“C’mon man, she’s not even intimidating! I bet she’s more scared of you than you are of her!” Lucas wraps his arm around Brennan’s shoulders and gives him an encouraging squeeze. “I don’t know about that, Lucas, my hands are literally shaking right now.”

Brennan holds his hand out in front of him; sure enough, it’s trembling like a leaf. “Well, whatever she says, you know you’ll feel better if you bite the bullet and ask now” Lucas responds. “You don’t want to fight fate!”

Brennan looks over at the cute girl sitting on the floor in the corner of the campus library. He’s seen her sitting there every day for the week that he’s been here so far, and he can’t help but be captivated by her. Her long auburn hair, her green eyes, the cute way she tries to stifle her laughter when she reads a funny part of her book… He wouldn’t normally have told his friend about a crush this early, but he was telling Lucas about his recent dream, and there was a scene where she’d kissed him. Lucas was quick to label it as prophetic and eagerly ushered Brennan to the library so they could start fulfilling it. 

“Alright, I’ll do it. Just… give me a minute.” “Are you kidding me? Just get over there and ask! Come on, up you go!” Lucas pulls Brennan to his feet and pushes him over, whispering “You got this” before heading back to his seat with a thumbs up. The girl looks up when he stumbles up to her, and her face immediately goes red. 

“H-hey there,” Brennan says awkwardly. “Nice weather, huh?” The girl glances over to the window. “It’s been raining for the past three days…” “Uh, right. What I meant was, it’s nicer than it could be. You know, it could be… hailing…” Brennan gets almost as red as the girl as he realizes how much he’s fumbling. “Well, nice meeting you!” he says, a little too fast, and begins to turn away until he hears her say “Wait!” 

He looks back at her and sees her standing up. She looks down at the floor. “I am free tomorrow” she whispers, almost inaudibly. Brennan stares at her for a second before comprehending what she said. “Oh! Great! So, Rainforest Cafe at 3?” She nods. “Alright, I’ll see you then!” After a couple of seconds of awkward silence, Brennan breaks eye contact and hastily walks out of the library. 

Lucas comes running after him. “See, what’d I tell you! You did great! You just forgot to get her number, or her name, or anything you can use to communicate with her or find out more about her.” Brennan stops in his tracks. “Oh. Shoot.” Lucas pats his back reassuringly. “Don’t worry man! I told you, it’s fate! Nothing you can do will screw this up!”

Flowers in hand, Brennan approaches the Cafe to see the girl already sitting at a table waiting for him. She smiles and waves at him; she looks much more confident than she had yesterday. This gives Brennan a boost of confidence as well. He waves back, and when he gets close enough, says “Silly me, I forgot to catch your name yesterday! I’m Brennan!” “Hey, my name is Ashley. Nice to have met you yesterday!” She giggles a little at the situation. Ashley’s voice, even with her more relaxed demeanor, is still pretty quiet, with a lilting feel to it. Brennan didn’t know it was possible to be this attracted to someone’s voice alone. 

They order their coffees and begin talking. The conversation flows naturally and easily. Brennan soon realizes he’s completely lost track of time. He goes to check the time on his phone when suddenly, he starts to feel woozy. His phone clatters to the cement and he holds his hands up to his head. “Are you okay?” Ashley asks, reaching out to touch his arm. “Yeah, I’m… fine… just need some water or something.” He tries to get up, but stumbles and falls. Did he just trip over his pants? His shirt seems much too big for him now, as well. He feels himself being moved and finds himself looking up into Ashley’s pretty face. She’s smiling. 

He begins to hyperventilate. He’s clearly getting smaller. Why doesn’t she look concerned? “Ashley, call the hospital…” he says. He loses sight of her as he shrinks into his shirt. After a couple of seconds, he feels something wrap around his body and he’s pulled back into the light. He realizes Ashley is holding him in her hand, and he’s still shrinking, her fingers becoming looser around him by the second. “Mm, you’re getting so small for me, Brennan” she moans as she lifts him to her lips. They engulf him and he lets out a scream as he sits bolt upright in bed, sweat dripping down his face. 

It was a dream. He takes a second to check his surroundings and work his muscles. As he does this, he realizes that he’s rock-hard.

Maybe Lucas doesn’t need to hear about this dream.