What We Dreamed (And How It Actually Happened)

Chapter One

Chapter One
Carlos
There are mornings where you wake up and regret things.
And today is one of those mornings.
I mean, Maddie and I have never been anything more than friends. Best friends, but you know, we were just friends.
Last night she came over to my place crying 'cause the jackass she was dating dumped her.
And now I'm waking up beside her in bed.
So, naturally, my first thought is Shit, perfectly reasonable in this scenario.
And as I try to get off the bed, she wakes up.
Blue eyes meet mine, and we both realize with the smallest amount of horror possible that we are naked in my bed.
Maddie jumps back, and I do the same, but manage to knock my head into the wall and fall between the wall and my bed, effectively blocking my view of her.
"Carlos! Are you okay?" She asks.
"Yeah, fine. Well, as fine as..."
I hear the blankets rustling, and then she's walking around my room with a sheet toga. Tosses a shirt and a pair of sweatpants in my direction. "Stay down until I'm dressed, okay?"
I nod and then yank on my clothes as fast as possible when one is half crouched on the floor.
"So, what are we going to do?" I ask her as she begins to dress.
"I still want to be your friend. I don't want that to change."
"Same here." I reply. "Can I stand up yet?"
"Not quite. Just a moment... okay, now you can."
I stand up. She's wearing a hoodie I don't recognize and the blue jeans with butterflies all over the thigh. We awkwardly stare at each other, unsure what to say.
"Um, pancakes for breakfast?" I finally offer.
"That sounds good." She replies, and I head off to the kitchen as fast as I can.

Madeline stood in Carlos's bedroom in confusion.
What the hell had she gotten herself into last night?!
Sure, she'd known the breakup was coming. She and Gil had been on the rocks for a while. He was still in love with Elizabeta, after all. Every time the past month she'd tried to initiate anything sexual, he'd turned her down, and vice versa.
But the second one of them finally said "It's over." She wakes up in her best friend's bed and just knows in an instant that they did it.
God, I'm not even sure I want to know exactly what happened last night...
She'd been friends with the Cuban since grade school. Her brother and he had always gotten into fights, but he was a loyal and damn good best friend. When he was going through a rough patch, she'd be there, and he'd always done the same for her.
She'd been at his place a few times after a breakup, but until today, she'd always woken up on the couch.
Finally she walked to the door and headed downstairs. She wasn't looking forward to the excuses she'd have to make when she got home to her roommate Sofia.

Breakfast was made more awkward by the fact there was a half empty bottle of rum on the counter.
I'm sure Maddie instantly had the same thought as me when she saw it.
That explains a lot.
Last night was pretty fuzzy and I didn't want to piece it together, so instead I just poured maple syrup over my pancakes and watched Maddie do the same.
Finally, as we were finishing up, Maddie spoke.
"Can we forget last night happened?"
"Huh?"
"Let's forget last night happened. I don't want to lose you as a friend, Carlos, and last night... alcohol probably made me feel like a rebound, and I don't want to do that to you. So, let's go back to how things were, okay?"
"Yeah." I agree, my mouth going dry.
She suddenly gives me one of the shy smiles she's always giving people. "Thanks Carlos."
"Don't worry."
After the dishes are washed, she leaves, and I head upstairs to wash the sheets. I need to pretend last night never happened, and the best way for me to do that is to ignore the tiny voice in my brain going You've always just been friends, but don't you want more?
"I will not be a rebound." I mutter, yanking the sheets off the bed and throwing them into the wash as angrily as a grown man can.

Madeline
"Alfred called this morning." Sofia said after I came out of the shower. "Something about your dads wanting you to come over for a visit."
"Great. Did you tell him anything?"
"I said you were with Gilbert last night and I'd have you call as soon as you could."
"Thanks Sofia."
"So who were you with?" She asks. That's Sofia. No bullshit, just straight Where were you because I know you weren't where I said you were? I think she got it from interrogating her younger brother Ivan. (After all, Al and Ivan have been a thing since high school and I got quite used to giving Al the One should be quieter when having sex in their bedroom with their boyfriend late at night speech.)
"Carlos."
She looked at me with silent judgement. "Madeline, you aren't going to ruin your friendship with him over a rebound, right?"
"Alcohol was involved on both sides and we have agreed not to speak of it ever again. It was a drunken one-night stand."
She nods, and then tosses me a box of chocolate. "Friends still, right?"
"Yeah. As a woman I lived with once said, 'For a rebound, one only needs a box of chocolate.'"
Sofia laughed and I was able to smile right back at her. My friendships were still fine.

I called my little brother later that day and got a slightly accented voice instead. "Hello?"
"Ivan, it's Maddie. Is Al there..."
"HEY MADELINE!" I heard my younger brother suddenly shouted into the phone. "Dad and papa called, wanted to know if we could have a mutual birthday party at their house again this year, so I was calling to see if that was good for you. You could bring Sofia and Gil, of course, and anyone else you want to bring, you just have to tell papa so he can cook enough food, and I was thinking we could have a barbecue for lunch and..."
"Alfred, slow down. A hummingbird can't flap his wings as fast as you are speaking. Dad and papa are already planning our birthday party? It's the beginning of May." Alfred and I, despite being born in different years, were only three days apart in our birthdays. July 1st for me, July 4th for him.
"Papa said something about being prepared this time for every possible cooking disaster dad might inflict on him."
Our dad, the unintentional menace of the kitchen. Can't even pour himself a bowl of cereal without a state of emergency being declared. Last year, I'd watched the cupcake frosting catch fire when he just tried to light the birthday candle in two of them, one for me and one for Al. Papa had been so offended that dad had to leave and buy not only an entirely new birthday cake from a nearby bakery, but a huge bouquet of roses so papa would just consider forgiving him.
"Well, I'll call them up later. I have some bad news anyhow."
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"Gil and I broke up this morning." I said, shifting the time to cover for myself. "It was mutual. Things were going downhill the past month or so."
"Papa's gonna be disappointed. I think he was hoping you two were going to get married. After all, it lasted what, two and a half years?"
"Yeah, and papa really liked him, and it bothers him that I'm twenty-seven and not married. To that, I stick my thumb at him."
There is a long pause on the line and then Al speaks. "I'm missing a reference, aren't I?"
"Romeo and Juliet. It was an insult the Montagues and Capulets used against each other."
"Oh. Okay."
We ended the call shortly after that, and I sighed. Papa was going to be sad. Honestly, I was as well. Gil and I had matched really well, and until three months ago, I'd believed he and I were going to get married.
Until I watched him bawl at Roderich and Elizabeta's wedding announcement.
He'd never really gotten over her, and I'm not sure I can blame him.
Dad would act indifferent, but I knew he was worried about me too. When I was younger, I'd always talked about the family I was going to have when I was grown up. Two or three kids, a nice big yard, a couple dogs. Al and Ivan were closer to achieving that dream than I was. They were twenty five, married during a trip to Canada, and talking about the possibility of adopting in a few years when their careers stabled out.
That night I sat and watched Chopped with Sofia, ignoring the pain that was gathering up inside me.
Later, my pillow received a heavy dose of tears.