Just A Dream

Just A Dream(Katie) Do you remember the first time you fell in love? What about the first time you had your heart broken, ripped out of your chest, and then put back only to find that it was all a lie? I did all at once, but that was a long time ago. My life has never been the same. Now it’s time to tell my story.

I was in my freshman year of college at Sullivan University when I met him. One fateful day at the grocery store. I ran into him at 11:34 on Thursday, March 25, 2014. My attention to detail helps me remember everything of that day that many would have forgotten if it were them. But I’m me.
Freshman Year
“Excuse me? Can you help me find something?” I was nervous as I asked the man in the military uniform.
“Depends on what you’re looking for.” He turned around, and my breath was immediately taken away. He had shaved recently, and the smell of aftershave hit my nose so strongly that I thought I was going to sneeze. His eyes were a piercing green color. His name plate read Abrams.
“Ma’am, Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
“Yeah, um… I’m okay. I just didn’t eat breakfast this morning and I’m absolutely starving.” I found it hard to lie to him even though it was true. It wasn’t the complete truth, but it was still hard.
“You know what they say, ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.’” It barely registered to me that I hadn’t laughed at his horrible attempt to make me smile. But those eyes kept distracting me….
“True. Very true. I would know considering I’m a chef.” I felt proud saying this. Even though my job was nothing compared to what this man probably went through on a daily basis. I saw a long white scar running down his face that looked like he’d been cut. I dare not ask. Instead, what came out of my mouth was, “But I’m not that good. I’m only passing, because my mom’s the teacher.” That part was true. She was the teacher. But letting that slip out didn’t sound as good as it did in my head.
“Oh. Well, the homework probably isn’t that bad then. As you can tell, I’m in the military. I just enlisted last year.”
“What’s your rank? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Private First Class, or as some people like to say, PFC.”
“My dad was in the military, so I thought I’d ask. He loves to know when I’ve met someone in his ‘brotherhood’.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he reached his hand out, wanting me to shake it, so I did, “By the way, my name’s Blake. Blake Abrams.”
“Sarah. Sarah Hayes.”
“I’d love to stay and chat some more Ms. Hayes, but I need to get back to base. It was great to meet you though.”
“Same to you Mr. Abrams. Hopefully we can meet again sometime.” Soon, I thought, but didn’t dare say aloud. He looked at me a beat longer than would be expected, but I didn’t mind. I watched him as he slowly walked out. I noticed he had a slight limp when he put weight on his left leg. My eyes kept following him. Even when his car went out of the parking lot. I do not need this today I thought. But soon realized that this stranger would be on my mind for the rest of the day. How far my thoughts would take me, I didn’t know. But would soon find out just how far my thoughts would take me.

The Next Day:
We met sooner than I thought. Not where I expected to see a guy like him, but we met none the less.

I leaned over to pick up the keys that I had dropped while I was in line at Starbuck’s waiting for my caramel frappe. Then, out of nowhere, a guy jumped up and got them off of the floor, making me spill my frappe in the process.
“Hello? Can you please watch where you’re going?” I’d had a bad morning, because a cake I was making had literally exploded in the oven. In all reality it wasn’t even my fault. It was Blake’s fault…. He just had to be handsome…
“Oh! I’m so sorry! I was only trying to help.” He looked up at me then. A look of recognition slowly spread across his face. “Hey! Haven’t I met you before?”
“Yes! I think we have met!” I was sure that it was him now, because I noticed the scar.
“It’s Sarah, right? Sorry, I’m not really good with names.”
“It’s fine. I’m not good with name’s either.” I noticed that his eyes kept darting between me and the stain my coffee left on my Hello Kitty sweater. My father had bought it for me on one of his deployments to Japan. “Well, I better get home and change. It was great running into you.” I had a strong feeling that I wanted to hug him. This is weird, because I’ve only met him twice in my life.
“Oh,” He looked strangely disappointed. “I was hoping to get your number, if it’s not too much to ask?”
“Yeah, sure. You can have my number. Here!” I wrote the 11 numbers down that would change my life forever.