Impossible Dreams

"Well, nothing. I've just been stressing out that we haven't seen each other and I know we planned to spend of a lot of time together and..."

"It isn't about work, is it?"

"What about work?"

"You're not gonna have to take frequent out of town trips or anything are you?"

"Well maybe, but you can always come with. But it isn't work and nothing's the matter. It's just, well, crazy."

"What's crazy?

"How busy we both are. So I thought maybe... you could... move in."

"Wait, what?!"

"I want you to come live with me."

"Shut up!"

"I mean, it's gonna be cheaper for you than you trying to find a place and for you to live on campus again and if we're gonna commit to us being an item then this is something we should consider doing."

"Nickie," is he the best or what? "The thought hadn't even crossed my mind. You really want me to." I was still in mild shock.

"Dottie, you know I love you."

"I love you too, babe."

"Which is why you should," he continued. "When can I help you with your stuff?"

"You said the team is on the road, right?"

"Only in Saratoga, yeah."

"Can we go tomorrow? Maybe 11?"

"Anything for you, dear. I gotta get reorganizing then." What could he even be reorganizing? His house was a spotless as crystal glassware.

"Okay, see you then. Love you."

"Love you too, Dottie. Bye." Aaah! I'm actually going to live with him full-time. I'm so stoked.

...

~~~

Wow is this moving fast. I mean, I had been preparing the house for sometime to make sure she had space for her stuff, but now it was actually happening. We went from almost zero to sixty after such a long time of practically nothing. And now here I was driving to her dorm to help move her out of there and into my place. Thank goodness her room was next to the elevator. I knocked on her door. Before I could even say hello, Dottie swung the door open so quickly and hugged me so fast. "Nick!"

I let out a grunt as though I was being leveled by a tractor trailer. "Hi Dottiekins, I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, baby."

"Where do we start," I asked thinking we (we meaning I) should work now and relax later.

"How about with this," she said while closing the door, after which she planted a kiss right on me. Her suitemates all were in exams so we had a little time to ourselves. I went the next step in indulging in Dottie's kisses included with a neck and shoulder treatment. What I wound up getting from that was an "I've missed that too," from her.

I was being half wise at this point having responded, "but if you want acupuncture, you'll be going to a professional."

"Aw man, I thought you were my tall, handsome acupuncturist," she said with a smile and a wink.

"You can see a tall, handsome massage therapist later," I assured her giving her a peck on the forehead rubbing her upper arm. "But now, we need to get your things outta here." Little did I know, I was behind an extension cord that was elevating toward the outlet. "Whoa!" I landed on the bed.

"Sorry, I thought I unplugged all of them."

"Well thankfully the bed was near to break my fall." I got myself on my feet again.

As we proceeded to get rid of the heavy things first, that actually didn't take that long, we were trying to figure out how to juxtapose everything to fit in the vehicle. I think we spent more time in the elevator going up and down with it all. Once we were getting toward the lighter stuff, there were several tote bins we had filled plus a few other things. As Dottie went to pick up one of the bins that was out of reach, she got caught on a corner of her area rug that was curled up. "Aah!"

"I gotcha... OOF!" I landed on my side on the floor with her landing on top of me forcing me to lay down facing up because I saw it late that I couldn't catch .

"Oh, Nickie, you're my hero," Dottie said lovingly and semi-sarcastically, swooping in for a kiss.

"It would be a shame if such a beautiful woman fell," I said, hoping to use this as an excuse to take a quick break. "I think you deserve a good ol' ice cream cone for your trouble, hmm?"

"Oh can we when we finish? Can we, can we?"

"Anything for my Dottiekins."

"I'll never get over how wonderful you are," she said as she shook her head as if in disbelief.

"Am I?" I probably deserved it but she softly punched me in the arm. "I mean, after all, it isn't like I'm the only man who want's to move the world for his girlfriend," I had to convince her.

"Yeah, but you're MY wonderful man and I'm not sharing you with anyone."

"Didn't your mother tell you to share when you were younger?" I joked. That prompted another shot to the opposite shoulder. "Okay, okay, I'll stop."

~~~

As we finished loading up our cars, we made the conclusion to head out to my favorite fifties diner for a milkshake. I loved Luongo's. Their desserts especially were to die for, but they made a mean breakfast too. But before we went anywhere, the resident assistant of my floor had to do a room inspection to make sure we didn't cause damage or take something that came with the room. As expected, we got a clean bill of health and gave him the key and we went on our merry way to our cars and head to Luongo's near the airport.

They knew me by name there and we always got the same booth whether it was family or friends. But this was going to be my first time with Nickie. I even called ahead to reserve it. I wanted so bad for him to enjoy his first time there. He even told me as much that he had never been specifically to Luongo's. I managed to get there before he did by a couple minutes. He wound up stopping for gas around the corner as he told me he was going to. He'd picked up and dropped off so many people from airport that he knew the area enough to know the cheapest gas on that side of town.

I walked in, exchanged friendly greetings with the hostess that seated me. Leanne was somewhere between my age and Nick's. We caught up since it had been a while, made mention of Nick, and gossiped about him briefly before she had to get back behind the counter. It was slow for the lunch hour, but it wasn't dead by any stretch. I noticed Nick walking in as the door swung open and motioned to him to find me. "Hi dear," he said as he gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek. You know, for a manly not-particularly-strong man, he had a gentle touch.

"So," I asked in earnest.

"So, what?" I couldn't blame him entirely, I hadn't said anything about the place yet and I was rather vague.

"So, what do you think of the place?"

"Other than I typically prefer to sit at the counter, it's a fifties restaurant."

"That's it? And what's wrong with a booth?"

"Nothing, I wasn't suggesting we move to the counter, nor is anything wrong with the place. My point was it's about the food and not the decor." He always was practical and pragmatic. "There's nothing to read into it..."

"Guilty as charged." He wasn't wrong and I did do that often enough for his concern.

"We're you actually planning to grab a bite, or just the milkshake?"

"What it I said you," I said tongue-in-cheek."

"Now Dottie, let's get home first. You are going HOME after this." As if he had to remind me. Well, he did, actually.

"So WE are." I was still getting used to that, perhaps I'd only ever been there a couple times. I had only ever taken him up on his offer once before he invited me to stay with him. I was just short of a panic attack being stressed over the amount of things I hadn't realized I didn't know for a practical exam.

After all, it wasn't like I had never been, but as soon as the mystique went away, the euphoria of anticipation was getting to me. "That's really nice of you to offer me to live with you so soon" I said, grabbing his hand that lay on the table.

"What about our relationship is ordinary? Even if it was, any man would do that for someone like you."

"Oh, Nick." Damnit, why did he have to always say the right thing and be so damn hot (and cute, and handsome). "Don't make me gush like that here, I'm going to wind up like Cinderella after midnight."

"Sorry, I can't help it that 'us' happened the way it did." He had a point. This was everything I dreamed of. Him. With me. Sweeping me off my feet. Maybe it actually was a fairytale.

Before either of us could say more, Leanne arrived with menus. "I take it this is the man of the hour," she said. "I'm Leanne and I'll be taking care of you."

"You must come here a lot." Nick said. I told him it was going to be a surprise.

"She does. One of our favorite customers!"

"Is that so? Well apparently I'm at a five star locale."

"Well I'm sorry to say that if that were true, I'd have my own diner by now. What can I start you off to drink?"

"Well, Dottie came here with one thing in mind. I think a pair of milkshakes are in order."

"Just a tall vanilla shake will do," I interrupted. giving her a wink.

"So are you thinking about the menu as well?"

"I might take something with me if that's okay. But I'll need a moment to gloss it over."

"Sure thing, take your time. Meanwhile one tall vanilla shake comin' right up."

As she left, I gave her a reassuring nod.

"A tall shake, huh?"

"What?"

"I didn't think you were that type."

"Well I thought you might like that."

"I mean, I'd have been happy with anything. But you think we both could finish that thing? It's huge!"

"I was rather hoping you might be later."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Ha, a head!"

"Dottie!"

"Sorry, I couldn't help it."

"Oh brother!"

~~~

I might have thought she was just flirting but she can have a sexy streak from time to time. "What did you expect," Dottie asked.

"You haven't even had the milkshake yet, and you're taking a false start."

"Oh, alright."

"I'm just being realistic. This doesn't need to be a Harry/Sally moment."

"Fair." As she had said that, she had caught he eyes wandering. The woman down at the far end of the counter from where we were sitting hadn't left from before I arrived. But I wasn't looking at her. That would be an insult to Dottie - being at HER diner and sharing HER milkshake with me. There was in the near vicinity a poster of a antique car show that was coming up.

"Nickie!" She tapped me on the hand. having looked back.

"Relax. You didn't see me squinting to try reading that flyer about the auto show.

"You're a car guy." she asked in perplexion.

"No, but it made me think of my family in Cali. I have an uncle who works for a motor company that makes cars from scratch on his spare time. He built a 70s Dodge Charger from scratch and painted it a la the General Lee from the TV show."

"Wow, that's more than a hobby."

"Just finished putting a Gen II T-bird together."

"Cool, I wanna see if you have pics!" I obliged to his scratch car album on Facebook."

"That's unreal."

As we held hands trying to finish that seemingly massive milkshake, we were satisfied. I tried to pay the bill and at first we argued a little before I told her that she spends her money here all the time and that it's my first time here and all that when she gave in. She managed to leave the tip before I could make change from the cash I was returned from Leanne who thanked us for stopping by in her soft southern American accent then continued about her other customers.

"I'm gonna use the ladies room and we can get out of here."

"Okay, I'll wait for you her so we can walk out together." Before Dottie had finished using the restroom, I got a surprise return visit from Leanne.