Page 3 of Wait for the Dream

Iwalk into Bar Code, and I’m assaulted by the smell of stale beer and stale air. The low light makes it hard to see, but like gravity, my eyes find Bailey. Her curly brown hair shines in the light, and I study the way the long ends of her ponytail brush against her neck. She’s small, five-foot-two on her best day, but I’ve always loved that about her. I rake my eyes over her jeans and orange sweater, both of which highlight the curves that make me crazy. She’s dancing with some douchebag with short brown hair, wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a polo shirt, I’m sure his name is Chad.

I head to the table where our friend group is stationed. It might be Halloween, but I don’t see a single costume out there. We hang out at this bar because it’s lowkey, and it’s eighteen and over, not twenty-one and up like all the other bars on campus. The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, are nice people, and they don’t let anyone cause trouble. It may be the least popular spot on campus for night life, but tonight it’s crowded. Everyone wants to be out for Halloween, I guess.

“Where is Maggy?” I ask, sliding into the booth next to Sebastian, my best friend. Magnolia is my little sister, and the only person missing from the group tonight.

“She was complaining about not feeling well, so she stayed home. Her blood sugar dropped pretty low earlier, and it’s back in normal range now, but she was still feeling pretty shitty.” Maddox, Magnolia’s twin brother, says, grabbing his phone and tapping the screen a few times. My guess is he’s checking Maggy’s sugar levels. Magnolia is a Type 1 Diabetic, and has a continuous glucose monitor that has an app that can be checked on your phone. All the siblings and parents have access to her levels, but I know for a fact that Momma, Pop, and Maddox watch them the closest.

When Magnolia and Maddox were twelve, they went to a birthday party. Maggy had way too much sugar and collapsed, 911 was called and it was determined that Maggy was in a diabetic coma. She woke up a day later and spent a week in the hospital getting her body back to normal and figuring out her treatment plan. It took some time, but she is well regulated now, and takes really good care of herself.

“I’ll make sure to check in on her in a little bit,” I say before turning to look over at Bailey again, “Who is Blue dancing with? I’ve never seen him before,” I ask the group. I try to sound as unaffected as possible, but I’m not sure I pulled it off.

“I think he said his name was David? Daniel? Something with a D,” Chloe, Magnolia’s best friend, says.

“Don’t worry big bro, we’ve kept an eye out. Made sure he didn’t get too handsy.” Maddox’s voice is full of teasing. I love my brother most of the time, but god does he know how to rile me up.

“Leave her alone. Bailey never lets loose when we go out. Let her dance with a hot guy if she wants to,” Chloe says.

A burst of laughter comes out of Maddox, “I know you’re a lesbian Chloe, but even you should be able to tell that that guy isn’t hot.”

“Maddox, you’re pansexual, not the end all, be all when it comes to who’s hot and who’s not,” Chloe fires back. “I can appreciate an attractive man without wanting to sleep with him. That man is objectively attractive.”

“Agree to disagree,” Maddox chuckles.

When Bailey and I decided on Alpine University after high school, we had no idea that the twins and their two best friends, Dallas and Chloe, would follow us up here. I was originally planning on going to LSU on a football scholarship, but after an injury ruined my chances, I knew I wanted to go somewhere a bit closer to home. Blue and I both applied to every school in Colorado, but when we both got into Alpine, we knew it was where we wanted to go. Both of my parents got their law degrees from Alpine back in the day, it's where they met, actually. So, it felt like fate. I didn’t expect my siblings to also want to go, but I’m not going to complain. I’m not sure how all of us got into this tiny school, but we did it. My parents and Charlotte, the youngest Baker sibling, are thrilled that we are so close and can visit often. I’m going to laugh when Charly gets in here, too. She put her application in, and we should have our answer in a couple months. Can you imagine all four Baker siblings and Bailey all getting into the same school?

I turn to Sebastian. “Where’s Luca tonight?” I ask, hoping to change the subject. Luca is Sebastion’s one year old son.

“My dad has him. He insisted I go out when I mentioned you all were going to be hanging out tonight,” he said.

I know he feels guilty whenever his dad watches Luca for him outside of when he’s in class or at work. He’s such a good dad, and since his baby momma is in prison, she’s obviously no help. None of us like her, not after what happened with Luca, and the way she endangered his life, I hope we never see her again. Sebastian is a couple years older than Bailey and I. He’s in his first year of law school here at Alpine, and working as a paralegal for a law firm close by. He was tutoring me for a class and we kind of just hit it off, I introduced him to Bailey and he started hanging out with us more.

“I’m glad you could come out. I can’t wait until game night tomorrow though, I’m gonna smash that little dude in Candy Land,” Maddox says. I’m not sure he has a single serious bone in his body.

“Come on, Maddy. You know Luca destroys you every single time. There is no beating that kid,” Dallas, Chloe’s brother and Maddox’s best friend, teases my little brother.

“Fuck you Dallas, I think we all know he cheats,” Maddox pouts.

“Calm down children.” Bash tries to break the tension. He’s not only a dad in real life, but he acts like the dad of our group. Grumpy and serious, but also fun when he wants to be.

I look up to see Bailey and Chad walking our way. She has the most beautiful smile in the world on her face, and I hate that it’s for him. He has his hand a little too close to her ass for my liking. I hate him already, but I’m going to have to play nice like I always do when Blue meets a new guy.

“Hey Blue, who is this?” I say as they are sliding into the booth next to me. I give Bailey an awkward, side hug when she gets close enough.

“Aiden, this is Daniel. Daniel, this is my best friend, Aiden,” she replies, using her hand to gesture between the two of us.

“Did you call her Blue? Is there a story there?” Daniel—which isn’t much better than Chad when it comes to douchebag names—says with amusement in his tone.

I don’t like it, and if he even attempts to call her Blue, I will chop his dick off.

I tell a very shortened version of how we met, Bailey chiming in with different parts. Bailey and I have told this story so many times that it’s practically rehearsed on who is telling which parts. Finishing each other’s sentences, making people laugh at the right parts. It’s one of my favorite things to do with my girl, I just hate who we are telling the story to right now.

Bailey and I match each other’s energies. Both outgoing, both always ready to have a good time, but also just as ready to sit at home and watch New Girl while snuggled up on the couch. She’s the ultimate girl next door always comfortable in jeans and a sweater. Her brown hair is either down, tangled by her eyes, or lifted off her neck in a high ponytail. She’s beautiful—with a smile that makes my knees weak and curves that are made for my hands.

We all shoot the shit and drink for a bit. Daniel tries to interject into the conversation, but all he seems to want to talk about is football. I guess his dad plays for the Phoenix Phantoms and thinks he’s the shit because of it. I may have played in high school, but when I tore my ACL, MCL, and patellar tendon halfway through the season my senior year in a dirty tackle and ended my football career. It stopped being fun. I still watch a game every now and then with the boys, but it continues to hurts to talk about. Thankfully, the dream was to become a lawyer and not the NFL, but the ache to know what could have been is real.

As the conversation continues, Blue keeps shooting concerned glances at me out of the corner of her eye. I know I’m shutting down, but it’s getting harder to get out of my head the more football keeps getting brought up.

“What’s your major, Daniel?” Chloe asks.