Stuck in Time - Ryo

Why was he here? This woman had told him he smelled like candy just earlier today. And now he stood outside her apartment. Where she might live alone. Sure, he knew there was safety percussions in place in every apartment, but back in his time it hadn’t been. He had been taught to not meet girls he didn’t know alone, and to make sure that everyone involved felt safe. So it didn’t feel right to meet her alone.

But that he didn’t know her was precisely the reason he had to meet her. She knew his secret and he had no idea what she would do if he didn’t meet up with her. For all he knew, she could expose him.

He rang the doorbell again and this time, she opened the door.

He had to do a double take when he saw her. Instead of the pink skirt and white blouse combo she had earlier she now had one of those, belted skirts, that looked like it was showing another skirt underneath, and a distressed, black and pink striped, sweater. Her hair was still in pigtails but the change in clothes made her looked completely different. And he kind of liked it, more than he should.

“Thanks for having me over.” He scratched the spot on the back of his neck and stepped inside.

“Thank you for taking the time.” She looked around. Was she nervous? Of course she would be nervous with a strange man in her apartment. “Do you want something to drink? I have coffee, tea, premixed drinks and wine.” She looked at him with something similar to determination.

“Actually, drinks sounds nice.” He had made it a point not to drink too much, or too often, but this time it might actually help calm his nerves. If not it might help him forget if he messes up too much.

“Great.” There was almost a jump in her reaction. “You can sit down on the couch and I’ll bring it over for you.”

He looked around. Her apartment wasn’t too big, and she had one of those bio locks on what he assumed was her bedroom. A small smiled formed on his lips at the realization that she was careful in that regard at least.

The other thing he noticed was how clean it was. Everything seemed to have it’s place and while there was signs of the area being used, it seemed like she was the kind of person who made sure everything was put back after it’s use.

She came over with two unopened cans of mixed drinks and a bottle of iced tea. So she weren’t drinking? He couldn’t blame her.

“So? What did you want to talk about?” She recognized him, but he didn’t want to assume that she knew more than she did and expose himself. He would answer her questions. That was why he was here. He opened one of the cans and took a sip. He was pleasantly surprised at how sweet it was.

“When did you travel? How long ago?” Her eyes didn’t break away from him

“Long ago.” He took another sip and let the sweet drink calm him. “Let’s say about twenty years ago.”

“Let’s say? You mean it was longer?” She slightly tilted her head.

He felt a warm fuzzy feeling rising to his face so he took another sip and looked away. “That’s when I got stuck here.” Why did he tell her? But why not. She already recognized him in every time they had met in.

“Stuck?” He felt her sink further into the couch. “That means!” She burst out laughing. “That explains so much.”

“It does?” He turned back to her. What had her main questions been? “By the way. You always seemed to recognize me, how did you do that?”

“Oh, your smell is kind of hard to miss.” Was she blushing? No.

“My smell?” He finished the can. Had that been why she had mentioned it earlier? Also, had that been how she had managed to find him every time they crossed paths? “Does that cute nose of yours have some sort of super power?” Why had he said it like that? Was he already drunk?

“No.” She put her hands over her nose when she giggled. His heart skipped a beat. This was only a childhood crush. Nothing more. He needed to gather himself. “You just smell like a walking sugar factory and nightmares.”

“Nightmares? I didn’t know those smelled anything at all.” How did someone smell like nightmares? Or did his smell remind her about something in her own nightmares? But that would assume she had those. And from his understanding most people didn’t.

Hiro had also said something about the connected dreams leaning to the most pleasant one. Wouldn’t that mean that someone only had nightmares if both of them did? Unless, maybe her connected person didn’t sleep at the same time as she did?

“They smell like you.” She kind of grumbled and turned away. Almost like she was hiding something.

“I feel really sorry for the person invading your nightmares.” She had seen things he had too. Futures that would give anyone nightmares. “I really do.”

“No need. If he would see my nightmares, he would deserve it.” She huffed.

“Not on good terms I assume?” This was an interesting thing. “I thought the whole point was to have someone who cared about you?” Sure, Hiro and his person didn’t really have a great relationship but he still cared about her, ans she seemed to care about him too. Maybe Aki had something similar?

She turned back to him. “You could say that. But my nightmares would also be better than his.”

“I though they always went in the better direction?” Now he was confused. Could people control it? And did she want him to have better dreams or not?

“Mine only goes one way.” She was absolutely blushing now.

Wait? What did that mean? Only one way? “So you get his dreams but he doesn’t get yours?” Was that even possible? Maybe some research was being done and her person was related to it? “That sounds really unfair.”

“Totally.” She rolled her eyes. “If he at least kept his dreams to himself I wouldn’t mind.”

“If he’s having really bad nightmares, he absolutely should.” He let out a chuckle. They may have started off on an odd foot, but he found her company really pleasant. And not just because of her looks. But she was easy to talk to.

“So, how do you manage to get by without being registered, by the way?” Her change of subject didn’t go unnoticed, but he decided to ignore it.

“What makes you think I’m not registered?” He opened the next canned drink and raised an eyebrow to her.

“Oh, because if you really got stuck here, then I assume it’s your pod in the basement. And they wouldn’t still be maintaining it if they knew you were here.” His travel pod was still there? Still being maintained?

A lump started to form in his chest. He may be happy to not be back there but that didn’t mean that his parents hadn’t been worried for the rest of their lives. “Fair enough.” He needed to think about something else. “I’ve lived with Hiro since I got here.”

“So he knows about it? Anyone else?” Her eyes was wide open and she looked at him with such intent that he had to look away.

Ryo took another sip. “Yeah, he does. And no.” He had to think back, did he ever tell anyone else? Right! “I’m also pretty sure our drummer overheard us talk about it once, but he never mentioned it after so I’m not sure.” That in itself was unusual, Chiko had always been a talker. But neither Ryo or Hiro really knew if he had overheard them or not.

He once again caught her blushing, and he felt it was contagious. “You must be really good friends.”

“Yeah. They’re great.” The reminder stung. He still hadn’t found a new place to stay. “Speaking of, you don’t happen to know anyone with a spare bedroom?”

He followed her eyes to one of the closed doors. “Not really.” So she did live with someone? “Why are you asking?”

He chuckled and his hand found it’s way to the spot on his neck, where his travel device had once itched. “I kind of got into a fight with them and have to move out.”

“And you can’t make up with them?”

“No. I don’t think I can.”

Her eyes once again moved to the closed door. Maybe she didn’t have anyone living there. Was she about to offer him to move in? No. She didn’t seem like she would do that. But maybe?