A Former Flame Drops In On the Gym

(I've changed the name of the former crush, obviously. Now, ENJOY...)

It was another day and another couple of cents in this economy.

I had walked into my Locker Room Attendant job for just another shift before I should wrap up and enjoy my evening. I didn't project anything too out of the ordinary for the day. "Smile. Be polite. Engage with the members. Keep the Locker Room and gym functioning. Try not to ACTUALLY kill my Women's Locker Room Attendant counterpart (though I was grateful that neither she, nor anyone else in the vicinity, was psychic; because, in MY mind, I was working with a former partner again).

I rounded my way casually out onto the Cardio Floor to drop off some small towels. My hands now free, I even waved to a few of our elderly members and even smiled congenially at a snide remark or two before I kept my own retort to myself and kept on walking. I rounded the walking track to the Free Weight Floor occupied by a membership demographic that was a little closer to my age if not slightly younger. Then, from across the way, I saw...

...Nah; it was impossible. THAT wasn't Hillary standing across from me there. It LOOKED a lot like her; as I remembered her from close to sixteen years ago. Yeah; that's it. I was inappropriately eyeballing a young woman who happened to be sixteen years my junior all because she did REALLY look like a former flame. I mean, WHY would Hillary be in my hometown; in my place of employment; and why...

...Why would whoever THIS attractive specimen of female was be beckoning me over from clear across the room like she knew me? No, I've been here before; she was CLEARLY waving at somebody ELSE and I was awkwardly mistaken. Best to keep moving...

"KENT!"

...Then again, I could have been right the first time and horribly mistaken the second. I approached with caution. Again, first off, I was on duty and it didn't seem kosher to pounce upon a female gym member while in my uniform and with a nametag clearly visible. Secondly, again, I THOUGHT I knew her but, well, the college coed in question would have been stuck in a time loop where she hadn't aged since 2008. I approached with the awkward caution anticipated of me and...

"...Kent, don't you KNOW me anymore? It's me; Hillary."

She'd confirmed her name and, on the clock professionalism be damned, I was infatuated all over again. THIS TIME, she seemed to share my opinion on taking things further than platonic as we collapsed into one another's arms in the middle of the Free Weight Floor while no other member seemed the slightest bit disturbed.

In fact, suddenly, every OTHER member had disappeared from the frame. Hillary and I were privately alone in one another's arms.

Wait a minute; something didn't fit here...

...and end dream sequence.

Time to wake up in my parent's house again. It must be 3 AM; maybe I can coax THIS particular dream into picking up right where I was so rudely interrupted.

...Because THAT always works and the SWEETEST of dreams are the ones that pick up the scene unabated.

So, THIS dream ended the same way that my dreams USED TO end.

(Annoying interior monologue:)

"Wait a second; something's not right..."

Let's see; Hillary had somehow surfaced in my hometown; AT my place of employment; she looked EXACTLY like she had the last time I'd seen her as though she were either a cyborg or the victim of a time loop. Oh; and this was same Hillary who had ghosted me on social media back in 2016, only to resurface in my life NOW while I'm a 39 year old janitor and towel boy at the local health club, begging for her second chance with me.

...or not.

Live, learn, and keep on dreaming.

In speaking of, it's been a hot minute since I've dreamed about (modern Specific-Person [Crush]). I wonder what HER dream self is up to when we're not crossing paths as we sleep...