Chapter 4 - It's In The Past

We get a first glimpse into why they are immediately drawn to one another, and also Natalie's dreams starting taking a different sort of turn.

            “I still don’t see why we had to bring her here, to our apartment!” Colin exclaimed in frustration, running a hand through his tussled hair as he paced back and forth in front of the couch that Natalie was lying on. “I mean, why couldn’t we have just taken her back to her own house or something?”

            “Because, smart aleck, don’t you think that it would be a lil’ hard taking her back to her house when we don’t even know where it is?” Gina asked, raising an eyebrow at him as she gently stroked Natalie’s forehead.

            His shoulders slumped in defeat as he knew that there was no point in debating about this subject any further. He paused as his gaze rested on her sleeping form, feeling no peace as the rush of emotions swam through him at having her so near.

            “Gina, do you remember the stories that Gran used to tell us when we were kids?” he asked, his gaze never leaving Natalie.

            “You mean the ones where she tried to tell us about our future lives? Of course I remember those stories. Why do you ask?”

            He took a deep breath, choosing his words carefully before proceeding to tell her about what was going on. “Well, of course you know that Gran told us stories. The ones she told me stated that as I grew older, I would start having visions. And these visions or dreams were to hold something dearly important to me. According to Gran, there was to be a particular woman that would stand out and be in all of them. This woman was to be the one I would marry.”

            “I remember that tale, but what I don’t get is why you’re bringing up Gran’s stories right now,” she said as she set Natalie’s head down softly on the couch as she stood up to stand face to face with her brother.

            “Because, I’ve been having those so called visions,” he said as he began to pace back and forth once more. “But they’ve been happening during my dreams, so I don’t know what to make of them. Gina, Natalie is the girl that I’ve been seeing in my dreams.”

            Gina’s eyes widened in disbelief, the only telling sign that this news shocked her. “Are you sure that it was Natalie that you saw in your dreams?”

            “I could recognize her anywhere,” Colin said as he gazed at her fondly, walking over towards her head and with the back of his hand brushed it against her face. “I lied earlier when I said that I had something else to do. I saw her in the store talking to you, and I recognized her right away, even from that far of a distance. Thinking that maybe I was just seeing things, I decided to wait until the mall to meet her. But once again, just seeing her stopped me in my tracks, and I just had to get away.”

            “At the party I knew that without a doubt she had to be the one. I had the urges to touch her, protect her, and just be with her. There is this emotion deep down inside of me, telling me one thing but at this moment I refuse to believe it. Tell me, if she’s not the one, then how is it that I feel so strongly for her even though we’ve never met before?” he asked Gina, finally looking her in the eyes.

            Her eyes avoided his, as she couldn’t stand the intensity. She looked to Natalie’s sleeping form, worry in her eyes. “What are you going to do about her? You can’t just tell her all this information. It’ll scare her to death. And if she’s scared of you, what would you do then?”

            “I don’t know, which is why I don’t intend on telling her, at least not yet. I’m hoping that we can get to know each other better and hopefully someday if it comes down to it that she’ll be more accepting of it if I tell her. I never thought that I would have such strong feelings for someone that I barely know,” he said softly.

            He sat down on the couch next to Natalie as Gina went into the kitchen. The urge to lean down and plant a kiss on her forehead was overwhelmingly strong, but he resisted the urge as he didn’t want to wake her up and have her wonder why a stranger would do that. He felt weird just sitting there, watching the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in her sleep, but for some reason he just couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.

            Remembering the moment at the party that their eyes had met pulled at something in his heart. The way that her eyes widen as she looked at him made him wonder if possibly she had recognized him, but he just shook it off. It wasn’t possible for both of them to have dreams in which they saw the other person, was it?

             A low moan stirred Colin from his thoughts as he saw Natalie begin to toss and turn. “Gina, she’s waking up. I think that you’d better get back over here.”

            “I’m coming,” he heard here call followed by footsteps moving across the floor of their apartment from the kitchen. “Well, it’s about time that she woke up from her fainting spell.”

 

            Music filled the air as I walked through the tavern, pitchers of ale in hand as I wandered the room, filling up any mugs that needed to be refilled. That was my job as I was a tavern maid, as I had no other way to earn my income. It is not in my nature to be in such a place, but the living conditions these days are hard for a female such as I.

            “Wench, over here! My ale is gone!” called a voice from across the room.

            Bearing a grin for if I were to grimace, I would surely lose my job, I walked across the room to the man who had called me over and refilled his mug with ale. As I went to walk away, his hand came into contact with my posterior, bringing a crimson blaze to my cheeks.

            “What’s ‘a matter doll? Am I not good enough for yer taste?” he laughed as he pulled me back against him, causing me to drop the pitcher of ale on the floor. “Now look what you’ve done clutz, spilling perfectly good ale on the floor. Looks like me boys and I will have to teach ye a lesson.”

            “Leave the poor lass alone Mason,” demanded a voice. I looked up and was met with two piercing blue eyes staring at us with disdain.

            “Mind yer own business Connor. I’m entitled to fun just as much as the next poor slimy b*****d who walks into this pub,” Mason said, his lips forming into a snarl.

            “Can’t ye see that the poor lass be scared out o’ her mind? Why don’t you go find some w***e to waste your troubles on. C’mon, let’s get you away from here,” he said as he held out his hand for me which I gladly accepted.

            He pulled me up and I felt a spark of electricity jolt through my bones. “Thank you sir, for rescuing me from that brute.”

            “No problem m’ lady, the pleasure was all mine,” he bowed grandly before letting go of my arm and walking away.

            I could only stare at the stranger as he walked away out of the pub into the night air as I was left in this miserable place. Sighing, I made my way back to behind to grab another pitcher of ale for the rest of the customers, hoping that I would see him again.

            I sat up in the blink of an eye, wondering where in the world that dream had come from. I had never dreamed I was back in the medieval days before, so that whole dream sequence was a mystery to me. Except for the man who saved me was really familiar.

            When I looked around, I realized that I was not at my house. I let out a small yell and scrambled backwards as my eyes connected with a familiar pair of blue eyes.

            “Glad to see that you’re finally awake,” Gina laughed as she sat down on the couch I was laying upon down by my feet.

            “So, I’m guessing that I must be in your apartment. Care to tell me why?” I asked as I took in the furnishings of their apartment.

            “I would love to tell you that as soon as you saw me at that party, as our eyes connected, you felt a spark as my lips touched the back of your hand, making you swoon and fall into my chest,” the guy whom Gina introduced to me as Colin said with a slight smirk playing upon his lips, “but that would be a vain thing to say, and I am not vain at all. But I do know that you fainted as soon as I pressed a kiss to your hand and when you fainted, you fell forwards into my open arms. We decided to take you home instead of leaving you there, but since we didn’t know where you lived, we brought you here instead.”

            When he spoke, it was if his words were like poetry to my ears. It flowed so smoothly, and even though he sounded so prim and proper, I couldn’t help but get caught up in its fluidity making me want to swoon.

            “Thanks,” I somehow managed to choke out. Having Colin right there in front of me, the guy who has haunted my dreams for the past few nights, made me super shy for some reason that I couldn’t explain. Even just sitting in his presence made me blush. “Well, I hate to be a bother but since I don’t want to impose on you any longer, do you think that you could give me a ride home?”

            “I want to make sure that you’re alright before you leave,” Gina said as she came by me, feeling my forehead I think to make sure that I didn’t have a fever. The reason for her doing this, I do not know. “Nat, before you woke up from your fainting spell, you were moaning, while tossing and turning like you were in pain.”

            “Oh, I was just caught up in a dream,” I said, blushing from embarrassment that they had to watch me do that during a dream.

            I could feel their eyes on me, watching me closely. It felt as if I were an object being studied the way they looked at me so intensely.

            “Why don’t you tell us about this dream? It could help you feel better about it,” Colin said as his eyes never left me while scrunched up in concentration.

            “Are you sure that you want me to tell you about my dreams? They’re pretty far out there a lot of the time,” I said wile scrunching my knees up against my chest.

            “Natalie, you’re talking to my brother Colin here. He relishes any time that he can listen to a story, whether it be someone’s dream or just an old folk’s tale,” she said as I saw Colin look away, his cheeks showing a tint of red from embarrassment. “Go ahead!”

            “Well, this dream was rather weird because it took place in the medieval times. It was like I went back in time. The dream was set in a tavern, and I was dressed as a serving wench, while carrying around a pitcher of ale. This one guy, called me over to pour him some beer, and once I was over there he started to harass me. But then a knight came to my rescue, saving me from the beastly man,” I said leaving out the fact that the knight in the dream who rescued me was the spitting image of Colin. I know that if I would have told them that he was in my dream it would have weirded them out, so it was best to leave that little detail out.

            “Anything else happen?” Gina asked excitedly.

            “Well, he said goodnight and that’s when I woke up. Sorry if it seemed boring to you, but in my dream it seemed much more… I don’t know, but it wasn’t as boring,” I said while letting out a sigh.

            It was silent as they took in what I told them about my dream. My eyes fell to the floor and traced around the different colors that made up one of their oriental rugs that furnished their floor underneath their coffee table.

            “What did this knight who saved you look like?” Colin asked deep in thought, bringing my gaze up to meet his as he stared intensely at me.

            I froze, unsure of how to proceed. Should I tell him that by such a strange coincidence that the savior from my dreams looked exactly like the man sitting not two feet in front of me, or should I lie and come up with other person?

            “Why do you want to know what he looked like Colin? Do you think that this guy would show up out of her dreams and steal her away from you?” Gina asked, saving me from answering while laughing at how silly the idea sounds. But in actuality, she had no idea of how close to the truth she really was.

            He looked me over carefully before turning away as if he made up his mind about something. “Oh well, I think that I’m going to turn in for the night. G’night Gina, Natty,” he said with a bow before getting up and walking away.

            “Wait, aren’t you going to take her home?” Gina asked him.

            “Why doesn’t she just spend the night?” he said as he walked into his room.

            “Is that okay with you?” Gina asked, turning to face me with a helpless expression on her face while shrugging.

            “It’s fine with me,” I said looking around. “Where should I sleep?”

            “Is the couch fine?” she asked with concern, looking a bit weary herself.

            “Yeah, it’s fine, now go get some sleep. You look like you need it,” I said while settling down on the couch.

            “Thanks. Good night Nat,” she said as she turned off the lights as she made her way to her room.

            I snuggled down as I pulled a blanked overtop of myself while trying to get comfortable on the leather couch. My thoughts drifted to Colin before I fell asleep.