#longgonedream

Morning came slowly, or it felt as though it came slowly. When Madeleine had finally made it up to her apartment after leaving Noah the previous evening, she felt an overwhelming sense of having left part of herself behind on that sidewalk. It was a feeling she noticed the instant they parted, and it surprised her that someone she had only known for hours could leave such a lasting mark upon her. The thought of Noah had put a smile on her face, mixed with a longing to have him close once again where she could feel his arms around her and to be able to hold him in return. The beautiful memories of their evening had replayed in her mind countless times before sleep finally won and pulled her under.

The excitement of plans that they had made was what woke Madeleine up without any help of an alarm. She felt the slow smile spreading over her face as she woke up to the realization that Noah would be with her again soon. It was a giddy sort of excitement, with a warmth that spread throughout her making her blush even though there was nobody to see it. That excitement got her out of bed quicker than she normally would have. Under any other circumstances, Madeleine would have lingered in the comfort of her bed for as long as she possibly could have, but not with Noah coming over. She wanted to have things ready, to a certain extent, before he arrived. After getting ready, opting to dress in a much more natural style, rather than needing to dress up like she had for the party, in jeans and a nice sweater she left her hair down and hoped that Noah wouldn’t be disappointed when he did arrive. She had felt as though being herself was more than enough for him, and all Madeleine could do was hope that she was right. Fortunately for Madeleine, preparing her apartment for company wasn’t necessary. She had a tendency for keeping her home immaculately clean, although it was decorated modestly, yet comfortably, everything was organized, as was her nature. Still, despite that fact, Madeleine allowed her gaze to make a pass over every room to ensure that nothing needed a last cleaning before Noah arrived, and it didn’t.

While waiting, Maddie pulled out necessary items, bowls, measuring cups and spoons, spatulas and other utensils, as well as the ingredients that she knew she would need that did not require refrigerating. In the silence before Noah’s arrival, Madeleine found herself seated on the couch, knees bent up towards her chest with a notebook propped on her thighs as she neatly wrote out the ingredients and instructions for making her pancakes so that she could give it to Noah if he wanted when it was time to part again. As her pen moved over the paper, she found herself humming a song, but it wasn’t until she was halfway through the task at hand when she realized that the song she was humming was the song that Noah had been singing to her the previous night when they’d danced in the street. With a private smile she continued on until she heard a knock at her door that indicated that he had arrived. Nerves rushed in where they hadn’t been before, and Madeleine tried to take a calming breath as she reminded herself that everything would be okay. The fear of rejection was a normal thing for her, but she pushed that aside in favor of hoping for a lovely reunion as the longing she felt grew with each step to the door until she pulled it open to be greeted by her heart skipping a beat.

@long-gone-dream

Alu sat there swiping left and right on a few people. Having just downloaded Tinder and made a profile, she never really expected anything to come from it. Her best friend lay beside her, passed out and as usual Aluzka had a hard time sleeping. It was about midnight when she came across a profile of someone she knew. Her best friends brother. 

Madeleine wasn’t one for parties, in fact, after a work day she much preferred doing one of two things, either she wanted to be home alone curled up and reading or watching some stupid show. If it wasn’t that, her other thing was going out on solo adventures to seek an adrenaline rush by doing something entirely life threatening, dangerous, but exhilarating. Either way, all activities tended to be solitary ones. Parties always reminded Maddie that she seemed to be the awkward one, the odd one out, the one who people might like but don’t know how to make fit in with the group. Despite all of that, her closest friend from work asked her to come along to a small party that she was having.

She could only decline so many times before she had to finally give in. That was how Madeleine found herself standing just a little behind the group of friends. It was fortunate that there weren’t a lot of people, it made things easier on her. Still, her eyes dropped to the time on her watch, and wondered when it might be safe to start her usual escape plan. She began shuffling closer to the door, little by little, so that nobody paid any mind, until she bumped into someone and immediately spun around. “I’m so sorry.” She breathed out. “I didn’t realize anyone was behind me. I mean, normally people don’t see what’s behind them, but I thought I had a clear shot.” She was rambling because she was embarrassed. “Um... hi, I’m Madeleine. I’m a friend of Anne’s from work...” She suddenly blurted out before biting her bottom lip to keep herself from saying more.

@long-gone-dream

Dany liked singing, it was a nice little bar that had specific nights for genres to be played and today was jazz. The boss loved the sound of her voice enough to start paying her for the entertainment, it was just a little to get by day to day but being as poor as she was it meant everything. Trying to live and trying to save the little she was making from singing. It meant everything to her to be able to sing and perform to everyone, especially when for so many years she had nothing but discouragement from her brother but in time that slowly riled a fire in her to do what she loved and sang until she couldn’t anymore.

Shane sat at the diner in her booth with a milkshake in front of her and belly rumbling. She had been here for over an hour and was starting to think her boyfriend wasn’t going to show after all. It took a lot for her to put herself out there and try dating and it lasted all of what? Three actual dates? Typical that someone handsome as he was was a complete fuckwad and only wanted- whatever it was he had wanted. She didn’t have money. She didn’t have a house to consistently bone in. It’s not like she was hard to sleep with but she didn’t make it easy either. 

Grabbing her bag, Shane leaned forward to take another sip of her chocolate banana milkshake before some dude plopped in the seat across from her with a bright grin saying he was sorry he was late, earning a puzzled look from Shane. When he told her to play along she whispered back, “I ain’t paying for you. Bad enough the hippie dude bailed I ain’t got the money to buy for all his hipster buddies, alright? I’ll be lucky to buy my own shit.”