Indena was walking alone in the park. The sun was so bright she could not see the sky and the air smelt like Central Park never did, of honeysuckle and pure spring rain. She ran her fingers over the damp park bench and was surprised they came away damp. She could not quite articulate why that was surprising but nonetheless, it was. Her gauzy white sundress brushed her skin lightly as she walked. Out of habit, she raised a hand to fiddle with the small flower necklace she always wore.
Why am I here? She asked herself as she walked. The path through the park was utterly deserted but there was none of the fear being alone sometimes gave her, only a deep sense of calmness and anticipation.
“Excuse me miss” a man’s deep voice rang from behind her. She spun around letting out a surprised squeak and nearly tripping over her own feet. She grasped the top of the bench next to her and steadied herself. A man was jogging toward her. He was of average height, maybe a foot at most taller than her, and in what looked like a white linen suit. As he got closer she noticed he had a wild unkempt mane of curly brown hair about an inch long and warm brown eyes. His skin was the exact color of sand and he was of average build.
“I um-Hi,” Indena said, suddenly self-conscious at realizing another person was in fact near her. She looked down and the white fabric of her dress stood out against her chestnut-colored skin. She reached up to find her black wavy hair a mess as if she had been sleeping on it. She hurriedly tried to arrange it so it looked less of a mess as she looked at the stranger. He stopped running, not even the slightest bit out of breath.
“Hi, uh I'm Javi. What is this place?” He asked, confusion evident on his face. She shrugged.
“I don't actually know.” This question caught her off guard but, she could not even remember how she got here. She had no memory of the clothes she had on. In the four years she had lived in New York she had never seen Central Park this clean, quiet, and empty. Especially not in the daytime.
“I don’t even remember how I got here. I can’t-” She said, her voice trailing off. She looked down the path and it had that strange quality of feeling like a never-ending hallway you could walk down forever and never find the end of. She had a recurring nightmare like that when she was in college, running down her dorm hallway late for a test but never able to get closer to the exit.
THAT WAS IT! She thought
“This must be a dream!” she exclaimed. He looked at her puzzled “Wonder why I am dreaming about you? No offense but I don't even know you?” She looked at the man again, searching for any familiarity in him.
“What? You aren't dreaming of me, this is MY dream, if it is a dream” He argued. She laughed, the sound was clear and echoed across the empty park.
“How could a figment of MY imagination be dreaming?” Obviously, it was ridiculous of him to think the dream was his, he didn't even exist.
“I am the one with a name.” He pointed out.
“I have a name, It’s Indena,” She said indignantly. His brow wrinkled with concentration and she found the expression was actually kind of cute.
“Well, It must be my dream because I can see why I would dream of someone like you” he emphasized the last word and then gestured to himself “but no one who looks like you would ever dream about someone who looks like me.” She found herself laughing again.
“That is a ridiculous way to determine whose dream it is, you know.” A strange bubble of contentment built in her chest. He shook his head, dismissing her.
“Well we are in Central Park, and I would definitely dream of being here. I just moved to New York and explored the park for the first time yesterday. Or well today maybe?” His voice trailed off.
“Yeah well I have lived here four years and this is my favorite part of the city so” She answered, dismissing his argument.
“Is it? Mine too. Though I will say it did not smell quite this good when I was here” He inhaled the scent deeply.
“Oh no it never smells this good.” she breathed in with him.
“Honey suckle,” He said quietly “That proves it is my dream. I have a pot of honeysuckle by my bed, it must be infiltrating my dream” He nodded sagely as if that put the whole matter to rest.
“Yeah well Spring rain, it smells exactly like MY air freshener in my room so there goes that theory.” She cocked her head, challenging this dream boy to come up with some other justification. She had never had a figment of her imagination argue so hard to prove it was real. That probably did not bode well for her sanity.
“Spring rain eh?” He laughed “I don’t know, that definitely seems like the type of air freshener a figment of my imagination would use.” She could not help but smile at the relaxed way he laughed. He may be imaginary but as she watched him she found he had the most beautiful smile and each time he laughed a part of her desperately wanted him to do it again.
“Are you calling me basic?” She asked, an eyebrow raised and a teasing smile on her face. That won him another laugh and it filled her heart with joy.
“On the contrary, I think I called myself unimaginative. Or rather I must have used up all my imagination on your beauty” She felt her cheeks warm and she looked away shyly, not knowing what to say.
“Tell you what Indena, what if we walked. Maybe we will come across more clues to tell us which one of us is merely imaginary.” She shrugged and nodded.
“I don't know that it ends but we can try” she agreed and they began down the path again. Even though the air and sun were a perfect temperature she found she could feel his warmth next to her as they walked.
“So tell me, dream girl, when not haunting my dreams, what do you do for a living?” He said.
“I am a journalist” She answered “And you? What job had my mind created for you, mystery man”
“I am an architect,” he said. She stopped dead
“Well that proves it, it's my dream.” She said simply
“Ha, how?”
“Well ever since I was a little girl dreaming about who I would end up with, I always imagined him as an architect. So clearly YOU are the dream and I am the real person” She said simply. He started laughing and almost doubled over.
“Indena.” he wheezed “You mean to tell me in your girlhood dreams of romance you gave your partner a job and it wasn't Prince or Doctor or fireman but Architect!” He seemed to clutch at a stitch in his side. She swatted at him
“I don't think it's that funny really!” a flush crept up her neck and cheeks at the memory of why it was always an architect.
“Oh come on Indena. This just proves you are made up, and that I have a horrible imagination. What girl dreams of an ARCHITECT” he was still laughing as he spoke.
“A girl with a crush on Ben Hansen.” She defended angrily. Then blushed
“Ben Hansen? Like from IT?” he asked. She looked away mortified. Even if he was just a dream she had never admitted her strange crush on the boy from the horror movie. She thought it was probably the poem he wrote Beverly. “Hey-hey don't be embarrassed” He reached out and placed one soft firm hand under her chin and pulled her to look at him.
“It's ok we all had embarrassing crushes as kids.” He assured her, no teasing in his tone.
“Oh yeah, who was yours then?” Javi looked away, his turn to blush. “Oh COME ON Javi. I just shared BEN HANSON. It can't be worse than that can it?”
“No no it's not embarrassing, it's just so BASIC. But ok” he took a deep breath “Bell”
“From Beauty and the Beast?” she giggled without meaning to
“SEE!” he exclaimed, turning away and throwing his hands up. She caught his hand without thinking.
“NO. No. Javi I am sorry. Ha, it's just that I was always my favorite princess. She was the Smart one. She loved books like me.” She explained, still holding his hand, and finding she did not want to release it. As if he felt the same he unconsciously laced their fingers together.
“That's what I always loved about her.” He admitted quietly. Indena’s heart did a backflip in her chest as she stared into his eyes. They were the color of the fields during the spring back home just before planting. She had a sneaking suspicion she could lose herself in those eyes if she gazed too long. He gazed right back into hers. She found herself wishing she WAS the dream because She did not want to have to wake up and lose this connection.
“I hope I am the figment” he whispered, shocking her out of his eyes and causing her heart to plummet. Surely that proved she was the real one then because he had given voice to her deepest thoughts. She sighed.
“I think you must be, but I don't want you to be” She admitted “And the fact that I don't want you to be must prove that right? Because I hardly know you, and I already find the prospect of losing you repugnant” she looked down, heartache crushing her. It was unreasonable and unhealthy to feel this way about a dream man, but she was hopeless to fight the emotion as it rolled over her. She would let her waking self sort through what it said about her that she felt a true connection for the first time in years and it was with a manufactured dream.
“Well if this is just a dream and I am just a figment can I make a request” He said softly, again raising her chin to look at him. She said nothing, losing herself in his eyes.
“A kiss?” he asked. Tears sprang to her eyes unbidden and she did not bother chastising herself for her irrationality. She just nodded as he leaned in and closed her eyes.
He smelled like elderberry and pine. His lips pressed against hers, soft and tentative at first and then morphing into rough and demanding as the kiss deepened. She could swear her heart exploded inside her chest. Fire and flame sprang all over her body as one of his hands slid to her waist while the other slid to the nape of her neck deepening the kiss. It seemed to send flames over her body, rewriting her DNA. Even though this was a dream she felt this kiss would have consequences. It drove all rational thought from her mind.
When the kiss broke they were both crying, and she discovered she did not need to ask him why. Whichever of them had conjured the other, it was a cruel trick for their imagination to play. He pulled away and smiled at her. She felt a tugging in her mind as if something was pulling her away. She clung to him, suddenly fearful. He looked at her with the same realization that whatever this was, it was ending soon.
“Wait,” he said and let go of her, dashing over to where honeysuckles grew on a vine behind the bench nearest them and picked one. He tucked it into her hair behind her ear.
“Remember me?” He asked with a smile. She pulled off the small flower necklace she always wore and placed it in his palm, closing his hand over it.
“Only if you promise to remember me” her voice was soft.
“Forever,” he said simply and they kissed again.
***
Javi sat bolt upright in the waning darkness of his room, the scent of honeysuckle heavy in the air and his cheek moist with tears. What a dream he was thinking of the beautiful woman whom he had somehow made up. How messed up was his mind that he had to craft some imaginary dream woman to fill the void left by his ex? He believed he was over her. Clearly, he was not. He raised his hand to wipe away his tears and was surprised it was clenched tightly. He opened his fist to see a small silver flower necklace nestled in his palm. He gaped at it for a second and whispered
“Indena?”
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