Dominoes 102a: Caleb Comes Over

“Well, I said, stuffing a last bit of toast into my mouth, and turning toward the door, “I guess Caleb isn’t going to… Oh, Hi, Caleb.” I said, my heart beating much more rapidly than I would have hoped, “The notebook is right here,” I said, pointing, ” and there is plenty of food. I have to go get dressed to take Jenny to practice. We should be back, at 10:30 or so, OK?”
I didn’t wait for his answer, and I don’t think he had one. When I had turned he was standing with the door and his mouth wide open, staring at me in all my glory. Not, at least, staring at the ground as he had in my dream, but still, he hadn’t seemed capable of speech. I did my best to walk to the stairs, and turn back toward them casually, but I am afraid I must have looked like I was fleeing. And, truth be told, I was, rather. Caleb was still staring at me, though, and he didn’t seem like he was annoyed by the view, anyway; however much he might laugh at me later.
I went to my drawer and, after only a seconds thought, grabbed the sports bra and shoved it on, following it with the same shirt and skirt I had worn in my dream. I had had good luck there, why not try them here?
“You ready?” I said to Jenny when I got to her room, grabbing a brush and working frantically at her hair, and then braiding it while she painted her face. It really did look ugly to me now.
“Almost,” she said, stripping off her pajamas and grabbing her blouse and skirt and shoving them on. I helped her on with her socks and shoes, and she grabbed her purse.
“Oh, shoot, I forgot my purse,” I said, running back to my room.
The backpack stood, staring at me from the corner, and I shoved my purse in it and ran downstairs, not even looking into the living room as I raced out the door.
I adjusted the seat (very carefully) and drove off toward the center.
“What on Earth has gotten into you, Bobbi?” Jenny asked, her voice excited.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked her.
“Making him read your journal, and then…” She collapsed in giggles, “you should have seen the poor boy!! He won’t sleep for a week!! His eyes were bugging out of his head!”
“Run in,” I said to Jenny, who was still giggling furiously, as we pulled up to the music hall, and after she dashed off, I went to park the car. What had gotten into me? Having a dream was fine, but going all undressed to breakfast as a result?
All that dream stuff had been just crazy. I hadn’t even understood much of Caleb’s explanation. The ‘guy’ part of me had kind of reveled in it. Probably liked to read sci-fi, like Caleb… all into multiple universes and butterfly hypothesis. Getting ‘sent back’. What nonsense. But, for a dream, this had been a powerful one. I felt like I could almost think like a boy. I knew about all sorts of things that no right minded girl should ever know… like how to stand at a group of urinals with other boys… the ‘boy’ in me had thought about that while in a girl’s room once. What nonsense.
Oh, well, sufficient unto the day, I said to myself, and, grabbing my backpack went into the hall.
This time I would study my lines. I kind of liked the way, in my dream, I had learned so much before I hit class that I felt like I knew everything. Especially since I was the lead in the play.
I sat down and was deep into memorizing when I heard a voice say, “Studying?” and I leapt right out of my chair, staring at him.
“You!” I said, for it was Jervis. Clad in a button down blue short sleeved shirt with some logo on it, and jeans, it was Jervis.
“Whoa!” He said, leaning back, “Did I startle you?”
But I had no answer for him and, script in hand, went into the women’s room, almost at a run. This was way, way too weird. My heart was pounding out of my chest. What was he doing here? I had thought he was some dream invention of mine, some evil… something. But here he was. Was he Suzy’s brother, as he had been in my dream? Had I actually met him before?
I could not go back out there. Not for another, I looked at my watch, the rehearsal would get done about 10:15, I was staying in here till then.
It must have seemed odd to the various girls that came in and out that I was sitting on the chair in the girls room reading, but I was not going out there. I hoped my purse was all right. I grabbed a girl, “Look, could you do me a favor? Bring me my backpack, it is…”
“I saw it,” she said, “Red and blue, right?”
I nodded and she brought it right back. “Some guy out there wanted to know if you were all right. I told him it was a girl thing.”
“Thanks,” I said. But she looked at me,
“You are all right, no?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s a guy thing,” I said, and she giggled and finished up.
I read more, and then looked at my watch and walked out. “Hey, you OK?” He said, hurrying up.
I held up my hand, “Don’t talk to me,” I said. “Leave me alone.”
“But what did I do?” He asked. One of Jenny’s group, a boy almost half Jervis’s size, came over,
“Hey, she said to leave her alone, dude.” He said.
“Whatever!” Jervis said, and stomped off.
“Thanks, Tommy,” I said.
“He’s a jerk,” Tommy said.
“You know him?”
“Sure. He’s Suzy’s brother, but none of us like him. She’s OK, but he’s something else.”
Wow. So my instincts had been right, anyway. I must have met him sometime and blocked it out. “Jenny,” I said, as she came out hand in hand with Suzy, “Jenny, over here.”
“I will be out in the car!” Jervis said, and stalked off, leaving the two girls staring at him.