consider that a moment, frowning deeply as he bites his lip in thought. “Oh… oh my God,” he says after a moment, eyes blowing wide, “I know where I recognised you from. I… I dreamed about you.”

“You… dreamed about me?” Laurence asks, but it comes out as more of a statement. He takes a moment to consider what that might mean, and suddenly things start to make sense. “Yes, I dreamed about you, too! My alarm woke me up and I forgot your face. I’ve been spending weeks trying to remember what you looked like.” 

Geo listens intently, nodding along when necessary. “Yeah, Jake woke me up packing up his exercise equipment and I forgot too,” he admits, and then pauses with an epiphany, “does that… does that mean that we’re-“

“Soulmates?” Laurence fills in. “God… yeah. Yeah, I think so.” 

They do nothing but stare at each other for a few moments, lost for words and stars in their eyes. 

It’s right then that Jake makes his return from the bathroom. “Hey, you guys are quiet. You don’t hate each other or anything, right?” 

Geo and Laurence all but grin at one another. 

“Jake…” Geo starts, and Laurence has to stifle a laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. “Laurence and I are soulmates. We dreamed about each other but both forgot about it until now.” 

Laurence wishes he could take a picture of Jake’s face, because the look he gives is absolutely priceless, riddled with excited shock. “What? Really? How? What a good matchmaker I am, God!” 

No longer can Laurence hold back a bark of laughter, holding his face in his hands to disguise his overwhelmed smile. “I know, it’s crazy, right? That we both forgot? I remember thinking that I wouldn’t forget a face like Geo’s, but there I was, completely blanking it the whole time.” 

Geo slides his arm across Laurence’s shoulder in a gesture of friendship. “It’s almost as if we were meant to be, huh?” He jokes. 

“Shut up,” Laurence grins, and then he heaves a content sigh, “in your dreams.” 

Geo laughs, and it’s silvery and pleasant to the ears. ”Then I guess dreams do come true.“