Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Dreams Come True
That was last year, and since then the same dream appears every night. Except, every so often the dream changes. I don't want to tell Matsuda about it because he takes his shirt off in the dream, but it's been bothering me for an entire year now and I feel like if I don't tell someone I might wind up batshit crazy.
'I need to get it off my chest, he's my best friend and I'm sure he'd want me to tell him what's been irritating me.' I thought, shoveling more cereal into my mouth. 'Okay, when he gets here I'll tell him.'
As if on que, I hear a loud rapping noise on my door.
'I guess he's here.' I thought, getting up from my seat and walking towards the door. I unlocked it and swung the door open to see Matsuda's million dollar smile beaming back at me.
"Hey Matsuda, you're early." I said, letting him in. Matsuda took my offer and followed me inside, taking off his shoes at the door.
"Goodmorning to you too. And I came early on purpose, I wanted more time to talk before we leave." He said, sitting down at the opposite end of the table.
"Here, you never eat breakfast in the morning." I said, sliding the cereal towards him.
"Thanks, your cereal tastes better than mine anyway." He said, pouring himself a bowl. I felt my cheeks heat up slightly.
'Still as hot as ever- wait no, bad thoughts! Not hot, I have no feelings for Matsuda whatsoever! I am straight!' I thought, shaking my head.
"You alright Aspen?" Matsuda asked, pouring milk into his bowl.
"Yeah... actually not really. Do you mind if I tell you something that's been bothering me for a long time now? I need to get this off my chest." I said, looking up from my bowl.
"Yeah, of course. What's up?" He asked, putting his spoon of cereal back into the bowl.
"I've been having this disturbing dream for a year now, and it's starting to drive me nuts." I said, taking the last bite of cereal and getting up to put the bowl in the sink.
"What's the dream about?" He asked as I came back to the table.
"Well, it starts off in the school locker room..."
I ended up telling Matsuda the entire dream from start to finish, excluding only him stripping and the hand holding. By the time I'd finished, we had already started walking to school.
"That's such a strange dream, why didn't you tell me about it sooner?" Matsuda asks, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Well, I didn't want to bother you. With school and family pressures, I thought that the last thing you needed was someone else's problem in your mind." I replied, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt.
It's true, I hate bothering people with my own issues. It makes me feel like a selfish person, and I don't like that feeling.
"Aspen, I want you to tell me every single problem that you have. I can't stand it when you try to take things on alone and I begin to worry." Matsuda replied, blocking my path.
"Matsuda..."
"No excuses, I want your problems. So please, burden me with them." I felt my heart skip a beat, I went to see a doctor but he said I was fine and that I don't actually have cancer.
"O-okay. Then you'll want to hear this." I said, watching Matsuda step out of my way and walk next to me.
"Every night, the dream changes. Sometimes the locker door will be open and sometimes it'll be closed. But it's more than just that, other times it's the car that almost hits us or the people in the locker room." I said, shoving my hands in my pockets.
"That's odd, is there any pattern to it?" Matsuda asked, looking puzzled.
"Well, now that you mention it, whenever someone doesn't show up in the locker room they're absent the next morning. And the locker door is only closed on Thursday nights, which happens to be the night before you take your fitness uniform home to wash it." I answered, looking at the ground.
"That's odd, thank you for telling me though. I can't believe you've been having this problem for an entire year now." Matsuda said, ruffling my hair with his hand. As if my face wasn't pink enough, the heat only got worse.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention this earlier, but I sent in a request to transfer into your fitness class last week and they accepted. So starting today, we'll have the same fitness class." Matsuda added, changing the subject.
'Wait, transferring into my fitness class? Does that mean I'll have to be in there with him while he changes?! No no no, ignore that thought. I am not in any way bothered by Matsuda changing with me in the locker room! We're both guys, it means nothing!' I thought, ignoring any inappropriate ideas squeezing their way into my mind.
"We should hurry or we'll be late for first period." I said, changing the subject.
"Agreed." Matsuda said, picking up the pace.
We arrived at school just in time for the bell, then parted ways in different directions towards our classes.
~Lunch Period~
It was another typical lunch break, I had just sat down next to Matsuda when the 2nd girl this week confessed her feelings to him. I found this repulsive for some reason, but that's what comes with the package.
"How many more girls are you going to turn down before you finish school? Surely you're not thinking of remaining single forever, right?" I said, laughing at my own joke like the sad 15 year old I am.
"Why do you ask? You're not jealous, are you?" Matsuda asked, giving me an expression I couldn't read.
"N-no! W-why would you think that?! A-and what's with that look?" I stuttered, looking down at my plate.
"Your face is red, you're lying to me aren't you?" Matsuda suddenly got serious, leaning over the table slightly.
"I-I'm n-n-not! W-we're both guys, I d-don't swing that way!" My face burnt, it felt like someone had poured gasoline all over my head and lit a match.
"Aspen-" Matsuda's retort had been interrupted by the bell, allowing me to make my escape.
"I have to go, I'll see you later!" I said, standing up and exiting the cafeteria as quick as possible.
'That, was so close. Why does he think I... no. No, I'm not going there again. I refuse to have these thoughts.' I shook my head again, making my way towards the locker room for gym.
I slowed my pace, until I came to a stop in front of the locker room doors.
'I completely forgot that I need to get my gym uniform out of my backpack first.' I remembered, then changed my direction and ran back to my hallway locker to get my uniform.
If I didn't hurry, I'd be late to gym class. So I picked up the pace and opened the locker room doors with a little time to spare. It turns out that I had completely forgotten Matsuda had transferred into my gym class.
"Matsuda? Oh right, I forgot you transferred classes." I said, walking over to my locker that happened to be 3 lockers away from his.
"Your ability to forget things is incredible, we haven't even gotten through school yet and you already forgot about it. Or are you just so focused on something else that it slipped your mind?" Matsuda replied, a smug look plastered on his face.
"O-oi! I told you already, I don't-" I started but I was quickly silenced when Matsuda slid off his shirt. I felt my whole face heat up, and my breath caught in my throat. Matsuda paused and looked over at me in confusion.
"Aspen? You got a little...." Matsuda motioned that I had something under my nose, but when I touched it there was blood on my hand.
'I'm having a nosebleed? But I drank a lot of water today, why would I be having a-' I looked over to Matsuda and the answer was clear. My nose started to bleed even more.
"S-shit!" I held my hand over my face and ran over to the sinks, splashing some water over my face and grabbing a paper towel to stop the bleeding.
"Are you alright?" I turned to see Matsuda standing behind me, thankfully with a shirt on now.
"Mhm, I think I was just dehydrated, that's all." I replied, Matsuda just gave me a strange look and left the locker room.
'That was odd, the way he took his shirt off was exactly the same as when it happened in the dream.' I thought, slipping on my gym shirt. 'It's probably nothing.'
I walked out of the locker room and stood next to Matsuda, waiting for the gym coach to give us instructions.
"Alright students! 5 laps around the school, you have 10 minutes! Begin!" The coach bellowed, I started to run and Matsuda kept pace with me.
"What was the whole nosebleed thing really about?" Matsuda asked, not bothering to look over at me.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Matsuda, I was dehydrated." I replied, ignoring his frustrated sigh.
"If you're gay, I'd like you to tell me. I have no qualms with being homosexual and if this is something that's bothering you please let me know." He said, making eye contact with me.
"G-gay? M-me? N-no way! You're delusional." I stuttered, something about that bothered me but I chose to ignore it.
"Aspen."
'I'm not gay, I don't even like guys. I'm 100% straight.' I told myself, blankly staring ahead.
"Aspen, look at me." Matsuda said, breaking me out of my thoughts. He turned and blocked my path.
"What? Why are you blocking the way?" I asked, confused by his motives.
"Aspen, I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you're 100% sure you aren't gay." Matsuda said, staring me down.
"I-I'm 100% s-s-sure I'm n-not g-gay." I said, avoiding his gaze.
"You're stuttering, your face is red, and you can't even look me in the face. Do you expect me to believe that?" He said, walking closer to me.
"It's the truth, I'm n-not." I stuttered, stepping back a little. Matsuda continued to inch closer until he was uncomfortably close to my face.
"Don't lie." He said, leaning forward. I panicked, he was way too close for comfort and I needed to do something.
"W-we have to finish our laps, we'll be late if we don't." I said, brushing past him. 'What were his intentions? He wasn't going to kiss me, was he?' I thought, feeling my face heat up more.
'I just need to get through the rest of the day, and everything will be fine.'
~After School~
I grabbed my backpack out of my locker and shut it, turning towards the open hallway and walking forward.
'I just want to get home already, I think I'll leave before Matsuda. Things would just be awkward if I walked back with him and I don't want a repeat of what happened earlier during laps.' I thought, forcing the memory to the back of my mind.
I pushed through the doors at the end of the hallway and stepped outside, the sunlight kissing my skin felt nice after being inside most of the day. I began to make my way home, thinking of random events that occurred today.
"Aspen, wait up!" Someone called from behind. I turned around to see Matsuda running up to me, his black ponytail swaying in the breeze.
"You left without me, so I tried to catch up." He said, slowing down to a stop in front of me.
"Look, don't take this the hard way but I just want to get home." I said, proceeding to walk down the sidewalk.
"If this is about earlier, I'm sorry. I acted out of line and I shouldn't have done that." He said, taking my hand in his. I blushed at the sudden contact.
"Y-you're holding my hand-" I started to panic, something about this felt so familiar but at the same time my mind became hazy. I was flustered, and my heartbeat was through the roof. In a spur of the moment decision I started to back away, but the ground under my heel disappeared.
I fell off the curb and into the road.
Weekly Power Status
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