AARON
I crack my knuckles and press my back against the bookshelf; I slide down to the floor opposite Louis, who’s sitting on the window seat. “Okay, I’ve come to a…hesitant conclusion about a few things.”

“What, does that mean?” he asks.

I begin counting with my fingers. “Well, for one, you didn’t recognize the ‘Milkshake Incident’ when I mentioned it. Or the blackmail.”

Louis shrugs. “But I already know about that.”

“I know, but I wanted to make sure that it was true.” I glance at him. “Because sometimes we forget what happens here, and I needed to be sure.”

He puts his hands up in defeat. “Fine, fine. So…” He blows raspberries before asking, “So what does that mean?”

“So, based on my working hypothesis, that’s where the hesitant realizations come in.” I take in a breath. “Here’s the thing. We – ” I motion to us. “ – are in some kind of, like, dreamscape where we’re able to talk to each other.” I rub a spot on my back where the shelf is digging into my skin; it hurts. “As evidenced by me suggesting something, and then waking up in the middle of the night.”

That piques his interest for some reason. “What time did you wake up?”

“I don’t remember. Focus, Louis.”

“Okay. Sorry.”

I inhale. “So what I do remember is writing it all down. But we can come back to that later.”

He sighs. “This is weird.”

“Yeah. But what’s weird is that we don’t actually know each other in real life.” Louis begins to talk, but I interrupt. “What I mean is that your sequence of events and mine aren’t matching up.” Louis cocks his head, perplexed. “When you had lunch with me, Erica was able to blackmail me, right?” He nods. “She wasn’t able to do that to me.”

Louis crosses his arms and sits up. “What, so we’re in, like, different universes?”

I wagged my finger in his face before explaining. “Again, that’s the thing.” I lean back and try to get comfortable against the metal shelves; a bolt digs into my backside again. “Our school is doing Hello Dolly! for the spring musical, there’s no organized person, like a teacher, in charge of the set design, and we both know the same people. Person. We know Erica.” I drop my hands on my lap in contemplation. “I don’t know what to describe it as.”

Louis straightens up. “It…sounds like we’re in two different universes. Or, or even different timelines. Like…” Louis puts his hands together. “…there was a point where something happened that…” He pushes his hands forward, moving them apart as he does. “…caused…this to separate.”

I sigh in frustration. “Maybe Erica blackmailing me was the inciting incident.”

“I don’t know what that means.” He nevertheless sighs and adds, “That’s some romcom shit right there.”

“Why?”

“I dunno,” he admits. “It just seems like that sorta genre.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “And it would explain why you – or, rather, the Louis in my timeline, universe, thing, didn’t recognize the blackmail attempt when I brought it up.”

Louis shifts to the floor so his back is now against the window seat. “So…we know each other, but we don’t actually know each other.”

I tuck whatever strands of hair behind my ear. Nothing goes that way because my hair’s too short, but I like the sensation of it. “…I didn’t say it made sense.”

LOUIS
It was the way he said it that made me notice him. It was this, like, sad, defeated whisper. “You okay?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Honestly?”

“Well, yeah.”

“No. Of course not.” He looks at me with really sad eyes and says, “Don’t you feel the same?”

I blink. I actually don’t understand. “…not really.”

Aaron ruffles his bangs. I expect him to put them back, but he doesn’t. He leaves them a mess. “Our friendship is this weird, fractured lie that doesn’t actually exist. Wouldn’t that bother you?”

I lean forward. “Yes, but don’t say that.”

“It’s true!” he says, glaring at me. He gets up on his knees and continues. “Our friendship exists in this weird reality that doesn’t exist. Our lives – our lives when we’re awake – is what’s real. And, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I don’t think we’re BFFs like we are here.”

“We’re best friends?” I ask quietly. This makes me so fucking happy. And I can’t stop grinning.

He looks up and groans. “You’re missing the point!” he shouts, hands flapping like he’s trying to fly. “Louis, I’m being serious!” He hits me in the arm.

“But we’re best friends?” I ask, rubbing my arm.

“Oh my God, I am going to fucking murder you in twenty seconds.”

“But we’re best friends?”

“Yes,” he says through his teeth. “Now shush. We’re in a dilemma.” And him saying it aloud almost forces me to have the biggest fucking grin ever. It’s awesome. “Honestly, right now, my brain feels like it’s going at million miles an hour. Tell me what you think.”

“We’re best friends,” I whisper. I go to adjust my glasses.

Aaron kicks me in the arm. In the same place he hit me. “Wake the fuck up, Louis. Tell me what you think.” He starts pacing.

I blink and try to think of an answer. “I mean…” I sigh. “Gimme a minute.”

“You’re not going fast enough.”

I glare at him. “Sorry I can’t rattle off shit like you, architecture nerd.”

Aaron strangles the air. “Okay, okay. Fine.”

I wave my arms. “Okay. If we’re friends here, why don’t we try and make friends…out there?”

Aaron doesn’t have a fucking clue what I’m saying. “What?”

“With…my you and your me?”

He sighs and runs his hands over his face. “…this is so convoluted.” But he leans forward and says, “Continue.”

“Okay, so…how did we get to being friends here?”

Aaron scratches behind his ear. “We were isolated from all outside human contact over a period of several sessions.”

“English, Aaron.”

He rolls his eyes. “We spent time alone, together.”

I wave my hand in front of him. Like I’m offering up the solution. “There we go. Let’s do that.”

“So does this mean I can kidnap you?”

“Wow. No.”

He smirks. “Then how else am I going to get you alone?”

“Not by kidnapping me,” I say.

“Fine.”

“Okay.” He swallows his spit and asks, “How are we going to spent time alone, together if we don’t remember any of this?”

He has a point. “How did you remember that…this couldn’t be real?”

“I write it down right when I wake up.”

I stand up and begin pacing. “Okay, so we can just write down stuff we remember us telling each other.”

Aaron’s watching me. He rubs his arms like he’s cold. “Stop pacing. You’re making me nervous.”

“No, what makes this worse is that, if you’re right, that this is all a dream across universes, this isn’t a nightly thing.”

Aaron stands and grabs my shoulders. I stop moving. “Then you have to find ș̯͔̤̯̻͉ô̥̲̹͕̌ͩͮ̓̚̕m̼̺͖̤̅͑e͓͕̟̟͓̩̊̐̓ͯ̃ͨͪt̪͉̓h̦͔̮͎̣͚ͦ̓ͯ̆̊͆ͪi͑̒̚n͖͍̳͕̳̽̐ͨ͊͑ͥͮg̺͓̣̦ͦ̾ to remember this.” He coughs, and clears his throat. “Louis, you need to do s̘̙͓̥̠̞͕̋ò̵͔͖̃ͨ͂ͪmͣ̋ͤ͏̟͈ê̅́ͫͮ̃thing that makes this all w͇̦̣̺̝̱̳͜o̬̻͑̈̏͗̐ȑ̙͙̮̓̈ͣͬ́̃ẗ̢̳͕̟̹͇́ͣh̓̌̔͗ͥͯ͐ẇ͕͖̮̘̹͕͛͐̓̒͠ͅh̶ͬ̃̍̂̽ĩ̤̲͉̱̋͜l̻̫̼̳̐̾̈́ͮͤ̒ͩ͢e̊̽͒ͨ̏̓ͪ͏̙͈͎.̹̳́ ͋

ͨ̐ͪ̎̈́ͧ҉͔̯̖͔͎̹C̸͈̝̞̰͇̹̈́ͣͣͧ͛aͩ͐̋̅̄ͣ҉͉̰͎̳͍̞̝n̶͖͕̹̰̺ͅ ̟̗̫̻͓̋̓̊ͅ

y̬̗͇ͦͮͦͅo͋̉ ̷͕̜̀̓́̐ ̳̳͔̞̻̰̩ͦ̿d͒̃

̤̟͖ͫ ͉͒ͪ̂̓ ͈͍͉̹ͦ̏́ͦt̯͓͓̊͑h̪̠̘̀ͤ͂ͅ ̢̗͈̖̃t̊̓͗͊ ͕̠̦̦̖̩̂ͦ͝

f̖͂̔̀́̃ ̶̫̰ͦ͋͂͂̃͑͒r͓̭̖̥̪̗̐ͯͤ̈́ ̄

̩ͮ̒m̄̍

ͥe̸̺̯͍̲̻̾̄̈̓ͪ?̫̝̼̯͓͖͉ͪ̓͐͌̿͠"̝̳͈̫̔̔̀

S̖̜̺̜͉̯ͣ͑̋ó̠̕h̛̩̘ͭͯḓ̪͙̺̈́̇̾̈́ͭͧv̢͕̗̣̼̦̪̳h̬̬̩͗,̭͔̠͓̤̠̮͐̿͌̚ ̭̦̿ͣ͑m̢ͩx̪͓̭͋̽̑̽̚v͛ͣ̓͛̆̃ͨw͍̲̩͖̠̖̰̅̃̆ ̙̟͙͎͕͋ͯ̉͂͊j̆̎͑̒ͧͧ͏͍ḽ̙͍̹̳̂̈y͍̘̯̱͔̤̎̆̏ͩ͛̚ͅh̄ͪͧ̃̒̉ ̙̭͌͑̌̏p̞̺͍̲̙̥͟h̡̿͆̐ͨ̒̇̉ ̗̞͚̦̈́͌̋ͮͯ̌̊͜p̡̜̖̖r̙̬̪̯̰̄̈͑̕ͅū̳̯̲̭̭́́ͭ̇ḥ̗̒̌̈́̊͆ ̰ͬ̄̌ͫ̽w̙͓̦ͯͭ͝l͙̇̓ͮͮ̚pͧ̾̂h͛̇̓͟ͅ.̬͇͈̰̼͙̂