Dream Lover

#2

"Daddy!" Lani came running up from the beach. She was carrying a green bucket full of sand. 

"Look what I found!" She bounced up and down beside me. In her pail sat a tiger eye, spiral, hermit crab. 

"Oh, cool. A crab." I cheered. 

"Isn't it pretty, dad? Isn't it pretty?" Lani giggled. 

"It sure is sweetie!" 

"Can I keep it?" She whispered intently. 

"Well now, are you willing to treat it as the true seafarer he is?" I asked in my best pirate voice. 

"Yes, captain!" Lani saluted me.

"Aye then, you may keep the tossed creature!" I ruffled her blonde curls and she bounced into the house happily. She ran back out with a fish bowel in tow. 

She and I walked down to the ocean. We put a layer of sand on the bottom and filled the rest with water. Lani laid her pet inside. 

"What did you name it?" I asked.

"Paul. After my favorite Beatle." She jumped up and ran towards Peter and Chloe sitting in the sand farther down the beach. 

She had fallen for the Beatles a year before and had since corrupted us all. 

I stood up and dusted myself off. 

"Hey, Mick!" Mike called from the patio. "You did say you'd meet with Anna right?" 

"Yep!" I called back and to the house. 

Once I arrived Mike was already on the phone. 

"Yeah, this is Mike. I'm doing good. How are you? That's great. Hey um you remember Micky right? Yeah my room mate. He uh, he's agreed to meet you. I know, isn't it great? Okay, so tomorrow at six? That will be good! Okay. Bye. You too, bye." Mike hung up the reciever. 

I sat down on the couch and plucked at a guitar. Mike plopped down beside me. 

"You nervous?" He asked.

"No I just want to talk to Lani about this first." 

"Man! You make it sound like you're getting married." Mike laughed. 

"If I play my cards right." I chuckled.

The door opened and Davy and Chelsea ran in. 

"Guess whose engaged!" Davy exclaimed.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say, you!" Mike sighed happily.

"You'd be right!" Chelsea said as she starred into David's eyes.

"Congratulations!" I said happily.

"Thanks, uh where's Peter?" Davy asked.

"Out on the beach with Chloe." Mike informed. 

The two love birds walked out all smiles. 

"I don't know." I sighed. "Girls are really being a drag lately." 

"I know. But I promise that Anna will be the girl of your dreams." Mike encouraged me.

I stood up and walked to the kitchen and set to work on washing the day's dishes. I liked to clean when I was nervous.

"You know babe, you really need to start being more optimistic. You used to be so happy and peppy. But you've slowed down man. You need to loosen up. " Mike said from the living room. 

"I know." I sighed. 

"No you don't know!" Mike said. "I just don't want you to let my cousin down. She's real excited and I don't want you to be a drag around her!"

"I won't man, I promise." 

"Yeah like you promised Lani you'd never even consider any other girl?" Mike pushed. 

I was silent a moment. "No."

"You sure?"

"Yes. Because Anna is old enough to hold me to it. Lani's probably forgotten about my promise by now." I argued. 

I put away the many dishes used by the many inhabitants of the flat. It was quiet until Peter rushed in and exclaimed that Davy was getting married.