Chapter Seven
It was currently midnight and I was packing a duffle bag instead of sleeping. I planned on driving the whole nine hours there tonight so that I wouldn't have to deal with much traffic. I took a nap most of the day and I'm aware of how fucked up my sleeping schedule will be, but who cares. Dream told me he was going to fix his sleeping schedule to fit mine, so guess who's on FaceTime audio right now conversing with me while I pack?
"No, it's too cold."
"You're really going to deny me beach time because you're too pussy for sixty degree weather? I thought we were bros, Clay."
"I'm not a pussy."
"It's too cold," I mocked in a whiny voice while I folded the last of my clothes in the bag. Honestly this trip was really spontaneous. I don't even know how long I'm staying at his place. I offered to put myself up in a hotel, but he insisted that I stayed in his guest bedroom. And by guest bedroom, he means his streaming room.
"Fine, we can go to the beach, but I'm not swimming."
"Oh you will if I have anything to say about it."
I picked up my phone and walked over to the bathroom. I grabbed my toothbrush, mouthwash, braces stuff, face stuff, vitamins, hairbrush, and everything else I use on a daily basis. I packed that into my bag as well.
"Okay I have all my clothes and my hygiene stuff. Is there anything else I need to bring?"
"Phone charger? Laptop? Laptop charger?"
"Shit yeah, a phone charger would be nice wouldn't it?"
"You're such a dork."
"As if you're not."
He scoffed but didn't deny it. I packed my electronics in a separate bag including my Nintendo Switch which I basically only ever used to play Clue on. I have other games as well, but I'm really into mind games so the mystery game is more amusing than Mario Kart.
"How long are you staying?" He asked as I heard clicking of a keyboard.
"Literally just gonna show you my face then leave," I joked.
"I'll literally kidnap you."
I burst out laughing and immediately went into my Twitter app.
@CalPal: guys clay said he's gonna kidnap me. if you don't hear from me, send help
"You're such a fucking idiot!" He laughed.
"I saw the opportunity and I took it."
@DreamWasTaken: @CalPal dw guys I'll still let her stream and record.
"You're so mean to me," I pouted.
"You're meaner!" He exclaimed, "Out of curiosity, totally not related at all," he blurted, "What's my contact name in your phone?"
"I feel attacked."
"What is it, Salem?"
"Bitch boy," I whispered.
He started wheezing and I knew he got his point across. I rolled my eyes at him and zipped up my two bags, finally finished packing. I informed Dream of this and it got eerily silent between the two of us.
"Are you sure you're comfortable with this, Caelum? I know you're the one driving here, but I still feel like in a way I've forced you to. I really don't want you doing something you're not ready for. I'd rather see your face when you're comfortable."
I smiled. Behind his jokes and sarcasm, he really is such a genuinely sweet person. He's constantly asking me if I'm okay, distracting me if I'm not. He never pressures me into hopping on stream with him, calling him, going in discord with his friends, or literally anything. He always verifies that I'm okay with what he's doing. Like, every time he wants me to join discord to talk during a stream, he'll tell me everyone that's going to be in the room and make sure I'm okay with talking with those people. It's such a small thing, but it's something you don't see now-a-days. And honestly, it's just really attractive when people do things like that. So take notes boys because Dream is the type of boy girls want to date. If only I liked him in that way.
"Clay, I want to do this. You're my best friend. I would've backed out by now if I wasn't comfortable. I'm ready, I know I am. Just don't blame me if I have a panic attack. This is my first face reveal after all," I chuckled to lighten the mood.
"What should I do if you have a panic attack?"
And we spent the next twenty minutes discussing anxiety and panic attacks. I let him know what to do when I panic, but that it doesn't happen often. He also informed me that despite being cool and collected online, he sometimes suffers from anxiety which I never would've guessed if I'm honest.
During the drive, Dream stayed on for a bit of the time. Then, he decided to hop on and stream with George who I was surprised was still awake. That kid needs to fix his sleeping schedule honestly. I hopped in the discord chatroom for a bit, then got bored of it when I couldn't see what they were doing in Minecraft, so I turned to listening to music or podcasts for a bit.
The last hour of the drive was the most brutal. I was extremely tired and was scared that I'd fall asleep at the wheel. Dream kept me talking this entire time. He made sure there was not even a second of silence to ensure it was impossible for me to fall asleep at the wheel. I even had music playing on an iPod to softly sing along to songs while we talked. It was during this time that we found out way more about each other; things that take years to discover in a developing friendship. This whole trip—and I haven't even physically met him yet—has just made his and my friendship that much stronger.
"Oh my god, I'm here. The GPS says I have arrived," I said shakily. I can't believe I'm doing this. I literally can't back out. He's going to see my face in the next five minutes.
"I see your car. Aw a Lancer? What a cute car."
I could hear the sarcasm in his tone, "Don't mock Jessica. She's better than your filth. What do you have? Oh I see it. A Toyota RAV4? Pathetic."
"Don't talk about Sam like that. They've gotten me through a lot."
"Sam?" I questioned with a chuckle.
"I wanted to give them a non-binary name," he said in a soft, quiet voice.
I could feel my heart tighten. That is, oddly, the sweetest thing I've ever heard.
"Is it okay if I come outside, Caelum?"
"I-I, um, yeah."
"Okay, I'm going to open my front door now. Do you want to hang up?"
I chuckled, "Sure?"
I clicked the red disconnect button and lowered my phone from my ear. I stared down at my hand and saw it shaking madly. I dropped my phone and held my hands together tightly to try and stop it, but I don't think anything's going to stop it until I get Dream's reaction to meeting me.
Out of my peripherals, I saw the front door to his house open. When I looked over, I saw Dream standing there in all his glory. He was really tall and almost was the height of the doorway arch. I knew he was 6'3" or 6'2" or something like that, but I didn't really think all that much into how short I—who is 5'5"—would look next to him. I'm going to look like a child regardless of actually being months older than him. From where I was standing, I couldn't see much. He smiled at me and waved. God was his smile perfect. That fucker probably had braces when he was younger. He leaned against the door frame and stared at my car with a gleaming smile. He was wearing a pair of gray sweatpants and a white tee shirt that looked like his minecraft character. I wonder if he could see me. My windows were tinted, so I doubt it.
Suddenly I got a text from him.
iMessage Chat
bitch boy
get out here loser
I laughed and turned off my car. I wrapped the lanyard around my hands so that just my car and house key, teddy bear keychain, and ID card from my college were hanging off. The keys jingled together as I pulled on the car door handle. Finally, after hours of anticipation from the car drive, I stood up on his asphalt driveway and locked eyes with him.
He approached the car, probably getting his white socks dirty in the process since he didn't have shoes on. When he reached my car, I popped the trunk and he took no time grabbing my laptop bag and duffle in his arms.
"I could've gotten them myself you know," I chuckled.
"Let's get you inside, it's cold."
I rolled my eyes and followed him up the path to his house. He had a half dead potted plant on his porch steps and I couldn't help but laugh at that. Of course he couldn't keep a plant alive. I should get him to do some gardening while I'm here. We can plant flowers together. Rainbow for the LGBTQ+ community since his car, Sam, is in there.
"Thanks," I said, muffled through my Ravenclaw style face mask. I thought meeting him would be easier at first if I had half my face covered. It was a spontaneous idea.
He placed my bags carefully on the couch in his living room, "You can take that off you know," he chuckled and I couldn't help but pout at how much I loved the sound of his little chuckle in person.
"Covid, you know," I giggled awkwardly.
"May I?" He asked, pointed to my mask as he took a step closer to me. My breath hitched and I could feel my heart beating in my chest. It felt like it was beating so hard that it was shaking my body. Not to mention the fact that my hands were still trembling.
"S-Sure," I stuttered, closing my eyes and scolding myself. Why the fuck couldn't I be as put together as Dream in this moment?
I felt his fingertips brush up against my cheek. Then, he tucked the hair behind my ear as he went for the elastic loops surrounding my ears. Finally, I felt him unhook them and my mask was off of my face. I felt myself heat up and I'm sure my entire body was bright red. I don't know why. I'm not embarrassed. It's probably because of anxiety.
We locked eyes with each other and I couldn't help but smile. He had a chin dimple and a lonesome cheek dimple. Freckles painted his nose and cheeks which I should've guessed since he lives in constant sun. His eyes were green as well, but more of a darker emerald green and brown as opposed to my bright colored ones. He had long eyelashes and oddly kept eyebrows. His hair was blond and wavy. The only way I could accurately describe it was it resembled that one tiktok guy, Jack Wright's hair. Beach-y, surfer dude type shit. Overall, he was definitely not ugly. No, very handsome indeed. Or as Nick would say, "hot as fuck".
"Can I give you a hug?" He asked. I only nodded my head.
He took another step forward and enveloped me in a bear hug. His arms wrapped around my torso and the height difference caused my feet to lift from the ground. I wrapped my arms around his neck and allowed my feet to hang. I felt him twirl our bodies.
"Hey you're shaking, you're okay," he whispered, then I felt one of his hands leave my waist and start petting my head, "You're okay, Caelum."
My feet planted on the ground once again and I felt his arms leave my body. He placed his hands firmly on my shoulders and slouched down a bit to look into my eyes. I searched his eyes to read any emotion, but I couldn't find any which made me panic more. He hates the way I look doesn't he?
"May I?" He asked for the second time today. Dream pointed down at my shaking hands and I knew what he was insinuating. I nodded my head and allowed him to grip my hands together in his palms, "Hey look do you see that?"
"The TV?" I questioned.
He nodded, "And That?"
"The dead plant," I chuckled.
"And that?"
"The sofa."
"And what about that?"
"Your car keys."
"That?"
"Your xbox."
"Yeah," he chuckled, "And you know you can touch all those, right?" I nodded my head, "And you know what you can hear?"
"Patches meowing?" He shook his head, "Your fridge?" He shook his head again, "The sound of your AC?"
He nodded finally, "You smell that?"
I turned my nose up to see if I could smell anything significant that stood out, "Fresh linen?" He shook his head, "Something fruity."
"Yeah, that's my air freshener. It's tropical. Can you taste that?"
"Yeah kind of. I can imagine what it'd taste like."
"That's good," he released my hands. They weren't shaking anymore. I felt calmer, "You okay now?"
I nodded my head and furrowed my eyebrows, "Yeah, that's weird. What was that?"
"It's the grounding technique. I-I was, I was researching anxiety and panic attacks last night when I got off stream. That's a popular technique to calm people down."
"I've never heard of it. Thanks for that."
"Are you hungry? Thirsty?" He asked.
"Uh n-no, just ate a little bit ago. A drink would be nice though. What'd'ya got?"
He motioned me to follow him, so I did. I sat down on a stool in the kitchen when I walked in while he rummaged through the fridge to see what he had to drink.
"Gatorade, water, orange juice, apple—"
"Orange juice!" I said a little too excitedly.
"Orange juice it is," he chuckled. He grabbed two mugs out of the cabinet and poured some juice in it. Then, he put the juice back and handed one of the mugs to me while he sat down in the chair next to me, "What do you want to do now?"
I hummed, "How about we go take a nap?" I said, gulping down two big mouthfuls of my juice. He started chugging his until it was finished.
"I could go for a nap; let me show you your room."
I nodded and followed him up the stairs and into a room. It was mostly dark except for the rainbow glowing keyboard. I giggled and he glanced back at me.
"What's so funny, Cae?"
I pointed half heartedly at the keyboard, "Didn't peg you for a light up keyboard kind of guy," then I shrugged.
"Shut up," he said all flustered, then turned back around and placed my bags on the gaming chair.
"It's okay, Clay, I have the same one."
He started full on laughing and I was mesmerized at the iconic wheeze laugh. He threw his head back when he laughed hard. Meanwhile, I throw my head forwards when I laugh hard. Finally, we calmed down. It didn't take long. Whatever we were laughing at wasn't that funny. I think we were just enjoying each other's company.
"Well I'll see you in a little bit. Sleep well, Cereal Box."
I rolled my eyes, but he couldn't see due to the black out curtains being drawn. I was wrapped up in a fleece blanket on the spare bed while he leaned against the entrance of the room. I nodded my head against the pillow and wrapped my arms around it like I was cuddling somebody. I heard him lightly chuckle in the doorway before the door softly closed. It didn't take me long to fall asleep.