"Oh, you're not in a skirt tonight," Calvin observed as he led Lisa up to the merry go round.
Lisa looked down at her clothing. She was in yoga pants, with a pair of jean shorts over them. She wore her Origin of Symmetry shirt. "Oh, I usually go to sleep in a bra and panties. Or nothing. But I fell asleep fully dressed tonight. I guess my dream filled in the gaps the previous two nights."
He tilted his head, "I do love the skirts. Very gothy. Not sure how or when goth fashion laid claim over plaid, but I'm all for it."
"Got a thing for goth girls?"
"My first childhood crush was Wednesday Addams. Then again my second childhood crush was Aerith Gainsborough, so who knows what's going on there." He shrugged and continued, "But I don't mind this look either. It's cute. And I love Muse."
"Well of course you would. I invented you."
He smirked at her, "Yeah, let's stick with that. More fun that way. Now choose your steed, milady."
Lisa climbed up onto her horse and Calvin mounted his. As they started spinning, Lisa laid her head against the pole and stared at Calvin. He was trying to do a manly pose on the horse and offered her an over-the-top smile that reminded her of Shrek. She laughed and said, "I'm trying to figure out who you are."
"Oof, deja vu. Hi, I'm Calvin."
Lisa smiled, "No, I mean who you really are. I'd never even heard of that band before I saw it on your shirt two nights ago. It's clear I've conjured you up out of a combination of things I've seen and what I want in a man."
"I'm what you want in a man?" he laughed.
"Pretty much, yeah."
Calvin put his head against the pole of his horse and sat for a moment. His smile remained, and with the rocking of the horse and spinning of the ride, she couldn't tell if it had changed any or if it was just in her head. He looked over at her, "Let's get out of here."
She watched as he gripped the pole of his horse and snapped it off. He tossed it aside. The horse shuddered to life and pushed its hooves against the ground until it broke from the half of the pole still attached underneath. Calvin grabbed the reigns and it trotted a few feet over to Lisa.
"Need help with yours?" he asked.
She shook her head, "No, I can handle it." She grabbed the pole and pulled at it. It snapped off much easier than she expected. She tossed the pole aside and waited for her horse to break from the rest.
"I like a girl who can handle a pole," Calvin said. He smirked, "That...sounded less creepy in my head."
Lisa returned the smile as their horses hopped from the platform.
"Shall we head inland?" Calvin asked.
Lisa looked around, and then shook her head. "I want to see if I can find that whale again."
Calvin laughed, "I still need to kick Robert's ass. Calling me just as you were about to take your shirt off."
Their horses galloped forward along the pier. People shuffled out of the way, but were otherwise unperturbed by the equine ruckus. They reached the end of the pier and leaped, landing in the water. There was a splash, but their hooves sank no more than a few inches as they took their riders out to sea.
"Hey, check it out. They're seahorses."
"Ooh, primo dad joke."
"Hell yeah. Dark humor. Dad jokes. Amusing anecdotes. I'm the complete package."
Lisa laughed and spurred her horse to ride faster. "Now where is my white whale?" she cried out.
"That was a sperm whale last night," Calvin said.
"You know your animals."
"I watch a lot of TV," he shrugged. "I want to take you somewhere."
Before Lisa could respond, Calvin had yanked on the reigns and his horse leaped high into the air, then dove down into the water. He vanished beneath the surface. Lisa's eyes widened, she took a deep breath and said, "When in Rome."
Her horse followed and once under the water, she could see Calvin again. His horse galloped deeper into the ocean. She followed. They were quite deep before it even crossed her mind that she was breathing underwater, but this did not surprise her. What did surprise her was what she saw Calvin heading towards. She didn't need him to tell her what it was. She'd seen it in enough movies and cartoons and drawings.
Calvin had taken her to Atlantis.
Mile high spires of cyclopean architecture jutted up from the distant abyssal surface that she could not yet make out. Many of the towers spun as they rose into pointed tips. Though they were easily miles below the surface, the area was illuminated by a slight aura of luminescence emanating from the buildings.
A shape moved behind one of the towers, and Lisa rode her horse over near it so she could run her hand along the side of the whale. As they parted, the whale spun in the water while giving out a deep song for Lisa.
She made her way to Calvin, where he'd stopped his horse near the top of one of the spires. He was wrapping the reigns around the tip. She dismounted and did the same. They swam around until they found a part of one of the towers that beveled inward enough to sit on.
"These dreams keep ending at the good part," Calvin said as her lips neared his. "I almost don't want to kiss you because of that."
Lisa nuzzled up to him, "This is so unlike real life. And I'm not just talking about the sunken city."
"You're telling me," Calvin said. "An attempt at a kiss from me isn't supposed to result in a giggle and a second kiss."
"And how am I supposed to respond?"
"In my experiences?" Calvin looked at her, "Disgust."
"Really?"
He nodded.
"Why?"
"Sometimes in my darkest moments I have thoughts on the matter. But I hate myself for thinking that way and I try to look at the bright side instead."
She put a hand on his leg, going out of her way to choose his upper inner thigh, "Tell me."
"What?"
"Your dark thoughts. Share your darkness with me."
He sighed, "Just the typical clichés that seep in when you're hurting. That women claim to want a sweetheart who will listen to their stories and give a crap about them. That what they really want is success and good looks. I have neither. They just want abs and a massive cock that shoots money, while reserving the right to get offended any time anyone points this hypocrisy out."
They shared a glance, and she saw shame in Calvin's eyes.
He shrugged and said, "Like I said. Darkest moments. You can only get hurt so many times before even the most delusional conspiracy theories start to make sense. I don't think it makes me a shitty person to have those dark thoughts. Especially since no matter how much I'm hurting, I choose to reject them."
"You know those really annoying people who like to quote song lyrics when they find it relevant to a conversation?" Lisa asked.
"You're one of them, aren't you?"
Lisa ginned.
"Quote away."
"What happened to you, sad boy? Why can't you see that you're not the only one? The pain, you got it bad, boy. It's making you so mad, boy. You wanna feel the bang, bang, bang of your gun. You sad, sad boy."
"I honestly can't tell if those lyrics are sympathetic or not."
"I think that ambiguity is supposed to be the point."
"That's comforting. I could fill a book with the demoralizing things that have been said to me. Every day is a Sisyphean battle of reminding myself that my microcosm does not negate the macrocosm. And like you said yourself," he glanced up at their steeds, "you can only be called a horse so many times."
She caressed his leg and said, "I get that. Every relationship I've had has turned to shit because I was looking for a Mr. Right."
"Didn't manage to find him?"
"Assholes are masters of disguise. And masters of gaslighting"
He nodded and added, "They're so good at it that the usually have even themselves fooled."
"It's disturbing how well you're describing some of the men I dated, but I sense maybe you're thinking of one of your exes right now?"
"I only have one ex. From high school. The dating scene hasn't been very kind to me." He shrugged and added with a voice that didn't even attempt to hide how little it believed its own words, "It's no one's fault, just bad luck."
He grabbed her hand just as she grazed the bulge in his pants and held it against his mouth. He kissed her fingers, and then kissed her.
"This is where I always wake up," Lisa said.
Calvin wrapped his arms around her and pulled her from the building. They drifted head first down through the water. After one more kiss, they embraced each other. Calvin held onto her, and she did the same. His body began to soften, and she opened her eyes to the pillow her hands were wrapped around. She sighed and looked at the clock. A sheet of paper folded over it blocked her view of the time. She rolled over towards it, still hugging the pillow that had been Calvin.
I grabbed the keys and went ahead and opened the parlor for you. I wanted to let you get some sleep. You can come in once you wake up, but I won't judge you for taking a day off, sweetheart.
--Danielle
Lisa sat the note aside and got up. She threw her shoes on and left the bedroom, intending on making herself some toast and then going into work.
"Well look who's up," a voice said from the couch.
Lisa's throat dried up and after a gulp, she managed, "How did you get in here?"
"Come on, that's no way to greet your man," Rick said as he stood from the couch. "I missed you, babe."
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