Dreams
You looked at your outfit in the mirror and huffed. You turned from side to side trying to decide if it was the one.
You'd look through your closet and flipped through the hangers all afternoon and had yet to find something acceptable to wear. Ridiculously, you even thought of going out and buying a new outfit just for this date tonight.
Druig had spent a few more amazing hours with you the other day before inviting you out again. As usual he had given very little detail as to what adventure you'd be going on today, but you still wanted to dress nicely.
Even though he wouldn't refer to it as a date, that's what it felt like honestly.
You were all clammy and nervous, heart beating out of your chest, and stomach in knots.
Sure, it wasn't made official, but it was close enough given how you had continuously freaked out since you started getting ready.
After a ridiculously long time of overanalyzing, you decided you would go as is. You were wearing an outfit you felt confident in, your hair was natural, and you wore just enough makeup to make you feel beautiful.
"Hey, I'm here!" you heard a voice yell as your front door opened and closed. Druig had come to take you out and you annoyingly still weren't satisfied with how you looked.
Giving up, you grabbed your coat from the hall closet and came out of your room to see Druig in the living room holding something.
"Hey, what's that?" you asked cluelessly.
Druig walked up to you with the biggest smile on his face, brand new iPhone in hand.
"Surprise!"
You were absolutely shocked. You had never had someone give you something this expensive, or even care enough to give you a gift of this magnitude. He was always listening to you and knew how stressed you had been thinking about the cost of getting a new one. And for him to go out of his way to do this for you... you were in disbelief.
"I can't believe you did this, you really didn't need to. I'm sure this must've cost a fortune."
He handed you the phone and you looked at the model on the side of the box and your eyes widened.
"Okay yeah there's no way I can keep this. This had to have cost hundreds of dollars Druig!"
"Don't worry about it, I promise I have the means to afford it. And I knew you really needed a new one. Please accept it," he responded, without a hint of sarcasm or his usual antics.
He couldn't have been happier than he was in that moment seeing you so elated and the stress of it off your shoulders.
"Thank you," you whispered, enveloping him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around your waist and squeezed you just enough. You could've stayed there forever in his arms, your head buried into his neck.
"No need to thank me, really," he insisted, reluctantly releasing you. "You look incredible I must say."
You felt yourself blushing and pushed your hair behind your ear shyly.
"Thank you, so do you!" you responded cheerfully, putting down your new phone to set up later. Druig was wearing a crisp black button up with black trousers and looked insanely attractive in his nicer clothes. "So where are we off to now?"
"Oh, you'll see. Come with me," he said cheekily, taking your hand in his own.
Leaving your apartment that night without any other feeling than sheer joy, you couldn't wait to see what he had planned next.
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It was a beautiful autumn night and the temperature had gotten cooler since the sun had set.
Druig had taken you to the Wilmington Riverwalk. It was a gorgeous scenic walkway that was nestled against the Cape Fear River. There was a ton of little boutiques and markets lining the walkways that were all unique to the area.
"I've never actually been here before," you confessed, walking hand in hand with Druig through the walkway.
"Oh really?" he asked. "Why is that?"
"Well, I work all the time. I don't have time for much of a life outside of work so it's always the same routine every day. Wake up, work, come home, sleep."
"That doesn't sound like much of a life now does it?" he joked rhetorically. "You remember now how you quit your job."
As soon as he said it, the memory came back to you immediately. You could now recall the events of you calling your office and quitting. It was so strange how you had no recollection of the event previously and then all of a sudden it just reappeared in your head. There was no explanation for it, just the memory of the event reappearing. He didn't let you know that it was him who actually did it.
"Oh right. Well, I quit my job recently, so I guess I don't have an excuse anymore for being so boring."
It didn't make much sense to you, but you figured with your already poor memory, you must've just forgot until then as to how it happened.
You were aware that he could read your thoughts, but still were completely in the dark about the mind control. Druig knew obviously that he had been the one to release the exact memory but couldn't admit that without making you question even more.
You walked silently together enjoying the quaint night life and soft music on the dock.
"So, I have a burning question I've been wanting to ask you." Druig said pausing under a streetlight. You stopped with him as he looked across the river.
"Okay, go ahead."
"Why did you take to me so quickly when we first met? I was a stranger, a bit of a sarcastic dick at that. I don't get why you didn't just leave after I pissed you off."
He wanted a real answer given how shit he'd been with making friends with humans in the past. He had to try and understand you, as he couldn't understand himself why someone as incredible as you would stay around with someone like him.
"Don't you get it?" you asked bluntly, shocked as to how he could read your mind yet still not understand how new all of this was for you.
"Apparently not," he grumbled confused.
"I have never in my life been treated like this," you said quietly, almost ashamed. "I don't have men stopping me to want to talk or wanting to take me out all the time. I'm not some stunning, striking girl or anything and I've accepted that. I tried not to think about the fact that I was behind everyone else."
He pursed his lips, already beginning to want to argue with you.
"Don't say anything, just listen to me. I tried not to think about it and hoped one day things would click for me. And then, there you were. You were flirty and funny and sarcastic and actually interested in me. I don't get guys as perfect as you walking up to me every day."
He just shook his head at the last part, disagreeing with you but also knowing you felt much stronger than what you were saying as well. Regardless, he was truly so flattered by your words.
"Well thank you. I just wish you could see yourself how I see you," he whispered, hands holding your hips. "Then you could finally understand how I feel. And why everything you just said is so shocking to me. I refuse to accept that men don't just fall at your feet."
It was true. Druig had been around this planet hundreds of times and had met all sorts of people throughout the centuries. Short, tall, thin, big, different races and features. It wasn't to say that none of them hadn't been kind, or fascinating. But there was something so special about you that was unlike any other human he'd met.
You were naturally beautiful and so shy about it; you were kind and selfless and accepted all his quirks. You had an absolutely intoxicating presence that left him breathless. Druig couldn't imagine leaving you like he knew he would have to in due time.
You even treated him as your equal, as just another human. And you wanted to actually know more about him and had a complete acceptance of his gift. You had ignored all the strange mind and memory confusion you'd been having because it didn't matter to you.
You were the one.
There was no doubt about it anymore. You were who he had been searching for, truly for seven thousand years.
And the fact that he would have to continue to bite his tongue as much as it pained him, knowing that he would disappear soon, and you'd never see him again was heart wrenching.
"I'll never understand how you see me like that," you told him quietly, putting the topic to rest. He kissed your temple again softly and wrapped his arm around your waist as you kept walking.
There was a certain calm in the air, as to how the sky looks before a storm. Everything had already felt too good to be true, you were praying that nothing would jinx it.
"Can you tell me if you've enjoyed not having to be at work recently?" Druig asked out of nowhere.
After the whole phone situation, he was needing confirmation that he hadn't absolutely ruined your life when you first met.
"Oh of course. I never even realized how much my life revolved around my internship until it ended. I've been able to take control of my life again and be free honestly."
Druig breathed a sigh of relief at your response.
"I don't understand why you ask me questions though if you can simply read my mind and answer it yourself?"
"Eh, it doesn't really work like that. I can read your current thoughts and alter... some other things. But I don't have access to all of your past thoughts that rest in your conscious."
As odd as it sounded, it made complete sense to you. With the amount of time you had on your hands, you'd been able to heavily research his ability and how it's even possible. The internet did not turn up a whole lot of real answers though.
But you had accepted it and the fact that it was a part of who Druig was.
"Come here." He smiled lovingly, pulling you to the side of the dock where the soft current pulsed throughout the river.
"I don't know how to do this, but I wanted to tell you that I really do like you. As much as you believe otherwise, I really don't have much experience with this and am trying my best to make things perfect for every date."
You smiled in pure adoration for him and couldn't believe a man like him actually romantically liked you. And he even admitted finally that these were dates.
"As I'm sure you know, I like you quite a lot as well. These dates would've been perfect no matter what we were doing. That's how much I love spending time with you," you grinned, wrapping your arms around his neck.
That one statement began to make Druig's walls start crumbling down. He had never been told before that someone actually liked being around him, let alone someone loving spending time with him. Over the years he had lost the morality and ethicalness of his abilities and had grown bitter. He knew exactly why no one wanted to be around him.
And now miraculously, there you were having accepted all of him. He simply couldn't believe how lucky he was to have found someone like you amongst the millions of people on Earth. Someone that could care for him this deeply.
He suddenly wrapped his arms around you and hugged you tightly, resting his head on your shoulder. You stroked his back lightly and relished in this newfound vulnerability of his.
"You have no idea how much that means to me," he whispered softly by your ear.
You felt yourself start choking up, so infatuated with him it hurt. "I mean every word I say with you. You truly are the most amazing man I've ever met."
Druig pulled away grasping your face, your words making him feel like he was human.
Then he felt a sudden realization dawn on him.
Things weren't just moving fast; it had already happened.
He had begun to see a life with you, a human life. Your youthful face still exploring with him, smiling and laughing in ten years' time. Your feet dancing across a beach as you splashed water on him and bathed in the bright summer sun. The years passing by as you grew older but loved his ageless being as much as any human loved another. The purity and selflessness of your love would never falter, and you would love him until your last breath.
It wasn't hard for him to see the kind of person you were already and the deep connections you form with people. He knew that a life with you would be simple and carefree, as easy as breathing.
Druig never thought he deserved a life like that. But the peace and happiness he could feel just from that vision was enough for him to realize it was all he wanted now, as insane as it might have sounded.
But you still knew so little of the truth.
And Druig knew he couldn't keep living in blissful ignorance.
"How about we keep walking?" he said, trying desperately to remember what his purpose was with you and force himself to stop thinking of the future.
A certain shop caught Druig's eye, and you both went over to the little boutique. You looked over all their jewelry and were immediately drawn to a necklace with an emerald green pendent. You looked at it but didn't pick it up.
Druig's large hand swooped the box out from in front of you before you got the chance to look at the price. He knew that it was your favorite, and he couldn't help himself, he had to buy it for you.
"No! Don't, just put it back," you insisted, already knowing what Druig was about to do.
"Hmm. You know I thought about it love, and I think I'm just going to hold on to it," he said cockily, with a smirk.
You knew he wouldn't listen to you anyhow, but you still couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty with all of these lavish items he kept gifting you.
He walked up to the cashier and purchased it, turning to you with the world's most goofy grin.
"Oh, stop." He laughed, after seeing you with crossed arms and an annoyed look on your face. "Now there's nothing you can say, is there?"
"I suppose not," you jeered, returning the sarcasm but dropping your attitude.
As you both walked out of the shop, he stopped to pull the box back out of the bag and took the necklace out.
"You deserve this, darling," he said in your ear, latching the chain around your neck and planting a soft kiss by your ear.
Your hair stood up on the back of your neck in response and you closed your eyes blissfully.
You couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful it was and how lucky you felt. Sure, you made a fuss out of it to him, but you really were bursting at the seams with infatuation.
"Thank you, I love it." You smiled, feeling the butterflies in your stomach doing backflips.
"Well the night's not over yet. We still have dinner to head to."
As if he wasn't already full of surprises, you started walking over to the restaurant at the end of the walkway that was known for having the most insanely gorgeous views.
You'd heard about it from various people throughout the years. Like coworkers who'd go there for anniversary dinners with their husbands, but you'd never had someone special to go there with.
Walking into the restaurant, the sultry and dimly lit interior was even more gorgeous than you could've dreamed of. You had to look around for a minute trying to take it all in, as you'd only ever wished to be taken out somewhere this romantic. But it was your third date after all, which made you hope he was bringing you here to ask the question revolving a certain relationship status.
"Reservation for two, last name Smith." Druig told the hostess, not missing a beat.
"Of course, right this way," she grinned, picking up two new menus and leading you to your table.
It was a small intimate booth nestled into a quiet corner with a lit ivory candle and wine glasses already set up. You sat down still trying to soak it all in. The ambience, the dim lighting, and low jazz music. Even the white linen just felt expensive.
Looking across the table, Druig couldn't have looked anymore handsome and dashing. It was like a scene out of the Great Gatsby.
And you were left wondering once more, how this was actually your life.