Never Enough by Ashley Johnson

arm . Ouch, that hurt. Trevor was still watching me. I laughed at him and then replied, “I was checking to see if this was a dream. There is no way this is real.”
    He was still laughing at me because well I‘m sure I did look pretty ridiculous standing on the sidewalk pinching my arm. “Well what do I need to do to you to prove that it’s real? I’ll do anything you want me to show you I am dead serious. You have no idea how long I’ve been watching you and wanting you. And now that I have you, I’m not letting you go.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “I don’t care about your past. That’s why it’s the past. It’s over. You can’t undo it but I mean look at you. You’re an amazing woman. I know we could make us work, and well your Uncle Gary is just a hurdle we will have to get over but I think if we sat down with him and talked to him like adults it would work.” Everything he just said sounded just like the dream I had before I had waken up.
    Wow, he had a whole plan. I was still trying to convince myself this was still a dream while we began walking to a nother cafe a block away. There were so many different places to eat down here, but of course we ended back up somewhere that had sandwiches. Maybe they had gumbo here, that would be really good. I glanced at my bracelet and smiled. I absolutely loved it and I vowed to only take it off to wash dishes and shower. The cafe was small and quaint. There were maybe twenty tables in there. They had the best sandwiches I’d ever tasted anywhere. I don’t know if it was the provolone cheese or the sweet bread but they were amazing. I could eat sandwiches any time. Doesn’t matter that we just had poboys for lunch, but they did have gumbo on the menu so I was more than happy to order a bowl of chicken and sausage gumbo. I’d heard good things about it from people around town. He pulled my chair out for me and I sat. The waitress came to take our order then quickly came back with our drinks. I was just getting ready to thank him yet again for everything he’d done so far when a very familiar voice said my name. Surely it wasn’t what who I thought it was. Please anyone but him. Any other day I would be ok with it being him, just not today please. Slowly, I turned to see my Uncle Gary standing right behind me.
    Oh great. This wasn’t happening either. Maybe this whole entire day was a dream. Trevor and I never went to the park this morning and Mom never called and talked to me and he sure as hell didn’t know my past and this moment just wasn’t happening right now. Gary was not in this same café standing right behind me. Part of me wanted to play stupid and have a Spanish moment and say ‘No hable’. That typically worked with Halley when I didn’t want to tell her something. She would just roll her eyes and walk away pissed at me but knowing my luck though Gary would slap me out of my chair. Trevor nudged my leg under the table and gave me a suggestive look that I needed to talk to my uncle and possibly we could sort all this now. As bad as I wanted to, I was wondering if it were worth all the potential trouble that we were about to cause. Either Trevor or I would be out of a job and I was ready to fight for Trevor until the end. I wouldn’t let him not be able to play at The Lounge. It made him happy and if it came down to it then I already knew I’d have to find a real job. I drew several deep breaths trying to figure out how to begin talking or what to even say. We could always say we were just out eating as friends and nothing has happened between us. Nothing has happened though, just a few hot kisses. A few hot, amazing kisses.
    I decided to turn ever so slightly and my eyes met Uncle Gary’s. I couldn’t read his expression at all and that scared me. I stared at his newly grown salt and peppered goatee trying to figure out how to start this conversation. He’s always had a mustache but recently thought he’d extend his facial hair.