In Your Dreams Bobby Anderson (8 page)

CHAPTER 17

As
Bobby got drunker and the girls got closer, laughing and asking for more drinks, Bobby silently formed the idea that he would drive his car all the way to New York City. Of course he could also take a private jet, but he wanted to drive. Wasn’t that his idea tonight, to get a D.U.I. and appear in the papers? He could kill two birds with one stone: he could drive to New York City
and
he could get a ticket on the way. If he left right this second, he could be there in…maybe two days.

Bobby downed anot
her drink handed to him by Adrian and studied the dancers. They were so beautiful, like Susan. His head swirled, and he thought again about his plan. It made him chuckle.

“You all right,
Bobby?” Mike asked. Normally Bobby didn’t get drunk when they went out. He was too worried about his clean image to mess around.

“I’m fine. I’m going to find Susan.”

“Susan?” Mike frowned and gave Adrian a look. But Adrian just shrugged. Their superstar was talking gibberish, or maybe Susan was a new girlfriend he hadn’t mentioned before. Mike wished his friend would get it together; these girls were super hot and he really wanted to score tonight. Tony was already a gonner with the Florida chick, and Rob looked like he was in love, which he hadn’t thought was a possible emotion for Rob until tonight; and if Tony and Rob could score, it was only fair that he score too. Adrian could have the leftovers.

“Yeah, Susan
…” Bobby went on, but Mike was back to listening to what Jessie had to say about visiting the Bahamas at this time of year―not a good idea, apparently, because of the hurricanes.

“You do not want to be there now. There are, like, more hurricane
s than Florida, and much worse. My friend was there, like, last year at this time and they had to stay indoors for, like, two whole days, and it was, sooo boring!”

“Oh
my gosh, right?” said Pauline, who Mike found hard to focus on because of her glossy lips. His eyes kept gravitating to her mouth. “I was stuck in this elevator for, like, two hours once.”

“Because of a hurricane?”
Mike asked her lips.

“What? No!” the girl looked confused and laughed nervously. “Ladies room?” she
said to Jessie.

“
Okay. Back in a sec, honey.” Jessie tried to whisper in Mike’s ear, but ended up having to shout it.

Mike
smiled at them as they excused themselves. He felt quite confident that he would score with Jessie tonight, otherwise why would she have bothered trying to whisper?
She’s just trying to get closer to my face,
he thought.

“I think I lover her. I have to get to her
toonight.”

Mike sighed and put his attention back to the drunk superstar.
Who put him in charge? Where was Adrian? He had been there a second ago. Mike looked around but he couldn’t spot any of his friends. Only Rob, still talking to the dancer.

“You don’t look so good,” M
ike said. Maybe Rob should take you home.”

“
Idonwannagohome. Iwannagoseesuusan. I lover her soooo much.”

Mike motioned to R
ob, and the bodyguard reluctantly came over. “We have a situation,” he said, and he was glad the girls weren’t there. “He’s pretty drunk.”

“Shit.
”

“Yeah. You taking him?”

“You’re helping.”

“Damn.
Wait for Adrian, he should be back soon. He’ll help you.” Mike looked around for Adrian and spotted him at the far corner of the room. He was carrying a Corona with a lime sticking out the top to some girl in a cheetah dress. Mike saw him hand her the beer and he kept watching as they leaned into each other to share a secret. The girl laughed and nodded and said something back. She kept her eyes on Adrian as she sipped her beer.

Mike
knew that Adrian was going to score. His only condolence was that the girl was a nobody―not like Jessie who was on her way back from the restrooms at any moment and who was definitely a somebody. She was coming back to
him
…him, and Mr. drunken movie star over there.

Bobby groaned
, and Rob took action, hauling him up from the sofa chair and swinging a supportive arm around his back. “Come on. Help me.”

Mike couldn’t argue with Rob. R
ob’s job was to take care of Bobby, and he knew Rob would not accept any excuses from him.

With a final glance towa
rds the direction the girls had taken, Mike cursed and went to find the valet. They would have to make as quick an escape for Bobby as possible. Adrian would just have to wonder where they’d disappeared to, if he even wondered.

B
obby lay safely in the back seat of his convertible. Rob took the wheel and nodded for Mike to get in. But Mike turned his attention back to the club. Let Rob do his job, that’s what he got paid for. Even without Bobby, he still had a chance with those girls, and he wasn’t going to let Bobby’s drinking ruin it for him.

* * *

Bobby awoke precisely twelve hours later with a splitting headache and a bottle of Tylenol and water next to his bed. He thanked heaven for small mercies and immediately popped two tablets, groaned, and fell back onto his sheets.

He was full
y dressed except for his shoes. He tried to remember how he had ended up this way. Obviously he had not found Susan.

Bobby vaguely remembered an elaborate plan to drive to New York City, but today the
idea didn’t feel well thought through. What would he say to Susan, anyway? What if she already had a boyfriend? What if she wasn’t even a woman? Could dreams be like Internet chat where the other person hid their true identity?

There was a
sharp knock and Rosa entered with a tray. “I heard some movement,” she said, shuffling over to his bed and resting an over sized breakfast tray gently by his side. Like handling a terminally ill patient, Bobby mused.

“Um, thanks,”
he tried to smile, but the site of the eggs and fruit salad made his stomach turn. Why was she being so nice?
She thinks you’re crazy
, his brain shouted to him.

“
Mr. Patrick, he call, but I tell him you resting  today. He say he call back later.”

This was highly unusual behavior for
Rosa, and it made Bobby feel uneasy. Rosa wasn’t his secretary, and she wasn’t his mother. When had she decided to take on the roles? Maybe he
was
terminally ill and he was the only one who didn’t know it. Maybe he was…what was the word? Schizophrenic? Maybe he was schizophrenic! The haircut
was
the beginning of the end, after all, and the only reason Susan liked it was because she was his own creation. The dreams weren’t
hers
—they were
his!

Bobby
watched Rosa leave the room, closing the door softly behind her instead of the usual bang. He wanted to puke, but he hated puking and squeezed his eyes shut to fight against the urge.

“I’m so mad at you!”

Bobby opened his eyes to see a cross Susan standing over him. He lay facedown on the beach. Raising his head, he felt bits of sand fall from his cheek. He assumed he looked pathetic.

Susan had her hands on her hips. “You don’t take care of yourself at all! They say terr
ible things about you, and maybe they are right!” Susan kicked sand at him and stomped off.

If this was
a dream, why wasn’t she nicer? His head still hurt, but he stumbled after her.
She looks sexy from the back
. Her scraggly shorts rode provocatively up her thighs, and her tanned legs stretched out long and slender beneath her
.

“Wait, Susan. I can explain.
”

But she was off to the forest
, and he didn’t know what he had to explain anyway.
What if I don’t follow her?
He thought. Would he just stay there until nightfall or would she return for him?

Bobby
sat down on the sand and decided to take some time to really look around. The ocean was quite beautiful, but not really like the ocean he had seen when he visited the island of St. Barths last year. The water there had been a mixture of turquoises and darker blues. And near the shore it was so clear you could spot every shell and stone lying on the sandy floor. Here, the water was dark up to the shore, making it impossible to spot a single shell.

Far off in the distance
, clouds moved lazily across the open sky, exposing a background of mixed purple hues. It looked almost like a sunset, except it was the middle of the day. There shouldn’t be a sunset now. This place was obviously a dream; but if it was his dream, why wasn’t the ocean and the sky like they were in St. Barths, or the Mediterranean for that matter? Those were beautiful beaches, much nicer than this one. If it were his dream, that’s how he’d make his beach: white sand, turquoise ocean, golden sunset.

A pelican flew overhead and dropped into the
sea with a mighty flop. Bobby liked pelicans and he relaxed as he watched it, almost forgetting about Susan and her disappearance—until he heard the sobbing.

Oh boy
. “I’m coming!” he called out, pulling himself up from the sand and dragging his battered body in the direction Susan had just gone.

He found
her sitting on the fallen coconut tree from the dream before. She had her face buried in her hands and sobbed like only a girl knows how. It frightened Bobby, and he wondered for a split second if this was really the girl for him—the one above the rest—or if she was just another girl. Surely the strange circumstances of their meeting automatically put her above the rest, and he let the doubts leave his head as quickly as they had come

His shoe cracked a twig and Susan looked up. Her eyes were swollen and tears streaked her cheeks. Bobby wasn’t quite sure what he had done so wrong to cause such sadness, but he did know that he co
uldn’t bare to see her like this. He felt determined to make it up to her. “Baby, what is it?” he asked tenderly. Probably the most tender he had been on and off the screen for some time.

Susan tried to control her s
obbing and managed to squeak, “It’s so unfair.”

“What’s so unfair?
” Bobby crouched down next to her and put a hand on her back. She felt warm this time, and solid, not like a dream at all. He liked touching her. He liked touching her a lot.

“Why did you get so drunk?”

“What?”

“They said you were drunk
, and that it’s because you miss Lola! Why do you miss Lola? She was awful. You’re here with me but you don’t help, and now you miss Lola. I just don’t understand.” At that Susan started sobbing all over again, even louder than before.

Needless to say, Bobby was perplexed. What had happened last night? What had he done? First things first: “Susan, I do not miss Lola.”

Sobbing. “You don’t?”

“No, I don’t. I’m glad she’s gone.”

“You are?”

“Yes. And I like you. I like you a lot.”

“Y—you do?”

“Yes.”

Susan straightened up. She felt self-conscious about her appearance. She knew she looked terrible when she cried. She tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ears, wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and pulled her T-shirt down to cover the top of her shorts.

Bobby
took in her awkwardness. He wasn’t used to girls like her; girls who were…well, he didn’t have the word. It simply wasn’t part of his vocabulary yet. He just knew she was different, and he liked it. “So, what now?” he said.

“I do
n’t know.” She gave a mild laugh. “But I think I could use a hug. I’m so cold.”

Bobby immediately squeeze
d her tightly to him. She did, in fact, feel cold now. He put his other arm over her chest and attempted a bear hug.

“That feels better,” she said.

“Why are you cold? Are you sick?” Bobby remembered what Patrick had said about her being in the hospital, but he didn’t want to believe it.

“No. I don’t feel sick.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

They
both fell silent and sat that way for some time, their shoulders barely touching, their thighs just millimeters apart.

Bobby felt a need to say something, an
ything, when Susan turned her face towards his. Her eyes were so green, her lashes a natural lush dark brown, and her lips… Oh God, those lips! They were moist and so… close.

On impulse, Bobby
brushed his fingers against her cheek and felt a stir somewhere deep in his body. In response, she tilted her head towards the pressure of his hand. Not missing a beat, Bobby leaned in and gave her a light kiss on her mouth, barely touching his lips to hers. He wanted to take his time and savor each second they had together.