Call My Bluff | NaNoWriMo

Chapter Seven | Have you ever had a dream

A week passes by with ease since work consumes five days of the week. It is easy to fall into the trap of I need to get to the end of the week when year-end burnout is kicking in. This Friday I don't spend alone as Henry wandered in an hour ago and is currently lying on my the sofa, watching a random episode of FRIENDS I put on when I walked in from work. He isn't even watching the show as he dozed off a while ago. The good thing is that he does not snore.

I left him to sleep since he complained about some deadline that kept him awake for most of last night. The good news is that he met the deadline. He is so over it all, that he even left his smartwatch at home to avoid any emails for a few hours of freedom. I left him to hunt around in my kitchen like some snacks will magically appear without me going to the shops. Nothing catches my eye.

My phone starts to vibrate across the room and I rush to grab it before Henry wakes up. I check who is calling before answering and it's Ava. I go to my bedroom to answer the call, "Hi Ava, you alright?"

We exchange pleasantries before Ava moves onto a topic I was hoping to avoid, I think my mom is probably lowkey dropping that she met my boyfriend and he came over for dinner in the past week. It's like my relationship is her latest shiny achievement to show everyone. I think I miss the days when I was getting 10 out of 10 on my maths test.

"So how is Henry?" I should've expected this question as soon as I answered the phone call. I can hear Ava rustling around in her makeup back. She has me on loudspeaker, which she mentioned during our greeting. She is current;y multitasking.

"He's asleep, tough week at work. You know how it is." Technically not a lie. Ava does not know how what a 9-5 job requires. She dances as a ballerina on a part-time basis and the rest of the time she spends creating content for her Instagram. The amount of sponsors she has earned is amazing. Her hours are a weird mess and she needs to always find the best place to sit when we go out so she can take aesthetically pleasing content for her followers. It can be a little annoying when all I want to do is eat my food while it is still warm rather than cold after her photoshoot.

"Awww, I can't wait to meet him. I hope he's taking care of you like you're taking care of him." In return to her statement, I hum, not quite agreeing or disagreeing with her. I know she must be thinking that Henry is my boyfriend and I don't like lying to her but the omission of the truth is necessary sometimes. She is the one who taught me that.

"Anyway, I signed you up for a quick dancing course. You know I love dancing and I just want you to have the confidence to share some moves on the dance floor with Henry. Before you decline, think of them as a wedding gift to me. I want to have a dance with James and you to dance with Henry at the same time. And one day, when you get married, I can have a best friend dance too..." She trails off her rambling waiting for my reply. Ava did not have a Maid of Honour. She decided it would be better to just have two wedding parties and this was her way of making me her Maid of Honour unofficially. I am touched by her gesture. She plans to carve out some time at her wedding for us to make memories.

"I can't make any promises. I will try to go to the dance lesson." It is the truth. I need Henry to be available to be my partner. Who knows how long these lessons are anyway. Plus it might turn out that Henry has two left feet. I am suddenly a little more excited about this wedding. For once my phone was not the root of all my problems.

Ava lets out a dramatic sigh of relief, "I'll take it. It is better than an outright rejection."

We spend a little more time talking before Ava needs to leave. She has a fancy dinner to get to and more content to create. When I put down the phone, I get a notification that Ava has posted. I click on it and it takes me to a picture of her in front of her mirror applying some lipgloss in a little sparkling black dress. I like the picture and close the app.

I find that Henry is still sleeping when I return to the kitchen. I put on the kettle and settle for a cup of tea. Henry wakes up and sits up, ruffling his already messy hair. He stretches before looking at me.

"Make me a cup too," he asks, his voice groggy from sleep. I hold up the two cups that I already took out. There was a chance that Henry would wake up as soon as I put on the kettle since he is such a light sleeper. He has taken power naps here before and when I initially found out, I would actually tippytoe around him. He told me to stop it. Apparently, he ignores most noise unless he wants to wake up. It doesn't sound like a restful sleep to me.

I make the cup of tea to his liking and hand him the red mug. I return with my own mug and a packet of bourbon biscuits. FRIENDS is still playing in the background and I just start watching whatever episode is on. I think I have watched this show backwards too.

"I dreamt we are going to dance lessons," Henry says, breaking my concentration from the tv. I am not surprised he caught some of my conversations with Ava. This building might as well have no walls since they are so paper thin. I am sure my neighbour on the other side also knew about the dance lessons too. I would probably get more privacy at the bus stop outside than here.

"Guess what? Your dreams are about to come true. We are going for a dance lesson." I sip my tea, watching his reaction. While I had already got him as a plus one, if he was adamant about not doing the dance lesson then I would leave it. I am sure I could find some lonely soul at the lesson to partner up with for a few hours. Maybe even the dance teacher. I will just excuse Henry with some fake flu. I don't care.

"Urgh, why couldn't my subconscious pick up on something Joey said instead of you," Henry complained. He dipped a bourbon biscuit into his tea, lucky enough for it to not break and sink to the bottom before taking a bite. I originally planned to ask him about it when Ava sent all the details instead I decide to take advantage of his sleepy nature and the whole fake boyfriend thing while we were on the topic.

"As my fake boyfriend, you should come with me for these dance lessons." Yes, I play that card. He wants to play fake boyfriend, well fake boyfriend comes with fake boyfriend duties like going to dancing lessons with a fake girlfriend so she has a partner to dance with.

"I shot myself in the foot with that one, didn't I?" He smiles at last week's fiasco at my parents' house. I don't think he thought the whole thing through otherwise we would not be sitting here deciding about dance lessons. This is all his fault.

I shrug, "I am just taking advantage of the situation."

Just like you did, I add silently. I am a little smug about it.

"Let me know the details and I will let you know I'm free..." he partially commits.

"I'll take that." Ava is right, sometimes a maybe is better than an outright rejection. I just need to hope that he is free on whatever day Ava is going to send me later. I don't even know the details yet. I happily sip on my tea, Everything was going to fall into place slowly.

"You love to take anything as long as it is from me," Henry says before returning his attention to the FRIENDS. What does that even mean? I decide that it is better to eat more bourbons instead of pondering about his statement. 

~*~

 I honestly didn't know how to end the chapter so that's why the ending is a mess. 

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