Authors: A N Busch
Abby sighed, great, now she was the only one that didn’t know what was going on. “Melanie is coming; she said that Jamal called her. She should be out in a minute or two.”
Melanie practically sprang out of her door at that moment. “Okay, I’m ready. Lets go!”
Rachel locked arms with Westly, and Melanie wrapped her arm around Abby’s with a smile. The two said nothing more as they marched Abby and Westly into the elevator. Downstairs Westly put his arm around Abby’s waist as they started to walk. She pulled out her gloves and started to put them on as she asked, “Are you going to tell me what is going on?” Westly said nothing and just kissed the top of her head as they walked out the front doors into the crisp night air.
They followed Melanie and Rachel as they walked across campus. Abby could hear the two of them whispering but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Every time she looked up at Westly, he was smiling at her and it was enough to keep her from asking any more questions about what was going on.
After some time, she could see Jamal and Paul waiting for them at the top of the hill near Waders Lake. She almost felt sorry for Westly; this was an ambush. They had hardly been dating three weeks now and he was going to be bombarded by all her friends at one time. He had gotten to know Melanie somewhat but mostly it was just a little small talk now and then.
When they got to the top of the hill, Jamal was the first to speak, “Westly, nice to meet you man. I’m Jamal; this is Paul. And I’m sure you know Melanie and Rachel.”
Westly didn’t miss a beat, sticking his hand out to both of them as he spoke, “Hi, nice to meet you Jamal. Paul, it’s nice to officially meet you as well. I have heard quite a lot about you both.”
Rachel reached out and took Abby’s free arm. “Abby welcome to snow. Now let’s have some fun and enjoy it!’
“Rachel I have seen snow before you know. Not this much, but I have seen it.”
Jamal reached out and grabbed a stack of trays that were from the cafeteria. “Let the games begin!” He handed one to each of them, then sat on his own and went flying down the hill yelling.
Rachel started laughing and was the next to go screaming down the hill. Westly sat on his and stuck a hand out to her. Abby sat on her tray and took his hand. Before she knew it he had pushed off, and she was being pulled down the hill with him. Abby wanted to close her eyes but didn’t. When she got to the bottom of the hill she flew forward onto the ground laughing. Westly landed beside her with a crazy “uff” sound, which made her laugh even harder.
They did the same thing over and over again for hours. One time Rachel, Melanie and herself lined their trays one after the other and went down the hill only to land on top of each other at the bottom, laughing the whole time.
Westly, Jamal and Paul seemed to have a good time. The three of them sat for some time talking while the girls drank out of a very large thermos filled with peppermint flavored hot cocoa Rachel had brought. They laughed at crazy ideas that the others had of how to go down the hill on the trays. Rachel actually took a dare from Jamal to go down the hill standing on the tray. She only made it half way down before she fell off and went rolling the rest of the way. None of them could stop laughing as she trekked back up to them covered in snow.
Rachel fell to the ground laughing as she asked Abby how she was feeling.
“I’m fine why?”
“Because there is a chance that you might be a little drunk. The peppermint flavoring in the hot chocolate comes from a mix of peppermint liquor and vodka!”
One by one they went down the hill without their trays, ending up all in a pile at the bottom of the hill fighting to stand up and trying to knock the others down. Soon they were all laying in the snow half out of breath and giggling. Every time Abby got herself together and thought she could stop laughing, someone would sigh or say something funny and she would start to laugh again.
Paul was the first to stand up. He walked over and put a hand out to her and Melanie helping both of them up from the ground. Melanie fell back down three times and Westly had to help Paul stand her up. It was four in the morning and Melanie clearly needed to get to bed. Westly wrapped his arms around Abby and asked how she was feeling.
“I’m good, I think.” Abby threw her arms around him and jumped up wrapping her legs around his waist. “You know, I think you’re cute. Can I keep you? For a little while at least?”
“Shh, don’t tell anyone but so do I. It’s Rach’s fault though.” Westly put her down laughing. Rachel and Jamal had gone back to the top of the hill to collect their things. By the time they got back to the bottom, Rachel had almost fallen three times.
“Hey Paul,” Jamal called out to him after catching Rachel for the fourth time, “can you please get Melanie back to her room? I’ll drive Rachel to her place and jog back to the dorm.”
“Yeah, not a problem. Be careful.”
Abby didn’t know what to think when Jamal walked over and kissed Mel on the cheek telling her that he would see her after he got Rachel home safely.
The four of them walked back to the dorm together. The trip seemed faster than it had earlier. Outside of the doom’s doors Abby leaned over and gathered some snow into a snowball. When Westly stopped two paces ahead of her and asked her what she was doing, she put her finger to her mouth as if to tell him to be quite.
The four of them were throwing snowballs one after the other until Melanie tackled Abby onto the ground and rubbed a handful of snow in her face.
Westly laughed as he pulled Melanie off of Abby and then helped her up off the ground. Paul was sitting on the bench almost out of breath, and Melanie was standing with Jamal’s arms wrapped around her as she laughed.
“Wow, that was fast Jamal.” Mel wrapped her arms around him and said she was glad and that she had missed him. Was Melanie that drunk or had Abby been missing something that was going on right under her nose?
Abby gave Westly her key when they got to her room and he unlocked the door. Melanie and Abby giggled good night to each other. Each of them half carried into their rooms by Westly and Jamal. Abby was still giggling as she almost launched herself onto her bed.
“Abs, are you okay?”
“Um, yes. I have never been drunk before. I have never had more than one beer before to be honest, but I’m ok. I don’t want to puke, so that is a good thing right?”
Westly pulled her boots off as she removed her coat and then lay down with her in the small bed. Abby enjoyed staying in his room but sometimes being on the small twin bed was better. She would be in his arms all night long, safe from anything and everything in the world. She felt one kiss on the back of her neck and was fast asleep.
Chapter 13
“My love. Abigail!” Her husband paused, standing in the doorway, “Hello, are you awake?”
“Huh, what? Oh, I’m sorry. I got an idea and I had to start from almost scratch. It just came to me and I have been trying to get it all down. What time is it anyway?” Abigail started stretching; her body was stiff from sleeping at her desk.
“It’s just after six-thirty, the alarm went off and you weren’t in bed. I came down and called for you six times before I found you in here. Talk about being dead to the world.”
“Sorry handsome, you know how I can get when I’m working, guess I worked till I crashed. Just give me a few more minutes to get some things down on paper, and then I’ll start getting ready and wake the kids up.”
“All right, love you.”
“Love you too, baby.”
Abigail worked faster this time writing things down, making notes on her notes. In her mind it was all coming together faster and easier than anything had before.
The whole family was out the door and ready to go in no time, she wanted to get to work early for a meeting. Abigail yawned as she put her things on the passenger seat. Tired, but that is to be expected being up half the night, she kissed her husband and was off to drop off the kids.
Abigail’s meeting was short, and she could tell the boss was not happy with her yawning through most of it. Afterward she went into her office and got back to work. Before she knew it, it was lunchtime. She packed up her things and decided to work at home for the rest of the day. First she would have to tell her boss.
“Hi Mr. Donavan if you don’t mind I think I’m going to work from home for the rest of the day. I was up half the night with Brady and I am dead tired. Is there anything you need me to take care of before I leave for the day?”
“No you’re fine; go home and take a nap while you can. I hope Brady is all right.”
“He is good just some bad dreams. I’ll be gone for almost a whole week, and I think it’s getting to him. I’ve never been gone that long before.”
“I see, well just make sure you get some work done please. This is a very big account and we need to get it. As I said before, there might be a promotion for you.”
“I started over from scratch this morning, but the new idea is much better and I think they will love it. It just came to me and I know I’ll be ready before I have to leave.”
“Good, think you can give me a small presentation on Friday?”
“Not a problem, see you tomorrow.” With that Abigail was out the door and on her way home. Now all she could think about was the promotion. Nothing like a little extra stress to make the project fun, but she knew this idea was too good.
Abigail’s mind wandered back to her dreams. Rachel still had not called or written her back, even though she knew she had read the email. Her Blackberry was glued to her at all times; she even slept with the thing. Maybe she should call her when she got home. A nap was out of the question now, there was a promotion riding on this project.
Abigail wasted no time when she got in the door and picked up the phone in her office. It rang twice before Rachel answered it.
“Abigail, hey woman. How are things in married suburbia?”
“Hi Rachel, they’re good. I just got a big project at work. I have to go to New York next week to do a presentation. If I do well I could get a promotion out of it.”
“That is great; I’m so happy for you. I just talked to Melanie last week. Can you believe her and Jamal are going to have baby number two already? Their little one is not even going to be two by then. I swear I have no idea where that woman finds the time to do so much.”
“Yeah she called me a couple weeks ago. I think it’s great. I called though because of the email I sent you a couple days ago. Did you get it?”
“Yes, um sorry I have been really busy with things around here. The fashion world doesn’t sleep you know.”
“So what do you think of these dreams? Did we know a Westly? Or am I just going crazy?” The long stretch of silence made Abigail wonder if the call had been dropped. “Rachel are you still there? Did you hear me?”
“Yes, sorry. I got distracted with something. Um, it’s just the stress from work. I dream I’m back in college all the time; I would not even worry about it. Maybe it’s a subconscious need to feel young again. Not that we are getting that old. When you are done with your trip to New York, why don’t you come out and visit me for a long weekend. We can go wild and act like we’re young again. Trust me that is all you need, a weekend with me.”
“You’re probably right. It’s just too weird though. I mean everything is so vivid more like - I don’t know, like a recent memory more than a dream maybe. I can’t explain it. I went three nights without them and then...”
“Abigail, that’s enough. Could you please just forget about it? You’re married and have a great life and three great kids. You don’t need to be mulling over him. I mean, this person you are dreaming about. Seriously, if you just let it go, I’m sure it will stop. But you have to stop thinking about him, or the dreams never will go away. Trust me, please!”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks for talking some sense into me. Well I should get some work done; I have to give my boss a mini-presentation of the project on Friday. I started over practically from scratch last night, and I have a lot of work to get done now. Thanks again.”
“Bye.” As Abigail hung up the phone, she paused realizing that Rachel had just called her Abby. It was weird. Abigail yawned and thought a nap might be just the thing she needed after all.
She went into the living room to lay on the couch. It was not long before she was sound asleep and dreaming of the building. It was going to be perfect: it started to develop in front of her like a sketch and then slowly started to fill in with colors and textures. Beautiful brickwork took form and the doors became larger, made of sturdy wood with beautiful stained glass windows in them that looked old, like they were crafted centuries ago.
When the vision of the outside was complete, she was compelled to open the front door and walk inside. A beautiful ivory statue took form in the middle of the lobby; it looked like a Greek goddess with pearls and jewels on it. She was pouring water out of a small jar into a large fountain surrounding her. Just like water pouring from the jar, big black and white pictures of old New York City started to cover the walls from top to bottom in large extravagant frames.