Word of the Day: Reverie
January 25, 2018: reverie \ REV-uh-ree \ noun;
1. A state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing.
2. A daydream.
3. A fantastic, visionary, or impractical idea.
The wind played fitfully with Andrew’s perfect brown curls, always leaving them placed elegantly on his face to draw attention to his piercing green eyes, his aquiline nose, his perfect soft lips. Katherine smiled softly as he held out a hand–a perfect hand, his fingers long and agile and always warm–to pull her up onto the back of the unicorn behind him. As soon as she put her hand into his–
“What the hell?” someone demanded loudly, shaking Katherine rather abruptly from her reverie.
She glanced over at Andrew, trying not to let her cheeks go red and give her thoughts away, but he was staring right at her and it was impossible.
In fact, he was staring at her rather incredulously. And his hair looked rather more windswept than she had remembered. And… did he smell of horse?
“I said, what the hell, Katherine?” he repeated, staring at her expectantly.
Katherine blinked. She hadn’t been staring at him, so there was no way he could know what she had been thinking, but he looked rather irritated and she noticed that his nose was running now.
“Oh, fantastic. I’m allergic to horses, you know,” he told her tetchily, wiping his nose on his sleeve in a gesture that she would very quickly erase from her memory. “And apparently unicorns.”
She stopped breathing. What did he mean, unicorns?
“Aren’t you even going to say anything?” he asked, raking his hands through his brown curls, trying to get them under control. Everyone in the lunchroom was staring at them now, and the warmth in her cheeks told her they were maybe the brightest shade of red they had ever been.
“Sorry?” Katherine asked quietly, glancing around at all the eyes fixed on them before returning her shy gaze to Andrew. He still looked really annoyed.
“Is that it? ‘Sorry?'” he asked in a mockingly squeaky tone that made her cringe.
“I’m just… not sure what you mean…” Katherine said quietly, wishing he would be a little quieter and everyone would stop staring at them.
“Oh yes? Then why was I on the back of a bloody unicorn a moment ago with the wind ‘fitfully playing with my perfect brown curls’?” He demanded. “And what the hell does ‘aquiline’ mean?”
Katherine’s blood went cold. “What?”
“I hate to break it to you, but I’ve got terrible circulation as well. My hands are always cold,” he grumbled.
Katherine just stared.
“Inaccurate narration aside though, what the hell was that?” Andrew demanded, wiping his still-running nose on his sleeve again.
“But… it was just a daydream,” Katherine said quietly, tightly gripping her legs under the lunchroom table, waiting for this all to be some kind of joke or dream or something.
“You daydreamed about me?” Andrew demanded, looking at her askance.
“It was more about the unicorn,” Katherine insisted, knowing her cheeks were getting even more red by the moment.
“But why me? I’m always awful to you,” Andrew still looked incredulous.
Katherine opened her mouth to answer but before she could, Andrew was talking again.
“Hang on, that really doesn’t matter. How did you do it?” He demanded, as if he has only just realized that what had just happened to him was more incredible than mousy Katherine being interested in him.
“I didn’t do anything!” Katherine insisted.
“Clearly, you did,” Andrew countered flatly.
“I didn’t, though! I was only daydreaming!” Katherine said, trying not to sound like she was whining and not succeeding as much as she might have liked.
“Haven’t you ever daydreamed before?” Andrew demanded, incredulous once again.
“Of course I have!” Katherine yelled back, the first thing she’d said above a whisper since the entire conversation had started. Several people who had long since lost interest in the conversation turned to look at them again, and Katherine hunched down awkwardly in her seat until they stopped staring.
Andrew gave her a long, considering look.
“Have you recently suffered head trauma? Or been bitten by anything radioactive? Or stuck your head in a microwave or something?” he asked.
Katherine gave him a cold stare.
“Don’t look at me like that! One minute I’m about to eat some spaghetti and the next the wind is whipping me around on the back of some bloody pink horse,” Andrew grunted.
Katherine did not stop glaring at him, and Andrew was quiet for another long moment.
“Look, it’s really flattering–” Andrew began.
“Don’t!” Katherine yelled again, and again people in the lunchroom were staring at her. “Just, let’s not talk about it, okay? I promise I will never daydream about you again.” She looked down at the table and tried very hard not to throw up.
Much to her surprise, Andrew didn’t say anything. When she finally looked up at her again, he was giving her another considering look.
“Now, let’s not be too hasty,” he said.
“What?” Katherine demanded, eyes widening, fingers clenching tight on her legs again.
“No more unicorns, for damn sure. But if, for example, you were to daydream us onto a beach in Fiji during next period, I certainly wouldn’t complain,” Andrew said, and then quickly added, “but with like a wall or something. I don’t need you narrating my masculine features while I sunbathe.”
“So I’m supposed to daydream about you sunbathing behind a wall?” Katherine demanded incredulously.
“But without the narration,” Andrew agreed.
Katherine gave him another cold stare and began daydreaming about giving the clod a swift punch in the jaw.
“OW!” Andrew exclaimed loudly, staring wide-eyed at Katherine and holding his jaw.
Very slowly, a smile began to form on Katherine’s lips.
Note:Â I’ll get caught up one day! Ah ha ha! In the meantime, whatever this is. (It has a unicorn, so I like it.)
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