Daydreams

I wonder how my life would be if I told him that I loved him. Would he be in bed with me, draping his arm over my body? Would he make me breakfast? He has always told me about his love for cooking. I wish I knew where he is now. I’m braver now, I know I could tell him if the chance came up. But he’s moved overseas hasn’t he? There’s no way I could tell him now. I was so upset about him moving to a different university I didn’t even say goodbye to him, much less ask for a way to speak with him. Does he miss me as much as I miss him? Does he need me as much as I need him? What if he’s with someone else? I haven’t even gotten his phone number because we always met up in person. What if he’s forgotten about me? I can’t take this anymore. 

I stand up abruptly and walk over to my computer. Andrew Hallen. I wonder what I’ll find. A picture of him playing basketball 5 years ago… another of him when his team won championships. This isn’t helpful at all. Finally it hits me. Lexi Hallen, his sister. I still have her number somewhere, don’t I? I rummage around my contacts and call her immediately. After 3 rings she picks up.

“Hello?” she says.

“Hi Lexi, it’s me Aurora, remember me? I was best friends with your brother.”

“Aurora! How have you been? We haven’t talked in forever.”

“Yeah, we do need to catch up soon don’t we? But for now I was wondering if you could tell me Andrew’s phone number?”

“Oh, Andrew? His phone number is 212-285-7564.”

“Thank you so much! Alright I’ve got to go now, but we’ll talk later!” 

Before she can reply, I’ve already hung up and typed in the phone number. One ring. Please answer. Two rings. Please answer. Three rings. Please answer. Four rings. Someone picks up. 

“Hello?” a woman's voice. Did I type the wrong number?

“Um, hi this is Aurora Meadows, can I please speak to Andrew?”

“Sorry, who are you again?”

“Aurora Meadows.”

A bit of time passes and after a bit I hear someone speak again.

“I hate you,” Andrew says.

“What?”

“I said I hate you. How could you not say goodbye? Do you know how long I looked for you? I cried that day, you know. I thought I’d never talk to you again.”

Silence followed. I hadn’t even realized how this could’ve hurt him as well. Well this is the time I make things right. This is the time I tell him how I feel. I take a deep breath and speak.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see you before you left,” I started. “I was scared that I would break down right there in the airport and I thought it would just be easier if I didn't see you off at all. Clearly that wasn’t the right idea and so here I am. By the way, who was the girl that answered?

“She’s my roommate,” he replies. From the background, she snorts. 

“Oh,” I say dejectedly. Maybe he already has a girlfriend? Has all of this really been for nothing? 

“Yeah,” he replies. “Anyways can we meet up sometime? I would love to see you again.”

“Yes, I would love that! I’ll get a ticket to New York and we can meet somewhere next Tuesday?”

“Sounds good Aurora,” a pause. “I’ve really missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too. See you Andrew.”

“See you.”

Okay, first step done. Now I just need to get a plane ticket…

I step off the plane with my luggage, hoping that when I get back on I’ll have told him how I felt and been feeling for the past two years. After a relatively short taxi ride, I finally arrived at his condo. Although I was really hoping Andrew would’ve answered the door, I’m met with a pretty girl with brown hair and wearing sweatpants and a hoodie that’s way too big for her. Andrew’s? Are they dating? I really hope not. 

“Hi,” she says curtly. “Andrew’s getting ready.”

Andrew walks out while brushing his hair, “Chloe, I told you not to wear my hoodies, haven’t I?”

“I would, but they’re just so comfortable, not to mention they smell like you,” she adds grinning. I immediately don’t like her. But a random girl isn’t important. I look at Andrew, soaking up his face. He doesn’t look that different than how he used to. It’s only been about 3 months anyways. 

“Oh, Aurora, I’ll come to the car in a bit, I just need to get something really quick,” Andrew says, while running up the stairs. I nod and Chloe turns around to face me.

“Andrew and I are basically dating you know,” she says glaring at me. “I mean we already live together, so don’t try anything with him.”

“Well, considering he doesn’t want you wearing his hoodies he can’t like you that much,” I shoot back. “When you guys are engaged we can talk.”

I’m not surprised. People have been wanting Andrew since we’ve met, but thankfully Andrew never seemed interested. On cue, he comes down the stairs with a bag in his hand, grabs his keys and goes for the door. Chloe throws me a glare over her shoulder as we walk out to his car. 

“So where are we going?” I inquire as he drives. “I know you said it was a surprise, but can you at least give me a hint?”

“Nope,” he replies with a grin on his face. I slump back down on my seat, hoping he doesn’t drive us anywhere weird. I really have missed him though. The little taps he would do when he liked a song that played and how he hummed along. It was adorable. Before I can get too caught up in Andrew, he pulls over and stops. In front of me I see a cute little building. 

“Come on, this is it,” he says. He grabs my arm and pulls me to the door. My mouth hangs open as I take in what I see. Candles line a table with food and drinks in the middle. The lighting is dim, with only the candles lighting the room. It’s absolutely gorgeous. He turns to me and hands me the bag.

“What’s in it?” I ask suspiciously. “If something jumps out at me, I swear.”

He just smiles mysteriously instead of answering, leaving me to open the box in the bag. I’m greeted with a necklace with an emerald attached to it, the room being nothing compared to the beauty of this necklace.

“Do you like it?” he asked nervously. “I wanted to give it to you as a parting gift, but you know.”

“Andrew…” I say, speechless. “This is beautiful,”

I set the necklace down carefully and give him a hug and he wraps his arms around me. I can’t believe he would buy this for me. I can’t even imagine how much it cost. He pulls away with a big smile on his face.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” he says looking me in the eyes. For a second I can’t breathe. Did he really just say that? Before I can dwell on it further, he sits me down and tells me to eat, which I happily oblige to. I wonder how I can tell him. Should I just blurt it out? Tell him how long I’ve liked him for? My name being called pulls me out of my thoughts.

“Aurora?” Andrew says. “Since you're here, I just want to tell you something.”

“Yeah?” I replied intrigued. “What is it?”

He fiddles with his shirt a bit before continuing. “You know we’ve been friends for a while and you mean everything to me. I… um. I just wanted to say… I’ve liked you for a while. Y’know. Romantically and stuff.”

I sit there, my mouth hanging open. He…what? 

“Oh… um well…”

“It’s fine. I know you don’t like me back,” he replies quickly. “I just thought…”

“No! No. I do. I do like you. Um.”

This is way more awkward than I thought it would be. But to be fair I had no idea that he would be the one confessing today. I was mentally preparing to be rejected for a while. He takes a deep breath and takes my hand.

“I’ve liked you before we even started being friends, you know,” he starts. “You were always the light in my life and I knew that if I ever loved anyone it would be you. Only you.”

“Really?” I say, still shocked from his confession. “But what about your roommate? She says that you’re practically dating.”

“Oh, her. She confessed to me a while back, but I didn’t feel the same. She can’t seem to take no for an answer though.”

Well that clears things up. I’m really glad that she doesn’t mean anything to him. Wait. Did he just say he loved me? 

My phone rings, distracting me from my thoughts. Maybe I should go talk to him instead of daydreaming about what could happen. Although I doubt it will go anything like what I was dreaming about, I still type Andrew’s phone number that I got from Lexi. 

“Here goes nothing,” I murmured while pressing the call button.