Dreamer (Currently Being Revised)

Chapter 7: Confliction ✅

It had been a long day off for you. The apartment needed a stern cleaning and you decided to drive to the local grocery mart for food and other such nessessities. You gave the mustang a wash and even cleaned up yourself in the end, stepping out of the shower and checking your phone.

1 Message From Unknown

That was strange. You swiped the pad of your finger across the screen and read the message.

"Hey, its me, Mark! Just checking in to tell ya I got reservations at 8. Come downstairs when you're ready and we can go! Btw, dress casually."

Curious as to how he got ahold of your number, you quickly texted a reply.

"I asked the front desk, I hope you don't mind. They're friends of mine."

You rolled your eyes. "Friends?" More like a flirty attendant who fancies him. Oh well, it wasn't your problem.

Picking out a black, frilly tank and stone washed jeans with your black converse, you put your hair into a high set ponytail, deciding that you couldn't look more "casual" for a dinner without looking like you were about to go to work so you grabbed your satchel.

Your purse was stowed under your cot with the money safely inside since you hadn't had much of a chance to go to the bank yet, having forgot earlier when you went grocery shopping. Maybe you should put that as first thing to finish on your to-do list tomorrow.

Everything was in place and you were ready to go, so you stepped outside, locking the door and walking down the steps.

You didn't see Mark, so you knocked on his door.

"Who's there?" came the call and you glared at the door, the answer obvious, but you decided to play along.

"Orange," you replied.

"Orange who?" His voice was right behind the door and you stepped back, not wanting a repeat of the first time you'd met.

"Open the door, Mark."

"Fine," he said, cracking the door and peering out. "But you've gotta finish it!"

You groaned and grimaced. "Orange you glad to meet me?"

"Yes I am!" he cheered, swinging the door open and raising his arms happily. "Not many people would have gotten that. I'm impressed!"

"Well I'm not many people," you responded before smiling. Many reasons flashed through your mind for you not to, but you dismissed them as quickly as they came, remembering your vow earlier in the day.

Never again.

"Won't you come in?" Mark asked, gaining your attention as you snapped back from your thoughts. He must've said something beforehand, but you didn't recall.

"So we're eating here?" you asked, stepping into the apartment for the first time without limping or bleeding on the floor.

"Of course!"

It was a reasonably spacious apartment, but then again it had very few walls. There was a space for walking between an area you guessed to be the living room with a large entertainment center and a couch with a coffee table and a smaller area you guessed to be the kitchen with wall cabinets and other appliances and a small island. Behind that was a more isolated room with a twin on the other side of the apartment. It was quite modern fashioned, to say the least. It was way better than yours for sure.

"I hope you don't mind sitting in the living room," he said, already in the kitchen. "It's kinda the only table I've got."

"That's fine with me," you say, shrugging, walking forwards and looking around at the different paintings and pictures adorning the wall of family and friends and assorted art pieces.

"So why are you living in an apartment?" you asked. Of the many videos you'd watched with your mother, you'd remembered his mentioning that he had a house and you guessed it wasn't too far from here.

"Eh, got trampled by Dinophants," was the reply you got.

"Dinophants?"

"Yeah! You know, elephant dinosaurs? They're like Whooly Mammoths, but scaly and with wings. Bigger, too."

Sounds like what ran over my life.

"I mean really, Mark," you said, rolling your eyes as you scooted away from the bitter thought.

"Fine," he sighed, clanking and shifting of pans coming from where you sat, "but the Dinophants are a way better story."

"I think I'll live without it," you said with a small laugh.

"Well here I am one day in the not-so-far-away past taking a shower. I've just gotten out and wrapped a towel around myself when the door rings so I scoot on over to open it, expecting the pizza I'd ordered about twenty minutes earlier. I open the door and surprise! There's this chick on my doorstep squealing loud enough to burst a pig's eardrum and running in to hug me and everything."

"So what'd you do?"

"I did what any self respecting man would do."

"Take it like a man?"

"Nope. I slammed the door in her face, pulled on some clothes, and ran out the back."

"Nice and smooth, Mark."

"What?! I was scared for my life! Where there's one fan, there's bound to be more right behind them! I've had to move six times this last year cause people kept finding me."

"Really? Wow, I'm sorry, Mark. That must suck majorly," you said honestly. Living like that must be hard. It was stressful and sad enough for you to move once, but six times? That was simply too much.

"Yeah, but I manage."

A plate with a six inch steak and rice was plopped down in front of you, Mark sitting opposite to you on a pillow on the floor.

"Mark, you don't have to-"

"Yeh- bup bup! I wanna. I'm giving the lady the couch so deal," he said with a smile. "Now eat your steak!"

You nodded with an amused smile and dug in. The dinner was a pleasant one with laughing and joking and some serious talk every now and then. At one point he'd asked your age and you told him 23, which was the truth, but you didn't tell him that your birthday was in a few days. Best keep that under wraps. You'd just turned over a new leaf. You didn't need any parties or annoying "Happy Birthday!" sayings all day long.

You did notice, however, that you felt comfortable with Mark. Not like you did at work or with Janice, but in a more familiar way. In a safe way.

But what did that mean? That was the question stuck in your head.