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Contemporary Creative Nonfiction Romance

I am looking right at him. I couldn’t believe my eyes. He stood exactly 6’ 2” in line at the coffee shop. He looks a lot younger than I thought. I saw him in a dream or more like in a recurring dream that I have had for the past week. It always starts and ends the same. He looks to be in his late 20s which is good because I am in my late 20s as well. I didn’t think he was real. I still don’t think he is real. Could I be dreaming? Is this another dream and he just happens to appear. Why is he here? I know he is here for coffee, but why is he here? 

I watched him order. He pulled out his phone as it looked like he was waiting. It didn’t take long as the barista handed him his drink. I watched him disappear out the door. I can’t believe I just saw him. He was in the same coffee shop as me. I quickly grabbed my things and ran out the door. I looked around, but didn’t see him. I let out a sigh and went to my car.

That night, I closed my eyes and let darkness take over. I had the same recurring dream with him in it. The dream always starts with me walking through the woods at Mount Springs. I wind up following a trail to a pond with a waterfall. In this dream, a handsome 6’2” muscular man walks out of the waterfall dripping wet. He flashes me a smile and swims over to me. He wraps his arms around my waist pulling me into the pond. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and place my lips to his. He then picks me up and throws me across the pond.

My eyes fluttered open. I groaned, “this is frustrating.” I shouted to myself. Thea, my roommate runs into my room, “Deena, get your butt out of bed, we are going to be late for work.” I let out a groan, “I had that same dream with the same muscular man.” She smiled, “didn’t you say you saw him yesterday?” I climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom. “Yes, I saw him yesterday, but that doesn’t mean anything,” I said before closing the bathroom door.

I walked into the office around 8:00am. I wore a black knee length skirt and a light blue blouse tucked into the skirt. My long blonde hair curled around my shoulders. Today was the day to meet with the biggest clients. I had to make sure nothing was out of place including my outfit. I made my way to the conference room and placed folders and binders at each seat. I made sure the coffee maker was on. Thea walks in with a plate full of biscuits and muffins. 

At 8:30 am, Mr. May, my boss waltzes into the office, “DEENA!” I quickly ran, in heels, out of the conference office. I greeted Mr. May in his office, “good morning, Mr. May. The conference room is almost ready for the 9:00 am meeting. Is there anything you need?” He looked up from desk, “no, that will be all. Please finish getting the conference room ready.” I nodded and walked back to the conference room.

We stood waiting by the front desk. It was now 9:00 am. Our biggest clients should be arriving any minute.

My eyes widened when I saw the muscular man from my dream stepped off the elevator. I felt the wind knock out of me. I slowly turned my head to Thea. When she saw the look on my face she took a step towards me and pinched me. “Ouch.” I said covering my mouth. This wasn’t a dream. The same guy from the coffee shop and my dreams is walking towards my boss. His husky voice melted my entire body, “Mr. May, it is nice to finally meet you in person.” Mr. May, extended his hand, “Yes, Mr. Belmond, it is nice to finally put a face to a name and a voice. The muscular man from my dreams, Mr. Belmond, shook Mr. May’s hand, “agreed.” I watched as my boss shook two of Mr. Belmond’s colleague's hands. 

Mr. May extended his arm in my direction, “this is Miss. Price, she is my assistant.” Mr. Belmond’s eyes widened when he locked eyes with me. It is finally happening, I am finally meeting the muscular man from my dreams. My boss continued to introduce my co-workers while I nervously shook Mr. Belmond’s coworkers hands. I felt a pair of eyes burning into my skull. I turned to face the muscular man. Mr. Belmond extended his hand. I felt like I was back in high school, when I finally had the chance to talk to my crush, I just hoped my breakfast would stay in my stomach. I can’t repeat that again. I shook his hand. He smiled, “It is nice to meet you, Miss. Price.” I smiled and swallowed the lump in my throat, “It is nice to meet you, Mr. Belmond.” 

We all headed to the conference room and took our seats. Once we were all seated, Mr. May cleared his throat, “Thank you for coming during your busy schedule. I am Eric May and I am the project manager at Pixel. Joining us during this meeting are Thea Karma, Asher Linn, Kate Masland and Deena Robertson...” I took notes after notes during the entire meeting. It was difficult to pay any attention because my eyes kept glancing over at Mr. Belmond. 

Thea stood up, “Thank you Mr. May. My name is Thea Karma and I work as the bookkeeper for Pixel. As Mr. May explained that the market is highly…” Her voice faded into the background as looked around the room. I felt eyes on me. I looked over to see Mr. Belmond watching me. I then glanced at every single person that sat at the table to hide the fact that I was staring at a particular person. Mr. Belmond cleared his throat, “Could you elaborate on your first point again” Thea nodded, “of course, the researchers found that 50% of our revenue was…” I wrote down Thea’s points as she shared . 

After Thea spoke, a gentleman sitting next to Mr. Belmond stood up, “Thank you for meeting with us, I don’t know if I introduced myself to everyone, but my name is Mr. Mike Wexford. I work alongside Mr. Belmond as the financial representative for Blue Shine. We brought our own information that Stacey Frost worked extremely hard on for this meeting.” Mike nodded towards a short hair brunette. Mike continues, “Stacey is handing out the information she gathered. As you can see…” 

An hour later, I excused myself to make some copies for our guests. I stood in the copier room when I heard a knock. I spun on my heels to see Mr. Belmond standing in the doorway. He smiled, “Deena, right?” I nodded, “yes, that is correct. What can I do for you Mr. Belmond?” Mr. Belmond chuckled, “please call me Ryder. It sounds like my father is here.” I nodded, “okay, Mr...I mean Ryder, what can I do for you?” I watched him run a hand through his dark brown hair. Ryder cleared his throat, “do I know you from somewhere? You look very familiar.” I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. “I am sorry, but I don’t think I know you.” He shook his head, “please don’t take this question the wrong way, but have you ever been to the waterfall in Mount Springs?” My eyes grew wide. Does he know? Did Thea say something to him because the odds of him knowing me and knowing about the waterfall in Mount Springs is creepy. How would he know? How would he know that I spend every night swimming under the waterfall with him? Should I tell him? What if he thinks I am the creep?

I blinked a few times, “y-yes, I have been to the waterfall in Mount Springs. Why?” He ran his hands through his now messy dark brown hair, “I am not a creep, but I think we were there together.” I raised an eyebrow, “like, together together or there at the same time?” Oh no, here it comes. He swallowed, “together together.” Holy Chalupa is the only word that popped into my head.

I swallowed, “in a d-dream?” Ryder’s eyes widened, “yea, you too?” I nodded, “yes, every night it is the same dream.” He smiled, “thank you for clearing that up. When I saw you outside the elevator I thought I was dreaming.” I smiled, “my friend had to pinch me because I thought I was dreaming.” Ryder laughed. He has the most gentle laugh I have ever heard. 

A woman cleared her throat. Ryder and I looked at the woman. Thea stood there with her hands on her hips, “I see the two of you found a way into each other’s arms, but we have a meeting to continue. Deena, I need those copies about ten minutes ago.” Ryder and I followed Thea back to the conference room.

After the long boring, put you to sleep meeting, we exchange handshakes. When I shook Mr. Ryder Belmont’s hand, he placed a piece of paper in my hand. He smiled. “I would like to take you out to dinner and continue our conversation from earlier,” he said in a tone that only I heard him. After he left, I opened the paper. On the piece of paper was written, “I guess dreams really do come true” along with his phone number. I smiled and tucked the piece of paper away.


July 23, 2021 22:24

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2 comments

Ethan Scyre
21:53 Jul 28, 2021

Wonderful story, Stephanie. Imagine meeting someone from your dreams and finding out they are dreaming about you too! I really like the lighthearted tone of this piece. The “holy chalupa” part made me chuckle. I really hope the main character’s date with Ryder goes as expected, hopefully with no interruptions from Thea this time!

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Stephanie Sferco
18:14 Jul 29, 2021

Ethan, Thank you so much!!

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