Dreams that Mask the Shadows

5 - Sleeping on the job

(listen to: "XO" by The Eden Project)

Chapter Five

Sleeping on the job.

-Joseph-

My route to work took about fifteen minutes. If I had time, I would usually grab coffee and a muffin or a bagel on my way. If I had extra time, I would go out of my way to go to Dooby's around the corner from my house which served the best breakfast sandwiches around. And me being such a good friend, I would usually grab two, one for me and one for my friend, Gage.

Of course, that was also because Gage's exact words the first time I came to work with a spicy egg and cheese sandwich was, "I introduced you to the place, the least you could do is get me something, asshole."

The moment I stepped into the front lobby of the regional management building, Gage appeared by my side. "How was the mission? Was it all that you hoped it to be?" Gage said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He wiggled his shoulders. "I heard Sky had to do all the work and you barely held your own." He grabbed the paper bag from my hands, instantly going for the bacon and cheddar sandwich before giving me an expectant look.

Many Dreamwalkers had their own unique power. It had yet to be proven, but I was pretty sure Gage's gift was detecting food. And participating in company gossip.

I laughed, shaking my head. "Who told you that? You can't believe all of that gossip."

"Oh, that's what I told myself happened since you didn't answer any of my texts. You see, I figured you had died and that was the last of the infamous Joseph Parker," Gage said, scratching his head with one hand as he bit into the sandwich. "Never to be heard again, and all that."

We walked to the front desk and I handed the secretary my card before turning to Gage who was scowling at me around his mouthful of egg. His cheeks bulged like a chipmunk. It was very hard to take him seriously. Even without the food in his cheeks. Gage had a baby face that made all the girls love him in a friendzone kind of way. Most were also turned off by his nerdy, goofy, sarcastic personality. He had been my best friend for the longest time. I knew when he was annoyed with me.

I sighed. "Sorry, I left my phone at home. I hadn't wanted to be that one grad that messes up the job from their phone going off."

The lady at the desk handed me my card back before taking Gage's. She wasn't one of our own, but we had learned to check our conversations around the general public, easily omitting uncommon words or titles.

"Hey, it's okay man. I know you're getting old and all. You forgot," Gage said, giving an exaggerated shrug. "I get it."

"What?"

He rolled his eyes and turned back to the desk. "The filing room? Remember? We were supposed to meet up at nine? I didn't bust my ass to get us out of trouble after we—."

"What? Gage, what are you—?"

"The double date, Joe? We promised Harriet and Gina from Archives that we'd take them out. Because you didn't want to pull strings with your dad or whatever—or have to lie to him about being in the Archives."

He took his card back from the lady's hand the second she was done scanning it, striding away. I heard him mumbling under his breath, "It's always me being my computer geek self coming to the rescue..."

I smiled apologetically at her before rushing after him, hoping 'Archives' was a common enough word for 'kids our age' to be talking about. "Gage. Gage, wait up."

Sliding his card into the keypad, he pushed open the glass doors with his shoulder, not bothering to hold it open for me. With a grumble, I took my card back out and swiped it in front of the sensor. Gage was chewing the last few bites of his sandwich, waiting for one of the elevators to arrive. A postman stood beside him, grumbling about the two large packages he was carrying.