flowers from 1970

Chapter 6

It was 7:58 PM, and the phone was ringing.  George had awoken from his nap (that had gone on a bit longer than he initially planned) and ran to pick up. "Dream!" He exclaimed, a little too enthusiastic than he normally would greet. He had almost knocked the phone over because he had tugged on the cord a little too much.  There was a small scuffling before Dream responded, "Hello, George." He sat down, "I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday, or if you got worried. Sapnap just went through this horrible breakup with his girlfriend of two years, and I was over at his place trying to soothe his troubles."  George had never known what it was like to have his heart broken, mostly because he's never had someone to break it. He fidgeted with the phone cord and pulled the small table with the phone closer to him, "How is he holding up?" He asked, "I know romantic pain can have quite lasting effects."  Dream sniggered a little, which confused George as to what he found funny, "Quite lasting effects" Dream mimicked in a horrible impression of a British accent, "I like that. Anyway he's not in the best place right now but he's a tough guy, he'll get out of it soon. The girl was a big jerk anyway."  George had seen his old roommate Alex go through a breakup once before. He had been a rightful mess and hadn't eaten or slept well for weeks. He saw the cost of love if it didn't work out, it could change even the strongest and happiest of people. Of course George didn't get why it affected him so badly, or why it was something ever worth crying over.  Alex had pulled the beanie off his head and collapsed on the gray, tattered sofa. He threw the beanie across the room and dug his hands forcefully into his hair. "She made me a promise, you know. She made so many promises and I was the one who was weary of them but you know what? I promised anyway." He turned to look at George, who's eyes were like lasers on his crumbling friend, "She made me promise and she goes ahead and becomes the one to break them. Why make promises you can't keep? It's bull.”  George was a bit scared approach him in such a fragile state, but he picked up his cat Luca off the sofa and onto the floor, and sat down next to Alex. "I-" He tried to begin, "I'm sorry, but I don't understand how you can be so angry at her for that but still love her at the same time, I'd expect you to be more cautious of feeling anything for her again."  "You don't understand, George," Alex sniffled and made to wipe his nose with his jacket, but George quickly leaned over to grab a tissue from the box in the center of the table in front of them, "Thank you." He said as he took the tissue from George, "Being mad at someone you love is almost always never enough for you to stop loving them. You can't spend so much of your time building a home for someone in your heart just to evict them all in ten seconds."  George nodded but still couldn't bring himself to understand, "If I were you, I'd have just tried to forget about her."  "That doesn't happen right away." Alex explained, "It takes time. Trust me George, one day you'll realize just how much of a villain time can be."  "What do you mean?"  "You can only go so long without having been hurt by love. When you're older and you experience it all for the first time, you get hurt more. You're not used to it, you don't know what to do, and you don't know who to blame. Everyone is going to tell you that time heals all wounds but in your head you're just thinking, 'all time does is throw salt on them', you feel all these things more because you've never been hurt before, and you'll come to get angry at the person who did it to you because they're the first to have done so." Alex tried his best to let out while tears still fell down his face, George felt horrible. He was supposed to be the supportive friend, and Alex was the one helping him as if he was the one who just got heartbroken.  George promised himself to remember Alex's words. To be prepared. He would prove that all you need to do to let the pain subside was to forget about it. Time did heal all wounds, but he wouldn't let anything wound him.  George? Did you hang up?" Dream had broken through his wall of thoughts, and he immediately shook his head.  "No I'm here." He responded, letting a heavy breath he held in his chest come out. "I hope Sapnap realizes she was a jerk and moves on."  Dream agreed with a chuckle, "So do I, George." He pulled open the curtains to let in the shine of the streetlights onto his bedroom floor, "Did you work yesterday when I didn't call? Were you worried?"  "I didn't really worry," George said, not very truthfully, "well I did, but I know you have a life and you can't spend every night on the phone with someone from the future."  "Well when you put it like that," Dream chortled, "I quite enjoy talking to you. I'dhappily spend every night on the phone with someone from the future."  George didn't know why that sentence stung so badly in his chest, but he ignored the feeling and gave a weak laugh. "And you say I'm the one who can't get enough of you."  Dream put his chin in the palm of his hand, "Just know George that I'm not a very good liar. So when I said that..." George could hear his smile through the phone, and rolled his eyes.  He wished Dream was next to him so he could slap him on the shoulder for saying such a bold thing. "You want me to be obsessed with you so bad."  "I do. I want you to join the club, there's plenty of others that are," Dream joked bravely, "but never mind my fan club. How are you?"  George contemplated his answer for a bit. "Not much, honestly. I waited for your calls for a bit, though."  Dream gave a defeated sigh, "I truly am sorry. Sapnap gets hit harder than most with this kind of stuff, so it was sort of an emergency. I got home at like three in the morning and I didn't want to potentially wake you."  "Good decision." George told him, "I'm not a very fun person when woken up."  Dream was cackling manically. "Now I know what to do to drive you up the wall. Expect calls in the wee hours of the morning from now on."  George let go of the phone cord he was wrapping around his finger because he had absentmindedly cut off some of his circulation. "If you do that, Dream, I'll- I-”  "You'll what?" Dream tested, "You're gonna come over to my house to beat me up? Oh wait, you're already in my house, Might I even add our situation in which we are separated by?"  George wanted to bang his head into the table, "You're so sassy. You're sassier than my sister, and that's saying something."  "Nice alliteration," Dream complimented, angering George even more, "rolled off thetongue nicely, all those s's."  "Just shut up already." George begged, but he was finding everything quite amusing and Dream could tell. "What are you up to right now?"  Dream was sitting on his stool, shaking his leg, "Wondering whether I should take time to organize my cassettes or leave them in a heaping mess as they are now and go to sleep."  George smiled when Dream said "cassettes", as he knew music worked a different way then it did now. Sure it was accessible, but not nearly as much as it is in his time. "I say you organize them, if you have a lot."  Dream eyed the four baskets full of the cassettes and raised his eyebrows, "Organize them it is." He decided, "but I'll do it tomorrow instead. This might take a whole day.”  "Alright," George said quietly, "what are you going to do instead, then?"  Dream caught sight of his Les Paul in the corner of the room and made to grab it. "I reckon I can practice guitar. I learned a newsong the other day."  "Ooh," George melted a little when Dream mentioned he had played guitar. He had always wanted to get better at it himself, and found people who could play instruments interesting, "may I hear?"  Dream hesitated but agreed, "I'm not the best, but I'll try. It's going to be a softer version though, since I think it fits the song better."  He cleared his throat, and George leaned in closer to the phone to listen. Dream strummed a chord,  "Woah, my love, my darling I've hungered for A long, lonely time" your touch  George was a bit surprised at how beautiful Dream's singing voice was. He knew of the song because of his grandpa, but agreed that the song did sound better when it was sung softly, or just in general preferred it in Dream's voice.  "And time goes by so slowly. And time can do so much. Are you still mine?"  George listened on, closing his eyes and imagining Dream sitting cross legged on the floor, with the phone near him strumming his guitar in his echo-ey bedroom. The very same bedroom he was in now. The thought that Dream had in the same place he was now, singing to him sent tingles though his body.  "Lonely rivers flow To the sea, to the sea  To the open arms of the sea, yeah Lonely rivers sigh 'Wait for me, wait for me'  I'll be coming home, wait for me"  George took in the lyrics. He had never really cared to listen to what the song was saying, and he regretted never doing so. The words were so bittersweet and desperate that he could almost hear himself saying them.  "I need your love God speed your love to me"  There was silence after Dream strummed his last chord. "Are you there?"  George turned to the phone, "Yeah. Just, wow I didn't expect that."  "You thought I was going to suck, wasn't I." Dream teased.  "No!" George exclaimed, "I meant your speaking voice is different from your singing voice. It's softer and it fits the song. Also your guitar playing is really good."  "Thank you." Dream said as he put his guitar back on the stand in the corner, "I messed up a few times but other than that yeah, I really like this song. I've had it on repeat lately and I learned the chords by myself."  "What's the song called, Dream?" George had asked, yawning slightly.  "Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers."  George took his cellphone and made to add the song to a playlist when he realized it didn't really fit any of his existing ones. He instead created a new one, calling it "Flowers from 1970" in reference to Dream, and added the song to that. He also made a mental note to find more songs to fit the playlist and to play it out loud to Dream over the phone someday when he considered it finished.  "I tried guitar, it's really hard," George put down his cellphone, "so that's quite impressive, especially that you learned yourself."  Dream was glad that George admired his playing and singing. No one knew he did so, not even Sapnap. He just told Sapnap that he had the guitar as a gift but never played, when secretly he'd spent hours in his room practicing for hours on end. Having someone to hear the results of his hard work and find it impressive meant a lot to him.  "Are these kinds of songs still a thing?" Dream asked, "Or is that something else you think you shouldn't tell me."  George thought for a moment, "Well I know of them, and so do a good amount of people, but other than that they're not really playing everywhere much anymore."  "Hmm," Dream found that interesting, especially since his parents just adored the Beach Boys and made sure he and his sisters knew every song, "bummer, they're quite good."  "I don't know much of the discography from your time but you can make me a list of songs to try and listen to and I'll educate myself on them more." George offered, and Dream's heart warmed how George became interested in one of his favorite artists.  "I will soon, but unfortunately now I am sleepy and I think I should turn in for the night." Dream yawned loudly.  "Goodnight Dream." George felt empty after saying it, but knew he had more nights to talk to him and that he shouldn't be possessive over his time.  "Goodnight, George," Dream replied, "and don't forget to check on those flowers." He added.  George smiled before hanging up the phone and laying on his bed. He played the playlist he made for dream on repeat, which only included one song, so he fell asleep to the song on repeat.