I nearly burst a vein from holding in my laughter. I ran down the steps and made a break for my car. My usual 'walks of shame' have never been this comedic. I have never seen Celeste break character this drastically. I am usually able to pull more reactions and emotions from her but this is a new level for me.
"I bet she was an actress in her past life to pull off that performance." I initially thought she hurt herself when she cried out in pain. It took everything in my soul to not run into her room again right at the heels of her parents.
However seeing her safe and just faking it was funny. "If only all my mornings can be like that." Waking up to her and being around her all the time. Bringing her joy. But there is always something in the way. The good mood I had began to dissipate when I recalled why I showed up in the first place.
I never got around to telling her why I showed up. After last nights bender I was thankful drunk me kept my mouth shut. After all what would I even say? 'Yeah sorry I panicked at a party hearing you may get into an arranged marriage potentially against your will and I came here hoping to change your mind.'
Even I would look at myself as someone crazy. I like telling people how it is. I rarely hold my cards close to my chest. But with Celeste, being fully transparent about my feelings as being genuine and not just me being flirty for shits and giggles is more terrifying than I anticipated.
I also felt it was not my place. She is a grown up just like me. She is more than capable of making her own choices. Back in high school she shared how strict her parents are. They worried and fretted over her and she felt suffocated. She asked how I got lucky with parents who let me do as I please.
"Whats your secret Dean? Why do your parents trust you so much?" She was still typing diligently on the laptop organizing the budget sheets for the school dance. I was taken aback. More so because I have never seen her parents being mean to her. " What makes you think my parents trust me?"
Her hair brushed her shoulders when she turned to face me. Her thick bangs back then pinned away with cherry clips. She finally stopped typing and stared her brown eyes wide with wonder. "You do everything you want." I wanted to retort that it wasn't true. After all, even then I craved her attention, her everything. She was someone I wanted but could never have. All because of a stupid rule some idiot decided back in the day.
But I knew she referred to my daily actions. "Well to be honest it is more so about a deal I made. My situation as similar as we may be dynamic wise with our family, I can say with confidence why they trust me would not help your situation."
I pushed the boxes with the ticket slips for the dance into the closet for safe keeping. "You do everything by the book and are a stellar student. You are respected and loved by everyone. My parents have always struggled with me. I don't listen to authority well. But they made a deal, I keep up my grades and avoid causing trouble with the law and they can let some things slide."
I barked out a hollow laugh. "But that does not mean I don't get an earful or even punished if I take things too far." Her attention was fully on me. The already small student office felt even smaller. My surrounding blurred and it was just us two and nothing else. "But you are not like that. You used to scold me for not listening to the rules or messing with you. Its not in your nature to be naughty."
She slumped back in the chair even more defeated. "Then what do I do?" I did not have a good answer back then other than to be patient. "Your time will come."
Considering her sore point, I did not want to be a further aggravation. "So it seems I have to trust the universe yet again. You got rid of Felix, maybe get rid of him too."
I arrived home and showered. It was a need and I instantly felt better. I decided on taking a nap the rest of the day. Alans bachelor party as I was kindly reminded was tomorrow. Thankfully they did not need anything from me other than to show up. Knowing how close Celeste was to Rebecca I was sure she would plan and get her friend wonderful gifts.
If I was going to get hammered again I needed rest. That night I had a nightmare. Well it started out good, Celeste and I were kids playing house. She had longer hair as a child and it was an even brighter red. Her mom would put her hair in pigtails and I always tugged them. She was cooking me a meal with her wooden play food when someone knocked at the door.
She left me to open it and it was an adult Dante. He walked in like he owned the place ignoring the fact that I was there. He took my seat at the table and waited to be served food by Celeste.
She no longer was the girl with pigtails but her current grown self with short hair and bangs. It was hard to read her expression. She did not look to hot but was pushing through anyways. I reached out to grab her but missed. My fingers just grazed her skin.
I looked in the mirror and I was still a child. Playing house alone. I woke up startled. My dreams have never been like that before. I grabbed my phone to see the time, it was midnight. I fell asleep by noon so I was knocked out for over 12 hours.
'What the hell did that even mean?' I was not one to think of dreams meaning anything. But this one felt too real to ignore. I needed to talk to someone about it and not look at me like I am crazy. I only knew of one person to ask and it was my maternal grandmother, mi abuela Alma Franco. I checked the time difference between here and Spain where she resided.
I called and prayed she would be awake. "Dean mijo estas bien?" < Dean my boy are you ok? > Her aged voice resounded on the other end of line, worried. "Si abuelita estoy bien, nomas tengo un pregunta." < Yes grandmother I am fine, I just have a question. >